#but i mean just listen to him talk into his tape recorder and try to tell me he isn't meant to write campy paperbacks!!!

[bobmckenzie]

I DO think randall would retire from the medical field pretty early to pursue writing pulpy horror books. i believe that so firmly it's like canon to me.

[crimsonbubble]

*sigh* so I'm a seonghwa bias but this feels more like hongjoong imo. hyper-independent reader who's also never been in a relationship, but she's not naive or innocent, she knows what sex is, but she's never been with anyone. hongjoong is lowkey expecting her to be a brat, he's prepared, ready to deal with it. But!! Once they start exploring their dynamics in the bedroom, reader actually turns out to be the opposite. She's an obedient sub who lives for the praise from her soft dom hongjoong, and he's all too willing to indulge (definitely not projecting, idk what you're talking about) feel free to ignore or change it up, I just saw you were looking for ideas and wanted to share 🙂‍↕️🥰

cw. nsfw, afab!reader, soft dom joong, a lot of praise, fingering, studio sex, mirror sex (but not really, you’ll get what I mean when you read it), sex tape *not proofread, just pure horny

[this is for the praise kink girlies 🙂↕️] my present to yall while I'm away at the ateez concert 🫶🫶

Hongjoong wasn’t expecting this, but god, does he love it.

He adored how easily you melted into him, how you practically glowed after he praised you, how you did everything he asked of you because you knew that he’d reward you well, and how you looked at him with big, shiny eyes and pawed at him when you wanted his attention.

He gave in easily with you too. He simply couldn’t resist you. Not when you’re spread out on his lap in his studio. Not when you mindlessly follow his words, doing what he asks with no hesitation. Hence why Hongjoong has you in his lap, back to his chest, with his phone propped in front of you.

His camera app is open, the small red light on as it records the scene in front of it. Hongjoong laid kisses along your exposed neck, his hands hooking your legs on either side of his. “Always such a good girl for me,” He rubs two fingers over your clothed cunt, smiling against your skin when you shudder. “Sitting so pretty in front of the camera. Yea, are you my pretty girl?” His fingers circled your clit as he continued laying kisses on you.

You flush at his words, leaning back into him as he touches you. Hongjoong scoots his chair back, letting your whole body come into view. He pushes your panties to the side, rubbing his fingers through your slicked folds. He’s aching in his jeans but he can’t stop. Not when you whine so sweetly for him. Normally he’d tut and remove his hands from you when you don’t use your words, but you spent nearly the last hour sitting on his couch while he worked; you were overdue for a reward.

His fingers slide through your folds easily, your arousal only making it easier. You feel your face going hot as you listen to the wet noises your pussy makes as Hongjoong gently spreads your folds. He rubs two fingers over your hole, gently cooing at you to relax for him. “Easy, sweet thing. I’m right here.” He sinks his fingers slowly, shallowly curling his fingers inside your warm walls. “Joongie…” Your voice trails off, leaning into him even more as he starts pumping his fingers.

He presses more kisses to your neck and shoulder, humming softly. “Joongie’s here, don’t worry. Just sit nice and pretty for me, like always, yeah?” his movements gradually picked up in speed, his fingers filling your cunt over and over. He looks over at his phone, moaning into your neck at how your cunt shines under his studio lights. He curls his fingers into your sweet spot, wrapping his free arm around your waist to keep you in his lap.

He watches through the camera as you writhe in his lap. Your thighs are trembling as he pressed his palm flat against your clit, bumping into it with the heel of his palm. He noticed you bite at your lips trying to muffle your moans. He whispers calmly against the shell of your ear. “C’mon pretty, let me hear you.” The indirect permission to be loud struck a chord in your head as you came undone around his fingers.

Your pussy pulsed against his hand as he rocked you through your orgasm. “My good girl, can take one more for me, right? Make a mess on my fingers again, right baby?” You dumbly nod, smiling as you take in his form in his camera.

“Hm, my good girl. So sweet for me. C’mon then, show me how good you are.”

[gojo-enthusiast]

Choso Kamo ~ My Little Porn Star

Master list here

Your boyfriend admits to watching porn, so you have an idea to help him never wanna watch that cheesy shit again.

18+, MDI, p in v, clit stimulation, blowjob, facefucking, video taping, consensual.

Word Count: ~ 1.3k



“Hey Cho- I’m home!” You call out to your boyfriend. You and Choso’s had been in a relationship for 3 years now. You two had met at a little donut shop at like 5AM on a Sunday. It was love at first sight! He asked for your number within 5 minutes of talking.

“Hey love.” He says softly. Despite Choso’s built stature, and him towering over your short stature, he was so timid in his speech, quiet, well spoken. People would think, because of the tattoos he had all over, he came off scary. The way sometimes when he let his hair down and it covered, part of his face— he just looked unwelcoming.

“How was your day baby?” You say, smooching his cheeks, planting kisses all over his face. He chuckles. “It was fine, tiring. How was yours?” He asks, looking up at you with tired eyes. “Oh my baby, you look so sleepy.” you say pouting your lip. “Yeah I am actually. I think I might get to bed right now.” He says, standing up, kissing your forehead.

Something felt off, he usually didn’t leave so quickly, even when he was tired he would lay on the couch with you, and fall asleep.

“Hey Cho, you okay?” You ask, walking into the shared bedroom. “Hmm? Uh- yeah.” He says avoiding your gaze. Yep, you knew something was definitely off.

“Cho, what’s wrong? You can talk to me.” You smile. “I- look it was an accident…” he starts to say, causing you to worry. “What do you mean baby?” You ask, sitting beside him on the bed. “Okay, listen. I came home, and I was- well, you know- sometimes when a guy, feels- well.” He is stammering. “Choso! Spit it out.” You kind of chuckle. “I watched porn.” He spits out, “I was really pent up since you were on your period last week and weren’t feeling good. And I just, I don’t know. I needed to blow off some steam, and I kept trying to imagine your tits bouncing, but it was hard to visualize it. So I watched some cheesy ass porn. But I feel horrible.” He says covering his face with his palm’s.

“Baby that’s it?” You chuckle, “What- what do you mean that’s it? You’re not mad?” He huffs,

“No baby, I mean I don’t necessarily like my boyfriend watching porn, but I get it. It happens!” You smile, kissing his cheek. “Fuck— I don’t deserve you.” He smiles, kissing you back. You see that dog like energy start to emerge in his eyes. You lean into his ear, and whisper—

“How about we make our own video.” You say with a smirk. “Our-own?” He chokes out. “Yeah, you can video tape me bouncing on you, or to start off, you can tape me sucking you off.” You say, starting to place sloppy kisses on his neck.

“Fuck— yeah. I wanna do—that.” He says panting.

You grab his phone, opening up the camera and switching it to video, “Now you won’t feel the need to watch those cheesy ass fake videos. When you can have the real deal.” You say giving him the phone. You see him press record, and you start unbuttoning his pants, pulling them down to his ankles. He kicks them off to the side. “Mmm- someone’s excited to see me.” You say, pulling his boxers down- caressing his length against your cheek. “Fuck—“ he mutters, you see his hands shaky. “Hold the phone still, don’t you want to save this for next time?” You say, starting to lick the tip of his length. Pressing the tip of your tongue onto the hole of his tip.

“Shit— fuck, that feels good.” He whimpers, you start putting his tip into your mouth, sucking lightly, swirling your tongue around. You start pushing your mouth deeper into him, feeling his cock go into your throat, your gagging. “Fuck yes— choke on it.” He moans, starting to thrust. He’s still recording you, face fucking you. “Wait.” He says, playing the phone upright on the night stand, so the camera can get a clear view from the side of you getting your mouth fucked. He grips you by the back of your head, slamming into your mouth. And finally after a couple thrust, he cums deep down your throat, he pulls out & you’re licking your lips. Catching your breath.

He picks the phone back up, laying on the bed on his back. “Sit on it. Now.” He demands. You loved when he got rough with you. He was usually so sweet and loving in bed, but when his demon side came out, he was ruthless.

“Plant your feet on the mattress, and hold my thighs for support. Hover that pussy over my cock. I want to watch it go in and out.” He says, so you do. He wanted you to hover over his cock, and dip your hips down, to go in and out. He’s recording it all up close. Turning on the flash, so he can see it go in and out, stretching you out. “Fuck- yes you dirty slut.” He groans, starting to rub your clit while you are bouncing on his cock.

“Yes- Choso, just like that.” You’re moaning, feeling the knot in your stomach. You see him place the phone upright against a pillow so it’s perfectly showing your pussy and him fingering you. “Keep those fuckin legs spread. Don’t fuck up my video.” He hisses, starting to thrust into you from below. He’s being absolutely ruthless, destroying your cunt. He was hitting your g spot perfectly, and all while he’s doing so, he’s rubbing your clit.

“CHO-SOOOO. I’m gonna cum baby.” You’re yelling out. “Fuckin’ squirt on this cock baby.” He groans, chasing his release. He’s pounding into you immaculately. And after 4 pumps, you’re squirting all over his cock, and chest. He grabs the camera zooming in, showing the cum dripping down his cock from your cunt, and the way there is a ring at the base of his cock. Still pounding into you, fucking you into overstimulation. He’s grunting, and groaning all in the video, and your moans are filling up the video and room. Finally you drop down into his cock completely, falling onto his chest. “Fuck— cho… that felt amazing.” You’re moaning out.

He had put the camera landscape mode, on the night stand, then flipping you over, fucking you again. “CHO- AGH WAIT!” You moan out in a yelp. He was feral, there was no stopping him.

“Shut the fuck up, and take it.” He hisses, taking your tit into his mouth, sucking and nibbling. Then going and leaving love marks all over your chest and neck. You knew it would be a bitch to cover those up tomorrow, but you didn’t care. He had your legs over his shoulder and had your legs almost pressed against your chest, fucking you into hell. “This pussy is heaven.” he groans, cumming into you. Fucking his cum into you, filling your tummy up.

It went like that for another round, fucking you on your side, then doggy. He was done after doggy, your face was in pure ecstasy. He had flipped you over, and came all over your stomach, and face. Spreading your legs, he grabbed the camera, recording your state. Then switching to the photo mode, snapping a photo of your leg spread, with his cum all over you, while you were sucking your finger that had his cum on it.

“Fuck I should make this my Lock Screen, anytime anyone sees it, they will know how good I fuck you, & how good I got it.” He smirks,

Leaning down, planting a kiss on your lips. He gets up, picking you up bridal style. Taking you to the bath. “You’re so smart baby, that was the best idea.” He says kissing your cheek. “I’m glad you liked it.” You tiredly smile. “You’re gonna have to wash me, I can’t move.” You chuckle.

“Anything for my little porn star.” He laughs smacking your ass.

Like & Reblog ✨🫶🏻 ~ okkkk goodnight

[worth-the-chaos]

Adventures in Babysitting - Steve Harrington x female!reader - Chapter 7

Chapter Summary: You continue attempting to translate the code, commencing your operation to determine the nature of Russian involvement in Hawkins. Robin and Dustin continue their attempts to push the two of you together, tired of the mutual pining…oh and Erica has enough sass to probably take out an entire Russian army.

Content Warning: swearing (duh), Steve being a complete idiot, innuendos ;)

Word Count: 5.9k

Author’s Note: This chapter is really gearing up for the main plot of season 3 so a lot of it sticks to the plot of the show. I hope you all enjoy it! Message me if you want to be added to the taglist!

Series Masterlist | Part 6 | Next Part

***

You, Steve, and Dustin sat in the back of Scoops Ahoy listening to Dustin’s Russian recording on repeat trying to discern what any of it said, but with no such luck. You were pretty language oriented, excelling in your French classes, but outside of the realm of Romance languages, you were pretty much lost, making the experience all the more frustrating. This academic shit was supposed to come easy to you.

You sat in the chair next to Dustin with your head in your hands, sighing as he stopped the tape. Steve was pacing back and forth eating a banana. You already had known that he wasn’t going to be super helpful with this shit…he tended to catch on slower than the rest of you when shit was going down, so you assumed this was going to operate the same way.

“So, what do you think?” Dustin asked, looking between the two of you with bright eyes. Steve confirmed your suspicions when he replied, speaking through a mouthful of fruit.

“That music…that music right there at the end. It sounds familiar.”

“Are you fucking serious? That’s all you got from listening to that shit?” You asked, brows furrowed in irritation, your pent up frustration with last night’s conversation and Steve’s endless flirtations with patrons shining through your normally calm demeanor.

“Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We’re translating the Russian!” Dustin shouted in agreement.

“I’m trying to listen to the Russian, but then there’s music playing—“

You cut him off, sighing, “just go help Robin if you’re not going to be helpful back here.”

Steve glared at you, tossing his banana peel on the table in front of you before flipping you off and pushing dramatically through the door to the front. He could tell you were pissed off with him for more than his inability to miraculously translate a foreign language.

While you and Dustin continued trying and failing to translate the slavic language, Steve pulled Robin aside.

“Steve, what are you doing?” She asked, rolling her eyes. At least things were slow in the ice cream parlor, so it wasn’t an issue that they weren’t attending to the customers, given the fact that there weren’t any.

“I need to talk to you,” he said with urgency, and Robin’s expression softened into a look of concern. Steve didn’t normally come to her with shit; he had you for that so why would he?

“Wait, what’s going on?”

“I messed up,” Steve sighed, taking off his hat and running his hand through his hair. “You know how I keep telling you that y/n and I are just friends? Well, we are…but we’re just friends that maybe perhaps kiss a little,” he whispered quickly so you couldn’t hear.

“What the fuck?!”

“Shhhh!” He put a finger to his mouth to quiet her down. “It’s not on the lips so it’s basically like it doesn’t even count,” Steve tried to defend himself, rolling his eyes.

“Steve! That is almost worse!” She whisper-screamed at him, her eyes wide. She thought back to all the times she had hounded you about the nature of your relationship with Steve, thinking back to how frustrated you always looked when you told her it was complicated.

“I-it’s...it’s nothing really! Like, I mean, I don’t know, sometimes I just do a little kiss—like so tiny—on her neck to wake her up in the morning or I—“

“STEVE! What the fuck do you mean ‘in the morning’? Does she spend the night at your house? Wait—have you slept together?”

“No!” Steve was quick to shut that train of thought down, “like I said, it’s just little kisses here and there, nothing major. But the problem is last night I took it a little too far and I think I messed everything up.” He buried his face in his hands, irritated with his own actions.

“Y/n isn’t the type of girl you can just do that shit with. She’s probably expecting you to make a move. How long has this been going on?” Robin asked, pissed the fuck off. She knew Steve had a history of being a player, and you didn’t deserve that shit. She saw the way you looked at him, and you were clearly in love regardless of if you were going to admit that to yourself or not. She wasn’t about to let Steve string you along until he inevitably ended up finding someone else, breaking your heart in the process.

“…like…eight months?” Steve replied sheepishly, realizing how bad all of this sounded when he said it out loud.

“Eight months?! Steve! You’ve been nearly dating her for eight months and then you come in here every day and hit on other girls in front of her?”

“Shit!” Steve wanted to kick himself. Of course you were frustrated with him. He was sending you mixed signals all the time. “It’s just…I don’t want to mess up what we already have. I thought if I found someone else then I wouldn’t have to risk it, you know? We could just stay friends. Like I don’t know what the fuck I’d do if I asked her out and then shit didn’t work out….I can’t lose her, Robin; I just can’t.”

“You’re going to lose her in a much more painful way when she realizes how much of an ass you are for putting her through that. She’s like the perfect woman, Steve! She laughs at your dumbass jokes and she puts up with all your shit, just ask her the fuck out!”

“It’s not that easy,” Steve grumbled, rolling his eyes.

“It really is,” Robin spat, done with Steve’s bullshit, “just march back there and tell her that you messed up and you love her and then…I don’t know, kiss her and go on your merry way. Sounds pretty damn simple to me.”

“Robin, there’s a lot of shit going on that’s making it a little bit difficult to focus on making a move right now.”

“What, like the Russians?” She asked, a smirk on her face while she raised an eyebrow at him. Steve’s face fell as he gaped at her. How the fuck does she know about that?

Steve opened his mouth to speak, to act like he didn’t know what she was talking about when your muffled voice rang out into the front as you yelled, “fuck!”

Both of them hustled to the back, finding you pacing back and forth like Steve had been earlier, gripping the covers of the Russian dictionary aggressively while you angrily flipped through pages. The hostility radiating from you was palpable, and Robin turned to give Steve a look that said “you did this” before noticing that Steve’s douchebag tally had been erased from her board.

“Hey, my board! That was important data shit birds!” She yelled, looking between the three of you. You stopped pacing, looking up at her and giving her an apologetic look.

“I guarantee what we’re doing is way more important than your data,” Dustin spoke up, justifying the fact that he had messed with her shit.

“Yeah? And how do you know that these Russians are up to no good anyway?” She asked, smirking.

“You told her about the Russians?” Dustin asked Steve in disbelief, feeling betrayed.

“It wasn’t me!” Steve defended himself and Dustin whipped his head around to look at you.

“I didn’t tell her anything either!”

“Hello? I can hear you. Actually, I can hear everything. You are all extremely loud. You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you’re trying to translate it but haven’t figured out a word because you didn’t realize that Russians use an entirely different alphabet. Sound about right?”

Your face flushed, her explanation making you feel a little dense because she wasn’t wrong. If only she knew about the other weird shit that had happened in Hawkins. Evil Russians didn’t sound so unbelievable when you had already dealt with nine-foot tall monsters with faces that opened up. In comparison, this was pretty damn feasible and normal.

You all stared at her dumbfounded, but then she went to grab the tape and Steve sprung into action, snatching it before she could reach it. “Woah! What do you think you’re doing?”

“I want to hear it.”

“Why?” The boys both asked in unison and you rolled your eyes. You weren’t sure why they were gatekeeping the tape. It didn’t make a damn difference now that she knew about it.

“Because maybe I can help. I’m fluent in four languages you know.”

“Russian?” Dustin asked, hopeful.

“Ou-yay are-yay umb-day,” she rattled out.

“Oh-ho-ho!” Steve said while Dustin laughed “holy shit!” You rolled your eyes, knowing what she was doing as you tried to hold back a smile.

“That was Pig Latin, dingus. But I can speak Spanish, French, and Italian, and I’ve been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses. Trust me.”

You pried the tape from Steve’s hand and gave it to Robin, before walking to the front to go attend to the customer who was incessantly ringing the bell. Steve followed you hesitantly, knowing he was going to be no help with translating Russian.

After about another hour of serving ice cream to the ungrateful citizens of Hawkins, Indiana, Robin slid open the glass window to the front announcing that her and Dustin had figured out the first sentence.

You and Steve rushed over to the window, each holding an ice cream cone. “Oh seriously?” You asked, eager to hear what it was. You were glad Robin was helping now because your efforts were seriously going nowhere.

