#jokes aside I think all the seasons are great in a different way

[steviesbicrisis]

Still I am so baffled when people say season 3 is the worst season when it has given us Babygirl™️?? The audacity to look at Steve Harrington with glossy lips, highlights and cute shorts and be like “uh worst time in stranger things history”???

Not to be dramatic but me and Noah Shnapp will hunt you if you say that again

[dollypopup]

"Then what good am I to you?"

have y'all ever considered that, yes, whilst Penelope has loved him for a very long time. . .she has not shown that to him? that she has not made it clear to him in any way? already, all he feels he is good for is providing because of how he grew up, a chronic middle child vying for attention, receiving positivity when he brings levity or cracks a joke or brings a gift or demonstrates a kindness? that the people pleaser in him feels he has to provide a dance or a laugh or ease or even just stepping to the side so he isn't a bother? have y'all considered that he was straight up ghosted for months? so when he *could not* provide anything, he was cast aside and forgotten? even by her?

have y'all considered that Colin has the idea that if he is not doing something for someone, they have no use for him, and so must be shown that is not true? that he feels he doesn't deserve forgiveness or time unless he has something of worth to offer as leverage for it? that all of the ways Penelope has cared for him have been from afar?

Penelope needed to know that Colin loves her, so he chases down her carriage. So he professes his feelings on his knees. So he strips her bare in front of a mirror to show her- see what I see, you're beautiful. So he informs her own MOTHER that he loves her and she can't talk smack about his future wife. He has so many big gestures for her to make her understand he's serious about her, and that she matters to him for who she is, no strings attached. He apologizes for hurting her feelings after she tells him off, he offers her his help in building her confidence, he helps her family in Season 2, expecting nothing in return, and even in Season 1, he professes how good she is.

But from his perspective. . .he did not even KNOW Penelope had feelings for him when he raced off after her to beg her not to marry someone else. As far as he knew, she considered them friends, and even under the willow, she told him distance would be best after they kissed. She didn't reply to his letters on his travels. She showed him that their intimacy didn't affect her the way it affected him because she continued to pursue a different engagement. She had even said their kiss wouldn't mean anything and when he says he cannot stop thinking of it, she does not assure that it meant a great deal to her, too. She informs that she wants to be more than friends, but nothing else. What is he meant to think? Even if she says she has loved him for a long time, he's been told before that someone loves him. . .and then it ended up not being true.

Penelope has waited for years, since she first met him, to love him in the light, and she has an opportunity in Part 2 to do so. To show Colin that she loves him: assuredly, fervently, loudly.

And I, for one, cannot fucking WAIT to see it.

[outsideratheart]

Queen of what now? (Mary Earps x reader)

A/N: I’m sorry this took so long. I hope you guys like it! Also, I’m going through a big Mary Earps phase right now so this was very fun to right.

Were you there to support friends, accompany a team mate or to see someone who has been on your mind for the last 104 days? You knew it was the latter but if someone one were to ask you would say a mixture of the first and second.  

“I can’t believe you came with me. You have to be back in Barcelona tomorrow” Jana asks as you leave the hotel. 

What she said was true. You picked up a calf injury during the El Classico which made you unavailable for the international break. It did mean that you could go to England but only for the night. 

“It’s Wembley and I’m here to support Keira and Lucy” was it a lie? No. Was it the whole truth? Absolutely not. 

“If that’s true why aren’t you wearing one of their shirts?” 

The shirt you chose to wear, the England one, wasn’t on show but Jana saw you put it on before leaving the hotel. Now she was digging but you didn’t bite. 

“Because I didn’t swap shirts with them” 

Your answer seems to please the young defender because she didn’t continue her interrogation. Instead the conversation steered towards the game and how it would end. Jana, here to support Jill, favourited the Dutch but you knew the difference a home crowd could make and when you put those fans in Wembley stadium, England become a different team. You also have the upmost faith in the woman between the sticks, the same one that would captain the team. 

You walk down Wembley way, taking in the atmosphere and stopping for as many fans as you can. 

“You quite popular for someone who beat England in the final” Jana remarks. 

“I’m still not used to it and I can’t say I’m a big fan of the attention” 

Your performance throughout the season with Barcelona and during the summer at the World Cup earned you the most coveted trophy in football: The Balón d’Or. Since then you had been exposed to a spotlight, one which wasn’t always welcome. 

It was cold in England, in fact to your Spanish blood it was freezing. The moment you entered the stadium you got a hot chocolate and went to your seat. When Mary joked about you coming to game she told you that she would put some tickets aside for the family section but when Leah saw that you were at Wembley she invited you to watch the game from one of the boxes with her and Millie. 

You didn’t really know the defender well but you appreciated the invite. The first half was less than great so not a lot was said. You could tell the two blondes were getting stressed but Jana was loving it. 

The moment the ball crossed the line for the second goal you knew Mary would punish herself for it. 

“Mantén la calma” you wish she could hear you. 

“Oh Mary, keep your head up” Leah says from beside you. 

“She will blame herself” you add. 

“She is. I know that because she’s my team mate. How exactly do you know what she’s thinking?”

“A guess” 

The look the Arsenal player gives you lets you know she doesn’t believe you but the whistle is blown for half time before she can question you further. 

The people is the room seem to split up for the half time break. You stick with Jana who is obviously having more fun than the rest of the box. 

“Dial down the celebrations J, we are in an England box” you whisper to her during half time. 

“Jill’s winning though” Jana says innocently. 

“Maybe save your celebrations until after the game when you are with her” you raise your eyebrows playfully. 

“Fine” she agrees to keep her cheering to a minimum not that it makes a difference because the second half is in England’s favour. 

You can’t believe what you are seeing. First Georgia Stanway scores then Lauren Hemp scores two minutes later. As a football fan you were taking it all in. 71,000 people were on their feet as they celebrate the possibly of a come back. 

When Ella Toone scores in the 91st minute you can feel the stadium shaking. You couldn’t believe what you were seeing.

The whistle blows and you see the blonde beside you breathe a sigh of relief. 

“That was quite the performance by your team Leah” it was a compliment but in a professional way. 

“It was. I take it you are here to see Lucy and Keira?” Leah asks.

“No, ella no es” Jana says from your side. 

“Cállate” you shake your head whilst being thankful that Leah didn’t speak Spanish. 

“The girls, as well as some of the Dutch team,” Leah looks at Jana as she says that part “are going to a bar called Three Lions. I’m not sure if you have plans but I will let the security know to expect you” 

“Gracias Leah. I have something I need to do but I’ll come” 

“Me too” Jana also accepts the invite before turning to you once Leah has gone “Jill already invited me. What do you have to do? Nobody knows you are in London” 

“Somebody does and I want to see her before anyone else. If anyone asks just tell them I had a call” 

And that is what is what Jana does. By the time everyone arrived to the Three Lions bar news has spread that you attended the game. You, as planned, texted a certain goalkeeper and asked her to meet you at a different part of the stadium. Her reply wasn’t words, it was a thumbs up to your message. 

The way she walked towards you told you everything you needed to know. Her gaze was on the floor with her shoulders hunched. 

Much to your surprise Mary is the first to talk. 

“I can’t believe you came” she stands less than a meter in front of you but doesn’t move closer. You may have been talking every day but you hadn’t seen her in person since the final and you desperately wanted to hug her.

“You asked me to” 

“I did but you weren’t sat in the seats I sent you tickets for and you’re injured so I thought that maybe you had to stay in Barcelona” 

“People saw me and it became a bit much so Leah invited me to watch the game with her in the box” 

“Does she know —“

“No. She assumed I was here to watch Lucy and Keira. I didn’t correct her” 

Here’s the thing. Nobody knew about you and Mary. The reason why things were so good between you was because there was no pressure to label it, no interference from your friends and no need to force anything. 

You saw the way her face dropped and you knew her well enough to know the reason why. 

“I’m wearing your shirt” you un tie your coat and pull your hoodie down revealing the green England shirt “they may think I’m here for my team mates but I’m here for you Mary” 

“You picked a bad game to come and watch” 

“Mary—“

“Don’t. Don’t tell me it wasn’t my fault” 

“I wasn’t going to. I know better than to tell someone how to feel after a game” you grab her hand a pull her towards some seating where you pull her down next to you “What I was going to say is that moments like that are a tough pill to swallow but it was a mistake and the best players in the world make them” 

“I let the team and the fans down. I let my family and you down” 

You hated seeing Mary this distraught. She was normally so full of energy and confident. This wasn’t a side you were familiar with. 

“You didn’t. There are people in that room over there” you point the bar behind you “that are proud of you and as for me, well you could never let me down Mary. I swear to you” 

Mary couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face. In a moment when she was down, you managed to lift her up. When she feels you reassuringly rub her thigh she leans onto your shoulder. 

“You’re quite a big deal here Mary. I saw young girls wearing your shirt and many people wearing scarfs with your face on. I didn’t know you had a nickname” you took a pause as you try to remember what the green scarfs said. 

Mary sees you struggling to remember the fan given nickname so she helps you out. 

“Mary Queen of stops” her mumble is barely audible. 

“Queen of what?” You didn’t hear her. 

“Stops. The fans call me Mary Queen of stops” 

You only hum in response. Maybe you knew what the fans called her but she needed to hear it too. If for no other reason than to reinstate some confidence. 

When Mary stands she holds her hands out to help you up. You walk side by side but she stops before you get the door, far enough that you both are still out of side but close enough that her nerves are building.

“Will you take this off?” The keeper tugged at the drawstring on your hoodie.

“But it’s cold, no?” 

Mary felt ridiculous for suggesting it yet she didn’t want to give you her reason. As embarrassment flushed her cheeks, Mary’s gaze found every part of the room that wasn’t your face.

“It’s stupid, forget I said anything” 

She doesn’t wait for you to respond and instead walks towards the bar. She assumes that you are right behind her but it is only when she opens the door for you does she realise that you haven’t moved.

“Y/N”

“Mary” with you stood rooted in place it leaves mary with no option other than to return to where she was mere seconds ago “Are you cold? Is that why you want me to take it off. Here, you can have it” without further question you give Mary the hoodie.

“I’m not cold. I want them to see you in my shirt. I want them to know that you came here to support me and that you still do”

“They will have questions”

“Let them ask, It doesn’t mean we have to answer them” Once again Mary leads you to the door put again she stops “Can I wear this?” She holds up your hoodie that she is still carrying.

You nod your head and the smile that appears on her face must be infectious because you are soon grinning ear to ear.

When you enter the bar you try your hardest not to attract any attention but Mary’s absence seems to have worried her team mates and her family because she is pulled away from you. 

You didn’t know what to do. You didn’t want to stand by yourself so you search for the three women who you actually know. Lucky for you the three of them are together with the addition of Jill, Beth and Viv.

“Nice shirt” Lucy nudges you.

“Was it a gift from our keeper or—“

“We swapped” you saw no harm and you hoped that telling the little truths might get you out of revealing the big ones.

You wasn’t really involved in the conversation taking place between the English and the Dutch. Something that Jana was quick to pick up on. You watched Mary from a distance as her parents pulled her into their arms, something you desperately wanted to do earlier. 

“Go see her. It’s why you’re here” Jana detaches herself from Jill’s hip to talk to you. 

“She’s with her family” you say just loud enough for the young defender to hear you. Whilst doing so you turn around so it isn’t obvious that the goalkeeper is the only person you are interested in. 

“She is but she is looking at you, oh she want your attention” 

Jana was telling the truth because when you turn back around Mary is calling you over. You shake your head, now wasn’t the time for her to introduce you to her parents. Mary on the other hand thought differently because before you can run away she is walking towards you, grabbing your hand and leaving you with no choice other than to follow her. 

“Mary, no”

“Y/N, yes” 

You suddenly felt nervous. Not necessarily for meeting her mum and dad but to find out how she would introduce you. It wasn’t a conversation you have had yet and you weren’t ready to hear that she didn’t feel the same way as you or even worse she felt nothing at all. 

“Mum, dad. This is Y/N, she is—“ 

“The woman that you won’t shut up about” 

Mary cheeks flushed red but she didn’t deny it, in fact she confirmed it. 

