#on that note; I'm not getting back into sam and max; this is just something I meant to post forever ago

[heloflor]

Was thinking a bit about how “The Devil’s Playhouse” has a lot more comedy than people make it out to be, and while especially thinking about “The Penal Zone” I realized this episode is actually very very very very gay. Like, I’m pretty sure it’s the Telltale episode with the highest amount of gay moments (205 is second on this list, what with Sam getting catcalled by a moleman, Max flirting with Mr. Reaperphone, the whole bachelor party, Peppers etc).

I think what I really like about those moments is that it’s a great example of normalization. The characters are incredibly casual about it, talking about gay relationships the exact same way one would talk about straight relationships, it’s really neat to see! Especially considering that this game was made in 2010, a whooping 5 years before gay marriage was legal in the whole US. It's crazy and great how much they were able to get away with!

(Screenshots of all these moments with timestamps (and quotes) under the cut. To have as little pics as possible, only a small section of each dialogue is taken. And to have a limit of two screenshots per pic max, some dialogues that are cut in two parts in-game have the second part pasted under the first. The timestamps puts you at the beginning of each conversation. All footage from NapalmX717 with the screenshots in chronological order of this video)

Max: “What can I say, Sam? Alien ships love to abduct me. It’s not my fault I look so probe-able.” (9:44)

Sam: “Nice work, little buddy! Make sure you wait three days to call, or he’ll thing you’re desperate.” (11:47)

Max: “Well, he IS pretty charismatic, Sam. And he’s from space, which is a plus. But you’re the only hairy, overweight, domineering control freak I need, Sam.” (20:38)

Sam: “I don’t need to go to another planet for a methane rich environment, as long as I’ve got you, pal.”

Max: “That’s really sweet and obvious, Sam.” (22:46)

Skun-ka’pe: “Perfect! Just the one I wanted to see ha ha ha ha!”

Sam: “Keep the hands where we can see ‘em, pal.” (23:36)

Max: “We could just give ourselves tongue-baths, like cats and flight attendants do!” (30:57)

Sam: “Why do we have jumper cables? Neither of us knows how to use them.”

Max: “It’s simple, Sam: the RED cable goes on the RIGHT nipple, the BLACK cable clamps to the…” (34:42)

Max: “Oh boy! Now I can finally set up my 24-hours adults-only naked bunny chat line.” (34:58)

Sam: “Toys...Toys… we must prepare… the toys….”

Max: “Well, that’s just a typical Friday night for YOU, Sam.” (36:45)

Flint Paper: “Oh. Well yeah, that could be it. I was thinking it was you, Sam!”

Max: “You think you know a guy. I’m not angry, Sam, just very disappointed.” (1:03:49)

(For context they’re talking about who might be Girl Stinky’s secret admirer)

Max: “I can’t lie to Flint Paper, Sam!” (1:05:20)

Max: “What kind of pretend mother would I be if I didn’t worry about our imaginary baby?” (1:10:31)

Momma Bosco: “Oh, it’s not all bad. I’m getting better at apparating. And now I don’t leave a trail of ectoplasmic slime behind every time I leave the room.”

Max: “That’s better than Sam can say.” (1:23:13)

Sam: “I’m not gonna rest until I find the guy who killed my partner!” (1:43:13)

Max: “Wow. I feel really very close to you now, Agent Superball.” (1:45:33)

Sam: “I don’t like the thought of you teleporting off without me, Max.” (1:46:33)

Max: “Sam, this is all so sudden! I… I don’t know what to say!” (2:07:10)

Sam: “I think one of us should try to smash through that window with his rock-hard, melon-sized head.”

Max: “And I think one of us should try the door, unless he wants to spend the rest of the day picking plate glass out of his partner’s fluffy white nether regions.” (2:17:00)

Girl Stinky: “Sam and Max? Don’t tell me Skun-ka’pe wants YOU guys to be his love slaves, too?” (2:24:48)

Girl Stinky: “Eww. He wishes. He’s SO not my type. You only have to date an evil gorilla once to learn never to make THAT mistake again.”

Max: “We’ve all been there, girlfriend.” (2:25:07)

Girl Stinky: “Gee, it sounds like YOU two should go out with him. Would you like me to give you guys some privacy?” (2:27:33)

Max: “You’re my best friend, Sam! I know you’d take a bullet for me!” (2:31:02)

Sam: “You keep coming up with creepy disaster scenarios that always end with you eating me, Max. It’s getting annoying.”

Max: “If you don’t like it, then stop looking so damn tasty.” (2:38:11)

Max: “Think of something quick, Sam. I don’t like the way he’s undressing me with his eyes.” (2:53:22)

[incesthemes]

hii! hope you are doing well this eve :] i was wondering if you had any thoughts or Themes you wanted to talk about in 2.20 what is and what should never be? it’s a very dean episode which is of course hook line and sinker for me but also its been microwaving in my brain since the gf and i watched it.. sniles

omg heyyyyyyy 🔥 i went to look over my notes for something to write about for this and with every bullet point i read i could feel my sanity slipping further and further away from me. this episode is completely nuts. i was going to just pick one little bit to talk about but instead i think i'm going to bite the bullet and write my definitive analysis of supernatural season 2 episode 20 what is and what should never be.

this is going to get long. sorry.

Supernatural Season 2, Episode 20: What Is and What Should Never Be—A Full Analysis

the thing that must always be said about supernatural seasons 1-5 is that it is ultimately a dialogue between independence and community, and sam and dean experience this push and pull through each other: will they choose to do what's best for them by reclaiming power for themselves (independence), or will they sacrifice power and personhood in exchange for the love of the brother (community)? season 2 is the second part of the "community" arc, where sam and dean move from estranged brothers into a codependent togetherness (which begins to fracture in 2x22 and continues through season 4). in 2x20, then, we as an audience expect to see the closest purity we can find of this community between sam and dean (at least, until the season 5 finale). it's through this lens that we can determine metaphors and parallel themes as dean engages with his dream world.

from the outset, i want to posit dream!sam as a representation of dean's individuality and independence, and john as a representation of dean's sense of duty to a collective. dream!sam is a creation of dean's psyche, and while normally him choosing sam would be a choice for community, here it is choosing himself, as dream!sam both is an extension of himself and attempts throughout the episode to persuade dean to choose a selfish, apple-pie life. john, though absent from the episode, is a daunting spectral presence: his premature death even in this dream world is a constant reminder to dean of the life he has been conditioned to accept as his duty. without a dream!john to counter these ideas, dean can only rely on his memory of his father to fill in the gaps. in a season where john has become an allegory for dean's very fate (and thus his duty), this is just a natural continuation of it, and won't be resolved until 3x10.

at the start of the episode, sam wants dean to pick him up so they can look at the ruins of the djinn's hideout together; dean turns him down, and sam is pretty dejected about this. at this point in the show, sam actively wants to be involved in hunting, but right now he's being pushed to the sidelines and into a research position. this recalls 1x04, which begins to elaborate the roles that sam and dean instinctively play when hunting: dean goes out and does the dirty work, while sam stays back and feeds him information. the roles, however, begin to shift slightly in 1x15, immediately after sam meets max in 1x14: he comes to view hunting as something virtuous, or rather something that can grant him virtue and save him from his fate as a monster. if he can save people through hunting, he won't turn out like max. from 1x15, then, we see sam take a proactive role in hunting, seeking out cases and pursuing them even to his own detriment. by 2x02, sam has all but abandoned his desire for a normal life and claims he wants to keep hunting. and now, in 2x20, sam is still trying to insert himself into the hunt. he no longer wants to be sidelined or even safe (recall 1x01: "you're just gonna live some normal, apple-pie life? is that it?" "no. not normal, safe"); sam wants to be in the thick of things, and here in this moment, dean rejects him.

dean rejecting sam can then represent him choosing the individual over the collective. he chooses to literally be alone while checking out the ruins, and he chooses to metaphorically distance himself from sam. therefore, as the final episode of sam and dean's honeymoon era (2x11-2x20), the conflict of this episode involves dean moving from an individual mindset to a collective mindset. he will over the course of the episode move from choosing himself to choosing sam.

this is cohesive with the rest of the season: there are several points throughout season 2 where dean expresses doubt or distaste toward the lifestyle, or an unwillingness to continue hunting (2x01, 2x03, 2x06, 2x09, and 2x10). his desire to quit hunting is at odds with sam's desire to continue hunting, and thus they aren't quite on the same page, and this remains an undercurrent of the season that presents in their conflicts.

as the climax of this subplot, this episode becomes to dean what 1x11 is to sam: dean must choose sam not as an innocent to protect but a partner to work alongside (see, too, the ongoing conflict of dean's fate: he must either kill sam or save him). within the ideal collective they are trying to carve out for themselves, they must be equals,and therefore, dean can neither kill sam nor save him, but forge a secret third option independent of john's (fate's) influence—see 5x22.

Dream!Sam Is Still Weird about His Brother

the first scene we see of dean's dream world involves him calling sam and bantering a bit with him. what's striking about this is dream!sam's reactions to dean.

these are not the expressions of someone who is still upset about his brother cucking him at prom. this initial introduction to dream!sam contradicts the very manifestation's later assertion that they are estranged. instead, it provides an initial suggestion that dream!sam is indeed harboring some unspoken feelings toward dean—that he wants to be closer than they allegedly are.

this becomes a running theme with dream!sam throughout the episode. while he is the one to shut down dean's advances, he is also the one who seems to yearn for a better relationship with his brother. when dean proposes they go "hunting" sometime, sam responds coldly, but he can't leave it there: he follows up with a much softer, kinder "get some rest."

later, when dean lies to dream!sam about his reason for rummaging through mary's silver, sam still follows his brother out of the house and climbs in the car and insists on going with him. this is shocking not only because it contradicts the fight they just had, but also because of the stakes involved: dean's lie to sam implies a certain level of physical danger, and yet he still goes along with it. dream!sam has no idea what he's walking into, and based on the goodbye dean gives him he has every reason to believe dean is going to die. therefore, in following along anyway, he is declaring a very strong, fatal devotion to dean. he has to face his own mortality and choose brotherhood anyway, in spite of their alleged estrangement.

and this is necessarily an act of devotion—dean only relents and allows dream!sam to come with him because dream!sam has devoted himself to his brother. his opinion about keeping sam safe, keeping sam innocent, flips the moment sam pulls the brother line out. dean, like (the real) sam, is moved by acts of devotion, and when they declare their loyalty and devotion to each other in unambiguous terms, it is always accompanied with a shift toward brotherhood (community) and away from their individuality (independence). and this is the moment where dean resolves the conflict set up at the start of the episode: real!sam wanted to go hunting with dean, and dean wouldn't let him. but through dream!sam's act of devotion, dean recognizes sam as an equal, not as someone to protect, and allows dream!sam to come hunting with him. it's a resolution of the honeymoon era, as dean reckons with the final residual threads of fate still binding him.

if independence is the path of fate and community is the path against it, then as sam and dean struggle against their destinies they must necessarily choose each other. dean, then, comes the closest he possibly can to completely defying his fate in this episode by finally coming to terms with sam's place in his life not as a duty and obligation but as his true equal and enmeshed life partner. this is a conflict that began with 1x18 and has finally resolved itself (only to promptly be undone two episodes later), and therefore sits very pretty at the tail end of the honeymoon era, like the topper on a wedding cake.

Dean Is Also Weird about His Brother

the halfway point in the episode is the scene wherein dream!sam reveals that he and dean are not emotionally close and that they don't talk to each other. until this turning point, dean had been hopeful about remaining in this fantasy world, but sam's rejection shakes him.

dean can't reconcile with this rejection, and as a result it fundamentally alters his perception of the dream world. it's from hereon that dean's doubts and struggle between independence and community (duty, here) come to the forefront of the episode.

at this point in the show, dean's fear of abandonment have become centered solely around sam. he has no other permanent relationship in his life, and so the only person who can abandon him now is sam. therefore, when dream!sam rejects him, dean's world begins to unravel. the rules of their codependent relationship (established in 1x22) demand that their relationship must be reciprocal, and the lack of reciprocity here leaves dean insecure and wanting. at first, this manifests as him trying to fix things with dream!sam so that he can remain in the dream world while also maintaining codependency with his brother—the best of both worlds. what dean wants is to have both individuality (a life free of hunting) and community (enmeshment with sam), but the show takes the position that these two things are fundamentally incompatible. dean's relationship with sam cannot improve in this world, and so he can only have one or the other.

this brings us to the graveyard.

as soon as sam rejects dean, the fantasy falls apart. dean is very soon shown all of the deaths and tragedies that had not been averted due to dean and sam's intervention. this is important because dean equates hunting with heroism (dean, until sam begins to echo him in 1x15, had been the only character in the show who verbally equated "hunting" with "saving people"), and so he simultaneously has to grapple with the loss of an identity he has used to cope with the traumas of hunting. if he isn't hunting, he's letting people die, and therefore he is no hero. he's just normal.

he does this grappling before his father's grave.

he speaks for john, proposing that john would want him to go kill the djinn and put everything right again. "your happiness for all those people's lives, no contest. right?" he asks: why does he have to be a hero? why do they have to sacrifice everything?

in dean's eyes, john is the ultimate representation of his duty. and because dean's duty is to a collective (whether it be his family or the society he protects through hunting), john therefore comes to represent the collective itself. regardless of whether dean's understanding of john is true to life, we come to understand his relationship to his father and the values dean has as a direct result of his parenting: saving people and hunting things is more important than individual happiness.

here we come to understand how this episodes functions as the dean equivalent of 1x11: dean, like sam in 1x11, is given the opportunity for freedom and independence, to pursue his own apple-pie life (interesting, though a topic for another day, is how the manifestation of dean's independence is a life free from hunting while the manifestation of sam's independence is a life entrenched in it). it's only through a clear act of brotherly devotion that dean returns to the collective, and an equivalent act occurs in 1x11 as well, taking sam away from his revenge and back into dean's arms.

dean then must make his ultimate choice between independence—staying in his dream world—and community—killing the djinn and returning to reality. in this same conversation, he chooses the collective. the sequence of scenes here is important: first, dean discovers he is estranged from his brother. second, dean discovers that all of his efforts have been undone. he lost his two identities in a very short period of time, and as a result there is nothing left in this world for him.

and so he takes a moment to grieve his lost individuality—as if burying it in the graveyard alongside his father—and he gears up to kill the djinn, and in the process destroy himself.

Fate VS Family

the thing is that dream!sam hasn't given up on trying to keep dean here in this dream world. this serves a practical purpose (the djinn wants to eat) and an emotional one, because sam, as dean's codependent life partner, has the unique capability of overturning all of dean's rationale and trumping all of his other relationships. so when dream!sam confronts dean in the djinn's hideout, he actually has the potential to sway dean away from his resolve. this results in a last-ditch effort to appeal to dean's desires:

because of sam's sway over dean, he is chosen as the spokesperson for his id. this is especially clever because this is also one of the only episodes in the series where doing what sam wants is equal to choosing independence, and therefore turning away from their relationship. it flips expectations and uses context to suggest that being selfish, remaining in this fantasy, can be a good thing.

unfortunately for dream!sam, dean has already chosen the collective. to wake himself up from the dream, he chooses to kill himself. the suicide can represent the destruction of himself (his independence, his individuality, his personhood, his desires, his dreams) in favor of the collective (his duty, his perceived heroism, his brother). he returns to reality with a new resolve and a diminished sense of self. most importantly, he returns to reality with a reaffirmed devotion.

his relationship with sam has transformed through this episode. once dean realizes that the fantasy world is only a dream, that the world outside of this still exists, he understands that he can't leave his real brother out there alone. nothing dream!sam says can deter him. ironically, this is perhaps due to the act of devotion dream!sam performed for dean, which solidified his own devotion to sam (the real sam) and thus had the opposite effect. it's ultimately because of sam (through the midpoint fantasy erosion, through the act of devotion, and through the realization that his real brother is still out there somewhere) that dean comes to thoroughly reject his own personhood. he chooses sam, and thereby chooses hunting, and through his own self-destruction he embraces a collective enmeshment with his brother in a life enslaved to their father's duty.

hunting is treated differently for sam and dean between seasons 1 and 2. sam's hunting is driven and purposeful, focused on an ultimate revenge that keeps pushing him forward. it's self-serving and violent, and it represents a strength and power that will ultimately corrupt him. dean's hunting, by stark contrast, is rather purposeless. he fights because he must, and because he has no other prospects. as such, one could even speculate that his relative dedication to specifically saving people is a value he invented for himself to justify a life he was forced into. like i said before, no other character really focuses on the heroism of hunting (until sam after 1x15, which is the next step in sam's season 1 journey to embrace The Family Business). dean is the one who focuses on the heroism of hunting; by contrast, the show itself positions hunting as its own form of monstrosity. even john, despite dean's insistence on his father's heroism, shows little intent toward saving people, focusing instead on hunting things and leaving sam and dean to do the saving (from what little we see of him and his hunting style in 1x20 and 1x21). dean is therefore at odds with the show's message, which again lends credence to the idea that dean's fantasy of heroism is simply his own. he is a character without intrinsic motivation because his desires lie outside of the world he exists in—he pines for an apple-pie life that he can never have, and he has no desire to hunt, himself.

because of this, dean's return to hunting is the destruction of this desire, and therefore his selfhood. he adheres to the collective and a fantasy of heroism. sam plays into this fantasy, too, at the end of this episode:

he has come to believe in dean's view of the world since 1x14, as he tends to adopt dean's worldview when he becomes insecure with his own (see also 1x22 and 2x13, for example). to them, then, there is the justification of heroism through hunting, and it allows them to cope with both their own traumas and their spiral into monstrosity.

this is also a direct contradiction to dream!sam's plea to get dean to stay with him: the real sam advocates for dean to abandon his independence, and in doing so return to him completely. both of them want to possess each other and belong to each other, and so dream!sam is an imperfect doppelganger at best. the real sam yearns for enmeshment, a perfect joining of two into one and the complete erasure of boundaries between them.

the episode ends with another act of devotion:

sam tells dean that he values their codependent relationship, which both assuages the insecurities introduced by the midpoint scene with dream!sam and reaffirms the devotion dream!sam displayed by coming along to hunt the djinn. they have achieved an equal partnership through an acceptance of each other.

this quote may be meaningful for sam, as well: when sam says he's glad dean "dug himself out," he might be (correctly) taking dean's return to reality as an act of devotion to him, which could also be why he's so comfortable giving voice to his own feelings (whereas typically to this point, he has waited for dean to make the first move, such as in 2x03, or his extremely awkward apology in 2x15).

through this episode they have both displayed their devotion to each other and their relationship and thus gained equal footing with each other. as such, they have achieved the climax of their honeymoon era and resolved their extant conflicts with each other by putting aside their individuality and independence to instead conform into each other, becoming their own two-person collective as opposed to just two brothers. it's the culmination of everything they've been working toward throughout season 2, ever since sam let azazel live in 1x22. naturally, this doesn't last for long, and the fissure that occurs between them in 2x22 sends them spiraling into wretched individuality that they can't recover from until the season 5 finale. but for a brief moment, sam and dean escaped their destinies through each other. they crawled under each other's skin and made a home there. they destroyed themselves in favor of the brother. and i think that's beautiful.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

prince's gambit highlights & annotations

chapter 19

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

He found he had put himself bodily in Guymar’s way. ‘No. No one goes in.’ Anger, irrationally, blossomed. Behind him was the closed door to the tower rooms, a barrier to disaster. Guymar should know better than to barge in and make Laurent’s mood worse. Guymar should have known better than to cause Laurent’s mood in the first place.

one kiss and he’s fully down bad. like these are max levels of damen down bad-ness. it took one kiss. holy shit dude. we went from “laurent knows everything and is always planning something terrible” to “you will NOT bother my poor little meow meow while he does his silent soliloquy”

‘This time, I want it actually kept clear. I don’t care who is about to get molested. No one is to come here. Is that understood?’ ‘Yes, Captain.’ Guymar bowed and retreated. Damen found himself with his hands braced on the stone crenellation, in unconscious echoing of Laurent’s pose, the line of Laurent’s back the last thing he had seen before he had put the heel of his palm to the door. His heart was pounding. He wanted to make a barrier that protected Laurent from anyone who would intrude on him. He’d keep that perimeter clear, if it meant stalking these battlements and patrolling it himself. He knew this about Laurent. That once he gave himself time alone to think, the control returned, reason won out. The part of him that didn’t want to drop Aimeric with a punch recognised that both Jord and Aimeric had just been put through the wringer. It was a mess that needn’t have happened. If they’d just—steered clear. Friends, Laurent had said, high on the battlements. Is that what we are? Damen’s hands drew into fists. Aimeric was an inveterate troublemaker with terrible timing.

this is so ridiculous damen you have laurent brainrot it is so funny how this has unlocked primal rage and determination in you that literal flogging couldn’t

but keep your head up king, this is the chapter where you get to smash

The idea of stopping, allowing himself a moment to think, was terrible. Outside, there was nothing, just the last hours of darkness, and the long ride in the dawn.

and no more laurent to smooch >:(

‘Watch over the Prince,’ he heard himself say. ‘Anything he needs, make certain he has it. Take care of him.’ He was aware of the incongruity of the words, of his hard grip on the soldier’s arm. When he tried to stop, his grip only tightened. ‘He deserves your loyalty.’

damen said “it’s MY turn on the projection”

His time as Laurent’s Captain had been short-lived. An afternoon. An evening. In that time they’d won a battle and taken a fort. It seemed wild and improbable, a hard-edged golden piece of metal in his hand.

also they’d kissed on the mouth. leaving out a pretty essential detail there damen

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Your servants brought me to the wrong rooms.’ ‘No, they didn’t,’ said Laurent.

pffft did they just know? i’m not sure when laurent could have asked them to do it. so they must have just assumed laurent wanted him there

‘I don’t want to talk about Aimeric,’ said Laurent. ‘Or my uncle.’ Laurent began to come forward.

uh laurent i don’t think damen mentioned the regent at all. i think you’re telling yourself to stop thinking about your uncle because you would like to fuck damen without ptsd making it weird

Laurent said, ‘I know you’re planning to leave tomorrow. You’re going to cross the border, and you’re not going to come back. Say it.’ ‘I—’ ‘Say it.’ ‘I’m going to leave tomorrow,’ said Damen, as steadily as he could. ‘I’m not going to come back.’ He drew in a breath that hurt his chest. ‘Laurent—’ ‘No, I don’t care. Tomorrow you leave. But you’re mine now. You’re still my slave tonight.’ Damen felt the words hit, but that was subsumed in the shock of Laurent’s hand on him, a push backwards. His legs hit the bed. The world tilted, bed silks and roseate light. He felt Laurent’s knee alongside his thigh, Laurent’s hand on his chest. ‘I—don’t—’ ‘I think you do,’ said Laurent.

laurent listened to “dead girl walking” from heathers musical on the way up to the rooms in preparation for this. also i love the mixed feelings here—on one hand, hell yeah laurent, let yourself have this, but also this is fucked up for you both, and you really should talk it out, and the fact that you’re demanding his abandonment before fucking him is concerning, like you only want to fuck if you know he’s leaving anyway, but i mean why not then, if he’s leaving, and you know he wants you, and this is the last night to do it…

also laurent knows damen wants this, and he’s not actually using the slave thing here. the only way he’s using it, is calling damen on what he said earlier that evening before the kissing. cashing in on it, in a way. it’s not exactly healthy but i wouldn’t say it’s like non-consensual or anything

‘What am I doing? You are not very observant.’ ‘You’re not yourself,’ said Damen. ‘And even if you were, you don’t do anything without a dozen motives.’ Laurent went very still, the soft words half bitter. ‘Don’t I? I must want something.’

ooof that hit a sore spot, i think. laurent very badly wants to both lose and take control right now, and sex is a way he’s both lost and had control in the past—lost control to the regent, and had it over damen back in arles. he’s trying not to think about that, about the reasons, and damen is trying to make him think about it, and also implying that laurent can’t just do anything because it’s what he wants or feels.

‘Laurent,’ he said. ‘You take liberties,’ said Laurent. ‘I never gave you permission to call me by my name.’ ‘Your Highness,’ said Damen, and the words twisted, wrong in his mouth. He needed to say, Don’t do this. But he couldn’t think past Laurent, improbably close. He felt each shifting inch that divided their bodies with a fluttering, illicit sensation at Laurent’s proximity. He closed his eyes against it, felt his body’s painful yearning. ‘I don’t think you want me. I think you just want me to feel this.’ ‘Then, feel it,’ said Laurent.

