#chandler whoever

[infinitywithoutparallel]

I really really wish if you blocked someone on here you wouldn't see posts they made even when others reblog them

[rotten-debzee]

Claws & Scars

Ready to attack.

(Yea we officially have a name for the werewolf au let's gooo)

[the-alan-price-combo]

On this day in 1965 - the New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert!!

Featured here is Animals' performance of "Boom Boom", the first song of their set! 🐾✨️

[sigurism]

John Davis Chandler & Forrest Tucker Barquero Dir: Gordon Douglas

[thatonearoacefreak]

had an art style change :D here’s everything I’ve done since then :))

now for credits and characters lol

For some reason I drew Ron Weasley lol

characters: Alastor, FallenTale Frisk, Patchwork, Z.L. Gaster, Secret Keeper, G.B. Gaster, Inari, Z-Gaster, Gaster, Chibi Gaster, Ruby, Broomy, Nightmare 3840, Heather Chandler, Jason Dean, and Veronica Sawyer.

all characters are mine except for Alastor, Z-Gaster, Heather, JD, and Veronica :)

Remember I’m experimenting with this so not everything will look very good yet lol :)

[hotvintagepoll]

this is a poll for a movie that doesn't exist.

It is vintage times. The powers that be have decided to again remake the classic vampire novel Dracula for the screen. in an amazing show of inter-studio solidarity, Hollywood’s most elite hotties are up for the starring roles. the producers know whoever they cast will greatly impact the genre, quality, and tone of the finished film, so they are turning to their wisest voices for guidance.

you are the new casting director for this star-studded epic. choose your players wisely.

Previously cast:

Jonathan Harker—Jimmy Stewart

The Old Woman—Martita Hunt

Count Dracula—Gloria Holden

Mina Murray—Setsuko Hara

Lucy Westenra—Judy Garland

The Three Voluptuous Women—Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, and Lauren Bacall

Dr. Jack Seward—Vincent Price

Quincey P. Morris—Toshiro Mifune

Arthur Holmwood—Sidney Poitier

R.M. Renfield—Conrad Veidt

[jamdoughnutmagician]

So, now everyone knows.

Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader Word Count:4,302 (oops!) Summary:As it turns out you're not as slick as you think you are when it comes to sneaking around in secret with your boyfriend. Warnings:Smut, 18+, Humour, Fluff.

This was born of a silly NYE drabble that I wrote, and it kind of spiralled into a fic inspired by everyone finding out about Chandler and Monica's relationship in Friends.

Steve Harrington Masterlist // Masterlist

*also not proof-read, so if you saw mistakes no you didn't :)

Steve and you were the only ones left, tidying up after yet another big party at the Harrington residence. Steve always insisted on having the parties at his parents house, seeing as his parents were barely there enough to care whoever it was that he invited over. He was never this lucky with the small apartment he shared with Eddie, so he often took advantage of the palatial space that his parent’s huge house afforded him.

You were sitting down with him on his couch, having tidied up, just chatting about anything and everything that came to mind.

You and Steve had been friends for absolutely ages. You had met him when you were in the second grade, after you had moved with your family to Hawkins. He was the kind boy who befriended you in the playground, offering you a share of his animal crackers and ever since then the two of you have been inseparable.

“I’m probably going to die an old woman surrounded by cats, aren’t I?” you huff as you swig a few drops of beer from your bottle. 

Steve knew all about your numerous failed dates, of course he did. He was always the one to help put you back together when you inevitably came home alone with a frown and a small shake of your head. The dark smudge of mascara gathering in your lashes from the beginnings of disappointed tears.  

“Look, if these guys can't see how amazing you are, then honestly, it's their loss.” Steve says, giving your shoulder a gentle nudge. “You're so beautiful, and any guy would be lucky to date you.” He tells you.

You leaned your head on his shoulder with a soft sigh.

“You're my best friend, Steve. You have to say that.”

“I’m not just saying that, it’s true, okay? I mean you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” he turns to you, without any hint of irony or sarcasm in his voice at all.

You lean close to him and wrap your arms over his shoulders, your fingers ruffling into his hair, as you smash your lips against his. He matches your kiss with fiery passion of his own, his tongue slipping past your lips as he explores into your mouth.

You both pull away from each other slightly breathless and flushed.

“Well I’ve never done that with you before.” Steve chuckles slightly, still feeling the tingling buzz of your lips on his.

“Neither have I, but I liked it.” you admit shyly.

“Yeah, I liked it too. I liked it a lot, actually.” Steve blushes before leaning in close to kiss you again.

After that kiss everything changed. You and Steve had secretly started dating one another for a few weeks now. Neither of you wanted to tell any of your friends quite yet, for fear of it ruining a relationship that was running pretty smoothly.

The mind-blowing sex was just an added bonus.

“Steve…” you moaned, letting a quiet whimper slip past your lips.

“Shh Honey, gotta be quiet for me okay?” Steve worried as he kissed your lips to silence your cries of pleasure. The fact of Eddie being in the bedroom next door did nothing to deter the wandering hands of your boyfriend. “Don’t wanna wake up Eddie.”

You huffed out quiet breaths as Steve slowly rolled his hips up into you, his messy hair falling in front of his eyes as he leaned down to kiss you.

“You feel so good Honey…” Steve murmured against your lips as his hip movements picked up, chasing both his and your highs. With Steve’s thumb gently rubbing precise circles on your clit and his cock filling you so deeply it didn’t take long before you were squeezing around him, milking him of his release as you came.

Steve slowly pulls himself out of you, watching as his cum spills out from your glistening cunt. He quickly grabs his old t-shirt from the floor, before using it to clean you up and then throwing it into the washing basket in the corner of the room. 

Pulling you close to his body, he spoons you in his warmth, covering the pair of you in his duvet before softly kissing his lips against your shoulder.

“G'nite, Honey.”

“Night Stevie.”

You carefully prise Steve’s arm from around your waist and pull yourself out of bed before quietly reaching for your underwear and borrowing one of Steve's clean t-shirts from his drawers.

The blinking red numbers from his digital clock beam back at you in the dark room. 03:55am. 

You carefully slip out of the bedroom without rousing Steve from his sleep, all with the intention to head back to your shared apartment with Robin across the hall. All you would have to do was quietly slip back into your room and nobody would be any the wiser.

Closing the bedroom door on your way out you are suddenly shocked to see Eddie sitting on the couch, a bowl of cereal in hands and spoon dangling from his open mouth.

“What are you doing here?” you accuse Eddie.

“I got hungry and I made myself cereal. Plus I live here.” he smirks. “I think a better question is what are you doing here? And why are you wearing Steve’s shirt?”

You stand there stuttering for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“OH MY GOD YOU TWO ARE SLEEPING TOGETHER?” Eddie screams as slowly begins to piece together what was going on.

“Will you keep your voice down, Munson.” you chastise in a shouted whisper, as you jab a finger in his direction.

“Hey, what’s going on out here? What’s all the shouting about?” Steve mumbles sleepily as he yawns and rakes a hand through his ruffled hair, but as he takes in your appearance, your body draped in his shirt and Eddie’s accusatory gaze, he rushes by your side immediately. 

“Oh nothing. Except for the fact that you two have apparently been sleeping together for god knows how long.” Eddie states, his voice rising in tone with shock.

“We didn’t want to say anything, because we didn’t want to make a big deal about it.” Steve explains, with a flush rising to his freckled cheeks at having been caught out by his roomate.

“But it is a big deal.” Eddie huffs. “How long has this little thing been going on for anyway?”

“Since Steve’s party.” you reply.

“But Steve’s party was like 3 months ago?” Eddie stutters.

“You can’t tell anyone about this Eddie, please, I’m begging you.” you plead, giving him your best puppy-dog eyes

“Oh alright fine. I’ll keep your little secret.” Eddie huffs with a resigned sigh.