“It is, she is. She is also the reason why I was late” 

Her parent give you both a look, one which isn’t warranted. It does let you both know that they think something else happened and that is the reason for you both arriving later than everyone else. 

“We were talking” you were quick to correct their thoughts. 

“She calmed me down” Mary slightly squeezes your hand as a thank you. 

“Well Y/N, we know how hard on herself Mary is so thank you being there. As her parents it makes us very happy to know that she does let someone in and listens to them”

The woman in question simply listens to what her parents were telling you. Is that really what she had done? Had she let you in without realising? 

“She is a good person and she needs to learn that she cannot blame herself for what happens on the pitch” at this point you turn to Mary “We play a team sport. Win or lose, we do it as a team. She isn’t alone” 

You mean ever word you said. You spoke as a player who knew what Mary was feeling but the last part you said sincerely. As long as Mary wanted you around then she wouldn’t be alone, ever.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Mary asks.

“Porfa” 

You say goodbye to her parents and go to the emptiest spot at the bar. 

“I just met your parents” you cannot help but laugh a little.

“Was that ok? They wanted to meet you after I told them about you”

“What did you tell them?” You take a look around. You were surrounded by people, maybe a more private setting was best for the ‘what are we’ talk.

“That I met a girl in Australia. When I was at my lowest she showed up and got me to smile through my tears. Every day I look forward to talking to her, I wait for her texts and our FaceTimes are the best part of my day” 

You looked at Mary with a foreign feeling in your gut. You could compare it to butterflies but that didn’t seem like justice. When she moves forward to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear you don’t flinch. In fact you welcome to closeness.

“Carino, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to kiss you now” Mary’s tone is confident but the look on her face didn’t convey the same confidence.

“I won’t stop you but look around. People are —” The woman standing opposite knew exactly what you were going to say but she didn’t care. Her focus was on one thing; you. 

Everything with Mary has been new but the way she kissed you felt familiar, as if this wasn’t your first kiss. Your body was screaming for you to deepen the kiss, to strengthen the connection but you knew you would have to wait. Mary obviously faces the same conflict only she has given in to her desires. You have to push her away when you felt her tongue on your lips.

“Mary, we can’t do this here” 

“But I want to” 

She leans back in for more but only gets a peck on the lips.

“Cálmate” 

Mary felt frustrated but she really couldn’t complain. She had been dreaming of kissing you for months now and every scenario she came up failed in comparison to the real thing.

“Will you come back to the hotel tonight? We don’t have to share a room. You can stay with Keira or Lucy” 

“I have a very early flight in the morning Mary” you wished you could stay but you needed to go home and you could not miss your flight.

“I know but please, I’m not ready to say goodbye to you yet”

“I don’t want to either but I can’t” Mary’s head dipped in disappointment and it wasn’t a sight that you liked “Maybe I could spend a few hours there and then go back to my hotel”

“You have yourself a deal” Mary was happy to compromise.

Later on you went back to the hotel where the England team was staying. As imagined you were subject to a lengthy interrogation by her team mates. You answered most questions and then played the ‘I don’t understand the English’ card when you didn’t want to answer certain ones. You barely left Mary’s side the entire night which only made your departure worse. She was adamant on walking you to your car and you didn’t fight her on it.

“Thank you for coming tonight” Mary says as she opens your door for you.

“I had fun” you absentmindedly run your finger of your lips as you mind wanders to the multiple kisses you and Mary had throughout the night “I have come to London, now it’s your turn to come Barcelona”

It wasn’t a bad deal. The sun was shining in Barcelona, whereas it hasn’t been seen for days in London. 

“I’ll be there as soon as my schedule allows it” Mary hated that she couldn’t just hop on a plane and come see you.

This was the hard part. You and Mary could find time to text, call and FaceTime but in person visits were difficult due to your schedule and the year the two of you had. You were only able to visit because of your injury and as much as you knew you would miss Mary, you didn’t want her schedule to become clear for the same reason.

“Until then we will make it work. We have done so far and look where it has lead us”

“I certainly didn’t think my night would end with me kissing you”

“It hasn’t”

Mary leaned forward and quickly stole a kiss.

“It has now”

You couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. 

“I need to go now”

“I know. Call me when you get back to your hotel” 

Once in the car, Mary watches you drive away. There is a pain in her chest as she already misses your company. You do end up FaceTiming her that night although it is different now. Seeing her face on the screen was nice but it didn’t compare to being with her in person. Still, you enjoyed your night with her and on the other end of the line Mary was already planning her trip to Barcelona. If the two of you have learnt one thing that night it was that you both wanted each other and you were willing to do whatever it takes to make it work.

[worth-the-chaos]

Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 12

Chapter Summary: The evil that you thought you had gotten rid of is still very much lurking within Hawkins. You, your boyfriend, and your friends race against time to try and find Eddie before it’s too late.

Content Warning: swearing, violence, knives and blood, jealous Steve

Word Count: 6.5k

Author’s Note: This chapter is starting to get season 4 going, so that’s pretty epic. I hope you guys enjoy it and thank you so much for reading it <3

Message me to be added to the taglist! Also, send me asks! Tell me shit, ask me questions, y’all are fun to talk to ;)

Series Masterlist | Part 11 | Next Part

***

Your Saturday started out like any normal Saturday. Steve peppered soft kisses to your skin as you woke up from your comfortable slumber wrapped in his arms. You ate breakfast together and got ready before picking up Robin and making your way to Family Video. It had taken a significant amount of convincing to get Keith to let the three of you work together, considering there was really only enough work for two people to do, but he finally agreed to it since, in his own words, “Steve barely even counts.”

You all were reorganizing the shelves as Robin recounted her conversation with Vickie at the basketball game the night prior. “Then Vickie laughed. And it wasn’t like a cheap fake laugh either. It was like…it was a real, genuine laugh!”

“Of course she laughed, Rob. It’s my muppet joke. It’s hilarious,” Steve replied as he restocked the horror section. You rolled your eyes from your perch on the counter, glaring up at him as you stopped sorting out the returned movies.

“My point is that Vickie laughed, and everything was just like…it was perfect! But I’m having this problem where it’s like, I should stop talking. I have said everything I need to say, but then I guess I get nervous and the words keep spilling out, and it’s like my-my brain is moving faster than my mouth or…or rather my-my mouth is moving faster than my brain, and…and it’s like I’m digging this hole for myself, and I want to stop digging and I’m trying to stop digging, but I can’t, and I’m doing it right now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you are,” you responded, looking at her with a great deal of sympathy. You knew how she was feeling. You couldn’t even count the amount of times that you had rambled on and on to Steve about something so completely and utterly stupid because you didn’t know when to stop.

“Ugh, I’m hopeless,” Robin backed up against the wall, throwing her head back in exasperation.

“Robin! Don’t say that; you are not hopeless,” you scolded your best friend, “I mean, look. I was completely and utterly hopeless before Steve and I started dating…like if he hadn’t shown up and the planets hadn’t aligned, I’d be single as fuck right now, but everything that the two of us have, started with us just being friends. So, the fact that you’re talking to Vickie and she clearly at least likes you in that capacity is a really damn good sign.”

“I wouldn’t say you would be hopeless, I mean, guys are pretty much throwing themselves at you,” Steve mumbled under his breath, thinking back to how you had interacted with Eddie the night before. You had seemed so comfortable with him and he hated to admit it, but the two of you looked like you belonged together far more than you did with him. Eddie marched to the beat of his own drum. He dressed different, he acted different, he didn’t go with the crowd or hop on the bandwagon. You were exactly the same. Sometimes Steve worried that you would wake up and realize that he was way too stereotypical and boring for you and that you would leave him. He pushed the thought aside as you spoke up.

“What do you mean?” Before Steve could answer, Robin began rushing across the room.

“Oh! I think I found our morning movie!” She held up a copy of Doctor Zhivago.

“Ugh, you know I don’t do double VHS,” Steve groaned, shaking his head as he walked past the counter towards her. You stopped him, smacking him in the chest before he could try and take the tape away from Robin before you spoke up.

“We’d actually love to watch it Robin,” you smiled, your eyes still glaring at Steve. Robin jumped up and down a little bit before turning on the television to get it set up, but all of you paused when the news came on.

“We’re in the Forest Hills trailer park in east Roane County. We don’t have a lot of details now, but we can confirm that the body of a Hawkins High student was discovered early this morning. Police have not yet released the victim’s name…” the reported stated, detailing all the information that was known and released.

“Holy shit,” Steve whispered, his and Robin’s eyes transfixed on the screen. His voice sounded far away as your vision blurred with tears. You could barely breathe as you thought about the only two Hawkins High students you knew that lived there: Max and Eddie. If it was either of them, you weren’t sure what you would do. You weren’t sure how you would be able to live and move on.

You stumbled backwards, and you knocked over a pile of VHS tapes as you blindly grabbed for the edge of the counter, beginning to hyperventilate. Robin and Steve snapped out of the trance the news had put them in, as Steve’s head whipped around towards you just in time as you collapsed to the floor.

“Robin turn that off!” Steve yelled, and she grabbed for the remote, quickly silencing the news. You were in a heap on the floor sobbing, barely able to hear Steve as he quickly sat with you on the floor, rubbing big circles across your back to try and calm you down. “Shhhh, y/n. I’m right here, okay baby….I’m right here with you and I’m not going to go anywhere,” he whispered into your ear, kissing your temple as you cried.

After a while, you finally found the will to calm yourself down, and you had been the one to turn the TV back on. You wanted to know as much as you could. You wanted as much information as possible to rule out the possibility that it was either of your friends. Really the only additional information you got was that it was definitely murder and that the police hadn’t released the names of any suspects, which was a whole lot of nothing to go off of.

You were biting your nails, staring at the screen with furrowed brows, when suddenly the chime of the bell above the door rang out into the otherwise empty store. You jumped, turning around to see Dustin followed by Max Mayfield herself.

“Max!” You shouted as you hopped over the counter and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. She groaned, not expecting the sudden demonstration of how much you cared before she reciprocated.

“Hello to you too, I guess?”

“I’m just so glad you’re okay,” you breathed out, feeling a sense of relief flood your body, knowing that Max wasn’t the unnamed victim from the news. Max was struck by your words, not really even considering the fact that some of her friends may be led to believe that she had been killed based on the location of the murder.

“Are you guys seeing this?” Steve chimed in, pointing to the TV screen in the back corner of the room.

“How many phones do you have?” Dustin asked suddenly. You looked at him with confusion plastered across your face.

“Someone was just murdered,” Steve replied, annoyed that the boy could be asking about phones at a time like this.

Dustin just slammed his hands on the counter in response, causing you to jump again in your anxious state, before he repeated himself. “How many phones do you have?”

“Two…why?” You spoke up, furrowing your brow.

“Technically three, if you count Keith’s in the back,” Robin corrected you, a similar look flashing across her face.

“Three works,” Max spoke up, looking at Dustin. Dustin paused, looking at Steve and Robin behind the counter before throwing his backpack across and hopping it. You and Max were civilized, walking around the counter to join them while Steve protested.

“My tapes! Dude! What are you doing, man?!” Steve groaned. Dustin had a special talent for making things significantly more difficult for Steve…especially at his place of work.

“Setting up base of operations,” Dustin replied, typing into the computer.

You attempted to shove him to the side, away from your computer, but he swatted your hands away. You glared at him with the might of a thousand suns before hip checking him, causing him to stumble to the side. “What the fuck do you guys need our computer for?”

“To look up Eddie’s friends’ phone numbers,” Dustin retorted as if it was obvious.

“Oh Eddie, your new best friend you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game,” Steve grumbled back, but you were only half paying attention as you made eye contact with Max. Clearly the two kids knew something that you didn’t and you were worried what that meant in conjunction with the shit you were hearing on the news.

“I never said that!” Dustin looked at Steve, and you rolled your eyes.

“Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around, but it’s Saturday. It’s our busiest day,” Robin spoke up, reorganizing the shit that Dustin had knocked off the counter.

“Robin, I totally empathize but this cannot wait,” Dustin sighed as he started writing on a clipboard.

“What because calling all of Eddie’s friends is an emergency?”

