#First the truth is killed then the people | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

starcurtain · 19 hours ago

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Please do elaborate on Kaeya and Diluc's fanon! Your post on Kaeya and Venti was amazing to read.

First, before any Diluc lovers come out of the woodwork trying to defend their favorite from me, I gotta place my disclaimer: I am also a Diluc lover; he is definitely in my top three favorite Mondstadt characters (after Venti who is my favorite archon and Kaeya who is one of my favorite Genshin characters in general). So as I make this post, please just keep in mind that I also love and respect Diluc and his role in the story; recognizing a character's flaws and mistakes isn't a personal attack, mmmkayy?

All right, so anyway...

When it comes to Diluc and Kaeya's shattered relationship (personally I view them as strictly brothers, but I can also stay in my own lane, so there is no ship hate intended by this post), everyone talks about the damage Diluc supposedly did to Kaeya's eye and focuses on their duel on the night of Crepus's death.

People are quick to forgive Diluc because he had an obvious reason to be completely overwhelmed; having just lost his father, Kaeya's timing of coming clean about his secret was absolutely abysmal. If Kaeya had managed to wait even one day, the situation might have been very different, so I don't think there's any particular surprise that Diluc ended up attacking his brother, and I think this is where fanon takes on Diluc and Kaeya tend to focus--that Diluc had an warranted emotional response on the night of his father's death and lashed out, and Kaeya has mostly his own terrible sense of timing to blame for what occurred.

Therefore, the fanon approach to Diluc and Kaeya seems to be largely that both of them owe each other reconciliation and that, if they want to mend their relationship, both of them need to put in equal amounts of work.

But personally, I think this is neglecting two glaring aspects of the canon material we're given:

Kaeya's physical injury (if there even actually is one) is absolutely minuscule in comparison to the emotional damage Diluc's attack did. Even years later, Kaeya is not okay.

The diametrically opposed ways that Kaeya and Diluc understand and react to the people around them make Diluc's methods of atoning for his behavior virtually incompatible with what Kaeya emotionally needs from his brother.

I am not downplaying the incredible pain that Diluc would have gone through, having to mercy kill his own father after barely surviving a brutal attack thanks only to his father's sacrifice. To then learn, on top of that, that the brother you had loved, who had been an accepted and trusted member of your family for years, was actually a foreign entity planted in your country with the possibility of becoming a sleeper agent for the enemy--this is beyond the pale of what any normal person could accept. Diluc's anger, pain, and desire to lash out are understandable, and turning on his brother in that moment was essentially inevitable.

However, what people neglect is that Kaeya told Diluc the truth in that moment explicitly because of guilt.

Kaeya felt that his own reaction to Crepus's death wasn't appropriate (he felt liberated by Crepus's loss because it resolved Kaeya of the pain of making the choice between his blood father and his adoptive father) and he was trying to immediately atone for his perceived selfishness by being honest. Kaeya believed that telling Diluc the truth in that moment was better than continuing to perpetuate another lie for the person who had just had to confront his father's likely lifelong deception with the Delusion.

By baring himself completely, being honest for the first time in all his years in Mondstadt, Kaeya thought he was doing the right thing--even though he knew it would cost him his relationship with Diluc.

Diluc repaid Kaeya's honesty with rejection, and Kaeya viewed this as a deserved punishment.

Kaeya's confession was effectively a form of self-harm. He was disgusted with himself because he perceived his complicated feelings over Crepus's death as insufficient grief--Diluc had just lost the most meaningful thing in the world to him, and so Kaeya wanted to "make it right" by losing what meant the most to him too. It was self-sabotage of the highest caliber, provoking Diluc into attacking him because that's what Kaeya thought a liar like himself deserved.

But even though Kaeya knew what the outcome would be, it's clear that he did not understand the extent to which he would internalize the messages he learned that day:

No one should put their faith in me, because I will eventually betray everyone who cares.

and

If I tell the truth, I will lose everything I have.

We're told that, as children, Diluc and Kaeya were thick as thieves, but that Diluc was the extroverted and outgoing one, while Kaeya stuck "in his brother's shadow."

Stories from their childhood reveal that Diluc was the troublemaker who dragged Kaeya into his antics. Kaeya's hangout confirms that Kaeya was a quiet, well-behaved child (it's possible he feared that acting out would cost him his place in Mondstadt) and that his people-pleasing tendencies were already firmly in place, if the stories Adeline has to tell are anything to go by.

And yet the Kaeya of the present is described as shifty, deliberately untrustworthy, and even the type to put others in danger to suit his own ends, refusing the trust of even those closest to him:

It's obvious that there's intentionality behind this behavior--a double-edged blade: Kaeya successfully deceives everyone around him about his actual past, blinding people from asking the hard questions with flashiness and diversions on the surface--and yet he also cannot bear to be trusted. He has internalized the impression of himself as a liar and a betrayer so deeply that he actively repels others' attempts to get closer to him, acting shady and unreliable to introduce doubt into every relationship he forms, so that when the inevitable happens and his secret is finally revealed to the world at large (as it was once revealed to Diluc), he won't face the same pain of loss again.

Kaeya cannot betray anyone ever again if no one ever trusts him to begin with.

Thus, Diluc's reaction to Kaeya's reveal didn't just cost Kaeya his relationship with Diluc. It effectively cost Kaeya his relationships with everyone.

Kaeya went from being a quiet, well-loved child to the kind of person who would smirk while putting his own men in danger, the kind of person who every single other character in Mondstadt (and even the Traveler!) calls a "mystery" whose words can't ever be trusted:

The people of Mondstadt, particularly his fellow knights, clearly love Kaeya; they want to be close to him. The archon of Mondstadt clearly loves Kaeya. But Kaeya's self-image is so horrifically warped by the fact that he revealed the truth of himself one time (just one time!) and immediately lost everything he loved because of that truth, that he has become incapable of letting anyone close again, sabotaging all his relationships in advance before the people on the other side can figure out that he's not who he claims to be.

Because of how Diluc reacted, Kaeya has subconsciously drawn a connection between honesty and pain: So long as Kaeya hides who he is, he can be accepted and tolerated in Mondstadt. But if he dares to reveal the truth, he will be met with violence and outrage.

Thus, Kaeya has resigned himself to a literal "lifetime of lies," a "never-ending performance" in which he can never be honest with those around him--even while other characters like Albedo cruise through life with seemingly no care that people know their Khaenri'ahn connections.

This is why "acting" is so prominent a theme in Kaeya's character, both in the past and present, why we constantly see him "playing a role" (as a prince, as a bandit, as a hero, etc. etc.)--he is never the real person, always a performer, and it is often only through his performances that he's able to express some of his own true thoughts and feelings, masking himself behind someone else's script as a way to "safely" express the tiniest hints of his own truth.

What happened with Diluc fucked Kaeya up bad, in the most basic of terms.

Because the problem is: Kaeya doesn't want to be the way he is. He clearly loves the people of Mondstadt with everything he has. He adores Klee, greatly respects Jean, and has an incredible desire to protect the city that took him in. He wants to be close to others. He wants to reconnect with Diluc. He's a desperately lonely character who practically begs the Traveler to spend time with him and reacts surprisingly harshly when the idea of his being lonely is dragged into the light.

I'd even go so far as to argue that his legitimate issues with alcohol stem from the fact that the taverns of Mondstadt are the one place where he is guaranteed to find company, where no matter what time of the night, he is sure to find someone--even if it's just bandits and treasure hunters--to fill the silence.

Because of his past experience, Kaeya can neither be honest with others nor comfortable with lying to them, constantly forced to keep others at arm's length to avoid the painful possibility of further rejection for just being himself. What happened the night of Crepus's death essentially shut Kaeya out of any healthy adult relationships, leaving him entirely alone even in the middle of a city full of people who want to love him.

(This is why it's so important to me that Dainsleif already knows all of Kaeya's background, even the parts Kaeya is still keeping quiet about--but that's just the DainKae shipper in me jumping out, so I'll move on lolol.)

While grappling with the very real fear of his own future, of knowing that his destiny will catch up with him--but wracked with the uncertainty of not knowing where and how--while struggling with his divided allegiances, while just trying to figure out where his own place in the world even is, Kaeya is entirely alone, trapped on the sidelines of his own life in no small part because he took the risk of being himself one time and it cost him everything he loved.

And this is where I think fanon struggles, because it's much easier to just say that Kaeya is dishonest by nature, that he was always going to be a deceptive character, or that the worst outcome of his duel with Diluc was the scar on his face. There's this ridiculous notion that Diluc is already done atoning for that physical wound...

But the scar on Kaeya's face (if there even really is one) is utterly meaningless. The reason Kaeya won't take off his eyepatch has nothing to do with his appearance. He won't take off that eyepatch because it's symbolic of his fear of revealing himself. Kaeya's eyes are synonymous with his identity as a Khaenri'ahn, and thus his refusal to reveal his other eye is nothing more than a visual indication of his discomfort with himself, his divided loyalty, and his internalized belief that the cost of revealing himself fully will be the thing he most cares about: his home in Mondstadt.

Kaeya's entire personality, his sense of self-worth--his life--was reshaped on the night he dueled with Diluc.

And this is the tragedy, of course: Diluc's actions were understandable. Even Kaeya knew Diluc's lashing out was inevitable. It's not like we can really say "This is your fault, Diluc." But the fact of the matter does remain: If Diluc had only managed to control his emotions just a little bit better, if he had only been able to stop himself for a moment to think about his brother as a person who was also hurting and fraught in that moment, he might have realized the emotional significance of Kaeya revealing who he truly was. If Diluc had accepted--or even just tolerated--Kaeya's truth, Kaeya's entire adult life would be different, and that's just a basic fact.

Diluc has his own flaws though! He has his own crosses to bear that made it impossible--that I think, to a certain extent still make it impossible--for him to understand the damage he did and can still do to Kaeya.

So this whole fanon notion of them being on a reasonable path to reconciliation, that they'll be able to resolve their past disagreements by meeting each other in the middle... I just don't think that's really all that accurate to canon. I don't mean that they're not working toward reconciliation or that they won't get there eventually, but that the notion of "reconciliation" in the first place is entirely tangled up with Kaeya's sense of self-identity, and until he is able to resolve the truth of his past and his lingering loyalties to Khaenri'ah, I don't think he'll ever be able to fully repair the relationship that was lost between himself and Diluc.

And to be honest, this is just my personal view of the situation, but... I find it particularly hard to stomach the idea that Kaeya should be the primary driver of repairing the relationship between himself and Diluc, which I've seen in a lot of fanon takes (perhaps because fans in general agree that Diluc is a lot less likely to take action in an emotional situation than he is when fighting monsters lol).

I don't believe Kaeya really thinks it's possible for him to fully reconcile with Diluc. Kaeya cannot apologize for his existence, for being Khaenri'ahn--he cannot change who he is. He cannot "undo" his revealing the truth or make the reality of his double life go away. Thus, in Kaeya's eyes, he effectively has no way to make himself "acceptable" to Diluc again. This is why he continues to shy away from Diluc, even all the way to the recent archon quest, where he tries to excuse himself immediately, claiming that they'd just get in each other's way:

It's why he behaves like a thief sneaking into the Dawn Winery and repeatedly calls himself nothing more than a "guest" in the house, even though Adeline and the other employees pointedly tell him it's still his home and he's still welcome.

It's why, despite continually doing things to show he still cares--keeping Diluc's Vision safe, sending letters while Diluc was away--Kaeya isn't even brave enough to call Diluc his brother to his face anymore.

Kaeya cannot "fix" what happened between himself and Diluc, and his own image and sense of worth have been so shattered by what is now years of internalized self-doubt and self-imposed isolation that he seems afraid to even genuinely expect anything of Diluc at all, let alone consider the possibility that Diluc might owe him an apology instead.

Diluc knows he does, though.

He just can't give it because of who he is.

This is, I think, the most frustrating--but also most realistic and best written!--part of Diluc and Kaeya's relationship: Diluc clearly does want to atone for what happened the night Crepus died. He is doing many things, in his own Diluc-ish way, to signal to Kaeya that he wants to put the past behind them and restore their relationship.

He kept and displays the vase Kaeya hid his Vision in (despite it being garish on purpose); he also keeps the lantern Kaeya brings him from Sumeru in Kaeya's hangout.

He responded to Kaeya's letters during his absence from Mondstadt. He allows Kaeya into the Dawn Winery, with the implication that the doors were always open for him in the first place.

When Kaeya tries to leave during the most recent archon quest, Diluc essentially makes it clear that there's no reason why they shouldn't stay together.

Showing a picture of Diluc's in-game model feels like character assassination at this point...

Although Diluc can be prickly and doesn't always have the nicest of things to say about Kaeya to others, it's pretty clear that he isn't intentionally holding a personal grudge. For the most part, it comes across as if Diluc seems set on quietly putting aside their past--as if it didn't happen.

This is, effectively, an apology without actually speaking one: If Diluc allows Kaeya back into his life, acts as if Kaeya is making a big deal out of nothing (like when he told Kaeya to quit guilting him over the eye injury), and implies that Kaeya still belongs in the Winery family, at the Angel's Share, etc., then isn't he doing the right thing? Isn't he showing Kaeya that he does accept him as he is? That he knows who Kaeya really is and still can tolerate him?

You can almost feel the thought process: Do I really have to spell it out?

But the problem is that Kaeya's sense of self-worth is so crippled by his internal perceptions--I'm a liar, I have and will continue to betray my loved ones, I'm not meant to be here--that Diluc's presumptuous and silent form of reconciliation is essentially incompatible with what Kaeya actually needs to hear and experience. Kaeya does, in fact, need it spelled out. In glaring red letters. And then probably fifteen more times for good measure before he'll actually start to let himself believe it.

Over and over and over again, people reassure Kaeya of his place in Mondstadt and in the Dawn Winery family specifically:

But over and over again, Kaeya dodges and dismisses their reassurances, because until he believes Diluc has forgiven and accepted him, he will never feel confident in his place in the Ragnvindr family (and by extension, Mondstadt) again. Even though Kaeya has visual proof of Diluc's continuing care--the vase in the lobby of the winery--he doesn't dare to make any major assumption. He isn't confident enough to take Diluc's string of small gestures for actual, meaningful acceptance.

Despite how obviously Kaeya wants to be Diluc's brother again--the moment at the end of the recent archon quest is the most joyously animated we've seen Kaeya in a long time--

--their reconciliation is effectively doomed to continue at a glacial pace because of who they are as people.

Diluc's method of handling the emotional issues in his life is critically avoidant, while Kaeya desperately needs direct and unambiguous confirmation that he cannot rationalize away.

Until both of them are able to confront the heart of the matter--which is Kaeya's identity and Diluc's explicit acceptance thereof (Kaeya's explicit acceptance thereof!)--they will continue to make minuscule progress as Diluc lets his gestures, rather than his words, speak on his desire for reconciliation, and Kaeya tentatively toes the line and then retreats, two steps backward for one step forward.

It's my personal belief that we'll likely see a "real" reconciliation between Diluc and Kaeya only when Kaeya is able to finally reconcile with himself.

But Diluc could fix this problem at any time, if he wasn't, you know... Diluc. 😂

Anyway, all this to say that I think fanon really favors Diluc over Kaeya in a lot of cases and that there's a critical lack of reflection on the long-lasting and very serious effects that their falling out had on Kaeya's emotional and mental state.

It's not about the duel, it's not about the eye scar--it's about Kaeya becoming convinced that his entire life must, by necessity, remain a lie forever, crystalizing his belief that he can never feel comfortable in his own skin.

He was already struggling and uncertain about his dual allegiances, but to take the risk of revealing himself to someone he loved only to face immediate and violent rejection... Kaeya knew it was coming and it still messed him up a lot, a lot more than people seem interested in talking about.

