#first gary now steve?

[rustbeltjessie]

Chicago Noise (Love Letter to Steve Albini) by Jarret Keene

How many boys want to be whipped by Steve Albini’s guitar? -Sonic Youth bassist/singer Kim Gordon

Woke up this morning, as usual, hungry for white-boy noise and black coffee. Popped in – what else? – Big Black’s Songs About *!?king and blasted it at full volume on the home stereo so I could feel every

drum-machine wallop in my molars, every lacerating riff against my face, those places where noise really hits me when its good and loud. Steve, there’s something about your band Big Black

in the morning that helps me to more effectively hate birds outside my window as they chirp ridiculous tunes about nothing to no one, something in the serrated edges of the song “Pavement Saw” and

the slaughterhouse fury of “Colombian Necktie” that transports me to the Loop, jostling around inside a metal tube across an ice-cold, urban-Midwest landscape of old, bombed-out meatpacking plants.

Like it’s a clear day in March and I’m taking it all in – the canyons of LaSalle, the cliffs of Michigan Avenue, the public artworks – and there’s this satanic chainsaw behind my ears, eager to sink

its teeth into my skull, turning my lights out and then everyone else’s. This noise is dirty and yet so pure that I can’t help feeling even more comfortable in my alienation, even happier in hostile

territory. I imagine myself lying down like a lamb at the paws of a lion guarding the stairs of the Art Institute. I picture myself walking into a Wicker Park record shop (a real record shop that

actually sells, you know, vinyl) and asking the skinny, unfriendly employees there if they might sell me another Big Black LP. And when they scowl at me with an expression that says “Why don’t

you already own that record, poser?” all I can say to my fellow rock snobs is leave me alone, because I’m armed and dangerous, and about to vaporize Cloud Gate in Millenium Park, to rip

the girders from Calder’s red-orange flamingo-looking thing perched in front of the Federal Center with my incisors before flame-broiling it oh-so-slowly with an acetylene torch until the steel is tender enough

to eat with a plastic spork, to challenge the next thrash band to play the Double Door to a demolition derby-style mosh pit involving broken beer bottles and our bare chests and bags of salt.

And if anyone asks about the point of this tsunami of sucking nihilism, this whole tortured carnival ride, let me say that it’s my chance to ignore the terrifying silence at the end of this caffeinated daydream.

Anyhow, Steve, just thought I’d write you a quick letter letting you know how much your anti-corporate band gets me dreaming of Chicago and prepares me for another gray and greasy day

of corporate enslavement, chained to my cubicle, hoping for a moment to shut down my computer and loosen my tie, straining to hear a measure, the merest note, of the sweet music of birds.

[hotvintagepoll]

Congrats to the ultimate winner of the Hot & Vintage Movie Men Tournament, Mr. Toshiro Mifune! May he live happily and well where the sun always shines, enjoying the glories of a battle hard fought.

A loving farewell to all of our previous contestants, who are now banished to the shadow realm and all its dark joys and whispered horrors—I hear there's a picnic on the village green today. If you want to remember the fallen heroes, you can find them all beneath the cut.

What happens next? I'll be taking a break of two weeks to rest from this and prep for the Hot & Vintage Ladies Tournament. I'll still be around but only minimally, posting a few last odes to the hot men before transitioning into a little early ladies content, just like I did with this last tournament. The submission form for the Hot & Vintage Ladies tournament will remain up for one more week (closing February 21st), so get your submissions in for that asap! Once the form closes, there will be one more week of break. The first round of the Hot & Vintage Ladies Tournament will be posted on February 29th, as Leap Year Day seems like a fitting allusion to leaping into these ladies' arms.

Thanks for being here! Enjoy the two weeks off, and send me some great propaganda.

In order of the last round they survived—

ROUND ONE HOTTIES:

Richard Burton

Tony Curtis

Red Skelton

Keir Dullea

Jack Lemmon

Kirk Douglas

Marcello Mastroianni

Jean-Pierre Cassel

Robert Wagner

James Garner

James Coburn

Rex Harrison

George Chakiris

Dean Martin

Sean Connery

Tab Hunter

Howard Keel

James Mason

Steve McQueen

George Peppard

Elvis Presley

Rudolph Valentino

Joseph Schildkraut

Ray Milland

Claude Rains

John Wayne

William Holden

Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

Harold Lloyd

Charlie Chaplin

John Gilbert

Ramon Novarro

Slim Thompson

John Barrymore

Edward G. Robinson

William Powell

Leslie Howard

Peter Lawford

Mel Ferrer

Joseph Cotten

Keye Luke

Ivan Mosjoukine

Spencer Tracy

Felix Bressart

Ronald Reagan (here to be dunked on)

Peter Lorre

Bob Hope

Paul Muni

Cornel Wilde

John Garfield

Cantinflas

Henry Fonda

Robert Mitchum

Van Johnson

José Ferrer

Robert Preston

Jack Benny

Fredric March

Gene Autry

Alec Guinness

Fayard Nicholas

Ray Bolger

Orson Welles

Mickey Rooney

Glenn Ford

James Cagney

ROUND TWO SWOONERS:

Dick Van Dyke

James Edwards

Sammy Davis Jr.

Alain Delon

Peter O'Toole

Robert Redford

Charlton Heston

Cesar Romero

Noble Johnson

Lex Barker

David Niven

Robert Earl Jones

Turhan Bey

Bela Lugosi

Donald O'Connor

Carman Newsome

Oscar Micheaux

Benson Fong

Clint Eastwood

Sabu Dastagir

Rex Ingram

Burt Lancaster

Paul Newman

Montgomery Clift

Fred Astaire

Boris Karloff

Gilbert Roland

Peter Cushing

Frank Sinatra

Harold Nicholas

Guy Madison

Danny Kaye

John Carradine

Ricardo Montalbán

Bing Crosby

ROUND THREE SMOKESHOWS:

Marlon Brando

Anthony Perkins

Michael Redgrave

Gary Cooper

Conrad Veidt

Ronald Colman

Rock Hudson

Basil Rathbone

Laurence Olivier

Christopher Plummer

Johnny Weismuller

Clark Gable

Fernando Lamas

Errol Flynn

Tyrone Power

Humphrey Bogart

ROUND 4 STUNGUNS:

James Dean

Cary Grant

Gregory Peck

Sessue Hayakawa

Harry Belafonte

James Stewart

Gene Kelly

Peter Falk

QUARTERFINALIST VOLCANIC TOWERS OF LUST:

Jeremy Brett

Vincent Price

James Shigeta

Buster Keaton

SEMIFINALIST SUPERMEN:

Omar Sharif

Paul Robeson

FINALIST FANTASIES:

Sidney Poitier

Toshiro Mifune

and ok, sure, here's the shadow-bracket-style winner's portrait of Toshiro Mifune.

[j4gm]

SPOILERS!!! REFERENCES AND EASTER EGGS IN F&C ep. 10: CHEERS

The finale!

Pawn Swan! This was another character who first appeared in Steve Wolfhard's post-finale loredump about the 1000+ world. I never expected to actually see him in the show.

Nuts how this is like the third time we've seen Simon's ass. I love how Shermy is just chilling and playing video games while GOLB lets this random old man take a turn at the wheel.

This establishing shot of Fionnaworld shows that it's very small. By the time it is restored at the end of the episode, this ominous white border is gone and there are more buildings, implying that it became a complete world.

I can't believe Gary was thirsting after Scarab in this situation.

There is a shop called Evergree Flowers; likely a reference to the episode Evergreen.

This shop window advertises that you can learn to kick bugs. Appropriately enough, Cake kicks Scarab through this shop window while in her Godzilla form.

The Betty statue has become GOLBetty.

It should be clear by this point that Casper and Nova are a parallel to Simon and Betty, with all of their decisions being made by Casper with little consideration for Nova due to their unbalanced power dynamic. This is why Simon realises that he should have been more considerate of Betty's dreams, rather than single-mindedly chasing the Enchiridion and the crown.

The credits confirm that genderswapped Ash is named Ashley. I wonder what happened to her after she fell into the void. Probably nothing good.

Poor Marshall never gets to finish his songs. Truly he is the genderswapped Marceline.

The name "GOLBetty" is now canon; Simon uses it in this scene.

I'm not sure what's happening to GOLBetty here. A loose thread to pick up if this story ever gets a continuation, perhaps.

Simon steps through several different universes, including all the ones we saw during this miniseries. I'm not sure what this world full of tiny bears is meant to be.

Some kind of industrial capitalist hell universe.

This is the Water Park Prank artstyle, implying that Water Park Prank takes place in a separate but canon universe. So Water Park Prank is now canonically canonical! (what a ridiculous phrase)

Some kind of Jake universe.

A universe featuring Magwood and his volcano lair, from the episode Evergreen.

The snail! It's not dead after all. And it's a great way of symbolising a return to regular Ooo, as is the reappearance of the smiley butterfly.

This was a strange selection of characters. I hope Jay hasn't left his younger siblings on their own if their dad is dead. At least baby Finn won't have to grow up in Vampworld, though part of me liked imagining what that would have been like.

Fionna mentions that his is her top fantasy. The other two of her top three fantasies were Cake being able to talk and a kingdom made of candy.

She gets a hammer, like she had in the dream sequence at the very beginning of the miniseries.

Kheirosiphon goes back to working in a teashop, just like he did on The Drift before he was imprisoned by Scarab. Also Marshall's outfit here is incredibly gay, it's great.

There is an ad here for a daddy issues themed comedy night. Sounds like Marceline's kind of place.

Prismo's face glitches for a second. Ominous.

Simon definitely needs to move out. This is probably an even more important realisation than coming to understand his influence over Betty.

In the credits of this episode, Simon is finally at peace.

And with that, the miniseries is over! Back to the long wait. Will this be it for Adventure Time? Or is there yet more to come...

[sp0o0kylights]

Someone on Twitter proposed Steve and Gareth as cousins whose family had a major falling out, and then someone else brought it up recently and long story short no idea who to credit the idea too bc you can’t search for SHIT on Twitter but it's theirs not mine. 

Anyway I wrote a lil thing as a warmup 

PART TWO

"Why don't you come sit with Hellfire?" Gareth asked, angrily leaned against the bathroom wall while Steve fixed his hair.

He'd tried not to cling since he entered high school. Tried to keep things on the downlow, least any gossipy mouths started running. 

It was so stupidly, needlessly, hard. 

 His cousin was only two years ahead of him but they'd spent the last year in different schools because of it. 

 That year, and the lack of Steve's presence in it, had grated. Now that he finally had Steve back, Gareth was loathe to play by the rules. 

"Sit with you and Eddie, "the freak" Munson? I'll pass." Steve said, but there was no bite in it. 

That, Gareth knew, was because Steve was  using Eddie as an excuse. 

