#number 52

[desperatecheesecubes]

It would be so funny if, instead of recording a heartfelt message, Jason just called Bruce a bitch one last time

[astrobei]

on june 11th 1993, mike wheeler drags his vaguely amused (and highly endeared) boyfriend will byers to the movie theater, shells out for the largest size popcorn they have available, and gets 2 premium, middle-row seats to watch steven spielberg’s jurassic park

(he’s been vibrating with anticipation ever since the first trailer came out. he makes will go see it with him another five times before it leaves theaters.)

[findafight]

Not me writing a prologue for a fic I'll maybe never write about Steve being on the Dream Team lmao. I saw a pro basketball player Steve post a while ago and couldn't stop thinking about it. Anyways-

At the end of March Madness in 1989, the scout for the Pacers has lunch with the head coach of a community college basketball team that somehow made it to the first round before being pulverized. They sit across from each other, the coach seemingly a bit overwhelmed but not outright surprised. That's good, it means Jerry, the scout, doesn't have to worry about him freaking out or babbling too much.

The team captain had caught his, and possibly others', eye. Good layups, a few three pointers, solid defence, and a helluva lot of potential add up to someone to keep an eye on, except they can't because the guy plays for a rinky-dink community college and only had one televised game. The only reason Jerry saw the kid is because the Roane County Community College Ospreys had put in a hell of a fight the past three seasons. Jerry wonders why the hell the kid hadn't been offered a scholarship somewhere...not Roane County. Doesn't matter though, because they're here now.

"so. You wanted to talk about Steve?" Says the coach, August Nearaly, a bit weary.

Jerry nods, sipping his coffee. "Yeah. Wanted to get a sense of him before I actually talked to him."

August sighs. "As a player or as a person?"

Raising his eyebrows. "Is he that different off the court?"

"no! No, not like how you probably think. Harrington's a sweet kid, but also incredibly...well, not weird, but. Peculiar? He's got quirks. Bit paranoid, but not in a conspiracy way. In a 'no one should walk home alone in the dark' or 'hey, where'd John go? He was right here and then I did a headcount and he's not?' kinda way. Y'know? Like, they're all adults, but he does headcounts and worries anyways."

"huh. Oookay?"

"it-- I'm not saying this to rag on him, to be clear. It just too a while to get used to. Honestly, it's been good for team building. Makes them think of each other not as individuals, but part of a unit that needs everyone healthy and whole to work."

"that's good. He's a team player."

"oh yeah. It's not surprising, really. He's from Hawkins." August says the name like Jerry should know what that means. It's a town, sure, but other than that... Jerry's at a loss. Maybe something a few years ago about a fire? "He has most assists in Osprey history. Some of the guys joke that he's allergic to the ball."

"He's good on the court?"

"Jerry. I know you're here because you saw the March Madness game. You know he's good. He'd be even better if he could afford those fancy prescription goggles Horace Grant wears."

"seriously? Why not contacts?"

"don't make them for his prescription. You didn't see his interview? Kid's got thick horn rimmed glasses. Too many concussions apparently. God knows how he tells players apart when the jersey colours are similar."

"shit. That's why he was squinting the whole time? I thought he was just stressed."

He shrugged. "eh. Probably a bit of both. He takes it seriously, but not too seriously. Y'know? Half the guys were shitting themselves from nerves and Harrington stands up in the locker room, hands on his hips, and gives a speech worthy of the most melodramatic underdog sports movie."

Jerry laughs. "No shit."

Waving his hands, August nods. "no shit! He says all this stuff like 'we worked hard...we deserve this...we may not win but let's do our damn best. The worst that could happen is we lose, and that isn't the end of the world. So let's go out there and play some basketball!' or something, his was better, and the boys cheer. Then they put in fifty points to one-thirty."

Jerry winces. "Must have hurt, huh?"

