#time has changed the metaphor is as close to canon as possible because that's how i wanted to write that specific narrative‚

[cringefailvox]

crucial to the rosie/vox/alastor dynamic to me is that at any given moment, one of them is getting harassed by the other two. rosie and alastor pretend not to know what modern slang means to drive vox crazy. vox and alastor will not shut the fuck up singing showtunes at 3am while rosie's trying to sleep. rosie and vox cyberstalk alastor for shits and giggles to see how long it'll take him to get fed up and blow up the voyeurscope they have tailing him

[maximoff-pan]

you, me, and the destruction | eddie munson

summary: 4 times eddie makes you want to die (metaphorically of course) and one time he makes you want to live

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

word count: 7k

warning(s): some swears, angst, mentions of death, definitely canon divergent (please don't come for me)

a/n: another 4 + 1, who could’ve guessed? I really, really struggled with this one, but I haven't written or posted a ton lately, so I thought why not... I do hope you enjoy, but I apologize because I know this will likely be difficult to follow along with/make no sense whatsoever, so if you make it through to the end, thank you!

Eddie Munson makes you want to die. 

Not like a funny and jokingly crude ‘ha ha you make me wanna hurl myself into the sun’ kinda die, but like a dead serious ‘if you don’t shut up I’m going to commit mass murder and it’s going to be your fault’ kinda die. He’s that irritating. (You say that both seriously and affectionately, because your opinion of him has certainly changed over the last little while)...

But it’s an interesting concept to consider when you break it down, just how aggravating he can be. Sometimes you wonder where he gets it from; who could have possibly created this freak? And then you remember who his friends are, and it all makes sense. 

Blood didn’t create him, they did. Although quite frankly, it was entirely mutual; they created each other. A mass of freaks fighting imaginary monsters.

Until one day, those monsters weren’t imaginary. And one day, you found yourself at Eddie Munson’s mercy. 

...It’s safe to say you’d known about the Upside Down for as long as the rest of your friends had, you’d been in on the insanity since the beginning. So, as you’d expect, it’s pretty hard to surprise you with anything. But when Eddie got accused of murder, and was dragged into the shit storm you call your life (again), he took it immensely well. Almost too well for someone whose livelihood was on the line. 

“You’re so fucking weird.” You’d said to him in disbelief and he’d smiled. 

“Pot, kettle.” He’d gestured to himself, and then to you with a grin. 

Those had been the first words you’d spoken to him since you’d been close friends a couple of years ago. It was also the first moment the ice started to melt between you and the first moment you'd allowed yourself to think about what you used to be.

The next moment followed shortly after. A trip through the Upside Down does that to you, creates bonds with the people you’d least expect. And as irritating as he was, that’s what you became: irrevocably bonded. Although, you’d still have your fair share of disagreements to come. 

The moment it all began to change is something you’ll never forget. It started off innocent; you’d thrown an effortless joke in the air trying to brighten the atmosphere of the group, when all of a sudden, you felt a sharp pain in your right shoulder. 

You recall turning to Steve in shock the second after Eddie had saved you from a group of demobats, completely gobsmacked. He’d just fucking jumped in front of you, no questions asked, with no regard whatsoever for his own well being. 

Fuck. You remember thinking. You were not about to be indebted to Eddie Munson. Not devastatingly ethereal Eddie Munson. Not your childhood-best-friend-turned-virtual-stranger Eddie Munson. But by God did you owe him your life. 

Once over the initial panic, even Steve had cracked up over the look on your face, not used to seeing you unsure of what to do. So, he did what he thought was best, nudging you with a blunt shove towards the man in question. 

“You're welcome.” Eddie had mumbled with a pouting huff. “‘S’not like I could’ve just died doing that or anything.” In your state, you’d been too stunned to say anything, let alone thank him. But you could understand where he was coming from. 

And it was cute, the way he grumbled, feeling underappreciated for his act of bravery. You’d managed to put aside your past differences, and your ultimate shock – because who knew Eddie had that in him – to eventually give him a solid pat on the back. Like a good, new, old friend(?) would. 

It was a weird feeling to get used to, you’d thought. ‘Hey man, thanks a million for saving my life and all…it’s not like I totally thought you hated me two minutes ago???’ 

You’d managed something a little more mature than that, approaching him with an edge of nervousness. Since when had he ever made you feel nervous? 

“I am grateful you know.” You’d surprised yourself with the sincerity that seeped from your tone. “You’re pretty cool Munson…much cooler than anyone gives you credit for.”

You could’ve sworn you’d seen him blush. And it was his turn to sheepishly admit your kindness meant something to him. You used to be everything to him after all, even if you had only been dumb teens. 

He’d rubbed at the back of his neck with a soft upturn of his lips. “Thanks.”

That was the day your relationship with Eddie started to become something again, not just acknowledgements of preconceived notions that you’d had about each other previously. But something real. Although, it didn’t change the fact that he was both entirely aggravating and also made you want to die sometimes. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

EXHIBIT A of Why Eddie Makes You Want to Die:

He just has to be right, all the time, even if it means crossing boundaries and using whatever leverage he has on you (but it’s all to protect you, so that makes it okay, right?)

“No.” Eddie cuts you off. “I won’t even consider that.”

“Eddie.” Steve sighs. He doesn’t like this plan either, but it’s the only one that makes sense. “She should be the one to go.”

“No.” He repeats. This time more adamant. He’s not about to let you walk into Creel House alone, especially not after what happened to Chrissy. 

“It’s the only way.” You try to reason, but he’s not having any of it. You roll your eyes at his bravado; who the hell does he think he is?

You feel like Eddie’s eyes are burning holes through your body, if they could widen any further you’re sure they’d pop right out of his skull. “I’m not gonna let you put yourself in danger like that…no way.”

You scoff, shaking your head in disbelief. “You’ve been back in my life all of a couple of days, and now you want to act like you have some kind of say?” 

Ouch. He recoils at the statement. Maybe you both had more to resolve than you’d thought.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asks, tone edging on anger.

“I’m not the one who walked out of your life Eddie.” You say, and from beside you, you can see the grimace that has made its way onto Steve’s face. He’s the only other person who knows the extent of your history. Everyone else simply has the cliff notes.

“That’s not fair and you know it.” Eddie bites back.

“Not fair?” You want to scream at him so badly, tear him a fucking new one. “Christ! You don’t see me telling you what you can and cannot do, especially considering you seem to love putting yourself in danger.”

“I saved your life!” He exclaims. “Remember that? Or was that too idiotic for you?”

And he’s right, he has you there. It’s infuriating… Even when he’s wrong, he’s right. 

“I never asked you to do that.” It’s unappreciative, sure, but it’s the only thing you can think to say in your state of frustration. 

“Fine.” He relents. “You’re right.”

Your brows pull together in discomfort. “That’s not—Eddie—”

“No.” He stops you, eyes daring you to overstep. “You’re right. I didn’t save you because you wanted me to, or because you needed someone to protect you. I saved you because I wanted to. Because I fucking need you! Is that what you wanna hear?” His voice breaks the louder it gets, and you’re stunned. It feels like things escalated so quickly, and yet you know it’s been building for years. 

“Even after all this time…” he continues, the crack in his armor growing with each second, “because I’m selfish, and I couldn’t just watch you die. Not like her.”

Realization dawns on you. You’d forgotten all about it; how he’d watched Chrissy die. Survivor’s guilt is written all over his face, he’s begging for some kind of relief from it. And despite your differences, he still cares about you more than you can understand.

He’s right. Again. 

He may have leveraged saving your life to prove it, but that doesn’t reverse what he did to protect you. 

“I’m sorry.” He says. It comes out pained, nearly a whisper. “If I could go back…”

He doesn’t finish the sentence, but you know. You nod at him, a representation of a silent acknowledgment and acceptance of his apology, and an agreement to work on whatever this is. Whatever it may become. 

And in that moment, it’s the heartbroken look in his gaze that has you feeling so shitty. Like death had whipped out a pitchfork and stabbed you in the back.

Eddie Munson has much more control over you than you’d once thought, even more so now that he’s seemingly back in your life for the long haul. Because if you’re sure of anything, it’s that he’s not going to let you go. Not after what you’ve just been through.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

EXHIBIT B of Why Eddie Munson Makes You Want to Die:

He makes stupid assumptions without thinking them through, especially when it comes to your friendship (but you do too, so that makes it okay right?)

If someone had told you one month ago that Eddie would walk back into your life, you would have laughed them out of Hawkins. 

The way your friendship had ended the first time had left things tense between you, and you weren’t sure if there was anything left to be salvaged. But after surviving what you had in the summer of ‘86 baby, as Eddie had called it, you’d promised to try and make it work.

So you did. As of now, you’ve spent the last number of weeks hanging out with your collective group of world saving friends, bonding over shared trauma and all the things that come with it. And that includes repairing your relationship Eddie. As hard as that has been.

Because while you know he’s genuine, and he wants to be on good terms as much as you do, it’s not easy to forgive and forget. 

But despite your fears, you’ve started spending time together one on one, no one else there to buffer the tension. Dustin had recommended it, a weekly movie night to get you more comfortable with each other, and to hopefully hash things out properly. In the interest of friendship, Henderson had quipped, because even he could see there were things between you that had been left unsaid. 

And while there are moments here and there where you want to throw yourself out your bedroom window because Eddie is being so fucking insufferable, or you want to build a wall of protection around yourself again because you’re afraid of what trusting him will do to you, there are also moments where you remember just how much you once loved him. 

This, tonight, is not one of those moments. 

“Can we talk?” Eddie clicks the pause button on the remote, leaving Marty McFly’s incredulous expression and his famous ‘“Wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me you built a time machine…”’ frozen in a motionless frame.

It feels ominous, but you don’t verbally object. “Okay.” You nod, although it’s dark, so you’re not sure he can see you. You’re almost hoping he can’t.

He releases a sigh, something that sounds like he’s been holding onto it for a long time. “I wanna talk about how things ended between us.” He says as he reaches over to flick on the lamp in your living room. 

“We can do that.” Apprehension is floating in the cadence of your tone. Things were just starting to become normal again…it feels like a bit of a risk to dig up your past like this. Not that you have much of a choice in the matter. 

You’re more than aware that Eddie’s been eager to talk about it. It’s you who’s been avoiding this for weeks, despite knowing how inevitable and needed this conversation is. You just don’t want to ruin the trust you’ve been rebuilding. 

“Where do you want to start?” You pose, giving him control of the situation.

“I guess,” he fiddles with the rings on his fingers, “I want to start by apologizing again.”

“You don’t have to do that.” You protest. Since he’s been back, he’s done nothing but apologize a million times over. And the more he does, the more feelings it stirs up. 

“No, I do.” He states. “I’m sorry. I never should have done that to you. I never should have shut you out like that.”

His eyes hold so much sincerity, it almost makes you want to cry. “It’s uh–” you struggle to get the words out. You don’t want to relive it, nor do you want to admit the part you played in it. Because it’s much easier to make him the villain than to implicate yourself in this web of chaos you’ve spun yourself.

Though, it’s time for you to admit your responsibility. A friendship doesn’t end just because of one person. You gave up too, as difficult as that is to admit. “It’s not your fault.” You say sadly. “I know it seems like I put all the blame on you for what happened to us, but I’m just as responsible as you.”

Eddie smiles sadly in remembrance. He’s pretty sure he knows where you’re going with this. “If you’re going to apologize for not coming to my band’s first concert when you were sixteen, that’s so not something you need to apologize for. Honestly, that’s not even why I was mad.”

At the time he had been pretty pissed, so he can see why you’d be worried about it, though you needn’t be.

Your lips purse in thought. “I’ve regretted that decision for three years. To me, that was the beginning of our end. And I was the one who started it.”

“(Y/n), c’mon.” He shakes his head. “You can’t blame yourself for that. It had nothing to do with anything.” It really didn’t. The root of your problems was much bigger, and much darker. 

You puff out a strangled breath of air, tone dead serious.“But I deserve to.” You state. “I was a pretty horrible friend to you. You’d been talking about that show for weeks, and I wasn’t there to support you, especially after all the times you’d been there for me.” 

Especially after I saw what hides in the shadows, and I changed. The thought sits on the edge of your tongue, another one left unsaid. 

A softness rests on his face as he reaches over to place a comforting hand on your arm. He picks up on your implication. “If I knew what you were going through, I could have been there for you more. Instead, I abandoned you, all because of some stupid misunderstanding.”

The look of confusion that crosses your face is unmistakable. “I’m not sure I follow.” You genuinely thought that concert had been the catalyst.  

He tilts his head with a grimace. “Steve didn’t tell you?”

Eyebrows raised in curiosity, you tread carefully. “Harrington’s told me nothing. I couldn’t be any more clueless.” 

“Oh.” Eddie sighs. “I thought for sure you knew about it.”

You shake your head, jaw clenched. “No.” You pull back your hand from his touch, turning to sit cross-legged on your couch. “But I'm getting the feeling I'm missing something pretty big..." You meet his gaze sharply. "Is Steve the reason you stopped being my friend?”

Eddie’s eyes widen. You sound so serious it almost scares him. “No.” He’s quick to say. “Not exactly.”

“So he is involved?”

“Sort of.” He utters trying to backtrack. “It’s stupid now that I think about it.”

Your gaze narrows. “Eddie. If it was enough to end our friendship, it wasn’t stupid.”

The air in the room feels like it’s thickening with every breath you take. What could Steve have possibly done to influence him? 

“You can tell me Ed.” Your voice is firm but comforting. “I promise I won’t get mad.”

He swallows the lump in his throat, a little apprehensive, but abides by your request. “It was on a Tuesday in December — I remember because of how cold it was, and because of everything that was happening with Will, after he’d seemingly come back from the dead  — and I heard you and Harrington talking.”

You nod, following along. “I remember that day too.” Your voice is laced with sadness. That was the day your friendship started to crumble. 

“I hated him back then. So much so, I almost wanted to kill the guy.” He asserts. “And then I saw you with him, how comfortable you were with each other, and I couldn’t believe you could even be around him like that after everything he’d put us through.” 

“Oh, Eddie.” You say. Steve had never done much directly to hurt you, but he’d also never stopped his friends from inflicting their cruelty. He was a bystander to the pain they caused, with the power to end it all. And that made Eddie despise him.

He smiles sadly. “I remember Steve telling you that you could never say anything about it to me.” He places the ‘it’ in air quotes. “I didn’t have the context I do now, but he was so serious about it. I figured you were dating or something and he didn’t want me to find out about it, because he knew–”

He knew how I felt about you. He wants to say, but doesn’t. 

“And the way he hugged you. I felt sick.” Eddie continues. “I couldn’t understand it. And then after that day, you started pulling away from me…I know now it was because you were trying to protect me from everything, but back then,” he pauses for a moment. “I thought it was my fault.”

“Oh, God.” You feel like you’re going to cry. Hearing his side of the story is like putting all the pieces of a thousand piece puzzle together for the first time. “It was never your fault Eddie. You have to know that.”

He nods slowly in understanding. It’s crazy what hindsight can do. “I knew you were hiding something, I just didn’t know it was that big. And so, like an idiot, I let Jeff convince me you were just like everyone else…” He stops for a moment to collect his breath. A tear escapes; you watch as it rolls down his cheek. “And then I cut you off.”

“Hey.” You reach for him, pulling him gently into a hug. You snake your arms around his back, letting his head rest on your shoulder as you hear him begin to cry. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” You soothe. “We’re okay.”

This isn’t the first time you’ve seen Eddie cry, but it certainly hurts the most. Despite everything you’d put each other through, you’d never want him to feel this way. 

“I’ve got you.” You murmur softly. “Always and forever, yeah?” 

Your utterance of the promise you had made to each other as little kids stirs something in his chest. You’d promised to always be friends. 

He lets out a half chuckle, half sob as he pulls himself back to meet your gaze. Your eyes search his; they’re filled with so much worry and so much love, Eddie feels whole. 

“Always and forever.” He whispers. 

And maybe this can be the start of a new beginning. A new kind of trust that is undeniably raw, but stronger than it has ever been. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

EXHIBIT C of Why Eddie Munson Makes You Want to Die: 

He makes your heart stop at the strangest of moments (but you want him to, so that makes it okay right?)

“You’ve gotta be kidding me Harrington.” The sound of Eddie’s voice pulls you out of your thoughts, and has you abandoning your assigned task of reshelving all of Family Video’s recently returned movies.

It’s been a couple months since you’d finally talked about everything, and honestly, things have been much better since. You’d gotten a job working with Robin and Steve, and weekly movie nights with Eddie have been going strong. Sometimes you just talk, and it’s really nice. 

“Sorry man.” Steve’s tone is anything but sorry. He’s leaning against the front till, an exasperated Eddie waiting on the other side. “I couldn’t hold onto it for you. Keith has been on my ass about not withholding the merchandise from customers just because my friends wanna see ‘em.”

“What’s this about?” You step into the conversation out of curiosity.

Robin chuckles. “Eddie’s been trying to get a copy of Top Gun again.”

“For weeks! I’ve been asking for weeks!” Eddie groans. “But Harrington’s butter fingers keep letting it slip from my grasp.” 

You smile at the remark. Your friendship with Steve has managed to stay intact, despite your discovery of his involvement in ending your relationship with Eddie. The night of your big breakthrough, you’d later found out that Steve had told Eddie to keep his distance from you, ‘if you know what’s good for you Munson’, Steve had threatened him…which when you’d found out, it had you seeing red. Eddie had assured you that Steve was only looking out for you, but at the time, it had been quite difficult for him to understand. 

Unbeknownst to Steve though, you’ve both forgiven him. ‘He doesn’t even need to know.’ You’d agreed. It was better to keep him in the dark than to create problems where they didn’t need to exist. 

“Hey, I’m just following orders.” Steve feigns innocence, arms raised in defense.

“Since when have you ever followed orders?” Robin questions, surprised. 

