#jesus christ this was so fucking long why am i like this

[subcultureblues]

Don’t You Want Me (Baby?) Pt 3

———

Steve and Eddie are either hooking up or dating - and are about as bad at keeping a secret as they are dealing with their feelings. (Dustin POV)

1 / 2 / 3

———

“I’ll be there in thirty!” Dustin said. He slammed the phone down and dashed to his room to round up his notes.

“Bye mom love you gotta go!” He shouted as he hustled out the door and jumped on his bike. Dustin had just made it out of the suburbs and into town when he spotted a familiar Maroon Beemer in the lot by the Quickie Mart.

Steve was standing beside his car in a fluorescent windbreaker, leaning on the open driver’s side door. He was staring at the bouquet of flowers in his hands like his nose was about to start bleeding.

Dustin slowed.

….He could probably spare a few minutes to see what the hell that was about.

Really, it’s been a while since Dustin made peace with the fact his curiosity would almost invariably get the best of him.

“Hey Steve!” Dustin hollared, dinging his bike bell a few times.

Steve startled, comically jerking to attention. As a thoroughbred jock, Steve could be ever so slightly air-headed at times. But that usually didn’t extend to a total lack of situational awareness.

Steve waved at Dustin as he approached.

“Why are you angry at those flowers?”

“What? I’m not - “ Steve cut himself off with a sigh. He shot the flowers another grimace. “I’m just trying to decide if I’m being a total idiot right now…”

Ah, Dustin realized. Must have pissed off Robin.

“What happened?”

“I fucked up, I think. And flowers, that’s my go-to right? That’s the move. But…” he tapped above his temple with the side of his fist - as if to dislodge the stupid. He rested it there for a second. “I can’t help but think I’m becoming totally neurotic.” He said, vaguely concerned.

“Girls like flowers.” Dustin offered a simple shrug.

“Yeah, girls do.” Steve agreed. Then sighed again, shaking his head.

Jesus, he must be gone bad.

And Dustin likes Robin. More importantly, he liked her for Steve, they were a perfect match. But most importantly of all - if Steve fucks this up, Dustin spends the next who knows how long listening to him complain about his endless strings of unfulfilling dates.

“And red roses? Can’t get more romantic than that, right?” He said, trying to sound encouraging.

“You don’t think they’re… I don’t know. Lame? Christ, what the hell am I even - I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing here.” Steve said, sounding totally defeated. He dragged a hand through his hair, displacing his artfully styled do. And too distracted to even notice? Dustin was very nearly starting to get worried. “Never mind forget it. Just, forget I said anything…”

“Who even is this guy? Your Steve.” Dustin scoffed. “Legendary lady killer of Hawkins High. Remember? You’re great at this.”

““Yeah, that’s different though. I guess... I don’t know.”

“Different how?” Dustin demanded.

“How about because this is important. That’s how!” He said.

“Ok? That’s a good thing, Steve.” Dustin said, which even to his own ears sounded just a little bit demeaning. Maybe he did need to work on his tone…

“Is it? The last time I really thought there might be something there, it was Nancy. So of course, I manage to fuck the whole thing up. Because that’s my thing I guess.” He deflated. Then quietly, as though speaking to himself, he said. “Things were going so good too… I just had to start a stupid - “

He finally looked back up at Dustin. He closed his mouth and the far away look cleared. He shook his head, like was done thinking about it right now. Or at least done talking about it because he said,

“Henderson, what are you doing running around this early anyways?”

“Pft, what are you doing running around this early? You and Eddie. I’m surprised you’re not sleeping off your… illicit activities.”

Steve made a face. “No. Don’t call it that. I - we… called it an early night last night.”

“Figures. I’m headed to Eddie’s right now.”

“Ah...” He muttered to himself. He looked down at the flowers again and his shoulders wilted. Then he chucked them into the the passenger seat.

“Woah, man, careful with those.” Dustin scolded him.

“No, it’s fine. Look, I gotta go pick up Robin soon. We have a shift together later. See you around, man.”

Dustin frowned. Why were adults so goddamn weird? Is Dustin gonna start acting like this in a few years.

“Good luck.” Dustin offered, tilting his head optimistically. Steve just waved him off, still very obviously distracted.

“Yeah, I’ll figure something out.”

Dustin watched him climb into his car. Steve would figure it out. Dustin had faith in that, at least. He could have a thick skull, but give him enough time and eventually he got it together.

Steve drove off and Dustin started pedaling again, in the opposite direction, towards the Forest Hills trailer park.

Dustin was at the trailer almost till dinner time, fine tuning what will soon be the very first one shot, nay the very first D&D session Dustin will ever orchestrate. He can’t help violently oscillating between excited and nauseous, but Eddie’s advice genuinely did provide a solid foundation to work with.

Eddie even assured Dustin he’d act just as shocked as the rest of the party, gasping during the big moments. Stuff like that - even though he knew pretty much every story beat he had planned just from helping Dustin sort it all together.

They were just packing up to leave when the phone rang.

“Shit. Give me a sec. That’s probably Wayne.”

“He’s not at work?”

“A buddie’s house. He got the weekend off.” Eddie said, picking up the receiver.

