#How do I tag things

[mirwx]

thus continues me being late for art month

[spicy-mc-chicken]

[microwavefollowedbymultipletwos]

Liam was too tall to go over the couch he had to go beside it

[dame-zoom-a-lot]

art by @/waldos-art

ch1 ch2

Batteries Not Included Ch 3

I guess I'm posting on Wednesdays now.

Thanks as always to @fkinkindagauche for helping me with describing all the glitching and ghostly goodness. If you're in the mood for more spooky shit and erotic horror, their dead dove fic White and Rare and Full of All Kinds of Rage would probably hit the spot. Like just, look at the title!

Major chapter tags: Homorerotic ghostly attack care, El being a semi-feral guard dog, bad cooking, child abuse, child neglect

divider by @/firefly-graphics

Hargrove materializes as suddenly as he had disappeared.

Something else materializes along with him. It's a body of a little boy. The head is missing. The body convulses like it's having a seizure. Limbs glitch in and out into various positions. Steve pokes at it with a broom and the broom stick goes straight through.

…He'll deal with that later.

El whips the pillowcase off her face. Steve can still hear the faint drumbeats he'd enchanted into it. She said she needed drums and darkness. When she stayed in lotus position for what felt like forever with that stupid pillowcase over her head, he thought he'd messed up and lost both her and Hargrove.

But no. They're both back. In the flesh. El doesn't look too happy about it. She totters over to Steve. He pulls her into himself automatically. Hargrove shivers on the floor.

As much as he hates the guy, he should probably take some responsibility.

Steve sighs and gently pries El off himself, wipes away the blood trickling out of her nose.

"I need to warm him back up," Steve tells her, "could you run yourself a bath?"

El glares. Hargrove's shivers intensify.

"Please? I need to make sure he won't die on us."

"Mouthbreather," El says before she flounces off exactly the way Max does.

Steve sighs and makes his way to Hargrove. The other man latches onto him like his life depends on it when Steve offers an arm. It's a slow, heavy trip up the stairs to his en suite, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Hargrove to get a grip when the other boy's lips are literally blue. Steve gently arranges Hagrove in sitting position in the corner of the bathroom. He watches vacantly as Steve starts the hot water.

The Billy Hargrove he knew was always moving, tripping nerds in the hallways, slamming people to the ground during gym, lighting a cigarette right in front of teachers with a glint in his eyes. He should be relieved really, that Billy fucking Hargrove is finally sitting still. But he kind of wishes Hargrove would stand the fuck up and push him. Pretend everything's back to normal.

Hargrove still doesn't move when Steve indicates to the now-full tub. Shit.

"Dude, you gotta take a bath man," Steve mutters, raking his fingers through his hair in frustration. Hargrove tracks his hand, still wordless.

"You need some help?" Steve eventually asks with a deep sigh.

He nods so slightly Steve almost misses it.

"Alright, up and at em," Steve says, trying to cover up the awkwardness. Hargrove scoffs a bit, but doesn't move. At least he doesn't fight when Steve removes his sweat and blood-soaked shirt and pants. He hovers over the boxers, hesitating. He really doesn't want to, but the boxers are also disgusting and he's going to have to get them off anyway if he's going to give fucking Hargrove a new set of briefs. He does his best to look away as he pulls off the last of Hargrove's clothes. Hargrove latches onto Steve's arms as he's led into the tub. He shakes his head when Steve tries to pull away, to give him some privacy.

Well, ok then.

It's a struggle, trying to wash the other dude off with just one hand. And Hargrove's wide. There's a lot of surface to cover. But he's always had a weakness for large, pleading eyes. Hargrove has massive ones, framed with long dark lashes. Eventually, his eyes close, and he sinks a little deeper into the water. His breathing gets more regular, and his skin turns more skin-colored. The bath stops feeling like a chore. Neither does the clean up after. Not even the part when he has to drag the near dead-weight of Hargrove all the way to his bed.

Steve doesn't know why, but he strokes those soft curls as he arranges thick blankets around Billy Hargrove.