"You'd like Eddie if you spent five minutes with him, King Steve." Gareth fired back on automatic. His fingers dug into his arms, as he resisted the urge to pace around the bathroom floor. 

Unspoken was all the shit that had taken place.

Steve and Nancy's breakup. The rumor mill in overdrive, first about how Jonathan Byers had taken creep shot photos of them, then about how he'd taken his shot with Nancy herself. 

The supposed cheating, the public fights, the crazy background of Jonathan's little brother being missing. 

Billy Hargrove beating Steve to a pulp. 

Now friendless, Steve had thoroughly fallen from his place at the tippy top of the social hierarchy and between his utter lack of friends and his shit tier parents, Gareth was concerned. 

"You do not want me to sit with you, Gary. I'd tell all your little friends that you're apart of the royal family." Steve turned, making an exaggerated face. "How's Munson feel about cozying up to a Prince?" 

"I'd technically be an Earl, Steve, not a prince." Gareth grumbled. 

He got an eye roll in response. "Somehow I don't think he'll care." 

"I do though." Gareth blurted out, absolutely thoughtless. 

Steve blinked at him. 

"What?" He said. 

In for a penny right?

 "I care." Gareth said, looking down and scuffing a shoe, making it squeak against the grimy tiles. "About you. You dick." 

"Wow Gary you almost sounded loving there."

For once, he ignored the jab. "I'm worried about you, man." He said it quietly, the painful truth pulled out of him almost by force. 

He knew better than anyone how few people Steve had. Knew how his dad was likely taking all the crap Steve had been involved in lately. 

Richard Harrington hadn't been the wedge that had separated his and Steve's mother, but the man hadn't done them any favors, either. 

His intolerance towards the working and lower classes, his demand for perfection, the way he looked down his nose not just on Gareth's parents but on his own wife and son…

Gareth's mom didn't tolerate it. 

Likewise, Stella Harrington didn't tolerate her sister ruining her shot at being a rich trophy wife. 

Both their sets of parents were dramatic and neither of them weren't anywhere near the concept of "good" but at least Gareth's weren't neglectful and abusive. 

Shitty absolutely, but he never worried about getting thrown out, or that his mom wouldn't acknowledge his birthday because he'd "complimented her outfit the wrong way." 

(”It's fine dude she just thought I called her ugly. It was a miscommunication. Dad said it's a good lesson about how women work."

"Casual reminder that your dad's an asshole and also how is telling your mom that she looked lovely in the sunlight telling her she's ugly?”

“It implied she wasn't lovely the rest of the time or some shit, I dunno man.”) 

The BMW was a shitty prize when compared what Steve had dealt with to receive it. 

"I'm okay." Steve said seriously. "It's almost the end of the year anyways. I can tough out having some extra alone time." 

"If you're sure…"

"Yeah man, I'm sure. Thanks though."

Then Steve pulled him into a hug and fuck their parents, who demanded they continued some stupid grudge. Gareth clung to him just as hard as he had at ten. Unsure if he'd ever be allowed to see Steve again.

[gnome-adjacent-vagabond]

Psst hey *pulls you closer* Canon middle-aged queer relationships and multiple canon queer/queer-coded characters. *lets you go* Go watch Venture Bros.

There are WAY more than these but I can't put em all up here because queer coding is up to interpretation. I say that everyone in Venture Bros is queer until proven straight but that's just me.

I wrote a whole-ass essay and then accidentally deleted it so the wording on this will probably be off, but it feels important so I'm gonna try be succinct.

Minor spoilers ahead! Skip paragraph three if you don't want those, then resume on paragraph four.

Full disclosure, this is a show that started in the early 2000s and has a LOT of issues in the first few seasons as well as a couple in the later seasons. There are transphobic and homophobic jokes, ableism, racism, and sexism. Sergeant Hatred is a walking trigger warning for about three seasons straight. It goes without saying but I'll say it anyway: DON'T watch this show if you have multiple triggers or are easily offended.

Having said that, these writers realized the problems with what they were writing and have worked to remedy those issues through commentary, retconning, and public acknowledgement of the early seasons' failings. Their opinions evolve and so does the show.

Shore Leave is a flamboyantly gay man who was initially intended to be a one-off joke about the G.I. Joe series and the Village People. Instead he has morphed into a three-dimensional character who presents comfortably as both masculine and feminine. He's in a loving relationship with another gay man, Al, who is flamboyant but tends to be a little less flashy. Steve Summers and Sasquatch have been a happy couple for years now--and all because the epitome of toxic masculinity, Brock Samson, helps them find a quiet cabin away from the government hunting them. Brock's mentor, Hunter Gathers, is a canonically detransitioned trans woman who struggles with her identity throughout the show (I'm still waiting for her to retransition despite the show's cancellation). Hank is perfectly at ease in a hyperfeminine strength suit, and Dean also goes through identity struggles that are never played for laughs and are heavily if not explicitly queer-coded. Vendata's queerness is understated and exists simply as a fact rather than being joked about. Sky Pilot is similar, though slightly more in Shore Leave's camp in terms of presentation. Sheila and the Monarch are self-proclaimed swingers and could be read to be in a poly relationship with Gary, their henchman. Debbie St. Simone has a rather homoerotic obsession with Sheila and is almost definitely bisexual.

The Venture Bros universe is full of queer rep, and the creators of the show write it in with intention. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick talk about wanting it to be treated as fact rather than completely defining each of their characters--they talk about how few women are in the show and why (Johnny Quest and G.I. Joe, the inspirations for Venture Bros, are heavily malecentric and there's constant homoeroticism in them for that reason). They acknowledge the flaws and work to improve themselves and their writing. This has culminated in a surprisingly moving series about love, death, grief, trauma, and change that radiates queer subtext from any angle--especially Dean's journey.

Try the show at least up to season 4. The first three seasons are on Netflix and the rest are on Adult Swim. If you still don't like it, that's fine. Thank you for trying! Just know that it's out there and that it's an example of how human beings can change and become better people. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick aren't perfect and neither is the Venture Bros, but for what it is it's a damn fun (shockingly so) show.

[medievalandfantasymelee]

The First Round of Contest Has now Concluded.

This Round began with 148 Contenders - Now 74 remain.

All polls in this round (as well as summaries of each day's results) may be found here

The 10 Closest Tilts in the First Round (in Reverse Order) were

10. The Sheriff of Nottingham [Alan Rickman] Def. Kili [Aiden Turner]

9. King Marke of Cornwall [Rufus Sewell] Def. Prince Prospero [Vincent Price]

8. Sir Guy of Gisbourne [Basil Rathbone] Def. Finan [Mark Rowley]

7. Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert [Ciaran Hinds] Def. Robert the Bruce [Chris Pine]

6. Hugh Beringar [Sean Pertwee] Def. Father Beocca [Ian Hart]

5. Bard the Bowman [Luke Evans] Def. Will Scarlet O'Hara [Matthew Porretta]

4. Lin Shu [Hu Ge] Def. Arman [Matvey Lykov]

3. Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck [Dominic Monaghan] Def. Geoffrey Chaucer [Paul Bettany]

2. Saladin [Milind Soman] Def. Jon Snow [Kit Harrington]

1. Rodrigo Borgia [Jeremy Irons] Def. Lord Tywin Lannister [Charles Dance]

And the 10 Tilts with the widest margins of victory were (in reverse order):

10. Inigo Montoya [Mandy Patinkin] Def. Corlys Velaryon [Steve Toussaint]

9. Frodo Baggins [Elijah Wood] Def. Prince Chauncley [Daniel Radcliffe]

8. Aragorn Elessar [Viggo Mortensen] Def. Ahmad [Mahesh Jadu]

7. King Henry II [Peter O'Toole] Def. Thomas Becket [Richard Burton]

6. Thorin Oakenshield [Richard Armitage] Def. King Edward IV [Max Irons]

5. Gawain [Dev Patel] Def. Matrim "Mat" Cauthon [Donal Finn]

4. Éomer, Son of Éomund [Karl Urban] Def. King Arthur [Sean Connery]

3. William Thatcher [Heath Ledger] VS. King Vortigern [Jude Law]

2. Boromir, Son of Denethor [Sean Bean] Def. Alessandro Farnese [Diarmuid Noyes]

1. Faramir, Son of Denethor [David Wenham] Def. Uther Pendragon [Gabriel Byrne]

The Tilt with the most votes (by far) at 5,177 Votes was Geralt of Rivia [Henry Cavill] Vs. Sir Gary Galavant [Joshua Sasse] Which Galavant won with 57.7% of the Vote

It was an exodus of two-by-twos this round with both of our Ewan Mitchells [Aemond Targaryen and Osferth], both of our Henry Cavills [Geralt of Rivia and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk], AND both of our Iain Glens [Ser Jorah Mormont and Prince Hamlet] losing their respective tilts to Erik Thurgilson [Christian Hillborg], Fili [Dean O'Gorman], Galavant [Joshua Sasse], Prince John [Oscar Isaac], "The Player" [Richard Dreyfuss] and Ned Stark [Sean Bean]. Even both of our Laurence Oliviers [Prince Hamlet and Henry V] were sent scurrying to the vents in disgrace, losing their tilts against Cesare Borgia [Francois Arnaud] and Elrond Half-elven [Hugo Weaving].

In fact, nearly of of the men of Middle Earth fared uncommon well in this round, with only three losing their matches. Haldir [Craig Parker] was unable to best the charms of that most magnificent of minstrels, Hubert Hawkins [Danny Kaye]. Kili [Aiden Turner] had a strong start against George, the Sheriff of Nottingham [Alan Rickman], but the race tightened about halfway through, and the Sheriff was able to pull through a stunning last-minute victory. Despite his brutal focus and discipline and grim sense of humor, Uglúk [Nathaniel Lees] suffered a crushing defeat under the cloven hoof of a greater and sexier evil, Darkness [Tim Curry]. The Sons of Denethor, Boromir [Sean Bean] and Faramir [David Wenham] truly dominated their oppositions (Alessandro Farnese [Diarmuid Noyes] and Uther Pendragon [Gabriel Byrne]) and were the only competitors to achieve margins of victory exceeding 90% in this round.

The Men of Westeros did not fare so well. Of their 14 remaining competitors only four now stand:

Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark [Sean Bean]

Ser Bronn of the Blackwater [Jerome Flynn]

Khal Drogo [Jason Momoa]

Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish [Aiden Gillen]

Ser Davos Seaworth [Liam Cunningham]

Ser Jorah Mormont [Iain Glen]

Prince Oberyn Martell [Pedro Pascal]

Ser Criston Cole [Fabien Frankel]

Lord Corlys Velaryon [Steve Toussaint]

Sandor "The Hound" Celgane [Rory McCann]

Jon Snow [Kit Harrington]

Gendry [Joe Dempsie]

Aemond Targaryen [Ewan Mitchell]

Tywin Lannister [Charles Dance]

But what of our Robins and Arthurs?

