#plenty of stuff happens in s4???

[heir-of-the-chair]

I don’t care what anyone in the fandom says, s4 of TDP is really good and you can fight me on this

[freedelusionshere]

I don't want to set any unreasonable expectations, but the sleight of hand and legerdemain mention in S3 could also be referring to the status of Syd and Carmy's relationship.

While I think it definitely refers to the fine dining smoke and mirrors going on (while The Bear is broke, changing the menu everyday Jeffery Ballet, trying to recreate Empire), and Carmy being trapped in his own illusions of grandeur (and trapping others with him, primarily Syd, who shields the others), it could also be about their relationship.

There is plenty of subtle evidence of stuff happening, and maybe more off screen. First and foremost, their comfort at showing resentment of each other while sticking it out regardless. They behave like a married couple bickering in several scenes. There is a subtle progression here:

Syd calling herself his accomplice is a big one for me. Seems a bit resigned, doesn't she?

Carmy' wanting to lock down Syd by promising her the star and a partnership agreement to make it legal. Which she is hesitant to do for a number of reasons.

Syd making the margins wider for him after the funeral of Marcus's mother, where the message we know they hear is that they have to look at each other close up. It indicates Syd reaching for him emotionally.

Carmy telling Syd she's dressed nice and obviously wondering where she's been outside the restaurant. The way their voices both get soft in this scene. I know people think stuff will happen with Luca, but really, it set up Syd as "cheating" on their restaurant this season just like he did last season with the C-person.

How did Syd get her apartment lease when she has bad credit and would likely need someone to co-sign? It's not her dad's doing, the show made sure we knew that. It's likely Carmy. And she's on deferred pay.

Carmy saying he's sick of this shit. He is sick of the restaurant. He is very clearly not sick of Syd, though!

Syd treating Nat, Pete, and the baby like family and looking out for them. His whole family pressuring her to sign the agreement.

Carmy telling her to go home and get some rest and he'll finish up in Apologies, and also asking her to be his plus one in public outside the restaurant.

Him cleaning his side of the street up, spraying off shit in the back of The Bear and seeming somehow mostly unbothered and feeling hopeful about the future even after Cicero tells him about pulling the funding and pressuring him to talk to his mom. Why? Because he knows he's going to see Syd later.

Carmy getting ready to go to the Ever dinner. We see he has a scrunchie and there are hairpins on his dresser. Syd pins her hair up for the Ever dinner. She wears scrunchies. It's on the prayer card and Syd is associated with Mikey constantly. Carmy makes sure to get there before her so he can introduce her and have her be seen with him.

Despite what happens with Chef David, he comes out on the other side seeming more clear-headed about what he wants. Then, the other shoe(s) drop in true cliffhanger finale style.

In S4, my expectation is that we're going to get a lot of Syd POV about all of this.

[xmasterofmunsonx]

Got Your Number

Summary: You’re Steve Harrington’s older sister and after a rough and tumultuous breakup, you’re back in Hawkins, Indiana.

Pairing: harrington!reader x Eddie Munson

Author’s notes: Potential S4 SPOILERS! For all intents and purposes of this story it’s September of 1986- Eddie is 21, almost 22, reader is 23. Post season 4, and the upside down did happen but we’re pretending the ending was how we are all talking ourselves into how it actually ended, aka Eddie lives. I started this story about 6 months ago after S4 ended, got extremely sick for a few months, and have had major writer's block over this fic because I was so unhappy with the rushed feeling of it. I hated how I’d thrown random details in there because I hadn’t thought it out well enough. So we’re taking our time the second time around- so if the storyline seems familiar, it is, it’s because it’s me rewriting my own story! Enjoy my rewrite and I appreciate any and all feedback as always ❤️

Warnings: 18+ (Minors DNI!!), language, drinking, mentions of past abusive relationship, possibly triggering bad mother/daughter relationship (comments about weight, looks, etc.), eventual smut/sexual relationship.

Word count: 7k+

I.

You groaned as you walked through the front door of your childhood home, the familiar smell bringing back memories of years past. Your slightly younger brother Steve had flown out to you to help you pack up and drive a moving truck to move back to Hawkins. You arrived back home to an empty house, which was nothing new to either of you. Your parents were due back from a business trip any moment now, and you actually weren’t too upset that they hadn’t arrived yet.

“You remember where your room is?” Steve joked as he plopped one of your suitcases down in the large foyer.

“Hasn’t been that long, Stevie.” You both rolled your eyes at each other and you grabbed the suitcase from him and traipsed upstairs.

Your room had looked the same since high school, the floral wallpaper only dulled over the last five years. You hadn’t been home much since you graduated in ‘82- you had moved away to the University of Chicago and graduated with your high school (not-so) sweetheart Charlie, who quickly became (even more of) a controlling, toxic boyfriend as soon as you were alone with him in the big city. He wasn’t always so controlling of what you did- he limited your trips home to Hawkins to strictly seeing his family only, or just skipping coming home for the holidays completely because he convinced you that your school load was too much for you. Things had gotten worse over the last year as he became increasingly more abusive and violent, and you had to get the cops involved and took out a restraining order against him.

You browsed around your room, not having many moments to yourself to look around the times you had been home and smiled at some of the high school memories that still hung on the walls in frames and in photos.

“I went ahead and trashed the ones of him so you didn’t have to see him anymore.” You turned around to meet the eyes of your brother who shared the same kind eyes as you- he hadn’t always been the same either. You both were kind of jerks throughout high school but you’d heard everything Steve had gone through when he confessed it all to you back in the spring. Scars littered his face, and you felt bad you hadn’t been home for him, but you had to be careful about leaving Charlie.

“Thanks. You can just leave everything else in the moving van, I’ll get the rest of my stuff out tomorrow and we can return the van.” You smiled at him and he dropped the bags you’d packed with your essentials and favorite clothes. You had too much stuff to fly back with, and it was only a three hour drive across the states to come back home. It gave the two of you plenty of time to talk in person, and you were shocked at how well the little town had been put back together after the “earthquake.”

Steve left you alone and you were quick to unpack, wanting to make sure your room felt like yours again as quickly as it could. You had some artwork from your apartment in Chicago you were itching to hang on the walls, but you were going to wait for that until another day.

“There you are!” Your moms screeching voice echoed through your room and you greeted her with a hug- one of the first ones in a year, and quickly gave your dad one too. Neither of them were happy about you and Charlie’s split, especially since you were due to be married in December, but once you spared the details of the relationship they were understanding and welcomed you back home to get back on your feet. Your mom used to be close with Charlie’s mom, and apparently still was, so you two had bickered a few times before moving back saying she needed to understand the severity of the situation and that you were to not have any contact with his family if you could help it.

Being a Harrington had a lot tied to it. You were one of the better known families in the town- your dad was a businessman who dealt in everyone’s business in the town, so in turn everyone knew your business too. You were the pride and joy since Steve had not made good enough grades to attend a better university, but now you knew it was because he was too busy fighting in an underworld dimension similar to that of your Dungeons and Dragons days.

That’s right- you used to be a nerd. Before you were graciously accepted onto the cheerleading squad your freshman year of high school, and welcomed into Hawkins High royalty, you’d been best friends with Eddie Munson, he was a grade behind you but the two of you were inseparable since you were young. The “freak” of the town as he was known now- but you hadn’t seen him since you left, and even before that you two hadn’t spoken much unless it was your old friends, saying mean things and pretending that you didn’t care about him. Your family name pressured you into becoming what you had- a scholar, a cheerleader, and one of the queens of the school. But all of that was behind you now. You barely scraped by your last year of college because of your horrible relationship, and you were back at home living at your semi-absent parents house. You knew they were disappointed in you, but they hadn’t exactly expressed that just yet.

“Dinner should be ready by 6, I’ve just got to throw a few things together.” Your mom told you, you knew she wanted you to come down and help her but after being in a car for three hours, that was the last thing you wanted to do. She excused herself with your dad and left you alone in your room again. You hung up a few dresses in your closet and came across your old cheerleading uniform that was still hanging in the back corner, untouched and still perfectly ironed. You scoffed as you pushed it further back, hating the memories tied to the article of clothing.

“Hey, we’re all going to watch movies tonight at Eddie’s house if you wanna come. Robin’s picking out a few from the store and I said we’d grab some beer on the way.” Hearing his name stopped you in your tracks. Steve had told you Eddie had been in on the Upside Down shenanigans in the spring- told you of how he had almost died, but the thought hadn’t crossed your mind that the two actually still hung out together even though Steve had mentioned it before. You felt sure Eddie wouldn’t want you there, not after how mean your friends had been to him in your four years of high school, so the suggestion made you feel odd about going over there.

“I uh- I hadn’t planned on seeing him, really. Does he know I’m back?” You pushed the empty suitcase underneath your bed and twisted a piece of brown hair around your finger nervously.

“Yeah, he knows. He seems… open to you coming over to hang out. And you need to meet and see everyone because they’re going to be your best friends too.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Pfft, who else do you have to hang out with?” You scoffed at his remark even though it was true. You had no desire to talk or see anyone from your past. Whether it was out of shame or anger, you were not really planning on rekindling any old high school friendships. Once you had some clarity of how much you had changed yourself to fit the Hawkins mold they wanted you to fit, you felt angry that you’d let your parents control that much of who you were despite how little they were actually involved in your life. “Right, so we’ll leave after dinner.” He patted your door frame twice before he trudged back to his room.

Dinner was awkward as expected, your parents were the worst at small talk and even worse at being comforting. You avoided talking about Charlie all together, thankfully, and your parents weren’t rushing you to search for a job anytime soon to give you a little bit of a break after school.

“So you’re going to the Munson’s house?” Your mom asked you with her eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, Robin picked out a few movies to watch like we do every Thursday.” Every Thursday? You eyed your brother and he averted his gaze to the candles in the middle of the table.

“So you see hi-them every week?”

“Week? More like every day. Those kids can’t get enough of Steve. He’s always chauffeuring them around town.” You’d heard about him and the “kids,” but you were still a little shocked to know that your brother was that good of friends with your old best friend who you were pretty sure hated you- he’d left that out.

“Always the babysitter.” Steve muttered to himself as he cleared his plate.

“Are you done yet, sweetie?” Your moms sticky voice chimed in as you looked at your food that you hadn’t yet finished, “you can come to some aerobic classes with me if you want so you can work off that college weight.”

“Yeah, I’m done.” You pushed your plate forward and got up, eating a few bites as you walked the plate to the sink. “Jesus Christ, now I remember why I hated coming home.”

“Yeah, they haven’t changed much. Don’t let it get to you. You look fine.” You knew you did, but your moms comments had always been so negative about your appearance and your weight. Steve definitely got the better metabolism of you two, and your mom tried to control your eating habits all throughout high school the best she could. Charlie was no help either, so when the two of you broke up you had sought therapy and had been working on your own eating habits since you were on your own for a few months after the breakup. It was freeing, so it was going to be hard to be under the watchful eyes of your mom again- when she was home. “C’mon, let’s grab some beer.” Steve grabbed the keys to his BMW and you followed him out, saying a quick goodbye to your parents.

“Fuck them.” You sighed as you buckled your seatbelt.

Steve agreed as he drove to the corner store and grabbed a pack of beer, driving to Eddie’s house.

“So, Eddie and Wayne’s trailer got destroyed in the uh, thing.” Steve haphazardly waved his hand in the air, “and Hawkins basically paid Eddie and Wayne to keep their mouth shut by giving them a new home.” He commented as he drove in a different direction than what you remember his old trailer being. Eddie hadn’t always lived with his uncle Wayne- his mom had died, and his dad was a felon and lost custody of him at a young age. You’d known him before he moved in with Wayne and stuck by him through all of the years he had trouble adjusting, and had grown close with Wayne since you were at their house so much.

You pulled up to a small brick house that looked much homier than the trailer they used to rent, and you could see amber lights glowing from the inside. You took a deep breath before you stepped out of the car and followed Steve to the front door, walking around a few other cars that were parked in the yard.

“He’s not mean and scary- you’ve got nothing to worry about. You’re the mean and scary one to him, remember?” Like you needed reminding- your plan for the night was to blend in and remain quiet, and go as unnoticed as possible.

“HARRINGTON!” The boy’s voice was unmistakable. It was deeper than you remember, but still somehow the same. He greeted your brother with a huge hug and you were unsure of what to do, so you quietly passed by the two guys and stepped foot into the kitchen hoping someone else was in there. Nancy, Jonathan, and Robin were all standing in the kitchen with beers already, and they greeted you similarly with big hugs and smiles. You’d known them through your brother and the few times you had been “allowed” back home.

“How was the drive?” Robin asked you as she took the beer from you and put it in the fridge, but not before you grabbed one for yourself and Steve.

“Not nearly as bad as dinner with my parents.”

“Ugh, I can’t imagine being stuck in a car with Steve for three hours. Working with him for that long is bad enough.” Robin remarked and you all laughed.

“Shut it, Buckley. We work 8 hour shifts together all the time.” Steve brushed through the kitchen to grab a drink for himself and you handed him his as Eddie peered around his shoulder.

“Hey there.” Eddie wiggled his fingers at you in a wave, and you hesitated before you walked over to him to give him a small hug.

