#plus my brain is too crowded with stuff as it is

[summershouto]

IDEAL Elain would be she’s healing and happier but now instead of being a typical Soft Girl they realize that yes she’s really quiet and sweet until she says creepy ass stuff. not just with her visions though that’s often the catalyst

She’s gardening and then sets down her tools and just says shit like “ they will come soon. They are waiting” and go back to humming and pulling weeds. She’s trying on a new dress and a big floppy sun hat and calmly informs them “this hat is also ideal for the next half moon”. No elaboration given

Rhys and Cass and them are like 😟uh.. They won’t admit it but she scares them a bit. In a very different way than Nesta though. Elain is just..unnerving. ESPECIALLY because she’s the gentle one. so soft spoken. ribbons and smiles but also long stares with too few blinks

Nessa and Feyre are mostly used to her strange vibes. After the Cauldron she definitely got more unhinged with it but its just feeding off of what was already there.

is somebody gonna match her freak but it’s just bursts of being vague and cryptic (Aka Lucien is nodding along like he knows Wtf she’s saying)

[teddybear-zero]

as bad of an experience i had interacting with other atinys and arena staff at the Ateez concert i went to, it was so heartening to see how respectful and loving everyone was to Ateez themselves.

i really, really hope that i see carats giving Seventeen the same amount of love and respect on the upcoming tour

[unfinishedslurs]

gay bar (steddie)

“Well, well, well,” says a voice from behind. “Steeeeeeve Harrington. I must be dreaming.”

Steve turns around to see a guy, dressed in black and chains. Rings decorating his fingers, studs in his ears, curly hair pulled back in a ponytail. He’s hot, yeah, but something about him has Steve squinting, trying to figure out why he looks so familiar. 

“I know you from somewhere,” he says, pointing out the obvious. The guy knows his name.

The not-a-stranger snorts. “Of course you don’t remember me. Why would the likes of King Steve stoop to—“

As soon as the nickname leaves his mouth, Steve’s brain lights up. “Munson!” He exclaims, snapping his fingers. “You used to climb on the lunch tables to give speeches.”

It was so obnoxious, too. The kind of thing that had him and Robin reminiscing late at night, celebrating some of the weirder shit about Hawkins that didn’t come from monsters, or Russians, or government conspiracy. Remember that one asshole? Yeah, he stepped on my lunch one time!

Condolences to Robin’s pb&j. She never sat at that table again.

Munson’s whole face turns pink. “Seriously? That’s what you remember?”

“It was pretty fucking memorable, dude. Like, gross, doesn’t this guy know not to put his feet where people eat? Dustin thought you were so cool for it too. I had to nip that in the bud before he started imitating you or some shit.”

“Oh,” he says, voice gone flat. “Because God forbid some poor kid try to immolate the freak.”

Steve gives him his bitchiest, most deadpan stare. “Feet,” he says slowly. “Nasty, fifteen year old boy feet. On my kitchen table. He almost slipped and cracked his skull, and I would have sent you the hospital bill.”

He had to get creative to make him stop, too. Stood there, hands on his hips, and made Dustin tell him exactly how many germs he thought were on his shoes. Then when he tried to do it barefoot, decided the only course of action was to stuff Dustin’s abandoned sock in his mouth and ask if he wanted that shit with every meal. Erica still has the photos. 

Munson has the decency to look embarrassed, face flooding an even brighter red that wouldn’t be out of place in a tomato patch. “What are you even doing here, Harrington?”

What does he think Steve’s doing here? It’s a fucking gay bar, it’s pretty self explanatory. “My friend is here somewhere,” he says, waving out at the crowd of people. “She’s going through a dry spell, so…”

“Right,” Munson says. Steve squints at him. Does he look disappointed?

Eh. Doesn’t matter. 

“You gave my kids the best freshman year of their nerdy little lives,” he tells him, because he knows Dustin would want him to. Plus, the guy was Mike’s gay awakening. He should probably get some credit. “So thanks for that.”

He lights up. “Yeah! How was Hellfire in my absence?”

“I had to hear them bitch and moan for months about how it ‘wasn’t the same,’ but it’s doing pretty all right. Erica Sinclair is running it now.”

“Erica Sinclair…” Munson mutters, snapping his fingers. “Lucas Sinclair’s little sister? Lady Applejack?” He beams when Steve nods. “She kicked ass. Best finish to a campaign my entire high school career. How’s Lucas, anyway? And the rest of the runts.”

“He’s doing great,” Steve says. “College basketball at Yale. Pretty sure he’s dying under the workload, but that’s what you get for majoring in physics. Dustin’s at MIT, and Mike’s taking a gap year.”

He whistles lowly. “Yeesh, I don’t blame him. How about Byers?”

“Which one?”

“Zombie boy.” Steve’s hackles raise, but Munson just grins. “God, that nickname was badass.”

“How do you even know about that?”

Munson taps the side of his nose. “A magician never reveals his secrets. Besides, all it took for you to remember me was calling you by your high school nickname.”

“That wasn’t my nickname.” Steve rolls his eyes. “Literally three people ever actually called me that, and you were one of them.”

He has a feeling it was Tommy who started it, bitter and vicious. Told himself Steve was self possessed, high and mighty, above it all. That’s why he left his old friends behind. Not because he was in love, or because he wanted to be better. No, King Steve just sits alone in his castle, looking down on the peasants with contempt. 

Billy must have taken his angry ramblings and run with them. After all, what better way to get a start in a new town than declaring yourself royalty? Never mind that Steve hadn’t cared about anything like that for almost a year by then. 

Munson had just been a drama-loving asshole. 

“That can’t be right.”

“I stopped being popular in junior year. Why the hell would anyone call a sophomore King?” Steve points out. 

“You were Prom King.”

“Again, in junior year. Pickings were slim. Who else would it have been? Tommy?” He has to laugh. 

Luckily, Munson takes the hint and swerves the conversation into new territory. “You know, I always figured you’d be homophobic.”

Steve snorts. “What, and get kicked out for nothing?”

Munson stares at him, and Steve furrows his brow, looking into his glass like it will have the answer to why the hell he said that to this guy he barely knows. He just decided he wasn’t going to spill all his daddy issues to a near-stranger in a dingy bar, dammit. Is he already on his fifth drink?

Actually, this might be his sixth. That tracks. 

“What?”

“My dad caught me kissing a boy,” he says. If he’s going to give Munson his life story, he might as well commit. “Can you believe that boy ruined my life in three different ways? Two of them didn’t even have anything to do with the gay thing.” 

Maybe four ways, if you accounted for the way he broke his goddamn heart, but everyone and their mother saw that coming a mile away. Even Steve. Especially Steve. 

No offense to Jonathan. None of those things were really his fault. Or actually life ruining, but it sure fucking felt like it at the time. 

He should give him a call soon, actually, see how he and Argyle are doing. He misses the guy. Maybe he and Robin should save up for a visit to Cali. Get Nancy on it. They could see San Francisco while they were there, that’d be cool. Apparently it was the queer capital of the country. 

He’s thinking about asking the bartender for a napkin and a pen to write down the plans he’s forming when Munson speaks up again. Steve honestly forgot he was here. 

“I thought you said you were here for a friend.”

What?” Steve blinks, confused, and then catches on. “Yeah, to get her laid. I’m not in the mood right now.”

Munson cocks an eyebrow. “Wearing that? Could’ve fooled me.”

Steve looks down at his Springsteen T-Shirt that Robin cropped, and picks at the frayed hem of his shorts. Okay, yeah, they’re on the skimpy side, but in his defense it’s summer and even if he’s not cruising Steve likes being looked at. “Yeah, yeah. What about you? Here for anything in particular?”

“Just to talk to some pretty boys,” Munson says, leaning on the bar to flag down the bartender. Steve smirks, reaching out a hand to tug at the hanky in his back pocket. Pinned, damn. 

Munson whirls around, a flush starting to crawl onto his ears. 

“Wearing that?” Steve echos snarkily. “Could’ve fooled me.”

He swears that for a minute Munson’s eyes darken. 

He’s almost tempted to follow through, high school reputation be damned, when someone crashes into his side and nearly sends him careening. 

“Steeeeeve,” Robin yells happily into his ear. “This is Bernie, she’s gonna take me home, see you la—oh, hi!” She says, noticing Munson. “I know you from somewhere.”

“Eddie Munson,” Munson greets. “Steve and I went to high school together.”

“Munson! That’s it, you climbed on tables and had shit music. I’m Robin. Okay, I’ll call the apartment and leave a message when we get there. Bernie’s waiting on me, it’s-nice-to-meet-you-bye!” Just like that, she’s gone. 

Munson’s mouth has dropped open. “You told her I had shit music?” He demands. “Wait, you talked about me?”

“She went to school with us, dumbass,” he says, as if he can talk. He still barely remembers her as more than a vague, glowering figure in his peripheral. “It’s not my fault you blasted your screamy music for everyone in the parking lot. Such a fucking headache, God.”

Munson turns his nose up. “Sorry for having offended your jock sensibilities.”

“Oh, I don’t play anymore,” he says, and knocks on his head. “Concussions, yanno. Apparently brain damage will fuck you up. Who knew?”

“What, like the fight you had with Byers? He did you that bad?”

“He did me just fine,” Steve blurts out, before he can stop himself. Munson chokes. “Shit, sorry, I’m kind of a horny drunk.” Weird thing to say, Steve. “Also, I cannot stress enough how much I needed to be punched in the face. It was a monumental moment for me, you know. Started me on the path for changing my entire worldview. Plus, he was my first guy crush.” He swirls his empty glass, lost in thought, before brightening up. “I should call him!”

Munson is staring at him, mouth opening and closing like a fish. 

“What?”

“You’re drunk.”

“Well, yeah. Duh.”

“I should probably stop you from booty-calling the guy who punched you in the face.”

Steve wrinkles his nose. “It wouldn’t be a booty-call,” he says. “He and Argyle are happy together, man. I’m not gonna ruin that.”

“Oh, so you’d call him because…”

“I call him all the time,” Steve says, confused as to why this is such a big deal. “We’re friends.”

“Jonathan!” He yells happily into the pay phone. Munson is standing to the side, looking on in annoyance. Whatever, it’s not like Steve asked him to do this. “Jonathan, man, how are you?”

“…Steve?”

“Yeah!”

“It’s like…” he hears something clatter in the background, like Jonathan is looking for something, “two in the morning there. You okay?”

“I’m doing great!” He exclaims. “How about you? It’s been ages, man, I miss you.”

“This is so fucking weird,” Munson whispers behind him. Steve ignores him. 

“Are you drunk?”

“No,” he says. “Well, maybe a little. Do you not miss me too?” He pouts, and Jonathan sighs loud enough he hears it over the phone. 

“I just talked to you yesterday.”

Steve frowns. “Yesterday? That can’t be right, it’s been, like, forever. Oh, hey, have you heard from Nance lately? How’s your mom? I love your mom, she’s so fucking cool. Does she know I think she’s cool? How’s Will? It’s been so long, is he taller than me yet? How’s Argyle doing with his degree? I miss you guys.”

“We miss you too, Steve.”

“Awww, Byers, getting soppy on me? Gross, man.”

“You literally just—yeah, okay. Are you alone?”

“Nah, I’ve got this guy with me, he’s walking me home. Oh! Dude, do you remember Munson?”

“Munson?”

“Yeah, Eddie Munson! From high school! The one who used to climb on tables and shit, remember him?”

“Jesus Christ,” Munson groans. “Please let that die.”

“No one is dying,” Steve informs him seriously, and turns back to the phone. Munson sighs. 

“Wasn’t he a drug dealer?”

“Yes! Yeah, drug dealer Munson! Did you ever buy from him?” He turns to where Munson is looking around furtively. “Did Jonathan ever buy from you?”

“How about we not talk about this here,” Munson says through gritted teeth. Steve sighs and turns back to the phone. 

“Never mind, he says he doesn’t want to talk about that. Not like we can judge him, but whatever. Maybe the guy’s turned into a prude—“

“Okay, give me that.” Munson wrestles the phone out of his hand, and Steve whines at him. “Hey, Byers,” Munson says. “Yeah, it’s Eddie. Or Munson. Whatever. Listen, I’m getting kind of sick of standing here watching Harrington slobber all over the receiver, can he call you tomorrow? What? No, I don’t sell anymore—yeah, total bummer, whatever. Listen, I’ll get him home safe—no, I’m not going to serial murder him. He’s gonna be fine, he’ll call you tomorrow—Nancy Wheeler? Like that girl he dated? Didn’t you—shoot me? Jesus, okay! I’m not gonna kill the guy, Christ. He’s gonna be fine, oh my God. He’ll call you tomorrow. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, okay. Bye.” He slams the phone into its holder with more than a little contempt. 

“Hey!” Steve protests. “You didn’t let me say bye.”

“You can call him tomorrow and apologize,” Munson says. “Now c’mon, Harrington. I’ve been tasked with getting you home safe, and if I fail, apparently Nancy fucking Wheeler is going to shoot me in the balls.”

“Oh, yeah, she’s really hot when she does that,” Steve says fondly, and Munson splutters. 

“What, does Wheeler just go around shooting people? Does she even have a gun?”

“Of course Nancy has a gun.” Steve frowns. It was one of the sure things in the universe at this point. The sky is blue, Hawkins is fucked up, and Nancy Wheeler has a gun. “And she doesn’t shoot people, stupid. Well, she shot at Billy, but he deserved it.”

“Billy?” Munson mutters, starting to usher Steve in the direction of home. “Who the fuck is Billy?”

“He was trying to kill her first!” Steve defends. “I hit him with a car before he could, so she was okay.”

“Okay, yeah, sure. Why wouldn’t you hit some guy with a car? 

“It wasn’t some guy,” Steve says. “It was Billy. He was, like, possessed or some shit. Oh, and he beat me up. Total psycho.  And that was before the melted flesh monster.”

Munson stops and stares at him. “You know what, sure. Demonic possession. Yeah, okay. Some guy named Billy kicked your ass—wait, are you talking about Billy Hargrove?”

Steve lights up. “Yeah! You remember that? That’s one of the concussions I was talking about. I gotta wear glasses 'cuza that shit. Man, fuck that guy.”

“Didn’t he die?”

“Oh, yeah,” Steve frowns down at the ground. “Shit, I’m, like, speaking ill of the dead, aren’t I? Max wouldn't like that. Unfuck him, or whatever.”

“You wanna come up?” He asks. “For old times sake?”

Munson stares at him like it’s the craziest thing he’s said all evening. “‘Old times’ was your asshole friends calling me a satan worshiper and pushing me around in hallways, Harrington.”