“Thank you.” Both you and Steve say in unison, a relief washing over both of you.

That was fine. It was only Eddie who knew about your’s and Steve’s relationship. And he wasn’t going to tell anyone. Everything was going to be just fine.

Robin slouched as she made her way through the apartment doors with a huff. Working at the library and stacking and organising books on the shelf took way more energy than she cared to admit to.

She trudged her feet towards the phone on the coffee table, peeling off the little sticky post-it note tacked on top of it. It’s in your handwriting.

Meeting up with an old friend. Don’t wait up for me, won’t be back until much later. X   

Huh, weird? You never mentioned anything about meeting up with an old friend? Perhaps this was something that came up last minute, you were always the more spontaneous one out of the two of you.

Robin shrugs it off, not thinking much of it as she picks up the phone to check her answering phone messages.

“Hey, so I'll be over at your place later, I'll just tell Robin I'm meeting an old friend.” Robin’s eyebrows knit together, upon hearing your voice on the answering machine.

“An old friend huh? I don’t think you can really call me an old friend when you’ve had your mouth on my dic-” Robin’s eyes widened in shock upon hearing Steve’s voice on the other end of the conversation. She yelps as she quickly slams the phone back down before she could hear how that message was going to end.

You and Steve were hooking up? How long had that been going on for?

You sat with Robin and Eddie gathered on your apartment's couch, catching up after work.

“Well it’s been nice chatting, but I’ve got to go. I promised an old friend I would meet up with them for drinks.” you smiled to your friends as you excused yourself and made your way out of the apartment.

Eddie just looks at you with a sly smirk before taking a sip of his beer. Robin eyed Eddie suspiciously, and although he never said anything, just from one look at him Robin could tell that he knew more than he was letting on.

“Weird how all of a sudden she’s meeting up with this “old friend”, don’t you think.” Robin says, raising the question.

“Is it?” Eddie replies, playing dumb.

“Say, Eddie, you wouldn’t mind going over to Steve’s bedroom and getting that book I lent him last week?” Robin asks, her eyebrows raising slightly as she directs her question to him.

“Uh..Do you need it now? Like right now?” Eddie replies cautiously, knowing full well that if he goes over to his apartment now that he would likely catch you and Steve in a very compromising position, and Eddie didn’t need that kind of visual trauma inflicted upon his eyes.

Robin once again eyes her friend’s nervous nature as he shifts uncomfortably on the couch, fidgeting under her glare, his fingers playing with his clunky metal rings as a distraction.

“Do you know something?” Eddie pipes up.

“Do you know something?” Robin parrots back his question.

“I might know something.” Eddie replies shortly.

“I might know something too.” Robin says cryptically.

“What’s the thing that you know?” Eddie presses.

“Oh no, I can’t tell you the thing that I know, until you tell me the thing that you know.” Robin answers with a shake of her head.

“Well I can’t tell you what I know.” 

“..And I can’t tell you what I know.” Robin responds, still playing her cards close to her chest.

Eddie fixes her with a glare of his own. A tense silence falling between the two.

“You don’t know anything.” Eddie rolled his eyes with a scoffing laugh.

“Alright, fine.” Robin huffs, standing up from the couch. “How about I go over to Steve’s apartment and I will see the thing that I think I know is actually the thing that I know.”

Eddie’s eyes widen in shock, as he jumps up in realisation that Robin was also in on the secret.

“YOU KNOW ABOUT STEVE AND Y?N?!” Eddie splutters out, the weight of having to keep their secret to himself finally being unburdened.

“Yeah I know! And you know too!” Robin laughs.

“Oh my god, Robin I’ve been dying to talk to someone about this.”

“So what is it then? Are they just having sex or are they, like, dating and stuff? Like, is this serious?” Robin barrages Eddie with an abundance of questions.

Eddie shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders.

“I dunno.” Eddie mumbles.

“Does Nancy know about them? Getting with a friend’s ex-boyfriend, that could be super messy.” Robin keeps running with question after question, letting them filter from her lips as quickly as they enter her brain.

“I dunno about that either.” Eddie admits.

“Yeah you really don’t know anything, do you?” Robin pokes.

“What I do know is this. You remember that time where Steve wore that big scarf a few weeks back? Refused to take it off despite it being the middle of July?” Eddie began.

Robin nodded for him to continue.

“Yeah, his neck was covered in hickeys.”

“I fucking knew it!” Robin cheers with a laugh.

Robin was helping Chrissy to settle into her new apartment. She had just moved into the apartment block across the street from your’s and Robin’s place, so it made it very convenient to gather together for an all girl’s movie night.

“Thanks so much for helping me move in Rob, I don’t know how I could have coped with all these boxes by myself.”

“Don’t mention it, it’s no problem!” Robin smiled, setting down the last box in the living room.

Chrissy wandered over to the heavy curtains in the room, flinging them open to let the light flood into the apartment from the window.

“Oh look it’s Steve and y/n!” she smiled as she spotted the pair of you chatting to one another in the apartment directly opposite hers. “Hey! Guys!” she waves, trying to get your attention.

Before she could turn away she saw you quickly whipping Steve’s shirt over his head, and Steve kissing his lips urgently against your as he held you up, with your legs wrapping around his hips. He presses you against the window as his kisses become more intense and his hands wander to squeeze the soft curve of your hips.

“OH MY GOD! MY EYES! MY EYES!” Chrissy squawked out dramatically. “THEY’RE DOING IT!”

“I know! I know!” Robin tells her, doing her best to calm her down.

“You know?!” Chrissy bubbles out her eyes unblinking as she tries to process what she had just seen.

“Yes. I know and Eddie knows, but Nancy doesn’t know so you can’t say anything about this to her, okay?”

Chrissy nods, with a nerve-steadying breath.

“This is huge, I can’t believe it.”

“I know, trust me. I now know more about my best friend and my roommate's apparently active sex life than I ever have, and ever wanted to know, before.” Robin huffs, before closing the curtains to hide the sight of Steve railing you up against the window.

“So all the time she was on the phone with her ‘old friend’?!” Chrissy asks

“Uh-huh, phone sex.” Robin laughed.

“I can’t believe you told Chrissy about them! I kept their secret, why couldn’t you?” Eddie pokes as he chimes into the conversation.

“I didn’t tell her. She found out on her own.” Robin says defensively.

“Yeah I saw them doing it through the window.” Chrissy explains. “Well I actually saw them doing it up against the window.”

“Yeah, I could’ve gone the rest of my life without seeing Steve’s bare ass if I'm being brutally honest.” Robin adds.

“Okay, so now three of us know about them, we could just tell them and then all the lying and secrets would be over!” Eddie cheers hopefully, wishing to be done with keeping everyone’s secrets.

Robin arches her eyebrow at Eddie, a devious plan forming in her mind.

“Yeah, but they don’t know that neither me nor Chrissy know about them, so I’m thinking that we could have a little fun of our own.” Robin begins.

“No, no, no, do you know what would be even better? Telling them.” Eddie says firmly.

“Hm, no, I wanna do Robin’s thing.” Chrissy says, shaking off Eddie’s disapproval.

“Okay, but just so everyone’s clear, I don’t want any part of this, you hear me.” Eddie huffs before getting up to leave.

As Eddie walks out the door Steve wanders in.

“Hey everyone! How’s things?”

Eddie gives a small snort of ‘hmmf’ before making his way out.

“What’s his problem?” Steve mutters as he sits down next to Chrissy. 

Chrissy gives Robin a sly wink, letting her know that the plan was indeed in action.

“Oh I don’t know, Stevie. I just think he’s been a little stressed recently.” Chrissy’s voice barely more than a sickly-sweet breathy whisper as she leans up next to Steve.

“Oh really?” 

