#I mean I still want metal bands to take *their music* seriously

[optiwashere]

8 for the music challenge, if done already, any question you want to answer but havent already :)

Oh, well this is going to be a strange, very difficult one for me tbh.

8. Is there an artist or song that you like, despite being of a genre you don't usually like?

I hate to be that person, but I really do listen to a lot of different stuff. It just depends on my mood, honestly. There are days where old protest country music is all I want to listen to, or some jazz fusion, or just plain old metal, pop, etc. Give me that really grimy industrial, gimme some gothy trance. I want it all! I guess if I had to pick a genre that I don't enjoy at all, it really only leaves, like, contemporary religious soft "rock" music. I hate that shit and I've never heard anything worthwhile in that sphere. OH! I don't really like djent or thall, but I'm fond of a handful of Meshuggah albums. ObZen and the remaster of Nothing mostly, but the music video of "New Millennium Cyanide Christ" is an actual stone-cold classic and a good reminder that metal is inherently at least a little bit silly.

[chosolala]

geto headcanons ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

my bad for edging u guys with false promises of content 😭 please accept my apology in the form of cute and silly geto headcanons :]

he’s really sentimental (w some ppl, apparently not his parents) but secretive about it, like he probably has a box hidden deep under his bed of cards, gifts and notes given to him over the years

feeds stray animals behind peoples back

he’s in touch with his feminine side, like he has an in-depth skincare and shower routine, you will NOT catch him lacking

if you’re in a relationship with him, his go to when he messes up is leaving flowers and a note at your door

the type of guy to listen to you talk shit but never say anything mean himself

he’s probably a really good cook, mama geto does not play in the kitchen.

remembers little things people tell him

^^ because of this he gives the most meaningful gifts

doesn’t really like people touching his hair but still lets you and his girls do silly hair styles on him

probably really uncomfortable with people touching him, he and gojo probably had fights because gojo kept slapping getos butt despite geto telling him not to

the type of guy to have piercings that aren’t super noticeable right away (same with tattoos)

i feel like he’d be terrible at drawing and he thinks it’s no big deal until everyone wants to play pictionary (everyone has pictures of his art saved in their phones for blackmail purposes)

probably plays guitar in his free time

i feel like he’d like nu metal music but also oldies like marvin gaye or something

trivia goat, he knows so much about random things

also i feel like he’d love watching movies in his free time, he seems like a horror movie kinda guy

i feel like he’d have a cat that he literallt treats like his kid

play video games with gojo and gen gets so angry bc he gets his ass beat everytime without fail

i know he’d get to cheating after a certain point too, he’d probably cover gojos eyes or ‘accidentally’ unplug gojos controller

unintentionally a backseat driver

did matching stick and poke tattoos for him gojo and shoko in highschool

he may have lost every fight he’s been in but he will NOT lose and argument, when they go low, geto goes lowER

i feel like he’s unaware of his looks, like sometimes he gets free drinks and compliments but assumes people are just being nice or he’s just lucky, not that he’s actually super handsome (hello sailor ;)

pin and sticker collector, but he doesn’t do anything with them like he just has them

really good at first person shooter games (but gojo refuses to play those with him)

i feel like he’d read books catered to a female audience and he’d be kind of embarrassed about it, like what do u know about girl interrupted 🤨

his closet is like 80% band tees

takes games so seriously, like he’s very competitive especially w gojo

when he’s feeling indecisive about something he literally asks an 8ball

.5 iphone picture victim, his girls constantly sneak in .5 pics of him

always wakes up early to make a good breakfast

literally gives the warmest hugs ever, his hugs could stop a person from crying

monster drink addiction

takes most of his skin/hair care from his girls, probably online shops with them too

hates shopping in person like in malls so whenever the girls want to shop he just gives them his card and tells them to keep their phones on

carries medicine on him at all times just in case, he’s prepared

[natasha-in-space]

Engagement rings headcanons

Was scrolling through the engagement rings with my friendo the other day, and they dared me to choose individual rings for everyone in mm, so here's the result of that silly dare. I know we technically already know about this from the 'mysterious confesson' merch we got, but this was still a very fun exercise to do. These are just my headcanons, and were made solely for fun, don't take my thoughts on this too seriously! :D

Yoosung

Would go with something classy and romantic, probably a bit of vintage, too. He wants your engagement ring to reflect his love for you, which may lead him to become antsy and indecisive when picking one. He doesn't want it to be too expensive, or too cheap. It has to be just right. Poor guy even sketches out a clumsy 'prototype' he shows to the employees, as it's hard to relay his vision across with just words. In the end, he ends up either getting either a classic diamond ring with an infinity band (he thinks it's sweet to include a small detail of your appreciation to each other lasting forever, however cheesy that may sound) or something a bit more vintage and intricate in style. I don't think he would have any preferences concerning the color of metal, so he might go with a mix of white and yellow metal.

Zen

Would definitely go over the top - the man's a true romantic, you can't tell me he hasn't dreamed of his wedding at least a couple of times! He appreciates everything you've done for him, and he wants this ring to show it. He wants this ring to be everything you've ever dreamed of and so much more. Might struggle with high expectations he sets up for himself, which results in him just stressing himself out instead of enjoying the process like he's supposed to. You might have to have a talk with him about that. As for the ring itself, I think he'll go with something pink and soft in color! There's just something that's is so sweet and light whenever he looks at rose gold engagement rings, it makes him instantly think about you. That's when he knows it's the one. After all, pink is the color of romance!

Jaehee

Would get something custom-made, but still pretty traditional. She wants something that would catch your attention, but won't be an inconvenience to wear. She wouldn't stress out too much, and you two would probably agree on a design together, instead of her surprising you with something. You are her partner, and she wants your rings to reflect that. A delicate and easy design is her go-to. But, if you want something eye-catching, that's okay too, as long as it's not a bother to wear. I think she would go with platinum options when it comes to color. It's simple but very pretty to look at. Kind of like you :) She would also like to add custom engravings to your rings. Something to look at and smile as she twirls the ring around her finger. Either a cheesy coordinated phrase (probably out of your favorite musical that you two always quote to each other), or a date of your cafe's opening, as it's the start of her new life that she has managed to achieve thanks to your support.

Jumin

Would get something fancy, but not over the top. He desires fir your ring to not be too simple, as you are worth more than that. Still, he focuses more on the spiritual meaning of the ring rather than its cost. Money's not an issue to him either way, and he knows that you don't care about how expensive this ring will be. Regardless, he wants only the best for you, as you rightfully deserve. Jumin would go for traditional classic designs, as he finds them the most flattering to look at. Might also like boho-styled engagement rings. When it comes to the process of picking one, he won't overthink it too much. He wants the ring to be perfect, no doubt, but he's pretty cool-headed with his search. Might ask Elizabeth to pick out the best design if he's conflicted. With her intricate collection of collars, he knows she has a good sense of elegance. Would probably go for yellow gold variety when it comes to color, as it's the most classy one in his eyes.

Saeyoung

Would go with something simplistic but unique. I am like 70% sure he would create your engagement rings and wedding bands by hand. It just sounds like something Saeyoung would do. Poor guy would probably be the most stressed of all the others. He wants it to be perfect so badly, but he's also indecisive as hell. See, he's mostly non-traditional when it comes to his tastes, but he also really likes the classic styles of rings, not to mention that the idea of a classic traditional wedding makes him feel all emotional on the inside. This issue would probably persist throughout your entire wedding planning, and not just the creation of your engagement rings: he just can't decide which side to take for the life of him. In the end, he'll probably find the middle ground thanks to your help and encouragement. He's gonna let out the biggest sigh of relief once those rings are finally done. And probably cry right after, as he has never thought he would hold anything as precious as an engagement ring meant for his soulmate in his own hands. Would go with white gold for color.

Jihyun

Would go for something custom-made and simple, but still a bit unique in its presentation. I don't think he has much preference when it comes to style, so he's fine with anything you pick. He doesn't want it to be too ostentatious or expensive, however. He strikes me as someone who prefers more modest designs, even if he'd like to sprinkle some custom design choices. It'll depend on your relationship with him, and what makes it unique for you. He wants your rings to reflect that, more than anything else. He wouldn't be anxious while working on the design itself, occasionally asking for your input, as he wants these rings to be the representation of your shared love, not just his own. He might go a bit overboard and come up with a borderline silly-looking design initially, so it'd be best for you to keep him from getting too creative. Can't fault the man for getting carried away. He would probably go for yellow metal, as it reminds him of the sun.

GE Saeran

Would go for something simple, romantic, and vintage-styled. Saeran doesn't know much about the intricacies that go into picking out an engagement ring, so I can imagine he'd get pretty overwhelmed the first time he tries to research the topic on his own. You'll probably end up picking it out together, patiently discussing important details between yourselves. He knows he doesn't want it to be too fancy or eye-catching, and he knows he wants the ring to remind him of your smile whenever he looks at it. His criteria is pretty easy but sweet nonetheless. It's less about the details and more about his inner feelings. He would probably go for a floral-themed ring if he comes across one that catches his eye, but it's not definitive. He would also go for a colored gemstone, mostly because he likes it better that way. He loves the color pink, as it reminds him of the feeling your gentle love, so he will have a preference for rose gold rings, not doubt.

SE Saeran

Would go for something both unique but elegant. Now, Saeran is definitely not picky when it comes to engagement rings. He kind of feels out of his depth here. Still, it is very important to ask for his input and offer for him to pick out some options he likes, even just on a whim. You two will take your time during this process, as there is no need to rush, and he will get overwhelmed from time to time. It's best to take it one small step at a time, not rushing into anything too quickly. He needs to be reminded that he has nothing to worry about, as all that truly matters is your bond with one another. Saeyoung will probably be the one to make your engagement rings for you, as well as your wedding bands. Partially to not stress Saeran too much with all the shopping, as jewelry stores tend to be too bright for the eyes. It'll be a pretty unique and somewhat edgy design but with a touch of soft colors in the mix. Kind of like him. 

Rika

Is the type to go over the top but, in reality, she would like something classic and simple. When she's in a good place both physically and mentally, she's very doting, and she's also a hopeless romantic. I'd say she's almost on par with Zen when it comes to her romantic fantasies, which is why she loves his musicals as much as she does. It can be a good thing, but it also makes her prone to perfectionism. She will pick out a very fancy ring that she thinks is good enough for someone as wonderful as you, but... she feels dissatisfied with the result, and that makes her anxious. Rika is a people pleaser, so she tends to make choices with someone else in mind, rather than trusting her own heart. You guys will have to talk about it. It's hard to understand what you like when you've lived your whole life masking as someone you're not. In the end, I think she would go for something simple and elegant, probably also combine the colors she associates with your love. Keep her in check, though, as we all know Rika's design skills are out of this world. 

Vanderwood

Weirdly enough? Despite their seemingly simplistic nature, I think they would go for something very unique and even a little odd-looking. Vanderwood is a pretty laid-back person, but all these casual vibes go out the window once it comes down to design. They are very picky with anything that they own in their closet, and engagement rings are on another level completely. They wear leopard print for a reason! I think they would end up getting something custom-made, as it's the easiest way not to stress out over the perfect design. They are not so much nervous as they are choosy. Still, they do have a major soft spot for you, so it's up to you to stir them in the right direction. They would like you to be very involved in the process of deciding on a perfect engagement ring. The end result will still be weird, though. But, the amount of weirdness will depend solely on you. Whether to embrace the weirdness, or to add just a touch of it - it is your choice to make.

[skyfallslayer]

Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Chapter Five - Part 2

-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-

Part One || Series Masterlist

🎲Word Count: 22,544 (In Total)

🎲Date: 7/31/24

🎲Warnings: Heavy Angst; Heavy Language & Dialogue; References To Broken Friendship; Mental Strain/Breaking Down; Physical Fighting; Lying; "Death"; Funerals; Crying; Talks of Corpses; Being Drugged; Brief Alcohol Consumption; Unwanted Touching; Suggestive Dialogue; Suicidal Thoughts; Minor Blood; A Certain "Curse" Comes Into Play Early; The Byers Family's Mental Strain; Hopper Being a Great Cop & A Total Mess; Dustin Being a Gangster & A Overprotective Brother; The Harringtons' A+ Parenting; Steve's Emotional Damage & Signing Up To Be A Babysitter; Stephanie & Will Deserved All The Love, man. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

(And let me know if I missed anything)

🎲A/N: Heads up, Readers! This document is split between two parts. For some reason Tumblr said I reach my 1,000 space limit, or something like that and wouldn't let me post it because it's so long. PLEASE read part one first or this won't make any sense :) Enjoy!

-Continuing...-

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

Steph stares at her deadbeat Dad, scared, shocked, confused. Out of all the people her mind could conjure up for her to see today, it just had to be him, it just had to be the guy that ruined her and her family’s lives. As much as she wanted to look away, her gut was telling her not to (Just like the old days, huh?).

She swallows, trying not to get teary eyed in front of him. “This isn’t real. You’re not here.” She says, making him laugh, that same laugh that gave her chills. 

“Oh, but I am.”

“No you’re not. You’re a million fucking miles away.”

“So?” He shrugs, still smirking. “By all means, you still need me.”

Steph clenches her jaw and sends him the dirtiest look. “I don’t fucking need you. Neither does Dustin or my mother. I’m leaving.” But when she tried she couldn’t, her whole body was stuck to the chair, frozen. 

That seemed to fuel his ego a bit. “See? You still need me. Stay. Let’s talk. We haven’t done that in so long, munchkins.” He leans over to touch her forearm, sending another shiver down her body. “Talk.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

“Stephanie! What’s wrong with you?” Will starts shaking her shoulders, not really sure what else he could do. “Stephanie! Stephanie! Stephanie!!!”

He doesn’t know what’s happening! She seems like she’s in a trance, but what kind of trance? How did she get into it? Who put her into it? And more importantly, how does he get her the hell out of it? 

“Stephanie! Come on! What happened to you? How do I…” He grabs the sides of his head. “What do I do? What should I do? What can I do? I…” He gasps, eyes widening. “Music…”

His coco orbs landed on what he had brought back, and he wasted no time to take his coat off and to dump out his brother’s cassettes everywhere. He starts shuffling through the pile, trying to find something he knew she liked. She liked metal, but Jonathan wasn’t a fan of that, so that rules out bands like Metallica or Dio, but she was a big fan of rock too.

Come on, Jonathan. You have to have something. Seriously, there has to be something he can play! Eagles, Heart, The Police… 

His heart skips a beat. Got it!

He recalls another band that was in her top five, one of them being Journey, And Luckily, his brother had the ‘Frontiers’ Album that so happens to have a song that was always on her mind. He pulled the cassette from the case and placed it inside the walkman (thank heavens her favorite song was the first one on set). Will replaced her hat for the headphones, and as soon as they were secured…

.

.

.

He presses the play button and prays. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Jonathan had everything he needed for their little hunting mission. His dad had left behind a few of his guns when the marriage ended, and his mom always warned him and Will that those would be used in emergency situations only. And in Jonathan’s defense, he should count this as an emergency. This… faceless beast was somehow responsible for the disappearance of his little brother, Stephanie, and Barb – and he’s not even sure if there’s more or not, but he’s hoping it’s stopped at them – and he needs to know why and where this thing even came from, and where it took them. He’s just hoping he can get those answers before finally slaying the beast. 

Now, he was just confirming with Nancy over the phone. “I was thinking we can meet in the area about an hour before sundown? Maybe get some practice in shooting? Unless you’ve… shot before?”

[ ‘No, no. I have not. Have you met my parents?’ ]

That got him to chuckle a little. “So, no? What are you taking as a weapon then?”

[ ‘I mean, I’ve got my old bat when I’ve played softball. I could trying seeing if I could sneak out a kitchen knife but…’ ] 

“That might be a little hard, especially since your mom’s in the kitchen all the time.”

[ ‘Speaking of, are you sure your mom can’t hear us?’ ]

“Positive.” Jonathan said, sparing a glance over his shoulder to the sleeping figure on the couch. “She’s sound asleep. I’ll have enough time to make an excuse if she does wake beforehand.”

[ ‘If you say so. I’m just a little nervous. I’m a little afraid to see that thing for real this time.’ ]

“Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll try to get answers, and if not…” He takes a deep breath. “We kill the faceless thing. End of story. At least… I won’t have to worry about it terrorizing my mom anymore, or anyone for that matter.”

I have to kill this thing. I have to make it up to my Mom somehow. He didn’t realize how quiet he went, and wasn’t sure how long she was calling out his name for. “Uh, sorry. W-What did you say?”

[ ‘Hour before sundown, right?’ ]

“Yep. I’ll meet you there.” 

[ ‘Kay. I’ll see you there.’ ]

Jonathan hangs up the phone, sighing and heading back to his room to make sure he has everything – completely unaware that a certain someone was actually awake.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Later that day, both Powell and Callahan finally decided to check on their boss who had failed to come into the station this morning. They pulled their car in next to his, not really seeing much out of the ordinary so they went for the front door.

“Hey, Chief!” Callahan called out, before knocking. “Hello? Whoa!-”The door was practically pulled from him, and out came their Boss who looked a lot worse for wear.

“Jesus, Chief. You all right?” Powell asked, concerned.

“What are you doing here?” Hopper asked, pistol by his side with an itchy finger.

“We tried calling, but–”

“Yeah, the phone’s dead.” He snaps, missing the way his two pupils backed up a bit at the sight of his weapon and tone. 

Callahan tries to steer his trigger finger away with a conversation. “Hey, so Bev Mooney came in this morning all upset. Said that Dale and Henry went hunting yesterday… and they didn’t come back home.”

“She thought they were on another binger, but she’s not so sure now.” Powell adds. 

“I think this whole Will Byers, Stephanie Henderson thing has everybody on edge.”

Hopper’s heart sank a bit. “Where was this?”

“It was at the station.”

“No, no. Where did Henry and Dale go hunting?”

“Oh. Uh, out near Kerley.”

Hopper felt himself go paler. “Mirkwood.”

“What?”

“O-Okay. You go back to the station. I’ll take care of this, all right?” He explains, and tries to go back inside.

“Are you sure?” Callahan asked, worriedly.

Hopper nods and opens his door back up. “Yeah, leave it.”

“Oh, hey. Uh, they found Barbara’s car.”

“What?”

“Barbara Holland’s car.” Powell specifies. “Seems she ran away after all. Staties found it late last night at a bus station.”

“Funny, right?” Callahan jokes. “They keep doing our job for us.”

No, definitely not funny. Hopper’s jaw clenches and he nods. “Yeah. It’s funny.” He says, heading back inside and mentally cursing. 

“Is he off his meds again?” He asked in a low whisper. 

Powell shrugs. “He’s been spending too much time with Joyce Byers. That’s what I think.”

“Maybe he should stick with the Henderson woman. I heard they were friends through high school.”

“Yeah…” He scoffs. “Like she’s any better.”

Callahan gave him a look. “What do you mean?”

“Let me just say she was… quite the wild card back then.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

When the doorbell rang at the Wheeler house, the family honesty wasn’t sure who to expect.

Except the three boys who had bolted out of the basement knew.

They had loosened their funeral clothes a bit since they arrived here, and were trying to act like everything was A-Okay! And totally not suspicious when the rest of the family sees who their mysterious guest is.

“We got it!” Dustin shouts, surprising and stopping Karen in the hallway.

Karen halts her son, confused. “What? Did you guys order pizza or something?”

“No! Uh, we, um…” Mike was fumbling his words a bit, fueling his mother’s suspicions more.

“We asked someone to come over. From the funeral. Uh… A teenager from high school.” Lucas explains.

“Yeah. W-We got to talking to him, and we really think he could help us with this history project that is due in a few weeks.”

“He’s actually a friend of Nancy.”

“Oh, really?” Karen asked, and spoke of the devil.

“A friend of mine?” Nancy said, halfway down the stairs, clothes changed into something more cozy and warm.

“Who’s the friend?”

And that’s when Dustin had opened the door, pretending to be overjoyed. “Steve!”

“Steve?” Nancy said, coming completely down the stairs now. “W-What are you doing here?”

“Uh, well, I had the chance to talk to them early, and sounded like your brother and his friends needed help with a school project.” Steve replies, hoping he sounded convincing. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t, I’m just… a bit surprised, I guess.”

Steve smiles, and holds his hand out for her mother. “Hello, Mrs. Wheeler. I’m Steve Harrington.”

“Steve Harrington?” Karen said, shaking it. “I feel like I’ve heard that name before.” Her eyes trail to Nancy who was looking away with a nervous laugh. 

And I just made it awkward. He brushes it off quickly. “Uh, I won’t be long, Mrs. Wheeler, I’ll just go over a couple things with the boys.”

“Oh, take your time. It’s nice that they actually asked for help once.”

“Thank you. Alright, kids–” He smacks his hands together. “Let’s go.” He makes a mental note to talk to his girlfriend later, but as right now he doesn’t want her to get involved with whatever this was. He follows the kids to the basement, but a few steps down, Mike stops him.

Mike makes sure his family wasn’t around to hear this, and starts talking in a low tone. “Before we go down, there is something we have to tell you.”

“Which is?” Steve said, raising an eyebrow.

“To make a long story short, the night after Will and Stephanie disappeared we decided to go looking in the area her car crashed, and we found someone.”

That’s not concerning at all, Wheeler. What was this kid getting at? It was making him a bit nervous. “Someone?”

“Yeah. She’s–” Mike sighs, and gives him a stern look. “You have to swear you won’t tell my parents, or Nancy, or… anyone for that matter. Do you understand?”

“I… understand.” He holds his hand up. “I swear.”

“Good.” The kid nods, satisfied. “Come on.”

Steve follows him down, and that’s when he notices the girl on the couch. A young girl, probably not much older than twelve was sitting there in a Mötley Crüe band shirt, jeans and a pair converse on the floor; Along with a plaid jacket too. That outfit looked… quite familiar.

“Is that…” He begins, gesturing to the redhead who was trying to figure him out too.

“This is Eleven, or we call El for short. She’s…” Mike trails off, thinking. “We don’t know where she’s from, all we know is that it’s from a bad place. And she has powers.”

Now that got his attention. “I’m sorry, powers?”

“Yeah. Like… Magneto.”

“Magneto?”

“Yeah. Like from the X-Men.”

