#then I had a panic attack
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#slight tw for the next few tags…………#my sister emotionally and verbally abused me last night and I don’t use those terms lightly at all#basically I texted my mom ‘yikes’ yesterday after she was being rude to us and she found it and started screaming#and said we all treat her so badly and none of us care about her which cannot be further from the truth#the gaslighting was out of this world#she said we started it?#my mom and I were both crying#she called me all kinds of awful names and kept saying fuck you so I said fuck you back#I have an anxiety around swearing out loud so the car fell silent#then she kept screaming#and I was sobbing and it ruined my makeup#then I had a panic attack#she got out of the car and then we had to go in fucking margaritaville resort to have a dinner w family we don’t see#she thought she was entitled to this outburst.#and I cried silently the whole way home and my pain was so bad on top of it#and now she’s acting like nothing happened. I did not get any apology.#it was HELL#and I just need to rant#I love her but…I did not deserve this#also slightly pissed at my mom bc she told my sister something I said that was supposed to be kept private#and my sister used it against me#sorry I needed to rant ❤️🩹#Abby doesnt shut up
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Right here, right now
#tf2#team fortress 2#tf2 scout#scout tf2#artists on tumblr#my art#panic attack#team fortress#I had a panic attack last night so I had to vent it immediately#I still have no idea how to draw his face oh goddamit
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I feel like if you're using a lot of disposable plastic bags in your day to day life, you've gotta do something sustainable to make up for it. Like using bamboo toilet paper or eco friendly cat litter or something, yknow
Honestly I exaggerate for comedic effect, while I DO routinely use ziplock bags to hold spaghetti I cook maybe once a month and the bag itself is usually for freezer storage. I actually throw out maybe one bag a week? I DO hate washing plates and tupperware and junk but that usually just means I eat sandwiches without a plate.
I agree though that needless waste should be avoided, and I do avoid it- biodegradable bags and recyclables, empty butter tubs used to store leftovers, etc.
This said, though, not applicable necessarily for myself but for a lot of others- I feel that it's importat to remember that there are many people who legitimately NEED things like plastic straws, or catheters, or pre-packaged foods
And the idea that that's a moral failing that individuals need to personally make up for when a single billionaire blows out more CO2 in a long weekend than I will in my whole life on a superjet meet-cute in the Bolivian rainforest between humvee drag races funded by the river-polluting textiles plants they planted in a third world country to avoid EPA laws and give an entire village stillbirths and stomach cancer is an idea that those very same bigwigs have spent a LOT of time and money investing in planting in the public psyche.
Like- Glass bottles are infinitely recyclable, so why are so many drinks in plastic now? Loads of drinks manufacturers used to buy them back and clean them for re-use, so why did they stop? If they chose to make something out of a limited and environmentally irresponsible material, why is it my failing to track down a correct process of disposal for them? What if there are none in my area? Do I lobby for more recycling plants in my area? Do I set aside some of my limited time outside the pain factory of my job- which I have more than one of, thanks to rising costs of things just like that drink I just emptied- to properly dispose of this company's waste FOR them?
Say coca-cola just rolled up to your town and started dumping millions of empty plastic bottles in the street, going, "wow, you should really think about building and staffing a recycling depot, it would be really shameful of you to just put these in the trash." When companies purposefully use materials with limited lifespans- because yes, even plastic can only be reused so many times- and tell you it's your own fault if it harms the environment- that's essentially what they're doing, just with more steps.
Yes, its important to be as environmentally concious as we can in our day to day life, but responsible sustainability is not catholicism. We don't get good boy points from our lord and savior Captain Planet every time the average low-income household gathers together to hold hands and repent for a single-use plastic that allows them to access something they need.
Entire families could eat trees and shit dead lithium batteries for years and still not do as much damage to the planet as an average dye plant or braindead celebrity does in a week just for fun, and I'm mad about it
...this went on longer than intended.
