#i remember thinking of this idea back in like february but it was too early to post hallow t

[spikrock]

i should have posted this yesterday on friday the 13th but i wasn't thinking. oh well

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it! (and the fact you're linking all your other metas)

I like how you explained it and it really makes sense. I actually can picture it now! I think it would be really interesting to see how impacted the muggleborns were back then. Maybe they were refused job because of their blood and overall felt insecure-- after all, we never know since Lily ended up being a full time Order's member.

I gotta says though, there are some dates I do not agree with in your timeline, if I may? Here's what Moody said concerning the Order's picture:

“There’s me,” said Moody unnecessarily, pointing at himself. The Moody in the picture was unmistakable, though his hair was slightly less gray and his nose was intact. “And there’s Dumbledore beside me, Dedalus Diggle on the other side … That’s Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family. That’s Frank and Alice Longbottom —”

And in Lily's letter, she wrote to Sirius that she cried all evening after learning what happened to the McKinnons. It was wrote late July/early August 1981 since it was for Harry 1st birthday, so Marlene would have been killed in July and that's why I am assuming the picture was taken in 1981.

Also, I started to think that the prophecy was made around January/February 1980 because of this post (which would work with the idea that he made interviews during winter break), and that the Fidelius Charm was performed only in October 1981 because of this quote:

“Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know- Who wasn’t an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm." […] “He did,” said Fudge heavily. “And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed— ”

which would work with my idea that Severus only warned Albus in October 1981, and not before-- and therefore Peter being a spy for one year but not snitching on the Potters would make sense. Voldemort hadn't make his decision yet.

And it made me wonder when Dumbledore actually told the Potters about the prophecy. Did he even tell them everything? There are actually no informations about the Longbottoms hiding too, only the fact they were possible target so I wonder if they knew about it.

Also, one point I like to think about is the fact Lily and James were in the picture in June/July 1981 (possibly), but in Lily's letter she talks about James getting frustrated staying home. Were they still going to the Order's meeting but not doing missions for the Order? Or did they keep low only after the picture was taken? I know in interviews JK talked about the Potters hiding either before Harry's birth or during his christening, and I know people always assume it's because of the prophecy but what if it was simply because they knew they were possible target even without it?

I really have been thinking greatly about the First Wizardin War lately sorry 😭

Your welcome, and no problem, I love talking about this!

Referring to this post.

Regarding the Fidelius, I remember Fudge saying that, but Fudge has no reason to know when the charm was cast. Winter of 1980, makes sense for the prophecy, Considering the prophecy says:

“...THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . . .”

(OotP)

It talks about the future. The child will be born, not born yet. Also, the Prophecy was made at least two months before Harry was born:

“My name?” said Harry blankly. He stepped forward. Not as tall as Ron, he had to crane his neck to read the yellowish label affixed to the shelf right beneath the dusty glass ball. In spidery writing was written a date of some sixteen years previously

(OotP)

“I did,” said Dumbledore. “On a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog’s Head Inn

(OotP)

This is in May 1996, so Harry is two months before his 16th birthday, meaning the prophecy was made at least 2 months before he was born. Possibly in the winter of 1980, but not after Harry's birth.

And, it seems bizarre to not hide the Potters immediately after the prophecy is made. Especially since the Order knew there was a spy in their midst since mid-1980:

YOU’D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED!

(PoA)

Add to that the fact the Fidelius broke upon James and Lily's death, which implies Harry was not included in the phrasing of the spell, and it indicates the Fidelius was cast before Harry was born and that Fudge has no clue what he's talking about (which is pretty in character, all in all).

It always seemed to me Dumbledore hid the Potters before Snape told him about Voldemort and that he heard the prophecy. Fudge just knows the version of events the ministry was given, not necessarily the true version.

“The—the prophecy. . . the prediction. . . Trelawney. . . ” “Ah, yes,” said Dumbledore. “How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?” “Everything—everything I heard!” said Snape. “That is why—it is for that reason—he thinks it means Lily Evans!” “The prophecy did not refer to a woman,” said Dumbledore. “It spoke of a boy born at the end of July—” “You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down—kill them all��” “If she means so much to you,” said Dumbledore, “surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?” “I have—I have asked him—” “You disgust me,” said Dumbledore, and Harry had never heard so much contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little, “You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?” Snape said nothing, but merely looked up at Dumbledore. “Hide them all, then,” he croaked. “Keep her—them—safe. Please.” “And what will you give me in return, Severus?” “In—in return?” Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and Harry expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, “Anything.”

(DH)

Dumbledore isn't surprised by anything Snape is telling him. It's all expected, he knew all of it already, so I think he already had the Potters in hiding before this conversation. He knew it was Lily and James' son, Snape is even calling him out on his bullshit here. Dumbledore acts like he knew and already took the precautions he felt were needed. Snape goes and promises him anything in exchange for something Dumbledore was already doing.

And I think he didn't tell James and Lily the full prophecy. If he did, I don't think James would've been as antsy to leave all the time. Like, if he felt a strong enough duty to stay for Harry and Lily, I think he would have. Which, to me suggests he didn't know all the details. But alas, I don't know for certain, it's just speculation on my part how much James and Lily knew. I believe it was very little, along the lines of: "There is reason to believe Voldemort would try to target Harry due to certain intel he has," maybe they knew there was a prophecy but not the full contents of it.

The photo of the order and the dates super annoy me. Becouse like, if the photo was taken in the summer of 1981 it means the entire Order was practically wiped out in 4 months. Which is kinda insane and doesn't make much sense.

But, if it indeed was taken in June/July of 1981, it means it was taken after the Potters were already in hiding due to everything I wrote above. It means the Potters left Harry with Batgilda Bagshot or something to meet the Order and take this picture, which, again, doesn't make sense. God, I hate JKR's timeliness sometimes.

Yes, this is nonsensical, but it seems like, indeed, James and Lily left their hiding spot to take a picture and the whole Order died in the last 4 months of the war, painting them as way more incompetent than I usually paint them as.

But if James and Lily really didn't know how grave the danger was and didn't have all the details, and James felt confident enough to leave them under the invisibility cloak multiple times, it's possible they did go to meet the Order while in hiding on a few occasions. This would lull James and Lily even more into a false sense of security. If they were used to seeing the Order it explains James leaving often-ish, and neither of them having their wands on them when Voldemort arrives. They didn't really think they were in danger for all their months in hiding.

[indilaras]

2024 Recap! Template from here (twt).

Looking back on the year and realizing I did some cool stuff is fun! Even on the busier months, I still managed to do at least one relatively "finished" thing, so I'll need to remember that next time I'm beating myself up for never finishing what I started.

Individual works + some thoughts and feelings:

January: 100 Hua Day 4

Fu Hua | Honkai Impact 3rd

the fact that i did four of these in the first month of the year and then my progress going down hill from there is pretty funny ngl

February: akademiya days

Cyno/Alhaitham | Genshin Impact

done for cyhaino week 2024. I continued using the akademiya designs i made up for them in 2023. retroactively headcanoning that cyno wore his hair like that as a student to mimic cyrus <3

March: flowering

Tess/Alinua | Aurora

i just wanted something somft. some early sketches had tess with a flower crown instead and i kinda wanna toy with that idea again someday

April: The General Mahamatra & the Dendro Archon Swapped Bodies?!?

Cyno, Nahida, Alhaitham | Genshin Impact

silly lil April Fools comic. I just think these three should be allowed to prank the entire akademiya, staff and students alike. as a treat.

May: girls' night!

Alhaitham, Cyno, Dehya, Candace | Genshin Impact

genderbent cy and hthm warning. entirely inspired by a meme that my friend made with deep sea girls' night and their glowing eyes from their demos

June: Form Change!

Cure Lovely, Cure Princess, Cure Honey, Cure Fortune | Happiness Charge Precure

happy hachapre anniversary year everyone <3 i still really like the colors and lighting here

July: don't threaten her with a good time

Kira/Misteln | Honkai Impact 3rd

the only other two kirastelners here are too big brained with their analysis of them so i have to provide the balance (memery)

August: 100 Hua Day 12

Fu Hua | Honkai Impact 3rd

i had a period of my life where all i drew were knight girls so this felt nostalgic to work on

September: sun and her world

Dehya/Dunyarzad | Genshin Impact

another just wanted something somft drawing but also i tested out different ways of coloring and really enjoyed it

October: onwards, to the next future

Cure Supreme & Cure Puka | Precure All Stars F

was stuck in WIP hell for a long time. anything for the destruction bnnuys tho.

November: it's mira loving hours <3

Mirabelle Chevalier | In Stars and Time

mira my dear friend mira.. i wanted to get more used to her design before i draw all the cooler stuff in my head so i did this simpler thing as practice

December: desert gang more like dessert gang am i ri--

Candace, Dehya, Cyno, Alhaitham | Genshin Impact

mostly done for chibi practice but also there is a great shortage of butler candehya and maidtham (cyno maid is a little less uncommon in certain circles but. he's still cute in a dress <3) and i will be the one to. serve. get it. like serving a dish you see. bring me to pun jail so i can serve a sentence too--

[nurgletwh]

Update part two (this is the rest of it, there isn’t any more… at the moment O.o).

February 2024

It took all of two days for my BP to return to my ‘normal’ (the value I expected and where it’s been for a few years now).

It took over a week for me to feel mostly better, and two to approach feeling normal.

Chug away through the rest of the month, but I’m not energetic at all.

March 2024

Nothing super-exciting, although I slowly but surely feel more and more drained—almost exactly the way I felt when I went in because my blood sugar was high. Which was very confusing, because it was great.

Late March-April 2024

I felt awful again. I could barely get the energy up to do anything, and I was back to sleeping all the time. 14-16 hours per day on the weekend, falling asleep in my chair when I got home from work, waking up enough to crawl into bed and go right back to sleep for the night. Which also adds up to 14-16 hours per day.

Warning: diet talk

———

Remember how I started Ozempic? It does weird things to how I perceive hunger. Add that to how well I remember to eat and…

At some point I realized that in the last three days the only things I’d eaten each day were a couple of pieces of toast w/peanut butter for breakfast, nibbled on jerky for lunch, and maybe ate some more toast for dinner.

Thinking back further, I couldn’t figure out a recent time frame where I had done better than that. I had weighed myself in early February, and remembered wondering if dropping 25lbs. (11.3kg) in eight weeks was a good idea.

Shit.

(FYI: no*, it isn’t.)

So I got my exhausted ass out of the house and grabbed a case of Ensure, multivitamins, and other snacky crap I knew I’d eat. My goal was to get things back together enough to get the energy to start fixing my diet, nothing more. I knew aiming higher wouldn’t work until after I could do something besides work and nap.

(*Experts recommend an initial weight-loss goal of 5% to 10% of your starting weight within 6 months. For me, it should have taken nearly seven months to hit that 10%. Granted, these rates are for ‘unassisted’ dieting.)

———

It took all of three days for me to feel significantly better. Not great, but better. I still didn’t have much energy, but my sleeping patterns altered drastically. I was still napping after work, but I would wake up two hours later and accomplish something before going to bed. I didn’t accomplish much, but it was more than sleeping and more sleeping.

Things slowly got better, but again, getting to “ok” was faster than getting back to “normal.”

I know I dropped off the face of the earth, but it felt like every time I announced that things went wonky but I was feeling better now and put out a few chapters, things would blow up again. I wanted to make sure things were better this time.

Which was a poor choice; I should at least have posted something that said I was fucked up but working on it. I apologize for that lack of communication, although things did blow up again…

April 26, 2024

TORNADO.

A FUCKING TORNADO WENT RIGHT THROUGH OUR WORKSITE.

FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK!!!

I know I posted about it. It wasn’t very strong (HA!) by the time it came over the hill and destroyed the house at the top of it, merely (MERELY!!) tossing over a few rail cars and flipping a few semi-trailers.

We got lucky. This very same tornado absolutely wrecked Elkhorn (west of Omaha, NE).

I’ve stated I live and work in the Omaha area, so I’m not too worried about posting this, but here is an overlay of that tornado’s path on top of Apple Maps with my little blue dot while sitting at my desk.

May 2024

Most of May went fairly smoothly. I even got a little writing done!

Unfortunately, I had fallen so far behind on projects at work during all of the above that I was now trying to get caught up. Said project was over four months late at this point. I was working a bit late (not crazy-late, but about an extra hour most days) while still drained, so I didn’t have a whole lot of extra mental energy for writing.

I was, however, finally back to plotting and planning! Yay! Progress!

Until… (is anyone shocked at this point?)

The Friday before Memorial Day I felt a bit drained.

I woke up Saturday with a headache, feeling achy and sore. It didn’t get better, so I took my temperature around noon. 100.1ºF.

Wonderful.

I took a Covid test (that’s my default action to feeling crappy now), but it came back negative. Note that I wasn’t coughing, and I didn’t feel particularly short of breath or anything.

Nothing improved over Sunday, but it didn’t change much, either.

Same for Monday (Memorial Day). But this now made three days with a fever (also three consecutive negative Covid tests).

I agreed to @grumpyoldsnake’s and their friend’s demands to get my ass to a doctor the next day if I still had the fever, although I really wasn’t feeling too bad other than achy. Note: still no coughing (I promise this is important).

I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard something that sounded like a goddamn goose in my bedroom.

Have you ever woken yourself up by making some weird-ass noise that you then can’t duplicate? Even though you know you made it?

I was able to duplicate it. Without much issue. It fell under “well, that’s odd,” and I went back to sleep.

A bit later I woke up to a different weird noise, but I was sidetracked by what I heard and felt after I coughed a few times. My chest was making a sound like a freshly opened pop can. When my mouth was open, it was even worse. I could feel it bubbling away (it didn’t hurt).

Fuck.

Guess what?

PNEMONIA!!

Fuck my life.

Prior to Friday, I hadn’t been sick. They tested me for the flu; that was negative.

Pneumonia is almost always a secondary infection, not primary. You have a cold, or Covid, or bronchitis, and it turns into pneumonia when bacteria settle into your irritated bronchi.

Me, on the other hand…

I never really coughed all that much. Reviewing the blood oxygen data from my Apple Watch, I could peg when the infection started really kicking in, although it looks like something started about a week prior to that (when I did a round-trip plane trip, spending five or six hours on a plane and in an airport two days in a row…).

It took a week to get to a place where my breathing to start feeling easier, nearly two before the oxygen levels started crawling back up.

I did start coughing.

And coughing up… liquid. It was the weirdest sensation. I’d cough, and end up with a mouthful of what felt like slightly thick water. It didn’t really taste, and was nearly colorless.

I coughed that shit up for nearly three days.

I never coughed up the stuff that had any sort of color, although it did get thicker and more ‘traditional’ for stuff you cough up when you get sick. Which puts to lie that you can tell you have a chest infection by the color of the crud you cough up. :-/

It took another nearly two weeks after finishing the ten days of antibiotics to feel like my breathing was normal. The first day back to work was one hell of a reality check, though. I hadn’t been moving around much, and I knew I was short of breath, but I made it all of fifty feet from my car, then about ⅓ of the way up the stairs to my office before I had to stop. I couldn’t catch my breath and was dizzy.

