#maybe I’m just dumb all of my lore comes from the show and the first game educate me I beg you | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

joe-mazzello-archive · 2 years

Text

baby we're a dying breed - part one

eddie munson x fem!reader (no y/n)

w/c: 13.6k

warnings: slooooow burn, s4 spoilers, parental death, reader has a phobia of swimming/being in or on water, drugs, alcohol, violence/gore, supernatural elements (it’s stranger things y’all), panic attack symptoms

a/n: hi hello. so this hasn’t left my brain since i watched that dumb finale. we all know eddie’s death was completely avoidable and dumb and blah blah blah sooooo let’s fix that. and help him find love while we’re at it! this fic is basically the plot of s4 with the reader inserted in. reader is the same age as eddie, was in his class the year he was supposed to graduate originally. i tried to keep as many of the events the same, but there are some deviations, especially in part two. i also don’t go into too much detail about the lore/main show plot since y’all have seen the show and know that shit. i’m mostly just adding to it. i also tried to avoid just typing out entire dialogue pieces word for word from the show too because tbh i hate when fix it fics do that.

this was a blast to write and i hope you enjoy. there will be one more part and then i also have some ideas for bonus scenes if folks are interested. also heads up that part two will be 18+.

Your relationship with Hawkins is complicated.

It’s your hometown, the place you were raised. It’s where your old friends are, it’s familiar, and it brings a sense of comfort as the sights pass by your car windows. It’s full of memories, both happy and not so happy. But it’s also dull, pitiful, and fills you with a bit of dread as the realization that you’re spending an entire week here hits you.

Maybe because it’s the first time you’ve been back since your mom died.

You were told it was a fire. A fire in the Starcourt Mall that took the lives of thirty Hawkins residents. It has never made any sense to you. Your mom used to endlessly complain about the “neon eyesore” that was the newly opened shopping center, claiming it was “everything wrong with America.” She shouldn’t have been there. And you’ll never know why she was. Or why anyone else was there. It had been the Fourth of July, after all. All of Hawkins was supposed to be at the fair. It just didn’t add up.

You didn’t come home last summer, electing to stay in the city with your college friends. You’d been in the middle of rolling the third joint of the night when the call came. Sometimes you wonder if things would have been different if you had been there. And even if you couldn’t change the result, if you were there, at least you would have more answers.

Your dad was long gone – had been since you were a baby. It was always just you and your mom. But now it’s just you.

As you pull into the driveway of your childhood home, now officially under your ownership after lots of paperwork, you let out a sigh. Going through your mother’s things isn’t the most exciting spring break you could have, but the job needs to be done. You plan on selling the house eventually, so the sooner you can clear out the junk, the better.

You’ll just need a little something to get you through it. Besides, who said you had to spend the week sober?

–

“So you decided to grace us with your presence?” Carolyn teases as she brings you in for a hug. You let out a chuckle. Despite all of your weird feelings around being home, there isn’t a doubt that you missed your friends. The Hawkins High Marching Band runs deep, and you treasure the relationships you built with your fellow band geeks.

“Yeah, I figured it was time to show my face around these parts again,” you counter with a smirk, releasing your old friend in order to climb into her passenger’s seat. She joins you in the car before putting it in drive and peeling out.

The two of you drive through Hawkins, casually catching up as Carolyn and you head to your meetup. It’s almost trippy, passing your old stomping grounds – everything looks exactly the same, like you never left.

Eventually Carolyn pulls over, parking just off the road, and the two of you begin your trek through the woods to the designated meeting spot. Memories of previous pickups and nights out with your fellow bandies come flooding back, bringing a soft smile to your face. Once the large rock comes into view, you shake your head lovingly – it’s like you’re seventeen all over again.

“So, who are we even meeting?” you ask Carolyn as the two of you settle on the oddly shaped stone, the rough surface oddly comforting beneath your hands. “I heard Reefer Rick is back in jail.”

“Yeah he is,” she confirms, playing with a frayed piece of her jeans. She pauses for a moment before continuing. “And you’re not gonna like the answer to that question.” You narrow your eyes at her as she blatantly avoids your gaze.

“Why?”

“Do my eyes deceive me?”

You know that voice.

“As I live and breathe, is that…Major?”

Eddie Munson.

You shouldn’t be surprised. You’d bought from him a few times back in the day, and he was always close with Rick. But you are not excited to be reunited with the shaggy-haired dealer. He has always annoyed the hell out of you, with his intense energy and his innate ability to simultaneously insult you and flirt with you in the same sentence. He used to drive you nuts when you were in high school. Your mom once told you that boys who picked on you just had a little crush. But you’re pretty sure Eddie picked on you because he found pleasure in your torment.

You turn to find the metalhead casually strolling towards you, a shit-eating grin on his face, swinging a small tin box. He looks about the same as he used to, just a little more stubble. Maybe a new tattoo. Even longer hair. It’s funny - your oldest memory of Eddie is from middle school, playing guitar in the talent show. He hadn’t yet gained the confidence he flaunted in high school. You wonder if people even realize he’s the same kid - he’s come a long way from his gangly frame and buzzcut days.

And of course he still calls you by that dumb nickname. When you got drum major your senior year, Eddie adopted the moniker for you, always mock saluting you like you were a military officer. It earned an eye roll from you every time, and Eddie always beamed, satisfied with your reaction.

“Munson,” you greet, failing to hide your chagrin in your tone. “Graduate yet?” His grin never falters as he stares you down, his big brown eyes almost sparkling with mirth.

“You wound me, Major,” he replies, his hand dramatically landing on his heart. “We haven’t seen each other in years and you’re already ribbing me. And here I thought what we had was special.” He drops the metal box onto the rock with a smirk, and you can’t fight the eyeroll. It seems to be your default response to him.

“Alright you two, let’s play nice,” Carolyn cuts in. “What do you got for us?”

Eddie rubs his hands together before opening his metal box.

“I can dooooo…a half ounce for twenty,” he responds, fiddling with the plastic bag inside the tin before looking back up at you. “Now that’s a good deal, I normally charge thirty. But we all go way back,” he adds with a wink. You roll your eyes for the second time since you arrived.

“I bet you say that to all of your customers,” you counter, fishing a twenty dollar bill out of your wallet. His shit-eating grin returns as he holds the bag out for you.

“Only the pretty ones.” You glare at him, unamused as you reach for the bag. He quickly snatches it out of your reach and you scowl, bored with his antics. He chuckles and hands it back to you, the metal of his rings briefly grazing your palm. You don’t remember him wearing nearly that much jewelry back in high school.

You hand him the bill and he grabs it gleefully.

“Pleasure doing business, ladies,” Eddie announces, shoving the twenty into his back pocket. “Now I’d love to stay and catch up, but I’ve got another client waiting on me and a D&D session to run.”

“You better watch yourself, Munson,” Carolyn interjects, a playfulness in her tone. “I heard that game is the devil’s game. Worshiping Satan and all that.” Eddie grins as he begins to saunter back into the woods.

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he says, before stopping himself and leaning against a tree. “And Major, if you need another pick-me-up while you’re in town, you know where to find me.” He tucks his bottom lip under his teeth and turns back towards the forest, disappearing into the trees.

You immediately glare at Carolyn, waiting for an explanation.

“Our options for dealers were limited!” she explains. “Everyone’s out of town for break. Besides, he’s not that bad…if you look past his dramatics.” You let out a chuckle, getting to your feet and dropping the bag of weed into your purse.

“If you look past the dramatics, there’s nothing else.”

–

Carolyn ends up inviting you to join some folks for drinks at her place.

You debate turning her down. Part of you is already overwhelmed from the Munson reunion and wants to retreat to your house to get high alone. You would get to avoid the awkward “so what have you been up to?” conversations and just have some peace for the night before starting your week-long project. But Carolyn talks you into it, listing off names of friends you’re actually interested in seeing, and promising a relaxing night.

So that’s how you find yourself sharing a joint with Scott and Dawn on Carolyn’s front porch, her parents off enjoying a Caribbean cruise, leaving the house free for former bandies to take over. You take a long hit, holding it in while you pass the stick to Dawn. You let it out slowly, relishing in the slight burn in your lungs. You try to tune out Scott rambling about his shitty car salesman job and just take in the sounds of the evening. The cool spring breeze is nice on your skin, and your body feels like it’s humming as your high sets in.

“This is good shit,” Dawn says, coughing a little and passing the joint to Scott. “Where’d you get it?”

You let out a snort, annoyed that Munson is suddenly back on your mind. Dawn is right, it is a good strain. You hate that you’re getting such a good high from something you bought from Eddie of all people. That fucker isn’t gonna get any compliments if you have anything to say about it.

“My hook-up at school,” you lie, a satisfied grin on your face. Take that Munson.

“Maybe I need to visit Chicago more often,” Dawn teases. Before you can respond, the screech of rubber on cement rings through the otherwise quiet neighborhood. The three of you turn towards the source of the sound to see a van speeding down the street. It flies by the house, careening down the road, before it’s out of sight as fast as it appeared.

“The fuck was that?” Scott asks, breaking the silence that had fallen over the three of you and handing you what was left of the joint.

“Clearly someone has someplace to be,” Dawn comments, crossing her arms. “I’m getting chilly, I’m heading in.”

Your friend disappears back into the house with Scott on her tail, leaving you alone on the porch. You can’t help but stare off into the night where you last saw the mysterious van. The van looked familiar – you’re pretty sure you have seen it before. But you can’t place where. You chalk it up to your high and decide to let it go. It doesn’t matter anyway.

You take one last hit before dropping the roach into the grass and stubbing it out, opting to join the rest of the group inside.

–

The spare bedroom is your starting place.

You know the most amount of junk will be kept in there, so you decide to get it out of the way first. Your mom hadn’t been a hoarder per se…but you know there’s gonna be a lot of useless documents or old keepsakes shoved into those closets that can be easily thrown away without much thought.

You throw Rumours on your mom’s old record player, light up a bowl, and get to work.

By the time the sun begins to set, you estimate you’re only halfway through the room. You decide to call it for the day, realizing you should probably eat something.

You’re in the middle of scarfing down a tv dinner, when you hear the doorbell. You pause, confused, almost unsure if you really heard the ring. The only people who know you’re in town are the folks you were with yesterday, and you don’t remember inviting anyone over to hangout today. Curious, you get to your feet and head to the door, opening it without even checking through the peephole at who your visitor could be.

It is revealed to be visitors, plural.

Before you stands Robin Buckley, your former marching bandmate, Steve fucking Harrington of all people, and two children you’ve never seen before: a boy with a goofy grin and a girl with strikingly red hair and an intense stare.

You realize you’ve been just looking at them in silence for far too long and shift your stance.

“Um…hi?”

“Hey,” Robin greets with an uncomfortable smile. “Sorry, um…do you mind if we come in?”

Still completely flabbergasted at the collection of people before you, you give an awkward shrug and step to the side while the mismatched group of teens piles into your living room. You shut the door behind them and bring a hand to your forehead as you turn to face your visitors.

“Okay, Buckley,” you begin. “You’re gonna have to walk me through why you’re at my house with Steve Harrington and two random children.”

They all share looks with each other, almost as if they are silently debating who should explain.

“We need your help,” the boy chimes in. “We need to find Eddie Munson.”

You blink several times, unsure if you heard the kid correctly.

You’ve been in Hawkins a little over twenty four hours, yet somehow Eddie Munson has come up not once, not twice, but three times.

“Why?” you ask incredulously, not knowing what else you could possibly say to that.

The group exchanges glances once again. You’re clearly missing something, but they seem almost…afraid to explain.

“Did you…hear about what happened?” Robin questions nervously. You let out an annoyed sigh, wishing these kids would just get to the point.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific than that,” you argue, crossing your arms. Robin looks to Steve, who seems equally annoyed at how long this is taking. He rolls his eyes and sets his hands on his hips.

“They found a body in Eddie’s trailer this morning. A cheerleader. Now Eddie is missing.”

A body?!

Your brain starts firing off thoughts while you process the information. Someone in Hawkins has mysteriously died. Again. And somehow Eddie is involved. Eddie. The same Eddie you were with just yesterday. The same Eddie who spends his free time fantasizing about fighting dragons. He may be a pain in the ass, but never in a million years would you think he would hurt anyone.

You shake your head, trying to form a response.

“There’s no way…Munson could never–”

“We know,” the boy says, interrupting your stammering. “We know he’s innocent. That’s why we have to find him. We think we know what happened.”

You’re still a little lost, trying to piece together everything you’ve been told. You realize you still don’t know what these people are doing in your living room of all places.

“Wait, so what does this have to do with me?” you ask, directing your question mostly at Robin, hoping she has the answer since she’s the only one of the quartet you’ve actually interacted with before.

“I know you used to hang with Eddie back when you were in school,” Robin explains. “A lot of the bandies used to. We heard you were back in town and figured it was worth a shot.”

“Okay, first of all, we did not hang out,” you quickly clarify, crossing your arms defensively. “I used to buy weed from him and then he…wouldn’t know when to leave. Second of all, why are you coming to me instead of Munson’s actual friends?”

“Look we’ve tried everyone we could think of,” the redhead girl suddenly speaks up, an edge to her voice. “No one knows where he is. We’re desperate here. Is there any place you think he would go?”

You let out a frustrated sigh, confused on how you could possibly know where Eddie would be hiding.

And then you remember the van.

The van you saw the night before, zooming down Carolyn’s street like it was being chased by something. You had thought it looked familiar - you now realize it was Eddie’s van.

“Wait, I think I saw him last night,” you reveal, earning the immediate attention of the teens gathered next to your couch. “He was speeding, heading out of town.”

You wrack your brain for where he could be headed. He would look for some place he knew, but some place out of the way. And wherever he was heading would have to be in the direction he was speeding last night.

And that’s when it hits you.

“Reefer Rick,” you announce. “His place is out by Lover’s Lake. Eddie might hide out there.”

“Do you know where it is?” the young boy excitedly asks.

“Yeah, I think,” you reply, but you’re still confused. You need more answers. “But wait, what do you mean by ‘you think you know what happened’?”

The group once again exchanges silent glances.

“Things in Hawkins…” the redhead starts, “...aren’t always what they seem.” Your brow furrows at the ominous nature of her tone.

“What she means is…” Steve cuts in. “Everything that’s gone on the past few years…the disappearances, the mysterious deaths…it’s connected.”

“And we have a lot of…experience with this stuff,” the boy adds.

You let their words sink in for a second. A small part of you always figured something weird was going on in Hawkins. But you really didn’t have any reason to say so. Not until last summer.

So you finally decide to say something.

“Starcourt Mall,” you suddenly spit out, your curiosity piqued. “Do you guys know what really happened?”

You watch their faces with intent as they all slowly nod.

“Was it a fire?”

They all solemnly shake their heads.

And for some reason…you believe them.

You let out a small chuckle, almost relieved that your suspicions were correct. And it’s bizarre how after all of these months, after all of your wondering, the people that seem to have all of the answers are a random selection of teenagers who happen to be standing in your house.

“Okay, here’s what's going to happen,” you announce, crossing your arms. “I will lead you guys to Reefer Rick’s. And on the way, you are going to tell me everything – and I mean everything – you know.”

For the final time, the group all exchange looks, clearly pleased with your statement.

“Deal.”

–

You don’t have any idea how to handle this.

Despite the trip to Rick’s only being about twenty minutes, they manage to tell you everything. How Will Byers suddenly seemed to come back to life. Why crops were randomly rotting two years ago. What really happened at Starcourt Mall on the Fourth of July.

You don’t know exactly what you wanted to hear, but learning your mom’s body had helped form a giant mutant flesh monster, and that it was defeated by a young girl with psionic powers was not what you expected.

At least you have your answers.

The group explains their working theory: that something from this mysterious other realm – the Upside Down, as they referred to it – has something to do with the girl who was found in Eddie’s trailer. And they’re on a mission to defeat whatever it is and clear Eddie’s name.

It’s a lot to take in. You don’t know what you’re more confused by: how all of this has been happening in Hawkins without everyone else knowing or how casual the group seems to be when explaining it.

By the time you all arrive at Rick’s, you’re mentally exhausted.

You trail behind everyone else, still trying to process how much your world has turned upside down – for lack of a better term – in less than an hour. As you follow the teens in front of you, you think about your mom, and how even though you’ve processed your grief, your heart hurts at how she met her end. You then realize that you being in Chicago instead of coming home last summer also likely saved your life. You might have been another victim of the flayer…thing…the kids described.

You’re brought back to reality at the sharp movement of Eddie launching himself from his hiding place and backing Steve against the wall, holding a broken bottle to his throat.

The teens all shout at him, pleading for him to back off. Your eyes fall to Eddie’s face, where you can see the terror and desperation written in his features. He’s scared. Really fucking scared.

You find yourself making your way closer to him, the tension in the room thick as all hell.

“Munson,” you utter, trying to keep your voice calm. You lay a gentle hand on the wrist that holds the bottle to Steve’s throat. The touch seems to break Eddie’s trance, as his eyes find yours. His eyebrows furrow and you can practically hear his brain working through all of his conflicting emotions. His big brown eyes stare deep into your soul, searching for answers you don’t have.

“We’re here to help,” you slowly explain. After a few moments, your words seem to get through to him, as he spares Steve one more glance before nodding and releasing him. You let go as well, and you watch as the tension seems to release from Eddie’s shoulders.

He slumps against the wall before sliding to the floor. You can see he’s visibly shivering, and his grip on the bottle doesn’t loosen. Whatever he witnessed last night, he is truly shaken up. And if it’s anything like the things the others described to you in the car, you don’t blame him.

You watch him closely as Dustin begins to try and coax him into revealing what happened. You’ve never seen him like this and it’s jarring. Gone is his usual snarky, goofy demeanor. You find yourself itching to move closer to him, to do something to comfort him. But you keep your distance, not wanting to spook him any more than he already is.

“You won’t believe me,” he croaks, his voice shaking. He frustratedly wipes at his face.

“Try us,” Max replies.

Eddie sniffles, before his sad eyes find yours. Almost as if he’s checking with you to see if he really should confess to whatever he’s holding on to. You give him a soft smile and a reassuring nod.

He takes a deep breath before he begins his story.

Somehow it’s even more horrifying than the flesh monster story.

You wrap your arms around your middle as Eddie recounts what he saw last night. You feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up as he divulges the details. And as the others reassure him that the group believes him and begins to reveal the existence of the Upside Down, you find yourself staying silent, completely overwhelmed by everything that’s happening.

It isn’t fair. That girl Barb. Your mom and all those other people. Now Chrissy. Innocent people dying at the hands of…mysterious creatures…who are out for blood. For whatever reason, these monsters have chosen Hawkins as their hunting ground, and it’s bullshit.

You don’t even realize how long you were zoned out until the others start moving.

“We’ll be back in the morning,” Dustin announces, and you turn to look at Eddie, who’s still slumped against the wall, looking utterly defeated. It seems almost cruel to leave him here like this.

“I’m gonna stay with Munson.” The words leave your lips before you can stop them. You feel all eyes on you, with Steve giving you the weirdest look of the bunch.

“I don’t – I don’t have the experience with this stuff that you guys have,” you explain, trying to keep your voice from shaking. “I only found out about all of this today. I can’t really…I don’t have anything to offer to help figure this out. So I’ll just stay here. Make sure he doesn’t…fall into the lake or something.”

There’s a moment of silence as the group does that weird telepathic check-in thing they do with each other. At this point, you wouldn’t be surprised if they revealed they all have powers too.

“Okay,” Dustin replies with a shrug. “See you two in the morning.” The group files out and closes the door behind them, leaving you and Eddie alone in the boathouse.

The silence is deafening.

You spin on your heels to face Eddie, and you find him watching you, an unreadable look on his face. You awkwardly saunter over to him, and take a seat on the floor to his left, pulling your knees to your chest. You don’t know what to say to him, or even why you’re sticking around. But you just feel compelled to stay with him.

“Hey,” you finally mutter, the silence becoming unbearable. You meet Eddie’s gaze, and you swear you see the smallest flash of a smile.

“Hey,” he says back, leaning his head against the wall. “So how’d you get wrapped up in this?”

It’s honestly a great question, one you find yourself wondering the answer to.

“I helped them find this place,” you respond. “Although, I’m still not sure how I managed to be the only one so far to figure out you’d be out here.”

Eddie lets out a breath, you think it might be a soft chuckle.

“Yeah, well let’s hope it stays that way for my sake,” he counters, sounding more like himself for the first time since you arrived at the boathouse.

Silence settles between the two of you once again as you play with the hem of your jeans.

“It’s hard to wrap my head around all of this,” Eddie suddenly speaks up. “Do you believe them? Do you believe me?”

You take a bit of comfort in the fact that he’s just as overwhelmed as you are. At least you aren’t alone.

“Yeah, I do,” you confirm, as you finally start to take in your surroundings. Your eyes roam the walls of the boathouse, studying the random assortment of stored items as you continue. “I mean, you’ve only heard the half of it. On the way here they told me everything. And as batshit crazy as it all is…it makes sense. Every weird thing that’s happened in Hawkins the past few years is because of this…other place. All the tragedy and death. It’s insane to think all those stories about monsters are real.” You let out a deep breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

“The mall fire,” Eddie utters after a moment. You nod, understanding his unasked question.

“Your mom.” You turn sharply, your eyes meeting his. “I had heard she was…I’m sorry about your mom.”

You feel your eyes well up, and you will the tears away. No matter how touched you are by his words, you refuse to let yourself cry in front of Eddie Munson.

“Thank you,” you finally say after a few seconds, trying to hide the shakiness in your voice. “I’m sorry about Chrissy.”

He gives you a soft nod, before tipping his head back against the wall once again. The two of you sit in the silence, but this time you don’t feel the awkwardness from before.

After a few minutes, you find your eyes drooping.

“We should probably try to get some sleep,” you suggest, rising to your feet. You stretch out your muscles, realizing you were sitting in that awkward position for longer than you should have.

“Inspired idea, Major,” Eddie says, also finally standing up. He gestures to his hiding spot from before. “You can take the boat, it’s surprisingly comfy in there.”

“No, you take that; I’ll figure something else out–”

“No, it’s fine. Just sleep in the boat–”

“Munson!” you snap, annoyed with how he’s arguing with you. “You being hidden is way more important than me being comfortable. Boat. Tarp. Now.” You angrily point at the boat in question and glare at him.

He cracks the first full smirk you’ve seen all night. The sight is almost comforting – that’s the Eddie that you know – until you remember you’re supposed to be irritated by him.

“Fine,” he concedes, his tone playful. “I almost forgot how bossy you can be, Major.” You roll your eyes and begin to glance around your immediate vicinity to see where you can set up shop for the night. “At least let me…”

You watch as Eddie maneuvers around you and produces several bright orange life vests from behind a crate. He then gently lays them out on the floor beside the suspended boat, creating a makeshift bed from the flotation devices.

“There,” he says, pleased with himself, before shooting you a signature Eddie grin. You sigh, annoyed that you aren’t annoyed at him anymore.

“Thanks,” you concede, moving to settle atop your make-do mattress for the evening. Eddie makes himself comfortable in the boat next to you.

“Night, Major,” Eddie says, still grinning. You shake your head, almost amazed at how quickly Eddie reverted back to his normal self.

“Night, Munson,” you reply, laying back on your lumpy bed. Pleased with your response, his grin brightens before he lays back himself, pulling the tarp over him.

You stare at the ceiling, still trying to wrap your head around the events of the evening. You somehow went from organizing old tax documents to being recruited by teenagers to help an accused murderer evade police after a girl was killed in his trailer by a supernatural monster from another realm. Part of you wants to just go back home, back to the quiet and safe task of cleaning out your house. But for some reason, you just know you need to see this through. Eddie may be…Eddie…but he’s also innocent. You know Hawkins, the second they turn on him, it could be dangerous. And the worst part is, the people of Hawkins don’t have any idea what the real danger is.

The creaks of the boathouse don’t do anything to help calm your nerves. You have no idea how you’re supposed to get any sleep tonight.

