#but really the most important thing is that you know the Devils actually win a damn game

[imperatorrrrr]

Welcome to T's Eastern Conference Wildcard Watch - 24 March 2024

Sunday March 24, 2024 Relevant Games + Preferred Outcomes:

The New Jersey Devils are six points out of the WC2 spot and nine points out of the M3 spot.

Winnipeg Jets @ Washington Capitals - WPG Regulations Win

Florida Panthers @ Philadelphia Flyers - FLA Regulation Win

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Anaheim Ducks - ANA Regulation Win

Buffalo Sabres @ Calgary Flames - CAL Regulation Win

New Jersey Devils @ New York Islanders - NJD Regulation Win

[cherry-pop-elf]

Warming Up The New Client

Fred Weasley x Reader

Sum: Was another one of those little bets you and Fred did. You lost, but you are kinda the biggest winner between the two of you. Especially when one of the Weasley’s business partners come in to discuss important things. Let’s see if he can keep his head straight

Warnings: 18+, cock warming, blow jobs, semi public, kinda cracky because not everything needs to be a porno you gotta laugh, accidental choking, worried boyfriend because whoops this has become a sitcom, after care. Lowkey tho any fic you’ll read from me will have it, unless stated otherwise. HEALTHY AND REALISTIC SEX

“MR WEATHERBIRD! What are you doing here?!” Fred would panic, as he would force his chair to push into the desk. Was followed by a thump, as your body hit the back of the desk. Hardly any space for you, and his legs, in the confined space.

Why were you under his desk, and between his legs? Well you lost a bet. Was a harmless one. Just those lazy Mondays, at the shop, where you both needed something to help stimulate the day. A bet where it didn’t matter who won or loss, because there weren’t really any losers when the fun is the game.

Your prize for losing was to give the winner a blow job. Nothing too crazy. That is until unaware company arrived. That being a man that the Weasley twins were meant to do business with. Seems like George must have missed the man. Well, he arrived via fire place. George wouldn’t have seen him arrive, unless in the office with you two.

“Is now a bad time, Mr. Weasley? I figured Mondays would work best for you. Tis a joke shop, after all. The slowest day of the week, as your largest income bracket is through the school children. A Monday morning felt the most reliable to arrive.” Damn his logic, that was what Fred thought. He had a point.

“No no! It’s fine, you are right. Just surprise, that’s all. Take a seat. Let’s talk!” He would grin his award winning smile, as you remained stuck in your hiding place. Left with a choice to make. Stop what you are doing, or see how far you could push the button. Well, you married a Weasley. What’s a little bit of risk?

“Wonderful. We have much to discuss.” Boy was this going to be boring. You knew it, Fred knew it, but hey. You are certainly going to make it more enjoyable. Or worse. Either way, it’s gonna be fun.

As the older gentlemen began his garble, you were busy with your own garbling. Letting his cock press into your cheek, as you tried to find a way to move your head. You didn’t want to just keep thumping your head on the wood. That’s not fun at all.

You were shifting your head all over the place, as you tried to get comfortable. Made for your boyfriend to struggle with paying attention to the boring work jargon his business partner was making. Was certainly difficult to make sure he looked like he was listening, and not currently getting sucked off. Certainly difficult indeed, when those freckled cheeks of his were rosey.

“You seem a bit warm, Mr. Weasley. Are you feeling well?” The older gentlemen would ask Fred. Ever the charismatic man he was, he was oh so quick to think on the fly. Lie out of every situation. Such a charming gift to have.

“Fever fudge. You know how my brother and I are. We always self test our products. That way if anyone gets hurt, it’s us. We only ever field test with mostly our siblings. We know how they would react to what we make, but not to strangers. No. We don’t act like it, but we try and keep things safe.” That seemed to win over Mr. Weatherbird. Charmed the man as much as he could charm a gaggle of girls in a quidditch stand.

The devil on your shoulder was going to be the death of you, and him, with what it was whispering to you. Wanting to try and make his facade crack somehow. Just a little bit. Enough to make him sweat under the pressure. Just a little bit. You don’t want to actually put him at risk of anything, but gambling is gambling. Win big, or die trying.

As you finally managed to force Fred’s chair back, you could properly move your head. Made him need to sit awkwardly, to not make it appear that he was pushed back. Didn’t want the man to get suspicious. Seems he wasn’t, as he was busy with papers. Gave Fred time to look down, and see your devious face. Stuffed with his cock. Was so arrousing, you could feel his cock twitch on your tongue. With fresh flavor for you to enjoy.

He would shoot you a glare, only for the man to look back up. Forced him to meet the clients eyes, as to try and act as chill as possible. Never did he think he would want to do paper work right now. Anything to not just cum down your throat. George was the moaner, not him. But you were seeing if they were identical in a few other ways.

That was until Mr. Weatherbird started to lean over the desk. Just trying to be polite, and show him something on the papers. Had Fred quickly slam himself back under the desk. Forced you to take his cock all the way down your throat, and gag on it. Had you cross eyed, and trying so damn hard to not gurgle on it. Guess you weren’t quite enough.

“What was that noise-?” “What noise?” “Sounded like someone was choking….” Fred, ever quick, was able to come up with the perfect lie. A lie melted in truth, to keep the seal on the little secret at hand closed.

“We have a product here called puking pasties. A pastry used to help kids throw up. For one reason or another. Not to mention we have many things that stink so bad you wish to obliviate yourself from the memory. Just kids being kids. George has it under control.” He would brush off the worry, as you tried to find your ability to breathe again.

Was rather difficult, as you were now trapped entirely under the desk this time. How your head was pressed against the desk, and held no way to move your head. Just gagging around his cock, with drool soaking all over your clothes.

The more you tried to steady yourself, the more his cock twitched in your mouth. Feeling your tongue trying to adjust itself. How your throat kept clenching and your lips desperate to move.

Before you could make any other noises, he was quick to wave his wand. Had his gramophone kick to life, and play that loud swing music those twins loved. Nothing like some big band to liven up the scene. Along with hide more of your gagging, and sputtering, in the hopes to finish this meeting.

“That’s better. Now, as we were saying-“ The droning was starting to get to him. All his mind could think about you was choking on his cock. Had him aroused, but also very worried he was hurting you. It’s not hot if it’s not consented on. Was an accident, yes, but he loves you and wants you safe. He had to figure out how to get you out of there, before things get worse.

“Say uh. Mr. Weatherbird, um-“ Wow was it getting harder to talk. Wasn’t helping that you were still scrambling. Your hands reaching into his lap, to try and push him back some. When trying to reach the front of his chair, you got a full grab of your favorite stress toy instead. Had his eyes go cross, for a moment, as he had to bite his lip. Trying so hard, but he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Oh, I know it’s alot. You are so new to this world of business. I respect it. You two are stars, I can see it. I’ll do my best to help guide you both. You two are already doing so wonderful. Truly business savvy. Your parents must be so proud. Here, I’ll leave these papers for you and your twin to discuss over. Just send an Owl if you have any questions.” He gave a tip of his hat to Fred, as Fred himself did his best to give a flustered nod.

Mr. Weatherbird would give a wave goodbye, and vanished through the fireplace. As soon as he did, Fred pushed himself back. Made for a rather pornographic sight, and sound, as he popped his cock out of your mouth.

You were just covered in your own drool. Face more flustered than his own, with your lips swollen from being stretched for so long. How you were panting hard from the stress of the scene. It was all too much. You were just so perfect in his view. He just had to add to it.

He barely had time to close your eyes, as he leaned back. His cock just spilling his cum all across your face. Across your drool stained chest. You were just covered in so much. You were surprised he even had so much in him. Guess this was some life or death edging, so to speak.

With your breath caught, it was his turn to pant. Just leaning back in his office chair. His body slack, as he was seeing stars. That release was so needed, and so intense. He swore he pulled his back out from it.

“That could have gone better…Or worse. Depends on if we look at this from a positive view or not.” You would joke, as he gave a dry laugh. Happy to know you were ok. You knew he was worried, you could just tell. There was something sweet about it. That even with such heat of the moment he was looking out for you.

You would let him collect himself, as a cleaning charm solved all your problems. You also were polite to help out his dick away for him. After care goes both ways, after all. When he would come back to reality he would take care of you. You knew that. Until then, you’ll make sure he is cared for to.

Once he had his time to no longer sweat himself a new pool, he would pull you into his lap. Just cuddling you. A means of apology, without saying it. You knew he was trying to not have you humiliated. It wasn’t intentional in any way. The way you would play with his hair conveyed it. Both of you using your own silent little love language.

“So….Whens your next meeting?” The fact you asked that made his head spin. You wanted to do that again? That risk? The choking? The fear? The adrenaline? The insanity of it all?

“…….Thursday, after lunch….” He’s a Weasley. They were all adrenaline junkies. That’s just one of the many things that made you love him. Love him, kiss him, and bump your noses together. His adorable bird nose, with yours.

“You are such a minx, and I LOVE it.”

[sergeifyodorov]

Your post of all the first overalls to girl interrupted actively makes me feel crazy. Do you have a ranking of the most compelling first overalls?

cody's list of most compelling (active) (to me) first overalls

21. aaron ekblad (2014.) i don't care for the florida panthers

20. alexis lafreniere (2020). his strongest narrative juices are a) the bust thing (he was a covid baby, it takes time) and b) maybe him also going to rimouski like sid, if you really wanted to pull it out like that. but the two of them have little otherwise connection, so not really

19. owen power (2021) this is a list ranked by compellingness and not cutieness or who i would want to provide most with feminizing hrt against their will

18. nico hischier (2017) even some of the least compelling 1oas are still quite interesting IMHO -- nico is the highest ever drafted swiss player + a very young captain on a basement team + a CHL import. all of which *are* juicy. he just lacks... i don't know, a little extra je ne sais quoi

17. macklin celebrini (2024) invoking the power of "He Literally Just Got Here" for this one. the daddy issues are a powerful offset though

16. ryan nugent-hopkins (2011). the power of the longest-tenured member of a team is quite something. earns points for not being an upper middle class rich boy either

15. nathan mackinnon (2013). controversial to put him so low i know but in my genuine and honest opinion he's way more interesting as a Character than a Part Of The Narrative. crucial divide here. i'm about to talk about slaf's personality making him interesting narratively but they do want their good canadian boys to shut up and take it and nate doesn't rebel against that. all he wants to do is win (accomplished) and fuck sidcros (negligible)

14. juraj slafkofsky (2022) just barely edges out the nuge by virtue of a) the whole First Slovak thing (see nico) and b) his new and upcoming beef with the slovak federation??? what's all that about because THAT'S juice. THAT'S spark. slaf's great because not only are his little circumstances compelling but he's also got such a Personality to him. his little rockstar attitude. his little braces. I will show him where is Slovakia. yessss girl

13. rasmus dahlin (2018). im a dahlin attention payer so he's probably higher than he "should" be but CAPTAIN OF THE BUFFALO SABRES I AM SO SORRY.

12. erik johnson (2006) hugely fascinated by his fall from grace via golf cart, which is not a route most people take. and then of course he was a crucial emotional crux of the avs up until their 2022 run and in my belief a much more important part of their fall from grace post-run than whatever landeskog is doing. and of course any flyer is relevant by nature

11. jack hughes (2019) you cannot deny the hughes are interesting narratively because they are important. he's not as interesting or as important as quinn though so obviously not as high on the list as he might have otherwise been

10. taylor hall (2010) actually super interesting because he has, throughout his entire career, been on one (1) good team (the 2022-23 boston bruins). he has a hart trophy!!! you guys know he has a fucking hart trophy right???? while they were drafting davo et al, he was an oiler. while they were drafting nico, he was a devil, while they were drafting owen, he was a sabre, and when they drafted connor bedard he was a blackhawk. always the bridesmaid, never the bride

9. steven stamkos (2008). there's always something to be said for waiting a long time to get what you want. and then once that goal's been accomplished, they throw you out.

8. connor bedard (2023) Let's Get Generational With It

7. john tavares (2009) brief let's un-get generational with it to talk about mr magic amulet breaking TWO entire playoff round curses as captain, twice. about him choosing toronto. about Him

6. auston matthews (2016) what if you were a vain shy arizona boy who wanted nothing more than to be a star and then they gave it to you and then you immediately had to learn that it's not nearly as good as you thought it was going to be. and you were actually kind of gay the whole time (im biased. this is cody sergeifyodorov's immense toronto bias. be normal)

5. patrick kane (2007)

4. marc-andre fleury (2003) the whole saga of him in pittsburgh AND the whole saga of him in vegas AND the whole saga of him in minnesota (and the brief intermission when he was in chicago) are all massive narrative moments of their own, but to have all of them? to be a goaltender that lucky and that loved for that long? it's not done. it will never be done again.

3. connor mcdavid (2015) I Love It When The Ginger Man Suffers

2. alexander ovechkin (2004) you know i could write essays on ovi. i could write dissertations. people have already done so -- i would not be the first and will not be the last if i join their ranks. i could take about the goals and the record chase. i could talk about the way he's been juxtaposed against the guy who you really should have known going in was going to be number one for his whole career. i could talk about the hunt for 2018, and the long, long time they said he was useless, no matter the record. but i will say after me. after me, i give it to you, baby.

sidney crosby (2005). obviously

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Side B

Propaganda below ⬇️

Matt

Matt's faith in the show is really important and well explored; one of the first scenes of the show is Matt going to confession (or, well, talking to his priest since he's not really confessing at that point). Matt struggles a lot with what he's supposed to do; everyone's telling him to kill the villain and he kinda wants to, but he literally says: "I know my soul is damned if I take his life". He struggles with his faith and goes with his doubts to his priest, and it's beautiful—also when he finally gets a costume for his vigilanteing he chooses to dress as the devil, lol. (His priest tells him that nothing makes people run to Church faster than the feeling of having the devil on their heels.)

a lot of the show is about how he justifies his vigilante actions with his faith, and whether he's doing the right thing in trying to help people or just using it as an outlet for his anger. the literal first scene of the show has him in a confession booth talking to his priest (who is a really interesting character too). this is not the scene I was talking about but it's such an excellent scene with matt talking to his priest: https://youtu.be/XHZ3NbEIDdw

canonically catholic but dresses like a demon to be quirky

honestly i dont wanna type too much but i feel that matt is a great example of someone who battles with his faith because he rarely loses his faith but rather fights with why he was made the way he was and put through what he was. He believes himself to have the devil inside him but believes that God put him there

ok in the comics barring the most current run matt has Mostly been a non-practicing Catholic that very rarely actually does any catholic Activities but ends up falling back into the Mindset and very occasionally dramatically taking confession (ex. in that one issue where he takes confession, basically tells the father that he is uniquely terrible and is thinking about violently murdering someone and when the father says "you can be forgiven" hes like "AUGFH-- NO!!!!!!!!!!" and runs out) when he's gone through some shit. and i love that its so relatable

hello its me cct organizer. i have to come clean, i made this tournament because i need matt to win something. i dont think hell win the sadboy and he lost the ginger tournament and >:( hes my favoritest guy ever. Also @ who said he has religious trauma is wrong and i will fight u about it (nicely) on my main @usaigi

This guy so catholic he spends an ungodly amount of time just chilling in the church. And goes there whenever there is a moral conundrum about killing people being Bad even though it would solve a lot of problems and stop said people from killing other people. This happens every other episode. Matt is the Catholic Guilt Guy. There's actually a lot of catholic stuff in the show as a whole. Just a compilation would be like three whole episodes long.