Fingers tapping the counter in amusement, you smirk. “Since he scored a date with some hot blonde who works at the arcade –who’s totally smokin’ by the way, nice job –” you send Steve a smug nod, “and he needs the money to take her out.”

“Ergo,” Steve muses, “I can’t afford to get fired.” 

“Pathetic.” Eddie tuts. “I can’t believe you’re doing this all for some girl.” He winks at you in amusement and you stifle a laugh. 

Steve’s honey orbs catch yours for a moment before he speaks, “Like (Y/n) said, this girl happens to be totally smokin’—way outta my league—and I’m not about to get myself fired and lose my only source of income just so you can hoard Top Gun from the rest of Hawkins.”

“Hoard?” Eddie’s voice is on the verge of being shrill. “I haven’t even seen the movie once!”

“Oh, well in that case…” Steve trails sarcastically. At Eddie’s dejected gaze he relents, “I am sorry though, truly.” He’s not even a little sorry.

“No no, I get it. I just thought our friendship meant more to you.” Eddie mocks pure disappointment. “I guess I was wrong.”

He almost pulled the ‘after everything we’ve been through’ card, but decided against it. Eddie’s saving that for when he really needs it. 

You snicker at the interaction, adding fuel to the fire, “Whatever happened to the sanctity of bros before hoes Harrington?” 

“Ah, my dear (Y/n). Clearly Steve here has lost any semblance of loyalty to the bro code.” Robin chimes in. “He’s got babes on the brain.” She wiggles her fingers mockingly. 

“How tragic.” Is your response. 

Steve scoffs at the remark, unimpressed. “Hey, it’s not like I’m the only one that works here.” He says. “If you were smarter,” he directs to Eddie, “you’d have asked either of them to put their neck out on the line to hold onto it for you.”

“We are more reliable.” You agree.

Robin grins. “And I don’t need this job that bad.” She states teasingly. “Plus, I fucking hate Keith, so even if I did need this job, I’d risk it to piss him off…”

Eddie laments adamantly. “You jest, but this is a big deal!” 

And it almost makes you laugh how serious he is about it, because the rest of you couldn’t give a damn about the ability to get your hands on Top Gun. Sure, it’s a good movie, and sure, you’d be happy to watch it again, but you’re not that eager. If he’d wanted to watch it that badly, he probably should have just asked. 

It’s not like you work in the movie store or anything…quite honestly, you’d swiped a copy off of Keith a few weeks ago and had forgotten to bring it back. Eddie could have watched the movie twenty times over if he’d bothered to say anything to you. 

In amusement of that fact, this is the moment you decide to reveal the information that could have ended this conversation minutes ago. 

“Would this be a bad time to tell you that I have a copy of the movie at home?”

“You–what?” Eddie exclaims, eyes wide in your direction. He places a hand on your arm without any thought, turning you towards him abruptly. “Jesus Christ woman, you could’ve led with that!” 

His eyes meet yours and all time seems to stop. As your breath catches in your throat, you feel like you’re going to die (maybe that’s a little dramatic, but it feels true in the moment). You’d wanted to quip back with something witty, but you can’t find the words, losing yourself in the pool of his amber orbs. There’s a fluttering in your stomach that won’t go away, daring to grow.

And you sigh. Since when had Eddie been so pretty? Since when had he ever made you feel like this? Fuck, you beg with your conscious, please say something, anything…You can’t be falling for him, this cannot be happening. 

Robin giggles at the interaction (and she never giggles). This has been the most fun she’s had in a while, watching your usually calm demeanor fall apart. “Where’s the fun in that?” She poses in your defense, finally breaking the silence. 

Steve snickers with her, standing with his hands on his hips, unfazed by your sudden muteness. He’d predicted you’d fall victim to Eddie’s charm sooner or later. He’s just happy he’s getting to watch it happen. 

“Y’alright?” Eddie asks, grin so wide and so cheeky that you’d swear he could read your mind. He knows. He fucking knows. “You kinda zoned out there for a second.”

You blink in surprise, trying to bring yourself back into focus. “Yeah.” But you don’t sound convinced, and neither are your friends. “Yeah I’m fine. ‘Was just a little surprised by the outburst.”

“Oh.” He rubs the side of your arm in apology.

“Yeah.” You mumble. The tension in the room has seemingly skyrocketed. You’re not sure if he feels it, but you definitely do. Even Steve and Robin, who are watching silently from the counter, feel it building. It’s awkward, and overtly palpable. But it’s also really sweet. 

“So,” Eddie asks, pulling his hand back from rubbing your arm. He reaches it back to rub at his own neck in nervousness. “Top Gun on Friday?” 

You nod, a breathy “yeah” escapes your lips. It seems to be the only word you can manage.

Something’s obviously just happened between you, (at least for you), and it’s something you’d rather not admit. In this moment, you’d like nothing more than to curl into a ball and simply pass away from embarrassment. 

All because of Eddie Munson. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

EXHIBIT D of Why Eddie Munson Makes You Want to Die:

He has the ability to break your heart (but you’re dumb enough to let him, so that makes it okay right?)

Wednesday rolls around, then Thursday, and now you’ve reached Friday. You haven’t spoken to Eddie since your shift on Tuesday, your plans to watch Top Gun are supposedly still a go. But you’re honestly not sure. 

You haven't gone this long without talking to him since you’d stopped talking altogether three years ago. And that makes you a little nervous. 

“(Y/n).” Dustin groans, pulling you out of your thoughts. “You’ve got to stop worrying about this.”

You pace through your kitchen, opening the oven door after shutting off the beeping timer. Pulling out a tray of chocolate chip cookies, you slide them onto the counter. “I can’t.” You admit to the teen. 

He’s just watched you stress bake for the last two hours, and it’s safe to say you almost have enough cookies to feed the entire town. 

“Take a breath.” He says, grabbing one of the fresh cookies from the tray. “Shit.” He hisses as it burns his hand. 

You swat it from his grasp, earning a quiet splat onto the floor. “Here.” You hand him one of the cooler batches…still warm enough to be gooey, but not hot enough to kill his taste buds. 

“Thanks.” He smiles sheepishly. Mouth full he mutters, “He’s gonna be here.”

“How can you be so sure?” You ask, your jaw clenched in apprehension. “I haven’t talked to him since Tuesday and I feel like he’s been avoiding me.”

“I know Eddie better than most.” Dustin licks some of the remaining chocolate off his fingers. “You’re his best friend, who he obviously has feelings for. He’s probably just overthinking things like always.”

You totally gloss over the Eddie having feelings for you part – you’re not about to open that can of worms – and skip straight to seeking reassurance. “Yeah?”

“I’m positive.” Dustin asserts. 

You inhale slowly, exhaling a quick puff of air. “Yeah.” You respond, voice trailing slightly. “I’m sure you’re right.”

A silence floats between you as the curly haired boy grabs another cookie and wolfs it down. He smiles at you in thanks. You follow his lead, taking one for yourself and relishing in the comfort the taste brings you. It feels like home. 

“He used to talk about you all the time.” Dustin cuts in abruptly, cookie long gone. You swallow a bite of yours in surprise. 

“What do you mean?” You question, brows furrowed.

He elaborates, “Before he got dragged into everything and you weren’t even speaking, Eddie would talk to me and Mike, telling us about the importance of friendship, how you can’t let the people you care about go.” He pauses thinking back on the memory. “After a few minutes, I gathered he was talking about you. I mean, I knew you used to be friends, but I didn’t know just how much you cared about each other. It sounded like he was talking about the love of his life, someone who he’d thought he’d let get away and he was punishing himself for it.”

“C’mon Dustin.” You protest. “We’re friends. Friends care about each other.”

“Not like that.” He scoffs. “You’re always checking up on each other, and the fucking doting,” he states with a groan. “It’s almost sickening how you two can be in a room full of people and act like you’re the only ones there.”

You bite the inside of your cheek, suddenly very self conscious. “Am I really that obvious about it?” 

“Totally.” His grin is wide. He sounds excited talking about you and Eddie, like he’s somehow invested in the outcome. And you suppose he is. 

When you had first met Dustin, officially and not just in passing, he had been pretty adamant on setting you up with Steve. It makes you laugh to think about it now…you and Harrington? God no. But when Dustin saw you interact with Eddie, he witnessed real human chemistry for the first time. Your history was undeniable. And even though the tension had been so palpable he could hardly breathe, he knew you’d found your perfect match. Again. Eddie had just so happened to stumble back into your trauma-filled dumpster fire of a life when you needed him most. 

The memory fades as you catch each other’s gaze. And the next thing out of Dustin’s mouth catches you completely off guard. 

“Steve told me on Tuesday, he thought you were going to jump each other’s bones on the Family Video returns table.”

You almost choke on the cookie you had just been chewing. “He said what?!” The look on your face is incredulous. “Steve really shouldn’t be talking to you about things like that.”

“Relax.” He puffs out his chest. “I’m fifteen and I have a girlfriend. You can’t seriously think I’m that naive.”

“I guess.” You secede, still thinking of him as the little kid you and Steve fought demogorgons with at the abandoned junkyard. “But anything Steve told you is bullshit — nothing of that sort happened, it was only a moment.”

“A momentary eye fuck you mean.”

You shake your head in mock disappointment. “Jesus Dustin, no.”

“Fine, fine.” He relents, arms raised in defense. “But if you want my honest opinion,” he says more seriously now. “I've seen Eddie with you in his life, and I’ve seen him without — trust me, he’s much happier when you’re around.”

Your gaze softens at his authenticity. “You really think so?” 

He nods. “Know so.”

Dustin’s right. Maybe you're just letting your insecurities get the better of you. Or maybe you have a right to be nervous. He’d walked out of your life once, what’s to stop him from doing it again?

It really doesn’t take much for you to realize the power Eddie has over you. If he wanted to, he could take your heart (which already so dangerously belongs to him), and shatter it into an insurmountable number of pieces. Quite honestly, that might be the most terrifying thing about having feelings this big. You’d barely survived losing him the last time, and that was before you’d even considered admitting there might be something more between you.  

You’re not sure what you’d do now, or if you’d even come out of it alive. Physically you’d likely be fine, but mentally and emotionally? You’d be better off dead. 

You’re caught by surprise when Dustin is suddenly nudging you, hissing at you – something about answering something – and your attention snaps to him. 

“(Y/n).” He waves, pointing towards the phone.

It rings on the wall beside you, breaking the flow of your vulnerable thought pattern. You reach over to pick it up, Dustin taking this as a chance to pop another cookie in his mouth. 

 “(L/n) residence.” You answer.

“Hey.” Eddie’s voice travels through the receiver. 

“Hi.” You respond, trying not to sound too excited. You don’t want to scare him away. 

From the other side, he smiles; he’d missed talking to you. After Tuesday, he’d struggled with whatever moment had happened between you. His mind couldn’t process the thought that maybe you felt the same as him and he needed time to think it all through.

“Sorry for not calling earlier.” He says. “I just wanted to make sure we’re still on for tonight?”

A grin creeps its way onto your face. Dustin stops himself from laughing at the look that’s adorning your features. “Of course!” You fiddle with the phone cord anxiously. “My place at 7?”

“Sounds good.” He murmurs. 

“Great, okay.” You reply. “See you then.”

“See ya.” He says.

You hang up the phone with the biggest sigh of relief. “Fuck.” You breathe. 

“I told you he’d be here.” Dustin’s grin is smug. Shit eating doesn’t even begin to cover it.

You agree begrudgingly. “You did. I promise not to doubt you next time.”

He chuckles. “I’ll be sure to remind you of that next time I do something incredibly stupid.”

“Very funny.” You grimace slightly, feeling like your heart is beating out of your chest.

Dustin notices quickly and eyes you in amusement, no concern whatsoever for your current state of being. “You okay?” He asks out of pure enjoyment.

“Yeah.” You smile, breathing slowly to try and slow your heartbeat. “Just, why does it feel like this? Talking to Eddie, it’s never been like this.”

Dustin laughs. “Because you’re in love with him. And now you know it.” 

Love feels like too strong a word, and simultaneously not strong enough.

“Shit…” You groan, dragging it out like your life depends on it. Your head falls into your hands and you swear you can feel the vainglorious pride radiating from Dustin’s direction. He’s so satisfied with himself it almost makes you laugh. 

Fuck that little shit. You hate that he’s right. You hate even more how defenseless this makes you. 

You can’t believe you’ve given Eddie the key to your heart. There was a time a few years ago where you had been sure it would happen. That was, before everything fell apart. Though you suppose, despite all the obstacles along the way, it was only a matter of time. 

It still shocks you nonetheless.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

+ 1

The end credits roll across your television screen, Tom Cruise and Top Gun the only ones you’re really able to pay attention to. You’d seen this movie before…it wasn’t like you really needed to watch out for anything. If you’re being honest, you had so much more to focus on.

Like the beginning of your night for instance…

Eddie had arrived perfectly on time with a bag of microwavable popcorn, and a shy greeting. There hadn’t been much talking since, apart from a couple apologies when your hands would graze while reaching into the bowl for a popcorn kernel or two. Or when you had to pause it so Eddie could go use the restroom. It was totally and utterly bizarre how quiet it had been, unlike any of your previous movie nights where you’d regularly quip stupid lines, mocking the characters back at each other.

Awkward doesn’t even begin to explain it. And the tension was so thick — what’s that saying? — you could cut it with a knife…You'd need a pretty sharp damn knife.

“So,” you start by flicking on the lamp beside you, hoping to relieve some of the stiffness in the room, “what’d you think? Was it as good as you were expecting?”

Truth be told, Eddie hadn’t paid attention to a single second. And for all the weeks he’d begged Steve for a copy of the movie, the second he got the chance to watch it, all he could focus on was you. 

“I wouldn’t know.” He answers honestly. “I can’t remember.”

You tilt your head in confusion. “But we just watched it.”

“I didn’t.” His voice is so soft, yet so serious. “Couldn’t focus.” He furthers. 

“Then what were you focusing on?” You’d be lying if you said you weren’t hoping he was thinking of you.

He shrugs, but you can tell there’s more to it. He’s trying to be nonchalant so you think he’s calmer than he actually is. 

“Us.” He nearly whispers. “You, me — whatever line we’re teetering on crossing. I can’t get it out of my head.”

His words strike a chord with you. “Neither can I.” You admit. “I’m uh, I’m sorry for making things awkward on Tuesday, I just, something felt—”

“Different.” He finishes for you. That’s the word you’d been looking for. 

“Yeah.” Is your quiet response. “Scary different,” you elaborate, “but good different.”

He hums in agreement. “So it wasn’t just me then?” He asks hopefully. “Because I was certain you’d finally realized how I felt about you and just didn’t know how to let me down easy.”

A delicate laugh bubbles from your throat. “When you touched me, my mind went into overdrive and all I could think about was how much I wished this could be all the time.” You tell him your perspective, and a smile grows on his face. “And it was terrifying, because I hadn’t had thoughts or feelings like that since…” You trail, but he knows exactly what you mean.

“I don’t think I ever stopped having feelings for you.”

That causes your heart to clench. 

“Can I kiss you?” You ask, taking Eddie by surprise. It’s not too sudden by any means, but he had always thought he’d be the one to make the first move, if it ever happened. 

But, he supposes, he should’ve expected it from you. You’d always been ten steps ahead of him.

He blinks, still in disbelief. “Please.” He mumbles. “Tell me this is real.”

You smile, scooting forward to place a soft slow kiss on his lips. “It’s real.” You murmur against him. “I promise.”

His breath is airy and light against your skin as he captures your lips in another kiss, this time needier. He’s been waiting for a moment like this for years, and he’s not about to let you slip out of his grasp. Your arms wrap around his shoulders as you begin playing gently with his hair. At the action, he shifts you inevitably closer, lips coming down to rest in the crook of your neck.  

“God, you have no idea what you do to me.” Eddie hums, pulling away to get a good look at your face. 

You look perfect, your eyes filled with wonderment, like a rose in first bloom. “If it’s anything like what you do to me,” your lips part effortlessly as you lean in to whisper in his ear, “then I have a pretty good idea.”

A shiver runs down Eddie’s spine. This feels like a dream, this has to be a dream. To further convince himself it’s not, he runs a hand down your cheek, eyes searching yours for any sense of regret or mistrust. 

He can’t find any, and neither can you. 

“I love you.” He lets it drift from his mouth with ease. It’s not the first time he’s told you he loves you, but it’s the first time he’s said it like this. 

“I love you too Eddie.” Being sure to add it, you quip teasingly, “forever and always.” A reassurance from your childhood.

He laughs at the remark. A true laugh, filled with a melodic tone and pure contentment. “Forever and always.” He repeats. 

As he pulls you into his side, you let your head rest on his chest, feeling it rise and fall with each breath. The silence feels comfortable, nice even. And for the first time in a really long time, you feel happy.  

So yeah, sometimes he makes you want to die. But he also, equally shows you that as long as there’s a breath left in your body, that life is worth living.

Eddie Munson, as much as he makes you want to die, he makes you want to live. 

[decoloraa]

i may or may not want more Matthias info. For science, of course. drop the lore pls

You asked and you shall receive!

Jung grew up in a small village close to the Drachman border, as the middle child of a rural family. Since his childhood he had learned about the looming threat that comes from Drachma, which is why he joined the military once he was old enough. He wanted to protect the country, but also prove himself and get out of the village as quickly as possible. His military academy years were rather uneventful and he didn’t really stand out with his skills, which were relatively average at that time. After his graduation, he was transferred to Fort Briggs.

Briggs back then was completely different from what it is during canon time. Disputes between Drachma and Briggs were a constant problem and truces were impossible to achieve. On top of that the Fort was in a bad shape, literally and metaphorically. Between the soldiers there was nothing of the loyalty and cohesion that we see in Brotherhood and in the military Briggs was seen as the last stop of one's military career.

When Jung came to Briggs, he quickly understood how crucial Briggs was for the safety of the country and that something needed to change for it to stay stable. Because of that, Jung decided to climb up the military ladder to get more and more commanding authority. And he was very successful at it: There were little people at that time that actually put an effort in their work and Jung was smart. On top of that he seemed to be a naturally effective leader. After honing his skills through years of practice, he eventually became a respected soldier whom many people looked up to.

