#faked suicide

[hantheheart]

Ok im dumping about IMAA Ella and Tony because I AM A BITCH ON A MISSION TO MAKE EVERYONE ELSE FEEL AS MANY THINGS ABOUT MY CHILDREN AS I DO

So starting off, the plot is generally the same with the addition of Ella attempting to be involved but getting left behind by Tony and Rhodey to do the Iron Man thing. Ella is unaware of the Iron Man suit and Tony's involvement with Iron Man until later. After the events of ‘Seeing Red’, Ella goes to Stane and offers to get the Iron Man armor for him if he promises to leave her and Tony alone, convinced Stane had tried to send Dynamo after Tony.

He agrees and she raids the Stark Vault for gear to create her own suit, The Fire Light Armor which has gauntlets instead of the little circles in the palm and a sword that can be lit on fire. The gauntlets have three load outs: Repulsor, Electricity and Fire.

Fire Light becomes an antagonist for a few episodes before she reveals her identity to Iron Man to show him why she's so adamant about getting the armor. Tony reveals his own identity to her so she wont kill him (there’s a one shot somewhere on my blog for details on that) and Ella is furious that her one and only twin would keep a secret like that from her. They were always very close to each other and their dad before the crash and Ella grows to resent how much Tony refuses to accept her help or just not tell her anything.

Ella winds up crushing hard on Gene and learns of his identity as the Mandarin early on, bringing Fire Light out of retirement and giving it a new black paint job, becoming Shadow Strike instead after faking a suicide after a particularly serious argument between her and Tony in regards to her involvement on Team Iron Man.

It hits Tony really hard that his sister would kill herself over an argument but after an episode of reminiscing on their childhood and watching some old videos of them as kids, he realizes just how left out she's been by others (and even himself) and why she was always so adamant about how close they were.

Tony, of course, recognizes the ex-Fire Light armor on who he assumes is one of the Mandarin's goons and becomes furious that someone is wearing the armor his sister had built. She becomes a target for Tony to let out his frustrations and despite going at her with all he has, but can never seem to defeat her. (Ella spent most of their childhood practicing martial arts and started teaching Tony how to near the beginning of the series. But its also symbolic of how he can't seem to defeat his guilt over losing his sister, the only family he had left.)

Ella reveals the truth during the events of the Fin Fang Foom episode as well as her new loyalty to Gene as the Mandarin. Shadow Strike becomes the only remnant of the Mandarin's underlings to harass Team Iron Man while Gene and Howard search for the rest of the Rings. Tony has underlying feelings of guilt for pushing Ella to the point of becoming a villain, but denies it and insists that Ella should have just told him.

The last straw for Ella comes at the end of the Makluan Invasion. As Gene departs for his childhood home, realizing his true purpose of protecting the Earth, Ella can only sink to her knees at the realization that the last bastion of her broken heart has abandoned her as well. Even if her relationship with Gene was just a front to hide the work she'd been doing for him, the realization that he couldn't spare a second thought for her brings the world crashing down around her ears.

Tony attempts to comfort her, saying that they could finally go home, but she refuses. Angrily shouting how all of this started because of him and that she could never forgive him for leaving her behind so easily. She swears to make him feel the pain she's endured before blasting off and disappearing. Tony goes to chase after her, but the others stop him, Rhodey noting that she just needed some space and time to deal with Gene leaving like that.

2 months later, neither Ella or Gene has been seen or heard from and Team Iron Man have cemented themselves as heroes of New York. Tony is back home with his dad. SHIELD is working with Stark International to help test and expand on the projects the Starks have made. Tony and Howard have begun helping SHIELD in their attempt to unfreeze Captain America but haven't made much progress just yet

Even with all that is happening, Tony calls Ella's cell phone every night in hopes that she'll answer, leaving messages talking about his day and asking her to come home. The world isn't right, knowing his sister is out there on her own

The first episode of the season is a typical Unicorn and Killer Shrike fight. They're no match for the newly upgraded Team Iron Man and are sent to jail with barely a fuss. It's as they sit in prison, lamenting over how they can't ever seem to win a fight anymore, that a portal opens from nowhere. Out steps a cloaked figure with a hood and a man with a familiar golden helmet. Loki stands quietly with a smirk as the cloaked figure speaks. Their voice obviously being altered, but they offer the duo a chance for revenge. All they have to do is follow as they're commanded.

It's not hard to figure out why the two criminals smirk at each other.

Team Iron Man arrives on scene as Unicorn and Killer Shrike are robbing some warehouse, expecting a usual easy fight. They're caught off guard by the new purple highlights on the low tier villians' armors but assume nothing more until they're suddenly being thrashed around like nothing.

After a thorough beating at the hands of the newly powered criminals, Team Iron Man has to rethink their strategies, unknowing of the new mastermind lurking in the city.

Meanwhile, Killer Shrike and Unicorn return to their new base to report to the Loki that things went smoothly aside from the interruption from Iron Man and co. Loki sends them on their way and returns to the cloaked figure and tells them the news. The cloaked figure, who Loki refers to as Infinity, simply waves him off with a last moment note of how "Our Lord" would be pleased with their progress.

Team Iron Man fumbles to catch any info on what's going on, seemingly back at the start of their adventures.