“Uh…”

“Oh, my god.” Dustin says, throwing his head back to his obliviousness. “How were you and my sister friends?”

“Hey, we had other things in common.” Steve pushes back, hands on his hip like a stern mother.

“Oh, yeah?” Dustin squares up. “Like what?”

“You’re really going to quiz me right now?”

“Yes! I am!”

“Dustin, man, come on. We don’t have time for–” Lucas said, sitting up straighter from his spot on a chair. But of course, his friend wouldn’t listen (and they all accuse him of being the stubborn one).

“What is her favorite color?” Dustin starts, getting an eye roll and a sigh from his ‘opponent’. 

“Seafoam green.” Steve replies, going along with it.

“Favorite band?”

“It’s a tie between Journey and Metallica.”

“Favorite ice cream flavor?”

“Mint chocolate chip, however–”

“Ah, ha!” The youngest Henderson jerks his thumb at him, like he caught him in a lie. “Wrong! That’s not her–”

“But, but, but!” Steve cuts right back in, taking control. “I wasn’t finished. She says that’s her favorite, because she’s too embarrassed to tell everyone that her actual favorite is bubblegum, which no one, and I mean no I know besides her, likes that flavor. Correct?”

Dustin makes a face like he’s been kicked. “Damn it…” He mumbles, pacing off to find something to do.

“Ice cream?” El said, and it took Steve a second to realize she phrased it as a question.

“You never had ice cream?” He asked, and she shook her head. “Where the hell was she living before?” Then he stops himself. “D-Doesn’t matter! We’ll discuss that part later, maybe over some ice cream, but for right now, why am I here?” 

It took a bit to get him up to speed about the past few days, leaving him with a spinning head, and asking more questions that needed to be answered.

“Holy shit…” He mutters, rubbing his temple. “Holy shit. So… you guys are all convinced that Stephanie and Will are stuck in another dimension? All because El took you guys to his house and said they were there but couldn’t see them?”

“Correct.” Lucas said, with a nod.

“And it pretty confirmed it when you heard Will over the radio explaining that?”

“Correct.”

“That’s… insane, but… it makes sense.”

“So you’re saying you believe us?” Mike asked, genuinely surprised.

“Look, like I said earlier, when the evidence was laid out about what happened to them, It didn’t really sit right with me, you know? And–” Steve fiddles with his hands again. “And Stephanie, I mean she knew the Quarry pretty well, so I thought it would have been odd that she would have fallen in like that, even if she was being chased. And Will… he sounds like he’s a smart kid too.”

“He is.” Lucas said, a bit of sadness there.

“He’s really smart.” Mike adds.

“That’s my point.” Steve agrees. “So, if what you’re suggesting is true, and they really did end up in some dimension, whoever found or knows, or even is responsible for that to happen to them, they must have planted the fake bodies to take the heat off the case. I mean, let’s be real here. Kids get kidnapped to another dimension? Who’s going to believe that?”

“So someone had to open that gate to the Upside Down, realize what happened and wanted to cover their asses.” Mike turns towards Eleven who seemed like she wasn’t fully into their conversation. “Do you know where the gate is?”

She shakes her head. “No…” 

“Then how do you know about the Upside Down?” Lucas asked, as she looked away in shame.

“Hey, uh…” Steve leans in to whisper. “Not to budge into this spat, but uh, did I break Henderson?”

Now all eyes were on him, and he was pacing around in a small circle with something in his hand; He looked like he was in deep thought too.

“Dustin, what are you doing? Dustin?” Mike tries, and gets irritated. “Dustin!!”

That seemed to do the trick because he stopped. “I... I need to see your compasses.”

“What?”

“Your compasses. All of your compasses, right now!”

Of course Lucas and Mike decided to humor him a bit and start searching for what they had, while Steve locked eyes with El who looked just as confused as he was. She seemed painfully shy, but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying to get on her goodside.

“Hey–” He whispers. “I think he’s the nutty one.” And he makes a goofy expression that got her to smile. Good enough for me.

And he stands up to join the boys around the table who had all the compasses laying out. 

“What’s exciting about this?” Mike asked, unamused. 

“Well, they’re all facing north, right?” Dustin points out.

“Yeah, so?” 

“Well, that’s not true north.”

“What do you mean?” Lucas asked, slightly intrigued. 

“I mean exactly what I just said. That’s not true north.” He looks between them like they’re crazy. “Are you both seriously this dense?” His friends shrug and he sighs. “Steve?” And all hopes go out too when he shrugged. “Wow. You’re useless.”

“Gee, thanks, Henderson.” Steve said, trying not to strangle him yet. 

“So, the sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. Right?” Dustin points towards the left wall, east. “Which means that’s true north.”

“So what you’re saying is the compasses are broken.” Mike said, clarifying. 

He sighs again. “Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack in this?”

“No.”

“No, you don’t. Because it doesn’t need one. The needle’s naturally drawn to the Earth’s magnetic North Pole.”

“So what’s wrong with them?” Lucas questions.

“Well, that’s what I couldn’t figure out, but then I remembered.” He perks up with a grin. “You can change the direction of a compass with a magnet. If there’s the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And then I remembered what Mr. Clarke said. The gate would have so much power–”

“It could disrupt the electromagnetic field.” Mike said, smiling.

“Exactly.”

“Meaning, if we follow the compasses’ north…”

“They should lead us to the gate.”

And the boys begin praising Dustin for figuring that out–

.

.

.

Why El was looking like she heard the worst news ever.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Jonathan fixes his jacket and slings a bag over his shoulder as he comes out of his room when he notices what time it was (He could even see that the sun was starting to change color). But as soon as he reaches where the hallway meets the kitchen, he sees his mother sitting at the table reading over some paperwork.

His heart skips a beat a bit, and as he calmly tells himself to stick to the script. “Y-You’re up.” he says, getting her attention. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up tonight.”

“Yeah, I guess that service really took a lot out of me.” Joyce replies, setting what she was reading down to look at him. “Heading out?”

“Y-Yeah, um… a classmate who was at the wake wanted to cheer me up. I-I was going to turn it down, but I thought it could take my mind off a few things.”

“Oh, well that’s good.”

“Yeah.” He nods. “I’m going to head out.” He says, turning to leave.

“Okay.” She said, crossing her arms. “Does your outing include guns?” That got him to stop. “I noticed you raided your father’s old gun safe.”

Jonathan bites his lip for a second, before turning around with a dry laugh. “It wasn’t like he was going to use them any time soon.”

She raised an eyebrow, stern. “I thought you didn’t like shooting?”

“I thought it would be nice to pick it back up. You know, just in case that thing comes back.”

“Well, that’s actually rather thoughtful of you, Jonathan.”

“Uh, thanks, mom.” He sends her a quick smile and starts leaving again. “I’ll be back.”

“Alrighty.” She says, standing up silently. “Is that before or after you kill the faceless thing?” This time her son couldn’t hide his shock when he turned around, and she couldn’t really hide her irritation either. “You really need to learn whether someone is fake sleeping or not.”

He swallows. “Mom–”

“Who were you talking to?”

“Mom, it’s not–”

“Jonathan, you will tell me who you’re going out with right now. I am not playing any games.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Despite their agreements to go out to look, Dustin was still salty enough to try to get Steve to leave. His first attempt was to try to go get him to see Nancy, but that backfired when she apparently had left for something. The second was when he pointed out to Steve that he still had his suit on, and tried to get him to go home and change – But the teenager proudly declined, and saw right through his crap, and said he can just take his jacket and tie off and he’ll be fine. His third attempt was a bit later on in their adventure, when the temperature started to drop and so did the sun in the sky, he tried again with the clothes, pointing out that dress shoes weren’t exactly made for hiking – this attempt was just flat out ignored.

“Dude, just let it go.” Lucas said, since he was partnered up with him (Now, he’s lucky that they lived close enough to actually change out of their funeral clothing. He can’t imagine how Steve’s doing it). “He’s going to be helpful whether you like it or not.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dustin said, sarcastically. “What? Because he’s carrying a bat around? Who carries a bat in their trunk?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Dude, drop it. It’s actually kind of relieving that someone else brought a weapon too.” He waves around his slingshot furiously to make a point. 

“Whatever…”

He sighs, and takes a glance at his compass. “How much further?”

“I don’t know.” Dustin shrugs. “These only tell direction, not distance. You really need to learn more about compasses.”

“I’m just saying. How do we know when we get to the gate?”

“Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious.”

Lucas sighs again, this time glancing back at the others. Mike and Eleven were paired together, while Steve was a few steps behind them keeping guard out. But his focus was more on the girl that has been suspiciously wiping her nose every few minutes. 

“Do you think she’s acting weird?” He finally asked in a lower voice.

“You’re asking if the weirdo is acting weird?” Dustin said, confused.

“I mean, weirder than normal?”

“I don’t know. Who cares?”

Meanwhile, Eleven was remembering a few scary things from her past, and the guilt and fear was starting to eat away at her. With a shaky hand, she tugs on the boy’s sleeve. “Mike.”

“Yeah?”

“Turn back.”

Mike blinks, puzzled. “What? Why?”

“I’m tired.”

He sighs. “Look, I’m sure we’re almost there. Just hold on a little longer, okay?” He says, making her stop.

She worriedly looks at the way they came from, practically aching to start running away from all this. She knows once they find out the truth, they’re going to be mad.

“Hey.” Steve calls out softly, standing right in front of her. “You okay?”

Her eyes scan his face, seeing how genuinely worried he was for her, despite they met only hours ago (Why weren’t the people she grew up with this kind to her?). She nods subtly. “F-Fine.”

“Fine?” He asks, getting another nod. “Okay.” He wasn’t fully convinced, but he wasn’t going to push. “But your nose is bleeding.”

She perks up at the news, and quickly wipes it away. She just gives him a quick smile before jogging to catch up with the others, Steve’s concern only growing a bit stronger.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

Stephanie felt like she couldn’t breath. She suddenly felt like she was a kid again, practically having to be on her toes whenever he was around. Right now, her father seemed pretty ticked off about something, something that she was going to have to continue to push back on and try to get away. 

“You ratted me out.” He hissed, arms crossed in disappointment. “You and that little rich friend of yours.” 

She tightens her jaw again, her hands managing to make a fist as she glares. “I never ratted you out.”

“Oh…” He whispers, realization creeping across his features for a few seconds. “So it was him, huh?”

Fucking prick. She bares her teeth at him, angry herself. “Steve did what any friend would have in a situation like that.” 

His eye twitched. “By selling me out!!”

“You got child endangerment and illegal gambling. You’re lucky that’s all you got.” She says, raising her tone. “He decided to be a good person and respect my wishes, respect my dignity, and save me from some humiliation from every fucking school kid – to save my mom the guilt, and Dustin some confusion.” Steph scoffs. “Selling you out? You got fucking lucky, Pal.”

“Pal? I ain’t your pal! I’m your fucking father!” He points at himself furiously. “I raised you!”

“Mom raised me! Not you!” Now she felt the tears start to sting, but not from sadness, no, these were angry tears. He opens his mouth to speak, and she cuts him off. “And don’t you dare say you raised Dustin! You were never there for him. Never there for any school events, or the time he tried to play hockey. For fuck’s sake, you were even there when he was born!!”

“I WAS BUSY!!”

“Busy fucking GAMBLING! You were always doing that!” She scoffs again. “You were never our father, you were never his father. When mom wasn’t there it was me. It was always me, it was never you.”

“I was always there for you.”

“Oh, please…”

“We hung out, you can’t deny that. We always did something every week.”

“Oh, yeah, take your child to a black jack table and let them watch as you bet money we don’t have. Yeah…” She rolls her eyes. “That was a wonderful father-daughter bonding moment.”

“Stephanie–”

“Don’t say my name.”

“Stephanie.” His face softens. “Munchkins, you have to understand, what I did, it was necessary. I was on my way of making the big bucks, and moving us to the hills with beautiful and big houses your mother and I always dreamed of.”

“That was a lie you just love feeding to mom.”

“Stephanie–”

“Stop.” She snaps, calming herself a little. “I don’t know what this is. I don’t know if I hit my head a little hard, or that weird monster that keeps following me is doing this but…” She shakes her head. “You’re not real. You’re in prison. And if this is just some sick joke to get me to forgive you, it ain’t going to work. I hate you, and I will always hate you. Period. Now–” She manages to push herself off the bar stool to stand. “I’m leaving.”

Stephanie doesn’t want to bid him another thought or word as she turns and starts heading for the exit as her father starts yapping away.

“You hate me, I get it.” He sighs. “I hate myself as well. But… I know you hate yourself too.”

That got her to stop. It got a nerve that she was trying to hide.

“Deep down, you hate yourself. A lot apparently.”

“I don’t hate myself.” She replies, turning around.

“Oh, yes, you do.” He said, standing up too, a gleeful look on his face. “You see, you’ve hated yourself for quite a while, and it didn’t start after the whole… broken friendship thing, no… it’s been happening for a while.”

“You’re…” She swallows, shaking slightly (She was unaware of the room growing darker and more suffocating). “You’re crazy.”

“This whole self hatred thing has been going on and off throughout your life. There were so many key moments that made you think that way.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “You’re fucking crazy–”

“There were so many times that made you stop and think, ‘Hey. Why don’t Steve’s parents like me? What’s wrong with me? Why am I not good enough?’ Hmm…” He moves closer, the abyss growing around them both more. “Ring any bells? Remember when you thought that and tried to change?”

“That’s…” She touches the side of her head. “That’s ridiculous. I… I just thought maybe I should change a little, wh-what would it h-hurt? Right…? I…”

“See? It’s in there? It’ll always be there.” He taps his own chest twice. “There will always be that hatred in your heart that you can’t get rid of.”

“I… I c-can get rid of it.”

“You can bury it, but you can’t get rid of it. It’s your genes, it’s engraved in your bones, sewn into your heart.” He smiles. “Think about it, even after your friend ended everything, sure you were mad at him, but you were more mad at yourself than anything.”

Her eyes widened, shaking. “S-Stop…”

“You were so mad that you thought about…” The abyss grows more and pulls them closer together. “Ending it all for everyones’ sake.”

She felt like something was grabbing a hold of her now, pushing on her lungs and in her throat, suffocating her. She felt her eyes sting and burn, and her father’s started to change into something or some else. 

“And you…” He laughs, the pain in her body intensifying. “Probably should.”

He starts extending his arm out for her, bruised fingers coming over to ghost her face and–

It was like someone had opened the shades and let the sunlight in. Everything felt warmer and lighter, the pressure was suddenly taken off her body. She gasps with relief, her father’s hand pulling back as she hears a familiar song playing in the distance. 

.

[ ♪ Here we stand

Worlds apart, heart broken in two. Two. Two.

Sleepless nights

Losing ground, I'm reaching for you. You. You ♪ ]

.

|| STEPHANIE!! ||

Her eyes widened, turning around to see some kind of opening in the distance. “Will?” She croaks, and she swears she can see him too.

|| STEPHANIE! WAKE UP! PLEASE! || 

Wake up? I’m asleep? She couldn’t believe it. She really was stuck in her head.

|| STEPHANIE!! ||

“I–” She swallows and takes a step. “I’m coming.”

Her father frowns. “You can’t leave.” He says, snatching her by the arm. She shutters at the sudden voice change, scared again. “We haven’t finished talking.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“You told me you weren’t going to do anything stupid! You promised me, Jonathan!” Joyce yells, as her son shakes her head.

“W-We’re not going through this again!” He said, almost laughing.

“Not again? What do you mean?!”

“Mom, seriously!” He points at himself. “Let me do this! Let me find this thing!”

“You want me to allow you to go find some wild, dangerous beast that could possibly take you away or have you killed?” Joyce scoffs. “You’re out of your mind!”

“I’m not out of my mind! I am stopping–”

“You’re not going out there!”

“Yes, I am!”

“No, you’re not!”

“Yes, I am.” He says, as his expression was something that no one could pinpoint. “Let me prove this to you.”

“Prove what?” She asked, throwing her arms out. “What so desperately do you have to prove? Prove that this is the stupidest–”

“Let me prove to you that I AM SORRY!!”

Between that sentence and the front door being pounded on at the same time, Joyce was definitely lost for words. But she continues to stare at her son, trying to see if something would come out before another set of knocks came about.

As she makes her way to the door, Jonathan blurts out her name. Part of him was afraid what would happen if that was Nancy; If he thinks his mom is mad now, he could imagine when she puts two-and-two together. He calls her out again just as she opens it, both of them startled by who it was.

Hopper had his finger up in a ‘shushing’ motion, and was holding up a sign that the son couldn’t read until his mother moved out of the way. The sign read: DON’T SAY ANYTHING.

The Chief locks eyes with Jonathan, silently telling him to stay quiet too as he shuts the door. His blue orbs glanced around the room, mostly focusing on the many strings lights that were up.

Oh, Jesus. He thought, realizing this was going to take some time.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The sun was halfway set when the boys arrived at an old, abandoned scrap yard that was up in the hills. When they got about a quarter of the way inside the place, one of them noticed something terrible.

“Oh, no.” Dustin said, after triple checking his surroundings.

“‘Oh, no?’ What’s, ‘Oh, no?’, Henderson?” Steve asked in a teasing way, which will fade in a second when he realizes how serious this was.

“We’re headed back home.”

“What?” Mike perks up. 

“Are you sure?” Lucas asked, not buying it.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Dustin points to the sky. “Setting sun, right there. We looped right back around.”

“And you’re just realizing this now?”

“Why is this all on me?” 

“Because you’re the compass genius!”

Dustin sighs. “What do yours say?”

Both boys glanced down at theirs and replied, “North.”

“Makes no damn sense.”

“Maybe the gate moved.” Steve asked, trying to think what would be most logical.

The boy frowns. “No, I don’t think it’s the gate. I think it’s something else screwing with the compasses.”

“Maybe it’s something here.” Mike said, gesturing to their surroundings.

Dustin shakes his head. “No, it has to be like a super magnet.”

“It’s not a magnet.” Lucas hiss, bitterly, his eyes landing on the only girl with them. “She’s been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Steve said, half stepping between them, trying to cool him down. “Why would she do that? Isn’t she your friend?”

Lucas ignores him, and swats his arm away. “Because she’s trying to sabotage our mission.” He starts stalking towards her. “Because she’s a traitor!”

“Lucas, what are you doing?” Mike asks, fearfully.

Steve tries to deescalate him again. “Hey, Sinclair, maybe cool it before–”

“Can it, Steve!” He snaps, stopping right in front of El who’s guilt started sprouting full blown. “You did it, didn’t you? You don’t want us to reach the gate. You don’t want us to find them.”

“Lucas, come on, seriously–” Mike rushes up next to him. “Just leave her alone!”

“Admit it.”

“No.” El whispers.

“ADMIT IT!” He snaps, scaring her enough to grab her arm and show off her jacket sleeve that was stained bright red. “Fresh blood. I knew it.”

“Lucas, come on!” Mike says, smacking his hand away from her.

“I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!”

“Bullshit! That’s old blood. Right, El?” And Mike’s stomach sank when she didn’t say anything. “Right, El?

“It’s... not…” El chokes back on tears, her lip quivering in shame. “It’s not safe.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

After unscrewing a hundred goddamn light bulbs later, Hopper was satisfied enough to realize that the Byers’ household was untouched by the unknown.  

“Okay.” He breathes, and collapses into a chair, the adrenaline he’s felt all day has finally given out. “Should be okay, I mean… I can’t guarantee it, but it should be okay.”

“What the hell is going on, Hopper?” Joyce finally asked, still keeping her voice a bit quiet. I mean, all she and her son could do was wait and let the Police Chief raid her house to get some kind of answer. 

“They bugged my place.”

“Bugged?” Jonathan asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

“They put a microphone in the light.” Hopper sighs, the mental strain finally hitting him hard. “It’s because I’m on to them and they know it. I don’t know…”

“Who?”

“I thought they might be watching you, too.” He shakes his head, shutting his eyes for a second. “I don’t know, the CIA, the NSA, Department of Energy... I-I don’t know.”

“You gotta explain this to us.” Joyce said, getting an agreement from her eldest. “‘Cause we’re not–”

“I went to the morgue last night, Joyce.”

That got their complete attention now. “...What?” She muttered, feeling like she was losing her breath from his words.

“It wasn’t him.” Hopper replies, getting teary eyed.

Jonathan had to hold up his mother who looked like she was about to faint from the news. “W-What do you mean?” He asks, heart pounding in his ears.

“Will’s body, it was a fake. His and Stephanie’s. They’re both fakes.” He stands up to make sure he was looking her in the eye to tell her these words, “You were right. This whole time, you were right. I should have believed you. I am so sorry, Joyce.”

“Oh, my god…” Joyce sobbed into her hands, as her son took a step back to process. “Oh, my god. I mean… w-why though? Why the fakes? Who made the fakes?”

“I don’t know.” Hopper replies, upset himself. “Like I said, someone bugged my place, I don’t know who though. Although…”

“‘Although’… what?

“I saw…” He swallows. “I saw something really strange last night. At the lab.”

“The lab?” She tilts her head. “You went to the lab?”

“I snuck in. I ended up getting punctured with a needle that knocked me out. When I woke up in my trailer, I think the people at the lab were trying to make it seem like I went on binger. My whole table was trashed with beer cans and pills. Bastards.”

“Well what did you see?”

“It’s…” How does he explain this? “First, I ended up in a hospital setting, you know, white walls, beds, cold temperatures. But then I went down lower and… I saw it.”

“Saw what?” She asked, nervously.

“I don’t… I don’t know what it is. It look like a plant, it was on the wall, it was gross looking and sticky and–”

“Was it like a bubble? And it and like a red hue to it and it was pul–”

“Pulsating?” He asked, getting a nod. “You know what I’m talking about?” But before he could get an answer, the teenager had finally spoken. 

“So it really is that dangerous…” Jonathan whispers, eyes landing on him.

“What?” Joyce asked, her son started shaking his head.

“Fuck.” He mutters, and starts grabbing his hair. “Fuck…”

“What, Jonathan?! What?”

“Nancy and I both agreed to go look for that thing!” He spills, all distraughtly. 

“Wait.” Joyce blinks a few times, trying to wrap her head around what she just said. “Nancy? That’s who you were talking to?!”

“What is going on?” Hopper asked, looking between the two.

