#hence why my birthday was never once mentioned

[kitocrystal]

Yo, uh happy valentines?

[scarfacemarston]

Abigail should be allowed to say she wasn't prepared to have Jack or did not want him at the time.

TW: Pregnancy, abortion mention, child mortality mention, death during pregnancy mention. People criticize John for not caring for Jack --- as they should! However, when it comes to the idea of whether John wanted him or not, he gets a free pass in comparison to Abigail, who is always demonized. This leads to how women are viewed in society. Why is it so evil that a woman says that she's not ready to have a child or didn't want one? Because of 1950s and earlier notions that women HAVE to be in the home? Ideas that conservatives still try to force down women's throats? Abigail was 18, for God's sake. She was JUST rescued from a brothel. She finally had freedom for the first time in her life. (She was literally either in the orphanage, living on the streets, or working in the brothels.) Most 18 year olds aren't ready to have children ----even if times were different back then. Just because women did have children back then at 18 or younger, doesn't mean they were ready or that they wanted to. She had just fallen in love, she finally had people that cared for her. She was doing what she was GOOD at. Hosea canonically praises her as the best thief/conwoman and actress he has EVER known. I have the audio link as proof if anyone wants it. That was all taken away from her the second she found she was pregnant. Massive amounts of women died, and by 1900 - 30 percent of children died before their first birthday. (hence what likely happened with the Marston baby, but I have my theories on what happened there in another post.) Those numbers would have been WORSE in 1895 and Abigail was living in a TENT most of this time. Can you imagine being pregnant, constantly on the move and giving birth with only the possibility of a roof above your head? Abigail would have grown up seeing the women in the brothels handle pregnancy. She would have seen the fear in those women's eyes. The hopelessness. She would have seen those try to perform abortions or women die during childbirth - or be kicked out of the brothel for becoming pregnant in the first place. Also, Abigail lost her status once she became pregnant. She couldn't provide for the gang in the same way. She didn't have John's support. Grimshaw canonically doesn't like her and Bessie is dead at this point. She has no woman who cares about her. Then Jack came and she was treated like a burden - a charity case to everyone but Hosea and probably Arthur. Single women in the 1890s, especially illiterate ones with zero prospects were almost never accepted. Abigail also might have dealt with post partum depression, too. Abigail talks about how she's always wanted a family, but she also talks about how frustrated she is with Jack and how she wishes she had help. She talks about how the gang views her and outside of Tilly and Hosea, hardly anyone ever talks to her...at all. Sadie is extremely busy and there aren't any conversations between them outside of chapter 2. Most of the camp doesn't. She's completely isolated and considered a source of drama. Abigail had everything to lose, including her life. So why is she demonized?

[geekgirles]

I've seen people say things about Amalia not being queen material because she was always far from her kingdom, and I can't help but think they're taking everything at face value. Like they assume that just because the plot takes place while Amalia is usually away on an adventure, that's all there is to it and her circumstances, when in reality nothing is further from the truth.

First of all, back in season 1 the show didn't exactly shy away from confirming Amalia essentially spent her early life confined in the Sadida Kingdom and most likely never stepped foot outside of it until she decided to run away. Hence why she failed to understand the chamberlain wouldn't be able to pay for her expenses when she was in Bonta.

And why did she run away in the first place? That's right. Because her family insisted she remained cooped up in the palace ever since the queen's death. And considering Queen Sheran Sharm died when Amalia was little, that all means she had spent 13 years "trapped" in her kingdom as early as season 1.

Now, I don't think we have an exact date for the Brotherhood's adventures, how long they lasted. But I'm gonna go with my gut and say each journey they took place in the span of several months to a year, tops.

That would mean the first time Amalia left home she wasn't away for that long, anyway.

Not to mention, after dealing with Nox and before Eva herself ran away to get Pinpin back in season 2, it was established the Brotherhood of the Tofu spent several weeks, maybe a month or two, in the Sadida Kingdom. With Yugo and Adamaï helping Amalia with her duties because she was swamped with them, to the point she somewhat reverted back to her brattier days (which is not excusable, but it does show that, at 13-14 at the least, Amalia was already in charge of many administrative duties and responsibilities and under a lot of stress).

In fact, the only reason she didn't stay in her kingdom for the entirety of the season, besides her wanderlust, is the fact that trouble kept popping up. Originally, they only left to get Eva back after she ran away in search of Pinpin, and once they returned from that, the only reason they left the kingdom again was because of Qilby's appearance and his lies deceiving them into helping retrieve his Dofus by painting it as a humanitarian mission for the sake of the Eliatropes.

And before you point out Amalia was supposed to stay in her kingdom that time around but chose to run away again, let's not forget how, technically speaking, she didn't sneak away at all, shall we?

In season 2, the roles had been reversed. Amalia thought she was sneaking away again, but not only was Eva in the know and totally in favour of it (as opposed to her reluctance from season 1), but so was King Sheran Sharm. Remember? He went as far as to have Renate and Canar prepare plenty of provisions for her. Meaning, that time around, Amalia had her father's approval, which implies she didn't actually do anything wrong.

And again, their adventures kept them away from several months up to a year, but not much longer. In fact, the only time it was confirmed they spent a year away was during the post-season 2 manga, and that was an accident because they didn't account for time flowing differently in Emrub.

Now, let's add the time of the OVAs. The special episodes are stated to take place 6 years after season 2, with Flopin and Élely being little kids but not babies or toddlers anymore; Yugo stuck in his childish body despite being, what, 19(?); and Amalia being old enough to marry—given she is 22 in seasons 3 and 4, that would make her roughly 20-21 years old.

Six years had gone by between the second season and the OVAs, and if we add the year away from the manga, that means that Amalia dutifully spent 5 years in her kingdom, carrying out her royal duties and most likely only leaving for a few days at a time at most in order to visit her friends for important occasions like their birthdays. Though this is speculation on my part based on the events of the manga. Days she got to spend away because she probably had her father's permission to, as he wholeheartedly approved of her friendship with the Brotherhood of the Tofu. Meaning, once again, that Amalia wasn't doing anything wrong.

Then the OVAs came, and she had to leave for Frigost, and this time indefinitely since she was to marry Count Harebourg, therefore becoming his Countess and needing to remain by his side in his realm. And, again, because that was a marriage of convenience for the sake of her kingdom, she wasn't just allowed to leave but expected to. But even when it was revealed Count Harebourg planned to either exploit Yugo and the Eliatrope Dofus or the Sadida forests to benefit Frigost and the wedding didn't come to pass, it wasn't like Amalia stayed around to sightsee either.

As soon as they freed Joris, Atcham, and Kerubim and got some exposition on Tristepin from Rubi, realising she had the means to save her kingdom by having Pinpin help, the group split up in two and they turned back around towards the Sadida Kingdom. And all that in just a few days, a week or two at most.

Then comes season 3, taking place a year, year and a half, after the OVAs, with Amalia now 22 and confining herself to the palace more than ever because she's watching as her father withers away each passing day and she's trying to avoid Armand and Aurora since all they seem to care about is getting her hitched and out of their hair.

To be honest, I'm not sure how long they're supposed to have spent in Oropo's dimension and Inglorium, since it feels like only a few days, but then Armand reveals in season 4 that he had only been king for a few weeks and the timeline gets kinda wacky. Because... Amalia just returned the day prior? And she spent the whole time by their father's grave?? What, did he leave her be to the point of risking malnourishment and dehydration for several days??? It just doesn't make sense.

Anyway, confusing timeline aside, what does this tell us? Simple, it tells us that Amalia was only away from home for about 2-3 years, which isn't all that different from when our parents send us to study abroad in real life. Which, at the same time, means that out of 22 years of her life, she remained 19 in her kingdom, performing her duties. And that's even without taking into account the fact that 90% of season 4 took place in the Sadida Kingdom, or the four months between Yugo and Amalia's wedding and the events of The Great Wave, where Amalia (and Yugo) stayed in her kingdom, ruling it.

Unlike Armand, Amalia might have been more interested in adventure than power and politics, and she might not have had the same kind of training as he did as heir apparent, but she is in now way, shape, or form incompetent or unprepared when it comes to ruling her people. Now try to tell me she was always away or that she is irresponsible. I dare you.

[verdantwyrm]

What’s your personal headcanon for what exactly Anya told curly about the situation prior to her getting pregnant? I find it curious how curly is initially completely at a loss as to who could’ve gotten her pregnant, but then puts it together after she said “I told you.” I wonder how much she’d told him

The "I told you" is a reference to the dead pixel scene, because she was trying to actually tell him but was being intentionally vauge or cryptic. The dead pixel scene happens only two days before the crash, and then her stealing the gun happens basically the next day.

There is absolutely no reason for the game to not show us their conversation, so it couldn't have happened "Off Screen" because thats not how that works. And the only other conversation where she alludes to the pregnancy and the whole situation is the dead pixel one. It's never mentioned in the Psych Evaluation OR the birthday party which are both a week before the crash.

It makes the most chronological sense for her "telling him" to be from the dead pixel scene since that is the first where she even mentions something had happened, and she was being intentionally vauge and cryptic to avoid a possibly catastrophic outcome of where either Curly didn't believe her or took Jimmy's side, she was attempting to let him piece it together himself, but he didn't, hence the shock when she does actually tell him upfront.

My speculation as to why Curly pieces it together and comes to the conclusion that it's Jimmy is because of a couple things, simply put it makes absolutely no sense for it to be Swansea or Daisuke, they're not even around Anya at any point and not all interested in anything other than their work. Now you can argue otherwise against those points but I don't see how either of them possibly could ever, but onto my second point as to why; its his first step to realising and understanding Jimmy's abuse.

It makes sense to Curly that it's Jimmy, he seems the most applicable to do such a thing based on his own personal experiences. It's him not only piecing together Jimmy's assumed abuse towards Anya and then also towards himself. Which is why it's such a slow and uncomfortable realisation for him.

Remember, Curly never once doubts Anya's words or her truth. Alot of people tend to forget this.

But thank you so much for the question! Curly had barely two days to think of something to do before the ship crashed, its no surprise that he was a bit all over the place and coming to terms slowly that his best friend might be a piece of shit. （；¬＿¬)

[kn-1013]

one thing i feel like (disappointingly) wasn't elaborated on enough in mp100 is reigen's own loneliness.

sure, we got that whole episode with the separation arc, but that never really resolves reigen's loneliness. that doesn't change the fact that even down to the end, he has only one adult friend and the rest of them are a gaggle of teenagers that like to hang out around him. and sure, that's not inherently a bad thing necessarily, it's probably the most friends he's had his entire life and that's why he cries when they get him a birthday cake.

but i feel like he's the kind of guy who does actually want adult friends to talk about adult things with. someone at the same stages of life that he's at, or even older.

reigen is so used to helping other people and giving other people advice that i feel like HE needs someone to be there for him, to give HIM advice. someone to scratch HIS back for once.

but another thing is that i feel like part of him thinks he doesn't deserve it, because of all the lying he does.

there is not a doubt in my mind that reigen has so much guilt stockpiled inside himself about all the lying, and (in my own personal headcannon) part of the reason he can so easily jump into danger at times is because he quietly hopes that maybe if he punishes himself enough with enough injury, or even with death, that'll somehow make up for it.

obviously that's not how it works, and reigen is a good person because regardless of the lying, he is still on some level helping people with their very normal problems by giving them very normal solutions, and is just attributing everything to spirits and exorcisms. not to mention everything he has done for mob (despite initially using him for his buisiness). he's a lot more of a grey person than he thinks he is.

i think he really needs some good adult friends, but he just can't really get ahold of any because deep down, as much as he gets on mob for being socially awkward, i think he's just as socially awkward, deep down.

i mean, the guy had to google how to ask someone out to help mob figure out how to talk to tsubomi. i don't think he's as great with people in a social context as he thinks he is. in a business context, sure, he knows exactly what to say because he has all the scripts and all the excuses in the world, but in a personal, social context, i think he can be quite clueless.

he doesn't really know how to talk to people or where to find friends as an adult, so his only friends are any coworkers he potentially has, and half the time he didn't even want to be friends with his coworkers (hence no mention of friends in his previous office job). it's different at spirits and such though, because he has mob, and later, serizawa.

i think for a long time, he considers mob "enough" of a friend, even though he still understands his role as the adult in the relationship and thus can't *actually* discuss adult things with him or treat him like an adult friend, as it would probably be inappropriate. he considers mob a friend even though he's more his student, because mob is one of the only people he sees on a regular basis until serizawa starts working there, and that's when things get a little different.

he realizes that he doesn't have to treat serizawa the same way that he treats mob, because serizawa is an adult, even if he's an extremely, openly awkward one who doesn't know how to socialize very well. but that's okay, because reigen can work with that, he's also very awkward deep down, even if he won't admit it. not to mention that mob, reigen's other friend, is also socially awkward, and reigen successfully navigates conversations with him all the time.

i think once reigen realizes that he doesn't have to hold back as much as he normally does around mob, he finally understands that his best friends can't all just be a million still developing teenagers who aren't on his level with life, and it gives him a kind of emotional release to finally have an adult friend.

serizawa also feels the same way, having only had exactly one friend in the past like fifteen years, and it was his previous boss, who was evil, and told him to attack and kill people. now he has a boss that is his friend, and has him helping people, and frankly i think it gives him much more peace of mind.

anyway i think they're besties.

