#like eddie has struggled but he has actually improved and that improvement is part of his character arc

[eddiegettingshot]

it really is so funny that eddie is the one who has not only gone to therapy multiple times, but has encouraged and prioritized therapy for his son, continued to use therapy language and techniques, demonstrates a lot of self-awareness of his own issues, is pretty vulnerable with people when given the chance, and so on, but buck (guy who is famously Not Ok and doesn’t know how to deal with being Not Ok and also does not demonstrate any lasting impact from the brief therapy he did do) is always implicitly considered the Emotionally Intelligent Touchy-Feely Therapized Enlightened guy because he externalizes all his feelings. lol

[morganski-19]

part 1, part 2, part 3

Wayne stays at the hospital longer than he should. Rubbing his fingers along Eddie’s pick necklace like a rosary. Hoping that if he just prays hard enough, if his voice can be heard, Eddie will wake up. 

The prognosis isn’t great. Each day that passes marks another day where his chances of waking up get lower. Even though many people have woken up from medically induced comas much later than this. According to the doctors. According to the pamphlets given to him at the start of all of this shit. But those are just words. Words he doesn’t believe fully. 

Six days with no changes. No improvement. Just a tube to make sure he’s breathing regularly and an IV to make sure he doesn’t die of dehydration or starvation. The doctors say that his brain still shows activity, and his heart hasn’t missed a beat since he was last revived. Eddie’s alive, but just how much?

How much longer will Wayne sit in this agony waiting for him to wake up? Or how long until the string of hope just ends six feet under? 

Religion was something that Wayne dealt with sporadically. He was raised Catholic, sort of still is a practicing Catholic. Goes to church when he isn’t too tired, still prays, and goes to confession sometimes. Just didn’t always make sense. But now, it’s all he’s got. 

Eddie’s in God’s hands now. Whether that’s the God in the Bible, or some other deity of the many other religions in the world, Wayne doesn’t care anymore. As long as he’s heard, and this being knows his boy is good. That he was taken far too soon. 

Eddie liked to say there was nothing much for him past high school. That he was going to run out of town as soon as he could and fight to make something of himself. Be a struggling musician, find odd jobs. Anything to keep him out of the monotony of a corporate job. Get him away from the conservative views and stuffiness of this town. Somehow get big enough to prove them all that he wasn’t a failure. Or never come back to prove them all right. 

It would be a sad day when Eddie finally left for good. The trailer would seem empty without the life that Eddie brought. The peace and quiet that Wayne always asked for not bringing any peace because it was too damn quiet. He knew this now because it’s what’s keeping him here each day. 

The beeping of the heart monitor was like the heart beating in his chest. Some noise came from Eddie to prove that he was alive. Almost like he was acting himself again. The motel room he was staying in was too quiet. No music down the hall, no clanking around the kitchen, no yelling at the TV or a book. Just the occasional noise if there were neighbors and people driving to the hospital. It was all the wrong noise, though. 

“Excuse me,” a nurse says as she enters the room. “Visiting hours are over, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Wayne nods, getting up from his chair. Back screaming as it pops itself back into place. It’s his day off, or night off tonight, so he can actually sleep. If it ever comes to him. Might be one of those nights where the ceiling and him have a staring contest. He’s been close, but never quite won one of those yet. 

The Chief’s car sits outside of the motel as Wayne pulls up. It’s only been a day since they spoke last, there can’t be that many updates. Wayne can’t think of any other reason he’s here. 

Wayne invites him into the motel room, the urge to offer him a drink screaming at him, but he has none to give. Hospitality doesn’t come with the room fees. 

“I’m guessing there’s something new, that’s why you're here.”

“Not necessarily. I’m still trying, but until the one guy I normally negotiate with comes out of hiding, that’s when the real talking happens.”

Wayne sits down on one of the chairs, too tired to keep standing. “Why’re you here then?”

“To check on you. I know the hospital life well. It’s no picnic, especially if you’re doing it alone.” He pulls another one of the chairs over to sit down. 

There’s no lie in that. “I’m about as good as anyone could think.”

The Chief pulls two beers out from under his coat, handing one to Wayne. He takes it faster than any beer he has in his life. Pulling out his pocket knife to take off the cap. 

“How long till that friend of yours comes out of hiding?”

Hopper shrugs. “Don’t know. Sent him a few threatening letters, and he still owes me one, so we’ll see. If things were better here, I’d go hunt the man down myself.”

Wayne nods. The company’s nice, he can’t lie. Sitting in solidarity with someone who knows what you’ve been through. Making sure nothing’s going worse than it already is. Like a sponsor through the hospital proceedings. 

When the sun finally finishes setting, the chief excuses himself. Not before handing Wayne a slip of paper with his number on it, just in case anything happens. 

The more days go by, the more Wayne is reminded that he’s not alone in this. Not fighting this battle alone. People believe him, more than just kids. People with influence. It shows in how people keep coming in and out of the hospital room. Saying how they know he’s innocent. That he’s guilty of some things, but not this. 

It makes him think back to that afternoon, snapping at the Harrington kid. It’s so easy to be angry at people who are better off, in so many ways, that vision gets blinded. Seeing someone who went through something similar to Eddie get out, and be conscious while his boy is still asleep. Probably will never have to worry about hospital bills and medical debt. It makes him angry. 

Even if the kid doesn’t deserve it. Wayne has no clue who this kid is and how he knows Eddie. Why he claims to have been there in the week Eddie was missing. What it all means. It doesn’t make any sense. None at all. 

But then the next morning when he’s getting coffee, there’s the kid again coming in beside Dustin. Talking to someone at the front desk before heading down the hall. Right to the elevator, and up to the floor Eddie’s on. 

Wayne heads back to the room, ready to kick him out again or apologize. He’s not sure yet. But, the room is empty. Steve is instead down the hall, talking to Susan Mayfield. Looking serious as hell, and halfway ready to cry. 

Another kid comes out of the room, one who’s stopped by a few times to check on Eddie. Lucas, Wayne thinks is his name. Remembers it only because Eddie had ranted a few times about some kid named Lucas trying to be on both the basketball team and part of the Dragons club. 

The kid says something to Steve before he’s being wrapped in a hug and starts crying. Steve just holding him as this kid breaks down. Presumably about the person behind those doors. Wayne assumes it’s probably Susan’s kid. Remembers hearing that she was in bad shape. Hopefully, that didn’t get any worse. 

Wayne returns to his room, not wanting to intrude. A nurse comes in a while later and asks him to step out for a bit. 

“What for?”

“Eddie’s breathing has improved over the last twenty-four hours. The doctor came in to check on him early this morning, and said that if by noon it was the same, the breathing tube could come out.”

“And that’s a good thing?” Wayne’s hesitant to believe anything these days. 

The nurse nods. “As long as his oxygen levels stay, well level, then yes. It means that his body is well on the way to recovery.”

Wayne nods, taking his coffee to the waiting room. There, he just waits.

Next part

Note: The next part of this will get a bit interesting. I've been having ideas for a while now of making this duel POV between Wayne and someone else, maybe Steve. Mainly because I keep thinking of conversations that would happen, but Wayne would be nowhere to witness it. But I think what this fic needs is a POV not directly in the main relationship that will be happening, to keep it an outsider POV fic. So I'm thinking that the second POV would be from either Robin or Dustin. I'm currently deciding between the two so let me know what you think. I'm also going to start posting this to ao3, and will provide the link to that once I think of a title. I will continue to post the smaller parts here on tumblr, and you will not be missing out on any of the story if you only follow it on here. For now all of the parts will also have the tag #morgan's wayne POV. If that changes, as it probably will since this is no longer just a wayne POV fic, I will let you know. Also, Max is alive, they just got a heavy diagnosis that you will learn of later.

tag list, let me know if you want to be added or removed: @the-they-who-nerded, @insteviewetrust, @croatoan-like-its-hot, @jettestar, @tinyplanet95, @steddie-as-they-go, @slv-333, @littlecelestialmoth, @thatonebadideapanda, @fandomsanddeath, @marismorar, @wonderland-girl143-blog, @glass-bottle03, @gutterflower77, @here4thetrama, @goodolefashionedloverboi, @jaytriesstuff, @cryptid-system, @manda-panda-monium, @resident-gay-bitch, @anaibis, @xxsutherlandxx, @forevermineliv, @mugloversonly, @gregre369, @n0-1-important, @different-tale-student, @spectrum-spectre, @tartarusknight, @devondepresso, @swimmingbirdrunningrock, @cheertain, @anti-ozzie, @autumncrocusandladybug, @greeniebean911, @cr0w-culture, @stillfullofshit, @connected-dots, @daisynotquake, @morgannotlefay, @a-little-unsteddie, @dolphincliffs

[dreamwatch]

Get in the Van

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest

Day #5 - Prompt: On The Road | Word Count: 999 | Rating: T | CW: chronic pain, language | POV: Eddie | Pairing: None| Tags: band struggles, touring in a van, author is not American, geographic inacuracies (probably) | AO3

****

“Fuck!”

“It doesn’t matter how many times you kick the van, man, it’s not going to make it start!”

“Maybe he just needs to kick it harder.”

“Shut up!”

****

Wasn’t this just fucking amazing? Wasn’t this just indicative of the bad luck that followed him around like some looming spectre? They’ve only been out on the road a few weeks, just a handful of gigs before the van broke down. Now they’re stuck at the side of the road in Somewhere, Minnesota, with a van full of equipment, dirty laundry and soon to be broken dreams. 

It started in Evansville, with a bunch of locals who heard about the satanists showing up to play their 'devil music' and decided to give them a warm welcome; there are dents and scratches all over the van that are definitely not going to buff out.

Then in St. Louis they had an amazing show, like objectively fucking brilliant. Eddie knows for a fact there was some local music journalist in the crowd, too. So of course that was the night Jeff’s amp decided it wasn’t just going to give up, it was going out in a blaze of glory. Literally. Fucking thing just went up in flames. Everyone thought it was part of the act, even when he stripped his shirt off to beat the flames out. So yeah, now they’re down an amp.

Gareth being plied with tequila before the show in Kansas City was another highlight. Don’t get him wrong, he loves to see Gareth happy and if a pretty woman wanted to buy him some drinks then good for him. He loved it less when they were on stage later. Eddie has no idea what songs Gareth was playing, but they definitely weren’t the same as the rest of the band. He also learned it’s really hard to get vomit out of a snare drum.

And then there’s the pain.

Thing is, its always there. It just is, there’s no point making a big deal about it. The doctors always told him it would be a life long thing but that it would get easier. It’s been three years now, and there’s been no improvement. Which is, well not fine, it sucks, but you know, it is what it is. But there have been days, shows, where he could cry. Where it feels like his skin has been flogged with a burning switch, where the muscles in his leg and back scream at him to stop, just fucking stop! But he pushes through, takes his painkillers, maybe doubles up sometimes with a couple of shots of JD to help them down, whatever. It’s all good.

And now they’re sitting at the side of the I-94 with smoke and steam billowing from the engine block, and nothing but truck after truck passing by. 

“What if no one stops?” asks Gareth, propping himself against the back doors.

Jeff rocks on his heels in front of him, hands jammed in his pockets. “Someone will stop.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Eddie mutters. He’s under the hood, poking his hand around into the hot engine parts; he’s only burnt himself twice so far. 

“Hey, don’t be bring your bad juju here man—”

Eddie storms to the back of van. “My bad juju? Are you kidding me? Gareth booked these fucking gigs!”

A huge semi screams past them, tooting his horn, making them all jump. 

“I booked some of them. Don’t blame this on me, man. It’s your van.”

“It is my van, correct, however we all benefit from it, and I don’t see any of you assholes dipping into your pockets when it needs work.”

Jeff shrugs. “Well, it’s never needed work.”

“It does now,” says Matt, merrily throwing pebbles into the long grass, like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Eddie cuts him a withering look.

