#they assume a kid is born knowing how to explain everything not that it's a skill they're taut

[nozomijoestar]

Typical to see as I read some assigned essays for school that people in the U. S. have always been fucking stupid by and large about treating their children with any respect to the point it actually hurt their literacy skills

[soarrenbluejay]

Since I’ve been encouraged to actually share my funny little blorbo ideas here’s another one gang;

Danny moves to Gotham on scholarship for engineering, because the Fentons may be infamous but they’re also insanely brilliant and besides both he and Jazz are showing every sign of embarrassed child of a super genius syndrome, so while the bats are keeping a close eye on him Just In Case, duke is also thinking of introducing him to the Our Parents Are Maniacs But Anyway club maybe after the first month or so.

Gotham does not go for standard dorm living bc of his ‘condition’ and lack of wanting to constantly spook/gaslight a roommate. Besides, living with two small children is a dorm sounds like a disaster in action.

So Danny signs up as a mechanic in Crime Alley, buys himself a teeny weensy lil apartment and Makes It Work. He has been all year after showing up with a de aged Dani and Dan in Amnity after all, and that had gone,,, fine? (The entire town, observing how Danny had been getting increasingly more uncomfortable around his godfather prior to the cloning incident, then just dropped off the face of the earth for several months, the first two weeks stuck in Vlad’s basement enduring horrors and the next Too Many desperately fapping around in the Ghost Zone to get everything handled. All the clones live, all 13 of them. Bunch of them are stuck in the Ghost Zone due to constant need for ectoplasm, but eh, plenty of Zone born never leave, so. One, in the future, apprentices under a green warrior lady on Pandora’s suggestion, another is working in the Eternal Library with Ghost Writer, etc etc. so Danny eventually came back to Amnity with one small child under each arm very obviously traumatized by Somethingn with vlad and doesn’t like being alone with him,,, or touched without warning,, and immediately and passionately proclaims the kids his but struggles to explain how or why,, look some very reasonable assumptions are drawn okay. So the town does the very reasonable thing and does the midwestern equivilant of excommunicating Vlad, except it’s a lot more run him out with pitchforks vibes since he’s the Mayor. Anyway)

He is immediately loved, because while non Gothamites are usually more of a pain than they’re worth, everyone in a while someone even from out of town will just fit in so nicely it’s uncanny for everyone involved. Addams family vibes, it’s referred to as ‘making it home’, just personal hc. He is protective of all the kids playing in the parks and street girls that can totally take care of themselves on their corners but find it HILARIOUS when he just tackles a dick like a wild animal full force no warning. He can fix anything it seems, but refuses to work with weapons. Reasonable enough, people get twitchy about gangs sometimes. Danny mentions being not against Hood or anything, but he’s not going to work for him, littles to take care of and all, but had past experience with ‘Dora and that inheritance mess with her brother he was being a real prick about’ so everyone assumes it’s the equivilant of him having Done His Time and being plenty good for a life time and respects it as long as none of that petty midwestern small town hotshots bring any of that shit over here. And they don’t, because said individuals are on the other side of the mortal veil, so happy day.

See I really love deaged!Dan because he’s just a grumpy lil guy. But he’s also killed millions. He’s so protective of his loved ones, but held back by blending in and also being Smol that it comes off more bitey kitten than anything else. Dani, of course, is a terror, so she fits right in with the crowd.

And sorry gang, but a bunch of kids on their own in Gotham in a poor side of the city just isn’t going to get any attention: that’s just business as usual really. What first gets attention on Danny is not his ‘condition’ or being mistaken for a meta (which he legally probs has an argument for even without the gene bc like these bitches don’t know how metaism works anyway so) or alien (I’m 90% sure he’d be covered by the alien protection act by virtue of being half ‘not from earth’), but because Danny despite best efforts is a Weird Guy.

He grew up in what could only be described as a low level villain level and spent most of high school dealing with smack downs and spiritual invasion. He’s never really processed that any of that is not in fact Normal. Also, he’s capable of making Anything if given the insides of a toaster, blender and alarm clock, and could probably rewrite the circuits of the apartment blindfolded and improve them 1000% even if it ABSOLUTELY would not be up to code.

And sure, things slip every once in a while, bits of spectral ice here, small floating incident there, but everyone just Minds Their Buisness ya know? You really gunna mess with the guy that personally ensured that when your car got flattened by a fight with Killer Croc, you were still able to get in to work the next day by some wizardry? Really?

But Gotham is a city so cursed it’s probably in the exponents countwise, so of course there is a) a flourishing community of magic users and assorted supernatural weirdos and b) a whole lot of shit for Mega Overpowered Ghost King Danny to idly pick at day to day in order to help with his protecting other Obsession. Gotham has plenty of heroes, but by god do they need the spiritual equivilant of an electrician/priest.

Still, Danny, as a baby ancient under a facet of Kronos and KING OF THE DEAD is like, way, way out of their scope to be able to grok, so it mostly just comes off as you know, a family of banshees or something. When asked, Danny very haltingly says he was briefly dead but then revived, which neatly explains his Weird Ass aura and makes it SPECTACULARLY AWKWARD to ask further about. So everyone nods politely, and goes back to their lives after double checking no nefarious bullshit was being pulled.

Then, of course, Vlad finally tracks them down. The whole neighborhood is altered in short order because he doesn’t bother trying to hide being a Rich Bitch or how he’s sneering down his nose at people on the sidewalk. Every connects the dots when Danny paniks. Dani and Dan’s daycare are staffed with some extra, very buff set of hands within the hour. Jerry, Hood’s third in command, personally shows up to the garage Danny is working at to talk things out with him bc he knows he does t like the deal with this stuff due to past unspecified circumstances but well, they guys had already started fucking with him, you see. Stole his tires, spray painted the windows, pickpocketed him blind, and when he retreated tipped off the police to the drugs they’d planted in the glove box.

Danny might not have been born in Gotham, but he was one of them. And the Alley takes care of it own.

[starkwlkr]

the hamilton girls | lewis hamilton

based on dave grohl’s interviews about his daughters <33 he’s my favorite girl dad i can always trust dave grohl

Lewis Hamilton was many things. A Formula 1 driver, a seven time world champion, an idol, an inspiration to many young kids, but most of all, he was a husband and father to three girls. His family was everything to him. He enjoyed being a dad to his three precious girls.

Maeve was his oldest. She was born on a sunny day in 2013. Then came his second, Violet, born in 2017. Violet instantly became Maeve’s best friend. Lewis and Y/n were thankful that Maeve didn’t go through a jealous phase. Lastly, came their third girl, Gracie, born in early 2020.

The Hamilton girls would join their father in the paddock when they didn’t have school. Dressed in Mercedes merch, they walked hand in hand with their mother to the Mercedes garage. The entire team loved them, it was impossible not to.

“Dad! I really want lemonade!” Violet poked Lewis’ side until he payed attention to her.

“There’s no lemonade here. Have some water.” Lewis suggested, but Violet frowned. Lewis didn’t want his daughter to be upset so he directed the girls to Mercedes hospitality in hopes that someone could make the girls a lemonade. In the end, his three daughters ended up with their lemonade.

At one point, they even because Twitter famous whenever they were at the races. Violet had a habit of sleeping even before the race ended so when the camera showed Lewis celebrating his win, the camera panned over to Lewis’ family showing little Violet asleep with her mouth slightly open in her mom’s arms.

Maeve was half asleep, but she still made a heart with her hands. Gracie was with her grandma, but you were pretty sure she was asleep as well.

But when they weren’t attending races, the Hamilton girls were back in school. Whenever Lewis had time off, he would pick up the girls from school, giving you some time to yourself. He knew how the school pickup process was, what he didn’t know was how long it would take. When it was finally his time to park in front of the school, a teacher walked up making Lewis roll down the window.

The teacher was taken by surprise when she saw Lewis. “Um . . Who are you here to pick up, sir?”

“Maeve and Violet Hamilton.” He replied. Then the teacher nodded and walked back to the school. Seconds later, his two girls walked patiently towards their dad’s black Mercedes. Lewis could feel the other parents staring at him. It wasn’t everyday that Lewis Hamilton came to a children’s school.

Maeve opened the backseat door and climbed in along with Violet. They looked exhausted, probably from all the running they did during recess.

“How was school?” Lewis asked as he drove away.

“We went to the library today and I got a book. It’s about sports and your face is in it.” Violet said as she got the book out from her backpack.

“Really? What does it say?” Lewis questioned, curious as to what the book said. The girls weren’t really interested in formula 1, so he was confused as to why Violet even checked out the book.

“It says you won seven titles and then i stopped reading because I was bored. I only got it because I wanted to show you and mom that uncle Nico was in the book too.”

His girls always made him laugh. They could brighten up his day even if he was at his lowest. He was such a proud dad too, often bringing up his daughters during interviews and posting pictures of them on instagram. During his Jimmy Kimmel interview, he took any chance he got to talk about his family.

“And do your daughters understand that their dad is a seven time world champion?” Jimmy asked.

Lewis chuckled. “They don’t really care.” He said then the audience, along with Jimmy, laughed. “No, they know what I do for work, but when they were younger they thought I sold cars.”

“You sold cars? How did they come up with that?” Jimmy laughed.

“Their mum explained that I work with cars, that was all, so they assumed I sold cars because at home I have several. Then I think it was the Monaco Grand Prix where they finally got an understanding of what exactly I do. They watched the race and when it was over, I asked them what they thought of it and all I got was ‘I don’t know’ and that’s when my wife said that halfway through the race they asked her for her phone so they could watch their cartoons.” Lewis explained.

He remembers that day clearly. The girls weren’t interested in cars, they rather watch reruns of Gravity Falls. He wasn’t mad either, he was glad that they didn’t get frustrated and start causing chaos around the paddock.

Him mentioning his girls because a regular thing. During press conferences, he was often asked about his girls, more specifically if they would follow his footsteps into the world of F1.

“They don’t even care about the races.” Lewis said as the other drivers bursted out laughing. “My oldest, Maeve, she did have a phase where she liked cars, but she’s transitioned into learning about dinosaurs. She says she wants to be an paleontologist so I don’t have to worry about her.”

“Her birthday is coming up, no?” Max asked. “I’ll buy her one of those fossil kits. I think she’ll love it.”

“And what about your other daughter?”

“She falls asleep every time, I don’t think we will see her racing anytime soon. I’m telling you, they don’t care.” Lewis laughed.

“They don’t care about your world titles?” Charles asked smiling.

“They don’t care! To them, I’m just their dad. They’re like ‘daddy, I need my lemonade now’ it’s kinda funny actually. But I love my girls.”

The Hamilton girls loved their dad to death, it was clear, even if they didn’t care about his world titles or his reputation in F1. He was the best dad to them and that was all they cared about.

[stevesbipanic]

Eddie sometimes went quiet.

Wayne noticed it after Eddie moved in. He didn't do it as much when he was little and Mary would bring him round, but here he was at ten years old completely silent. When Eddie was little Wayne assumed the boy was just shy, but now that he lived with Eddie he knew that sometimes a whole week would pass with not a peep from the young boy. M

The doctor said it might be a trauma response, might just be something he would do from time to time, either way, Eddie Munson, one of the loudest and dramatic kids Wayne had ever met would still be him, just nonverbal. They worked with a notebook but sometimes Eddie would get frustrated he wasn't being answered fast enough and they were running out of paper.

It was Wayne's buddy from work that presented a solution. "Have you tried sign language? My son was born deaf and Susan and I went to night classes so we could talk to the kid." So that's exactly what Wayne did, he moved his shifts to the day and spent his nights at the school learning to talk to his boy. On his days off he'd show Eddie what he'd learnt and slowly they were able to bridge the gap that the silence presented.

The silent days didn't stop as he grew older, his teachers didn't really understand and sometimes he'd end up in detention with a note saying he was being disrespectful. His friends understood though and enthusiastically asked Eddie to teach them sign language, they'd use it even when Eddie was happily chatting with them, they liked that they shared a 'secret' language from the bullies.

He hadn't had any silent days since Vecna, which Eddie thought was a miracle in itself given the circumstances. However, he woke up a couple months after spring break knowing what kind of day it was going to be. He felt frustrated with himself, he was supposed to be hanging out with Steve and Robin today and was worried with how they'd take it, especially Steve. They'd been dancing around each other's feelings lately and he didn't want to ruin everything before it even started. Resigned he grabbed a notebook and pen and headed to Family Video.

He'd spent ten minutes psyching himself up in the parking lot before heading inside, note written and ready explaining that no it wasn't anything Upside Down related, he just wouldn't be speaking today. The door's bell rings in his ear as he stops suddenly staring at the scene before him. Steve and Robin were, quite rapidly, signing at each other. Steve turns at the bell, smiling at Eddie.

"Eddie!"

