#I would be boring and get some kind of parrot

[keferon]

Sorry to send another ask lol- but i previously mentioned that sometimes Orca can get bullied in captivity. And I was wondering if humans ever tried socializing Jazz with other mer? Did it go well? Did it go badly- did someone end up traumatized???

...........ALRIGHT HEAR ME OUT

Remember the post where I talked about different species of merfolks and how some of them are sapient and fully intelligent while thw others are kind of just aquatic monkeys?

Seriously check it if you haven't seen pls it's important

So humans don't know about merfolks being sapient because 99,9% of the time they would run into wild-wild mers who are eeehhhhh smart but like. A parrot level of smart.

Which automatically implies that even if Jazz had tankmates they likely were stupid as fuck. And probably sometimes aggressive due to Jazz being different from them. But he tolerated and appreciated them anyway because having them was better than being completely alone right.

SO LIKE. AHAHA WHAT IF. IMAGINE

What if when aquarium workers bring Prowl in Jazz at first automatically assumes Prowl would be the same as the previous tankmates? But he's excited anyway because he's so. Fucking. BORED. floating alone in his tiny pool

And then he sees Prowl and like. He's different from all the previous mers Jazz had seen. He doesn't look "sorta-kinda-like-Jazz" he is exactly like him!

[diariesofthelover]

Wayne Brothers’ Gala Girl

synopsis: Bruce Wayne’s galas are held every once in a blue moon, but when they did occur, every Gotham socialite was sure to attend. The eldest sons of Gotham’s favorite billionaire always wound up in some trouble to entertain themselves, this time the brothers’ idea of fun was a beautiful woman who looked almost as bored as them.

notes: Jason Todd & Dick Grayson x reader, 3rd person pov, little bit 🌶️, inspired by the painting above.

The Eldest Wayne brothers found themselves in the quietest corner of the gala, bored with no idea of what they can get into this time around to beat last gala’s “performance” as they would call it.

“We could set off the fire alarm,” Dick suggests lazily to his younger brother.

“What are we twelve? Most of the people here already think we’re still fifteen.”

“No, they think you’re still fifteen because you were legally dead for like four years.”

“Shut up, dickwad.”

“HER!” Dick exclaimed, “Her, her, her, her!”

“You were Robin not a fucking parrot, her what?”

“That beautiful beautiful woman right there that looks even more miserable than we do with those tuxedo vultures circling her.”

Tuxedo vultures was spot on. These rich pigs had her trapped, all trying to win her attention one at a time, attempting a better pitch than the last guy. Any kind of manners that were instilled in her from an early age couldn’t apply after the third man insisted that he was the perfect man for her, actually, the perfect man for any proper woman, brains or not. All of the men here were the exact same, they believed their money and family were enough to flatter any woman here, that having any form of a likable personality or distanct traits besides snobbery was, “not something women really wanted.”

The woman couldn’t control her eye roll after the second attempted joke was made, averting her gaze where her eyes landed on the two men who already had their bright eyes on her, Bruce Wayne’s oldest sons.

She didn’t have a problem with the Wayne Family of course, she was after all attending their gala, it was just some of the guests that she wasn’t so fond of.

“What about her?” Jason looks over to who Dick was fawning over. Jason wasn’t blind, actually his vision only got better after he was resurrected, he too thought that the woman was beautiful, maybe one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen, which is why he immediately shut Dick down, knowing what he was going to try to do.

“No, Dick. No chance, leave her alone.”

“I don’t think she wants me to,” Dick replies as the woman returns his famous flashy grin with a soft smile.

Dick had been trying to get Jason…well more out there after the whole dying, coming back to life, and then out in the public eye again thing. Jason died young, he barely got a chance to live his teenage years so whenever Jay’s attracted to someone, he starts acting like a teenage boy but at the age of twenty instead of sixteen.

Dick, make every girl swoon over him since his Robin days, Grayson mastered the whole girl thing by now and is trying to be his not so little brother’s tonight’s wingman.

“Follow me,” Dick whispers to Jason, not taking his eyes of the beauty across from him.

Dick and a hesitant Jason make their way over to the group of men that were all secretly jealous of their father, probably jealous of his sons too, interrupting the lifeless conversation and taking all of her focus off the vultures and onto him and Jason.

“Good evening gentlemen, how are we doing tonight?” Jason almost gagged at his at his brother’s fake politeness, he was always the better one at socializing, his charming personality didn’t stop at women.

“Richard Grayson, boy you’ve certainly grown up since I last saw you!” An older man around Bruce’s age greets him stirring up the rest of the men.

“Dick Grayson huh, pleasure to finally meet Gotham’s new prince.”

“I hear you’re very popular with the ladies,” the group erupted into laughter, these men really love any jokes to do with a woman don’t they?

“And you must be Bruce’s other son, Tim is it?” Jason’s takes his eyes off the woman to give the man a slight scowl, he promised Bruce he’d behave tonight.

“No, no, that’s Jason the one that…” one of the men tries to begin to tell the epic tale of Jason Todd.

“Say, we would love to stay and chat but our date has been waiting for us for quite a bit now,” Dick quickly interrupts him before Jason pulls out any kind of weapon on these men and offers his hand to the woman.

She places her hand into his thinking that she’d rather be a damsel in a in distress in need of saving by a knight, or in Gotham’s case a masked vigilante, instead of spending another moment with some men that are old enough to be her father thinking about how’d she make the perfect trophy wife and the younger who simply want to get laid after the gala. As Dick pulls her away from the hungry drunken men, she offers her hand to Jason who gives her a confused and flustered look.

“If I’m not mistaken, Mr. Grayson said our date,” she says to him in the most soothing and charming voice Jason’s ever heard.

Forcing himself to snap out of this teenage haze, Jason takes her hand earning a smile from both her and his brother.

“I hope you don’t mind us whisking you away like that, you just seemed like you weren’t enjoying yourself,” Dick started, never dropping his darling smile.

“I don’t mind at all, I needed an excuse to get away from them,” the woman looks back at the men as they watch the brothers walk away with their “prize” in envy, “god they’re pathetic,” she sighs.

“Tell me about it,” Jason mumbles beside her.

“All night I’ve been surrounded by these people that only talk about their money, their jobs, their mansion and penthouses, it’s a bit exhausting, they really can’t think of anything else to discuss. It’s fascinating that they really think that’s the way to win over a woman.”

“Well I can promise you we’re a lot more interesting than that,” Dick laughs, “We also have access to all parts of the manor, how about Jason and I give you a little tour?” Dick states rather than asks earning a questioning look from Jason about what he’s planning.

“If you insist.”

Jason knew how Dick wanted him to jump into the dating pool. He frequently tried to set him up with either other vigilantes so he wouldn’t have to worry about his partner 24/7, or an ordinary Gotham citizen where Jason could escape from Gotham’s criminals and Red Hood duties to enjoy a semi-normal life. What Jason wasn’t understanding was why Dick had a chosen a woman that he was madly attracted to as well.

As Dick began his small tour of the manor, Jason stood awkwardly alongside the woman who was attentively watching his older brother and the places he showed. Jason didn’t know if he should join in or take over, make some small talk, he was sort of frozen in place and shy. You’d think that the big bad Red Hood who always had a mouth on him since he was Robin and would break Batman’s moral code would be the last person to get nervous around a pretty girl, maybe Red Hood wouldn’t but Jason Todd would.

“And this is the library, Jason’s favorite place in the manor,” Jason was snapped out of his thoughts when Dick mentioned his name, “once he comes in here you won’t see him for hours.”

“Big reader?” It took a moment for Jason to realize that the question was for him and not Dick.

“Yea, um, yes, I love literature.”

“Really, would do you love to read?” She was now fully focused on Jason who was struggling to maintain eye contact as his cheeks and ears were colored red.

He couldn’t keep his cool physically but he could try verbally, “classics,” he responded simply, not adding more to his portion of the conversation to which Dick internally sighed to.

“Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Austen?” The charming woman tried to get something out of the boy.

“All of them, and more of course,” Jason gave her a shy smile.

She heads towards the leather chair that Jason always sits in, making herself comfortable in his spot.

“This where you sit, get lost in all those stories you read?”

Something about her sitting in his chair made his blood rush. The way that she had made it look twice the size bigger being half the size of Jason, the way she relaxed into his chair, sinking into his molding. The boy was so mesmerized he forgot to answer her question.

Dick noticed and decided to swoop in, “Mhm, right here,” Dick drags now standing over her, “he’s a very smart guy you know with all the books he reads, runs in the family.”

She slowly shifted her gaze from Jason to Dick who was getting closer and closer, “I guess the looks do too, interesting for adopted brothers,” earning a smile from both boys.

“Excuse my brother for his shortness, we usually occupy ourselves with stunts at these galas, not beautiful women,” Dick says switching the attention back onto Jason, “he can get pretty shy.” Normally that statement would earn a punch to the shoulder or at least a nasty remark but Dick was right, Jason was pretty shy around pretty girls.

Dick and the mystery woman were now smiling at Jason who was leaned against the wall, close enough to where he can see the rise and fall of her chest, but far enough from engaging the way Dick was.

Dick gently tilts her head up with his large calloused hands forcing their gala girl to look up at him, “What do you think of my brother?”

Now it was the woman’s turn to be painted red, “I think he’s one of the most handsome and intriguing men I’ve ever seen.”

“And me?” Dick pouts.

“I think you’re one of the most handsome and charming man i’ve ever come across,” she says in a sultry tone that lures the boys in like sailors to a siren.

Both Dick and Jason’s blood is rushing, relishing in the fact that this goddess of a woman found the boys to be worthy of her attraction, that nobody else at the gala was as good as them.

“Tell me something, both of you,” she starts, “why stray from your usual chaos and shenanigans to show me around your manor?”

“You’re much more intriguing than anything we had in mind,” says Jason surprisingly boldly as he moves closer to her.

“You’re the most entertaining here tonight, baby,” adds in Dick who quickly got back his confidence after a brush to his ego.

“I heard I was beautiful too,” she teased, trying to get the higher ground again.

“I bet you get told that a lot, don’t you angel? You think that’s what those pigs were telling her Jay? How much of a pretty girl she is,” It was too late though, once Dick Grayson got wound up, he got complete control, “Now you tell me something doll, did they tell you how sexy you look in that dress of yours?” She shakes her head no, any kind of witty and teasing responses wiped from her pretty head, “Aw, well that’s just wrong, Jason tell her how good she looks in that dress.”

Both eyes are on Jason, waiting for his compliment, “She looks—you look stunning in that dress,” Dick was waiting for more, he knew Jason had the vocabulary he just needed the push, “You suit my color, red’s my favorite,” now they were getting something out of him.

“I’ll be sure to think of you when I wear red again,” god she was good. Dick had to bring the power back to him and Jason again, this all quickly became a game to him, his real entertainment for tonight’s gala.

“And what if we got rid of the red,” Dick slips the strap of her dress off her shoulder causing her to shudder, he’s in control again, “how’s that look?”

“Fuck,” Jason whispered under his breath.

“I think Jason feels the same way about it as I do,” with how quiet it was in the library his whisper was heard easily by the two, “what do you think pretty, you think it’s better?”

She felt like how Jason felt in the beginning, mesmerized and stunned. From Dick talking to her so confidently and his usage of pet names, to the way Jason was losing his fucking mind over her.

“Y’gonna answer me or are you gonna keep looking at Jay with fuck me eyes?” Dick wasn’t jealous, he was trying to tease the two, get them riled up.

Before she gets to respond there’s a knock at the door, “Master Richard and Master Jason, Master Bruce requests your attendance for at least another half hour.”

“We’ll be right out Alfred,” Richard quickly answered before Alfred could barge in on the scene, “shall we?”

Dick heads towards the door as Jason and their gala girl slowly fix themselves up, avoiding any kind of eye contact with each other.

Dick stops Jason before they head back out to the gala, “You’re welcome, Jaybird.”

[stevieschrodinger]

Part One TwentyFive

“What is that?” Eddie asks, leaning forward in his seat, trying to see where the noise is coming from.

“Oh, it’s an ambulance, probably.”

“Am-bu-lance,” Eddie sounds out carefully, “like on TV. Why?”

“Oh they’re...if someone is sick, or has an emergency, and they need to get the hospital really fast, you can call an ambulance on the phone and they come and save you.”

“Oh. People be okay?”

“Uhm. I don’t know, but I hope they’re okay.”