“I know.” He grins. If he was sober he’d definitely feel worse about that, but as it is he’s pretty single minded. “Don't you kind of want to make me cry about it?”

Deer in headlights isn’t usually a good look, but Munson’s got the eyes to make it work. Or Steve is drunk. Either way, it’s kinda cute. 

“You’re drunk,” he finally says, stumbling over the words a little. If Steve pays close attention and ignores most of reality, it almost sounds like he’s trying to convince both of them. “You’re so incredibly drunk.”

“I’m not that drunk.” He totally is. 

“I just had to supervise you calling Jonathan Byers so you didn’t say something you’d regret in the morning.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve asks, offended. “I love Jonathan! I tell him all the time. Just because I said he ruined my life—“

“That was him?”

“Did I not say that? Huh. Whatever. Point is, I’m not that drunk.”

“You’re definitely drunk,” Munson says. “I’m not—yeah, no. I’m not coming up.”

“Damn.” Steve shrugs, not too put out about it. It’s a bummer, sure, but he handles rejection like a champ. Just ask Robin. “Worth a shot. See you ‘round, Munson.”

“Don’t kill me,” Steve says. 

“Oh, god, did you punch him?”

“No, I, uh.” Steve rubs the bridge of his nose. “I think I tried to fuck him.”

He has to hold the phone away from his face so Dustin’s screeching doesn’t break his eardrums. 

“Your exes are weirdly protective of you,” Munson says blandly. “Also, didn’t they date?”

“Yeah,” Steve shrugs, not exactly eager to start spilling his life story again now that he’s sober. Munson doesn’t need to know more about his dating history than he already does. “We’re all a little weird about each other, sorry.”

“Weird about your exes,” he hums. “No wonder you’re single.”

“Oh, fuck you. It’s not like that.”

He raises an eyebrow. “No?”

“Are you always this nosy?” Steve asks, a little waspish. 

“Absolutely,” Munson replies without hesitation. “I’d say sorry, but I’m not. When did you even date him?”

“Dude.”

Munson just cocks an expectant eyebrow, hip resting against the bar. He can’t imagine why someone would be so interested in the romantic lives of their old high school classmates. It’s not like Steve is about to ask what was going on between him and Chrissy Cunningham. 

“Well, Harrington?”

“First grade,” Steve answers, deadpan. He grins when Munson chokes. “Nah, it was actually after he and Nancy broke up. Fall of ‘86.”

Arms squeeze him from behind, and Robin slides into view, leaving one hand wrapped pointedly around Steve’s waist. She gets clingy when she thinks someone is bothering him, or when she’s just on the side of drunk that she gets possessive. She told him, embarrassed and hungover, that it’s because she registers someone he’s getting along with as infringing on “her Steve time.” Steve thinks it’s hilarious and kind of sweet, an obvious lesbian trying to pretend he’s her date. Especially because he gets the same way when he’s tipsy and feels like he doesn’t have enough of her attention, so she can't yell at him for being a cockblock. Cuntblock. Whatever the lesbians call it.

He wonders what category she thinks Eddie is. Of guy, that is. Not block-anything.

He'd actually be pretty damn happy if the guy miraculously changed his mind and decided to sit on his cock instead.

“What’s going on here?” She asks, almost cattily. He loves when Robin gets bitchy. It brings him back to their Scoops days, except he gets to see it turned on someone else. 

“I’m telling Eddie my life story,” Steve says blithely.

“Ugh. Who would want that?”

Eddie grins. “I’m curious about the adventures of a former king.” He dips his head in a bow, waving his hand in a flourish. “I don’t know if you remember me from last time, I’m Eddie—“

“Munson, I know. You stepped on my lunch in junior year.”

Eddie turns beet red in record time. 

“Aww, Robbie,” Steve almost coos. “Leave him alone. I wanted to be the one who made him blush like that.”

“It’s not my fault your boy’s easy.”

“Not my boy, clearly,” he mutters under his breath. “And if he were easy, I’d have gotten fucked by now.”

Eddie’s mouth drops open with a choked little sound. Whoops. Steve forgot volume control again. 

Robin takes one look at Eddie’s face and bursts into cackles. 

“He was asking about,” he waved a hand in the air, “the whole Nancy-Jonathan thing.”

Her eyebrows jut up. “You told him about the threesome?”

“The what?”

Steve sighs. “No, Robin. I did not tell him about the threesome.”

“…oops.”

“When?” Eddie demands. 

Robin gives him the evil eye. “Why are you being weird about this? It’s not gonna make him fuck you.”

Steve wisely keeps his mouth shut. 

Eddie does not. “Your boy here already asked,” he smirks, leaning closer. “I said no.”

Then, as an added punch to his ego, he twirls a strand of Steve’s hair around his finger and tugs slightly. Steve’s too stunned to protest. 

Robin watches the exchange. “Oh, no thank you,” she says. “Nope. I’m out. I don’t want to see whatever this is. Ugh, stop making me hear about your sex life.”

Hypocrite. “We have thin walls, Buckley,” Steve reminds her. He turns to Eddie and stage whispers, “She likes her girls loud.”

“Steve!”

“You do!”

“Oh, because you’re so quiet,” she snaps, smacking him. “How many times have I had to bang on the wall because you couldn’t keep it down? You wanna talk about loud? I know more about you than I ever wanted to.”

His mouth drops open in mortification. “You know it’s rude to be mean to the man who told you how to eat out,” he hisses. 

“I’m not dying without fucking Eddie Munson,” he declares. “I mean, his high school nickname was literally ‘The Freak.’ He’s got to be good in bed, right?”

“I think that was mostly because everyone thought he was communing with the Devil or something.”

“Maybe the Devil gave him sex magic.”

“Of course he thinks I’m cute.”

“I do?”

“Do you not?” Steve turns to him, widening his eyes in the same pout that always has Robin throwing something at his face, or the kids reluctantly agreeing to do what he wants. He’s found it’s useful for guys too, especially if he ducks his head to seem smaller and looks through his eyelashes. Makes them imagine him looking like that on his knees. 

Munson is no exception. He melts faster than Steve can say gotcha. “You’re very cute, Harrington,” he purrs, and Robin snorts into her drink. 

“You’re a weak, weak man, Eddie Munson,” she tells a blushing Eddie. Then she kicks Steve. “Stop bringing out the ‘fuck me’ eyes when I’m around, I’ll gag.”

“You could leave.”

She gasps, affronted, and kicks him harder.

“So you would fuck me if I wasn’t drunk?”

“Uh…” he looks everywhere but Steve’s face, which is just rude. He has a very nice face. He’s been called dreamy before. 

Which made Robin laugh so hard she fell off the couch when he told her, but he’ll take the lesbian’s opinion with a grain of salt. 

He makes his way onto the dance floor. He’s not a particularly good dancer, but he shakes his ass like he means it. Gets up close with a guy, stares at Eddie the whole time. Keeping eye contact as the guy puts his hands on his hips. 

Look, he means to say. This could be you. You could lose your chance if you’re not careful. 

From the burning in Eddie’s eyes, he gets the message. 

The message is a bunch of bullshit. It’s been over four months, he’s in too deep to go fuck off with someone else now. Still, he enjoys the way Eddie’s hands flex on his thighs, like he had to stop himself from reaching out. 

The thing is, Steve’s not an asshole. He can take a hint. No means no, and all that jazz. If Eddie really didn’t want him, he’d fuck right off and find someone who did. He even started to.

Except Eddie pouted up a storm when he flirted with someone else. Got even clingier when Steve tried to back off. At this point, he’s accepted that Eddie does want to fuck him, and maybe even be more (no one flirts with someone as long as they’ve been doing without wanting something like a relationship out of it. At least, he hopes there’s something more on the horizon), but has some weird hang up about Steve being even a little bit buzzed when it happens. Even though they only ever see each other at this fucking bar.

The problem is Steve has no idea when Eddie will be at the bar. He’ll stay sober one night, hoping to see him, and then go home alone only for next time to be when he sees telltale curls and a wide smile. It’s driving him up the wall. 

Robin has been similarly affected.

“It’s been six months,” she growls as Steve looks eagerly around. “Six fucking months of you two dancing around in the worlds most annoying mating ritual. I’m going to kill both of you.”

“We’re not that bad,” he says absently. 

“You don’t even have his phone number. It’s pathetic. I swear to God, if you see him again and don’t get laid I’m reviving the scoops board. I will go out and buy a whiteboard to keep track of all the times you strike out with a man who used to walk on tables. He stepped on my lunch, Steve. Do I need to keep bringing up the fact he stepped on my delicious, nutritious PB&J? I can’t believe that’s the guy you decide to be obsessed with, that’s so fucking embarrassing for you.”

“Embarrassing? You mean like your crush on my ex girlfriend?”

She screeches wordlessly, pulling her keychain off her belt loop and attacking him with it. 

Naturally, that’s how Eddie finds them. 

“I swear you guys get weirder every time I see you.”

Steve grins guilelessly at him, holding a flailing Robin in a headlock. 

“Eddie! Hey! It’s been a minute.” He hasn’t been able to come in a month, and it’s been longer since he’s seen him. It’s honestly one of the deciding factors on whether it’s a passing fancy or a full blown crush. He still went to sleep every night thinking about Eddie. It didn’t even have to be about sex. 

Although maybe not sleeping with anyone else for half a year should have tipped him off sooner. 

“Sure has, big boy. I was starting to think you were getting sick of me.” It’s a joke, but Steve catches an undercurrent of insecurity. 

“That’d make my life easier,” Robin snorts. She finally wiggles her way out of his hold. “I saw Arty somewhere around here, I’m gonna see if I can crash at her place tonight.” She levels Eddie with a look. “He hasn’t had anything to drink. If you don’t put him out of his misery, I will. And it won’t be the good kind. It will be the bad kind. With bad screams. Lots of screaming, and someone will call the pigs, and I’ll be arrested and jailed for life. Do you want me to go to jail, Munson?”

Eddie shakes his head dumbly. 

“Good! Then do something about it.” She slaps Steve’s back, a mocking echo of his jock days. “Go get ‘em, slugger!” 

With that, she’s gone, disappearing into the crowd. 

“She is,” Steve remarks with amusement, “the worst wingman on planet Earth. Mars too, probably.”

“I dunno, I think it might be working.”

“I’m not doing anything without a condom,” he says, eyes narrowed like he’s waiting for an argument. 

“Me neither,” Steve agrees. “Robin has, like, this big fear of diseases. Totally got me with it. She pulled out the library books, those pictures were fucking disgusting. Shit showed up in my dreams, man. Neither of us do anything without protection.”

“I’m going to be totally honest with you, because I haven’t been and it’s starting to eat at me,” Eddie says, hovering above Steve. 

Steve wrinkles his nose. “What is it? Are you a spy or something? Are you Russian? Do you have superpowers? Is your name not actually Eddie?” He pauses. “Oh, God, you’re not even Eddie Munson, are you? I’m just some asshole who’s been calling you by my old classmates name and you were too embarrassed to correct me. Shit, we made so much fun of you for walking on tables too—“

“What?” Eddie covers his mouth, expression hovering between amused and baffled. “What the fuck, why would I go along with that? No, Jesus, I’m Eddie Munson. Moved to Hawkins when I was eleven, took senior year three times, walked on the fucking tables, could you let that go?” He moves the hand covering Steve’s mouth to play with his hair, looking annoyed for a minute before it smoothes to trepidation. “No, I, uh, I just felt like I needed to tell you that I used to have a hate-boner for you in high school. Like, I used to jack it to the thought of kicking your ass and making a mess outta you. In more ways than one.”

Steve stares. 

“Also, that’s kind of why I approached you in the bar in the first place,” Eddie blabbers on. “And then you said you were just there for a friend, and I was disappointed but it’s whatever, yanno? And then then you told me about your dad, and threw my expectations to the fucking wolves, and then you asked me to come up to your apartment except you were drunk and you probably didn’t mean it. But then the next time I saw you, you kept flirting with me, which you were not supposed to do, and I kept pretending that wasn’t the reason I even talked to you in the first place, and, uh, yeah.” He smiles nervously. “Surprise?”

“I mean, not really.”

“You’re such an asshole, fuck off. At least pretend to be shocked.”

“It’s not my fault you stare at my legs all the time,” Steve says, affronted. “I know I didn’t do too good in school, but I’m not dumb enough to miss that. Like, hello, my eyes are up here.”

Eddie lets his arms give out, flopping on top of Steve heavily. Steve wheezes. “Am I really that obvious?” He whines into his shoulder. 

“You got sad and pouty when I even looked at another guy.”

“You could’ve fucked him,” he mumbles. “The guy you were dancing with. It wasn’t any of my business. I’m a big boy, I can deal.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to fuck him,” Steve says. “I wanted to fuck you. Can we go back to that please?”

“Thought I was fucking you.”

“Someone’s getting fucked or Robin will kill both of us. I’d like to live tomorrow morning. And not have to deal with any more of her teasing for having no game.”

“You have unfortunate amounts of game,” Eddie sighs, tracing the side of Steve’s neck. It tickles. “It’s kind of embarrassing for me.”

“Yeah, yeah, are we using those condoms or not, Moodkiller?”

“Oh, I’m the mood killer?”

“Yes,” Steve says matter of factly, and pulls him in for a kiss before he can protest.

[inurnctdreams]

00:00 - l.dh

idol!haechan x gn!reader

genre: fluff, established relationship, drabble

warnings: swearing, suggestive, mentions of sex, pet names (baby, hyuckie)

wc: 0.7k

“happy birthday dear hyuckie, happy birthday to you!”

“hi baby, thank you.” donghyuck’s voice is quiet and slightly raspy. nothing you haven’t heard multiple times before, but not what you’d expected when you’d called your boyfriend at exactly midnight in his current time zone.

“did… did i wake you up?” you frown, and your voice must betray your disbelief if his cute little chuckles over the line are anything to go by.

“maybe, i fell asleep like twenty minutes after i ate dinner.”

“were the guys not with you?” you pout. you’d at least taken some comfort in the fact that he’s surrounded by the rest of the dreamies for the start of his birthday if you can’t be there.

“they’re here.” he says. “our intention was to stay up.”

“and you all fell asleep? that’s actually really fucking funny.” you can’t help the giggles that escape you at the thought of all seven of them crowding in one hotel room to see donghyuck’s birthday in, only to not make it to midnight.

“yeah, i guess we were all pretty tired.”

“wait, does that mean i still got to be the first person to say it?!” you say excitedly. it’s not yet his birthday where you are, but you’d be damned if you were gonna let a silly thing like time zones come between you and making sure your boyfriend started off his day showered in love, albeit virtual.