“Hey.” Was all you said as he froze before he returned the hug, matching the lightness of the embrace you gave him. You noted that he still smelled the same, except you could smell weed and cigarettes on him now that he was older, and it seemed like he’d tried to cover the smell up a little with some cologne.

“So, I got a few different movie genres for us tonight, come on!” Robin broke the awkwardness and you jumped back from Eddie, avoiding his gaze and followed Robin into the living room where the rest of the kids were already lounging waiting for your arrival. You were introduced to everyone, a few you recognized and a few you didn’t. There was a large age gap, but you knew all their names from Steve’s storytelling, and a few from their faces when you’d been back home briefly.

You felt the tension in the air as you watched the people file into what you assumed were their normal seats until all that was left was a two seater leather chair. Eddie held out his hand for you to sit, “it’s usually mine, but you can take it tonight.” You sat down in it and took a few sips of your beer and motioned for him to sit down.

“I don’t bite, you can sit too.” You continued sipping your beer as the kids sorted through movies and finally decided on a horror film, and Eddie made himself comfortable beside you. You noticed he had tattoos and scars peering out from the sleeves of his Iron Maiden t-shirt as his arms rested comfortably at his sides beside you.

“Long time no see, Harrington.” He said as he shot you a charming smirk, and you were met with the same chocolate brown eyes as you remember from your childhood.

“Can say the same, Munson.” You brought the cold bottle up to your lips and finished off your first beer with a smirk. He grabbed the empty bottle from you and took it to the kitchen, and returned quickly with another one for you- already opened.

“Before the movie starts I’m going to step outside to partake in some real fun. You’re more than welcome to join, or you can stay inside- the choice is yours.” He invited you in his dramatic voice, and you chuckled to yourself as you followed him outside.

“Thought I smelled weed on you.” You muttered as you stepped out onto the back porch.

“Oh, you smoke now?” He smirked as he lit a joint and took a big hit before passing it to you.

You inhaled the weed into your lungs and held it there before you could even think of something to say to him. Do you apologize? Shoot the shit with him? You literally hadn’t spoken a kind word to him since freshman year, so this felt painfully uncomfortable for you to be out here. You were quickly regretting your decision to follow him.

“Yeaaaah.” You took another hit and held it in before passing it back to him. You watched as he propped himself against the porch railing and looked at you with his eyelids hooded, “Eddie, I don’t even know where to start.”

He held his hands out beside him, “I got all night to listen.”

“You’d want to?” You were shocked.

“I mean, I do believe- if I remember correctly, you owe me a bunch of apologies.” He seemed like he was unphased by your presence. You felt more intimidated by him than anything.

“Ha, yeah.” You sat down in one of the porch chairs, “Just so you know, first off, I’m really sorry for how much of a bitch I was to you.”

“Go on.” He motioned to you as he sipped his beer with a proud smirk on his face.

“And I totally understand if you hate me.”

“Well, I don’t, so…” He said through a chuckle.

“I don’t know what got into me in high school. I let myself be bullied into being a bully and I hate that you were one of the targets. You didn’t deserve that. I realized I was being who everyone else wanted me to be and not who I really was, and lost the people that actually cared about me the most. All of those friends were so fucking fake to me- and would you believe Charlie came home on a ‘work trip’ and cheated on me with Grace of all people?”

“I sure would. What a cunt.”

You let out a groan, “I can’t believe I wasted so many years with that jerk.”

“So, what’s your plan now that you’re back?”

You shrugged as you sipped on your drink, and held a hand up to the joint being passed back to you. “I guess just see what I can find to do here with a degree.”

“You always were such a smarty pants. I finally graduated, you know?”

“Yeah, Steve told me.” You leaned back in the chair and looked up at the night sky. “He actually told me everything. Like, about-“

“Oh shit, I didn’t know that.” Eddie moved to the seat beside you, a tiny table separating you two.

“I wanted to come back, and see you and make sure you were okay but Charlie wouldn’t let me. That was kind of the end of it all. I had to push through graduation, get a new place, and get enough evidence on him to get a restraining order against him before I could get all my stuff and go. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get one when you’re with someone like him.” You let out another scoff, “sorry- you didn’t need to hear that.”

“You can still talk to me.” He kindly smiled at you and you returned one to him.

“I was really nervous about coming here tonight. Thanks for not being a jerk, like I was.”

“I mean, you definitely hurt my feelings some but I knew that wasn’t really you. Been called a lot worse than freak.”

“I can’t believe the whole town thought you were a murderer? I mean- you?”

“You’re telling me. I still don’t know how Hopper convinced everyone it was Jason and got me cleared.”

“I just feel so bad I wasn’t here for everything going on, I always knew this place was cursed. How… bad off were you?”

Without saying a word, Eddie lifted his shirt up and showed you. You could see the scars in the dim light of the moon and the porch light, and you can only imagine the pain he’d been in recovering.

“Bats did that?”

“No, fucking demobats. They were huge. Had these long crazy tails, and I thought I could fight them off to save your brother and the others some time.” Eddie’s voice was not his usual expressive tone, he was more somber and serious.

“You did though.” You pulled your feet up into your seat and looked over at Eddie adjusting his tshirt back into place.

“Yeah, and barely made it out alive. I blacked out and woke up in Hopper’s cabin in the woods. Couldn’t get real help in the hospital because I was wanted for murder still, somehow avoided infection and am left with these killer scars.”

“Pretty badass looking if you ask me.” You said, feeling the beer and weed loosening you up a little bit.

“Eh, I had to take a break from playing for a little. But we’re back at the Hideout now - we got moved to Saturday nights since we draw such a crowd now. It used to be Tuesday.”

“Yeah, I remember.” You said quickly.

“Do you?” He raised an eyebrow at you.

“Just because I was a jerk to you didn’t mean I didn’t know anything about you Eddie. You were my best friend. I kept some tabs on you even though I was in a different crowd. I snuck into a few shows my senior year and hung out in the back.” You blushed at the admittance. “What year was that for you? How did they even let you guys play so young?”

“We were just that good, sweetheart.” He let the nickname roll off his young so easily it caught you by surprise. Wayne used to call you that and you readjusted in your seat at Eddie using the endearing name for you.

“So you’ll be playing this Saturday?”

“Mhm. Got Hellfire Club tomorrow night at the record store.”

“What?! You still play?!”

“Still play? I’m the dungeon master. We have club every week at the record store on Friday nights. I kinda run the store now. Like, uh, that’s my job. I manage it and teach guitar lessons. Just started lessons about two months ago and my afternoons are booked solid.” He was beaming with pride and excitement when he met your eyes.

“That’s amazing. Can I come by? It’s been a while so I might just watch, but I won’t get in the way.”

“Absolutely.” He squeezed his eyebrows together. “You’re welcome Saturday night too.”

“Ah, I may be booked. Have a lot of friends to reconnect with, you know?” You both laughed at your sarcasm and let the silence become comfortable as you both looked around at the quiet piece of land Eddie’s house was on. “Thanks again for not being a jerk. I really do deserve it.”

“No, you don’t. I appreciate the apologies and I missed having you around. Steve’s not my favorite Harrington, believe it or not.”

“I still am?”

“No, your mom is.” He said with a serious expression before he busted out laughing at the shocked look on your face. “Just kidding. I’m willing to put the past aside if it means I can have my friend back. I know a lot of things are different now, but I don’t think you need to be alone right now, you could use a friend, yeah?”

“More than you know. Thank you, Eddie.” You reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a soft squeeze.

“Wanna join them or just stay out here all night?”

“Honestly I wouldn’t mind staying out here if that’s alright with you.” You spoke quietly as you crossed your arms, the September chill was setting in but you were not going to ask for a blanket, and you were too comfortable to get up.

“I’ll grab us another drink and blanket and we can just stay out here? Don’t go anywhere.” He held his hands out for you to stay put and you laughed at his silliness, his welcoming personality hadn’t changed much and it was just what you needed tonight.

He returned moments later, “your blanket, my kind lady.” He draped the warm fleece over your lap and you thanked him as he opened the beer bottle for you.

You and Eddie spent two hours together talking and laughing, sharing stories and filling in puzzle pieces where your lives had gone different paths. As the night came to an end you realized you weren’t so mad about having to come back home, and you were glad your path had crossed Eddie’s once again.

-

“So, seems like you two got along pretty well last night.” Steve said as he drove you back home from dropping off the van you had rented.

“Yeah, I guess. He said he’s going to pick me up before Hellfire tonight so we can go get dinner before the game.”

“I’ve got a date tonight, so you think he can bring you back home too? I might be gone all night, who knows.”

You shrugged at your brother, “Probably so. I don’t see why that would be a problem.” You two walked into your house together, the echo of the door shutting could be heard throughout the house. Your parents had already left to go out of town on another business trip, too busy to stay back and spend any time with you - but you honestly weren’t even bothered. It was a relief to know you wouldn’t have to hear their remarks about anything.

The hours passed quickly leading up to the time when Eddie said he’d pick you up, and you heard the front door squeak open and closed again. Heavy footsteps were heard going up the stairs and you tried to pretend like you were still getting ready when Eddie knocked on your doorframe.

“Safe to come in?” He asked, pushing the door open to look inside.

“Wouldn’t matter, you’re already opening the door. Just finishing up getting ready, then I’ll be ready to go. Steve’s in his room if you wanna go talk to him.” You pointed to his room and Eddie stepped inside of your room instead.

“Nah, I’m here to see you.” He walked around your room with his hands on his hips, looking at all of your old posters and pictures that remained on the walls. All of the ones with him in them had been replaced by ones with your high school friends- the fake ones.

“I’m going to get around to taking those down. I don’t need any reminders of the past, Steve already took down the ones with Charlie.” He nodded quietly as he inspected each of them like he’d never seen them before- which, come to think of it, he probably hadn’t.

“You really changed, huh?” He said as he admired your senior prom picture with the group of varsity cheerleaders. You had worn a hot pink dress and your hair was teased to the high heavens. “You look uh, more like yourself tonight.” He motioned to your outfit- some light wash jeans and a fitted black tshirt. You had found an old black denim jacket of Steve’s so you had decided it was now yours since he decided to store it in your closet.

“Feel more like myself now too. You ready to go?” You touched up your light layer of lip gloss as you stood up from your vanity, and little to your knowledge but Eddie had to recollect his thoughts before he could answer.

“Born ready. Let’s go eat. Diner or pizza?”

“Like that’s even a question. Diner.” You said with a smile as you followed the tall boy with crazy, curly hair out of your room.

-

After you two finished your greasy burgers and fries, you walked to the old record shop. It had survived the town splitting in half, but barely, and it had been repainted black instead of the old ugly brick it used to be. Eddie unlocked the front door, turned the lights on and held his hands out to welcome you to the store.

“Welcome, welcome. If I may be of any assistance to any record purchases, I’m available for help. If not, I’m going to be in the back setting up for tonight. If any of the kids walk in, just send them back here.” You nodded as you found yourself picking through the labels of the records. They’d been nearly categorized by genre, then alphabetical order. You browsed while you heard Eddie rummaging around in the back room, and decided to go watch him.

He didn’t notice you had walked in the room, and you were all but mesmerized by the way he was neatly unpacking and setting up the game table for tonight in the spacious back room. He was talking to himself and checking things off his checklist in his mind, and you thought it was endearing how much thought he was putting into the set up. It had become a lot more complex from when the two of you had first started playing as kids.

“Like what you see?” His voice caught you off guard and you shook yourself out of your trance and walked further into the room. “Wanna join in?”

You shook your head as you felt your ponytail bounce, “no, I’m fine just watching tonight. Maybe another time.”

“Beer’s in the fridge, grab me one too.” He asked and smiled at you as you fetched the beverages for yourselves. He was moving chairs all around, and added one to beside the one at the head of the table, “you can be assistant to the DM tonight- how’s that sound?”

“Perfect.” You sipped on the cold beer and smiled as he handed you the plan for tonight’s game, and you read over the pages containing gameplay details that you hadn’t thought about in years. You looked up from the papers to find Eddie staring at you, and it was his turn to blush- except he held eye contact with you and didn’t look away, which made you blush harder than him.

You didn’t know why Eddie was being so kind to you. He had let you back into his circle again, no questions asked and no hard feelings that you knew of.

“What?” You asked, the room was quiet and he was still staring at you.

“Nothing, it’s nothing.” He shook his curly head of hair and proceeded to go to the front of the store to wait on everyone’s arrival.

One by one the kids all arrived and you were happy to see Jeff and Gareth too- they were hesitant to greet you, but one look at Eddie and they knew you weren’t there for the wrong reason.

You took your seat beside Eddie at the head of the table and listened as he told them about the new campaign they were starting tonight. You were captivated by his deep voice and his animated actions as he told the details of the storyline. He plopped back in his seat as he watched everyone around the table decide on their first move. He had one of those full face smiles on- the type that reached the crinkles in his eyes, and you realized he’d always had those, but they were much deeper now than you remembered.

“This one’s gonna be good.” He turned to you and you nodded, “you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just glad to be back. Feels a little weird.”

His hand patted your thigh with what felt like searing heat, and he rested it there for a few seconds, “Relax. I already told you that it’s all okay. We’re starting fresh, but not really, like we talked about last night, m’kay?” You nodded, and he lightly squeezed your thigh before releasing it and turning back to the table.

