Grass is green, water is wet, and Jonathan Byers does not like Steve Harrington.
These are known facts in the universe.
Computers were going to take over the world, a “mobile” phone was being invented, and Steve Harrington had lost most of his hearing.
These were unknown facts--rumors even, if you will. Eddie had never seen even a grain of truth to support any of them.
(Well, maybe the computer thing, but only because Grant and Dustin both had made a couple of convincing arguments.)
So he doesn’t think about it, when his freshman gang up on him.
Doesn’t even factor the “can’t hear well” thing in, when he was tasked (demanded, whined, bitched and moaned at) with helping them explain to Steve why going to the release party of the new D&D box set, located at a hobby store only a mere 2 hour drive away, was important.
Eddie’s not even sure how the little shits got him to agree to do it until he’s standing in the parking lot in front of the former King himself.
“The store’s leading up to the release with a handful of one-shots.” He’s explaining, unsure whether to pull out the bored act or play up his court jester persona, and thus mixing and matching on the fly.
He does not care if Harrington doesn’t know what a one-shot is.
“They’re releasing the set at midnight. You have to be there to get it though, you can’t have someone else pick it up for you because they only got a certain amount in.”
Harrington’s frowning (no surprise) but it’s not until Eddie is well into his spiel about how his van is already full with the elder members of Hellfire, and thus has no room for the freshmen, that he realizes Steve isn’t quite looking at him.
Is in fact, looking over his shoulder.
Eddie stops. Follows Harrington’s gaze.
Parked across from Steve’s Beemer, is Jonathan Byer’s barely working clunker car.
A handful of steps in front of it, and thus nearly right behind Eddie, is the man himself.
His hands are still moving, mouth shaping words silent as he goes, his gaze locked not on Eddie or the kids--but on Steve.
Who turns back around as Harrington’s eyes slide right back to him.
“And this is taking place next Friday?” He says, in that sort of annoyed but resigned way parents aim at their children. “After school?”
“I’d like to go during school, but the freshmen insist you wouldn’t let them ditch out.” Eddie tells him. “They had two separate arguments about it.”
Loud ones, that had interrupted the game and given Eddie a migraine.
Once again Steve’s eyes slide away from him, to Jonathan.
“They’re not skipping school.” He says suddenly, a glare forming and Jonathan makes an annoyed noise.
“They argued about skipping, they’re not going to.” He says aloud, and finally steps up so that he’s next to Eddie instead of behind him.
“Munson slow down, I can’t sign as fast as you’re talking.” He adds, in the hang-dog grumble he’s notorious for.
Eddie stares at him.
“Can he seriously not hear me?”
“No.” Steve and Jonathan answer together.
“I can kind of still hear,” Steve adds, gaze returning to Eddie’s face. “But its more loud music or noises. I can lip read, but you’re also talking too fast for that.”
Without pausing, he turns back to Jonathan and says; “Why can’t you take them?”
“It’s Friday.” Byers deadpans.
Eddie’s not an expert on sign language, but his hands somehow looked deadpan too.
He’s not sure how Jonathan did that.
“So?” Steve snarks back.
What follows is an argument that Eddie is not, at all involved in, mostly because he’s too busy handling the fact that Jonathan Byers has learned sign language, for Steve Harrington, apparently, and given the tone the argument is taking they still don’t even like each other.
Eventually the argument ends, Steve throwing his hands in the air and demanding that Jonathan owes him.
(Eventually Eddie will corner the ever so quiet Will Byers and ask why the hell his brother learned sign language for someone he clearly fucking hates.
“Oh they don’t hate each other.” Baby Byers would say, in that shy, quiet way of his. “I think they’re actually friends now?”
“You think?”
“Well--you’ve seen them.” Will shrugs. “I think being mean to each other is kinda their thing.”
‘What the hell.’ Eddie would think, right up until he stumbled across one of the kids sign language books.
Byers the Elder, he decides, isn’t the only person who should learn sign language to chew out Harrington properly.
The pay off is immediate.
Or at least, the pay off of watching Steve’s shocked face the first time Eddie signs something vulgar at him is, anyway.)