TL/DR: DO recycle and minimize waste, but don't beat yourself up over the little waste you can't avoid, and follow the money.
EDIT: Part 2
#I swear to god if any one of you in the notes calls me terminally online or pretends I'm saying you can just dump bags in the ocean#Yes definitely do your best to live sustainably#But also#You personally are not killing pandas#Unless you are in which case please stop#We put too much money into pandas but let them go in peace#Go do some yoga#Sorry if this is a lot but I have a friend with OCD who has legit panic attacks over stuff like this#Like they have to throw out a ripped plastic grocery bag they've had for six years instead of using it to weave yard furniture or smthn#And they'd go into a spiral about killing the planet#So like#I have strong feelings now
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mombin pt 9!! it's been too long i'm sorry
(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)
#stobin#stranger things#mombin#steve harrington#robin buckley#this is a panic attack i could see myself having no matter how badly i wanted kids#shit's terrifying#also i need to stop trying different brushes i hate it literally every time#also i'm in the 'fic writers stop demonising nancy' club#i Eat it when relationships end badly but let it be NOBODY'S fault#like think of the WORST breakup you had as a teenager. as a former 15 year old you're just so stupid and that's ok#sometimes 'i love you but we're absolutely not supposed to keep doing this' is MORE painful than one person being a raging bitch
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The answer was 'panic attack'.
#Sdr2#Super danganronpa 2#Danganronpa 2#Danganronpa#hajime hinata#fuyuhiko kuzuryu#Akane owari#Kazuichi Souda#Sonia nevermind#I tood my friend I sometimes had 'anxiety fits' and described it and she was like 'that's a panic attack dude'. Never too old to learn#an art
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A very glazed page 39
Previous - next - first
#my art#fnaf#fnaf au#five nights at freddy's#fnaf security breach#fnaf gregory#evan afton#crying child#michael afton#glamrock freddy#fnaf 4#fnaf comic#into the ballpit au#oh my god this page was so curseddddd yallllllllll#started it when a tornado hit I lost my house for a week#had to quit a toxic job that got worse the last weeks I stayed#had to organize my life better#and finally had to start taking anxiety medication because it was too much#I actually slept without a panic attack last night#I’m so happy… I’m just gonna -melts onto the floor-#it’s fine now#yay
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Disabled people shouldn't have to jump through hoops!!
#disability#birblr#bird art#doodles#context here is that I had a really triggering disability assessment this morning#'can you tell me more about what caused your panic attack?'#Not if you don't want me to have a panic attack right now??#Also maybe don't ask an ex-anorexic 'have you lost weight?'#How is that relevant?#If I was fat or had gained weight would that make me more or less disabled in your eyes?? How is this relevant??#Sorry for the rant guys it's been a not-so-great morning#If I didn't know better I would have assumed the assessor was purposefully trying to trigger me
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You know, I feel like we're not talking enough about the fact that Alastor has in his room a full reproduction (?) of a swamp-forest that's highly likely very similar to the one where he was killed. Talk about being morbid.
Edit: someone pointed out in the comments that the swamp-forest is called bayou. It's a kind of ecosystem in Louisiana.
