#singing soulmates

[teambyler]

The FIRST thing we see of Mike and El in a relationship is a way they're incompatible (Byler analysis)

In the first Hawkins scene of s3, Mike is expressing his JOY and DORKINESS singing a cheesy 80s song. And El doesn't like it.

Then they kiss anyway:

In the first moments of Mike and El being an established couple, we're shown a way they don't get along. THIS is what the writers chose to emphasize!

Yes, in s1 Mike sheltered El, and yes El saved Mike's life. But as they delve into an actual romantic relationship, the writers make clear that it's their hormones and curiosity about kissing and sex that drive it. There is a disconnect as soon as their hands and lips stop touching.

Meanwhile, there's another person who wouldn't mind this side of Mike at all:

I know I touched on this earlier, but rewatching s3 I realized that THIS is what the writers chose as the FIRST thing to show us about Mike and El as a couple.

And it turns out to be the HIGH POINT of their relationship for the whole series. They had a youthful infatuation that distracted them from real-life troubles (even distracting them from doing anything to help their friends carry Dustin's Cerebro up the hill, like come on!). That kind of relationship doesn't always survive getting older and maturing.

s4 drives home that Mike is awkward and not himself around El. NOTHING El likes -- burritos for breakfast, roller skating, milkshake flavors -- is anything he likes. They're as clashing on him as the "California" clothing he made himself wear to suit El's ideal picture of a happy "sunny" life in California. And we find out in the van in 4x8 that he feels insecure around El: he's "just some random nerd."

Meanwhile, Mike and Will have long known and loved each other for who they are. They have such an intense affinity that they constantly want to know (and already feel) the other one's feelings. When push comes to shove, each puts the other's interests above his own. They can be themselves around each other; they're "a team." They don't break each other down; they build each other up.

And, as their shared love for nerdy things and singing shows, THEY'RE SOULMATES.

We WILL get to see Mike and Will as singing dorks in s5, won't we? RIGHT, Duffer Brothers? ;)

-teambyler

[demaparbat-hp]

The Crew is boisterous and loud, full of traitors, inside jokes, and secrets. The scum of the Fire Nation. The forgotten tiles on the Empire's Pai Sho board. The ones who change the game.

But most importantly—they're a family. And no matter how much they complain about their boss (teenage menace that he is), they'll do anything for their Prince.

Anything.

.

The Crew is the heart and soul of my fic For the Spirits. No one really knows just how important they will be to the story...how important they already are.

[strangersteddierthings]

Imagine, if you will, that Steve gets Vecna'd during the weapons building portion of the adventure. They're parked far away from Hawkins to prevent someone stumbling upon them and there are like a total of 4 tapes in the RV, none of which have anyone's favorite songs on them.

Steve, in his mind, hears Robin say she has a bad feeling, and it twists to be that she cruelly says Steve's the reason it's going to end badly. If Steve were a better, smarter, less pathetic person, they'd need him. He should just leave before he fucks this up for them all. Nancy piles on how he's bullshit, has always been bullshit. Dustin asks why he's even still around when they've already replaced him with Eddie. It's a bad time.

Meanwhile, Robin is freaking out because Steve just froze in the middle of making Molotov's. "Steve. Steve! STEVE!" Her shouting draws everyone and someone asks what his favorite song is and Robin's freaking out, but she thinks she knows this. "Bohemian Rhapsody! We sing it all the time together!"

"We don't even have a Queen tape!" Dustin is shouting like they don't know that already.

"Then we sing it!" Lucas suggests. "It's Bohemian Rhapsody. Everyone knows it, right?"

Robin wastes no time. She starts the song, slightly off-key, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"

And slowly, everyone joins in. It doesn't sound great, and they don't really fall into a good rhythm, though Eddie does move to tap out the rhythm of it onto the side of the RV in hopes of keeping them all somewhat in time with the song.

Robin, Eddie, and Erica, surprisingly, are the only three that know all the lyrics in the correct order. The song has some long guitar solos they can't recreate out here, so the just jump into the next lyrics.

Cannot emphasize enough that it does not sound good.

But it works.

The noise of it breaks through, reaches the part of Steve's mind that is separate from where Vecna has Steve trapped. That little portal thing Max described forms, but it's not the music that breaks Steve from his mind. Not really.

