#tw mention of just fucking shitty ex number 2

[insomnaticwriter]

you said you had some stories about your ex you really wanted to tell? (if you’re comfortable with that, ofc- feel free to ignore this)

Edit: THIS IS LONG AS FUCK IM SO SORRY- don’t read unless you want trauma(?) dumping about my ex :) this was a straight up therapy session, I broke all the “don’t trauma dump on the internet” rule. I apologize. Still posting it tho. Good luck :)

👀 which ex- the one I was talking about was my most recent, our relationship lasted a year and a half, we met online and met about 8 months or so in our relationship maybe less, I saw her twice in a matter of a year and a half, both for a week at a time I stayed at her house on whatever break I had available at the time, I think it was fall break and winter. SO NOW THAT BACKGROUND IS OVER.

She had a HUGE issue with me going to school- like any time I talked about it she was mad, any time I talked about wanting to go to college she would try and convince me not to go saying it was useless and it would be idiotic to go because education doesn’t matter because you die either way. We didn’t have many issues (at least ones that were brought up at the time we dated) but this was one of them. Just… me going to school. When I would try talking about it she said VERBATIM “don’t talk about school it makes me sad.” Because she dropped out.

Another was me working. I started worked at 16 and I’m 18 now. 17 when we broke up. I started working and applying to jobs when we were dating, this was when we started to have issues. I’d text her at work, I’d call at school but it never seemed to be enough, she needed to have all of my time or it wasn’t enough. It was getting to the point when I would literally count the minutes of the day I had alone. I still remember. 10 in the morning, 7 when I walked to work, if she didn’t call, and maybe 15 minutes before she called when I got home. This wouldn’t of been an issue but whenever I wanted to go to a school event or work an extra hour or just go out with friends it became a fight and I isolated myself so bad that my friends legitimately held a literal intervention. Sat me down and told me something had to change because I wasn’t my self anymore.

The next thing was therapy. She had.. issues which I won’t share on the internet but they were major and she needed help, something I couldn’t provide her, that I was probably too young to handle at the time, honestly anyone would be too young to handle, including her. Anyway 💅🏻 there were always two sides, I didn’t have it bad enough to need therapy and I shouldn’t go and that she needed it for years and never got it and I just got it when I asked for it OR that I was bipolar and impulsive,m and “crazy” when I did stuff like dye my hair or hang out with friends.

Lol this is long as fuck I’m sorry-

When I tried to tell her that I was gender whatever the fuck I am. Basically tried telling her I wanted to buy a binder and she told me as soon as the words left my mouth that she just couldn’t handle that and it was too much for her.

There was other things like this, like I was expected to handle everything she threw at me and basically got into trouble when I couldn’t handle her breakdowns or mental issues and tried my best but didn’t know what to do, but she always told me my depression or anxiety was nothing and there was no reason for me to have them. And when she told me I didn’t have enough trauma, and then I told her more, she said it was too upsetting to hear.

Also I’m 99% sure she cheated on me. She definitely emotionally cheated on me but I think she also slept with someone else.

WHICH IS JUST A WHOLE OTHER STORY, should I tell it? Hmmmm? Ask me if you want me to share it idc I will. No filter. Not one.

She slept with someone else 12 hours after we broke up and then called me crying about how this other girl didn’t like her and how bipolar she must be because “how can you sleep with someone but not like them.” And how much she liked her and then I asked why the hell she was talking to me about this when we had JUST broken up. We broke up, I went to bed, got to work and she called me doing this- it was weird. She also stayed at her house for two or three days before this happened 🫠

Some other stuff that didn’t bother me as much is that she smoked and did drugs, she’s actually the one who introduced me to weed. But she did it in excess, like every 30 minutes she would get high, every few hours she would smoke a cigarette, every other night she would drink. Her and her friends would get smashed. She was 16-18 when I knew her.

ALSO WE WATCHED YOUNG ROYALS TOGETHER AFTER WE BROKE UP, I WATCHED IT LIKE FIVE TIMES BEFORE THAT BUT WE LIKED IT TOGETHER AND I HATE THAT.

she also texted me 6 months after we broke up saying I was a dumb bitch.

The funny part is my first girlfriend, my other ex, WAY WORSE 🥴

I have some wild ass hookup stories too. I’m bored and willing to share everything on the internet so WHY NOT-

I feel as if you were probably looking for fun light hearted stories- sorry anon! I think I have some if I look hard enough in my file cabinet brain!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

am i the asshole for cutting off my mentally unstable friend without any explanation whatsoever?