Just sayin'.

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overcastcat · 1 day ago

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It's also a pretty thorough illustration of why "no cops at pride" is as relevant as it has ever been.

The San Antonio Police Department allegedly knew about the threats they'd been receiving and had known for quite a while: Joss and De Gonzales had reported several instances of their neighbors threatening them with arson that took place over the course of more than two years [1,2]. As far as De Gonzales can tell, the SAPD couldn't even be bothered to look into these reports of threats even after their house actually fucking burned down [1,2]. I can't help but find it fascinating that none of the comically obvious suspects for said potential arson seemed to have been affected by much in the way of police investigation, even after the house they'd been threatening to set on fire repeatedly *mysteriously* burned down. They had years to intervene before this resulted in a murder, but they didn't.

The police don't seem to bring up the fire or this history of threats when they discuss Joss's murder, probably because it'd make claims like “Our investigation has found no evidence whatsoever to indicate that the Mr. Joss’s murder was related to his sexual orientation. We take such allegations very seriously and have thoroughly reviewed all available information" [2] look even more like total horseshit than they already do. I find it hard to believe that reports that could potentially implicate some of these people in homophobia-motivated murder and demonstrably premeditated possible arson have actually been looked into without the possibility of investigating this case as a hatecrime becoming relevant to the investigation as a result. I know it's not DNA and fingerprints at the scene, but it merits some kind of investigation, especially when police are demonstrably willing to kill and detain people based on way, way less.

Either De Gonzales is lying about this (which I doubt, considering his house burning down and his husband being murdered), or not a single police employee bothered to keep any kind of record of a gay couple repeatedly coming to them for help after being threatened with arson, or the cops are too lazy to look for said records and lied about it to maintain some pretense of giving a shit about their jobs. At this point I'm half convinced that the only reason they have investigated anything in this case is because of media attention and public scrutiny. The SAPD chief tried to issue a statement "which ruled out [Joss's] death as a hate crime" and then withdrew it after apparently chickening out just a few days later [3], thankfully.

Also, if the SAPD's negligence while Joss was still alive wasn't enough insult to injury, the officers and those working with them who will acknowlege the theoretical possibility of Joss's murder being a hatecrime don't seem willing to do much more than pay lip-service. Despite plans to "keep their options open," the DA is also not-so-subtly discouraging the idea of pursing hate crime charges in interviews, since it won't add anything to the murderer's prison sentence: "'The man is already facing the maximum punishment being charged with murder, and that is a maximum of 99 years to life,' Gonzales (the District Attorney) explained. 'There is no advantage to alleging a hate crime because it's already at a first degree'" [3]. Being willing to try calling a hate crime what it is (despite the difficulty of getting those charges to stick officially) is apparently only necessary to ensure that some guy gets life in prison as opposed to... trying to tell the truth. Cool.

The former DA weighed in too, offering this delightfully thoughtful and compassionate tidbit: "'name calling during the commission of a crime itself does not mean it's a hate crime. People say stupid stuff all the time'" [3]. Nice. I really hope this was extremely poor word choice on his part, bc otherwise this kind of implies that people who make these claims are just spouting "stupid stuff." Does that include Joss's husband, the witness who was standing right next to Joss as he was murdered? I don't think he's "name-calling" when he offers eyewitness testimony about the goddamn events that he watched happen.

EDIT: After having slept on this, I realized I have to amend this part in the the interest of presenting things accurately. I misinterpreted what he meant by "commission:" I thought that referred to the investigation of the crime in the aftermath rather than the actual crime itself. Thus, him saying "'name calling during the commission of a crime itself does not mean it's a hate crime. People say stupid stuff all the time,'" [3] is referring to the "violent homophobic slurs" the killer shouted at Joss and De Gonzales before firing [1], rather than the people calling the killer homophobic and calling the events a hate crime afterwards. He does trivialize the killer's hate speech by referring to it as "name calling," but he wasn't calling accusations of homophobia like De Gonzales's "name calling" as I'd initially thought.

I get that DAs and cops have to put in time and effort to prove a hate crime officially/legally occurred in accordance with procedure, and even if they were trying to they probably couldn't pull that off in a week. However, their general unwillingness to sincerely entertain the possibility that the man who shouted homophobic vitriol at a gay couple before opening fire on them could have maybe done a hatecrime shows a pretty incredible medley of apathy, incompetence, and dispassion for Joss and his loved ones. This is all made blatant by the SAPD seemingly letting this escalate from harrassment to threats to (potential) arson and finally to murder before bothering to get off their asses about it.

#jonathan joss #no cops at pride #current events #america #us politics

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rosy-crow · 2 days ago

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Yeah, about hero!Sephiroth….

Crisis Core and The First Soldier are not tone deaf when it comes to Sephiroth’s writing. At all.

I know they have weak execution in areas, but they have a point they want to make about characters like Zack and Sephiroth and Cloud that you are supposed to understand for a reason.

It’s clear to me that some FF7 fans refuse, for whatever reason, to acknowledge that the entire point of hero! Sephiroth’s character these days is to show that his fall from grace was literally a fall from grace by standards entirely separate from Shinra. If you go by Shinra’s “morals” or illusions of righteousness, he was never actually a hero at all. He fell from nothing “good” whatsoever.

He was a war machine painted like a great figure by the company’s own propaganda, sent to finish an extermination of the people of Rhadore for his first mission and later sent over to Wutai to fight in the war that Shinra unjustly perpetuated and began when he was a child.

Yes, Shinra called him a hero before he was ever even in the Wutai war. Before he was ever even deployed. He was around 8-9 when it began and Shinra needed plenty of recruits to build an army before they deployed him specifically. He was showing great promise as a boy in training, so what better way to lure in other children than to rely on the image of a young prodigy to inspire them?

That was why FS revealed this almost immediately. Shinra crafted a war hero image for Sephiroth to use as propaganda long before he did anything special on the battlefield, and this was the very image he loathed, resented, and expressed his desire to be free from. He didn’t want to be a “hero” because all he knew was Shinra’s illusion of one. And Shinra’s illusion is what we’re meant to see through when we look at the meaning of a hero as well.

We’re supposed to understand this distinction by now because it was already shown through Zack and Cloud. Both of them became heroes beyond Shinra despite initially falling for the company’s propaganda and being massively screwed over. They came to understand that Shinra’s definition of a hero was warped, and Sephiroth was already aware of this long before them.

But now we have The First Soldier, which is cold canon. And we know a little more about Sephiroth’s true hero status.

It’s Nojima’s explanation for why we could have once called Sephiroth a real hero, because while he was certainly still in the process of attaining the title in truth and sincerity (by way of using his strength to save others instead of kill them), he was taking his first steps towards following his own heart (which was naturally inclined towards kindness and care for others when healthy and tended to).

Yes, the call of Sephiroth’s heart was once pure and he was embracing it in his early 20s, when Shinra’s struggle with Wutai was coming to a halt. Yes, Nibelheim broke that resolve into pieces. But Sephiroth was once trying to be the good person he naturally was inclined to be even beneath Shinra’s endless suppression. He was once trying to be a hero that dodged the hateful battlefield and instead rushed to save others in need.

And this is a miracle, because despite what I have seen others try to say, this was a child born and raised inside Shinra, sent to face the cruelest form of “war” at 14 with the mindset of “kill or die, even when they’re children your age….because like you, they may be trained to murder….”

And before then? Sephiroth was training under Hojo since early childhood. He may not have been on the actual frontlines from before he was ten years like the CC Ultimania/Complete Guide claimed, but he was being readied for it.

Do you really think he gained those skills in battle overnight? That conditioned mindset? Do you think he had memories of limit-breaking pain and dreams of his mother saving him from Hojo’s live tests with monsters for no reason?

Do you really think this child didn’t understand the concept of having fun or that he wasn’t familiar with enjoying the outside world, eating good food with a normal family, learning to socialize with people that didn’t see him as an object, or feeling free to think outside his mission because he was raised well and cared for? By anyone other than Hojo?

He was ruthlessly taught to kill or be killed from early on, and repeatedly lied to about his identity by his own “caretakers” because he was their machine. He was not recruited. The only children that compared to him inside Shinra were those in Deepground, and their fully human psyches/bodies fractured under the endurance of training and trials that Sephiroth was just inhuman enough to survive and grow stronger from.

There is no “sad childhood” to be spoken of in this because there is no childhood to be spoken of at all. Sephiroth’s story goes beyond that.

Sephiroth was a weapon produced inside Hojo’s laboratory. Hojo. The Hojo. Not just some dark and gloomy room with hazard lights. The mad scientist’s lair where Hojo unethically groomed a desired monster that longed to embrace his Shinra-stifled humanity and was finally able to do so the moment he met his first team. Glenn said it himself. He knew Sephiroth had compassion in him and the boy melted on the spot thanks to the smallest bit of affection and kindness. All his previous fear-based violence wilted in the face of the cycle being broken.

After that, Sephiroth helped to properly bury the Rhadorans, he came to understand what they had fought for alongside his team, and then he risked his life to try and save the sole survivor of their race.

Yes, it ended in tragedy and disaster, but that experience shaped Sephiroth for the rest of his sane life. He began to try and spare his enemies, he fought to save his comrades, he became kind at heart, and he was a step away from leaving Shinra.

You want to know why some Turks questioned Shinra for a longer period of time perhaps?

Cissnei, for instance? She was around the same age as Sephiroth when on the field, and like him…trained before then. She was compassionate, empathetic, dreamed of freedom, and eventually left the company. She was just like Sephiroth if he hadn’t lost everything. It’s stated that Cissnei learned to open up and trust others because of her friends in the Turks division. She found her family and began to heal from the cold isolation and detachment that a childhood in Shinra produced. She followed through with that healing inside her heart and ended up free, finding a good life away from Shinra.

Sephiroth was no different when he met Team Glenn. He defied Shinra for them, he bent rules fpr their sake, and he allowed a sweet, soft part of his true childlike personality to blossom when in their presence. For a moment, Sephiroth discovered a glimpse of childhood….something he never knew.

But then he lost those people just as he began to heal and regain innocence.

Yes, he came back to life and once again began to improve after he met Angeal and Genesis. But as FS2 is revealing, this was not easy, because the layers of psychological and familial trauma that were woven into his mind already at the age of 14-15 after an inhumane background and losing his first found family were so brutally devastating, that he was almost lost to madness and delusion long before Nibelheim.

Sephiroth was mentally ill for years and there was a fucking space alien and imperialist megacorp working together to make it ten times worse with lies surrounding his identity on top of his preexisting issues. This development was a different beast from the Turks and…yeah, even Deepground.

Do you wonder why the Deepground soldiers rebelled against Shinra with “villainous rage” some have claimed Sephiroth himself did not “earn?”

It’s because their existences were not swathed in layers of lies and half-truths about their origins that kept them desperate for answers and largely unaware of what they were or where they could potentially belong. It’s because they did not get a chance to see (and be subsequently ripped away from) the other side of life where the grass was greener and hopes for safety, childhood, and innocence could be grasped at like Sephiroth did.

The Deepground soldiers knew their situations were fucked up because they were humans being treated like dogs from day one and they could see that. Their cages were not painted in gold and dressed up to look like glorious arenas. Their cages were not sometimes left open for them to experience hope before being dragged back inside.

The Deepground warriors came to understand that they were prisoners and were literally being restricted as the strongest humans alive. Of course there was conditioning and learned helplessness involved, but they were also a league, often allied, of humans with unique powers that banded together in order to tear down Shinra’s obvious oppression. They became a community of violent rebels working to break free.

But Sephiroth was always a solitary case, always a little too inhuman, a little too special, and different from everyone, even his fellow SOLDIERS and certainly average humans.

He could not connect with others in his environment and was tied down to his hidden origin. Shinra was his prison just as much as it was for the others I mentioned, but he knew it as his only home because of the sinister way in which they crafted his reality.

He saw the inhumanity of his environment and admitted to feelings of dehumanization after apparently growing up in a cell beneath Hojo’s lab, and he dreamt of his mother taking him away from it, he longed for home and family, but where would he find such things in a world that he didn’t fit into because of his unique existence? Why would the inhumanity of his environment not be suited to a modified human weapon like himself? The abuse and isolation would only be unjust if he were not somewhat of a monster. That’s how he reasoned even if his heart ached for normalcy and humanity.

His missing and seemingly human mother was his only hope. His friends and comrades were his only reprieve from being othered. And even then, where others escaped, questioned, healed, and rebelled, Sephiroth lost everything just as he was considering abandoning Shinra. A desire he expressed before Zack or Cloud. A desire that had been growing inside him for a long time. He was so close, and he was truly becoming a hero with his heart in the right place for the first time. He was trying, healing, inching his way towards that sweet escape.

And then Shinra’s legacy dragged him back with more lies to lead him towards their favorite specimen in Jenova and have him finally, truly fall for the complete lie that he was never human at all. Just a monster that couldn’t save or help anyone with its strength. Just a lab creation that had been used for its power for years. Just an othered being striving and longing for things it could never have because they only were granted to real humans. Not him or his equally solitary mother. All hope became despair.

That’s when Sephiroth’s humanity died just as it was coming to life in completion for the first time.

And why the hell do I care so much about this you ask? Why go through all this trouble to yap and defend pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth? Because I think it matters that we treat his writing with the respect we treat Cloud’s, even if it’s not as clearly spelled out or if you gotta read the fine print. YOU HAVE TO READ THE FINE PRINT.

Sephiroth is not the born evil villain you want him to be. He fell from a place of growth and healing that many other characters are shown obtaining after terrible life experiences and identity crises. Sephiroth is the one that loses the battle and it’s the REASON he is the cruel, cold-hearted villain he is. His “cool factor” and his war crimes as a villain are only strengthened in intensity because of who he once was, what he once experienced.

There is no harm in admitting that this villain is a tragic creation and always has been.

#ok bye #i’m tired #ff7 #sephiroth #miniroth #shinra #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #the first soldier #crisis core #sephposting #meta #long post

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linka-from-captain-planet · 2 days ago

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cataclysmically in my feelings about Clea and the Nevrons

She *could* have created a faceless legion to do the same job, but she didn't. The White Hexga says she created them with "great love and care", and yes it seems to be somewhat under her control/otherwise lost in the sauce but it is undoubtedly the truth. Clea made the Nevrons not just beautiful, complex, and unique, but she also made them artistically harmonic with the part of Verso's canvas they inhabit. Because more than anyone else, Clea loves and respects the work that Verso created - together with herself. She has always painted beautiful, complex, unique, thematically-cogent monsters in that canvas: Sprong was "one of her first creations" (more on this in a bit), the original Lampmaster was the classic eldest sister bully/bolster combo, they played in the Gauntlet together, creatures like the sky serpent seem to be there mostly for ambiance. Many of the Nevrons are even cheery and playful like the Gestrals and Grandis. They *belong* there. What doesn't belong - what flies in the face of Verso's artistic vision - is Aline's diorama and the dolls in it. What others perceive as destruction, she perceives as preservation. The Nevrons are a means to an end, but Clea doesn't half-ass and if she must trespass against Verso's memory, she's going to do it on the god damn theme

Also! HOW do the Nevrons kill people to sequester their chroma? By turning them to statues. Sculpture, her other favorite medium.

I notice also that there's a Sprong outside of The Fountain, where Blanche hides so it doesn't have to destroy the others of its kind because it doesn't want to destroy the beautiful things that belong in this world. The Flying Manor is supposedly Clea's home base - suitably, ominous and untouchable - but could the Fountain be a sort of "Clea's Drafts", expressing more of her true feelings, tucked away someplace private and peaceful?

