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cloama · 1 year
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I want to talk about Barbie (2023) but not really in conversation with anyone so I think it’ll be a trickle of thoughts about my theatre experience.
For instance, while the theatre was packed with mothers and daughters, I was seated next to a tween boy who was not excited for the movie. He damn near passed out laughing during several scenes. He didn’t finish any of his snacks. He didn’t go to the bathroom.
None of the children in the theater went to the bathroom, which you’ll know if the true testament of a a movie’s success. Nobody moved, honey.
The monologue has been critiqued as baby’s first feminism but I don’t know what y’all wanted from a megacorp. I’m still surprised it even got in there. One of the moms in the theater stood the up and clapped bc apparently she needed some of that second wave feminism. Everyone’s politics isn’t where yours is. It always starts somewhere. Again do not know why people are complaining. This is nothing compared to Marvel’s not infamous girl power moment where they all just stood there. Also the speech while very Plan but heartfelt, coming from America Ferrara just carries a couple extra layers for me personally as she was one of the first actresses of my generation who was a chubby teen girl who was allowed to be a real person.
Also it’s not just the monologue. It’s wishing it was as easy as pulling your fellow people into the back of the van and reprogramming them with facts. In a world where facts literally don’t matter anymore, it felt like science fiction. I don’t know y’all, I just got a lot out of that script. Like if your gonna do a giant advertisement movie, this is about as good as it gets. And it didn’t feel icky like a dove ad. Similar to the mist recent Dungeons and Dragons, it felt like playing.
The Ken stuff was fun but we have to discuss the MASTERFUL use of Matchbox 20’s Push, which is about the rare disempowered man who wishes to get a leg up on his female partner who appears to be emotionally hurting him in their relationship. I need time. Bc Greta? Noah? They were crazy for that one. Absolutely mad. Ken comparing his struggle with Barbie’s boundaries to a man whose actually being hurt bc Ken is a doll and that’s about as far as his understanding goes [see: horses]. Reader, I died laughing. I think I was the only one in the theater that this bit really worked for. It was a stroke of genius and seems to be going unnoticed.
The acafans have been surprisingly quiet about this movie, all the merch and the orchestrated resurgence of Barbie. Make no mistake, this is fandom. Star Wars fans were allowed to buy their books, dolls, and bumper stickers in peace but the idea that a movie will make some people want to buy a 20 dollar doll or some pink pants is stressing people out. Would love everyone to step back and breathe. They’re always going to try to sell us something. They’re selling us something most of y’all have been buying.
I think I am less bothered by the capitalistic effects because for once I didn’t totally hate the experience of being sold something. Probably because I’m not buying anything and while I live a pink life, I’m not actually a Barbie girl. What I am is an early educator and dolls, dramatic play are a huge part of development.
What I also am, apparently, is a Barbie movie script defender because above all else, that script was tight as fresh box braids. A hilarious straight forward comedy. It should be a celebration of putting money behind talent but it’s a reminder of why writers need to be fairly compensated. This movie marks the end of summer, representing so many things. It’s complicated. Pink and complicated.
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storiesbyrhi · 2 years
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Angel of the First Degree - Chapter 16: Fireworks
Eddie Munson x Chubby!Reader 4459 words Series Masterlist
Warnings: Anxiety; fatphobia including internalised; drug use; bullying; body issues; discussion of body function and fluids; period shame/stigma; disclosure of sexual assault (chapter 2); disordered eating and thoughts of food; shitty/abusive/critical parents; porn magazines; smut; reference to suicide (specifically Virginia Woolf’s); no beta; grief/mourning; verbal fighting; meat (turkey)… for the vegans; warnings updated each chapter
Synopsis: When Eddie Munson finds you in the midst of a panic attack, it is the beginning of something. A fic featuring body and sex positivity, Eddie in a dress, soft small moments, scary big truths, and all the usual special feelings you’d expect from one of my stories.
Chapter Summary: 1986 comes to an end, and Dustin just wants a beer.
Author’s Note: I remind you that this story has no beta, so forgive typos if ye will.
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“That’s a very specific question from someone not currently enrolled,” the voice on the other end of the line said. He wasn’t amused, perhaps annoyed at the perceived misuse of his time.
