#mostly due to having a more contentious relationship with his own sexuality than I usually write for him

[laundrybiscuits]

(purify our misfit ways tag | AO3)

When he wakes up, Eddie’s stretched out next to him, still clutching his book, snoring a little. Steve waits for the panicky feeling to come back, looking at Eddie and looking at the way the morning sun is bright on his skin, but it never hits. It’s just Eddie. Strange, clever, funny, kind.

It’s weird to think how Steve hasn’t known him all that long, but it already feels like Eddie’s a part of him now. More a part of him than high school or prom king or Scoops Ahoy; maybe about the same as monsters and a backyard pool that he doesn’t ever use anymore. 

He feels kind of dumb, not noticing something like that about himself. He thinks it’s probably not the kind of thing that comes out of nowhere, but he doesn’t like thinking about anything he might’ve missed in the past. 

It’s not like it matters, probably, because Eddie hadn’t been offering anything last night, so it’s just Steve here by himself in this. It sucks, because if he’s going to have a big gay revelation, he should at least get to fool around with a guy about it. Maybe he can still do that, though—there are bars and stuff, right? He lies there for a little while, just looking at Eddie, trying to remember every stray rumor he’s ever heard about homosexual lifestyles. He’d never thought it would be important to know, but he guesses now he’s got to learn all the rules. 

Obviously he can still go with girls, or at least he will as soon as this dry spell’s over; it just seems like kind of a waste not to try this new thing out, now that he knows it’s an option. Maybe it’s easier with guys or something. Guys usually want sex more than girls, right? So it seems like it would probably be pretty simple to get laid, if you knew for sure a guy liked other guys and you wouldn’t get decked for asking. 

Would Eddie deck him for asking?

Steve’s stomach picks this moment to remind him that this is a lot of complicated thinking to take place before breakfast, and he eases off the bed. It’s not like they’re even touching or anything, so it’s not that difficult to get up without waking Eddie. 

He stands there for a second, just looking at the way Eddie shifts a little to stretch into the warm place where Steve used to be. 

Steve’s shirt looks and smells like it was dragged through a bush, which isn’t too far from the truth, so he swaps it out for a shirt he finds on the floor which doesn’t smell too bad. It smells a little bit like Eddie, actually, which is kind of cool. That’s probably a benefit of dating a guy that he’d never thought of before—getting to wear his clothes, or getting him to wear yours. Well, maybe some girls wore their boyfriends’ shirts, but not as regular clothing, and it’s not like Steve ever got to wear his girlfriends’ stuff. 

He leaves before he can get sidetracked thinking about that too much, and runs right into an old guy making coffee in the kitchenette. 

“Uh,” he says. 

The old guy looks him up and down, and Steve’s heart starts to pound. If his dad had caught some guy coming out of his bedroom, wearing his shirt…

“Sit yourself down, have something to eat,” says the older guy. “You can call me Wayne. I’m Eddie’s uncle.”

“Yessir,” Steve says, automatically, and sits down. 

Wayne grimaces, and Steve realizes that he’s seen that same expression on Eddie’s face. “None of that, now. Just Wayne’ll be fine. You okay with cereal, son?”

“Cereal’s great, Wayne,” says Steve. Being polite to parents—or, well, parent-type people—is like muscle memory at this point. He used to be good at this. “Really appreciate it, thanks. I’m Steve Harrington.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Steve Harrington. Hope I didn’t interrupt you running out on Eddie.”

“Running—um, no sir. I mean, Wayne. It’s not like that, I swear.” 

Steve feels like he’s been bracing for a punch to the jaw and suddenly he’s getting his knee kicked out from under him. So far, being into guys is turning out to be a lot like being into girls: getting cornered by stern parent-type people wanting to know his intentions and assuming the worst, while Steve pretends like he wasn’t thinking what he was thinking a few minutes ago. 

He takes the cheerios that Wayne hands him and tries his most winning, parent-pleasing smile. “I’m a friend of Eddie’s who got a little too tired to drive last night, so he let me stay over.”

Wayne snorts. “Heard that one before. Okay, Steve Harrington, I’ve got to get to my shift. Help yourself to coffee, and you better not leave before saying goodbye to my boy.”

“Yessir,” says Steve. 