There's coarse hair on his cheeks, and a nipple right next to his lips.

Billy sighs and nuzzles. It's been a while since he got to cuddle a guy. He can't remember who this is. Not that it matters. They'll exchange an awkward good morning as he shoves his legs back in his pants. Then they'll avoid eye contact when they inevitably run into each other in this hick town.

Wait. No. He didn't hook up with anyone last night.

Memories of his limbs bending backwards, of getting eaten alive, of clutching at Steve Harrington like his life depended on it come flooding back. Billy yelps and scrambles off the sturdy chest he was using as a pillow. Harrington stirs from under him.

"Dude," he complains. "'S early."

"What the fuck?!" Billy sputters, patting around his own torso. He's not wearing a shirt either. And those boxers are way too tight to be his own. Shit. His face flames. He let Harrington wash him then tuck him in like a fussy toddler. Insisted on it actually.

Harrington is going to have to die.

Except he can't kill Harrington because that girl-shaped guard dog is going to re-break every bone in his body.

"Look," Harrington interrupts his spiral, "this is crazy I know. But you're stuck here for now. So this is what's going to happen. We're gonna go brush our teeth. Then you're gonna come down to the kitchen and have breakfast. Then we figure out what to do. Capiche?"

"What the fuck do you mean I'm stuck here?" Billy growls.

Harrington pinches the bridge of his nose and points at Billy's chest. He looks down. His chest is... gone.

"What the..." Billy tries not to lose it. He doesn't know how he's breathing without lungs. Just as he's about to keel over from shock, his chest comes back. But now his calves are fading away, layer by layer--first the skin, then the muscles, until only his bones are left. He blinks. His calves come back too. He sets his eyes on a point in the wall so he doesn't have to see other body parts playing hide-and-seek.

Harrington gestures at him wildly with an utterly punchable frown.

"What's happening to me?" Billy asks, trying to sound calm.

"I don't know. We'll figure it out with some coffee," Harrington says, "at least you're... here, you know? and not dead."

He seriously considers hiding in the bathroom forever. It's got water. The towels are nice and soft and fluffy. But his stupid stomach won't stop growling. Billy sighs and trudges downstairs. He can hear Harrington grovelling in the kitchen.

"C'mon El. Please. You can't only eat Eggos," he pleads. Billy leans against the kitchen entrance and enjoys the sight of Harrington begging the monster girl to take a bite of lumpy, soggy eggs.

"Mouthbreather," she mutters. She points at Billy. "Bad man."

"Ok. I'm a mouthbreather," Harrington says, running a long finger through his soft hair, "but you gotta eat if you want to make sure the bad man doesn't do anything right? Please. Just one bite."

"Mouthbreather," she huffs again, clamping her mouth shut even harder. Billy bursts out laughing. They both glare at him.

"That's what you've been feeding her Harrington? No wonder she's got anger issues," Billy scolds. Harrington looks at him, open-mouthed. Billy strides over to the fridge and pulls out some eggs to cook them properly. Nice and fluffy. Salted. Not the mush the former King was trying to feed this... thing. He pushes a plate each in front of them.

Harrington tries a bite and moans. Billy grins. The bone-crusher crosses her arms and glares at him. She huffs, but Billy can see her nostrils flare.

"Bad man," she says with less conviction.

Billy shrugs. "More for me then," he says as he reaches for her plate. This is definitely the stupidest thing he's ever done. There's nothing stopping this... girl... from bending his arms backwards again. But he needs to prove to himself that he is unbothered, unflappable, the new King of Hawkins. Fortunately, she yanks the plate towards herself and takes a giant bite instead of turning his insides into his outsides. Steve smiles all pretty and mouths a thank you.

Hargrove is weird. Steve was expecting that he'd keep to himself in his assigned guest room until they figured out what was going on with all the glitching. But he's just... sauntering all over Steve's place like he owns it. El narrows her eyes and scowls every time he gets within ten feet or so of Steve, but that's still giving Hargrove a lot of room to work with. Right now, he's crashing around the kitchen. The guy cannot stay still. Steve sighs and tries to focus on his probability homework. El sits next to him, happily working on her coloring books.