“I know, but my-”
“Yes, you said,” he interrupted, then sighed. “There is a precedent. A student can petition to change the allowances of a scholarship. It happens on a case-by-case basis,”
“Yeah?” To Eddie, it felt like a win. “And, ah, how does that… process… start? What would the student have to do?”
Eddie had his pen and paper ready.
“Why is Gareth taking me?” you asked.
“Because he’s secretly your favourite,” Eddie replied nonchalantly.
“You’re my favoruite,”
“Well, yeah. Besides me. And, I got some shit I gotta do.”
He meant deal drugs but he used to be so much less secretive about it. You wanted to ask him more questions. You wanted to tell him that he used to be so much less secretive about it. But those thoughts were totally at odds with your ‘pretend everything is fine’ psyche. Ultimately, you trusted Eddie. If he wasn’t telling you where he was going, you probably didn’t want to know anyway.
Eddie dropped you off at Gareth’s house, where you hugged the red flannel-clad boy on the sidewalk and kissed his cheek. It made him blush and glance at Eddie nervously. Eddie just grinned at his friend and ruffled his fluffy hair.
Eddie pulled you into a hug and tucked a twenty dollar bill into your back pocket. “You two kids have fun, yeah?” he joked, getting back into his van.
You turned to Gareth. “What do you know?”
“What?” he squeaked.
“How come it feels like you’re babysitting me? Why’s Esther busy today too?”
Gareth was unprepared for your interrogation. He shrugged, hesitating. “I don’t know, man… Eddie said you’re throwing a party. I said he better get the good fireworks,”
“Right… But why isn’t he taking me?”
“He has shit he’s gotta do…” Gareth looked at the ground and then back up. “Also the guy that sells them is… weird. Like imagine Dustin if he was fifty and had spent time in jail and also thinks aliens are coming,”
“Dustin does think aliens are coming,”
“Yeah, well. He’s weird. Eddie freaks him out,”
“Why?”
Gareth sighed. “I don’t know! You ask him why when we get there. Maybe you guys can bond over being super paranoid.”
You playfully pushed his shoulder and walked up the driveway. “Whatever. I get to pick the music.”
Eddie parked down the street a little and waited. If routine was anything to go by, your father would be at work, but it was the holidays, so he needed to stake it out to make sure. Coming face to face with that man would only lead to carnage.
Eddie caught sight of your mother when she came out the front to check the mail. She stood at the letterbox, flicking through the envelopes. When she had gone back inside, Eddie waited another few minutes, then got out.
Before he made it to the front door, it opened and she stood there with a confused look on her face. “Is she okay?” were the first words out of her mouth.
Eddie wanted to be cruel. He wanted to tell her how you were thriving away from her. You catch more bees with honey than vinegar though.
“She’s fine,” he answered, standing on the doorstep with his hands in his pockets.
They looked at each other. Eddie thought she would ask more questions. How could she not want to know about how? How your birthday and Christmas had been? When he realised she would not speak unprompted, he got straight to business.
“She needs all her paperwork and shit,”
“Paperwork?”
“Yeah. Like her birth certificate and anything else important. She’s an adult. Legally entitled to it all,” Eddie said firmly, delivering the words without any aggression.
“Why didn’t she come?”
Are you fucking kidding me?
“I’m asking real nice,” Eddie replied.
Your mother looked behind Eddie, and up and down the street. He wondered if she was checking to see if the neighbours were watching. Oh, how she’d hate to have a scene.
“Wait here.” And the door was closed.
It was a relief that she didn’t protest. Well, she could have still been inside calling your dad, but she wasn’t. She was in his study collecting the bits and pieces. Between your mum and dad, all the household paperwork was fastidiously filed.
While it was a relief, it also disappointed Eddie that she wasn’t putting up a fight. Your mum seemed as disinterested in your life as most people were in his.
“Will you tell her-” she began to say as she handed Eddie the folder.
“Tell her yourself,” he cut in, turning and leaving as quickly as he’d come. He didn’t look back. 
Eddie’s next stop was picking up Esther and Dustin, but he took a longer route and gave himself time to breathe and think.
“This is not a shop,” you pointed out the obvious.
Gareth carefully turned onto the driveway of a clearly private property. You wanted to add that it looked like the kind of place one of Eddie’s grainy grindhouse horrors would be filmed, but then you saw there were a couple of cars parked at the house and people milling about.