“I hope they’re okay,” Eddie repeats absently, then Eddie’s mouth pops open a little as he stares out of the window, “Stevie love?” he asks, pointing.

“Oh, that’s a florists, you want to go and look?” Steve figures that the weather is finally warm enough to display flowers outside again.

Steve pulls in when he can, and they walk the half block back to where the buckets of brightly colored flowers are in a neat line outside the store front; Steve has a dollar in change loose in his pocket, and he can see that the individual flowers start at a few cents, “here, you want to get something?”

Eddie takes the money, but then grips Steve’s arm, carefully he sounds out the, “help wan-ted,” sign displayed in the window, “work?” he asks quizzically.

“I-” and Steve really has run out of reasons to protest. Eddie never goes anywhere without Steve. The most he ever does is get to go to the grocery store and, sometimes, Hopper and Joyce’s places. Plus he sits in Family Video for some of Steve’s shifts and it just...Steve knows it isn’t fair. Eddie’s getting bored, Steve can tell. Eddie does more than his fair share of the housework now, simply because he gets left alone at home so much. His driving is getting way better, and he’s mastered a lot of kitchen skills and can produce some simple meals.

Steve can’t keep him caged up forever. Besides, Eddie probably wouldn’t even get the job, so there’s no harm in just asking, “okay. Lets try, at least.”

The little bell tinkles cheerily over the door as they go in, making Eddie smile up at it.

It smells almost sickly sweet inside the store, but there are a lot of flowers packed into the small space. And holy shit, Steve actually recognizes the girl behind the counter from school, “Chrissy?”

“Oh. Oh hey Steve,” she isn’t cold, but she’s not exactly warm either, “can I help?”

“I can help,” Eddie butts in, pointing at the sign in the window.

“Oh, well. Do you have any experience working in a florist?” She eyes Eddie not unkindly, but definitely a little bit dubiously.

Eddie looks at Steve, unsure, “no, he doesn’t. And English isn’t his first language, he’s over here learning so…”

“Oh. Right. Well I mean, it’s only a few hours a week on delivery days, or when there's something on...I just need an extra pair of hands.”

“Pair of hands,” Eddie holds his up to show her.

Chrissy laughs, and Steve can already tell she’s softening to Eddie, he really does seem to have that effect on people. And Steve figures...it’s just a few hours. He knows that Chrissy is good people, or at least, he’s pretty sure she’s nice; she was always kind at school. If Eddie’s going to start somewhere…Steve comes to a decision, “how about he comes and tries it one time, his English isn’t perfect yet, but honestly he picks stuff up really fast, you’ll only have to show him once.”

“Uhm...you know, okay, lets do a trial. I haven’t had any other interest any ways, just a couple hours at a time on random days is inconvenient for people I guess, but unpacking everything can get tricky if you also get customers, you know?”

Steve nods, he can see that, “sure.”

“Sure,” Eddie parrots.

“So…do you want to stay for a couple of hours now? I can show you the ropes.”

“It’s an expression, there’s no actual rope,” Steve tells Eddie before he even has a chance to be confused over that, “you want to try?”

Eddie nods, “I’ll try.”

Steve has to stop himself from taking a deep fortifying breath, because that would be weird, “okay, Eddie come and get your jacket from the car.”

“But-”

Steve shuffles Eddie out of the store before he can protest any further, smiling at Chrissy, even as she frowns at him.

Once safely inside the car, Steve checks, “okay, what’s your secret?”

“Must not tell about The Upside Down. Must not tell that I’m different. Keep hidden my not belly button and not nipples. Definitely keep my pants pulled up.”

“Okay, why?”

“People will...take me away. Lock me in tank, like Starcourt. I maybe get El in trouble.”

“And what’s our secret?”

“Not boyfriend. Good friend. People don’t like two boys...they think it wrong. But it not wrong.”

“Okay...okay. You’re sure about this?”

“I’ll try,” Eddie nods.

“Okay, so, I’ll come back around three?” Steve confirms, before leaving his phone number just in case.

And then he...leaves. He leaves Eddie with Chrissy Cunningham. Which is just...weird. Eddie. Alone, kind of, and out in public. And Steve...well. He holds it together pretty well, he thinks. Or at least, he tries too. It’s just...weird. And unexpected.

Going home to an empty house is even stranger, but realistically he can’t just sit in the car outside. As much as he would have rather done that, it is a bit weird and...well. Chrissy can’t exactly phone him if he’s not there to answer the phone.

Steve forces himself to be normal about this, even if on the inside he isn’t being at all normal. Not at all. Not even remotely. He spends two hours coming up with increasingly ridiculous and increasingly catastrophic scenarios that Eddie could be involved in, right this second.

By the time Steve can legitimately leave, he’s still going to be early, and the house is way cleaner and there’s a lasagna on the side, ready to go in the oven later.

Steve fully expects there to be ambulance, fire and police vehicles clustered around the florist. The army maybe. Navy seals. News crews with helicopters circling overhead. Steve has no idea, but he is incredibly relieved when there are none of those things.

He hops out of the beemer and heads in, only to find Chrissy behind the register, a customer just finishing up and paying, and in amongst the buckets of blooms, is Eddie, holding a broom. He looks up at the sign of the bell, smiling when he sees it’s Steve. He’s wearing a green apron with the store branding on the middle of the chest, “hello Stevie.”

Eddie finishes what he’s doing, carefully nudging a bucket into place with his toe and sweeping his little pile of leaves and dust to the doorway out to the back, where he gets it up with a little pan and brush. Steve holds the door for the customer, an older lady, and after she’s gone he asks, “how did that go?”

Eddie looks to Chrissy to answer, “yeah. Yeah he did really good, Eddie, you want to come back on Friday?” Eddie nods, “okay, go hang your apron where I showed you.”

Eddie disappears out the back, “really? All okay?” Steve checks.

“Yeah,” Chrissy smiles brightly, “I think he’s a good fit. Eddie says that you’re his ride, so Friday, midday would be ideal until… lets say three again?”

“Yeah. Yeah, no problem. I’m working a close so he can walk down to Family Video after.”

Before they leave, Chrissy pays Eddie seven dollars straight from the register, and Eddie holds it tight, like it’s precious cargo.

The second the car door closes Eddie is like an unleashed ball of energy, “Stevie? People in the moon?? The moon in the sky? People! In rock-ets!”

Steve snorts a laugh, “yeah, yeah that’s right. People have been to the moon. I think a dog and monkeys and stuff have been to space.”

“Space,” Eddie echoes, quietly astounded.

“We could get a book about it.”

“Yes. Book about it...that’s good.”

“Okay. I probably should have done this ages ago, but lets go get you a library card.”

Eddie stands next to Steve at the desk, and Steve has to nudge him to get him to shut his mouth. Eddie’s eyes are huge, and he stares around the room like he’s just found all the treasures of the world, hiding all along in Hawkins Public Library. “Right, sir,” says the very sensibly cardiganed and bespectacled lady from behind the desk, “there’s your identification back, and your library card. No more than six books at a time, and three weeks per book or you’ll incur a charge, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you,” Eddie says, taking his card and peering at where the lady has written his name out.

“Come on then, you want to get some books?”

It’s not long before they have an issue. Eddie’s first two slots are filled with books about NASA and space from the kids non fiction section. Three and four very quickly go to sciency looking books about animals that came from a shelf near the space bit, but then Eddie can’t seem to choose, overwhelmed with all the books.

“Okay...it’s not far to the library, just take those four, and then when you’ve read them, we can get more okay?”

Eddie frowns, mouth scrunching a little, but he agrees.

He watches carefully over the counter as the lady stamps the borrow date inside the covers, reminding Eddie of when they’re due back, “I’ll write on the calendar,” he tells her. Steve suppresses a smile.

Eddie gets into the car holding a bunch of flowers; he immediately presents them to Steve. They’re held together with a bit of twine, and they’re all varying shades of red and orange, “Chrissy says it’s too late to sell them. All open too long. Ger-be-ra.”

“I-oh. For me?”

“Yes.”

“I-thank you. No one’s ever got me flowers before.”

Eddie beams hugely, and then holds them for Steve while he’s driving, “practice later?”

“Yeah, want to go to the mall lot? You're really close, but you have to get this reversing thing down before you go on the road.”

Eddie nods, “I try.”

“I will try. I’ll try,” Steve reminds him gently; Eddie does know, he just forgets when he gets all excited.

“I’ll try.”

When they get home, Eddie stashes his crumpled dollar bills in a jar that he keeps on the top shelf of a kitchen cupboard.

“Here’s another one,” Steve calls. They’re just, well, saplings, Steve guesses. Glorified twigs with a couple of leaves on, but some of them come up as far as Steve’s knee. They only found one, at first, but the further they went, the easier it became to spot them. And then suddenly...Steve was finding them everywhere.

Eddie comes over to inspect it, clearly pleased, “small pear tree.”

“Yeah, how many does that make?”

“Twenty two,” Eddie says proudly.

Steve looks around, “we’re going to find loads aren’t we?”

Eddie nods, “tent now?”

Steve snorts a laugh, “you horn dog, but, yeah, sure, we can get that set back up, you done tree hunting?” Eddie nods again, “do you ever miss it?” Steve asks as they walk back through the trees and to the yard, “having a tail, I mean? Being in the pool?”

“No,” Eddie starts slow, “I don’t...think on tail? Very few time I remember.”

“Oh right,” Steve thinks for a second, about what El said, about Eddie living so much in the moment. It must still apply.

“Maybe...maybe little,” Eddie puts his finger and thumb close together, for little, “more good than The Upside Down, and found Stee,” Eddie grins.

“Yeah. Yeah you did.”

Eddie appears in the doorway of Family Video five minutes before Steve’s shift is due to finish. Steve is not at all surprised to note that Keith is not here yet. “Hello Stevie. Hello Robin.”

“Hey, Eddie,” they both chorus.

Eddie comes up to the counter, giving Steve the little bouquet of blue and white flowers he’s holding, “awwwwww,” Robin sinks to her elbows on the counter, “that’s so sweet. You two are sickening, really.”

Eddie frowns at her, so Steve tells him, “ignore her, I like them.”

Eddie nods, “I tell Chrissy you like them. She said,” Eddie looks around the store, clearly checking for people. He goes up on his toes to see over the shelves, “she definitely, definitely knows we not boyfriends. She promises. Also, she likes my en-gage-ment ring.”

Steve just stares at Eddie, blinking slowly as he processes that. Next to him, Robin Starts braying like a donkey. Eddie grins big, pleased with himself. “She said...she definitely knows that we’re not boyfriends?” Steve repeats slowly.

“Yeah. She say she definitely knows we’re not boyfriends. She promises, she said she definitely doesn’t like girls, too.” Eddie speaks in that slow, sure way he does when he’s repeating something exactly.

“Right.” Steve says, “right. Okay. Did she say anything...else?”

“She think you are a prick, before.” Robin had just about regained her composure, only to completely loose it again, folding to the ground, crying with laughter, “but now she say you’re nice,” Eddie frowns, looking at the ceiling for a second as he concentrates, “Chrissy...think you have good taste in not boyfriends.”

“Oh.” Steve sighs, “okay. At least there’s that.”

“I can’t believe Chrissy Cunnigham likes girls,” Robin sighs from somewhere down on the floor.

“No,” Eddie corrects, “she doesn’t. She said she doesn’t.”

Steve can, vaguely, feel a headache forming, “no. Eddie she says she doesn’t like girls. The way that you don’t like guys.”

“But I don’t like guys, I like Stevie- ooooohhhhh,” Eddie’s face dawns with understanding, “secret lie?”

“Secret lie,” Steve confirms.

“Do you think she’s single?” Robin asks weakly from behind the counter.

“Single?” Eddie asks.

“Does she have a girlfriend? Is she with someone, like we are?”

Eddie shakes his head, “no girlfriend. Chrissy says that she a bit sad...but better than Tommy. Steaming turd.”

Robin cackles.

“Stevie, what is ‘steaming turd’?”

Steve rubs his forehead, breathing deeply though his nose.

From the floor Robin asks, “I wonder if she still has the cheerleader outfit?”

“Eddie, do not repeat that to Chrissy.”

Eddie frowns, “why? Chrissy says it’s girl talk?” Eddie asks, clearly uncertain over the concept of ‘girl talk.’

“Since when are you a girl?” Robin finally clambers back up with the rest of them.