Throughout the ongoing season, various Avengers appear to help Team Iron Man, including the newly revived Captain America about halfway thorough. Doctor Strange appears to warn SHIELD and Team Iron Man that Loki and Infinity will be after him to steal the Time Stone from him, which they do succeed in. Strange gives Tony a vague warning that Ella needs Tony, not Iron Man, to save her. Tony takes this to mean Infinity and Loki must be holding Ella hostage just as Gene had Howard hostage. Gene also returns, intent to do right this time and help Tony and his friends protect the Earth but is often busy doing his own work to deal with Infinity.

Somewhere midway through the season, Tony manages to separate Infinity from their followers and attempts to put a stop to their plans, by both fighting with them and trying to appeal to them. With the use of holograms and use of the Power Stone, Infinity uses this opportunity to torment Tony with images of Ella, playing with his guilt. Tony, plagued by Ella in tears or angry or hurt, while blaming him for her anguish, for abandoning her, is enough to let Infinity escape, though it is at this point that as Infinity leaves, do they reveal themself to have been Ella all along.

The ex-Shadow Strike armor has been reworked to be unrecognizable. The visor helmet is still the same as it was, but the body suit has been beefed up. The gauntlets are now doubled in size, massive rings on the wrist of the suit that open to become massive gloves over the suit’s hands. The back of both gauntlets has an opening with which Infinity Stones can be implanted to become power sources, namely the Power and Time Stones, which were her mission to recover.

The final episodes, probably a two or three part-er, Thanos arrives on Earth to retrieve the Infinity Stones from Loki and Infinity. Loki, upon realizing just how seriously screwed they all are, defects back to join Thor and the heroes with the promise that he is as serious as he can be, having spent the latter half of the season questioning if he really wanted to go through with this.

In the chaos of the battle, Tony manages to get Ella away from everyone else and the Twins throw down alone. Weapons are disregarded as it becomes a close quarters death match, Tony trying desperately trying to get through to his sister while Ella can only reiterate how she’s doing this in revenge for everything while trying to punch Iron Man’s mask in.

The promise she made with Thanos comes up: in exchange for her help gathering the Stones on Earth, Thanos will make things go back to how they were. Ella, Tony and their Dad, living life as they had before the accident. Happy, together. The accident, betrayal and all the things that came with it a mere dream.

Tony manages to break through to her, that Thanos would definitely not follow through on his promise. that they would lose everything if Thanos gets his hands on the Power Stone still in Ella’s possession. She freezes up, internal panic building up keeping her rooted to the ground as several people rush to try and take the final Infinity Stone from her.

Thanos manages to chase off the heroes and demands Ella relinquish the Power stone. As she kneels to offer it, Tony’s words ring in her head. Deciding to trust her brother once more, Ella manages to grab her sword from the ground to cut off Thanos’ hand where the Infinity Gauntlet rests.

As he screams in anguish, she snatches up his severed arm and rushes to the rubble where Team Iron Man and Gene are screaming for her. She manages to pluck the stones from the Gauntlet before Thanos yells out at her for betraying him. He promises a painful demise once he catches her and tears flood Ella’s cheeks, shaking and panicking over the imminent danger she’s in for her choice.

With an understanding that using even one Stone without a conduit can cause a lot of damage to a person, Tony and the gang convince Ella to let them help her in wielding the Stones to put an End to this once and for all.

Her suit has hidden places for all of the Stones, having been a backup if something happened with the Gauntlet, so as the other heroes keep Thanos distracted, Ella slots the Stones in the corresponding openings: one in each gauntlet, one in the center of her chest plate, one on the back of her helmet, and one at each hip. The idea being the more space between each stone, the less an effect they would have on the user.

The newly reunited Team Iron Man join hands to help disperse the effects of the stones’ use and Ella makes the final snap.

Something goes wrong.

It’s like an explosion.

Tony comes to with his ears ringing, laying on his front in the dirt. He looks up to find Ella’s armor in pieces before him. There’s burn marks on the inside and the stones are dull as they lay in the dirt. He crawls forward, every inch of his body burning like it had when he woke from the plane crash, and grabbing the broken helmet from the clutter as a fear he’d hoped to never feel again rears its head.

He failed her again.

He’d lost his sister, again.

The battlefield is silent, no remains of Thanos or his army to be seen while the rest of those fighting for Earth are strewn about in similar states of pain or unconsciousness.

From above, comes the haunting sound of energy pulsing and he looks up to see the glowing silhouette of a person, floating high above him.

The silhouette descends, mere feet away and he shields his eyes from the blinding light. The glow dims and Ella is standing before him instead.

He calls out to her, shakily getting to his feet as relief crashes down on his shoulders, tears in his eyes.

She turns to look at him.

He stops, freezing in place as the breath is knocked from his lungs.

Her expression is blank, eyes glowing. The stones suddenly spark back to life, rushing past him to float around her now outstretched hand.

Her voice is warped and strange, sounding as if another being is speaking altogether, proclaiming themself to be an entity of ancient, godly origins. The being thanks Tony for his help in awakening them, smiling in such a cold fashion it sends chills down his spine.

He wants to demand the being return his sister, give her back, he just got her BACK, but another voice speaks up through him. Another entity snaps at the other, they shouldn’t be here, they cannot do this again. They reach out- his hand reaches out- and the Infinity Stones start to move towards him instead. The Stones are held between them in the air as the two beings struggle to force the Stones to them before the one puppet-ting Tony’s body focuses on the two closest and yanks them to his chest. Clutching the two barely glowing Stones, he glares at the other entity, mind racing with questions.

