#it feels... very strange

[pearynice]

The Finale!

Or, start at the beginning.

Summary: Having been forced to bear witness to his parent's toxic soulmate bond, Eddie Munson promises himself he will never fall in love. Promises himself he will never curse another with the touch that will bind his soul to theirs, promises himself to never let another do the same to him in return. But in the spring of 1986, when Chrissy Cunningham is murdered in front of him, breaking those exact promises may prove to be what saves him. Excerpt: Eddie Munson is lucky for a lot of reasons. Lucky to be alive, he’s sure. Going off of the heavy bandages on his arms. The ones he can feel on his back and legs. Lucky for the friends whose words he has clutched tightly between his fingers. Lucky for Wayne. Lucky, though, more than anything, to have Steve Harrington as his.  The thought ignites his chest. His. Their night on Steve’s couch far from forgotten as Eddie remembers the ardent way Steve had avowed that he’s Eddie’s. Forever. 

Nothing in his life has ever been forever. Not his parents. Not his home. Not his schools. Even with Wayne he’d always felt balanced on the razors edge, on the precipice of CPS taking him away, of his dad’s release and subsequent ripping away from the only sense of stability he’d ever known. Steve sniffles again, shifting, his head bobbing to expose the other side of his face, and— At first Eddie thinks it’s moonlight. But Steve shifts further, and the marking on his cheek doesn’t move along with the rest. Too unnatural for moonlight, the marks across his cheeks are circular, small, framing—framing— A palm print. Eddie’s palm print. His fingertips had left framing circles around his palm print on Steve’s cheek—and it looks like moonlight. A radiant, iridescent white against his tanned skin like Eddie left the glow of the night across Steve’s face. He very nearly starts crying all over again. Feels his throat constrict as he looks at the bright, nearly luminescent marks on the side of Steve’s face—and he’s beautiful. He’s so beautiful it hurts, and the nagging worry—his anxiety that he’d left Steve with something horrible scarred across his cheek—dissipates.  Because he hadn’t. It’s not red. It’s not green. It’s him. Both of them: the sun and the moon. 

And now I get the privilege of thanking my betas, one last time: @ghostdeb and @theheadlessphilosopher. I couldn't have done it without you both 💗

And thank you to my friend, @hitlikehammers, who held my hand and gave me such amazing advice throughout this entire process. This fic would not exist as it is without you ✨

And, one last time, tag list: @littlewildflowerkitten @finntheehumaneater @hbyrde36 @hotluncheddie @sleepy-steve @starryeyedjanai @babydollbaron @thefreakandthehair @steddie-island @acasualcrossfade @stevespookington @devondespresso @littlewildflowerkitten @chaotic-waffle @westifer-dead @perseus-notjackson @finntheehumaneater @hellfirebaby-86 @spectrum-spectre @itsall-taken @marvel-ous-m @bookworm0690

(Permanent tag list, I'm adding you because this fic is now complete. My apologies if you're sick and tired of these posts 😂🫶)

[rameiixo]

SUNSETS ON MARS

[tanglefootcomic]

I drew some creatures for an exhibition at beloved local queer bar the Bearded Tit, loosely based on my fellow bar-goers.

[shootyrefutey]

my blorbo from 2015

[cardo-de-comer]

and yet he is not the blind one

[cosmosnout]

The real reason Oda had to get rid of her was not for plot convenience, but bc she would have kicked everyone’s ass. (Source: trust me bro)

[rey-rojo]

... and then he sewed him into his DNA.

[northstarscowboyhat]

Peepaw Starlo struggles. Autism 2 autism communication struggles.

[keferon]

Two Peas in a Pod: part 2/?

*slips another piece into your mailbox*

_____________________

Jazz was still feeling a little woozy from his donation in the dark hours of the morning. Blaster had breakfast changed from the usual to something that felt more like a treat, probably a reward for his good behaviour, and to help his body recover. Fish heavy in proteins, fat, all that healthy stuff. Something that normally he would have tried to savour, but he wolfed it down from excitement. Too many questions ran through his head, and most he couldn't bring himself to voice.

The mer, the mer would pull through. Blaster told him about how he had saved their life with his blood. Praised him high and low. Because Blaster knew how Jazz felt about seeing blood, about how hard blood tests were for him, and that was only a tiny vial. Not three big bags of it. Jazz hadn't seen how much they had taken – because he had kept his eye closed until they left in a hurry –, and hearing about it made him dizzy for other reasons, but he honestly felt real proud of himself.

It was a new feeling, different from other moments of pride – like when he figured out the lock codes. Yeah, this gave him butterflies and the drive to help more.

Blaster laughed when Jazz offered that the vets could take more if the other mer needed it. His handler didn't think it would be, but he would pass it on to the vet team.

Jazz's morning checks were a little off, expected with having a little less fluids and feeling off-balance, but it was kept short and quick. Blaster told him that if he learned anything more, he'd tell him next time he came by and then hurried back down to the staff area. Blaster was needed elsewhere, understandably as there weren't many mer experts here, though he did leave Jazz his waterproof stereo if he wanted to play some of his favourites.

But, the orca mer was far too busy causing a whirlpool from the laps he was swimming. He was too excited to sit still, and embarrassment be damned he started practising old vocals. He didn't remember much of his mother tongue, and he was pretty sure that his pronunciation was off, that or had one hell of an accent. Echo-speech was even more rusty. And once he had gone over and over what he could recall, Jazz began to really worry. A few sentences and handful or so of words was all he had? Gods, I hope I can at least make a decent first impression. Blaster said they were just like me, so hopefully, that will give me some starting points.