“We wanted to find out what happened to Barb.” Jonathan explains. “Nancy… she… she saw that thing when she went to Steve’s house, she–”

“What? What thing?”

“She saw it too?” Joyce cuts Hopper off, intrigued by this shocking news. “What… what were you guys going to do?”

“We were going to kill it!” Jonathan replies, truthfully. “W-We… we agreed to meet at the spot Stephanie’s car was found and… shit.”

“Jonathan–”

“I fucked up.”

“Jonathan.” She pressures, trying to calm him down a smidge. “Maybe she’s by the road. She wouldn’t go exploring on her own. Right?” But her son sends her an un-assuring look that deflates her confidence. “...Right?”

Jonathan frowns, trying to hide how scared he was now. “We need to find Nancy, now.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“What did I tell you?” Lucas explodes. “She’s been playing us from the beginning!”

“That’s not true.” Mike pushes back. “She helped us find Will and Stephanie!”

“Find Will and Stephanie?” He scoffs. “Find Will and Stephanie? Where are they, then?” He starts walking around the place to make a point. “Huh? I don’t see them.”

“Yeah, you know what I mean.”

“No, I actually don’t. Just think about it, Mike. She could’ve just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but she didn’t. She just made us run around like headless chickens.”

“All right, calm down!” Dustin says, cutting between them.

“I’m siding with Henderson on this one.” Steve says, eyes batting back and forth between the two. “Let’s just take a moment to breathe, and figure this out.”

“No!” Lucas yells, not listening to this. “She used us, all of us! She helped just enough so she could get what she wants. Food and a bed. She’s like a stray dog.”

“Screw you, Lucas!” Mike yells back. 

“No! Screw you, Mike. You’re blind… blind because you like that a girl’s not grossed out by you. But wake up, man! Wake the hell up! She knows where they are, and now she’s just letting them die in the Upside Down.

Mike balls his hand in a fist, trying to contain his own anger. “Shut up.”

“For all we know, it’s her fault.” Lucas says, jerking his thumb towards her.

“Shut up.”

“Sinclair–” Steve warns. 

“We’re looking for some stupid monster… but did you ever stop to think that maybe she’s the monster?”

“I said shut up!” Mike shouts, and tackles him to the ground. 

“Stop!” El yells, worriedly. 

“Knock it off, you idiots.” Dustin says, as he tries to get close.

“Stop it!”

“Oh, my– Wheeler, get off!” Steve says, and tries pulling the boys off one another. But for being only kids, they were putting up one hell of a fight to stay on top for dominance. 

The shouting between Steve and Dustin went back and forth, and all their efforts to stop it suddenly ended when the girl behind them screamed ear piercingly. All of them could only watch helplessly as Lucas was flung off, hitting the ground hard, and landing against one of the scrapped vehicles. 

“Jesus Christ!” Steve shouted, and raced over to the boy. 

“Lucas! Lucas!” Mike yells, shaking him on the shoulder. “Lucas, are you all right?

“Lucas.” Dustin says, doing the same. “Lucas, come on!”

“Hey, hey! Careful with his neck!” Steve urges, moving their hands away as carefully examines the boy. “Shit… come on, kid.”

“Why would you do that?” Mike snaps at Eleven, who was trembling again. “What’s wrong with you? Huh?!” He could believe she would do something like this. "What is wrong with you?!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

“What’s wrong with you?” Stephanie croaked, trembling at the way his voice changed into something almost demonic. He know longer sounded like the man who was supposed to be her father. “Why do you sound like that?”

Along with the voice change, his whole demeanor seemed different too. The way he stood, the way he smiled and his eyes seemed dead, yet controlling. 

“Admit it…” He whispers with fire on his silver tongue. “You’re tired, you really don’t want to live anymore.”

Her throat started to feel tight again, her body was aching too. Whatever was holding her down earlier was trying to latch onto her again. “I-I…”

“You don’t want to live anymore because everything’s gone to shit.” He gestures around, still having that stupid smug on his face. “Your long friendship with Steve is over, crushed because you were an embarrassment to him.”

She shakes her head. “N-No.”

“Even after what happened at the dance, it meant nothing to him. That he didn’t love you like you thought he did.”

“St-Stop it.”

“You try to fill the gaping hole by hanging out with your brother, but he’s growing up, he’s got friends when you don’t have any. He’s already pushing you away to be with them. You’re an envious freak.”

“I’m not.” His jabs were like sticking an imaginary knife in her heart, and for some reason, deep down, she knows his jabs have some truth to them.

“Your own mother knows you’re in a rut, knows you’ve been lying to her, but you don’t want her help. You love the abyss.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about–”

“And you… are failing to keep your promise to the boy.” He says, making her gasp. “You told Will you were going to get him out, but you don’t even know how.” It was another stab to her heart. “You’re having doubts.” And another. “You’re having thoughts about how you’re never going to get out.”

“N-No…” She whispers, on the verge of tears once more, and he wasn’t done with his troubling words. 

“How you’re thinking in what way the No-Face beast will get you both. Do you let it take a bite out of you first, and let the boy be a desert? Or…” His expression grows sinisterly. “Do you let it take the boy first as a mercy kill?”

Stephanie sobs, tears rolling down her pale cheeks. “N-No… No…”

“I think… that’s what you think is best. Let the boy’s suffering end quickly.”

“N-No…” She shakes her head before grabbing the sides of it. “I… I…” She sobs again. “W-Will…”

|| STEPHANIE! || 

He calls out again, but it’s barely audible, and the music is starting to sound distant again.

“I… I don’t know… I don’t know…” Stephanie said, brain feeling like it was going to melt with everything going on. 

“Come.” Her father beckons. “Let it all go.” He opens his arms out wide, like he is asking for a hug as the abyss grows back around them, blocking some of the light. “You can rest, my dear daughter.”

Then the room sprinkled with a little red, and the sound of an old grandfather clock chimed around in an echo. The sound… seemed scary, but strangely welcoming. It was telling her to find it, and she almost wanted to.

“Let all go, Child.” He urges, his voice now echoing as well. “You know you want to.”

She wants to, she really wants to. But something was keeping her from doing that, something inside was telling her to stay away. 

“But–” She managed to say before ‘Separate Ways’ was turned up to max volume. She screams, her head pounding as the room gets brighter again, along with Will’s voice.

|| WAKE UP! YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP! || 

“Will…” She says, looking at the opening before her head was magically moved back in her father’s direction. 

“But don’t you want to leave it all behind?!” He screams. “The bad memories? The times you were called a freak? The times you were forgotten or ignored? Unloved? The times that people told you you weren’t good enough for him?”

That was another piercing to her aching heart. “B-But, Steve’s just–” 

|| STEPHANIE! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?! WAKE UP! || 

Will. She needed to get back to Will. She didn’t need all this crap to be happening!

She tries to stand her ground as firmly as she can. “What is going on?”

Of course, he ignores her question and presses on harder. “Don’t you want to be free?! Give in! Forget all the bad times you’ve had! Give in!” 

“But–”

And then she feels like she lost the opportunity to get the upper hand.

She gasps harshly as she feels something wrap around her throat, squeezing it tight. She feels her body freeze, and something grabbing onto her limbs to hold her place. Her father, or whoever he is now, looked even more deranged as he gave her look like he was trying to shatter her mind. And maybe he was, maybe he really was the one responsible for the tingling feeling inside, the feeling like her whole life force was being drained. She swears she can hear Will screaming her name again, but the hold on her was drowning out most of her senses. 

Her father, the being, grinned even wider as his hand reached out to hover over her face. “Now… Give in, dear child.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

“Stephanie!” Will cries out in desperation, giving her another shake. Why isn’t the music working?! It worked for me!

This can’t be happening. This can’t be how he loses Stephanie. What was he supposed to do if she ended up dead? And what would he tell her family? Tell his family? How will they even believe him?

“Stephanie, come on! Wake up! Please!” He felt his own set of tears start rolling down his delegate cheeks. “I don’t want to lose you!”

I don’t want to lose her. I don’t want to lose her. I don’t want to lo– His pleas were cut off when her body slipped away from his hands. In something he’s only seen in horror films, he watches the teenager start floating into the air. 

Way, way, way up into the air.

He couldn’t even jump up to touch her, grab her to pull her down as she was descending up into the night sky, limbs jittering like they were trying to spring free.

Will didn’t know what else to do but scream her name.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Lucas wakes up in a flash, his friends sighing with relief, and the teenager silently thanking the universe he was alright (He wasn’t sure how they were going to explain this to anyone if he didn’t wake up soon).

“Lucas.” Mike says, happily. “Lucas, you okay?”

“Lucas…” Dustin begins, watching him slowly prop himself up, mind wandering. “Lucas, how many fingers am I holding up?” He holds up three. “Lucas, how many fingers?”

“Hey…” Steve begins, reaching out. “Let me see your head–”

“Get off of me!” Lucas snaps, swatting everyone away.

“Lucas, just let us see–” Mike urges, which results in another slap.

“Get off of me!” He says again, standing up this time, and storming away. 

“Lucas, come on.”

“Let him go.” Dustin replies, stopping him by the arm.

“But what if he–”

“He needs to cool down.”

Steve frowns, still worried that the kid might have a concussion, but what could he do? The kid was irritated, probably still didn’t like him, so more likely he wouldn’t listen (and he wasn’t listening to his friends anyway, so…). 

He sighs, running a hand through his locks, thinking. “This is… insane. That little girl really does have powers.”

“Told you.” Mike said, head hung low in shame.

“Hey, relax. Your friend just needs to–” Steve frowns after counting who was present. “Where is she?”

Dustin and Mike’s eyes begin bolting around in the low light, searching for any signs of her. Them and Steve started shouting her name, concern was evident, and time was the essence. Did she really take off? Did she really feel that guilty about everything she just had to leave? 

“I…” Mike begins, getting mad at himself. “I knew I should have yelled at her like that!”

“Hey, you had every right to do so. She did fling Lucas.” Dustin points out.

“Yeah, but we need her! We need her to find that gate for us.”

“Yeah, but it sounds like she was never going to.”

Mike frowns, that sentence punching him right in the gut. Maybe Lucas was right. Maybe he really was being played for a fool this whole time. “Even if she wasn’t, we still got to find her.”

“We can try, but it’s getting dark.” Dustin says, gesturing to the fading sun. “We don’t even have flashlights.”

“Well, then we’ll go back to our houses to get some.”

“Mike–”

“We have to!”

“Mike, our parents are not going to let us out. Especially if Lucas tells his parents he got hurt hanging out with us today.”

“But–”

“Hey, listen to Henderson, alright?” Steve cuts in, his mind made up about something.

“But, we have to go look for her, Steve!” Mike pushes.

“I get that, but your parents are going to expect you home. And they probably are going to bug me on why we were out so late. So you’re going home.”

“But El–”

“I will look for her.”

Mike blinks. “What?”

“I will look for her, okay?” Steve repeats. “I will go back to my house to change and grab some supplies, and then I’ll come right back here and search around.”

Dustin looks surprised. “You’re actually willing to do that?”

“Yeah. I am.” He nods. “I’ll do my best to try to find her, and if I do, maybe I can convince her to actually help us. Or get her to at least explain why finding this isn’t safe.” He looks between them while finishing with, “But you two need to go home. Let’s not worry your parents. Especially you Henderson. Let’s not make your mom worry about another kid.”

Dustin averts his eyes away, feeling a bit ashamed at the thought of hurting his mother like that. He was so hung up on finding this gate that he didn’t wonder how she must be feeling right now. And she thinks she just buried her daughter today. I can only imagine how worried she is.

“So does that sound reasonable to you guys?” Steve asks, interrupting their thoughts.

“Yeah.” Mike says, nodding. “That sounds reasonable.”

“Good.” He looks at them worriedly before waving for them to start walking. “Let’s head back.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

When they arrived they saw her car parked on the side of the road with no one inside. The three of them never got out and slammed their doors that quickly before, as they ran into the woods, flashlights and weapons in hand.

“NANCY!” Jonathan called out, his heart racing what he might find. She had to be okay. He wasn’t sure how he would live with himself if she wasn’t. So he screams out her name again, both his mother and Hopper joining in. 

“Nancy!” Joyce yells, running to look behind every nook and cranny amongst the trees and shrubs. “Nancy!”

“Nancy Wheeler!” Hopper shouts, eyes glue to the ground, looking for any signs of life. 

“Nancy! Where are you?!”

“Nancy!” Jonathan tries again, the guilt in his gut has started to take huge chunks of him now. “Fuck. Fuck…”

“Hey.” His mother says, getting his attention. “Don’t beat yourself up yet. We just started.”

“How can I not, mom?! For all I know is, she’s that thing’s dinner.”

“You don’t know that.” She shakes her head. “You don’t know that.”

“Mom, please, I–”

“Hey!” Hopper says while snapping his fingers. “We might have a problem.” He waited for them to get closer for him to shine his flashlight down by his feet, and there was a trail of blood that stretched further into the woods. “It’s fresh.” He frowns, nervously. “Come on.”

They start following the trail, their breaths caught in their throats. What if this was hers? What if that thing did show up and caught her? Was she still alive? Was she badly hurt? What would the outcome be?

“NANCY!” Jonathan calls out once more, half expecting no reply until–

“Jonathan!”

The three of them paused, startled to hear a girl’s voice. He says her name again, and gets the same reply.

“Shit–” Hopper curses and bolts off, the two of them hot on his tail.

“Nancy!” Jonathan shouts again, the blood path ends right at a tree trunk. But what was at the base of the tree is what made him gag, the sight of something so disgusting with veins oozing out of the bark like it was infected. 

Joyce gasps sharply. “T-That’s it! That was what was on my wall!” 

“And that’s what I saw in the lab.” Hopper replies, crouching down with the rest of them. He brushes away some of the sticky cobwebs, a red hue covering his hand. “What the hell is this th–”

“JONATHAN!!” 

The three of them flinched when they heard her voice again. 

Her voice that was…

Coming out of the tree.

“Nancy!” Jonathan’s eyes widened as slams his fist into the tree, trying to see if he got the bubble to pop. He wasn’t going to lose her like this. Not when she was literally at their fingertips. He tries again, and again, screaming her name.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

Stephanie heard her name again in the far distance, and all she could do was move her crying eyes towards the opening. Even in this… whatever this place was, the light was trying to come in, trying to save her from giving in, but…

It was getting so hard to not give in. 

She felt his fingers start brushing the sides of her face, drowning out her favorite song that was likely the last time she’ll ever hear it. 

So this is it. She thought, depressingly. This is how she dies. Not by the cold, nor the starvation, and nor getting killed by the beast, no. She was going to die by an imagination of her father. She felt some more tears roll down her paralyzed body, and started accepting her fate.

If this is it, then I guess I’ve lived… a pretty decent life. She starts closing her eyes, her soul in this force’s grasp–

|| STEPHANIE! WAKE UP! ||

Will… I’m so sorry. Her heart clenches for him. I failed you… I am so–

|| PLEASE, WAKE UP! I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU! ||

She gasps quietly. Will…

|| I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU! NOT LIKE THIS! PLEASE! || 

He’s… he’s not mad at me? 

|| WE’RE SUPPOSED TO GET OUT OF THIS TOGETHER! ||

But, I–

|| WE ARE GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS TOGETHER! SO FIGHT IT! ||

Fight it? Can she? Can she get out of this hold?

Her father must have realized she was thinking this and intervened. “You don’t want to fight it. You want to give in. Let it all go.” He says, making her start doubting again.

Maybe… I should.

|| WHATEVER HAS A HOLD ON YOU, YOU NEED TO FIGHT! FIGHT IT! COME BACK TO ME! ||

Another gasp.

Come back to me.

Come back to me.

He wants her to come back to him. He wants her too. He wants her to be with him.

He wants me to be with him. He actually does.

|| REMEMBER WHAT YOU’RE FIGHTING FOR! WE HAVE TO GO HOME! WE HAVE TO GET HOME TO OUR FAMILIES! REMEMBER WHAT WE HAVE WAITING FOR US WHEN WE GET HOME! ||

Remember.

Remember what she has waiting for her. 

Remember.

Remember everything that brings her joy.

.

// Dustin, meet your big sister // Her Mother said, placing the tiny baby in her arms. Stephanie remembers how happy she was to become a big sister. She remembers how much that title meant to her. 

.

.

She remembers the clown costume she wore for one Halloween. The first one she was hanging out with her brother and his friends. They all decided that year to dress as their D&D characters, and how happy they were when their costume were finally done being made – and how much candy they scored from the creativity of it all.

.

.

She remembers her mom teaching her to sew. She ripped a hole in her favorite shirt, and her mother was patient and kind enough to show how to do it the next time it happens.

// Thanks, mom //

// Anytime, sweetheart //

.

.

It rained halfway through the concert, that warm season rain. But the band kept playing, Munson even cracking a joke about it in the middle of their song. Stephanie laughed in excitement, slicking her locks back from her face as her and the crowd cheered them on.

// This is amazing // She said, looking at her friend. // Thank you //

// Even with the rain? // Steve asked, smiling fondly.

// Even with the rain // And she smiles back.

.

.

// This is the best gift ever! // The eight year old birthday boy, Dustin, shouts, and holds up a vintage X-Men comic. // Thank you, Phanie! //

He almost knocks her over, hugging her tightly and giving one of his rare kisses to her cheek.

.

.

// Hey… Hey… I wanna… I wanna tell you something // Steve slurs, leaning his upper body against the cafeteria table. The two of them had snuck away from the ‘Snow Ball’ and decided to be a little naughty. He somehow managed to sneak in some alcohol to celebrate them going into the Teen Years. 

Stephanie giggles, a bit of a ditzy drunk. // W-What? Spit it out, S-Stevie //

// Ooookay… // He leans forward more. // Fia… I… I l-love you //

She hums, smiling. // Well, I love you too, Steve. //

// Noooo, no. N-Not like that. // He says, partially laying half his body over the table now to grab her hand. // Like… I love you, love you //

.

.

She remembers the second day of being here in this strange place. And despite how scared she was for her and Will, she honestly enjoyed the boy’s company. He reminded her of so much like Dustin, just a bit quieter, unless you were talking about his favorite things.

Steph shakes her head with a sigh. // Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to prove him wrong when I play //

// So you are going to play with us! // Will said, joyfully, like you just told him Christmas was coming early.

// If that’s how I prove Lucas wrong, then so be it. So how does one newbie play D&D? // She asked, hopefully this will keep him occupied. 

.

.

The last thing she remembers is Steve pressing his lips into hers, proving his point that he loves her more than a friend. 

.

.

Stephanie doesn’t know what possessed her, but she snaps her eyes open and uses her new found strength to push her father away from her. Like she was being held by rope, the invisible hold snapped and she fell to her knees, gasping in air. 

Will. I got to get to Will. She tells herself, as she feels someone looming over her. She takes a look and screams. Whoever replaced the appearance of her father was someone who looked inhumane. Its whole body looked burned and bent, some hair stuck out from the top of its head, and it had an eye that looked like it had been blinded. Its pissed off expression was enough to make her scramble away and break for the opening at the end of the darkness. 

She took only a split second to look back as she felt like she broke through an invisible barrier, the gambling room was gone and replaced with an area that was covered in gross vines and scattered in a crimson color. A storm brewed above her, in its own version of thunder and lightning. The figure stayed in one place, watching her try to run away before deciding to create some obstacles.

Stephanie felt the ground shake beneath her, and watched as what looked like spikes shot up and out of the bloody ground. She shrieked and dodged the best she could, trying to stay more hopeful when she could hear ‘Separate Ways’ again, and Will’s cries for her not to give up. 

I can’t give up! I have to go home! She hears her inner thoughts echoed, along with somebody else’s. As she continues breaking into a sprint, something catches her eye. Alongside her she can see a few silhouettes that seemed to be running at the same pace as her. She blinks and turns to the otherside, seeing the same thing.

‘I can’t give up!’ They all shouted, but she couldn’t pinpoint the voices or who these people were supposed to be.

Is this another trick? Or were these other victims of this place? 

Her thoughts were cut off when something fell from the sky, knocking her over, dousing her red. She wastes not a second of hesitation to push herself back up and run, the silhouettes disappearing from her sight. Now, she has to put all her focus on the opening that was starting to grow smaller and smaller. 

She balls her hands into fists, pushing herself to the limit. She hears her name being screamed, and the room rattling more. And as she gets closer and closer to the light, she prays she’d make it through – taking the literal leap of faith, she jumps with all her might into glow…

.

.

.

.

.

.

She screams awake, and begins free falling to the ground. 

“Stephanie!” Will shouts, as the girl went splat across the ground. “Stephanie!”

Steph screams again, shooting up a sitting position as she claws the walkman off her head. She takes in a whole gulp of air that sounds like she’s choking, and panting at the same time. The thought of her almost dying was repeating over and over again on a loop in her mind.

“Stephanie!” He cries out, and tackles her for a hug. “Stephanie…” He squeezes her tight, the reality of it all settling in for the both of them. Tears were rolling down his face as he buried his head into her neck. “Steph… I-I thought I lost you. I r-really, really d-did.”

It took a split second before she broke down crying too, sobbing loudly as she wrapped her arms around him in the same vice grip. The thought of almost leaving him alone in this place scared her so much.

“I’m okay. I’m okay.” She whispers, trying to comfort them both. “I’m okay… You saved me…” She hears him start bawling at her words making her break even more. “You saved me… you really did save me…”

And that was one hundred percent the truth. 

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Steve manages to get the kids home, bidding them goodbye and reassuring Mike that he was in fact going out to look for El. He just needs to go home first to change out of his suit and get the appropriate equipment. When he arrived home a little after nine, he noticed all the lights were off, and felt a bit of relief.

Good. I can get in and out. But his hopes were just burned at the stake, ‘cause as soon as he opens the door, the living room light turns on. He freezes and winces when he knows who it is.

“You went to her funeral?” His mother said, arms crossed as she was sitting in a chair. 

Jesus Christ, of course… He keeps a straight face to look at her. “My girlfriend asked me to come to Will Byers’ funeral. He was the best friend of her brother. The only reason I went to Stephanie’s is because it was a joint funeral.”

“Joint funeral?” Jessica asks, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. 

“Yeah.” He nods. “The families are close, and they both died together so…”

She hums, standing up, walking over to get right in his face. “You’re not lying to me, are you, Steven?”

“No, Mom. Why would I lie to you?”