“i don’t think you want me, i think you just want me to feel this” is an INSANE and deeply true line. but also, i think laurent does want damen—HIS damen, not damianos. and this is the last night he can have his damen.

and maybe laurent enjoys your reactions, damen. ever think about that?

‘You liked this too, with Ancel.’ ‘That wasn’t Ancel,’ said Damen, the words coming out, raw and honest. ‘That was all you, and you know it.’

LET’S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOO

The rise and fall of Laurent’s hand was like the slide of Laurent’s words, like every frustrating argument that they’d ever had, stymied, tangled up in Laurent’s voice.

great line. love how it ties the sex act to something deeper between them

Laurent held his former mood within him, constrained, and converted into something else.

horny and angry is not the ideal way for them to fuck for the first time, and for laurent to fuck for the first time since [redacted], but since when has anything been ideal for laurent (or damen, as of book 1)

He felt Laurent pulling back, pulling away, shuttering himself, trying but not quite able to manage a cool snap withdrawal. Laurent said, ‘Adequate.’

book 1: “Laurent turned to Damen. ‘Well?’ Laurent said. ‘Can you couple adequately, or do you just kill things?”

He’d caught Laurent’s wrist before, to hold him back from a blow, a knife strike. He held him now. He could feel the desperate urge for retreat. He could feel something else too, Laurent keeping himself apart, as though, this act being finished, he had no template for what to do. ‘Kiss me,’ he said again.

this is so good. it’s good for all the things damen knows, and all the things he doesn’t know. because he’s doing good here, even without the truth about the regent clicking. he’s helping laurent figure this out, confidently and compassionately, and showing him that he doesn’t need to retreat.

Dark-eyed, Laurent was holding himself in place as though pushing himself past a barrier, the tension in Laurent’s body still telegraphing flight, and Damen felt the shock with his whole body when Laurent’s gaze dropped to his mouth. His own eyes fell closed as he realised that Laurent was going to do this, and he held himself very still. Laurent kissed with a slight parting of his lips, as though he was unconscious of what he was asking for, and Damen kissed him back carefully, dizzy with the idea that the kiss would deepen.

see my previous comments about trauma and my appreciation for laurent as a romantic interest/lead

For a moment, looking felt like kissing, an exchange in which the distinctions of intimacy blurred.

"distinctions of intimacy blurred" is such a succinct way to summarize the way pacat writes the overall romantic arc. they do not need to be fucking to be fucking, and when they are fucking, they're doing other stuff too

It was not what Laurent had expected. He felt the slight shock of Laurent’s surprise, and the way Laurent held himself, as though confused as to why Damen wished to do this, but he felt the moment when surprise turned to something else.

“confused as to why damen wanted to do this” yeah that’s pretty typical for laurent

Damen allowed himself the minor delight of nuzzling.

fantastic line

He lifted his fingers to the tie that closed Laurent’s collar. He had been trained to do this, he knew every intricate fastening.

talk about setup and payoff...

Exposed, Laurent’s nipples were hard and puckered, the first tangible evidence of desire, and Damen felt a wild surge of gratification. His eyes lifted to Laurent’s. Laurent said, ‘Did you think I was made of stone?’ He couldn’t stop the rush of pleasure he felt at that, said, ‘Nothing you don’t want.’ ‘You think I don’t want it?’ Seeing the look in Laurent’s eyes, Damen deliberately pushed him back onto the sheets.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

okay big turning point! probably the first major tell we’ve gotten of laurent being out of control of his reactions, AND he isn’t ashamed of it and asks for more!!! massive laurent (and damen) w!!!

Lifting a hand idly to the exact place above his head where Damen might have pressed it, Laurent gazed back at him through veiled lashes. ‘Like being on top, do you?’ ‘Yes.’ Never more so than at this moment. To have Laurent beneath him was heady.

they’re both having so much fun in different but complimentary ways. laurent enjoys what he’s doing to damen, damen enjoys what laurent is doing to him. they’re both getting something out of it, which i don’t think damen fully understood what he said that thing about laurent not wanting him, but wanting to make him feel. he wants it because it’s you specifically, dummy.

Despite the cool tone, he was aware of the extent to which Laurent was holding himself in place, allowing himself to be touched. Tension still glinted in Laurent’s body, like the shine on a blade edge that would slice you open at the wrong touch.

Damen let himself experience dizzily just how much he liked the idea of controlled Laurent betraying himself in salt flavoured need into his mouth. He touched it with his hand and encountered a texture like hot silk.

i like how pacat finds these ways to say what’s going on, but in a much more compelling and beautiful way than just “damen wanted to blow him” and “his dick was nice”

‘I am not going to reciprocate.’ Damen looked up. ‘What?’ Laurent said, ‘I am not going to do that to you.’ ‘And so?’ ‘Do you want me to suck your cock?’ said Laurent, precisely. ‘Because I don’t plan to. If you are proceeding on the expectation of reciprocity, then you had best be forewarned that—’ This was too convoluted for bed play. Damen listened, satisfied himself that in all of this talking there was no actual objection, then simply applied his mouth.

LOVE THIS. how complicated traumatized laurent trying to deflect is just washing over damen, he doesn’t care if it’s not reciprocal, he just wants to make laurent feel good. something laurent doesn’t understand or expect because sex for him has always been about making [redacted] feel good and that’s it. and laurent’s bitchiness here is so tenderly and funny and in character. he delivered a “precise treatise on cocksucking” in book 1, of course he’d regard this like a business negotiation

For all his seeming experience, Laurent reacted like an innocent to this pleasure. He let out a soft shocked sound, and his body re-formed around the place where Damen was giving his attention. Damen held Laurent in place, hands to hips, and allowed himself to enjoy Laurent’s slight, helpless shifts and pushes, the quality of his surprise, and the hard act of repression that followed, as Laurent tried to even out his breathing.

damen associates sex with happily giving and receiving pleasure, so he’s confused/surprised by laurent’s unfamiliarity with actually getting attention and enjoying himself

Laurent was, by far, the most controlled lover Damen had ever taken to bed.

damen a lot of them were slaves. coached to make you feel like a god. just saying

And felt it stymied. As rhythm built, Laurent’s body locked down, his responses repressed. Looking up, he saw that Laurent’s hands were fists in the sheets, his eyes closed, his head turned to one side. Laurent, out on the shattered edge of pleasure, was holding himself back from climax by sheer force of his impossible will.

again i say, i’m so glad to see someone like laurent as the love interest in a romance novel, holy shit

After a long moment Laurent said, with painful honesty, ‘I . . . find it difficult to let go of control.’ ‘No kidding,’ said Damen.

:) a really nice tension-breaking way to find a little humor in it all, made even lighter by damen’s lack of awareness re: [redacted]

‘You want to take me, as a man takes a boy.’

this is the first moment where i’m just like DAMEN. truly. how are you not guessing this. i get that it’s consistent with his character to not assume the worst, but oh my god

‘You make it sound simple.’ ‘It is simple.’

The words fell into a stillness between them. Laurent’s breathing was shallow, and his cheeks were flushed as he closed his eyes, as though he wanted to block out the world. ‘I want,’ said Laurent, ‘I want it to be simple.’

‘Yes,’ said Laurent. ‘But—wasn’t it—’ ‘Will you stop talking about it.’ The words were ground out.

oh he’s trying so hard to let himself have this. probably before he feels really ready but it’s his last night with damen so!!

For all his bizarre nervy tension, Laurent was indisputably eager, physically. Damen searched his blue eyes. ‘Contrary, aren’t you,’ said Damen softly, thumbing over Laurent’s cheek. ‘Fuck me,’ said Laurent. ‘I want to,’ said Damen. ‘Can you let me?’ He said it quietly, and waited, as Laurent’s eyes closed again, a muscle sliding in his jaw. The idea of being fucked very clearly had Laurent out of his mind, as desire competed with some sort of convoluted mental objection that really needed, Damen thought, to be dispensed with. ‘I am letting you,’ said Laurent, the terse words pushing out. ‘Will you get on with it?’

this is so well-written, both what’s in the lines and what’s in between them. it’s a sex scene but it’s also a masterful scene of dramatic irony and characterization for them both

He watched Laurent’s face, the slight flush, the fractional changes of his expression, his eyes wide and dark. It was intensely private.

of course he's in his own head. that's laurent, for better or for worse

He felt some sense that he needed to hold onto this, to hold it tight and never let it out of his grip. You’re mine, he wanted to say, and couldn’t. Laurent didn’t belong to him; this was something he could have only once. His chest hurt.

To get what you want, you have to know exactly how much you are willing to give up. Never had he wanted something this badly, and held it in his hands knowing that tomorrow it would be gone, traded for the high cliffs of Ios, and the uncertain future across the border, the chance to stand before his brother, to ask him for all the answers that no longer seemed so important. A kingdom, or this.

i don’t have much to add here. it’s being explained perfectly in the text. it's nice to be at this point of understanding with the characters and plot that things can come together like this, thematically, on the page.

[hermitw]

Ok that's it, this manga reread is showing hints from even the first volume, and I'm going to use early jjk panels to predict what's next. (so far there are 262 chapters out, I'm sharing panels leading up to the exchange event, but there are spoilers in my added text).

There will be more added later bc I can think of things from shibuya for example that rly spelled out the future and we just. Didn't notice. But for the sake of going in order...

First, we get this. Mummy Sukuna, arms around Yuuji, but Megumi's frogs. One has Sukuna's forehead mark (which is such a big hint why didn't I think that he could survive as sukuna's vessel). Though they are the same size, only the one on top looks like it's from bottomless well, the extended technique - it's interesting bc Sukuna is often referred to as "the fallen one", and the angel character we meet in the culling games.

Next, watching movies.

This drives me insane bc it EVEN SAYS SPOILERS but Gojo was prophecying his own death. He's called annoying more than any character, even in the author's notes.

Also (I'm not sure if this was just a translation coincidence) but Gojo telling Yuuji to stay frosty, and the theory that his domain will be like dry ice or a freezer or something. Personally I think that's too similar to Uraume, and Yuuji would have been a firefighter if he weren't a sorcerer, bc he was always the opposite of Sukuna. So I think his domain would be more like water.

To support my theory, Max Elephant deals with water and its colors match Yuuji. Also the symbolism of water in Jujutsu Kaisen makes sense to me here. Yuuji's been through a lot and he's spitting it back out. Dude began the series with very little cursed energy and he's been through a lot.

I said before that Yuuji is the ring bearer, and to be that is to be alone. But reading this panel again showed me that it's the scene where Frodo is calling for Sam.

And recently in the Manga, Yuuji was calling for anyone.

And then Gojo (or not) showed up when he wasn't expecting it.

Also Yuuji learning so many things quickly at this point kakxnxbkakdk

Also this panel hit me - - the three who were left in the fight against Sukuna.

[popculturebuffet]

How would you rank the Sam and Max episodes?

This is something I genuinely WAS going to do... but my massive workload and how tired I was at the time won out, a sign I was getting the cold i'm still fighting to finish my christmas reviews on time.

Anyways

Beyond the Alley of the Dolls: Is the clear #1. Recency bias is probably in play a TINY bit.. but it has all the jokes you'd expect, the most enjoyable puzzles in the series with me only having to use my guide occasionally, and genuine great tension and that climax is fantastic. While the season still ended on a high note, it's defintely the biggest and best ending of the trilogy. 2. The Mob the Mole and the Meatball: Season 1's best and honestly the best setting in the series.. and the latter games are none too shabby. It's just such a simple yet messed up concept: a chuck e cheese as a mafia front. Give those mafiso teddy bear heads and you have an outright classic. 3. The Tomb of Sammun Mak: The format bender really helped this one: the reel switching is the series best gimmick to shake things up and is a lot of fun. It's also their best asset flip, is packed with some iconic jokes and is charming as hell. 4. Situation: Comedy: While I loved these games from Culture Shock, Situation Comedy is where everything clicked: better puzzles, a great new environment to explore, great additions in mr featherly and two all time great bits: cooking without Looking and Subrban Cowboys (Their probably hiding a cow) It's only not higher up because it has that wonky as hell cow puzzle. I don't mind a long puzzle but I do mind when the puzzle is just "ask until you get the right question but we won't give you clues as to what the right answer are". It's fine if you can give wrong ansers and get great jokes, not so much in a loop but ot their credit the developers learned that lesson. Mostly.

4. The City that Dares Not Sleep: The touching, hilarous, and heartwrenching coda to the whole saga. The puzzles are a bit lighter, not hitting quite that good ballance of "Tricky but managable" and just being managable mostly. But it's still a standout conclusion to the best game in the trilogy.

5. Abe Lincoln Must Die!: This one like Situation Comedy would rank higher were the puzzles less frustrating or the hike back and forth from the street to the whtie house not tedious. That said while both of those can be grating... Abe Lincoln Must Die is just that funny. You have Max running for president against a giant stone abe lincoln, Superball's debut and of course the war song. I'm really disapointed the later games dropped musical numbers, as War and World of Max are bangers. I still listen to the war song regularly and probably will again just bringing it up here. 6. The Penal Zone: A brilliant start to their best season, a llittle lower due to that pigeon. Yes i'll never not resent the pidgeon pizza puzzle, as what the hell was that. But the chapter overall is fun, hilaroius and lets you get into the new groove of things nicely. Plus Max snorting at the penal zone's name will never not be funny.

6. Bright Side of the Moon: The most gorgeous chapter of the original game , with a grand set piece to close it out, a great villian reveal and of course... world of max. once again the song helps really boost this but it was a truly perfect ending to such a batshit season. 7. Night of the Raving Dead: IS a lot of fun. It has the worst puzzle in the trilogy, the dj puzzle, but damn if Jurgen isn't entertaning. Making a vampire lord an overly dorky scene kid was genius, and adding in that poor monster and of all people superball, and pulpy good flint paper and you have a stew goin.

8. They Stole Max's Brain: This one, like many is only so low thanks to one thing dragging it down: in this case the entire sammun mak act. I dreaded it going in and while it was better than I braced myself for it was still not great. You take my lack of love for stock ancient egyptian themeing (You can use it well but you have to work at it as it has cool astetics but is often used clusmily and sameily) and "The world is changed but only one person remember it plots" and i'm gonna have ab ad time. But the first two acts are so fun it compensates. 9. Culture Shock: Culture Shock is decent and is just above the bottom because while funny, a great start to the series and solid... the later chapters of both it's own game and the series as a whole really step it up. It dosne't help the main guests are the soda poppers who i've made my opinons of clear. Only specs dosen't make me want to kick his ass, to build a machine to kick his ass, to build an empire to house the machine to kick his ass!

10. What's New Beelzebub: Is solid. It's this low due to it's puzzles and the soda poppers reveal being VERY mid. I knew going in.. but that's the case with ALL the main villians and Hugh Blizz and The Narrator's reveals are way more effective: Bliss comes off as off from the start and the narrator is well set up whlie still being effective with an aamazing reveal. The Soda Poppers are just little weenies and them being revealed as the lords of the dammned isn't funny it's just.. what. You had Jurgen RIGHT THERE. The Soda Poppers really do ruin everything

11. Ice Station Santa: Starts well and has some great gags, torture me elmer is the best as is buster blaster

12. Chariots of the Dogs: Is fun, I just felt other chapters were better. But the payoff for the birthday and boscow do help this one up. The sexist humor not so much. Still has neat time travle 13. Reality 2.0: This one is only not bottom because it debuts the COPS. It gave us the COPS who rightly go on to play a bigger role in the next two games as the developers clearly loved them and so do I. It also has a fantastic finale, that graet mario joke and more I forgot, saving it from the bottom. But my god this one smells of "we ran out of time and needded a cheap chapter to make 6." I wouldn't be suprised if bduget is why the sequels are both 5 chapters instead as this one just.. asset flips to hell and isn't super fun about it. It TRIES but the digtial setting just feels lifeless. I think this one hasn't been helped by the sequels all having bigger more expansive sets, while this just feels half assed.

14. Moai Better Blues: has some frustrating puzzles like the cloud one, abe lincoln at his worst and that fucking surfboard minin game. Add in some mild racism and this one is just meh. The weakest chapter of them all. Some good jokes but that's standard for sam and max. What's not standard is that goodamn surfboard. There's a few good jokes but this feels like a mishmash of ideas rather than a more coherent chapter. Chariot Reused a lot but at least it was funny

[the-labyrinth-of-me]

I don't know if this has been discussed bc I'm kinda late to the party, but as I'm on my second playthrough now, this time with original English language, I just kinda got my theory confirmed when I played the Poet's Cinema section with Alan, and he meets the man in the suit who's tied to the chair, unmistakably Sam Lake (which I didn't realize on my first run as I didn't know how his voice sounds like back then).

Long story short: in order to get out of the dark place, Alan has to kill Sam Lake.

More under the cut - -

Alex Casey dies multiple times, in Alan's books, in Alan's drafts of Initiation, you name it. Aleksi Kesä dies in Yötön Yö, who's originally played by Max Payne/Alex Casey and in the end, again, Sam Lake. And the Alan Wake/Veikko Alen character "returns", which means that, in the end, Alan has to kill Sam Lake. Alan has to realize he's a fictional character, to break the loops and ascend upwards on the spiral. And that Sam made up that whole nightmare world. The dream logic - it's in Sam's mind. Everything. Alan dies at the end of each draft as a symbol of all drafts Sam canceled. All the years of writing Alan Wake 2, it's the creative process. To the writers out there - how many times have you deleted a word, a sentence, a paragraph, maybe a whole script? A whole document? Because you thought what you wrote wasn't good enough? Alan is the fictional manifestation of the creative process. But he can become real and escape that world. He just needs the Clicker. He ends up escaping the Dark Place, and finds himself in the Remedy Entertainment studios. He meets Sam. Maybe somehow even Ilkka. He has learned that Sam/Casey always dies and that he's the killer. He murders Sam, the Cult leader, the Grandmaster, Scratch, who has written Return, who's worshipped by the Cult of the Word, whose books they treat as their Bible, whose fictional murders they followed. (Edit: The creation killing its master, not the other way around. Which would be surreal in itself. But it's also kind of justified. Because, due to the great immersion, Alan kind of feels real. All the realistic sounds they recorded specifically for this game, the almost photorealism of his looks, a carbon copy of his physical actor Ilkka Villi, and you can even hear Alan breathe, pant, gasp. He's a well-rounded character, complex, flawed, human, he's married, he longs to be together with Alice again. He made many mistakes during his life, during Alan Wake 2, but he's not mean-spirited, he's a good guy underneath who happens to get in his own way and make things complicated for himself. But all of the above and the fact that he suffered for so long - he deserves to be free from the Dark Place, doesn't he? He's almost real, why not make him real?)

Alan meets Sam, who already knows about this since he wrote Alan Wake 3, of course (or didn't he? Did Alan manage to change the story and surprise Sam?) It gets very meta from here. Alan kills Sam, flicks the light switch and he's free. But it's still part of the story. Sam, of course, is still alive. And Alan dies when Sam decides to not continue Alan's story. Everyone dies then. Zane, Alice, Tim, Saga, the Old Gods of Asgard, each and every character. Doesn't Tim even say he has the feeling he's lost in a dream or abducted by aliens or something?

Maybe it's the weirdest shit you've read but for me it clicks into place. This whole dream logic thing and loops the main character goes through until the story is just right, until the author writes the final draft and the hero achieves his goal. The countless times the main character has to start over because the writer makes him do it. And it's not Alan who sits in the Writer's Room, in the end.

Yeah I might delete this later but I had to sort my thoughts. Had the "Alan kills Sam" theory for a while but needed that final cherry on top to settle it, and that scene with Sam, the deer mask on his face, being acknowledged as the Leader, that settled it for me. (note to self: always play remedy games in English original dub)

If you've reached the end, thanks for reading!

[shallowseeker]

Don't Go Into the Woods-watching:

Post-Peace of Mind is SO funny. We saw that Dean and Cas have been desperately tag-teaming, trying to support Jack and Sam for WEEKS.

(Dean, who probably needs rest from the whole Michael ordeal and Cas, who's got the looming Empty deal over his head. Both of them are worried about Sam, but especially about Jack. Sam remains oblivious, which we'll see beautifully on display here.)

We find Sam sitting in the kitchen in the dark...by himself:

Dean, who has apparently been up for AWHILE already, comes in to get some coffee. He throws some easy banter at Sam, and then checks on Sam, who makes this face at him when he asks if he's up for working:

<8]

Important note: It doesn't really occur to Sam to check on Dean here. Or Cas. Or Jack. Because Sam is ready to go, he assumes Dean and Cas and Jack are ready to go.

Sam is so stupidly puppy-dog happy, that's he's like YAY I'LL GRAB CAS. And Sam may be oblivious, Cas is stressed to the fuckin' max, actually.

We'll learn soon that Cas is stressed because he witnessed Jack's amorality re: the snake, and he's gone off to look for a hail-Mary to save Jack on his own.

Even though Cas's not said anything directly about the death of the snake, Dean senses that Cas is unsettled, which makes him unsettled, too, heightening his fears about Jack.

Sam-> ???? WHY???

*Hilariously, he's staring at Dean like HEY IS IT YOUR FAULT DEAN DID YOU FIGHT OR SOMETHING???*

This also gives big 12x19 vibes with Sam's whole: HEY WHAT IS WRONG WITH CaS I dOn'T UnDerStand????

Aside// Yay, another point in the Cas-is-a-known-stir-crazy category, because Sam and Dean both (mostly) accept his explanation.

Dean looks away from Sam for a second because yeah, he's bothered by Cas leaving, and he doesn't want Sam to know that. (Cas is the one who's co-supporting Sam and Jack right now; the one Dean has been leaning on.)

The funny thing is, even though he's not bothered in the same way, Sam's actually bothered, too. Cas is, after all, the one who was mentoring Sam most successfully about losing his army.

Dean sees Sam's reaction and moves to making an explanation for Cas's departure, taking up for Cas, "We all need to stretch our legs." And Sam drops it.

Sam-> ....ok fine. THEN JACK! :DDDDDDD

SAM-> Yeah this will be FuUuN! Work fixes everything and everyone:

{=D

DEAN: Uh...

I am trying to support you bro, but no.

SAM -> >=(

It does not occur to him that Jack might need time to adjust, too. Nupe.

DEAN: And I'm sure he's good, but Jack's got his mojo back. His powers have gotten us in trouble in the past-- the security guard. So I just want to make sure that, you know, he's right before we put him back out there,

And here we have the Dean-and-Cas anxiety on full display.

Something Sam isn't EVEN picking up on.

Not Cas's nervousness. And certainly not Dean's.

[cellard0ors]

They're a united front now, but it doesn't mean they always agree.

"How about Harriet?"

"Ew. No."

Travis frowns, even as he continues to rub Laura's sore feet. She's over thirty weeks in and enormous. She's been moody and unhappy, but Travis has been doing his best to keep her spirits up.

He owes it to her.

While his absence is far behind them, he has no problem groveling until the day he dies if he has to. Laura loves him. She forgave him. She's having their baby.

He can do no less.

Still, "What's wrong with Harriet?"

"I don't know - Harriet Hackett just sounds strange. I don't like it."

Travis slows his rubdown of her toes and looks over his shoulder at her, "So...they're going to have my last name?"

Laura looks a little startled, as if she just realized what she said. Travis swallows, "Because, I mean...we-we just started dating..."

"No, yeah. No, I know..." She looks unsure now and he turns to her fully, "I mean...I'm okay with them having my last name. But, it does have a bad history behind it. We can go with Kearney if you want."

Laura's lips twitch, "Well, I am the alpha in this relationship..."

"Ha, ha." He returns dryly and she gives an official chuckle, "Seriously though, I think it's okay for them to have your last name. We can start a new history for your family name. A happy one."

She notes a gleam in his eyes and he clears his throat before going back to her feet. Laura remembers thinking Travis was really cut off emotionally.

Turns out that's not true.

If anything, he's brimming with feelings, his current one a cross between happiness, pride, and tears. Such a secret softie.

"Alright then. How about Alexander? If it's a boy?"

"Again. Pass."

She can practically hear him roll his eyes, "You haven't liked any of the names I've suggested."

"That's not true. I liked Sam or Samantha. I used to have a friend with that name in elementary school. She was great."

'Okay, so...one?"

"Oh," Laura now rolls her eyes, "Like you've liked all of my suggestions."

"I haven't shot any of them down."