“Exactly!”

“Do you want me to strangle him or do you want to?” Steve asked you. The chuckle he was about to let out died in his throat when he saw the look on your face.

“I really think we should hear them out,” your voice was small when you replied. You all looked over at Max and she took a deep breath before she began talking.

“The victim…it’s Chrissy Cunningham,” she started, “I saw her body this morning when the police were leaving. The thing is, I saw her go in Eddie’s trailer and shortly after, my TV started going nuts and the lights started flickering like crazy, which isn’t really super out of the ordinary, my electricity is shit….but then I heard screaming and looked out the window and I saw Eddie leave and—and he looked scared. Like really scared.”

Steve reached for your hand, interlocking his fingers with yours before he spoke up. “So…Eddie killed Chrissy?”

“Steve! No, he fucking didn’t. That’s why we need the phones so that we can find out where he is so that we can prove that he’s innocent,” Dustin glared at your boyfriend, shoving him a bit.

“Just calm down,” you interjected, standing in between the boys. This was all a lot to unpack and you weren’t going to solve anything if they couldn’t stop bickering. When they both grumbled and crossed their arms, you moved around the counter, swiftly moving to the door and flipping the sign to indicate that the store was closed. “Just, you guys can use the phones, okay? But that’s it. We don’t do anything else until we have something solid to go off of. Do you understand?” You looked between Max and Dustin.

They both began to nod and you shook your head. “No, I need to hear you say it. I’m serious, someone was just killed and we are not putting our lives in jeopardy without some serious cause, okay?”

“Yes, we understand,” Max responded. Dustin spoke up in agreement, and you paused to look at them one more time before turning around.

“I’ll get Keith’s phone from the back. You all start making calls.”

You swiftly headed to the back, grabbing the third phone. You were turning around to leave when you about nearly jumped out of your skin, when you were met face to face with your boyfriend.

“Steve! You scared the shit out of me! Don’t fucking do that!” You put a hand on your chest as you tried to catch your breath.

“Y/n, I don’t have a good feeling about this. I mean, the most likely scenario is that Eddie killed that poor girl and now we’re actively trying to find him. He could be fucking dangerous, and I don’t want anything to happen to you, okay? So, let’s just stop all this bullshit before it’s too late,” he grabbed your hands, rubbing his thumbs along the backs of them as he looked you in the eyes. His brow was furrowed with worry, and you felt a pang in your chest. You knew you had to see this through, if not for Eddie, then for Dustin.

“Steve, I know Eddie. He wouldn’t do something like this. Trust me,” you told Steve, looking him in the eyes with so much conviction that he decided to let it go for now.

You brought the phone out and Hawkins’ Family Video soon became a bustling call center as you all took turns trying to get ahold of anyone who may possibly know where Eddie was. Name after name after name got crossed off your list as you found no answers, and you were beginning to feel hopeless when Max spoke up.

“Hey guys, I might have a lead,” she started, “apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there.”

“Alright, that sounds promising. So where does this Reefer Rick guy live?” Robin asked.

“See, that’s the thing. No one knows. He’s more of a…legend than someone that people actually know.”

“What about a last name?” You spoke up, attempting to find any additional piece of information that you could follow to find Eddie.

“I don’t know that either.”

“I bet the cops know the last name,” Steve spoke up. He hadn’t been super helpful in calling around, instead choosing to reorganize the store and do some light cleaning. He was reorganizing some tapes with his back to you all and he had said it so nonchalantly.

“What?” You questioned him, irritation settling in your tone.

“I said the cops probably know,” he shot back, “I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he’s been busted at some point. Means he’s in the system.”

“The cops? Really, Steve? That’s your suggestion?” Dustin asked incredulously.

“I just think at this point they should be filled in on what we know; what’s going on.”

“You think Eddie’s guilty, don’t you?” Dustin stepped forward, but you placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to settle him. You could hear the hurt in his voice and you wished that Steve hadn’t been the one to cause it, but then again, tensions were high with everything that was going on; like the implications of Max’s account of her electricity going haywire around the time that Chrissy would have died.

“Woah, woah, woah, I believe in innocent until proven guilty and all that constitutional shit…I just, you know….I just don’t think we can rule it out,” Steve spoke up, avoiding making eye contact with any of you as he messed with a Rubik’s cube on the counter.

“Steve!” You scolded him. Why can’t he just take a leap of faith and believe you guys?

“That’s precisely what we’re trying to do here, Steve,” Max spoke up, glaring at the boy.

“And maybe we’d have a little bit more luck if you spent less time reorganizing shit that doesn’t need reorganizing and more time trying to find Eddie,” Dustin chimed in.

“Hey, someone’s gotta make sure things are in order here. Do you see how many fucking movies we have? It can be overwhelming for the average customer,” Steve tried to defend himself.

Suddenly an idea popped into your head, as you darted over to the computer, typing away into the system. “What are you doing?” Max asked.

“Maybe we don’t need a last name,” you started as you pressed enter on the keyboard. “Twelve Ricks already have accounts here…now it’s just a matter of narrowing it down.”

***

After determining the Rick most likely to be the Reefer Rick, you waited until it got dark to go scope the place out. You decided that you’d be more inconspicuous at night, not wanting to draw any attention to yourselves while you tracked down a potential murder suspect.

You were all piled in Steve’s BMW as he pulled into the driveway of one Rick Lipton. You felt nerves settle in your stomach as you tried to take a deep breath, Dustin quickly getting out of the car and ringing the doorbell. No one answered and after Dustin pressed the button repeatedly, Steve put a hand on his shoulder to pull him away from the door.

“Okay. Well, that’s settled, I guess he’s not here,” Steve spoke up. This did nothing to stop Dustin from continuing to pound on the door, yelling for the boy to answer. So much for being inconspicuous, you thought as you walked around the side of the house. Your hands trembled a bit, being a tad anxious about being out here at night, when your flashlight finally caught sight of a boathouse on the lake.

“Hey guys?” You called out. Steve was quick to join you, followed by the rest of the gang as you cautiously approached the metal lined shed. There was no real signs of life in there as you entered, and it seemed just as abandoned as Rick’s house. “Hello? Is anyone home?” You shouted into the darkness as you took a hesitant step inside.

“What a dump,” Steve muttered, taking in the sight of all of the clutter. In his mind, there was no way in hell that Eddie was here, so though he was taking all of this seriously, he wasn’t too committed to really inspecting the place with great detail.

You grabbed an oar off of the wall, walking over to the small boat docked in the center of the room as you shoved at the tarps with it, not wanting to get close just in case something was awry.

“What are you doing?!” Dustin whisper-shouted at you, perplexed by your actions.

“He might be in there,” you answered simply.

“Then take the tarp off!”

“If you’re so brave, you take the tarp off!” You whisper-shouted back at him, though when Dustin moved forward to do just that, you and Steve both yanked him back by his shoulders. You continued to poke at the tarp, and Steve placed a gentle but nervous hand on the small of your back, not wanting to stray too far from you.

Max suddenly spoke up from across the room, pointing her flashlight at some odds and ends on a small table. “Hey, guys. Someone was here.”

“Maybe he heard us? Got spooked and ran?” Robin suggested, joining Robin to inspect the items before her.

“Don’t worry. Y/n will get him with her oar…isn’t that right y/n?” Dustin spoke to you sarcastically. You were glad you had the self control to not swing it at the infuriating child beside you as Steve moved away from you to pull Dustin aside. He didn’t need the two of you arguing with each other. You two bickered like siblings and now wasn’t the time for a pseudo-familial spat.

“I know you think you’re being funny, Henderson,” you started, continuing to jab at the tarps, “but considering the fact that everyone in this room has nearly died about a hundred times, personally, I don’t find it funny in the slight—“

Your words were cut off as a figure under the tarp sprung to life, grabbing you around the shoulders and pushing you against the wall. You heard the familiar flick of a pocket knife, feeling the sharp tip of the metal press against your throat. The boathouse erupted into a chorus of shrieks and screams, as you leaned your head back, unable to breathe as you stared wide-eyed at the boy you were tutoring for physics.

“Woah, woah, woah! Eddie! Eddie, stop!” Dustin shouted. He took a step closer and Eddie pushed you back farther into the wall, letting you all know that he wasn’t playing games. Steve felt like his whole world was crashing down around him. To Steve, Eddie’s actions confirmed that he was dangerous, that he had likely killed Chrissy, and that he was about to do the same thing to you. Steve’s mind was working double time trying to figure out how to get you away from the freak, as he started to take a huge step towards you when Robin roughly grabbed his arm, preventing him from getting any closer.

“Robin let go of me!” He shouted at her, trying to shake out of her grip.

“Steve,” she warned, and the way that she said it made him stop to reevaluate the situation, realizing the closer he got to you, the more he was putting your life in peril. A small cry escaped your lips as you tried to blink back tears, and Steve’s heart sank in his chest. He felt his hands trembling at his sides, wanting nothing more than to hold you and to tell you that everything was going to be okay, but watching as the knife threatened to break the skin of your neck, he wasn’t so sure he even believed the sentiment.

“It’s me, Dustin. This is y/n,” Dustin continued, gesturing to you, “she’s not going to hurt you, right, y/n?”

“Right, yeah,” you barely were able to whisper, the muscles in your neck all tensed as you tried to get as far away from the knife as possible. Your chest heaved as you swallowed and breathed out a shaky breath.

“Y/n, why don’t you drop the oar,” Dustin cautioned. You hadn’t even realized you were still holding it, barely even being able to feel the white knuckled grip you had on the handle. You willed your fingers to let go and as the oar crashed to the floor, the sudden sound caused Eddie to jump, leaning in farther and nicking your neck a bit in the process. You yelped in pain, and Steve started to freak out, unable to control his breathing. Robin continued to try and calm him down, but it wasn’t working super well.

“She’s cool, she’s cool!” Dustin reminded Eddie, still trying to talk him off of a cliff. Steve wished he had trusted his intuition earlier and kept you all far away from Eddie the freak Munson.

“I’m cool, man, I’m cool,” you spoke up, your voice shaky, “I’m helping you in Ms. O’Donell’s class, remember?”

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asked, his eyes wild as he refused to let you go.

“We’re looking for you, we’re here to help,” Dustin spoke up, “Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band. This is my friend Max, the one who never wants to play D&D. And obviously that’s Steve; I know you know him because you hate him, okay? Eddie, we are on your side. I swear on my mother, right guys?” He looked to the three of your friends behind him who all desperately nodded in agreement.

“Yes, yes, we swear!” Robin agree.

“Yeah, on Dustin’s mother,” you squeaked out. Eddie looked at you and you could tell he was acting out of fear. You knew this wasn’t him. That still didn’t quell the fear in your own chest as you spoke up once more to whisper, “please.”

Eddie paused, his eyes searching yours to try and determine your intention. He knew that you were a good person. Hell, you’d been helping him through fucking physics which wasn’t exactly a cake walk. Seeing the terror across your face as you whimpered, however, was what finally broke Eddie, as he finally let you go.

You let out a small cry as the tears you had been attempting to blink back finally spilled down your face while you crumpled to the floor. Steve rushed to your side, sitting on the floor with you, not unlike he had earlier in Family Video when the news came on. Your hand clutched at your neck. Even though Eddie had only just slightly nicked you, your blood had dripped enough to stain the collar of your shirt, and began to seep through your fingers as you held pressure to the cut. It stung like a bitch, but you were more scared than hurt.

“Hey, hey, hey, let me see, okay baby? Can you do that for me?” Steve asked softly, as one of his hands wrapped around the nape of your neck and the other gently tugged on your wrist. You obliged, trembling fingers dropping from your neck as you shook in Steve’s arms.

He used the sleeve of his jacket to put pressure on the cut to attempt to get it to stop bleeding. You took several deep breaths, wiping the tears away from your face as you began to finally calm down. It helped that you knew that Eddie wouldn’t hurt you on purpose. In your mind, he wasn’t a threat in the slightest, just a boy that was scared and needed some comforting.