The game went on for hours, you were so entertained by the enthusiasm of the kids and Eddie, it was really a heartwarming night for you after the previous night had started off a little awkward and rocky. It honestly felt like so many years had passed.

“You seemed like you were having fun.” Eddie said as he started up his van.

“It was fun to watch again, I seriously don’t think I've played since… well, since I made the cheerleading squad for freshman year.”

“That’s a damn shame. You were always the best.”

“No way! I was only decent. I sucked at cheerleading. I only made it because my parents funded the school’s athletic programs, paving the way for me and Steve to be successful.” You joked, picking at the rips in your jeans. “Thanks for picking me up and taking me home tonight, I really appreciate it. I had fun, the record store looks amazing too.”

You watched Eddie’s face blush pink, “Not a problem. It’s uh, it’s been nice seeing you again.”

“Yeah, it has.” You looked out the window and watched as your surroundings became more familiar the closer you got to your house. The rest of the ride was silent except for Eddie’s radio playing Metallica in the background, and his thumbs drumming along to the beat of every song. When you pulled up, your driveway was empty. You had assumed Steve’s date had gone well. “You wanna come inside and hang for a bit? Steve’s on a date, my parents are on another work trip, and I’m not feeling like being alone in the big house. If you need to get home, I understand it’s late but-”

“I’ll come in. I’ve got nowhere else to be. Wayne’s working tonight.” Eddie turned the ignition off as he parked on the street in front of your house, and you waited for him to round the front before you walked in together.

“Help yourself to a beer if you want another one, dad’s got plenty in the fridge. I’m going to head upstairs and change into pajamas and I’ll be back down.” He gave you a thumbs up and you heard the fridge door rattle as you made it up to your bedroom. You changed into an old pair of shorts and oversized shirt, headed downstairs, and found Eddie had settled onto the large leather couch in the living room with the tv on. The clock read 1:30, but you weren’t feeling too tired.

“Think Steve will make it back tonight?” He asked without looking up from the screen.

“No idea. It’s still early, I don’t know what he can find to do in Hawkins this late but more power to him if he’s out there.” You said as you sat down on the opposite end of the couch, pulling a blanket over your lap. He’d settled on some movie and you were paying attention to it, when he nudged you with his beer bottle and you took it without question and had a few sips, then handed it back to him.

“What’s going on in that head?” He turned to face you and you sighed.

“Not much, honestly. I feel defeated to be back here. There isn’t much here, no offense, and I didn’t see myself ending up here again. But here I am.” You sighed again, a little anger appearing in your chest, “I’m just so mad at Charlie, you know?”

“Are you mad at Charlie, or mad at yourself?”

You shot your eyes at Eddie and gave him a look. “I-I’m mad at…him. He was a piece of shit, Eddie. Everyone warned me. Well, not everyone. But Steve did. You didn’t like him. None of the people with a single brain cell or more liked the guy. I can’t believe we were engaged.” You shivered as if you were grossed out at the thought.

“Engaged?! I didn’t know it was that serious.” He took a swig from the beer.

“I mean, I moved to Chicago for him. School was just… the excuse. I was pretty serious about him, we were supposed to get married in December but I called it off in the spring. ‘Good’ family, reputation, all that shit my mom cares about.”

“But nothing that you care about.” Eddie finished your thought.

“Bingo.” You said as you scooted closer, grabbing the beer from him. “I don’t even know what I care about anymore now that I’m out of the relationship and that shitty situation.”

“A shituation is what I like to call that.” You busted out laughing at Eddie’s joke and it felt good to let go and laugh like that. You hadn’t in a while. Well, you had last night but that was several beers in so you would’ve laughed at almost anything.

“You asked me what my plans were, what are yours?” You turned the subject around on Eddie.

He shrugged, “I hope the band takes off soon. It’s taken me a while to recover from… everything. I still haven’t really come to terms with all of it, so it’s hard to think too far into the future.”

“That’s fair.” You stole the beer and took a sip, then handed it back to him. “What about you and the ladies?”

He scoffed and threw his head back “I mean, it took me three years to finish high school, I play D&D in the breakroom of the music store weekly with kids that still go to high school, I play in a metal band, and my body is covered in scars. Doing really great for myself in that department, Harrington.”

You felt bad for asking as he finished off the beer and got up to grab another, but you genuinely had no idea. After you moved, you hadn’t heard much about Eddie so you really didn’t know. He reappeared with two more and offered one to you with raised eyebrows, and you took it. When he sat down, he was a few inches closer to you and you could feel the warmth of his legs against yours.

“Sorry, I-”

“You didn’t know. It’s okay.” He seemed to have calmed down quickly, but you still felt bad. “There’s been a few, but nothing serious. Not really much to offer here.” You wanted to say there was because you knew Eddie better than most did, but you kept your mouth shut and moved on.

“I can’t believe that there was just this whole other world below Hawkins this whole time… and none of us knew it.” You stared at the coffee table in front of you. “I wish I-”

“No, no, no. Don’t you say you wish you could’ve been here.” Eddie was getting riled up as he readjusted on the couch, “I wouldn't have wished what I saw on anyone. Especially you.”

“No, I mean, I just hate that I left here without any care. I just wish Steve would’ve told me that it was going on.”

“Probably scared you would’ve tried to come back. Harrington's love to try to be the hero, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. So I’ve been told.” You let out a scoff as you rolled your eyes.

“Jesus, you two are so much alike.” Eddie commented and you hadn’t realized he was staring at you. “Such an attitude on both of you.”

“Oh, yeah?” You challenged him.

“Yeah.” Eddie tucked a leg under him and turned to face you, scooting even closer. “Big ole heads full of pretty hair, ego, and a whole lot of attitude that comes along with it.” He reached out to push a few pieces of hair behind your ear that had fallen out of your ponytail throughout the day, and drug his thumb across the edge of your jawline.

“But my hair is prettier, right?” You asked quietly, feeling the nerve to see what you could get away with.

“Oh, absolutely. Everything about you is prettier.” His hand lingered on your jaw and he quickly drew it back at the sound of a car door slamming shut outside. He kept his eye contact with you, as if he were timing exactly how long it would take for Steve to walk through the front door and he was spot on as he jumped back and sunk into the couch as if you two had been sitting feet apart the whole night.

“How was your night, Stevie?” He asked with a smirk as Steve shut the door.

“What are you doing here so late, Munson?” Steve asked, annoyed at the presence of his friend.

“Just keeping me company since this house is so empty. Stole a few of dad’s beers, I don’t think he’ll mind.”

He looked between the two of you before he scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I’m going to bed. ‘Night.”

“There’s that Harrington attitude we all love!” Eddie yelled up the stairs and Steve held up his middle finger in response. “I think I’ll head out now.” He announced as he stood up and stretched, his shirt rising a bit above his plaid boxers you’d already spotted a few times tonight during the game.

“See you tomorrow night?” You asked as you walked him to the door.

“Yeah? I’ll pick you up again if you want. I don’t think you want to go there by yourself. Usually Buckley and your brother show up at some point but who knows with the stick he’s got up his ass tonight if he’ll come tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. What time? I’m free…” you looked at your watch, “all day.”

“Well, some of us are contributing members to society now and have jobs so, I’ll come pick you up when I’m off at 2?” You blushed, realizing how eager you were seeming to see him. “Can’t get enough of me, can you?”

“Yeah, uh, two sounds great.” You stuttered out.

“Perfect. We have practice at Gareth’s before, I can have them move it to 3 so I can have time to get you.” Eddie seemed unphased by your nervousness, or at least he was playing it cool and not pointing it out.

“See you then, Munson.” You waved him off and watched him walk to his van.

“Later, Harrington.” He yelled out without looking back at you, just giving a wave to the air.

You shut the large wood door and collapsed your back against it, closing your eyes and sighing. “Fuck.” You were screwed. Since when did you feel like this about Eddie? How did you feel about him? Why did he make you blush, and so nervous?

“No game, big sis. No game at all.” Steve spoke from the top of the stairs.

“Oh my God, Steve. Go away!”

“You’ve got a crush. A big one. Don’t you?”

“Steve!” You yelled his name after you locked the front door and turned the lights off, Eddie’s grumbling van could no longer be heard outside. “I do not.”

“Do too. And he does too.” He pointed at the closed door, “He always has. You’re just blind.”

“What?” You felt like the air was gone from your lungs.

“Uh, yeah?” He raised his eyebrows as you walked up the stairs to your bedroom and where Steve was perched. “I read your old diaries while you were gone. There’s way too much in those about Eddie for you to not have a crush on him. And he, get a couple more beers in him and my God, the boy will not shut up about you. He was non-stop talking and asking questions about when you were gonna be back and what you would be doing and-”

“Okay, chatty Cathy. I get it. But I don’t have a crush on him.” You pushed past him and made it to your bedroom, “How was your date?”

“Not answering that until you confess your crush on Munson. Night, sis.” Steve shut his bedroom door before you could say anything and you followed suit, your hands immediately reaching to feel the blush in your cheeks.

Maybe you did. But that was fast, or was it?

[kaybreezy3000]

~alternate S4 ending and a look inside Five's world both before he jumped to the apocalypse and post season 3.

~~~~~~~~It all begins and ends with Five....

(Rated Teen and Up or General. 10,409 words)(alt season 4 story with ending, reader insert style that allows anyone to be the 'you' character,-as a potential friend to Five or whatever you want to imagine, meant to be sad and sweet.)

warnings: mild description/mention of child abuse, and signs of panic attack, potential trigger by mention of bombing a building

tags: anarchist Number Five, Hero Number Five, ideas from the Gene and Jean script release but not based on what really happened, whump, fluff, trauma, heartbreak, love, revenge, forgiveness, Mr. Pennycrumb, all the Hargreeves and some of our new character mentions from season 4 but not as the show had them because this was written before it came out, Five deserves better, Klaus is awesome, You x Five, Five is amazing and with this one you get to imagine yourself a part of his story/future 👍

He Who Holds The Power

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From across the table, the couple staring back at Five took a drink from their coffees at the same time.

Five’s lips turned up ever so slightly as he swallowed down the warmth from his own caffeinated beverage. “Jean was it?” he questioned, already knowing the answer.

“Yes, I’m Jean and this is my husband Gene,” the woman replied while the man next to her intently watched him with bright blue eyes that filled his otherwise aged face with youthful looking excitement.

They were nervous, and rightly so. They were finally meeting the mysterious person who had hired them five years ago to hunt down things that shouldn’t exist but did. 

Shifting forward, Five set his empty cup down between them, then casually pulled up the cuff of his dress shirt and glanced at his wrist, noting the time before he raised a brow. “Do you have it?”

“We do,” the man said, passing him a folder.

Five opened the manila file. 

His breath caught in his throat.

Staring back at him were six masked children, all decked out in matching academy uniforms as they proudly stood there with the Eiffel Tower behind them.

Five had seen plenty of evidence already, but this was the nail in the coffin. This was all the proof he needed to verify he was right and he was justified in what he was about to do.

The date on the newspaper clipping was from early April of 2001. 

It was only five months after The Umbrella Academy’s infamous bank job.

They were only twelve years old.

He had lived a lifetime since then, but the memories of that day, and what happened to him after it, hit Five in waves of near crippling anxiety. As if the world was out to get him, it was all made worse by the hateful looking woman who had just walked by with the little yelping dog that she just zapped into submission through the shock collar that looked like it was choking the life out of him.

She looked too much like The Handler, with her fancy dress and spiked heels, and those blood red lips forming a wicked grin. Her sick satisfaction over the animal’s paralyzing fear was exactly how Five’s ex-boss looked at him as she heartlessly manipulated him into doing her bidding.

His fingers curled as his body tensed.

He forced his eyes back to the article with the faded image of his family.

He had looked about as smug as a kid could at the press conference that cold day, and he was, but not long after that, Five would find out how foolish he was to think that by merely doing his best and putting on a show for the press that he could trick his father and himself that he was good enough.

“How is this stuff possible,” Jean questioned with her eyes darting from the stained article Five had just laid down, to his hand retreating under the table where they couldn’t see it trembling.

Pushing aside all that, Five flatly said, “It doesn’t matter.”

Gene didn’t like that. 

“What?” he angrily barked. “We have been searching high and low for this stuff and we have given you tons of proof that this shit is real. That kid in front looks a lot like you,” he pointed at Five in the picture, “and that girl looks like the actress from the VHS tapes we gave you! Something is not right here!”

“It never was,” Five stoically replied while promptly pushing out his chair.

Not waiting for them to argue with him further, he left them and the paper on the table that showed evidence of his past that wasn’t supposed to exist anymore. The envelope full of money he’d dropped next to the file should be enough to quiet them. Not that it would matter.

Time was up.

Five was done sitting around playing Reginald’s victim. 

Five’s fingers gently cradled the detonator in his pants pocket as he walked down the busy sidewalk with his eyes aimed at the tallest building on the horizon-the one that was adorned with huge letters spelling out the last name he had once called his own.

Reginald had erased Number Five Hargreeves and left him with almost nothing. Five had tried to move on and take his second chance for what it was, but as hard as he tried, he couldn’t escape his thoughts of retribution.

In trying to reclaim something he’d lost and couldn’t figure out how to repair, Five was finally going to erase the father that had never loved him.