As the door swings shut behind Wayne, the words heard that one before ping-pong around Steve’s brain. Does that mean—it could just be a turn of phrase, or it could mean that Eddie’s—that there have been—

Wayne didn’t seem all that surprised to see a boy coming out of Eddie’s bedroom. It’s not solid proof of anything, but Steve’s worked with less. And now that he’s got most of a bowl of cheerios in him, he’s pretty confident that even if Eddie’s not interested, it’s not like Eddie’ll take a swing at him or anything. Plus, Robin would definitely take Steve’s side in this, and it’s not like Eddie’s going to ditch Robin too. 

Huh. That’s another good thing about this whole situation, he realizes: it’ll be something he has in common with Robin. She’s probably going to be stoked to hear it. And he still likes girls too, so that’s double the things they have in common. 

He washes up and grabs a mug that reads ROANE COUNTY 4-H FAIR ‘77 from a shelf. It has a llama wearing a hat on it. He’s just pouring a nice hot cup of coffee when he hears shuffling footsteps from the direction of the bedroom. 

Eddie’s standing there, still barefoot and in boxers, looking sleepy and confused with one side of his hair all messed up. Steve feels a little shot of adrenaline go through him, just a nice little buzz, like the feeling he always got before a swim meet or a basketball game. Not nerves, exactly, just his body letting him know it’s go time, that there’s something big coming up just ahead, right in front of him. 

“Hey,” he says.

[fortunatelylori]

Crypts of Winterfell teaser

The 3 headed wolf

So ... this thing dropped sometime this morning while I was still asleep ...

First thing’s first ... We finally have an official release date, guys! I kept wondering if the show would start at the beginning of April or the end of April but as it turns out, HBO really wanted to be contrary so it’s the middle of April ... the 14th, to be exact. :)))

One of the disadvantages of living in Europe as a GOT fan is that by the time you see the new teasers, a whole host of other people have already analyzed it so you can’t really bring that much at the table. But I’ll give it a shot anyway. :)

The feather makes a come-back! 

No one really paid much attention to that feather, mostly because the last time the motif was revisited, it involved Sansa and we know how unimportant she is so why bother? Jonsa fans however have analyzed the symbolism behind it time and time again and what do you know? Here it is again, signaling the parentage reveal. Also, notice how the WW mist freezes the feather which in my mind can only mean that Jon will be in some kind of danger. 

The immediate interpretation is, of course, related to the fight with the WW that will take place at Winterfell so the feather in this context is a visual way of showing that conflict. 

It’s interesting that they chose the crypts for this teaser and involved the WW threat into it. A while back, I watched a video regarding how the crypts of Winterfell and the old kings of Winter might come into play in the story and considering this teaser, I think it’s worth revisiting this theory: 

Regardless of what secrets the crypts might hold in relation to the Starks relationship with the WW, the Winterfell crypts do pose a big problem for the humans fighting this war. If the NK can resurrect the dead, what is to say that he won’t raise the old kings from their crypts when he finally arrives at Winterfell? Imagine people taking refuge in the crypts during the final battle only for the dead to haunt them through the labyrinth. That would make for quite the sequence. 

But the feather symbolism can’t be related only to the WW because why would the WWs care who Jon’s parents are? The freezing of that feather must also relate to another hidden danger Jon will face. 

It’s interesting that they included Lyanna’s VO here: 

Lyanna: You have to protect him. 

Because this is where the feather and the VO come into play. Lyanna is asking Ned to protect Jon from Robert Baratheon. In that scene, if you remember, Lyanna says that if Robert were to find out who Jon is, he will kill him which leads Ned to keep the parentage of Jon a secret for almost 20 years. But let’s also remember where that feather came from ... it was Robert who placed that feather in the hand of Statue Lyanna. 

So that feather is a visual reminder that Robert would have killed Jon had he found out who he is. In addition to being the son of the man Robert hated, Jon posed a threat to Robert’s kingship. As Rhaegar’s son, Jon had a claim to the throne Robert had taken for himself.