Hes great hes catholic enough to not outrught murder people but not catholic enough to not fuck before marriage hes a bisexual disaster at all times hes besties with a priest might i add hes great hes my special little guy

his catholicism is a huge piece of his characterisation he was raised by nuns in a catholic orphanage, the first scene we ever see him (as an adult and not a flashback) is him going to confession, he is good friend with his priest and has regular debates with him, etc also in s3 he has a huge crisis of faith after he lost A Lot where he stops believing for a while and it's linked to his identity crisis where he actually wants to kill another person (a hard line he previously chose never to cross) and wants to be only daredevil and not matt murdock, when he is both and needs both to exist also when he was a kid his grandmother used to say "watch out for the murdock boys, they've got the devil in them" and it created a surprising lot of his issues

So he's both catholic in the comics and the show but he's More Catholic in the show. Like, raised in a catholic orphanage by nuns (ONE OF WHICH IS HIS *MOTHER*), second scene in the show has him in a confession box kind. Matt Murdock goes out and gets the shit beaten out of him nightly and also beats the shit out of other people and purposefully leaned into devil iconography as his theme. When his nurse friend says, he takes a lot of punishment without one complaint he says "That part's the Catholicism." It is a Core Aspect of his character (at least in the show). He makes me insane. Also the same chemicals that blinded him created the teenage mutant ninja turtles and everyone should know that.

They went to confession to a priest who they had saved as their costumed counterpart and the guy recognized them by the voice, proving that it's possible and everyone else is just dumb

he takes "i wanna fight god" to new and incredibly violent levels, while also being a sweetheart and a goofball

Actually strictly WILL NOT kill criminals. Goes wayyy out of his way to avoid it. Fights with the Punisher about it. Goes to confession booth after nightly vigilante excursions. Feels so much guilt. "How have you been holding up?" "Like a good Caltholic boy" "that bad huh" - actual conversation with his priest

So Daredevil struggles with his mission as a crime fighter because killing criminals goes against his faith. He makes it a point to not kill criminals, believing that even bad people deserve a second chance. This philosophy puts him at odds against The Punisher, who is a relentless killer. As a Catholic myself, while I love the concept of a morally conflicted superhero, I think the worldbuilding around Daredevil is lacking. If he struggles with violence and killing, why doesn't he pray to warrior saints like Saint Michael, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (a former knight), or Saint Joan of Arc? Why isn't there a community of other Catholics he can turn to for guidance, considering New York City has a sizeable population of Catholics? And why are the churches he goes to always empty? Doesn't he know that the Catholic Church supports the just war theory? I think that would have made his burden more bearable.

He goes to church and confesses to punching people and says "imma do it again can i apologize in advance" and the father dude says "no you're meant to stop now" and Matt says "no" and they do this everyday. I'm not remembering it properly but this is a canon interaction i swear

HELLO HI YES I LOVE HIM AND WILL INFOR DUMP ok so. he is a vigalantty and he got named daredevil and he is an orphan and after the age of 12 was raised in an orphanage at a Catholic church and his therapist is his priest via confession abd. also his mother is a nun he has a whole mental breakdown over god and called Job a pussy because he liked god until he got better and liked god again he said "I'm dearedrvil and not even god can stop that now" and he's so cool

matt is a freakish little babygirl who was raised by nuns and definitely has religious trauma. i hate him so much (affectionately)

he’s literally fucking insane about it i don’t know what to say here. he thinks he’s chosen by god to go on some sort of holy quest to save hell’s kitchen. joan of arc ass.

i already know hes in by default j just wanted to give him a personal shout out i love this angsty catholic dweeb

how practicing he is depends on the run, but in my favorite he is quite literally confessing to a member of the last extant order millitant who happens to be a priest at a church in hells kitchen.

i love him for having the funniest version of a trope i usually hate (person gets into confession booth and asks forgiveness not for what they've done, but for what they're about to do). usually this trope just looks silly to me bc like. the priest would just say "i can't do that" and you would have to either awkwardly explain yourself or just Leave. it's funny when matt does it because fr. lantom is probably like "what are you gonna do???" and matt's like "lol. lmao. 😊 hehehe." anyway we love this angry catholic man who dresses up like the devil to beat people up in hell's kitchen

Harrowhark

I'm pretty sure you've already got plenty of submissions for her so I'll just say she was raised in what is basically a cult (technically a nunnery but let's be real) dedicated to keeping the body of the thing that will kill God behind the rock. One of their prayers is actually "I pray the rock is never rolled away". Harrow is extremely devout as penance for her earlier heretical actions in the tomb as a child (spoiler!) so the Catholic guilt really comes through

imagine being a catholic nun and you meet god, but it turns out he’s a twitch streamer from new zealand who became god because everything got a little bit out of hand. and just before you met him you gave yourself a diy grief-fuelled lobotomy with the help of your best frenemy. imagine how insane you’d be. now multiply that insanity by nine. that’s the fictional love of my life right there.

she meets god. she’s not inspired

she’s number one practitioner of space Catholicism. The locked tomb is chock full of Christian (catholic) imagery themes metaphors etc. just look at her she’s got a bone rosary

They're Catholicism with extra bones. Everyone is a nun. They have what is basically a rosary made from knuckle bones. They technically worship the same God as everyone else, but they're waaaay more focused on The Body in the Tomb (Mary) and we get a moment where we find out that while everyone else prays the equivilent of The Lords Prayer, they're doing the equivilent of Hail Mary. And they paint their faces with skulls.

She thinks leaving dry bread in a drawer is taking care of someone. She's in love with a 10,000 year old corpse (the same one they worship). She spent ALL NIGHT digging with her bare hands to make sure a field had bones every 5 feet so she could fight her girlfriend - I mean, greatest enemy. Spoiler territory: She's been puppeting her parents corpses since she was 8 years old. Instead of grieving her dead girlfriend, she gives herself a lobotomy. She makes soup with bone in it so she can use the bone IN THEIR STOMACH to try and kill them.

The author is/was Catholic and the entire series had heavy Catholic overtones. https://www.tor.com/2020/08/19/gideon-the-ninth-young-pope-and-the-new-pope-are-building-a-queer-catholic-speculative-fiction-canon/ A good breakdown of how it's Catholic

[fiapartridge]

the perfect moment | luke hughes

summary: luke's leaving for boston and you need to tell him you love him before it's too late...

a/n: hello, everyone! this is my first imagine since joining tumblr. hope u like it! <3

Luke was leaving tonight. You felt your heart drop down to the farthest, unreachable parts of your stomach as you watched Quinnipiac win the semifinals at the Frozen Four. It was over: The University of Michigan’s season, playoffs, Luke’s college hockey career. It was all over.

Ellen and Jim were already off the couch, making calls with a couple of people on the Devils’ coaching staff, making sure he was on the next flight to Boston by the time he got off the ice. 

It was hard to stomach the fact that he wasn’t coming home this time; that he was going straight to Boston for the morning skate with the Devils and then immediately back to Jersey to train with the team. Of course you two talked about it. It was always a thought lingering in the back of both of your minds, but you didn’t really think of it being an actual possibility.

It wasn’t like you weren’t happy for Luke. He was your best friend. You would be happy for him wherever he went and whatever he did, but he wasn’t coming home, and you never got to tell him that you loved him more than Sunday morning pancakes and Movie Night Fridays. You loved him, like you wanted to run onto that ice and kiss him before he stepped foot on the private jet that would force hundreds and thousands of miles between the two of you. 

You were in love with Luke, and he didn’t even know.

Before you could get off the couch and wallow to your own home down the street, you got a text from Ethan, and then Mark, and then Dylan.

And lastly, from Luke.

Ethan: He’s leaving TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE.

Mark: You’ve loved the kid for as long as you’ve known him. You gotta tell him before he leaves Y/N/N.

Dylan: I'M BOOKING YOU THE NEXT FLIGHT TO FLORIDA. YOU HAVE TO TELL HIM BEFORE ITS TOO LATE.

Luke: Getting on a flight to Boston later tonight. I’ll call you first thing in the morning. I don't want this to be a goodbye. I just wanna see you.

Your eyes widened as you clicked each notification from the boys. You didn’t even know they knew about your crush on Luke. But maybe it was obvious? Maybe they could see the slight glimmer in your eye every time you met Luke outside the locker room after a home game, or maybe they could see the way you hug him, how you squeeze him a little tighter and a little longer than a best friend would, or maybe they could see the way you talk to him, like he’s all you’ve ever known; like he’s all you ever want to know. When he’s around, everyone else disappears.

And you weren’t going to give that up.

Dylan: I JUST BOUGHT YOUR TICKET GET YOUR ASS TO THE AIRPORT. RIGHT NOW.

Is this actually happening right now? Oh my God, this is happening.

You jumped up from the couch, startling both yours and Luke’s parents. Your heart was racing and they were staring at you like you were crazy.

“Are you alright, honey?” Ellen asked, looking back and forth between you and your mom. 

You shook your head. “I- I gotta go,” you stammered as you rushed out of the Hughes family’s home and down the street to your own. You ran through the front door, tripped up the steps to your room, and quickly grabbed a backpack from your closet, filling it with a day’s worth of clothes, a mini toiletry bag, your wallet, and an extra charger. 

You bounded down the stairs and sprinted back to the Hughes’ house, praying that someone would be willing to take you to the airport or else all of this would be for nothing. 

You busted the front door open as everyone’s heads turned to you. You were out of breath, your backpack was slung messily around your shoulder, and your heart was beating faster than the speed of light.

“I,” you breathed harder, trying to push out one of the most important sentences of your life. “I need a ride to the airport!”

Ellen and your mom knowingly smiled from ear to ear, like they understood why you were leaving without you ever having to tell them. They always knew about your feelings for Luke, they were just waiting for the moment it would all come out, which happened to be tonight. So calling them eager to help you would be quite the understatement; they were absolutely elated. 

Ellen grabbed the car keys and your mom opened the garage while the dads sat there, watching the entire scene with their own sly smiles on their faces. Your dad would never admit it to you, but he always hoped that you would tell Luke that you liked him. He was the only person that your dad felt safe to leave you with. Not that you needed Luke’s protection or anything, but he knew he would never break your heart; the boy wasn’t capable of it.

You threw your backpack in the backseat of Ellen’s car and your seatbelt was barely secured before Ellen stepped on the gas and raced down the sleepy streets of Michigan. Your mom squealed in the passenger seat as she held on tight to the handle on the roof of the car.

“We were really expecting you to tell him sooner, but I love a dramatic running sequence,” Ellen beamed, smiling into the rearview mirror.

You shook your head. “Sorry, what?”

“We’ve been waiting 12 years for you to tell him you love him!” your mom butted in, turning around in her seat to look at you.

“12 years? What?”

“Sorry my boy is clueless!” Ellen apologized. “Seems like he got that trait from his father.”

You laughed and the three of you continued talking about your plan for when you see Luke in Florida. But when you saw the airport in full view, the anxiety and nervous bubbles danced around your stomach like they were giving a tireless performance.

This is seriously happening.

They parked on the curb, wishing you good luck as you ran out of the car and darted through the airport doors. Security went by swimmingly fast and before you knew it, you were seated on a nearly empty plane, Florida bound.

༊*·˚

Two and a half hours later, you were dashing through Tampa International Airport like your life depended on it. Luckily, the airport was quiet and empty. Nobody seemed to notice the girl that was fighting back the tiredness in her legs and the drowsiness in her eyes. 

You couldn’t get tired. You needed to see Luke.

Ethan, Dylan, Mark, and Mackie were the first people you saw when you made it outside the airport. Dylan was jumping up and down in the air, waving his hands back and forth as if you weren’t the only person outside with them. 

You sprung into the backseat of Mackie’s rental car as the boys started shouting to step on the gas. There was no time to spare. You were in Florida, Luke was about to get on a flight to Boston, and your heart wasn’t ready to give up yet. 

“MACKIE, IF YOU DON’T STEP ON THE GAS, I’M LEAVING YOU HERE AND DRIVING THIS CAR MYSELF!” you yelled, causing Mackie to jump in his seat and steer the car down the freeway in a hurried manner. 

They knew not to mess with you when you were stressed. It was like a rule of thumb. As you five raced down the road, heading straight back to the arena, you felt your phone vibrate and the screen light up. It was a text from Luke.

Luke: Hey, I’m leaving in a bit. Text me when you can.

You shook your head, gulping down your nerves. He can’t leave. Not yet.

Five minutes later, Ethan was pushing you out of the car and Mark was grabbing your hand, leading you around the arena— leading you to Luke.

You two weaved through Quinnipiac fans that had not yet cleared the arena and through coaches that looked at you confused, wondering how you got there. But when the Michigan hockey team saw you, all you were met with were smiles and cheers. They all knew what you were here for— who you were here for.

They were lined along the walls outside of the locker room. Mark let go of your hand as you turned to all of the guys. Luca smiled at you as he placed his hand on your shoulder. “He’s inside the locker room.”

You nodded your head, took a quick breath, and slowly, hesitantly walked to the door.

“Hey!” Dylan shouted. You turned to him, wondering what was so important that he had to say it right before the big moment. He smirked, a mischievous smile dancing on his lips. “Don’t forget to kiss him.”

The guys whistled and hollered in response as your cheeks immediately flared. You laughed, rolling your eyes and turning back to the locker room door. 

Here goes nothing.

You slowly turned the doorknob and quietly walked into the room. Luke was the only person in there. He was folding clothes into a suitcase as a blue Nike backpack and his hockey gear sat on the ground beside him. You closed the door shut and it immediately grabbed his attention.