“Yeah I know we all get stressed, and sometimes all you need to do is just to release all that pent up energy.” her voice becomes ever more sultry as she speaks, and her hand grazes up the length of his arm, giving his bicep a cheeky squeeze. “Ooh, so strong.” she teases.

“Um well yeah, okay.. So I should probably get going, it’s getting pretty late.” Steve excuses himself quickly, suddenly feeling very unsure and embarrassed.

The girls wait until he’s out of the apartment before bursting into laughter.

“Oh my god that was amazing! He looked like a deer in the headlights!” Robin cackled, wiping a tear from her eye.

The plan to get Steve and you to admit to your relationship was slowly falling into place.

You sat astride Steve’s naked torso, peppering kisses all over his neck, stopping only briefly to nip your teeth at his earlobe, before your lips found his, capturing them in a sweet kiss.

His large hands splayed comfortably, holding their space on either side of your hips.

You continued placing soft kisses on every little freckle you could find, although Steve’s expression didn’t read one of pleasure, in fact he seemed kind of out of things, almost like he was deep in thought.

“Okay, either you’re not enjoying this, or there’s something on your mind.” you voice as you pull away from his lips.

“I am enjoying this, I promise.” he silences your worry with a simple kiss. “I was just thinking, that's all.”

You swing your legs to get off Steve's body before settling beside him in the bed.

“What’s going on Steve?”

“Earlier I was hanging out with Robin and Chrissy and something weird happened.”

“Weird how?” 

“I think Chrissy was flirting with me?” He explains, his brows knitting together confusedly 

“There’s no way.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Honey.”

“No, I don’t mean it like that.” you playfully slap his arm. “Chrissy isn’t into you. She was only telling me the other day about how much she’s into this new guy she’s been dating.” You say, in your attempt to reassure Steve.

“Really, because she squeezed my bicep and she called me ‘Stevie’. Nobody apart from you calls me that.” He goes on to explain.

“Oh my god she knows about us!” you gasp. “She knows and now she’s trying to weird us out.” you say, beginning to piece together the information that Steve had just told you.

“But how could she know? There’s only one other person who knows about-'' Steve started, but the answer to his question hit before he could even finish asking it. “EDDIE!!”

The pair of you stomp your way over to Eddie’s room, before Steve knocks a heavy fist against his door. 

“Open up Munson, I know you’re in there.” Steve shouts.

“Jeez, what’s got your panties in a bunch, Harrington?” Eddie asked as he swung the door open to come face to face with both Steve and you looking less than pleased.

“Eddie, who else knows about me and Steve?” You ask pointedly.

“Just me.” Eddie replies confidently.

You glare at him with a stare that has him cracking under the pressure.

“..and Chrissy…and Robin…” Eddie mutters and he tries his best to hide behind his hair.

“Eddie!” you slap his shoulder, scolding him almost as if he was a naughty school-boy.

“Hey! In my defence, I didn’t exactly tell them, they found out on their own.” Eddie owns up. “Poor Chrissy saw you doing it through the window. You should really shut your curtains, you filthy animals.”

You look at Steve for a moment to see a rosy flush creeping up from his neck and blooming across his cheeks.

“I would have told you, but the girls made me promise not to say anything.” Eddie pipes up once more. “But, hey! Now everyone knows so we can all talk about it and things can go back to the way they were before. No more secrets and lies, right?” Eddie looks between you and Steve with a hopeful look.

“No.” you said simply.

“No?” Steve turns to you, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Eddie worries.

“Those girls think they’re so clever messing with us.” You smirk. “But they don’t know that we know, that they know.” you explain to the boys, although their puzzled expressions led you to believe that they weren’t following you.

“Gather in boys, I’ve got a plan.”

It was a few days later when your plan was put into action. You let things rest for a while so as not to arouse suspicion.

The plan was to invite Chrissy over to Steve’s apartment, get him to flirt with her in order to throw her off the scent of you and Steve being together.

“Steve wants me to meet him in his apartment. Said that he’d been wanting to get me alone for quite some time.” Chrissy said as she sat up from her space on the couch next to Robin. 

“Huh? Steve’s way into Y/n but then he wants to meet up with you? Alone? No way. Something’s up. Oh my god! They’re onto us.” Robin works out.

“What?” Chrissy bubbles with a shake of her head.

“Look, just go over there, flirt with Steve, tease him, kiss him if you have to! He’ll get all confused and uncomfortable and then he’ll finally have to admit to sleeping with y/n!”

“I don’t know about this Robin, what if there’s more to their relationship than just sex?”

“No way, if I know Steve like I think I do, then he’s just being a typical horny boy. It’s just sex with him. He’s not one for a serious relationship.”

You were hiding behind the door of Steve’s bedroom after coaching him through your plan, and encouraging him to flirt with Chrissy to throw her and Robin off the scent of you two being together.

Kissing his lips, and giving him a confident pat on his broad shoulders before pushing him out to go open the door.

“Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Chrissy breathed a nerve-steadying breath before she knocked against Steve’s apartment door, waiting before it swung open to reveal the man in question.

“Hi.” Steve said seductively, running a hand through his ruffled hair. “Come on in.”

Chrissy smiled as she made her way under Steve’s arm and into the apartment.

“So, do you want anything to drink?” Steve asked, keeping his composure as best he could in the unusual situation he found himself in.

“No thank you, Stevie. I think we both know why we’re here..” Chrissy said, her voice so sweetly seductive. 

“I suppose there’s really no point in pretending anymore, is there?” 

“I suppose not.” Chrissy said, stepping closer to Steve, placing a delicate hand on his face. Desperately trying to ignore the cringing feeling that was blooming in her chest. This was so wrong. 

“So…” Steve dragged out as an awkward silence fell between the two.

“I’m going to kiss you now.” Chrissy said in her best sultry voice.

“Okay then.” 

The pair slowly leaned in close to one another, neither one really wanting to kiss the other.

Steve got a hair’s breadth away from Chrissy lips before pulling away.

“Alright, fine! You win! I can’t do this! I’m not going to kiss you!” Steve screams defeatedly. “I can’t kiss you”

Chrissy pulled away from Steve excitedly with a beaming bright smile.

“Aha! And why not?”

“Because I’m in love with y/n” Steve shouted. 

Chrissy gasped in surprise and in that moment you came out of hiding behind Steve’s bedroom door. Robin and Eddie pushed through the apartment door, with matching shocked expressions on their faces.

“It’s true, I love you so much, Honey.” Steve smiled as he pulled you close to him.

“I love you too, Stevie” you returned his smile, rising up on your toes to sweetly press your lips against his. 

All your friends watched on with warm smiles, at Steve’s declaration of love for you.

“Aww! I didn’t know you loved one another.” Robin smiled, happy that her two friends had found love in each other. “I thought you were just having sex.”

She wasn’t far off the mark. There was a lot of sex, but being with Steve was way more than that. He quickly became someone whose arms you felt safe in, who loved you for every little thing that you were. In return, the love you felt for Steve went deeper than platonic friendship and you just couldn’t ignore your feelings anymore.

“We thought it would only be right that you heard this from me.” You said, reaching out to take Nancy’s hand in yours.

You had talked to Steve about how you wanted to tell Nancy about your relationship with Steve.

“Steve and I are dating, and I love him very much, and I hope you understand that I had no intentions of hurting you or doing this to upset you or make you mad.” you babble nervously, frightened that telling her about your relationship would ruin your friendship with her.

“Oh no! Sweetheart! No! I’m so happy for you!” Nancy beams, bringing you into a warm and friendly hug. “I’m so glad you’ve finally found the right one!”

You smile as you quietly huff a sigh of relief.

“Does he treat you right? Does he make you smile? Does he make you happy?” Nancy asked.

“He does.” you nod. “He does indeed.” 