Another truck passes, whipping up dirt in it’s trail. When he’s done coughing, Gareth says “I kind of think we should stand further away, actually. This doesn’t feel safe.“ He’s probably not wrong.

“Alright, go and sit by the fence, I’ll stand here with my thumb out,” Eddie says, mumbling “like an asshole” under his breath. He drops his jacket into the front seat of the van on the off chance it might seem less imposing, and then heads to the side of the road, standing as far out from the van as he dares. 

“You should roll your jeans up, show ‘em some leg!” Matt shouts at him.

“Fuck off, Matt!”

“Have you seen how white his legs are?” he can hear Jeff say. “We want them to stop, not call Ghostbusters.”

Eddie pokes his head around the side of the van. “By all means, one of you stand here with your thumb in the air while eighteen wheelers fly past.” When he doesn’t get a response he snaps back, “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

Eddie stands in the blazing sun, hair whipping around his face as semi after semi speeds by; he’s sweaty and dirty and desperate for a shower. The nerves in his leg are starting to fire up, and he needs a cigarette but he smoked his last one just before the van decided it was done with this trip, so now he has the little tap tap tap of nicotine addiction to contend with as well. 

This sucks. Touring sucks. So fucking much.

But.

Last night they played a show in Minneapolis. The crowd was wild; a huge mosh pit opened up right in front of Eddie and it took every ounce of his being not to throw himself in the mix. They sold tapes and t-shirts and traded phone numbers with a band manager. They laughed all night and drank until three A.M.. It was amazing. It was everything he ever dreamed it would be.

Wayne always told him he was resilient, ‘more than you know, son.’ He holds on to that as another truck screams past.

[mazzystar24]

i don't like how some parts of the fandom make eddie almost too incompetent to be alive. and treat all of it like it's canon. "eddie can't cook, he almost burned down the kitchen", "eddie's bitchy and jealous", "buck's always doing the dishes at the diaz house", "good thing buck introduced eddie to carla and likes babysitting chris, because eddie was struggling to take care of chris without him", "eddie doesn't understand his emotions", "eddie doesn't like his girlfriend and he only wants a babysitter", "eddie makes stupid choices instead of talking about his emotions" WHAT SHOW ARE YOU PEOPLE WATCHING??

I will say most of it I think are just fandom jokes that get lost in translation or like used as a device for fic purposes

And I agree with you to an extent (imma explain why to an extent) because Eddie is a very competent person

I think the easiest way for me is to bullet point each of the things you touch on but please know I’m not being curt with you and I appreciate the ask I just like breaking thoughts down into chunks🫶:

1. Eddie not being able to cook (or being in the process of improving his skill) is canon but yeah it’s dramatised for jokes/fic purposes which can be enjoyable ngl

2. This one I’m sorry but imma have to disagree with you, Eddie IS bitchy and stuff in canon like that’s just a facet of his character like it’s not even a character flaw in my eyes - oo actually lemme adjust that Eddie isn’t bitchy more so he is able to be bitchy in certain situations like anyone- and it doesn’t make him incompetent or anything

3. Again I think just for fic/jokes purposes but if you ask me whoever cooks the other should do dishes😌

4. THIS ONE YES I AGREE 1000% like people who say that miss that the fact buck did this for him isn’t sweet because Eddie would be an incompetent parent if he didn’t but because to step in and help where you aren’t needed but just to lessen the load for someone is what’s special, like Eddie didn’t need to let buck so into his life but he ALLOWS himself that vulnerability and to let another person help and that’s huge like as Ryan said in that one interview like that scene where Buck drops Eddie after the earthquake just symbolises all that because Eddie has his own car and can drive himself but he lets buck in and lets him help

5. Last two go hand in hand so I’m joining them - I think this one again is like a bit in canon but also not a character flaw or incompetence, I think it’s just very human and very fleshed out for a character to go through things and not fully grasp what they’re feeling at that point or know but bury it or know but misinterpret it or just act or make dumb choices

Like a good example is his fight club era, he had a lot of messy and complicated and mixed emotions and made bad choices instead of talking about those emotions - doesn’t make him incompetent or a bad person just someone who feels things

As always thanks for the ask anon and hope me disagreeing didn’t come off rude or anything🫶🫶

[the-amber-raven]

Oohh I've always been fond of fics where Chris picks up some habits from Buck! Aside from the jackets, what other habits/headcanons you have for them that wasn't included in the fics?

This was a surprisingly difficult one to answer, since thanks to the (asides) I use in this series and the flashbacks in I once was lost, I've actually been able to include a lot of them!

(Also, I didn't say the hoodies tidbit wasn't going to be in the fic ;) Just sayin')

I've been trying to think of the ones I struggled to shoe-horn in though, so here's a selection:

Bobby had a Reputation at all of Buck's schools. After his first parent teacher interview at their school in LA, he organised a meeting with the principal. She attempted to fob him off to someone else but he insisted it had to be her. So she diligently collected information from all of his teachers and went to this meeting prepared to discuss what she was sure would be his concerns about his son potentially having ADHD. She had a list of psychologists to refer him to and everything! And then he hands over a folder and starts explaining to her very seriously that the school is barely meeting fire safety requirements and here is a list of all the things she should do to improve their adherence to code and ensure student safety. She passes this information on to Evan's next school, which has a very frantic principal running around quadruple-checking fire safety standards before the first day of school.

Related to the above - Buck is diagnosed with ADHD in this universe, although he never ends up taking medication for it. Bobby is more concerned with making sure Buck is taught in a way that works for him (see "Mr Stugley said that I need explicit instructions" in oh captain my captain) and he has no patience for teachers who just tell him to get his son medicated. The revolving door of sports is also to help Buck manage his need to keep moving and stay active.

One of the first gifts Evan ever got for Bobby was a horrendously ugly mug. Bobby did not care about how ugly it was and used it anyway. Buck got in the habit of giving increasingly tacky mugs, a part of him morbidly curious about where his dad would draw the line. Bobby is suspicious that his motivation is to test him (as is Athena when he starts doing the same thing for her) but actually he doesn't really care because he is that much of a Dad that he will happily use a #1 Dad mug no matter what it looks like. This was actually really close to being in the story, so have this little snippet I wrote: Bobby had wondered sometimes if Evan was subconsciously testing them to see if they would still be willing to use the gifts when they were so over-the-top. Ultimately, though, it didn’t really matter because he had loved every one of them purely because they were from his kid and had taken great joy in using them. 

Lily (the paramedic in Minnesota who treated Evan after the fire) holds a grudge against Bobby for counseling her to stop getting involved when he then subsequently GOT INVOLVED AND ADOPTED THE KID. She gets her revenge by teaching Evan about just how much of a pushover his new dad is and she is the main reason that baby!Evan knows exactly how to soften Bobby up.

Eddie was pretty happy with how things ended in that last chapter of the mortifying ordeal: sure, Hen and Chimney teased him relentlessly about the miscommunication but they actually seem pretty happy to hear he's dating the captain's baby. And then it's Buck's first day at the station and he is suddenly reminded that Evan is in fact the station's baby and he realises he shouldn't be so complacent just yet. There are many, many speeches involved.

Christopher has found their silken ropes in their bedroom once, after they forgot to put them away properly ("it was a long shift and we had a tiny window of alone time, okay, it was a totally normal mistake!" Eddie insisted to a cackling Hen later.) Buck spun a very elaborate story about how someone at the station had gotten a new cat and he had read about DIY cat toys you could make with rope and so he wanted to give it a try but he was just soooo tired that he'd given up and fallen asleep. Chris very kindly offers to to help instead since clearly they can't let the poor kitten not have any toys! The crew laugh when Buck bemoans the loss of the ropes. ("They were expensive!" he mourns, getting laughter from the crew. "And they were so good because they never left any visible marks!" Bobby is visibly traumatised by the conversation.)

Evan got so used to Bobby's cooking that he forgot that there are people who aren't as good at cooking. The first time the 118 have to look after Evan for an extended period of time (because Bobby is in the hospital, badly injured but not on his deathbed, which creates plenty of heightened emotions) Chimney burns their dinner, Sal makes something ridiculously bland, and Tommy uses a store-bought spaghetti sauce. Evan is very judgmental. (Hen and Karen do fine, of course.) Bobby feels very vindicated when he gets to go home and gets a cuddle from Evan alongside a speech about how much he missed his cooking.

[f1]

Eddie Jordan says Daniel Ricciardo has no chance of replacing Sergio Perez as Red Bull's No.2 driver

Ex-F1 team owner says Daniel Ricciardo has absolutely no chance of beating Sergio Perez out to be Red Bull’s No.2 driver - after Aussie was connected to shock mid-season team switch By Dan Cancian For Daily Mail Australia Published: 14:28 BST, 14 May 2023 | Updated: 14:28 BST, 14 May 2023 Former Formula One team principal Eddie Jordan has ruled out Daniel Ricciardo replacing Sergio Perez as Red Bull's No2 driver. The Australian returned to Red Bull as reserve driver this year after parting ways with McLaren 12 months earlier than planned following two unsuccessful seasons. The eight-time Grand Prix winner has vowed to remain in Formula One after being replaced by Oscar Piastri at McLaren, but failed to land a spot on the grid for this season. While Jordan has not shut the door on Ricciardo securing a seat for next season, he's adamant he won't be replacing Perez at Red Bull.  'I’ve gone through this on a number of occasions and I actually think, you know, Daniel Ricciardo is there, but there’s no way Daniel is going to do the job that Checo [Perez] is doing,' he said on the Formula For Success podcast. Former F1 team principal Eddie Jordan has ruled out Daniel Ricciardo replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull at any point this season  Ricciardo is currently without a seat in Formula 1 and is Red Bull's reserve driver 'Having seen what Daniel has done, and as much as we like the guy, he’s just a fabulous person to be around, but Checo is doing a magic job.' Perez finished third in the drivers' championship standings last season behind world champion Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. The Mexican has started the season strongly and trails Verstappen by only 14 points after five races, with Perez winning in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan and the Dutchman triumphing in Bahrain, Australia and Miami.  While Perez's seat may be out of reach, Ricciardo could return to the grid this season with AlphaTauri poised to sack their struggling rookie driver Nyck de Vries. Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko has reportedly given de Vries an ultimatum to improve his performance by June or be replaced.  AlphaTauri is owned by Red Bull, meaning the team could simply turn to Ricciardo  as a possible replacement for the 28-year-old Dutchman.  If the move materialises, it would see the Australian driver return to AlphaTauri, where he previously raced for two seasons in 2012 and 2013 - when it was known as Scuderia Toro Rosso - before moving to Red Bull. Ricciardo has already recently been fitted for a seat in the AlphaTauri car, to ensure he would be available at a moment's notice should there be an issue with a driver.  Perez is second in the drivers' standings, 14 points behind teammate Max Verstappen Perez (left) and Verstappen (right) have split the opening five races of the season, with the former winning in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan and the latter in Bahrain, Australia and Miami Ricciardo has been watching this season from the pit wall after returning to Red Bull as reserve driver following his axing from McLaren at the end of last season  Meanwhile, former McLaren driver David Coulthard believes Verstappen is poised to dominate the sport for years to come.  'We have a generation of drivers in their mid-20s that for the next decade are going to be trying to fight it out, and basically any one of those guys who get their hands on a race-winning car have a chance to challenge Max [Verstappen],' he said.  'Challenging Max in the same team is going to take a superhuman effort, because Max is just a machine, isn’t he? 'He’s been groomed, in the nicest way of that expression, in terms of being on a racetrack from an early age. Both parents have been racers and he’s assertive, strong willed and more than capable.' Share or comment on this article: Eddie Jordan says Daniel Ricciardo has no chance of replacing Sergio Perez as Red Bull's No.2 driver via Formula One | Mail Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

[matan4il]