~~~

Not long before this, across town, with a heaviness tugging at what was left of his cold heart, the heavy door thumped closed behind Reginald at what was once The Umbrella Academy. Though parts of the exterior were in horrible states of disrepair, burnt and bashed by the spray of angry graffiti, the main stones holding together the building stood as they always had, but the home of the once famous children that were born with superhuman powers was now nothing more than another one of his many derelict properties.

Reginald had left it to rot and had taken the world for himself, and he’d done so by using them in the worst way, stripping them of the gifts inside them to fuel his machine that rebooted life on his terms.

He should have been happy with the result. He had gotten everything back that he’d always wanted, but inside, behind those walls that no one was allowed, a life from another time sat silently covered in dust and it told another story nobody else knew.

Ironically, all Reginald cared about always turned out empty.

The Umbrella Academy may not have existed in this timeline but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still there, just like his regret.

Those around him didn’t realize it, but many things were hiding just beneath the surface.

His expensive dress shoes left ghosts of his presence across the once sparkling black and white marble checkering of the foyer at the old manor. His cane tapped along, its echo hollow.

Reginald tiredly climbed the grand staircase, then slowly walked the quiet upper hall, past his children’s closed bedroom doors, heading towards the viewing room.

At a darkly paneled wooden wall, he stopped.

He glanced behind him at the settee where Grace had once sat to recharge. He could almost see her sitting a few feet away, staring off into space, blissfully incapable of truly understanding the dire situation at hand.

Flickers of another face, the same as hers, only animated with life and love, begged him for the truth he wouldn’t give. She was just another mistake haunting him.

He could have found some semblance of peace and maybe even true happiness in those he’d hurt, but like so many times Reginald couldn’t see what was in front of him, he hadn’t realized that until it was too late.

Despairingly, Reginald looked away, opening the hidden paneled door he’d felt drawn to that morning, then he shut himself inside its secret darkness.

The dimly yellowed light from the small desk lamp turned on, the chain slipping from Reginald’s fingers as his weight fell into the familiarity of his old chair. Stuck somewhere in the memories of his past, he clicked on the monitor in front of him.

His eyes fell from the surveillance screen that was playing the live news, moving across the small workspace. The pages of his detailed notes, files filled with medical records, and all the numerous journals about his children from the years he had spent with them all lay there before him.

More than ever, he wondered if he could have done things another way.

Reginald Hargreeves knew all too well the power of love and relationships of the heart, but he also knew that they could be wiped out of existence in the blink of an eye by an ugly twist of fate.

By what he could see, in this case, that ugly twist was the world’s end, again.

He’d seen the signs. Clues of his charade were all around them, buried in boxes of seemingly useless junk put in the trash as someone emptied a musty basement or sold as seemingly worthless treasures on the streets for a small fortune to those who knew.

Yes, there were those that had formed conspiracy theories about him and who claimed they were living in a false existence. They were anarchist radicals, but they weren’t wrong.

Reginald also knew his machine that had been holding this all together was failing.

The end had always loomed, and he’d thought he’d finally beaten it even though he’d done so by failing the ones he himself created and had once dared to call his own. He stole away their chance at a normal life with parents that loved them, then he made them nothing more than his adopted wards. They were his dream of a future, but he was no father to them.

“It has been said that a man who has been through bitter experiences and traveled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time.” Reginald laughed bitterly. “Sadly, not true,” he said, mocking the line he’d just quoted from The Odyssey.

The faraway sound of a determined voice calling out to him, then perfectly reciting Homer in ancient Greek suddenly caused his chest to ache.

Thinking of his wayward son that had rightly lost faith in him and then tragically became lost in time, only to suffer so much more horribly because of it, Reginald looked up at the screen again, looking at the backdrop of Paris with the glitching pulsation of reality starting to reveal the truth. A thick cloud of digitized blackness began to descend over the Eiffel tower and all around it.

He’d prevented nothing and he had caused all of this in his inability to let go of a past that was no more.

Abigail…

He’d done it all for her when really, what they’d had was gone a long time ago, he just couldn’t accept it.

A broken heart was a powerful thing. It could alter everything, and he did. He’d destroyed his children's trust in him and in each other. In his blindness, he was the one that set off this chain of catastrophic events.

It was the biggest mistake he’d ever made. He wished he could turn back time. That was why he’d come to the place where he’d messed things up so badly. This was where it happened.

Reginald clicked off the channel filled with blaring sirens and blurred pixelations from the distortion of time as it crashed.

No one was safe.

It would be happening outside his doors soon enough.

Once again, he stared blankly at the black screen.

He pushed himself up from his chair, ready to return to his tower and wait for the end, but then his weary eyes came back to the tall shelf next to him. It held dozens and dozens of videos from experiments performed on his children. His index finger slowly ran over the titles and the dates, stopping on one.

In bold black ink it read:

April 3rd, 2001 Corrective Training-Post Paris Incident (Subject: Number Five) Speed and Precision Exercise

He pulled the tape away from the many others and stuck it in, making the monitor light up with an old video that showed a day he'd rather not remember.

