#even worse bc in the end she was still with jonathan?? so what was that all abt

[sunny-reacts-to-stuff]

tma 39 "infestation"

worms, parasites, gore, physical violence, body horror, trypophobia, uncanny, jumpscares (2m07s, 2m11s, 2m16s, 6m40s, 18m25s), loud screaming, alarm sounds, high-pitched audio interference, being chased, being trapped, getting lost, asphyxiation, abandoned tunnels

i cant believe i am slaying my way through the magnus archives as a scaredy cat

martin being like "right right right right" is so cute from an outside perspective but i would literally kill him myself if i was jon in that moment

where the fuck is tim

also my poor 3/4 archivists im praying for you rn

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" "there we go ^0^" see that's the clervalstein i came in for

"Look, you guys got to go home every day, okay. I didn’t!" my SON TT

HE SAID THANK YOU ????

so sorry jon for saying it would take you until s4 to say please and thank you

"These old files are far better protected than we ever were." the diction of that was peak "im gonna kms"

nooo martin you did great

better trapped than dead?

"why record it" for the memories, sash

he has gotten attached, let him be

gods forbid an autistic guy has a comfort object

Every real statement just leads… deeper into something I don’t even know the shape of yet. -> i feel you jon dont worry

the only difference between you and i is that i have something close to a database and you look like you cant type into a computer

"Only an idiot would stay in this job." says guy that goes to work at 6 am bc he wants to

LET MARTIN (and me) CALL YOU AN IDIOT

waiting for me im coming waaait im coming too

ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU ARE USING THE FUCKING TAPE RECORDER BECAUSE THEY JUST MAGICALLY DONT RECORD DIGITALLY AND YOU HAVE WAITED 39 CHAPTERS TO LET ME KNOW THAT

"ITS SOUNDPROOFED" I AM WHEEZING AND I SO SHOULDNT

turn around every now and then i get a little bit lonely

SASHA?

"joe spooky" i fw this guy

I JUST SAID I FUCK WITH HIM.

WHAT.

man.

man.

man.

"it's stupid" "yes. yes it is" jon he just saw his friend (YOUR FRIEND) die can you be nicer

jk i know he's also very stressed

MARTIN GETTING MAD? YES.

please jon. enlighten me on why you started working there. i've been wondering.

out of those 40 i just listened to, at least 80% of them ended with you being "nah why would this be real"

jonathan. i am so sorry i ever was mean to you.

actually i still think you should have been nicer to your co-workers.

but i am sorry about everything else.

this is what i wanted (not the tim part of course) but yes be vulnerable

slowburn and forced proximity the trope you are

couldnt the worms have killed fuckass elias

im so sorry because tim just died but im here smiling like an idiot at these two actually having a conversation

"we’re clearly doing a whole heart-to-heart thing" autistic ass man (just like me fr)

the fuck do you mean "even you must be aware that's not normal"

is martin from london

WAHT.

WHAT.

WHAT.

JON WE CAN'T GO FROM "I DON'T BELIEVE ANY STATEMENT BC IM A WEE LAD AND IM SCARED" TO "AH YEAH MY ROOMMATE MUST HAVE BEEN A GHOST"

HE IS SO OFFENDED LMAOOO

the va's from manchester

elias you're a horrible boss

THE FUCK YOU MEAN "WORSE THAN MARTIN"

MARTIN ISNT EVEN BAD

BURN THE BUILDING

SASHA DONT USE THAT

oh he used to smoke thats why he was so offended when tim asked

"im not a doctor" i say that very often

YOUR ONE REASON TO NOT KILL MARTIN AND JON IS THAT YOU DONT WANNA REHIRE JON?

"so....." sounded so silly

"the window is covered in WORMS" sounded so pinocchio trailer

okay now hug as you die

tim?

"bit light headed, the gas yk" tim you are so funny please dont go bald

DID HE JUST FLASH THEM

"can you walk?" "no" "THEN LET'S GO ^^"

HE WRITES POETRY AND HE RECORDS THEM ANALOGICALLY TO GIVE IT A LO-FI CHARM. JON, IF YOU DONT MARRY HIM I WILL AND IM A LESBIAN

but tbh that sounds a bit suspicious

why are we all giving out our reasons to join the institute

the fuck

DID SHE GET GRAHAM'ED?

DID SASHA GET GRAHAM'ED?

MARTIN HAS WHAT

well. that was everything but fun.

[vagueeyes]

a few additional notes on the matinee + what i wrote down for the final show of STAGE/FRIGHT (all apr 5. i'm probably the last one to realise apr 5 = 9??)

‼️ spoilers ahead ‼️

the matinee:

-during the SARDINES reference in the kidnappers, someone behind us gasped and said "sardines!" (so cute tbh!!)

-one thing i forgot to mention about the lack of video wall - we also miss the "Reece Shearsmith 1969-2025" bit. i wonder how that played out with the first-timers!

-on a related note - i'm 99.9% sure the 2 men sat behind us were seeing the show for the first time, bc the one who said "oh my godd" kept asking the person he came with, whether the show had been running for long. iirc his companion couldn't really answer & said "today's the last one i think"

-the people sat next to me i felt like they were wondering why i was covering my ears before it started. well. they found out why soon enough 🤣 (also at some point before the first jumpscare & the one before the start of act ii, i yelled at @somuchwatersoclosetohome that i wasn't listening to anything she was saying 🤣🤣)

anddd this behaviour did not change for the last show 😂 gosh how was knowing there were jumpscares even worse!! it's the anticipatory reaction or something, i guess??

anyway. for the last show - AGAIN thank you @somuchwatersoclosetohome for the ticket. honestly, the matinee show was an impulse decision made while i was at work (which really shows how terminally online i am 🤦‍♀️), but the final one i was like ?? do i even try? but after a brief chat and she came through so quickly it was like what!! this is happening i guess!!

a quick note: i'm aware more of the fandom have seen this one so none of the below is original or even coherent tbh. just everything i jotted down during the interval + formulated in my head earlier today!

the seating:

-was up in a box (with @donotbelasagne) this time! here's what the view was like:

-the far-left of the stage is obstructed view, so for moments like in terror at the asylum eg the goudron/cragg bit by the door or the painting of madame goudron's head coming off - you would miss if you didn't lean forward (well the former you would still miss, actually).

-on the plus side - what was fun was seeing all the marks on the stage!! which i didn't start focusing on until bcdr when tommy & len are moving/things around. and little things like seeing prop (or real?) sushi in the itsu box during a house divided, and something actually in maggie's pret coffee cup (but likely a prop since i don't think there was actual liquid in it lol). and vince's coffee cup was definitely completely sealed (there was what looked like a black sticker on it). also seeing len/steve crouching behind the wall during brown bottles! hehe

-the main bit that i stared at was during the self-taping scene when abby & sherrie go to play the tape back, there's nothing actually playing in the camera. i suppose that's obvious knowing the video wall footage is pre-recorded, but still oddly satisfying to see it!

-as an aside, us being in an upper box means i was conscious of people possibly staring at me covering my ears before the jumpscares loll but you know what! i saw a few people do the same thing before the end of the interval. so. you know.

the kidnappers:

-fr i just wanna quietly say, i was hoping the last guest would be tim key (more about him in my upcoming soppy/journey post)

-but jonathan ross was a nice surprise!

-the part that got me unexpectedly was tommy's usual "you're not on graham norton now" line, and jonathan's response of just flipping the bird lmaoo, then tommy/reece's subsequent "he wouldn't have you on anyway!" 🤣🤣🤣

-jonathan calling len/steve "odd looking" and tommy/reece "generic/short handsome guy"?? someone please tell me the EXACT phrasing bc i was too busy going 😮🤭 (self-reminder to watch that interview!!)

-when he goes to hide in the wardrobe, he doesn't close the door properly iirc! christina(?) had to close it!

-steve drawing out the celery line omggg it was amazing

-when jonathan bursts out of the wardrobe to correct len, he just goes back in again! i think someone backstage or christina again had to remind him to go back out.

-the only part of his tirade that's seared into my brain is calling len/steve a hedgehog (what!!!)

-as mentioned in @kookaburrito's post, jonathan's bit going up the stairs is namedropping mark (ofc), but he says "mark gatiss and his beautiful swan neck" (omg!!!) he was NOT expecting that combination of words to come out of his mouth lbr!!

interval:

-at the ~15min mark, the safety curtain kept going up and down, and the lights kept dimming and brightening? definitely got a bit nervous that the video wall wasn't working again.

-just for fun i recorded a bit of this (i hope this gets uploaded/posts properly, lmk if it doesn't):

-it went maybe 5mins over than usual but all seemed well when the theatre attendants closed the curtains!

stray observations:

-before the show, @donotbelasagne mentioned that there are recorded coughing noises playing throughout?? it was funny to hear this bc during the matinee, i can't remember during which part now, i definitely DID notice some coughing. i tend to be easily annoyed sensitive of this, so when i heard it, i remember thinking "who the HELL is coughing at a time like this??" for this one, i did clock coughing again!

-about the toby/reece switch - i realise it's not a huge technical thing but this time i did try to watch the centre of the stage. when it goes completely dark and abby starts circling around with the camera light, i did see that a body (don't know whose ofc!) was still lying there! and...that's all i have to say about that lol

-during tears of laughter, iirc after bloody belle's bit, the associate director & simon evans briefly go into that box to watch! simon was also recording a bit on his phone!!