“‘Cause you have before.”

“Well not this time. I went there to support Nancy and family through this hard time.”

She hums again, buying his lie this time. “Okay. Just checking.” Then she sighs. “It’s a shame though, the Wheelers are close to those Byers. Not exactly a classy family.” 

Steve felt his blood boil a bit, and had to hold his tongue. He should have foreseen her saying something like this. 

“But…” She continues. “You are dating a Wheeler, so I can let that slide.”

Oh, he really wants to say something to her now, but he doesn’t want to start a war. At least not yet. “Where’s dad?”

“Sleeping. Long day at the office for him.” 

“Sounds like it.” Steve shifts his stance. “Uh, listen, I’m going to uh, hit the hay myself.” He starts making his way towards the stairs. “Night, mom.”

“You going to shower first?” Jessica asks, stopping him again.

He quietly sighs, no point in pushing back. “Yeah, mom, I’ll shower first.”

“Good.” She smiles, and squeezes his shoulder as she passes by. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

He lets her go up the stairs first and up to her room before doing the same. Their interaction wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be, probably because he didn’t push back on her like he sometimes did. Steve snags some comfortable clothes in his room while stepping inside the bathroom, turning the shower on. Knowing his mother, she was probably staying up and waiting to see if he actually listened to her “suggestion”. 

Sicko. He thought, shedding off his funeral wear to change into the extras. He cleans his face off, thinking of his plan. El could have gone anywhere, and he wasn’t sure what a one man show like him can do about it. But he’s made a promise to the boys, one that he has to keep.

And for my sake, I have to find her. I need to know if she’s okay. 

He has to.

He needs to.

.

.

.

She might be the key to finding Stephanie.

(TBC)

-A/N: Fin! Thanks for sticking for the two parts :) -

~

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[caxde]

dazed and confused | eddie munson x reader

summary you work on Hawkin's music shop, and Eddie is a regular costumer. Your friends (Steve and Robin mostly) help you to gain confidence and flirt with him.

word count: 8.1k (i think is the longest oneshot ive ever done, yikes)

warnings fem!reader (but i think i didn't use pronouns so u know ;) ), fluff, like lots of fluff, mutual pining, yearning etc, slowburn strangers to lovers, idiots in love!!!, use and metion of beer and cigarretes. english is not my first language so I apologise if there’s some mistakes, not proof read!!

“You might actually have fun” He said for the millionth time, following you around as you restock the shelves. 

“Oh, I dunno Harrignton.” You answer, glancing quickly at him. “Doubt I’ll do.” You remark, keeping track of what you needed to get from the back, you counted and scribbled down on your little notebook. 

“C’mon, just a couple hours, if you’re not having fun I’ll drive you back home myself.” You were getting slightly annoyed at him now, he could have chosen any day to come and mess around at your job, but as it turned out, Saturday was your busiest day, and it was release week for a lot of musicians, December approaching as it were. 

“Dude, seriously, you can come in here and annoy me, but please not today?” You begged as you walked behind the counter, leaving him waiting as you disappeared for a few seconds crouching down at the boxes and picking up a promotional poster that you begged your manager would let you keep. 

“If I leave, will you agree to come?” You scoff away at his question and the only response you received was him messing his hair up. 

“Why do you insist on me to come?” You demand, daggers shooting away at him. “Take Robin! Robin loves parties.” You say, truly meaning it, hoping he would listen to you. 

“Robin finally has a date!” He announces as a proud father, and you almost drop all the vinyls you were holding. 

“Shit! Really?” You ask with your face in complete glee, a smile growing in between your cheeks. 

“Yeah! Vickie asked her after she dumped that blonde dude, so, I need a wing-woman!” He explains, almost screaming even if you can tell he was aiming for a whisper, he was so excited it got to the best of him. 

“Why though?” You still didn’t understand why he wanted you there. 

“Okay, jesus…” He finally admits, sounding defeated as he walks behind you, you needed to restock more vinyls in the rock and metal section. “Nance is gonna be there… And… You know…” 

“Oh…” You said as you realized that he needed a little push to get the one that got away back. “Wait, didn’t Nancy dump you at a party?” You demand as you walk back to the section and start organizing the pressed music into different artists. 

“Well yeah, thought it would be kinda nice to-'' He cuts himself off, shaking his head and locking eyes with you. “Please?” 

“Jesus Christ….” At that moment he knew you had agreed, and his smile grew bigger. “Yeah, ‘kay, but you owe me, like… big time!” You shout at him, finger raised and everything, he smiled and nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, I’ll pick you up a six-pack or whatever you wanna.” He says as he’s leaving. 

“Or you could actually buy something for once!” You scream at him, too far away to actually hear anything you’re saying to him. “Asshole” You mutter under your breath. 

Keeping your brain focused on the task at hand, you looked at the bands that you had in front of you, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Led Zeppelin. Your finger tapped the last one’s cover, thinking if you needed to get more stocked. And how in love you were with the last album. You were gonna buy yourself a copy as soon as you could. So you took a little bit longer to actually put them together, making sure everything looked nice and was easy to find, as you spin rapidly to get back to the counter, your body slams into someone else’s. 

“Shit, sorry!” You say as you look up at this boy’s face. You froze on the spot. 

“S’okay, wasn’t looking.” He says, grabbing your arm, pushing you back , looking at you, making sure you are okay. His brown eyes looking directly at yours. Long curly hair framing them. “You okay?” He asks, inclining his head slightly to the right. 

“Ah, yeah, yeah. Great. Um, if you need help with anything…” You stumble as you talk, you have only seen him from afar, never actually spoke to him, you didn’t even know his name. Only thing you knew was this, he came every Thursday and looked if you had anything new, so it was shocking to see him on a Saturday . 

He didn’t talk much when he checked the things off, biting his lower lip, he would nod and search for the money you asked for. 

“Actually, do you have the um… Perfect Strangers cassette? You know it’s-” You feel bad from cutting him up, but you get excited for a second. 

“Deep Purple? Yeah!” You say, happy to help him, he smiles at you and you can’t help your face as you copy his expression. “Great album…” You whisper as you relook at the shelves.

“Yeah, I Know, I lent it to a friend, and I don’t think I'll ever get it back, so…” He explains, as he follows you, you chuckle at his explanation as you nod. 

“Happened to me with Mötley Crue’s Too Fast For Love '' You say to him, at which you see him smile to himself. “Aha!” You let out as you see the little cassette, you point your feet to reach when you feel him behind you, arm higher than yours, chest closer than before, your cheeks growing red at an alarming rate as he grabs it before you, and you look up at his hand, three silver rings decorating his fingers. 

“I got it” He says, once you turn to him. He smiles as he messes with his hair, and when he realizes that he’s a little too close to you for a stranger, takes an apologetic step back, and signals you to go first, bowing his head low. You whisper a thanks as you walk to the register. 

“Do you… Um.. want anything else… uh..?” You ask, hopping he introduces himself, so you can stop referring to him in your head as hellfire boy 

“Um, Eddie.” He says, you smile as you hear his name, he does the same as he looks at you. 

“Do you need anything else, Eddie?” You ask, cheeks flushed pink and a smile on your face. 

“No, no, that’ll be it.” He says, searching for his wallet in his back pocket. You nod, and as you grab a little bag for his cassette, you leave a Deep Purple patch in the bag, a little gift for him. 

“Okay then, here you go.” He left a ten dollar bill and before you could give him the change he gestures a no with his head, smiling as he does so. 

“Keep the change, and thank you.” He says grabbing the bag, giving you one last look. 

“See you!” You say. 

“Yeah, see you.” He says, as you watch him leave, biting your lower lip containing your excitement. 

-

You were retouching your make-up in the passenger's seat, nervously fussing as you tried to apply mascara over the speed bumps. 

“Jesus Harrigton! Don’t wanna poke my eye out.” You say to him, as he slows down for once. 

“Sorry!” He says again. “Don’t know why you’re so nervous now…” He says under his breath, stopping at a red light, at which you take advantage of and draw in your waterline, black. 

“S’nothing.” You mumble, evidently lying. You can feel his questioning stare and you chuckle. “What?” 

“Someone’s happy…” He teases, as he leaves the red light you see him smiling at himself. “Oh… did he finally talk to you?” He says teasing you. 

“I don’t know who you’re talking about…” You whisper, dismissing his tone and smudging your eyeliner a bit, playing with your hair next. 

“Oh come on! I saw him in the shop eyeing you!” He says, you can’t help but smile.

“Damn it Steve!” You confess in between laughs. He parks his car as you continue. “He did… he’s nice..” You admit, playing with your ring nervously as you wait for him to stop the car. 

“Did you… I dunno, introduce yourself? Ask for his number? Flirt a little?” he keeps teasing you as he leaves the car, six-pack on his left hand. You slam the door shut as you let out air. 

“I panicked, only got his name…” 

“God you’re bad at this.” He chuckles, as he gives you an opened beer bottle. 

“Welp, you are supposed to teach me so…” You tease back, taking a quick sip. 

“Fuck off…” He says, opening one for himself, walking up to the noisy house. 

“I did give him a little gift, and he tipped, so maybe he’ll remember me next time…” You say looking at the floor, drinking a little bit more. Getting more nervous as you saw more and more people hanging about the place you were going. 

“Sure he will, you’re unforgettable!” He says sarcastically. You show him your tongue in a teasing response. 

It really wasn’t your scene, corny music, people making-out as soon as you opened the door could be seen, you really wished Robin was here, so you could speak to someone when Steve inevitably disappeared with somebody else. He walked to the kitchen and you followed him, you could see him searching for her, and you couldn’t resist but to tease him, whispering loverboy to his ear, he playfully punched you. But as soon as he saw her, he was left speechless. 

“You really like her, huh?” you asked him, eyes in the opposite direction. 

He nodded as he looked at you. You smiled, happy to keep watch in the kitchen. 

“Go!” You said to him, he moved his head no and looked at the ground, playing nervously with his hair. 

“No, no– I ah… Leave you alone?” he mumbled as he tried to keep his cool. 

“It is okay Steve.” you reassured him. “You go talk to Nance, I’ll make sure the beer is drinkable.” You say to him ironically, he chuckled and muttered a thank you to you as he left. 

You nodded at the two idiots. 

You knew Nancy still liked him, so you enjoyed seeing the two idiots in love talking to each other, from afar. It was also fun to tease him back. 

So you did as you promised, you stayed put with a drink in your hand, and when it finished, you refilled, holding onto hope that Steve won’t be long, and proven mistaken when twenty minutes pass. You grew bored of Bowie’s music, not that you didn’t like “The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars” but you had been playing that for two weeks over at the shop, courtesy of his new movie he starred in, and you just needed a break. As you searched for a distraction, you saw an abandoned packet of Camel on the kitchen counter, jackpot. 

You could smoke it right there, but some fresh air would keep you more refreshed and awake. 

So you stumbled your way across, walking through the maze of drunken people, or couples grossly making-out. Hopefully, the back door was open and nobody was blocking it, so you could breath in the cold air, your beat up cropped Zeppelin shirt wasn't that much help against the cold, but you didn’t seem to mind, it actually felt kind of nice, to be able to feel the warmth the cigarette left in your fingers. 

Red cup in one hand, cigarette in the other, you looked out at the yard, and almost dropped them both. 

He was here. And he was looking curiously at you. He smiled as he waved to you, and you did the same, dragging the smoke out of your fingers, and as you see him approaching you can’t help but mutter shit to yourself. 

“Hey” He says, lips parted from the cold, rosy cheeks for the same motive contrasting his pale skin. 

“He-hey” You mutter, readjusting your voice, since it’s been a while since you spoke out loud. 

“What are you doing here?” he says, hugging himself, leather sleeves poking out of his jean vest. 

“I, um. A friend needed some luck…” You say vaguely, not believing that he was actually speaking to you, and not really caring why he actually was doing so. 

“Oh, he around?” He said, looking behind you, moving his head around, your eyes fixated in his neck. 

“Ah, no. He left with the girl a while ago. Hopefully he actually gets lucky this time…” You say more to yourself than to him, at which you catch him chuckle, and you smile in replay. And you can’t help but look at him again. You get lost in his chest, more importantly, in a newly stitched up patch, he notices you looking at it and smiles at you. 

“Found it in a bag…” He says looking at you, grin in his face. “Thank you, for it.” He continued. 

“Thought you might like it.” You admit, your cheeks were getting warmer, despite the cold that surrounded you. 

“I do, thank you stranger.” He said, as he winked at you, you nodded, words failing you in that moment. 

“You’re welcome.” 

“What you drinking?” he asks, reaching for the cup, and you let him take a sip of it, sight locked in his lips. “Mmh, nice.” He says, getting closer to you, offering his arm. “Wanna get more?” he asks. At which, you take his arm and head inside, not really believing that it was really happening, or what was actually going on. 

-

“Enough about my date! I wanna hear about yours!” Robin’s voice comes through the speaker of your telephone, you laugh in shock. 

“What date?” You ask, and for whatever reason she laughs at the question. 

“Oh come on” She says, ironically, you can tell she’s moving her head side to side. “Steve told me you weren’t alone when he came down” She whispers, and your hand reaches your eyes, shame in your heart. 

“God dammit Robs… He’s so nice… And it wasn’t a date, ‘cus a date would mean that he asked me out, which he hasn’t, and honestly, I think he was just trying to be nice ‘cus stupid Steve left me alone with people I don’t really know.” She was laughing again, you were getting flustered at the memory of him. 

“Or maybe, he wanted to get to know you, you know?” 

“I dunno… Don’t wanna create expectations and then…” 

“Yeah, yeah…” She finishes for you. “Well, tomorrows a Thursday, so maybe you’ll see him again?” She asks with teasing in her tone. 

“Yeah, maybe.” 

-

It had been months since you had such calmness in the store. So much so, you were the only one working today, could choose the background music, and since everything was clean, stocked and organized, you could just enjoy the moment.

 Perfect stillness. 

So you crouched down to the little crate that you hide behind the counter labeled workers shit. You roamed through it, hoping to find something that would catch your eye, passing from album to album, admiring every cover art, because you quite literally had nothing else to do. As you emerged back up, you had a dilemma in front of you, and you let your head rest in your hands as you looked down at both albums. Rumors by Fleetwood Mac was an exceptional album, you had no doubt about it, but… Led Zeppelin’s self titled one was eyeing you. 

“Where to start, where to start…” You sang to yourself as you thought, completely lost in possibility. 

So it really shouldn’t surprise anyone, that his voice surprised you enough to jump as he spoke, making you both laugh. 

“No music?” He said before you jumped, and after a quick chuckle and apology he continued. “Sorry, I meant… You always have music playing.” he came back, and with him, your pink cheeks and nervousness. 

“I.. Well yeah, but I usually just agree to whatever my colleague wants, and I almost never have the choice so now I don’t really know what to start with…” You explain to him, fast, almost rumbling as he smiles at you, big brown eyes looking tenderly as he does so. 

His hands find their way over the counter, close enough to yours to make you unconsciously bite your lower lip, as your eyes follow them up. Hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, neck, long hair, eyes. His head looked down, as his fingers moved to grab the album on the left, focused as he read what they had inside, while the only thing you could actually focus on were the veins in his arms. 

“Didn’t think you liked Fleetwood…” He mumbled, you leaned closer, without really thinking about what your body was doing. 

“Well, Steveie’s voice… She truly is magic.” You whisper, more to you than to him. He lights up as his eyes meet yours, smiles in both your faces. 

“Wouldn’t really know…” He confesses, pulling his body closer, forearms resting atop of the counter, whispering to you. “Haven’t really given them an opportunity…” He says, eyes travelling from your eyes, to your lips and neck. Even if you were nervous about having him that close, you were so happy to be able to talk to him about music! of all things… You were just really enjoying the moment. 

“Well, you gotta.” You replay with a shy smile, your eyes completely lost in his. He nods as he taps the vinyl. 

“You got ‘em in cassette?” He asks, and as you nod you pull back a bit, looking at your shelf. You had it saved in case someone called <<Lauren>> would pick it up, but it's been three months and she hadn’t, so you decide to rip the post-it off and throw it in the thrash. You feel his sight locked on your back, and that might be why you move slower, or why your waist turns more than it needs to. 

“There you go.” 

“Thanks.” He says, reaching for his wallet. You put your hand forward, signaling a no with your head as you smiled softly at him. 

“On me.” You say, pushing the little plastic box to him. He smiles as he reaches for it, fingers touching yours, electricity between both of you. 

“You don’t have to…” He says, still holding it, brushing your index finger, eyes still locked with yours. 

“I want to.” You reassure him. 

He nods, and mutters a thank you. You look at him as he starts to leave and you go back to the vinyl, taking it out of its envelope, when you hear his sneakers turning around. 

“When do you get off?” 

“8.30.” You replay, shocked at the question. 

“You’ve got plans?” 

“No” 

“Wanna come to The Hideout?” He says, and you could swear he was the one getting flushed. “My uh… My band plays there at 9.30” He adds, your smile grows bigger. “We usually do it on Tuesdays and its a smaller crowd, but he got an offer to play today.” He says excitedly, rumbling like you do. “You can tell your friends” You can see him getting nervous, just like you did when he first approached you. “Or you know-” 

You cut him off. 

“I’ll be there.”

-

“So, it is a date?” Robin said once you arrived at the small bar. 

“No, I mean I don’t think so…” You replay, your eyebrows furrowed, as you looked at her smiling, teasing face. 

“But he did ask you?” She continues, with the same tone. 

“Well, yeah, but… y’know, a date is like, only two people, and you talk to the other person, and get to know them, right?” You try to rationalize, as you ask for help by looking at her. “I mean, he probably was just being nice, or… or friendly? Like, y’know, I gave him a tape so he invited me and a friend to come around…so technically… not a date?” She didn’t give you an answer, she just shrugged her shoulders and laughed, heading to the entrance of said bar, you followed her, not any calmer, not one bit. 

“Or he just wanted to show off, leave you impressed and then ask you out.” She says as you reach the actual bar, and as you push her shoulder in a friendly punch, she stumbles into a blonde girl you can’t really see, so you apologise, until you see Robin’s smile grow bigger in her face. “Well hello…” She muttered. 

“Hey cutie.” Vickie. You smiled at the sight of them, pure adoration between their eyes. They took a bit of time to eye one another until they remembered you were there, and you couldn’t help but laugh at them. 

“God, you two are cute…” You say, as they giggle back at you. “Do you idiots in love want anything?” 

“Nah” 

“We’re good, thank you!” Vickie says, finally looking at you, at which you nod. 

You walked back to the bar, glancing at your friend, and a smile on your face. You were incredibly happy for her, she had been patient, and she deserved it more than anyone, and Vickie seemed so nice…

“Waddu want, sweetie?” The bartender's voice snaps you back into reality, and you quickly look at him. 

“Ah, yeah, sorry.” He nods, and so do you. “Um, just a beer, please?” You say, maybe a bit too low you realize, but he seemed to understand you just fine. You reached into the inside of your jacket pocket, and once you had your wallet in your hand and looked at the man handing you the beer he shakes his head no. 

“Already taken care of, sweetie.” He says, pointing at Eddie on the stage, waving hello at you. You blush a little bit as you salute him with the bottle, mouthing a small cheers to him, and he smiles back with a thumbs up.

“Thank you” You say to the bartender, and he nods in response. You walk back to your friends as you check the time on your wrist, it was about to start. “Hey, d’you wanna get closer?” They both nod, and you march on, and surprisingly, and even if the venue wasn’t that big, it was packed tonight, so you decided to stay in the third row, where you could be more comfortable, and still have room to dance. 

“Oh shit, almost forgot.” Robin said, grabbing your elbow. “Steve gave me back your camera, says it should work now.” You smile as a thank you. The kids had begged you to trust them with this project, and hopefully they did a good job. 

“Is it loaded?” You ask, eyeing Eddie in the shadows. Light still not on. Robin nodded in response and you got back to admiring him. 

When the lights did finally light up, you were amazed. His arms were in full display, tattoos visible, and so were his veins, as he grabbed his guitar with force. The light bounced around his skin, making him look more defined than you had ever seen him. Just some hours ago you had seen him, but truly never like this. He ditched his usual Hellfire shirt, and wore a black button up, held together by the last button, so the red light that the stage had travelled down his chest, and what was worse, he was smiling. He was smiling directly at you. 

So you spent the rest of the gig taking pictures of him, as he looked at you, and on occasions, Robin photographed you smiling at him. 

-

“You really are their mom, huh?” You tease Steve as he hangs around the counter, waiting for the lunch club to actually pick what they want. 

“Shuddup.” He says, slightly annoyed, a smile on his face as he looks back at them. “And I prefer being called a babysitter, thank you so much.” He answers, nodding his head, making his hair bop up and down. 

“Okay… Babysitter Harrington…” He scoffs with a short laugh, as do you. You look down at the photos again, the kids developed them for you and you were in awe. And yeah, they had a million questions that you avoided. 

“So…?” 

“What?”

“Oh come on, you're smiling at them!” Steve points as he says so, grabbing one of the photos that shows a very happy you looking at him on the stage. 

“It’s nothing” You mumble, trying to not give it any importance, covering them with a piece of paper. 

“Oh, fuck off. You might be able to bullshit Henderson or Wheeler but not me.” He declares, looking at you. You could tell that he won’t stop annoying you until you open your mouth. “And besides, Robin told me some things. I mean she was more focused on the whole Vickie of it all, but y’know” 

“Yeah, I know. They really look happy Steve…” He asks you to continue with a raised eyebrow. “I just don’t wanna make a fool out of myself. He was just being nice. Not a date. Just him inviting me to his little gig.” As you say that you can’t help but recall him, in the stage, absolutely adoring the applause and praise he got, and how he soaked the light red up, making him look angelic and demonic at the same time. 

“Look, maybe he does want to ask you out, but he's too shy to do so?” He asks, looking at you, reassuring with a little tap on your shoulder. “Like you…” 

He gets interrupted by a little curly haired kid wearing a snapback. 

“You guys talking ‘bout Eddie?” Dustin asks, raising his eyebrows at you. 

“Hello to you too kid.” You answer in return. “What is it gonna be Henderson?” You ask, in your customer service voice as he hands you over a little tape. “Huh, didn’t take you for an Iron Maiden fan Dustin.” You say as you scan it.