#And he was eating a deer in it#And we know he kind of embraced his deer identity#Idk I feel like there is some symbolic meaning related to his feelings about his death that I'm not fully grasping#Maybe something connected to his obsession with power because by doing this he's stating he isn't affected even by his own death?#Which is an act as shown first of all by the panic attack he had when he did almost die against Adam#And second (if it's still canon) by his fear of dogs#Still I find this interesting#hazbin hotel#alastor hazbin hotel#alastor#alastor the radio demon#the radio demon#alastor hazbin#hazbin hotel alastor
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Too much fear in familiar blue eyes for his liking :((
#sonic the hedgehog#sth#sonic art#nine the fox#sonic prime spoilers#sonic prime season 3 spoilers#I AM NOT OKAY#Bro legit had a fucking panic attack for a second there :((#He didn't know what to DO and that messed me up dude#seeing someone who looks WAY too much like his brother staring up at him with sheer terror HFISNDKWNFJ#FUCK I AM SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS#this season was made for me tho >:)) My specialty is devastated expressions and this baby was FULL OF EM#sonic prime
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TBB cadets ideas
#star wars#star wars the bad batch#the bad batch fanart#tbb fanart#star wars fanart#more to come maybe idk#Anyway#idk how fanartists manage to get their chara right I couldn't#hope they're at least recognizable#I'm too tired to clean them anyway#BTW I got my broken tooth fixed#I mean ...more like vital prognosis engaged#Dentist scolded me#deserved#It was really the meme “you live like this??” but with my mouth#anyway at least they'll have a fun story to talk about at party I guess#oh last time I got a PATIENT#WTF#like first she hadn't seen anyone since YEARS#then she went livid when I told her I had to operate#she was probably on the verge of a panic attack I had to reassure her like EVERY five minutes like a child#can you fill my glass again thanks#I mean I've got several friends working in medical I know how it is ^^;#Now my whole jaw aches#and I'm hungry ofc#ANYWAY#if you excuse me#I'm gonna roll myself in a burrito and cry
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I absolutly LOVE Mr Keating, but if he did that impromtu poem scene to me I would never ever forgive him, no matter how good a teacher he might be, I definitely would've start crying on the spot.
#Todd is stronger than I am#prolly would've had a panic attack#like who does that to an anxious teenager??#especially when he's the new kid#dead poets society#dps#todd anderson#john keating#mr keating
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"The key thing was of course, the fact that Rick has PTSD and that's very much what's driving a lot of his behavior and being in a place of that level of vulnerability, back with the love of his life in that way.
It's also the thing he fears, the loss of her. It manifests itself in a way that is visceral and leads to the lovemaking not just being about love, but the revealing of pain and trauma and fear. That informs Michonne, that she can't just blast him into making sense. There's something deeper going on here that he can't verbalize. She has to help him get through in a different way. So she gets to see him, as well, as he reveals what's really in there, the wound. That's going to happen most likely in that most vulnerable space." — Danai Gurira
"Yeah, I think it is about pain. As Danai just said, it's about him wanting her and then fearing what he's about to unlock again. He gets to sort of articulate it in the scene further in the episode, when he gets to say that, 'I can't do this again. I haven't got the capacity to do this again. I've worked out how to die and live again.' So it is an absolutely necessary scene that allows Michonne to realize that there's something really broken here, more broken than she's ever anticipated. [...]
So the scene was about a real intimacy, a sort of frightening intimacy. This is a part of his personality he has shut down. It's almost like he's trying to stop himself from feeling this love again. She sees that and she just says, 'Just trust. We're back. We're the same...' I find it very moving. I think it's a very, very moving scene, because it's about them connecting in a way that he's had to deny for seven years. He's denied that connection for the sake of living on in this half life for the CRM" — Andrew Lincoln
Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira Discuss Episode 4 of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
#the walking dead#twd: the ones who live#the ones who live#twdedit#towledit#richonneedit#richonne#rick grimes#michonne grimes#danai gurira#andrew lincoln#mine and only mine#long post#loveddddd getting their insights on this scene and this moment#danai adding the panic attack was such a gorgeous smart and truthful detail#i think it was in other interviews but i loved how she said that the purpose of this scene was transformative in nature#it was meant to show that a switch had flipped#it basically peeled back another layer of rick's walls during this moment of vulnerability#and allowed for something to click into place for michonne to realize that there's something deeper going on#something that he's not able to say out loud and articulate#like WOWWWWW#nah fr we gotta get danai to write more episodes#bc this is sickening
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You just know that Lockwood thinks their first date was crashing the bone glass auction
#lockwood and co#lilac rambles#he's probably like 'we dressed up pretty! we had a moment where lucy made something explode 😍'#'sure i had a panic attack but lucy's hair was so shiny!!!!'
