#there should be a few fun episodes after this one before we start the next big arc

[stevie-petey]

episode four: the sauna test

Steve pushes at Dustin’s feet to help him move further, but he’s quickly berated. “Not my feet, dumbass. Push my ass!” “What?” You and Steve exclaim at the same time.  “Touch my butt, I don’t care!” Dustin’s screeching voice is muffled from the walls of the vent. Looking at you one last time, Steve sighs heavily and places his hands on your brother’s butt and starts to shove him deeper into the air duct. He can’t believe he’s doing this right now, shoving the butt of the brother of the girl he’s in love with. You stand next to Robin, mortified of what you’re currently witnessing, endlessly ashamed of the two boys. 

Summary: dustin has some brotherly concern for you (dont tell anyone though), steve is offended you dont think he can fight, nancy gets upset during therapy hour, robin encourages child endangerment, erica becomes your hero, and you lose your lunch on hawkins makeshift tower of terror (aka sketchy russian elevators)

Rating: general, swearing

Warnings: swearing, use of y/n, fem!reader

Words: 7.5k

Before you swing in: hello my loves ! had a busy may wrapping up finals, move out, and adjusting back to life at home. i finally had the time to write this, and while im still iffy with some parts, im just excited to finally be at the elevator scene tbh. ive been DYING to write her. enjoy !!

-

Dustin stands outside your room the next morning, fist hovering over the door, unsure if he should knock. It’s early and he can’t get the panic he saw in your eyes last night out of his head. He hasn’t seen you that consumed with anxiety since you guys were kids and your parents began to fight. 

He feels horrible for putting you in that position last night, at odds with him, Robin, and Steve. 

Especially Steve. 

Dustin hadn’t meant to start a fight between you and the teen. Contrary to popular belief, he actually does want the two of you together, but now he’s worried he’s somehow caused a rift in your relationship.

Sighing, your brother allows his knuckles to rap against your door. When he doesn’t hear anything, he slowly opens it and pokes his head in. You’re asleep in your bed, blankets strewn everywhere, and Dustin knows he’s fucked up because you almost never sleep in this late. 

Now he’s worried he’s going to have to force you into a code blue.

Dustin lets himself into your room and stands before your bed. Then, because he’s your brother and finds it hard to express his worries for you in a normal way, he pokes your cheek with his finger. “Wake up.”

You stir at the touch but remain asleep. Dustin groans and starts repeatedly poking you. “Dude, get up.” He now starts poking your nose, your forehead and eyebrows, anywhere his finger can reach.

Finally the onslaught of pokes to your face is enough to wake you up. You raise your hand and slap Dustin away as you scrunch your face in displeasure. “Why do you always insist on waking me up this way?”

“It’s fun for me.”

You slap at your brother again and take a moment to stretch. Your body is exhausted, you got home late last night after your drive with Jonathan. Once the two of you had been done discussing your relationship problems, you both decided to just drive around Hawkins and simmer in your limited time together. For those few hours, only the two of you existed.

Yawning, you blink your eyes open at Dustin. “Is there a reason you’re waking me up before my alarm is supposed to go off?”

Dustin’s smug smile falls. He coughs and starts to fidget with his fingers. “Oh, I was just–well. Last night… Do you wanna talk about it?”

The implications of your brother’s words cause you to fully wake up. “Is this your poor attempt at commencing a code blue?”

“Well, do we need a code blue?”

You roll over and throw your blankets over your head, blocking out the world. “I already talked about my feelings last night with Jonathan, please give me at least twenty-four hours to recover.”

Dustin flicks your ear that pokes out from under the blankets at the mention of Jonathan. “Why were you with that guy last night?”

“Stop touching my face!” You yell at the kid, annoyed. “And because he’s my best friend. We both had shitty nights so we drove around and cried together.”

Your brother pauses. “Did you actually cry together?”

“No,” you now uncover your face and sigh. “Only I cried, but it was therapeutic nonetheless.”

Dustin drops his head, remembering how upset you’d been standing in the hallway last night with the others. “I’m sorry about last night, Y/N.”

“Hey, no.” You sit up now and force him to look at you. “No apologizing. I understand.”

Your friends have all gone their separate ways this summer and I know you’re so fixated on the Russians because you’re lonely. I understand, and I’m here for you.

It goes unsaid, but Dustin knows that you have him all figured out, though it doesn’t ease the guilt he feels for dragging you into all of this in the first place. “You don’t have to join me at Scoops today, Y/N.”

“I know, but I will anyway after my shift.” I have to keep you safe.

“We both know you’re only going to make sure I don’t burn the place down.” You worry too much.

“Oh, don’t think I won’t call Steve once this conversation is done to make sure he keeps an eye on you.” I know, but it’s my job and I love you.

“You’re the worst.” I love you, too.

You ruffle Dustin’s hair with a fond smile. It’s an intricate thing, the hidden language that can only be found between siblings. All that goes unsaid becomes masked behind teasing and taunts, but you both hear what’s underneath. 

When Dustin leaves your room to go to the mall, you roll over in bed and reach for the phone that rests on top of your desk. Your fingers press the numbers that have become ingrained within your brain from countless nights of dialing. The line rings only one time before Steve’s tired voice answers. 

“Hello?”

You smile hearing his voice, despite the distance that seems to have now formed between you. “Hi, honey.”

There’s rustling on the other end of the line and you know Steve still lays in his own bed only ten minutes from your own. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine,” you quickly reassure him, wincing when you realize you don’t normally call him so early. “Sorry, I was just calling to ask if you’d keep an eye on Dustin today? With the Russians and everything, I have work today and can’t be there–”

“Of course I’ll keep an eye on your brother, Y/N.” Steve gently interrupts your anxious rambling. 

“Thank you,” you say softly with a laugh, embarrassed. 

“Are we…” Steve hesitates, unsure how to find the right words. “Are we okay? I know things were–uh, weird. Last night. And that I was a dick and I just, I’m really sorry, Y/N. For everything.”

You close your eyes and exhale slowly, knowing that there’s more that Steve wants to say but is too afraid to tell you. Too ashamed to say that he’s embarrassed as well for allowing his pride to cloud his judgment, and you’re too exhausted to try and remind him again that you love him despite it all. “We’re okay, Steve. I promise.”

He takes a moment to respond, he doesn’t know what else to say. He’s never been good at this. Finally, he settles on what he’s able to give you. It seems that’s all he’s been able to do lately. “I’ll miss you today, angel.”

“I’ll miss you too, honey.” The name slips from your tongue in a languid manner, the warmth that accompanies the word still wraps itself around your body and reminds you of the love you feel for the boy. You hope he can feel the warmth too, you hope it descends down the landline and wraps around him as well. “I’ll see you after work.”

– 

Your day only gets worse from there.

After only an hour or so of sadly sorting through books at work without a customer in sight, you hear a frail scream come from Mrs. Waters’ office. You run towards the woman in a heartbeat, panic stricken and afraid of what you’ll find. 

Mrs. Waters is sitting tiredly in her office with her head in her hands when you run in. The usually upbeat woman is hunched over with despair and you’re quick to rush over to her with worry. “Mrs. Waters, is everything okay?”

She rubs at her temples and it’s then that you realize her telephone is in her hand. Without bothering to look, she clumsily places it back on the wall and looks up at you with sad, tired eyes. “I’m fine, dear. I–I just had a fright, that’s all.”

“What happened?” You pull a chair to sit next to the woman and grab her wrinkled, yet soft, hands. 

“Oh, I’m old.” Mrs. Waters smiles at you sadly. There are tears in her eyes as she takes a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. “My, you would think I’d be used to phone calls from the hospital.”

“The hospital?” 

Hearing the panic in your voice, your boss grabs the hands you have placed on top of her’s and squeezes with reassurance. “It wasn’t for me, dear.”

You’re still anxious for the woman in front of you. “Who then?”

“They called me for an old friend,” Mrs. Waters clutches at her chest with a certain fear that you’ve never seen within the woman. “She’s in the hospital because some young journalist found her eating fertilizer in her home last night. She’s always been… troubled.”

You gasp and pull away from your boss and your mind reels with this new information. Jonathan’s voice echoes within the walls of your mind, of his story of the woman he and Nancy had found last night after investigating the rats. 

Mrs. Waters frowns at your unexpected reaction and notices the fear on your face. “Dear, I’m sure my friend will be alright–”

“What…” your voice shakes, and you clear your throat. “What’s your friend’s name, Mrs. Waters?”

The old woman sighs, sensing there’s something more to your worry, but her heart hurts for her friend and she’s seen more in her almost seventy years than she’s ever wanted to. “Her name is Doris Driscoll.”

–

You’re sent home early after your conversation with Mrs. Waters. She had been too worried for her friend and saw how shaken up by it you seemed to be as well, so she patted your arm and dismissed you. 

“There’s no point keeping the store open today, Y/N. Go home to that cute boy of yours while I go visit an old friend.”

You had tried arguing with her, but even you knew it was no use. 

Biking to Starcourt, now more than ever worried about your job, you feel your birthday looming over you and the worries of Nancy’s involvement with rats and old women eating fertilizer mixed with Jonathan’s fears. 

This was supposed to be a good summer. 

Your head spins as you walk into the backdoor of Scoops Ahoy, finding Robin, Steve, and Dustin all circled around the table as they discuss how to enter the Russian storage room. 

“What? I sneak up behind, knock him out, and I take his keycard.” Steve is explaining when you walk in. He has his leg propped against the seat next to him as he twirls his sailor’s hat in his hand. “It’s easy.”

“Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?” Dustin blinks at the teen, having little faith in his confidence.

You make your way towards the group and lift Steve’s propped leg up so that you can sit before placing the leg across your lap. Feeling your touch, he looks up with surprise to see you, having expected your shift to end later in the day. “Y/N?”

“You’re not going near any Russian men with guns, Steve.” You say to him in lieu of a greeting.

Steve deflates in his seat. “That’s why I’d be sneaking.”

Dustin shares a look with you, the two of you remembering all the times Steve has tried, and failed, to win a fight. Clearing his throat, your brother crosses his arms and winks at you before turning to the teen. “Alright, please tell us this, and be honest. Have you ever actually… won a fight?”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Okay, that was one time–”

“Twice, honey.” You interrupt him with a smile, enjoying this conversation maybe a little too much. “Jonathan, remember him?”

“Listen, that doesn’t count.”

“Oh, but it does.” You pinch Steve’s shin. “He kicked your ass, I was there.”

He winces and moves his legs off of you. “He didn’t kick my ass–”

“You got a fat lip, crooked nose, swollen eye.” Dustin adds on, leaning against your chair now as the two of you gang up on Steve. 

“He even pinned you at one point. I distinctly remember thinking he was going to kill you.” You say, smirking.

Steve scoffs. “Oh, you did not have any concern for me then–”

You hit his shoulder. “Yes I did! I’ve always been worried about you–”

“Can you guys not make everything about your weird relationship for like, three seconds, please?” Dustin whines as you and Steve start to bicker about something else entirely.

As the three of you argue, Robin seems to get an idea and runs out of the room. Noticing her sudden absence, you turn to Steve and frown. “What’s Robin up to?”

He stands up and sees her snatching money from the tip jar before running off. Steve calls after her, but she doesn’t slow down as she runs out of the shop. “What are you doing?”

“I need cash!” She says, as if that explains everything.

“Isn’t half of the tip money Steve’s?” You ask, now standing next to him by the register alongside Dustin.

“I’ll pay your boyfriend back later, Y/N.” Robin continues to walk towards the shop’s exit. “I’m going to find us a way into that room, a safe way, just like I promised you.”

You’re oddly touched that she remembered your insistence on keeping everyone safe. With a smile, you call across to her, “thank you!”

Robin blushes and forces herself to look away from you so that she can direct her attention to Steve. “In the meantime, sling ice cream, behave, and don’t get beat up. I’ll be back in a jiff!” 

As you and Steve watch Robin leave, the two of you turn and catch Dustin licking at one of the ice cream scoops. You whack him with the back of your hand and cringe at him. “Dude, what the hell?”

Dustin flinches away from you as Steve snatches the scoop from the boy with his own disgusted look. “Not my scooper, man.”

“Why are you like this?” You ask your brother with disappointment in your voice, to which he huffs at. 

“I’m a curious person.” You scoff at Dustin and he rolls his eyes at you before making his way out from behind the ice cream counter. “If I’m going to be judged, then I’m going to the arcade while we wait for whatever Robin has planned.”

He’s gone without another word, leaving you alone with Steve.

It’s still early in the day and there’s only a few customers in Scoops Ahoy, so it’s just you and Steve. It’s the first time you’ve been alone together since last night, when you’d been standing in front of him, begging him to listen to you, and all he could do was watch you silently with pain in his own eyes. 

As if coming to this realization himself, Steve coughs and rocks back and forth awkwardly. He knows you told him this morning that everything was okay between you two, but things still feel off. Despite your best efforts, he can tell that you’re still struggling to seem okay with the whole Russian debacle. You’re still frail looking, unsure and anxious, and Steve hates that he’s the reason why. 

Hesitantly, he reaches for your hand. “Care to, uh. Join me in the backroom?”

You raise your eyebrows at his question. “Are you propositioning me, Harrington?”

“No!” His eyes widen in fear and his voice squeaks, which only embarasses him more. He clears his throat and tries to swallow down his dread. “I mean, not like that. I figured we could, you know… talk.”

Now it’s your turn to fill with dread. He’s seen through you, despite your best efforts to try and appease everyone. Squeezing his hand, you nod at Steve and allow him to guide you into the backroom. 

Steve pulls a chair out from the table and sits down, and before you can process what’s happening, he pulls you down and into his lap. You throw your arms around his neck to steady yourself at the sudden movement, which only makes Steve’s proud smile widen. “You planned that, didn’t you?”

“Sure did, angel.”

You laugh and shake your head at him, tightening your arms around his neck and settling into his lap. He rests his hands on your thighs and stares at you with such warmth, such patience, content to simply have you here with him. Despite the uncertainty that seems to now loom over the two of you, there’s still a certainty within it. There’s still a trust that accompanies the hesitancy, and it’s this trust that caresses your cheek and coaxes you to speak. 

“I don’t like what we’re doing, Steve.” You confess to him, making your words as plain as possible so that nothing gets misconstrued; too often your words have gotten lost in translation.

Steve nods slightly, his eyes never leave yours, and he listens. “I get that, I do, and I’m sorry if I ever made you feel bad about standing your ground. It’s just… I wanted to go along with Dustin, pretend for a few days that I’m not some moron who couldn’t get into college, you know?”

“You’re not an idiot,” you fix a piece of Steve’s hair that has fallen out of his sailor’s hat and sigh. “But there’s more to this than just my stupid need to protect everyone.”

“Did something else happen?” 

You hesitate, unsure if what’s been on your mind holds any real weight, or if you’re just being paranoid now after everything you’ve been through these last few years. Biting your lip, you decide that it’s Steve you’re telling this to. Paranoid or not, he’ll listen and try to help you piece it all together as well. He always does. “A few days ago I saw Billy stumbling on the side of the road. He was… bleeding.”

Steve’s eyes harden at the teen’s name and instinctively his grip on you tightens. “Did he do anything to you?”

“No,” you breathe out sharply, remembering how disoriented Billy had been. He was in no condition to cause you any harm, which in itself frightened you. “There was something off about him, Steve. I–I can’t explain it, but a day before I saw Billy, I had been with Will and he was almost similar to Billy, I guess? He just–he was frozen, staring off into space, until I got his attention again.”

“Why do I feel like there’s something else you’re not telling me?”

You sigh. “Because there is. There’s always something else in the fucking town.” Anger begins to rise within you and you force yourself to swallow it down. Now isn’t the time for the anger that always simmers just below the surface, waiting. “I talked to Jonathan last night. He’s been with Nancy investigating rabid rats and an old woman who was caught eating her fertilizer.”

“Christ,” Steve exhales with bewilderment.

“And now Russians in Hawkins? What are the odds of this all happening within the same week?”

“Do you…” Looking around, Steve lowers his voice. “Do you think it’s happening again?”

“I don’t think so, El told us she closed the gate, but… I can’t explain any of this, either.” You feel helpless, and you hate it. There’s something you’re missing, there’s something connecting it all, and yet you’re going in circles. 

It all can’t just be a coincidence, and it’s a horrible, maddening feeling. 

And Steve tries to absolve you from it. “We’ll figure it out, together. You and me, even if you want to kill me by the time we’re done, I promise you that I’ll help you–” The phone starts to ring, cutting Steve off, and he sighs. Patting your thighs, he silently asks you to get up so that he can answer it.

Lazily walking over to the ringing phone, Steve picks it up with slight annoyance. “Scoops Ahoy, this is Steve.” There’s a feminine voice on the other line, which he frowns at, before handing the phone to you. “It’s for you?”

Surprised, you stand up and take the phone, unsure who would be calling for you at the ice cream shop. “Hello?”

“Y/N, it’s me. Um, hi.” 

“Nancy?”

“I–uh, I called your job and this older lady told me you’d be at Scoops Ahoy? I needed someone to talk to, and I–I just,” She clears her throat, and it’s only now that you notice the exhaustion in her voice and how thick it sounds from dried up tears. “You know what? This is weird, I shouldn’t have called. I’m sorry–”

“Hey, no.” You fumble with the telephone cord and desperately wish you were with Nancy right now. After what Jonathan told you last night, you feel horrible for the girl, and from the sound of it, she needs someone there for her right now. “Talk to me, Nance. What happened?”

You hear her inhale a shaky breath, always the first to try and disguise any upset and hurt she may be feeling for the sake of others. She takes another deep breath, exhales slowly, and then begins to talk. “Jonathan and I had a fight.”

She tells you everything, from Mrs. Driscoll and the rats to Tom firing them for falsely identifying as reporters. It’s everything Jonathan told you last night, all his worst fears come true, except Nancy also tells you what he told her this morning. How condescending he had been, how he had reminded her of how poor he is, how he belittled her need to figure everything out herself. 

“He kept defending all those assholes, Y/N.” More tears lace within Nancy’s voice. “He wouldn’t listen to me. He just kept repeating over and over again about how he needed the job, as if it wasn’t the single more humiliating thing I’ve ever had to endure.”

There’s so much you want to say, but you’re afraid it will only come out wrong. “I can’t imagine what you had to go through, Nance. I know those men were horrible to you, but you understand where Jonathan is coming from, right?”

“I mean, I thought I did, but,” she sniffs, her voice is soft and defeated. “I’m not so sure anymore. It feels like we can’t understand each other, like we’re physically incapable of seeing eye to eye. I know he has to provide for his family, I–I love that he takes care of them, that he always does what’s right, and yet it infuriates me sometimes.”

You can’t help but chuckle at what Nancy has said. She sounds so much like Jonathan in this moment, reminiscent of him telling you that her ambition is what he loves about her, and here she is saying his integrity is what she loves about him. “God, you two and your pride; you sound just like Jonathan. He said practically the same thing about you last night–”

“Jonathan talked to you about this?” Nancy’s voice becomes cold, defensive, and you know you’ve just said the wrong thing.

“Well, I mean,” you frantically try to alleviate the situation. “He only wanted advice, that’s all.”

Nancy scoffs, and you feel your heart drop. “So he can tell you all about how he feels, but bottles it up when it comes to his girlfriend?”

Well, fuck. 

“He was scared and overwhelmed.” You try to keep your voice neutral, not wanting the girl to assume you’re on anyone’s side. “It’s a difficult situation, and he came to me for help just like you are right now.”

Jealousy claws at Nancy suddenly, it clashes against the hurt within her. Jonathan went to you, as he’s always done, he sought solace in you for the emotions within him that he still has yet to share with her. It reminds her, then, just how little she knows about him still. How many years stretch between you and Nancy when it comes to Jonathan. 

“I’m sure you know all about how he feels,” she says bitterly, unable to stop herself. “The two of you understand one another.”

You sense that there’s something important with what she’s just said. The words were said with a history behind them, an insecurity that you cannot compensate for, and you feel defenseless against Nancy. “He was hurt, and so are you–”

“God, I should’ve known you’d take his side! I mean, you two always do this. I’m such an idiot.”

Panic begins to surround you. “Nancy, I’m not taking anyone’s side, just please listen to me–”

The line goes dead as Nancy hangs up. 

Numb, you place the phone back on the wall and stare blankly at it. The pressure of tears presses against your eyes and you try to steady your breathing. You’ve hurt Nancy, you’ve caused a rift between you that threatens to collapse into a chasm, and you don’t know what to do.

Steve sees that you’re fighting back tears and he tugs you against his chest. His embrace soothes you, but when he asks what happened, all you can do is shake your head, too overwhelmed to speak. There’s too much to explain, a history between you and Jonathan that you know Steve accepts, and yet now you’re terrified you’ll somehow hurt him like you’ve hurt Nancy. 

“I’m sorry, angel.”

Neither of you are sure what Steve is apologizing for, but it’s enough for now. 

So much for an easy summer.

– 

“It is fascinating what twenty bucks will get you at the County Recorder’s Office.” Robin places a giant sheet of paper onto the table. On it are lines and shapes all drawn in blue with an intricate layout. You lean in close to inspect it as Robin continues explaining. “Starcourt Mall, the complete blueprints.” 

Dustin praises her idea and you hesitantly agree; you would’ve never thought of asking for the mall’s blueprints. “You’ve got my attention.”

She smiles and starts to explain her plan. “This is us, Scoops,” her fingers trace over the paper as she guides you and the boys through the blueprint. “And this is where we want to get.”

“I don’t really see a way in.” Steve points out, now sitting at the table with an arm wrapped around you. 

“There’s not,” Robin casts the top blueprint aside and reveals another one underneath. It’s similar in design, although this one lacks more shapes and is mostly lines. “If you’re talking exclusively about doors.”

You squint at the drawings, trying to figure out what they remind you of. “Are those…”

“Air ducts!” Dustin finishes for you, impressed with Robin’s idea.

“Safe, practical, and wouldn’t involve guns.” Turning to the girl, you nod at her and wink. “Buckley, you really keep your promises.”

Robin bows playfully. “Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room, and these air ducts,” she grabs a marker from the whiteboard and circles Scoops on the blueprints before drawing a winding line down to the hidden vault and circling it as well. “Lead all the way here.”

The four of you all look up at the vent above you, and while the idea seems like the safest option, you can’t help but wonder how horribly wrong it could go as well. You’ve never had the best luck, not when it comes to Hawkins, and the air ducts seem almost too easy of a solution to trust. 

Steve finds a screwdriver in one of the shop’s drawers and takes apart the air vent with Dustin’s help. You stand next to Robin and watch with slight weariness, unsure where to go from here. Once Steve has removed the vent, he shines a flashlight inside and winces. 

“I don’t know, guys. It’s a tight fit.”

“I can do it,” you step forward. “Can’t be that bad, right?”

Steve looks down at you from the ladder. “This feels like a trap.”

“Move, Harrington.” Once he’s off the ladder, you climb up yourself. When you look into the vent, your heart drops. It is a tight fit, there’s no way you’ll be able to crawl through it. Defeated, you climb down the ladder. “Well, shit.”

“I’ll fit.” Dustin now speaks up.

“No you will not.”

He rolls his eyes at you. “No collar bones, remember?” 

“Excuse me?” Robin has never been more confused in her life.

Steve begins to explain Dustin’s medical condition while you continue arguing with your brother. “I’m not letting you do this!”

“You got the healthy genes while I got the rare genetic condition, Y/N.” Dustin starts to climb up the ladder as you tug at his shirt to try and stop him. “Let me abuse it!”

“But–”

Steve places a hand on your shoulder. “I’ll handle this, Y/N.”

You step back, hoping that he’ll talk some sense into your brother, but to your horror he only makes things worse. Dustin starts to climb into the vent with Steve below him, but he gets stuck about halfway in. “Steve, push me!”

The teen looks at you, unsure what the right call here is. “Do I…?”

“Yeah, just push the kid.” You rub your eyes, tired. “He’s already almost in the damn air duct anyways.” 

Steve pushes at Dustin’s feet to help him move further, but he’s quickly berated. “Not my feet, dumbass. Push my ass!”

“What?” You and Steve exclaim at the same time. 

“Touch my butt, I don’t care!” Dustin’s screeching voice is muffled from the walls of the vent.

Looking at you one last time, Steve sighs heavily and places his hands on your brother’s butt and starts to shove him deeper into the air duct. He can’t believe he’s doing this right now, shoving the butt of the brother of the girl he’s in love with. You stand next to Robin, mortified of what you’re currently witnessing, endlessly ashamed of the two boys. 

The two boys argue, Dustin commanding Steve to push him harder as the teen tries his best to shove the kid, and Robin leans over to you. “Remind me, why are you into Harrington again?”

All you can do is sigh at her question, having no good answer as you watch Steve now manhandle Dustin and scream back insults at him. 

They look ridiculous. 

“Ahoy, sailors!” Someone rings the register’s bell impatiently. “All hands on deck!”

You and Robin turn to find Erica standing at the register as she repeatedly rings the bell and demands her daily free samples. You’re about to respond to her when you see Robin raise her eyebrows; it’s clear she’s thought of something. 

“Would… Erica fit in the vent?”

Your hand snatches at Robin’s arm as you pull her away from the shop’s window. “Absolutely not. We’re not getting Erica involved!”

“C’mon, Y/N. She’s small, she could easily fit–”

“She’s ten.” She’s too young. You’ve always regretted that Dustin and the party were twelve when everything began. 

You’ll be damned if you ruin another child’s life. 

But Robin doesn’t know any of this, and she ignores you as she runs to the register and recruits Erica before you can stop her. Within a minute you have a very curious Erica Sinclair climbing the ladder up to the vent as she shines a flashlight through it. 

You stand below her, helpless. 

“Yeah, I don’t know.” She climbs down after a few minutes of studying the vent’s dimensions. 

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

Erica leans against the table and studies the four of you with distaste. “Oh, I can fit. I just don’t know if I want to.”

“Are you claustrophobic?” Robin teases her, but you only feel sympathy for the girl. 

You step towards Erica, trying one last time to reason with her. “You don’t have to do this, you know. You can back down now, no one will blame you. In fact, I will give you all my allowance if you say no.”

Dustin elbows you roughly to get you to shut up, he knows what you’re trying to do. You glare at him and rub your now tender shoulder. When you look towards Steve and Robin for backup, both teens send you pleading glances similar to the ones from last night.

Once again, you’re the odd man out. 

None of this is what you want.

“I don’t have phobias,” Erica informs Robin. Then, she turns to you, “and no one tells me what to do.”

Steve crosses his arms. “Okay, well. What’s the problem?”

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

Ten minutes later, you’re sitting in a booth with the others as Steve slides Erica a freshly made sundae. 

“More fudge, please.” She requests, pleased she’s won.

Steve looks at you, already fed up with the kid, and you feel no sympathy for him. “Go on, get the girl her bribery fudge. This is what you wanted.”

He cringes at the sarcasm in your voice and knows you’re once again pissed at him. Defeated, he hangs his head low and leaves to get Erica more fudge without another word. Once he’s gone, Robin opens up her blueprints and shows the girl the air ducts. “You see this? This is the route you’re going to take.”

You sit there quietly as Dustin and Robin talk to Erica. After they’ve explained the entire plan, she mentions that this all sounds like child endangerment. You let out an exhausted chuckle. “It does, doesn’t it? Isn’t that just hilarious to think about?”

Robin tries to reassure both you and Erica. “We’ll be in radio contact with you the whole time–” 

“Ah, ah, ah!” Erica waves a finger in Robin’s face, unamused. “Child. Endangerment.”

“It’s a shame only you can see that.” You drop your head onto the table, entirely over the situation. “I mean, how can only the ten year old see how insane this is, huh?”

Dustin throws a straw at you and shushes you, annoyed with your theatrics. Clearing his throat, he turns to Erica. “We think these Russians want to do harm to our country.”

“Unconfirmed, actually.” You retort. With every passing minute, it becomes more and more evident that this really is happening, and there’s no way you can back out now; someone sane has to be there to protect everyone. Dustin and the others all seem deluded by the idea of fame and adventure, but all you want to do is keep your loved ones safe. 

“Shut up,” Dustin shoves you further away from him as he tries to win over Erica’s agreement. “Great harm. Don’t you love your country?”

“You can’t spell ‘America’ without ‘Erica’.” She takes a sip from her drink, now listening.

You lift your head up from the table and share a baffled look with Dustin, both of you going through how to spell America in your heads. Amazingly, Erica is right. You really can’t spell the word without her name. 

“Incredible,” you whisper, in complete disbelief. 

Dustin shakes his head. “Uh, yeah. Oddly, that’s–uh, totally true… So, don’t do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man, for America – Erica.”

After your brother’s speech, Erica puts down her drink and mocks him, still not entirely sold on the whole child endangerment idea. Instead, she goes on a whole spiel about how she loves capitalism and paying people for their services while you sit there, head pounding with a headache. 

“And it seems to me,” Erica concludes with a smile, “my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want my help? This USS Butterscotch better be the first of many. I’m talking free ice cream for life.”

Robin and Dustin mirror exasperated expressions on their faces, but honestly? You get a kick out of Erica recognizing her worth; she’s brilliant. Without saying anything, you lift your hand up for Erica to high five, which she happily accepts. 

“To child endangerment!” You cheer, your voice oozing sarcasm, and Erica follows suit as Robin and Dustin both slump in their seats. 

– 

It’s your idea to prep Erica for whatever she may find after crawling through the ducts. You shoved a helmet on her head and forced knee pads onto the girl, which she adamantly protested against. 

“This is excessive, even for you.”

You held up money, which promptly shut her up. “Wear the protection and do exactly as I say, or lose $5.”

After she took the money, you then held out your switchblade for her to take as well. “And use this if anything happens, alright?”

Erica had stared at you, slightly surprised. “Why do you carry knives on you?”

“Ask questions later.”

Now you’re anxiously waiting on the mall’s rooftop once more with Dustin, Steve, and Robin as you radio Erica for updates.

“You nerds in position or what?” Her voice drones through the walkie’s speaker.

“Yeah, we’re in position.” Robin confirms. The three of you have been scouting the shipment deck for the last thirty minutes, making sure all the possible Russian guards were gone. “It’s all quiet up here, so you’ve got the green light.”

You take the walkie from Robin. “But be careful, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Be careful and green light, roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment.”

Robin snatches the walkie back and cringes at what Erica has said. “Can we maybe not call it that?” 

“That's exactly what’s happening here.” You say with a snort. 

“Thanks for the help, Y/N.”

You give Robin a thumbs up. “Anytime.”

Erica announces that she’s in the air ducts and you feel the familiar burden of fear creep through you as she now goes quiet. Steve’s hand finds yours and he attempts to ease your discomfort as you all wait. “Erica will be fine, Y/N.”

“Yeah, totally!” Robin tries to reassure you as well, though she looks nervous too.

The minutes drag by at an agonizingly slow pace. The three of you hold your breath, waiting for Erica’s assurance that she’s safe and okay, and you pray to whatever god that’s up there to listen and keep her safe. 

If anything happens to her, it would only be your fault for not having learned your lesson sooner. 

“Alright, nerds.” You let out a breath of relief when Erica radios again, and you can feel Steve exhale as well. He’d been worried, too. “I’m there.”

“Do you see anything?” Robin asks, voice alight with excitement now. 

“Yeah, I see those boring boxes you’re so excited about.” 

“Any guards?”

Erica pauses a moment, presumably scanning for any signs of danger, before responding. “Negative.”

You breathe out again with relief. At the very least, Erica is in a safe enough location. 

However, Robin isn’t done asking questions yet. “Booby traps?”

“If I could see them, they’d be pretty shit traps, wouldn’t they?”

You grab the radio again from Robin. “Erica, have I told you that you’re my favorite child?”

“You haven’t, but I know I am,” there’s a bang over the other end of the walkie, then a loud thud followed by a grunt, before her voice comes through again. “I’m in.” Then, not even a minute later, the door to the vault begins to lift up, revealing a smug looking Erica on the other side. 

You all stare at her in awe, and she snaps her fingers at you. “Free ice cream for life.”

Steve lets out a surprised laugh and a smile crosses your face as well. Even though you’re still entirely against what’s happening, you can’t believe that the plan worked. You guys successfully broke into a Russian vault. 

That beats Demodogs any day. 

You, Steve, Robin, and Dustin climb down from the roof to get to Erica as fast as you can. When you finally join her, you risk her fury and pull her into your arms for a hug. “You’re so much braver than I was at ten.”

Erica shoves you off of her. “That doesn’t at all surprise me.” 

While you make sure she’s okay, Dustin and the others investigate the room. There’s boxes everywhere with tape all over them. Lifting one up onto a table, Steve turns to you. “Can I borrow that switchblade, Y/N?”

“She’s got it,” you point to Erica. “Talk to the kid.”

Steve frowns, having unexpected this, and, being scared of the girl, he laughs nervously. “Uh, Erica? Can I have that switchblade now?”

She rolls his eyes at him and digs through her pockets to retrieve it. “Aren’t you the man in the relationship? Why don’t you have your own pair of knives?”

You cover your mouth to try and stifle the laugh that escapes you, but it’s no use. Steve hears it and sticks his middle finger up at you before finally opening the box. Cutting through the tape, he opens the box’s flaps to find a metal storage container within them.

When Steve reaches his hand inside the box, you stop him. “Please, be careful.”

“I got this, angel.” However, he slows his movements and carefully grabs at the container’s handle. Slowly, he turns it, and it lets out a terrifying hiss as air escapes it. Removing the lid, more air comes crawling out and reveals four individual cylinders.

“Definitely not delicious noodles and sensible shoes.” You breathe out, and Steve hums in agreement.

“That’s a weird way of saying ‘you were right, Dustin’.” Your brother snarks, and you hit his shoulder to shut him up.

Meanwhile, Steve waves his hand at the four of you, motioning you to back up. “Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stand back.”

Robin and Erica don’t hesitate to listen, but you and Dustin remain where you are. There’s a silent agreement between the two of you to not abandon Steve, he needs you. When he sees that you both haven’t listened, Steve pleads with you. “Just step back, please? I’m doing this for you guys, this could be dangerous.”

“No.” You and Dustin say at the same time. 

Steve tries to argue again, but you remain firm in your stance. “I’m not leaving you. Ever.”

His words falter at the sincerity in your voice, and he wishes it was just the two of you alone right now so that he could stroke your cheek and kiss away your concerns. He’s filled with warmth by your care for him, but just like you would never put him in danger, Steve would never put you in any danger either. 

He loves you with everything within him, he just wishes he could tell you this. 

“If you die, I die.” Dustin proudly declares, breaking Steve out of his thoughts. 

You stare at your brother, as does Steve, and together the two of you awkwardly pat the kid’s shoulder to acknowledge his sentiment. With a cough, you add, “Hendersons with Harrington.”

Steve clears his throat, overwhelmed and slightly off put by the bizarre support. “Okay, I guess.” He grabs at one of the cylinders and twists slowly, and when it unlocks, he lifts and reveals a bubbling green liquid. “What the hell?”

Robin asks what the substance is and you feel like you’ve lost your mind. You have no idea what the fuck is happening anymore. “God I hope it’s scary Kool-Aid”

As soon as the words have left your mouth, you feel rumbling beneath your feet. 