“Munson’s Mortuary Services. You got the purse, we got the hearse. Are we picking up or dropping off, cause - ” Eddie cut out mid bit. He grimaced, looking back at Dustin. “I - uh, hey. Look this really isn’t a good - “

Dustin was only really half ease dropping as he tried to order his session notes correctly. Eddie was talking quietly for the first time in his life, holding the receiving close to his mouth, which was making it kind of difficult.

“No, it’s fine… I’m serious, it’s fine. Yeah, I’m sorry too…. Well, I was being an asshole. Look this really isn’t a good time…” Eddie glanced back over his shoulder at Dustin. Dustin tried to look busy. “Just, don’t worry about it, seriously…. Yeah. Sure, talk to you later, ok?” Eddie started to move the phone away before bringing it back to his ear.

“This week? I’m not sure… Maybe. I’ve just - I got a lot of stuff going on… I’ll call you… Yeah, bye.”

Eddie hung up, hand lingering on the phone for a long moment.

“Who was that?” Dustin asked, so casually it was probably immediately suspicious.

“Funny how you think I won’t make you walk home.” Eddie said, a bone dry threat. That roughly translated to, it was definitely totally my secret girlfriend. “Pack your shit, dude. I’m calling Wayne so you better be ready to go by the time I’m done.”

It seemed like Eddie took it to heart what Dustin said about them never hanging out anymore. That week, Eddie really seemed to be making an effort to start making time for him again.

And the rest of the party of course.

On Monday, Eddie suggested Hellfire (plus Max!) hit the arcade after school. He didn’t give them any quarters, but that was fine, they had enough loose change to have a good time. They’d just need to plan ahead and bring Steve next time.

After school on Tuesday, Dustin called to see if Eddie wanted to keep working on the one shot. Which he couldn’t cause Corroded Coffin had band practice.

So instead, he invited Dustin tag along. It came with the strict stipulation he kept his mouth shut, his ass glued to the couch, and he not try to touch anything, on pain of a swift and merciless death. But Dustin’s come to understand Eddie’s threats have a lot more to do with his penchant for dramatics than any honest hostility.

Eddie was just heading out the door when Dustin called so he said he’d come grab him from his place on the way to Jeff’s.

Dustin thought for a moment about changing out of his pun-derful shirt but ended up scrapping the idea for time.

He kind of regretted it when Eddie rolled up. Music loud and looking, as always, too cool for school. Summer was still fading, so he was wearing a loose, faded Cult shirt with the sleeves cut off. He had more tattoos than Dustin realized (all of them ugly.). There was a red flannel tied round his waist and he was wearing a thin leather bracelet.

Dustin couldn’t pull off a leather bracelet in a million billion years probably.

“Little mans sitting in on practice tonight.” Eddie announced as they walked into Jared’s garage. He got a scatter of hey’s and what’s up’s.

Dutifully, Dustin belined it for the couch. He sat next to the plastic Halloween skeleton that was already sitting there posed to watch (Dustin was introduced to him as Manny).

Eddie seemed to switch into DM mode, someone had to keep the boys focused and on track.

Dustin sat still and didn’t touch anything, which was easy enough.

But come on, their music was way too awesome for a passive listening experience.

Gareth, Jared, and Jeff seemed to appreciate his enthusiasm. Still, Dustin made sure to keep distractions to a minimum. A reasonable minimum, at least.

“God, you guys are just so - “ Dustin rambled. It had gotten dark outside and they were started to pack up their gear.

“Metal?” Eddie said, winding up his guitar chord with a smile.

“Metal as hell.” Dustin agreed, standing and walking over.

“We’ll make a public menace outta you yet.” Eddie said proudly.

“You can always bring the kid around more during practice.” Jeff said to Eddie. The rest of the band nodded around and shrugged.

“Actually having a live audience every once in a while couldn’t hurt.” Gareth said, nodding his head at Manny. Him and Jeff were dragging his drum kit back into the corner of the room.

“Yeah?” Dustin asked, grinning.

“Maybe you’ll pick up a thing or two.” Eddie grinned back, shoving at him a bit and fucking up Dustin’s hair.

“You’d teach me?” Dustin asked, swatting him away. Eddie shrugged easily.

“Oh man. That’d be so cool!” He said. “Maybe next time I could bring some of the other guys? Oh, and Steve could come too!”

Jared practically choked on his instant laughter.

“The King?” He said sarcastically. “Yeah, sure - you wanna bring King Steve here, to sit on the ratty couch in my garage and listen to us thrash around and scream for a few hours?”

“I dunno, could be pretty entertaining.” Gareth elbowed Jeff, nodding down towards Eddie. He was on his knees, focusing intently on tucking his Warlock away in its hardcase. Gareth leaned in closer and whispered. “He’s getting a little too cocky with those guitar solos, don’t you think? Could use a chance to play under pressure.”

“Oh, that does sound entertaining.” Jeff snickered, just as amused by the prospect.

“Can it.” Eddie said, without looking up.

“Eddie?” Dustin insisted, looking to his DM for backup. They were talking like Steve was gonna march in here and just start heckling. Or throwing tomatoes at them or something.

“Sorry kid, they’re right. He’d probably hate it.” Eddie shrugged.

“Come on, it’ll be cool! I could at least ask? You don’t know he’ll hate it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure Steve Harrington would think our heavy metal band is so totally cool.” Jared said flatly, as he leaned over to grab the handle on his bass amp.