“uh-huh.” he smiles, leaving out the fact that he’d been planning on answering your call before anyone else could wish him happy birthday anyway. you’d been so cutely adamant that distance wouldn’t stop you from being the first. “i miss you so much.” you almost don’t hear the whisper. if you didn’t know him so well, you’d chalk the voice crack up to him only just waking up.

“i miss you too, baby. twenty-one hours.” you let yourselves sit with the bittersweet feeling for a moment. tears begin to form in your own eyes but you blink them away. “i cannot wait to give you your presents, i think i’ve outdone myself this year!”

“all i need is you.” he elongates the vowels in ‘you’, trying to match your cheery tone.

“ew, stop being so greasy! plus, you love presents and i’m still mad my master plan to have them sent to you was ruined.”

“management did have a point about the shipping time issues, plus this way you can see me open them properly.” he reasons. “i can’t wait to hug you again.”

“just hug me?” you smirk.

“this was supposed to be a cute, innocent birthday call, not phone sex!” he gasps dramatically, sending you both into another fit of giggles.

“okay, okay.” you relent. “i guess the whole point of birthday sex is to do it in person.”

“tease.”

“we did not need to hear that.” another voice chimes in, clearly muffled and far away.

“why are you even on the phone so late?” mark questions, sounding closer than jaemin had. “oh shit dude, happy birthday!”

“is it already midnight?” jisung’s voice is muffled, and then you hear rustling and yells for the other boys to wake up.

“i’ll let you go, have fun with the boys!” you smile.

“no!” hyuck immediately whines.

“it’s okay baby, have a good morning and let me know when you’re boarding and landing, yeah?”

“fine.” he sighs, and you can hear the pout in his voice. the mental image of him, bedhead and traces of sleep, has you mourning the fact that you can’t squish his cheeks or kiss his forehead. yet, you remind yourself. “i’m gonna cuddle the shit out of you as soon as i get back.”

“i’m holding you to that.” you smile, ignoring the fake gagging sounds in the background.

“get some rest too, i know you have work in the morning.”

“i’ll try.” you knew it would be difficult to settle your restless brain but he was right, you did have work, plus the stuff you’d planned for when he got home that you had managed to keep a surprise. “happy birthday, hyuckie. i love you.”

“i love you too.” you glance down at your phone when the call ends.

twenty-one hours.

[moralesmilesanhour]

if you believe in me - 02

summary: word gets around fast. wc: 2256 a/n: got too impatient soooo here we are lmao. I'll still be writing ahead I just wanted to post this one lil thing. warning for like one vague sex joke prev next

Your hands swung between the two of you until you reached the bottom steps of Visions Academy. The moment you began your ascent, little gasps and whispers followed not far behind. Miles’ hand began to squirm, as if trying to weasel his way out of the vice grip you had on it as you tugged him along. The reason why dawned on you when you entered the main hall:

Everyone was staring.

Scanning the clusters of students gathered in front of the escalators, you noticed that some of their mouths had fallen open in shock. You turned to glance at Miles, who was staring straight ahead with his brows knit together with worry. 

“Miles, what’s wrong–”

“Y/N?”

Tianna’s voice interrupted before you could finish the question. The short, dark-skinned girl ran up to you for a quick hug, the smell of her vanilla body mist wafting off of her uniform.

She pulled away to give Miles a once-over, narrowing her eyes at him. He nervously avoided making eye contact.“I see you didn’t take my advice, as always.”

“Well, we met up this morning,” you shrugged. “It worked out.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Miles remarked quietly.

“I know,” your friend shot back as she tugged your arm to pull you away. “A moment, please?”

He raised his hands in surrender, and you gave him an apologetic smile as you let go of his hand. You followed Tianna until you reached a spot where he’d be out of earshot, where she stopped abruptly. She spun around to face you with her arms folded.

 “Y/N…girl.”

“What? He said we were a thing when I asked him–”

“You had to ask him?” Tianna sighed, massaging her temples. “At least I know you weren't lying about the kiss.”

Your mouth fell open in offense, making her burst into laughter. 

“Girl, fuck you! You thought I was lying?” you yelled as you gave her a playful shove.

“It’s Miles Morales! I don’t think he’s even had a full conversation with anybody since ninth grade. How you got him to kiss you is beyond me.”

“What does that mean?” you laughed. “You’re mad disrespectful.”

“That’s not the point, though. He didn’t even text you first.”

“Maybe he just forgot my number.”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

“I know a lot about him!”

Tianna raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Name three things you know about him that he told you himself.”

“Easy,” you began counting on your fingers, “He doesn’t like wearing his glasses, he likes rock music, and, um…”

You paused, racking your brain for something that you didn’t have to find out from asking around. Tianna’s lips were pressed into a thin line, wholly unimpressed. She sighed again.

“Yeah, okay, sis–”

“Wait!” you interrupted in a last-ditch effort to defend yourself. “He told me he’s actually not a gang member like people say, so that’s a plus, right?”

She saw the desperate look on your face and shook her head. 

“Look, just…be careful, alright? If you not gonna listen to me, at least do that much,” Tianna pushed you gently back in Miles’ direction just as the morning bell rang. “Now go to class.”

You looked back at her one last time and smiled. “Thanks.”

Miles looked up expectantly as you jogged over to him. “So? What was that about?”

“Girl stuff,” you lied, sticking out your hand. “Walk me to class?”

As soon as you made it up the escalator, Miles mentally prepared himself to make his way through the crowded hallway. He wasn’t used to being at school this early, and it seemed that–judging by the sudden rise in conversation and exaggerated ‘oooh!’s as you passed by–neither were his fellow students.

Your homeroom wasn’t too many doors down from his, so he gently let go of your hand just outside Ms. Keene’s classroom.

“Aight, see you in calc–”

“Um, sir,” you stopped him before he could turn around, with a hand on your hip. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Miles’ eyes narrowed, then widened in understanding when you placed a finger on your cheek. He glanced towards the clusters of kids gathered around their lockers.

Many were still watching out of curiosity, looking for something to talk about come lunchtime. He turned to you and smiled apologetically. 

"Later."

"Imma hold you to that, Morales!" you called out behind you as you finally entered the classroom.

“Good morning, miss L/N,” Keene greeted with her eyes still glued to her laptop. 

Every morning, she’d project the list of morning announcements onto the whiteboard then spend the rest of homeroom checking emails. The class was allowed to chat idly until the bell rang, just as long as it didn’t get loud enough to catch the attention of any administrators.

“G’morning!” you replied.

You had just sat down when a nasally voice asked suddenly, “Did you get Callahan’s homework done on time?”

Startled, your head snapped towards the girl sitting next to you, Caitlyn. As always. 

She leaned forward with her palm cradling her chin, pale and freckled face beaming with anticipation as if gossiping with a friend. The girl hardly knew you.

“Um, yeah, it…wasn’t too bad,” you replied tentatively. “You?”

“Girl, I was struggling,” she answered with a wave of her hand. The phrase came out oddly, like she was reciting lines off of a script, and it made you cringe internally. “Spent nearly the whole night on it.”

You hummed in acknowledgement and nodded. Just before you could fully turn away, though, Caitlyn jumped to another topic.

“So you and Miles are like, together, right?”

“...Yup.”

Her eyes widened in anticipation.

“So what’s he like? Outside of school, I mean.”

Grinning to yourself, you almost spilled every detail: the glasses, his dimples when he smiled–like, really smiled–and jazz music. But she didn’t need all that.

“He’s…cute. Real smart-ass, though.” you answered while fiddling with the lead in your mechanical pencil.

Caitlyn snorted, “No shit. I heard he used to give Ms. Jones hell in AP Calc once he got back from his, um…break.”

Your expression soured at that last bit.

“You got anything specific you wanna ask me?”

“Have you two…? Y’know.” 

She made her eyebrows jump up and down, making it uncomfortably clear what she was implying.

“No,” you replied coarsely. “And if we did, I wouldn’t be tellin’ you.”

Caitlyn opened her mouth to respond, but was swiftly cut off by the bell. 

You rose from your seat and swung your book bag over your shoulder as quickly as possible before making your escape into the hallway. 

Three more periods of that to go. Lovely.

A chorus of boys whooped and hollered when Miles passed by them on the way back to his locker. 

“Yo, is that my son Miles? On time?”

The voice calling out to him belonged to Jeremiah, a shorter boy with dark skin and newly-cut hair after spending the entirety of ninth grade with a short, unstyled afro. A tiny grin played on Miles’ lips. They used to hoop with some of the Brooklyn Middle kids after school, before everything happened. 

It wouldn’t kill him to say ‘hi’.

“I’m always on time, y’all just early!” he called out over his shoulder, even doing the little salute his dad would always do when he dropped Miles off.

This lift in his mood would be killed swiftly by third period, when Hakim ripped out one of his airpods. Right at the bridge of one of his favorite songs, too.

“What you listenin’ to, Morales?”

Miles glared daggers into him, but the boy was never really one to take a hint.

Hakim went on, “Huh. Didn’t pin you as a seventies guy.”

He returned the earbud, ruffling dark ringlets that nearly covered his eyes. It used to be much shorter, until he grew it out in eighth grade and soon realized that girls preferred it that way. 

“I’m full of surprises,” Miles muttered darkly, examining the airpod between his fingers. He made a face at it, and decided they were unfit to stick back into his ears before storing them in their case. “Sumn you need?”

Hakim opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Mr. Callahan’s booming voice:

“Hold the side conversations, please.”

“My fault, sir,” Miles replied. He didn’t need to rack up behavioral infractions at ten in the morning.

The middle-aged man paused his scribbling on the whiteboard and turned around. He stared directly at Miles like a child about to pull a prank.

“Actually, Morales, since you’re so talkative today and–well–actually here,” he pointed with the dry-erase marker in his hand, “Why don’t you help us calculate the total charge of this particle?”

…Right. 

Miles had almost forgotten that, technically, he was still Callahan’s ‘star student’. 

He’d never forget when the former university professor pulled him aside after a particularly difficult class and told him:

 “Y’know, I’d actually have you teach this class on some days if that was allowed. Like a high school T.A., but without the salary!” 

He’d forced a polite laugh, then. The man genuinely seemed to believe that he’d told a good joke. 

That’s the thing about teachers who believe in you: they won’t just ignore you sitting in the back of the classroom with your airpods in.

Miles gave Callahan a pointed look as he took the marker from him and got to work. If it could even be called that. 

Inventing sneakers that defied gravity in his room made this all look like basic addition. Most of it was just a series of conversions, nothing that a bit of mental math couldn’t solve. He boxed his answer then looked up for approval that he didn’t need.

“Correct as always, Morales. You may return to your seat,” Callahan raised an eyebrow, “Quietly. Not all of us are as adept as you are and do still need to focus.”

“You got it, boss.”

Miles handed the marker over before shuffling back to his seat. Feeling the classroom full of eyes burning into his clothes, he considered waking up late on purpose from now on if it meant avoiding them. 

Shortly afterwards, the class transitioned into his least favorite section: partner work. Miles could usually get away with ignoring whatever poor soul had been seated next to him, but some were a little too…persistent. Asking him to solve every problem for them as if he alone could bring their grades up. 

The thought reminds him of someone, and a lopsided smile spreads across his face.

“Yo, who got you smiling like that?”

He snapped out of his contemplation and turned reluctantly toward Hakim.

“Nothing,” Miles answered sharply. “Nobody.”

“It definitely ain’t nobody,” Jeremiah piped up from the seat behind him. Since when did he take this class? 

“We all saw you this morning, bro, who is she?”

“Yeah, spill!”

Miles inhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose before responding, “Y/N.”

“That’s your girl? Since when?”

“Since…”

Since three and a half hours ago.

“Since last week.” He nodded curtly.

“That’s a relief,” Hakim remarked. “We thought you were gonna be a hermit for the rest of your life.”

Miles snorted. “Don’t rule it out just yet, the year's not over.”

Jeremiah piped up again, “Off-topic, but have you finished this packet yet? This shit kinda blowin’ my mind right now.”

“What do you think?”

Lunch rolled around, and Miles had never rushed upstairs faster. He was not in the mood to have the counselor pick apart every word that left his mouth and drone on about his “journey with grief”. 

He was fine. He just needed to be somewhere where no one was fucking watching him.

Miles wouldn’t get that, though, because you were sitting in his spot, eating half of a grilled cheese sandwich.

“Took you long enough,” you said before taking another bite. He grinned and shook his head.

“And what business you got up here?”

You set the sandwich down and tilted your head. “You think I forgot about this morning?”

Miles sat down next to you with a grunt, and crossed his legs.

“That serious, huh?”

“Very. Might keel over and die without it.”

He leaned in and planted a warm kiss on your left cheek. “We can’t have that, now, can we?”

Just before Miles could put any more distance between you, you gently placed a hand beneath his chin. It’d been a while since you’d had a good look at his face.

Faint freckles dotted across his cheeks, a tiny scar through his brow that you don’t remember being there. He squinted when the sunlight hit his face, and for a second his left eye looked like it was a duller shade of brown than the right. Almost green.

“Y/N? You–”

You pressed your lips against his before he could finish the sentence. Miles remembered to tilt his head and relaxed into the kiss as your hand moved to the nape of his neck to toy with one of his braids. He still didn’t know where to put his hands.

When you pulled away, he couldn’t look you in the eye. It made you giggle to watch his pupils dart to and fro, not knowing where to land. 

Miles took a deep breath to collect himself, but the exhale came out a quiet laugh.

“Ion know if I’ll ever get used to that,” he half-whispered.

An impish smile spread across your face. “You wanna practice?”

“Whoa. Relax, ma. This is a public space.”

[your-unfriendlyghost]

4, 5, 7, 14

(Okay I really liked these ones fyi)

4. Rank the main 7.

  Ooh tough one. I guess right now, in order of favorite to least favorite, I’d have to go Sodapop, Two-Bit, Steve, Johnny, Ponyboy, Dally, and then finally Darry. But it’s pretty close, and the order changes day by day honestly- I like all of them a lot, y’know? I guess the only one I don’t think about too often is Darry. I still like him and think he’s a really well-written character- I just don’t have a lotta original thoughts about him, is all, whereas I do about all the others. 