And then you hear a soft snore to your right.

You’re suddenly reminded that while the situation is not ideal, you’re not alone. You find Eddie’s snores oddly comforting, bringing a soft smile to your face. You’ll be sure to hold the fact that he snores against him tomorrow.

Eventually, your eyes droop closed once again, and you drift off to sleep.

–

You wake to the sound of a car door slamming. Eddie and you both jolt upright, meeting each others’ eyes before jumping to your feet and heading towards the window.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Eddie mutters under his breath as he peers through the glass, gripping the sharp bottle from before.

“Do you see anyone?” you ask, hoping he can spot the potential threat. The angle you have of the path leading up to the house is completely free from anyone.

“No, but–”

The front door to the boathouse bursts open, causing you and Eddie to practically jump out of your skins, with Eddie’s arm shooting across you in an attempt to block your body with his.

Robin, Steve, Dustin, and Max appear in the doorway, all holding bags. You press a hand to your chest in an attempt to calm your pounding heart.

“Delivery service!” Dustin proudly announces, and you and Eddie exchange an annoyed look.

Eddie and you take turns passing the box of Honey Comb back and forth while the group recounts what little they have figured out. The news that Eddie’s name hasn’t been released publicly is somewhat reassuring, but it’s only a matter of time before folks figure out what happened on their own. Hawkins residents aren’t the brightest folks around – they haven’t caught on to all of the supernatural events happening under their noses – but they aren’t completely stupid.

Before you can ask what the next steps are, the sound of sirens blaring pierces through the boat house.

Your eyes widen in fear as you turn to Eddie.

“Hide!”

He leaps to his feet and practically dives back into the boat, and you adjust the tarp to cover him. Dustin, Robin, and Eddie dart over to the window, and you quickly look around for another exit, trying to game plan how you’re gonna help Eddie escape.

“They’re not coming here,” Dustin announces after a moment, the group backing away from the window as the sound of the sirens begins to fade. “But we should probably go check it out.” The others nod in agreement, as Eddie sits up from his hiding spot.

“You still good here?” Steve asks, clapping a hand on your shoulder. You glance at Eddie, who has another unreadable expression on his face. You give Steve a nod.

“Yeah, I’m staying,” you reply, crossing your arms. It seems pointless to leave Eddie now, especially since the group doesn’t have any leads on how they’re going to defeat this thing – “Vecna” as they called it.

“Here,” Dustin speaks up, handing you a large walkie-talkie. “It’s already set to the right channel. We’ll communicate through these.” You give Dustin a nod, tucking the radio under your arm.

The teens all awkwardly wave goodbye, and disappear through the front door, leaving you and Eddie alone once again.

You wander back over to your pile of life jackets and plop down on top of them. You find yourself even more lost than yesterday. How in the hell are you supposed to kill some monster from another realm? Especially when the people most likely to come up with the answer have nothing so far?

“I just thought of something,” Eddie says, interrupting your thoughts.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” you counter, shooting him a satisfied smirk. He beams, clearly unbothered by your insult.

“Something you said last night,” he explains, ignoring your comment. “About keeping me from falling into the lake.” Your brow furrows; you barely even remember making that comment.

“Well to be fair, you’re not the most coordinated guy around, Munson,” you explain, reaching for the box of Honey Comb.

“But if I were to fall into the lake, what would you even be able to do about it? You can’t swim.”

You freeze. How the fuck does he know that? you wonder to yourself.

“What?” is your reply, words escaping you.

“Yeah,” Eddie continues, “unless you grew out of it, I remember you being terrified of the water.”

You’re flabbergasted. You have no clue how Eddie Munson could know such a personal detail that you definitely don’t advertise to people.

“How…?” is all you manage to get out before Eddie speaks up again.

“The first summer after my dad got carted off to prison again, my uncle didn’t know what to do with me,” he explains, a soft smile on his face as he describes the memory. “He would drop me off at the pool during the day so he could get some sleep. I remember you would never get all the way into the water, just sit with your feet in. Every time your mom would try to get you into the pool, you would scream and cry.”

You remember those days well. Your mom could never crack why you were so scared to get into the water. You used to grip the side of the pool, your small fingers digging as far into the concrete as you could. Your mom would practically beg you to join her in the cool water, promising you that nothing would hurt you, but you never budged. Eddie isn’t wrong, most of the time the day would end in a meltdown, followed by an apologetic trip to get ice cream. To this day, you don’t understand where your fear comes from. There’s just something about swimming and being in or on water that terrifies you.

Once again, you find yourself surprised by Eddie Munson. While the memory is somewhat embarrassing, it’s almost touching that he remembers that little nugget about you.

“I can’t believe you remember that,” you finally say, shaking your head. Eddie simply smirks, shrugging his shoulders.

“I mean who could forget? You were a total freak.”

You scoff in mock offense and playfully bat him on the shoulder at his comment, earning what sounds like a giggle from the metalhead next to you. You can’t help but let out a small chuckle yourself. You appreciate him trying to lighten the mood, even if it is at your expense.

Silence settles over the two of you once again, and you can feel Eddie’s stare this time. You turn to find that unreadable look from before. It’s a bit unnerving.

“What?” you ask, hoping he’ll either break the stare or at least speak up.

“What are you doing here?” he responds, almost incredulously. “I mean, you can cut and run…you don’t have to be here.” He pauses for a moment, but continues before you have a chance to answer. “If what Henderson and all of them are saying is true, you could be implicated if you’re seen with me.”

He’s right. There really isn’t a solid reason for staying. You don’t know enough about the Upside Down or Vecna to contribute to clearing Eddie’s name. You don’t have any skills that could help Eddie evade authorities. You honestly might just get in the way.

But something about leaving doesn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right last night and it didn’t feel right when the group left today. Something is pulling you to stay with Eddie. But you don’t know what. And you don’t know how to explain that to him. At least not without sounding nuts.

So you deflect.

“Do you want me to go?”

He eyes you for a moment while he considers your question. His brow furrows briefly and slightly purses his lips. You’re uncomfortable under his stare once again – there’s just something in his eyes that almost scares you. He looks at you with such intensity. You can’t remember anyone looking at you like this before.

And then suddenly the spell is broken – Eddie takes in a breath as he lays back in the boat, crossing his arms behind his head and resting on them.

“Nah, I could use the company,” he replies nonchalantly. “Besides, it’ll be just like old times.”

Still recovering from the slight whiplash of his mood swing, you almost miss the comment.

“Old times?” you repeat, wondering what the hell he could be referring to.

“Yeah,” he confirms, as if it’s obvious. “Remember when we used to hang out? We’d smoke a little…talk about life.”

You throw your head back and let out a full laugh at his skewed recollection of events.

“See, I seem to remember you selling us drugs and then just never leaving – even if we ignored you entirely,” you correct him, your tone teasing. Eddie waves his hand in the air.

“Same difference,” he says. “Though I would kill for something to take the edge off right now. Being a wanted man is fucking stressful.”

You let out a chuckle as you reach for your purse, mentally thanking your past self for throwing your smoking stuff into the bag during your hasty exit. You toss the bag of weed, pack of rolling papers, and lighter onto Eddie’s chest, causing him to suddenly sit up. His eyes light up as he grabs at the collection of items before him.

“Major, I could kiss you,” Eddie announces as he hurriedly pushes the tarp off of the boat, spreading out the items onto the boat's flat surface and beginning the task of rolling a joint. You scoff at his words – as if you’d let him anywhere near your lips.

You and Eddie pretty much spend the rest of the day like that – keeping up a pleasant high by sharing a joint every few hours and just casually chatting. He rants about his band, regaling you with stories about how unlively the Corroded Coffin shows are. You tell him about school in Chicago and how different it is living in a big city compared to a small town like Hawkins. The two of you argue over who would win in a fight: Freddy Krueger or Jason Vorhees. The conversation topics vary wildly, but with nothing but time to kill while you wait for something to happen – whether that’s word from Robin and crew or the police swarming the property – you don’t know how else to keep yourselves entertained. You even take turns tossing pebbles into a can Eddie found, going so far as creating a point system and keeping track of each other’s scores.

You’re surprised. For the first time ever, you’re actually enjoying spending time with Eddie Munson. While the circumstances are very strange, you almost don’t mind. You hate to admit it, but the guy is somewhat funny and almost…charming…in a uniquely Eddie way. Even back in high school, you never understood why people were so afraid of him – you've always known that he’s just an awkward goofball – just with interests that are a little extreme for a small town in Indiana.

He seems to enjoy your company as well, laughing at your attempts at jokes and listening to your stories. You occasionally shoot him some playful insults, trying to give him a taste of his own medicine, but he appears to take delight in your razzing, earning you a genuine smile with every jab. And you soon find yourself going out of your way to earn that reaction as much as you can.

If senior year you could see you now, she’d be shellshocked.

The sun eventually sets, and with no word from the other teens, you attempt to get some sleep once again. Eddie throws himself onto your pile of life jackets, refusing to move.

“Guess you’re gonna have to take the boat,” he claims, as if his hands are tied. You roll your eyes, before throwing the tarp at him and begrudgingly climbing into the boat and making yourself comfortable.

Your mind immediately begins to wander, the reality of the situation suddenly hitting you full force once again. All you want is for everyone to be safe. Your friends, the band of teens leading the charge, Eddie…you just want everyone to be okay. And you have no idea how you can make that happen.

You realize a tense silence has settled over the boathouse. You know Eddie's still awake, you can by the lack of snoring. Something pushes you to speak up, so you do.

“Hey,” you start, hoping you were right about him still being awake.

“Yeah?”

You pause for a moment, feeling awkward.

“We’re gonna figure this out,” you declare. You don’t know if you even believe your own words. But something about saying it out loud makes it seem like it can happen. “I promise.”

Eddie doesn’t answer right away. In fact he takes so long to reply that you almost sit up to check to see if he did fall asleep.

“Yeah,” he says, his voice shaky. “I hope so.”

Your heart pangs, the fear in his voice evident. You wish there’s something more you can do.

So you try your best to get comfortable in your makeshift bed, and for the second night in a row, you drift to sleep to the creaks and scrapes of the boathouse.

–

Luckily, you’re not rudely awoken by a potential threat on your second morning. Your eyes flutter open and you’re appreciative of the fact that any imminent danger was nice enough to be quiet this time.

You slowly sit up, stretching out your muscles and cracking your stiff joints. A gentle snore sounds next to you, and you immediately grin at the fact that Eddie is still asleep. You realize you forgot to tease him about his snoring yesterday, but you’ll be sure to mention it to him today.

Your eyes wander to his sleeping form. His mussed curls are haphazardly strewn about and the tarp is carelessly tossed across his torso. He looks so peaceful that it’s almost bizarre – you’re so used to his wild high-energy antics that it’s weird to see him so…quiet.

You’re so lost in your thoughts that you miss that at some point Eddie stopped snoring.

“Watching me sleep?” he suddenly says before his eyes pop open and that signature Eddie smirk appears. You feel the heat in your ears, embarrassed at being caught. “Didn’t take you for such a creeper, Major.”

You roll your eyes and attempt to deflect the situation.

“You snore,” is all you can manage as a retort, staring down at your lap to avoid his pleased expression. When he doesn’t say anything after a few moments, you look back at him to find him sporting a huge grin, clearly unbothered once again by your comment. His smile gets you to break, and you let out an embarrassed chuckle at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Shut up,” you say, knowing full well he didn’t say anything more. It earns a chuckle from Eddie, who decides to stand, taking his turn to stretch. You can’t help but notice the small patch of pale skin that’s exposed below the hem of his dirtied white shirt while he stretches his arms above his head.

“So since we’ve pretty much killed the wonderful spread that Henderson and crew brought us yesterday, and since there’s no sign of them this morning, what do you say to popping up to Rick’s house to see what food we can scrounge up?” Eddie inquires, running a hand through his hair to get some stray strands out of his face.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

You do feel a little bit bad rifling through Rick’s kitchen, but since you can’t get a hold of anyone, it’s your best option.

The fridge is pretty much empty other than a bottle of mustard and a take-out container that neither of you dare to touch. You split up and start searching cabinets and drawers, hoping to find something edible before the two of you start withering away to nothing.

“I don’t mean to brag,” Eddie suddenly announces, and you turn to find him holding a can. “But I’ve been told I make a mean bowl of Spaghettios.”

You can’t help but let out a chuckle.

“I guess I’ll have the Spaghettios then,” you reply, opting to play along. Eddie, pleased with your response, lights up, tossing the can into the air and catching it.

“One order of Spaghettios, coming right up, ma’am.”

While Eddie heats up your meal, you make an attempt to get a hold of the Vecna-hunting crew.

“Anyone there?” you plead into the radio. “Dustin? Robin? Steve? Anyone?”

The radio crackles for a moment before a voice sounds on the other side.

“Hey, it’s Nancy.” Your eyes immediately meet Eddie’s as you both share a look of relief at the sound of someone answering your call.

“Hey, um, we’re running low on food,” you reveal. “Could we get a delivery sometime soon?”

“Uh yeah, we can do that…just give us some time and we’ll be out there soon.”

“Thanks, Nancy–”

“Ask for a six pack!” Eddie suddenly shouts, and you turn to glare at him.

“I am not asking them to get you beer!” you argue.

“Come on!” Eddie counters. “We’re almost out of bud and I really could use a drink.”

You groan before hitting the button on the radio.

“Eddie is requesting a six pack of beer as well,” you begrudgingly say.

“Hold on, I’m gonna have to call you back–”

“Wait, Nancy? Nancy?” you call out, but no one replies. You let out a sigh – you can only hope that the group will be on their way soon.

“Order up!” Eddie announces, getting your attention. You watch as he awkwardly clears away a bunch of playing cards, empty beer cans, and a bong from the table before placing the pot of canned noodles and two seemingly clean bowls down. You take a seat at the table as Eddie spoons out a helping for each of you.

“Now I’ve spent years trying to get the recipe just right, so please be honest with your feedback,” Eddie teases, handing you a spoon. You giggle at his theatrics.

“I’m sure it’ll be delicious,” you reply, amazed at how he can still keep the mood light, despite the current situation. The thought makes you stop and watch him as he starts to practically inhale his Spaghettios.

He must realize you’re watching him, because he stops to look up at you.

“What?”

“I’m just…I don’t know…surprised,” you explain, struggling to find the words. “Despite…everything…you still manage to crack jokes. It’s just impressive, I guess.”

You see his smile slowly fade and you immediately regret saying anything.

“I’ll be honest with you, Major,” Eddie responds, his hand absentmindedly running through his hair. “I am…barely holding it together.” He gets a far-off look in his eye, and you essentially freeze in your seat, completely speechless at his confession. He stares off for a few moments before his gaze meets yours once again. “But you…being here. It’s really helping. So…thank you…for sticking around.”

You offer a small smile and nod, his words warming your heart. After feeling so helpless, unsure of how you could do anything to fix the situation, hearing that simply staying with him has helped at all is comforting.

“I’d like to think…that if the roles were reversed…you’d do the same for me,” you say, awkwardly mixing your meal with your spoon to give you something to focus on other than Eddie’s deep brown eyes staring at you.

“I don’t know,” he suddenly says after a few moments. “I wouldn’t put it past you to have committed a murder.”

Your jaw drops and your eyes shoot up to glare at him, only to find that knowing smirk is back. You let out a chuckle as you realize he’s teasing you and you shake your head. He giggles himself, pleased with your reaction as always, before his smile fades.

“I’d be there in a heartbeat,” he claims, his tone earnest. His sobering stare makes you uncomfortable again, and you busy yourself with the bowl in front of you, finally taking a bite of your meal.

The two of you eat your Spaghettios in comfortable silence, and you can’t help but repeat his words back in your head.

You being here, it’s really helping.

I’d be there in a heartbeat.

There’s nothing like a life and death situation to bring two people together. You couldn’t have imagined forming such a friendship with Eddie before. But before, you never looked past his “freak” reputation and his hijinks to see what was there. And you have to admit it, what’s there is…a really cool and great person.

At this point you’re not sure what’s more insane: the fact that there’s a demon from another realm attacking people in Hawkins or the fact that you think Eddie Munson is cool.

–

After finishing your meal, which after an entire day of nothing but junk food tasted like the most amazing thing you’ve ever eaten, the two of you make your way back to the boathouse, hoping to be receiving a visit from the Upside Down team soon.

You’re halfway through your fifth game of “pebble basketball” when you hear a car door slam. You both jump to your feet, rushing to the window, expecting to see a familiar group of teens with bags of supplies.

Instead you’re met with the sight of three teenagers in black suits, armed with large objects, exiting their vehicle.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Eddie groans, his body tensing. “It’s the fucking basketball team.”

You both duck below the window, your own panic beginning to set in.

“The blonde one,” he continues. “That’s Chrissy’s boyfriend.”

“Shit,” you repeat back, your mind racing. In all of the hours spent hiding out here, the two of you never came up with an escape plan. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie reveals, his voice strained. “I think we both assumed Henderson and his band of heroes would have come up with a plan by now.”

“I’ll keep watch,” you offer, before handing him the radio. “You try to get a hold of Dustin or Nancy or whoever.” Eddie nods, grabbing the device and moving away from the window.

You watch as the three teens make their way into the main house, clearly looking for a fight. You begin to wrack your brain, trying to come up with anything you can do to either get the boys to leave or to escape yourselves. You can hear Eddie angrily grumbling into the receiver, trying to get someone to respond. You both know that the longer you stay in the boathouse, the more likely you’ll be caught.

You don’t know if you can convince the guys to leave Eddie alone. You doubt explaining that Chrissy was actually killed by a monster from another dimension will go over well. You don’t know these kids well enough to be able to reason with them. And there is no universe where you and Eddie can take on all three of them. Your only option is to escape.

But how? And where can you even go?

“Fuck!” Eddie shouts, breaking you out of your thoughts. “No one is answering.” He plants his hands on his hips, and you can practically hear the gears churning in his head. His eyes widen and shoot up to meet yours. “I have an idea, grab your stuff.”

You don’t hesitate, instantly reaching for your bag and throwing everything you’d pulled out back inside. You turn and stand, waiting for more instructions, before realizing Eddie is untying the boat.

“Help me get this in the water,” he instructs. You freeze in place as you realize what his plan is.

Panic immediately sets in. You can’t. You just can’t. Eddie is just going to have to leave you behind. There is no way you’re getting in that boat with him and going out onto the lake.

You can stay behind, distract the guys to give Eddie more time to escape. You don’t like the idea of separating, but you find it much more appealing than getting into that fucking boat.

Eddie finally realizes you haven’t moved from your spot and looks up, clocking the panic that must be plastered all over your face.

“Oh shit, right,” he says, quickly assessing and understanding the situation. “Okay, um…”

You watch him with big eyes as he moves over to you. He hesitates for a moment before placing his hands on your upper arms.

“Sweetheart, I’m gonna need you to trust me on this one,” he pleads with you, his voice tight. “Those guys are going to kill me if we don’t get on this boat right now. I promise you, you won’t need to get in the water at all. And I will be there the whole time. Just please, please, get in the boat.”

Your heart is pounding, your hands are sweaty, and you can feel your breathing getting shaky.

And then he says your name.

Not “Major,” but your first name. You can’t remember the last time he called you by your actual name. It sounds almost foreign coming from his lips.

“Please.”

Part of you wants to fight, explain to him your plan to stay behind to help him get away. But the way he’s looking at you is so intense, that you can’t help but listen to him.

You do trust him.

You slowly nod, and Eddie lets out a breath in obvious relief at your answer.

“Okay,” he says before letting you go to finish preparing your escape vessel. You grab the radio, stuffing it into your bag. You hear a soft splash, and turn to see Eddie climbing into the boat. He holds a hand out for you. You tentatively take it, his rings against your skin feeling oddly comforting. You gently take your first step, trying to ignore the shakiness of the boat under your foot. “Easy. That’s it.” You take the next step, gripping Eddie’s hand like a vice, and he slowly helps you sit on the metal bench.

“Okay, you’re okay,” he says, his own voice shaky from the tension. He then turns to grab the oar, but your hand refuses to let go of his.

“Sweetheart, I’m gonna need both hands to row,” he pleads with you as he takes his own seat. You stare at him, eyes wide, silently begging him not to let go. You’re afraid of what will happen if he does.

“Shit, okay,” he says, glancing around for a solution. “Let’s do this, just grab on to me.” He grabs your other hand and moves both to rest on either side of his waist. He gently lets your hands go and you grip his sides. “Okay, here we go.”

As he begins to paddle out of the boathouse, you focus on your breathing and the solid feeling of Eddie’s body under your fingertips. You keep reminding yourself: he’s here, he won’t let anything happen to you. You try to tune out the sloshing of the water, and instead focus on the small grunts that escape Eddie’s lips as he rows. You center your stare on his back, eyes tracing the Dio graphic on his vest.

Just when your panic begins to somewhat subside, you hear a voice.

“Hey freak! Where do you think you’re going?”

“Goddamn it,” Eddie groans. You turn to look behind you, and you see two of the guys from before stripping on the shore, preparing to swim after you.

“Munson,” you finally squeak out, your voice tiny. Eddie starts to paddle faster.

“I know, sweetheart,” he replies, his desperation evident. You find yourself looking back to the shore just in time to see the two guys diving into the water. You grip Eddie even tighter, nails digging into the denim of his vest. You’re trying to keep it together, but you have no idea what the guys are capable of, and the two of you are way too far from a shoreline for your liking.

Eddie paddles and paddles, but the guys get closer and closer. Suddenly the blonde one calls your name.

“We’re gonna get you away from that freak, don’t worry!” Your brow furrows. They must think Eddie is holding you against your will.

“Fuck off!” you attempt to shout back, but your voice barely escapes you. You immediately realize the blonde is no longer focused on you. His friend suddenly stops swimming and begins to look around.

“Patrick! Come on, we almost have them!” the blonde shouts, but it’s like the boy doesn’t even hear him. “Patrick!”

You then watch as suddenly Patrick is pulled beneath the water. Everything is silent for a moment – even Eddie stops rowing and turns to watch the scene unfold. And then as if he was shot from a cannon, Patrick flies out of the water and then stops several feet above the surface.

You don’t even realize you’re screaming until you feel yourself being yanked backward, Eddie’s arms wrapping around you and pulling you to his chest. You watch in horror as the boy’s limbs begin to crack one by one. Eddie’s hand slides up behind your head and turns you towards him, hiding your face in his neck. You can hear more snapping noises, and you realize you’re crying when the fabric of Eddie’s t-shirt begins to dampen under you. Finally, you hear a large splash.

And then everything is quiet.

Eddie’s arms fall away and you immediately miss the heat. You burrow yourself into his body, gripping his t-shirt and refusing to move. You can feel him start to paddle once again, but you don’t hear anything from the guys who were chasing you. You’re afraid to ask any questions – you simply focus on the sound of Eddie’s quick heartbeat and the rapid rise and fall of his chest beneath your cheek.

You have no idea how long the two of you travel across the water. But after a while the motion of the boat slows down, eventually coming to a stop as you hit land. Eddie’s arm curves around you again before he finally speaks up.

“Come on, sweetheart.”

You peel yourself off of him, eyes immediately catching the wet spot your tears left along the collar of his shirt. His hands find yours as he pulls you to stand before helping you out of the boat and back onto land. The solid ground beneath your feet calms your nerves slightly, but your heart is still pounding in your chest.

You turn back to look at the water, and suddenly the memory of Patrick comes flooding back. The sight of his body floating in the air, the violent snapping of his bones – you don’t think you’ll ever be able to get the sound out of your head.

You spin back to Eddie, your panic returning. His hands are still in yours, and you grip them even tighter. But you quickly realize, he’s doing no better than you. His chest is heaving, and you recognize the same fear in his eyes as when you first discovered him in the boathouse.

“He...he–” you whimper.

“I know–”

“His…his bones–”

“I know, sweetheart–”

“Is that what…?”

“Yeah.”

He immediately understands your unspoken question. What happened to Patrick is what he saw happen to Chrissy.