"It's always Number Five. He was always the key to everything, and I broke him," he whispered with his eyes glued to the small boy who was angrily staring back at him from the screen.

~~~

Using the skills he’d learned in his years as an indentured assassin, Five had done it. The explosives were all set and placed precisely where they needed to be to take Reginald’s Tower of infinite power to the ground. It was just a matter of time, and he would get his confirmation that the building had been cleared due to the fire alarms he’d hacked into and programmed to go off.

Potential casualties were a thing Five would need to add to the blood already drenching his hands. His conscience was unbearably heavy, that was nothing new, but he justified delivering even more death with the knowledge that most of the occupants of the building would be cleared of the tower, as well as the area around it due to simultaneous warnings going off in all the nearby buildings.

Quick enough, what Five had done was easily going to be seen as a false alarm, and that was intentional. Due to safety compliance rules and insurance reasons, people would still be forced to evacuate, but it was well known that Reginald and his wife rarely left the protection of his imposing skyscraper.

They would be right where Five wanted them to be.

As Five sat on a park bench in the spot he had chosen to view the glory of his efforts, he thought again of that article and his family.

He hadn’t seen any of his family members in years, but just as it was in the apocalypse, he could almost hear Diego’s voice as if he was right there, saying something dumb or bitching about the reporters that headlined Five and Luther and not him. His knife throwing brother’s heroics that day were worthy of note, but like so often in their life, the things they did right did not get them the recognition they had so badly craved.

As annoyed as Five was by Diego at times, he never felt that he deserved the punishments he received. None of them did.

Five wanted to protect them. But the truth was, he couldn’t protect them. He couldn’t even protect himself and that was never more apparent than after Paris.

On that a chilly Monday morning in April of 2001, Five and his siblings were all up before sunrise, scrambling to make it downstairs for inspection before their dad got there.

Only the night before, they had just got back from France, having completed their most recent mission. They were all a bit jet lagged and worked up still, bickering and carrying on the way only a pack of twelve years could at 5:30 am. As they thundered down the stairs, Luther and Diego were going on about who stopped the terrorists, both sure that they were the hero in the story.

The truth was nobody had individually done it, but that never stopped them from each trying to take all the credit. As a team, albeit a not very coordinated one, they took down a group that had threatened to bomb several famous landmarks, one being the Eiffel Tower.

Prior to the Umbrella Academy’s arrival in the city of light, these terrorists had been carrying out these types of attacks all over Europe for months, and it was all over the news. The agencies in place trying to stop them were no closer to doing so, and it was gaining more and more worldwide attention by the day.

When Reginald heard about the imminent threat going on overseas, he immediately loaded his academy on his private jet and set off to save the day. At first, the authorities were against sharing information with him or letting a group of superpowered kids near that kind of trouble. But when the first bombs went off outside at the Place Dauphine, injuring dozens, and killing eight, they were more interested in what he and his infamous Umbrella Academy had to offer.

As Reginald worked with the local law enforcement to pinpoint where the terrorist group was based, another bombing happened. That time it was on a sightseeing boat floating down the Seine. The Hargreeves were nearby, so Reginald was able to quickly get his team there. They did what they could to help get survivors to safety and even managed to gather some evidence that ultimately helped track down who built the bomb. Things were coming together, and it was just a matter of time before they were caught. A day later, before they could set off the next round of bombs, Reginald received intel that allowed him to intercept them before they got to their target.

As a vehicle full of explosives tore towards the Arc De Triomphe, the six extraordinary children were positioned and ready with their dad on the mics watching from above. They spotted the van trying to pull out from a side street. Luther immediately moved in and blocked its path, using his enormous strength to shift parked cars across their exit. Unfortunately, this caused them to deviate onto the narrow sidewalk to get around it.

Allison and Klaus were already trying to clear the area of civilians when the van came speeding in their direction. Five had seen it coming and managed to teleport from his position in time to move them, just missing getting plowed over.

Reginald’s screaming rattled their ears. It was nearly deafening and completely garbled. Diego improvised by hitting the driver in the neck with one of his knives as the van tore past him. All at once the vehicle started to lose control, swerving at a breakneck speed across the lanes as the driver bled out.

Reginald barked at Five to get in there and stop the van, so he jumped again, with his goal to land inside the moving target and take the wheel.

He missed.

Five had never been able to blink on or into a moving target and he shouldn’t have been surprised that he failed, and neither should the alien who had ordered him to do it.

The young boy landed on the road right in front of the van. He saw his life pass before his eyes just as Luther slammed into him, knocking him down to the cement before blocking the van from splattering his small body across the pavement. The vehicle smashed into his brother’s shoulder, coming to a metal bending screeched halt.

Five rolled back away from the wreckage, staggering to his bloodied knees as he watched in shock as Luther tried to untangle himself from the bent hood. That was when they heard Reginald ordering Ben to move in.

From Five’s vantage point, he could still see movement inside the van. There was someone else inside other than the dead driver. He blinked, landing next to the man inside who appeared to be desperately trying to set a bomb off even while he was still inside with it.

He looked over at the dark-haired boy in disbelief, his hand reaching for the gun strapped to his vest. With little to work with, Five charged at him before he could shoot, knocking him back against the side of the van. Thankfully, the gun sprang loose from his hand, clattering across the floor. The guy had at least a hundred and fifty or more pounds on Five, and was clearly trained in combat, so his effort, though carried out skillfully, didn’t take him out, it only pissed him off. He quickly turned the tables on the dazed teleporter, throwing him back like he was nothing.

Five went airborne, then landed and tripped backwards right over the bomb. The next thing he knew, the man had the gun pointed at his head. Before he could pull the trigger, using the same trick he’d done with the stapler during the bank job, Five teleported the deadly weapon away.

Just then the back doors of the van flew off. Luther had torn them off, and the moment Five saw Ben set up beside him, he got the hell out of there, blinking himself back out onto the road behind them.

Their dad yelled orders for Ben to unleash The Horror.

Seconds passed…

The terrorist, though taken completely off guard by all this, pounced for the bomb again.

Ben hadn’t moved; it was like he was paralyzed.

Completely out of breath, Diego suddenly rounded the corner, skidding to a stop alongside Five. He had a knife at the ready and instantly sent it sailing towards the persistent and apparently suicidal criminal, landing it deep in the center of his chest. The guy fell to his knees, gasping as he clutched at the blade as his blood quickly drenched his shirt.

That pretty much ended that.

Fortunately, before he died, Allison was able to rumor him into giving up where his accomplices were hiding. After that, the authorities were able to take them down before they could carry out another attack.

It was a success. No one else was killed or hurt.

After, Reginald had his children carry out interviews and partake in the usual media events that followed any mission they were ordered to take. They did as was expected of them, smiled for the cameras, and answered the questions carefully, just the way he would have wanted them to.

On the flight home, Reginald didn’t say a word.

Now, as they stood behind their chairs and his coldly calculating eyes fell over them, Five couldn’t escape the sinking feeling growing in his gut.

After a silent breakfast, before he could leave with the others to attend classes, Reginald abruptly pulled him aside. Five was quickly informed that he was of the opinion their mission was hardly a success, and each of them required aggressive corrective training to make sure it never happened again. As such, he would not be joining the others.

In his naively young mind, Five mused that his father must have liked him the most because he was the lucky one who got to be ‘corrected’ first.

Wide eyed, his siblings all watched him go. Five squared his shoulders as he dutifully walked behind his father, not willing to show his growing unease.

The Monocle had a specific exercise area for Five back in one of the old factory buildings that made up his city block. It was made up of three mostly empty floors that were exposed by a large open galley in the middle. To Five, it was clear what he intended to do with him. That place, and the things that happened there, were nothing new. He used to do bad things to him there all the time. It had just been a while since they’d played that game, so the timing of it seemed suspect.

The boy couldn’t escape the thought that maybe this time he should simply say no, no more, but he didn’t. Refusing to do what his dad wanted or even arguing would send Reginald into a fit of rage, so that was out of the question unless he wanted to start a war with him, which he didn’t. That was far from what Five really wanted from him.

Once Reginald had led his son to the secluded end of his property, well away from the others, the boy resentfully stood there with his wrists willingly exposed because he knew the drill. Reginald unkindly looked down at Five before wordlessly slapping on the two cuffs specifically made for him that acted as a sort of shock collar like a dog would wear. If Five missed a mark by even an inch, he would be punished for it. The targets were wired, and only landing on top of them perfectly stopped the cuffs from zapping him less than a second later.

To Five, this whole song and dance had always felt like a sick game of Operation, or maybe Battleship, only instead of a silly little rubber band or a marked ill-fated ship, he was the one destined to snap or sink to the depths of his own personal hell. That type of training could have been done without the cuffs, but the Hargreeves children’s award-winning dad of the Year always felt that without them, there was nothing at stake, nothing driving this most defiant son to do better.

The truth was it only drove Five to hate him. Over time, he had gotten better. Reginald’s Number Five grew more apt at wielding his power and then he wasn’t subject to that particular form of punishment; not so often anyway.

Reginald set his tea down and made himself comfortable at a small desk in the center of the lower level. He took a moment to look over his notes as his son obediently stood there waiting for him to start.

Five’s thoughts moved at the speed of light, but it felt like he was always waiting. Waiting for something to change, waiting for him to be good enough. Waiting for his father to see him.

It never came.

Once again, he was stuck, waiting for his mercy, for Reginald to see him as something other than a tool to achieve his ends. Five may have been a genius but that didn’t matter. He was so alone and powerless, which in his brilliant mind seemed counterintuitive to what his father was trying to achieve which only made him even more confused.

“It’s time to begin,” Reginald announced without so much as looking at his son as he stared at him down, wondering the reason for his cold indifference and why he didn’t care about them.

Five wanted to stop feeling this; he wanted it not to matter, but it did, it always had, and that was the problem. He needed to stop caring, but he just couldn’t, so he waited, and as always, he tried harder to prove him wrong.

‘I am worth something,’ the boy kept mentally repeating. All he had to do to make things better was to make Reginald see it! Then everything would be okay-he’d finally be able to know what it meant to be happy.

Reginald hit the timer, activating the system while at the same time barking out a slew of coordinates to specific locations. Five blinked as fast as possible to each, and of course, none of them were easy and most he couldn’t see ahead of time, which made landing them harder.

Sometimes it would be three floors up above, or on top of a narrow ledge or precariously placed on some other obstacle Reginald had created for him, with nothing more than a few measly inches to land. Five quickly noticed there were marks everywhere. He couldn’t begin to count them because there were so many. That was out of the ordinary, even for The Monocle, so he knew this was going to be bad.

Five’s mind played games with him, singing imaginary taunts in his father’s cruel voice. ‘Welcome back home, son. I am going to sip tea while I enjoy watching your mind shatter.’

At least Five was on it that day. He completed each order without a single shock until nearing over an hour of jumps, which was a new record. Unfortunately for him, at that point he was drained, sweat drenched, and dizzy, having lost count of how many times he had blinked. He knew he couldn’t get the precision required for what he was doing anymore. That was evident by his shaking hands and the stars at the edges of his vision.

Even though he started to protest, Reginald kept him at it, saying he needed to get better, figure out how to land on moving targets, and learn to go past his limits, because someday he would have no other choice and it would be a matter of life and death for everyone.

Five fought back.

He started to make more and more errors, and the shocks became more and more frequent and stronger each time. Normally, that type of exercise was an hour max, but that time was different for a reason. Reginald wanted to see him fail. It was becoming more and more apparent that his collapse was the point all along. His father wanted to prove to him that he wasn’t as strong as he pretended to be.

Five’s anger and desire to prove Reginald wrong were the only things fueling him in their sick game. That was until he finally crumpled to the ground nearing the end of the second hour.

The boy crashed to the floor after an especially bad jump, missing the precariously placed mark completely. He helplessly fell from an open ledge down to the unforgiving tiles over twenty feet below. He landed hard, the whole left side of his body taking the brunt of it. His head bounced once with an excruciating thwack. Then his dad proceeded to let the cuffs shock him back into consciousness until he was folding in on himself, unable to do anything other than tremor violently as his entire body spasmed.

When Reginald finally turned it off manually, Five could hardly make a sound or move. The mad man that owned him didn’t so much as bother to tap him with his shoe as he laid helplessly in his own drool at his feet, with blood-stained tears streaming down his face. Reginald simply announced, ‘We are done.”

Then he left his son there, broken and alone.

When Five finally made it to his knees, he lost what little contents his stomach still had in it, and then he ended up back on the tiled floor with another thwack of his head against the hard surface.

He lay there too exhausted and dizzy to move or save himself, that was until Grace came to his rescue. Then, when she tried to move him, the sudden disorienting movement and sheer searing pain of it caused Five to pass out. When he woke up an undetermined amount of time later, he was in the infirmary, and it was with his dad standing over him as he lay on one of Grace’s operating tables.

Five was unable to move, but he didn’t know why.

His eyes wildly darted around him as he fell into an all-out panic. He was attached to an IV and it was administering fluids into his right arm. Some type of bandage was on his head, concealing what felt like had to be a hole the size of the Grand Canyon based on how horrible it felt. His current mental state was not good, and he was having a hard time remembering what had happened. He vaguely remembered hitting his head.

‘Was I training?’ he innocently wondered. ‘Did I pass out and fall down the stairs again because I wasn’t eating enough to power my jumps, or was it...’

Five was visibly confused and terrified, but his father only looked down at him hatefully.

Five had to look away from him because it was only adding to how much he hurt everywhere. He looked to his right instead. The sun was low, indicated by how little light was entering through the small stained-glass window above the tall storage cabinets where his mom kept her supplies. Grace was standing there in her operating gown, a heartbreaking look on her normally comforting face.

When Five heard the main doors open and close, he reluctantly turned back. To add to his confusion, his sister was there, standing next to their dad. Before he could so much as ask what was going on, Reginald played his next card, one he wouldn’t have guessed the old monster had in him, and that was saying a lot since the boy already knew that Reginald was the devil incarnate.

“Do it,” he ordered, not taking his eyes off his questioning eyes.

Allison looked like she had been crying. Five’s heart began racing faster as she looked back at their dad, looking completely horrified by whatever Reginald was asking her to do. Then she looked right at him.

“I heard a rumor you couldn’t speak,” she said, her voice trembling as new tears ran down her face. Automatically, Five’s eyes locked on hers in that familiar memorizing trance only her powers could induce on her victims.

It was done; he couldn’t speak a word, not until she said he could.

After that, Five spent the next three days in the infirmary, unable to speak about what had happened or make one word of complaint, not that anyone came to visit him anyway. He had suffered a severe concussion and he had broken his left clavicle. He had also fractured the tibia in his left leg.

On the fourth day, just before dinner, Grace helped him get vertical and assisted him as he dressed. Then, he was told to go straight to dinner. He managed to stumble in on crutches, though it hurt like hell because of shoulder, and he was late, a fact immediately pointed out by Reginald.

Five all but fell into his chair next to Klaus and Luther, looking as bad as he felt, and unable to respond to their questioning stares other than to glare at their father with his hate filled eyes. Reginald merely looked back impassively for a moment before going back to his papers in front of him.

The second Five entered the room, he could tell they all wanted to say something, but one very clear look at the imposing man that owned them, and they didn’t make a peep. Instead, they looked down at their food. Allison kept her head down the entire time, unable to meet his eyes at all.

Everyone else, for the most part, looked stunned and very scared. Even though their dad had done that type of training with Five more times than he could count, none of them knew exactly what they did in their private time. Five never told them what Reginald did to him, and it had never gone that far before. Even without an explanation, they knew something bad had happened because it was written all over his broken body, not just all over his pitifully pale face.

That night, Klaus and Ben came to Five’s room, long after they should have been asleep. He was able to write down what happened to him even though he was hardly strong enough to do so without visibly shaking. They already knew what Allison had done because she had told Luther before she hysterically locked herself in her room. He then told Ben. Allison also warned them they were not to intervene, or Reginald would make her do worse.

Sitting on his park bench, looking back on all of it, Five figured that, all and all that particular training session wasn’t one of his best. Worse, the others didn’t get away unscathed.

When Reginald was done with him, Five learned later that he had moved on to each of them. His taste for suffering must not have been quenched, because he spent the rest of his days that week tormenting the rest of his children, and each was treated to Allison’s special kind of gag order, either before or after, depending on which made the most sense.

Reginald was trying to make the point that real soldiers were not to be heard but to listen, to take orders and comply. He was tired of their complaining and their arguing and their many mistakes. He made it clear he felt that they had it too easy, and it was getting in the way of their development. These sessions were meant to throw their individual deficiencies in their faces but as young and emotionally stunted as Five still was, he saw that all it had done was make them more isolated from each other, feeding the numbness growing inside.

In comparison to his experience with Reginald, Klause’s time in his company was pretty tame compared to his usual in that he was merely forced to take a field trip for a day to the city’s busiest morgue. There, Klaus was put front and center with untold amounts of corpses, both fresh in and refrigerated. Five never heard how many ghosts were there, because by the time Klaus was allowed to leave and come home, he looked horrified and exhausted. His nerves were a complete mess, and being rumored into quiet submission after entering the house did nothing to hide how he really felt.

The idea of that venture was that Klaus may be able to relay information about the deaths of homicide victims or even important messages to loved ones from people who’d passed unexpectedly. Five had mused at the time that Reginald maybe did have a soul because that was actually not a horrible way for Klaus to use his power. But Klaus wanted nothing to do with it, even if it was for a good cause.

Later, Five learned that Klaus did have several success stories from the day, but the price he’d paid for it was evident the moment he walked in the door. He looked more disturbed than they had ever seen him. After that day, Klaus turned to things heavier than alcohol to dull the voices that followed him home and ceaselessly tormented him.

Later that week, the Hargreeves children were all called out to the courtyard after lunch to witness Diego and Luther fight. They were forced to battle it out until both were beyond bloody and bruised. Diego took it like his father knew he would, but Reginald was using his son’s desire for approval and acknowledgement against him in the lowest way.

The sheer force of Luther’s hits, even when he was holding back, were something no one could take for hours and hours on end without excessive damage. Luther wasn’t allowed to use all his strength on Diego, or it would have killed him, but it was during this fight that Diego received the long scar along his temple that he would always bear.

Luther, though built like shit-house ton of bricks, was not impenetrable either. Diego, being allowed to use any projectile he could see, inflicted his fair share of damage. Neither did anything life-threatening to the other, as that was explicitly prohibited, but Luther had to have stitches in numerous places, and he would have several hidden scars to show for it on his otherwise perfect poster boy skin.

Diego’s nose was broken as well as several of his fingers on both hands. He had numerous broken ribs, a minor hip fracture that gave him a limp for a long time after, and his throwing arm was in a sling, fractured in three places.

Afterwards, though they were both rumored not to speak, just like he and Klaus had been, Five didn’t think they would have, not to each other anyway.

The sad thing was, before that, they actually had gotten along ok-not great, but ok.

When it was Ben’s turn on Saturday, he spent a beautiful spring morning riding upstate to a farm, listening to their dad berate him for his inability to handle The Horror’s rath. He was continually reminded how weak he was and that the only way he would become stronger was to take control of the darkness within him and own it.

“You are the killer. You are the one in control,” Reginald had told him.

“Our Ben was not a killer,” Five sadly whispered as he looked down at the pigeons gathering in the grass in front of him.

Ben may have killed more people than any of them at that point, but it wasn’t really him, it was the thing they called ‘The Horror,’ hence why he was so messed up. He never wanted any part of that life and the last thing he wanted was to take ownership of it.

Unfortunately, his field trip to the farm wasn’t to learn about the dairy industry. It was to learn how to be a one man, or better put, one eldritch tentacle baring slaughter machine. He was forced to unleash the monster inside him, over and over, letting it decimate anything alive in its path, which In that case was several head of cattle destined for the meat market anyway, but still awful to say the least.

Ben was still a mess when he got home that night. He had been carelessly hosed off and left with traces of blood on his otherwise caulk white skin. He was put on a piece of plastic in the backseat of the car on the way home, like he was some kind of filth not good enough to touch the smooth leather of Reginald’s Rolls. When his siblings saw him, his jet-black hair was clumped in a gore of sticky redness and his clothing still bore the evidence of how gruesome his day had been. Once he was stripped, Grace threw his academy uniform away.

Too bad the memories weren’t as easy to dispose of.

Ben was speechless after that, even before Allison needlessly rumored him. The only reason they all knew the details of what happened to Ben was because Vanya overheard Reginald talking to Pogo and Grace about it. The whole thing left him in an almost catatonic state. Seeing that he was unable to function normally, Ben was put under watch by Grace and excused temporarily from daily activities, spending the next two days alone in his room.

Though Allison usually got away with almost anything and she was rarely on their father’s radar when it came to anything, that time proved she was not immune to his madness. Though she may have felt she had Reginald wrapped around her pretty painted fingernails, she quickly realized she was not the one calling the shots.

It was obvious she was devastated about having to rumor them into silent submission. None of the traumatized children blamed her, but it hurt anyway. Five was bitter but he had understood. It was no wonder she normally refused to use her power unless Reginald forced her to. Taking someone’s will away from them was not a good feeling from either side of the situation and it was hard not to feel some anger at her about it.

For a long time after, Five couldn’t be in the same room with Allison without hearing her voice stripping him of the right to use his own mind the way he wanted, and that resulted in fear and mistrust that couldn’t be fixed while they were under that roof.

To him, it felt like the man that called himself their father wanted them to loathe each other as much as they hated him, because that was basically what he’d caused. They could scarcely look at one another when it was all done.

Even without words, it was clear everyone was in shock over what had happened. They were looking for someone to blame and not just their dad. To add insult to injury, quite literally, they couldn’t talk to each other about it when they were each in their worst time of need.

They went through the next week without one word of complaint because they couldn’t. Until then, Five wasn’t sure if Reginald could get Allison to rumor them like that permanently, but if he could have, he knew that he would, so at least he had that to cling to but it did little to ease how heartbroken and hateful he felt.

How they felt and what they needed did not matter to their father.

They had seen the truth. They were nothing to him and never were.

