#Eddie thinks these two concepts are connected

[livwritesstuff]

So Steve and Ed are fine with their kids cursing (for a few reasons, but selfishly because they themselves don’t want to stop their own cursing for the sake of their kids) and in general this works out fine. However, they do have some ground rules that were shaky at best initially with Moe but by the time Hazel came around, it had solidified into a system that was at least semi-functional.

Rule 1: Curse words can only be used in the house (the first rule, the one that established the whole system, and was created after 2yo Moe dropped many f-bombs at a gymnastics class much to displeasure of all the other parents)

Rule 2: You must know the meaning of a curse word to use it – their dad is, after all, an accomplished writer and he will not have his children using any word incorrectly, even if it is profane

Rule 3: No cursing at anybody – “go to hell” is one of very few phrases the girls learned from someone other than their dads (they’re pretty sure Robbie had snuck out of bed one night and eavesdropped on a not-so-kid-friendly movie Ed and Steve were watching), but one that was nixed from their vocabulary the second it dropped from one of their mouths

Rule 4: No angry-cursing – this one is sort of an addendum to the third rule that developed as the girls got older and started to actually bicker with each other, and any follow-up conversations about it are usually accompanied by something like this:

Steve: If your insult requires a curse word, it’s not a good enough insult 

Eddie: *face palms*

The rules are easy enough to enforce, but a little trickier to teach, mostly because Steve and Eddie both find it absolutely hilarious to hear their daughters cursing (honestly it’s another big reason why they allow it), even if the way they’re going about it goes against the “rules”. Most notably, when Robbie was 4 and trying to get Steve’s attention from another room, she had confidently yelled “Papa, get the fuck in here!!!” and Steve had been practically doubled over with silent laughter, managing a straight face long enough to tell her to never say that again before he had to remove himself for five whole minutes.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Ok so we get this

and this

And I proceed to spiral about colour theory and costume theory and end up writing and expansion to this post I made about Buck in yellow ochre!!! Sorry y'all, you know what that means - my unhinged colour theory and costume meta's are Back!!!

Lets start by revisiting all of Bucks previous yellow ochre wearing shenanigans!

3x06 the yellow ochre sweater he wears when he gets sent home by Bobby - this does after we see Buck and Eddie making up with each other - a moment when we see Buck learning more about himself and growing (read becoming less self-centred and understanding the concept of being part of a team and recognising that he needs to be better about stepping in with Eddie!)

4x02 - Yellow ochre jumper - first in a video chat with Maddie, Chim and Albert, but then more importantly, when he is in his therapy session with dr Copeland - the whole ‘I hide my true feelings from others’ moment - yet another moment of Buck recognising something about himself. I think this is the most key scene in Bucks yellow ochre wearing - more on that in a bit.

4x03 Bucks yellow ochre t-shirt - a t-shirt that matches the shade of the jumper from above, and a moment when Buck confesses to Maddie that he’s in therapy - about being sad and lonely and wanting to be ‘finer’ 

4x04 - the yellow knit sweater from 3x06 is back (yes it is the same sweater) and this is when Buck has his entire life upended and he finds out about Daniel (kicking us into Buck begins)

4x11 - Buck talks to Maddie and Josh about Sue’s hit and run, then talks to Taylor about Sue. This one is a much brighter yellow than the ochres we’ve seen up to now, but I’m including it because I think its relevant to Bucks arc here (also because it connects into the next time we see Buck wearing yellow - the will scene) the concept of being hit with information that leads to Bucks growth and the nature of most hit and runs not being solved, the perpetrator never being caught and therefore not getting closure on something (this is super relevant I promise!)

Then we have 4x14 and two yellow ochre tops - the first is the sweater, this one is trending more towards orange brown, but its still in the ochre wheelhouse! this oe is all about communication - mostly at Buck - Taylor telling him how stupid he was for climbing the crane, receiving a phonemail from Ana to tell him Eddie is awake, facilitating communication between Eddie and Chris and then Buck communication himself - thinking it would’ve been better if he had been shot. Directly communicating to the audience (as much as Eddie) the inner monologue of Bucks own opinion of the point of his existence.

Then we get the beloved will scene and Buck wearing a yellow ochre shirt, still lighter than the other yellow ochre we’d seen up to this point, with the exception of the previous one which is brighter still. again this is mostly about people communicating at Buck rather than him being the communicator - much like with the previous Jumper. It somewhat plays into the concept of Buck being a passive part of his life rather than actively living it - Kinda hard to explain at this point without the context of the costumes from s5&6. I also want to point out Taylor is in that dark green again here - in the scene when Buck opens the door to the Diaz house.

5x03 gives us Buck in that same shade of yellow ochre (bear in mind we haven’t seen him in any other colour between the will reveal and this scene (beyond uniform!) and here we have Buck pushing Eddie and communicating without actually giving much of himself away - yes he uses himself as an example, but he doesn’t actually open up about himself all that much (this is important - its not the time for that and it provides space for Buck to continue his internal monologue about his self worth) after this he goes home to his loft and we get him communication to a Taylor who isn’t actually present in the space - a symbolic scene that shows that he gets just as much from her absence as her presence (a play on the idea that Buck can communicate better with her when she isn’t actually present compared with when she is - its a juxtaposition of the scene from earlier when they were in bed together and she didn’t listen to anything he was saying, or his wants/needs)

5x04 a scene at the Buckley-Han apartment where Buck isn’t communicating with Chim - Chim is very much communication with Buck about his despair over Maddie leaving - Buck obviously knows where Maddie is at this point, but he diocesan’t take the opportunity to communicate effectively with Chim. so This is yet another example of Buck failing to communicate, while some one around him is clearly communicating and this scene has the addition of secrecy thrown into the mix.

Then we have 5x14 - this one is a bit less obvious - its the yellow ochre and black plaid jacket - its an outlier in that its not solid yellow ochre, but it is again a scene where we get communication - this time BUck is actually the one to do some communicating, but like pretty much always, we don’t get him pushing too much and we see him continuing to deflect from making things about himself - he’s desperate to talk about the shooting and its impact on him, but Eddie resists and Buck backs off. the check here is a nice addition because it shows the concept of cross purposes, but also there is less yellow than in other outfits - the black seems to be ‘devouring’ the yellow - almost like a play on the idea that this was Bucks one big chance to communicate, but he doesn’t take it.

That is the last time we see Buck wearing yellow ochre until the end of season 6 - 6x15 and his date with Natalia to be precise! we’re back to that same shade of yellow ochre and once again we have Buck communicating - but its very much playing into what Natalia what to hear. I don’t doubt that BUck wants to talk about his death and resurrection, but we don’t actually see the conversation beyond the superficial overtures Buck makes. This plays into the suggestion that its about him trying to impress Natalia rather than actually about what Buck needs or wants to say. Its once again Buck communicating without actually communicating. something Eddie picks up on in the later graveyard scene and tries to provide the space for him to open up - which Buck doesn’t take.

The theme continues with the the next Buck/Natalia date in 6x17 - yellow ochre once again, this time an open shirt - again its that same shade, and we see a continuation of the Buck communicate via deflection technique he employs - this scene, like his previous date with Natalia, is more about her and the writers showing us her hang ups/ insecurities than it is about Bucks - beyond showing us that they aren’t actually all that compatible - its kind of framed in the same way as his previous relationships (especially Taylor) - Buck playing into what he thinks someone wants him to be rather than being who he actually is. 

This concept is something we see in pretty much all of the previous scenes where Buck is wearing Yellow ochre, this desire to be what people need him to be rather than who he actually is. there are a couple of exceptions - the first time we see Buck in yellow ochre is probably the only instance where we see Buck being somewhat honest with himself - there is an element of him playing the role he needs to to win back Eddies friendship, but I think its coming from a genuine place and is born out of a real desire to be better - he really did learn his lesson. The fact that the next time we see the yellow ochre used is in his therapy session scene where he literally states that he hides his true feelings from others is a big giant yellow ochre flag waving around telling us that when we see Buck in yellow ochre he will be playing into that idea - and that’s then how it transpires in every subsequent scene where he is in yellow ochre.

Which brings me to this new still

no one can tell me there isn’t an air of conflict about that scene - the dark cool tone of the image suggests a coolness to the room - that idea of the cold shoulder or the temperature dropping when there is conflict between two people. their body language is also adding to that vibe - Chris turned in on himself, not sat with Buck, the space between them.

Whatever this scene transpires being about, based on what we've seen with Buck wearing yellow ochre, we can assume its going to continue to play into this idea of Buck not being fully truthful with people and fitting into the role he thinks people want him to pay rather than being true to himself.

I do want to add to this theory by looking at Christophers shirt as well. The grey/ yellow combination is a bit reminiscent of Breaking point (the episode that really is the gift that keeps on giving) becasue we get Chris in grey and Eddie in tan - that is yellowish toned whilst not actually being yellow

There isn't a good screenshot of them together, but the placing of Chris and Buck in the new one has echoes of Eddie and Chris in that scene (one that is interestingly enough playing into the idea of changing family dynamics, but also the moment before and the one that happens afterwards at Bucks loft, directly placing Buck into a parental role (as an aside the idea of Buck being a miracle worker plays into the theme of Eddie looking for magic, just saying!))

Anyone want to play a game of whose shirt does this look like??!!!

Oh you do! well what if I leave these two pictures just here...

yes, yes that is a Chris sized version of that shirt - you know the one Buck was wearing when he and Taylor talked about complicated family dynamics and about telling 'other peoples stories because I hate telling my own' you know that scene about playing a part and not being yourself around people you're supposedly close to! Yes That scene - or how about the scene which happens to be the last time we saw Buck in Chris's bedroom, where Buck talks to Eddie about complicated family dynamics, about needing to have the right outfit on for the occasion, the scene where they talk about retirement, oil and Buck is playing with a dinosaur! yeah see where I'm going with this! Chris wearing a grey shirt that similar to Bucks is Paralleling those scenes - so playing into the idea of history or of thing being outdated and needing to change, of dressing for the occasion (an allegory for playing a role - to fit in to whatever environment you're in rather than being your true self) and most importantly of complicated family dynamics - suggesting that there may have been some change in the dyamics - perhaps this will play into the will (also colour paralleling the will scene as Buck is in yellow ochre and the breaking point scene with Eddie in a yellowish colour and Chris in grey) and perhaps Chris discovering Buck would be his guardian in the event Eddie isn't around. I mean we'll have to wait and see for the actual context, but I will eat my hat if the season 7 scene isn't playing into Buckley-Diaz family dynamics in some way!

Back to this still

I keep flip flopping on if its Buck or Bobby, but right now the lack of grey hair is making me lean towards it being Buck.

This is a still of the back of Bucks head from his coma dream for comparison (blurry as hell as he's not in focus but it looks enought like the same shape of hairline and of Olivers ear for me to feel like its more Buck than Bobby!

I think the shirt is what is throwing me off though because its just so not a typical Buck shirt (excepting coma dream Bucks!).

I've gone back through my notes and I just can't find any examples of Buck wearing this kind of patterning or shirt before, the closest we get is that hideous shirt he is wearing at the hospital after Kameron has given birth

The only thing I can do is scream into the void about check theory because check does't bode well for people - they always end up in the middle of the drama (see my check theory posts linked on my pinned post for more) and while they come out the other side (99% of the time) Buck in check for that scene in 6x18 pretty much doomed his relationship with Natalia (its specific to her and not C&K's baby as Buck wasn't wearing it when he delivered it!) and as that shirt in the still is very un Buck like, has not only yellow ochre in it, but also its a white base (and we all know buck in white is a bad sign!!) and its check patterned - my theory is that this scene is connected to Natalia in some way - either Buck is not being true to him self in more than one way - that things are going to/have come to a head for their relationship (my kingdom for a reverse of Buck to Eddie about Ana in 5x03!!!) and lead to a pretty big change in some way (fingers crossed for Buck to end it and then finally break down and deal with his trauma!!!)

Some other things about that shirt - I've brightened it up in the picture below - the colour combination - the green blue and yellow ochre are giving me call backs to coma Buck (another reason I think it might be connected to Bucks unresolved trauma around his death and Eddies absense in his dream)

Then there is the burgundy stripe in combination with Eddies hand placement and the fact Eddie is wearing a denim shirt - its very Tsunami call back (even the white plays into this as well as Buck was in white when he saved Chris) -

I'm quite probably clowning hard at this point, but the fact we've got Eddie in denim again (not something he wears all that often) in a scene where he puts his hand on Bucks shoulder in that way and with his Christopher watch so very prominent - we'll I might be feeling a certain way about it.

It would make sense to play into that story arc - after all - the opening of season 7 is very much centred around a big water based disaster - its got to bring up a few things for the two of them. If it is related, Eddies Denim being darker at this point would be a nice play on things - the idea that there is more deepness - more depth to his relationship with Buck than there was in early season 3 (it even calls back to flash back Eddie in 3x16 - he is wearing dark denim when him and Shannon fight and Chris wakes up)

Ok thats enough rambling from me! Hopefully i have made a tiny bit of sense! of to go back to screaming in the void now!!

tagging a few people who might be interested! @extasiswings @copyninjabuckley @oneawkwardcookie @spotsandsocks @mandzuking17 @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @theladyyavilee @mistmarauder

[fifi-afterhours]

Telephones and Their Possible Connection with the Audience

So some time ago l was scrolling through @/partycoffin’s blog as one does when you fall into the fandom hole of welcome home, and I wanted to do a little speculation post about telephones and this picture:

Or more specifically, Eddie's and Howdy's ones, and their different rotary dialers.