“Then how could I be mad at something that makes my best friend so happy?” she shakes her head at the thought of you being nervous to tell her. 

“Thanks Nance, that’s so sweet of you.” 

That couldn’t have gone any better. 

So now all your friends knew about your relationship with Steve, you could stop hiding and tip-toeing around, and love him the way you wanted. Out loud and on purpose.

Tagging: @sunnythevampireslayer @penguinsandpotterheads @xxhellfirebunnyxx @reidsbtch @seatnights @mrsjellymunson @keeksandgigz

[essektheylyss]

Ten Books to Know Me

@aboxthecolourofheartache reblogged her version of this from ages ago but she'd tagged whoever saw it and it sounds very fun and difficult so let's do it!

Tris's Book by Tamora Pierce - I had a habit as a kid of always picking up the second book in a series, so this was the first of Tamora Pierce's books I read. Emelan had an effect on me on a microcosmic level, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, the protag of a whole world of mine is named Tris now, in homage to Trisana Chandler, so. the particulate is still kicking around in my brain.

Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud - Another childhood FAVE. This series as a whole started fucking with what I understood a book to be. Also the ending of it has a vice grip on me to this day, and it is probably why so much of my writing is very vibey and favors ambiguous endings.

Cyrano de Bergerac - This was the first assigned reading I had in high school that I utterly LOVED. I love this play so much, I love the tragedy, I love the quiet sorrow. This was also the first proper tragedy that I remember really loving.

The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan - This is a book of poetry and short stories by a Yale creative writing student who was killed in a car crash very soon after graduating, compiled by her professor after her death. I read it repeatedly in college; it is really quite lovely.

Underland by Robert Macfarlane - Apologies to Box who wanted reading recommendations, but she is who introduced me to this book if I remember correctly, and I have spent the two years since I read it habitually picking up Macfarlane's writing without even realizing it. Absolutely phenomenal writing.

Staying with the Trouble by Donna Haraway - @ professor Haraway I know you are a semi-retired scholar and also in the most expensive college town on earth but are you looking for research assistants cuz uh

The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing - I actually read both Staying with the Trouble and this book on the same weekend in the start of 2021. I compromised on not including Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, which I felt was very cliche of me, by including this book, which had as much of an effect. Read those three and Pantheologies by Mary-Jane Rubenstein and you will have some semblance of an idea of what the spiritual portion of my brain looks like. In the interest of not writing the same blurb four times I left the latter two off but know they make up a little microcosm of 'you could make a religion out of this' for me.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natskukawa - A Japanese novel about a cat who appears to a teenager after the death of his grandfather, a bookseller. I read it when I was very frustrated with trying to read contemporary fiction and it was a bright spot among that. (I am still very frustrated with the state of contemporary fiction and this book remains a light.)

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - Okay I read this one most recently out of this list (over the summer) but it had been on my list for a long time and it really does live up to the hype because it is just so luminous in every sense.

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - I had to put this one last simply because HOLY HELL. Rewired my brain. This is the goal I aspire to, this is the dream I dream, this is the highest peak among the mountain range of writing aspirations that I climb. If I can one day write anything even akin to the Southern Reach trilogy I will be ready to die, but that is an utterly unachievable goal so God's just gonna have to let me live forever, I guess.

[chansaw]

on red and blue symbolism in heathers: an essay

i read one of those buzzfeed listicles the other day that was like “crazy fun facts and secrets about your favorite 80s movies!” and one of the first fun facts was “did you know that in heathers, every character is associated with a color?” that’s not a fun fact. it’s not even a secret. heathers is a lot of things but one thing it’s not is subtle. heathers practically beats the viewer over the head with color symbolism but in this essay, i would particularly like to draw attention to the colors red and blue and their significance in heathers’ narrative.

a short preface: when possible, i cite stills sourced from the movie itself. some images, however, are served better by the gif format, so whenever i post a gif i will also cite the tumblr user who made it. if your gifs are used in this post and you would like me to remove them, please let me know.

okay, with that out of the way, let's start at the beginning (naturally). below is the title card. right away, the cinematographers inundate the viewer with red, informing the viewer that red (and whoever wears it) will be significant to the narrative.

red represents the social order and the natural hierarchy of predators and prey at westerburg. red is omnipresent throughout the production design of the school's campus.

by assuming the color of the school itself, heather chandler assumes control of the school. and when she drags veronica along to the remington party to help boost their reputation, the whole dorm is bathed in red light.

when we first meet veronica, she's wearing gray and black, with only occasional pops of blue (the brooch in the outfit above, her croquet mallet, etc) but as veronica's discomfort and unease begins to grow, something interesting begins to happen!

blue light slowly begins to creep into the frame, and once veronica has finally had enough of brad's bullshit, it becomes even more prominent. just as red represents control of the social hierarchy, blue symbolizes discontent and rejection of the social order.

(gif by @/fireairshadow)

meanwhile, heather chandler isn't having a great time at the party either. this scene is the only time in the film we see heather chandler completely alone, in a moment of vulnerability and self loathing, and she's surrounded by the color blue.

(gif by @/tibby ily tibby)

and then all hell breaks loose. i honestly dont think one image or gif alone can do this scene justice so im linking to tibby's (beautifully colored) gifset of the scene.

note how as veronica declares war ("lick it up, baby!"), red and blue lights flicker across her face. and as heather promises to ruin veronica in turn, the red light casts heather's face in shadow and overpowers the blue.

of course, heather never gets the chance to make good on this promise because veronica and jd kill her. and that may have been a mistake, but the color of their poison is quite deliberate.

(gif by @/nowadayz)

and right before she dies, she takes off her red scrunchie - conceding her control.

of course, heather's death doesn't mean her exit from the narrative. red lingers throughout the rest of the film. but guess what color veronica wears to the funeral?

tumblr is a little bitch and i dont have the time or energy to expound upon the rest of my argument at the moment. it's probably been examined and analyzed in greater detail by people smarter and far more eloquent than me. but i'll conclude with veronica's reclamation of the red scrunchie at the end of the film. you could choose to interpret this as veronica conceding to the hierarchy even after all she's been through, but i choose to interpret it as a bitter compromise.

(gif by @/nowadayz)

and so it ends the way it begins.

anyways all this to say vote for chansaw in the @redandbluebracket tomorrow or i'll kill you.

ETA: a note to anyone who came to my blog from this post - hi! you don’t have to like chansaw romantically/as a ship. im not expecting to proselytize and convert people en masse (although if you HAVE been converted, welcome). even without the shipping element, i believe that veronica and hc’s dynamic as character foils is the backbone of the narrative, which is why i genuinely think they deserve to win the red and blue bracket. vote here. my name is heather chansaw and i approve this message.

[sawyerconfort]

Hiiiii! Can you do “you can hold my hand, if you want” with Heather chandler? I was thinking like anxious reader at a party something but honestly whatever is cool!

I'M BACK AND BACK WITH A HEATHERS PROMPT!

Sorry it took so long, man, but here we are!

Hope you enjoy!

Guys, I'm still not taking requests because I always have a writer's block trying to write them. Planning to open again real soon, just let me organize the schedule better!

Enjoy!

--------------------

Introvert | Heather Chandler x Reader

"Come on, (Y\N), it'll be cool!"

For someone like Heather Chandler - blonde, beautiful and popular - a party full of people was really cool. But you, a newcomer to the group, and someone who was trying to tone down your introverted side, definitely being at a crowded party was a nightmare.

Inevitably, things started to get worse as soon as you took the first step into the house where the party was taking place. It wasn't the feeling of the loud beat of the music in your ears that bothered you, but the looks people gave you both. Heather refused to make any kind of physical contact with you - it was something that came from her, and you were used to it, to be honest - but even so, everyone who saw you enter together had their eyes glued to you.

It was like you were the most popular couple, not being a couple, right now.