Immediately, you know you’ve fucked up.

Dustin looks up at you in alarm. “Was that just me, or did the room move?”

“Booby traps,” Erica whispers, looking scared as well.

A mechanical whirring sound infiltrates your ears as the room starts to shake again, and every part of your body screams at you to run. Something is very, very wrong. Grabbing Dustin’s hand, you start to head towards the door. “We need to leave. Now.”

“Let’s go!” Robin follows you, not needing to be told twice, and grabs one of the vials of liquid as she does so. 

“Which one is the button, Erica?” Dustin asks, fingers hovering over the control panel’s buttons after pressing one failed.

“Just press the damn button, nerd.”

You turn to her, panic rising. “He is, but nothing’s happening.”

“Press ‘open door’.”

Dustin presses the button again but still, nothing happens. Frantic to escape the room now, you shove him aside and try yourself. Your fingers press roughly against it, but still the doors won’t budge. 

Steve joins, sliding next to you as he starts to try pressing the buttons. “Here, press the other button.”

You slap his hand. You’re overwhelmed and scared and anxious and he’s five seconds away from losing an eye. “I already did that!”

Dustin starts to argue with Steve now and they push you back, repeatedly hitting whatever they can touch, as Robin and Erica shout their own useless and unneeded advice that is helping absolutely no one. You stand behind the boys, hands pressed against your head as you start to hyperventilate with panic.

Then, walls come slamming down on all sides of the room, effectively kick starting your panic attack. The lights begin to flicker as the room suddenly drops. Your stomach lurches into your throat as you’re thrown downward, and instinctively you grab for Dustin in your panic as Steve grabs for you. 

Everyone screams as you plunge into the darkness.

-

⌑ series masterlist

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[aauroraxia]

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

*:･ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

sypnosis: y/n finds out she’s pregnant and doesn’t know how to tell Armando or her team | warnings: none | pairings: Armando x reader | Authors note: finally wrote part one! Might write part two later it just depends |

“𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 y/n!” Kelly begged for the 5th time. Her and Rita were going to this party and they really wanted you to go.

You loved parties and never declined an invite to one but, today you just weren’t feeling up to it.

You had been feeling sick for a few days now so you were taking a leave from work, not wanting to pass anything to anyone.

Your boyfriend, Armando, offered to stay home with you but you didn’t let him, he shouldn’t have to stop working just because you caught some stupid bug.

“Fine if you’re not going neither are we.” Kelly said, plopping down on your couch, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, we can just stay here with you. That’s more fun than any party.” Rita added on.

You smiled, wondering how did you get so lucky to have amazing friends. “Thank you, guys.”

About 4 Vampire Diaries episodes later, you ran to the bathroom, rushing to the toilet, throwing up.

“God, what is wrong with me?” You said looking at yourself in the mirror.

Once you got back to your living room, where Rita and Kelly were, you told them about what just happened. They decided that you should Google your symptoms, to help find out what’s wrong.

So you opened your laptop and started googling.

All the results looked like:

‘What are the symptoms for pregnancy’

‘How to know if you’re pregnant’

‘Pregnancy sickness’

‘I can’t be pregnant’ you thought.

“Can you guys come here for a second!” You yelled to Rita and Kelly. They walked over and you turned your computer to face them.

Kelly looked at you “Well, are you? You know.. pregnant?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think so.. it doesn’t make since.”

Rita rubbed your back, “Well let’s go buy some tests before we make any conclusions.” She reassured you.

You sighed thinking, how could you be pregnant, and if you were how would you tell Armando, but you calmed yourself down. The test could comeback negative after all.

Well that didn’t last long, you took 5 tests and they all came back positive. You slid down the wall in your bathroom, hugging your knees, sobbing.

‘How can I be pregnant’

‘I thought we were always being safe’

‘What do I tell Armando’

‘How will I work’

‘How do I take care of a baby’

You were pulled out of your overwhelming thoughts when Rita and Kelly walked in the bathroom. Immediately sitting down next to you, hugging you.

“What will I tell Armando. He didn’t want children right now.” You said in between sobs, breathing heavily.

Rita and Kelly looked at each other sympathetically. Armando wasn’t a open book, especially not around them. They couldn’t assure you or tell you how he would react, so they just comforted you before he got home.

𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 Kelly and Rita left you sat on your couch, knowing Armando would be home, any minute now. You heard the door creaked open, incoming your boyfriend with blood splattered on his arms.

“Hey babe.” You said running to him, placing a soft kiss in his cheek.

“Hola mamá” He replied.

You tried to avoid lookin into his eyes, you knew if he looked at you long enough he’d be able to tell you’d been crying. So instead you just pulled his arm leading him into y’all’s bedroom.

You left him there while you went to get a damp towel, to clean the blood off him.

“¿Qué ocurre?” He asked, using his thumb to make you look at him.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?”

“You only avoid looking at me when something’s wrong.”

Damn he knew you good

You knew that if you tried to tell him you would start crying so you just got the test out of the bathroom and handed it to him.

He looked at you with a expression, you couldn’t tell if he was mad or happy “You’re…”

“Pregnant.. yeah. Are you mad?” You asked looking down, playing with your fingers.

“Por supuesto que no, solo sorprendido.”

He took your hands and kissed your knuckles. “¿Tenías miedo de decírmelo?”

“Well yeah.. we talked about having kids at a later- much later time. I didn’t know what you were gonna say.” You said sheepishly

“I know this isn’t what we planned but, I still wanna spend the rest of my life with you, and now our child.” He assured you.

You ran to him, tackling him on the bed, leaving pecks all over his face. How could you ever think he would be upset with.

“Wait- we have to tell the team and your dad.”

“Do we have to?” He asked walking away from the bed.

“Well yeah, they’re gonna wonder why I’m taking an extended leave from work.”

“¿P or qué? Digámosles que volaste a otro país.”

A pillow was then thrown at his head.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 next day, you asked for Marcus, Mike, Rita, Kelly, Dorn and Rafe to meet you at Marcus’ house because you had something to tell them.

After you got there and everyone was chill, you decided to tell them.

Affer all eyes were on you, you took a deep breath in. “So, I’ve decided to take an extended leave of absence from work.”

“Why, is everything alright” Dorn asked.

“Yeah, it’s just.. I’m pregnant.”

Heads were turned and gasps were made.

Everyone came up to you hugging you. Armando stood in the corner with his arms crossed.

“We’re having a A.M.M.O baby!” Kelly shouted making everyone laugh.

Mike walked to his son, patting him on the back.

“Mike! You’re gonna be a grandad.” Marcus said laughing at Mike.

Mike ran his hand down his face, “Damn.”

After everyone settled down, Marcus started “Wait, that means if Y/N is pregnant, that means her and Armando been fuc-“

“MARCUS!” Everyone shouted while you buried your face in your hands.

“Man, this is fucked up“ Marcus said walking away.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ | 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:

¿P or qué? Digámosles que volaste a otro país - Why? Let’s just tell them you flew to another country.

¿Qué ocurre? - What’s wrong?

“Por supuesto que no, solo sorprendido - Of course not just suprised

¿Tenías miedo de decírmelo? - So that’s what’s wrong

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 ’🩷’ 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @armandosbabymama @atomicfriendfestivalbiscuit @yeahnohoneybye @madi05sblog

[lesservillain]

iv. someone like you and all you know and how you speak

summary: old friends and halloween shenanigans cw: we see peen. an: i love joyce byers. also pic of matthew lillard is implied to be reefer rick.

Eddie started having night terrors. 

They didn’t come every night, but their intensity had you concerned.

The first one had you flying over the back of the couch to get to him. His shrieks turned your blood cold, and watching him shake and convulse was terrifying to witness. In your panic, you wrapped your arms around him to try to ground him and ended up getting hit in the face. After that you asked your teacher for advice on what interventions to do when someone has an episode.

But you weren’t the only one to suffer with pain after getting clocked in the jaw. The days after an episode left Eddie’s body sore from the sudden jerking of his muscles in his sleep. It probably didn’t help that he had also started physical therapy twice a week either, leaving him sore even with his pain medication most of the time. 

Needless to say, Eddie was acting like his normal grumpy self most days, even when his friends would come over. Though, he did try and reel it back when he could catch himself or with a subtle nudge from you. By now you’d gotten used to his grumpy attitude and knew it was just coming from a place of hurting. In turn he’s been much more cooperative with you. Progress.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” You ask with a laugh, as you get out of your car. Eddie is sitting on the ground leaning back against his hands with his legs sprawled out. Will and Grant sit on either side of him as Dustin pushes Eddie’s wheelchair on its back wheels, Jeff sitting in it and squealing as Gareth and Mike laugh.

“They’re trying to break Jeff so him and Eddie can get matching chairs,” Grant called, eliciting a laugh from Eddie and Will.

“N’they’re gonna pay for his new one when they break that one,” Wayne calls from the porch, lit cigarette in hand. All around him are pumpkins of all different shapes and sizes, like a little pumpkin patch had grown around him.

“Ah, I see.” You nod.

Grabbing your bag, you walk into the Munson home to get your things settled. Glancing over into the dining room, you expected to see the table already set up for their game night, but were surprised to see it covered in newspaper and knives and spoons. 

“Are you guys carving these pumpkins?” You ask, stepping back out onto the porch and pointing at the Wayne’s posse.

“Yep,” Eddie called back. “My PT said it would be a “fun activity” to work on my hand strength," he said with stiff fingered air quotes.

“Yeah, Eddie’s gonna scoop out all the guts with his bare hands,” Dustin says, setting the wheelchair back down to wiggle his fingers.

“Ew gross,” Mike joins in with Dustin’s antics.

“It’s not gross,” you say with a roll of the eyes. “Save the seeds and I’ll bake them for later.”

“Mmm, some roasted pumpkin seeds sounds real good.” Wayne says, putting his cigarette out and standing from his seat. “Save me some a’them when you make em.”

“Of course!”

“Hey, should we show her what we found earlier?” Your ears twitch when you hear Will lean into Eddie’s side. He looks at you over his shoulder, then back to the group before nodding.

And that’s how you ended up following the boys through the woods around the Munson house. Grant pushed Eddie’s chair through the woods, which wasn’t as terrible of terrain as you had expected. If the slight bounce bothered him, Eddie didn’t say. You stayed steady next to him, only moving to let them go ahead of you when the mostly thinned out trees were too close in some areas. 

After a few minutes and a lot of loud conversation between the boys, you came to a small clearing that dropped off into a cliff. It made you nervous to see the boys get so close to the drop, especially when Grant pushed Eddie almost to the very edge.

“Hey, be careful, please,” you called from behind them. 

“Come on, come see how far down this is!” Jeff called, his toes right on the cliff’s edge. You take a couple steps forward, just enough that you can see the water sloshing at the bottom. 

To see it made you dizzy, so you tried to focus your eyes elsewhere, instead taking in the breathtaking view of the lake below. You could see boats, houses, and even a man fishing off of a dock behind his house. If there was a railing or something to hold on to out here, you could see yourself coming out here to sit with Eddie on a nice day.

“Woah, shit!” Your heart stops beating as you watch Will pull Mike’s stumbling body back from the ledge, and you’re instantly done with this whole adventure.

“Alright, I get the idea. Field trips over,” you say, walking over to Eddie’s chair and pulling him back. “We better go carve those pumpkins before it gets too late and the kids have to go home.”

There’s some groans of protest, but they all follow your lead back to through the woods.

“You have to admit it was pretty cool, though, right?” Eddie says, his head tilting back just a bit to look at you. He was smiling. It was something he started doing more and you couldn’t help the way it made your stomach flip every time he did it.

“Yeah, it was definitely a nice view,” you agreed with a sigh. 

“Maybe when it gets warm out we can try jumping from it.” You hear Gareth say to one of the other boys. You recall the large drop from where you all stood at the top and a shiver went down your spine.

“I wouldn’t...unless you really want to get your own wheelchair to match Eddie's,” you say back. Gareth doesn’t let out another peep for the duration of the walk back.

“Okay, since Eddie is on scooping duty make sure you give him your pumpkins once you’ve got the tops off.”

The boys are sitting in their normal gaming formation, except for where Eddie and Gareth have swapped sides so Eddie can sit next to you. The pumpkin that the boys picked out for Eddie sits in front of you since you offered to carve it for him.

“What are you going to draw on it?” You ask him as you cut into the top of the thick pumpkin with force.

“I’m not sure yet,” he says indecisively. “Something scary for sure.”

“How about Mrs. O’Donnell?” Gareth nudges Eddie’s side, and the boys at the table all grimace.

“Fuck no. As terrifying as she is, I’d rather carve a demoba--”

Eddie catches himself mid sentence, horror written all over his face as he looks directly at Dustin. Mike and Will share similar pale faced expressions as Dustin. The tension at the table could be cut with a knife and you weren’t sure how to defuse the situation.

“Well,” Grant is the first to break the silence, “I think that, whatever we all decide to do, that we could make it into a competition. Let the newbie decide who has the best design.” He was looking straight at you and you were caught off guard by the new label. 

“Oh, come on, that’s not fair,” Gareth chimes in before you can say anything, “Will is like, one of the best artists in the whole town. He’s definitely gonna win.” Will sat up straight in his chair, before shrinking down with a smile.

“Hey, now, let’s not forget who designed these bad ass tee shirts,” Eddie says, gesturing at himself.

“You made those designs?” You ask surprised. Eddie nods with pride.

“Yep, when Hellfire was founded in ‘82. We scrounged up enough money to go to a print shop and have these bad boys made at the beginning of the school year. Wasn’t cheap, so we’ve always tried to be extra careful with them.”

“Awe, that’s so cute,” you giggle.

The table erupts in a defensive roar about how it is apparently not cute that their club has tee shirts that they take very good care of. No one was convincing you otherwise. 

You blew them off and distracted them by having them give Eddie their pumpkins. They all watched with amusement as Eddie reached down into each pumpkin and pulled the slimy, seedy guts out of them. Eddie’s button nose scrunched up with disgust, contrasted by the wide grin that touched his eyes. His tongue poked out in concentration as he swirled around the inside of the pumpkin, plopping the guts into bowls and pots with each one.

By the time he had gutted each pumpkin of their contents, Eddie looked like he was done for the rest of the night. 

“Eddie, do you want to save your pumpkin for another night?” You ask quietly, leaning in so only he could hear. He looks at you, brown orbs darting back and forth between your eyes carefully before smiling at you.

“Yeah, please?”

“Of course.”

“See, I told you that Will was going to win!” Gareth shouted, his hands falling at his side with a huff as the rest of the group laughed at his bitching.

“I’m sorry, it’s really good! That’s the most detailed pumpkin carving of a vampire’s face I’ve ever seen.”

“Thanks,” Will said bashfully. 

“Gareth, I don’t know why you’re bitching. Your jack-o-lanturn’s eyes aren’t even the same size.” Eddie razzed, goading Gareth until he flipped him off.

“Awe, I thought the mismatched eyes were cute,” you said teasingly, and Gareth froze, turning away from your eyes to stand by Will, who gave him a pat on the back.

As you all stood around admiring the hard work of everyone’s carved pumpkins, the sound of loud music playing grabbed all of your attention. It progressively got louder, sounding like it was coming from down the driveway.

“What the hell?” Jeff said with a tilt of his head.

Everyone seemed more confused than anything, but you clocked the look on Eddie’s face as he looked between the trees of the winding driveway. There was a fear there that you’d only seen in his face during his night terrors, and everything in your body was telling you that you needed to get him and everyone else inside.

“Come on guys, lets go—”

The loud revving of the engine drowned out the sound of whatever song the driver was playing. The car came over the bump at an alarming pace before slamming on its breaks once it got up to the clearing. Headlights blinded all of you, and your body moved on its own accord to stand directly in front of Eddie.

The engine cut off abruptly, the lights dimming enough to reveal fire engine red sports car with a black stripe down the middle. You could barely see the fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror through the heavily tinted windows.

“Holy shit,” you hear Eddie say behind you. The fear had left his features, replaced with an elated shock that left you wanting to ask several questions. But before you could question him, Eddie maneuvered around you and the rest of the guys heading straight toward the mysterious car.

Just as Eddie approached the car, the driver side door swung open. A man  only a few years older than you with blond, spiked hair stepped out. The man had to be at least 6’5, his face covered in piercings and he had an over all aura of trouble.

“How the hell did he get this address?” You hear Jeff question Grant and Gareth.

“Rick!” Eddie shouts excitedly.

“Holy fuck, dude,” Rick says, pushing up his sunglasses and slamming his car door shut. He runs up to Eddie and embraces him tightly, bending down to be at his level. Rick pulled back, looking Eddie up and down before bringing his hand down on his shoulder a few times.

“Damn, that dude really did a number on you, huh?”

Eddie visibly shrinks, shrugging his shoulders. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Who the hell is that?” You ask Jeff quietly, taking a few steps back to be standing next to him.

“That’s Reefer Rick,” he says with an annoyed tone. “He’s Eddie’s friend. Got Eddie into dealing in school.” Your neck almost breaks with how quickly you look at Jeff.

“Dealing? Like, drug dealing?”

Jeff looks at you and nods. “Uh, yeah? You didn’t know about that?”

“Um, no. I didn’t.” 

“It was just weed,” Jeff as an attempt to save face, “Aaaaaand sometimes random pills that Rick would give him to sell. But nothing serious.”

“Oh, okay. Just weed and pills. Which are both totally illegal to sell but it’s cool right?” Your blood was starting to boil with this new information. You don’t know why you’re even upset, it’s not like you really cared if people smoked weed or whatever.

Really it’s the idea of Eddie getting in trouble after everything he’s been through. Drug dealers are notorious for being sneaky and conniving, right? What if this guy thinks Eddie got money in the settlement and is here looking for a handout.

“Hi," you say in a clipped tone to the man as you approach him and Eddie. You give him just your first name, extending a hand out to him with faux pleasantry as you settle next to Eddie in his chair. “Who are you?”

“Oh, hey, this is Rick,” Eddie says to you with excitement. “Rick, this is my…caregiver.”

Rick takes your hand, looking you up and down before giving you a loose handshake. “Well, hello nurse,” Rick smiles, maintains eye contact with you as he continues to hold your hand.. 

After a beat Eddie clears his throat, and Rick retracts his hand from yours. You don’t miss the subtle shift in Eddie’s chair, making him close enough you can feel his arm against yours. You took the hint, and stepped back until you were behind his chair. Rick laughed lowly before looking back to Eddie. 

“Well, I’m glad you have someone who can take care of you,” Rick says with a cheshire smile. “Especially since I’m sure Wayne is back at work. Must be expensive to live all the way out here.”

“Eh, we had it built out here as part of the settlement, so it’s paid for. He still has to pay the bills, though.” Eddie’s voice trails off at the end. “Wish I could do something to help…”

“Yeah, I don’t blame ya,” Rick says as he scans the land, nodding his head to the guys as he does. “I’m sure you’re not interested in getting back into the business with me given…well, everything.”

“Ah, yeah…I owe you an apology…” Eddie looks up to Rick with a guilty expression.

“For what? Oh, you mean my house?” Eddie nods and Rick waves him off. “Nah, don’t sweat it man. I took everything with me when I went to Vegas so if anyone went in there snooping they wouldn’t have found anything anyway. It looked like they had sent someone in to clean though. Looked nicer than the day my parents—I mean, the day I bought it.” Eddie nods, letting out a breath that he was holding as Rick talked.

“Well that’s nice that your house that you bought is all clean,” you say, grabbing onto the handles of Eddie’s wheelchair, “And since he’s isn’t interested in your business endeavors, I guess that means you don’t need anything from Eddie then, right?”

Rick looks down at Eddie, then back up to you with a curious look. His tongue rings peaks out from between his lips as he plays with it, before popping it back in his mouth to speak. 

“Well, I was just coming out here to see a dear old friend of mine. But, there is one thing that I want to speak with him about. In private.” He leans down to eye level, eyes squinting with how tightly he smiles at you.

You open your mouth to protest immediately, but you feel Eddie push against the wheels, his chair moving away from you as he motioned Rick to follow him. 

“Give us just a second.”

You stand in the same spot, speechless as they move far enough away that you can’t hear the conversation between them. A hand on your shoulder pulls your attention, and Dustin motions you back over to where the guys are huddled together.

“He’s an idiot,” Grant whisper yells into the huddle.

“Yeah, but he’s obviously lost his best salesmen for the high school territory,” Mike argues. “Wouldn’t be surprised if he was asking if one of us would want to start dealing for him.”

“He better not. You guys better not,” you say with a pointed finger at the boys who were still in high school.

“Trust us, we won’t,” Dustin said with a firm tone.

“Well, whatever he wants, it’s probably not good.”

“Well…”

“Jeff, no.”

“Hey, he’s the whole reason Eddie even stayed in high school. He probably would have dropped out if Rick hadn’t convinced him to keep trying.”

“He only wanted Eddie to keep trying so he could keep selling drugs to high schoolers!”

“That’s a pretty good point.”

“What’s a good point?”

All heads turned to Eddie, who was just behind you with an amused smile on his face. Rick wasn’t with him, still standing back by his car with a lit cigarette in his hand, eyes watching you carefully.

“Oh, we were just…”

“We were saying that you two should decorate her car for the Trunk r Treat festival. And the point was…that you could wear a mask and no one would know it was you?”

Everyone looks at Dustin like he has two heads. Where he even came up with that…you had no idea.

Eddie’s curls bounce as he shakes his head. “What? Trunk r Treat? What are you guys talking about?”

“Oh, the Trunk r Treat is what the town is doing instead of regular trick r treating since the roads are still pretty messed up. Everyone is gonna pull their cars into the fairgrounds and let the kids trick r treat there.”

“That sounds like fun,” you say, looking at Eddie with a hopeful smile. “It would be nice to get out of the house for a little bit. You said Halloween is your favorite holiday, right? I think it would be fun!”

“You guys are serious, aren’t you?” The mood shifts when Eddie speaks. “You seriously think it would be a good idea for me to go out into public? On Halloween night?”

“That’s why I said you could wear a mask!” Dustin seems to be the only one who isn’t affected by Eddie’s tone. “And no one knows you’re missing part of your leg. It would be perfect.” Dustin gestures to you, “And you’ll have your guardian angel with you. If anyone does give you shit she can pack you up in the car real quick and you can say ‘I told you so’ to us at the next Hellfire meeting.’”

Eddie’s jaw rolls in frustration, a heavy sigh leaving him as he leans forward in his chair.

“Hopper will be there,” Will chimes in. “Him and my mom are going to decorate the back of his old police cruiser. I-I could tell him you’re going and I’m sure he’d keep an eye out on you.” The boys look from Will to Eddie as they wait for his response. 

“I…I…Let—let me think about it. Okay? No promises.”

The boys all perk up at Eddie’s potential compliance. Chatter about costumes and getting together at Mike’s parents house has everyone forgetting about the concerns of Rick’s arrival.

You remember though. You hear Rick laugh to himself from where he’s leaning against his car. Looking over your shoulder, you watch as he flicks his cigarette away and opens the door. Stopping about halfway in, he looks at Eddie then to you. He sends you a wink, then gets in without another word.

After about a week of convincing from all the Hellfire boys, you, and even Wayne, Eddie finally caved in and agreed to go to the Hawkins Trunk r Treat. Wayne talked with Hopper about trying to get your cars parked next to each other during the whole event just in case. And Wayne also promised that him and his friend Ben would stay close by in town if anything happened. Eddie didn’t really have much of a reason to say no.

You on the other hand had to come up with an excuse as to why you wouldn’t be spending Halloween with your best friend.

“We ALWAYS have movie night! You can’t just call in sick or something?” Tonya pleads with you as the two of you split each others Chinese take out. You shrug your shoulders, the feeling of guilt creeping up like bile in your throat. 

“I’m sorry Tonnie, I can’t. Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t made plans with Charles for the night.”

“He probably would have asked but he knows that we always spend Halloween together.”

“I’m sorry, Tonya, but we’re big girls now. Sometimes things need to change…”

Her lower lip pouts at you, and you can tell by the way her eyes are glassy that she’s genuinely upset. If it were anyone else, you would be spending time with her in a heart beat. Ever since the two of you became friends, Halloween has been your thing. 

You’d always been scared of the holiday after when happened with your parents, but over the years Tonya has been able to slowly tear down your fears and make the holiday enjoyable again. Now that you’ve gotten the chance to potentially to the same with Eddie and his fear of going in public again, you feel obligated to follow in her image. 

“I’m really proud of you, you know?” She miles as you as she dabs the wetness from her eyes. “I can’t believe how much you’ve changed. Your parents, your grandparents…they’d be really happy to see you working so hard. With school, work, and still helping me out here…Oh, come here!”

She stands from her seat and rushed to hug you, which you return with equal adoration. For a split moment you want to tell her everything. About Eddie and everything he’s been through. About how you’re starting to prefer being at the Munson house over anywhere else. About how if anyone has come out of their shell, it’ Eddie. About how you’re not really sure about Sam, and how you don’t want to admit that there might be a reason why you’re feeling that way…

“Weren’t kiddin’ about your trunk being big, huh?” Eddie and Wayne peer into the trunk of your car as you pop it open. “I’m sure you won’t have any issue gettin’ it in and outta here. Want me t’help ya get in, son?”

“Can I try first?”

Wayne nods and Eddie maneuvers himself to the passenger side of your car. You’re already standing there waiting with the door open for him, holding it in place. 

The Trunk r Treat was this coming weekend and the Hellfire boys were going to help decorate your trunk before Friday’s game. All you and Eddie had to do was get the materials and the candy. You saw Wayne hand Eddie some cash thinking that you weren’t looking, but you had no intention of letting Eddie pay for anything. This was for him, so why stress him out when you know that money is a touchy subject for him?

Eddie gets his chair in position and locks the wheels. Grabbing the “oh shit” handle and the side of the door, he lifts himself up from his chair and pauses for a moment. His face is scrunched up from pain after already having physical therapy this morning. It was hard not to get him to over do it now that his mobility has started to improve, but you would rather him learn his limits than go back to being bedridden.

A few deep breaths and a quick shift of his foot puts his ass on the edge of the seat of your car. There’s a loud thump where his head bumps the low slope of your cars door, but he just rolls his eyes and laughs it off, much to your joy. You think about how two months ago when you started caring for him that he probably would have thrown a fit and fell in it if he were to go through this exact scenario now.

“Good job, Eddie,” you praise. He looks away from you bashfully, muttering a small thanks under his breath. Even if he wouldn’t admit it, you know deep down Eddie likes to be told he’s doing good. You’ve noticed it in the ways he reacts to you commenting on all of his achievements; the coy smiles and the way he starts to fidget with his rings when you sing his praises. 

Wayne grabs Eddie’s chair and puts it in the trunk. “You gonna be able to get this thing out when ya get there?” 

“Yep! I’m used to lugging wheelchairs around by now. No biggie!”

Wayne nods and rounds the car to Eddie’s side. As the two men talk, you hop into the passenger seat and start the car.

“Now don’t go and give her any trouble, Eds.”

“I know, I know,” Eddie says, rolling his eyes. “If anything she’s gonna give me trouble. I just know she’s gonna be having me dress up in every costume they have there.”

“That’s not true,” you say defensively. “I actually already know what I want you to go as, so if you don’t fight me on it then you’ll only have to try one costume on.”

“Why does that not make me feel any better?”

Wayne barks out a laugh before closing the car door. He waves the two of you off as you make your way down the driveway until he’s no longer in site.

“Okay, let me make sure I’m understanding you right.” Eddie holds up the large, white, round costume that you handed to him, eyeing it skeptically. “You want me to dress up as…an egg?”

You laugh through your nose involuntarily, trying and failing to keep your composure. In your hand you hold what can only be describe as a “sexy devil” costume that consists of a short red dress, a pair of devil horns, and devil’s spear.

“Yeah, and I’ll be the devil, see? We’d—” you snort again, “We’d be deviled eggs!”

A smile cracks on Eddie’s face, more amused at your inability to contain your own laughter rather than at your poor excuse for a Halloween costume idea. He give you a half serious look as he hands you back the egg costume without another comment.

“Awe, come on,” you say as you take the costume from him, “you have to at least admit it was funny.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What’s the real idea that you have?”

You swap the costumes out from the rack for the ones you really wanted to do. Handing Eddie the long nightgown, you hold up what would be your costume; a long red cape and a plaid blue dress with a ruffle under the skirt. 

“Okay, so obviously that’s red riding hood,” Eddie says pointing to your outfit. “But what exactly is—” You hand him a wolf mask, which he takes from you and examines carefully.

“You’ll be the Big Bad Wolf, disguised as the grandmother,” you explain after a long moment of silence.

“Yeah, I gathered that,” he sasses. He takes a few more moments to think it over, and you watch the way he looks at your costume, then to you. There’s a shift in his demeanor that you can’t quite interpret, and before you can think too much into it he finally speaks.

“Alright, I’ll do it,” he says, placing the costume pieces in his lap. “Better than the deviled egg idea.”

“Well, maybe next year I can sway you into the deviled egg. But I guess this works, too.” Eddie straightens in his chair, and you swear you could see a small blush on his cheeks. 

After you gathered everything for your costumes, you and Eddie did a little more shopping around for some stuff to decorate your trunk with. Streamers, hanging bats, fake spider webs, and enough candy to feed a small village fill your arms and Eddie’s lap all the way to the check out counter.

As the girl behind the counter rings out your items, you notice she keeps taking glances at Eddie. He’s too busy looking at the check out candle to notice, but you keep an eye on her just in case.

“Is that all for you?” She asks with a pop of her gum. You nod and she give you your total. As you reach for your wallet in your purse, Eddie shift in his chair, pulling out his own wallet.

“I got it,” he says, taking a $20 bill from the billfold.

“Nope,” you say, pulling out your own money and handing it to the cashier.

“No, please. I want to pay--”

“It’s okay, Eddie. Save it and buy us a pizza or something sometime when I don’t feel like cooking your dinner.”

The girl behind the counter’s gum popped loudly as she held your change in her hand. Eddie shrank back in his chair, stuffing the $20 back into his wallet. You took your bags from the counter and plopped them in Eddie’s lap, much to his surprise.

“Here, if you want to help, you can carry these.”

As you push his him out of the shop, Eddie asks you to stop before going off the curb.

“What’s up?”

“Can we go into the Goodwill over there?” He nods down the strip of stores where the sign to the second hand shop is displayed in the window.

“Sure,” you say without a second thought, “Lets put these bags in my car and then we can go in there.”

The store is a little busier than you expected. Everyone from kids to adults were checking out the shelves for their last minute home made costumes and accessories to wear this weekend. It made you happy to see so many people excited about the event.

The boys told you that Halloween can be a big deal in Hawkins. But after the earthquake, those who still remained wondered if there would even be a Halloween this year. Apparently the mother of one of their friends, Lucas, joined the city counsel and pitched the idea in a city meeting and most everyone was on board.

“The only person who protested was Mary Cunningham,” Dustin told you in a hushed tone. “She said it wasn’t safe to have all of the towns kids in one spot for ‘easy pickings.’” Mary Cunningham was the mother of Chrissy Cunningham, the girl that was murdered by Victor Creel in Eddie’s trailer before he attempted to kill Eddie himself. Wayne never told you this, but, according to the boys, Mary Cunningham is still convinced Eddie was the one who tried to kill Eddie, despite the evidence that supports that it was Creel. You hoped that she wouldn’t show up to the event this weekend.

“No way!” Eddie pulls a tee shirt from one of the racks. You’re standing next to his chair rather than behind it to make room for people to go around you in the tight, over stuffed isles. You turn your body, hand on his shoulder as you try to let a lady and he kid move behind you.

“What is it?”

“It’s a Black Sabbath tour shirt! This one��s from a tour they did in the 70’s though. Like a tour they did in Europe. I wonder how it ended up in this dump of a Goodwill?”

“Sounds like it ended up here so that you could buy it.”

Eddie looked at the shirt solemnly. Most of his attire that he had consisted of plain tee shirts and pajama pants that had come from packs at the store. All of his clothes and other personal belongings had been swallowed up by the earthquake and destroyed. 

“Well…” he said after a few moments, “It is only 50 cents…”

“Perfect!” You pluck the shirt from his hands and fold it over your arm. “Keep looking. Maybe someone’s metal loving uncle passed away and his family brought his clothes here. I’m gonna go look at some pants for you.”

“There’s that beautiful smile that I love to see,” Sam says as you push the door of his office open. You gave him a small smile, setting his coffee down on his desk. He stood up, rounding the desk to embrace you in a tight hug, his lips meeting the top of your head to leave a kiss there. 

“Morning,” you say, taking a step back from him when he loosens his grip. “Sorry I couldn’t bring you one of these before today. Hopefully you made it through the week without.”

“Barely,” he said with a sarcastic huff. “Have to admit I missed seeing you more, though. Been busy with midterms?”

You give him an exhausted nod. Between getting everything together for this weekend, helping Tonya deep clean the house before her trip with Charles, and dealing with your midterms, you’d been properly worn down to a barely functioning human.

“Awe, poor thing,” Sam cooes at you, his hand cupping your face to rub his thumb against your cheek. “Sounds like you deserve a little fun weekend. My buddy is having a get together at his house weekend and I’d really love for you to come.”

“This weekend?” You ask. Sam nods. “Oh, no I-I can’t. It’s Halloween weekend and…I spend it with Tonya every year. It’s been our tradition since we were kids. Sorry.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I’ve been wanting to meet her and this Charles guy you hate so much. We can do a double date. Maybe some haunted houses or something?”

“No! No—I, um, I don’t do haunted houses.” That wasn’t a lie.

“That’s fine, maybe a movie at the drive in?”

“Sam, I’m sorry. It’s not exactly a tradition where we let other people take part in. Charles wont be there either.”

Sam’s shoulders slump as he sighs, his lips tightening into a straight line. 

“Okay, I get it. I’m not going to step on any toes. But…” Sam looks up at you through his lashes, “make it up to me next weekend?”

You breathe in, then out. It suddenly hits you that…you don’t really want to make it up to him net weekend.

“Sure.”

The Munson household is a busy one this cool, autumn Saturday. Eddie and the guys are in his room getting ready for the night. Their collective laughter and talking over each other is the only thing louder than the volume of the music that they have blaring. Even with the door closed you find it hard to think over the noise.

Wayne and Ben are in the kitchen prepping dinner for everyone before the nights festivities. They were joined by the infamous Hopper and Joyce Byers who brought the food by when they dropped off Will and Jane. The same Jane who was occupying the hall bathroom with you right now.

“They were trying to get you to dress up as one of the guys from Devo?”

Jane nods with an annoyed look. “Yes. They wanted me to wear a stupid red hat. I told them no, and said I wanted to go as Pat Benatar instead. She is my favorite singer.”

“Great choice,” your head bobs in agreement. You take a little more of the blue eye shadow on the tip of your finger and smudge it over her eyelids. “What’s your favorite song?”

“Heartbreaker,” she whispers shyly with a smile. 

“That’s a good one! I think We Belong is mine.”

“That one is a good song, too. It’s a love song.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say I’m a sucker for a good love ballad,” you shrug, washing your hands of the make up that stained your fingers. “Now, where is the wig you said you got?”

Jane helped you zip up the back of your dress just as there was a knock on the bathroom door. You pulled the red cloak over your shoulders as she opened it, her dad standing just on the other side of the doorway.

