#i also have a stupid self indulgent comic of them I want to get out

[32lice]

idk why i waited to post this

[iloveundertaesooomuch]

Some advice from AU Calebs!

Heck yeah I did it! Finally i finished ONE of the HUNDREDS AU crossover ideas I have in my head!! Crossovers are fun guys!! (I apologise for a bad english in advance. Writing this it a rush.)

"It's ok to ask for help." (A Reverse Of Feathers And Mud by @jess-the-vampire)

I couldn't make a crossover meme without the legend. Sorry, not sorry. He is such a sad lad but tries to stay positive and be happy for his family uydfykudsutsudskudsluds (*dies*). I have to admitt, Caleb's dad energy is too strong for me to handle without wanting a hug him. No wonder! He was THE grandpa for centuries straight without a break. At least Caleb gets his whole family together in the end. Comics with him and either Hunter and Philip or Luz and Eda make me run in cirles around the room aaaa.

"You are not a burden." (Brother's Keeper by @idoodlestuffsometimes)

Damn, you definetly created one of the darkest AU in the fandom. Each time I re-read AU related posts I scream my lungs out because it is so angsty and so great. I am genuinely scared of your Belos ngl, because.. this man didnt loose anything and he still proceeds to do all that stuff. Enconter with him has 0 survival rate.

POOR CALEB! At least in the world of memes he had an opportunity to flee the captivity twice (the bald head and the car). This man had no moment of mental rest for centuries oh my God. One of my friends wants to fight his brother personally to protec Caleb at all cost sksksk. Well, at least Hunter will always have an actually loving relative! And if the happy ending is going to be canon, I think the future looks great, especially knowing how much pain all your characters go through currently. (And I think both Caleb and Hunter would need the "you are not a burdain" affirmations. At least some form of support in their situation.)

You said in the latest ask-answer that BK!Caleb was supposed to have white streaks in his hair so I attempted to add them. Hope they look fine! Colors for the outfit I got from Belos, so they would match, I guess???

"Murder is okay." (Loose Strings by @oldmanpip)

My bro, brother, friend... Despite you being not to involved on the discord server, my brain is still rotting with your great awesome AUs. And I know you know that. Your Caleb is really loose in all sences of that word and I love that. Wonder if your AUs will ever be available to the public. Because oh boy oh boy they deserve to be recognised. (Loose Caleb is such a conservative grandpa who never did anything wrong, wdym?)

"Your feelings matter." (Pip In Time by @celestialscribbler)

Honestly? Man, your comic is the reason I got invested in Witteclaw couple at all. Even if the "Pip in time" is not their story, but you wrote their teen romance so sweetly. Those two melted my heart... I scream each time I re-read your comic for 100th time. Just WOAH my brain goes brrr! And Caleb as a character is also written really really well. I love him so much. He is such good brother but MAN HE NEEDS A BREAK FROM BEING AN ADULT! BOY! Insirt crying and heart emojis here.

(PS: hope you still care about your health!)

My thoughts:

I have been drawing this for more than a month I think? And the only reason for that is my university. I hope to actually get an ADHD diagnosis because something is clearly wrong with me. But thats not the point.

There are so many ideas in my head. Goofy and not. The only problem is that I have less and less ability to do what I want lately. I wish I could bring them all to life, but at the same I dont know if anyone will be interested. Would AU crossovers look too self-indulgent? Or nah? Idk. (Just Grimwalker-Isle already has so much potential for stupid ridiculous fun I am runnin on coffee juice.)

Litteraly my mind is plagued with different fun plots and possibilities I am going crazy. But I also have A TON of WIPs that I need to finish. Perhaps I will attempt to manage everything at once, but, no promises.

Wish me luck on my exams!

[alexwilltellyouthings]

Entirely self indulgent rating post about the top 10 TV shows that made me fucking insane for some reason

10. Sense8

God, this was so good. Such a blessing. I saw part of the cast during a Pride Parade and it's one of my favorite memories. I felt every possible emotion with this show, I love it.

9. The Last of Us

This is kind of a cheat, because the obsession comes from the games, but it is what it is. It's one of the few games that had a big impact on me and I closely relate it to my relationship with my dad. Can't wait to cry my heart out at season 2.

8. Good Omens

It's a given, isn't it? That stupid angel with his stupid demon and their stupid God. GRRRAAWW. A lot of thoughts and feelings came from the fandom, I have to point out. It's been very nice.

7. The Umbrella Academy

I have the first issue of the comics autographed by Gerard Way!! I mean, yes, it's because I'm a MCR fan, but it became even more precious after I got into the show. I'm rewatching right now, preparing for the last season. I'll be a mess when I say goodbye to them. Can't even really think about it too hard or I'll cry right now.

Continues under the cut

6. Our Flag Means Death

LISTEN THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING TO ME. What do you mean we can have a show THIS queer? It's all I want now. I ate it up. I smiled so much. I wanted this so badly and had no idea.

5. Interview with the Vampire

Feels like it should be top 3 honestly but I'll get there. This is also a cheat, I've been reading the Vampire Chronicles since I was like 15. Growing up with Anne Rice probably messed me up but hey at least I have great taste. And seeing them on screen? The way they made it BETTER? And Lestat?? Who has been haunting me for 15 years on and off??? And the second season and their reunion and and and?????????? I'm STILL insane about them and will be forever, I'm afraid.

4. Doctor Who

Listen. Listen. Okay. Yeah. What can I say? If you get into it, you're doomed. And I have been doomed for 10 years at least. I stopped watching for a while and got back last year, and it hit me all over again. I love this dumbass genius alien in a way that's calm, even. Just a permanent part of who I am now.

3. The Untamed

The year was 2022, it had been a while since I had a proper fixation and I didn't think it would happen with this danmei live-action, but then came Wei Wuxian. Guys, if I tell you I fell in love. Couldn't stop thinking about him. Everyday I was plagued by his smile and red ribbon and tragic backstory, yadayadayada. I really like other characters too, and their stories, but WWX did something to me that I still don't quite understand.

2. Queer as Folk (US)

This was a looong time ago and it didn't really persist over time like the others, but it was my first actual obsession. I was clinically insane over these gays. I had no one to talk to about them, so for every episode I wrote several pages of notes to comment to my (only) friend at school the next day, the poor thing. It was pretty much all I talked about because I spent EVERY MINUTE we had to talk going over the notes and explaining the episode. Like, between classes, during breaks, everything. Months of that. She held on firmly because she was a good friend, but I'm aware it must've been terrible. Like I said, insane.

1. Dead Boy Detectives

Maybe I'm putting this up here because it's my current hyperfixation? Maybe. But I don't think I have felt something hit as strongly as this since QaF over there. This time I can participate in fandom so I don't need to write every thought I have because it's all a big talk anyway, but I'm still pretty much having those thoughts all the time for *checks notes* nearly three months. I'm writing more than I have in years. I'm back at Tumblr after I don't know how long. I'm staring at GIFs over and over like I have the fucking time for that. I'm distracted at work daily. I talk about it in therapy. I have the main cast's notifications on. I'm getting involved in fandom discourse sometimes even knowing I shouldn't. It's a nightmare. I love it. I love them.

If you read all of this, congrats! Now you know how my mind works, kinda!! I'm open to talk about any and all of these shows. It's amazing how they mess us up. It's also scary, but anyway.

[medusapelagia]

We are not making sense at all

written for the Spicy Six Winter Fanworks Challenge by @thefreakandthehair

Rating: General Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Prompt: Warm Soup WT: Pre-relationship, sickfic, sick character(s), Christmas 1985 WC: 5108

Christmas was never Eddie's favorite holiday, it always reminded him how lonely he was: no family to spend the holiday with, only Wayne who usually worked at Christmas for the double pay. A few times Gareth parents have tried to invite him but he always declined the invitation and buried himself in his trailer, watching silly Christmas movies, eating chips, and drinking beer on the couch like his old man. What a legacy, right?

But this time is even worse: not only he is home alone, but he is also sick. The metalhead has done his best to hide it from Wayne but now that he is finally alone he can’t stop coughing and sneezing and the floor of the trailer is covered in crumpled tissues that he is too tired to throw in the bin, while his neighbors are celebrating playing some Christmas music so loud that the trailer is almost vibrating. He can’t really complain, after all, he is used to playing metal music so he assumes he can endure hearing Jingle Bells for the umpteenth time: what he really can’t stand is the phone that keeps ringing. It seems that every person who knows him has decided to call him to wish him a Merry Christmas, which is probably fair, it’s Christmas after all, but all Eddie would like to do is nap on the lumpy couch while watching some stupid movies about Santa Claus or any other Christmas Miracle. His favorite movie is Little Lord Fauntleroy: even if he is too old to still indulge in such fantasies, he still dreams that one day a rich parent will reach out to him, telling him that he searched for him for years and that he is actually super rich and he can leave Hawkins whenever he wants.

He will take Wayne with him, of course, and he will miss the Corroded Coffin and the Party, but the Corroded Coffin are destined to split up as soon as Gareth and Jeff go to college so he doesn’t feel too bad at the idea of abandoning them.

But that’s just a fantasy. 

Eddie coughs again, while the stupid phone keeps ringing; when he finally gathers the strength to stand up and get to the phone, Dustin’s happy voice wishes him Merry Christmas, asking him how is he going to spend it and telling him that if he wants he can still join him and his family.

Eddie sighs, Dustin doesn’t have a huge family either, it’s just him, his mum, and probably Steve Harrington, and not only he doesn’t want Dustin’s pity, but he is pretty sure he doesn’t want to spend Christmas with Harrington either. And he is sick, which is the perfect excuse to finally shut up the little shrimp.

“Thank you Dustin, but I’m feeling a little bit under the weather, I don't want you to catch any of my germs.” He says, coughing for good measure.