-i missed looking at goudron's sleeve garters wtf!! but now that i think about it i guess i did see them but wasn't going gasp it's sleeve garters. idk?? gah!!

-steve flubbing the "bloody good piece(?) of theatre" line haha!!

-WHO shouted "bloody belle" three times early, during the addressing the audience part!!

-the curtain call and steve thanking every member of the company, the stage hands, and the front of house staff!! 🥹🥹🥹 (also iirc toby was actually crying or at least extremely teary-eyed! as was everyone i think!)

-for both shows iirc many people "aww'd" at the "maybe every ghost story really is a love story" line at the end <3

two thoughts on stage door:

-i did attempt to make eye contact this time! don't think i did last time due to the sudden-ness of it all, but alas r&s weren't really looking at anyone anyway - probably due to the rush!

-can i just say it didn't immediately occur to me before, but bhav is quite good-looking!!

alright i think that's it for now! anything i've left out or forgotten i'm sure someone else may bring up & articulate it better lol.

[pumpkinstrawbrew]

How do you think the Rogues feel about Scarecrow being in a relationship with Batman?

hm, it will slightly depend on if jonathan is still remaining a full-blown villain, who have the whole ‘forbidden love’ thing with the bat, or if he was redeemed *i use this word loosely, mind you* an’ now pretty much hangs out with batman almost all the time, while also acting as batfamily's creepy, ex-convict step-dad. 

i will start with the second scenario, bc it’s the most straightforward one. but in there most rogues will pretty much see right through crane an’ know, that he’s not really changed. he merely toned some things down *basically, he’s forced to follow no kill rule too*, an’ while i think that they might try an’ use this against batman, to kinda shatter his beliefs when it comes to jon, the thing is … that bruce also knows it. he’s not that naive to think, that his love suddenly made crane empathic or caring. but jon having empathy an’ care for bruce, pretty much makes him act the part, where he won’t go out of his way to harm others. or at least, he won’t be as careless about it as he used to be. so when the manipulation tactic fails, the question raises. since if scarecrow didn’t worm his way into the bat’s heart an’ bed via lies, then how in the world did he even get there? 

if one look at batman an' scarecrow's relationships from a very surface level point of view, naturally, them getting together would seem baffling. but it's not what drives everyone onto the wall. it's exact fact, that despite their inability to understand 'whys' an' 'hows', all of this is clearly genuine.

therefore, the most devoted *an’ unhinged* of batman’s rogue-simps will be enraged an’ jealous by proxy. bc how come that it’s this scrawny strawgoblin, who landed himself a man like batman, an’ not them, who are clearly hotter / smarter / have ‘more in common’ with the vigilante an’ so on? to some of them, it's like slap to the face. an' no one takes it well, of course lol.

some take it worse, than the others tho. like, batman would have to make sure to not take scarecrow on the missions, which have anything to do with riddler or poison ivy. bc the first one will always end up in nerd on nerd violence. it’s like a battle between two gay reddit incels, where each party thinks that they are intellectually superior. an’ the second one can pretty much result in crane an’ pamela poisoning themselves an’ the whole gotham as result of their chemical warfare on one another, simply bc of the way ivy’s gimmick works. like whatever she has a thing for batman or not, her whole seduction schtick would make her actinons around bruce unacceptable for jon. an’ while it’s not super important here, i hc that poison ivy an’ scarecrow typically unaffected by each other’s toxins. at least, when it comes to how they are intended to work on a normal person. but they still can really mess one another up via it, since jonathan is allergic to some flowers an’ certain versions of his ft can actually harm ivy, as they can be considered being poisonous for plants in general.

in comparison to this, there also will be some rogues, who won’t care too much about any of this. bane prob won’t give a damn, either way. or man-bat. or clayface an’ so on. like for some of batman’s rogues, scarecrow’s involvement with the vigilante doesn’t really change much. not when it comes to how they view either of them. it’s more of like ‘oh, okay. kinda weird, but whatever’. i guess, their disbelief would also come from a place, that jonathan not exactly attractive nor esp nice or pleasant, when it comes to personality. at least, from how they know him. so for them, it just means that besides batman’s little bat-brats, they will also have to deal with this ‘new addition to the family’ in the face of scarecrow now. bc batman is addicted to picking up 'strays' or smth lol.

there are also be cases more specific such as the ventriloquist, who would actually be glad for crane as they are on more or less 'friendly terms' *saying this with tongue in my cheek*, meanwhile scarface will be low-key grossed out an’ state that he always knew that crane was a queer, but was surprised that batman is one too. bc what can you do, he’s one old fashioned bigoted dummy lol. harley *BTAS one* would be ecstatic about it, finally she will have someone she can talk about ‘boys’ with! bc ivy doesn’t do it with her lol. an’ speaking of BTAS, the mad hatter from that universe prob will feel low-key betrayed by crane, since he assumed like they were pals *they were not* an’ that jon might have sympathized with his story *he did not* an' now look at him. there he is, sucking face with the man, who jervis thinks ruined his life, even tho, he ruined it himself lol. basically, while some rogues might think that it's good to see jonathan finding love, others will think that he's a total asshole for not caring about their fee-fees on the matter.

*also some of rogue's individual reactions might also depends on the verse we are talking about, an' be complete opposite to what their other counterpart feels. like arkhamverse harley would throw hands with crane an' wish to murder the hell out of him, bc batman killed her trashman puddin, but crane doesn't seem to give a fuck. besides the one he shares with bruce lol.*

an’ then, there be joker, who would think that this is hilarious an’ the funnest thing since invention of fart cushions. despite common belief, that he should be the most pissed off party in this, i think, that he actually be a bit relieved. he’d rather have scarecrow as batman’s lover, than his new arch-enemy. since bruce’s an’ jon’ previous closeness might have lead the clown to believe, like he’s being replaced in that regard. besides, both arkhamverse an’ BTAS jokers have harley, so he prob would assume like jon is that for bruce too. someone to pass the time with. a companion, who while serves as a good distraction, doesn’t get the main picture or smth along those lines. like, your typical joker’s delusional stuff. so for him out of everyone this coupling would make the most sense. esp since there are some twisted parallels which can be drawn from how joker ‘made’ harley in who she is, an’ how batman influenced jonathan into ‘getting better’, but it’s all backwards. the joker be 'supportive', but he will also make fun of their sentiments toward one another too. so y'know, the classic.

now, if we take the situation, where jonathan isn’t on batman’s side per say an’ still a villain, an’ a serial killer, then things will be a bit more complicated. for one, nothing will hold him back too much. he still might dial his homicidal deeds down a notch, but i imagine, that if one of batman’s other rogues would have ended up really hurting bruce / nearly killing him an’ so on, scarecrow might pretty much came after them with little to no regard about what batman would think about it. in certain ways, a typically villainous jonathan possess an emotional intelligence of a wooden log an’ can’t truly picture why this would be devastating for bruce vs more stable version of crane who can at least grasp the reasoning behind some of bruce’s actions. it doesn’t mean, that he feels the same about the subject at hand or even shares the opinion, but he’s more ready for compromises. he can finally understand that some things will hurt bruce an’ disappoint him, even if crane himself doesn’t see anything too horrible about killing a person who hurt bruce in the past. comparably, the fullblown villain jonathan doesn't have this insight, nor he can see past his own blinding rage. he will do what he thinks is 'right' an' deserved, not what bruce might have wished he did instead.

an' all of this paints not a very nice picture for batman’s other rogues. this crane basically still remains on the same side of the law as them, but also now act like what they do is somehow worse, than what he did an’ still might do. he’s also crazy possessive over the bat now, an' doesn't even try to hide that he's more than willing to hurt / torture an' murder them, if they cross some unknown line. an’ on top of that, he doesn’t even get scolded for his zealousness enough. at least from their perspective, since batman doesn’t outright ejects him. or even seem to give up on him. in some form, this situation makes scarecrow more deserved of their jealousy an’ anger, than if crane decided to ‘better himself’ for the sake of being next to the batman 24/7. this also would pretty much make jonathan even more of an outcast among them, than before. which in all fairness isn’t very new to him. in the comics, he’s pretty much implied to always be looked down upon by them, anyways. it’s just that if some of rogues would try to mess him up too much, they will prob met batman’s fist in the private an’ with more force than usual. cuz bruce doesn’t like when someone else bullies crane. only he can do it lol. it also will be more than apperent now, that batman does play favorites to some degree, an' it's a huge oof for some of the rogues.

but once again, there will be some rogues who won’t be too alarmed by this. they just might try to avoid direct confrontations with crane, if they can help it. bc they know that he can put an effort into creating the sort of chemicals, which might reduce them to a forever scared, bedridden vegetable. an' no one wants that, i imagine. 

there will be some dynamics existing on outskirt of this as well. like, in both of those major cases, of jon being with the bat or against him, but also not really, scarecrow an’ two-face would most likely be pushed into medium, where they are forced to tolerate one another. esp in versions, where two-face knows that batman an’ bruce wayne are the same person. otherwise, i feel like two-face will give crane a side-glances, when the word get out that he an’ batman doing dirty tango together. but it’s also like … not super surprising. just means that crane can’t be trusted, even more than usual. an' that batman is actually more freaky, than some people think lol.

oh, an’ penguin in both versions of events would prob have troubles with processing them fully, so he won’t address it for a while. until he will get his wits back an’ be an asshole about it. but jon can be mean back, so eventually, oswald would shut up about it, an’ just hate crane even more, bc he’s historically been someone who he looked down upon, yet now, he’s envious of him. not even in terms, that scarecrow landed himself a hottie like batman *this too tho*, but just that even a sad, fugly monster like crane found someone who can see smth good in him an’ love him, even with all the awful parts. an’ penguin is typically not all that lucky.

an' ah, that's about it, haha. hopefully, this more or less paints a coherent picture in how i see other rogues viewing bruce an’ jon’s relationships. as funny enough, i don’t tend to think in depth about how other characters react to my otp, unless said characters are literally presented in the situation or scene. like, i can’t imagine alfred not knowing about batman an’ scarecrow as soon as they become a thing, mostly bc he’s always around bruce in some ways an’ he’s bruce’s closest ally-friend an’ father figure in one. jon, on other hand, doesn’t have any character, he’s particularly close with. i also doubt, that he will go around telling other rogues about his escapades with batman, not even bc of common sense *he still have some of it*, but also bc he’s very possessive of the moments they share together. he doesn’t want anyone else to get even a lick of what he’s getting, he's a greedy little goblin.