“Well…” He starts to explain as he reaches for his pocket. “It’s actually a present, y’know, an end of campaign gift for our DM.” He says excited, as he raises his eyebrows. 

“Oh, nice.” You smile back at him. “Sure he’ll like it.” You reassure him, even if you didn’t understand a word that came out of his mouth. 

“Yeah, Eddie said he loves this band!” Mike adds up, having found his way into the conversation, with another tape in his hand. 

“Oh, Eddie the um…?” They all nod, knowing what you were going to ask. “He actually already has this one…” You say with an apologetic look in your face. 

“Shit. You sure?” Dustin asks.

“Yeah, he ordered Somewhere In Time two weeks ago, and paid for it, he’ll probably come and collect it today or tomorrow.” You say as you turn the monitor to the kids, who stare with awe at the amount of data collected. 

“You keep track of him?” Mike asks, accusing you of something. 

“What? No.” You spit back at him. “I’m just good at my job.” You say as you stick your tongue out at him. “You could get him some uh… Black Sabbath, y’know?” You ask as the two little kids nod at you. You take a second to run to the back of the store and grab some of the ones that you still had to restock. “So one Seventh Star to go.” You say as you hand it to them, who look incredibly nervous now. “What? I can give you guys more options if your not-” 

They cut you off as they snatch the tape out of your hands and throw the bill at you as they run out of the store. 

“Who raised you?” You ask more to yourself than anyone else, as you're left there, in awe and shock, looking at Steve for some answers. 

“Your boy just got in.” He says as he nods to him, who was heading to the hard-rock section. “See ya!” He says as he runs to reach the little kids. 

You’re left alone and feeling completely speechless. Asking yourself a million questions about what has just really happened, but too focused on getting your job actually done, even if you were just distracted. 

So you recovered the box in the back with everything that you had to restock, being interrupted by a soft smiling Eddie standing at the counter, tapping along at the song that’s playing in the background. 

“Hey Eddie.” You salute him, shyly, leaving the box on the counter. 

“Hey stranger.” He said back, a smile growing bigger. 

“I’ve got your tape, hold on.” You say as you look for it on your shelf. 

“No rush.” He says, locking his eyes in you, watching patiently as you head back, and he really was looking at every detail of you, from the way that you walk to the way that your hair moved as you did so. He was blushing now. 

When you come back with it, you find him with the photo that Steve had in his hand, smiling as he looks at it, looking back at a very flustered you. 

“Oh…” Is the only thing that you manage to say. 

“You look good…” He mutters, with a whisper of a voice. 

“I um… thanks!” You answer, not really sure what to do next. So you leave the tape down and uncover the rest of the photos. “I took some of you and… Robin, well, the tall girl that was with me also took some and uh well… Wasn’t gonna really show them to you ‘cause they're kinda bad but-” He cuts your rambling with a chuckle as he looks at all of them. 

He’s smiling with his teeth, blushing and stroking them softly, his ring decorated fingers passing through them. 

“They are good. You make me look amazing.” He praises you. 

“Well, you are.” You say before realizing what you were actually saying. 

Once you did, your face was warmer and for sure showing colors. 

He smiles and you do the same, with a soft laugh as your eyes lock once again, his body resting completely on the counter now, dreamily looking at you, back and forth between your eyes and your lips. 

“Thank you…” He says, grabbing the tape. A moment of silence, not awkward but comfortable, is shared between the two of you. “What is… what’s this song?” He asks, and you're left in shock. 

“You gotta know T.Rex…” You say back to him, as you see how he shyly moves his head no, burying his face in his hands in shame. “Eddie!” 

“I’m sorry! I don’t…” He says back at you, biting his lower lip. 

“Oh come on… D’you know, Jeepster?” No he lets you know. “Okay, how about um…Sinister Purpose by Creedence Clearwater Revival?” No again. “Jesus… Led? You know Led Zeppelin?” 

“Yeah, I know them.” You sigh in relief. 

“Dazed and Confused?” You ask him, it being your favourite song. 

“I kinda feel like that, yeah.” The palm of your hand reaches your face in frustration. 

“It’s a song…” You whisper, as you chuckle and he laughs as he apologises. “My favourite actually.” 

“Then I’m sure it’s a good one.” 

“That’s not enough!” You let him know, flustered in all kinds of ways. “D’you know what, I’ll make you a tape, so you can actually know them, and maybe you’ll like them.” You say as you get lost in him for a second too long. 

“Okay then, but, you’ll listen to it with me.” 

“Okay, sure.” 

“Grate, pick you up tomorrow when you close.” He says as he leaves with the new Iron Maiden tape under his hand. 

And it suddenly dawns on you, that did sound like a date. 

-

Finally, the last lady left the store. 

And the usual relief that you were used to feel when closing time came around, became a weird excitement. 

So, as a distraction or a routine, you did what you usually did once you were left to your own devices. Change the sign to closed, dial the volume up, and sing at the top of your lungs as you sweep the shop. 

You would normally have to do inventory and whatnot, but your co-worker Carla had already, she even closed the register, begging you to let her go early because she had a hot date. Of course you said yes, not wanting to tell her that you might have one too. 

Because, as usual, you were looking at Eddie’s proposition practically. 

You had gifted him a Deep Purple Patch, so he was nice to you at the party. 

You had given him a tape and he invited you to see him in The Hideout. (And bought you a beer) 

You had offered to make him a tape with your favourite songs and he said he wanted you there when he heard them. 

So technically, he was just being nice. 

But then again, people that are just friends don’t really do things he did. 

Steve and you were just friends, and he never drank from your cup. Eddie did. 

Robin and you were just friends, and she had never blushed when you complimented her. Eddie did. 

Steve and you were just friends, and he never made you blush so much your face became like a tomato. Eddie did. 

You grew frustrated of making stupid lists in your head, so you really tried to focus on what you were actually doing, to little to no use. 

So you focused on the lyrics, mumbling along them, screaming the occasional phrase that you enjoyed, dancing around and using the broom as if it were your personal microphone stand. 

So when you heard a little laugh, you jumped, almost falling to the ground. Broom touching it. 

Eddie had sneaked in, and had surely enjoyed the little show you had going on, dancing around not really caring, and he laid there, standing close to the entrance door smiling at you. 

“Sorry!” He said, with an apologetic gesture. “Didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“It’s alright! I was just um…” 

“Dancing” He finishes, resting his weight on a shelf, arms crossed in his chest, looking you up and down as you squad down to retrieve the fallen object. You nod with your cheeks pink, not really knowing what to say next, a comfortable silence, broken by his voice once again. “You need help?” 

“Oh, um.. no don’t worry, it’s just this corner I’ve got left.” You say to him, really trying not to get distracted by the way his arms look, tensed up, with his veins showing as his sleeves got caught up in his upper forearms. “I do have to go backdoor and grab my coat but it’s a second.” You say, as you smile wilde at him. He nods as he starts walking to the counter. 

“I got it.” He says. Before you can tell him not to bother, he’s already in the back rummaging through as you hear him humming to himself.

You try to finish your work before he gets out, and for whatever reason, maybe he’s distracted by the amount of unreleased material you guard, or maybe in a more mundane manner, he is just truly admiring your jacket, and picturing you wearing as he has seen multiple times from afar, he does just that, finding you in the back of the counter, turning the computer off and turning the stereo off, making sure you were missing nothing. 

His hands travel to your waist, squeezing it softly, his cold hands in contact with your warm skin, you feel the tingle that the goosebumps leave your skin, electricity flying between both of you.

You turn around surprised, almost tripping over him in a flustered reaction, you let out a soft moan that escapes your soft lips. He smirks as he sees you, close to his body, and your chest agitated, in contrast to his calm demeanor. 

“Your jacket” He whispers, lips to your ear as you turn to look at him, before you’re locking eyes to one another. 

“Th-thanks.” You manage to say, not knowing how to ask, being this close to him. 

-

If you were being honest, you had pictured his home a million times, each of it different to the last one, but you would have never guessed just how perfect it was for him. 

A small trailer, fit with the strangest things that suited him. 

A collection of mugs lives in the walls of the entrance, decorating the yellow walls, T.V turned off. 

You were focused on the, each one different to the next, they didn’t seem to be in any particular order, but in an organized chaos that fitted him in an incredible manner. 

“Those are Wayne’s mugs.” He says, as he watches you with a smirk in his face, as you admire them. 

“They’re fun. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many mugs together.” He laughs as he looks at you once again, his sight lost in your figure and the way your body moves, standing finally in his living room. 

You fidget with the tape as you look around, not sure where to sit or where to go, your body relaxes as you see him come closer to you, beer in hand offering it to you. 

You nod as you take it, happy for the drink, excited for the company. 

“If you wanna, I can bring the stereo here, I usually keep it in my room ‘cus Wayne finds it annoying but…” He shakes his head as he’s rumbling, eyes moving back, from the floor to you. “Whatever you find more comfortable I don’t wanna uh…” You smile back at him, relating to his rumbling. 

You find that he’s not as intimidating as he shows to the world, you see his soft side, not really wanting to really push you into anything that would make you feel slightly uncomfortable or awkward or whatever that is the contrary of safe. 

So you nod, as you lock eyes. 

“I’m sure it's heavy, we can just go there, door open…” You say, letting him know your boundary for tonight. 

He guides you to his room, an organized mess lies before you. A big hand-sprayed Corroded Coffin banner hanging from one wall, multiple posters, some you recognized from your own walls at work, some laid in your own room, a desk full of various things, from ashtrays (full and almost empty in rotation), to a mechanic’s manual lay around. 

“Kinda messy, sorry…” He says, as he catches you looking around, amazed.

“No, actually… Kinda pictured you in a room like this.” You replay, playing with the tape in between your fingers, tapping it nervously. 

Looking down at it, you realize you clearly had a favourite band. Side A being filled with different bands, while the whole of Side B is just filled exclusively with Led Zeppelin.

You're getting embarrassed that he might hate it. 

“You okay?” He asks as he notices you, frozen in the spot, looking down at the mixtape. 

“Uh, yeah… Sorry… Just realized this might be shit.” You say, apologetically, raising your shoulders up. 

He moves his head no as he smiles at you, approaching as his teeth show, hair brushing his cheeks. 

“You’re overthinking.” He says, touching your fingers as he grabs the tape, spending more time than he needed to in doing so, enjoying your touch and the warmth you leave in his skin. 

The closeness doesn’t make you nervous, or produces butterflies, it actually calms you down. You feel as if he is a safe-space, not a reason for your anxiety to run through, and as you realize this, you can’t help your lips to widen your smile, eyes locked in his touch. 

“Is this one of yours?” He asks as he flips the tape, the cover was one of the photos you took on his gig. Him. Standing in all his glory. Low cut black shirt framing his torso, tattoos poking out. His eyes looking directly at the camera, directly at you. As he smiles, guitar in his hand. 

“Yeah, thought you might like it…” You see as he nods, a pink colour creeping in his cheeks. 

“You really make me look like a Rockstar…” He whispers back, as he moves to the stereo, and you clock three various sized amps in his room, so you giggle a little at the sight of them, he turns to you, tape still in his hand. “What?” He asks with glee in his face. 

“Am I gonna go deaf with…?” You ask as you point to them, he shakes his head no as he looks at them, chuckling as he does so. 

“Ah, no… No. They’re ah, one’s for the gigs, the big one is. The middle one has something that’s broken inside but it makes this cool reverb effect so we sometimes use it when we’re messing around, y’know.” He begins to explain, excitedly as he points and walks over to each one of them, smiling brightly at you. “And this little boy is the one that I actually use for the stereo. I mean it's smaller but it sounds amazing…” He says as he slaps it with a familiarity of having done this a thousand times. Maybe when it doesn’t work that well you think. 

So you nod, as you take a sip of the beer, sitting down in his bed, comfortable sheets to your touch. 

Sinister Purpose filled the room. 

The bass line that you adored made you move your head up and down at a very surprised yet attentive Eddie. You could see how his brain was centered in the lyrics as his hand tapped along his tight, mimicking what accords were  being used. 

And you did what you could never help yourself to stop. You whispered the words, coming in and out of song, enjoying it, maybe a little too much. 

“Sinister Purpose…Knocking at your door… Come and take my hand…” You continued as it was finishing. Enjoying the final riff, relaxing into his bed, taking another sip. He walked right where you were. Sitting next to you, clinging the bottles before he sips his own. 

“Not my usual, but it's a fun one.” He says, as you smile at him, nodding to his words. 

“I know but shuush, T.Rex’s coming!” You say excitedly. Tapping your hands to the rhythm

Jeepster was now playing, and you used your beer bottle as if it were a mic, fooling around making him laugh, once he learned the chorus, he would match your words, messing around with you. Swinging both of your heads, laughter filling the room. 

He didn’t know the first part of the verse, so he would shut up, looking, or in a better match of words, adoring you as you delight him. 

“The wild winds blow… upon your frozen cheeks… The way you flip your hip… it always makes me weak!” You start, and you see him smiling, as he mumbles the next lyrics, not really following along with the rhythm, even if your ring is marking it against the glass bottle. 

“‘Cos you’re my baby… ‘cos you’re my love… Oh girl I’m just a jeepster for your love.” Laughter and giggles coming from both of you, truly enjoying the moment, teasing one another, really meaning what you were singing even if the other was obvious to it. 

As the song was drawing to a finish, he started to give you his review.

“It’s a really dovey-lovey song, isn’t it?” He said, with his eyebrows raised, locking his eyes on you, hand resting in your lap. 

“Well, yeah. But it’s catchy. You were singing it!” You contradict his words by nudging him in his chest. As you do so you realize how truly close he is. His thigh was almost touching yours, yet his hand rested in it, electricity escaping from it. Your chests were in each others direction, eyes locked, undivided attention and, why not say it, adoration, clear for one another. “Besides, I am like that…” 

Your eyes darting away from him, looking down at your beer. Nervousness of having him close, or maybe to open up, you decide to take another big mouthful of it. 

“What do you mean-” You interrupt him. 

“Oh, I think you’ll really like this one!” You say excited. 

Children of the Revolution starts slowly. 

And you see him tapping along on your thigh, as he's enamoured by the atmosphere that the bass and guitar create. His eyes locked on the amp. 

“That…” He whispers as Marc Bolan’s voice fills the room. “Is awesome.” He finishes as he looks back at you. 

“Yeah, kinda reminded me of you, y’know…” You whisper as you play with the paper tag of the bottle, sowly peeling it off. “They won’t fool you, children of the revolution…” you smile as you so slightly twist the lyrics to fit him, and he shyly smiles in return, his teeth showing. A soft giggle escaping his lips, his body relaxing more, touching yours now. 

“You…” He doesn’t find the right words for everything he would like to say, so he resigns with letting his thumb stroke your thigh in a repetitive pattern. 

It’s not only goosebumps, or warmth or electricity this time. But a sense that his hands belong in your body that fills you up. 

No words needed, you are aware that you both feel the same way. 

The Chain starts playing softly, and you see him smiling now. 

“Well, that one reminds me of you…” He says, looking at your eyes, though his flicker to your lips for just a moment. 

“They hated each other when they wrote it.” You replay, absentmindedly, whispering. 

“Well, I could never hate you…” He whispers back. His hand stopping the repetitive stroking pattern, frozen in place, fear in his eyes that you could ever think that. 

“Good…” You say, placing a lock of hair away from his face, touching it ever so slightly. “I wouldn’t-” He cuts you off. 

“I know.” He finishes, as he guides your body to his chest. A warm embrace shared between the both of you, your heart beating louder and faster in anticipation to everything you wanna say and do to him, but you are trapped under his weight. Enjoying the way he holds you, just as nervous as you are, you feel he is. A private moment, an intimate one at that. 

The tape clicks. Pulling you both away from the moment. Demanding a turn to its other side, so he breaks the hug, standing up as he readjusts his pants, your eyes following his hand and his movement. Staring at him, all of him. 

Finally, your favorite song starts filling the room, and as Dazed And Confused starts, you see him smiling. 

The suggestive bass line moves him to extend his hand to you, and you naturally accept it. 

Robert Plant truly feels like he’s whispering in both of your ears, as you begin to slow dance. 

“Dazed and confused for so long it's not true…Wanted a woman, never bargained for you” 

You feel his hands traveling to your lower back, holding you closer than ever before, smiling as he does so. Yours lost in the back of his neck, playing with his curly wilde hair. 

“Can I ask you something?” He whispers into your ear, his voice shaking as he does so. 

“Yeah.” 

“What do you do when you meet someone you like?” 

“Tryin' to love you, baby, but you go on hurtin' so…Soul of a woman was created below”

“Well, I talk, and I drink, and I make them mixtapes and free music and hope they’ll eventually like me back…” You whisper to him, moving your head away from his chest so you can look at him in his eyes, a declaration. You bite your lower lip in nervousness. “What do you do?” 

“I wanna love you baby, but you do me so bad…The worst little woman I once ever had, I've got to quit you baby”

“I uhm… I go to their workplace, hope they notice me, make them laugh and invite them to my gigs and…” He can’t bring himself to finish his words. He hadn’t been looking at your eyes, but was distracted, lost in your lips. 

So when he dipped down to finally close the distance, you gladly let him, finally kissing him. Not in a rush or in desperation. But in total adoration and care.

Truly in love with one another. 

You spent the rest of the tape kissing as you danced together, in no rush, both of you knowing this was just the beginning to a long story.

-

if you enjoyed (i I really hope you did), please reblog! i promise it makes a difference

-

<3

[prongsfish]

*blinks* headcanons *blinks*

okay. i am almost a month late to this ask hi @ethanmilo ... sorry about that... and i will be using it to give the barty hcs you asked for over a month before this but the ask expired... sorry about that again... my bad time is scary

but yes barty headcanons. these may end up leaning into bartylus territory because i am So obsessed with them right now but i have no idea what i'm going to write yet so we'll see HAHA

(jumping back here after writing this, most of these are lighthearted but some do get a bit more serious/dark, nothing out of character for what you see scrolling on maraurders tumblr but i just don't want people to be shocked by the tone shift)

he doesn't take day-to-day school life seriously and fucks around in most of the classes he doesn't skip altogether BUT his competitiveness is not to be underestimated. he's barely in class and he never pays attention but he gets away with it because he's so smart that when he started school he was already suuper advanced. he just kept working on his own and so was always way ahead of whatever he was supposed to be learning, so he's super annoying and disruptive during classes but when it comes time to it he's still at the top of all his classes. he and reg are always warring for the number one spot and they're a nightmare to be around during exams because they are SO competitive

he'd give himself those shitty stick and poke tattoos at like age fourteen, if you've seen the videos of kids on tiktok with the ugliest shoddiest tattoos you've ever seen you know what i mean... i just found this image on pinterest and this is Exactly the sort of shit he'd have. i think he'd have always been constantly drawing on his work and skin with a quill/pen and he does not fear permanence. the moment he found a way to give himself tattoos he was doing it.

the absolute biggest shit stirrer you've ever met, everything he does is always in the hopes of pissing someone off. he will lie, he will argue, he will push and shove his way into a confrontation and when someone eventually breaks his nose he just starts laughing

he knows Everyone. he has connections to everyone in whatever city he's in, he constantly "knows a guy" and every time it's the most absurd story that his friends have never heard a single word of but it's 100% true. his lore is infinite. and people expect it to be limited to just where he lives but no, he could go to a whole new country and still be being stopped every 5 minutes by some old friend who's thrilled to see him

related to the above, he is that Coolest Fucking uncle. he's awful with kids but god damn it if he doesn't have the most legendary stories to tell luna as often as she could ever want!!

he knows a shit ton of languages. he started learning them because he was bored and it eventually it just became a Thing and he's fluent in like 4 or 5 but can hold a decent conversation in upwards of 10 others too

he looks like he smells bad. he wouldn't smell bad when he was younger, still too used to certain privileges of his class, but the further he strayed from his father and family, especially into young adulthood, i think he would start to—unless regulus was in his life, in which case he'd better smell like fucking roses if he ever wanted to be seen anywhere even Near him in public

i heavily associate him with nu metal and post industrial music but i also think that when he was younger he would've been suuper into all those whiny indie rock bands that normal people call midwest emo, music nerds crucify you for calling midwest emo, and i have no clue what to call. he'd totally have his own band inspired by them too, and he totally has the voice for it—the voice that's objectively terrible but works perfectly for that style of music

he doesn't talk about how he feels like ever but those close to him have worked out ways to get him what he needs when he needs it. he refuses to ask for help but his friends know him well enough that they don't need him to ask, they can pick up his question in far fewer words, and even though it's still hard for him to even imply that he needs help it's a lot easier when he can talk around the issue rather than having to actually using his words. his friends know that it'd be better if he Did use his words but they also know that if they tried to stop letting him get away with not asking properly he'd just stop trying to ask at all

his favourite film genres are horror and action, the gorier the better. he loooooves all the saw films

he's super messy, his room is a fucking NIGHTMARE. shit EVERYWHERE. clothes strewn all around, dishes stacked in several tall piles, three different rubbish bins that are each around 70% full from the times he's been forced to "clean up" and eventually gotten bored/distracted. regulus despises it and refuses to go anywhere near his room meanwhile evan is so excited because every time he goes into barty's room he discovers a new species of mould. sometimes when he's really lucky barty will kick over a pile of clothes to find something and like eight cockroaches scurry out (evan immediately rushes to grab as many of them as possible before they disappear and then takes them home)

by the time he was a preteen he'd given up on the idea that his father would ever be proud of him, had flipped to doing everything in his power to anger him further, entirely stopped caring about the consequences because if his father would hate him no matter what he did why not make it reflect badly back on him, since he cared so much about his public image as a politician. he never intended to leave though, because he couldn't bear the thought of leaving his mother with him. that was until he pushed too far with his dad, got too sucked into the lifestyles of others who'd given up just like him, fell too deeply into the depression and the anger and the violence, until he crossed a line and his mother was looking at him like she was disappointed, too. he realised that he was trying so hard to stay for his mother but staying was making him a worse person and it wasn't worth it anymore if she could no longer see what he was doing as a sacrifice, and only as surface level "badness". he hated leaving his mother more than he hated his dad but in the end staying was only making things worse for the both of them

he uses humour and stupidity as a defence mechanism, and while he does find it fun to do ridiculous and reckless things he also does it because it gives him a role to fill. he can't stand being genuine because he's terrified of rejection, so he'd rather lean into all the superficial judgements made about him. if when someone shuffles away from him in public transport he bares his teeth at them and when someone expects him to be stupid he purposefully misunderstands a simple concept, then nobody actually knows him and nobody can hurt him in a way that matters. the person they insult isn't actually him so they can't possibly get to him

he is VERY judgemental and he and regulus can spend hours talking shit about anyone from lifelong classmates to complete strangers. it surprises everyone that he actually gets along with remus really well, but it's because remus has a more judge-y side that he hides when with anyone but regulus and, apparently, barty

he and dorcas are the gay man and lesbian best friends duo and people have probably mistaken them as a couple before, which they'd both be mortified by. "have they seen us?!?!"

okay i'm forcing myself to end it there because i have an essay draft to finish and a substantial amount of french homework to do in the next like 4-5 hours (nobody is allowed to say shit about my sleep schedule i don't want to hear it HAHAHA) and i've already been writing this for WELL over an hour so i really should stop giving myself ways to procrastinate, i hope these were enough to make up even slightly for the very long wait <//3 ah barty crouch jr, the one and only love of my life... i would be utterly terrified of you in real life but i would also be very attracted to you from a safe distance which is basically the highest form of compliment i can possibly give a person

[uglypastels]

Hello:-) please for your Spotify event can I request footloose with Eddie please? I was listening to a similar song today and thinking about Eddie being goofy in a cowboy hat at someones cowboy themed party and reader starts flirting with him by taking his hat and dancing with it

Cause the cowboy hat rule, right? If a lady is wearing a guys hat at the end of the night, it means she's going home with him? Idk I just picture Eddie drooling her cause of the boldness of it all

Sorry if you're not a fan of this, I just saw an opportunity to share my daydream

i am obsessed! and this gives me an excuse to write more "cowboy"!eddie so i am sooo here for it. took a little bit of creative liberty here but i hope you like it <3

no explicit warnings. small sexual reference. drinking.