“Eddie, we just want to talk,” you heard Dustin’s voice ring out in the empty boathouse. Eddie looked like a mess as he sat in a heap on the floor, looking equal parts defeated and terrified. Dustin tried to take the knife away from him, but Eddie tightened his grip so Dustin relented.

“We just want to know what happened,” you breathed out, your voice still shaky as you continued to calm down.

“You won’t believe me,” Eddie sniffled. You moved out of Steve’s grasp despite his protests, putting a gentle hand on Eddie’s shoulder. He tensed up but soon relaxed into your touch.

“Try us,” you replied. Eddie wasn’t sure if it was the look on your face or the sincerity in your voice, but he decided in that moment that he could trust you guys.

He began by explaining that she was at his house so that he could sell to her, discussing how everything had been fine and normal…until it very much wasn’t.

“…her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh…and she just, like, hung there. And her bones…uh, she…her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man…it-it was like there was something inside her head pulling,” he whimpered with a faraway look in his eyes, “I…I-I didn’t know what to do, so I…I ran away…I-I left her there,” he scoffed, “you all think I’m crazy, right?”

“No, we don’t think you’re crazy,” Dustin began to assure him, but Eddie quickly cut him off.

“Don’t bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds!”

You moved in between Eddie and Dustin, pushing Dusting behind you protectively. “Hey, we’re not bullshitting you,” you started, your tone leaning on frustrated, “we believe you and we’re probably the only people who fucking will, so I would suggest you find a way to calm down and shut the fuck up because what I’m about to tell you might be difficult to take.”

“Okay,” Eddie finally said. No one was really expecting you to be that blunt about things, but it needed to be said.

“You know how people say Hawkins is…cursed?” You started, trying to find the right words. Eddie nodded. “They’re not…way off. There’s another world; a world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours,” your hand subconsciously went to the cut on your neck, the bleeding having finally trickled to a stop.

“Like ghosts and shit?” Eddie asked hesitantly.

“There are some things worse than ghosts,” Max spoke up quietly, and you felt a chill creep up your spine as she said it.

“These monsters from this other world,” Dustin continued, “we thought that they were gone, but they’ve come back before and that’s why we needed to find you.”

“If they’re back again, we need to know,” you emphasized.

“That night, did you see anything?” Robin questioned. You all waited with bated breath for Eddie’s answer. You were afraid of what he might say and Steve stepped forward and grabbed your hand, sensing your anxiety.

“No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh…touch,” Eddie responded, “you know, I tried to wake her man, but she couldn’t move. It was like she was…she was in a trance or something.”

“Or under a spell…Vecna’s curse,” Dustin whispered.

“Who’s Vecna?” Steve asked, pulling you into his chest. He needed something to hold onto.

“An undead creature of great power,” Dustin answered and you shuddered thinking about it. You had thought you got rid of whatever entity was calling the shots from the Upside Down, but maybe you were wrong.

Maybe everything that had happened before was merely the beginning.

***

You all had taken turns recounting the last two years worth of events to Eddie as he sat there in silence trying to take it all in. After everything that he had seen, he really had no choice but to believe you guys, glad that you were all on his side. You promised the boy that you would be back with supplies in the morning, swiftly piling back into Steve’s car.

“Hey, you know when we had that really sweet convertible and I had you drive it up that big ass hill so we could use my radio?” Dustin suddenly spoke up.

“Yeah?” Steve responded, not quite sure where the boy was going with this.

“Well, bad news is we’re gonna need to go use it again before we all go home because I have an idea, but good news is that it’s at my house now so that’s cool.”

Steve sighed and you all silently made your way to Dustin’s house. There wasn’t much to talk about. You tiptoed through his kitchen to avoid waking his mother as you all crept up to his bedroom. He started messing with all his radio equipment as you sat on his bed. While he was searching for the right frequency, Steve darted out of the bedroom and into the hall bathroom, opening the cabinet under the sink and rifling through it. He found what he was looking for and quietly slipped back into Dustin’s bedroom.

“Here,” he said as he sat down next to you. You looked at him confused until you saw that he had a first aid kit in his hands. He took out an alcohol wipe and started cleaning up the dried blood on your neck. You hissed when the wipe touched your cut, the alcohol burning as he disinfected it. He put some antibiotic ointment on a band aid and placed it gingerly over the cut. He noticed some of the hickies he had left on your neck the night before, quickly moving your hair to make them more inconspicuous. “There. All better.”

You couldn’t help but flush with how sweet Steve was being. Even if the world was undoubtedly ending, at least you knew that he was going to be there for you. You could tell that he was on edge, probably more so given how Eddie had reacted, and you just appreciated that he wasn’t overreacting…yet.

Suddenly, Dustin’s Cerebro came to life, and you heard the distinctive sound of police chatter over the radio as you were clued into what the Hawkins police department knew of Eddie’s involvement in Chrissy’s death. Unfortunately, though not released to the public yet, Eddie was prime suspect number one.

“Shit!” Dustin exclaimed. “Fuck!”

“Woah, woah, whoa, calm down Dustin. We’re gonna figure all of this out okay? Freaking out isn’t going to make any of this shit easier, so we might as well all stay calm,” your voice was remarkably even as you said it and it was starting to freak the rest of your friends out. Of everyone here, you should by all accounts be the most freaked out.

“Look, I don’t think that we should split up, given everything that’s going on,” Steve spoke. “My parents aren’t home, so how about everyone spends the night at my house? You can all call your parents and make arrangements when we get there.”

Everyone agreed with Steve, and you all made your way out to his car, Dustin leaving a note to let his mom know he would be gone before he left. “Y/n? Are you, like, okay?” Max asked hesitantly. Your mind flashed back to what it felt like to have a knife held up to your throat.

“I’m fine, Max. I promise,” you said, but it didn’t sound very convincing. You were honestly more worried about the kids. You thought about the fact that they were deprived a normal childhood, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. You were the babysitter, you were supposed to be the one to make sure that they were okay and safe and happy.

Steve finally pulled into his driveway, leading everyone inside and showing them around. “You all can sleep wherever. There’s a guest bedroom upstairs or you could sleep in the family room. I don’t care,” he sighed, just ready to go to sleep. Everyone got comfortable, Max and Robin choosing to sleep on the couches and Dustin taking the guest bedroom. You and Steve went to his room and you collapsed onto his bed.

“This can’t be happening again,” you spoke up as exhaustion from the day’s events settled in your bones.

“Yeah, I can’t quite believe it either,” Steve said, flopping down on the bed next to you. “Y/n, you have to promise me something okay?”

“What?”

“That if this all gets to be too much again, we call it quits. We get the kids out, we get Robin out, we get the hell out.”

“Steve,” you looked at him, trying to read his expression, “I can’t make that promise.”

“Y/n, everything has been escalating. First it was just one demogorgon, then it was a fuck ton of demo-dogs, then it was Russians and a giant flesh monster…I don’t know how we can handle anything worse, I mean we barely handled everything last summer!” He exclaimed, shaking his head at you. You could tell he was getting more irate, anger seeping into his tone.

“Steve, we either do nothing and die when the whole fucking world ends, or we do something and maybe die trying, or better yet, we fix the fucking problem and never have to worry about it again,” you replied, sitting up, slightly irritated with his tone. He stood up, looking down at you with a furrowed brow as he continued.

“You’re not understanding, y/n. Look, someone died. Unexplainably, just up and died in the most gruesome fucking way. We don’t know anything about how it happened or why or if it will happen again, and I’ll be damned if it happens to one of us, okay. Just promise me.”

“Steve, I can’t, and you know I can’t.”

Steve scoffed, trying to find the right words. He felt anxiety creep up in his chest as he decided that now was as good a time as any to get really fucking real with you. “Y/n. I want a future with you. We can’t fucking have that if one of us is dead.”

“We can’t have a future if the world fucking ends either. I have a massive fucking headache and I just want to go to bed, okay?” You got up and began changing into pajamas, and you heard Steve sigh behind you. He remembered his pinky promise to you in the woods that you were in this together. If you couldn’t make a promise to him, the best he could do was uphold his.

“Fine. But I’m not gonna be able to live with myself if something happens to you,” he warned as he crawled into bed, scooting towards you to spoon you. It was odd how casually you two could have a conversation like this, about the end of the world and the possibility of losing each other at any given moment.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” you replied, turning in his arms and placing a kiss to his chest. You willed the words to be true as you drifted off to sleep in his arms.

***

Dustin threw the door open to the boathouse and you rolled your eyes, knowing it would likely scare the shit out of Eddie. You seemed to be right as you heard him shout from across the room, finally making it into the shed to see him pressed up against the back wall, knife extended out in front of him.

“Delivery service,” Dustin smiled at his friend. You waved sheepishly at Eddie, hoping that he could find it in his heart to forgive you guys for nearly giving him a heart attack…twice.

You all moved to stand around the boat as Eddie sat down in it, tearing into a box of cereal and eating it as if he hadn’t had a meal in days…which to be fair he probably hadn’t.

“So we have some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?” Dustin cut to the chase.

“Bad news first, always,” Eddie spoke through a mouthful of food. Your nose scrunched up in disgust as you scanned the room, noticing similar expressions painted on Robin and Max’s faces.

“We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with Dustin’s Cerebro, and they’re definitely looking for you,” you quickly spoke up as you gave the boy a sympathetic look.

“Also, they’re uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy,” Dustin chimed in.

“Like, 100% kind of convinced,” Max agreed. You rolled your eyes. So much for breaking the news softly.

“And the good news?”

“Your name hasn’t gone public yet. But if we found out about you, it’s only a matter of time before others do too, and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother will be gunning for you,” Robin spoke up.

“Hunt the freak, right?” Eddie clarified, his eyes staring off, unfocused.

“Exactly,” Robin breathed out.

“So before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence,” Dustin outlined.

“That’s all, Dustin? That’s all?” Eddie fumed. Sure he loved the Henderson kid, but the boy got on his damn nerves like all the time, and this was one of those moments.

“Believe it or not, we’ve been through this kind of thing before…a few times actually,” you reassured Eddie, hoping that your words would calm his nerves but that was definitely a bit of a stretch.

“You’re telling me that you, Ms. 4.0, have been off fighting monsters while maintaining a perfect GPA?” Eddie asked in disbelief. “Bullshit.”

“I know, it’s pretty impressive,” Steve spoke up, throwing an arm around you, “we usually rely on this girl with super powers but, uh, those went bye-bye.”

“So we’re kind of in more of the brainstorming phase,” Robin spoke up and you all nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, you really have nothing to worry about,” Dustin reassured Eddie, but all of you knew that that was far from the truth. There was definitely a shit ton of stuff to worry about. Before Eddie could ask anymore questions, you all heard sirens wailing in the distance. He quickly covered up with the tarp as you all ran to the window, watching as several emergency vehicles passed right by Reefer Rick’s house.

A sinking feeling settled in your stomach as you concluded that there must be another body. You all raced to Steve’s car again, following the waling sound of sirens, afraid of what you’d find.

***

a/n: thanks for reading people of tumblr! If you wanted to reblog, I promise I wouldn’t be mad ;)

taglist:

@season4steve @sassyheroneckgiant @tangledinthegreatxscape @maeve-wileyy @palachannie @chaerfull @usaguisenpaisblog @emilieluckwood @sabrinadelreyy @mochminnie @xprloki @kitdjarin1 @kissmxcheek @daemonskitty @bethsvrse @aheadfullofsteverogers

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've been thinkin' on it, and I think the biggest reason people are still insisting that Ed is just awful and abusive and whatever (aside from the racism of it all) is because the writers of OFMD fundamentally assume that viewers will like him and be on his side.

And, like, that is one hell of a reasonable assumption. Before s2 we spent a lot of time getting to know Ed; we see he's very sweet and smart and can be silly, and his self-esteem isn't great and he already has a lot of self-destructive tendencies and struggles with believing he can have nice things. These are all things we see in s2 and none of them should come as a surprise. We've gotten to know Ed and in s2 the writers assume we will be able to grant him even the barest ounce of sympathy.