[earthflaxmachina]

The Metahistory of David and Aurèle

Requested by an instagram user.

They're only from 2022 but they have a funny contextual origin lol. once again I wont be including every single image of them cuz most of them are on derekdemetripoo.

Edit: I was going to title this a "Brief" metahistory but it's actually almost as long as Paz's so it's not so brief actually.

HONOURABLE MENTION 1 - LIFE: 5th August 2021

Figure 1. Death and Life | Figure 2. Death and Life bio, both 5/8/21

This has no relation to David or Aurele per se, but it should be mentioned the similar themes of opposites and yin and yang. Plus none of this is on derekdemetripoo so I might as well archive it. This was after Devil's Adequate era during early office era. Death had a sibling that was supposed to contrast with him. Hence, Life. I mostly wanted to do something with the reflected wound infliction trope. Later on she would become Devil.

HONOURABLE MENTION 2 - DEVIL: 4th September 2021

Figure 3. Devil first appearance (4/9/21) | Figure 4. Death and Devil (5th September 2021)

I reconceptualized Life to be a bigger contrast, hence the dark grey skin opposed to Death's light gray skin. Also: red vs blue. Still twins by now. More Devil art:

Figure 5. Death and Devil bio (8/9/21) | Figure 6. Death and Devil smoking lead (9/9/21) | Figure 7. Death and Devil commenting on Harlow's picture (13/9/21)

Figure 8. Devil reading (29/9/21) | Figure 9. Genderbend Devil (20/1/22) | Figure 10. Devil's origin (20/1/22)

In Figure 6, they're meant to be sitting on something, but nothing's there so it looks weird. Also they were aroace (see: the flag), but now I don't think much on Derek's (Death) sexuality. The girl with the crop-top in Figure 7 was originally an adopt named Kehlani, but I don't have much use for her anymore so I'm trying to resell her on toyhouse.

Figure 9, as bad as it looks, Death is supposed to be in shock. Even though Death has the ability to shapeshift, he probably didn't do it as much or to the same degree that Devil did. As implied by Figure 10 (a rewrite of Devil's origins), Devil has a bit of an identity problem because he wasn't born as his own person, but rather a clone of Death, so he probably shapeshifted pretty liberally to make up for his lack of individuality. Pretty interesting concept, too bad it's not canon anymore. By Figure 9, we had already made it into early TBOD development. This would be the end of Devil. The only relevance he bears now is his shared tail shape with Aurele.

AURELE'S CONCEPTION: 11th September 2022 (hashtag never forget)

Figure 11. What would eventually become the basis of the au (11/9/22)

Almost exactly 2 years ago I drew this doodle of Aarum with short hair. The idea was to draw him and Derek with swapped hairstyles (Aarum short and Derek long) but I gave up on Derek because he looks ugly w long hair. This was also supposed to be a roleswap au, so that's why Aarum has a weird choker instead of his scar. In the end since I gave up on drawing swapped Derek it just looks like Aarum wearing a choker, which is ooc. lol

AURELE'S CREATION: 19th October 2022

Figure 12. Aurele's first ref (19/10/22)

So this was when I decided to actually start cooking up the swap au. You can tell at this time Aurele was more like Aarum instead of a separate identity. The part about emotions doesn't really make sense because if he were what Derek is, he wouldn't have any to begin with, but maybe he chose to turn them on.

The pet panther thing does carry on to modern Aurele. Here is name is "Aurélien" and it was later that I gave him the nickname Aurele for short. Whether or not his name is still Aurélien I don't really care, I'm gonna keep calling him Aurele.

DAVID'S CREATION: 20th October 2022 (my birthday!!!!)

Figure 13. David's first concept | Figure 14. David's first bio, both 20/10/22

On my 17th birthday, I created David!!!! So he shares his conceptual birthday with me, but his canonical one with Derek. To this day I still love the David I drew with his bio, it's so insanely sexy even though it was the first time I'd properly drawn him. Very proud of that. He has never looked as good I'm afraid.

Now the swap au was complete. Back then I gave David the same surname was Derek because they're the same, duh. I later changed it to Demos to separate them as different characters. Since this was an au there was no kind of canon within it, whatever I happened to draw of it had little relevance or weight. Also, the infamous gay sex angst:

Figure 15. First sex on main (14th November 2022)

I still chuckle about how serious I was when I posted this. Needless to say it's not canon at all. It honestly reads better as David x Aarum than David and Aurele.

AURELE REBRAND: 10th December 2022

Figure 16. Aurele redesign (10/12/22) | Figure 17. Aurele and Derek (14/12/22)

Now came the era of true Aurele. He was no longer an Aarum copy but his own, chaotic person. Ultimately this is a way more interesting take on the swap au because if you had that much power you'd turn out different too. Also taking into account the sheer lack of social interaction that comes with it, making him more dense than Aarum is.

Figure 18. Derek and Aurele again (11th March 2023)

From time to time I would draw Derek and Aurele together as a funny hypothetical situation. It was never canon.

SIDEBAR: DAVID'S INTERESTS PT 1

Figure 19. David and The Muppets (1/02/23)

It was around this time that I got hyperfixated on The Muppets so I made it one of David's interests. Weirdly enough, he had the kermit tie when I first drew him (before my Muppets fixation), so that interest was already there, but it was an arbitrary decision. I only amplified it after it became a hyperfixation. By the way, I have his tie irl. I don't have that exact watch, but a close one. I hid it somewhere in my room because the ticking was driving me insane, I think it's still somewhere there.

THE WHITE HOLE THEORY: 27th November 2023 onwards

Figure 20. First concept of the White Hole theory (27/11/23)

The caption on the original instagram post:

"essentially this theory suggests dereks universe was actually created by aurele destroying his (inspired by an existing take on the big bang) bc he wanted to give david all his power to see what he could do w it. which was basically a reset but w david (now derek) in power and having forgotten everything. aurele was still sprinkled around in the new universe, thats what aarum is. he is as much aurele as derek is david. which is to say, sort of, in essence!. so yeas. i guess u could say. love endures 😊❤️! i also like this theory bc it implies derek isnt alone in that aurele was like him before the restart. but they cant ever meet in their true /essences/. only with one being sort of a reincarnation of themself this isnt to say both universes are exactly the same, bc theyre not. for one, derek's universe is actually a multiverse. bc derek created the multiverse (youll see why in the book), whereas aureles was just one this is not canon lol im just having fun, call it dubiously canon...."

That's about it. It basically still holds up to modern development. Now there was some weight to this au, in that it might not even be an au! it might be the u! but before the u even existed. Fun!

Figure 21. Aurele painting (26/8/24)

DAVID LORE UPDATE: 4th June 2024

Figure 22. David facts (4/6/24)

Felt it was somewhat relevant to include this. A bit more about David's origins however his birth year here is 1935 instead of 1937, so he would've been 34 when he died. Maybe it was a mistake, or maybe it was a lore change. Not sure. I think I like 32 better.

SIDEBAR: DAVID'S INTERESTS PART 2

Figure 23. David and Aarum (15th May 2024) | Figure 24. First appearance of David's art (11th August 2024)

I had already been entertaining the idea of David being interested in animation (like me~~~~) and I eventually made it canon (Figure 23). From that interest, he'd also know how to draw and maybe even animate (Figure 24), his art style was inspired by Hanna-Barbera cartoons & The Beatles cartoon, both of which were around when he was alive.

From Figure 24, I began to think of another plot point in David's afterlife, from the patreon:

"if u didnt catch the august request dump, davids fake imaginary girlfriend is charlotte and i think after he died aurele would offer to make her real but it wouldnt work out bc of the ethical concerns."

Figure 25. David and Charlotte (22/8/24)

Everything after December 2023 is pretty streamline, so there's no need to really talk about those individually. There is actually a bit of plot in David & Aurele's life, but I never wrote it or drew it or even talked about it. I just thunk it. I will probably get into that in the future. Now I'm really sleepy after writing all this.

Figure 26. David and Aurele by David (21/8/24)

Hope you enjoyed, goodbye.

[tewwor]

STATS .

name: kong siwoo

age: late 30s / early 40s

height: 6'2'' ????

gender & sexuality: cis man ; he/him & bisexual

occupation: retired detective ; middleman

fc: woo doh.wan / son suk.ku

STRENGTHS.

proficient in hand-to-hand combat

decent marksman

peak detective soft & hard skills

HISTORY .

tw: adultery, mentions of domestic abuse & negligence

general reason why siwoo became a detective in the first place. if, perhaps, he was only raised by his mom? and she also told him — oh, i don't know — how his dad's gone missing? no one knows where he is and she puts on a show of being upset about it for his sake. and, hey, she really sells it! he believes her! gets way into crime and the justice system and is dead set on becoming a detective from that original spark of wanting to find his dad.

eventually, he does find his dad. finds out that he's just some lowlife piece of shit. treated his mom horrendously and ultimately left the two of them for someone else — probably someone younger. then, he has to sit with that knowledge. look back on all the years he sank into this one way conviction that this is truly what he wanted for that very specific reason. the hell's he supposed to do with that shit? what then?

MISC. FACTS & HEADCANONS .

interests: smoking, cheese, chinese food

dislikes: entertaining customers, blatant rudeness, sweet foods

10000% will say he doesn’t speak japanese….. in japanese :-) he’ll also mix japanese and korean in the same sentence — also knows a good amount of mandarin, probably some cantonese, definitely english

if you call him ajussi, he’ll try a put a cigarette out on you probably.

siwoo has a) gotten rigorous training as a detective and b) served in the korean military

i do believe that siwoo has either seriously injured or murdered at least 1 or 2 people since his business as a middleman. is it his favorite thing to do? no, but his hand’s been forced ( so he says ). he’s decent with the use of his physique, but even better with his words and logistics. hence, he never brings up the option to enact violence himself.

he has dismembered a body at least once and holds a surprising amount of knowledge of it.

he’s so fr about tropical fish. got some catalogues at home.

doesn’t stay in contact with his family anymore, but does have a soft spot for his nieces and nephews. helped raise them back in the day.

in regards to gift giving, he just gives out cash ( fully knows it's impersonal but at least he's not giving out gift cards ). probably in a happy birthday or get well soon card ( neither coincide with the right occasion ). but he'll treat them to a meal?

siwoo isn’t the best cook out there, but he knows the basics from home. mostly korean cuisine, but there’s a few japanese dishes he’s figured out to make. most of them are for quick meals or something to have while incredibly hungover or sick. yes, his juk is killer.

he 100% got toji and his lil’ once family to watch kdramas a handful of times. no one can tell me otherwise. it’s his guilty pleasure and, hey, sometimes the plot really does make a guy feel something. ( not this one, i just thought it was funny )

tries not to smoke around kids so he usually has a toothpick in his mouth instead.

yeah, he expects toji to pour for him when theyre drinking… something something being older than him

despite never talking about his own family … at all, he does occasionally go out of his way to pay respects. does the bare minimum lbr, but hey — he thinks it counts.

that being said, there have been instances where he’s attended funerals and stuck in a lit cigarette instead of incense when paying respects to the deceased ( or disrespect ig )

some part of me wants to say that some distant relative or a few of siwoo’s was probably a mudang. it’d make sense with him being able to see curses — which also makes me believe he does know some practices / exorcisms himself. he just never does it because why should he?

if you do want to know where i draw my inspiration on how siwoo would actually fight — watch the roundup ( the first one with son sukku — his character specifically )

in regards to siwoo being a top or bottom …. i just think it takes a whole lotta work to convince him for the latter. reach for the sky and above type of convincing. a shoot for the stars, but the gun misfired type of deal.