Jung shaped Fort Briggs quite a lot, he managed to improve its fighting force and people began to get loyal to the Fort and actually started to put effort and meaning into their work. Because of his own success, Jung’s goal started to change: He didn’t just want to shape the Fort, but also climb to its top and take the seat of commanding officer. And he had good odds at that!

Briggs’ current general was growing close to retirement and would name a successor from within the Fort. It was very unlikely someone from Central city was eager to take his place, after all Briggs was still seen as someone’s end of their career. On top of that the Ishvalan Civil war had just started and everyone in Central was eager to prove themselves in the war.

With his standing at the Fort and a big group of loyal soldiers siding with him, Jung is more than certain that he would take the seat as commanding officer. However, there is still another young soldier that climbed Briggs ranks and is ready to take the command: Olivier

And this is we’re he ties into the story: Jung is Olivier’s rival in becoming Briggs’ commanding officer. Both of them are highly skilled, smart and have loyalties within the Fort. Olivier is determined to beat him, whereas Jung doesn’t really see her as a proper threat. While he sees her skills in fighting and leadership, he doesn’t think she has what it takes to command to Fort (plus she’s four years younger than him).

To him, Olivier’s strategic steps are more than apparent and she’s easy to anticipate. However she managed to puzzle him with her latest move. Jung doesn’t understand why she brought the two young men to the Fort, after all none of them are soldiers. He does see potential in the young doctor, even if he just finished his medical training. However Jung just can’t understand why she would bring the other man here. Though if Jung is certain of something, it’s that the grey haired man is hiding something.

[jennycalendar]

pls explain the jennyangel thing because i truly do not understand

yes absolutely! my jennyangel tag is a mess. it would help all of us as a society if i consolidated my thoughts.

so let's start from angel's perspective. jenny is someone who in a lot of ways metaphorically represents the enduring spirit of the girl he killed -- the girl who also changed his life by being loved, because her family made him who he is. the fact that such store is placed in that girl as a martyr to the point where her descendants are willing to serve one of their own up on a platter to angelus, putting her in close proximity to him in such a way that will place her in serious danger should he feel inclined to hurt her -- a young woman with lots of potential, her life ahead of her, moving through this world with genuinely good intentions -- is so fucking loaded. jenny being here and believing in him is really significant considering what he did to her family. she represents a chance at redemption. being forgiven by her means that there is a possibility that he, as he is, can be seen as a good person. her belief redefines his curse as something given to him to resurrect a man who she believes can do good in the world -- and i think angel would find that tempting in a whole lot of different ways.

and also -- hello! amends! jenny as the most constant face of angel's torment! jenny as the one who is most effective in pulling him down into the darkness! leaning in all close and being all touchy and whispering about how nice it would be to fuck buffy and give up! jenny represents SO MUCH to angel, even if he doesn't ever actually articulate it!

meanwhile, on jenny's side of the equation, angel is literally the same thing to her that he is to buffy and drusilla. she was introduced to the concept of him in the formative years of her life -- possibly even earlier than buffy and dru, as we'd ballpark their first encounters with him as in their teens, & jenny has known about angelus since CHILDHOOD -- and while she initially comes to sunnydale to watch him, we don't see her as ever actually dedicated to that mission. she's mostly just living her life before the (poorly written horrible bad) backstory kicks in. which, sure, retcon consequences, but also: there is this accidentally created implication that this has never been a mission jenny's wholeheartedly believed in, & that angel saving her life was really the final nail in the coffin (in more ways than one! ha ha ha). she has spent her entire childhood with the threat of him hanging over her head, and i think it would be more than natural for her to be curious in a lot of different ways, including (privately) sexually. there is nothing more Gothic Romance (and also nothing more jenny) than the allure of the forbidden, and this is a mysteriously murderous older man known as "the one with the angelic face" who ostensibly took an interest in one of jenny's family members. AND, again, this is exactly the same sitch as buffy and drusilla! she grew up in the shadows of what was done to the people around her. so much of what she became was in response to shit he did. he had a huge hand in shaping her and i think she'd have very complicated feelings about that.

i say very flippantly sometimes that i think making out would solve them, but my honest onion is i think it is such a compelling and fucked up and deeply weird dynamic & there's definitely mutual unresolved/unrealized sexual attraction in canon. i don't think it's ever anything either of them would pursue or even want to admit to -- and i also don't think that in canon it ever really becomes A Thing -- but i do absolutely think that at the very LEAST jenny considered the notion of being courted by angelus in her teens (in a subconscious sexual fantasy kinda way), even if she's mostly let go of that by the time canon starts. they have had a huge hand in shaping each other's identity and that is so weird and i think they should kiss about it.

[sere-ness-ima]

HWS Poland during the partitions: the full timeline (1795-1918) [1]

...but it will take a long time to write, so I will divide the infodump into parts. Haha, divide into parts, get it?? Because Polan–

<concering muffled noises>

...this part contains the following topics:

[1.1] Why offing Poland during the partitions is a terrible move [an essay-flavoured rant]

[1.2] What I'm going for in shaping my hetalia universe [a short boring disclaimer]

[1.3] TL;DR Feliks' timeline 1795-1918 [because I'm not a clickbait type]

The actual essays [nessays?] detailing the events and providing contexts and sources will come later, and hell am I excited for it.

[1.1] An introduction

I’ve been sitting on it for almost 10 years at this point, which is a lot of time to sacrifice to a fictional character’s fictional biography. And I’m speaking about 123 years of Poland’s geographical non-existence, which even my fellow Polish fanfiction writers often skip by unaliving him and only letting him resurrect in 1918 after regaining independence, with cool phoenix metaphors and a jazzy remix of *Poland is not lost yet*.

It's not that I hate this concept utterly, because I have even attempted to write a fic just like that once. I couldn’t resist the picture of Poland, the snobby, aristocratic, moustached, hot-headed peasant-owner from the end of the 18th century, suddenly waking up in the middle of barely-post-WW1 turmoil, with the world having changed SO MUCH since the times he last remembers that he’s like a caveman released from a block of ice in the middle of modern-day New York. Oh, yeah, and his job is to rebuild a country which he lost- wait, he losT FOR HOW LONG???

Yeah, I like the idea. It would be a fascinating comedy plot. But let’s be realistic. The clue of all my rambling is, Poland just before the partitions and just after the partitions are two completely different people, but there’s a road between them, a story of Feliks changing drastically over the 123 years, a story which is absolutely delightful, emotional, hilarious, and honestly the director of The World should get an award for it, because oh boy does Feliks’ character arc HIT HARD. (And I’m not the director here. I’m the film editor, at best. Just choosing the best scenes to bring to light based on a personal whim.)

[1.2] A disclaimer

My hetalia universe works on my own custom-made rules. I only touch canon when convenient, otherwise ignoring it completely. My rule of thumb is to make the concept of personifications as realistic as possible and to bring the “Ness Cinematic Universe” as close to a normal history textbook as possible [some people are just built different, like and subscribe if your goal is to write a history textbook of a fic too!]. I strive for historical accuracy here – but the Rule of Cool takes priority when needed, because I also strive for whatever my heart desires. All my stuff are of the “public hetalia” variety unless stated otherwise. It means the personifications and their identity are usually public knowledge and their existence is a natural phenomenon in-universe.

[1.3] HWS Poland's 19th century timeline: TL;DR

(i'm about to elaborate on each point from this list in my future posts.)

1795 – the third partition. According to their earlier agreement, Russia takes Lithuania east and Prussia takes Poland west.

1796 – Poland moves through Saxony to France… 1797 – ...and from France to Italy, where the famous Polish legions in Italy are starting to form.

1797-1814 – Poland’s Great Napoleonic Adventure :) [to be elaborated on]

1815 – the previous agreements between the partitioning sides get nullified at the congress of Vienna. Feliks has no other way but to agree on a personal union with Russia under certain conditions.

1815-1830 – he then lives a mildly peaceful life in Warsaw, but the conditions aren’t met and the tsar’s brother is unbearable.

1830-31 – Feliks revolts in Warsaw.

1831-37 – prison time (Schliesselburg fortress, Russia)

1838-1848 – Poland’s Great Emigration :) (his mental health rapidly decreasing, he moves to live in France and travels here and there around western Europe. You can insert your ship content here, though.)

1848 – Feliks revolts in Germany.

1848-1849 – Feliks revolts in Hungary.

1849-185X – prison time (Spielberg castle, Austria [nowadays Czech])

185X – 1861 – passed from Austria to Russia, he once again accepts an offer to sit calmly in Warsaw and try not to break anything. [the plot of BSA the fic happens here – for those who know :) you can also use this time for your ship content.]

1861-1863 – mildly chaos with occassional patches of prison time (Warsaw Citadel)

1863-64 – Feliks revolts in Warsaw.

1864-1866 – Poland’s Not So Great Exile To Siberia :)

1866 – Feliks revolts in Siberia.

1867-1890 – a free time slot. Show your OTP some love here. Personally I want to see him in Austria-Hungary, Prussia works too. So does going west and crying into France’s sleeve. So does prison time in Irkutsk, Siberia. Let him have a trip to China. Or Australia. Do your worst.

1891-190X – I’d love to see him in Russia around here, though, in Petersburg. At least when he’s not running wild and committing crimes.

190X-1914 – I’m currently reworking this section. The old version had him start WW1 in Prussia, in the Prussian army, then switch to the Russian side. The new one will probably have him do the exact opposite, so he’d be starting in Russian.

1914-16 – not like it matters, because he manages to fight for all the three occupants’ armies (until they notice he's jumping sides and...

1916-1918 – ...have him sit on his ass till the end of the war).

1918 – he finds his people eventually, or they find him. And the real fight starts now. :)

...see you in the next nessay, which will probably be all about the three acts of partitions and making an attempt to paint a picture of Feliks the moment his country collapses? We'll answer cool questions like:

"should the partitions be blamed on Feliks or is he helpless about his people's stupid decisions",

"was the canon partitions scene with Poland laying in the snow actually the battle of Maciejowice (1794)",

"is Austria the kind one, because you know, Hungary likes Poland"

"yeah but how can we make it pruspol" And more! Maybe I'll even add a picture to the wall of text. As a treat.

[sunflowerboymilo]

Hello I must talk about Hobie Brown or I will actively die. I have been hyper focusing on this man since I saw ATSP. This is a collection of things that I’ve seen others pointed out or my own thoughts compiled into one big list. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ACROSS THE SPIDERVERSE

The scene where Pavi, Gwen and Miles chase Spot to the force field just before Hobie shows up gives us the basic premise of this technology. It is “impossible” to go through. Miles tries anyway and is struggling with it.

Absolutely no hesitation from Hobie as he blasts through the force field with a wave of sound and a kick.

He does a cool pose. What a nerd.

Hobie canonically knows how to get through the force fields, which makes a lot of sense for his character.

Him and Pavi have a v cute moment and he definitely gives big brother energy.

He immediately knows who Miles is by Universe, which is interesting, isn’t it?

Despite Miles showing obvious irritation/dislike for him, he gives him advice, but also ribs him. Huge big brother vibes to the spider band. Also confirms that he knows exactly how to dismantle the force field and then teaches Miles.

Goes against the dynamic of how every other spider person has introduced themselves.

“And I was bitten by a … wouldn’t you like to know?” >:) Hot

Refuses to show off secret identity which is weird right? He just said his name. Specifically, he doesn’t show his face until Spot isn’t close by. Is he worried about retaliation?

We learn he is an activist, an anarchist, hates the AM, hates the PM, hates labels.

I personally think that his rant about hero being a term used by “self-mythologizing narcissistic autocrat” is targeted. Probably at Miguel who we later learn very much thinks of himself as the good guy.

This man has read Marx and that’s hot.

Him and Gwen are close and this annoys Miles. He brings it up casually and is very nonchalant about her leaving stuff at his place. I def think they are platonic. Specifically I think he’s queer and she’s like way too young for him.

“Are those my chucks?” “Heh.” SIBLING VIIIIIIBES also someone pointed out that specifically her shoes don’t change like his do and that they’re in her size which probably means he bought them and pretended to leave them out

Him saying he doesn’t believe in teams is interesting to me. He’s an anarchist. What do you mean he doesn’t believe in teams??? Nah nah I think this is much more specific. One of two possibilities I think. 1) Lost a lot of people and teams are scary. It means you care about someone and trust someone, and you could lose them. 2) He’s specifically taking about the Spider Society and/or another “team” that screwed him over/other people over. Juries still out, but it doesn’t make sense.

He hates consistency, yet he’s consistently funny? Doesn’t believe in comedy, yet he makes me laugh so much? Curious 🧐

He and Gwen are immediately going to pick Miles back up after the blast from Spot. Mans cares.

“I’ll do it, but not because you told me to.” DYING. STOOOOOP

Him and Gwen do the exact same technique to pull up the building which means more than likely he taught her that.

This man is wearing full skinny jeans, doc mhartins, leather vest and carrying a guitar. He is DEDICATED to the aesthetic.

Despite knowing that Pav is supposed to lose either the inspector or his Gwen, he immediately goes to help save her.

Does not scold or patronize Miles after he “messed up”. Encourages him and hypes him up.

“It’s a metaphor for capitalism.” 💀

“I don’t follow orders and neither does he.” Hobie is trying to persuade Miles not to go back to HQ. He already knows something will happen if he goes, but he follows anyway knowing.

“I was this cool the whole time.” YEAH YOU WERE!

“Bit much, innit?” Slowly building up negativity to the society. He knows how to talk people out of joining things like this.

GWENDY!!! Adorable and not being scolding

“How much have you told him? Bout his place in all of this.” Assessing the situation while Jessica is right in front of them and can most likely hear everything.

Also knows A LOT about what’s going on. That Miles is a key player, an anomaly. That he is someone who means a lot to his friend, Gwen, and that he matters in taking this place down.

“Maybe not enough.” Miles doesn’t even know about glitching, which means he’s coming from a place of ignorance to the whole thing.

“Apart from having a great name? Yeah it’s super cool and not creepy.” Planting the seed about this place whereas Gwen is downplaying the red flags.

“Bet this doesn’t even do anything.” Actively stealing from this place to build the watch more than likely, and is showing the security theatre of the place. Showing Miles that this place isn’t as high tech and air tight as one would think.

“Propaganda, bro! It’s to distract you from the truth.” His voice is so sincere here, and it’s for sure how he feels. But when Miles pushes back, he changes tactics.

“I ain’t got a Scooby Doo mate.” Yes he does. He knows something, or at least has theories. Also keeping it nonchalant and chill so as not to upset Miles, which would push him further into the Society.

“That’s what they want.” He is correct though. We’ve seen they keep things from people in the society if they think it will make things go smoother.

“Why do you want to be apart of this stuff?” Trying to figure out what he’s missing from home that would make him want to join this cult

“Make your own watch.” Not only does he believe Miles can do that himself, but he’s actively stealing parts to do just that.

The little roll he does and hanging off that thing 😍😳😩🥵 God he’s just so casually hot

“Bet you got a nice set up, nice parents.” Checking on his living situation, establishing if he has parents what kind of relationship he has with them.

The way he looks at Miles when he says he got in a fight with his parents is very telling. It’s like a seriously? kind of face. In the comics, he is an orphan which I think will carry over, so it makes sense he might be jealous.

“That’s a bloody shame. Cuz you’re not ready for everybody else.” He knows about the canon events and if Miles dad isn’t dead, he won’t want to join if he knows.

Trying to convince him not to join, and almost pitting his happy home life against the Spider Society. After that line it immediately cuts to Miguel which means he knows about Miguel’s hatred for him/intentions for him

Physically puts himself in Miles way to block him from going forward.

“The whole point of being Spider-Man is your independence. Being your own boss, you don’t need all this.” Trying to convince Miles right before they go in. He has a chance to run right now without all the chaos that will happen. He’s trying to give him a chance to run.

“Then why are you here?” “Looking out for my drummer is all.” He’s looking out for Gwen and for Miles. Putting himself in a place that allowed horrible stuff to happen to him and his friends. More stealing for the watch.

“Alright, squashed! But don’t enlist until you know what war you’re fighting.” Doesn’t want to test Miles or Gwen when they still have allegiance to this place. Giving him one last piece of advice so he continues to ask questions and not blindly trust.

Hobie is actively hiding in the shadows trying not to be noticed. Obviously knows Miguel is a threat.

He looks so anxious when Miguel speaks to Miles. Knows what’s to come and is ready to throw down. Possibly afraid of him.

Seems unphased when the box is thrown at Miles. Bad home life? Knows Miguel’s temper is bad?

Immediately eats the Empanada. Based.

The little wave he does. It’s so sarcastic and obviously making fun of him.

Puts his feet up on something, acting all cool and aloof.

“I’m ain’t even here. Or here.” He’s testing Miguel’s patience and having a blast doing so. Also he’s sneaking around looking at shit and being fairly open about it.

“The kids an anarchist.” V cute, loves how it pisses of Miguel

“Taking a crap on the establishment? I salute you.” She obviously knows him as she likes being picked up by him. V cute together. He’s great with kids.

Kind of fades in and out as the tension escalates.

“Yeah what of it?” Defensive much? Was once close with a cop. My personal head cannon is that something forced him to kill a cop and he’s embraced it. More than likely the fact that in his universe in the comics Venom is used on cops to make them stronger.

Reminds Miles how to break free when he is panicking.

THAT SMIIIIIIRK 😭😍😳

“Just for the record I quit.” Actively leaving the watch so no possibility of being tracked and in the middle of the commotion so nobody is paying attention.

Makes a watch for Gwen!!!!!! Also he makes it all punk which confirms that stuff from his universe stays punk after leaving, interesting.

Joins the Spider band!!! He def believes in teams.

Editing to add “You’re not helping.” “Good.” Like god he’s such a rebel and actively antagonizing the situation bc he knows where this is going. Thank you Robnicole for the note!