"But he's being super violent and hurting the crew!" Ed's behavior at the beginning of s2 is best described as "a bit over the top" in the context of the show, and before he pulls out all the stops trying to get the crew to mutiny on him in his suicide attempt, he never actually hurts anyone except for Izzy (Izzy's the guy who threatened him and caused all this, or he'd still be crying in his blanket fort at the start of the season. OFMD has ALWAYS had a "talk shit get hit" philosophy and Izzy should not be the sole exception).

"But he never had to face any consequences for his actions!" I think almost getting beaten to death and then having to spend an entire episode convincing yourself you deserve to live is a pretty big consequence, actually.

"But he never apologized!" The group apology in s2e5 was obviously a joke (Stede clearly wrote it anyway and made Ed memorize it, look how Stede mouths along and Ed fumbles his lines), and it's pretty clear that Ed's conversation with Fang is meant to represent what he's doing with everyone. He's trying. He thinks up a way to try to give Lucius closure, even though it doesn't work, and when Fang mentions something Ed did that hurt him, Ed immediately and genuinely apologizes. It is not a wild jump to assume Ed's doing that with other characters and the show just assumes we're smart enough to figure that out from context considering how the crew are good with Ed again in s2e6.

"What if he hurts Stede/is abusive to Stede?" Multiple characters ask Stede something to this effect, Stede says "that's really stupid, of course he won't," and Stede is right. Question easily answered.

We're shown that Ed's response to being hurt and upset is not immediately violence. His first response is to go and hide and make himself feel safe - tub, blanket fort, hiding under the blanket and Anne and Mary's. Violence is Ed's response to feeling threatened. There's a difference. We're shown this over and over and over again, and frankly the only reason I think some people miss it is because they don't care to think about what's making Ed feel threatened in the first place.

It's just so clear that some people watching this show care so little about Ed and only care about what he can offer in a scene with other characters. Ed did not enjoy anything that happened at the beginning of the season - the last time we see him in s1 he's sobbing his poor eyes out and that's implied to have been consistent through s2e2. He's suicidal and having a miserable time and yes, he's hurting people who care about him, but it's not just for funsies, it's because he's trying to get himself killed. It's wild to me that some people can turn on the Ed and Stede show, see Ed pull himself out of such a terrible place by the end of the season and commit to a life with his boyfriend, and think that the show is setting up Ed to be abusive or imply he hasn't gone through any character growth and just coasted through the season.

[paper-mario-wiki]

what's ur favorite erb?

i dont have "favorite" as much as i have "the ones i watch every now and again".

"Blackbeard vs Al Capone" i might just like the way EpicLloyd speaks as Capone, but i also cant help but be utterly entranced by a shouting match between to middle aged men who want the other one to be scared. Favorite verse: Capone 1 (of 2)

"Wonder Woman vs Stevie Wonder" although this one still has the signature simple and cheesy bar structure that ERB is known for, this is PEAK in terms of performers. nicepeter and epiclloyd (the main guys) are great, but after the first 30 videos it became very easy to detect their individual deliveries and cadences. t-pain is pretty iconic in his performance of stevie wonder. Favorite verse: Stevie 2 (of 3)

"Stephen King vs Edgar Allan Poe" watzky was unfortunately cursed by god to forever look like a little twerp, but he works with it really well and it fits very well for the real-life twerp that was Edgar Allan Poe. and zach sherwin is always a charismatic force to be reckoned with, his uniquely clever writing style and flow shining. Favorite verse: Stephen King 2 (of 2)

"Steven Spielberg vs Alfred Hitchcock" this one's just good fun. its a little battle royale among a bunch of really famous pop directors. i know that the character-appropriate cgi background is a staple of post-season-one ERB, but i really appreciate these ones specifically for some reason. Favorite verse: Alfred Hitchcock

"Kryptonite" this isnt an ERB and is in fact a completely unrelated normal rap song but i was listening to this one today. my oldest brother listened to a lot of rap when i was young and this one was one of his favorites. i remember listening to it all the time when he would drive me to blockbuster to rent gamecube games. i didnt listen to it for a few decades, but i looked it up on youtube a few weeks ago on a whim and i really liked it a lot. it's all about smoking weed which i love doing, and the chorus is really catchy, plus the instrumental is one of my favorites. Favorite verse: Big Boi 1 (verse 3)

"The Joker vs Pennwise" both rappers somehow look like different versions of matpat in heavy makeup, and joker works in a natural "we live in a society" which i like. i think that's all i got for this one. Favorite verse: Joker 3 (of 3, because this is the one with the we live in a society bar, but all of his bars were actually really solid)

"Tony Hawk vs Wayne Gretzky" another one for the "zach sherwin is one of the best thing ERB has" pile. he delivers in a quaint (if a bit cartoonish) canadian accent a scathing comparison between the actual real-life achievements and significance and skill between the two actual athletes. which i think is very spiritually fulfilling considering the name of the series. Favorite verse: Wayne Gretzky 2 (of 2)

"James Bond vs Austin Powers" might unfortunate austin only gets 1 verse because it's far and away the best part of this one. aside from a clever pussy eating joke near the end between the two feuding bonds. Favorite verse: Austin Powers

"Nice Peter vs EpicLLOYD 2" this is an actual real-life catharsis event between the main two artists behind ERB who seemingly put very real and deep-seated creative and personal frustrations they have with each other into their verses, plus a very real burnout over this series that they put all their money on being The Big One, creating a legitimately tense feeling in watching their performances. for reference, Peter rips on how Lloyd is an alcoholic and is unwilling to let the channel grow or change, and Lloyd talks about how Peter is obsessive and manipulative, referencing a real life issue involving a friend they fucked over in the separate video he appeared in. Favorite verse: Lloyd 1 (of ??? this one is almost a duet at times really)

"Babe Ruth vs Lance Armstrong" this one is specifically here because babe's second verse goes extremely hard in an almost uncharacteristic way for a series with very middling raps in general. Favorite verse: Babe Ruth 2 (of 2)

i could keep going i think but i just scrolled to the top of the list and my face flushed with embarrassment at how long its getting so im gonna end it there. you get the idea.

[thesoftboiledegg]

"Auto Erotic Assimilation" from season two is one of my least favorite episodes because it takes one of the queerest concepts in the series and makes it aggressively heterosexual. Aside from a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene with one male alien and a joke about Rick possibly contracting STDs from coal miners, most of the episode is a straight male power fantasy.

"Look at all the hot women with big boobs throwing themselves at Rick! He's the man! Unity's avatar is another alien lady with big boobs! Don't worry, folks--even if Rick talks to a man, he's really talking to HER! Don't you wish you were him, straight male viewer? Sexy alien orgies everywhere!"

The episode does have poignant moments and famously culminates with Rick's suicide attempt after reading Unity's final message, but a third of the plot is just a goofy teenage boy's fantasy. I watch it when I rewatch the entire series, but that's the only time I expose myself to that one.

When I saw screenshots from this episode that featured Unity, I thought "Oh God, not this again." Just let it stay in season two!

Admittedly, "Air Force Wong" handled Unity with more maturity. If this episode aired in season two or three, a bunch of sexy women probably would've mobbed Rick as soon as he stepped foot in Virginia. Here, the writers focused solely on the characters' relationships--not just Rick and Unity but Rick, President Curtis and Dr. Wong and their web of interactions.

I liked how Rick referred to Unity as "them," although he starts using "she" pronouns when she disconnects from the hivemind. This highlights one of my issues from the original episode: Unity is a hivemind, but she's also a hot, sexy alien babe who controls everybody, which are two opposing concepts. This seems like a backdoor way to make Rick's interactions Certified Hetero (which is probably what it was, to be honest.)

I also thought the resolution was unsatisfying. Unity's note at the end of "Auto Erotic Assimilation" makes it clear that she and Rick just make each other worse, but "Air Force Wong" implies that they should have stayed in touch. I was hoping Rick would get closure by ending it for good, but it seems like they're maintaining their distant but toxic connection.

I did like how the end of "Air Force Wong" parallels "Auto Erotic Assimilation." Rick heads back to the garage to drink, but instead of attempting suicide again, he decides to visit the president and put aside some of their differences. Like Dr. Wong says: it's a slow process, but he's changing!

Aside from that, I loved this episode. President Curtis was hilarious ("Civil war, baby!" is already one of my favorite season seven lines), and he's as petty as ever. In fact, he's so petty that he was willing to enslave the entire Earth just for a 100% approval rating. He makes Rick look calm and responsible!

As usual, Dr. Wong was the voice of reason. She could've been just a crowd-pleasing cameo, but she guided Rick through his interactions and helped him remain stable in the face of emotional turmoil. While she flirted with the president, she didn't lose herself in some unprofessional whirlwind romance.

After watching "Pickle Rick" in 2017, who would have thought that Rick would not only willingly see Dr. Wong every week but try to punch the president to protect her honor? I wondered if he had a crush on her, but nothing he said implied romantic feelings, so I think he just feels protective over her because he distrusts the president.

Likewise, we're getting glimpses of how Rick treats his family: apologizing to Summer, sticking up for Morty when President Curtis insults him (I half-expected Rick to ruin that by giving Morty shit, but he didn't.) Morty sticking up for himself was nice, although man, the writers are underusing him. I think the president had more lines in "Air Force Wong" than Morty's had in these entire three episodes. And Morty's name is in the title!

Otherwise, setting up Prime's return was great. We're probably going to have a slow drip as season seven builds to their next confrontation. It seems like most of the trailer scenes are from the first four episodes and maybe "Wet Kuat Amortican Summer," so who knows what's in store for the other five.

And I mean--the Unity scenes weren't bad. Most of my issues are holdovers from 2015, which the writers can't change now. I'd prefer not to revisit it again, though. That's like taking another trip to Gazorpazorp.

Then again, later seasons have been correcting earlier issues (Summer saying "Sorry, Rick, but your opinion means very little to me" is one of my favorites), so revisiting "Raising Gazorpazorp" with a feminist lens could be another middle finger to the dudebros who are crying for Roiland's return and howling as Ian Cardoni outpaces him.

[neptunescore]

zak brown hater anon here and heheh. I can’t explain how happy I am seeing Zak Brown look of disappointment after the race. Literally giggling and kicking my feet. I think I’m thriving. McLauren and RedBull were pretty equal but of course McLauren had batter pace at the end. Honestly I’m not mad about this race but also not too happy because this is a triple header. As a McLaren hater I pray on their downfall but as an Oscar fan if they must be successful I hope he’s the one winning.

ANYWAY, while I’m here I guess I’ll talk about the recent drama with Mercedes. My personal opinion, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time but I think Mercedes wasn’t pushing Lewis aside. Did they make questionable decisions? Yes 100%. But at the same time I don’t think they’re purposefully disregarding him just because he’s moving to another team. He’s been with them for years and while I heard Mercedes didn’t offer a promising deal to him in the end it was up to him. Lewis is getting older and it’s his career. Like what he said in DTS to Toto that Toto can continue being in the sport but he can’t. That’s just not possible.

It’s great progress that Mercedes is finally picking up the pace but I do not think the reason the car “magically got better” is because of the recent drama. Some people may have been joking but to those being serious, improving a car does NOT take a weekend. It takes weeks- months- even until the end of the season- to improve the car. We have seen that over the past few races Mercedes have been increasingly faster and a better race pace but it is not because of Lewis and his fans saying he’s being sabotaged. They are still a team and they have their morals and competitiveness- they want to win- why would they push it all away just because their driver is moving to another team?

One thing to note, I do think the social media admin was feeling a bit goofy and was not paying attention to Lewis as much as George. In one way, it’s reasonable with their standings but in the last few races I think it became apparent that the admin is just not paying attention to what’s happening with Lewis. So I understand people’s a very towards that.

I think it’s important to factor in that most of this escalated mainly because of the fanbase. And it kinda disgusts me how everyone is joking (and agreeing with the person who wrote the email) about the email that proceeded to defame the crew in Mercedes (especially Toto and George). If there were any members that WERE against Lewis, I believe it still shouldn’t excuse putting it up against the entire team because then it’s punishing the entire team for a few people that might not even hold important positions to make a difference. (In this scenario I’m talking they aren’t on the same level as who’s on the pitwall). Everyone saying “oh, car is better and not f**ked because of the email” is kinda bs. I will say Mercedes is now making sure they equally support both Lewis and George on social media but on track, the car was always the same. Strategy made the difference and you can argue that George gets the better strategy than Lewis but in the end they are a team. Whoever is in a better position to gain more points will receive the better strategy.