“Chrissy say I hon-or-rary girl. I bagged King Steve.”

Steve’s never been happier to see Keith walk into the store.

Part TwentySeven

[rip-quizilla]

Impossible to Hate You ~ Part 10

Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!Reader

Summary: You establish a truce.

Word Count: 6k

Divider was created by the lovely and talented @hellfire--cult❤️

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

Spring, 1994

There was a sort of comfort to be found in the smells and sounds of your office that Friday afternoon. The earthy scent of your third cup of coffee wafted over you as you carried it back to your desk amidst the clicking and clacking of fingers on keyboards. Only about three more hours remained of the workday, and you could feel everyone’s anticipation in the air already. 

You waited until you were settled back in your desk chair to take your first sip; you gently blew away the curling steam, touched the rim of your mug to a lipsticked lip, and-

Brrrrrrrriiiiingggg! 

Sighing dejectedly, you set the coffee down on your desk before picking up the phone and parroting the standard company greeting into the microphone.

“Hey, it’s uh.. Eddie.”

You blinked. “Hi.” you paused, then when he didn’t say anything, added, “Why are you calling me at work?”

“Well, you left your work number on a post-it, so I figured it would be okay to call…”

You rolled your eyes. “Yes, if there’s an emergency. Is this an emergency, Eddie?”

“Eh…kinda?” you hadn’t noticed at first, but now you were starting to register some kind of noise on his end that sounded like arguing voices. 

“Who’s there with you?” 

“Did you invite your old roommate to come over this weekend?”

You slapped your palm to your forehead when it dawned on you that you hadn’t even thought to ask Eddie if he minded Kate coming over this weekend. Even worse, she’d called yesterday mentioning that she had some business near your apartment today so you’d told her to come over when her business was finished and just start her weekend with you a day early. 

“Crap, Eddie I’m so sorry, I completely forgot to ask if you’d mind Kate staying there tonight-”

“No need to apologize,” Eddie cut you off, “because it seems I’ve made a similar mistake.”

Now you could definitely make out Kate’s voice in the background, and she was arguing with someone whose ability to match her fiery tone was surprising and honestly a little impressive, knowing Kate. 

“Do you remember Gareth Emerson? From Hawkins?”

You nodded, remembering the freckled, curly-topped bracefaced kid who’d idolized Eddie since the first time he’d sat with your group at the Hellfire table at lunch. “Yeah, he was that freshman with the curly hair, right?”

“Yep, still curly and still an ornery shit. I invited him to come up and see the place for the weekend, and I also forgot to check with you to make sure it would be okay, so sorry about that-” 

Eddie was cut off by a particularly loud outburst from Kate- you caught the words entitled and child somewhere in there. 

“He wasn’t supposed to get here until tomorrow but he got bored and headed up early without telling me!” Eddie emphasized the last three words loud enough so Gareth could hear them loud and clear, and you heard Gareth’s fuzzy response in the background say ‘Good to see you too, asshole!’

“Yeah, so long story short, now they’re both here and they’re arguing over the couch.”

“Hand Kate the phone, please.” You sighed. Within a moment, you heard your friend’s disgruntled voice huffing through the speaker. 

“Okay, Tattoo Guy I don’t mind. His friend is an asscrack with a lip ring and I do not like him.”

Both men must have been standing nearby, because you heard faint responses from both of them through the receiver. A bewildered ‘Tattoo Guy?’ from Eddie, and a snarky ‘Feeling’s mutual, princess.’ from Gareth.

“Sorry for the mixup,” You said calmly, “it seems we both invited a friend to stay over tonight and forgot to tell each other.” You kept your voice even and quiet. Kate was usually pretty level-headed, but difficult to reason with when she got riled up. Calming her down was priority number one. “You can just sleep with me in my room, it doesn’t have to be a big deal-”

“But he’s so annoying-”

“-And this way, you and I get our own space where he’s not allowed!” you cut her off with blazing positivity, which usually worked wonders. Unsurprisingly, her response sounded significantly less venomous.

“...You have a point.” She gave you another one of those pauses where you can tell she’s about so say something else. 

“But…?” you supplied.

“‘But’ nothing, you have a point, that’s it.”

You smiled wryly, “So you don’t feel like you’re losing some kind of competition right now?”

“Of course I feel like I’m losing a competition right now, he’s grinning at me like a smug little shit.” You heard a musical cackle as she said that, followed by a loud Ow! and an abrupt end to the cackling.

You snorted. “Try not to kill each other until I get home, ‘kay?”

“Fine.” Kate replied, and if you didn’t know better, you might have thought you heard a smile in her voice as she bade you goodbye before hanging up the phone. 

When you finally made it home, you were surprised to be greeted by the fragrant scent of tomatoes and fresh herbs wafting over you. 

“What’s going on in here?” you asked, turning the corner into the small kitchen. Eddie stood in front of the stove, stirring what looked like tomato sauce in a large saucepan that you’d all but forgotten you owned. 

“Well, when I realized there would be four mouths to feed tonight, I decided I’d make a little grocery run.” He peered over at a large pot of cloudy, boiling water and grabbed a slotted ladle to fish out a single piece of spaghetti from the water and test it. “Hope you’re in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs, should be ready in a few minutes.”

You took in the state of your kitchen- the plethora of pots and pans, the array of ingredients and empty cans of crushed tomatoes scattered across every surface the eye could see. You never made this much of a mess when you were baking; years of cakes and muffins and chocolate chip cookies had taught you to clean as you went, leaving the kitchen spotless by the time that the goods came out of the oven. Eddie, obviously, hadn’t learned the same lesson. 

You sighed, rolling your eyes and shaking your head slightly. “And you were going to clean all of this up yourself, I’m guessing? Or did you expect us to do it?” 

“I hope these meatballs are good, they’re the only vegetarian option I could find.” Eddie shook his head as he cooked, glancing at you as you stood behind him completely stunned. When you didn’t answer, he arched an eyebrow. 

“What, is this brand bad? Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that cashier; he said he’d tried it but that kid just looked like he was lying-”

“No, I’ve tried those, they’re good.” you reassured, quiet now and still unsure of what to do with this new information. Eddie remembered you were a vegetarian. After years of not speaking, he’d remembered this detail and accommodated for you- that was more than your own extended family did, sometimes. More than your coworkers with whom you’d worked for years bothered to remember. 

But here was Eddie Munson, cooking everyone meatless meatballs just so you weren’t left out.

“Try this, tell me if it needs more salt.” Eddie said, scooping a sip of cherry-red tomato sauce into a serving spoon and bringing it to you with a protective hand hovering underneath, completely ignoring your question. 

And there was something strange about the way you felt in that moment when, after all these years, you were standing in a tiny New York apartment with Eddie Munson and his wide, hopeful brown eyes, and he was holding a spoon to your lips and asking if his pasta sauce needed more salt. What option did you have, other than to open your lips for him, taste the pasta, smile, and tell him that it was perfect? What other choice was there, really? 

Eddie smiled, eagerly sipping the rest himself. “You’re sure? You don’t think I overdid the garlic?”

“Not at all,” you reassured him, picking up the tomato sauce cans and rinsing them out in the sink before tossing them in the recycle bin. “I don’t think anyone in this place will mind if you put a little extra garlic in something.”

Eddie grabbed a strainer full of cooked spaghetti and began to pour it into the pot of sauce. “You sure? Kate’s not a vampire or something?” 

“Well, she’s never told me she’s not a vampire.” you shrugged, “So I guess we’ll find out for sure when she eats the pasta.”

You went to grab the strainer once its carby contents had been emptied from it, but Eddie beat you to it. “Hey, I really was going to clean afterwards,” he said meekly. “You can go sit down, I’ve got this.”

You leveled your gaze at him, gently taking the strainer from his hands. “I’ve been sitting down all day. Besides, you’re cooking dinner for everyone, the rest of us can handle cleanup.” 

All of the frustration that had begun bubbling in your gut at the sight of his mess was gone now. How did he always do this? Make you forget his transgressions, his flaws… with puppy dog eyes? In an instant? You needed to toughen up.

“So where are-”

“-the children?” Eddie finished. “Sequestered in our rooms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone match Gareth’s capacity for bickering within the first minute of meeting him, but there’s a first time for everything.”

You winced. “Kate can be… headstrong.” 

“So can Gare.” Eddie grinned. “I’m glad he’s met his match. Maybe she’ll humble him.”

You found the match in question sitting cross-legged on the floor flipping through a magazine you’d left on your bedspread that morning. Upon seeing you, she huffed and pouted as she stood to wrap you in a hug.

“The Southern Living subscription still has both our names on it!” 

You patted her back as she whined into your shoulder. “I know sweetie.”

“But we aren’t roommates anymore, and next time I come over I’m going to find an issue of one of these and it’ll just be your name!”

“You moved across town.” you stated calmly, sinking to her level on the soft woven area rug. “We didn’t break up. I’m not going to boot you off the Southern Living subscription, I promise.” 

Kate looked up at you then, eyes wide but smiling now. “You promise?”

You chuckled, tackling Kate in a hug before gently prying the Southern Living from her anxious grip. “You are so dramatic. Yes, I promise. Now give me this so I can put it in your bag.”

The two of you emerged from your room then (after some serious coaxing on your end) and were greeted by the sight of a gangly, pierced, curly-topped man draped across the expanse of your corduroy couch.

Upon seeing Kate’s glare over your shoulder, the man leveled his gaze and smirked as he sort of shimmied himself deeper into the couch’s cushions. 

“Mmmm, cozy. I’m gonna sleep so good on this thing-”

“So well, you mean?” Kate practically barked back. “Or did you flunk your fourth grade grammar lessons?”

The man’s- whom you could only assume was Gareth Emerson- expression soured as he muttered to himself, “What is it with everyone correcting my grammar lately?” before refocusing on you and doing his best to appear civil and polite. “You’re the roommate?”

You nodded in confirmation. “I’m the roommate.”

He grinned, reaching out his hand which you accepted with a friendly shake. “I’m Gareth. It’s nice to meet you.”

“We’ve met before, actually.” you amended, “I was a senior when you were a freshman.”

“So I’ve been told. Don’t remember much other than the year-long rain cloud Eddie had over his head after you graduated-”

“Dude!”

Eddie’s voice sliced through the conversation, whipping your attention around to face him over the short breakfast bar. His eyes were wide, and he was frozen in place as his gaze darted from Gareth to you. 

The two of you hadn’t spoken about the elephant in the room since Eddie moved in. Not a word about the friendship you’d shared or the more that it could’ve been or its abrupt ending ten years ago- now, Gareth had revealed something about the aftermath of that relationship that you hadn’t known: when you’d left, Eddie had changed. 

You didn’t know how, and you weren’t sure exactly why- but he’d been different after you’d moved away. Vanity told you it was because of you, that he’d been riddled with guilt after the way he’d ended things, but you knew it could be all manner of things that might have caused him to change. 

Either way, you couldn’t help but think that this must have been how Eddie had felt when he walked through your door to take in your apartment and the life it held. This piece, this crumb of Eddie’s life after you’d stepped out of it? You wanted more and you wanted it now. 

But the way Eddie was watching you- like he was watching a flame slowly consume a precious thing and he could do nothing but stand by and watch- sent a pang of sympathy through you. That pang was followed by a rush of fury at your heart for having the audacity to feel sympathetic to the man who’d made you feel so hurt, so crazy, so toyed with all those years ago. He should be terrified. You should make him squirm. Let him marinate in the truth he built for himself, if only for a second. 

But you didn’t.

“Is dinner ready?” You asked, turning on your heel and making your way toward the kitchen. You heard a muttered “What did I say?” behind you, followed by a whump! And an “Ow!”

“Yeah,” Eddie answered, sighing through the word with relief at your subject change. “Grab a bowl.”

Dinner was surprisingly comfortable, once everyone agreed to the unspoken oath that they would not bring up anything prior to 1984. Or immediately after it. Everyone stuck to casual topics- tv shows, Kate’s new apartment, work- and the energy in the room remained altogether pleasant. 

Later in the evening, everyone had retired to their respective sleeping arrangements, and you and Kate were lying side by side in your bed in the almost-darkness. The small television was your only light as the sounds of The Princess Bride played just loud enough to mask your conversation.

“So you two haven’t talked yet?” 

“We talk,” you replied, shrugging slightly. “We talked all throughout dinner, you were there.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

You sighed, flopping from your side onto your back to stare at the ceiling. “I know.” 