"What about Max?" She asks with a smirk. It was tossed out as a sick, dark joke she knows she shouldn't have made, but did anyway. The look he shoots her now just reconfirms that.

Regardless, she feels she's made her point, and just as she goes to settle back down she feels it. It's a full ache in her back, a tug at her belly and she frowns, confused.

But then it comes again, stronger, and she gasps, shooting upright. Travis looks at her in concern and Laura gasps, "I-? I think I'm having contractions."

His eyes go wide, "What? Now?"

"Mm hmm." She hums, a hand on her stomach and then there's another deep yank inside, like a menstrual cramp, but far worse, and she cries out. Travis looks horrified, "It can't be! It's too soon!"

"Well something is-nngah!" Is how it ends, because the next contraction is even worse than the last and she feels a cold sweat break out all over her body. Travis immediately gets to his feet, "Okay. Alright. Let's go."

He helps Laura up and does his level best to stay calm. Years as a police officer, even in a backwater like North Kill, must have helped, because Laura appreciates how he manages to get her from the house to the car to the hospital without freaking out once

However, once inside the hospital, as staff starts swarming around Laura, it's clear Travis is an emotional trainwreck.

He wasn't wrong.

It is early for Laura to give birth and she knows this even as nurses and her doctor talk her down, tell her everything is going to be alright. Yes, she's earlier than planned, but they're going to do their very best to take care of her and her baby.

The pain has ratcheted up to unbelievable levels and Laura is doing her best not to scream and failing miserably. She's calling out for Travis and someone keeps telling her why he wasn't allowed in but she could care less.

Her frantic shouts and panic must turn some sort of tide, because soon enough he is in the room with them and she's gripping one of his arms and crying, screaming, the pain immeasurable.

Laura lost an eye. She turned into a werewolf. This hurts far worse than those two combined. Her throat is raw from her cries and Travis is repeating her name gently and pressing his lips to one side of her head and holding her back just as tight as she is holding him.

The doctor tells her to bear down and push and she does - again and again and it feels like it's never going to end, this horrible misery and she's frantic about how the baby is doing and if they're okay even as she grunts and keeps doing as instructed.

Laura feels blind, deaf, and dumb in the throes of her agony but she thinks she hears something about the baby's head or their shoulders or how they're coming out, but it doesn't matter, because on the next struggling push she feels an unbelievable release.

All the stress and pain that had been beating down on her nonstop suddenly seems to rise as does a thin wail with it. Her baby's wail.

Travis is still holding her, but no longer is his face buried in her hair. Instead he looks at the tiny wriggling mass the doctor is holding and the nurses are all talking in awed hushes as both he and Laura hear, "It's alright. She's here, she's here."

"She-?" Travis repeats and the doctor lets out a windy laugh, as if he'd been holding his breath, "It's a girl "

Travis nearly collapses into Laura, Laura into him as they watch the doctor take special care of their itty bitty child.

There's a lot of talk about how, while she was born prematurely, the baby should be in fine health with the proper care. How while she's a week or two early that's better than some cases, she might just need more check ups than most newborns and so on.

Neither Travis or Laura really care or listen because all that matters is that their baby is alive. She's alive and she's with them and it feels like it takes forever (considering the baby has to spend some time in the neonatal intensive care unit), but eventually mother, father, and daughter are all together and alone in the hospital room.

Their newly born child is swaddled up against Laura's bare skin, their head resting on her breastbone and Laura's looking down at her with pure love.

Travis too, can't seem to take his eyes off his daughter and he has one hand resting on her back, his palm practically dwarfing her whole body.

Laura looks up at him and says, "Luna."

"Luna?"

She nods, "Like the moon."

"Yeah?"

Laura sighs, presses a very gentle kiss to her daughter's head, "It's how we met. Under the moonlight."

"Hmm. Not the best of meetings."

"True,"Laura sighs, "But one of the best things in my life came out of it."

Travis can't help but give an exhausted grin, "Her, I take it?"

"Yeah " Laura admits, "But you too."

Laura weakly reaches out for him with her free hand and he takes it, gives it a squeeze, even as he nods, "Okay. Luna."

He edges closer to the baby and whispers to her, "Luna Hackett."

Laura gives him a sleepy smile and he returns it. Luna, fast asleep but very happy, is unaware of her parents' smiles. She is also blissfully unaware of what an unexpected gift she is.

But she'll learn soon enough in time.

The end

[ourstoriedinsight]

Audio Drama Sunday IV

Alright! Back again! Skipped last week as I went on a binge of Non-fiction history podcasts as is my occasional habit. This week however I resumed my audio fiction engagements with a fervor.

Edge of my seat week to week listens wise this was another win for @innbetween where I have to be a bit sneaky about spoilers since most y'all won't have access yet. This one gave me some chills as Max's character brought to mind some bosses I worked for in the past whom I am glad I am not working for now. Whereas previous adventuring parties were faster to making solid friendships of fate and circumstance this bunch remains first and foremost co-worker relationships which has opened the door wonderfully to working with themes of different types of ableism. I come from a decently cut throat industry myself and that whole "What good are you if you can't..." is a huge thing we need to talk more about as a society. Having party members we feel a little more gray about is a neat shift of dynamic too which I wholeheartedly approve of which has left me hoping either the arc carries everyone to a better wiser place ... or delivers some much needed kicks to the gems for bad behavior by way of catharsis.

My binge listen continues to be Spirit Box Radio where I have hit season 3 at last! The Host/ Creator/ Voice Actor of the show seems to be going through a testosterone based transition which I got to admit I am enjoying vicariously more than I probably should. My circumstances have taken a T transition off the table for me personally so when I encounter someone going through one I get fairly excited myself noting the changes. How deep Sam's voice will be by the end of the series is like an added bit of delightful mystery. On it's more narrative based merits however Spirit Box Radio continues to delight. There's an evolving ruminative quality to the story with leaps and bounds of development just when the slow drip of progress in the mystery starts to stretch the tension to the breaking point. Big changes in the status quo that then must be weighed and understood and considered starting the cycle anew. Pacing wise it's the cautious and moderate person's approach to danger which feels fairly true to life. It's something that works best in podcast format which makes it feel more fresh than the more common arc of act/react. Things must be digested in their own time and lately particularly I have been finding that slower pace is a welcome change from instant gratification.

Editing log of the week is fairy empty as I have finished the second draft of the season Finale and am taking a breather before doing the finalizing process. After this I get a nice two month vacay from all things audio to sharpen up my resolve for the next season and start making our backlog for the airing of season 2. I'm so close to relaxing I can feel it!

[thepeacockshallstrut]

Henry's Video Game Collection Wishlist

I like collecting trinkets and am always looking to collect additional trinkets. I thought it would be nice to write down what all I'm looking to obtain someday.

NOW DETAILED WITHIN: MOTHER 3, Octopath Traveler/II, Persona 3 Portable (the new releases), Pokémon Legends Arceus, Sam & Max Remastered

A WIP for now... ever growing, ever changing. Prices subject to an infinite increase until the eventual heat death of the universe. Let's dig in!

MOTHER 3 Deluxe Box

MSRP: 18,000 yen, or approx. $120

Market price: Enough to be somebody's rent payment

Image provided by STARMEN.NET.

I mean, what a beaut, right? Just look at her. I've longed for this extremely small Game Boy Advance with a minor difference in faceplate since I was a wee babe. (Or a sixth grader, I think.) Anyway, I remember the price on eBay being around $600 back then, and the price has gone up surprisingly not that much given inflation.

Speaking of, here's an interesting note about this item's retail price: the page on STARMEN.NET documenting this box around release put the cost of the item at "around $155." As suggested above, the value of yen in comparison to the value of the dollar has significantly depreciated in the past two decades. Also, accounting for inflation, 18k JPY in 2006 is about 20.2k JPY today... still closer to around $135 USD. Meanwhile $120 in 2006 money has the same buying power as $185 today, while $155 would be worth around $240 today. Depressing, right?

Looking around on Japanese listings, the price is about equivalent to US eBay listings... a small mercy if you ask me. I'm not sure how consoles like these ship overseas anyway, given the battery. Oh well.

Octopath Traveler - Wayfarer's Edition

MSRP: $90

Market price: $180ish with the game, $120ish without--though prices fluctuate pretty heavily

Come on, man. Comes in a little pop-up book. Ridiculous.

The box comes encased in one of those plasticky outer shells that scratch horribly, but it usually means that the box itself is in very good condition when sold secondhand. It's also not super clear in the promotional image, but the map of Orsterra is made of cloth.

Definitely lots of pointless trinkets here. Trinkets that I would just love to display. Hoo-ah!

Octopath Traveler II Steelbook (Switch ver.)

MSRP: That's a good question. I'm under the impression that you could get the Steelbook edition for an additional $10 when purchasing the game from select retailers.

Market price: $25 (game not included)

Prices for the game with the steelbook are ridiculous enough that I would advise just buying a secondhand copy of the game separately. I got my copy from a local game store for $35 and I've seen it for even cheaper online.

For those of you who prefer the Playstation versions, the PS4/PS5 steelbook appears more expensive on resale, but the games themselves are generally cheaper. Your mileage may vary.

In any case, it does pain me to forsake the Collector's Edition of this game, but the price just isn't worth it to me. $200 MSRP is already pretty steep. I would assume the included artbook does not showcase any work that isn't already present in the sold-seperately Octopath II artbook (well, actually, it sounds more like a Champions of the Continent artbook that happens to also have OT2 art in it, but that's besides the point), and the bust standees, while beautifully sculpted, are not my typical style of figure collecting... and they're not even actually metal! The box is indeed very pretty but I have to draw the line somewhere, and that line appears to stand around $300 cardboard. (The US release doesn't even get that damn tote bag...)

In any case, I love steelbooks. They're just too handsome. I've yet to find a fanmade OT1 one that I like, but maybe when that time comes it too will join my oddly-shaped collection.

Persona 3 Portable - Grimoire Edition

MSRP: $70

Market price: Something stupid, probably

I had actually intended on preordering one of these special editions back when they were announced... I just sort of forgot. Oops! Now I am subject to the whims of Limited Run aftermarket prices. Anything for such a pretty steelbook I guess.

I have mixed feelings about the full collector's edition for this game, AKA the "S.E.E.S. Edition." I think the thing I like most about it is the box it all comes in, which is generally a bad sign. I was very excited about the Evoker proplica until I realized it's only half of the gun trapped in the box forever... maybe I should just go hunt down that water gun. Regardless I'm not too torn up about passing that one up. (Well... except for the stupid briefcase box. I don't think it's a top-opener like the Scott Pilgrim CE was though. Which is just a shame!)

I guess I might also go for the "Grimoire Edition" of P4G if my pockets are feeling too heavy, but I'm not as jazzed about that game or its steelbook design. Also, I already ordered the collector's edition of Persona 3 Reload... it's too much, Atlus... it's just too much.

Pokémon Legends Arceus - Steelbook (UK Preorder Bonus)

MSRP: I think some shops charged an extra 5 quid for the steelbook

Market price: $25

PLA got some lovely preorder bonuses across the pond. Alongside this steelbook, depending on your retailer of choice, you could also get a Hisuian Pokéball replica or an Arceus statue (reminiscent of the HGSS preorder bonuses of old). Of course, you could also get the Arceus sitting cutie from the UK Pokemon Center, just like the US one... without the steelbook though? Alright. I do wonder if the UK release had the same supply chain issues for the Arceus plush as the US did. Anyway...

Lamentations about regional differences aside, I adore this steelbook! A lot of love in this artwork. The other Pokémon steelbooks, while cool, are mostly just cover legendaries but metal, or maybe gold... (and, frankly, some very ugly patterns on the inside of the box! Shameful!) It's OK though. PLA has had mercy on my soul.

I also think it would be super cool to get my hands on one of the SuMo/USUM steelbooks someday, if only for the novelty of having a steelbook for a 3DS game. Those resale prices though! Whew! Maybe someday...

Sam & Max Remastered

MSRP: $35 (standard), $75-80 (collector's), $5 (slipcover)

Market price: $50 (standard), $150 (collector's), $15 (slipcover)

These collector's editions are extremely cool historical pieces. Recreations of decades-old merch, wow! It's a shame I've never been able to get these retail price because Limited Run aftermarket is ridiculous. Still, I'd like to get my mitts on these someday.

My goal is to own all three collector's editions and display the three games in the slipcover. (Devil's Playhouse remaster coming soon! Any day now...)

Having the Hit the Road collector's edition would be cool but I'm not as set on it. If I had my way, I would start collecting the different physical releases of HtR/the original Telltale titles too! Restraint, restraint...

That's everything I can think of for now. I'll add more as it crosses my brainstream ^^

[the-anime-man]

What if Sig got to the Tome of Sealing first? AKA Tomo AU

hi again tumblr, please dont expect a whole lot from this blog, once again, but, i wanted to post like a little basic thing about this au i've had since 2021 now that i'm back into puyo again,

this is an au that Heavily relies on bits of fanon and headcanon to make it work cuz canon is puyo puyo is very fucking wishy washy but essentially, what if sig had checked out the tome of sealing from the library before klug was able to? (sorry if this is a bit scatterbrained, im not good at organizing my thoughts much,,)

(also please dont mind some of the art, im like an ok artist at best and some of this shit is from 2 years ago as well)

so like, as the absolute fucking nerd i am, i made like an initial google doc on this thing outlining most of the shit im about to summarize here (that i might link if someone asks at some point i guess idk) as well as a fanfic, didnt finish that though, i got like through barely a chapter before i stopped and then i got into sam and max but that's unrelated to now

ANYWAYS, the au is as it sounds, sig goes to precise museum and, guided by the voice of the crimson soul, finds the tome of sealing and checks it out (much to akuma's chargin,,) and then he checks out the book again,,, and again,,,, and a gain,,,, (you see where this is going)

but uh, why is it called tomo au? see im being a little shitter here and i thought maybe the crimson soul's memory would be a little shot after spending ages in a book so they might not remember their name and sig is like "you're my friend now so i'm gonna call you friend/tomodachi" but then he's like "that's too long i'm gonna call you tomo instead" so they just go along with it, for future reference, anytime i mention the crimson soul i'm gonna be calling it Tomo

wow that's really fucking big sorry,

sig has an immense attachment to tomo from the get go btw, he's like, i wanna say like 8 or so when he first gets to the book, so besides the obvious literal halvsies soul connection there's that childhood connection as well,

side note: they can speak to each other cuz of that soul connection btw, it's my personal headcanon that after slug (canon strange klug/the crimson soul) can speak to anybody who they've possessed before as well as their other half, so in canon klug and sig can hear the book talk but in this au only sig can hear them

also, the reason why tomo doesn't attempt to take over sig right from the outset is A) they dunno where the unsealing objects are and B) sig is a child and uh, another part that i'm still trying to work the kinks through of is whether tomo decides to hold off on doing the fusion dance of their own volition or if because the cyan soul (which can speak to tomo, but only when sig is asleep cuz when sig is awake the cyan soul IS sig, nother headcanon sorry) decides it's too soon, they probably have memories of previous incarnations stored in there and know that eventually sig will start showing more demonic traits but not when he's baby

wow this is getting to be a lot but we're not even done cuz now i gotta talk about what this means about shit like fever 2 and such (y'know canon things and all)

boy tumblr just hates making images smaller nowadays huh,

so when sig starts showing signs of his heritage (i.e., a bit before fever 2 happens) tomo and sig start to hatch a plan to get tomo a body back! of course, tomo is omitting some things about how they're actually going to go into sig's body cuz at this point they've been together for a few years now and sig trusts tomo as like, a best friend i guess? something like that,

so sig is under the impression tomo is gonna be released and get their old body back and tomo is under the impression that as soon as the seal releases they'll enter sig's body, join back up with the cyan soul, and return to their original form,

so sig transfers over to amitie and klug's class, (tomo) overhears that lemres is coming into town with the items they need, and they steal the shit and head to the ruins to perform the unsealing

SPOILERS! shit goes wrong

ignore how shitty the ms paint art from a couple of years ago is, might change the hair to be more red in future art

for reasons (that i also need to workshop because to be honest originally it was a "whoever unseals it gets their soul swapped with whoever is trapped in the book" but like??? idk if that's how it should work when it comes to these two specifically), sig and tomo swap places instead of a fusion happening,

sucks balls for both of them cuz this is like the Last thing either of them wanted out of this tbh, sig obviously because well, trust got broken and ended up trapped til the artifacts are stolen (klug either swaps roles with amitie or sig, haven't figured that one out yet either) and tomo most certainly doesn't want sig trapped, as they wouldn't want anyone to experience the loneliness of being sealed away like they were (except klug, fuck klug specifically) (also the chronicles drama cd mentions that part of tomo's character in it so it works for my purposes)

this image wasn't necessarily specific to tomo au but i thought it would fit anyways, sorry it's a bit blurry my phone wouldnt focus on the damn thing properly

and after fever 2,,, i kind of dont have as clear of a story? or a plan? there's some tension between sig and tomo for at least a little while but sig eventually forgives them, as well i don't know how i would tackle something like sig's secret if at all?? but yeah that's the main shit to this au, sorry it's all so very long! this has been on my mind for a few weeks now and it was on my mind for months back in 2021, so i just have a lot i'm throwing out here into the wind, if you got this far: thanks so much for reading!

here's some bonus shit for getting to the end of the main shit:

tomo calls sig "little blue" sometimes, since he's yknow, younger than them and blue but calls the cyan soul their "other half"

if you couldn't tell from the first image, since sig has his bookbag, he carries tomo around in that, but if he's stopped somewhere he'll leave the book open next to him so tomo can see around (hard to see with the covers in the way)

sig was already probably ostricized for yknow, his autistic tendencies, the book did not help with that, but it gave him a trusted confidant :)

sig actually starts developing his demonic traits earlier than in canon due to his proximity to tomo, but not by much

klug has stolen the book before, both demon halves were not pleased with this and klug has not attempted to steal the book again

sig can supplement his own magic power with tomo's for an incredibly large boost, and tomo doesn't mind doing so, this gives sig almost the exact same amount of power as the full demon used to have and also changes his right eye to red

OH, both relevant to this au and my own interpretation: the full demon's name was wisteria, but neither sig nor tomo remember it until either are reminded of that

ok that's it go home now bye bye

[pagerunner-j]

Some TLOVM new-episode notes, under a cut 'cause there's some great stuff here and I, uh, went on for a bit:

Not gonna lie, I was halfway expecting the theme to The Neverending Story after that Falcor-looking fucker flew by.

Watching an animated version of something I watched happen in person in a live episode is a damn trip. I feel like I should be sitting in a movie theater on Pico all over again...

Grog all torn up over hurting Pike: *tinysob*

Put...the sword...down....Grog...

Okay, putting it down in a rock will do. More dramatic than a pocket dimension, anyway.

Percy, stop trying to sound like an expert and get on with flirting with grass.

Hey! Laura found her best friend from the next campaign! Convenient!

Honestly, I'm kinda liking how they're shifting things around with Grog. Having this fit in with his whole "where do you get your strength?" theme works.

Hi there, Billy! Nice to hear you here!

Arta -- ahem -- Garmelie drawing dicks? Fancy that.

Vax, you're cruising for a bruising here, and by that I mean my palm across your face. Chill.

Ashley and Sam going full country twang: bwahahaohdearhelpme.

(it works, though)

Pikey made the Scan-man bluuuuuush...

PokéTrinket!

...I think I read this in a fanfic once.

(istg it's fucking pollen they knew what they were doing)

Diplomacy in action! About time.

Well, the boys are talking again. That's good.

"We are all just prisoners of our own anxieties...." Keyleth wasn't wrong about that part, at least, before the rainbow vomiting started.

Sylens, stop being an arrogant jackass and start being useful--oh wait. Wrong narrative.

Ripley consorting with dragons: *chef's kiss*

Twin angst incoming!

--

Syngorn is indeed pretty AF.

You don't want to tango with pixies, indeed. You might, on the other hand, want to steal their furniture for your dollhouse. *side-eyes Percy*

(yes, that was an actual thing that actually canonically happened in the campaign)

(I will love it forever)

Heh, I've heard THOSE lines before. Wink wink nudge nudge. Little sudden in this context, but I certainly can't complain that they're here.

can't complain at all

nope not me

VELORAAAA

Velora's owlbeaaaaar

Velora so cute

Troy sure does do a good job at playing a pretentious ass.

(cough)

Wilhand!!

And there we go with the namedrop. This time it pretty much worked.

stop giving Vex's character moments to Vax challenge 2k23

We're about a handsbreadth here from Miracle Max and honestly I can't really be mad about that part.

"You'll need to amend one name, though."

Watching that happen in person was so fucking satisfying, I'm not going to lie.

All right, I have notes here and there about how they're adapting this, mostly just because it's having to happen too quickly for all of it to land (the eps are short, what are you gonna do), but I love this conversation between Percy and Vex. They finally got to work in Percy making things for her, too!

"I gotta stimulate myself? Okay..." "Back it up." Sporfle.

Nice frog-to-not-quite-a-frog transition there. (Ribbit.)

Saundor, you creepy fuck. HANDS OFF OUR GIRL.

"Sweet, broken Vex'ahlia." I love that line and hate it in equal measure, and I want her to shoot him in the fucking faaaaaaaaace.

Hey, THERE'S that line I wanted her to yell at her father! Slightly different context here, but hey, I'll take it.

"My heart is someone else's." <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

"How do you fight a tree?" With FIRE. Seriously, this was one of Keyleth's coolest moments and best strategic decisions in the campaign, and I love that they're going for it.

"Twig dick." I say again: sporfle.

Okay, they're making this fight look absolutely badass.

SHE'S USING

PERCY'S

ARROWHEAD

see, this is how you do it

Stubby

Garmelie Artie, you little fuck.

(The traveler, hmmmm?)

(And thank god that was Matt. I mean, who ELSE could you cast?)

KILL BOX INCOMING

--

So the herd is fucking terrifying. Appropriately. But dang, this got grim in a HURRY.

Mythcarver has been so much more useful in this show than in the campaign that it's kind of hilarious.

One thing I love about this episode: Grog has, legendarily, an intelligence of six, but it's easy for the animated version of him to slip into all-doofus-all-the-time mode in the way the campaign never did -- in part because Travis is clearly so damn smart and you have him out of character as part of the picture. So it's nice giving Grog more depth here to do its part in balancing things out.

Pikelan cuteness: <3

Grog backstory! Grog and the gnomes! <3

KAYLIE

I wouldn't flirt if I were you, Scanlan

I mean: I really, really wouldn't

for reasons

Grog saving Wilhand is everything I hoped for.

In a word: ouch.

Dark-haired Pike! <3

I want to hug them both, okay? They deserve hugs.

....Scanlan, please, hit the brakes before you hurt yourself.

Good to see some tabaxi out and about in the world! Now please save the wee one.

"I swear, I know that voice!" Iiiiindeed.

Kevdak, you're an asshole, and you'd be nothing without your magic toys, and you know it.

"Your armor's not exactly the quietest." Oh, Pikey. Never the stealthiest, are we.

Scanlan, I'm not gonna say this again. COOL YOUR JETS.

Nice magic tricks, though.

saaaave the kiiiitttyyyyyyy

you're not doing this on your own and we all know it so listen to Pike okay

...all right, save the KILL BOX INCOMING for next week, but we're well on our way!

[crimsonblackrose]

.

Poor Miggy looking for Sam.

And of course they're fighting. Sam, just listen to Tory would you. (I know she's having a rough time.)

Both Miguel and Robby need like body armor for the Tory Sam fights.

I also think it's funny that they keep doing this and it literally never works.

Sam yelling that Tory's been working with Kreese. Like a lot of conversation was listened to before Sam went on offense.

Oh hey at least both girls left without any damage, and neither Robby or Miggy got hurt, so actually progress.

I also like the way they meet up after both girls leave and are like wait did you know about this? No, no idea.

UGH it's literally been maybe 4 weeks max since Carmen is considered pregnant, the baby would not be that big. It for sure wouldn't have features.

Johnny wouldn't know that, but Carmen for sure would.

Carmen's doctor is Dr. Howard.

Johnny remembers where they parked, "Punch twice, p2"

Carmen says "Lawrence-Diaz" and Johnny likes it and cue Silver.

Silver got in on 3, quite possibly another hint of him being sick/dying or something.

"To congratulate you. What you and your partner have accomplished is a joy few get to experience." Johnny: Who told you about the baby.

Silver says he's doing everything for their future and his own, and tells Johnny to savor every moment before it's gone.

Which sounds like a threat, but I mean if he's dying it could be like Tommy's note.