“Oh no! Being sick at Christmas is the worst! One year I got sick and I had to spend Christmas in bed, it was awful! Thankfully Santa still brought me some toys and I could play a little in the afternoon when I felt a little bit better, but waking up with a fever on Christmas day is no fun!” he tells him “Do you need anything? I could ask Steve to drive me to the trailer! I have a few comics that you haven’t read yet.”

“Don’t worry, I’m good, I just need to sleep a little and I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? I’m sure Steve will not mind.”

In which world Harrington will not mind getting to the Freak’s trailer on Christmas to bring him some comics? 

Eddie chuckles, pretty sure that not only he would mind but he would be really pissed, even if probably he’ll do it if Dustin asks him to. It’s incredible how that little shrimp has both of them wrapped around his finger like two stupid puppets, but no, thanks, Eddie still has enough self-respect “I’m good, I swear. Thank you for offering.” 

“If you are sure…” Dustin finally agrees, even if he doesn’t sound one hundred percent sure about it.

After the call Eddie decides to unplug the phone and gets back to his couch, ready to spend the rest of the day napping and watching television.

***

He must have dozed off for longer than he thought because when he opens his eyes he doesn’t even know what he is watching on the television and the room is way darker than it was. For a moment he wonders if he woke up on his own, but then he hears the insistent knocking on the trailer door and finally gets up to open the door.

“Did you forget the keys, old man?” Eddie asks, convinced that Wayne is the one knocking, but he freezes when he sees that the person on the other side of the door is nothing less than Steve Harrington, fallen school king, ex-jock and richest boy in town.

“Hi.” He says, smiling, holding a Tupperware in his hands “Henderson said you are not feeling well.” But when Eddie doesn’t move he chuckles “Will you let me in or what?”.

Eddie moves from the door and lets the Harrington’s boy enter his trailer. As soon as he turns toward the living room he understands that there is no way he can hide how messy he is: there is a pile of tissues all over the floor, and the remains from his breakfast are still on the kitchen table.

“I… I…” he tries to come up with an excuse but Steve simply smiles.

“It’s ok. You are not feeling well.” He replies, getting closer to the kitchen “Can I have a pot, please?”

Eddie nods and gives him the only clean one that he finds and, even if it’s way bigger than needed, Steve takes it and pours the content of his Tupperware into the pot.

“Claudia made it?” Eddie asks, smelling the tasty soup that Steve is heating.

“Nope. It’s my nonna recipe. It’s a foolproof method against the cold.” He tells him.

“Your nonna made it?”

“Well, the recipe is her, but she died almost ten years ago so I’m the one who actually cooked it. I’m sorry it took a bit, but you can’t rush perfection, right?” Steve smirks and Eddie stares at him, astonished.

“That’s really kind but… why are you doing this?”

Steve shrugs “You know Dustin, right? He was worried about you and made me promise that I would check on you and I agreed.”

“And the soup?”

“It does wonder, you’ll see.” He promises, stirring the soup while Eddie sits on the chair, watching Steve move around with ease: the trailer’s kitchen is really small but Steve seems to find everything he needs even if he has never been there before.

“How can I help you?” Eddie finally asks, feeling like a guest in his own room.

“Can you give me a couple of bowls?” Steve asks, then turns, bushing “Sorry, I just assumed it was ok with you if I eat here but I just realized that I should have asked.”

“No… it’s fine. You cooked, so the least I can do is offer you a bowl and a spoon.”

If the smell isn’t enough, the taste is absolutely delicious, and Eddie is very vocal about how much he likes it, singing Steve’s praises.

“It’s just a warm soup.” He tells him, avoiding Eddie’s stare and preparing a bowl for Wayne to reheat in the microwave.

“It’s absolutely delicious!” Eddie insists. Wayne is a kind man but he is no cook and all they are used to eating are pre-made dinners that he heats in the microwave, so eating a magical soup that will nurse him back to health is something really special to Eddie.

“I’m glad you liked it.” Steve says, cleaning the bowls and what was left from breakfast before Eddie can stop him.

“Would you like to watch a movie with me?” Eddie proposes, then he suddenly feels ashamed “Sorry, I’m sure you have better things to do than staying here with me. You already brought me the soup… and I don’t want you to catch whatever my illness so please ignore me… I don’t know why I asked you…”

“It’s fine. I have a very strong immune system and I don’t have anywhere to be, to be honest: Robin is at his Uncle’s home and I told Dustin that I was coming here so my choices are watching a movie with you or at my place.”

“No date for King Steve?”

Steve chuckles “No, no date Eddie.”

It’s the first time Steve calls him Eddie and it sounds nice.

They sit together on Eddie’s little couch, their knees bump when they sit and Eddie laughs awkwardly, embarrassed to be so close to King Steve “All the movies I have are either western or horror movies, I fear.” He says, kneeling on the floor to look at the pile of VHS.

“It’s fine, I work in a video store, and I’m used to watching every kind of movie.” Stevee replies, making himself comfortable.

They are halfway through an old western when Eddie turns toward Steve, his profile is lit up by the black-and-white movie on the screen.

“Hey, Steve.”

“Mmh?”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

***

Somewhere between the second half of the movie, Eddie must have fallen asleep, because when he opens his eyes he is lying on the couch and there is no trace of Harrington anywhere. 

For a moment he wonders if he might have dreamed of him, but his Tupperware is still on the kitchen counter and Wayne is eating the soup.

“Nice boy.”

“Uh?”

“Steve, I think? Chestnut hair and kind smile?”

“Oh, yeah. He came because he knew I was sick.”

Wayne nods “As I said. Nice guy. And good cook.” He concludes, eating his soup.

Eddie nods, getting up and going to sit next to Wayne.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“Much better, actually. Steve said it’s the soup. It has some magical properties.”

“Bet it does.” The old man replies, ruffling Eddie’s hair “You know you can tell me anything, right boy?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Wayne nods and turns to clean his bowl.

“What? What are you implying?” Eddie asks, confused.

“Nothing. I’m going to bed, do you want to keep watching the television?”

Eddie shakes his head and goes to bed, still wondering how was it possible that King Steve came to his rescue.

***

Two days later Dustin is at Eddie’s door.

“What?” Eddie asks annoyed, he is not used to waking up so early when he doesn’t have to go to school, that’s what holidays are for: sleep. 

The boy gives him a very serious look before saying “It’s Steve.”

“What about him?”

“I called him and he didn’t answer.”

Eddie sighs “Dustin, he is a young boy, he is probably dating someone and he slept at their place, that’s what older boys do. Now go home and don’t bother me again.”

“No. Not Steve.”

Eddie snorts “If there is someone who is going on dates is definitely your friend Harrington.”

“You don’t get it, Steve always answers. Always. Especially if I call him on the walkie! But he didn’t! Neither yesterday nor today.”

Eddie sighs, pinching his nose “And what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to go to Steve’s house: you can pick a lock, right?”

“What?! I’m not going to risk two years for break and enter because Harrington fell asleep after fucking someone!” Eddie protests, crossing his arms and glaring at the kid.

“It’s not like that! We just have to be sure he is fine! Robin is not here or I would have asked her! Steve doesn’t have anyone else: just the two of us.” He says seriously and Eddie can’t suppress a smile.

“You are serious, aren’t you?”

“I definitely am.”

Eddie sighs “Ok, I’ll go check on your babysitter, but I want you to go back home, ok?”

“What if he needs help? He had two concussions in the past, I know how to help him and…”

“If he needs that kind of help I’ll drag him to the hospital, but I’m sure he’ll be out with some pretty girl and if you really want me to pick the lock of the richest house in town I don’t want any kid around, is that clear?”

“But…”

“Is that clear?”

Dustin nods, unconvinced, and then glares at Eddie “You call me the moment you find him, ok?”

“I’m telling you he won’t be there.”

“I’m telling you he will be, I checked and his car was parked in front of his house!”

Eddie raises his arms with a sigh “Ok, fine, I’ll call you, ok? Now go, and don’t bike here again! It’s dangerous.”

Dustin nods and gets back to his bike yelling ���Call me, Eddie!” one more time before biking back toward his home.

Eddie sighs, gets back inside, puts on his leather jacket, and takes the van keys before driving toward Harrington’s house.

When he gets to Loch Nora he sees Steve’s BWM parked right in front of the house, as Dustin said.

Eddie rings the bell and knocks on the door until his knuckles hurt but none comes open.

“Harrington?” he calls, moving around the house to find an easy way to get in without breaking a window or picking a lock in the middle of the day. He tries every window until he sees that one window on the second floor is ajar. Cursing himself for his poor gymnastic skill, somehow he manages to climb toward the window and get inside, landing on the floor with a loud thump.

The room he is in is definitely Steve’s, even if the boy is nowhere to be seen and the bed is still perfectly made. Eddie moves around the other rooms but Steve is nowhere to be seen, so he gets to the living room to call Dustin to tell him that Steve is probably outside, having the time of his life, when he sees a figure wrapped in so many blankets that looks like a cocoon.

“Harrington?” he calls, and a pitiful voice answers him back.

Eddie runs down the stairs and gets closer to the boy “Hey, Harrington, are you ok?” he asks, but he can feel how hot Steve is even under all the blankets.

“Fuck. I think you got my virus.” Eddie curses, and Steve sneezes as a confirmation “Ok, don’t worry, I’m going to take care of you, ok big boy? Do you have some fever medicine somewhere?”

“Bathroom…” Steve murmurs in a small voice, and Eddie runs upstairs to the bathroom and comes back with a few medicines and a thermometer.

He takes Steve’s temperature, which is way too high, and tries to suggest calling a doctor, but Steve is adamant he doesn’t want to, so all that Eddie can do is help him sip some water and take a few pills.

When Steve falls asleep the older boy calls Dustin, informing him that Steve is sick but that he doesn’t have to worry because he will take care of him and he does, the metalhead helps him drink some hot tea, go to the bathroom and finally convince him to go to sleep in his bed and not on the couch.

“Can I call your parents?” Eddie asks, changing the wet towel on Steve’s forehead.