“Yeah, I don’t know how legal this is,” Gareth replied, and you really shouldn’t have been surprised.
It took a while for Gareth to park; he had only recently been allowed to drive without an adult supervisor. He checked his mirrors a lot. “Good job,” you praised when he cut the engine.
“Fuck off. You’ve been hanging around Eddie too long. Used to be a nice girl,”
“Nice girl?!” you squawked then cackled.
Anyone who knew what was what in Hawkins drove just beyond the city limits to that house. A guy who everyone called Bam sold fireworks all year round. Nobody asked where they came from. Nobody haggled over prices.
While you and Gareth looked over the selection, some laid out on card tables and others in piles on plastic tarps, you kept stealing glances over at Bam.
He was older than Gareth’s guess – mid-60s at the youngest. His hair was snow white and looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in years. You wondered if he was named Bam because fireworks go snap, crackle, pop, BAM… or if it came from somewhere else.
Bam was watching you back, and when you and Gareth went up to him with cash in hand, he narrowed his eyes at you.
“I’ve seen you ‘round town,” he said as he chewed on tobacco leaves. “You’re with the Munson kid.” It was definitely an accusation. “Bad breed.”
Before you could say anything, Gareth held out the cash. It was more than necessary. “Here. Thank you.”
You looked at Bam with a frown.
“You got something to say, girly?”
“Nope. She doesn’t! Come on. Let’s go,”
“You don’t know shit about Eddie,” you spat at Bam.
The old man’s face stayed neutral.
Much to Gareth’s relief, you turned and followed him back to the car. “Jesus Christ. You know he probably owns half the guns in Hawkins? You really are as bad as Eddie.”
Meanwhile, sitting at the kitchen counter of the trailer were Eddie, Esther, and Dustin.
“How’d you get all this?” Esther asked, looking over the documents Eddie had been collecting.
“She already had a lot of it. Got some from her mum, and, ah, stole copies from the school office,” he replied.
“You talked to her mum?”
“Barely. Asked for this and left.”
Esther nodded. She was impressed.
“So, ah, we can do this, right?” Dustin questioned. “It really seems like something she’s meant to do herself,”
“Yeah, well, she can’t. Alright?”
“Can’t you just tell-”
“No!” Eddie took a breath; he hated when he rose his voice at the freshmen. “No, Dustin. I can’t just tell her about this. Any of it. I fucked up bad. I gotta fix it in a big way,”
“It’s okay. We’ve got this, Eddie,” Esther reassured him. “Between me and you, we know her. We’ve got all this. She’s with her favourite. It’s all good,”
“What? Aren’t I her favourite?” Dustin frowned.
“Nah man… you’re like, fourth maybe,” Eddie said with a wicked grin.
“What?!”
“Yeah… It goes Gareth, then little Mayfield over the road there. Then probably, what’s his name? California? Will? Your friend Wheeler doesn’t shut up about. Then you,”
“WHAT? What the hell am I even doing here then?!”
Eddie chuckled as Dustin threw his hands up in defeat.
“We need you!” Esther said. “Well… We need you… to call Suzie…”
“She tried to fight Bam!” were the first words out of Gareth’s mouth as soon as Eddie appeared in the doorway of his bedroom.
You were sitting on the bed reading while Gareth worked on something at his desk. Eddie snorted when his friend immediately sold you out.
“You snitch!” you yelled, then jumped off the bed to greet your boyfriend. Eddie opened his arms for a bear hug. “Hi,”
“Hi, angel.” Eddie held you. He looked over at Gareth. “Go okay?”
“Yeah. He recognised her,”
“Death by association?” Eddie guessed.
Gareth nodded. “Yep… Um, everything’s by the front door. I’ll walk yous out,”
“Nah, man. I’ve got it. Thanks. We’ll see you at the party, alright?”
You said goodbye to the little drummer boy and collected the fireworks on your way out. Eddie loaded them into the van, humming happily as he went.
Halfway home, you pivoted the conversation back to Bam. “Why does he hate you?”
“Why does anybody in this shitty town hate me?” he dismissed.
“Because they don’t know you,” you answered honestly.
Eddie glanced at you. “Yeah. There’s that. But there’s also my dad.” He said the word like it was unclean. “Not exactly Prince Charming, ya know?”