Spotify Wrapped Blurb event > send in a request! (masterlist)

‘No. Absolutely not.’

Now, when you came up with the idea, you expected Eddie not to be very excited, but he had declined it before you could even finish explaining. 

‘Oh, c’mon, Eddie. It could be really fun!’ You sat down next to him, eyes as big and innocent as you could make them, making your best friend feel some gnawing guilt in the pit of his stomach. But he kept strong. 

‘It sounds just as fun as clawing my eyes out with a plastic fork.’ 

‘Ouch,’ you winced at the imagery, ‘no need to be dramatic. It’s only a hoedown.’ 

Eddie glared at you as if to say, ‘that’s exactly the reason to be dramatic.’ A fucking hoedown. You had thought it could be a great night out, dress up, dance, drink, what’s there not to like, but Eddie saw it a bit differently. 

‘Forget it, I’m not doing it– no,’ as serious as he wanted to be, he cracked a smile through his determined words, seeing your face. ‘Seriously. No.’ 

‘Since when have you becomes such a stick in the mud?’ You crossed your arms. 

‘Since you came here and are forcing me to get all dressed up like John Wayne or something.’ He could not keep a straight face at all.

‘I was thinking more like John Travolta- Urban Cowboy’ you immediately saw the lack of amusement on Eddie’s face, ‘ok, ok, I get it. Sorry. Look, you wouldn’t even have to dress up. We could just go and hang out– maybe dance a little…’ you added in the last part softly, but he heard you. 

‘I don’t dance,’ Eddie was quick to remind you. And you knew that. Eddie Munson was not a dancer. Not because he couldn’t, the guy had great musicality to him, you were sure he could do some steps, but he simply refused. 

‘Fine, then you can sulk in the corner?’ 

‘I hate you,’ was his response, to which you replied with a big and tight hug. 

‘I love you too, Munchie.’ 

— 

A week went by, and each day passed with you being sure to see Eddie walk up to you or call you up at home and wiggle his way out of the arrangement. Even on Friday, the night before the party, you expected him to make some excuse after Hellfire. Then on Saturday morning, you were sure to wake up to him telling you he had to cancel last minute. 

But none of that happened. Instead, he arrived at your door 5 minutes early, giving you the shock of your life when you saw him standing on the porch. Here’s what the notorious metal freak Eddie Munson looked like that night, more or less: 

His hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail. He was wearing a dark red flannel, which you had almost not recognised given that, instead it being worn in its usual state of being thrown over a black band t-shirt, he had it buttoned up. He had also exchanged his ripped jeans for some bootcut denim to fit… yes, the black leather cowboy boots. All of that was pulled together by the worn-out cowboy hat on top of his hat. And, of course, his classic handcuff belt buckle, because, at the end of the day, this was still your Eddie. 

Before you could ask him where he got the boots and hat from, Eddie explained: ‘Wayne let me borrow them.’ 

‘You look great,’ you said genuinely. 

‘You don’t look too bad yourself,’ he smirked, and you looked down at your cherry-red boots and skirt. Eddie then added, ‘alright, let’s get this over with.’ 

‘Glad to see someone’s excited,’ you rolled your eyes. ‘Seriously, try to tone the excitement down a notch, huh?’ did a tiny part of you break at seeing just how much he hated it? Yeah, but did that break also heal at the thought that, despite him not enjoying it himself, he was still here for you? Absolutely. So, you grabbed him by the hand, squeezed it, and walked towards the car. 

— 

‘Sorry for being a dick,’ Eddie said, to your surprise, when he stopped the car in the parking lot, ‘I still want you to have a good time, and don’t want to ruin that, sorry.’ 

‘It’s alright,’ you said, straightening out the material of your skirt. ‘I appreciate that you went through the trouble of getting dressed up. It means a lot. And you do, it.’ 

Eddie scoffed, never being great at taking compliments from you. He then got out of the van and ran across to your side to open the door for you. The little action but the biggest smile on your face, and one you couldn’t quite explain. 

You walked together to the community centre that had been redecorated to resemble an old barn for the party theme, including, somehow, the smell of hay. 

When you got inside, you saw some people dancing already, attempting a line dance and failing miserably. Not that that ruined anyone’s fun. 

‘It’s official,’ you heard Eddie mumble under his breath, ‘this is my personal hell.’ He chuckled, and you nudged him in the ribs as a warning. 

‘C’mon, Grumpy, let’s get something to drink.’ and so you pulled him, right through the dancefloor, to the makeshift bar. Eddie got both of you a beer, and he leaned against the wall as he drank. He was settled, both physically and in mind. He wasn’t going anywhere, and for sure not to dance. 

Naturally, as always, hanging out with Eddie was great, but you were a bit disappointed. Because, of course, there was a reason why you dragged him out there. A part of you had thought, that maybe once here, he would give in and share a dance with you. And maybe it was the too many fairytales you read as a kid; you thought that during or after that dance, something between you would click. Maybe he would realise something. Something you had felt for a long time about him… 

Someone called out your name. 

Your friend Louise popped up in front of you, waving frantically. You waved back to her, then glanced over to Eddie,  noticing he had taken off his hat. Well, if he wasn’t going to wear it… and so, you quickly snatched it away from him. He just smiled and sipped his beer. 

‘I’ll just go say hi to Louise,’ you explained. 

You had thought you had overdone it with your outfit, but it was barely anything to compare to what Louise was wearing. A large and puffy dress, matching the size of her teased and hairsprayed blonde hair. 

‘So glad you came!’ you grabbed you by the hand, involuntarily making you jump along with her enthusiastically. Yeah, it might have been her idea for all of you to attend this event. ‘And I see your cowboy showed up too,’ she looked over your shoulder at Eddie.

‘He’s not too happy,’ you frowned, ‘where’s Jack?’ and then asked after Louise’s boyfriend. 

‘Of he had to get back to the car, forgot his glasses.’ She rolled her eyes at her man’s forgetfulness. ‘Should be back in a jiffy. But tell me– did anything happen yet between you and–’

‘No, and I don’t think anything will. Honestly, I was silly to think that he might feel the same way.’

‘Oh, honey,’ Louise pouted at your defeat. 

‘It’s fine, I swear. Probably for the better, too. We’re good as it is.’ 

Something in Louise’s expression seemed to indicate she wasn’t too convinced, but then her smile quickly came back at the sight of another familiar face.

‘Marie!’ she shouted out, recognising one of her friends. ‘I told you about Marie, right? Honestly did not expect her to come– Hi!’ she wrapped her arms around the girl, who seemed slightly shell-shocked at the abrupt embrace. Once Louise released her, Marie shyly waved hello to you, an action you reciprocated. 

The three of you talked a bit, joking around and checking out the people in the room. You constantly checked up on Eddie, who seemed rather content in his little corner. He always felt better away from the crowds. 

Everything seemed fine for a while. You had made peace with the fact that the boy you had crushed on for the past who knows how many years had possibly no chance of liking you back, and you were having fun with your friends. Jack had finally returned (con glasses), and it all seemed just fine. 

And then something happened. The whole interaction lasted perhaps less than a minute. A guy walked over to your little group. Introduced himself as Milo to Marie. Not to you, not really. Besides a polite smile, he had barely acknowledged you. And just like that, he had whisked Marie off to the dancefloor. A moment later, another guy walked up to chat up Louise, as if her boyfriend wasn’t right next to her! Yet you, single and most definitely ready to mingle, were considered invisible. 

You tried to ignore it, pretend it didn’t affect you, but after the fourth person came to talk to Louise in the span of 10 minutes, you had had enough, and it showed all over your face. Not that you would admit it.

‘Are you alright, honey?’ 

‘Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.’ you bit at the inside of your cheek. Louise, having been your friend ever since both of you could remember, immediately knew that your words were not true. 

‘What is it?’ 

‘I just didn’t realise all men were such jerks– not you, of course.’ you quickly turned to Jack, who smiled understandingly, but awkwardly. You quickly glanced back to Eddie, just to see he had found some of his own friends. They were all teasing each other’s costumes, so it seemed. 

‘Oh,’ your friend got it, and her reaction pulled you back to where you were standing. ‘Don’t take it personally. They just all think you’re taken.’ 

‘Bullshit, you are literally here with your boyfriend and everyone’s been chatting you up.’ 

‘It’s the hat.’ Jack said, rather matter-of-factly

‘I don’t understand.’ 

‘When a girl were’s a guy’s hat, it’s kind of like a code that she’s taken.’

‘Claimed, so to speak, a sign to all the other fellas to back off,’ Louise said. 

‘Oh.’ you reached up to touch the rim of your hat, but didn’t take it off. 

‘I honestly thought you knew,’ your friend smiled. 

‘No… sorry, can you guys give me a minute–’ and before they could respond, you made your way back to Eddie. He immediately smiled at your side. 

‘Hey, having a good time?’ he asked. 

‘Uh, yeah, yeah. Look, can we talk?’ You reached for his hand. 

‘Sure,’ he turned to his friends, excusing himself. The two of you walked a few feet away. 

‘You let me take your hat.’ You didn’t say it like a sentence, but it didn’t feel like a statement, either. To be honest, you weren’t sure where you were going with this conversation, and clearly, neither did Eddie. 

‘Yeah, well, you took it, didn’t feel like it was worth to argue. Besides–’ he tipped the rim up with his knuckle, ‘you look good wearing it.’

The nice words immediately rushed to your cheeks, and you found yourself unable to keep eye contact with Eddie for a moment. Once you regained the ability, however, you continued your non-inquisitive interrogation.

‘You know what it means, though? When a girl wears a guy’s hat.’ 

‘I’m not a complete novice to cowboy etiquette.’ He chuckled.

‘So you just knowingly let me go out there and be ignored by every guy in the room.’ you didn’t know why that idea made you so angry since you were literally standing in front of the one man whose the attention you wanted. 

‘Is this why you brought me here?’ he crossed his arms, an amused smirk on his lips, ‘to make me jealous?’ 

‘No, of course, not,’ you rolled your eyes before his words properly processed through your mind. ‘Wait– why would you be jealous?’ 

‘It’s not so nice to see guys constantly chat up the girl you like, is it?’ He pouted, and it only seemed to emphasise the sweet glimmer of his big brown eyes. You were dumbstruck for words, not sure what to say or do. 

While you kept fighting your mind to say something coherent, Eddie closed in on you. His hand found your waist, and he slowly leaned in. Your body worked automatically in-sync, closing that final gap between your lips. It was soft, sweet, and simultaneously mind-blowing. You felt like you were spinning and turning upside down; the only thing helping you from floating away was his gentle hold on you. 

Your, well, Eddie’s, hat got tipped to the side, so he straightened it out for you, smiling as he looked at it. Almost as if he was reminded of some kind of inside joke.

‘What’s up?’ you poked his shoulder. 

‘Well, you know the saying, right?’

‘What saying?’ You blinked slowly, and so did Eddie at hearing you were unaware of what he meant. 

‘The hat rule?’ 

‘Yeah, I know the hat rule. It’s a guy’s claim over the girl that wears his hat?’ 

‘Not exactly,’ he brushed some hair out of your face before bringing you back closer to him, chest to chest. ‘The saying goes something like this,’ he kissed the corner of your lips, ‘don’t steal a cowboy’s hat unless you’re prepared to ride him.’ And he continued his kisses down your neck.

‘Oh.’ Was all you could say, the shock being amplified by the feeling of Eddie’s lips on your skin, ultimately making you forget that you were still standing in a dance hall full of people. 

‘Yeah, oh,’ Eddie chuckled. ‘So, how about it?’

‘Is this just an excuse for you to get out of here and not dance?’ 

‘Never,’ Eddie gasped, clutching at his heart. ‘But we don’t want to break the rules, do we?’ 

All you could do was laugh at his antics. ‘You owe me a dance, cowboy.’ And so, you let him lead the way back to his van. 

the end.

thank you so much for reading!! please let me know what you thought and don't be shy to comment and reblog <3 or leave an anonymous review behind here :)

eddie taglist:

@spiderrrling @theglitterymess @dorianelizabeth @theletterhart @niyahwhoreworld @chatnoirfangirl1624 @fopdoodle1624 @pastel-abyss-x @ghoulsgraveyard @prettytoxix @lovesickollie @xbreezymeadowsx @ssanjuniperoo @nxrdamp @meaganjm @yourmommilf @mischiefmanagers @roseyykris @capybergara @brother-lauren @h0sh1verse @ghostlyreads @croweaterr @ladyapplejackdnd @bilesxbilinskixlahey @kbakery @sleeping-willlow @lizzylynch1 @liltimmyst @hellfire-state-of-mind @escape-in-time-blog @miscelaa @sweetpeapod @the-a-word-2214 @eddiemunsonbby @wh0re4munson @eddiesdingus @zoeyquinn94 @munsonmunchies @overthewhiteclouds @wroteclassicaly @groupies-do-it-better @stitchity @celestialsxturn @hoe4eddiemunson @inanausomewhere @witchyrivers @scoops-harrington @fluffyharrington

[digiblueslush]

Hello everybody!

My names Rory, and I’m back on tumblr for the bajillionth time and rebranding for the bajillionth time (seriously why did I ever leave in the first place, I love yall)

Anyways… here’s my whole spiel about who I am, what I do, etc.

^^^ where I post from lolz. Anyways, here are the basic stats

Name/what y’all can call me - Rory, Cyber Rory, idk anything else just not any of my old names if you know them

Age - 19

God what else do you put in these OH OMG

Pronouns - irl they/them, online they/it (and ask about neos if interested)

Sexuality/gender identity - i identify as bisexual, abrosexual, and gender-fluid (please do not use he/him or she/her even if I say I feel more masculine/feminine, they/them is always preferred)

What’s my deal - I’m an artist! Previously I never really posted my own stuff, but now I want to start doing that. Obviously I’ll still repost things I like, but it’s not gonna be my whole page lolz. I started taking my art more seriously since I switched my major from marine bio to a double major in art and psych (physics and chem are too hard) I’m currently not in school (I had to withdraw during the middle of my first semester due to mental health issues, but I’m going back this fall! So excited!!)

What kind of art? - glad you asked. Im really into Frutiger aero and cybercore at the moment, so that’s what I usually base my art around, but I really don’t have one set style/“aesthetic” in my art. I go in between Frutiger aero, cybercore, y2k, scene, mizuiro, and basically anything else that I can sneak the color blue in

Other fun things about me

Music I’m into - I don’t mean to be one of those “oh I’m into everything” kind of people, as it’s not fully true, but it’s true like 90% of the time. My favorite genres right now are metal core, emo, whatever Ayesha erotica, millionaires, and slayyyter are, and ambient instrumentals (more specifically cybercore ambience and the little big planet soundtrack) I will not listen to most country, and pop music is very hit or miss, but other than that I usually like everything else. Specific bands I’m into include bad omens, mcr, motionless in white, spiritbox, and pierce the veil

Shows/Animes I’m into - hot take but I really don’t like to watch tv *gasp* I know I know, but it’s so hard for me to start new shows and keep watching them, especially if episodes are longer than 20-30 mins. Even with anime I have a hard time watching shows that I wasn’t into over a year ago. I’m really into JJK, Haikyuu, Yuri on Ice (rip), the aquatope on white sands, and tbhk

Other things I’m into - just gonna dump them all here lolz. Blues clues, Winnie the Pooh, stuffed animals (NOT squishmallows, hot take sorry) deltarune/undertale, sally face, Fran bow, project sekai (forgot to put vocaloid in music lolz), and the ds and Wii era Nintendo

ALMOST DONE

I’ll be setting up either a card or a link tree hopefully soon, but I’m also on TikTok (regretfully) and instagram, both are @/cyber.rory13 if y’all are interested. Eventually I hope to open up commissions and/or a sticker and print shop, but for now I’m waiting til I have more traction on my socials as shops cost money, and I’ve been unemployed since October (starting work in may tho!) so I don’t want to make that investment quite yet. Commissions however, I’m open to the idea of them, so if you are interested feel free to message me and we can talk about details there (they will have to be digital or traditional transferred to digital). And finally, the moment like one of y’all has been waiting for, some of my actual art!

Digital

Traditional

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy, my page is a safe place and feel free to reblog really engage anyway if you’d like to be mutuals! Slay queen!!

[flowercrowngods]

Oooooh how about 27 for the Spotify drabble thingo?? 💖💖

Acting Normal | steddie, slight canon divergence

Steve is leaning against his Beemer in the parking lot, smoking one last cigarette before he can no longer avoid the inevitability of first period on a Monday morning. That shit never gets easier.

He looks up at the sky, watching as the sun breaks through the clouds, painting everything in golden and orange light. Last night's rain long beaten, though the humidity's still in the air, refreshing and smelling like childhood, somehow.

It's a beautiful day. Shame to waste it in school.

He takes another drag from his cig before dropping it and stubbing it out on the concrete. There are steps approaching and the smile is on Steve's face before he can fight it. He doesn't want to fight it, actually. Doesn't even try.

"Hey Stevie," Eddie Munson says, his forearms pressed to the hood of his car, almost leaning into Steve's space. Steve leans back as he blows out the last of the smoke, eyes still on the sky.

"Morning Eds."

They've become friends, somehow. It's odd, but it works. It works wonderfully. The same way a golden sky can make a Monday morning bearable, the same way memories of rain hanging in the air can smell like childhood. Some things just work. This thing between him and Eddie is one of those.

"I have a proposal," Eddie declares, and Steve huffs.

"Can I say no?"

"Well, you could, Steve-o, but then you'd be missing out and I'd be telling you all about it for the rest of my life, and this day would go into the history books as The Day Steve Missed Out On All The Fun. And do you seriously want to give all those historians another reason to question life in the late 20th century, Stevie? Do you?"

Steve leans further back onto the hood of his car, his forearms resting beside Eddie's now and they're close, so close, he feels dizzy with it for a moment. He bumps their shoulders together and huffs.

"You're ridiculous, Eddie."

"Astute observation, my liege," Eddie says and Steve can hear the grin on his face. It's one of the reason this thing works. Steve can hear Eddie's smiles and Eddie can hear Steve's frowns, and they listen.

Maybe that is why he decides to indulge. "So what are you proposing, good sir?"

"Skip school with me. It's a beautiful day, right? Shame to waste it in school."

Steve smiles, because yes, yes it is. He smiles and he doesn't say no, only leans there, beside Eddie, still watching the sun and her clouds, feeling a certain connection to them in this moment. Because Eddie is the sun sometimes, even though he'll disagree. And Steve is the air that smells like rain sometimes.

"What do you wanna do? Or, what would we do?" he asks, his voice quiet, more a musing than anything else, but Eddie is smiling again. Steve can hear it in the way he breathes and leans his head against Steve's shoulder for a second, leaving sparks in his wake.

"See what life is like outside of school on Monday morning," Eddie says, painting a picture in Steve's mind. "Get ice cream, go to the record store and listen to music, make music, watch people doing their jobs and feel both jealous and glad that we can't be in their shoes yet. Smoke." His voice shifts then, the smile changing. "Dream, Stevie. Dream about life and stop acting normal. That's what we'd be doing."

His heart is doing the skippy thing again. The thing it always does when Eddie tells him to dream in that voice, like he knows, like he can hear that, too.

He hopes that this time, dreaming can mean that Eddie will lean in and kiss him again. Hopes that Eddie will talk about his band again, about how he's gonna be a rockstar, about how he'll annoy Steve with extra shitty lyrics for the rest of their lives.

"Okay," he breathes, and turns his face to look at Eddie for the first time this morning. "Let's go then."

actually, this is a really fucking Eddie song, lyric-wise. he would make an exception from all the metal for this song, i'm sure. I am seriously surprised this song is only number 27. gah. I love it. thank you for the prompt!! also go give the blackstarkids some love, they deserve more recognition! 🫶

[blood-official]

Some notes on my Lord Protector (who is literally just me but cool. Gonna use third person to refer to them though just to make it easy)

They were not raised in Macabria. After Project Twilight Sun was a success, Dracula had them sent to the "real world" in order to protect them from the monsters under the kingdom until they were old enough to face them. This was to the dismay of Victor, who was hoping to raise them as his own.

Side note about Macabria itself, I see it less as a real tangible country on the map, and more as a pocket dimension that Dracula discovered and founded as a safe haven for supernatural beings. Most of the time the only way to find it is to stumble across it, otherwise you have to be extremely gifted in magic to find it yourself. The "highway to the outside world" under construction is less of an actual highway and more of a simpler means of traveling to Macabria that will be open to anyone.