“What…what do we do?” you desperately ask. Eddie doesn’t respond right away – you guess it’s because he doesn’t have any ideas.

“What we’re going to do first is breathe, okay?” he instructs. “Just in and out, slowly. In…and out.”

You close your eyes and try to breathe with him, timing your inhales and exhales with his. You continue to grip his hands as you take your breaths, in and out, in and out.

After a few minutes, you start to feel like yourself again. Your heart slows to a normal pace and the tension in your shoulders releases. Your grip on Eddie’s hands loosens and you finally open your eyes. You’re met with the sight of Eddie’s big brown eyes staring at you once again.

Eddie’s safe. You’re safe. You made it across the lake. He talked you through it and let you hang onto him the entire time. And then even after everything, despite all of his own fear, he helped you calm down.

You launch yourself at him, wrapping your arms around his body in a tight hug. You know he’s not expecting it, because he freezes, stiffening under your embrace. But after a few moments, his arms find their way around you and pull you in tight. You have no idea how long the two of you stay like that, just holding each other close.

Eventually you make the first move to pull away, wiping at a stray tear that managed to escape. An awkward silence settles over the two of you while you each recover from the long embrace. You decide to speak up first.

“I think we should…um…try to find somewhere to lay low,” you say, voice a little hoarse from your screaming earlier. Eddie nods in agreement.

“Yeah, yeah…let’s do that,” he replies, glancing around at your surroundings. “Okay, I think I know someplace, follow me.”

–

You never used to think the forests around Hawkins were that scary. But after witnessing what you had earlier and with the knowledge that a demon was killing people at random around Hawkins, you find yourself on edge as you wander through the trees. You trail Eddie closely, eyes locked to his back so you don’t lose him in the darkness. You’re almost on autopilot, your legs moving instinctively. You can feel the waves of fatigue coming on, but you’re afraid that if you stop moving for a second, you’ll either get separated from Eddie or collapse from exhaustion. Between the late night hour, the lack of food in your system, the long distance you’ve walked, and the emotional weariness from your panic attack earlier, you’re surprised you’re still functioning.

“It should be right up here,” Eddie calls back to you, and you sigh in relief, wanting nothing more than to just crumple to the ground and fall asleep. The trees break and you find yourself coming to a clearing, with a large boulder towering above you. “Welcome to our home for the time being, Skull Rock.”

Once the words leave his lips, you’re shocked you didn’t recognize it immediately. You used to come out here to play when you were a kid, and you had several smoking sessions out here with friends as a teen.

You plop onto the ground below the large rock, the muscles in your legs practically screaming at you.

“It’s perfect,” you state, sliding yourself to lean your back against the rockface. Eddie drops next to you with a sigh.

“We’ll hang out here for the night, and in the morning we’ll try to get a hold of someone,” Eddie suggests. “And then…I guess we’ll figure something out from there.” You nod in agreement, your eyes already drooping closed.

“Okay,” you mumble, losing the fight against your body’s need for sleep. You don’t know if Eddie says anything else, as sleep overtakes you.

The sudden shake of your body wakes you up.

Your eyes pop open and you realize at some point your head had fallen onto Eddie’s shoulder. You then realize the sudden movement was from Eddie, who’s stirring in his sleep.

You sit up abruptly and you watch as Eddie thrashes, mumbling unintelligible words. A fear takes over you instantly – what if this is the work of Vecna? Are you about to watch Eddie’s body float and snap like a twig above you?

You grab his shoulders, gently shaking him.

“Munson,” you call, your voice low at first. “Hey, wake up.” His body continues to thrash and flail, and you try to hold him still.

“No, not her,” Eddie mumbles. You take the fact that he can speak as a sign that he’s simply having a nightmare, instead of being controlled by an invisible monster.

“Munson!” you shout, shaking him harder. “Wake up!”

His eyes snap open and he gasps for breath, as if he was drowning. He grips your hands where they are planted on his shoulders and he heaves as he comes to.

“You’re okay, it was just a nightmare,” you say, attempting to comfort him. You let him focus on his breathing as you gently caress his shoulders with your thumbs. He nods, and after a few moments you release him.

“Where’s the radio?” he asks after a few seconds. You’re a little stunned by the rapid change in subject, but you grab it from your bag and wordlessly hand it to him.

“Dustin, can you hear me?” he grunts into the receiver. “Wheeler? Someone?” There’s a moment of static, and then a voice comes through.

“Eddie, holy shit, are you guys okay?”

You and Eddie’s eyes meet and share a sigh of relief at the teen’s voice.

“Uh, actually no, we’re not fucking okay,” he replies, a bite to his tone. “Shit’s really bad.”

“Where are you?”

“We’re hiding at Skull Rock. Do you know it?”

“Yeah that’s near…yeah, yeah, we know it. Hold tight, we’re coming!”

Eddie doesn’t respond, he simply rests his forehead on the radio and pinches his eyes closed. You can see his chest rising and falling rapidly – the facade he was able to keep with you yesterday is all but gone, and his panic is front and center.

You reach over and gently take the radio from his hand, placing it back into your bag for now. You then take his hand, almost tenderly, and hold it in yours. You meet his eyes and silently communicate to him what he was able to promise you yesterday. You’re here and you won’t let anything happen to him.

He seems to understand, as he offers a small smile and squeezes your hand in his.

The two of you sit in comfortable silence, the only sounds being the rustle of leaves and the chirping of birds. The feeling of his hand in yours is comforting, and you can only hope he feels the same.

At least twenty minutes goes by before Eddie speaks again.

“I just left her,” he says, his voice tight. “I left her there and I ran.”

You know immediately he’s talking about Chrissy. You can tell that the guilt is eating him alive.

“Munson,” you start. “What else could you have done? We don’t know how to kill this thing. I mean it’s fucking invisible. I know you feel guilty for what happened, but none of it was your fault. And who knows, you might have been his next victim if you hadn’t gotten the fuck out of there.”

He doesn’t respond, staring dejectedly at the ground.

“You’re just a person, Munson,” you continue. “No one is expecting you to be more than that. You’re not some…sorcerer or cleric who can just cast a spell to fix this. It’s okay to do what you need to in order to protect yourself. And if that means running away, then so be it.”

After a few moments of silence, you assume he’s not going to respond and decide to drop the subject. You glance over to find him eyeing you warily.

“How do you know what a cleric is?” he asks guardedly. You bite your lip to stop yourself from smiling. You were hoping that line would get his attention.

“I might have dabbled in some D&D in college,” you reveal with a shrug, playing it off as if it’s no big deal.

He lets go of your hand and you immediately miss the feeling, but he does so in order to move into a squat right in front of you.

“So you’re saying…that you have played D&D…and I’m only finding out right now?” he asks as if you’ve personally slighted him. You chuckle at his dramatics.

“To be fair, I’ve only played like two sessions,” you explain. “Our DM kept canceling.”

He scoffs before standing and kicking at a rock on the ground.

“Sounds like a shitty DM,” he mumbles.

“You’re saying you’re a better DM?”

“Sweetheart, I’m the best DM.”

Your stomach flutters at the nickname, now that you’re in less of a panicked state to appreciate it.

But before you can respond, you hear voices coming through the trees. You and Eddie exchange a look before grabbing your stuff and moving to climb on top of one of the boulders, giving you the high ground.

You quickly recognize the voices of Steve and Dustin arguing. You and Eddie sit on the rock and watch as the pair wander into the clearing, passing you by.

“...You can’t admit you’re wrong, you little butthead.”

“I concur,” Eddie states, announcing your presence to your new visitors. They sharply turn towards you, clearly startled by Eddie. “You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead.”

Eddie hops down first, before holding out a hand to help you jump off.

“We thought you guys were goners,” Dustin declares before pulling Eddie in for a hug.

“Yeah, so did we,” Eddie confirms, hugging the teenager back. You’re surprised as Dustin then pulls you in for a hug as well. Robin, Nancy, Max, and another boy then appear through the bushes. Your eyes light up at the sight of grocery bags, and as if on cue, your stomach immediately growls.

The group settles in while you and Eddie practically inhale the snacks they brought. They tell you about Eddie’s name being released to the public and you tell them what you witnessed on the lake. They update you on their findings about Victor Creel and how Vecna has some sort of connection to the Creel house. You all put together that Vecna’s attack on Patrick happened while they were in the Creel attic.

The teens begin to rant about how they wish their friend had their superpowers again when Eddie speaks up.

“What’s going on with Henderson over there? He’s not…cursed…is he?”

You glance over and see Dustin frantically pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself and holding his compass.

“Cursed? Nah,” Steve assures the two of you. “Mental? Definitely.”

“The compass!” Dustin suddenly exclaims, causing everyone’s attention to focus on him. He goes on to explain that his compass isn’t working properly due to some sort of magnetic field. You can barely keep up as the teens all fill in the blanks. You think Dustin is suggesting that you all follow his compass to find a way into the Upside Down, but you’re not sure.

“Wait, we can’t just go for a hike in the woods,” Steve argues. “Eddie’s still a wanted man.”

“What say you, Eddie the Banished?” Dustin asks, and the group turns to Eddie for his response. But Eddie looks to you.

Hiking through the woods doesn’t seem like the best plan, especially now that you know Eddie’s name has been released to the public. You’re also not exactly excited about the concept of walking for hours once again. But you know it has to be Eddie’s call – and you’ll stay with him no matter what he wants to do.

“Whatever you decide, I’m in,” you tell him. He nods before turning to Dustin.

“You’re asking me to follow you into Mordor,” Eddie begins. “Which, honestly, sounds like a terrible plan.” He looks at you once more, and then his eyes scan his surroundings. “But The Shire is burning…so Mordor it is.”

He stands before holding his hand out to you and pulling you to your feet. You clock Steve’s bewildered expression as the group begins to follow Dustin back through the clearing and down the path. You walk alongside Eddie, and for a brief moment, you itch to grab his hand again, your own hand flexing at your side.

“You are such a nerd,” you say to Eddie, voice low so only he can hear you.

“Did you get my reference?” he counters.

“Yeah.”

“Then so are you,” he says, a smug grin on his face. You playfully bump his shoulder with yours in response, and he bumps you right back, leaving you both in giggles as you walk.

You lose track of how long you and the group wander through the woods. The sun eventually begins to set, and you can’t help but feel a little bit of deja vu as the trees pass you by.

Dustin suddenly picks up the pace, power-walking through the trees while Eddie tries to catch up, calling after him.

And then the pair comes to a sudden stop.

You realize you’re back at Lover’s Lake.

You hold back the groan that threatens to escape your lips. You aren’t exactly thrilled to be back at the place where you witnessed a violent death and had a borderline panic attack.

“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?” Max asks.

“When the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening…”

“And Patrick was killed over the lake,” you finish, finally catching on to what was happening.

“Only one way to test the theory,” Steve says, and you cringe, quickly realizing what he means.

Eddie and you lead the group over to where you left the boat the night before. Steve helps Eddie move it back into the water, and Robin climbs in first. You stand and watch, arms wrapped tight around your middle. Eddie steps off and moves to you, leaning in so the others don’t hear him.

“You don’t have to, okay?” he says, already knowing that you were beginning to panic. “I’ll go out with them, find the gate and come right back.”

You’re conflicted. The idea of going out on the water again definitely freaks you out – but you also don’t like the idea of being separated from Eddie. Something tells you that it’s better to stick with him than to stay behind…and you know there’s no convincing him to stay with you.

“No,” you say, voice shaky. “I’m with you.”

“I appreciate that, Maj, I really do,” Eddie counters. “But I don’t want you working yourself up just because of me.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” you argue. “I’ll be fine. Just…can I…?” you don’t finish the question, almost embarrassed to ask. Instead you show him what you’re asking for by grabbing his hand. He understands immediately, nodding and squeezing your hand in his.

You both step into the boat, and you realize your panic isn’t as strong as the night before. You come to expect the uneasiness of the boat under your feet, and the warmth from Eddie’s hand grounds you.

Steve and Nancy take the last two spots, grabbing the compass from Dustin before Steve pushes off from the shore. You focus on the feeling of Eddie’s hand in yours as the distance between you and the teens left on the bank grows. You realize after a few moments that his thumb is gently caressing the skin of your hand, and you let out a shaky breath you didn’t even notice you were holding.

The five of you are silent as Robin and Steve row the boat farther and farther out to the middle of the lake, Nancy’s eyes glued to the compass.

“Wait, wait, slow down!” Nancy suddenly shouts, and you all turn to see the compass spinning wildly. You look across the lake and see the boathouse – you’re about right where you saw Patrick die.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Dustin’s voice crackles through the walkie in your bag. You pull it out and click the button.

“The compass is going nuts,” you answer, before you notice Steve moving in front of you. You realize he’s taking off his shoes.

“Steve, what are you doing?” Nancy asks, speaking for all of you.

“Someone’s gotta go down there to check this out,” he explains, as he pulls off his socks. “And as the former Hawkins High swim captain, makes sense that it’s me.”

“Knock yourself out, Harrington,” Eddie says, pulling one of the plastic shopping bags from earlier out of his vest pocket. He looks at you for a moment, and you quickly understand that he needs both hands to do whatever he’s planning. You nod, hesitant at first, but let go of his hand, moving to gently grip his vest instead, just to have something to anchor you. You watch as he wraps the flashlight Robin had been using in the bag before tying it and handing it to Steve. Steve ditches his sweatshirt and you almost miss Eddie’s eyeroll next to you.

“Steve, be careful,” Nancy says, and with a nod in response, Steve dives into the water.

Eddie grabs your hand again, and you shoot himl a grateful look. The four of you sit and wait, eyes tracing along the water’s surface for signs of Steve. Nancy’s eyes are locked on her watch, timing his descent.

After a minute, you all begin to get antsy. You can feel your panic start to kick in once more. Flashes of the events of last night pop into your head, and you shake your head to try and get rid of them. Your hand squeezes Eddie’s harder, the anxiety of Steve’s absence beginning to overwhelm you.

Then suddenly Steve splashes to the surface, making all four of you jump.

“I found it,” he says as he swims closer to the boat, grabbing onto the sides.

“You found a gate?” Nancy clarifies.

“Yeah, it’s definitely a smaller, snack-sized gate,” he confirms. “But a gate nonetheless.”

Robin grabs the radio from you.

“Dustin, you were right, we found a gate!”

No one responds.

“Dustin?”

Your eyes find the shoreline where you had last left the teens, and you see several flashlights – too many to just be the kids – shine through the trees. But before you can say anything, Steve is suddenly pulled underwater.

All four of you shout Steve’s name as you helplessly watch him sink beneath the surface. Nancy quickly jumps to her feet, rocking the boat and causing your stomach to clench.

“What are you doing?” Robin practically shouts.

“Just…wait here!” Nancy responds, before diving in after him.

“No, Nancy!”

“Shit, shit, shit!” Eddie curses next to you, his own panic rivaling yours. Your hands start to shake, the fear from last night returning in full force. Your heart is practically slamming out of your rib cage. This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.

Robin turns to the two of you, an unreadable look on her face, and without a word, she dives in next.

“Robin, no!” you call out. You turn to look at Eddie and you’re met with a sorry look.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” you bark at him, sensing what he’s thinking about doing.

“Listen, I know it’s really fucking stupid –”

“Yes, it is!”

“But –”

“Munson, I swear to god if you leave me in this boat –”

“I’m sorry, I just have to –”

The next few seconds feel like they happen in slow motion. Eddie lets go of your hand, stands, and shoots you one last look of apology before diving into the dark water.

And just like that, you’re alone.

Your eyes find the shoreline once again. The three teens have vanished, and you see more and more flashlights appearing, as well as the faint red and blue lights of a police car.

You have no idea what to do.

So you lay down in the boat, and you wait.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie x reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x you #joemazzmatazz

309 notes · View notes

lynxgriffin · 3 years

Text

DELTARUNE Chapter 2 Thoughts!!!

WOOO OKAY I stayed up WAY too late trying to finish Deltarune Chapter 2 last night!! It took me awhile because I suck at video games, but I finally did it!

While I normally type up commentary as I play first time, I didn’t get the chance to do that here, so I’ll get down all my general thoughts here!

Unspoilery thoughts: loved it, knew I would, will need to replay soon to see what all I missed, and am excited for whatever’s next!

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 2 under the cut!!

(These are just as I think of them, not in any particular order!)

Okay overall I can see why this took two years and a much larger team to complete, the second chapter is SO much more expansive and heavy on scene-specific animations! It all looks SO GOOD

I already love Susie but now I love her even more, her expressions were SO GOOD

Susie has a (little nubby) tail confirmed?? That’s adorable

Okay this game is definitely reading the chapter 1 data, which I find interesting because I didn’t obtain it through Steam last time

But like, I gave the “Susie eats chalk” response to Noelle last time, and in chapter two she gave Susie the box of chalk, so awwww!

Also I missed Onionsan in my initial computer playthrough, so they didn’t show up this time, just got a moment of Susie and Kris sitting by the river together!

I find it REALLY interesting that while Ralsei is a Darkner, apparently he can jump around to other Dark Worlds whereas other Darkners like Lancer and Rouxls can’t so much…hmmm!

It was so nice to see everyone filling out the town now, though!

Noooo Susie probably doesn’t have her own room at home, awwww

Kris just casually jumping up to the classroom and bringing everyone back tho, perfect

Was right on there being multiple dark worlds in other locations, but honestly that part’s the least surprising to me, that always seemed like a pretty standard path to take!

The werewires were creepy and great; difficult to battle tho

QUEEN IS MY NEW FAVORITE

EVERY LINE OF HERS WAS A+

I’m so glad that I didn’t really go anywhere with Jevil’s line about the Queen in PT; nothing I came up with could’ve topped Queen being an absolute acid trip of an antagonist in this chapter

NOELLE SO SWEET

Her lil’ robot disguise! Her being afraid of mice at first!

I kinda wish we could have had her in the party more? She was super useful as a party member, honestly!

But sadly I guess we’re not gonna get more than the three-person party, awww

B E R D L Y

I cannot believe Berdly basically became incel Falco but also had a sympathetic backstory

Like I laughed a lot at all of Berdly’s expressions and dialogue while also going BERDLY YOU ARE THE WORST

Noelle’s WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? part = A+

I feel like Queen’s relationship with Noelle definitely had some uncomfy parallels with probably how she is dealing with her real mom

I AM NOT GOOD AT PUNCH-OUT AND THERE WAS A LOT OF THAT

I somehow missed the part where Susie is wearing Ralsei’s glasses??? Where is this

Also in general there was a LOT of puzzles and gameplay in the overworld map, which I was bad at but was also very cool

KRIS GET THE BANANA

The dolphin pop-up ads…

I DID NOT LIKE THE SPAMTON GUY

DISCOMFORT THE WHOLE TIME

Apparently he’s also the secret boss for this chapter?? That’s at least if the soundtrack is anything to go by. Maybe I’ll go back and try it on another playthrough, but aaaaagggghhhg

SO MANY GOOD SUSELLE MOMENTS

MY LIL SHIPPER HEART HAS A NICE SERVING AND WANTS MORE

The whole deal with the ferris wheel conversation and just awwwwuuuuuuh

Needs more Susiezilla now too (I picked the “something romantic” option because of course)

MORE PLZ, LET’S DIG DEEPER HERE

Also I cannot believe Susie has (at least) two people crushing on her and is just totally oblivious to it

There’s SO Many interesting HMM moments with Kris and that definitely included the entire acid tunnel of love scene with Kris and Ralsei

Interrupted of course by an appropriately silly Rouxls battle

But man the more we see (or often DON’T see) of Ralsei the more intriguing it gets

LET NOELLE RIDE IN THE TEACUP RIDE WITH SUSIE

I just knew going back to get that chest without Noelle would be something dumb

OKAY I ended up dying a lot to 1) the Mauswheel, and 2) the color-changing butlers?? So I ended up having to do the whole sequence with annoying dog blasting through everything in his path multiple times

I DID feel bad for Berdly during that boss battle where he was werewired; that was nice and body horror-ish

That said… “I NEED A KISS FROM A GAMER GIRL”

The giant mecha boss battle absolutely kicked my ass, though

Like it WAS badass but that took me a LOT of tries to get through

My thrash machine was very GUN’S

Overall the difficulty curve was definitely stepped up from chapter 1!

LOTS MORE DARK WORLD AND KNIGHT LORE FROM RALSEI HERE

And lots of talk about Noelle being pretty important to it, too!

I’m glad I got to bring Susie on the walkaround this time around town!

I AM GOING TO BE YOUR WACKY ROOMMATE NOW

King and Queen’s entire conversation was so hilarious

King just slides over to suck on that sweet, sweet giant hamster water bottle

BUNKER STILL BEIN SUSPICIOUS

Aww the pizzeria is not a creepy mascot Chuck-E-Cheese’s style, tho

Confirmation that Gerson was Alvin’s father! And I feel like there’s a lot we’re missing there, too

Still not allowed to see Papyrus…

Catti’s parents…

I wasn’t expecting this at all, but it feels like they may be introducing way more Lightners to the Dark World with each chapter, since both Noelle and Berdly ended up there?

And if that’s the case, I feel like it’s hinting that Catti and/or Jockington may be next

SUSIE STAYING AT KRIS’S PLACE FOR A SLEEPOVER WAS SO SWEET

IMMEDIATELY UNDERCUT BY KRIS GOING FERAL AGAIN

Like I dunno the whole scenario somehow managed to be both REALLY sinister and very funny at once??

Susie and Toriel are busy laughing and making a pie together, meanwhile Kris just sneaks the hell out and slashes Toriel’s tires because it’s KNIVES OUT TIME

Please let Susie watch more giant monster (and giant human) movies with her friends, she needs this

THAT SAID, THAT ENDING

HMM HMM HMMMMMMMMMM

SO THIS SEEMS TO BE INDICATING THAT KRIS IS THE KNIGHT

Which like…is in fact making SOME KIND OF SENSE in my head overall, but I definitely need more context to see how exactly

Like I’m all “THIS FEELS RIGHT BUT I DON’T KNOW WHY, I NEED MOOOORE”

Considering Ralsei’s reaction to Noelle and Berdly trying to make a new fountain, this definitely seems to be setting up some kind of future confrontation between Kris and Ralsei, which! HMMMM

I THINK IT’S TIME FOR THIS GIF AGAIN

Basically I HAD A GRAND TIME, I NEED TO REPLAY, EXCITED FOR THE REST WHENEVER IT COMES

#deltarune #deltarune chapter 2 #deltarune spoilers #deltarune ch 2 spoilers #also of course we get another BANGIN SOUNDTRACK #which I get to have on repeat until the remixes comes out #and I put those on repeat for another two years

932 notes · View notes

ghost-ghost-baby · 4 years

Text

We're Just Friends! (Omega!bakugo x alpha!reader x omega!Izuku) pt. 3/?

Pt. 1 / / pt. 2

A/n: cannot believe we made it to pt. 3 I’m sksksksksk,,,, they finally get together! Pt 4/5 will b them all together and adjusting and then it’ll b readers bday so 👀👀

Lore: Once an Alpha reaches 21 they get their first rut, they’d either already have their mates or the rut will act as a push for them to get together and bond.

Summary: Reader and Katsuki have been friends for years, and everyone expects them to get together, until reader rescues an omega that lives in their building, and things get a touch more... complicated

Warnings: swearing, omegaverse, mad pining, Katsuki get exposed for going to therapy lmao, Izuku is kinda a shithead, Katsuki b mad insecure, reader is still dumb- everyone except for Izuku is bad at feelings

The two of you had gotten sidetracked, really quickly, it wasn’t even twenty minutes before you were putting a horror video on the tv. That was almost an hour ago, and you were about to doze off now, laying on your back with your head on the arm rest, Izuku right on top of you with his head tucked under your chin. You didn’t know how you got into this position, but you weren’t complaining, it was… nice. Perfect, almost, but something still felt like it was missi-

“Y/n- why the fuck are our stupid friends asking me about your new- Deku?” Katsuki burst through the door, already yelling, and his scent took on a burnt tinge that almost had you gagging when he slammed the door behind him.