“Hey. I saw a Metallica tape in his car the other day!” Dustin said to Jared. Jared’s eyebrows climbed, surprised. Maybe even a little impressed, though clearly too stubborn to admit it.

Dustin turned back to Eddie. He was still expecting him to come to Steve’s defense. But he stayed quiet, barely a part of the conversation. “Come on, I thought you two were friends now.” He accused.

“Sure, Harrington’s fine.” Eddie shrugged.

“Yeah he is.” Jeff muttered under his breath. Gareth puffed up with a badly contained laugh.

Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Right, you blow us all off to go to go smoke weed with him at the drive through, but he’s just fine.”

Jared, who had been bending over to put his amp against the wall, froze in place.

“No fucking way.” Gareth’s head shot up, his eyes blown wide. But it didn’t sound like he was pissed at Eddie for crossing party lines. Not with the massive, disbelieving grin on his face. “You and Harrington? You fucking took him to a drive through?”

“What movie was it?” Jeff shot out, equally delighted.

“Was it a scary movie?” Gareth said. They both scrambled out from behind the drum set, their task wholly forgotten.

“Guys.” Eddie huffed. “Fine. Yeah, ok, we went to go see a movie - So what?”

“And you just, what!? Forgot to mention it?”

“Sure!” Eddie grimaced. He shrugged defensively. “We just - caught a movie. It’s not a big deal.”

Gareth barked out a laugh. Like that, that right there, is the funniest thing Eddie’s ever said.

“Guys.” Jared looked at Jeff and Gareth pointedly, before glancing at Dustin.

“Sorry it’s just…” Jeff paused with his mouth open, incredulous. “Didn’t know you guys hang out now.” He finished. “Ya know, outside the whole - coparenting.”

“We don’t.” Eddie said, tensely.

Dustin frowned as he watched the guys continue to stow their shit. Gareth and Jeff went back to sorting out the drums. “Not a big - “ Gareth scoffed under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief.

The rest of the boys were struggling to contain shiteating grins and Eddie was just pretending not to notice.

Dustin had never known these guys to be such… jerks. Why would it be such a big deal if Eddie and Steve were friends?

Could it really be all because they’re just so - different? The idea of hard rocker Eddie kicking back with a jock even once was just patently absurd? Ridiculous enough they jump straight to teasing him for it?

Dustin’s frown deepened. For a bunch of freaks, that all seemed pretty judgmental.

These guys would come around on Steve. Seems like Dustin would just have to make sure of it.

On Thursday Eddie agreed to pick him up from school.

He was late of course, so Will, Mike, Lucas, and Max had all started towards home by then.

When he did roll into the parking lot, it was in a sweeping wave of orchestral heavy metal.

“Pick it up.” He said impatiently, as Dustin opened the door. Eddie evil eyed the school building while he turned down the music. “Don’t like being here any longer than I need to be outside D&D hours.”

Dustin hopped in. He had a VHS copy of Jaws in his hands. He had left it behind at Lucas’ like two weeks ago and promptly forgot about it. A week later Lucas brought it to school and Dustin had only just re-unearthed it from his locker today. It was daunting just thinking of the fees that were sure to be stacking up by now.

His only salvation was Steve. Who’s thankfully working today.

“I need to drop this off at the movie store and before you say no - “

“Sure.” Eddie said, already starting the van.

“I - that was easy.” Dustin sat back and relaxed against the seat.

Eddie kept his eyes on the road and shrugged.

“I was thinking about renting something anyways.”

They drove straight to Family Video. The door dinged as they walked in.

Robin was sitting behind the counter. Still focused on her crossword she said, “Hi, welcome to Family Video, can I help you find - Oh, hey guys.”

“Hi Robin!” Dustin said, walking up to the counter.

Eddie lingered by the displays. He traced a finger over one of the tapes on the shelf. “Harrington, here?” Eddie asked, inspecting the cover.

Robin rolled her eyes but she was smiling. “You just missed him. It was seriously slow today and he won rock/paper/scissors so - he clocked out early for the day.” Eddie hummed and put his hands in his jean pockets.

Dustin handed Robin his VHS tape.

“This is eight days late.” She frowned at the computer.

“So - “ Dustin said, thinking fast to distract her from errant thoughts of late fees. “how’d you like the flowers?”

“Flowers?” Robin scrunched up her nose at him.

“The flowers Steve got you?” Dustin blurted out before he clamped his mouth shut again. She squinted at him. Suspicious.

“What are you on about?”

Shit. Steve hadn’t got those for Robin had he?

“Nevermind.” Mayday-mayday. Pull up!

Hopefully Steve wasn’t too pissed at Dustin for letting that little detail slip. And Dustin could barely feel bad for blowing Steve’s cover because, what the hell Steve?

Robin’s lip twisted. She looked down her nose at him, regarding him uncharitably. He forced a smile as she stared him down for a moment longer. Then her face cleared. Raising her eyebrows innocently she turned back to the monitor.

“So about that fee. That’ll be five fourty-“

“Ok! I - “ Dustin hesitated. Sorry Steve - that was five dollars he really did not have. “I don’t know. I ran into him a few days ago. And he’d just bought a big thing of roses.” Dustin caved, shrugging and holding his palms up defensively.