His eyes searched the entire room before meeting yours. He didn’t say anything, his jaw was too slacked to push out a single word. You left your backpack by the door and smiled softly as you walked towards him. 

He felt like he was dreaming, like he conjured the sight of you because there was no way you were actually there. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Surely he was just tired. His mind was playing tricks on him. That had to be it. But when you were still there when he opened his eyes, he realized it wasn’t a dream; he wasn’t going crazy. 

You were there. You were really there.

He couldn’t believe it.

“I didn’t want to say goodbye over the phone,” you said.

He grinned. “So you flew a thousand miles just to see me?”

You nodded, a smile managing to escape from your lips. “Among other things,” you said before crashing your lips onto his. Your hands were met with the ends of his curly brown hair and his were met with the small of your back. It was the kind of kiss that you could never tell your friends about because there was no way to accurately describe how perfect it was. It was the kind of kiss that was separated by smiles and tiny laughs. It was the kind of kiss that made you realize that you had never felt this happy in your whole life.

Yes, Luke was going to leave. He was always going to leave. But at this moment, none of that mattered. This kiss, you and him, your hands in his hair and his on your back, that was all that mattered.

This.

This perfect moment.

The moment wasn’t over when your lips disconnected. His eyes were still on yours and his lips were still stained with your lipstick. It was you and him, just like it always has been.

“I,” you two spoke at the same time, giggling when you caught yourselves talking over each other. 

“You first,” you said.

He shook his head. “Seems like you had something important to tell me if you flew a thousand miles to be here.”

“Fair point,” you chuckled. He smiled back— a soft smile. Like this smile was meant just for you to enjoy. Like this smile belonged to you– signed, sealed, and delivered. Your hands rested on the nape of Luke’s neck. 

It’s now or never.

You paused, played with the cuticles of your nails, shuffled your feet, and breathed. “I love you— more than just friends, and I needed you to know that before you left.”

And yes, you just kissed the boy you’ve liked for the past 12 years, but some part of you still expected him to turn you away. To tell you that he doesn’t feel the same. To tell you that all you guys had ever been were friends. 

But when he pulled you closer by the waist and attached his lips to yours once again, you knew his answer. He pressed his forehead against yours, his eyes still closed for a moment afterwards, like he wasn’t ready to leave this moment just yet. 

And when his sage green eyes met yours, he grinned, and said the next few words so softly, it felt like a pillow that was waiting to catch him in case he fell. He already knew you loved him, but just like you, he was still scared, like you could take it all back and realize that it isn’t him you wanted. 

But who else would you fly a thousand miles for at one in the morning?

“I’m leaving in a few minutes, but I just— I think I’ve always been in love with you. It’s always been you,” he smiled, still terrified. But just as he did with you, you pulled him into the biggest kiss ever— which was shortly interrupted by the entirety of the Michigan hockey team.

Mostly Duker.

“HEY, THEY’RE KISSING IN HERE! I knew you could do it, Y/N/N,” he smiled. “YO, YOU OWE ME FIVE BUCKS, BRINDLEY!”

You giggled into Luke's chest, shielding your blush-stained face from the rest of the team. You were beyond happy.

And yes, Luke still left for Boston, but he didn't leave empty-handed. He had your love with him after all.

[socialfakes]

we got over it- quinn hughes

this a continuation of #1, which you can find here if you're interested!

Liked by trevorzegras, jackhughes and 498,717 others

yourinstagram | it’s been a year since my baby became an official professional hockey player and if this isn’t a worthy cause to celebrate, then i don’t know what is 🤷🏻 🥳 still so incredibly proud of you and love you immensely luke ❤ lhughes_06

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lhughes_06 i love you so much 🥰❤  | yourinstagram forever 💕

jackhughes time to party!!!!! 🥳

user08 quinn looks incredibly good in this picture 🤤  | yourinstagram you’re kidding right? 🤢

_quinnhughes let’s celebrate 🎉  | yourinstagram you’re not invited 🚫

user03 the love i have for these boys > anything else important ❤ especially jack 😍 | jackhughes ❤ | _quinnhughes last year, I was your favorite 😲 | user03 sorry quinn. I still love you but jack has my heart now | jackhughes haha! that’s what you get for taking my girl away from me 😂 | _quinnhughes what girl did I take away from you? 🤔😂 | jackhughes okay don’t pretend you don’t know who we’re talking about 😂

Liked by jackhughes, elblue6 and 497,216 others

yourinstagram | clearly doesn’t like having his picture taken 😂_quinnhughes

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_quinnhughes i was in the damn penalty box 😂 who wants their picture taken?  | jackhughes i like having my picture taken in the penalty box sometimes 😁  | _quinnhughes doesn’t count. you're incredibly photogenic 😂  | yourinstagram to your credit, you can be photogenic quinn 😁  | jackhughes holy crap. hell has frozen over because y/n just gave quinn a compliment 😂

user07 wowza 😍

elblue6 she’s just proud of you, quinn 😁  | yourinstagram i am very proud of him. all of your boys. you did a fantastic job raising them ❤

besthughesbros quinn is really good looking in and out of the penalty box ❤

jackhughes i love this picture 😂

user03 he is so cute 😊

canucks that’s our captain right there 😁

njdevils was this during the canucks vs devils game?  | yourinstagram yes 😂 congrats on the win by the way 😁

user09 y/n gave quinn a genuine compliment and nobody is talking about it? what kind of world do we live in? 😂  | yourinstagram right? it was weird

Liked by barzal97, _quinnhughes and 497,516 others

yourinstagram | barzy baby looking fine 😍🤤🔥 barzal97

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jackhughes simping over someone else now? trying to make you-know-who jealous perhaps? 😏  | yourinstagram oh god no 😂  | jackhughes i’m just playing 😂 besides we all know the truth 😏

barzal97 you’re the best, love ❤  | yourinstagram 😲❤

_quinnhughes i suppose he looks alright 🤷🏻‍♂️

user07 god he is the best looking player 😍

lhughes_06 great dude

user02 so hot 🔥🤤

trevorzegras 🔥🔥🔥

yourinstagram can’t believe that i have to clarify that we are most definitely NOT dating 😂  | user07 yeah, because you’re dating quinn, right? 😂🧐  | yourinstagram no 🤮  | jackhughes 😂😂

Liked by _quinnhughes, elblue6 and 446,218 others

yourinstagram | my all time favorite picture of quinn ❤ so glad to see him smiling again  _quinnhughes

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yourinstagram contrary to popular belief, we don’t actually hate each other 😂 we’ve worked things out

jackhughes he’s the best when he’s happy  | yourinstagram which is extremely rare 😂

_quinnhughes 😁❤

user06 he is SO good looking 😍

canucks he plays better when he’s happy 😁

lhughes_06 hmmm wonder what made him so happy 😏

user08 glad you guys don’t hate each other anymore 😁

user01 am I the only one seeing the heart emojis being exchanged between them???  | jackhughes nope. i see them too 😁  | lhughes_06 you should see them at home 😏  | yourinstagram 🖕🏻

Liked by elblue6, jackhughes and 503,417 others

yourinstagram | you see two hockey stars & i see 2 good looking men 😁❤ jackhughes _quinnhughes

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jackhughes love you ❤  | yourinstagram love you more ❤

elblue6 my boys ❤

lhughes_06 love these 2 so much 😁  | yourinstagram me too 😁

user03 the development of your friendship with quinn is my favorite thing

user09 still convinced she’s dating one of them 😂  | yourinstagram can confirm  | jackhughes can confirm  | _quinnhughes can confirm  | user09 wait hold up

royalhughes good looking men indeed 😍  | yourinstagram indeed

canucksdevils my 2 favorite people in the world 😁

nikki quinn is hot 🔥  | yourinstagram 👍🏻🟩

Liked by user05, _quinnhughes and 415,127 others

yourinstagram | guess who lost a bet with me and has to cook me a gourmet dinner? 😂😁 _quinnhughes

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jackhughes what would he have won if you lost?  | yourinstagram guess we’ll never know 😂

_quinnhughes what would you say if i knew I was going to lose the bet before we even agreed on it? 🤨  | yourinstagram I would call you out on your bullshit 😂

Lhughes_06 stop making bets you can’t win, quinn. have you learned nothing from the past? 😂

elblue6 pretty sure he lost on purpose. he loves to cook and i'm pretty sure he lost so he could cook for you 😉  | _quinnhughes mom!  | jackhughes because he liiiiiiiiiikes you 😉  | _quinnhughes jack I do not  | jackhughes right. you looooove her 😏

user05 he looks so good in the kitchen 😍  | yourinstagram no comment 👀  | jackhughes mhm 😏  | _quinnhughes you love me and you know it 😉  | yourinstagram 🤮

Liked by _quinnhughes, edwards.73 and 448,217 others

yourinstagram | fun times out at the lake house ❤🌊 _quinnhughes

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_quinnhughes so much fun 😉  | jackhughes okay are you guys dating now or something?

jackhughes who’s more fun at the lake house?  | yourinstagram lhughes_06 of course  | jackhughes I meant between me and quinn obviously  | yourinstagram you of course jack 😁  | jackhughes ha _quinnhughes your own girlfriend thinks i’m more fun 😂  | yourinstagram woah there buddy. not his girlfriend  | _quinnhughes why do you do this jack 😂

user08 he is so good with kids ❤

elblue6 why are you guys at the lake house, together & alone?  | jackhughes I didn’t even get an invite 😢  | lhughes_06 me either jack 😢  | _quinnhughes I came up here to spend some quiet time alone and she just showed up 😂  | yourinstagram very wrong, quinn. I was here first. You showed up like an hour ago 😂

user03 if you’re not dating then why did you use a heart emoji?  | yourinstagram because I love the lake house 😁  | jackhughes that’s not the reason 😏  | yourinstagram 🖕🏻

Liked by jackhughes, edwards.73 and 527,415 others

yourinstagram | surprise birthday dinner ❤🥰

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_quinnhughes happy birthday 😁

jackhughes don’t be shy. tag the man 😂😏  | jackhughes and happy birthday 🥳❤

lhughes_06 happy birthday. hope you enjoy dinner. i love you ❤😁🥳  | yourinstagram i love you too lukey ❤ and thank you 😁

edwards.73 happy birthday sis 😁

elblue6 happy birthday. i love you ❤  | yourinstagram I love you too ❤

user06 the watch looks like quinn’s 🤔  | jackhughes that’s because it is 😂  | yourinstagram it is not, jack 🙄  | _quinnhughes pretty sure luke stole my watch like 4 months ago 😂

user03 wait so are you dating luke, jack or quinn?  | jackhughes quinn  | _quinnhughes luke  | lhughes_06 jack  | yourinstagram neither 😂

Liked by _quinnhughes, jackhughes and 643,218 others

yourinstagram | guess we’re your classic enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope 😂 getting to where we’re at now was a difficult journey but it is one I would choose to walk again with you a million times before taking the easy way with someone else. the moment I realized I was truly in love with you was the week we were all sick and you took care of everyone, despite being incredibly sick yourself. you have the biggest heart out of anyone I know, quinn. i'm so glad you chose to share it with me ❤ I love you ❤ _quinnhughes #hardlaunch

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jackhughes you two are so disgusting, but I love it 😁

elblue6 so happy for you two. saw this coming when you were 9 😉

lhughes_06 I love you guys 😁

_quinnhughes I love you so much. never thought this would happen but i’m really glad it did ❤  | yourinstagram ❤😘

user04 love this pairing so much 😁

user03 totally had no idea this was going to happen 🙄 happy for you guys though 😁

trevorzegras congratulations. so happy it’s finally out in the open now 😊

quinnsgirlfriend so sad quinn is off the market but I couldn’t ask to see him happy with anyone but you 😁

edwards.73 the entire team has your back y/n. if quinn screws up, let us know 😂 but in all seriousness, congratulations on this. quinn is the best 😁

_quinnhughes ❤❤💍

[localfanbaselurker]

I’m watching “Voltron: Legendary Defender” for the first time and these are my compiled thoughts.

This is Season 3

(S 1-2) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

———————————————————————

<this one will be a little longer because I took more pictures when I watched these two seasons, as I got a little more invested in the show>

(Edit: apparently I can only put 10 pictures per post, so while I planned for this to be season 3 and 4, this has to be a solo season post because I have wayyyy too many thoughts and a lot of them need accompanying pictures)

Pre-Season 3

-> I wonder who is gonna be the new black paladin, I hope it’s Allura. Or Keith I guess, but his ass is NOT ready for leadership

-> I need to know where Shiro is. Bring back my Cruella Deville!

-> the witch is altean! This is gonna be sooo important I just know it

-> I wonder how Allura and Keith will interact now that she sorta accepted him being part galra. that’s actually a really interesting topic.

->Keith being galra is gonna be something very important as well I think.

-> Pidge BETTER find her brother and father this season or I swear Dreamworks is gonna catch these hands

Post-Season 3

-> ^if villain why hot?

->his ideals are giving Roman Empire. (I guess that makes sense considering he’s the prince of the Galra Empire)

->^hmmm.🤨🤔 (I know what you are)

->^Space TyLee! And Space Asami, too!

->^oh so Keith gets to be insecure now, I guess everyone gets their own “angst” episode

->^hes the first to comfort him! is this a “klance” moment? It feels like one

->^Once again have to talk about Allura and her dad. She already threw away all her dad’s memories and his “essence” of him. Now she can’t even stay connected to him by piloting his lion ☹️. I genuinely get so sad every time I think about her. 🙁 All I do at 3 am is cry. 😕

->I originally got super sad about that, but then she became the blue one and I was really happy. But I was reallyyyy confused about the schematics of the switches. (still kinda am) like the lions don’t fit their personalities. And isn’t it the point that they get chosen for a reason?? Like when the blue one chose Lance in s1? And the red one chose Kieth, etc. ?? I guess it makes sense for them to call on other paladins when Shiro “dies” (his ass is not dead, I’m 100% sure of that) but Allura fits Black/Red better imo.

-> But then again, I did like how it was executed/explained. “Oh Lance ur the new red one cus you accepted Keith as ur leader and now you have to be the right hand. Get it cus red is Voltron’s right arm??” like yeah. And of course:

->^Allurance!! I finally see it, now.

-> Also, my supposed question about “langst” was proven wrong, there’s more than just the “seventh wheel” episode.

“Not only am I not meant to be the leader, I guess… I guess now I’m not even meant to be a paladin”

He is really insecure about that isn’t he? Does any of this ever get resolved??