We began the Round with 3 of Each, but only one of each survived the round.

While Beowulf [Gerard Butler] bested King Arthur [Richard Harris] with a handy but respectful margin of 56.8%, Sean Connery's Arthur was unhorsed by Eomer [Karl Urban] in what can only be termed a crushing defeat, with a margin of 84.4% of the Vote. Only Bradley James's incarnation was able to defeat his opposition, Prince Henry [Dougray Scott], who, though strong contender, proved no match for Arthur's winning smile.

On the Robin side, our last Robin standing, is Cary Elwes, who defeated Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan with a tidy 70.8% margin. Richard Todd's stunningly attractive but lesser known Robin was defeated by the only remaining Son of York, Richard III [Aneurin Barnard], while the iconic Errol Flynn iteration was unhorsed (rather ironically) by one of the most appallingly unjust and underhanded aristocrats in the lists, Adhemar, Count of Anjou [Rufus Sewell]. We can neither confirm nor deny allegations made against the Count of cheating, nor the veracity of the rumours circulating that the Count's rather costly saddle was stolen from his tent at the end of the day while Adhemar was enjoying a flagon of wine with fellow victors Sir Guy of Gisbourne [Basil Rathbone], Sir Guy of Gisborne [Richard Armitage], the Sheriff of Nottingham [Alan Rickman] and His Royal Highness Prince John [Oscar Isaac].

Our third Sir Guy [Michael Wincott] did not join them, as he rather unfortunately lost his match against Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe [Anthony Andrews] and, after a rather unpleasant exchange with his cousin the Sheriff, preferred to drink in the company of a different, more polite Sheriff [Peter Cushing] (who also lost his match against the Hound [Rory McCann]) and his friend Prince Prospero [Vincent Price].)

But I am sure some of your are curious as to how the Master of Revels' list of Secret Favourites is faring. Well, I can tell you, it sustained some heavy losses this round, though a still rather healthy 34 remain in the competition. Aye, but at what cost?

[thecomicsnexus]

TMNT: 40TH ANNIVERSARY COMICS CELEBRATION

July 2024

By Kevin Eastman, Edgar Alan Poe, Jim Lawson, Tristan Jones, Gary Carlson, Chris Allan, Erik Burnham, Lloyd Goldfine, Ciro Nieli, Andy Suriano, Tom Waltz, Ronda Pattison , Tom Napolitano, Steve Lavigne, Paul Harmon, Frank Fosco, Adam Guzowski, Sarah Myer, Luis Antonio Delgado, Shawn Lee, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Michael Dialynas, Pablo Tunica, Freddie E. Williams II, David Petersen, Ken Mitchroney, Aaron Hazouri, Dan Duncan, Sophie Campbell, Jodi Nishijima, Stan Sakai, and Emi Fujii.

Come and enjoy stories that will remind you of the 40 years of turtle history.

SCORE: 10 *

* Assuming you are familiar with these iterations.

This is a strange read, and curiously, there are three or four highlights for me, and they are not exactly the ones you would imagine.

Spoilers after the break...

The first story by Kevin Eastman is in the Mirage section of the book but... well... I'll leave at that... I wouldn't call it the Mirage we knew.

There is a story by Lawson and Lavigne with the Rat King that... it's fun. But, you know... I wouldn't even try to fit it in canon... the amount of continuity physics you need to bend to place this story is not worth the time. Just enjoy as a new story by these two iconic Mirage artists.

This other story by Tristan H. Jones and Paul Harmon requires more analysis. I'll revisit it on my gang wars video and try to give it more context... but unfortunately... it's just too vague. All I can say for sure is that it happens in the future of that incomplete saga, but the narrator just takes too many artistic choices to be taken at face value.

Also... I believe this is the first official (frontal) appearance of Agent Bishop (unless I got the character wrong, but Jones already tried to introduce him in this saga). I think he is still holding on to it, and I really hope he gets to tell his story. I wouldn't mind a mini-series... just saying!

The Volume 3 story was... not for me. The dialogue alone felt tired.

The Archie adventure was short, eventful, and funny... and it looks amazing too!

In just four pages a new character was introduced and... a new love story was implied! And it's not just a gratuitous cameo... this is a funny sequence.

The Saturday Morning Adventures (the de facto 87 story) looks amazing as usual, but I didn't find the story that interesting. However, it started a theme that would run across most of the stories in this special after this one: Master Splinter.

The 2003 story is a... loose canon?

Hun is Slash, and Shredder is back... so make of that what you want. All I'm going to say is that this felt a lot like watching the beginning of a 2003 episode, with the narration setting the tone.

The 2012 story was one of the least interesting in the previews, but I have to say... it was probably one of the best. It brought back a villain and it technically serves as an excuse to continue the series?

But to me the best thing about the story is the art. I am surprised Ciro Nieli didn't do more comic book work for the Turtles all these years. In fact, if they somehow decided to continue the 2012 universe in 2D in this style... I'm all in. Well, who am I kidding... I would be in anyway... but this looks amazing.

Andy Suriano did probably the most interesting story in the book. Now, I am not sure if his style doesn't translate well to static panels or what the problem is with the comic format... but it doesn't matter... this small story brought in a lot of things that ended on the editing floor after the show's second season was reduced to a few more episodes. There was a rumor about a female turtle, and not only it is here in all its glory, but there is also a brother?

And come on... it's so Lou Jitsu to die with a cliffhanger.

There are two IDW stories. One is another Splinter story, but the other one is perhaps one of the best in this book.

The Ronda Pattison story takes place just before the Armageddon game, and it shows the five turtles in full sibling dynamic (even Jennika). It was refreshing to see these turtles having fun for a change.

There are no stories by the new team, but... well... that's just starting.

[femmehysteria]

Best Character Named X Poll

FOLLOW @best-character-named-x-poll

I'm doing a series of "Best Character Named X" polls where all the characters have the same first name but are from completely different media, feel free to send in name/charcacter suggestions, I'm posting one poll a day. New polls scheduled for 1:30PM GMT everyday.

ask box closed for now

WILL BE POSTING POLLS ON @best-character-named-x-poll FROM FEB 1ST

If your favourite character is not included in the poll very sorry i have either never heard of them or actively chose not to include them as theres only 6 characters per poll. Characters will only count of that is their first name, surnames do not count.

Round 85: David

Round 86: Tiffany

Round 87: Charlie

Round 88: Sandy

Round 89: Cody

Round 90: Amanda

Round 91: Jeremy

Past Polls and Poll Ideas under the cut

Names that I have a complete list for*

Caroline, Tyler, Louis, Leonard, Rebecca, Steve, Nicole, Isabelle, Victoria, Katherine, Jade, Alex, Sophie, Greg, Jake, Ellie, Isaac, Robin, Tony, Annie, Lisa, Margaret, Oliver, Clark, Kara, Phoebe, Emma, Ruby, Bart, Alfie, Beth, Julian, Nancy, Penny, Margaret, Tessa, Erica, Theresa, George, Kevin, Sebastian, Felix, Martin, Michael, Erin, Caleb, Helen, Charlotte, Kyle, Martha, Diana, Elsa, Gary, Zoe, Connor, Colin, Daisy, Eric, Maya, Adam, Andy, Magnus, Alma, Nora, Alice, Spike, Leon, Marcel, Kim, Juno, Sue, Chris, Otto, Donald, Daphne, Kate, Todd, Ned, Ken, Angel, Judy, Jo, Hazel, Naomi, Diego, Miranda, Joel, Lila, Duncan, Dexter, Meredith, Pearl, Lily, Malcolm, Napolean, Joan, Nico, Jamie, Nadia, Velma, Jill, Kiera, Rory, Evan, Tam, Klaus, Neil, Derek, Michelle, Luna, Laila, Cordelia, Zack, Imogen, Felicity, Cindy, Alicia, Kelly, Alan, April, Astrid, Delilah, Jodie, Claudia, Juliet, Karen, Jonas, Milo, Celia, Hannah, Joy, Ethan, Katya, Aria, Atticus, Ian, Cynthia, Faye, Frank, Boo, River, Corey, Gabrielle, Minerva, Ebony, Zia, Beverly, Rudy, Georgina

Names I have an incomplete list for (welcome to send character suggestions)

Richter, Sean, Troy, Cain, Agatha, Warren, Percy, Reggie, Mina, Ryan, Felicia, Dylan, Josh, Shirley, Debbie, Jared, June, Mabel, Ray, Chad, Moe, Hugh, Fearne, Christine, Joe, August, May, Scarlet, Alana, Leela, Manny, Dean, Francis, Mason, Oscar, Quinn, Guy, Ulrich, Wally, Yasmin, Tobias, Woody, Sabrina, Quentin, Margot, Alina, Matilda, Freya, Kendra, Angus, Ophelia, Leisel, Zelda, Adora, Piper, Scarlet, Sheila, Valentine, Laurie, Laurel, Fitz, Violet, Gabriel, Ford, Artemis, Owen, Bianca, Newton, Summer, Darcy, Noah, Taylor, Miriam, Hugh, Aurora, Hank, Henry, Dawn, Delia, Cosmo, Wanda, Zeke, Cecil, Aiden, Calvin, Ayesha, Beatrice, Parker, Chase, Hunter, Tina, Misty, Amaya, Amara, Harvey, Talia, Tatiana, Tanya, Orion, Eugene, Kit, Bo, Duke, Blue, Cameron, Rudolf, Mara, Marianne, Carl

Feel free to send more suggestions

*subject to change, you can still submit a character if there is no strikethrough if you think theres a character that its an absolute crime i dont add. Please don't suggest anything for the names with a strikethrough as they are polls that are already in my queue waiting to be published.