And you hated it. And your social anxiety hated it even more.

***

"Hey, are you okay?"

Heather's voice woke you from your thoughts. She looked beautiful in her little red outfit - like all the clothes she owned - and envy hit you the moment you saw her wave to everyone passing by. In her hand was the traditional drink cup. It was halfway through, but she didn't look drunk or anything.

"I'm fine," you assured, your voice low and shaky, disguising a glance at the scenery, something that didn't go unnoticed by Heather. She looked at you with a serious expression, and you snorted. "Seriously, Heather."

"Here, have a little drink…", she whispered, picking up an empty glass from a table and pouring it before handing it to you. "Do you want me to stay here by your side and distract you?"

You shook your head, and almost had the urge to repeat that everything was fine, when she interrupted you.

"I'll stay anyway. You know what they say, right, whoever has Heather Chandler on their side doesn't have the slightest chance of being sad." She laughed and then looked at you. "Listen, if you're not feeling well, we can go home. And I'll spend the night with you, having a sleepover just the two of us."

You stiffened and nodded, but, looking around again, took a deep breath and composed yourself before saying that everything was fine for the umpteenth time.

"(Y\N), why are you so quiet?" she asked, now looking at you with concern. "Go on, don't be an idiot, tell me. I promise I won't judge you."

You took a deep breath again and opened your mouth. "It's because this place is not a place for introverts, Heather. You know, I loved that you wanted me for your company, but the music, the house, the people… none of that is for me. You adapt more in those places, you belong here, and I don't…"

"Shut. Up," she whispered, ruffling your hair. "Here, look, you can hold my hand if you want, if it makes you feel better."

And she reached out to you, taking you by surprise. Heather wasn't one to show affection anyway, so when she did, in the rare moments, you had to take advantage of it. Willing not to let her down - and secretly hoping you'd be okay with it - you took her hand and laced your fingers together.

Your racing heart was no longer due to anxiety, and looking into those clear eyes, you were sure you had already changed your target.

"How do you feel now? Better?" she whispered, laughing.

You nodded. "Much better."

"Cool," she sighed in relief. "I'm glad, you know… that I could help. And yet, it doesn't mean anything more than me wanting you to feel comfortable here. Nothing at all. Ever. God, that would be pretty awful."

You had to laugh, even though you admit that having Heather as something more than just a friend was a lot more interesting…

[ghosts-of-the-underground]

King Mettaton was... Quite full of himself at times honestly, but I don't think he deserved to be murdered by whoever this Chandler person is. ...Maybe by a former minimum wage worker of his if he had a chance against the killer robot. ...But wait, hold the phone! Mettaton was just that! A machine designed to kill humans! So... How on earth did Chandler do it? A team attack? Critical backstab? And Mettaton plastered his face EVERYWHERE. ...Even if every physical trace of him is erased, I doubt Chandler could ever remove or fill the Mettaton shaped holes in Mettaton shaped hearts. ...Do people still remember the King that came before Mettaton?

[humorisstoredinthetits]

Even More Headcannons

Exactly what it sounds like

They are the house that hands out full-sized candy bars on Halloween

Mac always makes them dress up in a theme

They've done the Teletubbies, the Wizard of Oz (Duke was the Wicked Witch, she was not happy about the green makeup), The Golden Girls, the I'm In Love with the Villainess girls and her personal favorite, the South Park kids

She was Kenny, Duke was Kyle, Veronica was Stan and Chandler was Cartman

Sometimes Betty and Martha will join in on the theme

They tried to get one of them to be Noo-Noo the year they did Teletubbies but they both refused

JD swallowed his pride and went as Noo-Noo

JD hides in their bushes and scares the kids

Mac and Duke always eat too much candy and get stomachaches

Duke's snake is named Cornelius (if you get this reference you're awesome)

Chandler's cat is named Heather

She thought it would be funny (Heather Cat-ler, get it?)

Heather the cat sits atop her cat tower and hisses if anyone gets too close

But whenever Mac walks in she jumps down and starts purring

Basically she's just Chandler in cat form

Mac's Rabbit is named something cutesy like Munchkin

Catler hates the rabbit

She's just jelly that Mac isn't giving her attention

Whenever Duke annoys Veronica she'll pick her up and won't put her down

Duke is like 5'3 while Veronica is 5'11

Chandler is 5'5 and Mac is 5'9

Most people think Chandler is the tallest but its bc she always wears heels

Chandler is actually a huge scaredy-cat

She's afraid of rides at amusement parks, snakes, spiders/bugs, dogs, heights, blood, ghosts/the undead/zombies/etc., the youtube videos Veronica watches at 3am, and of course being abandoned and left alone forever but that last one is more bc of trauma than anything

She's really insecure about her fears, she's supposed to be the strong one who stares down her competition

Elaborating on the dog thing, if a dog ever comes close to her she'll scream and climb on whoever is close

JD totally has a dog but its like a golden retriever with a heart of gold named Spot and he uses it to scare Chandler

JD and Duke do chaos gremlin things together sometimes

One time they all got together and played UNO

They took all the +4 cards from the deck and hid them in their pockets and made Chandler sit between them

They would only use the +4 cards on her and she got so fucking mad

(She sat in the middle so even if things got reversed one of them could always +4 her)

Chandler may or may not have set the deck on fire

Veronica started watching One Piece and she was pretty much dead to the world for like 10 days or however long it takes to watch it all the way through

She was completely unresponsive to anything the Heathers did and it scared the hell out of them

Mac loves Pokemon and has like 10,000 plushes

Her favorites are the eeveelutions

Chandler and JD are slushy buddies and will often go to 7/11 and just talk about their trauma and shit

[alwaysandforeverlost]

✨ Challenge: Make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters, and then tag five people to do the same, and see which character is everyone's favourite! ✨

These are the ones that came immediately to my mind!! Thanks @risu442 for tagging me 💙💙💙💙 I always appreciate it!!

I tag @just-slightly-chayotic @wardog-of-the-endless @shubaka and whoever wants to do it ✨

[ms-oswald]

thank you for tagging me angel @caribaheine ❤️

rules: choose 4 of your favourite characters from 4 pieces of media and let some tumblr pals decide which one most suits your vibe

tagging @arcielee @itbmojojoejo @poetic-fiasco @st-eve-barnes @persephones-journey

@gemini-mama and whoever else who wants to do this 💕

[mcrcki]

** CLOSED **

i scream, you scream, we all scream for the corn. it's my favorite time of year : the halloween event !! it's gonna be hell, but we're all here together. if you're scared in the maze, we can hold hands or something, but you're gonna have to like this for plots !! or reply for starters , since this is a combination plotting call and starter call! the cap is three starters per writer, so i can get through everyone, and you HAVE TO SPECIFY or i'll literally ignore you i'm so sorry but i will! below you'll get a vibe check for all my babes of how they're feeling in the corn, if they were going in willingly or dragged, as well as potential plots! ** in the meantime about pre event prep : i will be going through and dropping so many threads unless they are plot relevant. if i drop something that you wanted to keep, let me know, but otherwise we can pick things back up in the corn!

