“Led Zeppelin? Never heard of them,” Steve lies, like a liar. Of course he’s heard of them, thinks maybe Hop’s mentioned them before. Doesn’t really know the band well, and probably definitely couldn’t name a song. But the comment serves its purpose, and the trap is set.
Eddie calls it the Zep Campaign. Every day they’ll listen to one album, and Steve will pick his favorite song from each. Eight days for eight albums. On the last day, they’ll narrow it down to one song to rule them all– because apparently even Led Zeppelin likes the Mordor books Dustin doesn’t shut up about.
Each day, Steve struggles to pick a favorite. Day four isn’t bad– doesn’t mind a song that is actually called Rock and Roll, which is just a lazy title in his opinion– but they’re only half way through and the songs are all starting to sound the same. An endless stream of too-fast guitar melodies and weird, wobbly sounds he’s sure he’s never heard before. The vocals are his favorite part, but the lyrics are vague and confusing.
Long story short, he’s not a fan.
But this growing thing between him and this ridiculous metalhead is new, fragile. So if it’s important to Eddie, it’s important to Steve.
“Stevie, we really don’t have to keep doing this,” Eddie concedes. It’s day eight, the final album, and he thinks even Eddie might be desperate to listen to something different. “You’ve listened to every other album and honestly this one is the worst. They were all on drugs, and this isn’t even their sound ya know? Like it’s not even real metal.”
And honestly, Steve does know. He’s been listening to this band for eight days and yeah, all the songs sound the same. But these ones are different. Softer. He’s made it this far, and he’s nothing if not persistent for the people he loves.
Sprawled out on the floor next to the boy he likes, passing a fading joint back and forth, he thinks he can suffer a bit longer.
“No Eds come on, we’re halfway through anyways. Just flip it over and we’ll smoke while we finish.” Eddie huffs a sigh, but Steve can see the slight uptick of his lips, reminding him of why he’s doing this. He flips the record and crawls back, presses himself flush up against Steve’s side.
The next song is long, too long to keep his attention. They burn down their joint and Steve leans heavily onto Eddie’s open chest. He gets lost staring at the vinyl art. A guy dressed in a fancy white suit sits alone in a dive bar, the only splash of color against a dull background. The bartender looks gruff, like the rest of the bar, making the man stand out even more. He wonders if that’s how he looks posted up at the Hideout during Eddie’s shows. Wonders if he looks just as out of place in Eddie’s life as this man does, even though he looks comfortable there too.
Eddie shifts his arms around Steve, bringing him back to the present. The song has changed and Steve feels the slow melody wash over him.
“Wait,” Steve cries out, flailing up and out of Eddie’s arms as he registers the new song. It’s soft with a steady beat. It’s got synth-- the sound Eddie told him he likes in pop music. This song isn’t loud and chaotic like the rest. The voice is soothing and the lyrics are mostly simple enough. It’s different, and he can’t believe it but–
All of my love, all of my love
all of my love to you, oh
“This one. I like this song. Like actually like it.”
Eddie sits up and stares at him. He can see the dramatic shock and annoyance on Eddie’s face. But it’s doing nothing to hide his broad smile and shining eyes.
“Steven. Stevie. Baby, sweetheart, this absolutely cannot be your favorite Zeppelin song. Out of all the songs on all the albums and all the hours of poetic melodies I’ve forced upon you, you choose the most non-Zep Zeppelin song.” Steve laughs sweetly as he watches Eddie fail to keep the glee out of his supposedly annoyed voice.
The cup is raised, the toast is made yet again
One voice is clear above the din
“This song isn’t even metall!" Eddie screeches. He rants and raves, waiving his arms as he regales Steve with all of the reasons he should absolutely not like this one particular song. He's shining with happiness, dial turned up to a hundred and it's all aimed at Steve. He can't help but to gaze back fondly, enraptured in the adorably obnoxious spectacle.
"It’s all synth, almost no guitar because Page didn’t even write this one! He wrote all of them except two songs, Stevie, and of course that’s the one you chose. No one who knows good music even likes this album. It’s not even metal music and honestly I almost didn’t show it to you, that’s how bad it is!” They're both giggling, leaning falling slowly into the other's space. Facing one another, their feet tangled together, Steve twists and pulls on Eddie's rings. Just to touch.