Past Polls

Round 1: Peter : WINNER: Peter Parker (Spider-Man)

Round 2: Elizabeth : WINNER: Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Round 3: Jason : WINNER: Jason Mendoza (The Good Place)

Round 4: Eve : WINNER: EVE (WALL-E)

Round 5: Fred : WINNER: Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo)

Round 6: Rachel : WINNER: Rachel (Animorphs)

Round 7: Arthur : WINNER: Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Round 8: Amy : WINNER: Amy Pond (Doctor Who)

Round 9: Tom : WINNER: Tom (Tom and Jerry)

Round 10: Claire : WINNER: Clare Devlin (Derry Girls)

Round 11: James : WINNER: James (Pokemon)

Round 12: Max : WINNER: Max (Black Sails)

Round 13: Simon : WINNER: Simon Belmont (Castlevania)

Round 14: Jane : WINNER: Jane Crocker (Homestuck)

Round 15: Victor : WINNER: Victor Nikiforov (Yuri On Ice)

Round 16: Mary : WINNER: Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)

Round 17: Will : WINNER: Will Graham (Hannibal)

Round 18: Laura : WINNER: Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Round 19: Ben : WINNER: Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (Star Wars)

Round 20: Chloe : WINNER: Chloe Price (Life Is Strange)

Round 21: John : WINNER: Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)

Round 22: Lydia : WINNER: Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice)

Round 23: Mark : WINNER: Marc Spector (Moon Knight)

Round 24: Jess : WINNER: Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)

Round 25: Theo : WINNER: Theobald Gumbar (Dimension 20: A Crown Of Candy)

Round 26: Sarah: WINNER: Sarah Jane Smith (Doctor Who)

Round 27: Richard : WINNER: Richard Gansey III (The Raven Cycle)

Round 28: Cass : WINNER: Cassandra Cain (Batman)

Round 29: Edward : WINNER: Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Round 30: Carm : WINNER: Carmen Sandiego (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?)

Round 31: Hal : WINNER: HAL9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Round 32: Sid : WINNER: Sydney Adamu (The Bear)

Round 33: Jack : WINNER: Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)

Round 34: Stephanie : WINNER: Stephanie Brown (Batman)

Round 35: Ash : WINNER: Ash Ketchum (Pokemon)

Round 36: Veronica : WINNER: Veronica Sawyer (Heathers)

Round 37: Kurt : WINNER: Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler (X-Men)

Round 38: Eleanor : WINNER: Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)

Round 39: Nathan : WINNER: Nathan Young (Misfits)

Round 40: Fiona : WINNER: Princess Fiona (Shrek)

Round 41: Gale : WINNER: Gayle Waters-Waters (Chris Fleming)

Round 42: Barbara : WINNER: Barbara Millicent Roberts aka Barbie (Barbie)

Round 43: Sam : WINNER: Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)

Round 44: Grace : WINNER: Grace Chastity (Nerdy Prudes Must Die)

Round 45: Barry : WINNER: Barry Bluejeans (The Adventure Zone)

Round 46: Raven : WINNER: Raven (Teen Titans)

Round 47: Dan : WINNER: Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom)

Round 48: Mia : WINNER: Mia Fey (Ace Attorney)

Round 49: Matt : WINNER: Matt Murdock (Daredevil)

Round 50: Rose : WINNER: Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)

Round 51: Robert : WINNER: Robbie Rotten (LazyTown)

Round 52: Lola : WINNER: Lola Bunny (Space Jam)

Round 53: Scott : WINNER: Scott Summers aka Cyclops (X-Men)

Round 54: Olivia : WINNER: Olivia Octavious (Spiderverse)

Round 55: Finn : WINNER: Finn the Human (Adventure Time)

Round 56: Emily : WINNER: Emily Charlton (The Devil Wears Prada)

Round 57: Elliot : WINNER: Eliot Spencer (Leverage)

Round 58: Sonia : WINNER: Sonia (Pokemon)

Round 59: Gideon : WINNER: Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)

Round 60: Jen : WINNER: Jennifer Check (Jennifer's Body)

Round 61: Miles : WINNER: Miles Morales (Spider-Man)

Round 62: Lana : WINNER: Lana Skye (Ace Attorney)

Round 63: Spencer : WINNER: Spencer Shay (iCarly)

Round 64: Tracy : WINNER: Tracy Turnbald (Hairspray!)

Round 65: Luke : WINNER: Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)

Round 66: Natalie : WINNER: Natalie Scatorccio (Yellowjackets)

Round 67: Harry : WINNER: Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium)

Round 68: Lucy : WINNER: Lucy van Pelt (Peanuts)

Round 69: Damian : WINNER: Damian Wayne (Batman)

Round 70: Tabitha : WINNER: Tabitha Casper (Dan and Phil Games: Sims 4)

Round 71: Nick : WINNER: Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)

Round 72: Gwen : WINNER: Guinevere (Merlin)

Round 73: Paul : WINNER: Paulette Bonafonte (Legally Blonde)

Round 74: Abigail : WINNER: Abigail Hobbs (Hannibal)

Round 75: Jordan : WINNER: Jordan Baker (The Great Gatsby)

Round 76: Donna : WINNER: Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Round 77: Morgan : WINNER: Morgana (Merlin)

Round 78: Allison : WINNER: Alison Cooper (BBC Ghosts)

Round 79: Patrick : WINNER: Patrick Star (Spongebob Squarepants)

Round 80: Linda : WINNER: Linda Belcher (Bob's Burgers)

Round 81: Philip : WINNER: Philip J. Fry (Futurama)

Round 82: Clarisse : WINNER: Clarisse La Rue (Percy Jackson)

Round 83: Jeff

Round 84: Maria

[apomaro-mellow]

Got inspired by this

Steve regretted laughing. Which is something he never thought he'd feel. But as he cackled at something Robin said, he saw the look on Dustin's face and wished he could take the laugh back. Robin went to go and show a customer something and Dustin slid over to him.

"Remind me again how she isn't 'the one'?"

"She's a one. One of a kind. The kind I don't wanna lose by asking her out."

"Whatever happened to the Harrington charm?", Dustin asked.

"Doesn't work on girls like Robin." Steve ignored him by trying to escape to the backroom. Of course Dustin followed, employees only be damned.

"I don't even think you've tried. Which confuses me. But what's got me even more confused is how you've seemed to stop trying altogether."

"Why are you so invested in my love life, huh?"

"Ew, gross", Dustin winced. "I'm not invested. I'm just tired of hearing you whine about never finding love-"

"I don't whine!"

"SO just ask her out already. Even if she says no, you can still be friends. Like Jonathan and Nancy."

Steve rolled his eyes. Then saw a lightbulb go off in Dustin's head.

"Well since Nancy's single again-"

"I'm gay!"

For the first time ever Dustin shut his trap. Steve thought he should get a trophy for this. Except he realized what he just said. Dustin, with all the grace of someone who had just been blindsided, hugged Steve tight.

"I'm...I'm here for you, man."

It was so sweet that it made Steve feel like shit. But only a little. Because now Dustin couldn't keep trying to matchmake him and Robin. Or Nancy.

Turns out the love boat only stopped for a couple days.

Steve was hanging out in his room when he heard footsteps approach. Dustin came in without a single knock.

"Um, hello? How did you get in?"

"Some lady let me in."

Steve raised a brow. "You mean my mom?"

Dustin shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, what about Gary?"

"....Who? For what?"

"Gary? He works at the art supply store. He's gay, why not him?"

Steve shot up and shut his door like a zombie was coming. "What the fuck are you talking about Henderson?!", he hissed quietly.

"Gay people deserve love too, Steve. So how about it?"

Steve rubbed his face. Forget about how Dustin knew about some random dude's sexuality, apparently he wasn't one to be deterred.

"You can't just set me up with any guy. Or any gay guy."

"You've slept around with just any girl? Why are guys different? Seems pretty discriminatory Steve."

He wanted to strangle this kid. More than that though, he wanted to go back and slap his past self. He could have said anything. Said he was into old ladies-no, then Dustin would be sending him on blind dates to the senior center.

It felt like the only thing to get Dustin off his case would be if he was in a serious relationship with someone.

Then a second person came into his room without knocking and Steve wondered if he should be walking around naked more.

It was Jonathan.

And Steve got another bright idea.

"I can't just go out with anyone. Because I'm already dating Jonathan."

"What?!", two voices shouted out and Dustin gave Jon a look.

"Why do you sound surprised?"

Jonathan looked to Steve for help and Steve tried to convey the best he could with his eyes.

"I...we never....put a label on it....?"

Steve could kiss him if he was at all interested in men. To sell it a little better, he put an arm around his shoulders. Dustin was left speechless for the second time in a week and Steve was definitely putting it in his journal for posterity.

This time he gave them both pats on the back and walked out silently.

"Don't tell anyone!", Steve shouted behind him, then closed his bedroom door.

"Hey, um, the hell?", Jonathan asked.

"Thank you for being so cool with that."

"I'm learning to be more chill. But still, explain?"

Steve told him the whole story as they sat on his bed and through it all, Jonathan looked nothing but understanding.

"So, how long do we need to pretend to be boyfriends?"

"Who says we need to pretend?", Steve raised a brow.

"You just told Dustin."

"It's a secret we're keeping", Steve said, getting up to pace about his room. "Which means we just act normal. Later we can tell Dustin we broke up."

"How much later?"

Steve pondered. "....Once I'm engaged?"

"Steve!"

"Jonathan, please?"

He looked conflicted. This just seemed like a lot of stupid work just to convince Dustin. "You get 2 months? Got it? Put it on your calendar."

"Thank you! I'll do it right now!" Steve grabbed a pen and went over to the calendar that hung on the wall. He went to February 3rd and put a broken heart on the date.

"Subtle."

"No one else looks at this thing. Alright. If our break up is bad enough maybe Dustin will stop butting his head in."

"What if the others find out?", Jonathan asked.

"No one else is gonna know."

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

Lucas had been noticing that Dustin had that weird grin on his face for the past week. The 'I know something you don't know' grin. While sitting in Steve's living room, shoulder to shoulder with Max, who he nudged.

"You notice anything off with Dustin?"

"You mean more than the usual offness? Yes, actually."

"What do you think it is?", Lucas asked.

Will came to sit on Lucas' other side. "My guess is he has a secret. But what, I don't know."

"So it's pretty obvious, right?", Lucas said.

"No, I said as much to Mike and he said I was being crazy and that Dustin wouldn't keep anymore secrets after Dart."

Their eyes went over to Dustin, who was grinning at the group who was deciding on the movie they were gonna watch. Steve and Eddie were in a heated conversation while Jonathan was trying to be a mediator.

Steve was flapping around a vhs so hard it threatened to sail across the room and Jonathan grabbed his wrist to still it, scared for the innocent movie.

"Get a room, you lovebirds", Dustin called out.

All eyes turned towards him.

Part 2

[artiststarme]

The Kids Grovel for Steve's Forgiveness

Part 3 of the "The Party Forgets Steve's Birthday" fic! I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

There was something off with Steve and Eddie lately but Dustin couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was. They’d both been distant for the past few weeks for unknown reasons. Steve hadn’t been answering any of the Party’s phone calls and he’d refused to drive any of them anywhere. The times he did interact with them, Eddie would swoop in and take him elsewhere. He was acting as a blockade of sorts, preventing any member of the Party besides himself from getting close to Steve. The last time any of the kids had spoken to him uninterrupted was weeks ago when Steve refused to let them rent a rated R movie and if anything, the kids should be mad at him, not the other way around.  