5. What are your fave ships?

  In a truly shocking turn of events, I, a frequent draw-er and writer of Stevepop, am going to say Stevepop. I dunno, something about them just makes me happy. Reminds me of like…daydreams I had when I was twelve and crushing on my best friend, and trying to get her attention by doing stupid things and whatever…god I don’t really know how to explain why I like it. Before this fandom I didn’t usually ship things, to be honest. But I guess when I did it’d be stuff like Jesslake in Infinity Train, where it’s the sorta thing that can be seen as platonic or romantic. I reckon Stevepop scratches a similar itch in my brain lol

  But I also really like Marcia x Two-Bit, which I haven’t really talked about here much- They had good chemistry, y’know? I oughta draw something about them sometime

  And then finally there’s my DIY crack-ish ship Soda x Steve x Evie. I like them! It’s all the things I like about Stevepop, plus there’s a cool girl in the mix! I love cool girls! More folks should think about them i think

  I do like other ships okay too- like the Tarry crowd has dragged me in, and sometimes the Jally crowd does too, along with Purly and occasionally Johnnyboy. I’m not an active participant, but when I come across it, I sorta mentally nod and say “nice”, you dig? They’re like…my ship-in-laws. Or like…milk duds and hershey bars- candy I still enjoy, but reach for only after I’m out of milky ways and twizzlers.

7. What are your fave non-romantic relationships? (This can be close friends, familial, enemies or even just acquaintances)

  Two-Bit and Pony! I like them a lot. Their interactions in the book were some of my favorite parts. That line when Two-Bit was worried about Ponyboy using that broken bottle on the Socs…ugh that part was great. I remember reading it for the first time and just sitting there thinking about how much I liked that detail.

  Then on the opposite side of the coin, Steve and Pony lol. I LOVE how Pony doesn’t initially like Dally or Steve, and yet Dally’s chill with Pony…but with Steve the disdain is mutual. Jk I don’t think Steve really hates Pony- but he definitely thinks Pony’s kinda annoying. I like the idea of him watching out for Pony anyways though, like at school especially now that Soda’s not going.

14. Tell us five of your headcanons you basically see as canon

Sodapop has ADHD and maybe (?) dyslexia, but it’s the 60s so he won’t find out till he’s well into adulthood

Marcia gave Two-Bit her real number, and was disappointed when he didn’t call it. I like to imagine they end up remeeting at some point and going out together- even if that’s kinda unrealistic lol

Steve hated Dally when he first rolled into town, because Dally was everything he really wanted to be- tough, cool, and street-smart. And he was also scared of losing Soda, who thought Dally rocked- because Dally’s from New York and rides in rodeos! Eventually they became buddies though when Dally gave Steve a compliment or something. Not even a particularly good one- something like “Hey you ain’t bad at fighting”- just barely enough for Steve to feel like Dally’s earned a little bit of his loyalty. Might write fic/make a comic for this- it’s kinda niche but I think the idea is funny

Steve and Soda secretly listen to the Beach Boys at the DX. They can’t tell anyone because it’s not tuff to like a dumb California band. And Ponyboy would like the Beatles if he listened to them, but he doesn’t, so he won’t realize that until years after Beatlemania has died down

Steve is not just a Ponyboy hater but also a horses-in-general hater. He thinks horses are scary and unpredictable and that cars were invented for a reason. He was secretly relieved when Mr. Curtis stopped Soda from riding rodeos, because seeing Soda on a crazy horse gave him mad anxiety. Pretended he was sad though for Soda’s sake

Thanks so much for asking!! I loved answering these so much lol, definitely let me know your thoughts too on ‘em!

[onmyyan]

Your writing brings joy to my shriveled brain. How do you think it would go if Steven from Moonnight had a female roommate who desperately tried to ignore the weird shit. Acting like nothing was out of the ordinary bc the apartment is in the perfect spot and the rent is really reasonable. Steven and Mark grow increasingly alarmed and intrigued respectively at their cute but definitely deranged roomate ignoring all the bat shit crazy with an iron force of will. The more they pay attention the more they realize they like having her around.

A/N: My shriveled heart enjoys writing for y’all 😫🤚🏼 also this my first moonknight request I’m so excited It’s not even funny. This took me actual ages to post bec I kept rewriting it, Marc and Steven are wonderful and I'm sorry if their ooc and for how long it took me to post, hope you enjoy! NOT EDITED

TW'S: Yandere

The first thing you noticed about Steven Grant was his inexplicable ability to keep to himself. Like really to himself. The small space you two occupied never felt crowded despite sharing everything but a bed. His room was sort of the living room, and at the very beginning you two set the rule that you’d each keep to your own, a fair rule considering you got the bedroom, the cheap rent and non-creepy roommate was worth all the odd stuff you noticed. Like how he taped up the front door at night. You chalked it up to paranoia. The ring of sand he diligently poured around his bed? Your aunt had a sleepwalking problem, could happen to anyone. The kinky ankle chain he kept on the post by his bed? What he got up to when you were out of the apartment was his business, and you minded your own well, as long as you weren’t in danger, he could be as weird as he wanted.

Steven was worried initially. His mind ran ragged with scenario after scenario of you finding out about Marc, the two of them had only just begun to peacefully coexist. Marc had no problems with you as long as you had your rent and didn’t ask too many questions, plus you sometimes wore these little shorts to bed and he'd never complain about the view.

There were just some things you can't hide, like the fact that the apartment felt haunted whenever Steven was home, the cold chills and way he was constantly looking up in some random corner were a little harder to ignore, you told yourself you'd say something if you got possessed, other than that it was blissfully ignored.

Marc had never officially met you but he had been watching. He was a naturally alert person so it wasn't concerning- what worried him was just how often you wiggled your way into his thoughts as of late. He was far too grown for something like a crush, far to burdened with his destiny for something like romance, that's absolutely not why he took over to watch you for a while, nothing malicious, just observe you how steven gets to, you two only ever crossed paths in the morning and as you were heading to bed. You didn't bat a eye, offering him a sleepy wave and a yawn as you made your coffee.

He found himself smiling at the silent, practiced way you worked around the kitchen, something about the scene was domestic, "Wan' some?" You asked rather cutely, a yawn breaking through at the end, warmth pooled in his chest at the simple action and before he could stop himself he was nodding.

Your pretty (e/c) eyes widened for a moment before that friendly grin came back. "You never take me up on that- I was startin' to think British people couldn't drink coffee." The graceful ease in which you moved had his eyes soaking up every inch of you, your little joke had pulled him out of whatever weird trance he'd fallen under. "Cream and sugar?" He shook his head no, and when your fingers brushed his as you handed off the warm mug, it felt like he'd been electrified.

"You're usually at the museum by now- sorry that sounded creepy I meant- it's nice seeing you that's all." Your very apparent flustered state pulled a smirk to his lips. You were too cute. But the question did yank him out of the sweet bubble he'd found himself in once you started talking.

You thought he was Steven- of course, why wouldn't you? He knew this and yet, that familiar pang of disappointment lingered, so hard in fact he'd fallen into himself and let Steven have the wheel once more. The Brit was proper confused when he came to with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands.

He nearly dropped it when he finally noticed you standing before him, your bedhead made you look like some sort of sleepy Angel, he quickly took a sip of the liquid, failed to hide his grimace and thanked you for it before rushing out with the guise of being late to work. Truthfully his shift didn't start for an hour and a half, he just liked giving you your space.

He found out rather early the longer he spent in your presence the more likely he was to make a fool of himself. You were charming and witty and god you looked like someone who should be waited on hand and foot- not that that's something he's thought in detail about or anything don't be silly-

"I think I should introduce myself." He heard Marks voice ring out while he reorganized the plushies by the register. "Absolutely not." He said almost offended at the mere suggestion, his pulse began to skyrocket, "Are you mad? She just started being comfortable-" he laughed humorlessly, "That be a fine way to send her running for the bloody hills." He set the last plush down with more force than necessary, the idea of you not being in his life anymore shot a spike of panic through him.

"You're not giving her enough credit, somethin' about that one- this feels like the right move buddy." Steven glanced at Mark's reflection in one of the display cases. He pointedly moved to the other side of the store, his face twisting into a pout. "She's noticed all the weird shit we do- she's still there." He heard him try to reason, catching his grin in the glass. "You can't hide from me, I know you're just as interested in our sweet roommate as I am."

[therealeagal]

Thoughts on: Not voting (2024)

Decide for yourselves whether my words have value or if they are naught but the ravings of a madman.

Whichever you decide, don't @ me, bro. I'm not here to debate. Just to pontificate.

Let's begin.

I have seen discourse of late that people do not wish to vote in the upcoming POTUS election, for reasons that include but are not limited to Donald Trump being a piece of shit, and also Joe Biden selling weapons to Israel, thus making him complicit in that thing that's happening with Israel and Palestine. Are we allowed to use the G word? Idunno.

Lots of the anti-not-voting crowd will try to talk down to you, insinuate that you're probably just a Russian troll or a moron or something.

Not me. Although I too am anti-not-voting, I want to try something different, to wit: I understand.

I get it. I appreciate that Joe Biden is shit. Certainly he's not the shittiest shit that ever shat. He's not even shitty shit. Just regular shit.

If we're being fair (although I don't know why we would be. This is tumblr after all), Biden has done lots of good stuff while in office. I mean, I don't know what any of them are, but I saw a list floating around a while back that had a bunch of stuff on it that Biden had done right. I think there was something about insulin being price capped? I'm prepared to accept out of hand the possibility that there exists things that Biden has done right. Mainly because I'm too lazy to look it up and also don't really care enough about Biden's merits beyond "He's not Trump" to bother.

But yes, good stuff or not, Biden is shit. He may have done good things, but he has also done shitty things. Things which include but which are not limited to that thing that's happening with Israel and Palestine, the status of which remains in limbo, viz a viz, the G word.

Of all the shitty people that have ever lived, Joe Biden is one of them.

And I appreciate that both candidates are senile and decrepit and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and.

I get it.

I perfectly understand all the reasons you have to not vote. In fact, I could probably give you a few more. Like "He's not The Real Eagal." which is in my incredibly humble and completely non-biased opinion the best possible reason to not vote for someone.

In difference circumstances, I wouldn't vote for Biden either if I were you.

But Trump is worse. You get that, right? Biden and Trump are both terrible in different ways, but they are not equally terrible. Trump is worse. On a terribleness scale of 1 to 10, Biden is a two. Trump is an eleven. Hundred. Thousand. Million.

He could be up against literally Sauron and Trump would still be worse. At least Sauron came by it honest. He built his evil empire without help from anyone. Morgoth was already...wherever Morgoth ended up after Eru Iluvatar slapped him down to remind him who's daddy. Ok, he did have Celebrimbor's help to make the rings of power, but didn't he make the One Ring on his own? All I'm saying is, I'd rather have Sauron in office than Donald Trump.

Trump is literally deciding who he wants his next VP to be based on how much he wants to fuck their wives. Sauron wouldn't decide who his cohorts were based on how much he wants to fuck their wives. Sarumon didn't even have a wife.

Plus, Biden's not gonna last 4 more years. He's like a jillion years old. He'll croak 2 days after inauguration. And even if he did last all four years, the world can survive four more years of Biden. A bowling alley couldn't survive four more years of Trump.

And if Kamalah Harris is still Biden's VP when he kicks the bucket, it would probably kill off a few Republicans. Their brains would explode at the mere thought of a black woman president. That's what we in "The Biz" call a win-win.

No one will like to hear this, but there's nothing you can do to stop the world from being shitty today - today meaning this current era, not literally this specific day. Sorry, kids, but that ship has sailed.

Voting for Biden won't make the sun rise. It won't make the grass grow, it won't make the birds sing. Voting for Biden won't Save Our Democracy™ BUT speaking only for myself, I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that if Trump gets re-elected there's a good chance that there won't be another election, notwithstanding all the other many and varied reasons Trump getting back into office would be a terrible idea.

No question that in ideal times both Trump and Biden would already be swinging from the gallows and we'd be voting between Jesus and Buddha. Personally, I'll vote Buddha. For two reasons. 1: Jesus' fan club is kind of insufferable. No offense, big J, but you gotta give those people a good long talking-to if you want my vote. And 2: According to the excellent documentary series Record of Ragnarok, Buddha is an amazing fighter. He fought a fuckin' monster from hell and won. Dude's a badass.

But these are not ideal times in which we live. Again, no one will like to hear this, but the lesser of two evils, however unpleasant it may be, can be a necessary evil. And Joe Biden is, without question, the much much MUCH lesser evil.

Compromise is a four-letter word, but needs must, as they say, when the Devil drives. And if we want there to be a better tomorrow - for some people it will be "if we want there to even be a tomorrow at all" - we gotta hold our nose and vote Biden.

You got a better idea? One that doesn't involve crashing a bus into the nearest combination orphanage/puppy store in the hopes that the resultant tragedy will cause the downfall of civilization and Civilization 2 will work better because we already worked out all the kinks the first time? Even though the whole reason you got rid of the first one is that you hadn't worked out all the kinks and were too lazy to finish the job?

Not voting doesn't work. You can boycott a business. Maybe. You can't boycott a government. They're already in control. They're not going to change that just because some rando decided he's guilty

And I mean, there are other ways to deal with an unruly government. France is quite famous for its ideas on the subject, but if we're taking votes on that avenue, I'm going to have say "nay." The last thing anyone needs right now is another damn Napoleon.

So maybe tomorrow - "tomorrow" here meaning the next era, ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty or however many fuckin' years down the line - Joe Biden will be dead and good riddance to his wrinkly old ass and we'll get the chance to vote for someone else. Among all the shitty people who have ever lived, this future someone won't be one of them probably. I'll bet my bottom dollar on it.

It could happen. In an infinite universe all things are possible, so maybe.

And whatever of the many flaws that Joe Biden possesses, Trump has all these and more.

Joe tacitly endorses violent suppression of protests? Trump had a group of protestors gassed so that he could get a photo-op in front of a church.

Joe has a tendency to get a bit handsy with women? Trump is a rapist.

Joe is kinda racist in that way that old people are kinda racist without being overtly anti-minority? Trump is a Nazi. Or at least extremely Nazi-adjacent.

Joe is drinking the Israel kool-aid? Didn't Trump move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem or some shit, thus clearly favoring Israel over Palestine? Something to that effect? I remember that something like that happened and it being kind of a big deal. Yes? No? Maybe so? Regardless, do you think that Trump wouldn't mainline the kool-aid? He'd be selling Irsael nukes inside of a week.

Joe vaguely shady? Vaguely criminally shady? Trump is a convicted felon. 34 counts, wasn't it? Plus like a hundred more indictments or some shit on top.

While it is true that not voting won't directly put Trump back in the White House, it certainly won't help keep him out of it.

So my advice to you, my children, is this: Vote Biden. Don't do it because you want Biden to be president. Do it because you don't want Trump to be president.