[la-plum-sefue1]

ok so, i once read this byler fic, which is one of my faves. i LOVE the concept. it was simple, but it payed off pretty well. so this is post s4 ending, not a s5 au. (if you don't want spoilers for the fic, read the spoiler free ONE SENTENCE summary at the bottom of the post :3. link will also be attached) my boys have been flirting, being snarky with each other this and that just being cringe fail like always, super attached... one thing lead to another and it begins with them being about to kiss. they somehow start with jokingly flirting and end up with mike cornering will against a desk in a corner of his unlit room as they are about to kiss until jonathan and nancy barge into the room to let them know dinner is ready. they don't get caught, but there is still so much tension in the room. nancy is real "no nonsense", so she's rushing them into coming downstairs for dinner. THEY AREN'T ABLE TO KISS. and even worse, the WHOLE GANG is staying at the wheeler's and the original sleeping arrangement between mike and will was just the two of them in mike's room AND THEY CHANGED IT TO LUCAS, DUSTIC, MIKE AND WILL ALL IN MIKE'S ROOM. so when they thought they'd just eat dinner and go back upstairs to finish what they started, THEY CHANGE THE ARRANGEMENTS. the tensions are HIGH at this point and everything's going south for their "plan", if you could even call it that. always trying to get a moment alone, but they can't. it goes on for a while, building up tension, while MORE SHIT HAPPENS TO PREVENT THEM FROM HAVING THEIR KISS. until FINALLY, after the shitshow that happened before they got back home (almost a whole day after their almost-kiss), they have to clean up and so they go alone into the basement bathroom and well there you have it. the fic keeps torturing with more situations and you're just like RRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH JUST KISS and it's just super cool, i loved it. SPOILER FREE SUMMARY: mike and will almost kiss, they're interrupted and shit keeps happening to prevent them from doing so, so tensions are HIGH. >> the link bc this fic is so kool:

[findafight]

i agree w all of your r*nance thoughts. i also think a big issue for them would be nancy never being robin's Person bc of steve; i do not think that's something nancy could stomach. tho at this point, even if i had liked it originally, i would despise it bc of how often ppl have robin or nancy or both do absolutely sick and twisted things to steve. like the amount of fics where robin doesn't tell steve/actively lies to him about it for extended periods of time then he just has to be okay w it or they have robin just start putting nancy above steve in every aspect of life is ridiculous. then there's the really bad ones, like the fic i saw where the entire premise is r*nance fucking in steve's bed w/o his knowledge (and robin specifically doesn't feel bad at all which ???? like they have nancy feel bad but not robin? i will never understand) or the ficlet i saw where robin asks steve for sex advice then either 1) tells him it's nancy and he makes the advice specific (wtf) or 2) doesn't tell him but he figures it out later bc nancy thanks him since she realized the advice came from him (demonic). like what the actual fuck. sorry i had to complain about the things i've been forced to see against my will by tumblr.

so many things to complain about having seen on the hellsite. carry on fellow soldier 🫡

dsakjhfaksdhkf ya like. the concept of either of them starting to date someone they like and not immediately busting the other's door down like candace_momholyFUCK dot jpeg is just absurd to me. Robin would kiss a girl for the first time and as soon as she gets home she's dialing Steve up and twirling the phone cord around her fingers and kicking her legs, giggling. They were having boobie talk in the car at 7am. they def share if they actually get a date with someone they have a crush on!! (the exception being if that person didn't want to come out, like I could see Steve telling Robin he kissed a guy or had a boyfriend but not saying who because the bf wasn't ready for other people/people he didn't know well to know? but robin would still know he had a bf and details about what they do, just not personal details.)

I find it actually laughable that people would consider Robin would put some romantic interest above her most specialest boy in the whole wide world. Like. She was obsessed with him when she held her tammy and bagel crumb grudge and hated him! Now she loves him? Do people thing she isn't obsessed with him now?? Absolutely not she's worse and she steals his shirts to prove it.

Which I agree with you. Nancy obviously wants to be her romantic partner's priority and number 1. Jonathan's priority is his family and we saw in both s3 and s4 that this causes strain in their relationship! To the point they kinda break up in s3 about it! Robin and Steve both can no longer give that to their partners, because they have each other, scoops troop, and, by extension, the Party. Which is wild because s2 Nancy was Steve's priority.

idk whyyy people have Robin be mean to Steve :( stopppp that's her special little guy. her sweet cheese. her rotten soldier. She might say or do something that hurts him but she would try to apologize as soon as she realizes!! Just like he would for her! I think it might come from people still prioritizing romo ships over platonic ones and trying to have those be the most important and special and deep relationship the characters have.

lldkfjlakdflkajlfdj anon those are WILD fics wow. I think some are trying to acknowledge past st4ncy, but neglect all the hurt that happened at the end of that relationship, and that for the characters, in s4, Steve and Nancy broke up less than a year and a half ago! very messily and hurtfully! (once again, regardless of whether or not steve knows Nancy cheated) that is so short between the end of the relationship to be hooking up with your best friend's ex! that he has expressed romantic feelings for recently! or trying to emphasize robin and steve's weird little qpr comfortable in one another's space and oversharing relationship but missing the mark. like. it's one thing to sleep in a friend's bed with a different friend. it another to have sex in a friend's guest bedroom. it's another level to have sex in your friends bed? that's bonkers.wild.

I do think it'd be funny for Steve and Robin to exchange sex tips/stories but the first time i think Robin asks and Steve just blanks and goes "cut your nails. watch your teeth." which like. yeah. Robin figured. They're weirdos who live inside each other's pockets and brains but they probably do have some levels of comfort to work up to (they've been friends for less than a year! even if it feels like they've known each other forever)

(also. there is a weird thing sometimes where Nancy is closer to Steve/cares more openly about him than she would. I think it might be a bit of a backlash to people pointing out that she cheated on him in s2 and then seemed to not talk to him at all between then and s3 and again between s3 and s4? hmm...)

[stevie-petey]

hi i’m back!! first of all let me just say how mind blowing your writing is????? EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU M FOR THE AMAZING CHAPTER!!!

im so glad dear billy is ur fav ep from season four too because it’s mine too and oh my god. you did so well in making everything fit so perfectly together bc yk bug not being in st is still such a sad truth for me (and it’s shocking how you aren’t in the writers room for st s5 rn)

but anyways THERES ALOTTT TO UNPACK IN THIS CHAPTER !!

steve and bug first bc holy shiti swear i could feel my heart dropping multiple times while reading about them 

bug asking steve to choose max over her?? and steve pleading with her not to make him choose max over her and saying

“I’m choosing you, Y/N.” and adding 

“I’ll always choose you.” YK WHAT HERES THE FULL SCENE BC IT BROKE ME IN HALF.

[“I’m choosing you, Y/N.” Steve whispers, lips pressed softly against your hair. Your body stiffens, he feels it, but he holds you tighter instead. “I’ll always choose you.”

“Steve…” 

“Please don’t make me say no to you.” He pulls away, grabs your face and makes you look at him. You’re pale, tears wet your lovely face, and all Steve wants to do is fall asleep with you forever. He strokes the crest of your eyebrow, kisses your forehead. “Please don’t make me lose you.”]

PLEASE DONT MAKE ME LOSE YOU?????!?!?!?!?!!? just stab me with bugs pocketknife please.

and before that scene i remember the conversation between them about how steve recalled feeling gutted after seeing nancy and jonathan thinking his night couldn’t get any worse UNTIL HE SAW THE LOOK OF HEARTBREAK ON BUGS FACE and how it made him feel worse knowing he couldn’t have done anything to prevent her from feeling that hurt

[“But that night, it just-it really fucking hurt, you know? Thought I’d never feel anything shittier, that my night couldn’t get any worse. But then… I saw your face.”

“The heartbreak on your face, that fact that I couldn’t do anything to protect you from it. That’s what hurt me the most.”]

