#tw shitty parent mention

[sp0o0kylights]

 Part Five Part Two / Part Six YOU ARE HERE. / Part Seven

A03

"No come back here and hug me dammit!"

"I told you it'd be funny." Gareth stage whispered to Steve the following Monday, as Eddie proceeded to cause his usual amount of chaos in the lunchroom.

Tiff just shook her head.

"Come on, just do it and then tell everyone I'm better!" Eddie shrieked again, loud enough to be heard across the school. Possibly into the parking lot, given the winces and glares their peers tossed Eddie's way.

Jeff had his own head in his hands having been Eddie's prior cuddle victim and still suffering the consequences from it.

"I hate you." He groaned, and every single person knew he was talking to Gareth. "I cannot believe you told him his stupid hugs didn't even compare to Steve's. He almost broke my back this morning!"

Which wasn't an understatement--Gareth himself had dodged his best friend's aggressive hugs only by bolting to his first class, then acting like a ninja as he snuck about all day.

He'd even dropped to the floor and army-crawled at one point.

Now he stayed close to Steve, blatantly using the jock as a meat shield.

"Anyone have any ideas on how we can get him to chill out?" Stewart asked, from where he'd taken refuge under the lunch table.

Their second eldest member put up with many things, but drew the line at bodily injury by overly affectionate metalhead.

"Same as always." Jeff grumbled, making sure Gareth saw his glare. "We wait him out."

"Tiff!" Eddie whined, whirling around, hands reaching out for her.

"You touch me Munson and I'll burn the trigonometry notes I promised you." Tiffany threatened without looking up from her book.

"Fine." Eddie wheeled right back around. "Graaaaant-!"

"This could take days!" Stewart complained, acting like a man caged. "I can't wait much longer!"

'Dramatic, the whole lot of them.' Gareth thought fondly, knowing he was just as bad.

"Okay. Seriously, how are we fixing this?" Jeff said sourly, as Grant once again picked Eddie up by his jacket and bodily threw him as far away as he could.

Like an eldritch being from a B horror movie, Eddie simply bounced back up and came for him again.

"His issue is that he thinks I'm the better cuddler, right? Nothing else?" Steve said thoughtfully.

"Yes." Groaned the other four in unison, as Grant laid a hand on Eddie's forehead, the latter pinwheeling his arms like a cartoon character.

Steve nodded once, before his face morphed into something devastatingly smug. "Yeah we're screwed."

Jeff switched targets from Gareth to glare at Steve instead. "Really Harrington?"

"I'm back to Harrington now? Jeff, man, you wound me." Steve faked a gasp, putting a hand over his heart.

It made Gareth grin, if only because Steve wouldn't have done that a month ago. "God I love when you're a bitch."

Steve looked over at him and winked.

"Just for that, we should make you cuddle with him." Stewart grumbled. "Tell him he can decide for himself who's better!"

Which of course killed the playful look on Steve's face.

Two pairs of shoes proceeded to kick at Stewart (who dodged Jeff's only to be nailed by Tiffany's far more tactical aim.)

Except when Gareth though about it, it actually wasn't a half-bad idea.

If one pitched it right.

"You know," Gareth said slowly, a plan forming. It was half-baked, but it'd work. "--you could end this pretty easily if you did. You  have the power."

"Are we being serious right now?" Jeff grumped. "This does not feel like we're being serious."

Gareth ignore him.

"You up for one last cuddle, Sir Carrington?"  He asked, playfully.

He got a flat look in return. "You've got to be kidding me. You're seriously suggesting the solution here is for me and Eddie to cuddle."

"I am indeed." Gareth said with a grin. "So long as it's an absolutely terrible cuddle."

That got an interesting reaction.

"Good luck, I'm an amazing cuddler." Steve huffed, offended--and it looked like he actually believed it.

A curiosity, considering even with everyone announcing themselves before touching him he still got jumpy.

"Then pretend." Gareth wheedled. "You don't even have to do it for that long. Sneeze in his ear and he'll be done for."

He got a few grossed out looks for that, but it was worth it all to see Steve growing more comfortable with the idea.

"If I were to do anything of the sort I wouldn't sneeze in his ear." The jock retorted, but he looked contemplative.

"I'm sure you could come up with something else. " Gareth suggested, and gave his best, award winning smile as he said it. "You're creative when cornered."

No ulterior motives here, no sir!

"I know what you're doing, Gareth." Steve said, calling him out immediately. "But I might be convinced to take a hit for the team--for a price. My reputation would be on the line."