(🧠🌩️ so i can find it)

tw for abuse and cheating mentions

ok typing out that title makes me feel like i might be TA to, like, some degree but just hear me out first.

i (19, f) was in my first semester of college when i met rachel (20). we shared a class and grew to be friends over our shared nerdy interests. i admittedly didn't really like her that much at first and didn't consider her to be that close of a friend. she was really just someone to talk to when class got boring or we had a break or something.

i was actually kinda regretting talking to her at all because i clocked that she was a little unstable almost immediately; she was very quick to anger and constantly talked about fighting people that had ""wronged"" her (which included our professor who she was convinced was out to get her for some reason?? idk why our prof was a really nice lady), constantly trauma dumped without asking (i'm talking like early into our relationship too. first day we met she was ranting about her abusive mother and her childhood trauma and stuff), and always found a way to turn the focus of the conversation about her any time i tried to talk about myself or anything that wasn't our shared interests. the only reason i gave her my number is bc she asked for it and i didn't know how to turn her down without hurting her feelings--i'd been planning on ghosting the second our class ended.

so we continued to talk/text for like a year and (at her insistence) met up for lunch in between class the following semester. i warmed to her a little at this point so it wasn't too bad; at the very least her constant drama gave me something to talk about with my real friends, and like i said i didn't really know how to cut her off in a way that wouldn't start something.

so time goes on and she shuffles through a few boyfriends--all who either cheated on her or were inattentive/verbally abusive. she constantly asked me for advice, which was confusing bc she never listened to it? like she asked me if she should take back her ex who cheated on her 3x and i said "no that sounds like an awful idea" and then she exploded at me and screamed that i could 'go fuck myself' and to 'stay the fuck outta her business bc it's her fucking life and not mine'. but then the minute he (predictably) cheated on her again and dumped her guess who had to sit with her on the phone for 2 hours while she cried? yep. me!

this kinda bullshit continued all the way up to a few months ago. she met a new guy, told me all about how he was "the one" and "he's gonna be different this time" blah blah blah. at this point i genuinely stopped giving a fuck about her and her problems. the only reason i hadn't cut her off was because my other friends loved hearing about her drama secondhand and i admittedly did enjoy making fun of her with them. which i know is kinda shitty but at least she'll never find out about it?

anyways, shit starts to get particularly juicy bc two months into rachel's relationship with this new dude he proposes. and she accepts (?!!) not only that but she informs me (not asks. INFORMS) me that i will be a bridesmaid. and i panicked and just said "uhhh cool i'm so happy for you!!" so this is the point where i decide that i need to end this relationship bc having to attend her wedding is just not something i wanna be apart of and i felt that if i went through with that it would solidify our ''friendship'' in her mind and i'd never be rid of her.

so i stop responding to her texts as frequently and began ducking her calls. didn't have to stop initiating bc i never initiated convos with her in the first place. i'd answer every once in a while bc she would start spamming that she was having ""emergencies!!!"" which. they never were true emergencies; she just wanted to vent about her fiance and his shitty family or something his ex-wife did to piss her off (her fiance was like 20 and divorced twice with three kids. YIKES) and i'd listen until she got tired of talking and ended the call. not once did she ever ask about me btw. at this point she wasn't even to pretend to care about me or my life; i was just her dumping grounds for all her trauma and venting.

i thought she might've got the message that we were done bc she hadn't texted for like a month, but a few days ago i recieved a message that said something like "omg i haven't heard from you in a while, are you okay??" and. i'm not sure if i can put into words the sheer amount of exasperation and annoyance those words filled me with. like i could tell right off the bat it was just a ploy so she could get me talking and then vent and saddle me with all her stupid emotional bullshit. so i blocked her, finally. this shouldn't cause any problems bc she dropped out of school last semester (she was failing so she decided to start her own business).

the thing is, i know that she's mentally not well. she is very erratic and immature, add that to the fact that she's gone through a lot of trauma throughout her life and the end result is a deeply flawed person. at the same time i'm not responsible for her mental health and continuing to play friends with her what i don't even like her in the first place seems disingenuous. but she's got abandonment issues, so me doing this is probably gonna hurt her. although me being honest and saying that i can't stand her and her drama anymore probably wouldn't feel any better.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[watchoutforthefanfics]

achievement unlocked 🔓 (part eight) || Streamer AU! Reddie (IT)

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

AVAILABLE ON AO3

Inspiration: this prompt + BIRDS OF A FEATHER by Billie Eilish

Summary: Richie liked to play video games, and by some stroke of luck, it became his job. Being primarily known as Trashmouth on stream, he found his own little group of streamer friends and they became intertwined: The Losers Club. It never did feel quite complete, though. Well, until, he got his very own backseat gamer in chat.

TWs: innuendos, lots of talk of sex (it's Richie), cursing, brief mention of toxic relationships, and shameless flirting.