It seems that Painters can't help but imbue parts of themselves in their works - no matter how much they'd rather not. The White Nevrons express yearning for acceptance, pains of neglect and abandonment, feelings of helplessness, regret, reluctance, insecurity, so on - things Clea rejects herself them for, and wishes to destroy before anyone sees. She does not want to see herself in this canvas; that's why she destroyed Painted Clea and Hauler (notable, that canvas-Hauler is more realistic than the version in Renoir's atelier she doesn't seem to mind). Is that why she only paints monsters - to distance herself from them, or because she can't help but reflect how she sees herself in them? Does she think herself a monster?

And what about Goblu? It seems to be her favorite - it's the painting that hangs on the family gallery wall in Epilogue Alicia, it has several other paintings and sculptures in Clea's rooms, it's one of the four creations in the Flying Manor questline. (ETA: now having thoughts about Goblu being Clea's Esquie........................)

And it's the one that isn't hostile until something it holds precious is touched by these creatures that do! not! belong!!!

#clea dessendre #clair obscur: expedition 33 #expedition 33 spoilers #I fucking love her #she's everything

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miwiheroes · 13 hours ago

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Day 38: Something's Not Adding Up...

Remember, the analysis posts where they have "Day 35 etc etc" are going to be going on my byler slides

So my last byler slides post on here was to do with the lightning flashes and the imagery created from El being in the UD. I am going to be continuing to make posts on the love monologue from here on out its going to be...interesting as there is just soooo much to unpack. Today's is going to be about the fact there are lots of things that Mike says in the monologue that don't add up. There were so many other words that the Duffers could have written into the monologue to make it more convincing, but they didn't.

Straight off the bat, some people might not be convinced that Mike is lying in the first place and never will be. Unfortunately for you, one of the main themes in Season 4 is lying. SO many characters lie to each other at every single turn. However, this theme is especially very very present in the Willelmike love triangle. Lying isn't so much a theme during El's lab storyline, on her part, but whenever she's associated with the love triangle's storyline, she is associated with that theme.

Every single character in the love triangle is lying about something, and they do these things during monologues:

El lies about her life in Lenora during her letter monologue.

Will lies about his feelings towards Mike being El's in his painting monologue.

Mike lies about how he feels towards El in his love monologue.

Another main theme in Season 4 is the fact that they don't win. It was a shock for the audience when they weren't necessarily successful and didn't kill the Big Bad, just like the other seasons. Many things were unsuccessful and unsatisfying. Max's heart stops despite her fighting so hard. This theme can clearly be seen in all the monologues near the end of the show.

Funnily enough, all the monologues' aims are unsatisfying in the end because of the lies in them:

El's lies are found out and then cause her and Mike to have a huge fight.

Will's lies and self-sacrifice and his words about Mike being the heart means that he (in his mind) loses Mike to El forever.

Mike's lies means that 4 gates open in Hawkins because Max's heart stopped.

And this makes total sense because the show's main mantra is literally: Friends don't lie. Meaning lies = bad, yeah

This is the rule of three in action. There is a clear rule of three seen from the fact they are all monologues, from each person in the triangle. Meaning they all need to follow the same pattern. So in this season....Will lies, El lies, Max lies, Lucas lies, Joyce lies and Mike......has no lies? Hm, not likely. So in this season.....Will's lies mean he loses Mike, El's lies are ultimately found out, and Mike's monologue......ends up unsuccessful. But why?

Because he lied.

We've established that due to the themes of the show, the pattern in the monologues, and Season 4's overall theme of them not winning. This just means to me that the love monologue while super important, was not supposed to be wholly truthful and this big positive thing.

Now we can unpack these lies:

The first is obviously the big 'I love you' moment. I would love to talk more about this specific phrase obviously, but I more go into why this is implied to be a negative thing rather than a positive in my other monologue post and my upcoming ones. Without the depth however, I can say that the audience is not supposed to be satisfied when they hear Mike say this. The lightning strikes, Mike's face, the fact Will is behind him in the background, El's face - they all point to that.

To me, this face he makes before saying it not only screams him thinking that he's about to lie, but it screams "i really don't want to do this but i have to otherwise she's going to die." It really feels like something bad is happening rather than something the audience is supposed to want, especially with Will in the background of the shot.

El do you hear me? I love you. I'm sorry I don't say it more. It's not because I'm scared of you. I'm not. I've never felt that way. Never.

Choosing to make him say "I'm sorry I don't say it more".....Hm.

The whole point of El's argument in Episode 3 is that he never says it. Mike then goes onto say "I say it" and El throws the fact that he can't write it in his face, like she thinks it's something that he can't even fake. Not only does he never say it, he never shows it. Just because you can't say it doesn't mean that you can't show it, Mike. That's one of the big reasons why El needs Mike to say it to her - because she just doesn't feel it from him. Ergo, he shouldn't be saying sorry for not saying it more. He should be sorry for not showing it more.

Mike is completely incapable of talking to El directly about anything of the romantic sort, because he knows it's lying, and he doesn't want to feel like he's lying because....that would incriminate himself to himself (if that makes sense). Instead, he tries to perform it to other people, make sure that other people are aware that he has a girilfriend, be more romantic with her in public rather than alone. Byler has many, many scenes by themselves where they have a satisfying intimate moment. In all of Milkvan's one-on-one scenes, Mike either stumbles over his words to refuse to force a romantic moment, just makes out with her, gets interrupted before doing anything satisfying, or argues with her.

The thing about him not being scared of her... I do believe that Mike is not scared of El harming him. He was upset and shocked that she harmed Angela because it went against his idealised version of her, despite her being in the right - this led to him making passive aggressive compliments and ignoring her for the rest of the day. His reactions was enough to remind El of Brenner. Her abusive father figure who was scared of her because he thought she killed these kids violently. This then led to her projecting her anxious attachment towards Brenner onto Mike again - but maybe that's for another post.

But I am scared that one day you're going to realise that you don't need me anymore. And I thought that if I said how I felt it would make that day....Hurt more.

The first sentence is funny because we heard him say something very similar in the van scene, which means that this portion is true. He really wants to be needed. I don't know why, but this rubs me the wrong way. It makes me feel like El just began to attach herself to Mike because she was definitely not independent herself, since he gives her love sometimes and takes it away the next moment. Mike only liking the fact that she needs him is...interesting because he never says that he needs her. Wants her. Loves her? This is just an unequal relationship, as Mike has stated as one of his main insecurities when talking about it with Will.

He just wants El to feel these things that he himself does not. He wants someone to need him. That is how he wants to be loved. But the thing is....El realises that she doesn't need him to say I love you during the lab arc. My next post on the monologue will touch on El's arc more, and the fact that her needing Mike to say I love you was not because she loved him so much and wanted him to say it back. She just wanted to feel like she wasn't a total monster. But then she said to Brenner that she no longer thinks she is. So yes, Mike, she doesn't need you anymore.

But you know who does need Mike? Will. Will loves Mike in the exact way that Mike wants to be loved, which is. not. a coincidence.

But the truth is El I don't know how to live without you. I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods.

While this sentence is not nice, don't worry, because I do believe one of the main reasons it's there is to make the audience angry. There are so many fucking shots of Will during the monologue, just to remind you of him, to remind you how much this monologue is hurting him, to remind you that these words are only happening because of him. I will be, again, talking more about this in an upcoming post.

Saying I don't know how to live without you is not proof that he loves her. I'm sure you can imagine that why this suggests that their attachment to one another is unhealthy. It is true, that he doesn't know what to do if he loses her, which is exactly why he is saying these things to win her back. Not because he loves her.

The second sentence, again, is very false and codependent as well. Saying that your life depends on someone else....uh. This also contradicts what Mike had said about stumbling on her in the woods not being fate, not being destiny, but dumb luck. Instead of an active choice that he made, just like with Will when he says that meeting him and asking him to be his friend is the best thing he ever did, it's something that he'd never meant to do.

One of the biggest differences between Mike's speech in Season 2 and Mike's speech in Season 4 is the fact that his speech in S2 instantly breaks through to Will, there is no music, it's extremely intimate. When Will says in his Van speech that Mike gives El the courage to fight on, Mike takes that and therefore gains the belief that he is the one that needs to tell her he loves her even if he doesn't, in order for her to fight on. WHEN REALLY it's Will. The proof is in the pudding:

You were wearing that yellow Benny's Burgers T-shirt and it was so big it almost swallowed you whole.

Meaningless line that deadass has no point to it, other than to remind El of a memory that he thinks is good for her. This is the only time that she smiles/laughs a little, before going back to looking upset again. This is so weird - "You were wearing a yellow shirt so I loved you". I could talk about how the colour yellow is so obviously associated with Will, but honestly, I don't know if that's a reach or not.

And I knew right there and then , in that moment, that I loved you. And I've loved you every day since.

And this ladies and germs, is the Biggest Lie. Why did the writers feel the need to have Mike emphasise the fact that he knew. right then and there. in that moment. ?

It's because..... They really wanted us to notice that they were talking about LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT which can be proven wrong by going back and rewatching the show. They really wanted no one to make an excuse and say that maybe Mike didn't actually know then. HE SAID HE KNEW.

"Maybe he just meant a little later." HE SAID RIGHT THERE AND THEN. IN THAT MOMENT.

This is why I believe the writers only put this line in to make the audience actually question the truthfulness of the whole monologue. They could have had Mike easily talk about the moment he fell in love with El. That would have been just as romantic, but no, they made it something to be provably wrong. On purpose.

Now, we have a lot of evidence from the show itself to prove that when Mike met with El, he did not love her instantly:

In the trailer for Season 1, they show Mike finding El. The first thing he says, portraying what his first thoughts were, was "That's not Will." - at the time of making the trailer, the creators had already filmed and written the season. So they knew what they were doing putting this in the trailer.

Mike cared about her and took her in, but was completely ready to prioritise Will instead - he said to Dustin and Lucas that the reason they couldn't show their parents who they had found was because they'd be on house arrest. He then tells them that he can get El to talk to his mom and his mom can "send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. And tomorrow night, we go back out, and this time, we find Will." This shows that his main priority was finding Will. He's a little careless about El at this point. He emphasises find Will! because he wants to state that he'd never meant to find El.

The next morning, Mike comes down to feed her and then asks her to go to the front and pretend like she's never met him before so that his mom can help her. She refuses. He then realises that she might be in trouble, and when she says there are, that's when he decides to keep her.

From this point onwards, he's somewhat indifferent towards her, showing her around the house, like he's teaching a toddler/ alien life force what his house is like. To me, this is not love. Mike's excitement seems more like friendship, care for another person, or just that he made this scientific discovery. When El points Will's photo - that's when he really takes priority in hiding her and keeping her. The very next scene is him hiding her in the closet (lol) - the scenes are back to back so that you don't need to question whether Mike hides her because he wants to be friends or hides her because he needs her to find Will.

The only time that Mike began to get the idea that his care for El might be romantic is because of Lucas. He was the one to say that he should 'marry her', aka a very heteronormative 80s, nuclear family thing. Mike seems annoyed that Lucas is doing this, but he is genuinely confused - not shy. He seems fed up. The moment after this conversation, he learns that being queer is a bad thing from the bullies, therefore making Lucas's daydream more of a preferable thing. Read more about this here.

Okay so that's some of the evidence from the show, but I guess we don't have to take all of that as complete evidence, because that may be up to interpretation (not really but whatever).

There is some evidence from sources outside the show too:

This is direct evidence from the show's writers that they do not believe in love at first sight - aka why the hell would they write something into the show that they do not believe in?

Above here is where Finn was asked about how 'strong' Milkvan are and about the confession. Keep in mind he was asked about the confession as the last thing. With this, Finn chose to specifically talk about how he didn't forsee himself to be in any kind of romantic relationship - this was something that he was insecure about. Saying romance was not on his mind even initially when he found eleven, is crazy fucking work. This had caused a lot of Milkvan's arguments to change from "Mike said he loved El at first sight!" to "Mike never meant at very first sight, just the next day or something! He was just being hyperbolic!". Girl. He literally said in his speech - Right there, in that moment. It was emphasised to you. Hyperbole would have been: "I knew in that moment that I loved you more than I love life itself" or something. Learn the definition of a hyperbole.

I also love how Finn expresses that Mike's feelings towards El are similar to how Elliott felt towards ET - which was obviously not romantic love. This is Finn explaining away all the seemingly romantic behaviour that Mike has towards her in the beginning of S1. Thankyou for that <3

(Also can we talk about how he said its his first romantic feelings for someone like we get it, he's not going to stay with El.... "going into to s5", "still a couple going into it" - OKAY WE GET IT HEEHEE)

It's so funny because all this fucking evidence I just showed you can be completely made null and void if Mike had simply said something like "I've loved you since *other moment*" "I fell in love with you that week." But no. It was a provable lie.

I love you on your good days I love you on your bad days.

Saying this stuff can't possibly mean he actually shows it. Just saying that you love someone on your good days and bad days doesn't actually mean you do, or that you're showing it. The whole reason that El wants Mike to actually say it is 1. because she needs reassurance that she's not a monster, and 2. because she doesn't feel the love coming from Mike whenever she's having a 'bad day'.

In my opinion, the only reason why he says these things is because he wants her to survive. He thinks this will make her happy because he's remembering what he did wrong - even if it's not true.

Consistently, from Season 1 onwards, he doesn't show that he loves her or consistently shows affection towards her even when she's doing something that he doesn't like:

Season 1: Only shows care for her when she's helping him find Will or saving him with her powers. Says 'What is wrong with you' three times. The first two are when Mike thinks that Will has died and therefore thinks that El lied to him, his anger and sadness mix into this lashing out. He says it again when she attacks Lucas.

Season 2: Has a very idealised version of her due to his guilt and so doesn't think of her as a bad person at all - this then fuels the fact he puts her on a pedestal, therefore making him more likely to take away that love as soon as she doesn't hold up to his standards. He doesn't see her this season until the end.

Season 3: Shows extreme frustration at her behaviour when she breaks up with him. He calls her (and girls in general) a "different species", says that he doesn't understand what he's done to deserve this despite not explaining anything to her, and says that he is the victim in this situation. He believes himself a victim of her wrath or something. This isn't even him lashing out because he's upset or sad, because he seems perfectly happy to have fun with Lucas as if this isn't a serious situation.

Season 4: Oh boy. Again, he has this idealised version of her in his head. Now that she doesn't have powers, El feels the need to perform for him again, making herself seem like she has the perfect life. As soon as she deviates from this perfect image, Mike is cold towards her. He says "what did you do" when she attacks Angela, and this is paralleled within the show with her abusive father figure (hello??). He then ignores her when she is clearly upset, and says rude comments at dinner, not caring when she storms off. He begins to try and apologise, but as soon as he's attacked for his incriminating behaviour he gaslights her by blaming other people for their problems, and calls her ridiculous. Again, he tries to place her on his pedestal that she can't reach by calling her a superhero.

I love you with and without your powers. I love you for exactly who you are. You're my superhero.

The last time that El was called a superhero by Mike, where she realised that she was never going to be enough for him unless she can be of benefit to him:

And the same exact thing in the love confession, though this time, El knows that she is not a monster, knows that she doesn't need Mike to think she's a superhero.

Mike constantly talks about how El is a superhero or his superhero - this just shows that he went from point A in the third episode to.....point A again??? The difference here is the fact that Mike used the fact she's a superhero as 'proof' that he loves her when they first argued in her bedroom, even though he didn't want to say it. Even when he seems to want to tell her i love you, he still uses this excuse as if he needs extra proof.

Another thing about the superhero thing is that it directly contrasts to Will and Mike's dynamic. Mike seems very happy to be working with Will as a team when he talks to him earlier in the season.