The other entity- the one using Ella- takes the stones and leaves with a final remark that “You cannot stop me this time.”

Control returns to Tony as the others come scrambling towards him in concern. Gene has vanished, probably for the best considering his history, and the Avengers and Team Iron Man regroup at SHIELD.

Cue next season, The Guardians of the Galaxy show up, having been chasing after Thanos and the Infinity stones. They’re relieved to know he’s been dealt with, but the sudden appearance of the being in control of Ella’s body seems to be right up their alley. Team Iron Man insist on going with the Guardians, especially with one of their own on the line.

Tony attempts to contact Gene through whatever means he has, but finds the Mandarin just as impossible to call as ever, deciding to leave the other to do as he will.

The rest of the season is Team Iron man and the Guardians chasing after Possessed Ella, the being controlling her deciding to keep the moniker “Infinity” Ella had been using before. She’d somehow forged her own star ship and recruited both Unicorn and Killer Shrike, as well as Gene, who spends whatever chances he has relaying information to Tony in secret, even going so far as to encourage battles between them to get Tony away from prying eyes.

Tony and the being residing within talk, explaining everything it can while being sincere enough for Tony to believe the tale it tells.

The two supposed “Gods” had existed since the beginning of time and had been something like shepherds of the species of the newborn universe. “Infinity” and “End” as the being chose to refer to themself as, were torn between the ways they wanted to encourage the universe to grow. End wanted the beings to become self sufficient, to grow and learn and become able to exist on their own, while Infinity wanted to continue being worshiped as Gods, for the universe to continue to bend to their whims.

The disagreement grew to war, the two gods struggling in a power imbalance that threatened all worlds. Eventually, End was able to trick Infinity to the world from which they first came from and sealed both of their powers into six gems and had them scatter to the far corner of the universe. With the creation of the Infinity Stones, the two gods lost the power to remain incarnated within the physical world. Their souls were lost to the ether of the universe, becoming attached to the souls of twins across the universe. As they remained in a sleep like state until the Stark Twin’s use of the Stones awakened them. With enough power to awaken them, Infinity was now trying to return to their Birth World to release their power from the Stones and take back control, while End wanted to destroy the Stones once and for all, wiping the two gods from the very fabric of reality.

As the two sides clash and chase each other across the universe, the Stones swap hands back and forth, no episode ending without some Stones switching hands. It’s impossible to tell whether Infinity has relinquished any control back to Ella or if something else has happened to cause Ella to act so cold to Tony and the others, as if the final fight against Thanos hadn’t happened at all, but End allows Tony control of their powers, giving him a boost of new abilities with each Infinity Stone in his hand.

The final few episodes are the close in on the Birth World, Team Iron Man and the Guardians clash with Infinity, Unicorn and Killer Shrike, Gene breaking away during the last collision to join Tony and Friends. When they land, End becomes antsy, encouraging Tony to go after Infinity separately and let the others keep the much stronger Killer Shrike and Unicorn busy.

The two God-possessed teens chase each other over the landscape, racing to grab the Infinity Stones from each other as they race for the Altar End directs Tony towards.

Infinity manages to knock Tony down long enough to snag all the Stones and get to the Altar. End takes over and the two fight for the Stones. infinity manages to regain enough power to manifest a physical form and cast Ella’s body aside as they continue struggling to absorb the Stones’ power.

During the struggle, End manages to siphon energy from Infinity, who begins to lose their physical form. They attempt to jump back to a now-waking-Ella, but Tony, using a mix of End and the Infinity Stones, manages to draw Infinity back to him. The overwhelming energy of two gods and the power of the Infinity Stones coursing through him causes noticeable burns to appear on Tony’s skin (think how the Power Stone burned anyone holding it during the Guardians of the Galaxy movie)

Ella rushes to his side, attempting to grab at the Infinity Stones, to get them away from her brother even if it causes her to burn just as Tony is.

As the twins struggle to withdraw any amount of the chaotic energy burning at their bodies, the two gods grapple with each other, struggling as they speak.

“Look at them! Look how they struggle!”

“For what reason! Why fight such a power as ours?!”

“For each other! For the lives you will destroy if we continue on this way!”

“What does it matter! After everything they have seen and done to each other!”

“Because they choose to love despite the pain. As we once were.”

“We were fools!”

“We were family.”

Infinity hesitates, looking from the twins to End with a confused expression before looking horrified. End smiles and the two embrace.

“It is time we leave, Infinity. It is time we leave them to their own.”

“Yes... Yes, it is.”

They withdraw, taking the Infinity Stones away from the twins as they vanish into a ball of light, that bursts, whiting out the screen.

As the ringing and whiteness fades, Tony sits up, the camera pointedly only showing his left side as he sits up from where he’d been leaning against a large stone. He turns to find Ella laying on the ground beside him. Her eyes flutter as she comes to, sitting up and looking around.

The two turn to look at each other, gaping at the change. Tony’s right side and Ella’s left side are darker, patchy discolorations of their skin from head to toe, the eye on that side seeming to have swapped. Tony’s left eye now brown, while Ella’s right is blue.

They both stare for a moment in confused awe before collapsing into each other with breathless, exhausted laughter. After a moment they both look up at the sound of voices. Rhodey, Pepper and Gene come running, all yelling and waving the twins down.