[Supposed tiny post turned into long theory ramble below cut!]

(I have checked that this was made on 4 December, 2022, so I think this could be speculated on!)

As we can see, not only are the phone types different (with theirs presumably being portable), the numbers used for dialing are replaced with colours instead. Now, a simple explanation could be made that the colours simply replace the numbers, but that's not the case:

(I know they're not buttons, but let's just use that as a placeholder name for now-)

Neither of them seems to match with the 10 buttons needed for a a normal rotary dial, so the only explanation I could think of is that each colour corresponds with a neighbor.

@softestvine made a post about this before, and if you take a look at the guestbook signatures, the missing purple button on Eddie's phone makes sense since purple should represent him, and therefore his phone number in a sense.

The real question is why would Howdy have his own phone number. Maybe an extra set of hands means he owns two phones? Or maybe it's normal to have your own contacts to ring yourself up, and Eddie is actually the odd one out? For that I'm not sure.

Continuing on, there's also the curious addition of a black button, which doesn't seem to connect to any neighbor at all. My first thought was that it could be related to Home, but considering that it communicates through onomatopoeia that even Wally couldn't understand sometimes, I feel like it's doubtful that it's meant to be for Home. (though I'm not saying that it's impossible, just unlikely for now).

Which leads to the second theory: it's to represent us, the audience, the viewers of the show. My speculation is that there was a segment on the show that would involve the characters calling or receiving a phone call from a fan of the show, similar to how irl children shows that includes audience participation will show off fanworks in their episodes. (the closest example I could think of is Blue's Clues right now since my sister used to watch that).

Admittedly this feels like a stretch, but phones seem to be important to the show in some manner. In some old posts, we have audio of what prank calls to some of the characters are like, and although they're definitely not relevant to the work now, it's interesting to note that the concept of a way to communicate with the puppets exists.

Another thing is that on one of the secret pages of the website, you're sent to this page:

An error page that shows altered text and a phone gif instead of the one with Home. Perhaps I am looking too much into this, but compared to the other hidden links, why would this one take us to an error page first, albeit a different one?

Some people have pointed it out here that if you inspect the phone gif, it says "It's for you". When you click on it, you're taken to a page called 'duet' where Wally is singing to Home.

Don't you think it's coincidental that the only page with an audio file was only found through a phone? And why is the page called 'duet' when Home only responds after Wally finished his song? That's because the duet isn't sung by Wally and Home, it's supposed to be sung by Wally and you. By clicking on the phone, you're answering Wally's call, hence the "It's for you" file name.

My conclusion is that the phones were used to talk to the audience back when the show is running, and now Wally is using them to try to reach out to us.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

@steddiemas Day 21 -  Home and/or Dinner

pairing: steddie | word count: 1,333 | rated: G

“For real this time.”

Steve’s words pull his eyes off that stupid sprig of greenery and back down to his face, but his brain is still sprinting laps in his head, “For real? Who put—? When did—?”

“Eddie.”

He takes a couple seconds to slow his brain down into a jog. “Yeah?”

“I’m being serious. I want to kiss you. Please.”

“....If this is a pity thing–” Eddie’s stomach twists at the thought.

“It’s not a pity thing.” Steve assures in a soft voice, trailing his hand down the wrist he’d taken hold of to link his fingers with Eddie’s. “I want to kiss you because you’re you and because I’ve wanted to for a while now.”

Okay…he seems genuine enough.

“And also it’s a little bit of a pity thing.” Steve grins good-naturedly.

“Ugh!” Eddie groans, dropping his face into his free hand.

“I just want to be 100% honest.” Steve laughs, “And if I’m being 100% honest, I put this one here, not Robin. And I followed you out here to make sure you were okay and also maybe to get another chance to kiss you.”

Eddie lifts his head and his eyes narrow, studying Steve’s face. His expression seems sincere; serious with an undercurrent of humor to it. His lips twitch too, like his mouth is having a hard time not smiling at him.

“Then you just had to get all sad and mopey on me.” Steve teases.

It breaks through Eddie’s wariness the rest of the way, surprisingly, and he bursts out in cackles.

“What?” Steve asks, laughing slightly with the word, but his smile is wary around the edges.

“Nothing, nothing, I just,” Eddie chuckles again, “Nothing. Yeah, sure, lay one on me, big boy.”

Steve squints at him skeptically.

“What?”

“I’m not gonna if you still think this is some big joke.”

“Well forgive me if the man of my dreams asking to kiss me is a bit of a hard concept to grasp.” 

The younger man is silent for a moment, though now his eyes are wide.

“What? Why do you keep staring at me?”

“I’m the man of your dreams?”

Oh fuck.

“Uh.. No. I lied, I was only fucking with you, I—”

Steve steps closer and raises a hand to Eddie’s face, brushing the backs of his knuckles along his cheek.

He studies him closely, eyes locked onto his own.

His hand slips off his face to place his palm at the side of Eddie’s neck, his fingers lacing into the hairs at the back of his neck.

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

“Okay.” Eddie gulps.

When their lips connect, everything else falls away.

Steve’s lips are soft on his, and the tip of his nose is freezing cold where it’s pressed into Eddie’s cheek, making him gasp.

Steve takes the opportunity to slide his tongue between Eddie’s lips, only the tiniest touch of their tongues feels electric.

“Steve,” Eddie sighs.

“Mmm..?” it’s more of a soft moan than an acknowledgment, and the sound shoots all the way down Eddie’s spine and into his gut.

“Mhm,” Eddie says in response, locking their mouths together, then after another moment he hums again. “Hm, wait, your nose is freezing!” he pulls away with a smile, looking across the almost non-existent gap between their faces at Steve’s expression.

His eyes are blown wide, his cheeks and nose are red along with his lips, from the cold and from Eddie’s obviously insane levels of kissing prowess.

“You think I care about that right now?” Steve asks, diving back in for more.

Who’s Eddie to tell him what to care about?

“Ah ha!” Robin’s sudden yell, even through the glass, startles them apart. The long blinds on either side of her ripple away from where she’s got two of them parted at the door.

“Jesus H. Christ, Robin!”

“What the hell?!”

She slides the door open and points accusingly at Steve, “You told him straight to his face “Now we’re even.” the last time mistletoe happened, and he still let you kiss him for real??”

“Wait, wha–”

“Oh yeah... Damn it Steve, why’d you let me kiss you like that? I’m still mad at you for Melvald’s.” Eddie says, teasingly pushing Steve further away from him.

“Kiss me?! I kissed you!”

He waves this off, “Semantics.” 

Steve just rolls his eyes in response. “Come on; you’re right, I’m freezing my ass off out here.” He squeezes between the two of them and through the open door.

Eddie turns his gaze to Robin instead, who’s grinning widely at him already. “Congratulations, Doofus, you got Dingus to make a move.”

“Good thing too; I don’t think I would have made one myself.”

“We know.”

“We? Who’s we—”

“You comin’ Eds?” Steve calls, already in the dining room.

“Yeah, yep, absolutely.” he scoots past a still very smug Robin and follows the sound of Steve’s voice.

Oh no. He can sense a pattern forming.

“Steve?” Most of the rest of the guests are piled in the far half of the room, the living room half. Lucas is in the dining half, and gives him a knowing smile while he slides a huge bowl of mashed potatoes into the center of the huge dining table.

“In here, Eds.” Steve calls from the kitchen.

“I don’t wanna hear it, Sinclair,” Eddie points threateningly, half-heartedly, at the teen.

He hears Lucas’ response as he ducks out of the room into the hall “I didn’t say anything, Eds.”

Wayne and Hopper are on one end of the island when he enters, though he doesn’t notice until after he’s placed himself at Steve’s side.

“D’ya need help Stevie?” he asks Steve’s back(side) while he pulls the now-baked pie from the oven.

“Nope, I’m good Ed.” he turns, and places the dish onto the island carefully. Eddie closes the oven for him anyway.

“It looks great, sweetheart,” He says, leaning close to Steve’s side, “I was worried it’d be too many blueberries.”

Steve opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted by Hopper’s low voice.

“You boys better be careful, now.”

Eddie jumps back immediately, his eyes darting to Wayne.

Wayne is shaking his head fondly. “Took the words righ’ outta my mouth, Chief.” he says, going back to what he was doing (which was carving the turkey apparently; how’d he not notice that?).

He glances back at Steve (oh yeah, that’s why), who’s own panicked look is sliding off his face.

“Yes sir, Mr. Chief Hopper, sir.” he says, his eyes returning to Hopper’s amused expression.

“Where’s the formality coming from?” Steve leans in to say in a not-so-hushed whisper. 

Eddie not-whispers back in the same tone. “I dunno, the guy’s basically your dad isn’t he?” 

Wayne and Hopper laugh, and soon, there’s a herd of teens flooding into the kitchen to steal fingerfuls of the bird.

“Get yer damn hands outta my turkey, you little—”

“But we’re hungry Uncle Wayne, come on.”

“I said no, Mike, now go help set the table or something. Shit’s already done so it’s almost time, yea?”

Even with how large of a table it is, more chairs and another table had to be added to accommodate everyone. A couple folding tables and chairs, and the smaller ‘event’ table from the Harringtons’ fancy finished basement were hauled out, and the giant double-wide table is covered with tablecloths, with plates, and with piles and piles of food.

The chairs fill in in no time, and Eddie finds himself smushed between Jeff and Steve on one side of the table, Robin’s on Steve’s other side, of course, and Dustin and Claudia are across from him next to Wayne. 

He’s surrounded by his friends and family, the food is great, Wayne’s definitely being flirted with by Ms. Henderson, and Eddie’s hand is resting on Steve’s leg under the table, or across the back of his chair, or their legs are pressed together…

It’s the best Christmas dinner he’s had in years.

THEY KISSED FOR REAL!! I'M KICKING MY FEET AND GIGGLING RN!!!

other parts! Pt. 1 (Day 1) | Pt. 2 (Day 2) | Pt. 3 (Day 5) | Pt. 4 (Day 6) | Pt. 5 (Day 7) | Pt. 6 (Day 11) | Pt. 7 (Day 13) | Pt. 8 (Day 18) | Pt. 9 (Day 21) [YOU ARE HERE] | Pt. 10 (Day 25) also on AO3! this year

[rebelcracker-s]

WELCOME HOME THEORY :D

i've been swinging back and forth between "this is genius" and "i am spitballing" in debating whether to publicize this theory. i have decided to put it out there. i hope i'm somewhat right! (long post ahead)

so user @thecolourfulkingdom pointed out the importance of this tic-tac-toe image from the guestbook page:

i know a one-person game of tic-tac-toe doesn't seem like much, but op then placed this image on top of the neighborhood map (credits to them for figuring that out!), this image becomes very interesting.

it's suspicious how nicely the two line up.

i know this could be a random detail, but in somewhere as detailed as welcome home, i think that every detail counts, especially one like this. if it is a coincidence, it's a very strange one.

the circles in the board call attention to four (or five, depending on how you look at it) characters: wally/home, sally, frank, and howdy. we already know wally and home are two very important characters in the lore, but what connection do the remaining three three have? and why is wally pointing them out specifically?

this trio made me think of a certain image from the conceptual days of welcome home: concept art of the telephone that was revealed in the july update. (i'm not going to repost it due to clown's wishes about spreading conceptual art, but you can find it on their portfolio!)

in this image, the phone has eight buttons for eight neighbors, like the current one on the website. however, this one has three buttons scribbled out. based on colors, the three characters missing are sally (orange), howdy (teal), and eddie (purple).

i know it's not exact, but the fact that two out of the three "scratched-out" characters match the ones circled on this map has me thinking that i'm onto something.

here's what i think is going on. something happened in the neighborhood that divided the neighbors in half. something happened to the four uncircled ones--julie, barnaby, eddie, and poppy. it's really not clear what's happened to them right now, but wally has mentioned that he cannot talk to his neighbors right now. i think they at the very least lack the awareness to the strange things happening in the neighborhood. at the worst, they are dead.

again, i'm not sure what happened to them, so all we can do right now is speculate.

our remaining four--frank, sally, howdy, and wally--are the ones who have retained awareness. they know what is happening in home. they know about the whrp. and they know about the audience welcome home is gaining.

we know wally and home know about us because they have both spoken to us through the "i will find a way soon" audios. but what about the remaining three?

the july website update not only included the drawings that led to wally's messages, but also bugs leading to videos of interactions between the members. while the whrp insisted that there was nothing important about the bugs, the audience could click on these bugs and find secret videos depicting a conversation between the neighbors.

the latest game theory video on welcome home points out that like how drawing is related to wally and the drawings lead to messages from him, bugs are connected to frank, from his character description to his hidden audio with eddie. i believe those messages could be from frank. the video goes into more depth about this, but for the sake of the length of this theory, i'll stop here.

in the october 13th halloween update, we got the "happy haunting to boo and yours" record. the website staff insist multiple times that there is a gap in the audio during sally's story where they can't make out what sally is saying, but we can. (if you need a transcript for the skipped-over part, i have one reblogged!)

sally's story is a very menacing one about a monster that she cannot see or hear that prowls the neighborhood at night, devouring anything it passes, confining the neighbors to their homes at night. this would seem like a normal scary story if not for how the audio changes. at every other part, the audio has a crackly, vinyl sound; however, sally's story is perfectly clear.

it seems to me like sally is directly talking to the website's audience here: she's trying to warn us about the strange things going on in home. i think frank's messages were trying to do the same thing too. these are glimpses into the sides of welcome home that the whrp, wally, and home have not shown us: the lives of the neighbors, and the unsettling danger lurking beneath it all. notice how subtle both of their warnings were, and how they were careful to make sure that whrp could not discover them while the audience could.

also, remember how the title of the video tabs in the july update--"answer"--led us to the staff only page? i think the title of the newest hidden video--"listen"--is telling us not only to listen to the audios for a true glimpse of what life in the neighborhood was like, but to listen to their warnings.

i don't think wally is aware that frank and sally have been contacting us in secret, but i do believe he knows that they stand apart from the other neighbors, hence the tic-tac-toe board and the map.

but there's still one loose end: howdy hasn't yet talked to the audience. i think that during the big holiday update, we will see the final member of the "survivor trio" (as i like to call them) contact us. and i'm hoping this update tells us more about what's happening in welcome home's world and what role we as the viewers play in it.