“Well, maybe that’s why I like it,” Steve snarks, taking his hand. “Plus it’s a love song.” Daring to reach out.
All of my love, all of my love, yes
All of my love to you
Eddie’s smile dims a bit, softens at the edges as he grows serious. “It’s not a love song Stevie, not like that.” He’s looking at Steve but he isn’t. Looking past him into the back of his thoughts. “The lead singer, he wrote it for his son. His kid died of some kind of bad illness while he was on tour. Didn’t make it back in time.”
He pauses, and Steve waits. Knows Eddie has more to say, hoping his patience will pay off. Eddie’s sight refocuses and he heaves a heavy sigh. His eyes glisten as they lock onto Steve.
“My mom used to sing it all the time. While she was cooking, or putting me to bed, or pulling weeds in the garden. She’d sing it constantly. Hell, she didn’t even know all the words, but she’d still try and sing the interludes– ya know, the music between the lyrics.” He laughs lightly, a stray tear just barely hanging on. Steve tightens his grip around Eddie’s hands and presses a kiss to his knuckles. A silent sign of gentle support and encouragement.
“Sounds like a love song to me,” Steve whispers. Leaning forward, he presses a kiss to his forehead and pulls Eddie into a tight hug.
All of my love, all of my love, to you now
“A love song just for you, from both of us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've always headcanoned that Eddie loves Led Zeppelin, because he plays guitar and loves metal and reads Lord of the Rings so of course he would.
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the intense narrative foiling between the death of q!tubbo and the death of q!badboyhalo.
q!tubbo’s death felt like it happened so suddenly. many of those around him didn’t even believe it was real. one second he was playing around and then for a brief instant he begged for his life and then he was gone.
q!bbh’s death felt very slow. that he himself was stretching it out for as long as possible. there was time for him to prepare and for others to realize. to have the terrible feeling of grieving someone while they’re still alive.
and that’s not to say that q!tubbo’s death was random and out of nowhere because it wasn’t. similar to q!bbh, you could see his slow path to self destruction for months. but once again, those two were foils to one another.
q!tubbo was not one to hide it. the way he would say that he wouldn’t shower or change his clothes for brief periods of time. that he would willingly let himself get hurt without a care in the world. the thought that no one would take him seriously about things and he had said that thought out loud before. he spent his last moments gambling his own life away.
q!bbh would always try to hide it. although the evidence was clearly on his face and back, he would deny deny deny until those last final days. and even then it was only to those he trusted. he let himself get hurt by the soul vultures in his own home away from everyone else. he spent his last moments alone, panicking over old memories that still hurt him.
in the end, their commonality lays in that the kids were always the first ones to realize something was wrong. that they could see that the decline was slow but meaningful to them. the two soulhunters, bound together by fighting so fiercely to protect those who were not even their own, although it led to their deaths. the realm of the living waits for their returns and misses them in the shape of eggs
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Can we talk about the fact that Chuuya visited Rimbaud's grave so many times after his death that both Dazai and the Sheep knew they would find him there?
The Sheep choosing to betray him in that graveyard wasn't a coincidence, they knew he would be there because he had been visiting his tomb enough times to become a routine. They needed a place where they would definitely find Chuuya so their plan could work, after all.
And the thing is it's canon he did the same with the Flags after they died:
"Piano Man, Albatross, Doc, Iceman and Lippmann were buried in a well-kept graveyard near the mountains. Their graves were never without flowers.'' Stormbringer.
"Chuuya, you smell like incense. Did you go visiting those graves again?" Shirase to Chuuya, Stormbringer.
But the difference between Rimbaud and the Flags is that Chuuya almost didn't know Rimbaud, but he did such impact on Chuuya that he kept visiting his tomb. And he was betrayed in that graveyard, just like Rimbaud was, due to it.
I just find it beautiful (and tragic) that the reason the Sheep could betray him was because he visited the tomb a lot of times. Because he chose to do a pretty human thing and visited the tomb of a deceased person often.
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