"Harrington!" he yells out. "Where's your condiments?"

"In the second cabinet!" Steve calls back.

"There's only salt and pepper in here!"

"What else would anyone need?" Steve grumbles.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm gonna blow your mind," Hargrove cackles, "I'm making you a list."

"Dude. Language!" Steve yells back.

"Fuck?" El asks with a smirk. She giggles when Steve groans and curls into his knees. She goes back to coloring, singing "fuck, fuck, fuck," to herself. He's pretty sure this is a ploy to get him to kick Hargrove out.

...It might work.

El doesn't react when Hargrove walks over. There's something nice bubbling away in the kitchen. He pulls out a chair and turns it around. He sits on the backwards chair, legs spread wide, tipping the chair forward and leaning into the back. He's weird. Steve rolls his eyes when Hargrove pushes a long list on top of his homework.

"Smells like you're cooking just fine without all this," Steve says, skimming over the list. Paprika? Saffron? Cumin? What the fuck are these?

"We don't have to settle for fine, not with the Harrington dough," Hargrove says, "where's your chef anyway?"

Steve scoffs to hide his embarrassment. "Oh sure. Let me just go and hire a personal chef with the money I get by being in high school."

Hargrove leans back a little. Frowns. Steve tries not to shrink. It's hard. People don't look at him that way, like he's something interesting to figure out.

"What. Your parents can afford this huge house but not a chef for their son?" Hargrove asks, frowning, "where are they anyway? They cool with this whole--daycare setup you've got going on?"

"They're in New York," Steve says, "this place is just a symbol to remind people dear old dad is just a nice midwestern boy at heart. So no, they're not coming back for at least a few more months." Steve leans into Hargrove's space and waggles his eyebrows. "Haven't you heard? King's place. Party central. Pool table. Pool. No parents," he finishes off the familiar script by leaning back for an unbothered stretch. He waits for Hargrove to say his part, say how jealous he is, how nice it must be.

"What the fuck?!" Hargrove says instead.

"Language?" Steve says out of habit.

"Fuck language!" Hargrove growls. "If she's going to snap someone's neck, she better not call them a fucking mouthbreather as she does it. That's just humiliating." He leans into Steve's space. Their faces are only inches apart. El watches intently. "What the fuck kind of assholes just leave?"

"Mine I guess," Steve says, leaning away, looking intently at the table. "What's it to you?"

"Knew there was something wrong with this hick fucking town," Hargrove mutters, "so you're here all alone and no one gives a shit?"

"Yeah well, you're the only one who broke in and tried to kill me so far," Steve snaps, "so maybe Hawkins is just safer than Cali. You ever thought about that?"

"I wasn't trying to kill you," Hargrove says, rolling his eyes, "don't be such a whiny bitch about it. I'll teach you to throw a proper punch if it bothers you so much."

"I should have let El finish you off," Steve says with a groan.

"As if you have the guts. And lucky you don't, really. I don't owe people. So I'm gonna feed you for as long as I'm stuck in this shithole. And if I'm going to feed you, I'm going to do it right. So. The list." Hargrove taps the long list of weird shit again.

Fuck. Steve reads over the list. He doesn't recognize most of these, but there's shit in there he knows he can't afford, like filet mignon. But he knows Hargrove will be a persistent asshole about it.

"El, can you let us talk?" El looks at him with frown.

"Please?"

El sighs deeply, exactly the way Mike does when Steve tells him to wipe his dirty feet before getting into the beemer. She collects her stuff and pads out to the living room, but she takes the time to look back at Hargrove and make a slashing motion across her throat.

"Round two?" Hargrove asks with a smirk once El is out of earshot.

"Fuck no," Steve sighs.

He could keep this game going. Keep denying Hargrove all the fancy ingredients he's insisting on. But Hargrove might be around for a while, and he doesn't want to make that any more unbearable than it needs to be. Besides...it's not like he could fall any harder from his throne, even if Hargrove blabs to everyone. That crown got vaporized the moment he let the kids drag him around town in full view of everyone.