“They are in Paris. Or Rome. Don’t remember.”

“I can’t leave you alone like that.” 

“I’m fine.”

“No, you are not. Tell me who I can call to keep an eye on you or I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

Steve murmurs something that sounds like “Hopper” but Eddie knows that the chief died in the fire at the mall a few months before “I’m serious, Steve. You can’t be left alone like this.”

But the boy is already asleep, so he sighs and goes back to the living room to call Wayne.

“Hey, Wayne.”

“Kid? You ok?”

“Yeah. I’m at Harrington. I think he got my virus but much worse. Do you mind if I keep an eye on him? He is home alone.”

“Not at all, just pay attention.”

“I got sick before, I’m not going to get sick again.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Wayne whispers and Eddie frowns, confused, but doesn’t comment.

When he gets in the kitchen to make himself a sandwich he sees Steve’s nonna recipe on the kitchen table and decides to try to make it.

Eddie has never cooked before in his life, but the instructions are pretty easy: he follows them step by step, and an hour later the same smell of warm soup fills the air. He takes a couple of bowls and gets back to Steve’s room.

“Steve? Wake up. Stevie, come on. You have to eat something.” He tells him while he gently shakes Steve to wake him.

“Mum?” the boy asks with feverish eyes.

“Just me, Eddie.”

“Oh. Eddie. Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about, you were probably dreaming, am I right?”

The younger boy nods, then looks at the bowl that the metal head is offering him “Is it…?”

“It is. Or at least I think it is. I followed the instructions step by step.” He replies, helping Steve sit up and giving him the spoon, but the boy is shaking so much that Eddie quickly resolves to spoon-feed him, slowly.

“So much for your strong immune system, uh?” the metalhead mocks him, cleaning Steve’s lips with a napkin.

“I’m sorry…”

“Stop saying you are sorry. You are sick and you need a little bit of help, it’s ok to need help sometimes, you know that, right?”

“Shouldn’t. I’m a Harrington.” He replies, covering his eyes with an arm.

“What the hell does that mean? Sorry to break it to you, but you are human, like everyone else.” Eddie tells him, tucking his blankets.

“It’s just a cold.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so, but even if it was you have the right to feel like shit and have someone take care of you.” Eddie insists, giving him some water and a couple of pills to lower his fever “And if by tomorrow you are not feeling any better I’m going to call a doctor, even if you don’t like it.”

“I had the soup. I’ll be alright.” Steve replies convinced, his eyes half closed, and Eddie lets him fall asleep, he is not sure Steve will feel better in the morning, but even if he doesn’t he is not going to let him be alone in that big house, he will probably call Dustin’s mum, or Wayne, or some other adult that really knows how to take care of a sick person, for the moment he sits on the floor of Steve’s bedroom, watching his chest rise and fall like and hawk.

***

Maybe it was the soup, as Steve insists, or maybe Steve’s fever just broke on his own with the help of a few pills, but the next day the rich boy looks way better than the night before.

“Told you. That soup is magic. Thank you for  cooking it for me.”

“I guessed your mum cooked it for you every time you got sick, uh?” Eddie asks, giving him the cup of tea he already prepared for him. No coffee or milk after you have been unwell, it’s a core part of Munson’s doctrine.

“Nah. Just my nonna. But she was Italian, so she wasn’t around often.” Steve replies, thanking him for the tea, and sipping it slowly.

“Well, my mum wasn’t around either, but Wayne did his best to make up for it.” Eddie replies, eating some eggs.

“He seems like a good man. We had a little chat when you were feeling under the weather.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t try to scare you away with his rifle.” Eddie snorts.

“He actually did. Or at least he threatened me that he would have taken the rifle if I didn’t leave, but after I clarified that I wasn’t a thief and that there was some soup for him he became really nice.” Steve sips some more tea and then he asks “How did you know I was feeling unwell?”

“Henderson. He can be really annoying, or persuasive, it depends, in any case he insisted that someone had to check on you. He actually asked me to break into your house! Luckily for me, there was a window ajar in your bedroom and I got in from there.”

Steve smiles “Yeah, Dustin can be annoying but I love him, and don’t laugh at me, I know he is just a kid, but he is like a little brother to me.”

“Yeah. I get it, I think I feel the same, even if I must confess that I was fucking jealous of Steve Harrington. You have no idea how many times he mentions you every day! Steve did that, Steve said this, Steve is going to drive me here and there… Every day he talks about you! You are his fucking hero!”

Steve scoffs, blushing so softly and Eddie can’t avoid wondering if he would blush so sweetly even under the sheets “Dustin and I have some history. I helped him with some… projects. That’s all. I’m not the super cool Dungeon Master that plays his stupid game.”

“Hey! That’s not a stupid game! It’s really hard to be a good DM!” Eddie complains, crunching another cookie and letting the crumbles fall everywhere.

Steve’s hands twitch, getting a towel to clean the table, but in the end, he desists and keeps drinking his tea.

“I don’t doubt it. Dustin tried to explain it to me but I’m too stupid to understand it.” Steve says, avoiding Eddie’s stare, but the metalhead reaches for his hand.

“Hey, you are not stupid. The game it’s complicated, but if you want I can teach you.”

Steve chuckles “Thanks but if I couldn’t understand it on a good day I doubt I’ll understand it today.”

“Still feeling shitty?”

“Not too bad but, yeah, I think I have been better.”

Eddie clicks his tongue “Do you think you’ll be alright if I get back to the trailer? I can be back in the evening but I don’t want Wayne to worry.”

“There is no need for you to come back tonight, I’m feeling so much better.”

“And renounce the opportunity to see cable television on such a huge screen?” Eddie smirks and Steve nods.

“Ok, you can hang out at my place for the holidays if that’s what you were thinking, but I’ll have to go back to work tomorrow or Keith will definitely fire me.”

Eddie agrees, but before leaving he reminds Steve that he is going to get back in the evening “Do you think you’ll feel good enough to have some pizza tonight? There is a new pizza place, Garreth says is sick but I have never been.”

Steve smiles and Eddie can’t help but smile back at him “Pizza sounds good, but no beer for me.”

“Got it!” Eddie replies, getting in the van and driving home.

***

In the evening Eddie goes back to Steve’s house with a couple of pizzas and a six-pack.

“Thank you Eddie but I told you that I wasn’t going to drink beer.”

“Oh, that’s for me.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah, are you judging me, Harrington?”

Steve shakes his head while they sit at the table.

“How was your day?” Eddie asks, taking a slice of pizza from the box with his hands and starting to eat it straight away.

“I dozed off on the couch and watched some old movies.” Steve replies, taking a plate to eat his pizza and Eddie feels immediately ashamed for his manners.

“Sorry…” he mumbles with his mouth still full but Steve just smiles.

“You are just like Dustin. I like that.”

“You like my lack of manners?” 

“I like your freedom.” He replies, cutting the pizza with fork and knife, before eating a little piece “My mum was really fond of etiquette, I learned what was the right fork for each food before I was tall enough to get to the table on my own. I would have loved to eat some pizza with my hands, getting my face dirty with tomato sauce or whatever.”

“Oh… we can fix that.” Eddie replies, taking another piece and offering it to Steve “Come on, take it. Take and eat it: with your hands, as a huge fuck you to your family. How does it sound?”

Steve stares at the piece of pizza for a long time and finally takes it from Eddie’s hand, giving a tentative bite, and immediately covering his mouth with the other hand “It tastes better if you don’t cover your mouth.” Eddie winks and Steve lowers his hand, showing a little smudge of tomato sauce on the side of his lips that Eddie cleans with his thumb, before licking it without even thinking about it.

It’s only when he feels Steve freeze that he realizes what he has done and whitens “Fuck. I’m sorry. Wayne used to do it with me and…”

“It’s… it’s ok.” Steve replies, blushing, then he changes the argument “The pizza it’s tastier like this.” He confirms and Eddie beams.

“Told you. That’s part of the sacred Munson’s doctrine.”

“Tell me more about this doctrine.” Steve asks, while he takes another piece of pizza with his hands and Eddie talks about everything: about the game he loves so much, about the Theatre Room where they play, about his opinion on jocks and laundry baskets players “Present company excluded, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

The more Eddie talks with Steve, the more he finds out that the other boy is not half bad. They spend the day chatting and when it’s time for Eddie to get back to the trailer Steve offers him one of the guest rooms “It’s not safe letting you drive after all the beers you drunk.”

“That’s nothing, weren’t you the Keg King?”

“Once, now I’m a big brother and I worry. It’s part of the job description.”

“I’m older than you.” Eddie points out but Steve shrugs and guides him toward the guest room.

“Choose whatever you want.”

Eddie nods and chooses the first room he sees, but when Steve comes into the room to give him towels and toiletries, Eddie grins “Hey, Steve?”

“Uh?”

“What do you think Dustin would say if we became friends?”

“He will be happy, I think?”

“Maybe at the beginning… but I’m sure you know a lot of embarrassing stories about him, and I know a few too, so… what do you say if we exchange intel and we gang upon him?”

Steve smirks “Are you suggesting we torture the little shrimp? Together?”

“He deserves it!”

“He definitely does. He keeps mocking me for my beauty routine.”

Eddie snorts “Do you have a beauty routine?”

“Fuck you, Munson. I don’t want to exchange anything with you.”

“Sorry. Sorry. My fault. I will not mock you, pinkie promise.”

They share a look and then they shake hands.

“Come, sit here. I have so many stories to tell you.” Eddie says, scooting over to make space for Steve on the bed and the chestnut boys lies with him, exchanging stories about how Dustin lost his cat and somehow convinced him to search for it in the woods, while Eddie recalls the first time he saw him in the cafeteria with his signature thinking cap.

“That boy is something, isn’t he?” Eddie asks, and when he doesn’t hear a reply he turns toward Steve, only to find him asleep and gently snoring. He brushes some hair away from his face, covers them both with the blanket and falls asleep in Steve’s comfy bed.