Buddie 604 meta

I feel like I deserve a medal for not making a joke about how, since it was implied in 401 that Eddie stayed at Buck’s during the pandemic, we know at some point Buck will have two ex-roommates who want his body fluids. XD ~~

It’s maybe a small thing, but I enjoyed seeing Ramon advise Eddie on his issue with Chris. It was a lovely callback to their promise in 517 to work on improving their relationship, and it also showed really nice insights from Ramon. I loved it! It’s a nice reminder that 911 for the most part doesn’t vilify people, even when it doesn’t shy away from their faults and failures. It’s also proof this is a show that doesn’t drop things once a storyline seems to have wrapped. I adore that about 911, and I also think it makes every single meaningful thing we’ve witnessed even more significant, because we know the show will return to it sooner or later. Like maybe certain scenes between a couple of firefighters? Maybe... ~~

Buck and Eddie exchanging a meaningful look over seeing this oblivious moron in love at the scene of the ep’s first call is giving me life. The wordless communication, the implied sass, the way they’re so in sync, the irony of them being exactly like him except less aware of their own feelings even if they are more aware of propriety. They’re not even teamed up together, because Chim needs Eddie’s medic experience as long as Hen’s still captain, and yet... Buddie are our hopeless romantic idiot kings, while 911 could give entire courses on how to showcase soulmates in less than a minute. ~~

A continuation of that can also be seen in another call. When Buck recklessly hops on the bike to chase and stop a car by almost getting himself killed in order to save Chim, right away we have Eddie calling out after him. He’s so exasperated with his work husband, he’s not even yelling in order to stop Buck, Eddie’s resigned to his husband’s ways. But a good husband still has to shake his head, much like we saw Eddie doing when Buck boldly insisted on the rope rescue in 316. It’s a part of their love language. ~~

All of that stands in contrast with the rest of the ep, where we don’t get to see Buck and Eddie being their usual self, meaning iconic life partners. The thing is, absence can be loud, and something that really makes this absence stand out rather than fly under the radar is contrast. In other words, we’re meant to notice the absence. That loudness is even amplified with the only scene in this ep where we have Buddie interacting in connection to their personal life. Even though they don’t actually get to consult each other, as they usually do, there’s a lot of intimacy there! For starters, Eddie’s surprised that Buck isn’t weighing in on the new issue with Chris.

This is so uncharacteristic, and we only need to think of the way Buck jumped right in with his objections about summer camp in 318 to see the difference. Eddie also believes that there are things Chris may tell Buck but not him. This man is shown throughout this ep having trouble letting go as his son is growing up to be his own person, and yet the one exception Eddie takes no exception to (sorry, bad pun, I know) is Chris filling Buck in on how he’s really doing. Eddie actually expects that to be the case. It’s a subtle, but oh so real acknowledgement that Buck is Christopher’s other dad and that the two of them have a bond that is not limited to the relationship either one of them has with Eddie. I love it. And lastly, of course Eddie can tell something’s up with Buck, troubling him. But it’s also obvious that Buck’s not ready to talk about it yet, with his quick denial of “no secrets here,” so Eddie, like the good husband that he is, lets him be.

Them suddenly dealing with their personal lives separately very much reminds me of basically the mood of most of season 5a. Buck was kept busy with Taylor and away from Eddie, who ended up struggling with how to be a good parent to Chris without the help of his biggest support, his life partner. It led to Eddie making a rash decision that we all knew he would have to find a way back from. If that’s not enough to make us realize Buck’s decision at the end of this ep is probably the wrong one, we also have him being drunk while getting drunk advice from Hen. The last time that happened (and only other one we saw on screen)? When Buck spiraled in 511 over Eddie leaving, and did something rash and foolish.

I tend to think that’s what we’re going to see with Buck now as well. I already was of the opinion that it doesn’t fit Buck as a person, he just cares too much to be the guy who can walk away. His history with Daniel might influence him to wanna help, do for these parents what he couldn’t for his own, but if he does recognize that connection, could he really help bring a new “Daniel” into this world and then... never have anything to do with that kid? But what makes me even more convinced that this decision will be reversed is the build up, showing Buck coming to this conclusion without consulting the one person he actually already shares his life (and a kid) with, and the way it parallels that storytelling structure we saw in s5. In addition, even the way he verbalized it makes me think this is meant to be seen as the wrong decision. Buck is on this journey to figure himself out, yet at the end of the day his decision to say yes isn’t about himself at all, it’s about Connor and his wife. This is who Buck has always been, the guy putting others ahead of himself. There’s nothing wrong with his big heart and generosity! But in an ep called “Animal Instincts,” this has always been he’s instinct. Now he’s meant to learn to balance it with looking after himself and his own happiness, too. So I might be wrong, but I don’t see it ending here. Taylor was a r/s Buck had to have in order for him to learn how to be the one who leaves, now Connor came to him with this request, and we’re gonna get to see him learning to say no. And just like Buck was a part of Eddie finding his way back during season 5b from his wrong decision, that temporary distance between them leaving them closer than ever, so I expect Buck’s sperm donor arc to be resolved with Eddie’s support and with the two of them getting even closer.

~~ Thank you so much for reading this! And for every reblog and like! If you’re interested in catching up, you can find my 603 meta and more on my blog. Thank you to the incredible @whosoldherout who tops posting her amazing gifs every week with providing some more for my meta.

[wanderingwomanwondering]

Saw this post and another post linked within it, and it got me thinking thoughts. I disagree with OP. Cold!Buck actually does seem like a meaningful thing to me. Here’s my thought process on Cold!Buck. This is probably longer than it needs to be but here I go…

Buck is the guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. As Chim pointed out earlier in the season, Buck typically tells everyone everything about his life in great detail. I think there are two main reasons for Buck’s tendency to do that.

He longs for connection. A part of connection is sharing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with beloved others. Buck loves the firefam and has a connection with all of them so he nurtures that by sharing info about himself. Of course he holds some stuff back but honestly not as much as everyone else.

Buck doesn’t really trust himself or his own judgment. Who would with parents who barely looked at or saw him, and when they did it was always with accusations that he was reckless or ignorant. Buck has also said canonically that he was pretty sure that his parents didn’t like him (or Maddie) as much as they seemed to like each other. His parents’ grief arc aside, that’s a hell of an implicit message for him (and Maddie) to grow up with. It’s reasonable that he struggled to trust his own mind and heart, and maybe even came to crave the loving guidance and positive/supportive feedback from the firefam that he NEVER got from his parents. So he doesn’t just want to tell the Firefam everything because he wants to connect with them but also because maybe he trusts their judgment and perspective over his own much of the time.

s6 Buck is pointedly not telling the firefam/eddie things. He’s going it alone to a degree. It’s a huge departure from his behavior in previous seasons. I think Buck is avoiding sharing as much because of the “conventional wisdom” that people who are “at ease” with themselves don’t seek others’ input on “every little thing”. In typical Buck fashion he’s taking the advice Bobby gave him to the extreme to prove (to Dad!Bobby) that he’s at ease and ready to advance in his career (and himself). There’s also the issue of Buck having always felt inadequate and expendable which is also driving his latest self improvement arc with these new s6 loner vibes. It matters that even when everyone asked what the hell was up with the sperm donor arc, he didn’t really explain it in terms of himself, only what Kameron and Conor needed. He also didn’t really disclose his personal fears and motivations for going through with it to Hen when he was day drinking with her. (We all know Eddie’s gonna be the one he eventually reveals his inner/emotional state to about all of this. Waiting for that is ending me! But anyway…)

This (finally lol) brings me to my point about Cold!Buck. He’s the only one in 609 who’s cold while the Santa Ana winds are blowing. He mostly signals being cold nonverbally through the ep. He’s also the only one dressed a little differently from everyone in most scenes of that ep if I recall. Anyway him being cold could be a production thing as theorize by op in the link above, or - I think - Cold!Buck is actually a commentary on Buck being “out in the cold” ie alone and unmoored/unsheltered from the winds blowing through his life in s6. He’s alone because he’s chosen to go it alone. He made that choice based on understandable family trauma and misunderstood friendly advice, but still. He’s out in the cold and all alone, but he doesn’t have to be!! Eddie’s right there!! I love Buck, and it’s been hard watching him totally struggle to find his way forward. Cold!Buck seems like a small but significant nod to his (perceived) aloneness.

Eddie, give Cold!Buck a jacket! I know you want to!!

[kitkatt0430]

Time Travel, The Multiverse, And Other Drunken Speedster Revelations? Or Detective Iris, I am intrigued by both

Time Travel, The Multiverse, And Other Drunken Speedster Revelations

I still love the title I gave this one and I'm determined to use it, though I suspect the fate of this particular story is to become part of the one in the Ralph 1 file.

It's got some similarities to the story "Welcome to the Madhouse" with Ralph asking questions he perhaps did not want to know the answers to. In this case - set in an alternate season 4 - Iris and Eddie are married, so this story would somewhat take the place of the bachelor/bachelorette party episode. Instead, Wally's coming back for his birthday but it's still a ways off. Cisco and Barry are testing their gift for Wally, which is speedster alcohol, so that Wally can ring in his twenty-first birthday in style and still get to enjoy the coming of age milestone that is the option of getting drunk for the first time (legally anyway).

Barry is, of course, the ideal test subject and the first attempt is, perhaps, a little strong.

Ralph shows up wanting to use the STAR Labs satellite to help him with a case. Doesn't really matter what. But he's distracted by how giggly and silly drunk!Barry is. Of course, a meta emergency happens and Cisco, reluctantly, leaves Ralph in charge of drunk!Barry while he runs out to be Vibe. Ralph can't resist the chance to start asking questions of the rambling, adorable speedster.

But Barry eventually starts rambling about time travel and the multiverse and how he used to know a different version of Ralph who didn't get fired by the CCPD and died the night the accelerator exploded. And Ralph doesn't quite know what to do with that information.

it's a very similar premise to the Ralph 1 story, which is intended to be a longer season 4 rewrite where Barry's struggling with mental illness after returning from the speed force - dissociative episodes - and also has the idea that Barry and an alt timeline version of Ralph were friends before Ralph died in a car crash the night of the accelerator incident.

Detective Iris is a Westhallen AU where Iris is a detective, Barry's still a CSI, and Eddie is the cute new barista at Jitters that Barry's got a crush on. Iris has been in love with Barry for years, so she's not thrilled about his interest in this new guy. But when Barry's kidnapped and Eddie is the witness, Iris winds up having to team up with Eddie to rescue Barry as it turns out Eddie is the new super hero on the block - Cobalt Blue. But Iris might actually have some powers of her own too and Barry's not as helpless as they think he is.

Iris had known Barry since childhood. They'd played together as little kids and been each other's friend-date to the prom. Barry had been the biggest supporter of Iris' decision to become a police detective, earning him the temporary ire of Joe West. Not that even Joe could stay upset with Barry for long, he was too sweet and earnest for anything like that.

And Iris might just be a teeny tiny little bit in love with him. Not that Barry had noticed.

Now there was Eddie. Cute, hot, flirty Eddie, whom Barry apparently had a massive crush on and wanted Iris' approval or blessing or whatever. And of course Barry had brought up the subject of Eddie right as Iris had finally worked up the courage to ask him out on a date. All that time and effort... and she deflated like a punctured balloon.

They're all dorks and need to improve their communication skills, but it'll all work out in the end. :D

[skinks]

I would just like to say Bongo Smugglers killed me. I’m sitting in class giggling thinking about a Losers movie night where they have a dramatic showing of the movie. Audra and Richie are less embarrassed then they should be. It becomes an annual tradition to play a bongo smugglers™️ drinking game at Christmas.

AHH this is amazing, I just shoved two words together that I thought were funny and suddenly it’s this whole ugly 2002 sex comedy fully formed in my head. Glad it killed you during class. And yeah, they’re definitely not embarrassed, everyone’s heckling the writing and the early 2000s fashion more than anything else anyway.