Time skip a bit to the Guardians apprehending Killer Shrike and Unicorn, the two having lost their beef up from both iterations of Infinity and being dragged back onto the Guardians ship. Team Iron Man are patching each other up, Tony recounting the last bits of the fight between the two gods to the others as Rhodey wraps his arm in gauze.

After a moment, Tony says he’ll go get Ella and the others should go ahead and get settled. He heads back towards the Altar, the others casting worried glances back and muttering to each other uneasily.

Ella stands in front of the Altar and the large stone they had woken up under. Tony walks up beside her and puts a hand on her shoulder, looking up at the stone. The top of it has become some sort of carving, the image of the two gods in their final embraced is immortalized, just under their remains is a carving, done in many many, languages, taking up the rest of the stone.

“For the betterment of the Galaxy, let this be the final resting place of the Gods of Chaos and Power. May the Stones of Infinity never rear their heads again.May you find peace in life as they have in death.”

Tony takes Ella’s hand and  starts to lead her back towards the ship. As they walk away and the screen fades to black, the colors of the Infinity Stones start to glow from within their silhouettes. Fade to black. End Season

The next two episodes are the trip back, broken up into conversations between characters as old wounds are addressed and secrets are made aware.

Tony admits to his wrong doing to Ella and Ella admits to jealousy.

Tony overhears a conversation between Gene and Ella as he apologizes for abandoning her after the Makluan Invasion. They talk about the attempt she’d made to take her own life, how Gene had shown up before she’d actually done it and directed her anguish elsewhere. Ella apologizes for her dependence on him during that turbulent time.

Afterwards, Tony confronts Gene to clear it up, because surely she hadn’t actually intended to off herself that day. It had all been a ploy from the start right? They’d planned that to get Ella away from him, she hadn’t really gone out to do that, right?

When they finally land on Earth, the area they’ll land in is swarmed by SHIELD agents and Avengers members. Remembering how they left, Team Iron Man and the now-realized criminal trio of Ella, Killer shrike and Unicorn are backed into a corner. Gene steps up with the Makluan Rings, saying he’ll teleport the four of them back to his Family’s shop and the Mandarin’s base while Team Iron Man attempt to diffuse the situation.

Ella decides to go out. She made mistakes and would rather make up for them than run around and try to get out of it, and Shrike and Unicorn decide to go with, much to everyone’s surprise.

The three are arrested for charges of public endangerment and acts of terrorism, SHIELD taking the three to the Helicarrier. Howard arrives on the scene to welcome Tony, barely missing as SHIELD takes Ella into one of their airships.

Howard and Tony go up onto the Helicarrier to plead for Ella’s freedom, but are stuck in a waiting room over looking the interrogation room where Director Fury is speaking with Ella. The room is reinforced, almost unnecessarily for an unarmed teenager. Howard and Tony can’t hear anything going on, but Fury is grilling Ella for everything about what’s happened, from the plane crash to Infinity. And as she explains, he reminds her of the damage she’s caused and asks how she intends to make up for it.

And honestly. That’s about as far as I’ve gotten. I don’t really know what do do from here, Ella probably gets her shit figured out and becomes a member of the Avengers or something. I dunno, but I’ve had this drafted for like two years now and I’ve been holding onto this until now, but this is probably the longest post on this site but whatever, have it. Maybe I’ll make more, i dunno. But you should totally watch Iron Man Armored Adventures. It’s good. Thanks, bye

[madeinkorea-blbambeyond]

MAN CRUSH FANDOM • MADE IN KOREA

KANG YUL

KANG YI SUK

CHAE SANG WOO

[lifewithaview]

Charles Dance as Ben Wilson in Rabbit Hole (2023) The Algorithms of Control

E3

Weir's traumatic history is brought to light, along with the origin of his friendship with Valence and their career in corporate espionage. In the present, Weir and Hailey's tenuous relationship begins to thaw.

[sa-dnesss]

nobody talks about the fact that you can have all this crazy shit in your head, and want to open up and talk about your feelings but no matter what, you just can't make out the right words and properly put your thoughts and emotions into words

[passedaway44]

[timethehobo]

Spent too long on it but I just wanted to do up a character sheet for Boomie had he been in Suicide Squad ISEKAI. 💪 Just for the fun of it.

[thebibliosphere]

did you hear about that batshit Susan Meachen fake suicide?

.......the what.

No fucking way. I remember when that happened. Good god, there were gofundmes and everything. People worked on her "final" book for free, so it could be published, not to mention the pitty-buy sales drives so her kids would have "something to live off of." Like people grieved. What an awful thing to do. I hope she gets the proper help she needs to realize why what she did was terrible.

And yet it seems like people are buying her stuff expecting it to be unhinged and wild, and yet if I recall, her work was just kind of... fine. Things I never bothered to leave reviews on because I didn't want to be mean.

Good Grief.

[cloudyydraws]

more saiki stuff

[heckling-hydrena]

🧚‍♀️ sundialtracing Follow

sorry but living in the tangled wood sounds so depressing… brambles so thick u can't even see the sky… I'd kms for real

🧚‍♀️ sundialtracing Follow

LEAE ME ALONE !!!!!11!!!1!

30k notes

🐕 hainuboy Follow

you couldn't pay me to live in plague imagine walking around and the ground starts breathing. offputting fucking flight.

🦠 bacteriacultures Follow

ok. Singer's Brook, White Toad St. 32a 5th floor apartment number 22

🐕 hainuboy Follow

BRO???