Kate mimicked your movement, moving into a perfect reflection of you as she joined you in gazing at the white popcorned drywall. “You know you’re going to have to talk about everything eventually.”

“I know.”

“So why not just rip off the bandaid?” 

You jerked your head to the side, giving her a sidelong glance. “You wanna rip it off for me?”

Kate smiled sympathetically. “Babe, you know I would if I could but there are only two people in this world who are qualified to do so in this specific situation and I am not one of them.” 

You gave her a half smile, hoping it didn’t look as much like a wince as it felt. “I just…” you started, struggling to get your thoughts into a straight line. This whole situation was so… tangled. “...I don’t think I should have to be the one to bring it up. He’s the one who ruined everything. To rub his nose in it like a dog…” You paused, cringing at the mental image. “I shouldn’t have to. He’s a grown-ass man, he can apologize to me first and then we’ll talk it out. But no, I’m not bringing it up first.”

You felt Kate’s hand find yours and give it a reassuring squeeze. “Aye aye, captain.” She whispered. 

“Alright! Agenda for today-”

Kate’s all-business tone called the attention of everyone in the apartment. Each of you was still pajama-clad, having taken up a spot on either a couch or a chair at the kitchen table. The sweet smell of sugar and cinnamon still wafted through the air from the cinnamon rolls you’d baked fresh the moment you’d woken up. 

“First,” Kate continued, “we hit the farmers’ market at Union Square. Next-”

“-We stop at The Ink Shop.” Eddie interjected, speaking around a rather large bite of cinnamon roll. “Guy in charge called yesterday and told me to stop in this weekend if I could.”

You twisted around from your spot at the table to look at him, “Wait, does that mean you’ve got the job?”

Eddie swallowed, eyes wide as his throat struggled against too much going down too quickly, but by the grin on that man’s face, no one could tell. You not only sounded like you didn’t hate his guts, but you actually sounded excited for him- he was on cloud nine, this was progress. “That’s what I’m hoping! The guy on the phone didn’t guarantee anything, but I’m optimistic.”

“Eddie, that's awesome! They’d be idiots to turn you down.”

And just like that, Eddie was sitting in your dad’s little wooden shed in the backyard again. Just like that, he was being shaken to his core by a girl who looked at him and saw someone who was worth believing in. Someone who was worth a chance.

…Which you’d given to him. And he’d blown.

His heart sank to his stomach as quickly as it’d begun to soar. Eddie hoped it wasn’t evident on his face how much your faith in him- however casual or miniscule it might be- made him feel as if gravity were something that didn’t apply to him. 

Eddie cleared his throat before flashing you a small, humble smile. “Thanks. For the sake of the rent, I’m hoping they aren’t idiots.”

Neither of you noticed, but throughout that entire exchange Kate’s eyes were darting back and forth between the two of you like a tennis ball at Wimbledon. Now, you were both silently smiling at each other, the silence perfumed by sweet, sticky cinnamon in the small apartment. 

“...Okaaayy, so we stop at The Ink Shop after dropping groceries off here.” Kate purred, quirking a knowing grin at the way the two of you looked down at your plates after realizing how long you’d been staring. “Anyone have any lunch ideas, or are we winging it?”

“There’s an Indian place by The Ink Shop,” Eddie suggested, getting up from his spot on the couch to bring his empty plate to the kitchen and rinse it. He continued over the soft streaming of the faucet, “I tried it the other day and I haven’t stopped thinking about their garlic naan.” 

Gareth made a sound not far from a moan, slumping against the couch cushions as he continued to chew his cinnamon roll. “Ohmyguhd, Ndian fuhd shounsh sho guhd!”

Kate raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t even finished with breakfast, and you’re already moaning about lunch?” 

Gareth’s loud gulp as he swallowed his food was punctuated by a defensive scoff. “Excuse you, Indian food is always worth moaning about. The current status of my appetite makes no difference.”

Kate looked ready to spit a comeback at him, but for some reason she came up empty. After a few seconds of silence while she stared at him looking partially frustrated and partially amused, she changed the subject. 

“Alright, well if everyone is cool with Indian food then we’ll stop there after Eddie’s job interview.”

“It isn’t a job interview-” Eddie protested, but Kate quickly waved a hand as if his protests were annoying little flies. 

“Fine, after Eddie’s casual check in with the boss of the place he’d like to work at, we’ll all get Indian food.” She grinned at you, “Sounds like we’ve got a plan!”

Your Saturday outing as a foursome proved fruitful and- surprisingly- not very awkward, given that your party was comprised of two estranged high school friends and two newly-enemies.

You had assumed that it would only be a matter of time before you all split into gendered groups- you and Kate would go one way, and the ink-riddled, curly-topped duo would go the other. The opposite, however, turned out to be true. 

“I’m getting a breakfast burrito.” Gareth had announced about ten minutes into your foray into the market. “I saw a guy selling them back by the entrance, I’ll go get one and find you guys later.”

Kate rolled her eyes at Gareth, arms crossed over her chest. You didn’t miss the way Gareth’s eyes darted down to her cleavage when she did so- you wondered if Kate caught that, too. 

“No,” she sighed, “you are not. This place is chaos for someone who’s been here before, much less someone who hasn’t. You’re going to get lost and then we’ll spend an hour just looking for you.”

Gareth snorted, crossing his arms to match her tit for tat (pun intended). “Wow, you really think so little of me? I’m a grown ass man.”

Kate scoffed, “Hah! You’re hardly grown-”

“So just an ass man then? You know I used to think that too, but now-” Gareth wasn’t being shy about his line of sight now as he allowed his pointed gaze to zero in on the generous V of Kate’s neckline. “-now I’m not so sure.” 

Kate’s face was one of absolute shock. Before she could say anything, however, Gareth simply smiled and began to march in the direction of where (he thought) the breakfast burritos were. Kate followed close behind, already rattling off the laundry list of adjectives she would use to describe him- none of them good. 

That left you and Eddie.

The two of you had learned how to be silent with each other over the few days that you’d been rooming together. Where the quiet pauses between your conversations had originally been unbearably awkward, they were now simply one step behind comfortable. The fact that the two of you were getting used to being quiet around each other, however… that in itself was strange enough. Even before, all those years ago in what felt like another life, there was always some kind of noise. Whether it be the constant shrill of an electric guitar or Eddie’s incessant yapping (which had been your favorite sound, once upon a time), there was always something to fill your ears. 

That was why things felt somewhat normal now- the market was buzzing with countless sounds, sights and smells. When you dared to sneak a glance at Eddie out of the corner of your eye, you saw how his gaze was darting from booth to booth, eagerly taking in every sight this place had to offer. 

You broke the silence first. “Anything look good?”

Eddie chuckled, eyes flicking to you for a half-second before resuming their dragonfly pace. “Oh that isn’t the issue. I’ve never seen so much produce in my life. Only problem is that I don’t have a job yet and I want to buy all of it.”

“Nah, that job is yours.” you reassured him, noncommittally perusing the offerings of a nearby vegetable stand. “Like I said, they’d be idiots to turn you down.” 

Eddie shook his head. “As flattering as that is, you haven’t really seen any of my professional work.”

“Has it improved since high school?” you countered.

“Hope so.” Eddie shrugged. 

You smiled. “Then it’s gone from good to great.”

You could’ve sworn he blushed then. 

That now-familiar, comfortable quiet settled between the two of you as your attention fell to the variety of vegetables before you. Your eyes fluidly swept over all the offerings on the stand until snagging on one carrot in particular; a shorter, thick carrot that had split off into two at the base, though the  second carrot had broken off close to the leafy top. On the other side, the base had grown a strangely spherical lump. Altogether the strange looking carrot was left with two bulbous parts on either side with the actual vegetable stretching proudly in a long rod from base to tip.

It kind of looked like a…

You snorted, and to your surprise Eddie did the exact same thing right next to you. You glanced at him, and found his eyes laughing just as much as yours. His eyes darted from you, to the carrot, and back before bursting into raucous laughter, which you joined instantly. 

His laugh had always been contagious, and you had always been susceptible. 

The two of you carried on laughing until you realized that the owner of the vegetable stand was staring at the two of you with a confused, borderline offended look on her face. 

“Sorry!” you said, waving apologetically even though you were still laughing. “We… I mean, he said something really funny! Your vegetables are great, you have, um, great stuff! Really good stuff!” 

All the while, Eddie continued laughing his ass off, his mirth obviously escalating with every defensive word out of your mouth. You grabbed him by the arm and tugged him past the vegetable stand, the two of you struggling to overcome your fits of giggles.

“My God, are we children?” You asked no one in particular, covering your face with your hands. “That was so dumb, it was only a carrot-” but then, you were laughing again, along with Eddie. 

He looked at you, doubled over and laughing hysterically at a phallic-shaped root vegetable, and realized it was the first time in ten years that he’d seen you laugh the way you used to- unbridled joy, running wild and free and dancing in the air like bells on the wind. 

He’d forgotten that laugh. It was like Christmas. 

Eddie cleared his throat, sighing through the downswing of his laughing fit. “Yeah, my art may have matured, but my sense of humor sure hasn’t.” 

You  wheezed, composing yourself. “You’re forgiven.” You replied, smirking as you continued to walk through the aisle of vendors.

“I’m forgiven?” Eddie scoffed, trotting after to catch up to you. “You were right there laughing at it with me!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m the picture of maturity.”

“Yeah? Picture the carrot cock again.”

You snorted. “Carrot cock?” you laughed, a cackle threatening to break free. 

“Hah!” Eddie wagged a finger in your face, that devious smile you remember so well stretching across his face. It did something to you, something painful or beautiful or both. “There it is! You’re just as mature as I am.” 

Walking alongside each other like this- the ease with which the banter came, the impulse to nudge his shoulder with your own and flash him a smile from days long gone. You weren’t sure that smile would even fit anymore.

This easiness… you weren’t sure you liked it. He didn’t deserve easy. 

Eddie knew it, too. This tentative comfort between the two of you right now was like some kind of delicate, winged creature- something to be protected. Something that could be crushed in an instant, and he was so scared to overstep or or scare you back behind the wall you’d put up between you two. 

He opened his mouth and took a breath, unsure of what he should say. “I’m sorry” or “this is nice” felt too close to the uncanny valley between the present and the past. 

Before Eddie could even settle on something to say, you beat him to the punch. 

“We should probably find Kate before she strangles Gareth.”

Your gaze was long gone. In fact, he was pretty sure you were making a point of avoiding him. Eyes trained determinedly forward, you marched back in the direction you’d both come from. 

“Sounds good.” Eddie complied, following you as he contemplated which felt worse- his relief at your departure from the fragile uncertainty on which that ease between you had balanced, or his disappointment that- once again- he was forgetting what your laugh sounded like. 

“Would you stop that?”

Kate’s voice was pure loathing as she narrowed her eyes on Gareth’s lighter, which he’d been flicking on and off and on again for the past ten minutes. The three of you had been waiting outside the tattoo shop for far longer than the “sec” that Eddie had said he would be in there, and you were starting to worry that you’d have to play referee between these two if you had to wait much longer. 

Gareth swivelled his head to the side, arching a brow at Kate before a grin stretched across his mouth. His lips parted to reply just before the door swung open, revealing a giddy Eddie smiling ear to ear. 

“I got the spot!” he exclaimed. “I have to do walk-ins on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I get to set my own schedule and the shop minimum is eighty dollars. Eighty fucking dollars, dude! Back in Chicago I was lucky if I made that in a day!”

“Dude, that’s awesome!” Gareth cheered, clapping Eddie on the back. “Looks like you don’t suck!”

When Eddie turned to you, it was so hard- so hard- to not jump up and down the way you would have before. Instead, you settled with a small smile in his direction.

“Like I said,” you added, quietly. “they would have been idiots to turn you down.” 

To celebrate Eddie’s successful job acquisition, the four of you wound up going to a favorite bar of yours that evening. 

Jupiter House was the perfect place for enjoying live music, cheap drinks, and good company. The small concrete stage in the front of the narrow, neon-lit club boasted a local grunge band tonight, whom you were currently watching tune their guitars as Eddie approached with four drinks precariously balanced in his hands. 

“Where’s Kate?” Eddie asked, placing the glasses gingerly on your table before hopping up to sit on the barstool adjacent to yours.

“Bathroom.” you answered, reaching for your whiskey sour. “Where’s Gareth?”