..AND THE MOST IMPORTANT LINE OF ALL (TO ME) [“And it’s why I won’t let anything else happen to you.”] and i know steve will try his best to protect her if it meant ensuring bugs safety in the end.

sooooooo who’s gonna tell them that they’ve been eachother’s protectors since day one without even knowing it!

these two are so special to me and it’s just so heartbreaking to see them this way, steve feeling so much fear, and anger :(

i understand his frustration with bug bc everyone can clearly see how she’s putting her own issues aside (despite her literally being cursed with the same thing as my baby max) just to save max and that’s not good bc it’s the BOTH of them that needs saving and bug being stubborn about it isn’t helping steve’s current state :( also i saw ur reply and YOU USING a beatles song is so evil and i love it so so much!!!!!

i’m not ready for bugs visions cause ik shes been carrying sm guilt…with the recent deaths of hopper and billy AND OMG THE NIGHTMARES???? dustin hearing her yell out billy’s name in the middle of the night ☹️ dustin’s being a champ rn LIKE i know he’s not showing it for the sake of his and bugs sanity but i know he’s going crazy in his head bc ITS HIS BIG SISTER?? AND HIS BEST FRIEND?? my poor baby is scared pf losing his bestest friend in the world :( i just need my Henderson siblings happy please </3

and lucas oh lucas!!!! my poor guy he’s literally never been so scared and worried in his entire life until now. THE POSSIBILITY OF LOSING BOTH THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE AND HIS BIG SISTER IS SO ☹️i need to hug him.

steve and nance r gonna be so best friends (alongside with the loml robin) and i love how they’re becoming more friendly with each other now like the playful banter im ready! (i know they were civil and were already somewhat friends but still) i didn’t particularly enjoy the love-triangle thing in s4 so i’m interested to see how you’ll be dealing with all of it 😭

btw i’m purposely ignoring jon rn. WE DONT SPEAK ABOUT HIM. (he’ll fall to his knees the minute he gets to hawkins and finds out about the curse that vecna gave bug)

ALSO SORRY THIS IS SO LONG BUT I KNOW YOU DONT LIKE TO CHANGE THE CANON TOO MUCH so idk what your plan is with max and bug…but oh my god the survivors guilt bug will carry…im not even ready. max and bug to me is like a literal reflection of each other and their relationship in this story is definitely my favorite thing ever. i don’t even wanna talk about that one scene where bug was yelling at vecna to take her instead. i don’t. i just mentioned it bc i feel so devastated and unready for what’s about to come.

i read smth about how u said there aren’t anymore disagreements between bug and steve!!! and how the rest will just be sad ones AND CUTE ONES (im holding u to that ml) 

does this mean they’ll talk 🤞🤞 i need them to have a proper conversation so i’m crossing my fingers and wishing that we’ll have that conversation alongside with the later conversation between steve and nance (and i believe that it was definitely done for good reasons!)

i listened to in my life while writing this btw and i feel so brave!! 

okay i’m done !! i’m sorry this was long but i appreciate your works and i’m in awe of you !! pls never stop being great!! i hope you’re doing well <333 sending u sm love today lovely <3 e

-🌟🍓

dear billy supremacy !!!

and the entire steve and bug i choose you scene ,,, oh boy theres so many layers to that one specific conversation that i simply cannot wait to dive into later. for now, the entire notion of their relationship is that they chose to love one another !!! bug chose to wait, steve chose to trust her, and they chose to fall in love <333 i firmly believe that true love is choosing to love your partner, not just the chemical reaction in our brains, but the act of staying and trusting to be loved in return - THATS true love.

and steve revealing hes always wanted to help/protect bug <333 i love the porch scene. i love tying things together and also just seeing their growth throughout the seasons. in season 1 the porch scene was heavy with insecurity. bug was weak, back then. she didnt want steve to see how hurt she was (but failed). now we fast forward years later for season 4 and shes actively leaning on steve !!! seeking his comfort !! yet shes also standing her ground, doing what she believes is right (even if shes wrong). and STEVE !! he failed her in season 1, he refuses to fail her again in 4 :((

now bugs whole "hey gang lets focus on max not me haha" will cause a few rifts within the group - everyone knows its unneeded, they all hate shes doing this, but they also know that they cant change bugs mind. its very bittersweet and :///

max and bug ,,, u Get It. they ARE reflections of one another. max is fifteen, same age bug was in season 1. its very very very reminiscent of how bug was back then, stubborn and slightly cold but still so full of love and concern for her friends. max is where bug was, confused and scared and unused to asking (or accepting) help. bug sees this and she also is struggling with this. theyve always had a close relationship, but billys death changed everything and brought them closer together. bug feels a kinship to max, she feels responsible for her, and max knows this and almost resents her for it. its messy and very sad and hard and me not changing canon too much will make things even MORE heartbreaking and sad :(

but on a happier note: YES STEVE AND BUG DO ACTUALLY TALK !!! they have a whole lovely conversation later (in the very last ep lmao) that resolves a Lot i promise guys theyre end game i just like drama and growth.

in my life <333

[boyswanna-be-her]

I spent the last five days & nights w BFR, and before that we'd spent TWENTY of the previous 25 days together, usually only pausing to sleep separately. And although we'd been joking about it, I didn't actually realize what a mindfuck for me specifically it would be to spend several years alone and then most of a month with someone and then need to abruptly be apart for two weeks.

Emotionally on a day to day level that's just so not an issue. I spent years and years of my past relationships craving freedom and alone time and the ability to do whatever i want whenever i want it without waiting on someone else or having to take their opinions into account. I was definitely sweating being lonely and probably I still will eventually feel lonely on this trip--but getting on the highway today to head to Denver ended up feeling good and familiar and right.

But this morning was not that way. PTSD is fickle and I'm still learning my triggers. Being around someone I really care about is dredging up a lot of things that didn't get metabolized in my last relationship. And this morning, I woke up at 1 am on my couch with BFR in a full-on panic. Something about the fact that we'd fallen asleep in front of a movie instead of bed was the first thing that set me off (idk man, idk). I woke them up, they said they would come to bed, I went to bed in my panic and put on sleep noises and exhaustion managed to override the panic and I cried myself to sleep assuming I'd wake up w BFR.

I woke up again at 4:00. They hadn't come to bed from the couch. Legitimately I recognized that this meant nothing but that didn't matter. My mind has gone FULL police sirens now. I go back to the couch. They fully wake up and apologize for falling back to sleep and make room for me and I try to get comfortable w them on the couch but NOPE somehow this process makes my mind actually tip from being skittish to having a full-blown anxiety attack. I realized after a minute of sitting with the feeling of overwhelming panic and terror (which it took me TWO more hours to identify as a panic attack btw wrow) that none of the feelings were coming from the sleeping situation, but I failed to figure out WHERE they were coming from. So Iay there on the couch trying not to sob, so so so fucking confused about what was happening beneath the surface of my consciousness.

I just couldn't parse it. Like, BFR is great and our time is great but I don't know them well enough to be in love with them or even to miss them THAT much. Like christ, not sobbing over it! Not heart beating like I'm running type of upset.

Finally after I'd done every errand and packing task I could think of, I was still sobbing off and on so went to my Mom's place for a xanax (she was sleeping but luckily my dad knew where she keeps them). Then i came home abd I woke BFR up and basically said "i think I'm having a panic attack and I could use some company, like, fucking yesterday about it, and at least until the xanax i just took kicks in." And they got up and got their act together and immediately started uhhh taking care of me in a healthy way. Just sat with me and listened, said everything was going to be ok. And I talked at them and cried and cried and finally worked out that it had been a panic attack since I woke up at 1:00, I just had been deflected thinking it was bc I was sad to leave BFR.

In reality, there was this deep and abrupt CERTAINTY that I woke up with that my life had somehow fundamentally changed overnight and there was nothing I could do about it. It's almost 24 hours later and I'm still all shaken up to even approach understanding that headspace, but there it is. Between the fast onset of Jonathan's mental illness, his unexpected suicide, and the really awful way D ended their relationship with me a few weeks after Jonathan died, I have a very deep-seated belief that everything in my life can and will change without warning, for the extreme worse, ESPECIALLY when I feel safe, secure, loved, and excited about my future.

I just woke up and "knew" that it was all changing. I felt deeply that one or several devastating events were going to take place once I left town. Top on my list, when I drill into it, is that one of my parents or friends will get a devastating injury and/or die before I can say goodbye (lmao no idea where that comes from 🙄). It also felt/feels (when I let myself feel it and put it into words) 85% likely that BFR will change their mind about me while I'm gone and pretend like all of this never happened. Which honestly when I look at it with my logic brain is even less likely to happen than someone dying.

So I really got in there and sat with those feelings. It only helped a little bit to say it all out loud to BFR. It only helped a little bit to get their reassurance. That's how it is with this shit: it's not logical or evidence-based, so you can't logic your way out of it.

Eventually the Xanax got me, and I fell asleep in bed with BFR being the best and watching me and stroking me and waiting for me to either wake up on my own or need to be woken so I didn't miss my day of travel.

I slept HARD for two hours. When I woke up they were there waiting for me, sitting in bed. They had quietly continued cleaning my apartment, as well as gathering up all the snacks they had to send with me on the road trip today.

I felt so much less insane after the third attempt at sleep. Without talking through it AND a healthy dose of a sedative, I don't know that I would've been able to get on the road. I cannot think of a time other than during the sheer ego death of Effexor withdrawal in December when I was that completely panicked and inconsolable and SCARED.

I was two hours behind but after all that i was ready to go. I got the dogs loaded up and ran into a friend who said BFR was "a cutie" and we "would be a perfect couple" (i'll tell her later we already are 💕). I finally dropped them off on their side of town and hit the road for my first leg to Tennessee.