Richie happily provides commentary the whole way through even though he’s only in the sex scene, waving his tortilla chip in Eddie’s face because he’s got his arm around his shoulder, hugging him close into Richie’s side. Eddie keeps snapping bites at it so often that Richie just ends up hand feeding him chips.

“Aaaaaaand... that’s the first time I touched a boob, right there!“

“Glad to help,” Audra winks.

“The exact moment I realized I was totally lying to myself. I’m having an entire existential sexuality crisis right there on camera, but can you tell? Does my fratty façade crack an inch?”

“I could tell, because you spent fifteen minutes before the scene pacing around set and chanting you can do this, you can do this, don’t throw up, you like girls, but not too much, because you don’t get paid if you pop a boner, c’mon Richard, c’mon—”

“Like I said,” Richie shouts, over all his stupid friends laughing at him, “no one can tell, ‘cus I’m a pro—”

“You call yourself Richard during pep talks?” Stan’s grinning at him sharp-beaked, like a vulture. Has Richie seen him blink even once since he came back from the dead? Not sure, not sure, make note to ask Patty to spy.

Onscreen Audra is shimmying down her low-rise stone-wash boot-cut jeans, boots with the fur, the whole club was in fact lookin’ at her. What the fuck was anyone thinking back then? Richie privately blames the Bush administration, and continues.

“You’re a great scene partner, Audra-my-deah, and I respect you for cougaring not one but two of our little balding Brady Bunch here, but you were kinda the reason I figured out I’m gay. Like, big time gay. Well, the second reason.” He rubs tortilla-salt fingers through Eddie’s hair and feels his stomach go fuzzy when Eddie kinda thrums out a low noise against him. Oh, he’s purring. Some deep down part of Richie’s caveman psyche, lodged right in the hungry reptilian nub of his central brain wants to bear-hug Eddie to a pulp, wants to Lenny him like a mouse until they both stop breathing at the same exact moment from the pressure.

Yeesh, dark!

He smooches one of Eddie’s Easter Island eyebrows instead, keeps his lips mushed there. Smooches again. “Biiiiiiig time.”

“My wife,” Bill whips around from his seat on the floor at Richie’s feet, cheeks bulging with wontons, “my wife did not cougar me.”

Eddie shushes him. Everyone else is exchanging Looks, including Audra, because she totally did cougar Bill. Good for her!

“My wife,” Richie mimics, all sing-song and bugling. “Who the fuck are you, Borat?” Eddie snorts, hard. “Turn around and watch me make sweet love to ya woman, Bill.”

Onscreen Richie is struggling out of a giant hockey jersey at the sight of Onscreen Audra’s nubile charms. Everything is lit terribly, to a Smash Mouth deep cut.

“Oh man, check out that figure.” Richie whistles at himself, twenty-six years old with muscles like long ropes. “These were the pre-gut days. Even though my diet was just Adderall and instant ramen.”

“I like your gut,” Eddie murmurs, squidging at it with the hand not shoved up the back of Richie’s shirt. He’s already looking pretty tipsy, because he told everyone loudly and at length that he’d have to be what he deemed, shithouse drunk, to cope with whatever 90 minute dick jokeathon he was about to endure for the sake of two minutes of Richie-ass. “You’re hotter than him.”

Richie preens. “I am him, dude.”

Eddie’s hand lands clumsy on his cheek, pulling Richie’s attention away from his own foregrounded bare ass and Onscreen Audra’s shocked expression, to face him. Eddie’s all unfocused, flushed in the cheeks. “You’re both hot. Him and you, I’d fuck you both. I’d let both of you fuck me at once.”

“Um,” says Ben. Mike keeps slorping up noodles, but his eyes are saucering at Bill’s giant TV.

“Hhohkaaay,” Richie breathes.

“Is this when you saw it, Audra?” Bev asks. She waggles her eyebrows at them from the muscular nook of Ben’s arms. “The famous Tower of Tozier? You mentioned in the group chat.”

“What group chat,” Richie croaks, wrenching his eyes from the sight of Eddie’s slick tongue pulsing gently against his lower lip, hanging open like he wants Richie to see inside his mouth. Yowza-yowza-yowza, this is so much better than movie-nights back in the 90s. “I never saw anything about that? And I monitor you all on WhatsApp twenty-four-sevs. I literally have nothing better to do while Eddie’s working.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Beverly dismisses him with a flick of her wrist.

Audra is nodding vigorously while Onscreen Audra tilts her head comically far to the right. “That’s when I saw it,” she says. “They couldn’t find a modesty sock that fit you, Richie, remember? I didn’t have to fake that reaction. And that’s with them blasting the A/C on high so my nips would poke through my shirt.” She nudges Eddie’s shin gently and stage-whispers, “Well done.”

Eddie growls hot miso breath into Richie’s neck. Snarls, really. That’s the only word for it. Richie’s not embarrassed—he’s been telling people about his donkey schlong for years, not his fault nobody ever believes him. It’s a boy who cried wolf situation, perhaps, if the boy was actually telling the truth every time and just wanted to brag to everyone about seeing a really big, thick wolf.

“Honey,” Bill says, visibly distressed, “this is already weird enough for me, please don’t say nips.”

“Nips, nips, nips.” Audra tickles into Bill’s ribs, and Richie joins in the chant, they all do. It’s a hailstorm of sesame toast raining on Big Bill’s protesting head. “Stiff nips! Stiff nips!”

“Shut up, I’m, uh’wanna see Rich fuck!” Eddie roars, wrestling the couch cushions for the remote and stabbing the volume obscenely loud.

Moans fill the air. Rice sprays from Mike’s mouth, between his hasty fingers. Patty is laughing so hard into Stan’s shoulder Richie would be kinda worried about her, if he wasn’t so distracted by the way Eddie’s leaning forward, hand on Richie’s thigh and eyes locked to Onscreen Richie’s bare bucking hips. He remembers this part horrible and clear, preserved behind glass in his mind like the embarrassing ninth grade school photo his mom still won’t remove from the mantelpiece. Braces like train tracks and his eyes squinted up small and moleish because his mom said she wanted to see his handsome face without his glasses for once. Eddie laughed at it for five whole minutes the first time Richie brought him up to visit mom and dad as his—as his, at last, before snapping a careful picture of the photo with his phone and muttering, so cute.

It’s the noises.

“This was the day I learned women really can, uh, fake orgasms,” Richie says. He coughs. Eddie’s fingers tighten on his thigh and he looks back at Richie over his shoulder, eyes all drunk and dark and dilated like a shark’s to the backdrop of Onscreen Richie and Audra’s plastic din. Richie’s head thumps dizzily, sliding his hand secret under Eddie’s shirt to the damp small of his back, watching his neck go pink. This, now this is familiar from 90s movie nights, how sweaty they’d get, tangled together like pocketed earbuds the longer the VHS spun. Always on the same couch by unspoken agreement, kicking and left to do so by the others, like the clubhouse hammock flirting was more RichieandEddie status quo than behaviour tethered to any one location. Feeling your heartbeat in your ears and everywhere your limbs are shoved between another sapling boy-body, and the couch.

Richie can see exactly what Eddie’s thinking, in that darkness. That’s not how you sound in bed with me.

“This is revolting,” says Stan, mildly, but Richie holds up his hand like a stop sign, pulled roughly back to the present.

“Wait, wait, here comes my line!”

“Thought you said it was a non-speaking—”

The camera cuts from Onscreen Audra’s bouncing breasts to Onscreen Richie’s slack-jawed face, his ill-conceived soul patch. He was asked to remove his glasses for the scene, he remembers, and was glad of it, feeling useless and young and stupid and exposed enough already just by virtue of needing the money, he didn’t need to see this perfectly nice and reasonable actress pity him for not even knowing how to pretend at being with a woman. Onscreen Richie tilts his chin up, and Bill’s entire rec room holds its breath. There will be bruises on Richie’s thigh tomorrow.

A grunt, a groan. An unsubtle trumpet fanfare musical cue on the soundtrack, but hey, neither of them ever claimed Bongo Smugglers was a masterpiece. “¡Ay, chihuahua!”

Richie throws his arms up in triumph. “All my own improv, folks! And they kept it in the final cut!”

Eruption. He’s pelted with howls of disgust and prawn crackers. Eddie grabs one of his arms and just shakes him, ragdolls Richie’s laughing body around until he tips over and sprawls into Eddie’s lap, shielded from assault. Eddie chews his insistent teeth into Richie’s shoulder, and finally, the scene ends with Onscreen Richie leaping a naked escape from Onscreen Audra’s balcony.

“Worst,” Eddie mumbles against Richie’s nape. “Worst thing’ve ever seening m’life.”

He’s so drunk, sweet thing. Richie sits back up, still wheezing. He rests his cheek on Eddie’s shoulder and gazes starrily up at his plastered little face. Steel-cut jaw softened with laughter and stubble, un-gelled hair curling around like a chestnut lamb’s. “Worst ever-ever?”

“No,” Eddie says plainly, and that’s true, “but it’s up there. Woulda rented the shit out of this at Blockbuster.”

Richie flings his leg over Eddie’s knees, kicking Bill in the process. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Eddie agrees, gathering up all Richie’s loose ends in a big circling cuddle. “Every week. Woulda worn it out. Broke the disc.”

“Got your ‘Lil ‘Busters membership card revoked for being a creep.”

“Worth it.”

“Aw, Eddie-baby.”

“Would you two stop, you’re making the rest of us look bad,” Bev says, smiling fondly. The movie’s moved on, and none of them are really paying attention now that the main event’s over, but everyone’s still coming down, dismounting from belly-laughter and landing ankle-deep in giggles. “That was inspired.”

“He made me laugh so hard on that take,” Audra sighs, leaning against Bill. “I remember thinking, shame he’s a closet-case. I always knew you were a good guy under all that fake stand-up.” She rolls her head back on her neck to look at Richie, upside down. “D’you remember right after, too?”

“Ah,” says Richie, tensing up. Eddie must feel it, because he makes a lowing noise of concern and turns the volume down.

“What you did to those guys?”

“Ahaha, uh.” Richie struggles to sit upright with hot embarrassment tugging at his stomach. “They don’t need to—Audra, it’s not, anyone would’ve done the same—”

“No, actually, you were the only one who ever did,” Audra says, sharp-eyed, and Richie remembers that too. How much surer and in control of herself she was than him, even back then, when they were both just simple bottom-feeders on L.A.’s sludgy floor.

“What happened?” Patty asks. They’re all looking. Richie stares at the wall beside the TV’s garish over-saturation, scratches at the back of his neck, until Eddie takes his hand softly back to hold in his.

“I was pretty much always the only woman on set,” Audra explains. “Par for the course on a movie like that, it was whatever. It’s nothing like real sex, obviously, you have to stop and wait for lighting changes, new set-ups and stuff, you’re surrounded by crew. But you’re the only ones naked, and pretending to fuck, right? It can be a little.” She pulls a face, tilts her palm back and forth. “Degrading.”

Richie snorts, humorlessly.

“Anyway, that scene wrapped and they called cut, and a few of the guys in the crew said some stuff. About me. The director ignored it, the producer ignored it. I was used to it,” Audra says. Richie can see the edge of Bill’s jaw clench and re-clench like a fist as he watches his wife speak. Audra smiles widely, then, and jerks a thumb at Richie. “But this guy?”

They’re grinning, they’re all grinning, because they know him. Richie squirms under it. He can feel blood pounding behind his ears, across the surface of his scalp in pulsing waves of embarrassed heat, because it’s one thing to spend your life running your big fat Trashmouth to distract the bullies’ attention onto you, but it’s another for people to treat you like some kinda hero for it. Like it’s not just something friends do.