He nodded toward the bar, “Puppy found a squirrel to chase.” 

You followed his gaze, finding Gareth leaning casually against the tiled bar top as he chatted up some girl with an oil-slick pixie cut and bright red lipstick. 

You rolled your eyes. “Is that pretty standard bar behavior for him?” you asked. Eddie chuckled, gazing over at Gareth with a mixture of fondness and amusement in his eyes.

“The trying is pretty standard, yeah. The success rate, however…” Eddie clicked his tongue, tilting his head skeptically. “That’s a bit more hit or miss, I’m afraid.”

You laughed quietly into your drink. “Proud of him for shooting for the stars, though.” You said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Eddie made a face at that, an eyebrow quirking upward as that tell-tale smirk began taking shape on his lips. Even after all these years, your body still reacted the same way it always has to that smirk and you cursed yourself for it. 

“Did you just… quote a poster from Coach Pitman’s history classroom?” 

Your eyes widened. Had you? You searched your brain for the image of the poster he was talking about, then it dawned on you.

“Oh my god,” You guffawed, hand flying up to your mouth. “I think I did!” You had used that saying casually over the years, though apparently you had completely wiped its origins from the contents of your mind. 

Eddie was cackling. One hand was braced on the table, the other smacking across his forehead and into his hairline. “I remember that poster, it was all faded and peeling off the wall at the corners, god that thing must have been at least ten years old even back then-”

“And it had that picture of a basketball player in those tiny 70’s shorts!” You remembered.

Eddie immediately cringed, throwing his head back. “Gah, why did you remind me? It took me years to scrub those shorts from my mind!”

You were cackling too now- matching his every laugh, every cringe, every reminiscence in this little New York dive bar. Only now did you realize that you had both been leaning closer with each word and were both resting your elbows on this small wooden table, with nothing between you but two drinks and an ashtray. 

You were the first to lean back- not so much that it would be obvious, but Eddie still noticed. He matched you this time, shifting his weight to the back of his chair as that big bright smile dimmed almost imperceptibly- but you still caught it. 

Guilt washed over you as you sipped your drink- guilt for distancing yourself, guilt for feeling guilty for that, guilt for being too immature to let bygones be bygones- all of it kept your eyes from meeting his until he spoke. 

“This is probably going to keep happening, you know.” 

Your eyes flicked up at that, and you once again ignored the goosebumps that rushed across your skin when his black coffee gaze met yours. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” He sighed, leaning forward again, both elbows back on the table. “We were friends back then for a reason, and that reason hasn’t seemed to change.” Eddie tried to smile, but all he managed was a rueful grin that stayed contained to the corner of his mouth. “I was an idiot back then, and if you still hated me for it then I wouldn’t blame you… but I’m starting to think that you don’t.”

You weren’t smiling anymore. You weren’t even looking at him anymore, just pressing your lips into a fine line and running your thumb over the condensation on the outside of your glass, staring at the tiny drops of water as they merged into giant drops, the weight of them sending clear tracks down to the wet ring that soaked through the little square napkin below. A few more drops and that napkin will tear, you thought.

“If I’m wrong, tell me and I’ll know where I stand, but-”

“No,” you said, just loud enough to be heard above the din of the crowded bar. “I don’t hate you.” You chanced a look up at Eddie, and the hope in his eyes just about killed you.

“Yeah?” He looked like he wanted to say more; no, you knew he wanted to say more, you recognized that eager, barely-suppressed smile on his face.

You weren’t sure what else to say- weren’t sure you had anything else to say. No, you didn’t hate him. That, however, was the only thing you were sure about. You didn’t know that you wanted anything past not-hate with Eddie. 

He did have a point, though. This ease of conversation, this frequent slipping back into the old dynamic that had kept your friendship alive a decade ago, wasn’t going to stop unless being around Eddie stopped- and he currently lived ten steps away from your bedroom.

Eddie- unsurprisingly- was the one who broke the silence as you struggled to put a name to your feelings about him. 

“Could we… maybe… I don’t know, try being friends again?” Jesus, he looked so optimistic. 

You took a deep breath, introspective as you pondered your answer to his question. Could you? Could you put aside your hesitations and just surrender to the inevitable chemistry between the two of you? No, you thought, don’t call it chemistry. That word was too close to the things you weren’t ready to feel again. 

But you could be ready for friends. ‘Friends’ implied trust, but with boundaries. Held at arm’s length. The freedom to be vulnerable from a safe distance.

“...I can do ‘friends’.” you conceded quietly. “I’m not opposed to trying that.”

“Really?”

God, he looked like an excited puppy. Your traitorous mouth couldn’t help but smile back at him. Why were you like this? “Yes, really,” you rolled your eyes. “I can get over a high school argument.” 

I won’t forget about it though, you thought, I’ve tried.

Eddie’s mouth opened, silently stumbled over what you guessed were a few different attempts at a reply, then finally settled on, “Good. I’m glad.” then after a few seconds, added, “You’re the kind of friend that’s impossible to replace.”

Well, gosh… how could you reply to that with anything other than a melting heart and a forgiving smile?

As the band onstage began to play at last, it became your turn today to contemplate the lesser of two evils. To be forgiving and get burned for it, or to let fear turn you into someone too lonely and too jaded to ever risk your heart again.

Taglist:

@rustboxstarr, @josephquinnsfreckles, @rozxartaki, @sheneedsrocknroll92, @melodymishahiddlestan @stylesxmunson, @fishwithtitz , @elvendria , @carrotbunnies21, @the-unforgivenn , @munson-blurbs, @writinginthetwilight, @ghost-proofbaby, @hellfire--cult @nix-rose @chaoticgood-munson, @3rd-conchord @aphrogeneias, @definitionwanderlust, @aheadfullofsteverogers, @artsymaddie, @mopeymopeymouse, @alwaysbeenfamous, @shy-taylorsversion, @daisyridleyss @jo-harrington @thebadbatchfan @princessunderworld @kurdtbean @amandahobblepot @depravity-n-savagery @perfunctory-username69 @under-the-clouds @aneternallyexhaustedpigeon @eccentriclibrarian @callmytherapistplease-blog

[sirfrogsworth]

I'm glad folks seem to like my light and effort photography post because I nearly melted my brain trying to write it. Every long post I write usually takes several days and a lot of mental discomfort. But I need to write for my sanity, so I keep on keepin' on.

My recovery is going so slow. In two months I have reduced the dose of the offending medication by 75%. Which sounds like a great success when you say it out loud, but it feels pretty miserable most of the time. The last 25% is proving to be much harder.

It is kind of a mindfuck because the worse I feel the more progress I am making. When I feel shitty, I feel productive. When I don't feel as bad, I feel guilty for slowing my progress.

I am bored because I struggle to concentrate. I am lonely because it is very hard to communicate with friends. My CFS is greatly exacerbated to where it feels like my limbs weigh a thousand pounds. My house continues to be a disaster zone because I can't clean. I barely have any counter space because I am too tired to wash dishes.

I've reached that point of desperation where I keep cleaning the same spoon over and over again.

I have simplified my self care to food, medicine, and sleep. I make sure I am eating. I make sure I take my meds. And I make sure I get as much sleep as possible. I will sort the rest out later.

I haven't been able to do any photography or photo editing in the last 4 months. I miss it very much. But creating that post and giving out photography advice helps a little. Even if it was difficult to write.

It's weird looking at my photography from over 7 years ago. It feels good that a lot of it still holds up. But I know so much more than I used to. Especially when it comes to studio lighting. I have all of this unrealized potential and no energy to create new photos. I have leveled up so much and it is frustrating when I can't show off what I'm capable of now. But I'm hoping if my recovery is successful I can finish building my home studio and photograph cool shit.

In the meantime, I do find photography education rewarding when I have the energy. If my body was fully cured tomorrow I think I would try to be an actual teacher of photography. I really enjoy sharing what I've learned and I think I am pretty good at it. The internet has been a great resource for knowledge but lately it feels like there is a lot of educational noise. It is really difficult for beginners to tell the difference between good and bad information. I look at some of these threads in the "Ask Photography" subreddit and many of the answers make me cringe.

I feel bad because I could really help some of these folks seeking answers but they are stuck with people who aren't really suited to educate. Either they don't know what they don't know and are too confident in their current expertise—causing slightly inaccurate to straight up confusing to blatantly wrong answers.

Or they do know their shit but are patronizing and arrogant to newbies.

I won't lie, there *are* stupid questions. But it is still best practice to act as if there are no stupid questions.

It's hard for me to criticize too much because I started a photography education Tumblr way before I was qualified to do so. I really thought I knew what I was talking about but I did not fully understand what I was teaching. I was mostly parroting what I heard from actual qualified educators. Thankfully when I look back at those posts all of the information is fairly accurate. It seems my saving grace was selecting good teachers.

Knowledge is so weird. You can have the correct information in your brain. You can use that information to get good results. But it is entirely possible to not understand that information.

I actually had a personal "eureka!" moment where everything unlocked almost all at once. I was watching a tutorial and the teacher talked about "image forming reflections" and it felt like every neuron in my brain fired at the same time. I had an epiphany and ever since I have had a deep understanding of light.

Just a single phrase inspired a realization that caused a cascade of other realizations. I've never experienced anything quite like that.

Have any of you ever had an epiphany like that? Aside from that single instance, I've only had mini-epiphanies. Like when I realized the moon is just constantly falling and missing the earth. My brain always imagined astronauts and satellites and the moon as things floating out in space. But everything in the universe is just free falling... all the time. Tom Petty knows what I'm talking about.

But that baby epiphany failed to unlock understanding for all of quantum gravity.

What was this post about?

I think I rambled into a few tangents.

In any case, I feel like crap and that's fantastic.

[popponn]

so what if you are michael kaiser's ex. like just one of many, the one that broke up with him a year ago. the catch is that despite hating this guy's guts, somehow you always ends up meeting him again at least 3 times a month. 20 times, if you are particularly unlucky that month.

your friend drags you to a party? bam, kaiser is there—with a new date. a job meeting with someone in the cafe? wow kaiser is sitting two tables away. you got lost in some big city in another country with your phone battery dying? would you look at that—it's kaiser.

and, probably the worst part, it isn't as if kaiser isn't also sick of you. he is probably your #1 hater at this point. gone was the charming bad boy from the first date and only a bitter ex is left.

the funny part is that this particular bitter ex is one that accompanies you in the party when your friend left you ("my date gets boring," he said); one that looks ready to punch a guy and helps you when your client turns out to be an asshole ("why did i help you?" he parrots your question. "if i ignored that it will just be worse for me in the way that i don't want it to be."); and the one who makes sure you reach your hotel safely ("idiots like you need pity to stay alive.")

the one that doesn't want any present he gave to you returned, but also the one who scoffs whenever you ask "Why?" or "Why the fuck?"

(if kaiser is also one that couldn't swallow his pride to ask you back, that's for everyone except you to know.)

(and if you still never date anyone after breaking up with him that's your own problem and no one else's.)

i have been itching to write ex!kaiser since like. idk. last month?? a bit tempted to also include the 'we knew each other too long to cut each other off' trope, but that's for another time. he is enough of a complicated asshole already. so it's just 'exes who still clearly have feeling for each other' + 'exes who acts like sworn enemy' with a pinch of 'everyone knows and are sick of them' trope. this dude and this idea is hilarious to me because like he is kind of a himedere in my head, but he is so interesting and not just t h a t in a very 'i want to punch him' way. but anyway very brainrot but this guy, i believe, despite his narcissistic tendencies and all his self centered issues, seems like someone who will love deeply when it came for the one™. like dude is like that with soccer, the capital c commitment is strong. it's just reaching that stage that's hard, because he is also capital a asshole.

[sgiandubh]

The point is no one knows how many he or any these big accounts actually does have. This type of behavior aligns with the FACT he is not as popular as you all want him to be and explains why his engagement numbers are low and although he has 4M IG followers, you ask any random 100 people on the street in the US where his US based show is the most popular and not a one will have a clue who he is. He has about 250k fans and 25k fanatics. Not many to build a future career on and not many to hide some secret marriage, relationship to a co star who is legally married to someone else with one son.

Dear FACT Anon,

Brush up your grammar first, you begin your Orwellian Two Minutes Hate with another nonsense phrase: 'The point is no one knows how many he or any these big accounts actually does have.' This, you see, betrays you - enough said: your native language is a Germanic one, albeit not English and not German. Dutch, perhaps?