It is definitely taking lots of bandwidth for BFR to be there for me in the way that they are currently showing up. I know more about their history now and it makes me even more appreciative of the monumental effort it has taken to let someone new into their life. They had therapy this afternoon (let's goooo weekly therapy havers!!) and I could absolutely tell by the VERY serious tenor of their texts this evening that they'd been talking about us in therapy which is 1. Something a partner has NEVER done before, I'm always begging my partners to get therapy and they dont and 2. Incredibly fucking encouraging/affirming that they are indeed putting thought into me and I'm not stupid to be doing all the communication groundwork to build something nice. Shit is so pleasantly NOT one-sided. Like my last therapy sesh was me asking how I can avoid becoming codependent and wrecking my own life for someone, and their sesh had an apparent focus on communication with me and how to be vulnerable with me. The fuck? How healthy? Go off, I guess. We had a really thoughtful and helpful communication session (I had to pull over while driving but I did so happily bc it's really worth it), which in retrospect was not an easy conversation for either of us. We both were acknowledging some difficult truths about ourselves and setting expectations for what that means about a relationship. It's honestly quite doable things to overcome, and EARLY to be digging in, but it's also really fucking helpful to be in the loop with what they're thinking/fighting and I'd imagine vice versa.

But they sent me thoughtful texts all day (more than I sent them), did their yoga class, therapy, called me once I was settled in the hotel, listened to my stories about the day, asked if I wanted to stay on the phone and watch a movie together. I went to the hotel gym instead. Solo travel is going to be tough on my sobriety, and getting physically worn out has been helping a lot. Doesn't matter much what I do--just gotta tire out the software by running the hardware or something like that.

So. It was an awfully hard day. BFR took it in stride but I did not. I tripped up and kind of rolled down a fucking jagged hill. But all I can do is show up and try again and not sweat it too much that PTSD is going to be a part of my life until it's not. There's a lot that makes it worth it right now.

I think I have a lot of potential to create something special and rare with this person who has found me. Usually when someone cares about me this much and fawns over me and wants to help me in areas where I really need it, I find it a huge turn off. That's always made me feel misanthropic, but idk. Maybe there was always some thin-slicing going on and I felt that there would be a catch. But with BFR there's something I recognize there. The care they give me isnt a donation, or an investment, or a down payment. They genuinely like to see me succeed, like to see my pain eased or erased, even when there's nothing they can gain from me. They're happy to make me happy in a way that I actually don't think I've ever encountered from someone who was interested in me. Like I hate to just relegate them to the cliche of service top but they are indeed panning out to be someone who gets off in every way by overachieving in helping or pleasing me--and they're talented at making that service-y aspect somethinf that I'm the boss of, instead of making me feel like I'm a pet project or something to be changed.

That's my ramble. Needed to vomit it all out somewhere. I'm retroactively editing so my apologies for the everything. Pictures to come.

[thestobingirlie]

i've been reading this fic for a while that's handling the s2 cheating so strangely. like, it's flat out acknowledged as cheating and jonathan tells steve what happened at murray's. steve just kind of swallows down his reaction then never talks about it again which imo doesn't align at all w his previous behavior but if it was further addressed later i wouldn't mind that much. then, nancy (and jonathan as her doormat) keep forcing steve to spend time w them even tho he's clearly uncomfortable; steve also doesn't say anything about this even tho, in the situations shown, he would have no reason to be willing to force down his feelings about this. then eddie (this is set immediately post s2 btw and makes steddie friends for unrelated plot reasons) is like "she cheated on you, that's fucked up, why are you still friends w her" and steve says it's complicated bc of the upside down but nothing to do w the upside down is happening at this point to make steve willing to look past this. this is also made further annoying by a scene of eddie and wayne talking where wayne outright says eddie seems more bothered by the cheating than steve which ???? this all keeps going until nancy ends up apologizing for hurting steve w the bullshit speech and w/e but not for the cheating or the lying by omission which led to jonathan telling steve instead of her? as in the cheating is not mentioned at all in the scene. then stoncy are all besties. like it makes no fucking sense to me. steve should be absolutely furious for like 15 different reasons at this point. like nancy cheated on him, lied to him about it by omission, put the onus of the breakup on him in the process, just let him say all that stuff about being a shitty boyfriend (tho she did apologize for that specifically and said he wasn't), forced him to interact w her and her new boyfriend she cheated with despite steve clearly being uncomfortable, and potentially just let jonathan be the one to tell steve about the cheating w no comment or acknowledgement. it's unclear whether nancy knows jonathan told steve. but steve just does not get to be angry or feel any type of way about any of this, forgives nancy after one conversation that barely touched on any of that, and is now completely comfortable being friends w jancy. anybody would be Going Through It atp but esp steve considering his canonical issues w infidelity like wtf. then i feel like all of this is made worse by the purposeful juxtaposition w eddie's reaction which is heavily implied to be bc he's jealous since he has a crush on steve, as opposed to him possessing baseline empathy for other human beings. it's just so baffling but i am unfortunately invested in the main plot of this fic so i just keep suffering. sorry this got so long it is just so confusing to me.

people are so weird about the cheating. some of it comes from the person writing preferring j/ncy, and so not wanting to acknowledge it. and then i think some of it comes from people just not wanting to… shit all over jonathan and nancy? they don’t really know how to fully recognise that the cheating was bad without totally vilifying jonathan and nancy.

i think fics like you’re talking about are also influenced by the way steve’s depicted as a total doormat within the fandom. people just don’t know how to write him standing up for himself, putting himself first, and not needing someone else to fight his battles.

this is obviously just my opinion, but i fully believe neither steve or nancy spoke, like, at all post s2. steve because he was heartbroken, and nancy because it was fucking awkward! and she’s not gonna put herself through that lmao. so i always find it… idk, maybe a little ooc when people have them immediately jump to spending time together post s2.

i think with eddie, people want to push the romance as quickly as possible, so any empathy or anything he feels for steve is obviously being influenced by his feelings. so, you end up with stuff like the fic you’re talking about, where eddie only seems to feel bad for steve because he wants to date him.

[that-thing-that-feeling]

The phrase "heart skips" seems purposely vague, but the constant praise for Steve in the script is bizarre. Not to mention the part about Robin "understanding Steve's pain"...I think Robin has it a bit worse than Steve wrt finding love and I'll just leave it at that.

Agreed even “heart skips” is vague and that’s what they were going for, but it comes across as their aim was unresolved feelings (but for the nuggets; I still don’t see how that was unresolved when she called it a nightmare, but not sure the writers got that).

And then I’m just afjgdshkkhg at the “All too Well (Steve’s Version)”, bc come on, I don’t think he was 🎶 a crumpled up piece of paper lying here🎶. Not to diminish Steve’s feelings which he seems to had gotten over (so weird to put him back in them), but like he hit on his ex who has a bf, was fantasizing about having six kids together and in that end scene looked kinda just peeved that “oh and here’s Jonathan again smh” (seriously the tension between stonathan needs to be explored I’m telling you). And yes def Robin has it harder than Steve pls! So that direction was a bit ott lol. And then it’s still annoying they didn’t give us enough of Nancy’s pov but cut her off in the woods for s5 reasons ig.

[laughing-drawing-aces]

I'm fascinated by Stancy because the fandom has so many ways to interpret that ship. Like strong antis and Steve or Nancy haters say it was abusive. Fans of that ship say it's a beautiful tragic love story. Either way I have never seen a ship be so divided or misunderstood in a fandom lmao.

Imo Stancy is a middle thing. For Steve, it was a beautiful love story, and for Nancy, it felt like a trap she put herself in. They never were on the same page in that relationship.

In s1, Nancy was infatuated with Steve, and if Barb hadn't died/gone missing, I feel like they could have had a cute high school romance. But alas, Jonathan entered Nancy's world, whom she wouldn't have hung out with otherwise. They bonded in a way up until the last episode she didn't bond with Steve in that way. Yes, he saved them, but they don't have matching scars or a journey together. Jonathan was there when Steve didn't believe her. But then Will came back, and Barb was still gone. Jonathan went back into isolating, and Nancy was alone again. However, Steve was still there now, and despite longing for someone else, she chose him to be with out of desperation to not be alone. You can see it at the end of s1 when she looked at Jonathan in the way Steve looked at Nancy. She never looked in love with her boyfriend because she wasn't. I think she wanted to love Steve she tried to convince herself. And maybe she even loved him in some moments because it lasted for a year, but she was never in love with him. She lied to him, and she never reflected on that in the show. Which is an interesting character take but people want to make her completely innocent when the subtext screams otherwise.

Steve loved her completely. He would do anything to protect her and see her smile. He was planning to stay back to arrange stuff so he could be in her life after school. He never lied about his feelings towards her. And I truly think if Nancy would have given him the chance to fix things or talk about Barb in a non drunk way, I think he would have listened. He should have definitely asked her more and not just assume things are fine, but at least he tried, unlike the complete monster some people paint him. His way of coping with shit was extended to Nancy because Steve believed he helped her with that. And in a way he was. He helped Nancy through the initial shock of her best friend dying. He was the distraction she needed in moments, or she would have snapped earlier. (Also, we never saw Stancy in their relationship only beginning and end, but you can tell Nancy has communication problems the way she handles Jancy)

When Stancy came to an end, it was because of Nancy. Her inability to lie to Steve about her feelings combined with the guilt of Barbs death. But again, the not loving Steve is the major reason. I wish the show would allow Nancy to explain herself to Steve so he can also find closure from it. Stancy ending deserved to be handled in a more nuanced way instead of letting Steve take the entire blame, and everyone else is off the hook.