Still in a bit of shock, Eddie signs on instinct, "You know sign?"

Steve has the same look of shock now, before his face breaks into an even bigger smile and signs back, "You know sign! You know sign, how, why?"

His hands are faster than his brain as he explains how he goes quiet sometimes, and Wayne and night classes and Hellfire before asking Steve how he and Robin know sign.

Steve looks bashful as he signs back, "Um, after Starcourt my hearing started to go, so Robin, ever the linguist, insisted we learn, which was actually very smart of her. I can still kinda hear but I get by mainly on lip reading."

Things started to make sense now to Eddie, how sometimes Steve seemed to just nod and smile at whatever the kids were saying, or would need things repeated to him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you tell me about going nonverbal? Robbie has days like that too."

"Didn't want you to think I was weird."

"I like that you're weird, I like you, Eds."

Eddie blushes at what he interprets is his sign name from Steve, the letter E and the sign for love combined.

"I like you too, Stevie." Eddie signs, the letter S mixed with the sign for heart.

Eddie may still have his silent days, but now he shares them with Steve, and they can sign the things he's not allowed to say out loud, making sure they both know they're loved.

[imaginecolby]

baby love || c.b.

summary: being pregnant with colby's child, he makes sure you know how loved and appreciated you are. requested by anonymous

being pregnant was by far one of the most difficult things you’d ever had to go through. you were over the moon excited to become a parent, especially with colby by your side. but you wished more than anything that time could fast forward to when your baby was here already.

however, your disdain for your pregnancy quickly melted away whenever colby was around. he was a gentle soul, and he always had been with you. but his gentleness multiplied by a thousand whenever you found out you were pregnant. as soon as you told him, he fell to his knees in front of you and began peppering kisses all over your belly, talking to your child. he would speak to the baby as if they were the most marvelous person on the planet. you had no doubt in your mind that he would continue to do so once the baby was born. 

as your belly began to grow, colby spoke with your bump every night. he would tell your baby every night how much you and colby already loved them. he would softly scold them on days when your pregnancy symptoms were especially intense. he loved his kid, and it made your heart swell at the sight.

one day, you were coming home from the grocery store while he stayed home to finish some work.

“colby, baby? can you come help unload?” you called from the front door. as soon as you finished your sentence, he was already out the door and at your car. he loaded up as many bags as he could, moving behind you as you waddled into the house.

“you know i hate when you go shopping by yourself.” he said softly, setting all the bags on the counter.

“babe, i asked you to come with me and you said you couldn’t.” you said as you began to unpack everything.

“yeah, and i assumed you would wait for me.” colby laughed as he stepped back outside. 

“i can’t help it, i'm restless!” you called back to him. he came back in with the rest of the bags, and set them on the counter before turning his attention to you.

“lemme look at you.” he said softly, giving you grabby hands. you turned in his direction, placing your hands on your back, poking your belly out and putting it on full display. “my babies.” he said softly. he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your lips before leaning down and pressing a kiss to your belly. your heart melted as you listened to colby talk with your belly. you ran your fingers through his hair and he smiled up at you. “have i mentioned how beautiful i think you are? and how incredibly strong?”

“you may have mentioned it.” you teased. really, he told you every day. but you always loved hearing it. he laughed before pressing another kiss to your belly. he stood behind you and wrapped his arms around you. he placed his hands at the bottom of your belly and lifted it slightly. you let out a deep sigh as you leaned against his chest, the weight lifting from your hips feeling better than you could explain. you stood silently in the kitchen, leaning against colby as he held your belly.

“i’m gonna need you to carry them as much as possible once they’re born.” you laughed as colby removed his hands.

“gladly.” he said, kissing you again. 

the rest of the evening was spent at home, you and colby lounging on the couch. you weren’t up for going out much in these last few months of your pregnancy, but colby was more than happy to indulge in your nights in. you ordered dinner, watched movies, and cuddled on the couch. colby did all that he could to make sure you were comfortable, and he took great pleasure in talking to and helping care for your belly.

he spoke to your baby every night before bed, and helped you apply your lotion and other balms to keep your skin healthy. he helped you with as much as he could to keep you and your baby comfortable, as he wanted to make sure you knew how much he appreciated you. you carrying his baby was doing more for him than he could ever do for you. but he tried to help you as much as he could in an attempt to repay you. you made sure he knew that he didn’t have to repay you for anything. but you appreciated the love, and made sure he knew that too.

you couldn’t wait for your baby to arrive, and you knew that they were gonna be loved beyond words by both you and colby.

[itshype]

Excuse me, do you work here? (DC x DP)

This is sort of based off of the core idea behind The second, secret Justice League, so mayhaps consider reading that if you haven't? It'll take you 2 minutes max. Also, here's my masterpost.

So, Danny frequently works with the JL headquartered in the Infinite Realms. Basically, every League-Adjacent hero who died in costume chose to continue their work and make the Violent Afterlife a little safer. It's lead by Jason Todd as Batman (he never revived after Joker killed him in this AU - ....yet?) and has whomever else you like it in it. It's still just called the Justice League because with the zone inhabitants being long dead, never born or aliens, enough of them are unfamiliar with Justice League Earth.

They're better than ghost cops because they all died within the last decade. They remember what it is to be alive, they remember living people who they love and it changes the way that their minds think about crime and criminals in the zone. Their criminals are still people, not just obstructions to their obsessions.

And in a fun swap, Jason lives in mortal terror of the day anyone dares to kill the Joker. He hopes that asshole lives to the age of 108 and dies peacefully in bed so the chances of the Joker becoming an ecto-entity are as low as possible.

The regular, non-secret Justice League are kidnapped by a cool Alien species who want to make them fight. Not to the death, unless you feel like it, but more as a exhibition match. Martian Manhunter, Superman, Green Lantern and Constantine are not pumped to be kidnapped but the Lantern explains that doing well in this tournament will be super great going forward. If other planets hear about Earth's robust defence, they're all going to be less likely to fuck around and find out in future.

So, Constantine, in his infinite wisdom decides to - while they wait for the whole thing to start - summon the "best equipped" Justice League member to fight on their behalf. This other member (he assumes it will be Wonder Woman or Plastic Man) will probably not love being taken to a new planet. But, it's for the greater good and they'll all be taken home later.

But he didn't specify which Justice League - not knowing there are two. A 14 year old (looking) boy shows up. Superman is furious. Constantine, trembling with horror in what his hasty actions have done, explains everything.

Danny's thrilled, he's on a NEW PLANET?! He's met a MARTIAN? And he gets to do a low-stakes fight that could save millions of lives someday? This is the best day ever!

Danny tells them he's gonna fight, and he's gonna win, and they're going to help him get in touch with Batman on Earth when he's done. As payment.

He wants to tell Earth Batman that Ghost Batman loves him and never blamed him etc etc. Things Jason didn't exactly tell Danny to tell Bruce, but that he's mentioned to the team as wishing he could reach out and tell Batman before. (Why doesn't Jason go to Earth? Maybe he doesn't know which one, maybe the idea of being on the same planet as Joker sends him into a destructive rage, maybe he thinks telling Bruce he's still out there would do more harm than good... idk)

4 adult heroes watch in awe as Danny does a magic girl transformation into Inverted Danny and starts pulling more and more powers out of absolutely nowhere. Danny obliterates his competition and everyone is scared to hell of him. He gives an unwanted speech about what an honour it was to represent his solar system (he's thinking of his new bestie Martian Manhunter's culture's safety too).

It's only on the way home in the spaceship owned by the tournament mangers that it occurs to any of the Normal Justice League members to ask how this kid they've never even heard of is a member of their team and what he wants to discuss with Batman.

[thedensworld]

Naming Is Fun | K.Mg

Pairing: husband!Mingyu x reader

Genre: fluff

Words count: 450

Summary: Mingyu knows that you are his laugh button, but he can't believe your suggestion over the baby name.

"How about 'Bapi'?"

"Kimbap."

Mingyu let out an exasperated groan, clearly accustomed to your antics. He'd heard countless suggestions, and you couldn't help but chuckle at his exaggerated reactions. It had already been almost a thousand suggestions, a number he playfully exaggerated. But he had indeed heard them all: Kimchi, Kimchijim, Kimchiguk, Kimchi Bokkeum, Kimtteok, Kimmari, Gimhae-si, and everything else that started with Kim.

It all began when Mingyu, in a rare bout of confidence, claimed that his surname could make any name sound beautiful. As his loving wife, you couldn't resist the temptation to playfully challenge his assertion.

"For a person with a word like 'seaweed' as their surname, you're certainly very confident," you quipped.

"What does it feel like to have 'seaweed' as your surname?" you asked, trying to stifle your laughter. This question led you to start listing possible names for your future child.

"How about 'Chijeon'? 'Kimchijeon'..."

"Or 'Kimguk'... We'll make them seaweed soup every day, because every day would be their birthday." Your excitement about giving the baby a name with the most random words you could think of brought a smile to Mingyu's face, even though he playfully claimed to dislike them.

"Imagine naming them Bap, 'Bap! Kimbap, come here.' They won't live their life in peace." Mingyu chuckled as he played out a scenario in his head of his future children trying hard to navigate life with a name given by their mom.

"But 'Bapi' is a cute nickname. We haven't had a nickname for them." Your hand went to your growing tummy, feeling several kicks from inside your belly, assuming it was their response to the nickname you'd given them.

Mingyu let out a soft chuckle when he saw a line of little feet on your stomach. "You like your nickname, Bapi?" Mingyu asked. His hand reached your belly before he planted a few kisses on it.

After kissing your belly, Mingyu cupped your cheeks and planted a kiss on your lips. "Stop throwing out silly names! We'll have a serious discussion later about it," he stated and planted another kiss on your forehead before enveloping your body with his arms.

"What's important now is your health. As long as you're healthy, the baby will be healthy."

"Happy mother, happy baby. I'm happy naming them 'Po'," you said, suddenly mentioning 'Po' as Gimpo, a city where the international airport was hosted.

Mingyu couldn't help but chuckle. "Gimpo... I can't believe you would think about Gimpo," he said, pinching your cheek.

When you were about to mention another name, Mingyu immediately planted a kiss on your lips, stopping any names from escaping your mouth.

*

"Kimbap?! You're kidding, hyung. You want to make another Boo Seungkwan?" Chan stifled his laugh as soon as he gained a scowl from none other than the Boo Seungkwan himself when he heard his name mentioned.

Mingyu chuckled while he painted the wall blue, "nah, just a nickname. I already have a name in mind, but I want it to be a surprise. My wife is too lazy to discuss a name with me," he explained to the two younger boys who were currently helping him with the nursery.

"Just don't name him Bap," Seungkwan muttered while painting the other side of the wall with white paint.

"Bap is cute." Your voice was heard as you entered the room with drinks and snacks on a plate. Mingyu smiled, releasing his hands from the gloves as he approached you and took the drinks and snacks.

"Bap likes his nickname," Mingyu said to Seungkwan, handing him the snacks. Seungkwan rolled his eyes, "he was indoctrinated even before he was born," he sighed, gaining a laugh from Chan.

"Why not Mari?" Chan asked you and Mingyu. You raised your palm to give him a high five while Mingyu sighed.

"Right? But it was for a girl though... Since he'll be a boy, Bap it is," you said, your hand going to your belly and rubbing it with love.

Seungkwan laughed, "Kim Mari..." He stifled his laughter when he realized what Chan had initiated earlier.

Mingyu playfully hit Seungkwan's arm with his gloves, "shut up," he said. "You have a worse surname."

[beemovieerotica]

intense desire to write and direct a seemingly "normal" family vlogger youtube channel but it's an actual scripted production, and it starts out with the usual like white suburban mom talking about her toddler's terrible tantrums or whatever...but as time passes you notice more and more things not really adding up...the mom keeps changing the details of the story of how her kid was born and talks about her pregnancy like "oh you know those... cravings...everyone gets them..." and the camera lingers on her, and there is a quiet fear in her eyes that you can't quite explain, and you're thinking ma'am are we still talking about pickles? and things like that which are never addressed or mentioned again...you see glimpses of a calendar marked with the cycles of the moon and minor star systems and the father never ever appears, but the mom does reference him and somehow stumbles on the pronunciation of his name...the toddler seems to be growing unnaturally fast, and you assume she's not filming everything in sequence but she mentions the date, and you reel back from your computer screen, stunned...let me make this

[tragedyslut]

♡ born to die ♡

✶ [ a.anderson ] ✶

♡ ABBY!ANDERSON X PLATONIC!FEM!READER ♡

🩷 SUMMARY — abby after the whole boat thing w ellie , returns to the wlf, needing comfort and just being so vulnerable. whole buncha angst. intentional lowercase, no proofreading 🪽

when abby returned with lev to the island where the wlf were regrouping, people were rightfully hesitant to let her back. i mean, her going AWOL to find Owen and then turning on the WLF because of two kids she met the day before didn't make her the most trustworthy. a few of the soldiers, including you, agreed to let her and lev stay until they were properly taken care of. abby showing up like that broke your heart into a million pieces. her hair, cut like that, all of her muscles gone from malnourishment and her face. the pure look of desperation when she showed up in that boat.

you and abby had been 'friends' for years. even when she and owen got together you could still tell she had eyes for you. you two split apart when she left to go find him, and you hadn't really seen each other properly in ages. once she was conscious enough to explain what happened whilst you two had been seperated, and explained in detail what actually happened and why she killed joel. you had known for a while she killed some guy, well, you hadn't known until some girl came and started killing everyone associated with abby. that 'some girl' was apparently ellie. the whole thing being explained to you was a bit of a mush. it was so messy. it sunk in how lucky you were to have gotten seperated from abby before everything happened. otherwise ellie would've probably came after you, knowing you two were associated.