He would much rather work with someone as a team than work under them as their inferior. He literally expresses to Will about how insecure he feels surrounding El's superpowers and how he doesn't feel special or needed - and yet he somehow uses this as a reason to love her.

HE HAS SEVERELY POOR SELF-ESTEEM if he is using something that makes him feel worse about himself as proof that he loves her. The big difference between Milkvan and Byler is that Mike is not on the same level as El, so they never work as a team. Mike has expressed his preference for working as a team with Will.

This part of the confession is also very different from the argument scene because he is calling her "MY superhero" rather than just a superhero. This may seem more romantic on the surface, but to me it just proves how much he places her on a pedestal for her powers and how they benefit him and increase her positive image only. The next thing he does is talk about her powers, nothing to do with her personality, nothing to do with her bravery or anything like that. Awful wording from Mike.

And.....I can't lose you. Ok do you hear me I can't lose you.

This....is not a lie. Absolutely not - and that's what makes the rest of the lies so plausible. I don't need to elaborate that much on how attached he feels to El, how much he doesn't want to lose her because he wants to feel needed by someone, as a result of his poor self-esteem. More proof that he's saying all these because he doesn't want her to die, and he feels responsible for her life time and time again.

You can do anything , you can fly you can move mountains I believe that. I really do. But right now you just have to fight.

Wasn't the whole point of El's fucking argument that she can't do anything sometimes!!!! Putting El on a pedestal and claiming that she can actually do things they can't, exaggerating her powers to the point where its unrealistic, will just make El feel bad that she can't do those things. It will make her feel even more that Mike doesn't love her for who she is, but rather the idea of her.

His inflated idea of her is fuelled by the things that she has done for him, which include getting Will back from the Upside Down, it includes her saving him, it includes her defeating the mind flayer. His idea of her became so inflated during Season 2 when he couldn't see her, so much so that when she doesn't live up to that, you can clearly see that he acts cold. This is not love, even if it was, it's not fucking healthy.

Now, this is the point of the monologue where El looks over at Max. Up to this point, the vines have not stopped tightening around her throat, despite Mike trying his best to make her focus.

The fact that they put this image over Mike saying "you need to fight" is to portray El's reason for fighting. It is portraying the fact that the only reason she is able to fight is because she is reminded by the fact Max is in danger, and reminded by Mike that the only thing important right now is that she needs to stay alive.

However you read Mike's sexuality as, it is a fact that his love for El isn't romantic. He cares about her, he has a clear idea of who he wants her to be, and idealises that version. Whenever she doesn't live up to it, he takes it away. Her character arc means that she realises she doesn't need this in order to survive. I hope you can see the sheer amount of lies, vamping, him not wanting her to die, the ideas he has about her and think that they are not healthy.

This was such a long ass post, forgive me tumblr gods.

#byler #byler endgame #mike wheeler #anti milkvan #byler evidence #byler proof #miwiheroes daily byler

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dead-dolphins · 1 day ago

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an idea i have for princess mikasa and general eren... sort of (?

well, first of all, this takes place in my version of paradis, the same world where fics like little forest and chemical hype boy happen. and if you’ve read little forest, you’ll remember it mentions how paradis was under marleyan rule for quite a few years. that occupation officially ends in 1895, five years later when the events of little forest, which is set in 1900. and yeah, it left the country absolutely wrecked. broken economy, fractured borders, and a ton of people who just disappeared during the chaos.

so now, in the early stages of rebuilding, the paradis military is scrambling to restore order. they're hunting down war criminals, recovering stolen records, and — most importantly — trying to track the missing. and that’s where this story starts:

paradis is in shambles. marley’s pulling out, but not cleanly, the scars they’ve left run deep. entire towns have been flattened, families disappeared, the nobility dismantled, records burned. in the power vacuum, the military of paradis is trying to pick up the pieces, rounding up war criminals, identifying the missing, restoring what’s left of order. and that’s where eren comes in.

eren is a paradis-born man that is now named as general when marley went away. he’s grown up under marleyan occupation, seen what it’s done to his people, and now he’s part of the force trying to reclaim what's left. he’s been assigned to help track disappearances tied to human trafficking, one of the ugliest consequences of the war, when he finds her. mikasa.

at first, he doesn’t know who she is. she’s quiet, bloodied, chained. but even in that state, she carries herself like someone who doesn’t break. and then the truth comes out: she’s a princess from hizuru, originally sent to paradis as part of a political marriage, a symbolic alliance that never happened because the war exploded too quickly. her family tried to get her back, but they were caught and killed. mikasa was left behind and eventually taken by traffickers, just one more name on a growing list of missing women.

when eren brings her in, his superior officers tell him to forget about her. too dangerous. too complicated. if marley or their sympathizers find out who she really is, they’ll finish what they started — wipe her out, like they did with every other noble. so eren makes a decision: he marries her.

not out of romance. out of duty. protection. because if she becomes “mikasa yeager,” a soldier’s wife, she stops being a political asset or a royal target. she's just a woman trying to survive in the ashes of war. and the marriage gives her legal shelter under the new paradis authority, no one can take her without going through him.

of course, it’s not a love story. not yet.

eren is quiet. respectful. reluctant. he offers her comfort, privacy, security, but not affection. he never assumes closeness. he gives her space, but also watches her with this silent, unsettling attention, like he’s waiting to see who she really is underneath the title. like he’s scared of what she might become if she remembers everything she lost.

mikasa, for her part, says very little. she accepts the arrangement because it keeps her alive. but she is not passive. she is watching too. she knows eren saved her — not just from the traffickers, but from the fate of being a symbol. she owes him something… but she doesn’t know what. not trust. not yet.

and over time, in the quiet of their shared home, the distance between them shifts. not through declarations, but through small things: shared glances over breakfast, the way she lights a lamp before he gets home, the way he sharpens her knives without asking.

but nothing stays still for long.

the old marleyan collaborators still in hiding want her dead. her name begins to resurface. and eren realizes that marrying her may have saved her once, but if he's going to protect her for real, it’s going to cost him everything.

#eremika #deaddolphins thoughts #princess of hizuru #mr general eren

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tivaforgood · 12 hours ago

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So, it's official: NCIS: Tony and Ziva is coming in August, which is only a few short weeks away!! Seriously… it'll fly by in the blink of an eye!

If you've been here for a while, you'll know that I'm a long-time Tiva lover, and this is the most excited for anything I have ever been, for obvious reasons!

But it recently dawned on me that there are people out there who may only be meeting Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David for the first time through the spinoff trailer, and wanting to watch the show because it looks awesome! (I wholeheartedly agree!)

Of course, this is a couple that spanned 8 years on NCIS, and over 190 episodes. That's a whole lot of television! While it is possible to watch all of them before the show premieres in August – and I would highly recommend it, as there's so many small moments you'd miss, and it's the best way to fully understand them –I realise that it might not be for everybody. If you only want to watch the mothership for Tiva, then you probably don't want to see most of the unnecessary filler episodes in the middle. Which is why I've made this – a breakdown of all Tiva episodes you need to watch before the spinoff comes out! (i.e things you need to see so there are very few gaps in your knowledge!) • Major Tiva episodes are highlighted in bold italics. • Anything else on the list are episodes that are recommended you watch, but which are not absolutely pivotal for you to be able to understand their story.

Season 3: (if you can, watch the whole thing.) 3x01: Kill Ari (Part 1) 3x02: Kill Ari (Part 2) 3x04: Silver War 3x06: The Voyeur's Web 3x08: Undercovers 3x09: Frame Up 3x10: Probie 3x12: Boxed In 3x22: Jeopardy 3x23: Hiatus (Part 1) 3x24: Hiatus (Part 2)

Season 4: (again, if you can, watch the whole thing.) 4x01: Shalom 4x09: Twisted Sister 4x16: Dead Man Walking 4x20: Cover Story 4x24: Angel of Death

Season 5: 5x01: Bury Your Dead 5x02: Family 5x10: Corporal Punishment 5x12: Stakeout 5x14: Internal Affairs 5x16: Recoil 5x18: Judgement Day (Part 1) 5x19: Judgement Day (Part 2)

Season 6: (yet again, watch the whole season.) 6x01: Last Man Standing 6x02: Agent Afloat 6x05: Nine Lives 6x08: Cloak 6x09: Dagger 6x22: Legend (Part 1) 6x23: Legend (Part 2) 6x24: Semper Fidelis 6x25: Aliyah Season 7: (and again, watch the whole thing.) 7x01: Truth or Consequences (THE ULTIMATE TIVA EPISODE) 7x02: Reunion 7x03: The Inside Man 7x04: Good Cop, Bad Cop 7x10: Faith 7x13: Jet Lag 7x18: Jurisdiction 7x24: Rule Fifty-One Season 8: (nothing is good about this season aside from these eps) 8x05: Dead Air 8x22: Baltimore 8x23: Swan Song 8x24: Pyramid Season 9: (I'd watch the whole thing.) 9x01: Nature of the Beast 9x11: Newborn King 9x12: Housekeeping 9x13: A Desperate Man 9x15: Secrets 9x23: Up in Smoke 9x24: Till Death Do Us Part Season 10: (Watch every episode. Trust me. This is THE Tiva season!) 10x01: Extreme Prejudice 10x02: Recovery 10x03: Phoenix 10x04: Lost at Sea 10x05: The Namesake 10x06: Shell Shock (Part 1) 10x07: Shell Shock (Part 2) 10x08: Gone 10x09: Devil's Trifecta 10x10: You Better Watch Out 10x11: Shabbat Shalom 10x12: Shiva 10x13: Hit and Run 10x14: Canary 10x15: Hereafter 10x16: Detour 10x17: Prime Suspect 10x18: Seek 10x19: Squall 10x20: Chasing Ghosts 10x21: Berlin 10x22: Revenge 10x23: Double Blind 10x24: Damned If You Do Season 11: 11x01: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot 11x02: Past, Present and Future Season 13: 13x23: Dead Letter 13x24: Family First Season 16: 16x13: She 16x24: Daughters Season 17: 17x01: Out of the Darkness 17x02: Into the Light 17x10: The North Pole 17x11: In the Wind [the spinoff begins directly after the events of this episode!]

Perhaps I'm biased, but if you can watch all 190-odd episodes, do it. It's the best way to truly understand these two characters and their relationship (and everything they've been through). And I feel it likely that the spinoff will contain small easter eggs and references to tiny Tiva moments, so to appreciate and recognise them all, I highly recommend watching every Tiva episode in existence! <3

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fayelero · 3 hours ago

Text

ⓘ 01. THE WAY THAT YOU SEE YOURSELF

⤷ ANGST ﹫ timeskip!kenma kozume x fem!reader ﹫ established relationship ﹫ be ready to cry :)

⚠︎ cyber bullying, emotional distress (reader), mental health struggles, eating disorders (throwing up), heavy themes, strong emotions, cursing, heavy insults, you’re gonna cry .ᐟ.ᐟ

You still remember the stream like it was yesterday.

Kenma had pulled you gently into frame, eyes soft beneath the warm glow of the LED lights in his setup. He smiled, shy but proud.

“This is my girlfriend,” he’d said, rubbing the back of his neck with that same familiar awkwardness. “Be nice to her.”

At the time, it had felt like a dream. You were glowing with love and disbelief. Kenma—your Kenma—was introducing you to millions of his fans. Your face was warm with the thought, your heart thudding loud in your ears. You’d looked at him, smiled nervously, and waved to the camera.

The chat had exploded.

He’d chuckled.

“Okay, okay. We’ll play now,” he’d said, dismissing the tsunami of reactions with a lighthearted grin.

He didn’t see it.

Not what came after.

It started small.

A comment here and there on your Instagram posts. A DM.

“Who the hell are you?”

“She’s not even cute lol.”

You’d laughed it off at first. But they didn’t stop. They didn’t forget. You were no longer just “some girl.” You were Kenma’s girlfriend. And to them, that meant you were someone to tear apart.

The hate grew like rot beneath the surface.

“You don’t deserve him.”

“Pig.”

“Go kill yourself.”

And it wasn’t just the words. It was the way they dissected you. Your smile. Your clothes. Your hair. Your body. Every post you made was swarmed. Every picture was analyzed, compared to some ideal they had crafted for the man you loved.

Kenma didn’t know.

He didn’t see.

Because it wasn’t on his streams. It wasn’t in his mentions.

It was you. Your phone. Your DMs. Your world that was growing darker.

You told yourself not to care. You told yourself they were just kids, strangers, faceless names with too much time.

But at night, in bed, you scrolled.

Your fingers trembled.

Your stomach turned.

And eventually, you changed.

You stopped posting pictures of yourself. You started dressing differently—trying to look more like the girls they praised in his fan edits. You painted your face carefully, calculatingly. You skipped meals. Told yourself it wasn’t a big deal.

Kenma would smile at you, kiss your temple. He had no idea.

He still looked at you like you were the best thing that had ever happened to him. And so you acted. Played the part. You’d hold his hand tighter in public just to make yourself believe it. Laugh a little louder. Smile a little harder.

But the truth was, you were drowning. Quietly. Alone.

Sometimes you’d cry in the shower, biting your knuckles to muffle the sound. Other times you’d stare at your reflection, confused.

Who was this girl?

Where was the one who used to sing in the kitchen, who used to smile without checking a mirror first?

She was gone.

Buried beneath thousands of hateful words. Words from people who had never met you. Who didn’t know that Kenma loved how you always brought him tea without asking, or how you stayed quiet when he streamed, or how you understood when he needed silence. They didn’t know how he reached for you in his sleep. How he whispered “I love you” even when half-awake.

They didn’t want to know.

And now, you didn’t even want to look at yourself.

The worst part wasn’t even the hate.

It was pretending.

You didn’t want Kenma to worry. He worked so hard. He was building something beautiful—his own world—and you were supposed to be the lucky one invited in. You didn’t want to be the crack in the foundation.

So you smiled. Always smiled.

It was the beginning of the end.

But Kenma wasn’t stupid.

He just didn’t know what he was looking at.

But he knew you were not okay.

It had started subtly—like hairline cracks in glass. Imperceptible at first, something most people would walk past without noticing. But he wasn’t most people. And you weren’t just someone.

You were you.

The you who used to giggle half-asleep when he snuck behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. The you who wore his hoodies and danced barefoot in the kitchen. The you who told him you hated pineapple on pizza with the passion of a full-blown warrior.

That you hadn’t disappeared. Not all at once. That would have been easier.

No—she faded. Quietly.

At first, he thought you were just tired. You’d yawn more, sleep in. He’d offer to cancel a stream to spend the day together and you’d insist you were fine, just wanted to rest. It made sense. You were busy too. Life was heavy sometimes.

But then… other things began to happen.

He remembered the vase.

It was a plain thing, honestly—ugly, even. Some cheap, tacky glass piece his fans had gifted him years ago. He only kept it because he felt guilty throwing it away. You had knocked it off the shelf by accident while dusting and it shattered into a million pieces on the hardwood floor.

You stood there frozen for half a second—and then you crumpled.

You had cried. Not sniffled. Sobbed.

Ten minutes. Ten long, gutting minutes. He had rushed over, confused, concerned, arms wrapped around you as you kept saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—God, I’m so stupid, I’m sorry—”

Kenma didn’t care about the vase.

He’d told you that again and again, even while he held you, smoothing your hair. But you kept apologizing, kept shaking, like you were trying to make yourself disappear.

And when your tears stopped, you wiped your face and told him it was “just hormones,” laughed a little like it was a joke. Like it hadn’t scared the hell out of him.

Like you weren’t breaking in front of him.

That was the first moment he realized something was wrong. Not just off. Wrong.

After that, he watched more closely.

Your smiles weren’t quite the same. Too quick. Too bright. They didn’t reach your eyes the way they used to. Sometimes, you’d smile before he even finished a sentence, like you were anticipating it. Like a reflex. A cover.