Both he and Vecna turn towards the portal because whatever they're hearing is fucking awful but Steve can see, like Max saw, that everyone has gathered around him. They are all singing, off key and as loud as they possibly can, at him. To him.

For him.

He watches as Eddie bangs out a tempo for them to follow on the RV side, as Robin sings into his chest because she's wrapped him in her arms as tightly as possible, Dustin and Erica on either side of Robin (Scoops Troop reunited). Lucas and Max are scream-singing, Max with one ear out of the headphones and a hand clutching Nancy's as even Nancy sings along.

It's the worst singing Steve's ever heard.

It's the best version of Bohemian Rhapsody Steve's ever heard.

The plot twist is this. It's not even his favorite song. It's just a song he likes well enough.

He breaks free of Vecna not because it's his favorite song, but because it's his favorite people singing it, doing their best to save him because they care about him.

[bakudekublogblog]

talking to normal people about mha is always so enlightening because someone told me they didn't like season six and i was like???? THE BIBLE??????? YOU DONT LIKE THE BIBLE??? BAKUGOU KATSUKI RISING?? THE APOLOGY??? THE CHASING AFTER HIM TO FIGHT SHIGARAKI, THE REVEAL KATSUKI HAS BEEN WORRIED ABOUT IZUKU, IZUKU'S FERAL RAGE WHEN KATSUKI IS STABBED, KATSUKI BEING THE ONE TO FIND IZUKU AND THEN THE ONE TO BRING HIM HOME??? YOU DONT ENJOY THE SACRED TEXTS?? and then i'm like oh right not everyone is a fujoshi high on that sweet, sweet bkdk yaoi

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Something something about not saying the others name the whole episode - about not being able to.

Something something about them being sat together in the silence the entire episode.

Something something about silence being a confession and silent confessions being louder than spoken ones.

[rockingtheorange]

Henry feeling himself while doing karaoke:

Alex falling in love with Henry's new silly side:

"The thing is, jumping off cliffs is kinda my thing. That's the choice. I love him, with that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose."

[laylakeating]

Guess I'm saying I don't not love you // Here I am, full heart, full stop...I love you

[anawrites3]

Never gonna give you up

Never gonna let you down

Never gonna run around and desert you!

It was. Two in the fucking morning and Slade. Slade was going to kill someone. Namely, he was going to kill his soulmate, whoever that fucker might be.

And it won’t be a quick death, oh no, Slade will make it long and painful, enough so his soulmate will feel the same pain he was feeling right now.

[starry-nights-17]

[napping-sapphic]

I wanna date someone who joins in to sing along when they catch me singing to myself

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[teambyler]

Mike and Will both love singing cheesy 80s songs

El didn't like it. But you know who WILL sing with you, Mike Wheeler?

THEY'RE SOULMATES.

And neither of them would stop the other. They'd think it was CUTE!

Who's up for Mike singing to Will with that guitar of his? Or a Mike and Will duet in s5? They can be "cheesy together." ;)

They like all the same things: comics, Nintendo, D&D, and singing their hearts out! Mike and Will can be THEMSELVES with each other!

-teambyler

[little-bumblebeeee]

Steve Harrington would absolutely LOVE Lunch by Billie Eilish. He knows he’s not the target audience but he doesn’t care, that song fucks severely and he WILL sing it in the car with Robin

[weebsinstash]

I don't think I'd ever have the stones to actually do it but I feel like it'd be socially acceptable if I wrote a hazbin fic and just put my whole pussy in it and have Reader sing a song and yes I DO mean your ass would be reading lyrics

[the-oc-lass]

ECHO GIRLIES WHO WILL BE EMOTIONALLY TRAUMATIZED IF HE DIES NEXT WEEK (it's me I'm Echo Girlies) RISE UP

The past two episodes have me both very excited for Echo because he's been so cool while also being so fucking stressed because he's in a dangerous situation. Take my guy out of that situation please and thank you.

So, to calm my nerves, I handed him a baby. Echo and a Baby is now on Ao3.

Crosshair and a Baby

Wrecker and a Baby

Gregor and a Baby

It's been pointed out to me that it might be easier if instead of posting each clone as a different chapter, I just post them as separate fics, so please cast your vote and let me know your thoughts on this.