Lewis will always be Mercedes champion but it also doesn’t mean Mercedes can’t win without him. I’ve seen some recent tweets defaming George and- hate him all you want- but he’s a competitive driver. He may not have the skills to make up for it like Nico, but he’s consistently gaining experience and has shown his growth. A good example being the amazing start in the Spanish GP. Yes, he complains a lot, but don’t all drivers? People forget George looks up to Lewis and even if their relationship may have changed over their years as teammates it does not change that Lewis was and still is his role model.

anyone can disagree with me on this ofc. You can think Lewis gets the short end which is totally fine (I can understand your points, don’t get me wrong) but at least do not praise the email for defaming multiple people that might not even be involved if there is anything happening behind the scenes. I love Lewis and I was giggling and kicking my feet seeing him on the podium. I’m super excited to see what else Mercedes can bring to the table and try to fight for wins in the upcoming races. I’m a max fan but Lewis is really close up there (funny, isn’t?) so I can’t wait to see them fighting on track again soon. I feel like I my lifespan extends whenever I see them together on podium and fighting on track.

thank you for coming to my ted talk 🫶

ZB❌️ ANON!!! I missed you pookie😔✋🏽

God, SAMEEE. Like after his comment on how lando could be winning championships if they had the best car, the visceral and pure need that arose in me to see him swallow his words, literally none of u will understand how deep it went😭. BUT LOOK AT MY MAXY FULLFILLING ALL MY DESIRES AND SHOWING THEM THERES A REASON HES CONSIDERED ONE OF THE BEST!!! I LOVE HIM!! And I agree on the oscar part as well, like I'm the biggest mclaren hater to exist (the TEAM, NOT the drivers, please don't come at me ppl😭), but if they're doing anything successful I'd love to watch oscar bring it, acc... ugh, I don't know, I never wanna see that ugly orange on the podium (this is NOT me hating on the drivers, if they're on the podium then they deserve to be there, I just hate mclaren alot guys😔✊🏽)

Moving on to the mercedes drama, I've already made so many posts abt it, but ur ask summarises my opinions perfectly (as always🫶🏼). The main thing pissing me off is the fact that some fans genuinely believe that email, or if they don't, they still joke abt the things that were being said in it. Like, do they not understand how VILE the whole email was?? It literally accuses george of SLEEPING WITH HIS BOSS, says they're plotting to KILL LEWIS, and then makes the most indirect threats against George's own wellbeing. That's absolutely batshit crazy. There's no way anyone should believe/ joke abt that.

As a young POC girl (and just as a fan in general), I literally adore lewis, but the fact that when he was asked abt the hate george was receiving, he just chose to brush it aside and say how 'he's never heard of it' rlly got me irritated. Like, at least tell ppl that any kind of hate, in general, towards any driver is just straight up wrong❌️ and should not✋🏽 be a thing they do.

Anyway, fans that r saying lewis ended up on the podium bc they finally stopped sabotaging his car after the email are just a new level of delulu. I won't even explain this because no f1 fan needs an explanation on how long cars take to be built/ adjusted🙂. Also, in the end these comments are just taking away from lewis' efforts, bc despite the shit car, he STILL managed to put it up on the podium (tho the car rlly did seem to suit this track)

Overall, I personally (none of u need to agree with me) think merc is NOT sabotaging lewis (why would they, the team needs points so bad😭) but they ARE acting shit towards him, especially the social media team.

I love ur Ted talks ZB❌️ anon, come by whenever u want❤️ (what's ur opinion on the carlos and charles situation btw)

[ananke-xiii]

"The Born-Again Identity" is one of those SPN ep that I like despite the fact that there are so many things in it that drive me a little bit insane (truth be told, in part it's only my fault cause I can never completely turn up the "suspension of disbelief" volume and I go to a default "but why?" mindset everytime I see something on screen, so okay it's a *just me* problem). However, I do think that S7 was not that bad and it had some quite intriguing and original ideas while the execution was... well, let's say clunky. So, all in all, I think this episode is kinda cool.

the things that drive me a little bit insane:

the imagery of sam desperately running alone in the night along some tracks in a supposedly dangerous part of town. The "derailing" and "going off the tracks" symbolism was a bit on the nose; him buying drugs from the "tweaker" and sleeping with the guy in his car: mmm I feel like that was, like. a lot. to be just thrown away like that.

sam being admitted to the hospital with no mention of said drugs use and the whole scene with the doctor telling dean that they had to put sam in the locked psychiatric floor. I don't know, it also feels like.a lot. and.all of a sudden. they could ease into that way better, it's too ham-fisted as in: we have to find a way to put sam in an horror asylum-like facility in less than 5 minutes for the ep to make sense. so that what feels like to me.

daphne. everything about her drives me insane. I have a whole story where she has to clean up the mess dean has made and hide the body of the demon or something. she'll later start her own private hero's journey to find emmanuel and bring him back to their white picket fence life so perfect and so based on manipulation and stockholm syndrome.

the demons showing up at the grocery store. like what? it was established just a few scenes before when dean told the demon that he was "hands-off" or something and that the demon was actually looking for emmanuel. so why oh why would the other demons look for dean when there's emmanuel.alone.in.the.car. nonsense.

that one demon torturing sam with the electroshock. what was the point? why were demons there anyway? weren't the brothers hands off? maybe i missed something here but to me just felt like "asylum ep= electroshock scene is a must" and meh.

sam leaving the hospital.just.like.that and "swapping place" with cas. i'm sorry, what? i won't even comment on meg being suddenly hired as a nurse cause okay i want to give the writers that, but wtf? oh okay, this guy that has just showed up here (and has definitely possibly murdered 4 or 5 people at the entrance) is maybe not okay, let's not call his wife or someone, let's just lock him up. whaaaaat?

the quite intriguing and original ideas:

the cas/sam parallel: they are both evidently mentally unstable for very different reasons. cas has, in a way, "left the life" and dean, of all people!!!, is not 100% cool with him regaining his memories because what if he leaves???? sam is quite literally very close to leave life in general because the trauma is affecting his body in an irreversible way. they are both "born" again identities at the beginning and at the end of the episode. Very cooooool.

sam and lucifer interactions: the actors really did their job well in this ep cause everytime I watch it I'm exhausted, like I can't bear to hear Lucifer talk and talk and taunt and I definitely feel worn out like sam. I think Jared works very well with Mark Pellegrino, too bad that the whole Lucifer storyline was a mess in later seasons cause the actors had great chemistry.

meg. every scene with meg is just joy for me. and her storyline? left alone looking for "friends"? sure, she totally plans to use cas as her ally but what's new? (jokes aside, there's a whole pattern of women manipulating and using cas, am i the only one seeing it???).

marin. first of all, hello abigail????? (hannibal memories flooding in). second of all, cool MoTW-Not-So-Much-MoTW story. ofc she's a sam's mirror used to basically explain what happened to sam but the ghost who's tormenting her is also her brother and he must die-die-die because he won't let her go. hello??? paralleling sam's hallucinations with sam's issues with dean was super intriguing and too bad that the MoTW was Not-So-Much-MoTW cause marin's story was maybe not even 8 minute long.

bonus: "Peace of Mind" from S14 echoes this ep brillianty, they even cast one of the same actors (the doctor/the mayor) and they used the same surname for sam (sam smith/justin smith). cool cool cool (although unrelated to s7).

[wasyago]

Is the recks au dead?

recks au is that one corpse i keep in my basement that me and friends reanimate every month or so in secret. every time someone asks where recks au is i say "ohh they're okay they've just been really sick lately, but the doctors say they're gonna be fine soon... no, you can't see them it's very contagious, im sorry". obviously there's no doctors. it's been two years. the recks au i know is very different from what people remember it to be, no one actually knows who it is now, everyone misses the person that doesn't exist anymore...

jokes aside!

it's insane to me that people still remember recks au, and that new people keep finding it somehow even if no one mentions it anymore. it's not even the masterpost in the pinned, no one looks at that thing. like, you guys have no idea how much there actually is to recks au, you've only seen a very small portion of it. and yet you keep asking and you keep returning. that's crazy

i wouldn't say recks au is dead, i still think about it often and i still want to do stuff for it. but, just like with everything else, i want to but i don't do it. i dont know why really. i want recks au to be so much more, i want it be great i want it to be interesting i want everything i do for it to be top quality, and maybe because of that I've put too much pressure on myself for no real reason. not sure. it'd be better if i just kept doing little bits at a time and post about it every so often instead of just abandoning it.

the main bottleneck is "scar's story", a small comic series that was supposed to introduce scar into the au and tell about his past and introduce big worldbuilding elements, etc. i got all the way to the last "chapter", planned it all out and then never finished it.

and instead of moving on and finishing it some other day, and maybe focusing on other characters in the meantime, i decided that actually! no! im gonna stop posting about recks au entirely until i finish that comic! smart. once again, lots of unneeded pressure. why? I DON'T KNOW 😭

should i just forget about that comic and start posting now? better late than never? yes, probably. am i going to do that? mngnmhmmhgmhhmg.....

(recks au is centered around s8 of hermitcraft, and it's season 10 now!!!!! that's insane that it's been so long. should i really post about it now? is it too late? should i really do something for s8 when there's new stuff and new concepts to be made? am i playing into the consumption movement thinking that everything i do should be new and relevant and if i post about old stuff im outdated and missing the opportunity? why do i even care about all that????? 😭😭😭😭)

people have been mentioning recks scar a lot recently, mostly because of the charity stream bc he was a little robot on wheels (just like in recks au wow crazy!!!!!!!!!!!), and i do have a drawing of him done that i could post.................... and there's nothing stopping me except myself............................................ auggghh

[legendary-69420]

Chapter 1: The Unexpected Return

(Racing Hearts : VOLUME 2)

The silence of the offseason always felt heavy, but this year, it was different. Charles found himself scrolling through his phone, eyes lazily drifting across F1 headlines, yet nothing could hold his interest for long. The last season felt like a blur, and even though he was supposed to be preparing for the next, his mind was elsewhere. It had been a month since Mark Spencer left Ferrari, and Charles could already feel the absence in ways he hadn't expected. He told himself he wouldn't miss him—not his loud jokes, not his constant teasing, and certainly not his cocky grin. But here he was, thinking about all the things he swore he'd be glad to forget. His mind drifted to the last time they had spoken. The memory was so vivid it stung. "Gosh, I can't wait for you to leave and get my teammate back." Charles had laughed when he said it, but now, in the quiet of his apartment, the words echoed back at him with regret. If only he'd known how empty the garage would feel without Mark's presence, he might've said something else. Maybe he would've admitted that, despite all the bickering, he had grown to enjoy Mark's company more than he realized. With a sigh, Charles tossed his phone onto the couch, rubbing his temples as he tried to clear his mind. There were only three months until the new season began, and he needed to focus. Carlos was back, and that should've been a relief. Ferrari was back to its usual lineup, but there was still an odd weight on Charles' chest, like something was missing. His phone buzzed again, lighting up with notifications. He ignored it at first, assuming it was another rumor or meaningless F1 gossip. But when it buzzed a second time, something in him stirred. Reluctantly, he reached for it, unlocking the screen with a swipe.And there it was. A tweet from Red Bull Racing.