“Kacchan! I didn’t realise you were Y/n’s roommate!” Izuku perked up almost immediately, sitting up so he was straddling you with his eyes fixed right on Katsuki.

“Wait, you two know each other-“ You tried to sit up, barely managing to turn your head to see Katsuki, Izuku was stronger than he looked, and he obviously didn’t want you moving-

“Yeah we go way back, childhood friends, right Kacchan?” Izuku’s tone was light, but you couldn’t see the feral look on his face from where you were trapped on the couch.

“Right… that doesn’t explain what the fuck you’re doing here, Deku.” Katsuki snarled, and Izuku giggled at the blonde. What the fuck kinda thing were you stuck in the middle of-

“What does it look like, Kacchan? We’re courting now! And Y/n’s already been such a good alpha, I’m surprised you didn’t ask them-“

“What does he mean you’re courting?” Katsuki’s tone was something you’d never heard before, and your heart twinged at it. “Get the fuck off of them Deku.” He walked closer to the couch, until he could grab onto your arm and haul you off, Izuku sliding back to the couch and pouting.

“He asked me on the way home and I accepted-“ Katsuki’s heart sank, he’d been too late? “I didn’t think you’d care, aren’t you courting Kiri?” Your scent was far too comforting, and the way it accompanied Izuku’s had Katsuki feeling something he definitely didn’t want to. Deku was a stalker! A creepy little nothing stalker! With great hair- no! And you looked so cute when you were confused like this-!

“Katsuki, are you okay?” You waved your hand in front of his face, and the blonde only let out another snarl. What if you found out about what he’d done to Deku, you’d never look at him the same, and from the way Deku was smirking the bastard knew it too.

“Whatever- I’m fucking going to bed.” Katsuki pushed past you, and you could only gawk as he disappeared down the hall and into his room.

It wasn’t supposed to go like this, you were meant to be with him, it had been the two of you for years! Why were you such a fucking idiot! Katsuki was fuming even as he hugged the pillow he’d stolen from your room, how dare Deku come back and steal you! Still, the nagging thought that coming back to the two of you… had felt like home wouldn’t get out of his head and it was only making him angrier.

“Katsuki? Izuku went back to his apartment, do you have any requests for dinner?” Your voice floated through his door and Katsuki opened his mouth to respond on instinct. No, if you wanted to be with Deku so badly you clearly didn’t care about him, and so he would stop caring about you.

“Katsuki? Please come out, I don’t understand why you’re upset but I want to.” You tried to keep the desperate tone out of your voice. It didn’t work, and Katsuki was biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself crooning in an attempt to calm you down.

“Okay… I’ll uh, just be in my room if you want to talk.”

This was getting out of hand, it was like you were living with a ghost. It had been three days of Katsuki ignoring you, three days of no contact whatsoever, and even though you had Izuku, and he was just… amazing, it still felt like something was missing. You actually didn’t think you’d gone this long without talking to Katsuki in- well since the two of you had met. But, it was finally the weekend, you’d have to run into him at some point, and then you could finally talk, even if he didn’t feel like it.

You were pulled into Izuku’s apartment before you could even knock, the omega giving you a deep kiss before quickly tugging you into a hug and rubbing his cheek over your scent gland.

“I missed you, Y/n! What took so long?” Izuku only pulled away when he couldn’t smell anything except you, and pride filled him when he saw you were wearing his sweater.

“Sorry Bub, I was trying to get Katsuki to talk to me but he’s still giving me the silent treatment.” You shrugged as he walked you over to the couch, something already playing in the background, and Izuku pushed you down without hesitation. You let the omega position you how he wanted, wasting no time wrapping your arms around him once Izuku settled down next to you with his head on your chest and your legs tangled together.

“You know… it does seem like he likes you, maybe you could suggest a triad? I know I wouldn’t object.” Izuku’s tone was so nonchalant you’d expected him to ask what you wanted to watch, not suggest bringing Katsuki into the relationship.

“You’d be okay with that? Really?” You hadn’t even considered that, you felt kinda stupid, honestly. Why hadn’t you- oh, right.

“I think he’s courting someone else, actually, I’m sure that’s why he’s being so weird.” You pushed any hope you had down when you remembered how much time Katsuki actually spent with Kirishima, and how close they seemed to be.

“If you say so, but I wouldn’t write the idea off, Kacchan’s always been good with surprises.” Izuku shifted to press a kiss to your scent gland, before he grabbed the remote and returned his attention to putting on a show.

It was Sunday, you hadn’t seen your roommate all weekend, this really wasn’t going how you planned. A sigh left you as you pushed open the door to your apartment, you’d been with Izuku for most of the day, and you were so, so ready to just go to sleep. You’d been exhausted for the last few days, and Denki kept commenting about how snappy you were and asking why your scent was ‘so weird man’ when the three of you had met for lunch. It was sweet how much they cared, but annoying as fuck nonetheless. You were wide awake outside your door though, almost missing the sweet caramel smell that leaked out until you had your hand on the handle. Your room didn’t usually smell like that, not unless-

“Katsuki-? What’s going on?” You pushed open the door to a very, very startled Katsuki, like a deer in headlights, really, and your confusion only grew when he was holding onto an armful of your clothes. “You could have just asked if you wanted something for your nest, but isn’t Kiri helping with that?” You closed the door behind you, and Katsuki’s eyes darted from you to the door. Fuck, you weren’t supposed to be home for another twenty minutes, you’d usually spend at least two hours at Deku’s place, why the fuck had you come back so early? Katsuki clutched the clothes tighter against his chest as neither of you spoke, you really still thought he was with shitty hair when all he really wanted was you?

“Katsuki? This is ridiculous- what’s going on with you? Why won’t you talk to me?” You stepped forward and Katsuki growled when you got within a foot of him, the sound setting you on edge and making you release a growl of your own on instinct.

“We’re gonna talk about this, I’m not letting you ignore me anymore, it sucks! It feels like there’s a piece of me missing-!” You stepped forward with every word, flinching at yourself when you heard your voice crack at the end.

“What does any of that matter? You have Deku now, the two of you are perfect together, you don’t need me anymore!” Katsuki yelled back, everything that happened the last day and the confused puddle that the state his feelings were in finally bubbling over. It was too much, he’d barely seen you and now here you were, reeking of Deku of all people, and accusing him of liking someone else.

“How could you say that? I need you, Katsuki-! I always need you! These last few days have been hell without you! It’s bad enough I have to deal with you courting Kiri, but now you don’t even talk to me and I don’t understand what’s going on!” Tears kept welling up in your eyes, and Katsuki dropped the pile of clothes on the floor, his hands balling into fists by his side.

“Because I don’t know- I don’t know what the fuck I’m feeling!” Katsuki’s voice broke, and you barely had time to open your mouth before he continued. “I thought that we- that we were set in stone, and then I come back to you and fucking Deku on the couch and fuck that hurt! But it fucking- it fucking felt like home, and all I wanted to do was join you and I don’t understand why!” He turned around to wipe his eyes, and your jaw hit the floor as you tried to process. He wasn’t… courting Kiri…?

“You’re such an idiot- you couldn’t just tell me this?” Exasperated didn’t even begin to cover how you felt.

“How could I say anything? I was horrible to Deku in school because I couldn’t deal with my feelings, why would either of you want to be with me after how awful I’ve been?” There was no anger in Katsuki’s tone anymore, and the guilty scent he was putting out was just putting you on edge.

“You regret it though, don’t you? And I know you’ve worked really hard to be better, and you even go to therapy now-“ Katsuki snarled at the last part, he hated whenever you brought up therapy, but at least you weren’t yelling.

“We actually talked it over and… Izuku and I both like the idea of a triad with- well with you, if you wanted.” You reached out to grab Katsuki’s shoulder, though he refused to look you in the eye when you turned him to face you. You had to be lying, you had to, you couldn’t mean that and he didn’t want to get his hopes up for nothing.

“Katsuki, you gotta talk to me, I can’t read your mind.” Your cards were all out on the table now, and your anxious scent was a dead giveaway to your feelings. What if you’d ruined everything? What if you’d gotten everything wrong- you were never good at guessing-

“You’re being serious? This isn’t some kind of payback?” Red eyes finally met yours and you could only nod, you still got caught of guard by how pretty he was. “Okay, I’ll join your shitty fucking triad.”

Taglist (pls lemme know if any of em r wrong)

@pasteldaze @hopeless-ro-simptic @ntngann @somerandominternetgirl-blog @ianem005 @lalaluvzen @antisocial-minnie @rogueofbullshit @hakunamatatayqueen @so-uncute @therealwalmartjesus @unlightedfool @all-the-kings-reblogs @cth-l

#omegaverse #bnha #bnha x reader #yandere x reader #yandere bnha x reader #omegaverse x reader #alpha reader #omega izuku #omega bakugou #bnha omegaverse #izuku x reader #yandere izuku x reader #yandere bakugo x reader #katsuki x reader #poly #poly imagine

892 notes · View notes

norealgoodbyes · 2 years

Text

Been trying to think about the news today and it still really doesn’t feel real. Or at least the meaning hasn’t really hit me yet. I’m not sure if or when it will. If I were an artist maybe I get some of what I’m feeling out of my system that way, but I’m not. I’m not much of a writer either, but I’ve seen a few people talk about what Yu-Gi-Oh! meant to them personally and I figure maybe I could try that.

One of the clearest memories of my childhood is of watching the precipice duel- I’d think I’d been casually watching the show for a while up till then, but that’s when it totally changed to me. My parents had routinely been getting me into various sports and extracurriculars that I did not want to be in and that Saturday morning I had a softball game to get to. My dad basically had to drag me out of the house to get me there and I missed the last half of the episode. I remember seeing the rotting BEWD melt around Mokuba in Kaiba’s hallucination and it stuck with me through the entire drizzly game. It had to have been the first time I think I really cared about characters in a piece of media to that extent. And I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with.

I had friends as a kid, but kids can be cruel. I’d learned a few years prior that Pokemon was no longer a safe thing to talk about at school if I wanted to enjoy my recess. It was clear from the get go that Yu-Gi-Oh would fall into the same category. It’s not like I was getting beaten up, but I was a dumb, sensitive kid who was painfully honest. Kindof an easy target. I didn’t have the kinds of friends who would stick up for me for liking something “uncool”. I wished I had Yuugi and his friends. Instead I learned to lie about my interests at school and hoard manga and cards in a cabinet in my room. I’m not sure it was a happy time, but I wouldn’t have given up on Yu-Gi-Oh for the world. It meant so much to me. I loved the characters, the drama, the card game, the lore, the mystery of the millennium items. All of it.

I remember when I started getting access to the internet and learning about how different the show I’d been watching was from its Japanese counterpart. It was so exciting! It was like ‘here’s this thing that I already love, but there’s an entirely different version out there with swears, violence,’ -blackjack, and hookers, you get the idea. It was absolutely tantalizing to a slightly edgy tween. I remember there was a fansite that hosted episode summaries and a forum; I think it also had scans of the GX manga, which had just started coming out in Japan? If anyone knows what it was called, please let me know. I don’t remember the name, just that it had a white, sortof silvery layout. It also had a modest little fanfiction section which I poured over religiously. I hadn’t written any myself, but I had so many ideas. Something about a sprawling mess of a story involving magic and other worlds I think? I don’t remember the details, but it kept my mind occupied through a lot of middle school.

I managed to push my love for the series away for a long time after that. Bits and pieces of it would filter over into my life from time to time and I’d pretend it was meaningless, or ridicule it as that ‘dumb card game show’. I’d push it down and try to forget. It wasn’t till I was at a con back in 2016 walking around with my best friend that I confessed that I’d earnestly loved it. I knew he wouldn’t mock me for it, but god. His quiet affirmation that that was ok, cool even, almost brought me to tears while walking through the dealers hall. I don’t talk with that friend very much these days for complicated reasons, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.

I started this blog the following year, in 2017. Since then, it has been an absolutely incredible time to see the amazing outpouring of fanart, comics, fanfiction, meta essays, and love for a series that I had thought I was years late to joining. Even if I’d only vaguely known that there were other people out there who were as deeply affected by this series as I was, I would’ve been happy. To experience what I have since starting this tumblr goes way beyond that. Every day I get to see someone else who's fallen in love with some aspect of the series that I’d never considered, a character examined from a new angle, a piece of art capturing something new about it. It’s so beautiful to me and makes me love the series even more. And it’s so wonderful to not feel alone in that. There is such an incredible community here that I am so glad to be a part of it, even in my own small way..

I’ve since gotten better about being more transparent in my love for the series in real life too and the support I’ve gotten from my friends still takes my breath away. I’ve gotten bold enough to hang a print in my room! My boyfriend got me Pot of Greed earrings for my birthday! I don’t feel like I’m hiding my love in cabinets anymore and I’m not wishing I had some else’s friends. A lot of that has to do with who I am and how I’ve grown up, but I think a lot has to do with you all too- and of course, Kazuki Takashi. I’m so glad to be here with you and I know I wouldn’t have any of that if it weren’t for him.

Thank you so much, Takahashi-sensei, for the gift you have given us and the friends we’ve made through it.

#personal

8 notes · View notes

nightferns · 3 years

Text

How c!Ranboo's attitude towards c!Wilbur lines up with everything he's been told | a quote list

All /rp of course

So on Tubbo's last lore stream (my new purpose) Ranboo said this:

"-thats why im here so when he does something that does redeem himself then someone can be there that will be able to see it and everything, and honestly i'd rather have it be me the person, rather have the person that be there be me instead of maybe someone else[...]"

And then this, when asked why he didn't tell Wilbur about marriage:

"[...]From what i've heard from Tommy and everything the Wilbur that 13 years ago- at least might've- he used stuff against Tommy and everything so just in case- "

And it made me wonder what exactly lead him to that opinion so i spent a day ghathering quotes in which Ranboo heard/or was told something about Wilbur, before the revival. Its a bit of a long one so strap in.

Convos about Alivebur that Ranboo either listened to or was a part of, pre-meeting him.

Vod: Tubbo and Tommyinnit Start To Break Apart…

TommyVods

Tommy [talking about Techno]: -Wilbur died in action, so he doesn't- so he didn't live long enough to face the consequences, but that guy he is a fucking bitch.

Ranboo: So he was fighting with you and then he decided to go against you.

Tommy: yeah. He decided that the last minute "Hey! Hey what im gonna do is fuck everyone over."

Ranboo: Oh… so he was sort of a vigilante of sorts? His own-

[...]

Tommy: sit down [on the bench]… fuck. I just want back the discs, that's all- thats all I've wanted everytime im sat on this bench, that's all we've wanted.

Ranboo: Yeah, I can tell... You seem pretty adamant about those.

Tommy: Yeah! It's because-! Literally bro- since the- four months! [...] four months ago is when I first started trying to get these discs! And it was just me, Tubbo- there was no Technoblade on this server! There were like 6 people- and it was just me and tub- there was no nation there was no- it's always been about getting back the shit dream stole from this very chest!

So now Tubbo's gotten this position of power and is doing it- it's dis- it's disappointing.

B-but thank you, for sticking up for me, no one did that, you saw big Q fucking turning on me- you saw Fundy- they're- they're just sheep bro, they're just sheep. Thank you

Ranboo: Well, you stuck up for me when you could've easily pinned it on me. You could've just said "oh, he was the one that did it", because- i mean, my name was being said in there too, but then you just decided to take all of it and now we're in this situation.

So I couldn't just let that happen, I couldn't stand by, have Tubbo call you selfish when you did something- the opposite.

Tommy: Thank you-

If they evict me through- that is it he-

Ranboo: yeah.

Tommy: -dude, you know i'm worried- i- i don't want to, i know there's that one line that we- that rings through my head as i sleep l of Wilbur going "Tommy, let's be the bad guys." But I wanna- i don't wanna be the bad guys. I just want-

Ranboo: I don't think that's- that's not a good thing to do.

Tommy: The reason- do I say this now? Yeah- The reason I didn't make Tubbo the leader, when I had- and I could've chose anyone, and I chose Wilbur, the man who was already half-insane but I knew he was coming back around, and I didn't choose Tubbo.

Is because i knew that if tubbo was the president,

it would pull us apart Ranboo, and look at him he's picking his nation over me. And i- and if he does on Friday I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself.

Ranboo: No matter what happens on friday i'll help you. I'll-I'll figure it out- I'll try to talk to Tubbo, i'll try to see if something better can happen.

Vod: *Archive* Mar 6, 2021

Philza

Phil: [places down a picture of Wilbur] my son.

Ranboo: Oh. There he is.

Phil: I wanna put his picture in the-in the meeting room, cruz i want to be reminded, i miss him, it's lik- he's been gone a long time.

Ranboo: He has. He really has. He's been gone, before I even came here.

Phil: He did some dumb shit y'know. And my hand was forced, in a sense, but I miss him everyday, I do miss him.

Ranboo: Oh, yeah i heard about that

Phil: I do wish he'd come back.

Ranboo: Yeah, Well… well I mean, wasn't he a ghost for a little bit?

Phil: Yeah, but that wasn't really him-

Ranboo: Oh.

Phil: That was- That was like the pure kind of innocent version of him if that was to exist I think, he was very kind of uhm- it was just not him though, it was just not him. So it was kind of like talking to a doll of like- someone.

Ranboo: I mean- I mean it's the most you're able to get at least. Like-

Phil: Yeah…

[...]

Phil: -sad, miss child, miss, maybe i shouldn't have stabbed him but you know.

Ranboo: Yeah, well i mean- yeah.

Phil: I Bet if- i bet if- if i was to talk to him again he' would- he would probably forgive me, he- he definitely was at the end of his rope and i dunno maybe he'd think of it differently.

Ranboo: I mean, it was his wishes, I mean he wouldn't- it was his wishes, it wasn't- like- he wouldn't- he wouldn't not forgive you for following what he asked you to do.

Phil: Yeah. I dunno.

Ranboo: But- one day hopefully-

Phil: Can't help but think if i did the right thing or not sometimes.

Ranboo: I mean, when you think about what he would have done if you hadn't, you know?

Phil: Yeah, he was out of control.

Ranboo: Like if you- if you hadn't like- would anything- would anything have changed?

Phil: I dunno, I kinda showed up at the most chaotic time possible and yeah it was just- didn't really have a lot of time to process things. It was like "Hey I should probably stop him from blowing up this place" that I had no real knowledge of other than that he helped build it. That's all I heard. I got- i got like letters from him just like telling me what he'd been up to and stuff, and that he was having fun with this friends and then the letters stopped, and i got worried so i started to like-

Ranboo: mhm.

Phil: -make my way over to this area.

Ranboo: Yeah.

Phil: And I was right to worry, apparently.

Ranboo: I mean, I don't know, I think- I mean, I think there's really- there's really nothing you can do about it now, you know? There's- it's really like- you can- you can try and get closure but I mean, the ghost- Ghostbur is missing in action and he has been for a little while, and...

Phil: Yeah, whenever I talked to Ghostbur I didn't really feel like I was talking to him though, like it wasnt really- It was him but it wasn't him, like-

Ranboo: Yeah.

Phil: It's hard to explain.

Ranboo, I mean you just- i- i think you did the right thing even though its not- it wasn't the optimal thing, you know? I mean, was it the best solution? Probably not, but it was still a solution so.. I'd say you still did a good thing even though in your eyes it's probably not good, but what else were you gonna- what else were we gonna do?

Phil: Yeah, true.

Ranboo: yeah.

Vod: Tommy's Plan to Kill Dream

TommyVods

Tommy: Tubbo, I died. I spoke to Schlatt, I spoke to Wilbur, Wilbur Soot, alright?

Tubbo: Has Schlatt changed his ways? Or is he still smoking and drinking-

Tommy: Tubbo, they've been in there for so long, and so many years, alright?

Tubbo: Years? They've only died months ago-

Tommy: Tubbo, I was in that prison for about… month and five days, alright. Time in death though? I was here for months and months and months! Time's different when you d- Don't tell anyone this- Time's different when you die.

Tubbo: So you're older, now curz-

Tommy: I don't, I don't know! [...]

Tommy: -But Listen to me! I've seen everything! I know so much more than you now, I've been with the dead and I know so much more! So much more I'm not willing to explain. But listen to me we need to kill him, before it's too late-

[...]

Tubbo: Why is it different now? Why are we killing him- why didn't we just kill him to begin with, when we had the chance? Why did you put it off?

Tommy: Because Tubbo i thought he would use the revive book for go- ok, this is what he said to me he said he will only use the revivebook to revive Wilbur, and he said that that when he gets out out of the he's gonna hurt, not just you, but everyone i care for, he's gonna hurt everyone. So please we need to kill him.

[...]

Tubbo: So why don't you want him to bring Wilbur back now? What suddenly changed?

Tommy: I've spent months in the death area- well- let's call it the death zone, with Wilbur, right.

Tubbo: the death zone? Like limbo-

Tommy: I've spent months there, I've spent months and months and months there and I was only there for a few days, Wilbur's been there for real months, he is so different and he is powerful and you know how he molds me like a piece of clay Tubbo. I don't want him to come back, we can't let him come back, and Dream said to me that he'll revive Wilbur.[...]

Tommy: No, i spoke to you, not Ghostbur, i spoke to you

Ghostbur: But i am Ghostbur

Tommy: I spoke to Wilbur,

Ghostbur: You don't wanna talk to him.

Tommy: I know, I never wanna talk to him again.

Ghostbur: He's not very nice, he's not a nice guy.

Tommy: Acu- Ghostbur i've got a question for you, do you want him to come back?

Because i- i don't, i don't think i do ever ever.

Ghostbur: He's a- i- uhm.. t-the world needs- needs structure and order and he he's good at that, he did that but- i-

Tommy: No, the world needs less villains, and he was a villain if I've ever seen one.

Ghostbur: But a villain is just a- sometimes the line's a little blurry, you could say, a little blurry it's a tiny bit, it's like a villain- a villain is just a hero you haven't convinced yet.

Tubbo: I'm not sure I follow you.

Tommy: No, but he started as hero, he started as a hero and then he was the villain.

Ghostbur: Well-

Tommy: I don't think we should bring him back ever.

Ghostbur: Oh…

Tommy: I think you should- you like being a ghost don't you? Hey! Look bl- Red! You can stand on the red! [...]

Ghostbur: Yeah,i- i- i like it here but we were talking about this and i thought we wanted to bring back Wilbur, because he understood-

Tommy: No-

Ghostbur: -because, because L'manburg got blown up-

Tommy: No! No no no no, We don't want to bring back Wilbur, i've spent months with Wilbur, wh-when you die times different Ghostbur, i know i can speak to you 'cause you don- you keep secrets, times different, alright? i've spent so long with Wilbur,

Ghostbur: How- how long?

Tommy: Months and months and months alright? And if i was here for months, he's been there for years, possibly decades, he can't come back.

This isnt a-

Ghostbur: How- how- so what's the corversion? What's the- how long-

Tommy: What's the conversion rate?-

Ghostbur: yeah, what's the-

Tommy: -God, you sound like a fuckin' bitcoin miner.

Ghostbur: -If time's different in the- in the- in the dead land then what's the- what do you call it? Limbo- if time is different in limbo then what's- what's- what's the difference?

Tommy: I don't really know. But I was there, apparently, I was dead, according to the Dream but he does lie, I was dead for- for 3 days. And i was there for-

Ghostbur: And how long, how long was that in months?

Tommy: I don't know, i can- i can say months and months, i- i'd- i'd say between three to seven?

Ghostbur: Okey.

Tommy: So the middle, four point five.

Ghostbur: -So Wilbur's been dead for ten to twelve years.

Tommy: And there's a lot to learn when you're dead, innit?

Ghostbur: What did you learn? I've just forgotten things.

Tommy: Oh I learned about bad shit.

Ghostbur: Yeah?

Tommy: Do you know what Wilbur did? He very slowly and excruciatingly, over an entire month, explained to me what hemorrhoids was and it hurt me so much.

And then he'd go on about all the books he has been reading. It was terrible, it was the wor-

Tubbo: Did you see each other? Or were you just-

Tommy: Oh, Don't make me talk about it! Don't make me talk about it! Oh, it was- it was the worst!