***

One week later none expect it when, on the first day of school after the holidays, Steve goes to pick up Robin and Dustin, and the the jock and the metalhead hug in the parking lot as if they were best friends who haven’t seen each other in years.

“What the hell is happening?” Dustin asks, darting his eyes between the two of them.

Eddie puts an arm around Steve’s shoulder with ease “You wanted us to get closer, didn’t you, Dustin?”

“Yeah but…”

“Well, we did.” Steve concludes “Now get in the car before Robin and I lose another job!”

They are halfway toward Dustin’s house when Steve asks “So: is it true that you farted during the last campaign and you tried to pretend it was the chair?”

Robin snorts and Dustin freezes “It was the chair! And how do you know… oh no… oh no!” Dustin exclaims, his eyes wide with terror “Please, tell me that’s not true! Why did you have to talk about me!”

“You are the only thing Eddie and I have in common, we bonded thanks to you. Aren’t you happy?” Steve winks and Dustin is still grumbling something when Steve leaves him at his house, before driving Robin toward Family Video.

“So. You and Munson, uh?” the girl asks in a cautious way.

“Yeah. It’s nice to have a friend my age, you know?”

She punches Steve’s shoulder “I’m your age, dingus!”

“But you are a girl! He is a boy! It’s different.”

Robin glowers at him “Steven Joseph Harrington, did you replace me with Eddie the Freak Munson?”

“Never! You are my best friend. Eddie is just… different. It’s easy to talk with him, you know? And he is very funny, he makes me laugh a lot and we have a great time together.”

“Talking, uh? And what about Heidi?”

“Oh, we were supposed to go out on a date but Eddie wanted to hang out and… what? Don’t look at me like that!” Steve complains, turning into the Family Video parking lot.

Robin sighs, gets their uniforms from the back and sighs“I’m glad you finally found a special friend.”

“Come on. I just made him my nonna’s soup when he was sick. It’s not like it means something.”

Robin takes her uniform, but before closing herself in the bathroom to change she turns to say to him “If you are going to be kissed by a boy before I get kissed by a girl I’m going to be super pissed!”

And Steve stares at the bathroom door, confused, that’s not what it is! It’s just a friendship! Right?

[skelleste]

2023 Art Summary

Some of the many things I worked on over the past 365 days. More details below.

Happy New Year!

Just like last year, 2023 was full of even more character art, including a brand spanking new OC. You haven't seen much of the comic yet, because it's not done, but there's been progress on that in the background as well. I also started commissions last March. None are featured in this post so I could focus more on original art, but I wanted to give a special thank-you to all my past commissioners. Not a single one of you were a customer service nightmare, in fact it was quite the opposite. I appreciate everyone who's been kind enough to give me work and treat me well.

The rest of this post is going to be some of my favorite pieces by month, and a little about them. I usually spare my followers from most details in my posts, because there's often not much of interest to the public to say, so this is mostly self indulgent.

January

I decided to revisit Tom and Maudlin, as I hadn't drawn them much since creating them. Whenever I make a new character of importance, I try to go out of my way to put them in varied poses and expressions so that I am able to understand how their bodies work by the time I need them for a real project. It's also a great way to explore their personalities, although I feel that I'll have to push Tom's emotional side more in the future.

February

Props for the comic! It sucks to have to design things on the fly, so it helps to have notable objects designed beforehand. Especially if it's important to the plot. Some of these appear in more panels than others, but it smooths out the comic process nevertheless to have ample references on hand.

March

More character designs to spare me from designing mid-comic production. If they don't have lines in the comic, then I ask random people to assign names to them to make it fun, and because it's easier to keep straight who's who when they're not named Man 1 and Man 2. Left to right, they are Johnifer (you can already see why I name the ones with dialogue myself), Wanda, Jean Vincent, Booker, Charles, Maribelle, and Gertrude.

April

It'd be silly of me to pretend as if 90% of my output isn't shitposts. When you dedicate most of your art time to a project, then you're not going to end up making any other art unless you satisfy primitive monkey brain somehow. In my case, that's usually addressed by drawing funny shit. Early this year is when I discovered how easy it is to crack jokes with Scatterbrain. This goofiness is now embedded into her personality permanently. Expect more of this.

May

April-June is when I do my Art Fight preppin', which usually consists of me making a list of my most neglected OCs and giving them some attention. I also try to get around to eventually making all of them a reference sheet in this style, just so they have something standardized between them. This year, Walla Walla had her turn. She's a shitpost character, so I won't be drawing her much again, but she's a good excuse to draw some J-fashion doodles. My interests outside of cartoon stupidity don't really make it into my art often, so she's a minor outlet for some of it.

June

I've made even more character designs this year than last year, but they were all background characters, making Raoul the only new important one. He's been officially-unofficially written into the story since 2022, but it's very hard for me to make OCs that are written before they are designed. Everyone else was designed first and assigned a role in the plot later, so he got put off for a good while. I finally got around to it though, after I killed some darlings. He is now an all-new species, and I modified the chain design to something less clunky compared to what would be historically accurate.

July

July is, of course, Art Fight month. All other art is put on pause. This year, my favorite attack was a drawing of Enchanted Bones for my friend Bugles. I drew the character independently from the background, which is why the lighting situation is as unfortunate as it is, but we don't talk about that. Thank you to everyone who attacked me and made awesome art, I'll revenge you maybe in a few years. Sorry for the wait, but the backlog is mighty long.

August

Stanson got a slight redesign in the last year, so he can fit with the style of the comic better. He's actually the oldest character out of the bunch. I had no purpose for Scott when I made him and threw them together in the same folder. I had a few one-off designs that I figured I'd keep around in case I ever did an OCT, but these two got yoinked out of it when I started getting story ideas for the them. Stanson is a cowboy (not really), so it became a western setting to make sense of it. I plan on giving him the same sketchpage treatment the other characters have gotten, but I've been putting it off purposely for a while. You'll just have to wait.

September

And there it is, the inevitable page of Raoul getting into various mischief (and subsequently getting his ass beat half of the time). He has a very abrasive personality that gets him into trouble. I don't want the comic to be heavily action-based, but he naturally lands himself in these positions and it lets me draw characters in new situations. His introduction to the story is still a long way off at this point, but I can't wait to pit him against Scott in some slapstick shenanigans.

October

Spooky month is incredibly busy for me in real life, so there isn't as much time for art as I'd like there to be. That's why I dedicated all my time that month to trying to get Halloween art done in time. I've been a fan of Homestar Runner since childhood, and as soon as I thought that Raoul would pull off a Jigen Daisuke look, I knew I wanted to do a full Homestar-esque set of costumes. The other ideas quickly fell into place. My version came out way more detailed than theirs usually are though. The spirit of Halloween possessed me.

November

I started going full gear on the comic around this time (I think 28 hours in one week when I stayed home), so there's an absence of polished personal art here. Scatterbrain eating some spaghetti is my placeholder art for "I worked on a website a bunch instead". It's far from done, but I've made major strides since then.

December

A secret santa gift for my friend, Toby! I continued doing mostly comic work, but I also made room for a secret santa and scheduled a bunch of art trades to complete between December and March. The rest still have to be completed, so you'll see that throughout 2024. Anyway, Toby's OC, Thomas, is based on the state of Michigan. I plastered him on a postcard in front of a highway sign with some Robins because they're the state bird.

There were many more drawings of course, and you can find them scrolling through my Tumblr, or on my DeviantART (I switched to Tumblr as my main site in late August). I hope the new year brings many improvements and happiness for everyone. Last year my goal was simply to start on the comic, which I did, but it was also to get it uploadable, which I didn't. I'm gonna have to aim for the same goal again. Life things were largely fine but still tumultuous enough to throw me off-course, but now my most dangerous family member has moved out and it should be somewhat safer to live here. Not 100% safe though. It never will be. I generally avoid talking about the comic extensively as I won't have a solid release date for some time, so this is the last you'll hear of it for now outside of the rare WIP screenshot. Wish me luck and have a wonderful new year!

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Breathing

First posted: May 28, 2018

Focuses on: Jason (and his family)

My favorite bookmark: "Jason Todd is sassy monster and Bruce has PTSD from this asshole dying. 🥺🤣"

My second favorite bookmark: "I CANT STOP CRYIIINNNG WTFFFU"

Tier: Pretty middle of the road in terms of metrics, but one of my personal favorites.

This is my "behind the scenes" series where I indulge myself frightfully by annotating my fics. Link to the fic itself above. Thoughts below the cut.

This fic was dedicated to @starknjarvis27 because she came up with the idea on one of our many BatFam discussions, and being a Megan Whalen Turner superfan, I couldn't not take on the idea.

For those unaware, this fic lifts the bones of an absolutely wonderful scene in The King of Attolia, the third (and best) book in the Queen's Thief series. I made sure you didn't need to know the series at all to enjoy "Breathing," but the girlies who know shriek more.

Jason was still breathing when Bruce found him.

Most of my fics, I may not totally know where they're going, but I know my first line. No exception here.

The voice of this one doesn't feel fully Bruce to me, which makes sense because it's so early on in my written works. Also I'm telling myself that's just young Bruce not sounding quite like his more mature self. Ah, the tales we tell ourselves sometimes. 💀

Jason’s chest, or what was left of it, rose again, the cavity of smashed ribs deepening as his lungs fought to work.

I don't know enough medical things to comfortably get too detailed on Jason's injuries (and I wasn't friends yet with Audrey to ask), but since this was Bruce's POV, I worked to make it adequately gruesome.

If those panicked, roving blue eyes with their black-blown pupils could see anything beyond his own fear.

And sometimes I make up words for fun.

He wanted to hold him. Wanted to scoop that broken body into his arms and shelter it with his own until the miracle he was praying for arrived. Bruce wanted to hold his boy. But his stupid, awful, useless brain hissed warnings of spinal injuries and paralysis, of the harm he could cause by giving into sentiment at just the wrong time.