branwen || acotar ( 3 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - willingly, thought it'd be fun really, but immediately freaking out and having a bad time. she tried to fly out instantly, but couldn't and somehow that has only made it worse. doesn't know how to fight, and will be hiding in the corn potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, the person she went into the maze with, someone to help her calm down, someone who can keep her safe, friends :)))

starters : rhysand, amren, emily fields

daniela dimitrescu || resident evil : village ( 1 / 5 )

she/they pronouns - willingly, every time something wild happens in the city, dani is there. they absolutely love this shit and will become a horror of the maze. come have fun with them and enjoy the scary shit. or get fucked up by her idk, your call :)) potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, as well as murdering, who she went into the maze with, other villains, people she can torment, someone to get her to Chill Out

starters : felicia hardy

elain archeron || acotar ( 2 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - dragged in via magic, there was no way anyone was going to talk her into going in there. she has a bad feeling about that place, and honestly i wanna play with elain's seer abilities so i think she's starting to see things again and will not!! be going in there!! until the magic drags her in potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming , someone to find her freaking out, someone she has a vision about, a group of people that she can stick with to stay safe, maybe someone she saves

starters : eloise bridgerton, princess tiana

kaya dura || star wars ( 2 / 5 )

they/she pronouns - willingly, thought it'd be fun to take their mind off things, now they wish they were unaware again nvm. would actually like to leave very quickly, this is bad and they are still just getting used to their memories again. will be full on jedi knight vibes though, putting themselves in harms way to keep others safe etc etc potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming , whoever they went into the maze with, people they can keep safe, someone to help them because i know they're gonna get their ass kicked

starters : kasil monsula, heather chandler

leia organa || star wars ( 5 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - dragged in, WHY TF COULDN'T THIS HAPPEN WHILE SHEEV WAS IN CHARGE WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN WHEN SHE'S BACK IN CHARGE there was no way leia was going into that maze, not at all, not until the magic fully dragged her in there and now she's stuck and would very much like to leave. she's not good being ?? captured. but will do her best to keep her family and the citizens she comes across safe. nervous about using the force at all since Everything™ but she's trying potential plots ➛ someone who was there when she got dragged into the maze, people she can save

starters : mags flannagan, patia por'co, han solo, angelica schyler, breha organa

louise vance || harry potter ( 2 / 5 )

she/they pronouns - willingly, LITERALLY RAN IN THERE THOUGHT ItD BE FUN. *narrator voice* "it was not fun". starting to wonder if you actually need magic to survive this city, how is it more dangerous than back home?? will be doing whatever they can to find their siblings and making a run for it even if it's useless. potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, whoever they went into the maze with, someone to find them trying to fight off a monster with a pocket knife, friends to make the best of this shitty situation

starters : emmeline vance, jin ling

marlene mckinnon || harry potter ( 5 / 5 )

she/they pronouns - willingly, went in to "check it out" thinks she can keep ppl safe from inside, say it with me : delulu. truly out here thinking they can just fight their way through all of this and they sure as fuck cannot. please someone come watch her get humbled potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, whoever they went into the maze with, people they can keep safe, someone who can help her when she gets in over her head

starters : stitch, fliss mckinnon, james potter, lily evans, dorcas meadowes

morrigan || acotar ( 2 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - dragged in, saw her other friends were in there and like hell was she letting any of them go in alone. will be trying to stick close to all of them, main focus is finding the inner circle cause if someone gets hurt and she can't help, she'll flip. this place sucks pls why cant she winnow out, please someone give her a shot she needs it potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, someone who was there when she got dragged in, people also wanting to get drunk in the maze, people who need help

starters : laudna, tamlin

omega || star wars ( 4 / 5 )

she/they pronouns - willingly, RAN IN THERE, she loves halloween pls this looked fun and now it's hell and where the fuck is their bow. they really just thought it'd be fun and they could have a little haunted maze fun and now they're pretty sure they're gonna die in here. potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, whoever they went DRAGGED into the maze, who wants to fight gritty with them

starters : jill roberts, freddie fecilier, hunter, mouse honrada

pj halliwell || charmed '98 ( 3 / 5 )

she/they pronouns - willingly, but will tell you they were dragged in, went to have some spooky fun and now they're saving the innocent !!! isnt that just the way!! potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, if you need help she's your gal, someone they dragged into this

starters : tamora mitchell, melinda halliwell, childe

rosemary winters || resident evil : village ( 2 / 5 )

she/they pronouns - dragged in, you couldn't catch rose in that maze for a million bucks, that had BAD VIBES and now they're stuck!!!!!!!!! will be FREAKING out , seriously they were okay , they didn't want to be here and now they have to use their powers again when all they want is to be Normal potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming , someone they can use their powers to help (or harm by accident), whoever dragged them in, someone to join her in being A Coward for a little bit

starters : mia winters, evie winters

rowena ravenclaw || harry potter ( 4 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - dragged in, tbh she thinks she'd be able to solve the maze too easily so she didn't think it'd be any fun to actually go in and make the builders feel bad. but now that she's in here she's so intrigued by the magic she isn't even scared she just wants to study it. like a nerd. potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, whoever dragged her in, people she can talk to about being so interested in this place, or someone she can talk out of being scared

starters : hunter, slyvie slytherin, salazar slytherin, calleigh duquesne

sella palpatine || star wars ( 3 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - willingly, PLEASE ONE NORMAL DATE JUST ONE, she thought it'd be a cute fall date, take some cute instagram pictures with allana, kiss in the corn a little and just have a cute moment BUT NOOOOOOOOOO potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, people she can be a coward with, someone to help her figure out how to shoot a gun lmao, someone who will let her hide behind them

starters : sion val palpatine, allana solo, soren palpatine

sophie hatter || howl's moving castle ( 3 / 5 )

she/they pronouns - dragged in, this sucks, they hate it, they want to go home why did they let themselves get talked into going into this!!!! they just immediately got lost and now are stuck here!!!!! their sense of direction is AWFUL and now they're paying for it. pls help potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, people who are also lost, someone who has a way better sense of direction than her, someone they can help with reassuring mom vibes

starters : james norrington, gu zi, qi rong

tatum riley || scream '96 ( 3 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - dragged in, no way in hell you could have gotten her into that maze without bribery. and will be spending the whole time going "i told you so" to this whole place being scary and spooky as hell potential plots ➛ whoever dragged her into this, people she can yell at, other people who are not trusting of any of this, someone who wants to fight monsters with her

starters : sam carpenter, billy loomis, dewey riley

vesta starkos || star wars ( 3 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - willingly, this seemed fun and now that it's scary??? THATS EVEN BETTER. will be a menace to everyone they bump into. will try to fight every monster, genuinely just having a great time like the menace of a child they are. potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, someone they can bully for being "scared" , people they can fight, anyone who wants to fight them etc

starters : kaiden monsula, qui gon jinn, gabriel

victoria sutherland || twilight ( 3 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - willingly, mainly went in bc it's easy to grab a bite in these kinds of places. hide a body in the corn, who's gonna know. now is just bored, she doesn't really want to get into any big fights and will mainly be avoiding the monsters by just being a monster herself potential plots ➛ open to murder or maim, people who make this seem more fun for her

starters : bree tanner, laurent da revin, anne sutherland

violet sorrengail || fourth wing ( 4 / 5 )

she/her pronouns - willingly, okay she made a bad call going into this place!!! she thought it'd be chill and fun and now it's ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING BUT but it's fine, we're fine, they've trained for this????? it'll be fine. potential plots ➛ open for death and maiming, someone she can help, people she can freak out with before finding an actual solution

starters : ki yuri, nami, xaden riorson, jeon pildo

[hihopelessromantics]

Through the Wall Chapter 2.5

A nanatsu no taizai fanfiction

hehehe I forgot to post this here. I hope whoever was reading this back in March sees this and knows that oops I am totally invested in writing things for this fandom now.

This one gets dark. Trigger warning for child/ infant abuse (ft the Demon King) and suicidal ideation (poor Meliodas, there's no way that specific issue didn't come up sometime before the curse)

Without further ado, here's this au's take on Meliodas meeting his brother for the first time.

~~

150 years ago. 

“So, the Demon King will have a second son?”

“If he’s strong enough, yes.” 

“Don’t come out until I call for you. Or until your sense your father’s return.”