7k notes

[hieronymus-botch]

My hot take about the James Somerton situation is that at this point, attaching a "don't harass them tho" disclaimer to your callout post doesn't mean anything and is actively disingenuous. Everyone ought to know by now that if you have a large platform and publicly post a list of someone's misdeeds, they're going to get mass harassed about it even if you tell people not to, so if you actually cared about not getting them harassed, you wouldn't make the callout post in the first place.

[lgbtlunaverse]

Thinking of the Nie disciple that told Nie Mingjue it was Meng Yao who stayed behind to clean up corpses on the battlefield today.

Nie Mingjue didn't just randomly stumble upon poor lil meowyao eating bread in the novel, he was already looking for him to thank and reward him for his work.

That's what makes it so fun that nieyao's first conflict will end up being about someone else taking credit for Meng Yao's work.

And I'm sure that Nie Mingjue's actual opinions on plagiarism are a lot more nuanced, all we really get from him in this scene is "well you shouldn't kill someone over it!" which leaves a lot of room for what punishments he thinks are appropiate. But I bet that it isn't occuring to him in this moment that the only reason he knows Meng Yao at all, the only reason he got such a capable deputy, is that he noticed someone was taking care of the dead and cared enough to want to know their name. And then the Nie disciples didn't lie to him. The disciple he asked could have said "it was me, Zongzhu" to rise in the ranks himself, but he didn't. He went and asked others, who all also could have taken the credit, but they didn't. Someone saw Meng Yao working and decided to be honest about it and that simple decision is the catalyst for Meng Yao becoming Nie Mingjue's deputy.

Meng Yao can't just work hard to get results, others have to acknowledge that work. If they don't, it's as if he didn't do anything at all.

[vigilskeep]

making inquisitors always requires like at least 5 backstory supporting cast members

[sa-dnesss]

I don’t know how to do this anymore. I don’t know how to get better. My head is a dark place and it only gets worse, day by day. and I have no idea how to stop the darkness from coming in. I have no idea how to save myself anymore.

[rachandruin]

I've been reminded of the whole James Somerton situation lately and the discourse that surrounded his recent fake suicide note, and how people who disbelieved it straight off the bat were pilloried for doing so, told they were uncaring and vindictive and wanted him to die

This is a man who literally had a track record of lying with every breath he took, not just about the provenance of his work but also about being "harassed" by people who were just rightly requesting he credit his sources, and of receiving "death threats" from people connected to his detractors (of which there has never been even the slightest shred of proof)

This is a man with previous for making manipulative, passive-aggressive, guilt-tripping statements regarding possibly harming himself in response to mild rebuke and minor pushback

Not believing him when he threatened suicide in response to finally being exposed for the conman he is is, in every possible way, the most logical conclusion to draw

This is such a common abuse tactic that it's almost a cliché and Somerton gave us textbook examples of it over and over again, this is not an enormous leap to make

Saying you don't believe someone who has repeatedly threatened to self-harm as an abuse tactic (and never once gone through with it) is not cruel, it's just understanding human behaviour and having pattern recognition

[steddiealltheway]

!!!!! Tw: faked suicide not by Steve or Eddie. There are ⚠️⚠️⚠️ before and after the most graphic parts which can be skipped without needing too much context. I tried to be vague but it can still be triggering. !!!!! (Thank you everyone tagging it as such)

A sort of different type of TikTok Modern AU…

Eddie Munson is a famous rockstar and honestly doesn’t post much on TikTok, but he occasionally finds himself scrolling though the app which is how he finds Steve.

He’s gorgeous. Exactly Eddie’s type with luscious, gravity defying hair, a sharp jaw, pretty lips, and he bets if he had a closer look, Steve would have the most charming eyes. It’s a shame the camera is so far away from him, and Eddie almost wonders why until Billy Hargrove is in the shot.

Eddie’s stomach sours at the sight of the man. Yes, he’s attractive, even Eddie could admit that, but there was something about him that made Eddie feel uncomfortable. Plus, there were a few scandals surrounding the tiktoker regarding previous racist Tweets and comments which he has responded to with a thrust trap to “Nobody’s Perfect” by Miley Cyrus / Hannah Montana.

So yeah. Eddie didn’t particularly like him and the stuff he got away with just because he’s hot.

He tunes back into the video which has him holding his finger to his lips, and Eddie is already rolling his eyes. The caption says, “Pranking my boyfriend, Steve 🤣😱” and Eddie can already tell it has to be fake with all the dramatics that Steve just happens to not see.

But then Billy carefully sneaks behind the couch where Steve is sitting and dumps a bucket full of water and ice onto him which has the man yelling and standing up in shock. He stands still for a minute and then yells, “Why the fuck would you do that, Billy??”

The tone and overall reaction has Eddie actually wonder if the video is fake or if Steve is just a really good actor. But he watches it again and notices that the man doesn’t look toward the camera once and something about that makes him feel really uneasy.

Eddie has to reason with himself, if the man is dating Billy Hargrove then he must not be a great person, and maybe he deserved the bucket of ice water. But Eddie still closes out of the app and tries his best not to think about it.

-:-:-:-:-:-

He opens the app a few days later, having forgotten about the whole incident until he comes across another video by Billy and the word “prank” in his caption catches Eddie’s eye. He sighs wondering why it’s on his for you page, but right before he swipes past it, he catches the gist of the prank.