How can people watch the show and not see how one-sided Stancy was. And that the major blame lies on Nancy. The way Steve left his friends, bettered himself, constantly looking love-sick around her, wanting to be grown up and work for his dad (he hates) to provide for her. Compared to Nancy, who looked uncomfortable saying I love you to him, only looking in love with Jonathan and then admitting she waited for him to make a move. It's baffling to me that people say Steve was the person who hurt Nancy more or the sole problem when he was the only one who put in effort. It's surprising that people want that ship back, given it never stood a chance because Nancy just doesn't love Steve. It doesn't make her a villain, not loving a guy, but the way she went about it was kinda cruel if you think about it. (If you don't agree, just switch the genders bc if Nancy was the guy, oh lord, would people have a field day with it)

What is worse, protecting your partner from self-destructive ways and trying to cheer them up in a way you think it's helpful because your partner never communicated otherwise. Or is it worse when you go into a relationship knowing that person is a placeholder because the actual person you want isn't available right now so you lie about your feelings until you can't take it no more?

going to put under read more

honestly same like i’m so fascinated by stancy! especially because like you said so many people have different interpretations of the ship but also lol like some of them are just plain wrong. same never seen people be this divided.

i love how you described them here! with the second paragraph because you are so correct!

yep nancy really was infatuated with steve but also i wonder if it was because of what steve represented to her. i think after barb died she saw steve in a different light because he represented something more sinister to her. i think nancy loved what steve represented to her at first: attention and a way to try new things. despite steve not being dangerous in a bad boy way: nancy saw new opportunities for herself. then after barb died she just saw steve as tied to the loss of her innocence despite the fact that she did want that in some way but because tragedy happened: steve can only be seen as the bad person because of where he and her were that night. and despite the fact that she has guilt of her own it’s pretty clear that she sees steve as also the killer of her best friend despite the fact that he didn’t kill barb. lol i know i just went on a whole rant but i absolutely fucking love what you say in that third paragraph! you said it so beautifully!

everything in that fourth paragraph! honestly i hate how people see one talk and just determine how steve handled nancy’s trauma and that was to a) dismiss it. because he’s not dismissing her trauma if people actually watched the scene: he’s dismissing the action of telling people what they saw because of the fact that the gov will kill him and his loved ones. we just had a huge plot like in season 1 about how the gov will do anything to save their own asses yet people don’t think for one second that these characters would very much be afraid of them. also it’s wild to me because we see nancy who also loved to pretend just like steve. she pretended her whole relationship with steve was real because she couldn’t handle the fact that jonathan was helping out his own family. she wanted to be just a normal teenager! but people just think steve completely gaslight her into being a ‘normal teenager’ and ‘pretending’ meanwhile nancy of her own free will was legit pretending! do y’all seriously think that steve would want nancy to pretend to be in a relationship with him because of her trauma? ngl nancy has the worst communication skills and i do love know messy it can lead things into but i need some people to wake up and realize that this is a flaw of hers!

fucking everything there!!!!

everything here too! stancy is sooo one sided and steve was the only one to put in any effort! the dude while he was dating nancy was like ‘alright i won’t have to go to college and i can just work with my dad even tho i know i won’t like it so that we can be together’. i’m listen nancy has done a bunch of things but i still think it was cruel of her to knowingly know that steve was willing to do something he hated because he loved her and she didn’t let him know that she didn’t love him. it took her alcohol to admit that she didn’t love him! again nancy knew that steve was going to waste his own hopes and dreams for her and she would have let him if it wasn’t for the alcohol and jonathan coming in.

that question you posed fr thinking about it and i’m just going to leave it open ended

[piastrinorris]

copying ur 2 titles: all your pictures on the floor / this dizzy dreamer

all your pictures on the floor: oh god. i never thought i'd choose to write cheerscoops angst. but that's what that's become

this dizzy dreamer: hmmm. i've been thinking about this one for a while now. and we're getting a chrissy cunningham double feature here bc i wanna talk photocheer!!

send me a fake fic title and i'll tell you what i'd write based on it!

all your pictures on the floor: chrissy's mum and jason's mum had like practically arranged for them to be childhood sweethearts turned eventual spouses and during chrissy's Teenage Rebel phase (at 18) she's like "and why can't i choose who i want to date, huh?! what's to stop me from dating whoever i want anyway behind all of your backs?! isn't that worse?" so laura is like "if you won't agree to a relationship with jason, you're not living under my roof"

so she ends up dating and running away to live with steve. charming, goofy, totally reformed former playboy steve. everything's a dream, at first. she even opts to not go to college so she can just start her domestic life with steve as soon as it starts. but they're both still way too young to be starting a lifestyle like that, and neither of them have had good role models. so even though they do have really good times together, the in between bits are full of little insecurities. any time one of them is home late from work, the other assumes that Something must be happening behind their backs, but they're both so inexperienced in adult relationships that neither of them talk about it. chrissy's fed up of working and being a homemaker but steve never had to lift a finger so he doesn't know how to cook or clean and chrissy doesn't want to have to teach him.

stuff like that builds up until eventually steve cracks and is like "look, you chose to live here, so if you're not happy, you can get out." and maybe this is just before chrissy goes off to work for the day, and when she gets back all her stuff is in boxes outside the harrington house. her family won't accept her back. jason's got a fiancée who he's obsessed with. so she gets a motel room for the night, looks in one of the boxes and sees that steve's given her all of their photo albums, too. so chrissy puts all the photos out across the room, of all the good times that they had, reminiscing of them, wondering where it went wrong, wondering if the "good" times even were that good. and she realises she's faced with the option of either trying to fend for herself with no support network, or going back to steve with her tail between her legs and repeating the cycle of being just like her mother, who she starts to realise was only setting her up w jason bc jason was the safe option she never went for as a kid. and she was hoping not to let history repeat itself. but it did

this dizzy dreamer: au in which chrissy is a popstar, and jonathan works for a music magazine. he takes photos for a piece on chrissy, and they are. stunning. they capture her vibe perfectly, even she loves how she looks in them, and that feature really helps her career kick off. she's about to do her first major all-american tour and she seeks jonathan out to be the photographer for the whole thing. (idk if this is a thing for everyone, but i've been seeing a lot of harry styles' tour on my fyp and he apparently has a photographer called lloyd so that's what i'm basing this off of)

anyway as they're touring, chrissy realises how introverted jonathan is and desperately tries to get him to open up around everyone so that he feels part of the ~tour family~. and ofc he does Not want to do that. but some nights when chrissy can't sleep, jonathan is up, too. except he's sitting on the roof of the tour bus, getting high. he offers to roll chrissy a joint, but she tells him that if she smokes a whole one all by herself it makes her dizzy and throws her off. but she'll stay up with him and talk to him.

he tells her he's up bc he worries about his brother back home. she tells him she has a little brother too. he tells her he knows, they've grown up together and she's never even realised it. that's why he's completely okay with this just being a professional relationship. but chrissy feels bad that she doesn't remember jonathan. but she still finds ways to connect with him through anecdotes like "remember when mike lewenski started that huge food fight in middle school?"

as the tour goes on, she starts getting stressed. people keep writing about her, and being a female in the public eye, a lot of tabloids are judging her, setting expectations for her she doesn't know how to keep. and so to help her calm down between shows, jonathan offers to share a joint with her. she opens up to jonathan on a deeper level about how she's worried that she can't hack it, and that she's gonna have to give up on her dreams. jonathan tells her that it's admirable that she even has one, let alone one that she went for. it makes chrissy sad to hear that jonathan's never had a dream, but he tells her he doesn't mind, he only never thought to have any bc he spent so long taking care of his mum and brother.

chrissy swears that she'll help him come up with a dream to aim for. but, as tour goes on, his work gains notoriety, and he starts genuinely enjoying taking photos of the girl he's falling in love with, he realises he's already living it :)

[spider-xan]

Throwing around ideas for Mina and Jekyll relating to each other in the LXG filmverse and thinking about what if Mina hasn't been keeping up with a diary since Jonathan died bc her life now sometimes feels like a worse version of when he went missing where there's no hope he'll finally write back this time, and Jekyll thinks a lot about how maybe he should write a letter to Utterson telling him he's been alive all this time and hasn't forgotten him, and Mina points out that she would give anything to get a letter from Jonathan saying he's alive out there somewhere, thinking of her, loving her always, and she remembers the joy and relief she felt when she received Sister Agatha's letter all those years ago, so maybe you should write that letter to the person dearest in the world to you who thinks you're dead and give them hope again, extra points if Mina's vampirism played a role in Jonathan's end and she would therefore understand feeling responsible for a loved one's death the way Utterson would feel as if he had driven Jekyll to suicide, and in turn, Jekyll understands her shame and guilt about her monster self killing someone close to her bc he feels the same way about Lanyon, even if he still can't bring himself to accept that, and it's Hyde as his unrestrained inner monologue reminding him of his selfish choices and responsibility compared to Mina being a victim of circumstance, but he does finally decide she's right and considers writing to Utterson after all, if only to relieve his last surviving friend of undeserved guilt and grief, and in return, he encourages her to start keeping a journal again, if that helps her work out her feelings about her husband and cursed existence.