:)

[indecisive-dizzy]

Alright the Gravity Falls brain rot is kicking in (aka I watched a 4hr video overanalyzing ATOTS <3 iykyk)

So have a loosely thought out concept of a hypothetical Welcome Home x Gravity Falls au with my "Hear me out!"s This is a long one, you've been warned <3

Wally - Dipper

Sally - Mabel

Julie - Stanley

Frank - Stanford

Eddie - Soos

Barnaby - Wendy

Poppy - Abuelita

Howdy - Gideon

Home - Bill???

Ok hear me out! (under the cut) Please ignore typos <3

Very quick clarification! For this au everyone is at least in their teens and I'm gonna add their ages as I elaborate. Ok? Ok!

Gonna Start with Poppy and Eddie. In this hypothetical au Poppy is Not Eddie's grandmother. Originally I thought of assigning Poppy the role of Lazy Susan but I wanted her to have a closer connection to the rest of the cast. And Abuelita fit the role well enough for me! She's just a sweet homebody who wants to knit and bake in peace. Eddie tells her all about work and Wally and Sally visit. <3

So Poppy and Eddie live together as Roommates/Family. Poppy took Eddie in as a teen (16ish) when she was in her early 20s (22-23?) He views her as a big sister. And she views him as a little brother. Anxiety siblings <3 (yes I hc Eddie has anxiety) Eddie started working for the shack soon after being taken under Poppy's wing. He's a tad forgetful and clumsy but is a very reliable handy man and a good friend! He's got a big heart and worries about Julie sometimes.

Currently, as in the time the au takes place, Eddie is 24 and Poppy is 30-31.

Julie and Frank would in fact make a Fantastic Mabel and Dipper. Tbh I think I've seen the comparison before. Which is exactly why I'm not doing it! They're not twins here but they are childhood friends and very close in age, Frank being slightly older. Currently, Julie is 57(?) and Frank is 58(?). (Ages aren't confirmed, all I know is I want them to be A Bit younger than the Stans. Currently this would put them in their late 20s at the time of the portal incident)

I feel like people sometimes forget that Frank is not against resorting to violence lol. Which is great for post portal Ford (and maybe Paranoia era Ford. bbg was not afraid to use that crossbow.) And Julie is a girl bossing business woman! She's scamming people selling breen to the tourists! Whatever that is! Tbh Big inspo for this decision is Relativity Falls, like I said these two make for great mystery twins.

So! Wally (15) as a teenage Dipper! It's just Wally but his curiosity is bumped to 100. Still the same lil guy but he's got a hyperfixation on the supernatural and cryptids. Maybe he hasn't quite figured out his style yet, maybe he's a bit more awkward, I dunno.

He kinda didn't want to spend his summer here but ends up enjoying himself as he makes friends and gets to over indulge his curiosity.

Sally (15) is Wally's adopted sister! By sheer coincidence they have the same birthday but Sally always points out that she's older because she was "born at sunrise!" She's very adventurous and is often the one leading their escapades. I imagine she meets this aus equivalent of Candy and Grenda at the local theater. Very much wants to be her own person, separating herself from the Adopted Twins thing. Not in a bad way! She loves Wally very much but wants people to see her as Sally! Not just "Wally's Sister."

Barnaby (22) is very laid back and so is Wendy. Yeah I don't actually have a lot to say? Um. He does the bare minimum work but is a good friend to Julie. He's real observant and can tell she's not always as bubbly as she seems But she's also his boss so he doesn't pry. Instead just offering a distraction or a rare bit of advice..

Oh! There's a parallel with him and Wally and Wendy and Dipper. Except Wally just wants to be friends with Barnaby but doesn't quite know how to communicate that. Maybe he just kinda follows him around the shack hoping to figure out what to say?

Thinking their relationship is literally the recent quote from Clown's Q&A: "Barnaby meeting Wally felt like business as usual, and Wally meeting Barnaby felt like meeting the whole world." yeah that's it. Sums it up Perfectly <3 Wally thinks Barnaby is really cool and friendly. And he wants a friend who treats him like he's mature. Like he's 15, not 5. And Barnaby does that right out the gate. Calls him kid but obviously doesn't treat him like a small child.

Ahem. Capitalism. Howdy's (21) a filthy capitalist and wants the shack for Profit. I don't think he'd resort to literal breaking and entering to get the deed? Can't make Profit from jail if he gets caught. But he's definitely trying to buy the property off of Julie. Maybe we stray further from Gravity Falls canon and say he gets an early redemption bc I'm a sucker for this goof. It would be sometime after taking the shack (and losing it.) Oh but he does summon the Evil. Can't break the law if the law doesn't account for Interdimensional Demons!

On that note, Yes Howdy could be Stanley. But again. That's the easy way out! Also in my brain that would make,, idk Barnaby? Ford. And I couldn't do that.

Ok final (wh) character. Home. So I'm on the side of Home Isn't Evil/The Antagonist. He's just a guy (house)! A sassy fella! But someone's gotta be the Eldritch Horror and Unfortunately, Home,,, well he's a lil quirky!

But idk How to incorporate Home. They speak in onomatopoeias! They're a house! Is Home now a Vague 2D House Shaped Demon? Do the have Limbs? Wear a top hat? Do they talk now? Home speaking words feels cursed. But I genuinely don't what else to do? Maybe we suspend our disbelief and they still talk through banging shutters. Everyone just understands them bc Cartoon logic pffff maybe they have subtitles projected into your brain that only you can see idk lol.

So obviously there's Way more GF characters than there are WH characters. insert characters [(y/n)] aren't my thing for aus so that's a no go for me personally. I imagine the town is filled with characters we've heard of outside the neighbors (Ma Beagle of course lives in town.) Maybe some of Howdy's family is here who knows. And the rest would be randos or ocs I guess! Tho I don't believe Julie's siblings are in town.

Anywho this is all hypothetical and I made it up and retyped things as I went along. I wanted to ramble some nonsense so I did! If you read it, Awesome! You sure did that!

[m3r1m4r5u333]

Buddie really is all about playing Scrabble, guys. Let's rearrange HILDY, and play it "on Scrabble"!

....

Chris: HILDY? Are we getting Hildy 😁?!

Eddie, scared: No, we are definitely not!

....

What could HILDY be? Play Scrabble. Rearrange the letters. Y hid L! "You hid love". That's the love story of buddie, "buddies".

Scary love. Hidden love. The kind you avoid admitting. Even to yourself.

Because it sparks between two men. Two "straight" men. Men who just telling themselves they are... Allies.

And because it's the kind of love that freaks you out anyway - falling for a friend. A buddie.

And because you've already experienced grief, and are scared to love again.

------

Buck and Chris are playing video games. It looks super domestic, like a little family.

Then Eddie freaks out about talk of "Hildy" and disconnects the game from the server.

Chris: "😐 Buck, can we go to your place and play video games?"

Buck: "Uhh sorry, kid. I think we're gonna be playing it "old school" for a while...

Chris: "What's "old school"?

Buck: ...Have you ever heard of Scrabble?"

Rearrange the "letters", folks. ✉️🎬 See what "HILDY" is. Moments out of order, love that's still hiding.

....

Eddie: Somehow, we became a ready-made family... And I... I don't know if I'm ready for that.

....

Buck: Eddie. I have been Ana. I know what it's like to be in love with someone who is not all the way in.

...Deep down you know it, and it hurts. It hurts worse than the truth. So if you don't want to hurt Ana, you owe it to her to be honest.

...

Eddie: I don't know. Just feels like a lot, man!

Buck: Well. Go to sleep. No need to decide right now! It's not like we're going home anytime soon!

...

Then these two themes that come up, repeatedly."I see you"/"I don't even know what that means!"

"Isn't that what we all want in a partner, to be seen?"

(Lola threatening to jump off a bridge, next to a sign she made: "SEE ME NORMAN!")

"Lola! Lola honey, it's me! I'm here. And I see you, just like the sign says!"

"Liar! You look right through me, Norman. You don't even notice me!

I'm just around to... To collect the mail!" (Or... Male? Go listen to the very queer love triangle coded song Copacapana by Barry Manilow. There's a famous "Lola"...)

"I don't even know what that means! ... I'm the one who brings in the mail?

... I see you, Lola! I notice you!"

.....

(The song lyrics: Don't go chasing waterfalls... Please stick to the lakes and the rivers you're used to...)

To Buck, still in the closet: "Don't go chasing waterfalls, Buck!"

Buck: "I don't even know what that means!"

------

That scene with closeted Tommy:

He's asked if he's ever considered that maybe he is more "team Jacob" than "team Bella"?

Tommy: I don't even know what that means!

-----

Then the concept of finding true love, and cherishing it.

"Love, actually... is all around..."

Buck, Actually:

Thomas: "He can't go! He's my heart, my everything...

Thomas: ... When we got married? We thought what the hell. We have so little life left. Might as well live it.

That was Mitchell - always daring the clock. And I, always following along. All those foolish things we did... We only ever wanted to go together. That's love.

Buck: "I guess I can only hope to find something that good."

Thomas: "You don't find it son, you make it."

-------

Thomas dies of broken heart syndrome.

Buck: "....That's love!"

----

And then love being SEEING. "I c u."

The scrabbled letters we've been watching, of falling in love, stupidly, in the closet.

Falling for a friend, not realizing it. Refusing to admit it.

Hiding it, even from yourself. Being afraid to see it. Running from it... The way you really feel about this "buddy".

Their almost instant connection, promising to have each other's backs:

Here's Eddie, having a panic attack at the fire station in the dark due to a power shortage. Looking at Buck as his most current girlfriend, Ana, says this line:

Buck's line about looking good even in bad lighting, the first day they meet.

Now, many of these scenes are from Buck's episode Buck, actually. An obvious reference to the movie Love, actually.

Quote from Love, actually;

"When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love.

If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually... is all around."

---

That scene with the old men, deeply in love, dying together? The one left behind saying love is something you make, together. Saying love is everything. Saying life is short.

..…

Buck and Eddie. Buddie. The ship name really fits them. It's a love story but of "buddies", friends, falling for each other. Confused, scrambled. Playing Scrabble. Refusing to admit it.

Sometimes you fall like that. Sometimes love materializes in the dark, before you're ready for it. It scares you. It avoids your notice. You hide it, even from yourself.

But it's there, waiting to be discovered. A hidden treasure. Something precious to you, buried. And slowly, you open your eyes, see it, without flinching from it. Gather that courage. Even if it scares you... You open your eyes. Because you must. Because love is everything, and life is short.

[enam3l]

Hey, I hope you're okay

I read your post about rockstar! Eddie who hates Tommy Lee, and that made me wonder, which bands do you think Eddie (and the whole corroded coffin) would be friends, like, going to parties, and talking and meeting sometimes

You can ignore this if you want, but I was curious and your writing is so good

Thank you so much! I fuckin love this concept and had a tonne of fun thinking about it. Basically Eddie Munson just loves music and people who love music too. And fyi, he does love Lana. PS: all rockstar eddie munson content can be found under this hashtag if you want to only view that and not just all my eddie munson stuff on the #enam3l x eddie tag

The big one of course is Metallica. The Corroded Coffin boys were never subtle about how much they loved Metallica and how they'd been their teen idols. At Corroded Coffin’s first awards show where enemies were made with Motley Crue, a friendship was also made. Having heard the kind words said about them so often by Eddie and the gang, Metallica made it their mission for the night to introduce themselves. Feeling totally out of place and laughing at how surreal this was, Corroded Coffin were interrupted by a waiter bringing over a bottle of whiskey, a gift from Metallica. The boys were stunned silent. To this day Eddie’s wife says she's never seen him so speechless. The waiter pointed over to a table closer to the stage where Metallica sat and waved. Later, they came over and introduced themselves, complimenting Corroded Coffin for making it in such a difficult scene and without help. From then on a bond existed between the two bands. Metallica acting as mentors for Corroded Coffin and being their support act on multiple occasions. Eddie couldn't believe he had James fucking Hetfield’s number and would often speak to him when things got a bit much and the industry felt like it was crushing him.