You nodded, understanding. “We got some cool stuff,”
“Yeah? All we need now is like, snacks?”
Snacks and a bunch of newly recorded mix tapes. You and Eddie were throwing a little trailer park New Year's party, and it was going to be awesome.
“Guess what I found!” Wayne called as he climbed out of his truck. He had gone looking for his fishing gear that a buddy of his let him keep in his shed. “Forgot about this.”
You and Eddie were on the couch on the trailer porch, wrapped in blankets and enjoying a rare mild December afternoon. Wayne came over and dumped a box, its contents visible and mostly of the hunting/fishing variety.
“Must have put some other shit in here for safekeeping,” Wayne said, holding up a plastic container filled with photos.
“Hol-ly-shit,” Eddie whispered, getting up immediately.
While Wayne packed for his annual New Year’s trip to Patoka Lake, you went through the container photo by photo. Eddie looked more like his mother than his father, with his wild smile and bouncy curls. Wayne looked like a real cowboy when he was younger, dressed with a little more pizazz than you knew him for. And baby Eddie, well that little thing was Bambi-eyed from the beginning.
“Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone, yeah?” Wayne joked but in that way that told both you and Eddie he was deadly serious.
“Don’t let John drown in the lake… or shoot someone…” Eddie joked back.
“Give him some credit… Worst he’ll do is get a fish hook in the cheek when he’s casting.”
You winced at the thought while Eddie laughed.
After hugs and more warnings, Wayne was off and you and Eddie finished looking at all the photographs.
“Soooooo…” Eddie said, throwing himself onto the couch in the lounge room.
You put the kettle on for tea. “So?”
“What do you wanna do tonight?”
Narrowing your eyes at him with suspicion, you shrugged. “What do you wanna do tonight?”
He grinned, lopsided and coy. “Second to last night of the year… Everyone will be over tomorrow, so technically, our last night alone for the year…”
“Yeah?” You leaned against the kitchen bench, well aware of where Eddie was taking the conversation.
“Maaaaybe, if you, you know, wanted to… You could get a little cute… for me,”
“Cute? Define cute,”
“Um, well… fluffy tail… little collar…”
After cheesy pasta bake and The Goonies on VHS, you took a long shower only to be interrupted by Eddie, asking you to wash his hair. He was naked and sitting cross-legged in front of you before you had a chance to finish saying, “Fiiiine. You’re lucky I love you.”
Eddie remained naked after the shower. He figured it offered some vulnerability on his part, although he wasn’t self-conscious. With Van Morrison crooning on vinyl, and the bedroom lighting reduced to only what broke through the curtained windows, you folded your legs beneath you and sat on your knees.
Gently, Eddie put the collar around your neck, fastening it and letting his hands brush down your neck and along your shoulders. When the ears went on, Eddie’s pupils blew. You held out your hands and he dressed you in the cuffs.
When you had thought about that moment, you had predicted it would be a little bit silly. Playful and light-hearted. But that’s not how it felt. The tension was thick, hot, and humid. Eddie’s eyes danced from the heart-shaped tag on the collar to your wrists, across your thighs and how they spread as you sat. The softness of the pudge of your belly. The fluff of the ears and the fuzz of pubic hair. He wanted you so badly and completely that it made him a little bit dizzy, his fists curling around the blanket under him.
Eddie was trying to pull himself together. He was meant to be leading you through this, not making you guess what to do or say next. In his head, he was saying, ‘let’s start there’ but it was like his tongue had disappeared, disallowing speech entirely.
All he could do was kneel opposite you, locking you in place with a folded leg on each side of you. He held your face in his hands and ran his thumbs along your mouth rougher than usual. You were taking slow, measured breaths but his breathing was shallow and you knew that look in his eyes.
Yes, he could have been leading you better, but you weren’t lost. You weren’t scared or nervous or alone. He kissed you hard, not letting your head move. He would have eaten his way down your throat if you’d let him.
Eddie kissed you and kissed you until you squeaked a warning that you needed oxygen. While you gasped it in, he decided he’d be fine without it. He moved his lips to your neck, holding the back of your head, fingers tangled in hair. Melting, you put your hands on his shoulders to stay upright, then shook when you felt his other hand disappear down between your legs.
Something was shaking inside you. Fizzing to life. Without thought, you asked in a tone Eddie had never heard, “Am I a good kitten?”