-> this season was huge for klance apparently. They have so many moments together. When they get dragged by evil elsa Lotor to that weird planet and have their lions talk face to face, the shoulder touch, them seeking each other out for/being the first to give the other comfort/reassurance, “Leave the math to Pidge” , Lance being the most upset that Keith isn’t at the parade thing, their teamwork in “Tailing a Comet”, “Yeah, who am I gonna make fun of?”

You guys just kept winning this season honestly slay.

-> The Lore drop that Coran did about the creation of Voltron/Original Paladins. Bro

->I’m still hung up on that. Honerva I could have saved you.

-> Gotta say though im all for an evil couple.

-> I loved all the S1 call backs to the original paladins “I’m a leg!” Like yeah 🩷 you are 💛 and the og blue paladin does the “lance in the intro” thing

->^When they form Voltron for the first time in the flashback, the colors are brighter, much like the original 80s show’s colors, and the captions later read “Defender of the Universe”, which was the name of the original Voltron show. This is an especially fun detail because not only are they honoring the “original paladins/voltron” of the show’s lore, they are also doing so in reference to the original show itself, which I think is all so beautiful

->Baby Allura is soooo cute!

-> We get Shiro back! I knew he wasn’t dead. Low key I was scared he lost another arm or something but no! He’s okay 🖤🤍

-> I did some research and it turns out he is in fact 25, I don’t know whether to be happier or sadder for him. On one hand, thank fuck he’s not like 15-17 like the others, on the other hand, he should be at the club. He should be finding love, he should be at his 9-5 paying taxes and doing laundry not having his arm chopped off and replaced with magic and having to fight in the space coliseum and then escaping and having to pilot a giant robot and be a part of an intergalactic war. (I suppose that last part is true for all of them, but the rest is shiro-specific, and it all makes me a little sad)

-> call me crazy but he looked hotter when his hair was long

-> on that note, WHERE did he find a razor. Did he just use a sword or something?? Like in mulan??

-> in “Tailing a Comet”, they apparently meet alternate space reality!Kuvira from atla:lok , and ASR!Bataar Jr. I mean, really, down to the bun and the mole, as well as the controlling dictatorship-esque behavior and the “really, this is actually for their own good” attitude when it comes to said controlling behavior. Did the writers of each show just share ideas or??

-> im so serious with that last question. The thing that came out of the “quintessence rift” that the original paladins had to fight? A dark spirit from LoK: Book 2: Spirits. Whatever tf happened to zarkon when he got too close? When Unalaq got possessed by Vaatu. I mean really, were they just passing cards like go fish?

->I genuinely cried when Keith left for the Blade of Marmora (to save time, I’m gonna start calling them the “Blades” or “BOM”)

-> however, I feel like him leaving for the blades is gonna be really plot relevant later on

-> I think that’s when S3 ended im pretty sure. I don’t have further thoughts other than those I could’ve discussed if I could upload enough pictures for my S4 thoughts that accompanied them.

These are thoughts I’ve had compiled for a while. I finished S3 on 06/26/24 and S4 on 06/30/24. As of today (07/3/24) I am on S5E3.

I will continue to post my thoughts/Updates on the tag “laura’s first vld”

[hopelessrromantix]

blood sucker | 3

steve harrington x vampire/demon!m!reader x eddie munson

chapter summary: Eddie decides breaking and entering I'd his best course of action... It only he mentioned that to you.

a/n: not much beta, a bit of angst and slight filler before my next one but oop

t/w: stalker-type reader, angst, no beta

masterlist

Smash Mouth

Eddie had never felt more selfish in his life.

From an empty aisle of his favorite record shop, he’d spotted Steve Harrington. To which he’d freaked out and you dragged him back home.

That had been yesterday, and the image of Steve was drilled into his brain.

He hadn’t seen anyone else around, just the brunette in one of his preppy polos, his Family Video vest thrown over his arm.

He was smiling, one hand is his pocket and the other fiddling with the fabric in his hands. He gave some girl a smile, making her giggle and turn to her friend, clearly talking about him. If Eddie didn’t know any better, he’d say Steve had never been through the Upside Down.

And he panicked. Because he wanted to ruin it.

He wanted to walk up and announce himself and find a place in Steve’s life. He wanted to join the group again, to introduce you to his friends. Maybe he could include you in all of this. Maybe he could actually be happy and live like a normal person for once.

And every time he thought about it, he couldn’t help but feel selfish. Finally, they were moving past things. They were out of the Upside Down and everyone important had walked out of hell with them (Max wasn’t quite down yet). Stepping in now, after they’d gotten used to their new normal… could he really do that to them?

Was it selfish to ruin everything just when they were moving past it? Maybe. But he wanted to do it anyway.

Would they even want to see him? School would be ending in a couple months, and Dustin would be running Hellfire. Sure, some of his old friends might miss him, but maybe Hellfire would be less of a target without him yelling at everyone.

Wayne would have one less person around, he probably took up most of their spending anyway. Maybe he could stop working so many long nights, and worrying about Eddie’s future.

Nancy and Robin would be moving on in their lives. Nancy to college and Robin graduates soon. Robin was always nice to him (and he’d bet money she was about as gay as he was). And they’d be their own people, whether in Hawkins or not.

The kids of Hellfire, being Dustin, Mike, Erica and yes even Lucas might need a leader. He pushed them outside of their boundaries. But Dustin could do it, that much he knew. That kid, as annoying as he could be, was a perfect replacement.

And Steve was a popular rich kid. Even better, a genuinely kind popular rich kid. He’d end up with a pretty wife (probably Nancy, which was a win for him), 5 kids, a stable job, and a picket-fenced house.

Where did he fit into all that? A possibly drug addicted super super senior who listens to the devil’s music and may be an undead cannibal?

But the selfish part of him wanted to try anyway.

He missed Dustin and the Hellfire kids, Steve and Robin, even Nancy and that Max kid.

You assured him he could go back. You offered to take him even, to hold his hand through the whole thing. He didn’t know if he could ask that of you.

He was already living with you, living being the important word. But the past few months had made you much more than ‘the guy who saved his life’, as impressive as that title was. You tried to include him in everything. He let you go by yourself to hunt people (he still wasn't into the whole murder thing), though he joined you for small walks through the woods or trips to stores. Stuff that made him feel human again.

And as he slowly grew more confident, that same thought about going back would slip into his head.

He’d been too scared to see anyone else after the accidental run-in with Steve. You’d told him plenty about what they were up to, though.

Dustin had made a makeshift grave in the woods, one away from anyone who may want to disturb it. Everyone had gone to visit it at some point, leaving him small flowers or items they thought he’d like. You’d taken him in the middle of the night once, letting him look over the small altar they’d made. He didn’t know who kept bringing him the beer, cigs, and a joint, but he was rather thankful.

‘People who really understand me!’ He’d announced, already starting to smoke on his way back to your home. Not like it could hurt him anymore.

With his name clear (which he was still confused by, how’d they do it??), he was free to explore. He had a surprising lack of judgment as well. It was strange. As if people had forgotten the ‘serial killer’ on the loose only months earlier.

There were still mentions of Jason and his group, how they’d shown up dead. But his name was never in the mix. There was nothing but the usual stares, mostly gawking at his sense of style or scared he’d make them roll for charisma.

You didn’t seem nearly as interested as he was, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not yet at least.

His eyes cracked open as he forced himself deeper under the covers, melting into the warmth of the sheets. You were out, he didn’t know where. You’d simply asked him to stay in your house, as per usual, leaving him in the empty silence of your home.

He’d asked plenty of questions about your house. It was basically in the middle of nowhere, literally. Your only doors led to completely different places, nothing like the soft, peach colored dawn he saw out your window.

The more he asked, the more he found out that you wouldn’t give many answers. All he’d figured out, is that it was a space between, like the Upside Down. You hadn’t told him much about you, or your life. He wasn’t really one to pry either.

It was ever so slightly concerning that you’d been stalking him and Steve for an unknown amount of time, but the longer he spent with you, the more he realized why.

You simply didn’t understand people. You hadn’t really been around any, not for longer than a few minutes, anyway. He and Steve were your only human interaction.

Stalking wasn’t a concept for you, in fact, talking to people at all wasn’t a concept. Watching and waiting was the only thing you knew. As far as Eddie was aware, you’d been doing it as long as you existed.

He was rather excited to be one of the first people to catch your eye (he bragged frequently), and as you spent more and more time together, you got closer and closer.

Your room was comfortably warm, just enough so his feet didn’t freeze when they hit the wood of your floor.

He changed into some of the clothes you’d bought him. The style was similar to what he’d normally wear, in fact, he was certain he had some of the shirts. He slipped on a band tea and his leather jacket. After he’d arrived at your house, it’d needed some patching, but it was good enough for him.

Being alone in your house was weird. It didn’t feel like his home. But his home was currently wrecked by an “earthquake”, so this was as close as it was getting.

He walked through your living room, glancing at your back door on the way to the kitchen. Much like the front door, it led somewhere else, this time to Hawkins, not that it looked any different from a normal door. He trudged past it, trying to ignore the tug he felt from the door.

Your kitchen was just as normal, save for an absurd amount of wine bottles in a large, fridge-like box. He grabbed one that was half finished, cringing slightly as the deep red sloshed around against the glass.

Since the middle of nowhere had nothing but small, close knit towns, it was hard to take whole victims without starting a search party. Blood was the easier answer. You taught Eddie how to hunt as best you could, showing him how to charm a girl into a back alley, or how just one glance at a boy would get him to follow you in a trance.

He wasn’t a fan at first, but his tune had changed the second the crimson liquid hit his tongue. It was energizing. It wasn’t the same metallic taste he remembered from biting his lip or licking a cut. It was sweet, almost saccharine, though not overwhelming. A taste he could get addicted to.

It was a strange adjustment. One he hadn’t really wanted to make. But there wasn’t really a way to go back now.

He sighed, shaking off the thought and opening up a cabinet. Looking over the strange variety of mugs, ranging from classic tea cups to glasses that looked older than him.

He squinted at a pastel pink one behind a few other cups. It was rather out of place for an old as hell supernatural being, so he grabbed it almost instantly.

To his surprise and mild amusement, it had a cat on it with several red hearts covering the pink mug. It was shockingly cute, the cat’s large face covering the side of the mug. It wasn’t exactly what he was expecting, but a mug’s a mug, right?

He opened the bottle, pouring a full mug.

He stared down at it for a whole minute, meeting his own eyes in the dark reflection. He looked at the bottle, seeing only a date on it, about a week prior.

You’d taken him with you that time, some popular bar a few towns over. You’d managed to find a guy who seemed interested enough in you, and it didn’t take much to convince him out of the bar.

Eddie had panicked when you took him back to your house. The man was practically entranced, not processing much of the world around him. Or maybe he was just blackout drunk. Either way, he’d followed you to a back room and gotten on a table. He hadn’t even complained when you leaned down toward him, cutting open his neck with your teeth.

Eddie watched from the doorway, thinking that maybe he wasn’t as ready to join your hunts as he thought.

He panicked upon seeing the amount of blood dripping from the wound, filling a basin on the floor. He’d  shoved you away from the man. He wasn’t strong enough to get you off, but you backed away willingly, sensing his distress.

Maybe it was seeing the red gush from his wound that made Eddie move. Maybe it was remembering that same feeling. Regardless, Eddie stared at the man on the table, watching as he blinked out of his stupor.

Truthfully, he didn’t remember much else.

You told him what happened after, though by then any wounds leftover had fully healed. He swore up and down he didn’t remember the man stabbing him, Eddie didn’t even know the guy had a knife.

He’d woken up a few hours later, with a familiar black liquid dripping from his mouth.  Only a few drops dripped from the corner of his lips and he swiped up some with a finger. It was thick and dark, like he imagined oil or tar would be. 

He didn’t hesitate to lick it off his hands, cringing in slight disgust at his own actions. Whatever the fuck that stuff was, he found himself addicted to a taste he didn’t recognize. Was home a taste?

But even the mystery tar he’d licked off his hand at four am was less gross than the mug below him. Despite popular belief, he didn’t actually drink the blood of virgins, and he wasn’t any keener on drinking anyone else’s blood.

The disgust always went away when he took his first sip.

He melted into it, slowly drinking down the cup. It was as if it warmed up his body, taking away whatever aches and pains he’d previously felt.

The guilt always came after though. He didn’t even know where that man’s body was, and here he was, drinking a cat mug full of his blood.

Eddie tried not to think about it, pushing the thought out of his head as he filled the cup back up and walked to your living room.

On his way, he passed the back door, slowing down when he felt the same tug as before.

Going back seemed like both the best and worst thing for him. Explaining everything to a group that likely didn’t want him anyway? Would they even listen?

They’d fought to clear his name, but there was no doubt in his mind they’d have done it for whoever Vecna caught in the crossfire. It didn’t guarantee they’d be thrilled about him hiding out for a month.

Then there was the matter of you. And whatever the fuck you were. Explaining his new diet and demon boyfriend wouldn’t be the easiest thing.

And then, he heard that voice in the back of his head.

The stupid one.

The one that gets him in trouble. The one that makes him taunt Jason, or yell at all the other jocks of the school. The one that loved taking risks, regardless of how poorly his decisions usually turned out.

And damn, he was awful at ignoring that voice.

Dustin had never felt more nervous in his life.

Given everything he’s had to deal with, he’d say that was rather impressive.

His days were much more normal than they had once been. There was less worrying about the Upside Down, or what awful creatures would show up at his doorstep next.

School was boring, the only time Dustin was remotely entertained was during lunch.

The Hellfire Club kept their table as well as their weekly meetings. They’d supported each other as best they could, trying to understand a death they’d never truly figure out.

The rest of Hawkins High was recovering just like they were. Jason was gone now, along with a few other Hawkins students.

The town seemed afraid to address the previous murder allegations they’d been so happy to toss out. He’d seen people throw him looks of pity, even the teachers that’d once rolled their eyes at Eddie seemed to miss him.

Dustin didn’t understand, but he didn’t try to. If the rest of the town finally wanted to show Eddie an ounce of respect, he’d let them. Sure they still called him a freak, but that was better than murderer, right?

Eventually, the police decided Eddie couldn’t have… crushed… Chrissy on his own, nor could he have killed the others found dead. According to the law, Eddie was innocent, and that was good enough for him.

He hoped it had something to do with the slightly makeshift (and only technically fake) accounts they’d each given of ‘seeing Eddie and Chrissy’ on the day of her death. Of course, the recent disappearance of yet another asshole jock may have helped, but he liked to think he did too. Despite Nancy’s original curiosity, the group stayed far away from what may have been an actual Hawkins murder.

Regardless, life in Hawkins was slowly moving back to normal.