Also adding to point out that his Docs are laced with blue shoelaces which if you weren’t aware is a code in the punk community. Blue signified you’ve killed a cop.

[maimaiapologist]

Tell me MORE ABOUT SAL:

👁🍙🚙❔(Yorinobu ofc)

tysm for asking!!! <3 it means a lot! (questions taken from here!) again, sal's canon is a huge wip so i need to figure out a lot of things.

👁 - Sandayu Oda: Answered here!

🍙 - Goro Takemura: Also answered in the link above!

🚙- Panam Palmer: Panam and Sal have very alike personality types: stubborn, energetic, and with a very strong temper. Add similar backgrounds as nomads and it’s the perfect recipe for a friendship that also has a lot of ups and downs. During the Hellman job, the two quickly get along and become buddies in mayhem, shooting Raffens and annoying Saul. But things get dicey when the Relic situation gets worse and Sal refuses to open up, not wanting to further harm Panam or the rest of the Aldecaldos, and Panam takes that as an offense and gets angry with her. (Can you tell that Relic fuckery causes half of Sal’s relationships to fall apart?) Thankfully, after Mikoshi, the two get their shit together and make up, with Sal even living with the ‘Caldos for some time, although I’m still trying to figure out if Yorinobu joins them or if the two lovebirds set off in order to keep Panam and the rest of the family safe. Either way, Sal and Panam remain friends for a long time and have a very close relationship, almost like sisters.

❔- Yorinobu Arasaka: I could write a whole novel about these two, and I’m actually thinking of doing so (can’t promise that I will finish it, though), but to avoid clogging your dash, I’ll be as brief as possible and put this under a cut.

Sal was vaguely familiar with Yorinobu before she got the heist job, mostly thanks to screamsheets, and regarded him as your average corporate playboy who wasted away his wealth and privilege on being a rebel without a cause; and her impression continued right up until the heist, when he murdered his own father in front of her. To Sal, who grew up in a nomad clan and very family-oriented cultures, seeing someone murder their own blood was shocking, to say the least, and thought that Yorinobu was a despot who was willing to use violence to his own game.

It wasn’t until she had to forcibly talk to him for the first time, after being captured by Arasaka forces during Hanako’s botched interrogation, that her impression of him changed. As shitty as it might sound, both saw in each other someone they could use to further their own goals: Sal, to finally get help (and Johnny out of her head) and Yorinobu, to further his plans of destroying Arasaka from the inside. Mind you, this is way before Sal makes contact with Alt or Hellman, so she sees Yorinobu as her only way in. She’ll take care of him later once everything is done, and take Arasaka down in the process, right? Right?

And, as I have said before: their story is a big ole fucking WIP so I haven’t got the specific details of how they come to share a mutual goal. There’s probably a lot of overly inquisitive questions by Sal and oversharing about childhood and trauma, Relic malfunctions, also a lot of questioning on Yorinobu’s part regarding the heist and all the shit that had been swept under the rug coming to light. And, in the end, when two people who’ve spent their whole life drifting and feeling like they don’t belong anywhere start sharing heart-to-hearts about family, violence, mortality, and grief, there’s bound to be some kind of connection.

Their relationship can get tumultuous—especially before Mikoshi, when both the pressure of Sal’s incoming death and the Relic chip turning her brain into jelly become the cause of many arguments that end up exploding because that’s what happens when two stubborn people get together. It has a lot of highs and downs, and even after the Relic’s taken care of and Arasaka has been (metaphorically) nuked, there’s still a rocky road ahead. But with him, Sal feels something she hasn’t felt in years: belonging, understanding, a place to be, and the joy of being in a relationship with someone who makes her appreciate the beauty of the world no matter how fucked up it might be. 

[swiftsaltsweet]

Wednesday Season 2: Hyde in the Shadows (Fanfic)

Episode 1A: Woe-fore art thou Wednesday?

Characters: Wednesday and Enid (ft returning chars and new OCs)

Pairing: Wenclair

Important info: VERY Slow Burn, Canon Compliant (with season 1), read A/N For more details on everything.

Summary:  Stalking, murders, troubling visions, sins of the past, and a little bit of kidnapping. Wednesday's start of the second semester isn't a normal one, but when is her life ever "normal?" Wednesday has new mysteries to solve and catastrophes prevent, with the help of her overly enthusiastic roommate Enid, she just has to deal with some annoying relatives first.

Other Sites: AO3 and Fanfic.net

A/N: Can't wait for S2 so I'll make my own. Gonna try to keep it as canon compliant from Season 1 as I can. For those who care about ships, I do have plans for Wenclair but I hope you like a crock pot slow cooker cause that's what you're getting babes. You'll obvie have to deal with Ajax/Enid having/had feelings for each other (as well as me dealing/resolving the rest of this accursed love pentagon XP), again I'm being canon compliant. And that also means me trying to pace it more like the TV show (so enjoy my "episode" format).

Oh yeah OC warning, cause like…I kinda have to? It's not like we have a lot of characters and we'll need new people for new things. XP

Didn't know I'd be publishing it roughly right when Netflix announced S2! Was going to publish this when I knew I got ep 2 done but eh, que sera sera.

Anyway, not beta read, we'll live or die by my disembodied hands! ;w;/

________________________________________________________________

It was a cold late-January day, the last of the students were bustling through the gates of Nevermore, excited for the new school semester to come. Students said their goodbyes to their families, some more hastily than others. One such student was Enid Sinclair, a late bloomer werewolf at Nevermore.

"Ok sweetie, chin up, fangs on, claws out!" Enid's mother adjusted the collar of Enid's clothes.

"C'mon give us a growl," Enid's four older brothers howled.

Enid groaned inwardly, shooting her claws out and making a 'rawring' motion with them, "Grrr…." She attempted to growl, but only exceeded with placid enthusiasm.

She was a bright and cheerful girl who never, or at least usually, let anything hold her back…. even if said things were her older brothers and overbearing mother. Again, usually.

"Oh, you can do better than that!" her mother scoffed, rapping Enid's shoulder lightly, "Well…. never mind. I've learned to tamper my expectations." She then patted down Enid's newly long bangs, making sure it framed and covered the left side of her daughter's face just right.

Enid held back from rolling her eyes. She just needed to last a few more seconds and she could finally be free.

"Now you listen here, it's a new start of the new year, a lot can change! A lot changed last year, so-" Enid just nodded her head to whatever her mother was saying. It was probably something Enid heard a thousand times over the winter vacation anyway.

And did Enid have a very long winter vacation, both in a metaphorical sense and literal. Everyone at Nevermore had an early vacation due to the events that happened last year. Where there was a mass murderer running around, one of their teachers turned on them, had their principal killed, and summoned a racist pilgrim ghost. Understandably, the school closed its gates on the semester early so it could get itself sorted for the next year.

But Enid's break felt extra-long, possibly because of how much she had to spend with her family. Not that she didn't love her family, but they could really get under her fur at times. It didn't help much that all her friends were busy that winter.

She tried seeing if she could visit Yoko, one of Enid's closest friends who happened to be a vampire. Sadly, she was spending her break with family. It was a pilgrimage to the birthlands of her people. Enid was interested to hear the details of their trip but became squeamish when she realized one location involved people being pierced through with spikes.

The only person she was able to visit was her boyfriend, Ajax, a gorgon. Which would've been nice if not for her mother's judgmental attitude the whole time. Plus, she really wanted to spend some girl time with her other friends.

Enid easily ran through her vast list of friends, but all of them were busy, either for personal reasons or their families had taken advantage of the extra-long time off to spend as much time with their children before they shipped them back off to the boarding school for outcasts.

Enid's last remaining hope had been Wednesday Addams, her new bestie and roomie at Nevermore. They had a rocky start to their friendship, but Enid knew they totes got closer over the time they spent at school.

It was hard to describe Wednesday Addams, she was a peculiar person. She was a girl with a tongue as sharp as a knife and a personality as dark as the black clothes she wore; with a penchant for visions and detestable morbid hobbies, and a strange, detached hand as a….. pet? No, more like a family member. Enid still wasn't sure how Wednesday's disembodied hand, named Thing, was related to her family, but he had become a close companion to Enid as well.

She and Wednesday (and Thing) had been in close correspondence throughout the winter break, via letters. Despite another student at the school, Xavier, having gifted Wednesday a cellphone at the end of the school year previously. Wednesday was adamant to not use it, and insisted they only talk through letters. It was a bit archaic, but it was sweet in its own way. Enid's only issue is that Wednesday wouldn't come visit her. Nor would she let Enid come visit her own house.

Of course, Enid was dejected she couldn't spend time with them, but she respected Wednesday's boundaries. When Wednesday said "no" she meant it, and if you didn't listen, you'd probably wake up with one less finger on your hand.

And so, Enid's very long winter break was now over. She was able to see her friends again!

Enid wrapped up her goodbyes with her parents and brothers, hugging her father, dodging her brother's roughhousing, and ignoring her mother's final jabs of disapproval for something or other; and quickly ran into the school, keeping an eye out for her friends as she passed by. She made her way up to her dorm room, but was met with emptiness, sans her luggage.

Enid thought that Wednesday might be in, since it had been a few hours since she and her family had brought her bags up and gone out to eat. But it appeared that wasn't the case.

She sighed, and quickly turned out of the room and ran downstairs, keeping an eye out for anyone she knew, craving some kind of "human" interaction that she didn't share blood with. Still no one. She soon found herself at the foot of Edgar Allen Poe's statue, and an idea popped into her head. She looked around the corridor, and upon seeing no one there, snapped her fingers twice. A secret passage soon opened before her, and she quickly went through.

"There's too many people," Enid heard a regal voice complaining as she descended the stairs, it was Bianca, a siren and Queen Bee of Nevermore.

"I thought you loved the people's adoration!" a sarcastic voice rang out, it was Xavier, a psychic and King of Nevermore, "Isn't it the more the better?" The smirk he wore quickly flashed away after Bianca flicked his forehead.

"So, this is where you guys were hiding away," Enid announced as she bounced off the last step.

"Having a secret hideout does have its advantages," a nervous chuckle came from around the corner, it was Ajax.

Enid blushed and gave Ajax a hug before crossing to the other side of the room to stand near another siren and friend, Divina, "Sooooo, why are you guys hiding down here?"

"Like I said, 'Too many people,'" Bianca waved her hand lazily above her head, addressing the ceiling and the muffled kerfuffle above them, "The dorms are too crowded and noisy with everyone going to and fro. It's just easier to hide out here for the next few hours."

"Ah I see," Enid looked around the secret room, a special hideout for a club called the "Nightshades," just a place where a bunch of popular kids decided to hang out. Xavier, Bianca, Ajax, and the two siren twins, Kent and Divina, were there, but one last prominent member was missing, "Has Yoko not arrived yet?"

Divina pushed her lips and shook her head, "Nope, haven't seen her, but then again we've been down here this whole time."

"Weird, Wednesday isn't here either."

Enid began to ponder if the two goth girls were being held up by their families. Yoko could still be on her trip, and Wednesday….. Well, Wednesday once akin her parents holding her up to a boa constrictor slowly choking you….. but without the adrenaline rush. Enid assumed she meant that as a bad thing, but it was hard to tell with Wednesday sometimes.

Time passed in the chamber as the group of teens caught up. Many diving into detail about their break, and some not so much. The jovial atmosphere was soon disturbed with frantic running and crashing down the stairs.

"Yoko!" Divina exclaimed, rushing over to help her girlfriend up after falling from her frantic sprint, "What's the matter? What's going on?"

"It's Wednesday," Yoko gasped between breaths. Seeing the ever-coolheaded Yoko frantic made everyone feel on edge.

"What the matter? Did something happen?" Enid exclaimed, rushing over to Yoko.

"I-I-I don't know! Yes? No? She's-oh just- Enid! Follow me!" Yoko quickly turned back around and sprinted up the stairs, the Nightshade club and Enid hot on her tails.

Soon they arrived at a familiar place, the door to Yoko's dorm room. Was Wednesday in there? Why was she there? Has she ever been into Yoko's room before? Did Wednesday trash her room? Was someone dead? These questions swirled in everyone's heads, but especially Enid as she was close to both girls.

But before anyone could voice these questions to Yoko, she just opened the door, "Look!"

And so the group gazed upon Yoko's room and found it….. normal. Painfully normal, almost normie kind of normal. It was not something you would think would warrant Yoko's reaction.

"Um, Yoko, what are we supposed to be looking at?" Bianca said.

"Don't you see? Look!" Yoko spluttered, wound up and fearful.

Another look at the room. All the group saw was a normal dorm room. On one side, clearly Yoko's from the mixture of Harajuku fashion and gothic vampire horror, and her coffin lying in the corner of the room; and on the other side, light pink decorations adorned with a new roommate. Also dressed in pink. She sat on her laptop, not facing the group, typing on her computer like she didn't have a care in the world. The only real odd thing were the two dolls on her dresser, one was headless and the other was of a girl with an ax.

But that was all there was to it, it was a normal dorm room. Just one side was more gothic, and the other more typical girly. It almost reminded Enid of her own dorm room with Wednesday, with Enid being the colorful side, and Wednesday's side looking like something you'd find in a cemetery.

"Um, Yoko, I'm not sure what we're supposed to be seeing….." Enid trailed off. She was starting to worry for Yoko's wellbeing and feared she might be bothering Yoko's new roommate.

Yoko turned to Enid and pointed an accusing finger at her new roommate.

"It's that! That's the issue here! Do something Enid!"

Enid was shocked by how rude Yoko was being towards her new roommate by calling her 'that,' but also….. why was it something Enid had to do?

"I don't think I understand what's going on here Yoko, but don't you think you're being a bit rude to your roommate?"

"She's not my roommate, she's yours. Please collect her! She's scaring me!" yelled louder, now pushing Enid towards the other side of the room towards the pink cladded girl.

Everyone looked at Yoko stunned; she must've lost her mind.

"C'mon Yoko!" Enid laughed nervously, "Wednesday's my roommate, remember? There's no way she would get that close to the color pink. She hates color! She's even allergic, her skin will peel off she ever came in contact wit-"

"Hm? What's all this commotion?" a familiar voice chirped.

A chill ran down everyone's spine, it was a familiar voice, but it was off. It was too chipper, too nice sounding to be who they thought it was.

Everyone's eyes followed to where the voice was coming from and stopped at the girl with the laptop. The girl stood up, revealing a cute pink dress, and turned around.

A scream of horror was stuck in everyone's throat.

"What brings you all over?" Wednesday Addams, dressed in pink, smiled and asked the group.

***~***

Nevermore' s dorm walls were wracked with screams of horror, as Kent ran down the halls to get as far away from Yoko's room as physically possible. His twin sister would've followed, if she didn't stay to catch an almost fainting Yoko.

Everyone took a large step back in horror, everyone except for Enid, as she was more stunned than horrified.

The reason for such an adverse reaction was because…. Wednesday Addams did not smile. She did not wear pink, did not blush, did not curtsey, did not hold any glee in her darkened soul of a body. In any normal circumstance, if Wednesday Addams were to smile, it would mean someone was close to meeting a very undesirable fate, one worse than death.

There was only one person in this academy that was able to handle the very dark and dreary, the kooky, mysterious and spooky Wednesday Addams, and that was her roommate Enid. She had grown accustomed to her strange roommate, and so this reveal didn't not scare her as much as it surprised her.

She was almost a little annoyed, because really? If Wednesday was going to become more colorful, she could've at least asked Enid for some advice! This was exactly the kind of girl bonding time she so desperately wanted with Wednesday, and yet again she was left out of it.

Because of this minor slight, Enid couldn't help but feel a bit miffed with her next words.

"Wednesday, what are you doing?" Enid huffed, unafraid of the ex-goth girl.

Wednesday looked confused and a bit taken aback, "Um…. surfing the web?"

"The web? Like with a spider?"

"No, like with a computer," Wednesday looked at Enid with the sympathy you would give a head trauma victim, before gesturing over at the laptop on her desk.

Enid rushed past Wednesday and began inspecting her side of the room. Pink, pink, so much freaking pink. Fuzzy pillows, the book Little Women-the classic, not a book about women being shrunken down, the two strange female dolls, the prodigal laptop, and…. she was on Tik Tok?! This was not Wednesday Addams' desk, there's no way it could be. She was as allergic to modern technology and its social media apps as she was anything colorful.

With a quick snap, Enid turned on her heels, eyes locked onto the slightly shorter girl. She shot out her hands and pinched Wednesday's cheeks and began observing every small thing to see what else was different. Wednesday still wore her braided pigtails, with her bangs now pinned down to each side, and her hair looking a deep dark shade of brown instead of raven black. Her freckles were less noticeable, possibly because of the new color that was in her flesh.

Enid took a big breath, and even Wednesday's scent had changed too. Where Wednesday used to smell like dead flowers and a hospice, she now smelled like fresh dew and a field of flowers.

Despite the differences, she still looked like Wednesday. Same height, same dimple on her chin, and same cute little nose. For all intents and purposes, it was Wednesday.

But Enid couldn't shake the feeling that something was up. She had just been in correspondence with Wednesday not even two weeks prior, and she sounded the same in her letters as she always had. Did something so drastic change between then and now?

"Whaf arc your dowing?" Wednesday tried to speak through the pull of Enid's fingers.

Enid released the shorter girl, "Inspecting."

"Did I pass, inspector?" Wednesday took a step back, giving herself some space between her and the blonde.

"Wednesday, what happened?" Bianca was the first to recover.

"Hm? What happened? Oh, you mean over the break? Nothing much, just had a big family gathering. Saw everyone-oh! Uncle Fester did give me a minor case of electrocution during one of our family games," Wednesday giggled, "Oh you should've seen my hair it was so-"

"Wait, you were electrocuted?!" Xavier stepped forward.