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happy indigenous peoples day ^-^ a year ago i found out my family is half indigenous, so ive made it a personal duty to try and reconnect in order to honor those ancestors and histories. it's not my fault that I may never know my tribal affiliation (we know they lived around Popocatépetl), but it is my responsibility to do my best to honor them. since starting grad school, i've made an effort to talk about my indigenous roots more often, and to be honest about the fact that i do consider myself mixed indigenous. I also talk about this taking into account that I have white privilege, and how this has complicated my relationship to indiginiety.
anyway, i went to an ipd event outside of boston today and was so happy!! i had to leave early for a health emergency (thank u random uti) but it was so fun and i experienced and learned a lot. loved the mexica dance group who danced for Huitzilopochtli (i love you Huitzilopochtli he was pulled for me during a tarot reading and he told me to be fucking strong!!!!), and i especially loved experiencing the seven sacred directions where the entire crowd moved as one. i talked to some lovely indigenous people and they gave me so much guidance and love! it made me feel so happy...I wish I was able to stay longer, but I enjoyed being in a space where I was so welcomed.
if you're detribalized like me or trying your best to reconnect, never be ashamed of the fact that you were forcibly removed from your tribal affiliation. never be ashamed of how you look like either! there were so many "white passing" indigenous folks there embracing and celebrating with those in full regalia, and so many people of many appearances joined in for ceremonial dance. even if you're 10% or 3% indigenous, I still think you deserve to know your ancestor's culture and history! i still think you deserve to honor those parts of you! they wanted us to forget about our indigenous roots for a reason, and i refuse to colonize my mind any longer. opening yourself up to indigineity, even if you don't know your affiliation or "how much" is in you, is far better than never learning a damn thing about indigenous folks.
i hope everyone had a lovely indigenous peoples day ^-^
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q!Phil will never accept q!Forever's love as it is now (and that's good for many reasons)
so, like, I totally understand why people are upset with Philza's rejection. Especially with how he kept repeating it over and over to Forever. A beating the dead horse kinda situation, it seems, yeah? Unforunately, this has to happen, with how Forever is acting.
He had made this very clear with BadBoyhalo the other day. When Bad asked "You don't like Philza for Philza?". Forever says "No, I never have."
Never, he said. Even if he might be lying a bit (like maybe he's saying this to ease BBH's feelings), for him to say that is... ouch.
And no, Phil wasn't there for that moment, but Phil seems to be aware of this, regardless. And Forever's heart is set on Brunim, not Philza. The references, the requests to imitate Brunim, et cetra. Right from the start, Forever only pursued Philza because of Brunim (that, and he gave him things, but that's still a plastic reason to have affection toward someone).
And Phil knows not to enable that. Imagining looking at someone, and realizing that they see someone else in your eyes. Imagine having moments that are probably genuine, but you can never be quite sure if you're both sharing a moment, because he's probably pretending he's sitting by someone else as the sun sets. That seems like such a shitty feeling, no wonder Philza keeps pushing him away.
Yes, he complimented Philza during the wedding, complimented stuff about Philza specifically (like his laugh), but that doesn't take away the feeling that you're basically just leftovers. Like "is he really saying this about me? or is he saying this so he can pretend I'm him when he has the chance?" Feeling like a replacement creates so much uncertainty, even if Forever acts genuine toward him.
And here's the thing: if Forever stopped obsessing over Brunim, if he accepted Philza fully as his own person, if he were to seek out Philza for Philza, Philza might give him a chance.
I don't know how likely in canon this is, tbh, because Philza, the content creator, has never really done gay rp, and it's clear he's a bit awkward and hesitant about it. Like, at most he'd probably just "give Forever a chance" by doing the whole flirting bit a la Fit. However, there's still some things that make me think that this idea isn't impossible.
For example, even when he rejects him, Phil emphasizes that he cares about Forever as a person; there's a connection there. Most of all, he keeps telling him it's because Forever is only thinking about someone else.
Look at any clip where he's pushing against Forever's advancements. That is pretty much the only thing he ever mentions when rejecting him. That's the huge obstacle here. It's about being projecting onto, and not feeling like you're valued for being you. If Forever were to treat him like his own person entirely, maybe they can have something.
(That, and I believe that q!Phil likes the attention Forever gives him, but this one I also can't be certain as to whether Philza intends it. It doesn't even in a romantic way, just, hey, he likes having someone to flirt around with cause it's fun. Because, like... Philza, why did you take a picture of Forever and then place your hand over your heart right after during Festa Junina? Motherfucker you literally let Forever (and others, granted) sit in your lap while saying "yeah this works" during Tallulah's birthday. You chased after him during the wedding to further rub in the "I'm not him" rejection.)
I'm... I'm just saying.
But overall, I really don't think this 'ship' is dead like others might. If anything I feel like this dynamic might be going in the direction it needs to develop and thrive. Like maybe we'll reach the point of "I like you for you. This is genuine. This is real. Let's have a healthy, balanced relationship." There's just no way they can get there until Brunim isn't a lingering presence.
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