[sky-neverending]

Hiiiii ! So for the prompt anything that is ronance centric, maybe something involving patching each other up after the battle !

ok so this is actually part one of a two chapter fic, bc i got another ronance prompt that i think i can combine with this one timeline wise! of course this is still able to be read alone, but that second part should be up in a day or two! this���ll also be on Ao3 in about half an hour! also this has background jargyle and steddie in it, but it’s like very minor

tw for descriptions of injury, brief mentions of weed, and discussion of death. it’s really nothing bad tbh

Robin hissed as warm, soapy water rushed over a large wound below her left knee. She threw her head back, inhaling sharply as she tried to contain her pain.

Nancy glanced up at her apologetically as she pressed a wet washcloth into the injured area. “Sorry.” She muttered, rubbing the fabric over the bloodied skin. “It’ll be over soon.”

“I can handle it.” Robin said through clenched teeth. “Not like I haven’t been through worse.”

She meant it as a joke, she really had. But instead of earning a laugh it was met with a frown and a heavy silence that weighed down on both of their shoulders.

She stayed quiet after that, holding her breath as Nancy continued to tend to her wounds, cleaning and bandaging them. She started with the largest ones. The one below her knee where she had fallen and her skin had ripped against a sharp rock. The one near her shoulder where a bat had come down and taken a nasty bite out of the flesh there, leaving a decent sized chunk missing. That one was wrapped in Nancy's thin white jacket to contain the blood flow for as long as possible. That one would probably have to be looked at by a doctor. That one, they didn’t have time to fix completely. Not right now. So some soap and a tight bandage would have to do.

There was another, on her heel, that had been snapped at by a demodog in the middle of a chase. It has grabbed at the skin, ripping it off and leaving her to try and run while a trail of blood was left behind.

That was the one Nancy was tending to when she finally spoke.

“What would you be doing right now? If all of this had never happened.” She asked quietly, like she was scared to even think about it. Robin tilted her head.

“I don’t know.” She admitted, letting the tension in her shoulders drop as scenarios played through her head. “Maybe looking for colleges? Still working at Scoops to pay for my tuition? Lurking in the shadows, still afraid of being myself because I didn’t have anyone who understood me?” She twisted her head around to look at Nancy. “What about you? Where would you be?”

She shrugged in response. “Probably on my way to Emerson. I was so excited to go to school. Away from my family and Hawkins and all the pressure. Sometimes I wish it hadn’t all happened, you know? That I could’ve spent my high school years like every other teen girl. Getting into trouble behind my parents back, dating boys and going to parties and being a star student all at the same time.” She paused as she soaked her rag in more water. “I suppose I did do some of that. But not without all this in the way. Plus, look how it turned out.” She glanced across the room into the kitchen, where Jonathan was standing, his hands tucked into the pockets of Argyle's jeans, while Argyle chatted away with Eddie, who was leaning against the counter with a very tired looking Steve resting his head across his shoulder.

Robin chuckled lightly. “I’m sorry about that, by the way. I know it hurts to see someone you like end up with someone else.” She smiled at Nancy, soft and sincere.

Nancy smiled back as she began to wrap Robin's wound. “It’s okay.” She said with a shrug. “It’s better this way.”

Glancing up at her, Robin pulled her lower lip in between her teeth, chewing on it idly as she thought of a response. It tasted like dirt mixed with the raw, metallic flavor of blood from a cut above her eyebrow that had trickled downwards.

“Do you plan on going? To Emerson, I mean. You got in, didn’t you?” She asked, watching as Nancy nodded.

“Yeah, I got in. But I don’t know if I’ll go.” Her shoulders slumped and her head ducked down as she finished dressing the wound. “Doesn’t really seem worth it.”

Mindlessly, Robin reached out a hand, reaching out toward a now standing Nancy. She leaned forward and laced their fingers together, squeezing tightly and beckoning her closer with a reassuring smile.

“You’ve been through all this. You’ve quite literally walked through Hell. If you want to go, it is absolutely worth it. You deserve to follow your dreams, Nance. Don’t let this stop you. Not now. Not when we’re so close.”

Nancy sat down on the couch next to her, their two hands still intertwined. “What if we don’t make it?” She muttered, voice weighed down by fear. “What if I get my hopes up, and then something terrible happens?”

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” Robin said, placing a hand on Nancy’s chin and gently tugging it upward so they met eyes. Nancys were wet, glossed over with tears that she was holding back. “Not on my watch.”

There was silence. It seemed to go on for a decade, just Robin looking at Nancy and Nancy looking at Robin and pure, deafening quiet that stilled the room. Robin could feel her heartbeat in her fingertips, and she could feel Nancy’s too, and the back of her hand where they rested softly.

“Nance.” She muttered, unaware of anything else around her. The room seemed to blur as Nancy spoke back.

“Rob.” She said, small smile forming on her face as she slowly moved in, and suddenly her lips were pressed tenderly against Robins own and everything else washed away, and all she could think was Nancy, Nancy, Nancy.

The kiss was nothing and everything at once, soft and warm and faint, but at the same time insistent and full of passion. It didn’t last very long. Almost before Robin could even register what was happening they were gone, Nancy pulling away with cherry coloring dusting her cheeks.

There was a loud exclamation from the kitchen and both the girls startled, turning to see all four boys grinning wildly at them.

“Finally!” Steve slurred, and Robin could make out the redness in his eyes. He was wrapped around Eddie like a koala, a sure sign he was high off his mind.

“Way to go, brochahcas!” Argyle giggled. Robin rolled her eyes and turned back to Nancy, biting her bottom lip as nerves rushed over her.

Nancy simply grinned smugly. “Come here.” She muttered, and then they were kissing again. And the weight of the world seemed to get a little less heavy. Because now? Now Robin had something to fight for.

[poorlilpubby]

Okay get ready. Spoilers obvi.

So disappointed. Heres what pissed me off the most. When Gabby asked "is it a terrorist attack" okay wow the first thing to come to a kids mind is terrorism, and we all know its not domestic. Thanks western media for demonizing other cultures

This is just a societal problem ig. Well if im continuing on the track of not rlly the movies fault is how people treat victims/people with mental illness.

Almost every single new character was a shitty fucking person. Terrifier 2 the characters were kinda douchy, but they weren't complete assholes. For example the mom. She treated her kids pretty shittily. But you can still empathize with her. The parents here? So fucking bland. And treat sienna like a demon

This entire movie was like the 2nd movie but worse in basically every regard. Like oooo art is making his way to sienna 🙄 like sienna knows art is coming but come onnnn genuinely no tension. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT KEPT CUTTING BACK AND FORTH with hardly any connection!!! Felt like a shitty anthology movie.

Another similarity, the fucking kills. Idk if its supposed to be a reference to the first movie but like cmon another splitting the body in half? Ohhh scaryyy its with a guy this time.

Art pissing on Santas lap, we saw him like shit before like is this supposed to be just for humor? I saw it coming from a mile away with the christmas theme and santa.

I feel really bad for gabbys actor bc ik people will treat her like shit. The character gabby was so fucking annoying. YES I KNOW SHES A KID. A kid that has absolutely no sense of respect but understands terrorism and ughhhhh. Anyway, no hate to the actress but mmm character isnt the best.

HERE'S WHAT PISSES ME OFF THE MOST ABOUT HER CHARACTER. She has almost absolutely no fucking role in the movie. Her only, tiny tiny bit of need to be in the movie is towards the end. WHICH IS JUST THE SAME ACTIONS JOHNATHONHAD. EXCEPT JOHNATHON HAD DEPTH TO HIS CHARACTER AND ACTUALLY DID STUFF LAST MOVIE. Holy shit his character in the last movie was so good bc they mentioned slightly how young guys are indoctrinated into really fucked up conservative viewpoints!!! AND THEY FUCKING THREW AWAY HIS CHARACTER IN THIS FILM.

WHERE THE FUCK WAS JOHNATHON. FUCKING NOWHERE WHYYYYY. I was promised that his role would be bigger in this film. FUCKING LIES.

Instead he was replaced with gabby, and not even to further the plot, it was the exact same thing. They introduced the most bland characters to kill them off and leave us where? Not any further than the previous movie.

Like, the last movie introduced sienna with her friends and family. Great world building. But they introduced a neice out of fucking nowhere?? "She missed you so much" I HAD NO IDEA WHO THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT. I genuinely thought "did Johnathan transition or smth" bc that felt more reasonable than a random neice.

THE FUCKING TINY LITTLE ONES LINERS SUCKKED. Gabbys "you know im nosy" was literally just Johnathan's like "we're family" but so soulless. THEIR CONNECTION WAS SUPER FUCKING WEAKKK. Johnathan and siennas relationship felt so much better, stronger, more genuine, realistic whatever. It made so much more sense. Siblings that argue but still love each other regardless. AND IT WAS THROWN AWAY IN THIS MOVIE. For what? For sienna to be like "oh gabby ur so so precious" ugh

And now their relationship is so strained in this movie? I mean that can be expected but it was really just saddening. AND OH MY FUCKING GOD JOHNATHON GOT AN OFFSCREEN KILL? I KNEW THAT SKULL WASNT GABBYS BUT THE FACT THAT IT WAS JOHNATHONS WAS SO HEARTBREAKING. i kept thinking "please please Jonathan come through and kick art's ass" BUT NO. Gabby fucking hit him in the back once? What fucking everrrrr.