That was the first time I thought, “that could have killed me.”

Not walking up the stairs, but what led to me standing on the stairs, gasping like a landed fish.

It was emphatically hammered home when I made a joking comment to a coworker that it thankfully wasn’t that bad.

Her response?

“Oh, no. Your x-ray was bad.”

>.<

I’ve been getting better. My nutrition went sideways again due to being utterly distracted, but I think that is fairly understandable. :-P

I refuse to say “I’m doing fine now!!”

Fate doesn’t need the temptation.

I hope to get back to writing. I hope even more that I can tackle the monster my inbox has become (both at AO3 and my personal email, which has been just as neglected).

Take care, everyone. Stay healthy.

[marsmarbles]

Hehe back for a special (in all honestly the idea came to me an hour ago, and I had to write it. If the vibes are off, it’s because I was listening to Tom Cardy this entire writing session…) (819 words)

“Lizzie!!” A very flustered and disoriented Scott rushed through the tower's door. The woman in question leapt a little at the sudden shout. Next to her, Pearl just raised an eyebrow. 

“What’s wrong?” Lizzie asked frantically, getting up and fluffing out her skirts. Scott looked at her, huffing against the door. He looked like something had spooked him horribly, like some ghost was talking in his ear. She patted his shoulder in reassurance, putting her best sympathetic look on her face while waiting on a response.

“It’s… February…” Scott huffed out, pushing himself up and running a hand through his hair. Lizzie furrowed his brows further. It was true, the games were taking place in late January and early February this time around, but why was he so shocked by that?

“So…?” 

“Lizzie, I lost track of the days. Today is the fourteenth, Lizzie.” A flash of recognition coated her face, but she wasn’t quite putting the pieces together yet. Scott is getting increasingly annoyed with her. He flushed and looked away when he uttered the next sentence“I need to ask Joel out!”

Her mouth forms a small o shape, and Pearl bursts out laughing. Scott shot her an angry look. Overall though, he ignored it.

“What do I do? You know him best, Lizzie, what should I get him?” Scott took her hands in his. She had to think it over for a moment, trying to decide what Joel would like the most. Scott just cast a glance at Pearl, who shrugged and went back to the sword she was scrubbing clean.

Finally, Lizzie seemed to decide on something. “Joel likes quality time. If you set up something where you could spend time together, he would love it. And maybe food, he’s a fan of that as well.”

“Oh, thank you! I can… do that!” Scott seemed to start thinking even before he left the tower to start down the stairs. Lizzie and Pearl raised their eyebrows at each other, before breaking into giggles. They absolutely loved watching their two teammates pining over each other. It made for decent entertainment when in a death game, after all.

They spent the next half hour gossiping about the two, and other duos they thought they would see that day. Pearl admitted, extremely reluctantly, that she had a plan to surprise Gem later. Lizzie made the bet on Ren, Sausage, and Martyn flaunting their relationship for everyone to see all day, to which multiple eye rolls came from both girls. They would have continued, if not for the second interruption.

“Pearl!” Joel’s voice yelled out before he even opened the door. They both jolted as the door was thrown open a second time, definitely leaving a mark on the wall this time. “I need help with Scott.”

Much more direct with him, but wasn’t it always? Pearl stood up and leaned against the wall, glaring at him and crossing her arms.

“You want to ask him out for Valentine’s Day?”

“How did you know that?” Joel pointed an accusatory finger at her, to which she used her own hand to bat it away. Pearl smirked, clearly remembering the interaction for half an hour ago.

“I have my way,” She said, waving around her arm vaguely. “Anyway, you should get him flowers.”

The man looked at her stupidly for a second, before slapping a hand to his head and groaning. “Of course! He bloody loves flowers, why didn’t I think of that?”

“Bdubs should have some,” Pearl offered. She had gone to the bakery the other day and gotten a complete tour, including the greenhouse, where Bdubs grew fruits, vegetables, flowers, and himself… somehow. She didn’t dwell on it too long, instead focusing back on the present situation. “Scott loves the color blue. Keep that in mind!” 

Pearl basically pushed him out the door, not that Joel was complaining. The girls heard the downstairs door slam closed, and frantic footsteps outside.

For the second time that day, they dissolved into laughter. The two were so stupid, how could either question if the other loved them back? It took a few minutes for them both to gain their composure again, but when they did, Pearl was the first to speak.

“This we’ll be interesting, to say the least.”

“Oh, very.”

Out in the world, Scott asked Cleo to help him set up a picnic dinner for a certain brown haired man, while Joel asked Jimmy and Bdubs for their blue flowers for a specific prince. They each spent all day thinking about the other person, smiling softly. Scott earned many questions for his friend about who this was for, but just raised his eyebrows and said something along the lines of ‘you’d like to know that, wouldn’t you?’ Meanwhile Joel just got knowing looks that made him blush when he picked out flowers.

It was all worth it though, in the end.

They are so gay for each other istg just get together already /lh

-🌻

KICKING MY FEET AND GIGGLING THIS IS SO CUTE!!! Perfect Valentines Special for little ol’ me!! I now know why you wanted to know that about Bdubs, but I wasn’t prepared for him to be growing himself in his greenhouse lol. I think your Damsel Duo fanfics have got to be my favorites!! Thank you for sharing your writing with me as always.

You don’t have to at all, but if you’re willing and you got an idea. Maybe you could write a continuation of how the picnic date went? /nf

[ridestomars]

MY MEMORY HAS JUST BEEN SOLD – E. MUNSON HEADCANONS

𖥻 summary: a few headcanons about this concept about rockstar!eddie. 𖥻 pairing: rockstar!eddie munson x model!reader. 𖥻 warnings: fluffy ig. not proofread.

💭 liv's thoughts: i can't stop thinking about this so i developed the few ideas i had!! totally gonna write more about this later lmao. i hope you like it! oh, i just posted my 900 followers celebration, so feel free to join!

DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS WORK IF YOU'RE UNDER SIXTEEN.

🎸ㆍBeing just another girl from the small and narrow-minded town of Hawkins, you were never much ambitious about your own dreams, trying to keep them as down-to-Earth as possible. But now you can't help but be amazed at how far you've come as you stare at the February issue of Sports Illustrated magazine with your picture on the cover. 

🎸ㆍAll the stress you felt while posing in that sparkly and very itchy bikini was worth it, you recognize now. You don't think you've ever looked this good in your entire life, and it was certainly the achievement of all your past daydreams. 

🎸ㆍYou have done a few photoshoots throughout your life, but none felt this real or this big. Those small TV commercials and good-girl ads on the interior pages of Seventeen Magazine had nothing on this. The cover meant you were in the same category as the other recognizable names in the industry, and your agent made sure that your gigs were on that level, too: editorials for Vogue, New York, Milan, and Paris Fashion Week, meetings with Gianni Versace and Todd Oldham. 

🎸ㆍYou were getting big, and your lifestyle grew bigger with you. After establishing yourself in Los Angeles your routine consisted of trips to New York, couture fittings, photoshoots, parties until early in the morning, and repeat. Sleep was important, too, though it was never your top priority. 

🎸ㆍEvery time you were out doing something impressive, like getting your pictures taken by Steven Meisel on top of Brooklyn Bridge, wearing only a Chanel gown and no shoes, a little voice in the back of your mind wondered what your friends back in Hawkins might be thinking of you now. 

🎸ㆍIn all honesty, you were never popular, like Steve Harrington or Cindy Cunningham. You have always kept a girl-next-door profile, being nice to everyone who decided to talk to you, but also preferring the company of your intimate circle of friends and staying in, instead of attending those big High School parties. So, you can only imagine their surprise to find out that the model in one of those magazines is you. If they even care. 

🎸ㆍYou just never expected to be answered by bumping into a very familiar face at the Rainbow, on one of your nights out with your LA friends. Sunset Strip was about a mile long, and yet, you two had met again as you were passing by to get back to your table. 

🎸ㆍ"Hey, hotshot," Eddie Munson greeted you with a playful smile, his big brown eyes drifting down your figure before settling on yours. He hasn't changed at all. Long dry hair, slightly flushed cheeks, and that same mischievous gleam in his eyes. He wore his old jean vest, the one with the metal bands patches. The only thing that was different was his new shiny leather jacket, which glowed under the bar's yellow lights. 

🎸ㆍThen, you go to sit at his table, where the rest of his band was. Corroded Coffin was grabbing headlines everywhere in the country, mainly because of their new approach to Metal, composing elaborate guitar riffs and melodic choruses, making commercial music but with that underground edge. But also because of their Dungeons and Dragons inspired songs, which weren't well received by the older audience and labeled as Satanic. Because of this, their albums all have the increasingly popular 'Parents Advisory' sticker. 

🎸ㆍThey are also known to make Nerd-Metal music, which was a genre specifically created to describe their music. Just one album out and they're already infamous. 

🎸ㆍAs far as you remember, Eddie Munson already had a reputation for himself back at home, but now that he had one hundred percent surrendered to the rockstar lifestyle, his notoriety was unprecedented. He was in every music magazine, every TV channel and everyone seems to know who he is – something that he handles more gracefully than you thought he would. Eddie seems to really like the attention. 

🎸ㆍWell, next thing you know, you're standing at the side stage of Corroded Coffin's gig at The Troubadour, and Eddie merrily walks up to you holding a backstage pass. I believe it's needless to say that this was the first of many passes to come.

🎸ㆍThe beginning of your relationship wasn't easy at all, given your busy schedules. It seemed like whenever you had free time, he had an interview; or when he could spend the entire day at his hotel room, hanging out, you had to leave for another tiring photoshoot. It took a long while until you figured out how to make things work. 

🎸ㆍBut you have to admit that those late-night escapades to his rented room in Chateau Marmont are forever engraved in your mind. Besides the endless partying, there was nothing better than laying on Eddie's side while he lazily played guitar for you, as you shared one of those long lounging chairs by the hotel's poolside. 🎸ㆍHe swears he had never written as many songs as he did when you did that. The thought of you, laying so gracefully on that chair with the sun coming up above you, on the horizon… man, it inspires him to the max. 

🎸ㆍTogether, you started to build the reputation of an it-couple, or whatever those teenage magazines say about you. All you know is that his fans also became your fans, especially the young girls. Suddenly, it was like Corroded Coffin's concert audiences became a sea of mini-yous – wearing clothes reminiscent of your style, haircuts similar to yours, eyeliner just as smokey.

🎸ㆍAppearing on the cover of gossip magazines started to be normal for the two of you. People would start the most outlandish rumors about your relationship, and according to the issues, you got married exactly ten times throughout 1994.

🎸ㆍBut your rising fame as a couple also brought the most recognized campaign of your career so far: the Guess Jeans advertisement you shot walking through West Hollywood, just living another normal day of your lives – well, with constant wardrobe changes. There were a bunch of really good pictures, like the one of you in all-denim at a record store, holding Corroded Coffin's new album; one where Eddie is sitting on top of a random motorcycle (he tried to buy it off the owner on the spot, but the offer was rejected) with his usual jeans and leather jacket combo; and finally, one of you two walking on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. His arm is thrown on top of your shoulders as you hold his hand, and the picture captures your matching boots perfectly. 

🎸ㆍEddie requests for that photo to be printed on a big canvas so that he could hang it up on his living room wall, and it's his main decor item ♡

LIKES, REBLOGS AND FEEDBACK ARE APPRECIATED!

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[sidekick-hero]

Lay all your love on me

This is for Alice (@yournowheregirl), who had this wonderful idea of Eddie taking care of a sad Steve. I tried to make it as soft and loving as possible and I really hope you like it!

Happy Valentine's Day, my dear 💜

(steddie | explicit | 4.6k | AO3 Link)

Valentine's Day used to be something Steve loved.

Back in the old days, when he had ruled the halls of Hawkins High and all the pretty girls had hoped to be his sweetheart for that day, to find a card from the Steve Harrington in their locker, Valentine’s Day had been his favorite day of the year.

With Nancy, it had also been a pretty great day. He had learned that she liked the ballet, so on their second Valentine's Day together, he had taken her to Indy to see a performance of the local ballet, and even though it hadn't been his thing, the look on her face had been the best gift she could have given him. That and the amazing blowjob in his car when they had parked in a cornfield on the way back to watch the stars.

Halloween '84 had changed all that. After that fateful party, Valentine's Day had become as much bullshit as the rest of his love life. The breakup had not only made him miserable, it had made him doubt everything he thought he knew about himself.

The next Valentine's Day he had spent getting drunk at some stupid party and sleeping with a girl he didn't even know the name of. Not his proudest day, but misery loves company, and he vaguely remembered her telling him she had been dumped the same day. They had both been looking for a meaningless distraction.

February '86 saw Steve Harrington pulling babes again. Only none of them meant anything. He went through the motions; card, chocolate, roses - the whole nine yards. But his heart wasn't in it. Lisa - or was it Lucy? - had giggled and planted a kiss on his cheek when he showed up at her house. At the movies, they had sat in the back to make out and she had jerked him off while muffling his moans with her clever tongue in his mouth. It had been nice.

She hadn't returned his calls the next day.

In ’87 his life had changed once again. The near end of the world had put things into perspective for him. It had made him realize that it wasn’t meaningless dating he wanted but a partner. Someone to love and cherish. Someone who would love and cherish him in return. Someone who made him want to be better, who challenged him and supported him. Someone who was in it for him, Steve, and not for his reputation or his looks or the money he no longer had.

For one hot minute he had convinced himself that someone was Nancy, that she was still it for him. But that was as much bullshit as it had been in ‘84. Nancy and him, they had their chance, and it did not work out for a reason. He wanted to settle down, she wanted to make it big. Live her dreams and be the strong, fearless, and passionate journalist she deserved to be.

So when Dustin calls him at an unholy hour on the morning of February 14, '87, he picks up on the sixth ring and grumbles, "What the hell?”

"Steve, that's no way to answer the phone." Dustin sounds indignant, the condescending little shit.

"That's how I answer my own goddamn phone when someone calls me on a Saturday before the sun comes up, Henderson."

Dustin remains silent on the other end of the line, and Steve can hear his raised eyebrow. It's a showdown, a battle of wills that Steve will not lose. Not to a goddamn 15-year-old.

The silence holds.

And holds.

"Harrington residence, Steve speaking." He grunts through clenched teeth. It's too early for this shit.

Dustin doesn't even try to hide the smugness in his voice. "Steve, I need you to drive me and El to the miniature golf course this afternoon."

"I have to what now?"

"Aren't you listening? Jesus Christ, Steve." The little bastard is spending too much time with a certain metalhead, Steve thinks. "Me and El have a Valentine's Day date at the miniature golf course this afternoon." The Duh at the end is clear in his tone.