~~~

Feeling slightly off from thinking about the tragedy of that week, Five looked up, finally noticing that there was a little boy coming along the shady path he was sitting along. As if energized even more by Five’s eyes landing on him, the excited puppy the child was trying to hold back suddenly broke free of his hold, sprinting for the park bench.

“Woah there, buddy,” Five laughed as the golden ball of fur aggressively leapt up with its fuzzy paws landing on his knees so it could lick his face. Within seconds, Five’s once pristine wool pants were covered in slobber and dirt.

“Mr. Pennycrumb likes you,” the boy laughed, while scrambling around on the ground, trying to get his hands on the leash.

Just as Five was going to stand up to escape his new friend’s overly affectionate greeting, you came running up to them. “I am so sorry!” you cried as you jumped in to help get a handle on the wild pup.

Once you got the small dog pulled in tight at your heel, Five got to his feet. “It’s okay,” he assured while brushing himself off.

When he looked at the boy, the child staring up at him said, “This is my babysitter. We get to hangout while my mommy is at work. She has to work three jobs ever since the mean monster she called cancer took my daddy away.”

“I am sorry,” Five quietly replied, not sure how to respond to someone so young or to something so awful.

You looked even more embarrassed as you quickly tried to change the subject, “Really. I’m so sorry about your suit. It looks like I owe you a new pair of pants.” Your eyes flickered downwards, taking in the damage. When you looked back up, you added, “Obviously my little guy is very social. Having a four-legged beast is great, but a bit much sometimes. He's up for adoption if you're interested?” you laughed.

You reached down, petting your foster dog, then did the same to the giggling kid, ruffling his fluff of hair. Your smile faded just a little as your eyes returned to the serious looking young man who was curiously studying you.

“Not my nephew here. He is social too, but I didn’t mean to say that he’s a four-legged beast,” you corrected, followed by another laugh that touched something inside Five, making his face animate with a spark of life.

His dimple deepened.

“This kiddo is bit much too, but I love him so, so much and we’d be out here doing this together even if I wasn’t his mom’s go to babysitter,” you rambled, flustered by the way Five was looking at you through the curtain of hair that had fallen over his kind but calculating eyes.

“Don’t worry. I get it, and you don’t owe me new pants. I don’t mind getting a little dirty every now and then. Sometimes I quite enjoy it, and this is turning into one of those times since it meant that I got to meet this little guy, and his very nice companions," Five smoothly replied, and your cheeks glowed even brighter.

Just as you were about to say something, your nephew interrupted.

“You looked lonely. That’s why Mr. Pennycrumb came over to say hi,” he cutely pointed out, then surprised Five even more when he added, “Want to go for a walk with us?”

Five’s mouth opened but nothing came out at first.

Suddenly feeling like he needed to do something with his hands, he tucked them in his pockets and rocked back in his shiny shoes. Of course, that did not help him feel like he was successfully playing off his normal guy act, especially considering his left hand was sitting right next to a button that was about to destroy the city’s largest building.

“I…uhmmm. I would love to, but I have a prior engagement I need to attend to,” he finally replied with his cool green eyes moving between the expectant little boy and you.

Five almost never engaged in conversations that weren’t required of him. When he did, they were never like this. This felt different. All this from a chance encounter and a conversation with real people that were nothing but kind to him.

It felt…good.

Five hadn’t felt the glimmer of hope, or met anyone that didn't have an ulterior motive, or experienced the surprise of something that wasn’t catastrophic in…

He couldn’t remember.

Clearing your throat, you looked back at him while putting a hand on your nephew’s shoulder. Five knew that meant you were leaving, but he found that he desperately didn’t want you to.

He wanted to go on that walk, if only to have a taste of something positive and not so isolating for once.

Five’s brows furrowed as he glanced at the skyline where Reginald’s building stood as if taunting him. When he looked back at you standing between him and what he felt was preventing him from moving on, something in him fractured, but it was the exact opposite of feeling like something inside of him was broken.   

“Well…” you started. “If you change your mind about those pants or the walk in the park, we’ll be strolling by here about the same time tomorrow.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Five said, dropping his head to the side while giving you another small smile.

As you turned and left him standing there, Five was unable to stop smiling.

He took his hand from his pocket, looking down at his palm where the electronic device lay waiting.

Killing Reginald would only prove that he was right.

Five was not weak and never was and he wasn't broken.

He pried the casing open and pulled at the wires under the button that could have activated the bombs.  

The switch was dead, but Five wasn’t. Somehow, while lost in his crushing hatred and near debilitating loneliness he’d forgotten that. In his fight to end his father, he’d accidentally given up on himself.

But Five Hargreeves was not a quitter.

Chucking the broken trigger in the bushes, he started to head back the way he’d entered the park.

That was the moment when the sapphire canvas above him started to falter.

The many colors of blue and white and gray in the clouds suddenly scattered into millions of floating dots, rapidly separating in a way that was not at all natural. The phenomenon of pixelating pulsations quickly swallowed the long needle piercing the sky above the massive glass covered pillar bearing Reginald’s name.

As the top of the building where he and his reclusive wife resided was obliterated, a glittering dust of marigold colored rain began to fall over the park, blowing in the rush of wind before dusting Five’s hair in its otherworldly magic.

The site was almost just like when Reginald had drained them, only happening in reverse. The sensation of first bone chilling ice, then scorching heat began crawling under Five’s skin.

Reacting to the intense pain that felt like it was tearing him apart, Five dropped to his knees, his hands clawing at his body as he screamed.

A fire of blue light engulfed him as his powers violently reclaimed him. Within seconds, Five was filled with an ethereal glow that radiated from his eyes and his fingertips, making him look like a wingless archangel in a tailored business suit.

Then, the world as Five had come to know it evaporated, the ground bearing his weight, slipped away into the bottomless depths of time and space as he fell.

~~~

In the beginning, there was nothing. That was the way it always was. Just emptiness and possibilities, and the one who could not only manipulate time and space but could also create it.

It all started with a boy, only that boy didn’t know it until just now, when life and all material things were gone and his consciousness was all that was left.

Like Reginald had said, it was always Five.

Suspended in a vast swirl of everything that ever was and ever would be, grasping at the fibers of light flashing past him, Five began pulling with invisible hands, starting the unimaginable task of piecing together something better for all of them.

~~~

Much, much later, or six years later, but actually the exact same day it was, but back in their original timeline, but also not, depending on how you wanted to look at things and wrap your head around the fact that time only seems to be linear, Number Five Hargreeves set his coffee cup down on the table between him and his ghost whispering brother.

He was at the same coffee shop he’d been at that fateful morning in another timeline and in another time that he’d filed away among many others that were left behind closed doors inside the vast hallways of his mind.

“Oh, come on Five,” Klaus moaned. “I just got here. I thought we were hanging out today. I even told the rest of the family that we’d meet up with them later. Diego and Lila’s little brat rat is dying to see her favorite uncle Fivey.”

After looking down at his wrist bearing his Umbrella Academy tattoo, taking stock of the time, Five rolled his eyes heavenward and sighed. “Klaus, we were supposed to hangout and have breakfast, but you showed up an hour later. I have already eaten. I bought you your favorite smoothie and a bagel, so that’s going to have to be good enough because I have somewhere I need to be.”

“Where?”

“None of your business.”

“I know you. You’re up to something,” he accused.

Musing over what Klaus would say if he told him where he was going, Five got up, his hand coming to his throat to straighten his tie.

Five knew that he painted an odd picture. One of a just turned nineteen-year-old, dressed like he wanted to take on the wolves of Wall Street, but as silly as his choice of attire may have been being he had no intention of doing that, this was him and always would be. A nice suit meant you weren’t messing around, and he wasn’t anymore. Besides, it wasn’t like the world didn’t know about his crazy life story, or the fact that he wasn’t exactly the young man he appeared to be.

Thanks to having the rug pulled out from under him, or better put, reality as he had known it, Five was seeing things from a much different perspective.

Looking back on it, he still couldn’t stop kicking himself for not putting it together when he saw the other ancient version of himself laying in a diaper in that hyperbaric chamber in The Commission’s paradox proof bunker.

Now it all made sense how he had become the founder.

“Whatever,” Klaus muttered, pretending to grumble when Five didn’t take the bait and tell him what he was up to. “At least you’re finally an official grown up again and you sometimes get out of your apartment and mingle with the rest of the world every now and then. But still, buddy. Reading is fun and Dolores is great and all, but you need to spread those cute little wings of yours and fly. There are tons of other real flesh and blood birdies out there looking to strike up titillating conversations with the right dove, and you sir are all sorts of ripe with things you can use to bore people. Things like how you mastered traversing the bend in the time helix or other confusing stuff like that you like to go on and on about.”

“Shut up, Klaus,” Five dryly retorted as his fingers threaded back through his strands of hair that were hanging every which way, making him look every bit his outwardly young age.

“Go. Off with you then, young man,” Klaus teased. “Next time, it’s my plan for our date day and you are meeting me to get our nails done and then we are going out salsa dancing with Diego and Lila and Sloane and Luther. We need to show them how the better Hargreeves do their damn thing.”

“I don’t dance,” Five huffed as his fingers curled around the bready treat hidden in his pocket.

“Yes, you do,” Klaus laughed, to which Five gave him a quick scowl that just as quickly turned into a smirk because they had gotten exceptionally plastered at Klaus’s apartment only a week ago, and he’d made a total ass of himself dancing in a hula skirt and sombrero on the coffee table. When Klaus and Viktor and then Luther joined him, it was too much and the flimsy piece of Ikea furniture exploded, leaving them in a heap on the shag carpet.

Yes, things were different this time around, just as Five had hoped they’d be after he’d brought them all back to the day of Reginald’s funeral, and then proceeded to avoid all the mistakes he and they had made after it.

It didn’t mean that all the bad things didn’t happen in the years before this. It meant they got a second chance while all knowing everything that they had known about the original run through when they’d been brought back together and then messed it all up.

Miraculously, Five wasn’t just a time traveler with trigger finger you didn’t want pointed at you. He could create time, and that is how he saved the world and brought everyone back, but he did not rewrite like Reginald had tried to do.

He was smarter than that. 

No one can erase the past. It will always be there one way or another. The only thing you can do is learn from it and he did.

“I’ll see you all later?” Five softly offered, before turning to head out the door.

“You better,” Klaus said, calling after him with an outpouring of brotherly love.

The bell on the door chimed as Five walked out into the bright morning sun.

The sidewalk was packed like it always was that time of day and that was why Five almost didn’t see him. 

Reginald wasn’t dressed in his usual fine wool suit of tightly woven tweeds and righteousness. The familiar posture and weakened step aided by his cane appeared in Five’s periphery and the next thing he knew, he was looking into the eyes of someone that wasn’t supposed to be there but was.

To all the others, the eccentric inventor Sir Reginald Hargreeves had died, just as he originally did. But that ruse was a necessary end, just like it was originally intended to be the first time and Five didn’t alter that on purpose.

He knew their adoptive father was more than just the monster he appeared to be. Reginald had been wrong for what he’d done to them, but like him, he’d been desperate and he’d paid for his mistakes, over and over. 

Now, as time had intended it, Five was in a place to do something about that.

Having real power had nothing to do with ruling others or having superpowers. It was in not succumbing to the demons inside you.

Real power happens in making the right choices.

Knowing that he had made the right choice, Five nodded ever so slightly, and in doing so, he received a silent bow in return from the lonely creature passing him by.

It wasn’t over for Reginald yet, and it was far from over for Five. With his excitement building and aware that he needed to move faster, Five pulled at the power simmering just beneath his skin, throwing open a portal.

Less than a second later, he reappeared, stepping out onto a shady pathway in the park.

Eyeing his favorite bench, with sweaty hands hidden in his pockets, he sat down.

As he was looking out, his eyes seeing a ghostly mixture of realities twisting through his memories, he heard the small voice of a boy, calling out to the dog that had just broken off its leash.

It was happening almost the same as the first time.

Mr. Pennycrumb raced across the grass, kicking up the pigeons that were nibbling on the bread Five had thrown down for them.

Reaching the young man on the bench that he’d chosen as his newest friend, the puppy jumped up, paws digging into Five’s thighs as he assaulted his face with his wet tongue.

“Hey, buddy,” Five whispered as the little boy came running over with you behind him.

After slipping the yellow lab a doggie biscuit that he’d purchased that morning at the doggie bakery, Five looked up.

“I am so sorry!” you breathed as you frantically kneeled down to get your hands on the dog’s collar. “Oh my gosh, your pants!” you gasped while also trying to brush off the mud covering Five’s knees.