Eddie definitely had a kinship with Alice Cooper, the two sitting back and laughing at the madness surrounding them. Both having the same approach to their careers, loving the music and playing up the image but not the gross antics. They both had normal family lives. They were definitely on the same wavelength and stuck with each other at any events and caught up about their wives and kids.

They all enjoyed going to parties with KISS, appreciating the bands theatrics. KISS’s face paint just spoke to their routes in Hellfire.

Mostly Eddie liked hanging with the alternative and indie bands, they weren't as intense and outlandish as the rock scene. Less publicity stunts and sleaze which is what Eddie despised about Motley Crue. Eddie appreciated their musical skill as well as their theatrics and style. Bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus and David Byrne. He admired them from afar and eventually grew to know them and just enjoyed talking about their art together.

And Eddie didn't believe in guilty pleasures. There were plenty of artists you'd never expect him to love and respect. He always thought George Michael was kind and interesting, originally approaching him by mistake at a show thinking he was Steve. Eddie was bummed when George Michael died. Also The B-52s, Eddie loved getting drunk and putting them on. You'd definitely go and see them together and get silly drunk and dance around like teenagers. One of your favourite date nights would be to go to soul or jazz clubs, he liked listening to those kind of records whilst cooking or cleaning.

He was definitely intrigued by the grunge scene in the nineties and helped promote and support it. He thought the guys from Nirvana were the coolest he's ever met and attended Kurt’s funeral. Foo Fighters drummer passed away this year and the rest of the band did a memorial gig with friends from the industry, Eddie would've absolutely been there.

But honestly, one of Eddie’s favourite parts of being famous would be getting to use his connections to introduce you to your favourite musicians and bands. Eddie is absolutely no music snob, open and interested in anything especially when he can see the craft that went into it.

Whatever you or his daughters liked he'd be there front row with them. Maeve his youngest would definitely love Ariana Grande or Lady Gaga and Eddie would take her to every gig, wearing merch too. Eddie Munson would be famously quoted for saying there's nothing more metal than having pipes like Mariah or Ariana. And he fucking clapped like hell at Gaga’s meat dress, he thinks she's fucking cool as shit.

[mistchievous]

The Fridge Magnet Theory: Eddie Begins Edition

We don’t get our typical fridge content in this episode, but we do see the Diaz fridge in El Paso multiple times. And a lot is happening there! 

This episode sort of stands on its own, so it gets its own post! 👏

Click here for the OG Fridge Magnet Theory Post that focuses on the Diaz fridge in LA!

To begin, @catdadeddie pointed out to me in DM that in the earliest flashback where he’s back on break, the fridge is blank. There’s nothing on the fridge at all.

Yet, when we get a later flashback scene, that’s changed.

There’s now boxed food on top of the fridge (the El Paso Taco Kit, Nesquik, applesauce most likely, and a box of Reynolds aluminum foil) vs. her making a meal in the earlier flashback. In the words of @stagefoureddiediaz ‘pre packaged food [is] a recurring theme that the show has been using - with Buck and Taylor and even to a certain extent we see the same concept with Chim and Tatiana (and with Maddie but there is a whole other load of stuff going on there about Chim making things easy on her in light of Doug etc) and even Chim as fire captain - having to order pizza because the role doesn’t quite fit him (at that point in time.)’

She continues with “the choice to have real food v boxed food in those two scenes is telling - [Shannon’s] still putting effort into their relationship in the first one but the boxed food in the second [one] shows she stopped - it’s like foreshadowing that’s she’s no longer in the relationship and that she’s gonna leave...”

@catdadeddie then goes to point out that the fridge now being decorated hints at the fact that it’s Eddie who does the decorating with Christopher as it only seems to happen once he’s been around for a bit and then later in LA in the home they share without Shannon.

And when we zoom in on the fridge itself, things start getting very interesting.

On both sides of the fridge are pictures presumably drawn by Christopher. On the left side is a picture with two fish - a larger fish and a smaller fish. @stagefoureddiediaz also notes that ‘the water is green - like the light makes the water in the real world’ referring to the light Eddie is shining when he’s escaping from being trapped in the well.

It’s fittingly being held up by a crane and a racecar. The crane of course being a callback to the crane collapsing, and the racecar being a sign of the race against time. The racecar could also be looked at as a sort of getaway car as Shannon flees and abandons Eddie and Chris in this episode. And then Eddie flees with Chris to start over in LA away from his parents.

The big fish and the little fish swimming in the water (ocean?) could be a callback to Buck and Chris together in the tsunami. @stagefoureddiediaz also notes that there’s somewhat of a continuing Finding Nemo reference here. The fact that Eddie in this episode also needs to ‘just keep swimming’.

The cement truck easily connects to Eddie being buried underground due to the well collapse and is likely foreshadowing the mudslide coming at the beginning of Season 4, but it, the cherry picker to the right, and the crane calling back to the accident can all be looked at through a lens of construction which is a theme that continues to pop up over and over again in reference to relationships (think ‘there was construction on Sunset’ and ‘you don’t find it; you make it’). And there are quite a few possible relationships being laid out on this fridge. We’re gonna go through them together!

(The entire right side of the fridge seems devoted to relationships actually, with the self-portrait of Christopher with the ‘C’ on his chest taking center stage.

As a note from @stagefoureddiediaz​, ‘chris drawing himself with a c on his chest - like superman - which is Eddie’s nickname for him 🥺🥺🥺’)

There are a few theories to address here. You may prefer one over the other, or like us, you may choose to see all of them as playing a bit of a role here with the things on this fridge continuing to give us double-meanings. But for the sake of this post and clarity, it’s best to break them down separately.

Theory One: The A and B magnets are indicative of Chris’ relationships with his grandparents vs. his parents.

In the words of @like-the-rest-of-la, ‘Chris is alone in it. Furthermore, the drawing in itself is removed to the side from Eddie and Shannon here. I feel like this might play into the fact that they aren't a real unit here. That might also be further acknowledged in the mismatching of the B and A in particular. Normally, you have ABC going together, but each of them is basically on their own here.

In terms of fonts in logo-design, Serif-Fonts are often used for more classic-brands or to convey seriousness, or they are part of a grown logo (typeface), like Burberry e.g.... so, the Chris drawing being held up by the serif-A (which clearly is not part of a set a child would play with or learn letters with) and the broad B... idk, the serif font could also be representative of Eddie's parents on one side, as like, the "seasoned" parents who supposedly have all the experience, and then the bold and broad B, which is a sans-serif font and usually more used for something, Children would play with, could stand for the less experienced parents, Eddie and Shannon. It's interesting, that Chris, in this pic, is still navigating towards his "inexperienced" parents than his "experienced" grandparents

(also side-note, it's a bit of bad practice in terms of readability and accessibility, to use lots of italics in text), so while it might seem good and “noble”, the serif-font-'A' that is in italics/slanted is also more complicated and not that easy to read… which speaks volumes about the relationships at play here)‘

Theory Two: The A and B magnets are indicative of Chris’ relationships or possible relationships with Buck and Ana.

In the words of @theyarnmaidstale, ‘Maybe the B and the A being some kind of symbolism for Buck and Ana being candidates for the role of another parent/caregiver for Christopher with how they're holding up the doodle of him....’ and the words of @stagefoureddiediaz ‘which is interesting if you also consider they are the ones holding up the picture and that the b is closer to [the] drawing [...] than the a is...’

The A for Ana being in a different font style than the other three letters and so far away from Chris could mean that despite her potential as a caregiver, she doesn’t quite fit. This is more interesting to think about when you remember the costuming parallel between Shannon and Ana in this episode as well.

Theory Three: This concludes the same as Theory Two and addresses the X and F as a crossroads for Eddie.

@evcndiaz summed it up perfectly: ‘don't think the X is an X in this context. I think it's a crossroads.

It's like... think of a railroad crossing sign when you're driving. It's not a cross, it's an X. So if we extrapolate that idea to what we see here, we see Eddie at a crossroads with Buck (and all the nuance that entails with his own queerness, happiness, and freedom sitting at the forefront) and Ana on the other (with all the nuance that entails, with him doing what's expected of him, being what people expect him to be, etc). But consider also where the X is positioned. These are Eddie's memories in Eddie Begins, which means they haven't happened yet. Therefore, the X being positioned above the B and the A indicates a decision yet to be made in the future, and between obviously indicates the decision between Buck/Ana. Considering Eddie gets shot only a handful of days after his conversation with Carla about following his heart in 4x13, that could be considered the moment in which he makes that definitive choice even if he doesn't actually break up with her until 5x3 (which means the shooting really was Eddie's oh moment, but I won't go insane about that right now).

For the "F," I think it's really possible it just means "family." In the context of everything else I just said, put it all together and that would mean Eddie will be at a crossroads with what it means to have/be family, with Buck on one side and Ana on the other (which also makes sense within the context of his panic attack, trying to make himself have feelings for her, the idea of a readymade family with Ana when he was already building one with Buck...)’

Theory Four: This also concludes the same as Theory Two, but the X and F are math related. Math, of course, being a recurring connection to relationships.

The X being the common variable and the F being function.

@stagefoureddiediaz @like-the-rest-of-la​ and @theyarnmaidstale​ all separately in different chats made the connection to math.

@theyarnmaidstale​ pointed out ‘In Algebra (ooooo Math! Ana!) X also sorta symbolizes the known and unknown in terms of variables being solved for. The shift between what he knows: his life in Texas, his and Shannon's marriage falling apart, and the uncertainty of what's to come: his life changing in California/the move and starting over’ and posted this screenshot as a definition for function.

She continued with ‘The relationship between him and Ana! Him and Buck! Him and Shannon! Him and his career! Him and Chris! CHRIS' RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEM!‘

In another room, @stagefoureddiediaz​ was saying ‘What if we went with a math theme - both x and f are used in mathematical equations

X being the variable and f being the function. Not to mention the fact that a in math can mean average’

And in yet another room, @like-the-rest-of-la​ was saying ‘I don't know why, but somehow the F, X ... and also the way the ladder truck thingy looks at first glance, it almost feels like part of a mismatched Maths-equation? which... would be very nerdy of the stage design team but... idk, f(x) was my first thought’

Three people simultaneously and separately reaching the same conclusion says a lot about the intention of the writers. A recurring theme was noticed and picked up on.

Theory Five: The framing of Shannon blocking the magnets is intentional and important and stays in line with the ‘B’ and ‘A’ being representative of Buck and Ana.

Towards the end of their argument, Shannon goes to do something at the bar and moves back and forth in a way that covers the ‘A’ and then the ‘B’ multiple times with only one visible each time as though broadcasting that there’s a decision to be made between the two.

Then @like-the-rest-of-la​ and @theladyyavilee​ point out that she stops moving and places her hands on the bar and leans over it blocking the picture of Chris, the ‘A’ magnet, and the ‘B’ magnet.

She then moves just slightly and reveals only the ‘B’.

Theory Six: If you’re like me, literally all or some of the above tie together for you, and there are dual meanings for the things we’re seeing here. I refuse to pick a theory. They’re all valid and correct.

Before we end, @stagefoureddiediaz​ wants to note that ‘Also - something something about the B being buck and it showing his presence in Eddie’s memories - as he’s working things out - that buck is ever present even when he isn’t yet part of their lives - Eddie’s subconscious directing him towards his future - pointing towards the will change and the fact that the other more recent flashbacks were buddifer coded.’

And @yramesoruniverse​ wants to remind that it’s all about the water. ‘The big fish and little fish I can't...could have a double meaning, of course the tsunami and buck and chris, but also eddie and chris and the general theme of water. Emerging from the water..’

They emerged from the water in the tsunami, Eddie emerged from the water in Eddie Begins, and there’s the theme of water from 06x13 (here’s a collection of links for that episode).

Hope you have fun with all of this. See ya next time! 😘

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Phones (reformatted and revised)

I am working on converting a few early theory posts from a clunky format to a better format for Tumblr.  Today’s post is about phones.

Early Phone Concept Art

This is a non-canon design; however, I do believe that the image informs the development of the phone motif in the project.

The phone is primarily red, so we assume this is Wally’s phone.  At this point, we have the original 6 characters, (Wally, Barnaby, Julie, Frank, Poppy, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say Sunny.  I don’t have an exact date for the image or the change in characters from the original line up.  If it is the part of the development with Sunny, the Poppy has red feathers fully, but I can’t establish for sure which person is assigned what color at this point. But, assuming most of them are the same…)

1. Red:  Wally

2. Blue:  Barnaby

3. Pink:  Julie

4. Yellow:  Frank

5. Green:  Poppy

This sticker set confirms the colors:

Then we have three dots taped over, and two dots that are only black.  We can see in the sticker sheet that Sunny is orange, which is not included in the phone.  However, Sunny is not 6 as the sticker sheet appears, his name is upside down.  I posted about this during a discussion of Sunny himself.  Sunny’s name is upside down, so if you follow that to the conclusion, then Sunny is 9, not 6.  As we can see in the graphic above, the numbers 9 and 0 are crossed out.  Does that mean they moved?  Are they dead? Who else have we lost besides Sunny? Of course, I could be wrong about the 6/9 thing, which would make the taped over numbers be for people no longer with us. 

Black is a recurring theme, and I wonder if that spread and infection is telling us that people are becoming infected and then their color becomes black.  This would be for 9 and 0, not the taped over numbers. 