“The week is long,” Robin said in a Russian accent. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, that’s thrilling,” Steve replied sarcastically, clearly unimpressed.

“I know, but it’s progress,” Robin assured both of you before disappearing back into the depths of the break room. You both turned around, handing the cones to your very familiar customers.

“Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry—“ Steve started, reaching out his cone to Max.

“—and a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream,” you finished, handing yours to Eleven. They both thanked you, and you took a second to really look at Eleven. She looked much happier than you’d ever seen her. You smiled as you took in the sight of her tousled wavy hair, a sharp contrast to the buzzed haircut you had heard about. “I love your jumpsuit by the way,” you complimented her outfit and she smiled.

“Wait, are you even allowed to be here?” Steve asked, and the girls just looked at each other and laughed, darting quickly out of the shop. “That...okay,” Steve’s voice trailed off, giving up on trying to understand these weird ass kids.

“It’s nice to see them happy, you know?” You spoke up. For how busy the mall was, you were fortunate that you had occasional slow moments like these.

“Yeah, yeah it is,” Steve replied, watching as Max and Eleven laughed at something in the distance, before darting into another store. Being protective, he was a little worried about Eleven. He knew Hopper didn’t want her going out a ton, especially to really crowded places like the mall. It wasn’t safe for her, both in terms of needing to keep her powers secret and because she was still so naive about the world around her. Steve supposed she’d seen enough of the bad in it to be cautious though. He shuddered at the thought. “I just worry, though, you know?”

“I do too,” you sighed, “I just want what’s best for all of them, and I spend a lot of days wishing we could’ve protected them from more. I guess it doesn’t help that now we’re assisting Dustin in Operation Russian Invasion, but I just keep telling myself that at least it’s not the Upside Down.”

He just nodded in agreement, and the two of you went back to working alongside each other in a comfortable silence.

You were exhausted by the time your shift ended. The mall was already closed and you basked in the silence, a treat after the hustle and bustle of all the nonstop activity that occurred during the day. With Dustin and Robin knee deep in translating his recording, you and Steve were left to tend to customers all day, meaning that you hadn’t had a break besides the brief ones between patrons.

Steve was counting the drawer while you went to grab the disinfectant to wipe down the tables to finish out the closing procedures when he stopped what he was doing to gently grab your elbow before you crossed the counter. He needed you to know what you meant to him. He needed to fix his mistake.

“Y/n, about last night—“ he started but you cut him off.

“Steve, I really don’t want to talk about it. I don’t know what got into me, really it was fine. It was just a long shift and I got emotional. I don’t even know why I did because I like when you kiss me like that and-and I like spending the night at your house and I don’t care that—“

“Y/n?”

“…yeah?” You responded looking up at him innocently, biting your lip embarrassed at the way you had just rambled. Steve tried not to melt right there while your eyes stared up at him like that.

“I’m gonna kiss you now, okay?” He breathed out and you nodded slightly, leaning in as your eyes fluttered shut. One of his hands wrapped around your waist to pull you closer as he used his other hand to gently tilt your chin up. He was so close that you could feel his breath on your lips, your heart racing as he began to lean in to close the gap.

Before your lips could touch, the doors to the back room burst open, and you jumped away from each other as quickly as you could, as Dustin slid through them, totally ruining the moment that you had been waiting two years for.

“What the fuck! You scared the shit out of me! I’m about to have a heart attack, geez,” you scolded, your hand on your chest to settle your racing heart, though Dustin wasn’t entirely to blame for that.

“Yeah, don’t ever fucking do that again,” Steve added, frustrated at the boy’s impeccable timing. He had spent the last two and a half hours of your shift working up the confidence to do that.

“Geez, what’s got you so on edge?” Dustin rolled his eyes. “Anyway, we’ve translated like half of it!”

“Really?” You asked excitedly, your previous irritation quickly being replaced with anticipation. It had been a long day and you were glad at least something good was going to come out of it…or bad, you guessed. It all depended on what the translation was.

You all quickly entered the backroom, standing across from Robin’s whiteboard as you all read aloud the translated version of the top secret Russian communication.

“The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west.”

You all paused, not really sure what to say as the result of hours worth of translating was pretty anticlimactic. Steve finally spoke up, “I mean…it’s nonsense.”

“No shit,” you replied, sighing and heading back to the front to leave. Everyone else followed you, packing up their things disappointment permeating through the nautical themed ice cream shop.

“I mean, it just…it just can’t be right,” Steve proposed as he closed the metal caging to officially close up for the night, locking it before he stood up.

“It’s right,” Robin defended herself.

“Honestly, I think it’s great news,” Dustin chimed in.

“How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes; it’s total nonsense,” Steve reiterated his point from before.

“It’s not nonsense,” you rolled your eyes, “it’s too specific, it’s obviously a code.”

“What do you mean a code?” Steve inquired, and Dustin fielded the question for you, Steve, per usual, being the last one to get it.

“Like a super secret spy code.”

“That’s a total stretch,” Steve scoffed.

“I don’t know, is it?” Robin chimed in, “listen, just for kicks, let’s entertain the possibility that this is a secret Russian transmission. What did you think they were going to say? ‘Fire the warhead at noon’? And my translation is correct, I know that for sure, so…’the silver cat feeds’. Why would anyone talk like that if they weren’t trying to mask what they were saying?”

“Exactly!” You and Dustin said in unison.

“And why would anyone want to mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?” You continued, turning to look at Dustin. “So I guess that confirms your suspicion.”

“Evil Russians,” he nodded with a smirk, happy that his intuition had served him correctly in your eyes. Despite the countless times he disobeyed you, he really did care what you thought…he just had a funny way of showing it sometimes. “So how do we crack it?” Dustin asked.

“I guess we translate the rest and see if a pattern emerges…” Robin and Dustin continued on, discussing what elements of the code could possibly mean, but you and Steve fell behind. He had stopped in front of one of the mechanical children’s rides, fishing in the pocket of his uniform shorts for loose change.

Robin and Dustin finally noticed that you two were no longer with them, turning to rejoin you. “Steve, what are you doing?” You asked, looking at him like he was crazy.

“Uh, it’s a quarter,” he muttered to himself, “hey do you have a quarter?” He asked, eyes darting to everyone in the group.

“You sure you’re tall enough for that ride?” Robin inquired sarcastically, and you laughed as you fist bumped her. You were so glad you had someone else that was just as good as you at keeping the boy’s ego in check.

“Quarter!” He shouted, and you rolled your eyes as you tossed him one. He frantically spun back around, shoving it into the coin slot as the horse started rocking up and down.

“You need help getting up, Stevie?” You asked and Steve tried not to get flustered at the double entendre buried within your words while he shushed you.

“Will you all just shut up and listen?”

You sighed as all of you quieted down, listening to the little jingle the ride played out while it ran. Something about it seemed way too familiar, and your brow furrowed as you tried to figure it out, looking between Robin and Dustin.

“Holy shit!” The younger boy finally spoke up, quickly pulling his backpack off his shoulders and searching for the tape. He finally found it and hit play, all of you listening to the music echo back into the quiet mall.

“I don’t understand,” Robin shook her head.

“It’s the exact same song on the recording,” you spoke up, the reality of it all finally sinking in.

“So? Maybe they have horses like this in Russia.”

“‘Indiana Flyer,’?” Steve spoke up, reading the scrolling script on the side of the ride, “I don’t…I don’t think so. This code…it didn’t come from Russia. It came from here.” For as dense as Steve usually was, this time he was right. The four of you stood in silence, listening to the music ring out through the empty corridors of Starcourt Mall, the light and lilting tune taking on a darker and more sinister feeling.

You made eye contact with Steve and you could see the worry in his eyes too. There was something very wrong with all of this…and of course Dustin was the common thread bringing you all into it.

***

Steve was crouched behind a fake plant, regretting nearly all the life decisions he’d made that brought him to this point. Dustin sat beside him while you and Robin stayed back at the shop to tend to customers.

“See anything?” Dustin asked.

Steve held up his binoculars, looking around the crowded mall, “uh, I guess I don’t really know what I’m looking for.”

“Evil Russians,” Dustin responded, as if it was so incredibly simple.

“Yeah, I guess I don’t know what exactly evil Russians are supposed to look like.”

“Tall, blond, not smiling. Also, look for earpieces, camo, duffel bags, that sort of thing,” Dustin responded. Damn, this kid had his shit together, Steve thought, always impressed by the young boy’s intelligence.

Steve nodded, continuing to scan the mall when he noticed a couple on the second floor. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Anna Jacobi is talking with that meathead Mark Lewinsky! Whatever happened to standards? I mean, Lewinsky never even came off the bench!” He grumbled.

“Dude you are the worst spy in history, you know that? Give me those,” Dustin scolded, grabbing the binoculars from Steve, yanking his neck to the side in the process. “Besides I don’t get why you’re looking at other girls when you have the perfect one right in front of you.”

“Seriously, if you say y/n one more time—“

“Y/n….y/n, y/n, y/n y/n, y/n,” Dustin cut him off.

“Dude, just stop. You don’t get it, okay?” Steve grumbled. Dustin made it sound so easy, but after eight months of kind of almost being together, Steve was struggling to just commit. You were intimidating, even after two years of knowing each other the way that you did.

“It doesn’t seem that complicated to me. You clearly like each other, I know she spends the night at your house, just ask her out already!” Dustin said impatiently. He was tired of watching you pine after one another day after day. It was honestly sickening.

“I can’t just ask her out! She’s not like that…I-I don’t even know if she wants that. I don’t know that she wants me. And I can’t just outright ask her, no, that would just be way too pathetic after all this time,” Steve rambled on, not really sure why he was engaging in this conversation with the boy. Dustin didn’t need to know anything about the nature of the relationship between the two of you. He was a loudmouth and Steve didn’t really trust him not to accidentally let the content of this conversation slip out in front of you.

“Steve. She likes you. It’s about the most obvious thing on the face of planet earth. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that if you don’t ask her out now, she’s going to move on. She’s not going to wait around for you forever, you know.”

“What is that some stupid shit you learned at Camp Know…Nothing?” Steve taunted. He knew he was being an asshole, but he couldn’t help getting defensive. He knew he was making mistakes. He didn’t need some fourteen year old to tell him.

“Camp Know Where, actually,” Dustin corrected before continuing, “and it’s shit I learned from life. If I hadn’t made a move with Suzie, then we never would’ve gotten together, and she’d probably be dating somebody else by now.”

“Oh, yeah, you mean ‘hotter than Phoebe Cates’? Yeah, that Suzie. Oh and let’s think about how exactly did you score that beautiful girlfriend?” Steve asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he scratched his head to feign contemplation. “Oh yeah. With my advice because that’s how this works, Henderson. I give you the advice, and you follow through, not the other way around, alright pea-brain?” Steve spat as he grabbed the binoculars back. This kid fucking sucks.

While the boys were botching their spy mission, you and Robin worked double time trying to serve ice cream and crack the rest of the Russian code.

“The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly,” Robin repeated for the tenth time, staring at the notebook with the translated code. You groaned, burying your head in the pages of the Russian to English dictionary. This was going to kill you. You could handle kicking the ass of an inter dimensional monster, but this…this code was going kill you slowly and much more painfully.

Suddenly you heard a knock on the back door, and Robin slid through the window to get it. You figured it was the delivery you had been waiting on. You picked up the notebook, staring at the words and willing them to make sense, but to no such avail.

“Y/n, you’re not going to believe who Dustin thought was a Russian,” Steve called out to you, entering the ice cream parlor.

“No I did not!” Dustin defended himself, irritated.

You were about to open your mouth to speak when Robin flew through the saloon doors, shoving in between Steve and Dustin darting right out the front of the shop.

“What the fuck is going on with her?” Steve asked, looking at you with his brow furrowed. You stood there gaping, equally confused as you just shrugged, skillfully, hopping over the counter as you jogged out to follow her.

“Robin,” you called out to her as she turned around to face you, “what are you doing?”

“I cracked it,” she smiled.

“Cracked what?” Steve asked, him and Dustin catching up to you.

“I cracked the code.”

***

After Robin explained what the code meant, Dustin went up to the roof to do some spying. What he saw definitely did not add up to being normal day to day mall shipments and operations, but he explained that it would be difficult to determine anything because of the security at the door.

“…but unfortunately the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun. Whatever’s in this room, whatever’s in these boxes, they really don’t want anybody finding it” Dustin finished explaining.

“But there’s gotta be a way in,” Robin reasoned, and you nodded, agreeing with her.

Steve took his hat off and tossed it on the table of the break room. “Well, you know…I could just take him out,” Steve leaned forward, crossing his arms over the table and nodding as if that was the most reasonable solution.

“Take who out?” Because it certainly wasn’t you, you thought as you asked, hoping that making him repeat himself would help him to realize how ridiculous that sounds.

“The Russian guard,” Steve reiterated, continuing as you stared at him wide eyed and gaping, “what? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, I take his keycard. Easy.”

“Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?” Dustin asked, arms crossed.

“Yes, Dustin, I did…and that is why I would be sneaking,” Steve emphasized as if that made any damn difference.

“Tell me this, and be honest…have you ever actually won a fight?” Dustin shot back.

“Alright, that was one time—“

You cut Steve off, thinking back to his bruised and battered face the first time you’d knocked on his door, “Twice. Jonathan. Year prior.” Dustin pointed at you, raising his eyebrows, eyes still locked on Steve’s.

“Listen, that doesn’t count.”

“Really, because it looked like he beat the shit out of you…” the boys continued arguing, Steve trying desperately to make it seem like he had the upper hand on that occasion, which you knew was a complete lie.

Suddenly, Robin stood up, running to the front and taking all of the money from the tip jar.

“Robin! Hey, Robin, what are you doing?” Steve asked as you all followed her to the front.

“I need cash.”

“Well a third of that’s mine! Where’re you going?” He replied exasperated. He was getting real damn tired of this shit.

“To find a way into that room—a safe way—and in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave, and don’t get beat up. I’ll be back in a jiff!” She shouted out before darting to her left. You stammered, watching her leave before you decided you couldn’t stand another minute stuck with the two boys before taking off after her.

Steve was calling after you, but you didn’t care. You were glad you were at least somewhat in shape, as you quickly caught up with Robin.

“Y/n? What are you doing?” She asked.

“I’m going with you.”

“But you don’t have a bike,” Robin argued as you pushed open the door for her, the two of you exiting onto the parking lot.

“No, but Dustin does,” you smirked, pulling his bike from the bike rack, “it’s not like he’ll be going anywhere.”

Robin shrugged and the two of you took off towards the square.

“Where are we going?” You asked her, not sure why she was fleeing Starcourt and needed all of the tip money.

“County Recorder’s Office. They’ll have blueprints for the mall, the floor plans, the duct work, everything. That’ll give us our way in.”

You laughed in excitement, impressed by Robin’s intelligence as you both picked up the pace on your bikes. It was probably a sight to behold; two girls in sailor uniforms biking their way through Hawkins.

By the time you got back and explained everything to the boys, they were eager to get to work. Steve quickly got up from his chair, going to the small storage room in the back and grabbing a toolkit from the top shelf and a ladder. He quickly set it up, climbing up it to start unscrewing the vent cover. He placed the screw driver in his mouth as he removed the panel, speaking around it to ask for a flashlight. You found it strangely attractive, as you stood there looking up at him.

“Y/n, he said he needs the flashlight,” Dustin nudged you. You shook your head to clear the thought away taking the screwdriver from him while you handed him up the flashlight.

“Yeah, I don’t know that any of us are gonna fit in here, it’s like…super tight,” Steve said, pointing his flashlight down the ducts. He knew one thing for certain, his six foot body definitely wasn’t making it. He thought about your curvy frame, knowing damn well you weren’t going to fit either. You have too good of an ass to fit in there, he thought, descending the ladder.

“I’ll fit. Trust me, no collar bones, remember?” Dustin spoke up, Steve handing him the flashlight.

“Excuse me?” Robin asked, clearly concerned and confused by the boy’s statement.

“Oh, he’s, uh…yeah he’s got some kind of disease. It—it’s chry…chrydo, um…something. Yeah, I dunno, he’s missing bones and stuff; he can bend like Gumbo,” Steve attempted to explain.

“It’s cleidocranial dysplasia and Gumby,” you corrected both of his blunders respectively.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Gumbo,” Steve replied confidently, you rolled your eyes while Dustin started yelling from the vents.

“Steve, shut up and push me!”

“Okay,” Steve threw up his hands, making a face to mock the boy, “I’ll push ya,” Steve added as he grabbed Dustin’s legs to shove him forward.

“Not my feet dumbass; push my ass!”

“What?” Steve asked, confused.

“Touch my butt! I don’t care!” Dustin yelled, tired of being stuck in the vent. The boys continued bickering as Steve’s shoving went no where, when you heard the ringing of the bell, seeing the familiar face of Erica Sinclair through the window, Scoops Ahoy’s most notorious customer.

“Ahoy? Sailors? Get over here and serve me some samples!” She shouted, her tone dripping in attitude and sass. You and Robin made eye contact, clearly thinking the same exact thing.

“Great minds,” you whispered before pushing through to the front room. You redirected your focus towards the small girl in front of you, “hey, Erica! Could you maybe help us out with something real quick?”

“What could you costume-wearing bozos possibly need my help with?” She shot back, and the fake smile you had plastered on your face quickly fell as you glared at the small child.

“If you want any more free samples, I would suggest you just take a look.”

“Fine,” she sighed, stepping around the counter.

“Great! All I need you to do is tell me if you think you can fit through that air vent,” you explained as you guided her to the back grabbing the flashlight off the table and handing it to her. She climbed up the ladder and looked, and you all held your breath as you waited for her to respond.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” she said, climbing down and turning to face you.

“You don’t know if you can fit?” Dustin asked.

“Oh, I can fit. I just don’t know if I want to,” she crossed her arms.

“Well, what’s the problem?” Steve asked. His voice was gentler than it normally was when the kids were being difficult. Seeing that he might have a soft spot for Lucas’ little sister made your heart skip in your chest.

“The problem is, I still haven’t heard what’s in it for Erica.”

Steve sighed, shoving past Dustin and going to the front, quickly making an elaborate sundae. Once he finished, he moved around the counter, walking over and placing it at a booth. Honestly, this was the best he’d ever attempted at actually doing his job, you thought as you all moved to join him. She sat down across from him, inspecting the sundae before pushing it back towards him, “more fudge, please.”

He pressed his lips into a line and quietly got up to go fix the girl’s ice cream. You stepped up to follow him, baffled by the fact that he hadn’t yelled yet. This was the fourth time she’d sent him back.

Steve was angrily remaking the sundae by the time you moved around the counter, deciding to just start over since her ice cream had already started to melt. You could tell he was seething, and you bit your lip to avoid laughing.