The words seemed to blur as Charles stared at them, his heart dropping into his stomach. For a moment, he couldn't process it. Mark? Red Bull? His mind struggled to catch up as the realization hit him like a punch to the gut. Mark was back. And he was Max Verstappen's new teammate. The wave of emotions that followed was too much to make sense of. Anger? No, not quite. Confusion? Definitely. But there was something else beneath it, something that gnawed at him in a way he couldn't put into words. It felt like losing something he wasn't ready to give up.Before he could fully process the news, his phone buzzed again—this time, with a call. Mark. Charles hesitated, his finger hovering over the screen. They hadn't spoken since the end of last season. He hadn't expected to talk to him again this soon. Hell, he hadn't expected to see him on the grid next season at all. But curiosity won out, and with a deep breath, he answered the call. "Leclerc! Guess you didn't expect that, huh?" Mark's voice was annoyingly cheerful, the kind of tone that could grate on anyone's nerves if they weren't prepared for it. Charles bit back a smile, already hearing the smugness on the other end of the line. "No, I definitely didn't," Charles replied, his voice a little sharper than intended. "Red Bull, really?" "You sound so disappointed," Mark teased. "But hey, I couldn't resist. Max is nice, don't you think?" Charles felt a sudden pang of jealousy at the mention of Max's name, though he quickly pushed it aside. "Yeah, sure. You two should get along great." "You say that like you're not going to miss me." Mark's tone was playful, but there was something behind it, something Charles couldn't quite place. Charles leaned back against the couch, staring at the ceiling. He didn't want to admit that Mark was right. The idea of racing against him instead of with him was... strange. It made his stomach twist in a way he didn't fully understand. "I don't know what you're talking about," Charles said, forcing a chuckle. "I'm perfectly fine.""Oh, come on. I know you better than that," Mark replied. "Besides, it's not like you're getting rid of me. Get ready for my new jokes and annoying ass. You love it." Charles shook his head, despite the smile tugging at his lips. It was infuriating how well Mark could get under his skin. "Love is a strong word." "I know you do," Mark said confidently. "Anyway, see you soon. Hope you're ready for what's coming next." With that, the call ended, and Charles was left staring at his phone, the Red Bull announcement still staring back at him. "See you soon," Mark had said, but the words felt heavier than that.  They felt like a promise. As Charles tried to shake off the lingering feeling of their conversation, he scrolled through social media, hoping for a distraction. Instead, he found himself sucked into another whirlwind of rumors—this time about him and Alexandra. More theories, more headlines. People were still speculating about their relationship, despite the fact that it wasn't true. They were just friends, but it seemed no one could let it go. And honestly, he was too tired to keep explaining it. Just as he was about to shut his phone off for good, a message from Carlos popped up on his screen.

Carlos: "Back soon, mate! Can't wait to catch up."

Charles felt a flicker of relief. Having Carlos back at Ferrari would be good. Familiar, steady. Exactly what he needed after the chaos of last season. But even as he tried to convince himself that everything would go back to normal, there was a nagging thought in the back of his mind.Mark was back. But now, he wasn't just a rival. He was Max's teammate. And that changed everything. Three months until the new season, and already, Charles knew it wouldn't be anything like the last. He glanced at the Red Bull tweet one more time before locking his phone. "This season is going to be different," he muttered to himself, unable to shake the feeling that everything was about to change. ---

[inchidentally]

Hi! I just saw your brilliant post about the Landoscar turning point and as you asked other people's opinions here I am, I didn't want to crash the original post so here are my thoughts about it (It may be long, sorry!)

Disclaimer: neither of us know how they actually are and this is all based on their public personnas.

I think Lando and Oscar are figuring their relationship out slow but steady, and it's super interesting because as you mentioned it's so different to Lando's previous teammate relationships.

Carlos: Instant click. Carlos quickly assumed the role of the older brother and experienced driver. Carlos is an introvert and Lando was VERY shy at the beginning of his F1 adventure, so it wasn't an overwhelming dynamic for Lando.

Daniel: The polar opposite. A very overwhelming extrovert. I think that's one of the reasons it took them longer to get along. Daniel tried hard to be friendly but Lando just needed time. It didn't help that Lando was probably missing Carlos. At the end of their first year together they were already what people was expecting of them: jokes, laughs and two funny guys having a great time.

It's unfair to analyze all of this without mentioning the sports-side of things which is vital. Carlos taught Lando how to be in an F1 team, shared his telemetries, gave him advice. I guess that for a 19-yr old Lando that made him feel closer to Carlos. In Daniel's case it was trickier. Everybody expected Daniel to destroy Lando but Daniel struggled. A lot. And we know Lando tried to help but it was a complex problem, and that must make things a bit more awkward and distant. After the 1-2 in Monza and Daniel finally getting a great result, that awkwardness seemed to dissipate.

And now Oscar.

Oscar is a reflection of rookie Lando, but older and probably less anxious. They seem at ease since the very beggining (a softer 'instant click' I'd say) due to Oscar's calmer nature, and we know Lando does better at first with those introvert types. Worth noting that I don't think Lando had this 'heartbreak' after seeing Daniel leave as he had with Carlos, because he knew Daniel was suffering in McLaren to the point it was affecting his health, so it was good for him to leave. So Oscar's arrival was already smoother than Daniel's, and it's important to mention that they weren't complete strangers, Max Fewtrell knew Oscar personally and probably talked about him to Lando before the Aussie arrived at Mclaren.

So a good starting point but as Lando said, Oscar is in his "serious phase". He wants to show that he deserves the seat and that he's not here to be McLaren's #2. Add that to his introverted personality and you'll have a difficult code to break for Lando. I imagine Oscar thinking at the beginning that Lando would want to play mind games with him, but that boy seems pretty honest and if he tries to get close to someone is because he genuinely likes them.

They're probably in that point where they know can trust each other, but they still feel a bit like strangers. They don't seem to have a lot in common aside of racing but give them time. Lando started playing golf because of Carlos. Daniel started to mess around with his photo camera because of Lando, I'm sure they'll find a common ground.

So I agree, they've not had their turning point yet, but I think they're cimenting a solid relationship without rushing things. Maybe not seeing each other during the off-season will bring them closer as I'm very sure they're going to miss each other. And if the car performance continues being good next year, that will help them too. More battles in track doesn't necessarily mean a brocedes situation, as most people think. It's way worse to have a shit car and being grumpy because you're battling for P12.

So to sum things up I think their current state is: Good relationship with a solid base to build a friendship. Mutual admiration and respect. And a dash of mutual fascination too ;) If you got here, thanks for reading!

I love this and I agree!!

what's so interesting is that i my other analyses (it's very weird I have so many askgfksagf) including my carlando astrology one is that I've never really considered before that Carlos is more an introvert than an extrovert like you said. I very much see him as a natural leader and his genetic makeup absolutely puts him in the more 'dominant' position with his teammates. and obviously he's very easygoing with humor and naturally funny but in fact he clearly isn't much of a show pony like Daniel. even him zoning out as he said is more that he just has kind of moved on from the conversation and is thinking about something else. and his romantic relationships are as private as an F1 driver's can be with the huge majority of content coming from paps and journalists and fans. his love of spending quality time with family during the winter break is also very introverted.

and I actually have a thought about the needing to find common ground the way he has golf with Carlos and friends and photography with Daniel. since Oscar truly is someone who has his job as a racing driver and then otherwise switches off to video games/TV/naps I feel like what's bound to happen with him and Lando is that they find their friendship in those liminal spaces. I feel like Oscar is way too shy to appear in Quadrant videos or Lando's streams but then Steve is a very lowkey part of that team so I still think he would work?? and I love like you say that Oscar already has that connection with Max F so it would be so cool to have him integrated into Lando's life that way... IF you could get him to agree to it which is a big if.

same about the brocedes worries (I did an insane post abt that too). Lando wears his emotions right on his face and doesn't have much verbal filter so if he were going to develop bad feelings toward Oscar then it either would have happened at the start of the season when the car was awful or when Oscar's success started paralleling Lando's mid season. but they both seemed to gain a lot of solidarity from that rough start and we know how hard Oscar has worked to show Lando that when the race is done, all rivalry between them is over.

[the-phoenix-heart]

Right. so uh. The final season of TUA dropped

I don't know how to feel.

(All the Spoilers Ahead)

Like halfway through this season I would have said it's not what I would've done, but I liked it. I enjoyed it. I thought it was iconic. Maybe a bit of an overuse of the Babyshark song, but you know, not that bad.

But like after that I think I started to hate the season when I realized things weren't going to be explained.

Like there is good about the season don't get me wrong. It was funny. The acting was stellar. I don't hate the ending in principle (I'll get to it later). I don't hate most of the ideas in principle. But it's the little things that keep piling up and piling up.

Like we're at the end of the series and I still don't understand marigold or durango. SO much stuff went unexplained. Why was Jennifer in a squid? Why was she in Moldova in the original timeline? Does she have powers herself or is she just a person until she touches one of the marigolds? Are there 43 durango babies like there were 43 marigold babies? Presumably she was the only one because she was the only one Reggie was protecting, but in that case WHY was she the only one. And that's just all the questions I have about Jennifer. Not even getting into her role in the story.

Because yeah, as a character she's pretty much nothing. She's vaguely empowered. She's vaguely interesting. She vaguely something. I'm not against her as a character. That scene where her and Ben are watching The Blob in different rooms is moving and great foreshadowing in hindsight. But that aside she's just a plot device to help destroy the world this time around. After her and Ben have sex she's just there to be in pain because of the virus. At least we known Ben. I can believe Sparrow Ben and hers connection, even if I'm so glad their romance was mostly just a horny world ending virus. Seriously the moment Ben started talking to her in the diner I got love interest red flags and was so uninterested.

Sparrow Ben by the way is a draaaaag on this season. Look, it was probably the right decision to let Original Ben move on, even if I think Klaus should have been involved with it. But it means when season 3 happened they trapped themselves to Sparrow Ben, who is not as interesting a character as Original Ben and also has less of a connection to the original Hargreeves siblings. Like I get why Luther or Klaus are trying to spend time with Ben, but the rest? I don't. Which is why I guess he's so disconnected from them this season, and doesn't get the big ending moment with them (times like this I wish they had kept Ghost Ben around).

But of course at least Ben has things to do this season. Imagine being someone as useless as Luther? Luther spends the season being a himbo, not at all the leader he used to be, and a repository of sex jokes and sconce jokes. And we REALLY aren't looking at his issues??? He's living in the condemned remains of his childhood home and also the place where he fell in love with Sloane, and we're not going to talk about that???

And then there's Klaus...Klaus, Klaus, Klaus. It's tradition that Klaus kicks off a personal sidequest/subplot every season, but by GOD this was the worst one. Like, it's funny, in a dark sort of way, but it's also so POINTLESS. We really wasted precious time in this six episode season on Klaus being kidnapped by his former drug dealer, working as a medium for one customer who is looking to find her ex's money he hid, getting Kill Billed, and then getting rescued. WHY?! Why was Alison the only one who cared? Why didn't Abigail at least say something like, "Where's Klaus? I've been wanting to see him."

And he was so close to really finally getting his this season. His introduction this series showed that more than anyone he was effected by the loss of his powers-ie. being terrified of the world and falling back into his old habits so he's very careful about everything. He also gets to be Claire's fun uncle this season! And then after he is forced to get his powers back he is rightfully pissed and in a state of distress and it's really working. And then it's just...a funny sideplot I guess?

The sideplot's purpose I suppose is to properly redeem Allison after last season, showing she'll still do anything for her family, and I'm sorry but that was the WORST way to do it. Allison and Klaus have always been close with each other in every season, and only now are they saying it's kind of unhealthy. And ultimately it doesn't matter since it's just a footnote in the last episode. Like, this season treats her so weird. For someone who was pushing the plot along last season she really doesn't have much to do this season other than her relationship with Klaus. They don't even really address the whole Allison created another world for us thing, or how much she screwed them over last season (And I am NOT an Allison hater okay. I loved her arc last season. I just also think that they should acknowledge it more in this season). The six year time skip really is doing so much work to ignore the events of last season.

And then there's Viktor. Who is both doing a lot this season and coming out looking like he's doing nothing. He's just kinda there for a few episodes, they imply he has commitment issues and then do nothing with that (I guess it's just meant to point out how awful this new timeline is?), and up until the flashback with him asking to go on the mission and being turned down, as well as the mission with Reginald I kinda kept forgetting he was there. Which is not something you want to do for your actor who gets top billing and is arguably the most important character in the series.

But of course he isn't the most important character this season. Which means it is finally time to talk about the clusterfuck in the room.