Bev’s eyes go all emerald-shiny with delight, like the quarry in sunlight. She covers her mouth. “Oh, Richie.”

“Knocked the first one out cold,” Audra crows. “You tried your best after that. It was three against one and he had a black eye before the rest of us could separate them, but he had the element of surprise at first. I mean, he flew at them, if you can imagine it—you’re what, six-one, six-two?”

Eddie’s trembling ever-so-slightly against him. Richie screws his eyes shut. “Six-two.”

“No wonder the asshole shit himself, you came at him all six-foot-two naked inches, pissed as hell, with a massive—”

“Alright!” Richie yelps, because if there’s anything more embarrassing than his brief Bongo Smugglers cameo, it’s the fact that he left set that day with a black eye and no money. Who cares. His closest friends are alive and they’re cheering, and Eddie is shoving himself into Richie’s lap just like it’s movie night in 1991 but with 100% more enthusiastic frenching, seating his drunk ass in Richie’s startled hands and hissing god, you’re such a crazy dumbass, I love you so much, Richie, even back then with that soul-patch I’d have loved you so much, god, sexy, Rich, wanna see you with a black eye, can I give you one, can you give me one, Richie, I’m gonna fuck you so good for this later, ay chihuahua—!

[lvnce-mcclain]

This is Totally Not a Fic, it’s only a Thought, okay, but imagine:

AU where Buck’s search for his calling didn’t lead him into the SEALs but rather the army, specifically right smack in Eddie’s squad somewhere near year two of his second tour. Miraculously Buck’s bullheadedness in being able to finish something he starts (his father’s words ring in the back of his head you won’t last a week, you’ll quit as soon as it gets too hard every time something he’s ordered to do nags at his conscience) outweighs his humanitarian nature long enough to make it to active duty.

(Fair warning I know next to nothing about the military, ok, go on)

Imagine Buck 1.0—self-satisfaction searching Buck, cocky and too-sure of himself to make up for the fact he has no fuckin’ clue what he’s gonna do with his life and he feels like he’s drowning out here in the desert, so he’s drinking every off night and hooking up with locals freely—meeting Army Sargeant Eddie. Imagine Eddie absolutely Not Having it from this dumbass kid, more ready to jump on a landmine for the heroic headline than listening to how to act as a part of a team.

Imagine Eddie—guilt ridden for leaving as soon as he found out Christopher was diagnosed and in denial he was running away, fighting with Shannon over their video calls more than he even gets updates about their son anymore—wound tighter than ever when Shannon shows up to a video alone one day, announcing she wants to separate and disconnects the call as Eddie starts to let that sink in, before he really knows what it means. Imagine Eddie stewing, finally going off on this Buckley one night about how he’s going to get someone killed with his more glory seeking behaviors because Buckley was the perfect target for all Eddie’s aggression—not like the kid didn’t have it coming, really, with his behavior and attitude and Eddie really, really needs something to hit so he’s kind of hoping it hits the wrong nerve for Buckley.

But then—then Buckley just. Doesn’t react. Well, doesn’t react in any way Eddie was expecting at least; before the sizzle of aggression begins to show in the defiant glare Buckley immediately sports—and Eddie’s thinking yes, this is what I needed—it’s fizzling out under weighted resignation. It’s like—like Buckley agrees, and just takes it, and it stops Eddie up short. He doesn’t know what to do with this Buckley that’s all soft-sunken shoulders and disappointment that’s too deep for Eddie to understand, so he leaves with adrenaline soaked bones.

The next day, Buckley still looks a little too introspective and Eddie can’t help but feel guilty at his outburst; the kid may be dumb, but he’s not a bad person. Eddie knows for a fact Buckley is the first many of their squad seeks out when hit with bad news, because he’s always quick smiles and solutions—knows that he’s also the first one to place a hand on a shoulder sunken in sorrow, and is quickly known by the local kids to be generous with sweets when placed in friendly territories.

So Eddie tucks tail and bolsters himself for an awkward apology after he finishes in the mess hall, but Buckley beats him to it; as soon as Eddie gets him alone, Buckley is all bunched shoulders and rapidfire remorse. Eddie can barely get a word in before he parses out what’s going on, and then he’s shaking his head and using the firmest tone he can muster that’s still friendly and telling Buckley that he “isn’t looking for an apology; it’s the other way ‘round, actually,” and there’s something a little too wondrous in Buckley’s expression so Eddie blurts out something like “you don’t deserve to be my emotional punching bag, ok? And you don’t need to be your own either, kid. Just take half the work you put towards being a pain in the ass and put it towards working and you’re gonna do just fine.”

After that, things get… Better. More tolerable, at least, from a work perspective. Buckley seems to put his head down and starts actually listening and the improvement is noticed even by some of Eddie’s peers, who joke over raised eyebrows about what Eddie could have done to tame the wild child of the whole company. There’s still some incidents of minor insubordination, but they’re fewer and farther between.

Buckley, meanwhile, has taken that whole talk as some sort of permission to hang around Eddie as much as possible and Eddie has to admit when he doesn’t have his head shoved up his own ass, Buckley can actually be good company. He’d never admit that out loud, of course. Buckley’s flipped some sort of switch and now he wants Eddie to tell him everything he knows about literally everything, and on the days Eddie feels the most patient it’s honestly pretty calming to just have a constant drone of information come from Buckley, whether just to reaffirm something he’d learned or looking to Eddie for approval over something new.

But then it’s a few weeks later when Eddie finally gets through to Shannon to talk about what the hell she had meant the last time they spoke, when she says she’s come to the decision to leave Christopher with Eddie’s parents so she can go take care of her sick mother. Eddie can’t believe it at first, his entire being slamming against this reality and refusing to accommodate it. He soon finds out this wasn’t a conversation but rather being informed over a decision already made, and then it’s over.

And sure enough, it’s Buckley who he seeks out first, who takes one look at Eddie and is hauling him away from prying ears and is all concern when he asks what happened. Eddie feels so tightly wound he’s going to snap if he doesn’t hit something, but there’s nothing here he can take a swing at; so instead he deflates, letting out all the hot air along with every heavy truth that has weighed in Eddie’s chest since he ran away from his son.

And Buckley… Seems to get it. (Eddie looks but doesn’t see a barely grown boy running from a distant father, looking at a new father struggling so hard to make the right decision for a son he obviously, obviously loves.) He has a more level head about it all than Eddie thought to give him credit for, quietly telling Eddie that what matters is that he stays solid for his son. That it doesn’t matter where he is, so long as Christopher knows he’s on Eddie’s mind, that’s all that’s gonna matter until he can get back stateside and be there for him. That every day will be a new step until then, and even bigger ones after, but all that matters is that Eddie tries to take them.

Buckley’s words stick with him while Eddie struggles to connect with Christopher over video, even though his parents try hard to push a connection, but the burn of that disappointment in himself grows. He vents it all to Buckley one night—the same night Buckley tells him he’s one incident away from being discharged, and there’s something a little too warm to be annoyance settling in Eddie’s chest at the news. By the time they both let themselves get riled up and pulled back down with deprecating jokes about what’s on their minds, that warmth has become a little more defined and Eddie thinks oh.

Eddie doesn’t get a chance to think too hard over the smallest flare of attraction that had been building in his chest, because by the next week Buckley is discharged for an altercation with a commanding officer and Eddie doesn’t see him again. Eddie loses a comfort he didn’t realize he’d grown into, and things are hard enough trying to focus on his family while thousands of miles away so he just doesn’t think too much more about it.

Things from there would go about the same for Eddie as canon: he gets sent home after his purple heart rescue, only this time he goes straight to his parent’s house and still struggles to get them to release their hold over Christopher (except it would be even harder for them now, with having interim custody); struggles with finding a job until applying for the fire fighters’ academy; ends up picking the LAPD with something small niggling in the back of his mind asking him to remember something about LA (but the offhand comment from Buckley one night over beers about a Plan B is too buried in Eddie’s memories to dig up).

Imagine how much s2 would change, how much of an impact it would have on Buck. I think this is enough for one Not Fic but I still have some Thoughts over this au so I might post them later. There’s just so much potential. 

Pt 2 HERE Pt 3 HERE and Pt 4 HERE

[talesfromthesnogbox]

A Little Bit of Love

Summary: Richie surprises Eddie by going on Celebrity Drag Race.

Word Count: 3,075

Notes: Hi this is so stupid but it was bugging me so I had to write it okay bye.

AO3 Link

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Hey Eddie, come down I want to show you something.”

Eddie raced down the stairs to find Richie on the couch, VH1 paused and ready for his surprise appearance.

“Celebrity Drag Race? I’ve spent the last week binging it while you’ve been ‘writing’, why do you want to watch it now?”

He hit Eddie lightly on the chest. “Shut up. I want to watch it with you!”

Richie had yet to tell any of his friends that he was going on Drag Race, and even more surprisingly, he was officially coming out to the world. Most of the Losers already knew he was gay, and he knew that Eddie kind of knew, but he hadn’t formally said anything to him about it.

The two of them sat in silence as the queens talked amongst themselves, wondering who would walk into the workroom first. Finally, Richie was revealed, and the queens went quiet.

Richie’s palms were sweaty, almost as sweaty as when he first stepped out behind that curtain in the loudest rainbow tie-dye button up shirt he could find.

“The Trashmouth has arrived.” He said onscreen, looking around at the pink… everything.

“Richie, what the fuck?” Eddie took the remote from him and paused the television. “When the fuck did you do Drag Race?”

“Surprise?” He chuckled seeing Eddie’s expression turn from angry to downright amused. “Alright, I signed an NDA, I wasn’t allowed to say anything!”

“Hi, I’m Richie, I’m 41 years old, and I’m a stand up comedian.” The scene on TV flashed back and forth from the usual flashy confessional screen and Richie exploring the workroom. He was the first one in, and he ogled the sequin gowns lining the walls, and the makeup on the counters. “I’ll be honest, I hadn’t watched the show until very recently. Last year I went back to my hometown in Derry, Maine for a little reunion with some childhood friends of mine, and went through a pretty traumatic experience. There’s this old abandoned house that all the kids used to tell ghost stories about and be scared of, and we, being the dumbass adults we are, decided to take a look around inside. It uh… it collapsed while we were inside, and my best friend Eddie actually ended up getting really badly hurt.”

 The screen flashes from Richie, tearing up in his confessional, to photos of them as kids, and one they’d taken as a group when they arrived.

“That really fucked me up, I thought… I thought I was gonna lose him, and I never… yeah, it just taught me to really hold your loved ones close. He’s alright, he’s actually living with me now, and he’s the one that got me to watch the show.” Richie’s somber expression changes to one of joy as he talks about Eddie. “I’ve been doing a lot of work writing for my upcoming tour, but Eddie watches Drag Race every chance he gets. When they asked me if I wanted to go on the show, it was an automatic yes, I didn’t even have to think about it. We’d been through so much last year, so I really wanted to surprise Eddie, and I thought it would be a great way to introduce myself formally as a part of the LGBTQ community.” Richie on screen held up a little rainbow flag and waved it around. “Honestly I think the producers were hoping I’d say no. I’ve been kind of a piece of shit… no, I’ve been a huge piece of shit, my work was pretty disgusting, and I want to change that. The first step is coming out, so yes, I was overcompensating with my comedy to hide how far in the closet I was. Hi, I’m gay!”

“Surprise?”

Eddie paused the TV again and turned to look at Richie, tears in his eyes. “Dude, I’m really proud of you.” He brought his friend in close for a hug, feeling hot splashes of tears fall on his neck.

“I’m sorry I never told you.”

“It’s okay, you weren’t ready Trashmouth.”

They dried their tears as they watched Richie interact with the other two celebrity guests as they arrived in the workroom, casually chatting about work and their mutual respect for the show, when finally RuPaul Charles arrived.

“So, was he amazing in person?”