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Jumpsuit to Levitate transition save me!!! Save me Jumpsuit to Levitate transition please!! Transition from Jumpsuit to Levitate save me !
#tøp#twenty one pilots#twenty øne piløts#21 pilots#trench#tyler joseph#josh dun#this is geniune i just had a panic attack and its saving me <3#blurry ??#blurryface#haha
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oh okay heres one:
"sleepaway camp"= you go there for at least a few days, a week, sometimes several weeks, and sleep there, as opposed to a """camp""" where you go for the day and your parents or whoever picks you up afterward (those arent really camps, but like. idk when i went to "space camp" it was a weeklong but not sleepaway). in the U.S. at least, the typical image of a sleepaway camp involves staying in cabins, dunno how common it is/what it looks like in other countries.
for the first few i just mean like. not necessarily a stealth church camp, just like. idk, a camp where theres also an Assumption Of Christianity and just general vibes without being actually church camp. So, there might not be daily services and jesusy dedicatwd activities, but maybe theres still a prayer said over meals and shit. Which i assume might exist...
(oh and @reblogforsamplesize if u wanna)
#buzzy#poll#polls#personally: yes i went several times#and i enjoyed it bc. camp!!! yay!!!#but the Church part of it. complicated feelings on that matter#mine were all weeklong camps#went every year for a few years i hink#it was fun bc again YAY CAMP!!! and the ones i went to were like huge things#they had cool water stuff like The Blob and waterslides and some fun games and shit#you could do paintball#and i wasnt like. NOT christian at the time. but i also Wasnt Really Feeling It#i was mostly into it bc. camp.#...maybe i should have asked my parents if i could just go to one of the normal summer camps instead lmao#like the 6 week ones or st#that coulda been fun ....#so my answer is Its Complicated#i did like. participate in the jesus side of things. but i was also kinda knowingly faking it u kno?#i remember one time during a service i started having a bit of a panic attack (mostly bc of the MASSVE crowd. this was a huge ass camp)#but i still had to like. stay. still do everything. my pastor was being nice about it but still was like :( well you cant leave#i remember that was the day we did some shit outside w torches#like. carrying torches in a big procession like some sorta ritual thing ig. fuck if i know.#and i was like crying while following the procession and trying to stop#(the crying STARTED un the megachurch extremely loud giaant speaker GET PUMPED UP!!! area and continued to the torches)#thars my stringest memory from church camp aside from when i fcking DEMOLISHED the frozen t shirt game#(they gave a few ppl on stage frozen t balled up shirts and it was like 'okay first one to unball it and put it on wins!!!')#(and while the two boys i was up against started trying to tear it open with their hands i just#(in my cute lil butterfly shirt and pretty skirt started SMASHING IT AGAINST THE GROUND FULL BODY AAAUUGGHH and broke that shit)#(i was sooo proud of mysekf and my oastors wife thiught it was Unladylike of me but i fucjing won. the boys copied me after a sec)#(but it was too late i won :) anyway yeah like i said mixed feelings u kno. anyway go blue beetles woooo!!!!!
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Steve and Gareth as Cousins, no longer a warm-up and now called Lifelines, part three! I’ll throw it up on A03 when I finish the fourth part.
Prior parts can be read here: Part One / Part Two
First things first, the most amazing @ sereinpetrichor managed to track down the OG Twitter thread this runaway train is based off of!
It was this thread by @gatorthots, the Tumblr version of which can be read, here. All blame for this idea firmly rests on their brilliant, plot bunny inducing shoulders.
The other, follow up thread I mentioned was this one by Silas, whose tumblr name I do not know.
As always and forever, shout out to the most amazing @chalkysgarbagefire who helps me edit/plot/pats my head while I’m crying in their inbox bc the words aren’t wording right.