Also an early artwork with phones, and definitely at the point where those original 6 are the only characters.  The phones (red for Sunny, though his character is usually orange,=blue for frank.  If it were colors that were more considered opposites, aka compliments on the color wheel, this would make more sense, but I digress) presumably have a dot for each neighbor, for a total of 5, because their own color is not on the phone.  They go in the same order, but not in an established color order like rainbow.

Color assignments on phones based on theory pulled from the signatures, names, and updated phone list from the website:

1. Red:  Wally

2. Blue:  Barnaby

3. Yellow:  Frank

4. Pink:  Julie

5. Green:  Poppy

6. Orange:  Sunny

The arrangement of buttons on these phones are interesting, skipping over the number/color on the owner’s phone.  Sunny’s phone doesn’t have orange, and Frank’s doesn’t have Yellow.   They also have emoticons in the middle, but those could just be for the purposes of the opposites game.

More phone concept art:

The first image here is concept art for the phones that each of the neighbors have.  It emphasizes that each person has a phone, and that phones are very important to the neighborhood.  Whether that is connection, or we are thinking that they require this method of communication because they can’t leave the house after dark, it remains that phones are designed specifically for their owners.

Phone 1:  Barnaby, polka dots and fur color

Phone 2:  Julie, pink with scalloped edges

Phone 3:  Sally, celestial

Phone 4:  Wally, red, but also very plain

Phone 5:  Frank, yellow with his check circles

Phone 6:  Poppy, rainbow like her neck

Phone 7:  Eddie, post office hat and mail symbol

Phone 8:  Howdy, Caterpillar ears

At this point, the colors/phone connections seem verified:

In the text, it verifies that this phone is Wally’s:  “The packaging suggests that many versions of these phones were sold, each themed around one of the neighbors, but as of writing we have only been able to recover the Wally Darling themed phone.”

None of the phones show the dial colors with the exception of the business phones in the concept image.  As you can see, they have each color, and following the tradition in the opposite cards, instead of being left off, these phones have the phone’s owner blacked out.

In the canon images, the color of the dial is standard and in rainbow order with the exception of red, which has been moved to the last position.

The concept images are used on the back of the merchandise box, but only have some of the neighbors.  The front of the box has a red phone, and the exhibition has a red phone, so we can assume the box held the red phone/Wally’s phone.  The merchandise website also gives us clips for each neighbor, including the ones left out of this picture:  Home, Howdy, and Eddie.  Is it because they have work phones like above? I suppose we could assume Wally’s phone would serve as home’s phone as well. 

These two phones are canon.  One is from the merchandise page (left) and one is from the error 404 page (with the message:  You’ve strayed too far from home.)

One the left phone, the order goes:  Julie, Sally, Frank, Howdy, Poppy, Barnaby, Eddie, Wally.  There are two blank dots.

On the right phone, the order goes Julie, Sally, Frank, Howdy, Poppy, Barnaby, Eddie.  No Wally.  But this is Wally’s phone, so it is going back to that idea that the phone’s owner isn’t on the dial and is represented by a black dot.

[theneighborhoodwatch]

Found this welcome theory video that i found interesting: https://youtu.be/9Lz6OcILeSc?si=tcPnCX3QC4JmAyC-

Thoughts :3?

(functional link to video)

i tend to avoid youtube coverage of welcome home because i'm petty, but fuck it, it's a new year and i've never actually heard of this youtuber before. i'll give it a shake. liveblog under the cut:

"y'know if it wasn't for the unsettling mysteries, the feeling that somebody is always watching you, and the mold.... i'd wanna live in the neighborhood" that's exactly why the mold and paranoia's so scary babeyyyy

"update number two" Tch.

i'm less inclined to call the writing in this update character development so much as it is just character establishment. especially since before the july 22nd update (bc that's what this video is about) all we knew about the other neighbors was what the WHRP was willing to tell us. i feel like i'm preaching to the choir though.

ok i laughed at the grindset alpha male howdy joke

"now i wanna move onto eddie bc i wanna make a connection between [eddie and howdy]" :D OH DO YOU NOW.

i do love the energy in this video, very infectious. i too have recommended people welcome home solely on the basis that they would have the hots for eddie and y'know what i haven't been wrong yet.

I WAS GONNA SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HOW LIKE. almost all of the characters have that backstory element of having coming from somewhere else before settling down in home, but i see the point about howdy and eddie specifically dealing with stuff that comes from someplace else as like, an actual job. putting a pin in it.

i'm not Sure how i feel about the idea that the world of home/the world in which home exists is Within our world? pretty much from the beginning i assumed it was running on re:creators/deltarune dark world rules (i.e. it is a world that was born from human thought and its existence is dependent on/influenced by our world, but at the end of the day it does exist on like a separate plane of reality) and i still stand by that. barbieland in barbie 2023 is a more apt comparison though.

"possession route" Tch.

ok actually i can't tch at that because i have talked about it in my own posts. TL;DR: i think possession/haunting theory could work but only if it's anything other than actual literal ghosts. as soon as you try to make it FNAF 2 i sleep.

don't have much to say about Real Poppy Lover Hours except emphatic smiling and nodding. although i will say i have seen people use "oh she's more like a mom/aunt/etc.!" as an excuse to sideline her in fanwork bc for some reason some folks think that her having a motherly personality means that she can't be shipped with anyone? even though all of home's residents are adults who aren't even related to each other? that's a gripe for another post, though.

THE CONCEPT OF SALLY BEING AS BIG AS POPPY IS KILLING ME. I PROMISE SHE'S SMALL SHE JUST HAS A BIGASS HEAD. she would want to be big though wouldn't she.

...actually now i want big sally. note to self to draw that later.

i do like the examination of whether or not sally referring to the audience is meant to mean anything. personally i think it's just a bit of wordplay/red herring action but You Never Know!

i misheard "girlboss bossgirl slay" as "girlboss boygirl slay" for like a split second. still fits tbh.

IT'S FUNNY THAT THEY MENTION THINKING THAT THE WHRP IS A SINGLE PERSON bc i do have an ask about that right after this. i'll save my thoughts for that response though.

it's funny that "was the majority of the gang being some form of queer/disabled/nd/etc. planned in-universe" is a question at all bc at the risk of sounding like an asshole it feels so obvious to me that it very much was not. the interview is definitely playing into those themes though.

"them <3" yeah

again. extremely refreshing to see a welcome home video from someone who actually likes welcome home instead of the clicks that covering it will give them.

BARNABY-SANS COMPARISON IS... DISTRESSINGLY APPROPRIATE.

he always knows when to show up, huh.... huh.... i've been trying to break away from being so self-referential ever since welcome home and consequently this blog blew up but. huh...

do i think he's a service dog? i think to answer that question we would first have to answer the question of whether or not he's even a Dog or just Shaped Like A Dog. the laws of his reality say he is a dog, but we can at least guess that even even those can't be trusted. i think it's possible that he may see himself as in service to wally, that he worries about what will happen if he doesn't butt in, but i don't know if this is an objective truth.

"[wally] being so mysterious i don't think is like, him wanting to be mysterious. [...] there just may not be that much about him." and then relating that to how typically protagonists in puppet shows have more subdued personalities than their co-stars so they can be more relatable to the audience. Teehee. (this is positive)

oh there's something kind of poetic about the idea that each bug video ends bc wally's snapped out of his dissociation by one of his friends calling his name when paired with the idea that he's disassociating in part due to his connection with the audience isn't there. being reminded of one's own personhood through your connections with others, and how that has the potential to become more bittersweet the more wally continues to risk it in the process of regaining a sense of purpose as The Audience Surrogate. oogh. that's just me waxing poetic though.

oooh that whole passage about the idea of remembrance and the pursuit of a "correct" story and tying that back into how welcome home in-universe has been almost universally forgotten and the themes of living as a disabled or mentally ill or queer person. beautiful connection.

"hmmm, how much agency do you have in your life actually" AHEHEHE. HEHEHEHE. HEHE.

conclusion: Good Video. thank you for sending it.

[inkwolvesandcoffee]

TH Characters and Crochet

TH Masterlist

This concept was prompted by my new hobby and led to some very interesting (and, in my opinion, good) plot points. Henceforth, I might turn some of these wee ideas into full-fledged one-shots. For now, though, enjoy!

Tag List: @potter-solomons @buttercupsandboys @zablife @mollybegger-blog @liliac-dreamer @vir-tual @rose-like-the-phoenix @babaohhhriley @solomons-finest-rum @hoodeddreams13 @moral-terpitude @onlydeadcells @hecatemoon87 @wandawiccan60 @dreamlandcreations

Tommy Conlon

The art of crochet is an absolute mystery to him. Nevertheless, though he won’t admit it plainly since he’s been raised and trained to keep his emotions in check, he absolutely loves and adores the husky you made him.

It had been another fretful night, one that leaves you alone in the bed and him either wandering about the beach nearby or leads to a night of training at the boxing school. Either way, Tommy shut you out yet again, refusing to show you even a glimpse of the chaos he carries with him.

Later that day, the short night was followed by an equally as plagued nap. It's that he woke up before it was too late, but otherwise he'd have fallen off of the sofa and face planted into the soft carpet (which you had bought after the one time that actually did happen). Now, it’s his snuggle buddy and you’ve noticed it’s helped with the nightmares caused by his PTSD. So nowadays the silence when you come home after work is laced by soft snoring, an oddly comforting sound that stems from the most heartwarming sight.

Tommy, tightly holding on to his husky as he snuggles it. His ear phones are connected to his laptop, an ASMR video with rain sounds displayed on the screen.

Perfectly content.

At rest.

Alfie Solomons

You were already magical in his eyes, but the fact you can create stuff out of yarn makes you even more so. He still thinks your hooks look uncannily like embalming tools, but he adores the scarf you made him. He wears it whenever he can, loving the texture as well as your scent.

Alfie proudly promotes your stuff wherever he goes and helps you set up at markets. He’d like for you to do only markets in Margate and Camden so he can keep a close eye on you. However, should it be anywhere else, rest assured he’ll hang around the area and make sure you eat and drink properly. He’ll literally pop by a Prêt-A-Manger to buy lunch and deliver it to you or, as is more often the case, pull you away from your stall so you two can sit down in a coffee shop or restaurant together.

He loves it whenever you text him to provide him with photos of a new project you completed. Lastly, Alfie also always asks what you’re working on.

Forrest Bondurant

He’s actually the one who taught you how to crochet (and secretly adored how shyly you asked him to teach you). He’s a stern teacher, but a good one. Forrest is a man of many hidden talents (like baking, he makes a mean apple pie). Then again, so is his brother Howard, who is great at knitting. Jack, on the other hand, has skipped out on the creative gene though he’s been trying to teach himself how to sew.

Forrest and you do markets together. However, he mostly does the general set-up while you busy yourself with the customers. Because even though he’s very business savvy, the quiet force behind Little Moonshiners (specialized in the cutest handmade stuffies) is in fact a social disaster.

He does like talking to you, though.

(And has made you a custom wolf stuffie, which has become your all-time favourite)

Eddie Brock

Eddie and Venom alike love the stuffies you make, but V thinks his host sometimes takes his support of your hobby a bit too far. Recently, he’s asked you to teach him and ever since you’ve been trying to figure it out together. Eddie seems to finally have the basic stitches down while Venom is bordering on giving up. Not even reading the body language of his host makes him understand crochet. So he’s now your ultimate yarn spinner.

Eddie, on the other hand, has become a little competitive. Though he tries to be inconspicuous, you occasionally catch him glancing your way in an attempt to estimate whether your way of crocheting a certain project is more efficient and neater than his. To this extent, he proposes to try a new pattern together (and compare the results).

He does admit, without a second’s doubt, you’re the queen of plushies.

Eddie loves the journaling aspect of it too. He keeps a neat and very minimalist journal. Well, he tries to be minimalist and objective (as his work has taught him to be), but often finds himself writing about you, pondering your opinion on his works.

And Venom loves to tease him about said entries by mentioning them to you.

Farrier

He’s loath to admit it, but he can’t help but think of his Nan whenever he sees you crochet. The confession almost slipped out when you gave him a cream coloured crocheted turtleneck sweater for Christmas, the reason you puzzled him with taking measurements three months earlier. And it’s this turtleneck he wears quite often and takes with him whenever he’s sent abroad.

Because your scent lingers in it, mixed with his.

Because it’s a piece of home.

It’s you when you aren’t there.

And it’s the only thing that’ll prevent him from crying when he's so far from home it feels like his heart is torn apart at the seams.

Reggie Kray

Reggie loves to watch you work. He doesn’t need to understand it, finding perfect contentment in seeing you absolutely absorbed in your projects. He’s simply happy to plop you in his lap and rest his head on your shoulder, though that does little to help you focus on the pattern or the tutorial you’re watching.

He gives the best hand massages too! Whether you asked for one or not, Reggie will give you one regardless after you’ve put the hook down for the time being. Sometimes he even stops you after a certain period of time, knowing how your tight grip can cause your hand to cramp after carefully observing you for a while.

Although he does not say it whenever the topic comes up, he will blatantly admit when riled up enough that part of the reason he wants out of the gangster life is to permanently give you the peace and quiet that surrounds you whenever you crochet.

And stills his inner storm.

Also, have a wee treasure I accidentally found😉

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Costume Meta 7x03

so there aren't al l that many costumes to talk about this week from a min cast perspective as pretty much everyone is either in uniform, or a costume they've been wearing for the previous two episodes!