For the kids of Hellfire, Eddie had been a forbidden topic at first. They were all in silent mourning, afraid to hurt each other by mentioning his name. Eventually, Mike cracked a joke about Eddie climbing up on their table again and the whole club laughed. Finally, they were slightly more whole.

Dustin sat in Eddie's seat now. It felt illegal, like he was usurping a throne he could never truly own. But Eddie had given him one job, and it was hard to watch over all of Hellfire when he couldn’t even see them from his seat.

On one of his many trips to Wayne’s new trailer, Dustin had picked up any spare Hellfire t-shirts Eddie made for new members. There weren’t many, but now they sat in Hellfire’s club room, awaiting any new arrivals.

For now, Dustin wanted to shove Vecna in the back of his mind and finish out ‘86. No thinking of demobats, or the Mind Flayer, or the Upside Down and its strange slithering vines.

“Think you’re up to running a campaign?”

Mike’s question interrupted Dustin’s thoughts. He was faced with the sudden realization that he’d missed most of the conversation.

“I don’t really think I should,” Dustin mumbled, grabbing another chip out of his bag and slowly eating it.

The rest of Hellfire had gone home. Most of their meetings were spent talking about new characters or simply hanging out. It was good enough for them, taking turns running small one-shot campaigns. But eventually, a DnD club was going to have to play DnD.

The group looked at each other, all debating who should speak. Mike glanced at Lucas who glanced over to Will (who was now sporting his own Hellfire shirt). Eventually, Mike and Will both glared at Lucas who let out a silent sigh.

“You love this stuff man,” Lucas offered. “You won’t do it like he did, but that’s fine. Just do it like you.”

As if he needed the reminder.

Nobody could DM like Eddie could. Honestly, no one could do anything like Eddie could. Sitting in Eddie’s seat was just too weird. He wasn’t Eddie. No one was.

He didn’t want anyone to be Eddie.

Even though he was doing exactly what Eddie asked, staying with Hellfire felt weird. It wasn’t the same without some eccentric freak making fun of them. It wasn’t the same without Eddie jumping on tables or insulting every jock he saw.

Usually he’d ask Steve for help, but Steve was just as lost as he was.

Dustin had planned on trying to play matchmaker with Robin when they got back from the Upside Down. Maybe Eddie could actually get a boyfriend (Dustin didn’t really need Eddie to come out and say it).

But now that idea just left a sour taste in his mouth. Like he wasn’t allowed to think of it without Eddie there.

“Not right now, okay? Just… not yet,” Dustin mumbled. He grabbed another chip despite not being hungry. The room seemed so much colder from Eddie’s chair.

He could see his friends still looking between each other, defeated. With Will back in Hawkins, there was a new face at Hellfire’s table. Two new faces, actually, but El rarely stayed after school.

“Give me some more time.” Dustin didn’t know how long he’d be saying that. How much time did he need?

He definitely didn’t need this much time after Billy died, but in fairness, Billy had tried to run him over and had beat the shit out of Steve.

How much time was he supposed to need? Everyone else was doing fine, right? Even Steve was managing. Poorly, but he was managing.

The group went back to idle conversation. He pretended not to see how the three all nudged each other under the table, each wanting someone else to say something else about a campaign. There wasn’t much of a point anyway, Dustin wouldn’t change his mind.

It just didn’t feel right.

He’d gotten a ride home with Mike, joining Nancy in ‘critiquing’ Mike’s music taste.

When he’d gotten home, he sat at his desk staring down at his homework. He’d spent so long drifting that it’d taken hours to finish, each problem seeming slower than the last.

After he had finally finished, he’d collapsed in bed, staring blankly into the ceiling.

The sky had turned dark, and though the lack of light made it hard to see, Dustin made no move to fix it. He could hear the distant sound of dogs barking, muffled by the glass of his window.

How did everyone do it?

Will was back in town, apparently staying for a little while longer. Mike was spending time with El and the rest of Hellfire, falling back into the groove of friendship he’d had for years. Lucas was worried over Max most of the time, but was always positive. Max didn’t give up just like that, after all. Steve was working as normal, pushing his way through community college to the job his father was sure to offer. Even Nancy and Robin were doing good with school and the small friendship they’d made.

It was like they’d wiped their hands clean of the Upside Down, simply moving on with their lives. They were all back to normal, as normal as they could be after fighting a really tortured spider enthusiast.

And yet, Dustin sat on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering how the fuck he was supposed to be okay.

Is this what watching over everyone meant? He wanted to ask, to walk over to Eddie’s house or show up at his locker and demand answers. How could he be sure he was doing it right? What if Mike was a better DM for Hellfire than him? What if Garreth or Jeff was more capable? Maybe Will would do well.

But Eddie picked him. And he desperately hoped he was doing it right.

Though he tried to catch himself, his eyes trailed over to the vest hung on the back of his door. The worn fabric was adorned with pins and hand-sewn patches, though Dustin could see a few drops of blood still on the fabric. Most of it had washed out, but he knew exactly what the darkened spots on the denim were.

Steve had given it to him when they got out of the Upside Down. The older boy hadn’t wanted it, knowing how close Dustin and Eddie were.

It felt wrong taking it. He felt the instant need to give it to Wayne, something for the man to keep with the rest of his mementos of Eddie. But he took it anyway.

It stayed on that hanger since he’d gotten home that same day. He couldn’t put it on, after all, it still belonged to Eddie.

He’d missed his mother asking if he wanted dinner some time earlier. He’d only mumbled he wasn’t hungry, unsure if she’d even heard him. As far as she knew, he was mourning the losses like the rest of Hawkins, he’d never told her much about Eddie. Thankfully, she hadn’t pushed him yet. She’d simply left him alone to stare at the ceiling into the night.

The cool blue tone of his room was too familiar. Every time he looked around, all he could see were the vine covered walls of Eddie’s bedroom. Though his room was full of far different items, he couldn’t help but remember how that cool blue had taken one of his best friends from him.

He screwed his eyes closed, forcing the deep tone out of his vision. Even the darkness was better than a reminder of the Upside Down.

He wasn’t sure how long he kept his eyes closed. His breathing had evened out and his heart rate was calm and steady, finally letting him relax. He wasn’t sleeping, but that was fairly normal as of late. He could hear crickets outside, chirping away in the cool air.

Despite his certainty that he wouldn’t be sleeping that night, Dustin decided to try anyway.

He let the repetitive chirping lull him to sleep, the soft coo of an owl joining in to help relax him. He could hear the same dog bark, the loud sound ringing out into the night. The chilled air ran along his skin, turning the smooth surface rough with goosebumps, but he didn’t mind much, not with how crisp and relaxing the low buzzing of cicadas was.

He closed his eyes for a few more seconds before his brow furrowed.

His eyes snapped over to his window, his head whipping around on the pillow.

Sure enough, it was open, the old latches both hanging loosely from above the empty window.

Now, Dustin was certain he closed that window. It was far too uncomfortable and cool to have the pane up, much less the screen itself. He wouldn’t dream of opening that thing before bed.

And just as Dustin was about to leave the bed and tiredly close the window, he saw a hand gripping the window sill.

Shit shit shit!

He’d never had someone break in, and definitely never had someone use his room to do so. He was silently cursing himself for not locking the window, not that it would help much now.

Another hand grabbed the windowsill, followed by a small groan as someone hoisted themselves up.

Panic was starting to set in, and Dustin was pissed about it.

After everything he’d seen, some guy in his house still scared him?

He could hear the person mumbling, trying to haul themself through the window.

Dustin shut his eyes again, trying to relax and look like he was sleeping. He heard the person fall to the floor, slamming down with a loudly whispered “fuck!”.

They realized their mistake almost immediately, gasping and looking over to Dustin. They let out a soft exhale when they saw him still with his eyes closed.

Dustin tried to stop his hands from shaking, hoping the person wouldn’t see him clenching his sheets.

He could hear light mumbling, and a soft thud a few seconds later. He could hear them softly groan, standing themselves back up and walking toward the bedroom door.

Though Dustin was slightly thankful they were leaving, a sudden panic flooded his mind. He had no idea where his mother was, or when the intruder would find her.

That panic is what caused Dustin to slip out of bed as quietly as he could, making his way around the discarded clothes on his floor.

Could he beat them in a fight? No, probably not. He couldn’t even beat Erica in a fight.

Well… actually… could anyone?

Whoever this person was, they clearly weren’t very coordinated… or were just really bad at walking. Hopefully, that would be an advantage.

He glanced around the room, looking for something to get the upperhand. The only thing he spotted was a dirty cup, once filled with trashy soda, that he’d long since forgotten to take to the kitchen.

He grabbed it as quietly as possible, sneaking up behind the figure. They paused, making Dustin freeze in place.

They didn’t move any closer, just looking from side to side, as if trying to spot something.

The second he got a clear enough shot, he took a deep inhale, causing the person to whip around.

The familiar face immediately registered in his mind, calming him down.

Unfortunately, the cup was already colliding with their mouth, crashing into their jaw with a sickening click.

“Oh FUCK, MAN!”

“What the FUCK EDDIE?!”

Both parties screamed and yelled at the same time, covering their mouths a second later.

Distant footsteps started, stopping at Dustin’s door.

“Hey Dusty, you okay hun?” His mother’s confused voice was at the door, clearly hesitant to go in. “Is someone in there?”

Dustin was far too distracted to answer at first.

Eddie Goddamned Munson was standing in the middle of his room, alive and well.

He looked different. Not completely different, most people probably wouldn’t notice a change. But Dustin took note of the small, healed over scars on his face, and the way he seemed more skittish. Even in the dark of his room he could tell Eddie was tired. Slight bags hung under his eyes, dimming the brown color he knew well. It felt like maybe Eddie was dead after all.

But worst of all, Dustin could feel the tears gather in his eyes.

The swirl of thoughts in his head. How? When? Why? Why now? Why here? Why him?

And what the ever-loving fuck took so long?!

“Dustin?” His mother prompted, turning the locked doorknob slightly. Eddie’s eyes bore into his, as if silently begging him not to say anything. As if Dustin would let anyone know after all they’d seen.

Dustin swallowed, coughing lightly and hoping his voice held up. “Oh, sorry! Trying to fix a radio.”

“I take it the volume’s broken,” She remarked, sounding slightly unamused. “Try to keep it down, okay? Don’t want the neighbors asking why you’re screaming at midnight for no good reason.” He agreed, hearing a soft chuckle before she walked down the hall.

The adrenaline faded, allowing both him and Eddie to relax their stances and let their arms fall to their sides.

For the first few minutes, they just stared.

Dustin stared because he was conflicted.

One part of him wanted to cheer and sob and ask him how he was. He wanted to bring Eddie right back into Hellfire, maybe even help him finish the year with Cs.

And the other part was fucking furious. At Eddie, at himself, at Vecna, and all of Hawkins, who knew! He had a million and one questions and no idea how to ask any of them.

“Uh… hey.” Eddie waved his hand slowly, lowering his voice so Dustin’s mother wouldn’t hear.

“‘Hey’?” Dustin questioned, staring at the older man with an unreadable expression. Eddie was slightly surprised at how scary the brat looked, like he was willing to swing at any minute.

“It’s been over a month. We… thought you were dead. We thought we left you…” Dustin trailed off for a moment. “I’m sorry I left you.”

Eddie seemed unsure, his eyes still darting back and forth, as if looking for an exit.

“It’s a long story. A long freaky story but… here I am, I guess. Not how I planned on doing this,” he hadn’t planned on it at all, really, “But I’ve officially joined the Made-It-Out-of-the-Upside-Down-Alive Club… kinda.” He cringed at the last word, half hoping Dustin didn’t hear.

Dustin gave an empty stare, his mouth hanging open slightly as if unsure which one to ask first. Eddie could see all of them racing by, anticipating the many things Dustin surely wanted to know.

“What happened to you?”

It was one of the few times Dustin starred Eddie down. Despite Eddie’s imposing persona, Dustin wasn’t afraid. Eddie was just really good at acting and liked annoying the shit out of jocks, but Eddie wasn’t scary.

Eddie, on the other hand, was staring because he didn’t know how to feel.

Maybe he felt angry? Why the hell didn’t he walk quieter? Why’d he even come at all?!

Maybe it was sadness? The kid he’d taken under his wing was staring up at him with his big, glossy eyes, just begging Eddie  for an answer. Dustin had never looked so… broken.

Maybe guilt? Now that he was here, staring Dustin in the face, he wondered what had taken him so long. He could've had movie nights and DnD, and an actual friendship with the other kids his age. He could’ve been graduating this year finally, but no.

Maybe it could be reliefMaybe seeing Dustin was what he needed to be… normal again. Well, as ‘normal’ as he usually was.

“...a lot.”

The room was stagnant and the cold air did nothing to clear the tension. Dustin stared at Eddie, all wording and reasoning caught in his throat. Eddie stared right back, wondering how to explain himself to Dustin.

"I don't know man… I don't know," Eddie shook his head slowly, thinking over the past weeks. "It's all just a lot of pain, then darkness, then I wake up. That's about it."

He shrugged, staring down at the ground. It was harder to meet Dustin's eyes than he expected. He felt like he was twelve again, trying to explain to Wayne why he thought smashing a cup with a baseball bat was a good idea.

In his defense, it was fun.

"Where have you been? It's been weeks…" Dustin trailed off, trying to find the words. He'd never really had a friend come back from the dead before. Well, there was Hopper, so it isn't technically a first.

"Yeah… it's a long story." Eddie shrugged half heartedly, trying to slip past the topic.

"I've got time." Dustin smiled, holding Eddie's gaze like the older man would die all over again if he looked away. "I've got plenty of time for this."

Eddie nodded slowly.

Where to start?

Did he start at demon boyfriend or work backwards? Or should he lead up to it? There's no good way to tell someone you're an undead cannibal… is there? Suddenly he was wishing you were there. Whether to explain for him or get him the hell out of there, he didn't know.

He only realized how long had passed when Dustin was staring at him with his head tilted.

Even with Dustin's attention on him, he couldn't think of what to say. That was a first.

He always knew what to say, usually some dumb shit that got him weird stares and vague threats. He was the loudest one in the room, usually that meant being the most hated in the room but he'd grown used to that part.

"Eddie?"

"Maybe it's not the best time for a recount of everything,"

Dustin's jaw dropped, "Clearly you didn't die in the Upside Down and I think now's a great time to figure out immortality."

Right. Of course any same person wouldn't think he died.

But he remembered death. A strange mix of contradictions that he didn't think he could even begin to explain. The Dungeon Master suddenly had no words to describe the fantastical… how ironic.