He froze, your skin between his teeth, and his fingers dipped inside you. Eddie’s jaw went slack and he pushed against you with his forehead, unable to silence the banshee screams of euphoria in his head. All he could do was nod and push deeper and harder. You knew it was an undignified and wholly enthusiastic ‘yes.’
The night was just getting started.
“Absolutely not.”
The group of freshmen erupted into a chorus of groans and whines.
“I bet you were drinking at our age!” from Dustin.
“Who made you king of the beers?!” from Lucas.
You sat on the couch next to Esther and watched the exchange. Eddie was sitting on top of the cooler he’d filled with ice early in the afternoon. Jeff and Esther’s BYO drinks had been chucked in there, along with the beers Eddie’s picked up for Gareth and Gene.
“You’re letting them drink!” Mike screeched, pointing at the bassist and guitarist through the window. They were out on the porch with Jeff, working out how to best set up the fireworks without getting anyone maimed or arrested.
“Fuck, Wheeler, you’ve got the body of a hummingbird. All small and jittery,” Eddie teased, motioning at Mike. “Half a bottle and you’d be on the floor. Out before your girlfriend even gets here.”
At the mention of El, the mysterious girlfriend, Mike shut up.
“Oh,” Eddie said, picking up on it. “Is that what all this outrage is about?” He laughed. “You wanna impress your girlfriend with your big man drinks?”
“Shut up,”
“She lives with Byers, man… That drowned cat could keep up with Cheech and Chong. I don’t think she’s gonna be amazed that you can drink beer.”
Mike threw his arms up and sulked off down the hallway to go sit with the others. As he exited the trailer, Max walked in.
“Max!” Dustin and Lucas called in unison.
She looked like a deer in the headlights.
“Max, tell Eddie to give us a drink,” Dustin said.
She made a face that was just so Max. Before she could do much more, Lucas had taken her hand and dragged her off into Eddie’s bedroom.
“Leave the door open!” Eddie called after them.
“Gross, dude,” Dustin mumbled.
“Gross? No, no this – RUBBERS ARE IN THE TOP DRAWER – is gross,”
“Eddie,” from you, along with a flicked bottlecap.
He pulled a sad face at you, then turned his attention back to Dustin. “Seems you’ve lost the battle, brave knight,”
“No. No, I haven’t. What if… What if we do a deal,”
“I’m listenin’,”
“A wager,” Dustin announced, just as dramatic as Eddie.
“Go on,”
“When El and Will get here, they will be escorted by Jonathan,”
“Yeah, I know,”
“Ah! But, do you know who else will be in their party?”
You and Esther watched this back and forth, glancing at each other. “Does he even care if they drink?” she whispered to you.
“Eddie? No. I think he even brought extra. He’s a softy.”
She snorted. “Wouldn’t let him hear you saying that in public,”
“Oh, his cover story is that they’re gonna try shit, so may as well be around him so he can keep an eye on them or whatever,”
“Wow… That makes this-” She pointed to Eddie and Dustin. “-even funnier.”
Eddie tilted his head. “No, Dustin, I do not know who else is in their party,”
“A fourth. A partaker in the… whacky tobaccy,”
“Oh my god,” Eddie laughed, covering his face with his hands.
“And I would bet clear and safe passage to the treasure, that you will be caught in Sir Argyle’s friendship spell,” Dustin finished.
Eddie sat up straight and looked at him. “Let me get this right. You get a beer if I make friends with Byers’ friend?”  Dustin nods. “That’s dumb. I make friends with everyone. I’m a friendly guy.” Dustin and Esther both giggled. Eddie looked at you. “I’m friendly?!"
“You’re not… not friendly?” you offered.
“Whatever! Fine. If Byers’ friend’s not a weird little dude slinking around with his camera, then fine, you get a beer.”
Dustin cheered and ran outside to tell Mike the good news. Eddie grinned at you and Esther on the couch, pleased with himself.
A little later, erratic car honking could be heard, followed by the squeaking of breaks. Will jumped from the car first, his childhood friends bundling him up in a group hug. Max ripped out the trailer to pull El, a girl that appeared perpetually lost, from the car and into an embrace.
Jonathan Byers looked the same as he did when he walked the halls of Hawkins High. You’d never spoken to him, despite him taking photos of the cheer squad for the yearbook. He looked awkward as he got out of the car, glancing around the trailer park like he’d just woken up.