Perhaps most concerning about the whole situation was how Eddie was postponing sessions for the campaign. He’d canceled Hellfire club two weeks in a row, an action he once called “blasphemous and unjust”. Everyone was really worried about his change of heart and Dustin was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Everything came to a head at Friday’s session, the first one in weeks that Eddie hadn’t tried to postpone. He was unnecessarily brutal at this session and was doing his darndest to kill everyone like some sort of fantasy nerd serial killer. The session was supposed to continue from where they were recuperating at an inn in a small village and all of the boys were looking forward to some light humor in these confusing times. What no one was expecting was for the evil gorgons and their tamed serpents to attack the town in an effort to kill their group in an act of revenge. 

They were supposed to be having a fun time playing a campaign for DnD but Eddie seemed more malicious, more hostile than usual. Only two hours in and half the Party was dead, the rest low on hit points, right on the verge of death. 

“Okay, what the hell?” Dustin shouted as Gary the Great turned to stone after being caught in a fire and cornered by a gorgon.

“What?” Eddie asked him, his expression a careful mask of neutrality. 

“What’s your problem? We ended the last session safe at an inn, what the hell is this?” The other guys nodded their agreement with his outburst. No one was expecting to get their favorite characters murdered so ruthlessly, at least not so soon in the session. 

“The inn burned down and the town is under attack by merciless gorgons. That’s not my fault,” Eddie told them all. 

“Yes it is, you literally wrote this! This session was supposed to last ten hours. We’re two hours in and most of us are dead! Why are you doing this?” Dustin’s voice was embarrassingly shrill but it got his point across just fine. 

“It’s not my fault your strategy sucks, Henderson! Maybe you should try a little harder to stay alive!” Eddie yelled back.  

Will piped up then, “we should ask Steve for help, he’s good at strategy!”

“You will not! Do not bother Steve,” Eddie pointed at him. 

“Why are you being so neurotic today? And why are you gatekeeping Steve? We want answers!” Dustin yelled again. The other kids voiced their agreement as well. 

They heard a crash in the Munson kitchen and everyone jerked to look at Lucas standing in the doorway. He held up a small Polaroid picture dated from a few weeks ago with a small ‘Happy Birthday, Stevie-poo! I love you’ written in the corner. “What is this?”

Mike scoffed, “who cares about Steve right now? I want to know why Eddie’s been so weird lately.”

His comment must’ve thrown Eddie over the edge because he jumped up from his seat and started screaming at them. “You fuckers forgot his birthday! Steve’s been your friend for at least three years and you’ve never even done as much as tell him happy birthday! So now he’s hurt because he doesn't think you guys care and I think you’re all jackasses that shouldn’t get to be around him anyways! Nice going assholes, you pissed us both off.”

Jeff, Grant, and Gareth looked around the room before standing up from their spots on the couch. Jeff awkwardly clapped his hands and started moving towards the door. “Well guys, there seems to be some friction today so we’re just going to head out for now. We should probably just pick this up next week, that way we have plenty of time to make new characters.”

Eddie nodded at him before sneering at the rest of the Party. “That’s a good idea, Jeff. The rest of you can get the hell out.”

Then he dramatically whirled around and stormed into his room, slamming his bedroom door behind him. Jeff, Grant, and Gareth shook their heads at the kids before leaving, which left Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will to consider the gravity of what they’d done. None of them had ever even thought about Steve’s birthday, it had never come up in conversation and they’d never noticed a lack of celebration. Dustin felt particularly guilty as he picked up the DnD table in the Munson living room. Steve was practically his brother, he of all people should’ve known his birthday. 

Nearly twenty minutes later, they heard the bedroom door down the hallway open and paused in their ministrations. Eddie was either coming out to apologize to them or to yell at them some more and while they were all nervous, they were prepared for either option. They deserved it. But to their utter shock, it wasn’t Eddie that came out. No, instead it was a sleep-rumpled Steve, shirtless, with glasses on and his usually immaculate hair in disarray.

He squinted his eyes at them in confusion before making a double take. “What the- what are you guys still doing here?”

“Steve! What are you doing in Eddie’s room and why are you shirtless?” Lucas asked him. 

“Uh, I was taking a nap.”

“In Eddie’s bed? Why wouldn’t you just sleep at your own house?” Mike sneered at him.

“What’s with the interrogation?! Stop asking questions you don’t want the answers to and let me live!” Steve yelled at them.

So Steve was still mad. But now, Dustin understood why. “Steve, we’re so sorry! We didn’t know it was your birthday so we know why you’re mad and we don’t blame you. But-”

“Dustin, I’m not mad, I’m disappointed,” he said. Oh shit, that was worse! “But it’s fine. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up, that’s on me.”

“Steve, we should’ve done something and we’re sorry. You’re one of our best friends and we’ll do better,” Lucas told him. He patted his bare shoulder to emphasize his point. 

Mike nodded at his words but said nothing in further agreement. Dustin felt awful. After everything Steve had done for them, they’d forgotten his birthday. And then he had the nerve to say it was his fault?! What was wrong with this guy?

“Steve, you didn’t deserve that. We’ll make it up to you somehow. We’ll wash your car and bring you lunch when you work, and we’ll never forget another one of your birthdays, we promise.” He promised him earnestly.

Steve pulled him into a hug and messed up his hair despite his squawk of outrage. “I forgive you guys. Really, it’s not a big deal. I haven’t celebrated my birthday in years so it’s fine.”

“You will not forgive them!” Eddie stormed down the hallway to pull Dustin out of Steve’s embrace. He wrapped his own arms around his… Steve, and pointed an accusing finger at them. “He’s not just going to drop his hurt feelings to make you assholes feel better. You bitches better grovel if you want Steve and I to forgive you. Now scram, why are you still here?”

~*~*~*~

For the next two weeks, the kids made it their mission to prove to Steve how much he meant to them. Eddie told them to grovel and grovel they did. 

Dustin brought him a homemade lunch from his mom to Family Video every shift he worked. He cleaned his car (technically he just bribed Nancy to drive it through the car wash but still, the thought was there). And he taught him how to play DnD so he could join the next campaign with his own character. 

Lucas went over to the Harrington house to clean the pool every week and mowed the lawn while he was over there. Steve looked shocked when he came home to that but Lucas was reasonably sure he was happy. He also played basketball with him at the park and listened to all of Steve’s mostly helpful tips. 

Mike just eased up on the glaring and brought him a Slurpee once. He also made sure to take his anger out on Nancy instead of Steve as he usually did. 

When they told Robin shortly after their odd interaction at Eddie’s, she was horrified. She immediately ditched Vickie to devote all of her time and best friend-ness to Steve as she should’ve done in the first place. She bought him dinner, stole movies to watch at movie nights with him, and bit her tongue when she saw Eddie kiss him in front of her. She would be the best friend she should’ve been initially and wait for Steve to come to her (which he did a few hours later). 

Needless to say, Steve was freaked out for a good month. People were being too nice to him and it was like he slipped into a parallel universe. Everything looked the same and the rest of the town seemed the same but his friends couldn’t be more different. After multiple panic attacks and burnouts, Eddie told the Party to ease up or deal with the consequences. 

What finally got things back to normal was Hopper organizing and hosting a belated birthday celebration at the Hopper-Byers’ house. All of his friends came together to celebrate him turning 20. Eddie obtained another cake from the bakery and decorated it himself, as per usual. This time, he had more room and was able to write a grotesque “BIRTH STEVE, Another year gone”. The adults of the Party were of course horrified at the dripping red frosting of the lettering and the spattering of rainbow sprinkles but Steve had never felt so touched. 

The Party sang him happy birthday in a myriad of too-flat notes and screeches but it was special nonetheless. Especially when Hopper threw an arm around Steve’s shoulder to tell him that it would happen every year. And from that point forward, it did. 

The End

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[strangerqueerthings]

Lifeline

Joyce finds an unconscious Billy Hargrove in her house after getting the Mindflayer out of Will- and her first instinct is to take care of him.

(Also: Why we didn't see much of Neil after S2- Joyce Byers put the fear of MOM into him.) CW for child abuse and Neil Hargrove. On AO3

The scene Joyce comes home to that night would have sent the average single mom into a spiral of panic, but Joyce Byers is anything but the average single mom.

She’s come home to many strange things, the past year bringing even more strange and frankly, terrifying things, so she feels like this isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. In fact, it’s just your garden variety “odd” thing, compared to everything else.

Even the demo-dog falling out of her fridge is almost “normal,” all things considered, but she can’t be bothered to ask why there’s a monster in her fridge.

She has more important things to deal with- like the unconscious boy on her living room floor.

He's about Jonathan's age, a bruise on his jaw, his lip bloody, knuckles raw, and blood dried under his nose. He’s clearly been in a fight- and based on the fact that Joyce can’t find the kids, or Steve Harrington, they were involved somehow.

What makes Joyce concerned, however, is the empty syringe on the floor beside him, and the bruise on his neck.

Two years ago, Joyce would have panicked. She would have called Hopper, or Gary, and Jonathan would have helped her calm down while they got the boy to the hospital.

She’s not that same woman anymore.

Joyce kneels beside the boy and puts her fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. It’s slow, but steady, and his chest is rising and falling rhythmically. He’s fine- mostly- but out cold.

“Jonathan, do you know this boy?” she asks as her eldest comes inside, cradling Will in his arms, Nancy behind him.

“That’s Billy Hargrove,” Jonathan says, frowning. “Why is he here? What happened to him?”

“That’s what I need to know,” Joyce says, peeling off her jacket and bundling it up so she can slide it under Billy’s head to prop it up.

Outside, an engine roars, and headlights rake across the house. There’s a crunch of gravel as a car comes to an abrupt halt, and moments later, the car is shut off, and the sound of many feet coming towards the house is heard.

Joyce gets up, hands on her hips as Will’s friends approach the porch.

“Everyone inside, now,” she orders, her tone leaving no room for argument- even Steve is cowed as he comes inside.

She can see the bruises, the swelling, the cuts all over his face, and it’s obvious who Billy got in a fight with- and who lost that fight.

But how did Billy end up knocked out on her floor? And why was he even here?

“Everyone is going to explain this, right now,” she says, pointing at Billy, then at the car.

They all clamor to explain at the same time, and it’s a blur of words. Billy going nuts, beating the shit out of Steve, threatening Lucas, Max’s brother, then the syringe, and something about a baseball bat with nails being smacked into her floor-

“Enough!”

Everyone stops as Hopper and El enter the house, Hopper bellowing out the word to silence the chaos of too many explanations at once. Hopper points at Steve.

“You first.”

As Steve recounts the events of the evening after Hopper had left with El to shut the Gate, Billy moans and stirs. His eyes flutter open, and he tries to sit up. His eyes are unfocused, blurry, then fall on Joyce and Hopper.

“Shit.”

The way his face drains of blood, his expression going completely dead, the way he won’t look either of them in the eye all send alarms going off in Joyce’s head.