"Yes, don't tell me you haven't been before?" she replied as if it was as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "Also I'm sorry, it got away from me while I was being manhandled," she dodged Enid, who was beginning to sniff and inspect her some more, "But who are you people? Well except you, I know you're my roommate! By the way, why did you run off and…. are you ok? You look unwell."

Yoko came to, "Wh-no! She's your roommate," Yoko pointed at Enid, who was glaring Wednesday's hand she was holding. Perfectly smooth, normal hand with pink nail polish. Wednesday pulled her hand away, but Enid just glared at her.

"But the principal said-"

"The principal is wrong!"

"You really don't remember any of us?" Xavier interjected.

Wednesday shook her head and trailed off unbothered, "Hmmm maybe my memories were messed with more than we thought…."

"You really don't remember anything?" Bianca started.

"Nothing about the murders?" Ajax continued.

"About joining the Hummers," Enid inquired

"The bloody Rave'N dance?" Yoko followed.

"How you kissed Tyler?" Xavier asked sullenly.

"She did what?!" Enid turned to him. Wednesday never disclosed an actual kiss to her. But she did with Xavier of all people? Enid didn't think Xavier was as close to Wednesday as she was.

"I did what?" Wednesday asked, with a small twinkle in her eye.

"The murderer!" Enid exclaimed back to Wednesday in disbelief.

"Ooo, I kissed a murderer?" Wednesday's eyes got brighter.

"Must not have been that good if you can't remember," Xavier scoffed smugly.

Enid looked around the room and saw no one else surprised, "You all knew?"

"It was kind of brought up by Tyler, when Wednesday was torturing Tyler," Bianca tried to soothe her. It barely placated Enid, but she let the issue drop.

"Torture?" Wednesday's eyes practically glistened with excitement.

"Um…. Do you remember how you beat us in the Poe Cup? How you punched Kent?" Divina interjected, trying to get back on track.

"That was Thing, not Wednesday," Enid corrected.

"How you ordered Thing to punch Kent?" Divina corrected.

"Speaking of Thing, where is he? Did you bring him?" Enid interrogated.

"No, no no no no, no too all of it, and why would I bring Thing?"

"Because we're besties!"

"You are?"

Enid was about to say something but was interrupted by a bone chilling voice.

"What is all this racket?" A sullen looking man came from behind the group of teens, Kent followed behind, no, was being dragged against his will behind him.

"Kent!" Divina scream-whispered at her brother, all he could give her was a shrug and look of confusion. It appeared that Kent didn't want to bring the mysterious adult with him, or even be in the room for that fact.

The group of teens, sans Wednesday, gave a wide berth to the intimidating man. He had his salt and pepper hair pushed back, dark circles under his red eyes, which all contrasted with his ghostly pallor, paler than most vampires due to his age. In all honesty, he looked like someone that might fit into Wednesday's family.

"Mr. Orlock, what brings you around?" Bianca said nervously.

"Principal Orlock, my days of teaching advanced conjuring are over. Now that Principal Weems is gone-may Satan take care of her-the board has decided I should be the one to take her place," Orlock started gliding around the room, herding the teens together like cattle, "So what, pray tell, is going on here."

He raised an eyebrow towards Wednesday, "You aren't causing trouble already, are you Ms. Addams? Didn't we just talk about how much trouble you got up to last year? I don't want any more incidents with the police."

"Oh, heavens no! I wouldn't dream of it, Principal Orlock! I promise I'll be, and I've been on my best behavior," The girl exclaimed in an over-the-top manner then mock sniffled, "It's just that they barged in here, started causing all this racket and were saying I should be living with the blonde instead."

"Enid!" Enid corrected exasperatedly.

"The blonde named Enid. And I'm just so confused, I was only trying to get a jump on my studies!"

"Wha-liar you had Tik Tok open- wait no that's not the point. She should be rooming with me! It makes no sense for her to be rooming with Yoko and-"

Principal Orlock held up his palm and pinched the bridge of his nose with the other hand, "I don't have time to deal with this foolishness! There will be no changes to the rooms at this time. That is my final word."

"But-," Enid started.

"No, 'buts!'" the elderly vampire growled, "No screaming, no running around," he glared pointedly at Kent, "No barging into rooms unannounced. I want move-in day to run nice and smoothly. Now, if this is not your dorm room! Disperse!"

With a click of his heel, he turned away. Wednesday only shrugged and chipperly skipped back to her desk, ignoring the rest of the people in the room.

Everyone started filing out, except for Enid, who practically had to be dragged away.

***~***

A week passed at Nevermore. A week since Wednesday's drastic change. A week since Enid practically cried herself asleep. A week since Enid found herself alone in her dorm room again.

Enid hated being alone, she'd rather be with her pushy, toxic pack mentality family than be alone. And now she found herself in a prison of solitude again.

And this state, probably is what drove Enid to do what she did this past week. Being pushy, trying to win Wednesday over again. All it did was push Wednesday away.

It didn't help that this "new" Wednesday was more sociable, having already gotten into her own little cliques before the start of their first 1st period class. People also changed how they talked to her, now addressing her as "Addams." The changes were becoming too much for Enid to handle. It was making her desperate. Oh, so very much.

But for the student body? They had accepted this change, embraced it. As for if it was because everyone just got used to it. Or because they were happy with a version of Wednesday not looking like she would murder them any minute, it was hard to tell. But Enid wasn't like everyone else in this case, she didn't accept the change. She rejected it.

Enid now sat alone at an obscure lunch table, while lunch was usually where she would hang out with friends, lately she'd taken up a new hobby of stalking a certain someone.

It was something new for Enid, stalking someone in real life. She was a pro at online "stalking," as she ran a big gossip blog revolving around the students in Nevermore and the neighboring town's students of Jericho. Thankfully(?), she did pick up on some more or less than legal tricks from Wednesday the semester prior.

"Stalking Wednesday?" a familiar voice spoke from behind.

"Again?" another familiar voice also chirped and sat down.

It was Xavier and Eugene, Wednesday's only other two close student companions at Nevermore. Well, Enid was sure about the latter, as Wednesday seemed to latch onto her psychic bee clubmate like he was a younger brother. The former? The relationship seemed to confuse Enid. While Xavier was infatuated with Wednesday, while Wednesday only ever gave him the cold shoulder.

"No, I was just…. Sitting alone in the dark corner of the quad because it's fun!" so maybe Enid wasn't that great at stalking….. or lying in this case.

"You're gonna have to face facts," Xavier started picking at his food, "She's changed…. And moved on."

He sullenly glared in Wednesday's direction, after the dorm room incident, Wednesday had been avoiding her old group of friends/acquaintances sans Yoko of course. At least the times when Yoko would be in her own dorm room and not hiding out in Divina's or Enid's. Yoko was terrified but wouldn't say why.

The only thing Enid was able to get out of her was some garbled sentence sounding like "Her clothes look mouthwatering." None of that made sense to Enid so she ignored it. Divina had a few choice words to say to her girlfriend though.

This new Wednesday was a lot more sociable, reserved in a friendly way, and very polite. She had been seeing Enid at other extracurricular activity events, she was never rude, but she always kept Enid at arm's length.

"I understand how you feel Enid, your room must be lonely without Wednesday, my shed's lonely with just me and the bees," Eugene sighed. He was so bummed he didn't even have the energy to hit on Enid, his ongoing crush for the past two years.

Enid ignored them, she just kept her eyes on Wednesday, how she was eating, chatting with friends, playing the knife game with their hands-well at least that sounded like the usual Wednesday.

Enid grounded her teeth in frustration, the change bothered Enid, so much so she felt obsessive. But she couldn't put her finger on why.

She kept staring at Wednesday, her hands, the way her cheeks rose when she smiled, the way her scent smelt like a bouquet of flowers-

Something clicked in Enid's head, "That's not Wednesday."

The two boys looked at her in alarm, after a tense moment of silence Xavier spoke first, "Enid, what do you mean?"

"Listen, I know it looks like her, but it's not!" Enid was surprised, she beamed at the two boys, "Don't you see? It's not her!"

The boys looked at her concerned.

"It just looks like her! I-I can't explain but…. ok maybe I can. It's a werewolf thing, her scent is different. Too different! There's no way it can be her!"

Xavier's eyes widened.

"There are also physical differences too! It just can't be her!"

"So, then who is that girl over there?" Xavier asked, very serious.

Enid stopped; she hadn't really thought about it until now. Who was that girl over there if she wasn't Wednesday?

"A…. clone?" she guessed.

"Or maybe a shapeshifter or changeling?" Xavier whispered.

"Wh-what if it's a ghost possession or it's just wearing her skin after it killed her?" Eugene added nervously.

"Killed?" Enid whispered, feeling her palms start to sweat. She had been so hung up on trying to reconnect with Wednesday, no, this fake, she hadn't thought about the real her possibly being in danger or dead.

Enid turned to Xavier, "You've read all those books in the Nightshade library, don't they have a clue? Are there any warning signs of some creature that lines up with Wednesday's unusual weirdness?"

Xavier snapped and shook his pointed finger at Enid, "No, but I think you might be onto something Sinclair. I'm going to get that right now."

"Are you going to cut class?" Enid asked.

"Yeah, if Wednesday's in trouble, it's better we get a hop on this sooner rather than later."

He had a point; Enid would rather get detention than have her best friend's body on her hands.

Eugene sat there pondering for a moment, "I think I have an idea that might work-I'll tell you what I find out later."

Enid looked at him suspiciously, "It better not involve you investigating the woods at night. If you wind up in the hospital again Wednesday will surely kill me!" Enid shuddered remembering how banged up the poor boy looked after the Hyde attack from last year. It really upset Wednesday to see her club mate lying in a coma.

Eugene beamed, "Don't worry, it won't be dangerous for me," he winked and slowly got up, "I'm going to make some preparations. I'll tell you if I find anything."

"Yeah, I'm going to start too, catch you later!" Xavier stated.

With that, the two boys got up from the table, and headed to the exits with other students who were dispersing to head to their next class.

With a sigh, Enid got up to do the same, unsure of how she could help. She begrudgingly walked by Wednesday's table. As Enid passed it, a gust of wind blew from behind her.

The young werewolf stopped in her tracks and snapped her neck around to look at Wednesday, her eyes wide like a mad woman. Wednesday looked back at her confused and alarmed.

And just as fast as Enid had turned around, she had turned back and started rushing out the quad doors. Ignoring Wednesday's new friends calling her all kinds of names.

Enid didn't care. All she could think about was the familiar scent she smelt.

She was going to need to pull another Wednesday Addams classic. She was going to do a B&E.

________________________________________________________________

A/N: (for the tumblr crowd, first time posting a fanfic on here, if anyone has any formatting tips let me know TT0TT)

I like puns, do you like puns? You're gonna have to deal with some puns. Lord help us all with what I name the next two seasons. 8U

Fun fact: Little Women was the book, if not at least a book, Lurch was reading in the 2019 animated film.

Fun fact 2: Wednesday used to wear Evergreen green and brown dresses in the Newspaper comics, and pink dresses in the 70s cartoon/tie in comic. 60s had a dark black/blue dress (hard to tell tbh).

Anyway, stay tuned for the second part of episode one! Now for this commercial break….

[kyrodo]

I found there is a nitw 2. I do realize how stupid and mindless my head canon was back then but it's clear now Choskey makes a way better Gregg than Ronnie. He's a prankster by nature and loves cracking jokes and doing random things with someone. With the added benefit of being completely enamored with everything about me all the way down to being heavily aroused by my voice. An Ace who's being driven to the brink of wanting me to do anything to them. The added benefit of not being a toxic asshole who snaps and lies whenever they please without warning. So ready to fix a target to everyone they know whether it's truthful or justified.

I instead have someone I can actually communicate with, someone I can love so fully and so completely where the slightest inquiry isn't enough to completely set them off. Who actually talks things out who actually makes sense. Despite his legitimate difficulties he has with verbal and written communication and word choices, he still makes a genuine effort to do so. He doesn't treat everyone he meets like total ass. And even if he doesn't get along with someone he doesn't go after them.

I can't think of any other time in my life where every single one of someone's actions have been so clearly driven out of spite and intense distrust that so clearly betrays all practical thought. I have not forgotten my stabs in the dark my passive aggressive monologues against said person that also often pushed into imaginative extremes. My own version of sensationalizing someone's actions, though my portrayals were rarely that far when I was all too often reiterating the events that took place.

Seeking every potential metaphor, making every possible obscure reference while still making it easy to follow for the person that was reading between the lines. I do wish I had stopped trying when things were already clearly over but I could not find it in me to let go. I wanted so badly for such intense feelings and thought to not fall flat, for everything that happened to have some kind of lasting meaning through friendship or otherwise. It was too disappointing, it was too deep a fall and too harsh pain that I was not ready for. It felt so sad, so tragic and a part of me still deeply wished even after all the times I felt I had thoroughly shat on any possibility of us having a connection that I still wanted to try anyway.

And I knew each time it was already over but I couldn't accept it. Not after it seemed like our lives could completely change if we did connect, and most likely for the better at least for me. And I wanted that so badly I wanted my feelings to not be for naught. That basic thought kept me going, even after all the pitiable self digging that I perceived would keep them from ever wanting me in their life. All I really did was make myself an easy target. I was self destructive enough at the time that even if the thought occurred it wouldn't have mattered. I was self destructive but didn't want to take any action that would get me to lose Red. Instead I flirted with the possibility, of poly if nothing else so I could still feel hopeful.

I couldn't choose even if they had been 100% willing to go for it, that was the first time I'd ever been that close to actually considering an additional to our relationship seriously. I was not ready to confront Red about it. We hadn't done anything together, we could barely hold a conversation. We never got the chance to play anything or hop onto discord. So I wouldn't have been able to make a good case anyway if I did talk to Red about anything because everything was subtext and subtext is not fact and not a good talking point.

I feel that if we had at least gone further to the point we could actually sit down and talk or play anything that we could have gotten there but every attempt to do so was met with another underhanded attack. And I don't know why beyond my rants and my clear depression and anxiety evident in my words and actions. It would have been so easy I felt for things to have improved but those efforts always fell flat for reasons unknown.

If we could have just been friends I felt that would have been enough to keep me happy.

I get Choskey. Choskey is the very essence of love and excitement and mutual approval and affection. So much so that even Red's romantic sing and dance has been put to shame. He so clearly enjoys being around me and I felt like even back then it would have been possible with Ronnie too if he wasn't a complete asshole. I know many parts of me have improved since then, but the fact that I am me hasn't changed.

I can only point to the circumstances of our meeting. Vrchat we see each other, we hear each other before we even get to discord or anything, we get to do stuff together without having to slide into dms or something. Being a raving lunatic in the midst of depression on Twitter however doesn't make for a great first impression. In the vrc days I had gotten over everything, I'm lucid I'm calm I'm supportive. And that already defines completely different environments for both encounters. So much so that even without Choskey clearly having a less reproachful personality things still would have undeniably gone better. Because I'm not a rando this time. I'm trusted more than anyone else in the world, so much so that I'm the only one he truly shares his kink with. Everything is so clearly turned upside down and it is so easy so natural, so positive and wholesome on a level my ex would never have reached with me in a thousand years. Ironically I became a black cat anyway, just without posing as Mae or anybody. This time I am me and only me. And it was so much easier to tell Red about someone I "actually" met.

And the funniest thing about it all is the first time I was suddenly blown off, you yourself indicated I didn't even do anything that bad. You just do it. You just lie to my face at the slightest breeze, the slightest impulse with no real explanation and it confuses me every single time because the lead up always seems ok. The only stupid games Choskey ever played with me were actual games.

I'm not saying it'll be everyone's gut instinct to side with the one who writes essays insulting them whenever things go wrong, but I seem to recall we didn't start there. You lie to my face and the moment you get confronted about it in even the slightest way it's over. I was pretty damn immature but I wasn't dealing with someone I could be mature with. With every year that goes by the more I shed off your influence the more confident and happy I become. Because the only thing you were ever good for was making me constantly doubt myself. I thrive in a world where I can actually say what I mean to say. But the only world I can do that is one where you aren't around.

I could only be so meticulous about my words when I was by myself because it was the only time you ever acknowledged their meaning. The only time we would ever be on the same page. And that stressed me out so much and I'm so glad you're over. I feel like anybody else in my position wouldn't have been hurt for this long,but I felt it. I overcame an overwhelming amount of nervousness every time we directly interacted. And it was always somehow worse than I imagined it would go. And it's only because it was you. I wish so much that literally anybody else had taken your role. Because nobody else does what you do. Nobody else gaslights so damn hard, everybody else doesn't snap when they actually have to say something real. Anybody else would have been willing to acknowledge everything and talk about it. But with you it's always the stupid way or no way. You claim it's easy, that anybody could talk to you. But I'm the only exception you and never explain why. At any point you could have put a stop to things and actually tried to talk everything out with me but you always chose to watch me suffer. Every time you had the chance to, you cut me off.

And I'm always observing how everyone can just reply to you without any strings attached but I'm always forced to talk sideways or you'll pretend it never happened and want nothing to do with me. And I kept wondering if there would ever be a day that we could. I never wanted something so basic so badly. And now I finally get a second friend/love interest that I can actually take at face value for once.

And yes it's kinda sad that I need a 2 in the first place but If I let Red continue to run things we would die on an abandoned mountain somewhere away from all signs of social life, besides his dysfunctional family. And I don't want to waste the rest of my life that way.

[ronantwins]

There seems to be two main reasons why people believe that Lilly had a thing for Lee and I'd like to disect them for the sake of character analysis.

1. Voice Acting

Nikki Rapp brings so much to the character of Lilly. One might think that staying neutral and siding with Lilly leads to the same outcome, but this isn't entirely true. If you listen closely their are the same pieces of dialoge, but different takes.

When Lee actively sides with Lilly, her voice has a certain warmth in it. Some people interpret that as romantic, however it's the same warmth that she shows to her father, Larry and baby Clementine. So it definitely can be still read as completely platonic.

2. Kenny's Remarks In Episode 3

When Lee tries to save Larry in Starved For Help (or simply does nothing), Kenny will start saying some weird passive aggressive shit.