[[A/N: This had me twirling my hair and giggling. Hehehehehehehe. They like each other so much !!! Enjoy :))]]

Richie woke up to approximately 50 messages. Okay, so maybe he was exaggerating, but squinting at his phone in the early morning (it was like 10:30 maybe) really exaggerated the amount. It was all so blurry, he couldn't really tell what exactly he was looking at, but he knew it was a lot. With a breath, he pushed himself up, to lean against the headboard of the bed -his head hurt a little, and he could kind of tell he had a shitty sleep. He couldn't really say why, he didn't really fucking know.

Mindlessly, he grabbed his glasses from his nightstand (which holy fuck did they need to be cleaned) and slid them onto his face. It took him more than one try (he wasn't exactly the most coordinated, not even when he was fully awake). After continuously pushing back a mob of curls that just stayed in front of his eyes, Richie finally just shook his head and the mob moved out of the way. He really needed to figure out how to take care of curls. Maybe he could ask Bev-

He blinked, refocusing on his phone screen -there was a lot. A mix of Instagram and actual messages (he randomly noted if he should get Eddie's number at some point), he thought for a second he posted something he shouldn't have. So, with a breath, he checked (on all platforms, mind you). All he had was Twitch promo and some stupid tweets (he specifically remembers "animal from the muppets definitely fucks"), though, so he was all good there.

He frowned. What the fuck is going on?

Naturally, Richie went to Instagram first. It was where he talked to Eddie, and that was kinda his first priority anyway. Was that fucked up to say? He loved his friends, really, they just weren't... Eddie.

Eddie was like a whole different tier.

So, he quickly went to his messages. In which he noticed a few different sources, the new groupchat was the primary target with an absurd amount of new messages (he debated turning those notifications off for a spare moment), some from Eddie, and maybe like two from Bev. You can kinda guess where he went first.

e.kaspbrak

Can't believe you fucking fell asleep on me.

You snore by the way.

Richie smiled. Right. They'd been up pretty late last night on the phone. Eddie had told him to go to sleep for hours, but Richie downright refused. And neither of them really wanted to hang up. So, apparently, he stayed on until he passed out.

e.kaspbrak

Hope you slept well, asshat.

Richie laughed out loud. Maybe a little in the giggly kind of way (he likes me) and maybe a little like it was the funniest shit in the world (which it was, to him). He said this literally every day but he was so entirely fucked. Eddie had such a fucking grip on him.

This next one he noted was like super early in the morning for him in New York.

e.kaspbrak

Your ex, Connor, just blocked me.

I went easy on him too, what a fucking baby.

He's married now, though, so I messaged his wife instead. She told me she'd get back to me.

Richie snorted. He couldn't remember the last time someone gave a this much of a shit. About him. His friends loved him, yeah, but to fucking chase down his exes? And fucking insult them into blocking you? There was truly nothing more romantic.

e.kaspbrak

I know you're still gonna be asleep right now because you don't wake up until 3 in the fucking afternoon, but I told the others.

Just check the groupchat.

Text me when you're up, dipshit.

Richie paused a second, suddenly understanding the influx of messages. And now that he looked at it, missed calls.

Before he could think about it, he clicked the camera button and started a video. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he threw up a thumbs up.

"I'm awake, Eds," he let out a yawn, naturally stretching slightly, "-at a responsible-" he checked the clock, "-10:37 in the morning. So fuck you."

And send.

Richie blinked. Wait.

He'd never sent Eddie a video in his life. Why was that his instinct? They'd not even sent selfies back and forth, now that he thought about it. He stared at the little bubble for a few seconds too long. And maybe because he was half awake, he just waved it off. Too late now.

Barely awake Richie had less anxiety apparently.

With a smooth motion, he moved on to the groupchat. Surprisingly, most of the recent ones were just reels -back and forth throughout the night. Which was kinda in character, it was a friends' groupchat after all, what was one of those without extensive and constant fucking memes? (It should be said that he did note to mute the notifications though.) And then, after a substantial amount of scrolling, he found it.

e.kaspbrak

Now we are :)

At first, Richie didn't exactly get it. Until he scrolled up even more and was reminded of the 'not yet' text. The one that made him want to twirl in a meadow to some music, like a Disney movie scene. (It actually still kind of hit the same now. Richie felt like he should open up his window and sing to the birds.) Blinking, he refocused.

reddy.bevvy ✔️

NO WAYYYY

Ahhh, congratulations ❤️❤️❤️

benny.boy.official ✔️

so happy for you guys ☺️

stan.the.man ✔️

I wish you the best of luck, Eddie.

mike.me.up ✔️

congrats guys !!!

big.bill ✔️

Did not have trashmouth dating somebody on my bingo card but...