9 times out of 10, he’s keeping his clothes on during sex :/ 10 times out of 10, his partner won’t :/

likes to leave marks and press on them later. not too hard or anything ( unless his partner(s) is into that ) but more as a visual possession thing.

VERSES .

main — still working as a middleman for literally anyone for anything.

modern day — general criminal liaison, middleman, etc. can fit into any general crime and/or supernatural setting

[o0o0thorn0o0o]

I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I

Did I mention I love him? Haha, but yeah, I adore Hinata. He’s just so babyyyyyy. And every once in a blue moon, I get in this random mood just obsessing over him… which doesn’t last long because there’s, like, no new content, ackkk. I’m just looking at the same stuff over and over again ;~;

So… why not make some? I do get into bouts where I really do want to draw him but not anything substantial since I have other planned artworks. So I decided to draw the bab on his birthday… last year… but those two super late IH posts took up my time… But, yeah, can do that now, finally! (It’s still the 23rd somewhere in the world… Like, Hawaii, at least, I think. Though, I’m still very much cutting it close ^^;;)

You’ll see him pop up every now and again on this blog, but also, there’s another reason I really wanted to post about him, too. See, I made this OC back in middle school who is still very much an active one rn—it’s just, middle school me was shameless and she based him heavily on Hinata, eheh. And I wouldn’t wanna post about my OC without posting about Hinata first. 

I’ll get around to posting about that OC plus his cast sometime in the future, but yeah, it’ll be pretty obvious which one I’m talking about when I do (plus, there’s another OC who is also heavily based on another character—shameless, like I said, eheh—but that one should be pretty obvious, too… Ig the whole main trio kinda has obvious-ish basis, but the third one isn’t as obvious (unless you know who the first OC is based off of, Ig) and he’s more superficially based off another character compared to the other two. That said, they’ve all developed very much into their own characters, mm hmm. It’d be… unfortunate if they didn’t, considering they’ve been in the works since middle school…

Anywho, one last OC-related tidbit! So, while I had based the OCs off of canon characters’ appearances, personalities, and interests, things like birthdays were just based off of the vibes my characters gave me. Which is super funny, ‘cause I never looked up Hinata’s birthday until last year to know when to draw him, and wouldn’t you know it? My OC’s birthday just happens to be a day before his, pffft. I just thought my OC gave off peak summer vibes, so July was the obvious month. And he also seemed like he’d fit an identical double digit birth day, and he’s definitely more of an even than an odd. So… yeah, what a coincidence p, eheh. Ig it’s a really fitting birthday for this kinda character, eh?

Back to Hinata, though. I have very mixed opinions about maid-sama as a whole (I… rant about it every so often…), and I never thought about reading the manga… but I got desperate for Hinata content, so… yeah, I read the whole thing just for him. It was… painful at times… But it was worth it for him… I’ve got so many screenshots, eheh. That said, I don’t plan on ever revisiting it (if I want to revisit anything, it’d probably be the anime, and then, only certain episodes y’know, the ones featuring Hinata, cough, cough), but if I do, it’s to take every single screenshot of Hinata just so I never touch it again, haha. 

It’s so funny, though: Hinata’s not even one of my top five favorite guys (definitely top ten, though, but top five’s positions are set, while the rest of the five flip-flop), but I treat him a lot better than my favorite guys, pffttt. But… like… he’s so precioussssss…

Ahhhhhh, I wish there was more content for himmmm, ahhhhh…!

Anyway, I’m very much sleep-deprived rn, hence you get… all this… I’m too tired to be embarrassed at the moment; sorry, future me.

[ambystoman]

Magellany (Redo) (Nebulite)

Move out of the way, here comes the greatest adventurer in the whole damn galaxy: Magellany!

"Just call me Mag!"

She is brave, strong and... acts before thinking. She gets irritated easily, especially when people get in her way, calling them get-in-the-ways. Magellany is very rude and honest, never holding back on any comments.

She is a Nebulite, a peculiar species of sentient nebulae. Her body composition makes it possible to morph into any form as she wishes. She is not confined to a humanoid body. Her preferred weapon is her trusty Scimistar.

This magical sword is a projection of her soul which is located on her chest, in the shape of a crystal. Her power comes from this object and is also her weak point.

Nebulites have incredible capabilities for Cosmic Magic. While not on the same level as someone like Mr. Sky, they are capable of creating spontaneous life. They do so to help with tasks or do jobs that might be dangerous for them. These rudimentary organisms can last as long as the user needs them to. Their intelligence is very limited though.

Nebulites. Mag and her older sister depicted here

She is not good with this ability though since nobody taught her and so the most she can do is use raw life energy to create primitive beings that she uses as weapons.

In Soul Trail, her special attack is making a little dude that goes in a straight line and damages far away opponents. Once I restart development I plan on adding more of this ability to her move set.

She claims to hear voices from space. Her favorite animals are tarantulas and she really likes long sleeved clothing along with robes.

Random works of her made over the years

Backstory

She lives in a solitary planet with her older sister, Nube. Their parents are long gone and so her sister takes care of her and usually does what is best for her. Mag attends navigation classes at some kind of academy and she hates it there. Often daydreaming of what could be is she were able to sail out into space on a ship of her own with treasures to find, foes to defeat, and people to befriend. All in her own way without anyone telling her what to do.

Beneath all her harshness hides a lonely girl who only wants friends and a life she can have control over. Her short-lived creations are the only creatures who stay by her side.

Her creations only live for minutes. She likes to sit on the roof of her house and talk to them

One day something really big would happen that would change her whole life...

Inspiration

As mentioned in the post, she is a nebula; a space cloud. She is meant to be the Magellanic Cloud (hence her name) and her coloration is taken from NGC 2074. The powers Nebulites have of creating life is a reference to how all planets are born from nebulae, this could eventually lead to the creation of life within these planets.

She was the first character made for this project and has gone through some changes over the years.

NGC 2074. Fun fact, this photo was taken in my birthday! (Photo credit to NASA)

As for her clothes and design, I was really into Kirby at the time and so many of my early designs sort of looked like spacey Kirby-ish inspired creatures.

This was a much needed redo of my first post on Tumblr.

Her very first drawing. Made in 2019. She used to have a sort of visible skull.

Mildly annoyed. Drawn by @blaz-art

Addendum

It just came to me her outfit was totally inspired by Toon Link from The Legend of Zelda along with her proportions and body shape. Idk why I forgot lol.

Pretty busy at the moment still btw, but still making stuff.

[ethoglrl]

Adding more onto my Eyes Ears and Mouths AU (btw I made a silly little tag for it so like.. if you follow it you'll see when I post more oooooo)

So guys.. consider more info on the triplets (Pearl, Grian and Jimmy) and their backstory...

Tw for mentions of like. Difficulty getting food(?) and parental death/abandonment

----- (idk how to do a break so you have to hit "read more" to keep going im new to Tumblr bare with me here)

Pearl, Grian and Jimmy, the triplets.. their parents dead (or maybe the three just assumed they were dead.. who knows :3) and them newly orphaned, around 6..

Them three struggling for food, shelter.. everything. Hanging out in malls and small shops until they were kicked out, trying to beg for food while staying away from any law enforcement - they've heard how bad foster care could be once you were too old and how they'd split you up and they didn't even wanna try it

Them three sometimes having to split up to keep from getting caught, going to different parts of the city, whether for few hours, or days.. or weeks.. sometimes even months if they couldn't find each other. They all hated the separation, but they knew it was better than being split up permanently if they were caught

Pearl, having not only been the oldest but also looking a couple of years older than the other two, had gotten a couple of jobs young, around 13 or 14. She could never keep them long, hence the stealing even still. Besides, when you're working at a small corner store (think like a 7-11) it's easy enough to steal without many people raising eyebrows. But, eventually, she was always caught and fired, and bounced from job to job, never giving any references since she knew what they'd say, and just hoping they'd be desperate enough to hire this (appearance-wise) 15-16 year old without any proof of age or references or.. anything

She never told her brothers about any of the stealing, like where the food came from, or how she got Jimmy and Grian a slice of pie to share around their birthdays, or how one day she came home with a beaten up.. thing ("it's called a gameboy, you can play games on it .... no not games like tag, Jimmy"). She just said she was getting luckier with her begging and that's why she kept coming home much later than when she ended work

At about 15 (it was hard to count the days, but they knew their birthday was during summer) Pearl tells Jimmy. He could run faster than Grian, which mattered in a bad case scenario. Those two stealing while Grian kept begging, getting them some loose change that they saved in a plastic bag they once found, hoping to use it to get warmer clothes or blankets if they couldn't find any during winter

Eventually, maybe about 6 months after she told Jimmy, Pearl tells Grian about her stealing, and he helps. The three would clean up as best they could (so as to seem normal) then go into a mall or a small corner store and figure out what to steal. Only one would steal, the other two would be more like backup in case things went wrong

Now.. in this world, many people had powers (yet another reason they were scared of law enforcement. You never knew who would have a power that was super speed, or could freeze you still, making it easy for them to be taken into foster care) but the triplets.. didn't think they had any

Most people discovered their powers as children, even if they couldn't get the hang of them until they were adults or teenagers, but the triplets couldn't remember any time that they've had a power, so they assumed they were all powerless, which did make things more difficult but, they still got by and that's what mattered

Until one fateful day when Jimmy tries to steal a jacket to help them for the winter (even if it's a rather thin jacket)

He tries to run to the exit doors of the mall, where he can simply run among the cars and hopefully get lost, but before he can make it he gets tackled to the ground. He tries to escape the mall cop's grasp, he can't get caught and he knows there's only so long until more show up. Grian and Pearl started running over but before they could make it..

Bright yellow feathers sprouted from their brother's head, and they would see feathery wings flapping, trying to help him push up from the hard tile floor of the mall. They also saw ears floating around Jimmy's head which.. confused them. They stopped in their tracks, both confused on how the fuck their brother just transformed into some bird being when.. they were all powerless, weren't they?

Before they could get over their confusion and go over to help Jimmy, they see some ears float into the man's ears, and then the man froze. They saw Jimmy still kicking, scratching - doing anything he could to get out of the man's arms, but.. something was off with Jimmy's hands

The ends of his fingers turned into claws.. no, talons, black as the darkest night, the darkness going up his fingers where it ended.. and they could see blood coming from the man as Jimmy scratched him. And although Jimmy didn't notice it at the time, he could hear every single conversation going on in the mall, and he'd remember them all too

Pearl and Grian finally got over their shock and ran over, pulling Jimmy out of the man's grasp and the three of them running for the exit, Jimmy still holding onto the jacket and going back to his human form

When they got.. for lack of a better term, "home" (pretty much just the warmest spot they could find in an alley) they finally stopped running, and then the three finally let out their questions and confusion, although they didn't have any answers yet

Jimmy noticed how the other two treated him a bit differently after his transformation, and it worried him that one day he'd wake up and they'd be gone (Jimmy always handled separation the worst) but Pearl and Grian never considered that, they were just scared of angering Jimmy, of him attacking them like he had the man (they had all seen the news footage from a tv store, of a "yellow-feathered avian attacking a mall cop", and had seen the aftermath of the man when it was shown. They just got lucky that none of the mall's cameras had gotten a good look at Jimmy's face)

Next was Pearl. She had been running from a cop after stealing some bread, Jimmy and Grian being back at their "house" for the day, her legs so tired, almost giving out, panting for breath, unsure how the cop managed to go on but she could tell they weren't gonna stop soon.. she was slightly panicked, unsure of what to do. She couldn't let herself get caught, couldn't let her younger brothers' down.. and then, next thing she knew, she was flying, flapping wings behind her and leaving the ground

As she finally took a much needed breath, she saw the cop staring at her, mouth agape, and she flew as quick as she could (a bit wobbly but she slowly got it) to get back to her brothers, landing in the alley and seeing just how surprised and.. mildly scared they were hurt. She realized she must've made Jimmy feel this way too after he transformed.. but, as she calmed down from her panic, she went back to her human form, and told the story of how she transformed to the other too, and apologized to Jimmy for how she treated him

After that, Pearl and Jimmy tried getting Grian's powers to activate, since if they both had nearly the same thing, surely Grian did too? But no matter how hard they tried, Grian just.. didn't transform

It took to the point of Grian, Jimmy and Pearl nearly getting attacked by people who their stealing had affected for Grian to finally unlock his power. And as he transformed, the attackers ran in fright, but a few of Grian's Watchers (those little eyes, remember) followed them, shooting at them until Grian calmed down enough and they came back, disappearing to wherever with the rest

After this, the triplets worked on their powers, trying to learn of them, whether to use as a defensive measure or offensive one, but either way, it was a way to help them. Not to mention they were curious. They wanted to learn of their abilities, rather then ignoring them, as they've never seen anything like their transformations and the eyes/ears/mouths that float around their heads before

So, they learned how to trigger their powers, and practiced fighting against each other (which yes, has caused more than it's fair share of deep cuts and bed rest after but.. they needed to practice. If they couldn't defeat someone their age and roughly their size, how could they defeat a cop?) fighting or practicing triggering their transformations whenever they could, and they got pretty damn good at it too, using them whenever they were being chased or attacked without hesitation

So, for years they were small thieves, living on the streets, saving up for more, sometimes selling things they had for money. And, a few years later (and maybe a wobbly robbery but shhh they were never caught) they had enough finally for a small apartment. They would all sleep, curled up together for heat, and they cleaned up and all got jobs after getting an ID, slowly but surely. And, they (mostly) stopped stealing, not needing the food as much (usually) and they became more "normal" citizens

Well.. until one day....