“Jesus, kid, is that enough make up?” He says, his voice raising a distraught octave. 

“Oh, look at you!” Joyce pushes past the disgruntled Hopper and into the bathroom. She looks Jane up and down, her excitement a clear contrast to Hoppers. 

“You look just like her in those pictures! I’m glad we were able to find this fabric to make this jumper.”

“Joyce, she looks like a—“

“Woah, Pat Benatar!”

Will and Gareth poke their heads around the corner of the door frame, both of them dressed like characters from Star Wars whose names you can’t quite remember. 

“Oh, you boys look adorable!” Joyce squeezes Will's cheeks, much to his dismay. Gareth lets out a snicker at will’s expense, only stopping once he’s caught your eye. Then, like usual, he slinks back out of sight. 

In his place Mike and Dustin pop up. Dustin is dressed like Darth Vader, his helmet in his hand as they barge into the bathroom. “Are you two ladies ready to go yet?”

“I think so,” you say, quickly clearing up the mess that you’ve made in the Munson bathroom. 

“Wow, El, you look badass!” Mike says, putting an arm around her for a side hug. 

“Thank you, Mike. She helped.” Jane says, pointing in your direction. 

“Oooh, I get it,” Dustin suddenly says as if he’s had an epiphany, eyes narrowing as he looks you up and down. 

“Get what?”

“Your’s and Eddie’s couple’s costumes.”

The eye shadow pallet drops from your hands with a loud clutter. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

“What do you mean ‘what am I talking about?’ You and Eddie are going as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, right?” 

“Well, yeah, but…”

“That’s, like, a classic couples costume!” 

“Oh, that’s so sweet!” Joyce says, her hand on her heart as she looks up at Hopper. “Didn’t you and Margaret Sanders go as the wolf and Red Riding Hood to John Collins’ Halloween party one year?”

Jim nods with a big, mustached grin. “Yep.” 

“I feel like an asshole.”

Eddie’s voice in the hallway catches your attention. Jim moves out of view, making room for Eddie’s chair as Jeff and Grant follow behind him. 

“You sound like one, too,” Jeff laughs from behind him. 

Eddie was being his normal grumpy self today. Enough that you were worried that he might call the whole thing off and not go. But, he seemed to manage to push through. Although you worried that the amount of people occupying his house was stressing him out a bit. 

As Jeff pushed him past the door, Eddie turned to look inside the overcrowded bathroom. Even with all of the bodies in the way, his eyes were on you in an instant. He didn’t say anything, more so looking at you like a deer caught in headlights until he was completely out of view. 

“Foods ready!” Ben calls from the kitchen. Doesn’t take much more convincing than that for everyone to file out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. You take the opportunity to finish putting everything away before joining in the chaos. 

Loud chattering fills the kitchen as everyone moves around the table to get their food. When you do come out of the bathroom, you see someone’s already put Eddie in the recliner, his tv tray set up in front of him as he patiently waited for everyone to finish getting their plates. 

“Hey stranger,” you say, stealing his attention from whatever daydream he was having.

“Hey,” he said with a tight smile. You eyed him suspiciously. 

“What hurts?”

He’s still for a moment, before he sighs and gives you a more genuine smile. 

“I’m just having those ghost pains or whatever.” His hand rubs over the clothed end of his thigh where his leg was severed.

Ever since he started physical therapy two weeks ago he’s been complaining of pains in his leg where it's not there anymore. You asked your professor about it, and she said it's not uncommon for amputees to have phantom pains. There’s not much you can do about it other than try to distract the person having them. 

“I see. Well, maybe eating something might help. Is anyone getting you a plate?”

Eddie shook his head with a shit eating grin. “I told them that you’d wanna do it.” You rolled your eyes, but he was right.

There was still a weird feeling that resided in you about being there for anything other than being Eddie’s caretaker. Even after two months of Wayne’s warm hospitality, a month of being taken in by the Hellfire boys, and being treated as if you’ve always been around by Joyce and Hopper, you still felt like an outsider looking in.

People on foot walked by as the cars loaded in through the entry gate of the Hawkins fairgrounds. You were sure that just about everyone in this town was showing up tonight. It made you buzz with excitement to see all the costumes and decked out cars. 

“Excited?” Eddie asks you, his eyes darting around at the crowds. There was an indecipherable tone to his voice. 

“Of course,” you say, the car moving up a bit to keep up with Hopper's cruiser in line. “Are you?”

“Is Eddie excited about Halloween?” Dustin’s head pops between yours and Eddie’s from the back seat. He slaps his hand on Eddie’s shoulder and gives him a little shake. “Eddie is probably the biggest fan of Halloween I know. He made a whole one shot campaign based on our party trying to escape from Michael Meyers.”

“What? No way, that sounds awesome. Halloween is probably my favorite Halloween movie.”

“It is a classic,” Eddie says with a grin. “Although, I will say that Friday the Thirteenth did freak me out for a while after I saw it for the first time. Still can’t believe that it was his mom the whole time—”

“His mom the whole time?” The two of you say it in unison. You look at each other for a moment before laughing. Dustin makes an audible gagging sound from the back seat and Eddie wastes no time reaching back to swat at him. You shush the both of them as Hopper pulls ahead, making your car next in line.

“Hi, folks,” the older gentleman says, shining a flashlight into the car and almost blinding you. “Hop took care of your cover charge and told me to make sure you guys get the spot next to him.” The man hands you a paper with the number 66 printed on it. It looks like it’s cut in a way that lets it hang from your rear view mirror, most likely to keep track of the amount of cars coming in to participate in the event.

As the man gives you instructions on how to find your spot inside, you cant help but you notice the subtle way he glances to Eddie in the passenger seat. You’re not sure if the man recognizes Eddie or if he’s trying to, but you don’t stick around long enough to find out. Eddie slips on his wolf mask once you take off inside of the fair grounds. 

It doesn’t take you long to find your spot. The Hopper-Byers group is all helping out to set everything up for Joyce and Hopper to pass out candy. The back of the cruiser is set up to look like a tent, with a fake fire, a stuffed bear, and a blue blanket meant to be a lake side view. 

Dustin pulls Eddie’s chair out from the back seat of your car, helping him out as you pop open your trunk. The effort they put into their theme almost makes you feel self conscious of your trunk, the ‘theme’ looking more like a Halloween store exploded rather than anything cohesive. But then you remember it was put together by Eddie and his friends, and you decide you love it just the way it is.

 “All right!” Joyce calls out once your cars are all set up. She sets a plastic bowl in Eddie’s lap and starts pouring candy into it. “Let’s get this party started!”

“Joyce don’t start getting to crazy before the kids get here,” Hops says teasingly as he pulls on his trapper hat. To go with their theme Hop and Joyce are dressed up like campers, which, in hind site, was probably a good call considering how cold the nights have been getting in Hawkins. You were already starting to regret your costume choice as the breeze hit your legs where your dress didn’t cover.

“Isn’t that the point?” Jane asks. “Is she not supposed to scare the kids?”

“Not enough that they wont come around to get candy,” Will retorts.

He’s half paying attention to the conversation as he looks around. Suddenly his hand shoots up, waving and shouting to the Hellfire guys as they walk through the cars. They all gather together and migrate to stand around Eddie, bags and pillowcases out towards him.

“Trick r treat!” They say in a sing song unison, laughter breaking out among them. Eddie’s head drops in the mask, his body shaking as he joins in with the guffaws of his friends.

As you watch them interact, you wonder what faces Eddie is making under the mask. Recently, you’ve felt like you’ve been able to see the real Eddie slip through the cracks. By now you can tell when one of his smiles is fake or genuine, as well as when his anger is real or just out of pain. But, with the plastic mask to hide behind, will he still feel the need to keep himself so reserved tonight?

It didn’t take long for the night to get going. Spirits were high as children, teens, and adults all made their ways between the cars to fill their bags with candy and other goodies being passed around. 

You could admit you were a little nervous when Joyce gave the bowl of candy to Eddie earlier. But, either no one could tell it was him under the wolf mask, or no one cared enough to say anything.

Eddie seemed to be enjoying himself, too. After a while he started to compliment the different costumes in a scary wolf voice, which the kids that came by loved. He even went out of the way to put candy into the trick r treater’s bags, not caring about the scars on his hands being seen.

“Gonna need another refill,” he says to you as the last group of kids move on down the line.

“Roger that,” you say, jumping up to grab another bag of candy from your trunk, pushing the fake spider webs to the side. 

Some of the bags slid to the back, so you have to really reach in to get your hands on it. Just as you get a grip on the plastic bag, you feel something pulling on the skirt of your dress. You pinch the plastic of the bag, dragging it out with you as you stand up straight. 

Looking over your shoulder, you see that Eddie’s hand is holding on to the hem, pulling it taut over your ass. You’re about to ask what he’s doing when the chuckling from a group of passing boys reaches your ears.

“Thanks,” you say to Eddie, smoothing out the skirt of your dress. His mask looks up at you, and his hand quickly retracts from where it was holding on to you. 

“Y-you’re welcome,” he says, voice muffled by the mask.

As you pour more candy into his bowl, a group of three young girls approaches Eddie.

“Trick r treat,” the girls say, holding their bags out for Eddie.

Eddie is still for a moment, grabbing the candy wordlessly and placing it into the girls candy bags. When he gets to the last girl, he hesitates before letting the candy drop inside.

“Where’s your brother, Lady Applejack?” Eddie suddenly says, still using his wolf voice.

The girl's eyes go wide, shifting between her two confused friends before nodding to the side. The two girls move on to Joyce and Hoppers truck, leaving Lady Applejack behind.

“Munson?” She whispers with bemusement. “Is that you under that creepy mask?”

“The one and only,” he says, his hands gesturing wildly to himself.

The girl looks up and down at you, then back to Eddie. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

You shuffle in your spot awkwardly. You’d gone the whole night with no one saying anything besides Dustin, and you were hoping that it would stay that way.

“We’re not dating,” Eddie says neutrally. “She’s my caregiver.”

“Caregiver? Is that not the same thing as a girlfriend?”

“Basically.” The words spill out of you like vomit. “It’s all the non fun parts of being a girlfriend without any of the perks.” The girl laughs, but Eddie remains still.

“I like her, Munson. You should keep her around.”

“You know, you never answered my question,” Eddie says, clearly desperate to change the subject.

“Huh? Oh, you mean about Lucas?”

Lucas. That was the friend that the boys bring up a lot. He’s a member of Hellfire but hasn’t been to any of the meetings.

“He’s probably still at the hospital with Max. Our parents tried to get him to come out tonight since my mom was the one who put this whole thing together. But…” The girl trails off, looking down at the ground as her attitude fades away. “You know, he still feels guilty. About…what happened.”

Eddie nods slowly. Max was another victim who got out alive like Eddie, but she’s been in a coma since March. Eddie doesn’t talk about her, even if the boys bring her up when talking about Lucas. 

“Erica, come on!” One of the girls friend’s call, motioning her to join them.

Erica shifts back into her previous demeanor, looking at you and Eddie once again. “I gotta go. Nice seeing you, Munson and Munson’s girlfriend.” Before Eddie could correct her, she was taking off with her friends.

“Sorry,” Eddie says to you, but refusing to look your way.

“It’s fine. If anything I should be apologizing.” You plop back down in your folding chair with a huff. “Dustin said something earlier about our costumes being a couple’s costume and I’ve been cursing myself for over looking that.” 

“Dustin would say something like that,” Eddie grumbles under his breath.

“They’re over here!” Dustin’s voice calls out from a few yards away, his Vader mask in his hand as he motions two people behind him. A guy and a girl dressed as Wham! follow an excited Dustin to your car. 

“Speak of the devil,” Eddie says, slumping down in his chair. “And he’s brought his mommy.” You look at Eddie confused. The pair were definitely not old enough to be Dustin’s parents, maybe older siblings at best.

“Dustin, are you sure we’re at the right car?” The girl asks, shooting you a nervous smile.

“Yes, this is the right car. I literally came here in it,” Dustin shook his head and reached into his bag. After fumbling around a bit, he pulled out a full size milky way and presented it to Eddie. 

“Snagged this for ya from the Martin’s car,” he said with a toothy grin. Eddie grabbed the candy and examined it and you could feel the smile he had from under his mask. 

“Good work, Henderson,” Eddie says, looking up at the boy. Dustin salutes him before standing to the side, looking at the couple behind him with an I told you so expression.

“Holy shit,” the guy says, his law slack.

“Is that really you, M—” The girl cuts herself off before she can finish. The two move closer to Eddie, speaking in hushed tones.

“How’re you doing? Dustin told us that him and Mike have been over to your new place,” the girl asks. You don’t know why, but the way her hand rests on his shoulder irritates you.

“Yeah, he told us the lab set you up with a really nice house. Still not enough after what we all went through in my opinion..”

“Steve,” the girl cuts him off sharply. 

“What? We haven’t seen the guy in six months! Am I not supposed to talk about it?”

“It’s fine, Robin,” Eddie says.

“It’s not fine,” you interject. All eyes are on you now, stunned as if they just noticed you were there.

“S-sorry, we didn’t mean to leave you out,” the girl stutters.

“Yeah, uh…” Steve looks you up and down before straightening his posture. “You must be the caretaker that Dustin’s told us about. Name’s Steve. Steve Harrington.” 

Steve Harrington stands in front of you, offering his hand for you to shake. You take his hand and introduce yourself. Steve Harrington is handsome in a similar way to Sam you think. 

The feeling of eyes on you makes you turn your head. The light catches just right you can sort of make out Eddie’s eyes through the holes of the mask.

“What did you say?” You ask, looking back up to Steve after zoning his question out.

“I just asked if you were free sometime. Maybe we could get a bite to eat before you go over to Eddie’s some time?”

“Oh, sorry,” the words poured out of you again. “But I’m seeing someone.”

You’re not sure if it’s just you, but it suddenly felt like the air got thicker. You could feel Eddie’s eyes bore holes into you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him.

“Shit, my bad,” Steve says, taking a step back. “I thought Dustin said you two weren’t together.”

“We’re not,” Eddie says in a clipped tone.

“Yeah, we’re not, Eddie and I. I’m, uh, I’m seeing a guy from my school. Sam…”

“Ohhhh, okay,” Steve nods, “Gotcha. Well, if things don’t work out—OW!”

“Take a hint, dingus!” Robin whisper yells at Steve. She looks back to Eddie with an apologetic look. “We should probably go, but call one of us some time and we’ll sneak some movies to you, okay?”

Eddie wordlessly nods, his focus on the bowl of candy in his lap now. Steve and Robin give their goodbyes and move along, bickering between themselves as they go. Dustin lingers with you and Eddie for a moment, unsure of what to do with himself.

“Do, uh…"Dustin clears his throat, attempting to lighten the mood. "Do you guys want to go check out the fair at all?” Dustin points with his thumb over his shoulder. “There’s some pretty cool stuff at the back. A haunted house, some games…you know, fun stuff. I’ll, uh, sit and watch the candy.”

You look over to Eddie waiting for his response. After several moments Eddie finally nods, lifting the plastic bowl and handing it to Dustin. You rise from your seat, moving out of the way so Dustin to take your spot.

When you turn to see if Eddie is ready to go, you find that he’s not there. Instant panic sets in, as you look out to the crowd to find him. For a split second, you can see the furry hair on the back of his mask a few cars away. Bobbing and weaving through the clusters of people, you grab the handles of his chair and stop him, making him jerk forward.

He looks back, body tense until he realizes it’s you, his shoulders slumping forward.

“Where did you think you were going?” Anger evident in your tone.

“What do you mean? I thought you were right behind me.” The cutting tone of his voice hits a nerve.

“Eddie, I…” You can feel a whole lecture on the tip of your tongue. But the more you think about it, the more you realize that Eddie is his own person. As much as you’ve grown to want to protect him, he probably knows more about these fairgrounds and all of these people than you’ll ever know. He was a fully functioning person seven months ago, not needing anyone’s assistance just to get through a crowd of people. 

“Do…do you want me to leave you alone?”

The two of you stand in the middle of the moving bodies without a word. It feels like the two of you are in slow motion as people move past you.

Eddie sits up, shaking his head. “No.”

That’s all you needed to hear. Grabbing onto the handles of his chair, you push him through the crowd at a leisurely pace. It takes a few minutes for hm to say something, but the paper mache ghost from Ghost Busters hanging off of a cars trunk catches his attention.

“Woah, that’s awesome!” Eddie points it out to you.

“Do you think they made that?”

“I bet they got it at a Halloween store.”

Conversation flowed like that between you as you both rated the cars out of 10 as you passed. There were more cars like yours that decorated just enough to be passable, but a good majority of the citizens of Hawkins really do mean business when it comes to Halloween. 

“They made their car look like a dragon!” Eddie shouts over his shoulder to you. “How is that not the best car?!”

“It’s totally an awesome car, but, I’m sorry, the literal hearse with a guy dressed as Dracula in a coffin was hands down the best.”

Eddie slumps back in his chair in frustration, his mask looking up at you dramatically while you push him. You smile down at him, happy to see him having so much fun. He jerks forward and clears his throat, mask moving quickly as if he’s looking for something.

“Oh, look they’re selling popcorn,” Eddie nods to a booth set up off to the side of the cars. It looks like a girl scouts group of some kind, all the girls at the booth wearing patch covered sashes over their costumes. The sign on the booth read “Twenty-five cent popcorn. Proceeds go to Hawkins Rebuild Fund.”

“Hmmm,” you hum curiously. “We should get some. I could use something salty to cleanse my palate from all the candy.”

“Yeah, I think I might puke if I even think about a Reese’s Cup right now.”

You grab a bottle of water and a bag of popcorn to split between the two of you. Not wanting to stop your perusing of the cars, you continued on with Eddie popping a piece under his mask for him and then lifting a few pieces up to your mouth for you to much on.

Continuing on, you finally reach the back end of the fairgrounds. A few fires were going with groups of people gathered around. They talked over cider or roasted marshmallows to shove between graham crackers, adding their favorite candy pieces to complete their sweet treats. 

A few games were set up. Kids and tipsy grown men bobbed for apples in a big trough of water. A partially enclosed area was set up for smaller kids and their exhausted parents to take a break away from the older kids. 

But in the very back was a make shift haunted house, it’s entrance painted to look as if you were walking into a large jack o lantern. Around it were several tarps meant to cover whatever the haunted house was put together with, various paper decorations taped to it to make it look more festive.

“We should go in there,” Eddie says excitedly. “Wonder if it’s dark enough I can take this mask off for a bit.”

“I don’t know Eddie…” you say hesitantly. You weren’t the biggest fan of haunted houses. Being scared from a movie is one thing, but the lack of control you could have in a haunted house made you uncomfortable. 

You also never knew what was going to set you off. The last haunted house you went to with Tonya and some friends in high school was set up to look like an actual house. It didn’t really bother you until one of the actors snuck up behind you, whispering in your ear. It immediately took you back to…

“Awe, come on. Don’t tell me you’re scared?” Eddie teases. “I doubt that Hawkins could make an actually scary haunted house. I bet they have one of those rooms where they make you feel peeled grapes and tell you that it’s eyeballs.”

“I’m not scared,” you say with a level tone, “I’m more worried about you. What if you have a night terror and end up needing me to sit at the end while you sleep tonight?”

Eddie freezes, his eyes wide and looking into yours through the holes in the mask. You feel like you said something wrong, but you’re not sure what.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

Eddie starts to laugh, clearly trying to get a rise out of you. It both relieves and pisses you off. 

“Eddie, you’re such an asshole! I thought I hurt your feelings!”

“You did, little red,” he feigns offense, his hands resting over his heart. “I can’t believe you would make fun of me. I’m wounded. How will you ever make it up to me?”

“Oh my god,” you say with exasperation. “I’m so sorry Mr.Wolf. I guess I can be brave and take you through the haunted house if that will suffice.”

Eddie fake sniffled and nods. “Yes, I think I may be able to forgive and forget your offense if you lend me your company inside this estate.”

The two of you get in line, chatting for the few minutes it takes to get to the front. When it’s finally your turn, the lanky teen at the door looked down at Eddie. 

“Uh, be careful with your chair, man. Should be good, but, uh, there might be some bumps between the rooms. That alright?”

Eddie nods and the boy ushers the two of you inside. It looks like the haunted house might be made of several sheds or storage units placed together to make a long string of rooms. A lot of the rooms were more silly than scary, but a few people dressed in costumes were able to get some scares out of you and Eddie.

Well, you more than Eddie.

You hadn’t even realized that you were leaning so close to him. It was a reflex to bury your face against him when you got scared, laughing the whole time as you pushed on to the next room. He didn’t seem to mind, probably too busy laughing at your reactions to care. 

You wondered if the actors were talking with each other, because it felt like more people were trying to scare you the further into the haunt you went. By the end you were practically strangling Eddie, your arms wrapped around his shoulders  with your face against the back of his neck as he guided you both through the exit that exited to the other side of the fairground lot. 

“They were so mean!” The words came out in strained huffs as you tried to catch your breath, still laughing from all the nerves. Eddie probably would have been keeled over with how hard he was cackling. He lifted his mask briefly to wipe the tears from his eyes, his hair sticking to his forehead with how much he was sweating under the plastic.

“Holy shit,” he barks out. “That was sooooo worth it. I want to see how bad you get scared in a haunted house that’s actually scary.”

“I can’t believe you’d want to put me through that after everything I’ve done for you,” you say with faux offense. 

“Can’t help it,” he says with a shrug, “I guess I’m a bit of a sadist.”

“Hmmm why does that not at all surprise me.”

The rest of the night went on without a hitch. The guys showed up again eventually, making base between yours and Hopper’s car to trade candy. Jane told you that she got lots of compliments on her costume and thanked you over and over for helping her with her make up. Joyce took the opportunity to get everyone together to take pictures. Apparently Will’s older brother, Jonathan, left one of his cameras with them to take pictures while he’s off at college and Joyce took that task very seriously. 

“Let me get one with the two of you!” She says to you and Eddie. Eddie looks at you and you shrug.

“Do you want to lean on me?” You ask him.

“What do you mean?”

“So you can have a picture not in your chair. I can hold you up--oh we can make it look like you’re trying to eat me?”

Eddie stands, leaning against you as you have your arms around him in a tight hug. Joyce takes a few steps forward to get his chair out of frame, giving you both the go ahead to make a pose. Eddie lets go of you, posing with his hands as if he was about to grab you, the mouth of his mask about an inch from your face. You hold on to him with one arm, letting him lean into you as you let your other hand fly back with fake terror. 

The bright flash from the camera has you grabbing Eddie fully once again. You were able to feel his leg wobbling, still not used to holding up his whole weight. Eddie plopped back into his chair, letting out the breath he had been holding.

After a while the festivities began to wind down as cars started making their exit. When Eddie’s back started to hurt from being in his chair for so long, you decided to join the rest of the crowd and leave. Dustin helped load Eddie up in the car as you cleaned up any mess that had been made.

“Dustin, why don’t you ride with us?” Joyce calls over from their car. “Eddie’s probably tired and ready to get home. You’re staying at the Wheeler’s anyway, right?”

Dustin looks at Eddie, whose mask was up enough to let his face breathe, to you, who looked like you were ready to climb into bed and pass out. Gears turned under those tight curls. A vision of the two of you “accidentally” falling asleep in each others arms on the couch and waking up all embarrassed, until you inevitably confess your feelings for each other and get married and grow old together was clear as day in his mind. 

“Yeah, sounds good. Thanks Mrs.B.”

“Do you even want to attempt a shower?” You ask Eddie with a yawn, eyeing his devil faced pumpkin that the two of you carved that sits next to the front door.

“I feel gross after sweating in that mask,” he yawns in reaction to your yawn, fumbling to get his keys in the lock. “But, honestly, I’ll probably fall asleep sitting in there.”

Eddie pushed the door open, and wheels inside. You can barely get a foot in the front door when Eddie stops abruptly. You follow his gaze to the couch, and are surprised to see Ben leaning against Wayne. His head rests on Wayne’s shoulder, Wayne’s bald head lays against Ben’s head as the two of them snore intermittently. 

Eddie turns slowly back towards you with wide eyes. You place your finger against your lips, giving him a silent shush as you slowly maneuver his chair to his room. Eddie doesn’t say a word, even after you close the door to his room. He’s as pale as a ghost, still looking as you as if he was waiting for you do to…something.

“What’s wrong?” You ask him, and he flinches. He finally blinks when he realizes that you’re not going to say anything, tension leaving his body until he’s visibly exhausted.

“Nothing, I just…ugh I really need to shower. But I’m so tired.” He sprawls out in his chair, hands running over his face and through his matter hair. The icky feeling of being outside and around people begins to make your skin crawl, too, as you feel a shower calling your name.

“Well, the longer we wait, the more tired you’re going to be. Let’s get you in there so I can go home and take one, too.” Eddie perks up, looking at you with knitted brows.

“You’re not staying the night?” 

“Well, my sleeping spot is currently being occupied,” you say with a cheeky grin, nodding toward the living room. 

Eddie presses his lips together, deep in thought as he tries to come up with an solution so you don’t have to make the 30 minute trek home.

“You could…sleep in my bed? I could sleep in Wayne’s room. If the love birds wake up, they’ll just have to deal with it.”

Thinking about sleeping in Eddie’s bed makes your chest flutter in a way that you hate. Well, rather, you want to hate it. But you really don’t. The idea of being in his bed with him penetrates your mind, and you think of anything else to push it away. Like how you’d finally told him about Sam earlier in the night. You still needed to psycho analyze his reaction to the news, which was how you usually passed the time in the car.

“I’ll think about it.” Eddie nods, accepting that as your answer for now.

You set up the shower for Eddie, hardly a word between the two of you with the combined low energy. You quietly snuck Eddie’s dirty clothes into the laundry room as he showered, taking a few minutes to pick up the kitchen in hopes to lessen the work load for Wayne tomorrow.

When you returned to the shower, Eddie had just turned off the water. He was humming a song to himself, probably to keep himself awake as he went through the motions of his shower. 

He pulled the curtain open, and slowly blinked at you. You understood his message, taking the few steps to stand beside him. You went through your drying routine, getting his back and gently squeezing and scrunching his curls in a towel to dry them. There was no way he would be able to blow dry them tonight so you just took your time getting them as dry as possible. Eddie would start to doze off until the resistance of his hair pulling would wake him again.

The two of you got into position for Eddie to stand and pivot into the chair. You held on to him, and he held onto his towel, waiting for your count to stand. A quiet one, two, three had him pushing off of the shower seat with his leg.

But he was still tired, and he began to lose his balance. One hand shot to hold your arm, and the other grabbed the bar attached to the wall. You felt his body starting to go down and reflexively turned him towards his chair. His grip on the wall threw you off, causing you to fall into him when he finally let go and landed in his chair. 

You braced yourself against the arm rests as the floor was slick under you. The top half of your body was pressed into his, mimicking the closeness of an hug. When you went to pull away, you felt his grip on your arm tighten.

“Don’t move.” He says next to your ear.

“What?”

“My towel fell.”

You snort, resting your forehead against his shoulder, wet curls pressing into your skin. “Why do you have such a hard time keeping a towel on?” 

Ever since the first shower where he almost lost his towel, at least once a week his towel seems to find its way out of Eddie’s hands and onto the floor. 

To Eddie’s defense, it was hard for him to maintain his grip, and you couldn’t hold him up and keep his towel in place, so it was something you’d become accustomed to. If he could feel his towel slipping Eddie would usually give you a heads up so you could keep your eyes above belt level.

After a beat you can feel Eddie’s smile against your cheek. “Only around you,” he says with a sarcastic tone. You suck in a breath, and hope he can’t feel the heat that rises to your cheeks at his playful comment. 

“I’m starting to think you do it on purpose.” 

Eddie shakes his head. “If you close your eyes and move, I can reach the towel myself.”

“Okay,” you say, positioning your feet so you can stand up straight.

As you move your foot back, it bumps against something and catches you off guard. Reflexively, you open your eyes to look back and move your foot accordingly. Once you find your footing again, you shift to face forward once again. But, in your sleepy haze, you forget a crucial move; closing your eyes again.

Still looking down, your eyes manage to land directly where they’re not supposed to. 

It was like a car crash. You knew you shouldn’t gawk, but the site of Eddie’s dick as it lay against his leg had you frozen in place. It was long, reaching half way down his hairy thigh, and thick. What made it worse was that he looked half hard; whether on it’s way to full mast or starting to soften you couldn’t be certain.

Suddenly you became very aware at how revealing your costume was and how close your body had just been against his. Hell, you’d been touching and leaning against each other all night. Was he like this because of you? Surely not. You scold yourself for even thinking about it.

Regaining your composure, you push away from his chair and get your footing. You snap your eyes closed so quickly, hoping that he didn’t notice that you were looking. It felt like you had been staring for an eternity, the image of it seemingly tattooed into your corneas even as your eyes were closed, but in reality it was no more than a second. 

Even if you had seen it, you’d assured him plenty of times before that it wouldn’t be the first dick you’ve ever seen and it wouldn’t be the last with the field of work you were going into. But you also respected his privacy, maybe understanding a little more as to why he didn’t want you to see. If he said anything, you wouldn't make a big deal about it.

“Okay, you’re in the clear,” he says, his voice not giving any hint to if he knows what you saw. You open your eyes as he’s backing away and back into his room to get dressed, leaving you to clean up. Which you do quietly, willing Eddie’s dick out of your mind but failing as you pick up.

By the time you joined him in his bedroom, he was still in his chair, fully dressed and his head nodding forward as he tried to fight off sleep.

“Ready to get in bed?” You ask him in a low voice so not to startle him. 

He looks up at you drowsily, “Are you gonna stay the night?” You shake your head and his pouts up at you. 

“I’m sorry, Eddie. I’ll be okay getting home. I’m…feeling very awake now.”

And you head plenty to think about on the drive home. It didn’t feel long enough to analyze everything, your thoughts spilling over as you stare up at your ceiling fan in bed. 

thank you for reading.

[slippingkim]

🪽

i cant stop thinking about perv!jungwon who touches himself while on a call with you

u and jungwon are close friends who facetime or call each other everyday. but what u didn’t know was that a lot of those phone calls jungwon was jerk off to the sound of ur voice. u would be talking about ur day or vent about something that has been bothering u, and jungwon would get turned on just by ur voice alone. he would cover his mouth tightly to conceal his whimpers while on the call with u, jerking his dick at a fast pace. his dick twitching in his hand when he cums, and u continue to talk, not knowing that he just came all over himself, simply because ur voice was so hot.

- 📞 -

nsfw | mdni ….🥟

A/n: again sorry this took so long I’m sure you guys know how busy I am nowadays 🫠

warnings - 18+, smut, phone sex (kinda), smut with little to no plot, cursing, perv!won

pairings - obliviousfemreader☠️ x dom!won

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

It’s your weekly catch up call with your best friend Jungwon, chatting away about the contents of your week and upcoming weekend plans. Planning get togethers and fun activities but, little did you know your best friend of four years has an undying desire for you. As you spoke in your sweet honey tone his hard rose slowly, at first he didn’t notice until his eyes met the bulge in his pants. “..I was thinking we could go up to ####’s house next month?” your voice chimed back in after a long time of staring at his painful dilemma. Jungwon approved in a soft voice praising you for your good idea, as you rambled on about this small trip that you two would have next month his hand slowly crept into his sweatpants and on to grasp his erection. A guilty expression tugging at his lips as he started to slowly jerk himself, he set the phone on his clavicle for a more comfortable position pulling down his sweats further revealing his hard into the open air “..shit” he gritted breathlessly while he focused on his tip squeezing it in the palm of his hand gently pretending it was the pulse of your pussy. You spoke and spoke not spearing any details about the trip “we should totally stop at #### since we’ll be heading that way…” you said in a confident manner “..uhuh” Jungwon sputtered as his hand rose to cover his mouth from pouring with whimpers and purrs. His hand jerked faster and making sure to apply the perfect amount of pressure to his throbbing shaft. Leaving no trace of skin untouched, your voice acting like a battery for his hand that acted like a vibrator. Jungwons eyes clamped shut along with a muffled groan his hand giving one last squeeze before

“right won?” “…jungwon” “….hello?”

He looked down and his hand and stomach was covered with his white substance a bit more trickled out for a few seconds before he came out of his episode. Breathing heavily trying to frantically clean up as well as answering you at the same time. “right! I must’ve zoned out for a moment..” he lied with a sigh of relief.

[wosoragebaiter69]

BEACH!

barça femeni x teen!reader

request: here

A/N: i have cricket training today :( and my family decided to act like we were in an episode of the kardashians yesterday

TW: Coarse Language

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Today was going to be a fun day, the team were going to the beach for a couple days. Because… well why not? I’ve always loved the beach so when I was asked if I wanted to come, there is no other answer other than yes.

I look out to the white sandy beach, it’s so inviting and immediately run over with my stuff. Alexia, Marta and Irene do most of the carrying but some of the older girls carry some things as well. Not me though.

I place my items on the ground and take the time to actually look around. We’re in a cove, it’s pretty secluded, there’s a beach house we’re staying in for the next few days and it’s pretty big considering we all have to stay in it. We agreed that us younger girls could go straight to the beach while the older girls do all the other boring stuff.

Jana jumps on my back and I stumble forward into the ground beneath me.

“Janaaaa” I whine.

“Whattt.” She mocks me.

“This place is GORGEOUS.” She remarks looking around at the cliffs, crystal clear water and slight rainforest.

“I know right, so many fun things to do. What first?” I ask, her eyes light up.

“We should swim and find any cool areas that we can hide away from overbearing people.” She smirks.

“That’s a great idea, let’s go!” I run into the water, feeling the cool liquid against the heat of summer I felt before. I dive in when just deep enough, Jana is behind me. Patri and Pina are chasing each other on the shore as Bruna and Salma film them.

I swim to the edge of the cove where the cliffs are and after some swimming I come across a cave system.

“Jana! Look, a cave!” She swims over and looks at the small cave, it’s enough to fit a couple people and has a little beach, just out of sight from the main shore.

“Woah, we could have like a campfire here at night.”

“You think Alexia would let us leave? No chance Jana.” She sighs.

“There’s a thing called sneaking out and we both know she goes to sleep at like 10pm.” I stare at her with a blank expression.

“Ok, let’s go back now. I saw JetSkis and want to ride one. We probably need ‘adult supervision’ though.” She nods her head and we make our way back to shore.

- - - - -

“Where were you two?” Ingrid says as Jana and I walk up and out of the water.

“Swimming.” I say, she looks disappointed.

“Maybe stay where we can see you so Alexia doesn’t freak out. You’re lucky she’s keeping occupied with her own stuff.” She shakes her head.

“Sorry Ingrid.” Jana says but the Norwegian just smiles.

“It’s ok, I just don’t want to feel the wrath of Alexia come down on me or anyone.” I nod in understanding then Mapi walks out of the house in her own bikini. I notice Ingrid’s gaze on her.

“You guys make me sick.” I make a gagging noise and turn away.

“You will learn one day nena.” Mapi wraps her arm around me.

“I hope not. Anyways, could we go on one of those JetSkis? Pleaseeee.” I ask and she immediately agrees.

“Yayy, vamosss!” Jana goes to speak with Bruna as Mapi and I walk over to where the 2 water mobiles are parked.