I'm happy for the two of you.

e.kaspbrak

Thanks, guys.

reddy.bevvy ✔️

where's rich ?

stan.the.man ✔️

Good question, Bev.

e.kaspbrak

He's asleep.

mike.me.up ✔️

How do you know that?

e.kaspbrak

He fell asleep on the phone with me.

big.bill ✔️

You guys call? Shit, this must be serious. Richie hates phone calls.

reddy.bevvy ✔️

that is so cute !!! I'm so happy for you two.

stan.the.man ✔️

I told him once my uncle died and he just said 'sorry :(' in a text.

e.kaspbrak

@/stan.the.man He really is a fucking idiot.

stan.the.man ✔️

But, you like him?

Richie could see Stanley's fierce protectiveness from a mile away. It made something warm settle along his shoulders, like a hug maybe.

e.kaspbrak

Of course, he's my fucking idiot.

Richie grinned bright -maybe a little too bright, but luckily it was just him in his bedroom. The walls were the only ones to witness it. So, it was kind of like it never even happened at all. No one else would know. They might be able to assume though.

Bev's messages on Instagram were along the same lines 'congratulations' etc, etc. Not that he didn't appreciate them, they were just kinda repetitive. Most of the text messages were the same with the same sort of purpose and soft emojis. He throughly replied to each one with a smile and thanks.

And then, he got to Bev's.

It almost popped out of the screen, accusatory.

Red 🦰🔥 😘

RICHARD TOZIER

YOU ASKED HIM TO MOVE IN WITH YOU ???

Fuck, right, he'd literally forgotten about it. (How the fuck did he forget that?) Eddie was coming to live with him, in three fucking months! God, had that really even settled in yet?

Richie decidedly did not answer, instead jumping over to Stan's messages. Or message, it seemed.

Staniel 🐦😤😠

Richie.

That spoke all it needed to. Stanley was a powerful man with few words necessary. He could nearly see the furrowed eyebrows and thin-lipped straight-line mouth. All judgemental and shit. In a weird kind of way though, the kind that shows he cares. Somehow.

Richie exited the conversation just the same. Later. It was too early for this shit.

It was of no surprise that Bev and Stan were the ones who called him -maybe five times apiece. Or... Bev did it a lot more. He was frankly surprised she hadn't shown up at his door actually-

e.kaspbrak saved your video to chat

He paused, interrupting his thought process. Instinctively, he clicked through, and sure enough, it was saved in the chat. Richie could see his face (one curl so wonkily out of place that he just knew it bothered Eddie). If he thought about it, he looked incredibly sleepy, cozy even, and his hair was unbelievable actually. Probably the frizziest it's ever been. Which is fucking saying something-

e.kaspbrak sent you a video

Richie froze.

He eyed the message for a few spare seconds, like if he blinked it would disappear. To be fair, all of this could very much be a dream. Maybe as far as the handsome comment, if he was totally fucking honest with himself-

e.kaspbrak

You are stupidly hot.

What the fuck.

Richie laughed a little, maybe instinctively thinking of it as a joke. He didn't know, but his brain hesitated to think it was him being honest like he genuinely thought those things. Richie Tozier? Hot? Since fucking when?

He didn't know what to say, so instead, he opened the video.

It took a minute to open, screen black for longer than a second (Richie made weird expressions at himself as it did so, naturally). And then, Eddie was filling up his screen.

Before it could get too far, Richie held a finger to the screen, effectively pausing it.

He let his eyes swim over Eddie. He looked like the picture yeah, but his hair was longer now, and the peek of freckles along the bridge of his nose was a little bit brighter. More noticeable. And on top of it all, was a flush of red bubbled along his cheeks and if Richie squinted, he could see it on the tips of his ears. (God, Eddie just might be the cutest human being fucking alive.) Richie almost wanted to hold his face, cradle it. Pathetically.

He was outside, Richie could tell that much. Mostly by the blue skies, but as he unpaused it, noises like dogs barking, the low hum of conversation, and cars honking (as is NY) merely confirmed it.

"It is almost noon where you are, dickhead," Eddie spoke (Richie watched the words come out of his mouth, carefully, connecting the dots), big brown eyes latched right onto him, "-You're gonna miss fucking breakfast. Do you know how important breakfast fucking is? For your entire body? It gives you all the shit you need that you're missing from fasting overnight. Hence, break fast-"

Richie hummed, Huh. A little distracted. His eyes were just so-

"-So go eat."

And then it was over.

Wordlessly, Richie saved the video to the chat. Debating what exactly he wanted to text, or if he wanted to just send another video. For a fucking glimpse of him.

God, Richie was so very gay.

He just did what felt natural, what his brain wanted him to.

trashmouth.tozier ✔️

I think u r beautiful eds

Before realizing.

trashmouth.tozier ✔️

shit unless you're not like comfortable with that word

some dudes aren't

e.kaspbrak

I'm not some dude fuckface.