They were fairly normal before being brought to Macabria. No one would have been able to clock them as anything other than a regular human and they were raised by a normal family. When Dracula decided to peace out, Carmilla went to get them to bring them to Macabria.

Their vampiric half was "activated" when they got there. It was not a pleasant process.

They are not involved with Alexis (because in this version they didn't grow up together) but they are still friends.

They are getting the hang of being Lord Protector slowly but surely. They take their lessions from Carmilla very seriously and want to be the best ruler than can be for their people.

They still like to sneak off from now and then, wandering the streets, checking out the local music scene, and spending most weekends at their lodge in the mountains. They weren't raised for this life and it weighs heavy from time to time.

Some stuff about Rikke and Rollo specifically!

They both swear to god it was never supposed to happen

It all started one of the first nights Rikke went out to get away from the castle. They wanted something familiar so they hit up a local metal show

The band was actually really good, and damn their drummer is really hot. Local shows tend to be pretty intimate but they could swear he kept staring

After the show he introduced himself and invited them to the after party and they ended up slipping away together

The next day Carmilla tells them she's hired a mercenary to help bolster the wardens' ranks. She takes them to meet him and uh oh! It's the guy they fucked last night!

He is equally shocked his one night stand ended up being the Lord Protector and his new boss

Away from the others they have a chat and agree it was a one time thing and they should just keep it to themselves

Except they can't seem to keep away from each other and their little rendezvous in the night continue happening

Obviously it all has to happen on the dl, it would look really bad if the public or even the other wardens found out the LP was sleeping with a subordinate

Slowly but surely they each start developing deeper feelings until yay mutual love confessions!

Eventually only being able to see each other in secret starts to take a toll

Until Rikke has the brilliant idea of, hey if we got married, what would they even do about it?

So they go off and elope in the mountains with their only closest friends (obviously Ragnor and Runa knew about it the whole time)

And Rollo gets bumped up in the ranks from warden to Consort Protector (or Protector Consort. I'm still working on the name for the title I haven't decided which I like better)

:D

Finally, some visuals of my LP courtesy of Hero Forge!

An outfit for doing Lord Protector-y things out in the wild and a fancy outfit for doing Lord Protector-y things at the castle!

[deltaswap2442]

Swapfell Take

I've taken a bit of a break for Christmas and New Year's and I got sick and got a new phone so I had to set everything up and brrrrrrr it's been a lot

But here's my swapfell Take the color scheme is purple and the theme is villain stereotypes

Chara: Design based on the classic Underfell just to contrast the rest of the cast. Likes heavy metal music. Rude but doesnt like picking fights. Equipped with tough jacket and pocket knife. Shaved their one eyebrow. Each save file has them wear a different rock band shirt. Bullies those weaker than them. Sees the worst in people

Temmie: Beaten and scuffed up. Missing an eye. Has spikier more jagged hair. Still cocky and thinks they're smarter than everyone and because of this they pick fights with people. They aren't as strong as normal swap temmie so they usually lose said fights hence their tattered appearance. Finds the human to be the only one down here with intelligence on their level which is why they tag along. They are the one to check enemies and usually offer weaknesses and a snide comment. They travel in your backpack cutely. Their tendency to make rude remarks usually gets you both in trouble.

Asgore: Locked himself in the Ruins after the death of his children. Refuses to move on. Doesn't trust Temmie. One of the kindest folk you'll meet. Refuses to make tea because it brings back bad memories. Cold and standoffish. Doesn't guide you through the Ruins just observes you. Afraid to get attached to anyone again because he fears losing them so he interacts with you as little as possible.

Papyrus: Based on the joke of swap Papyrus smoking weed....Swapfell Papyrus always has a joint. Red tired eyes. Can't get too high due to being a skeleton. Has a gold tooth and purple jacket. Similar to most versions of swapfell Papyrus. Hardest monster to befriend as he prefers to stay neutral with you the whole time. Likes pranks at others' expense. Mean spirited. Picks on his brother like siblings do. If you kill his brother he won't hesitate to kill you on the spot.

Sans: Instead of dressing like Batman his clothes are ripped up and he wears a Joker like insignia (a creepy smile). Calls himself Toothy Grin. He's less of the psychotic serial killer Joker and more of the cartoonist corny 60s Joker. Has convoluted schemes that always fail. Wants to impress the royal guard. Wears contacts that make his eyes look crazy and swirly. Gives Papyrus a jester hat and calls him his partner in crime. Likes to say Mwah heh heh heh heh.

Alphys: She's even ruder and meaner now. She enjoys smashing her toes faces into the pavement. The Captain of the Royal Guard and fights anyone who dares oppose the guard. Looking for someone to match her strength even the queen began to struggle in their training and all Alphys wants is a worthy opponent which is why she's become increasingly bored with her position and when you first meet her she's not even in her armor. Acts kinda aloof as she never met an opponent who she couldn't strike down. She doesn't take your first few encounters seriously but eventually she unleashed her full power. She's ecstatic when you beat her as she sees you as a new sparring opponent and is excited to meet someone able to match her intensity. Scarred and beaten up from fighting all these years. She refuses to heal her injuries as she thinks they're badges to wear with pride. Instead of a helmet she wears a triceratops skull that was her mother's. It's missing a horn. She also has a nose horn.

Undyne: Think Yzma from Emperor's New Groove. She's a mad scientist with the big coat that covers up the face like that guy from Invader Zim. She has a jacked up underbite with many different teeth growing everywhere like a screwed up shark and because she has multiple rows of teeth she self installed 6 pairs of braces which causes her to get electrocuted when she tries to pull a Frankenstein with Napstabot. She has big goofy glasses that obscure her beady white eyes. She experiments with combining cyborgs and determination to make weird monsters she sends after you in Hotland where she acts as the main antagonist and Napstabot is more of a secondary antagonist. She sends you traps and bad guys and even calls your phone to monologue. She desperately wants validation from the queen and is overjoyed when Alphys compliments her strange creations. Her and Alphys are already dating when you arrive and get engaged. Undyne likes to ride on Alphys shoulders even though it doesn't make her much taller than normal.

Napstabot: His radio form doesn't change much but his ex form gets a dapper suit. Just like normal Napstabot he's a radio host except now he does horror radio shows. He thinks he's really spooky and uses green goblin pumpkin bombs which tend to bounce off something and hit him as a running gag. He's the secondary antagonist of Hotland and acts more like an announcer and narrator to Undyne's antics. He has an Orson Welles style voice but his real voice is squeaky and cute. Also in ex form he ejects from his legs and has a purple ghostly tail of ectoplasm.

Toriel: Disney villain vibes. When you first meet her shes shrouded in shadows so you can only see her glowing purple eyes. She has menacing purple armor and a tall magic staff. No remorse for killing humans. Sealed away from her kingdom after her son started a small rebellion. Has little to no feeling. Keeps the coffins open....as trophies. The final challenge you face.

[hellcheer-heaven]

Slippery When Wet

Chrissy and Eddie are all set to go see Bon Jovi in Indianapolis. She’s beyond excited to see one of her favorite bands. Eddie is happy that he’s going to a concert with her, but why did it have to Bon Jovi? Out of all the bands that are touring right now, why them?

The trip to Indianapolis would be another hour or so, and Chrissy was having the time of her life belting it to Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On a Prayer. When the band had listed the cities that they would be touring months ago on MTV, she practically begged Eddie to get tickets. Her wish was his command and he made sure to wait at the ticket booth at Starcourt. He wasn’t at all surprised by the long line, this was just customary when it came to the experience of going to concerts. Whether if he was going on his own or with his friends, going to see a group of talented musicians was one of the few things in his young life that made things feel a little easier. From Alice Cooper to Ozzy to Metallica and hopefully more in the near future. Still as much as he could appreciate rock and metal, Bon Jovi was the last band that he ever wanted to see.

Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, and Def Leppard were the bane of his existence. Oh hell, even Mötley Crüe’s music sounded so dumb to him. He tried to give each of these bands and others a chance, but if their discography didn’t click, that was it. As soon as one of those bands played on the radio, his lightening fast reflexes turned to a different station and it was nice to not have to hear them. Of course that all changed once he learned that Chrissy adored Bon Jovi, especially if she ever saw one of their music videos or listened to Jon answering questions during an interview.

Chrissy flipped her locks and sang into her imaginary microphone. “Whoa, we’re half way there! Whoa oh, livin’ on a prayer! Take my hand- Hey! I was listening to that!”

“I know, and we’ll hear it at the concert pretty soon,” Eddie retorted as he ejected the cassette tape.

She pouted, “Eddie come on I want to finish it.”

He shook his head, “Nope, I want to take a break from Jon and listen to Ozzy.”

She crossed her arms, blue eyes glaring at him, “That’s not fair! We listen to your stuff all the time and I don’t complain about it.”

His hand was prepared to put in the tape, but Chrissy was quick to snatch it back. “Eddie I want to finish my song first.”

He breathed slowly through his nostrils, “No way, we’re gonna hear every one of his songs tonight. Besides you’ve been playing his music nonstop this whole week.”

“So?”

Eddie’s brow rose, “Chrissy, look, you gotta understand something about rock and metal music.”

She rolled her eyes, exasperated at his tone, “Oh no Eddie, not another speech. Please not tonight-”

“No, I’m totally serious this time. Bon Jovi isn’t metal, they’re not rock. They’re just a bunch of pretty boys posing as rockstars. Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Heart, Jimi Hendrix, and The Who; they’re actual rockstars. Hell, Bruce Springsteen is a rockstar!”

She scoffed before speaking up, “Eddie did you take something before we left?”

“No Chrissy, I didn’t take anything. It’s just… I mean…”

She leaned over, “Yeah? Go on.”

How on earth was he going to put this in words? Chrissy’s cold glare was like an ice pick to his chest. He gently gnawed the inside of his cheek. Well Munson, you got yourself into this mess, you’re gonna have to get yourself out.

“Well? I’m waiting Edward.”

Ooh, referring to him by his birth name. She would only ever call him that when she was very much in love or when she was annoyed with him. The former was certainly not the case. His stomach felt as if it were doing back flips while his heart pounded against his rib cage. He felt so stupid! There was no way she would take him seriously after this.

He sighed, “I just… don’t like him, okay?”

“You’ve already made it clear that you don’t like their music. What else is new?”

He tapped his finger tips on the steering wheel, “No baby, I mean… I don’t like Jon.”

She listened and considered his answer, the gears in her mind turning until something had clicked. Her eyes widened as a little smirk pulled at her pink lips, “Are you jealous?”

His cheek felt so hot, his voice going up just a bit “No! No, no, no, no! Absolutely not!”

She snickered, “Oh my god, you’re jealous Eddie. You’re actually jealous.”

He tried to sound mad, but he couldn’t get through as she giggled. “I am not jealous of that stupid pretty boy! You’re crazy! Seriously it’s not funny.”

Her giggles turned into snorts, trying her best to cool the engines of her laughter, “I mean, it kinda of is. Just a little.”

He rolled his eyes, slowly letting out a long drawn out sigh through his nose again, as he gripped the steering wheel. “Whatever, just put your music back in. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

He handed back Slippery When Wet and she held it in her hands. Her eyes went from the plastic tape to his face. He seemed defeated, his eyes focusing on the road ahead. They stopped at another red light, the silence was deafening, not even the outside noise of cars passing by on the other side of the road could be heard. Chrissy reached out and brushed back a curly lock behind his ear.

“Eddie, I love you baby.”

He believed her, she would never lie about admitting how she felt about him. And she was right, he was jealous and he felt so idiotic for feeling like this. Who was he to tell Chrissy what she could and couldn’t listen to?

“I know.” He looked at her loving smile, “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

She bent forward and pecked his cheek, “I’m sorry for yelling too. And maybe I could take it easy with Bon Jovi for a bit.”

He smiled back at her, “No sweetheart, you play whatever you want to.”

She tugged at her blouse, erasing the wrinkles from the material with her newly painted black nails. He fished through his locks, digits lightly scratching at his scalp. He wanted to say something else, but the words wouldn’t come to him. Chrissy thought for a moment and decided to break the silence.

She placed a supportive hand on his thigh, “You know Eddie, if the world ended tomorrow and I had to choose between him and you: I would spend my last day with you.”

He almost didn’t believe that to be the case, still he was curious, “You would?”

“Absolutely. Pretty boy rockstars like him are a dime a dozen. I want you, just you. Only you.”

His heart felt as if it was going to burst, his eyes starting to get a little watery. Eddie wiped away the tears before the light changed. And so they continued to follow the band of vehicles on the highway, passing by the next series of exits until they found the one that they needed.

The luminous spot lights hit the skies in a heavenly glow, the traffic was becoming denser the closer they got. Thank god they left when they did, otherwise they would have missed the show. Getting a parking spot was a bit hellish to find in the giant city parking structure, but they were lucky to find one. As they made their way to the stadium, Eddie had noticed that there were a number of young women in groups ranging from two to five to ten, possibly even more if they were waiting for the rest of their party. A fair amount of guys were here as well, but he wondered if they were in the same boat as him; still it was possible that maybe they were fans as well. He was so used to seeing guys at concerts that forgot that women enjoy attending as well.

Chrissy was all starry eyed and filled with glee, clinging tightly to Eddie’s arm. “Oh my god! I can’t believe it! We’re actually going to see them!”

He tried to sound enthusiastic, he didn’t want to ruin this night for her, “Yeah, this is gonna be fun.” A bold faced lie, but still there were one or two songs that he liked. Yet he couldn’t let Chrissy know about that, at least not yet.

“Eddie, I can’t thank you enough. My first real concert, and I get to spend it with you.”

He stopped walking, “You’ve never been to a concert?”

The secret was out, Chrissy gulped, her cheeks glowing, “Well, I mean… my folks would take me to those um, religious concerts that preached about jesus.” She rubbed the back of her neck, “I wasn’t allowed to go to actual concerts Eddie. My parents, well my mom, told me that girls who go to concerts are bad. And they’ll be corrupted by the ‘devil’s music’ or something stupid like that.”

Eddie couldn’t help himself when he busted out laughing, “Shit, can our town by anymore like Footloose?”

“No, god I hope not,” she snuggled into his chest as she came in for a hug. “Do you think I’m a poser Eddie?”

Eddie pecked her forehead, “No Chrissy. Tonight’s gonna be a great night. And you what? I’m glad you told me that this your first concert.” He held her close, brushing through her long strands of strawberry blonde hair. “I just want you to be happy and enjoy yourself.”

“Thank you Eddie.”

He took her hand, “Come on, let’s get you a t-shirt!”

“Right now?”

Right, she doesn’t know the basics of concert expectations and etiquette, “Absolutely, if we wait until after the show, then we’ll never get one. Let’s get you a poster too!”

The lines went along, everyone showed their tickets and made themselves comfortable within the impending building. As soon as they made it past security, Eddie hurried to get her to one of the merchandise booths. She picked out a white shirt with a photo of Jon taken from the shoulders up. His handsome smile and piercing blue eyes captivated her, hair beautifully quaffed with about half to a full can of hairspray, and he was adorned with a black button up. Two buttons were left open, two necklaces rested upon his hairy chest. He stood before a hazy purple and magenta background, with the band’s name in bright red letters above his hair. She picked out a poster of the band looking at the viewer, all of them gorgeously posed wearing the most bright and colorful clothing that most bands like them had worn nowadays. Jon being the front man presented the goods, his shirt unbuttoned and his face, like the rest of the members, made him look so enticing.

Chrissy hugged and kissed Eddie to no end, the merchant having to let them know that it was time for them to head to the next available register. With the time that they had left, they were able to find the bathroom and grab something to eat. Eddie offered Chrissy sips of his beer as they looked for their seats. To her surprise, Eddie was able to get them pretty close to the stage. The only thing standing between the audience and the stage was the protective barrier and the security guards.

He draped his arm around her, “What do you think? Pretty rad huh?”

Her eyes examined the small amount of feet between the two of them and the platform. Her cheeks began to glow a shade of light pink, her heart beating a little quicker. Her very first concert with the love of her life, and she was that close. She was going to remember this night forever.

“Thank you so much Eddie.”

He wrapped her up, “Anything for you baby.”

The concert was truly an incredible display of lights and music. Each member contributing their part to make it as spectacular as ever. For every city that they visited, each performance was going to leave the audience in awe. Chrissy’s eyes, like everyone around and behind her, focused on the group giving it their all. The booming vibrations travelled from the soles of her shoes to the top of her head, making her feel as if she were on a never ending rollercoaster of sound. She didn’t realize or notice just how loudly she screamed when Bon Jovi stepped out in all their glory. Everyone was beyond ecstatic to see the boys from New Jersey take on Indianapolis. Eddie may not have been a fan, but seeing Chrissy so happy made his heart flutter. He couldn’t hide his smile and his joy when he watched the way she sang and danced.

The songs had changed from bombastic and lively to slow and romantic. Eddie and Chrissy held one another during the band’s gentler tunes, pressing her cheek into his shirt and smiling as Jon’s vocals made beautiful music with the microphone. Eddie softly cradled the back of her head, pressing his lips to her forehead. Her tears of happiness cascaded down her face, closing her eyes as she hummed at the feeling of Eddie’s lips on her skin and Jon’s voice in her ears. Jon had then addressed the audience, talking about how great it was to be back in Indianapolis, how the tour has been, and how beautiful the ladies were; creating the loudest collective of ear piercing screams that Eddie has ever heard.

Jon flashed his boyish grin, “I bet every one here is having a pretty good time right now.” His eyes went down, blue ocean met blue skies, two pairs of smiles meeting in the middle. “You, yeah you Red, I’ve been keeping my eyes on you babe.”

Eddie’s hands protectively tightened around Chrissy, yet she couldn’t help but stare in awe. Slowly fluttering her lashes and he did the same. Eddie’s lips tightened, a part of him wanted to toss his beer at the singer, but he didn’t want to spoil this moment for her.

Jon stepped closer to the edge, whispering to one of the body guards before looking back at her, “How about you come on up here? You wanna do that?”

Chrissy was already at the barrier before the security guard offered to help her through. Eddie felt his heart sink, this can’t be happening! Chrissy bit her bottom lip as the audience cheered for her, the guard escorting her backstage and over to Jon.

He wrapped his arm around her, “What’s your name honey?”

“Chrissy!” She answered enthusiastically, vibrating with glee.

Jon chuckled, “Chrissy, what a pretty name. You havin’ fun?”

She nodded quickly, she honestly couldn’t believe that she was actually standing beside him. My god he’s so handsome! She felt so lost in those hypnotic eyes of his. A pleasant shiver crawling up her spine as his thumb caressed her shoulder.

She leaned into the mic, “This is my first concert ever! And I’m here with my boyfriend Eddie! Hi Eddie!” Chrissy waved at him, and he had to force a smile as he waved back. “He’s the best! He got us tickets as a graduation present!”

His hand made its way to her hip, “Oh yeah? What school?”

“Hawkins High!”

Jon’s side smirk was still evident, “Oh, high school sweethearts. Just like me and Dorothea.” Jon pointed to Eddie, more or less aware of the seething hatred coming from the metal head. “Eddie, guys like us are lucky to have ladies like them in our lives. Treat her right man.”

In any other context, the phrase “Treat her right” would have sounded great from Wayne or Steve; hearing it from the pretty boy front man sounded like a joke and Eddie was certainly not laughing. He could feel his eye twitch, he was more than ready to hop over the barrier and punch that little shit right in the mouth. Unfortunately Jon’s mouth aimed straight for Chrissy’s lips, thankfully she turned away in time and was gifted with a single peck on her cheek. The stadium roared with applause, Chrissy felt that if she died right there she would be a happy woman; but the clock was still ticking for her.

Jon was about offer another, but she was already making her way off the stage with the guard. She turned back and gave him a wave and blew a little kiss to him before following the large man back and regrouping with Eddie. That desire to fight him was still present, but having Chrissy hold him tightly allowed for that need to slowly, very slowly dissipate.

Jon bowed before his adoring fans, giving his bed room eyes to her once more before standing tall. “Alright, let’s give it up for Chrissy and Eddie everyone!”

After everyone applauded them, the lights dimmed low and they started up their next song. The pounding of the drums, followed by the wailing of the guitar, mixed with the melancholic bass, and finally the haunting vocals of the lead. It’s was one of Chrissy’s favorites (and Eddie’s as well): Never Say Goodbye. As the chorus was sung, Chrissy looked up and held Eddie’s face. Her thumbs drawing little circles upon the apples of his cheeks. Tears began to flow once more, her smile as radiant as the moonlight. He couldn’t stop his own tears from falling, his hands traveling along her back, one making base at the nape of her neck. One kiss is all they shared, the music and the crowd were muffled in that moment. The world had stopped, time was no longer present. All they could touch, hear, smell, and taste were each other. Lips locked in the kind of embrace that could only ever be written in a romance novel. The departure from one another was slow and steady, a tiny line of saliva still connecting them as they opened their eyes. There it was, his smile so full of wonder. Her smile was filled with hope.

The last few numbers were played and then the encore. The band stood proudly before the adoring crowd, standing side by side and giving them a bow. Waves and blown kisses were given before they made their way backstage. The real fun was set to begin in the dressing room and all they had to do was play the waiting game. The more ardent and dedicated fans were invited to party with the boys. Everything was prepared: Booze, cigarettes, weed, and condoms. Jon’s only poison for the night was a bottle of beer. He had a good laugh with Richie, discussing how they had another successful concert in the bag. Once they were ready, security brought back a group of excited fans more than willing to spend the evening with them. The band mates whispered amongst themselves, already deciding who they wanted. Jon’s eyes looked at the line up, his smile fading momentarily. Where did she go?

The old van followed slowly through the busy traffic. Chrissy was trying to fight the need to sleep, her mind replaying everything that she experienced tonight. She couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the concert was. Eddie smiled, he remembers how he felt when he went to his first concert with Wayne. The same amount of enthusiasm and passion was all there.

“I’m glad you had fun Chrissy,” he noted, taking her hand and kissing it. “It’s gonna be a while before we get home, try to get some sleep.”

She giggled, “I can’t Eddie! I’m just so happy!”

“Trust me, getting a little shut eye is necessary,” he stated calmly.