Apparently I also knew how I wanted this section to end because I was deliberately writing toward

And, at last, Bruce held his son.

This.

Trying to figure out the setting of the second half was tough because I didn't care about where they were coming from. I wanted it to be vaguely comic cliche and hopefully not racist or otherwise offensive but that's all.

Also, ugh, staging. Staging. I hate staging. Trying to mark where everyone is and why and keep them all straight as they start to move. Bah.

Of course, now, looking back, hewing more closely to the original scenario where the main figure (Attolis, Jason) turns and smiles at the narrator just before disaster, that sure would have been something, wouldn't it.

But Jason. The odd man out. The wild card, for good or ill. The unpredictable ace up their sleeve. Their magnet for trouble, collector of odd experiences. Too cynical to be Dick, too rash to be Tim, too undisciplined to be Damian. Raised on the streets. Trained by a Bat and a Flying Grayson. Raised again by assassins. Comrade of drug dealers, mercenaries, and thieves. Their family stories always seemed to twist on a “but Jason.”

I like this bit a lot, personally.

He had never seen Jason kill like this. It was the blinding flash of blades, the blur of a tan leather jacket and dark curls, the splatter of red blood on grey stone. And then it was done.

BAMF JASON TODD!!!

At the weight of three sets of eyes landing on him, Jason turned only his head and met Dick’s gaze. His face was pale, almost green, and splattered with a fine mist of blood. It took Dick a moment to piece his coloring together with the slant of his jaw and the blaze in his eyes. He was angry. No, he was furious. But when his eyes met Dick’s, he smiled. All teeth. “Let’s not keep Daddy Dearest waiting, boys.”

Jason is scary and I love him. I think if I could pick an audio narrator for him, especially the way I wrote him in the beginning, I'd pick the guy who does the Raven Boys audiobook, specifically in the voice he uses for Ronan.

“I could use a hand on this next part,” Jason admitted, voice steady and cool. 

And my brain recites, oh gods, stairs.

“I’m dying, Dickie. My insides are on my outsides."

Direct. Hecking. Quote.

“I probably won’t even make it to the Batplane,” Jason moaned. “You’ll have to leave me here. They’ll make me a trail marker. Reach the skeleton with the sweet jacket and you’re halfway to the temple of doom.”

A nice little trail marker. So like a thief in a ditch, one might say.

Jason lay still on the narrow cot, conscious but boneless. Even the furious greenish tint of his skin had faded away into a bloodless pale. Alfred had pulled up his shirt to reveal the truth. Jason’s grip down the mountain hadn’t been only to stanch the bleeding, but to hold himself together. At some point in the blurred fight, a blade had snuck under his defenses and slit open his abdomen, nearly from hip to hip. The blood that had trickled through his shirt and over his hand had been nothing compared to the steady flow that had soaked unseen into his pants. Over Alfred’s shoulder, Jason opened his eyes and met Dick’s.

This is full-scale lifting, my obscene apologies to Megan Whalen Turner, I love your work.

Alfred’s back blocked most of Jason’s body from view. Dick could see Jason’s face and upper torso. Bruce, being taller, could probably see a little more. Damian and Tim, being shorter, could probably see a little less. Both boys stood further back as well, Tim just behind Bruce and Damian behind Dick.

friggin blocking, my foe. Just lining up the stupid little dominoes so they fall right in a minute.

Six people breathing. Five people breathing.

I'm a genius. Good job, me.

Jason erupted like a tiger caught in a snare. He clawed at the cot, trying to push himself up. Alfred cried out, warning of wounds and fresh blood and popped stitches as he tried to force Jason back down. Dick sprang forward and tried to grab his brother, but got a fist to the face for his troubles. He staggered back.

Againnnnnnnnnn I'm so sorry Megan Whalen Turner

Dick slowly unclenched his fingers, first releasing Jason’s hair, then his wrist. Violent red streaks branded Jason’s skin like a cuff

I am a clever little clog with my symbolism and because these fics are for me, I can be smug about it

At least a couple people have said this fic have pushed them to read Megan Whalen Turner which is all I could ever want or hope for.

[brain-rot-central]

Writer Interview Game

thank you for the tag, @kittenintheden!

When did you start writing?

I didn't start writing like I write now until I was in my mid-late teens, but when I was a kid I used to draw stick figure comics of my friends going on adventures or having conversations about various things. My earliest writings are lost somewhere on ff.net and I don't even remember what my username was so, RIP.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I like works that read like journal entries. I used to eat that shit up hard as a kid. It made me feel very connected to the character, like an intimate view into their head and how they think and feel about things. Not sure what kind of genre that is, if it even is one. I'm able to describe what I like but I lack the knowledge of being able to say "oh I like this theme/genre." 11th & 12th grade AP english at work, I guess. If I like it, I like it.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Not really. I've had a couple comments from people say I write like Anne Rice and it was enough to get me to start listening to The Vampire Chronicles (granted I'm writing about a fictional vampire so I take it with a grain of salt). But I really just wish to write things that people enjoy reading.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Usually laying on my couch on my phone, lmao. I write/edit entirely on my phone and then post via desktop.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Not the best thing but weed tbh. Otherwise my brain is screaming at me that everything I do is stupid and discourages me from even trying to be creative.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Suffering, lmao. Everyone has to suffer in some way before getting to the good part. But I think that comes from a personal spot within myself.

What is your reason for writing?

I don't know, honestly. At first it was to explore sexuality because I've been very repressed for years in that regard, but as I go on with Sonnet it's touching certain parts within me that I didn't realize I'm not really comfortable with at all. And it's been a real fucking struggle continuing to write this fic. But I can't get my head into another state of switching to something else because I feel like I have to best it.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

When people tell me they've reread my work, but also when they spam comments about how dumb a character was in that chapter, or that it made them cry. Idk, to realize something I made invoked emotion in someone else astonishes me, always.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I just hope they enjoy what I put out. I don't ask for much else.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I think I've gotten pretty good at describing emotion. Emotions have always been really hard for me to feel/work through and admittedly I'm severely emotionally stunted irl, so I try challenging myself by thinking about certain situations and what kind of emotional responses it would bring up for certain characters. And then I go from there.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Eh, 50/50. I haven't done much writing these days because I've pretty much lost my steam. Too much personal shit going on to really think about much. But I know I've written some good and some bad. But it's a struggle to allow myself to believe I write well.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I try not to think about that because I'm guilty of comparing myself to others constantly. To the point where I guilt myself out of wanting to write because "oh they did this so much better than me," or "oh their flow is so much cleaner, they articulated this so much better etc." So I write how I feel something would go in a certain situation. Which, I guess, is self-indulgent in nature?

[radioactive-earthshine]

I’ve been WAITING for this question okay so

Just to clarify I’m fairly new to comics and also not up to date on what’s happening with most of the characters rn so if this doesn’t fit anywhere in any current timeline or has already been done uhhhh sorry I don’t give a fuck

Anyway I’d give Starfire a solo series.

The first major arc would be kind of a space road trip type thing and for this arc I’d partner Kory up with Donna Troy and it would be so fruity. Like so so fruity. Those women kiss. I’m not sure what exactly I’d have Kory doing in space or why Donna joins her but the arc should end in a way that consolidates the best parts of her lore and scraps everything else (this is how I’m retconning Red Hood and the Outlaws). So some kind of soul searching magic quest idk.

At the end of her space quest, Kory gets established with a job and apartment in a new city and her villains are all super high tech, sci-fi. The artist needs to have some fuckin whimsy in designing characters and backgrounds, none of that dark grey everything is gritty shit. Bright colors all around. Obviously there would probably be at least one arc with the Titans but I’d really want her to work with characters she hasn’t previously interacted with or to bring back characters she hasn’t worked with recently like Animal Man. Maybe for one arc she teams up with the (RENEE MONTOYA) Question to blend Kory’s whole alien thing with a street level noir story (making Dick the detective for this would be so lame and im not about that. Im giving Kory more female friendships thanks). I don’t know if she’s ever worked with Kon but if she hasn’t THIS IS THE TIME. It would be soon after she gets back from space and would kick off a storyline for him to change in some important way like idk maybe growing out of the Superboy mantle and actually being an adult.

Maybe none of that makes sense and if this is stupid feel free to tell me so. So yeah that’s my idea. Korydonna space road trip, set up a new status quo for the remainder of the series and have her work with new characters to fight super powered sci-fi villains in mundane settings, emphasis on Kory working with other women. If I have fundamentally misunderstood this character then just ignore all of this. But anyway the thing about this that I think would piss off DC is that Kory has no male love interests in this series, at all, period. She either kisses Donna or no one at all.

Unrelated to that I would also fix the whole Batgirl thing and have Babs be Oracle again, retcon Cass’s villain arc out of existence, and put her back as Batgirl for a solo series so we can have her pass the mantle to Steph at the end in a way that’s satisfying and does not include the character assassination. I don’t know how I would accomplish this in-universe without fucking up the timeline but I’d find a way.

I'm interested and am listening to you very closely. I'm not the most well versed person in Kory or Donna lore (I've read thousands of comics but not a lot with them meaningfully) so I can't say if this is compliant with anything, and even if it was an impossibility, this is about self indulgent stories YOU would write with no one at DC to tell you NO. I definitely feel strongly that DC needs more women with their own solos featuring other women and having relationships that are platonic so this 100% good in that regards and I feel a lot of people would be interested.

Kory and Kon interacted in TTv3 but I can't justifiably say it was the best of situations so having better interactions would be 100% a delight to see.

But yes, Kory deserves her own solo and we always need more queer content. And SPACE! We need more comics that take you away from Earth.

But here's an important question; WHAT CITY is she working out of??

Babs being Oracle again is a mantra even the most staunch of batfans cry daily and I feel most would welcome her back.