-----

And bam! That's what I've got for today :3 y'all better not get too used to daily posts cause after work during the week I doubt I'll have enough energy to post but I'll try to post at least once on the weekends!!

Don't forget to follow the AU tag (Eyes Ears and Mouths AU) to see when I post or even just follow me since I doubt I'll post much else here (I don't know how to do a Tumblr)

[f0point5]

I neeeeddd to know... What were the hints of max being one of the drivers she dated??

All the hints that Max and Y/N once went on a date catalogue

- Y/N avoiding saying she had never dated Max in an Instagram q&a. She only said she and Max had never been more than friends

- Y/N taking Max to the same hotel they went for drinks at after dinner on their "date" for his birthday, hence the stroll down "memory Lane" and her saying she paid this time

- It is mentioned in a bonus part that one of Y/N's friends (Clara) said on a livestream that in 2016 she didn't even know Max and Y/N knew each other. This is a reference to why she set them up

- Y/N saying Max picked his line a long time ago is a reference to how their date was not a date.

- Y/N saying she wouldn’t take advice from Clara about what Max is into is a reference to the fact that Clara set them up thinking Max might be into Y/N and he wasn’t.

Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head that were included in the actual chapters. I probably hinted it a lot in the asks about who she dated

[buggledy]

Please continue liking/reblogging my silly posts I'm gonna vent about the two things going horribly wrong in my life rn because I can't talk about either of them publicly without making people very mad or uncomfortable.

ONE

I've been working on this collaborative project with some online... "friends" to some extent for about 2 months now. The deadline for my portion was mid-August. I am going on vacation this Saturday, I'm going to see Sarah Squirm 3 hours away on the 21st, and my irl friends who were involved in my portion return to school on the 19th. Naturally, I filmed it in early July and turned my cut in on the 19th A FULL MONTH BEFORE THE DEADLINE, AND BEFORE MY FRIENDS GO BACK TO SCHOOL. After several days, my "producers" (who aren't fucking paying me, this is a passion project. I don't think they should be using that title.) Finally said "Hey, we like your cut, but we have some small advice," and promised to get me on a call that week. It's been 10 days. I have *almost* no time to do reshoots, and I'll probably have to re-edit WHILE I'M AT THE BEACH, FOR A PROJECT I'M NOT BEING PAID FOR. And my cut is fine. I don't mind changing things, and it's not great (but at least on par with most of what they've done before...) but it's not so heinously bad that it *has* to be "fixed." I have told them my timeline, several times. There are likely to be continuity issues because it's 19 DAYS SINCE I FILMED ANYTHING AND MY HAIR GROWS FAST. Based on the little they've said, the pacing is gonna be FUCKED after I "fix" it. I'm so upset because I have historically liked these guys before, and I never wanna talk to them again at this point. Not to mention, I *HATE* dragging my real friends into this. They don't deserve it. They also aren't being paid. Very disenchanted by this whole thing. Like it's been so long that I consider the project finished. They are asking me to drag out a corpse and give it a makeover. AND I HAVE OTHER SHIT I WANNA GET STARTED ON BUT I'M STUCK IN THIS GODDAMN PURGATORY. Supposedly, they're gonna call this evening but idk how that's gonna go.

TWO

I had this friend. About 3 years ago, she reached the conclusion that I was obsessed with her and ended our friendship. Maybe she was right. I had a crush, sure, but what's obsessed? Maybe I'm just too autistic to know where the line is drawn as far as "feelings" go, beats the fuck outta me. It was early July, so naturally this is really the only time of year I think about her anymore. Besides passing references, simply because I refuse to gadlight myself into forgetting the good memories she just so happens to be in. This makes everyone around me uncomfortable, and they refuse to humor conversations the moment her name comes up. Hence why I have to talk about this here. I'm over her, but I miss talking to her every once in a while. She's cool. I have no idea what she thinks of me these days, thus, a problem arises. My friend & his boyfriend (the irl friends from the previous story) are moving back to the city she lives in within the year, and I'll return to my tradition of visiting them about once a month. Here's the thing: I feel antagonized in that city. Like I'm under constant surveillance by some secret society waiting for a perfect moment to hurt me (emotionally that is, this isn't like... extreme paranoia talking.) And thus, this is no longer an early July funk. She's on my mind a lot. I wish I could just walk up to her (or even message her, I'm still blocked) and be like "I'm coming to this city again. Once a month. We've gotta either hash this shit out, or agree to fully ignore each other in the event we encounter each other in public." But honestly, I just wish I could forget it. I wanna stop thinking about her, and being sad, and occasionally seeing her in dreams. I'd love to never have to think about her again, but my personality simply doesn't allow.

THREE

So also my grandpa died last year and his birthday is in July, so that's not been helping. Sometimes I'm a little overwhelmed by my friends because now that they know I'm never busy, they sometimes spontaneously ask me to hang out all day and that can be a lot. I'm also in the process of moving which is stressful enough, but I hate my current living situation so I wish I could just do it but honestly I don't expect to be in the new place by the end of the year.

Anyway, I like to drink liquor and all this shit is starting to make that a minor problem 👍

[bean-pole-art]

Part Of Your World

fandom: Borderlands relationship: Rhysothy, mentions of past Tim/Ember word count: 8840 rating: T warnings: references to depression and character death in the past summary: With Timothy's son's 6th birthday party, Rhys wants to make sure he can make the best impression. For all of the Lawrences.

--

happy late bday to my dear friend @ryzselo!!!!! here's a fic for their single dad Tim AU 💖

--

Rhys had never felt more nervous in his life than seconds before ringing the doorbell leading to the Lawrence house.

Hovering his finger right next to the small button, to the point of his whole hand getting way too sore and twitchy. All while his right hand gripped tightly to the carefully wrapped box, containing the gift. Maybe that was also the reason why his legs suddenly started to twitch too. Or it was the countless minutes passing with him simply standing in front of the door, not knowing what to do.

There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Simply Rhys recalling all the memories he had, especially on Timothy detailing every single thing of the party. It was supposed to be perfect, it was supposed to make Rhys look dazzling or, uh. At least semi-presentable in their eyes. Hence he now sweat till no end, hoping someone else would press the button and put him out of his misery.

The cowboy hat on his head might have added to the effect.

But then he recounted something else. The most important thing actually. They were all counting on him, he was supposed to show them he can do this. Once more, Rhys sighed loudly and shut his eyes tight.

“Keep it together, Strongfork,” he scolded himself and tensed his arms. Then with everything he had, he pressed the goddamn doorbell. Consequences be damned.

After a particularly painful second and muffled sounds of rummaging around, the doors of the promised land opened. In them stood the most beautiful man Rhys had ever seen.

read the rest here!!

[made-ofmemories]

When Life Tears You Asunder, But You’re Not Alone

(Chapter 19/20)

General Warnings/tags:

Found family, implied Wayne/Susan in future chapters, Max & Eddie have a sibling like relationship, fluff, hurt/comfort, Lumax and Steddie make appearances throughout the chapters but the primary focus is on the familial bonds between characters

Chapter specific warnings/tags: Steddie, Lumax, Susan x Wayne, Ronance, the entire gang makes and appearance this chapter (Erica and Argyle included), general found family shenanigans, tonnes of fluff, mention of period typical homophobia but again nothing aimed at the characters just an acknowledgement of it’s existence, brief mention of the aftermath of the upside down and Eddie’s scars.

Word count: 7493 (she’s a long one!)

Summary: Billy was a pretty shitty brother, there was no denying it, but Max still finds herself mourning for the sibling relationship they never got to have. With him gone she thinks so are her chances of ever having the big brother figure she’s always wanted. Then in a turn of events that she never saw coming, Eddie Munson waltzes into her life. Or more like, almost runs her over.

Notes: Well, this is it, technically this is the final chapter but we have a little epilogue planned too (hence the chapter 20 in the header) so you can look forward to that next week.

I do recommend reading on AO3 for optimal reading experience especially because this chapter is of mammoth size! We appreciate any and all comments, kudos and likes hearing what you guys think really makes our day!

Co-written with the wonderful @ladydorian05 and crossposted on AO3.

Series masterlist

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

“Can I drive?” Max asks, close on Eddie’s heels as they head to the van. Lucas follows with a little more distance.

“No.” 

“Why not?”

“Because you’ve never been out of an empty parking lot,” Eddie states, climbing into the van without waiting to hear more of her protesting.

“I have. I’ve driven before you know.” She rolls her eyes, climbing into the passenger seat as she does. He’s been teaching her to drive since her 16th birthday a few weeks ago. He’s a surprisingly good teacher despite his own erratic driving. 

“That does not count,” He says with a finger jabbed in her direction to emphasize his point. 

Ok, maybe she had been a little bit too honest with her retelling of that particular story. She has no doubt Steve has shared his own retelling too, after all, it’s half the reason he’d refused to teach her how to drive and instead nominated Eddie for the job.

“Fine but I get to pick the music.” Eddie nods, satisfied with the compromise then starts the van whilst she rifles through his collection of cassette tapes.

She isn’t looking for anything in particular, but when she plucks out Berlin’s ‘take my breath away’ single from the bottom of the pile she knows exactly what they’re listening to. She’d forgotten about it in all honesty, it was months ago that he bought it and by now she had found other things to tease him about, like how disgustingly sweet he is with his boyfriend for example. She shows it to Lucas in the back seat, careful to keep it tilted out of Eddie’s view and they share a smirk before she pops the tape into the player. 

“Seriously?” Eddie glances away from the road long enough to give her a scathing glare and a single raised eyebrow.

She responds only by bursting into song, singing along to the lyrics of the chorus in a mocking tone. Lucas joins in a few seconds later once he realizes what’s going on.

“Are you done?” Eddie asks once their singing has ceased and dissolved into a shared fit of giggles. 

“Does Steve know you have this?” Max asks, rewinding the tape before she puts it back, he’s chastised her enough times for leaving unwound tapes laying around that it’s become a habit at this point. 

“No. And he isn’t going to find out.” He tells her pointedly, “Is he?”

“Hmmm, that depends. How much is my silence worth to you?”

“Was that blackmail?” Eddie says, incredulous, “Are you trying to blackmail me? Is that what’s happening right now?”

“Yes.” She doesn’t try to pretend otherwise.

“Unbelievable.” He scoffs, as though this is not incredibly on brand for her, he really should know better by now, “Alright, what do you want?”

“Five bucks, each.” She bargains, “Those fairground rides are expensive.”

“You’re something else, you know that Red?” He says, a strange mixture of pride and disbelief coloring his voice. “I don’t even celebrate the 4th of July. I’m just here for Steve… and cotton candy, but mostly Steve,” he mutters.

They turn down the track that leads to the annual 4th of July fair, it’s more mud than road and it’s a bumpy journey. Eddie pulls out his wallet and hands over 2 five dollar bills once he's parked. Max hands one to Lucas and they both pocket their earnings quickly before he has a chance to change his mind. 