To keep this short we're only going to look at the most obvious ones: "That fucking figures. It's only a matter of time until you and Lilly build a white-picket fence around that shithole!"

And a "white-picket fence" refers to a marital home. Implying that Lilly and Lee are going to hook up and form a nuclear family with Clem as their adopted daughter.

He also mockingly refers to Lee as Lilly's pal "But your pal here shot her!" Again the implication here is "If that's waht he really is to you".

Kenny does in-fact believe that there is something romantic going on between Lee and Lilly. The issue here however lies with the fact that Kenny isn’t observing the objective truth. All this is cope.

Notice how Kenny only starts saying this shit after Lee refuses to kill Larry with him? In this gameplay-route Lee has chosen Lilly over him and Kenny doesn't know how to deal with that.

So far Kenny "I could give two shits what Lilly wants" Fischer has done little to try and empathise with the lady that is competing with him over leadership. The fact that she does most of the orgenazing (rationing food, forming a schedule for the group, deviding labour) slides off his brain. So he comes to the conclusion that the only reason Lee could possibly back up Lilly as a leader is because he wants something from her.

3. The Lesbification of Lilly Caul

This is where I'm going off the rails.

In S1 Lilly spends alot of time trying and failing to cater to the outdated ideals of her father: "Yeah, he's bitter and hateful but he's only trying to protect [...] me." Constantly playing devils advocate for the most unpleasent guy left on earth leaves her in bad graces with the rest of the group (who she could be in community with otherwise) and by the time he dies, she has no one left to turn to.

Intresting to note here is that Larry is canonically an abusive father and also homophobic. See "You and what Homo-parade?!"

In S4 we see Lilly refusing to move on from the hateful ideals of her father. Which is shown in the fact that Lilly spends alot of time playing Mary Brown to Minerva's Megan Bloomfield. This might be a reach but the raiders are a group of oppresive adults looking to mold teenagers into perfect soldiers, a process Lilly herself went through in her youth. They're all about overriding their autonomy, change them and fix what they see as flaws in them.

I'm not saying that Lilly's story is a metaphor for someone dealing with intense self-hatred and internalized homophobia — but I'll dare to say it's applicable.

Hopefully any of this made sense. Remember that this is only my take and that people can ship whatever they want. Thank you for reading.

"lilly had feelings for lee, it's clear 🥺🥺🥺" that girl doesn't like men how do i have to tell you THAT'S A LESBIAN

[undertale-data]

[Image Description: An Undertale chat box that has “WHY FANS LOVE UNDERTALE” at its center. Next to it are a line chart and an Egg from the Dating Hub on its left, and a CRIME measurer (also from the Dating Hub) on its right. End I.D.]

[Image Description: a pie chart titled, “LEVEL OF LOVE FOR UNDERTALE.” The textbox on the top right reads, “On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least and 10 being the highest, how much do fans enjoy Undertale?” From the top going clockwise, 12 or 0% chose 5 and below; 23 or 1% chose 6; 98, or 4%, chose 7; 325, or 12%, chose 8; 529, or 20%, chose 9; and 1664, or 63%, chose 10. End I.D.]

It’s clear from all of the data analyzed so far that fans who took the time to answer our survey love Undertale. It is unlikely that they would have taken the time to answer so many questions if they had not, and even less likely that they would have come across our survey in the first place. Naturally, it comes as no surprise that 63% of our responders gave their love for Undertale a score of ten out of ten. 95% gave their love for Undertale a score of eight or higher, and only 12 responders responded with five or below, a number so small that their responses had to be lumped together to be visible on the pie chart. Of those, only 3 responders gave their love for Undertale a score of 1, and based on those responders’ other answers, it is likely that they were only intending to troll. We are very fortunate that the vast majority of responders took the survey seriously, enough so that responses like this are barely a blip in the data.

Now, for our final analysis post of the event, we will delve into the reasons that fans love Undertale so dearly.

(Essay and highlights under the cut.)

There have been countless essays on the impact that Undertale has had on people’s lives. I can hardly add more on the subject than what has already been said, but I hope this summary can provide a brief overview of what stood out among the over two thousand answers given in response to this survey. That said, due to the sheer volume of answers, I could not read every single one in depth—however, I did skim all of them, and some that stood out or were representative of several responses have been highlighted below. If you would like to see what every fan who consented to share their response had to say, you may view the full list of responses here. Note that these responses have not been edited in any way. This document may take a long time to load, as it is over 100 pages long.

(Warnings for mentions of suicidal thoughts in the following essay.)

Several responders loved the theme of choices mattering in Undertale. Whether people played the pacifist, merciless, or neutral routes, they enjoyed how the game reacted to their actions. For some, it even made them consider their own morality. One touching response explained the impact that the theme of mercy made on them. “I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.” Many fans left similar comments about how the themes of Undertale made them better people.

Undertale changed how its fans treat others, and it also changed how fans treat themselves. The theme of staying determined and the messages of hope in the game were a light to a very large portion of fans. I cannot list all of the fans who said that Undertale helped them out of a dark place, or that they would not be alive if not for Undertale. “DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.”

Undertale brought fans together in unexpected ways. Some said they met friends or significant others through the fandom. “I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale,” one fan said. A different fan who is non-native English speaking mentioned that the game and the fan community helped them to learn English.

It would be impossible to discuss Undertale without mentioning the fan community. Whether for good or bad, many responders mentioned the fandom in their responses. Overall the feelings towards the fandom seem positive, though many made references to “toxic” parts of the fandom without specifying which parts they consider toxic. Others rejected the idea of toxicity in fandom. One response said: “[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!”

One thing that makes the Undertale fandom unique is the way it embraces various AUs. Some fans are tired of AU content, but the majority of responses show a love for the creativity behind AUs. “Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.” The lack of a judgemental atmosphere seems present in the AU community, according to the responses we saw. There is an interesting balance between AU and canon (sometimes referred to as “classic”) content that another responder pointed out: “The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertale fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)”

Regardless of the many AUs the fandom has created over the years, the original game of Undertale still feels like home for many fans. They wished they could reclaim the feeling of playing the game again for the first time, but even though we can’t reset time in real life, there is still a special feeling for fans each time they play Undertale. One fan said, “Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.” This feeling is one that can be cherished time and time again. In the words of another responder: “It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it.” Others pointed out the strength of the found family trope in Undertale, which likely contributes to this feeling of “home” as well.

As mentioned briefly earlier, the music is part of what makes Undertale feel like home for fans. Even when responses focused on other aspects of the game, many would throw in a comment about the soundtrack at the end. One comment focused on the music said “IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.” Like with the game itself, the music has incredible replay value, an amazing feat considering most of the tracks use the same few motifs. “I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story,” another responder said. “They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.”

If the music sticks with fans in their hearts, then the game’s lore sticks with fans in their minds. Even six years after the release of Undertale, fans are still creating new theories and digging up new secrets. The way the game breaks the fourth wall in particular intrigued many fans and has stuck out through all these years. The awareness that the game shows for the RPG genre makes it memorable. The game plays with the player’s expectations and turns them on their heads, all while reminding the player that they’re in a game. There are few other games that do this on such a large scale, so it’s no surprise that fans cite this as one of their favorite things about Undertale.

Lastly, the LGBT+ representation in Undertale has been a huge draw for fans. Especially in 2015, the sheer volume of non-cishet characters was unprecedented, as one fan pointed out: “It's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. Hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. It's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.” The LGBT+ cast including Frisk, Chara, Napstablook, Monster Kid, Mettaton, Alphys, and Undyne each connected with fans in unique ways. It’s clear how important this is from responses such as: “There are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.” “It made me gay and trans so thanks for that.”

Once again I am overwhelmed with just how much there is to say about Undertale. One responder really understood when they compared Undertale to an iceberg, explaining that there are so many layers to the game that there is something for everyone: “everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans—from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers—is the mark of the coolest games!” I would have to agree with them.

It’s been six years, and despite everything, it’s still you. Thank you for reading, participating in this survey, and above all, staying determined.

Highlights:

DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.

I think the coolest thing was having the opportunity to watch the AU community grow from its bare roots. It's nearly insane how big and complex it's gotten, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.

i love how the lgbt rep is so naturalized... there are just gay people! and its nobodys business!

The music is my go to answer, but what I really really REALLY love is how the minor characters have so much personality to them when you talk to them. They aren't incredibly important to the overall story, but they're all so likeable and diverse that you just can't help but like them immediately!

I think it was the first videogame I have played that broke the fourth wall that much. Of course there has been other videogames that broke it but just for one or two tongue-in-cheek jokes. The guilt of killing mama goat was also something intense as well that I appreciated as an experience and that I didn't think a videogame could cause on someone.

I love how no character can be seen as completely bad! Everyone builds up Asgore as some horrible villain, but he turns out to be a 'fuzzy pushover' who's broken and just wants his family back by the time you meet him. Then you think Flowey's an irredeemable killer who engineered the suffering of the monsters across many timelines, and he is... but he also used to be the kind and beloved Prince Asriel Dreemurr, traumatized by his death and subsequent rebirth, projecting his best friend onto you.

The fact that choices matter in the game. Your first playthrough and getting the golden ending for the first time. I can never replicate those feelings again, wish I could erase my memories and replay the game from the start.

I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale.

(Toxic parts of the fandom aside) The community is possibly one of the kindest I've ever met. Cringe culture is completely dead, and I feel like I can be myself. I felt a very close connection to many of the characters, and I loved consuming content about them when I was in a rough patch in my life.

just everything, the whole game has just impacted my life so much. i know it sounds really lame, but when the game first came out, i would purposely put my hands in my pockets and sway slightly, like sans' idle animation. of course i dont do that anymore haha, but undertale still really impacts me to this day, and i wouldnt have it any other way :)

it made me gay and trans so thanks for that

I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.

The thing I love most about Undertale is no matter how many times I play or watch a playthrough it always makes me genuinely happy. It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it. Toriel still makes me feel all warm and cozy in her home, the Skelebros always make me laugh, and I still cry on the inside watching Frisk comforting Asriel. And on the flip side the No Mercy run still invokes the negative emotions in me as well. In short Undertale just feels like a second home to me and I always wish I could stay.

The reader inserts are my favorite way to decompress after a hard day

I think Undertale helped me discover my love for 8-bit games, and made me realize how IMPORTANT music is in video games.

the worldbuilding and character design are my favorite parts of the main game apart from the music! I’m also a huge fan of the random AU music- not for like underswap or underfell i like the stuff where someone makes a megalovania for a random au where gru from despicable me replaces sans as the character. i think its funny

Just... the vibe, honestly? Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.

there are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.

[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!

There's a scene where Frisk (the player) is going towards what is presumably going to be their death. They will fight Asgore and he will use their human soul to break the barrier and free his people. The music, despite the player's impending doom, is... triumphant. You are not the triumphant one here, and yet, the score invites you to experience the monsters' joy and happiness as they tell you the tale of their subjugation. The monsters are going to be free. This is their victory, but they don't hate you or want you to die. They're just... happy. That scene has always struck me very deeply. I feel it represents the best parts of Undertale.

I loved how well thought out the Geno route was. It really made me feel like I was doing something horrible, and the characters were very obviously reacting to dire circumstances.

I dunno? I like Undertale for it's characters, story, music, secrets and many more. I am not good with Headcanons but I also like the neutral endings and how different they can depending on who you spare and kill

I was very bad at english before, i thought i couldn't progress because i was very shy and not confident. But my sibling and i wanted to have the best experience with this game so we wanted to play it in english. It's this game and the fandom which helped me to make huge progress in english !

THE SOUNDTRACK. IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.

to avoid writing an essay i will say one word. Mettaton

It is like Toby specifically made the games to fit the iceberg meme and it's awesome, everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans - from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers is the mark of the coolest games!

I love almost everything about Undertale as a game on its own. The music, the art and especially the characters and how they interact. They made me feel at home. Undertale means a huge amount to me. (I even got a tattoo of the castle when you and MK walk together!) The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertake fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)

the mystery. toby fox refused to give answers to anything and i think thats very sexy of him.

I just feel guilty for liking it so much when I'm in my 30's. But I recently got diagnosed with ASD, so I guess it explains things a bit. Many ppl consider Papyrus to be neurodivergent, and some adult fans are too, so seeing that makes me feel a bit better.

i think about "Despite everything, it's still you" everyday of my life.

I like how it's just as funny as it can be serious. All routes are this way. I laughed as much as I cried when I played the Pacifist route and then once I opened the game again and Flowey was telling me to let them be happy, I immediately turned off the game. I somehow felt bad.

The Found Family Trope

The True Pacifist Ending is just...man. And the fanworks about saving everyone even when the game doesn't let you? MANNNNNN

I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story. They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.

there's honestly a LOT to love about this game, but i think one of my favorite things about it is just how many lgbt+ characters there are??? i can think of alphys, undyne, frisk, chara, mettaton, napstablook, monster kid, asgore, mad mew mew, the dress lion, the royal guards, and arguably even papyrus off of the top of my head, but im sure i'm forgetting a few from just undertale alone (there's even MORE in deltarune)!! it's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. it's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.

[Image description: A wordcloud in the shape of the capitalized word UNDERTALE. The text is white on a black background, and uses the font found in the game. Some of the most visible words are: Game, Love, Music, Life, AU, Store, Friend, and Feel, which represent the most common words in the essays people wrote about their love for the game. End of ID]

[notkirstinetheartist]

“Mel em su tarasyl, vhenan...”

I told you all I would flesh (heh) this out, and here we are.

Check below the cut for details shots and me being an art history nerd, because I put way too much thought into a pin-up of an elf.

Commission Info

First, wanna get this out of the way right away, because I am a Grade A Weenie:

You’re goddamn right she’s covering her junk with a copy of Hard in Hightown, I’m a man of culture goddammit.

Besides the fact that angling Solas’ necklace just right to make sure the shadow of it cupped Mellan’s breast (we love a visual metaphor in this house, folks), it might look a little funky with the leather straps at first, and that would be the point! It is actually a reference to cultural practices I grew up with (which I love putting into art, and I really love seeing other people do it, too. Its actively my favorite thing in the community.) as well as a practice from across the globe that became especially popular in the houses of well-to-do people in the Victorian Era.

What Mellan has done is taken one of her own leather straps and intertwined it with Solas’ in a sudo handfasting band. I had it not fully tied to show a few things:

Obviously its not around anyone’s hands, lol. But, it is still an offering. We can reach that step in our relationship someday, if you would be open to it as I am.

This would be the first canonical time we’ve seen Solas’ necklace untied. This was done with purpose to show a willingness to let go and be himself around Mellan. She knows he is Fen’Harel, but she only sees Solas. He is able to let his guard down without fear of her judging him; there’s a safety there.

Mellan has a phobia of things being tied around her neck, to the point wear she could not even wear a turtleneck shirt. By dangling the necklace like this, she too is showing her trust in Solas, because he is well aware of this phobia and she knows he will not use it against her. In a way, the laying of the necklace/handfasting band is exposing Mellan a lot more than her nudity is.

Now, for the Victorian Nerdry! 

Across the globe, over the course of... well, forever, flowers have meant different things. But, in the Victorian Era, this became a huge fad. I mean, people were obsessed. Think passing along memes that contained notes for your friends, extreme mode.

Different flowers meant different things. And the colors of those flowers changed the coding entirely, too! And if you paired one flower with another? Oh, my god, the things you could imply.

Take for example, you just had a lovely evening with a suitor. You want to send them a flower to tell them what a great time you had! So, you pick a carnation. Better pick the right one, though! If you pick white, that’s great; you’re expressing the pure, innocent love you feel budding for them. But, you pick yellow? Congrats, you loath them.

And if you pair either with pink? Well, pink on its own means “I’ll never forget you!” Pink with white? “My heart will never forget this innocent love that I feel for you, hopefully it will continue to blossom.” Pink with yellow? “I will never forget how much I fucking hate your guts you absolute piece of shi--”

So, yeah. There’s a lot you can say with flowers! On @little-lightning-lavellan there plans to be more writing about flower politics in Dueteragony, because the possibilities for Orlesian politics, don’t get me started... but I digress.

The flowers on Mellan’s band are red tulips. Tulips are generally associated with budding (HA) passion, and red ones specifically refer to a declaration of love. Well, at this point, Solas already knows she loves him, but it never hurts for your sweetheart to remind you, does it? 🌷❤️

And then just a last close-up of my baby girl, because I’m really pleased with her smirk (and her little hair wisps. She clearly tried to get a little bit more put together... but, come on. Its Melly.)