And when he streamed, you’d avoid the camera.

You used to love popping in—bringing him snacks, waving at the chat, kissing his cheek to make him blush. It was your little routine. He never asked you to do it. You wanted to.

Now? You barely entered the room when he was live. And when you did, it was only to leave something silently on his desk and slip away. He noticed the way your eyes flicked toward the screen, and the way your shoulders tightened like you were bracing for something. He just didn’t know what.

He should have asked.

He should have insisted.

But you kept saying you were okay. So he believed you.

Because he wanted to.

Still… the signs piled up.

The nights were the worst. You started waking up at strange hours, always with an excuse. Your footsteps down the hall. The bathroom door closing softly. Water running. Toilet flushing.

Then the silence.

He followed once. Quietly. Listened outside the door.

He heard it.

You throwing up. Gagging. Then coughing and breathing like you were trying to steady yourself. You ran the faucet again—he guessed to drown out the sound.

When you came back to bed, he was still awake. You’d crawled in beside him like nothing happened.

“Sick again?” he asked, gentle.

“Mhm,” you hummed, turning your back to him. “Must’ve been the sushi.”

You said it so easily. So casually. Like it hadn’t happened the night before. And the night before that. Like he was imagining the pattern.

He reached out, touched your back softly. “Maybe we should go to the doctor…”

“No need,” you interrupted. “I’m fine. Probably just a bug.”

Kenma stared at the ceiling long after you fell asleep.

You weren’t fine.

You hadn’t been fine in weeks. Maybe months. But every time he reached out, you retreated. Laughed it off. Shrugged him away. And he—idiot that he was—let you.

Because he was scared. Scared of pushing you too hard. Scared of being wrong. Scared that if he said the wrong thing, whatever this was would get worse.

But it was already getting worse.

You barely ate at dinner. You never asked him to take pictures with you anymore. You didn’t talk about your day unless he pulled it out of you word by word. And the way you looked at yourself in the mirror—he noticed that too. The pause. The silence. The frown.

You’d stopped singing.

He didn’t say it out loud, but he missed your voice.

One night, you stood in the bathroom in nothing but your underwear, brushing your hair out in the mirror. Kenma leaned against the doorway, watching you.

“You look beautiful,” he said softly.

You didn’t even look up. “Thanks.”

Not “thank you”. Not “you too.”

Just thanks. Flat. Distant.

It made his chest ache.

And still, when he reached for you, you leaned into him. Let him kiss you. Let him hold you like he was the only thing tethering you to the earth. You let him love you like he always did.

But you didn’t love you. And he could feel that now.

You were fading in his arms.

That night, he didn’t sleep. Just stared at the ceiling, wide-eyed.

He didn’t know how long he could do this—watch you disappear and pretend not to notice. But he also didn’t know what to do. He’d never been good with emotions, with people. He was the one who stayed quiet in the back while others took the spotlight.

But now the spotlight was killing you.

And you wouldn’t let him turn it off.

The scariest part?

He didn’t know what would happen first.

That you’d finally tell him what was going on.

Or that one day, he’d wake up—and you’d be gone.

Not in the physical sense. No. But gone in the way that mattered most.

And that terrified him more than anything.

—

Kenma couldn’t sleep.

Again.

You were curled up beside him in the dark, your breathing light and even. From the outside, it looked peaceful. But Kenma knew better now. He knew it was an illusion—just like the smiles you gave him, just like the way you said “I’m fine” when you were clearly not.

He stared at the ceiling until his eyes burned.

He couldn’t do it anymore.

He was angry. Not at you—never at you. But at himself. At the silence. At how long he had let this go on. He’d noticed the signs, all of them, and he still hadn’t done anything.

He didn’t want to confront you. Not if it meant making you retreat even further.

But tonight, the helplessness had crawled so deep into his chest it felt like it was eating him alive.

He had to know.

He needed to see it.

Whatever it was that had hollowed you out like this.

So, with trembling hands and guilt tightening his throat, he turned slowly toward your sleeping figure, careful not to wake you. Your phone rested on your bedside table, screen dim, innocuous. Innocent.

But it wasn’t.

He picked it up.

Every second of it felt wrong. He hated going through your things. Hated the invasion of it. But god, he loved you too much to care. He’d break a thousand promises if it meant saving you.

He unlocked the screen with your fingerprint—you had given it to him months ago, jokingly, so he could queue music while you cooked.

He never thought he’d use it like this.

He checked your texts. Nothing out of the ordinary. DMs on Twitter—mostly muted. Barely any responses. You didn’t talk to anyone.

Then he opened Instagram.

And the world collapsed beneath him.

Your inbox was full. Not with friends. Not with kind words.

But with poison.

“Slut.”

“Pig.”

“Who paid you to pretend to be with him?”

“Why are you still alive?”

“Lmao she thinks she’s his type? Has she seen herself?”

“You’re ruining his brand.”

“You don’t deserve him. You’re dirt.”

It was endless.

Message after message, comment after comment, posts and story replies, group DMs you’d been added to just so they could tear you apart.

Kenma stared at the screen. Scrolling. Scrolling. Not blinking. Not breathing.

Your followers had tripled since he introduced you on stream a year ago. But it wasn’t love. It was a target they wanted. Someone to ruin.

And they had.

You hadn’t just changed.

You were being destroyed.

And he hadn’t fucking seen it.

His fingers were trembling, the screen a blur of hate and cruelty. He felt sick. He wanted to scream.

And then—he didn’t want to scream.

He wanted them to hear him.

To see what they had done.

Without thinking, without a plan, without even wiping his eyes, Kenma stormed into his streaming room. He sat down, headset on. Pressed “Start Broadcast.” It was past 2am. No notification. No schedule.

And yet… within minutes, the chat lit up.

“Wtf??”

“Is he okay?”

“Emergency stream??”

“Kodzuken??”

He didn’t speak at first.

He stared into the camera, eyes red, expression unreadable. His hands were folded on the desk. His jaw clenched.

The silence stretched. The comments piled in.

And then, finally—he spoke.

Voice cold. Low. Razor sharp.

“I wasn’t planning on streaming tonight. I wasn’t planning on talking at all. But I just found out what some of you have been doing.”

The chat slowed.

A pause. Confusion.

“To her.”

A single sentence.

And the shift in tone was immediate.

“You know who I mean. You all know.”

He didn’t blink.

“You looked me in the eye while tearing her apart behind my back. You called yourselves fans. You said you supported me. But what you actually did… was destroy the one person I care about more than anything in this world.”

His voice broke slightly—but only for a second. He cleared his throat.

“She didn’t tell me. I had to find out by going through her phone while she was asleep. You did that to her. You made her hide it. You made her feel ashamed of being with me. Of existing.”

The chat was chaos. Apologies. Excuses. Confusion.

He ignored them all.

“I saw everything. Every message. Every comment. Every threat. Every time you told her to kill herself. Every time you called her a pig. Every time you said she was dragging me down.”

“Let me be very clear.”

He leaned in.

“You didn’t just hurt her. You hurt me. You stole her smile. You took away her laugh. The woman I love—the only person who ever made me feel like more than a screen name—you broke her. And I let you.”

He exhaled, shaking.

“So this isn’t a brand. This isn’t a game. This is my life. And if you think for one second I’d ever forgive you for what you’ve done, for what you’ve taken from her—from us—you’re not a fan. You’re a parasite.”

He paused again. The chat had slowed. Silent. Some still begged forgiveness. Others left.

“She was happy before you. She was whole. Now she cries in secret. Now she throws up in the middle of the night and tells me it’s nothing. And I believed her. I fucking believed her.”

He sat back, face pale, knuckles white.

“I’m not playing anymore. You either support both of us, or you don’t support me at all. Ever again. No more middle ground. No more pretending you didn’t know. No more looking away while she drowns.”

“You killed her spirit.”

Another pause. He looked down. Voice quieter.

“And I’m not sure I’ll ever get her back.”

Then he looked into the camera one last time.

“Stream’s over.”

Click.

Silence.

Kenma sat there, headset off, chest heaving. The tears finally fell—slow, quiet. He wiped them away with the sleeve of his hoodie.

He didn’t care about the fallout. About the fans he just lost. About the hate he might get now.

None of it mattered.

Because you were in the next room, sleeping through it all, unaware of the war he just declared on your behalf.

Unaware that he had finally seen what they had done.

Unaware that he was done watching you disappear.

And now—he would burn the whole world before letting it happen again.

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burningcheese-merchant · 6 hours ago

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Alrighty. I hate saying this, but. I'm probably going to delete the ship discourse asks in my inbox. Too many in there now and my mind is too clear to want to answer them

I think we've all been harsh with each other recently. Shouldn't have had to sleep on that, shouldn't have taken me longer than a few minutes to realize that, but idk. I went to bed last night and woke up this morning and... remembered how old I am and that I have better things to care about lol. But seriously, this recent update has really gotten to people's heads, mine included unfortunately, so I think we all need to take a step back and reevaluate ourselves

To try to explain (not excuse) myself personally. I, my friends and acquaintances, and our little fan community have gotten so much harassment for so long that now that the story is sort of tipping in our favor, I felt... vindicated. TOO vindicated this time around lol. For years and years now we have all been viciously mocked, shunned, called misogynists, called abuse apologists, we've been told to kill ourselves, we've been told bad things should happen to our loved ones. I couldn't help but feel smug when episodes 7 and 8 dropped, and then episodes 9 and 10 pushed me into being legitimately petty and mean. Like, all of this harassment was already pointless, now it's even more pointless because BxA is canon. Sore winner, "they hated Jesus because he told the truth" type shit lol

But... That's dumb. All of this is dumb. They're just video game characters. I'm an adult with adult responsibilities lol. None of this is worth getting bent out of shape about, on any side. Nothing wrong with respectful conversation and debate, but it hasn't really been that this time around. It's been gloating. Teabagging. And that's not cool. So I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry if I've upset anyone with anything I've said. I'm happy about Eternalberry but I've gotten TOO happy haha. I've regained mental clarity and thus the realization that I've started becoming part of the problem. I'm genuinely sorry for that. I want to go back to regular dork levels. Being spiteful and petty sucks, even if it's "justified"

Since I feel bad for leaving those asks awaiting deletion, A) mea culpa mea maxima culpa to those who sent them, nothing against any of you I just want to put the discourse to rest, and B) they all more or less say the same things so I'll just go ahead and bullet point my responses:

TikTok is perhaps the worst social media app ever created, it is an actual blight on society to almost biblical proportions, you are a fool if you listen to anything anyone has to say on there, your first mistake was going there in the first place, Tiktok Delenda Est

Twitter is definitely the worst social media app ever created, it is a blight on society that John meant to record in the Book of Revelation but didn't know how to describe it properly because the internet didn't exist 2000-ish years ago, you are a fool if you listen to anything anyone has to say on there, your first mistake was going there in the first place, Twitter Delenda Est, let's all point and laugh at the Trump-Musk divorce instead

Hero/villain ships are as old as human civilization and fandom nerds today have gotten really uptight about them, it's dumb and honestly really bizarre considering how prevalent it is in almost every piece of media, if someone doesn't like the trope that's perfectly fine it's not for everyone it does get pretty dark but a lot of people seem to put on gestapo uniforms when they're brought up now and it's a waste of time and energy. No one is holding a gun to your heads you guys, you don't need to do it to anyone yourselves

It's nice that I've apparently managed to convince some people to be more open-minded about BxA and hero/villain shipping as a whole, welcome to the club glad to have you, I'm sorry you've had to see some of us do our "obnoxious clown" routine recently, don't worry I'm washing my makeup off rn

I'm disappointed but unsurprised that BxA fans have been getting death threats in places, unfortunately that's how it's always been and it will continue to be that way even if all 5 pairs marry and have sex onscreen. No amount of canonizing in the narrative will change some people's minds. No amount of reasoning or olive branches will make them realize how ridiculous they are. Just have to accept it and ignore them

Cookie Run Kingdom is Baby's First Fandom for a lot of people, and a lot of them are actual, literal children, so all the black and white thinking and lack of understanding and respect makes sense, sadly. This is why I put my age in my blog description haha

Rule of thumb for me personally is to just block people who post hate in ship tags tbh. Spare us both the trouble. I've only responded to one post ever, and it was because the person was asking an honest question in a reasonable way so I thought it was fine to engage. I'd rather not engage people who want to attack and not actually talk. Blocking does us both a favor, I don't have to see meaningless hate on my dash and in tags I follow and they don't have to see content about ships they don't like from me. Win-win

Now, with all that said, I want to say some things I've said before, but would like to reiterate loudly and clearly one more time:

You do not have to like Beast x Ancient. It's perfectly fine and reasonable if you don't. It's not for everyone. Whatever your reasons are, I believe and accept them. I post about them a lot because I love them a lot, and I like talking about things I like. I do my best to tag properly so my weirdo babble is easier to filter out. My posts are more or less just preaching to the choir, I think lol. It's fine if you don't like that, it's fine if you don't like BurningCheese or Eternalberry, it's fine if you don't like Beast x Ancient. I am not your mortal enemy if you don't like them. I'm happy to talk to and be friends with people who don't. I already do so often haha

Furthermore, I want you all to know that no matter what I say about ships I don't like, I don't care if you do like them. I am not out to get you for liking things I don't. Which dolls you decide you like to make kiss is not my problem. I am not your mother, I am not your dictator, I am not God. My opinions are just that, no one is obligated to listen to me or take anything I say to heart. Yes, there are ships I legitimately hate with a passion, but I do not hate the people who like them. Not at all. That's a stupid thing to dislike someone for. I talk to and am friends with lots of people who like things I don't, both on here and irl. The world gets really lonely really fast if you refuse to engage with people who don't march lockstep with you. Especially with regards to fucking Cookie Run lol

Let's all give this nonsense a rest now. This is dumb. I'm dumb. We're all dumb. Let's stop being dumb. I'm happy to coexist peacefully with others. We'll all live happier lives focusing more on things we love than things we hate

#something else I'll say. no matter how much I might dislike a ship. I'm willing to acknowledge good art and writing for it #i cannot stand hollyt4ya but I've read a couple of good fics about it and have liked fanart on here just because they really were that good #I'm able and willing to appreciate things on their own merits. even if the subject matter isn't one I personally care for #i think it would help a lot of people to adopt that mindset haha #but yeah regardless. I've been a jerk the past few days and I really am sorry #i FEEL like a jerk lol. and i feel stupid. I'm better than this and so are all of you #sincere apologies to everyone for being so obnoxious. I'm washing my clown makeup off #keeping in line with this I'd really appreciate if people didn't send me asks about ship discourse anymore #you're welcome to ask my opinions on ships but I don't want to engage in full blown discourse. I'm tired #i'll keep my responses clean and crisp if prompted but that's it. no more rambling. rambling is for good and happy things #I'm happy to hear from people. I'm touched people care what i have to say. i didn't really have that for most of my life #I'm not really used to people actually... talking to me and listening to me #but I'd rather talk and listen about nicer things from now on if it's all the same to you guys #anyway I'm gonna go hang out with my SO and my dog lol. and work on the time travel AU draft #gave myself a deadline of Sunday evening to force myself to be more productive about it #been sitting on that story for too long. I'm dying to tell it #y'all have a nice day. god bless you. no matter who you are or what you like #cookie run kingdom #beast x ancient

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millerenthusiast · 11 hours ago

Text

All That Time

Part III:

The Space Between

Pairing: surrogate father figure!joel x f!reader

Setting: Jackson, 8 years after meeting Joel.

POV: 2nd person

Warnings: Age gap (60s/20s), angst, guilt, emotional repression, joel being emotionally constipated and wrecked, mutual pining, unresolved sexual tension and you are patient but aching.