"No, I get that, although how a nice girl like El would want to spend Valentine's Day with someone who can't even say please or thank you is beyond me."

"Oi!"

"But I don't see why I should be the one to drive you. Can't Hopper drive you?" Steve knows that Hopper would love any reason to spy on the boy dating his daughter.

Apparently Dustin does too. "Steeeeeve." He whines. "Come on, man. You know how Hopper is. This won't be a date, but a stakeout followed by the most awkward interrogation ever." When Steve says nothing, Dustin adds, "Don't you want us to be happy, Steve? After all we've been through, don't you think we deserve some happiness, some normalcy?"

Steve folded up like a house of cards.

"Fine. You win. Goddamn it. I'll drive you and El to your date. Happy?"

"Thanks, Steve, I knew I could count on you. Can you pick up Will, Mike, Max and Lucas on the way?"

"Yeah, yeah - WHAT?" He must have heard wrong.

"Oh yeah, Mike and Will want to go to the movies for Valentine's Day, 'cause that's not so obvious, you know? And Max and Lucas are going to the arcade. That's where it all started for them, and the last few years have been really hard on them - "

Steve needs to stop being such a goddamn pushover for these kids, he really does.

"Okay, Henderson, I get it. I'll pick them up." Steve cuts off the tear-jerking monologue. He hears Dustin's enthusiastic 'Awesome' and his own 'Always the goddamn babysitter' comes out fond instead of annoyed. He's so whipped by these kids.

And that's why Steve spends most of his day driving a bunch of 15-year-olds around. And Robin, who calls him just as he's about to leave the house to ask if he can give her a ride to Vicky's. It's her first time spending the night there.

It seems that everyone has a date for Valentine's Day. Everyone except Steve, which makes him the perfect designated driver.

The icing on the cake is that even Keith has managed to get a date, so after dropping Max and Lucas off at the arcade, he heads over to Family Video for his late shift.

Here he has to advise couples on the most romantic movies, help guys find something sweet and plotless enough to make out with without missing too much, or point some girls in the direction of romantic comedies they can watch over ice cream while dreaming of their Prince Charming sweeping them off their feet.

When he finally drags his tired body to his car, it's already 10:30 pm. His feet hurt, his head hurts, and worst of all, there's a heavy weight on his chest and a queasy feeling in his stomach that he can't really explain. He just feels... sad.

Nothing happened. Everyone was fine, even happy. So why is he feeling so sad?

Steve decides to just go home, have a generous helping of the expensive scotch his father hides in his office, and go straight to bed. Tomorrow the sadness will be gone and he will be back to his normal self.

When he gets home, there is another car parked in the driveway. For a horrible second, he thinks it's his parents, but then he recognizes the beat-up van, and he smiles for the first time all day.

Eddie is sitting on his front steps, a six-pack of beer next to him and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. The front light comes on as Steve approaches and the light makes him look unreal, like some kind of appearance straight from heaven.

He looks up and his eyes light up as they fall on Steve. The smile Eddie gives him is a bright and happy thing, even his dimples seem to be so happy to see Steve that they have to come out to say hello. The heaviness in Steve's chest doesn't go away, but it feels a little lighter than it did back in the car.

Eddie gets up and starts walking toward him as Steve comes closer, drawn together like magnets. They stand close, almost touching, when Steve asks, "Eddie, what are you doing here?" He wishes he didn't sound so breathless.

"I figured you'd probably be home, so I came to hang out."

"Oh, great, so you assumed I didn't have a date on Valentine's Day? Jesus, thanks for the vote of confidence. I didn't know I was that pathetic."

The queasy feeling in his stomach is back and it turns his insides sour, the crushing heaviness adding to the sensation. He knows in a distant way that he is being unfair, that Eddie didn't mean anything by it. But it hurts. He hurts.

Steve's sudden outburst catches Eddie off guard. His body swings back, away from Steve, and his doe eyes look even bigger as they scan Steve's face. Steve hates that Eddie almost looks scared for a second. He hates that Eddie thinks, even for a moment, that Steve might hurt him.

"Eddie, I..." his voice breaks, unable to articulate what he barely understands himself.

But it is enough for Eddie to understand. His face softens and he moves back into Steve's space.

"No, I guess I was just hoping you didn't have a date so we could both be single together today and spit in the face of this capitalist holiday."

Steve can't help but roll his eyes at Eddie's dramatic antics. Eddie smiles at him, a gentle thing, and his hand slowly rises to Steve's face before Eddie realizes what he's doing and lets it fall back down.

"Are you okay, Stevie? You don't seem, I don't know, yourself." Eddie tilts his head to the side. "Did something happen, sweetheart?"

It's the goddamn sweetheart that does it. Steve's whole face crumbles and before he even knows what's happening, tears fill his eyes and make his vision swim. He tries to swallow the feeling down, to get himself back under control.

He loses the fight against himself and the first tears start to spill down his cheeks.

"Oh, hey, shit, Stevie. Sweetheart. What's wrong?"

Eddie swoops in and takes him in his arms, as naturally as breathing. Like they do it every day.

Steve tries to speak but can't. He wouldn't even know what to say if he could, so he just pushes further into Eddie and shakes his head where it's pressed against Eddie's chest.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me. But how about we go inside, huh?" Eddie's arms are still around him and he speaks the words directly into Steve's ear.

Steve nods against his chest but doesn't move. Eddie chuckles, the sound vibrating through Steve's body where it's still pressed against Eddie's. Future Steve will be so embarrassed by his behavior.

Steve jumps when he feels Eddie's hand pat his ass.

"Sorry, I was just -" now the hand wanders to his front "trying to find your -" and the hand dips into his front pocket where it closes around his house keys "aha!"

The keys jangle as Eddie opens his front door and Steve takes a shuddering breath. He's not sure if he's glad or disappointed that Eddie didn't try his other pocket first.

They make their way inside and Eddie leads him to the couch in the living room where Steve sits down with a heavy sigh. His eyes had closed on their own, and when he opens them again, Eddie is hovering over him, his eyes soft but his eyebrows knitted in worry.

Steve tries to smile up at him, to tell him it's all right, wants to say sorry, man, not the Saturday night you had in mind, huh? but he can't. He fucking can't. Instead, he asks, "Can you stay?"

Eddie can. Eddie does.

He sinks down on the couch next to Steve, thighs pressed together, shoulders touching. They just sit there, breathing, for several minutes.

"Today just - sucked. I don't know. I just, I - fuck." Eddie looks at him, Steve can feel his eyes on him, but he doesn't say anything, lets Steve find his words.

"I don't want to feel like this, man. Like - " Steve sighs, searching for words. "Like I'm alone." He holds up his hand before Eddie can speak. "I know I'm not. I do. I know I have Robin, the kids. But they all have someone, you know? Someone special. Someone they want around because they love them, because every day is better with them in it. Not because they can do anything for them. Just because they are - they are their person".

Steve looks at Eddie with so much longing in his heart that it threatens to drown him. "I want to be someone's person."

When Eddie doesn't say anything, just looks at him with big eyes, Steve lowers his eyes again and looks at their knees instead. "Sorry, I don't want to be such a bummer, you can go if -"

The hand on his cheek stops him.

"Steve Harrington, you already are someone's person. You have been for months."

Eddie leans in, leans his forehead against Steve's and looks him in the eyes as he says, "I came here hoping you wouldn't have a date so I could feel like I was your Valentine's date. And you can punch me in the face for that if it means you stop looking so fucking heartbroken. But Steve. You are my person, okay? My favorite days are the days I get to see you, even if it's just so you can bitch at me about one of the kids. I want you around all the time. Some mornings I have to force myself to do stupid things like clean my room or take a fucking walk so I'm not standing on your doorstep at the crack of dawn."

Steve can't help but chuckle at the sound of indignation in Eddie's voice when he says clean my room, like it's the worst chore in the world. Eddie smiles at his reaction.

"I want to hear your laugh more than I want to hear Metallica live. I know it's not much. But you are my person and you will never be alone.

Steve is in Eddie's lap before Eddie can even close his mouth.

"Say it again. Eddie, please. Say it again." Steve almost begs, his lips inches from Eddie's.

"You, Steve Harrington, are my person."

Their first kiss is sweet. Sweeter than Steve would have expected, if he had ever allowed himself to think about it. He jumps right in, wants to show Eddie what his words mean to him, but Eddie immediately slows them down. He makes their kisses small and soft, just lips against lips, and Steve swears he could die from the sweetness of it all.

But at some point their kisses begin to grow longer and longer each time their mouths meet. They also become deeper as Steve slides his tongue between Eddie's supple lips. Steve has never kissed a guy before and he expects it to feel different. And it does, a little. There's stubble on Eddie's cheek where Steve's hand is cupping it, and there aren't soft breasts pressed against his chest, but another hard, muscular chest. But so many things are the same. Eddie lets him take control and there are little gasps and soft moans coming out of their mouths as they hold each other.

It's only when Steve begins to rock against Eddie in his lap that Eddie pulls away. Steve chases his lips, desperate for them to continue, addicted to the feeling of Eddie.

"Steve - Stevie, hey, baby, stop for a minute." Steve does, not sure what's wrong. Eddie cups his cheek, where not long ago tears had made their way across his skin. "Are you - is this okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Honey, you were so upset just a few minutes ago. I don't know, I just don't want to take advantage of you. I don't want you regretting this tomorrow."

Steve is pretty sure that Eddie is his person too.

"It's more than okay. This feels so good, Eddie." As if to prove his point, Steve rocks against him again to let Eddie feel how good it feels for Steve.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You want me to make you feel even better, baby?"

Steve wants. Oh, how he wants.

He doesn't answer, just dives right back in and crashes their lips together. What started out sweet and tender turns messy and desperate in seconds. It's as if Eddie has unleashed some kind of hungry beast in Steve's chest.

He bites Eddie's lower lip and enjoys the feeling of Eddie's hips thrusting up in response. Eddie's hands roam his body, never able to stay still for long. The metal of his rings feels warmer than Steve expected, like an extension of Eddie's thick fingers on his skin.

A high-pitched whimper falls from his mouth as Eddie's thumb finds his nipple and strokes over it, again and again. His shirt is in the way, restricting the movement of Eddie's hands, so he pulls his hands from where they are buried in Eddie's hair to pull the shirt off his body.

Eddie's mouth catches his nipple before Steve can dive back in for another kiss.

"Shit. Fuck. Eddie." Steve's hands find their way back into Eddie's hair, unable to do much more than hold on for the ride. The heavy feeling in his chest is forgotten. All Steve feels is heat and desire and some undefined thing starting to bloom where the heaviness used to be.

He's lost in the sensation that is Eddie, all around him. His smell, his skin, his fucking mouth. Suddenly there are teeth scraping over his already abused nipple and Steve almost loses it and comes in his pants like an inexperienced freshman. Jesus Christ.

Steve feels Eddie's smug smile against his skin. He wants nothing more than to feel more of him, to feel everything, so he reaches for Eddie's fly with only slightly trembling hands. He has already undone the button and is about to pull the zipper down when Eddie's hands close over his. Eddie's sinful mouth has left Steve's nipple to say something, and Steve shudders at the sudden coldness he feels on his spit-slick skin.

"Sweetheart, slow down. Let me make you feel good, okay? No need to reciprocate. I just want to take care of you."

Steve melts at the sentiment behind those words, and his heart soars at the knowledge that, for once, someone wants to take care of him, not the other way around. But if Eddie thinks this will make Steve want to devour him less, he must not know Steve at all. Instead of slowing down, he slaps Eddie's hands away and goes for the zipper of his jeans again.

"You make me feel good, Eddie, so good. I wanna make you feel good, too. Wanna feel you." Steve babbles, trying to coordinate his rocking hips and searching hands. There is too much blood going south for him to multitask efficiently.

Eddie growls deep in his chest and grips Steve's wrists tightly. "I said slow down, sweetheart." With that, Eddie puts Steve's hands behind his back, one over the other, and doesn't let go.

"You want to run this show? Go ahead. Take what you need, baby." He leans back against the couch and looks up at Steve with dark, dark eyes.

Steve whines at the loss of contact, at the restriction Eddie has put on his hands, but his face is flushed and his erection is straining against his jeans. He's never done this before, never been exposed like this, his needs and desires laid bare by Eddie's skillful hands and gentle heart.

So Steve takes what he wants, just as Eddie asked.

He slides forward to sit more firmly in Eddie's lap, so he can feel Eddie against him as he begins to rock back and forth more urgently. There's delicious pressure against his dick, but it's not enough. No matter how fast or slow he moves, he can't get anywhere near where he wants to be.

Steve clenches his thighs and presses down on Eddie's firm thighs as he rolls his hips back and forth, moans and groans falling from his lips with increasing desperation. He wants - he needs -

"Eddie, please. Please, it's not enough, I need - " Another breathy whimper.

"What do you need, baby? Tell me. Everything. I'll give you everything."

Eddie is just as affected as he is. His pupils are dilated to twice their normal size, the beautiful brown of his irises swallowed by hungry blackness. His hands tremble where they still grip Steve's behind Steve's back, and Steve squeezes them gently. It calms a part of him to know that he's not alone, that they're in this together. It gives Steve hope that it means something to Eddie, too.

"I need you, Eddie. I don't care, I just want you. I wanna feel good with you."

Before Steve knows what's happening, the hands around his wrists disappear and slide under his ass to where it meets his thighs. Eddie leans forward and brings his lips right up to Steve's. Before he kisses him, deep and dirty, he whispers against them, "Hold on tight, baby."

He barely manages to wrap his hands around Eddie's shoulders before the other man stands and lifts him into his arms. Steve instinctively wraps his legs around Eddie's waist and the hands under his thighs press him tightly against Eddie's body.

Holy. Shit.

They stumble up the stairs and Steve feels Eddie tremble under his weight. He wants to ask him to put him down so he can walk, but his mouth is busy being devoured by Eddie's lips and tongue.

Thank God he left his door open because he doesn't think Eddie would have been able to hold him up and open the damn door. As it is, they tumble inside and towards his unmade bed. Steve is glad that Eddie is too busy to see the plaid monstrosity that is his room. He wants Eddie to have a nice, mind-blowing orgasm before he has to see this.

He expects Eddie to drop him on the bed, maybe even throw him down in another show of strength. Eddie does not.

Instead, he drops to his knees on the bed and lowers Steve onto the mattress with such gentle care that Steve almost forgets why they're here. He's still hard and aching in his jeans, but the burning need has subsided for now. He lifts his hand to Eddie's cheek, cupping it gently as he looks deep into the soft chocolate button eyes.

"Hi," he whispers.

Eddie leans down and nudges Steve's nose with his own.

"Hi," he replies, smiling down at Steve.

Their next kiss starts out sweet - lips sliding against each other, little nips and kitten licks, but soon the fire between them is rekindled. Eddie is still kneeling between Steve's spread legs, and as he leans back to look down at Steve, his hands find their way to Steve's jean-clad thighs.