Daniel wants to go to the portugese place on Laurel.

Louie wants to plan it and use it as an away to apologize for blowing up his car.

Reggie can hook Louie up with a free limo.

Johnny says there has to be dancing because Carmen loves dancing.

Louie told them to dress nice and he'll pick them up at 8, they don't all live together bud.

Anoush has a date.

Demetri to Hawk: Never let me miss a house party again.

Bert says he's friends with Stingray and stingray wouldn't lie to him.

Robby walking into Cobra Kai to apologize, Robby is so freaking brave. "I let you down. I turned my back on you. I didn't understand at the time but I realize now I was wrong. I shouldn't have just left.

Like he knows Silver kicked his sensei's ass, beat the tar out of Daniel. He knows Kreese was in prison, that his guy beat Stingray into a coma and was like yeah, I'm going to waltz in and tell his students I'm sorry for leaving them behind here.

Robby is a badass.

There is pain in this dojo because it's built upon fear, because this man is not your sensei, he is your enemy.

Tory shouldn't have nodded, Kim saw it.

Reggie's ride or die.

And this is Reggie:

Chozen has to remove all his weapons, he keeps sai's in his jacket pockets. But he'll at least get to pick them up again when he leaves.

Johnny looks around to see what he should order, sees a white claw, tries it, spits it out, says "It tastes like watermelon took a piss." and then shrugs and takes another sip

The LaRussos order a ketel martini, straight up, Macallan 18 neat and Chozen says no drink. He wants to stay ready in case Silver attacks.

Chozen orders a long island iced tea

Louie omg

Louie shows up with a tray full of shots "Oh, i've got shots kids" and gives this look to Johnny

when he says this stuff is strong, almost like a kick to the face.

They all cheer in Okinawan Karii

Stingray is hosting dungeons and dojo's games where he's the DM

he's the worst dojo master. Apparently, all of the party or at least most of the party died.

Everyone is gluten intolerant so he's not sure whose at the door.

His whole D&D group leaves past Bert.

Miyagi-fangs, oh this is a trap, you admiral ackbar-ed me.

Carmen points out that if Chozen was using fake weights wasn't he scamming himself out of money and not the villagers?

I like Daniel using Chozen's words against him. "No, I will get" in a very jokingly angry voice. Mimicking Chozen.

Amanda: That dance floor is calling my name. Carmen: Mine too. Amanda: Come and get it girl.

Carmen asks if Johnny is coming to dance with her but he looks at Chozen drinking his long island alone and tells her he'll catch the next one.

Dude truly knows what it's like to be alone, and probably to be an extra wheel with couples and doesn't want Chozen left fully alone.

Chozen asks Johnny how he's doing. Johnny: Honestly? I'm not sure.

Johnny says his whole life has been haunted by one stupid kick.

dodge it, block it, his life would be fixed. The kick wasn't the problem he had to stop focusing on what was behind and start looking at what was right in front of him.

Chozen says We are same. Both make mistakes. Both feel guilt for pain we caused. Now you have, uh, friends. family, children. I always wanted same things.

Ugh the thing that Terry started with Daniel but now stone. Someone please save her.

"it's solid stone, I will break my hand" "it will heal in time for the tournament"- Kim

Tory tries to leave, "I'm going home." and three of Kim's hench- sensei's literally block her path.

"I broke up with him because of this dojo you bitch." literally breaks the stone behind Kim. You go girl, but also owie.

"That must've been a hard decision."

They literally all leave Tory there curled up on the mat bleeding.

in another universe this was Stingrays D&D group

If I tell you what really happened he'll find out. I can't. It's not that easy you guys.

And then he realizes he can just tell a story instead. "I've been working on this new D&D campaign" and Miguel is like okay we don't have time, but Eli gets what Stingray is up to.

Stingray is a dwarven monk

and he pretty much says he'd give up everything he got if he could, after all the silver haired king nearly killed the monk. And his voice trembles when he says it and Bert I think catches how bad it really was.

Stingray wanted to be a proud and nobel warrior like Sam and Hawk but he's neither proud nor noble and not a warrior either. He's just really scared. He apologizes.

Sam leaves upset that she didn't get the info she needed. She's frustrated because if she had know, then the dojo wouldn't have had to close, maybe her and Miguel wouldn't have broken up. Just a lot of painful what if's.

Miggy pointing out that Tory telling them what happened must've been so hard. Sam doesn't know what it's like to be a part of Cobra Kai, but Miggy does.

Chozen's a good dude man. | Ah, that's putting it mildly.

Johnny tells Daniel that Chozen likes Kumiko and before he can continue Carmen pops up, says "No more talk, you're mine" and drags him towards the dance floor. "Gotta go." is all Johnny says clapping Daniel's arm on his way.

"I'm pretty sure they don't keep giant slabs of ice on hand Chozen."

"What kind of bar is this?"

as children chozen and kumiko played together in the ruins of king shō hashi castle. Chozen would hide and Kumiko would always find him. After Chozen's disgrace, he tried to hide from everything and Kumiko found him again, her kindness brought him back. She doesn't know how he feels. How he treated her, what he did to her. Unforgivable

Louie sees anoush, see's he's with Vanessa, Anoush tries to calm him down, Louie punches him in the face, Vanessa slaps him. Louie: You can do better than him, you're embarrassing the family. Anoush ducks down and charges at Louie.

Louie: Get your boyfriend off of me. Vanessa: I'm trying.

Daniel: Classic Louie. Limo, drinks, and some trouble.

Chozen: I'm glad I came here, but I made one big mistake, I should've taken you with me. (panic) okay bye.

Carmen and Amanda are going to take an uber home. Chozen has already dived into the limo yelling party time.

As a sketchy uber driver Johnny tells them to make sure it's an uber black.

Sam seeing injured Tory and then saying if you're having trouble with cobra kai i'd be willing to listen, tory lets her in.

Sam finally sees everything pretty much everyone has been telling her.

Her mom is now in a hospital bed. Previously she was in a bed with some machines but it was still a bedroom, now it looks empty of everything but the hospital bed.

The interior layout is different from before. I think this is the same interior layout as Johnny and Miggy's place

Kim wants Devon Lee to be the new champion.

I remembered being so tense the first time I watched this. With Silver saying he was going to take care of it, our party splitting into three. Amanda and Carmen on their own, Anoush and Louie finding out Reggie's not driving, the guys plastered but singing eye of the tiger. (Maybe they should do a rock karaoke night)

Daniel and Johnny realizing they're not there yet.

Lol i forgot they end the episode on Johnny, Chozen and Daniel realizing they're trapped in the back of the limo and don't know whose driving, can't get out and it's just careening so they keep slamming from side to side.

[j2memories]

EW Article (April 13th 2022)

Jensen Ackles on directing Walker and finally getting to work with the band Kansas

Plus: Check out exclusive photos of Ackles and Jared Padalecki with the group.

By Samantha Highfill | April 13, 2022 at 10:38 AM EDT

The Supernatural family lives on... in more ways than one.

Not only did Jensen Ackles reunite with his onscreen brother of 15 years, Jared Padalecki, to direct this week's episode of Walker, but when he spoke to EW, he was in the middle of another big moment: seeing the pilot of The Winchesters get made.

"I'm sitting in a car on set watching takes from the front seat," Ackles says with a laugh. "We just did a huge stunt." (For a Supernatural show, that sounds about right.)

This week's Walker will also feature a number of Supernatural Easter eggs — most notably, a performance by the band Kansas, whose "Carry on Wayward Son" became the unofficial theme of the show over the course of its 15 seasons. As fans know, Kansas was originally supposed to perform in the Supernatural series finale before COVID restrictions forced a rewrite. Now, Padalecki and Ackles have finally been able to make that happen.

Read what Ackles had to say about it and check out exclusive photos below.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've directed on Supernatural, but what was it like for you to walk onto a new set and take on that role?

JENSEN ACKLES: Well, look, it was still a friendly set. [Laughs] Jared had laid the groundwork of like, "This is my brother. I'm here because of what he and I built together." He gave a great speech to the whole crew, saying, "We wouldn't be here without the work that this guy did with me." I was vouched for by the commander-in-chief, so although I was a guest in someone else's house, it was a house that felt very welcoming.

You've obviously seen Jared play a number of characters on Supernatural, but what was it like to see him in such a different setting, playing a character he's said is more of a Dean than a Sam?

Funny enough, I feel like Walker is probably more like Jared than Sam was, not necessarily in actual character development, but just in mannerisms and reactionary things, the nuances of what Jared's doing. I think this feels a little closer to him, which is great because who knows him better than him? It was fun to get back into the shorthand with him with performance notes, with technical notes. I can even use a reference to a movie and he knows that I'm actually giving him a note. There's nobody else I can do that with. He and I have that, and we'll always have that. That's not something that fades away.

How did the Kansas performance come about? Did they just call you up one day and say, "P.S. We have Kansas"?

Basically, yeah. They were like, "We're writing that script right now, but we just found out Kansas is actually going to be in Austin playing one night and it happens to be three days before you start working." So I was in prep and basically they broke the main unit early on the previous episode so that they could do a full company move over to the Moody Theater in downtown Austin and we could set up and shoot, essentially, a rock concert. So I shot that while in prep, and then a couple days later we started rolling on principal photography for me.

How did you prepare?

I basically went back and watched a bunch of rock concerts to see how they were directed and then got with my DP, Peter Kowalski, who, funny enough, was the A camera operator from Dawson's Creek. I was like, "PK?!" And he was like, "Jensen?!" [Laughs] I think the first time I ever stood on a surfboard was his in North Carolina. So that was a great reunion, and he and I worked really well together. We spent half a day in the Moody Theater shooting a rock concert with Kansas as our subject. And they were awesome. They were like, "How many times do you want us to do it?" We were like, "Three times max," and they said, "We can do it three, we can do it five, whatever you need." They were so accommodating and so cool, as I knew they would be.

Did it feel like a full-circle moment knowing you almost had them in the Supernatural finale?

Yeah, and they were also really excited that they were getting to scratch an itch that didn't get scratched. I didn't know this, but they were literally at the airport and some of them were getting on a plane to come to Vancouver when they got called and told, "Sorry, COVID, we're shutting down." So that's how close we were to having that experience with them. The fact that we got to do that in any capacity felt like we got to scratch an itch that needed to be scratched.

This episode has a couple of Supernatural Easter eggs. Were those written in the script or was that more of a collaborative effort?

A little of both, but here's why: Katherine Alyse, who wrote the episode, knows Supernatural very well and essentially wrote a lot of Easter eggs. I was either like, "Oh, I can absolutely do that" or, "I can level that up." We definitely tried to pepper in the Easter eggs when we could.

Walker airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.

Link to the Article

[enamouredless]

(I sent this yesterday after my first ask but I don't think you got it, my wifi was bad.) No I get it, I agree that just because actors speak positively or lightheartedly about it, doesn't mean byler is endgame / Will gets a perfect happy ending. I know everyone always says "Don't compare them to other shows/ships" but. It really truly would not be the first time something like this happened and I would be extremely disappointed but not that surprised. Imo, giving a tragic character a tragic (or just meh) ending is bad, but the duffers might think it's peak television. Or maybe they are the kind of people who think Will not getting the guy is "just realistic". And actors could just say what they're told to, what fits the current vibe or whatever. Idk. I won't know until I have seen s5 myself. Byler and happy Will make narrative sense to me but that doesn't really mean much. I'm v curious about all your predictions now, what do you think is most likely gonna happen to everyone?

I honestly can't be certain about anything, tbh I try not to think too much abt S5 bc if I do I'll set expectations for myself that'll never end up happening lmao but if I'm talking in a positive the best I can see realistically go down is some sort of weird ambiguous gay ending? think something like Sam and Frodo.. in a more negative way I feel like all the events of these season do matter whether we like them or not, the lie abt the painting is going to be revealed and just like will said at rinkomania when mike finds out abt it he's gonna be mad and they'll def argue (the only good thing I can hope out of this is will getting the last word in an argument for once lol) like.. I'm not sure how big of a storyline this will be, I can definitely see vecna trying to use this all for his advantage to try to get will on his side, and honestly? If he's in a bad state emotionally I can see him being persuaded, ''my life started the day we find you in the woods'' remember? Vecna is definitely bringing that back lmao

I feel like this whole season was just building up ammunition to try to get will to break or snap or something next season(and I'm soooo not looking forward to seeing this tbh this season was already enough angst to last me a lifetime) but like despite all of this, Im like 100% that henry and will are meant to be character foils of each other, so whatever happens I think will end up going against him bc at the end of the day o don't think the duffers spent 4 seasons showing how selfless and kind will is to just end up straight up turning him into a villain, also how homophobic that would be....

Also m*leven side note I have no idea what's in store for them, idk how a love confession led by a lie is meant to be a good thing for them (and not any lie btw, wills feelings disguised as elevens) in my head this is something that should doom the entire relationship + the fact that max died during the monologue (just like Nancy and barb) but in reality the only thing this will do is just something to set up some conflict for them for the season just so they have something to argue about before they end up getting back together towards the end of the season like they always do... there's also the weird looming idea of marriage that makes my skin crawl but as much as I hate it I feel like it might be an actual possibility 😐 like I'm soooo serious if this happens I'm not watching S5 at all

There's more stuff that I think that might happen in s5 especially with all the time references they have been making throughout the show but if I get into that this answer will be 500 pages long so I'll also expect to be something time related, maybe even time manipulation especially related to will, I can also see vecna try to give him the opportunity to go back so none of this would've happened and he could've been able to live a normal life but will like the angel he is would tell him no and to fuck off, but this is more leaning into a full on theory based on nothing so idk what's the likelihood of it happening lol, thanks for the ask btw!!

[infitsovermisfits]

What's Shakin' Baby? (3) - Eddie Munson x GN! Reader

AN: Oh my god. I realised as I was editing this how heavily this is mostly just found family interactions so if u don't like that, you'll hate this. Honestly love this series too much. I can't write what I'm not actively passionate about or have a connection with which might be bad considering how many people are looking forward to part 6 of my other fic... But oh well- I'll write what i want to write :) Thank you so much for reading my works, ilysm and all that 

WARNINGS: gender-neutral reader, reader is 20, found family trope, angst, mentions of child abuse, mentions of injury/burns, mentions of doing drugs, potential distressing imagry, dealing with grief, mentions of death, dealing with death, parental deaths, reader helping everyone with their relationships, by everyone i mean max and lucas, helping max through her billy related trauma, reader having billy related trauma, billy hargreeves is an asshole in this one, panic attack, implied sexual/physical assault though no detail is given, allusions to suicide, mentions of throwing up/ vomit, mentions of blood, alludes to smut at the end but fades out

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | MASTERLIST

23,358 words (jesus christ?)

"Oh my fucking God," You groaned, slowly pacing the length of the small space you had behind the counter. You walked from the register, all the way along the chilled tubs of fruit and stopped near the decorative bowl of fake fruit, before turning on your heel and pacing back, "I wish I could close early," You whine impatiently to Eddie. It had been almost a month since your confession of feelings to one another and for the first time in your life, you were honestly glad you had returned to Hawkins. You wouldn't want anyone else keeping you company through your closing shift. He sat at the closest table to the register and focused hard on writing in his notebook, tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration. He smirked at your words, eyes flicking up to look at you before he sighed, stretching his arms and legs out, tucking the pencil he had been scribbling notes with behind his ear,

"Why can't you, again?" He asked, leaning his elbows on the table, and glancing down at his hands, playing with his rings, "I mean, I doubt anyone's gonna wanna drink smoothies at 4 pm on a... Beautifully, overcast Thursday afternoon," He grinned, glancing outside briefly. You sighed at his comment, looking over the bins of fruit you'd have to toss out with a grimace. You removed one of the flimsy plastic gloves to eat a strawberry. Technically it wasn't a health code violation, considering the fruits would be thrown away in a few minutes,

"I can't close yet 'just in case'," You huffed, "Sam's policy," You grumbled, glancing at the clock and seeing you still had fifteen minutes left of the shift. You grabbed another strawberry, chewing on the fruit and thinking, tapping your fingers against the counter, "Mmmh... Well, maybe you could help me with something?" You suggested, straightening before you could allow yourself to eat the rest of the berries,

"Babe-" He whined, causing you to smirk, "You know helping you with work is my least favourite thing to do," He grinned. After you graduated and got this job, he spent his time with you here either complaining about homework or enthusiastically chatting about his latest campaigns- that was until Sam started complaining he was loitering and scaring off the customers. Though you didn't seem to mind, "-Do I have to remind you that I don't work here?" he smirked to himself,

"You might as well be," You muttered, "You're here more than Micheal," You rolled your eyes as you moved around to grab a blender, "Get over here Munson," You said sharply, grinning to yourself as he jumped and glared at your words. The pencil dropped from his head and rolled closer to the counter, making you laugh as he begrudgingly stood and walked closer, bending down to pick up the pencil and tuck it back behind his ear. He let out an exaggerated sigh, staring at you for a moment, "You deserved that," You teased, watching as his lips twisted into a small smile when his eyes met yours, and he shook his head slightly, "What?" You asked, your own lips twisting into a loving smile,

"Hi," He eventually said, "You look cute in that uniform," He said quickly as you opened your mouth. Your brain stopped functioning momentarily at his compliment, and seeing the effect his words had on you had him giving you a toothy grin that your face warmed at, "You work here often?" He added playfully,

"Wha- shut up, stop flirting with me on the job," You scolded, trying to ignore the sudden wave of nerves that made your heart hammer in your chest and your hands shake slightly, "You are gonna help me make a new smoothie,"

"Ugh," He groaned playfully, walking backwards a few slow steps and throwing his head back in mock annoyance, "This is what you need my help with?" He asked, glancing back at you with a grimace,

"I'll drink it after," You promised. At that, his smirk returned, and your own face dropped at the look on his face, "Oh God, Eddie please," You smiled slightly as his eyes flicked over the fruits with a wicked look, "Please don't make it super gross- remember that you love me," You regretted the proposition almost instantly,

"Damn- here I was about to ask you if you had any spoiled milk on tap," He teased, glancing up at you. You glared back at him over the glass as he only smirked,

"Eddie," You warned playfully, "I'm not gonna drink a spoiled-milk smoothie,"

"But you said you'd drink the smoothie I made!"

"Not if I'll die!"

"You won't die from drinking spoiled milk- I got so high once I didn't even realise it was off," Your eyes widened at his statement,

"Eddie!" You exclaimed in alarm,

"What!?" He matched your surprised tone with a large grin,

"You c- please tell me you didn't drink spoiled milk-"

"Babe- it was, like, a year ago-"

"A year ago!?" You laughed loudly,

"Hey! It's not my fault!"

"How is it not your own fault that you almost drank spoiled milk, Eds?" You laughed, shaking your head as you grabbed a clean scoop to measure the ingredients with. He sighed softly, shrugging and shaking his head,

"I... Guess I didn't have you to yell at me back then," He said with a small smile. You only hummed with a nod, glancing over the fruits before glancing back at him,

"Right," You breathed, "So-" The sudden jingle of the bell behind him made you jump slightly, and you moved to the side to see who entered, "Oh! Hi Max," You waved with a small smile, "We're about to close. You came here to try out the smoothies?" You asked,

"Uh, no," She said, walking closer to the two of you, "I forgot you work here... It's good I found this place," She glanced around the colourful establishment, stopping next to Eddie, "it just started raining like, really bad," She pointed outside. You could faintly hear the harsh tapping of the rain against roof and glass, lashing against the window outside,

"Damn," You huffed, "That's shitty... Good thing Munson drove here and we can hitch a ride," You winked at her before glancing back at Eddie,

"Yeah, or else you'd be fucked, babe," He smirked at you,

"I'd just call you to come and pick me up," You said with a shrug,

"Would I answer it though?" He teased, leaning his arm on the glass display,

"Get off the display, Eds, you know you can't lean on it," You scolded, sending him a soft glare. You looked back at Max. Since your evening at the arcade, you'd hung out with her almost every day, getting to know her better. Before you knew it, the three of you had somehow become good friends with her. At least you felt that way. As the summer grew warmer, you found it strange she wasn't leaving home to hang out in town like everyone else, which only prompted you to try and change her dull mood. Whether it was going on walks through the forest behind the trailer park or taking her grocery shopping with you, at least she was there and having a good time,

"You're no fun," He huffs, rolling his eyes and glancing at Max. He holds his hand out for her to high-five, before straightening, "You wanna help us?" He offers, nodding his head to you,

"Is it interesting?" She asks,

"I asked Eddie to help me with a new smoothie. Maybe you could give better suggestions than spoiled milk," You stuck your tongue out slightly, grinning brightly as she let out a small laugh and walked closer to the glass display, looking over the fruits, "Pick anything and I'll blend it up," You said, "I have to get rid of these somehow- so they're either going in the trash, or in a cup," You said, popping the 'p', "Besides, I need to think of a new summer flavour to go with the Berry one," You loosely gesture behind you,

"Hmm..." She hummed curiously, narrowing her eyes. You could almost see the gears turning in her head as she studied the fruits,

"And they have to drink it after," Eddie quickly chimed in, clicking his fingers as he pointed at you and smirking as Max looked up at him with a surprised expression. A wide smile spread across her face,

"Eddie, why?" You said with a sigh, though smiled at the way Max seemed to light up,

"What? You omitted a very interesting detail that I feel like our friend should know about," He shrugged, glancing back at Max and winking. She turned back to the display, glancing over the fruits once more,

"Are those blood oranges?" She asked, pointing to the red slices. You gave her a short nod, "Okay- add those, and those regular oranges too," She pointed to them, a finger tapping against the glass gently as you scooped the fruit and loaded them into a blender, "Uhh... Do you have juices?" She asked, glancing behind you,

"Apple, orange, lemon, lime, cranberry, carrot-" You listed them off,

"Okay," She quickly cut you off, "Add lemon, orange and lime," She grinned,

"Damn, Red," Eddie laughed, watching you measure out small increments of juice to add to the drink, "Hey babe?" He called your attention, "Add some cran juice in there too," He nodded to you, before looking at Max, "It makes it red so it looks like blood," He told her,

"Cool," She said, watching as you added the crimson juice,

"Please tell me that's it," You begged, glancing at the fruit and juice in the blender with a grimace, before glancing up at Max,

"Mmm... Add some more lemon juice," She suggested, laughing as you made a face,

"Oh, God..." You sighed, feeling like your life was flashing before your eyes as you uncapped the lemon juice and poured in a small amount, "Good enough?"

"Add more," Max smiled; Eddie laughed beside her,

"How about Max just tells you when to stop, babe?" He suggested, earning a glare from you. You sighed as he blew you a playful kiss, and glanced at the juice rapidly filling the rest of the blender,

"Max... Max, please... For the love of God!" Your eyes widened, "You know it was my idea we went to the arcade, we could go again-"

"Stop!" She quickly says as you stop pouring the juice with a relieved sigh, "Yeah, that's good," She smiled, watching you patiently. With a huff, you moved to the blenders, turning it on and watching the juice swirl around, grimacing at the red-orange colour the smoothie became,

"Do you think this'll melt my teeth?" You asked once it was done, and the loud noise subsided. You dumped the contents into a cup and grabbed a few straws, grimacing as you set the things down on the counter for them,

"Nah- it's not acid," Eddie murmured, leaning his elbow on the counter as he glanced at the smoothie, then up at you. Max joined him, putting her hands on the counter and watching you expectantly,

"Eddie, babe," You shook your head, "This is basically pure citric acid," You smiled softly, pointing at the cup, "Like citrus? Citrus fruits?" You clarified for him,

"Oh... Shit, I guess it is acid..." Worry drew his brows together as he glanced at the drink again, "Should you be drinking it then?" He asked,

"Didn't you force me to?" You smiled, glancing at Max. She smiled, nodding eagerly,

"Drink it; drink it," She chanted eagerly. With a reluctant sigh, you grabbed one of the straws, sticking it in the cup. You braced yourself, glancing between the two,

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Eddie asked, still clearly worried for you. You looked down at the cup, then put on a dramatically sad face,

"If I die... Remember me by this-" You held the cup up in the air, "-Very... Gross acid drink," You huffed, muttering 'cheers' before wrapping your lips around the tip of the straw and drinking. As soon as the contents hit your tongue, you squeaked, cringing at how sour it was and making a face. Usually, you were fine with sour if there was sugar there too, but this was... Purse acid. Max began to laugh hard, and you faintly heard Eddie chuckle, "God- Jesus-" You muttered to yourself,

"Good?" Max grinned as you set the cup back down,

"Delicious," You groaned, disappearing in the back quickly to grab some water, returning and drinking eagerly. At least Max thought it was hilarious,

"What's it taste like?" She asked,

"Like you... You got a million warheads and shoved them all in your mouth at once," You said, pulling the straw out and tapping it gently on the rim to get the contents out the bottom,

"Yuck," Max grinned, "How many do you usually eat?" She asked,

"I can barely get through a pack. They just make me feel like my teeth will fall out," You smiled softly, before glancing at your boyfriend, "Eddie can't even eat one," You grinned,

"Babe, stop exposing me," He hissed playfully, "I can't believe you even drunk that," He glanced at the drink, cringing,

"In that case, I think it's only fair you guys drink it too," You smirked, picking two more straws up from where you had set them down on the counter and holding them out to the two,

"Oh God, no," Max laughed, glancing at Eddie, "We are not drinking that,"

"C'mon Mayfield- you a pussy?" You teased, leaning your arm on the counter, "C'mon. Melt your tongue; melt your tongue," You grinned,

"No- I'm not gonna melt my t-"

"Nah, we gotta drink that now," Eddie said, grabbing the straws from you and handing one out to her, "It's all bloody and tongue melty," He grinned,

"Why would you willingly drink that?" Max asked, shaking her head, "And... Melt your tongue?"