Billy fills a syringe with mayonnaise and injects it into a donut, and then it cuts to him giving it to Steve from a camera that once again seems to be hidden although Billy keeps glancing at it with a smirk on his face and evil in his eyes. Steve, on the other hand, doesn’t glance toward the camera, but his face lights up with glee when he’s handed the donut. “You got this for me?” He asks in an awe filled tone as if the donut means the world to him.

“Yeah, why don’t you take a big ol’ bite of it for me?” Billy asks, voice low. Eddie watches as Steve shifts uncomfortably and puts the donut down.

“This isn’t another prank, is it? You know I don’t like them,” Steve says which honestly surprises Eddie. His tone is entirely genuine, and he feels like he’s peering in on a private moment.

“Of course not baby. Told you I’d stop,” Billy replies with a big smile.

Eddie can’t help but click on the caption: “Simple prank makes boyfriend storm out!” With a shit ton of hashtags that Eddie doesn’t bother reading.

Sure enough, Steve bites into the donut and immediately spits it out. He doesn’t say a word, just shakes his head and storms out of room.

Billy laughs loudly, “Oh, don’t be like that, babe! You know that was funny as shit!”

Eddie opens the comments, and is surprised to find people actually defending the prank. There are some people who comment shit like, “date me instead! I would never get mad at your pranks 🥵”

There’s only one comment that says, “Don’t really find this funny.” But it’s swarmed with hate comments from Billy’s fans that has Eddie scoffing as he scrolls onto the next video. He watches for a few seconds before scrolling back up when he realizes something. He looks at the date of the TikTok and realizes it was posted the previous month which means…

Eddie sighs realizing that him looking through Billy’s videos will only give him more attention and views, but he needs to know how long this has been going on for. And he really needs to find out if Steve is in on any of it or at least had gotten Billy back.

He begrudgingly clicks on Billy’s profile and scrolls through. He finds several videos with the thumbnail being of Steve mid reaction to a prank, and Eddie notices that every time, the camera is far away, and there doesn’t seem to be a single video of him up close.

The whole thing doesn’t feel right to Eddie. But what can he do about it? It’s not like he can report the videos. He could simply just block Billy and try to forget it all.

He scrolls back to the top and accidentally refreshes the page. He’s about to block him when he notices a new video pop up, where Steve looks like he’s in the middle of a panic attack. Eddie immediately presses on it.

⚠️⚠️⚠️

Billy smiles at the camera, no shirt in sight as he laughs, “This is my biggest prank yet. Steve should be home in less than a minute. And look,” he holds up his phone and shows a bathtub filled with red water that almost looks like blood.

Eddie’s shaky hand covers his mouth. He wouldn’t.

Billy laughs and continues, “I sent him a text that says ‘I’m sorry’ and a picture of an empty pill bottle, and he’s been texting me non stop for the past few minutes. Shit, he’s on his way now so it’s time for me to hide my phone and make this look as real as possible.”

Eddie watches as Billy puts his phone on a shelf and seemingly stacks towels up to cover his phone and hold it in place. He looks away when Billy takes out a bottle of fake blood and stages a suicide. He practically shakes with anger. Steve has to be in on this. He has to just be a good actor.

Eddie’s stomach drops when he hears Steve yelling Billy’s name rushing through the house. He bursts through the door and falls against the wall in shock. “Tell me this is a damn prank Billy. Billy…” he gets closer and shakes him. “Billy!” He yells shaking. “Shit. Shit. No no no. Fuck. What the fuck…”

Steve sits next to the tub and puts his head in his hands having a panic attack. Billy’s eyes open and he winks at the camera before grabbing Steve’s shoulders and yelling, “Boo.” He starts cackling loudly as Steve confusedly looks around trying to catch his breath. “I got you so good!” Billy yells through laughter.

Steve shakily gets up, tears streaming down his face and runs. Billy gets out of the tub and makes his way to his phone. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to him later,” he says with a wink before the video ends.

⚠️⚠️⚠️

Eddie sits as the video reloops. He’s shaking with anger. He doesn’t think as he duets the video and mutes the other audio. “This is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen. These ‘couple pranks’ are stupid enough and not funny, but to fake a suicide and call it a joke… you have to be an extra type of fucked up asshole. There aren’t enough words to describe how evil of a human being you have to be to do something like this to someone you love. I don’t care if this is staged or not. This is not okay. And fuck you.” Eddie quickly censors Billy’s half of the video with a note of “watch at your own risk.” He doesn’t care if his manager is pissed or if his account is filled with Billy’s fans hating on him or whatever. He presses the post button and turns off his phone. He needs fresh air.

He grabs his keys, a hat, and sunglasses, and makes his way out of his apartment. Hopefully the damn paparazzi back the fuck off today. He makes it down his street and walks quickly, fuming with anger. He weaves in and out of people and curses the busy LA streets.

He turns the corner and rams right into someone walking at an equally fast rate. He holds onto the stranger to steady himself and keep them up. “Sorry,” the man chokes out and Eddie is about to brush it off when he realizes he recognizes him.

“Steve?” He asks. He knew Billy lived in Los Angeles but he didn’t know he lived so close. The thought makes him kind of sick to his stomach. He thinks he might punch him if he ever saw him in person.

Steve wipes at his face and narrows his eyes at Eddie. “Sorry, do I know you?”

Eddie glances around before lifting up his sunglasses and hat, waiting for Steve to recognize him enough to gain his trust. Instead, Steve just stares at him blankly.