Richie laughed. “Oh my god he’s the most fabulous human being alive, seriously I have so much respect for him.”

Eddie was giddy as he asked Richie questions about Ru, the workroom, the Pit Crew.

“Honestly, the Pit Crew is amazing, if I had a body like that I too would be flaunting it in those tiny briefs.” He laughed. “But it’s so hot in there with all those lights, they’re the luckiest people on this show.”

Finally, the real queens were added into the mix. Eddie watched with rapt attention as Richie and the other two contestants fumbled their way into “quick drag”, giggling at Richie struggling with a tube of lipstick and a horrendous blonde wig. Luckily for Richie, their mini challenge was an improv challenge, and he absolutely nailed it, making Ru and the rest of the queens shed tears of laughter.

“I still can’t believe you’re on the show, and now you’re winning the mini challenge? What the fuck?”

“Yeah! I got to pair up everyone with their queens. I know you really like Nina West so…”

Eddie’s jaw dropped as Richie took his place beside his favourite queen on the show, the lovely Nina West. “Shut up!”

“She’s a real sweetheart.”

Richie had seen parts of the episode already in its early stages and knew when certain… uncomfortable… moments were coming up. He did quite a bit of crying in his confessionals, and even had Nina tearing up a bit too.

Their maxi challenge was a lipsync performance, and Eddie already knew Richie was going to kill it. All the celebrities on the show were (now) out, gay men, and the number was a love-letter to Pride, something Richie had never actually participated in.

The other celebrities were all taken aback as the queens were to hear Richie come out to them in the workroom, but quickly accepted him in with a hug. “Richie you’ll love it, it’s like one big party celebrating who you are, and celebrating acceptance.” At that, Richie on screen started to tear up, knowing he hadn’t experienced that kind of acceptance from strangers before. “Sorry, you’re all so nice, I just… I dunno, expected to be booed off the set or something. I’ve been such an asshole in my sets just to hide it.”

Richie was crying in his confessional as well. “All my life I grew up in this shitty little town where everyone was homophobic, and misogynistic. I had bullies throwing slurs at me left, right and center, and I wasn’t even out, hell I didn’t even think I did anything that would even give anyone the hint that I was gay. I used to joke about fucking my friends’ moms, one in particular, mostly to hide the way I really felt…”

Back in the workroom, the queens and other contestants were still gathered around him. “I know how shitty it felt to be called names, and to feel like your life doesn’t matter, to feel like you’re an abomination because assholes like me told you so. My parents were really loving, and still are, my mom cried and told me she loved me when I came out to her last month, but not everyone gets that kind of love. And I feel like some of my stand up routines just made people feel worse. Man I regret so much of what I’ve said on stage, it’s not me, it was all a front because of how scared I was to admit that I’m gay.”

Nina pulled Richie into a hug as he wiped his eyes. “You’ll always be loved and accepted Richie, it’s never too late to admit you fucked up and make amends.” The rest of the cast joined Nina in their hug, only making Richie cry harder. “I’m so proud to have you as my drag daughter.”

Eddie paused as the show went to commercial and turned to his friend, who was once again, misty eyed.

“Rich…”

“You have no idea how hard it was filming that.” His voice was quiet. “I was such a piece of shit, and they literally just pulled me into a hug and told me they loved me for who I was.”

Eddie laid his head on Richie’s shoulder. “We love you too, you know that right? All the losers. It doesn’t matter to us if you’re gay or if you’re straight, or whatever… we’re here Rich.”

“I know, thank you.”

“Nobody’s going to hate you for being gay.”

Richie scoffed. “Twitter may have something else to say about that. I’m pretty sure I pissed off enough people to be banished from the community.”

“Well they can fuck off. I’ll fight every one of them if I have to.” Eddie snickered and hit play again, skipping forwards through the commercials. His favourite part of the show was always when the makeover finally happened. Richie appeared on screen clean-shaven wearing contacts, a rare sight for Eddie, and ready to be made beautiful.

“Please don’t laugh, Eds.”

“Why would I—”

On screen Richie removed his shirt and replaced it with a heavily padded bra. “So I don’t know how keen you are on this, but I quite like my chest hair.”

Nina shrugged. “That’s okay, for the runway we can put you in something with a high collar so you’re covered up.”

Richie chuckled. “No… I… there’s a Canadian queen I like that is kind of advocating for the destigmatization of female body hair, and she keeps her chest… out in the open, hair and all. If you’re okay with it… I’d kinda like to do that too.”

Nina smiled back at Richie and discarded of the high-necked bodysuit she was holding. “Alright, tits out it is.”

Eddie sat silently beside Richie, his mouth going dry at the sight of Richie’s chest out in the open while Nina worked on his face. He’d been joining Eddie’s physical therapy exercises for support, and kept up with him whenever he was at the gym, so his stomach and chest were a lot more toned than they were in the summer they’d reunited. Eddie had never really noticed, even when Richie walked around shirtless, but now… now he was noticing.

He noticed the way the veins in Richie’s forearms stood out, how the muscles moved beneath his skin as he reached out to grab the makeup Nina pointed to, how they went rigid when he flexed, lifting a case that was clearly heavy.

Richie got up from beside Eddie awkwardly. “I’ll be… I’ll be right back.”

Eddie frowned at the awkward tension coming from Richie before he realized on screen it was time to ‘tuck’. He let out a giggle as he watched Nina lead Richie back behind a screen and try to walk him through the practice.

“Yeah just take it and…”

Richie winced on screen. “I don’t know man, it’s not… is that right?”

“Here, let me…” Nina stepped in, and Eddie was instantly cackling, watching Richie’s face change expressions from annoyance to shock to discomfort.

Confessional Richie winced, a pained smile painting his face as he nodded. “I publicly came out and less than 20 minutes later had a man touch my dick for the first time, and I’ve gotta tell you… was not a great feeling. Let’s hope it’s better the next time when I actually get to… you know… is it weird that I’m talking about people touching my dick on camera?” He asked a producer off-camera.

“We’ve heard worse.” The producer rebutted, making Richie snort a laugh on screen.

Eddie watched Richie walk back into the room and slide beside him on the couch again. “Yeah, I… I wasn’t a fan of that whole…” he waved his hands over his crotch area, “tucking thing.”

“It sounds horrible.” Eddie agreed.

Finally, it was time for them to be introduced on the runway. Richie was the last to walk, and by far, had the biggest transformation. “Our final queen is Rachelle Von Dixx.” Eddie paused before he could step out onto the stage and looked at his friend.

“Of ALL the drag names you could have chosen, you went with Rachelle Von Dixx?”

“What can I say, it spoke to me.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and slumped back in his seat, hitting play once more. He hated to admit it, but Richie was Rachelle. Just as charismatic on the runway as Nina was, making faces at the judges, doing little spins with his arms wide to make his skirt flow around him. He looked totally comfortable up there and…

“You’re surprisingly good at walking in heels.”

Richie shrugged. “I used to wear my sister’s heels around the house for shits and giggles. They aren’t that hard to walk in.”

The challenge was over, it was time for the judges’ critiques, and Eddie was not prepared for them to critique Richie. But… they didn’t actually have anything bad to say about him.

“So I guess a congratulations and welcome to the family is in order for miss Rachelle. It’s hard to come out, and you’re doing it on TV.” Ru said after Richie’s critiques.

“Yeah, yeah thank you! It’s been an incredibly eye-opening experience, and I’m really, really grateful for it. The love and support everyone… oh god I said I wasn’t gonna cry on the main stage.” He laughed, fanning his eyes as the other queens gathered around him. “Whew, I’m okay. It’s just incredible, and I… thank you.”

“That’s beautiful Rachelle.” Ru blew him a kiss.

“So is there a special man in your life then?” Richie froze on stage as the question was hurled from the judges’ panel, but a timid smile crossed his face as warmth spread through his body. “Oh, I think that means there is!”

“No, it’s not… it’s not like that!” Richie insisted on screen, his smile giving him away. “I… I’ve known him forever and I love him, I think he was my first love, but, he doesn’t know any of this, I haven’t even come out to him yet.”

Confessional Richie looked past the camera at the producers. “Those judges man, they can like see into your soul. I’ve only ever really told like three people that I love Eddie, and two of them are my parents. Stan has been sworn to secrecy about it since we were like twelve.” Richie laughed. “Feels good though, finally saying it.” He nodded, deep in thought. “You’re gonna edit this out, right?”

Richie got up from his spot beside Eddie, who was too stunned to say anything. His hands were shaking as he walked into the kitchen, swearing.

“Rich, hey Rich, come back here.” Eddie followed him, catching him by the back of his shirt.

“Fuck man… fuck.” Richie raked his fingers through his hair, eyes darting wildly around the room. “Sorry, I’m sorry, I just… I didn’t think they’d put that in there. I don’t know why I even said it, I… I’m sorry I embarrassed you, I never meant for this—”

“Hey, hey Rich, look at me!”

Richie turned, his eyes misting over with tears for the umpteenth time that night. He could hear his phone going off in the other room, buzzing with the excitement of the confession from his friends and family, the internet inevitably exploding with shock.

“I never meant for you to find out.”

Eddie’s brow furrowed. “Why?”

“Because Eds… we’ve been friends since we were like six. I don’t want to give up on all those years of friendship just because my heart can’t keep it in its pants.”

Eddie scoffed. “You think you’re the only one who feels this way? Dude, I divorced my wife then moved across the country to live with you.”

Richie shrugged. “Yeah, so? I offered my spare room to you, you had nowhere else to go.”

“Stan, Ben, and Bill all offered me their spare rooms too. Before you did. I turned them all down Rich.”

Richie was silent.

“I never said anything because I wasn’t sure… wasn’t sure where you stood, if you were seeing someone, or if you even liked men, but Rich… this is me saying something.”

Cheers could be heard from TV in the background of Richie winning the competition, and announcing the LGBTQ+ charity he’d be donating to. They tuned it all out as they each came to the realization of what the other meant to them.

Richie’s eyes widened as it finally hit him. “Oh… oh. So… so you… me?” Eddie let out a boisterous laugh. “Yes you, you idiot. I’ve wanted to say it for so long but… I’m saying it now.”

The sound that left Richie’s mouth was one of shock and disbelief. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah dude, holy shit.” Eddie took a step closer to Richie, coming into his personal bubble and staring up at him with doe eyes. “Richie?”

“Y-yeah?”

“I think this is the part where you kiss me.”

 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 Later that night once the dust had settled, Richie and Eddie decided to stop playing by any rules or standards anyone had made for dating and go at their own pace. Richie hummed contentedly as Eddie snuggled further into his chest in his bed… their bed. He angled Eddie’s face up towards his, and pulled him into a tender kiss. The other man didn’t realize that Richie had pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the two.

“What are you doing?”

Richie smiled and kissed the tip of Eddie’s nose. “Making it official.”

Dick Tozier @trashmouth

Guess I have to send a big THANK YOU to @NinaWest for being the best drag mother, and an even bigger THANK YOU to @RuPaul and the editing team of @RuPaulsDragRace for not listening to me when I asked if that line about being in love with my best friend could be cut out. I have you to thank for this.

Richie attached the photo he’d just taken and hit “Send Tweet” before turning off his phone. “Sorry about the chaos that’s about to ensue.”

Eddie giggled. “I don’t care, I’m just happy I finally have you.”

[matt0044]

“For Steel...”

Don’t kid yourself. We all said it.

Evox consolidates the energy of the Morph-X Global Network into the very first tower in Coral Harbor. In response, the entire city is evacuated as urged by Muriel Reeves and Commander Shaw with Roxy helping to organize those leaving by foot. It’s actually a pretty down to Earth in how Power Rangers of a specific organization would take precautions well before the final battle at hand.