The rest of the gang is waiting for them when they get out of the van. Max can’t even remember the last time they all got to hang out like this. Nancy and Jonathan have been back for a few weeks now and even Argyle has flown in from California for the week. Max hadn’t gotten the chance to meet him after the Vecna incident last year, but Will seems to like him and Max trusts his judgment.

Nancy is talking to Robin, they started dating officially a few days after Nancy returned for summer break and they’ve been inseparable since. Jonathan is with most of the younger ones, including Erica, except for Dustin who is interrogating Steve about something whilst Steve leans against the side of his car looking unamused. His face brightens when he sees Eddie. 

Steve and Eddie share a hug that lasts just a little bit too long and Eddie steals a quick and chaste kiss that has Steve looking over his shoulder. It’s already dark out and the ‘parking lot’ for the fair isn’t much more than a field, the only lighting coming from the neon lighting of the attractions behind them, it’s secluded, no one can see them other than their friends and everyone has long crossed that bridge. 

Max understands Steve’s paranoia regardless, she doesn’t even think it’s his own reputation he’s so worried about, that’s something that Steve hasn’t cared about in a long time. But, it would be Eddie who would take the brunt of the aftermath if some idiotic, small-town homophobe saw them and Max appreciates him looking out for her brother. God knows he needs it, she’s witnessed his lack of self-preservation firsthand.

“Gross,” Max says, pushing her glasses back up with a sour expression as she passes by the pair of them. She can’t have them knowing how much she actually cares. Eddie flips her off and Steve laughs.

The larger group dissipates once they’re inside the fairground. Steve tries in vain to wrangle the younger ones for a while before giving up and settling for telling them to be careful as they rush off in different directions.

Max heads for the fairground rides with Erica, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin. El is slightly more reluctant, but Robin assures her she can stay with her and Nancy. Robin doesn’t trust those things either. Jonathan and Argyle head for the corndog stand and Steve drags Eddie off toward the selection of carnival games. 

The five dollars from Eddie as well as the money she’s been saving from her allowance gets them through the majority of the carnival rides, even with Dustin insisting they all ride the roller coaster twice. He’s trying to convince them all a third time when Max wraps her hand around Lucas’ wrist and gestures with a nod of her head for them to split from the rest of the group.

“I want to save some money. I heard they have skee-ball here this year,” She explains.

Lucas is happy to follow her, until they’re walking past the ferris wheel and he comes to an abrupt stop. It was one of the few they hadn’t been on, too slow and unexciting for the others to want to bother with it. Lucas is looking at it now with wide eyes and a hopeful expression Max knows she won’t be able to say no to.

“What do you say?” He asks looking between the wheel and Max, “Just one ride, I can pay for both of us if you want to save your money for skee-ball.”

He’s trying to convince her, but she’s already made up her mind. 

“Are you scared of heights?” They’re about halfway up when Lucas mentions it. 

“No,” She replies stubbornly. 

She isn’t… not really. But they are very high up, the carriage is swaying more than she would like and the flimsy metal bar across their laps doesn’t feel like it would do much to prevent them from plummeting down to the ground below. 

Lucas lifts his arm and she scoots under it, not because she’s scared. She isn’t, but there’s a breeze this high up and it adds a chill to the air. The striped tank top and denim shorts she’s wearing to combat the summer heat don’t help either. She’s cold, that’s all. 

The view from the top of the wheel is worth it, the sparkle of the lights below them, the contrast of the darkness of the forest around them, and the faint glow of town in the distance. It’s pretty, in its own way, when there aren’t other dimensional beings trying to tear the place apart. Max is still glad when she has both feet planted firmly on the ground.

Eddie and Nancy are sitting on a bench by the food stalls when Lucas and Max find them. They hadn’t been looking for them, just passing by on their way to find the skee-ball booth, but they stop and Max slots herself onto the bench of the picnic table next to Eddie. Lucas joins Nancy on the other side. There’s a stuffed bear on the table between them, but Max isn’t sure who it belongs to.

“Where are the others?” Max asks, already eyeing the excessively large cone of cotton candy Eddie is eating, Nancy has a small handful likely procured from said cone. 

“El went off with Will and Erica,” Eddie says, his lips and tongue stained a vibrant shade of blue from the candy, “Steve and Robin are over there.”

“Robin bet Steve that he couldn’t beat her at the ring toss,” Nancy adds with a small smirk on her face. 

Max cranes her neck to look, judging by the very heated conversation they seem to be having in front of the booth, she’d say it’s not going too well. Steve slaps another bill onto the counter and they start again. 

“Hey, can I have some?” She’s looking at Eddie’s cotton candy and he stares back at her with an expression that says ‘I can’t believe you would dare ask me that’. He’s always protective over his food, especially when it comes to candy, she always gets her way anyway. 

“No.”

She rolls her eyes at him for the second and likely not the last time that evening and grabs a handful anyway. He makes a weak noise of protest, but doesn’t actually do anything to stop her then sighs in defeat and looks to Lucas, now the only one without any candy and reluctantly tilts the cone in his direction so he can grab some. 

“Oh, that’s ok I-”

“Take the damn candy before I change my mind, Sinclair.”

The cotton candy is long gone, shared between the four of them, by the time Steve and Robin return. Robin is holding a stuffed elephant which she triumphantly sets onto the table before she squishes onto the bench next to Lucas.

“You didn’t win that did you?” Nancy asks, all soft smiles and amusement.

“No. I did not,” Robin says, sounding no less proud. 

“Wait-” Steve says, narrowing his eyes. He’s taken a seat beside Max, squishing her between him and Eddie so tightly she can barely move her arms without elbowing one of them in the ribs. The benches really aren’t meant for 3 people to sit comfortably, “Was that whole thing just a scheme to get me to win that stupid elephant for you?”

She gasps, covering the ears of the stuffed elephant as if it might somehow overhear, at this point sentient stuffies wouldn’t even be that surprising, “Her name is Ellie and she is not stupid,” Robin informs him with mock offense, “But yeah, me and Nancy spent like 5 bucks trying to win that thing,” she admits, seeming unphased. She reaches over in front of a chuckling Lucas and holds out her hand to Nancy who high-fives her.

“You know you could have just asked.” Steve pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“Steve! Steve!” Dustin calls, rushing towards them with the others close behind him before Steve can say anything else.

Max feels Steve’s whole body tense beside her. It doesn’t take much work to figure out why. It’s the first time they’ve tried to enjoy the holiday after the mind flayer. Last year they had bunkered down in the Wheeler’s basement with the volume on the radio turned up as loud as it would go to drown out the sound of the fireworks. Max tried to forget as much of that day as possible, all it did was stir up bad memories and the grief she was only just beginning to come to terms with. Steve relaxes almost instantly when Dustin asks for money. 

“Seriously, Henderson? This is exactly why I told you to save up for today!”

“And I did, but we had to test how many times we could ride the rollercoaster before feeling sick,” He explains and Max grimaces glad she and Lucas left when they did, “And I forgot I told Suzie I would win something for her”

Suzie was visiting in a few weeks time, just before the end of summer break, thanks to some inventive planning on Argyle and Eden's behalf. Dustin hasn’t stopped talking about it ever since the idea was brought up. 

“You should have thought about that before spending all your money on a single ride.”

“I didn’t spend it all!”

“Then why are you asking me for money?”

“Because, unlike some people, it’s going to take me more than 2 tries to win anything at all.”

“Alright, come on.” Steve lets out a huff, looks over to Max and Eddie with a ‘can you believe this guy?’ expression before he stands, finally giving Max some room to breathe again, “I’ll give you some pointers, I don’t want to end the night with an empty wallet.” 

They all know he’s going to be leaving with an empty wallet regardless. They’ve all spent their money on carnival rides and games. Soon they’ll get hungry and it’ll be Steve who makes sure everyone is fed.

“Well, we’re off to look for the skee-ball stand,” Max says standing up from the bench. Steve and Dustin have left to find a ‘suitable gift’ among the many game stalls and attempt to win it for Suzie and Nancy has dragged Robin by the hand towards the booth selling caramel apples, “Let’s go Lucas.”

“I think I saw it that way, Red,” Eddie says pointing in the opposite direction Dustin and Steve took before Mike is grabbing at his sleeve, attempting to tug him along with him and Erica. Eddie glares at him, there was a time that might have worked and Mike would have withdrawn as if he’d been burnt, but not anymore.

“Come on Eddie, let’s go to the Haunted house.”

“Jesus kid. You survived actual real monsters and you still want to go inside a fake haunted house?”

“They’re just losers in makeup, how scary can they be?” Erica says joining Mike in the ‘Pull on Eddie’s sleeves’ game.

“Jeez alright, alright. Stop pulling on my clothes. But you’re taking the fall if I end up punching someone on instinct.” 

Eddie turns to look at El and Max’s gaze follows. She looks uncertain and it occurs to Max that it’s unlikely she knows anything about the fake haunted houses found at fairs like this one, designed to scare people for fun. Her only experience with a haunted house is probably the very real creel house and that hadn’t exactly been a fun time for any of them. Now Eddie is talking about monsters, something they all, but especially El, have had enough of for a lifetime it’s understandable that she’d be uncertain. 

“Here El, could you hold onto Samwise for me?” Eddie hands El the stuffed bear, which she receives with a smile, “Keep him safe for me in there Supergirl.” So it was Eddie’s bear after all.

“You can come play skee-ball with us if you want to, El. We’ll try to get the biggest prize they have,” Lucas suggests.

“What is skee-ball?” El asks, sounding confused. “Is it like basketball?”

She has played basketball before, with Steve and Lucas, in the outdoor community court they usually practiced in. But she hadn’t been much of a fan and soon joined Max and Will on the sidelines with their comic books, they refused to play too for the most part instead opting for the role of ‘moral support’.

“Oh, you’re definitely coming with us now.” Max smiles, linking one of her arms with El’s, “How have we been friends this long but I haven’t introduced you to skee-ball?” 

“What about you Will the wise?” Eddie asks, “It’s fine if you’d rather play Skee-ball.”

“I’m good with going to the haunted house, I want to know if they’ve finally fixed the twitchy animatronics.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s find out! Lead the way, Will the wise!” Eddie pulls Will towards him in a one-armed hug. “Red, El, Lucas,” He calls before they can sneak off, “Do you remember where the reunion point is?” 

“The picnic tables by the food stalls.” The three of them answer together, Max makes sure to say it in a petulant tone. Steve has repeated it enough times by now that she thinks the words are ingrained into her brain for the rest of eternity, it’s probably the only reason Eddie brought it up.

“Good! Onwards, my hobbits! To the house of horrors!” 

“Hobbit?” Erica asks, unamused. Max hears the beginning of her spiel about how she’s an elf if anything, that he should know better, but they don’t get far before the din of the crowd around them drowns out the rest of the conversation.

They find the skee-ball stall relatively easily. It’s one of the larger booths, full of flashing lights and a selection of huge stuffed animals almost as large as Max displayed above the machines, there are some smaller prizes scattered around the stall too, some hanging from the walls and others stacked neatly in rows atop any available surface.

El picks up the rules quickly after a brief explanation from Max and they hand over the money for their first game.

“Do you want me to hold Samwise?” Max asks, gesturing to the stuffed bear El is still hugging close to her chest when she steps up to take her turn after watching Lucas and Max’s technique carefully.

“No. That’s ok. Eddie asked me to take care of him.”

El turns out to have pretty good aim, but even between the three of them, they struggle to wrack up more than a couple of hundred points each game.

“It’s all in the wrist,” Lucas insists, not for the first time, as El prepares to take her turn. They’ve blown through almost all of their money and all they’ve managed to win is a pink piggy bank that feels like it might break if you so much as look at it funny, a bottle of bubble solution plus bubble wand, a stress ball, and the best one yet, a small plushie of a panda that’s also a coin purse. El called dibs on that one, placing it inside the right pocket of her shorts.

“I swear this thing is rigged!” Max complains. 

They are gathered a few feet away from the stall to assess how much money they have left between the three of them, it isn’t much, and then comes the dilemma of whether or not it was worth spending the last of their cash trying in vain to get something better than one of the smaller cheap prizes.

“Max, most carnival games are rigged.” Lucas offers her the stress ball, but she just looks down at it and then back at him with a deadpan expression. Really?

“I know, but with 5 balls per game they all need to go inside the big numbers to get any of the good prizes!” Max exclaims, “They knew what they were doing when they made the best prize 500 points!”