“Ok so am I driving or are you?” She asks.

“Could I?” She nods.

“I’ll teach you, get on and let’s do this thing.” She instructs me to get on and turn the JetSki on. She then says to initially take it slow because going to fast straight away will make the vehicle unstable. I do as told and slowly get faster.

“This is fun!” I say, as waves crash over the top of us.

“You’ve got it nena! Now you can go a little faster if you leave this cove, are you ok with that?” I eagerly nod my head and speed up to where there’s more water and less land.

We drive pretty fast as we crash into different waves and water splashes all over us, it’s really such a euphoric experience.

As the fuel starts running low, Mapi guides me back to where we are needed, the sun has started to set by now and everyone is chilling either in the water, on the beach or on the beach house patio.

We make our way up the shore and I’m exhausted, people are very right when they say JetSkiing is tiring. I plonk on the ground next to Keira and place my head against her shoulder.

“Bit tired are ya?” She says laughing slightly.

“Damn JetSkis man, so tiring.” I grumble.

“Well, I heard dinner will be soon. Not sure who’s making it since we’re all here but who knows.” She pats my leg and Lucy walks over.

“Hey kid, wanna play volleyball? We don’t have enough players on our team and I have selected you.” Suddenly feeling a burst of energy, I nod and follow her.

On our team is Salma, Ona, Lucy, Frido and I. On the other side is Patri, Claudia, Jana, Esmee and Cata. Bruna has made herself the referee.

“Lucy I’m not sure why you chose me because I’ve never played volleyball in my life.”

“Doesn’t your school offer it?” She questions.

“Just because my school offers it does not mean I do it. It clashes with tennis season!” Even though I play football, tennis has also been a big part of my life and I still play competitively.

“Well kid, use that hand eye coordination with your arms and you’ll be right.” I nod and get ready.

It’s a pretty nice game, it’s close but our team is winning, everything is going smoothly until Cata hits a ball too hard and heads straight for my nose. I fall back.

“Ow.” I whimper and feel liquid run down my face.

“Shit!” Lucy whispers.

“You alright kid? Move your hand away from your nose.” I nod half-heartedly and remove my hands.

“Oof, Alexia’s gonna freak!” As her name is said, she magically appears out of nowhere and leans down narrowing her eyes.

“Come on, you’re not playing anymore.” I open my mouth to argue but she shuts it down.

“Bye guys! By losers!” I shout to the other team who look slightly off-put.

Alexia takes me inside making sure I’ve got all the sand off before. She leads me to a bathroom and gets a first aid kit.

“Not broken but I will ice it for now. Ok?” I nod, knowing not to mess or argue with her.

After she wipes my face and clears the area, she takes a small ice pack and places it against my nose, taping it down.

“No more volleyball for today, come sit with me and the others and we can talk about anything you like. I think dinner is ready anyways.” I smile.

“Ok, thanks Ale.”

“Anytime.” She kisses my forehead. “Ready to go?” She takes my hand and we go out where food is set on the table and the others have came back from where they were.

The dinner is chaotic, nothing unusual for the girls. It’s a homely feeling to be here with each one of them. Mapi nudges me gently and slides over a small glass of wine.

“Drink. I say it’s a great day to get you to try it, have some fun nena. I spoke to Ale and she’s fine because it’s under supervision even if you and I both know it isn’t your first.” I blush and nod taking it.

“Thanks Maps.” She nods patting my back and I take a sip. It doesn’t taste bad. Mapi smirks and cheers go down the table.

This team and life is everything one could ask for.

[cup1dt3a]

Do you still accept requests?

How would it be if the human reader has a little brother or sister who watches Wally's show, and well the reader like a good big brother the reader takes care of them and watches along with them, well what if Yandere wally falls in love with the reader, what would happen?

Tysm for the request this is the first one I’ve ever had for a story! And ofc! My request are always open unless stated otherwise. Also I mainly just do gender neutral!readers so the reader will be gender neutral!

” It’s starting! It’s starting! It’s starting! Come on you slow poke!”

“ Ow! Ok ok! Geez how you so strong for a seven year old?”

You muttered as your younger sister tugged you towards the Tv. Eyes gleaming with pure enchantment as the cheesy theme song of the puppet show they loved to watch. You being the good older sibling you were would watch it with them since your parents were too busy most of the time to watch the show with her.

“ Eeeeee! Look it’s Wally!” You cheered as the colorful puppet appeared on the screen.

“ Yup they’re your favorite huh?” You asked them with a chuckle to how excited they got.

“ Of course they paint very well and they look so cool!” They exclaimed while the puppets talked away.

As the show went on you just watched away with your little sibling. Sure it was just another little kids show but you had to admit the character designs were just so well done and amazing.

“Now what should I paint today?” Wally asked on the big screen looking towards the audience.

“ A rainbow rose!” They jumped.

“ A DANCING BLUE FLAMINGO!” You shouted just to mess with them seeing them angrily huff.

“ As if he’d paint that. Wally is so much more mature than that!” They crossed their arms as you giggled.

“ What an excellent decision! A dancing blue flamingo!” He cheered.

Your sibling ate their words with a pitiful glare as they looked up at you sticking your tongue out at them. You both watched the episode making a few jokes here and there to upset them. It was all fun in games for you two. It’s not really like your parents were ever around either. Sure it sucked but at least you weren’t alone as much as you wished but fuck it they’re fun to be around so why not.

You had put your little sister to bed a while ago. At least 2 hours ago and decided it was time to check on them due to their nightmares they have. As you went to their room you had heart their voice outside the room along with another’s voice it sounded familiar but you knew it wasn’t one of your parents. As you hurriedly walked over to where you heard the voices your heart beat fast. Rushing as faster than you ran to check on who the hell was talking to your seven year old sister.

“ Yeah! _____ loves that too!” You happily said as you turned to corner in a panic.

“ Mhm! You’re so helpful little one but I think it’s off to bed with you now. Go on sweet dreams little dreamer.” Wally said on the big screen with a smile and tilt to his head.

“ Oh geez. What are you doing up watching TV?” You sighed in relief.

“ Wally wanted to talk with me. And I didn’t want to be rude!” They replied looking up at you while you took them to bed holding their small hand.

“ Ok but next time Wally wants to “talk” with you tell him ____ said no.” You told them playing into their little fantasy.

“ Fine…Can you watch Welcome Home with me tomorrow still?” They sad with puppy dog eyes.

“ Yes yes. How about after work we go have a little sleep over in my room sound good?” You asked as they nodded with excitement.

As you went back into the living room you had noticed the TV was still on with Wally staring at you. Well it looked that way but as he silently stared you hadn’t noticed how much larger his smile got before you shut it off with a big yawn.

You had been having to take your younger sibling to work with you. It’s not like you wanted to but it’s not like you had a choice either. Because your parents were never home and your sister was to you get to be alone either way. Plus your boss was ok with it since they would bring their own kid to work. They would play together with each other a lot and we’re friends so it was a win win either way.

“ You having fun with charley?” You asked as they nodded playing with the other’s action figures.

It was getting late so you had to remind them to start wrapping things up. They sadly agreed upset it was the end of your shift before they remembered about your sleep over with them. They had said their goodbyes and hugged any other friends they had before you had left. They had skipped as they held your hand back to the apartment. You then came upon a display case of old TV’s they all displayed Wally.

“ Look! Loook! It’s Wally he’s waving at us! Hiiii Wally!” They jumped with glee waving at the puppet on screen.

Indulging your younger sister you also waved greeting the puppet before walking away with your younger sibling. Not noticing the out of order signs or the way the puppet had followed you both with its head.

” Sleep Over! Sleep Over! SLEEP OVER!” They chanted as you popped the popcorn and got a few apples for them too.

You both went back to your room rolling your eyes as they dashed over towards your room. You also has a TV in there to watch your own shows other than Welcome Home. Such as more horror shows and adult shows because you didn’t want to accidentally influence them with inappropriate things or have to answer the embarrassing questions of theirs.

“ So let me guess Welcome Home?” You guessed without a doubt as they exclaimed a gleeful yes.

You then set the Tv up to play the show as they started to munch on some popcorn. She then started to try and aim it at your mouth every time missing but you still encouraged them to keep trying until one lucky shot they finally got it in your mouth.

“ Wooo! I did it!” The cheered bounced up and down.

“ Good job little dreamer!” Wally clapped on point as if he was congratulating your sister with you.

“ Thanks Wally it was so cool right?” They asked expecting an answer.

“Oh why it was very cool! You think you can do it again?” He asked with a tilt to his head.

You sat there in concern as the two talked observing as they spoke to each other.

“ How are you doing that?” You asked them with a slight shake to your voice.

“ Doing what…Omg you’re so dumb just talk to him like any other person ____! ____ can be so dumb sometimes right Wally?” They asked looking over to the puppet.

“ Now that wasn’t nice? You should apologize to ____ they must feel very sad now.” He told the small child.

They hurriedly apologize just as the puppet asked. He was a puppet. He couldn’t have known your name. Your little sister isn’t smart enough to even think of a prank like this. They’ve been doing this. This has been going on for weeks! Finding them in front of the TV talking to the puppet with glee.

“ ____? You ok?” She asked you tugging on your sleeve with concern for your silence.

“ Yes, Yes I’m fine…So wally how long have you two been talking.” You asked in disbelief still pale.

“ I think the second day you both watched the show! You’re such a good sibling always going on with the little dreamers antics you almost make me envy you with how cute of a sister you have.” They replied.

That’s not part of any script. This wasn’t normal!

“ Yeah! Wally would ask me to go and talk to him about you!” they said with a smile on your face while yours remained pale.

“ Yes I couldn’t help myself and they always sneaked up late at night for a snack and mischievous little thing they are started to just talk to me. I couldn’t help but ask about you. Always so hard working and kind to the little one.” You dreamily sighed.

“ Uh huh.” You said.

You felt sick. How could you not have noticed this!? How did you let this slide for months? Are you that neglectful? God you’re almost as bad as your parents! Your little sibling has been talking with some puppet who sounds obsessed with you as they go on and on about how perfect you are. You had noticed your sister start to yawn cuddling up on the bed. You took her to her room as soon as she passed out wanting to have your own conversation with the puppet. As you came back there he stood int the dark screen with that sinister smile peering into your soul.

“ What exactly have you been asking of my little sister?” You asked him with a slight grit to your teeth.

“ Just about you. Your likes, interests, hobbies, insecurities…. Everything about you really!” He stated.

“ Why though?” You asked feeling insane for doing this.

“ Because you’re all I can think about. All I ever dream about! All I ever want. Just look at yourself. So perfect so free like a song bird.” He sighed looking as if he was drooling.

“ You’re just so perfect. I love and want everything to do with….Why are you trying to turn the TV off?” He pouted with a tilt as you tried to turn your Tv off.

“ No No! My sweet dreamer you’re finally acknowledging me! I won’t let you stop now! We’ll be together forever! Just me you and your sister!” He gasped getting closer to the Tv.

“ YOU CANT LEAVE ME! I LOVE YOU! I LIVE FOR YOU! I BREATHE FOR YOU! YOU CANT LEAVE ME NOT AGAIN!” He cried out smooshing his face to the TV.

The screen then constantly displayed love me on it over and over again while the puppets eyes shook. “ Please love me! I need you!!I promise I won’t harm them at all just please keep listening to me! I need you!” He yelled banging onto the screen.

You had no idea what to do or to listen to him as he constantly cried out of any ounce of your attention. Almost like a touch starved animal.

“You…promise?” You asked as he nodded smile growling bigger by the second. What have you done?

Tysm again for the request they are open! Hope you’re all having a good day/night or that it gets better!

Part 2 ( Enjoy<333)

Sincerely- Cup1dT3A💌

[autismprotocol]

TMAG Theory Board Update (EP 11-12)

Hi guys sorry about the late posting I've just started a new quarter of college and its been pretty hectic. also got into my school design BFA program so pretty stoked about that! Anyways lets get into the Episode Breakdowns because even though not a lot of lore related things happened I still have a lot to talk about

For the breakdown I'll separate each by episode in sequential order

What Happened in Episode 11: Marked

Celias Rude Awakening- we jump right into the weirdness straight away with Celia waking up on the side of the interstate. she indicates that this is not a weird occurrence and ends the scene by telling someone named Jack that she's "on her way." If you remember episode 8 after Celia and Sam talk to Gerry and Gertrude, she mentions stuff about wanting help with her own mystery. When Sam asks about it she says she's looking into Time travel, other dimentions and teleportation. Many people have theorized that maybe Celia is just a super heavy sleepwalker, but I think the she teleports random places out of nowhere. This could be a side effect of her reality hopping if this Celia is originally from The archives universe.

As for the identity of Jack I'm not quite sure about that yet. I cross referenced the name Jack with past episodes of TMA. The only thing that came up was Jack Barnabas from the statement about dating Agnes Montague (aka an avatar of the desolation and Jesus-like figure for the cult of the lightless flame) So Unless Celia is secretly Agnes of Agnes reincarnated , I can't find any way to link Barnabas to Celia. (if anyone has a theory feel free to send it my way.)

Sam Lore- this one is pretty minor story-wise but I thought it was interesting. Before the statement for the episode is presented we get some classic Sam and Alice Banter ™ most of it is pretty lighthearted but I noticed Sam mention something that could indicate he might be an amputee.

These could not mean anything and I find it weird that it hasn't been mentioned until now but thought it was kind of cool and I will probably be drawing sam with a prothetic leg in the future cause I really like this head-canon. It also begs to question if he is missing a leg. it might have anything to do with his past as a Magnus institute test subject but then again could just be a fun character detail added by Jonny and/or Alex .

The Statement- Getting into the statement we get another Ink5oul appearance. Also possible Ink5oul identifying as she/they. (and lets be honest being a fear avatar is pretty non binary core). I found this Episode gave me a feeling of a hybrid between the Vast, Buried and the Flesh some people are theorizing that is might be a new entity called the Deep but I think that the fear of the ocean could easily apply to the vast or buried. Not much to say about this story though pretty standard Magnus horror that also gave us a hint to what Ink5oul's goal could be/which entity they serve.

Post Bonzo- Gwen has a debrief with Lena after her first Externals Liason assignment and her meeting with Mr. Bonzo. Undoubtedly Gwen is still pretty shaken from her encounter, even arriving late to work due to sleeplessness. Gwen is able to ask Lena a few questions mainly she wanted to know who's name was written on the letter given to Bonzo

Lena is largely unhelpful but tells Gwen she should have worked it out by now and if not to pay close attention to the case load for the next couple of days. before the latest episode my guess was Klaus because that is the only person mentioned so far that the OIAR intends to kill. but more on that later

Marked- Now were getting to my favorite thing about this episode. This episode title can have two meanings. The first is the more literal interpretation. Tattoos are marking of the body and the case this episode was all about tattoos so easily a good name would be marked. But I believe this is a red herring meant to misguide listeners who have not consumed all 200 episodes of TMA because if you know the world of Magnus Archives the term Marked takes on a entirely different meaning.

In TMA the term marked is used to indicate that somebody has been influenced by one or more or the fears and are one their way to becoming an Avatar. I think this could be a coded way to tell the audience someone in the OIAR has been marked. I have two potential candidates

Alice Dyer- Alice has been having dreams about the Institute after her and Sam's adventure into the ruins. also she mentions feeling like someone's watching her (common to people influenced or fed upon by the Ceaseless Watcher/The Eye) My guess if she is marked it would be by the Eye.

Gwendolyn Bouchard: Probably the most likely culprit. The main way an entitly tends to mark people is through encounters with other avatars. Gwen has just had an encounter with Mr Bonzo last episode who I strongly believe must be an avatar of some sort.

What Happened in Episode 12: Getting Off

Aww Sam!!- Sam asked Celia out and it was adorably awkward. not much to say I just loved this interaction and I'm longing for a new Magnus brand office romance hopefully is wont be an agonizing slowburn that ends tragically like a certain pair of morons from Archives (I love you Jon and Martin but Jesus christ)

It's Bonzo time bitches!!- Probably one of the most gruesome Magnus statement I've ever listened to (good work Alex) Mr Bonzo completely annihilated some poor dude at his bachelor party. Based on the date of the Incident the I can confidently say that whoever Baz (the groom) was he was our mystery person the OIAR sent Mr Bonzo to get rid of. Along with some of the bloodiest imagery we learned a few things about Bonzo. The most interesting detail is that Bonzo has to be summoned by playing his theme song I think the CD of his theme song acts somewhat like the tapes did in TMA by materialising out of nowhere. Also fun fact you know that torn seam that is right down Bonzo's middle? that is actually is his mouth lined with rows sharp teeth so I guess I know that now (so fun) Moral of the story dont f*ck with Mr. Bonzo

Alice knows something: Theres been this recurring audio glitch throughout TMAGP thatnks to a few extremly observent fans we have started to relize that these glitches are not at all random and are actually letting the audience know when a character is lying (i actually reposted somones deepdive into all the istances of this glitch so far if you guys are intrested in knowing more) why i bring this up now is becuase since we know when any charater is lying we also know when they are being truthful if there is no glitch when they say somthing and at the end of this episode this interaction occurs

Alice goes ahead and makes a joke about this to annoy Gwen but the fact theres no audio glitch when she says "I know" means she does actually know who is behind the OIAR and is activly refusing to share it with Gwen or the others. What do you know Alice!?

and that's about it im already loving these next batch of episodes and am so excited to learn more (ERROR has to show up somtime )

thanks to everyone who resonded the poll on the last update I will continue to include drawings into the breakdown even if it takes me a little bit of time to post. anyways I wrote this all in one sitting and I'm about ready to pass out so thanks again and the ask box and comments are always open for discussion and theory crafting.

-Echo

[hannie-dul-set]

HOME FOR THE BITCHLESS [5].

SYNOPSIS. wherein your friend offers a room for you to crash in while your dorm is being renovated, but fails to mention that your new housemates don’t know how to talk to women (oh, and they also have an ongoing bet about you, too).

PAIRINGS. choi soobin, choi beomgyu, lee heeseung, park jongseong, sim jaeyun, park sunghoon x female! reader. GENRE. housemates! au, rom-com, sitcom, reverse harem time baby. WARNINGS. swearing, someone cries again, mentions of bullying, mentions of sex. WORD COUNT. 3.9k

TAGLIST. @cerealdreamwriter @tyongff-ff @dinonuguaegi @certifiedmoa @blueberrgyuu0 @primantha @blu3bell4 @nunugget @hoshi-is-ult-bbg @captivq @tocupid @seosalad @ddazed-lhs @gyuszie @mifuyuyo @error-cant-function @twocupsofsuga @flowerbe0m @dangerousconnoisseurbanana @laviesm @keikeu @elavin @chaemmie @rikisly @satsuri3su @gyugyubin @junhuicosmo @skzenhalove @luvkpopp @yansbolobao @emer-syn @eggomi @drunkinjake @soobiverse @deobitifull @haechanspudu @yawnzzn27 @7myoi

NOTE. this is the soobin chapter. before anyone says anything, i also used to be a loser in high school so i am very qualified to write about this. anyway, please let me kmow what you think so far! ty for reading!

MASTERLIST | NEXT >

CHAPTER 5 — staring contest of death.

SOOBIN HAS ENCOUNTERED A PROBLEM. It’s quite a big problem— one that completely ruined his summer morning routine that usually starts at one in the afternoon. But it’s already 2 p.m. right now and he’s still laying on his bed, half of his head peeking out of the blanket as his eyes run over the text he received this morning over and over again from a group chat that’s been dead for a good three years. 

[Shin Jaeyul: hey class of 20XX! met up with jindo and the rest the other day and we thought it would be great if we can all get together again! hope you’ll all be available for the reunion. i’ll send the details after this message but it’s gonna be held at seonghee’s family’s hotel so feel free to bring a plus one lol.]

[Shin Jaeyul: What? ANSAN HS BATCH 20XX REUNION. When? This Saturday, 6:00pm. Where? Chatoyer Hotel, Sapphire Ballroom Function Hall

“Just don’t go, man. It’s not like your attendance is graded.”

When Soobin finally gets the energy to come downstairs to eat, he shows the text to Beomgyu for a second opinion. They’re eating yesterday’s leftovers on the patio outside the dining room. It doesn’t take long for the rest of the boys to congregate on the lounge chairs.

“But a reunion sounds fun!” Jake throws in his opinion. “I met up with my high school buddies at Crown Towers when I went to Melbourne the other day.”

“They weren’t your buddies. They invited you so you can pay for all their drinks and ditch you,” Heeseung tells him.

“Hey, Matthew was there and he was glad to see me.”

“Matthew borrowed eight hundred dollars from you last month and never paid back.”

Jake simply shrugs and snatches a cold slice of pizza from the table. Soobin gives him a look of remorse. “Anyway,” Jay jumps in. “Hyung, you should go if you want to and don’t go if you don’t want to. What do you want to do?”

Honestly, if Soobin can help it, he’d never want to see anyone from his old school ever again. And he’d rather stay at home and watch the latest episode of JJK on Saturday night (and every other night, for that matter). “But...it’s kinda rude if I don’t reply, right?” is what’s holding him back. The group chat has been buzzing every minute, messages of ‘see you there’s’ and ‘I’m so excited’s’ popping up one after the other. Only a few others including him haven’t replied yet. “What excuse should I make?”

“Tell them you have a family reunion to attend,” Sunghoon suggests.

“That’s lame. They’re gonna make fun of him,” Beomgyu scrunches his nose. Sunghoon defends with “what’s so wrong with a family reunion?!” but Soobin is inclined to believe that Beomgyu would be right. He didn’t exactly have a pleasant high school experience.

It’s not that he was actively bullied, or anything. He just didn’t have a lot of friends. And not a lot wanted to be his friend save for the members of the manga club he was in— but that didn’t really contribute to his position in the adolescent food chain. It’s not like he was sociable, either. He still isn’t. He was just lucky enough to get adopted by Beomgyu and managed to get along with the rest of the guys after a good two years of living here.

“Oh, then dude, you have to go!” Beomgyu exclaims. “If you don’t go they’re just gonna talk shit about you still being a loser.”

“I am a loser, though?” he says. 

“Yeah, but you’re tall and good looking and hot and that’s enough to get them to shut the fuck up if you show up and dip after thirty minutes. You know what, give me your phone. I’ll handle this.”

“No, wait—”

Beomgyu snatches the phone from his hands and plops down on the chair right across from him, the other four quickly running over and looking over his shoulders. Soobin’s heart races. This doesn’t seem like a good idea. He is right. It only takes a second before things spiral into disaster.

“Don’t say that. You gotta sound cooler.”

“Dude, that’s gonna get him bullied. Let me do it—”

“Give it to me!”

“You’re all useless, let me take over!”

“Wait, let me make one last revision—”

“No! What are you all doing?!”

When Soobin finally manages to steal his phone back, he nearly passes out when he reads the message he— his friends— just sent to the group chat.

[Count me in. Do I have to wire double the money if I bring my girlfriend? Nevermind, I’ll just send thrice the amount. Thanks :)]

Horror washes over his face. “I added the smiley face,” Jake proudly announces. Holy fuck, he wants to crawl back into his bed and never wake up. 

“Who sent that I’ll be bringing my girlfriend? I don’t have a girlfriend! Why did you say I’ll be bringing my girlfriend?!”

His phone vibrates mid-fit and he’s greeted by a reply saying that they’re so happy he’s coming and they can’t wait to see him again. Soobin is not happy nor is he excited. “We can just get you one,” Beomgyu says, as a matter-of-fact, as if you can just purchase a significant other from a gas station vending machine. His face wrinkles in distress. “When’s the reunion again? Saturday? Jakey, do you have any rich heiresses that can pretend to be Soobin hyung’s fake girlfriend for a night?”

“I’ll call Mirae noona, but hyung, are you alright alright with someone fifteen years old—”

Soobin winces. “Please don’t call her.”

“I can try asking Hina,” says Jay. “I don’t know if she has me unblocked yet, though.”

Heeseung narrows his eyes at him. “Isn’t she your ex?”

“Jay dated someone?” Sunghoon gives Jay a mildly offended grimace. “The fuck? Why don’t I know this?”

“He’s always dating someone. But he also gets dumped after three days so I’m not sure if they even count.”

Before they could further into Jay’s questionable dating history, the conversation gets cut short by a groan from Beomgyu. “Wait. We literally have a girl living with us right now.” His words send a signal into all their ears. It takes a moment for it to settle, and when it does, it’s like a thinly stretched rope snaps in half in the air.

Oh.

Right.

You.

“Are—are you sure about that?” Sunghoon is the first to crack the tension-filled silence. “Don’t we have other options?”

Soobin hears furtive whispering and nodding from Jake that somehow involves your name and the phrase “that’s right, she’s a girl, yes,” but chooses to ignore it and instead starts dreading the near and impending future. “It’d be better if it’s someone Soobin hyung already knows,” Beomgyu replies. “Hyung, what do you think?”

He thinks this is insane and bonkers and absolutely fucking impossible to pull off because he can’t even look you in the eye without sweating his skin off. How in the fuck he supposed to fake date you? To stand next to you? To call you with so much affection in front of numerous people he finds extremely uncomfortable to be with? To look at you? To h—

Oh god. He doesn’t have to hold your hand, does he?

“Hey, I don’t think this is fair. That’d mean Soobin hyung will technically—”

“This won’t count towards the bet,” Beomgyu says, then looks at a now red-faced Soobin. “You don’t mind right?”

Shit, he’d have to, right? But he can’t even look at you without his palms leaking like a faucet and stuttering like a broken machine. This is insane. He can’t do this. He can’t and won’t do this or else he’d actually have a heart attack and die.

“Hyung?”

“Is— is this all really necessary?” he finally sputters out.

They all look at him. “But we already sent the message.”

Right. They did. Soobin’s face falls defeated and he sinks back into the chair. “I’ll go grab her,” Beomgyu announces, and the gazes shift from him to their friend who has now risen from his seat and is walking back into the house because since when was he close enough with you to do that? You two usually bicker and argue and Soobin has seen the murderous intent in your eyes whenever Beomgyu tries to provoke you. Sure, the amount of daily arguments has definitely died down as of late and it’s mostly one-sided now, but if there’s anyone close enough to disturb your weekend for something stupid, it’d be Jake.

But they say nothing about it and watch as Beomgyu disappears inside and comes back out a minute later with you in tow, pulling you into the patio by the arm you as you grumble and groan, begrudgingly forcing your legs to follow him. “Seriously, what do you want? I was having a nice nap, you bastard. Where are you taking me? Hey, answer me. Are you still mad about the—” 

When you finally notice the rest of their presence, you stop complaining.

“What’s this? Are you having a cult meeting?”

Jake greets you with a smile. “Take a seat! We’ll explain everything.”

It’s almost impossible to glean anything coherent when there are five-ish boys talking at the same time, but you seem fine, nodding along to whatever Beomgyu and Jay are currently rambling into both of your years. Soobin grows increasingly worried by the second. “I’m so sorry. You really don’t have to do this.”

He hopes you don’t want to do this. Knowing how you practically terrorized him a few weeks ago for accidentally taking a bite out of your ice cream, you probably didn’t want to deal with him either. Yes. This is good. Soobin can just ignore the group chat and ghost his old classmates on the day of the event, so this is—

“I’m down,” you finally say. 

—what?

“You’re— you’re down?” he stutters out. He must have heard wrong, obviously. Haha, there’s no way you would—

“Yup. It’s this Saturday, right? I’m pretty sure I’ll be free, so it’s cool.”

Well, shit.

He’s fucked.

“Why do I feel like you’ve done something like this before?” Beomgyu shoots you a glare of suspicion. You grin. “Of fucking course you have.”

“Sunoo paid me a pretty convincing fee for me to sit pretty at his sister’s wedding,” you explain before shifting your gaze to Soobin, a smile playing on your lips. His fingernails dig into his palms. “Obviously for Soobin, I’ll do it for free. But we have a problem.”

His eyes flit away not even a second after, chest tightening on the spot.

“Yeah. I think we need to work on that.”

Thus begins the series of daily staring contests between the both of you for the next four days until Saturday. It scares the shit out of him when you bang on his door at random times of the day just to torment him with your very existence. Soobin knows you’re doing this to help him. He knows, he really does, but he’s not very good at maintaining eye contact without his heart racing at an unhealthy rate and without sweating profusely. His longest record has been ten and a half seconds before his face explodes like a volcano.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think this is gonna work.”

Soobin’s muffled voice is weak, red face buried into his palms as you both sit cross-legged on his mattress after another failed staring contest. The rows and rows of anime figurines he has displayed next to his bed are all staring at him in disgusting judgment. It’s now Friday. The reunion is tomorrow, and he can’t even look at you— much less pretend like you’ve been dating for the past six fucking months.

“No! You can do it, Soobin! I believe in you! Let’s try one more time, okay?”

You grab his hands, pulling them away from his face and they settle on his soft blankets, yours over his, and he starts silently freaking out because shit— holy shit, you’re squeezing his knuckles. It’s barely any pressure, but he feels it shooting into his throat like a silver snake choking him with ten pints of venom and that’s not even the worst part because you’ve decided to start looking him in the eye again. 

He rasps out a little noise and tilts his head down to the right. You do the same. He shifts his gaze to the left. You do the fucking same, chasing after his eyes relentlessly like a god damned predator on the hunt and he can feel his palms sweating pathetically into his blanket while you’re still locking them in place.

“Okay,” you breathe out, leaning back and he finally feels the blood circulating into his fingers. “What if we follow Jay’s suggestion instead and have you wear sunglasses the entire time?”

Honestly, it’s about time you gave up on him. 

Your eyebrows are scrunched, deep in thought. Soobin can look at you right now because you’re spacing out and not attacking him with the depth of your stare. He’s not used to attention in general, so something about your pretty eyes with pretty eyelashes and prettily focused expression looking directly at him just renders him completely useless. It’s fine when you’re absentmindedly looking at the posters on his wall, still in the midst of weighing your options. It’s fine because you aren’t focused on him.

“But the event is indoors and in the evening, so that won’t make a lot of sense.” And his composure immediately topples down when you flit your gaze back at him. His breath hitches in his throat. “Soobin, do you have any other ideas?”

He grabs the nearest pillow and squeezes it to his chest. “Do— do we have to do this? Can’t we just show up and leave after ten minutes?” Better yet, he just doesn’t show up at all. But you’ve been putting in so much effort these past few days, so he doesn’t want to cancel out of nowhere.

You frown. “Eye contact is the first step to selling that we’re a real couple! Even if we stay for only ten minutes, they’ll get suspicious if you can’t even look at me,” you tell him. “Soobin, let’s keep trying. C’mon.” 

Soobin is trying. He really is trying his best but one more round and he feels he might actually rupture a brain vessel. “Alright,” you exhale. “Nevermind. We’ll handle it somehow. I’ll head back to my room now so you can rest up. See you tomorrow.”

It takes no time for you to get off his bed and start walking to his door. His stomach sinks, watching your back as you reach out for the doorknob and Soobin feels like he had just disappointed you. 

He moves before his mind can think. Before he knows it, he’s out of the bed and is holding your wrist and pulling your hand away from the door. 

You look at him. He looks at you, drenched in the color of panic and confusion and at the same time a shade of earnest emotion. It stays like this for a good couple of seconds, until your lips curl into a smile and your free arm reaches up to his head, fingers dipping into his hair for a light pat.

“Thirty seconds. Good job. See you tomorrow.”

Now you completely understand why Soobin didn’t want to attend this dumpfest.

The hotel function room is fancy. Truly fancy. But the elegant crystal interiors and decor can’t hide the scent of pretentious obnoxiousness in the air, and the music siphoning through the speakers can’t drown out the sound of shit and crap and trash being exchanged between alleged old friends and classmates. It’s gross. The only saving grace of the night is the wine you’re swirling in your hand, regulating your slowly thinning patience at the scene before you.

“Soobin, buddy! Oh man, I didn’t think you’d make it!”

Here we go again. This is the what— fourth, fifth person? Soobin greets number five with less enthusiasm than the newcomer. He’s already worn out, poor boy. You prepare to intervene when you get an opening.

“Jaeyul,” Soobin says. “Hi.”

“It’s been a while, aye? You look great, man! What’s your glow up secret? You gotta tell men dude.”

Another patronizing comment from a mediocre looking male at best. They’re really lucky Soobin is an angel. You can see the discomfort in his smile when the Jae-something bastard hooks him by the neck, tugging your beanpole down because he’s at least four inches taller than his snotty ex-classmate. He looks even more uncomfortable than the time he got an unsolicited view of your red underwear. If it were you, you would’ve already kneed him in the balls to shut up his endlessly chattering mouth.

The guy’s gaze finally lands on you, tucked quietly behind Soobin’s shoulder. Took him long enough, honestly. You’ve been giving him the nastiest stare you can muster for the past five minutes, it’s honestly amazing that he only noticed now. “Who’s this?” he asks. Now, he’s just blatantly checking out someone else’s (fake) girlfriend. You hold back a scoff, but a sneer manages to slip out.

Soobin straightens, ready to repeat the script he’s been cycling through since the beginning of the night. “O-oh, this— this is—” But he seems to be a lot more nervous now. You decide to take the reins and give him a break.

“I’m his girlfriend,” you give Jae-whatever a smile, stepping forward to hold onto Soobin’s arm, who in return flinches at your touch. “Hi. I hope you don’t mind me intruding on your whole reunion. It’s just that I can’t bear to be apart from my Soobin for too long, you know?”

You’re hoping that your sickeningly sweet tone disgusts the living hell out of him and drives him away, but for some reason he lacks the social awareness to do that. “No, not at all. In fact, completely understand. I’m a taken man myself, you know?” That makes this situation a million times worse. He momentarily shifts away from you and directs his next words to Soobin. “Do you remember Bitna? We started seeing each other a few months ago.”

You can feel him stiffen next to you. “Congrats. I’m happy for both of you.”

“Didn’t you used to have a crush on her? I remember you’d give her chocolates every valentine’s—”

The twitch in his grin doesn’t go unnoticed by you. Alright, enough of this bullshit. You’re done humoring this bastard.

“Oh, sorry!” he turns to you again. “That was tactless of me, oh no. I apologize.”

You press your lips together, still smiling. “It’s fine. I wasn’t really paying attention to the bullshit you’ve been tirelessly spouting. I was wondering when you’d shut your trap and finally fuck off.”

Soobin snaps his head towards you, eyes wide in alarm. His dear old friend looks equally shocked. You hum and maintain your expression, pressing yourself closer to Soobin. “Is Bitna the one looking at us right now? Oh dear.” Shot in the dark, but you hit the mark anyway. “Anyway, if you’ll excuse us. My boyfriend and I will be heading back to our suite now to have absolutely brain-shattering, mind-numbing sex for the rest of the night that you—from the looks of your girlfriend over there— won’t be having for the rest of the week if you’re lucky enough to salvage your relationship. It was nice meeting you!”

You can see Bitna stomping her way over to her boyfriend, carrying a palpable dark force in her wake, so you quickly tug Soobin away by the hand and make your quick exit out the function room and into the elevator. You’re aware of how Soobin is currently looking at you like you’re insane as you press on the lowermost button on the panel. His eyes are practically drilling into the side of your face.

“This— this isn’t the way to our room.”