Abby explained how exactly ellie let her go, and that was that.

she was in the medbay for a long while. youd visit her every so often. as the months past and her hair grew longer again, she would insist on cutting it off again. you assumed it was due to the torture she experienced with the rattlers. but either way, her hair stuck that way. she wouldn't let it go past a short bob. it didn't look bad, but it was different.. she was different. but after all, everyone was different.

one night, you were on guard duty. you were walking down the medbay when you heard someone sobbing. fully like.. painful sobs. you ducked into the medbay, thinking someone was hurt. you saw abby curled up in the assigned bed she had, sobbing her eyes out. her iv was basically being ripped out of her arm from how much she was curled up. you dropped your rifle, and bag, going over to her.

" abby, abby- are you okay? are you hurt? " you said, getting her to sit up and adjusting her iv so it wasn't so messed up. she only sniffed in response, trying desperately to wipe her tears.

" abby, its fine, just let it out. everythings okay. "

as soon as you said that, abby lunged at you. you thought she was gonna kick you or something but she hugged you. extremely tight.

" im so fucking guilty. " she mumbled.

" guilty about what? go on, explain it. just talk it out. " you said, rubbing circles on her back.

" i spent so fucking long.. trying to kill joel.. and- i did. but it didn't made me feel better. he only killed my dad- to save ellie. my fucking dad would've done the same. and ellie- she fucking let me go.. she let me live. i bit one of her fucking fingers off and everything and she just.. let me go. i didn't deserve that. she should've put me down. " she whispered out. you could practically feel the seering guilt radiating of of her.

" you deserve to be able to move on. nobody was right in that situation. you aren't some monster for wanting justice for your dad. "

" 'm not? " she mumbled, chuckling.

" no. me, anyone, would've done the same. especially in this world. "

you sat and comforted her for hours. it was everything she needed.

" why did you stay..? after- after all that happened. after knowing how shitty of a person i am? "

" because. you're my friend. of course im gonna look after you. after we got seperated i hoped for ages that we'd find eachother, and we did. i don't care what happened. im gonna be there for you. you're safe with me, with the wlf. ill convince them to let you back. i promise. "

in the end, you kept your promise and the wlf let her stay. she was officially a wlf soldier again. in some ways, she was the same, in other ways, things were forever different.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

So how much of this do you think is real?

Because it ain't time travel so MC & Number 2 weren't really there when this really happened, which means in reality Lucifer didn't cave into Mammon's requests as easily as he does in this memory

In S2 Asmo says it's Michael who goes to Lucifer and asks him to take Mammon because Mammon won't stop acting up

So presumably, what really happened would be closer to that, than what we see happen when MC & Number 2 are present - Mammon keeps acting up (like mentioned in S2 & S3), Michael's punishments doesn't stop him from doing so despite them being harsh (like mentioned in S3) and Michael eventually goes to Lucifer for help & Lucifer ends up taking Mammon under his wing after spending a day/having a converstaion with him (like mentioned in S2) and Lucifer might give him the rose challenge as well

Also, considering these are Mammon's memories, they're likely more subjectively skewered than what actually happened

Anyway, here's how "Lucifer took them on while they were still kids" can still win

No but for real, I knew they'd never give us kid sprites of the characters but I refuse to believe they weren't children when they met Lucifer

Luckily, the idea of Mammon remembering the memory but with his present day self actually fits? Like, it's something you can pull meaning out of - I love the idea of him switching from his "adult self" to his "child self" inside his memory while arguing about staying with Lucifer

So my current theory was that;

In reality, this whole thing happened when Mammon was a child (think Luke's age or younger)

In the memory, Mammon's an adult, the same age as he is in Nightbringer, but he's following the script laid out my his child-self

Since MC & Number 2 weren't present during the actual events of this memory, he breaks out of the script when talking to them but still takes cues from his younger self on how he would have done things back then (eg: repeatedly calling Lucifer badass*)

I know that's not what Solmare intended but luckily the choices they made during this actually fit with this theory;

• Mammon who's good at high-speed driving surfing, flying, the trapeze falling out of a pegasus chariot is questionable. Consider, he was a child when that actually happened and.....

• *The limited vocabulary that Number 2 mentioned, when we've seen, multiple times, just how well Mammon can explain why he likes Lucifer so much without having to use "badass" over and over as a descriptor

• This might be a stretch because Mammon can act childish, specially when interacting with Lucifer, But his entire interaction with Lucifer

• Luke got a guardian at "age 10" (which took him hundreds? thousands? of years to reach). Assuming all angels get guardians at around the same age that means that Mammon had Michael from around "age 10" to adulthood (this would have take thousands? hundreds of thousands? of years) - there's no way Mammon would have lasted that long with Michael as a guardian, given how hard he was trying to make Lucifer take him on, given that at one point pre-Lucifer he was acting up so much the others thought he would Fall

• Levi and the others weren't even born at this time, if Mammon was an adult it'd make their age difference a lot larger than it seems (Mammon & Levi act like siblings who are relatively close in age vs Lucifer & the others who act like an adult and his kids - something the game has commented on a few times as well)

• This + all the stories Simeon was telling about when Mammon was "cute and did everything to impress Lucifer or make Lucifer happy" :

[quitealotofsodapop]

[You did send a less detailed version of this ask a few days ago, I just hadn't gone through my inbox enough XD] + [I love the detailed responses though! It's nice to see so much interest in my silly aus!]

okay! I thought I sent one but I couldn't quite remember if I did XD Sometimes I feel like I ramble too much so I'm glad you like these! if it's not to much trouble do you mind answer the og post, you don't have to actually make any comments on it contents but I'm keeping notes on Slow boiled au for the fanfic I'm writing and their might be some details in there I forgot about, thank you.

[Peaches. Some days his brain/body just decides "Eww no. bleh. Spit it out right now" and the nausea hits him hard. Wukong is dismayed whenever it happens.]

at some point in s3 MK walks in on Monkey King crying over a peach with a single bite taken out of it, Wukong having gotten emotional when he his body couldn't handle the peach + stress (I headcanon that part of his obsession with peaches are because peaches are a comfort food for him, so not being able to eat one when stressed hit him pretty hard).

[Think of it like the formation of a geode - it can do it either over a natural couple of centuries, or in a few months with intervention.]

the geode comparison is really cool! especially considering it's a stone egg.

[it's possible MK *remembers* being held by someone soft with a round belly + gold eyes. He assumes throughout his life that this person was his birth mother before he was given up/orphaned.]

imagine monkey king asking MK about his family, wantingto know how his brother's reincarnations are doing, and MK talks about them then mentions he was actually adopted and MK offhandedly mentioning the one memory he has of his "birth mother" to Monkey king and monkey king just being like "oh. oh no."

[So that Stone Egg been slow boiling from anywhere between 1394 to 1116 years. 0_o] + [Either way SWK has beaten Lao Tzu/Zi's mom (pregnant for 62-80 years), and def brags about that fact to whatever immortal will hear.]

honestly, after that long, he's earned bragging rights.

[DBK overhears LBD making threatening references to Wukong's conditon and immediately interrupts her villainy bs to yell at his sworn brother.]

LBD just giving up and leaving as the two bicker is hilarious. it also has the affect of eleveating some of Wukong's stress about LBD returning, and making him feel better about the rift between him and his brother once DBK accepts his proposal to be the egg's godparent. evn if offering such a title to someone other then Ao Lie leaves a bittersweet taste in his mouth. he knows Ao Lie would't mind him giving the title to someone he trusted, but he'd always been so sure that someone would be Ao Lie.

[After the initial shock wears off, PIF immediately summons a catalog to look for baby shower supplies. This is a monumentous occassion!]

all negitive feelings are forgotten when the excitement of a new baby within the sworn family is brought into everything + learning that Wukong very possibly could have lost his own child by helping with the Samadhi fire ritual, something he did becuase he was one of the few who could help them from losing their own child. from mother to mother(?), she understands how hard of a call that must have been to make.

[She ofc assumes it's Macaque's fault (she's not wrong XD) and that this might be her future sworn niece/nephew! She simply must organise everything for her idiot sworn brother and his mate!]

when Yuebei is born and has dark fur and glowing ears she feels it is confirmed that her assumption Macaque was the other parent was correct, no one corrects her about the bio parent situation.

[Red blinks in confusion before confronting the Monkie Kid gang about it later. Mei demands PIF's contact details right that second so that they can swap party ideas.]

red son is just going "WTH WTH WTH" the whole time as they explain, Mei would absolutely insert herself into baby shower planing the moment the idea is brought up.

[Macaque spends most of S3 trying to bat away any thoughts/predictive sounds of a happy domestic life him and Wukong cna have together.]

its dangerous to be thinking of such things with the lady bone demon breathing down his neck, but he can't help it. it gets overwhelming sometimes, the sounds of domestic moments from the past mixing with possible futures leave him questioning what it is exactly he wants anymore. but those are thoughts to process when LBD is defeated and the world isn't on the cusp of being destroyed. now of Wukong didn't put himself and the egg in one of the most compramising positions ever by being possessed in the meantime, that would be great. he makes up his mind the moment a just freed monkey king collapses into his arms crying like this is the only hug he's ever had in his life.

[Yuebei's first immortal kill is in fact LBD, preformed before she was even born. Once the switch "flipped" on the possesed SWK, the Egg recognised LBD as both a threat to her parent and a tasty source of Dao, hence; nom-nom-nom.] + [All thats left behind of the ancient bone demon is a picked-clean skull.]

not even out of the womb and already earning her "god killer" title. Wukong always guessed any kid that was solely his would be a menace, but now he's starting to get a little concerned.

I was doing some doodles for this au and I had the idea of Yuebei getting a staff of her own from her parents and I wanted it to have something to do with LBD's skull, but I couldn't make the design work. so I actually had the idea of her having her staff and wearing the front of LBD's skull like a mask. she legit wearing the skeletal face of her first kill, creepy, stylish, and effective at scaring off her enemies.

[Ah, a fellow party crasher, just like her baba.]

Wukong appreciates the hustle, but could she be a menace to everyone except him and is poor body please? he just got put through hell and now he's gotta get this egg outta him and that's probably gonna be less fun then getting possessed.

[Wukong and Macaque can barely enjoy the bowl of noodles they've stolen (in good humor) from MK when Wukong's face just drops from a shift in his body.]

Macaque feels Wukong's body suddenly go rigid and is confused, then he sees the look on Wukong's face and just knows. as soon as Wukong starts ordering Ne Zha to go get Guanyin he's instantly fussing and getting things ready for the undoubtedly long few hours ahead. surprisingly, the two monkeys are basically the only ones not panicking at this point, them and Guanyin once they're on the scene.

[Tang: "Oh gracious Buddha! The bodhisattva Guanyi herse-- oh gosh this is a lot grosser than I was expecting..." *gets woozy and hides face in Pigsy's chest*]

no matter the incarnation, every reincarnation of the golden cicada is squeamish.

[Imagine how much crying would be involved if little Yuebei just so happened to be born six-eared as well?] + [Hard to refute their claims when the little Monkey Princess has such lovely midnight-dark fur and glowing ears.]

I like to think that she wouldn't have his six sensitive ears because she didn't actually have the genetics for it, but her appearance could still be pushed so her ears do still glow a little.

even if their aren't six ears, the instant Macaque sees her ears glowing he would not be able to stop himself from squealing with joy and practically side tackling Wukong as he is incoherently babbling about how much he loves her.

[He def recorded a tape + wrote letters to Yuebei before she was born ala "For Steven" in Steven Universe... just in case his immortality didn't work in the end.]

he def let Guanyin know before hand so that if things did go wrong they'd know the tapes/letters were there to give to his infant.