Muriel insists to Commander Shaw that she wants her daughter to join her in evacuating the city only to be shown that Zoey is the Yellow Ranger. They hug it out before she has to rush out to face Evox approaching the tower. One underrated aspect of Beast Morphers is how the parents of each Ranger factor into the story, however big or small. Somewhat like Go Busters but they’re alive.

The Rangers face Evox outside of Tower One but this time bring out past Ranger weaponry. Devon mans the Super Ninja Steel Blaster, Ravi takes the SPD SWAT Delta Enforcer, Zoey gets the Lightspeed Thermal Blaster, Nate takes the Dino Saber and Steel takes the Cloud Hatchet. It amazing that they worked in past weaponry into the story without it feeling all too forced or baiting.

The main three blast Evox before the Beetle Brothers move in for close quarters, covering them as they bring in the King Bow to use a second Anti-Evox arrow. Unfortunately, Evox narrowly deflects it and even recreates new Robotrons as canon fodder while he returns to Tower One to assimilate the power into his body. Steel sees the Arrow and pursues the final boss on foot.

Evox enters the same reactor Devon used to call upon Jason as a cool callback to the Beast vs. Dino team-up and takes in all the gathering energy of the Morph-X network. Steel manages to sneak in from behind and stab Evox in the back. However, he’s blasted with only a fraction of his foe’s newly-found power.

The Rangers rush in just in time to see Steel fall to the floor, demorphed while his essence is absorbed by the Morph-X. Their expressions are simply palpable as they watch one of their own downed and broken up. I know that Chip Lynn wanted to step down on a high note but I didn’t expect him to go all Time Force.

The Rangers return to Grid Battleforce where they break the news to Steel’s death. I like how Betty is visibly shown to be putting the pieces together seconds before anyone says a word about it. Devon speaks to all of Command and urges an evacuation of all personnel while the Rangers try to hold the line.

However, Ben and Betty are the first to declare that they’re staying in a very non-comedic delivery. Zord Maintenance are next to firmly stand by the Rangers before many more call in on the monitors, appearing one after the other in rapid succession. It gave me major SPD flashbacks with Boom’s “I’m staying” declaration. Most are extras but you get cameos of Cole and Megan.

With GB standing its ground, Evox assumes his powered up with all of the Morph-X he could ask for in his Messiah Reboot form. Thus the Rangers head out in the Beast-X King Ultrazord to make their final stand. I really feel like they could’ve had Ben and Betty join them in original cockpit footage. They’d offer to perform maintenance and eventually help Nate in the final gambit against Evox.

As they just barely struggle to hang on, Nate realizes out that Human DNA is Evox’s Achilles Heel and that channeling the Morph-X through their bodies will give them just the edge they need. It’s a brilliant adaptation of the vaccine program from Go-Busters to the point that they show Morph-X pouring out of the Rangers with those Matrix-esque 1s and 0s in their own costumed footage.

It’s a great twist that was actually built up through out the series when Steel’s body rejecting Evox and how he could barely keep hold of Mayor Daniels. Furthermore, Venjix meeting his end because of humanity’s essence is just karmic on so many levels with what he had done to the RPM dimension. The very thing he despised ended up eradicating his existence for good this time.

Evox’s destruction releases all of the Morph-X and lets it return to the Morphing Grid. Except... not all of it. The Rangers see Steel reconstructed before their very eyes and morphed into a human played by Sam Jellie but still voiced by Jamie Linehan who distinctly sounds like a young teenage Steel. This time, it’s no one time episode deal. Our high-tech himbo’s big wish has finally come true.

A whole year passes before we find Ben and Betty bringing in Scrozzle who was admitted absent for most of the final. Colonel Truman even brings up the rear to report to Commander Devon Daniels of Grid Battleforce. It’s almost symbolic to see RPM tying up loose ends from Beast Morphers just as it was vice versa. However, what was Scrozzle up to in Corinth? Planting more story seeds, Chip?

Zoey and Nate has retired Morph-X in favor of more traditional green energy sources that are less likely to attracted any evil. Ravi has taken up painting along with his mother who’s succeeded General Burke. Steel’s taken up starring in one of the latest action movies in what I can assume is a remake of one of Dax’s films from Operation Overdrive. Knowing him, it probably needs it.

Steel gets the call for an “Operation 365″ at the base and rushes out while morphing as a human. I’m guessing that Sam wanted to close out his one-off role as a Ranger in the suit. However, it seems Steel didn’t need to as he arrives to his surprise birthday party for having spent one whole year as a human. Fittingly enough, “It’s Great To Be Human,” closes out the final scene.

Beast Morphers was a step in the right direction after Ninja Steel’s defined lows, this coming from somebody who enjoyed even Victor and Monty. While it lacks in the witty one-liner department, it makes up for with some solid storytelling as they improve upon balancing stand-alone episode stories with the larger arc. I still love how the crossovers were firmly part of this season like in Lost Galaxy...

With this series concluded, we return to a Dinosaur team with Chip Lynn stepping down from head writer to make way for Simon Bennet. While I am iffy about this change in hands, I hope that we get a sort of Eddie Guzelian shake up where he goes beyond plus ultra. While we haven’t heard much, I’m still holding out hope for a Kyuranger adaptation come the Thirteenth Anniversary.

What? Y’all were thinking it also.

[beybladeimagines]

Hello! Disney/Yuriy Stan again with more :D What are some of your headcanons concerning overlooked characters (like Steve, Ivan, or anyone else) you feel gets pushed aside for one reason or another? There are a lot to choose from considering the number of season, or even arc, exclusive characters in the series.

Mod Note: There are, indeed, a lot to choose from. I was thinking about Zeo, King and Queen, Barthez Battalion, and BEGA and I started to cry LOL. THAT’S JUST TO NAME A FEW. So, I just picked a few and hope I get the opportunity to do this again so I can keep rambling about those cuties and cry. Btw, I missed you!

IAN / IVAN: 

I don’t think many people consider how mature, composed, and loyal Ivan is. Think about it... He didn’t get a chance to rejoin the team, he watched as Kai basically replaced him, and he was still willing to be by Tala’s side all over again when the team came back to Russia. Most people would drop someone if they felt like they were being cast aside, but Ivan interpreted the process of elimination as fair and for the betterment of the team. The strong survive, right? To him, he needed to work on improving his own skills. Of course, I don’t see this as fair by any means, but to Ivan his team was everything. The boys have been through a lot and have seen a lot. In an attempt to cope with the defeat and the departure, Ivan tried to mentally manipulate the situation in a way that was easy to cope with. I’m sure Tala also acknowledged Kai’s strength, but much preferred having someone as loyal and familiar as Ivan by his side. These boys have conditioned themselves to be something to discard if they’re seen as useless, but this way of thinking begins to break down once the boys return home and back to Ivan. Ivan doesn’t resent any of them and actually embraces his team back with open arms. I’m confident they were glad to see him and have adopted a newfound interpretation of what success among them looks like.

When it comes to relationships, Ivan replicates that loyalty towards his partner. In truth, he never really thought about love or romance before. Again, he placed battles and winning over anything else. He’d see the kind of intimate interactions someone like Bryan would have with strangers, but he seldom saw himself in that same position. In his mind, he was tired of the “expendable” routine. He doesn’t exactly want to treat others as temporary, because he knows how hard it was for him when he was in the same position. When he finds someone to accept in his life, he makes sure they feel welcomed, included, and part of something bigger. He doesn’t like the idea of shutting himself off and being secretive. He rather likes being vulnerable and telling someone things about himself that others would seemingly ignore. It’s exciting, it’s different, it’s daring. It’s something his team would never consider doing, but the risk in opening up feels a lot more fun than staying closed off. Count on Ivan to be an excitable partner that would is excited to learn about you and have you learn about him.

STEVE:

He’s always been concerned with power. With power comes a need for control, a need for dominance, a need for maintaining a sense of stability. Steve has always had those things and never hesitated to show them off, both in and out of the ring. However, once he injured himself, he realized just how quickly all of that power can leave him and it makes him question if he even had that power to start with. If he did, why was it so easily taken from him? Steve carries with him an extensive amount of frustration, much of which he places on himself. Steve engages in self-harm, whether he realizes it or not. During physical therapy, he pushes himself to the point of continuously damaging and weakening certain muscles. Although he’s trying to rebuild himself, he doesn’t realize how much he’s punishing his own body for a simple mistake. Steve is way too hard on himself... The worst part is, because his team was traveling, he didn’t exactly get a chance to vent or talk through his thoughts. Even his best friend Eddy wasn’t available and his pride prevented him from reaching out via phone call or text, because he didn’t want to worry/concern/distract him from the matches. Despite how cocky Steve appears, you really have to wonder just what he’s been through when he’s away from his team. He constantly questions if Judy or anyone else on the team was thinking about him or if they wanted him back. The boy has a lot of physical and mental rebuilding to do and he feels like he has to do it all on his own.

When it comes to love, Steve used to be openly flirtatious and overly confident. However, upon receiving his injury, Steve has built up some walls. He feels as if others see him as a failure, so he focuses more on improving himself instead of seeking out affection. However, upon finding someone of interest, he’ll be forever indebted to their patience, light-heartedness, and desire to work with him on such a difficult journey of basically getting his life back together. The relationship would be rather difficult every now and then. Steve does his best to avoid seeming like a burden, so he avoids asking for help with certain things, even when he desperately needs it. His partner reminds him of how it’s okay to be vulnerable and how there’s power in letting someone see you at your self-identified worst. That just means there’s trust. Steve honestly learns a lot from those very soft and meaningful moments with his partner. He’s also learned to appreciate moments of silence where he can simply sit with his partner and just...be...without feeling pressured to overcompensate or act bigger than he is.

ZEO:

Probably one of the most complicated characters there is - and for good reason (the manga and anime are a fucking TRIP when it comes to his background). Zeo has undergone an extensive amount of trauma - from being manipulated to struggling with his identity (both of which go hand in hand). When the battle with Tyson was over and he lost, Zeo was basically abandoned all over again and left with the burden of starting anew. He doesn’t resent Tyson for this, because he knows he has to find out who he really is on his own. The journey is difficult - does he retreat to being comprised of enthusiasm and kindness or does he cling to wrath and violence? One seems so fake while the other is emotionally exhausting. Zeo only knows that he’s tired and that seems like a safe place to start. What aspects can he pick that make him feel less drained? What’s easy to wear and comfortable to exude? He drifts towards a softer side and finds solace in playing instruments that awaken his ears. He likes hearing noises that don’t resemble talking. He’s not quite fond of lectures anymore or drawn out conversation. Discussions have lead him down dangerous paths, but he realizes how much beauty can be communicated through music. Music... He wants to make music. He’s settled on that path and it makes him more comfortable with communicating with others again. He’d rather avoid competitions or anything that could pit him against others. He’d rather continue to find beautiful things in all that surrounds him rather than someone to destroy.

In terms of romance, that’s another complicated journey. Zeo has had to devote a lot of time towards learning to love himself again. If he can’t love himself, how can he possibly love someone else? With good reason, he’s hesitated being in the company of others. There’s a fear they’ll hurt him or that he’ll hurt them. But he’s learned a lot through company that likes his music. In fact, his partner is probably the one who trained his ears to hear changes in pitch and how to gracefully transition notes. It’s so easy for him to fall for someone who’s taught him such a tremendous gift. He tends to cling to those who give him something monumental - in this case, it’s the gift of really hearing the world around him. As a partner, Zeo is quite gentle, subtle, and observant. He always takes into consideration his partners comfort and finds himself looking at them while he’s playing the violin. Their appearance inspires the most beautiful noises and they serve as his muse during his artistic journey. He doesn’t always give compliments, but he treasures all the ones given to him by his partner. There’s no denying that the man loves praise, but he needs it if he’s going to make sure he’s on the path he needs to be. In time, he begins to find comfort in physical displays of affection. He loves wrapping his arms around his partner, as if to silently reinforce the idea that he has something (or someone) of his own. He loves the feeling of arms around him as well, just keeping him safe and forgiving him for the strange trials he’s endured.

