#but it lives in my head rent free

[steddieas-shegoes]

Okay last one until after I post chapter 13 and a few requests I promise

But this is a headcanon I’ve had for a LONG TIME and I don’t remember if I’ve seen it anywhere else or not but

Wayne was Eddie’s dad’s brother, the complete opposite of him in just about every way

He was the first one who dated Eddie’s mom in high school, loved her so much she didn’t know what to do with it, didn’t know how to accept that love so instead she found it in someone who didn’t give her the right kind of love and dated the other Munson

She didn’t know she was pregnant when she broke Wayne’s heart, had no idea she was giving up a future that maybe wouldn’t have been perfect, but would’ve been filled with love

She convinces Wayne’s brother the baby is his, which is easy because she’s only 6 weeks along when she finds out and he’s not very bright to begin with

Wayne left town when they broke up, cut off contact with them completely, so he doesn’t even know

But he knows when he gets a call from CPS that his brothers in prison and the only love of his life is dead, he’s gotta take in his nephew and love him the way he always deserved but probably never got

At first, he just does what he can to make sure he’s safe and doesn’t run away. At 12, he’s pretty resourceful and probably could make a hell of a run for it if he wanted to

But the longer Eddie’s with him, the more he notices about their similarities

Some of it can be explained away, if he’s half his brother, it makes sense they share some genetic traits

But the dimples he has weren’t from his dad or his mom, only Wayne had those

And he knew Eddie didn’t those curls from anyone but him

Even things like the way he liked his hamburgers and his favorite beer when he got older were the same as Wayne

The way he was stubborn, and worked hard but only if he cared about it, all Wayne traits

Wayne does the math

Wayne doesn’t need any type of DNA test to know what’s going on now

Eddie is his son not his nephew, and he doesn’t know it

He’s treated Eddie like a son since he came to live with him, so nothing changes but sometimes Wayne just looks at him, watches the way he weaves stories for his friends with that dragon game and the way he mixes his vanilla ice cream with coke, and the way he sleeps with his mouth wide open but doesn’t snore

He knows he should tell him, knows he should do a test to confirm it

But he doesn’t know how to approach it so he doesn’t

He’s forced to when Eddie’s in the hospital, the government running every test under the sun to confirm he’s safe enough to release into the general public when his name is cleared, one of those being DNA

When the doctors ask if he was aware Eddie was his son while Eddie stares at him with wide, teary eyes and Wayne thinks this is it, this is the last time Eddie will want anything to do with him

But he’s crying because he suspected it for years, but didn’t let himself think that because he didn’t think he deserved to have a dad who actually cared about him

It’s awkward at first, difficult for them to really acknowledge it out loud, especially when Eddie explains to all those kids who hang around and the Harrington boy and even Hopper, who Wayne thought was dead

But eventually, they reach a point where it just makes sense

Eddie starts calling him dad, says even without it being a fact, he was more of a dad than the guy who “raised” him

Wayne cries about it, never thought he’d have this or anything close to it

Eddie cries about it too, mad at his mom for hiding this and hiding him from a relationship with his real dad who would’ve given them both the love they deserve but happy he was getting it now

[myquietsafehaven]

Need me a season 2 TMA au where Jon still goes through his paranoia arc but instead of holding everyone at arms length decides to trust one of his assistants. To bad he chooses Sasha.

[dirty-droid]

Markus and Connor NOT trusting each other is kind of my kink tbh

[randomidiocyncrazies]

not to be fucking insufferable about Imperial Uncle, but it's such a fascinating read (despite its flaws) because it's all about Roles and breaking away from them.

the protag and LI leave the imperial court separately and reunite a few years later, and it's only by leaving that they can actually get to know each other as people and have their happy ending.

it's also really interesting that, despite MC's love life being a substantial aspect of the book, the book isn't really a romance—it's about the constraints of being born into the imperial court, even when your status gives you power over many people. it's about how the privilege that comes with your status can affect someone else and cause harm, even if you never meant for it to happen. it's about being lonely at the top, and how the best intentions can be misinterpreted by the people around you. it's about theoretically having the power to write your own story, but instead you're beholden to other people's perception of you. it's about having to leave the decadent life you're born into but never really wanted, and making your own way.