[Little Yuebei spent so much time in the "final run" hearing show tunes, action movies, and the voices of Wukong's new found family/troop that she thinks theses are all "good noises"!]

this is super cute!

but to make a good thing angsty, what if she also has "bad noises" that she associates with certain things. what if when they first met Azure she was super aggressive towards him at first because she "remembers" hearing him being really mean and/or straight up hurting Wukong at some point in the journey. and what if she also isn't that trusting of macaque at first because she also only ever "heard" him when he was in the process of trying to hurt her baba and his friends, both in his first life and now in his second. this def upsets Macaque but also he did do that so he's the one who's gotta make up for it, luckily yuebei seems to warm up to him quickly when she sees him and Wukong being cuddly and reconciling.

[Yuebei decided that "Kitty" wasn't playing with her, wasn't holding her right, and wasn't even singing to her! And she wanted to make her frustrations known.]

c'mon Azure, if you're gonna hold a super strong baby that already doesn't like you the least you can do is try and keep her happy and preoccupied. he's got no one but himself to blame

sequel to this post!

Im uber excited to read more your fic btw!

[I headcanon that part of his obsession with peaches are because peaches are a comfort food for him, so not being able to eat one when stressed hit him pretty hard]

Wukong associates peaches with 1: Food security, 2: His Immortality, and most importantly, 3: His friendship/romance with Macaque. So his body deciding to reject peaches is a huge stresser for him, which leads to more stress and more nausea and less peaches, in an endless cycle. Peach chips at least dont seem to trigger the worst of his food adversion though, the crunchy chip texture seems to cancel it out.

[...MK talks about them then mentions he was actually adopted and MK offhandedly mentioning the one memory he has of his "birth mother" to Monkey king and monkey king just being like "oh. oh no."]

Oh MK sweetie no... :(

And the Monkey King is just silent cus he knows who MK is talking about [him], and even if SWK didn't create MK in the au, he was still the one to decide to send him to live among mortals for his own good. So the idea that MK potientially remembers Wukong from this time is a huge shock to him.

Wukong: "...your mother, what did they look like?"

MK, clueless: "Umm... their hair was a warm orange-y color. Like the sun. And I think their eyes was this really shiny yellow, or maybe amber colour? Oh! And they had this round stomach - I remember hugging it..." *gets kinda wistful* "I don't know why I'm not with them anymore, but hope they're doing ok if they're still out there."

Wukong, hand ghosting over his stomach: "You and me both bud."

[DBK accepts his proposal to be the egg's godparent. evn if offering such a title to someone other then Ao Lie leaves a bittersweet taste in his mouth. he knows Ao Lie would't mind him giving the title to someone he trusted, but he'd always been so sure that someone would be Ao Lie.]

Wukong def was hit hard by Ao Lie's passing. It pains him to give the godparent title to anyone else, but he knows when push comes to shove; his older sworn brother will be there to protect his infant. Ao Lie would just be glad that Wukong meant his offer all those centuries ago.

[all negitive feelings are forgotten when the excitement of a new baby within the sworn family is brought into everything + learning that Wukong very possibly could have lost his own child by helping with the Samadhi fire ritual, something he did becuase he was one of the few who could help them from losing their own child. from mother to mother(?), she understands how hard of a call that must have been to make.]

PIF has to give Wukong mega-respect; putting himself and his baby on the line for the health of her own. Even if she considers it so stupid to agree to such a dangerous ritual when Wukong knew he was carrying, PIF just looks over at Red Son, alive and healthy, and just hugs Wukong the next time she sees him. Although she hasn't been the most welcoming sworn sister-in-law, she vows to make it up to him for saving her child from the Samadhi Fire.

A decent proper baby shower is first on her list of repayments.

[when Yuebei is born and has dark fur and glowing ears she feels it is confirmed that her assumption Macaque was the other parent was correct, no one corrects her about the bio parent situation.]

PIF just side-eyeing Macaque whenever she sees him, convinced from the talk of the two's bad breakup + Macaque not initially knowing about the pregnancy; that her lil sworn bro is the baby-daddy. And when Yuebei is born having "imprinted" on Wukong's yearning/love for Macaque...

PIF: *seeing the baby's dark fur and glowing ears* PIF (whispering so not to wake the baby): "I fcking knew it." Macaque: *is too tired/proud to argue with her* "Yeaaah..." :')

[red son is just going "WTH WTH WTH" the whole time as they explain, Mei would absolutely insert herself into baby shower planing the moment the idea is brought up.]

Red has no idea what to do in response to all this baby talk, so he just; tries to apologise to SWK for setting him on fire a bunch as a toddler??

Wukong appriciates the effort.

Mei, PIF and Jiuweihuli get talking and soon Wukong is looking at a baby shower akin to a red carpet event.

[...but those are thoughts to process when LBD is defeated and the world isn't on the cusp of being destroyed. now of Wukong didn't put himself and the egg in one of the most compramising positions ever by being possessed in the meantime, that would be great. he makes up his mind the moment a just freed monkey king collapses into his arms crying like this is the only hug he's ever had in his life.]

Macaque spends episodes asking himself he truly wants to rebuild his and Wukong's relationship, and when the king holds him tight like he's about to disappear - Macaque decides to stay for good.

[not even out of the womb and already earning her "god killer" title.]

Imagine you're a random Celestial or demon and you hear the dreaded "God Killer" is gonna be at an event, and it's a tiny baby monkey in a papoose strapped to the Monkey King, or his many terrifying sworn family members.

You'd honestly be more afraid of that baby.

[I was doing some doodles for this au and I had the idea of Yuebei getting a staff of her own from her parents and I wanted it to have something to do with LBD's skull, but I couldn't make the design work. so I actually had the idea of her having her staff and wearing the front of LBD's skull like a mask. she legit wearing the skeletal face of her first kill, creepy, stylish, and effective at scaring off her enemies.]

Oh that sounds so cool!!! Her divine skull weapon being a mask made from the skull of her first kill that she uses to channel her deadly power - like turning the Medusa's head into a shield. Her staff being a gift from her parents that has no inate magic ability beyond the fact that she puts her trust in it as her first "real" weapon.

I can imagine she uses a glamour/quick magic to put the skull/mask on (like Dr Facillier in "Friends on the Other Side") as a way of saying "You're f*cked" to her opponents.

I'm excited to see how your drawings go!

[-the two monkeys are basically the only ones not panicking at this point, them and Guanyin once they're on the scene.]

Wukong and Macaque are def panicking, though its more an excited kind of panicking. Nezha and MK are def screaming. Guanyin is the only one with a cool head the entire time.

Pigsy is good at pretending he isn't worried, but he ends up tearing apart the campsight's kitchen in a hurry to make enough food for everyone. Especially when DBK and PIF realise what's happening, and are posted incase Wukong's baby causes as much trouble for him as Red did to them.

[I like to think that she wouldn't have his six sensitive ears because she didn't actually have the genetics for it, but her appearance could still be pushed so her ears do still glow a little.

even if their aren't six ears, the instant Macaque sees her ears glowing he would not be able to stop himself from squealing with joy and practically side tackling Wukong as he is incoherently babbling about how much he loves her.]

Oh gosh, Mac and Wukong just see Yuebei for the first time. She's still kinda gross, having *just* busted out of her thin ambiotic shell. Her fur dark... And her little ears glowing?! Both monkey parents are sobbing, especially when they learn that Yuebei was unconciously trying her best to look like Macaque's baby with the limited genetics available. Wukong has multiple centuries of love to dish out, and Macaque is catching up fast.

[he def let Guanyin know before hand so that if things did go wrong they'd know the tapes/letters were there to give to his infant.]

Guanyin has a secret stash in the Southern Ocean of all the letters and tapes (and even some drawings of what she might have looked like) Wukong ever made for Yuebei, in case he wasn't able to give them to her in person. Yuebei ends up finding them when she's a moody teenager, mad at her baba for something stupid.

Pre-series; In absense of any other godparent... I bet Wukong would have trusted Yuebei with Guanyin if possible. The goddess would have gladly taken the infant had Wukong not survived the birth, though it would pain her for many centuries to come.

[but to make a good thing angsty, what if she also has "bad noises" that she associates with certain things...] + [...and what if she also isn't that trusting of macaque at first because she also only ever "heard" him when he was in the process of trying to hurt her baba and his friends] + [...luckily yuebei seems to warm up to him quickly when she sees him and Wukong being cuddly and reconciling.]

ooohhhh :(

Wukong walks in after letting Mac take care of Yuebei while he was out, only to come back to see both of them crying. Yuebei is doing this sort of furious wailing while Mac just looks defeated.

Macaque: "She hates me!!" Wukong, picks up Yuebei: "No she doesn't plum. She cries at eveything." Yuebei: *calms down at sound of Wukong's voice* Macaque: "No! She started crying when I tried talking to her! And when I tried soothing her it just got worse and worse and-!!" (*Wukong places a soft hand on Mac's cheek, quieting him*) Wukong: "She'll warm up to you. Just be patient." Macaque: *leans into Wukong's hand, still crying." Yuebei: *looks confused before slapping a fat little hand on Mac's face in mimicry of her baba. chirping with delight* Macaque: :')

Once the relationship between Wukong and Mac improves, so does the baby's reaction to Mac's voice (symbolism). She finally starts to associate the "bad" voice with her bama, and soon it's not a "bad voice" anymore. Though there probably is a weird bridge-point where Mac has to put on silly accents/voices when he baby-talks to Yuebei or else she'll get mad at him.

[c'mon Azure, if you're gonna hold a super strong baby that already doesn't like you the least you can do is try and keep her happy and preoccupied. he's got no one but himself to blame]

I can just imagine Azure is too preoccupied with his plans for the Celestial Realm (and plans for Wukong), and fails to notice Yuebei getting more and more fussy as he holds her (poorly). Her face contorts like she's constipated and slowly gets redder and redder with anger.

Yellowtusk immediately notices and warns Azure to let the cub down so she can at least crawl and inspect her new surroundings. Peng laughs at the thought of letting "the hatchling" decide the terms of her imprisonment.

Then Peng feels a tiny, but powerful, hand grab their wing feathers...

Yellowtusk leaves before the carnage reaches him.

[steddieas-shegoes]

This is for the request from @mogami13 : Werewolf den mother steve being seduced to be eddie's mate which they wrote a post on found here. My post is not related to theirs, but you should ABSOLUTELY go read it and let them know if you want more!

This was so out of my comfort zone and it shows to me, but I wanted to try. Hopefully it does not disappoint! - Mickala ❤️❤️

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything you think you know about this town is wrong.

The raspy voice of Eddie’s mother on her death bed echoed in his head often over the years.

He was nine when she died.

She died before explaining what she meant.

When he moved in with his Uncle Wayne, he got an explanation in the form of a wolf suddenly running into his room, biting his shirt, and dragging him outside.

As he stood on the back porch, heart racing, he realized the wolf was his Uncle Wayne.

He didn’t know how he knew, he just did.

He watched as Wayne disappeared into the trees for a few minutes, unsure if he should follow or not. He assumed Wayne would have waited for him if he was supposed to, so he stayed put.

When he came back, he nudged Eddie to sit on the step, and rested on the porch next to him.

They stayed like that for a while, Eddie fighting sleep as much as he could.

Finally, Wayne stood up, moved to part of the porch that was hidden from neighbors, and transformed back.

Eddie just stared, flabbergasted.

It was one thing to just know the wolf was Wayne and another entirely to watch the transformation.

Wayne walked back inside, probably to put some clothes on, and Eddie followed slowly.

They talked for hours, almost until dawn, about the history of the town, the history of their family, how Eddie would have his transformation when he hit puberty. How his mother got sick because she wasn’t able to transform anymore due to an injury his father gave her years before.

“When we can’t become our true selves regularly, it hurts every version of us. Drains us. It’s important you let this part of you out. I can’t lose you like I lost her.”

He told Eddie about how he spent a decade trying to convince his sister to move in with him instead of Eddie’s father, that it would be harder to leave when Eddie was born.

And it was.

She never left. She got hurt. Then she got sick.

Now she was gone.

———

Eddie loved being able to transition whenever he wanted.

Wayne told him stories of other families in the area that would only do so once a month, on the full moon, how stereotypical, to keep from dying. They didn’t let their kids run in the woods, or curl up in a cuddle pile. Sure, Wayne and Eddie didn’t make much of a cuddle pile, but it was perfect the way it was.

The Harringtons were an example.

According to Wayne, they hid the fact that they were even wolves from everyone else. The strangest part, according to Wayne, was that their son, Steve, had a very delayed transition. Most wolves have their first transformation when they hit puberty, but his didn’t happen until he was 16. They didn’t know what finally made it happen, but Eddie hoped it wasn’t anything that would make him sick like his mom.

When he told Wayne that, Wayne smirked.

“Worried about Steve Harrington? Who are you and what have you done with my nephew?”

Eddie slapped his arm, but couldn’t ignore the blush on his cheeks.