But ... Robert is dead. He poses absolutely no danger to Jon now. But the threat is still highlighted here and the idea that Jon is in need of protection is brought up again. So against whom will Jon need protecting? Is  there another person in this story that might feel threatened by Jon’s claim? A person who has a huge army and at least one dragon and also a volatile temper? I would say that would be the person Jon would need protecting from. And as always with Jon, it seems that the people that will offer him protection will be named Stark. 

The wolf must have three heads 

(source: @undeadmanbun)

Perhaps we can now finally put to rest the theory of Jon, Tyrion and D*ny as the three heads of the dragon since this teaser strongly parallels Jon, Arya and Sansa to the original Ageon, Visenya and Rhaenys. Of course there are difference between the reiterations but if we were to look back at Aegon and his sisters, there are clues there that 3-way relationship was more in tune with Jon/Sansa/Arya then we might imagine. 

Yes, Aegon was married to both his sisters but his romantic preference for Rhaenys is blatant. I’d go as far as to say that the only reason why he ended up married to both his sisters was because Rhaenys was the youngest. I doubt he would have married Visenya, had things been reversed. Visenya, though, is Aegon’s equal in terms of military matters, his most direct partner when it comes to waging warfare. They have a pretty contentious relationship, with Visenya going so far as to physically harm Aegon in order to prove a point about him needed better protection. She’s the one that comes up with the idea of the King’s Guard. 

Speaking of which, let’s remember what Arya told Sansa in season 7. 

Sansa: You shouldn’t have run from them. (the guards)

Arya: I didn’t run. You need better guards. 

I can see Arya being the Visenya to Jon’s Aegon, without the sexual aspect. Pushing him, consulting with him on military matters, fighting with him when she believes he’s wrong while they work to achieve their common goal. I’ve said for a while that their relationship might be more strained than people imagine and I hold to that. I also think that no matter how many strains there are, they’ll always come together as a unit because of the incredibly deep bond they share. 

So if Jon and Arya represent the warrior aspect of the 3 headed dragon/wolf, by extension, Sansa must represent the political aspect of it. Otherwise why include her in this teaser? Both Jon and Arya are more fight oriented to begin with. You need a political mind to balance everything out and this is where Sansa comes in. In addition to that, Sansa shares a lot of similiarties with Rhaenys due to their common love of music and stories, as well as being prone to flights of fancy. This might foreshadow a Sansa that begins to drop her barriers this season and gets back in touch with her softer side once again. 

As people have already pointed out, Jon is placed next to Sansa and not in the middle between the two sisters as Aegon is usually depicted, making him visually closer to Sansa and thus stocking the Jonsa fires. Personally I would have preferred for Sansa to be at Jon’s left to make things even clearer but you can’t have everything in life. 

Also placing Jon in the middle wouldn’t have been a wise blocking choice because of the differences in height. 

(source: @iheartgot) 

By placing Jon in the middle, you’d have what we call in my country a “donkey’s stair  which is always a big no-no visually. 

EDIT:  Color me stupid but it’s been pointed out in the comments that in fact Sansa is on Jon’s left side if we look at the statues themselves. She’s also on his left side when he turns. So there is actually no other way to set the 3 of them up if you want to have that effect. Well ... this is even better!

Parallels to the House of Black and White promo

One thing that struck me the most about this teaser is the similarities to the promo for season 6. 

We are, once again, treated to effigies of both dead characters as well as live ones. Looking at it superficially this seems to spell doom for Jon, Arya and Sansa but I don’t think that’s the interpretation we should take from it. 

After all, season 6 not only brought back Jon from the dead, it also marked the resurrection of House Stark from the ashes, culminating with Jon and Sansa taking back Winterfell and ending the season in control of the North, with Jon proclaimed King in the North. 

Also, look at the VOs they used in that promo and how they related to the actual plot. 

Ned: The man who passes the sentence, should swing the sword. 

Jon ends up passing the sentence on the NW brothers who assassinated him and swinging the sword at their execution. 

Robb: I’ve won every battle but I’m losing this war. 

Robb might have lost his war and Jon came close to losing the Battle of the Bastards but Sansa’s Kinghts of the Vale intervention and Wun Wun sacrifice got them back Winterfell and the North, readdressing the vaccum left by Robb’s murder. 

Catelyn: Show them how it feels to lose what they love

I think this can be linked to Arya’s revenge on the Freys. She’s the most obvious representative of the eye for an eye type of revenge Catelyn is talking about in that quote. 