“My dudes, my dudes! Where’s the party?!” yelled a long-haired guy with a smile as wide as his face. “We brought the goods!”
Argyle.
Maybe the only person who could make a first impression as impactful as Eddie.
He jumped onto the small porch where you’d all set up the small shindig. He came bearing pizza and a plastic bag filled with cans of soda and chocolate bars.
Eddie almost flinched in surprise when Argyle turned to him and yanked him into a tight hug.
“Oh, man, it’s good to finally meet you! King of the castle! The little ones are always talking about you!”
Argyle spent enough time at the Byers’ house to hear Will talk about the things Mike and Dustin told him over the phone. He knew all about the metalhead named Eddie, who walked on school tables and wrote the best D&D campaigns.
“Yeah, hi, man.”
Argyle let Eddie go but maintained a hold of his shoulders. He looked at Eddie seriously and said, “Now I don’t know your pie order, but I said to myself, he’s a man of taste, he’s gotta know about pineapple on pizza. He’s gotta know it’s schmakin',”
“Pineapple?” If you knew any better, you would have said Eddie was struggling to keep up.
“Pineapple! Oh, fruit on your pizza is gnarly, you say? Well, I say try before you deny.”
Eddie was wide-eyed and everyone else had stopped their own conversations to see how the meeting of an unstoppable force and immovable object would play out.
Argyle waited for a reply.
You saw the smile twitch on Eddie’s lips before anyone else. He was grinning wide within seconds. “You had me at pie, man!”
They hugged again and Dustin could already taste the cheap beer.
Despite the cold, Forest Hills came alive on New Year's. It was maybe the residents’ favourite holiday, or at least drawing for first with July 4th.
The fireworks you and Gareth had bought ultimately were pooled together with everyone else’s. Some guy supposedly named ‘Skunk’, who had a face tattoo of a dolphin (Eddie said it was meant to be a shark) worked harmoniously with the little old man who kept everyone’s grass neat with the help of his beloved and fancy whipper snipper. Together, they set small ones off on the hour, then fussed around with the bigger ones in the leadup to midnight. “Good job, Mr Skunk,” could be heard periodically.
Hellfire Club’s freshmen did drink their beer, but only Dustin liked the taste. Max could stomach it, at least. The rest kept sneaking little pours out onto the grass in an attempt to empty their bottles quicker.
Eddie didn’t notice because he was in a deep conversation with Jonathan and Argyle. They smoked Californian weed. When Eddie and Jonathan got to the stage where all they could talk about was you and Nancy Wheeler, Argyle literally somersaulted away from them, finding Corroded Coffin a far more interesting group.
The closer it got to midnight, the more the lovers of Forest Hills disappeared away from the barbeques and parties. Mike and El disappeared into the wooded area, and Max and Lucas went back to her trailer, tiptoeing by her passed out mother and locking themselves in her room. Jeff and Esther stayed by the bonfire Hacksaw Henry started, cuddled up together and in their own world. Even Jonathan took the Byers’ rental car to go surprise Nancy at a party being thrown by Steve Harrington.
Dustin, Will, Gareth, Argyle, and Gene were on the Munson’s trailer porch, sitting in a circle eating snacks and playing some sort of weird hybrid of poker and cheat. You stood in the door, leaning against the doorframe. Everybody was happy and in the moment.
“Angel,” Eddie called, his arms snaking around your waist as he came to stand behind you. Dipping his head, he pressed it against the base of your neck.
“Hi,” you whispered.
“Hi,” he mumbled back. “You good?”
“Yeah… Yeah. Just thinking. It’s been nice to have everyone together.”
It wasn’t a casual design to host New Year's. Eddie had pulled all the kids and young adults together, had them surround you for a colourful send-off for the year that was.
“Mmmmm,” Eddie hummed. “Do you wanna come up to the roof? Best seat in the house,”
“The roof? Is that where you disappeared to just before?”
Eddie led you around to the back of the trailer. He had borrowed someone’s ladder, and once you climbed up it after him, you saw he’d set out a blanket and some pillows.  
“You warm enough? I can get you-”
“I’m good, Eddie,” you said, sitting down.