I do have a few things to talk about though so I'm still writing this meta and then I'll be gearing myself up for next week when I have a feeling I'll be up to my eyeballs in new costumes!!

Check theory

The danger around Jared played out - he large bold check signalled that he would be in danger - and he met a grim end!

Pink Theory

I feel like I'm spending every episode playing spot the bright pink and this one came to the pink party as well - we have Corey's dad in this pink sweater and then Corey's two siblings in pink.

Its really interesting to me that we're not seeing this bright pink on any of our mains up to this point (Athena has worn pale pink but not bright pink)- its always been on guest cast (Marisol, Lola, Norman, the mom trapped in the car) and there's a fairly even split between the characters who are in one episode and the multi episode arc characters.

I've already pointed this out but the various traits associated with bright magenta/fuchsia pinks are as follows

Things that are considered positive traits for this shade of pink are; intensity, acceptance, kindness and it's supportive and uplifting nature. It's connected to naive love (as in lust rather than the passionate and enduring love of red) can also be considered a nurturing colour.

Negative traits are; intensity, volatility, arrogant and impatient, irritability and irritating and frustration. it is also said to be a stress inducing colour and is said to be overly emotional and childish.

Stripe Theory

Then we have the stripes - Corey (who I'm convinced is autistic but thats maybe just me projecting!!) is in stripes pretty much the entire time.

The only exception is when the family is on Manzanillo - when he is wearing a watery themed shirt - again separating him from most of the rest of the family - who are all in floral prints (older brother is all in white and not the floral Hawaiian prints but he and his sister (I think they're meant to be twins?!) switch between who is wearing the bold print and who is in a white top throughout the episode)

Mom wears stripes as well - before she gets onto the ship - we see her in this striped coat. Dad and the sister also wear stripes and check scarves, showing that the entire family is in peril, but the largest amount of stripes are saved for the ones who will be in the most danger - which makes total sense from a pattern theory perspective.

An amusing aside that had me giggling - this top is shear perfection when paired with the 118 deciding their new moto is who cares!!😂

Right off to the firehouse to finish up! - I've mentioned before how uniform variation is used to separate out a character where needed (I wrote about it in my 6x09 meta) so here in the firehouse we have two separations going on - Buck and Eddie are the only ones in t-shirts - separating them from everyone else.

In connection to this separating them from the rest of the firehouse crew is that yellow rag Buck is waving around - it feels a little bit like that red one we saw him with several times in season 6 - the season of red flags.

In the same way t hat red cloth was like a red flag, this reads like a yellow flag - now yellow flags are interesting. In shipping terms they were historically a signal of quarantine (this isn' the case any more), and in sports generally they are used to denote hazardous conditions (motor racing and on beaches relating to surf and currents).

But the more interesting yellow flag concept is the yellow flag in a relationship - generally speaking they are indicators of things that could become problematic and turn into red flags if not dealt with or communicated about (yup communication again). Paired with the fact that Buck and Eddie have been 'singled' out through their uniform, its telling us issues ahead (even if we didn't know about them) and that its their dynamic that is going to be tested and that they are going to need to communicate.

Now all those yellow hoses hanging around in the back ground and then one hose physically connecting them - is certainly a choice (remember they could have used one of the non yellow hoses if it wasn't important) and a pretty loud one. I go on and on about yellow lines of communication, a lot, and I have in my metas for this season so far, but here we have another example of yellow ropes.. lines, cables etc.

The really really key thing here is that we haven't actually seen Buck and Eddie connected by a yellow anything since the end of season 3 and having not seen them connected with a yellow anything since season 3 - when their respective yellow lines got cut/burnt. This one here is about , a yellow line of communication being re-established. What adds to this is the directorial choices - the yellow flag is waves around before they connect themselves with a yellow line (hose) - as a piece of directorial foreshadowing I am in love - its telling us the Buck is the one who is the creator of the yellow flags (read his jealousy) and he is the one with the yellow rag (in the same way he was the one with the red rag previously), but that it will ultimately lead to Buck and Eddie reconnecting after those flags are raised and dealt with. I cannot stress enough the importance of that yellow line between them being reconnected - it really speaks of their communication improving and that we'll see them operating on a level we haven't seen before - they cut their yellow lines at the time when Eddie was changing his will, and whilst they have spoken on important topics etc since then, there has always been something in between them - they haven't had a proper full cards on the table conversation. My feeling is that we might be about to get that (especially combined with what we know from what Oliver and Ryan have teased!)

Then there is Chimney who is separated from everyone else by virtue of being the only one in a long sleeved shirt. If you watch the scene through, and pay attentiion to the background, you'll see all the firefighters in either short sleeve shirts or wearing bomber jackets. there is one exception - a guy carrying a medical bag who I'm pretty sure is meant to be a representaion of Hen's reinstatment to the 118 as he crosses Chim at the time Chim announces Hen has been reinstated!

Thats all from me this week - hope you enjoyed! I'm off to prepare myself for Thursday night!!!

Tagged peeps below!

@theladyyavilee @mistmarauder @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @mandzuking17 @spotsandsocks @loveyou2thecore @rogerzsteven @wanderingwomanwondering @oneawkwardcookie @leothil @copyninjabuckley @shammers86 @crazyfangirlallert @missmagooglie @katyobsesses @radiation-run @gayandbifiremenofmine @bi-moonlight @crazyaboutotps @princesschez75 @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @sherlocking-out-loud @tommykinarddd @satashiiwrites

[corroded-hellfire]

theres so many fics about the reader learning dnd for eddie but what about a fic where eddie has to learn about something the reader is super into and he doesnt fully get it but hes supportive anyways

This is the sweetest concept! Eddie would completely support you in whatever you love.

I went fully self-indulgent with this request and made the reader a musical theatre nerd. I was just thinking of a big musical that came out in the 80′s at first and picked Les Misérables. It wasn’t until I started writing that it occurred to me how Joseph has his own connections to Les Mis lol. So, it started out as a coincidence but then I HAD to do it.  

Words: 1.4k

“Eddie,” you say with a laugh. “You don’t have to do this.”

He fusses with the buttons on his nice white shirt, tongue poking out in concentration as he looks in the mirror.

“How many times have you sat through a D&D game for me? Even when you had no idea what was going on,” he asks as he fumbles with his top button.

“A lot,” you admit with a sigh. With a soft smile, you take Eddie’s hands in your own and lower them from the buttons. “You can leave the top one open. It looks sexy.”

He huffs a laugh and presses a kiss to your forehead. 

“I want to do this,” Eddie tells you quietly. You move to let go of his hands, but he catches them and brings them up to his lips. He presses a kiss to the back of each of your hands. “Plus, I’ve heard the music before. You know, only every time I’ve spent time at your house.”

You giggle and a light blush comes to your cheeks.

“I know, I’m going to wear the record out,” you say.

“That’s fine,” he says with a shrug. “Pretty sure my Metallica cassette is on borrowed time, too.”

“Still, it can be hard to follow,” you tell Eddie, reaching up to cup his face in your hands. “The whole thing is sung through. It’s basically an opera.”

“Babe,” Eddie whines. He wraps his arms around your waist and pulls your body flush up against his. “You sit through Hellfire meetings. You come to every Corroded Coffin show. You’ve listened to me ramble on and on about things you have absolutely no clue about. You read The Hobbit for me.”

“I liked it!” you interject. “I like doing all of those things.”

“Exactly,” he says, raising his eyebrows at you. “So, why do you think I’m not going to like doing this?”

“It’s not your thing,” you point out with a shrug, avoiding his eyes.

Eddie pinches your chin between his fingers and lifts your head until you meet his eyes.

“You’d never heard a Metallica song in your life until you met me. Wasn’t your thing. Why won’t you just let me be interested in what you like?”

He’s right and you know it. With a nod, you let out a sigh.

“You’re right, Eddie. I’m sorry. I guess it’s a little bit of a sore spot since I used to get made fun of for liking musicals.”

“I will never make fun of you for enjoying something. Anyone who does that is an asshole. And you know that I know something about being picked on for interests,” Eddie says. 

His hands rest on your hips and you wrap your arms around his neck. 

“You’re the best,” you whisper to him. “And you look very handsome.”

He wiggles his eyebrows at you and looks down at his outfit.

“Look nice all cleaned up, don’t I? Who knew I had it in me?”

“You always look nice, so shut up,” you say, hitting his chest lightly. “But you did a great job picking these clothes out. I’m very impressed.”

“I just walked through the store thinking, ‘What would Harrington wear?’”

You laugh and shake your head at your boyfriend. 

“Come on, you,” you say. “We should head out in case there’s traffic.”

 The two of you climb into Eddie’s van and he starts the engine. Before he pulls out on the road though, he reaches down and grabs a plastic bag on the floor at your feet.

“What’s that?” you ask as he rifles through it.

“These fancy clothes aren’t all I picked up at the mall,” he says. “Aha.” He pulls a cassette out of the bag, sheds it of its case, and pops into the player.

“Who dropped a new album?” you ask.

“Um,” Eddie’s eyes scan the case in his hands, trying to find a name. You’re expecting any number of metal bands you’ve become acquainted with since dating Eddie, or even a brand new one he discovered. What you did not expect was the name of a musical theatre composing genius. “Stephen Sondheim. Did I say that right?”

“Sondheim?” your eyes widen, and you grab the case from his hands. “Into the Woods? Eddie! This is amazing. You didn’t have to -.”

“If you say that one more time, you get no sex for a week. No, a month!” Eddie says as he pulls out of the trailer park.

“Ha!” you bark out. “Alright, say hello to your right hand for me, then.”

“Okay fine, I take it back,” Eddie says. 

The cheery opening notes of Into the Woods play over the speakers of Eddie’s van and it’s odd to hear anything other than rock emanating into the air of the old vehicle. 

You reach Indianapolis before the B side of the tape finishes and Eddie’s van sticks out like a sore thumb in the parking lot of the performing arts center. Eddie opens the passenger door for you, and you hop out, smoothing down your black skirt. He threads his fingers with yours and swings your hands gently between the two of you as you walk to the building.

The seats you had gotten were pretty good, and you’d have a great view of everything happening in the show. Eddie looks at the program held in his hands. Les Misérables the big white letters stare back at him. He flips through the pages, and you can’t help but smile as you watch his eyes scan back and forth as he reads through the program. Even dressed in his sophisticated shirt and pants, he still looks like your metalhead boyfriend, and you love it. He hadn’t wanted to wear his rings at first, but you assured him they were fine. You were so glad he did because you know he would’ve felt naked without them. The peek of his pick necklace hanging against his pale chest where his white shirt parts makes your heart rate pick up. Eddie is sitting here in a performing arts center, about to watch a musical with you, and you want to pinch yourself. The man of your dreams taking you to see the show you’d been dying to see on tour? You couldn’t imagine anything better.

As the lights dim in the theatre, Eddie places the program in his lap. He looks over at you with a smile and slips his hand into yours. He doesn’t let go of you the whole first act. He does, however, keep sneaking glances over at you that you don’t see. You’re so engrossed in the show, and while Eddie is enjoying it too, he’s enjoying seeing how happy you are even more. Sometimes your lips would move just slightly, like you were singing the words along with the actors. Eddie wasn’t sure if you even knew you were doing it. 

As the lights come back on as act one ends and the fifteen-minute intermission starts, you look over at your boyfriend with pure glee on your face. He can’t help but grin as he takes you in. Your face is flushed in excitement and you’re almost bouncing up and down,

“That was really good,” he says. “I think that last song there was my favorite one so far.”

“One Day More? Oh, I know! That’s one of my favorites as well,” you tell him. You’re practically buzzing in your seat, and it makes Eddie giggle. He doesn’t know the last time he actually giggled like a schoolgirl. 

“Who’s your favorite character?” Eddie asks.

A frown pinches your face, and you purse your lips together. Eddie knows it’s only a look of concentration, but he desperately wants the smile to come back. 

“That’s hard,” you say. “I like a lot of them. Hmm. It’s either Eponine or Enjolras.”

Eddie’s lips press into a thin line as he looks at you, making you chuckle.

“The poor girl in the brown coat and the leader of the students in the red vest,” you tell him.

“Oh!” Eddie says. “Yeah, I like the dude in the red vest. He’s cool. Good leader.”

You nod, trying to keep your face neutral so you don’t give away what happens to him in the second act. 

“I’m not a fan of the police guy,” Eddie tells you. “He’s a dick.”

“Pretty much,” you agree. “I get he’s only trying to do his job, but he still bugs me.”

Eddie brings your hand up to his lips and kisses the back of it.

“I’m really happy to be here with you,” Eddie says. 

“Me too,” you say. “Like, I’m not sure I’ve ever been happier.”

Eddie leans over and presses a soft kiss to your lips. 

“I’m just going to have to take you to see more musicals then, aren’t I?”

[extasiswings]

i really loved how pepa was all "marriage, who said anything about marriage?" when that was immediately where eddie's head went about one fix-up. and pepa was basically like "i just want you to have someone to run errands with on your saturdays". lol (i wonder who that could be eddie)

anyway, i love hearing your thoughts so i was wondering what you thought about eddie immediately connecting dating to marriage and kind of panicking about it? where's his head at with that?

Oh, I love this question, I'm kissing you on the forehead for asking this, nonny.

So, as with all things Eddie Diaz, because he is a funny funny repressed queer little man who should be studied under a microscope, the answer is: it's complicated, and there are Layers.