Before he could text a response -fingers in place, his screen flashed with something new. It was just like a phone call on Instagram, except, on Eddie's half of the screen was, well, him.

Phone a little bit beneath his chin, his eyes scanned out in front of him as he seemed to take steps down the busy street. Richie could sometimes see heads pass by, he seemed to be moving pretty fast actually. Of course, Eds was a fast lil speedwalker. Richie just stared for a little bit, watching the tight little frown he held on his lips as his eyes glanced along the people along the sidewalk (assumedly). God, he really was fucking beautiful-

Richie answered.

"Eds," he chimed smiling, in between wiping his eyes, and shifting into a (sorta) British accent, "-Why have you given me such a pleasure as to grace me with your presence?"

Eddie's eyebrows furrowed, a cute little wrinkle in between them, and his lips shifted into a different kind of frown (Richie guessed it might've been a fake one).

"It's too early to start that shit, Richie," he added, something in his tone that Richie couldn't quite read.

Richie's brain went a little crazy at hearing his name in Eddie's voice, on Eddie's face. Watching all the little inflections as he said it, the way his whole face moved as he said his fucking name. He kind of wanted to commit it to memory-

"Rich?"

He blinked, throwing himself out of his thoughts, "Shit, sorry, what did you say, Spaghetti?"

His eyebrows furrowed again, eyes shining with something Richie could really see as concern. His big brown eyes said a lot, right on the surface, he was kind of fucking entranced honestly.

"You okay?" Eddie asked -softer.

It made Richie melt a little.

"Yeah, shit, yeah, I'm fine, Eds," he cleared his throat, "-You just... You said my name."

Eddie's lips quirked up a second, and Richie wanted to see a full smile so bad that it felt like his blood was burning.

"I've said your name before, dickweed," he chimed, "-like multiple times. Do you not remember the fucking phone calls-"

"But it's you this time," Richie interrupted -impulsively, "-your face. You."

Eddie did smile then, a little small one. It made something zing all the way to his toes.

"My beautiful face?" Eddie teased, and Richie felt a little like he was floating.

Richie paused, before settling on something.

"Yeah," he hummed, maybe a little too softly, "-your beautiful face."

He watched then, as a sort of flush bubbled up to his skin -all the way up to the tips of his ears. It was a splotchy sort of red. He puffed up his cheeks for a moment, and Richie thought for a moment he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Fuck you."

Richie burst into laughter, "Wow, I give you a compliment out of the kindness of my heart-"

"What the fuck else was I supposed to say?" Eddie retorted, something in his face flickering frustration (or maybe just flustered), "-You called me fucking beautiful. Who does that shit?"

"Eds, I thought you were beautiful like since the fucking beginning-" Richie added before he could think about it, and when the words settled along in his mind, he snapped his lips shut.

Shit. He really was a fucking loose cannon-

"Seriously?" Eddie asked, softer -big brown puppy dog eyes looking at him. He was so fucked.

"Uh," Richie paused, awkwardly, "-yeah."

"Wait," Eddie scrambled a second, "-How? You didn't know what I looked like-"

"On your Instagram," Richie interrupted, rambling a little, "-you have a, uh, photo where you're smiling. You've got little crinkles by your eyes and shit. And the... the first thing I thought was that you were..."

"Beautiful," Eddie finished -succinctly, not looking at the screen (his face was still pretty red).

"Yeah," Richie continued, awkwardly.

"You can't do that."

Richie pursed his lips, "What?"

"Be all fucking... sincere and shit," Eddie explained, suddenly frustrated, "-You're already handsome and... and charming and fucking funny as shit. Save some for the rest of us, asshole."

Richie laughed again, tilting his head back and staring at the ceiling.

"Awe, Eds thinks I'm charming-"

Eddie choked out a laugh, before stomping it down, "I take it all back. You're an idiot."

"Apparently, I'm your idiot," Richie chimed back -teasing.

Eddie fell silent, "Shit."

Richie laughed again, and Eddie laughed too. It made something in him flutter. It was just like every time before, each one laughing a little harder. He thought for a second that maybe it would never stop, maybe he'd run out of oxygen-

"I think you're beautiful too," Eddie chimed (decidedly not laughing anymore, how long had he been just looking at him?), "-just so you know. Dick."

Richie sobered up pretty quickly then, red splotchy patches creeping up his face (probably worse than Eddie's a few seconds ago). Even despite the embarrassment, he smiled goofily and tilted his head, "Thanks, Spaghetti."

Eddie just looked at him, eyes set and lips in a firm line. Almost frustrated and also somehow a little affectionate.

"I'm going to beat the shit out of your exes."