Realizing what you were doing after it was too late, you pulled your hand back. Your face got even redder when Five merely raised a brow at you and smiled.

“Oh my God, I shouldn’t have done tha- I just- Well, shit,” you moaned, giving into your embarrassment.

“It’s okay,” Five calmly assured. “I don’t mind getting pawed at by the wild animals roaming the park.”

You burst out laughing, your hands flying up to cover your mouth.

“Mr. Pennycrumb and my babysitter seem to really like you, Mister,” the little boy said while giggling. “Do you want to come for a walk with us since you are just sitting here all alone now that your bird friends are gone?”

“My schedule is open so I suppose I could do that,” Five returned. “But only if your babysitter wants me to…”

“Absolutely, you should totally come with us,” you quickly replied. “Please, let me pay for some new pants. I know a decent men’s store off 48th street and we are heading that way. This little fluff head just ruined your pants, so it’s the least I can do,” you added while looking only slightly less mortified.

“How about I let you buy me a coffee and I buy you and the kid a treat and we skip the new pants,” Five countered. “If after our walk, you aren't sick of me and still want to get me out of these dirty things, I can probably find a way to accommodate that while also coming up with something else fun for us to do together."

You had no clue what to say to that, your baffled expression only made Five look all the more thrilled.

"I mean, maybe we can take this kid and the pup swimming. I have two nieces that I know would love to join us and I don't need a suit for that," he clarified followed by a chuckle.

The look in your wide eyes said it all. You were as amused by Five’s odd but funny comments as he was by your kindhearted smile and fidgety ways.

Just then, the little boy’s mom and dad came strolling along, their faces showing humorously shocked levels of concern when they saw all the mud staining the lap of Five’s three-piece suit.

The boy’s father glanced at his wife just before they reached them, mouthing, “Is that who I think it is?”

It was the time of truth.

Hoping for the best, Five extended his hand to you as you stood there stunned, all of a sudden realizing who he was.

 “Five Hargreeves, and you are?”

Visibly shaking your head as you looked him up and down, you reached out, lacing your fingers between his. Giving Five your name, you then introduced your family.

From there, the walk Five had been waiting for finally happened. He finally had people in his life who wanted nothing from him other his friendship.

With a world that wasn’t on the verge of falling apart, Five was about to get what he deserved all along.

Happiness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading this. ❤️ I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have read my original Five Centric 3-part series, and the parts of this one that were describing what happened to Five and his family after the Paris mission seemed familiar, you are not wrong. 😂👍 I have been wasting my time going back to re-edit my older works and I came across a chapter in 'Number Five and the Girl' that covered that sad memory for him. I love anything whumpy and I felt that part had it in a way that touched on something for all of them. I enjoyed revisiting it, and I hoped you would find something of value in it too.  That story goes down much different than this one, but I couldn't help borrowing some of that to turn into something new that tickled our brains with some of the stuff the show has been putting out there lately to get us excited.

Long live TUA and the people who keep the fandom fun. 🤗

Link to my A03 home page

Link to my other art and story posts on Tumblr

Link to my story and art quick link master list

[justherefortua]

post s4 care package

This is my first and foremost reccomendation—-> If you’re looking for something that wraps itself up with plenty of closure, and also you preferred Lila and Diego: Broken Clocks and **Lost & Found** by Gin_Juice are a delightful series of fics that are long and with plenty of sibling bonding, absolutely hilarious, and cleverly written! Nice balm to the soul and in my opinion NAILS the characters. Starts off the end of season 2! ❤️❤️❤️

Through Every Open Door is also wonderful and ongoing though it’s an entirely separate fic working off of Season 3.

If you are a Five lover. The Shifting Mirrors by orsufemix is absolutely incredible. It’s ongoing, but it’s a monstrosity of a story in its own and explores what would have happened if Five had stopped a younger version of himself from time traveling. Related, Holding It Together by sharkneto is also incredible, as is its spin-off, as is the rest of sharkneto’s stuff.

If you are a Ben lover, like me—**Some Kind of Nature** by stiltania is wonderfully complex, long, and really focuses in on the Horror and what living with the Horror would be like, in an alternate universe where Ben doesn’t die on that mission. We also get a lot of sibling interactions here and this rendition of Ben is so interesting!! One of my top fics of all time. Content warning for plenty of body horror and a bit about botflies, but it’s beautifully written.

Also also also— Seong-Min Ha has Superpowers by frimfram. Basically Ben’s living a normal life before the Hargreeves come and do some shenanigans. Incredibly good!

[m4rs-ex3]

DREAMER'S NIGHTMARE! THOUGHTS!!!!!!

spoilers ahead obviously

callum. that's it. that's it that's the post. like this little fucking goober baby nerd freak pretty baby boy i would kill anything and everything in the world for this child

long haired gren i can't breathe

"GREAT STONY TOADSTOOLS"

"wait. that's a jelly tart and you're not destroying it. are you sure you're ezran?"

callum: magic is in the air? wrong. gas leak.

"a rogue elf. i wonder what would have to happen for an elf to go rogue..." wouldn't you like to know callum

bro thinks he's a diplomat

it kills me the way this kid is just a walking list of sarai quotes

i'm choosing to blame harrow for the way this stupidly dedicated boy turned out

"couldn't have anything happen to the future king" rip my heart out why don't you

all of the callum / harrow stuff oh my god it hurts so good i'm in tears like "your dad" AUUUAUGHHGHGHGH

"milords" fucking tears no they are not

*facepalms in the background*

"begone"

despite the fact that in present day he is plenty tall callum being referred to as "the taller one" does not sit right with me

"stronger together" // "safer together"

gren was family guy death posing idfc

i can't go to the club bc i'll start talking like kusa

THATS MY KING!!!!13131!@!@!#!!!

"my big brother is super smart" 😭🩷

half this book is just callum in 3x06 when he was mothering ez and i love it

"I THOUGHT MAYBE HE WOULD BE PROUD OF ME" FUCK

"i know you'll do everything you can to protect me" you don't, actually. you have no idea

"all right, clues. looking for clues. reading for clues."

moonshadow child jumpscare

NO NO NO NO NO NO ON O NO NO NO NO ON ONONONONOONONNOONN

NO

WHAT

HELLO

YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME

why do i kinda wanna see this depressive episode though

a) i hope this comes back for the possession arc b) this explains a lot about s4 don't worry i'll get to that

i love how they show harrow being the most amazing, sweetest, bestest dad ever while also showing his flaws in the form of his bias. also everyone else's casual racism. average tdp w

STOP HES SO SOKKA

im goanna throw up

maybe it's just my biases but why was this the book that fucking broke me. like bloodmoon huntress was a bit sad bc rayla is just like that. puzzle house was sad because motherless child behavior and also hindsight. this novel is just fucking depressing front to back because callum's entire life has been so fucked sometimes i forget this. also my biases

[lulu-nightbon]

i know... but she still works at pigsy's, so you know where to find her if you decide to ask

oh, and baba, as a side note... if you need help with the whole heaven being a hypocritical contradictory pain in the ass situation, there is someone who might be able to help... i don't think she'll take kindly to the monk, though, after the whole being possessed thing because he showed what he thought was mercy (im talking about zhouei and if you haven't been keeping up with everything ive spouted on her already im mORE THAN HAPPY TO ELABORATE IN THE TAGS-)

(ELABORATE)

"I'm unsure."

[westidia]

(stolen from twitter)

what I’d erase:

The miss treatment of Bonnie Bennett

Bonnie sacrificing herself for every single character, getting nothing in return, not even from her best friends

I’d erase Bonnie finding out about being a witch when she did, I’d change it to where she always knew

Bonnie not having a stable love life/ her not having family separate from Elena and co.

Matt

Alaric and Caroline 🤢

Caroline and Klaus (I shipped them when it was happening but I found out about Klaus and Bonnie last year and I can’t imagine him with anyone else, it just makes sense)

Everyone acting like Damon didn’t abuse Caroline as well as having non-consensual sex with her

Elena after like s4 (whatever storyline that was)

Definitely would have had Bonnie visit New Orleans (maybe even stay)

Plenty more but I can’t think of anything right now

Edit: Jeremy being able to see ghost self explanatory

Your turn 😁 (if you want) (I also just added stuff I wanted to see happen 🤷🏽‍♀️)

[chirpsythismorning]

Y’all will be your own undoing the fact none of you have not even the slightest bit of doubt is rather worrying. what happens if neither is endgame and let’s say Mike is killed off? You can’t say that won’t happen either because you don’t know the same way you can’t say byler is endgame because you don’t know hell even milevens can’t say they’re ship is endgame because they don’t know. Ego is ruining both sides and neither side is correct and shouldn’t proclaim to be.

I'm sorry anon, but I'm not all bylers. While there are a great deal of bylers like myself who have less doubts these days, there are plenty that have mostly doubts. PLENTY. Arguably the vast majority. And for good reason, ie. history.

To be completely honest anon, I don't think you're worried about bylers and their lack of doubts. I think their lack of doubt scares you bc it's caused you to go from confident to having doubts yourself. Why else would you be here on anon all condescending otherwise?

Personally, I'm not even here bc I want to believe byler's endgame. And no offense to those that have went through it, because the whole point of queer-baiting is to basically mock queer fans and lead them on with no intention of following through, but I have never been queer-baited before.

I did however, like many milkvans, go into Stranger Things loving Mike and El under the assumption they were peak romance. I literally skipped all of s2 during my first rewatch to get to their reunion! But genuinely, do we think the show is supposed to be watched that way?? Hell no.

If you're having to skip all of s2, most of s3, most of s4 in rewatches, bc Mike and El are separated, fighting, or broken up, what does that tell you?

If you're having resentments for characters like Max and Lucas and Will and Hopper bc the story has made points to have those characters interfere with your confidence in Mike and El romantically, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're probably watching the show wrong. To be clear, if you have resentment for ANY of the main characters, you are missing something!!!

And that was my problem back then when I subscribed to these assumptions, because I WANTED to believe Mike and El were the pinnacle of romance, despite the signs incoming that went against it. And what that meant is I had to hold resentments for all the characters, including Mike and El themselves and even the Duffer Brothers for ruining what I WANTED to believe.

After s3, me, my friends, family and quite honestly anyone I spoke to about the show, said that it went downhill since the previous two seasons. And I do think a big part of the reason why, is because of the Mike and El conflict conflating everything. It felt regressive. And s4 repeating that exact storyline????

It took me a while to even consider byler as an idea. It's not like I latch onto every non-canon mlm ship and just ship for nothing (very few bylers do this, no matter how much anti's need to convince themselves this is the case as an excuse to be homophobic).

I am a hopeless romantic. Doesn't matter if it's queer or straight, I only ship stuff that I feel confident is endgame bc why would I put myself through scenes of something that doesn't feel right to me, merely bc I want to believe it and despite everything pointing against it??

Full serious, IF I was confident in milkvan endgame as a possibility, I would probably just convince myself to like them and provide evidence supporting it, bc I would honestly rather be right? Who tf wants to be wrong?

The problem was it didn't matter if I was initially convinced Mike and El were the pinnacle of romance (I was a child okay, give me a break...). Once I let go of that assumption because of all the doubts I had of them piling up, and took off my heteronormative goggles, I went woah... Holy shit. This show is actually fucking epic. Doubts gone. And the rest is history.

So, what happens if neither is endgame and Mike's killed off? I guess I would be confused, especially because the Duffer's specifically mentioned not being able to kill off Mike in a podcast last year. They gave their reasoning as to why, being that they take deaths on their show very seriously, needing 1+ seasons for them to show the characters mourning the loss. And so ending the show on that exact note, would be kind of a spoiler since they brought it up specifically? Therefore kind of redundant?

I guess, sue me for thinking the Duffers care about the show and put a lot of meaning into it. All of my analysis and theories are based on that assumption. No one's going to change how I think about that, so trust me, not worth getting worked up over it, anon.

If your evidence is all based on the assumption that the Duffers are not that good of writers, that almost everything on the show is coincidental and there's no deeper meaning beyond surface level, why are you even watching it in the first place? You do you I guess, but I just don't know why you wouldn't want to watch something that is more worth your time?

People being confident in their theories wont hurt you. If it bothers you so much, maybe find a way to be confident with your theories after looking at all the evidence from both sides. All sides. Any sides. If you still come up completely indifferent, then don't work yourself up by going on anon and making it other peoples' problem.

If it turns out everything meant nothing, and I was wrong about everything or most of what I interpreted, I will be okay! Because the show went from being about what I wanted to believe, to just what I genuinely believed.

Would I be disappointed? Sure. But lets hope I'm right bc in my scenario the show is epic and everything means something... not sure why anyone would root for the alt...