“Steve?” You asked hesitantly.

“What?!” He shot back, his jaw set in the angriest expression you’d ever seen him wear.

“It’s just, I’ve never seen someone make an ice cream sundae so aggressively before, and I’m starting to get worried because you haven’t yelled yet,” you replied. He sighed, hanging his head as he pressed his hands against the edge of the counter, taking a deep breath before standing up.

“Well, I can’t just yell at her, now can I?”

“I don’t see why not. You yell at all the kids…all the time,” you reminded him.

“This is a very different situation. For starters, she’s like ten. I’m not going to yell at a literal ten year old. Secondly, we actively need something from her, so the second I yell at her, she’s just gonna say no and then we’re screwed, okay?”

He did have a point, but you could overhear her sass from across the room and really didn’t know how Steve had been able to hold back. You were extremely patient, all things considered, and you were seconds away from yelling at the girl.

Robin darted over to the counter leaning in smiling. “She finally agreed!”

You and Steve looked at each other hesitantly. You weren’t sure if it was a good or a bad thing. You had no way of knowing what you were getting yourself into and you could help but feel guilty bringing Erica into it all. Steve was definitely feeling the same way, but he reached over to grab your hand under the counter where Robin couldn’t see, giving it a tight squeeze before he nodded.

Now you just had to wait for the mall to close.

***

a/n: thank you for reading! I’m looking forward to writing the next part which will likely have a little more originality to it. Remember to comment and reblog! I love hearing what you guys think <3

Taglist:

@season4steve | @sassyheroneckgiant | @tangledinthegreatxscape | @maeve-wileyy | @palachannie

[tbmunson]

Escape - Gareth Emerson x Reader

Summary: You and Gareth get paired for the most important art project of the semester.

Warnings: Slow burn, idiots in love, caring for Gareth's sisters.

WC: 4,730

Notes: I'm in recovery for surgery, so updates will be slow. Shout out to @ashes-writing for being my absolute bestie and letting me bounce ideas.

1 / 2 / 3

PART 1

“Okay, class, you’ll work as partners for your final project.” Mr. Greely the art teacher stated, earning a cheer from the class. “I wouldn’t cheer so fast. I paired you up myself. This project is to make art based on what you learn about your partner, hence the little questionnaire at your tables. It can be a painting, drawing, or sculpture. Any audio recordings or mixed tapes will be given a zero. This is art, not band.

You rolled your eyes, but not because you wouldn’t be working with Tiffany, the only other cheerleader in the class, but because there was a chance you’d have to work with one of the meatheaded basketball players. You didn’t really want to work with her either, but that was a whole other can of worms.

Mr. Greely droned on, only catching your attention when he said your name. “You’ll be working with Emerson.”

Your eyes widened, which caught the attention of a few of your classmates who began to giggle. The panic was not from the boy himself, rather the fear you would accidentally fall harder for him if you got to really know him. Your focus was disrupted by shuffling next to you as Gareth settled into the desk paired with yours. “Hi.” You said softly, meek almost.

Gareth assumed this was due to disdain for him, presented a bit more politely. He did hear the giggles after all. “What’s up?” Not a question, just a simple acknowledgement to your greeting.

You studied his side profile, debating the different art forms you could use to relay the puffy haired metalhead next to you.

“You have a month to complete this project. Oh, and, your partner will be grading you on how well they think you relay them to the world. That does have an effect on the overall grade, so get to know each other.” Mr. Greely finished as the bell rang.

“So, I don’t know if you’re busy tonight with it being Friday and all, but my house is free tonight if you want to come do the questionnaire.” You offered sweetly as you packed your notebook into your bag.

“I, uh, have to watch my sisters tonight, but, if you want to, I mean, you can come to my place.” His nerves were apparent, which made you smile.

“Yeah, I’ll find you at lunch and finalize the details.” You gripped the strap to your backpack and turned to meet Tiffany at the door.

She sputtered out a laugh as she glanced over her shoulder to Gareth. “You really got paired with the freak, huh?”

You couldn’t stop the eye roll. “Tiff, I’ve known him since forever. He’s a sweet guy. Just because he listens to different music and doesn’t dress the same doesn’t make him a freak.” You replied, trying to keep your tone level so as to not snap at the head of the cheerleading team.

“He plays a fucking fantasy game, babe. It’s weird.” She chirps back as if it was common knowledge.

“It’s an escape. Everyone has an escape. You totally zone out when you cheer. That’s your escape.” You’re fully annoyed now, but not showing it, which is hard due to the fact that she just laughs, mumbling a “Whatever.” under her breath.

You break off into your math class and sit next to Eddie Munson. “Hey, Eddie.” You say, catching his attention.

He peeks around you, looking around.

“What are you doing?” You ask, furrowing your brows.

“Wondering why Hawkins High’s very own princess is trying to talk to me. Not that I’m complaining. Just curious.” He responded with an amused look.

You can’t help the small smile that spreads at his antics. “I’m talking to you because I’m a nice person and I let you cheat off of me. It’s time to repay the favor.”

“Ooh, princess wants something from the freak. Enlighten me.” He taps the tips of his fingers together in a way that would mook maniacal if it weren’t Eddie.

You roll your eyes at the dramatics. “I have an art project and I need-”

“I will not model naked for you if that’s what you’re asking.” He had a very serious look on his face, which meant he was totally joking, something you’d come to know sitting next to him in three different classes.

You smacked his arm and furrowed your brow. “No. I need the inside scoop on Gareth. He’s my partner and I have to get to know him, like really get to know him for this project.”

Eddie nods, resting his chin in his hand. “Okay. I can help you with that. As long as I keep copying your homework and cheating off of your tests.” He smirked, a wide grin plastering his face.

“In all honesty, I didn’t even think about using that as a threat.” You giggled, reaching over and scribbling your number onto a page with a scratched out doodle in his notebook. “Call me tomorrow. I’ll be at Gareth’s tonight.”

“Oh yeah, date night.” Eddie replied kind of like an off hand comment.

“It’s not a date, Eddie.” Your eyes were wide again like they had been in art class.

Eddie laughed and shook his head. “I mean his parents. He has to watch his sisters. Although I may be reading into that reaction a little too much, but I think you-”

“Not another word or the copying does stop.” Your face was hard, begging him not to speak the words you already knew were true. You would like to go on a date with him, but this, getting to really know him as part of a project, it’ll work too. Better, you convince yourself. Better because there’s no pressure to actually like him and if you don’t, well at least you'll know and you can stop this pitiful pining over him.

“Yes, your highness.” Eddie bows as much as he can while sitting before the teacher begins class.

Two class periods later you were headed to lunch. Once you made it to the cafeteria you headed right for the Hellfire table, leaving a very confused Stephanie in the doorway. As you approached a group of freshmen were settled at the table. “Hi, does Gareth sit here?” You knew he did, but striking up a conversation would be better than just claiming a seat that didn’t belong to you.

The curly haired one looked up, surprised a cheerleader was talking to him. “I, uh, yeah.” he sputtered, earning a glare from the dark haired one.

“Dude, you can’t just tell people like-” He cuts himself off, looking up at you and wondering if you’d tear him a new one.

You laughed and leaned against the table. “I know. People like me have a bad rap, and usually for good reason. I have an art project with Gareth and we need to go over some details. No malice. No ill intent. Pinky promise.” You held out your pinky, waiting for one of the group to make their move.

The smaller boy with a bowl cut reaches out, linking his pinky with yours. “He’ll be here in a few. He usually takes a smoke break before coming to lunch. That’s his seat,” He points to a chair on the edge of the opposite side of the table. “And Jeff isn’t here today, so the spot next to him is open if you want to sit.”

“Thank you.” You smile before rounding the table and sitting in the middle seat. “My name is Y/N, by the way.” You offer a hand over the table for any one of them to take.

The curly haired boy reaches over and shakes it, “I’m Dustin, this is Mike and Will.”

“It’s nice to meet you guys. So, how does Dungeons and Dragons work? I’ve never played but it seems interesting from what I’ve seen.” You can’t find it in yourself to regret the question as Dustin and Will go into an in depth explanation of the game. You were so drawn in that you didn’t notice Gareth walking up to the table, or the look of horror as the freshmen bombarded you with facts about a fantasy game, even if he loved that fantasy game more than most things.

“Alright you guys, I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear about DnD.” Gareth sighed as he sat, drawing the attention of the four of you.

You gave him a playful glare. “I asked, actually. It sounds like a lot of fun. Very creative.” You were smiling by the end.

Gareth nodded, unable to help the thought that you were only saying that to seem nice and use it against them later. He immediately felt bad because in all the years of classes together, you’d never been that way. “Okay, well, I’m sorry. You can continue, Dustin.”

“Actually, Dustin, as much as I want to hear the differences in characters, I really need to get some stuff settled with Gareth about this project. How about I come sit here on Monday and you and Will can finish telling me about it.” You offered, finding the kids incredibly charming and utterly adorable.

“Yeah!” Dustin replied, opening a book to keep track of what he’d filled you in on already.

Gareth chuckled and leaned over to whisper to you. “You really don’t have to let them torture you like this.” The way his voice rumbled in your ear mixed with the warmth of his breath cascading down your neck, you knew you were screwed.

“Gare, really, I want to know about it. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” You assured him, placing a hand on his forearm and giving it a small squeeze.

Gareth didn’t know what else to say, so he only offered a crooked smile instead.

“Good, it’s settled. Now to the main task at hand. What time do I need to come over?”

He shrugged and went over the schedule in his head. “I’m gonna do dinner at 5:30, give them a bath, and let them play. They’ll be out by 7:30.” He offered more as a question.

“Or, I can bring dinner from Benny’s around 6, help you give them a bath, and we can all watch a movie before they go to bed.” You twisted a curl around your finger as you waited for his response.

He nodded and smiled. “Yeah, they’d like that.”

You slid your notebook and a pen in front of him. “Write down your order and I’ll be over by six.”

“Do you even know where I live?” He quirked a brow as he scribbled down an order.

“Gareth Emerson, I have lived down the street from you my whole life. Of course I know where you live.” You reached out and gently smacked his shoulder.

Gareth laughed and held a hand up in surrender. “I’m just making sure. I’d hate for you to get lost and leave me starving.” He jokes, sliding the notebook across the table with the order, along with his number. “See you tonight?”

“For sure, but you’re going to see me sitting here for the rest of lunch, if that’s okay with you.” You looked up at him through your lashes.

“It’s totally fine!” Dustin said, grabbing your attention. You’d almost forgotten about the freshmen sitting across from you.

You laughed and nodded, knowing he wanted to continue his spill about the different kinds of characters.

The end of the day came and you were headed out to your car when you were stopped by Tiffany. “What in the hell were you doing at that table of freaks during lunch?”

Your jaw clenched, but you didn’t let your anger show. “I had to come up with a plan for this project. Gareth is my partner. Art is the only class we have together and I’d like to get it started sooner rather than later.”

Tiffany scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t let it happen again.”

“Actually, I’ll be there Monday too, and probably a few times throughout the next couple of weeks. I’ll sit with you guys on game days so no one sees me in my uniform at their table, but this project is important to me. Art is important to me. You know I want to be an artist. If getting to know him is what it takes to make a kickass piece, then I’m doing it.” Your tone wasn’t harsh, but it was firm, letting her know there would be no room for negotiation.

She didn’t say anything, just stomped away, which caught the attention of the older Hellfire members.

“I think she just stood up for us.” Grant said, eyebrows raised.

Gareth pressed his back against the brick wall and looked up at the tin of the sidewalk covers. “Fuck.” He shook his head as he breathed deeply.

“What, Emerson?” Eddie cocked a brow at Gareth’s pained expression.

“I don’t know. Like, this is going to be so hard. I’ve only been in love with her since kindergarten. Now she’s sitting at my lunch table, standing up for me and my friends, and she’s coming to my fucking house tonight. How am I supposed to do this?”

Eddie couldn’t help but to laugh at his friend's pained expression. “I usually don’t get in the middle of this crap, but, earlier I made a joke about it being date night. She got really defensive, and that’s fully a sign that she’s into you. Maybe just go for it?”

“You’re so full of shit, Munson. She’s just a nice person and didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.” He replied, finally pushing himself off the wall. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow at practice. Gotta get home so my parents can head out.”

Eddie and Grant mumbled their goodbyes before making their way to Eddie’s van.

It was currently 5:50 and you’d just pulled into the Emerson’s driveway with a passenger seat full of food and shakes. You released a breath you didn’t realize you had been holding before cutting the engine and getting out of the car. You’d barely made it to the passenger door when the glossy red door to the house flung open.

“Lori, get back here!” Gareth’s exhausted yell came as he chased her down the steps, not yet realizing you’d arrived. He scooped her up as she giggled.

“I was trying to see your friend!” Lori‘s giggles quickly turned into a whine when she realized her brother had no plans to put her feet back on the ground.

Gareth finally looked up, making eye contact with you as you rested your elbow on the roof of the car. “Hey, uh, sorry. One sec.” He finally returned Lori’s feet to the ground but made her look at him. “Go back inside. I’m going to help Y/N bring the food in and you can see her in there, okay?”

She pouted but nodded before walking slowly to the house.

“Someone’s got the dad voice down.” You smiled, bending to grab the bags as Gareth made his way over to you in a pair of grey sweat pants and a faded Metallica shirt.

“Yeah, well, someone had to be when my dad split a few years ago. Rick is nice though.” He replied, reaching to take the bags out of your hands.

You nodded, smiling as his skin brushed yours. “I think you’re doing a great job considering she actually listened.” You offered before bending back down to get the drink tray with the shakes.

Gareth planned on replying, but he was silenced by the sight of you bent over and the amount of leg coming out of the old practice cheer shorts you’d changed into. He watched you stand and bump the door with your hip to close it.

“C’mon Gare, shakes are melting.” You said, taking a few steps towards his house.

He nodded and followed wordlessly. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

As you and his sisters settled into the table Gareth apologized again that his sisters threw a fit to both sit next to you.

“They’re fine, Gareth. Tell your brother to stop worrying so much, Lori.”

“Yeah, stop worrying that much.” She sassed, making you laugh and Gareth roll his eyes.

“I don’t know how Clara expects me to help her with her food all the way over there.” He gave the youngest girl a look as if to say ‘didn’t think of that, did you’.

“I’ve got it. It’s just chicken and fries. She’s safe in my care.” You assured him as you opened the small styrofoam container to start tearing the strips into more manageable pieces for a two year old

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have to.” He replied sincerely.

You sighed and turned to look at him. “Gareth, it’s okay to let people do stuff for you. If I minded I wouldn’t be doing it. Do you trust that?”

He was at a loss for words, only nodding in response.

“Good. Now eat your burger before it gets cold.” You instructed as you finished tearing the chicken. “One at a time, Clara. Don’t put another in your mouth until the first one is all gone, okay?”

The small girl with white curly hair and bright blue doe eyes nodded, reaching for a piece of her chicken.

You popped a fry into your mouth, fully ready to dive into your burger when there was a tap on your shoulder. You turned to see Lori looking at you with a pout.

“Can you do my chicken too? Pretty please.” She looked like she was scared you would say no.

“Of course, baby doll! Let me see.” You pulled her plate over to you and started ripping the chicken into bits.

“Lori, you eat strips all the time.” Gareth stated after swallowing a bite of his burger.

“Gareth, eat your burger and let her be. She wants my attention and that’s okay.” You assured him, cutting your eyes over to look at him across the table without moving your head very much.

“But your food is going to get cold.” He urged as you took on the second strip.

“We’ll call it practice for being a real mom one day. Cold food, cold coffee, hot ice cream.”

“Ew! Hot ice cream!” Lori laughed as you pushed her plate back towards her.

You couldn’t help but join in. Her laugh is tinkly like a fairy, contagious.

“Okay, alright, I won’t say anything else.” He raised his hands in surrender before going back to his food.

The rest of the meal went by quietly, ending with you spooning the girls' shared shake into separate cups.

Once dessert was had, it was bath time, resulting in your cheer camp t-shirt getting soaking wet.

“I am so sorry. Let me get you a shirt.” Gareth was red from embarrassment.

You, however, were still smiling. “Okay, Gare. I’ll get them dried off and changed, then I’ll come find you about the shirt.”

He nodded and left the bathroom.

“Are you my brother’s girlfriend?” Lori asked once she was sure Gareth was gone.

You giggled a bit and shook your head as you pulled her nightgown over her head. “No, baby doll, I’m not. We go to school together. He’s my friend.”

She nodded and her face twisted in thought. “Will you be his girlfriend?”

You gave her a soft smile. “Yeah, I hope so one day.” You winked at her before turning to help Clara into her nightgown. “Why don’t you girls go down stairs to the couch while I go find Gareth and change, hm?”

Lori nodded and took Clara’s hand to lead her away.

You sighed and pushed yourself from the floor.

It didn’t take much to figure out which door belonged to Gareth. He had various band stickers and drawings on the door. You knocked twice.

“Come in!” He called as he snagged his favorite Motley Crue shirt from the hanger. It may or may not have been for a fantasy he had not too long ago.

You opened the door and stepped in. “Hey, I sent the girls downstairs to get settled. Just came to grab the shirt. It’s starting to get a little chilly.” You chuckled at the end, leaning against the wall.

“Okay, great. Um, you can change here if you want. I can go get the movie ready.”

You nodded and stepped further into the room. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll be down in just a second.” You said taking the worn material from his hands. Once the door clicked closed you pulled your shirt over your head and unhooked your bra which was soaked through. You hoped the shirt would be big enough that the lack of bra wouldn’t be noticeable. What you didn’t think about though, was leaving the pile of damp clothes at the foot of the bed before walking out of the room and down stairs.

“Can I sit with you!” Lori yelled as she saw you finally descend the stairs.

“Of course, baby doll.” You smiled, glancing over at Gareth who managed to go a deep shade of red.

Maybe putting you into that shirt was one of his less than stellar ideas. His mind wandered back to the dream he had the other night of you, in the shirt, on top of him- He stopped his thoughts immediately before they became too much.

You settled next to him and let Lori climb into your lap as Gareth hit play on the Care Bears movie. You ran your fingers through the six year olds hair, eventually braiding it into a nice french braid before she fell asleep. You looked over to Clara who was dead asleep in Gareth’s lap.

He looked over at you and then up the stairs. “They won’t wake. They sleep pretty hard. Wanna take them up and get started?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” You smiled as you got a better grip on Lori. You followed Gareth up the stairs and pushed open Lori’s bedroom door. You laid her down gently in her princess bed sheets and covered her up before heading back to the hall to meet Gareth.

“You’re really good with them, you know.” He said, leading you back down the stairs and turning the light on.

“If I don’t go into art, I want to teach little ones.” You said, tucking a hair behind your ear.