Let me just say, I kinda get what they were going for. Lila would be uncomfortable with being a housewife and would need an escape, and her and Five have been set up as connected since the second season so it's not impossible that she would try something with him, and it's not even that creepy from a Watsonian point of view because he's in his sixties and by the time they do anything he's in the body of a 24 year old at least; and from Five's point of view he is an incredibly lonely guy who has no real purpose in life anymore and is still a man out of time so it's not impossible that he might look at Lila as a person for that connection he's been missing since Dolores and yet-

My body STILL cringes at the sight of them.

Like, what should have happened logically is they kiss and then the two recoil in revulsion and talk about how much of a mistake that once and how gross it is. And yet the season tries to string us along with this awful love triangle.

And let's be clear it is not awful for Five. You can call it character assassination for him, personally I don't agree with that, but the framing makes it out that Five is in tragic love with her. Like they could have had a happy life together in that cottagecore universe, but OH the trappings of their universe kept them from it. Five ends the season as the most important character who has the answers and has to tragically give them.

I don't hate the diner with all the other Fives. I don't hate him traversing the multiverse for answers. I don't hate Five in this season, even if it is out of character for him to abandon a mission like that (He spent 50 years in the apocalypse trying to get home he wouldn't give up after SIX). I do hate what it does to Diego and Lila's characters.

It makes sense for Lila to be uncomfortable with suburban life. It also makes sense that Diego is uncomfortable with suburban life. At the same time it makes NO sense. Honestly the roles should be reversed, Diego should be putting all his time into being a full time parent and Lila should have the money making job, that makes more sense for their characters. Diego may be obsessed with heroism, but he also is obsessed with the ideals of family and taking care of them, it doesn't make sense for Diego to be so distant from them. Hell in the end LILA is the one with the big family moments, Diego doesn't even say goodbye to them I think. Diego's character is warped to fit this love triangle subplot they concocted and it REAKS. I HATE it. To make Five look like a viable option they have to make Diego this weird deadbeat-ish out of shape dad which makes NO SENSE.

And Lila is so hard done by the subplot because it controls her motivations. Why would Lila of all people choose to be a stay at home mom? I like that she's still disguising herself and doing her own thing on the sly, but she could do that even if she had a job. She's still a fun character, and I like that they played up her loyalties. I like the scene at the end where she almost dooms the world to stay with her family, but of course FIVE has to talk her down from that decision not her HUSBAND. Because her connection with Five is somehow more important than her connection with Diego that has been built up after three seasons.

And that's not to say anything about the small details that ruin this season for me. In no particular order-

The absence of Ray was the first major red flag for me. I guess he might've been unable to play the role this season so they just wrote him out of the show or they didn't know how to write him into it so they just said he ran out on Allison and Claire. Either way I hate it. Ray was such a good character in season 2 and I know this timeline is supposed to be kinda shitty, but that is doing Ray as a character so dirty, and Allison as well seeing as Allison and him were married and happy in season 2.

The absence of SLOANE. Did Luther not go trying to find Sloane in this new world? Did he just give up? He keeps mentioning her so why didn't he DO anything. Why didn't Sparrow Ben try to find his siblings???

I shouldn't still be mad about the absence of Dave, but I in fact am. His absence in season 3 was already conspicuous (the timeline had already changed with Dave enlisting earlier than expected and Klaus not being with him in Vietnam, who's to say he couldn't have still been alive in that timeline?) but the fact that he's not in this timeline either is so fucking sad for Klaus. Maybe him and Dave were soulmates, maybe they weren't, but the show sure treated it like they were. I know that the ending of the show is meant to be tragic, but we couldn't have THIS?

Seeing as Lila's family is alive in this timeline, why do none of the Hargreeveses have their biological families?

And let's talk about that ending shall we? Again, I get what they were going for. The ultimate sacrifice together as a family. The idea that they were so dangerous their existence was parasitic to the universe. The idea that after death they're still there as a couple of marigolds. It's sweet.

It's also FUCKING STUPID.

I might've been happy with the ending if Gene and Jean had been included being happy. I might've been happy with the ending if Eudora was there. I might've been happy if Dave or Harlan were there. As it stands none of them were there so that ending is already terrible to me, but it means I have no problem ripping apart the fabric of the ending.

Firstly, any story that says there is only one timeline is boring. Any story that says there is only one timeline and that timeline is normal is worse than boring, it's just plain stupid.

The idea that the Hargreeves are destined for an eternal tormenting cycle of destroying and saving the world is, at best, deeply nihilistic. I think it fails to understand that the end of the world could probably be avoided with therapy. But if we really take that as the gosphel then here is a bright idea, how about you spread all of them out across the timeline so they can't come together and end the universe? Then you still get a sacrifice without that horrible one timeline outcome.

That's another thing that makes no sense. So what, the way to make the one true timeline is that in one timeline Lila, Five, Diego, Luther, Klaus, Viktor, and Allison have to sacrifice themselves Cleanseiffer and that fixes everything? When there are countless alternate universes where they still have the marigold?

The refusal to acknowledge all 43 marigold children has always been a thorn in my side, but I really felt it this season. This would've been the perfect time to include all of them. Hell, maybe use the subway system and the other Five's to send the message that they need to give up their marigold. THAT would have been evocative.

Or, I dunno, don't kill everyone. Maybe if you're going to do the durango/marigold plot then maybe have a bunch of durango children to parallel the marigold children. Have them be their equal and opposites to really nail down that whole yin and yang thing you TRIED to give Jennifer and Ben. Just something, god, anything rather than what you gave us.

[podsn]

⚠️Ahsoka episode 6 spoilers⚠️

Okay so this episode was pretty fucking good. I really enjoyed it.

OUR BOY EZRA IS BACK. He’s all grown up now 🤧 I’m very excited to see how he views Sabine’s decision to go find him. She didn’t tell him how she found him so I’m assuming he’s not gonna be too happy with the answer but also I think it will be fine once Ahsoka gets there.

THRAWN IS BACK TOO. He’s so fucking cool. I missed him. I definitely think we are getting a season 2 about Thrawn rising as heir to the empire and we will get to see Thrawn’s plans unfold.

This episode overall was very exploration focused. We got a night sister version of the tuskeon raiders, a species of rock folk, a new riding species. A lot more world building this episode.

Also Thrawn completely casting Baylan and Shin to the side. Baylan and Shin a very much doing things for their own goals. They don’t align with Thrawn or Morgan at all really. I’m also curious to see where Baylan and Shin both stand. Baylan said he wants to end the cycle of rising powers like the Jedi and empire. Shin on the other hand is following him but seems to be questioning a lot of what Bayaln is doing. Like she doesn’t even know what his goals are. She has great respect for Baylan but I have a feeling their goals will later differ or he will die and she will carry on his legacy in her own way.

If I’m being honest I was hoping for more of a solo sabine episode focused on her character arc. I mean she even said that Tota had abandoned her and I thought it was gonna go into her true feeling about how she feels about the people around her but it seemed more joking.

Thrawn learning of Ahsoka was cool. I wonder how much information about Ahsoka is truly known. Thrawn wants all her information but other than Baylan someone that Thrawn casted aside idk if anyone knows of Ahsoka and her past. She may be the one character that stumps Thrawn but its also unlikely at the same time.

Overall I’d say this episode felt very season 1 of the mandalorian which is good. The series is going into the last 2 episodes I believe and I’m very excited to see where this goes. I do truly think we are getting season 2 because the story can end in 2 episodes there’s no way. I am very excited tho.

[scoobydoodean]

I think some of the "Sam thinks Dean is stupid" stuff comes the repeat "joke" of him constantly being surprised when Dean reads or knows literary references lol

Sure. You know what I think this is also a function of though? Dean saying things like, "Dude, could you be any more gay?" in 3.05 because Sam remembers the story of Cinderella. Actively supporting a narrative that he does not like reading or at least certain types of books (I actually think maybe Dean isn't a huge fan of classic fairy tales for various reasons but I digress). Also Dean often frames Sam as the researcher and himself as the do-er. Even in season 1, where Dean's competence at hunting alone (both the researching side and the actual killing part) is very evident, in Scarecrow, he jokes, "I’m actually on my way to a local community college. I’ve got an appointment with a professor. You know, since I don’t have my trusty sidekick geek boy to do all the research." He allows this narrative of himself versus Sam to persist, except when he doesn't and goes, "What? I read" ("Baby" is one example). (Really he just likes keeping Sam on his toes and constantly turning the tables to remind him that there are things he does not know jhvdshggvzhsdvhsa.)

Dean seems to be an avid reader of fiction and he extensively incorporates his consumption of media (watched, read) into pop culture references throughout the series. He loves a good story. He is also an extremely competent researcher when he wants to be... but there are also suggestions that Dean most of the time doesn't particularly enjoy the research grind. Sam? Well—he does seem to have a fondness for fairy tales specifically, but he's that nerd who looks at a call number from the Library of Congress and goes, "This references sciences and probably birds specifically". Also the kind of nerd who would probably work up a whole reference system for the bunker library, which I think Dean would do if he had to--but he wouldn't enjoy doing it and I think Sam is the kind of person who would actively enjoy doing that.

Dean's relationship to research comes across very ADHD to me personally in the mid to late series. Like he can suddenly be sitting for hours doing research if that is what he NEEDS to be doing in that moment and there's some real urgency to that need. But most of the time I think looking through tomes for hours and hours searching for an obscure spell is not what he would like to be doing, and Sam kind of enjoys that shit. I also think perhaps Sam has trouble understanding the difference between the two ways he and Dean relate to books and how both of them like reading but for different reasons, and that not enjoying what he enjoys about research does not mean you don't enjoy reading books generally. But Dean also contributes to this narrative of "Sam is the researcher, and I do not like books", like in 13.17 (because they are about to spend hours and hours researching) saying very sarcastically, "I love books!"

As an aside though also, thinking your brother doesn't like to read also doesn't mean you think he's stupid. There are many reasons not to like reading. Facts about me: I loved to read novels as a child and now I hate reading novels. I can enjoy reading only VERY selectively, have a very short attention span for reading certain types of materials, and haven't picked up a novel in years because I don't want to. But I also have a Masters degree and am working on a PhD. I also don't believe formal education is always a great indicator of intelligence, but neither is not reading books. When Sam gets really scathing and jokes about how "Yes I read books without pictures even", I don't think that is something he would say if he genuinely believed Dean was stupid.

[n7punk]

When you write your fics do you have specific heights for Adora and Catra in your head?

sometimes, yeah! usually i just think of them as close enough in height it doesn't really matter (adora slightly taller), but sometimes i make the gap more quantifiable. I think you could make the case for their height gap ranging 0-3 inches canonically given 1) variation between panels, episodes, etc that just comes as a consequence of any handdrawn animation without a very rigid focus on maintaining things like this (something few TV shows have the production time to be even if they want to). 2) actual changes over the course of the show. all the characters "matured" in various ways through the seasons, which is partially down to the artists becoming more practiced with the characters, but there's also purposeful refinements and updates (seasons 4 and 5). 2) the visual complication factors of adora's boots and catra's hair. catra is (northern reach aside) always shoeless, so adora gets a slight boost she wouldn't have from her boots (but also this difference is usually still present in pretty much any scene or au i write, so whatever), but catra also has very big and fluffy hair (even when it's short it's still pretty fluffy) that might make her appear taller or shorter depending on how you mentally "correct" for that.

in addition to the canon case for it, there's also 4) au factors. i am generally of the opinion that any changes to characters should be genesis of the world setting and not feel like a deviation from the canon character but rather a variation of the canon character. some aus have more variance than others (for instance, things like lotd and isohm get closer to deviation because their world setup is just so damn different and i'm not satisfied with how those aspects of those AUs came out as a result). a great example would be strange disease, where i decided that by virtue of Being Werewolf™️Adora would be noticeably taller, not just from canon, but from how tall she was before the first time she wolfed out. she probably started like 2-3 inches taller, but by the time she comes back to catra she's more like four inches taller in that one. i think i decided to make her more like three inches taller in slas too? and probably a couple others.

anyway, you can usually assume adora is and inch or two taller in most of my fics, but sometimes i lean further towards one end. SYE adora is three inches taller so catra can make mental jokes about climbing her like a tree despite how it would be more like. stepping on a twig. standing on her toes. idk i ran out of metaphors