Im so tired of the "little girl doesnt get hurt trope" because why? This is a fucking sadistic demon we're talking about. Absolutely no one is spared. And just because someone is a little girl doesnt mean they're more deserving of life than someone else? Like, sorry its just, so many other people didnt deserve any of their treatment. But no one will care if they die bc they're not "innocent" little girls. This is a whole nother issue that i dont wanna get into rn.

Ik the beginning scene was a cold open but like...none of that related to the main story. Ik terrifier movies suck with plot but that was stupid. THEY PUT SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON THE LETTER WITH "ART WILL FOLLOW YOU ANYWHERE SIENNA AND KILL EVERYONE IMPORTANT TO YOU" but art killed ummm the most random people?

The family in the beginning was killed for the trailer but no other reason. The mall kills i get, bc he was close to sienna and yknow he kills along the way.

Back to the bar scene, again no real reason however i will say i enjoyed it. The two girls on santas lap was a good reference to the first movie. The drunk girls doing something stupid. THATS A GOOD REFERENCE. omg and art was so cute when he saw santa and was like "santa!! 🥺"

Otherwise, bar scene kinda ehhhhh. I lowkey love when art uses a gun tho. Ik some people hated when he used a gun but i love it. He's like so pissed off he doesn't give a fuck about being super sadistic anymore.

Okay im talking about it now. Vicky. The very beginning i was like hmmm idk how i feel about this, maybe she'll grow on me. SPEAKING OF BEGINNING HIII CHRIS JERICHOOO 🥰🥰

But slowly her character kept getting worse and worse. Was she supposed to be that um...eccentric? Its not that eccentric is bad its just not clicking in this film?

Then. The worst plot point. The thing that made me actually roll my eyes in the theater. When art used her as a vessel and basically whatever she was saying was what art was saying. ART. IS. SUPPOSED. TO. BE. SILENT. Idc if the clown is still silent. NEVER EVER WAS HE MEANT TO TALK. FUCK. SO FUCKING ANNOYING. And its not like the words were impactful. They could've easily been expressed (at least the idea) without words!!!

And what happened to the little girl? Like literally what? Okay weird. She complimented arts character much more than vicky tho

FINALLY. HERE'S WHAT I LIKED.

The actors were wonderful. Even if I didnt like the characters, they sold it. The shitty blonde girl mia, her actress is amazing bc oh my god ik girls like that. She did great. RETURNING ACTORS SO AMAZING. DAVID HOWARD THORTON BEING AMAZING AS ALWAYS.

Lauren lavera as sienna? Oh that emotion was gooodddddd. The thrashing was so perfectly good, not like a fish or anything.

ELLIOT FULLAM AS JOHNATHON. HE'S SUCH A COOL GUY. Little punk people!!! Omg and that one reference "Johnathan doesnt like metal anymore" oh if only you knew the guy. Omg and like, elliot is such a chill guy. So when he started trashing the dorm? I was so impressed it felt really passionate.

Gore was uhhh average. Soundtrack was good. Umm it luckily didnt run on too long. That was my biggest gripe with the last movie, it was way too long.

Ugh this movie was supposed to be the revenge!! NONE OF THAT HAPPENED. BECAUSE ART CAME BACK TO LIFE AT THE END. This is just the trend, the third movie is always the worst.

So um ig I'll rate this move a 4/10...i probably have more to say but whatever

I think I might be the only one in this theater!! I can't wait to see my baby Art the Clown 🥰🥰 I hope it'll be good, I avoided every single spoiler this time

[desafia]

okay i will start the conversation. every main female character with longevity on stranger things has some aspect to them that makes them Not Like Other Girls. eleven is obvious but doesn't inherently have an issue if the rest of the girls weren't framed in such ways. look at nancy, barb an outcast disapproves of her getting dressed up for her boyfriend. her having sex with steve is framed as a negative which indirectly "causes" barb's death. her sexuality as a normal teenage girl is punished and shamed. and sure, her being literally slutshamed on screen is condemned by the characters but narratively? it's still kinda supported. she is only seen as on the right path when she is heavily distanced from girlhood. her feminine youth is poked fun at in s4 in a way that frames all her girly things and dresses as cringey and foolish now. going so far as to put robin in an outfit that is very clearly ridiculous and doesn't even look like something nancy would wear.

also of note that nancy having consensual sex with her boyfriend is somehow framed worse than jonathan taking explicit photos of her without her consent. he is even rewarded for it in the end by getting a new camera and eventually getting nancy.

joyce is one i don't think people consider. but she is always dressed down, she doesn't get to be as well groomed. she is looked down on by the rest of the women who are then framed as frivolous and too wrapped up in being housewives to be competent enough to take proper care of their children. all the mothers are in this are unfair caricatures of being unable to discipline their kids or know what is going on. they just sit at home wringing their hands, clueless about their children's lives and just some big incompetent punchline. or you have mrs wheeler who is constantly treated like shit by her husband and children. then objectified and turned into some weird predatory thing towards billy for no reason.

max of course who i love and adore. but is another example of being framed as more worthy and cool because she's a tomboy. i love her exactly how she is. but it still has that air of she's only cool because she rejects girly things and only wants to do the "boy" things. they do the whole bit of el being jealous and shit. which some of this is rectified in s3 but it's still weird??

chrissy even irks me because you have this feminine cheerleader who serves no purpose except to kickstart eddie's narrative. which ends up being kind of pointless in the end because he just gets killed off in a way that doesn't even do anything for the overall plot. i think if i remember correctly some girl got killed to kick off billy's mind flayer arc in s3 too? there is this whole thing of like teenage girlhood being sacrificed each season.

ngl even eleven's bully kinda made me feel weird. the way they're contrasted, where they have el back in like dumpy clothes. she's dressed in an unflattering way and very clearly Not Girly. to then have her bully be a hyper feminine girly girl who is properly primped and preened and all in pink. like i know this stuff isn't even That Deep. it's mostly some cishet white nerdy men's internal biases showing. it's like alskjdf there are more pressing issues in the show. it just kinda makes me feel weird when i look at it all together? anyway there it is

robin is different bc she's a lesbian i give her a pass she gets to have the not like other girls arc. duffer bros get to keep this one

[jancys-blue-bayou]

I dislike Robin on principle of her being both annoying and pushing Stancy (why?? Bitch, you don’t even know Jonathan OR Nancy what’s your agenda??) but making her gay in s3 was the worst decision. Her and Steve could be happily shacked up by now, doing their own shit and leaving Nancy the hell alone. I think s3 Robin (s4 Robin has had a personality transplant apparently) and Steve would have made a really good couple. But Maya said jump and the Duffers said how high and now she’s the annoying rambling pointless sidekick pushing her bff back towards his ex and taking up valuable screen time from OGs and I haaaate it all.

But you can’t say that making Robin a lesbian was a poor choice from a narrative pov or you’ll get ripped to shreds.

Hmm I mean, Maya's decision to make Robin gay was the only slightly interesting thing about the character I think though. Like I actually didn't see that coming in s3. She really seemed like a total Mary Sue type girlfriend for Steve (she was still a Mary Sue just not Steve's gf then). It was so boring watching the "oh smart girl who doesn't like dumbass Steve will eventually warm up to him. That's still what happened but Robin being gay and it thus only being a platonic thing was at least unexpected. But still the main purpose of her character is to prop up Steve, she's just around to remark what a swell guy Steve is and further the meme-ification of Steve. And them changing the character around completely in s4 based off of Maya is really weird.

But at the same time I thought the characterization was worse in s3 when she was a perfect Mary Sue and also made no sense. The whole Robin can translate Russian to English because she... knows French is the single most ridiculous piece of writing detail I can remember, it's just bananas how completely severed from reality that is (yes it's a show about monster but the actual based in reality part of the show needs... to be based in reality), the closeted small town lesbian feeling comfortable coming out to the alpha male dumbass cishet jock was also kinda ?? and it ofc completely glossed over that Steve in s1 was blatantly homophobic. Yes Steve's chaaanged and all now but still, it's still the 80s and that's never been adressed, just bc Steve realized he was being an asshole to Nancy and Jonathan doesn't mean he also had some epiphany about his homophobia (which I doubt he'd ever even consider really, it was just the norm for a cishet guy like him in the 80s to be like that).

It also makes no sense when they all meet up in s3 and Nancy is like "who are you?" to Robin, they're supposed to be in the same grade in the same high school in the same small ass town, they'd definitely know each other (obv this isn't against Robin, just an aside I thought of).

So yeah, I mean my real problem is with how they've completely overstuffed the show with waaaaay too many characters, shoving important OG characters into the background, and Robin is one of those new characters that is part of this problem. With her specifically I have to above mentioned problems of the writing for her making no sense, her being a Mary Sue in s3, completely different character in s4. But yeah mostly that her main purpose is to prop up Steve, to walk around and talk about how great Steve is, to push Nancy towards Steve, and Steve looking good through their friendship. So even if she didn't end up being the love interest for Steve she was slated to be she still mostly exists to prop up Steve.

Finally just want to be clear, please note that none of my issues with Robin is about her sexuality ofc, just with how the Duffers write her and her role on the show. You gotta be able criticize the writing of LGBT characters also,