“You could be the art teacher for the little ones.” Gareth offered. “Best of both worlds.”

“You’re so smart, you know that? That never crossed my mind.” You laughed a little, not believing you’d not thought of it before.

Gareth smiles as he bumped your shoulder. “Thanks. And when you do become an art teacher for little ones, make sure you credit me.” He winked before sitting on the floor at the coffee table.

You sat across from him, rolling your eyes at his joke. “I’ll put your name on the degree.” You said sarcastically as you pulled the questionnaire sheet from the spiral notebook.

Both of you took a second to look over the sheet before you spoke again.

“These are bullshit questions.” You said passively as you looked up from the bullet point asking ‘What is your partner’s favorite color.’

“Why do you say that?” He asked, putting his sheet down on the table.

You sighed and tapped your pen on your lip and you thought. “If I’m supposed to make an art piece based on you, what good is knowing your favorite food and color? I mean do I just draw a red cheeseburger? It’s so basic. Art is supposed to make you think. Make you feel something.” You emphasized before laying back on the floor.

Gareth laughed and scooted around to your side of the table to lay next to you. “You have a point, but how do you know my favorite color is red? I never told you.”

You turned your head to look at him rather than the ceiling. “I’ve lived 50 yards from you my whole life, we went to the same daycare, elementary, middle, and high school. Red is one of the few colors in your color palette. People don’t wear colors they don’t like.” You studied his face, taking in every freckle, every developing laugh line, every shade of blue and green in his eyes for the hundredth time, only this time you were much closer. It had much more of an effect on you.

“You’re very observant, you know.” His mouth ticked up into a lopsided smile as his eyes darted around your face.

“Which is you telling me that I’m right.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He laughed this time, making you smile. “You’re not as oblivious as you present yourself as. Why do you do that?” His brows furrowed as he questioned you.

You shrugged, debating your answer for a moment. “I do what I have to in order to make it where I want to go. You present yourself as a dark, twisty guy who doesn’t care about anything, yet you’ve got smile lines and you’re amazingly sweet with your sisters. Why do you do that?” You challenged with a playful smile.

“Self preservation. I’m a weird kid and if I come off as someone who’s easy to mess with, life would be a whole lot worse. So I keep myself far away from the people who don’t deserve to know me.” He explained, his eyes holding a look that you couldn’t quite place.

Before you could stop yourself you asked, “Do I deserve to know you?”

His eyes that held your gaze flickered down to your lips and back up. “Yeah. Do I deserve to know you?”

You nodded, unable to resist the urge to reach over and rest your hand on the side of his face.

The moment was quiet, intimate, and gone far too quickly as his mom and stepdad came into the house.

“Gareth, whose car is in the drive-“ his mothers voice cut off as she walked in on the innocent scene because she could feel the tension between her son and the girl laying on the floor.

You snatched your hand away quickly and looked at the woman in the doorway, praying she wouldn’t berate you for being there.

“Mom. Hey. I told you Y/N was coming by for the art project.” He was red, not from a blush but from panic. His heartbeat was thundering in his ears so loud he thought it must have been audible.

She nodded and smirked. “Alright, well, carry on then.” She turned and walked into the kitchen where her husband was digging around in the pantry. “They’re going to get married. I’m calling it now.”

“Gwen, you can’t be serious. You haven’t even spoken to the girl.” He turned to look at her before glancing through the doorway to see the girl in question gathering her things.

“A mother knows.” She patted his chest and gave him the look. The look that said you-know-I’m-right.

Gareth walked with you out the door and to your car. “I’ll see you on Monday. Be careful.” He opened your door for you and watched you get in.

“If I wreck going three houses down the street, I probably don’t need a license.” You joked as you looked up at him, taking in the way the moonlight bounced off of the high points of his face.

“Be careful.” His tone was a bit more authoritative than before, making your insides turn.

“I will be.” You promised before smirking. “Do you want me to call you when I get there so you know I got in okay?” You teased lightly, making him roll his eyes.

“Just for that, I sure do. If my phone’s not ringing in 5 minutes I’m coming down there.” He was smiling, laughing at the way you scrunched up your nose at him before sticking your tongue out.

“Maybe I won’t call then.”

“Are you testing me?”

“I guess you’ll find out.”

“I guess I will.” He winked and closed the door to your car before walking towards the door. He stood there, watching you back out of the driveway thinking about how easy it was with you. It was easy to be himself. He finally went inside to wait for your call.

[steveharringtonat3am]

Steve Harrington x fem!Reader

word count: 711

You and Steve had been friends for a long time. You had seen each other through some bad times but you had survived it together.

Yet, beneath the surface of your friendship, there was a tension, a quiet longing that neither of you wanted to acknowledge. For you, it was a secret admiration that had blossomed into something deeper, a love that you pushed away for the sake of your friendship. And for Steve, it was a gnawing ache in his heart, a longing to hold you close and whisper words of love into your ear.

As Valentine's Day approached, the air was thick with anticipation, mingling with the sweet scent of roses and the soft strains of love songs drifting from open windows. It was against this backdrop of romance that you found yourself grappling with a newfound desire to express your feelings for him.

Late into the night, you poured over your collection of cassette tapes, selecting each song with painstaking precision. From the soulful crooning of Marvin Gaye to the heartfelt lyrics of Joni Mitchell, each track held a special significance, a hidden message waiting to be discovered.

With trembling hands, you painstakingly recorded each song onto the cassette tape, letting the music fill the air with its timeless melodies. As you listened to the lyrics, you couldn’t help but smile, knowing that each song told a part of your story with Steve, from the early days of friendship to the present moment.

Finally, as Valentine’s Day dawned, you found yourself standing outside Steve’s door, mixtape in hand and heart pounding in your chest. With a deep breath, you knocked on the door, hoping against hope that he would understand the depth of your feelings. Surely he already knew how you felt.

"Hey sunshine!" Steve greeted you with a warm smile, stepping aside to let you in

"Hey, Steve," you replied, trying to mask the nervousness in your voice. "I, uh, made this for you. Happy Valentine’s Day."

You handed him the mixtape, your heart racing as he took it from you, a curious expression on his face.

"What’s this?" Steve asked, turning the cassette over in his hands.

"It’s a mixtape," you explained, feeling a flush of warmth spread across your cheeks. "Each song has a…special meaning.”

Steve’s eyes widened in surprise as he realized the significance of your gift.

“Can I listen to it now?”

“If-if you want to.” The worry settles in your gut as you follow him to the living room and watch as he slides the tape into the cassette player.

Pressing play, he let the music fill the air, his gaze never leaving yours as each song unfolded, revealing the depth of your feelings for him.

As the final chords of the last song faded into silence, Steve turned to you, his eyes shining with emotion.

"I can’t believe it," he whispered, his voice barely above a whisper.

You took a step closer, your heart pounding in your chest. "I’ve been wanting to tell you for so long, but I didn’t know how. I hope… I hope this helps."

And before you could say another word, Steve closed the distance between you, his lips meeting yours in a tender kiss.

In that moment, as the music played on in the background, you knew you had made the right choice.

Hours melted away as you talked and laughed, basking in the warmth of each other's presence. Steve shared stories from his childhood you had never heard, and you opened up about your dreams and aspirations. The mixtape played softly in the background, its melodies weaving through the air.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow through the windows, Steve took your hand in his, his eyes shining with love and adoration.

"I don’t know what I did to deserve you," he murmured, his voice filled with sincerity.

"You don’t have to do anything," you replied, squeezing his hand gently. "Just being with you is enough."

And in that moment, surrounded by the soft glow of candlelight and the sweet strains of music, you knew that your love for Steve was something truly special.

[helpimstuckposting]

TMAGP 30 Speculation

Now that it’s season finale time, I’ve got a LOT to say and a lot of ideas so I will ramble them here and either I’m horribly wrong or horribly right but unfortunately we have to wait to find that out

First, I can’t believe Alice had two mysterious talks with her friends saying they have something super important to say with a horrified quiver to their voices and she didn’t have time to listen to EITHER of them. Teddy and Colin are high high high on the list for ‘died off mic and we only find out next season’

Since Gwen was promoted (idiot) and Sam is… mmm… missing, it looks like the OIAR will need to fill at least one position, and I think it would be fun if Teddy came back to take his place as a main character. It’s possible that what he had to say was “This new job… it’s not exactly [working out]” and he was simply looking for a new one, and it’s no more ominous than that. If that’s the case, I can absolutely see him taking his position back next season. Colin’s probably dead, though, I’ll be shocked if he’s not tbh

Speaking of Colin, he called the system Freddy while talking to Alice. You know, the same guy that said “Don’t give it a personality. We shouldn’t even be calling it Freddy.” So the change up here is really blatant to me.

I’m still really attached to the idea that Jon and Martin (and Jonah’s) voices were stolen and they’re not actually trapped in the computers. However, I *do* think the voices are sentient, I just don’t think we’re right about who’s behind them. I think Freddy, the program itself, may be using the voices to push its own agenda and manipulate the decisions each OIAR employee is making. Alice gets a lot of JMJ errors, and is specifically the only person on staff who actively tunes the cases out and does not read into them.

OR, if it does turn out to be our guys, then I think it’s possible they’re working counter productively to Freddy, and the JMJ errors are a result of that — like they’re actively trying to work against Freddy. This could also be why Colin said he messed up, like maybe his attempts to deal with the JMJ errors made Freddy more powerful.

Either way, it seems the OIAR is in a huge bind going into season two. Colin probably did something buck wild and pissed the computer off, he’s probably dead, Sam is missing and they’ll need a new hire, Lena is gone (the only person who presumably knew anything that was going on) and Gwen just got promoted to boss despite having 1) absolutely no idea what’s going on with anything at all, 2) an inability to handle the externals and several panic attacks, and 3) no clue what Lena’s job even was, with no direction from the man who promoted her. It seems like even the PM has no real clue what the OIAR does, how it functions, or who it employs (“I’m sorry, do you hire a lot of murderers for contract and consultancy work?” - the answer is Yes, actually, several!)

Picturing the team next season as Alice, Teddy, Celia, and their boss Gwen is… a comedy of errors (or comedy of [ERROR]s? … Sorry) like that absolutely cannot go well. Although, we are pretty used to people being hired as a boss while they have no qualifications of the sort (also did not go well)

As for Sam, the Archivist, and Hilltop Road, I have a few questions about what could possibly happen. First, if the crack in reality was specifically calling for and tugging Celia toward it, we can probably assume that it’s the TMA universe on the other side, right? Which means Sam and the Archivist are now in our original beloved universe. I’m curious to see if Sam is just going to be MIA for the entirety of season two, or if we’ll get tape recordings of him at the same time as our TMagP friends, and we’ll have updates between both universes. I could see that being very interesting if some voice actors appear as two different people in the same episode (their TMA part, and their TMagP counterpart) but that would probably be really complicated to pull off in an audio format.

Also, we know the TMA fears cannot be separated, and that they’re possibly just one entity and have been one entity the whole time. That’s why they couldn’t start the apocalypse without all of them participating, and that’s why when Annabelle opened the crack in reality they all left the TMA universe. “Any attempt to separate the fears is doomed,” is what she said. She also said, “I would either travel with them, or I would die. I do not know which... Most would simply lose whatever power they have been gifted.”

So, if an archivist travels back through the crack in reality, what would happen to them? They’d be cut off from the entity that gave them power, right? So either the archivist will die, or maybe we’ll find out who Beth Eyre (the voice of [ERROR])’s character really is? Who they were before they became an archivist?

I don’t think they’d introduce [ERROR] and then just get rid of them without any resolution, which leads me to believe we will eventually find out what happened to Sam. I don’t think Sam’s just going to be dead or missing and never come back, I don’t see how there’d be any point to that. He is still the only person we know of who’s survived telling their whole statement, and even though he had a headache I feel like that must be significant. The janitor turned into a rock, I really don’t think a normal person would just walk away with a headache. Like, for all intents and purposes, Sam probably should have had his skin ripped off if we’re following the pattern of [ERROR] related deaths.

I hope next season focuses on Hilltop Road, because the lore in this episode was amazing. First of all, it was hard not to notice how each shop had a different danger. The custodian mentioned the drunk man walking into the newsagent and then he “ignored the smell of burnt hair and charred meat”. Then there was the shop that turned a woman into a mannequin, and Sam and Celia walked past the appliance shop where doors kept opening and closing, and the dentist that wanted peoples teeth. There was also the antique shop from episode 7 that almost buried the manager alive, plus the institute also used one of the units. I could be reading too much into it, but it feels like each fear from TMA has uhhhh… set up shop?

It’s also interesting to me that Annabelle said every owner on Hilltop Road in TMA was marked by the Spider, and died a grizzly death.

“So many schemers and spiders and full-throated monsters. Twisting manipulators and furtive liars. Each meeting a violent, grotesque end.” (TMA 196)

And the owner of Hilltop Center was no different.

“I found the owner dead in his office, with every blood vessel stripped from his body and strung around the room in a grim cat’s cradle.”

Not only did he die a violent and mysterious death, but his blood vessels were strung up ‘in a cats cradle’, which is pretty web-like if you ask me.

Anyway, I’m really really hoping to learn more about Hilltop Center next season, that’s the ONE thing I’m super latched on to post-finale

[world0fmadness]

THE FAME

varg “ count grishnackh ” vikernes x musician! reader | bård “ faust ” eithun x musician! reader

♡ general dating headcanons for varg and faust with a musician partner!

୨୧ hope you like this anon, i figured i’d just do both varg and faust for you because you were so sweet in your request <3

♡ requested by anon | related hc available here and here | view my metal masterlist here

reading music recommendations: government hooker by lady gaga - six underground by sneaker pimps - full moon by death grips

VARG “ COUNT GRISHNACKH ” VIKERNES

♡ if you’re actually a more popular musician than varg, i can see him being slightly jealous at the start of your newfound fame…

୨୧ he doesn’t act on his jealousy but deep down, it’s definitely there! sometimes he just feels a bit of envy… he burned all those churches and you’re still more popular than him having never done that? seriously?

♡ but i can see him getting over his jealousy pretty fast and being more proud than anything, he thinks you’re just such a perfect match for him! i mean, you’re both incredibly talented musicians and you’re recognised as such

୨୧ he truly believes you were put on this earth to be a musician and be his partner, it was your calling in life!

♡ he loves sitting with you and talking about lyrics or instrumentals, bouncing ideas back and fourth between each other seamlessly

୨୧ varg is brutally honest, if you show him a demo of a song you’re working on and he doesn’t like it he’ll tell you straight up

♡ he really tries his best to not be mean about it though! he makes sure to soften his voice a little

୨୧ varg has at least three of your tapes in his car at ALL times! does not matter what type of music you make, he wants to hear your beautiful voice

♡ when you’re performing at a concert, he’s always waiting for you backstage with open arms and a sizeable bouquet of flowers!

୨୧ usually a mix of red and dyed black roses! he can be super romantic but only with you <3

♡ you could genuinely get this stubborn man to listen to the most intensely “ girly ” hyper pop as long as it was your voice…

୨୧ if you go to recording studios instead of just using your bedroom and terrible recording equipment, please let him pay for it!

♡ his parents literally give him so much disposable money and he really wants to pay for it, you’re his girlfriend! why wouldn’t he want to pay for you?

୨୧ if you wear pretty extravagant outfits on stage, he’ll always help you out with them! you give him little fashion shows in your shared apartment as he sits back on the couch, giving his opinion on what outfit will work best

“ hm… i’m not so sure about this one, it looks a little tight, no? mmm… too boring, next one? ” ( he takes this so seriously, it honestly have you a shock at first )

♡ when you need help with actually preparing the outfit, like tightening a corset or tying the back, he’ll do it with no hesitation and place kisses on the nape of your neck whilst doing it! when he’s done, he’ll drift his hands lower down your hips and give them a gentle squeeze, signalling that it’s done

୨୧ if you ever have groupies, male or female, varg is so baffled! who the hell do they think they are? they think you’d ever give them the time of day? what a joke

♡ you’ve had to physically restrain him from throwing hands with wannabe groupies multiple times, including some female ones because he really doesn’t give a shit about gender if you’re trying to come onto his partner

୨୧ if varg ever spots a music magazine with you on the cover, he snatches it up and buys it so fast! coming home and showing it to you with a smirk on his face… if anyone was to see the amount of things he owns featuring you, they’d probably assume he was just an obsessed fan or something

“ hey, baby! look what i found at the petrol station, this is your latest one, right? ” ( he adds it to a whole stack of music magazines featuring you on the coffee table )

♡ he has almost all, if not all, of the magazines you’ve ever covered on or even just had a small section in

୨୧ if you ever write a song about him or for him, he’s so… actually happy, like really happy

♡ when you first told him you’d wrote a song about him or for him, he was so smug but when he actually got to listen to it?

୨୧ that smug attitude was thrown right out of the window! he’s so soft on you and can’t really, truly believe you love him enough to write a whole song for him

♡ don’t tell anyone but the song is his all time favourite now, of any musician! he listens to it all the time, mumbling the lyrics under his breath and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel when he’s in his car…

BÅRD “ FAUST ” EITHUN

♡ y’know how i said varg would be slightly jealous at the start of your fame starting to overpass his?

୨୧ yeah, faust isn’t like that at all!

♡ faust is so so so proud of you right from the start! when you first started dating him, you were still a pretty super small musician, but when you start really drawing in attention and selling way more tapes and CDs, he is so over the moon for you <3

୨୧ i just know he’d hype up you up so much before you’re going on stage, telling you that you look amazing and admiring you

♡ he’s never missed a single one of your shows from the time you began dating!

୨୧ literally, not a single one! he’ll put everything on hold to watch you perform, always cheering the loudest

♡ in your early days, whenever you needed to take promo pictures or album covers, faust would take the pictures for you! you couldn’t really afford a photographer so why not just hand a camera to your boyfriend?

୨୧ faust obviously isn’t a professional and has pretty limited experience with taking pictures but for you? he definitely tries his best! always telling you that you look beautiful from behind the camera and smirking when you pull a risqué pose

♡ similarly with varg, you like showing faust your demo work and asking his opinion on songs you’re not too sure about

୨୧ however he’s just too soft on you! he doesn’t want to tell you if he doesn’t think a song sounds that great :(

♡ he’ll try so hard to say that it sounds great but you’re not stupid… you can see that he’s lying through his teeth and just tell him to quit his bullshit

୨୧ so he does, but he’s super apologetic! as if not thinking it sounds too good is just entirely his fault

“ i’m sorry, pretty girl… it might just be me! it probably is, maybe it’s just too different for me, i’m not sure… but your voice is beautiful, still! ” ( he doesn’t think it’s really possible for your voice to be anything but beautiful )

♡ if you play an instrument as well as sing, or just play an instrument, faust is all over that!