"Look," Steve starts. There's an annoying sting in his eyes he has to blink out. "I don't get a regular allowance. All the cash I have is from life-guarding, holiday money, and shit I get when I pawn off the stupid clothes Mom keeps buying me. And I... I've had to spend more than usual recently..." Steve trails off.

Hargrove stares, his face neutral.

"So no, we're not buying fancy shit from the store unless you have some Hargrove dough." Steve finishes, his voice rising more than he intended.

Steve steels himself for the mocking. King Steve. Right. Nancy kept dragging him to her place for dinner when she found out, and now that's... gone. Hargrove is probably going to rake him over the coals. Make sure everyone knows. What the fuck was he thinking?

"That sucks," he finally says without a hint of sarcasm.

"That's it? You're not gonna..."

"Gonna what?"

"I don't know... call me a pathetic penniless loser, then slam me into the wall and tell me I need to plant my feet?" Steve stammers.

Billy frowns at him. "You're into some weird shit Steve," he says.

[redirt5]

i made a panel edit :)

[head-in-a-book-247]

Jeremy Knox Theory

Made by an only child but I'm autistic and hyperfixating rn so hear me out (i also tried to cut down words this still ended up being over 2200)

Unpacking Quotes

'Jeremy made it over for dinner every night that week, apparently uninvited from the family table over the state of his hair. He laughed it off when he explained it, but Jean saw the shadows in his eyes and the dark look Cat and Laila exchanged as soon as Jeremy turned his back.'

Honestly, I like the theories that his family don't like the hair cause it makes Jeremy look more like either his dad or the unnamed brother, but the homophobia ones also make sense

Also whatever the reason was, Cat and Laila know it

'Jean knew nothing about cars, despite technically owning one, but he knew money when he saw it.'

'Cat looked weary as she pocketed it, though she had given up protesting his so-called charity a year ago. It wasn't about the money, so he didn't take it personally. Cat was more concerned with how many hoops it took him to pull it together when he was permenantly on his stepfather's bad side.'

"The right therapist can be legit life changing - just look at Jeremy for proof." She jerked a thumb over at Jeremy, who didn't look at all concerned to be snitched on. "I'd say you should ask for her number since we all know she's good, but I don't think any of us can afford her."

So Cat worries about Jeremy getting money from his stepfather, and it's completely plausible that his stepfather paid for therapy because of family image, but Jeremy having an expensive car makes me wonder how recent the struggle to get money is, like if he was on good terms with his stepfather at one point and that was when he got the car

"I wasn't born a Trojan, right? My high school team was just like every other school out there. So competitive, so much bad-mouthing, so many put-downs. And it was just...exhausting, playing like that. All that pressure on one side and all that antagonism on the other." He clapped his hands together as if crushing his past self between the two.'

Surely alluding to Jeremy being not the best person in high school, or anger issues Jeremy

"Jeremy has- three. One sister, two brothers. The older brother's an absolute tool, but there's bound to be a jerk or two once you pass four kids." Jean idly wondered what she'd changed at the last minute and why, but he watched her nervously push her fries around her plate and decided not to ask.'

On this, I think Jeremy only has the three siblings (Bryson, Annalise, and unnamed). I've seen people theories that there's more than three because of her pause, and the line about passing 4 kids, but right before that Cat mentions that she has 6 siblings, so I think it's slightly a nod to that, and her trying to change the subject into more light hearted she hesitated before saying 3 so that Jean doesn't pick up on or doesn't dwell on it. And I like to think she hesitated before saying 2, because I love the dead brother theory, and it seems the most likely to me. Cat could've said 3 instead of 2 either because she doesn't think Jeremy has told Jean yet or she knows he hasn't.

"What's Grandpa think of this investment of yours?" It was obvious bait, but that couldn't keep the edge out of Jeremy's fierce, "He is not our grandfather."