“Ooooh.” Robin’s eyes crinkled with a warm smile and her gaze slid somewhere behind Dustin shoulder. Then quickly snapped back into place.

“Oh.” Robin said again. She looked baffled, like the implications of that just hit her and clearly didn’t sit with her right.

“Maybe they were for his mom? His parents are in town aren’t they.” Dustin offered.

“You know what? Yeah, that’s probably it.” Robin nodded vigorously. The poor, love struck girl just immediately latching onto the explanation.

“Nah.” Dustin turned around to look at Eddie. He was still feigning intense interest in that copy of An American Werewolf in London. “His mom is allergic to roses.”

“That doesn’t mean he - ” Robin scrambled. “Maybe he just… forgot, or something. I mean, you know Steve. Total ditz.”

He shrugged. “That’s fine isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I mean, yeah.” Robin said cautiously. She seemed confused more than anything.

Eddie said cooly, hands still in his pockets. A perfectly neutral smile on his face. “Steve’s a free agent, right? He’s free to play the field.”

Jeez, did Eddie have to be so blunt? What ever happened to letting a girl down easy?

“Uh…” Robin said, looking between the two of them uncomfortably. Like maybe she didn’t quite know the answer to that anymore but it was also something she really didn’t want to sort out in public.

Dustin honestly felt a little bit bad for her. Sure they both always say they’re not dating, but clearly she seemed none too thrilled at the idea of Steve going around giving another girl flowers.

Dustin had hoped with the way Steve was talking the other day, he had finally got his head out of his ass and was ready to go public and make them official.

“Hey, man, I’ll meet you in the car, yeah?”

“Sure.” Dustin said.

“Eddie - “ Robin said. Eddie looked over his shoulder, lingering half way out the door. Robin glanced at Dustin. “Uh. Bye.” She finished lamely.

He smiled at her. She didn’t smile back.

Robin went back to the computer. She worked in complete silence. Suddenly the thick clack of the keyboard and the low murmur of the movie on the screen in the corner were way louder. Her brow was set like it gets when she’s stuck on a troublesome crossword.

“Sorry.” Dustin said, his face twisting up with guilt.

Robin glanced side long at him.

“I can talk to him you know.” He said.

“Huh?”

“I can talk to Steve. He shouldn’t do that to you.”

“Jesus, for the last time. We - are not - dating.” Robin said through gritted teeth. She made a frustrated noise. “Do you have to be so… ergh, meddlesome.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” He lied, taking a step back.

“You need to stay out of your friends love lives.”

Yeah well, how about Dustin stops meddling when his friends stop being so dumb about everything. Till then they’ll just have Dustin to thank for sorting out their messes.

Tag List : @reading-archieves @homoerotictangerine @bingbongsupremacy @aroseandherthorns-blog1 @wheneverfeasible @travelingtwentysomething @ineffable-monster-romancer @laughingphantoms @gregre369 @rawrx3ky-txt @thespaceantwhowrites @blcksh33p1987

@the-legal-shipper @maverickricky @i-amthepizzaman @pretend-theres-a-name-here @steddiefication @that-one-gay-crow @gleek4twd

@theintrovertedintrovert @tinyplanet95 @queercrisis2003 @awkwardgravity1 @stripey82

@sofadofax @midnightskeeper

@blurryjoji @estrellami-1 @caraspud @little-trash-ghost @finalmoondragon

@samsoble @depressed-freak13

[eurydicees]

Also, I just saw you’re 23, I am too! It’s rough out here. Another idea: any characters, what’s it like being 23? Where are they at this point? I feel like hq shows that as being sooo grown up but like I’m just a big teenager right?? Idk just rambling

being 23 is so rough sometimes lmfao. i've got friends from high school getting married and friends from college having early life crises. i'm working full time and living alone but tbh mostly feel like i'm playing at house rn more than i am living on my own. whatever. it's fine. early 20s is just a silly time of life. anyways i don't have a fic for u but i Do have a headcanon list.

in no particular order, haikyuu characters as stupid things i've done in my early twenties:

atsumu: having a brother who is a chef does not prevent him from forgetting to take the cheese packet out of the mac and cheese box and dumping that into boiling water with the pasta.

udai: does not remember the last time he ate a vegetable.

oikawa: friends all went to a party without him and his coping method was getting so so so wasted on white rum and falling asleep on the living room carpet immediately after giving another friend a tarot card reading saying their breakup is imminent (to be fair, it was. but it was still kinda rude).

iwaizumi: after class, was led to a private stairwell by a friend, jokes "haha are you taking me to a hidden location to kill me." and then received a love confession. proceeded to say "uh. i'll think about it." then did finger guns. and said "im just gonna. go" and then fucking. ran. like not exaggerating, ran.

kageyama: went on a date. did Not At All Know it was a date, despite the very very obvious flirting. yes this was the same person as in the previous bullet point. don't look at me like that.

akaashi: took a 100 level class senior year and did not pay attention to a single lecture. instead wrote thousands of words of fanfiction in the classroom every day.

atsumu (again): another cooking one. i just think he'd be a terrible cook. sorry. anyways. "it's been 20 min, why isn't this scallion pancake im pan frying cooking yet?" (<- did not turn on the stove burner.)