A large part of Imperial Uncle depends on code switching; the characters are referred to, and use, shifting titles/names/courtesy names as an indication of power—courtesy names are less intimate than names, but because the Emperor uses his uncle's courtesy name, nobody else has the privilege to use it... and thus it becomes a more intimate form of address. And in turn, Chengjun can call other people by their courtesy names whenever he wanted, but they "dare not" call him by the name he longs to hear on their lips; the man he ends up together with only manages to call him by his courtesy name once, after they have both left the imperial court behind them, and when he says the name it was with great difficulty, despite (or because of) loving Chngjun for a long time. Chengjun could also bestow nicknames on others, but the closeness is just a facade.

The divide between individuals in the imperial court is constantly referenced every single time the characters refer to each other, and refer to themselves in the presence of each other. The Emperor is, by definition, alone even in a palace filled with people, with the unique 1st person pronoun that marks his status. Prince Huai, Chengjun, switches between "I" (我) and "this prince" (本王), before dropping the latter—and with it, the political maneuvering and mind games that chains him by virtue of being born. There is the careful, polite distance of referring to oneself as "this commoner", and the resentful despair in claiming a form of address that one should've always been entitled to. There is the title of "Imperial Uncle", and what that means for the people bound to and by it.

[impossible-rat-babies]

having several i understand why these are connected thoughts going on:

—eyrie and zero post EW and the complexity of coming to terms with both of their very different ways they knew zenos. what the dead leave behind: the voids they create. what they give and take away from the living. the paths that lead to eyrie and zero meeting—her beginnings and their ending. eyrie eventually coming to tell zero how they do grieve zenos. they do not ignore the pain he inflicted, but nonetheless the wonder what would have become of him if fate had given him a different hand.

—if eyrie’s mother had anything to tell them it would be something like: “Our family loves too much. Holds onto love those we love too much; we cannot fathom letting go, and try endlessly to prevent it. We let ourselves be unaware of how love persists, even through loss most keen. Thinking love in the present is the truth. But love never leaves us—that is its most earnest truth. We are never away from the love in our hearts.”

[irrealisms]

anyway: how much do you think about the fact that the viewers voted schlatt into power and tommy into exile? about the fact that BLOW IT UP trended and c!wilbur apologized to chat on the day after the festival, tried to explain that it’s easy for us to say but harder when you’re living it? how much do you think about the fact that the religions on the server are about us? do you ever wonder why, exactly, c!dream is an atheist, given that his stated reasoning to c!techno makes no sense and c!techno immediately calls that out? do you ever think about the fact that, if they wanted to, if they framed it differently, the dsmp could be a horror story where the monster is the viewer, for encouraging all this? do you ever look at all the fourth wall breaks played for humor and go, okay, they are aware their life exists for our entertainment. they are aware that they’re characters in a story. that we voted for their lives to be ruined, that we encouraged their worst impulses, that at their lowest moments they’re being watched by a satisfied audience. and yeah, sometimes chats are helpful and kind. I’m the first to speak up against characterizing e.g. techno’s voices as wholly negative. but there’s still a core of something haunting there, to me, about the fact that the decisions that ended up doing the most damage on the dream smp were chosen by popular vote of the audience. sometimes malice is less frightening than the desire of someone who wants good content more than they want you to not be hurt.

because I do. I think about it constantly.

[lambment]

Dont know if you were joking about needing catboy references a couple of weeks back but here ya go

Theres one for sheep too if you need that

the sacred texts.... thank you for bestowing it upon me

[krembruleed]

beach episode?

[midaskey]

And remember... don't lose your head!

[slayerscake]

You think they had to remix the VM symbol so they wouldn't get sued by gmail

[eggsandramem]

'amoeba' etho...... * ᵃᵏᵃ ᵐʸ ᶠʳᶦᵉⁿᵈ ˢᵃᶦᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵘᶦˡᵈ ˡᵒᵒᵏᵉᵈ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ᵃⁿ ᵃᵐᵒᵉᵇᵃ ᶦᵐ ˡᵒᵒˢᶦⁿᵍ ᵐʸ ᵐᶦⁿᵈ

[mihai-florescu]

[huniipum]

these two lovable idiots live in my brain rent free 🥹🩷

[froggielovescoffee]

ruin am iright? hehhehrhedhehrhehehrh

[twyllodrus]

You see, you were nimble-minded, even back then. I was a moron.