I reckon the investment is probably Jean or all of the Trojans, but I digress. I feel like Jeremy using "our" makes me think that even if his grandfather is homophobic, that's not the main issue Jeremy has with him, cause it seems like there's reason that Jeremy doesn't want his siblings (or at least him and Annalise) to be related to him (me when I struggle to put thoughts into words) TLDR I'm wondering if it's something worse than just homophobia to warrant the use of "our" and not my.

'His phone chimed, and Jeremy looked down to see William’s name on his phone. "Bryson is in the sitting room with Mr Wilshire."

'He could hear voices echoing down the corridor where his stepfather and older brother were having an animated discussion, so he settled for a grateful smile in William's direction before hurrying up the stairs.'

I'm assuming from this that Bryson and Mr Wilshire are on good terms

"Like Wayne did." Jean considered that. "Maybe he will also kill himself." "That isn't a joke," Jeremy said, with unexpected ferocity. Cat winced but kept her eyes on Jean.'

If Jeremy does end up having a homophobic family then it's completely plausible that he may have attempted, but I'm also just a sucker for the dead brother theories

"We can call the police." "I'll send Jeremy away first." Rhemann said, like that would somehow win Jean over.'

Rhemann could have said this to Jean because he thought less people would make Jean more comfortable, but he singled out Jeremy who was already waiting outside, so maybe he said it because he was under the impression that Jeremy had already told Jean about what happened his freshman year or at least why he doesn't like police officers, and if that's the case then it also means Rhemann and at a stretch the rest of the team (?) knows about it too, and this is not at all important but it's something I noticed

[About Annalise] 'He'd walked through a hundred hypothetical arguments with his therapist in preparation for the day he finally fought back, but every time the chance came, he watched it slip past in miserable silence.'

So whatever happened, between Jeremy and his family, is something that he could hypothetically argue his case for, if he's able to make arguments he could use against Annalise, then it's gotta mean he's not entirely at fault for whatever happened

'The receipt went into the zippered back of his wallet so he could file it later; it was always best to have a paper trail when dealing with his mother's bookkeeper.'

Okay stay with me but adding to the thing of Jeremy possibly not being the nicest person in high school, maybe his mother and stepfather have limits on his money because he spent really irresponsibly in high school?

'His family had its problems - all families did, he supposed - but never in his life had his mother raised a hand at her rowdy children. He couldn't fathom being struck by a parent.'

I feel like this gives us a hint on when his parent's divorce/mother's remarriage took place, seeing as Jean specified his father when talking about the scars, it's odd that Jeremy focused only on his mother in the above quote. Could mean that the divorce was from early in his life, and custody went to his mother, so he didn't see his father much?

"I've never been to Europe. Dad's been stationed there a couple times, but..." He shrugged and didn't bother to elaborate.'

Maybe his not bothering to elaborate is because he doesn't know much else about his father?

My full theory because it's clawing at the corners of my mind to be put into words:

So I'm assuming that his parents splitting up happened in early years, probably after Jeremy and all his siblings were born since I don't think any of them are half/step siblings but early enough that Jeremy doesn't have many memories of him. A bit of grasping at straws but this line, "I've never been to Europe. Dad's been stationed there a couple times, but..." He shrugged and didn't bother to elaborate.' if his dad is part of the army could mean that Jeremy doesn't see the man a lot. I've kinda got two running theories so branching off into those

Theory One:

We've got Jeremy and his three siblings being raised by his mother, because his father is unable to take any custody (due to travelling and being in the army, or for other reasons), which could in itself put some strain on the family with his mother having to raise all 4 kids herself. And then later on in high school Jeremy and his unnamed brother both want to go to a good uni where they can play exy (whether that's USC or not) and their high school team have a really important game at the end of the year that a lot of universities are visiting (this is me making a big leap on how close in age these two are) Depending on how much money Jeremy and his family have pre his stepfather entering the picture, the two of them could have been hoping to be signed with a college team (if I've not worded that right I'm so sorry I'm not American and don't play sports)