[tomwambsgans]

i know it's fitting to the whole nrpi thing that we have little to no knowledge about the staff/help in shiv and tom's penthouse but i wish so bad that we knew like ANYTHING other than the mere fact of their existence... like i feel like we have a more concrete understanding of even kendall's relationship with his staff and we only see his home once or twice. and we see plenty of logan's treatment of household staff.

meanwhile what we know for certain about tom and shiv is that they have a dogwalker, they have a personal chef at least in s4, and that most likely no staff stay the night given the "after the help have gone" line. and on at least one specific occasion (like, aside from just generally knowing tom's midwestern sensibilities) we see tom explicitly be very polite to a service worker (on logan's yacht in 2x10).

with that in mind i have to imagine some kind of repoire between tom and any given staff he and shiv have ever had. which then of course makes me wonder about the specifically male staff and whether or not anything similar to the homoerotic power stuff between him and greg has ever happened there... like i do think tom would see a big difference between an employee in the company and someone that he just pays to clean his house--in fact he would likely not even be the one paying them , it would probably be shiv, so he may feel no entitlement to them whatsoever.

but nevertheless tom is fucking gay and pathologically uses power to justify his reaches for intimacy and i know there just has to be something. anyone shiv hired would know to be afraid of her and to not try to fuck her man so no real passes would've been made but.. yknow. i'm betting on occasional awkward (partly?) one-sided flirtations where any men (probably very few men worked for shiv anyway) also likely got a sense about tom and would've tried to appease him in particular once he was actually married to shiv. but yeah they'd have been completely relying on him to try to start something, which tom would never have done, so.

[shrinkthisviolet]

❝ if you ever need a place to stay, let me know, okay? ❞ for Iris and Cisco please?

This one…really got away from me 😅 in a good way though! Under the cut for length (and ofc this is post-s3, pre-s4):

Cisco thought he’d gotten to know Iris pretty well over the past few years. Even amidst Barry's coma when they’d first met, they’d become fast friends. Iris found him more approachable than Caitlin at the time, and Cisco found Iris a welcome spot of bright optimism in a dreary place filled with loss.

Iris was always like that. Always encouraging, optimistic, nurturing. Cisco had seen her cry plenty of times, but he’d also seen her brush it off when she saw him, change the subject. And he’d never really felt like it was his place to say much about it. Especially since by the time he did feel like they were friendly enough for him to do anything, Barry was awake, and Iris was dating Eddie, and...Cisco knew where he’d be more of a hindrance than a help.

But now…in the wake of Barry leaving, it fell to Iris and Cisco in different ways to cope. Barry had placed the burden of leadership on Cisco’s shoulders, told Iris to keep growing, loving, and running, and Caitlin was...off dealing with her own stuff.

Cisco tried, but...he was no leader. He could give Wally direction behind the comms just fine, but...really, he was more intent on getting Barry back, so that he could set everything right. Maybe things would make sense again. Maybe...

Maybe his best friend’s bright smile would stop haunting him. Maybe Savitar would.

(The sight of that hand, so close, so close—he knew about Cisco's nightmares, he knew how much it hurt, how Cisco remembered every agonizing detail, and he'd still—

“Not you,” Savitar cooed, “her.” His other best friend. As if that was any more merciful.)

Iris wasn’t doing much better. She’d quit her job, she was apparently still living at the loft...and more often than not, she offered to run comms while Cisco went to see Harry, or Dr. McGee, or Jay Garrick's wife Joan, or...

Or while he just went home, curled up into a ball, and sobbed, screamed, dreamed about Barry returning, woke to that being only a fantasy.

It got easier, passing that torch to Iris. He hadn't even realized it until it had already happened. He didn’t even realize that she was there after he left hours after sunset, and there before he came by at 7am.

What he did know was that one day, he left, realized hours later that he’d forgotten something, came back in...and found Iris hunched over the desk, sobbing quietly.

And then it hit him. Hard.

“Iris...?”

She startled, wiping at her eyes and trying for a smile that didn't hold. Once, twice, thrice. “Oh. Cisco. I...I didn't realize...I thought you’d—”

“Yeah, I just...I forgot something,” he said. “I, um...” He was almost tempted to make a quick escape, but Iris’s heartbreak rooted him in place. “Are you...?”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly.

“Right. I just. You don't look—”

“I said I’m fine!” She snapped, sighing right after. “Sorry. I just—”

“No, I shouldn’t have..." he sighed. “Look, you don’t…owe me an explanation of anything. You loved him more than anything…I get that. I just wanted to say...if you ever need a place to stay, let me know, okay? My apartment’s big enough for two.”

Barry was a hard person not to love…and a harder person to not grieve. Cisco was nearly torn apart by it…he couldn’t imagine Iris’s pain.

Iris's eyes widened. “I...what?”

“Well, I just—I know your loft is really important to you, and I don't mean you have to move out,” he rambled. “I just. If you wanted to. Temporarily. Just...just until...”

Until when? Until Barry came back? None of Cisco’s ideas were yielding results, he couldn’t promise th—

“Okay.”

Cisco blinked. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Iris agreed, smiling shakily. "I, um. Just for a couple nights, maybe. Change of scenery could be nice. If…if that’s okay with you.”

“Y-yeah, yeah. That's what I was thinking. Um...” Cisco ran a nervous hand through his hair. “Whenever you want. Tonight, even.”

“You’re sure?” Iris asked slowly.

“Only if you are.” He didn’t want to push her into anything.

“Cisco, it's...I mean, it's your apartment you're offering, I don't...I wouldn't want to impose—”

“It’s not an imposition,” Cisco insisted, “I’m offering. We’re friends, right? And this is what friends do.”

“Yeah.” Iris’s smile was a little brighter now, which Cisco counted as a victory. “Yeah, this is what friends do.”

prompt list!

[thetalee]

I really wanna see Buck sacrificing (or at least try) stuff for Daniel and be protective of him in a way Daniel always is to Buck, I think I’d be cute to see

I mean, I am definitely planning on covering the Buckley Parents visit in s4. So there'll be plenty of opportunites ahead for Buck going to bat - heh - for his brother. As for it happening, or how it'll happen, while Daniel is sick, you'll have to wait and see.

[imminent-danger-came]

Okay, so hear me out. Someone a while back mentioned that maybe Wukong's plan was to die once Qi Xiaotian was fully trained and ready to take over the full Monkey King schtick. Maybe the kings who are involved in a plot to kill Sun Wukong, if that is what's going down, don't know. (That sounds like a thing Wukong might talk to only a few of the kings to prevent stuff from happening early. And considering there's only eight kings in that meeting that we see...)

I'm imagining a very messy situation if that gets out. From the kings setting things that can't be stopped into motion for nothing to Xiaotian having what I best described as a meltdown at the thought of Wukong leaving him for good.

I think I saw an animatic with an idea like that once!

Personally however, that's not something I think Sun Wukong would do. He's self-sacrificial, sure, but part of that is from knowing he has the protection of being immortal 7 times over—throwing himself into danger time and time again is something he can get away with. Another thing is that when Wukong leaves, he always does so with the intention of coming back even in the most dire of circumstances. Wukong planning to become a mentor to this kid and then abandoning him with the weight of the world and the mantle of Monkey King on his shoulders—that's messed up. Which of course Wukong is flawed and makes plenty of mistakes, but that's a certain flavor of messed up that feels very not-Wukong to me. Even when Wukong makes his own selfish choices, he is usually working for others best interests at heart (whether or not it actually IS there best interest is a different conversation entirely). There's just not really a justifiable reason for anyone other than himself to leave like that. It's also the opposite of the conclusion he comes to at the end of s3: "Mei was right—I need to stop dragging you into my fights." And, well, if your plan was to die and give up on the world anyways, why bring up a successor at all? In the s4 special we were shown Wukong's paranoia over mortality—over dying—what would cause him to do that 180? ((Which these questions aren't really a counter point but more of something I'm asking to flesh out the idea.))

While it's definitely a fun and angsty concept (certainly something the fandom should explore if they want to), I'm not sure it has a place in the current story. If that was Wukong's plan, it would have happened (or have been greatly hinted at) at the beginning of s4 ("I think you actually might have done more for the world than I ever had!" which is very "the Student has become the Master"). I could see something more along the lines of Wukong sacrificing himself for MK in some way (which he commonly does), and really pushing his immortality to the brink. If Wukong's gonna die, it's going to be somethin' like that.

[transmutationisms]

my problems with s4 are mostly to do with pacing and editing, a few strange moments of melodrama, and a less cohesive A + B plot structure overall. i feel acutely aware that this is a show that has two hour first cuts, because they’re trying to squeeze everything and the kitchen sink into an hour-ish, and things keep getting dropped along the way. and yet, there seems to be so much air in scenes! connor and willa vanished, and he’s running for president. the political stuff that’s clearly going to play a big part in the final few episodes has been barely touched so far. it’s not terrible by any means… it’s just a bit baggy.

sure, i see where you're coming from. in terms of pacing i thought there were some issues with the first halves of episodes 1 and 2 (maybe also 6), and there are some editing floor losses (mencken's guard dog showing up to the wake, but mencken being cut; whatever was happening between ebba and karolina). i don't think it's new for the show to have some of these mechanical issues, though (anyone remember dundee?) and i'd say the same about connor being under-appreciated. politically, i actually like how they've been handling it because mencken's entire point as a character is to demonstrate the vapid spectacle of fascism and how that appeals to capitalism. they do that really effectively, but it also means psychologically he's nothing, and the way they've been using matsson this season works for me because it's a different flavour of fascism that appeals more to a sense of meritocracy and biological improvement—which is why it makes sense for shiv to be the liaison. i am excited for the election episode but i also think this whole season has been "waystar gets into bed with fascism," and there are reasons (writing and political) that it's been effective for that to happen via matsson more than mencken.

anyway, like i said, i'm not trying to convince anyone to like the season. in my lifetime i've hated plenty of things that other people liked, and vice versa. i'd also agree there have been a few weirdly melodramatic moments that threw me off (tomshiv in episodes 1 and 4....) and although i'm reserving final judgment till the season ends, it might really be the case that i Simply Did Not Like That lol.

once again, though, to me these are mostly minor, localised mechanical issues that don't prevent me from enjoying the season overall. i still think this is a very good tv show and i think season 4 is better so far than season 3 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[myplasticadversary]

Sorry to turn your blog into the dog pound ask game but just to offer up an alternative read, while I think there are plenty of times Kendall was not a good or even decent big brother I actually didn’t read the dog pound as super sinister because I think it’s actually kind of (at least conceptually) a common game kids actually do play at that age. While I understand the interpretative view that harmless things that are normal in other families are often twisted funhouse versions in the Roy family, I think there’s a valid reading that this wasn’t one of those times. While S3 was airing Kieran Culkin gave a great interview where he talked about dog pound and described it as something rewritten in Roman’s mind. (“The dog-cage moment, Roman had rewritten it as he had been bullied by Kendall. I don’t think he ever was, but I think there was something in him as a kid that felt like a victim that as an adult he has tried to process and make into something else.”) Apparently, he and Jeremy agreed on that interpretation, and I think that’s a fair way to read it (noting of course everyone is allowed their own interpretation and there is no one/right/best way to interpret a scene). Personally, I viewed the hug and sibling brawl in S4 as variations on a worsening lifelong theme – semi-new steps in a progression as opposed to one-to-one evidence of how the characters behaved in childhood but that could totally just be me…anyway, happy to provide a link to the Kieran interview if anyone is interested. I just feel that in all the dog pound discourse I almost never see anyone reference Kieran’s take on it which I do think is interesting as it really goes to that whole “what even is the past” thing the show likes to play around with but in a slightly different direction than I usually see on tumblr.

Ah right, that's a valid point too. Tbh I think I do tend to pick and choose when I factor an actor's interpretation into my reading, and maybe even some part of me is weirdly overcompensating for being a Kendall girl by fixating on him doing fucked up stuff.

At the same time though, while I do believe things had gotten much worse than they'd ever been after Logan's death because of how he and Roman had both differently felt compelled to fill that hole, I don't really see it as all that unprecedented either. Like, there was him brushing off Roman being upset about Shiv saying one day he's got to fuck something, Kendall saying "he loves it" and that he's probably jerking off over it, there was the "who'd you suck off to get out" when Roman came back from the hostage situation, the famous "you're not a real person", etc.

But also, I think part of how I view Kieran's take is that Roman is recasting Kendall as the primary aggressor in their childhood because he happens to be a safer target of his anger than Logan or any of the other people who may have hurt him or made him feel inferior. After all, he did feel comfortable enough with Kendall as a little boy being taught how to pee standing up. So it's not that he was ever purely an abusive presence in Roman's life, but these things are rooted inside of them and come out whether they mean it or not.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi steph. I just a full video on youtube about all the drama and disaster that happened in the fandom surrounding TJLC… well, I have to confess that I am a bit shocked and heartbroken again (bc of the finale). I have been in this fandom for 4.5y which is not a long time and have been following you for the half of it. I just felt I have to thank you for being here and keeping the fandom alive. There are still plenty of us out there and many newjoiners. We need you. xoxo

Hey Nonny!

Yeah, after S4, stuff kinda got a bit messy, and the finale was just so BLEH. I felt really bad for getting people's hopes up, still do, so I try my best these days to enjoy fandom for what it is now, and to share my love for the creatives here.

That said, thank you for your kind words. I am humbled you think of me so highly – I don't deserve it honestly – but I will take the love all the same <3 I like helping new people navigate their way around here... I just think back to how lost I felt when I first joined fandom and how overwhelmed everything felt, so I kinda wanted to always be that place people can come and not feel intimidated, you know? Downside is that I see people come and go quite often, but it's rewarding all the same.

Cheers, Nonny <3 I hope you have a wonderful day <3