“I know,” you reply, watching as the doors close in front of you. Jay booked a room to sell your whole schtick a little further, but looks like you won’t be able to use it. “We’re not going to our room. That is unless you actually want to follow through with what I said earlier?”

When you turn to look at him, he’s already drenched in pink. You hold back a laugh. They make it so easy for you to mess with them. “I’m joking. I doubt you’d want to spend a minute longer here, so let’s just dip. These clothes are getting stuffy.”

Somehow you found yourselves at the 7-Eleven outside your subdivision, overdressed and sharing a pint of ice cream and two beers under the empty store’s fluorescent lights. You stuff a spoonful into your mouth and let your gaze linger on him for a while. Soobin has his head down, quietly staring at the top of his beer can. With a face like that, you think he’d be more confident and outspoken, but it’s almost funny how he’s trying to scrunch up his large frame in the tiny seat in front of you.

Look, you’re simply tapping an index finger on the back of his hand and he immediately flinches and draws it back. He’s so shy, so timid that you can’t help but grow soft on him.

“I’m sorry,” is the first thing he says since you left the hotel.

You rest your cheek against your palm. “For what?”

“I mean, it’s just that— you spent the past four days making sure I didn’t mess up our whole act, but I messed it up anyway and we ended up leaving early. I’m sorry for wasting all your time and effort like that. I’m—I’m really sorry for being so hopeless and pathetic and—”

“Hey, don’t say that,” you cut him off. “If there’s anyone that’s pathetic, it’s that Jaeyun? No, Jaeyun is Jake. It’s that Jae-something bastard who’s pathetic. I mean, was he not loved enough as a child? Does he have a disease that makes everything that comes out of his mouth unrecyclable trash? Anyway, if anything, it should be me and the rest of the boys apologizing for forcing you into this. I’ll help you guilt trip them later when we get—”

You stop. You stop because you notice how his eyes are getting a little red, and how they’re getting a little glassy, and how he’s nipping at his bottom lip that you’re afraid it might start bleeding.

“Oh. Oh no. Soobin, please don’t cry.”

And he starts crying. Well, fuck.

You hastily get out of your seat and plop down right next to him, letting his head drop down to your shoulder. He continues sniffling as you switch between rubbing his back and giving him pats on the head, staring blankly at the empty aisles because the last thing you expected to do today is comfort a grown man in a dingy convenience store while you’re in high heels and a strappy dress.

“Let’s have a movie marathon with the boys when we get back, okay?”

At least you’ve gotten better at consoling people. It seems like a useful skill to have for the rest of your stay.

HOME FOR THE BITCHLESS. © hannie-dul-set, 2023.

[jennilah]

a very dumb deep dive

gather round, i saw a few people say they want to crawl into the head of someone who had trouble telling Hoffman and Strahm apart upon first viewing. I offer mine for the picking because i think ive identified, at least in MY personal experience, the various elements that came together that formed the ultimate confusion

if this is not relatable nor informative, i hope it is at least a little silly. this is all in good fun and obviously the difference between them is clear as day to me now

this will be longer than it should be.

PRECURSOR POINT NUMBER ONE...

I do not remember character names. Not until they are recurring, or I've rewatched a film a few times. Sometimes it will take me an entire 12-21 episode season length for me to know characters by name in a show. I've seen some Saw films more than 6 times now and I still don't know everyone in the traps 🤷‍♀️

PRECURSOR POINT NUMBER TWO..

at the time of watching Saw IV for the first time, the madness has not yet set in for Hoffman and Strahm for me. In fact, I didn't like either of them. I wasn't looking at them with my deranged eyes yet.

Without my crazy brain activated, sometimes I'll get face blindness between people who have similar enough hair and stuff. I'll use clothes as an identifier if I can

Meaning, I didn't notice anything like face details, mannerisms, body shapes- to me, it was one dark haired white guy in a suit and another dark haired white guy in a suit who both worked in law enforcement.

uh oh

PRECURSOR POINT NUMBER THREE..

in a very elaborate plot like this with many interwoven stories being told, especially with police procedure, has a lot of details that get lost on me upon first watch because I simply easily misunderstand what is happening. I zone out on stuff like legal talk because I don't know that world at all, and the more general plot information to absorb, the more I forget.

"But [character] SAYS..!" oh, I'm aware! If you pay attention and can remember character names, everything is pretty clear in this movie!

so between all three points, you see where I'm starting to go with this.

THAT BRINGS US TO..

Saw IV. let me describe to you what I believe my thought process was to the best of my memory.

This guy shows up. as far as I knew, this was the first time I've met this character. I forgot he was in Saw III because he was only in it for a second and I definitely don't remember him among the sea of other characters.

ok. sure. new detective because the others are dead. got it 👌

next time we see him is a few minutes later, now in this lighting. I don't have his features memorized yet. I'm pretty sure I put it together that it was the same guy as before, and I see he's in a new outfit.

keep in mind he is not at all referred to with a NAME yet, until Perez shows up and introduces all three of them at the same time

here comes "Strahm," as he was quickly introduced in practically the same breath, from the FBI. and he looks like this.

I mentally go "ok FBI guy in the suit" because my occasional bout of face blindness is activating rn. The problems are on the horizon for me

I survived that scene, but the scene right after? I'm doomed.

Major Confusion #1:

this treacherous interrogation footage, ft Hoffman's ass and slutty, slutty suspenders (but I did NOT give him even a second glance here yet. genuinely.)

I'm 100% sure I just didn't know who I was looking at in this footage at all just because of the outfit change

and then the boys are back in town. and they're BOTH WEARING THIS...

This was mean. this was fucked. I was doomed. My brain is already churning trying to keep up with what the footage was, now there's two dark haired white men in dark suits. Who was who again? I think the guy who just turned off the TV was the new detective. The guy who was talking to the Swat guy before. Yeah....

Major Confusion #2:

Next time we see them, Strahm and Perez are watching the interrogation footage. They quickly start talking Jigsaw stuff and my mind is already working overtime figuring out what information is and isn't important to hold on to.

Hoffman says hello for like 1 minute and then fucks off.

My brain is going "ok.. that footage was an old interrogation... mhm..."

this is the information my brain has decided to retain from that scene for later.

Major Confusion #3

this dark haired white guy in a suit got kidnapped idfk. the shots are all very short and he's enshrouded in shadow or SUPER close-up, and I don't know to recognize him by his lips yet. clearly Im more focused on his hair color and suit, so this could be fuckin anyone

Perez said something about officers being in danger earlier, I think I thought maybe it was irony and the cocky FBI guy was the one who got kidnapped instead? i dont know.

then after the first test of Rigg's game, you see Perez and Strahm again for a SECOND. I def didn't pay them much attention. My mind is elsewhere- the insanity of the previous scene

Major Confusion #4:

then FINALLY... we see Hoffman again in the slut chair

and what have we learned about me so far?

let me sum up my logic for you

Now, if only I was certain on their names..

I'm not going to go over every single scene, but I guarantee you, the confusion was fully set in by this point. That detective from the beginning either really just went home, or he was working with Perez. Or maybe it's the FBI guy and someone else is in the chair? No idea.

My brain retained that one slightly misguided bit of information from the interrogation footage and thought This Guy, Whoever This Guy Is, was interrogating Jill a second time. (Wrong.)

there was no memory of the guy's big ass in that footage or anything. that was also way the fuck in the intro and there was a LOT more that happened between then and now in the movie to remember now. and people really don't say each other's names that often.

Yeah there's also that flashback footage showing The Guy In the Chair and Rigg back in the day, but I was too far gone. That was simply the story of how That Guy and Art Blanc knew each other.

and boy does Chair Guy not do much for the rest of the movie, so there was not much more info about his identity that I could try to work out. Maybe he was just some new random guy meant to die in someone else's game because he is kind of a dirty cop?

Pretty sure I was resigned to the fact that I was watching completely utterly confused by the third act.

then fucking JEFF DENLON shows up and i remember either mentally or physically throwing my hands up like "ok now i REALLY dont know whats going on"

I remember I was still excited by the thrill of it, just completely lost as to who was who and what the fuck was going on.

as Eric Matthews was yelling "WHO'S COMING THROUGH THAT DOOR?" i remember going "I DONT KNOW, MAN!!!!!!"

The Grand Clear-up:

THE REVEAL.

Through the power of the Hello Zepp reveal montage, I finally understood "OHHHH YOU'RE THE DETECTIVE FROM THE BEGINNING!!!"

i had other confusions that i eventually worked out, but I went into Saw V much more clear on who was who. There was Hoffman the evil detective, and Strahm the jerk FBI guy (who I then softened up to throughout V, no longer thinking he was a jerk)

and, if I couldn't physically tell who was on screen because I still struggled a little bit with that... I looked for Strahm's bandage :)

and thats my story lmao...

anyway finding out just how many other people mixed them up or confused them or couldn't tell them apart makes me feel so validated thank u. i understand u

[battleline]

The Stella Problem

THE STELLA PROBLEM

AKA

HOW TO MESS UP A POTENTIALLY GREAT ANTAGONIST

Hoo boy, where do we begin with this one? Well, let’s start with the introduction and go from there.

Who is Stella?

Stella’s original design (Helluva Boss (Pilot))

Stella Goetia is the wife of Prince Stolas Goetia, one of the main cast members, who we first meet in the pilot briefly for a few seconds, having been splattered with cake when Blitzo drops in, telling her that he slept with her husband and runs off with the grimoire (being the thing he came for). The fallout from Stolas’ cheating on Stella is one of the major plot points within the show, with it almost always being prevalent in episodes involving Stolas.

Stella’s first appearance in the series proper (Loo Loo Land (S1, E2))

In ‘Loo Loo Land’, the episode starts with a brief flashback, where Stolas is stirred awake by Octavia’s crying for them, and we are given a glimpse of Stella, who had undergone a redesign between the pilot and now, and when Stolas tells her that Octavia is calling for them, Stella simply tells him to take care of her, and you can see her hogging the blankets.

Stella being furious (Loo Loo Land (S1, E2))

Later on, in present day, some times after Stolas and Blitzo’s affair, Stella is furiously shouting at him, going as far as to throw stuff, stating her disbelief that Stolas had slept with ‘an imp’ in their bed, getting more aggravated when Stolas brought up not having time to go to a motel, and after throwing one of their imps at Stolas, she calls him a ‘goddamn embarrassment’ before storming off

As you can tell by now, Stella is not the most pleasant person to be around. Even before the affair, it seems Stolas and Stella’s relationship is not the greatest, and Stolas’ affair seems to only have made things a lot worse. On top of that, she has a pretty nasty temper, throwing stuff around and shouting. On one hand, she has anger issues, but on the other hand, she was cheated on, and if the amount of revenge Reddit stories surrounding cheating that I listened to taught me anything, cheating really pisses people off. Although, it would seem that she was more angry about Stolas’ affair partner being an imp rather than the cheating, suggesting that she has a bit of classism about her.

We would not see Stella again for the rest of the episode (or the next two for that matter), but she would get a brief mention towards the end of the episode, when Octavia runs away from Stolas at Loo Loo Land, having grown sick of Stolas flirting with Blitzo throughout the episode. Stolas would come to find her again in a funhouse, and the two would have the following discussion:

Stolas and Octavia’s heart-to-heart talk (Loo Loo Land (S1, E2))

---------------------------------------------------------------

Stolas: I take it you are… not having fun.

Octavia: (crying) I didn’t even want to come here!

Stolas: I’m sorry, sweetie. I… I thought you loved it here.

Octavia: (sniffing) When I was a kid and my parents didn’t hate each other… and my dad didn’t flirt with some… weird red dickhead the entire time.

Stolas: I'm sorry, Via. I'm sorry for... everything... happening right now. I know it's... a lot. I, uh-- I should have listened.

Octavia: (crying) I just want to go home... but home doesn't even feel like home anymore... You ruined it.

Stolas: You need to understand... your mother and I... I just-... I felt-... She's always been... I haven't been- Ha-... We weren't in... I'm sorry, I- I- I don't have the words.

---------------------------------------------------------------

This talk illuminated two things: one, Stolas and Stella’s relationship was at a point where they did not hate each other. Now, this could mean many things, but at the very least, things were better. Two, it is implied that they weren’t in love, suggesting that perhaps that they were in an arranged marriage (which would be confirmed in season two, but we will get to that soon). But I do want people to remember the above conversation when we do.

Stella speaking to Striker regarding killing Stolas (Harvest Moon Festival (S1, E5))

We would see Stella again in ‘Harvest Moon Festival’ towards the very end, being revealed to be the one who hired Striker, a cowboy-themed assassin, to kill Stolas. Striker reports that he failed to kill him, but he won’t fail again, and Stella angrily states that he better not, as she quotes:

“I want this cheating prick dead! I don’t care who you have to go through! MAKE IT HAPPEN!!”

Stella

Stolas, Octavia, and Stella at the dining table (Harvest Moon Festival (S1, E5))

We then cut to her pretty much stating this right in front of Stolas and Octavia, but neither seem to take notice, though Stolas does pause for a moment.

It would seem that Stella’s anger towards Stolas for his infidelity had finally reached a breaking point in which she now wants him dead, giving zero regards as to the consequences or the effect it could have on their daughter. Indeed, it would seem she would be an antagonist for I.M.P. and Stolas to overcome in a future episode… but let’s put a pin in that for now.

Unfortunately, this would be the last episode in which Stella has a speaking role in the season, although she would go on to make a silent cameo in ‘Ozzie’s’, when a image of her and Octavia are brought up to shame Stolas during the ‘House of Asmodeus’ song:

Ozzie showing an illusion of Stella to Stolas (OZZIE’S (S1, E7))

“You used to have a smoking wife, a kid, you had it all”

“I hope you didn’t give it up. So, you and him could get it on”

House of Asmodeus

Now, following this line, Stolas would go on to hide behind a menu in shame, most likely because he was ashamed to be dating an imp (thus caused a rift between him and Blitzo), but from the way Ozzie phrased those lines, it could imply that Stolas has regret for his actions, not just because of how he hurt Octavia, but perhaps for how he hurt Stella. Either that, or Ozzie had no idea (which is just as possible).

And that would be all for Season 1, and due to legal issues for ‘Queen Bee’ (which I will probably talk about for another day), we would skip to Season 2 nearly a year later. While what we saw of Stella was really short (amounting to 36 seconds of screen time within the entire first season), it would seem we had a potential for a very intriguing character.

Sure, all we saw of her so far was her telling Stolas to take care of Octavia, her yelling at Stolas over his affair, her yelling at Striker to not fail again, and then a silent cameo. But hey, surely Season 2 would finally give us some much needed development. Maybe we would get a glimpse of how she and Stolas met, a better look at what Stella was like before Blitzo, and maybe see how her relationship with Stolas had deteriorated. And maybe finally see what her and Octavia’s relationship is like. Heck, in February 2022, we learn that she has a brother in Andrealphus (described as Stolas’s shitty brother-in-law):

Andrealphus

So, yeah, it looked like we were in for something very neat… but what we got was…

The Circus (woo…)

After a long hiatus brought upon by an episode being stuck in legal limbo, the season 2 premiere came out, being ‘The Circus’, an episode that would go into Stolas’ past at two points in his life, being his childhood and to right before his affair with Blitzo, as well catching up with him after the events of ‘Ozzie’s’. Naturally, Stella would be in this episode.

The episode opens up on a child Stolas’ birthday, where he meets with his father Paimon, who proceeds to tell him what is expected of him as a Goetia, giving him the grimoire. He would also point out briskly that he is to be married, showing a… well, not so flattering pic of his to-be wife.

Child Stella tormenting two quieves (The Circus (S2, E1))

(Yeah, that’s what they’re called. Vivienne (or someone) made the conscious decision to name a species after a woman’s genital flatulence. Riveting 🙄)

And naturally, child Stolas is not enthused, crying on sight.

Okay, so Stella apparently was a little terror growing up. Okay, not too terrible, I mean, considering what we have seen of her in the first season, it would track that she grew up with anger issues her whole life, and it followed her well into adulthood. But it does confirm that Stolas and Stella were an arranged marriage… so perhaps, this could simply be her lashing out? I mean, Stolas wasn’t thrilled, so I doubt she would too.

Now, despite being shown this pic,  we never do see child Stella in person, this part of the episode being dedicated to Stolas meeting and spending the day with child Blitzo, culminating in him tricking Stolas into helping him rob the palace blind and give the loot to Blitzo’s asshole dad Cash. All of which is a whole nother beast. But let’s save that for another day.

We skip ahead 25 years later in the episode, where we see a grown up Stolas waking up and going about his morning, eventually seeing Stella on the phone:

Stella on the phone (The Circus (S2, E1))

She seems to ignore Stolas as she goes about talking loudly to someone on the phone talking about how being married still is not a big occasion, but apparently, ‘it’s not easy being married to a boring stiff.’, and brushes Stolas off when he tries to greet her. Seconds later, Stolas would frown and ask about a ‘Still Not Divorced Party’ that she is throwing, where she nonchalantly said she likes throwing parties, and it’s true either way, and then said he could come if he wants.

Okay, this is… nothing new. I mean, Stolas and Stella were already on the decline even before Stolas and Blitzo happened, if that flashback at the start of ‘Loo Loo Land’ was any indication, and since we know they were forced to marry, even more of a reason for Stella to not be kind to him. But hey, at least in this scene, she’s not yelling, like in 90% of the screen time she had in season one.

We then cut to the ‘Still Not Divorced’ party where we see Stella chatting with those two owls that Stella (her old design at least) was with in the Pilot and…

Stella with those two owls that were in the Pilot (The Circus (S2, E1))

(seriously, who are these two?)

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Stella: (laughs loudly) No! Stolas is terrible in bed! I swear to fuck, he just lays there staring at the wall, and I have to do everything! It’s embarrassing! (sighs) I’m glad one egg fell out of me, so I could stop pretending to want to fuck his scrawny twig ass. (it’s shown that she said this right in earshot of Stolas, as the trio walks away, Stella giving a smug grin at him) Stella: What a pathetic fucking man

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O-kay, this is before Stolas’ affair with Blitzo, right? I mean, we do see Blitzo sneaking around at the start of this part of the episode. If so, why is Stella being such a bitch here? I mean, I get she isn’t a pleasant person, but at least in season one, when we did see her, she had the excuse of Stolas cheating on her. Sure, it doesn’t justify trying to have him killed, but you could at least understand why she might not care for Stolas.

But here? All unprovoked and take note of what she said, because I will get into that soon.

So, after Stella leaves, Stolas and Blitzo reunite and we get a re-enactment of Blitz sneaking out with the grimoire from the Pilot, this time from Stolas’ perspective, and Stella simply shouts at him what the fuck was that, and Stolas smugly shout that it was the SOUND OF A FUCKING DIVORCE… even though in ‘Loo Loo Land’, he was being completely apologetic and said it was a spur of the moment thing and they didn’t have time for a motel, completely contradicting this scene, thus making it another point against this episode. But hey, at least it can’t get worse? Right?

Anyways, we cut to present day, after the events of ‘OZZIE’S’, where a heartbroken Stolas sings a song that’s supposed to be sorrowful, but just comes off as a bit wangsty, and then Stella comes in, wondering what he’s blubbering about, and Stolas asks what Stella is doing here and…

I like tormenting you

I like tormenting you

Tormenting you

Tor. Men. Ting. You.

(Okay, this would make more sense if this was in a video format, but imagine if the audio get lower and slower)

So… yeah, turns out Stella… is a psycho bitch, who just likes to make Stolas suffer because… well, there is no reason. She’s just into that shit.

And if that wasn’t enough, when Stolas calls her out for her cruelty and tells her that they’re getting that divorce… she tries to hit him.

So not only is she a psycho bitch, but she’s also a domestic abuser. Well, that’s a whole nother can of worms right there.

There’s so much to unpack here, but I feel we should at least cover the rest of her appearances in the series so far.

She would not appear again till ‘Western Energy’, but she does have a brief voiced cameo in ‘Seeing Stars’, the following episode (and another stinker at that), where Stolas is arguing with her while overseeing the ‘safe transferal’ of her possessions:

“What? No! I’m not turning her against you!” - Stolas (Seeing Stars (S2, E2))

Now this line could mean two different things. One, Stella is simply trying to start shit by bringing her up. Two, she is genuinely concerned (in her own way) that Stolas would try to turn her against her, which would be a legit concern in a messy divorce (this is coming from a child of such a divorce).

However, we have no way of knowing as Stella and Octavia had never interacted, like at all. Again, we’re gonna get to that, but this is another problem.

Anyways, we get to ‘Western Energy’, which opens up on Stolas, Stella, and…

…I’m sorry, who the fuck is this guy? (Western Energy (S2, E4))

Yeah, so we are joined by Stella’s brother, Andrealphus… and the show just acts like we should know who he is already.

Mind you, he has never made an appearance before this point. The only allusion we get that he existed (in-show) was Stella mentioning his name before she tries to slap Stolas in ‘The Circus’. All we get is that and that he’s apparently ‘arrogant’, according to Stolas.

Remember that tweet from February 2022, that first showed off Andrealphus? Yeah, apparently Viv and the writers thought that the tweet would suffice for an introduction, and they could just slip him into the show as if he’s always been there. This is a problem for so many reasons, the main being Vivienne and co, had already developed a bad rep for hiding lore and contextual details in supplementary media, such as Patreon or Q&A livestreams, as well as making tweets after a episode to explain something that really should had been in the episode to begin with. But not everyone has Twitter (or X as it’s called now), and unless someone showed him to you beforehand, you probably would have been confused as to who he is.

Like god damn, Viv, it’s not like there was a certain ‘Still Not Divorced’ party consisting of Goetias that Andrealphus could had easily been a part of, especially since he’s Stella’s brother, that would had not only introduced him but possibly established his role in the series, but naw, let’s just hope people seen that tweet and know who he is.

But let’s get back to Stella, shall we? Anyways, Stella and Andrealphus called Stolas here to discuss ‘compensation’ for his cheating, which amounts to some name-calling, and is quickly interrupted by Striker, who proceeds to kidnap Stolas (with Stolas catching on that Stella hired him to kill him).

We join them again halfway through the episode where Andrealphus and Stella are having tea at his palace, the two having some cheerful evil sibling banter… but then…

Andrealphus scheming… and Stella’s just sitting there (Western Energy (S2, E4))

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Andrealphus: You silly minx, you (giggles). Though, you know, if your husband dies it won't turn out well for you.

Stella: He'll be dead; why wouldn't it?

Andrealphus: (somewhat concerned) Because, my dear sister, he's already produced an heir; when he dies, his duties, his possessions, his legions, it'll all pass to.... Via.

(Stella absentmindedly continues to drink without acknowledging him.)

Andrealphus: (annoyed) If you kill him, you would....

Stella: Laugh? Ha-

Andrealphus: (facepalms in anger) No, you stupid cow! You'd get nothing!... You're so lucky that you're attractive.

Stella: Well, what do you propose we do? He won't leave me anything willingly; he hates me almost as much as I hate him.

Andrealphus: Hmm. Well, this kind of situation is extremely unique; a Goetia has never behaved like this before. *stands up from his chair and walks behind Stella* But, with him alive, we have options. Opportunities. An eternity's a long time, my dear; I say we bide our time, and wait for our chance to... GAIN the upper hand.

Stella: (begins to pout and whine) Oohhhhhh, but I want him dead so badly!

Andrealphus: And he will be, in time, my fiery vixen. But, patience first; now, *hands her his customized phone* call off your mangy stray.

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…Okay, so not only is she a psycho bitch, a domestic abuser…

Pictured above: a air-headed bimbo (Western Energy (S2, E4))

A DUMBASS.

I know I said Stella wanted Stolas dead, be damned the consequences, but they make her so narrow-minded that she does not realize that she would definitely get nothing, Andrealphus having to spell it out for her. In fact, that’s pretty much was the point of Andrealphus’ being in this episode: to tell Stella to tell Striker to not kill Stolas. You could have easily removed him and had Stella come to this conclusion herself… or better yet, since Striker would lose to Moxxie and Millie, just remove the scene altogether and have it be just another failure.

I could have bought that this narrow-mindedness was a product of her anger issues, because that has been established… but here? It’s because she’s dumb and she needs her big brother to tell her no. Not only does it already make her already wallowing character worse, but she is practically now playing second fiddle to her brother, making her less of a threat, and not helping Viv in beating the allegations of her female characters only be props to males. Also,  what is that incestuous vibe they got going there? Is that something that’s going to be important or be forgotten with the rest of the hanging plot threads?

And that’s pretty much all we see of her up to this point. It is possible that she will appear in the season finale (if the leaks from January 2023 are anything to go by), but considering there’s 5 episodes left in the season, and what we did get of her so far was… it’s bad. Bad, bad, bad.

So… what went wrong here?

Well, to put it in layman’s terms, they took a character with a lot of potential, a wife scorned by her unfaithful husband to the point of wanting him dead… and turned her into a one-note baddie whose sole purpose is to make Stolas miserable and nothing else… plus she’s stupid.

That’s pretty much the way to put it. And many people had voiced their dismay at this… and all the defenders and stans came out and tried to argue (or harass) people for voicing their displeasure with how this character was handled. So, I will try to voice why I feel that the writers here royally fucked up.

Point #1: Was this always fated to be? Was this a retcon? I don’t know, I barely know the lady!

So, one of the most common arguments that came up regarding Stella when ‘The Circus’ came out and messed everything up was:

“This was always how she was meant to be.”

“She was always a bad person.”

“Stella simps be mad, lol.”

I’m paraphrasing of course, but yeah, the consensus among the defenders and stans was that this was all part of Vivienne’s big plan, and she was always going to be this evil psycho bitch.

On the flip side, I had heard many fans (including the simps) complain that this was a retcon, that they had decided partway through production to just go full ‘I’m an evil piece of shit who strangles puppies and drinks childrens’ tears’ with her.

As for me, I personally disagree with the retcon… but not because it isn’t. It’s for the simple fact that for a retcon to occur,  there would have to be something to retcon to begin with!

This must bear reminding, she only had 36 seconds of screen-time in the entirety of season one. 36 seconds, little over half a minute. And it’s spread across these three scenes in two episodes (excluded the cameo in Ozzie's):

Loo Loo Land (Scene 1): she didn’t want to get up with Stolas to tend to Octavia, and she hogs the blankets.

Loo Loo Land (Scene 2): She’s pissed at Stolas for cheating on her with an imp, throwing imps and stuff around

Harvest Moon Festival (Scene 3): She wants Stolas dead for cheating on her, hiring Striker

In my opinion, the only scene that could undeniably be considered evil in this scenario is her hiring Striker to kill Stolas, but even then, it’s fueled by her wanting revenge for his infidelity (or rather, cheating with an imp). The other two were subjective, and could be interpreted many ways. All that could really be established before ‘The Circus’ was her and Stolas’ relationship was already on the decline and the affair really pissed Stella to the point that she wanted him dead. Everything else has been pretty up to interpretation, and that’s the problem.

On top of there only being 36 seconds of Stella, this was all over the course of a season, which lasted a year (excluding the delayed ‘Queen Bee’ which aired nearly two years later), and it would be around nine months before she and the series returned in ‘The Circus’. With what little there was of her, people had to use their imagination to determine what kind of character she would be:

Would she be a psychotic elitist racist, driven mad by the humiliation and rage of being cheated on with an imp? Or is someone fueled by the human desire to keep up appearances, beaten into her by a draconic hierarchy of Goetias who frowns upon the first sight of weakness? Does she see her daughter as a chess piece, intending to use her to further her agenda, or mold her into a replica of herself? Or does she truly love her daughter, which factors into why she loathes Stolas for ‘shattering’ their family? Hell, were she and Stolas friends at one point, or at least acquaintances? And was she capable of speaking like a normal person instead of screaming almost all her lines?

There were so many ways Stella’s character could have been utilized, some of which I had seen done in several fanfictions and fan comics over the course of the series. With such possibilities created expectations and hype that probably got a bit too high, but surely, if at the very least, after a very decent season one, they wouldn’t mess this up?

Well, they did.

Of all the ways they could had gone with Stella, they settled for what I believe to be the lowest denominator of a personality which is simply:

‘I am evil… maniacal laugh’

Now, I can already hear someone saying:

‘Oh, you’re just mad that Stella didn’t turn out the way you wanted.’

Granted, that is a fair argument. Again, with how little we got of her and how long the wait between episodes are, it is possible that people had set their expectations too high and they got themselves overhyped. But counterpoint: this argument only works if the character still turned out good and you just weren’t happy with the end results.

Emphasis on ‘if the character still turned out good’.

This ‘characterization’ Stella got in ‘The Circus’ amounts to ‘She was evil from the day she was born, and she hates Stolas. She hates Stolas very much.’ That’s it. That’s the rub. And following that episode, we could also add that ‘she’s dumb and narrow-minded, with her brother being a bit too infatuated with her’.

One of the big problems with this character we got is that it’s so flat. Like cardboard cutout-flat. This is infuriating because this is the same show that gave us characters that are layered and complex: you got a foul-mouth crazy clown in Blitzo who harbors a lot of guilt and self-hatred. You got a perverted demon prince in Stolas who might want something more with his impish plaything. You have a neurotic straight man in Moxxie, struggling with his own self-image. Hell, even Loona has some sort of a heart under that cold surly front. There’s also Millie, but that’s another issue for another day.

The point is, all these characters had depth and nuances to them… and Stella does not. I am not saying Stella being irredeemably evil is bad. There are several villains designed like this that are loved and applauded. In fact, later that year, we would get a villain like Stella, but done a lot better.

Jack Horner (Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022))

Meet Jack Horner. He is one of the three antagonists from ‘Puss In Boots: The Last Wish’. Compared to the far more sympathetic Goldilock and the Three Bears and the force of nature that is Death, Jack Horner is as evil as you can get, intending to use the Wishing Star to hoard all the magic to himself, callously treating his men as expendable till it comes down to just him, and is willing to do anything, going as far as to shoot a puppy (in the face by the way, why you ask), that even his ‘conscience’ (the Ethical Bug that’s clearly supposed to be Jiminy Cricket) outrights calls him a ‘irredeemable monster’. His response?

“Woah, woah. What took you so long, idiot?”

However, despite this, Jack is considered one of the best parts of the film, many finding him hilarious and hammy, yet somehow managing to be a menacing threat. But what made him stand out was at the time, there was this belief that irredeemable villains (or rather ‘evil for the sake of being evil’), examples being like the villains from the older Disney movies or from Saturday morning cartoons, were considered boring, less interesting than other villain archetypes, such as tragic villains or twist villains (which was Disney’s go-to for villains when not using generational trauma). Jack was considered a breath of fresh air, managing to be a memorable villain without needing any complexity or sympathetic qualities.

Now, where did Jack succeed and Stella fail?

To begin, it’s hard to make a fair comparison, as Stella is an antagonist from an indie animated adult series while Jack is from a film made by Dreamworks, and a part of a famous franchise that is Shrek. Be that as it may, I do strongly believe that Jack Horner is a good example of how to do a villain like Stella properly.

Now, Jack only has five and a half minutes of screen time and by god, does he make every scene he appears in count. Whether it’s John Mulaney’s voice-acting, the comedic timing, or just how he owns how evil he is. And he is given a backstory, where he was overshadowed by Pinocchio of all people, but the movie makes no attempt to try and make him sympathetic. They even lampshades this in a scene where he said he didn’t have much… and then proceeded to describe a very well-off lifestyle.

I do believe that why ‘I like tormenting you’ Stella doesn’t hit the same marks is that we initially had no clear indication that Stella is this horrid, irredeemable monster that hated Stolas just for breathing in season one. Sure, she wanted him dead for cheating, but this takes place in Hell, where murder and destruction happens on a daily basis. Aside from that, we had no idea how Stella treated Stolas before Blitzo came along, or how she is when she isn’t being pissed off.

Even then, all of Stella’s evilness in Season Two pretty much revolved around just hating on Stolas for no reason and wanting him dead. That’s it. It’s the same ‘Stolas is (insult)’ in the little time she has that would get old if it had time to get old. In fact, literally all but one scene with her revolves around Stolas of some sorts. The one scene that didn’t was her and Andrealphus interacting in ‘Western Energy’, and I would say that, aside from Stella being portrayed as stupid, her banter with Andrealphus was one of her better scenes and that’s a very low bar to set.

It is possible that this kind of characterization would have worked if Stella was just given more time in season one to establish this ‘I like tormenting you’ mentality. I’m not saying add her in every episode willy-nilly, but if she had even a minute or two more of screen time they could have at least made her characterization in The Circus easier to digest and nip all the hype and rampant interpretations in the bud. Another idea, though harder to pull off, would have been to just remove her from the season altogether. She was already barely in the show to begin with, and maybe with some tweaking, she could have made her debut in season two, since that’s when she became more prominent. That way, people aren’t left waiting nearly two years speculating what kind of person Stella is only to be disappointed.

Even then though, there’s no guarantee that doing this would had salvaged canon Stella, as there’s a very glaring problem that would be:

Point #2: Screams of Silence: The Story of Stolas G.

Trigger Warning: Domestic Abuse and Implied Rape

In ‘The Circus’, there are two scenes here that carry some very heavy implications. In the ‘Still Not Divorced’ party scene, as you may recall above, she says this line here:

Stella: (laughs loudly) No! Stolas is terrible in bed! I swear to fuck, he just lays there staring at the wall, and I have to do everything! It’s embarrassing! (sighs) I’m glad one egg fell out of me, so I could stop pretending to want to fuck his scrawny twig ass.

And at the very end of the episode, when Stolas said they were getting the divorce…

Yeah, so it is pretty much shown that Stella is abusive to Stolas, both mentally and physically, and judging from Stella’s line at the party, it’s possible that Stella had also raped Stolas till they had conceived Octavia.

Now, this is a very dark and possibly interesting turn for the series: it is very rare to see a woman abusing a man in media, and considering how Stolas has homosexual leanings, that and the possible ‘rape’ could make for commentary regarding the awful things the LGBTQ+ community faced.

Honestly, it would have made for a good story… if this wasn’t Helluva Boss, a series that was supposed to be a comedy. A COMEDY. And here Viv and the writers go and drop both domestic abuse and rape in a show that would go on to have scenes like this:

Dicks in the wall (Exes and Oohs (S2, E3))

And this:

Not heard: Fizzarolli describing Ozzie’s dick (Oops (S2, E6))

Before people go and complain, I am aware that there have been dark scenes in otherwise light-hearted shows, and Helluva Boss is a black comedy, so dark stuff is to be expected. But there’s a very fine line you have to be careful of when inserting stuff, lest you have scenes like the attempted rape scene in Beethoven’s 2nd.

No. I am not making that up. In Beethoven’s 2nd, a family film mind you, there is a scene where a guy attempted to rape the eldest daughter. Nothing physical happens, just him locking her in the room with him, and Beethoven ends up saving her, but yeah, imagine finding something like that in a film aimed at kids.

Up to this point, Helluva Boss had been a show that didn’t take itself too seriously. Sure, there were some dramatic scenes here and there, especially when it came down to ‘Truth Seekers’ and ‘OZZIE’S’, especially regarding Blitzo and Stolas. But even then, it was mostly relationship drama, which is par for the course for most comedy series.