Chrissy was about to speak, but a yawn tumbled out first, “But I’m… not… tired. I’m wide awake… Eddie.”

Eddie batted his lashes, “Just close your eyes for a few minutes baby.”

She slowly nodded, another yawn soon followed, “Ok, just a few minutes.”

He looked and saw that she was out like a light some moments later. Eddie reached around and grabbed an old blanket, spreading it out and tucking her in. Chrissy shifted a bit in her sleep, nuzzling her face into the warmth of the material. Eddie’s eyes were focused on the road ahead, the busyness of the traffic had eventually calmed down. Within a matter of miles, more and more cars made their way off of the highway and main road. The world had changed as Eddie continued to drive, greeted by the familiar stretch of land decorated with corn fields and old trees. He wasn’t sure what time it was, all he knew was that in the wee small hours of the morning, the stars looked as bright as ever. The moonlight illuminating the dashboard, his hands, and Chrissy’s sleeping form.

Uncle Wayne was visiting a friend that night, so they had the place to themselves. Eddie unbuckled her and kept the blanket securely wrapped around Chrissy. Carrying her inside and easing her onto his bed. He bent down and kissed her lips once more before he locked the front door and removed his shoes. Chrissy’s footwear was next, easily slipping them off and placing them aside. He grabbed himself another blanket and snuggled close to his sleeping beauty. Holding her close and playing with the loose strands of hair.

“Edward…” she mumbled.

His whisper quiet voice rang softly in her ears, “Say goodbye. Never say goodbye. Holdin’ on, we gotta try. Holdin’ on to never say goodbye.”

[kinocomix]

Untitled project Devlog #2: Heavy metal is not a single landmass, and it’s actually quite wholesome

When I listen to the doom soundtrack, there’s a part of me that’s always tempted to just do housework. say what you want about Doom’s ability to motivate or energize, but the reason I do it is because the image of someone cleaning their house while blasting all they fear is you is quite amusing to me.

As it turns out, that image I had of someone doing the dishes to Doom being hilarious isn’t that far-fetched, seen as the metal scene takes itself seriously, but the appropriate amount. I think the early 2000’s and what I was personally exposed to may have slightly tainted how I viewed metal. Despite being a lover of the genre myself, I wouldn’t consider myself a metalhead by any stretch of the imagination; I’m far from having the encyclopedic knowledge of metal that others have.

Ronnie James Dio in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, directed by Sam Dunn

up until a couple of years ago, had you asked me what metal was i would have replied Marilyn Manson, Evanescence and Are you dead yet by children of Bodom– to note I to this day have not heard any of Marilyn Manson’s music nor have i listened to anything else by Children of Bodom. So as you can tell the scope was very narrow. Thankfully though I've since expanded my repertoire to include many other subgenres and bands and I've been very surprised by how vast of a genre it is. This week, I spoke to some wonderful people including the wonderful lads from Fall of Eden, Prominentia and some wonderful folk over on reddit. My goal was to understand their relationship with their music, but also people’s relationship to metal in general: so let's talk about that.

I think it’s important starting out to have a general framework with which to operate in, so by “Metal” I’m referring to any genre of music with big distorted guitars, bass, drums and vocals with a focus on being bombastic and in your face. that includes stuff like Jazz metal, swing metal and fusion metal. we’ll be talking about themes and subject matter in a bit, i’m aware that affects if something falls under certain genres or not.

The first thing I wanted to know about the musicians I spoke to is: why metal? A broad question, definitely, that could easily be answered with “because it’s fun” but it did lead to a lot of informative answers. One thing that came up often is the fact that people discovered the genre at a young age; often this is coupled with the fact that they shared it with someone, be it a friend, sibling, or parent. This is somewhat to be expected: one thing I’ll mention later in this devlog is the fact that humans are naturally social animals so it makes sense that people who love a genre that’s historically and still is to a lesser extent falsely labeled as violent would have fallen in love with it at a young age– partially because people tend to have less prejudice as kids, and because a lot of kids enjoy the naturally loud and rebellious idea of some genres of music.

Another idea that comes up often is catharsis, self expression and the notion of seeing yourself through the music. 

To quote Charbel, the lead singer of Fall of Eden: 

“the extremes you can go to in order to express yourself, it can be simple and complex”. 

Sometimes this is very straight forward, you write a song that evokes themes of sexual assault despite the fact that it’s not necessarily intended:

Korn, Freak on a leash

or you write a song describing how hopeless existence is; how absolutely dark and bleak  and meaningless it is to pray but at the very least, you have a loved one with you, and that makes it suck a little less:

Lamb of god, Walk with me in hell

or maybe you write a song about finding strength in hard times, when the word “human” begins to overlap with the meaning of “unity”:

Gojira, Born in winter

other times this is much less obvious:

Alestorm, Keelhauled

MUCH, much less obvious… 

Cannibal corpse, Evisceration Plague

My understanding is that while the metal scene is very welcoming, it also doesn’t seem to care much if you don’t get it. which is fair, who am i to question that having written entire sections of my comic in a cipher…

keeping in mind that music changes based off of the social fabric it’s built on (we’ll be discussing that as well as the themes and subject matter in a later devlog) it makes sense to consider metal music as outsider culture, despite the fact that it doesn’t fit the textbook definition of “uneducated naive artist discovered after their death”. Metal music isn’t trying to be weird, it’s just trying to be itself, which happens to be weird. Let's go back to that cannibal corpse song I mentioned earlier. it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that people listen to that do so for the same reason they watch horror movies: there’s something mystifying about the weird, the scary, the horrific, the morbidly curious. It’s in our nature to seek those out but better yet– to build communities centered around the enjoyment of these things, and that’s honestly beautiful. There's this very evocative video about outsider music that I think explains well why this makes metal fit into that category:

Another question I asked was regarding the artistry itself. As artists you either blow up and get suffocated with people’s attention, or you make peace with the fact that you have a couple of buddies that love what you do. I was pleased to hear this translates to metal musicians too. All too often I see the stereotype of the artist or musician frustrated that no one is looking at/listening to their stuff and I've known one or two musicians myself that fit that description. fortunately that does not seem to be the case in real life– though any musician or artist will tell you that it’s never a bad thing if people interact with what you make. One of the most common answers to “what’s the highlight of your career” is always something regarding being acknowledged or validated which I relate to.

left to right: Sergio from Prominentia, me, Bachir from Prominentia. Also my friend Alaa is there peeking up from the table.

As it turns out, a lot of metal musicians are very chill and extremely nice people. Obviously as is the case with all communities there are the inevitable sour apples, whenever anything gets big you inevitably lose some control over what’s happening on a granular level but that’s to be expected. There's something that Sergio said that stuck with me. When I asked him why he became a musician, he talked about how he wanted others to experience the same fun, freeing music that he did. And honestly I can respect that. 

When asked about what other genres of music they’d do if not metal, the answers were very diverse. it ranged from everything like synthwave, techno, punk to folk, jazz blues and classical music. It should come as no surprise at this point that metal is actually a very complex genre musically, but you don’t need me for that. There are plenty of online resources that can teach you about that, far better than I could possibly hope to.

While I agree that in some media the aspects of communities built around the enjoyment of art might be presented as a little overblown. I do think they’re inevitably still present.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden:

My intention as the frontman is to try to find the guy who’s right at the back of the 30 000 [attendee] festival and sort of go “Yeah! You!”

devlog updates weekly on tuesdays.

goodbye for now!

[mieczyhale]

Okay, lads, we’re venting here.

And maybe getting weirdly emotional and personal about it.

They finished watching episode 8 and the general consensus, aside from like.. one guy, is “i still don’t get why everybody loves him and no matter what he does in the finale i’m still not gonna get it”

Like okay first of all: he’s not for you. You don’t have to get him because he isn’t yours. He belongs to the queers and the freaks. Second of all: a character does not have to be “useful” or a genius or whatever the fuck to be a good character, to be a well loved character. What the fuck kind of take is that?? “He hasn’t done anything so why do people love him??” Excuse me?? He is RIGHT THERE being unapologetic-ally himself, his authentic goddamn self, despite a whole town being out for him basically because of it. He’s a dungeon master, a nerd, kinda snarky but goofy and caring, the guitarist for his own band. He’s a relatable character. He’s a realistic character. 

“All he does is run and hide” HE HAS PEOPLE HUNTING HIM??? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT HIM TO DO, STANIEL?? 

We meet him in the first episode and he’s loud and weird and tells it like it is: forced conformity IS what’s killing the kids, they ARE being unfairly treated because they play a fantasy game instead of playing sports or going to parties. He takes Hellfire seriously not only because he loves D&D but because that club is so clearly also a safe space for kids who don’t fit in. He didn’t know Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were into D&D when he approached them, but he knew they were nerds - he knew they weren’t going to force themselves to fit in like a lot of other kids do. “You were wearing a Weird Al t-shirt. Which i thought was brave.” Them being themselves without a second thought is all he needed to take them in. If anybody knows how fucking cruel the world is it’s Eddie

He just wanted to be himself, have fun, play music, finish his campaign, and graduate.

He tries to help Chrissy - in getting her the drugs she’s asking for, in going out of his way to make her laugh and make her feel safe, in trying his hardest to wake her up when something was clearly wrong.

And then he saw a girl die - horrifically and right in front of him, he learned that monsters and alternate dimensions are real, he now has a whole town hunting him - quite a few who want to kill him (Jason, the more he losses it especially. You don’t buy a gun because you wanna chat, Karen) 

Instead he ends up fighting inter-dimensional monsters, sacrificing himself for his friends because he wants to make sure they make it - make sure they save the world - and because he thinks poorly of himself for running away (even though running away is the reaction just about anyone would have to what he saw) He hates himself for something he shouldn’t so he plays hero, even knowing it could kill him, because dying a hero is better than running again i guess?? At least in his mind apparently right then. 

He distracted hundreds if not thousands of demobats with a goddamn Master of Puppets performance on top of his trailer in the Upside Down. Which was not only metal as fuck, it was also HEROIC as fuck. 

He distracted the bats. He tried to make sure Dustin couldn’t come back through the gate bc there’s no way Dustin was going to stay out of the Upside Down if he thought he could help. none of us were surprised right? We know Dustin. And so does Eddie. So he tried. Dustin, fortunately or unfortunately, is too stubborn to stop. But Eddie tried. He tried to keep Dustin safe. And then he tried to make sure everyone would be safe. Robin. Nancy. Steve. He wanted to make sure there was no risk of the bats fucking up their job, and that there was no chance of the bats finding their way into the right-side up (not sure if the duffer brothers thought of that but i mean if a tentacle can make its way through the gate to grab steve w h a t is stopping a demobat from coming through??)

Eddie is just a dude, out here living his life the way he wants to, he falls into a mess he NEVER could have expected or been prepared enough for, he does his best with the information he has and the heart he has and his ever-growing insecurity about the fucking running and he dies. Because he’s just a dude, who isn’t a genius, who hasn’t cracked Russian codes, who was faced with an evil bigger than the creature made of human corpses and - for the most part - is left to himself. To overthink and work himself up all while knowing like.. just about nothing. Like truly we see him get filled in on the bare minimum. 

And shit keeps happening and people are after him and these people are helping him and now they needs weapons and he wanted to be “better”. Because he thought Chrissy (and later Patrick) deserved better. Because his new friends deserved better. Because they believed him and helped him and they didn’t have to do shit - most people wouldn’t have done shit for him. But they did. And that means something to him. Because he might just be a dude, but he has a heart and he cares. Despite *gestures at everything* he. cares. 

He is loud yet soft in a world that has been unkind to him. Like.. Okay: consider a porcupine. Spiky and defensive. But that doesn’t mean they’re mean or horrible animals. They are just cute little guys, but they need a way to protect themselves from the things that would harm them. That’s Eddie. He looks the way he does because that’s how he wants to look, yes, but it’s also excellent armor. That and add in his loudness, the performative outwards personality. Not saying it’s not him, because it 100% is, but that’s not ALL he is. He’s got layers. Like an onion. Or Shrek. People only see Eddie the way he wants to be seen, and while it’s 100% genuine Eddie Munson, it’s turned up to 11 around people he doesn’t know or trust. And they will never see any other side to him. 

For all of that, he is relatable. He is what it’s like to be lgbtqa+, to be labeled a freak because you don’t know how to / don’t want to pretend to be someone else, to find your own armor to protect yourself in a way that gets you through the goddamn day without sacrificing who you are. He is what it’s like to find a small group like you, in a place you thought you were alone. He is what it’s like to have a small town whisper opinions and pass judgement on you when they don’t even know you. 

Being a bad student, maybe because you arent smart or maybe because you struggle or maybe because you just dont care, almost not graduating or actually not graduating. Having shitty parents, or at least one parent that’s shit. Being passionate about things that get you bullied. Being just.. a fucking mess.

If you people pulled your heads out of your asses and looked beyond “usefulness”, and beyond the surface level of the content you’re watching, /maybe/ you’d “get it”. 

If you used your brain to consider people who aren’t yourself, who don’t live like you, for a moment - /maybe/ it would occur to you that you don’t have to understand why people love him. You don’t have to get it, and you don’t have to love him yourself. Nobody gives a shit if you do or don’t. But you could - and should - stop being such an obnoxious fucking jackass about it.

Eddie deserves all of the love he gets from people who get him. 

Whether you agree or not.

End of.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Belmont - Liminal

Something a lot of bands do is refine their sound after their debut album, or if they switch up their sound. They usually want to distill their sound into the best qualities of it, especially if they were a bit around in the edges in spots, but most bands just try to improve after each album. Sometimes that refinement works quite well, and other times it doesn’t work as well as you hoped it would. One of my favorite albums within the last couple of years is Aftermath, the sophomore album from Chicago pop-punk / easycore band Belmont. That was their debut with Pure Noise Records, but the band switched up their sound with that record, going from a generic easycore band on their actual debut album to a band that had a myriad of ideas and influences in their arsenal. Some of those ideas made sense, and some of them didn’t, but Aftermath was an interesting album. It had elements of pop-punk, easycore, metalcore, nu-metal, trap, and country. There was a country “meme song” on that album, entitled “Country Girl,” and it was fun for what it was, but not indicative of their sound.

If anything, Belmont is a rather impressive band, because a couple of their members studied at the famed Berklee College Of Music, and you can hear it throughout Aftermath. Their song structures are really cool, innovative, and unique, especially for a pop-punk band. They had elements of progressive metal, at least in terms of how technical their songs are. Aftermath was a record that I felt like a lot of people slept on, as they aren’t Neck Deep or State Champs. No shade to those bands, they’re awesome, but they’re more simplistic in what they do, and they’re also elder statesmen at this point. Belmont were a weirder band, especially with their country song that a lot of people didn’t like (it was a bad song to push as a single that you want people to take seriously, but a fun song in context).

The band is back two years later with Liminal, and this is what I was alluding to in the beginning with a refinement of sorts. Belmont refined their sound with this album, mainly in taking what worked about Aftermath and distilling it down to a more cohesive sound. As cool as Aftermath is, and as much as I enjoy it, it’s a messy album in spots, whereas Liminal is more streamlined and cohesive. Unfortunately, though, I wish I could say I liked it more than Aftermath, but I don’t. In the band refining their sound, they weirdly lost a bit of what I enjoyed so much about them. It’s not their technicality or their penchant for a solid breakdown or two, but it’s their goofy, and off the wall sensibility that they had on Aftermath. You didn’t know where that album was going at any moment, but on Liminal, they keep things relatively cohesive. It’s weird, because Aftermath was a messy album, but I still enjoyed it for that. Liminal should solve that problem, and it does, but it doesn’t work as well for me.

Maybe it’s also because this album lacks a lot of really strong hooks that also helped in Aftermath’s favor. Liminal is a really impressive album, at least instrumentally speaking; you’ll find lots of great riffs, breakdowns, and little switch-ups here and there that are really cool to listen to, but it’s like I always say when it comes to progressive music, playing your instruments well doesn’t mean much when you don’t write interesting songs. There are a lot of cool moments, but they don’t really stick with me, because there aren’t that many really catchy hooks to boot. There are a couple, but not enough to really keep me coming back. I kept wondering why I haven’t been listening to Liminal much, and that’s when it hit me that it just isn’t catchy enough, especially when they focus on technicality over accessibility.

Here’s the thing, though — this record is good, and it’s quite impressive, really, but I’m trying to refine their sound, it just makes them less interesting. It should do the opposite, but losing a lot of the weird influences and random stuff, like the random trap song they had on Aftermath, made me less engaged and less interested. Every song sounds the same, and while they sound good, I want some good hooks or some of their unique flavors. The breakdowns are cool here, but when I hear them on every song done in a similar way, it doesn’t do much for me. I’d recommend this if you want some impressive and technical pop-punk / easycore, but if you want some pop-punk with killer hooks, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

[luxnebula]

Before I get to Fearless in Love, I listened to Voyage in Time (2022), which is a live album that compiles songs from along their career up until Colours in the Sun. I don't have much to say about it, other than it's a good, fun album. The speeches between the songs (or even in the middle of them!) are hilarious. It's so fun to hear the band banter. They don't take themselves too seriously. This especially shows in the album's version of White Shadow, which opens with a funny speech from Daniel and towards the end, Alex (or Danny? I can't tell) just gives up on signing lyrics and just growls wordlessly, to which Daniel (or Alex??) goes "What? Speak clearly!". Comedy gold.

The mid speeches do give some interesting insight to the band's influences, like these specific versions of Iron Dream and The Meaning of I show. I think it's also fun how they keep yelling out random places like "Let's go, Brazil! Let's go Reykjavik!".

Anyway, Fearless in Love from 2023.

The Best Intentions and Prince of Fire, the first two tracks, don't waste time. They open with trance-like synths, then quickly slap you with the guitars, as if to remind you that, yes, Voyager is indeed a heavy metal band. Despite having similar openings, the two songs have entirely different moods. The Best Intentions is a fast-paced "opening mood" song, while Prince of Fire is... almost melancholic. Prince of Fire, Ultraviolet and Listen are actually yet another example of how Modern Voyager(TM) handles melancholy. The songs have some melancholy to them, but they also have a fast tempo and lots of guitars. Ultraviolet also has guest vocals from Sean Harmanis from Make Them Suffer, which adds a rough edge to the melancholy. Modern Voyager's(TM) take on melancholy is not being boring about it.

After Ultraviolet is Dreamer, which was another song that Voyager tried to get into Eurovision with. At first, Dreamer actually kind of flew under the radar for me and I didn't think much about it, but it very quickly grew on me when I started paying attention to it. I really like the "getting shit done" tempo of it. As an Voyager song, it's very interesting: it doesn't have as much synths as Brightstar or Promise, they only show up as ear candy in emphasis points in the song. It's almost the complete opposite of Embrace the Limitless, which felt like Voyager tried to "sand off" some of their heavy metal elements for Eurovision. However, as an Eurovision song, it starts very slowly, which can be a weakness in the competition, in my opinion.

Submarine is one of my favourite tracks from this album. It's such a cheerful bop about depression naps and its music video is a fun, funny (which are two different concepts to me) and a charming banger too:

The costumes are silly, but it only adds to the charm. You can tell that Daniel was having so much fun hamming it up as King Neptuned. Seeing A.C. Bass struggle to find connection and finally find his place in the band is such a good time. It's fun (you have a great time watching) and funny (humorous). I physically can't not be cheered up when I hear Submarine or when I watch the music video. It's just impossible.

Then there's the crown jewel, the song that they did make it to Eurovision and placed ninth with. The song that introduced me to Voyager: Promise. It still blows me away how brilliantly produced the song is. It has almost everything I want from a Eurovision song: sentimental lyrics, a banger chorus to sing along to, it's fast-paced, but has that slow, sentimental bit towards the end, it takes you by surprise with a guitar solo AND a synth solo, all crescendoing to the finale: alright!! How did they manage to fit all of that in three minutes?! The only thing that it didn't have was a weird, off-the-wall insane stage show, but the band's sheer bouncing-all-over-the-stage energy more than made up for it. You can tell that they loved being there.

When I first heard that Voyager tried to get into Eurovision a bunch of times before, I was dismayed. I was like "You're telling me that I could have heard about this banger of a band years ago?! I could have been listening to them all this time??" But now that I've listened to all of the songs that they tried to get in Eurovision with and the song that did earn them the honour, I think... This is how it was meant to happen. I don't believe in any kind of higher power, but this is how Voyager was meant to get into Eurovision and this is how I was meant to learn about them. Promise is such a perfect intro to Voyager, it's like a portfolio in musical form. It has all of the elements that Voyager does: synths, Daniel's clear vocals, Alex's growled vocals, Simone's banger guitar solos. It grabs you by the throat and says "We are Voyager, and this is what we sound like" and it delivers. A lot of artists, when they go to Eurovision, make an overly polished and mainstream palatable version of themselves which sometimes sounds nothing like their regular sound, but Promise is one-to-one exactly like Voyager sounds like even out of Eurovision. It's beautiful.

I still sometimes hope I could have been there for the release of Colours in the Sun though lol

The last song of the album, Gren (Fearless in Love) is one of the best album-ending songs since Yahweh from U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. It starts slowly, but majestically, and it builds up and up, until it shifts moods and you feel like you're at the gate of Mordor with Aragorn while he's delivering the "it is not this day" speech. It's sweeping, it's majestic, it guides you gently, but firmly to a grand finale of the album. It's the perfect album-ender.

Fearless in Love is my second favourite Voyager album, but only narrowly. Colours in the Sun was the first Voyager album I heard, so it of course has a special place in my heart, but Fearless in Love was the album that eagerly waited for all of spring and summer 2023. I literally counted down days until its release and I was not disappointed when it came out. It blew me away and it still slaps Promise was my song of the year in 2023 and Submarine was my summer song. There were a few days in 2023 when I was having health problems and I was so down that I told myself: "fuck it, listen to Promise until you feel better" and I listened to it on repeat for two hours straight. And I still haven't gotten sick of it, I still let it play whenever it comes on. I love this band a lot, and I feel like all of my gushing is an understatement lol. I hope I have relayed at least a little of how much I love their music.

Wow, I can't believe I'm already done with these album reviews. I had so much fun doing these. Maybe I could do this with my other favourite bands and artists too, like Pendulum or Sara. Or Devin Townsend and Type O Negative, since they're Voyager's inspirations. The possibilities are endless!