Richie laughed, "You could probably take them, Eds. You have so much anger in that tiny little body-"

"I'm 5'6, dickweed," Eddie hissed, "-5'7 is the average height of a man, internationally. I'm average height, it's not my fault you're freakishly fucking tall."

"What about in America?" Richie very well knew it to be 5'9.

"Fuck you," Eddie's lips flattened into a thin frown, "-and get the fuck out of bed. Go eat some breakfast."

Richie opened his mouth to respond.

"-I'll stay on this fucking call until you do."

Richie thought there might be some other reasons too. It just made him grin brighter, too bright probably (but Eddie looked at him in a certain type of way that he never wanted to stop so maybe it was okay). They stayed on the phone for a lot longer than necessary (somehow Richie didn't mind), and he got to chime in on Eddie's grocery run, which was fun. Especially when he got to physically see Eddie's face as he cussed him out. (Did you seriously just tell me to get fucking Twinkies?)

He wasn't surprised when just a few hours later, he got a knock on his door. Mostly because he still hadn't answered her text messages, or Stan's message either. Quickly responding to Eddie (something about streaming), he wandered up to his door.

He might as well give her a key actually-

Bev walked in with a smile, extending a drink toward him (some fruit drink with like fresh strawberries from Starbucks that he had decidedly never had), and walking a few steps forward. Richie sipped from it, and gently shut his door behind her -locking it.

Before he could even turn around, Bev punched his arm hard -the ice sloshed in his drink.

"Fuck, Red," his freehand came up to rub at it, turning to her, "-What was that for?"

"Not telling me shit," Bev chastised, before extending her hand -expectantly.

Richie furrowed his eyebrows for a second, eyeing her palm, "Uh, what?"

"Your phone," she chimed, like it was obvious.

"I didn't ask through text, Bev," he clarified, "-we talked on the phone."

"How did it e-" she started, before pausing. She held up her finger as if to say one moment, and pulled out her phone. With a breath, a dial tone echoed out into the room.

"Hello?" Stanley answered. Fuck.

They were ganging up on him right now, why? He didn't deserve this shit. It had just come out, and Eddie was okay with it-

"Hey, Stan," Bev responded, "-I'm at Richie's, like we talked about."

Like we talked about, Richie sighed, "C'mon guys, I don't need a fucking intervention-"

"It's not an intervention," Stan's voice chimed up put of the phone, "-We're just fucking confused as hell, Rich."

"Yeah," Bev supported, "-I really like Eddie for you, but where did this come from?"

Richie questioned, assuming she talked to Eddie to learn that information, "Did Eddie not tell you?"

She pursed her lips, answering, "No."

Richie briefly wondered why, but it kinda made sense. Eddie was pretty private about things like that, and if anything (since they were Richie's friends first), he'd want Richie to handle it. He didn't want to fuck any of it up, even though Richie told him that he really couldn't.

"He called me yesterday during his shift," he explained, "-Told me that a coworker was flirting with him, he rejected, and she threw hot ass coffee on him-"

Stan interrupted, "Is he a barista?"

"Was," Richie corrected before continuing, "-Long story short, he walked out of his job and quit. And then he started getting frantic about rent and hating his life... and it just... slipped out."

"And you meant it?" She questioned, carefully.

"Yeah, of course I did," Richie laughed, "-he's... Eddie."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stanley crackled over the phone.

"It's... Eddie," he repeated, unsure how to go from there, "-He's my favorite person in the whole fucking world, no offense. I can't help myself with him-"

"Your favorite person?" Bev questioned -quieter, gentler. Richie wasn't sure what to do about it, or how to interpret it.

"Yeah," he echoed out, before adding, "-like I said no offense. You guys are like a close second-"

Bev held out her hand, and Richie furrowed his eyebrows, "I wanna see your messages."

Richie didn't even flinch, accepting her phone as she handed it to him with ease. Stanley didn't say anything for a second like he was thinking -processing. Richie knew that meant he was about to say something big; he wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"You videochatted?" She asked, and before Richie could respond, continued, "-You called him beautiful?"

"Hey, I told you about that one-"

She didn't say a word, instead, Eddie's voice echoed out into the air, "It is almost noon where you are, dickhead-"

"Huh," she commented, scanning over him, "-he is pretty cute. I can totally see the beautiful thing-"

"You really do like him," Stanley's voice called out, curious, "-don't you?"

Richie gnawed at his lips, fidgeting with the buttons on his shirt -debating how to say it, "So fucking much."

"And he likes you too?" Stan asked, quietly.

"Yeah," Richie paused, "-at least, I think so."

"No, 'I think so'-" Bev interrupted, handing him back his phone and accepting her phone, "-I text him. He likes you. A lot."

"Yeah?" Richie asked, grinning.