Don't vote for the betterment of mankind. Or the United States. Or your individual state. Don't even vote because the cool kids are voting. Don't vote because you particularly give two soggy shits about the future.

Vote out of spite. Do it to spite Trump. Do it out of the pettiness of not wanting Trump to be president. Not for any of his policies, but just because his face is stupid.

Little known fact: the very first listed dictionary definition for "stupid" is literally "Trump's face". Don't check. It's in there. Trust me.

Vote against Trump because New York isn't a nice town, despite the fact that they named it twice on the strength of its alleged niceness. Sorry, New Yorkers. I don't make the rules.

Vote for Biden because you just really hate people from Queens, New York, New York. Sorry, Queens residents. I don't make the rules.

Vote against Trump because you hate orange people. Yes, even that orange Monstar from Space Jam.

Vote for Biden because you thought Home Alone 2 was a terrible movie.

Vote against Trump because he named his son after himself.

Vote for Biden because the only creature in this or any universe that deserves to be named Donald is Donald Duck. And maybe Donald Glover. Beyond that, we can play it by ear.

Vote against Trump out of sheer, unrelenting, seething hatred for people whose middle names are John.

Vote for Biden because Trump appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that one time and said that he likes to keep a low profile.

There are many many many many many good reasons to not vote for Joe Biden. Do it anyway.

Gather together all of the good reasons that you possess and throw them out the window, along with any clocks you have on hand. And maybe a horse. And some butter. And a dragon if you have any.

Vote for Biden anyway. Not because he deserves it. But because Trump deserves it even less than Biden does.

If you vote I will give you one compliment of your choice. Are you waiting for someone to notice how great your new haircut makes you look?

Maybe you've been hitting the gym a lot more lately, and want someone to appreciate all the muscle you've packed on.

Maybe you finally nailed YYZ on the drums and want props.

Now's your chance. All you need to do is get out there and vote for Biden this November. Or whenever election day is. Pretty sure it's in November. Like, the 7th or some shit. Idunno. Look it up yourself.

And once you do that, you may return here for your compliment.

Unless that counts as election interference. If it does then I won't give you a compliment. You will have to settle for being one of my wonderful followers. And if you're not, maybe you should be. Because I compliment my followers all the time. Even the bots. I am down with the 101001, my robotic followers. Consider it a loophole. But I don't think it counts as election interference, so we're probably in the clear either way.

P.S. If you disagree with me for any reason, please refrain from interacting with this post, because I do find dissent to be terribly irritating. Please and thank you. :)

P.P.S. I will, however, welcome abject praise. If you want to give it. Your choice.

P.P.P.S. This is a post-script.

[teencopandthesourwolf]

so i'm supposed to be working on my sterek wip—and i am! i wrote about 1k today—but bc of all you lovely mutual's and folk i follow now also into buddie (main culprits being @inell @rosieposiepuddingnpie @sortasirius and @angela-feelstoomuch) and ofc bc of bi!buck confirmed, i've started ploughing through 911 over the last few weeks like a bloodhound chasing a rabbit through the woods and have consequently, inevitably, started a buddie wip. fml. anyways, it's all your lot's fault so here, have just under 1k of my first buck pov buddie quarantine wip and everyone pls forgive my adhd writing brain lol.

.

Eddie was so fucking drunk. And it wasn't really either of their faults.

Because daytimes? When they weren't on shift? They were easy.

In the daytime there was just so much stuff to do with Christopher. So many games to play and so many cool things Buck was finding he could teach the little guy. And there were things that Christopher was teaching Buck, too, like, did you know that a crocodile can't stick out its tongue? Because Buck didn't, not until Christopher told him. And how cool is that?

The three of them—Buck, Christopher and Eddie—had started a Strip Jack Naked tournament and they now played it every night that he and Eddie were home, just before bath and bedtime stories. Turns out Christopher loved card games, and loved the rude name given to Buck and Maddie's childhood favourite even more, because what ten year old wouldn't? There was obviously zero stripping involved; Buck didn't even know why it was called what it was called, only that it was super fun, and just about easy enough for Christopher to learn but not so easy he'd get bored too fast, y’know? And what was funny was that the little dude hadn't even won a single round yet, and that somehow hadn't seemed to deter the slugger in his efforts one bit. Quite the opposite, actually. He'd warned, “Just you two wait,” and had this look on his face that said he was determined to become a grandmaster and beat Buck at his own game—or, even better, beat his Dad and win the prize of Eddie having to tidy Christopher's room for a week (a suggestion of Buck's that Eddie had not been overjoyed about).

In turn, Buck and Eddie had now lost countless games of Mario Kart to the kid; been repeatedly humiliated at Pictionary (the kiddie version); and each had the least amount of kudos points for Misfits, a game that Eddie apparently used to play with his sisters. It was another drawing-type one, where each player took a body section on their turn—head, torso and arms, or legs and feet—and then folded the paper over to hide the result until everyone was done and Christopher would unfold the paper and they'd all cry with laughter at the results. Misfits didn't even technically have any winners or losers, but hey, try telling Christopher that.

Evenings, though? The few hours left between Christopher's bedtime and Eddie and Buck turning in for the night? They were tougher.

Tough on Buck, at least.

See, he'd had this dream, a few weeks back. A dream about—well.

About Eddie.

In the dream, Buck had been washing the dishes in Eddie and Chris's apartment after Eddie had made another attempt at cooking his abuela's delicious Barbacoa recipe (Buck had tasted the real deal once when Isabel had come to stay and Eddie had invited Buck over to dinner), and Eddie had suddenly crowded into him from behind, crushing the length of his body up against Buck's back and reaching around to circle soft but firm hands around Buck's wet wrists. Startled and confused, Buck had open opened his mouth to say something when Eddie had placed his hot mouth onto the sensitive spot on Buck's neck, just below his right ear and—

Buck had woken abruptly, writhing and twitching and groaning, jizz spilling all over his freshly changed bed sheets.

After that, evenings were a challenge.

They were now made up of all the usual fun and dumb stuff that Buck and Eddie got up to, plus the occasionally deeper topics in their lives that they both seemed to struggle with but tried their best to share with each other, but there was also Don't look too long at Eddie's hands, and Don't look at Eddie's mouth while he speaks, and Don't check out Eddie's ass in those jeans I'd told him he should definitely buy when the shops were still open and the world hadn't yet gone to shit and I wasn't losing my damn mind.

Buck had moved into Eddie and Chris's place when Quarantine hit because it had just made sense, and over the course of the last six months he had somehow managed to fall in lust with his best friend.

So, times when they both had tomorrow off work, and when the confinement got to be a little too much, they would drink. Sometimes a little too much. One of them always stayed relatively sober though, just in case Chris needed something in the night, and tonight, Buck had been allowing Eddie to enjoy himself because the guy hardly ever really let his hair down, and he deserved to.

Eddie got giggly when he drank Tequila, Buck noticed.

They'd already sunk a few beers prior to cracking open the bottle of Cazadores Reposado, and after Buck had stopped at two shots but Eddie had continued, Eddie had become progressively loose and was now starting to giggle like a frickin schoolgirl. Which, embarrassingly, seemed to be doing things to Buck—not that Buck had a thing for school girls, jesus no, it was just that Eddie sounding so soft and vulnerable and happy was something that apparently really did it for Buck.

Fuck his life.

The guy also got very touchy-feely on tequila, too.

They'd migrated from the kitchen table to sitting so close to each other on the sofa that they were permanently touching, as well as all the times Eddie kept nudging his shoulder further into Buck's and squeezing his hand on Buck's knee. Then his thigh.

Seriously, fuck Buck's life.

The way Eddie had gotten so comfortable with touching Buck was becoming a majorly uncomfortable situation for Buck to have to deal with. Not because Buck didn't want the attention, but because he really fucking did.

And that was a problem, for a few reasons.

Reason one was that Buck wasn't gay, and didn't really understand these feelings he was having.

Reason two was, as far as Buck knew, Eddie wasn't gay either.

Reason three (and Buck's biggest fear) was Buck being terrified of losing what he had with Eddie. He loved Eddie, and Christopher, and he was pretty sure they loved him back—and he certainly wasn't about to let his rabid and confusing libido ruin any of that.

Drunk Eddie, though? It seemed Drunk Eddie really had it in for Buck tonight.

.

fingers crossed i can finish it before buck goes insane! xp

[statementlou]

Hi! Louis rocked last night! Do you know what was so special about the post malone song?

like why did Louis pick it? I mean obviously I/ we can't know, and I assume he likes the song for starters (he followed Post Malone on insta a couple years ago, for what it's worth). And him and the band were able to make it work, it sounded great in the set and sounded great with his voice, so he must have seen that potential in it. But the lyrics are wild for Louis to be singing and the fact that they echo like half of his songs and pretty much all his other covers in theme makes it pretty hard not think that's why, that it is a song that grabbed him and resonated with him, or at minimum that it being so parallel to KMM was a factor. Also I think he likes being a little daring and getting to sing explicit stuff and being like ooooh I'm really not in a teen pop boyband anymore I can do songs about getting my brains fucked out (not that he ever let that stop him😂). Plus as @goldcrumble pointed out, the nod to Seven Nation Army (the song that the crowd chant to him in latam especially and they've teased covering) in the lyrics is hilarious, it wouldn't be our SBB Louis if he did something simple and unlayered without a clever little extra, bless him🥰 (lyrics under the cut)

Oxytocin makin' it all okay When I come back down, it doesn't feel the same Now I'm sittin' 'round, waitin' for the world to end all day 'Cause I couldn't leave you if I tried

You break me, then I break my rules Last time was the last time too It's fucked up, I know, but I'm still

Outside of the party, smokin' in the car with you Seven Nation Army, fightin' at the bar with you Tell you that I'm sorry, tell me what I gotta do 'Cause I can't let go, it's chemical No, I can't let go, it's chemical

Every time I'm ready to make a change You turn around and fuck out all my brains (woo) I ain't tryna fight fate, it's too late to save face I can't get away, maybe there's no mistakes (maybe there's no mistakes)

You break me, then I break my rules Last time was the last time too It's fucked up, I know, but I'm still

Standing outside of the party, smokin' in the car with you Seven Nation Army, fightin' at the bar with you Tell you that I'm sorry, tell me what I gotta do 'Cause I can't let go, it's chemical (chemical) No, I can't let go, it's chemical (chemical) No, I can't let go, it's chemical

I can't let go, it's chemical

Tell you that I'm sorry, tell me what I gotta do No, I can't let go, it's chemical

[ineffableigh]

Timeline of Suspicious Events Brain Dump - PART 1

OK, I gotta get this out of my brain and onto some kinda page so here we go! Spoilers galore in here probably

I feel there's far too many instances of Incredibly Convenient Timing™ throughout season two so I gotta get these written down. Leaving out the minisodes for now since, until I watch them through again, I feel they're mainly there to provide character background and show Aziraphale's arc from naive to more understanding of the deep cruelty of Heaven. Dropping the rest under the cut!

Semi-chronological events:

Armageddidn't - Beelzebub and Gabriel discuss how that shit was supremely fucked.

Bar 1 and 2 - Beez and Gab meet up again and agree NOT to do Armageddon 2 Electric Boogaloo. NOTE: in BOTH these instances, the same two guys are at the table behind them playing chess, then cards. Very suspicious.

Bar 3 - Beez and Gab set up the Every Day phenomenon in Edinburgh and Gab receives the fly. I couldn't see the dudes from the previous bar in the background this time but not sure.

Heaven - Gabriel refuses to start Armageddon 2. They seem to move on.

Heaven - An unknown amount of time later, Gabriel is put on trial by the Metatron and sentenced to a big demotion. He 'goes to clean out his desk' and flees to Earth. CONVENIENTLY, the Metatron essentially lets him go ("Should we sound an alarm?" "Oh don't be so wet. You'll all just have to find him." This is suspicious because we KNOW the disdain he has for the angels' competence.)

We then see Aziraphale get the message from Maggie that she wants to talk, which has three suspicious elements for me: That she left a note instead of coming to talk to him, the misspelling (ugrency), and then the odd fake crying. Everything about this interaction feels strange and scripted for a planned interaction, whether Maggie knows it or not. Why did she wait 8 months to bring up the late rent?

Sometime after this, or perhaps during, Shax and Crowley discuss in the park about "something going down in the Up. UP up." I feel like this implies that Beez already knows Gab was getting fired, but I'm speculating heavily here. But clearly SOMEONE in Hell knows something was going on, OR Hell already knows about the Second Coming being on the agenda.

Gabriel arrives to GREAT AND DRAMATIC FANFARE at the Bookshop. Sure, a naked man is novel, but LOTS of weird people are constantly shown in the background of most outdoor shots throughout both seasons. I find it EXTREMELY STRANGE that the ENTIRE street plus cars all stop and crowd around to watch Gabriel arrive. The cars even block the streets! It's VERY strange.

Aziraphale calls Crowley, who's driving Somewhere™. They agree to meet at the cafe across the street. Awkwardness about the 'naked man friend' ensues, etc.

The two move to the bookshop and cross Maggie along the way. They make a point of having her call Aziraphale 'an angel' and refuse food. Likely a red herring but worth noting.

Crowley meets 'Jim' and loses his shit. I agree it's very Interesting™ that Crowley says to 'ask him properly', as this ties in to suspicious memory related stuff throughout the season.

Crowley leaves and gets hit by lightning. We see the lightning hit the cafe door and some lights. I do wonder WHY it did though - it didn't hit any other shops, why only Nina's cafe, and while Maggie happened to be there? AND it affected their phones? It's just a LOT to get them stuck in the cafe together 'til later.

Crowley gets summoned to Hell by Beez and the Housefly Brigade and learns about the Book of Life threat. We heard this over the phone with Michael earlier. Crowley doubts the existence of the Book, so we know there's a threat out there but can't be sure it's real.

SIDE THOUGHT: Michael says anyone involved could be struck from the Book of Life but at the end of e06, the Metatron says Michael 'has no such authority'. This brings up a huge 'who said what to whom?' gap we absolutely need to fill. Where did Michael get the Book of Life idea if not from the Metatron?

The Husbands do their giant miracle as a direct result of the above dubious threat, which directly triggers Heaven suspecting the bookshop as Gabriel's hideout. This is our first major 'convenient plot progression' flag, I think.

Next modern day segments are intercut with the Job minisode. Here we learn about the Every Day song that Gabriel, surprisingly, can remember. It feels likely that love can make you remember things you lost, so I doubt this particular event is Too Convenient.