Ghostbur: Tommy why didn't you want Wilbur back?

Tommy: Well… I spent a long long time speaking to Wilbur in- when I was dead. And i- and when I wanted to bring him back I thought he- I thought there was still some brotherness there, I thought maybe he's still my pal. And I found out he's not- he's only grown worse.

Ghostbur: He spent a lot of time around a bad guy, he spent, like a decade you said, around- around Schlatt and Schlatt's the bad- Schlatt's the bad guy right?

Tommy: I don't think Schlatt's the only bad guy.

Ghostbur: He's a bad guy right? Him and Eret are the bad guys right? That's the- that's the-

Tubbo: Yes, more or less.

Ghostbur: That's what you told me.

Ranboo: And Dream of course.

Tommy: There's a lot more bad guys.

[...]

Vod: Ranboo prepares with tommyinnit to take down dream on the dream smp full stream (VOD)

Ranboo Vods

Ranboo: [About Dream] He's trapped in there and we thought he was powerless but even in there he still has power that's why we're killing him actually. Its because-

Ghostbur: What's the worst he could do with the power?

Ranboo: He could bring back the people that are- well, technically the villains in this story, and then get out. And then start to do what he did before he got into prison, just again, and probably worse honestly!

Ghostbur: He's gonna bring back Schlatt?

Ranboo: He can bring back anyone that's died.

[...]

Ghostbur: Also- um, so are we- are we not bringing back Wilbur anymore? Is that… off the table? 'Cause Phil and Technoblade and- and- and people are still keen- and Eret is keen to bring back Wilbur. And i- i'm- Ranboo i gotta tell you i'm really scared. I- i'm not scared of Wilbur i think.

Ranboo: Yeah.

Ghostbur: I'm scared of going back to.. nothing. I- I'll be gone again. I dont- I- i kinda like being here and i like all my friends and i don't...

Ranboo: Yeah. See it's different with me because I never knew Wilbur, i never met Wilbur. I've only met, well you… so...

Ghostbur: I- I think im pretty- I like to think im pretty neat.

Ranboo: Yeah i think you're pretty neat too. I don't- i don't think-

Ghostbur: Yus!

Ranboo: I mean, Honestly i'd- i never knew Wilbur, i never met him but I mean, what i've been told, he seemed like he had good intentions and- and i mean, i think that's kinda what you are, you are his good intentions.

Ghostbur: In a pint sized glass.

Ranboo: yeah.

Ghostbur: in a little package, little package.

Ranboo: yeah!

Ghostbur: I've read his memoirs Ranboo, i've read- they are all gone now they were blown up when my library was destroyed, so many really important pieces of history were blown up when that library was destroyed.

Ranboo: Definitely yeah.

Ghostbur: But I have- i read his memoirs and he- he was- he was pretty ok! Most of the time, he seemed like he was- people liked him but then- then- then he lost this election and- and- and you know the story, everyone knows the story.

Ranboo: yeah, yeah.

Ghostbur: But i just- i- from seeing how much everything went down and how Tubbo was- was really badly you know? Scared with- by- by- you know? the explosion and things which- thinking about it that's- maybe was Technoblade's fault and Phil's fault, but um, because of all this now more than ever it's really important that we have a leader and that's why i was on the side on bringing him back

and if- if things have changed, if you tell me i'll go along with whatever you say if- if you think Ghostbur sticks around, i'll stick around but if you think Wilbur- Wilbur sticks around i'll- i'll do whatever it takes to help you! I just- I just wanna help! I just wanna help Ranboo!

Ranboo: yeah, im-

Ghostbur: -And i can see it in you that you know what's best.

Ranboo: The thing is i- i really don't. i mean, Ha- Wilbur... he seemed good, when you read anyone's memoirs it helps them… kinda rationalize the way that they think so- i honestly don't know, because-

Ghostbur: History is written by the winners.

Ranboo: Yeah and he, he technically won, I mean he did what he wanted to.

Ghostbur: but then he lost and everyone hates him.

Ranboo: I don't- i don't think everyone hates him. I don't really hate him. I mean, it's like hearing about a historical figure. I mean he did good things yeah, but he also did bad things so. I- i'm indifferent as i am with a lot of things.

Ghostbur: I'm sure- i'm sure that you'll figure it out

[...]

Ranboo: I haven't even heard of Wilbur honestly, i- i've barely heard of Wilbur, i mean, Tubbo really has not told me much about Wilbur other than i mean, he's the one who blew up Manburg the first time.

But i like Ghostbur i mean, i like- i like Ghostbur i'd say a lot more, because Ghostbur seems nice, i don't think that anything is going wrong right now, i mean if we- if we kill dream then… then uh- ' cause we don't need a leader.

I really don't know... I really don't know, I don't think we need a leader, because if- if someone rules everyone then- i mean if the leader becomes corrupted, when the leader becomes corrupted then we see what happens. We- we see what happens when someone who leads becomes corrupted, heck i'm a part of an anarchist organization So… I really just don't know what to do.

Because I mean, Tommy doesn't want Wilbur back.

I don't think anyone wants Wilbur back, so why is it even a question?

All I do know is that we definitely have to kill Dream, right? We definitely have to kill Dream. I mean, we gotta- we gotta kill Dream.

I mean, i don't even know if anyone wants him back, i mean, the only person that i would think would be Phil, right? The only person that I'd think would be Phil, so… but Phil's ok now, he's doing alright, shure he's sad now, but I think he'll be good, yeah I think we'll be able to kill Dream and everything will be good!

I mean, if we kill Dream, Wilbur isn't coming back, we won't have to worry about much- we'll still have to worry about things but not on the scale Dream was doing right? Right? [...]

[...] So if everyone's ok without him, I mean, everyone's ok already… right? Everyone's- Everyone's good, I mean, I like Ghostbur, I think that Ghostbur is awesome. I don't know-[...]

Ranboo: Oh my goodness. Yeah see, i like Ghostbur a lot more, i like Ghostbur a lot more.

Vod: Wilbur's Revival Dream SMP

TommyVods

Tommy: No you don't understand, It's not that he's dead it's that Wilbur's back.

Tubbo: What?

Ranboo: What do you mean Wilbur's back? No, you mean Like- Wilbur? Like-

Tommy: Let's go-

Ranboo: "Press button and blow up" Wilbur, that one?

Tommy: No, no ok, listen to me, Did you think I liked Wilbur? Is that what you think this is about Ranboo? Why are you being so unempathetic?

Ranboo: I don't know what you mean! Like-

Tommy: Wilbur is back, Ranboo! Ghostbur is dead!

Ranboo: Yeah-

Tommy: No, no there's only one way to know.

Ranboo: What do you mean? Like- like THE Wilbur? The one that- like your friend?

Tommy: We are not fucking friends, Ranboo.

Ranboo: Wilbur wasn't-? I mean, I knew he did some bad stuff but I thought he was at least kind of your friend.

Tommy: No, Wilbur was nothing.

Ever since i died Ranboo, we- i spent so long with Wilbur-

Ranboo: Yeah?

Tommy: -and i thought he changed, every time i thought he changed, but Ranboo he never changes, Wilbur never changes… and now he's back.

Ranboo: May- Maybe- Maybe he's different you know? I mean, he's been spending a lot of time in the afterlife-

Tubbo: Yeah, he's been dead for a while,

Ranboo: -he probably might be different, you know?

Tommy: He's not different Ranboo, i've been there Ranboo, and he's so much fucking worse. When we go up to him, you two just stand back-[...]

#dream smp #mcyt #ranboo #wilbur soot #tubbo #tommyinnit #philza #ghostbur #last four are in thr quotes #burger duo #night's talk tag #if aynore ever needed a refrence on what ranboo knows... here #dsmp analysis #night's meta tag

82 notes · View notes

balillee · 3 years

Text

why 'there's no lore going on' right now in the dream smp - The Misfits Analogy

Fans of television, especially British television, will probably be familiar with an early 2010's show called Misfits. The show ran for five seasons spanning 2009 to 2013 - while the first two seasons (the first moreso than the second) are regarded more as cult classics, the latter half of the show completely falls in writing and production quality due to one significant change - the cast.

Seasons one and two of Misfits was centred around the original misfits gang - Nathan Young (portrayed by Robert Sheehan), Kelly Bailey (portrayed by Lauren Socha), Simon Bellamy (portrayed by Iwan Rheon), Alisha Daniels (portrayed by Antonia Thomas) and Curtis Donovan (portrayed by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett).

The show was good for two different factors from my perspective -

The intersection of superpowered television and interpersonal conflicts that broke the norm for stereotypes.

How the cast reflected modern British society.

In summary, the show followed a group of five young offenders at a community service centre. Not too interesting - but give them relatability, realism and explore their character development and their existing stereotypes/tropes through the use of superpowers? Genius.

Nathan was most definitely the fan favourite character of the show - he was outgoing, annoying, larger than life in a lot of ways and in all senses, he was a skeevy asshole who would insult characters at every turn. He was very much the class clown of the show and any British viewer could probably see someone they remember from school in Nathan, except Nathan was lovable and you could sympathise with him because you could see him struggling primarily at home and with his family.

Spoilers for the show - Nathan's power was immortality and the ability to resurrect himself from death. This power wasn't explicit immediately either to Nathan or to the audience unlike all of the other young offenders, and it reflected his 'nothing can hurt me ' attitude. Nathan was a character who could take any comment and brush it off like it was nothing, and he in the physical sense could take being thrown off a roof, impaled and practically buried alive and be sitting in his own coffin with his iPod all fine and dandy.

Kelly was also another standout example - her character reflected the stereotype of a chavvy girl, 'council house and violent' - loudmouthed, not very smart, questionable fashion choices and a bit abrasive. The only difference is that the show knew they had to subvert that stereotype - instead, Kelly was smart in her own way and she was empathic -> her superpower was the ability to hear other people's thoughts, and later, she became superintelligent and when her character left the show she decided to move to Uganda use her newfound rocket-scientist level intelligence for good. She was still loudmouthed and definitely chavvy, but she was also a whole human person who cared about other people and who was definitely intelligent.

If I kept going, I'd be lamenting about how season one's cast well reflected and subverted stereotypes and expectations using their superpowers, but I'd be here all day and that's really not the point I'm trying to make.

By the end of season 2, Robert Sheehan, as the standout performance from the show, decides to move on to greener pastures (which,, I don't blame him, being stuck on E4 would have been a nightmare for his career and look where he is now? He's a fan favourite as Klaus in TUA now!) - thus, Nathan is written out of the show in a post- season 2 special in which he gets locked up in prison in America.

This was the first character to get written out of the show.

In season 3, we lose Kelly who moves to Uganda with Seth to defuse landmines, and Simon and Alisha are both killed, and the only remaining member of the original ASBO five is Curtis.

Season 4 rolls around, and we pretty much have an entirely new Misfits cast - Curtis, and then we have Rudy (who had been present since season 3), and then we have new additions Jess, Finn and Abbey.

Let me tell you that by this point in the show, all of the fans had lost interest.

Not only had the two biggest fan favourites, Nathan and Kelly, left the show, but you now have to replace four out of the five original cast members with new ones that don't function the same way the originals did. What type of person is someone with X-ray vision trying to represent? You could argue that maybe Jess is good at figuring people out, but I don't really remember this being explored that much in the show. And the difference between this reflecting a minor personality trait is that the original cast didn't do that - in dumbed down terms, Alisha was a 'sket' who had the power to make people horny for her, oftentimes against her wishes, through skin-to-skin contact. That's much more impactful and there's a lot more to explore there.

Episode 7 of Season 4 of Misfits is the clearest indicator of the departure of the original show's intentions and explains perfectly why it didn't work the way it used to.

For the entirety of the season, Jess had been crushing on a guy called Alex from a bar she frequented (who later went on to replace Curtis as the fifth Misfits member in season 5, go figures) who, as far as we had seen, not at all reciprocated those feelings nor was there any indication of him wanting to.

In episode 7, we figure out why.

Jess, using her x-ray vision, finds out that Alex's penis was stolen by a trans man.

I'll be honest, when I first heard it, I thought it was a joke.

The show went from having a diverse cast, not only in terms of having two black characters in it's main cast, but also in it's diversity of character tropes that they aimed to subvert - to then having a mainly white cast in a show that actively perpetuates harmful stereotypes about trans people being dangerous.

Now, and I want to preface this, I don't think that the Dream SMP is malicious in the same way that the writing of that episode of Misfits is. I don't think the SMP is malicious at all. What I want to highlight is how the change in cast directly mirrored when the audience dropoff was and when the show itself started to go south in terms of quality, production and what they wanted to achieve.

For the sake of my argument, there is currently three seasons of the dream smp. The start of the server up until the end of the initial disc war is the prologue, season one encompasses Wilbur's L'Manberg and the Pogtopia arc, ending on November 16th, season 2 starts November 17th and ends January 20th (the disc war finale) and season 3 spans from January 21st to the present day.

Most of the fans of the Dream SMP can tell you that the primary story of the server is centred around quite a few certain characters who viewers started watching to see more of. I'm guilty of this myself - I primarily watch the SMP for Tommy's story, and I also stick around for Wilbur, Tubbo, Ranboo and a little bit for Phil, Techno and Jack Manifold. Those were the people I was invested in and those are the stories I like to follow. Not to discredit or to downplay the work or the stories of other characters, but I can imagine that there are a few people who watch the SMP primarily for a close few perspectives/storylines, and following some storylines over others just because you're not interested in them is completely fine and there's nothing wrong with that at all.

In season one, there was always things going on with my favourite characters. Tommy was always getting himself into spots of trouble and making up different schemes to get people to come visit L'Manberg as a tourist attraction, or getting people to support the rebellion, and this was interspersed with the heavier, plot-driven moments such as Wilbur's mental breakdown, the festival, the pit fight and the season 1 finale. This got me invested in him as a character because he had been there for quite a while and we'd seen him develop and grow into the character we now see in season 3.

In the back half of season 1 came Techno, who really shook things up and threw a spanner in the works and provided a totally different perspective - unlike Dream he didn't hate L'Manberg because he couldn't control it, and unlike Wilbur he didn't have a personal connection to it and he didn't know it's history. Techno initially hated L'Manberg because it was a government he knew nothing about (and still knows nothing about even today), and because violence and destruction is kind of his thing.

We had a well balanced cast of characters - not too many - that we could follow and who all had varying perspectives, experiences and personalities. We had clearly defined groups of individuals with different morals: you had the people on the side of Manberg, the people in Pogtopia who wanted Manberg blown up, the people in Pogtopia who didn't want Manberg blown up, and on the side to compliment it all you also had the Badlands, comprised of three longstanding members of the server,,,, and then Antfrost who was kidnapped by Tommy that one time. It was all wrapped up nicely in a neat little bow and there was structure to it all. There was one plot that went in one direction, and despite the many perspectives, it all ended up in the same spot and the story ended. There was a conclusion.

In season 2, the two primary additions to the 'cast' were Phil and Ranboo, whose characters complimented the existing story well. Phil functioned mostly as a successor to Wilbur alongside Ghostbur by exploring well the departure of Wilbur as a character in that moment, and he also functioned well as a companion to Techno's character. Ranboo, on the other hand, had a pretty good complimentary solo story that could be followed alongside the main plot, however his story wasn't too distant from the main story to the point where he was completely removed from it - he had direct involvement in different events such as the exile conflict, his connection to Dream as the main antagonist of the season and his involvement in blowing up the community house.

Season 2 starts with a focus on two different spaces - it breaks up a longstanding duo and the storyline diverges into two halves: Logstedshire and New L'Manberg, and you have Techno's short 'retirement' arc working decently to compliment it and also to set the tone for his character going forward in that season. In Logstedshire we see the aftermath of Tommy being exiled from L'Manberg by Dream - we see him endure what is (in canon) at least a month of isolation and physical and psychological abuse and it culminates on December 15th when Tommy rescues himself, jumps from the tower and goes to hide in Techno's house (which acts as a good precursor to his involvement in Techno's storyline in that season). On the other side, we follow Tubbo in L'Manberg dealing with Presidency - he talks a lot and gets 'friendly' with Dream, he prepares to run against Ranboo in the coming election cycle (primarily because he doesn't want to be President) and we see his interactions with the power-hungrier Quackity who all too often takes the reigns and this culminates in the creation of the Butcher Army, and following the Butcher Army's attack on December 16th, once again, we have two clearly defined sides:

One one side, we have Tubbo, Quackity and Fundy who represent L'Manberg, and on the other we have Tommy (who is unaware of the Butcher Army's attack), Phil and Techno, and more in the middle we have Ghostbur and Ranboo.

Season 2's finale format is a clear departure for the format of November 16th, but it's not a poor choice - I think, especially considering the story that they were telling, it worked perfectly. On November 16th, pretty much everyone was streaming their perspective of the event; at the time, there were even compilations of everyone's reactions to Wilbur blowing up L'Manberg. On January 20th, however, we only had two perspectives - Tubbo and Tommy.

I'll say it now, while Season 2 was definitely Clingyduo's season, it didn't focus solely on them. There was also a big focus on Techno as a character, whose arc came to an end a little earlier on Doomsday, and there was also a focus on Ranboo a lot as a solo character, and he streamed a little later on January 20th with what I refer to as the 'epilogue', where there was also a shift in his character to expect moving forward.

Why season 2's finale worked is because it was centralised around only three characters, only two of which we ever see the perspectives of, and it was the finale of the longest running storyline of the entire narrative - the disc war. Two boys who were on their last life, making their last stand at the one man who pulled the strings to make their lives miserable - those two perspectives only, and it worked. We didn't have compilations of everyone reacting to the things happening around them which worked for season 1, instead, we focused on these two characters whose turn it was to get the focus, and we had iconic and moving moments. We had the two boys walking down the prime path saying what they could only assume might have been their last goodbyes to the people that still had a shred of care for them, we had the two sailing to where they would face off against Dream for their final stand and finally talking about their feelings a little and dreading the implication that if they were both to die, nobody would live to tell their stories, we had Tommy choosing his best friend over his discs time and time again, and we had Punz - Dream's last confidant - standing against Dream and bringing everyone with him and sending him to prison, now on his last life too.

Everything about it was perfect. The more focused ending worked for the ending of season 2 because it was their time to have their climax moment - and it wasn't some spectacular display of explosions or violence like in Wilbur's finale on November 16th, where the ramifications hit everyone and we got to see it, nor was it a show of violence and almost oppressive dominance like Techno's finale was on Doomsday, where we saw everyone's breakdown and how the people contributing to the destruction of L'Manberg, no matter how righteous they thought they were, did not care to understand how much they were hurting and destroying the lives of the country's citizens. On January 20th, Tommy and Tubbo went into it thinking they were going to die, they got their asses handed to them despite how hard they tried, and they had their behinds saved by Tommy's preparative thinking by people who weren't there to save them more than they were there to get rid of Dream.

Season 3 suffers a lot from a lack of focus, awful pacing and really poor timing.

Seasons 1 and 2 occurred during the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic, where everyone was stuck at home and had more time to stream because it was their primary form of content and because it was the best way to communicate with their friends. Thus, the pacing of those seasons was extremely steady and things were always happening.

Now, lockdown restrictions have eased quite a bit, and creators can branch out a lot more and can meet with each other in real life and can do vlog-style content. Therefore, they don't stream as much, and the focus of the Dream SMP story has shifted more towards newer or sideplot characters. If you enjoy those characters, that's fine, but when they take the focus away from the characters and the storylines the majority are expecting, a lot of people won't try to keep up with it and from their perspective there'll be a massive lull in narrative content.

What I'm saying, is that Tommy streaming for thirteen days in a row in July 2021 is a fucking pipe dream. It happened in December because the story was consistent and the pacing was steady and he had the time and the want to be there. Now, Tommy's off making his vlogs and hanging out with his friends and thus he can't stream as much as he used to. He's sort of suffering from the Robert Sheehan problem, isn't he? Tommy is still involved with the Dream SMP and his story is definitely continuing, and his narrative in season 3 is really starting to pick up with the newer developments, it's just that he doesn't have as much time to play the role anymore because he isn't streaming as much.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing - it's obviously making him happy that his content is changing and I'm fully supportive of that.

So when all of these meetups are happening and we don't have as much content from the main characters that we follow anymore, what happens?

Well, the fans get a little itchy. This fandom, especially. They might throw out a comment or a tweet asking when they're going to stream on the SMP, or if they really don't understand why the Dream SMP is good, they'll ask when the next 'lore stream' is, and they'll lament a little about how the content and the story has slowed, especially in contrast to the fast pacing of season 2 which only lasted a little over two months with much more story going on than in season 3 despite it having been going on for triple the time. What they'll get in response is that the Dream SMP is still going on and that lore is still happening.

On all accounts, these statements aren't incorrect. Lore still is happening.

But when you've been following lovable characters for two seasons, setting up their struggles and then switching the focus onto newer or 'sideplot' characters that you haven't really followed before, there's going to be a bit of moaning about it on twitter dot com.

The SMP now suffers from having too many characters, too many unfocused narratives, and poor pacing/ditched or unfinished storylines from the characters we used to follow and love while we're being told to love other characters instead.

I never really cared too much about the egg subplot, I'll be honest. I was a little interested in the involvement of Sam, Puffy and Ponk, but other than that, I wasn't really too invested. It very much tried to replicate the 'you should have paid me more' moment from January 20th at the Red Banquet, and it really didn't hit as hard because most of the characters there were either ones that didn't belong there at all (like Niki, Fundy, HBomb, and Purpled), weren't that involved with the plotline and felt out of place with the established characters in that storyline (Techno, Quackity and Ranboo), or were new characters that were difficult to get on board with because they hadn't really had too much of a story beforehand (Hannah and Foolish), or in the case of Antfrost, characters with no known motivation to be there other than that being the storyline they're currently in. Not to discredit those involved or their characters, but the Red Banquet really tried to replicate what the disc finale did with it's focused perspectives and it's Punz moment, and it failed.

Now, following the egg subplot's finale, I'm meant to focus on Las Nevadas, Snowchester and the Syndicate.

Las Nevadas is the most consistent storyline, however it's biggest problem is that it is filled with new characters or ones that are barely there. Despite how long he's been on the server, Purpled really is a new character if only because he's only really become a character recently - Foolish is still considered new, Slimecicle is new, Fundy rarely streams on the SMP. The only consistent longstanding and heavily involved characters that are a part of Las Nevadas are Quackity and Sam, and even their streams are infrequent, with a lot of Sam's perspective not even focusing on Las Nevadas but instead the prison.

Snowchester's plot is very much dying, dead and in the water. She's suffering. We haven't seen Michael in over a month, a nuke is still missing, Jack Manifold is dubiously a citizen and Tubbo doesn't even think he has a character on the SMP. It breaks my heart.

The Syndicate suffer from a lack of existence. The four characters really aren't a friend group in canon - all of the stuff about them hanging out all the time and them basically being a book club is all fanon. They've hung out as a four all of twice, the first time they ever got together they celebrated someone's death and then basically invaded Snowchester to give themselves a reason not to destroy it, terrifying Tubbo in the process. The second time was because it was Techno's birthday.

Now, Techno is in prison, and the only reason Phil hasn't read the will to progress the story is likely because of difficult scheduling with other server members, which is written off in canon as Phil not wanting to accept the possibility of Techno potentially dying.

Literally reading the will and having the Syndicate figure out that Techno's in prison with Dream will solve all of season 3's formatting issues and have the story back on track.

Currently, we don't really have two clearly defined sides the way we always had. We were meant to root for L'Manberg against the Dream Team, we were meant to root for Pogtopia against Manberg, and in season 2 we had a lot more moral ambiguity and room for side switching between the forces of Dream, Techno and Phil against L'Manberg, and then we rooted for Clingyduo against Dream.

I can predict that if the will is read, here's how a good conflict can arise.