yachi: hm the light in this room doesn't work. guess i'll just learn to see in the dark instead of inconveniencing anyone by asking to fix it.

akaashi (again): completely fell in love at first sight, but fast forward five months and it actually somehow worked out? however the five months were filled with the most insufferable pining possible, which could have been resolved so so so easily. also started talking about marriage, like, six months in.

bokuto: got sad. went out into a raging snowstorm in socks and no jacket. laid down in the snow for a long time. somehow, miraculously, didn't get a cold afterwards?

akaashi and/or yachi: changed majors and career paths because a pretty upperclassman asked them to. (i am very happy in my chosen path but jesus christ THAT was why i did it?)

hinata: flew from coast to coast of the country, then drove halfway back to the midwest in the span of three days. started a new job on the fourth day. didn't sign a lease on an apartment until the fifth day.

semi: skipped a day of work to drive four hours there and four hours back for a fall out boy concert. totally worth it but driving at 4am after a concert wasn’t the smartest thing ever to be done.

kuroo: started reading homestuck in the year of our lord 2024. this is an attempt to remain in contact with long distance friendships (by doing a bookclub) but jesus fucking christ dude.

ok this is getting too long and i needed to be ready for work, like 15 min ago lol. maybe i'll write more of these later, but i hope you enjoy these and my silly disasters are a little comforting :)

[theelderscrotes]

ok since i now show up in tags again and i can annoy everybody in them i'm going to repost, trim and add onto my collection of heimdall headcanons and chuck them at the fandom with all of my strength. i have so many thoughts, i am rotating this twink in my mind FULL fucking speed.

-seeing the potential outcomes of events? reading peoples intentions and seeing the potential end result of them? supernatural levels of perception? hearing everyone's thoughts all the time forever? oh this guy has to have TURBO anxiety, i know this in my soul. he's bottled it the hell up and will never let anyone onto it but he's a stiff breeze away from a breakdown at all times.

-ragnarok looming in the distance makes his divinely weaponized super anxiety even more fun because now he's constantly thinking about the apocalypse. losing his shit whenever atreus is in the room is at least partially because he genuinely gets a flash of new, exciting outcomes featuring his family dying and his home burning to the ground.

-odin simply does not care about this, calls heimdall a worrywart and tells him to stop being so negative all the time. odin taking 'loki' under his wing exacerbates the Looming Horrible Dread heimdall is already inundated with, but now it also comes with a dose of daddy issues.

-actually the more i think about it maybe he was kinda valid for being like 'fuck this kid in particular', but like, cmon dude.

-being 'the guy who carries the horn that heralds the apocalypse' does not help any of these matters. he dreads having to use it, and dreads even more the possibility of someone else using it. he has to always have the gjallarhorn on his person at all times or he Will freak out.

-he can't turn off the mindreading, and occasionally forgets which is people thinking and which is people talking. he tends to respond to thoughts more than actual spoken words when he's impatient, and will ask questions aloud for context for people's thoughts out of the blue. great for quiet/nonverbal people, annoying as fuck for everyone else.

-the burden of his powers just in general makes socializing a nightmare, so he turns everyone away by his secondary divine power: being an absolute massive cunt. being comfortable in knowing you're despised by everybody is more tolerable than worrying about who is going to betray you or harbor hatred for you amongst your loved ones. so, he doesnt have any. loved ones, that is.

-heimdall can tell when anyone is lying but, he cannot lie himself. absolutely dogshit liar. you ask him if he took the last slice of pie, he locks up and stares at you like a deer in the headlights before finally saying ’… no?’ odin's.... discipline contributes to this.

-odin contributes, enables and exacerbates a lot of his issues, primarily because when applied correctly heimdall's abilities can be extremely fucking useful, but if they're ever used on odin its all over. putting the fear of the all-father into the boy at a young age to make sure he never, ever looks into his father's mind was step one on the agenda of making him into the perfect little aesirpilled bootlicker

-the immense amount of trust odin places on heimdall, of course, keeps him up at night. being convinced utterly that it's genuine and based in love is about the only thing he's got going for him.

-he is certain that the moment he blows the gjallarhorn, he'll stop being useful. also the whole, apocalyptic super-war does not make him want to blow it any time soon.

-he looks the most like a younger odin out of his siblings (because as we all know, odin is also an ephemerally beautiful femboy god), but he is cursed (blessed?) to be the only one of his brothers to receive odin’s balding genes.

-heimdall is the type of guy who brags about how well behaved and loyal his dog giant cat steed is because he abuses the fuck out of them as 'discipline', but this is definitely also an odin-caused behavior. he genuinely does not know how to treat them any other way, this is the 'correct' way to him.

-im sorry fanartists but i respectfully disagree, i sincerely doubt this guy willingly gets tattoos. subjecting himself to pain he can't avoid, not matter how mild? no thank you! but i like to think he has like one tiny rune because thats as far as the tattoo artist could get before a soft, young heimdall begged for them to stop

-for as much as i am making him as sad and wet and pathetic as i possibly can, he's still just a massive cunt no matter how you slice it. he loves being a mean little bitch and getting away with it. he loves pushing buttons and receiving negative attention through his behavior. he walks down the street and dodges every rotten tomato, knife or rock being flung at him and he is having a blast.