Full fic below the cut in case you don't wanna go to Ao3:

Echo has known Rayona Yothia since his ARC Trooper training. Outside of his brothers, she is the most important person to him. She’s his best friend, and he’s utterly devoted to her. He was honored when she named her son after him and was happy to—along with his brothers—help her raise the baby. He loves Ec, just like the rest of his brothers do. He’s also dubbed himself the best with Ec which, usually, is perfectly fine. However-

“Echo!” He’s in the middle of meeting with Rex and Rayona about a prison transport they want to go after when his name is practically screamed across the base. He sighs and lifts his head, watching as Howzer comes rushing into the room, holding Ec out like he’s a bomb ready to explode. Howzer is perfectly capable with children around Omega’s age because of his time on Ryloth, but he’s incredibly lost when it comes to Ec. And, as it turns out, full diapers. Rayona snorts behind Echo and he turns to give her an unamused look. When he raises an eyebrow at her, she simply leans slightly on the holotable and grins at him. 

“Oh, no, honey. He called for you,” she says. He knows that if he insisted, she’d chuckle good-naturedly and go change Ec’s diaper without complaint. Instead, though, he simply sighs and turns to look at Howzer. He crosses the room and takes Ec from the frazzled former captain’s hands, watching how he almost instantly relaxes. Echo looks down at his namesake, who giggles up at him, and sighs again. 

“Alright, let’s go.” 

Echo cleans the baby up with practiced ease, barely having to think about it as he moves. 

“You’re a little menace, you know that?” he says, looking Ec in the eyes. The child simply smiles at him, and Echo sighs and shakes his head. When the diaper has been changed, Echo lifts Ec into his arms, bouncing him slightly. Ec giggles and joyfully pats his hands against Echo’s chest. After a moment, the little boy yawns and Echo chuckles. “Tired, ad’ika?” Ec doesn’t reply, but instead yawns again and curls tiny hands against Echo’s armor. Echo smiles and adjusts Ec in his arms, then turns to walk him across the room to his small bassinet. Ec whines when Echo goes to put him down and Echo pauses, inspecting the child for a moment. Ec stares up at him with big eyes, almost like he’s pleading for something. After a moment, Echo smiles softly and sighs. “Alright.” He clears his throat slightly, then opens his mouth again. The song falls from his lips with ease, bringing him back to a simpler time. This song is in a language he barely knows, learned from a woman whom he fought beside in battle during the war. He heard her sing it to her daughters often. He misses her. Misses all of them, really. But he can remember her with the lullaby that he learned from her, by singing it to this precious child. Ec makes a soft noise, curling into Echo’s chest. By the time the song is done, Ec is breathing steadily against Echo’s chest, fast asleep. Echo plants a kiss on the tuft of light green in Ec’s otherwise brown hair, then gently lays him down in his bassinet. He strokes a hand over Ec’s head, smiling down at the sleeping baby. Even with all of them pitching in to help take care of him, Ec can still be a lot. Part of it comes from worry, of course. Ec is young and small. He’s the son of a clone and a non-human Jedi, both of whom risk their lives almost any time they aren’t with him. The child has no concept of how fragile he and his life are. From the moment he found out Rayona was pregnant, Echo swore to protect not only her but her baby as well. Now, here that baby lays before him. A perfect beam of shining starlight. After a few moments of watching Ec, the door opens and Echo lifts his head. Rayona curls her arms around his torso and rests her chin on his shoulder, looking down at her son. 

“Thanks for taking care of him,” she says softly. He hums, head tilting slightly to rest against hers. 

“Of course. You know I don’t mind,” he says. She hums, and they both stare down at Ec for a moment. “You made a good kid, Ray.” She chuckles softly. 

“He wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t kept me from getting myself killed.” She looks at Ec for a moment. “I’ve never loved anything as much as I love him.” 

“It’s scary, isn’t it?” Echo asks. She lets out a shuddering breath. 

“Terrifying.” Echo curls his droid hand—the one she and Tech built especially for him—around her arm and squeezes gently. 

“We love him too, Ray. We’re here to help you protect him. He’s our baby too.” She chuckles again. 

“Yeah. I guess he is.” They stand there for a few seconds more. 

“I’ll bet you ten credits he wakes up in less than an hour.” She laughs into his shoulder. 

“I might as well just give you those credits now.” He grins. 

“Pay up, General.”

[acourtofquestions]

Prince Rowan Whitethorn Galathynius, consort, husband, and mate of the Queen of Terrasen, knew he was dreaming. He knew it, because he could see her.