No one knows what, exactly? How many fans? How many followers? Quite different things indeed, and you surely know it: you logically still are a fan and show appreciation for what he does, even if you don't follow him on Instagram . You can't be that stupid as to presume all of his fans are just on Instagram, do you? Thus, how is some fluctuating index relevant in the great scheme of things? It is partial. It is segmented. It is easily explained by external factors, such as the ones I have described. Why you still cling to this cargo cult belief is just beyond me.

If S were Coca Cola and you were a hired consultant in charge of a global analysis of the brand, I would have fired you already. I don't care how the outlook is on the Ruritarian market only, the brief you would have gotten was to go global and come with the latest trends.

'you ask any random 100 people on the street in the US where his US based show is the most popular and not a one will have a clue who he is. He has about 250k fans and 25k fanatics.' Look at you talking, dear illiterate: 'not a one', when English has the very effective 'no one' or 'not a single one'. The rest comes from the spite and bile of a particular blogger, you all chose to snowball endlessly. It is wrong. It is strange. It is boring. I don't even know how you came up with these figures: instead of parroting whatever you have been told, kindly explain the method you used to reach them. Extrapolation has its limits and it is always used in order to artificially inflate, not deflate something at all costs. I see no point in entertaining this theory based on absolutely nothing.

But your point was not related to all of the above. All of the above was but a pretext for you to shove in your last phrase. I think you are in a very bad spot in your life, Anon. I'd seriously suggest to get help, at this point. You deserve better than this kind of ridiculous, pointless Internet joust.

[crazyintheeast]

Chappell Roan is the epitome of why liberals keep failing in USA . She is the most stereotypical internet liberal . Someone who doesn’t understand politics and more importantly someone who absolutely refuses to learn and correct themselves ever . We see people like her all the time online . Liberals who live for the drama , who shout and rage but don’t actually do anything in real life . Sure they might go to a protest because again drama but actually becoming part of their local political landscape ? Run for office ? Volunteer ? Nope . They almost never do. In fact you can barley get them to vote

They see politics through the lenses of movies , where you if you shout long and hard enough and do some frantic gestures the opticians bow down and the good guys win . And as soon as their scenario doesn’t happen they immediately quit and refuse to do anything because in their kinds this will “teach the politicians a lesson . It will hold them accountable “ . We saw it with Obama as they handed control to the senate when he magically didn’t solve their problems , we saw in 2016 when they handed the country and the Supreme Court to Trump because their idol Bernie didn’t get elected . And no we see it again with people like Roan and her kind who think it’s more important to criticise dmeocrsts then then sheer horrifying evil and threat of Trump and Vance

And when you point this fact they always parrot the exact same type of strawmen “OMG YOU WANT US TO WORSHIP THE DEMOCRATS AND BLINDLY FOLLOW THEM ? “ or “I AM HOLDING THE POLITICIANS ACCOUNTABLE. THEY NEED TO EARN MY VOTE “ and then they tend to have a meltdown and get very self righteous .

This is bullshit of course . If they lived in a normal country you could do it. You could vote for a third or fourth partu and then on the second tour of elections the President would be force to make alliance with this party and incorporate them into the government. But USA is not a normal country . Here you have ONLY TWO CHOICES when it comes to President . Horrifying evil or a typical politicians .

And I can practically feel some of your exploding to parrot the accountability line again. . You can hold them accountable . You can do it by writing to your representative, by voting in primaries , by supporting candidates who represent your views . Chappell Roan could have easily done that . She could have supported pro Palestinian candidates who got ahnilated by the Zionist lobbies , she could have constantly told people to write their representatives, she could have hosted benefits for pro Palestinian candidates . Hell she is rich enough she could have hired her own lobby firm to lobby for Palestine . But that would mean actually getting involved into the cruel and deeply boring and dirty world of politics . So instead jsut like all those internet armchair liberals she just complained online , gave some symbolic donations that might help individual Palestinians but do nothing about the political situation and called it a day

And most of you who support her are like this . You want solution to the problems but instead demanding specific actions and doing the hard , very slow and ungrateful job of doing the step by step work you about into the void some vague demands about change , stol genocide etc and act like you are above politics . Yeah that’s not how it works . If you want to be vague and bullshit your way through politics you vote blindly for the lesser evil ( yes evil in the only option in politics . There is not good ) like the sheep you claim to hate or if you want real change you get detailed and world hard

Yes I know the vast majority of tik tok / Twitter liberals and Roan fans won’t actually bother even finishing what I wrote and would just write some dismissive nonsense or parrot some random line they think it’s wittty . And the rest would ignore the entire point and go on about how Roan is a good person who cares missing the entire point . It doesn’t matter if you are a good person or how much you care about the issue . The only thing that matters is whether you help or not . Right now the ONLY way you can help and is to vote like your life depends on it and insist that everyone you know votes as well and about how dangerous Vance and Trump are . The biggest piece of shit who votes and takes a stand against Trump and Vance is doing more to help the world then the most saintly caring liberal who goes on about both sides and does random tik tok world salsa where they threat voting like some annoying chore

And lastly remember. EVRY VOTES MATTERS even if you are in a red state . Bush won by 500 votes

[juullllssss]

Their pets or what pets would they have?

Price: He would have a dog, 1000%, it might seem a little basic but he is not one to change what has worked for centuries (Dogs being men's best friend and all) He really appreciates how loyal they are, he would be contend to train a puppy until it obeys perfectly (better than any recruit ever) And that the dog loves him for it, too, is just a bonus. His old man heart settles down thinking about his furred friend going bongers with happiness, every time he comes home. The absolut love and loyalty is what he likes. Definitely talks to it like a father.

Simon: That man would not have any pet willingly. For one he is nearly never home and when he is he doesn't want to take responsibility for any breathing thing, if he can prevent it. The only scenario i can imagine is when he finds a stray animal, maybe a little kitten, wet and hungry. He would grumble and curse but he is not a monster. (No matter how much he says otherwise) Taking the little thing home and turning full blown care taker in seconds. That Kitty never has to worry about food, water, entertainment, who takes care of it if Simon is not home or if his litter box is clean. (Simon best poop shoveler ever) At some point he would have serious conversations with it, taking the meows as answer. Maybe later after his retirement (or most likely retired, because they have to kick him out) he will get something small, like a hamster, nocturnal just like him.

Gaz: Easy a cat, and a long hair one at that. Absolutely spoil it to the heavens. The most expensive stuff you can think about, this cat got it. I think like Jumin from Mystic Messenger, just obsessed with it. When he does his skin care routine (or any kind of care) his cat is sitting there watching intently. Loving Gaz just as much back, wanting to be involved as well. This Cat got more self care routines, spa treatments and deluxe meals then some humans in their whole life. You can bet that he would never curse in front of his baby, using his most soothing baby voice.

Johnny: You might think i would just say parrot because....chatty. But no, this men needs something that matches his energy. So maybe a dog? No that would be to boring for him, wanting to boast about his pet to everyone he would go for something different. A ferret, yes that would be something, same type of energy, easily distracted. But i actually think in reality it would be completely different. Johnny is someone who likes to breaks some social rules. that and he likes a challenge even after retirement, and so he just takes some feral animal of the streets. Jep, maybe a raccoon, just jetting the animal out of the trash bin. (You are my friend now, we are getting soft tacos later)

Bonus:

König: To be honest i think he would be a sucker for anything cute. Which is a lot when you are his size. He would have something where he doesn't need to be afraid to hurt it. So i say a horse. He would feel fulfilled by taking care of it. Keeping his body and mind occupied. Not only that but taking pride in the trust and love he built with his horse. For some reason i can also so see him with a couple of cows. Even raising a little calf. These are all big enough that he can hug and cuddle them without worrying and they also show him their love in return. In the summer you would probably find him laying in a pile of cows napping.

Nikto: Nearly the same as ghost but even worse, so much worse. Straight up thinks any animal would die with him (Has never in his life had a pet) Then one day he finds a little animal in the middle of the forest. (don't ask me why he is in there he just is) A little rabbit shivering from the cold. He would not take it home, but he would come back every other hour to see if it was still alive. After a day of that he sees it worthy, has shown him that it wants to live. Finally taking it home. (We will just ignore how he brought it a blanket and hid it in the bushes so no predator would find it) Talks to the little thing like a future soldier, who only has to grow up to plan world domination.

[prismaticpichu]

You wanted prompts for Angeal and Sephiroth?

I like the idea of Angeal slowly getting Sephiroth attached to modern appliances or concepts, especially since Seph has been so sheltered. Maybe Seph starts copying him, solely because he associates this stuff with Angeal. And Angeal is an all-positive force for good lmao

AHHHHHHHHH!!! I did!!!! And this is an ADORABLE one 😭💙💙💙

Tyyyy, Alto!! You got it!!

*zelda cooking music*

~

"Hmm-hmmhmm-hmmhmmm~"

Strong fingers cracked the egg in a smooth, soundless split, not a drop of yolk running loose as it splashed into the batter like liquid sunshine, not a single shell or shadow to be seen. The entire apartment now billowed with the sweet, mingled fragrance of cocoa and vanilla, a toasty warmth ballooning from the preheating oven as Sephiroth's gaze oscillated between the timer and his friend's masterful performance, completely marveled. Completely captivated.

He had never seen anything like it.

...Well, alright: he had seen eggs before, but hardly the kinds that didn’t hatch into Zoloms, dragons, or other cold-blooded creatures—let alone ones that were split asunder so neatly, and without a supernova of eggshells as the result of making direct contact.

How did one do that?

How did one crack an egg without it exploding in their hands like a water balloon?

How did one, per se...

Do all of this?

Noting his sheer wonder, Angeal's hum bubbled out into a chuckle, neatly plunking the eggshells into the trash can and tossing his comrade a quiet, knowing smile.

"Heh, I must say, I'm pretty honored. Some people tend to find this part prettyyy boring."

Sephiroth blinked, his awe momentarily eclipsed by a burst of shock. "Boring?" he parroted, peeling his elbows off the kitchen counter.

Angeal nodded, relaxed and unbothered. He cracked another egg into the bowl. "Mmmhmm."

"But..."—Sephiroth paused, watching yet another pearl of perfect, unmarred yolk splash onto the sandy mix—"but this is fascinating..." He sounded almost offended, incredulous. "Who finds it boring?"

It better not be—

"Genesis," Angeal chuckled, disposing of the last of the eggshells.

Sephiroth's face turned wooden.

"Hey, don't hold it against poor Gen: he just, y'know... prefers to eat things, not prepare them."

"...So he's impatient?"

"I prefer the word 'eager'," Angeal amended, a playful dash of authority in his tone. He then flashed him another knowing smile. "But... yes. Quite impatient. Especailly with the brownies."

"See, I just don't under—... brownies?" Sephiroth's eyes widened, completely discarding his previous qualms in favor of this much more important information, the word floating from his lips as if only spoken in legend. "Did you say brownies?"

Angeal's smile only broadened, brightened. "I did."

"...You know how to make brownies?"

"Yessir."

"As in: chocolate rectangular prisms of fudge?"

The man's eyes must have been as round as two obsidian moons, luminous as the sun.

He didn't care.

He didn't need to care...

Not around his friend.

Presently, Angeal had bent down to fish around for something in the cabinets, but Sephiroth could still hear the smile in his voice as he quipped, laughing, "Y'know, Sephiroth... I don't think there's a soul on this planet who would ever say that besides you." It was said like a joke, phrased like a tease, annunciated like a jab—

Yet it warmed Sephiroth's heart like an embrace.

He turned away as the smile threatened his lips, an inexorable force.

C'mon, friend, what do you say: want to be my co-chef...?

Mmphhh. Weren't we just granted these apartments?

Well, yes.

And you want to sully it with food residue already?

Heh, well... they're going to get dirty eventually, no? Might as well start early.

"..."

C'mon, Sephiroth. You won't regret it.

..No.

He did not regret it.

"Alllright!" A loud, heavy thump. "Here we go! Last step."

Turning back to the counter, rattled, Sephiroth was surpised to see that a large, milk-white, wire-leaking... something had been placed atop it, and was promptly plugged into the nearby outlet as if it didn't look like something that was meant to grind him into mince meat—especially with the metal, webbed device protruding from the bottom...!

He took a step back, defensive.

Genesis would have surely expected him to hiss like a frightened housecat.

"Alright! You wanna— whoah, Sephiorth?"