-the quickest way to his heart would be to take his awfulness unflinchingly and be an asshole right back at him. he wants someone he can be mean with but like, affectionately, but his feelings and how he processes them are so severely messed up that, well. it probably isnt worth it, for either him or anyone else.

[shannonsketches]

like why did they change where Vegeta was when Cell announced the cell games in the anime

why did they make this vegeta starting shit with yamcha instead of chillin in the lab with his family? why did they take Bulma out of the lab? Why'd they say she was Out while Dr Brief was repairing 16? Why did they change Bulma working on advanced robotics to running in late with her baby?

it's the same scene except: - Bulma's actively at work being a scientist - Vegeta's not being rude to her (or anyone else!) - Vegeta waits for Trunks instead of leaving the room - Cell interrupted the airwaves, which means Trunks and Vegeta were just hanging out with Bulma and Dr B while they were working

Those are all Great Character Details!! That the anime rails against!!

[cherry-bomb-ships]

Me when the only one who can make content of my self ship is me

[itsalwaysforyou]

re: my last post

[clawsextended]

on a note to all: my plotting style is something i like to call i have adhd and if i see you on the dash and have an idea chances are i’ll im you about it. i’m an anxious little dude who isn’t always active in a broad scope, and it’s always been my nature to reach out to people. that doesn’t make me even remotely anxious. not even remotely expected to answer me — i totally get it, sometimes you don’t feel the vibe — but a general psa about how i work. i come from the dinosaur era where the only way to communicate with one another on any level was to directly talk to them and frankly i don’t even know how else you’re ever supposed to plot with a person otherwise. like… how do you write if you never talk????

[fruutbaag]

i barely feel like a person sometimes ngl

[zorosdimples]

beyond frustrated that i can’t edit any pictures right now

[anonymolly]

.

[phagodyke]

oh wow just saw flatmate messaged saying another friend passed smth on like oh okay. I didn't realise he went too u didn't say. in fact none of u said anything to me so that's great

[opens-up-4-nobody]

hi so so sorry if this sounds genuinely deranged but I need to know did you write a fanfiction in like 2014 that was set during ww2 where zoro from one piece was sent to a japanese internment camp and sanji went to conversion therapy I remembered it recently because it blew my mind at age 13 and I had to reread it + need a kind of where are they now with the author so if that's you 1) what's your stance on the fic today 2) how much of the research was done during writing and how much did you just know beforehand and used as inspo 3) did you have any ideas for where the other characters ended up because I did always wonder if like idk chopper overcame the trauma of being in the war and also just what usopp's situation would be in general what with the political climate. once again. if you didn't actually write this fic so sorry this must look like the ravings of a crazy person. godspeed

Hi. Uh, yeah I did write that fic. I would have been like only 17 at the time. I did do A LOT of research, like the fic was basically an excuse for me to research Japanese internment and WWII history in general bc I thought it was super fucked up. I was absolutely hyperfixated on the topic and my parents probably thought i was nuts for my ability to talk at length on this particular area of history. I just finished skim reading back through the fic and woof. What a bleak fucking story. I was very cruel to everyone. It's frustrating bc I think it's an interesting and compelling idea for a story. But to me it feels like: here is all the research I did and also characters talking in what feels like a too modern way. Plus, I was 17 and didnt understand people very well. I wish I had the energy and motivation to rewrite it. Although, I forgot I used to do song lyrics at the start of each chapter and the tonal dissonance of Owl City lyrics at the top of a chapter of harrowing events around the time of WWII is unfathomablly unhinged.

[sodacowboy]

really really hating how often my throat feels scratchy sandpaper lately

[sibillascribbles08]

26

26. Tending an injury

CW since there is an injury that needs to be tended to heads up for that, it's just skin level but it bleeds a lot

Jase shouldn't have even been there.

It's not like they were planning or waiting for a mission. Donatello and Jase had been out. A late night wandering the city on the streets where people were less likely to give Donatello more than one glance.

Donatello just started lecturing his boyfriend that maybe they should head home since he had to sleep at normal human hours, when his brothers wound up calling him.

An alert had gone off, mutant activity, and from what Shelldon could dig up it involved that scorpion mutant they'd only run into once before.

Wasn't Jupiter Jim supposed to keep an eye on him? Donatello wasn't sure how he felt about leaving the actor to handling it but his side-kick should keep things on the level. Had something gone wrong?

Regardless, his brothers were telling him to meet up with them. He was about to tell them he'd swing by after dropping Jase off at his house, but then Jase insisted on just going with.

"It's fine." Jase insisted. "I'll just stand far from the action and wait for you to beat him."

Donatello still didn't like that, but ultimately it would waste far too much time arguing about it, so he just took Jase with him.

The fight went fine, almost too easy. Scor-Pion got knocked out, Jupiter Jim and Red Fox were freed from the trap. Jase didn't step past the line of safety--that Donatello went through the trouble of drawing to make certain he stayed safe--until the thank you and congrats were passed around.

They got distracted with Jupiter Jim left. Donatello kept his eyes toward the open ceiling where Red Fox carried herself and her partner out and away.

He only registered one click on the floor behind him. Then Jase shouted his name before slamming into him and knocking him to the side.

A loud snap echoed through the room.

Then Jase started screaming.