Big thanks to @fenxshiral​ for the Elvhen translation, which means: “Take my to the sky, my heart.” Which I had to use for the obvious Mel pun. ❤️

[eyemarked]

potential ending theory: a world without fear

i have a theory about a possible ending of the magnus archives that i think would be satisfyingly horrific, thematically appropriate, and well-foreshadowed. i’m sure that someone has already thought about this basic concept, but my reasoning is a bit elaborate so i just wanted to lay out some thoughts and document my own theory process. 

i think that everyone in the world is going to become fearless like georgie, killing the entities forever. this will also involve the extinction. reasoning under the cut:

(given how many different connections i’m making here, and how long this post ended up being, i’ve bolded important words/phrases in some sections for accessibility. this whole post is the equivalent of a messy red string board, so i hope it makes more sense this way!)

the setup

georgie barker is established in ep 94 dead woman walking to be fearless, and thus immune to the effects of the entities. this trait of hers is due to an encounter she had with the end, which affected her deeply and changed her on a fundamental level, removing her fear.

there’s a fundamental question here that has not been addressed by canon: how and why would an encounter with the end remove a person’s fear in such a unique way? why would the end benefit from georgie’s state of fearlessness?

jon establishes in ep 164 the sick village that “[the entities] can’t be destroyed while there are still people to fear them.”

oliver banks establishes in ep 168 roots that the end will eventually consume all of humanity, leaving the world a lifeless husk and starving the entities to death in the absence of anyone to fear them.

oliver also speculates that “[as] the other Entities grow in their awareness of their own end, the grotesque ripples of their own impossible panic shall glut and feed my master, gorging it to the point where – perhaps it will even surpass the Watcher in prominence.”

note how the phrasing implies a level of sentience and consciousness! according to oliver, the entities themselves can feel fear - specifically, fear of their own death.

various people in season 5, most notably jon himself, have referred to the apocalypse as “the change”.

the extinction, also known as the terrible change, was speculated by adelard dekker to be an emerging power fueled by the human fear of, quote ep 134 time of revelation: “catastrophic change. A change in our world that will wipe out what it means to be us, and leave something else in its place ... leave us something alien and cold. We will press a button that in a moment will destroy everything we have ever been.”

in ep 94, georgie explains that her encounter with the end initially took away all her emotions and left her numb.

the very first adelard dekker statement was a manifestation of the end that initially appeared to be the extinction.

in ep 157 rotten core, adelard dekker speculates that the extinction might be “an existential fear that flows through the others like a vein of ore.”

in ep 168, martin, who had spent the entirety of season 4 studying the extinction, mistakenly refers to oliver banks’ end domain as “the rotten core”.

as established in ep 111 family business, the flesh is a relatively new animal fear of slaughterhouses. it manifests as body horror to humans because animal fear “gets weird [when it] gets mixed all up with human neuroses”.

in other words, if a fear originates in one type of mind, its manifestations can get weird and oblique when applied to a different type of mind.

in ep 175 epoch, while they are in a domain of the extinction, jon indirectly references ep 168: “Everything ends, I suppose. Even this place. Can’t last forever. Eventually… it will die as well.” 

notably, this is seemingly the only instance in season 5 of jon independently bringing up the conclusions made in oliver’s report.

the theory

the extinction is not entirely an entity in its own right (or maybe it is; fear soup!). in fact, the extinction is a manifestation or offshoot of the end, filtered through the minds of the entities themselves.

in other words, the extinction is the “entity” of the other entities’ fear of their own death.

the entities can only die if there is no one left to fear them; the extinction is actually the fear of this scenario - i.e. a world where no one fears them.

when filtered through a human mind, this fear becomes the “extinction” manifestations that we’ve seen in the podcast, in the same way that the fear of slaughterhouses becomes the flesh when filtered through a human mind.

georgie’s encounter with the end in university was actually a manifestation of the extinction; in fact, georgie herself is now a manifestation of the extinction.

georgie’s existence as a fearless human being, completely immune to the entities, is a constant memento mori for them - a reminder to the entities that they are capable of death (specifically, death by starvation). the end/extinction uses her to fuel and feed off this fear.

the apocalypse ritual in 160 did, in fact, kick off the full manifestation of the extinction, in that the state of the world has now gone from “the entities might hypothetically be capable of dying” to “the entities will inevitably die and will eventually be fully aware of this fact.” 

the show will end with the fulfillment of the extinction - all of humanity stripped of fear, as georgie was (and perhaps of other basic emotions as well, in the same way that georgie’s encounter initially left her lacking all feelings). this will kill the entities, but also fundamentally change the nature of humanity forever.

to tie this back around to what i’ve been saying: the extinction is described as the fear that humanity will end, or change in some way to become unrecognizable and alien. and a human race completely without fear would definitely be exactly that.

the thematic relevance and narrative closure

the entities as a metaphor for capitalism has always been in the subtext of the show, but as other, better meta has noted, season 5 has seriously ramped it up and made it much more obvious and present. what better way to resolve the podcast and the problem of the entities than by destroying the entire fear system at its foundations?

demonstrating that individual action and even system-wide reform (i.e. jon's plan in ep 194 parting to take over and appoint "good" people to avatarhood) will not ever lead to real long-term change, and that the only way to truly defeat the system is to rip it out at the roots? 

as well as acknowledging that doing so is far from an ideal solution due to the immediate inevitable harm that the upheaval would cause to countless innocent people, but would potentially lead to a better and safer future for humanity in the long run?

oliver banks’ statement from ep 168 has not yet become relevant. given how big of a game-changer it is in terms of the stakes of the decisions the characters are making, i would be baffled if the finale didn’t involve it in some way.

going by the way that tma’s writing and structure has previously set up its big twists, georgie’s fearlessness should factor into a plot point in a major way. this has not yet happened, and so given how close we are to the finale, it’s got to be a part of the finale if it’s a part of anything at all.

obviously, i might be wrong; all of this could be complete nonsense. but given the amount of setup for the concept that the entities will die if no one fears them, and the fact that this scenario hasn’t been brought up in-podcast as a possibility at all yet, it feels pretty probable to me. at the very least, regardless of whether my elaborate redstringing about the extinction is correct or not, i think we’re getting an ending involving a world without fear.

[inadequate-nefelibata]

i don’t know if it’s the right call to write this. i’m like, weirdly out of touch. It’s 4 am here in Argentina, so if this makes no sense. so be it. 

but i feel like when it comes to characters like johnny - aka male (almost always white too) characters who are shown to be violent and misogynisitic or classist (or racist), that are eventually revealed to have a pretty tragic backstory, meant to cast all their past behavior in a tragic light - i almost feel like im completely done with those stories. I’ve seen them a lot and, most of the time, the backstory not only works as a half-way redeption, but also tends to change the nature of their behavior into something that’s... less meaningful. It removes them from a larger context. More on that later.

The thing is, I liked johnny’s redeption as it was shown in the karate kid. no, that’s not right. I do feel like his story was left incomplete. we don’t see him get back up. and it is nice to see him trying to become a better person, rather than just having the suggestion that he could have been better without kreese’s influence.

But im just a bit tired of the same-old “gotcha! he was just an asshole because he was hurting all along.” reveal. 

Which is not me saying that the writers are wrong to explore how the cobra kai philosophy could be attractive to bullied/marginalized kids. I see how for Tory or Aisha or Miguel the concept of showing no mercy to an unfair world would make perfect sense. especially coming from a teacher they trust.

But with Johnny, i wanted to see a bit of the other side of the cobra kai target audience. 

What does that mean? 

While Kreese is very good at reframing his lessons to fit all kinds of students, really, the real reason why the og Cobra kai lessons creates so many bullies is because if conviced them of this:

what the hell is that, you wonder? i don’t really like how it looks but i have tried putting it to words so many times so... eh. 

It’s the idea that some people are better than other people, stronger than other people. But most importantly, if you’re weak, that changes your worth as a person. Which is why you don’t deserve to escape whatever kind of violence you are subjected to; those who are weak deserve to be put on their place. 

It’s appropiate for a metaphor about US imperialism because it represents an idea that has always been used as a justification of colonialism: “the survival of the fittest”. If a group is weaker than other group, it deserves to be dominated. It deserves to disappear.

This philosophy doesnt come from marginalized groups, and it doesn’t really serve them, even if it can be presented in that way. The lines can be blurred, because human history is complicated as hell but. still. at the end of the day, community is what stops injustice. Not trying to make yourself worthy in the eyes of injust people. 

Having said all that, i’m switching lanes for a second to the way in which cobra kai is presented in this show. sometimes it’s like the show want us to believe that people, kids, need to have cracks to absorb kreese’s (or johnny’s) teachings. cracks brought on by trauma or unjustice. 

and its kind of related to how the phrase “there are no bad students, only bad teachers” gets interpreted in the context of the show.  

I mean, Mr Miyagi doesn’t really go to explain it further so we can read it in many many different ways. But in the show, the idea of a “bad teacher” is closely tied to Kreese’s abusive relationship with Johnny. And, yes, that dimension of the relationship is canon, even in the films. Even in the first film. 

But I also think it’s possible to interpret that phrase in a more neutral sense. A “bad teacher” is not necessarily an abusive one. It can just be someone who is kind to their students but still passes down the wrong kind of values.

And, considering the fact that the karate kid was making several points about  cultural values, the “teacher” doesn’t even have to be a teacher at all. It can just be a family, a culture.

Kids don’t really need cracks to absorb ideas, kids are like sponges. A pair of perfectly loving parents could raise someone who’s not a great person, if they happen to hold harmful ideas. 

So, what annoys me about the idea that cobra kai has finally given us the context of Johnny’s actions its that is seems to imply that, unlike the films, they aren’t saying that he was Evil. That they are instead showing us that he was just a product of his surroundings. 

There’s only one problem. The films do portray him as kid that was the product of his surroundings. 

The difference it’s that it’s not done exclusively throught painful experiences. It’s also done throught privileged experiences. Two things, not one. (And now, he’s just one)

So one moment in the films that gives us a glimpse into Johnny’s motivations its the tournament scene, Which is impeccable, Mr. Zabka put his entire pussy into it 10/10. I will eventually make a post about that. 

But I just. I keep coming back to the Country club scene because it says so much about where Johnny is coming from. 

See, Johnny is quite literally being told that he is a better option for Ali that “that boy from Reseda”. He’s also specifically using the fact that her parents are classist to get close to her. Which it’s another example of him not respecting her choices. But I also think that he fully believes this. 

His background is not some convenient thing, throw in just because. Classism is part of why he is how he is. 

Like, look me in the eyes and tell me these people don’t have their own bussiness-like version of “No mercy” somewhere in their vocabulary. 

And then there’s his general behavior towards Ali, that it’s not really that out of place, even now, in a macho film about “getting the girl”. She does not want you, but dont worry! You’ll win her over by trampling all over her boundaries. She’ll come to her senses and see how much of a man you are! 

Johnny in the Karate Kid is the product of his surroundings, but not just because he’s a kid who’s being influenced by Kreese. He’s also the product of his surroundings as a privileged kid. As a person that is told, not just by Cobra kai, but by the wider society, that he’s more important than other groups of people.  It’s his social class, his position as a white man in the US. 

The main source of his violence is the idea that he’s entitled to that violence. 

It’s why he got so angry at Daniel when he punched back (or sprinkled back, but that sounds less dramatic). It’s why he hates the fact that Ali chose (chose, not was stolen by) Daniel. She chose a boy from reseda who can’t even fight  (who’s weak) over him. Therefore putting everything Johnny has been told about his worth in question. (And just, his attitude towards her, the fact that he thinks he can literally force her to talk to him. It’s so so realistic if you think about all those other things he believes about strength and domination.)

In the movies, these notions of superiority are what makes kids (because we see clearly in the tournament scene that they are still just kids) susceptible to the Cobra kai philosophy. 

And it’s so frustrating! It’s so frustrating because the writers saw that and apperantly were like “Nope, that’s not enoght. Something bad must have happened to him. This it’s too simple.”

Too simple? 

The show transforms the socio-cultural explanation into an interpersonal, individual explanation. He is just A Person who was influenced by A Person. Specifically, a kid in an abusive household who felt prey to a manipulative teacher (And Kreese now has his Own Sad Explanation).  At most, there’s some discussion of Toxic Masculinity (or is there, really?) but, for the most part, his privileged background is ignored. 

I appreciate that we get to see him trying to be a better person, I really do. That he’s recovering from the trauma his teacher inflicted on him. But I am just so tired of the tragic reframing of these kinds of behaviors. Johnny deserves compassion for the things that Kreese put him throught. But when it comes to the belief that he was entitled to hurt other people, entitled to Ali, he doesn’t get sad points for that.  

I just wish we could have seen how a redemption arc would have looked for a guy like that, for that kind of mentality. Maybe then I could finally enjoy a story where a shitty dude gets to grow from his mistakes without feeling like im supposed to pity him for the hurt he caused. 

Cause I am so so so so sick of that, Hollywood! 

[lady-literature]

I rewrite Sky High

okay so, disclaimer: sky high was actually pretty damn good for it’s time and a lot of the plot twists/tropes used in it were still just starting out and not as commonplace as they are today. so 10/10 really good movie.

Also as i was writing this, it turned into half analysis of what’s already in the movie and half things I would change about the movie so,,, yeah. enjoy!

***

So the point about Sky High is that and the way the school and hero society as a whole works, is that you, as the audience, are supposed to look at it and know that it’s a flawed system. We’re supposed to see it as an injustice that kids are sorted into hero or sidekick- Sorry, I mean ‘Hero Support,’ on your first day of school based on something you can’t even control.

(This movie was my hero academia-ing it up before it was cool.)

Anyway, the movie calls a lot of attention to it in the beginning, but then doesn't actually give it the resolution it deserves in the end. Which, not cool guys.

The Hero/Sidekick debacle is, on the whole, a very thinly veiled metaphor for the problems minorities face. Specifically, those of the alphabet mafia, or LGBTQ, as we’re more commonly known.

There are a lot of examples for this so I’ll speed through the big ones real quick:

Will’s nerves regarding not having attraction to girls superpowers?

The way he tries to fake having an attraction to girls superpowers to get approval from his dad?

Being literally outed in front of his whole class (by someone named Boomer no less) and then immediately trying to hide it from his parents as long as possible?

The constant references to being a ‘late bloomer’. Doesn’t it remind you of the common phrases: ‘it’s just a phase’ or ‘don’t worry. You’ll start liking [opposite gender] eventually.’ ?

The scene in the kitchen, right after Will introduces the Sidekick Squad (and yes, that is what I’ll be referring to them as for the rest of this essay tumblr post). Will is so obviously trying to gauge how his dad is going to take his friends being sidekicks and also him being a sidekick. I just, this is so blatantly a coming out scene? How does anybody not see it as that?

(also the dad talking so offhandedly about bigotry and the hatred his own father had for sidekicks??? Who else has been there?)

Will telling his dad that he doesn’t care, that he’s proud of being gay to be a sidekick is just,,, *chef’s kiss*

With all of this backing behind Will and him growing into not being ashamed of his lack of powers, My first change would be that Will does not, in fact receive his father’s super strength. It’s just such a cop out! The movie had all this amazing build up, and this brilliant metaphor it could have used and, instead, they threw it all away.

The sudden acquisition of powers and immediate acceptance by his peers, feels too close to someone being ‘fixed’. That Will wasn’t good enough the way he was and had to be better, had to be his father in order to be good enough.

So, no. Will remains powerless.

Instead of the revelation of ‘he’s strong’, we get to let the Sidekick Squad shine.

Lash and Speed still cause a fight between Warren and Will, but when Will is under the table, the sidekicks actually do something.

Will knocks the table over (not, like, lifting Warren up but something closer to pushing him off. I mean, even I could push upwards from underneath a table fast enough that if someone is standing on it, they’d lose their balance and fall to the ground) and that starts things.

The Sidekick Squad all grab forgotten lunch trays or cartons of milk or something and throw it at Warren. It isn’t long then that the whole scene devolves into a food fight (Zach, at least, does not have good aim and probably hits a bystander accidentally, drawing more people in, until the whole cafeteria is involved.) The fight turns into something more playful, but still with that bit of an undertone of trying to actually hurt each other.

Ethan melts at one point and (accidentally) causes Warren to slip and land on his back, Magenta probably punches someone (not Warren) and Zach is just mouthing off to anybody who gets close enough. Near the end, right before Principal Powers shows up, Layla finally gets the right idea and just fire extinguishes the shit out of Warren.

(Side note here: I am very much also nixing the Layla crushes on Will plotline. I love best friends to lovers just as much as the next person but… no. Let kids see boy/girl friendships! 

Instead, I will be inserting a Layla/Warren love story and you can consider this the first scene on the road for that.)

Anyway, the whole Sidekick Squad plus Warren ends up in the detention room and all of them are covered in food. Right after Principal Powers leaves, the Sidekick Squad is immediately talking excitedly to each other about how cool they just were and what they did. Basically it’s very wholesome and they’re all hyping each other up and then one of them, Layla or Will, excitedly turns to Warren and goes, ‘and that thing you did with the fireballs? God! I don’t think Lash is going to have any eyebrows for a month’ and the tension between them all but drops.

Warren, of course, tries to push them away and not get involved with their ridiculousness, but the Sidekick Squad is stubborn and by the end of detention, everyone but Warren is in agreement that he’s a part of the Squad now. They will not leave him alone. They also start hanging out at the Paper Lantern all the time just to annoy/make fun of him in that loving way friends do.

(I just want Warren to be a part of the Squad guys. Will calls him his best friend at the end but what did the movie actually do to show they were friends? Nothing, that’s what. I want that fixed.)

So the cafeteria fight boosts the whole Squad’s reputation, right? People think those sidekicks are pretty cool, and they get their fifteen minutes of fame. Only… Will gets a little hooked on the feeling of being popular. He doesn’t want to be a capital-h Hero or anything! But, well… he’d be lying if he didn’t like people thinking he was cool.

The others don’t really care all that much about being cool, but Will does. He hates that he does but what is he supposed to do? He can’t change how he feels. So he starts trying to make himself more popular and sometimes tries dragging his friends into stupid schemes.

And then enter stage right, one Gwen Grayson.

I prefer Gwen being Royal Pain’s daughter, actually. A girl who would’ve had no stock in this fight but her mother, who is sickly and weak and survives mostly because her daughter takes care of her, practically brainwashes Gwen to do her bidding.

Gwen is a minion here, and also, perhaps, a victim.

At first, she follows her mom’s orders and charms Will into dating her. She also feeds into his desire to gain popularity but can’t, in this world, break him from his friends. Actually, Will brings Gwen along to the Sidekick Squad hangouts and, slowly, she becomes a part of the group too.

She starts to doubt her mother. Starts to care for Will and the Squad.

She throws the party, and the Squad is all invited (trying to break them up isn’t conducive to the Plan her mother has anyway and wouldn’t work besides) but she lures Will away to make out and… other things, and he brings her to the Sanctum for privacy just like before. She still steals the pacifier (or whatever death ray equivalent you want idk) but she and Will don’t break up at the end of the night.

It’s not actually until two days later, right before the dance is going to start, does Gwen decide she can’t stand back and let this happen anymore. She spills the whole plot and her betrayal to Will when he comes to pick her up for the dance. She’s crying and apologizing and basically expecting to be hated forever by the only people she thinks ever actually liked her.