On the absolute most surface level, I don't think it's an unreasonable logical leap in cultural context to assume if your family is setting you up it's not so you can have a casual fling, it's with an end goal of getting you married off.

Diving a little deeper, I think he also jumps to marriage because Serial Monogamist Eddie Diaz simply has zero conception of or experience with casual dating and non-serious relationships. And also, I think in his heart of hearts, what he wants (but is afraid of having) is a serious relationship. He wants a great grand forever love with a real romantic life partner! And "marriage" is the state that's traditionally emblematic of that, a serious, legally-binding commitment to share your life with someone. (And his heart already knows there's a specific person he wants as his partner, even if it's a little unclear what his head knows at the moment, so at least some of the kneejerk reaction against letting in anyone new is that he's taken).

But. Again, it's complicated. Because "marriage" for Eddie is...fraught.

On a still deeper level, that leap for me ties back to Christopher. It has to. Because all of the what-ifs of Eddie's life, the FOMO, the unanswered questions about who he is or could be...they all lead back to him. (Catch me screaming forever about Christopher's "the things that make you sad, am I one of them?"). And it's pointed that we know so very little about Eddie's life before Christopher, about his hopes and dreams, the kind of life he wanted for himself, the kind of man he wanted to be, but at the same time the little we do know, especially in the context of this arc is loud.

Because the only thing we know about Eddie and relationships pre-Christopher is Shannon. And while we don't know how Eddie and Shannon's relationship was before everything fell apart, while we never got to see it, it's implied at least that before she got pregnant, before they got married too young and too soon, their relationship worked, they were happy, they were in love. One of the few things Eddie says explicitly, unequivocally, about her/them/his feelings from back then, is "I knew I loved her, but I didn't think I was ready to get married." But he did. Because of Christopher.

For Eddie, being a husband and being a father are two sides of the same coin. They're states that were inherently connected in his early life, they're roles that carry so much weight, so many responsibilities, expectations, pressure to perform. They're roles that he was forced to take on before he was ready, and his fear of failure, his performance anxiety, became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There's really something to the idea that Eddie and Shannon both lost themselves when she got pregnant. That both of them fell into the trap of letting the people they were be erased, so that he could no longer be Eddie, but Christopher's dad and Shannon's husband, and she became Christopher's mom and Eddie's wife, and because they lost themselves, they also lost what they had together before, and hurt each other. He ran away, and then she did, and where once they had uncomplicated young love, they were left with broken hearts, broken trust, guilt, shame, grief...and all of that is connected with Marriage. Doubly-so for Eddie, because he came back and learned how to be a father, how to get comfortable with that so he was no longer just playing a role he wasn't ready for, but when he decided that he was ready to step in and open himself up again and be a husband for real...Shannon was the one who asked for a divorce. And her entire point was that she needed to do exactly what he did, she needed to get comfortable with being a mother before she could also be a wife, lest she risk failing at both, but all Eddie took away from that was that she was rejecting him as a romantic partner, as a husband specifically, that there was something wrong with him, and because she died so soon after that, he never got the chance to get clarification, to realize that he was capable.

Eddie + Fear is the big theme swirling around his development in general, but his love life in particular (similar to Buck + Death). He's allowed fear to control his whole life. Fear of not fitting what he thought he had to be leading him to smother his individuality when he became a husband and father. Fear of failure leading him to join the military and run to the other side of the world. Fear of being hurt again leading him to keep Shannon at arm's length. Fear of not giving Christopher what he needed leading him to get involved with Ana even though he knew he wasn't ready (and literally said as much!). And now fear of the unknown and also fear of the same rejection and heartbreak and pain he felt with Shannon (both within their relationship and because of her death) keeping him from admitting what and who his heart really wants now...

Anyway, this massively got away from me, but...yeah...Eddie + Love, Eddie + Fear, Eddie + Marriage, all tying together in one lovely journey of queer adult self-discovery. It's Something.

[bizaar]

Cruel Summer - Part 4

First - Previous - Next

pairings: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

summary: After breaking up, you and Eddie do your best to soldier on with your lives, but you slowly begin to discover that there is a stronger line of connection keeping you together than just history…

word count: 5k

warnings: angst, mentions of Starcourt Mall deaths, as always, so sorry if I forgot anything!

A.N.: babysitter!reader part 4 - the timeline is a little wonky regarding the Starcourt events, but time is a manmade concept and therefore doesn't exist so you'll have to forgive me! the return of Uncle Wayne, MVP and still the #1 dad figure

You spent the rest of the summer hanging out with Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Mike, for lack of anything better to do while you waited out the ticking clock counting down to school starting again. You told yourself you were just trying to help fill the gap that Will had left in their lives after the Byers’s big move to California, all the while fully aware of and ignoring the way you were trying to fill the gaping, Eddie-shaped hole in you with all the nonsense that went with the Party’s teenage boyhood — plus Max, who still kept you at a healthy distance, despite having known her for the better part of two years now.

You don’t hold it against her, she’s got enough on her plate dealing with the implosion of her family in the wake of her brother’s death. Billy was an asshole and you had not enjoyed a single moment you'd ever had the misfortune of spending in his presence, but it didn’t make it any less shocking to hear he’d died in the fire that destroyed the Starcourt mall, along with countless others, along with a friend you’d known since childhood.

It leaves you a little more than shell-shocked, thinking about the weeks you'd spent with her while you were trying to ignore the way Eddie was avoiding you in the weeks leading to the breakup. Thinking about how much time you'd spent in and around the Mall.

Your old group of friends had not been so fond of Eddie, in fact, they’d outright hated him, and had unsuccessfully tried to warn you against him when began to show interest in you. When their warnings about steering clear of the freak fell on deaf ears (how could you resist the way he’d smiled at you in those first moments, so boyish and shy, stumbling over his words and making an absolute fool of himself?) they’d decided to give you a bullshit ultimatum to try and save you— him or them.

Of course, you’d chosen Eddie outright, much to their outrage. It had seemed like the right move at the time, despite the social suicide you committed in doing so. You didn’t care about lost popularity, you would have gone to hell and back for Eddie, and your so-called friends would never understand that, so they'd cast you away like yesterday's trash, along with any social standing you'd held at Hawkins High. You didn't care — being popular was exhausting, and you much preferred the life you led with the so-called freak... that is until not even he wanted you.

Eddie's sudden absence from your life did not go unnoticed, and when he disappeared, one of the kinder girls from the old guard reached out — for pity or old times sake you could not tell— but suddenly you were spending days at the public pool and nights at the Starcourt Mall. It was shades of your life before Eddie, spending the summer like the average American teenager and silently wondering where the hell your stupid boyfriend was.

Your friend died the night the Starcourt Mall burned to the ground. She'd begged you to come out with her that night, and you'd declined, partially because you had absolutely no interest in third-wheeling with her and Billy Hargrove, but mostly because you were too caught up stressing about what Eddie's problem was and why exactly he was ignoring you.

If you’d gone with her that night, you might be dead too. 

You attended the funeral, where you were ignored by the rest of your old friend group — the joys of social pariah-ism— you could hardly make yourself care, much too caught on the jagged edge of thinking very hard about your own mortality. You think about your family, about Dustin and the Party, about all the people you care about and all the people who care about you. You think about Eddie, too, of course, and you wonder bitterly whether he would even go to your funeral if you’d died while he was so busy avoiding you. You can’t say.

Eddie hates funerals.

In the end, it doesn’t matter, because you didn’t go with her that night and you didn’t die, so you don’t have to worry about whether or not your shithead ex-boyfriend would come to your funeral. 

The final weeks of summer come and go, and you manage to stop thinking about your breakup and your mortality long enough to throw your weight into helping to prepare your gaggle of children for the looming threat of High School. You spend full afternoons in the Wheeler’s basement, walking the Party through what they can expect as freshmen like you’re running an incredibly intense session of D&D. You do your very best to channel that same gravitas you’d seen in other examples of Dungeon Mastering (watching Eddie) affecting your “serious babysitter” voice and laying down anything and everything they will need to know.

The effort is something akin to herding kittens as everyone is far too distracted with their own nonsense. Dustin only wants to talk about everything that has changed since you graduated High School and continually – annoyingly– asks if you are okay (you assure him time and again that you are fine but still, he insists on asking), you can't tell if Mike misses Will or his weird little girlfriend more and spends hours upon hours moping pathetically, and Max and Lucas are so busy breaking up and getting back together that you're fairly certain they haven't heard a word you've said over the course of the long hours you've spent lecturing them.

It is extremely annoying, but you can't deny that you're thankful for the distraction, considering it is very hard not to think about Eddie all the time when he is everywhere you look.

Not physically, of course, you haven’t seen him since that terrible night, but he is always there, scorched into every inch of this town, clinging to you wherever you go like an inky black shadow that you cannot wash away no matter how hard you try – and you have tried.

You are so goddamn thankful when the first cool breezes of autumn begin to blow, bringing with them a rush of change that would have normally been enough to send a thick slurry of panic rushing through your veins.

They hit one right after the other, with enough force to give you whiplash.

First the breakup, of course, then the end to your adventures in babysitting – you were strangely okay with the way that long era of your life had been ushered into its final chapter, if not a little embarrassed about the way you’d sat blubbering on the Henderson’s couch when Dustin broke the news.

He was right, fourteen was too old for a babysitter, and at the end of the day, you were happy to let him cut the apron strings, even if you couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that you’d been fired.

Next came your friend’s funeral, followed very quickly by your family’s sudden announcement that they would be leaving Hawkins for upstate New York, where a shiny new promotion awaited your father. You, in turn, shocked them by insisting you would not be joining them, and while your parents put up a fight, there was ultimately nothing they could do to change your mind.

Your childhood home went to market, and as such, you were forced to clean out your room, which meant you were forced to address the box of all the things that reminded you of Eddie that had been sitting in the back of your closet since August.

You ended up leaving it on his porch in the middle of the night in a fit of moody pique, and you told yourself you didn’t care what he did with any of it. Part of you hoped he would just burn it all, and that it would allow you to be done with each other once and for all.

You'd had to let yourself hate Eddie just a little bit just so that you could finally try to start healing, and you'd been surprised by how easy it was to get there.

You’re not over him. You don’t know if you’ll ever be over him, but what you do know is you can’t condemn yourself to wasting away over something so silly as adolescent heartbreak, like some kind of fragile Victorian heroine.

You’ve got other shit to worry about besides the fact that Eddie Munson doesn’t love you anymore … and yet you still spend far too much time thinking about the way he’d pulled away from you that night, how he couldn’t look at you when he broke your heart – fucking coward.

Could be worse. You tell yourself, You could be dead.

It doesn’t make you feel any better. Your lease on your icebox apartment was approved the same day you went to ask after the “help wanted” sign in the window of the diner formerly known as Benny’s.

They hired you on the spot.

It feels a little bit like admitting defeat, considering how you’ve always sworn you’d rather jump off a bridge than willingly submit yourself to the slow death that is customer service, but you didn’t apply anywhere for college, so it’s not like you had a lot of other options.

To his credit, Dustin had tried his hardest to get you a job at Family Video alongside Robin and Steve, but it had been an exercise in attempting to move heaven and Earth.

You are not on good terms with the manager, because Eddie is not on good terms with him.

Keith used to run Hellfire, back in the day, and from what you understand he’d had a hard time letting it go when he’d graduated. You don’t know all the sordid little details, you only know it was extremely awkward while you and Eddie were dating, and it hasn’t gotten any better now that you’ve broken up.

It was bad enough having Keith stare daggers at you from the various dark corners of the Arcade when you would chaperone Dustin and the rest, but then it became a Herculean feat just to try and rent a video.

There’s no shame quite like having to beg on your hands and knees just to be allowed to rent some campy horror movie you’re really only planning to put on as background noise while Keith just stares back at you from behind his cold dead eyes.

It’s not your fault he doesn’t like Eddie, but he’d decided it was your problem. Guys like Keith never let go of a grudge, and regardless of your relationship status, you would be forever branded as the mistress of the enemy, so no Family Video for you.

It’s for the best. Robin is nice, but you don’t really know how to interact with Steve, particularly now that he’s supposedly turned over a new leaf. You guess he’s fine, considering he actually lets you rent videos without putting up a fight, but he was entirely unpleasant in school, particularly when Eddie came into the mix, so you don’t trust Steve by default, regardless of the way Dustin worships the ground he walks on.

As far as you’re concerned: once a mean girl, always a mean girl.

Despite how work keeps you busy and how you don’t babysit anymore, you still see Dustin as often as always. You have a standing invitation to join the Hendersons for dinner any night of the week – you go over on Wednesdays. Claudia, as she’d insisted you call her now —you still can’t shake how strange that feels — always makes too much food and sends you home with a Tupperware of leftovers, because she’s worried you aren’t eating enough.

Dustin talks about school and his new friends, and whatever news he has from California, and he tries and tries and tries to get you to come and meet said new friends because he’s worried you are isolating yourself.

While you appreciate the sentiment, you just don’t have time – someone always needs you to cover a shift, and no matter how many hours you work your paycheck doesn’t seem to get any bigger, and your bills don’t get any smaller.

So far, being an adult is far less fun and freeing than had always been advertised, and you're starting to feel like you've been sold a bill of false goods.

It’s December, and one of the first punishingly cold days of the season when you find yourself bored at work, standing in the corridor between the front of house and the kitchen, trying to warm your hands and talking to a coworker.