With his breathy whisper fading into the air, Chandler stepped back, and clicked the door shut. His young pupil slumped over the moment he was out of sight, relinquishing a facade of stoic, unwavering strength. The boy wept, grateful for his first moment of true solitude in what felt like his whole life, and the chance to maybe do something about this worthless state of existence. He scrambled further back into the dark crawlspace of the, literally, godforsaken tower in what was comically his least favorite patch of rocky cliffs in the entire Demon Realm, which Chandler promptly told him five minutes ago was Meliodas’s own birthplace. How fitting. 

Retrieving a small knife from his boot and trying to shake the numbness of his mind, Meliodas kept crawling until he felt the floor drop out from under him. He launched themself down there, landing softly on all fours. The stench of flesh blood told him this was the place Chandler indicated - and the more unsettling stench of old blood, which he hadn’t mentioned, sparked a hint of an emotion Meliodas thought was dead. Curiosity. Cursing in his mind, he breathed in more deeply and actually took in his surroundings, but couldn’t find either any hint as to what could have happened here or an actual reason to investigate. Just old stonework and scattered cloth blankets. It’s not like he had any energy left to care. He had just enough to thank that old tutor of his for those cryptic, vague suggestions that meant Chandler probably wouldn’t be surprised if this little adventure ended up killing Meliodas if he did something wrong. Typical Chandler, he thought. But for once it suited him. Meliodas was tired of being a puppet with no chance to grow a connection to anyone or anything besides killing. He doubted his father’s other pawns minded much when he wasn’t around, and frankly couldn’t care less if the Demon Realm’s government couldn’t pull it together without him. If they had to work themselves to exhaustion, well, serves them right for putting it all on the shoulders of one child who wasn’t even allowed to feel. Oh yeah, and for calling him weak when he told them sometimes he wished he could join the ranks of the dead already. Fuck em. Still, he didn’t want his death propaganda-ized to the Celestial Realm and back, so he’d put the thought off. 

This was good. 

He breathed deeply, the scent of nearby blood as familiar to him as his own reflection. Damnnit, he wasn’t sure just how long he’d have to be alone down here, had no reason to believe it would be more than fifteen minutes, even, but he still wasn’t eager to stick a knife into his neck. I hate my life, Meliodas thought, and sank onto his back. I don’t even want to sleep. 

A garbled sound answered him. Meliodas hit his head on the top of the crawlspace with how quickly he sat up. The blankets were making sounds. He berated himself as he crawled toward the sounds: stupid, stupid, please, please you CAN’T . . . honestly. . . if it just one little sound gets your hearts racing like this, you won’t die OR be able to survive. 

He couldn’t have foreseen what he would encounter there in that crawlspace. The gurgling sounds, and the fresh blood, belonged to a baby who was staring up at the ceiling with a reasonable amount of annoyance. The expression on its little face changed drastically as it took in Meliodas’s stunned face. He didn’t know what to say to the poor thing except, “Must have been scary here all alone here, huh? You okay? You scared?” 

It gaggled as a response and smiled an ecstatic, toothless grin. Without any more hesitation, Meliodas tore off his shirt and jacket, using the former to clean off the baby as best he could before holding the little one snugly against him. He didn’t understand how the infant hadn’t died of insanity or whatnot after being down here god knows how long. Well, as long as he was here, at least one of them would be happy - he could ensure that much, considering all the stolen moments he had spent in the capital’s nursery. 

He didn’t know how long he was down there.

“You’re a sweet little one, aren’t you?” He teased, as the baby happily chomped on one of his fingers. Judging by its body temperature and willingness to play and interact with him, it seemed to be in decent health. 

“Ah. We should burn this, huh?” Meliodas looked to his now blood-crusted shirt. “Hey. . . wanna see something cool? Hellblaze.” The prince summoned the faintest hint of the fire inherent to his kind, gently and gradually increasing it as his new friend stared and cooed with the utmost excitement at the dark purple flame. The delight in those sparkling green eyes was divine. Meliodas was sorely tempted to teach the little one how to make his own flame, but it was so clearly and stunningly younger than the children he was used to. He couldn’t remember anything the castle staff or nurses said about that which they called infants, the youngest demons. But he remembered the sting of hellfire well enough to withdraw the idea almost immediately. 

“Ah - no, don’t eat it! Ssh, no, I’m not upset, I’m sorry I raised my voice, I’m sorry. It’s just, magic isn’t the safest thing, okay? You’ll learn when you get your own. It should be… ah… I don’t know, a couple of years? Decades? I only know I’m an exception, being a god’s son and all. So I’m not sure.” 

The baby settled back down into Mel’s arms like it belonged there, grabbing firmly for his hands again. “Let me protect you, okay?” He murmured, pressing their foreheads together. The baby gave a deep, rumbling purr. Reassured, Meliodas mimicked the sound as best he could, having, usually, no reason to make such a sound. 

“I wonder why you appeared in such a place. You have any idea? Nah, of course not. Not like it matters right? Mooooore importantly, do you know what I’m saying?” 

The baby only smiled. 

Playing, occasionally whispering stories to amuse himself with the little one’s reactions. Told him how lonely he was. He forgot it probably couldn’t understand language yet. The part of his mind he was willing to spare toward THINKING with any level of strenuousness occupied itself with the aches and pains and restlessness that made themselves known now that he was truly relaxed.

Eventually, Meliodas gave into the urge and summoned his darkness. It radiated off his body from under his skin, burning away any chill and curling around his limbs in a comforting manner. For some reason, in this moment, it felt more like a living being, like a friend, than ever before, and he felt so earnestly compelled to acknowledge it as such - despite being ordered not to by his father - that he did so. It was a shock to feel some sort of sensory pleasure spike through his body as soon as he had the thought, and he felt his darkness spread through his body on a deep exhale, melting into his cells instead of returning back to the box he���d been accustomed to forcing it into. This didn’t feel unsafe. It felt safer, like a defense mechanism or a bone returning to its proper place. Keeping his magic strangled like that did more than tire him out, he realized. 

He allowed himself a couple of minutes to stretch and adjust before settling back down to check on the little one. It was less content in the pile of blankets than in his arms, so he scooped it up again and tried lacing their fingers together. Still too small. Giddy at a sudden idea, he extended a tendril of darkness forward and curled it around his little friend’s tiny wrist. It shouted in delight, then went about touching and manipulating  Mel’s darkness however it could. Meliodas couldn’t stop smiling at how fascinated the baby was - and how gentle, too. As if the darkness was just another part of Mel’s body and it understood it could hurt him somehow. Not likely, but Mel had gone from being fascinated with what could be going on in the young demon’s mind, to being (oddly) certain of its feelings and intentions. Like it wasn’t difficult anymore. A couple of times it poked Mel’s hand or chest or cheek, even attempting to hold his wrist the way Meliodas always did to check his pulse. 

“I have seven hearts,” the demon prince informed an infant with no knowledge of what a heart was. “I think you have seven too. Oh, don’t be disappointed. You’re plenty special. Hm, see - your eyes are so much more lively and beautiful than mine, even though they’re the same green. ‘No two beings are entirely the same.’ Nurse Grequiene explained it to me once.” 

He went through about 90 or so names before finding one that felt right. He apologized for not knowing any proper infant names as, according to one of his nannies, it was traditional and had been a big deal when the crown prince himself wasn’t given one to begin with.  Meliodas relayed as much of that conversation as he could remember: ‘There wouldn’t have been any of this fuss had you been given the chance to pick one out like all the other kids,’ he’d said, dabbing away at a stain on his bedroom floor. ‘We haven’t respected your father much since, as you know. The castle staff is nonexistent to him. As long as we stay out of the upper floors of the castle we’re never fired, just shuffled around or - well I shou- I won’t burden you with the details now, just know that what you say to us we will keep in confidence. That controlling bastard can only go so far. Remember that. Might have had to go drastic with that nasty rumor to get your sire to let you pick your name like all the other demon kids, but we did it, didn’t we?’