[thenerdyunhealthybrit]

So finally finished season 2 of House of Anubis and feel dead on the inside, just because I know Nina isn’t in S3, we don’t get anymore Fabina and I know Amber leaves.

So, thoughts:

- When I originally watched S2, I only watched the first half and I really came to dislike Joy because of the love triangle and it killed me because I loved Klariza in Dani’s House and I remembered her in Skins. However, this time round I came to enjoy her. I think young me would still not like her, but adult me, I loved how when she wrote that horrible article about my baby Nina and was like I just want her gone - it sounded immature and spiteful but having her POV when no one was looking really added layers to Joy as a character. Which I think was important because Joy wasn’t really a character in S1 while she was one, so she lacked the opportunity for development like the rest did.

- Also I think the whole Joy storyline should have been explored more earlier, like everyone went through a lot in S1, however what Sibuna went through was way different to what Joy went through so they were forced to grow up and mature as they became responsible for these tasks. Meanwhile Joy she was kind of sheltered from it when she was kidnapped, she never saw the struggle. That doesn’t make what she went through any less but she didn’t have to grow up and develop like Sibuna did - especially when it turned out that she wasn’t The Chosen One - So I think she expected things to go back to normal and move on, especially since no one really wanted to talk about it with her.

- And I think once Patricia became involved with Sibuna again, it only made the situation worse, she truly had no one that knew what she went through since Mara was blissfully unaware and Patricia had to focus on the Mask of Anubis.

- In my last HoA post, I mentioned my complaint about Jerome not being in Sibuna. I still stand by that. I’m happy he got more involved by the end, and he did catch wind of Alfie even if they denied it. However, him not being in Sibuna still doesn’t make sense, considering how he was in S1 about wanting to be part of the gang, he wanted his best mate etc. And if they wanted him out of Sibuna, there should have been a scene or explanation about him leaving Sibuna or not being part of it. Especially since when S2 started, Sibuna wasn’t what it was in S1, there was no mystery and it was just friends having fun, being a gang etc. When Patricia and Alfie got brought in, Jerome should have as well and they could have done a scene where he rejects getting involved because of Poppy and his dad etc.

- I loved Eddie this time round, I remember the first time finding him annoying, it wasn’t the actor but I think I was like Patricia, going “oh not another American.” Because I find in British shows their accent stands out and they sound too American. But this time I enjoyed him. Also grew to like Peddie.

- I do feel like the Osirian stuff was rushed, would have liked a nice build up, like I wouldn’t mind them pulling a S1 with Fabian/Eddie, also the fallout with Eddie would have been great - and I read the spoilers about The Chosen One And Osirian can’t be together or near each other, which as a mythology rule makes no sense - especially with how it’s built up in S2 by Victor Senior.

- Also I think I multiship with Mara, because in my rewatch of S1, my opinion of Mara stayed the same, she really annoyed me, the Mick/Mara/Amber stuff was one reason, like my take on Mara is that she’s that good girl on a pedestal but hides this shady side that even she doesn’t know about it, because she was trying to get with Mick while he was with Amber but it about to hide it under pretences - but I genuinely think she’s trying to do what’s best, to not hurt anyone but I think she made it worse by not being openly honest. Anyway, in S2, Mara I loved way more, as a character she felt more subdued as a goody two shoes, she was still one, but it felt less fake and I thought Tasie was a better actress in S2, also I found myself enjoying Mickara more in the little we got from S2, they were written better than in S1 ironically, considering Mick left early on and returned by the end. Also Jara were great, I liked it in S1 as it added a layer to Jerome but also enjoyed it here. And in the last episode, I was rooting for Mickara and then Jara.

- I love Amber and Alfie, like I’m fully aware that the first half of S2 is not a healthy relationship and Amber treated Alfie awful, but it was entertaining to watch, plus I love Alfie discovering his self worth through this and Sibuna and then the roles reversing at the end of the evening with Amber. I just love the dynamic of them.

- Bobby being credited for the whole season is a joke. I know he left HoA at the end of S2 for Wolfblood, but wonder for the reason in S2, because I never loved or hated Mick in S1, but I would have liked to see more of him in S2, like the beginning of S2, I was like “see ya, not gonna miss ya” but when he returned at the end of S2, I actually missed him and felt he was wasted in S2 and the last few episodes.

- The S2 finale just highlights how big of a shame it was that Nathalia didn’t return. It would have been nice to see Joy and Nina form a friendship or frenemy relationship after this season. That would have been a natural direction, while also furthering Joy and the stuff she went through in S1. Then Eddie/Nina is another one, since you don’t really see a friendship between them in S2, so it would have been fun to see that friendship especially with Patricia and Fabian, since Patricia is Patricia and Fabian has always been the closest to Nina. And of course the Fabina stuff, since we never really see them be a couple. I was robbed.

- Only other thought I can think of is that the acting improved A LOT in S2. The stand out is Patricia with Jade Ramsay, I just remember in S1 thinking at the beginning when she was upset at Joy at the police station, I thought the acting was poor and a lot of overacting. And when she was mean to Nina and bullying her, her acting and voice out on felt quite caricature mean girl, like voice acting. But I’m S2, from episode 1, it felt natural and improved. Nina and Nathalia was another weak link in S1, and in the beginning of S2, it was improved but there were some weak moments, but by the end of the season, maybe even the middle she improved. Like I said, the whole cast improved, Tasie is another one mentioned, but the ones I’ve gone into detail I felt were the biggest weaknesses in S1 and who improved.

[princesscyr]

Venom x Reader - Subway at Midnight

A/N: Hi I don’t do fanfictions or short stories often. I struggle to keep thoughts but I really wanted to try this out. Feel free to critique as well and give tips if you want to help me improve. 

Based off of @avi-fangirls post because she works at subway

Rated: 17+ I mean there’s a head, guys.

Word Count: 1,304

Venom takes the eat fresh motto too seriously.

@avi-fangirls @monsterfvckxr @error-code-606

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“I said we’re not going to Subway, V. Come on, we have food at home.”

But Eddie, its logo is eat fresh! Don’t you human morsels like eating fresh?

He wasn’t wrong, but Eddie sure as fuck wasn’t about to go walk to subway at midnight. Did they even have a 24 hour subway like other places do?

Eddie, they do have 24 hour subway places…

“No.”

But, Eddie’s refusal once again goes unheard as he suddenly loses control of himself and his black mass friend engulfs him and with grace, through the window they went. Because normal people don’t use doors, apparently.

💀💀💀

You were once again working this glorious, busy overnight shift. After serving what, one customer of the night, you found yourself growing bored. So you took your phone out and scrolled through apps, trying to find something that won’t cause you to kill yourself from boredom. To say you were normal was an understatement. You had a thing for gore, creepy stuff and fanfictions, and it being October 28 and 3 days away from Halloween, to say you weren’t excited was an understatement.

You heard a car door shut which meant someone was about to enter your rather lively establishment. Who eats sandwiches at midnight was a question you’ll never have an answer too because humans are weird. You sigh and continue to scroll, not bothering to look up and give the outsider eye contact until the familiar chime rang.

Except, there was no chime. No ding. No sound of the door opening, and yet you had this feeling you were being watched, very closely. When you’re so distracted with technology you tend to forget the world around you and so when you decided to finally look up you were met with a black mass standing above you, its white opal eyes clearly looking you over like you were its next prey.

Most people would scream, but you weren’t most people. It did make you jump though and hit your elbow on a nearby utensil can. “Shit—I’m so sorry! Welcome to Subway uh—how can I help you?” Nice one, your mind mocks you on your professionalism.

The creature’s already visible smile grew when it started to speak.

Your establishment eats fresh correct?

You blink and just look it over for a moment, “Uh... Yes…? That would be our motto and we definitely stick to that statement. How can I help you?”

What happened next was something you never expected to happen in your short life, but it did. The creature makes a satisfying hissing noise and hoists up a human head, and it looked fresh. You cover your mouth though, stifling a surprised shout. How else were you going to react to this? A creature brought a fucking human head into your establishment.

Really V? You just scared her. This is not how you ease someone into doing your favors.

I would like this with rye bread, toasted. American cheese and Swiss. Please.

Normal humans would have said no. Taken a weapon to this creature. Called the police and lock themselves in the back room.

But you’re not normal. You go with it, mostly out of fear and curiosity.

So you take the severed head and set it down on a clean board. Mental note to wash that board thoroughly with bleach and fire. You move over to the bread cabinet and put on fresh gloves. “6 inch or 12 inch?”

The creature tilts its head, not understanding the question. To which you witness before your eyes a human face take shape on the creature. “12 inch, please. I do apologize for my other. They can be quite blunt with what it wants. My name is Eddie.”

You shift awkwardly and pull out the 12 inch rye bread, just trying to keep calm and collected. You’ve read enough monster books—hell, played Alien Isolation enough to know sudden movements make you a chew toy for mass predators or aliens in particular. “I’m y/n… And you said American cheese and Swiss, right?”

A growl of confirmation was enough for you. You thanked the nonexistent gods that the oven could hold a head too as you slid the items in. They didn’t mention any trimmings like pepperoni or even meat balls. You’d think a monster would want every meat known to mankind on a sandwich but you digress.

As the sandwich toasted you decided to make conversation. Resting your hands on the bloody board you grow the courage to look back up at the mass. “First time at Subway?” you ask. Eddie chuckles and it was almost a satisfying sound for you. You had a thing for monsters after all, everything including voice. You try to hold the shiver back but it was no luck.

“I have been to Subway countless times. My other hasn’t. They tend to fixate on things they’ve never experienced before. I tried to tell them no but they never listen.”

It’s toasted. As you look at the mass in confusion you then hear the ding of the oven. How did it…

And you turn to get the sandwich out. It was heavy seeing as you know, there’s a head there. On toasted bread. With melted cheese all over. You hold back the sudden gag, who knew body parts would smell bad if you toasted it?

But you move it over to the additional decorations section, “Did you want any avocado to go with your sandwich today?”

“No thank you, avocado is gross.” Eddie has a look of disgust. You snort in agreement, “What would you two like with it then?”

Ketchup. Lots of ketchup. It looks like blood.

You oblige of course and move to wrap the sandwich. Though there’s a human head instead of normal food, you manage to make it work. Just took a lot of take and wrap. “Did you want this for here or to go?”

Here.

Great, now you had to hear them eat this... this head. But you keep your professionalism to a high 10 and give them a smile, “Any cookie or drink?”

Venom went crazy at that.

All of the chocolate cookies.

“Excuse me—“

Eddie sighs, “V, we can’t just have all of the chocolate cookies. Other people eat here too.”

“Well actually, we do have cookie boxes of a dozen. Do you want a dozen chocolate cookies?” you ask, rather cautiously after seeing Venom snap like that.

“I suppose so.” You smile, “Great. Did you need a drink as well or are you good to go?”

“We’ll take a medium sprite.”

“Fantastic. That’ll be 14.72. Enjoy.”

Now you were very curious as to how they were going to sit there and eat it. As they take a seat at one of the corner booths you step in to the back and peek through the window that looks out into the dining area, curious.

It was instantaneous. The mass ate the sandwich in one bite and same with the cookies. The crunching of bones, the blood spurting everywhere, the innocent cookies dying to this creature. But it fascinated you.

What you didn’t expect however, was for them to approach the tip jar. It takes them a moment but you see them put some money in and a white piece of paper. Then you heard Eddies voice.

“Thanks for putting up with us. Have a safe night.”

And then you heard the ding of the door closing and you come out of hiding to check the tip jar. In it you find a 20 buck tip and a white sheet of paper with a phone number scribbled and a drawing of the black mass.

“We are sorry if we spooked you but you are a good sandwich maker. We are Venom and here is our number. xxx-xxx-xxxx.”