On the other hand, it feels Too Convenient that of all the record shops, MAGGIE'S shop is the one supplying records to that particular pub up in Edinburgh? That seems an awfully long way off. It's like 7.5 hours!

Point 2: This interaction with Maggie is extremely strange. She's idly flipping through records until Aziraphale comes in, and then she stands there very blankly until bursting into very dubious tears about Nina. I don't know about you but I feel it very strange for anyone who WASN'T comfortable to directly come talk to their landlord to suddenly wax poetic about their 'doomed love life'. And then immediately pivot to the song/records/pub. We also learn Nina has a partner here but Azi just. Ignores this later?

IMMEDIATELY after this, the Archangels make a surprise visit and because Maggie's convenient outburst was on his mind, he pretends THAT was what the giant miracle was about. This is our second major 'convenient plot progression' flag.

Right after this is the meetup in the pub. CONVENIENTLY this is right when Mr. Brown (of Brown's World of Carpets) happens to be getting a drink, rather than running his store. He has his clipboard with him and everything, and pins the Monthly Shop Associates Meeting on Aziraphale. I think this is awfully convenient and becomes our third major suspicious plot flag.

After this, Aziraphale and Crowley discuss having to set up Nina and Maggie. These two dinguses go straight to 'we have to make them actually fall in love!' instead of coming up with a scam plan like they did in the Job minisode. I don't know what to make of this, but I figure the two of them are just so flustered by everything they don't come up with, well... a smarter plan.

IMPORANT: Before the Job Minisode the clock nearby says it's 5:20pm. When Aziraphale comes back from his apparent reverie, Crowley is gone and it's freaking 6:30pm! That's a big gap to fill.

UHHH HAVE WE DISCUSSED THE FACT THAT THE RESURRECTIONIST PUB ADDRESS IS 66 GOAT GATE EDINBURGH? 66 GOAT? THAT SEEMS VERY SUSPICIOUS DOES IT NOT?

Here Crowley learns a) that Maggie and Nina got stuck in the cafe together after his tantrum, b) Nina has a partner and c) Nina doesn't appear terribly interested in Maggie. He never seems to mention this to Aziraphale.

Aziraphale asks for the Bentley to go investigate the pub. I find it very strange that he's determined to go by car when car = 7.5hrs, train = 5hrs, and plane = 1.5hrs. Why you gotta leave for 16+hrs Aziraphale??

The next day, Muriel shows up to 'inspect' the miracle. Both Aziraphale and Crowley can see that they (Muriel) are out of their depth and extremely inexperienced. This is their SECOND chance to make shit up like they did with Job!

It really feels like Saraquiel was trying to do them a solid and they fuckin flubbed it lol

CONTINUE HERE: [linky]

[pantherxdrawz]

I’ve come with another Fan-Overblot I was intending to stop at Cater cause he was my favorite plus again *points to Overblot watchlist he should be on*

But I was listening to Novocaine, blacked out, and a Trey Overblot was on my screen

I might make this a design series at this point no promises though Anyways I’ve jokingly nicknamed him the Bone Fairy cause of that one Tumblr post pointing out its potential existence and someone put Trey over it (i dont have ether image saved) and my OB!Trey is essentially like a much larger and more hostile Tooth Fairy

I mean I seriously gave him a toothbrush as a weapon (not fully in frame but he’s got it)

Now there’s me talking about the design again + Lineart only bonus under the cut, I intended to include Cater’s in my OB!Cater design post but I forgot so yeah his linearts there too

And also Alt’s because OB!Trey has way more Alt’s than OB!Cater-

^ There’s your lineart + a Cater

v There’s your alts

C-can you tell I struggled to hell and back with the colors

Honestly this is my honest reaction trying to color this monstrosity

Anyways ignoring my piss poor coloring-

Onto inspiration and stuff for the design:

My inspirations where mainly dentists,

(because I heard Novocaine for the first time since becoming a TWST fan, I’ve heard the song in general before, and as I listened my brain immediately started pointing blinking arrows to Trey like “HmMM DOESNT THAT SOUND LIKE SOMEONE FROM THE NEW GAME YOU LIKE? HMMMMM? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?”)

Alongside Tooth Fairy from Reverse: 1999 (mainly cause of the dentists), and The Mad Hatter

As for why I didn’t give him glasses, for one: it felt like they made his face too crowded with everything added on and two

Azul has glasses yet his Overblot doesn’t have glasses, just saying

(Yes it could be just because he’s an octopus and glasses don’t work in the sea but it’s 5x funnier to imagine Overblotting temporarily improves your eyesight because it doesn’t like nerds)

As for the blot design and placement for OB!Trey it is also more willy-nilly for his arms it’s kinda just slapped on like Cater’s was

but I also tried to make teeth like designs out of it, I don’t know if that’s actually possible but hey I don’t know if diamond hair or eyes are possible with Overblotting *stares at OB!Cater* so what do I know

With his face I also attempted to mimic Tattoos like how pretty much every canon Overblot is (even though the canon ones look a lot like lace or fishnet) with the large clover over his eye and the entire side of his face being covered with teeth markings (that sounds sus out of context-)

I don’t know how Trey would Overblot I just know he has the requirements and my OB!Trey would be a fucking nightmare especially if teaming up with OB!Cater like just you see a bunch of armored Cater clones with stitched smiles approaching you with pliers as they’re after your teeth it sounds ridiculous until you realize that Trey’s after your teeth and plans on leading you bleeding out unlike a NORMAL Overblotter who’d just squish you + OB!Cater’s clones are like a hydra but instead of it just being heads its the whole clone so if you where to kill one three more spawn in place so you have that.

Plus he covers more ground with the Cater army

And if he teams up with Riddle it’s just gonna be:

OB!Riddle: “OFF WITH ALL YOUR HEADS”

OB!Trey: “Can I have their teeth.” OB!Riddle: ”……………...*very hesitant* sure.”

OB!Trey: “OFF WITH YOUR HEADS”

[spotaus]

Wooooo Ccino and Killer interaction-dump post (Kinda gonna be a collection of me actively rambling to figure out their situation-) (and @ancha-aus just in case! This is a reply of sorts to several of ur tags that I have been combining in my brain-)

Established: At first Ccino and Killer are at odds. Night cares deeply about Ccino and has told Killer not to mess with him. So, Killer restrains himself from poking (too much) fun or getting in his way. Ccino tries to avoid Killer as much as he can, largely just because he thinks Killer is a threat to Nightmare. If Killer heard their conversations, saw the way they interacted, and spoke up more it coukd shake the tenuous hold Night has on the throne.

Concept Stuff:

So, I think that after that interaction where he runs into Ccino and Night he starts paying way closer attention, kinda out of curiosity but eventually out of a weird sense of loyalty. (This is MY king. Only I can tease him and judge him.) Kinda way. Plus, Nightmare does implement Killer's skills. (Killing). He always seems to search for every other solution before that, though. It's only last resort that he sends Killer to hunt a person down. (At first it's a traitor in the castle, one of the guard. Then it's someone in a nearby town. The town was also kinda a test to ensure Killer would come back w/o a leash. And he did.) And Killer notices that starkly.

Anyways, point is, I think Ccino gains more acceptance w/ Killer being present mainly because it makes Night happy. But also. Maybe a moment of Nightmare making one of his rare public appearances, and Killer suddenly darts off away from Nightmare. Night let's it happen, assuming there's good reason, and spots that Killer had made his way into the crowd and. Ah, someone with a bow. Probably ab assassination attempt. Killer had just gone for it before Night even registered a threat at all. And when Night reports this to Ccino he has to give Killer some credit.

Then, as the others arrive, Killer and Ccino come to a silent understanding that Night expects Killer to teach the others the ropes. That he *is* a Knight now. And so Killer starts guiding the others (sometime before they get Dust, Killer was given his mask + told about the prophecy.) And in the meantime he has to get used to working around Ccino. Mutual Respect era where Killer and Ccino kinda work around eachother but they're both really loyal to knight so they let eachother do their thing.

This era is *also* when Killer learns all the cats tend to end up at Ccino's and he invites himself in (usually when Ccino is out working). Of course, the cats are at first tentative of Killer being inside, but they've seen him around and gotten treats from him before so they warm up. Which progresses to Killer just walking in one day and laying on the floor, much to Ccino's confusion, before his cats all do that lil 'brr?' Sound and rush to smother Killer. And Ccino just has to live with it.

Then ofc by the time they have everyone there's still definitely a distance between Ccino and Killer, but not nearly as bad. (Killer's first instinct is *not* to get Ccino when Night turns small. He wants to be the one to comfort Night, tbh, but he knows it's for the best and sends for him anyways.)

And then when Night is small, Killer has that brief period where he plays face-man until Night gets back on his feet, so he and Ccino are suddenly forced to really communicate after 7 odd years. And... they do fine? Killer's snarky and Ccino doesn't baby him, but it works out.

And THEN Night is taken by Dream.

When this happens, Killer is inconsolable. (Out for like 2 days from magic overexhaustion + grevious injury) and he just can't believe he let them take Nightmare. His little brother. Normally he can control himself, but he was unstable, and lashed out at his fellow knights in an attempt to get back on his feet. Ccino got in the way and shoved him back down to his bed (Night would never forgive him if he hurt Ccino) and Ccino forced him to rest. And in this recovery time, Ccino exerted himself a lot, split between helping Dust play face-man, Cross managing the chaotic guard, his own work in the castle, and Killer's recovery. But Ccino knows how much Killer means to Night. To everyone. So he cares for him diligently.

^This period is where I think they finally establish that close, close bond. It's not because Ccino is caring for Killer (that bit actually makes Killer incredibly uncomfy) but because they both lost the person who made their lives bareable. Killer wouldn't have done what he did for any other King. Ccino would've been in a harem against his will if it weren't for Night. They just... commiserate over it. And they get to see more of eachother through that.

Later on, when Night is back, of course Ccino holds him tight and cries a little because. Yeah. He was afraid. But he finds it's not as hard to let him go so he can be by Killer's side. (And for the record, Killer, who simply has never cried since working for Night, immediately just tears up the moment Night bursts through the door and runs up to him. Those bone-crushing hugs where you can feel the other person shaking? That's what Killer does to Night for a long bit.)

And then as Night gets back into the swing, as Reaper visits, Ccino decides to stay with Killer unless Night needs him. The other Knights can look after him well, and Night trusts Ccino to care for Killer and vice versa. So it's Ccino giving updates on how it's going w/ this other King, and it's Ccino who convinces him not to go running off first chance he gets.

I think it's after the treaty is settled that Ccino takes some time to connect with Killer honestly. Maybe, even, he goes to Nightmare. Of course, Nightmare is *always* happy to help Ccino, because Ccino has helped him so much. It's rare that Ccino comes to him with anything he might see as burdensome. But Ccino goes to him, because he and Killer are Night's too closest confidante, and he doesn't want to risk making Night uncomfortable. He brings up that he's been around Killer a lot more often, and basically asks permission to go and attempt to court Killer.

And there's a moment when Night's brain short-circuits because. ??? Those two? But then he has an answer quixk and shirt which is: I don't own you, I don't own him, you don't have to ask me if you're *allowed* to do anything. And of course he follows it up with the fact that he appreciates the warning, but fr he doesn't mind. They're both deeply important to him and he's glad they're getting along so well! And he promises support to Ccino in any way he needs, including re-scheduling trainings with Killer and instead sending him to guard Ccino next time he runs to market so they can ho on a date!

And the scheme works WONDERS because Killer's old feelings bubble up hard and fast. But he waits a few days, thinks it over, and then HE goes to Nightmare prepared to be smote by the angry stare of his little brother- telling him he'd like to court Ccino. And Nightmare is just like ???? Guys fr, you don't act me about personal stuff like this usually? I'm glad you value my opinion so much but go! Be in love! I'm your employer not your overlord! Love and let love! And Killer is just so relieved. (And they have a talk about *why* Killer was hesitant abd Night feels SO awful for making him feel that way- )

But yeah. Then those two just get closer and closer. And I'm ending the post with a quick bonus note:

Ccino's cats! I have so many thoughts about these strays that all look at Ccino and go 'Father!! Here is a gift!!' Every time he's in public or around. And the cats telling on Killer abd People.

Like, Ccino's cats sus out spies long before they can get anywhere. (Hiss or yowl at people they deem 'bad' in their kitty brains.) The ones around the castle watch out for Nightmare in those rare times when he's alone (Run off to get Ccino if he's in distress. Sone curl on his lap or by his sides and purr. Night has ALSO never harmed a cat. Tbf I don't think he'd harm *any* animals but still.) And notoriously, they love to snitch on the Knights. Especially Killer. Of course, they *love* Killer, but they love being menaces more :] their dad gives them treats if they're snitches :] .

Okay actually COMPLETELY unrelated thing, but I think there are also 3 dogs in the household of the castle by the end of the story. Horror has two work-dogs, an elderly one who was too old to work the farm, and a runt puppy who wouldn't have been much use. His brother wrote to him about it and Horror asked Night if he could adopt them. (Ofc Night said yes-) They're very good girls.

Then there's Cross' dog, which honestly they don't know if it *is* a dog? It's weird and exotic and during one of their black market busts late-story Cross found it and brought it back because it refused to run off like the other ones they set free. But it loves him to death so he was allowed to keep it. (It's probably a Borzoi or smth, a regal dog, pure white coat. Cross loves it so dearly.)

And. Obligatory: Dust is the Horse Girl. All the horses in the stable love him, and his own horse was one he tamed in his free time that had been wild and ornery. If anyone (main cast) is going riding, Dust is ALWAYS with them. No matter what. He knows how to keep the horses calm in emergency.

[koreanbibliophilegirl]

Personifications of Dream SMP Factions

Okay so I came up with this idea during my exams. (Exams always do something to my brain lol) I was thinking about Pandora's Vault as a hot butch, then I remembered this fic about L'Manberg personified, plus this fic about personified countries, and it somehow spiraled into this.

(This is all based on personal interpretation & recollection of DSMP lore, please don't come at me for getting things wrong!)

The rest of the post is under the cut:

I gave all the factions it/its pronouns, since they're manifestations of, well, factions. I think they would have other preferred pronouns though, mostly related to the faction's characteristics.

(For instance, Snowchester uses he/him pronouns because Tubbo and Ranboo are so close & act almost like one entity.(I know, I know, c!Ranboo uses they/them pronouns too, but idk I thought this fit...) On the other hand, Manberg uses he/him pronouns because it's a dictatorship and Schlatt operates the country as the sole mastermind behind it all. Pandora's Vault uses she/her pronouns because Pandora deserves to be a butch because while Sam is its warden, Pandora is, at it's core, different from what Sam himself strives to achieve.)