Steve was out in the middle of the woods -- again.

Given that Eddie was originally a wanted criminal, the kids (and Wayne) made a small tribute to him. It was far from any real landmarks, reducing the chances that someone random would find it.

It was decorated with things everyone had brought. Thought most of them hadn't been sure what to bring, they'd gotten most of their tips from Dustin.

Steve set a beer down by the rock they'd moved to act as a headstone for a body that would never be there. He slid a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, tossing them next to the batch of flowers Nancy and Robin had brought a week ago. They were beginning to wilt now, showing the first signs of deterioration.

He sat down in front of the headstone, looking over the items decorating it. A set of dice, flowers, a few cassettes and now Steve's additions.

"Hey man,"

God it felt weird talking to a rock.

Eddie wasn't here. He was still in the Upside Down, surrounded by the things that killed him.

Steve didn't notice his hand on his neck, an involuntary reaction he'd developed only recently.

"Uh, the guys are trying to convince Dustin to do a story or something. I don't know what you're supposed to call it," he shrugged. He didn't know much about DnD, but he never claimed to. "He's hesitant, I guess."

The air was stagnant, only just beginning to warm up for spring. March was long gone now, and the first signs of green were showing.

"I know we weren't exactly on good terms for too long but uh," Steve glanced down at the grave, eyes tracing the dark glass he's placed down.

The ground was cool under him, though the sticks and large branches made for an uncomfortable seat.

The forest was quiet around him. The only noise was the distant honking of cars and the wind rustling the stiff branches.

“I miss you.”

He wasn’t sure how to feel about the admission, really. He couldn’t see himself missing someone like Eddie Munson before all of… this. Even after fighting everything from the Upside Down, he still understood none of it. Not really, anyway. He didn’t think he ever would though, and he’d accepted that a while ago.

“He’d be honored.”

Steve froze up at the sentence. He most certainly didn’t say that.

He looked around him, trying to spot someone else in the treeline.

“Hello?” He questioned, brows furrowed as he looked for any sign of life.

“Hello Steven.”

Okay, perhaps there were better ways to make your first real introduction, but given that Eddie was currently missing from your house, you had to ask around.

 You stepped from behind a tree, making yourself more visible. The action drew Steve’s attention immediately, and his eyes widened as he looked over at you.

And dear god, you'd treasure the look of awe in his eyes for the rest of your long, long life.

[quietsamurai98]

So, thoughts on Doctor Who Season 1/14/40 now that it's over... MAJOR SPOILERS WITHIN!

It was... fine? I guess?

I've been doing a Doctor Who rewatch between the releases of the new episodes. Holding up the other seasons next to the new one throws some issues into sharp relief.

First and foremost, probably the root of most of the other issues... The episode count. The season was just way, way too short. Eight episodes (nine, including Church on Ruby Road) is just not enough time to fully flesh out the main characters and their relationship and dynamic, not enough time to build a cohesive storyline, and not enough time to pace the story correctly.

Second... I feel like the characters of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday just weren't explored as thoroughly as they should've been, and definitely not the relationship/dynamic between the two, especially when one episode (Dot and Bubble) has the Doctor and Ruby practically off screen almost all episode, and another (73 Yards) has the Doctor off screen all episode and Ruby basically stripped of all agency. A few more episodes could've done wonders for letting the audience get to know the characters better.

Third... The lack of a cohesive storyline. Yes, there are some recurring things (Susan Twist cameos, the TARDIS growling, the snowing, the pantheon), but it really felt like you could basically take episodes 1 though 6 and shuffle them, with minimal changes made, and it wouldn't make much of a difference. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that something like that happened in production, and that Devil's Chord was originally meant to air significantly later in the season before being moved up for Reasons™.

IMO, the best single season of NuWho was season 10, with Twelve and Bill Potts. God, I loved that season. Bill is probably one of my favorite companions, Twelve was firing on all cylinders,The ongoing mystery of What's in The Vault?, the exploration of Missy's character, and the finale... Actually, let me talk about the finale a bit.

I feel like Empire of Death fell a bit flat for me because it had stakes so comically high that they wrapped right back around to being completely meaningless. If all life in practically the entire universe is ended, there are no stakes left, because you know it'll be undone by the end of the episode. The ending is a forgone conclusion right from the beginning. And I'm sorry, but the twist being "there was no twist! this mythical, extremely important, deeply mysterious character is just some woman!" is just a shitty twist. It's deeply unsatisfying. It's only a twist because people didn't expect the story to be bad. And yes, yes, I get it, "everyone is important, in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before, etc", but we've already done that! Twice! Donna Noble and Clara Oswald!

Compare that with the finale of season 10. It had reasonable stakes, stakes that the show could afford to lose without having to retcon everything. It had a satisfying twist with Missy deciding to kill The Master, and then a double twist with The Master killing Missy right back. And then, most importantly, the Doctor loses. He's up against impossible odds, and for once, he actually fails. That's how you do a damn twist in a show that constantly has the Doctor pulling impossible wins out of his back pocket! Of course, that's not the kind of twist you can pull all the time, but still. It's engaging. You're not just sitting there wondering "Oh, how are they going to retcon the apocalypse this time?" So yeah... I'd prefer to see losable stakes in the future. Or at least, stakes that aren't so catastrophically high that the only resolution is "they're gonna have to retcon it within the episode somehow".

For as much complaining as I've done, overall, I have to say that 1/14/40 was fine. It was solid television. A good 7/10. Not an internet 7/10, where anything below an 8 is dogshit, but an actual 7/10. It was better than average, but still pretty middling.

[nickfoo]

O fellow fire tank enthusiast, I have an extremely unique question for you that’s kinda important to me 😅

How do you think Bege would think of Sugar , from Dressrosa? 

I’ve got this whole series of events that live in my head rent free where Sugar used her powers to evade capture by the marines (after the whole fiasco with the straw hats) and she ends up meeting Bege when the Fire tanks go to Dressrosa. They kinda know who each other are and have a small temporary alliance to get rid of the kissy-germ people and get away from the marines, and she just ends up leaving with them because she doesn’t have anywhere else to go

What if the Doflamingo family never felt like a real family to her, and on top of that she recently learned that her actual sister (Monet) got killed?? Bege’s papa gut kicks in and he treats her like his own?🥺

Aand she joins the family ?? maybe?? Bege and Sugar are like my top fave one piece characters and this whole mess started from the most random oprp convo on Twitter.. A Bege acc said something about hating absent fathers and a Sugar acc asked, “I don’t have a dad, will you be mine,” and he says YES. It’s so ridiculous but it just stuck in my head and it’s forever canon for me now because they’re my blorbos 

IM SORRYY I kinda rambled a bunch but I’ve not really told anyone about this and I just wanna know what you think about it bcuz you’re like the coolest guy ever to me with all the fire tank stuff you do 🥺🥺

Hey there! This is a long reply from me, so its all under the read more.

I can’t speak for what another person rping as a character would do, as my take on the character might be different than theirs. But I can give you what I’d think the character would do! I've always felt that Sugar seemed quite happy with her life in the Donquixote family. She was doted upon by Doflamingo, not only as a member of his 'family', but with her power, she was a vital to him as a piece in his hold on Dressrosa. Despite its dysfunctions, the Donquixote family is a tight knit group - even if one of the only things holding them together in unison was their mutual devotion to their captain. A form of comradery was definitely there. They were a group of misfits who had found something to be united and accepted in. But now, I'll give my opinion on how I’d think Bege would go with your scenario of if Sugar evaded military capture in Dressrosa and was present when the Fire Tank Pirates were around looking for Lola. I actually think Bege would be wary of Sugar. She was a member of the Donquixote pirates - a ruthless group. And she was also hugely responsible for the subjugation of Dressrosa. Her devil fruit is very dangerous. Due to her fruit power, she looks like a 10 yr old child, but she's actually 22. It's a deceptive appearance that could be used ( and which she has used ) quite maliciously, and I think Bege would pick it up as such. ( and respect that lol. ) As for adopting her, I'm...again not sure. Bege's not like Doflamingo, who had a knack for finding abandoned kids with nowhere to go and taking them into his crew. I think not only do those kids remind Doflamingo of himself as a child, but kids have a sort of pure, honest admiration that he craves and that kind of unfiltered affection can't be found anywhere else. Its also very easy to win that admiration over to devotion. Doflamingo adopted both Sugar and Monet into his family when they were very young. Sugar was 9 and Monet was 17. They are both surely devoted to him. Anyway, I think Bege has instinctive dad tendencies to look out for the kids and young adults who he's allied with (now that he's a father and he’s learned some basic human empathy ), but I'm not sure he'd be adopting kids into his crew/mafia family out of the blue. He's not very into doing good deeds without it having any benefit for him. (Unless Chiffon helps him change his mind.) Also to keep in mind that Sugar is mentally a young adult. He wouldn't talk to her like a little kid. He might slip up now and then, but quickly remind himself she’s a full fledged dangerous pirate with a history. Bege’s a very practical thinker. I think he'd be more interested in her skills and power. But I think he'd not be so sure he could trust her. That power of hers is pretty scary, after all.

[alyjojo]

Past Life 🪡 Karmic Spread January 2024 - Gemini

Character Card: The Captain (past), The Musician (present)

Gender I’m Picking Up On (in the past life): Male past, Female present

Who You Were: The Devil

What You Did: 9 Wands

How It Ended: 10 Wands rev

What Karma Was Brought With You: Queen of Swords

Who You Brought With You: The Hermit

Additional energy: 6 Pentacles

Past Life Oracle: Trust and Faith & Atlantis (past), Scribe or Writer & Karmic Relationship (present)

Dreaming Way: Fox (past), Whips & Lady (present)

Charms:

Saw 🪓 on Fox

Sun ☀️ on 10 Wands rev

Feather 🪶 on Musician

Apple 🍎 on Queen of Swords

Happy Cloud ☁️ on Karmic Relationship

Having done Cancer’s, which had by far the most specific details I’ve ever gotten, Spirit seemed to do that one for me & I just wrote it down. Your reading is the polar opposite. I’ve gone down a whole rabbit hole 🐰 over this, an *entire day* of Googling, Wikipedia, countless historic articles and conservation efforts, just to come up with a broad generalization, time period, and no historical ties to any *specific* anything really. Did they not keep records? Is this area generally ignored in history? I have no idea. If you choose to attempt to find an actual name, date & face, specific information, good luck 🙏 I know fun facts about all sorts of things now, and most are hardly related. Spirit usually gives me bits at a time, and I have to piece it together, like a puzzle. I saw travel, laid out Atlantis and heard “Atlantic”, with 6 Swords I saw Christopher Columbus on an expedition, and was like “no freakin way”…it’s not, but right lane. Spain 💯 similar journey, principle, and purpose. When I got to charms, it was “saw on the Fox”, then it was no…move it to the neck. Weird, but ok. Fox is deceitful, that matched up with the “bad guy” I got in the preshuffle, you cut them off (I assumed.) But nooo. “Fur trade” and then “Fox” after, seeing the saw cutting off the Fox’s head I was like OH. I see. Specifically islands, I’ve researched every fox in South America, and every time I’d finish I would hear “island”, I’m like “there’s nothing on an island!” 😆Whew lord. If it’s not an island it’s not the right spot. There’s one, idk which one, I have to let it go & move on. No names either, just “Europeans in 1800s” that’s as specific as history gets for me…idk if it’s even 1800s, and idk why Spirit is being all cryptic and shit with yours…I can’t win them all apparently.

*You* were the bad guy. From Spain, your character card is The Captain, and you were the big man in charge of…I’m not sure what, initially. I see you on a ship but not as the captain of it. You were someone important, held in high esteem by whoever was in charge of trade/exports, maybe those still in Spain that were receiving. The Hierophant here may be showing a King, or someone in a very high & respected position of authority that you reported to. Faith is also shown as having great importance in your world, Catholic specifically, but I’m not sure where that fits because I only see the fur trade as the dominant focus for you. Or you could have been a shady religious figure that somehow had dominant power over trade/hunting, specifically furs. You are described as The Devil, clarified by The Devil, a lust for money, paid for by Death, pain, blood, and eventually extinction - if my research is the correct fox 🦊 But those weren’t the only animals by far. At your death, it was coming to light how much damage had been caused to the population, I’m seeing it as being significant, for all of the people who contributed, your team had the most kills by far. I don’t see it having ended by your death, but this being the first major jolt of realization for the public, inhabitants of the island/s again it’s an island/s being highlighted, or anyone else paying attention at the time. Age wise, I’m getting around 50. Not old, but old enough for work related things to be getting harder, I’m getting an unrelated forearm injury, could be something like carpal tunnel or a muscle injury, had caused what used to be normal more of a struggle. But the death is a natural one.

In this life, you are female, and show up as Queen of Swords, a writer, a musician, and possibly a teacher too - with the Apple 🍎 charm. If not a teacher, it’s possible you’re vegetarian/vegan. I hope not, because no one that doesn’t eat meat wants to hear it’s karmic for hurting animals, that’s kinda fkd up. Would make sense though. Much of your story probably is, especially in regards to family, I get them being cruel and almost nonexistent. Particularly a woman, possibly a mother but could be someone else, they’re reaching for the Whip of all things. This is someone emotionally cold, possibly alone, by choice or not I’m not sure, and they do mean things to you. Or did as a child, physical harm on some level, even if they justified it as “discipline”, it’s much harsher than most of us have ever had to endure, and probably for less serious offenses. I am getting that this person existed as karma for pain you had inflicted - and also to help form your own personality, who you’re meant to be, which is Queen of Swords - the Queen who has seen some shit 💯 she knows it all and protects herself with this sword. She will hear you out and happily communicate, but if your words don’t match the truth, she will swiftly cut your head off (with words) and move on with her life. This describes you, and because of what you’ve been through and what you’ve seen, your purpose is one of inspiring others, while protecting yourself.

The Tower & 10 Swords shows where you’ve come from, very painful experiences 😞 The Musician is someone that is grateful for everything they have, even if it’s not much, and they turn their experiences into inspiration for others. Teaching is here, all levels of creative writing or music is here, with Wheel of Fortune, this is your destiny 🙏 You may have doubts but it is. Even if you’re not a musician, music affects you on a very deep level, and with the feather being here, you may sometimes feel like you’re getting actual messages through songs you hear - if so that’s true you are. That could be the way your Spirits know how to get your attention, or one of them may have been a musician, an ancestor of yours, and if so they were meant to be with you. The Hermit shows who you’ve brought, no one. Not this lady with Whips. Not anyone that’s been cruel to you. Not any lovers, though you always have soulmates around, or people that could become soulmates, none of them are from this life. The Hermit is clarified by 9 Pentacles though, love may not be what you even want, you’re someone that feels perfectly secure alone, all of your things are exactly as you want them, and you hesitate with love for fear of someone else messing up your flow or routines. I do see plenty of lovers, none that you stick with for too long, I heard “they’re all crazy” 😜 You like the heat of passion, and with passion comes crazy, so you stay in things for the fun and always kinda stay emotionally detached, expecting it to end, and when it eventually does, you’re not bothered.