WC:

Summary: It’s the day after your confession, and things aren’t exactly how you pictured they’d be like with Joel.

If this chapter were a song: Everything Is Embarrassing~ Sky Ferreira

“Everything is true to me, never words where you would see.”

The night after your confession, Joel doesn’t sleep.

You hear him pacing the floor after midnight. Hear the creak of the floorboards near the window of his bedroom, then downstairs to the kitchen. Then back again.

At some point, he opens the front door and stands outside. You don’t know how long he stays out there. Long for you to fall back asleep before he comes back inside.

Long enough for you to wish-for a second-you hadn’t said anything at all.

But you meant it.

And he he heard you. He even admitted in his own little way that he felt the same.

That has to count for something.

The next morning, the air in the house is wrong. Too quiet. Still in a way that makes you feel like an intruder in your own home.

You pad out of your room barefoot, hoodie zipped up to your chin. The sleeves swallow your hands. You can feel his presence in the kitchen-hear the measured scape of his fork against a plate-but he doesn’t speak when you walk in.

You hesitate in the doorway.

His back is to you. Shoulders stiff. Like he knew you’d come in, and still couldn’t turn around.

“Morning,” you offer quietly.

He grunts.

You move towards the counter, pour yourself coffee. It’s too hot. Bitter. Still, you sip it.

He doesn’t speak.

You set the mug down and lean your hip against the sink.

“I meant what i said last night.”

He goes still.

You give him time to respond. Thirty seconds. Maybe more.

Then: “I know.”

Silence again.

He still won’t look at you.

“I didn’t say it to make you uncomfortable.”

“I ain’t uncomfortable.”

That’s definitely a lie.

He finally turns to face you. His jaw is tight, eyes rimmed with exhaustion. There’s a storm in his expression that hasn’t settled since last night.

“You put me in a difficult position,” he says, measured and low.

You blink. Try to keep your face neutral, but the words sting. You try to hear past them-to what he really means. You know Joel well enough to know that he doesn’t always say what he feels, only what he thinks he should feel.

“I wasn’t trying to manipulate you,” you say softly.

“I know,” he mutters.

He’s still holding the plate like it might anchor him to something.. Keeping his composure maybe.

“I’m just telling you the truth,” you continue. “That i love you. That i want you. That i see you. And that i know you see me too.”

He shuts his eyes for a second, like the weight of it is too much.

You don’t understand what that does to me.”

“I think i do.”

“No,” he snaps. Not loud, but sharp. He sets the plate down hard. “You don’t. You think this is romantic. Like it’s just somethin’ out of a story.”

He looks up at you-finally-and his eyes are tired, red-rimmed.

“I was there when you were a kid, alright? I watched you grow up. I was the one who kept your head down when people started treatin’ you like a woman too soon. I kept you alive. I taught you how to shoot. Watched you cry over your first kill. I made you brush your fuckin’ teeth when you didn’t want to.”

You don’t interrupt him. You let him get it out. Let the burn of his guilt coat the room like smoke.

“And now you’re lookin’ at me like i’m someone you want. And I-I can’t stop thinkin’ about it. About you. How pretty you’ve gotten. How brave you are. How grown. And I hate myself for that.”

There it is.

The ugly part.

The real part.

You breath through it.

“Do you think I haven’t felt the same?” you ask gently. “Do you think i don’t lie awake at night wondering if it’s okay to feel this way about you?”

He swallows, hard.

“I started loving you before i even knew what kind of love it was,” you whisper. “It just changed. Quietly. Like everything else does.”

Joel sinks into one of the kitchen chairs, rubbing a hand over his face.

You stay across from him. Keep the space, between you like a border you’re letting him draw.

“I don’t wanna ruin you,” he says.

“You won’t.”

“I don’t wanna take advantage of-“

“You’re not.”

“I’m too fuckin’ old,” he mutters.

You smile-sad, small.

“You’ve always been old, Joel”

That earns a huff of breath. Almost a laugh. Almost.

“I don’t know what to do this,” he finally admits.

“You don’t have to do anything.”

You step closer. Not too close. Just enough that he has to look up at you.

“I told you joel i feel. That doesn’t mean i expect anything back. But i’m not gonna pretend it’s not there. Not anymore.”

He stares at the floor for a long moment, then nods-barely. A twitch of his jaw.

“Okay.”

You wait. See if he’ll say more.

He doesn’t.

So you leave him there. Quiet. Thinking.

You don’t push.

You just walk to the door.

And say over your shoulder, “You know where to find me when you’re ready.”

Later That Week

He doesn’t even come to dinner.

Doesn’t walk with you on patrol like he used to. Says his knee’s acting up, which might be true-but you know better.

He’s hiding.

Wrestling his own thoughts.

You see him sometimes in the distance. By the fence. At the stables. Watching you when he thinks you’re not looking.

It’s like the confession took a scalpel to something raw between you-and now he’s trying to stitch it back together with trembling, unsure hands.

Still, you wait.

You always have.

You know how Joel is. You’ve known it since you were a teenager-when you first realised he doesn’t let himself want things. Because wanting is dangerous. Wanting means losing in this world.

And Joel’s lost too much already.

29 notes · View notes

tinytalkingtina · 2 days ago

Text

B.A.D. D.O.G.

Several months after starting to date two frat brothers from Sigma Alpha Chi, Eddie struggles to settle into his role in their new dynamic. Maybe someday he won't feel like Tommy and Steve's adopted stray mutt. Rated E | 7.7k words | Ao3 link

SFW-related Tags: Tommy/Steve/Eddie, established poly relationship, M/M/M threesome/polyamory, 2010's frat/college AU, Frat Boys Steve/Tommy, bratty diva Steve, eddie has ADHD and insecurities, Steve is Fast Food Royalty, Steve's Dad owns Scoops Ahoy, Steve has Good Parents (or at least realistic parents who don't understand everything but love their son), domestic fluff NSFW-related Tags: Dom Tommy, Sub Steve, Switch Eddie, puppy play/Puppy Steve, collars, cock rings, butt plugs, vibrators, blow jobs, spanking, anal sex, Bottom Tommy, Top Eddie, orgasm control, sexual overstimulation, nipple piercings, aftercare, cuddling/snuggling (in relation to the aftercare) This is a sequel to B(eta) E(psilon) G(amma) that picks up a few months after Steve and Tommy begin dating Eddie. The two stories can be read as standalone pieces, but feel free to read B.E.G. first to find out how Steve and Tommy introduced Eddie to their dynamic. Author's notes and pings are below the cut!

Eddie groaned and leaned back to balance on his chair’s back two legs. He pressed his hands to his eyes until he saw starbursts.

“This dev class is slowly killing me. Why are 'one-footed skipping’ and ‘hopping’ different milestones, and why does that matter for teaching high schoolers how to play chords and scales? For fucks sake it’s not like I’m gonna force kids to put balls into baskets, like some people I know.”

He waited for a delightfully bitchy little comment in reply to his dig, but several moments of silence passed without any retort. Peeking out between his fingers, Eddie saw his boyfriend staring into space.

“Steve?”

“What?” Steve snapped, making him jump a little. Eddie just stared back.

“Nothing, I just said—”

“Nothing? I don’t have time for ‘nothing’, leave me alone.”

“Excuse me?” Eddie growled back. Steve ignored him, his face stuck in a textbook.

What the fuck?

Eddie rose from his chair and stalked around the table, ready to bat that stupid book right out of Steve’s hands. He stopped short when he realized his boyfriend was swaying, the book held loosely in trembling hands with unfocused eyes.

Oh.

"Steve," Eddie asked, softening his voice. "Did you get any sleep last night, sweetheart?"

“Obviously,” Steve snarked back, still avoiding Eddie’s eyes. Eddie tried not to take the bait. If Tommy were here, he would have told Steve off for lying like that when all he was doing was hurting himself more. But Tommy wasn't here right now to help, and Steve looked ready to topple over onto the desk.

Eddie swallowed, hoping he wasn't overstepping as he added a touch of steel to his voice.

"I asked you a question, Steve, come on, tell me the truth."

“Fine, I didn’t get any last night, and only got a few hours on Monday and Tuesday, are you happy now?” his boyfriend spit out. Eddie had to fight not to get angry at the eye roll that accompanied Steve’s words.

"And why didn't you sleep, sweetheart?" He managed to get out more or less evenly

"Cause I have three prelims next week,” Steve mumbled back. "My dad's already on my case for the education major. If I don't do okay he'll rip me a new one for wasting his money dicking around."

He tugged at the hair sticking out from his snapback so hard Eddie was worried he’d pull it out entirely.

"And maybe he's right, I'm too stupid to do this. Nothing makes sense and it takes twice as long for me to figure it out as anyone else, so what’s the point?"

Steve's face twisted into a painful looking scowl, and Eddie's heart broke. He grabbed his boyfriend's face to break him out of his sleep-deprived spiral.

"Stevie, stop that."

He glanced around. They were tucked away in a cubby deep in the library stacks. He knew there were other students around, but nobody had a direct eyeline on them. Eddie leaned in closer to whisper.

"Don't talk about yourself like that.” Steve started to protest:

"But—"

"No, no buts allowed. My puppy isn't dumb." Steve opened his mouth to argue back some more but Eddie barreled on:

"I'm not arguing with you when you're running on fumes. You gonna behave and let me take care of you?"

Steve went quiet. It lasted long enough for Eddie to start panicking a little. He shouldn't have done this without his other boyfriend, who was he to tell Steve what to do on his own? They hadn't been dating for that long, maybe he'd only made things worse or—

A tinkling noise snapped him out of it, and he watched as Steve dug under his sweater and pulled out his dog tags. He bowed his head and made a little noise of frustration, but otherwise remained silent, waiting for Eddie to make a move.

Holy shit, it worked.

“Thank you, sweetheart, there’s my good boy.”

He gently slid his puppy’s glasses off his face and removed his snapback to card his hand through his hair. Stevie leaned into the touch with his eyes shut. Slowly, his shoulders unwound, and the crease between his brows flattened out.

“There you go. Feeling a little better?”

Stevie let out a little huff as he shifted to nuzzle his cheek into his hand. Eddie couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Come on, let’s go back to your room. I’m sure Tommy will want to cuddle you too.”

His puppy slid off the chair onto all fours and Eddie mentally smacked himself. Why did he put Stevie down now? Playing around for a willing audience at the frat house was one thing, but he shuddered imagining having to explain to the campus rent-a-cops what was happening: Oh, I’m so sorry, officer. Nonono he’s not on drugs, Steve here’s in dog mode is all. He’s sniffing your butt to be polite!

“I’m sorry sweetheart, but you’re gonna need to be up on two legs for us to go back.”

Stevie made a disgruntled little snort and parked his ass and hands on the ground.

“You know that’s not what I asked for puppy,” he hissed out. All that got him was another haughty huff and a nose in the air.

If Tommy was around and they were behind closed doors, his obstinance might have earned a couple smacks or some alone time in his cage. Here though, Eddie was wary of making too much noise. He kept quietly cajoling, but his boyfriend stubbornly refused to move.

Finally, inspiration struck. He wiggled out of his jacket and placed it on the linoleum underneath their table. His puppy pretended not to be interested, but Eddie caught him glancing as he smoothed it out.

“Go on, lay down,” he said, with a pointed finger towards his jacket. Stevie cocked his head, playing dumb even as his eyes lit up in delight.

“You’re gonna close your eyes right here next to me, okay? I’ll stay the whole time, make sure you’re safe. Please Stevie,” he asked softly, “come on, take a little nap for me. Think how much better you’ll feel afterwards.”

Mercifully, the solution seemed to amenable to his headstrong boyfriend. He crawled over to inspect the makeshift dog bed, his tags gently clinking against each other.

After a few seconds, Stevie made a small noise of satisfaction, circling around to curl up against his legs. Within a couple minutes, he was snoring away softly, and Eddie slumped against the desk in relief.

He took a photo and sent it to his other boyfriend:

Eddie bit his lip. Shit. He should be able to wrangle Stevie himself, right?

His boyfriend didn’t reply for a few minutes, eventually sending a thumbs up. Eddie swallowed his nerves. He’d be fine! Tommy had enough shit to deal with right now, he didn’t need to clean up any messes Eddie had created for himself. His boyfriend didn’t need to see the worst of him, not yet.

He hadn’t been fourteen-year old Eddie in a long time, that distracted fidgety mess of a kid who was so angry at the world. His guidance counselor calling Wayne in for a meeting and handing the two of them a pamphlet on ADHD had been a first step towards something new. But folks in his hometown had long memories. Didn’t matter if Wayne had taken him in and made sure he got his act together enough to graduate, or if he earned a full ride to a state college. They all saw Eddie as screw up Al Munson’s miniature screw up in waiting, ready to follow in his daddy’s footprints any minute.

Getting out of Hawkins had probably saved his life. No one on this campus got to know about his dad’s prison sentence, or that Wayne lived in a trailer park, or hell, even that he took Adderall, without Eddie telling them first.

And he was gonna get there with Tommy and Steve…someday. Well okay, they saw him taking his fucking pill in the morning when he stayed over, so that last one wasn’t a secret anymore. But the rest? He was gonna keep his mouth shut for the time being around them and their silver-spooned brothers. Eddie could enjoy being their drug-dealer turned adopted stray for a little longer.

A snuffle from Stevie pushed him back out of his mind. Shit, right. He had a puppy to get home. Eddie ruffled Stevie’s hair some more and considered his options.

In the end, he let his puppy sleep for another hour. Steve was still out of it when he woke up, but he had climbed back out of his doggy headspace enough that Eddie was able to corral him back home with an arm over his shoulder. Anyone looking at them would’ve assumed the two of them were hungover. Weird for so early in the afternoon on a Wednesday, but not out of the question for someone sporting a ΣΑΧ snapback.

A couple brothers looked up when they stumbled in through the front door.

“Y’know if Tommy’s back yet?” Eddie wheezed. Stupid fucking hill this stupid fucking frat house had to be built on top of.

The blonde guy on the left of the couch nodded. Eddie recognized him as the one who always lost his shirt at parties and bragged about all the T.A.’s he was banging…was his name Benny? Billy? Something like that.

“Just missed him.” Benny-or-maybe-just-Bill smirked. “Looked pretty wiped. Tell him if he’s too tired, I’ll take care of his mutt for the night. Don’t worry, I’ll let you watch. Maybe you’ll pick up some training tips.”

Eddie swallowed a scowl.

“Maybe next Friday, dude .” Asshole.

Ignoring the snickering, Eddie turned and practically dragged Steve up the stairs and into Tommy’s room.

As soon as he caught sight of his other owner, Stevie immediately dropped back down to all fours and ran over to Tommy.

Tommy laughed and fended off his puppy’s ‘kisses.’

“Down, Stevie! I missed you too puppy.”

Fuck.

Eddie’s already bad mood intensified. It was obvious who Stevie preferred, and not like he didn’t have plenty of people lining up to take Tommy’s place. What was the point in competing with any of them?

Caught up in his own head, Eddie didn’t notice Tommy making his way over to the door until his boyfriend was dragging him further inside.

“Thanks for taking care of the sneaky fucker for me. He didn’t give you too much trouble, right? I should’ve noticed Steve wasn’t sleeping. He tried to pull this shit last year around the same time too.”

When Eddie didn’t answer, Tommy gave him a look.

“Dude, helllooo?”

“What?” The snap came out reflexively. Tommy raised his eyebrows while giving Stevie some scritches behind his ear that the puppy was really leaning into.

“Ouch, didn’t realize you were in a bitchy mood too.”

If he’d been feeling better, the tease wouldn’t have come off as a barb that stuck under his skin. Today was not that day.