"Oh, yeah," Bev laughed, "-he told me that he found you from one of Mike or Ben's streams. You said some stupid shit in the chat, he saw the checkmark and got curious. He went to your channel, and-"

Richie felt a little like exploding.

"-watched some of your streams. 'I liked his laugh and his stupid ass face'," she quoted, smiling, "-You'd been his celebrity crush for like a year and a half-"

"I was his celebrity crush-" Richie nearly cooed, pretending to faint, "-Bev pinch me, I'm dreaming~"

She laughed, loud. It made something in Richie lighten, he really fucking loved making his friends laugh. And it always made him just love his friends ever more. He never thought he'd get this-

"I'm happy for you Richie," Stan interrupted, "-really fucking happy for you. I am gonna have to text him though."

"Give 'im the ole runaround," Richie joked, in a heavy Southern accent.

"Seriously, Rich," Stanley clarified, "-if he tries any shit, I'll book a flight to New York."

"Stanley, my hero," Richie sighed out.

"Rich."

"I know, I know," Richie relented, breathing out, "-I don't think he's gonna hurt me. I'm really... I trust the fuck out of him."

"Yeah, good," Bev hummed, "-it's our job to test him."

"Guys," Richie laughed, fake pleading but still kinda genuine, "-please don't scare him away, I really like this one-"

"It won't scare him away," Stanley added, "-if he's serious."

Richie rolled his eyes.

Quickly, going to Instagram, he shot Eddie a warning message.

trashmouth.tozier ✔️

incoming daddy stan and momma bev asking about your intentions with me

🚨🚨 this is a warning 🚨🚨

He waited a second.

e.kaspbrak

Bev already did that.

But tell Stan to bring it on, I'm ready.

trashmouth.tozier ✔️

u can't do any worse, right ?

the bar is on the floor lol

e.kaspbrak

I'm gonna be the best boyfriend you've ever had, dipshit.

Boyfriend, chimed through his head, and Richie grinned bright.

e.kaspbrak

And not just because all your other ones are shitty.

Because I actually want to fucking take care of you and your stupid brain.

Very stupid brain.

Something twisted in his chest, a little overwhelming.

trashmouth.tozier ✔️

I'm getting mixed signals here, eds

e.kaspbrak

Shut up, dipshit. ❤️

Richie felt a little like he might cry. In the good way.

e.kaspbrak

No, you're not.

And before your brain starts shit, I like the fuck out of you.

Okay, in a very good way.

[nyxelestia]

You're basically saying that TW stole a bunch of tropes commonly used by Stereks in their romantic Sterek fics, and in the next breath blaming Sterek fans for leaving when it became evident tptb had no intention of exploring their relationship. Viewers have no obligation to continue watching a show they feel no attachment to, and contrary to Posey's statement, I don't think there is any right or wrong reason to watch a show. You also say that the baiting/encouragement by actors, tptb etc 1/-

was benign and innocuous, as they were only doing their job. You say that Stydia and Scallison was hyped as well. Sterek was multitudinously bigger, which was reflected by the hyping of it and the many articles written about it in mainstream media. You then blame Sterek fans for buying into it, which OK, I guess we were all supposed to be savvy enough to realize it was all for funsies. I disagree with the notion that it’s the job of the cast and crew to tease a queer ship that they have no 2/-

make canon, just because fans enjoy it. The honest thing would have been to say something along the line of “we see you dig Sterek, that’s great! It’s not going canon but we support your creativity”. You see basis for Scerek in canon, which awesome. Write all the fics about them. Don’t however discredit the vast number of people who did see canon basis for Sterek. Not everyone has been fooled by corrupted gifsets. As for the clusterfuck that is the bi-baiting of Stiles. That’s just ugly. ¾

They baited and baited his bisexuality, whilst being adamant of not ever explicitly stating it. I think the fact that the writers felt compelled to get Stiles a gf, is the main warning sign of their incompetence. “Erica’s going to be girlfriend material. Gage leaves. Oh shit, we have to bring in another girl. YES, an as of yet completely forgotten Hale girl! Adelaide leaves. Desperation grows. AH, dub-con sex between two mentally ill teens in an institution!”. Sterek fans are not at fault here.

Ever seen that gifset about “when Stiles was being protective of Derek” when Chris was threatening him and Jackson in the last episode of Season 1? Derek was never mentioned in that scene, and Stiles was talking about Scott and Kate. // Just a friendly reminder that Derek was in fact mentioned in that scene. STILES: “Would you prefer I locked him in the basement and burned the whole house down around him?” … “Oh right, Derek said you guys had a code. Guess no one ever breaks it.” -Transcript

Posey has always referred to TW as “his own show” - ex: the cast interview with Cody C. and Dylan Sprayerry in which Posey states that shipping non canon pairing doesn’t make any sense and it’s incredibly offensive and disrespectful towards the writer, the producers and everyone involved in “his show” - and he also became a producer, so… Why did Posey never address what HIS show have done to Arden/Kira? He simply said that “Scott doesn’t need a love interest in order to be interesting” instead

You are picking and choosing from interviews to supplement your agenda.