“Hey,” Joyce says, kneeling beside him. Her voice is soft, careful.

“It’s okay. No one’s in trouble, here. We just want to know what happened.”

“He beat the shit out of Steve, is what happened,” Mike interjects. “He would have killed him if Max hadn’t drugged him!”

Billy’s expression doesn’t change, but his left eye twitches ever so slightly, his hard, dead eyes falling on Steve.

“I had every right,” he manages, his speech still a bit slurred. “The fuck were you doing with my step-sister, Harrington?”

Joyce glances at Steve, who still manages to look affronted, despite the severe beating he took.

“I wasn’t doing anything!”

“Max runs away through her window, and I have to go looking all over town for her, only to finally find her here, near the lab where people say weird shit happens, it’s dark, there’s all these weird ass drawings and polaroid tapes all over the place, there’s no adults, and you flat out lie to me that she’s not here? What the fuck did you expect me to think, Harrington? And then I get drugged, and it’s-“

Billy stops his rant, glancing at his watch, and his face pales even further- something Joyce didn’t think was possible.

“It’s two in the morning, do you know how much shit I’m gonna be in when I finally get home?”

The way his voice trembles at the end is soft, barely noticeable, but Joyce knows that sound when she hears it- and so does Hopper. They look at each other, and Hopper nods.

“You’re not going home, kid,” Hopper says gently. “We need to get you to the hospital. You might have a concussion.”

Billy is so pale now that he looks like he might faint, and his eyes are glittering with unshed tears of panic.

“I can’t,” he says softly. “I gotta get Max home…”

Hopper shoots a sidelong glance at Steve.

“I’m sure you don’t want to be brought to the station instead, but if you agree to go to the hospital, we can avoid that, or any charges.”

Steve and Billy glare at each other, an unspoken argument sparking between them as they wait for one of them to make a challenge. It’s Steve who looks away first, shrugging.

“No, I don’t want to deal with going to the station. My old man would be pissed as hell if I was brought up on charges for fighting again.”

The look he and Jonathan exchange says it all.

“Come on, sweetie,” Joyce says, holding out her hand to Billy. “Let’s get you to the hospital and make sure you’re okay.”

The way Billy shies away from her hand, flinching like she’s about to slap him, then the way his eyes look from her hand to her face, like a kicked puppy that isn’t sure if the hand is a threat or not breaks her heart.

“It’s okay,” she says softly, just loud enough to where only he can hear. “I want to help you.”

He still doesn’t take her hand. He shifts his legs and stands up on his own, wobbling and swaying a bit as the floor spins under his feet. Joyce slides an arm around his waist, steadying him.

“Come on,” she says kindly, and leads him outside to the vehicles.

“My car,” he manages, sounding upset.

There’s a dent in the front driver’s side above the wheel well where Max had hit a mailbox. Billy looks devastated.

“What happened to my car?”

“Easy, Billy,” Joyce soothes him. “We’ll take care of it, I promise, but for now, we need to get you to the hospital.”

Billy is quiet, withdrawn, as he’s helped into the back of Joyce’s car. Max gets in beside him, and he refuses to look at her, closing his eyes and dozing in and out the entire way there as the drug works its way out of his system.

The ER is bright, clean, and it makes Billy’s head ache. The sounds of monitors beeping, the buzz of doctors and patients alike all make him want to scream. In the curtained partition beside him, Steve is having his wounds cared for, and on the other side, Will is being examined for who-knows-what, but Billy saw how pale, sweaty and beat up the kid looked, and Billy wishes he could sneak out while Will is getting the medical attention he needs.

Billy doesn’t need anything except to go home before it’s too late.

Joyce flits between Will and Billy’s partitions. She soothes Billy that it’s going to be okay, Hopper is taking care of it, and no one will get in trouble. He wants to believe her, but he can’t.

Joyce sees the haunted look in his eyes, the way the panic in his face is slowly increasing with each minute they’re there in the ER. She sees the way he keeps looking at his watch, the way he’s fidgeting and fussing, restless and nervous.

When the nurses take off his shirt to put him in a hospital gown, Joyce feels her blood boil, her concern exploding into outrage.

The Hargrove boy’s back is a mess of bruises of varying shades and colors, and scars of different ages ranging from years old to possibly only a few months.

Hopper gets a glimpse of the boy’s back when Joyce yanks hard on his arm, motioning silently in Billy’s direction, and his jaw sets firmly. He knows what likely caused those scars. He’s seen it enough to know, and the panicked look on Billy’s face just confirms it.

He knows why Billy is so desperate to get home, while being absolutely terrified to at the same time.

When Neil Hargrove shows up, Hopper has every intention of pulling the man aside, to talk to him, but Joyce, as is her wont to do when her maternal instincts are riled up, beats him to it.

“I’m here to collect my son,” Neil is saying to a nurse when Joyce is immediately in his face.

“So you’re the bastard who’s made his own kids scared of him? What, are you going to take him home and beat him with a belt again?”

Neil recoils.

“And who the hell are you?”

Hopper steps between them.

“I’m the Chief of police, can I have a word, Mister Hargrove?”

“What did William do this time?” Neil all but snarls.

“Your son had a car accident. A deer leapt in front of the car,” Hopper says, the lie coming out as smooth as butter.

Between Owens, the lab, El, and Murray, he’s gotten a lot of practice lying to people.

“Thing is, he swerved- he side swiped a tree, but it would have been a lot worse if he hadn’t. Might have had casualties. He would have gone straight off the edge into the quarry if he hadn’t. Even in a situation like that, he’s got great control of his car. Rather impressive, really.”

“By the quarry?” Neil asks in disbelief. “He was supposed to be finding his sister.”

Hopper lifts a brow.

“Kids her age go hang out by the quarry. Good place to stargaze at night. No harm in it.”

Neil catches a glimpse of Billy through the curtains, and Billy flinches, pressing back into the pillows to get out of view. Neil scowls.

“And he got into a fight, it looks like.”

“Max had an older kid with the group watching over them. Your son misunderstood the situation and was defending her. The other boy isn’t pressing charges, by the way.”

“So let me get this straight,” Neil says. “He finds his sister, thinks a boy his age is being inappropriate, beats him up, tries to take her home, and nearly wrecks because of a deer… and you somehow show up and bring him to the hospital?”

Joyce is trembling with rage beside Hopper, and she finally speaks up.

“My son was out there, too,” she says heatedly. “Jonathan was the one who went and got Hopper when he went to pick Will up and saw the wreck.”

“My question is,” Hopper cuts in. “Why was your son driving so recklessly in order to get home? Why is he afraid to even look at you right now? And how did he get all those bruises and scars on his back?”

Neil doesn’t have an answer as Hopper stares him down, and Joyce is glaring at him with an unbridled fury that has him taken aback.

“He knows his place- he has respect and responsibility, and he knows it’s meant to be upheld,” is all Neil can think to say.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” Joyce spits. “When I told him we needed to take him to the hospital, he panicked. He was scared to go to a hospital, even though he’d been in a car accident, because he’s scared of you.”

Joyce is a tiny woman, but Hopper swears she was ten feet tall right then, for how small Neil Hargrove looked in the face of her fury.

“You don’t have anything to take me in for,” Neil says softly. “Billy’s a klutz and a daredevil, always has been. Just ask anyone who knows him, they’ll tell you he’s a reckless driver, or how he used to cut himself up on rocks when he surfed.”

“Look, Mister Hargrove. Both kids need to be cleared from the hospital. It’s late- or early, as it were. Go home. We’ve got it under control, and we’ll call you when the doc says they can go,” Hopper says.

Neil smiles, a cold, sickly expression that makes the contents of Joyce’s stomach curdle.

“They’re my children,” Neil replies. “As such, I have the authority to take them home if I deem it necessary.”

“Not if I suspect child abuse and want to make a report,” Hopper says coldly, dropping his casual affect and going into Chief-of-Police Mode. “Then by all means, we can go to the station and take your statement, make it a matter of record for CPS.”

“I’m their father-“

“You’re not a father, you’re a bully, a monster, and I don’t know if anyone told you this yet, but in Hawkins, we don’t tolerate monsters of any kind,” Joyce cuts in.

The dead demo-dog in her fridge was proof of that.

Hopper folds his arms over his chest.

“Go home, Mister Hargrove. We’ll call you.”

Neil deflates, defeated, but Hopper suspects this won’t stop him. If anything, it’ll be worse when the kids are released. At least for Billy, it will.

“You made things worse,” Billy says when Hopper comes back around the curtain. “He’s only going to tighten the leash now.”

Joyce sits beside him. Normally, she would feel guilty, giving so much attention to a boy she barely knows, when her own son has been through a terrible ordeal, but Will is asleep, sedated, and for now, all she can do for Will is wait with him until Owens and his team come to handle the details the civilian doctors aren’t privy to.

For now, she can at least give this poor boy some reassurance.

“Listen,” she says, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket, and grabbing a pen from the clipboard at the foot of Billy’s bed. “Here’s my number. If anything happens to you, and you need a safe place to go, you call me, okay?”

“I…”

“Put my number on there, too, Joyce,” Hopper adds. “If he hurts you, or your sister, you call me, and I’ll drag him to the station.”

Joyce hands him the piece of paper, and Billy stares at it.

“He won’t hurt Max,” he says quietly. “It’s always my fault, so it’s always my punishment.”

“If he hurts you, you call me,” Hopper says again, insistently.

Billy folds the paper over and over into a tiny little square, and tucks it into the very corner of his wallet, making it as unnoticeable as possible.

“Thank you,” he says, unable to look at either of them.

“I mean it,” Joyce says. “We don’t tolerate monsters like Neil in Hawkins. You call us if he hurts you, and we’ll handle it.”

Billy nods. It’s clear he doesn’t believe her, but the fact that he took care to hide the number in his wallet says more than his mute nod does. He’s saving it as a lifeline.

“I just want to sleep,” he finally says. “…thank you, for bringing me here and chasing him away.”

Joyce squeezes his shoulder before leaving, and Hopper nods at him, closing the curtain behind him to give Billy some privacy.

Billy lies back into the pillows, staring at the ceiling. His head hurts, his nose burns and still smells like salt and copper, his neck is sore from where Max jabbed him, and his heart is still racing from hearing Neil’s voice.

He knows he’s going to get the full brunt of it sooner or later- once Neil thinks that Hopper and Joyce won’t be paying attention, or in a different way that doesn’t leave marks, or some other punishment that won’t involve a beating, but will still be just as bad, if not worse.

For now, though, he feels like he might be able to handle it.

There’s a small spark of hope, a tiny lifeline, hidden in his wallet, and maybe, if he can be brave enough, he can use it to keep from drowning.