Warnings: Steve and Robin are canon (S3) drugged. I took a slightly (kinda sorta) more realistic approach. Vomit mention, canon threat of violence/guns (the Russian guards) Mention of pantsing/past bullying, Steve and Robin’s drugged asses not understanding personal space, Dustin’s canon...Im gonna go with assholishness? but like, I think its more than he’s a young kid and doesn't quite have the emotional growth/awareness yet in this kind of insane situation to know how to react to the whole address/torture bit (really who does)/its a defense mechanism--and Gareth sort of has a panic attack.
Whatever the hell they had been drugged with, Steve and Robin went from 'giggly happy fun time' to 'vomiting into toilet bowls while loudly wishing for death’ awfully fast.
Gareth was not an expert on drugs. He knew Eddie wasn't either (the guy never dealt anything stronger than your average psychedelic--had some agreement with his Uncle about only selling "the 70s basics") and repeated looks towards him proved Eddie was still trying to figure out what Steve and Robin were on.
Answers hadn't exactly been forthcoming--Eddie's gently made attempts at ferreting out information had only caused more confusion.
Like why the two of them were so freaked out about a gate, or what had made Robin gasp, and then laugh so hard she cried when Steve had made a particularly rough noise then muttered; "Even that sounds better than Tammy Thompson."
Either way, Gareth was mostly trying to figure out what the hell they were going to do, because sobering up in a busy, public mall wasn't exactly the best idea.
"I regret," Robin tried to say, in-between gagging. "I regret--hrk--"
"Me too." Steve moaned, head resting against the stall wall. Gareth, still caught up in panic, had been permanently regulated to door guard while Eddie alternated between sweet talking, rubbing backs and offering quietly whispered advice.
"Let's go back in time and ignore the whole silver cat thing." Robin continued, slumping back down onto the floor.
"Wouldn't have mattered." Steve muttered. "Dustin would have figured it out without us. Kid’s too damn smart."
"So?" Robin grumbled, quietly thanking Eddie as he once again brushed her hair out of her face.
"So he would have gone down there anyway, which means I'd be down there anyway." Steve concluded. "We shouldn't have gotten you involved though."
He shakily pushed himself up, staggering to his feet and looking like bambi on ice while doing it.
Eddie quickly came round to offer his help, hands spread as Steve groaned out a curse and clutched his head.
The older took a step forward right as Steve lurched back, unbalanced and shaky.
"Oh shit." He said, eyes wide as he crashed backwards into Eddie, the latter catching him with a grunt.
Despite the entire situation, Gareth found himself stifling a laugh as Eddie wrapped his noodle arms around Steve's chest, trying to hold the other up without falling himself.
"Come on big boy, why don't we just siiiit back down." Eddie said, slightly breathless as he helped guide Steve back to the floor. "There we go…"
They did so outside the bathroom stall, Eddie sinking into a kneel as Steve sort of flopped down on top of him.
Blinked a few times, like the drop had rattled what little sense he’d managed to recover in the last few minutes.
A pleased noise came out of his cousin's throat, and holy shit was Gareth going to have blackmail for life, because rather than vacate Eddie's lap, Steve just turned around in it.
Reached up with one finger outstretched and proved himself to be very much still under the influence as he touched Eddie's nose.
"Boop!" He said, and then giggled as Eddie dropped onto his ass in surprise.
Gareth watched Robin as she took the whole thing in, from Steve's snickers to Eddie's shocked expression, eyes growing wide in excitement.
He failed entirely to cover his own amusement when Eddie abruptly found himself with two sailors invading his personal space, each taking turns to boop his nose.
“Uh.” He managed to get out, blinking rapidly and at a loss for words. “Ah.”
Steve caught the metalhead’s awkward, red-faced expression and proceeded to drop his head to Eddie's shoulder, muffling his laughter against the man's vest.
The helpless look his best friend sent him was one Gareth would remember for a long time.
“O-kay.” Eddie said, frazzled, as Steve recovered far too quickly, turning to rest his cheek against a slim shoulder as he walked two fingers up Eddie’s battle vest and towards his hair. Likewise, Robin had discovered Eddie’s wallet chain, and had begun fiddling with it.