“Maybe we can try again, just once more.”

“It’s useless, we’ll just get more cheap prizes. It’s a miracle we got that coin purse.” She turns to gesture to it, El has been holding onto it and Samwise the bear since they won it, but she isn’t there, “Wait, where’s El?”

“What? She’s- Holy shit. She was just here. Steve is going to kill us, he’s been preaching his buddy system all night long and we just lost El!”

“Forget about Steve, the Chief is going to kill us if anything happens to her!”

He was already nervous about letting her out without him or Joyce around, especially somewhere as crowded as this and on tonight of all nights. Max is pretty sure it had taken a lot of sweet talking from Jonathan and Steve as well as some begging from Will and El herself for him to finally agree to it. 

“She’ll be ok. She knows how to look after herself,” Lucas assures her though she thinks it might be more for his own sake than hers, “We just need to think. What could possibly get her attention enough to separate from us?”

“Look around, Lucas! Have you seen this place? She loves everything in here,” Max says, exasperated. They’re never going to find her. She just hopes it’s not Steve who runs into her first, otherwise Lucas might be right, he really will kill them before Hopper even gets a chance.

“Shit, you’re right.” Lucas opens his mouth, about to start screaming El’s name but he stops when suddenly there’s a commotion coming from the Skee-ball stall.

“WE HAVE A WINNER!!” One of the people attending the stall shouts before turning to get the huge plushie El is pointing at down from its spot dangling from the ceiling,“Here you go young lady.”

“Thank you.” 

That’s when they see El, a tissue held to her nose with one hand, she has Samwise tucked under the same arm as she uses the other to reach out and accept her prize.

“You sure you’re okay kid? There’s a first aid tent close to the mechanic bull,” The man behind the stall is saying as they get closer.

“I’m sure, thank you. I get them a lot.”

“El!” Lucas exclaims, a beaming smile on his face. Max isn’t far behind.

“She’s with us we’ll make sure she gets checked out,” Max lies to the stall attendant, she already knows what actually caused the nosebleed, the guy seems to believe her though which is good enough for her.

“By the way, good technique kid.”

“It’s all in the wrist,” El repeats Lucas’ advice with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

They duck down one of the alleyways between stalls until they find a more secluded area away from the fuss of the carnival before they finally explode with the excitement they’ve been fighting down.

“Oh my god. I can’t believe you just did that!” Max shrieks, her smile so wide it makes her cheeks hurt.

“You said they are rigged, that means they are cheating, right?”

“Right,” Lucas confirms, he has a smile to match Max’s.

“So, if they are cheating, I can cheat too.” El says, shrugging her shoulders, “Just don’t tell my dad.”

“We swear, El.” Lucas says laughing in disbelief.

“Here,” El struggles for a moment with the big, green and yellow dragon plush “you can have it Max.”

“But, you won it.”

“Because you wanted it.” El says with a big smile.

“Well, yeah, but not for me. When I saw it was a dragon I knew Eddie would like it.” She admits bashfully.

“Then give it to Eddie. I also think he will like it.” 

“Thank you, El” Max doesn’t know what she ever did to deserve a friend as sweet as El, but she is truly thankful to have her in her life, “C’mon let's go find the others.”

El is having fun blowing bubbles on the way to the meeting point, occasionally passing the tube over to Max who will take her turn to blow some bubbles before handing it back. Lucas is carrying the obnoxiously large plushie on his back as they weave their way through the crowds.

“Hey,” Steve waves them over once he sees them approaching.

They’ve moved two tables together to make a single long one. Nancy and Robin are sharing a basket of cheese fries, next to them Steve is slurping a slushie, on the other side of the table Dustin is eating a burger. Max can tell even from the distance that he’s talking with his mouth full. Some things never change. Jonathan and Argyle seem preoccupied with mixing about 4 different kinds of food.

“Have you eaten yet?” Steve asks as the three of them take their seats on the benches. El slots in next to Robin and Nancy, Max and Lucas make Dustin budge up towards Jonathan and Argyle and take a seat next to him. 

“Not yet,” El replies, Max and Lucas shake their heads.

“That won’t do, alright, What do you shitheads want?” Steve asks looking at Lucas and Max, “You too El, what do you want?”

“Burger with fries!” Lucas is the first to answer.

“A corn dog! No, wait, make that two. Don’t forget the ketchup.” Max adds.

“It wouldn’t kill you to say please, guys.” Steve mutters.

“Do they have Eggos?”

“I don’t think so. But they might have waffles. Anything else you want if they don’t?”

“Umm,” El thinks for a bit, “Corn dog? Please.”

Robin stands and follows Steve over to the food stalls without a single word passed between the two of them. She returns with two corn dogs in hand for Max and Steve follows closely after with Lucas’ burger in one hand and the plate of waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream in the other.

“It’s not an Eggo extravaganza, but I asked for extra whipped cream,” Steve says, placing the styrofoam plate in front of her.

“Thank you, Steve.”

“No problem, kiddo.” They dig into their food with gusto, chatting amongst themselves as they wait for the others. Max ends up sharing one of her corndogs with El in exchange for a chunk of waffle and cream.

“There they are!” They hear before they see Eddie approaching them. Erica, Will and Mike, laughing behind him. “You guys won’t believe what happened!”

“I’m pretty sure you’re about to tell us anyway,” Nancy says with a smile.

“And you’d be right. We got kicked out of the haunted house!”

“They can do that?” Dustin asks, licking his fingers, Steve gives him a look and tosses a napkin at him.

“Apparently,” Will answers, taking a seat next to El.

“But why did they kick you guys out?” Robin asks, her chin resting in her hand as she leans against the table.

“They didn’t seem to like that we were laughing at them instead of screaming,” Erica explains, sitting beside Lucas and stealing a fry from his paper plate.

“Hey! Hands off!” Lucas scolds, batting her hand away. She reaches over and steals a handful in retaliation.

“You’ve been taking good care of him for me?” Eddie asks, reaching over to tug one of Samwise the bear’s ears.

El nods, “We got something for you,” She says looking at Max across the table.

Max nudges Lucas who gets the hint and helps her lift the huge plushie from behind them onto the table. It isn’t heavy, but it does take some maneuvering to get it onto the table without knocking any of the empty plates off. 

“El won it playing skee-ball,” Max explains.

“We want you to have it though,” El clarifies. 

Eddie takes the enormous plushie and inspects it with a smile, “His name will be Smaug,” He announces. Steve shakes his head with a fond smile apparently not without Eddie noticing, “It’s from-”

“The Hobbit, I know, you made me read the books, remember?” Steve asks.

“Oh, don’t give me that look, sweetheart. I know you loved them.”

“Oh my god, you’ve turned him into a nerd,” Robin teases with a fake gasp.

“One of us! One of us!” Dustin chants, banging a fist against the table, Mike, Lucas, and Will join in a second later.

“Alright, alright, knock it off buttheads,” Steve says, raising his voice and kicking at Dustin's shin under the table.

“Jesus, careful with the goods, Steve.” Dustin grumbles. 

“Are you done, Henderson?” Steve asks with a glare that Dustin seems to take as a challenge as he narrows his own eyes in return.

“Alright,” Robin says, slamming both hands down on the table, the noise is loud enough that both Steve and Dustin’s attentions snap to her as well as a few others, “That’s enough of whatever that was,” She gestures between Steve and Dustin who are giving her petulant looks in return, “Steve, the others haven’t eaten yet, maybe we should go get some food, yeah?”

Steve, ever the mother hen, agrees without hesitation. Everyone lapses back into a familiar kind of easy chatter whilst those who hadn’t eaten earlier do so. Lucas steals a handful of fries to replace the ones she had taken from him earlier and at the other end of the table, Jonathan and Argyle are creating chaos with their latest food creation.

“Come on, Mike, just a taste.” Jonathan insists, pushing what looks to be a corn dog covered in whipped cream and sprinkled with crushed nachos and waffle, or maybe it’s churros Max can’t tell and has no desire to find out.

“Ándale, mijo! Just a little bite.”

“No way, the sweet-to-salty ratio is way off!” 

“That’s what you said about the pizza,” El reminds him, “and you liked that.”

“Yeah, it’s not that bad,” Eddie comments, twirling an empty corn dog stick between them as he talks, “Live a little, Mike.”

“Of course, you would like it,” Max scrunches up her nose, her top lip curling just a little.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re a human garbage disposal.”

Eddie splutters out an indignant noise of protest, but Steve chimes in before he gets a chance to form any kind of coherent words.

“She has a point.”

“Who’s side are you on?” Eddie asks and Steve only shrugs in response.

“Hey,” Nancy says in an attempt to get their attention, “Guys!” 

She places two fingers into her mouth and whistles, loudly. It works, earning her the attention of everyone except for Argyle and Eddie. The pair of them had become fast friends, to the surprise of absolutely no one. 

“The fireworks will be starting soon, we still have time to make it back to our basement if we leave now,” She explains.

There’s silence, eyes flickering from face to face but no one dares to speak up until Jonathan finally breaks the ice.

“It’s your call guys, but no one here is going to judge you for wanting to leave.”

Max knows he’s right. They’ve been trying to reclaim some of the things the Upside down had taken from them piece by piece, whether that was finally being able to hang Christmas lights for the festive season again or just being here celebrating the 4th of July. 

It was a slow process. Steve still had panic attacks wherever the lights would flicker unexpectedly, some nights Will couldn’t sleep without a nightlight, and there were days when Eddie refused to look at his own reflection because the sight of the scars littering his body brought back memories he wishes he could forget. Max still had her own struggles too, the nightmares weren’t as frequent but they were just as intense whenever they did make an appearance. 

“We should vote,” Steve suggests, “but if we’re going to stay it has to be unanimous.”

There’s a chorus of agreement and nodding heads in response. Steve makes them all close their eyes when they vote, all 13 hands raise when he asks who wants to stay.

“It’s settled then, we stay,” Erica says, once Steve gives the go-ahead for them to open their eyes. She stands up, “Come on then, what are we waiting for? We need to find a good place to watch from. I swear if the mobs take all the good places one of you losers is lifting me on your shoulders so I can watch.” 

They find a spot a little way out from the center of the carnival attractions, atop a small incline. It’s a good spot, perhaps not the best, but it has the added bonus of no one else being around. 

Lucas’ grip on her hand tightens at the first explosion, “Are you ok?” She leans over to whisper and drops the issue when he nods. He knows he can tell her the truth, can tell them all the truth, after all, who have they got if not each other? No one else is going to believe them when they start talking about interdimensional monsters and super-powered children.

The display only lasts a few minutes and they leave soon after once it’s established everyone is ok. They say their goodbyes as they all part ways towards their assigned vehicles. Jonathan, Eddie, Nancy, and Steve are the designated drivers, Lucas leaves with Erica, Mike, and Robin in Nancy’s car and the others split between Steve and Jonathan's cars. 

Jonathan and Nancy are parked the closest to the carnival grounds and their groups separate from the others first, leaving Steve, Eddie, Max, and Dustin to search for their vehicles.  After a brief moment of confusion ending in the four of them wandering in circles, Dustin insisting they parked in one direction and Steve insisting it was the other way, the cars are finally in sight. 

“Hey, Red,” Eddie calls on the approach to the van, he’s a few steps ahead of her with Smaug hoisted onto his back in something resembling a piggyback. He moves both of the plushy's stuffed front legs into one hand and digs through the pocket of his jeans with the other. He turns to face her, “catch.”

“Are you serious?” She asks through a bright smile when the keys to the van land in her hands.

“Gotta get out on the roads eventually right?” He asks, still walking backward. 

“Hey, can I drive?” Dustin asks Steve. Max knows he’s been teaching him, but given the expression on Steve’s face, she thinks he trusts him even less than Eddie trusts her when it comes to driving.

“Not today, Henderson.”

Dustin is about to protest but is cut off by Eddie causing a commotion when he almost trips over El who is standing by the van. She is most definitely not meant to be there.

“I forgot to return Samwise,” She explains, holding out the bear. It hasn’t left her arms the entire night. 

“You know what,” Eddie says, gently pushing the bear back towards her and sparing a glance at Steve. Max watches an entire conversation she can’t decipher pass through a single glance before Eddie turns back to El, “Why don’t you keep him?”

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, now go on, Jonathan will worry if you’re not back soon.”

“Thanks, Eds!”