୨୧ he’ll always snag some supplies for your instrument whenever he’s about and about! you don’t ever need to worry about getting some more picks or drumsticks with him, he’s way ahead of you all the time

♡ faust absolutely convinces euronymous to sell some of your music in helvete! doesn’t matter what genre of music you make, faust would probably threaten to quit if he didn’t sell your music

୨୧ whenever he rings up customers, he’ll always mention your music, asking if they’ve heard any of your stuff or if they want to buy one of your tapes! literally your personal door to door salesman, bugging people all the damn time

“ oh! have you listened to them yet? they’re very good… y’wanna buy one of their tapes? you should, i mean you’d probably like it, y’know? ” ( he’s so pushy with it too and euronymous always just rolls his eyes whilst watching from the office doorway )

♡ faust has DEFINITELY done the drums for some of your songs! if you aren’t in a band but want some drums in the back and don’t play yourself, why would you not have your boyfriend play them for you?

୨୧ he’s never really too jealous of fans and wannabe groupies, you talk about him enough to where he knows very well that they know you’re happily in a relationship and he knows you’d never leave him or cheat on him like that

♡ but he can get just a tiny bit jealous if you have a lot of male fans, especially when you take pictures with them as concerts

୨୧ he cannot get over it when you ask him to play them for your song, like you want to show him off? show his talent off? oh my god it nearly breaks his brain

♡ it’s the same when you mention him and his band in magazine interviews!

୨୧ like, oh wow, you’re actually talking about him and your relationship! you don’t want to hide your relationship with him or anything, you’re telling people to listen to emperor and raving about his drumming! he has to stop himself from putting a ring on your finger

♡ he definitely has a bracelet with your name or your stage name on it and you have one with his band name on it…

[sanest-bsd-delegate]

Concert tickets

Headcanon: Where its you, them and the music taste. Ft Dazai, Chuuya, Tachihara and Lucy Masterlist Please look at the request rules in masterlist before requesting. Here is a lil headcanon for you (exams are shit, they decrease the writing creative power) bear with it AND THE GIF AM SORRY I CANT LMAO 😭

Dazai:

This man is 10/10 screaming the lyrics in the office.

Now he is a fan of Mitsiki too, but 'I wanna be yours' hits different.

Assuming your favorite band, he makes sure you least have a vintage case tape thingy even if it means Kunikida's bank account goes dead.

You both are broke babes,😭 cant even go to the concert.

But if you get to go into a concert, *cough* Kunikida's card *cough*, he makes sure you stay close to him

He 1000/10 gets lost in the concert, so pretty much you have to make sure his body aren't damaged. Twig like mf fr

WHY DO I IMAGINE HE MIGHT AS WELL AS CLIMB THE STAGE AND SING OUT-😭

If there are any fan meets, he makes sure you are with him cause there was this one time you beat him up just cause he didn't take you to a meetup. 💪💀 #saddazaicauseheisbroken

Dazai slays in the artist's t-shirts.

He secretly writes those artist x reader fanfiction on tumblr or smthg idk

I think he had a arctic monkey obsession phase.

It was a traumatic phase

I can feel like once you both only talked in I wanna be your lyrics, and oh boy the ADA was traumatized.

Once you refused to give him cuddles and bro really screams 505 lyrics.

He got a restraining order from the band when he sung at their concert.😭

The whole neighborhood got deaf by his singing.🤡

IMAGINE FIGHTING WITH PM AND THEN MF GOES LIKE "I go crazy 'cause here isn't where I wanna be" AND THE PM GOES WHO POSSESSED THIS MF NOW. (I need sleep)

Aww you love your boyfriend even when he is having broken bones and currently in hospital bed for going to a concert alone and getting crushed by sweaty people😭 <333

Chuuya:

"MILLANIUM KIDS THAT WANNA DIE" Bro might as well be a Dazai kinnie in music taste.

He had a Conan gray phase and still isn't over it.

Its a good thing you are his S/O.....YOU GET A FREE TICKET TO CONCERT WITH HIM.💪💀

can we appreciate this man? HE BUYS MERCHS FOR YOU <3333 WITHOUT STEALING OTHER'S MONEY UNLIKE SOME. 🤡

(well technically he steals their life so naturally the pay is for the life so he steals soul and money but he is a babygirl...he is forgiven.)

He has to use his gravity powers thingy. YOU BOTH ARE TO MUCH DEPRESSED IN THE CROWD.

"Woah, this place is just like my mind, messed up" "STFU Y/N 😭I AM TRYING TO BUY SOME MF TICKETS"

Awww he probably have you sit over his shoulder so that he can lowkey fly and you both can see the concert.

He cries if the song describes his life.🤠

Cause like one time you caught him listening to Mitski and he was crying. YKW YOU HUGGED HIM AND KISSED HIM CAUSE NO ONE LIKES A CRYING CHUUYA (maybe in bed thats different)

PLEASE I CAN IMAGINE THAT WE FORCE THIS MF

INTO

SINGING

LEVITATING

WHILE FLYING 😭

"I wish he levitates away forever, his singing makes my ear bleed" *Dazai proceeds to levitate to ADA hospital bed*

Chuuya supremacy

Tachihara:

Who knew this man got a music taste?

The same music taste as yours.

213420/10 the best music taste duo.

YOU CAUGHT THIS MAN RED HANDED LISTENING TO CPR. 🤡

His personality will be screaming Daddy Issues 😭

You still are suspicious how he got the concert tickets that too for TWO PEOPLE 💀

He will be those people who either will scream lyrics in someone's phone while they are recording or will those privileged people who get recognized by the band.

Why can I imagine him saying that the concert sucks?

YADADA YOU STILL DRAG HIM ANYWAYS.😭

*insert him doing funky dance on new rules by Dua Lipa*

Lowkey feels he listens to Spanish songs.

Imagine being along in room with this mf and he starts to sings Die for you??? While he spins you around dancing and laughing????

#blessed.

STFU. He had a Alan walker phase. No ifs and buts.🤡

Awww he brought your favorite artist's merch......WHERE IS THE HIDDEN MONEY BOY.

(Ill vibe with him on song 'this december')

EXTRA BUT HIM SINGING TELEPATH?? MY HEART CANT-😭

He brought a spotify premium for both of you <33 TAKE THAT ADS. 😭

Lucy:

She gives me girl in red vibes.

Pretty sure she is embarrassed to admit her music taste.

SHE IS THE REASON YOU LISTEN TO AMERICAN MUSIC ATM IDC.

You both will be sneaking in the concert using her ability.

LIKE FOR FREE??🎉🤠

You suggested that you should just have the door half ass open cause the crowd is just to much crowdy.🤡

She dragged you to follow her.

HELP SHE GOT CALLED ON THE STAGE TO SING WITH THE ARTIST. 10/10 she sings well.

Her music taste really is various but we love it.

She lowkey thinks you don't know she had a Justin Bieber phase, but you aren't confessing, it will hurt her ego.😭

You both watch those 2 hr concert video uploaded on Youtube (bless those uploaders)

"Y/N we can very well visit the concert venue you know?"

WAIT TILL THE COPS REALISE THAT💪💀

Awww look at you, just you both making Spotify playlist for each other.

"F-R-I-E-N-D-S" "Y/N please, you are acting worse then when you are drunk😭" "🤡 Haven't I made it obvious"

You brought her a little marshmallow keychain.

So like Atsushi accidently entered you both jamming to your favorites of all time and ummmm it left a traumatic picture in his mind that day. (Dw its just both of you jamming to much hard and the room is trashed out <3🤠

Fun fact: I was really confused on who to pick and wrote Tachihara thinking the poll cant change in 30 mins. (P.s it did and Lucy won)🤠 Fun Fact pt 2 : Requests are getting proceeded, stop spamming asking when they are finished 🤠 dw, am up for y'all love and appreciations and Ideas

[carefulfears]

so i really love whenever you call mulder & scully best friends. wanna talk about your top 5 favorite moments of their friendship?

DO I EVER

1/ little green men

they have a secret code. they have their own language.

when mulder gets to his desk that morning, the photo of samantha is tipped over, and he knows that this means to meet scully at the watergate. which, first of all, is unbelievably dorky. these two work in the same building. these two have cell phones.

but they have been split up and reassigned and it is not a phase you guys it is the end of the world!!!!

when he arrives in the parking garage, he asks what she wants, and she responds, "to know that you're alright."

they have a secret code and their own language and for nothing more than to check in.

(shoutout to the depression hair era, they are so funny for both getting bangs the moment they were separated. that's how you know things are really bad for the girlies.)

when he sinks down to the floor and tells her the george hale story, she crouches down next to him, listens, tells him not to give up.

you can tell that it makes her uneasy to see him defeated, to see him doubting himself and what he believes in. she's almost trying to convince him of aliens in that moment, telling him that he's seen so much and reminding him of samantha. trying to spark something in him.

they have a secret code, they have their own language, and when he leaves town, he buys the plane ticket under a name that only she will recognize. she cracks his computer password in three tries.

earlier, after skinner questions scully, he tells CSM that she's telling the truth, she really doesn't know where mulder is. "because if she knew, she wouldn't be so worried about him."

they aren't as hard to decipher as they want to believe.

PAUSE!!!!! this is the cuntiest thing he's ever done. the sunglasses, the denim, the boots, the dangerous lack of exit strategy...anyway

she interprets his clues, she follows without obligation, they go back together. hand in his hair, not giving up, just like she started the episode.

in the end, they have nothing. the hail mary trip resulted in empty tables and silent tape recordings.

one thing i didn't notice until i rewatched this one the other day is that it's not when he says "i still have you" that she takes his hand.

it's when he switches the tape from the record of his failed excursion to his actual assignment, hours of listening to slimy men talk about strippers.

she listens with him for a moment before shaking her head, and squeezing his hand. she does understand that this isn't what he wants to be doing, and that it's disheartening.

2/ tooms

i could list every season one episode here. i could do a whole other post just about season one. i could do a whole other post just about season one, and include every episode. but i guess i will settle for this one.

this is my favorite season, and this is my favorite MSR.

him waving the pine tree air freshener in her face when she said he smells 😭😭😭

squeeze was all about the choice between climbing the ladder and the "out there" but "good" work of the basement, with all of the ridicule and consequence that come with it.

its sequel episode is about the aftermath of that decision, what it means to choose the side of the victim, to stop reaching for personal success.

(this shot is so beautiful, her face through CSM's smoke)

tooms opens with scully in a negative performance review, skinner (in his very first scene!! we love you skinman) going over her reports, CSM lurking in the corner.

the two share a look, then warn scully against having too much of an open mind, telling her that it is her "responsibility to see that these cases are by the book"

"by the book" becomes the theme of the episode, with the phrase repeating multiple times throughout.

this isn't the first time that the show has explored this topic, with young at heart also centering a debate of “by the book” protocol, what it really means, and who it really serves. ending with this final dialogue:

SCULLY: Mulder, I know what you did wasn't by the book.

MULDER: Tells you a lot about the book, doesn't it?

“by the book” isn’t an easy order to follow when you have a partner who doesn’t believe in it, and you aren’t sure you do either.

it’s not an easy order to follow, for the navy captain’s daughter who worships authority.

she does try though, and she's initially frustrated with mulder's behavior in the case. she tells him that he "sounded so....." at the trial, and she's reluctant to pursue his methods without approval from the bureau.

ultimately, when she comes to bring mulder something to eat on his unauthorized stakeout, she tells him that what he's doing is not proper surveillance protocol, and he good-naturedly accuses her of peddling "the book."

she responds, "this is not about doing it by the book, this is about you not having slept for three days." and tells him that he is inevitably going to get hurt.

to her, it's not about following the rules or pressure from the bureau or respecting authority, it's about making sure he's okay.

when she tells him to go home, that she'll take over the stakeout, he smiles and shakes his head (it's almost the same look that he gives her years later in redux ii, when she tells him to lay it all on her. just less tears.)

and i know that we tend to focus on the next part of this scene, but this line stands out to me too, as he declines because he doesn't want her to get "in trouble."

he doesn't want her to break the rules or disobey authority, and he still believes she'll be head of the bureau someday.

it kinda makes me teary, this stupefied look on his face at her response. when she looks at him unflinching and says, "mulder, i wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody but you."

they are so kind to each other. they really don't care about official reprimands in files or welfare protocols; they each just want the other to get some rest, to have a bright future.

he relents, allows her to take over, on the condition that she calls "if anything happens. immediately. i'll be here." and suggests she catch the sports talk radio show

she bends down to give him one last smile and eye roll as she exits the car

and makes a joke to herself while walking back to her own. best best best friends.

3/ tempus fugit

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SPECIALAGENTDANAKATHERINESCULLYYYYY

what better way to celebrate life than annoying the hell out of your best friend on her birthday?

the way he clearly gave the waiters her name and this snowball and sparkler and sang "special agent dana katherine scully" while they all sang "happy birthday dana" is one of his most embarrassingly extra moments and it never fails to make me laugh

she rolls her eyes at him, but the way she stares when he's not looking says so much. they both know why this year gets sparklers and song when last year didn't. they both know there might not be a next year.

he's literally never been more irritatingly overjoyed lmao. and he brought presents! ("oh, you've got to be kidding me" "just something that reminded me of you")

he said "i didn't know it was your birthday, scully!" with a wrapped gift in his pocket, always prepared with a smile and a cover story

he does this same thing in memento mori, after getting the call to come to the hospital, when his first words of the episode are "i stole these from some guy with a broken leg down the hall. he won't be able to catch me." about the flowers we watched him come through the front doors holding

he clearly puts thought into these gestures, but everything is so fragile. neither of them are comfortable with what too much sincerity would mean, how limited it all is.

but they find little ways to give to each other anyway, they hang out in bars and roll their eyes and discuss the meaning behind a keychain.

if this is the last birthday, maybe it's worth a little vulnerability (and annoying song and dance), that he did it up right.

4/ one breath

another Mulder Gift™️ entry. god, the sweetness here is just overwhelming. he is so strange and tries so hard.

this whole scene is one of my favorites of the series, but i love this little moment so much.

it's so inadequate, in the end. to see someone that you thought you'd lost, your most important person, who was gone for so long, and have nothing more to give them than a shitty VHS sports tape.

but what else can you do? he's so quiet and self-conscious in this moment. he raced to the top of mountains and stood on broken cable cars and choked a man and wore her necklace around his neck for months and wept on the floor. he had the strength of her beliefs, and he prayed. he held her hand by her bedside after they pulled the plug.

so much goes unsaid between them, because how can you say it in words? how can you do anything but smile and buy something stupid at the gift shop?

she makes a joke while he smiles at the floor, but it's not a joke, not really. he's there and he's giving her whatever he can and he's cracking jokes, and she knew there was a reason to live. that's it right there.

5/ detour

GO, GIRL!

this is a best friends episode. this is a "we survived that hospital and we refuse to spend our one wild and precious life at the annual FBI teamwork seminar, if you need us, we'll be lost in the forest" episode.

look at her trying not to laugh while he's making sarcastic comments at her in the backseat. can you imagine carpooling with these two? they are forever passing notes and whispering behind backs.

she is not making it to the teamwork seminar. she is not getting her wine and cheese, either. she is looking for mothmen in western florida.

they think they're so much better than that communication exercise, just to make vague innuendo in a motel room.

they tell each other all about native species and how ticks can halt their metabolism and the livestock that was killed in a town 30 years ago. she teases him about his filing system.

neither of them tire of bashing the hell out of that teamwork seminar.

they talk about death. about searching for meaning in life. about which flintstones character they relate to the most. they swap dirty jokes.

she fusses over his grave injury (a dislocated shoulder) and holds him. sings to him so that he'll know she's still there.

a few years down the road, she'll sing that same song to their baby, on one of her last days with him. she'll sing to him about this night, about his dad, about her favorite memories.

sitting there together in that forest in florida, they have already started to carry the weight of near-misses. of lost time, of almosts, of purposeful disease.

they have come a long way and taken on a lot, in the years since the parked car outside tooms' house and the garage at the watergate.

but they have yet to be separated longer than 90 days. they have yet to lose a child. they have yet to plan funerals and prison breaks.

there's something about that time, that ability to just sit in the woods and talk about everything, looking for mothmen, that is so precious and so special.

and when she tells him that night that she had struggled to find meaning, that's where it is.

[desire-mona]

more modern poets hcs for greenie!

charlie -

charlie used to post like "annoying gay ppl vs normal gay ppl" memes, had a huge turnaround and they cringe when they think of that time. mentioning blaire white or kalvin garrah would make him jump

has an "i <3 milfs" design of every article of clothing, could make an entire i <3 milfs outfit. shirt, hat, pants, socks, belt, shoes, hoodie, you name it.

todd -

todd is nonbinary bc he is autistic and autistic ppl generally view gender differently. not debating this. this is a fact and this is canon. they/he/she todd anderson, what of it.

chronic procrastinator when it comes to anything besides school. they will put off doctors appointments, finishing tv shows, even charging their phone.

neil -

doesnt use tiktok but he watches todd scroll thru her fyp sometimes and gets very mad at those "acting pov" videos. hes like "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN ACTING POINT OF VIEW" "POINT OF VIEW YOU ONLY HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF WORDS???????? WHAT DOES THAT MEEEEEAN"

i see ppl saying that neil would be a swiftie but i would like to suggest that he's a big ethel cain fan, a collection of songs that tell a fictional character's story? tell me thats not right up his alley

meeks -

i dont think this is the type of math meeks bases a career off of but i do think he rly pays attention to architecture and city layouts and stuff. will forever complain abt how inconvenient it is to have a car centered society and how every place should be walkable OR have public transport

collects records despite not having a record player, tapes despite not having a walkman, and cds despite using his cd player maybe 3 times a year. quite honestly its just to have a physical collection of his music taste

pitts -

pitts went thru a "nice guy/ vaguely incel-ular" phase in middle school, but he didnt talk to a singular woman in those years. by the time it went away there was no harm done to anyone but himself and a very annoyed meeks who had to listen to how girls "only go for assholes"

he has a fashion sense so good that ppl online *ask* him to post fit checks, he doesnt do any if theyre not requested of him. pitts is also the one with the biggest online presence, most notably tiktok and twitter

knox -

type of guy to constantly post shit like "like for a tbh" or post anonymous question things on his story. nobody interacts with any of it so he usually just deletes them after half a day

haaaaaaaates texting and will either send very long voice messages or just ask to call whoever he's talking to (me fr i send ppl voice msgs almost exclusively)

cameron -

cam is suuuuuuuper creeped out by ai "art", especially the ai washing feet commercial during the superbowl, which he had nightmares about for a week

his parents are constantly trying weird diets (most notably keto) so he has the weirdest assortment of random ingredients in his pantry. has come up with the strangest "meals" any one of those boys have ever seen

[yanderes-galore]

Hello Hello!!