So what if Eddie had a little, tiny, baby crush on Steve Harrington? Who didn’t? He was hot, he was popular, he was athletic.

Maybe he hung out with some of the worst bullies in the school, but he never actively bullied anyone.

It’s not like anything would ever happen. Steve wasn’t into guys and Eddie was probably the farthest thing from his type he could get.

————-

When he met Dustin Henderson, he knew immediately he had to protect this kid at all costs.

High school was a fucking war zone and he was the weakest link, it was clear to anyone with eyes.

But he came with a couple other kids, Mike and Lucas, who probably would be fine if they just kept their heads down and got involved with the right things.

Hellfire Club wasn’t the right thing, at least not if they wanted to be popular or even just remotely average.

But they insisted they wanted to be a part of it, that D&D had been their lives for so long, and it was the only way they could kind of stay connected to their friend Will, who’d moved before school started.

It took him too long to realize they meant Will Byers, the boy who got sick like his mom, but somehow survived. He couldn’t transform anymore, but would lead an otherwise normal life.

He welcomed them into the club, made everyone else already in it welcome them, explained that it was important for Freshman to get involved so that the upperclassmen had someone to pass it all down to.

Eddie was going off the assumption that he’d graduate, that all of them except Jeff would graduate.

But when spring break happened, he didn’t find it in him to care nearly as much about graduating. He just needed to survive.

————

When he woke up in the hospital, he felt instant dread.

He was alive, but at what cost?

Wayne was asleep in the chair next to him, Dustin asleep in the chair at the end of his bed, and Steve fucking Harrington was sitting next to Dustin, watching Eddie.

They were clean and changed, so it had to have been at least a day since his whole world nearly ended.

“How long?” His voice was barely even a whisper, but Steve must have incredible hearing.

“Four days,” he whispered back, probably trying to avoid Dustin and Wayne waking up.

Have they been here the whole time? Wayne couldn’t miss that much work, he’d get fired. And Dustin. Dustin’s just a kid. His mom must be worried.

Steve couldn’t possibly have sat here for four days. His parents would lose their shit.

“I’ve made them go home every day to shower and eat, try to sleep in a real bed. Told them I’d call if anything changed.”

So Steve had been here the whole time.

That explained the bags under his eyes.

“Eddie? You awake?”

Wayne’s sleepy voice made him turn his head. He let out a pained groan, his whole body resisting any movement.

“Stay still. You’ve got a lot of stitches holdin’ you together. Let me get the nurse.”

Wayne hurried out of the room, Steve watching them with a small smile.

“He’s been worried. I don’t think he’s slept more than a couple hours since he first got here.”

“Dustin?”

Steve looked over at Dustin, worried frown on his face.

“He thinks it’s his fault.”

“What? How?”

Eddie could ignore the pain pulsing through his veins for now. He had to understand how Dustin could possibly think any of this was his fault.

“He thinks if he’d jumped back through sooner, you wouldn’t have lost as much blood. Or that if he’d come up with a better backup plan, you never would’ve had to do it at all. We’ve never been this close to losing people.”

Wait, people, plural?

“Max?”

Steve stood up and came closer to his head, keeping his eyes on Dustin to make sure he didn’t wake up.

“She’s still in a coma. They don’t think she’ll come out of it.”

So she wasn’t dead, but she might as well be.

Eddie fought the tears welling up.

“Mr. Munson! Wonderful to see you awake.”

Steve and Eddie both jumped, Eddie letting out a hiss as he felt a searing pain along his side.

And then Dustin was awake.

“Eddie? Eddie!”

He was crowding in next to Steve, ignoring everyone else in the room. His eyes were wide and teary, and Eddie knew if Dustin started crying, it’d be game over for him.

“Hey bud. Doing okay?”

Not the right thing to say. Dustin let out a sob and collapsed against Steve, who wrapped his arms around him to hold him up.

“I’m just gonna bring him outside for a minute while you get checked over.”

“No!” Dustin exclaimed, pulling away. “I can’t leave him, Steve! Please.”

“Dustin, it’s okay. He’s okay. They have to check his bandages and we’ll be just around the corner.”

Steve looked at Eddie and silently asked him to reassure Dustin. He could do that. He was tired and in pain, but he could do this.

“I’ll see you in ten minutes, okay? Just take a lap, grab me a soda or something.”

“Sir, I don’t recomm-“ the nurse started, but was waved off by Wayne.

“Ten minutes?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Okay.”

Dustin let Steve lead him out of the room, Wayne following to close the door behind them.

“Alright, just have to check your vitals and do a pain assessment,” the nurse started. “This probably won’t be fun, but I’ll need to check the wounds on your legs and sides.”

Eddie nodded and let her get to work.

It hurt. Everything hurt.

But Wayne was holding his hand, and Dustin was coming back with a soda for him, and Steve was here for some reason.

He’d almost been eaten alive by demon bats, he could survive this nurse checking him over.

————

As soon as he was out of the hospital is when it started.

Dustin always found reasons to have Steve come with him to visit.

First, it was just because he was his ride, Claudia having to work a bit more because many of her coworkers had left town after the “quake.”

Then, Steve would stick around because Dustin insisted he wouldn’t stay for long and he didn’t want Steve to have to make two trips so quickly.

Which was kind of bullshit, Eddie and Steve both knew it, because Steve actually only lived about 8 minutes from Eddie and Wayne’s new trailer.

But they let him get away with it.

Eddie liked having another adult around. None of his friends from high school were allowed to talk to him, so it was pretty much just the kids and Wayne for the last two months.

Steve would sometimes even bring Robin, who Eddie would probably be in love with if he liked women at all.

Especially when she came out to him while Dustin was making sure the kids cleaned up the table after a campaign.

“What’s up with you and Steve?”

“What do you mean?”

She looked nervous. Were they a secret for some reason?

“Like, if you’re dating, you should just tell everyone. Pretty sure everyone thinks so anyway.”

Robin let out a loud laugh.

“Dude, no. We are obnoxiously platonic. Trust me.”

“Kinda hard to believe when you do everything together. You finished his sentence yesterday.”

Robin rolled her eyes.

“I’m super gay, Eddie. Not interested in Steve even a little bit.”

That…should’ve surprised him more, actually.

“So you’re just best friends?”

“Yeah, I mean, we’re pack, ya know?”

“Oh! You’re…” Eddie started, using his hands to pretend he had claws.

“No, actually. But I helped Steve get more comfortable with his whole wolf thing when his parents wanted nothing to do with it. My cousins on my dad’s side are wolves so it wasn’t really a secrecy problem.”

Eddie had kind of forgotten that there was any secrecy left. All the kids were wolves, so they openly talked about it often. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that any of them might not be.

“Have you done it since everything happened?”

“Uh. No. Owens said I had to heal completely before I tried.”

“Haven’t you been healed for two weeks?”

Eddie was silent.

“You’re scared.”

It wasn’t a question and he wasn’t going to deny it. He was scared.

He was scared that he wouldn’t be able to, sure. But he was even more scared that he’d face the same sickness his mom had, that Will had but managed to get through. He knew he wouldn’t be as lucky as Will, though.

“Would it be easier if you had someone with you the first time?”

“Maybe. Wayne offered, but I don’t want him to see if it goes wrong.”

“What about Steve?”

“What about Steve?”

“He could stay with you when you try. He’s good in emergencies, especially if you end up hurt. He knows everyone so even if he couldn’t help, he could call the kids or Wayne or hell, Claudia. And I know he hasn’t spent much time with just you, but I think he wants to and doesn’t know how to do it.”

“She’s right,” Dustin said from the doorway.

“Why the hell were you listening to a private conversation?”

“Is it really private if you’re talking at a normal volume in a room where anyone can come and go at any time?”

“Watch your tone,” Eddie replied.

Dustin was right though. And so was Robin.

“I don’t wanna bother him.”

“Steve’s not gonna be bothered. He loves taking care of people! He’s basically our mom.”

“Jesus, dude, I’m not your mom,” Steve said as he walked into the room holding more trash than Eddie remembered there being on the table.

“You’re saying that holding a pile of trash that the children should’ve been cleaning up,” Eddie said with a smirk.

“Well, they’re getting distracted and I don’t have all night.”

“Spoken like a true mother.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but Eddie could see a small smile on his face. He was proud to be considered their mom.

“Eddie’s got a favor to ask, Steve.”

Eddie glared at Dustin.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“He’s lying. He needs someone to be with him when he transforms for the first time since, ya know, everything.”

Eddie glared at Robin now, too.

“Oh. Sure. When?”

“Uh. You really don’t have to. It might not even work. Don’t want you to waste your time.”

“It’s not a waste of time. We can try tomorrow after my shift if you want?”

Dustin was practically bouncing off the walls in excitement and Robin was hiding a smirk behind her hand.

“Yeah, okay. If you’re sure.”

Will started to walk in the room, then walked right back out when he felt the tension pouring from Eddie.

All the kids had done plenty of meddling, helping Dustin find reasons for Steve to always be around Eddie.

El and Max even convinced Steve that Eddie needed him to sit next to him at the diner when they had breakfast because he couldn’t cut his pancakes alone.

Which was fucking ridiculous and Steve actually believed it. Eddie would’ve been more annoyed if he wasn’t completely endeared by the fact that Steve hadn’t even asked him, just grabbed his fork and knife when they were brought to the table and started cutting them.

He didn’t stop him.

It was kind of nice to be taken care of.

So if he could have more of that for something like this, maybe he could just let it happen. No embarrassment, no arguing.

“Sure. See you at 9:30 tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be here.”

“Cool.”

————-

Eddie was a nervous wreck.

For all of Dustin’s meddling, he suddenly had no interest in helping Eddie through his anxiety.

He tried calling him three times, every time going to voicemail. He tried calling the other gremlins, same thing.

So they were all in on this, Dustin was just the boldest one.

He was nervous about the actual wolf part, definitely.

But he was nervous that Steve would be there. He would see him at his most vulnerable, possibly even worse if he couldn’t even change any more.

When he told Wayne about what he was doing, he just smiled and said “you’d know if you couldn’t, son.”

So Eddie waited for 9:30. He paced inside. He paced outside. He took a shower that he didn’t even need. He sat on the couch, twiddling his thumbs. He stood by the window watching for Steve to show up even though he knew he wouldn’t be there early.

He was a mess, plain and simple.

He could feel his heart thrumming with anticipation.

And then headlights flashed through the front windows and Eddie was opening the front door before Steve was even out of his car.

“Hey Eddie. You ready?”

How did he look so good coming from work? Still in his stupid vest, hair tucked behind his ears. A little sheen of sweat on his forehead because the AC was out at the store and the ride here wasn’t long enough to cool off in his car.

It was so fucking unfair.

“Eds?”

Jesus, okay. He had to get it together. Seriously.

“Yeah! I’m good. I’m just a little nervous. Don’t wanna end up bleeding out in the backyard,” he laughed nervously.

“Is that a possibility?” Steve asked, his voice choked and wobbling.

“Sorry! No. I don’t think so. I think I’ll be fine. Honest.”

Steve visibly relaxed and Eddie kind of hated himself a bit.

Dustin was the one who told Eddie about Steve being the first to get to them in the Upside Down, how Steve performed as much emergency care as he possibly could with Nancy helping before carrying him through the gate.

How Steve had been covered in more of Eddie’s blood than his own by the time the ambulance arrived.

How Steve didn’t sleep for nearly 48 hours because he wouldn’t leave Eddie’s side, half convinced he’d imagined rescuing him.

Eddie shouldn’t joke about bleeding out when the man who had to watch him nearly do so before was his only help tonight.

“Where are you doing this?”

“Uh. Back porch has a lot of space that neighbors couldn’t see. And then the woods are right there after.”

“Should I…um…stay human?”

“Yeah, just in case.”

Steve nodded and followed Eddie as he led him through the front door.

“Want a drink or anything? I have water, or beer, or…that’s it actually. I can run out and get you something else though if you want. You’re probably thirsty. Been a long day. I’ll be right back-“

“Eddie. I’m fine.”

Steve’s hand was on his shoulder. Warmth flooded through Eddie, his body relaxing under the touch.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Eddie led them out the back door and over to the side of the porch hidden from view.

Steve turned away while he stripped off his clothes and left them on the floor for after.

He took a few deep breaths and let his body relax.

He could do this.

It was natural.

One moment, he was considering telling Steve it wasn’t gonna happen, the next he was a wolf. He was so busy relaxing into the feeling, he didn’t notice Steve moving closer.

Until Steve’s hands were cupping his head, his fingers gently scratching at his fur.

It felt good and Eddie couldn’t help the low growl he let out.

“Feel okay?”

Steve still looked worried behind the unreadable look on his face.

Eddie nodded his head once.

He stood there, kind of afraid to move, kind of wanting to stay here just to keep Steve’s hands on him, kind of dying to run.