"Let me take these off you, yeah?" Steve nods and watches with rapt attention as Eddie slowly undresses him. "So goddamn pretty, Stevie. You're gorgeous, inside and out."

His cheeks are burning and he's afraid that the tears that are starting to gather in his eyes will fall if he doesn't do something. He grabs Eddie's left hand, stroking his hipbone, and pulls him closer so he can kiss him. "You too." He tugs at Eddie's shirt to show what he means. He still means both.

Eddie removes his own clothes with efficiency, and Steve thinks that next time he'll take his time to uncover and appreciate every inch of Eddie's body.

Soon they're both naked, Steve on his back with his head on the pillow and Eddie still between his legs. They drink each other in and Eddie leans down to plant a soft kiss on Steve's lips. He seems to be waiting for something, but Steve doesn't know what.

"Eddie, tell me what to do, what do you want?"

"Baby, you don't have to do anything, okay? Let me do all the work for once. I want to." He chuckles at Steve's puzzled look. "I really do. I want to make you feel good. I want to see you fall apart at my hands and I want to put you back together again. If you let me." He gently bites Steve's jaw. "Please say you'll let me." Another bite at his throat, just as soft. "Please, baby, let me make you feel good."

Steve squirms on his sheets, his hips jerking in a futile search for friction.

"Yes, anything. Please. Anything. I want you to."

After that there is no need to speak. There are sounds from Steve's lips and showers of dirty praise from Eddie's, but both know what they want, what they need. Like two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly, soft protrusions and sharp edges fitting just so.

Eddie takes his time, kissing and licking every inch of golden skin he can reach. When he bites, it's soft, affectionate. It still leaves marks and Steve welcomes each one because they mean this is real, this is happening.

Steve lets Eddie do what he wants to him, pliable and so responsive to every touch, to every word of worship and praise, that Eddie kisses against his skin. He never knew it could be like this, never felt so completely loved and cared for. It seems like days go by as Eddie worships every single part of him.

When Eddie finally takes him in his mouth, Steve thrashes against him, overwhelmed by the sensation. He's on edge for what feels like hours, gripping himself tightly at the base to hold back his orgasm.

He's still in Eddie's mouth and Eddie has the audacity to smile up at him through long lashes, his lips stretched wide around Steve's girth, winking at him. Steve's groan is almost painful. He has to look away or not even his hand will stop him from spilling his release into Eddie's cocky mouth.

Not to be deterred in the least, Eddie begins to suck on the head as if it were his favorite lollipop. His tongue swirls around the head and dips into the slit before his mouth sinks down on him in one swift motion.

"Fuck, Eddie. Jesus Christ."

The throaty chuckle is what does him in. Before he knows what's happening, before he can even think of stopping it, he comes down Eddie's throat in hot, messy spurts.

"Shit! No, no, no, no. Fuck. I'm so sorry, Eddie, oh God, I don't know what happened, I didn't mean - "

Eddie silences him with a soft kiss, lips slick with Steve's release. He strokes Steve's cheek and smiles down at him with a blissful expression on his face. "That was the hottest thing I've ever seen, baby."

"But. It was so fast. You didn't."

"To see you lose it like that, baby. To see you writhing and moaning and being so overwhelmed with pleasure that you can't help but come? Steve, sweetheart, that was better than any orgasm I ever had. I wish I could have recorded it, I'm afraid no memory will do it justice."

Steve looks at Eddie, sees the genuine joy on his pretty face, the warmth and affection in his big brown eyes, and wants to believe him. Wants to believe that he didn't have to do anything to deserve it. But it's hard.

"What about you?"

"Nothing. It can wait. Right now I really want to hold you and bask in the afterglow for a while. And maybe later we can get something to eat and watch a movie. What do you think?"

Steve thinks he's in love.

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

Thank you @legitcookie for being a wonderful cheerleader and beta while also being sick af. Toughest cookie in the jar 💜

[icespur]

Resurrected Akeshu Daughter Third Semester AU

Warning: Angst, and discussion of premature infant death. 

Extremely pissed Goro Akechi 

Please pray for Maruki's safety, because god, does he need it. 

Warning for graphic descriptions of murder and maiming.

I’m going to describe some of the brutal things Akechi might do to Maruki as an example of how furious and scary Akechi is here. But please don't take it as me attacking or disrespecting Maruki’s late English Voice Actor, Billy Kametz. This is in no way related to him and was never intended to. He's a wonderful man who got taken away too soon, cancer sucks. 

I enjoyed you, Anai, Rui, White Blood Cell. As of writing this I have not played Persona 5 Royal myself, but I can't wait to experience you as Maruki.(Wait, are those really all the anime voices I've heard him as? I thought there were more, bummer guess that's it) 

Rest well ❤️ 😇

………………………

4/27/24: Edited to in an attempt to make it read better, spaced out paragraphs towards the end, slight rewording, and replaced commas with periods at certain point

The timeline I have for Akeshu daughter wouldn't work normally with this scenario, unless we—-say, move the third semester to take place a full year later (so like, way after Strikers, December 25th 2017 - February 3rd 2018) 

So we are entertaining the concept that the Third Semester takes place a year after Strikers instead of right after Base Game Yaldabaoth fight going into a new year; for the sake of Goro and Akiren's daughter being born by then. 

Now remember in my past, very long sloppy “Panicked ParentGoro” post I said their daughter would be born 27 weeks premature and would have to be in an incubator for a while? 

Well, in this scenario, what if she sadly—didn't pull through and died. 

Goro's death and resurrection by Maruki would be a bit weird here. Logically in this scenario Goro would have to have really died in Shido's palace and so never got to reunite with Akiren and learn about the baby and stay, but for the rest of my idea to work, Goro would have to be alive and reunited with Akiren to witness their daughter’s birth and short moments of life for this to fully hit hard. 

So in that sense, the rest of this post won't make much sense logically with the timeline, but try not to think about the logistics too much from here, okay? 

Goro would witness the birth, follow the doctors to the NICU out of overprotective parental panic and stay by his daughter's side. But---between her early emergency birth, and her underdeveloped organs and frail body, it proves to be too much and she flatlines—-----in front of Goro. 

Akiren and Goro are both heartbroken but Goro is especially fucked up because he witnessed her death, so that just adds a whole other layer of guilt and grief to him. 

And then—-Maruki starts to change reality, not only is Akechi resurrected, but—---their daughter is too. Not only is she resurrected but she's full term and healthy. 

Now, this would make refusing Maruki's reality choice a lot harder for Akiren. It was already a conflict in normal canon Third Semester with Maruki bringing Akechi back to life for him, and it was “Accept false reality and live brainwashed in a happy world with an alive happy Akechi” or “Refuse false reality and join Akechi to defeat Maruki, take his treasure and bring back original reality even at the risk of Akechi going back to being dead.” 

In here it's: “Accept a false reality and live brainwashed in a happy world with Akechi and your baby girl that got taken away too soon, so the both of you can spend this reality living life as new parents.” 

Or: “Refuse false reality and join Akechi to defeat Maruki, take his treasure and bring back original reality even at the risk of Akechi going back to being dead again, and your daughter back to being a necklace of cremated ashes.” 

Now, I don't think the add-in of their daughter being alive would make Akechi struggle with wanting to stay, like Akiren would. He saw himself being resurrected as a leverage for Maruki and saw the perfect reality as enslavement and no better than being a puppet to someone else's desire. 

No, Akechi would still firmly want to return to the original reality. If anything he'd be even more dead set on returning because—--

You use his life as a bargaining chip in an attempt to convince his boyfriend of your view? Shame on you. 

You use not only his life, but the life of his deceased baby girl as a bargaining chip in an attempt to convince his boyfriend of your view? 

Oh—--

Oh—--- 

You must have a fucking deathwish, Doctor. 

You think “Newly nonconsensually resurrected” Akechi was unhinged and scary? 

Try: “Newly nonconsensually resurrected and still internally grieving and guilt ridden from seeing his infant daughter die only to see her alive, full term and healthy all for the price of your boyfriend accepting a false reality and stripping away yours and your daughter’s freedom” Third Semester Akechi. 

Akechi is LIVID. 

Takuto Maruki resurrected the wrong former Metaverse assassin and premature infant. Akechi doesn't give a fuck about how good of intentions this pacifistic bitch thinks he has. The man just unknowingly signed away his rights to a heartbeat and open casket funeral of old age. If Maruki wants to be in one piece and values having all his limbs attached and organs in working order, he better pray that he never ends up in a room alone with Akechi, because it will not end pretty. 

Akechi straight up tells Akiren, in a calm voice that you can hear struggling to not commit to manic and rage filled, but is somehow still just as startling at how calm it is; that if Joker wants to only injure Maruki and take his treasure to return to reality--- he better pry Akechi's phone out of his hands to make sure he can't access the Metaverse or Maruki's palace because:

“If I go with you, and I lay eyes on that bastard, I can't be held responsible for what I'll do next.

A mental shutdown is too good for that man----

I am going to take up sculpting and tear his face to shreds to recreate a mental shutdown with my own bare hands by gouging his eyes back into his skull until he bleeds tears.

I am going to shove my sword so far down his throat it will come out his ass---

I will borrow your dagger to manually castrate him--

I will tear his chest cavity open to rip his beating heart from his body and replace it with his cognitive treasure...

I will unleash every Almighty attack in my arsenal until I either pass out from exhaustion or until he finally collapses to the ground, where I will then empty all my bullets into him--

and for good measure to make sure there is nothing left for someone to even attempt to bury, I will tear him limb from limb, chop those limbs into tiny bite sized particles, and eat them along with the rest of his minced corpse.

Then, you and Mona are going to drive us down to the depths of Mementos, where we will seek out the biggest. Bottomless. Black. Pit. So I can proceed to shit his remains into.” 

Do not mess with Resurrected angry parent Akechi. 

Joker is also angry at Maruki, but not on the same level as Akechi is. Even he’s like “Akechi, I completely understand your anger but I don’t think Maruki Sensei had completely malicious intentions of bringing our daughter back to life, he thought he was helping us. I mean, I agree, it’s still not worth giving up our free will in the name of an ideal reality, but you’re at a thousand right now, and you need to take it down to at least 50.” 

[a-froger-epic]

1965 - What a year for Roger!

(In which I invite you to write fic about that time Roger's official girlfriend possibly tried to beat up his unofficial girlfriend. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

January - Roger joins "Johnny Quale and the Reactions". He is fifteen, about two years younger than his band mates. (Source: Queen in Cornwall)

February - Roger starts dating Eileen Wright after meeting her at a Reaction concert in Falmouth. She recalls their relationship as quite chaste, and him as a "very gentle person" and not "a raunchy bloke". (Source: Queen - The Early Years). It must be true, because Roger remembers that his first proper kiss happened only with the next girl he started dating, Jill. (Source)

Aww, you might think, that doesn't sound like the ladies' man Roger the fandom knows and loves! Is it all just rumours? Er, well... read on.

March - Johnny Quale and the Reactions come fourth in the Rock and Rhythm championship of Cornwall. Roger is voted Best Musician. (Source) Which I think is actually really impressive for the youngest member of a group and the drummer, at that. Bet he did some impressive singing while drumming.

May - Roger meets Jill Johnson at a concert. She's a singer with a folk band and a year younger than him (which makes her fourteen). "Roger was sitting next to us in the back row and we left together. It was that night, or the next, that he took me to the local funfair [...]. And I believe the next night I went to one of his gigs with him. From then on it was a pretty regular thing." Not an exclusive thing though. "I knew one or two girls that he was involved with. One tried to beat me up at a dance in Falmouth!" (Source: Queen in Cornwall) Wait, did she say Falmouth? :O Eileen?!?

This is pure speculation, I have no idea whether it was Eileen. But if it was, I have a feeling Eileen was not, in fact, aware of any of the other girls. Because whoever tried to beat up Jill probably was under the impression that Roger was very much taken and exclusive with them!

September - Johnny Quale leaves The Reaction after a fight over whether they should play a gig when there is an Elvis film being screened at the same time, as you do. (Source: Queen in Cornwall)

And so, just over half a year after he joins a group where everyone is older than him, Roger pretty much becomes their drummer/lead singer. Picture the ecstatic, cocky grin. Picture it.

October - Roger goes to see The Who in concert. According to Eileen (who is still his girlfriend!? Have they kissed yet? Who knows!) Roger tries to catch Keith's drumsticks and "walked out of the concert on cloud nine". (Source: Queen - The Early Years)

Christmas - The Reaction play at a school dance (source: Queen in Cornwall) and Eileen breaks up with Roger. (Source: Queen - The Early Years)

Oh dear. Did someone finally tell Eileen about the other one or two girls? Ah, well. Roger doesn't look too broken up about it. (The picture is from the school dance.)

[kamiversee]

OKKK SOOO I read the new chapter about two times now. First one was a for funsies then the 2nd was to figure out more shit😭 soooo with my last comment. I feel like I'm not too far from the idea. Again with Geto, at the end it turns out he planned this. Or at least the conversation topic. But another thing that I noticed was, how, in the beginning, Geto didn't really see how we had a connection with Choso until everything clicked to him. Yet he still decided to taunt the living shit outta us. Which in turn, caused the outcome of the chapter. And you can't really say that Geto showed up at the Cafe on purpose because he was surprised to see us too. Another thing, which showed up a few times in the chapter. Was the word "yesterday" idk I feel like it probably doesn't have anything to do with the fic, or the chapter. But it was repeated multiple times. The ending is a big cliffhanger too😭 another thing was with Sukuna, we learn that of course, he treats women really shitty, and I was wondering why he was so sweet with us? I remember he how he gained a small bit of respect for us, but that was abt it. Also, maybe Sukuna does have something to do with this. One thing that I keep thinking about was when after we slept with him, he went to his phone and was messaging someone, or checking his phone. Idk. But a little while after, we get money from Gojo. So maybe he messaged Gojo about it? Bc how else could Gojo have known? HELP I WROTE SO MUCH. BYE LMAOOA I LOVE THIS THOUGH. IT MAKES ME THINK. KEEP UP WITH THE WORK💕💕

Insert Kami yap session:

1. Okay so the date of what took place in the fic is early February on a Monday! Ik sometimes it’s hard to keep track of but yeah, in their university I kinda explained before tht their winter break was roughly two months and a half so they wouldn’t return back to school until mid febuary!

You mentioning the use of the word yesterday just made me wanna clear tht up for some reason😭 Yesterday in her case would be a Sunday and as the story goes, nothing important happened on that day so she just kept using it to emphasize that what was done was quite some time ago and not recent!!

2. Also, Geto was going to be there regardless because he’s the friend Yuki was there to meet ^.^

3. Next, Gojo has once mentioned that Sukuna would like the reader because she’s cute so it’s honestly okay for one to assume that there are certain women Sukuna favors more than others.