But the two things that are very dangerous to handle in a comedy series, if not done tactfully, is domestic abuse or rape, and now, Helluva Boss had pulled that pin on the proverbial grenade.

There are several problems with this and I will try to tackle them. First off, let’s address the ‘possible’ rape allegation.

Note how I have been saying ‘possible’ for the past few paragraphs? Well, here’s the thing: like Stella herself season one, it’s all up to interpretation. Yes, it’s possible to see where people drew the conclusion that Stella did what she did to Stolas, but it is also very possible that Stolas simply was not attracted and therefore saw no point in trying to enjoy it. Whether this is because he was gay (fun fact: Stolas has not been officially confirmed to be gay. Look it up. I mean, it’s obvious he’s not straight, but it’s possible he could still be bi (or pan). So if you wanna ship girls with Stolas, go nuts), or were simply not into Stella in particular, no one can say for certain.

Also,  there’s a line that I feel people either hadn’t noticed or ignored in Stella’s conversation:

“I’m glad one egg fell out of me, so I could stop pretending to want to fuck his scrawny twig ass.”

Unlike Stolas being bad in bed, this line pretty much spelt it out that Stella didn’t want to have sex with Stolas either. But since an heir is what was expected of them, they pretty much had to, with Stella probably being the one who had to make the effort. A fellow critic, Schjiro, explained it to me as ‘Emotionless Fornication’, where neither party had any feeling whatsoever when engaging in intercourse. So, as far as we know, neither party wanted to do it, but had to in order to produce a precautionary heir, with Stella being the one to make the effort. Again, it is possible to see how one drew the horrid conclusion, but one thing to remember is that implication does not mean facts. Not to mention if Stella really did ‘rape’ Stolas, this would in turn mean that Octavia was a product of rape, and that is a new level of dark that I feel Helluva Boss is very ill-equipped to tackle. And even then, why is no one paying attention to the fact that Stella herself didn’t want to have sex with Stolas? That I will cover in the next point.

Now, for the domestic abuse aspect of the relationship.

Unlike the rape, there’s less room for implications, as canon Stella really took no prisoners when it comes to laying out the verbal abuse. And with it comes mental abuse. That part is covered. However, when it comes to physical abuse… that is where things get a bit wonky.

Aside from throwing objects at him in ‘Loo Loo Land’, this is the only instance in the series where Stella had physically attacked Stolas directly. Many fans/stans had taken how Stolas caught her hand so easily as her having done this many times in their marriage and Stolas had gotten so used to the physical abuse to expect it. While a plausible theory, one of the issues I have with this is if you recall that image from before...

Stella’s slap could have been seen a mile away. Now, arguably, Stolas could have just taken it, having grown accustomed to the abuse, but it’s just as plausible that Stolas caught it because it was so easily choreographed. Even then, there’s another issue I have with this.

Can Stella even physically hurt Stolas? No, I’m serious here. Can Stella actually hurt Stolas and make him bleed and stuff? It is something I have seen in many fanarts depicting the abuse, but the thing is, it was established in ‘Harvest Moon Festival’ that demon royalty can only be killed by blessed weapons. However, the show never establishes if the same rule applies to being hurt.

What I mean is, there has never been an in-show occurrence where Stolas was hurt by anything that wasn’t a blessed weapon. The only time we ever see Stolas being hurt by something at all is in this Instagram post here (after ‘Truth Seekers’):

Stolas apparently needed his arm bandaged due to a bear trap. Now, this would have made Stella being a physical abuser work… but the thing is: the instagram posts aren’t exactly canon. They do allude to things that do happen in the series proper but I believe Viv went on record to say that they were mostly for fun and weren’t to be taken seriously. So that’s a bust. But even if Stolas was able to be hurt by normal means, there’s another problem: look at ‘Western Energy’:

Striker using a ‘blessed’ weapon (Western Energy (S2, E4))

Striker here was using a blessed weapon to torture Stolas, and was gonna use it to kill him (until Stella called off the hit). And because of it, Stolas was in pretty bad shape. Now, it could be argued that Striker made his dagger ‘blessed’ so that when torturing Stolas, it would hurt more, inflicting maximum pain before going for the kill. But the thing is…

Stolas, tortured to an inch of his life by blessed weapons, was completely and utterly fine within a week as of 'Oops'. And yes, it has been a week. Earlier in ‘Oops’, Striker flat out states that he had a ‘royal on the ropes just last week’ (being Stolas). Like god damn, if Stolas could easily shrug off injuries inflicted by blessed weapons, what does that say for anything Stella could do? It’s not like Stella’s hands are made of blessed metal. And Stella has not been shown to have any sort of powers or abilities that could be considered harmful.

Now, I’m not saying that men can’t be abused by women, clearly they can. And there has been a couple of times in media it has happened. But the problem I am having is Stolas time and time again is proven to be a powerful demon prince capable of fucking shit up, yet we are expected to believe that Stella could ever lay a hand on Stolas.

In fact, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say Stella abusing Stolas would be like if Lois Lane was abusive to Superman. Like, be a total piece of shit all you want to this person, the only reason you’re still kicking is because the other guy is too polite, too chicken-shit, or just doesn't care enough to raze you into the ground.

The only edge Stella would have on Stolas is the fact that she is more social and being a woman, she could easily play the wounded gazelle and manipulate the Ars Goetia family into turning on Stolas, not to mention there’s Octavia to consider, arguably Stolas’ biggest Kryptonite by far. However, even then, that’s debatable, on the fact that Stolas by all accounts should outrank Stella.

If Stolas and Stella’s marriage failed, it would more than likely be blamed on Stella more than anything, and as Andrealphus pointed out, she would end up with nothing. And to be frank, it’s not like Stolas had been facing any actual legal repercussions for his affair with Blitzo. As it stands, Stella is only a threat to Stolas… because the writers want her to be.  Never mind that Stolas is stronger, has more importance and the fact that Stella is pretty much a joke next to her, which makes the fact that we’re supposed to fear her as this domestic abuser even more laughable. And on that side note, if Stolas is a battered spouse who suffered under Stella for so long, why the hell did he agree to meet her and Andrealphus at that cafe? You would think that a victim of abuse, even if they had gathered the courage to leave, would think twice before agreeing to meet a person that physically and verbally abuses you. Especially if it leads to an assassin kidnapping you and torturing you.

Even then, that barely scratches the surface of why this domestic abuse angle doesn't work.

Now, as it had been established, canon Stella as of now has little personality beyond hating Stolas and being a psycho bitch. The line ‘I like tormenting you’ sold that pretty well. But here’s the thing though:

The face of an awful domestic abuser… apparently

Am I expected to believe that this woman is a heartless abuser, let alone take her seriously?

Remember, this series was meant to be a comedy, and Stella, in every other scene except the one at the end of ‘The Circus’, had been established as a loud-mouthed, crass, entitled, bratty bully. You know, the kind of antagonist you expect out of a comedy. Yet, here they are, trying to shoehorn in a domestic abuse plotline that’s supposed to be taken as serious. If this was in a series like Bojack Horseman, or hell, even a younger-focused series like Avatar: The Last Airbender,  where drama and serious storytelling take priority over funny moments, this might have worked.

But the thing is, there’s a reason abusive women characters worked. Case in point:

Lady Tremaine & Mother Gothel

These two are probably some of the first characters that come to mind when you think of abusive characters. And they share a lot of similarities to Stella herself. Granted, their abuse was more aimed at children rather than a spouse, but they are good templates for what makes a good ‘abusive’ character.

Lady Tremaine (otherwise known as The Stepmother) is a status-focused woman who carries herself with a sense of superiority and smugness (not unlike Stella) strongly mistreated her stepdaughter Cinderella, forcing her to serve her and her biological daughters as a servant. While we don’t see this abuse on-screen (as this was a Disney movie for kids), every time she was on screen, you worry for Cinderella, especially in scenes like when she is talking to Cinderella from her bed in the bedroom, when she raises her voice. Her scenes are pretty much devoid of the light-heartedness and comedy you expect out of a film with talking mice, and despite never raising a hand towards Cinderella, she’s god-damn scary, and is considered one of Disney’s better villains, up there with the likes of Maleficent (who by the way, would be voiced by the same voice actress years later). And like Stella, she isn’t given a sympathetic backstory (though the live action remake many decades later would try to humanize her), and while nowadays, she might not be as compelling, she’s the poster child for the Wicked Stepmother archetype.

Mother Gothel is portrayed in a way more akin to how abusers would act in real life. When we first meet her, it’s established that she’s a selfish vain woman obsessed with maintaining her youth, hoarding a magical flower for herself to do so. And when this flower was taken and used to cure the ailing queen, Gothel goes as far as kidnapping the queen’s baby Rapunzel, who retained the flower’s power, when she couldn’t simply take her hair. Since then, Mother Gothel raised Rapunzel as if she was her own and pretty much emotionally and psychologically manipulates her into staying within the tower, her roots taking hold so deep that Rapunzel herself dare not defy her, out of fear of being a bad daughter to her, and Gothel does all this with such a saccharine demeanor. However, there are moments where the mask slips, like at the end of her song ‘Mother Knows Best’ where she flat out told her never to ask to leave the tower again, or towards the climax of the film, where she willingly put Rapunzel in danger with the Stabbington Brothers just to prove her point and scare her into coming back with her. But the mask is pretty much off when Rapunzel wises up to her manipulations and she flat out willing to force her into servitude to her just so she can maintain her youth forever. Oh, and side note, in the animated series, she abandoned her own biological daughter so she could steal and hide Rapunzel. Real mother of the year there. I’m not a psych expert, so I can’t go into all how Mother Gothel is a stellar example of an abusive villain, but someone that Stella wishes she could be.

So why does Stella not work like these two? Well, a major factor to consider is: domestic abuse is not a joking matter. Lady Tremaine and Mother Gothel are characters that are often written in a way that they are treated as serious threats, with their horrible actions never played for laughs. Sure, Gothel does have a few funny moments, but it never takes away from the horrible things she did in the film. This is often applied to almost every abusive character in media, from cartoons to movies. When done properly, the abusive characters are almost never played for laughs, and their abusive actions, be it towards spouses or children, are never taken lightly. If abuse is ever treated as a joke, it is usually done in poor taste… or you’re South Park or someone into edgy humor.

Stella doesn’t work because she is a supposed abuser in a show that plays physical abuse for laughs. In other words, she is:

Jeffrey Fecalman (Family Guy, Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q. (S10, E3))

Jeffrey Fecalman, or just Jeff, is a minor one-shot character that appeared in ‘Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.’ (he did actually appear a few seasons earlier in a scene in ‘Jerome’s The New Black’) in the season ten episode of Family Guy, and hoo boy, this episode is considered one of Family Guy’s worst episodes for its very poor handling of the subject matter.

The problems were numerous: one, the abuse victim Brenda is the sister of Quagmire, who is infamous for his sexual exploits that would not fly today in the current tv environment, taking advantage of women just like his sister. Two, the way the main cast handled the situation is so awful, from victim blaming, to Joe the cop not arresting Jeff when he flat out is abusing her right in front of him, to deciding to kill Jeff on the belief that abusers never change, getting so much about domestic abuse wrong.

And lastly… well, Jeff is characterized as an unsympathetic piece of shit who beats Brenda over the littlest things, yet for some reason, Brenda refuses to leave him, and has no personality beyond that. Sounds familiar? Jeff is pretty much Stella, but over ten years earlier. And like Stella, Jeff is portrayed in such a ham-fisted way that he is impossible to take seriously as a domestic abuser. And that should be a warning that you have done something severely wrong.

Now, I should state this, because I recall a conversation on Twitter I had when talking about Stella a year ago,  when I criticized just how too cartoony Stella was to be a domestic abuser. A person did call me out, saying that they knew someone just like Stella, down to her demeanor. I am by no means trying to say that people who behave just like Stella or Jeff can’t exist. After all, reality is stranger than fiction. And I am sorry that you had to put up with someone like that and I hope you’re doing well.

That being said, it does not take away from the fact that Jeff and Stella are terrible as abusive villains, not just because they act in such a way that’s impossible to take seriously, but because of the world/series they live in.

Jeff is a serious domestic abuser in Family Guy, a show that is infamous for all sorts of abuse that is always played for laughs, especially towards Butt Monkey poster child Meg Griffin. Hell, this episode is immediately after another infamous episode where Meg called out her family for their abuse… but then proceeds to stay and take the abuse so they wouldn’t lash out at each other. Needless to say, it’s no surprise that Family Guy got lambasted for this episode.

But what about Stella? Well, on top of Blitzo treating Moxxie like crap and disrespecting him time and time again, we get lovely scenes like this in the very next episode of Helluva Boss.

Shown: Loona kicking Blitzo in the balls (Seeing Stars (S2, E2))

In this also very divisive episode, Loona treats Blitzo, her adoptive father, like absolute dogshit, beating him up in the first image for offering constructive criticism over her job as a receptionist (which we never seen her do since the pilot), letting Octavia slip in and steal the book (probably out of spite for Blitz), disregarding Blitz’s orders to find Octavia until she had a ‘change of heart’ when Blitz and Stolas are taken to the studios, and lastly, Blitz, feeling sudden remorse for threatening to replace her (even though she dared him to do it) tries to apologize… only to get kicked in the balls. And mind you, this is right after a touching scene with Octavia, where Loona told her to cut her dad some slack (someone who she had zero interactions with beforehand) because they screwed up… when Blitz really hadn’t screwed up at all in the series that we had seen. It all comes off as very hollow.

And not once is Loona’s abuse and disrespect of Blitzo treated with a modicum of seriousness. Hell, I’ve seen many people rush to Loona’s defense, arguing that Loona was justified because of her past and that she didn’t like being touched. Hell, one person tries arguing that Blitzo used micro-aggression. I got the whole ‘media literacy is dead’ for speaking up about Loona’s behavior. It’s all something that we are supposed to just laugh and find amusing…

One question though… WHERE THE FUCK WAS ANY OF THIS DEFENSE FOR STELLA?!

This is the very reason domestic abuse is not something you can just drop in a show, let alone a comedy that uses physical slapstick as a joke. Because if you drop in a domestic abuse story and play it straight for an episode, but then turn around and do an episode where another person do the same shit for the funnies, it causes a massive tone inconsistency (something Helluva Boss is infamous for now) and confusion, making people wonder if they are supposed to laugh or take things seriously. Even then, doing the abuse for the funnies gets old real quick, which is a problem Family Guy constantly combats with to this day.

Simply put, if you’re going to make a villain an abuser, you best be prepared to handle them seriously, and make sure it doesn’t go against the kind of show you’re running. Otherwise, don’t get mad when people get upset.

That being said, now is the time to tackle the last problem about Stella:

Point #3: Making Stella look bad so Stolas looks good

A very common complaint that people had concerning Stella following ‘The Circus’ was that Stella was written the way she was so that Stolas, her husband and one of the main characters, would appear better in terms of morality. And hoo boy, there is so much truth to this statement than you realize.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s get familiar with Stolas.

Stolas Goetia is a prince from the Ars Goetia family, based on the demon of the same name. He is Stella’s husband, and the father of Octavia, and his affair with Blitzo is a major plot point within the series.

He’s a very divisive character in the fandom: either you love him and would die for him… or you think he’s the worst thing ever and should go die in the ditch. Regardless, his character in season one was one of intrigue: he is similar in some ways to Stella, treating imps, Blitzo included, as lesser races, and constantly flirts (to a very uncomfortable degree) and condescends Blitzo on several occasions. In fact, some fans goes as far as to say he’s sexually coercing Blitz, if the nature of their deal is anything to go by (to make a long story short, in ‘Murder Family’, he proposed the infamous full moon deal where he and Blitz must have sex for the book… while Blitz is running for his life from Satanist cannibals). Yeah, not a very good look.

Not to say he was without good points, as he loves his daughter Octavia dearly, but Stolas is a very flawed individual whose affair and behavior had an effect on the people around him, Stella and Octavia included, and it was for these flaws that he and Blitz were called out in ‘House of Asmodeus’ and Stolas ends up creating a rift between him and Blitz as a result of it. While Stolas may be divisive, his character was complex and intriguing, and hey, it’s not everyday that you see a flawed queer character in media. The keyword being ‘was’. Yeah, Stella wasn’t the only victim of ‘The Circus’.

Pictured: A very sad boi (The CIrcus (S2, E1))

So, as mentioned in Point #1, ‘The Circus’ served as the backstory of Stolas, revealing how he was arranged to marry to Stella at a young age, and to get him to cease his ‘bitch crying’ from his less than stellar father, he took him to the eponymous ‘circus’, where Stolas meets Blitzo as a kid (that’s an issue for another day), Paimon ‘buys’ Blitzo for a day and Blitzo’s dad have him rob the place with no consequences and serve no purpose other to maybe let Blitzo know that Stolas had a grimoire?

25 years later, we find out Stella is always a P.O.S. and Blitzo comes back into his life, and rather than it being a sordid affair that happened all the sudden… it is now Stolas really misread the situation and thought Blitz was coming onto him and Blitz only fucked him out of pity (another issue for another day). We then cut to the next morning, where we get a recap of the pilot scene with Stella, except Stolas proudly brag that it was the ‘sound of a fucking divorce’, which contrasts how apologetic he was in ‘Loo Loo Land’ (Vivienne said it was a ‘high’ Stolas was experiencing at the moment but eh…).

Then we cut to the present day, and the scene above. Stolas is sad, takes antidepressants, and begins to ‘lament’ about his love life. Except, he’s not lamenting how badly he hurt Blitz or anything… he lamenting how he misread Blitzo not being in love with him. I mean, that is a problem, but not the right one to be focusing on.

Anyways, the song ends with Stella’s interruption, and we get the infamous ‘I like tormenting you’ scene, but there’s a line here that bears reading:

“I know what I did. I would feel bad if I hurt you, but we both know I didn’t do that. You and I were arranged for one reason; to birth a precautionary heir to the Goetia family, nothing more. I tried so many years to make it comfortable for us; to have this family, but it was never enough. The only reason I have endured your constant insults and cruelty was for that girl to have a normal life… I cannot do this anymore. I want you out. Now.”

Stolas

So… yeah, you may notice how unbelievably ‘sad’ Stolas was portrayed in this episode. Well, I hope you enjoy this sad gay owl because this is Stolas’ character now. That’s right, gone is the complex, morally dubious owl who arranged a deal with this random imp to fuck him for his book, whose affair that strained his relationship with his daughter and made his wife want to kill him. Here now is a wangsty owl who’s sad that the imp he knew only for a day, who robbed him and then try to rob him again of his grimoire only to fuck him out of pity, and is a poor, poor victim of his evil wife who he was forced to marry and couldn’t divorce for some reason for his daughter.

And this here marks one of the major reasons I did not like the direction they took with Stella. By making Stella a flat evil gay husband beater of a wife, they’re absolving Stolas of his affair with Blitzo. If you think I’m overexaggerating, just take a look at this line in ‘Western Energy’

“Andrealphus, cheating implies there was a betrayal. This woman never gave two shits about me or our very much arranged marriage. As far as I’m concerned, this divorce is far overdue.”

Stolas

Like I said, absolving him of cheating. I’m not going to get into the argument of whether or not it’s morally correct to cheat on someone who treats you like crap. However, I’m of the belief that two wrongs don’t make a right. His cheating may or may not have hurt Stella, but it certainly hurt Octavia, and I find it weird that he apologizes to Octavia for his affair (that he continued to have) but not the woman he cheated on. Not to mention, as of time of writing, he isn’t brought to task on any of his other wrongdoings so far in season two.

He doesn’t reflect on his elitism and racism towards imps, he doesn’t reflect on how his cheating had hurt his family, or how kinda messed up his deal with Blitzo is. He’s just sad that Blitz doesn’t share his feelings. Hell, they never even had that conversation about their falling out after Ozzie’s, unless you count the text messages at the end of ‘Western Energy’. I mean, it could change with ‘Full Moon’, the very next episode to be released, but I’m not feeling hopeful.

Back to Stella, it speaks volumes how at the same time Stolas is made to be this poor sad perpetual victim, Stella is made to be this psychotic abuser. Which really sucks because Vivienne said that Stolas and Stella was supposed to be this whole thing where not one person was in the complete right. Yet, here we are, with Stolas being good and Stella being  evil, with no nuance, complexity, or all that jazz. It definitely doesn’t help that Stella only had 36 seconds of screen time while Stolas had way more, making the imbalance even worse.

Not to mention that in ‘Loo Loo Land’, Octavia flat out mentioned that they didn’t used to hate each other. Yet from what we saw in ‘The Circus’, Stella… always hated Stolas. This could mean one of three things: one, Stolas somehow managed to hide the fact that Stella hates and possibly abuses him for 17 years. Two, Octavia is so sheltered and god-damn oblivious (or stupid) that she could not see her mom obviously hating on her father. Or three, this line was completely forgotten by Vivienne and her writers and should be disregarded. Any of these three does not scream good writing in my eyes.

While a simple black and white dynamic isn’t the worst thing, that was not what was set up. Stolas was flawed. Stella was flawed. They were both shitty people who handled their dysfunctional relationship poorly and it hurt their daughter. To simply change that into where the closeted gay owl is in the right while the evil straight swan woman is in the wrong just comes off as boring.

Another issue I have with this is… why is Stolas getting the preferential treatment? Yes, Stolas is the one being abused and insulted by the woman she was forced to marry… but that doesn’t quite change the fact that Stella herself was forced into the same arranged marriage. She was forced to produce a precautionary heir with Stolas. As TV Tropes put it, she’s drowning in the same pool as Stolas, and there’s that whole incestuous vibe going on with Andrealphus going on, implying not so good things. Yet, Stella is given no sympathy, not from the writers, not from a lot of the fans, nothing. I’m not saying Stella is justified in her horrible actions, she’s not, but the fact is a lot of fans just write her off because the writers chose to depict her as this flat villain. There are examples of many villains that would go on to do horrible things but have sad and/or tragic backgrounds that while does not justify their actions, it allows you to understand how they got to be the way they are.

Examples include a lot of the rogues’ gallery from Batman or Spiderman, Azula from ‘The Last Airbender’, Goro Akechi from ‘Persona 5’, Tai Lung from ‘Kung Fu Panda’ or Lord Shen from the sequel, Homelander or Soldier Boy from ‘The Boys’. Hell, Jack Horner from earlier would count. The list goes on and on. There are villains who go on to do the most heinous things, in spite of their backstories, yet they would all go on to have fans who like them.

Which brings to another point that irks me: the treatment the fans of Stella get. If you had been in the Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel fandom long enough, you would find that it is not a friendly place. I won’t get too much into it, but let’s just say criticism, good faith or not, was a big no-no, and questioning the questionable choices Viv and her writers make will get you harassed or labeled a misogynist or a homophobe.

When ‘The Circus’ came out, anyone who voiced their liking for Stella got it pretty bad, as fans/stans took anyone who liked her as a problematic person who supports her horrible actions and hates gays like Stolas or something to that effect. While it could be possible that some people do think that, others certainly don’t. And it really sucks because Stella fans get it the worse, especially compared to other abusive characters’ fans, such as Crimson (a homophobic mob boss who flat out hits his son on screen and murdered his wife) and Valentino (a pimp who rapes Angel Dust, a fan favorite). It was ostracizing to many fans who just wanted to enjoy their favorite character.

And I feel as the series goes on, it will probably get worse.

Closing words

So, where does that leave us now?

Well, unless someone from the development side of things speaks up, we will never know for sure what decisions were made that lead to the characters we are given today, but what we do know for certain is Stella got shafted. And shafted good.

An abysmally low screentime of 36 seconds in season one alone. Many ways that her story could have developed, only to go with the most barebone and arguably laziest direction imaginable. Even then, her character archetype was done better by villains such as Jack Horner. Her being an abuser and a possible rapist clashes with the tone of the show, as well as her given character, and again is done much better by other characters.And worse of all, her fans get shat on by other fans of the show.

As of today, she is a one note flat villain who serves no purpose but to make Stolas more sympathetic in spite of all of his problems that are still unaddressed and to now play second fiddle to her brother who literally was dropped into the show with no fanfare but a tweet from over a year earlier. We still have no idea what her relationship is to her daughter, but it is safe to assume that it will probably not be good (or if it is good, it would be because Octavia cannot see how obviously evil Stella or her brother is) and that’s even if it gets touched upon at all.

While there are other issues plaguing Helluva Boss (such as the treatment of female characters, especially Millie and Loona, or the fact that a show about imps running a murder business has hardly any imps running a murder business), Stella stands out as a shining example of how to botch a possibly compelling antagonist, and serves as a bitter reminder of what we could had versus what we have now.

Now, I should state that a lot of this is introspection and opinions on my part, and I’m sure if I were to show this to people on Twitter, they would rip it apart and call me a media illiterate fool who knows jack-shit about anything, and that’s if they don’t try to harass and dox me for talking at lengths about Stella of all people. Who knows with this fandom nowadays,

If you do not agree with any of this, I am more than willing to hear you out, but I won’t promise that I will change my stance. It’s all about having an open dialogue.

As for why I did all this? I cannot say for certain, but I guess I just wanted to share my two cents on why Stella failed so hard as a character for me, and how I wished she could have been so much better than what we ended up getting. That and possibly out of spite to all the people who insulted me for having opinions about this show and how Viv lets all of that bullshit go unchecked.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I guess I will see you all the next time I decide to try and do something like this again. If I ever try to do something like this again. Who knows. Thanks for reading and hearing me out. Also, I do want to apologize if all of this looks wonky to you, first time posting an actual blog and due to the image limit, I had to fix a few things so it would make sense. If there's any issues, let me know.

[tinkerleaf]

Beach Day with the ADA :)

Since Bungou Stray Dogs doesn't have a 'beach episode', I thought I'd make one myself with the reader. If y'all would like a separate one without the reader, let me know. :) Genre: fluff, comfort? Warnings: probably a few gramatical errors Pairings: platonic everyone, a little extra bit of dazai Words: 880 ish

⊹₊⋆☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆☁︎⋆₊ ⊹

It had been a rather tiresome week at the agency, so when Fukuzawa offered to let you all have a day off, you were ecstatic. It was Atsushi’s idea to do something together as a group, which prompted some interesting ideas. After Dazai suggested bar hopping, he received a harsh smack from Kunikida.

After looking at the forecast on your phone, you had an idea. “Why don’t we go to the beach? It’s not too far away. It’s close enough for a day trip." And with that, the decision had been made.

Kunikida opted to drive, with you in the passenger seat. He agreed to come along only if Dazai was in the other car (thankfully not driving) with Kyoka, Atsushi, and the Tanizaki siblings. He figured if this was going to be his day off, he should at least get some form of stress relief.

After a stop at the convenience store for snacks and sunscreen, everyone finally arrived at the beach. You got out of the car and helped everyone unload before heading out. The weather was phenomenal and the water was the perfect temperature. The waves were calm enough to relax in the ocean and the sand was incredibly soft.

It was around noon, and you had finally blown up your little ring float to bring into the water with you.

“Aww, can’t swim?” Dazai teased.

“Actually, I can swim just fine.” You playfully flicked him on the shoulder. “Just wanted to ride the waves a bit while they’re smooth.”

He paused. “Well, since you can swim…” He picked you up before you realized what he was doing and ran toward the water.

“No, no! Put me down!” you pleaded. He started to throw you in, but you clutched onto his arms. “You’re coming with me!” You both fell into the salty water. Laughter came from the rest of the gang, except for Kunikida who merely sighed a you two.

“Don’t think we won’t come for you next!”

You ran after Yosano, and Dazai caught Jun’ichiro. Not long after that, everyone had been submerged at least once, sparing Kunikida for their own safety. He had been sitting in a chair underneath one of the umbrellas trying to read a book. He looked over to find Ranpo eating snacks. “You know you have to save some of those for everyone else, right?”

He stopped chewing, “Hm?”

-

Atsushi and Kyoka were building a sandcastle together. They were fixing up the moat before filling it up with water.

“It looks great! Now we can collect some shells to decorate!” The boy offered.

“Can we use this?” She held up a big crab that was desperately trying to get away.

He made a face. “…Sure!”

The girl placed the crab on top. However, it jumped off and skittered away into the sand. “Well, there goes that.”

-

The Tanizaki siblings were playing volleyball. Naomi was winning by one point.

“Hey! Anyone wanna play with us?” She called out to everyone.

“Me!” Yosano jogged over to them along with Kenji.

-

You had been in your swim tube, floating with the waves while Dazai held onto it, keeping you from drifting too far. “This was a good idea. I have to admit, this is quite refreshing.”

“I know, right? I couldn’t think of a better way to spend our day off.” You squinted at his pink nose. “I think you need a little more sunscreen.”

He shrugged, “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but if you’re burnt to a crisp tomorrow, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He laughed at your remark before flipping you into the water. You popped you head up.

“What was that for?”

“If I leave you here to put on more sunscreen, you’ll float away! You must come with me.”

“You’re so dramatic.” You walked with him back to where the group had settled. Kunikida was still buried in his book. You had grabbed the last bag of chips from Ranpo.

“You havin’ fun?” Dazai asked his partner.

The blonde put a single finger towards him, “Don’t.”

“Oh, come on. I haven’t even done anything-”

“Yet.”

You chuckled at the two, “Why don’t we go play volleyball with the others?” Dazai nodded.

-

After hours of playing in the sun, you all had decided that it was time to go back. Everyone mentioned they were hungry, so you found yourselves at a restaurant nearby. It was a great way to end the day before heading back to the agency. You were satisfied with your food as you listened to everybody talk. The restaurant was cozy and warm, and you were getting tired. After leaning back against the back of the chair, you slowly nodded off.

You felt someone tap your shoulder. “Hey! It’s time to go!” Kenji whispered. “We’re leaving!”

“Hmm? Oh-” You quickly woke up and went with the crew back to the vehicles outside.

You couldn’t remember the ride back since you were out like a light. Thankfully, the loud ones were in the other car, allowing you to get some sleep. There may or may not be a photo floating around of your face squished against the window. Dazai sent it to you the next morning, along with the other pictures taken the day before.

"Which one of you took that?"

"Not telling!" It was him.

[wonwoosthetic]

series masterlist

kpop masterlist

word count – 11.6k (I love how I wanted this to be short)

a/n: I already explained what this is in a previous post, so I won't bug you with that here too, I just wanted to say thank you for your input on this and I really hope you enjoy it ˙ᵕ˙ thank you for all the love and continuous support, I love you all very very much!

some recent mimiwon moments i've been thinking about A LOT 🌷 Minnie

Everything in [brackets] is text is added text and commentary in the “video”

[LISTEN PEOPLE]

[a lot has happened]

[a lot of time has passed]

[and a lot has apparently happened in the mimiwon dorm bc we are being FED VERY WELL]

[you know me, #1 mimiwon supporter, fight me on that if you want to]

[some of these might be a stretch, but leave me alone and enjoy the show]

[sometimes you gotta be delulu when no one tells you what's the trululu]

[and the trululu for me is this video]

Weverse LIVE 230811

Mingyu was watching the newest Going Seventeen episode on his iPad, the voices of his members ringing through the speakers in the apartment as he chuckled at the screen in front of him. The sound of footsteps in the background made him look up, turn his head to the right side and chuckle at what he saw. Quickly, the camera was flipped to show the new episode of the BOOmily outing when the members had to sing a song they had heard the night before.

[suddenly so secretive🫣]

The comment section suddenly filled up:

"Is Mingyu not alone?"

"I thought all of the members lived alone, but I can hear whispers..."

"There are more people, right?"

"THAT SOUNDED LIKE MINNIE'S GIGGLE"

"Do you still live together?"

"Pls show Minnie"

"Why did you flip the camera? :("

[AS IF WE COULDN'T HEAR THEM]

[I swear to God, I heard a kiss]

*sound gets replayed, just a little louder*

[alright look, might just be fabric rubbing against fabric or sth else, idk, but let me be delulu]

A few seconds later, after a few more giggles in the background, the camera showed Mingyu's face again. His head was still resting on the back of the couch.

"Guys, look who just came," he spoke out loud before moving his phone further away from him to show the girl who had taken a seat next to him on the couch, looking very comfortable with her head tilted to the side and her knees up.

[THEY LOOK SO CUTE LIKE THAT]

[ugh i hate happy people]

"Hi everyone," Minnie spoke softly, waving to the camera. She turned towards Mingyu, "I was wondering why you were watching Going Seventeen."

"Carats said it's a funny episode, and look at me!" He pointed at the iPad. With one quick look, the girl started giggling and patted his upper arm, "Yeah, well... that's what you look like after waking up."

[IMAGINE getting to see that face every single day]

[HE'S SO CUTE SO PUFFY]

[girl, you're the luckiest bitch in this universe🫶🏼]

"Wow..." Mingyu shook his head.

[yep]

They both looked down at the screen in his lap before the girl opened her mouth again, her head now leaning on his shoulder.

[STOP LOOKING SO DOMESTICALLY CUTE]

[they're making me so sick, but I love them so much😭]

"It was surprisingly cold that morning."

The rapper hummed in agreement. "But it was a lot of fun too." Getting a nod from her in return.

Minnie rubbed her eye and went to cover her mouth as a yawn escaped her, making Mingyu turn his head slightly to look at her. "Are you tired?"

"A little bit."

[it took so many years for them to soften up to each other and now we're getting scenes like this?!]

[THIS IS WHAT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN KEEPING FROM US]

[i mean, don‘t get me wrong, I love them bickering around, but I never knew I needed them to be like this so badly]

"Should we read some comments to wake you up?" His question made her chuckle. "Should we slowly end the live?" He wondered. "I'll come back. You wanted to do a live soon, right?" He directed his last question at the girl.

[i need him to talk to me this softly]

[since when can mingyu speak so quietly and slowly]

[well, he can]

[but only for MINNIE apparently]

"Yeah, but I have to think about what I want to talk about. Jeonghan's always eating in his lives, and the conversations he has come really easily, but I don't know if I could do it like that. I want to do something else maybe."

"Look," Mingyu pointed at the display on his phone, "Carats are saying they'd even watch you eat in silence."

[i'd watch that girl look at a white wall for HOURS, you don't understand]

[or actually, I think mingyu would understand me]

[whipped mf]

Minnie couldn't help but to giggle. "But that's weird. Just eating and not talking... We'll see." And ended her statement with a shrug.

[no, it's not weird]

[PLS we love stuff like this]

Suddenly, both of the members' heads turned to the side in synch,  

[in synch even off stage]

[this is what happens when you live together, huh?]

stopping for a second before chuckling at the same time. 

[WHAT WAS THAT]

[we all saw it, right?!]

*repeats clip*

[who made them smile like that?]

[don't worry, I already have the answer for you]

[JEON WONWOOOOOOO]

[i found this on twitter:]

*shows the clip again, this time with a raised volume*

[someone said 'balli' right?]

[pls tell me i'm not imagining it]

The girl raked her body up from the slouching position she was in as the rapper focused back on interacting with their fans, saying goodbye to them.

[she was so quick to get up]

[everything for jeon wonwoo, i understand]

[oh i so 1000% understand, girl]

"Bye, be well," he spoke in an unnaturally deep voice. Out of the blue, Wonwoo copied him, making the female member turn her head to the side once again, laughing at the older rapper as he continued to repeat Mingyu's exclaims.