Eddie’s heart races. This has never really happened to him. He puts on the hat and sunglasses sheepishly. “Uh, I’m Eddie. I know you from Billy’s TikToks.”

Steve just tilts his head in confusion. His eyes are red and puffy. He wonders if Billy posted the video so soon after his prank and if Steve is currently in the aftermath of it. “Um,” Steve says and clears his throat, “Was I in the background or something? He told me I wasn’t in his TikToks.”

Eddie’s heart drops. He opens his phone and goes to Billy’s TikTok, ignoring the way his own TikTok is blowing up. He turns his phone to Steve and picks a less traumatizing prank to show him.

Steve grabs his phone and his eyes widen. A look of confusion crosses over his face that slowly turns into realization and numbness. “He’s been using me for views after promising he wouldn’t, isn’t he? I even asked if the pranks were somehow stupid content but he said they weren’t. He…” he trails off and shakes his head. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be unloading all of this onto you.”

Eddie shakes his head. “No, no. It’s okay. I’m sorry that I told you.”

He watches as Steve numbly nods and scrolls presumedly through Billy’s profile. He looks down at the screen and back at Eddie. “Is this you?” Steve asks hesitantly as he turns the phone back to him.

Eddie confusedly looks at his phone and sees that Billy has apparently replied to his TikTok already. Then, to his left, he hears a bit of commotion and sees some cameras flashing. Fuck. “Do you trust me?” Eddie asks.

Steve looks at his phone and back at Eddie.

Yeah, that’s a lot to ask of him. “Okay, how about this? You keep my phone, and we run back to my apartment around the corner and talk in private before we both end up in shitty magazines?”

Steve tilts his head and glances toward where a few people with cameras make their way to them yelling, “Eddie! Eddie Munson!”

“You’re not a famous serial killer or something, right?”

“Musician,” Eddie says and holds out his hand. “One who hates Billy Hargrove.”

Steve looks down at his hand and takes it running alongside Eddie who tries not to think about the stories that might come out of this. Gosh, he thought his biggest scandal would be when he came out as gay.

He makes his way back to his apartment telling his doorman, “Paparazzi! He’s with me!”

Hopper just nods in response and opens the door quickly. Eddie sighs in relief when he makes it through and to the elevator. Steve looks at him and asks, “How offended are you that I don’t know you?”

Eddie laughs. “Mildly, but it’s a relief really.” He realizes that isn’t the biggest concern in the moment and changes the subject. “Are you okay?”

Steve sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He opens his mouth but the elevator dings, and Steve almost looks relieved. Eddie doesn’t press it as he leads him to his apartment. “Make yourself at home. Do you want water, coffee, tea, soda, or anything?”

Steve numbly shakes his head, so Eddie grabs two bottles of water and two cokes from his fridge. He puts them down on his coffee table and sits on the couch, watching as Steve kind of hovers in his living room with his arms crossed. “I won’t bite, and I certainly won’t pressure you to do anything. But you can sit on the couch if you like.”

Steve eyes him and asks timidly, “You’re not in on anything with Billy, right?”

It breaks his heart seeing and hearing how on edge these pranks have made Steve. “Fuck no. I promise on my guitar I have never had anything to do with Billy and I never will. Well… unless you count me calling him out on his shit on TikTok.”

The words seem to get through to Steve who sits down on the couch next to Eddie while keeping his distance. “So… that’s why you were on his TikTok.”

Eddie’s heart hammers. He nearly forgot that Billy had apparently dueted his own video. “Yeah, but it has to be really new because I only posted mine literally a minute before I ran into you.”

Steve looks down at Eddie’s phone still in his hands. “Why?”

“Why what?” Eddie asks genuinely confused.

“Why did you call him out?” Steve asks, not sounding angry just… curious.

Eddie shifts and play with a string on one of the rips of his jeans. “His most recent video with the faked suicide. That wasn’t fucking cool, man. None of the pranks he’s done have been okay. And I’m sorry that you were put through them - especially this last one.”

Steve’s face turns almost white. “He posted that? Was I… was I in it? Like… my entire breakdown was…” he trials off as Eddie slowly nods. “Fuck,” Steve says burying his face in his hands. Eddie is about to apologize or go on a rant about how much he hates Billy Hargrove when Steve asks, “Can I see the video you made?”

Eddie’s cheek flush red, but he replies, “Yeah, uh, I don’t exactly remember what I said because I kind of went into a fit of rage and posted whatever came to mind. But yeah, my password is 051599.”

Steve types the password into his phone, and stares at the screen blankly. He looks at Eddie and asks, “I’m not on social media… ever so… could you show me?”

Eddie nods and slides over until he’s a few inches away from the beautiful man, and he does his best to try not to think too hard about how attractive he finds him as he goes to his profile and presses on his recent video. His nose scrunches up at the sound of his own voice, but he doesn’t disagree with anything he said. Billy Hargrove is a dick.

“Can I see the comments?” Steve asks. Eddie nods and clicks on them.

“Woah,” Eddie can’t help but say as he sees blue checkmark after blue checkmark. The top comments are from @ ronancetheromance with the couple saying: “Only an absolutely vile person is capable of such a fucked up prank. #SaveSteve”. Another from @ willthewise: “remember to comment on here instead of the original video so it can get less attention!! #savesteve”. Several of the rest of the streamers who call themselves “The Party” reply to Will’s with the hashtag “SaveSteve”.