Tell me what you would do if you had full creative control to write for DC with NO push back from editors and who would you piss off the most with your unhinged creative wiles?

Also, I shouldn't have to say this but don't be a DICK to anyone whose self indulgent fantasies might make you mad. Keep scrolling, block, move on. Thanks.

[leonardalphachurch]

i am being self indulgent i am doing this whole thing with just chucker. some chuckboose making a special appearance bc as you know all chucker is chuckboose in disguise. feel free to still send in numbers for other ships i am just Going Ham.

note that i’m mostly basing this off of our yet to be written church lives au so slight spoilers for that but like. not really. all you have to know is that it’s a post-13 au.

1. Who would end a heated argument by defending their actions with ‘because I love you!’ ?

honestly probably neither. they’d both say something similar but i neither of them are very big on the “i love yous”. ESPECIALLY not when they’re angry. they’re much more likely to lash out than be sappy in an argument

2. What would they do if the other woke in a manic state after a nightmare?

neither of them would really get manic? church is Dissociative King and tucker canonically has panic attacks so i think that’s how they’d react to nightmares. when he’s dissociating is like one of the only times he’s 100% open to and wanting affection so tucker would be like. giving him kisses and pats to ground him and calm him. meanwhile for tucker it’s like, church isn’t great at giving affection so it’s much more practical. giving him water and making him breakfast and throwing a weighted blanket on him. and obviously they both just. call caboose over for cuddles. caboose number 1 nightmare destroyer

3. Do they wear the other’s clothes? (sweatshirt, bandana, necklace, etc.)

i think tucker is more fashion conscious and is like. your clothes do not match my style. meanwhile church is just wearing whatever the fuck is in front of him. not to churboose but church is wearing caboose’s shit basically every day. big for him

4. Which one is more protective? Who needs to be ‘protected’?

they’re both so protective in the dumbest ways. it’s that one comic of the two people who keep jumping in front of the bullet for each other but even stupider and way less functional

5. Describe their cozy night in.

some of these i think i might have to talk about on my nsfw blog lol… (edit: okay it’s in the notes). for a sfw version. they watch bad movies and get drunk and yell at the screen and at each other and also caboose is there and they’re all in a giant cuddle puddle by the end of the night

6. Who would beg the other not to leave? Who has to leave to protect the other?

neither of them would beg but they both so desperately want the other to never leave their side. please don’t leave them alone again. please.

7. Would they build a pillow fort together just because?

they come home and caboose has built a pillow fort in their living room and church acts like he’s mad about it and tucker is annoyed that he’s going to have to clean it up later but they all end up in there

8. What happens if one of them gets sick?

uh this happens in the fic so. no spoilers. however we know what canon church is like when tucker is sick LMAO he vacates the fucking premises

9. What are their thoughts on having children?

they already have kids lol. but i do like to imagine them adopting a child together… that is SO far into the future of their relationship tho

10. Describe their first date.

spoilers…

11. Do either try to hide their emotions if upset? Can the other still tell?

LMAO DO CHURCH AND TUCKER HIDE THEIR FEELINGS??? THE MOST REPRESSED MEN IN THE WORKD, DO THEY EVER HIDE THEIR EMOTIONS??? i guess it does depend on what kind of “upset” is meant tho. anger? not hidden even slightly. literally any other emotion, including positive ones? baby that’s just anger! why feel emotions when you can feel a) lust or b) anger. that’s all you need! and uh they both can usually tell that something’s up but in order to talk about it they would have to admit that they feel emotions besides lust and anger and. well.

12. Do they have many heated arguments? How do they smooth things over?

DO CHURCH AND TUCKER HAVE HEATED ARGUMENTS???? they do not smooth things over they just have angry sex and let all their emotions fester until the next time they argue and are nasty and vicious to each other and then do it all again

13. Who’s the bigger tease?

nsfw… but they both have their moments.

14. How do their personalities compliment each other? How do they clash?

that is. too big of a question to answer in this format lol

15. Do they always say 'i love you' before leaving?

lmao no

16. Can they stay up all night just talking?

this is literally The Thing that they do

17. Who's more likely to pull the other in by the waist and kiss them passionately?

SO tuckercore. tucker does this constantly everyday and church yells about it but never ever stops him

18. How likely are they to have fur babies? How many and what kind?

why do you have to say it like this. i think if church had a pet he would have a mental breakdown about it. tucker might have some reptiles tho. for fun

19. How do they feel about PDA?

they are literally one step away from having public sex

20. Choose one song that perfectly describes their relationship.

i’m so bad at songs lmfao. all the chucker songs i have are just tucker pining over church. mr. brightside the killers; starring role marina; you belong with me taylor swift…….. i don’t have any of their actual relationship

21. Who would get into a fight to defend the other's honor? Who tends to the other's wounds?

lmao no they’re the ones dashing each others honors. someone insults one of them and the others like “oh man so true!” church would be the one tending wounds tho bc if church is wounded he needs to like. go in for maintenance lmao tucker does not know how to fix robot. also church will take any opportunity to take care of someone while loudly complaining about the fact that he has to take care of them

22. What reminds each of their partner?

this is too vague i think for me to know how to answer it

23. Who's more likely to convince the other to stay in bed come morning?

“church we need to have morning sex. church please i will die without it.”

24. Who's more likely to give the other a massage?

tucker wants to be all sexy with it but church. is a robot. he might help church with like base level maintenance stuff to fufill the same purpose tho

25. Do they have any hobbies they share?

i don’t think they have. hobbies. i guess watching tv? ………sex.

26. What are their vices?

girl i am writing an entire fic about this. everything about them is a vice

27. Who is the light weight that needs to be taken care of after a party?

neither of them really are lightweights but i think tucker is definitely way more likely to take some more illicit substances hanging out with kai and church gets so fucking annoyed having to take care of tuckers high ass

28. What are there thoughts on pet names? Do they have any?

babe is literally the most common word coming out of tuckers lips

29. Who is more likely to jump in an elevator? Who freaks out?

i think church would be more likely to freak out but tucker wouldn’t really jump in an elevator bc hed be lowkey scared too. caboose is the one jumping he thinks it’s SO fun. it’s like you’re flying!

30. Your OTP gets to pick out each other's outfits; what is each wearing?

uhhh. nsfw? but i could see them picking out something really stupid for each other tho. actually tucker would pick something super nice and church would pick out something as a joke and then feel like an asshole about it.

31. Can they sit side by side without touching the other or are they handsy? (lacing fingers, touching knees, etc.)

tucker is the most handsy person in the fucking world and church is so touch starved he’s dying so they are literally all over each other. caboose is also there he is holding them both at all times.

32. Who's the better story teller?

church probably. he’s overdramatic while tucker is just kind of boring with it.

33. Who's the better cook?

church is better at following recipes but tucker is better at winging it. so tuckers food is usually more simple but it tastes better most of the time

34. Who's more likely to tell a dirty joke or story to make the other blush?

lol. who could possibly be the one more likely to tell a dirty joke here. i could not imagine.

35. Who's more artistic?

neither are artistic in a traditional sense (church literally put his creatively Somewhere Else) but tucker is super musically inclined

36. Who's more likely to fire up the stove at 2am because the other woke up in the middle of the night hungry?

church doesn’t need to sleep and gets so fucking annoyed hearing tuckers stomach growling

37. Which is more likely to swear?

lol

38. Who is more sexually experimental? Who's more vanilla?

lol nsfw. tuckers more experimental but that’s only bc church doesn’t need to experiment he knows what he wants

39. Who would rescue an injured animal and nurse it back to health? What would the other think?

tucker would bring home an animal and church would be so mad about it and then he’s up at 4am hand feeding it food that he crushed himself all the while complaining about how much he hates it

40. Who has an insatiable appetite? And what does the other do to help?

uh. surprisingly this is kind of spoilers.

41. Which one would take their jacket it off and drape over the other one because they were visibly shivering?

church but he claims it’s because tucker shaking is so annoying and church has internal temperature regulation systems anyway

42. What's their favorite type of weather to enjoy together? (getting snowed in together, watching thunderstorms, etc.)

oh i think they have opposite weather feelings lol. church likes the cold, tucker likes the heat. i think they both hate the rain together tho. bonding over being mad about the wet

43. Who would give their life for the other without a second thought?

lol. lol. lol.

44. Who would dance in the kitchen making dinner? Would the other join in or watch from the doorway?

tucker 🥺 church would definitely be watching and then be pulled in and annoyed about it and just. cute.

45. Can they fall asleep without the other?

church doesn’t need to sleep so he does not bother sleeping unless he’s with tucker or caboose. tucker has more than enough practice sleeping in the worst of situations but he is 🥺 about having to sleep without church

46. Would they get frisky at the movies by themselves?

LMAO YES. remove the “by themselves” lmao. lmao.

47. Does either of them have a secret that could potentially ruin their relationship?

spoilers. but also. they’re both convinced that the secret of them having feelings for the other is this

48. Who's the better driver?

church is an ai that was literally made to be in charge of helping maintain a space ship the size of a city. so tucker.

49. Does either of them have a hard time being away from the other?

they cry EVERY DAY they are apart so sad so tragedy

50. Who's more likely to do something out of spite?

LMAO. they are so fucking. they are constantly fueled by spite. everything they do is out of spite. church is more spite but. tucker is there too

51. What’s a non verbal way they say I love you?

church’s love language is 100% acts of service. he can’t tell you how he feels but he can make sure all of your medication is in order and to call to confirm your appointment and have you been eating enough vegetables lately? ugh he’ll have to hide them in your food for you so annoying. no shut up he’ll do it. he’s already doing it. tucker is just. constantly having his hands on church and kissing him and just hoping, praying that somehow everything he feels can be transmitted through just his lips grazing churchs skin

52. Describe their weekend getaway?

uhhhh. i have ideas for a honeymoon but. for a weekend… maybe they just go some place quiet and spend the weekend boning. or they go somewhere fun with caboose and junior and [spoilers]

53. Would they ever go skinny dipping?

tucker lives to go skinny dipping. church would think it’s stupid but do it anyway

54. Who’s more likely to carry the other to bed?

church demands to be carried at all times. but the one doing the most carrying is caboose. he loves to pick up his friends

55. Do they like watching clouds or star gazing?

no they are not deep. actually. church does like looking out at the stars when he’s on a ship. reminds him of a time when things were. good. tucker still doesn’t really know how to react when church gets wistful bc it’s such a rare and jarring experience so he just. stands there with him and holds his hand. even though he’s really REALLY bored.