There are an infinite number of things you’d rather be doing than listening to a grown woman bitch about her kids, but the heating at the diner is on the fritz, and the only real respite from the chill is the salamander, where food goes to die under the heat of the lamps. You tell yourself it’s better than standing around, listening to the same old Christmas music, shivering under the itchy cotton dress that is your uniform, so there you stand, hands extended, zoning out, nodding periodically, pretending to commiserate.

She’s going on and on about how she’s dreading the holiday break because school days are the only time she gets to herself anymore and you’re biting your tongue to stop yourself from asking why she didn’t think to use a condom.

Her kids are elementary-aged and apparently singularly evil, and you kick yourself as you suddenly remember how you’d oh-so-casually mentioned in your first week of employment that you used to be a babysitter.

You’d just been trying to get to know people, to make new friends at work, and now you hate yourself for daring to be so genial. Serves you right. You can practically feel the question bubbling up between you.

She’s laying it on thick, hinting at her desperate need for someone to watch them “just for a few hours on nights and weekends,” (as if you even had the time for that) and you’re biting the inside of your cheek until you taste blood, praying to anyone who might happen to be listening that she doesn’t ask you to babysit her demon children.

Like divine intervention, the bell of the front door chimes – Thank you, God, Tiamat, Ozzy Osbourne … whoever! – and you take it as your window of opportunity to offer an apologetic smile and bolt into the dining room. Cold be damned, you will not condemn yourself to nights and weekends being tormented by screaming brats.

The spike of adrenaline that cuts through your midsection freezes you to the spot as you realize who has just walked in through the door. There stands Wayne Munson, shrugging out of his winter coat and sliding into the empty booth nearest to the front door.

You notice each other at the same moment, and he freezes, like a deer in headlights. Embarrassingly, the pad of paper you’d fished from your apron pocket in anticipation of taking an order slips from your fingers and clatters to the floor. Your heart has dropped into your stomach and the blood is roaring in your ears so ubiquitously that you can no longer hear the tinny din of Jingle Bell Rock playing over the radio.

Before you realize what you’re doing, you’re scanning the frosted windows in a panic, looking for that familiar mop of dark curly hair, following behind. You know if you see him you’re probably going to turn around and run right out the back door and never come back.

It takes all of your limited brain power to convince yourself that Eddie is not about to walk through that door. You know perfectly well that he won’t set foot in this diner. It’s part of the reason you applied here, being one of the few places in town where you knew you would be safe from a chance encounter – his mother used to work here… before she died.

The silence in the diner is deafening. It feels like a very long time before you manage to come back to yourself enough to pick up the pad of paper, square your shoulders, and approach the table.

“Hiya, Wayne,” you say, hoping you sound somewhere halfway to cheerful. Your voice cracks. “Sorry about that I–” you were about to say you didn’t recognize him, but suddenly you can’t bring yourself to lie, and now you’re silently working your mouth, gaping like a fish out of water. “I…I don’t know.” You shake your head and try to laugh about it. It sounds strange and robotic, “Sorry.”

He gives you a craggy smile and dismisses the notion with a gesture that is so entirely Eddie, you suddenly can’t breathe.

You try to think of the last time you’d seen Wayne. June – graduation. He’d brought you flowers and given you a shy hug and you’d felt so stupid craning your neck to look around him, trying to spot the familiar silhouette in the crowd. Eddie wasn’t there and Wayne could only say that he was real sorry about it. No excuses, no explanation, just an apology.

You suddenly wish you were still in the hallway, listening to your coworker complain about her brats.

“Don’t know what you’re sorry for.” Wayne mumbles, “You didn’t do nothin’ wrong.”

You find yourself exhaling slowly through your nose, releasing the breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding, and feeling a weight lift from your shoulders. It’s an odd relief to hear him dismiss the silent fears you’d been wrestling with since the summer, wallowing in the agony of “what did I do wrong”.

It’s good to know Wayne doesn’t hold anything against you.

Still, you fidget with the pad of paper, picking at the wire spiral holding it together as you search for the right thing to say.

“S-so … um… how’s –”

Don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it – how’s Eddie?

You have to clear your throat to banish the thought.

“How’ve you been?” You stammer, gesturing vaguely.

You could kick yourself for how stupid you sound right now, fumbling around like you were strangers, just because Eddie had decided he didn’t want you anymore, like some old plaything he’d outgrown. You could kick him for that, too.

“Fine. Good.” Wayne says, nodding, “How about you? Ain’t seen you since…” he trails off like he’s realized what he was about to say —ain’t seen you since y’all broke up — obviously. “Well… we heard you’d left town is all.”

We.

“No, just my folks.” you explain, “I rent a place in town.”

His face brightens like he’s relieved to hear it. It makes you feel strange and you half wonder if you are going to regret telling him that later.

“Oh,” Wayne says. “That’s good.”

You nod, too busy fighting the urge to bolt back into the kitchen to wonder what’s so good about it, and admonishing yourself for being so suspicious.

This is the most awkward conversation you’ve had in a very long time and you cannot wait for it to be over.

Of course, it’s then that you remember that you are a waitress and actually have some kind of obligation to do your job.

“You want coffee?” you ask, cringing at how brusque the question sounds.

If your tone is aggressive, Wayne makes no mention of it as he rubs his calloused hands together in an attempt to warm them.

He nods.

“Yes ma’am.”

You turn on your heel, your beat-up old converse squeaking obnoxiously on the tile, and stalk back to the counter. It occurs to you too late you didn’t ask about cream and sugar, but you remind yourself you know Wayne well enough to know he takes his coffee black.

It is yet another piece of intimate information you hadn’t been entirely sure what to do with until this very moment. You wonder briefly how much of this interaction is going to make it back to Eddie.

You can just imagine Wayne rolling up into the trailer that evening – maybe Eddie’s on the couch, maybe he comes out of his room to investigate the sounds of his uncle returning home.

“Hey, Kid—” Wayne will say, “You’ll never guess who I saw today.”

You bitterly hope it ruins his day, knowing you’d stuck around after he’d all but begged you to leave. It’s still so much easier to hate Eddie than feels right.

You return with a mug and pot of coffee, pouring and indulging yourself in a little self-destruction as the steam wafts up and burns your knuckles. It’s just hot enough to feel fantastic on your frigid fingers.

Suddenly, like an intrusive thought, you're caught wondering if Eddie ever got the heating fixed in his van. It had crapped out the year before in the middle of a deep freeze and you'd spent many a day sitting huddled together, trying to keep warm and having very tense conversations about the possibility of whether a space heater would blow up in the back of the van.

“How do you like it?” Wayne asks suddenly, bringing you back to the moment. “Your new place?”

You blink at him, trying simultaneously to ground yourself in the moment and think of the right thing to say before shrugging your shoulders.

“It’s okay.” You mumble, running your thumbnail over the grooves in the plastic handle, “Actually, I kind of hate it..."

You don’t know why you’d said it, only that it felt natural, like complaining to your dad about a grown-up problem he might have a fix for, only Wayne’s not your dad.

He hums, “You got bad neighbors or somethin’?”

“I’ve got leaky pipes.” It feels a little like oversharing, but suddenly you can’t stop the truth from flowing out of your mouth.

Wayne snorts into his mug as he takes a sip of his coffee, leveling you with a sly look from the corner of his eye.

“Don’t we all?”

His eyebrows jump and even though it takes you a moment to process the joke, you shock yourself by laughing out loud. Too loud. The sound of it echoes obnoxiously around the diner, nearly empty as it is at 1:30 on Tuesday afternoon.

It makes you sound like a crazy person, but you’d nearly forgotten about Wayne’s penchant for Dad Jokes.

You can’t remember the last time you’d laughed in a way that wasn’t some stilted thing for someone else’s benefit, to try and convince them you were fine while you were silently holding yourself together, trying not to fly apart at the seams.

It feels good.

“Hey, there she is.” Wayne smiles shyly into the mug, “It’s good to see you again, Sweetheart.”

It’s like a dam breaking as the awkwardness of the moment evaporates and your affection for the man comes rushing back in.

You can feel the corners of your mouth pulling up and you smile at the joke, at the notion that someone is happy to see you, at being reunited with someone you didn’t know you would miss so much.

Suddenly, you’re so pissed at Eddie for being so selfish that you’re half inclined to smash the coffee pot. Wayne had been your friend, a father figure in the absence of interest from your own.

You wonder briefly if he’d let you hug him. Like he’d anticipated the whim, Wayne gestures to the seat opposite him.

“Can you sit and talk a little?” Wayne asks, “I think we owe each other a few rounds of catch up,”

You twist and look around the dining room, at the singular creepy regular perched on his stool at the end of the counter, outstaying his welcome and doing his best not to show how he’s watching you.

It’s a ghost town, and not likely to gain so much as a single customer until school lets out. You tell yourself you can either go back into the hallway and take your chances at refusing to babysit the apparent hellspawn of your coworker, or you can sit and talk with Wayne for a few minutes.

It’s an easy decision to make.

“Mmmm, I don’t know,” You hum, “We’re pretty slammed.”

Wayne smirks as you slide into the booth opposite him.

You spend the better part of an hour with idle chatter, catching up. You do most of the talking, complaining about your apartment and all its problems, your job, how you wished you’d applied anywhere for college, and how expensive it is to live on your own.

Wayne listens, nods, and drinks his coffee, and you don’t talk about Eddie, despite the way you can feel him lingering between the two of you.

It almost feels like getting back to normal and you fool yourself into thinking that if you shut your eyes, you could imagine sitting at the tiny dining table in the living room of the Munson trailer, talking to Wayne about your day while you wait for Eddie.

You can almost pretend he’s still right there, that any moment he’s going to come trotting out of his room, usher you up from the table, and lead you out to the van, though not before bidding Wayne so long, and thanking him for the chat. Sitting there, talking with Wayne, you can almost pretend Eddie still loves you...

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and suddenly the bell chimes as the door swings open announcing the arrival of a gaggle of high schoolers. Their presence shatters the stillness as they file in, laughing and chattering and assaulting you with the golds and greens of the Hawkins Tigers splashed across their letterman jackets and cheer uniforms.

You feel a strange sadness with the way the moment ends so abruptly, and how Eddie’s inky shadow is suddenly gone taking all the air out of the room with it.

Somehow, it's like time here in the diner exists in a vacuum, and after he leaves you’re never going to see Wayne again. Because he belongs to Eddie, and you have no right to breach the post-breakup walls that have been erected.

He got Wayne and the band and all the guys at Hellfire in the divorce, and you got to not die in a mall fire. It doesn’t seem like a fair trade-off: your life for everyone in it?

Once again, foolishly, you are struck by just how badly Eddie had hurt you, and you can’t help but wonder if he knew what he was doing, if he’d gone out of his way to do everything in his power to break your heart.

Still, you can’t bring yourself to damn him, not with Wayne sitting right there — it would feel too much like a betrayal. You were the only two people in the world who saw Eddie for more than what the rumors had made him out to be. You were the only two people in the world who loved him.

You hate yourself for the sharp pang of grief that lances through your chest and try not to think about how much you’re going to miss Wayne when he leaves today — how much you miss Eddie.

It makes you a little misty-eyed.

If he sees it, Wayne pretends not to notice, because he is a gentleman.

You watch the high schoolers file into the large booth on the opposite end of the room and wait to see if your co-worker will come out to take their orders. She does not.

Of course.

“Well, that’s my cue.” You sniff, clearing your throat and scrubbing furiously at your cheeks to try and banish any lingering emotion.

You push up from the booth, contemplating the milkshakes, French fries, and forced pleasantries in your immediate future.

“What do I owe you?” Wayne asks, fishing for his wallet.

You shake your head.

“Coffee’s on the house.” You cut him off before he can protest, "No, you don’t have a say in the matter. My gift to you.”

You start across the floor, towards the far booth where the social elite of Hawkins High have piled in and are talking animatedly about something you’re sure you wouldn’t have been interested in even when you counted yourself among their ranks.

You before Eddie.

You cringe as you come to recognize a few faces in the group and are busy bracing yourself for the impending “hey, didn’t you use to…?” when Wayne calls your name.

You turn on your heel and stare back at him, where he is scratching the back of his neck and averting his gaze. Another gesture that is entirely too Eddie – somehow it’s a little more comforting this time.

“Let me know when you’re free.” Wayne offers, gesturing vaguely, “ I’ll come by and see if we can’t do something about those pipes, and all the other stuff.”

It’s a slow change, but you can feel your face splitting into a grin, warmth blooming in your chest. Wayne Munson, the gentleman handyman.

You nod and watch him get up from the booth, shrugging back into his coat and tipping his hat to you as he makes his way to the door. Suddenly, you are brimming with the possibility of a next time, something almost like the way things used to be.

Not with Eddie, of course. You're fairly certain that you're never going to see Eddie again, and you suppose some small part of you has started to make peace with that, but Wayne is family. It is almost enough to scratch that Munson itch you’ve been feeling since August, no matter how it might leave you feeling afterward.

You decide in an instant that you can stand to hurt your feelings a little bit and indulge yourself in the next best thing.

You can’t stop yourself from calling out,

“Hey, Wayne – same time next week?” You posit, tugging nervously at the sleeve of your dress.

He turns, thinks about it, then smiles.

“Yes ma’am. I’ll be here.”

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