Not only that, even when Sukuna and the reader meet, although he danced with her, it was mentioned how she was always intimidated by him & for a woman such as herself, if u notice, intimidation in this fic is always the first emotion felt before fear ^.^

4. While yes Gojo sent money not too long after Sukuna sent some kinda message, it’s also said that Gojo knew she was supposed to be with Sukuna that day & he could’ve simply assumed she did what was needed to be done!

5. TYSM FOR THE LONG MESSAGE I LOVE THEM SMM <3

[lovebillyhargrove]

Wake me up when July is around

Chapter 17/? "Flammable"

***

"This fucking February is gonna stay for-fucking-ever and fucking everything's gonna be buried under this fucking snow," - Billy's muttering to himself, grunting with effort as he heaves another full shovel. He's done so much shoveling in the last few days, he thinks it can actually be his new life calling. If he ever gets tired of California's perpetual sunshine, he might move to Alaska and shovel snow there till the end of time.

Billy's made a couple of extra bucks this way, too - their neighbor to the right, old Mrs. Deville pays him to clean her walkway daily. Billy's kinda okay with her, she seems like a sweet old lady. He remembers, back in August, when their family first arrived in Hawkins, her garden was still full of blossoming rose bushes, and the smell they gave off was amazing.

What ?? He kinda liked the roses' scent, flooding the street. Is that a crime?

Hargrove has no idea who lives in the house to the left, it looks rundown and abandoned.

Winter and especially February in assfuck Indiana continue to constantly surprise him. Apart from usual snow, total absence of sunshine, sleet, slush, normal ice on the roads, hailstorms, freezing rains and horrible biting winds, resulting in black fucking ice - which still remains Billy's most vivid impression he'll keep in his memory for a loooong time -

Did he mention it getting dark at five fucking thirty?

Fucking icicles ?? - Billy never even knew words like that before, they weren't part of his fucking vocabulary!

It being slippery everywhere?

Frostbites? Irritating sniffles?

You name it. And what is more,

Snow starts falling every.

goddamn.

day now.

Billy was unaware of what snow shoveling even was before they moved here. He then was introduced to this exciting activity in December last year. Not that he minded it much, doing it only once in a while. But these days - when did he sign up for this shit - he has to shovel the driveway and other surfaces around the house much more often than he used to. He has to do it every day at home and during his shifts at Mr. Dailey's repair shop. Plus the nice Mrs. Deville's walkway. Billy has a feeling he's shoveling 24/fucking 7 now.

On the bright side, it can be considered as a workout, it's not that bad. Billy can swear, the muscles in his arms and torso, in fact, in his whole body, are becoming more and more defined with every passing day. Who needs barbells when nature's giving you the perfect exercise.

He looks fine as hell.

It's just that, apparently, he has also started talking to himself, like an old grumpy dude. Shoveling is monotonous as fuck.

He belongs in the loony bin.

Oh, one day Billy gets in a snow blizzard on the way home from the repair shop he works at. That's something else entirely.

There's a huge one raging in the north of the state, Hawkins is going to get only its faint echoes.

They turn out to be enough to disrupt the life of the entire town.

His boss insists that they close the shop early, before the snowstorm is supposed to hit, although Billy doesn't quite grasp what the big fucking deal is at first.

"Kid, go home. You and your car won't do shit in what's about to come."

Do I have to? I don't wanna

"Tomorrow you don't have a shift, right? I'm pretty sure we're gonna be closed."

When Billy's approaching Cherry Lane, the snowstorm overtakes him. It's only the beginning but

That's some truly devilish shit.

The wind is already very strong and is picking up its speed by the second. When Billy climbs out of the camaro, holding the door so it doesn't fly the fuck away, he can't even open his eyes properly because snow is getting blown into his face, not letting him see anything.

He has to literally fight his way to the entrance.

Later on the wind turns to be more severe, and the storm is even more intense. The whole house is shaking.

Fucking weather.

Max is excited, the shitbird. She peeks into Billy's room late in the evening with a frightened expression on her face, like she's in awe of what's happening outside.

"School's gonna be closed tomorrow."

"Says who?"

"It was in the news. They are expecting more than 6 inches of snow, and they won't be able to clean all the roads in time."

"Great. Now shut the damn door."

Max is lingering in the doorway

"Aren't you scared?"

"It's just snow and wind."

"Do you think it can blow our house away?"

Billy snorts

Would've been interesting

"No, Max. It's not that strong."

How old is she, for fuck's sake. What is this "Wizard of Oz" bullshit.

Max is still standing there.

"Go sleep. It's gonna be fine in the morning."

***

Max was right. Billy's munching on cornflakes and listening to the morning news. No school. There's at least eight inches of snow covering the roads.

Billy was right, too. The weather's good in the morning. The blizzard died down during the night, and Billy has three options now: to clean his room, do homework for next week or grab a fucking shovel.

Neil leaves him no options.

Chop chop, son. You know what to do.

When Billy steps out of the house

First, it's like his eyes get slashed.

It's too bright.

Second, when his eyesight more or less adjusts to all the light, Billy loses his breath for a second.

It's unbelievable.

Everything is covered with a white glistening blanket. The sky is the bluest blue, it's clear and cloudless and

The sun. After weeks of hiding behind the clouds

The sun is finally out.

The sharp pain in his eyes fades away, but he's squinting cause the sparkling snow, the radiant sun, the cerulean sky - it's too much, it still blurs his vision. There is no wind, it's quiet and peaceful. As if the nature has let all its rage out and has calmed itself down.

Wow.

It's .. magical.

Like, really.

The news people weren't kidding. It looks like all fucking eight inches. The temperature is around 29 F, and the snow hasn't started melting yet, but with this sunshine, it's gonna get warmer soon, which means the snow will get heavier.

There is no camaro standing in the driveway. There's a full-ass-size mockup model of his camaro made of snow. It looks cool. Means more work for Billy, but who cares. Neil parked his Buick in the garage yesterday. Of course.

Billy puts his face up to the sun. It feels warm, like he's seeing an old friend.

He gets a sudden idea - he can actually call his buddy in California right the fuck now, tell him about the snow. He tried calling him once a couple of weeks ago, but no-one answered. Billy has some change in the pockets, it won't buy him a long conversation, but he wants to hear his friend's voice, even if for a minute. He sticks the shovel in the snow heap and walks to the payphone. There is one a couple of blocks down.

Billy doesn't simply walk. He makes holes in the snow with his boots, every step it's like falling down a little, but the solid ground has got him, it doesn't let him fall any further.

Hargrove opens the phone booth door with difficulty cause of all the snow blocking it, picks the receiver up. He knows Nick's number by heart. The line beeps and his friend - Billy recognizes the voice in an instant - picks up

"Hello?"

"Hey, Nick."

"Hey .. oh my god. Holy shit, Billy ??"

"Yeah."

Billy has missed his past life so much, he's smiling and wants to cry and wants to be there, where his friend's voice is.

"Billy, it that you? You've disappeared off the face of the earth, why didn't you call?"

And before Hargrove can answer the question

"When are you coming back?"

"I was uh .. thinking, July?"

"But you wanted to hit the dust the moment you get your diploma?"

"Yeah I just .."

"Wait, did you find someone there?"

"No, fuck off! No, that's .."

That's an impossible notion

"Tell me the name!"

"Nick, it's not .. you know me, I'm not uh .. looking for anything like that. I just wanna save enough money before heading back, you know .. for my own place and shit."

"But you're crashing with me for the first couple of weeks, right? Till you're all settled?"

"That still on?"

"Of course."

Billy wants to cry even more.

"How are you and Kelly doing?"

"We've been great. Going to prom together."

Ah, yes. The prom. Being in a relationship means you get excited about stuff like that. Thank god it's not Billy's case.

"Good."

To be honest, he'd die to go to prom with his friends in San Diego. Get stinking drunk, get soaring high? Do something outrageously stupid?

"Kel's been asking about you, why you never call."

"Yeah it's like uhm .. new place and .. busy. You can't even imagine how much snow I've shoveled in the last few days. Like .. it's fucking everywhere. They cancelled school today because of it, can you believe it?"

Nick is laughing, bright and happy, and Billy wants to run, run, run there. Away from here.

"The fuck is this, man! Hey uh .." Nick's voice is getting more serious. "How are things with you and your dad?"

"It's fine. Yeah .. it's okay."

"Okay."

"Why are you at home? Aren't you supposed to be at school yourself?"

"Yeah .. Jack got sick, parents are at work, I'm babysitting. Fuck, I just need to make it till graduation, man."

Jack is Nick's little brother. He's three or something.

Nick isn't exactly doing good at school. Doesn't make him a lesser friend.

"Graduation is just around the corner. You'll make it, come on."

"Yeah."

"Hey I think we're gonna be disconnected. Was nice hearing your voice, man. I'll call again soon. Say hi to everyone from me."

"Just don't disappear completely, like maybe you can leave your phone number where I ca .."

Beep beep beep

Billy puts the receiver back and walks out of the phone booth. He's not in a hurry. He's walking slowly, eyes half closed from all the dazzle, the brilliance.

Billy's still keeping his face up, gentle winter sunrays caressing his skin.

He's smiling.

Summer's on the way.

***

Saturday night is Valentine's Day party at Andy's house. There's this special buzz in the air that's sending out a warning - it's gonna be wild and everyone is gonna get hammered tonight. Kids haven't had a party for ages, they've been staying at home with parents and siblings for two days straight cause of the blizzard, and tomorrow is still the weekend. It was a close call, with Andy's parents considering delaying their trip to visit friends due to the storm but thank heavens, gods have been merciful to the Hawkins youth. They let them have their fun, Andy's mom and dad leaving on Saturday early in the morning. Major roads have been cleaned by then, parents have a beast of a truck, and it's good that they are going south where there's less snow.

Billy arrives late.

After the shift he does some - yaay. - shoveling, he has shoveled the whole goddamn Cherry fucking Lane already, and then he takes his time in the shower and in front of the mirror. Billy decides on wearing dark grey jeans with a couple of rips on the thighs and a navy blue button down, just a teeny bit tight, it's a slim fit, hugging his biceps, waist and chest just right. Even though it's winter Hargrove leaves three buttons undone.

Fuck, does he look great. Like candy. As always, though. Billy's puffing his lips a bit, ogling his own reflection. He'd kiss himself on the sexy mouth if he could. He'd definitely totally fuck himself if he had an opportunity.

Billy is afraid Neil's gonna give him crap about something but, luckily, his dad's watching a baseball game and drinking beer, Susan is sitting close to him on the couch, flipping through cookery magazines - domestic fucking bliss - and Billy doesn't exactly notify anyone that he's leaving.

Maybe, once in a lifetime, Neil's pleased with all Billy's fucking shoveling. Maybe he just doesn't give a shit about his son tonight.

Either way, Billy gets dressed, goes out of his room, grabs the jacket, opens the front door quietly and is out of the house. He's walking towards his car that he has wisely parked down the street.

Like hell he is not going to that party.

He wants to see Harrington.

Remember?

A party means there's is a chance we are alone in a room, pretty boy. Just you and me.

When he gets to Andy's house, the night is already in full swing.

As soon as he opens the door,

Like a virgin

Comes blasting

Touched for the very first time

Like a virgin

When your heart beats next to mine

Billy also hears Roy's voice bellowing somewhere close "Pure fire! Whoo!"

He's drunkenly stumbling out of the kitchen in front of Billy

"Hey man, you got any vodka on you? I'm trying to carry out an experiment."

That guy is definitely a virgin.

"Nah." Billy moves past the funny dude. What has he got on his mind tonight.

It's Valentine's. Love is in the air. There are red heart shaped balloons floating around.

Everyone's drunk. Kissing couples are everywhere. Music's incredibly loud and setting the right mood.

You’re So Fine

And You’re Mine

Make Me Strong

Yeah You Make Me Bold

"Billyyy !! Finally, where have you beeeen?"

Jennifer's bright red lips are aiming for his mouth

but he turns his face away, getting kissed on the cheek instead.

God, she's plastered already.

For some reason Billy's not psyched about kissing her tonight.

He's got someone else on his mind. Billy's scanning the dancing crowd. There's a bubbling sensation in his belly and a weird feeling as if his lungs are drawn tight, not letting him take a breath with a full chest

His eyes

Searching searching searching

Where is he?

Harrington is in the living room, playing beer pong with the guys. He and Tommy are teamed up against Andy and Danny. The two teams are neck and neck, and whoever scores a victory, they're gonna win by a nose.

Steve's wearing dark blue jeans and a toffee brown light sweater. His hair is styled to perfection. He looks like expensive caramel that you wanna take in your mouth and suck on. Roll around with your tongue, listening to its gentle clickety-click on the teeth.

The pretty boy is busy. Alright.

There's a group of teens - mostly juniors and seniors whose hearts aren't taken by anyone in particular - playing "Cupid's Arrow" that's just like a Valentine's version of Spin the bottle. Billy's too old for that.

Besides, Jennifer is hanging on his arm.

"Babyyy, let's go dance!"

Hargrove grabs a can of beer, shotguns it cause he needs alcohol in his system, fast, and they get in the middle of the chaotically moving mish-mash.

***

After some dancing, drinking the second can of beer and getting handsy with his Valentine, Hargrove notices that King Steve has decided to join the rhythm-crazed crowd. He's not alone, of course, the red haired chick's following him everywhere. Are they like, official boyfriend and girlfriend now? Has Billy missed some gossip?

I don't know what you've got but it plays with my emotions

I want you so much

Darling I want to hold you near

Want to whisper sweet and tender in your ear

Well, it is Valentine's, so the music's all sentimental cheesy trash

Can't stand the thought of you with somebody else

Got to have your love got to have it all to myself

I say yeah yeah yeah yeah

Billy is smiling at Jennifer. It's not like he's already drunk, but the rush and the excitement are getting into his bloodstream. Also things got a bit more thrilling with Harrington dancing just a couple of feet away. Billy can't help it, it's like he's radio tuned onto him, his head starts whirring as soon as the asshole gets close

Want to be your lover lover

Want to be your lover lover lover boy

All of a sudden Billy feels someone's back fucking .. rubbing on his. It's like .. okay, the living room is packed and sometimes you touch a body, and a body touches you, but this .. this was done intentionally

Billy's turning his head slightly to see who's so cocky here, crossing the border, invading his space

He sees Harrington's caramel sweater right behind him. It looks like the dude's just dancing, all innocent and focused on his date.

It is crowded.

Too far gone it's hard to stop

Baby you're my dream in motion and I won't give up

Teasing me with your fire

The moment Hargrove thinks it's all in his mind, Steve's getting closer again and his shoulder blades are lined up with Billy's

He feels Harrington's heat

Which spreads all over Billy's body like wildfire

Fuck fuck FUCK

The fuck he's doing

Your're the one I desire

Got to have your tenderness all to myself

Hargrove remembers those couple of seconds when Steve was on the gym floor, and Billy was hovering over the guy, clutching his hand - that moment when he was twitching from head to toe as though he was being tasered

Is Harrington feeling it now too? Or is it only Billy?