And, well. Will is furious at her for lying but there’s more important things to deal with at the moment. They’ll talk more about this and he’ll be angry, but that’s all going to be later. Right now they have a school to save so he grabs her hand and starts running to warn the rest of their friends.

Things happen mostly as canon from that point with minor changes.

It’s Warren who pulls Layla into a kiss before they all split off into groups, telling her to kick ass and stay safe before sprinting off after Speed. There have been scenes throughout the movie where the two are very obviously getting closer and are into each other. And then, before the dance, while Gwen and Will we’re technically going as a couple, the whole Squad was going as a group.

When Warren and Layla saw each other all dolled up, it’s very cliché. Warren says she looks nice and Layla visibly gulps at his outfit of a button down and suit pants, sleeves rolled up to his elbows (because homeboy does not wear a full tux you can fight me on this).

And also, Will doesn’t fight Royal Pain by himself. Instead, Gwen is there with him and they don’t fight with super strength. Gwen’s been helping Will build an arsenal of gadgets a la Batman and the two face off against her mom together, Gwen with her powers, and Will acting as half support and half as a watered-down Batman who still needs some more training before he’s totally polished.

The school falls from the sky, but Gwen buys them time by keeping the anti gravs working through sheer force of will, while Will holds off her mom from attacking her while she’s vulnerable and concentrating. Magenta eventually kills the EMP or whatever it was, and the day is saved.

Gwen passes out, cause ~drama~ but she ends up okay so don’t worry. She’s just exhausted. 

The sidekicks get their recognition and then immediately bounce because dances suck and they all agree that they should go to the Paper Lantern instead to celebrate cause they’re tired, alright? Saving the day is hard.

So it’s all of them, a little battered and bruised and exhausted, crowded into this corner booth and laughing and being kids. The camera does it’s fade to comic book page thing, and the narration is something more along the lines of:

“Royal Pain and her cronies got locked away. Gwen and I talked things out, and she’s getting help for all the stuff her mom did to her. We’re taking things slow in the meantime.

The school is undergoing a lot of changes to the curriculum and getting rid of the whole ‘hero/sidekick’ divisions. (Mostly at the urging of my parents… and Layla). Next year is going to look a lot different, I think.

But it’ll be a good different, just like we are. None of us were what we were expected to be, and, I think, we’re going to keep defying expectations. There’s a whole world out there that needs changing.

And I can’t think of a better group of friends to do it with.”

THE END

(just give me found family saves the day by being themselves rather than somebody else, give me them saving the day because they care about each other, give me them fighting for what’s right and fixing things. please i am b e g g i n g.)

***

Additional nitpicks that are small but Very Important to Me

Coach Boomer is still called coach Boomer because there is no way I am missing out on the ‘okay, boomer’ jokes

Layla stays like Layla, but i’d like for the movie to stop trying to make her seem annoying for her beliefs or like she’s wrong to be so vocal about them. Her caring about things that are wrong ends up as the butt of too many jokes and i… do not like that.

Why so many dad/son scenes? Why this janky imbalance parenting dynamic between the Strongholds. Knock that shit off. I want happy functional family thank you very much

Mr Boy and the mad scientist are very obviously in a relationship

Wait, actually: mr boy, mad scientist and Boomer are al in a poly relationship and are ridiculous about it

I’d like to see more of the sidekick classes going over like, ‘the boring’ parts of the job, and teaching the kids how to deal with the aftermath of the heroes heroics, just to hammer in the fact that the system is fucked up and that it’s messed up that the heroes get all the recognition while the sidekicks are left to clean up the mess

Use actual 14 year old actors? These kids look like seniors.

Or, if you want more ‘mature’ characters make it so sky high is like,,, a finishing school or smth. Something kids 16 and over go to.

(What the fuck kind of parent thinks that their freshman child dating a senior is a good idea?? An almost adult coming onto a fourteen year old??? Are you trying to make Will’s parents (particularly the dad) seem like irresponsible assholes??)

Gwen is, at most, a year above Will in this rewrite, kay?

[lunaekalenda]

So this is an angst request about Erwin! To basically lay it out Erwin and reader are childhood friends and she has always been pretty attached to him, as they grow up he goes into the survey corps and she goes with him as well, and she eventually develops a crush on him and he does too just that he keeps it private to himself.

okay! i hope you like it and sorry for the waiting!! 💖

continuation to the request:

Over time they start falling apart. Either way during an expedition the reader ends up passing away and since then one of the reader's best friends has been passive aggressive with Erwin even when he became commander. So the night before the retaking of Wall Maria he calls that friend into his office and he asks them why they have been acting that way ever since she died. The friend confesses that the reader loved him so much that she didnt care what happened to them and that. The friend confesses that the reader loved him so much that she didnt care what happened to them and that she didn’t care when he fell into the arms of any other woman because she just wanted him to be happy. And that's why the friend was always so mad at Erwin because he never even spared a glance at her. So then Erwin dies and he meets her again and it can end on either fluff or angst if you want to. You can do it in any POV you can! Thanks!

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❁ erwin x female!reader

❁ spoilers! some cursing also, one mention of suicide word, original character introduction, non-canon events and deaths.

❁ a/n: sorry, anon! it took longer than I expected to write this because i kept editing it :’) i hope you like it <3 sorry for any errors and for making this so long :’’) also, i’m not following the manga exact events!!!! also sorry if i messed something up :(

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“You’re what?”

“I’m joining the Survey Corps.” Erwin looked at you, his blue eyes fixed on yours. He left the papers on the desk, getting up. Even knowing he’s just a teenager, he’s pretty tall. But, after all this years, it doesn’t intimidate you.

“You’re not” He says. You raise an eyebrow, looking at him.

“You’re not my father to decide what can I do and what I cannot do. If you’re joining, I’m joining.” Erwin sighs and looks at you fiercely. You keep your gaze in his.

“I have the same possibilities to die as you have, Smith. So don’t fucking dare to tell me not to join.” 

“I have the same possibilities to die as you have, Smith. So don’t fucking dare to tell me not to join.” 

Both of you passed the tests to enter the Survey Corps. His intelligence and your strength made the two of you stand out. You cared for Erwin, always checking on him on your training expeditions, and being there when he rans out of gas or needs assistance. Even when he tried to convince you not to, you joined anyway the elimination squad. Erwin joined as well, but his strategic brain made him talk to the heads of the army. Lion waited for you after an intense training. Erwin was entering the Commander’s office. Lion sighed.

“He’s always so occupied with high class men...” 

“I’m happy for him.” you say. Lion was cleaning his boots.

He has been your friend since both of you entered the elimination squad, and he’s like a big brother to you now. He rolls his eyes.

“Because you love him.” He says. He was not wrong: A little teen crush on Erwin evolved to the point that you love him. You know he doesn’t feel the same for you, or so you think. He always treats you kind of cold, and more since he entered the Corps. You know he feels responsible of you joining because of his ideas, but you where totally free to join. That doesn’t excuse his new cold attitude towards you. Lion sighs again and gets up, his boots now totally clean. 

“He doesn’t look at you that way, y/n” He says. Maybe he’s right, totally right, but the heart doesn’t choose who to love. That’s why you’re deeply in love with him. And because you know him better than anyone. His fears and his goals. The way his blue eyes soften when he talks about something he loves. "But, I do understand you." he says. "Love is just a fucking problem and a headache if it is one-sided" He palmed your shoulder before going out of the tent. Sighing, you stand up and follow him. Erwin comes out of the Commander’s tent at the same time. You look at him and he looks at you. You smile at him, a little smile that he is silently adoring, silently wanting to kiss, to feel it against him.

"Come on, Erwin." The Commander makes Erwin walk behind him, and his expression keeps being the same as usual towards you. You decide it's time to stop making him notice you. He doesn't want anything romantic with you, so just let him be. If he wants to search a cute soldier to get married or a girl to have fun is his decision. You're out of it.

But you didn't know how much he cared for you, how deep in love he was. Just watching the corners of your lips making a little smile makes his heart beat faster, the way you are so close to him even when he is treating you like that hurts him. If he wasn't a soldier, he would ask you to go out with him. He would take your hands sweetly and make you dance to an invented song just to see the way your lips curve in a smile of joy. He would take you to long walks and give you his jacket when you're cold. He would ask your hand in marriage and kiss and nude your body with care and tenderness. He would marry you happily, have maybe a couple kids, if you want to. Live a easy and quiet life.

But he decided to be a soldier.

That means he's risking his life every time he puts his feet out of the walls. As you do. That's why he wants you to leave and search someone who cares for you and loves you deeply. He wants to be that one, but knowing that maybe he'll die in the next expedition, leaving you alone and heartbroken, scares him. He knows you're brave and strong, but a close loose is not a easy thing. Even for you. So he decided to keep a cold attitude towards you.

Years passed by and your crush for him was still there, as intense as always. He is candidate to be the next Commander, as he always wanted to. His desire for knowing why humanity has to be in the walls while the titans can be free out there. Lion knocks on your room door.

"Did you heard the news?" he asks, entering. You shake your head. "We'll go on an emergency expedition tomorrow." Lion sits near you. An emergency expedition. There was a rare type of expedition, the emergency ones: they're made when a strange titan comes around and takes a lot of normal titans with it, near a town or village. "We're leaving tonight at 5. Be ready." You nod. "And try to sleep a bit, yes?" you nod again. Lion leaves silently and you prepare yourself to sleep some hours. You know that going without sleeping will make you an easy prey for titans. At five o'clock, you're all marching towards the entrance of the wall Maria. The Commander assigns your squad to the front.

The expedition starts calmly, even when the atmosphere in the soldier’s files seems tense. Lion rides a horse near you, in silence, and you know Erwin goes behind, with all the high soldiers. You can’t feel titans near, even their steps. That’s why the Commander yell scares you. 

“There’s a sparkler!” he yells. You look at both sides, finding easily the black colored flame.  “Elimination squad, go and find that damn thing and kill it. Rescue squad, find survivors and take them to the barricade.” You nod, following your squad leader. After a long time riding, without finding signs of a titan near, you start to think that maybe it was just a bad joke of one of the juniors.

That changes when the girl next to you yells, suddenly trapped in a big hand. A strange titan, with an enormous mouth, smiles at her, as if it were trying to tell her that it is going to enjoy every bite of her body. And it does. You saw comrades die because of titans. Smashed, eaten in a bite or even suicides. But you never, never, saw a titan split a comrade in two parts. Her waist bleeds while the titan swallows her legs. The scene is truly gross, how the blood stains the mouth of the titan, dripping to the ground, making the daisies turn red in a cruel metaphor of life and death. 

“Eva...” Lion whispers. All the color has left his face. You’re incapable to look to other side, just to the horror expression in Eva’s face, freezed forever while the titan eats her. Then, it’s gaze searches new victims. That’s how you react, when its bloody smile is pointing on your direction. Lion yells.

“y/n!” 

Your ODMG goes fast and reaches a near tree, where you hang. The titan looks around. You have it’s neck really close to you. It’s just having it distracted and attack him.

“Lion, distract him!” You yell, hiding behind the trunk. Lion starts to move on the ground, the big eyes of the titan following him fast, his hand trying to reach the fastest soldier of the army. You point with your ODMG to its neck, the perfect angle for attacking it. Once your hooks are well placed, you take two blades and jump. 

The attack is one the trainer show you. It’s almos infalible, it has a 0′1 margin of error. It’s impossible to fail. You speed up, trying to reach its neck. But you found its teeth before.

Your expression is surprised when the titan opens its mouth, taking you into it. Your blades made cuts in its mouth because of the speed.

“y/n!” Lion yells, taking out his blades. He goes fast in your help, but maybe it is too late. You feel how the titans’ teeth part you in two, as you saw it did with Eva before. It is instant pain. How you body gets split in two. How the titan parts from your body, to pull the part it has between its teeth far from the other part of your body, using two fingers to hold your upper part. You’re still conscious about what is happening. You can see other titans fighting against your comrades. You can watch them die, as same as you’re about to do. There’s no way to save you.

This is not a romantic book. Erwin is not going to appear in his white horse, just in time to save you. He’s not going to leave the army to take care of you. He’s not going to kill that titan in revenge, yelling and covered in blood. So, that’s why you close your eyes, leaving your body, without making resistance against the titan.

When Lion killed it, it was late for you. Lion tried to wake you up, to make you open your eyes and look at him. But you couldn’t. Your soul was watching him from above.

The news reached your home and Erwin. He went to your house, to show respect and give the sorry to your family. 

It hurt him in ways he couldn’t imagine he would get hurt. It was a continuous reminder in his heart, that now you’re not going to smile at him in the corridors or be behind him when he needs you. He cried. He cried a lot, in private, in his room. He regretted every single cold gaze, every time he ignored you thinking it was the best for you. He regrets all the times you reached him to talk with him, and he ignored you to talk with high ranked soldiers. He regrets not confessing to you.

And now he can’t do anything about it because you’re not longer there.

Lion feels guilty, he thinks he could have saved you, but you jumped on the titan’s mouth. It wasn’t his fault. Erwin knows he was your best friend there, and he knows he should go and show his respects to him too, but he can’t. Not now. He decides to wait. The wound is too recent.

That’s how years passed by, slow, and Erwin got upgraded to Commander. He got new soldiers, new squads and new faces. But he stills think about you. About how you would like to meet Hange. How Lion is training the new ones. How well you’ll understand Levi. 

He decided that it was time to talk with Lion. Breathing deep, he started to walk towards the barricade. There, Lion was making a ponytail to a young girl, that seemed like a cadet. The girl made the army’s salute towards her Commander, salute that Erwin made back. Lion looked at him, his face tinted with anger, like every time the Commander walked near him. Erwin knows he feels bad because of what happened to you but, angry at him? Why?

“Can we talk in my office?” the blonde man asks. Lion keeps looking at him with anger.

“Why would the Commander need me?”

“Just a couple of minutes, and then you can go back to work.”

Lion reluctantly agrees, following the Commander back to his office. Once they’re in, Erwin starts to talk.

“I know y/n’s death has...”

“Oh, so now you’re going to talk about her.” Lion says. His arms are crossed.

“What do you mean?” Erwin asks. Lion walks toward him. The two of them are similar in height, but Lion is more corpulent.

“You never talked to her when she was alive. Even knowing that she was there for you every fucking time you needed her. She wasn’t your fucking dog, Commander.” the way Lion spits the word makes Erwin realize that he isn’t his favorite soldier. “She was a girl. A girl with feelings, a girl that loved and suffered. A human. Not your war machine, not your gas station, not your shield. A girl.”

Erwin wasn’t getting where was Lion trying to reach with that conversation. 

“What do you mean?” he asks, quietly. Lion let out a little sarcastic laugh.

“She was in love with you, Commander Smith. She told me a hundred times that it didn’t care if you were watching another woman because that means you’re happy.” Erwin’s blue eyes shot open in surprise. “She was in love with you. That’s why she was always around you, helping you and caring for you. It wasn’t luck. It was love.”

Erwin got dizzy. That’s why you were always so sweet to him? Always trying to get closer to him, to make sure he was secure, to make him notice you. 

How was he so blind? 

“I...” Erwin was at a loss of words. Lion sighed.

“I don’t know why you were so cold to her. Why? She was the sweetest girl out there and you treated her with coldness.”

He asks himself the same. Why? To protect you or to protect himself? Was he trying to make you happy or trying to extinguish the love he felt for you? Was it for your good-being or for his?

Was he being egoistic or abnegated? 

Lion left the office without looking again to Erwin. 

That night, Erwin’s mind was a mess. He only could think about you. About how you cared all this time for him and how he couldn’t save you. But he had an expedition the next day. Even when he wanted to cry and break things and scream, he needs to sleep. He’s human, after all.

He dreamed about you. About how your smile was always for him, and he couldn’t see it. That’s why there are purple marks under his eyes. Levi looks at his Commander, saying anything. Just his normal silence when he looked to the front again. Erwin survived to a lot of battles, a lot, even when one of them costed his arm. But he survived. Even when he wanted to die, because you’re not longer with him. But he obligated himself to keep going.

“Today, we’re fighting to recover a part of Wall Maria, to recover the district of Shiganshina from the titans. Soldiers, offer your hearts!” all the soldiers yelled back to Erwin. He looked at the sky.

Some hours after, the Commander told all his effectives to offer themselves along with him. He knew it was difficult to win towards the beast titan, the one that throws rocks. He talked to Levi earlier, and the Captain asked him if he had a plan. Levi was sure everybody was about to die. But the Commander told Levi that, risking his life and his cadets lives, there was hope for humanity. That’s why Erwin was looking at the distance without fear, the silhouette of the Beast Titan could be seen from where he is. Yelling to his subordinates once again, he made the army advance. And a lot of stones appeared in front of them. He thought about you, about how you where always brave, even when things were complicated.

That was the last thought he had, before getting hit by a rock.

Erwin didn’t expect to find you again, pretty as always, with your beautiful hair clean and shining. He was there, in front of you. You were also wearing the Corps uniform. His eyes started to form tears.

“Erwin?” You asked. He nods. Your watery eyes understood that if he’s there, in front of you, it means he’s dead. You run, hugging him. His scent is as clear as always, his arm tangled on your waist. You cry on his chest and he cries on your neck.

“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, y/n...” he says. His breath is irregular and his big hand massages your waist.

“It’s okay, Erwin. It’s okay.” Your hand strokes his hair, quietly. 

“I told my soldiers to die for the humanity. I sacrificed them for what?” the shock after commanding a whole army, being aware of all the lives he risked for humanity, made him break. You hugged him, being there for him. "Why are you here, with me?"

"Because I love you." you simply say. "I'm still in love with you, Erwin." you answer. He looks at your face.

"You're not angry at me?" he asks. You shake your head.

"I guess you had your causes to avoid me. Maybe you don't like me even a bit or something, and that's totally right."

He knew he needed to explain everything to you, but, for now, he just need to feel your arms around him.

Now, you have all eternity to be together.