56. What do they do turn the other on/put them in the mood?

aha uhhh nsfw.

57. Whose the serious one when grocery shopping and who likes to toss random things in the cart?

their cart is 100% snacks and bullshit. they both take turns being the one to put in real food and being the one to put snacky treats.

58. Who’s more likely to hold a grudge after an argument?

they are SO talented at holding grudges #1 grudge holders 2559

59. Who tops? Who bottoms?

nsfw. they switch

60. Who pulls the other closer when they’re sleeping?

i don’t know if either of them would. caboose.

[yuukei-yikes]

Um hiya vinnie,I've liked kagepro since i was like 13 so um do u have any prn hcs for the mekadan? If thats ok 2 ask

FUCK YEAHHH CRACKS KNUCKLES

ayano: she/her but in a deeply transgender way

kido: they/them but also...why not a lil bit of he/him. transmasc kido my beloved...

seto: he/him also in a deeply transgender way.

kano: he/they/it YEAHH WOOO YEAHHHH also transmasc btw if u even care. but i could also transfem ray him he has the range tbh

mary: she/they, doesnt rly care much though. that sonic comic thats like knuckles what are ur pronouns. (saeru: SETO WHAT ARE MARYS PRONOUNS seto: we usually just use she but they dont really care)

momo: she/it, probably a bunch of neos too. the more the better. transfem btw. that whole thing distances her and shintaro even more as kids bc he doesnt understand it very well. meeting ayano helps

takane: they/she/he/it. idk if its bc theyre a favorite or they just have that much gender. canon blue hair and all you know. so nonbinary it makes you look stupid

shintaro: he/him. hes the diversity hire and the only cis person in the dan. ive seen transmasc shintaro hcs and like ofc its awesome but to me it just changes his whole foundation... if a boy, to me he is cis. if trans shintaro...ok hear me out. transfem shin COME ONNN COME ON COME ONNNN C ok yeah that rly self indulgent hc aside, cis 💔 also has a hard time understanding...everyone else. when finding out ayano is trans his brain breaks. he especially cant understand the nonbinaries hes like JUST PICK ONE !!! sry cis shintaro is so funny he keeps wanting to act like a victim for it (confusion and self hatred shed feel in a transfem hc...oughoigh ok sorry ill move on)(puts down the stress ball with shintaro face printed on it)

hibiya: HE/HIM BABY TRANS💗💗💗 gets his first binder from the dan as a gift. kido teaches him to put it on. weehhh wehhhhh sniff sniff but also transfem egg hibiya would be so awesum too😳 both are good. but he is so deeply transgender either way

haruka: he/she. demiboy or demigirl whichever but so epic and genderfluid :) when he is a girl and she is a boy

konoha: it/its cuz unauthorized fucking thing /pos /pos /pos but when it was around, the dan used he/him sort of in the same way they use she for mary lol (kido: indicative but not exclusive to your gender identity. konoha: stop swearing at me)

hiyori: she/her, transfem. no one knows. knew she was a girl since like 0 seconds old. in my sick twisted mind the way hibiya and hiyori become friends in a route like the novels for example, where they didnt rly speak much before their trip together is cuz hiyori finds out hibiya is trans and decides he HAS to be her friend but doesnt Actually tell him that she's trans. probably only tells him after meeting the dan bc thats the whole lgbt community so she's like damn okay

[sunriseverse]

4 for the ask meme??? I desire all your thoughts. require them even. and a glimpse into your wips. 👁️

okay. deep breaths. i will not throw my phone out the window because tumblr crashed this ask and deleted everything i had written. anyway.

i have a LOT of wip ideas but the most active wip i have in my head at the moment is sunrise, and i have a couple things planned at the moment.

1. this is a xiaoge pov fic, with a mixture of third and second person pov (third for past/present, second for behind the rift). i keep trying to write it and stopping because it’s such uncharted territory for me and i want it to be PERFECT but i know i shouldn’t be so intense about it……..but also i want it to be exactly how i have imagined it in my head. here’s what i have so far:

2. this is a xiaosanjiao fic, with two main focuses: one, how wu xie in this verse is specifically callous and cruel towards li cu while also trying to maintain his innocence, the only reason he has any use for him, and two, the way li cu only survives because he is loved. i’ve got a lot of thoughts about prototypal anchor bonds and they are quite literally the case study for it—especially when you consider that their bond is basically comparable to the iron triangle’s. what can i say, sha hai took me out back and shot me with that metaphor and now i can’t let it rest.

now onwards and inwards towards my notes app, where lieth the beasts who dwell in waiting (wips i would like to get to some day but which have lower priority). there’s a lot of these so they’re going below the cut.

1. iron triangle time loop fic. i love a good time loop i love when things hurt and people have to watch their loved ones die. for a change of pace it would be pangzi who remembers the loops. because i like to torture the characters i love.

2. xiaoge taking pangzi and wu xie to visit baima’s grave. i just………have a lot of feelings about graves and how xiaoge only knew her for three days and how she wasn’t even really conscious and how despite that it was clearly an incredibly meaningful thing to him. also i think xiaoge would want the men he loves to meet the woman who loved him, even if they’re separated inescapably by time and distance.

3. silly fake marriage fic that hinges on that stupid marriage chair of fo ye’s (okay that’s not what it is and that’s not what happened but allow me to jest for a moment. to joke.). this is 100% self indulgent and ignoring any real world implications etc etc so the likelihood of it getting written ever is vanishingly low (i cannot stop thinking about Implications, alas), but hey, it’s a fun concept.

4. technically i wrote this but i would love to revisit it: dæmon au where xiaoge’s dæmon isn’t able to cross over the bronze gate with him and instead is left comatose in the real world and the only true indication that wu xie and pangzi have that xiaoge is still alive. i think initially when i thought of it my plan was for wu xie to care for them, but i’ve since decided that he would probably entrust that to pangzi, both because that’s safer, and because he doesn’t trust himself with the task.

5. pangzi in a qipao as a disguise for some fancy party they’re infiltrating for whatever reason. do i need to explain this further. alternatively a mundane au where pangzi is a model.

6. au where wu xie’s hatred and disgust and fear of what he’s turning himself into physically alters him into being visibly “monstrous” and it doesn’t go away after everything and he tries to hide it because he’s terrified of how pangzi and xiaoge will react if they find out. heavily inspired by this one comic i saw about a character hiding in a bathtub behind the curtain because they turned into their monstrous form and can’t remember how to turn back, and then the other person gets into the bathtub and holds their hand and shows them a photo of some happy moment and tells them it’s okay, they’ll wait. yeah. also vague allegories for bipolar onset because i have exactly three dead horses and i’m not going to stop beating them.

7. wu xie with glasses. listen. look at me. the glasses agenda must be advanced.

8. boyfriend item thief xiaoge. sweaters. food. that one blanket pangzi could have sworn he left on the sofa. hearts. etc.

9. technically i kind of wrote this a bit with “hearts’ keep” but a fic where li cu and wu xie keep running into each other and li cu is horribly reminded repeatedly of the ways that people keep drawing parallels between him and su wan and yang hao and the iron triangle. i just want to write about complicated relationships and the horrifying knowledge that you are in love with your best friends you know?

okay that’s it i THINK. or at least everything that’s more than just three words and no context/scribbling that got incorporated into other things.

[skyllion-uwu]

for the OC ask game: professor chronos!

Oh boy, one of the OCs I'm most autistic about right now!

Full Name: She's had a few names. Project Chimera. Adam. Eve. Professor Chronos. Jenny.

Gender and Sexuality: Trans (no direction just trans) and ???? All I know is thon is my only alloromantic and allosexual OC. Julesromantic and Julessexual I dunno

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers, Thon/Thon/Thons

Ethnicity/Species: A many animal hybrid (originally human, snake, and mountain goat)

Birthplace and Birthdate: A top secret government sponsored lab. Unknown.

Guilty Pleasures: Romcoms, comics

Phobias: Being left behind/abandoned, having no true free will

What They Would Be Famous For: Designed for being a new type of super soldier, killing an entire facility of scientists and government soldiers singlehandedly

What They Would Get Arrested For: Murdering almost everyone in the facility, unethical scientific experimentation, probably war crimes if she ever went into the field

OC You Ship Them With: Jules (bitter exes that try to kill each other sometimes and also kiss each other sometimes)

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Jules

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Horror

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche (I'm assuming this is supposed to also be genre): Documentary

Talents and/or Powers: Enhanced strength, extreme stamina, amazing eyesight, vibration detection, good leaping ability, has venom, retractable claws... Goddamn thon's the whole package!