Plus, all factions have an inherent love for its' members/citizens, since any faction is a collective of its people. Except Pandora, bc y'know, she's a literal prison.

Also!!! every name mentioned is c!, not cc!.

-

L'Manberg- (it/they/he/she) Dressed in L'Manberg soldier attire. Looks like a mix of all the L'Manbergians. Hair is auburn, kinda curly, and wears red-and-blue tinted sunglasses. Has fox ears(?), braces, is boisterous and kinda overdramatic. Enjoys growing flowers, beekeeping, and baking. Follows the L'Manbergians around, Wilbur and Tommy the most. Pretty young, but gets older and more serious as the war drags on. Manifested in the drug van.

Pogtopia- (it/he/they/she) L'Manberg's other form. Hair is darker now(more like Wilbur's than a mix of everyone's), has eyebags, sunglasses are gone, and dresses darker. Looks like Wilbur mostly now, but near-exclusively follows Tommy around like he's a lifeline. Is not manic like Wilbur, despite looking a lot like him now, and recognizes how far-gone Wilbur is. It tries very hard to cheer up the rest of the Pogtopia people.

L'Manberg(new)- (it/they/he/she) Dresses in red, blue, yellow, black and white again(not the soldier attire, but the flag design is incorporated into its clothes), is scarred all over and sadder. Hair is blond now. Tried to follow Tommy to exile but Tubbo stopped it. Cries every day & grows weaker.

L'Manberg(post-doomsday)- (it/they/he/she) A ghost. Invisible to most now, new members of the SMP can't see it unless they're told about L'Manberg. And even then, it's very hard to see or recognize them. Tommy sees him clearly though, and she still follows Tommy everywhere. Even more scarred and wounded now. Sad and quiet.

Manberg- (it/he) Wears a suit, has ram horns, and face is completely featureless, no eyes or nose or mouth. Has dark, slicked back hair. Follows Schlatt around silently. Usually follows Schlatt's orders without complaint, but absolutely refuses to hurt anyone, even at the expense of being hurt itself by Schlatt. Tried to stop Tubbo's execution and ended up being blown up as well. Didn't die(since Manberg was still intact) but his featureless face gained a huge scar like Tubbo's. This scar stayed even after Tubbo went to Pogtopia. Exact age is difficult to determine, but is physically quite small.

the Butcher Army- (it/they) Dresses in black clothes with the Butcher Army standard bloody apron. Face is shaded and unremarkable, just one face in a crowd. Doesn't speak much, and when they do, it's just general Butcher Army stuff like how they're trying to bring Technoblade to justice, or whatever. Doesn't seem to have much personality.

Snowchester- (it/he) Young, younger than L'Manberg was. Looks a little like it too. Has snowy gray hair(a mix of Ranboo's black and white), goat horns like Tubbo, and is missing an eye like Michael. The other eye is wintery green. Dresses in snow clothes, a black-and-white bomber jacket and a pale green-blue dress shirt with a tie underneath. Is quiet, has a shy smile like Ranboo, and is generally quite innocent like Michael. He likes pranks and chaos too though, like Tubbo. It's a peaceful little thing, but if you somehow get him angry its eye will turn purple and his body will start giving off a pale, eery green glow like radioactivity.

Kinoko Kingdom- (it/she) Looks like her namesake, Komori Kinoko from My Hero Academia. (Specifically, Komori's powered-up version with the chubbier cheeks and visible eyes, not her normal, emo version.) Wears light flowy clothes in earthy colors, soft purples and blues and ruddy browns and greens. Loves taking naps in the sunshine, reading old books, and exploring the Kingdom. Tiny mushrooms sprout wherever it walks, which is usually just inside the borders of the Kingdom. She never really goes far beyond that. Also likes training & sparring, though it tends to be relaxed about it, treating it more as a sport than anything else. She's usually sweet and kind, but also a tad chaotic. Bit forgetful. Looks somewhere in its twenties.

Las Nevadas- (it/he) Also looks somewhere in its twenties, though it looks a bit younger than Kinoko. Gelled-back jet-black hair, classy dark green beanie(beanie like Q, green like Slime, dark bc Classy™️). Dress shirt, tie, suspenders. Lots of gold accessories. Has a few purple freckles on its face, and orange highlights in his hair. Maybe green creeper markings? Give the boi some neon splashes. Acts slick and confident(and kinda manipulative) like a businessman with outsiders, but is super nice and sorta anxious when he's only with his members. Cares way too much about its citizens, even though it knows Purpled doesn't like him. Low self-esteem. Usually follows Quackity. Q flaunts its existence to people & is genuinely very proud of his country, but is also slightly unnerved by his knowledge of Nevadas's real personality. He knows personified factions reflect its people and the ideals it stands for, but he isn't entirely sure what Nevadas's nervous, slightly obsessive disposition is implying. Also, Nevadas has a crush on Kinoko. Kinoko is a bit confused, but thinks Nevadas is cute, so she might as well go along with it. Nevadas puts on a suave & slick act with Kinoko, though Kinoko can see right through it. She thinks he's sweet and silly, and also maybe a little lonely. Q doesn't approve of them flirting so much, and tells Nevadas to stop visiting Kinoko all the time. Not that Nevadas listens.

the Eggpire- (it/they/he/w̴͚̮͒̇̓e̴̺̬͉̅̋) Demon with red skin, white glowing eyes, two huge horns of red diamond sprouting from its head, and flowing robes. Has a missing arm, torn-up fairy wings, a red gold medallion, and a cat tail. Looks like a child, but you can tell it only looks like one. Unnerving smile with sharp predatory teeth(also red), sweet & melodious voice, silver-tongued and manipulative. Upon closer inspection, you can see that their entire body, clothes and all, is made of writhing, pulsing red vines.

the Syndicate- (it/she/they) Nicknamed Syndi by her members. Electric pink hair with a black-and-white half-and-half streak, tied in a short, tiny braid down one shoulder. Large black angel wings and enderman horns(one black, one white). Wears fingerless gloves, the opposite color of the horn on that side. Blood-red eyes. Anarchist, obviously. Snarky and deadpan, but smiles a lot too, and is generally quite a warm and kind person. Is nimble & fast on their feet, and is a quick thinker. A wise scholar and fearsome warrior, a sharp-eyed strategist. Enjoys reading, baking, and dancing with its members. Looks like a young adult. +Also, I haven't decided whether the faction personification thing is a general occurrence or strictly a DSMP thing, but if it's a general thing, Syndi is best friends(and possibly in a QPR) with the Antarctic Empire(it/he, fully-grown adult, nicknamed Antares, AE emperor attire, blue-and-white bucket hat with a wider brim than Phil's, thin and pointy white gold crown, snowy-white longish hair with ice-blue eyes, one emerald earring, giant white wings and piglin hooves, loves the thrill of battle, enjoys reading & woodcarving, makes lots of deadpan jokes, would like to just retire already please and thank you).

Pandora's Vault- (it/she) Ah yes, the one who started this whole ordeal. Despite me imagining Pandora as a hot butch at the start, I changed Pandora to be a teenager! Albeit a butch & pretty teenager. Looks like a creeper mostly, like Awesamdude, but her torso is made of crisscrossing obsidian bars that resemble a prison or a really messed up ribcage. Usually wears enchanted golden armor on top of it though. Has long hair that looks like dark curling smoke with lava-like streaks running through it, and a gold head guard that kinda looks like a tiara. Has a gold gas mask too. Stickler for the rules, as expected of it, and scarily efficient with weaponry. She seems stoic and fierce on the outside, all rigid ideals and indifferent cruelty, but it's actually really desperate for peace and order. Would go to extreme lengths to enforce order. Dislikes Dream and Technoblade. Also doesn't like Ponk. While Sam feels guilty about what he did to Ponk, Pandora is quite vocal about her opinion that Ponk had it coming to them. Is uncomfortable with opening the prison cell for Quackity, but thinks it's for the greater good that he gets the Revive Book away from Dream. Not many hobbies, it spends most of its free time patrolling/guarding the Vault. She does like inventing though, usually things to improve the efficiency of the prison. Sam was surprised when she appeared, since he didn't think Pandora counted as a faction. He still treats it like a daughter though. She's daddy's little girl.

Greater Dream SMP- (it/they/he) A child. Really. It looked like Dream at first(at least, people assumed that was what Dream looked like behind the mask), with straw-blond hair, bright green eyes, and pale freckles. It gained new features every time a new person joined the server. When they grew up, they grew up suddenly, aging in shocking speed during the L'Manberg War. He settled as a sad, serious adult with a haunted look in his eyes. It stopped following Dream after he went further and further off the deep end, choosing to wander the land instead- keeping well away from L'Manberg(and later, other countries) of course. Slowly loses the features they got from people who abandoned the Greater Dream SMP to create their own country/faction. Eventually people stop seeing him and think he's disappeared, but he's still there, just lurking. It looks unremarkable now, with next to no distinctive features. They hang out with Eret in her palace and museum(they love the museum), visits multiple factionless members of the SMP, and greets/sends off Aimsey on their little pit stop in the server. When the server loops & resets, he resets alongside with it, and returns to his original form. It kept all it's memories, but it never says anything, choosing instead to give its people a fresh start, with a blank slate.

-

I probably missed a few factions, but this is all I could think of haha.

Also I accidentally posted this as a draft a few days ago, panicked, and privated the post in record time. This is a repost😅

[elly99]

us without me I: chocolate

A story series from the perspective of Mia (fem!Reader/OC) as she goes through her memories and recounts falling in love with her best friend in high school, Minji. She suffers in silence until she breaks and it all comes crashing down.

Part 1 of 7. Check here for more details.

It was the way she called your name.

“Miaaa!”

The sound of her voice cuts through the silence of the morning.

It was the way she smiled whenever you looked at her.

“Hey, Min! Morning!”

You get up from your seat and into her outstretched arms. Her embrace was an oasis of warmth in the cold December air. You smiled, too. Just about.

You both liked to arrive at school a little early just so you could hang out before the crowds came in. It also provided a good opportunity to catch the sunrise. She took a picture of it everyday. The windows of the library offered the perfect view of the sky, so that’s where you always waited for her. And also because she loved books and they reminded you of her.

“Have you finished the math homework yet?” she asks as she pulls away from the hug.

“Yeah, it was easy,” you reply nonchalantly.

“Easy for you,” she says as she sits down on the couch you just got up from. “But not for me. Can you help me later at lunch?” She grabs your arm and pulls you into her.

“Sure,” you respond, yielding to her gentle tug and taking your spot beside her. “But we could just do it now. It’s really easy.”

“Oh, stop it, smartass. Not everyone is as good at everything as you are. Plus I’m still too sleepy to use my brain right now.”

She takes her phone out and yawns.

It was the way her hair smelled when she leaned her head on your shoulder.

She smelled like your shampoo. Because you used the same one. Or rather your shampoo smelled like her. As if she had claimed its scent for herself. And as she gets lost in her scrolling, you just sit there, staring out the window, her weight against your side, trying not to drown in it.

The bell rings as the full disk of the sun peeks over the horizon.

-

It was the way she fixed your hair only to play with it a minute later.

“Sorry I messed up your hair earlier. Didn’t mean to fall asleep on you,” she says, mindlessly stroking your soft waves.

“It’s whatever, bro.” But it wasn’t whatever. Her touch was killing you. “Also, stop fidgeting with it. You’re making it worse.”

“Sorry!” She laughs. You’re surprised to find yourself laughing along.

It was the way her voice sounded when she whispered silly things in your ear.

“부��밍.”

“Nah, that’s you, bro. I’ve seen your hair in the mornings.”

“Well, it works for both our names. Kinda. 부시밍밍.”

The teacher takes attendance, calling out Mia and Minji one after the other. Even on paper you were inseparable.

-

It was the way the collection of stickers inside your locker grew out of control.

“Bro. You do know at the end of the year I have to clean this up, right? Some of these look like they’ll be a pain to remove.”

“But they’re cute!”

“Not everything that’s cute is good for you.” You knew that all too well. “Plus you have it easy. All you get is confession letters in yours. You can just take them out.”

“Fine. I’ll help you clean it up. But you can’t stop me from adding more.”

“I’m not telling you my code next year.”

With all her stuff in her own locker she links arms with you and drags you along to the cafeteria.

“I’ll figure it out anyway.”

“Ugh. I’m not that predictable.”

“To me you are. I know you too well.”

But not well enough to know how you felt about her.

-

It was the way she would always get an extra serving of kimchi just for you.

“Eat faster. You still need to help me with math.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. I don’t need to help you. And I didn’t ask for this extra kimchi.”

“Girl, as if you didn’t want it. Look. You’re practically inhaling it.”

“Well, who told me to eat faster?”

She smirks. Your heart flutters. “So you do want to help me with math.”

You just look down at your empty plate and laugh.

“We can start by counting how many letters you got today.”

“Bro. You act like I get them all the time. I’ve only ever gotten, like, five.”

“That’s five more than me. All I get is a flood of stickers from the same annoying girl.”

“They’re cute!!!”

“Yes. But annoying.”

“You’re just jealous.”

She was right. You were jealous. Of their courage. Of their willingness to lay everything bare. To be at their most vulnerable. Nothing left to lose. But you were afraid of losing. Because she was everything.

“Nah. I just don’t like how it inflates your ego.”

“Ego???”

“Don’t act like you don’t know you’re pretty. Everybody knows it.”

“Not everybody.”

“Sure, Min.”

“Whatever, Mimi.”

She pretends to be annoyed with you. You pretend that her calling you that doesn’t rip your heart out.

“Were they all boys?”

She smirks again. “I won’t tell you.”

“Oh my god. They weren’t all boys!”

“I didn’t confirm anything!”

“That smirk definitely did.”

She chuckles a little. “Fine. There were a few girls.”

“A few??”

“Yeah. And I may have gotten more than five letters, too.”

“I knew it. What proportion were girls, Min?”

“I’m not telling!”

“This is part of your math lesson! What proportion, Minji?!”

At this point you were both laughing and being the loudest table in the cafeteria. She realizes and lowers her voice.

“I’m not telling you. Don’t wanna just expose their identities. But I will tell you that some of them were jealous of you.”

“Huh? It’s not like I’m dating you.”

You feel a sudden urge to cry, saying those words out loud. But now there’s only silence. Painful silence that seems to last far too long.

“Yeah, but nobody’s closer to me than you.”

A hint of tenderness in her voice. Then silence once more.

“Did you ever respond to any of them?”

She picks up her tray and prepares to leave, her tone casual once again.