[ncisfranchise-source]

NCIS: Origins (Oct. 14, CBS)

NCIS fans may have spent 19 seasons getting to know Mark Harmon’s character Leroy Jethro Gibbs, but the version of the special agent they’ll meet in his prequel series NCIS: Origins is very much his own man. Narrated by Harmon, who also serves as an executive producer, Origins shines a spotlight on a young, grieving Gibbs' (Austin Stowell) early days at NIS Camp Pendleton under team leader Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid) after a devastating experience changes his life forever. “The Gibbs that we find in our show — it's not the guy that the fans are used to,” Stowell tells EW. “This is someone who's going through a lot of pain. He's suffered a tremendous tragedy just four months before we pick up this show, and there's a lot of newness in his life. There's lots of firsts going on right now.” —E.T.

NCIS (Oct. 14, CBS)

It’s been six months since Jessica Knight (Katrina Law) accepted the REACT chief job in California, and her departure has since created what showrunner Steve Binder calls a “chain reaction” with the crew: Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) vies for a deputy director position, and Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) returns to his undercover roots. “The team kind of separates, so picture Parker [Gary Cole] walking into the bullpen and the kids aren't home,” says Binder. It’s not long before a case leads Parker out west, though, reuniting him with Jessica — who may or may not be mulling whether she made a mistake for leaving boyfriend Jimmy (Brian Dietzen) behind. “Under the worst circumstances possible will these two have the talk,” quips Binder. All in all, expect heavy hitting episodes filled with romance, “fun and unusual” pairings, and mystery. Like, who the hell is Lily (Sunnie Pelant)? “I wouldn't be so sure that Parker knows who she is either,” teases Binder. “We don't always remember the scars of our youth.” —Jessica Wang

[stevesbipanic]

2 hurt/comfort #Bhits5k

Congratulations on the 5K! You are awesome and deserve it

Thank you <3

2. "What do you want?"/"I want you to choose me!"

Steve was ready to spend Valentine's Day alone this year, well not completely alone, he and Eddie had decided to drink the capitalist holiday away with booze and dumb movies. Robin was supposed to join in too but fate had other plans when Nancy finally asked her out a couple weeks prior. Steve didn't mind though, he was happy for the girls, and he was happy to spend time with Eddie.

The two boys had grown closer after the almost end of the world. Eddie made Steve laugh, a real laugh deep in his gut and with a smile so wide it crinkled at the edges. He never made Steve feel stupid, often explaining quietly things the kids said that he didn't understand. He had held Steve as he cried when he came out, sandwiched between him and Robin.

So no, he wasn't really alone, he was going to be spending the day with Eddie, pushing down the feelings that he would've wanted to spend the day with Eddie for other reasons.

He was working the opening shift, happy couples coming in to rent cheesy romcoms that they'd ignore for the sake of other activities. His and Eddie's movie selection was tucked safely under the desk. Other years he may have been just like them or spending it doing dumb shit with Robin like he had last year. He looked up at the sound of the door's bell jingling, the usual welcome spiel dying on his lips as he sees Eddie come up to the desk.

"Hey, Stevie, bad news about tonight?"

Steve feels the disappointment start to pool in his stomach, "Don't tell me Gary called in sick, you said you got the night off?"

Eddie's face pinches into an awkward expression, "No, no, still got tonight off, um well, I guess it's more good news, I kinda got a date tonight."

The disappointment plummets into dread, "You did?" He tries to cover the shock, forcing a smile onto his face, "That's, that's great, Eds."

Eddie's nervous face brightens, "It is? Oh good, I was worried you'd be upset."

Steve's face softens, his heart taking a backseat, "Course not Eds, I'm happy for you really."

Cause that's how it had always been hadn't it, others before himself. Anything different felt like his King Steve days again. So, Steve watched Eddie go, to go get ready for his date, to go leave Steve behind. The shift stretched longer after that.

When Steve finally got home the pool of dread had seeped into his veins as a deep feeling of loss. He knew it was selfish, that Eddie wasn't his. Steve dumped the bag of tapes on the table, the cruel humor of fate letting the cheesy romcom he'd slipped in there thinking it would be funny to watch with Eddie fall onto the floor.

"Fuck it," Steve said cracking open his first beer of the night and popping in the tape. Steve was crying by the end, an hour in he'd opened his stupid dad's stupid bourbon, beer bottles clattered around on the ground. The credits were rolling and Steve wished he could have a cheesy happy ending too.

He didn't even realise the phone was in his hand and ringing until he heard the Munson's answering machine. The word vomit tumbled out of him.

"I'm not happy for you Eds. I'm not happy because it should've been you and me together tonight, should've been me you were getting all dressed up for, should've been me getting your flowers and should've been me holding your hand while we got fucking takeout and watch our stupid movies that I watch so you do the stupid fucking impressions just to make me laugh and it should've been me that got to kiss you tonight, it should've been me Eds because I want you to choose me."

"Stevie?" Steve had been to wrapped up in his confession to hear the click the phone had made when it had been picked up halfway through. Steve slams the phone back into the receiver in surprise, panic slowly overwhelming him. He'd ruined everything, now Eddie knew and he'd never want to see him again, he'd go off with his new boyfriend and replace Steve. Steve couldn't keep his mouth shut and kept one of his best friends, he'd had to be selfish, he hadn't changed at all.

Steve didn't know how much time had passed, he had sunk to his knees, jamming him his palms into his eyes and sobbing. Gentle hands wrapped themselves around his wrists pulling them slowly from his face as a soft voice soothed him.

"There you are, sweetheart."

"Eddie?" Tears threatened to spring up again.

"Say. Say it again, Stevie, what do you want?"

Maybe it was a tear-induced dream but the answer came easily, "I want you to choose me."

Chapped lips brushed against his as the two boys sunk into each other, when they pulled away Steve squinted in confusion.

"But your date?"

"Cancelled it, had a feeling."

"Want to watch dumb movies with me instead?"

"It's a date, sweetheart."

Prompt List

[prawns-are-cannibals]

Taskmaster Series 17

This was another series I wasn't necessarily a fan of any of the contestants, and I'd only heard of John and Steve (who I was mildly surprised they managed to get for some reason). That being said, they were such a delightful bunch I'm a fan of them now. I had an irrational idea that Joanne would annoy me for some reason, but my god she was joyous. The main joy for me this series however was that they had not one, but two 'useless' people on it. I mean, who doesn't adore Nick and Sophie. Especially as Nick decided it would be a good idea to dress up as Dracula (which will always be my favourite task outfit).

Top three tasks

Create a new tradition to celebrate Assistant's Day.

Honestly, the main reason I love this task is because of Nicks song. It was just so sweet, and probably the nicest anyone has been to Alex in 17 series of the show. I knew he was musical, but he has such a nice voice. Joanne lugging Alex behind her in the buggy whilst he looks mildly awkward mixed with er demanding he make her some lunch was to notch.

Hoopla Gary

Steve saying 'is this Gary?' Whilst pointing at the scare crow was expected somehow. The fact he seemed to get it with one of his first throws was on point for him. Sophie seemed so amazed about a gorilla being on a boat, it was quite sweet. Leaving her till last ("you're going to have to wait, you know what you've done"). The fact that her first hoop went onto a branch, and then starting to hop into the river and quickly failing really endeared me to her. And the flailing shouting 'get me out' was *chefs kiss*. Nick flinging and hoping for the best, which is honestly how I would end up trying to do this task, although i may not have thought to pull him back shamefully. The fact that after a couple of steps into the river, he was suddenly plunged to his waist is brilliant (#Shortpersonproblems). John and Joanne seemed so calm and precise with theirs, which is expected of John maybe.

Find the real task

I think it was the simplicity of this task is why I liked it so much. Sophie not seeing any of the 100 tasks. Her little run to the shed was adorable. I'm so glad she managed to find it so quickly. Joanne's increasing pile of all the tasks before she found the real one was quite hilarious. Honestly it must have been so infuriating to realise what was happening. Was no surprise that she didn't realise the tasks were in the shape of an arrow until the studio. Nick falling out of the door was so funny. Thinking that the letters might correspond with the number of the task down the arrow was logical but in the wrong way. His little "was that good?" Was so cute. Why did I find it mildly infuriating that John and Steve found the arrow straight away? But honestly, how did Nick not clock on that he hadn't pegged that task on??

Contestants

Nick

Sophie

Joanne

Steve

John

Series 16

[diabolus1exmachina]

Plymouth GTX Concept  (1 of 1)

This is the only 1972 Plymouth GTX you’re ever likely to see because it’s the only one that was made. And it wasn’t made by Plymouth, it was made by Gary and Pam Beineke using formerly top secret images from the Chrysler archives. The Plymouth GTX is a muscle car that was produced by the Plymouth division of Chrysler Corporation from 1967 to 1971. It was introduced as a high-performance version of the popular Plymouth Belvedere and was marketed as a “gentleman’s muscle car” with good performance, but with a more luxurious interior and smoother ride than some of its more hard-edged counterparts. When it was introduced the GTX was available in two-door hardtop and convertible body styles and was powered by a 440 cubic inch V8 engine that produced 375 horsepower. It also featured heavy-duty suspension, power brakes, and a floor-mounted four-speed manual transmission as standard equipment.In 1968, the GTX received a facelift and a new optional engine – the legendary 426 cubic inch Hemi V8 that produced 425 horsepower. The Hemi was claimed to be the most powerful engine available in any American production car at the time, and it gave the GTX serious street cred among muscle car enthusiasts.Over the next few years, the GTX continued to evolve with various engine and styling updates. In 1969, the car received a new front-end design and a new optional engine – the 440 Six Pack, which featured three two-barrel carburetors and produced 390 horsepower.In 1970, the GTX received a completely new body style and a revised engine lineup that included the 440 Six Pack and the 426 Hemi, which was now rated at 425 horsepower.

Sadly by the early-1970s it became clear that the muscle car era was coming to an end, and by 1971, rising insurance rates and tightening emissions regulations had taken their toll on the high-performance car market in the United States.

For 1972 the GTX name was relegated to what was essentially only an option package, called the Road Runner GTX. Any Road Runner that was ordered with the 440 V8 received Road Runner GTX badging, and this continued until the model was phased out in 1974, in the dark shadows of the 1973 Oil Crisis.

There were rumors of a potential comeback for the GTX in the late 1990s however a production car never materialized.

The car you see here is the only one of its kind in the world, it’s a 1972 Plymouth GTX but as mentioned further up, it wasn’t actually built by the Chrysler Corporation. Each year the husband and wife team of Gary and Pam Beineke build one car. And not just any car, but a car that previously existed only in the Chrysler archives. They find original drawings and images of planned models that never made it into production, and then they painstakingly build the car themselves. Interestingly this work isn’t their full time job. Gary is an attorney and a registered contractor, and Pam is a registered nurse who works in the operating room. They call the series of cars that they have built “What If’s” – and they do it all on nights and weekends while holding down full time jobs.