This Karmic relationship being highlighted with The Cloud is either a child or someone you knew as a child, could be a Leo, or someone that feels like sunshine, they get a lot of positive attention and are successful in their life. Could be someone famous or with a high position in their field. You could’ve spent summers together while young, you feel over the moon when you’re with them, like a couple of kids no matter what age you are. Wheel of Fortune is being pointed out again before I close and I heard “research your North Node”. That’s your destiny, purpose, why you came here, probably has something to do with creativity because that’s all over your reading. When in doubt, head away from South Node and towards the North, and Spirit will help you.

[lilisouless]

i’m glad your poll is no longer as anti-nina as it was, but it still makes me so sad my fav character is apparently everyone’s least favourite 😭 why do you think people see her as the most expendable (after matthias, which is a whole other can of worms)

I honestly didn't know Nina wasn't as liked as i though, i was sure she was one of the gv characters everyone liked.

I have diferent theories, maybe people see her as less expendable because, a lot of tumblr people prioritize ships over character and (as another poll of mine showed) at least among my mutuals helnik is not as liked as wesper or kanej , so they are not thinking on Nina as an expendable character, just a sacrifice to preserve the other ships (a very shallow reasoning if you ask)

Now , on the "least evil crow" i was expecting people to have diferent opinions, since the parameters of good and evil are diferent for every people. The thing is that i was expecting people to vote Wylan higher because a lot of us conffuse "nice" with "good" and Wylan is pretty much the nicer out of the crows. The surprising thing was that Inej ended up leading that poll while Nina got so little votes ,less that Matthias for godness sake.

My theory for that (hope is not true) may be that people have a really REALLY outdated labeling for bad and good

religious,quiet and wise girls are "good", loud, flirty and hot headed girls are "bad" , thats how a lot of people think and i am really afraid people might be fitting Inej and Nina on those labels. I adore Inej, with all my heart, you all know i do and i hate when people get her wrong. But between those two, the most heroic one , the ligther of the greys is clearly Nina. Not that Inej is a bad person, she is simply not the girl that is oriented to save a whole country, she still wins "goodness" points for going out of her way to save slaves. This is not saying is wrong thinking Inej is the least evil, just that so little votes for Nina make no sense.

Also, now that i think about it. It could be the already mentioned ship focussed mindset. Lets be honest, only half of the fandom loves and see Inej and Nina for their characters , the other half only see them as self inserts, only whorthy of being studied in their relationships with Kaz and Matthias. This is why EVERYTHING about Inej must be related to Kaz and Nina is better off dead than witouth Matthias (soc fandom has more misoginy than you would expect)

Therefore this people see Inej/Kaz as a devil/angel thing, while Nina and Matthias as a flirty girl/quiet boy , which probably supports while they are not seen as individual people , just extensions of their ships.

Now for the "which crows would win on a fight" which, obviously is Nina! can the other crows freaking raise the dead? I´ll leave it like this: Superman beats Batman, Batman himself knows it thats why he needs a lot of preparations and resources (so whoever voted Kaz over Nina, Jesper and Inej, like huh?)

I am NOT trying to prop out Nina at the expense of Inej,(i am not stupid, i know what that would imply) i actually think this is missing Inej´s character too, along Matthias she is the crow that goes trought the most moral challenges and she is shown to be extremelly competent at fighting by her own merits (she is the only important non grisha female on the whole saga) i think those things make her special.This is NOT to say people should like Nina more than her, i love that Inej is the most beloved crow in most grishaverse circles. I just think that people see Nina as more expendable (like the question said) because of a mix of stereotypes and shipping

[keithal]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written :)

oh hello! beloved enterprisery this is my fave game to do of all time, so thank u for this :D three things before we get into it: (1) out of respect for u, the first two will be iwtv fics, (2) most of these are my least popular works LMAO and (3) this got pretty long. sorry abt that.

hell and you: modern day devils minion w old man daniel and armand. sometimes i forget how much i like this fic and then i'll remember "i wrote a fic abt armand being daniel's sugar daddy, LOL." it's very funny to me personally. i especially love this bit i threw in:

He fills the apartment with the smell of his cologne and something underneath that it can’t quite mask. A smell like water left to stand too long or flowers left too long in a vase.

i like the idea of vampires smelling like death. i can forgive this tho bc i think in the later installments of the vc anne rice said vampires smell like mayo? which is ... well. at least much more attention-grabbing than what i did.

damn these vampires: an armandaniel fic that takes place immediately after the season finale. this fic was majorly inspired by a thought that woke me up from deep sleep. armand and daniel have history. armand (i'm guessing) blocked daniel's memories. but didn't wipe them. daniel can't access them, but they're still there. so how funny would it be if daniel was jealous of louis being w armand but has no fucking idea why.

He smokes one on his walk back to the penthouse, thinking of how he had stood there in the aftermath, staring at Rashid—Armand—hovering over them like fucking Mary Poppins, his hand interlocked with Louis’s, and—instead of doing what a Pulitzer-winning, seasoned journalist of his caliber should’ve been doing in the face of being this royally fucked over—absurdly, inexplicably, Daniel noted the position of Armand’s thumb: on top.

i make myself laugh.

keep on keeping on, dean winchester: deancas s13 au where jack is a baby. i can't actually think of a part of it that stands out without any context (which, in my opinion, is a good sign), but i can say that i enjoy this part quite a bit:

Friday morning, as they’re making their way through the sticks toward the interstate, Sam says, “Hey, guess what I bought,” and holds up a dusty Sing-A-Long CD. “Fuck no,” Dean says. “We are not listening to Metallica all the way to Sioux Falls with a baby in the back.” “He likes it! Right, Jack?” he calls over his shoulder. Jack makes an incandescent gurgling sound. “See? Kid knows any music made after 1979 sucks ass.” “Singing in early childhood is important, Dean. It helps kids with language development, memory, and emotional regulation, and it entrains their social visual behavior.” “Thanks, Spock. You’re the pride of the Federation.” “Dean.” “Dude, I’m just saying, we can entrain his social visual behavior with the classics. We don’t need that baby crap. It’s the 21st century. All we need is Zep, Cash, some AC/DC—”

i worked really hard to capture dean's voice--like, harder than i've ever worked to scrub my own voice from a piece of writing. the amount of references and sayings in this bitch? sheesh.

i'm also very happy with how the relationship btwn jack and dean developed. one person who commented made a very intelligent observation that even i hadn't realized: i made dean see himself in jack. and it makes sense, doesn't it? jack's mom died bc of the supernatural; he wasn't allowed to process this loss at all; and he was left in the care of a father who'd lost a spouse. a father whose grief made him mean and treated his son like an object (hence the "it" pronouns used in the beginning).

anyway! very happy w how it turned out :)

long live the kingslayer: an elriel mission fic. i've spoken abt it like. a million times by now. and i still love it <3 there's just so much real estate to work w when it comes to elain. she's so underdeveloped that anything u say abt her is almost always pure conjecture. it was so much fun to take a character i loved so dearly and write a story where she was never punished for being who she is.

i'm still very fond of this part in particular:

“Wait,” he said before she could leave. His voice was nearly as hesitant as his expression, flickering between uncertainty and a strange, boyish shyness that was captivating on him. He reached into his leathers—where, she couldn’t know—and pulled out a small container. “Here,” he said, placing it in her hands. She opened it. Inside was a smelly, yellow ointment. “A salve,” he explained, “for your hands.” An unnameable feeling seized her. She hadn’t thought he noticed, never dared mention it out of fear of what he’d think, and this whole time he’d been carrying this salve with him. A salve for her hands. It was a terrible idea. She knew it as soon as it came to her, but she grabbed Azriel by the ears anyway, drew him down to her height, and kissed his cheek. She felt his skin go warm, and she imagined how surprised he must look, how shy. When she pulled back, she saw that his face was indeed dark with color, avoiding her gaze. Simultaneously pleased at her reaction and embarrassed by it. He was magical, she thought, and she loved him dearly. Loved him so much that it broke her heart. “Thank you,” she said. “This will be invaluable.” Finally, a smile from him. Unable to resist it, she brushed the back of her hand over his cheek, fond, and said, “I’ll leave you to rest.”

a lot of acotar fans hate it when ppl write azriel to be soft and shy and not particularly dark at all. me, personally? i think that’s boring. azriel was born into an abusive and violent home and suffered unimaginable torture at a very young age. he developed powers meant to protect him from the horror of his daily life, and those powers made him a great spymaster/torturerer. but it's so obvious that azriel hates his position within the court. he's starved of intimacy and tenderness. he has an extremely reserved and kind nature. it's a much more meaningful to have a character like that find someone who recognizes his gentleness and desire for gentleness in him and offers it to him. those characteristics don't make him any less of a man.

god never wrote a good play in his life: a god/chuck character study written in second person. i genuinely don't know how the toxic sibling relationship btwn amara and chuck doesn't make more people absolutely fucking insane. this story is chuck-centered, obviously, but i don't think anyone realizes WHY i did that. i don't like chuck! i didn't like writing from his perspective! i did it bc all of supernatural is chuck-centered. even when it isn't quote-unquote "his" story, it's still his. the point of the whole thing is for the reader to do what chuck/the show doesn't: break out of what's being told to u! look at the other characters! namely, look at amara.

chuck tries to scrub her from the story completely. the fic is 3k long, yet chuck doesn't mention amara at ALL unless she's onscreen. and even when she is onscreen, we can't trust a fucking thing he says! as exemplified here:

Maybe that wasn’t how it happened. Maybe you and your Sister were perfectly capable of creation. It would be absurd if you weren’t. Surely it wasn’t possible that you couldn’t create anything together. If you were in harmony, that should have implied you, together, would excel at it. She was an eccentric mind, designing balls of gas and entire solar systems that resembled you, right where all your rings met. (The most terrifying thing She came up with was the collapse of a star, where it became a gaping black mouth that swallowed everything in sight. You and I, She explained, perfectly in balance.) You were far less excitable, putting all your focus into the one planet you’d claimed as your own, but as you watched Her in those moments, you privately invented jealousy. Maybe you were lying about the lying. Perhaps They did give you counsel in a lapse of generosity, and your essence catapulted as you realized you would have to choose. Or possibly that day went like every other. Maybe She never met Them, and you only met Them much later, once you had shoehorned Them into part of your story. So instead of revelations and sacrifices, your Sister told you about centripetal force as you floated, listening, your rings spinning in slow, lazy circles, and you told Her about how little you cared for all this science and math She liked so much. Where is the pathos? you asked, and She sighed much as an exasperated older Sister should, and you realized that you loved Her very much. Or maybe you didn’t.

WHY? why is that? it's because the longer she's in the story, the worse chuck looks.

amara loved chuck from beginning to fucking end. she was born loving him. she chose him, always, over and over again. and chuck knew this! he used it! he would dangle the possibility of him finally loving her back to get her to do what he wanted. and what does chuck do abt this? abt his story, the first to ever exist? he recreates it. michael & lucifer; cain & abel; dean and sam (all men, curiously). to ... what? prove that he isn't the only brother to have not loved his sibling back? that in his position, u would've done the same?

i could talk abt that fic all day. best thing i've ever written.

[abigail-nicole]

Chainsaw Man Ep 7 - watch thread

#chainsawman Ep 7 - strong tw underage grooming, VOMIT lol if ever vomit needed a tw it's for this fucking episode, undertones pf veers into date rape territory & the usual tw for extreme violence that’s really more feature than bug for csm. is this also going to be two parts? maybe

This covers a couple of different chapters of the manga and there's a tone shift (which signifies where the manga chapter split up). I believe it's 18/19 if you're keeping up. I personally only started reading the manga after episode 6 because it got me clown face emoji!!!! Anyway I will keep these recaps SPOILER FREE from the manga perspective. I may comment on "this does relate to the overall themes of the series" but not tell you any specifics of what happens.

anyway let's get into BLOOD and then OUT FOR DRINKS that is ep 7:

Building tension is more narratively important than resolving that tension. That’s why, once Denji realizes he can keep feeding from the devil as he’s killing it, we don’t need to see more of that battle.

the "I'm a fucking perpetual motion machine!" is a moment of real triumph because that's all we, the viewers, need to know that This Is Over And Denji Is Winning

the Etetnity Devil KNOWS POCHITA FROM BEFORE, says THIS — that’s the important moment, narratively, from this battle

WHAT WERE YOU BEFORE, POCHITA? HOW DO OTHER DEVILS KNOW YOU, CHAINSAW DEVIL?? WHY ARE THEY SCARED OF YOU?

the monologue from master here (coupled with this intense face scar) is so fucking good. The extended metaphor about having a screw loose IS IMPORTANT TO THE THEME OF THIS STORY YALL:

Also the mere fact that we get this flashback through Himeno's POV is a) giving us a Himeno characterization, namely that she is still afraid:

(this after master's line about "can't be unhinged without loosening the screws a bit every day" in regards to his heavy drinking, which is also a great fucking line)

and b) characterizing Denji through seeing how other people view him, which is UNHINGED! INSANE! SO CRAZY IT ACTUALLY MIGHT WORK! which is not a bad tagline for makima's entire approach to Denji and the Gun Devil lolololol. Because Denji, as a POV character, has all the self-awareness of a 16yo boy (haha which is none).

the battle doesn’t need to be on screen all three days when you can use VISUAL STORYTELLING

(i just love power wearing her shoes in bed like a fiend. ha, ha, plop)

and then, in thirty seconds, tension cut, Public Safety Devil Hunters out!

The Himeno/Aki "Arai and Kobeni feel guilty about trying to kill Denji. Didn't you try to kill him, too?" and Himeno's "Kids these days! So sensitive!" is both funny but also Aki has pointed out multiple times, even before this mission, that he would not hesitate to kill Denji and Power if he felt necessary to do so. I don't think he expects Himeno to actually feel guilty, but is just probing her for her feelings.

Spouse pointed out that Holding cigarettes with a hand cupped is how you smoke in the rain & Himeno is doing this because she’s used to things being splattered

Then of course the actual most important plot revelation this episode: 

Denji’s age reveal!!!!! 