The panic that hit Donatello almost knocked him off balance a second time. He tried to grab Jase's hand, only to miss when his boyfriend hit the floor, being dragged backwards. Scor-Pion had one of of his massive pincers around Jase's leg--oh god there was already blood on the floor.

Donatello saw Scor-Pion raise his stinger in the air, ready to strick. Panic and shock made it so hard to think. What was he supposed to do?

Thank god his siblings had a more level head than he did right now. Leo's sword flew over his head, allowing his twin to teleport right next to the stinger. He grabbed hold of it, using his weight to pull it down.

Mikey flew over next, possibly thrown by Raph. His chains snapped out to ensnare the scorpion. Unable to move, Raph landed the last hit, his fist coming down on their enemy's head like a hammer.

Once again knocked unconscious, his claw sprung open. Donatello scrambled forward to grab Jase. With one sharp tug he pulled his boyfriend up and into his arms.

He spared the injury a glance. Not as deep as he first thought, but the damage to the skin was wide and twice as long. A horrifying line of red that ran from just above Jase's ankle, then around and up towards his knee. The jagged edges of Scor-Pion's pincers must have absolutely shredded the skin.

No time to linger on that here.

"Leo!" Donatello shouted, even though it was hardly necessary. By now all his brothers had surrounded him, concern on their faces.

Leo gave a firm nod and cut open a portal beneath them, already knowing what Donatello was asking for.

He landed on his feet inside the lair, holding Jase close to keep him steady. So far his boyfriend hadn't said a word, which worried him more than anything. In the past, when Jase picked up minor injuries and Donatello tried to help, the whole thing was met with a wall of complaining and snark.

Now his boyfriend just clung to him, curled up, not crying at least but that may also be a bad sign.

Donatello rushed into the med bay. He gently set Jase on the bed, though it took a second to convince his boyfriend to let go of him. Water, towels, antiseptic, bandages, all of those should hopefully be enough to remedy this. He may want to run a quick x-ray, however. If that claw snapped down with enough force it could have broken a bone.

He needed to take care of the bleeding first.

Just then Leo rushed in. "Need some help?"

"Help me make sure we stop the bleeding." Donatello tossed Leo one of the towels before getting his own damp. "It doesn't seem to be that deep but it covered a wide area."

"Yeah, no kidding."

The second Leo pressed down, Jase's entire body went rigid. Donatello reached out to lightly touch his face. His boyfriend responded by snatching his wrist and squeezing, hard.

"You okay?" Donatello asked.

"Keep talking to him." Mikey must have slipped in, as well as Raph who stood nearby. "We'll take care of this." He took the wet towel out of Donatello's hand and started helping Leo.

Donatello did as they suggested and turned his attention back to his boyfriend. "Jase? Hey." He held his face in both hands now. "Can you look at me?"

Jase did, eyes flicking over before he cringed again.

"How bad does it hurt?"

"Stings, mostly." He took a sharp breath. "Stings all over, pins and needles all the way up my leg."

"Does it feel like something is broken?" What a dumb question, how would someone even know how to answer that unless--

"I've broken my arm before. It doesn't feel like that but... I don't know."

"Right, okay." Donatello carefully pulled Jase into a hug, careful not to move his leg in the process. "We'll have you patched up in a second."

"Raph." Leo said. "Can you grab the scanner? We should double check if anything is broken before putting these bandages on."

The scanner didn't work like a proper x-ray, far more compact than that, but while sacrificing some accuracy it meant they could use it multiple times without radiation risks. Besides, Leo got pretty good at sorting through the images over time. If they saw anything suspicious they could probably do a proper x-ray.

Donatello continued to let his brothers work. All of them were well practiced at this, after all, even if they each had their own area they liked to focus on.

During all this, Jase leaned away from him, still not crying. Donatello still ran a thumb over his cheeks anyway.

"Doing alright?" He asked.

Jase glanced up at him. "You don't exactly have to baby me, you know. I've gotten some pretty nasty scrapes before. I know you've seen the scar on my elbow."

Donatello smiled, just a bit. "You must be feeling better. Your sass is back."

"Oh, it still stings like nothing else." Jase took another deep breath. "But the panic finally wore off."

Donatello let off a soft hum. Jase said that, but he was still shaking slightly under his grip.

"Here."

Donatello turned to look at his youngest brother. Mikey held out the roll of bandage tape, a smile on his face.

"Think you should take care of these."

Donatello frowned and took the roll. "What about--"

"No broken bones." Leo showed him the screen on the scanner. "Probably going to have some bruising, walking might suck a lot, but most of it's just surface damage."

"He'll be fine." Mikey insisted. "Get him bandaged up. Let us know if you need anything else."

"Wait--"

He didn't get the chance to protest properly. All three of his siblings darted out of the med bay. Weird, what for?

Donatello snorted before turning back to Jase. "Think you can sit on the edge of the bed? Make this easier?"

"I'm not dying." Jase rolled his eyes and scooted up before turning. He flinched as he did, and didn't let his gaze linger on the injury. Even with the bleeding heavily reduced the thing still looked like someone took off a layer of skin with a serrated peeler.

Donatello felt nauseous himself, but held it back as he knelt down and started to wrap the injury.