They hang back until they see her climb into Jonathan's car, or rather Joyce’s car that Jonathan had borrowed, it's just visible through the maze of other cars. Steve and Dustin leave and Max climbs into the driver’s seat of the van while Eddie places Smaug in the back.

She’s way more relaxed about pulling out of the parking lot and onto the busy streets of Hawkins, well as busy as they can be in their small town, than she thought she’d be when the actual moment arrived. Eddie is less relaxed, he’s trying to hide it, but the stiff set of his shoulders and the fact that they’ve been driving for more than a few minutes without some kind of music blaring through the speakers gives it away.

The roads quieten once they’re off the main street and away from the chaos of the carnival grounds and Eddie relaxes considerably, finally reaching over to mess with the stereo. He ejects the last tape they listened to on the drive to the carnival and Max hears the telltale sound of plastic cassette cases clattering against each other as he searches for a new one.

He’s placing the newly selected  tape into the stereo and she knows she should keep her eyes on the road, but she wants to know which one he chose and it’s not like they’ve passed any other cars for a while now anyway. A quick glance won’t hurt.

At first, she can’t quite figure out what’s different, but there’s something about Eddie’s left hand that’s making some noise in the back of her mind. He always wears the same jewelry and she starts to go through a mental checklist of it all. Leather strap and woven wristbands on his wrist? Check. One, two, three, four rings? Che- Wait a minute…Four rings? He only wears three on his left hand.

And sure enough, right there, a small shiny black skull is adorning his pinky. It’s plastic unlike the others, but it doesn’t look out of place.

“That one’s new.” Max mutters under her breath.

“Huh? Did you say something, Max?” Shit, for once she wishes he had cranked up the speakers to the usual deafening volume.

“When did you get a new ring?”

“What?”

“The new ring. On your left hand, pinky finger.” She glances over and takes one hand off the wheel to point. 

“Whoa! Eyes on the road, Mayfield and both hands on the wheel. Don’t make me ask you to pull over.”

“Okay! Okay! Jesus, no need to get your panties in a twist,” She huffs, making a dramatic show of placing her hand firmly back onto the wheel, “But seriously, when did you get it?”

“Uh, today.”

“You won it?”

“Noo.”

“If you didn’t win it then wher- Oh, Steve won it for you, didn’t he?” It’s more of a statement than a question, she already knows the answer just from the brief glance she manages to steal at his expression without being scolded for taking her eyes off the road again. “When did he even give it to you? You didn’t have it when we re-grouped to eat.”

“That’s nona.”

“Really? Nona my business?” She scoffs, “How mature. Was it before or during the fireworks? I bet it was during, Steve seems romantic like that.”

“Wha- what didn’t Lucas give you something?” It’s a clear attempt to avoid her question, which is an answer in itself. She was definitely right. 

“He let me keep the stress ball and a piggy bank that didn’t survive the night.”

“Damn, I thought he’d be better at those games than the others.”

“Don’t judge him, that Skee-ball was hella rigged and we spent too much on the rides.”

“All of the games are rigged, Red.”

“Lucas said the same thing!”

“He’d be right. Wait, so… How did Supergirl manage to win Smaug?” She gives him a look and a tilt of her head, “Aaaah, her powers?” She nods, “Damn, what an advantage.”

“I’m glad we stayed for the fireworks. Today was a good day.” She catches Eddie’s nod from the corner of her eye, “Also I- I know I didn’t say anything earlier but I wanted to say thank you. For coming to the cemetery with me this morning. I know he was an asshole, but-” She stalls, spluttering out a few half words as she tries to organize her thoughts.

Two years on and she likes to think she’s started to come to terms with Billy’s death. The guilt no longer gnaws at her and she can think about him without a pit forming in her stomach. 

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Red. I get it, and you’re welcome, it was no problem.”

Max parks the van in its usual spot outside of Eddie’s trailer side by side with Wayne’s old truck. Eddie has to remind her about the parking brake, but other than that she thinks she does a pretty good job. 

Wayne and Susan are across the road on the porch of the Mayfield’s trailer. Max already knew her mom was going to wait up for her, Wayne must have decided to keep her company. There’s two empty plates stacked on the little plastic table between them. 

“They seem to be doing that a lot lately.”

“Huh? What? Who?”

“My mom and Wayne, hanging out,” Max points out, “Do you think they might have something going on?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie hums, “but I think Wayne likes her, as in more than a frie-”

“Please don’t say it. It’s weird, she’s my mom.”

“You’d be opposed?”

“I mean… If they get together and everything goes well, we'd have to live together.” She says feigning disgust, “I don’t know if I could put up with seeing your face every day.”

“Ha. Ha, Mayfield.” He punches her right arm softly, “You already put up with me every day by choice,” he reminds her, it’s true they’ve barely gone more than a day without interacting in some way for months now, “But seriously, would you be against it?” 

She thinks about it for a moment, considering her answer.

“Not really,” she sighs, “I mean, I know Wayne is a good dude,”

“The best of dudes.” 

“And we’ve already kind of adopted each other as siblings,”

“Naturally.”

“Stop interrupting and let me finish, you shithead!” she exclaims in exasperation, “My point is, I just want her to be happy and if Wayne makes her happy, who am I to go against it?”

“Her daughter, Max. And I’m sure she’ll care a lot about your opinion.” she hums in contemplation.

“I’m not calling Wayne dad, though.” She scrunches her nose up and Eddie bursts out laughing.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think he’d ask you to call him that. Besides, it’ll probably be weirder for him if you ever did.”

“Let’s get out of here, I’m tired,” Max says and Eddie follows without protest. He grabs Smaug from the back of the van and follows her over to her trailer.

“Eddie finally let me drive, like, actually drive out on the streets,” Max announces to Wayne and her mom without greeting.

“That’s great, sweetheart!” Susan says with a gentle smile.

“How was the Carnival? You kids had fun?” Wayne asks.

“Same old. Overpriced food, rigged games, rides with questionable security measures.” Eddie shrugs, “It was good!”

“I hope you have savings Wayne, ‘cus I’m sure Steve is one step closer to proposing to Eddie.” 

Susan had known about Steve and Eddie for a while now. Max was a little nervous about it when he first told her his plan, but she didn’t have anything to worry about in the end. Her mom had congratulated him and pulled him in for a hug that Eddie clung to for as long as he could.

“Max!” Eddie hisses.

“Now what’s that about?”

“He won a ring for Eddie, show him, show him!”

Eddie groans and makes a fuss about it, but slips off the too-small ring and tosses it to Wayne who catches it with ease. He makes a show of inspecting it as if he’s an expert jeweler, even going as far as to take his glasses out of his shirt’s pocket.

“Well, it’s a little on the cheap side, but it’s your style. Steve’s on a good path.” He tosses the ring back and Eddie puts it on again, “You can tell him he doesn’t need to come ask for your hand. I approve.”

“Do you think he’s proposing with a silver or a gold band?” Max asks

“50 bucks says it’ll be gold,” Wayne says, sounding confident in his decision.

“Are you for real?” Eddie looks between them in disbelief, “You’re really betting on my love life now?”

“You’re on, I say it’ll be silver!” Max adds, completely ignoring Eddie and his protests.

“You two are forgetting one crucial bit of information,” Eddie points out, ”it’s illegal, we can’t get married.”

“That’s besides the point, Eddie.” Max says with a sigh, as if he’s being the unreasonable one here.

“How is that besides the point!?”

“I think it’ll be silver… with some kind of black or dark stone.” Susan chimes in.

“I’m doomed. That’s it, I’ve heard enough. I’m going to sleep.” He turns around making his way towards his trailer.

“Oh, come on son!” Wayne calls, just barely holding back a laugh.

“Nope! From now on, Smaug here is the only one I trust to have my back!” He shouts holding the dragon above his head, “Goodnight to you bunch of meddlers!”

“10 bucks says he’ll be back in 5 minutes,” Max says to Wayne with a grin.

“You’re on, kiddo.”

She wins that bet when Eddie comes back asking if anyone else is feeling hungry, despite the amount of food he had inhaled at the fair, Max doesn’t know how he does it sometimes. 

They move inside, the four of them crowded into the too-small living space. A hodgepodge mixture of people that somehow come together to make a family. She never thought she’d be so thankful for Eddie almost hitting her with his van all those months ago.

[rayland04]

Jegulus meeting for the first time in my new fic:

This winter was especially harsh, only ridiculously insane people would go out in weather like this. Hence why Sirius was currently dragging Regulus out into the street. 

Regulus was taller than Sirius by a few inches, but Sirius was freakishly strong when he was stubborn enough to be. Sirius had pulled him out of bed promising tonight would be the best birthday yet. They were walking across the icy road towards the Pettigrews’. They had a new foreign exchange student that flew in the beginning of term; James Potter. 

He was from a small town in Mexico. Regulus has never spoken to him, but Sirius got strangely close very quickly. Regulus almost felt bad for Peter suddenly becoming the third wheel. James was tall and his skin was a dark color from days in the sun. His hair wild and untamed paired with silver round glasses. Regulus has only seen him from the safety of his house. James wore a pair of American dog tags that Regulus desperately wanted to ask about. 

Sirius led Regulus around the house and through the back gate. Once through, Regulus could see James and Peter bundled close to a bonfire. He had gotten used to having Peter at his birthdays, now he had to share them with Potter too? 

“Fifty foot waves are impossible!” Peter shook his head in disbelief at James. 

“Evenin’ gentleman.” Sirius clapped James on the shoulder, who just smiled at him. 

“The fire just started to get warm.” Peter smiled at Sirius. Regulus could see the hope in his eyes, like he wanted Sirius’ approval again. 

Sirius shifted closer to the fire. “It’s bloody freezing out here.” 

“Language.” Regulus chided, head snapping towards James when he started laughing. It was a warm powerful laugh that burrowed its way into Regulus’ bones. 

James cleared his throat. “Sorry,” He rubbed his hands together. “No one really stands up against Padfoot.” 

Regulus’ heart thumped against his chest harshly. James had a thick accent, not like their English accents, but a deeper one that hit the words in a funny way. It was - nice. Regulus has never heard anything like it. 

“It wasn’t that funny.” Regulus looked back to the flames, ignoring Sirius’ curious stare. 

This was new. His chest felt tight and his hands were all sweaty. He was hyper aware of James standing off to his right. Regulus turned sixteen in minutes, his father had warned him about how things would change once he got older. Sirius went through a time where he would only talk about girls and how their bodies looked. Regulus tried to see what Sirius saw the next time they were out. He didn’t understand the fascination with womens’ bodies. Regulus figured he would grow into the attraction just like Sirius had. 

So this was new. Regulus stole a glance towards James again. He was chatting in a foreign language with Peter. Sirius had mentioned that it was a little difficult to talk with James without Peter there. James spoke enough English to get by, understanding it better than anything. Orion spoke French before he spoke English, but Walburga didn’t understand a word so they hardly spoke it at home. He wondered if James only spoke Spanish at home, or if he had to practice before flying to London. 

“Oi, no secret conversations without me.” Sirius elbowed James in the ribs. 

“No secrets.” James promised. Much to Regulus’ horror, James turned his attention to him. “I got you - how you say - Regalo, te tengo un regalo?” 

“A gift.” Peter smiled proudly. “James got you a gift.” 

Regulus’ felt his cheeks heat up, blaming it on the cold air. “We don’t even know each other.” 

“Reg.” Sirius glared at his brother. “Be nice.” 

“I am being nice.” 

James gave a small chuckle. Regulus didn’t know what about this he was finding funny. “It’s okay, Padfoot. My mama always says to - ah.” James waved his hand through the air as he searched for the words. “Give back?” 

James sounded so unsure, Regulus almost smiled at him. “You don’t have to give me anything if I haven’t given you anything.” 

“Call it a favor then.” James reached into his pocket but Sirius stopped him. 

“I always give him the first gift.” Sirius grabbed Regulus’ wrist to check the time. It was the same watch Peter had given him years ago. “And it’s officially little Reggie’s birthday.” 

Sixteen. It should feel like a huge milestone. Something should be changing inside of him, but Regulus didn’t feel anything. Well, he didn’t feel anything when he wasn’t looking at James. Sirius pulled out an envelope from his back pocket, offering it to Regulus. He took it carefully, the return address was from their favorite uni. 

“You didn’t-” 

“I did.” 