One finger curled around a strand of brown hair and Eddie jerked his head, removing the tempting piece away from Steve’s hands.
“I know you’re used to getting whatever you want, your highness.” He said, his own hand smacking against his waist before Robin figured out the other end of his chain ended in a handcuff, “But you of all people should know the hair is off limits.”
Completely undeterred, Steve just gave him a loose, easy grin. “It’s so pretty though.” He complained, fluttering his eyelashes in a blatant attempt to try and turn on the ol’ Harrington charm. “You can touch mine if you want.”
Yeah, Gareth’s blackmail was getting better by the second.
He might even get a new piece for his drum kit out of it, if this kept up.
Free weed too, considering Eddie’s blush was now fire-engine red.
“Man,” Eddie said in a clear bid to deflect the entire situation (and Steve’s fingers) away from his hair, “the last time someone called me pretty was right before I got pantsed—-is Tommy H hiding in one of the stalls again?”
Steve picked his head up, confusion crashing down his face.
“Did he do that?” He asked.
Then, with growing horror; “Do you think I’d do that?”
Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that your whole little court’s M.O.?”
Steve sucked in a breath, looking downright hurt. "I wouldn’t do that." He insisted, eyes wheeling from Eddie to Gareth and back, as though hoping Gareth would back him up.
“I’m not--I’m not friends with Tommy anymore.” Steve continued, voice growing smaller as he spoke. “I’m not friends with anybody anymore, except maybe Dustin.”
It sounded so defeated; trodden on and subdued that Gareth stepped forward automatically, to do--something.
Provide the fucking comfort his cousin was oft denied and hug the guy.
As always, it turned out to be the wrong move.
"Oh thank god." A kid said, seconds after bulldozing through the main door and nearly bowling Gareth over in the process. "I found them!" He shouted over his shoulder as swept into the room.
“Speak of the devil.” Steve said flatly, and even drugged, he managed to pull himself back together from distressed to stoic in mere seconds.
The curly-haired kid--Dustin apparently--stormed right up to the pile of humans splayed on the floor, hands on his hips. "What the hell. We told you two to stay put!"
Steve rolled his eyes as Robin booed him.
“Have you forgotten what’s happening? Or how we’re kinda in a Red Dawn situation?” Dustin continued, looking like he’d just escaped from a summer camp.
The kid even had a walkie talkie clutched in one hand, of all things.
“We know.” Steve and Robin deadpanned at once, before looking at each other; Steve pointing a finger towards Robin and Robin pointing one back.
This caused the kids to trade their own long suffering, “can you believe this shit” faces.
"We need to go, and the only way we’re gonna get out of here unnoticed is if we blend in with the crowd." Dustin said impatiently. “Now come on Steve, get up already, you've had worse.”
"I really don't think I have." Steve muttered, but moved to push himself to his feet anyway.
Eddie beat him to it, and he and Gareth both hovered nearby in case Steve was still unsteady.
Thankfully, the kids' presence seemed to sober up Robin and Steve both.
Not actually sober, that wasn't how drugs worked, but whatever was left of the fun was sucked right out of the bathroom, replaced by two teenagers who were sort of functional on whatever they'd been drugged with.
Stress and adrenaline, Gareth knew, could overcome a lot of things. Including Russian "truth serum" apparently.
“Yeah well you're lucky you got found by these guys and not anyone else. " Dustin continued pointedly, before turning his attention towards Gareth and Eddie both. "Thanks for watching our friends, but we've got them from here."
Gareth made a sort of unhinged, disbelieving noise.
“No, no you do not.” He declared, anxiety clawing at his gut at the mere thought of abandoning Steve to two children.
"I don't think you heard him." The girl stepped forward, braids swinging about her face as she lifted her chin and nailed him with a cold glare.
As if this entire situation couldn’t possibly get weirder, Gareth suddenly realized she had a helmet in her hands and knee pads on.