The heat is gone, and then it's back again

Hargrove's between heaven and hell.

Want to be your lover lover lover boy

They keep dancing like that, backs touching occasionally. There's nothing weird about that, no-one's gonna pay any attention, the floor is a tight space.

I want to be your love

Gotta have your love

And I can't stand it

Who the fuck is responsible for the music tonight.

Oh no the dumb song's finishing, but the one that's coming up seems to be even worse

It's a ballad, so it means that they're gonna do a slow dance. Ugh, shit goddamnit. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come to this party after all.

It's not fun, it's fucking torture. Billy is pulling Jennifer closer - guess it's walk the walk and talk the talk - and she's wrapping her arms around his neck, her tits pressed tight against his chest.

I gotta take a little time

A little time to think things over

Do they have to romantically look into each other's eyes for the whole damn dance? Bleh, Billy never liked the slow ones. Get drunk, let the energy out on the dance floor, suck face, get a release, done. Go home, sleep like a baby.

Through the clouds I see love shine

It keeps me warm as life grows colder

Thank god Jennifer is resting her head on Billy's shoulder now, he doesn't have to stare at her face anymore. He quickly looks around and

Sees Harrington and his new girl kissing.

Passionately.

There's another kind of fire whipping through Hargrove. It doesn't just burn, it turns everything black and toxic

Just like that, with a snap of the fingers, Billy's mood is ruined.

The song's getting worse.

I want to know what love is

I want you to show me

The crowd of wasted teenagers are chanting along

Christ al-fucking-mighty, when is it gonna finish

I wanna feel what love is

I know you can show me

Jennifer's hands are sliding over Billy's shoulders, down his back. All over his ass.

Okay, uh .. he needs a break. His dick is hard but it's not because he's getting felt up by the girl in his arms. He needs a breath of fresh air.

I've got nowhere left to hide

It looks like love has finally found me

"Honey, I'll be back in a second."

Bathroom break. Or something.

I wanna feel what love is, no, you just cannot hide

The words of the stupid song are chasing Billy as he's hurrying up the stairs.

***

He's in the bathroom, behind the closed door, looking at himself in the mirror.

What did you expect, huh? What exactly did you expect, fool? That you're gonna come to the party, and the moment you cross your eyes with his majesty, you're gonna go upstairs together and jump into bed?

Billy's scoffing at his naivety. He opens cold water, washes his face.

Life seldom gives you what you really want.

It's pointless. Him having any kind of expectations for this stupid party is ridiculous.

On his way out of the bathroom, Billy decides to sneak into a quiet room and have a smoke. Alone. A couple of rooms are locked, probably already occupied by horny couples, and there's one at the end of the hallway, that turns out to be open, dark, and empty. Perfect. It's Mr. Goldman's study, obviously. Billy's not gonna make a mess. He just wants to have some quiet time. He opens the window, finds an ashtray on the mahogany desk and lights up a cigarette.

He can still hear the music booming downstairs. The night is dark and the air, flowing through the open window, is nippy and sobering.

What does Billy want? To kiss King Steve again? What for? How many kissing sessions will be enough? Does he want to do something more with him? Is Harrington even up for it? He seems happy with his new girlfriend.

What more does Billy want? To touch Steve's dick? To suck his dick? How far is he willing to go? Billy's not even sure himself.

It all started with the itch, with the contempt, with the hostility. It transformed into this vague want, the want for what ?

It's not worth the trouble. Billy has nothing in this suburban town that he's having a remotely strong feeling about. No strings attached. Nothing to miss when he's gonna be driving away from here.

Let it stay this way.

Hargrove's finishing the cigarette. He needed this clarity.

He opens the door and bumps into Harrington who's loitering in the hallway. The hell he's doing here? Waiting in line for the bathroom? Waiting in line for a free room to get his hands up that girl's skirt?

Without any warning, Steve's grabbing Billy's hand, and dragging him back into the study, where it's still dark and empty and .. cold. Sobering. Harrington clicks the lock and Hargrove is suddenly pressed against the wall.

Lyrics of a song from downstairs are reverberating through the room. You can actually make out the words up here, Billy just zoned out completely when he was alone thinking

It wouldn’t hurt her if she didn’t know, cause

When it gets too much

I need to feel your touch

"Why didn't you call?"

The fuck Harrington wants?

Steve is looking at him like a lunatic

I'm gonna run to you

Billy's holding the frenzied gaze. One more second, and he's gonna push Harrington's away, put an end to whatever this is

"Didn't feel like it."

Steve's not saying anything anymore, he straight up tries kissing Billy's lips

He's wasted. The way he just goes for it, is unhinged

He smells like alcohol and lust

I’m gonna run to you

I’m gonna run to you

Cause when the feelin’s right I’m gonna run all night

Billy's dodging the kisses. Steve's hands are sliding up and down his abs

"Stop being a priss, Hargrove. Don't you wanna have a little fun?"

Harrington's voice is hoarse and so sexy

But you’re the one that always turns me on

You keep me comin' round

"Thanks, I don't want leftovers." Billy's standing like a rock, King Steve can't honeycomb or sweet talk him into anything tonight.

"What?" Harrington's whispering on an exhale

And a second later, almost mockingly, with a smirk

"Are you jealous ?"

Eyebrows raised high.

Billy's glaring at Harrington. He has just talked some sense into himself to keep all his unclear urges in check, why is this motherfucker making all his efforts go to waste?

What the fuck !??

Billy digs his fingers in that soft caramel sweater that wraps Harrington's slender figure so elegantly

Takes full fists of it

I’m gonna run to you

I’m gonna run to you

In a flash, it's Harrington whose back hits the wall, hard

He's wincing from the unexpected pain

"Listen, fuckhead. I don't know what your game is, but I don't like it. Stay the fuck away from me, I've had enough."

Hargrove articulates every word clearly, hoping that all of them will sink in King Steve's carefree brain.

Billy slams him against the wall again, just to get the message across, once and for all, then lets him go, unlocks the door and leaves Steve alone in the dark room

Run to you?

More like run from you.

***

The party is still raging but Billy's not in the mood for dancing anymore. He makes himself comfortable on the couch downstairs and lights another Marlboro. There are people around, and a minute later Jennifer finds him, sits close and asks for a cigarette.

Hargrove's throwing his head back and takes his time inhaling and exhaling the bitter smoke, watching it go up. It calms him down.

A couple of minutes later Harrington drops on the armchair standing near the couch, the red-haired girl sitting on his lap. They are making out, tongue and all, giggling stupid

Steve's kissing Nicole, hands gliding over her legs, but has his eyes fixed on Billy. The king is so drunk, he's not even subtle about it.

Billy's dick stirs in his jeans, and Jennifer's hand explicitly touches his thigh

"Let's go upstairs?"

Billy's suddenly tired. Physically. Of fucking everything. Maybe it's all the shoveling, taking its toll on him. He's exhausted and he wants out of here. It's time to go.

"I'll go get a beer."

Jennifer keeps Hargrove under surveillance as he's walking in the direction of the kitchen.

There, in the kitchen, a special kind of entertainment is about to unfold. A fire show, apparently. Roy is trying to ignite fucking punch. Like, literally. He's been calling it "fire" the whole evening, so at some point he decided it's okay to try to light it up. Tina is shouting

"Someone, get a fire extinguisher! He's gonna burn the house down!"

Some people are laughing, some are waiting for the whole bowl to go up in flames

Roy is sticking a torch lighter in the punch bowl, but nothing burns. He then opens a bottle of vodka and is pouring it into the mixture

"For the sake of science!"

"Stop freaking spiking it, Roy!" Someone's shouting and the guy stops, tries setting it on fire again.

The experiment fails. Of course. What a stupid ass.

Billy can't watch this clown.

"Dunston, you dumbass, it won't work. The drink will catch fire if it's minimum 40 per cent alcohol in volume. Pure vodka will burn, as will rum, absinthe or tequila. Or whiskey."

Billy grabs the half full bottle of vodka, finds two clean shot glasses and fills them up

"Hit the lights. Usually vodka burns a clear blue flame, but it's not too bright."

There's still enough light coming from the living room for everyone to see what's happening. Billy takes out his usual lighter, sets one shot on fire, then the second. He's right, the fire's not very strong, but there are two beautiful light blue rings on the kitchen table.

"Alright. On the count of three, cover the glass with your hand to extinguish the fire, and as soon as it's out, drink up, you got it?"

Roy's nodding.

"Won't it burn?"

"A little. I'm doing it with you, man."

"One, two, three, go!"

Hargrove puts his hand over the shot and then downs it in a flash. The vodka is hot, it goes down like molten glass

Roy's still standing there with his unsure hand over the second shot.

Fucking pussy.

"Seriously, Dunston?"

"I tried, dude, I almost did it, but it fucking burnt my palm!"

"Hold the glass."

Billy's putting his own hand over the flame

"Now drink!"

Roy's gulping it like a champ but then comes

"Owww !! I burnt my tongue! Fuck! It's hot! Or my throat! I don't know! It hurts !!"

Jesus fucking christ

What a town of pussies.

"Ow ow ow! Someone, call 911!"

"Are you out of your mind, Roy ?? We're all drunk here!" That's Tina again

No need to call 911.

Hargrove is taking Dunston by the shoulder

"Come one, man. I'm driving you to the hospital."

Roy's looking at him in disbelief.

"You would?"

Perfect excuse

For Billy to leave the party early.

They are passing Jennifer

"You know how you're getting home?"

"Yeah." She looks disappointed. Not Billy's problem.

They get outside, Roy's holding a hand over his mouth

"Oh my god, dude! Am I gonna get a third degree burn? Am I gonna get a tissue transplant?"

"Yeah, definitely. Shut up, Dunston. Get in the fucking car."

What a wuss, jesus. Hargrove starts the camaro and they get going.

"Where's the hospital?"

"Uh .. on Main Street? Like .. ten minutes from here. Ow."

Billy turns the cassette player on. "Seek and destroy" by Metallica starts playing.

He just wants to get home.

After about five minutes Roy looks at Billy like a puppy and says faint-heartedly

"Uhm .. Hargrove? I'm actually uh .. feeling much better, bro."

What the fuck?

"Don't fucking bro me."

"Huh?"

Billy's considering stopping the car and kicking Roy's ass out, leaving him on the side of the road

"Can we just drive back to Andy's?"

"Are you fucking kidding me, Dunston?"

Billy's taking a deep breath.

Sure. I'll drive you back. Only because it works out for me, buddy.

It's actually great. Much better than going all the way to the fucking hospital. He'll get home quicker and he'll still bail the party.

Billy's turning the camaro around, the back of the car drifts into a huge pile of snow. Roy's face turns sour

"Hey, asshat. Don't even think about puking in my car."

Roy is throwing a fearful glance at Billy

"Dude. I'm not an animal."

Billy drops Roy off and heads home. Jennifer must be pissed at him. Of course she is. He ditched the party, he didn't deliver, didn't bring her home.

Whatever.

***

Billy is stopping in Cherry Lane, but at a distance to their house. He's taking out a cigarette. The lighter clicks, and there's this distinct sound of tobacco crackling when the drag is especially deep and delicious. It's quiet, and he's not turning the music back on.

Is that disappointment? Hargrove was waiting for this party to get his hands on Harrington once again, and he had the chance, why the fuck did he say no?

He saw them kissing and, somehow, that was tonight's game changer.

Billy's fucking

Jealous ?

Steve asked him if he was. Mockingly. It was what, funny to him?

Is that what it is?

Billy's not jealous. It's not jealousy, it's just that .. it irks him, to see Harrington's arm coiled around some girl's waist, his tongue sliding in and out of her mouth. It's ..

FUCK !! He hits the steering wheel, once, twice, three times, grabs it so tight, his knuckles hurt

What the fuck is happening? He doesn't want any of that. God, why .. the moment Billy thinks he's in control, something reminds him that's he is, in fact, not.

What a bunch of bullshit.

***

***

Looks like while all senior students of Hawkins high were having fun on Valentine's Day, Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers had something else going on.

It's Barb's funeral on Wednesday.

On Monday Steve gets up and gets down for breakfast to find his mom listening to the morning news.

" .. Ms. Holland's almost decomposed body was found in the woods more than half a year after her vanishing. The police haven't closed the case yet, but despite the major breakthrough, there is, unfortunately, no accurate information about what happened in June 1984.Theories have emerged among Hawkins citizens that this gruesome death could be connected with a leak of toxic substances from Hawkins laboratory, but the laboratory management and city authorities call such rumours unfounded and causing unreasonable panic. The police are leaning towards the version of a wild animal attack, however, the circumstances still remain unclear. Barbara Holland's funeral will take place on Wednesday, February 19th."

Thank god his mom is at home right now. Steve feels an unpleasant chill running down his back and fear beginning to stir inside him.

"Honey, are you going to go?"

"Yes, mom. I think I should."

At school Steve finds his ex-girlfriend who he hasn't talked to in ages.

"Hey uh .. Barb's funeral?"

"Are you going to come?"

"Yeah .. yeah of course."

He didn't know the girl well, just .. really, just her name. But he's connected to the whole story, he feels like he needs to do it.

Steve also has the right to know what went down. Since he's actually in on the supernatural stuff going on in Hawkins.

"Do you want to tell me more about it?"

"I can. But not right here. Meet me and Jonathan after school?"

"Yeah."

Tommy sees them talking and looks at him strange.

Hagan wants to catch up after classes, dish about the party and this and that, but Steve tells him he needs to take some notes from Nancy, so no. Steve suspects Tommy is feeling a lie in his words but there won't be any open confrontation this time.

"I'll drop by your place later, alright?"

Tommy's fine with that.

"Sure."

Nicole isn't talking to him cause, as far as Steve remembers, she's pissed at him for flirting with Tammy Thompson at the party. He may be guilty as charged. By the end of it, he got drunk to the point of unconsciousness and passed out on Andy's couch.

Bummer.

***

Steve later learns that Nancy and Jonathan - with Hopper's and Mrs. Byers' help, apparently, - found Barb's body in the Upside Down.

What's Upside Down?

Lucky you, if you don't know. Cause Steve does now, and the knowledge doesn't make him any happier.

Nancy seems more at peace. Like she's finally found closure.

"I've uh .. actually wanted to ask .. Who else knows about this thing? This whole thing? The other dimension and the monsters?"

"Just us and .. some kids, but that's it."

Us, okay.

"Wait, you said, kids ??"

"Yes, Steve."

It's a highly confidential matter, and some frigging kids know about it?

It all started with Will, Jonathan's brother because he was kept in the Upside Down for a week. Mike, Nancy's brother, knows it cause he's Will's best friend. A couple of more of their friends as well, because they are very tight, it's like their gang or something, and they all helped free Mike from the Demogorgon.

"Demogorgon, that monster ..? Are there others?"