Regulus tore open the letter. Sirius had gotten his acceptance letter a few weeks back. Walbugra thought it was a good decision to start applying to universities as soon as possible. Sirius joked about sending in Regulus’ application as well. He didn’t think Sirius had actually done it. 

Regulus had never read something so quickly in his life. 

Dear Mr. Regulus Arcturus Black

We are happy to congratulate you on the acceptance into the University of Nottingham for the fall term of 20XX. On behalf of past, present, and future Nottingham students everywhere, welcome to our family!

Regulus read the first paragraph over and over again. His smile grew so wide, his face hurt. He looked up at the man who made this all possible. “We’re going to uni together.” 

Sirius whooped and tackled Regulus into a bear hug. They were both laughing and on the verge of crying. The relief Regulus felt was indescribable. They would be going to the same uni at the same time. Regulus didn’t have to spend any more time in that house then he needed to. 

“Okay, okay! It’s our turn to give Regulus gifts!” Peter laughed and nudged Sirius away. Regulus was gripping the letter so hard, he didn’t think he could open any other presents. 

“Don’t know if our gifts make little Reggie the happy he is now.” Regulus’ heart gave a sharp tug when James called him Reggie. 

“Sirius always makes him happier than anyone else. Doesn’t mean he won’t enjoy our gifts.” Peter offered a small package. Regulus managed to hand off his letter to Sirius before he opened Peter’s gift. It was two small cufflinks that had the engravings ‘R.A.B.’ 

“Thank you Peter.” Regulus smiled at the shorter boy, who looked thrilled at the praise. Regulus knew Peter went to his parents for gift ideas. Sure, they were more expensive gifts, but Peter managed to make them somewhat personal. The watch he was wearing was engraved on the inside with the quote, ‘For some a prologue. For some an epilogue.’ 

“Mrs. Black had mentioned to my mum that you needed new cufflinks for your new suit.” 

“I don’t have a new suit.” Regulus placed the cufflinks in his coat pocket. 

Peter turned bright red at the realization. “Surprise?” 

Sirius snickers. “Nice going, Wormtail.” 

“Those nicknames are disturbing.” Regulus shook his head. He wasn’t too bothered with having his parents' gift spoiled. He got a suit at every occasion, wasn’t anything special. As soon as a suit stopped fitting right, Walburga replaced it with three new ones. 

“You’re just jealous you got stuck with Reggie.” Sirius ruffled Regulus’ hair, much to his dismay. 

“Reggie is still better than Padfoot. What does that even mean?” 

“James called me a - what was it?” Sirius hit James’ chest. 

“Perro.” Regulus really needed James to stop speaking for the sake of his heart. 

“Means dog.” Peter said. 

“Suits you.” Regulus felt a smirk tugging at his lips. 

Sirius gasped, placing his hand over his heart dramatically. He leaned into James and looked up at him. “Did you hear him, Prongs? A dog? Me?” 

James sniggered. “How dare he.” 

“You understand me.” Sirius hummed happily. “Don’t ever leave me.” 

“No plans to.” James nudged Sirius’ playfully. 

“I won’t ever leave you either, Padfoot.” Peter stepped towards them, wanting to be a part of whatever this was. 

“Cheers, Pete.” 

“My turn now.” James shoved Sirius gently to the side. Regulus inhaled sharply in expectation. He believed that anything James gave him would be amazing. 

James pulled out a small wrapped box from his pocket. It was colorful in the lights of the fire, red and gold like Sirius’ room. Regulus took the box from James, careful not to touch him in the process. He felt James’ eyes in him as he unwrapped the box. Regulus need to have the right reaction to this, even if it was-

“Bloody hell.” 

“Language, Reg.” 

Regulus didn’t look up from the old coin that was looking back at him. The symbol was slightly weathered down from years under the sea. He ran his thumb over the coin in awe. It was a Spanish copper Maravedis "cob", dated 1690. "Pirate Money" of Carlos II, it was incredibly rare to own one of these coins without spending thousands of dollars. Most coins that were sold were fakes, or replicas of these coins.

“What is it?” Sirius moved to glance over Regulus’ shoulder. 

“Is this real?” Regulus looked up at James with wide eyes. 

“Better be.” James shoved his hands in his pockets, shifting his weight from one foot to another. Regulus would almost say James was nervous. “Spent a lot of money on a professional to look at it.”

“Where did you get it?” 

“Found it on the beach.” James shrugged like he hadn’t just given Regulus thousands of dollars in the shape of an old pirate coin. Not that he needed the money. 

“Is that why you were looking through Reggie’s old pirate book in the library?” Sirius reached for the coin, but Regulus snapped the lid shut. Sirius pouted at him.

“You would enjoy it more than me.” James gave Regulus a smile that made his heart skip a beat. 

“I can’t even put it into words.” Regulus admitted. 

This had to be the best birthday ever.

[lia-xz]

'Fortuna'

It really is fascinating how I never seemed to forget the day that I met my friend. 

Undeniably, almost everyone is already familiar with the concept of ‘loss’. Whether it is a light thing — just some irrelevant belongings — or a big one — losing a loved one — I think I can somehow say that everyone is already used to the conviction. After all, unfortunately, it seemed like in this cruel world, losing has become a natural trait. There are some instances where losing something has been a part of our lives, but we just refused, or simply did not just acknowledge it. 

Eh, all in all, as by my preceding statements, I would say I could confidently believe that all people are already familiar with ‘grief’. A deep sorrow, particularly caused by a heavy loss. 

It has always been a fascinating topic for me; grief. At the young age of six, that was actually the first time I was subjected to the heavier part of the term. It was the first time I have seen and experienced death — not for myself, but a loved one. I watched how everyone cried that day, I watched how brutal the mourning process is, and I watched and listened how everyone seemed to never expect the whole system. 

Everyone knows how all things in this world have their own end. Yet, seeing everyone’s reaction that day, apparently, it seemed like grief and losing has always been a surprising thing. It could be comparable with the phenomena of having your birthday and expecting some surprises here and there, yet, when the clock hits 11:59 of the same day, no one bothered to even greet you with your event. 

Grief. 

I am only seventeen. Seventeen. I don’t know why, but for me, I find it really ironic how at my current age — again, seventeen — the things that I grieved for are more than the amount of my current age. No one really knows about it. For all my life, I have been quiet about the mourning I have. Silent cries every once and a while, mind full of doubts and ‘what if’s’ I never had the chance to actually apply, quiet prayers to stop the hostile. 

I grieved a lot of things.  I grieved how I never seemed to be the ‘best’ version of myself. I grieved all of the past mistakes I made that I couldn’t redeem anymore. I grieved how I seemed to be always subjected to the curse of this world. I grieved all of the things I couldn’t run away from.  But above all, I grieved all of the ‘preferable’ versions of myself I never had the chance to become. 

Maybe that’s why when this particular friend came knocking on my door when I was twelve, I didn’t have the heart to tell her ‘no’. As someone as innocent as myself back then, I was glad when I met her. Just from the sight, I immediately knew we’d click. The types of friends you meet for the first time and you immediately became the bestest of friends? The one of those very rare, precious, unbreakable, and strong types of friendships? I don’t know with her, but that's what I truly felt when I met her. 

I was out of commission back then. In the middle of mourning for myself; hence, it really was more welcomed to have her in my life. I was just actually scrolling silently through my cellphone when she knocked. She waved through the window, letting her presence known. I was hesitant at first; I mean, I already mentioned how I was still grieving back then, so seeing a surprising and an unwelcome presence in my door, it was justifiable that I didn’t immediately open the door. 

But as someone that needed a companion, as someone that decided to stop wallowing and drowning myself with an absurd imaginary amount of self-pity I was having, I knew that a companion and a friend was what I needed back then. I am glad I did, though. Ever since I became brave enough to welcome her in my life, it seemed like my life has significantly changed — and for the better, at that. 

Turns out, I was right. We both clicked. Although, her visits had started occasionally. The second time she visited me was when I was in 8th Grade.  As a reader, I know it is common for all people in the same field to have a sudden desire to create their own piece of literature. It was the thing I had back then. The idea to create my escape, the idea to create a world I can control, the idea to be the one ‘in control’, all of it was too good to be true; hence, I was more than determined to generate one. I was out of ideas at first, though. And at this present moment, re-reading my piece of work, I just realized that it seemed like the whole book I had was due to her since the title happened to coincide with her name. 

We actually have a lot of things in common. Our name happens to harmonize; with my name — Leannegail — coming from a horoscope, and my nickname (and pen name!) — Lia — having the same meaning as hers'. I was in 10th Grade the third time she visited me. That was actually the start of her frequent visits. As I've said above, change is inevitable. 10th Grade was also the time where my former school randomly decided to jumble up the sections and students; hence, I was scared when there were almost no familiar faces in the crowd. Good thing that I have her on my side, though. Even without having any sense of familiarity, I have decided to step up. It’s all thanks to her. 

I mean, I had a friend. I wasn’t entirely alone. I always felt the warmth of her presence beside me, so the fear was being drowned by her existence. 

Her presence has only become stronger as time goes by. Her occasional visits once in a while have become frequent. Soon, annually, monthly, daily, hourly, and not long after; secondly. She is always by my side. By the time I wake up, she’s already waiting for me to open my eyes. She’d always follow me wherever I go. She’d always be beside me and hold my hand as I prepare in the mornings, travel towards wherever I intend and I require to, sit in a classroom, and even before I let myself drift with what seemed like infinite but fortunately a temporary darkness. She is always there by my side. Therefore, it is the very reason why I always felt like I could conquer the world. 

However, as I have mentioned before, change is inevitable.

Much like with my other friends, of course, there are going to be some occurrences where  she’ll be out of the commission, too. 11th Grade. If I still can remember it right, we fought. I know, I know, it really was my fault that we fought. Some external things that happened — now that I thought about it, it really was kind of foolish how I let all of those things to get a hold of myself, to the point where I even doubted our friendship. I mean, after all of what we’ve been through? Now I know how sadistic I was. She was always there for me, yet I had the audacity to even doubt her? Gosh, I really was awful. 

When she was temporarily gone in my life, I somehow always found myself seeking her presence. I got used to it. My Mom and Dad always asked me what was wrong, and since I was at fault, I never had the courage to answer them. That was when I found out how everyone was right, all along. You’ll never know how important someone really is until you lose them. 

Unsurprisingly, things have only started to go downhill from there. 

Continuous unfortunate events happened to me after she left. I wouldn’t specify any matters of that, anymore, but things have turned for worse. I was kind of back with my grieving stages again without her. I had started seeing everything in a bad way once again, I started cursing the world for being back with my routine, I started being kind of back with my old self again. And as unfortunate as that, I could wholeheartedly and confidently state that it was the one and only familiarity I loathed and I am still loathing at the current. 

I got stuck in the middle of an ocean without her. Pacific ocean — or Mariana Trench, even, if I may. Wait, no, I think Point Nemo would fit more. I was stuck at nowhere; helpless, powerless, weak, and vulnerable. Even with the kick of my whole arms and legs towards any location I was intending, it was no more than nothing. Even when I tired myself out with all of the force I was doing, all of it was futile. And with the excruciating cramp of my whole body without any help, it definitely was already too late when I realized that she was the force that binds me with the version I was seeking for myself. 

Fortunately, despite of all of what I did, she was a true friend. 

To make it short, she came back. It was kind of late when she did, but hey, kudos for coming back and pulling me out of nowhere. With the location of this world that space is nearer than any land, it really was impressive how she was able to find me at that. I immediately hugged her after seeing her once again. The coldness of the endless water was nothing comparable with the warmth that she had. I am almost never the kind of person to allow myself to be outwardly emotional, but at that time? I never even hesitated to tell her all of the things I was grateful for. I also told her that I missed her. I told her all of the things I have realized with the horrible temporary leave she had, and as kind as she always was, she just smiled and hugged me back. 

‘Fortuna’

My best friend. The greatest of all of my friends. Do you still remember the time you came knocking on my door and changed my life for the better? There are approximately 7,100 languages and 20,182,852 words in the world, yet, nothing of them could amount to all of the things I want to say to you. I am honestly and truly grateful for having you in my life. I know you already forgave me, but still, I wholeheartedly apologize for doing you wrong in the past year. 

‘Fortuna’

My best friend. The greatest of all of my friends. I remember the time you gave me your name. It seemed like it was the trigger for me to be brave; hence, you stayed. 

‘Fortuna’

Your whole name is really beautiful. 

Fortune always favors the brave.