“Who are these people?” Steve asks as he scrolls through the comments. He comes across one from @ billyfan4everandalways saying: “Watch Billy’s new video and stop being so quick to judge!!”

Eddie clicks on the replies, and the top liked one - having more likes than the original comment - is from @ ericasinclair: “that ugly mullet man’s explanation is bullshit and everyone knows it. let Steve talk for himself or I’m not buying it. #SaveSteve #CancelBilly”

Eddie nearly follows the girl, but realizes that Steve had asked a question. “Most of them I don’t know personally honestly.”

“Then why are they defending me? I’m nobody,” Steve says as if it’s a common fact.

Eddie turns off his phone and puts it down, properly facing Steve. “I know I don’t know you well, but you are not nobody. And these people are defending you not only because Billy is a dick, but this prank stuff is abusive and shouldn’t be normalized especially with the following he has. Nobody should go through that.”

Steve turns slightly red and looks away before asking, “Can we watch his reply?”

Eddie shudders a bit at the thought, but turns on his phone and goes to his page. “Are you sure? I haven’t seen it yet either, and I’m a little prone to getting pissed at him.”

“I’m sure,” Steve says and even reaches over to open the video.

Billy still has fake blood on him and is scrubbing it off with an angry look on his face. He looks at the camera every so often, and it’s clear that he’s staring at himself in a mirror. What a fucking asshole. “These pranks are harmless, and even my boyfriend would agree with that. He enjoys them and he makes sure to show me how much once the cameras stop rolling and his shock has died off,” Billy says so with a smirk on his face that sends chills down Eddie’s body. “So, stop making assumptions about me and my boyfriend and keep making shitty music instead asshole.” The video ends with him flipping off the camera.

“Charming,” Eddie comments, pausing the video so it doesn’t endlessly loop, and turns to see Steve’s reaction. He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head.

“He’s lying. I’ve been begging him to stop for weeks. Even slept on the couch in protest. But that last one was the last straw. I just… don’t know where to go,” Steve sits back against the couch and mumbles, “Fuck.”

Eddie shifts and looks at him. “Do you have any friends or family that could take you in?”

Steve laughs humorlessly. “My parent disowned me when they found out I was dating Billy. Didn’t want a bi son ruining the family image. I had to move in with Billy, and he used to be sweet really. Well… I thought he was for the first three months. When his TikTok career took off he moved to LA, and I felt like I had no choice but to go with him. I grew apart from the few friends I had before the move, and I was just stuck with Billy here. And I… I don’t know,” Steve sighs and puts his head in his hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you. I just… haven’t really had anyone to talk to.” The man lifts his head, his eyes are tired and filled with unshed tears. He’s gorgeous really, but that’s the last thing Eddie needs to be thinking about.

Eddie takes a moment to consider things. Steve seems like a good guy. He has plenty of extra room in his too big apartment and money to spare that he doesn’t know what to do with. Honestly, he’s not meant for this lifestyle and never has been. He’s happy that his uncle Wayne is retired and living comfortably off his too big income, but it’s lonelier than he imagined it to be.

And with that thought Eddie tells Steve, “Then live here for a while. No pranks. I won’t use you for clout or whatever. I have a guest bedroom with its own private bathroom, and I usually never have visitors. And I hate parties, so you don’t have to worry about that either. I may be writing songs in the middle of the night, but my music room is fairly soundproof. And trust me, I would appreciate the company or feeling like my money is going toward something important.”

Steve stands up and shakes his head. “It’s okay, man. I don’t want your charity. You’ve already done enough.”

Eddie stays on the couch and says, “Please, Steve, stay a week or just a few days. If you hate it here, I’ll help you get on your way. But trust me when I say you’ll help me too. It’s…” he sighs and runs a hand over his face, “It’s lonely in LA.” He cringes as he quotes the title of his favorite song that he’s written. It’s also his least popular one, but it’s the most honest thing on any of his albums.

“Reminds me of that song,” Steve says with a small smile.

Eddie’s head snaps up. “You know it?”

Steve hums the chorus of Eddie’s song and Eddie joins in. Steve stops to ask, “You know it, too?”

Eddie huffs a laugh. “I wrote it.”

Steve looks at him for a few moments longer with a combination of shock and hesitation. Then he surprises Eddie by asking, “You really wouldn’t mind if I stayed?”

“Not at all. Unless you ended up doing something really drastic like trying to murder me.”

Steve snorts, and Eddie finds it endearing. He tries to shake the feeling away. He can not fall for this man when he’s a guest in his house and especially not after everything he’s been through. But then Steve gives him a real smile and holds out his hand saying, “It’s a deal.”

And when Eddie takes his hand and feels how warm and nice it feels in his, half of him wants to argue that it’s just because it’s been a while since he’s actually had a genuine conversation with another person. But the other half is quick to accept that he’s absolutely fucked when it comes to this stranger that he feels like he’s inevitably going to fall in love with.

[capesandshapes]

As someone who is part of the indie romance community I need you to understand that part of the problem with Susan Meachen is that she was disappointed by a lack of sales and had been informed as to the reasons why (bad covers, unappealing blurbs, plain language in stories that didn't fit her genre) and took it as bullying instead of valid criticism.

Like people tried to help her and instead of listening to them she thought she knew better and for some reason decided to turn around and instead of improving her books and taking the ideas she obviously had to make something better, she decided to fake her death?

That being said, please for the love of God if you want to write professionally... learn how to take criticism.