His human form was clumsy, could barely walk in a straight line sometimes without tripping over his own feet. His wolf form could run through trees at a speed most people couldn’t even fathom.

But Steve had his hands on him.

“You’re so beautiful.”

Oh.

Oh.

“I mean, you always are. It’s just. I’ve never seen anything like you.”

Eddie wasn’t sure how long he could stand there taking Steve’s compliments. He knew Steve was still new to the wolf thing, maybe had never even properly seen another adult, so he tried not to let it mean much.

But Steve looked so earnest.

And then his hands moved to his neck, running his fingers through the fur there.

He paused suddenly, letting out a small laugh.

“Oh my god. I can’t believe Dustin was right.”

He felt Steve’s finger circle a spot near his shoulder blade, right where he knew he had a shock of gold fur instead of the dark brown that covered his whole body.

“I know I’m staying human tonight, but I have a spot of dark brown fur in the same spot. But the rest of my body is gold like this. I’ll show you next time.”

Next time, next time, next time.

“Dustin said that makes us soulmates.”

Of course Dustin said that.

But then he remembered his Uncle Wayne telling him about a spot he had in his fur for over a decade, a black circle instead of the gray of the rest of his body.

How his Uncle Wayne told him that he believed his soulmate had the same kind of spot, but gray.

How his spot disappeared randomly and he never got any explanation.

How a few years ago, he’d found out his high school sweetheart had died tragically in a car accident right around the time he lost the spot.

How he never put much stock into soulmates until then, but was now a firm believer.

It felt impossible. It had to be impossible.

“Oh my god.”

Steve’s hands dropped and Eddie whimpered.

“Sorry,” Steve mumbled as he rested his hands back in Eddie’s fur. “I just realized. The first time Dustin tried to convince me to come to D&D was after the first time he saw my wolf. That little shit’s been trying to set us up for almost a year!”

Eddie huffed out a breath of disbelief or an attempt at laughter, he wasn’t sure.

“And Robin! She’s been trying to convince me to hang out with you since you came home from the hospital.” Steve pulled away and started pacing as Eddie watched. “The kids are all in on it. That’s why they always find reasons for me to stick around when you’re around.”

Steve plopped down on the floor, back to the wall of the house.

Eddie trotted over, plopping down on the floor next to him and placing his head in Steve’s lap.

He nudged his nose against Steve’s hand, wordlessly asking for Steve to pet his head.

He got the message.

“You don’t wanna go run?”

Eddie sighed against his lap.

“You could. I’ll be here when you get back.”

He didn’t want to. Not alone.

Maybe he could convince Steve to come with him to the lake next time, go for a run in those woods together.

Steve rested his head back against the wall.

“Do you believe in mates?”

He wasn’t really sure at this point. Maybe they were real, maybe they weren’t. Maybe Steve was his, maybe it was just a weird coincidence.

He nodded his head once.

“Do you think we’re mates?”

Eddie considered it.

He was part wolf. He was attacked and almost eaten to death by demon bats not that long ago. An evil half monster half human had nearly destroyed Hawkins.

So, yeah, they could very well be soulmates.

He nodded his head.

Steve curled himself inwards, letting his head rest on Eddie’s.

“How long are you staying like this? I kinda wanna kiss you.”

Well, he kinda wanted to kiss Steve too.

He pulled away and focused on what it would feel like to kiss Steve.

As soon as he was human again, he planted himself in Steve’s lap, not even caring that he was naked.

Steve looked at him, amused grin in place.

“You survived.”

“Worried I wouldn’t?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Soulmates, huh?”

Steve’s face was a cherry red, and Eddie was pretty sure he’d never been so in love.

He gripped Steve’s face between his hands, a mirror image of what Steve had done when he was a wolf.

“Can you believe Dustin wanted a dad so badly, he set his mom up like this?”

Steve snorted.

“Not his mom.”

“Sure about that? Didn’t you just punish him by taking away rides to the arcade for two weeks because of his attitude?”

“So?”

Eddie just raised his brows at him, smile widening as Steve shrugged.

“Okay, fine! Are you gonna kiss me or just keep teasing me about my favorite kid?”

“Oh, you want a kiss? From me?”

“Please.”

How could Eddie resist when he was asking so nicely?

Eddie’s kissed a lot of people. Girls in school, guys at the bar, Jeff once when he was really drunk.

But not a single one of them compared to this one.

Or any of the kisses they shared after.

[pinazee]

Gus’s dad may have killed an old guy

Gotta gif right outta the bat! Liams run here! So cute!

I tell you what, i love the Shassie friendship here because yes, Shawn is going to mess with him by getting him something he hates for christmas, but then he’s also going to casually convince Jules to invite him to her family dinner because he knows he’s lonely.

Ohmygod i missed this part somehow! Gus forcing a vision see it! see it!

So a few things about the Gusters and how that plays into Gus’s character.

If they thought Shawn was a bad influence, then why let him hang out at his place all the time? Obviously they couldn’t just refuse to let him see him anymore but why not have him over at your place so you can keep an eye on him? Plus, Henry’s a cop… its complicated is all I’ll say. I think it had more to do with the fact that Shawn was just too much to handle as a kid. He strikes me as the type that needed to be constantly stimulated (i might go into more detail about young shawn in a later ep. Possibly when i try to narrow down their origin story). And Gus apparently agreed with his parents, so i have to believe part of him blames Shawn for how his life turned out, which is a little unfair.

I love the juxtaposition of how they treat Gus compared to how henry treats Shawn. Gus was heavily sheltered and coddled, whereas Shawn was being hardened for reality. Both are overprotective to a degree, except you’ve got Gus’s parents putting up foam guards on all the corners of their furniture until he’s 18, and then you have Henry who probably taught shawn how to swim by throwing him into the deep end of a pool when he was three. Weirdly, i think of the two, Henrys way was a little better, because even though he was a pretty shit dad, he, for the most part, didn’t try to shield Shawn from the world. In fact he was taught to observe it, to understand it.

This ep made me wonder if Gus was born sick. It would explain why they act like he has a “Delicate health and weak disposition”, why he didn’t have that many friends growing up, why they didn’t want him to go to that school. His parents are so overprotective and stuck in the mentality that he is a feeble child, that i think thats what made Gus so terrified of everything, but on the flip side, sparked his need to know how things worked, and why he has such a wide variety of interests. Shawn also does this, though. He never told Gus Henry killed his dog (henrys a canonical dog killer lol and i think he accidentally killed one of shawns pets too in a later ep. How many pets have to die before its no longer considered accidental???) and just in general he’s looking out for him whether emotionally (agreeing with him that he is definitely happy with his life at the end of 9 lives) or physically (standing between him and a gun in the same ep)

But they should be concerned that Shawns Psych business put Gus’s life in danger on multiple occasions already but that wasn’t discussed. So I have to assume Gus hasn’t told them those bits yet because he knows they’d freak out and make him stop.

Ernie freaking Hudson and Phylicia freaking Rashad! Which is even funnier when you remember Gus/Dulé keep getting referred to as Bud

I love that they’re a family of super sniffers and it bonds them. shawn seems to really get a kick out of seeing it too (probably because a family enjoying each other is so foreign to him 🙃)

U-turn Singleton everybody! I love when Gus has a little thing to go with his nickname!

Gus was really about to kick lassies ass! Dulé is killing me in this ep!

Gus being very subtle as always

P.S I LOVE HIM SO MUCH (but he definitely cheated)

[deke-rivers-1957]

Kid Galahad Review

In a rare departure from the "Elvis-vehicle" formula, Elvis doesn't have black hair and isn't shoved in our faces with every scene. To be specific we go back to Loving You where, despite being billed as the star, Elvis isn't entirely the focus. This movie was made by United Artists who had a different idea on how to work with Elvis. A formula wasn't entirely perfected, so studios outside of Paramount still felt that Elvis had the range to be more than just a comedic singer.

Unfortunately, compared to the huge success of Blue Hawaii, Kid Galahad seemed to have been swept under the rug and forgotten. Colonel Parker saw this as a sign that the people have spoken and Elvis as a real actor wasn't meant to be. The "failure" of Kid Galahad officially ended any hopes of prioritizing good story telling over soundtracks. Were the doubters correct in saying Elvis flew too close to the sun? Or were the powers that be simply too harsh to pull the plug on Elvis' acting dreams? Let's find out.

We immediately get our first song. "King of the Whole Wide World" is a pretty jazzy opening song. There's a swinging brass band. As weird as it is to have this play over a truck, we have no reason to believe this isn't an instrumental on the radio. At the same time when we do have a close up of him singing, you can tell the lip-synching isn't that great. I have no idea why a recently discharged soldier wouldn't have any indication of rank. It feels like an afterthought on that front. It's nit-picky but I don't get the concept of including a detail like that and not following through with it.

So we get introduced to Walter Gulick and he's looking for work as we get introduced to Cream Valley, New York. We get introduced to the people of Grogan's Gaelic Gardens. Just in this first interaction, I get personality. I already understand why Dolly is the way she is when she says she's Willy's fiancee. For once an Elvis character being southern is explained in the story. Despite being born in that small town, Walter's parents died when he was young so he had to be raised by family in Kentucky. There's no reason to go into further detail because the story doesn't need it. A perfect balance between establishing a character and moving the story along.

So we get introduced to Willy Grogan. Just by Gig Young's acting I 100% believe that he's this deadbeat business owner who likes to gamble his money away. Given the history of organized crime's involvement in boxing and in New York period, I totally get why this is included. The mob wants its money and never appreciates someone like him not being able to pay. Naturally when he can't pay for his car, the mob takes it away. This forces Willy to embarrass himself by having to lift a ride from the grocery store's delivery truck.

He meets Walter and immediately assumes that Dolly is having an affair. This introduces the concept of Willy being so insecure about his relationship with her, that he assumes every other man has bad intentions. Walter offers up his "skills" as a boxer until he could meet with the owner of the mechanic's garage. We get more depth on the mob's involvement with Willy's camp. Turns out Willy was a witness to a crime so the boss has his lackeys hang around the camp so Willy doesn't talk. I admit even after multiple watches I don't fully understand everything that was said about this. I won't take points off for this since you still get the idea that the mob's putting Willy in a sticky situation that can't be easily resolved.

This scene works so well despite not being all that grand or climatic. We have a lot of subtlety here. That's something a lot of movies lack. We don't get a lot of characters trying to explain something the audience already knows. Even when we pan down and see Walter's trainer Lew limping, we don't get this song and dance about why that happened. Everything's explained just by watching the movie and taking in the character's expressions. Meanwhile, we get introduced to Willy's sister who looks so much younger than him. Age gaps in siblings exist but it's still an odd casting choice. Turns out she's infinitively more responsible as she has to keep bailing Willy out of financial trouble.

This is the best acting Elvis can ever do. Basic instinct requires you to duck or in some way react when you see a fist coming at your face. A human being not having that ability or even reacting to the pain of being hit simply wouldn't live long. I have no idea how you can teach someone how to consciously control an automatic response. So to see Walter constantly get hit and not have any reaction or protect his face in anyway is just incredible. We also get some nice comedy that was supposedly ad-libbed where Walter's only priority is his five dollars. The fake blood is obvious but because it's meant to be just quickly wiped off it doesn't take away from the overall quality of the movie.

Throughout this scene we get the boxers singing "This Is Living". I love this song. It's not because the song is uniquely written but in the context of this movie, it's just so perfectly intertwined with the story. For once Elvis isn't the main singer. The backup artists do most of the work for this scene and it works so well because these boxers have their own group. Walter isn't exactly part of them yet so there's no reason for him to intrude. It isn't until Joey invites him to sing that he joins in when necessary. Moments like this where we let the side characters and even Elvis just be are what make some of his movies better than others. It's letting these characters be people and not plot devices that allow you to feel something for Walter. Heck none of these boxers, including Joey, really do that much in the story. But they don't need to because just by watching Walter interact with them, we get the idea that they mean something to him. They make him feel included and give him a sense of belonging.

This image of Walter looking at Joey is a nice example of non-verbal acting being able to say more. There's a palpable tension until Joey makes a joke that assures Walter no ill will exists. I love that because they could've easily made Joey the cliched rival who gets all salty that he's no longer the best. Joey isn't jealous of Walter at all and if anything is just in awe of his natural power. He's written to be a real person instead of merely a plot device to foil Walter. So many small details like this add up to being a sign the movie had effort put into it.

So Willy wants to sign Walter to be part of his camp and Lew explains why this is obviously a bad idea. Walter boxing the way he does makes no sense to me. If he had experience boxing in the military, he had to have learned how to block. That's literally the first thing you learn so you don't get hurt. I can understand if this was any other cliched boxing movies where Walter has skill but isn't polished, but that's not the issue. Walter doesn't know how to use the most basic defensive technique. Lew explaining all of this makes perfect sense because any trainer would look at Walter's technique and just groan. Even if Walter has this insane ability to not respond to being hit, that doesn't mean he's immune to head injuries.