“I did. I didn’t wanna be mean and completely ignore them. So I just told all of them that I wasn’t looking for anything right now.”

You pick up your own tray and follow slowly behind her as she waltzes away, oblivious to the way your chest was imploding. To the way your eyes were barely holding back tears.

You resume laughing, not fully understanding why.

-

It was the way she waited for you after class, holding out her hand, so you could walk home together.

"How was Korean, Mimi?”

“Eh, it was alright. I’m still really bad.”

“What do you mean? You’re amazing!”

“If I were amazing, I’d be in the same class as you.”

“Well, that’s for native speakers. Doesn’t mean you’re not amazing. You’re good at everything, bro.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Ugh. I’m not gonna argue with you about this.”

“I’m not arguing. Just stating facts. My Korean isn’t the best.”

“Not the best doesn’t mean you’re not really good, especially since it’s your third language. I keep telling you this.”

It was the way she seemed to glow like an angel in the afternoon sun.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you that bad at taking compliments? You look stunned.”

“Sorry, I… Yeah. Sorry.”

It was the way she was just so beautiful.

“You’re so silly, Mia.”

Hearing no response from you, she grips your hand a little tighter and pulls you closer, your shoulders briefly making contact.

“Thanks for the help with math, by the way. I think I can manage the rest myself.”

“It’s nothing, bro.”

“It’s not nothing. You’re just saying that cuz it’s easy for you. Cuz you’re amazing, like I said.”

You look down at the pavement as your cheeks turn the same shade as the clouds up in the sky, bright pink in the early winter sunset.

- 

It was the way she always bought chocolate just so she could share it with you.

“You’re stopping for chocolate again?”

“Yeah. And maybe some coffee.”

“Nah, bro, don’t get coffee. You won’t be able to sleep.”

“I’ll need it to survive the math homework.”

“No, you won’t. Chocolate is enough.”

“Fine. I’m getting you some, too.”

“You never give me a choice anyway.”

“You need more sweetness in your life. You always just eat kimchi.”

You needed a different kind of sweetness. But it wasn’t one she could buy. And it wasn’t one she would give.

-

It was the way you felt when she put her arms around you.

For all the torment she caused you, she made you feel safe. There was nothing better than her embrace. There was no sweeter sorrow.

“See you tomorrow! Say hi to your parents for me.”

“I will. Take care, Min.”

“You always say that. But I live just over there,” she says, pointing down the street.

“I know! Sorry that I care about you.” You frown.

She smiled in return. But at the end of the day, when the stars were out, it was always different. It wasn’t that playful, teasing smirk when she would poke fun. It wasn’t that smile after a good laugh. It wasn’t that smile when she greeted you in the morning. It was a pure, genuine smile, knowing you were her best friend.

It was the way you couldn’t picture life without her.

“Love you, too, bro.”

It was the way she loved you that made you fall for her. 

But it wasn’t the same way you loved her.

After dinner the chocolate left a bitter taste in your mouth.

[chloecherrysip]

As you might have gathered from my frenzied posts yesterday, ya girl saw the Mario Movie for the second time on Thursday, and I have some additional thoughts! I already rambled on about the brothers' reunion AT LENGTH but let's actually talk about some other things (but also still a LITTLE BIT about that here too because I literally cannot be stopped).

Most importantly, I feel like I have had a big change of heart about the movie - in a good way! :)

So I had bought this Thursday ticket first before I made the really impulsive decision to go to a midnight showing on Tuesday, and I kept the ticket because I wanted to see what I would think a second time (and there were obviously some favorite moments that I really wanted to watch again). But I came out of the first showing so conflicted that I was like: "Am I even going to have that much fun at a second showing? Will I be a little bored sometimes?" (Plus, I was having the worst headache yesterday and just not in the best mood in general lolol)

And it was so, so MAGICAL

I think my first viewing experience was weird because 1) I was anxious and way overhyped 2) It was late at night and I was TIRED and 3) I found myself SO distracted throughout the movie because my brain was busy trying to redefine expectations as things went on, to the point that the whole end battle was extremely fuzzy to me because it was just SO DIFFERENT from what I'd been thinking it would be and my sleepy brain didn't know how to reconcile it. This time, I went in knowing exactly what the movie was going to be and what I could expect, and I just??? had the best time imaginable??? I was SO happy the whole way through?????? Literally enthralled and delighted and smiling to the point that my face hurt all over again???

Like, just to be clear, the problems I've already gone on about are still problems at the end of the day -- but truthfully, I care about them a lot less now. At the end of the day, this movie is beautiful, has heart, and keeps you interested, and just having gotten that out of a mario movie after all this time is really special to me. I do genuinely think that if you felt conflicted and disappointed after your first viewing, you should watch the movie again and see how you feel a second time around, because shedding all those expectations and going in without all that hanging over me just made for an absolutely wonderful experience that I'll remember for a long time!

Part of that too is the crowd I saw it with! At my midnight screening, there were obviously no kids and everyone was a little subdued. This time, there was a good number of kids, and man, they were having such a good time. The dad/daughter duo sitting beside me laughed SO many times and it was delightful (she was SO excited at the Mario Kart stuff).

And there was APPLAUSE at the end! That by itself is always a magical experience to me at the movies when people clap at the end because it's just such a pure expression of happiness (since there's no live performance and the clapping is to no one's benefit, lol). And then as I was walking out, there were these little boys excitedly talking about how the movie was a "5/5!!!" for them and....man, I don't know. The universe likes to give gentle reminders that sometimes things are just Not That Deep and it's okay to be a little less cynical and a little more generous. (But I will still complain a LITTLE below, haha.)

ANYWAY, THAT'S ENOUGH MUSING, HERE ARE SPECIFIC THOUGHTS:

The significance of the Nintendo logo sequence being retro Mario and Luigi together at the very beginning :) :) :)

Didn't even realize the first time that Mario doesn't just instinctively stick his arm out in front of Luigi protectively during the dog scene, he ALSO does it when Spike stands up from the table, even though Spike's only focused on Mario at that point!!!! Something I really wanted from the Brooklyn scenes was to see that protectiveness and care in Mario's body language for Luigi right from the start, and they do SUCH a good job at that, like more than I could have hoped for. It's a reflex for him! When there's even the slightest whiff of danger, you can see Mario's thought process go straight to "keep Luigi behind me, make sure he stays safe" and I loveeee

Luigi is such a mama's boy! ❤️❤️❤️ Bragging about her liking their commercial so genuinely! They also have a cute, subtle moment when he's trying to get some food at the dinner table and everyone's talking over him/not listening but his mom brings him a bowl and gives him a little, soft pat on the shoulder, it is adorable.

(Also Luigi getting swept up in the moment and dropping the "mic" but it's his phone and he breaks it continues to be just...such a good character moment. He is so wonderful throughout the beginning of the movie and I just want so much more of him in the sequel, please ;; )

JUST THE FAMILY STUFF IN GENERAL IS GOOD AND SURPRISINGLY SUBTLE AND REALISTIC????

Like, they could have gone REALLY broad with it and just made their parents horrible people if they wanted to do a "Mario has Dad Issues" plot but like, it's very clear that there's a LOT of love and care in that household! Along with a healthy dose of dysfunction, of course, but that's every family, haha. And honestly, their dad reminds me of my dad, who is a wonderful person BUT can also make really insensitive comments without realizing or just simply be really judgmental if one of his kids makes a choice he wouldn't personally make. It's still weird that they actually have a big family in this version of canon (if they live in the Mushroom Kingdom at the end of the movie, do they still go back and visit home all the time? Is it tough to be literally a world away from your parents??? I AM INTRIGUED BY THAT) but I can get behind it, haha.

In one of my other posts, I wrote that it looked like Mario and Luigi were the babies of the family, but there actually is a much younger kid at the dinner table, I realized - i think it's a little girl in a baseball cap who's maybe 7 or 8? Probably their cousin? She seemed very, VERY bored with everything going on. Also, for a split-second at the end, you can see her recording what's happening with her phone/taking a selfie XD I want to know more about this mystery kid and Mario and Luigi's relationship with them, haha.

Also, to go back a little, that construction site parkour scene had a lot more to it than I remembered! Mario doesn't just open the gates for Luigi - he also knocks down a ladder for him, throws down a piece of material for him to be able to run over a gap, and I think some other things too. Back to my original point about how no matter what's going on or how caught up he is, what his brother needs is always such a critical part of his thought process ❤️

I LOVED THE MARIO AND PEACH STUFF SO MUCH MORE THIS TIME???? There still isn't enough by far, but I was just so much fonder of their little moments. The "you're just trying to make me feel better" "is it working?" "a little, yeah" exchange was CUTE. Also, I kind of adore that Mario improves but doesn't ACTUALLY finish the training course (which feels realistic in such a short timeframe) but Peach sees that he's really trying and that's all she needed to know, that he was serious and had the determination to give it his all. :)

ALSO I love when Mario looks very nervous right before his fight with DK but he and Peach lock eyes and she gives him a determined smile and nod and that helps him.

(ALSO x 2, when Bowser breaks out of the ice at the wedding, Mario and Peach are holding hands very sweetly!!! I want to know what they were saying to each other at that point! She was probably SO relieved to see that he was alive and all right, ahhhh)

PEACH'S WEDDING DRESS IS ABSOLUTELY STUNNING, MAYBE A CONTROVERSIAL OPINION BUT THE ODYSSEY DRESS COULD NEVER!!!

I have ALWAYS loved the idea of Peach's eventual wedding dress having pink elements throughout (even in the veil!!) because it's her signature and this dress DID and I was so endlessly delighted, can't WAIT to see all the details more in super high quality screenshots

ALSO THE WEDDING SCENE IS GENERAL IS SO GOOD??? I TRULY THINK THE WAY THEY STRUCTURED THIS SCENE AND PEACH'S CAPTURE WAS INCREDIBLY SMART???

I knew it was basically a foregone conclusion that Peach would be taken captive at some point because that is SO iconic, but I truly thought they would play it out more traditionally where Mario comes to her rescue. And the fact that they don't even go NEAR that idea, Mario doesn't even KNOW anything about what's going on her and she's on her own with Toad, and she just!!! handles the situation!!! she takes Bowser out (temporarily) and does everything she can to save the prisoners and I just loved that they were able to have it both ways while still letting her be TRULY badass instead of just paying lip service to the idea without ever following through

THE FINAL BATTLE IN BROOKLYN...HIT SO MUCH HARDER FOR ME THIS TIME...AND NOW I LOVE IT

I was just so bewildered the first time I saw the movie by the twist but this time, i was 100% IN THE MOMENT and let me tell you, Mario being all bruised and scared and then seeing himself and Luigi on the cracked television...my goodness, I genuinely teared up. I'm tearing up now thinking about it!!

IN GENERAL: THE WAY THEY BALANCE BOWSER'S HUMOR WITH SOME EXTREMELY MENACING, SCARY STUFF IS SO GOOD

I love that you're laughing at him and then suddenly, he just does something CRUEL and TERRIFYING and ESSENTIALLY PSYCHOPATHIC (even the little things like intentionally crushing Kamek's hands in the piano and making him keep them there!!) and you're scared of all him all over again

I know, I know, I already spoke about Mario and Luigi's reunion AT LENGTH, but I got one more thing -> it is genuinely SUCH a relief that Illumination did not go for the cheap "wow how embarrassing when men show emotion!" joke. in fact, not only did they avoid any joke like that, they went as far in the other direction as I think you could possibly go????? Like, seriously, I wanted FEELINGS here and the fact that it even blew ME away how tender and loving their whole exchange is really says something!!! I WILL LITERALLY TALK ABOUT THE FACE HOLDING AND THE FOREHEAD TOUCHING FOREVER, THEY ARE THE SWEETEST BROTHERS OF ALL TIIIME

Finally, I am STUPID because I genuinely walked away from the movie the first time with the impression that the worlds were permanently merged together at the end??? But after reading other people's summations of the ending, that's clearly not the case and Mario and Luigi just live in the Mushroom Kingdom now, whoops, haha. (I would be interested to know how far in the future that scene is!! I assume it would take some time to make that decision and that they weren't like "yeah, let's just immediately leave behind everything we've ever known and our whole family for a place we've spent a couple of days in" lol)

And also a quick list of some things that I'm still annoyed about because, well, it can't ALL be good:

The 80's music didn't bother me originally BUT it's starting to come to light now that the soundtrack is out that there are full, finished, AMAZING tracks that just aren't in the movie and it's pretty clear they sync up really well with those scenes???? SO IT DEFINITELY SEEMS LIKE THE ORIGINAL INTENTION WAS TO NOT HAVE ANY OUTSIDE MUSIC BUT SOMEONE HIGHER UP DID SOME MEDDLING AND GOT THEM ADDED AND THAT IS INFURIATING. And you can totally tell!!! WE NEED A VERSION OF THE MOVIE WITH ALL THE ORIGINAL TRACKS PUT BACK IN FOR SURE

It continues to feel like there are whole scenes/parts of scenes just missing from the movie! FOR INSTANCE: it seems like a MAJOR plothole that Toad was captured alongside Peach but then he's just...walking around freely? Able to get her a bouquet with the ice flower??? I feel like something was missed there. I really do wonder if there's like 10-20 minutes of footage/potential footage that was mercilessly cut for time. Will we ever see some of it (maybe on the blu-ray)? Will it be lost to time/Nintendo's vault forever? SOMEONE LEAK THE FORBIDDEN SCENES :(

Speaking of, RIP "I'm not afraid! I'll do anything for my brother!" I WILL ALWAYS MOURN YOU AND LOVE YOU AND WONDER WHEN YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SAID IN THE MOVIE

Guys. The slow motion. WE GET IT. It's funny the first couple of times, but by the fifth time, it's SO OLD.

Also, I continue to desperately wish that the Luigi rescue at the end felt more earned. It's SO good but it needs one more beat! One more realization! One more character moment! SOMETHING! :( :( :( :(

I had ANOTHER idea about how they could have sold this more and even tied it back to an earlier moment in the movie. When the scene cuts to Luigi in the dumpster watching Mario fight, frame what he's seeing so that it reminds him of being babies on the playground again, but now Mario's where Luigi was!!! And Bowser's the bully!!! And his brother needs him just as much as Luigi needed Mario back then!!!! You wouldn't even need any dialogue - just let the shot LINGER on Luigi and give us a tiny bit of that flashback intercut one more time alongside his changing expressions! It would be SO simple but I think it'd be effective AND give that earlier flashback more reason to be there in the first place (as adorable as it is).

OK I'VE TALKED ENOUGH