TPTB aren’t a monolith, either - they are a group of writers, producers, and actors who all have to answer to someone else (MTV), even Jeff Davis. Collectively, have their own agenda, their own plans for the story as a work of narration, and the show as a production. They have to react and take into account the fanbase - but that does not mean that fans get to dictate the show, either. They also regularly disagree with each other, have no idea what the central narrative will be, or sometimes just aren’t in constant communication with each other.

Queerbaiting, generally speaking, is a shitty thing to do. Especially on a show that also, already, has queer characters. On that, we agree. And I don’t know how you got “benign and innocuous” out of “they were doing their jobs”. You are, again, trying to put words into my metaphorical mouth to make a strawman argument.

And you’re right, we are going to disagree on most of the rest.

Such as reasons for watching a show. There is a right reason and a wrong reason for watching a show. It’s not about characters or ships or plot - it’s about watching the show to enjoy the show, vs watching it because you keep waiting for something to enjoy (and then getting mad when something that was never supposed to be there, isn’t there).

There is a world of difference between watching the show for inspiration for Sterek, and watching the show expecting Sterek to happen. There is a world of difference between watching the show because you like a side character, and waiting for that side character to supplant the main character as the star of the show. There is a world of difference between hoping for a ship and expecting a ship.

There is also a world of difference between “listening to fandom” and “bowing down to fandom”. By and large, the producers and actors of the show were listening. They were not obeying, they never had to, and they never should have had to.

As for the actors, there is also a world of difference between “I’d be down to play this” and “this is probably going to happen”. There is a world of difference between “I have some ideas for this dynamic” and “I want these two characters to hook up/end up together”. There is a world of difference between “this could happen (as could many other things)” vs “this probably will happen (as opposed to many other things)”.

It’s that element of picking and choosing again. Take Hoechlin’s idea for how the Darach confrontation in Derek’s loft could’ve gone - his idea was for a platonic interaction between two characters who he refers to as friends and partners in crime. Fandom took it as a shipping scene. This is probably the force that also leads to people seeing so many “Sterek questions” in interviews and panels that they forget - or never see in the first place - things like questions about Stydia, or other ships, or other character arcs unrelated to shipping at all.

I don’t pretend to have seen all the Teen Wolf interviews and such ever, but what I have seen is that along with Sterek, the cast have a lot to say about a lot of ships, hypothetical and otherwise. Of course, if you’re only ever looking for what they say about your own ship - and you only ship one thing - you’ll never see them.

(Which is probably why Posey got accused of being a homophobe. If you only pay attention to what he says about Sterek, then it’s easy to make that accusation, because you’ve never seen or paid attention to him talking about being open to Scott having a boyfriend, and being down to play Sciles or Scisaac.)

Yes, they were pandering to Sterek shippers. They were also pandering to Stydia shippers. They were pandering to Scallison shippers even while building an Allisaac relationship. They were pandering to Sterek and Stydia shippers while also pandering to the former Sterica base with Stora, and then with Stalia.

And I hate to break it to you, but Stiles’ “would you prefer I locked him in a basement?” line was still about Scott, not Derek. The conversation was about Kate, and Stiles didn’t particularly care about Derek in that scene, or in that season as a whole. Mentioning a piece of information provided by Derek was still about Kate.

I also really hate to break this to you, but Posey’s promotion doesn’t actually give him much sway over the decisions made about the show, just how those decisions are carried out. Equating the star of a show referring to said show as “theirs” and equating it with production power is a strawman argument - you are ascribing power and influence that Posey does not have to him, then blaming him for not using it, and for not putting his career on the line to speak more openly about the problems of the show.

It would ultimately achieve nothing and fix nothing - remember, racism isn’t just about individual shows, but also about the broader industry, and bias against WOC is rampant in Hollywood, MTV and otherwise. Look at fucking Hawaii 5-0 - if Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park could not get parity on a show whose ensemble they have been a part of since the very beginning of the show, what was Posey going to accomplish for himself or for Cho?

Especially given that he’s facing some tremendous cuts, himself - as a lot of people have pointed out, Scott practically became a side character on his own show in Season 6 to make room for Stydia, and this is with Posey having a production component in the show that was not there in the earlier seasons.

tl;dr - The show did its job of trying to pander to every ship. Sterek fandom took it personally when their ship wasn’t given even more preferential treatment than it was already getting, just because it also happened to be so big.

I’ve said before that fandom often blames Scott for failing to be omniscient. What you are doing is blaming Posey for failing to be omnnipotent.