August grins. "No way. One of the best games they ever played. You saw it. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't. They played their goddamn hearts out." He leans forward. "My boys don't have the same facilities as the big universities, or the funding to offer scholarships. They're at Roane Community because they want a degree or certificate but have other responsibilities. Parents or siblings to stay close to, jobs to work, people to take care of. They joined my team because they like playing basketball, loved the game and wanted to spend some of their precious time playing it. They put the work in on the court and off it. And we made it to the NCAA tournament because of it. We put in fifty points against the goddamn Michigan Wolverines! The champs! And they knew that. I've never heard of a locker room after an 80 point defeat so happy."

"seriously?"

It's all pride when Coach Nearaly says "yep. They may not be the best basketball players in college, but my god, they're probably the best team."

"because of Harrington?"

"partly. They all contribute, make sure they do things right. It's not a one man show, that's the point. They rally around him, but they all are part of the team, and know it. That's what Steve makes sure. Why I made him captain."

"So, you think he'd be a good pick for the Pacers?" This is, after all, a business meeting.

August nods, picks at his pancakes. "I'll be honest with you Jerry. You're not the first scout to talk to me about Steve."

"really? Who?"

"you know I won't say. But, between me and you, Steve's Indiana born and bred. His wife's planning on getting some lib Arts degree in Chicago or Indy, and your offer might be the deciding factor for them."

Jerry blinks. "He's married? At, what? Twenty-one?"

August nods. "Just turned twenty-two. High school sweethearts or something. Obsessed with each other." He chuckled, a bit ruefully. "I'm a bit jaded but damn. You mention her name? He lights up like the fuckin Fourth of July."

Jerry whistles. "Honeymoon phase gets us all."

"for almost two years? Nah. It's just love." It sounds a little wistful, coming from August. "Anyways. I dunno if the other team is serious about him, and if they are, they'll probably be disappointed. Kid isn't moving out of the Midwest. He's got family here, and is getting a goddamn elementary education degree. He won't uproot his life for a chance at the NBA. But, if you offer. Well. He'd at least seriously consider it."

Humming, Jerry chews his eggs as he thinks. "You think he'd be up for the lifestyle? The road games out numbering home ones?"

There's an air of seriousness when August levels Jerry with a look. "If he doesn't want to, he'll tell you. You gotta give him time to talk to his family though. This offer? It'll come out of left field for him, even if I give him a heads up. You get that, yeah? You want to recruit a kindergarten teacher to the NBA without any build up. He needs time to process that and then see where the people in his life are at with it."

"I guess it is unusual."

"try being the community college basketball coach getting two goddamn calls from NBA scouts. Thought I was hallucinating."

Jerry laughs, counts some bills for the tip. "Thank you. For your time and insights. Let Steve know I'll call tomorrow?"

"will do. He'll still probably drob the phone on you, though."

"as long as he doesn't hang up!"

[toastingpencils37]

I love how at the beginning of "They Call it Doom", Arin's listing 52 pie crusts just to prove whatever statement Lloyd made wrong.

Not a clean simple number like 50.

A random specific number like 52.

[numbuh]

tag that gets funnier the more time passes. he is 2 as of today 4/27 happy Technical birthday benie you mean so much to me. i wish i could do more than a basic ms paint doodle but them's the breaks. here's to NOT kicking my own ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brittlebutch]

curious:

[honeyvenommusic]

❗️NEWGLASSANIMALSGLASSANIMALSGLASSANIMALSGLASSANIMALSGLASSANIMALSGLASSAN-

[hanguaang-jun]

alright mdzs fandom. was wangxian.mp3 on your spotify wrapped this year? if so please say what rank it got in the tags :)

[berryblu-soda]

love that TLD´s worldbuilding is keeping me on my toes and all but GOOD LORD, i amd so scared of it ahahah, it doesnt spoonfeed all it´s info so it takes me (easily distracted by art and character interactions) several re reads to catch all the freaking details!!! the sheer amount of recontextualizing that happens constantly makes me go ahsdgfghsgdhdagsdujgfyhadgsghhgasfhgdsuj as well!!!

im so used to kids shows that are really straightforward, or stories with massive fandoms that do all the analizing for you, so this has been quite a doozy!! (this is all /pos of course!!!! i love analyzing >:3)

[freshbeeth]

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[augustheart]

i love this bug.