WANNA TALK ABOUT GROOMING MAKIMA-SAN?

HIS IS YOUNG EVEN IN UNIVERSE. OTHER PUBLIC SAFETY DEVIL HUNTERS THINK HE’S YOUNG, REGARDLESS OF HOW VIEWERS SEE HIM.

And this CHANGES A LOT OF THINGS about this show!! For me, anyway, it did!!! Like! Denji is drawn like any anime protagonist, frankly, anime protagonists all look the age of anime protagonists so there is no visual indicator of how young he is UNTIL THIS. This throws all his earlier character arcs into SHARP,  SHARP relief. Like of course he is obsessed with touching boobs, he’s a sixteen year old boy. He barely has a prefrontal cortex. 

the narrative is not condoning his actions, we as viewers aren’t getting gratituous upskirt shots or boob focused shots like actual fanservice anime would do. This age reveal is bringing us, as viewers, into a world with frankly very realistic and unsexualized portrayals of female characters. The animation and rest of the story has NEVER been on Denji’s Touch Boobs level, and even goes as far as mocking him constantly by other characters in universe. 

And I would also argue that the way you can take advantage of horny 16yo boys because they won’t say no to any sex act is a HUGE part of his arc. Because now we and his coworkers have to contend with Denji’s immaturity as a literal teenage boy. 

Also Himeno saying this, when she later kisses Denji in an extremely unfortunate way,  takes Denji home without his consent, and then OFFERS TO HAVE SEX WITH HIM like Himeno. 

So here we have the question: Does this make her a bad character? 

and here’s the beauty of CSM: it DOES NOT CARE if this makes her good or bad. We’ve gotten intimate portrayals of Himeno, both good and bad, showing her possessiveness over Aki who barely seems to return her affections (but who knows with Aki), her helping Denji by pulling his chainsaw string during that fight, maybe saving his life, but also she tried to kill him, and also only decided to save him when she decided it was in her self-intrerest to do so. 

In fact, you could ask: does anyone in chainsaw man do anything that doesn’t serve their own self-interest? And the only answer is maybe Denji. Aside from helping Power save Meowy (you could argue he did it for the boobs), he saves multiple bystanders while fighting devils, and that one guy in a car he didn’t save when the bat devil taunted him for saving innocent people is our example that proves the point. Or is it????? Does anyone in chainsaw man perform any action that doesn’t directly benefit them? Let’s continue that thought later. 

let’s instead talk about Denji’s Horny Is Makima Watching? First Kiss: 

 kinky. But I’m not mad at it (yet). Not actually mad about making out with someone while the person you actually care about watches. I am mad about The Vomit Kiss, however: 

So I’m thirty, and I’m a surgeon, and I handle combined blood and feces together on the reg, and my disgust tolerance is extremely high, and THIS HITS IT. So I am not going to actually examine this in the depth that I usually would, because…..I  do not want to. But suffice it to say that: art is something that elicits an emotion from you, and disgust is an emotion,  and the disgust and shame and pity elicited by this scene fucking WORKS. 

i know viewers see this as sad/hilarious (& it is) but narratively they are going with ACTUALLY TRAUMATIC TO DENJI, because we immediately get a Pochita flashback, and Pochita flashbacks only happen when we're getting moments of Purity and Innocence:

and then a smash cut to Denji throwing up on the toilet while Arai (god bless) helps him and rubs his back. This is a sixteen year old whose first kiss was someone vomiting into his mouth. Like, immediately. And that’s pretty fucking tragic. He then gets taken home by Himeno, against his knowledge, in a scene that veers pretty sharply into date rape territory, though tbd if they’ll actually follow through on the sex (especially since they've now rammed home that it's SEX WITH A MINOR, which still matters in this universe, as evidenced by coworker reactions to his age). 

It will be interesting to see what Denji’s line is when it comes to Horny Sixteen Year Old Boy versus Someone Who Wants Meaningful Experiences with Makima. Hoooo boy. Episode 8, bring it on. 

For episode 7 bespoke credits we get this lovely sexy/gross vaporwave sequence. s/o to MAPPA (& their terrible working conditions) who as always throw their senior class ass-first into the animation meatgrinder and produce michelin star animation for Chainsaw Man from their animators’ dead bodies. 

[lost-technology]

A thought on my mind: I apologise for not hustling butt on getting any new chapters of Survivor's Guilt out for those of you who are reading it in any kind of timely manner. I never had an update-schedule for it, anyway. It was always a pantsted, meandering "working with ideas as they come" fic - although, at this point, I have rough plans in mind for how it's going to go, up until the end. (I want to end it coinciding with the end of Trigun Stampede and upon release of Stargaze, make an entirely new sequel fic if I want to continue the storyline). I've had some hiccups between chapters. When I started it way back, I wrote out one chapter to get the basic idea out - and then I got The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and was basically just playing that for 2 1/2 months straight (well, not straight, I ate and slept, but you know). Considering that I was grieving a very dear loved one at the time, I really threw myself into that game as a distraction from life because nothing is as good a distraction for me as video games. And then I got back onto the fic and was really chugging along for a while - until I got a much-sought after and needed part-time job. My job took some time from me. It's okay - I've actually worked out storylines for the fic in my head while working! Nowadays, well, I'm an American and our very important Presidential (and general 4 year election for Senators and Representatives) is coming up. I think that even some of you who AREN'T American are paying attention to it because "when America sneezes, the world catches a cold." It's an incredibly important / world shaking one, too, as we have the potential to either have the first Madame President in our entire history or to re-elect an increasingly unhinged, publicly demented fascist who has loyalists in place to actually create a fascist government for him at his behest. I have, so far, kept politics off this blog (my rantspace for it is my main blog), but I am deeply afraid. The U.S. has a very wonky system for selecting a President whereby they don't have to win the majority vote of the actual people, but a series of representative slates of the states and that's how the jerkface that's running for a non-consecutive second term got in in the first place. He Who Shall Not Be Named was BAD years ago (arguably responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths due to his adminstration's purposeful mismanagement of the Covid pandemic). He's said and done things that SHOULD have gotten him shitcanned for EVER having a place in politics, but...somehow... he's around and has people (such as our Supreme Court) bending over backwards for him and I honestly wonder if he promised his firstborn son as a sacrifice to the Devil or something. Anyway, we're on the cusp of a decision that can go really right or go really wrong - and I have a lot of fears because... well... for all our supposed progress, we remain a deeply racist and sexist country and there are just some elements that have roughly half of us ready to chuck good ol' Democracy away for a potential dictatorship. And I happen to live in THE most coveted "swing state" - Where I live is said to basically decide the Presidency. (And there are people here who are already trying to pull voter-suppression shenanigans). And the advertisements and the signs and... I am losing my mind. (I've EATEN at the McDonald's that He Who Shall Not Be Named cosplayed at. I'm that close to the action).* - *in the past, not on the day, I'm not a supporter. So... too scared, too stressed to write. That's where I am right now. And who knows? The fic may wind up abandoned because I'll wind up being bare-bones survival, looking to flee my country or just jumping off a bridge or something on an impulse. Or you know, getting imprisoned for being in the wrong political party. Or shot for protesting. Anything can happen here.

[xoteajays]

The High&Low franchise will be removed from Netflix on September 20, so definitely rewatch the movies before then because I might end up doing that within the next couple days. Just to let you know now.

Not that you can't watch the whole franchise on most foreign sites.

~

That's how I see it.. Murayama wins a fight against whoever, and the person who lost would be like, "How did I lose to him?!" Before they'd eventually become his friends. Because that is definitely Murayama.

Cobra: Uses a lot of wrestling maneuvers, especially chokeholds that seem serpentine. Which is how he got the nickname Cobra.

Rocky: He mainly uses his cane. Not that he can't punch and kick but because I think he prefers caning people to death with his cane.

Hyuga: He tends to break a lot of limbs, like dislocating arms and legs a lot of the time. Biting. Hair pulling. He basically fights like a girl.

Murayama: He basically fights like a deranged monkey.

Smoky: Combine breakdancing and parkour with fighting.

And that is just for the original SWORD leaders. But someone did this post listing off every characters fighting style, technique, everything.

~

Exactly! Rocky, Kaito, Koo, the entire men of White Rascals are ideal boyfriend material. No wonder they're known as "The White Demons Seduction" and "The Alluring White Devils". So gimme that sweet sin.

Granted we don't know much about Smoky because, since the story began, he was slowly dying. So you never see much of his character.

Despite Cobra being the main protagonist, he's still some completely complex character that I can't understand. And usually I enjoy a lot of complex character. He just infuriates me that I can't understand him.

But yeah.. Rocky and Hyuga are the easiest original SWORD leaders to understand. Murayama is give or take. But Cobra's too complex.

That how I saw it!

Based on the ages. Naomi's brother, Tatsuya, was born in 1988 - from his tombstone (because I was curious if a date was mentioned).

So I know most Mugen men were born in the 1980s, the Sannoh guys and girls were younger than the Mugen generation.. At least only by a few years. That's how I see it. This is how I'm interpreting their ages.

Rocky, to me, seems like he's actually the oldest SWORD leader since he already has multiple businesses. And he also knows Mugen gangs, at least to some extent, since they knew each other's full names. So I always imagined Rocky being in his mid twenties to early thirties too.

The frequently mention that Murayama was twenty when he was just first introduced, so between 20 and 21 at the youngest. But 23 by the end of the whole franchise. Seki is the oldest of the three at 25.

As for Smoky. Maybe around the same age as Cobra and Hyuga? But I also imagined him as being the second oldest, like right after Rocky. I don't know why.

~

Nobara definitely deserves happiness. But yes.. That is how I actually imagined him trying to get his friends together in the relationships, in some ways they're other friends would help Nobara into getting them all together. They're only himbos because they failed their education.

~

That's what I assumed? Obviously the Amamiya family is infamous as fighters. And their legacy, before helping take down the yakuza, was - they were known as the fighters who defeated the Mugen gang in the early years. I assumed people knew who they were on name and face.

Murayama is more intelligent than he seems. At least intelligent in his own way. Despite the fact that Oya boys are known to be apart of this criminal activity, as part of the Kuryu group, because they are known as the delinquents with no futures. Murayama does really reject them multiple times because he hates how the newer yakuza operates. But still. He's intelligent enough to understand important things like that.

~

Exactly! Don't get me wrong.. I respect his decision to retire from this career. I get that. But I would miss seeing more work from him.

Especially if there was a rare chance they did continue the H&L series too. And they do have a spinoff show that revolves around characters - like the background characters that you'd want to know about. But I know it's only available in Japan. No overseas fans have watched it as far as I know. Which angers me because I'm curious about characters that you rarely hear much about. I actually sent you a scene from that show. Mostly the scene when the Ichigo girls were complaining about which SWORD leader to date, which was interesting to see.

But it would be a huge piece missing if Keiji wasn't there to continue the story, he's a character I enjoy. And an entertainer I enjoy too.

~

That's my problem! Not necessarily with characters are the moment.. But with writing in general. Because I envisioned a lot of scenarios in my head, like character introductions between the canon and original characters. But then I read a story that has basically the exact way I'd want to write that scene. So now I feel like I have to change the entire scene, just so it seems like I'm not stealing from them. Even though I had that exact idea before reading the story. If that makes any sense?

But I'm the same way. Even when I'm not, or have no intentions to, I'll never want to be accused on stealing someone's work in any way.

Now I have to think of different scenerios for my characters now.

~

I've always watched anime. And, when it comes to Ghibli movies, I'm sure there was a couple I've watched. Definitely Spirited Away is one.

oh geez is it that soon? i need to finish up the ‘6 from high&low the worst’ episodes and the last movie then. i do have a site i use to watch dramas and such, but it’s a lil laggy and i like being able to watch without buffering.

~

murayama gets into fights, wins like 99% of the time (looking at u, cobra), and then turns around to go ‘we’re friends now!’. happened with the oya crew, happened with cobra, happened with todoroki, happened with hyuga. this man just wants to make friends and he’s gonna do it by fighting them first.

god hyuga is such a teenage girl fighter when he’s not breaking arms. he absolutely bites and pulls hair.

slightly off-topic, but i was so surprised by the murayama vs todoroki fight in ‘the worst’ movie. i’d seen pics of todoroki with the eyepatch but i’d assumed it came from an actual enemy like the redrum dudes, not murayama literally slamming todoroki’s face into his knee! like omg?!! dude!??

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the white rascals are just a bunch of hot dudes doing the peak hot guy thing of protecting+respecting women and beating the shit outta shitty dudes. 10/10, the only complaint being that we didn’t get to see more of them, especially the newer smg boys (who were literally some of the only good parts of the dtc movie) and also im still complaining about no kizzykaito kiss scene. gimme it! i deserve it! i want it! i love them!!

i think that mostly works out with the actual actors’ ages too. keiji (rocky) was born in 1980, masataka (smokey) was 88, iwata (cobra) was 89, kento (hyuga) and yuki (murayama) are actually both 90s babies, and reo (takeshi) was 96. i’m surprised, keiji’s actually older than both kohaku and tsukumo’s actors (81 and 85 respectively).

~

murayama is so smart and people don’t give him enough credit for it just because he’s the ‘jump around, excitable, still at high school’ guy. he has some genuinely smart quotes, they’re just usually followed and overshadowed by him being overexcited about something silly. it’s also pretty clear he’s got his head on straight about the important things (jobs, protecting his friends/school) and he can be reflective about things (his whole episode arc post-cobra-fight). he’s my boy, he’s smart, he’s just a lil bit of an excited himbo.

~

i wish the spinoff was translated and available bc i’d like to watch it. i saw the scene of the girls discussing the sword leaders and i just. yall are complaining too much! you got great options across the board! oh no cobra’s quiet and smokey lives in nameless cit- boohoo!! they’re all hot and cool!! no complaining!! it is so funny though that the only thing they could think to badmouth about hyuga was him riding on the hood of his car, like there is a lot more that could be said about hyuga. i love him but woof.

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i have the same issue! like on one hand, ‘great minds think alike’ ‘hey same concept!’ but on the other hand i dont wanna look like i read someone’s fic and stole a scene out of it. it makes me slightly antsy when reading oc fics for a fandom i also write for, like i don’t want to be accidentally influenced and then accused of stealing. like i promise it’s all coming from my idiot brain!

~

spirited away was i think my first ghibli movie and remains one of my favourite childhood movies. and probably holds up the best actually, here’s looking at you digimon adventures the movie dubbed version agshdkdlsl