"What is that?" Sephiroth's eyes narrowed, knifelike. "Some kind of weapon? Of war...?"

"What? No!" Angeal's voice sounded as if it was bisected between amusement and concern, his countenance just as divided. "It's a mixer."

"A what?"

"A... mixer?"

"Of internal functions?"

"Interna—... what? No! Of course not!" Angeal broke into a bit a laugh now, raising his hands in a sign of peace. "It's an automatic mixer! You know—" But he stopped himself, waiting a beat, realizing from Sephiroth's expression alone that the man clearly didn't know, and that being condescending or blithe about it would only damage the situation further. He instead lowered his hands, watching Sephiroth carefully, assessing his expression—tense, triggered, anxious. Wide and alert in ways that Angeal would never be able to fully understand, but in ways that he had learned, knowing good and well that Sephiroth's dubiousness wasn't his fault, that it was baked into his soul after years upon years of experience. Nightmares. Abuse. Things that had taken time for Sephiroth to even confide in him about, and things he would never mishandle.

Not for long as he lived.

So, instead, with his hands lowered, he lowered his voice just so, and—

"It's okay, Sephiroth..." Calm, collected, kind. "I would never do anything to hurt you... okay?"

They weren't many words, but they were true words. Loud words. Sincere words.

...

And words that rang true, ultimately, as Angeal turned on the mixer, as he guided Sephiroth's hand across the bowl as he mixed the ingredients, beating the egg into the batter and watching as the color swirled, as his hand grew shaky and some mix splattered and as they laughed, both of them, giving life to the first of many beautiful memories to be baked into that apartment, the first of many beautiful lessons. And games. And shenanigans.

...and lectures.

"The same old", as Sephiroth would come to call it.

And when the cake was finally done, and Genesis had returned home from his mission, there was only one thing he wished for as his nineteenth birthday candle was kindled that very same night:

I wish this could last forever.

[fligniuz]

I’m not really into philosophy that much, so I was a bit confused about the Ayn Rand thing. Do you mind breaking it down a bit, or just use laymen’s terms to explain why people don’t like her/her works?

I GOT U i’ll find some videos and stuff to read too because she’s honestly a very interesting person to learn about but anyway i would say these are the biggest “problematic” (for lack of a better word) things about her

huge capitalism D rider!!!! much of her most popular work focuses on heavily capitalist societies being an ideal utopia and promotes pro-capitalist ideas like free market, property rights, little to no regulation and taxes, etc etc. literally referred to herself as a “radical for capitalism” and she particularly promoted a laissez-faire system. if you couldn’t really tell i’m anti capitalist and i think capitalism is an inherently immoral system so maybe not a gripe for you but it def is for me

big anti communist gal, to the point where she testified as a “friendly witness” before the house committee on un-american activities. she was also involved with the motion picture alliance for the preservation of american ideals, and i’m sure you can guess what they might stand for just by the name alone, but if you need a hint: they’re BIG fans of jim crow laws!! if you didn’t know, there is a very prominent tradition of opposition to civil rights among anti-communist activists and movements (if you want a good example look at the john birch society), rand was no exception whatsoever

she also just kinda had a racism/xenophobia problem tbh. she described the yom kippur war of 1973 as “civilized men fighting savages” (i’m sure you can guess which nation she supported), justified colonization of sovereign native lands, and called affirmative action “vicious” and “un-american”. typical for her time but doesn’t make it any less disgusting, especially since she’s very brazen about it and pretends to give a shit about individual rights of POC (read: her ridiculous ass essay on racism in which she fundamentally misunderstands what racism is and only really opposes it on the basis that it’s “collectivism” and not capitalist enough)

thought homosexuality was “immoral” and “disgusting”

READ ABOUT OBJECTIVISM!!! it’s so kooky and dumb. rand basically developed a cult of personality around her philosophy of “objectivism”, i’ll find something about it

her books are just dog water tbh😭anybody who’s tried to read one can probably tell you they’re boring as fuck and way too long. some of her shorter, less popular works are better but in general the stuff she’s known for is ass. my favorite description of ayn rand’s writing that i’ve ever seen was something along the lines of “masturbatory drivel”

idk where else to put this but i just feel like it’s worth mentioning—she was buddies with and enjoyed the work of ludwig von mises who…look i can’t get into it here because it’s too much if you just skim the wikipedia page of the mises institute and look at the different politicians and activists involved i think you’ll get it. if you want an idea of the kinds of ideas misesheads produce read this. anyway there’s this one story about how mises once called rand “the most courageous man in america” which made rand particularly happy because he said “man” instead of “woman” 😐

some stuff to read/watch:

^^ here’s her old chopped ass essentially parroting some “women are too emotional to be president” bullshit😊

honorable mention: that FAB (Fuck Ass Bob)

who the fuck did Ur hair?!

[detective-inspector-her]

I need details on the crow au.

(i missed alot of things, and am lost but also very interested. help me)

Okok, first of all here's a list of the main Winged AU posts you need to maybe get an understanding:

Aziz Information The published fanfic Stephanie Cadaver Skulduggery Tanith & Valkyrie Skul, Val & Omen Wings Behaviour

I think that's most of the basics that I have posted. I have a lot of random notes on my computer which I'll post at some point if people want to see it but yeah.

So since I kind of abandoned the fanfic for a few months due to me starting college, I have been writing and developing the AU more than ever. I have most of phase 1 mapped out with and scenes from phase 1 pop up in the fic as flashbacks.

So I figured I'd share some things about Corrival due to the ask specifying crows.

So China specifically looked at all of the individual Grand Mages' children's wings before she opened the school. She employed teachers who had the same wings as these students so that she'd have control over them because wings are genetic.

Like for example, the Darkly's have the same wings because the Auger was pressured to be wise and he was constantly told owl metaphors and his magic gave him the same wings as his mother mostly out of fear. Omen got his father's wings out of desperation to have something in common with his family, a desperate reach for attention and love. If that hadn't happened, Omen would have robin wings and Auger would have had parrot wings.

So China gathered these teachers to be parental figures to these children who can be used and are influential, as is typical of her. In this roster is Uther Peccant. Now, China knows exactly who this bitch is, he was in the war and at least two of his brothers (Fransic and Skulduggery) are loudmouths. But she still employs him because that just means she has one of Skulduggery's family members under her thumb.

So students pour in and in the first year, the most powerful teenagers of the fourth year of each flock is given the role of flock leader to the younger years. There's another flock leader in sixth but they aren't as important and they fade into the back unless it's serious because they're not as present in the school.

When Ressurection happens, the school has been open for three years. It's pretty recent and new because as China stated, it had to be built and it wasn't there when Valkyrie left.

The first Flock Leader of the Crow Flock was elected by Peccant because the students didn't know each other. This student's name was Fab Noise. She regrets her name in hindsight, trust me. She's now a sixth year and the Flock Leader of the Crow Flock, directly under Peccant.

The second leader was elected by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years. This was Henry Manacle. He was pretty boring, he wasn't the first leader and he didn't do anything totally noticeable besides helping Auger one time but he's well-liked.

The third leader, is Aziz. And Aziz is Peccant's worst nightmare. He's bold and exciting to the students and at the same time he's a good student with amazing grades and he also happens to be incredibly good at breaking rules.

Peccant currently has a very annoying council of children surrounding him at the same time and then Abyssinia happens and everything gets so much worse. He has Ashley (another OC who's important but she's got specifics going on so she's hard to talk about properly sometimes), Fab and Aziz knocking on his door often.

And then Aziz brings Bryson, his best friend.

And then Omen fucking Darkly gets involved. Omen's always been an outsider and ignoring him was kind of Peccant's fuck you to China, because he's not getting information on the Darklys through looking after this child.

Anyways, I have nattered on for a while now so if you want more, feel free to ask but yeah, hope this helped :)

[wzrd-wheezes]

Nothing More - Pt 1. R.L x Reader

Remus Lupin x Reader.

1.2k

Warnings: Nothing crazy in part 1, flatmate remus and reader, alcohol, swearing, slight angst if you squint.

A/N: Not going to lie this fic took me way longer than I care to admit and I'm planning on making it a multi part fic so please let me know if you'd like me to carry this on! Not a great deal happens in this part but there's going to be a lot to come lol

It was late evening and Y/N was cooking dinner in the kitchen of the flat that her and Remus shared. Remus was sat up on the kitchen counter crossed legged, drink in hand, staring melancholically at the floor. He was complaining, as he often did, about his life. 

“I’m just bored, you know?” he said, taking a sip of his beer, “I just feel like I’m stuck in this time loop with the most boring, repetitive life ever and it’s making me go insane.” 

Y/N rolled her eyes at him playfully, used to this kind of behaviour from her best friend after their years of friendship. 

“At least you’ve got a repetitive, boring life with a best friend that’s as good as I am.” she grinned, reaching over and taking the beer bottle out of his hand and having a swig. 

“Oi, no fair taking away one of the joys in my life,” he protested, “You already eat most of the food I make, at least let me keep something.” He snatched the bottle back from her with a laugh. 

“I’m literally cooking you dinner right now, idiot.” 

“I think my life would be so much better if I just moved to another continent altogether.” he groaned, looking at Y/N with a half-joking expression. She let out a snort and he looked at her quizzically. 

“You need to have a drink.”  

“I’m having a drink, idiot.” he parroted her from earlier, flashing her his beer. 

“No. We need to go out for a drink. To a pub or a bar or something so you can distract yourself from this weird existential crisis that you’re having.” she said, taking the pan off of the stove and portioning the food into dishes. “I’ll give James and Sirius a call. They’re always up for a spontaneous night out.” 

“They’ll just get drunk and start singing,” he chuckled, “Fine, but you have to look after them if they get plastered. Also, if I wake up in the morning and Sirius is half naked asleep on our sofa again, I’ll kick off.” 

They wolfed down their dinner and both retreated to their rooms to get ready. Y/N made a quick phone call to James and Sirius who were both on board with the idea of an impromptu night out. She was stood in front of the mirror zipping her jeans up and deciding what shirt to wear when her bedroom door swung open.  

“Are you ready yet or wha-” Remus stood frozen in place as his eyes fell on her body. Y/N’s head snapped round and she quickly covered her chest with her arms, albeit wearing a bra. A blush crept onto Remus’s pale cheeks and he quickly backed out of the room shouting an apology over his shoulder.  

“Sorry about bursting in like that, I didn’t think.” Remus said apologetically when she walked into the living room having finished getting ready. He was stood leaning against the kitchen counter drinking another beer. His oversized leather jacket hung from his shoulders and he had a cigarette tucked behind his ear. “I should’ve knocked or something.” 

“Remmy, I don’t think you’ve ever knocked before you come into my room,” she laughed, unphased by what happened, “Besides, it’s not like you’ve never seen some tits before.” 

He chuckled awkwardly, setting his empty bottle down on the side and ushering her out of the door while mumbling something about being on time for meeting the others. 

Sirius and James were already at the bar when they arrived and waved them over to where they were standing. It took a mere number of seconds before Sirius had order a round of drinks and handed them out. They made small talk for a few minutes, Remus standing awkwardly next to Y/N after their encounter from earlier, his cheeks still tinted pink. Y/N excused herself to go to the bathroom and Remus was left alone with the two other boys. 

“Have you guys just shagged or something?” Sirius quizzed, smirking slightly. Remus spluttered, all but spitting out the drink he had just taken a sip of. 

“What?” 

“Oh, come on, Moons.” James nudged him, “You’ve been blushing and looking awkwardly at her ever since you got here. What happened?” Remus took a breath and downed the rest of his drink. 

“I walked in on her changing earlier and I may or may not have seen her boobs.” He blurted out quickly. Sirius barked out a laugh. 

“Bloody hell, Moony. You’ve seen some boobs, big deal.” James laughed. 

“Oi, leave him alone. I remember the first time I saw some boobs.” Sirius said sarcastically. 

“Yeah, I remember it vividly and you definitely weren’t this excited.”  

"It’s not the first time I’ve seen some boobs and I’m not excited.” Remus rolled his eyes, “It’s just that it’s her and-” 

“And you’ve been pathetically in love with her since we were at school.” The other two boys said simultaneously. 

“I am NOT.” he replied, “she’s my best friend, that’s all. Nothing more. I’m just worried that she thinks I’m some weird pervert or something.” 