[nosefacekillah]

when you see a familiar number on the ice but it’s being worn by a different player now 😔

[the-physicality]

so fun fact: montreal currently has the highest win percentage at 61.54% [24 points earned / 39 possible points]. however, if you look at total possible points through the end of the season [current points + games remaining x 3] Montreal is also tied at first [ w/minnesota] with 57.

[wacky-nameless-inventor-24]

Thanks so much for all your answers to all my questions about your royalty au!

I love how you write Gandra. You keep her very much in character, and you really emphasize and even *elaborate* on her 'complex personality brought on by a difficult past, leading her to be desperate and look out only for herself, and making very bad decisions' that the show did a very sloppy job handling in the actual series; it especially works in your royalty au, because she was in a FAR worse position than in the series!

In the series and in your stories about her, I'm always so torn between thinking she's a selfish bitch and being understanding about how difficult she's got it under FOWL/how all her circumstances have hardened her (and unlike the series, you do a good job in your stories in general by elaborating more on how difficult and dangerous it is for her to be in FOWL, making it a little easier to be sympathetic for her), but it's a lot easier for me to have more sympathy for her in your royalty au!

no omg thank you for asking I really can't express enough how much I appreciate that-

Ty!!!! Yes I don't talk about her much in terms of the royalty au but I am always thinking about her there ssdlkjfsdl I have so many little stories from when she was a kid I want to do, and I always mean to draw her but I haven't gotten around to it much. She's beloved <3333 And I feel like a lottttt of the trauma I write for Mads can be applied to like... literally any of the other assassins because they were all raised like that. Even if some of the stories don't allow for a lot of her perspective (because I want to keep her in character or keep her motives unclear for suspense reasons) it can be safe to assume that she's hurting just as much as he is. If not more in some cases- because he's had time to heal and she has not.

uagh yeah I reallyyyy have wanted to rework how she's been treated there ssdlkfjdlsk still in the process of fixing it ofc. XD Thank you, though! It's good to know you can still see her humanity!!!

[darby-draws]

So is that like, trash talk, orrrr.....?

Hockey AU, Hockey AU!!!! Teddy and Drew, are from rivaling teams The Spiders and The Specters. (fellas, is it gay to have a rival...?) (yes) (👍)

I love them, they're having fun with sports! Stay hydrated, kings! 🤪

[pb-and-jammothy]

If you get this, answer with three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs! anon or not, doesn't matter, lets get to know the person behind the blog <3

Hi, wasn't expecting this, but cool!

I'm pb-and-jammothy, I'll probably answer to any variation of that pseudonym, except for Jim, and quite a few unrelated nicknames, here are some fun facts about me:

I'm British American, but in a kinda weird way, often this can be seen in my relatively shallow understanding about British or American things, and me using British and American spelling (though I tend to stick to one spelling of a word, it may just be an American spelling right next to a British one).

I really like cooking! I'm rather a picky eater for sensory reasons, and I'm really not a fan of trying new foods, so I'm rather proud of my abilities in the kitchen. Learning how to cook vegetables in a way where I actually enjoy them is an Absolute Game Changer whooo boy. My goal this year (which I've been achieving - 2 I've tried and been successful with and a handful ready to try next) is to learn new recipes for things I can make regularly.

I have 3 notes for fanfic ideas for a combined total of just under 14k words, with the separation being by fandom. I want to make progress in turning them from rambles about ideas into actual fics, but most of them are geared towards multi-chapter long-fics, which I've tried writing over the years, but haven't finished a single one, hence why my current ao3 accounts only have one shots published. Can't really work on any of them right now since I've got deadlines, but maybe this is a project for the summer (alongside reading a bunch of mythology books in prep for a Percy Jackson inspired ttrpg campaign I'm gonna run).

Uhh yeah, that's me. 😁👍