“Well I won’t darken your fucking doorstep anymore,” Eddie muttered, turning to go. Tommy grabbed for his shoulder.

“Just sleep it off here Eds, you keep saying you want to steal my mattress. I’ll take care of Stevie now, you don’t have to worry.”

Tommy’s bed was a lot comfier than the bed in his apartment. Eddie loved taking naps on that mattress. But his boyfriend standing there so confident, so self-assured, made him furious. Not even sleep deprived from his exam, or worried about splitting his attention between his real boyfriend and a screw up who was only good enough to sub in once in a while.

“Yeah, guess you fucking have to be better at everything, huh?” He bat away Tommy’s hand and turned again, only to find himself hauled around by the back of his shirt. “Hey fuck off—”

“Nope,” Tommy interrupted. “Sit down and shut up.” He shoved Eddie backwards until his butt hit the side of the bed, then full on climbed on top of him. All the air left his body with an ‘ ooof! ’ Before Eddie knew it, he was pinned against the mattress.

“You do know you’re kinda heavy right?” he wheezed.

“Don't really care," Tommy said, busy grabbing Eddie’s wrists to fully immobilize him. "I’m not moving until you’re over whatever the fuck this is.”

Eddie tried to kick out but his skinny legs were no match for someone who played a sport four times a week. He sat there stewing in his annoyance for a few minutes but…g-ddamnit. The weight and warmth of Tommy’s body was kind of soothing. His feet got further squished in while Stevie settled into the improvised puppy pile.

With a deep breath, Eddie let himself sink into the bed. Tommy bonked his head against Eddie’s.

“Better now?”

“…Yeah. Thanks.”

His boyfriend gave him a soft kiss.

“Whatever bullshit it was telling you, tell your brain to fuck off, ‘kay?” It took all of his willpower not to immediately turn into a pile of goo. Stevie gave a little wuff as he pawed at Eddie’s jeans. “See, the puppy says so too.”

At the attention, their puppy barked excitedly.

“Aww, is someone feeling left out?” Tommy crooned down at him, before glancing back towards Eddie. “You up to playing now? Think this one still has some energy to get out.” Eddie nodded, ready to push the focus back off his issues for a while and help Stevie settle better. His boyfriend grinned and gave him a much more forceful kiss in return. Okay, yeah, little Eddie was definitely ready to play now.

“Go get your collar Stevie,” Tommy ordered.

Their puppy immediately scampered off towards the trunk that held his toys. Eddie was mildly impressed that he managed to nudge the top open with just his teeth and nose. On all fours, the sides of the trunk came up to Stevie’s shoulders. He had to tilt his whole upper body in to search, leaving his ass and legs comically dangling in the air. After a few seconds, their puppy yipped triumphantly and tossed his collar out. He fell back onto the floor in a mass of flailing limbs.

Once Stevie re-oriented himself and had his prize in hand (or more accurately, in mouth), he raced over to deposit his collar in front of Eddie, looking up expectantly.

“Oh, umm…” he flushed, glancing at Tommy. “Can I?”

His boyfriend smirked.

“You know he’s trying to butter you up, right? Cause someone ,” Tommy slipped into a singsong high-pitched voice as he pinched their puppy’s cheek, “knows he’s been naughty today. Get naked puppy. Now.”

Stevie shed his clothes lightning fast and sat back on his haunches at Eddie’s feet, bowing his head for him for the second time that day. Eddie slipped off the dog tags and replaced them with Stevie’s collar, fumbling with the clasp in his haste.

Their puppy sighed, turning to nuzzle his face into his legs. Eddie couldn’t help but melt from the sweetness, reaching down to scratch at Stevie’s scalp.

“Oh sure, now that you get what you want you’re behaving,” Tommy complained. “Sorry, puppy, you know the rules. Now, stand and present.”

Stevie pouted, but got back on all fours and arched his back. He spread his legs wide, exposing his balls and hole, as a pink flush slowly spread across his body. Tommy moaned appreciatively. Their puppy turned his head to smirk as he swayed his ass back and forth a little. G-d, Stevie was such a vain attention-seeking diva.

He was also already half-hard from this little bit of show-boating. Tommy moved quickly, lubing up a silicon cock ring to sit just beneath the head of his dick. A matching band fit just above his balls, stretching them out away from his body. Eddie shivered as Stevie woofed happily, knowing firsthand from experience (thanks to a very enlightening weekend spent under Tommy’s hands) how intense orgasms felt with them on, even if their puppy would have to work a little harder to get there.

Once Stevie was properly collared everywhere, Eddie squirted some cold lube without warning directly over their puppy’s hole, enjoying both the shocked yip he got in response and Tommy’s snorting laughter.

He took his time to tease, stroking his fingers along all of the gorgeous skin presented in front of him. As he passed it, Eddie’d let the tip of his thumb just barely catch on Stevie’s rim. Their puppy whined and bucked around, trying to force it deeper.

“Hey, bad puppy, stay!” Tommy swatted at Stevie’s ass hard enough to leave a handprint. “Be happy Eddie’s being so nice, I wouldn’t give you anything after how much of a brat you were to him this afternoon.”

Eddie jumped and moved his hands away, feeling guilty.

“Shit, should I leave him alone?” Tommy cocked an eyebrow.

“Why? He’s yours too. Do what you want to him.” Their puppy woofed and laid his face on Eddie’s feet. Tommy smirked and gestured down as if to say see ?

Eddie flushed a little at the sign of support from both of them and nodded, picking back up with only light touches. He kept at it until Stevie was a whining slobbering mess, barely able to hold back from humping the air. It was only then that he finally picked up the tail-shaped butt plug and gently pushed it into their puppy’s waiting asshole.

Stevie barked and groaned at the intrusion, relaxing his muscles and rocking back and forth on the plug to pleasure himself. Eddie now knew he could take much bigger and thicker dildos, but the curved rubber tail brushing against their puppy’s ass with every movement drove him further and further into that warm fuzzy headspace.

“There you go sweetheart,” Eddie murmured. “Finally filled up the way you wanted?”

Their puppy whined, looking up with big sad eyes. Tommy snorted.

“Upset he didn’t fuck you with that nice thick dick of his first then plug you up?” he taunted. “Not tonight Stevie, you are being punished. Speaking of—” His other boyfriend tossed the remote to the tail’s vibrator towards Eddie. He squeaked in surprise at the projectile, only barely managing to catch it. Stupid frat bros and their jock reflexes. Tommy just laughed again.

“Don’t you go giving me a look too, you caught it, didn’t you?”

“I only quit smoking a month ago, don’t expect to turn me into an athlete anytime soon,” Eddie grumbled. He held up the remote. “What did you have in mind with this?”

“Well,” Tommy wandered over and slipped his hands underneath Eddie’s shirt to toy with his nipple piercing. Eddie let out a happy groan of his own. “Stevie still needs to get his spanking. Why don’t you lose your clothes? Enjoy the show, and keep our puppy on the edge.”

His boyfriend played with his nipples for a long torturous minute before walking back towards Stevie. He grinned at the sight of Eddie’s dick straining within the confines of his tight jeans, a wet patch just barely visible through the denim.

“Don’t come yet, got plans for you tonight too.”

Eddie groaned but nodded. He flew out of his clothes and leapt onto the bed as Tommy settled in on the beat up loveseat in the corner and beckoned Stevie over.

Their puppy crawled over reluctantly, whimpering the whole way. He cowered at Tommy’s feet, trying to appear as pathetic as possible. The groveling might have worked, had he not also glanced back at Eddie and stuck his butt higher in the air. Eddie had to stifle a laugh.

"Come on Stevie, don't give me that," Tommy snapped. "You know the rules. Dogs don't get to make decisions, their owners do. Get up here. Don't make me say it again." He pointed to his lap.

Stevie scrambled up then went limp. He obediently let Tommy arrange him so that he was stretched out over the sofa, his ass centered directly over his owner's thighs.

"There you go. See, it's not hard to be good, is it Stevie?" Tommy ruffled a hand through their puppy's hair, mussing it up and chuckling at the disgruntled huff he got in response.

G-d, the way he looked at Stevie, cheeks flushed and eyes soft, made Eddie's heart clench. His fingers itched to capture this moment in a song, so other people could get just a taste of the intimacy. But. He shouldn't be intruding on such a private moment between the two of them, right? He couldn’t hope to ever have Tommy look at him like that and—

“You gonna use the vibe on him, or want me to start first?”

Huh? Oh right. Belatedly Eddie realized the remote was cutting into his hand from the way he’d been holding it in a death grip this whole time.

Tommy finally glanced in his direction. And look, Eddie knew he was a terrible liar. Wayne had always said he wore his heart fluttering around right there on his sleeve. But he couldn’t help but feel caught out when his boyfriend quirked an eyebrow and gestured for him to join them on the sofa.

Stevie lifted his head enough for Eddie to slide his way into the empty seat, giving a happy little wuff now that he was positioned over both of them. He settled down to bury his nose in Eddie’s crotch, enthusiastically licking at his dick and balls with that heavenly tongue.

Tommy reached over to stroke his thumb against Eddie’s cheek.

“Guess the puppy wasn’t the only one who needed attention, huh.”

“Mhm.” Eddie squeezed his eyes shut and leaned into his boyfriend’s hand, basking in the affection. At least until he remembered he was still holding the remote. Again.

He finally turned the switch on. Stevie, in the middle of slobbering all over his ballsack trying to take everything into his mouth at once, gave an adorable squeal in surprise, and kept wriggling around as Eddie steadily increasing the vibe’s intensity.

His boyfriend caught his eye and grinned. Without warning, he brought his hand down on their puppy with a loud smack . Stevie jolted and cried out, his ass jiggling from the impact. Tommy wasn’t moved by the reaction.

“I barely touched you pup, shush.” He began to rain down blow after blow.

The sight of their puppy’s ass slowly growing redder was driving Eddie insane. Worse, all those little noises coming out of his mouth as he squirmed around vibrated right against Eddie’s dick.

With a lot of effort, Eddie only just managed to pull himself back from the edge.

Tommy saw him panting and paused his spanking. He grabbed one of Eddie’s hands and laid it on top of Stevie’s ass cheeks. Heat practically radiated off of them from the dark red blooming underneath his fingers.

His boyfriend winked at him before grabbing their puppy’s hair and yanking his head up. Stevie yelped, those pretty eyes shut tight from pain. Tommy waited until he opened them again to address him:

“Bad news pup, you distracted Eddie so much that I lost count watching. Guess I’ll have to restart. Poor thing,” he said with a fake condescending pout. “That mouth is always getting you into trouble, isn’t it. Maybe you should do something useful with it.”

He shoved Stevie’s head back down into Eddie’s crotch and started up again, steadily increasing the tempo of his strikes now that their puppy had been properly warmed up.

Obediently, Stevie opened his mouth and swallowed Eddie’s dick down. Every smack from Tommy urged him further and further, until their puppy’s nose was brushing against Eddie’s pubes. Once again, it took everything in Eddie’s power not to cum then and there from the warmth squeezing him tight. Tommy had mentioned that the two of them spent a good couple months training away Steve’s gag reflex and fuck , wasn’t Eddie a lucky bastard to reap their hard work.

He closed his eyes, resigned to the orgasm barreling towards him, when Tommy abruptly stood up, dumping Stevie off his lap in the process. Their puppy was caught off guard and went flying, landing on the floor with a yelp.

Laughing, his boyfriend finally started to take off his clothes.

“Sorry, but he was getting you too close. I told you, I’ve got plans involving your dick tonight.”

Eddie swallowed hard. His eyes traced over Tommy’s bare shoulders and chest, strong and built up from years of playing lacrosse. Unlike their puppy’s comparative jungle, Tommy’s chest only grew a smattering of hair. But there was more than enough for Eddie to run his greedy hands through it and enjoy the soft texture.

Pushing down his pants and briefs in one go, Tommy’s dick sprung free from its imprisonment to stick straight out. He really did have freckles everywhere. One of these days Eddie wanted to lick over each and every one of them.

“Like what you see Munson?” Oops, he’d been caught. Even worse, Tommy was using a jock nickname on him. Fifteen year-old Eddie would have been betrayed by how much it was doing it for him.

Eddie nodded, bouncing up to give Tommy a sloppy kiss. He returned the favor, only stopping to grab Eddie’s hand and gathering them both up in a fist, still kinda slick with remnants of lube.

Tommy directed him through a few rough strokes. Eddie moaned into his shoulder, finally giving into his own urge to bite and suck at the sun-speckled skin there.

A wuff coming from the floor interrupted his one-track thoughts. Stevie tried to hump their legs, only for Tommy to push him onto his back. His boyfriend chuckled as their puppy laid there pouting.

“What, you thought your punishment was over already? Not yet, Stevie. You’re going in your cage so your owners can have some fun together. That’s right, I’m the one who gets to ride Eddie for as long as I want tonight.” Their puppy whined in frustration.

Without hesitation, Tommy grabbed the back of Stevie’s collar and hauled him up so they were eye to eye.

“Behave,” he hissed. “We’re being nice, and letting you watch. Eddie and I could always go back to his place instead. Is that what you want? Locked up, all alone for the rest of the night?” Stevie shook his head and pawed at Tommy’s shirt, gasping a little for air.

Eddie grabbed ahold of their puppy’s shoulders and gently brought him down to the floor. Stevie curled up in his lap but couldn’t stay still, panting heavily and giving half-aborted little thrusts every few seconds. His dick twitched against Eddie’s thigh. Shit, he might gotten closer to coming than they wanted him to be right now.

He turned the vibrator down to a lower setting, enough to keep Stevie hard and wanting, but not in active danger. Their puppy moaned and burrowed deeper into Eddie’s arms. Tears and snot got smeared over his chest, but he didn’t mind.

“It’s okay sweetheart, shhh.” Eddie stroked the soft hairs on their puppy’s nape. “You’re being such a good boy, taking your punishment so well. Just a little more, it’s almost over.”

Tommy pressed a kiss to Stevie’s forehead.

“Think he’s good?”

Their puppy had quieted, his breathing no longer as labored. Eddie nodded.

In response, his boyfriend tilted his chin to stick his tongue in his mouth. When they parted, Tommy smirked at his dazed expression.

“Guess you’re good too. Put that one in his cage.” He sauntered over to his bed and grabbed the lube. “Come on, hurry up, I wanna feel full already.”

Eddie’s breath caught in his chest watching Tommy slick up two fingers on one hand and use the other to push a buttcheek to the side. His exposed asshole, adorned with a ring of freckles, greedily took one finger then another. The wet schlick s as he pumped in and out of himself filled the air, and Eddie’s dick was so hard it could cut glass.

A little moan underneath his feet reminded him of the task Tommy had left to him. Looking down, Eddie could see Stevie was similarly affected: his tongue was out and steadily dripping drool everywhere. If he didn’t act quickly, their puppy was probably thirty seconds away from leaping onto the bed and trying to take Tommy from behind.

Eddie tore his eyes away from his boyfriend’s ass, and ran over to the big dog cage in the corner.

“C’mere Stevie!” Eddie patted his legs and pointed to the plush dog bed inside. “Come on sweetheart, be a good boy, we’ll let you out soon, I promise,” he added hastily, seeing the dubious look on their puppy’s face.

Stevie took as circuitous a route as he could take, but eventually made his way over to the cage. He licked at Eddie’s hand, pleading with those expressive eyes of his. Eddie just barely restrained himself from giving in, and held the cage door open wider. Stevie huffed his displeasure. With his nose high in the air, he stepped into the cage, the picture of regal grace.

Their puppy occupied himself with getting comfy as Eddie locked him inside the cage. It was adorable the way he turned around a few times before curling up on himself, knees held close to his chest. The feigned nonchalance of the pose was ruined when Stevie peeked an eye open to make sure someone was still watching though.