Two clearly defined different sides - Las Nevadas on the side of Pandora's Vault, and the Syndicate (currently consisting of Phil, Ranboo and Niki), and you have compromises to make. If the side of the Prison wins, Techno and Dream stay in Pandora's Vault without a proper trial and being treated inhumanely, and there's also the threat of the rest of the Syndicate also being imprisoned. If the side of the Syndicate wins, the prison is taken out and Techno and Dream are no longer being treated inhumanely - problem is that Dream's out, and he's very much dangerous because despite what c!Dream apologists will tell you, he's not docile and he's not going to have a healing arc with Techno because he doesn't think he's done anything wrong and Techno can't tell him that he's done anything wrong (because Techno is the most wilfully ignorant character who gets to be political it's INSANE) - he'll go right back to the evil, abusive bastard he was, obsessed with Tommy, probably worse now that he can easily get Wilbur to do anything he wants and more vindictive against Quackity. Plus, if the Syndicate take down Las Nevadas they'll hold the most power on the server systematically and the so-called anarchists will ironically be the top dogs of the server.

Then towards the middle you'll probably end up having Wilbur, Benchtrio and Jack Manifold - Tubbo and Jack would prefer Techno and Dream staying in prison, except Tubbo's really not on the greatest terms with Q at the minute (because Q's paranoid and making conflict with parties that would have otherwise helped him out and thought they were friends), whereas Tommy would be stuck between wanting Techno out but needing to either keep Dream in or kill him, and Wilbur will be having to pick between aiding Dream's escape from prison or staying with Tommy, because he can't have both. Ranboo will probably be having the same problem as Tommy, except he's on the side of the Syndicate and will have to pick between the Syndicate or keeping Dream imprisoned.

Season 3 is salvageable, it really is. You can fix the poor pacing and you can fix the lack of focus with literally one revelation from fucking Philza M|necraft. But as it stands now, season 3 suffers from a similar situation as Misfits - almost replacing the cast of characters we've followed for the longest time with a new one in a format completely different to the original seasons.

#dream smp #dsmp #dream smp analysis #dsmp analysis #dsmp meta #dream smp meta #long post #esclapoanalysis

81 notes · View notes

lightns881 · 4 years

Text

DTeam Tumblr Demographics Survey Results (Part 1):

The Gifted Child Syndrome is Real with this One...

*Rubs hands together in preparation for some juicy data and in-depth analysis of the typical member of the DTeam Tumblr community*

Ooooooooh boy! Here we go!

I want to start of by thanking you guys for over 400 responses to the demographics survey! Y’all have no idea how much I appreciate it! We have so much to cover, so I’m going to divide up different sections of the survey into several posts to make it more digestable and do justice to each topic explored in the form! We’re going to start of with, you guessed it, personality types!

Strap yourself in because we’re about to thoroughly dissect your sub-conscious innerworkings and find out how the typical DTeam Tumblr Fan thinks! (And judging by the majority personality types, you guys will probably enjoy it)

The Delicious Data

From the 449 responses we received, this is a pie chart displaying the personality types of all respondents.

Image Description: INFP (40.5%), INTP (15.1%), INFJ (8.9%), INTJ (8.9%), ISFP (6.9%), ENFP (4.2%), ISTP (4.0%), ENTP (3.8%), ESFP (1.6%), ISFJ (1.6%), ENTJ (1.3%), ENFJ (1.3%), ISTJ (1.1%), ESTP (0.4%), ESFJ (0.2%), ESTJ (0%)

In comparison, this is a pie chart displaying the personality type percentages of the population as a whole according to the MBTI website.

Image Description: ISTP (14%), ESFJ (12%), ISTJ (12%), ISFP (9%), ESTJ (9%), ESFP (8%) ENFP (8%), ISTP (5%), INFP (4%), ESTP (4%), INTP (3%), ENTP (3%), ENFJ (2%), INTJ (2%), ENTJ (2%), INFJ (1%)

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sensing a tiny difference here... Oh, right!

INxx’s on the Loose!

It’s funny. When I first found one of the 18+ DTeam fan servers through Tumblr, I asked everyone what their personality type was. I was pleasantly surprised when a lot of them told me they were INFPs like me!

It actually reminded me of MatPat’s (Game Theory) survey for one of his Life Is Strange theories that found the majority personality there was also INFP...

Funny enough, can you guess what the second leading personality on that survey was? The third? The fourth?

You probably guessed it right. MatPat found that out of the fans who responded, the leading majority was INFP while INTPs came in second, INFJs came in third, and INTJs came in fourth. The exact order for the personality types in DTeam Tumblr.

But why is it that some of the rarer personalities of the world are dominating DTeam Tumblr or Game Theory’s fanbase? What is it about these communities that attract the rare introverted Intuitive Perceivers (INxP) and Intuitive Judgers (INxJ) of the world like magnets?

The Gifted Kid Syndrome

To answer this question, first we have to examine our leading personalities. As we can see from the data, INFPs and INTPs make up 55.6% and INFJs and INTJs make up 17.8% of the total respondents. That’s nearly 3/4′s of the DTeam Tumblr population made up of INxx types!

Now, here’s me calling y’all out.

A lot of you probably relate to the quiet kid sitting at the back of the classroom who’s put into some type of TAG, gifted program, or some authority figure has probably called you smart and/or “gifted” at some point in your life. Academics probably came easy to you at one point, maybe they still do.

You’ve probably felt your chest swell up at the shower of compliments about your intelligence and at another... you’ve probably felt like people put you in a pedestal and overrate you so you’re stuck with this inherent fear of failure, and it causes you to completely shut down when the things that came easy to you at one point no longer do so.

It’s gifted kid syndrome hitting you like a brick to the face. And if it hasn’t yet, oh you’re in for a surprise, honey.

And I’m sure many of you have come across funny, relatable posts like this:

And you want to know why most of you relate?

Image Description: INTP, INTJ, INFP, anf INFJ’s rate the highest in a giftedness per MBTI Type chart

No. You’re not hallucinating. It’s not even a joke at this point. It feels true because it probably is true.

(Granted, the study that captured similar results to this graph is long lost to the internet, but the best source I found with it was a reddit post I will be citing in the reblog.)

Now, my next point is where we find a split.

INFPs and INTPs and their Need to Question Everything (even if it’s about one sentence [insert creator here] said that one time during a 4-hour long stream)

The strongest connection I found between the two leading personalities of DTeam Tumblr is they share Extraverted Intuiting (Ne) as their auxiliary cognitive function.

I’ll use a quote that explains Ne better than I could ever explain it in my own words:

“Extraverted intuition or Ne is very much focused on patterns and making connections from information they gather... Ne dominant users enjoy being able to explore things in a much more open manner, not wanting to feel closed off to the possibilities around them... They are also highly imaginative people, who enjoy being able to come up with unique hobbies and experiences... They are not afraid of imagining things which seem almost impossible to others... [For INFPs,] Ne is what creates this detailed and incredible thoughts process which keeps them busy for long periods of time.”

And another:

“Auxiliary Ne manifests in people constantly questioning the world around them, but unlike ENxPs, they can be more pick and choose about this. But generally, they don’t take people, things and events at face value.“

Now, think about the community you’re in right now. Think about the post you’re reading at the moment.

DTeam Tumblr is full of over-analysis posts, whether about Dream and George’s secret love for each other or about the inherent problems with Dream’s shipbait and gay jokes or theories about what’s going to happen next in the dream SMP lore and the dramatic betrayals and creator’s descend into madness and more theories about sexuality and charts depicting creator’s personalities and what they’d be likely to do in different scenarios and... ooof, I’m out of breath here. You get my point.

DTeam Tumblr is literally a group of ex-gifted or gifted introverted people who love to read or write analysis, theory, and discussion posts about sweaty Minecraft Youtubers because they’re probably too overwhelmed by real life and find joy in obsessing over “dumb” things.

That’s it. That’s literally the post. I might as well end there.

But I won’t.

Because obsessions is exactly what I want to focus on next.

The Inherent Nature of the INFP and their “Micro-Obsessions”

This is me having a one-to-one conversation with all my INFPs reading this.

Do you sometimes just set your mind on a goal--like, let’s say, writing a book--and you spend so much time obsessing over it to the point where you burn out and suddenly it never sees the light of day because you move onto your next goal or obsession because now you’re getting ready to launch your freelance website so you can start a business on [insert new hobby here]?

Or do you just suddenly find a fandom or a show or a channel you really enjoy and you spend the next few months doing nothing but engaging with it and reading fanfiction and drawing fan art or making dumb analysis posts on your main Tumblr account where suddenly you get an influx of followers from that community and now people are expecting you to just post about MCYT!?

Oh, sorry, I got a little carried away at the end there...

Anyhow, my point is, do you ever develop an obsession over something all the sudden only for it to just disappear when you find something new or just fall into the deep crevices of your mind only for it to maybe reemerge a few years later after you get a deep sense of nostalgia remembering it?

I call them micro-obsessions. And I recently found out, I’m not the only one who does this!

Here’s another quote for you:

“According to Carl Jung’s theory of cognitive functions, when an INFP makes a decision, Ne comes in second to another process known as Introverted Feeling (Fi). Fi does not use logic to make a decision. It uses how we feel about the decision according to our values. In other words, it asks, “Which choice feels right for me?”

Ne, on the other hand, craves new ideas and experiences to explore, which causes INFPs to always be on the lookout for something novel.

Unfortunately, INFPs can get stuck in a loop, going back and forth between their Ne and Fi. They search to understand their values by constantly trying new things. They ask themselves, “Does this feel right?” then throw it over their shoulder as they move on to something else.”

So, you’re probably asking right about now, Light, how the heck does any of this have anything to do with the Dream Team and MCYT!?

Well, my friend, it has EVERYTHING to do with the Dream Team and MCYT and DTeam Tumblr as a whole.

Because INxx’s are predisposed to end up in places like this--fandoms on Tumblr, channels that speculate whether Mario is evil, watching dramatic Minecraft smp wars and elections as opposed to looking at the news that depicts Murphy’s Law as 2020′s new favorite epigram.

The introvert in them causes them to prefer socializing in small communities online where they’re not forced to engage in conversations if they don’t want to or put into uncomfortable situations where they have to talk to that one friend of their friend who wants to make meaningless small chat.

Their Intuition causes them to wonder into places like Tumblr where they can engage in deep discussions about their newest obsessions, and they won’t be judged for writing a 500+ word post about why Dream’s shipbait tactics are a genius algorithm strat or simping over sweaty Minecraft boys.

DTeam Tumblr is a safe haven for INFPs and INTPs who might be placed in the “other” category or marked as weird for being interested in “childish” entertainment or being different from the general population overall, whether that’d be sexuality, point of view, age, gender, etc. A place where you can fully be yourself and not have to worry about disappointing people.

INFPs are predisposed for drowning themselves in their micro-obsessions to avoid all of the madness in the world--even if that means giggling like a little girl while reading memes about your favorite Minecraft YouTube creators.

That is a deep-dive into the mind of a typical DTeam Tumblr user. What do you think? Is it accurate at all? Is it completely off? Let me know in the comments!

And with that, I digress. I’m not sure whether I’ll be covering general demographics next week or diving into the topic of ships (could be a mix of both), but I will be posting about it eventually, so make sure to hit the follow if you got to the end of this post and enjoyed it or learned something new from it!

Friendly reminder that this survey and post is in no way supposed to be taken 100% seriously. These are just the ramblings of a math major INFP with too much time on her hands and way too big of an obsession for MCYT. My asks are always open for literally anything, whether if you want to ask me about this or any DNF related subject, my own opinions, or just criticize the whole of this post and tell me it’s complete trash! I’ll answer as long as it’s appropriate!

And, again, thank you everyone who filled out the survey. Without y’all, this post wouldn’t be possible. I really enjoyed writing it! Adios!

#dteam #dteamblr #dttblr #mcyt #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #sapnap #dreamnotfound #dnf #dream team #dream smp #dteamblr demographics survey #analysis

526 notes · View notes

findingjoynweirdstuff · 4 years

Text

Dream SMP Recap (January 30/2021) - Bad's Visit, Ranboo’s Confrontation

The day has come. It’s time to visit Pandora’s Vault again.

The first visitor after Tommy is Badboyhalo, whose visit with Dream leaves him a bit uneasy, conflicted about how he feels about the living conditions of Dream’s cell.

The second was Ranboo, though his visit wasn’t exactly what it seemed at first...

---

Here is the link to Badboyhalo’s VOD

(I’ve been a lot more specific with the details of what happened in this stream since the VOD is unlisted, but I figured I’d also just link the VOD here as well)

This post is pretty long, so I’ve only recapped the two very lore-heavy streams today to keep it from being even longer.

---

Also note (CW/TW): Today’s streams had some heavy themes, including derealization.

---

- Badboyhalo goes to visit Dream at the prison.

- Awesam asks him questions. This will be the first time that Bad has visited Dream at all. He resides at the Mansion. He hesitates a little at the question of whether Dream deserves to be locked up, saying an uncertain “yeeeeesss?”

His prior relationship with Dream is that they were friends. Were friends before he chose to destroy L’manburg. Maybe not 100% not friends, but...neutral.

- Sam directs him to the lectern with the waiver. Bad signs it. He places his valuables in the locker room.

- They start heading through the security measures of the prison. They make it to the lava wall and wait for it to drain. Bad is nervous.

- He turns to face Dream. Dream says he hasn’t had a visitor in a while.

- Dream starts spinning the clock.

Dream: “I used to write, but I...burnt a lot of my books.”

Bad checks the chest and sure enough, many of the books are missing.

Dream would try to get out, so Sam disallowed visitors for a few days.

Bad: “I bet you have a lot of time to think about what you did.”

Dream: “Yeah, I do...It’s a...think and think and think.”

- Dream asks Bad about how George and Sapnap are doing. He says they haven’t visited him...

Bad says he’s sure that George and Sapnap miss him.

Bad: “You’re telling me they haven’t come by at all?”

Dream goes over and starts spinning the clock again.

- Dream asks Bad about what’s been happening outside. Bad tells Dream about how Tommy is starting a hotel.

Bad: “I’m sure a lot of people miss you!”

- There’s still a giant Crater where L’manburg used to be. Nobody’s tried to clean it up.

- Bad also mentions the Egg. Dream remembers Bad showing him the Egg a while back. Bad says that it’s spreading Vines across the server.

Dream: “That’s interesting...”

- Bad asks if Dream’s named the clock yet. Dream says he has, but he doesn’t want to say what...

- Dream writes up a thank-you book to Bad for visiting him. Bad wouldn’t be able to take it with him on the way out, so he puts it in the chest.

- Bad asks how long his sentence is. Dream says forever.

- Dream says he likes to watch the clock, and when it hits halfway...he’s happy. They watch the clock hit halfway. That was awesome.

- Dream asks Bad how long he’s been in there. Bad says...a couple weeks, he thinks? A week? Two weeks?

- Bad asks who else has visited. Dream says Tommy. The only one until Bad. Bad is shocked that no one else has visited, but Dream explains that there are limited visiting hours, and people have to schedule. He’s sure they will.

- Dream says he sometimes plays a prank on Sam by burning the clock so that he brings a new one, so that he can see Sam and say hi.

Dream: "He comes over."

Bad: "I mean, you don’t get in trouble for doing that, do you?"

Dream: "...Not yet...Sometimes he'll give me less potatoes, but--"

Bad: "Oh, so he starves you."

Dream: "...No, I’m not saying -- I dunno, I wouldn’t say I’m starving."

Bad: “Do you have three square meals a day?”

Dream: “...”

Dream: “I have potatoes!”

Bad: “Yeah, potatoes are good!”

...

Dream: “He’ll do it later.” (chuckling) “Later he’ll come and he’ll say ‘why did you do it again?’ And then he’ll look at me and say ‘don’t be so dumb, Dream!’ And I’ll laugh at him, and I’ll say ‘oooooh, I -- I got you though!’”

- Dream tosses the clock into the lava and laughs.

- Dream says Sam is making a system soon so that he can just drop the potatoes down so that he doesn’t have to visit Dream to give them. Bad doesn’t like the idea of this and says Dream should encourage Sam to continue visiting Dream in person.

- Dream sniffs a bit, but tells Bad he’s happy there.

- Bad will become a guard soon, and says he might be able to suggest giving Dream new things. He suggests a plant. Dream likes that idea.

- Bad asks who Dream wants to visit. Dream says he wants George and Sapnap to visit him. Bad says he’ll go and talk to them about it. They probably already want to come and see him! Maybe they just need a little reminder.

Bad: “Yeah, and if you keep up -- I assume you’ve been maintaining good behavior, right?”

Dream: “...”

Dream: “...Yeah.”

Bad: “Okay, ‘cause like you gotta maintain good behavior, ‘cause if you. maintain good behavior --”

- Dream suddenly runs into the lava. Bad is freaked out, but Dream says he swims there sometimes. That’s just how it works. It’s a way to keep entertained.

Sometimes he likes to touch the lava and burn for some time, only extinguishing himself at the last second. He laughs a bit. Bad asks if this is another way to prank Sam? Dream just keeps laughing.

- Dream says Bad’s time is probably up.

- Dream asks Bad if he knows how long each block would take to break? He says he’s sat for twenty minutes once trying to break the blocks.

He helped design it, though, and knows that there’s an observer behind the blocks that will teleport the guards. Maybe if he wants to see Bad sometime, he can break it and teleport him over.

- Bad says maybe he’ll visit soon again, but with George and Sapnap. Dream says there’s only one visitor allowed at a time.

- Bad says his goodbye and exits the cell.

- Sam asks how his visit was. Bad says it was good, but Dream needs a new clock. Sam is exasperated -- this was the fourth/fifth (hard to hear) time already -- and says he might not get a new one this time...

He’ll give him a new clock, but Dream’s on thin ice.

- Bad tells Sam he needs a clock! Sam asks why he would need one.

- Sam asks Bad what Dream said. Bad said they just talked about stuff, and that Dream jumped into the lava. Sam says he does that a lot, that “usually he just wants attention.”

- Bad exits the prison, thanking Sam. Sam says goodbye.

- Bad says he doesn’t know how he feels. It’s a lot to take in. On the one hand, Dream did plenty to land himself in the prison, but on the other hand, the conditions of the prison are horrible.

- Bad says there’s no way he could ever be broken out, and he doesn’t even deserve to get broken out anyway. He was going to kidnap Skeppy!

But at the same time, a part of Bad can’t help but feel a bit sorry.

It’s not too much to feel a bit sympathetic about the conditions, and hope that they can be improved a tiny bit. Maybe giving him a plant! Or a pet!

- Bad plans to become a guard to incentivize better conditions.

- Bad thinks Dream deserves to be in there, and he doesn’t want to free him, just provide better conditions. He was spinning a clock just for entertainment!

Even prisoners deserve good living conditions.

(To paraphrase) He totally deserves to be in there! But the conditions are awful. There’s no reason why being there needs to be torture. And having more friends coming to visit him is good, providing a positive influence.

- Bad was a little horrified. He didn’t know what to say when Dream started spinning the clock. He named the clock! Pretty soon he’ll be counting up the bricks in his cell and naming them, too.

He thinks a pet, a potted plant, something like that would be a good start. Something for Dream to take care of.

- Bad was a little unnerved about how Sam was acting in the prison, like he didn’t care or was apathetic.

- Dream belongs in the prison, but there’s a difference between torture and just locking someone up. Dream is in there because he’s a danger to others, but his stay there doesn’t have to be torture.

What else could they get him?

Maybe...a jukebox and some music discs? Bad has music discs he could gift him. Maybe music can lift his spirits.

Or perhaps some paintings to lift the spirit of the room.

- Bad examines the growth of the Vines. He’s noticed that the Vines aren’t growing past the border of the Holy Land.

- Bad speaks with Quackity. He asks about Dream being in prison -- question, would it be too much to ask about improving the living conditions in the prison?

Quackity says maybe they could “improve his living conditions” by building another wall or bullying him.

- Bad says Quackity should go and visit him. Quackity is planning to. Maybe then they can discuss it.

Quackity says that now he’s thinking about it...they do have quite a bit of leverage. Maybe he could reconsider it...a plan to provide him with more comfortable living, but any comfortable living comes with a price...people would owe him.

Bad doesn’t like that idea. It sounds manipulative.

Quackity: “At what point has Dream given you anything? At all? Has he ever helped you? Exactly. So listen to me, okay? What we need to do is get something out of comfortable living. I’m sure he’d love comfortable living, Bad. So that is why we need to go to him and strike him a deal...”

Bad: “What can he give us? He’s imprisoned.”

Quackity: “I know exactly what he can give me.”

- Quackity leaves the call.

- Bad wasn’t sure if he should’ve told Dream about the Eggpire so he didn’t, because he was worried it would make Dream more sad.

--- From here on, all of this takes place on an alternate server ---

- Ranboo starts off in the panic room, looking at his sign. Today’s the day.

“After today? He’s gonna know who I am. He’s gonna know exactly who I am.”

- Ranboo starts heading over. The construction sign at the hotel site is completely blacked out.

“Dream’s not the one in danger here...so I could get rid of him if I wanted to...I could get rid of him if I wanted to. But then other people couldn’t come back...No, I couldn’t do that.”

- Ranboo goes in through the portal. He comes out into the Nether in an area not within the prison’s Nether chamber. Ranboo comes through and gets teleported to Sam for a moment.

- Sam asks him the questions. Ranboo says this is the first time he’s visited and Sam accepts his answer with no hesitation. He’s talking with a very cheerful tone of voice.

- Ranboo tells him he lives near Techno and Phil, and that he thinks Dream definitely deserves to be locked up. With regards to prior relations, he actually hasn’t spoken to Dream before...

- Ranboo needs the Memory Book with him. He gives it to Sam to inspect. Sam says he can allow it in, but Sam will have to transport it for him.

- As they go through, Sam notices that Ranboo is nervous and reassures him that everything’s fine. He is also always holding a clock in his offhand.

- Ranboo signs the waivers, the first as “Ranboo” and the second with “Ranboo2.”

- They make it to the lava wall and Sam gives Ranboo his Memory Book.

- Dream’s surprised Ranboo didn’t come sooner. They’re best friends, right? Ranboo says they’ve barely spoken. Dream says he’s probably talked to Ranboo more than anyone else on the entire server!

- Dream asks why Ranboo’s acting different? He then realizes. But he’s still glad to see Ranboo. He’s been a good helping hand, after all.

“You did do those things. After Dream told you to do them.”

- Ranboo points out the clock. Dream says he doesn’t really like it.

- Dream asks if Ranboo would like to see what he’s been writing, and hands him a book labelled

Do not read.

- Ranboo looks through the chest. Not only is the chest completely filled with books that weren’t there earlier, but every single one of them is labelled “Do not read.” They are all unsigned and unfinished, and there are no anvils in Dream’s cell.

Every single one of them is the same, 17 pages long unlike the 4-page book in Ranboo’s hand.

“I know what I went through because I’m you!”

“Look, you’ve been helping Dream! The only reason you haven’t been talking to me recently is because you can’t picture what he sounds like...he would tell you thinks to do, you were like his little...servant!”

- Ranboo asks how it’s possible that he could help Dream so much and not remember any of it.

“You do! You do because I’m you.”

“I’m...I’m not even real.”

Dream disappears. The screen goes black. The white smile appears without the crown. The crown flashes in code:

“Not free yet.”

---

Upcoming Events:

- The next Tales From the SMP episode

- Tommy’s next visit with Dream

- Bad wants to visit Dream again in the future

- Tubbo’s possible visit with Dream

- Quackity’s possible visit with Dream

- Puffy’s visit with Dream

- Ponk’s visit with Dream

- Punz’s visit with Dream

- Jack Manifold’s visit with Dream

- The Eggpire possibly speaking with Technoblade

#dream smp #dream smp recaps #tw derealization #tw self harm #prison arc #long posts

172 notes · View notes

spaceygoobert · 4 years

Text

Penny for some thoughts about the clusterfuck that is Solar Opposites s2 (Contains spoilers)

Now that I am no longer drunk out of my mind and watched s2 four more times just to be sure I didn’t miss anything while I was crossfaded. it’s time to talk about it

Ep1 was great. It had more lore for shlorpians with a different perspective and i find it interesting that Korvo didn’t even know there were rich shlorpians. They also lived on floating platforms in the sky, like rich people lived in the clouds and working shlorpians lived on the ground, literally separating the two types of classes

The rich shlorpians said they wanted the pupa so they could get back to being rich, which means they don’t know that they will die, either way, they been jebaited

Did not expect shlorpians to be religious... kinda. but i’m not complaining.