Jofferey: Everyone is mine to torment. 

Joff has been dead for a long time so his inclusion in this trailer feels odd but ... I don’t think this is related to him. This is about Ramsay, who is a more extreme version of Joffrey. Of course, the season ends with him being eaten by his own dogs, a sentence orchestrated by Sansa, the woman he tormented, proving that when you’re a monster who enjoys hurting people eventually you will have that come back to haunt you in the most extreme way possible. 

Jon: The Long Night is coming and the dead come with it. 

This not only foreshadows Jon spearheading the fight against the WW but also the fact that he is one of the dead that comes with the Long Night, hence his resurrection. 

So, going by that parallel, what speculation can we draw from the season 8 teaser? Let’s look at the VOs: 

Lyanna: You have to protect him. 

I’ve already discussed this in the first section but aside from foreshadowing Jon coming under threat because of the parentage reveal, this also links back to the importance of who Jon’s mother is and the role she played, plays and will play in Jon’s life. 

All his life Jon tried to model himself after Ned Stark, the man he believed was his father and that gave him the legitimacy of being included in the Stark family, a position he’s always wanted to maintain, even when being a Stark brought derision and insults (Allister Throne calling him the son of a traitor, for example). Part of the reason for this, I feel, is because Jon doesn’t know anything about his mother and more importantly fears that his mother doesn’t care about him and that she abandoned him (as per Jon’s last conversation with Ned). The parentage reveal will connect Jon to his mother and also erase those fears. Because Lyanna loved Jon. Her last words were concerning him and his well being. Also, Lyanna will replace Ned as the link between Jon and his Stark heritage. 

Catelyn: All this horror that’s come to my family ... It’s all because I couldn’t love a motherless child. 

This is probably the most controversial of the VOs quotes because some people feel that this is being used to attack Catelyn. I don’t see it that way. For one, I think it brings back into the conversation the idea of Jon being legitimized as a Stark since in that monologue, the true source of shame for Cat is that she made a vow to help legitimize Jon but didn’t follow through. The fact that this is placed in tandem with Sansa walking past her mother’s statue, seems to indicate that the way Jon will be legitimized as a Stark is through Sansa. 

This interpretation is due to an anonymous ask I got last week. I’m going to link it here. Nonnie was the first to my recollection to point to this scene and it’s possible foreshadowing elements so huge kudos to them!

Ned: You are a Stark. You might not have my name but you have my blood. 

This foreshadows, I think, the struggle that Jon will face once the parentage reveal hits. He’s going to feel lost, hurt and deprived of the Stark connection that has informed his entire life and all of his choices. But as Ned put it, he is a Stark and that’s what he will always be. 

On another note, one of the most glaring absences in this teaser is Bran. You’d expect him to be in this teaser. For one, he’s the one that will reveal Jon’s parentage. He is also part of the pack, not to mention that he’s the key to defeating the WW. His absence does raise questions.

But I think that just like the Hall of Faces promo, the Crypts promo is deceiving. The Hall of the Faces promo leads one to believe that season 6 will be very focused on the House of Black and White and also that it will signal more loss for House Stark, in particular. But neither one of those things actually occurs in the actual season. The House of Black and White is a secondary plot line at best and as I’ve said season 6 is the season House Stark gets back on top. 

So, I’m going to speculate that the Crypts promo isn’t really about the WW conflict as the ending might suggest, which would explain Bran’s exclusion. I think that taking all of the context into consideration, this teaser is really about the Dance of Dragons 2.0 and the three headed wolf replacing the three headed dragon. 

Miscellaneous thoughts

The torch

I can’t say for sure why they decided to give Jon a torch, other than that it makes him look even more badass. However, the fact that it’s extinguished not only severs all connection between him and his dragon father but also serves as a reminder that fire is actually ineffectual against the WW. I don’t know how many other clues people need at this point that the dragons will be of no actual use in defeating the NK.

Sansa’s expression

(source: @bethnoel)

I was struck by Sansa’s expression here. We haven’t seen Sansa look so emotional since season 6. It kind of brings to mind Sophie’s quote about this season being about an emotional fight for Sansa. 

Jonsa is coming!