Sorry for bothering, but could you write something for Platonic Yan!Dave and Dirk with a troll Reader who is just obsessed with music? Their entire room is filled with CDS, tapes, and instruments, everything related to music has a 99% chance of being in their room, and half the time they don't even know what is called

Sure! This is really tame but I hope you still enjoy it!

Yandere! Platonic! Dave + Dirk with Musical Troll! Darling

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Denial, Delusional behavior, Possessive behavior implied, Clingy behavior implied, Hidden camera mentioned, Tame yandere fic, Dubious companionship.

Dave Strider💿

Dave loves music.

So seeing a troll so obsessed with human music amuses him a bit.

Dave isn't new to befriending trolls and honestly your love of music just drives him closer.

You explain your collection to him and tell him you don't entirely understand all of it.

You just think it's neat!

I feel Dave would take the time to explain your collection to you.

Your shared love for music and musical apparatus makes him attached to you.

Your collection is probably the main reason he hangs out with you.

I said in his concept that Dave would make music for you and find gifts for your interests.

That isn't new here.

Dave no doubt wants to expand your knowledge of human music.

He gives you CDs and tapes, he even shows you human music videos.

You're completely enraptured by them when he shows you.

Dave also suggests having you make music with him on the meteor.

He no doubt makes songs for you, but making songs with you no doubt brings you closer.

Dave becomes your teacher in the art of human music.

Which is what snowballs into his obsessive behavior.

He begins taking all of your attention on the meteor.

Your time is mostly spent with him in your room, making music and chatting.

Terezi even gets concerned for the both of you as Dave strangely seems… attached to you.

Dave subtly manipulates just like he does in the original concept.

He doesn't even mean it half the time but he ends up consuming most/all of your attention.

He likes it, too.

He knows he should probably feel guilty… yet he likes your attention on him.

You look at him with stars in your eyes, you listen to every lesson he gives on music.

Is… taking your attention really all that bad if you look so happy?

… maybe it isn't bad.

You two are happy with one another as friends.

Why do you both need to talk to anyone else?

You're happy together… so there can't be anything wrong.

“You really don't know what that does? Here, I'll show you.”

Dirk Strider🧢

Dirk isn't as into music as Dave, but he can certainly relate to your hobby.

Don't get him wrong, he enjoys music, he just prefers other things for a hobby.

However, Dirk would also teach you about what certain musical items do.

He may even try building you something that can play the tapes and CDs you have.

Records too if you have any.

While you rant about your obsession with human music, Dirk listens to you.

He even mentions his own hobbies in an attempt to relate to you.

Dirk is much more interested in swords and robotics, although he slowly gets a taste for music by listening with you.

He doesn't know many trolls but in a way he finds your intrigue in human culture cute.

As a result he considers you a close friend.

He often visits the room you have whenever he gets to meet you.

He rambles with you about particular songs or instruments.

In return you listen to his own likes.

Dirk also likes to give you things.

Yet instead of more discs or tapes like Dave, he gives you robotic creations that play music.

Probably gives you a small bluetooth robot that plays whatever song you like.

It no doubt also has a camera so he can keep an eye on you… as friends do, right?

Dirk finds your interests endearing and that makes him more attached to you.

Like Dave he ends up taking up all your time after that.

Dirk is an overbearing friend and is often needy.

He's lucid about how toxic his obsession is… yet you look so happy.

So… he'll excuse it.

After all… he isn't hurting you, is he?

“Here, it plays music. Any genre you want too. Do you like it?”

[herpartnerintime]

Before you say Chloe is a bad friend...

Play Farewell again. Look at how happy Chloe was. She had the perfect life, perfect family, perfect best friend. Pay attention to how she looks at Max with such adoration and love. The way she hugs Max out of nowhere and tells her she's the fricken best, pay attention to how she comforts Max about the move and isn't worried about anything changing. She trusted Max with ALL HER HEART.

And Max betrayed that. When she needed it most, when her dad died, Max broke the promise she left on that tape (that Chloe clutched to her chest as she fell down crying, that meant the world to her, that recording...) Imagine what that would do to you. Listen to Max's tape... listen to it.

Max: I guess I just wanted to leave you one more message. Because I know this was the absolute worst time for me to go. I thought maybe if you heard my voice it could be a little bit like I was there. I don't know, maybe this was a dumb idea. I would give anything to be there with you now. It's so hard, trying to say what I'm thinking. If I could just see you... But we'll get good at it—great at it! We'll write and talk all the time. And then you'll come visit and it'll be like I never left. I mean it, you don't have to worry about anything changing. You're dealing with so much other stuff. You don't deserve any of this. Max: Chloe, listen. Even if I never—even if we're moving for good... We're always together, okay? Even when we're apart. We're still Max and Chloe. I will always, always love you. Goodbye.

Think of how Chloe is curled in a ball on the floor of her room clutching that tape like it's all she has left because it IS all she has left but she is also left with the promise Max is going to write and talk with her all the time, the promise they are still Max and Chloe, that Max will always love her, that nothing will change. Chloe is clutching to the tape, holding it to her chest, she's clutching on to Max. And Max? She doesn't write. She doesn't call. She doesn't text. In bts she maybe responds once or twice but otherwise no. She's not there at all. Things do change. Chloe's alone... everything on that tape... feels like a lie.

Everybody lies remember? A statement 16 year old Chloe believes in Before the Storm. Who do you think taught her everybody lies? Then my dad died, and her dad got some job up north and she moved away to Seattle. It was probably the moment when I needed her most, and she bailed. Thanks, Max, for teaching me that I can't rely on anyone. I mean it. Life lesson learned.

Tell me you wouldn't be just as broken as Chloe losing your dad and then your best friend who you loved so much and then your mom gets a new boyfriend (and marries him) who treats you like you're just a problem and your mom is okay with it. Justifies his treatment of you. He's not your fucking dad. Your dad was perfect. This guy is nothing. It feels like your mom is trying to replace your dad. He's telling you that you've had enough of a vacation from a father figure as if your dad being dead for two years is a 'vacation' you wanted. Joyce has a right to move on, but her boyfriend treats and talks to Chloe horribly, and Chloe is 16. She's a teenager. She hasn't moved on from her dad's death, not even close. She hasn't moved on from Max either. Max and her dad were her fucking world. Think about the Junkyard scene in Before the Storm. The one where Chloe is smashing things in the junkyard. The way she sees the camera and goes... Chloe: I've never understood your hard-on for cameras, Max. You took a million pictures of us, and not one of them showed that you were gonna leave when I needed you most.

Chloe smashes it.

Chloe: Fuck cameras. She says fuck you David. Fuck off Rachel. But she can't say fuck you Max.

I feel the need to say what she wrote in her journal about taking Max back in a heartbeat at 16 stayed true even at 19. She took Max back in a heartbeat. The worst part is that even though we haven't spoken in months, even though she habitually ignored my texts so much that I just stopped trying, even though I know, deep down, that she doesn't care about me anymore and that she probably has all new friends up in fucking Seattle... I still miss her. If she came back tomorrow and said "hey Chloe, want to dress up like pirates and be stupid together?", I would take her back in a heartbeat. And as we all know, she does. I want you to think of the scene where Chloe finds her dad's car and breaks down, smashing her fists against the car screaming and crying until she falls down to the ground, crying and sobbing, curling up into a ball as she cries, all alone in that Junkyard, alone because not only did her dad die, but Max left, and she didn't keep her promise on that tape that Chloe had also curled into a ball with. She doesn't even have that promise anymore. She has nothing. But wait, that's not all, because as soon as Rachel leaves I find a car. My dead dad's fucking car. The twisted, shattered, ugly reminder of what used to be my life.

I think most people would never want anything to do with people who hurt them like Max. But Chloe took her back, still loved her, still treated her with love and still considered her her best friend. Look at how special their scenes are. The way they walk on the train tracks, the way they touch and Max worries her powers won't last forever. Guess what? Chloe doesn't care. She says WE WILL. Forever. She doesn't care if Max loses her powers because she LOVES Max, not her powers.

Now was Chloe angry at times in the game? Yes. And she had a right to be. Honestly, I'm surprised people seem to be under the impression you should just be okay with your best friend ghosting you after promising you she would be there for you when you desperately needed her and never be a little angry about it (and let's not forget Max returning to Arcadia but still not contacting Chloe). But with that said does Chloe act selfishly with Max at times? Yes she does.

Let's talk about the weed in Chloe's room. My favourite thing to do is hide and then burst out of the closet and take the blame for Chloe, which touches Chloe that Max throws herself out of the closet to protect her and feels like a huge show of love to Chloe that Max wanted to protect her. But if you don't hide and David catches you? Chloe will throw the blame on you and say it's Max weed. If you refuse to take the blame, Chloe is hurt and angry at Max.

It was a test when she throws the blame on Max. Does Max care enough about me to protect me? Think of how as kids Chloe protected Max when Max broke one of the stair posts as kids Max thinks in Farewell, "I slipped and broke this post a few years ago. But Chloe insisted on taking the blame. Even after she got grounded, she never squealed. What a friend." Chloe was willing to take the blame for Max as kids and protect her. Would Max do the same for her? Protect her?

And if Max does, or if you come out of hiding and take the blame without prompting think about how much that MEANS to Chloe. How loud that action speaks to her seeing Max wanting to protect her. And watch how protective she is of Max when David gets in her face about it. If Max is taking the blame, that doesn't mean Chloe is going to let David get to close to her. She says this if you do not take the blame and is then hit by David.

Max: I'm sorry, Chloe... I didn't know what to do...

Chloe: Whatever. Everybody bails on me. Even my "best friend" Max... Don't you? I'm so done with everyone in this town... I wish I hadn't even seen you. As if you care. Color me outta here... Keep in mind too, before this dialogue when they were talking about Rachel, this exchange happens.

Max: And you haven't heard anything from her since?

Chloe: Like everybody in my life. My dad, you...and Rachel. Gone... Can you put on some music now?

Max gets up. She inserts the CD into the stereo. "Santa Monica Dream" by Angus and Julia Stone begins playing. Chloe lies down on the bed, a sad expression on her face, and she begins to smoke.

Chloe: Anyway... You can find tools to fix your camera in the garage...

Max: Chloe, are you okay?

Chloe: Sure, I'm awesome. I just want to blaze and be alone for a moment...

Max not taking the blame and standing up to David as he harasses Chloe and eventually hits her has Chloe feeling deeply hurt and thinking about how everyone in her life hurts her and this is no different, changing her earlier happy mood at seeing Max and bringing this feeling back we saw earlier that had her distressed. Everyone lets her down, everybody leaves her, of course Max didn't stand up for her, why would she even have expected her too? Don't forget how in Before the Storm Rachel even told Chloe this... Rachel: Sometimes, I feel like I've got no reason to stay. Don't be surprised, Chloe, if one day, I'm just out of here. Chloe goes back and forth between thinking Rachel is missing and in danger to thinking I imagine to this moment and wondering if Rachel abandoned her too. Like Max did. She's come to expect the ones she loves leaving her and disappointing her. Look at how happy she is if you take the blame.

Chloe: Thanks for taking the heat. We totally smacked his punk ass down, Max. He's no match for you and me now...That was an epic win. Anyway. Let's sneak out the window...there is one cool place we can hang in this hickhole Chloe: Isn't this awesome sauce? Totally reminds me of when we were kids... (waves to Max.) Come on, slowpoke! Chloe is practically high with the happiness of Max taking the blame, not because she wants Max in trouble but because the act of Max looking out for her makes her feel loved, makes her feel like this is real, Max is really back and is to stay and she really does care again.

Max's inaction or her choice to take action have powerful affects on Chloe. Come out of hiding or take the blame and she feels loved, don't take the blame and she feels uncared for from a friend she fears may not truly care for her like she cares for her. The same can be said of shooting or not shooting Frank. Let's talk about the dialogue Shoot Max: Sorry.

Chloe hugs Max.

Chloe: You were awesome. Thanks for standing up for me...Let's blow. My secret lair didn't feel secret today. At least Frank is gone; he won't fuck with us again. He just wants his money. Don't shoot Chloe: You really stood your ground. Don't shoot

Max: I freaked. I don't like guns.

Chloe: It'll be hard to keep Nathan off my ass... My step-shit will have his other guns sealed in an electrified bunker by now.

Max: Sorry, Chloe. I've never held a gun on a human being before. Not cool.

Chloe: I know, Max. Really. I'm actually relieved it worked out this way instead... And there are more guns out there...Let's blow. My secret lair didn't feel secret today. At least Frank is gone; he won't fuck with us again. He just wants his money.

I know her reaction of you didn't stand your ground when you don't shoot is hurtful and unfair, Max was pointing the gun at Frank, she was scared in this scenario to pull the trigger and possibly kill him. Chloe acknowledges she knows, signaling she does understand this was a hard situation for Max and it's not fair to place that expectation on her. I think the reason her reaction if Max shoots is moving to hug her when Max says sorry is because of how deeply moved Chloe was by what Max did. Max saw her in danger and was willing to pull a trigger to protect her. That's an act of love and a powerful one and Chloe knows that. I think if Max doesn't shoot, even if it's unfair, a part of Chloe feels like she's not loved enough to have someone go that far to protect her, but she can acknowledge it's not fair of her to feel that way. Let's talk about these lines too..

Chloe: I still can't believe you pulled a gun on Frank. That was epic.

Max: It felt awful... I'm glad there was no bullets in there--

Chloe: You can just rewind time in your hand and stick that barrel right up Frank's ass! You have the power!

Max: You're gross. Don't fall. Max and Chloe briefly hold hands, then let go. vs

Chloe: I can't believe you basically gave him my gun. "Here ya go, Frank."

Max: You can't keep getting mad at me. Especially for stupid shit.

Chloe: I'm not mad. It adds up in my mind as people letting me down. And I just liked having that gun, man.

Max and Chloe briefly hold hands, then let go.

Max: Now you have me to protect you. Now again, Chloe is being unfair here, but she is upset her protection was taken from her as she is very anxious I think after almost being shot earlier (and knowing she also died in one reality) also now anxious from Frank threatening her with a knife and anxious even from being drugged and from her step father's abuse, that losing her means of protection because Max wasn't willing to pull the trigger I think has her upset, and she sees it as being let down. It's not fair at all, but that's why she feels that way. When Max does shoot, we can see what an impact this has emotionally for her. She's all excited and happy, and I think she's kind of high off the act of love that was pulling the trigger from Max. She now knows Max loves her so much she'd kill for her, and it's hard for her not to be thrilled by that realization, that Max loves her so much. I think this is why she soon after texts Max this... max the boss with the gun marry me Illegal in Oregon. For now. fuq that shit elope Chloe was truly touched and moved and high off the love displayed in Max 'shooting' Frank. When you think of how Chloe has been feeling for so long, so unloved and abandoned you can see why this act of love really took her by surprise and furthered her love and adoration of Max. And it's also worth mentioning Chloe can also shoot Frank, for real, killing him when he threatens Max. Making it clear if your Max 'shoots' that their love is so powerful they both pull triggers to protect the other. Now let's bring up the Kate call. People get very nasty on Chloe on this one. We're all protective of Kate. It's important to know Chloe did not realize how serious the call was.

Think about it. How would you feel if your bestie broke her promise to you and hurt you so deeply, cut you so deeply, for five years, nothing, silence, nothing when she knew you had just lost your dad, when she was your fucking WORLD, when she PROMISED you to be there for you, REPLAY FAREWELL AND imagine how much it would CUT LIKE A FUCKING KNIFE to see your bestie drop everything to pick up the phone for someone she knew for only a month when she ignored every single one of your calls? I have no doubt Chloe called Max in tears and broken many times wishing more than anything she would pick up the phone, or stared at her sent text waiting for a reply. There may have been times Chloe was on the brink of considering suicide (Rachel saved my life suggests to me she didn't want to live anymore) and needed to talk to Max, but she never answered. Max was never there for HER. Imagine how deeply that HURT. How much it hurt to watch her be there for someone else without hesitation.

It was still selfish, but so REAL, so RAW. Of course Chloe was hurt and lashed out at Max. If you don't answer the call, Chloe is happy. She can be very possessive of her loved ones, and given her abandonment issues, caused most heartbreakingly of all by Max - that she can't help but feel possessive. She loves Max, she has missed Max for five years and wants Max's attention all to herself. Selfish but REAL.

And she apologizes. Later she admits it was selfish and apologizes to Max. She feels fucking awful about it. Chloe: I was a... I was a total dick for blowing a fuse when Kate called the other day. I had no idea what shit she was going through. I stopped you from being her friend. But you saved her... like me. / If Max ignored call

Chloe: I was a total dick for blowing a fuse when you answered Kate's call the other day. Good thing you ignored me. I had no idea what shit she was going through. And you saved her... like me. / If Max answered.

Some other things people get mad at Chloe over, of course stealing the money. But let's consider a few things. Chloe right before finding the money, on the computer: "Nathan Prescott the Third." Oooh, he's so money. And you know the Prescotts dropped major bank to bury Nathan's real file... Look, it reads like a rap sheet---bad grades, teacher complains, secret probation... But I was expelled? She then finds the money right after guessing the Prescotts were dropping major bank to bury his files. Where did such a large amount of money come from? It doesn't feel like a coincidence. Max: Wowser, that's a lot for the "handicapped fund." You can hear in Max's voice she's making a similar connection to the Prescotts dropping bank, but she's anxious because she does think it could possibly be used for the handicapped fund. If you watch Chloe's face when Max says handicapped fund, she barely even seems to hear Max, all she is thinking about is Rachel and how that money can help them find more information from Frank and get Frank off her back. We know Chloe has been desperate to get money to pay off Frank and get out of Arcadia but now the money has even more importance - to get him to tell them anything he knows about Rachel since he's not likely to talk right now when she owes him and their last encounter had him threatening her for his money. Frank came seeking Chloe out and pulled a knife on her and said, "You want me to cut you, bitch?" I imagine this has Chloe anxious too as she's never seen Frank this aggressive with her and wants him off her back and is scared he might pull a knife out on her again and hurt her. This is yet another reason having a gun is a comfort to her she is distressed if she loses. She's had a lot of men threating her recently. You can even find in episode 3 Chloe's bedroom on her phone has messages from Frank threatening her for his money. He texts the following "Chloe. Money. Now. Chloe: I have your money asshole. Frank: When? Chloe: i'll text you before the end of the week. Frank: Or else. DO NOT FUCK WITH ME WHORE! Max: Jesus. Now I am glad Chloe took that money. This guy is serious. And Scary! Max herself can see how important stealing the money was in keeping Chloe safe from a man who physically threatened her and is continuing to threaten her. Allowing the money to be stolen in the office is also another show of loyalty and showing her desire to help find Rachel and keep Chloe safe from Frank's anger and aggression, given the money really calms Frank down and gets him off her back and helps him open up more about Rachel. Max's thoughts show she's doing it to protect Chloe from Frank and find more about Rachel and Max's willingness to do so much for her and helping her means a lot to Chloe, it onces again touches her that Max wants to protect her and help keep her safe from Frank and also help her find Rachel, whereas Max refusing to take it feels like Max isn't as determined to find Rachel and help her and protect her from Frank, though she accepts Moral Max's choice, even if she is upset if Max refuses to let her take the money. I've also seen others bringing up how she parked in the handicapped spot and I think while Max herself at first thought this was intentional of the driver, I think it's clear once we know it is Chloe that she was coming to Blackwell to confront Nathan for drugging her and to put up Rachel posters, so I think she was driving into the parking lot distressed and upset and also angry at Blackwell, not paying attention to where she parked and wanting to park improperly just as a fuck you to Blackwell, angry for not only them expelling her but I'd even imagine for not putting up Rachel missing posters themselves and hell, why was Nathan not expelled and she was with all the shit he was pulling? She had lots of resentment for that school. She does face consequences for selfishly not paying attention to where she was rebelliously parking and for taking the money though as we know.