The jokes hit hard and everything was kinda fast. The funniest thing about the season was a wacky plots

I like how different Terry and Korvo are when dealing with negative emotions

Terry becomes passive aggressive when dealing with negative emotions. specifically with anger.

When Korvo basically changes everything about Terry in the Lake House episode, the only thing he doesn’t change is how Terry deals with negative emotions. Imagine not being understood and then becoming a goth because no one understands you, not even your partner, who is essentially the same person as you now. And it’s great.

I love violent goth Terry.

kinda shows how repressed he is to the point of “breaking”

Korvo becomes petty when dealing with negatives emotions too, but instead of anger, it’s sadness or when he’s hurt emotionally

S2ep2 reminds me of s1ep3, they both have something to do with parties and Korvo not being included and because he’s petty af he makes a complicated plan. the plot for the episode was just as mind-fucking as s1.

When Korvo’s sad/hurt, instead of talking about it, he makes a whole ass bill to ban Terry from having to hang out with his human friends because he spends too much time with them and not enough time with him. It isn’t until the shit hits the fan that he finally fesses up, which I find to be perfect. AND it ends with a uwu kiss.

I find it odd and genius that Terry isn’t how you expect him to be. He looks like he wears his heart on his sleeves, yet he’s the one who shows less emotion than Korvo. Plus he doesn’t know how to express bad emotions and does the whole pretending that everything is fine thing

Could be due to being a laid-back person. By being laid-back, it means not worrying or at least showing it (which btw, if you express emotions, it means you care)

Maybe someone hurt him enough for him to be passive aggressive OR it could be Shlorp, who the fuck knows

it begs the question, if he represses the bad feelings, what else does he repress?

Korvo LOOKS like he wouldn’t be the type to express emotions, yet he’s the one who is able to show sadness and anger— or a better way to explain, he doesn’t hold back on his emotions. He’s more open of the two adult aliens

AND THEY COME FROM THE SAME PLACE.

When Korvo insults Terry, he gets angry

When Terry insults Korvo, he gets sad and cries.

Korvo and Terry do things to cancel each other out. It’s cute.

Like when Korvo bans dinner parties and Terry still goes to them using sci-fi stuff to do it.

or when korvo goes to live with the other aliens and Terry trashes the house to get rid of his presence. Then mentions that Korvo’s dead

They bond over making fun of humans.

I’d expect this from Korvo, but Terry also makes fun of them too, despite wanting to be liked by them. Dunno, maybe Korvo rubbed off on him.

Korvo and Terry strive to get people to like them.

Korvo with the new aliens

Terry with humans

The way they do it is different. Terry acts like himself with humans, Korvo tries to act like himself but he lies to fit in

The wall, my god, the wall was amazing. The episode that focuses on the wall doesn’t take place inside the wall.

I never thought i’d feel for The Duke, though i expected he and Cherie would have some kind of relationship going on

The music, my god so good

Also the trope with the hero who unknowingly saves the villain.

Forest City, (Wood City?) I don’t remember what they called it

The plot for that was so ridiculous; they lose their car in the forest so they use a device to build a city so they could rent a car to find their car, but they end up getting lost in the city.

The fact that Terry took somewhat studied “pathfinding to prepare for life on dangerous aliens world”

I died when Korvo said he wanted to be a gangster, then he never actually becomes one and keeps getting chased by wolves. In the end, he was just a guy in a business suit

Jesse becomes a bad bitch like I knew she would

I can’t believe all four of the characters lost sight of their goal within a few days probably.

Also yumyulack jr

and the ref to wolf of wall street. Wait, is that why wolves were chasing Korvo because he was attempting to be a gangster? WHAT IS THE RELATION, besides being in a fucking forest?

Prostitute Terry and his tiddies

Korvo and Terry actually like being in each other's company

Red Goobler

My eyes were burned out of my skull, you know what i’m talkin about, the “sleeping through the alarm” scene, which got me second guessing myself that maybe it might be an alarm but it turns out they’re fucking. and there’s a wet condom on the ceiling.

the possibility of Korvo being pregnant? For s3? Impossible but still, it would be funny, then it turns out he’s not pregnant, it’s another red goobler, but he can’t tell if it’s from stress or the fucking

Terry is trying his best

I hope they don’t make terry into an idiot. Like in s1, he was dumb but not an idiot.

also terry admitting he’s too insecure to form his own opinions and Korvo liking the fact that he doesn’t have a firm belief

I am happy for that basic rat chick

Also if Korvo’s a bottom, and assuming Terry is one too, they don’t fuck because they’re both busy being bottoms?

After one night of implied sex, Korvo wanted to marry the red goobler. was the implied sex that good?

The apple pencil pro was just weird

Now that the solar opposites are dead, but not really, what now?

Can we talk about how they all went to fulfill each other’s goals more than their own. It’s sweet.

Lets not talk about Terry wanting to eat out Ms. Frankie, but Korvo does it instead, and he keeps going at it

Korvo likes eating out confirmed?

There was a lot of sexual stuff in this show. I dig it.

Also Terry being the first to die in the last episode, I dunno if I could see him killing his family. I mean I know he would but everyone else had some kind of contraption, except Korvo, who used magic instead, which is funny because he’s the most scientific one there, unless he uses science in it then it would make sense.

Mini Korvos look cute but I know they’re all little shits

i kinda wanna know more about Yumyulack’s past as a bounty hunter, like what did they do as a curriculum, was there even a course on bounty hunting? did Yumyulack only say that to sound cool? who knows! I hope s3 has Korvo and Jesse plots because I see them to be the most alike.

Dunno why, but all the solar’s head exploding was aesthetically pleasing and when they all get rebirthed again with their heads popping out of the tree, reminds me of the tree from pocahontas

This season had a bunch of sci-fi stuff and I love it. I hope there’s more sci-fi stuff in the future.

Also Korvo and Terry are both fucking idiots and I live for it.

#Solar opposites #Solar opposites spoilers #Korvo #Terry #Yumyulack #Jesse #Tervo #literally the longest post i ever did about gayliens

95 notes · View notes

yolkyeomie · 3 years

Text

Humanity of the Inhuman | Kim Sunwoo

summary — legends are meant for the wild fantasies of the dream world, but when one myth suddenly comes true, you find yourself tangled within its webs of reality.

word count — 5.9k words

pairing — sunwoo x female!reader (ft x juyeon)

genre —college au, gumiho au

disclaimer —!! light mentions of death, blood, and injury !! lol happy birthday to my favorite writing muse in the world, sunwoo :)

part I | part II | part III | part IV?

You close the door behind you, a deep sigh falling out your mouth as you try to recount the events from today. Though you didn’t get very much time to yourself before you were rudely interrupted by banging coming from you bathroom door and an irritated voice shouting at you. “Hey! I know you’re here, I heard the door open and close! Are you going to let me out now or what?”

You glanced down the hall that led to the bathroom and saw the yellow paper talisman stuck on the door, completely untouched since you had placed it there to keep the gumiho in one place. “Wow, it actually works.” You mumble to yourself, slowly approaching the door knowing that the boy inside was struggling to escape.

You didn’t know how effective the talisman would be since nine tails were said to be rather powerful beings but it was truly working wonders to keep him in one place. Maybe he wasn’t very strong in reality? “Hey fox boy! I’ve got some questions, if you answer at least one of them I’ll let you out.”

You could hear the boy scoff from the inside, probably in disbelief that he was being held hostage by a human with no power to their name. “Doesn’t that sound fair?” You continued, “your freedom for information that I want, good deal right?”

“I don’t think I’m understanding correctly,” the boy began, slamming his fist against the bathroom door one last time to try and break free. You jumped back on instinct, the gumiho’s strength shaking the door on its hinges. Yet the paper talisman stood strong and refused to budge, making it hard for you to not break a smile a few moments later at the gumiho’s struggle. “What information could you, a human, possibly need from a gumiho, huh? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“I’m curious,” you admit, sitting down in front of the door and watching the boy’s shadow underneath the small gap in the door. “I'm taking mythology as a fun little elective class and we were just beginning to learn the lore behind nine tailed foxes, I just wanna see which type of myths are true and fake.”

“And you had to lock me,” the door handle jiggled for a moment to show the gumiho’s distress, “in your bathroom to do this?”

“You tried to kill me! What else was I supposed to do?” You complained, frustrated with the boy despite not even being face to face with him. “I was lucky enough to have a talisman sitting in my house that my parents had gotten me weeks ago! If I didn’t push you in there and put the talisman on the door, you probably would have eaten my liver or something.”

“I wouldn’t have eaten your liver,” the boy argued, a loud thump hitting the door as he spoke. It didn’t sound like a punch, more like he had put his back on the door and leaned ups against it. “Even if I wanted to, you made the dumb decision of saving me so now I’m in debt to you.”

“What? I’m sorry, can you run that back for a second?” You questioned, scooting up toward the door eagerly at this new piece of information. “What do you mean you're in debt to me?”

“The other day, when you told me you had saved me after I was attacked? You’ve binded me to you for doing me that favor, leaving me in debt to you. I cannot harm you while I’m debt to you unless I repay you for it.”

The silence between the two of you let a cold shiver run down your spine, though you were too busy processing the information he had given you. “It’s kinda like… an honor code but for gumihos. It was put in place by higher spirits in hopes of lessening the attacks caused by us. It never really worked though, no one dares to approach a fox in fear of being eaten.”

“I’m guessing that’s how it was centuries ago or something…,” you snorted, crossing your arms as you reminisced upon you accidentally stumbling across his injured body.

“Because no one tried, the message never got passed down to the next generations,” he explained, “so it’s become a lost piece of our mythos. Honestly I would have liked to keep it that way as well, but here you are bringing this rule back to fruition. Either way, I’m not going to kill you until I repay you, so there’s no need to keep me in here anymore.”

“You promise you’re not going to jump out and eat my liver the moment I open the door?” You questioned him, getting off the ground as you spoke.

The other side of the door was quiet for a moment before the boy finally answered, “you have my word.”

Cautiously, you put one hand on the door handle and took the talisman within the other. With silent prayer to any otherworldly being that might be watching you and the gumiho from above, you snatched the talisman off of the door and braced yourself for the unforgiving claws of the nine tailed fox you had trapped in your bathroom.

Though all you were greeted by was the grateful smile of the boy you had rescued, a hint of mischief sparkling in his ever changing amber eyes before settling to a deep dark brown to blend in with the mortals of your world. “That wasn’t that hard was it? Now if you excuse me—“

Before you even had the chance to retaliate, the boy darted between you and the door like a quick breeze in the air. He was much faster than you had anticipated, though it should have been expected from a creature such as a nine tailed fox. “Wait, where are you going? I had questions to ask!”

The boy stopped in his tracks, struggling to comprehend where the exit to your home was. He may have been in your house, but the most he had seen was your living room and bathroom. He cursed under his breath for finding himself trapped in an unfamiliar surroundings once again. You watched as the gumiho let out a deep sigh of frustration, turning around to face you with an annoyed yet sweet smile on his face. “Of course… the questions. How could I forget! Tell me, what is it that a human wants to know about gumihos?”

You held up the talisman as a warning sign, not knowing if it still had any useful power to it but it was definitely enough to get the nine tailed fox on his best behavior. “First off, who are you? Or more like… what’s your name? And why were you bleeding to death in rain when I found you?”

“Asking for a lot already, aren’t you?” He mumbled, snorting to himself as he threw himself onto your small couch. “My name is Sunwoo and as you know I am a nine tailed fox. As to why I was bleeding in that alleyway… I was attacked, like I told you before.”

“Okay, Sunwoo, I get that you were attacked but why?” You continued to pester, your curiosity of the gumiho’s situation overtaking your thoughts. The more he tried to hide what was going on, the more curious you became. Though you shouldn’t get close thanks to Juyeon, who knew what he’d do to you if you got closer. “A small argument doesn’t just lead into nearly murdering a person! Or well… fox.”

“My apologies…” he trailed off, looking to you for information.

“Y/N,” you answered him, “it’s Y/N.”

“My apologies, Y/N, but that sort of information is classified,” Sunwoo shrugged, flinching slightly as you threatened him with the talisman, “I just don’t think you’d want to involve yourself in gumiho business. It’s not something a human should be sticking their nose into either way.”

You roll your eyes at his excuse, pointing to yourself as you exclaimed, “have you already forgotten? I am your savior and you’re in debt to me! I should at least know why the victim was keeping attacked in the first place don’t you think? Just think of it as… you repaying your debt to me now.”

“That’s not how that works.” The boy explained, slightly cringing at your actions as he watched you place yourself upon a pedestal to ring information out of him. “I’m in debt to you, yeah, but it means I quite literally owe my life to you. You saved my life, now under whatever circumstances that might occur, I will save yours.”

“Tell me why happened, Sunwoo,” you urged, a little more aggressively this time.

“I stole a fox bead from another gumiho.” He admitted, crossing his arms as he leaned back into the couch. You could almost feel Sunwoo’s hair on his skin rise as he recalled the events prior, trying to decide what he wanted to say and what he’d keep from you. “They had found me and attacked in an attempt to get it back and as a result, left me there to die when they thought they had retrieved it. Luckily for me, they took a fake instead.”

“Fox bead?” You questioned, trying to wrack your head around in an attempt to remember if you had heard of such a thing before. Though you’re not sure if your mythology class had gotten far enough into your gumiho lesson to cover it. “What is that, fox beads?”

“It’s a bead for foxes, everyone has one,” Sunwoo teased, though quickly adding the actual explanation before you could threaten him again, “it’s a bead that provides most of the power and future knowledge that a gumiho could ever ask for, making them one of the most popular beings alive. The only way to obtain this amount, though, is by absorbing the energy of a human.”

“By kissing them?” You questioned, and Sunwoo nodded his head in reply. “My god, I can’t believe he was actually right…” you realized, recalling the information that Juyeon had given you. Nine tailed foxes feed off of a human’s existence, but who would have known they gain more power as a result of taking an innocent human’s life.

Instinctively, you cover your mouth as defense against Sunwoo, not completely trusting the gumiho as he laughed at you. “Have you already forgotten, Y/N? You’re my savior, I owe my life to you. I can’t harm you until that debt has been paid off.”

“Why would you steal a fox bead if every gumiho has one? Just go fill up your own bead you… sicko…” you glare, the vivid image of the gumiho in front of you snatching the life out of humans prevalent in your mind.

“I stole it because the gumiho who had this specific one had almost filled it all.” Sunwoo explained, he held his hand out for you to see as a flash of light sparked in his palms, an object beginning to form within his grasp as his eyes turned the same amber yellow as before. You watched as a glowing bead appeared in his hands, the same color as his foxish eyes and making a light jingle sound every time it moved.

“This is…,” you mumbled, mesmerized by such a beautiful crystal being presented to you.

“The fox bead, the nearly completed fox bead.” Sunwoo nodded. “There hasn’t been a fox bead of this variety in many, many millennia. If the gumiho I stole this from gets his hands on this again and gives it the last bit of human energy it needs? All hell will break loose. That’s what I stole it, or was instructed to steal it. A fox bead of this strength cannot be destroyed by just any gumiho, but by a—”

“Shut up for a second,” you interrupted him, putting the talisman down as inching closer to the fox bead. As the object moved around in Sunwoo hands, the jingling continued to get louder and louder in your head. It got to the point where it finally clicked in your head as to why you were drawn to fox bead in the first place. “I’ve heard this before, the ringing… jingling sound it makes.”

“The fox bead?” Sunwoo questioned, his eyes shooting up to yours at an alarming speed. When you nodded your head his amber yellow eyes snapped back to the natural dark browns and the fox bead disappeared from his hands. “What do you mean you heard the fox bead?”

“Before I found you, I heard jingling. Like… bells or wind chimes or something like that. I followed it because I was curious and it led me straight to you.” You explained yourself, recalling the events rather easily. “And it happened again earlier today when I was on the phone with my friend. It led me outside of my room which brought me straight to where you were. I guess what I was hearing all along was the fox bead.”

“Y/N…” he mumbled, struggling to father his thoughts as he spoke. “Y/N, the fox bead doesn’t make any noise. Or at least, humans cannot hear the jingling of a fox bead unless they are the gumiho’s next target. And we already know it couldn’t have been me because I’m in debt to you.”

You thought to yourself for a moment before replying, “are you saying that the gumiho you stole from… he was planning on using my energy to complete his fox bead?”

II.

“Okay, I understand this is a serious situation, but is all of this really necessary?” You turned your wary gaze toward Sunwoo, fidgeting with the sleeves of your jacket as you watched the boy wander not too far behind you.

Despite your cautious tone, the gumiho was a lot more relaxed than you were. Dressed brand new clothes you had bought specifically for him the day before, Sunwoo took in his surroundings with his keen dark eyes in search of the gumiho that was targeting you. “Of course it’s necessary. If I leave you to your own devices, the gumiho targeting you may try to strike and you will be gone before anyone finds out what happened… if they find out what happened that is.”

You shouldn’t be feeling this anxious about everything. After all you are on your turf, the college campus, and you have a mythical nine tailed fox following your move. You're more safe here than you could be anywhere else. Maybe it’s the fact that you can’t believe any of this is actually happening, it feels like you're in some sort of twisted fairytale than reality if you had to be honest.

Seriously, nine tailed foxes? Fox beads? Being the final victim for the beast? None of that is believable if you were simply hearing it but here you are experiencing it all.

“Well, at least don’t stick around so close,” you scold him, shooing him as far away as you could. “What if I come into contact with the nine tailed fox, and he sees you? He thinks you’re dead after all!”

“Actually...” Sunwoo trailed off, trying to word his next sentence as gently as possible. “Not exactly…? I mean… maybe like a day or two ago he would have believed I’m dead but—”

You stop in your tracks immediately, spinning on your heel to face the gumiho with a furious glint in your eyes, “—What do you mean ‘but’, Sunwoo?”

“It doesn’t take long for a gumiho to realize when they have a fox bead that’s not theirs,” he explained leaning up against the wall and fiddling with his hair as he spoke. “It’s an innate ability we all have, the one that the gumiho took was mine and that thing is completely empty. It was enough to give me time to get out of the city but then…”

“I found you and we figured out that the nine tailed fox was coming for me.” You finished off, wanting to curse yourself for ever stopping for the boy in the first place. You almost wish you didn’t get yourself involved with the nine tailed foxes, almost. “What's the point in doing all of this then?”

“It’s so I can find out where exactly the gumiho is hiding and keep him from you,” Sunwoo grinned, “and then stall him just enough so that I take his fox bead and destroy it.”

You stared at him for a few moments more before letting out an intensely deep sigh. For some reason, the plan that Sunwoo had created didn’t seem very fool proof. But what could you do? After all, you were the human and he was the gumiho. He knew a lot more about nine tailed foxes then you could ever imagine. He, unfortunately, held your life in the palm of his hands.

“Well you can’t stay beside me all of time,” you hissed, finally approaching the room that held your mythology class. “I don’t think I really want to explain to my class how I found and saved a nine tailed fox right after we started the course for your mythos.”

“You can let me in, it’s fine!” He grinned, trying to weasel his way past you and into the class before you could catch him. “I want to know what humans learn about gumihos! You know, give them a few pointers and let them know what’s true and what’s not true.”

“Sunwoo, no!” You snapped, your hands wrapping around his shirt collar and pulling him back as hard as you could. He lurched backward and nearly tumbled to the ground, shocked by your sudden burst of strength. “Are you really trying to keep me safe or are you in cahoots with the other nine tailed fox, him?”

The boy frowned at your accusations, forcing himself back into his feet as he opened his mouth, “Y/N—“

“Y/N!” You turned your head with neck breaking speed to see Juyeon approaching you from down the hall, his gleeful and generous smile beaming down on you once he got your attention. In a panic you turned back to Sunwoo, wanting to give your last attempt at shooing him away before realizing he had disappeared within an instant. The last hint of the gumiho’s mere existence was the faint jingle of the fox bead he had stolen echoing in your ears, so at least you knew he was still around.

You spun on your heels to face Juyeon as relaxed as possible, anxiously fumbling with your hands as he stopped in front of you. “You’re rather early aren’t you? Who were you talking to?”

“I was on the phone,” you quickly responded, your mind running miles as you tried your best to give him an excuse, “with Kevin! He was just checking up on me after the whole… spirits in my house fiasco.”

“Oh, I remember you coming to me about that,” he nodded, nervously adjusting the bag slung over his shoulder. “Are you okay actually? You never gave me an update on the sounds you were hearing and it… worried me, I guess.”

You slowly begin to smile at Juyeon’s kindness, jokingly punching him in the shoulder as you said, “aw, how sweet! Checking up on your good ol’ school friend, huh?”

“School friend…,” he trailed off, hesitating for a moment before smiling at you with the tips of his ears burning a slight shade of red. “Of course I’m worried about my school buddy! Mythology isn't fun without you there with me after all.”

You pat his back in reassurance, “don’t worry, everything is fine for the most part. Though…,” you stopped, wondering how you could discreetly mention Sunwoo’s existence and his warning of you being hunted by a nine tailed fox to the boy. Did you need to tell him actually? None of that was actually of Juyeon’s concern. But… he did say he was worried about you.

“If I needed to go somewhere… somewhere away from my home…,” the jingling from the past few days echoed in your ears as you spoke to him. The fox bead, Sunwoo, was nearby again. You should finish this conversation as quickly as you could. “Would you open your dorm to me? Just for like a day or so! I wouldn’t overstay—“

“Of course!” He blurted, his eyes wide with glee but quickly glistening over with embarrassment. Juyeon cleared his throat as he tried to continue the conversation as normal as he possibly could. “I mean— uh— I’d be happy to, don’t worry. I’d have to clean up a lot and move Hyunjae out so he won’t bother you so just… make sure to give me a heads up, okay?”

You blinked once, then twice, then once more just in case you were seeing what you were seeing. After a few moments of awkward silence after the boy’s rambling, you grinned at him. “Why didn't you question me for not asking Kevin first?”

“I…,” Juyeon struggled to reply, his face flushing as he realized what he had done. “You’re my school friend, Y/N! I’m going to help you when I can, of course. What type of friend would I be if I didn’t?”

You couldn’t tell if the awkward silence between the two of you was because of Juyeon’s terrible lie or the fact that both of you were still astonished by what came out of his mouth. Though you didn’t have time to ponder on it any longer when the fox bead jingled in your ears again and the boy finally piped up, “I’m gonna go ahead and head inside now. See you, Y/N, in like… three minutes or something, I don’t know—“

“—I’m gonna make a call back to Kevin first,” you added on, finally gaining control over your body again as you pulled out your phone and gestured to it. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

He nodded a few more times than needed before skipping into the mythology class, not even daring to look back at you as he disappeared within the class. You couldn’t tell whether Juyeon’s genuinely just being his normal kind self to you or if his actions were motivated by something deeper, you honestly didn’t want to find out at the moment. Not when there was a gumiho out for your head at the moment.

“Alright, Sunwoo, you can come out now—“ your breath hitched as you felt a hand tug aggressively at your wrist, practically snatching you away from the doors to your mythology classroom and into a more secluded hallway.

When you looked up Sunwoo loomed over you, his dark eyes turning into its mystic amber yellow and his nails digging into your skin as his grip grew tighter and tighter. “Are you crazy?” He questioned, though the jingle of the fox bead he had stolen nearly drowned out his voice. “Why were you talking to him?”

“Juyeon?” You question, yanking your arm away from him and taking a giant step away from him. “He’s… he’s my friend, why would I not talk to him? I’ve been taking this class with him since the semester started. He’s a good guy, don’t worry about him.”