No-one knows, they hope not, but they aren't sure. Can never be sure with supernatural stuff like that.

Steve gets it. Later during the day he visits Tommy, they stay in his room talking and Harrington feels a bit normal again.

On Wednesday, a quiet grey day, he attends the funeral. There aren't many people.

A couple of girls from school that used to be Barb's friends. Inconsolable parents. Chief Hopper and Joyce Byers. Nancy and Jonathan. Mrs. Wheeler and some Hawkins moms that are friends of family. The priest, Mr. Jones.

Steve's been at funerals before, when his grandparents passed away. He was little at that time, and didn't understand much.

He's never been at a funeral of a person his age.

It feels wrong.

Abnormal. Like something went very wrong in the way the world is supposed to work.

There are some unpleasant looking people Steve has never seen before. They are all dressed in black, and they all look like they don't have a heart. These ones are definitely from the government. Steve hopes he'll never see them again.

He's been doing so good lately, but of course, all of this is having its impact on him.

They are all prey.

Life and death, they walk hand in hand. You never know what's waiting for you around the corner. It's terrifying.

***

It's Friday evening. The week has been a lot. Having looked into death's ugly face, Steve wants to feel alive.

Steve could call Nicole, but she's angry at him. He doesn't want to apologize for nothing and listen to her mindless chatter.

He could meet up with Tommy but he can't share with his best friend the stuff he wants to. He can't talk with anyone about what happened, except for the people who are already in on the whole secret. Half of these people are, apparently, kids whose existence Steve has a very vague idea of, his ex-girlfriend, who has a new boyfriend, and Harrington doesn't have any desire to see either of them.

Hopper and Mrs. Byers are adults.

He knows who might make him feel good again, give him that special thrill. Like a jolt of electricity. Like a pull, to bring him back to the surface.

Seeing Hargrove doesn't require a conversation. They've only exchanged not more than a hundred phrases in total in what .. half a year? For the most part, they were insults and names. The closest the boys were to having a usual talk was at Christmas, and it was super brief anyway.

Steve doesn't need to talk with him.

What he wants is to be close to him, for a moment.

Some inexplicable strength and .. integrity emanate from Hargrove. When Steve's in his vicinity, it flows over him, like a tide. His broad shoulders, wide palms, the strong bull-like neck. Steve wants to bury his face in his neck and just breathe. Breathe in his scent. Feed on his energy.

They don’t need to talk for this and, if you come to think of it, there’s nothing for them to have a conversation about, really. Hargrove is not his friend. He's just a passerby, stopping in Steve's town for a year and then probably leaving in an unknown direction.

***

It's already late, and most likely, Mr. Dailey's garage is gonna be closing soon. Steve can ask about uhm .. Hargrove's shifts. Old man won't get suspicious or anything, Steve will just say that uh .. he was impressed with Billy's work and wanted to bring his friend's car for a check. Something like that.

Harrington goes to the repair shop. As he's driving closer, he spots Hargrove's Camaro, parked outside. Steve's not nervous, not at all. Just didn't expect Billy to actually be there. Maybe that's luck. Steve reaches for the glove compartment and takes something from there.

He gets out of his car, walks up to the open door. His heart is beating faster than usual.

"Hello? Mr. Dailey?"

Hargrove is crouching near the wheel of an old dodge pick-up. There's also a ford escort standing nearby. Steve leans on it.

Billy's standing up slowly.

"I'm closing up. Mr. Dailey went home."

"Oh. Hey. He trusts you that much?"

"You wanted to talk to him?"

"No. I mean, yes."

Billy's getting hot under Harrington's stare.

"What do you want?"

"I was thinking .. my car needs an oil change."

Harrington probably doesn't know anything about cars beyond having its oil changed regularly. However, it seems he has no idea how often if should be done.

He's such a dumbass, he's so pretty, it's infuriating.

Standing there in his unzipped jacket, hands in pockets, hair all slicked back in waves. Looking too clean, too neat, a fucking rich pampered baby. Billy's wearing his coveralls, he smells like machine oil, a grease monkey

"You don't need a change. I did it like two weeks ago."

"I know."

Billy looks Steve straight in the eye, and Harrington stops blinking.

"So what do you want, Harrington?"

Steve's gaze rakes over Billy's face and stops at his lips

"You know what I want."

Fucking hell. Billy's blood runs cold. And then, a second later, it runs fucking hot, like fiery lava.

Those lips drawing him in

Like a vortex

Harrington took him by surprise, Billy wasn't prepared to see him here

He's taken off guard. That's why

He fucking hopelessly wants to kiss the lips.

Why is he so weak for this bitch?

He's also absolutely not ready for this. Like this. Out in the open, he's not drunk, he's not initiating it. Harrington's taking the reigns, and Billy's knees wobble.

He came all the way down here for this.

Drove across town for this.

Billy turns around, wiping his hands on a piece of cloth, goes to his jacket, hanging on a peg, and takes out a joint.

"Wanna split?"

"Sure."

"Can't smoke in here."

"My car? I forgot to turn the engine off, it's uh .. warm in there?"

You forgot to turn the engine off, who does that.

They get in the backseat of Steve's beamer. It feels weird. Billy's fingers are shaking when he's lighting the joint.

Like a virgin

Touched for the very first time

He passes it to Harrington and their fingers brush lightly

His whole body jerks.

"I told you to stay away from me."

"When?" Steve throws his head back a little, taking a drag, holding the blunt with his long delicate fingers

Billy's watching his Adam's apple go up and down. He wants to know how it'll move under his lips, under his tongue

"Valentine's?"

"I uh .. I think I drank too much that night. Couldn't remember much in the morning."

That kinda explains his visit.

"Why should I stay away from you?"

There's a faint smile on Harrington's lips

Billy doesn't answer.

He's at a crossroads. He's inhaling the bittersweet smoke.

Hargrove can once again tell Steve to fuck off. Bust his nose if he's gonna be dense about it.

Or he can see how far he, Billy, is willing to go.

Their fingers keep grazing when they pass each other the joint, and Billy's heart keeps on pumping blood into his dick. His abdomen aches.

It's almost finished, Billy takes the last drag, and then one more, burning his finger pads, cracks the door open to throw what's left of it on the ground and the moment he's closing the door and turning to Harrington

Steve throws himself at Billy

Their teeth clash

And they don't kiss first

They bite.

It's becoming gentler, both of them close their eyes, the kisses are deeper, the hands are braver

How far is Billy willing to go?

Harrington's hands are all over his body

Feeling, squeezing

Steve lets out the most pathetic whine

And Billy's putting his palm on Harrington's crotch

He is so fucking hard.

He needs him under.

Hargrove grabs Steve by the shoulders and now it's Billy who's pressing him into the seat. Of course, it's cramped, of course, it's uncomfortable, but neither of them gives a fuck because both

Are burning.

Billy unbuckles the belt and unbuttons Steve's pants - just like in his dream, just like he's been imagining it. He slides the zipper down and Harrington is bucking his thighs up, trying to bring his pants down a bit

Hargrove's impatient. He gets his hand into Steve's underwear

Like he wanted to

Into the heat

Oh my god

Into the slightly sweaty hairy heat

Billy's feeling dizzy, he has no control whatsoever - what fucking control, he has none

He's spinning on ice

The last coherent thought that's flashing through his mind is

He's making a mistake. That's for sure.

Yet the chemical reaction has been set in motion and Billy's about to catch blaze.

He suddenly stops but Steve looks at him with those pools of darkness, whispers

"Come on .."

And Billy .. he gives in, completely.

He is slowly, gently, taking the other boy's hard dick in his hand, making the sensation register in his mind

Then grips it tight, and gentle caress yields to confident roughness

He's holding Steve's dick

Like his own when he's jerking off.

It's fucking cramped, but it's also so hot, in the backseat of King Steve's car

Billy's moving his hand up and down, relentless and quick, and his lips find Steve's again

They are kissing, kissing so wild, sucking on each other's tongues,

A mix of their smells. Perfumes, machine oil, cigarettes, weed, mint gum, sweat ..

Billy wants to crush him under his weight

And Harrington doesn't seem to mind, oh no, the guy is a needy bitch, because he's pulling, pulling him down, on top of himself, like he wants Hargrove to cover him whole

The warmth of Steve's dick, the wetness, the absolutely deranging tenderness of skin

It's all ..

Oh god

Billy's trying to give himself some friction with his right hand

And, really, they both don't need a lot of time

He could count the minutes by the fingers of one hand only. Or even seconds. He's not sure

He feels Harrington's body twitch and shudder, his moans getting stuck in his throat

He stops kissing Billy, throws his head back and Hargrove gets to stare at the dancing Adam's apple again

Billy's palm is covered in Harrington's hot cum, and that sensation pushes him down the cliff

His own body jerks uncontrollably

And it's .. it's quick and

It's over, and Hargrove's backing up, wiping his hand on the coveralls, opening the door because he needs air

He sees a pack of Parliament on the front passenger's seat and he's reaching for it, taking a cigarette out, he needs to give his fingers sometimes to do, they are back to shaking

And Billy fucking hates it,

Since when did he become such a trembling pile of jello?

"Give me one."

Billy's not sure how to look at Steve's face again.

Like a virgin

He does, look. He's not a coward. He gives him a cigarette and even clicks the lighter for him, regretting it immediately because Steve looks

Fucking royal. Like Billy's just serviced the King.

Reclining in the seat, so relaxed, so .. so fucking pretty, with the puffy bruised lips

With hair a mess and zipper still down, and black underwear on display

FUUUUCK

"Hey, do you still have my number?"

Billy's shrugging his wide shoulders like he can't really remember, like it's not important

"No, I don't think so."

They smoke in silence.

They get out of the car, first Billy, then Steve.

Harrington is zipping up and closing the belt. Billy slams the door of the beamer

"What did you do with the note?"

"I put it in my fucking secret journal where I write poems and keep wilted flowers and shit, Harrington. How the fuck should I know? I don't keep trash. Probably threw it away."

Harrington purses his lips. Looks a bit offended.

It's fucking awkward.

Billy heads inside the garage. He's not gonna say bye or any stupid shit like that. In the garage he gets down on one knee, the front of his underwear wet and sticky, starts putting the tools away. He hopes Steve's gonna go now, and he's relieved to hear the sound of the beamer taking off.

***

Billy needs to change his clothes, close the place up, check the lights and stuff. He's not gonna think of anything now. He's not gonna think of anything ever. He's still fucking blushing, cheeks running feverish

Like a virgin

He still thinks it was a mistake. A delicious, much wanted mistake.

Billy goes into the back room, undresses, takes off the underwear and wipes his belly and pubes with it. Puts his usual clothes on, jeans feeling cold on his naked ass and balls. Grabs the dirty boxer briefs, turns the lights in the room off.

Heads for the door, takes the jacket off the peg, stuffs the underwear in its pocket. Looks around to check if everything's okay, hits the light switch, locks the place up. Normally his boss is the last one to leave but tonight his wife called him home earlier, some family stuff, Billy didn't pry.

***

When Billy's back home, he takes the jacket to his room. He closes the door, digs into the jacket pocket, pulls out the underwear and together with it, a piece of paper falls out. Billy tosses the briefs on his bedside table and picks up

A note.

Déjà vu.

A phone number in black ink

And

FUCKING CALL ME

In capital letters now.

Billy's scoff is full of contempt

He's sitting down on his bed, holding the paper

Again? Steve has done the same move with the note, again ??

What a stupid dork. Lame game, amigo

When did he even find time to slide it into Billy's jacket?

Fucking sneaky asshole

If it's so lame, why is it working?

Cause look at Billy smiling.

The second time this week, no less.

Stupid Harrington. The motherfucker is even kinda .. cute. Sometimes.

Oh my fucking god.

A spoiled rich boy who's sexy, mean, pretty and .. fucking cute now. And never leaving Billy's mind. Despite all his attempts to keep a clear mind about it.

Harrington shows up and leaves a mess.

It's a problem.

What's worse, it looks like the problem isn't going away, isn't resolving itself. It's taking even deeper roots.

So many things in goddamnforsaken Hawkins that Billy's never had the experience of dealing with.

Like jerking off King Steve in the backseat of his beamer.

He's not gonna think about ramifications of his actions.

Shower and sleep.

Hargrove cums again in the shower recalling tonight's sensations. It wasn't enough, he doesn't feel satisfied. In fact, he's feeling hornier than ever.

[fridge-reviews]

The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibba

Developer: MorbidWare Publisher: Headup Publishing Rrp: £11.99 (Gog.com, Humblebundle, Steam and Epic) Released: 14th February 2019 Available on: Gog.com, Humblebundle, Steam and Epic Played Using: A keyboard Approximate game length: 8 hours

It's not often I play a typing game, in fact I think the last one was The Typing of The Dead from House of the Dead Overkill. There is a reason for that though, and its not just because there aren't that many out there compared to the many other genres, it's because I'm dyslexic and trying to type while under pressure only makes me mess up even more. And yet I find myself drawn to them, every time I see a game that features typing I always want to give it a go.

This game has you take on the role or Ray Bibba an exorcist who has separated from the Holy Church to become independent. Ray isn't some kindly old priest, if anything he's more akin to a hard grizzled detective from a film noire.

The game gives you an idea of how much typing you'll be doing from the very start, and by very start I mean the starting menu, you have to type the word start correctly before you can even play. The same goes for entering the settings too, while I love the dedication to the theme, I do have to point out that forcing the player to type settings does pose an potential impediment when it comes to accessibility.

You may have noticed that this game is played using only a keyboard (I'm assuming that you've read the details I put at the top of these reviews) which makes sense when you consider it's a game about typing. However, this isn't a game that you can use to improve your typing skills simply because you have to control your character as well, meaning that one hand will almost always be on the arrow keys. Yeah, that's the thing I didn't mention, this game is a boss rush, bullet-hell. Sure, there are brief moments between the bosses where you have to do a small amount research and interact with the story but the meat of the game is the combat with the bosses.

We finally arrive at the combat. As I mentioned earlier this game is a bullet-hell, as such you have to control Ray and try to avoid the various projectiles that will be slung your way. If you do get hit you'll drop your bible (this is will be explained in a moment) and if you get hit again before you pick the bible up you'll lose a point of health. You attack by typing out the verses from you bible, or rather you created a hollet (a holy bullet) with each successfully typed word, once you complete the full verse all your hollets will fire at your enemy and all the projectiles in the area will vanish. As I mentioned earlier, if you get hit you drop your bible, without it you can't type out the words so you absolutely need it. Dropping your bible pose one, rather major, issue... when you drop your bible there's a timer, if you can get to it before the timer runs out you can pick up from where you left off, if you don't though you have to start the entire verse from the very beginning. When typing you have to be careful not to make a mistake, any mistyped letter in a word places you back a letter within that word. For example; if in the word 'Amen' you pressed the wrong letter instead of [N] you'd be set back to [E] and have to retype that. Some of the enemies attacks are designed not to cause injury to Ray but instead make it more difficult for you to type. One of the early enemies in the game vomits in an attempt to cover the words in your bible forcing you to either have to wait for the vomit to clear or guess/remember what you have to type.