James cleared his throat and jerked his head to the side, gesturing towards Y/N who was making her way back over to them, manoeuvring through the crowds of people. It was a Friday night and the bar was packed, the lights had been dimmed and drinks were flowing freely. Most people had packed themselves onto the dancefloor, their sweaty bodies pressed against each other while their hands clutched onto their drinks. 

“Are we going to dance then, or what?” Y/N asked, grabbing her drink back from Remus who had been holding it while she was gone. The boys nodded and followed her to the crowd of people.  

One thing about going out with Sirius Black is that he buys rounds of drinks like it’s going out of fashion. He makes sure his friends have a drink in hand at all times. This being the reason that the four of them were now quite drunk. Sirius and James swayed tipsily to the music and Remus laughed at them. He noticed suddenly that Y/N wasn’t stood with them anymore. Assuming that she’d just gone to the bar for another drink, he wandered over. His eyes danced over the bar and across the sea of bodies that were surrounding it. No sign of her. Sighing, he ordered himself another beer and decided to carry on looking. His eyes darted quickly around the room before finally landing on Y/N, he smiled and started walking over. The smile soon dropped from his face as he realised what he was seeing. Y/N had her arms tangled round the neck of a guy, his hands resting on her waist as he kissed her. Remus’s knuckles went white as his fist tightened around the bottle of beer he was holding. His jaw tightened and he swore that he felt his stomach drop. 

“Fucking hell, Moons, we’ve been looking for you for ages.” Sirius’s voice suddenly spoke. His eyes followed Remus’s gaze to where Y/N was standing, “Ouch.” 

“It’s fine.” Remus’s voice came out strained, “She can do what she wants.” 

[cornbread818]

If Joe was a twitch streamer…

Joe is the kind of twitch streamer who acts really casual and upbeat and very much repping that “Haha, life sucks but atleast I have a 20% coupon at 8 Cuts” mentality. Although this is really how he actually is in real life, I think he purposefully dumbs himself down to be more ridiculous and entertaining.

Joe is that common breed of streamer where he very much doesn’t want fame but he likes it when people give him positive attention. Which is great because his fans are a bunch of shitposters who have the same brain rotted humour as him, and will parrot the same shoelaces joke for like 5 minutes. His fans enamouration for him also extends to trying to get his attention by constantly spamming his chat; and uploading clips of him on Youtube, which accidentally causes Joe to become trending for like 3 days. This is also great, but also terrifying when you start being known as the shoelaces guy.

Whenever Joe gets really scared about being famous he decides to stop streaming for awhile to fan away the attention. While on his stream break, he gets bored and proceeds to upload multiple videos — which are at most 3 minutes long — where it’s just him incoherently ranting while MS Paint drawings are played out on the screen but the video is very clearly edited on like… Adobe Editor for some reason.

Joe posts pictures of his work space and gets comments that are either:

1.) Complementing his set-up

2.) Saying how they’re excited for the next stream in an encouraging tone

3.) Talking about his hands and how they want more hand pictures and how his hands should be framed on a wall in their bathroom

4.) Asking to see the Billy cardboard cutout — Joe replies to all of these very strangely, “he is not in the drawer anymore is that socially acceptable?”

A portion of Joe’s fans are massive shitposters who gravitate towards Joe because they see him as relateable, so sometimes they start trying to tell him their childhood backstories and Joe played along like it was a bit until he had to start turning off super chats because people were telling him stories of how their dad used to hit them in weirdly personal detail. Because of this, although Joe loves being stupid, he has to post something intelligent to ward off all the weirdos. Example: He’ll drop a pop quiz sometimes in the midde of stream and if you get a low score you get kicked off his stream.

I think at some point he’d do a really serious video essay and people would think he’s doing a bit, cause in the past he’s posted parody videos disguised as serious video essays

Example 1: Really unhinged hypotheticals like… He’ll have a video titled, “The Dark Truth behind Waldo” and it’s just him going on a 20 minute rant/analysis on a fictional Waldo crime documentary he made up.

So right, imagine having tons of parody video essays like that then suddenly Joe just drops “What Ouran Highschool Club taught me about gender” and it’s one of the mos gut wrenching things to ever watch.

Example 2: Joe posts another video essay titled, “What do you get when you mix internalised sexism and post-nut clarity?” and the thumbnail is MARETU’s logo with big text underneath it saying, “I have no mouth but he must sing.”

Then you look the left and the video that comes right after it is titled, “playing roblox obbies but I strip everytime I die” and the thumbnail is him inside a carboard box and there’s a chat message highlighted saying “Now remove your skin.”

Sometimes Joe will have menhera-esque crashouts on stream, and the scariest but also funniest part is that you can’t tell at what point it was a bit and at what point it was an actual crashout. Really good friends will know if the crashout was real or joke because if it’s real then Joe will DM about how the mental darkness is getting to him.

More stuff about his content:

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

I just want to know what Ewan meant by Aemond being gray this season as opposed to being completely black last season (which he wasn't). Aemond's "different shades" so far have only been shades we've already seen in s1, he actually had more emotions after Luke's death than he did in s2 and we saw glimpses of his vulnerability in ep9. He even felt grief for Viserys of all people (confirmed by the script). Was Ewan really talking about the two brief brothel scenes that took less than two minutes of screentime? And if Aemond does banish his mother.... That's something I can see the showrunners doing because women must always suffer from evil men, but that's so cartoonish at this point, I can't take it seriously. They can't have Alicent leaving her daughter but they have to remove her from Kings landing before the fall because god forbid show Alicent would defend the city like her book counterpart... This is insane. Why does everyone get new storylines and Emond just becomes a scapegoat for the showrunners who have to take the blame so everyone else gets whitewashed, but he can't even get proper time for his villainy? They're only turning into a boring villain. But I'm just really confused why would Ewan say that one of Aemond's motivations is to make his mother happy (in his mind) if he treats her like that? And that Aemond remembers Driftmark and how she was the only one who stood by him. Or this is another lie from Ewan just like "Aemond's redeeming quality is his loyalty"? I don't like it when the cast is setting the expectations only to subvert it on screen.

Hello!

Right, I (just like pretty much everyone in the fandom, I believe) noticed the discrepancies between the things Ewan said in the interviews and what we have (or haven't) seen on screen. To be fair, it concerns other actors as well (like Tom stating multiple times that Aegon and Aemond love each other no matter what and talking about Aegon's growing respect for Helaena, Fabien mentioning "he wants what she wants" thing about Criston and Alicent, Steve painting Corlys and Rhaenys' marriage in a better light that it actually looks in the show) with Aemond/Ewan situation merely being the most glaring example. And the reason it is the most glaring example is that Aemond IMO got the clumsiest and most meaningless character butchering of them all.

As for the reasons the actors (Ewan among them) keep misleading the viewers, there are several possibilities (that can - and IMO do - coexist):

While I don't think HotD cast are merely parroting the words put in their mouths by HBO team, the latter definitely give them some instructions with regards to the way they are supposed to talk about their characters and the things they need to/can't say. So, in some cases, the actors basically have to deceive the audience.

For some time now I've had an impression that the actors don't have full information on which scenes actually make it to the final version and which get cut before they see the show (once again remembering Matt Smith not knowing about "Daemon fighting Crabfeeder and his army" scene being a silent one for his character). And even if they are actually told beforehand which scenes are included in the show, I think that actors' perception of their characters are influenced by every scene they filmed (and even by some they didn't - but that's point number 3). So, during the promo the cast might take into account some scenes or plot points that we, the viewers, might never even learn about.

Each actor has their own view and opinion on their character - and this view is based not only on the script but on their own thoughts and even headcanons. I believe that is the case for the brotherly love (albeit a "weird" one) that Aegon and Aemond feel for each other according to Tom (by the way, he also mentioned the readiness for backstabbing between them being a mutual thing - define backstabbing) or for Aemond having some kind of love for and loyalty to his brother according to Ewan (define loyalty). In part this also might go for the "coloring" assigned to Aemond by Ewan.

There could be one more adjacent reason - and the saddest one: Ewan is not happy with the way Aemond's story is being told in the show (it could be noticed during several moments in the promo) and was trying his best to make the audience see the Aemond that he sees. And, well, I can't speak for other people (either fans or casual viewers) but I personally don't have it in me to judge him (or any other HotD actor doing the same thing) for it - even though, just like you, I'm not fond of being misled. Imagine giving so much thought, time, energy and love to a character, having high hopes for his development - only to be given... this. Combine it with the point number 1 (at best actors are not allowed to reveal much of what's actually going on with their characters during the promo, at worst they are told to tell lies or half-truths) and the fact that Ewan has very little experience in the 'doing promo' department - and we might just get what we, in fact, got.

[not-so-allegiant-general]

Like death when he shuts up the day of life

Day 2 Haunted locations for @huxloween

tw: sui

tw: major charcter death (but um ghosts you know)

Since Armitage Hux moved into Kylo's home, Ren's life became more exciting. People usually withstand only a week with him. They get scared or irritated and leave. But not Armitage. Armitage was stubborn. He was clearly frustrated with Kylo's presence, with moving furnitures, destroyed electronics or broken cabinets, but he didn't even think about leaving. His cat, Millicent, hated Kylo and it was actually quite normal. Animals usually reacted to him like that, hissing or barking or biting, he got used to it.

This evening Millicent was at Armitage's friend house. Hux was sitting on the sofa and watching some boring movie. Kylo sat down on the chair playing with the jar that was standing on the table. Armitage sighed resigned and turned around.

"Put it down you will break it. It was expensive. If you are bored bring me wine. The one in green bottle." Kylo blinked, he looked at the jar, then turned around confused. There was no one else in the room. "Yes. I am talking to you, moron."

"You... Can see me?"

"Obviously. Usually your kind fucks off when i ignore them. Not you apparently." Kylo opened his mouth and closed them.

"This whole time you... "

" Yeah. Your stupid faces, your dumb games with furnitures, walking around my home naked..." Kylo cleared his throat.

"My home." He corrected Hux. "I can't really fuck off, i am bounded to this place."

"I figured. And i can't leave either. It's the only home i could afford and i am not going back to my father. I prefer ghost roommate over him." Kylo stood up and took wine from the shelf. Hux rolled his eyes "Green bottle." Kylo shrugged and took the right one. He sat down next to Hux.

"Can we watch something else?"

"Yes. Pick something, i don't care." He poured himself whole glass of wine.

"My name is Kylo."

"I know. i talked to the neighbors"

"You did?" Kylo sighed.

"Oh i did. He was such a nice lad, always said hello" he parroted an old lady he talked to "until he shot his father and then himself."

"Yeah... I"

"I don't care." Kylo blinked and looked at him "I would like to have a courage to do the same or even more. I would like him to suffer first." Hux glanced at Kylo "i would want him to know that he is dying and that i am killing him." He pressed his lisp together. Kylo slowly moved closer to Hux and wrapped his arm around him. Usually people found his touch odd but Hux leaned into it. Kylo took a shaky breath, he couldn't recall when was the last time he touched someone. He brushed his finger through Hux's hair and slowly touched his cheek. Armitage was watching as Kylo's hand moved from his face to the neck, then to his chest catching on the buttons of his shirt. He grabbed Kylo's wrist and move his hand away.

"Sorry." Kylo backed off quickly lowering his eyes. Hux didn't answer. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Kylo staring at the TV and Hux drinking wine from his glass. "Sorry." He repeated.

"Oh shut up." He hissed. "You did nothing. It's... Never mind." He stood up and sighed. "Do you want to sleep in the bed with me?" Kylo nodded and followed him. He supported him when Hux shivered and almost tripped. "It's... Nothing." Hux said weakly. But Kylo already knew. He only smiled softly. Neither of them slept that night. They were not even talking, just lying next to each other.

"You should sleep." Kylo said quietly when it was almost morning. Hux glanced at him and closed his eyes. He swallowed and took little, shaky breath. He swallowed again.

"You will be here.?" He asked quietly. Kylo nodded.

"Yes. Don't be scared." Kylo took his hand. "I will be here. As long as you need. I am not going anywhere." Hux nodded and squeezed his eyes shut.

Next day in the evening police found body of Armitage Hux in his own bed. They determined that, the day before, he got off work earlier, dropped his cat to his friend Phasma, saying that he is leaving for a few days, went back home and drunk poison. The case was quickly closed and forgotten.

Only the old lady from the next door sometimes complained about strange noises or lights from the house.

The house became known as the most haunted place in the area.

After all, Kylo promised to stay as long as he is needed but it was Armitage who stayed forever.