It was Eddie’s turn to snort at this new tactic.

“Okay, yup, you totally don’t care sweetheart.”

A moan from Tommy called his attention back to the bed. Walking backwards, Eddie fiddled with the remote to give their puppy a taste of the vibe’s highest setting. Stevie yelped, limbs flying everywhere for a moment from the unexpected intensity. He glared at Eddie even as his hips ground down involuntarily.

Eddie giggled, giving their puppy a teasing grin. He set the remote to give random hard pulses, just to be a little mean. If Stevie wanted attention, he was going to have to work for it.

By the time Eddie rejoined him on the bed, Tommy was already three fingers deep in his own ass.

“Took you long enough, jeez,” he panted. “Come up here and fuck me already.”

Eddie didn’t need any more urging, and grabbed a condom, nearly tearing it in half in his haste to get the packet open.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tommy trying not to laugh, which only made his fumbling worse, of course. Eventually his boyfriend smacked his hands away.

“That’s it, we’re all getting tested this week,” Tommy muttered mostly to himself as he rolled down a fresh one onto Eddie’s dick. A couple quick pumps had Eddie whimpering too, already close to coming again. “So eager to please, huh? Well here’s how you make me happy Eddie-baby.”

His boyfriend pushed Eddie down onto his back then moved to hover right over his dick. Eddie couldn’t help but stare. Tommy’s muscles barely even moved as he effortlessly held the position. Stupid hot athlete boyfriend with his stupid hot abs.

Tommy moved in close, his breath tickling Eddie’s ear as he whispered: “I want to come on your dick tonight, and only from your dick. Doesn’t matter how much you beg me to stop, not gonna until that happens. Got it?”

Eddie swallowed hard. His dick twitched with every heartbeat, way too interested in what his boyfriend wanted. He was half tempted to beg for a cock ring of his own. Stevie had more than one after all.

As if he could hear his thoughts, their puppy gave another pitiful whimper as the tail kicked up again. Tommy didn’t react in the slightest. He just stared down, chest rising and falling evenly as he waited for an answer. The flush slowly spreading across his cheeks was the only tell that he was even a little bit affected.

A drop of precum landed on Eddie’s stomach. Okay, maybe there were a few more signs.

Tommy’s dick was sticking straight out, and his hole gaped, still loose from his fingers and practically begging to be stuffed full and…oh fuck it. Eddie had always been a competitive little shit anyway.

“I can definitely do that,” he said, putting as much false bravado into his words as possible. Sure, doing theater in high school meant he was forever labeled a dork, but did come in handy for moments like this.

His boyfriend smirked.

“Good.”

Without any warning, he slid halfway way down Eddie’s dick in one smooth movement. All of the air escaped his lungs from the sudden tight heat.

“Don’t even think about coming Munson,” Tommy panted.

The next however many minutes were the longest who knows how long period of time in Eddie’s life. He held onto the sheets for dear life while his boyfriend rode him hard and fast. Eddie could feel his balls drawing up almost past the point of no return when Tommy reached down to pinch at his nipple piercing again, and it was all over. As soon as he finished twitching, his boyfriend pulled off. He tore off the now used condom, pulled a new one down, and remounted Eddie before he could blink, much less have his dick flag.

“I told you,” Tommy panted. “I’m not gonna stop if you come, so don’t bitch and moan too much.”

He winced and moaned anyway, oversensitive and overwhelmed. Not that it mattered though. By the time Tommy groaned and came all over their stomaches, he’d squeezed another mind shattering orgasm out of Eddie.

Tommy flopped over, still trying to catch his breath. Eddie beamed from where he’d melded into the mattress, happy that he’d managed to make his jock boyfriend work that hard.

Belatedly, he became aware of their puppy whining and whimpering in the corner.

“Don’t worry Stevie,” Tommy called out. “Gonna let you out now, as soon as someone gets his legs back.” Their puppy did not stop his begging, the little brat.

Still, he had been in the cage and teased mercilessly for a long while. Eddie blindly fumbled around until he found the remote and turned the tail’s vibrator off. Stevie moaned and relaxed a bit more in relief.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Tommy wheezed, “keep your pants on pup.”

Finally, his boyfriend recovered his bearings enough to stumble over and free their puppy. Stevie tumbled out, equally unsteady after staying curled up for so long.

“You okay to move Stevie?” Tommy reached down and gently massaged their puppy’s legs. After a minute Stevie wuffed, and trotted over to the bed. Eddie reached out to help him up. He got their puppy arranged nicely on all fours before reaching a hand out to stroke his dick. Stevie moaned happily when Eddie slipped his other hand up to tease at his nipples. G-d , he loved how responsive he was.

“There you go Stevie,” Eddie said softly. “Poor thing, you must be aching everywhere, huh? All worked up, with nothing to hump.”

Their puppy whined in agreement. The whines kicked up a notch when the tail in his ass came to life again. Eddie looked over to see a grinning Tommy holding the remote.

“Come on, let’s let the doggy have his bone r.” Eddie groaned at the pun and his boyfriend cackled.

In the end, it didn’t take much. Eddie played with his nipples, Tommy gave a few gentle squeezes to their puppy’s balls, and they took turns alternating strokes to his dick.

The orgasm hit Steve hard. Underneath their hands he bucked and moaned in relief for seemingly forever. He finally dropped boneless to the bed with one last whimper.

Steve barely responded as Tommy went about removing the rings from his junk or the tail from his ass. But when Eddie went to unbuckle his collar, he grabbed his hand to hold it still.

“Five more minutes,” Steve begged, the words slurred and his voice a little raspy from disuse.

Eddie didn’t hesitate or wait for Tommy to give his opinion.

“Sure sweetheart, five more minutes.” Relief written all over his face, Steve closed his eyes and curled up into Eddie’s chest. He made a noise of satisfaction when Tommy slid in to cling to his back like a koala.

His boyfriend flopped a hand over Steve, letting it come to rest on Eddie’s chest. The weight and warmth of it grounded him as he laid there half drifting into a doze.

They stayed like that for a while and let time unspool around them, only broken by Steve’s little snores. Eddie’s brain even shut up for the occasion, not concerned with anything but the present.

Finally, Tommy stirred again.

“Fuck.” He poked at the drying sticky mess all over them. “We need to clean all this shit up, or we’re gonna get stuck together forever.”

Tommy directed Eddie to help him get Steve into the shower since he was still clumsy on his feet. They left his collar on the sink to deal with as tomorrow’s problem. The thing was already marked up with a lot of mysterious stains, what was one more gonna do at this point?

After the world’s fastest shower, the three of them all fell into a pile on the bed.

Steve settled down again in between Eddie and Tommy.

When Eddie finally came back to consciousness the next day, it was to Steve’s stomach growling.

He peeked open one eye to find his boyfriend reading a textbook, supporting it on top of Tommy’s head (who was splayed out and still snoring away on his chest). A beam of sunlight glinted off Steve’s glasses and made the two of them practically glow. Eddie’s heart lurched at seeing such a wonderful sight first thing after waking up.

Steve’s eyes flicked from the book over to him. He grimaced.

“Shit, sorry for waking you up Eds. Forgot you’re a lighter sleeper than Tom is.”

“It’s fine, whatimeisit,” Eddie slurred as he extracted himself from Tommy’s legs and stretched.

“Twelve thirty-ish. Was gonna go make some food, you hungry too?”

On cue, Eddie’s stomach made a noise. Steve grinned.

“That answers that. Hey, Tommy-” his boyfriend poked his human weighted blanket. “Want anything?”

Tommy shooed them both off.

“Shuddup m’sleepn’…” he muttered, flopping over and blindly groping around to find a replacement pillow.

Steve laughed and grabbed Eddie’s hand.

“Just the two of us. Come on, I’ll make some brunch.”

Eddie followed Steve downstairs and into a part of the house he hadn’t been in yet. Here, the fancy wood paneling was darker, and held rows and rows of framed photos of former Sigma Alpha Chi brothers from prior decades.

Just beyond the point where the photographs began to feature late 1800’s suits and silly facial hair, Steve opened a door helpfully labeled ‘Kitchen’, and turned on the lights.

If Eddie didn’t know better, he would have guessed this cavernous space made food for some Michelin star restaurant, with its pristine chrome appliances, glazed terracotta tiles, and white-washed walls. For fucks sake he could see his reflection mirrored back at him on practically every sparkling surface.

“What, no private chef?” he joked, valiantly resisting the urge to tamper with the expensive-looking mixer or leave behind fingerprints all over the island.

Steve shrugged and fiddled with the brim of his snapback.

“Oh, we do, today’s just her day off. You’re gonna love Maggie’s tiramisu, it’s so fucking good man.” Sigma Alpha Chi and their bottomless funds. With his back turned, Steve missed Eddie’s eyes popping out of his skull as he continued talking:

“Tommy’s been banned from coming in here since he freaking lit pasta in boiling water on fire. So, I need you to be my smoke detector and make sure this Kraft survives, okay?” Steve scooped Eddie up and deposited him on the counter next to the stove. If anyone asked, Eddie would deny the extremely manly ‘meep! ’ that fell out of his mouth in surprise. His boyfriend huffed out a laugh, kissed the tip of his nose, then got to work.

Eddie watched Steve putter around. There were still dark circles under his eyes that wouldn’t be solved by one good night’s sleep. But the Steve of this morning, er, afternoon, was nothing like yesterday. He moved around the kitchen confidently, humming like he was supposed to be here. Every so often he’d send little smiles Eddie’s way that absolutely wreaked havoc with his heart.

Twenty minutes later balancing several bowls of steaming yellow cheesy goodness in his hands, Eddie listened to Steve complain about his dad:

“He still not thrilled I decided not to run for and ‘let my boyfriend win.’ Pissed I let the streak of frat president Harringtons die. Like I want Tommy’s job.” Steve gestured to one photo out of the many frames lining the hallway as they passed.

The plaque underneath read "Sigma Alpha Chi Class of '86." In the center grinning at the camera was a guy with Steve's smile and a frankly impressive bushy blond mustache.

"Not that he really understands why I wanna be a teacher instead of following him into the family business either. I'm getting the management degree because he's convinced that by the time I graduate he can get me to work for him.”

"Don't want to join the ol’ law firm? Let him finally put the ‘& Son’ up on the sign?” Steve made a face.

“My mom's the family lawyer and she definitely doesn’t want me anywhere near her cases. My dad runs…you ever hear of Scoops Ahoy?"

"The ice cream chain? Yeah dude. Those commercials with the dorky admiral guy are hilarious. 'Set sail on an ocean of flavor with me!"

Steve groaned and hid his head behind his hands.

“We tried to get him to cast an actor but nope, had to be him. The stupid sailor outfits were his idea too, he's always been obsessed with nautical shit. Every year he hosts a murder mystery on his yacht and makes us all dress up in the dorkiest costumes with him, it's the worst."

Eddie blinked. Then blinked some more. Come to think of it the face of Scoops Ahoy had a very familiar crinkle to his hazel-colored eyes and sure his mustache was grey not blond but holy shit wait a minute—

“He…the Admiral is— your dad owns Scoops Ahoy??" he sputtered.

Oh my G-d he was dating fast food royalty. What was next, would Tommy reveal he was related to the King of Sweden?

With his free hand Eddie grabbed Steve’s shirt.

“Please tell me Tommy isn’t secretly Gustaf the Seventeenth,” he asked, his tone landing closer to ‘manic Swedish-obsessed axe murderer’ than intended.

Steve looked at him sideways.

“What?”

“He’s not from Sweden?” Steve grabbed their lunch out of Eddie’s hands after a couple noodles fell to their demise.

“Dude he’s from some town called Orangeville a couple hours outside of Indianapolis. It’s in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.”

“Okay, great.” Eddie wheezed. “Only one of you is the heir to an empire then. Tommy’s just normal fuck-off wealthy.”

Steve laughed.

“Yeah, I’m gonna regret introducing you to Dad, aren’t I. The two of you are gonna feed into each other’s dramatics, calling it now.” Eddie stopped in his tracks. Steve wanted him to meet his parents?

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll get along great at graduation.” That’s all he meant, probably. No need to explain polyamory to baby boomers.

“Actually, was kinda hoping you were free for Spring Break, you didn’t mention any plans yet.” A couple spots of pink appeared on Steve’s cheeks. Was he…nervous? Before Eddie could do more than shake his head no his boyfriend pushed on:

“My parents want to meet my music teacher boyfriend and might have invited you to come on this year’s murder cruise. If you want. I won’t let them make you wear the cabin boy outfit even if it’s tradition for first-timers. Those shorts are like, ridiculously tiny and I will get distracted staring at your ass.” Steve grinned, like it wasn’t complete absurdity to introduce him to anyone.

“You’ve talked about me to your parents?” His boyfriend gave him a bitchy look.

“No, I didn’t want to tell my parents about my new amazing boyfriend who can play ten different instruments. Oh, right!” He snapped his fingers. “If you come, don’t bring your guitar. Dad will make you play ‘Barrett’s Privateers’ too many times.”

“What about Tommy?”

“What about him? He’s already called dibs on being the ‘second first mate.’’ Eddie threw up his hands in frustration. In hind sight, Steve was entirely correct to take the mac and cheese away from him.

“Steve, if I’m your new boyfriend, they’re gonna assume you and Tommy broke up!”

“Oh. Nah, my mom would kill me if I broke up with Tommy at this point, she loves him. They think I’m involved in some sort of millennial swingers club, but they sort of get it. And the offer’s still standing if you want to come. Don’t need to RSVP now or anything, think about it. It’ll be nice to have you there.”

Eddie stared at Steve’s face. This had to be a joke, no one wanted to ever take him home. He was the dirty secret, the screw up, the—

“ Tell your brain to fuck off ,” Tommy’s voice whispered in his ear.

Maybe, this didn’t have to be a joke. Maybe, he could meet Steve’s parents with Tommy there and have it go okay. And maybe, he could believe that the two of them wanted him to be there.

“I’ll have to see what my uncle’s plans were, but he’d probably be okay with moving our fishing trip to another weekend. We uh, usually do that, when I’m home on breaks.”

“Yes!” Steve smiled and pumped a fist in the air, somehow avoiding spilling any pasta while he did so like the talented dorky jock he was. Eddie couldn’t help but smile. Maybe things would work out this time, if he could get his boyfriends to smile back at him like that. The rest could come later.

Author's Notes -Thank you to @vthx for beta-ing, you really helped me drill down and nail Steve's mannerisms <3 Also thank you to anyone who sent in an emoji during WIP Weekend. It took six months, but this fic finally saw publication!

-Shout out to @dame-zoom-a-lot for walking me through how to create the cool texting workskin!

-In this story, I wanted Steve, Eddie, and Tommy to have met in college, so only Eddie gets to be from Hawkins! Due to the demands of running a restaurant empire, I imagine Steve lived somewhere near to Chicago so his dad could travel to and from the offices frequently. Tommy's town of Orangeville is super tiny (less than 1000 people) and was picked randomly off the map

-Billy is in fact extremely jealous that Steve chose someone else not once but twice, heh

-Tommy lighting pasta in boiling water on fire is in fact inspired by a true story, unfortunately. The person who did this is now a literal rocket scientist, which thankfully does not require cooking skills Also thank you to saradika for the dog bone divider!

Tag list for this fic (thank you for your patience and continued emoji-based support while it took some time to write <3)

@dame-zoom-a-lot @fkinkindagauche @little-annie @augustjustice

@fuctacles @stellarspecter @griefabyss69

#steddie #stommie #stomeddie #stommy #steve harrington #eddie munson #tommy hagan #stranger things fic #puppy trio #tinawrites #steve x eddie x tommy #stranger things #steve harrington x tommy hagan x eddie munson

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