"Cause it sounds badass?" He said, as if it was obvious, "C'mon, Red," He grinned,

"No- I'm not drinking that crap," She smiled,

"Suit yourself," Eddie shrugged, before sticking his straw into the juice and taking a drink, "Agh- oh God," He grumbled, reaching out to grab the water from your hands and drinking it,

"Hey!"

"Ugh- ew... That's horrid," He cringed, "Max, you truly are an evil genius," he grumbled,

"Yeah. You got a name for this horrific creation?" You smiled, "I reckon it'll be a big summer favourite," You said sarcastically,

"What about..." She mumbled,

"Death Acid!" Eddie said excitedly, seemingly recovered from the smoothie,

"Eddie, no one but you would drink something marketed as 'Death Acid'," You smiled at him,

"What about just 'Citric Acid'?" Max suggests,

"'Citric Death Acid'!" Eddie grinned, glancing from the red-head to you, "People might as well know what they're signing up for when they buy it, right?" He shrugged,

"Am I supposed to make them sign a waiver not to sue if their tongue does melt off or they die?" You laughed, "God... This really was gross- props to you Max, if I ever want a nasty drink, I'll ask for your help," You smiled,

"Thanks," She nodded,

"Well," Eddie said, standing straight, "At least there's one good thing that came from this," He announced,

"What's that?" You asked, raising your brows. What possible good could come from a disgusting sour drink?

"Your shift's over," Eddie smiled. Glancing over at the clock, you noticed it was, in fact, the end of your shift,

"Oh fuck yeah," you grinned to yourself, glancing over the fruits in the bins, "Lemme clean up quickly and we can go," You told them, turning to grab a garbage bag, "Oh! By the way, Max, are you hungry?" You asked,

"Uh, kinda?" She shrugged, "I ate breakfast before I went to town," She said. At least she was taking care of herself and leaving home more often,

"No lunch yet?" You asked as you dumped the bins out into the bag,

"No," She shook her head, "Things are too expensive," She huffed. You nodded quietly in agreement, soon finishing the cleaning,

"Gimmie a sec, I have something in the back," You tell her, briefly leaving. You throw the trash bag away before rummaging through your jacket and returning with a ziplock bag. With a smile, you extend it over the glass display for her to take,

"What's... I'm not gonna take handouts," She frowns at you. Quickly shaking your head, you shake the bag,

"It's not handouts, Max," You assure her "Sam's wife made too many cookies and he brought them into work. I already at too many so here. You can have the ones I saved," You told her, grinning as Eddie snatched the bag from you and eagerly opened it while you went to put the bins into the dishwasher,

"She makes the best cookies," Eddie assured Max, sticking one of the cookies in his mouth and moving the open bag in her direction, "C'mon!" The words were muffled by the cookie between his lips. Gingerly, she took one, smelling it before she took a bite,

"Oh wow," She murmured,

"Told you they were great," You smile to yourself as you move to clean the used blender. You'd already cleaned the others thoroughly considering the lack of customers, "His wife used to work in a bakery- a small family business out of town- before she relocated to Hawkins with Sam," You explained, "She's super talented. She made me a birthday cake once- remember that one Eddie?" You glanced at him over your shoulder, watching him grin and nod his head energetically at you. There was another half-bitten cookie in his hand, and he could only hum over the mouthful,

"First time I ever had red velvet," He said once he finished the bite, widening his eyes in dramatic effect, "Had no clue it was chocolate either. It was a wild day," He grins to himself,

"Yeah, you ate most of it," You laughed to yourself, "Then got sick and threw up red everywhere," You cringed, whipping down the counters,

"Yuck," Max cringed,

"Yeah, yuck," You nodded to yourself,

"Well it looked cool," Eddie shrugs, shoving the rest of the cookie into his mouth and reaching in the bag for another,

"It really didn't," You frown at Max as you come to clean off the glass and the counter,

"Is that your third one?" She asks Eddie, bumping hands with him as she reaches for one of the last cookies in the bag,

"No," Eddie says too quickly, grinning as Max attempts to snatch the bag from him, "Hey!" he grins, "You leave some for me!" You heard him as you disappear into the back again,

"They gave the cookies to me, Eddie!" She argued, "And you ate like... All of them!" She protests,

"Yeah, well they're my partner!" He argued back, the comment making you smile. You could hear them from the small room your jacket and bag were in, faintly arguing about the last cookie and laughing at one another. Once you removed the apron and visor, you smoothed down the work shirt and clocked out, setting your apron and visor to the side. With a sigh, you grab your bag, quickly ensuring nothing had been stolen, before reemerging from the room.

Max and Eddie had moved to the small table Eddie had been sitting at before. They both had half a cookie in their hand, and Eddie playfully tapped his against hers with a 'cheers' before eating his. Max laughed slightly, muttering a 'cheers', but before she could eat hers, he snatched it from her grip and laughed at her open-mouthed expression,

"Hey!" She exclaims, reaching across the table for it,

"Ready to go home?" Eddie asks, noticing you as you approached and holding the cookie away from her,

"You kids still arguing?" You teased, twirling the shop keys in your fingers as you moved behind the counter to turn off the coolers and overhead display lights,

"He stole the last cookie," Max complained to you, chair scraping against the tile floor as she stood,

"You were too slow!" He answers back, smirking. As you walk towards them, you hold your hand out, and he places the half in your palm. You then hand the half back to Max, earning a huff from your boyfriend, "I saved that for you, you know," He smiles as he stands too, walking from the table and pulling his own van keys out,

"Do you have any more?" Max asks from beside you,

"Not right now, Red," You tell her, whipping your crumb-covered hand on your work pants, "Grace is generous and all but she only got us two bags- the other went to Micheal. I had to hide mine just so he wouldn't eat them again," You rolled your eyes, "But I'll definitely ask for some extra's for you next time," You promised her, "Maybe I'll even score a bag all to yourself," You said as you went back to lock the register,

"Nice," She smiles,

"What about me?" Eddie asked, grabbing your hand once you joined them and pulling you to the door. He tried twirling the keys like you had, only to drop them unceremoniously,

"You ate almost all of them," Max whines,

"No I didn't," Eddie smirks, flipping the 'We're Open' sign to say 'Sorry! We're Closed' for you as you turned off the lights,

"But you did!" She argued, "I watched you eat them in front of me,"

"You have no proof, Red," He raises his brows, opening the door for you both. Max grabs the skateboard she had left leaning against the wall next to it, ducking under his arm and standing in the shelter of the roof,

"I watched you!" She protested, "That's my proof!" You laugh at their bickering, following them outside as you glance through the rain and dark clouds overhead. Your eyes quickly find Eddie's van, parked further down the street in case Sam was nearby. With a small sigh, you turned to lock the door and pull down the shutters as well, "Shit. Are we gonna have to run?" She asks, also spotting the van,

"Yeah, looks like it," You muttered, "But it's like my dad always said- you just have to run between the raindrops," You smiled to yourself,

"That's not physically possible," Max complained, "My walkman'll wet and it'll be busted... I can't afford a new one," She muttered to herself, fiddling with the device attached to her hip,

"Here!" Eddie said, removing his jacket and nodding for Max to join him, "We can hold this over our heads and make a run for it," He grinned at her, "That offers protection right?" He says, throwing the jacket over his head,

"Or you can just run to your van and drive it closer to us?" You suggest, standing closer to Max and crossing your arms,

"Yeah, that's a far better idea. Besides, what if one of us falls?" She asks, glancing up at you. You nod affirmatively,

"We leave you to die," Eddie says dramatically, cackling to himself as you roll your eyes,

"Between the three of us, I think you're the one most likely to fall," You tell him, grinning as Max laughs loudly and Eddie cast you a glare,

"Do I need to remind you that I have the keys and I could just leave you two behind?" He adjusts the leather jacket so it covers his hair,

"Eddie, you wouldn't dare leave us here," You say seriously, giving him the best glare you can, even if your smile betrays you. Something about him standing with the jacket over his head looks so strange, yet endearing to you,

"Or what? Huh? What're you gonna do?" He teases, nodding his head at you. You can't really think of anything, mind going blank as he stares down at you with his round doe eyes, creased slightly from the way he smiles. He tilts his head to the side slightly, watching you, and grinning when he notices he's captured your attention,

"We'll kick your ass," Max pipes up, holding the skateboard up. Red was inseparable with that thing, she'd never break it on purpose... Would she? Glancing back at Eddie, you catch him playfully widening his eyes

"Shit, you're not messing around, huh, Red?" He smirks, moving from you to be still sheltered under the roof, but closer to where the van is. Max sets the board back under her arm,

"Yeah," She nods as Eddie glances dramatically out into the rain,

"Am I being held hostage then?" He asks, glancing down at her with a slight smile,

"Uh, yeah," She says,

"I'm not taking any risks then," He says, before looking back towards you. You nod to the van, expectantly, but find yourself surprised as he smirks and leans closer to press a quick kiss to your lips. Max lets out a small disgusted groan, and you can almost picture her rolling her eyes. When he pulls away, his face turns serious and he gives you a small nod,

"If I don't make it, remember me as the Valiant-"

"Eddie, there's no time for big fancy speeches, just get the car!" You laugh as he glares at you for interrupting again, "Fine, fine. Go be our valiant hero," You rolled your eyes at his slight wink, before moving from the shelter and running to his van. You and Max both watch him as he runs down the street. She's about to say something when Eddie slips on the wet sidewalk, catching himself before he falls, but still yelping dramatically in the near-empty street. It was enough to echo, and make the two of you laugh loudly at the comical sight,

"That's your boyfriend you know," Max reminds you. She says it to tease you, but you smile proudly at the reminder,

"Uhuh. He sure is," You glance at her. She looks away quickly, pretending to look busy examining her skateboard, "Do you have anyone you like like that, Red?" You ask. The soft expression on her face hards as she shakes her head quickly,

"No," She said defensively. Though you give her a sceptical look, you don't push further. Glancing up, you smile again as Eddie pulls up in front of you,

"C'mon," You said, patting her shoulder and quickly running the short distance to the van. As you approach, you see Eddie leaning over to open the passenger side door for you. Hopping in, you glance over your shoulder, seeing Max in the back and hearing the door shut after her, "Thanks Eds," You smile brightly as he drives off,

"No problem- get your seatbelts on I don't wanna get pulled over," He said, a small smile on his lips as he glances in the rearview at Max,

"How responsible of you," You teased him, though clicking your seatbelt into place,

"Yeah responsible," He says sarcastically, giving you a look. Moving your legs to get comfortable, you frown as you kicked something metal. Tilting your head, you noticed the small metal case next to your bag, "Brought lunch to work today, babe," He says playfully, noticing you noticed the 'lunchbox' he stored his drugs in,

"I see why you're being extra careful now," You nod in understanding, leaning over to mess with the radio,

"Yeah! The roads are wet- there's a far larger risk of crashing when it's raining," He jokes, grinning at you,

"Of course," You rolled your eyes, turning up the Judas Priest song playing,

"You agree with me, right Max?" He asks loudly over the song, "You skate, you'll know this is dangerous,"

"Huh? Oh yeah, way more dangerous with wet roads," She nodded, "Less uh... Drag," She shrugs,

"Mhm," Eddie casts you another glance, meeting your eyes momentarily, before focusing on the road and falling quiet. It appears you were all enjoyers of the sound of rain in the car, the water pleasantly hitting the windows and rapidly cascading down the glass, obscuring the vacant streets of Hawkins from view. The rain was accompanied by the noise of the van, and Eddie's quiet hums to whatever song played now. You really couldn't focus, feeling too calm and tired from the hours spent up on your feet making smoothies. The general calmness and gentle movements of the van began to lull you to sleep. Work always had you exhausted but after sitting on the couch and drinking half a bottle of water or beer, you'd be back on your feet doing house chores. Right now, all you wanted to do was sleep, and you almost did. You could feel your eyes drooping closed and the world melting away around you...

"I have to head home- I'll see you later though!" Max yelled from behind you, jolting you out of your doze. Out of the rearview mirror, you could see her quickly grabbing her skateboard and shoving the door open,

"We'll see you later," Eddie said from beside you before she left, slamming the door and running the short distance to her trailer. You blinked, realising you were outside her trailer. You could see her unlock the door, turn to wave at you both, before disappearing inside. You lifted your hand and waved back, before yawning as Eddie started the van again, pulling away from the front of the trailers and parking the van across them in front of his, "You sleep well?" He asked, a hint of amusement in his tone, though you appreciated the gentleness of it,

"I didn't sleep at all," You admitted, rubbing your eyes tiredly and sighing as the minimal make-up you wore rubbed off on your hand. It was the truth- it hadn't felt like sleep at all. More like time travel or something, "But I think I have an idea for what we can do later,- I feel inspired," You said, glancing over at Eddie as he turned off the engine. The music was still playing at a much quieter volume than when you'd left work. He leaned back in his seat, stretching his arms above his head. His dark grey AC/DC shirt rose slightly, exposing the skin of his lower abdomen to you. Your eyes lingered on the glimpse of the dark happy trail on his abdomen and the soft v-lines leading down below his dark jeans. A soft, pleasant smile made its way onto your lips,

"Oh?" He glanced over at you with a matching smile, catching your stare. Your cheeks heated and you glanced away in embarrassment, "And what's that?" He asked, leaning forwards again and setting his chin on the arm he slung on the wheel,

"We... Should try baking cookies," You said. He snorted in amusement at your proposal, turning his head and leaning back to look in his overhead mirror so he could mess with his bangs, "What?" You asked,

"I can't believe it. After all these years, I am allowed back in the kitchen," He says dramatically, eyes falling shut. You rolled your eyes, leaning over and flicking his arm playfully. At that, he looked at you,

"Maybe I should restate- you get to watch me bake," You smile,

"Can I get baked while you bake?" he asks playfully,

"Oh my god," You laugh, "Two different types of baking?" You suggest, amused,

"Mhm- and if I get the munchies, I'll just eat the cookie dough," he grins,

"You'll get sick!" You protest, "At least wait till they're baked," You plead, reaching out your hand to him. He simply smiles, sitting up and moving his hand against yours so your palms press together. You can feel the gentle warmth of his skin against yours. It feels comforting after a long and mostly boring workday- paired with the rain pouring outside, still gently tapping against the roof of the van makes you aware of the heaviness in your eyes. And when Eddie yawns, you can't help but yawn along with him,

"Long day, mm?" He hums, shifting his fingers so they'd slot between yours and gently squeezing your hands,

"Mmmh," You hum back, gently squeezing his hand back and watching his smile widen slightly, "I'm really tired," You admit to him,

"Yeah," He sighs back, "You wanna go inside and take a nap before you get to your baking?" He asks, gesturing to his trailer visible through the front window,

"Sure," You smile, though neither of you makes an effort to move. You grin at that, letting out another heavy sigh and glancing over your shoulder at the vacant backseat, "You still got that blanket in here?" You ask,

"You wanna sleep here?" He raises his brows,

"It's raining so bad... And I don't wanna move that far," You whine, looking back at him with a small frown. He laughs to himself, before unbuckling his seatbelt and turning in his seat and glancing over the seats,

"Mmmh, gimmie a sec," He mutters to you, letting go of your hand so he can move into the back with surprising swiftness and reaching over the backseats. Soon enough, you also unbuckle your seatbelt, joining him in the back toeing off your shoes so they'd fall to the floor. As you sit next to him, waiting patiently for him to put the seats back. You glanced over at the foggy window, you smile at the small smiley face Max must have drawn on the glass. Pressing your finger to the cool glass, you draw your own smile next to hers, though add a small tongue poking out.

Before long, Eddie hands you the red blanket, finishing messing with the backseats so they'd go all the way back. When he turns back to you, he smiles at the sight of you with the blanket now draped over your head and shoulders. Silently, he reaches out to brush some hair that had fallen into your face,

"You look cute," He finally says, grinning at your bashful smile,

"And you look tired... But still pretty," You respond, grinning as he murmurs a 'thanks' and leans forward to kiss you, hand moving up to touch your cheek. It was enough to pull you from where you were leaning back to lean forward, setting a hand on his shoulder so you can be closer. His lips were soft and gentle as they moved against yours. With a small hum, you pulled away to yawn, causing him to laugh,

"Come here, sleepyhead," Eddie says to you quietly, shifting so he can lay down and stretch his legs. You lay on top of him, happily humming as his hands quickly wrap around you, moving under the blanket to draw you closer. His hands quickly tangle themselves in your hair, playing with the strands and further aiding you in falling asleep. Before you drift off, you feel his lips ghost your forehead, and his voice murmuring a gentle 'I love you'.

.

"You know I always thought you were a very kind and interesting person," The gentle vibrations of his chest rouse you from your nap. Sounds register first, considering you're still too tired to open your eyes. The rain is still pounding away outside against the van, and you can faintly hear the beating of his heart from where your head lays against his chest. 

Eddie has a very specific talent of being able to talk about everything and nothing, and yet still somehow make it entertaining to listen to- though annoying on certain occasions, it's usually pleasant, considering your brain was only starting to wake up now, 

"Even before we started hanging out so much, I thought wow... I should talk to them. Man am I glad I met you," He sighs, "You really made high school more interesting," You could make out the gentle smile in his voice. His fingers were gently running through your hair and playing with it, as his other hand gently rests on your clothed shoulder, caressing you, "And you don't even know how glad I am that you came back to me... Came back here. And believe me, I really don't mind you using me as a pillow, but I'd love to get up now," You couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at his words, sleepy brain betraying you. You could listen to him talk like this forever, "How long have you been awake?" He asks, sounding more amused than annoyed. Maybe a little shocked,

"Only a couple of moments," You admit, lifting your head and rubbing the sleep from your eyes. With a tired smile that he quickly reciprocated, you leaned forward to kiss him gently, "Don't get used to me being back here. We're leaving together, remember?" You said, watching him grin. At some point a couple of weeks ago, you had a long conversation about what you were going to do in the future. You made it clear you didn't want to quit college and you knew he still had ties here in Hawkins- being the DM of Hellfire, his uncle, his band and the fact that he still had to graduate all kept him from leaving with you in August. Leaving again was inevitable for you, but you promised to call him whenever you could. 

The conversation quickly shifted to when Eddie graduates, and he quickly told you he'd want to leave with you. It shocked you, but seeing him decide to finally take charge of his life and try to do something with it made you happy. The fact that he'd be a part of your future in the first place made you happy. You'd mentioned an apartment building that was close to your college- you'd been to parties there a few times and saw a few vacant rooms on flyers. And before long, you had made plans for Eddie and you to drive up there at the end of summer and look around at the nearby available places together. It'd save you tonnes of money on a bus fare to Franklin, and you'd get to stay with him for a few more days. And you were just looking for now- nothing final... Though the idea of living with Eddie... Made you happy,

"Ahhh yes," He smiled, "We have the apartment showing uh... When again?" You hummed,

"The 26th," You reminded, "Means we have to leave around the 20th. And my semester starts on the 30th," You finished, watching him give an exaggerated nod to each statement you made, "You get to come to Franklin with me," You added with a grin, sitting up to stretch your arms over your head and let out a small sigh as the tension left your shoulders,

"Do I get to see your dorm?" Eddie asks playfully, sitting up in front of you and making sure your faces were close by,

"Mmm. If you behave," You tease, leaning forward to touch your nose to his. Before he could kiss you, you moved your head to the side, studying the window as his lips planted themselves against your cheek,

"It's still raining," You point out, glancing at the accumulated rain drops over the windows,

"Yeah, I can see," He says. You feel one of his hands moving onto your arm, gently tugging on your sleeves, "Come here," He says, and as you turn your head, his lips quickly meet yours. You relax into the kiss, though pull back too quickly for his liking. He lets out a playful groan, watching as you turned your head back to the window, 

"I wonder how much time has passed," You sigh,

"I don't care," He huffs next to you. You turn your head to look at him, surprised to find him already staring at you. As you tilt your head at him quizzically, he grins, silent as he mimics you, tilting his head to the side with a bright smile on his face. Eddie sighs again, straightening and wrapping his arms around your middle, drawing you closer to him so he could hug you tightly. He quickly buried his head in your neck so his hair tickled your skin gently,

"Yours or mine?" He asks into your skin after going quiet for a moment,

"Mine. I'm baking, remember?" You remind as he chuckles to himself,

"Right," He hums. Pulling back to look at him, you move your hand on his face, letting the pad of your thumb gently glide over his skin, delicately tracing the bags under his eyes with a pinched brow,

"Are you still tired, Eddie?" You ask him, tilting your head to kiss the other side of his face, "We've been sleeping for like-" You reach down to take hold of his hand, tilting it and your head to try and see the numbers on his watch, "-Like an hour and a half," You raise your brows, glancing back at him,

"I'm never tired," He says, interlocking your fingers together and straightening to prove it. One of his arms stays wrapped around you, while the other interlocks with yours. He brings your hand up to press a kiss to a vein on the back of your hand, swiping his thumb over the skin his lips had touched, "Remember? I don't sleep," He says playfully,

"You usually pass out at 3 am and wake up at 3 pm Eddie," You narrow your eyes,

"At least I'm consistent," He grins,

"Right. I'm so proud," You say sarcastically, squeezing his hand, "We should go now," You tell him reluctantly, letting go and moving to clamber out of the back,

"Hey," Eddie's hand grabs yours before you can open the door. When you turn your head, his wide eyes meet yours and he smiles again, "Since it's still raining, did you want to have a huge dramatic kiss in the rain?" You tilt your head a little at his proposal, a smile making its way onto your face,

"Couples usually only do that after arguments," You say, then glance towards his trailer, "We can kiss just fine in there," You smile

"Good thing we're not a usual couple," He grins, "Come on- it'll be romantic or whatever," He shrugs, almost bashfully, 

"My, my, Eddie Munson," You smile brightly, "I never took you as the romantic type," You tease, grinning as he moves closer to you so his nose touches yours, 

"I can be persuaded. With the right person," He mutters to you, quiet so only you hear. He inclines his head towards the door, nodding for you to open it. He already had your bag in his other hand, too far for you to take back from him. You'd just have to let him carry it for you. When you step out into the rain, you're immediately soaked, though you laugh softly as he keeps a tight hold on your hand so you can't book it to either of your trailers,

"Eddie come on!!" You say to him urgently, shaking his arm as he seems to take forever to get out of the van, "I'm getting soaked!"

"Not until I get that kiss," He smirks, turning to face you. His hold on your hand is tight, and your skin and clothes are drenched in water droplets, running down to your clasped fingers. Eddie's hair is quickly losing its volume and the ends are dripping onto his shoulders; his eyelashes are clumping together with water beautifully, the excess running down his cheeks like tears. The grey shirt he's wearing quickly becomes black and sticks to his chest, rising and falling rapidly as he watches you expectantly. Then he's pressing a hand against your cheek and he's leaning closer until his warm lips are against yours.

It's so much different to kissing in the shower. The clothes and the water temperature are the main and obvious differences- but you get it now. Why couples kiss in the rain like this. How kissing in the rain isn't just metaphorical pathetic fallacy to show the turbulence and disorder relationships can bring... Maybe you watch too many movies.