Probably going to take a minute. He should find something to talk about to distract them both. Lessons from Mikey told him to think of something fun to discuss, something they both liked, but only one thing kept rotating in his head now that things settled down.

"Why did you do that?"

Jase didn't look at him, fingers curling into the sheet on the cot. "What are you talking about?"

Yeah, Donatello knew that avoidant gaze. "You know what I'm talking about. You shoved me out of the way."

"He was aiming right for you, because all of you had your backs turned when he woke up." Jase scoffed. "Shouldn't you have been paying more attention?"

Donatello's hands slowed as he glared. "Hey. Even if you're right, you already know that we're not only capable of taking harder hits, but we're able to heal faster, so I'm going to ask again. Why did you do that?"

Jase crossed his arms, shoulders going tense. "Does it even matter what I say? I can already here the two hour lecture about how dumb it was."

"I wasn't going to--"

"You already are! 'We're able to heal faster.'" He said Donatello's line in a mocking tone. "So what? You still would have been hurt then, when all of you are the most capable of taking out the opponent."

Donatello leaned back, certain his expression must read as a perfect blend of shock and disgust. "What? Are you trying to say you're just expendable?"

Jase flinched, curling up tighter and almost pulling his leg out of Donatello's grip.

"Jase."

"Ugh, stop looking at me like that." His hands slammed onto the cot before his nails dug into it. "It was a split second decision, okay? I saw him reaching for you and I realized you couldn't see it and I just... I had to get you out of the way. It wasn't like I tried to get grabbed on purpose."

Donatello let out a frustrated sigh and tried to focus on the bandages again. He wanted to argue against that, shake his boyfriend for doing something so stupid. This could have turned out so much worse if Leo hadn't reacted as fast as he did. He made a mental note to thank his siblings later.

"Not as fragile as you think, you know." Jase mumbled.

Donatello glanced back up for a second, seeing his arms crossed again.

With no response, Jase continued. "Like fine, I get it. I'm not a fully trained ninja, or a mutant, or a turtle, and all of you could pick me up with one hand, but I've shown you I know some self defense. I could probably learn even more if you bothered to teach me."

Donatello shook his head. "Jase, you don't need to be getting involved in--"

"Then why do you do it?"

"Because--" Donatello grit his teeth, suddenly unable to remember the exact reason. First it was just because Raph wanted to. Then it was because they found out who their real father was, and the family legacy that came with it. Then it was running into monsters like Shredder and The Kraang. "Because someone has to, it might as well be us."

"So why can't I help?"

Donatello tied off the bandage. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"Well I don't want you getting hurt either. But apparently that's not enough of an argument." Jase tilted his head as he glared. "So try something else."

"You haven't seen the stuff we have, Jase."

"Yes I have." He snapped. "You know I have."

Donatello flinched and avoided his gaze, not ready to admit he forgot about the conversation regarding the kraang invasion.

Jase let out a long sigh. "Whatever. I don't want to argue about this anymore right now, my leg hurts a lot."

Donatello hummed, he still hadn't let go of it. "I assume you'll be bringing it back up later?"

"You better believe it." He took out his phone and started typing. "Two weeks from now. Argue with Donnie about letting me help on the occasional mission. Reminder set."

That got a chuckle out of him. "Two weeks, hm? I'm sure that is more than enough time for me to form a counter argument."

"You can hope that's enough to ensure your victory." Jase snorted and put the phone away. "Now if we're done in here can we go sit somewhere more comfy?"

Donatello hummed in agreement, but didn't let go until after he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Jase's knee. His boyfriend bit his cheek as they turned red.

Donatello tried not to laugh as he picked him up off the bed.

"You know I should try walking." Jase frowned.

"Nope. Way too early for that."

"Also where is my shoe?"

"Don't worry about that, I'll find a comfy pair of slippers for you to borrow."

"You know I should go home soon." Jase groaned. "Ugh, how am I explaining this one to my dad?"

Donatello hummed. "Bad bicycling accident?"

"Feel like I should have more scrapes and bruises if that's what happened."

He shrugged. "I can slap a bunch of colorful bandaids on you to make it more convincing."

"You know what? Sure. But uh..." Jase finally wrapped his arms around Donatello's neck. "Let's go watch TV or something for a little bit first."

Donatello tilted his head, letting their foreheads bump together. "Hey. I'm glad you're okay. For a second I really thought you weren't going to be."

Jase sighed. "Yeah, me too, but I'm still not sorry I did it."

"I kind of miss when you were a wuss."

His boyfriend shot him a glare and lifted a hand just to smack it against the side of Donatello's goggles.

"Come on, if you insisted on carrying me, walk to the living room faster."

Donatello grinned through the faint pain on the side of his head. "Oh of course, Your Highness. My deepest apologies."

"Hate that nickname."

"Your Lordship?"

"How about Great and Powerful Overlord?"

"Too wordy." Donatello chuckled.

"I bet I can make it wordier. The Much Revered and Incredible..."

[silverislander]

prof said congrats for writing up a proposal so early i am going to get a good grade in. well this is literally going to be graded. but yk the meme

[skitskatdacat63]

I hate when apps temporarily block your acct bcs "suspicious activity", yeah yeah I understand it's for security measures BUT PLEASE IM JUST BAD AT REMEMBERING PASSWORDS, LET ME LIVE 😭😭