“Naturally, I pestered them for ages about what the rumor was. And it was more wild than I could have hoped for. Turns out! There were demons who dedicated that the goddess queen must have helped to create me after my father refused to let me be community-raised or to pick my own name after I was old enough to understand what that involved. They said I must not be a full demon, because if I was, why would he need to exert so much control over me and discard generations of tradition? Yeah. My father wasn’t pleased with that rumor. He couldn’t find the source, though. By the time he noticed it was just “everywhere,” supposedly, and he opted to pretend the whole situation never happened.” 

The baby listened with interest. The fingers playing with Mel’s golden locks yanked, and he leaned down to accommodate the little one’s stimming. 

“You know what else is interesting?” Inquisitive green eyes stared back at his, and despite its young age the babe looked very much as if eager to share in some conspiracy Mel was about to engage in. Even though it was just words, it could not be more delighted with them, and that was a power Meliodas reveled in. 

“I like you. I like you a lot. Even though I barely know you - I feel like I’m learning, don’t get me wrong. But it’s not like I just trust - or like - people on sight. This is . . . a new thing for me. Oh, and, thank you. I’m a little sleepy right now and can’t recall why, but I feel like I should be thanking you.” 

Let’s go to sleep now, okay? Sweet dreams! 

He didn’t know how many times he’d said that -

Before the thump of a hurried landing reverberated throughout the crawlspace. 

Hm?

Ah. That voice sounded familiar but he didn’t want to hear it. Babe in his arms, he retreated backward, sensing the presence was right about him. Sensing him.

“Hm? No, you’re safe! Come out, come here to me, I -”

“No. Go. Go away.”

“What? No - curses - Young Master!”

Meliodas hissed threateningly and stabbed at the hand reaching out for him with his darkness.

“He’s gone delusional . . . here, here -” 

Suddenly there was air moving freely around him and then he was landing, hard, on the wooden floor of the tower - not occurring to him that there was a trapdoor, he stared dumbfounded up at the familiar face that was rather completely ruining his nice evening.

“Ah - Young Master, put that back.”

“Wha…?”

Pointing at the precious babe in his arms. 

“Put that back, we need to go.”

“No, no, I’m not going anywhere. And there’s no way I’m leaving “that” here!”

Chandler looked at him as if he hadn’t heard or understood. “Young Master, you have to come with me. We must leave shortly.”

“No.”

“You have to. Now,” he repeated, looking downright frightened, but Meliodas only looked down at the precious bundle in his arms and shook his head wildly. The older man’s darkness locked tighter, tighter around Meliodas’s arms, the firm grip reminding Mel of his own hold on the child he’d just met, and he looked up, taking in his tutor’s face for the first time. Pleading. With all of his heart. 

“Please. I like it here.”

“Now is not the time for jokes. Darkness below, you . . .” The older man measured Meliodas’s face once more and, seeming to come to a conclusion, sighed. “Alright.”

His face split apart into a smile. “Thank you, Ch -”

And his vison went black. 

When he woke up, he woke up alone in his bedroom.

Yes, the training was a massive success, he proved quite sturdy. 

He did not move or attempt to get up. He was alone once more, that he knew, and in that moment, that was all he needed to know. 

I promised to protect . . .

I promised. I promised.

You put your hands on me. It wasn’t even training and you hurt me.

He had been out for quite some time, attended to by some very concerned staff at all times. He couldn’t find it in himself to be grateful, though he smiled and thanked them all the same when he finally regained the strength to do so. 

After all,

We have doomed a life to death.

“Meliodas?” 

The voice was tentative. Chandler - no, the old man - had done well in giving him his space, as Meliodas did not know himself if Chandler’s blood would not have stained the floor, should he have come close. 

He missed the fact he was called by name.

“Meliodas, I have some good news I know you’ll love.”

No, I’ll never love anything, ever again. 

And I’ll soon be dead. I refuse to live.

“Come to the throne room. Your father has promised a lovely surprise. Yes, I know it makes you anxious, but you have to go now. And I’m sure you’ll love it.”

He didn’t answer. Just silently dressed himself and walked out, the perfect picture of the poised, proper prince, all the way to the throne room. This would be the first of his father’s surprises to truly surprise him. Which is exactly how his father expected it. Everything would be how his father expected it. 

Again.

“You have a brother,” announced the Demon King. 

That jolted Meliodas right out of his thoughts fast enough that he almost made a facial expression. The Demon King laughed heartily. 

“He has passed the test, as you have, and I am proud to welcome him into the royal family. He has no name and nothing to call his own yet. You shall look after him from this point forward.” 

“I will do as you will. The task - it pleases me.” The response was somehow spoken in a steady tone despite the whirlwind of emotions making him want to sink to his knees and melt into a puddle of blessedly free liquid. “I’ve never had a brother before,” he tacked on, not really knowing how his father knew his brother was a brother and oh yeah, he didn’t care much for being considerate, did he? Oh fucking well. 

“I imagine so!” laughed his father. “Come here, child.”

Meliodas did so, and his father with his great statue plucked up a small bundle of cloths from the ground and placed it with insufficient caution in his sons (not waiting) arms. To his own horror, Meliodas caught the babe swiftly and in but a moment had it secure . . . cradling gently . . . just as he had with his little friend who at this very moment was surely dead and quite heartbroken. Hearts protesting this state of existence, and probably the fact he had forgotten air as a necessity, he sucked in air and practically choked on it.

His father laughed, genuinely amused at his carefully crafted son’s loss of composure. “What is the matter, son? Is he not to your liking? Ah! You haven’t even seen him yet. Yes, yes, let me take - that - off and let you see.” 

He peeled the blankets away and revealed a very annoyed-looking infant with striking green eyes. “The audacity . . .” Those eyes seemed to say. “What the fuck are you trying to do, kill me?” 

Meliodas took another deep breath.

“Fantastic, isn’t it?”

He said nothing, very much preferring to say nothing to that man and not caring if he couldn’t get away with it this time. The babe - his brother, though he should laugh at the thought. How could THAT possibly be? - had reached up to pull a strand of golden hair into his mouth. 

“His name is Zeldoris.” 

Those were the first words he had willingly spoken since regaining consciousness. 

And it was the first time he dared to smile in front of his father. It was an angry kind of smile. Something the Demon King deserved well and good. It spoke every bit of both Meliodas’s and Zeldris’s wrath toward being put in their situation. And it was gone as quickly as it came.

“Very good,” replied his father, who for god knows what reason seemed pleased his firstborn child was furious, and was definitely - as Mel decided later - oblivious to the real cause. “The servants will show you the appropriate room to put him in.”

~~

“Why is Meliodas refusing to speak to you?”

“I do not know, Master, but I imagine he is irritated as of late. His temper is quite something, and he sure knows how to direct his frustration.”

“Well, that is no worry at all. It’s not as if Zeldoris is getting older any faster, ha. Still. I didn’t assign him to you for you to be meek and docile and his personal punching bag. You better keep him in line, you hear? Don’t let me catch you making a fool out of that boy.”

“Yes, I know, Master. And your boy is no fool. I’m quite proud of him, actually.  He takes no insult sitting down. The soldiers shall fear his wrath and crave his - and yours by natural extension - approval.”

“Good. That is how it should be. And, if he does continue to treat you with such disrespect - or refuse to talk to you for any extended period of time -  tell me at once.”

“As you will, Master.”

~~

Meliodas’s resolve to never speak warmly to Chandler held firm. And Chandler did not say a word about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special thanks to @7-ratsinatrenchcoat for helping me figure out how I want to approach writing the wacky old man that is canon Chandler and special thanks to @zorria for previewing this for me to make sure it makes sense and is fit for Reader Consumption.

Let me know if you want me to clarify any of the plot for this one!