A confrontation happens off screen and Walter knocks out a lackey. Turns out he was hitting on Dolly and Walter stepped in. You would think this would lead to a cliched love triangle where Dolly ends up falling in love with Walter. But they don't as there's nothing to suggest she's falling in love or that he has any feelings for her. A nice twist that even the original movie used. Willy is of course jealous that Walter protected Dolly but if anything it speaks to his character that he's also mad at Dolly for not coming to him. Lew and Maynard, the cook, find that one of Otto's lackey's had a gun on him. Turns out Otto had so little trust in Willy, that he's ordered his lackeys to carry weapons. You can clearly put together that if Willy talked, they will kill him.

We get a nice blink and you'll miss it of Lew holding a poster about an actual boxing match that happened in the 1920s. I love the real life references to boxers and boxing history. It shows that the creative team did their research. People who know about boxing would know about John L. Sullivan and Jack Dempsey. Details like this add color to a movie and shows that effort was put into building this world.

I love the car that Walter and Lew find. Walter feeling this need to spruce it up no matter what it'll take is so wholesome. Lew even being in this garage with Walter and supporting his decision to do this is also wholesome. When has an Elvis movie ever had this much of a focus on his character having actual friends? It rarely happens because of concerns that they'll take the focus away from him. Here giving Walter friends, makes Walter shine even more. A good person doesn't have to be boring and by giving Walter multiple relationships with people it gives him depth.

When Rose arrives in Cream Valley, Willy shows just how terrible of a person he is. Despite her being a grown woman, Willy treats her like a child. Like she's still so young and green that she couldn't possibly help him. I don't know if it's out of male pride or if he genuinely believes she can't do it. Even when Dolly comes downstairs he doesn't dare introduce her as his fiancee. And the reason why: He didn't think she could handle such a scandalous relationship. By modern standards this would be completely ridiculous as someone Rose's age would likely have learned at least something about sex one way or another. Even the concept of Willy and Dolly living together despite not being married by modern standards is a nothing-burger. But because it's the 1960s Dolly of course is upset as even back then what Willy is doing is a bit much and if anything makes him a hypocrite. He claims to protect his sister from degenerates, yet by those same standards is also one by having relations with Dolly before marriage.

Walter meets Rose and I immediately support this pairing. The soft focus on the close up works so well. Just by watching them interact you buy the love at first sight cliche. Walter looks smitten and you can tell she appreciates him too. This immediately foils how Willy sees Rose. He sees her as if she's still a child and shouldn't dare start dating anyone. Walter however, sees her as a woman. He's attracted to her, but because he respects her as an equal he doesn't force himself on her.

Everyone's character works so well. Lew is a classic New York tough love type of guy. He doesn't hand Walter things on a silver platter but he still believes in ensuring Walter gets his fair share. Lew makes for a great foil to Willy. Lew has morals and isn't willing to let Walter get hurt because Willy just wants to make a few bucks. He's just so supportive of Walter where at times he looks like a proud mom.

The scene of Walter riding his now repaired Model T demonstrates that. They have to travel to Albany, New York for his first fight and since Willy's car was repossessed they have to take the antique. Lew can just keep to himself but he's so proud of Walter. "Riding the Rainbow" works well in the context of the movie. Walter sings along with the radio and it's such a natural thing to do while you drive long distances.

I love this face. The fact that Walter is just staring at his opponent with a blank expression is just gold. The promoter calling him lamb eyes is such a fitting nickname. It's like how some animals just don't know they're about to die. That's Walter as he's trying to comprehend the severity of the situation and is failing miserably. I have no idea if Elvis was told to look like that but it ultimately doesn't matter as it's just so fitting. Walter had never been in a professional fight before so naturally that would be overwhelming.

In spite of Walter's terrible defensive abilities, he manages to win. Everyone is stunned by this ability but now there's no doubt about his ability to win. While Muhammed Ali was renowned for the "rope a dope" method, Walter still adds a layer of complexity by not blocking. Walter not being able to register getting hit is an unteachable skill that can lead to him being very successful. And he is as he begins to go on a winning streak. He makes it up to the championship fight slated to take place around Labor Day.

Walter returns to Cream Valley where it's the 4th of July celebration. Maynard had put Dolly up to supervising his corned beef. Now obviously that's a traditionally Irish product but I admit this is the first time I've heard of people eating it for the 4th of July. If there's any Irish Americans in New York or in general out there let me know if this is a thing. Me personally I would've just went with making it St. Patrick's Day. Even though it's in March, it's not that farfetched to have a warm spring. Plus you give Walter more time to train as opposed to just giving him one summer to take on a fighter who's likely trained for years.

Walter meanwhile starts getting really close with Rose. He serenades her with "Home Is Where The Heart Is" and I love this ballad. You can tell that sparks are starting to fly. We do get a funny moment where Walter gets annoyed about being interrupted. He was about to kiss Rose then just goes "whaaaa" when Lew asks him how they're going to get to the picnic. I just love small moments like this where it doesn't mean anything in the long run, but when put together makes for an entertaining movie.

This is how you do multiple songs in a short period of time correctly. I don't care that we just had a song not even five minutes ago because both songs adequately fit into the scene. This is a 4th of July picnic so naturally there's going to be music involved. "I Got Lucky" isn't a typical ballad he uses for serenading his girl. What adds to the natural feeling of this scene is if you look closely Walter crosses his eyes near the end of the song and it makes Rose smile and almost start laughing. It wasn't intended to happen, but it wouldn't have mattered if she did laugh. If anything it would give her a nice character moment by laughing along to Walter being cheesy. Couples do things like this all the time and it helps you see these two as real people.

So the young couple start walking and talk about Walter's upcoming fight. Despite having different opinions about it, Rose understands why Walter is doing it. We don't get this cliche disagreement induced breakup where we don't see her again until the climax. I like that. It shows that this couple is fully supportive of each other even if they don't agree on decisions being made. Walter isn't doing this as his permanent job. As much as he's friends with the people in Willy's camp, Walter is using boxing as a means to get what he really wants. Walter doesn't need to learn some type of lesson and I'm glad the movie doesn't want to add drama about them not agreeing about his decision to box.

Walter is an underrated feminist icon. Because feminism is about treating women as equals. Walter doesn't ignore Rose's opinions. Even if they don't agree about him fighting against Sugar Boy, he completely understands why she feels that way. He isn't using her as a tool to spite Willy. Walter wants to get married because she wants to get married. It's a mutual decision made by two fully consenting adults. "WE DECIDED TO GET MARRIED" is the most important line in their relationship. Rose doesn't have a big role but at the same time she doesn't need to. She represents why Walter's nickname is Galahad. Walter is a gentleman who respects women as an equal. This is a relationship based on a young couple's mutual feelings of attraction. She is another piece of the puzzle that makes up Walter's forever home. That's something he's always wanted and is why he came back to Cream Valley. We have a high amount of respect for Walter because he's aware of his exploitation and isn't going to let Willy disrespect him or Rose. Naturally Willy is furious but Dolly comes to Walter's defense. After all, Walter at least has the guts to maintain his commitment to his relationship which she's obviously referencing to something Willy doesn't have.

Things get even worse for Willy as the pressure against him mounts. The Chamber of Commerce for Cream Valley and Otto's mob have differing beliefs on who should win. For the Chamber of Commerce, of course they want Walter to win. It's a middle of nowhere town nobody wants to call home, Walter winning would be a big boost to their economy. This is where the exploitation really starts. Walter's body is being sold because people are now going to Willy's camp and paying just to watch Walter train. Otto's mob is equally exploitive but in a different way. Otto had recently "adopted" Sugar Boy so they're now sponsoring him. Naturally Otto would want Sugar Boy to win and for Willy to encourage Walter to take a dive. With Willy in all of this debt to them, he doesn't have a lot of options.

Willy and Dolly's relationship is completely on the rocks. Despite the image above, Dolly is furious. The cliche breakup I mentioned earlier still doesn't exist here. It's a cliche when the drama happens out of nowhere and doesn't reflect the actual character's emotions. Dolly here has been getting frustrated with Willy since before the movie started. Despite stating exactly why she's upset numerous times before this incident, Willy somehow completely misses the point. While Dolly was upset about him gambling his money away, his lack of commitment in her eyes is much much worse.

Watching Walter and Rose get it together despite not being a couple for even a year, was the last straw. There's a difference between waiting to get married because you don't have the money for a wedding and waiting to get married because you have no desire to get married. If you're someone's fiancee for years and have heard nothing about starting any wedding plans, that's a red flag. She shouldn't be expected to wait multiple years for Willy to get it together. He's stringing her along and for all she knows he could never want to marry her. That's a horrible thing to do to someone who is committed to a potential marriage. So she finally leaves Willy and sends him to rock bottom.

The backstory behind "A Whistling Tune" is interesting. Originally it was supposed to be used for Follow That Dream. For one reason or another it was dropped and instead was used here. I'm glad that choice was made. You can argue the songs don't add anything to the movie, but I would highly disagree. The songs' meanings are SUBTLE. Watching Walter and Rose simply be together as they walk to the church is meaningful. You need scenes like this to show that this is a couple that is content with the small things. You are allowing them to exist as people and not as a means to an end because it's an Elvis film and he always gets the girl. Good writing means allowing a couple to have chemistry exist outside of "they're together because the script says so". We need to see why they should be together because otherwise they're not people and therefore un-relatable.

This couple talking with Father Higgins is just incredible. We find out that they've been together for months. So many people complain that they've only known each other for a few days. NO THAT'S NOT THE CASE! Walter's been training over the course of months because if you actually pay attention, it was 4th of July and they wanted his fight against Sugar Boy to be during the Labor Day weekend (for non-Americans that's the 1st Monday of September). They've known each other even before that, but the background is a terrible determination of how time has past. But ultimately, Father Higgins priority was that the young couple was committed to a marriage. They make a great foil to Dolly and Willy's relationship. Walter and Rose know what they want and are willing to support the other if they want something different. That's the type of beautiful, healthy relationship that I wish a lot of people have.

The pressure on Walter mounts as everyone is watching him train. Joey comes back from Boston and I love their relationship. Despite not doing that much, watching them interact gives them both depth. Joey could've easily been a throwaway character that we never see again after he left for Boston. Him coming back was a great move on the writers. It reflects how Walter is more than just a potential cash cow to the town. He's actually well respected even amongst other boxers at the camp. Dare I say these people are his family. Just watching Walter light up when he sees Joey come back is enough to say that these two are good friends.

I love the representation of different cultures. This is supposed to be New York which is the melting pot of America. Ellis Island had only been closed for less than 10 years so it makes perfect sense to have a multi-cultural community. All of the cultures represented in this movie accurately reflect the real life boxing world. Boxing was really a form of exploitation of impoverished minorities. I'll skip the history lesson, but in the US Irish immigrants were in fact considered to be a minority because of their religion. So as a way to make money they would put their bodies at risk by boxing as even with the rules in place, boxers can still get hurt and even die. It was a risk they took because they knew if they were good enough, people would sponsor them. It's a sad reality that still exists and I'm glad that the movie doesn't shy away from how exploitive it can be by Walter outright saying he wants to quit once he wins. I also appreciate how in spite of the ill will that would've very much still existed amongst older generations of immigrants, everyone gets along. Mr. Lieberman and Father Higgins do get in a back and forth regarding the top boxers in their day, but nothing comes from it. They might not agree but they get along because they both love the sport and want to support Walter.

Lew and Maynard talk about Willy's relationship with Dolly. I'm not entirely sure on what to make of Willy going to Lieberman's to try to get her back. She left in the first place because he wouldn't stop gambling and showed no commitment to getting married even after a few years. Maybe there's a part of his character that I missed, but it doesn't really make sense for him to want her back knowing he hasn't changed his mind about marriage. It's nice to see though that we have side characters being allowed to talk without Elvis even being in the room. It's moments like this that make it feel like a real movie in place of an Elvis vehicle.

Maynard leaves the room as Otto and his men come in. Since Lew is responsible for patching up Walter during a fight, they pay him $500 to not show up. Given the amount of money at stake, Otto wants to see Walter lose by being too injured to fight because he was slated to be a favorite. Despite knowing what would happen to him if he refuses, Lew outright says "No!" and rejects the money. Lew is a king for this. He knew by being in the business for so long, that saying no to a mob boss will lead to consequences but he did he anyway. He got his hands broken by some of Otto's lackeys, but to him it didn't matter. Money isn't worth Walter being in an unnecessary amount of pain to Lew. But being injured himself is worth it if it means that plan doesn't go through.