This kiss isn't like that. It feels refreshing. It's gentle and hard all at the same time- the rain urging you to seek shelter from the wet and the cold, but Eddie's hands and lips keep you firmly in place. Before long, your hands are moving on their own: touching his cheek; touching his neck; anything to pull him closer and seek out the warmth his tongue is pressing to your own. Where you are desperate, he is soft; gently holding you, one hand cupping your cheek while the other curls around your waist to secure you close to him.

You've kissed him plenty since your first time weeks ago, just a few feet away on the playground behind you, and they've all felt great, but if anything from your relationship was pulled straight from a fantasy, it was defiantly this. And soon enough, the world just fades away and the rain stops bothering you. Because all that matters is him. All that matters is Eddie's lips against your own. His kiss, his love for you, was more important than the rain.

When it felt like you can't breathe anymore, you pull away, lips parted and tinted pink, heavy breaths escaping between them. The ice-cold rain running down your face soothes them, dipping down over them and over your chin. His forehead finds yours, giving your face some relief from the onslaught of water droplets and a clear view of his face. More rain slides down his curls and lands on your cheeks, gliding down your face like tears. His hold on your waist tightens as he shivers slightly against you, the skin on his arms covered in goosebumps from the wind whispering around you. And when he opens his eyes to finally meet yours, with those big brown doe eyes of his, it all feels so real. It's not a fantasy. He's there and you can see it all in his eyes; the love, the adoration- all for you.

In truth, you could stay out here in the rain all day and night if it meant he could look at you like that all the time,

"That..." His words were whispery and quiet, and you could barely hear him over the rain pounding against the metal of the van and the steel roof of the trailer. If you believed hard enough, you'd think you quite literally took his breath away. It was almost as if the kiss had enchanted him as well, "Was..." He pulls away further just to look at you, eyes darting over your wet face. Now you didn't have him to shelter you from the rain, the heavier drops of water hit your head and face,

"Yeah," Your own voice seems to be gone too, having floated away somewhere with the swirling winds, or washed away with the droplets running down your skin, "Wow," You hiss, feeling his hand gently squeeze your arm. When had it moved up there? "Let's go inside- we'll catch colds," You urged, tugging him towards his trailer and pulling him under the small roof for shelter. There was a bright smile on your face despite the dreary weather surrounding you, and with a quick glance at Eddie, you could see a similar smile on his lips. You mentally kicked yourself for not kissing him like that sooner as you sought shelter in the trailer, realising you were shaking now in your soaked uniform,

"Here, let's get you something dry," He mutters, discarding his jacket on a clothing rack and nodding for you to follow him to his room and closing the door as you sat on his bed, waiting patiently,

"Can you get me a towel too?" You ask as you watch him glance through his closet, then focus on a laundry bin on the ground beneath his feet. He nods silently, and you smile at the sight of his wet hair dripping on the clothes at the top of the pile in the bin. You'd really lost track of how long you were out there just kissing. You could still feel your lips buzzing pleasantly when you pressed your fingers to them,

"Here- this'll do, right?" He smiles, throwing a Black Sabbath shirt over as he pulled out a Judas Priest one. You remove your fingers from your lips, picking up the shirt and opening your mouth to thank him. In awe, you watched as he removed the dark grey shirt, pulling a face at the wet material in his hands. You allow yourself to admire the freckles and spots on his back, along with the dip of his spine and faint, healed scratch marks on his shoulder blades, healed and only visible when they caught the light. Then all too soon, he leaves the room to likely get towels. Blinking you quickly unbutton your shirt and let it plop to the floor.

You'd have to try making out in the rain more often if it left you feeling this giddy and light afterwards,

"Here," He returns to hand you a towel, already drying his frizzy hair with one and huffing as he moves to look in the mirror hung on the wall behind his guitar, and among the myriad of posters. You let out a gentle laugh at the sight of his messy curls, drying your own hair, face and damp body, "What?" He asks in mock offence, sending you a glance,

"Your hair," You grin as he moves the towel away from his face and frowns at his reflection, "It looks funny," You tell him, before looking down at you with a mock glare,

"You tell anyone about this; you're dead, baby," He says non-threateningly as you slip his shirt over your head. He can't hold the glare, as much as he wants, a soft smile betraying his threat at the sight of you in his clothes,

"I'm terrified," You say with a yawn, handing the damp towel back to him. He doesn't take it, letting it fall to his floor and pile amongst all the other clothes he has strewn around. He briefly glances at it, kicking it away from his feet, before looking back in the reflection of the mirror. He changed shirts too, though you only notice the Slayer shirt now, the peak of the metal design showing in his reflection. 

"Mhm, good," He hums more to himself with a grin. He sighs, reaching a hand up to mess with his hair but grimacing at how much more volume there is now, "I wish I knew where my hairbrush was," He huffs, glancing down at the bedside table and messing with a few things on the surface, 

"Yeah, it'd be a miracle to find anything in this mess," You agree, standing and walking to his desk to try and find the brush. Maybe you'd have to lend him one of your own? You find yourself a little surprised to find a few hairbands on the desk, sneakily stealing one and slipping it around your wrist, 

"Hey, no. It's not mess; it's organised chaos," He smiles at his reflection, still messing with his hair, 

"Uhuh," You raise your brows with a snort, glancing to the open window. You close it, frowning at the raindrops that had filtered in and plucking the ashtray roughly balanced on the side of the windowsill so it doesn't go toppling into his room and send the ash and finished butts flying. Instead, you move and throw it in the empty trash bin by his desk, glancing over the crumpled sheets of paper surrounding the trash, "What're these?" You ask, glancing over your shoulder as you straighten, setting the empty ashtray to the side. A smile breaks over your lips to find him staring at you with wide eyes, puffy hair and parted pink lips, "You stare a lot Eds," You point out to him,

"You're fun to stare at," He tells you, "And uh... Don't look at those- I missed throwing them in. Clearly, I'm a natural athlete," He jokes, moving over to you, as you glance at the crumpled paper, "They're nothing, really. Wasted paper, right?" He grabs your hand to pull you back to him. You set a hand on his chest as he wraps around your waist, "And besides, I'm making up for all the times I've caught you staring," He tells you, dipping his head to try and kiss you. Reluctantly, you place your fingers against his lips, leaving him confused,

"I have cookies to bake," You tell in a soft, teasing voice. He rolls his eyes, straightening up and taking your wrist gently in his hand to pull it from his mouth,

"Are you free after?" He asks, tilting his head to the side curiously,

"Yeah, I don't have anything planned. Maybe I'll watch a movie?" You shrug,

"What movie?" He asks interested. You shrug again,

"I don't know- I haven't looked at my selection in a while... And I don't think I ever returned that 'Jaws' VHS back to Home Video," You glanced away from him cringing, thinking hard, "If I find it, you'll have to come with me to return it," You say with a sigh, gaze falling on to your joint hands, "Maybe Steve and Robin'll go easy on me if they see you there," Eddie snorts at that, 

"Why would they?" He asks with a slight smirk, 

"Your charming personality!" You say with a matching smirk, watching as he laughs. He's still holding on to your hand, though he's twisted your arm gently and is running his thumb back and forth over your wrist in a soft, tender motion. The action has you horrifically distracted and enamoured, so when he halts his movements, you glance up to catch him laughing, "What?" you ask obliviously,

"Am I really that distracting?" He teases as you pull your hand away, albeit reluctantly, and fold your arms, "Hey, babe come on. You were totally not listening to a word I said," He grins as you sidestep him and take a few steps towards the open door of his room,

"I was listening," You defend yourself,

"Then what did I say?" He asks, moving closer to you and watching you expectantly, brows raised and a knowing smirk on his lips. At your silence, he shakes his head, "Knew it,"

"Shut up, Munson," You say playfully, turning again to walk from the room,

"I asked-" He says quickly, halting your steps and causing you to turn. You see him stepping to his clothes-covered chair and plucking a bright red flannel shirt loosely slung over the back, "-If I take you to return it, will you let me pick the movie?" He smiles as he stops in front of you, standing almost impossibly close. If you weren't dating him and didn't know him for almost six years, you'd likely be intimidated. Though from the gentle, loving smile on his face and the way his eyes completely captivate yours, it's hard to think of him as anything other than beautiful,

"Sure," You say, causing his smile to brighten and light up his face. He leans down again, and this time you let his lips touch yours, before he pulls away and pushes the flannel into your hands, "What's this for?" You ask. He tilts his head and squints his eyes, giving you a playful once over that has your face growing hot, "What's-"

"Who are you and what have you done with the love of my life?" You laugh softly at his dramatic question, though you don't miss the way a pleasant heat spreads through your chest at the way he so proudly declares you the 'love of his life'. He straightens, taking a few careful steps back into his room, "You usually jump at the opportunity to steal my clothes," It clicks in your head,

"I only steal them when you're not looking, Eds," You confess, pulling the much larger red flannel on and walking out of his room into his living room, "If you just give them away like that it's less fun," You call to him, pulling the hair caught under the material out. Turning your head, you catch him following you,

"Right," He nods knowingly, leaning against the wall in his living room and folding his arms. You glance away from him to the unevenly stacked collection of VHS tapes by his TV, reading over the titles, "How about this," He suggests, pushing himself away from the wall and walking closer to you, "I pick out a movie and bring the snacks; you bake the cookies," He offers as if reading your mind,

"Sure," You smile, "You got popcorn?" You ask as you grab your bag, which he'd left for you on the couch,

"I'll treat you to the works, sweetheart!" He vows, moving his arms dramatically, "Candlelit dinner at your coffee table and all," He smirks as you laugh,

"Are we gonna eat cookies with knives and forks like fancy people?" You ask, and it's his turn to chuckle at your suggestion,

"If you want... Now go! As much as I hate seeing you leave, you have me excited for those damn cookies. And the longer I keep you here, the less I get to eat," You laugh again as he walks closer to you, gently placing his hands on your shoulders to push you towards the door of his trailer,

"Right- my apologies fine sir," You mock bow to him once he lets go of you, "I'll get right on it," You turn to walk out the front door of his trailer,

"Wait wait!" He quickly interrupts, crossing the short distance to you and grabbing the fronts of the flannel, pulling you in to kiss you on the lips once more. He pulls away all too quickly, an excited look on his face "Oh! By the way, I talked to Wayne about you possibly moving in for the final few weeks of your summer and possibly until you graduate," your eyes widen at the sudden mention of this,

"And...?" You ask hopefully. His face goes from serious, to bright in a manner of seconds,

"He said you're free to stay for as long as you want-" You smile brightly, matching his excitement, "He just said we can't make too much noise at night and we can't bother him too much. Or the neighbours," He winks playfully as you laugh sharply, shaking your head,

"I can make that work; I'm not a hooligan," You tell him playfully,

"Damn shame cause I am," You laugh sharply again,

"Up to all kinds of nefarious activities, Munson?" You tease, 

"Only in the dark of the night, babe." He grins back.  He presses another quick kiss to your cheek, then another to the corner of your lips, clearly excited, before patting your shoulder, "Okay now go for real because I can just keep standing here and talking your ear off about all the things that come to my head," He smiles, 

"Alright, alright. See you later," You say to him. And it's your turn to lean up and kiss his cheek, before opening the front door and braving the incessant rain, half covering yourself with the flannel and being careful of where you're running so you don't slip or trip in the mud. Once you've safely made it under the roof of your trailer, you turn to wave a hand at your boyfriend, who returns the wave from where he's been watching you. He then returns inside, and through the closed curtains, you notice his shadow moving around. As you turn to pull the keys from your bag, you glance over to Max's trailer, freezing momentarily at the sight of a familiar person standing in front of it in the rain, 

"Oh! Hey Sinclair!" You greet the boy, getting his attention, "Get inside, you'll catch a cold," You wave your arm at him as you quickly unlock your door. The boy gives a final look at Max's trailer, before reluctantly sighing and running to the shelter and warmth of your home,

"Hey," He greets you back, taking the soaked jacket off and hanging it up on your clothing hanger, accepting the hug you give him after your shut the door behind him, "I haven't seen you in forever- how's college?" He asks,

"Boring but far away from here," You smile, "How've you been? You're so tall now, oh my God," You grin, putting a hand on top of your head and measuring yourself against him with a grin, "You gotta stop growing or you won't fit through my door," He laughs at that, "What brings you here to Forest Hills?"

"It's uh..." He trailed off, his smile fading as he glances at the ground momentarily,

"If you're looking for Eddie, he's back at his trailer looking for movies for us to watch. He's also getting the popcorn and snacks and stuff and I'm gonna make cookies..." You gesture to the kitchen, "See it was gonna be like... A date? I guess? But knowing him, he probably can't decide between Texas Chainsaw or Halloween," You smile to yourself, before motioning for him to follow you to the kitchen,

"Oh, I'm not really... Looking for Eddie," He says from behind you, "I'm uh..." You glance back at him. Out of everyone in the Hellfire, and out of the Freshmen, you always saw Lucas as the most confident one- sure this has sometimes led to bad decisions being made on his part and the parties, but it was admirable to see him taking charge and initiative in those difficult situations, as well as owning up to the consequences of his actions. So when he fumbled for the right words, you grew apprehensive,

"What's up?" You ask, "You're not... In trouble or anything?" You furrow your brows as you lean on the kitchen counter, watching him expectantly, "Cause if something happened, I'll-"

"No! Not in... Like a bad way just... It's Max," He finally says with a frown, "She uh- I don't think you know her. She never came to Hellfire but she lives here now- I think I got the right house but I don't think she's home," He's fiddling with his fingers nervously, trying to glance out of the window to his left: the one that looked out on to her home. With a small frown, you lean further on the counter, trying to also see into the dark trailer, squinting to try and see any movement, "I saw her in town though today. I was going to practice and she was there skating. Then it started raining and I uh... Kept an eye out but I'm kinda worried if she uh... Made it back home?" He gives you a worried look, furrowed brows and a deep frown set on his lips, "You wouldn't have happened to see her? If she made it back okay or... You know?" He asks, the worry clear in his tone. With a small, comforting smile, you nod,

"Yeah, she's at home," You assure him, "Eddie and I gave her a ride back today so she wouldn't have to skate home in the rain. That shower kinda came out of nowhere, huh?" You say. There's some relief as he sighs, tensed shoulders going slack as he nods his head, glancing out of your window again for any sign of life. Any sign of her,

"Was she okay? Like did she act okay or fine when you saw her?" He's lighting up at just the mention of her. You tilt your head slightly as you watch him curiously, a habit you picked up from Eddie early on that the Hellfire kids would tease you about, though Lucas doesn't comment on it now, preoccupied with worry,

"I thought so. I mean, she stopped by the Shake Shack when I was closing, and I asked her to help me make a new smoothie for the summer," You recalled, "She created the 'Citric Death Acid'," You tell him, "Has to be one of the worst smoothies I've ever made in my career- and I've tried all things spinach and kale," You made a face, as he let out a breathy, yet eased laugh,

"Sounds like something she'd do," He nods his head affirmatively. There's a silence that falls over you for a few moments, and you watch as his gaze travels back to the silent trailer next to yours, eyes flicking over the visible windows,

"What's up Lucas?" You ask him, moving forward to sit on one of the seats at the table and pulling the chair next to you out, prompting him to sit with you, "Come sit down and talk," The table still looks out onto the trailer, and his gaze flicks between the seat you've pulled up for him and the lifeless trailer. With one final glance out of your window, he sits down near you, putting his elbows on the table and cupping his hands, pressing them against his mouth, "You're asking about Max a lot. Anything you wanna talk about? I'm kinda good at giving advice; just as good at listening," You offer. He gives you a side glance, before letting his hands rest against your table,

"I'm just worried for her," He admits, brows furrowing as he plays with his fingers, "I haven't seen her all summer. I haven't seen her since uh... Starcourt... And since Will left," He glances away, a faraway look crossing his eyes, "She was there when it uh... Burned down," He explains,

"Woah, she was there?" Lucas nods solemnly, "So... She saw her brother..." Lucas only nodded as your wide eyes flicked to the table. You had no idea- then again, from the newspaper archives, and small details Eddie remembered from the news, you still didn't exactly know what happened last year. Of course the moment you leave your boring home town, things kick off,

"Yeah. She hasn't... Spoken a lot about what happened since the funeral," That checked out. If you mentioned anything about last year, Max appeared to stiffen up and walk away, or simply slide her headphones on and crank her walkman's volume to full. And though you'd only mentioned it twice, judging by her reaction, she wasn't ready to talk anytime soon, "I kept calling and asking how she was doing but she'd just get annoyed and hang up on me. Or she wouldn't pick up the phone at all. And then she moved away and I kept asking if she wanted to talk or just hang out together but she always blew me off," The poor boy- he sounded so hurt and confused, yet worried for her nonetheless, "Then one day she called and..." He was emotional now, desperately trying to control himself. You nodded your head silently, giving him a moment to steady himself, "I thought she was ready to talk but she just broke up with me. And I don't know why or if it's something that I did but I just wanted to know..." He sighs, quickly whipping a tear that slipped down his cheek away and shaking his head, "If it was because of me," He finished, struggling hard to keep his voice from wavering, breaths shaky, "Cause then I could fix it and-"

"Of course, it's not your fault," You quickly tell him, reaching a hand over for him to take into yours. Shakily he unclasps his fingers, setting his palm against yours,

"But it-"

"Did she tell you that she was breaking up because of you?" You asked sternly,

"No..." He said hesitantly, "She said she... She's just breaking up with me. Like that," His shoulders slump, though he's not relaxed. Still tense and shaking slightly,

"Then it's not your fault," You assure him. You take a breath before speaking again, "I... know what losing someone like that feels like. It hurts- no matter if you were close with them or not. Losing someone like that just leaves this... Emptiness behind, "You explain softly, squeezing his hand gently, "It takes a while to get used to them being gone, and even when you do you get these... Awful, awful feelings. Why did they leave? Was it because of me? Was I the problem...?" You say quietly,

"But she knows I'm there for her," He says, looking at you with desperation in his eyes, "She knows she can talk to me and-"

"Maybe she's still grieving. Maybe she just needs space to figure things out on her own. Maybe she feels like she doesn't need anyone at the moment. Or that she... Deserves to be around anyone at the moment," You tried to explain to him,

"But that doesn't make any sense," Lucas frowns, shaking his head,

"Yeah, I know," You agree. He lets out a frustrated sigh,

"I just... I want to be there for her. I want to help her. I hate not seeing her; I hate knowing she's so sad and I can't do anything to help her. I hate that I made her mad and that she felt like she had to... Hide away, and cut me off completely. Can't she see I only want to help?" As he rambles you smile to yourself, "I- what? Why're you looking at me like that?" He asks, confused,

"That means you really love her, Sinclair," You tell him. He looks at you with wide eyes, and then glances away quickly. You could faintly see a smile on his lips, even if it was a sad one. Had he only realised this now?

"But how do I... Tell her if she doesn't want to see me?" He asks sadly, the smile fading away just as quickly as it came. With a sigh, you shut your eyes, thinking for a moment,

"You have to just... Wait," You tell him honestly, squeezing his hand once more as you open your eyes and look at him, "Wait for her until she's ready to talk to you. And when she is, you have to listen," You squeezed his hand again, "I know you want to help her with what she's going through right now, but I promise you're not doing her any favours if you just keep saying how you're there for her like a broken record. She already knows. That's likely why she kept blowing you off," You reason, "She's still in mourning. She's still not over what happened. You can't just change how she's feeling with a few kind words," You explain, "You have to sit and listen to what she's going through at the moment," He slowly nodded, "And usually people don't want the help of any kind when they're... Like that. Being present and being there to just listen; to know what's going through her head. That'll mean a hell of a lot more than flowers or chocolates," You try brightening the mood,

"Listen..." He nods, as if he's making a mental note, "But how do I get her to listen if she won't speak to me in the first place?" He frowns,

"Hmm... You do have a point," You hum softly, "I could try and... Mention that uh... Talking to someone she's close to could help her out?" You offer, seeing the small smile return to his lips,

"Could you?" He asks again, voice full of hope,

"Of course, Lucas," You smile reassuringly, "Look, I can really see you want to help her and I think it's very sweet. I'd love to help her too but well, let's face it, you've known her longer and are still, very very close. You just have to remember to listen to her and show her you're there, kid," You remind him,

"Right," He says, "Listen... You will ask her to uh... Talk to me though?" He asks, checking to be sure, 

"Yes, I will," You assure him,

"Cool," He grins, running to get his jacket and leave, "Tell her I'm waiting!"

"Hey wait!" You yell after him, standing quickly from the table, "How are you getting home?" You walk to him quickly

"On my bike," He shrugs. He places a hand on the door handle, before quickly running back to where you're standing, dazed in the living room. He hugs you tightly, and you only have enough time to pat his shoulders, "Thanks for all your help. I'm glad you came back," He says into your shoulder. Before you know it, he's back at your door, swinging it open and running and slipping on the mud outside,

"Please be careful!" You yell out to him, watching as he grabs his bike by the handles and wheels it away, "Call me when you get home!" You yell across the park, watching him wave back as he climbs onto the seat, driving out of Forest Hills, disappearing among the trees. Shutting the front door with a sigh, you glance around the vacant trailer, eyes settling on your kitchen. You were making cookies today, right?

You dug out the small notebook of recipes you had collected from various cookbooks and family members over the years, flipping through until you found the page you were looking for. A simple shortbread with an equally simple recipe- it was just down to the specific ingredients that made them special. Your aunt had made them one thanksgiving and you'd basically demanded the recipe after dessert, listening intently as you scribbled down her words onto the page. You were forever thankful- they became a comfort food to you, your dad when he was still around, and eventually to Eddie and his uncle Wayne- and besides, they tasted phenomenal.

Before you even measured out the ingredients, you moved to grab your discarded bag, shuffling through the few items and finding a cassette tape. It was a new one Eddie had made for you to take back to Franklin- 'Songs To Remember Me By', as he'd said, then pointed to the same words scrawled in ink on the front of the tape. You'd have to make him a tape of all your new favourites too- with how much time you were spending with Max, Kate Bush had entered the mix of metal and rock you usually listened to. It always made you laugh when 'Raining Blood' would end and 'Running Up That Hill' would play on your walkman. The transition from the violence to the calm was amusing. You were even setting aside a small amount of cash to buy Kate's new album, though it was still a rumour- for you and for her as a birthday gift. You just needed to find a way to find out her birthday without letting on that you wanted to get her a gift. Easier said than done- the kid was too perceptive.

Once you returned to your kitchen, you measured out the ingredients accordingly and began mixing. Always add the dry to the wets, you muttered to yourself as you sifted the flour into the wet butter mixture. Thirty minutes later, you'd rolled the dough out and smiled proudly, only to realise you didn't have any cookie cutters on hand. Mentally cursing yourself, you opened every cabinet, finding them void of the cutters. You could always just use glasses but who wants to eat boring circle-shaped cookies? You also didn't want to spend all night meticulously cutting them out with a butter knife. As you pondered over what to do, you made three bowls of icing: red; blue and yellow, though you quickly realised that was way too much icing for a single tray of cookies...  Oh God...

After cutting out three circles with a glass, you huffed in annoyance, leaving the kitchen momentarily and searching through the large box of stuff you had in the spare room- once your parent's room. You found the box of neglected Christmas things, shuffling through tinsel and ornaments before you found the box of cookie cutters and grimaced. They'd do. You didn't know what gingerbread men, snowflakes, stars and stockings had to do with summer but you'd have to make do. Maybe you could just use the stars?

By the time the cassette ended, you had set one tray in the oven and begun wondering where Eddie could be. Wasn't he supposed to be here? Did he get distracted again? And had Lucas called you at all? You glanced at the excess dough you'd formed into a ball in order to roll out flat again and glanced at the half-full tray of cookies. Of course, you always made way more than you could handle. Shit had you started the timer?

Making cookies by yourself like this was chaotic enough. At least with Eddie, it would- no, it'd likely be worse. There'd probably be more flour on either of you than in the bowl or the dough, and he'd be poking holes in the gingerbread men's faces to give them eyes and mouths. You smiled softly, though went back to wondering what was keeping him home so late. He surely hadn't forgotten right? By the time you filled all the vacant space on the second baking tray, you'd decided to try and call him, then call the Sinclairs to ask if their son made it home from practice alright. Though of course, the second your hands were clean, the timer you'd set out went off. You took out the first batch, though in your excitement, burned the unprotected top of your hand on the roof of the oven. With a sharp wince, you set your hand under cold water, frowning at the burn. Surely a couple more minutes in the oven wouldn't hurt?