[yeah, alright, we get it, mingyu's not the only one whipped]

"Bye," he waved into the camera as Minnie stood up to stretch her back, only for her to lower her head, peaking in from the top of the screen to wave as well.

"Bye, Carats. Have a good night, eat well and sleep well. Byyeeee"

[BYE MINNIE, HAVE THE BEST SLEEP EVER, YOU WONDERFUL WOMAN, I LOVE YOU]

[i just typed out mingyu's thoughts, you're welcome]

The rapper tapped around on his phone, trying to end the live when the distant female voice in the background spoke quietly, 

"Can‘t we just go to sleep?"

[SHE‘S USING A CUTE VOICE WITH THEM?!]

[didn’t Minnie say, she hates aegyo… well… not when it comes to those guys apparently]

[we will be debating this in the comments, see ya there]

-

[Going Seventeen] EP.78 Everything Possible In The White Zone #2

[this episode was made for mimiwon, convince me otherwise]

After they discussed Vernon's approach to the game, they decided to play another round, this time trying to find a different member.

First, Seungkwan proposed to let him be the person to find, but every member had a different idea of who it should be.

"We can't play 'Finding Joshua' because he doesn't read his messages," 

Woozi commented, making the room errupt in laughter.

[not mimiwon, but i laughed out so hard]

The group went back and forth until S.Coups made the final decision.

"Let's go with a member that's loud in the group chat, like Minnie."

"Me?" She suddenly sat up straight from her lying position close to Wonwoo's feet.

Dokyeom laughed as he nodded, "Yeah, you."

"Let's go with Minnie, she writes a lot," the leader finalized. 

[Opposite of Joshua]

Everyone seemed to agree, but Mingyu who sighed through his teeth and shook his head,

"Ah, I think Minnie's writing style is too unique, it'll be easy."

[OF COURSE IT'LL BE EASY FOR YOU MINGYU]

"Pff," the girl scoffed, "If you think so."

[i needed the bickering old married couple back, i'm so happy]

"Yeah, it might be easy for you, but not for the rest of us," Dino commented, pointing at the other members.

[DINO, tell us what you know👀]

[my guy, what are you keeping from us]

[share it with the group😬]

"No, Mingyu's right, I think we'll find her quickly," Wonwoo suddenly spoke up too.

[Oh there we go, the other husband]

[yeah go on and support your little couple]

"Jeez, alright," the female performer sighed with a chuckle.

"Let's see," Seungkwan's voice echoed through the room, having the last word before they created a new anonymous group chat.

-

"Who would enter as 'Taylor Swift'?" Hoshi wondered as they went through the names that were now in the chat.

[MINNIE FUCKING KIM WOULD]

[the queen she is]

[queens supporting queens]

[mothers supporting mothers]

The maknae of the group laughed out loud, "Oh, that would for sure be Minnie!"

[again, not mimiwon, but he knows her so well, it's so cute]

[i might have to make a video on dino and minnie]

[have you seen them?!]

[cutest siblings ever]

"I'm not THAT predictable!" The girl argued back.

[🧍‍♂️]

Mingyu turned around to glance at her. "We'll see about that."

"We'll see about that," she mocked him. "I bet you're 'Minnie Mouse', very creative," joking about his possible username, making him roll his eyes.

[BURN]

[did she really just call the creator of the bittersweet logo, the editor of the going magazine AND the artist of woozi's lockscreen NOT CREATIVE?!]

"'Pledis #1 Facecard' is really good too," Minghao commented, followed by a giggle.

[factssssssss]

Minnie grinned. "That's a personal attack on Mingyu though, isn't it?" 

[pls give this man a break minnie]

[he's suffering, but it's so cute]

Her grin washed from her face the second a pillow hit her face.

[that smack was PERSONAL]

-

"Let's ask about her idol," Seungkwan suggested.

"Idol?" The second oldest wondered in confusion.

"But idol as in role model, everyone should know this," the youngest main vocalist added as the other members agreed.

Suddenly a round of laughter filled the room as they went through the messages. The chat showed pictures of mostly Taylor Swift, one of a 15-year-old S.Coups and one of a gif of Jun in his Limbo MV, when suddenly somebody sent in a picture of the Pledis CEO.

[that was FOUL]

"Who sent this?!" Minnie couldn't stop laughing, throwing herself onto the floor.

[i love that she's laughing at her trauma]

[same ngl]

As if that wasn't enough already, the next picture sent was an older one of Woozi in the green practice room.

"Oh, this is Minnie for sure!" Wonwoo exclaimed proudly.

[mh, tell 'em]

"Woozi-hyung? No, I think Han Seongsu-nim is a bigger idol to her," Vernon stated, making everyone laugh harder.

[why is he rubbing salt in the wound HAHAHAH]

"Alright, so you sent in that picture then," the girl pointed at him, making him shrug with a mischievous grin on his lips.

They started debating when Hoshi made a clear statement. "Minnie usually has really old and embarrassing pictures of us on her phone." But Mingyu had something different to add,

"But she's the only one that would send in a moving image." 

[did he graduate from uni with a degree in 'analysis of minnie's texting' bc me thinks so]

To which the other members agreed with hums and nods. The girl stayed quiet in the back.

[i knew he was right, right then and there]

"Wonwoo knows how to do that too," the female performer debated.

[love her brining him into this]

[she needs her emotional support hubby]

"Don't try to make us now think this isn't you!" Hoshi's loud voice echoed through the room. She raised her hands in defeat.

-

"Doesn't she have a unique writing style, though? Let's ask something where she can write something," the youngest threw into the room.

"Do you want us to write entire stories like her?" Wonwoo wondered, chuckling when he saw the glare Minnie sent his way.

[he's a menace but we love him]

[also: i would pay for a novel message written by minnie, so wonwoo should be thankful, he get's them for free]

"Suddenly, you're complaining about my long messages? At least I reply!" She argued back.

[well, there we go, throwing him under the bus]

"Alright, alright, let's ask something like that," Minghao agreed, "That might make it easier."

"Okay, what about dinner recommendations?" Jun asked the rest of them

"Yeah, that's good!" Jeonghan answered him, followed by the others.

A few seconds later the first messages started flying in.

"Whoever Choi Seungnie is-" Seungkwan couldn't even finish his sentences as he started laughing, rolling onto the floor. "You're really holding a big grudge."

[QUICK INTERRUPTION: CHOI SEUNGNIE?! hella cute and the fact that it was cheol made me cry🥹]

"It sounds a lot like younger Minnie," Mingyu commented. "'Forget dinner, just let me go out to meet my friends' Who the hell are you meeting up with?" He directed the last question at the girl who looked at him in shock.

[we get it, you're jealous]

[it's okay, i'd be too]

[but i think that's what happens if your girlfriend is the hottest woman on earth tbh]

"That's not me! I wouldn't text like that!"

He nodded, "I know, I know," smiling to himself as he knew exactly.

As her fingers furiously tapped on her screen, a mumble escaped her lips. "I know exactly who this idiot is."

-

After the last question had been asked, every member had to make their final guess on who the real Minnie was in the group chat, and so the discussion began.

"She's probably the one with only the heart as a username," the leader stated.

"True, she uses that a lot," Dokyeom agreed with him, followed by Vernon who nodded along as he gave his opinion.

[yes, they know her well, BUT there are two people that know her even better]

"But 'Pledis #1 Facecard' used the same emojis. Either she didn't even try to hide it or that person imitating her is really good." The other members nodded. Everyone but the '97 Liner rapper, who interferred,

"But 'tulip' tried a bit too hard to sound different. It was kinda unnatural."

[did he just insult her]

[careful mingyu]

"Yeah, but wouldn't Minnie be better at pretending like that?" Hoshi turned the conversation around again.

"Or," Seungkwan interrupted, "That's EXACTLY what she wants you to think."

"Woah..." Woozi chuckled, "Finding Minnie is more complicated than I thought."

"She's smart, so it's definitely hard," Jun added.

[i knew i was in love with a smart woman]

Joshua glanced at the members with a proud smile, "I'm confident that Minnie is the one with the 'Pledis #1 Facecard'. Very humble."

Minnie giggled in the background.

[VERY HUMBLE HAHAHA]

"Yeah, I think so too," Minghao pointed at him. The rest of the members stood behind the statement, only leaving Mingyu quiet as he shook his head - that being caught by the second oldest member.

"Alright," Jeonghan quieted them down, "Let's just ask them to reveal themselves and then, if it's not Minnie, we can check 'tulip'."

"She's for sure that," Seungkwan mumbled to himself, "It has to be."

"Alright, who was it?" Dokyeom asked with a big smile on his face, turning around to face the group.

[DRUMROLL PLEASE]

Everyone went quiet for a second before a sly grin formed on Wonwoo's lips, "Me."

"Wonwoo?!"

"You?!"

"WHAT?"

"How?!"

[i. knew. it]

[LOOK AT HIS SMIRK]

[HE'S SO PROUD OF HIMSELF]

[i'm so proud of him too, ngl]

Different exclaims, one louder than the other, bounced off the walls as they found out who the real culprit was behind the name.

"What?! I was SO sure it was Minnie," Hoshi gasped, "Wow... that was amazing."

"You impersonated her really well, hyung, woah..." Dino complimented him.

[nah fr though]

[like... the next student who graduated university along with mingyu in the same course]

Wonwoo chuckled, "Thank you, thank you." 

"Wait, but who was 'tulip' now?" Joshua suddenly wondered.

Minnie giggled, "Oh, that was me."

"I KNEW IT!" Mingyu jumped up, "I told you guys! Why didn't you believe me!"

[i mean... what am I supposed to say]

[y'all are seeing this too]

[I don't even need to comment this, just watch them]

"Ugh," Vernon ran a hand through his hair, "We really should've listened to Mingyu-hyung."

-

[Going Seventeen] EP.81 TOUR SEV SEV #1

The screens showed the table where 11 out of the 14 members sat, slowly zooming into the beloved trio on the left side. Mingyu, Minnie, and Wonwoo were sitting next to each other.

They had just finished their call with Dokyeom and were falling back into a regular conversation.

"But why are you reading webtoon right now?" Mingyu suddenly wondered, leaning over the girl to get a better look at the iPad in front of Wonwoo.

"Well-" Jeonghan was about to explain.

"Why are you reading webtoons?"

"He can, why not?" The second oldest defended him, followed by the female member, who smacked her fellow '97 Liner's arm.

[i can NEVER read these two]

[are they gonna be all cutey and touchy today?]

[or are they gonna be just like in the old times?]

"Exactly, why can't he. At least he's educating himself," she argued, placing her hand on top of the older man's shoulder. 

[little dom girlfriend, supporting her sub gamer boyfriend]

[we love seeing it]

The younger rapper shuffled back into his seat, his eyes locked on the girl while he crossed his arms in front of his chest, a slight pout forming on his lips.

"Woah... you're really always taking his side," he mumbled dramatically, shaking his head, and making the girl reach out to poke his cheek with her finger.

[THE POUT?!]

[THE WAY SHE POKED HIM?!]

[I WOULD'VE KISSED HIM RIGHT THEN AND THERE]

[pretty sure she had to hold herself back from doing so]

[i understand minnie]

-

[more wonnie than mimiwon, but look, sometimes there's more content and this was too cute not to be included]

While the entire group was discussing where to go and what type of transportation they could use to their advantage, some would've maybe missed what had happened in the background.

Wonwoo and Minnie had diverted into their own little world, focusing on something on his iPad as they pointed at it and chuckled together. 

[are they looking for another one to sit right in between them? i volunteer]

They were being half covered by Mingyu's bigger frame, but the camera still caught their interaction.

As the girl went to lean back and straighten out the sweater she was wearing, the '96 Liner's hand reached out to move a strand of hair out of her face, earning himself a grin from her.

[ATTENTIVE BOYFRIEND THINGS]

-

Seungkwan jumped up from his seat, "Okay, by foot! Move on already!"

Causing the entire table to errupt in laughter, leaving a stunned Mingyu to sit on his seat.

[this was so choatic, i would've cried]

"Of course, we'd walk to nearby places," Jeonghan tried to calm down the quarrel, but everyone was too focused on the shouting of the '98 Liner.

As Mingyu was motioning to the younger member to sit down, "Don't get mad," speaking more calmly, Minnie leaned on his shoulder, trying to contain her laughter, in clear awe of the member next to her.

[my head would never leave his shoulder, respect to her]

"Seungkwan, sit down," she chuckled, still close to the rapper, patting his upper arm. "And you just move on with what you were saying."

The rapper finally finished his statement, thinking it was over and they could move on to the next subject matter, but the leader inferred.

"That's what I've been saying!"

"What?!" Mingyu mocked him, leaning forward just a slight bit, "You didn't say by foot," pointing at the oldest member, to which Minnie took his hand in hers to push it back.

"Stop that," she commented.

[DOM MINNIE STANS RISE]

[this was so hot for no reason and for every reason at the same time]

Seungcheol continued his argument, "I said by foot. By foot, public transportation, and by car!"

"Okay, Cheol-" the female member started, but the leader stopped her,

"Don't protect him like that, Minnie!"

She glanced at him wide-eyed, "I'm not protecting him! He made us laugh with his 'by foot' comment, so it's all good. Yes, you said it before, but let's just move on. Let him get his screentime."

Mingyu pouted at her comment, "I didn't do it for screentime." Which she brushed off with a motion of her hands, whispering something that wasn't heard clearly, but made him and Wonwoo on the other side of her chuckle in synch.

[I-]

[...]

[...]

[no words]

[they're too cute]

[that's all i can say at this point]

-

[again: wonnie content, but LOOK]

The group erupted into another loud discussion, leaving the more quiet members to their own as they sat back. Minghao decided to stay out of it, focusing on his laptop, while Minnie let her head fall back. Wonwoo turned to look at her, asking her something that the editors didn't put louder in the episode. His question made her sit back up straight, her face scrunching up in a way that could portray pain. The '96 Liner placed his hand on top of her head, patting it softly, letting it travel from her hair down to her back as she leaned forward again, her elbows resting on the table.

[do they know cameras are on them or do they really not care?]

[because WE NEED MORE]

[i've never seen wonwoo this affectionate]

[what is this girl feeding him]

-

[also wanted to include this just bc i thought it was cute]

"Leisure!" Mingyu added to the list as they went through the categories each group could focus on, to which the female performer scrunched her eyebrows.

"Leisure?" Gaining the attention of the '97 Liner next to her, who nodded. "What is leisure?" Looking up with her big brown eyes.

Before he could answer her, Wonwoo raised his voice over the rest of the group slightly, to reach the younger member on the other side. "Vernonie!" His head snapped towards their direction. "What is leisure in English?"

[the way he immediately knew to ask vernon to translate bc it would be easier for her]

[i know the bar is low, but this was cute, alright?!]

"Huh?" He wondered, leaning forward to hear the other rapper better.

"What is leisure? In English," the girl repeated.

"Oh," Vernon nodded, "Free time. Leisure"

"Aaaah," Minnie smiled at him. "Thank youuu. Leisure is really just leisure, okay." 

-

[Going Seventeen] EP.88 BOOmily Outing #4

After the alarm blasted across the place, everyone had gotten up, and one after the other was leaving the house to gather outside. Minnie came out through the door, a jacket swallowing her small frame as she had only taken a long pair of pants and a short-sleeved shirt to sleep in with her. 

[NOW]

[we all have seen this jacket before]

*inserts clip from episode one of Boomily Outing, showing Wonwoo wearing that exact jacket during the intro*

[MH]

[exactly]

*back to cute and tired minnie*

[i guess this is just minnie priviledge]

Her eyes adjusted to the bright light while trying to find a comfortable place to settle down and wait for her turn in the game they had to play. She saw Mingyu sitting on the elevated floor in the middle of the garden and made her way over. 

[we saw her literally looking for him]

The rapper found her approaching and made some space next to him for the girl to sit down, which she gladly accepted. As soon as her bottom hit the wood, her head fell to his shoulders and her eyes closed. Mingyu would shake her awake once it was her turn.

['no place like kim mingyu's shoulder' I LOVE THE GOSE EDITORS BC YES, SAME]

-

[Going Seventeen] EP.89 Guess Who Left Secretly #1

[this was so chaotic and fun]

After hearing multiple doors closing, Minnie calculated it to be the perfect time to escape from her room. In preparation, she took off her shoes and placed them right next to the door before opening it, ready to rush out. However, her calculations were wrong when she suddenly came to an immediate halt when her eyes locked with Wonwoo's, who gazed at her with a grin. Her lips pressed together in a tight line and she was ready to turn around when the '96 Liner motioned for her to walk past him, making her scrunch her eyebrows in confusion, only for him to move his hand around even faster, telling her to be quick.

[SUPPORTIVE BOYFRIEND IS BACK]

[he's so adorable, how can she just live with him like that]

With a quiet chuckle, she rushed past him, making sure that her steps were as light as possible, but the sudden sound of a familiar voice made her stop in her tracks.

"Call Minnie, please!" Mingyu called out.

[and there comes the devil]

The girl turned around and looked around the almost empty space, where only Wonwoo stood by the table.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, walking back slowly, trying to find an open door with Mingyu's figure - she was even more confused when she couldn't see him.

"I saw you, go back," he argued. The pout on her face made her partner chuckle. She kept her eyes open, looking closely around and focusing on every door individually, when Wonwoo gave her a soft hum, making her turn around to look at him. He pointed up slightly, letting her eyes travel around to where the makeshift build-up walls ended.

"You little-" she stopped herself from cursing, glaring at the camera Mingyu had put up right above his door.

[he was so funnily annoying with this, so i totally understand her]

[but we love it]

-

Sulkingly, the girl decided to stand in the doorway to her room, her arms crossed as she looked straight ahead, waiting for one specific door to open.

Right as it did, revealing the 6ft2 physique of her member, she shouted out loud, "Call Mingyu, please!"

The man sighed, "Yeah yeah, alright, I get it." Closing the door again with a smile.

[I LOVE THEM]

-

A few of the members gathered around in the middle, whispering to each other.

"Kill one person, just one."

"Mingyu," Minnie immediately suggested, getting a round of chuckles from the others as they nodded in agreement.

[PLS MINNIE]

"He's so annoying," Joshua whined.

[besties gotta stick together]

The girl didn't need to be told twice, she knew exactly what to do as she rushed over to the door of said member and locked it right away. Once she turned back around, Vernon was already waiting for her with his hand raised, high-fiving her,

"Good job," he giggled.

[THEY'RE SO ANNOYING HIM]

[he deserved it though]

-

"Mingyu," Wonwoo called out after he exited his room to join the others by the table in the middle, "The name of the program isn't 'Please call them'."

The girl chuckled.

[getting called out by the other husband, as he should]

"Stop laughing, Minnie and just unlock my door," was the only thing coming back from the '97 Liner rapper, but she shook her head, even though she knew he couldn't see her.

[she was so over it HAHAHA]

The female member got closer to the '96 Liner as he stopped by the table. She leaned into his side, speaking softly, "We'll leave by order of age. Okay?"

[my eyes are on you two]

"Us all?" He wondered, pointing at the others who were standing opposite of them, to which she nodded. "Okay," he answered, patting her back as she passed him, brushing her hands over his shoulders.

[it's the little things you know]

[and i don't even know how little this was bc twt went WILD]

[as they should yk]

-

After the second round ended, each member who was still somewhere within the building, came to the open space in the middle. They started discussing which members left when Dino noticed something,

"Minnie? Where's she?"

"Did she leave?" Vernon wondered while looking around.

Wonwoo grinned to himself, knowing that she left a few minutes ago as he had seen her but didn't say anything.

[i know what you did]

[and i love you for it]

[hubby material fr]

Mingyu suddenly shouted, "Please call Minnie!" Only a second later, the sound of a call going through bounced off the walls, making every member laugh out loud.

[and there he goes]

Before anyone could say something to her, the high-pitched voice of the female member rang through,

"You cannot be serious?! I had ten seconds left, you idiots!" Making the guys laugh even harder.

[she's so done]

"Aw, Minnie-ya come back, I miss you," the youngest of them all said to her, making her giggle.

"Well then, I'll only come back because of you, Dino."

"We miss you too!" Mingyu added, but that's when the girl ended the call, letting laughter fill the room.

[I LAUGHED SO HARD]

-

As soon as she got back, her eyes quickly landed on the tallest member, "You called me, didn't you?" And only got a sneaky smile in return.

[i bet my right little finger nail that they discussed this at home]

-

[Going Seventeen] EP.90 Guess Who Left Secretly #2

[if you haven't watched this episode: warning, loud; if you have: have fun watching this mess agian]

Minnie saw her chance and took it. She rushed out of her room, ready to race over to the door, when another one opened revealing Mingyu, who was quick to jump into the middle of the room, blocking off the possibility of her leaving.

"Go back!" He pointed back at her door.

The female performer groaned out loud, "Who unlocked your door again?!"

[vernon babes, hate to break it to you]

"Go," Mingyu just laughed at her antics, continuing to point at her door.

The two fell into a sudden silence as Minnie tried to get closer, lowering her voice.

"Let's form an alliance," she spoke softly, extending her hands, "You let me go now, and I won't tell you."

[she... her voice... i need her to whisper into my ear like that]

"That's not how the game works," the rapper shook his head with a chuckle, taking small steps back to keep the distance between the two.

"Says who?!" The girl whined, making him laugh even more.

"You have to go back, Minnie," He tried to explain to her as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, shifting her weight onto one leg, popping out her hip.

"Alright, then you have to back too because technically I caught you as well."

[THE SASS]

Mingyu nodded, "And I will, after you went back." Earning himself a glare from the main dancer.

[they're so hot when they're both like this]

[rilled up af]

The two were interrupted by the sudden opening of a door to their right, where Wonwoo's head peaked out, both members now focused on him. The distraction gave Minnie the opportunity to brush past her fellow '97 Liner, quick on her feet as she tried to sprint towards the door. Mingyu reacted quickly, able to grab the female member by her arm just as she passed him, making her groan.

"NO! Let go!" She fell to the floor dramatically, but Mingyu didn't even budge. 

[NOT EVEN A MILIMETRE DID THIS MAN MOVE]

[AS IF HE'S USED TO THIS]

[his grip must be so tight, oh lord, my thoughts are travelling]

[imagine his grip around your-]

Minnie's feet, still without shoes on them, stuck to the floor with all her strength as she tried to pull back from the guy's tight grip on her wrist. He let her go with a chuckle, making her sigh in relief, only for him to snatch her by her ankle. 

[the way he's enjoying this...]

[that hot mf...]

[i need him to do this to me]

A loud groan tumbled from her lips.

"You're using your strength against me, and that's unfair!"

[bet you that ain‘t the first time he's done that]

[TELL ME I'M WRONG]

By now the two of them had gained an audience, each one of their members staring and laughing at the two. Dokyeom was already on the floor too, his loud laughter filling the room while Hoshi was wiping away the tears that had left his eyes.

[love how they're all enjoying mingyu just manhandling her like this]

"Ya!" Wonwoo chuckled as he got closer to the two, "Let go of her and both of you, go to your rooms, come on." 

[DADDY]

[sorry, i slipped]

[the athority is doing things to me, i can't help it😶]

He tapped Mingyu's shoulder, making him loosen his grip before he took a step forward, reaching out with his right hand for Minnie to grab, but she only kicked up with her leg, pushing his hand away with a smile. 

[LOOK AT HER]

[look at her]

[she literally enjoyed this giant manhandling her]

The '96 Liner came up behind the other rapper and swapped places, helping the female performer up and brushing over her back, making sure her clothes didn't get dirty.

[and there comes the hubby material again]

"Wow, that was so dramatic," Dokyeom commented, making the others chuckle and nod in agreement.

[this fr must've been quite the scene to watch in real life]

-

[Going Seventeen] EP.91 Point of Omniscient Interfere Penalty #1

"Whoever does 30 squats outside gets 20 grapes!" Mingyu shouted into the room, sitting by the counter, eating his bowl of freshly cooked ramen.

Minnie didn't need to be told twice and rushed over, pushing past S.Coups who also wanted to give the challenge a chance, to the door, leading to the garden. "I'll do it!" She told them before disappearing, making sure to stay by the window.

[giving into a man that easily... minnie... i thought we were better than that]

[but then again... we are talking about mingyu here, so... i get it]

After crouching down 30 times, the girl got back inside, clearly out of breath as she found her fellow '97 Liner still sitting where she had last seen him. She approached him slowly.

"I did it," she got out, her hands on her hips as her breaths were falling heavily from her lips.

Mingyu's eyes met hers, noodles still hanging out of his mouth. "Oh, really? I didn't see it."

[bitch]

"W-," the girl gazed at him in shock, "You can't do that! You said whoever does it gets twenty grapes and I did it."

"But I didn't see you. How am I supposed to know you're telling the truth?" 

Minnie didn't answer him but just continued to stare at him.

With a grin, he patted the seat next to him, "Come on, sit down, I'll feed you ramen as an excuse." When she didn't even budge, he reached out to hold onto her wrist gently, pulling her in.

[why is her wrist so tiny in his hands]

[and why is that doing something to me]

[size kink go brrrr]

But she was anything but impressed by his pitty apology. "Mister Mediator!" Making Mingyu groan and throw his head back.

[THIS IS WHY THEY'RE PERFECT TOGETHER]

[mimiwon forever]

[🤍🐶🌷🐱🤍]

Wonwoo walked over to the couple, hands in his pocket and a smile plastered on his face. "Yeah?"

Minnie pointed at the culprit. "Mingyu's lying, and he's mean."

[gotta love a 25 year old woman calling out a 25 year old man for not giving her stickers]

"Mm," the '96 Liner hummed, "How many grapes did he promise you?"

"20."

He nodded, "Okay, I believe you. Mingyu, give her the twenty grapes." 

[oh wonwoo, can you be any more of a simp?!]

Wonwoo simply told him before passing them again and walking over to the other side of the room.

The younger rapper followed his best friend with wide eyes. "W- He's just gonna leave like that?"

"Well," Minnie grinned, "You heard him," showing him her palm.

Mingyu scoffed, "He's biased for real."

[STAND UP FOR YOURSELF]

[like... he doesn't even want to]

[they're both wrapped around her finger]

[even though he's trying not to show it too much, he can't hide it]

[not from us]

-

The Mimiwon trio was relaxing on the wooden platform by the karaoke machine, watching the performance unit leader with smiles on their faces as he tried to sing a song he had never heard of before.

"Hoshi, I'll give you ten if you finish this well!" the tallest of them all shouted out, getting a thumbs up in return.

All of a sudden, Minnie leaned forward, placing her chin on Mingyu's shoulder, whispering, but still speaking loud enough for the microphone to catch her. "Do you want to give me five grapes?"

[she's adorable, so yes, i would give her five grapes]

"For what?" Her turned his head, making her pull back slightly as they locked eyes.

She shrugged with a smile, "Just because." But he didn't answer her, instead directing his attention back to the singing tiger.

[HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO HER]

With a pout, the girl sulked back into her place. Wonwoo chuckled at the scene in front of him.

"What's going on with you two?" He wondered.

[pls get your partners in check]

Minnie turned around to face her boyfriend. "Should Mingyu give me five grapes?"

"What for?"

The female member placed both of her palms right underneath her chin, cupping her cheeks and tilting her face to the side with a soft smile playing on her lips.

[this could only work on them, and literally only them]

[the other members would've laughed in her face, SO HARD, you cannot even try to tell me i'm wrong]

[i know damn well i'm right]

Wonwoo nodded, "I see. Hm... I guess he should."

[... he's so weak for her]

[i need a man to be this down bad for me too]

[scratch that, i need wonwoo to be this down bad for me too]

She jolted up in excitement, smacking the other rapper's shoulder to make him turn around. "Ah, what?"

"He said you have to give me five grapes," Minnie nodded behind her, where a smiling '96 Liner was already gazing at the two in front of him.

"Woah, hyung," the younger rapper sighed, "You can't keep doing that."

[he's about to leave this relationship, i'm telling you guys]

"He's the mediator, he can do whatever he wants." 

[OH, wifey protecting her husband]

To which Mingyu rolled his eyes, already diving into the small bag that held the stickers she was asking for, keeping a glare on the girl, who provocatively kept on smiling at him.

-

Hoshi, Joshua, and Minnie stood up from their positions on the couch after Mingyu proposed the idea of drawing a portrait of Wonwoo, even though all three of them had already finished filling up their shirts with purple stickers. Their giggles followed them as they went to get a piece of paper each and pens. 

After they sat down on the floor, Jun decided to join them. "What are we doing?"

"Drawing a portrait of Wonwoo's face," Hoshi explained to him.

[and who's idea was that? sir simp kim mingyu]

"Wonwoo's face," he chuckled in amusement but still got ready to start his own drawing as well as he was still in desperate need of more stickers.

"I'll draw you too," Mingyu sat down as well, "I'm really good at drawing Wonwoo, we're roommates after all."

[i love how a lot of carats were starting to doubt they still lived together, so he really just had to remind everyone]

[no one's taking him away from you, don't worry mingyu]

[minnie's sharing him with you at least]

"And Minnie?" Vernon chuckled as he looked to the side, seeing the girl gaze up at the '97 Liner with scrunched eyebrows.

"Yeah, exactly," she scoffed, "What about me? You don't think I can draw him well?"

[oh minnie, you can draw him so much better, i believe in you]

"I've been roommates with him for longer," he argued back.

[why did he have to hurt her like that]

Minnie pointed a strict finger at him, "Next time I'm moving apartments, I'm taking Wonwoo with me."

[THE GAME IS ON]

[she threatened him GOOD]

[damn, that really must've hit close to home]

[wouldn't wanna be in the car on the way back to the apartment]

"Why are you three joining anyways?" The '96 Liner decided to change the subject.

[Mister Meditator is good at mediating]

Joshua turned towards him to answer his question. "Screen time, screen time."

"Plus I want to show Mingyu, I can draw you better than him," the girl added without looking up, getting a chuckle out of the Korean-American as he patted her hair gently.

[not mimiwon, BUT I LOVE THEIR INTERACTIONS SO MUCH TOO]

-

Minnie stood between Hoshi and Mingyu, being third to reveal her portrait as she clutched the piece of paper close to her chest. Her turn had come.

"Okay," she started, "My backstory is... because I keep up with Wonwoo's Gameboy lives, I decided to not only draw a portrait of him BUT to actually draw a portrait of his Animal Crossing character."

"Ooh, because you're so attentive," Jeonghan pointed, making her smile.

"Exactly."

[she's so supportive of her gamer boyfriend, i love it]

Mingyu's scoff made her eye him with a glare. "That's an excuse to be able to draw something animated. That's too easy."

"What do you know? Why are you coming at me like that!" The female member argued, kicking him softly with her foot.

[this was them almost the entire two episodes btw]

[it started off cute and ended like this, idk what happened]

"Yeah, leave her alone! Just because you don't keep up with Wonwoo's lives doesn't mean you have to be mean to her," S.Coups pointed at the younger rapper, getting a pout in defeat from him.

[big brother cheol coming to the rescue]

-

Younji's Drinking Show

[THIS WAS MY FAVOURITE THING EVER]

[i SO HIGHLY recommend you watch the whole video]

[i laughed so hard]

[this girl really doesn't know when to shut her mouth]

[i was surprised they kept this all in]

[but god, i just know everything they cut out must be GOLD]

[I'm gonna need a part two btw, just in case youngji and/or her team is watching. hi.]

With scrunched eyebrows, the idol leaned forward slightly, as if that would get her to see outside of the apartment.

"Was that a bark?" Minnie wondered.

[nah, probably just carats tbh, we do that nowadays]

Unsurprised, Youngji nodded, turning back around from her place by the kitchen counter, where she had prepared more drinks for the two of them. "Yeah, one of the neighbours has a dog."

"You're allowed to have pets here?"

The younger girl shook her head with a chuckle, "No."

[mood]

"Oh," Minnie joined her, covering her mouth and thanking her for the new beverages as they both sat back together at the table. "Ugh," her sigh was filled with sadness, "I should also keep a pet secretly."

"What?" Youngji laughed out loud, "Why secretly?"

"I'm not allowed," the performer pouted.

"Why? Says who?"

"My roommates," Minnie answered, 

[MY ROOMMATES]

[AS IF WE DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE BABES]

[she's so salty about this subject, i can't with her😂😭]

and took a sip from one of the cocktails she had mixed for both of them earlier, because yes, she wasn't yet drunk enough, her drunk self told her that.

"Aaaah," the young rapper nodded, "Wonwoo and Mingyu, right?"

"That's right," she nodded.

Youngji put a piece of meat in her mouth before continuing, "You three have lived together for a long time, haven't you?"

[suspiciously long, yes youngji, pls keep digging for the sake of mimiwon supporters, thank you]

The '97 Liner nodded as she was still drinking.

"For how long?"

"Ehm..." Minnie put the glass down, her pointer running around the brim in circles. She tilted her head to the side, "...when... when did Bittersweet come out?" Turning to her right, she hoped the producers could help, to which the younger girl chuckled,

[i know she was tipsy here already, but the fact that she didn't know😪🥲]

"Shouldn't you know that? Why are you looking at them?"

"I don't know," Minnie laughed out loud, "I forget... ehm... 20...21? Yeah," she nodded, "Yeah, 2021... May, I think. We moved in together around the time that we released that. Right before- before we went to In The Soop."

[this explains so many moments from in the soop tbh]

"Aaaah, ok ok, I see. And they still don't let you have a pet after over two years?"

[and she's been begging for one for YEARS]

The idol shook her head.

"Why not? What pet do you want? A kangaroo?"

[IMAGINE😂😂😂]

Her unexpected joke made the girl laugh hard as she hunched over the table. "Nooo, I want a cat. I've been wanting a cat for AGES."

"You have Wonwoo. He's a handsome cat too."

[youngji knows what's up]

Minnie's nose scrunched at the comment. "I know, I know, but a real cat would be really cute."

[SHE SAID SHE KNOWS]

[she knows how handsome her cute little boyfriend is, love it]

"Why don't they let you."

"Well... Wonwoo... Wonwoo would want one too, but... Mingyu doesn't. I mean, he's allergic-"

"That's a pretty good reason not to get a cat, Minnie, I must say," Youngji interrupted her, filling the room with her own laughter, accompanied by the staff in the background.

[no, don't side with her]

Minnie was quick to reach out with her hands, "No no no! He can take medication for that," she brushed it off, "But yeah... they say we don't have time for one, and I know they're right, but the other members have dogs, and they're happy and I would take very good care of a cat."

The younger one nodded. "Call them."

[i literally gasped when she said that]

"What?" The '97 Liner was taken aback.

"Call them." She repeated.

"Wonwoo and Mingyu? Now? Should I?" All producers bounced their heads with excitement, 

"We need good content," making the two at the table giggle. "And the producers are really big fans."

[i mean, who isn't, let's be honest]

"Yeah, I can tell," Minnie laughed.

-

The phone rang for just a second before Mingyu picked up. Before he could say anything, the girl beat him to it.

"You're on speaker, just so you know!"

[SHE WAS SO QUICK WITH THAT HAHAHAH]

[girl ain't about to catch a scandal]

A deep chuckle could be heard from him. "Are you still at Youngji's place?"

"Yep," she answered, moving her phone over to the other girl, so she could talk to the speaker.

"Hello, Kim Mingyu," she greeted him.

"Ah, hello Youngji. How are you?"