Even in episode 4, Chloe we see in texts apologized for getting so upset after finding out about Rachel and Frank and taking it out on Max in the car.

hey man i suck again

sorry i got in your face today and took out my bullshit rage on my best friend

- Here we have Chloe owning up to her behaviour. She knows she hasn't been fair with Max, more than once *I suck again', and she apologizes.

And again please remember the game takes place in less than a week, not in a year.

October 7 - 11 is literally the Life is Strange 1 timeline. LESS THAN A WEEK. For Max with her powers and alternate reality I suppose it’s technically a little longer for her. But yes, timeline is less than a week.

Back to the text, she's already apologizing and changing her behaviour to be less selfish with Max and the game again happens in less than a week. If Chloe was rubbing her anger into Max for months or a year or years and never letting it go how Max wasn't there for her yeah that WOULD be a toxic friendship. It would be a toxic friendship if Chloe always held it over her head and was always 'testing' Max's loyalty. But the game takes place in days, and Chloe lets out some anger, has some tests like the weed 'will she take the blame', but overall is loving and supportive and apologizes and owns up to her selfish behaviors and does change and by the end of the 11th of October is willing to die for everyone.

I also see people occasionally bringing up her bossiness to say she's a bad friend to Max, like how she goes boo hoo Max is afraid when wanting her to practice with the gun. I do agree that yeah, she shouldn't have been like that about it but Chloe was trying in her way to be encouraging to get her to give the gun a go, since she had fun with it and Max as we see, seemed to enjoy it too, they even happily high five after. Also consider how she offers Max beer and when Max turns it down she doesn't push it at all (she even think this is cute Max thinks beer is gross). She's not going to pressure her into drinking. She cares about Max and really likes encouraging her, and in the case of the gun practice, maybe her over excitement made her push a little hard in this case.

I see people sometimes saying to that she pushed Max with her powers. Chloe was excited to see more of the powers in action (who wouldn't be really?) but she freaked out in a panic when Max passed out. She was scared as fuck for Max. Neither of them knew at the time how serious things could get, they were just having fun testing things out. Max enjoyed showing off too, look at the diner scene. She loved wowing Chloe with them. In the junkyard Chloe wants Max resting after she passes out.

The game takes place in less than a week and I wish people would understand Chloe obviously is dealing with very real and understandable hurt at Max but over all is supportive and encouraging to Max. That pool scene is just beautiful, the way Chloe encourages Max. Max doesn't just get braver in the game from her powers, but Chloe being in her life again brings out her bravery and courage to live life and not just observe it. Whatever ending you pick, Bae or Bay, I know Max will go on to pursue her dreams and her week with Chloe is going to be a huge part of that. Just a few moments of encouragement in the many she gives... Chloe: Stop being so goddamn humble. You're like the smartest, most talented person I've ever known. Max: Ew! I don't want any Blackwell bros over me. There's a couple cute guys there but they probably think I'm a total nerd.

Chloe: Uh, nerds are hot. You just don't have any confidence yet.

Max: Unfortunately, that didn't come with my rewind power... Chloe: No worries. Once you get over yourself, you're going to make the world bow.

Max: As long as you're there with me...

Chloe: Don't look so sad. I'm never leaving you... Max: I'd rather be a good photographer...

Chloe: You are. You just have to stop being afraid... (said gently) Chloe: Since you're the mysterious superhero, I'll be your faithful chauffeur and companion.

Max: My powers might not last, Chloe...

Chloe: That's okay—we will. Forever.

These are just a few moments in the many where Chloe is encouraging Max in different ways, and offering her unconditional love, loyalty and support. Chloe's negative behavior we see in less than one week isn't going to be reflective of forever, and by the end of the game/week Chloe is willing to sacrifice her life for Arcadia and acknowledges the ways she has been selfish and acknowledges how Max has shown her love and loyalty and friendship in every way. Max: Fuck that! No... no way! You are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me.

Chloe: I know. You proved that over and over again... even though I don't deserve it. I'm so selfish... not like my mom... Look what she had to give up and live through... and she did. She deserves so much more than to be killed by a storm in a fucking diner. Even my step... father deserves her alive. There's so many more people in Arcadia Bay who should live... way more than me... Chloe: Max, you finally came back to me this week, and... you did nothing but show me your love and friendship. You made me smile and laugh, like I haven't done in years.

In Lis2 we learn Chloe's new look "is from a combination of mixed feelings, such as angst, remorse, guilt, to not forget who died in the storm, to grow up, to advance in her life, and to never forget' It's obvious what happened changed Chloe forever and I think it's very clear after that those days she had with Max she's let go of her anger about those five years of silence. She knows Max loves her. She's more at peace now.

I feel sad when I see people hate Chloe because I feel like people want to take a real character and make her fake. I like real characters. I love that Chloe isn't perfect. I love that she loves Max so fucking much, in spite of everything, she takes her back and loves her and encourages her and supports her and offers that unconditional love. I love how when I play, her hurt and anger she lets out at times cuts me like a knife.

There's art of Max looking at Chloe and goes 'how long are you going to be mad at me?" And Chloe goes 'ten minutes' which feels very accurate. She takes little digs at Max here and there for not being there, but her anger doesn't last long. Most of the game is spent with Chloe being supportive, encouraging, loving, protective and just so happy to be around Max in spite of what Max did.

I think Max had a lot of anxiety. She cared for Chloe, didn't mean to hurt her, but she didn't know how to be there for her and was so overwhelmed by her grief she just wasn't there and eventually convinced herself Chloe would hate her. I think it means the world to Max after what she did, Chloe still loves her.

Five years apart and they were still Max and Chloe. If you go back to episode 4 where Max is forced to stand there and let William leave knowing he will die, she faces what this game is also about. Max Caulfield facing the consequences of not being there for her best friend when she promised she would be. She finally understands it, hearing Chloe has no belief that Max would ever abandon her. Chloe: She's never leaving me!

William: That makes all of us. (William walks out the door)

(Max leans against the wall with her head in her hands)

Chloe: Max, you are being so fucking strange, like you're never going to see us again.

Max: Chloe, I'm so sorry... I tried to make things different for you... I...I did try...I'm sorry.

Chloe: I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but come on. (Chloe holds Max's hands, then lets go) You have made things different, like my whole life. You're my best friend. I've got you and a great family. What's to be sorry for? We'll be best friends forever. And when we grow up we're taking over the world.

Max: Listen, whatever happens, I want you to be strong. Even if you feel like I wasn't there for you...because I will never abandon you, Chloe. (Max holds Chloe's hands) I'll always have your back. Always. If Max can understand, then I hope you all can too. Max truly is hit by the full weight of what she did and the consequences, and her attempt to fix it brought only pain to this alternate reality Chloe and Max as she faces 14 year old Chloe fully comprehending now what she did. How this Chloe has no idea she will abandon her, because she doesn't think Max would ever do such a thing to her, it's not something even in this Chloe's mind that could be a reality. So Max cries and tries her best to comfort Chloe from something Chloe doesn't even know she did yet and doesn't ever believe Max could do to her.

Chloe in Lis1 lets out her anger at Max at times, and sometimes she was selfish and toxic about it. What makes the ending of Farewell and that episode 4 moment so heart wrenching is that we the player and Max herself know Max breaks her promise. She won't be there for Chloe for five long years. They won't write a lot, Max won't be there for her for years. We know this, and Max faces the consequences of what she's done when she returns.

And I love how Chloe is hurt and is allowed to show it. And I love how in spite of everything, they still really are Max and Chloe. They still both love each other. Honestly, play Farewell, play Before the Storm, and then play Life is Strange and Chloe isn't even as angry as she ought to be, as most people would be. Most people would never accept a friend back like that. That's just the truth. Most people aren't so forgiving. But Chloe was. She really did take her back in a heartbeat. And again, that means the world to Max. Max, who when she looked at a picture of her and Chloe in their pirate outfits in her dorm in episode 1, wondered if they were even BFFs anymore, because she knew she hadn't been there for her and was scared Chloe might not forgive her and want to see her, which made her to scared to reach out when she returned. Chloe still seeing her as a BFF meant the world to Max.

I feel like Chloe 'haters' and those who only rant about how she was a toxic awful friend are so caught up in their dislike they stop thinking critically. Sometimes the opinions feel misogynistic or of internalized misogyny when you see people tearing apart a woman for not being the perfect embodiment of a 'girl with a bad past' they wish she was.

I think of Daniel from Lis2. A lot of people hate him because they play as Sean and again, feel defensive of Sean. And I think some people, they don't get as into the game as deeply and so play on more a surface level, more a 'Chloe blamed me for the weed, she's a toxic awful friend' kind of level as opposed to a deeper level, 'Chloe blamed me for the weed, which was really selfish, but I get she is hurt I ignored her for five years and she's trying to test and see how much I care.. I, Max, was her best friend and I hurt her deeply."

I know some people will say I'm making excuses but I'm trying to empathize and help people understand Chloe by detailing how some of her actions were wrong, but WHY she made them. She isn't perfect, she's hurt, she's allowed to be, she's allowed to be angry, who wouldn't be honestly? You can't tell me she's a toxic monster of a friend because she shows her hurt at Max sometimes during a less than 1 week period. I encourage players to replay Farewell to understand Chloe even more when you see how happy she was and how much she loved Max and how much Max leaving and breaking her promise broke her fucking heart and left her broken and yes, makes her angry and does cause her to show it at Max at times. And Max calls her out on it in the game even, pointing out how Chloe is always on her about not being there for her but this is how she's there for her (when she tries to spook Max in episode 3 when Max is shaken up over the events of episode 2, not considering Max's feelings) and Chloe apologizes at once. She owns up to her actions, and she doesn't hold things over Max the entire game.

I just hate seeing people hate on Chloe so hard. She's loyal AF to her friends and in spite of five years of silence loves Max no less and yes she shows some anger, sometimes she makes her expectations of Max selfishly high, but she was hurt deeply by Max and again, the game takes place in a less than a week and she's overall loving and supportive to Max and super protective of her and doesn't spend the entire game holding it against Max. She apologizes for her shitty behaviour, she grows.

She loves Max, she takes her back in a fucking heart beat. She helps Max be brave and helps Max see how talented she really is. When you also have played Before the Storm and seen how lonely Chloe was, read her journal entries, consider the fact she was called 'mute' by Drew because she was so lonely and depressed she never spoke, when you see how she jumped away from the train at the last second because she was so depressed and needed to feel something, maybe didn't care if the train did hit her... and consider she wouldn't have been like that if Max had been there for her... I think you can understand Chloe a lot more. And also understand how amazing she is for taking Max back and loving her and by October 11 after reuniting on October 7, fully forgiving Max. And how amazing Max is too for overcoming her social anxiety to be there for Chloe in every way she could be, even by changing time. Max: Fuck that! No... no way! You are my number one priority now. You are all that matters to me Chloe: I know. You proved that over and over again... even though I don't deserve it. I'm so selfish... not like my mom... Look what she had to give up and live through... and she did. She deserves so much more than to be killed by a storm in a fucking diner. Even my step... father deserves her alive. There's so many more people in Arcadia Bay who should live... way more than me... Chloe: Max, you finally came back to me this week, and... you did nothing but show me your love and friendship. You made me smile and laugh, like I haven't done in years. Wherever I end up after this... in whatever reality... all those moments between us were real, and they'll always be ours. No matter what you choose, I know you'll make the right decision.

Chloe: Max... it's time...

The song Obstacles begins to play.

Max: Not anymore.

Max tears apart the polaroid and it blows away in the storm. She watches the tornado.

Chloe: Max... I'll always be with you.

Max: Forever... Don't tell me Pricefield is toxic. Don't tell me Max and Chloe's relationship will be toxic in Bae. Because if you do, I know you don't really know them at all.

[mowbrayvongothe]

Live blogging tmp late because I’m a freak and because I was busy listening to Sherlock and co!

The Magnus Protocol Episode 28 - Interruptions Below <9

Oh my god Oh my god the minister Oh my god Disgusting.

JESUS. WHY

For a minister. He sounds like Trevor

Oh very touchy

Yeah Trevor doesn’t like how this place works.

Trevor is very professional

Trevor my worstie you do not know what you’re doing

Oh Alice you poor thing

Murder?

He’s very grizzly(?)

The hunt does run deep

Gwen my lovely you are so nosey and so sweet

I saw something with sam and ritual and compelled

What’s going ON after this

Alice ilysm

A

ATYYY??

PAN CELIA WOOP

Oh so they know something is a bit mysterious

Alice and Teddy are the greatest friends

Hm

Oh this is a lot of pre case.

Wonder what’s going on

Oh so whatever JMJ is recording on it doesn’t record on non OIAR equipment including the staff’s phones. Collin was right that something is listening in but it’s only for them

I mean it’s not recording on Trevor’s phone

Jeremy’s grand daughter. Have we heard his name

Oh she snitching

Love you Gwen

She NEEDS that position

Oh so ‘JMJ’ sent her this.

Oh yep he’s a hunter to the core.

Oh this is full of conversation. Nice. I’m assuming there is no post case then.

Oh I guess Sam lost the bet

Breaths.

JESUS FUCK

THAT WAS SUDDEN

“Bloody brilliant-TheFirstTimeIveEverHeardOfTheMagnusInstitute-“

OH SO SAMS THE BLOODY CASE.

Wait sam. Samama quick question uh why are bones in the content warning

Sam

SAM.

Oh damn he really be compelled

Hm Gilbert mention

.

This mf bit a kid????

Oh my god SAM.

Oh they were trying to create negative emotions in sam. Huh

I guess they wanted fear? They didn’t particularly enjoy the negative emotions

Spiral? Dark

Dr F Welling.

Nice

Afraid nice sam

Oh testing on a student?

Stone and Metal, sickly yellow light. Alchemy mention

SAM WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MEAN YOU ‘SPOKE’ SAMAMA KHALID DO YOU NOT HAVE A FLIGHT OR FIGHT RISK. SOMEONE WAS ONNA TABLE???

Huh the light went into the old man’s body

Oh OHAHOHUOHHHHHHH

NOW JS EE WHATS WITH THR BONES

The bones pushed out??

Hm this is similar to the creature inside the head of the man.

Well the body trying to escape has no fucking correlation. Someone will find a connection and I will look like a fool

Someone get this poor man out the rain it’s like what 1-5am get him out he’s not made for it

Oh and the fucking tape recorder suffers great

So. I’m not doing ok after that and neither is sam.

Final thoughts: Trevor has definitely 0 interest in this job. He knows little about the externals and who they are mainly he didn’t know who inksoul was. This can be because of his lack of knowledge of vampires like his TMA self who then when down the path of The Hunt. However he does act the same as TMA Herbert I give him that. However god knows if he actually knows.

Celia is being mysterious and well nothing is new there. Sam and Celia talk a bit more and that’s nice for them.

Gwen is planning something I feel it everyone is down the Celia is planning something train but Gwen took back the job after it destroyed her. She obviously wants Lena’s position but she’s not the only one who knows about the externals now and everyone is curious I just wonder if the plan is the same get Lena out of her position and prove that she can do a hell of a better joh than her or if she’s actually working alongside her co workers to deal with the externals.

And Sam’s case. Lovely!

Now we know that something wasn’t normal about the Institute the table from the website proves that the questions aren’t. Normal. And we didn’t know why or how Sam failed. Each question Sam was asked does deal with negative emotions, we know that the TMA fears fed from what people were afraid of and the people who were entities had taken that route because it ‘protected’ them from something they were afraid of. We know TMA dealt with fears as their main subject and we know that TMP deals with alchemy as their main subject. We know that in the ritual Sam saw a body was being sacrificed on the table and metals and stones hung above him with machines measuring results. We can guess this was alchemy and the sick yellow light could’ve been citrinitas the yellow stage of alchemy which included the inner soul light of our body and is depicted with a wise old man. Now am I bright enough to figure out where the bones come into play. No, no I am not!

Anyways I hate the Magnus protocol never in my entire life did I think that after I left identity V I would go onto Wikipedia and look into alchemy I left that with The alchemy essence dammit I don’t need this.

[roanofarcc]

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER FORTY FIVE → CHEMISTRY ‘TIL IT BLOWS UP

summary: steve harrington x oc

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 3.7k || masterlist || oc moodboard

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

a/n: omg we love the 4th of july :) nothing bad ever happens on the 4th :) it’s such a fun day :) everything will surely be fine :)

previous chapter ← → next chapter

Closing up Scoops Ahoy for the night, Steve sighed in frustration. “It just can’t be right,” he said, falling in line with the odd group Dustin had assembled as they walked down the darkened mall toward the employee parking lot. Starcout was eerie after closing, without the bright fluorescent lights and the constant buzz of people coming and going. The only ones left were the unlucky workers who got stuck with the closing shift, Steve and Robin being among them. 

“It’s right,” Robin replied. She had figured out most of the translation on her own, which Steve had to admit was impressive, but it made no sense. 

“Honestly, I think it’s great news!” Dustin chirped, earning himself a look from Steve that he ignored. 

“How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It’s total nonsense.” 

Robin shook her head. “It’s not nonsense. It’s too specific. It’s obviously a code.” 

To Steve’s right, Sunshine walked closely beside him, their hands occasionally brushing against each other but neither one moved to put distance between them. Maybe the message made no sense to him because he was impossibly distracted by Sunshine. The conversation he had with Robin and Dustin replayed in his head, and he found himself focusing more on the golden-eyed girl than his quest to become an American hero. 

“A code, you think?” Sunshine asked, curiously. 

“Yeah, like a super-secret spy code,” Dustin replied.