Once you'd grabbed the first aid kit to apply burn ointment to the blistering wound, you gave yourself a moment to let the pain ease off. Delicately, you bandaged your hand, only to quickly remember the cookies were still in the oven. You were more careful removing them this time, setting the hot tray onto the stovetop. They were more golden brown than golden but they'd do... You set the second tray inside and set the timer, then moved back to the dough abandoned on the counter. You looked at it for a moment, before you curiously broke off a piece to try it. It tasted great, and to distract yourself from eating more, you decided to roll it out and make another batch.

Once the ingredients are mixed and the new ball of dough is formed, you flour up the counter and place it on the surface. The tray on the stovetop is cool enough for you to touch and you've moved the cookies onto a cooling rack to cool. As you move back to where you were, you glance up, your eyes drifting out of your window to Max's trailer, eyes widening slightly as you see her. Her pale face staring at you, eyes going wide when yours meet hers. You almost drop the tray that's in your hands, not expecting to see her there. You set the tray down carefully and move to the window, squinting around the raindrops at the words she's mouthing. 'Can', she points to herself, 'I', she points to your trailer, 'come over?'. You quickly nod, watching as she disappears in confusion. It takes you a moment to register what happened, but when you do, you find yourself running to your front door and opening it. She's outside, still hastily putting her jacket on when you glance in her direction at the other trailer. Aggressively, she shuts the door behind her and casts you a glance, nodding her head as a silent 'thanks' as she tugs her hood on and crosses the short distance to your trailer.

You step out of her way as she enters, another small 'thanks' hissed under her breath as she steps inside. You shut the door behind her, though take one last glance outside. You don't see her mother waving her off, nor do you see any movement coming from the Munson trailer. Wayne's car is gone though. With a slightly confused frown, you turn to look at Max. She's removed her wet jacket and is looking around for where to put it,

"You can just throw it on the couch. I don't mind- it's just water anyway, right? It'll evaporate," You give her a slight smile. She nods, giving you a brief smile, and throwing the jacket on the back of the couch as you'd allowed her to. You make your way to the kitchen, picking up the formed cookies and carefully setting them in rows on the tray, "May I ask what brings you here?" You voice your curiosities, glancing at her as you finish up with the tray,

"I uh... Had an argument with my mom," The words make your heart clench in familiar pain, your hands fumbling with the final few cookies as you sink your teeth into the inside of your cheek, "Thought I'd seek comfort here," She mumbles, walking to the opposite side of the counter so she can observe your methodical actions. Briefly you leave her, setting the full tray into the oven. careful to not burn yourself like last time. You start on the final batch of cookies, and considering this is the third, you hardly need to glance at the recipe to know the measurements.

Her words tumble through your brain, bringing up memories from when you were younger- younger than her. How your parents would yell at one another over the music blaring from your headphones in the other room on cold evenings like this. How your mother would burst into your room, screaming about a chore you hadn't done correctly and calling you all the names she could think of. How if it got too much, your father would give you a knowing look and you'd flee from her, disappearing into the forest and not returning till the streetlights turned on. If you were lucky, she'd be passed out in front of the TV, lit cigarette placed safely into an ashtray or dangerously teetering on the edge of falling from her relaxed fingers, ash falling onto the rug below. If you were even luckier, she wouldn't be home at all, gone drinking at the bar or to her friend's house. If you were unlucky, she'd be infuriated that you came home so late. And not even your father could save you from her wrath then...

When she left, it was like a weight had been lifted off your chest, but a spike had been driven through your heart. The week before had been... Calm. You'd found it odd- considering how she wouldn't raise her voice, or hand, how she'd laugh, a shrill, foreign thing, at the television. How friendly and warm she was. She even bought you that AC/DC cassette you'd asked about a while ago. How she got the money, you'd never come to find out. The night before she left, she'd come into your room, crying at the foot of your bed and babbling incoherently some apology. When she hugged you, she reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, as usual. The following morning, she took off and never came back. Never bothered to call, or send a postcard, even if your number and address had stayed the same. It was bittersweet. In her final week, she had been more of a mother to you than in the eleven years she had raised you-

"Hello?" Max clicked her fingers in front of you, frowning softly at your blank expression, "I asked if I could change the music," You blinked at her face, coming back to the present, and nodding,

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry- hah. I get uh... Lost in the baking," You smile at her, glancing at the scoop of flour you were still holding above the sifter,

"You froze and stared at the recipe book for like, ten minutes," Max tells you in a flat tone, messing with your radio. She clicks a few buttons, ejecting Eddie's tape and letting Madonna fill the silent space in the trailer. You go back to baking, though when you glanced back at her, you find she's rifling through your tapes, "You only have old stuff here," She complains,

"They're my dads," You explain, "He liked his classics," You shrug,

"This is only Beatles," She grimaces, pulling a tape out to scowl at John Lennon's face,

"Well, we have the radio," You shrug, glancing up at her before you mix the ingredients together, "Or you could look through my personal collection in my room," You offer, "It's the door at the end of the hall," You tell her, watching as she nods and disappears for a moment.

You can hear the tapping of the plastic tapes against one another in the distance, and find yourself humming along to 'Manic Monday' when it plays through the speakers. Like clockwork, you dust some flour onto the counter and grab the rolling pin to roll out the dough. By the time you've filled half the vacant tray with cookies, she emerges, holding two tapes,

"Did Eddie make you these?" She asks in amusement, taking her place in front of you, across the counter and holding up the tapes. They're different in appearance- the one in her right hand is decorated with black lightning bolts, 'Metal Metal Metal' roughly scrawled on the front, with a deep, blood red background. The other is blank with just the number '82 in the corner,

"He made that one," You gesture to the one he's holding on the right, "Damn- '83," You smile fondly, "That's got some good ones on it. Heard of Venom?" She shakes her head, "Iron Maiden? Judas Priest?" You frown as she continues to shake her head, "Why don't you keep that and listen to some real music," You say playfully,

"Ugh, you sound just like Eddie," You frown. Personally, you wouldn't consider that a bad thing, "What about this one?" She asks, "82?"

"That's just uh... Like regular music?" You shrug, "It's what I used to listen to. It's-"

"Is it normal?" She asks,

"Well, yeah I guess. Pop music," She moves to the radio and removes the tape that had been in there, putting it in, "TOTO?" She asks, amused, as she set the other tape amongst your late fathers,

"Listen 'Rosanna' is phenomenal and I won't slander TOTO in my trailer," You threaten playfully, smiling at her. She rolls her eyes, standing in front of you again and falling quiet as she watches you work away,

"Why are you baking?" She asks,

"Because I wanted to. I have nothing better to do so... Cookies," You shrug, "And you seemed to enjoy the ones this morning- along with Eddie. I was hoping you'd save me at least one. This way, I can give them out and still keep some for myself," You tell her,

"Cool... Will I get any?" She asks hopefully. You glance up at her after setting another down in the tray, narrowing your eyes playfully, "Okay, wow," She rolls her eyes again,

"I'm only kidding. You can have some if you help me decorate after," You assure her quickly, "I made like, way too much icing so I have to make way too many cookies to compensate," You let her know. She nods with a slight smile, but falls quiet again as she watches you work. Finally, she breaks the quiet between you, saying your name, "Hmm?"

"I haven't seen you here before now. When we moved into the trailer park, they told us that no one lived in the house next door," Max explained, "Where... Were you?"

"I'm in college upstate in Franklin," You explain, "I live in the dorms there and uh... It's too expensive for me to keep driving back and forth so... I live up there,"

"Are you older than Eddie?" She asked,

"Only by a couple of months," You smile, "But no. We're the same age,"

"So how come he's... Here?" She frowned softly, "He goes to high school and you're..."

"Yeah," You sigh, "So, uhm... Eddie hasn't graduated yet," You say quietly, "But when he does, we're planning on leaving Hawkins," You say with a hopeful smile, "We were actually talking about it a few weeks ago- we're gonna drive up to Franklin at some point later in the summer to go look at any apartments that might be free," You nodded your head,

"So you'll be leaving again?" She asks, tone harsh and almost accusatory as you set this tray into the oven. A part of you thought it was a bad idea to tell her, though you personally knew the pain that came with the people who left your life so suddenly... Your mother; your father. And the idea of putting Maxthrough that? After she's been through so much already? You just couldn't. It was better to tell her now,

"In a few weeks, yeah," You say softly, "My semester starts fairly late into August so I'm lucky. My classes start on the 30th, so we'll leave a little earlier than that to check out the places. I can't exactly drop out now. And whether he likes it or not, Eddie's gonna have to graduate one day- next year hopefully," You say though your smile fades at the sight of the frown set on her thin lips,

"Right," She spits shortly, glancing away from you,

"What's up?" You ask, setting the timer you've just wound up for 20 minutes down on the counter and eyeing her,

"Nothing!" She exclaims, though you shake your head as she groans in frustration and moves away from the counter, going to grab her jacket again,

"Well, it's clearly something!" You match her tone, frowning from where you stand, "Or else you wouldn't be short with me and avoiding answers," With an annoyed huff, she throws the wet jacket carelessly back onto your couch, clenching and unclenching her hand into a fist, "What's wrong Max-"

"It's just that I don't think I'm ready for the first friends I've made here to leave me so soon-" She rambles frantically, half turning so you can see her eyes are shining and quickly welling with tears, "-Or the fact that I'm still not okay with my shitty step brother being fucking dead while I'm still here and-"

"Max," You say quickly, stopping her rant so she can breathe. You walk closer to her as she breathes heavily, trying to get some sort of oxygen into her lungs before she lets out a groan of frustration and crumples in on herself, sobs leaving her lips, "Max, hey," You crouch next to her, reaching out a hand, "You're okay," You reassure her, watching as she sits with her back against the couch, shoulders shaking as she cries,

"It's not-"

"Hush," You say, "You focus on breathing and only breathing. I'm gonna touch your shoulder, okay?" You reach out to place a hand on her trembling form, "You're alright," You reassure her again, "If you're worried about Eddie and me leaving then don't be- we'll come back," You reassured her, "And it's not like we'll be gone forever; we'll always come and visit Hawkins again- as much as we hate this town, it's home to Eddie and to me. Eddie has his uncle and his Hellfire club and well, I have Eddie," You say with a shrug, "I'll go where he goes," You vouch,

"But you're still leaving," She sniffles, glancing up at you from where she's tightly hugging her knees to her chest,

"At the end of August," You say, "The month's just started. We still have all this time," You remind her, frowning as she shakes her head,

"You'll still be gone," She says, ducking her head so her forehead touches her knees,

"It's not good to think like that, you know," You tell her, gently squeezing her shoulder. You shift so you're sitting cross-legged in front of her, "You're only focusing on the negative and the end result. Of course, you can acknowledge it and the fact that we will leave at some point... But what's gonna happen between then and now? Are you just gonna spend the whole time sulking because two people you know are going away?" You ask softly. As she looks up, her expression softens. She's no longer having trouble breathing, but she's still shaking,

"I don't want you to leave like he did..." She admits tearfully, "Because when he... It was so quick- I didn't have time to think and then... Without warning..." You don't want to say it- his name- in fear she'll start hyperventilating again. You simply nod your head in silent acknowledgement, letting the quiet- filled only by the ticking of the timer, the quiet Tears For Fears song playing on the radio, and the gentle taps of the rain against your roof- fall over the two of you thickly.

From the small number of interactions you had with Billy Hargrove at school, you painted him out to be just another cocky asshole. You truly had no idea what all those girls saw in him, fawning over him like he was fucking Tom Cruise or whatever- he seemed unabashedly cruel to you. Of course, you were used to the jeers and name-calling, along with the general glares and stares of disapproval from your classmates but to say Billy made your life hell was an understatement.

For a few weeks in junior year, it seemed like the fucker had a personal vendetta against you, going out of his way to shove you into nearby lockers, leaving you with deep bruises on your arms and bile rising in your throat at the idea of running into him in the halls. Whenever you'd try and bring it up to your sickly father, he'd only croack the same words: "he's only doing it because he likes you." He wasn't. You were sure if looks could kill, you'd be dead the second Billy set his eyes on you. And you only hoped your glares would kill him too.

You'd never truly come to know the reason behind his torment- or why it led the other students at Hawkins to do the same. Junior year was horrific- it felt like nowhere in school was safe. Most of the days, you'd want to stay in bed, hoping it would swallow you whole and let you be in peace in dreamland. Being with Eddie was your only escape most of the time, though you never opened up to him about the depth of Billy's... Treatment of you until winter.

It all came out after a final shift on a cold December day, a year before you'd planned to go to college. You had locked up and were slipping on your gloves when he appeared, seemingly out of nowhere with Tommy H at his side. You'd tried running through the snow and ice but tripped, hurting your ankle. You'd forever be grateful for that dog walker who slowed to inspect the noise coming from the alley next to the store, finding you screaming into their hands slapped over your mouth for mercy. They left you there, getting away of course, while the kind person helped walk you home, fretting over the large cut splitting across your lip and forehead. Eddie had seen you the second you entered Forest Hills and ushered you inside his trailer. Before he could even demand to know what had happened, you were sobbing and breaking down in his arms about that evening.

You wondered what sort of relationship Max and Billy had. Was he different around her and her family? Or was she a subject to his torment as well? It was hard to tell- with how she'd look off with a blank look whenever Eddie played Metallica, or flinch in the car if he got too excited about a particular part of a song and tap the steering wheel too hard. It always broke you seeing her shut down- from how happy you'd been making her this past month, seeing her so upset about someone seemingly so awful was hard to watch,

"Since Billy... Left... It hasn't been the same," Max admits. She's much quieter now, and although her breaths are still shaky, they're even. She glances up at you with a small sniffle, shaking her head, "It's been making me realise a lot of things," She says quietly,

"Hey- here," You say, taking her hands in yours and helping her stand up, "Let me get you some water," You tell her gently, moving to the kitchen so you can get her a glass. You were content with her staying there, or moving to the couch, but you're surprised when out of the corner of your eye, you watch her follow after you, "I was gonna bring it to you," You tell her, filling the glass in the sink and handing it over. She quickly drinks as you watch, then move to sit down, back pressed against the shelves, thinking in silence. When she finishes the contents of the glass, you hear the gentle clink of it against your counter, and you're surprised when she takes a seat beside you, arm touching yours, "What have you been realising, Max?" You ask, resuming your earlier conversation. It's her turn to be quiet for a few moments, and glancing over at her, you notice she's just staring at her fingers, picking at the skin around her nails, "I know it's hard to speak about things like this and uh... You don't have to say anything-"

"I think I realised the reason I don't want to see you or Eddie go," She admits, giving you a glance, before focusing on her hands again. You regard her with a look of curiosity, waiting for her to carry on,

"And that is?" You prompt softly when you get too impatient. With a deep sigh, she ruffles a hand through her long, ginger hair. The ends are slightly damp from the rain,

"I realised I see you guys as my family now," It's a whisper; she says it like a secret, new tears welling in her eyes. In truth, you are too taken aback by her sudden confession to think of a response, "-You've been taking care of me. Feeding me, spending time here and away from here with me. And Eddie? He's... Showing me what a big brother could really be like," She says fondly, though the tears have now built up and are spilling down her cheeks at a rapid pace, "And I can't see you leave again," 

"We're... It-" She doesn't seem to want to listen to you, shaking her head as she continues on,

"I hate that sometimes I expect him to be just like Billy, you know? I mean, he listens to the same songs he did but that's... It," She shrugs, "Eddie's never yelled at me, never thrown anything. And, I mean, 'Red' is a far better nickname than 'Shit head'," She laughs through the heavy tears, "He's just... He... I don't want him to go," She tearfully admits, "He's more of a brother to me than Billy ever was. He fixes my tapes, he fixed my board. And you?" She sniffles, looking up at you, "I mean you care about me more than my mom does," You seem to have collected your thoughts and find your voice as she goes quiet again,

"That can't be true," You quickly try and defend,

"I bet you any money she's passed out on the couch watching reruns of the Golden Girls. She doesn't even know I left to be here," She tells you,

"Oh, Max..." You carefully move your arms around her to hug her. She's quick to hug you back; arms wrapping around yours tightly,

"Home's awful... Everywhere is just... Just so awful... You guys make it not... Not so bad," She sniffles, face pressing into your shoulder, "And I'm scared for what'll happen when you go. I'm scared that it'll get worse and... That things will always be this way," 

Without you realising, somehow a familial bond had tied you to Max. She was the little sister you never had but got anyways- and if it came down to it, you'd go to hell and back for her. You let her cry for a few moments, soothing her as best as you could with gentle touches to her back as you formulate some sophisticated, grown-up advice in your head. When you finally speak, you make sure you're soft and reassuring,

"Everything has to grow and change, Max. It's like the seasons- spring doesn't wait for winter's snow to melt before it lets the flowers bloom. They just move on around us, and we have to move with them. We can't just stay frozen in place; we have to grow and bloom and live our lives," You explain, "And though that might change, and we might change- we'll still be there for you. You've got us now. Here. In the present," You reassure her, "And even when I'm up in Franklin, Eddie's staying behind so you can pester and bother him while I'm gone," You say with a slight smile, "I'll write back to you. Call you. Keep in touch," You assure her, "It'll work out. You'll see," You gently rub her arm,

"Sure..." She doesn't sound convinced,

"Yeah. And hell, maybe once Eds and I are settled in up there you could come and visit?" You smile as she turns to face you, "You'll likely have your licence by then so you can just drive up, right? Hang out away from home and then drive back when you're ready," You smile, "Point is, I think you're might be stuck with us for life, Red. No matter where it takes you, you'll always have us," You remind her,

"It uh... That doesn't sound too bad," She smiles fondly at that, tightening her hold on to your arms as you hug her back tightly, "You're gonna crush me," She laughs your name out as you relax your hold on her, though her arms refuse to leave yours,

"Sorry," You say, sighing and glancing at the oven behind you. The cookies there have risen, but from the timer, you still see they have a few minutes until they're finished, "See, it is good talking about your problems like this," You look back at her to catch her looking at the cabinets across from her. She sighs heavily, her head falling to your shoulder,

"Talking sucks," She lifts a hand up to rub her face dry of tears,

"With the wrong people it can," You agree, "That's why you have to find someone you trust completely and that you can rely on," A small frown crosses her face, "Someone... Like Lucas," You suggest. Her gaze snaps to yours quickly,

"How did you- I never told-"

"He was here a few hours ago," You tell her, "You left the poor boy just standing out in the rain," You frown softly,

"I don't want him here," She says flatly,

"Why not?"

"Because we broke up," She tells you,

"Did you want to break up with him?" Max opens her mouth, stutters, shuts it and shakes her head slowly, "Then why did you?" You ask. She's speechless for a while, pale blue eyes darting around as she searches for an answer, "Did-"

"I guess I... I just got overwhelmed with how much he was... Around," She shrugs, "Even before my mom and I moved out here, he was just there. Talking and trying to get me to talk when it was all still so fresh. And I thought if I didn't think about... Billy and what happened last summer, I'd feel better. But Lucas kept bringing it up and it got too much for me," Tears slip quickly down her cheeks, "And breaking up was the only way to get out of that. I thought that he'd... It would make him go away. Leave me alone,"

"Are you sure that that was the right choice?" Once again, she doesn't know what to say, "Is this what you want?" You ask softly. Her mouth gapes before she shakes her head and looks away from you,

"I don't know... What I want..." She finally whispers,

"Do you want to be away from Lucas?" You ask,

"I... Don't," She says, turning her head to glance at you,

"You have to talk to him then," You tell her,

"I can't," She says quickly,

"Look, if you don't talk about it, those bad feelings'll just get worse and worse. Like a snowball running down a hill," You explain. She snorts slightly, an involuntary smile tugging at her lips. You smile slightly at her, "And not even Kate Bush'll be able to save you then, Max," You say as she wipes at her face again,

"Yeah," She breathes. She turns serious again, shaking her head slightly, "But the... What if I never want to talk about it? Even with Lucas?" She asks softly,

"Then you don't have to," You assure her quickly, "You've only got to tell him what... You want him to know. Everything else can wait until you're ready," You tell her softly. You gently brush her hair so it lays against her back, over her shoulder. With a deep sigh, you glance at the floor, "Look... When my dad passed, I couldn't... Physically come back here," You gestured around your trailer, "Too many memories of him stayed behind. I stayed with Eddie and his uncle for the week after and then when I got back... And it was like I couldn't leave. Like this became a prison. I didn't speak to anyone, didn't go to school. I couldn't get out of bed, didn't want to look after myself..." You explain quietly, "I uh... Almost gave up. I felt so alone. Eddie uh... Helped me a lot. It was kinda weird- him bringing me food and coming in to take care of me... Y'know, ask if I'm okay, sit with me. It really felt like he wanted me to... Feel better," You smile at the bittersweet memories,

"Yeah, well I don't need Lucas running around me all... Gross and stuff," She sighed, hugging her knees to her chest. With a grimace, you sat back,

"Sometimes you gotta get all the gross stuff out though. When you feel like you have to throw up, you gotta vom," You smiled slightly at the look of disgust that momentarily crossed her face, "Yeah, I know... So just... Tell him. Be honest with him- get help, even if it is just talking and the other person listening," You encourage her, "You know him more than us and you said you dated," You say. Her shoulders move as she sighs, shaking her head, "Too soon?"

"Mhm," She hums, eyes shutting quickly,

"That's fine, Max," You pat the hand she has resting on her knee, "Just... You know. When you do feel ready; talk," You said, before your words are interrupted by the ringing of the time. You linger with her for a moment, before standing and turning the timer off, before grabbing the oven mitts to take out cookies. Shuffles came from behind you indicating she had finally gotten up as you set the tray on the counter and turned the oven off, done baking for the day. Removing the gloves, you heard your name in her quiet voice, "Yeah?" You ask with a glance over your shoulder,

"Does it get easier...?" She asks you so quietly you almost can't hear her. Once you managed to process her words, your shoulders slump as you exhale, holding your hand out for her to take. You gently squeezed her fingers in silent comfort. Her eyes don't meet yours,

"Eventually," You admit, "It can take a long time. It hurts. Sometimes it hurts so much you can't... You don't feel like it will get any better, or easier," You said honestly, "But then... When you go and talk about it with those you... Care about-" You glanced briefly to the living room window, heard the loud shutting of Eddie's trailer door, the blurry image of him running down the few steps and making his way through the rain. A small smile grazed your lips as you gave her hand a final squeeze, "-And spend time with them, it gets much, much easier," You assure her. Letting go, you ruffle up her hair and run to your front door, opening it just as Eddie makes his way up the few steps. With a sharp yelp, he slips on the wet floor, reaching out for you. Eyes widening, you reach back to him, gripping his forearm tightly and steadying him with a small laugh, "Be careful, Eds! Jesus Christ," You grin as you, pull him inside and shut the door. In his rush to get to your place, he forgot a jacket and is standing soaking wet, setting a bag he brought along down with a heavy thud,

"Holy shit," He laughs, grinning down at you, "Sorry I ran a little late- got distracted," He simply says, 

"Uhuh, I figured," You say amused, glancing over his wet hair and shirt. A mischievous look crosses his face and your eyes grow wide in realisation,

"Eddie, no don't-" You let out a sharp screech when he starts shaking his head like a wet dog, droplets of water that had been stuck in his hair showering over your face as you miserably try and shield yourself with your hands. Laughing once he was done, he grabs you by the arm, pulling it away from your face and kissing your head gently, "I didn't appreciate that," You huff, twisting your arm out of his grip and shaking your head at Max, who gives you an amused look,

"I'm just helping you shower," He said playfully, glancing into your trailer and spotting the red-head, "What's up, Max? You heard about the cookies?" He asks, picking the bag up only to set it closer to your couch, walking past you and joining her in the kitchen, "Are they ready?" He asks, a slight bounce to his step as he stands by the counter, glancing at the rows of undecorated cookies and licking his lips as he glances at you, 

"Well, we still have to decorate them- no one wants to eat lame undecorated cookies," You walk toward the two, noticing the slight smile Max has on her lips, 

"Have you not tried one?" She asks, reaching out to touch a cookie resting on the cooling rack, checking the temperature,

"I tried a bit of the dough. It's good- what?" You ask, glancing at Eddie who snorts, reaching next to Max and sniffing the cookie, before looking at you, narrowing his eyes back at your accusatory look, 

"So I can't eat the raw cookie dough but you can?" He smirks, biting the head off of a ginger- well... Shortbread man, 

"If you didn't take ten years to get here, maybe you could have eaten them earlier," You say, resting your arms across from the two of them as they eat the cookies. Eddie hums, finishing his cookie and glancing at Max,

"I thought they'd be chocolate chip," She says, glancing at Eddie, who nods, already chewing on another, 

"Mmmh- me too," He says, glancing at you as you roll your eyes, 

"Sadly, I don't have any chocolate left. If I remember correctly, someone-" You send a playfully glance at Eddie, "-ate it,"

"I have no clue what you're talking about, sweetheart," He winks, "But hey! You did a great job on these- they're so good," He smiles, reaching for yet another, 

"Mhm. So good," Max echoes, reaching for a second one. You smile to yourself proudly, before reaching out and slapping Eddie's hand away as he tries grabbing another,

"Since I made them, you two get to decorate them. Stop eating, or I'll have none left," You tell Eddie, moving to join them in the kitchen and pulling the bowls from the fridge, "Max, can you help?" You ask, pulling out a few zip lock bags as she sets the cookie she was eating aside and joins you, "Just hold the bag open. Frankly, I trust you more than him," You incline your head towards Eddie, who's holding at least three cookies in his hands and chewing on another. If you don't hurry up, he'll move on to the next tray, "You wanna hear about the time he almost burned my trailer down pouring himself a glass of water?" You grinned at the dumbfounded look Max gives you, casting Eddie a shocked look,

"Are you serious...?" She asks with a grin, closing the bag as you instruct and holding open another. Eddie moves so he could observe you, rolling his eyes,

"It was one time, I apologised, and I know not to go in here anymore," He gestures to where you and Max are standing, grabbing a cookie which you promptly snatched back from his hands, "Hey!"