Why Someone Might Love Them: I made her based on fucked up toxic obsessive yuri, thon's often associated with blood and cannibalism, I think she'd do numbers on Tumblr

Why Someone Might Hate Them: Girl adjacent, very possessive, could be seen as trying too hard to be something appealing for Tumblr

How They Change: So in the story itself, not really. This is partially because it's a time travel and timeloop story and thon hasn't really accepted that things are over and can't be changed and also because she doesn't want to change. Before the story though thon was less aggressive with her possessiveness towards Jules, but upon finding out ey were forced to date thon, she took matters into thon's own hands and a. Killed everyone involved and b. Became way to narrow minded on how to "properly" win em over

Why You Love Them: I created her based on this stupid comic character I love/hate named Hugo Strange but also made thon a monster adjacent creature (need to make her more monsterous tbh) and I love using cannibalism for a metaphor of all consuming love. She's a VERY self indulgent OC

Ask Game

[ankerias]

genuinely think i am just too stupid to ever make good art

[mayordeas-clone]

After putting it off for a while, I finally finished this very self-indulgent piece based on the final boss of Miitopia, featuring my OC Kandy as the Great Sage. ...Ok I have a lot of stuff I want to unload about the backstory and context of this piece so read more if you're interested in my probably incomprehensible rambles 😭 Basically I like Miitopia a totally Normal Amount and my newest playthrough made my brain go CRAZY which lead to this piece. Also there will be Miitopia endgame spoilers so ya

Basically the character as I've mentioned is my childhood OC Kandy in her revenge arc. I've been casually inserting her into some of my original work/fanfiction as a mischief maker that just wants some attention. She was originally a Mary Sue that I dropkicked as soon as I got in my "grr Mary Sue bad!!" phase but now I'm just fully embracing her OP-ness. I think it's fitting for her to start as the benevolent, powerful, and well-liked Great Sage who later gets corrupted into the godly Darker Lord, so I assigned her as such in my latest playthrough of Miitopia.

As I was playing this new run though of Miitopia, I decided to write a mini-fanfiction of sorts which just serves as an excuse for my blorbos to cross over and defeat evil together. I've done this for my past playthroughs and this one was no exception. However, since my own original character is playing as one of the most important NPCs in the game (And happens to be the only character not from a specific piece of media), I decided to add a little twist to this pass of the fanfic and make a sort of Alternate Scenario type deal.

In the original Miitopia, the Great Sage got corrupted by the Dark Curse following the defeat of the Dark Lord, which transformed them into the Darker Lord (Love the naming conventions of this game). In my AU, basically the Great Sage knew about the Dark Curse and purposely used the heroes to defeat the Dark Lord and take it for themself.

The Darker Lord ends up being the final boss of the main story of Miitopia, complete with multiple phases that lead up to an utterly BADASS confrontation against The Darkest Lord who is just a giant sun god and UGH IT'S SO GOOD YOU GUYS. And the music??? Amazing as well. I seemed out to recreate that epic feeling the boss fight gave me. But for this piece I decided to turn the Darkest Lord into sort of like a Stand that just menacingly looms over Kandy which she controls. There is a specific design for when the Great Sage goes evil mode in the game, and I did design Kandy's version of it, but I guess I just forgot about it. Plus, having this crazy little guy standing in front of their unfiltered godly form just made a cool visual so! :) I like to think that in this pass of my fanfic, Kandy's Darker Lord demon form probably comes out in desperation after the sun god is defeated, complete with the cool floating hands. This is obviously innaccurate to the actual ordering of these designs in the actual game but it's my fanfic and I get to break as many rules as I please >:)

Ok that explanation was probably pretty underwhelming but the tl;dr is that I started writing a min-fanfic where the Great Sage, played by my OC, is very evil from the beginning and only goes crazier from the power they get upon transforming into the Darker Lord.

I did want to make an accompanying comic where this character absolutely wipes the floor of my Mitopia team because she's just so Powerful and Awesome but that would reveal the types of characters in my Miitopia team, consequently revealing some of the fandoms I'm in and I just don't think the world is ready for that! But maybe when I reject my humanity I will not only make but publish my Miitopia team and them getting along and fighting evil <3 that's my ramble for this stupid art piece 😭

[insertmesoftly]

Me: Haha Im gonna finish the new chapter in time :D

Stranger Things Vol. 2: No

Me, also: Hehe that one off goth character of mine is just for humor and wild shenanigans. They protect Eddie like a guard dog.

Stranger Things Vol. 2: Protect him, eh? How well?

:'D

More thoughts under the cut, including my thoughts on Eddie's death and more on the Goth Oc saving Eddie's ass. (They're still unnamed lmao)

Anyways, I knew it. I knew they wouldn't keep Eddie, they didn't give him enough screentime, enough to flesh him out with the group like they did Robin, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT BUT WHAT STILL CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD WAS HOW FUCKING DUMB THEY KILLED HIM.

I honestly expected his playing his guitar to be the way he goes out. Like, playing until he died, fighting off Vecna's hold on someone, maybe doing it for Chrissy in an attempt to get the souls he claimed back. I WANTED HIM TO GO DOWN IN A COOL, LEGENDARY WAY, DOING WHAT HE LOVED. BUT NOOOO, STUPID FUCKING BATS AND STUPIDLY DECIDING TO FIGHT THEM WHEN REALISTICALLY, RUNNING WOULD BUY WAY MORE TIME! YOU'RE NOT A GOOD FIGHTER, EDDIE, IM SORRY! YOU COULD HAVE RUN OUT THE CLOCK!!!! AUGH!!!!!

But uh, more on the Oc saving Eddie, my thoughts are just. They're faster than Dustin at figuring out what Eddie's doing and they are not having it. They don't even consult Dustin, they just take the chair and jump. Dustin tries following after and mayhaps gets the injury, but either way, Oc isn't sticking around, they booked it. (sorry Dustin, you're still my fave.)

They find Eddie just as he's trying to heroically fight and drag him along to keep running. But, because angst, Eddie trips anyways and with the distance between them and the Demo-Bats being so close, he orders them to just leave. They don't.

They end up fighting together for just a bit, but come on, the bats are still too much. Eddie gets caught first, swooped to the ground, but before the bats can fully pin him, Oc is on them, beating them from his limbs and pretty much cocooning him with their body on top of him. Eddie keeps trying to push them away as bats attack them both from all angles but they refuse to.

Eddie was their best friend. The only one to give them a place to be themself, the one that encouraged their creativity and never shunned their sporadic behavior, the leader they looked up to, their best friend. They remind him about the first day they met through screams as Demo-Bats tear their flesh. He's their captain. They'd give anything for him.

They both get a few chunks taken out, especially Eddie's legs which were left unprotected in the cocoon lol, but the time they bought by running more, fighting longer together, and both taking damage, their wounds aren't as fatal. Still bad, but not die-worthy.

They live. And now Oc gets to have new scars they can parade around while Eddie gets to see his dad again and the duo still lives in hiding.

Badum Tiss, this has been another insertmesoftly self indulgent comic and idea, I'm sorry, I'll get back to work on RTKYH now, I'm so sorry 😭 I cannot control the hyperfixation god fucking damn it.

[twinkle-art]

Maybe a stupid lil qeustion buuttt

I’ve seen your akechi and naoto team up art pieces (which are incredible btw) and I wanted to know if you have some headcanons on their dynamic and maybe some elaboration on what the story could be

BOY DO I!!!!! tl;dr is the image below. extremely exhaustive vision to follow

SO! regarding their dynamic, it's very much informed by my interpretation of p4-to-p5 being an actual timeline that puts naoto well into their twenties when goro is 18 (as opposed to like.. a persona q type of deal)

since i imagine all of this happening post-everything, i quite enjoy the idea that there is a period of time where goro is adrift and presumed dead and fate aligns so that the closest thing he has to a friend in that moment is an exhausted barely-willing mentor figure. it makes sense to me that they'd have previously interacted in passing while goro was in the public eye, but that was pure professional courtesy, and of course not at all representative of what goro is ACTUALLY like, so i do think naoto would consider him a bit of a curiosity before anything else, at first. that's very much the backdrop i'm picturing all this happening against

(fig. a- this doodle i posted on twitter like a year ago.) (side note i know the exact placement of p4 in the timeline was made weird by golden but i prefer a larger age difference for these themes so. sue me)

anyways i think their personalities have the potential to contrast quite nicely from this point. goro’s self-defensive abrasiveness doesn't do much to actually faze naoto, and naoto's straight-laced stoicness has the potential to subtly belie the exact type of support that this teen who violently recoils from perceived pity might need. goro is actively trying to stifle the part of him who genuinely held the Detective Prince in high esteem because he finds it childish and embarrassing. naoto does not consider themself the kind of person who is equipped to deal with someone so volatile and vulnerable in a mentorship capacity and wants to keep things impersonal. but here we are

so as for what scenario might get them in this mess.. i like the idea that following the events of p5, it makes sense that masayoshi shido was just the head of the beast, and that his sudden fall would naturally leave quite a few threads to be tied up- something that would catch the attention of naoto, who i imagine currently works as a private investigator free of the oversight that might otherwise hinder their ability to look into the matter (..that was the idea behind this comic from 2020, anyways) though that’s admittedly an excuse to a facilitate some fun drama before anything else. i have a few scenes rattling around in my brain to this day but no actual plot haha 

(i previously scripted 2 indulgent mini-comics for this premise, one where they meet with an adult kanji whose tailor business makes him naoto’s go-to disguise guy for fun contrived undercover scenes, and one where futaba had figured out what was up and contacted them about offering her services in exchange for retrieving wakaba’s research. obviously never did anything about it and probably never will, but they looked like this)

..it also contained an arc that will likely only ever live in my notes app wherein naoto liaisons with akira directly for pt-related info because goro is 1) EXTREMELY cagey about inserting himself back into akira’s life for reasons that i’m sure are obvious and 2) coming to realize that naoto’s presence in his life is actually very good for him and is a relationship he’s reluctantly coming to cherish........which makes him all the more terrified of the EXACT nature of his connection to shido inevitably being uncovered by them. like he’s sort-of-kind-of sabotaging an investigation that he has a personal stake in wanting to see succeed because he realizes naoto’s respect is something he doesn’t actually like the idea of losing. drama!

(of course, naoto obviously finds out he killed people, and akira obviously finds out he’s alive, but not for lack of trying. maybe i’m delusional but i do think naoto could move past that after the initial shock.)

i think that about covers it.. i consider this whole concept pretty much public domain, so to speak, btw. anyone is free to take whatever they want from it. and by this i mean my efforts are a shameless ploy to get other people interested in their potential dynamic. gotta spread the gospel