"He said we got this. So scram." She flicked her fingers out in a dismissive sort of "shoo" gesture.
"And leave my drugged cousin with his new girlfriend behind!?" Gareth challenged right back, emotions far too raw and frayed to care he was snarling at a little girl. "I don’t think so!”
"Cousin!?" Dustin bit out, sounding almost betrayed for some reason, at the same time Robin who'd been climbing to her feet with Eddie’s help, shouted; "I am not his girlfriend!"
Steve, clearly unwilling to entertain whatever fight was brewing, clapped his hands together.
"Yes cousin, Dustin. It's a type of family member." Steve said, after they all flinched and looked to him. He at least looked steadier on his feet this time, though Gareth still lingered nearby in case he took a wrong step.
"I know what a cousin is, Steve!" Dustin shot back.
“Then why are you acting like a lunatic?” Steve complained, and Gareth got to watch in real time as Steve pulled on the persona he often wore in high school down around him. “You said it yourself, we don’t have a lot of time. Worse, I don't know if anyone saw Gareth and Munson here with us.”
He jerked a thumb sideways in Eddie’s direction, not that anyone couldn’t figure out who “Munson” was.
“They stay with us until we’re out of this mall.” Steve finished, before he started towards the door.
One step he was Gareth’s cousin, drugged and vulnerable because of it.
The next he stood taller, talked smoother, took charge with an aurora that said he expected everyone to listen to him.
It was fake as hell, but it worked.
“I know you’ve got a plan Dustin, so spill it.” He commanded as he walked.
Dustin, despite all the squawking, did just that.
xXx
Of all the things Gareth had expected to see upon escorting their little ragtag crew out of the bathroom, groups of intimidating, mean looking assholes wasn’t on the list.
He found himself repeatedly nudging Eddie in the ribs, unable to take his eyes off what was clearly a checkpoint as he staggered to a halt.
It was one thing to be told people were after Steve and the “Scoop’s Troop” As Robin had jokingly named them.
It was another entirely to see the security guard directly in front of him look over a woman’s ID before apologizing to her, a sleazy grin matching his oily pony-tail as he waved her on.
They really were looking for someone.
Not someone, Gareth realized in dawning horror.
Them.
Robin apparently, came to the same conclusion seconds later, because she snatched Steve and Dustin’s arms both, hauling them backwards.
“Argue about Dustin’s address later, we need to find a different way out.” She hissed quietly as she tried to slowly reversed direction, movements still a bit sloppy.
She might have even gotten away with it, had Sleazy Pony-Tail not turned and made eye contact with Gareth right after she spoke.
His eyes swept over him, then to the rest of the group, freezing like a cat that had spotted its prey.
“Abort, abort!” Dustin sputtered, wheeling about on his heel.
Erica, whose name Gareth had learned when she kicked him in the shin after he asked why an actual infant was running around with Steve and Robin, pointed towards the escalators before she beelined over to it, ducking into the center and riding it down like a slide.
Something Eddied was downright delighted to copy.
Gareth might have enjoyed it himself, had he not been looking over his shoulder to see not one, not two, but four security guards giving chase--and gaining.
“Fuck, fuck, fuckikity fuck.” He heard Robin chant as she shot past, Steve planting himself at the top as he made sure everyone got down to the next level before sliding down himself.
"Do not let them leave!" One of the guards yelled to the others, accent clear as a bell.
"Holy shit that guy's actually Russian." Gareth found himself saying as he skidded across the floor and bolted after the others, Steve hot on his heels.
He had kinda expected the Russian thing to be some sort of drug influenced inside joke and not an actual, honest-to-God Soviet.
Which led to the question of why the fuck adult men in security uniforms had drugged random teenage retail workers.
Food workers.
Whatever the fuck one called a two people who scooped ice-cream in sailor costumes.
"There's another group up ahead!" Eddie yelped, swerving sideways and nearly taking Erica out while doing it.