Speaking of difficulty, did I mention that some of the verses are in Latin? And not to sound like Columbo but there is one more thing, you have to be within a certain radius of the enemy to be able to perform the exorcism. So not only are you typing with one hand while trying to dodge attacks with the other, you sometimes have to type in Latin which may or may not be obscured or even upside down, you also have to be within a certain (not very large) radius of the enemy in order to be able to type at all.

I enjoyed this game, even if it did drive me a bit batty at times. Let's just say its not dyslexia friendly.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Typing of the Dead Overkill Epistory – Typing Chronicles Crypt of the Necrodancer

----

If you’d like to support me I have a Ko-fi, the reviews will continue to be posted donation or not.

[haltandcatchfiretothemax]

FEMSLASH FEBRUARY 2024 #13: in which Donna looks out the window with Cameron

Donna had become accustomed to coming downstairs to find Cameron standing near a window, mug in hand, sipping a hot beverage while she observed what was happening in their backyard. She regularly looked out the window with their black cat, Licorice, and once Donna had even heard Cameron go, “Ek ek ek ek ek ek ek,” at a bird near their house, and then turn to the cat, and ask, “Like that?” as if she expected Licorice to give her feedback. Donna would have said something if she herself wasn’t in the habit of having long conversations with Licorice.

Cameron was standing by the kitchen window, by herself, when Donna came home early from work on a sunny spring day. (Licorice was napping by the large window that looked out onto the pool.) As she entered the kitchen, Donna teasingly said, “Don’t you have a game you should be working on?”

Without looking at Donna, Cameron said, “I worked on it all day!”

Donna got a glass from the dishwasher, set it down on the island, and then retrieved a bottle of sparkling water from their refrigerator. As she poured herself a drink, she asked, “Is it the raccoons?”

A few months earlier, before she started working on her first game since Pilgrim, Cameron had somewhat impulsively built a pair of small wooden shelters for any local stray cats that might come along during the colder months. When Donna and Bos pointed out to her that it didn’t normally get that cold in San Francisco, Cameron had cried, “Well, okay, but sometimes it rains, right?”

There was no evidence that any cats had used either of the shelters, but a quartet of raccoons, whom Cameron had named Sam, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin, visited regularly. Licorice had scared them away from the big window, but they still stopped by the shelters daily, where they would usually nap.

“No, they left a while ago,” Cameron said. “Look, though!”

Donna joined Cameron by the sink, and looked out the window, to see a pair of hummingbirds perched on a glass hummingbird feeder. One of them dipped its beak to take a drink of the sugar water Cameron had put in the feeder.

“Since when do we have a hummingbird feeder?” Donna asked.

Cameron turned to Donna. “Are you serious? I installed it two months ago!”

“Wait, really?”

“I’ve mentioned it at least 4 times!” Cameron cried. “Do you listen?”

“Of course I listen!” Donna responded automatically. But, truthfully, Donna had been preoccupied with work lately, and had been putting in many hours of overtime at the office. She hadn’t noticed the new bird feeder, and didn’t remember Cameron saying anything about it.

Rather than argue with Donna, Cameron turned her attention back to the hummingbirds. Donna went back to watching them, too. They were dark green, with shimmery purple feathers around their throats. They seemed relaxed, happy to be perched there together, in the sun, close to a convenient source of food. Donna wondered if they were a couple, and if they ever fought.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t notice the new bird feeder,” Donna whispered. “Thank you for finding ways to attract all kinds of fauna to my backyard.”

“I don’t really do it for you, it’s an entirely selfish pursuit,” Cameron admitted.

“Well,” Donna kissed Cameron’s shoulder, “thank you just the same.” She went back to her forgotten glass of sparkling water.

Cameron didn’t say anything, still mildly upset, but then couldn’t contain herself. “I was thinking about maybe putting in a camera? Like a security camera, but not to catch people doing anything, just for the birds and raccoons.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Donna smiled. “We can watch the footage together, if you want!”

Cameron’s eye brows creased skeptically. “I feel like you might just be saying that because you still feel bad about the feeder debacle. You should know that I’m still going to hold you to it.”

Donna kissed Cameron’s shoulder again. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[sippinggossip]

You ask, info anon delivers :)

About Giorgia and Damiano...honestly that story is very messy.

I know they met in 2014 through a platform called Ask.fm that at least in Italy was very popular at the time in their age group. Giorgia was "famous" in that platform mainly because of her saucy content. She wasn't posting nudes there but she'd reply to questions about sex, giving advice on sex and relationships and in general she was very brazen which I assume Damiano liked.

They met at some point that year when she was in Rome (she lived in Milan but she had dropped out of school by that point and was already trying to make it as a model) and that's when that photo of them as teenagers that Giorgia posted once was taken.

I've no idea if they stayed in contact in the following years, probably yes to some extent, but they both had other partners and Giorgia was even engaged to the guy she dated before Damiano. She was still dating that guy in 2017 and he was with lucrezia.

For September- early December 2017 Damiano was in the Xfactor house without any contact with the outside world but when he made his relationship public with Giorgia in May 2021 he said that they'd been together for "almost 4 years" so I assume they reconnected at some point in summer 2017.

Fans first noticed her in 2018, some fans had seen her coming out of a hotel with Damiano during their first tour and took photos and posted them on Twitter but Damiano dmed the official fan club asking them to get that fan to take down the photos. It may seem unbelievable now but they managed to do that, the fandom was very small so after a few hours the photos were gone.

Anyway, if I'm being honest no one thought their relationship was very important because during the same period Belen had appeared at some gigs and Damiano was very obsessed with her, he had even mentioned her on interviews. And in general there were many rumors about Damiano sleeping around back then, not with any one famous besides belen, but he didn't exactly act as a guy in a serious relationship.

Early 2019, around March April, they broke up. They unfollowed each other and Vic and Thomas (who had followed her back in 2018) unfollowed her too. I don't know the reason ofc but, also having read her book which was mostly written during those years, I think Giorgia wanted the relationship to get more serious and Damiano wasn't down for that. I distinctly remember that on his birthday in 2019 he had a small party with all his friends etc and Giorgia was posting sad stories from Milan, it gave me the impression he was attracted to her but - as bad as it sounds - didn't want to include her in his social life because he didn't see her as girlfriend material.

Why he didn't see her as girlfriend material...I'm not saying this judgmentally but Giorgia's career at the time wasn't exactly easily palatable. She was doing erotica photoshoots and Damiano was 20 years old and trying to build a career. Sincerely, and I'm not saying this to shade her in any way, but the photos she was doing at the time would qualify as Only Fans content today. And how many artists you can think of that are dating OF girls? I think as cynical as it sounds, Damiano knew she wouldn't be good for his image.

The breakup didn't last long though, 2-3 months later they were back together but still she was pretty separate from his friends and family, like he'd taken a vacation with her alone and then he'd gone with the band and friends and even though janis was there, he wouldn't bring Giorgia. Or then he'd gone to Puglia to his family (his mom's family is there) and again Jacopo would be there with his girlfriend but Giorgia was nowhere to be found.

In September 2019 maneskin went to live in London until February 2020, Giorgia went to visit once.

Then lockdown happened and she came to Rome to spend it with Damiano. They got the cats during lockdown. When it ended in May, she decided to move to Rome permanently from Milan but she got her own apartment, she didn't move in with Damiano.

To answer to the other anon, that's when she reinvented herself. She stopped modelling as a career and started building a brand around feminism as an influencer. She also started dressing differently, acting differently, posting different things. Later that year she also got her vulvodynia diagnosis and after that activism around those illnesses became her main focus.

She was pretty unknown until March 2021 when maneskin won Sanremo and paparazzi pictures of her with Damiano there came out. And then after they won Eurovision her fame skyrocketed because her video reaction to their victory went viral.

I don't know what more to tell you, for what it counts I do believe too that the image of their relationship in 2022 - 2023 was manufactured to an extent. What I can tell you is that in the old fandom pre esc she was heavily disliked because there were a lot of rumors about her being very jealous of every woman around Damiano, even fans, also a lot of rumors of her disliking Victoria. But I can't know if that stuff was true.

Fans tend to either love her or hate her, I'm more neutral towards her. I think she has her flaws but I do believe she loved Damiano and I also believe he wasn't the greatest boyfriend at many points. Their relationship always seemed rocky though and I wasn't surprised it ended in such a messy way.

.

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 192 Trivia

Not much this chapter, since it's basically hot potato again with just as much gunfire.

Check out those wisps! I don't think we've seen them before, and there's a tiny line going straight down the middle (Whyman's command, perhaps?)

The lake shown here appears to be Pyramid Lake, which is around 200-250 km away from the Sacramento marker on the map.

I got really excited here that they'd confirm my calculations from last week, but Senku decided it wasn't the right time for math. (It's always the right time for math.)

In half a page, all the predictions I'd heard over the last couple weeks were dismissed. Oh well.

Interestingly, Senku confirms that the bigger the blast radius, the faster the wave is rather than anything to do with the battery!

Chrome doesn't even change pose here (note the position of his finger), so this happened super fast. That's also at least one bottle of revival fluid spilt all over the floor near Senku, so I wonder if that'll affect the speed of his revival (or stop it in its tracks?)

This is the point when the Americans first see the beam: start the timer for 56 seconds!

This is the first time we see Leonard holding a gun. I don't think he's normally a fighter at all, since he's never been shown during any of the other fights and didn't defend against Kohaku's attack on the phone.

Check out Ukyo's arrow! That's definitely used for cutting rather than piercing, and because it's flat like a razor, it was probably easier to sharpen. Historically, true rope-cutting arrows tend to be more crescent-shaped. Also don't look too hard at the angle Ukyo fired from…

I have no idea what this beep sound effect is. Either Ukyo has a receiver of some sort on him and in a single beep he established that the KoS lost their revival fluid, or he simply heard a bottle shatter between all the gunfire and realised they lost the bottle, the beep being irrelevant.

Xeno sure escaped fast! He was tied up and in the middle of the fort the last time we saw him.

I also thought it had only been around 60-80 days since Xeno got taken, as it happened at the end of November/early December and now it’s about mid-February (both estimates), so I guess I was slightly off about that! (Unless Xeno is rounding up a lot ~for the drama~)

Suika needs a new melon. She got shot in the "head", and by the looks of things her lenses are cracked. Hopefully when she revives she'll still be able to use them! (Glass can last a really long time.)

She also lost all her leaves, I wonder if she switches them out regularly?

Stanley, reunited with Xeno, no longer cares about counting bullets or accuracy judging by the lack of circles in his muzzle flash.

Another point about Stanley: he's been sitting with an unlit cigarette in his mouth until Xeno appears, immediately after which he attempts to light it but stops since they discover Suika missing.

Remember this tower has mics set up all over the fort: technically any sound too close to one of the mics will be received by the tower... I don't know how none of these explosions haven't affected this setup yet, if they're planning on using noises like lightning or animals.

It's possible even Stanley himself might activate it by shooting towards the tower before the beam hits, check out all those microphone cables!

Speaking of Stanley, what happened to this trio? They've just disappeared-- did Stanley shoot them?

How a girl who can't see her own feet and needs to feel around the floor to get herself into position is going to save everyone I'm not sure, but I do know Suika is one capable gal.

Also we have a callback to her introduction way back in chapter 20, which just breaks my heart in this context.

This is also the 5th time Ryusui's gotten petrified, so I hope he's having a good time.

I've got no predictions for next chapter because anything can happen at this point, but I do wonder if that single medusa will manage to envelop the whole world, or if the battery will die first. 🤔

[trappedtowers]

Trapped Towers Dev History ~ How We Got Here (Part 1)

(Middle art piece done by @/evilredyoshis)

Hey everybody !!

Today I'm going to be introducing another type of post I can end up doing - development history/update posts! These will likely be rarer than other types of posts (after this 3 parter anyway), purely because development on this project is just pretty slow due to my lack of ✨ focus ✨ and all that. However, there is definitely some old development stuff I can talk about! Plus, for those of you who are new - you get to learn more about this project that has been ongoing since early 2018!

So lets get into this, shall we? It's going to be a lengthy read.

February 2018 - August 2020 ~ The Beginning/Undertale AU Era:

February 2018 was a time, by this point I'd spent almost a year making music for my friends and very small audience in the Undertale community. One day, I was simply bored and had no ideas - so my sister told me "hey make an Alton Towers megalo"... how I hadn't done it yet shocked me, I'd been going since 2014 and loved the place dearly. However, with a laugh I agreed and got to work.

A few days into creation, I began theory crafting the basics for an Undertale AU. The first ever concept for what would eventually become Trapped Towers - explains a lot about the name and premise though huh. I eventually uploaded a song or two for the AU, including the megalo I did finish - "Ministry Of Death".

One person found and covered the megalo. Then another. And another. And soon enough the whole thing spiralled - I would consider it to this day my biggest impact on the Undertale Community, even if it was still relatively small and not long lived. Either way, it got me to take the project a little more seriously... but quickly it spiralled into development hell. I was only 14 after all, if you asked me what a leadership style was I probably would have no idea what you were on about or given a dumb answer.

Reboot after reboot was attempted. New server after new server. Eventually though, one server was made and kept. However, the project had already fallen into more obscurity and my motivation was low, so I moved to new things. Every so often a new Trapped Towers post would occur, mainly new Smiler content as that's what really brought in people. Things would stay like that for a bit unfortunately though...

Old Content:

How about some art and concepts from the time though huh? For an Undertale AU it was... something. Tom wasn't called Tom and was literally just called Frisk. The world layout was just Undertale and I just made stuff fit - The Beornen were almost located in X-Sector because of Wickerman being the Grillby replacement. Th13teen wouldn't have really even been in the story as she was Gaster. Half the characters didn't even have designs! People loved Smiler and Enterprise, and any serious work focused on the Ruins portion with Terra. They were still trapped because Nemesis was too dangerous to be let free, however Nemesis was also in a permenant sleep - only prophisised to reawaken. It wasn't an active threat.

(I don't entirely remember who made what here, so I'm sorry for no credits)

OLD SOUNDTRACK LINKS:

Trapped Towers V1 Soundtrack

Trapped Towers V2 Soundtrack

It's all quite funny to look back on. There's so many bits that clearly influenced the project as it is today. Many old designs haven't had drastic overhauls either, which is quite funny to think about... maybe I should get on some...

Anyway, with that brings the conclusion of part 1 of this 3 part blog series. The next two parts will come out day after day, with tomorrow being "August 2020 - June 2021" and Friday being "June 2021 - Present Day". Figured it'd be much easier for reading if I split them into a couple parts !! Also gives me a few extra days to consider what else I want to post haha.

Until then, cya ! - JustDaniel