This scene had a King Creole level of tension. The whole fight scene makes you feel like someone might die. It's so incredible to see a fight scene break out and an Elvis character isn't immediately involved. Willy and Lew have a relationship that's lasted for years and we get to see that Willy has a heart. Lew isn't just an employee who didn't fall in line. Lew is his friend who very much risked his life to make sure Walter didn't get hurt anymore than necessary. Seeing him still try to fight despite the horrific injuries to his hands is incredible. It shows that even though he's badly injured, he isn't going to cower in fear.

Seeing Walter come rushing down to save Willy and Lew doesn't necessarily add anything to his character. We already know that even if Willy is treating him like a lamb being fed to wolves, Walter will still stand up for him. So why is this so important? Because it shows that Willy is finally able to swallow his pride about Walter marrying his sister. Willy sees for himself that Walter doesn't have ill will towards him. He didn't help to specifically prove himself, but because it was the right thing to do. Seeing Walter look down at a bloody Willy makes him realize that Walter is good enough. He could've been petty about their argument but he wasn't. And that's what made Willy realize he was wrong. Such a beautiful character moment that didn't have to be verbalized.

We get more development on Willy's plot and while it still doesn't justify him being so overprotective, it at least gives him some depth. It keeps him from being completely irredeemable as a person. Seeing him and the people in Walter's camp emphasize that it's not worth killing himself just to win is beautiful. I love this example of non-toxic masculinity. Walter isn't responsible for making sure people win their bets. All Walter's responsible for is doing his best. The money is nice and is a motivation for Walter, but that doesn't mean he should try to go beyond what he's capable of. It's a good lesson to teach young boys as we still sadly live in a world where men feel pressured to put everything on their shoulders.

We get to see Sugar Boy and despite his involvement with Otto I don't hate him. Sugar Boy is antagonist but he's not at all a villain. He's just as much of a victim of boxing's exploitive nature as Walter is. The sad reality is that unlike Walter, Sugar Boy not being fluent in English would make escaping it even more difficult. I can't fault Sugar Boy for taking this path as we don't even know how aware he is of Otto's plan. So when Otto's lackey shows up to try to "make Walter bleed" Willy shows his true colors by making sure it failed. He took out the saboteur and had some of Otto's men apprehended. With it being a public event, Otto would be trapped from making a scene. That's what makes Willy redeemable. When given the opportunity to do the right thing he does it.

With Walter none the wiser he walks into surprisingly non-segregated crowd. This wasn't the only one either and given that segregated crowds were still practiced when this movie came out in some parts of the country, it's very refreshing to see. We get a name drop of Elvis' boxing trainer, Mushy Callahan who was a very famous Jewish boxer. I love how they don't parade him around for the movie yet still feel the need to honor him. The ensuing fight is intense but the fake blood here is a bit of a distraction. It doesn't completely kill the immersion though since Elvis is sweating up a storm. In fact he's so over zealous that Mushy had to drag him away from Sugar Boy after the bell rang. It was an ad-lib on Elvis' part that if anything works beautifully with how a competitive fight would be. It's so lovely to see everyone Walter has gotten to know be here to support him. You don't care about logistics of whether he should've won a fight because you understand the emotion behind him winning. When he does win, and everyone erupts into cheers and applause, it feels real. You feel that there's a connection between him and the rest of Cream Valley's residents outside of just money. They bet on him because they believed in him.

The ending goes by too fast for my liking. While Otto's lackeys get caught, we have no idea what happens to Otto himself. If they had simply shown him try to leave but get caught by the security guard, we can at least put it together that he'll be punished. Also since Sugar Boy lost, you feel bad because you have no idea what Otto might do to him if he did get away with it. Dolly coming back to Willy is strange as Willy has shown me nothing to suggest he changed his mind about marriage. I get that he did go over to Lieberman's to try to win Dolly back, but I feel like it could've been done better. Walter doesn't even get to talk to Rose. He just kisses her as we get a reprise of "I got Lucky" before fading to black. Given the run time, I think you can afford another 5 minutes if not less to wrap things up.

My criticisms can be written off as nit-picky and simply be a matter of creative differences. That's how good this movie is. If we were to rate movies independently of other movies that came out and the economic situation of Elvis fans, I have no idea how the higher ups can look at this movie's "lack of success" as a failure. I can go on forever about this, but Colonel Parker and the higher ups in Hollywood were wrong to consider this a failure when compared to Blue Hawaii. This isn't a copy and paste version of every other boxing movie out there. It isn't even a copy and paste version of the original Kid Galahad made in 1937. Are there similarities? Yes but there are enough differences that to me makes it above a generic movie.

Is this a perfect film? No but it very well could be in other people's eyes. This movie can very easily be the perfect movie and is a great example of how a movie doesn't have to be Citizen Kane or The Godfather level big to be good. It's also a great example of how a smaller level story doesn't mean shallow. Therefore, I'm giving Kid Galahad my highest rating so far of 9.5/10. I highly recommend watching this movie. It doesn't matter if you're an Elvis fan or not, it's just such a nice story. Simply saying it's a movie about an army vet becoming a boxer and finding love, doesn't do it justice. There's so much depth to even the side characters that you can feel the care put into this movie. A real treat if you want the best of both worlds when movie watching.

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AN: Thank you @arrolyn1114 for requesting this movie. If anyone wants to request a movie I haven't already reviewed feel free to send them in.

Tagging: @smokeymountainboy, @peaceloveelvis, @mercsandmonsters, @vintagepresley, @eapep, @tacozebra051, @hooked-on-elvis, @dragonkingsdaughter, @i-r-i-n-a-a, @presleyenterprise, @m5t1ld5, @huhhhhsthings, @tupelomiss, @atleastpleasetelephone, @sissylittlefeather, @sfull12345, @jhoneybees, @mitsyscoolplayhouse, @sillybookmarks and @alienelvisobsession.

[deliciousdefendorinternet]

in terms of future story concepts which idea do you think has more potential Poppy and Viva's mom? or Bro zone's parents?

since their both things the fandom often talks about either by just wanting them mentioned so we finally have answers or by actually having them make an appearance and be central to the plot of a future film.

and I can't imagine a future film doing both since that would be way too similar to TBT cramming in new siblings for Both Branch and Poppy in 1 film thus making for a cluttered film that didn't have time for everyone.

so yeah assuming either of these ideas do become plot points in the future which one would you prefer? and what kinda thing would you like them to do with the characters?

in terms of Bro zones parents I've said before but I like the idea of them being dead beats who left when when Branch was either a baby or an egg.

and even when they were around they were crappy parents either neglectful or emotional abusive maybe they forced the kids to be the perfect band Mistreating them in the process hence where JD got that whole attitude from.

and in present day they could maybe come back asking for help from their sons which could cause a bit of drama among the family since Branch could be willing to give them a second chance and want to get to know them. meanwhile the older bros don't want anything to do with them and don't even want to help them out which Branch could see as hypocritical given what the brothers did and the fact he gave them another chance.

I wouldn't want this to be yet another rushed forgiveness story tho so I'd have the brothers begrudgingly agree to help have the parents slowly worm their way in with their kids over the film.

especially Branch given he was too young to remember anything about them but in the end the parents haven't at all changed and once they get what they needed with the help of their sons they betray them and leave them trapped.

and here the bros all finally have a proper conversation about everything Branch maybe says he was just desperate for their family to be complete and normal.

and that he just wanted parents in his life for the first time since he was a little kid just like his Brothers did.

tho this could lead to JD Bruce and Clay and Floyd to a lesser extent finally being fully honest about why they didn't want them back in their lives.

revealing to Branch that everything wasn't as story book perfect in their family before he was born as he seemed to think.

and their parents were always selfish and cruel maybe they actually forced them to start the band simply so they could profit off of them and as I said they were the ones who originally pushed for perfection.

emotionally abusing their kids in the process and eventually after they did leave when Branch was born JD could remark in a guilty way that he followed in their footsteps since it was what he thought he had to do to make their family work.

I like the idea of Brozone's parents being used to show a sorta generational trauma sorta thing with JD and I like the idea of the Bros being given a bit more damage to be honest lol.

it helps to explain their reasons for leaving a little better after they saw JD become like their parents used to be and it gives them some trauma of their own to relate to Branch over.

personally that's how I'd use Bro zone's parents as I feel it'd be pretty silly to have yet another film just about reconnecting with dead beat family members who still get portrayed as decent people despite being selfish and crappy.

frankly the Trolls Team just aren't very good at writing those kinda stories.

anyway as for the idea of Poppy and Viva's mother I'm honestly less filled with ideas personally I don't see her as a story concept having as much potential as Brozone's parents.

maybe if she were used it could be in a similar way she left when Poppy was only a baby and Viva was younger and comes back asking for help while claiming to want her daughters back in her life.

she could turn out to be a villain later on who doesn't give a stuff about her family even after all this time and ultimately she's the main villain of the film.

I just feel less inspired by her because overall the Poppy family dynamic is pretty trouble free even tho Viva and Poppy deffo should have issues with Peppy.

while I'd argue having another movie just about reconnecting and forgiving dead beat family members would be kinda annoying.

it is a possibility that that could be the case and maybe the mother is just made someone who Ran away from responsibility but is back and genuine about wanting another shot.

only thing that would interest me in this idea is maybe giving Poppy some angst out of it tho that would also have to include Viva as well.😅😅😅😅

tho given how Poppy was a baby during the escape and she didn't even remember her own sister the idea of her remembering her own mom wouldn't really make any sense annoyingly.

IDK what do you think?

[nocturnes-hideout]

Trans Gravity Falls Thoughts

I have so many trans Gravity Falls thoughts.

I don’t headcanon the Stan twins as being trans men, but I do like the headcanon because it means that they named themselves Stanley and Stanford. And that when they were telling Dipper and Mabel their life story, they both, either independently or with some twinpathy, decided to tell the story as if everyone knew they were boys growing up.

I really like the idea that Dipper is a trans boy and Mabel is a trans girl and they’re both going stealth while in Gravity Falls, and even Grunkle Stan doesn’t know. But Stan was there for their birth, how could he not know? Well you see, Dipper and Mabel swapped names. Mabel was born Mason and Dipper was born Mabel, and they just swapped their legal names (with Dipper mostly going by the nickname Dipper). Grunkle Stan was never told any of this and he just assumes he misremembered which twin was a bookish nerd with a birthmark and which twin liked everything colorful and sparkly and he was too embarrassed by this that he never asked any clarifying questions. It eventually becomes clear to Dipper and Mabel that Grunkle Stan genuinely doesn’t know and they decide not to tell him because he’s old and might not be supportive of that. He eventually does find out because Shenanigans (TM) and Dipper and Mabel tell the very confused Stan that they’re trans. There’s a tense moment where Stan processes this information and Dipper and Mabel are scared he’s going to say something awful. But then Stan just exclaims “So I didn’t misremember who had the birthmark!”. Dipper and Mabel ask for clarification, and Stan explains what I said above and also that he’s fully supportive of them. (And also he apologizes to Dipper for calling him unmanly earlier in the summer because he didn’t know he was trans.)

I also like the idea that the Stan twins are both nonbinary but have the strangest ways of explaining/justifying it. At some point after finding out Dipper and Mabel are trans, he offhandedly mentions that he doesn’t have a gender. When asked for clarification, he says that gender is a scam (to sell more bathrooms and clothes) and so he doesn’t have one. (I also saw this one really funny post here on Tumblr that I can’t find where some transphobe comes up to an openly nonbinary Stan and says gets angry at him for telling kids he doesn’t have a gender, and Stan says that he doesn’t have a gender, he lost it and he needs money to buy a new one, oh please, sir, could you spare some money for a poor old man in need of a gender? and he scams the transphobe. ) And he says all this to Dipper and Mabel and they’re thinking that this is the weirdest explanation/justification for being nonbinary, and they briefly wonder whether he actually is or if he’s just misunderstanding what nonbinary is. He isn’t, he is actually nonbinary although that was not the word he used for himself, Dipper and Mabel taught it to him. (He is slightly wrong about his gender though, because he’s not actually agender, he just doesn’t know that you can have a gender that isn’t man or woman, so he thinks he just doesn’t have a gender.)

And Dipper and Mabel think this is the weirdest explanation for why someone is nonbinary, until they meet Ford. Ford says that he doesn’t have a gender because while in the multiverse, it got stolen by a gender thief and he wasn’t able to get it back and decided getting another one was too much trouble. Dipper and Mabel have no idea if this is some sort of joke or a misunderstanding on Ford’s part (that he was always agender and he just didn’t realize until the gender thief incident) or if this is actually what happened. They decide not to question either of their Grunkles because they know that gender can be weird and these are two very strange old men*.

*They would probably describe themselves as old men, but also be aware that the word “man” isn’t quite accurate. They use it anyway.