And at this game, Jeremy ends up playing really well, but it's at the expense of his brother's playing, so like Jeremy gets all his time to shine but his brother maybe not so much, and he decides to completely blame Jeremy for that which ends in a fight. In this fight, Jeremy's brother ends up getting really injured, like worse than Kevin, like to the point of being unable to play exy anymore. When his mother and new stepfather find out, they decide to completely cover the whole thing up and not tell Annalise and Bryson, part of which involves paying for Jeremy to go to USC for some reason (I can't be bothered to work out the logistics of). Which all works well and good, until Jeremy's brother takes his life because of not knowing what to do with himself after losing his biggest passion (this makes sense I promise codependency on exy is borderline a key theme in these books) and their mother and stepfather dig even more of a hole by covering that up and calling what happened an accident ("There's been an accident," he said, and grimaced like it wasn't at all the word he wanted to use.) and no one suspects anything until Jeremy's freshman year at USC, where he's perhaps not the best at getting on with his new teammates (probably particular the 5th years), still getting used to going from his high school team to the one at USC, also potentially homophobia (Nicky core) but they don't really have any acceptable reason to actually start anything with him, so one of them who had connections with the police (related or something) found out from them about the thing with the brother that had been covered up (He had half a mind to cut through the park, but the sigh of cops lounging at the nearer entrance had him sticking to the sidewalk along Exposition. There was little to no chance he'd know them, and no reason they'd recognize him, but Jeremy kept his gaze forward and his mouth shut until they were past.)

And decided to bring it up at the fall banquet, which caused it to get out and it was mainly contained between the USC team, but the whole team ended up finding out, and also Annalise and Bryson, who don't forgive him for it ("Overdue for a new scandal, hm?" She asked. "End the way you started?") (Once upon a time she'd gone to all his high school games, but once upon a time was before the fall banquet that broke their family in half. She'd gone out of her way to forget exy since then, and she'd never forgiven him for sticking with it.) ("Careful," Annalise warned him as she rummaged for her keys. "You already destroyed the family. Don't destroy my future, too.")

Theory Two:

My other theory surrounding Jeremy's childhood is that either 1 or 2 of his siblings went to live with his dad when their parents split up (their unnamed brother and either Annalise or Bryson) and I don't think that would have necessarily affected their relationship (with Annalise still going to his exy games, though the Bryson being homophobic theory isn't one I'm ruling out yet) Then Jeremy and his unnamed brother both wanted to get into either USC or a good university that they could play exy at, which makes sense if the unnamed brother was living with their dad he could have been hoping to get in to university through playing exy, while Jeremy had the option of his stepfather paying for him. Also potentially the two of them are still in contact but just going to different schools, and are on separate teams for a match between their schools at the end of the year that a lot of universities are attending, that Jeremy's team ends up winning, and then either this follows the same route as the first theory, or the brother gets into another university, and he and Jeremy get into their fight at the fall banquet of Jeremy's freshman year.

I could probably organise this slightly better and might come in and edit this when my copy of tsc gets here in a few days, but heres the random thoughts my brain spat out for now

[epsomthesalt]

may i offer you a matcha groot in these trying times

[twentyseptims]

boy be normal

[shubertmcdoobert]

I've never posted on here but Undertale dump yaaaay

[cherrynebbie]

mello definitely saw kids stepping out of line in wammy's, and said he wouldn't tell on them if they got him chocolate, my guy was bribing at the ripe old age of 9

[arowilson]

i genuinely have no idea how tumblr works im so sorry but i figured i might promote my ao3 since im already here:

im mostly lurking and looking for stuff about my interests and probably wont engage in the community too much but im here if anyone cares i am lethally hyperfixated on this show no kidding so if you want to talk about it to me please do

[mirwx]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

rare "artist draws on white background" moment?

[lightbearers-journal]

hunter doodle lol

[esotericistofthepresentworld]

did your favorite yaoi ship lose a poll by 0.01% damn well i have the stamp for you ITS THE GUYS

[disinfectantwipes]

I made this off a reference but now I Can’t find the reference …

I give you ArT :0

[tickingoftheclocks]

A short animation for class.