With a roll of his eyes, Steve said, “That’s a total stretch.” He had seen a lot of weird and unexplainable things in his life, but he still had a hard time believing they were in possession of a ‘super-secret’ Russian spy code. Though, maybe Russian spies wouldn’t be as bad as monsters. 

“I don’t know, is it?” Robin seemed to be swept up in the conspiracy that Dustin had dreamed up. “Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What do you think they’re going to say? ‘Fire the warhead at noon.’” Steve supposed not, but that didn’t justify their theory. “My translation is correct. I know that for sure. The silver cat feeds. Why would anyone talk like that unless they’re trying to mask the meaning of their message? And why would anyone mask the meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?” 

Great, so Robin had the same brain as Dustin; that was just great. 

“So,” Robin continued, looking at Dustin. “I guess that confirms your suspicion.” 

“Evil Russians,” said Dustin, like that was a totally normal conclusion to come to. 

Robin snorted. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing with this strange child, but yeah, evil Russians.” 

A beat of silence passed before Sunshine spoke. “Well, if this message is from, um, evil Russians, how do we figure out what the code means?” 

“I guess we finish translating the rest of the message and hopefully a pattern emerges.” 

Steve was suddenly caught by Robin’s words. He managed to drag his focus away from Sunshine for a moment to replay the message one more time in his mind. He didn’t speak Russian, but they had listened to the tape recording at least a hundred times that afternoon and managed to pick up every little detail the message contained. The one thing that stuck out to him was a little tune in the background of the message. The music was familiar, really familiar. 

As they continued down the abandoned mall hall, Steve lagged behind as they passed a cluster of children’s rides. He hoped that he had a stroke of genius, or else it was going to be awfully embarrassing. Digging around in his uniform pocket, he tried to find spare change, but he came up empty-handed. 

“Steve?” Sunshine called to him, the whole group stopping and peering back at him with curiosity. 

“What’re you doing?” Dustin asked. 

“I need a quarter.” 

Robin chuckled. “Are you sure you’re tall enough for that ride?” she teased, which Steve did not find funny. He was on to something; he hoped so, anyway. 

“Quarter!” he yelled. 

Dustin muttered something under his breath but dug around his backpack anyway until he pulled out a handful of quarters. Steve snatched the change from the kid, slotted it into a mechanical horse, and waited until it started moving back and forth and playing music. 

“Need help getting up, little Stevie?” 

He rolled his eyes but ignored Robin, pressing his finger to his lips to keep everyone quiet so he could better hear the music. He had heard the little tune from the machine at least twenty times a day when a child begged their parents to ride the horse and waste their money. The music was the same as the music in the recording, identical. 

It took Dustin only a couple of moments to catch onto what Steve was hearing. His eyes widened as he dropped his bag and pulled out the tape recorder. “Holy shit!” he whispered. “The music!” Dustin pressed play on the message and confirmed Steve’s suspicions. 

“I don’t understand,” Robin said. 

“It’s the same song,” Dustin explained, practically giddy at the new information. 

“Maybe they have horses like this in Russia.” 

Steve looked at the sign on the base of the horse, tapping it with his finger. “The Indiana Flyer? I don’t think so.” He found himself looking at Sunshine, waiting for some kind response, but her gaze was far away, brows pulled together in concern as she too pieced together what Steve was getting at. “This code didn’t come from Russia,” he said.

Sunshine finished his thought with, “It came from here.” 

Steve cruised down the moonlit roads of Hawkins with the gentle hum of music from one of Sunshine’s favorite tapes playing on the radio. She sat beside him in the front seat, gazing out the window in thought, and Dustin kept poking his head between the two of them from the backseat. 

“I don’t get it,” Sunshine said, breaking the quiet. Her fingers played with the chain around her neck, nervously. “Why would Russians send a message from our mall?” 

“I don’t know, but this whole thing just got a lot more interesting,” Dustin said, his enthusiasm clashing with Sunshine’s worry. Steve found himself somewhere between the two, unsure of exactly what to make of the situation.

“Maybe we should take it to Hopper. This could be serious,” she suggested. 

Dustin instantly protested. “That’s not a good idea yet. We need to wait until we have more evidence. Besides, I don’t want him getting all the credit for our discovery.” 

“But what if it has something to do with…with something that’s already happened here?” she argued. 

That thought hadn’t occurred to Steve. He believed that they all were out of the woods when it came to Hawkins's paranormal activity. “You think the Russians could know about the Upside Down?” He found that likely. Why would they want anything to do with the horrible place riddled with monsters? 

“I doubt it,” said Dustin. “There’s no way they could have figured that out.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Sunshine’s hand fall from toying with her necklace and onto her tattooed wrist. A part of him itched to reach out and take her hand as the awful memories of her fingernails digging into her skin last fall came back to him. He felt a short surge of panic every time she traced her fingers over her wrist. But she simply rubbed her thumb over the tattoo, and Steve refrained. 

“That’s not exactly what I mean. In the Lab, they used kids like El to do what they called spying on people. They’d listen to conversations and relay them. Some of those people they spied on were Russian.” 

Steve’s stomach churned every time she mentioned the Lab. There were a million questions he, and probably everyone else, had, but they all knew better than to ask. The look that crossed Sunshine’s face every time she talked about it was more than enough to kill any question he had before it could leave his mouth. 

“But that place was shut down,” Steve reminded her. 

She glanced at him, concern pinched in her expression, but she said nothing. 

“We won’t know anything until we finish translating the message and crack the code. Once we do that, we’ll know what we’re dealing with. But we need more evidence before we take anything to Hopper. And we’ll only hand it over if we get credit, obviously,” Dustin said, clearly not super worried about what the Russians could be doing in Hawkins.

They said nothing else until they pulled into Dustin’s driveway. The Henderson Household was quiet as usual. The glow of the television set could be seen from the front window, along with the top of Ms. Henderson’s head poking out from behind the couch. 

They all bid each other goodbye with the promise of resuming their investigation tomorrow at the mall. Steve waited until Dustin was inside, ensuring the kid didn’t find any strange creatures in his trashcan before he backed out of the driveway and started the journey toward Sunshine’s house. 

Even though Steve didn’t want to admit it, Dustin had been right about what he said earlier that day. The longer Steve waited to say something to Sunshine, the more of a risk he ran of someone else realizing just how incredible she was. Robin was right as well; all he could do was ask her a simple question and leave the rest for her to decide. The worst she could say is no. In theory, it was easy, so Steve didn’t understand why it was so terrifying. He'd never been so nervous to ask a girl out before. It was different with Sunshine; Steve wanted it to be different than relationships of his past.

His hands felt clammy as pulled onto her street and parked alongside the curb outside her house. She began to gather her things and he knew it was now or never. 

“Hey, Sunshine?” The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop himself. 

She paused, looking at him and illuminated by the streetlamp that cast a warm glow across her face. “Yeah?”

He cleared his throat and tried to keep the tone of his voice casual, even though his heart felt like it was ready to leap right out of his chest. “I was wondering if you had any plans for the fourth?” The holiday was only a couple of days off, and it felt like the entire town was making a huge deal out of it. 

“No, I don’t think so. Why?” 

He hesitated, running a hand through his hair. “Well, you know, they’re putting on fireworks at the mayor’s fair that night. And, um, if you don’t have any plans maybe we could go? Like, just you and me. Together.” He inwardly cringed at himself and how utterly unsmooth his delivery was, but at least he did it.

Sunshine’s eyes widened just slightly and she was silent for a beat, but it was enough to make Steve momentarily wonder if he had royally messed up asking her out. But then the corner of her lips turned upwards. “Yeah! Yes!” She quickly cleared her throat. “I mean, that sounds nice.” 

Steve mirrored her smile as a surge of relief flooded through him. “It’s a date.” 

“It’s a date,” she repeated before stepping out of the car. Before she closed the door she turned around and said, “Good night, Steve.” 

“Good night, Sunshine.” 

She left Steve smiling like an idiot. Millions of stars twinkled across the night sky, and he suddenly felt like everything was beginning to look up for all of them. Even with the air of mystery surrounding the Russian message, Steve couldn’t help but feel like maybe their silver lining after a series of nightmares was upon them. Or maybe he was just blinded with optimism. 

Whatever it was, all that mattered was that Steve had a date and the Fourth of July couldn’t come soon enough. 

…

The following morning, the group of Russian investigators split into two teams. Sunshine partnered with Robin to help finish translating the recording and then work on cracking the code while Steve and Dustin ran around the mall looking for ‘evil’ Russians intermingled among the Hawkins mall goers. 

In the back room of Scoops, the two girls spent their morning finishing the translation before they began bouncing ideas back and forth in hopes of understanding what the message was trying to say. 

“Okay, read the whole thing back to me,” Robin said, sitting on the counter in front of the open window so she could man the front counter as well. Luckily, it was a rather slow day which made it perfect for spycraft.

Sunshine peered at the whiteboard and repeated the code. “The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly.” It read like nonsense, as Steve had said, but if the code came from their mall, they needed to figure out what the meaning of it was so they could pass it off to Hopper and get it taken care of; whatever ‘it’ was. 

“Tread lightly,” Robin repeated, deep in thought. 

“Maybe they mean ‘tread lightly’ as in ‘be careful?” Sunshine suggested. 

Robin hummed. “Yeah, maybe. But be careful of what?”

A knock came from the back room, prompting Robin to hop down from the counter and answer it. A delivery man appeared with a shipment of ice cream that he wheeled in while Robin signed for it. 

Sunshine busied herself with rereading the code again. Her head rested in her palm and her eyes drifted from the whiteboard through the open window that looked out across the food court. She absentmindedly watched the people wandering around until her attention fell on the large clock hung high upon the wall, allowing everyone in the main hub to tell the time. Its blue and yellow hands stood out against the stark white wall, and it was illuminated by the rays of sunlight that poured in through the windows position on the roof. The minute hands ticked, and Sunshine sat up straight in her chair, eyebrows furrowing at the color hands of the clock. “Robin-” She began, but Robin cut her off swiftly and excitedly. 

“Silver cat!” she yelled, running up to Sunshine. “The silver cat!” Before Sunshine could ask what she was about the silver cat, Robin grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her seat and out of the back room. They raced past Steve and Dustin, who had said something to them that she missed. Weaving between the scattered people, Robin took Sunshine a concrete plant holder with a thick ledge that she jumped up on, giving Sunshine no choice but to climb on top of the structure as well. They could see above the heads of people more easily, but Sunshine wasn’t sure why they needed that. 

“What are we doing, exactly?” 

“I think the code is referencing places inside the mall,” she explained in a rushed breath. “The silver cat is the delivery company. If I’m right, then the other words have to have some connection with shops or something here inside this building.” 

How Robin’s brain worked, Sunshine had no clue. But it made perfect sense. If the message was recorded inside the mall, then the building must’ve played an integral part in whatever they were doing. If they were dealing with Russians in Indiana, they were there for a reason.

“A trip to China sounds nice. A trip to China…Chinese…ah!” Robin gasped and pointed to the Chinese restaurant in the food court. “The Imperial Panda.” 

Sunshine scanned the area, recalling the code. “If you tread lightly…” 

“Shoes!” Robin pointed at the second story of the mall. Kaufman’s shoes. “Holy shit, we’re really doing this! Okay, okay. What else?” 

“When blue meets yellow in the west,” Sunshine said. She grasped Robin’s shoulder and turned her toward the large clock. “The clock hands.” 

“Holy shit!” Robin grabbed Sunshine’s arms as both of them laughed in pure astonishment that they, mostly Robin and her brilliant brain, cracked the Russian code in less than a day. 

“What are you guys doing?” Steve and Dustin had followed them into the mall’s main hub, staring at them like they were crazy. 

A smirk stretched across Robin’s lips as she said, “We cracked it.” 

“Cracked what?” 

Sunshine mirrored Robin’s smirk. “We cracked the code!” 

Rain poured over the town in a fury. It soaked everyone to the bone; not even their raincoats protected the group as they sat on the roof of Starcourt. Droplets fell into Sunshine’s eyes, making it nearly impossible to focus on the loading dock they were supposed to be staking out.

After she and Robin had deciphered the code, their next course of action was to figure out what the Russians were doing with the different shops at the mall. Dustin had concluded that they were probably using the delivery service to smuggle in or out something, which was how all four of them found themselves on the roof in the middle of a thunderstorm. Sunshine silently thanked her mom for forcing her to bring a coat with her, but it didn’t stop the chill from spreading through her body due to the sudden vanishing of the sticky summer heat. 

“Look for the Imperial Panda and Kaufman shoes,” Robin said to Dustin, who was using a pair of binoculars to see what was happening below. Men were unloading something from trucks; they looked different than the normal mall security. The men were tall and broad with large gigs slung over their shoulders. The sight made Sunshine nervous. What in the world could they be doing in Hawkins? 

“They are with that whistling guy at ten o’clock,” said Dustin. 

Sunshine was posited between Steve and Dustin, on high alert for trouble.

“What do you think’s in there?” Steve asked, wiping the running water from his face. 

“Guns, bombs, chemical weapons,” Dustin rattled off. Each suggestion made Sunshine’s skin crawl. “Whatever it is, they’re armed to the teeth.” 

“Great,” Steve muttered.

The guns alone should have caused them to abort their mission, but three of the four of them had faced down scarier sights. Robin, though, seemed rather unphased by the sight too. Sunshine knew the chances of the Russians having any relation to the Lab were slim, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. She had learned never to discount the impossible; lots of things in Hawkins were impossible and they still occurred. 

A truck door was opened with a loud ‘clank’ and Sunshine nudged Dustin’s shoulder. “What’s in there?” 

“Just more boxes.” 

On her opposite side, Steve grew cold and restless. He reached across Sunshine and swatted Dustin’s arm, trying to grab the binoculars. “Let me check it out.” Dustin held on tighter and refused to give them up, irritating Steve more. “Just let me see!” 

Sunshine sighed, “Guys.” But they ignored her and began fighting over the item. “Be care-” She couldn’t even finish her sentence before the binoculars tumbled out of both of their grasps and smacked against the ground with a loud bang, echoing through the air and alerting the men with massive guns below.

They ducked down out of the men’s sights. Sunshine’s heart raced as her hand grabbed Steve’s out of instinct. Her other hand pressed down against Dustin’s head, pushing him closer to the ground. Muffled voices came from below and she knew they had a small window of time before their hiding spot was uncovered. She dipped her head to Dustin’s ear and instructed him to take Robin and run for the stairs while she caused a distraction. He nodded quickly before doing as told. As they raced for the door, Sunshine peaked up from behind the roof’s ledge that hid them and worked fast to ignite light in her palm. She aimed for the wall just above the men’s heads, and with a careful flick of her wrist the light struck and bounced between the wall and the truck, causing confusion between the men. 

Through the buckets of rain, Sunshine scrambled to her feet just as Steve, who hadn’t followed Dustin but rather stayed behind with her, grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the door. They raced down the stairs, sliding on their soaked shoes, and caught back up to Robin and Dustin. 

The four of them hurried down the maze of service halls in their wet raincoats. Luckily they avoided running into any large men with guns. 

A humorous laugh sounded from Robin as she shook her head, flicking water droplets from her hair. “Well, I think we found your Russians,” she said to Dustin before shooting a look over her shoulder at Sunshine and Steve, ready to say something else before she stopped herself and focused on Sunshine. “Hey, you know your nose is bleeding?”

Sunshine ducked her head slightly, knowing that her eyes probably still held their faint glow that came with the use of her abilities. She quickly wiped the blood away with her sleeve and brushed off Robin’s slight concern. “It happens sometimes.” Robin left it at that and continued leading the way back to their home base, Scoops. 

Glancing down, Sunshine realized her hand was still held in Steve’s, and it didn’t seem like either one of them planned on letting go. She just wished that nearly all of the instances in which she and Steve held hands or toed the line between friendship and something else stopped occurring under anything but normal circumstances. She wanted to hold his hand when they weren’t running from something potentially life-threatening, and she wanted to lean in a little closer and see if he’d met her halfway way not when she was spiraling into some kind of identity crisis. It seemed like they were doomed to only have tension-filled handholds and moments when they were amidst absurd situations or trapped in another nightmare.

All she could hope for was the Fourth of July, happening in just two days time. In forty-eight hours, Sunshine hoped to be holding his hand at the county fair while fireworks burst to life over their heads. She could wait until then

Tagged. @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @drunkengodsofslaughter

[neverwalka1one]

Magnus Protocol 21, let's gooooo!

I think the starting computer sound changed. Why did the starting computer sound change? That means something, I'm sure of it.

'Complicated Immigration Status' brb laughing forever. Does that mean Jack's from this world when Celia isn't? At least hopefully that means Jack won't start appearing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, so... small mercies?

Also I see they still haven't figured out there's computers in the CCTV. Oopsies.

Y'know, just thrilled with the idea of the Magnus Institute starting it's own Y2K drama, that's exactly what that year needed. Was the infighting over the Gregorian calendar and astrological vs. sociological signs the distraction our dear Mrs. Robinson needed to flambe the lot of you? Hmm.

Hahahaha OH GOODY MORE DOUBLES. And it seems we're going with the WTNV theme here with 'kill your double', which I suppose is better than locking him in the basement torture room... sorta? Ish.

They wanna do a Watchers Crown, do dah, do dah, gonna take the whole world down, oh the doo dah day...

There was a little cognitive dissidence listening to a letter from 1998 or 1999, which sounds like something from Jonah or Smirke.

ALICE! Awww, Alice is trying to protect her tiny shrimp from the computer, tell him to stop talking in front of the CCTV cameras k?

Hi Lena, you're still a horrible boss who should have given your impulse-driven underling some backup, just saying.

RUN GWEN!

So this is compelling evidence that I should never get a tattoo omg that's horrifying halp.

Is. She. Is she giving Ink5oul's statement? Did she pluck Ink5oul's statement out of their head and just start rolling with it? HI CEASELESS WATCHER!

Also speedrun archivist training is a go, evidently, fantastic.

Oh, its the blorbo from our show institute! Oh, they're terrifying! And is definitely eye-aligned. And yeah the OIAR is definitely eye-aligned, or some part of it is.

I so want 'Error' to be Jon. I do. I equally want Jon and Martin to be Elsewhere Innocently Buying Groceries and (evidently) going to therapy/working at their therapist job. I want these things both at the same time.

hehehehehe the tape recorder bit them, good boy, have a cookie cassette.

EDIT: Addition - Lena absolutely 100% knows the computer voices are giving targeted cases. From that I willingly extrapolate wildly that if somehow it's Jon and Martin and ? (Jonah? IDK?) in the computers... they're working for the OIAR, which means they might still be under the Ceaseless Watcher. Which.... .... ... Okay now I've made myself sad. NOPE THEY'RE IN SCOTLAND WITH THE GOOD COWS OKAY? Maybe not Jonah BUT JON AND MARTIN ARE.