"I'm very good, how are you?" But he didn't even get the option to answer as Minnie snatched her phone back up to her.

"There's something important I have to discuss with you." Giggles came from behind the camera. The staff was very much enjoying the interaction.

"Okay. And you want to discuss that over the phone... on speaker? While drunk?"

[his concerned voice is actually so cute]

She rolled her eyes, "I'm not that drunk."

"Sure," Mingyu simply answered, clearly not believing her even a little bit.

[SURE]

"So," she started, "About the cat-"

"Minnie, no," he immediately stopped her, making her look straight into the camera, anything but amusement written all across her face.

[she knew he was gonna say that]

[i knew he was gonna say that]

[you knew he was gonna say that]

[but damn, he really just hurt her like that]

"But-"

"We've talked about this so many times."

"But you're not listening to me..."

"I've listened to you," he spoke softly to her, "I've even watched your PowerPoint presentation,"

[POWERPOINT PRESENTATION]

[she did a freaking presentation]

['why we should get a cat by kim minnie‘]

[i need to see this presentation]

"but Jag-...," he cleared his throat, "Minnie-ya... we can't. You know, we don't have time for one."

[Y'ALL HEARD THAT RIGHT]

[let me replay that for you]

*replays the clip*

[NOW]

[what are we gonna do about that]

[we knew exactly what he said, or what he wanted to say or whatever]

[... but yeah sure, i bet they're just calling each other that casually around the dorm, mh]

"Is it because of your allergy?" She wondered, placing the phone down to put both of her hands underneath her thighs.

Mingyu chuckled slightly. "I mean, yeah, that too. But I also don't have Aji or Bobpul with me-"

"Bring them! You can bring them to the apartment, and I'll get a cat-"

"Minnie, stop," he was now full-on laughing on the other side of the phone, Youngji doing the exact same on her side of the table.

[this conversation was everything to me, knowing they've had it multiple times before, but now over the phone, with a drunk minnie, WHILE BEING FILMED]

The female performer groaned, "I'm gonna call Wonwoo."

[if one boyfriend says so, you can still ask the other one, what a priviledged life istg]

[only minnie can do this]

"Wonwoo's right next to me, he's listening," the rapper told her.

"Wonwoo!" She called out, catching Youngji off-guard as she jolted up at the sudden volume of her voice.

"Minnie!" He copied her tone with an evident smile. "Do you want us to come pick you up?"

[THE SOFTNESS OF HIS VOICE]

[kill me pls]

[also: yes, come pick me up. yes, please. yes. on your motorcycle, thank you.]

"What? Hell no, I'm not done here."

[she was enjoying this so much]

The female rapper gave her two thumbs up with a proud grin.

"But," Seventeen's female member continued, "You can try to get Mingyu to agree on the cat."

"You know, I can't do that. We've tried. But we can go to the cat shelter tomorrow again if you want." His proposal made the girl's eyes glow up.

[and that's how you make a woman happy]

[other men, please take notes]

[just copy everything wonwoo does]

[just be jeon wonwoo, then you're perfect]

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright, then I'll let it slide for now, I guess. I'm still sad about it though."

"I know," Wonwoo chuckled, "Maybe one day. Enjoy the rest of the time with Youngji, okay?"

"Yep," she smiled, looking down into the phone.

"And don't say anything stupid when you're already this drunk now!" Mingyu suddenly shouted through the phone, sounding more distant than before.

[oh, our boy was SCARRED]

"Yeah, just be careful, okay? Call if you need anything," the '96 Liner stated, to which Youngji looked into the camera in shock.

[same youngji, same]

[we all need a man like that]

[PLS WONWOO, MY EXPECTATIONS ARE ALREADY HIGH ENOUGH, for christ sake]

"Alright," Minnie spoke sweetly, "I'll see you later."

Wonwoo hummed into the phone.

"I love you," she took the device into her hands again. Only another hum followed, making her frown. "Ya, say it back!"

[THIS INTERRACTIONS]

"Yeah, I love you too. Now go back to filming," the older rapper chuckled, ending the call.

[he's suddenly so shy, what the hell wonwoo]

The female dancer handed the phone back to one of the producers behind the camera to keep it safe for the time being.

Youngji was still quiet in her seat, just looking around the room wide-eyed.

"What's going on?" Minnie couldn't help but chuckle at her facial expression.

The younger girl sniffled, "They're so cute!" The dancer threw her head back and clapped, accompanied by her laughter echoing through the room. "Oh my God... I expected them to be kind, but THEY'RE SO SWEET!"

[RIGHT?!]

[and she just gets to live with them AND has both of them wrapped around her finger, can you believe it?!]

Minnie nodded, "They are."

"Do you always say 'I love you' so casually?" Youngji wondered, making the '97 Liner stop for a second before she answered.

[oh, there we go]

"Yeah... I always make them say it," she gulped, "But I make all of the members say it. It's important to hear it from the people close to you, you know?"

[sure minnie... sure... yeah i totally make my friends say i love you back to me]

"Aaaah," the other girl nodded, "That's true."

-

"You really have an entire bedroom here, wow," Minnie peeked inside one of the doors after exiting from the bathroom. Youngji had started to put some of their old glasses onto the kitchen counter to make more room for food on the dining table. The girls were a lot more drinks in now, making it hard for either of them to walk straight as they just continued to chuckle for no apparent reason.

"I couldn't sleep here on my own," the female performer mumbled as she slowly made her way back to her seat, leaving a confused '02 Liner standing

"You couldn't? Can't you sleep alone?" She wondered, joining the idol at the table.

Minnie shook her head. "But that's because... I mean- you have to imagine... I've shared a room with someone since 2010. Ever since I became a trainee. To suddenly sleep alone is gonna be really hard," her words were lulled but still clear to understand.

"But..." Youngji rubbed her eyes gently, her eyebrows still tightly scrunched together, "So... you share a room now in the apartment too? With Wonwoo and Mingyu."

[LADIES AND GENTS, WE GOT HER]

[OH YOUNGJI, YOU WONDERFUL GENIUS]

The Seventeen member opened her mouth, but closed it quickly again, looking straight ahead, before locking eyes with the other girl. "Oh... no!" She chuckled, "No, no... I meant like... alone... in an apartment... yeah." 

[yeah... mh]

[my god minnie, we love you a lot, but that hole you're digging is getting deeper and deeper]

[and we love it too much to get you out of it😭]

Quickly reaching out to get a hold of the glass in front of her.

[try playing it off as hard as you want, we got you in 4k]

"Mm... I see..." Youngji dragged out her answer as she kept her eyes strict on Minnie, who, in return, felt the gaze, making her glance over, only for both of them to errupt in laughter together.

[YOUNGJI KNOWS]

[oh she so knows]

[do you understand me now why we need a part two of this video?!]

-

A voice from behind the camera, made the girls look up.

"Oh, your mum is calling," the younger rapper explained, pointing at the producer who was holding up her phone.

Minnie squeezed her eyes shut, "Aaah... I'm way too drunk to talk to her normally.... hold on." She got up from her seat and walked over to grab the device, answering it while still out of the shot.

The crew had turned off her microphone, leaving Youngji's on, so she could talk to the audience in a whisper.

"Minnie is talking to her mother on the phone, she'll be right back."

[MAMA KIM HIIIIII]

[gotta love the queen]

A cut later, the female member was back, sitting in her designated seat.

"Everything okay?" The younger one asked.

The '97 Liner nodded, "Yeah, yeah, she just wanted to talk, but I asked her if I could call her in a few hours or tomorrow, so... all good."

Youngji nodded as she filled up another round of shot glasses with the Soju the other woman had brought along to the shoot.

"What does your mum think about the members?" She suddenly wondered.

"Oh," Minnie covered half of her face as she had just put a rice cake in her mouth, "She LOVES Mingyu." 

['what does your mum thing about THE MEMBERS?']

['oh, she loves mingyu']

[NOT THE QUESTION]

[love how she just bursted that one out]

And continued after chewing and swallowing. "I mean she loves Wonwoo too- all of the members, but... yeah... really likes them." 

[oh girly]

Youngji nodded along to her story. "Last year... I got to go home for my birthday, for... like a week or so and... I took..." She thought about how she should best tell the story but just continued as Carats already knew most of what she was going to say. "I brought Wonwoo along with me."

[just so we're all on the same page: we thought she went with him, right? But it was never confirmed.]

[WELL, not up until now]

[!wonwoo and minnie couple holiday!]

"Oh, why Wonwoo?" The rapper wondered, handing over the shot glass.

[that's the right question to ask]

The girls clinked their glasses and threw back the alcohol before taking a deep breath to let it settle in their bodies.

"Ehm... I just- He had never been, and... he had time, so... you know," she shrugged while Youngji kept on grinning at the female member.

[WHAT DO YOU KNOW YOUNGJI]

[LOOK AT HER SMIRK]

 "And after we left, my mum immediately texted me 'And when's Mingyu coming?' and I was like..." she paused for a second. "Mum... you just saw Wonwoo again after... YEARS, so... let me bring them one at a time." 

['one at a time‘ but watch her only taking mingyu the next time and then not brining any of the other members]

Ending her story with a chuckle.

"Where did you stay while you were there?"

"When we were in England, we stayed in a hotel, but then we also visited my grandparents for a bit and just stayed at their house because they live in the countryside, so it was easier to just stay with them."

[for this i really have no words, it's just hella cute]

[introducing the boyfriend to the grandparents]

-

Weverse Live 230824

"Okay," Minnie sighed as she slumped back into the seat she had occupied earlier on the couch, her phone back in her hands so her face was seen again on the live. "I took Mingyu's iPad so we can listen to some music in the background," she explained, tapping around the screen of the device. "I'm really sorry, Carats, I almost forgot how to do these lives, I haven't done one in so long." She decided to set the phone on the coffee table in front of her, so she could have both hands free to type. "Wait," she mumbled before a lot of rustling could be heard as she shuffled forward, pushing the coffee table slightly back so she could sit down on the floor, resting her back against the couch. "There we go," she sighed happily, "That looks much better. I should've done that from the beginning."

A few seconds passed in silence.

"So," she started again, "I'm accepting song requests," and leaned forward to read the comments showing up on her phone screen. For a bit, she read through them until one caught her eye.

"Miley Cyrus' Flowers, please," Minnie nodded, "Yes, that's a good one." 

[if i didn't know she was happily living with her two husbands, i'd wonder who had hurt her, ngl]

While she already started to mumble, she typed in the name of the song, only for it to be played through the speakers in the apartment a second later.

"Is the volume okay?" She wondered, "I'll lower it a bit, so you can hear me better."

With a smile, she read through the comments, chuckling every now and then.

"'Mingyu said he furnished the apartment by himself, is that true?'" She read out loud, "Ehm... slightly, yeah. I mean..." for a quick moment, she thought about her answer, looking around the room. "I just wanted it to be comfortable... but our styles- like our... interior style choices differ a lot from each other... so... it was hard to make choices, so I let him choose a lot of the furniture. As long as it made me feel comfortable, I was fine with it," she answered with a smile and nod.

[it's so domestic, they warm my heart, it's disguting]

[i love them though]

"'Where are Mingyu and Wonwoo?' I mentioned it earlier, they went out to get food but I said I'll stay back and do the live I've been wanting to make but never have time for. So now I'll wait and chat with you guys until they're here." Minnie continued to hum to the tune of the song.

"'You don't want to do a live with them?' No, it's not that... I don't mind doing a live together with them, but... hm.... we- we usually talk about things... that we can't really talk about with Carats...," she gazed around the room suspiciously. 

[THE EYES, CHICO, THEY NEVER LIE]

[we would LOVE to know what y'all are talking about btw]

"That sounds weird, but I don't mean it like that, it's just... like the things we talk about at the monthly meetings. Just more private and... boring things... yeah." She ended it with a grin, hoping her answer was enough and it wouldn't cause too much tumult.

[PRIVATE THINGS HUH]

[i can tell you one thing and that's that she wasn't thinking about any talking when she answered that question]

"Yes!" She excitedly sat up straighter, the iPad back in her grip, "I'll add more songs, please request them now. I'm gonna put them all into the queue. That's gonna make it easier."

She added one song after the other, trying to pick out the ones she thought she'd be allowed to play.

Right as Minnie had opened her mouth again to talk, the door to the apartment opened, and the familiar deep voices filled the room,

"Jag-"

"AAAAAH" the girl suddenly shouted, "What?" quickly snapping her head to the right. 

[THE PANIC]

[i mean, we didn't hear it clearly, and I'm open for suggestions on what you heard, but know what I want to hear, so I'm staying with mine]

She reached out with her hand, ready to cover the camera when she found the eyes of the culprit entering the living room with an apologetic smile on his face. 

[this.]

[let's go over this]

*clip repeats*

[WONWOO]

[not him literally outing them like that]

Minnie nodded, speaking calmly again, "You're back already."

[just survived a heart attack]

"Yeah," Wonwoo could be heard from the side. "The food was already done when we arrived."

[exactly, play it off as if nothing just happened]

"You're still live?" Mingyu suddenly spoke up, to which she nodded, suddenly getting joined by him in the shot. "Hey guys!" He called out to the live, waving his hand to greet everyone that was watching. The rapper sat down next to her, having to push the coffee table back just a bit further as he took up more space.

"We didn't think you'd still be live. We thought you might end it because we took a little bit longer," he explained, a somewhat tight smile on his lips.

"Yeah," she nodded with a chuckle, "I figured."

[MH]

[kinda guessed that by your entrance]

"Are you playing your own playlist?" Wonwoo's voice got closer right as Minnie looked up, following something behind the camera while Mingyu was focused on reading through the comments.

[how he can just DETECT her music]

"No," she smiled up, "Carats just the same good music taste as me," cutely tilting her head when her gaze landed back on the screen. "Oh- come here," he motioned on her left side, "Don't you want to say hello to Carats?" Minnie asked with a teasing tone, giggling when Wonwoo got closer, leaning down to appear in the frame, waving.

"Hello everyone," he smiled.

She patted the free space next to her, "Sit down."

"No," he pointed to the couch, "I'll sit behind you." She immediately leaned forward, so the rapper could get in a comfortable position behind her on the couch, her shoulders squished in between his knees. 

[what even]

[like... he's doing this on purpose]

[you know that, right]

[he wants to show off]

The sight of it in the camera made her laugh, Mingyu joined her once he saw it too.

"I'm Wonwoo, and I have 57cm shoulders," she mimicked the deep voice of the man behind her, making him squeeze his legs together, squishing her even harder. Minnie smacked his calves to make him stop, getting a chuckle from him in return.

[THE TEASING]

"58cm," he simply added, to which she rolled her eyes dramatically.

"I'm so sorry, how could I dishonour you like that?" The two men laughed at her antics.

[i need more of this]

[pls let wonwoo forever be this affectionate]

While Mingyu continued to read out loud some questions and answer them along the way, the girl turned around to look up at the older member. She found the bottle he was still holding and reached out with her hand, making 'grabby-hands' to get a hold of it. Without needing to be told twice, Wonwoo handed it over after taking a gulp from it.

She put it up to her lips and took a sip, before closing it and handing it back to him, continuing to look straight ahead.

[i know some other members have done similar things, but I personally don't just take the bottle from my friends and drink it]

[👀👀]

-

"Did you close the window in the bedroom already?" The '96 Liner suddenly asked. Minnie stopped reading through the comments, subconsciously wrapping her arm around one of his calves that had now trapped her shoulder between them and the couch.

[now back to the singular use]

[this might be a translation problem, but i will go with it]

[THE window in THE bedroom]

[y'all have one bedroom or what?]

"Yeah, earlier, why?" She tried to look back at him as she wondered.

Wonwoo shrugged, "It's a bit chilly."

"Ah, but... oh, the bathroom window is still open."

He nodded, "Oh, ok, ok."

The girl got ready to get up, "I can go close it." But Wonwoo didn't make any move to let her out from his legs around her frame.

[he looks so comfy like this😭]

[minnie too]

[just too domestic, i can't]

"No, it's fine. I'll do it later." Making her go back to her original position.

-

"Wonwoo!" The girl made the older rapper jump by the sudden volume of her voice as she raised her head - having let it rest on his knee for a while.

[again, no words, just cutey thoughts]

"Huh?" He wondered, putting his phone to the side.

"'What was the last book you read?' a Carat asked," she explained to him, continuing to look straight ahead, taking a quick glance over to the other man who had the iPad and had started drawing something, making her smirk.

"Ehm..." Wonwoo tilted his head to show he was thinking, "What was the book you had on the nightstand?"

[THE NIGHTSTAND]

[not even YOUR nightstand, just THE]

[imma be sleeping on the highway tonight]

"Me?" She pointed to herself, slightly looking up, yet not being able to see him fully. He hummed in response.

"Diary of a Murderer," she told him and the people that were on the other side of the screen.

The rapper nodded, "Then that. I quickly breezed through it when I saw it."

[sharing books is a love language in itself to be fair]

Out of the blue, Minnie smacked Mingyu's upper arm gently. "I told you to read that," before doing the same to Wonwoo's leg. "I didn't think you'd like it." Directing each sentence to each one of them.

"I'll read it once you're done," her fellow '97 Liner assured her with a smile, followed by the sound of him placing his hand on something, almost imitating a slapping sound.

[they got mingyu to read now too]

-

Minnie was focused on answering a question, getting surprised by the delicate touch on top of her head.

[so checking out if my toaster is waterproof in the bathtop right after this video]

[how are these people calling me single THIS hard]

"I'll go prepare the food. I'm getting hungry," Wonwoo told her, his voice low and gentle as he stood up after the girl shuffled her body forward, ducking her head, so he wouldn't accidentally smack her with his knee or foot, even though he still had his hand on top of her hair.

Mingyu sighed, "Yeah, I'll help you," following his member out of the shot.

"Well, Carats," the girl spoke, "I think that's my cue to go. It was very nice talking to you and I promise to try and come on here more often. Maybe more alone," she added the last part with a whisper.

"What's wrong with us?" the younger rapper whined, making her chuckle as she waved into the camera, the voices of the two men filling the silence as they also said their goodbyes.

[and that's my cue to go and watch more compilations to continue feeding my delulu self]

Minnie x Members Content (open!)

official poly!mimiwon poll (open!)

Taglist: @shrynkk @chaebb @lunarxsun @hoe4wonwoo @kimhyejin3108 @soobzao @billboard-singer @cosmicwintr @zwiehe @alixnsuperstxr @angie-x3 @smooore @allthings-fandoms

[proboblynotstriaght]

Yeah I may have a problem with taking screenshots....

Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop!!!

As usual, minor spoilers for episode 39 of once upon a witch light : Too many Cooks. (and I'm already off too a great start considering I read that as cocks)

Derek : ooo, I will endeavor to crush it's mind"

Derek : "Only dreams now" he woke up today and chose VIOLENCE

"Grickos right, we probably should have washed our hands first"

"First the worms and now this"

*making fun of 'rizz' and gen alpha slang n their best frost impression*

"You wanna boil the lornilings?" "No-" "You sick fuck" "Yeah that's way too humane!"

"If this was your kitchen you'd know where the lid was" - Gideon

FINALLY SOME COLEXCROUR CONTENT FROM GIDEON

Derek : You've picked the right one

Gricko : OH ICE STALAGMITES

"What were my heart sounds not good enough for you Derek" "No they were not" "what the fuck derek" "I'm sorry Angela, they were great, they were great I promise"

Dm's revenge on Derek. (Derek's valley girl voise) : YAS QUEEN KILL THAT FUCKING CAT!! BITCH SLAYYYY!!! (not an actually quote)

Derek : *least realistic heart sounds you've ever heard in your life*

I love them

Mike : SpongeBob refrence

Derek : Man we are all going to die

Nikkie : You... you can feel frost filling your mouth

Richis : You could have not said that

Frost : Perhaps you could spend a few minutes - (WHILE GRICKO IS FREEZING TO DEATH IN THE NEXT ROOM)

"Although see doesn't like you" "Ok wow."

leaning over to talk to Twig, their dynamic is so sibling core

"Gricko is probably far away and outside of ear shot" "Gricko you can hear everything, as you look like Jack Nicholson in the final scene of The Shining"

"You nipple is completely gone"

Earlier, Gricko : Kremy always has his lock pick on him

Kremy : "Oh yeah this is my Lock Pick" gestures at Gideon

YOU CANNOT SEPARATE THEM YOUR HONOR

"Just chain it to your back or something Gid" "I'm not playing that character this time"

Twig messing with Gideon

The beezel berry returns, what started as a Mace-mispronunciation is now an eldritch fruit of the fae wilds

"You see him dangling his - his hooves" "BAD place to stutter there Angela" "Are those two socks with eggs in them- OOH NOOO"

I love their reaction to all put their heads down and then Derek looks up and Laughs

"Yeah we changed the name of the attraction from the dunk tank to throw fruit at the freak"

"Now was that before or after the Chunk Tank"

"Why is this chain so greasy?! I can't get any grip on it man, It's like a greased fucking pig!" - Direct quote from one Gideon Coal

Mace is swinging the wooden whistle side to side as Nikkie describes the fully naked satyr walking.

Oh I love these Idiots

FUck the 30 image limit ok, making a part 2 as I finish up the episode, brb

Edit : reblogged this with more screenshots

[buddiebeginz]

If they are keeping Lou around for any part of season 8 the show has to put an end to the cameo nonsense. Some of the Buck/Oliver takes that are starting to make the rounds are next level insane. I saw one scolding Oliver for making Lou do all the promoting of the ship. Another post said the writers needed to up Buck's game because he's not at the level of commitment yet that Tommy is being written (wtf when were these episodes). And yet another post scolding Oliver for promoting Buddie and Buck for continuing to spend time with Eddie.

They are taking these PAID (you paid him to say this shit) videos and making them canon. No part of anything he's saying is canon. Firstly, he wouldn't be allowed to tell them any actual canon facts and secondly Oliver/Buck is the character/actor the show gives a shit about. He's encouraging this nonsense and it's gross. Him promoting himself is fine, it's low-key cringe given the fact the other half of the ship is silent but you do you, babe. Oliver's silence is what's pissing his fans off. Seriously tell me you're new to Captain Starks ways without telling me you're new. He promotes no ship but the Buddie ship, canon or not. These people are here for Lou. When he goes, happy for him to take them with him.

I'm not sure why they keep letting him do those cameos especially after he pissed people off when he said T*mmy being homophobic and racist to Hen and Chim was just teasing. He also talked about people recognizing him in Thailand in the AH interview and did this fake stereotypical asian accent. 🤦‍♀️He really needs a better agent and some media training because they'd for sure tell him to knock that shit off.

I could see the cameos being fun to do a few times when he first came back to the show even to garner excitement about B/T and T*mmy but the fact that he's done so many now and has even raised the price just makes him look desperate for attention. And like you said he gives all these headcanons about T*mmy in his videos that his obsessive fans have taken for absolute fact. We would never hear the end of it if Buddie fandom was paying Ryan for videos like that.

I agree with you that a majority of B/T stans are here first and foremost for T*mmy and Lou not Buck and Oliver. I still can't believe that a lot of them used to be Buddie shippers. I think everyone should be able to ship what they want including multishipping but I don't get how some of them dropped a ship they were seemingly invested in for years for the nothing that is B/T.

That part of fandom also loves to call us delusional and say we're seeing only what we want to see but a lot of times we're just pointing out what's actually happening. Like in the recent episode T*mmy was being a downer to Buck's enthusiasm (which has basically become the norm for them). The camera also paned to Eddie after Buck got his award not T*mmy. Buck chose to run off to Eddie's after work not to T*mmy's. These are things the show is literally showing us not just stuff we're imagining.

It's similar with Oliver. They can come up with all the reasons in the world why he's never promoted B/T through this entire season but it doesn't matter because he still hasn't and likely won't. I've seen them say Oliver doesn't post anything about B/T or Lou to avoid dealing with the hate or to not upset Buddie fans or to protect Lou. The thing is though Oliver has left social media before when he's had issues and could again if he wanted to. He's also been dealing with homophobic comments since Buck came out but he's never shied away from talking about Buck coming out and has even addressed the hate on his insta.

Oliver liked a couple of B/T pieces of art when the story first happened but I think that was more to support the bi Buck storyline and the artists than anything else. Multiple times during this season he's liked Buddie art (including a tattoo which he commented on three times) he's also posted Buddie related and Ryan stuff on his stories. If he wanted to show support to Lou or B/T he could easily post on his stories where people can't comment. B/T stans can think what they want but it's clear Oliver doesn't promote any of that because he's rooting for Buddie harder than anyone. I think he knows B/T isn't going to be around forever and he's trying not to lead people on about it as he's said in the past he hates to do that.

I really hope we can get rid of T*mmy at the end of s7 although knowing Tim he'll probably keep him for added drama until s8. Unfortunately even when B/T ends I expect those fans to do a lot of complaining because they've concocted this whole idea in their head that T*mmy is Buck's endgame soulmate. They even want T*mmy to be added on as main character and get a begins episode. So I fully expect some of them to riot when he inevitably gets the ax. The rest will probably run back to Buddie the minute it becomes canon and try to pretend they never left. Jokes on them though because a lot of Buddie shippers have blocked them for how awful they've been this season especially towards Eddie.

[bridgertonandchocolate]

Still living in my Polin era. Not leaving anytime soon. But since they announced Benedict will be the focus on season 4, which came as absolutely no surprise and didn’t really probably warrant an announcement at this point in time since we’ll be waiting forever for the next season, I decided to start making a list of potential spin offs that Shondaland and Netflix should take advantage of and make for us.

I hope they have something planned similar to Queen Charlotte but who knows. Queen Charlotte is definitely very different because it was more based off actual history and to me it still feels very separate other than bringing in Violet and Danbury that sticks more to the Bridgerton side of things.

Anyway here’s some ideas that could be added to the Bridgerton collection:

1. The Featherington story. I’d love to see Portia’s origin story. We got a big glimpse of it this season and I’d love to see her originally as maybe a very carefree debutante and realizing just what is expected of her and the choices she made. And maybe combining this with current timeline with a new heir. This would be more dramatic. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the Featheringtons in a comedy because they’re hilarious.

2. Edmund and Violets story. We know how this one ends and honestly I don’t know if this would ever be explored now because we have seen Edmunds death and we saw a young Violet so it just might not be an interest. Or it would’ve probably be a very long series. I think they could draw on the aunts and uncles of our Bridgerton siblings. We know Francesca stayed with her aunt in Bath and Julia Quinn does have her whole prelude to Bridgerton series so…I’m not opposed.

3. Bridgerton Christmas. I stole this idea from a few people I saw on TikTok. It wasn’t anything I had thought about before but it would be an easy way to keep production costs low. Would be more of a movie than a season with multiple episodes. Very similar to what shows like Downton Abbey have done that they have where they have a special I think this could be something fun to hold people over.

4. Lady Whistledown. Something. Season 3 had the opportunity to delve into the origin of LW and have some flashbacks and didn’t do it. They did explain why Penelope started the column but I think it would have been interesting to see more to see how in the world she created this empire. There was also mention of other gossip columns in the first episode of season 1 so the competitiveness of this. The danger Pen put herself in could lend itself to something. There probably isn’t enough here for this idea to become a spin off.

5. The servants. Anyone love Footman John? Yeah we all do. Want to know more about Varley or Wilson? Or season 3 MVP Rae?! Taking a note from shows like Downton Abbey this could be an interesting story to tell from the servant “downstairs” point of view. This would be unlikely. They haven’t delved much into this side of things so not many people probably do care about these side characters plus if they stick with Sophie being a ladies maid for season 4 that probably wouldn’t be likely at this point. Maybe after season 4 but they’d have to dig more into these side characters and bringing them into the more prominent storylines.

Kudos to you if you made it through that list. Mostly I just want more Polin so they could get their own spinoff, a film series, a travel series. Or just cast Luke and Nic in some rom coms for me so they can go on more press tours that’d be great.

[echantedtoon]

Phone Call

(WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS!!: First of all, warning for Wally tripping and falling down the stairs. Secondly, Welcome Home and Wally Darling do not belong to me. They belong to partycoffin. This is partially based on the audio someone did of Wally falling down the stairs made by  james.80085 on tiktok. Please support both the original content creators.

This fandom has a grip on me but I don't feel like writing a whole bunch for it since I have other projects so all I'm doing is this simple oneshot with GN reader. Take as platonic or romantic. You're choice. Just know this is based on the idea of a Muppet au which is basically humans live alongside living Puppets.)

Once upon a time-

"...No. That won't work. How many stories have started with 'Once upon a time' anyways? It needs to be original."

The sound of a crumpled up paper soon after hit the wall. 

Once in a land far, far away-

"...Nah. It sounds like the start of a fairytale. And this episode doesn't revolve around any fairytales so an opening like this wouldn't make any sense to start with."

A crumpled wad of paper gracefully flew through the air before bouncing off the opposite wall and landing with a couple thuds until it stopped just a few inches away from the first one. Both of which missed the trash Bin standing no more than a few inches away from them. Surely a waste of both paper and space but right now you couldn't care less. Too busy with trying to write the next episode's darn script. Not that anyone was really giving you any hands to help, even though there was a certain someone who was SUPPOSED to be! That little blueberry pompadour wearing banana was going to be in BIG trouble if he didn't show up soon to go over this script with you!

"Maybe we should start off by the camera zooming into a storybook that opens up?"...You shook your head. "That's just the fairytale start again but a different way. UGH!!" Papers flew off the desk and onto the floor, pens shook, and a thud sound echoed throughout the small office as your head collided into the desk in frustration. "Write us a new start they said. We've already had Wally painting as the opener too many times they said. You're a script writer so it should be easy for you to come up something in a week they said. Wally agreed to help you they said. 'No problem' he said!" Your head lifted up as a scowl presented itself on your face. "Well then where the heck IS he!? He couldn't even have the heart to call first-"

As if the universe was making fun of you, a rather loud sound coming from the right side of your desk rang out. That high pitched RRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG echoing throughout the small quiet office and  starling you into almost falling out of your chair and onto the floor along with the many small crumpled up papers, but luckily your hands grabbed hold on the desk and stopped you from wobbling and ultimately falling off and onto the floor. Blinking your eyes. ...What the- RRRIIIINNNGGG!!! The ringing came again after a few seconds of silence making your head snap over to the small electronic device set onto the right side of the desk. It went silent when you looked but sure enough two seconds later- RRRRIIIINNNGGG!!! The phone moved with the loud ringing noises.

Someone was calling you.

You blinked again before scowling and your eyes glanced to a clock mounted just above you on the wall. It was nearly noon!! And not only that! Most of the week's gone by without any help!! It made your annoyance grow, even after you grabbed the phone effectively making it stop ringing, and you held it up to your head as normal.

"Y/n's office." You had to restrain yourself from hissing that through your teeth in your annoyance.

"Hel-Lo.~" A male voice cooed from the other side of the phone and you froze upon realization. "Hello, Neighbor.~ Wonderful weather we have today, but I've noticed you've been stuck in that silly stuffy office lately."

....Oh that wise guy-

Your face deadpanned and your grip lightly tightened on the phone. "Gee. I wonder why? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" A hand gestured at the mess of papers. "The script for the newest episode is due in a few days and you were supposed to come over to help me pick an opening for it!"

"Hm?" The man's voice hummed genuinely confused for a moment before letting out a little gasp of realization. "Oh! So that's what I've forgotten. My apologies! You see most of the week I've had this string wrapped around my finger because I knew I forgot something but I couldn't remember what. It's a good thing Poppy mentioned I should give you a call for whatever reason."

You wanted to facepalm SO badly. "WELL since you remember NOW, WHEN can you free up some time to get here!"

"Um. That might be a little bit of a problem. You see. I've been rehearsing the script we do have-"

"And you've gotten the whole script instead of the opening right?"

"Yes! Gee, you catch on fast. I was so confused on why we didn't just start with the opening, and I discovered because you hadn't written it in yet." Gee. You wondered WHY. "I don't think it's too much of a problem."

"That's because you're not the one who's writing it. I AM."

"Why not just start with someone else?"

Your mind blanked for a moment. "....What?"

"It's simple really. For example just start with...Hmm. Let's say with Howdy bagging groceries and then the camera turns to the door and make it as if the viewer walks out the door and then down the street to where I'll be stationed! I think the kids would love being able to see part of the Neighborhood before the adventure starts."

Your mind still bluescreened as the silence continued on your half of the line and after about seven seconds another hum from the man on the other end came. 

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? You came up with a good opening in a few seconds, where I've been struggling for the last four days!"

A chuckle from the other end made you flush in both annoyance and embarrassment. "I'm sure you would've come up with something just a good, but I'm glad I could help."

Well..at least you had an idea of what to write now, you just had to write it out and make sure to give a copy to the Director later, and give a mention to Howdy about the use of his store front. With a sigh, you felt some of the annoyance leave your body.

"Well, that's taken cared of at least. But where are you right now? I haven't seen you all day."

"The third floor." You paused. "There was a few new sets being painted and they wanted some insight on them! They all look very beautiful."

"...You could've just come downstairs and taken twenty minutes to help me out with this!," you ended up lightly yelling not that the puppet man seemed too bothered about it really, "I'm literally one floor under you."

"Well I am using the wall phone right next to the stairs," he answered giving a hum. "So you're going with the idea of Howdy's shop?"

"Most likely. It sounds like a good idea."

"Thank you. Oh. Speaking of Howdy's-..A funny thing happened the other day." He continued to ramble on as you sighed. "He had this shipment of apples, so I asked him if I could have a few. He said if I wanted one so bad, I could just drive down to the grocery store since last time I took the whole stack. And I said if you were going to eat all of those apples, you might as well share. Hahaha!''

Despite the annoyance you felt, you couldn't help rolling your eyes and sighing, but smiling afterwards. Puppet humor wasn't the funniest thing in the world to you, but little kids loved his jokes whatever they may be, and it did make you have some form of a small smile on your face.

"Are you smiling?~ I think I feel a smile on the other end of the line," you heard his voice coo and immediately your face burst red in embarrassment.

"What!? No. A-Absolutely not! *ahem* But it was good to finally hear from you. Just be sure next time you don't forget about any important meetings."

"Oh, hey! That also reminds me. I have a date with Jul-"

Unfortunately he never got to finish his sentence because you jumped when what sounded like a wooden thump call from the other side of the line followed by-...A cartoony slip noise?"

"Uh oh-"

"Mr. Darli-"

You also didn't have a chance to answer as a loud BANG from above made you jump from your chair and look up to the ceiling as what sounded like a decently sized object started to noisily fall down the stairs from the third floor AAAAALLLLL the way down to the second floor where you were at. Bang! Bam! Bum! Thud! Crash! And repeat! Meanwhile your ear was assaulted by a pained voice-

"OW- What the-!? AH!! EEEEEEYY-"

And other sputterings as the noises down the stairs above you continued until with a final CRASH noise, you heard a-....Cartoony symbol bang noise? That signaled the end of the assault of noises and then silence came from everywhere, only broken when a low groan of pain exited the phone.

"Mr. Darling! Are you alright?!"

"I-...I think I broke everything," his voice came through the other side of the phone obviously sore from the rough ride down.

You winced and cringed a little bit imagining the descend down. "Would you like me to bring you an ice pack?"

"You..better make it a couple, Sweetheart."