Noise erupted ahead of them in the form of foreign shouting and loud, harshly barked commands to “Freeze!”
‘Oh hell no.’ Gareth thought wildly, as he caught the form of the giant fricken gun the guard closest to him held.
“Split up!” Dustin howled, and before anyone could comment about how bad an idea that was, Gareth found himself being yanked sideways.
Steve swore loudly behind him as Robin, who’d crashed backwards, pulled him in the opposite direction and in a second their group broke in two. Gareth, Eddie and Dustin going one way, Steve, Robin and Erica another.
"This isn’t happening." Gareth muttered, words made in a sort of pleading denial as he and Eddie turned the corner and immediately vaulted over the counter of an Orange Julius. “I smoked or drank or did something and this is a hallucination that is not. Actually. Happening.”
Dustin at least, was smart enough to dive around the counter instead of over it, sliding towards them on his knees.
Eddie quickly yanked him down to the floor in-between himself and Gareth once he was close enough to grab, one hand going over the hat to shove the kids head down.
Annoying or not, he was at least several years younger than them, and Gareth could practically feel Eddie’s protective instinct kick in as he kept his hand on Dustin’s head.
Together they tried to silence their breathing as the guards’ shouting continued on behind them.
What was worse than their noises though, was when they unexpectedly and suddenly, went silent.
Gareth’s breath felt far too loud as the stillness gained a suppressive weight, pressing down harshly against him and making it harder and harder to inhale.
‘Panic attack.’ He realized, thoughts a touch detached. ‘You can’t afford to have a panic attack right now.’
Not when it had a high chance of getting them all killed.
Slowly he moved his own free hand, placing it atop of Eddie’s, fingers gripping down in a way that was no doubt painful.
Eddie glanced over to him and Gareth thanked every single time he’d smoked way too much weed, because his best friend immediately clocked what was wrong.
Turned his hand over, so that Gareth could hold onto it atop Dustin’s hat.
It didn’t help with the knowledge that his very much still drugged cousin and his equally drugged not-girlfriend were also hiding somewhere, or that there was significantly more Russians than there where terrified teenagers (and one--whatever age Erica was.)
Flashlights cut shapes into the wall overheard, trailing along the Orange Julius menu. Quiet voices covered even quieter footsteps and Gareth had the sudden realization the probability of there being more than one guard carrying a huge gun, was very, very high.
Worse?
This part of the mall wasn’t that big. There were only so many places to hide, and as such, only so many places to look.
Death comes for everyone eventually, but Gareth hadn’t exactly expected it to show up before he hit twenty.
Not that they could do anything but wait. Pray to God and the universe and any other higher power he could think of to intervene, head pressed hard against the wood behind him as the small noises drew nearer.
What he hadn’t expected was for said prayers to get answered in the form of a of a fucking car being thrown into the Russian’s like bowling balls.
“Run!” Dustin shouted, and Gareth wasted absolutely no time in doing just that.
The only goal on his mind was to find Steve, get out, and then have a very long discussion about what the hell this all was, in that exact order.
#fun fic facts I kept writing Orange Julius as King Julian#so thats my new fake 80s store#Tagline can be “yay I’m a sacrifice!”#Pre steddie#steddie#steve harrington#eddie munson#gareth emerson#platonic stobin#gareth is eddies robin#gareth is steves cousin#gareth and steve cousin au#Poor Dustin is mad jelly steve has a cousin that isnt him#we will dig into that later#tw drugs#tw vomit#tw guns#tw panic attack#Steve and robin have already had their scene I just moved it back so he is aware she is a lesbian#I will make it clearer in the next part#Drugged steve has no personal boundaries and homeboy would not at this point consider the stuff wit heddie flirting with Robin ALSO#digs into later#that was gay steve#HELLA gay#the more robin gets to know steve the more shes convinced half the basketball team is queer af#0o0 fanfics#denial is a river in Egypt that Gareth is struggling to swim down
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