“He’s not some good guy, Y/N,” Sunwoo warned, holding out his fist for you to see. Curiously you watched as the fox bead began to form in the palm of his hand, gleaming a much brighter light and practically pulsing with the energy of humans trapped within it. For something so morbid, you sure found it beautiful. “Juyeon is a gumiho, why are you trusting him?”

“Huh?” You respond, unsure of whether or not you had actually heard him correctly. “I’m sorry, repeat that one more time for me.”

“Lee Juyeon,” Sunwoo answered, reciting his full name without you even needing to tell him, “is a gumiho, the very gumiho I stole this fox bead from. Juyeon is targeting you.”

III.

“Y/N!” Sunwoo yelled, banging his fist against the bathroom door like he had been doing for the past couple of days. He was in time out for telling such a ridiculous lie and assuming you’d believe him right off of the bat just because he was a mythical creature. “Y/N, why are you being like this? Can you at least talk to me again.”

You didn’t respond as you laid face first on your couch, struggling to block out the gumiho’s voice from your head. Did he really think you’d believe that Juyeon, the boy you’ve known for nearly the entire semester, was a gumiho? Nine tailed foxes may be master manipulators, but there were some lies that were outrageous enough for even the most simpleminded folk to see past.

“Y/N, you can’t keep me in here forever! Juyeon will come after you when least expect it and—“

“Shut up!” You finally snapped, grabbing a hold of one of the cheap decorative pillows laid across your couch and throwing it as hard as you physically could at the bathroom door. Though the pillow only made it halfway across the room before crashing to the ground without a sound, leaving your sigh of frustration to fill the gap left by the silence.

“I just… I don’t understand. You humans make no sense at all! Why is it so hard to accept the fact that Juyeon is a gumiho?” Sunwoo complained, forcing you to get off the couch and march your way toward the bathroom door. “You wanted to figure out why you heard the fox bead make noise and now you have your answer, Juyeon has been targeting you this entire time! Why are you defending him so hard—“

You snatched the talisman off the door and swung the door open with the ferocity of a tiger, taking the nine tailed fox off guard and watching him stare up at you with a wide eyed and frazzled expression. “Maybe I’m defending him so hard because I’ve been him much longer than I’ve known you! Juyeon has been nothing but… but sweet and kind to me all semester, he’s been looking out for me for who knows how long, and you just want me to believe that he’s out to take my life?”

Sunwoo blinked at your words before vigorously nodding his head, “yes, of course!”

An angry growl of frustration escaped your mouth, getting ready to slap the talisman back on the door and lock the nine tailed fox back inside. “Aren’t gumihos literally trickster spirits? I can’t believe I’ve believed everything that’s come out of your mouth so far. Who knows how many times you’ve already lied to me? Next thing I know you’re going to try and eat my livers when I least expect it!”

However the boy was much more sly and quicker than you could have ever been, so he easily slipped out of the way before you could do so, “I thought I already explained I’m not going to kill you? I physically cannot do so. I have an honor code to follow, genius!”

“How do I know that’s not a lie too, hm?” You questioned, crossing your arms like a child as you walked away from him. “You have no proof of this… this nine tailed fox honor code. How should I trust the words that come out your mouth, hm?”

Sunwoo frowned, the corners of his mouth going as low as they possibly could. “Do you like him or something? Suddenly all the trust we’ve built up has crumbled into nothingness, it’s really getting on my nerves.”

“I do not like Juyeon, he’s just a really good friend!” You shouted, retaliating sharply to the nine tailed fox. The boy nodded his head slowly, clearly not believing your words and rolling his eyes not long after. “But the stuff you’re saying? Unbelievable, this entire situation is unbelievable as is!”

“How do I make you believe what I say, without you accusing me of being a ‘master manipulator’?” Sunwoo mocked, though genuinely trying to find a solution to your disagreement. “I could tell you that I can’t lie to save my life, but you’d think that’s me trying to manipulate you or something again. You know, not all gumihos are good at lying! Some of us are—“

“Prove it,” you demanded, gesturing around your living room as you waited for him to respond. “Prove that you’re not going to harm me and prove that Juyeon is actually a nine tailed fox. I need cold hard facts and visual evidence before I can go on and trust you with my life again.”

“Y/N,” Sunwoo whined, trying to get you to let him off the hook just this one time. Yet you shook your head, sat down on the couch, and simply waited for him to somehow prove he wasn’t just being the stereotypical nine tailed fox she had been learning.

“Go on,” you urged him, “I’m waiting.”

The gumiho looked around in a frenzy, unsure of what exactly he could do to win your trust. You sat and watched him struggle, trying to wrack your own brain around why you had trusted Sunwoo so easily. Was it because you found him while he was injured and dying? But you should never trust strangers in the street anyway, whether they were at death’s door or not!

Maybe it was that cursed fox bead, it’s soft ring echoing in your ears and clouding your judgement each time you needed to make a decision. Were you even sure that the fox bead wasn’t actually his? He could have been lying about that whole situation too…

“I got it!” Sunwoo exclaimed, catching you off guard and shaking you from your thoughts. You look up to see the boy holding his hands out in front of him, his eyes beginning to shift into that familiar amber yellow and an object forming in his hands.

“Hey! No gumiho powers can be used!” You yelled, leaping up from your seat to stop him. Though the gumiho only stepped out of the way, raising his hands straight up so that you couldn’t reach him. “How do I know that it doesn’t amplify your ability to manipulate or not?”

“This can’t be done without the power of a gumiho in the first place,” he hissed, lowering his hands once the stolen fox bead finally materialized in his hands. “Do you want me to prove that I can’t harm you or what?”

You hesitate for a moment and a large smile begins to grow across Sunwoo’s face. “Then this is the only way I can prove it to you. I’ve told you once before that the fox bead is used to absorb human energy, so I’m going to use it on you to show that I genuinely cannot hurt you.”

“Use the fox bead on me…?” You repeat, letting his words slowly process before Juyeon’s words begin to blare through your head. “Wait… doesn’t that require like… kissing me? No, absolutely not! What if this is just a plow to kill me or something?”

“Y/N,” Sunwoo held the fox bead in his hands, it’s glow shining through the crevices of his hands as he spoke, “do you trust me?”

“No!” You quickly replied, “no, I do not!”

“Perfect, that’s the whole point of us doing this then!” He grinned, opening his mouth and dropping the fox bead in like a piece of candy. “It’ll be like two seconds, don’t worry! Well, it’ll feel like two seconds depending on whether or not the fox bead actually absorbs your energy...”

“Sunwoo!” You snap, finding yourself trapped behind the couch and the nine tailed fox in front of you. He took two enthusiastic steps forward before you put your hands in front of you, pushing him to arms length as you quickly spilled, “are you sure this is the way we have to do this? Can you figure out any other way?”

“No I can’t,” Sunwoo hissed between clenched teeth, urging you to put your hands down. “Can we please get this over with so that we can move on to other things? This will take like two seconds.”

“Ugh, fine!” You finally comply, tapping your lips and growling out, “let’s just… get this over with, if you end up actually killing me with this I will haunt you in the afterlife!”

The gumiho leaned in close, his hands hovering over your shoulders and his breath fanning across your face while the sparkle of the fox bead glistening in the corner of your eye. It gleamed in between the roof of his mouth and tongue before you no longer could catch sight of its glow, Sunwoo’s lips pressed fully onto yours without warning of his sudden roughness.

You yelp at his actions but it was entirely eaten up by the gumiho pressing his hands into you, engulfing the fleeting moment as quickly as he could. Somehow you found the strength to separate yourself from him, taking a moment to inhale just once and let out a “Sunwoo—“ before the boy dove right back in again.

He moved from your shoulders to cup your face in his hands while his weight pushed the both of you onto the couch below. You were practically drowning in the gumiho’s desires, too engrossed in Sunwoo’s kiss to notice the fox bead rolling out of his mouth into yours. Though the boy pulled back suddenly, breaking kiss and leaving the two of you breathless and in silence. If you didn’t have the willpower to hold yourself back, you probably would have pulled him back in again… how embarrassing.

His amber yellow eyes twinkled for a moment before shifting back into its illusion of a dark brown and he finally spoke to break the stillness of your home, “look to the sky, look to the land, and then look the people,” Sunwoo explained, having deep breaths after each sentence, “then swallow the fox bead.”

You didn’t get a chance to reply before the gumiho kissed you again, filling you up with the same adrenaline from not even a few seconds ago then retaking the fox bead from your mouth. You blinked a few times to bring yourself back to reality, wanting to ground yourself before speaking another word out your mouth, “why?”

“That’s how you defend yourself against a gumiho and destroy the fox bead all together.” Sunwoo responded, rising off of the couch and taking a few steps away from you. “The only reason you didn’t feel your energy being drained was because that wasn’t my fox bead and I am obligated to protect you, not harm you. You just need to know in case Juyeon takes his back and comes for you.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me instead of—,” you cut yourself off, covering your mouth with your hands and hoping desperately that Sunwoo didn’t catch the intense burning of your ears or beating of your heart, “instead of… showing... me...”

Sunwoo grinned, a grin so eerily similar to a real fox that you almost scoffed. “Because you thought I was manipulating you and wanted me to prove my innocence. Oh and don’t worry about me proving Juyeon is a gumiho, I’ve got something planned that will help.”

He stopped talking for a moment, licking his lips as you finally found the strength to sit upright on the couch and turned his piercing dark eyes toward you. “Of all the things, I didn’t expect you to taste like strawberries? How… interesting.”

112 notes · View notes

all1e23 · 4 years

Text

Tricks & Treats

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Orion’s Halloween is quickly turning rotten until someone helps to turn her day around with a few sweet treats.

Warnings: N/A Unless you count a disgusting amount of fluff to be a warning.

A/N: A new Astrophile drabble! This is set in the very far future, Halloween 2042. Orion is 27 and it’s just the kiddos. No Beck or Bucky. This does have some bits (okay a lot of bits) of the the shared Price of Astrophile universe collab with Tara and if you haven’t read The Price of Gold you need to! Thank you to my beautiful @moonbeambucky for looking it over for me. If you have not read the series Astrophile, THERE WLL BE MAJOR SPOILERS.

Catch up on the series here!

***My fics are not to be saved or posted on any other sites without my written permission. Reblogs are my jam, though! Thanks!*

Halloween 2042

Today has been a disaster. A complete and utter nightmare. It started with spilling hot tea all over her copy of Star Lore and down the front of her favorite skirt, which forced Ori to settle for the little black number Cassie bought her as a Halloween costume. It’s supposed to be a cat but it’s really a dress accompanied by cat ears. It’s not that it’s awful, it’s not her usual taste. It’s a simple spaghetti strap dress, sweetheart necklace that doesn’t dip too low and cut just above her knee. As far as Halloween costumes go it’s fairly modest but it’s a little tight compared to the rest of Ori’s closet.

Little did she know that was just the beginning to her terrible day. This was the first day in months that Ori was running the store on her own. No mom to fall back on. Not that it hasn’t happened before. At fourteen Ori was working the floor by herself so none of this was new but, today has been a nightmare from the moment the doors opened. It was unusually busy for a holiday, especially Halloween. It wasn’t often that the store was packed with customers on a day like today and there were moments when Ori began to feel claustrophobic with the amount of people filling the tiny shop.

Half of the morning was spent on decorating the window display for a new series that was set to be released at the beginning of November. The copies were scheduled to be delivered today, but they never showed and when Ori called to check on their status, the man she was unlucky enough to be put in contact with screamed at her, explaining that it was a holiday and not everyone spent their lives working.

It was one of those days where she wished she was ten years old again and Bucky could swoop in and save the day.

By some miracle, there was a lull, and she was able to slip behind the counter where her phone is kept when she’s working the floor alone. She swiped away the missed calls from Cassie and ignored the texts from Leo. There was only one person who knew how to calm the swirling mess in her head right now and she knows how pathetic she looks, twenty-seven, and tears swimming in her eyes. She didn’t care because just hearing his voice would help settle her. Theo’s voice rang her ear and as happy as she was to hear it, part of her wished it wasn’t his voicemail.

“H-hey,” Ori’s voice cracked, she cleared her throat ridding it of the tears choking her. “I know you’re at work. I’m sorry I’m calling. Please tell me I didn’t get you in trouble. I’m so sorry if I did. I just… I needed to hear your voice. I’m having a really awful day. That party with Cassie is tonight. I don’t want to go even though Cassie says it will be fun. And this new series. This stupid dumb shipment. They said they would be here today and I spent all morning doing the window display between the mad rush of customers by the way, they never showed. When I called to check in they said they can’t get here because it’s a holiday and well, they yelled at me. Now, I have to find something to replace the window display and spend another hour fixing what I did this morning. The store is so incredibly busy. I haven’t even stopped for lunch. I’m hungry and tired and I hate this day. Great. Now, I’m whining. Did I mention that I miss you? Well, I do and-”

“Ma'am?” A deep voice grabs Ori’s attention and she turns around to find a man in a UPS shirt standing behind the counter, she smiles as kindly as she can and pulls the phone away from her mouth to answer him, “I’m so sorry. Can I help you?”

“We have your delivery.”

Ori can feel the color drain from her face. She shouldn’t have that many boxes and the publisher on the clipboard being handed to her isn’t right.

“Wait… No. No, I didn’t order that. That’s not mine-”

“Orion Barnes?”

“Well, yes that’s me but,” She sighs, holding back the whimper that’s threatening to escape her. “Can you hold on just one second?"

Ori didn’t wait for his okay like she normally would have, she stepped towards her office and put the phone back up to her ear, “I guess my terrible, awful, no good day isn’t over. Talk to you soon? I hope.”

Orion had her eyes glued to a stack of invoices in front of her when the bell above the shop door rang. Thankfully, she was able to clear up the whole shipping mixup, but dealing with that set her even further behind inventory. It didn’t matter much. She knew who it was without having to raise her head. Ori didn’t have to look up to know her sister had arrived. Cassie skipped nearly everywhere, she has since she was old enough to walk and between the jingling of the bracelets on her wrist, the massive keyring on her purse, and the bells on her shoes (that had nothing to do with Halloween) it was easy to know when she arrived. The jingling came to a stop next to Ori, and a slight nudge to her hip that made Ori look up from the papers in her hand to find Cassie handing over a small brown paper bag from the bakery next door. Ori narrows her eyes at the gesture. Is she trying to butter her up about the party tonight?

“What’s this?”

“Cinnamon bagel from next door,” Cassie said with a certain self-satisfied taunt to her voice. “A certain boy texted me and said you hadn’t eaten today and asked if I could bring you something when I come by to pick you up for tonight."

Ori beams brightly as she peeks in the bag, avoiding her baby sister'’ suspicious and slightly giddy gaze.

“Question. Why is Theo texting me about your food needs and how does he know about tonight?”

She doesn’t answer, but this isn’t unusual. Like Bucky, Ori’s softer, gentler when it comes to revealing things close to her heart. There are some secrets she’s not ready for the world (or herself) to know yet. Cassie on the other hand is loud, in all things, but especially with what’s written on her heart. She loves just as deeply as Ori does but she’s quick to shout it from the rooftops, without a hint of fear.

Ori wishes she could be like that sometimes.

“Something is up. I can tell by the smile you’re trying to hide!”

"I’m smiling because I was hungry and it was very thoughtful of you both.”

Ori finally gets a look at Cassie’s costume when Cassie sheds her coat and she can’t help the surprised laugh that slips out. She’s in a white cotton dress that looked like it was made from one of those adult onesies, covered in glitter from head to toe and the rainbow leggings she has on matches the tail sticking out of the bottom of her coat and the mane on her hood she has pushed down.

“What are you wearing?!”

“What? I’m a sparkly unicorn. I look adorable!”

Ori grins.

“Yes, you do. You look beautiful.”

The bell chimes again and Ori greets her brother without looking, he’s never far behind Cassie after all. Leo looked pretty much like he always does, slacks and a button-up white collared shirt under his coat but he was wearing black square-frame glasses. He leans over the mahogany counter and presses a kiss on Ori’s cheek. Whatever Cassie was hoping to get out of Ori would never happen now that Leo was present. Ori laughed at the pout on Cassie’s face, picking at the bagel as she scans over the invoice in front of her.

“Ready for tonight?” Leo asks as he steals a piece of her bagel.

Ori shrugs a little, glancing at the clock and sighed when she saw it was nearing six. They would be pushing her out the door soon. It’s not that she didn’t like going out, she did. Things have been off lately and she hasn’t felt much like socializing, which is why her siblings insisted they have a party. If it turns out to be as terrible as she predicts it’s going to be, she can always call Bucky to pick her up because no matter what Bucky still drops everything to come to her rescue whenever she needs it.

“It’s going to be fun!”

“I guess. I’m not really a party person.”

“I know but you make the cutest cat ever.”

Leo’s brow furrows and the worry on his face has him looking so much like Bucky it almost makes Ori laugh.

“You’ve been working a lot. Skipping family stuff. When was the last time you came to family dinner and didn’t rush out the door? Mom said you’re working more hours than she is-”

“I should! She deserves time with dad and it’s not like I have a life waiting on me right now.”

It’s been a little over a year since she called off her wedding and ended things with Cole and while she’s happy that relationship has ended, she’s nowhere near where she thought she would be at her age. She had plans and lists, milestones she promised herself she would hit by a certain age and now she’s… floating. No purpose. No real path. Simply riding her mother’s coattails, managing a store she wouldn’t have without her mother and she has no idea where she’s going or what her future is going to look like. It’s terrifying. So maybe she’s been spending a little more time at work to keep her mind busy. Sometimes it doesn't quite calm the chaos in her head, but staying busy helps.

“That’s not true. You have us and, yeah, mom deserves a break but so do you. We thought it would be good to get out of the house. If you hate it I’ll bring you home.”

Ori smiles. Leo has always been their protector, ready to jump in and save his mom and sisters from anything that could cause them the slightest bit of discomfort. She couldn't be aggravated with him for wanting to help, he’s only following in Bucky’s footsteps.

“Yeah, okay. Today has been a mess. Give me a few minutes to wrap things up, okay?”

She’s barely had time for her eyes to focus on the words in front of her when Cassie chirps from her side, “The window display is a mess. What happened there?”

“Cassie!”

“I’m just saying. Want me to help you fix it tomorrow?”

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Ori snatches the brown bag with her bagel resting on top and heads back towards the office in hopes she will be able to focus there, “and yes. I would like help. Thank you.”

“I’ll watch the desk!” Cassie shouts behind her, getting an appreciative smile from Ori. The quiet doesn’t last long. The shop bell is ringing and Cassie is yelling for her before she’s managed to make it through one invoice.

“Ori! Get out here. There’s a delivery.” Cassie’s shouts are piercing her ears and she’s certain the entire bakery next door can hear her clear as day. Ori steps back out onto the sales floor, frowning and having every intention of reminding Cassie not to scream in the store, but she can’t because she’s staring at the largest bundle of lavender she’s ever seen.

“I-- this. What is this?”

“They are for you!” Cassie squeals but quickly stops smiling and looks at the older gentleman who is wearing a warm smile when he confirms that they are indeed for her sister.

“Yes, ma’am,” The man says with a chuckle, “If you’re Orion Barnes. These are for you.”

He passes the delicate bundle wrapped in brown paper in her arm and passes over a pen for her signature. She quickly scribbles her name and pulls the small white card out of the twine, grinning foolishly at what’s written.

“Who are they from?” Cassie begs, jumping up and down. “I already know but I need to see the card myself.”

Ori presses the card to her chest to keep Cassie from sneaking a peek, she’s not willing to share a bit of the sweetness written there. Cassie quickly gives up on the card and snatches the receipt before Ori can grab it, finding exactly what she was looking for.

“Theo Tucker! I knew it!”

The thin paper is pulled from Cassie’s hand by Leo, who is staring at the receipt with a deep frown as if he can’t process what he is seeing.

“Why is Theo sending you flowers? Where did he find a place that delivers lavender like that? More importantly… why is Theo sending you flowers?"

Ori can’t answer her brother, she’s too busy grinning like a fool and hiding her blushing cheeks behind the soft purple sprigs in her arms.

“What do you mean ‘Why is Theo sending her flowers?’ Because he loves her. Am I the only that’s been paying attention?”

"He loves you. It's the same thing and you don’t get flowers.”

“It is a hundred percent not the same thing, Leo.”

There’s the faint sound of the twins arguing in the background, “How is it different?” “Leo you can’t be serious. You’ve seen the way he looks at her!” She should probably stop their bickering but she can’t. She can’t focus on anything, not while she’s daydreaming about California.

Maybe it wasn’t the worst day, after all.

“So, are you going to wear a sprig of lavender as your catnip? Seems like it added a little spring in your step.”

“Cassie!”

Cassie had squealed when Ori asked her to draw a cat nose and whiskers on her face. If she was going to dress as a cat she had to go all out. The ears, while cute, weren’t enough to satisfy the perfectionist in her. Before they left her apartment, she sent Theo a thank you text and a picture of her all dressed up. The simple response, you look beautiful, makes her stomach flip and leaves her head spinning. It drops a fraction when Leo asks why she’s smiling at her phone with such a goofy grin.

No one is ready for that answer, so she tucked her phone in her purse for now.

The minute they arrived, Leo stepped through the front door and pulled his shirt open to reveal a giant S stitched onto his blue undershirt and he proceeded to do several more times throughout the night. Despite her reservations about the party, it wasn’t so bad. Or maybe she was simply in a better mood. She spent a better part of the night hanging around Cassie and Ariel, who was dressed as Tinker Bell and her lovesick Peter Pan never strayed from her side for long. Ori didn’t know a lot of the people currently filling Leo and Ollie’s apartment, so it felt safer to stick by family.

At some point a small group of people broke off from the larger party and started playing spin the bottle. It was strange to watch twenty year olds play a childhood game. There was bobbing for apples which didn’t seem all that sanitary if you asked Ori, which is why she declined rather emphatically when asked if she wanted to try.

Halfway through the night their mom texted asking for pictures, so she took a few with Cassie and Ariel, some of her and Leo and of course all of them posing together. She even sent the few of Ariel and Ollie off to the Tuckers. Another text comes in but it’s not a response from her parents, a very handsome Indiana Jones pops up and she can’t help the huge smile that forms. He looks adorable with that hat and playful smirk and she tells him so. Ori peered over her phone to find Cassie and Ariel smiling, she cleared her throat and quickly hid her phone back in her purse.

“Oh, look. There are some mummy cupcakes left. I better go grab one before they disappear,” Ori had muttered as she quickly tried to divert attention off of her.

There was every Halloween themed treat you could think of. The chocolate covered strawberries dressed up as ghosts, bloody s’mores, and candy corn rice krispy treats were gone first. When Ori asked how they managed to do all this, Leo admitted with a sheepish grin that their mom had done most of the baking and Cassie and Ariel had decorated. She should have known Ariel had a hand in the planning, it was too well organized for Leo and Ollie to handle on their own.

The party started to die down a little after one in the morning, Leo offered his bed but Cassie was already fast asleep and there was no way she was sharing with that human koala. After refusing to take Leo’s spot on the couch, Leo brought her back home with the promise to text him the minute he got back. There’s no way he would let her catch a cab back to her place all by herself.

It’s nearly three by the time Ori trudges up the stairs to her apartment. She’s tired, but it’s a good kind of tired. Not that she will ever admit this to Cassie but tonight was fun. It wasn’t exactly where she wanted to be, and a very important someone was missing but it wasn’t as bad as she envisioned. She slips out of her heels and drops her purse on the table by the front door, she can clean up tomorrow when she’s not struggling to keep her eyes open. Right as she reaches kitchen island where her bouquet is sitting in her mother’s chipped mint green vase, her phone rings in her hand and she can’t help but grin at the name staring back at her.

“Hey, you.”

Ori grins, dusting a finger over a stray sprig and she’s suddenly not feeling as tired.

“My day? You know, it wasn't so bad actually. It got better there at the end. Even better now.”

#Orion Barnes #astrophile files #Theo Tucker x Orion Barnes #Theo x Ori #the price of astrophile #poa #Astrophile

392 notes · View notes