More than he cared to count, Jazz would swim into the shallow waters of the medical bay and hope to see something through that window. But no one ever came close enough for him to hear any news of the mer. He couldn't even see anything on his radar, wherever they had done treatment, it wasn't in the hospital ward. It almost felt like he was being purposely kept in the dark.

And just when Jazz was starting to worry that things had taken a bad turn, a group of staff turned up around four pm. He wasn't able to ask any questions, or rather they refused to answer. Shooing him away as they got to work. Starting with closing the gate to the bay to 'keep him out'. Jazz could easily climb those walls, but that wasn't the point. Even if the gate window was closed, he could pick up that they were setting up the water hammock. But it wasn't until he heard the cautionary beeping of the hoist lift approaching that it dawned on him – the mer was coming. Now.

"Jazz," Blaster called, "… Jazz," he blew the training whistle and finally got his mer's attention. "Stop pacing and get over here."

"But–" Jazz looked back longingly up the wall.

"Jazz," his tone dropped to a firm one, and Jazz begrudgingly swam over to the pier. The human crouched and made sure that they held eye contact before he spoke. "I need you to promise me that you will stay in your enclosure."

He sunk a little, trying to play into his cuteness, but being far too anxious to really pull it off. "What do you mean?"

"Jazz," now warning him. Blaster knew full well that he was more than capable of getting into or out of places he shouldn't, bloody Houdini mermaid, "this is serious. Things are going well, we want to keep it that way. Which means keeping things calm and feeling safe. You're excited, I get it, we all are. But in about an hour, they'll be waking up and – from past experience seen with wild Mers – they will likely freak out. And the last thing we need is you hauling your tail over that wall and making things worse. Understand?"

The beeping was louder how and the hiss of hydraulics caused Jazz to look up. The arm of the lift was visible over the wall. They're here!

"Jazz," Blaster hopelessly called for his attention once more.

Within moments, a massive bundle was carefully raised, the staff calling out and coordinating. Jazz's gaze was fixed on the black and white fluke poking out, it was the only part of them he could see, and his heart began to race. Once they became hidden by the wall again, Jazz moved back to pacing by the gate without even thinking. Listening to people hopping into the water to unstrap the mer and call back n' forth. "Careful, careful! – Watch the head! – Someone give me a hand over here! – We're clear on this side! – Keep the head up!"

Really starting to sound like a broken record, Blaster chirped the whistle and called out to him again. The expression he wore must have been pretty pitiful because the look on Blaster's face dropped. "If I open the view port… will you promise me that you will wait, that you will stay in your enclosure?"

"I promise," he answered hastily, placing his hands on the gate, over the panel that would slide open.

"And that you will wait until everything is in the clear, till the staff come to oversee the integration. There will be no rushing things and no asking staff when we will open the gate."

"I promise," he repeated, trying not to beg.

Satisfied, Blaster pulled out his radio, "Blaster to Control; when the team is out of the Mer enclosure's medical bay, open the view port. Jazz's stress is mounting without a visual."

"Can do," came a quick reply.

Though, opening the panel was not. Several minutes went by, the hoist had cleared out, and much of the staff had returned to their other duties. Only two remained double-checking the mer's breathing and pulse. The moment that the last of them left, Jazz heard the lock disengage, and he retracted his hands as the panel shifted and began to slide open. The window was too small to get more than his hand – maybe up to his elbow if he wanted to push it – through, and sat just at water level– any movement sending water hopping to either side. But it gave him a clear view of the surface area inside.

Oh.

Oh. Jazz stopped breathing. While the mer's body was mostly supported by the fabric of the hammock, cradling them on their side, effectively hiding most of them from Jazz's angle. Propped up on a soft floating platform was the mer's head, face towards the gate. Sharp features and elegantly shaped finials, with flattering lines of their markings complimenting the peaceful expression as they slept. The butterflies from earlier came back stronger than ever, his heart thundering as words fumbled from Jazz's lips, "he's beautiful…"

_____________________

-GLC

Orca Prowl really is just-- too fucking pretty, omg, I'm living through Jazz in this moment like when I first saw your designs of him.

I'm more than happy to continue writing for you, you bring me so much joy. I screamed when I saw how much you liked it. If you have any requests you would like me to add to the story, leave it in the tags or comments ♡ I now plan to continue until the tsunami and a bit afterwards, maybe more, we'll see~

Upd: There is a next part!

Previous

Oh. MY GOD. OKAY ALRIGHT OKAY ALRIGHT OKA

I'M ABOUT TO START PACING IN CIRCLES JUST LIKE JAZZ OVER HERE KDLCNFJFLFB PL E A S E THIS IS SO GOOD. The tension?? You can fucking TASTE it IT'S SO GREAT GLC I LOVE YOU

The way it all starts at night and then you (as a reader) have all this additional time to boil in your anticipation?? So fucking great. Like you can really feel how little power Jazz has over the wholse situation. The plot is moving but he doesn't have any saying in it. Well. Yet heheh

Anyway haha. Im normal and I made some art>:D

[cheesemcdude]

I love rendering fantasy hair and skin colors because it's like, "what if there was a normal human skin/hair color but purple?" and I think that's neat.

[rainyhowls]

thinking abt how my therianthropy is such a casual part of me now. when i first realized i was nonhuman i thought that if i wasnt constantly thinking abt my theriotype and how unhappy i am abt physically being a human i was a faker and a fraud who just wanted to be special. but now i can confidently say "yeah im a wolf" without feeling like I need to prove myself to anyone.

[sealsdaily]

WE GOT ON SOME SORT OF NEWS?

[evercelle]

2024 art summary! it sure has been a year

[sometimesanequine]

[mipexch]

been thinking about something wicked a little too much lately. no harm in romanticizing the ominous dreadful unstoppable force

[vaguely-concerned]

it's just lucanis dellamorte and his little coffee cup against the (end of the) world out here