"Stop eating them all!" You chastise, "Max, you watch him. Don't let him eat anymore," You told the girl. As you briefly turn to grab a pair of scissors, Eddie swipes the cookie back up with an amused smirk, splitting it in two and handing the other half to Max. He winks at her, pressing a finger to his lips before eagerly eating the cookie, "Hey!" You huff, seeing the two sharing the cookie,

"In our defence, they're so good," Eddie grins, mouth still full,

"Mhm!" Max hums eagerly,

"God, you guys are so impatient," You roll your eyes, handing a piping bag of blue icing to Max, before turning to your boyfriend, "What colour do you want Eddie?" It was almost pointless to ask. Knowing him, he'd ask for-

"Red!" He grins, as predicted,

"You know, this looks more pink than red," You say, though hand over the pinky-red mixture, cutting off the corner so he can pipe the icing at him,

"Nah," He moves close to you, "It looks like blood- can I have a plate?" He asks, watching as you take one from the drying rack and dry it off with a cloth. He shifts behind you, pulling a hair tie off his wrist, gently gathering your hair behind you, loosely putting it into a ponytail for you, "Thanks!" He says excitedly, snatching the plate and setting it down with a clatter, loading cookies onto it and beginning to break them apart,

"Eddie!" You scold, walking over to him and looking concerned at the shortbread men he's ripping the legs off and glueing back together with pink, "Your hair," You muttered, looking down as he licks some icing that's getting on his fingers and holding his hand out for you. You glance at the hair tie you'd stolen earlier, standing on your tiptoes to pull it away from his face, "What even are you doing?" You ask, glancing down over his shoulder as he shrugs, 

"General massacre. The story'll come to me," He mutters, turning to you as you pull away from him and kissing your cheek, "Thanks babe," He smiles, going back to his creations,

"Right... What about you Max?" You ask, though before you can answer your phone rings. Holding up a finger, you hastily move over to it. Lucas' voice yelling your name almost blows your eardrum out, "Jesus Sinclair, I can fucking hear you fine," You huff, leaning a shoulder against the wall, 

"Sorry I didn't call earlier- my mom was pissed off I didn't come back from practice as soon as it started raining and Erica was being a little shit," He scoffs. Glancing over your shoulder, you see Max staring at you with a frown, "Have you spoken to Max? Or seen her?" You motion for her to join you, though she shakes her head profusely. Eddie frowns softly, glancing from you to Max with a confused look, 

"Why don't you want to go?" You faintly hear Eddie whispering to her, and she shakes her head again, 

"I just... I can't," She hisses, giving you a pleading look. You press the receiver to your chest as you fix her a look, frowning, 

"You need to talk to him at some point," You whisper, watching as she glances at the cookies, 

"They'll still be there when you're done," Eddie tells her, giving her a small nod and reassuring smile, "Go. Don't keep them waiting," He gestures to you as you press the receiver back to your ear, hearing Lucas repeating your name and a few 'hello's',

"I'm here, Lucas," You let him now, "Sorry, just uh... I had to let Eddie inside," You cover, turning back around, "Look, with Max she-" Your name leaves her lips now. She's standing behind you, glancing briefly at the phone, before giving you a nod, 

"Now or never, right?" She murmurs as you pat her shoulder, "You... Won't listen in right?" She asks to be sure, 

"Eddie can be pretty distracting," You whisper with a smirk as she groans softly. She reaches out for the phone, "Hey Lucas?" You check, making sure he's still there, "You know, I actually have her here for you," You tell him,

"Really?" He sounds so hopeful and excited. You nod, giving Max one last reassuring smile, 

"Mhm- just please make sure you listen to what she has to say to you, okay?" 

"Yeah! Yeah of course!" He says, and you hear some shuffling over the line. Handing the phone to her, you pat her shoulder once and mutter a good luck, before leaving her alone to join Eddie. He's holding the blue icing bag now, the shortbread men set on the counter beside him as he draws peaked mountain-like waves across the plate, 

"Sinclair and our Mayfield, huh?" He hums to you, noticing you standing next to him. You open your mouth to answer the question, though quickly become distracted. Usually, you found his hands distracting for... Other reasons. Now you find them distracted because he's piping it directly over the empty plate, 

"Eds... Eddie, babe," You gently touched his arm as he got too focused and doesn't seem to hear you, "See, the thing is you're supposed to put the icing on the cookies. Not the plate," You remind him,

"But then the scene won't make sense," He says, glancing at you before returning to what he was doing. You frown at the peaks he's drawing, tilting your head,

"Mhm- are those mountains or waves?" You ask with a slight frown, trying to decipher the plate, 

"Waves, clearly?" He asks as if it was obvious, "Why would mountains be blue?"

"Because blue, yellow and red are the only colours of icing I have?" You smile, glancing up at him,

"But it's clearly waves," He mutters, focused on what he's creating, 

"Why the waves?" You watch him grin, 

"Ocean massacre-" He says nonchalantly, "Max and Lucas?" He asks again, stopping his movements and looking at you expectantly, 

"Oh, right," You nod, "They've got some uh... Relationship stuff to figure out, you know? He stopped by earlier and I let him in because she didn't," You explain, 

"Oh so you've been busy busy," He says, watching you, "Are they okay? How bad did he fuck up?" He grimaces, 

"Not that much, actually. I don't think he fucked up at all- he just wants her back and she's uh... Still hurting," You explain, "Not because of anything he did just... You know- Starcourt?" You whisper, watching as he nods, 

"Right... You'll need to explain later," He says, glancing over your shoulder as he hears Max mutter a goodbye and join you, standing opposite Eddie and going back to decorating her cookies in silence. Feeling your stares, she looks at you both, 

"Is there something on my face?" She asks the two of you, 

"No- how was your call?" Eddie asks, watching as she rolls her eyes, 

"Please don't tell everyone my business," She asks you, to which you nod, "If... You have to know, I uh... Asked Lucas to come over tomorrow, since it's raining," She says, looking back at the cookies when you smile, 

"Good," You simply tell her, giving her a nod,

"What're you decorating Max?" Eddie asks, swiftly changing the topic,

"Why'd you make gingerbread and snowflakes if it's summer?" She asks you, shoulders relaxing at the topic shift,

"Uhhh I don't have any other cookie cutters?" You said, looking up at Eddie and tucking a stray curl behind his ear, "Besides, Christmas can be whenever, right?" You smile as she chuckles, shaking her head, 

"Not really," She mumbles, 

"What're you doing though?" You ask, looking over the counter at her work, "It looks much nicer and uh... More tame than Eddie's," You smile, glancing over as he finishes with the blue,

"Mine's exciting and it's a story so I get bonus points," He says, more to himself as he grabs a broken shortbread man torso, sticking it amongst the blue, 

"Bonus points from who?" Max asks; though Eddie doesn't seem to hear her, too focused on setting up his massacre, tongue poking out the side and leaning over the plate,

"So?" You look back at her, nodding to her cookies. She shrugs, drawing blue eyes and a blue mouth onto her shortbread man's face, 

"I'm just kinda doing... Normal things," She shrugs,

"Add some blood!" Eddie prompts, handing over the pink icing,

"I'll give my gingerbread men cute bows," She teases,

"Well, those bows are made out of blood so..." Eddie grins, "You planning on making mini-Carrie's?" He asks. Glancing up at Max, a soft smile crosses her lips at the reference, and a look of longing crosses her face. She looks over at Eddie's plate, observing him as he's setting the sweet corpses amongst the waves,

"You should add sharks. Make it look like something from 'Jaws'," Both your and Eddie's faces light up at the mention of the film,

"You've seen 'Jaws'?" You ask her surprised,

"That's such a great idea!" Eddie grins, glancing over the assortment of undecorated cookies momentarily and breaking off pieces from different ones, creating a sort of Frankenstein shark glued together with pink icing,

"Yeah, I thought 'Jaws; was great," She smiles, "I... Saw it with uh... A friend," She gives you a slightly sad smile, before looking down at the cookies she was decorating,

"We could watch it again today? Once you're done decorating. I think I still have the VHS lying around somewhere..." You murmured, glancing at your small TV,

"No!" Max says quickly, "We don't uh... I don't really wanna see it right now," She says, and you slowly nod, glancing at Eddie in search of help,

"Are you a fan of horror too?" He asks,

"Eds if she liked Jaws..." You whisper, nudging his arm,

"Yeah, I like horror movies," She quickly says, giving you a slight smile,

"What's your favourite?" He asks,

"I've always loved 'Halloween'," She says, the hint of excitement in her voice, "I think Micheal Myers is uh... Cool. Not in a weird way like-"

"You don't have to explain 'weird' to me, kid," Eddie grins, "You had me at loving 'Halloween'. Have you seen the sequel? We can watch them both when we finish," he says, excited tone matching hers quickly, though he turns to you as you laugh sharply, "What?" He asks, "You love Halloween," He states,

"Yeah, I do, I know," You say quickly, smiling brightly, "I just think it's funny that it's the middle of summer, you guys are decorating Christmas cookies and planning on watching Halloween," You point out to them,

"Gotta start early," Max says, making you laugh and reach your hand over so she can high-five you,

"Nice, Red," You smirk. You turn to look at Eddie, who has an amused smile on his face as he continues piping together the shark and setting it in the sugary sea,

"Add some yellow. Make it nice- yellow's a nice happy colour," You suggest, nudging the unused piping bag forward so it's set between them. Neither makes an effort to reach for it,

"Ugh- yellow reminds me of Lemons," Max makes a face,

"Don't remind me," Eddie laughs softly, "That was so much sour," He sticks his tongue out and you returned a laugh, remembering this morning,

"Too much vitamin C for one day, Eds?" You ask. He blinks at you, lifting the icing bag up from the plate,

"Sour starts with a C and not an S, babe," He says with a small smile, "I don't know much, but I know that," Before you can say anything, he's nodding to Max, "Hey Red, can I have the red? This is starting to look too much like a fun beach party and not a massacre," He smiles as she swaps bags with him,

"Eddie, Vitamin C is sour," You tell him, "That's the vitamin that's in lemons and oranges that makes them sour," You explain, "Along with the citric acid," He blinks for a moment, nods, then nods again in understanding,

"Oh yeah..." He mumbles, before glancing at the plate and getting to work, adding splotches of pink around the broken shortbread cookies, tongue poking out the side of his mouth as he focuses. As you watch him, you take the liberty to brush that strand back behind his ear again, so the icing doesn't get caught in it. You're about to say something when Max declares she's done. You walk over so you stand near her, smiling at the assortment of iced cookies she put back on the rack,

"I don't have any more blue. Someone used it all," She casts a playful glare at Eddie, who is unfortunately too enthralled in his massacre that he can't seem to hear or see her. You pat her shoulder though, smiling,

"I can always get you some more? That is unless you wanna call it a day," You offer her,

"I think I wanna keep going. You made so many and if there's still icing left, I wouldn't wanna waste it," She says, giving you a smile. You ruffle her hair again before grabbing the yellow icing, "Ugh," She makes a face as she takes it,

"You don't have to Max," You remind her, "I can always decorate the rest after work tomorrow and-"

"I want to decorate them," Max says quickly, "It's uh... Fun. I forgot how fun decorating stuff with icing was so... It's nice. Keeps my mind off... Things," She explains. Wordlessly, you nod, choosing to make yourself busy by cleaning up the dishes as they work away. 

Eddie declares his massacre finished a while after, and it honestly looks fairly gnarly. Bits of shortbread men with frowns and 'x's for eyes here and there, bobbing in the sugary waves while ominous fins and Frankenstein-like sharks painted on broken stockings chased them. You pat him, calling his horrifying creation lovely as he grinned proudly, swiping some icing off the plate and onto your nose.

Maybe you shouldn't have retaliated by throwing an unused cookie chunk at him, grinning as it got stuck in his hair. As expected, that started the cookie war between the two of you, with Max ducking away and declaring she was neutral, not wanting to be covered in flour when she went home. There was flour in your hair now, and swipes of icing on your and his shirts and faces. And though you were smiling now, being covered in sugar and flour was not something you particularly liked or enjoyed. You'd have to shower later to get it all off.

For now, you changed into your dry Pantera shirt and lent Eddie one of his stolen Led Zepplin shirts, before settling with Max to watch 'Halloween'. Eddie had made popcorn while you were changing, and even if Max stole the bowl for herself, you had Eddie's massacre to enjoy. The cookies were good, though you had to dip them in the icing as if they were chips, and all too soon they got overwhelmingly sweet for you. The movie was great, and considering how much you'd all seen it, you eagerly discussed the scenes and laughed about the kills. It was kinda hard to be scared of Micheal Myers when he was just... Standing there in the dark.

All too soon the movie was over. It was now almost pitch black outside, but you could hear the rain incessantly pounding against the windows. You hoped it'd clear up by the morning so you could walk to work, and even though that was unlikely, you kept your hopes up. Max told you she'd be heading home, and before she could leave, you insisted she takes some of the cookies, loading them into a tupperware container for her to take home,

"Good luck with Lucas tomorrow, okay?" You tell her as you set the box in her hands. With a sigh, she nods, "Talk to him. If you need somewhere more uh... Private, without your mom listening-" You wave her to the front window, pointing to the faintly illuminated bench near the playground, "See there? It's a good spot to talk. And if you need more privacy, just walk through the forest," You suggested to her, "Just don't get lost," You advise,

"Right," She takes a deep, steadying breath in, nodding, "Okay," She glances at the box in her hands as you pull the hood of her jacket over her head for her, 

"Give 'em to your mom as an apology for leaving too. Everybody likes cookies, right?" You smile as she gives a breathy laugh. She gives you a thankful look, before surprising you with a hug,

 "Thanks for letting me stay here," She murmurs your name into your shoulder as you hug her back,

"You're welcome. You know you're free to come around whenever?" You smiled, "Unless the trailer's dark and the lights are out. I have work in the morning you know," You tell her as she pulls away,

"Got it," She nods,

"If they're not there, you can always come hang out with me," Eddie offers, seemingly appearing from nowhere. He'd offered to clean up for you, and even if Eddie's idea of cleaning was to just move all the dirty things somewhere else- your kitchen- you still appreciated the help, "We'll go to the arcade again and you can teach me how to be better at Tetris," He grins. It surprises him too when Max, laughs, moving to hug him too. He blinks a little, looking at you as he pats her shoulders,

"Thanks for bringing the movie," She says, letting go of him and glancing between the two of you, "I'll see you around," She says, glancing over at Eddie as he fixes the hood on her head, "Good night!" She says as she leaves, and you both watch as she moves quickly through the rain, triggering the motion-sensor light above your home. Before long, she's running up the steps to her trailer and giving you both a final wave, before she lets herself in. Even though it's cold, you accept the cigarette Eddie's offering you and helping you light,

"Is she okay?" Eddie asks as he watches you. You take a deep inhale, letting the smoke burn your lungs before exhaling the long plume and watching it get violently swept away into the darkness. Your mind flicks back to when she first came here, how broken and hurt she was at the idea of you leaving. Her words about you. You hoped you'd told her the right thing and done enough for her. Eddie's hand comes to rest against the cold skin of your arm,

"I hope so," You finally say, tipping the ash from your cigarette on the ground outside as his hand moves up and down your arm rubbing the skin to try warm you, "I don't really know, Eds," You admit with a small frown, "She came here in the first place because she had an argument with her mom and then we... She cried," You frown, leaning your head against the doorframe, bringing the cigarette back to your lips,

"Shit," He mutters, as he takes a long drag too,

"Yeah. She came in and asked where I had been, considering no one had told her or her mom I was living next door. I told her I was in Franklin and that I'd go back when the next semester started and she got... Quiet," You thought for a few moments, trying to recall the conversation. By now, it was all a blur of emotion that constricted your heart, "She really cares about us, Eds," You finally say, meeting his gaze, "She sees us as family- you as a brother," His eyes widen slightly,

"Really?" His voice is quiet and full of surprise, and his cigarette is seemingly forgotten about as it burns out next to him. Yours too. His eyes have lit up and he can't help himself from slightly,

"Yeah... It- she was crying while saying this- but... She says you remind her a lot of Billy," His expression shifts, "Not in a bad way-" You quickly reassure, "She says you two had similar interests in music. She said uh... She kinda expects you to be like him. But you're completely not- so that's good," You tell him. He blinks a few times, before nodding, glancing at the cigarette in his hands, "I also told her to talk more about her feelings and stuff," You shrug, "Lucas was here before her," you add, dropping your cigarette and letting him squish it, considering he's wearing his shoes and you're barefoot,

"Sinclair?" Eddie asks; you nod affirmatively, "Did you ask if he'll make it to the Straight-Out-Of-Hell Hellfire Meeting?" He asks. You frown, in confusion as he drops his cigarette and puts it out too, "My campaign?" He clarifies,

"Oh- no?" You smile as you move away from the door and he closes it behind with a dramatic huff, rolling his eyes as he follows you to your living room, "What? You expect me to slip in a 'remember to go see Eddie' when I'm giving the kid romance advice?" You laugh,

"Romance advice? He could have gone to me!" Eddie says in protest,

"What would you have told him, huh? Make her a mixtape and she'll love you again?" You raise your brows as he opens and closes his mouth,

"That's not bad advice, sweetheart," He tells you as you laugh, glancing over the damage in the kitchen, "Did you at least give him good advice?" He asks, following you,

"Hopefully. I told him he should listen to her more and then try and help her," You look over at him as he comes to lean on the counter. As you go quiet, he glances around the messy kitchen, before looking at you,

"That it?" He frowns,

"Well yeah. Sometimes you don't need big, huge, convoluted monologues about love, boomboxes outside windows, or large bouquets of flowers. You just need to listen to what the other person has to say," You tell him with a slight smile,

"Huh," He hums,

"See it's difficult to listen when you're talking so much," You tease him, giving him a knowing look that he laughs at softly, eyes darting over the mess again. His gaze focuses back on you as your shoulders drop and you move to start cleaning,

"Woah, hey," He says, holding a hand out to try to grab your arm. You freeze as you go to grab the kitchen sponge in an attempt to tackle the new stack of dishes piling up in the sink, "I'll clean that," You give him a look,

"Will you though?" You smile, picking up the sponge and going to wash the empty popcorn bowl and plates with scrapes of icing let. You hear him curse under his breath, followed by the sounds of his feet shuffling up behind you, reaching under your arms to take the sponge from your hands and place it down, "Hey!" You protest as he tries to take the bowl in your other hand out of it, "Eddie no, give me the bowl," You can feel him smiling against the back of your head, before he presses a kiss to your hair. With his other hand, he intertwines your vacant fingers as you laugh his name out in protest, though finally giving in as he grabs the bowl. He sets the ceramic back into your sink with a slight clatter and leans on you slightly to turn off the tap. You turn and face him, "What?" You ask, narrowing your eyes playfully,

"I already told you I'll clean up your kitchen," He says softly. When you go to turn away from him again, he sucks air between his teeth in a quiet hiss and grabs your arms so you can't move, saying your name in a stern way that has your stomach twisting, "Hey, you've been working your ass off all evening, let me do something for you," He says, gently rubbing your arms, "You have work in the morning and I don't so I'll clean up for you," He insists. With a slight sigh, you reluctantly nod, relaxing back in his arms and letting yourself lean backwards into a hug, his arms securing themselves tightly around your waist. He holds you delicately, lips ghosting over the crown of your head,

"Thanks, Eddie," You breathe, turning in his arms to face him and giving him a thankful smile. And though you'd likely still find some flour or icing he had missed somewhere, you were so gratefully appreciative that he'd be willing to help you out like this,

"Anything for you" He murmurs, pressing another kiss to your head, "And besides, if we're gonna live together it's gotta be clean right?" He smirks as you lift your head, giving him a sceptical look,

"Who are you and what have you done with my Eddie?" You smile wider as he throws his head back and laughs loudly,

"Your Eddie?" He says it with such pride and happiness it makes heat blossom through your body,

"Didn't you declare that you thrive in mess and- what was it? Organised chaos?" You smile at him, watching as he nods affirmatively. He moves a hand to gently rest against your face, brushing some hair out of your eyes, "Why the sudden change of heart?" You ask,

"Because I know you don't really like it," He smiles, "And I know you get up at the ass crack of dawn to get ready for work in the morning, so you'll likely wake up late and be rushing around all snappy and angry, complaining about your back or your feet," He smiles as you scrunch up your nose. He presses a kiss to your forehead in an attempt to soothe the wrinkles, then pulls back, smiling lovingly at you, "Let me do something nice for you, babe," He says. And you really don't have it in your heart to argue with him. Instead, you lean forward and kiss him,

"I really love you, Eddie," You mumble once you part,

"Yeah. I love you too," He murmurs your name, lips ghosting over yours as he kisses you again. You let your hands touch his chest, resting them there for a moment, before gently pushing him back from you,

"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't like going to sleep covered in flour," You smiled, reaching forward to run your fingers through his messy hair, gently trying to dust off the flour stuck there, "We gotta shower," You say as he rolls his eyes, 

"You won't let me sleep with you like this?" He asks, smirking as he swipes his thumb along your cheek, whipping the smudge of icing there away, 

"Never," You smirk. He groans, quickly hugging you tightly and pulling you off your feet, earning a surprised yelp, "Eddie!!" You laugh, putting your hands on his shoulders. He sets you up on the counter behind you so he's taller, and smirks,

"What?" He grins up at you. He looks so pretty like this, bright and happy as he stares at you, pink icing on the side of his face and sticking the ends of his bangs to his skin. His hair's still up, and you lightly reach out to undo the ponytail, letting him shake his hair out,

"What are you doing?" You asked amused, his hands at your sides, sliding up and under your shirt, grazing your skin delicately. The skin beneath his fingertips tingles pleasantly, and you feel your breath catching in your throat. He's quiet for a moment, leaning in close so you feel his body pressing against your legs. Slowly, you open them so he's pressed against the cabinets, and your legs move around his waist. His lips are ghosting yours, pulling back in a playful way when you try leaning in to kiss him,

"You said you wanna shower," He says in a low voice, nodding his head towards his bathroom, "C'mon," He urges, letting go of you and taking your hand to try to pull you after him,

"Together?" You ask him. He nodded his head in clarification as you hop off the counter,

"Of course, together," He smiles, gently tugging your hand again, "Unless you wanna go alone?" He said, his hold on your hand loosening ever so slightly. It's sweet he has the mind to ask, and you quickly squeeze his hand,

"Course I'll join you Eds," You grin, moving past him and pulling him forwards now, laughing as he presses his lips against your cheek, "Thanks for asking though,"

"Just wanted to make sure," He says, pushing the bathroom door open for you and flicking the light on,

"How cute," You smile. You gaze at each other for a moment, just simply smiling and staring, before you let out a small, involuntary laugh. You really missed this. You missed him so much when you were gone. You missed how genuinely and completely happy being in his presence made you. And when he laughs with you, closing the small distance between you with a kiss as he backs you into the small bathroom, warmth spreads through your body.