The couple first came across the planned 1972 Plymouth GTX when looking over the uncovered archive items discovered by Steve Juliano. This car was designed by John Herlitz and it was far from just a stying exercise, multiple full scale models were made and it did seem for a time as though it would be the successor to the 1971 Plymouth GTX.

Sadly it was not to be. The perfect storm of increasing emissions restrictions and crash safety regulation combined with soaring insurance premiums on muscle cars resulted in demand dropping significantly by the early 1970s.By the time of the 1973 Oil Crisis, with its sky high gasoline prices, automakers were already focusing on smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles. The GTX name did live on for a short time, as part of the aforementioned Road Runner GTX package on 440 V8 equipped cars, but it was killed off as a free standing model after 1971.

Gary and Pam Beineke took it upon themselves to right this wrong. They sourced a 1971 Road Runner and set to work creating the car that Herlitz had designed all those years ago in the late 1960s. They poured over the images of the long destroyed models, and they were able to discuss their work with Herlitz her offered them guidance on what the production ’72 GTX would have looked like.

[sweet-villain]

One Hundred Sleepless Nights~ Steddie

Tags : : @ceriseheaven @josephquinnlover0 @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @stillfalling30minslater @alyisdead @witchy-munson

My Master List is in This Area

Author's Note: This is my first Steddie one shot, please be nice

Your cheeks flushed red as you averted your eyes from your co worker who was working behind the counter. He had his hair pulled back into a low bun with some strands hanging from his face, his eyes focusing on the customer he was ringing up while you were restocking the new albums that came in. You have been working at Red Records for a while now, Gary knew you since you were a little girl always coming in to put the albums you liked first rather than have them in order.

Eddie who has been helping the customer at the moment feels your eyes on him as usual. It's not the first time he's known you've been eyeing him. He doesn't mind, it was cute.

Once the customer left through the doors, Eddie places both his hands on the counter as his eyes fall on you. Your cheeks are hinted red as your eyes were on the records but you've been working on them for the past hour. You should of been done by now but you were too nervous to move from your spot because he might talk to you.

" You okay?" he asks. You clear your throat as you nod shyly. You've spoken to Eddie only a couple of times but mainly you were really shy around him. He was very attractive, the hair, those brown doe eyes, the tattoos on his hands and his arms from where you've seen, the way he laughed and smiled. You were drooling at him and hiding away in the back room sometimes to avoid him.

" Y-yes, I'm good" you nodded as you clear your throat taking the empty box to the back room and folding as you put it away. The door opened to the record store and you hear a male voice as you walk back out. You stop in your tracks noticing he's wearing glasses, his hair is fluffy and he's smiling ear to ear as he talks to Eddie.

" Oh, this is Y/N by the way" Eddie motions to you. Steve turns around to look at you and you feel like your heart could burst out of your chest. He was beautiful. His head titled to the side as he eyes you. Some of your hair covered your eyes so it was harder for Steve to see your eyes and he chuckled seeing the way you played with the ring on your fingers.

" She does the same thing you do" he says to Eddie.

" She's like that, but isn't she a pretty little thing?" he asks.

" She's breath taking" Steve says. " Y/N this is Steve, my partner" he introduces you. Your eyes grew wide as you blink and nodding your head.

" 's lovely to meet you" you shyly say. Steve makes his way over to you as kneel down that he can look you better in the eyes.

" You don't need to shy away, does Eddie fighten you? Do I make you uncomfortable?" he asks. " It's not my intention, pretty"

" No sir" you shook your head. Steve hums as he looks back at Eddie who's been watching the interaction. " I like this one" he says as he stands up. " She's cute"

" Um, thank you sir" you mumble out fidgeting with your hands.

" Call me Steve, honey" you nod as you look at Eddie who let down his hair as it hangs really pretty around his face. You can't stop staring at his pretty hair that he takes a few pieces and chews on them.

" Has he ever let you brush your fingers through his hair?" you shook your head no with your mouth forming into an " o." Steve hums as he tells Eddie to come here with curling his finger.

Eddie makes his way over as he bends down a little that you are able to run your fingers through his curls. They are softest as ever. You wonder what they are like if you'd tug on them. All of sudden you tug by mistake and a moan escapes from him.

" 'm sorry! I didn't mean to" you apologize as you look down at your fingers, fidftigng with your rings. " It's okay, honey. He likes it" Steve tells.

Eddie's cheeks are flushed red as he clears his throat.

" It's okay, Y/N. Not the first time someone's pulled on my hair" he smirks and when you look up to meet his eyes, they are darker than the color you usually they see them.

Steve chuckles, " I better go before I get you both in trouble. Don't give her a hard time now, Eds."

He pulls Eddie by his waist towards him as they both kiss, while you whimper at the sight and clench your thighs. Eddie pulls away from Steve as he glances down at you.

" Did you like that?" he asks.

You stay silent as you tried to find the words to say.

" Awe, she's starstruck. That's adorable" Steve says. " I hope you have a great rest of your shift" he winks at you as he walks out the store.

Eddie turns back to you seeing your cheeks flushed and your eyes go wide when he notices as you hurry away into the back room.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

You are laying in bed wide awake with your thoughts lingering on the interaction you had with Steve and Eddie. Both of them were attractive and the both of them had made you feel things you never ever felt before.

The way Steve called you honey and Eddie calling you pretty little thing. Your mind grew fuzzy at the thought of being with them, would they want something like that? Did you? You wanted to know what it would be like if they took care of you.

" Not like I'll sleep now" you mumbled as you slipped out of bed heading downstairs to get some water.

Eddie and Steve on your mind, you were going to have a long week.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

You walk in the next morning to work with a cup of coffee in your hands. Eddie had already opened up the store as he walked from the back ground with a piece of toast in his mouth. His eyes fall on you and notices the way you don't look like yourself today. He takes in the way your hair is up and there are bags underneath your eyes.

" Good Morning" he says as he takes the toast out of his mouth. You nod as you answer setting the coffee on the counter as you walk behind it and settle on the small stool there. He frowns seeing the way you hunch over with the cup of coffee in your hands. The other rubs your eyes from how tired you were.

" Sweets, did you sleep?" he asks worried with either hands on the counter. Your eyes fallen on both those hands that have tattoos on them, rings too that you want to feel against your skin.

" Some" you muttered drinking your coffee, scrunching up your nose tasting the bitterness of it causing him to chuckle. " Why don't you take a nap in the back? It's going to be a slow day today."

" I can't" you shook your head. Eddie sighs as he puts a sign on the counter that says be back in 10 mins and walks around the counter, bending down as he takes you bridal styles into his arms. You squeal as you flay your arms everywhere.

" What are you doing?" you asked, yawning as he softly places you on the black couch in the back. " Take a nap" he says and when you speak up, he places a finger against your lips. He pulls out one of the blankets from the back too and covers you and places a small kiss on top of your head. His beard tickling your skin.

" I'll take care of things, sleep" he says. He gives you one more look before he walks out to the back room to the front. You smile to yourself as your eyes close.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

You mumble something underneath your breath as you stretched your arms above your head. Eyes blinking as you realized where you were.

" Shit" you roll over, tangling yourself in blankets falling to the ground with an " omph." You untangled yourself from the blankets and throw them onto the couch as you head out to the front to see Eddie sitting on the bar stool drumming his fingers on top of the counter as he hummed.

You watched him for a moment, the way his hair crowed around his face with his eyes closed, red flannel with a black shirt underneath, he wore some grey pants that had holes on his knees and boots on his feet.

His eyes snapped open as he turned his head to meet your gaze. Heat flushed your cheeks as you looked away from him making him chuckle.

" Nice nap?" he stood up from the stool as he stretched out. You caught the happy trail he had from where his shirt lifted up. It was gone before you could look at it better.

" Yeah, guess so" you played with the sleeves of your own sweat shirt when the door opened and a customer walked in. Your face changed into a wide smile as you hopped to them.

" Welcome to Red Records, my name is Y/N. Is there anything you need help with?" the customer explained what you were looking for while they talked, the door opened and Steve stepped inside.

Your head turned just in time to see him look at you, " Honey" he mouths as he passes. Your knees felt like they were buckling under you that you had to grab onto one of the shelves to support yourself.

The customer grabbed onto what they needed heading to the counter to buy what they needed when you let your hair down to run your fingers through it. Steve swore his heart stopped as he watched you flip your hair and run your fingers through it in slow motion. His mind wondered what it smelled like, what it would be like if he was the one running his fingers through your hair, he wondered what it would be like if he played with it and you'd fall asleep on him.

Steve hasn't noticed that you were making your way over to him.

" Hi S-steve" you greeted him.

" Hi honey" he says, " Eddie tells me you haven't slept well last night. How come?" he asks with his hands on his hips.

" 't's nothing" you muttered, shrugging.

" You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to " Eddie says as he makes his way around the counter and grabs the bag at the end. Something hits your nose and it smells so good.

" You haven't ate, I've picked this up for you" Eddie says. He waves the bag in front of your face making your mouth waters.

" You didn't have too" you muttered, cheeks flushing red. " Why are you doing this? I'm only your co worker and yet you've been so nice to me."

Eddies eyebrows scrunched up together as he looks at Steve, " He cares about you, honey."

" But why? You don't know me" Eddie looks down at his own boots as he doesn't know what to say. Not when your around him, his brain isn't forming the words he wants to tell you. It's the affect you have on him.

" Because he's into you" Steve says. " You're really pretty, honey. You've been nothing but kind to him in return, you've been happier around him and he took notice. He likes you."

Your eyes blow wide as saucers, " I like you too, honey" he adds. You look between the two of them like you were dreaming. Are you still asleep?

" Is this real?" the both of them chuckle. " What about your relationship?" you asked. " Won't it bother you that you both like me.."

" No, we want you to be ours" Eddie says. " I've talked to Steve about this and he agrees."

" What do you say honey?"

" I'd like a date first before agreeing to be yours. I'd like to get you both better too if that's okay" you wrap your arms around yourself being shy as usual. This was something different. Never in your life had something like this happened to you.

" We will follow what you want, princess" Eddie says as he reaches his hand like he's asking if it's okay to touch you and you let him as you let him take your hand in his and bring it up to his lips. His beard tickles you as he places a kiss on top of your knuckles.

Steve takes the other hand in his as he does the same, keeping eye contact. Both of their eyes on you, " How about tomorrow after work?"

" Huh?" you asked, your mind was elsewhere as Steve asked.

" How about tomorrow after work, we take you on a date?" you nodded.

" I'd like that"

They both smiles at you, leaning down to kiss your cheeks feeling heat rise on your cheeks. They couldn't wait to make you theirs.