Eddie laid on his back, you cuddled into his side. His guitar pick necklace was as safe around your neck as you were in his arms.
“Got any New Years' resolutions?” you asked, unsure if you were making a joke or genuinely curious.
“Ahhh, not really. Cut back on the smokes. Get a job. All the usual shit… You?”
Truthfully, you were terrified of 1987. You hadn’t properly processed the end of your schooling life, and though you weren’t consciously aware of it, you regretted burning all the college correspondence. You didn’t know who you were or what you were to become. The only thing anchoring you to calmness and happiness was the life you shared with Eddie, and by extension Wayne.
“Probably should get a job too,” you replied meekly.
Alternatively, you could have seen it as the first time you were free to just exist. That’s what you told yourself daily.
A sudden shift in the atmosphere indicated the arrival of 11:59 pm.
Skunk yelled, “TEN!" The proceeding numbers could be heard across the trailer park. Different groups held different times, some off by milliseconds, some by whole seconds.
NINE.
EIGHT.
SEVEN.
“I love you, angel.”
FIVE.
“I love you too.”
THREE.
TWO.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
You kissed under the fireworks, the hues changing Eddie’s skin from milky to pink then blue then yellow. You held each other tight, foreheads pressed together and eyes squeezed shut. The night sky was clear, and quickly the constellations were clouded by exploding stars and shapes.
Below you, Gareth tried to identify which fireworks he’d picked out while the rest of the guys watched in silence. All the lovers held hands and all the people who lived in Forest Hills Trailer Park wished for better things ahead.
You buried your face in the softness between Eddie’s neck and chest, breathed deeply, and tried to work out why it felt like you were saying goodbye to something you never had.
Next Chapter: Glory
End Note: My friends, we are mere weeks away from the resolution of this story... Start to prepare for the end.
Fic Taglist: @ajeff855 @b-barnes04 @nerd-squad-headquarters @word-wytch @harrys-tittie @munsonsmel0dy @sidthedollface2 @eddiethesexy @bardicfrustration @orpheusredux @munsonsgirl71 @a-time-for-wolvess @eddieswifu @rosaline-black @thegirlwhohides @emotionaldreamer @e0509 @briasnow-blog @kiyastrf94 @erinsingalong @rainylana @mrsdollardog @tayhar811 @chickennug90 @b-irock @nana90azevedo @eddiemunson95 @akiratoro420 @thescarletangelsstuff - did you change your url??
Eddie Taglist: @solomons-finest-rum @ruinedbythehobbit @munsonlives @sweetpeapod @depressooo-expressooo-blog @thorfemmes @hawkins-high @corrodedhawkins @grungegrrrl @lilzabob @mymoonisalways-in-scorpio @averagemisfit03 @ches-86 @ilovecupcakesandtea @onehotgreasymechanic @hazydespair @lacrymosa-24 @mel-the-fangirl
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silenthill2ps2 · 11 months
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Haha one secret or I suppose confession of mine is I have a crush on somebody who likes this guy but he sucks and the only reason I think my crush likes him is because he's from a big city and he is actually really good-looking. Meanwhile I am legit just some average looking annoying country boy living in what feels like the lowest rated on letterboxed hallmark movie. I'm some earnest poor guy and I'm trying to woo someone with standards so much higher than what I am and I have kind of learned a new appreciation for these lamefest movies ever since. Now I get it and I stopped rooting for the city guys! I keep watching them because I'm wishful thinking that I'll get the endings they have. Lame as a secret but ususlly this couldn'tbe beaten out of me because I'm sort of a movie snob lmao
wait that's crazy... you gotta update me on this more i'm like invested in this now
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spncryn · 4 years
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14062020
Started working on new areas earlier but quickly got distracted by fixing some weird visual bugs, nearly all of which had to deal with volatile surfaces that I failed to properly clear up. I went through my code and -- at least to the best of my current ability -- cleaned them up. I haven't been able to reproduce any of the issues I was facing earlier since, so hopefully I actually managed to fix them for good...
I also implemented a pretty straightforward dynamic letterboxing effect that gradually eases in/out the margins when moving from areas where the letterboxing shouldn't be present (ie near precipices) to areas where it should (ie within the forest), and vice versa. It looks pretty good and does a good job I feel transitioning between the spaces somewhat naturally.
Gotta do the write-up for this month’s update tomorrow...
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