"What do you want?" Stewart asked immediately, more than a little desperate as Eddie carried on in the background.

"Well..." Steve trailed off, slowly meeting each and every one of them in the eye. "what are you offering?"

"You know what?" Jeff said, putting his head back in his hands. " Just for that, you and Gareth both are on my shit list."

"I'll bake you those marble brownies you wanted and get right back off it." Steve said, the smug air only growing as Jeff sighed loudly.

"Name your price, Harrington." Stewart said, talking over Jeff's second, overly dramatic sigh. "You want some D&D treasure, or an item for your character? You got it. You want a fucking," He paused, eyes scrunching up in thought. "--new basketball? Or whatever sport ball you're into right now?"

"Not even close." Steve told him.

Jeff sighed a third time, loud and obnoxious.

"Why does this always fall down to me?" Tiff asked the ceiling, as though God himself might respond back with the answer. She tilted her head back down, aiming to make eye contact with Steve. "You're in Rucker's class right? I'll write your poly-sci paper. Highest grade I will guarantee is a B, and that is because it would be suspicious if you looked like you suddenly had strong, A-grade opinions on current, geopolitical policies."

Steve snapped and pointed towards her. "Sold!" He called, mimicking an auctioneer.

Smooth as butter, he turned towards Hurricane Eddie. "Hey Munson!"

In two seconds the jock had summoned that cocky persona of his, wearing a smarmy smile like a cloak. It was getting easier and easier to tell which "bitchy Steve" was the real one and which one was a total front.

(Tiffany had decided the man was a mean girl at his core and honestly, the label stuck.

But Mean Girl Steve was a hell of a lot different than King Steve--or any of the other overly confident swaggering personas Steve adopted like a second skin.)

For for all the preparation he'd had, was still rigid most of the time Gareth had occupied his lap, only relaxing when the younger boy had gotten Eddie so wound up their eldest friend couldn't form coherent sentences.

Now, as Steve strode over and issued the challenge of a cuddle off during the next Hellfire game, he was already less stiff.

Eddie had that effect on people. Particularly ones who had crushes on him.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever been involved in." Tiffany complained.

"Is it Tiff? Is it really?" Jeff challenged as he finally sat up.

"She's definitely forgetting the purple griffin incident." Grant said, completely ignoring what was going down on the other end of the table as he took advantage of Eddie being distracted to make his escape.

"Fine." Tiff conceded before anyone could list anything else off, "But it's at least in the top five."

"This Friday, Harrington." Eddie announced loudly then, fire in his eyes and a finger in Steve's face. "Me and you. It is on."

"Hope you're ready to lose." Steve taunted.

It was hilarious as it was ridiculous.

Which meant of course, that dumb shit had to get in the way of it.

xXx

Steve backslid the next morning.

Worse, he kept backsliding, growing worse throughout the week until the person left looked a whole lot like the guy they’d dragged to their table all those months ago.

He sat silently next to Eddie during lunch, only speaking if asked a direct question, all banter and playful bitchiness gone.

He avoided Hellfire’s members in the hallway, Stewart reporting he had been uncharacteristically silent during their one shared class.

Most damning?

He’d flinched when Eddie had done their dumb little “shoulder bumping” routine.

Which officially meant that ghost Steve was back.

(“I didn’t realize how Steve was our little ray of sunshine and positivity until he stopped being it.” Tiff complained, idly spinning a pencil in the library. “Worse, I didn’t think I’d miss it.”

Gareth, who definitely wasn’t skipping again, agreed wholeheartedly.)

Not even Eddie's antics got a smile out of Steve. He really tried too, to the point where Gareth was starting to worry his best friend was going to do something dramatic just to get a little chuckle.

Steve at least, picked up on the fact he was freaking out all of Hellfire when Grant started to get blunt with his questions.

A part of Gareth (the part that appreciated Grant’s bluntness, instead of the rest of him, that wanted to duck and cover in case it made things worse) was curious if this would finally get Steve to open up; but instead it just made things worse.

Within two direct “No really dude, what's wrong?” ’s, Steve retired the haunted act and instead brought the downright freaky return of one Hawkins' jock's doing a real good job at pretending he was okay.

Pity for him this wasn't Tommy H or the rest of the public Steve was trying to fool.

This was a group of people who tended to be hyper aware of things, ranging from their surroundings to their people. (And then went on to play, as Steve regularly teased them, “one giant math game about it.”)

Not a single one of them was fooled by the act, or the evasive answers Steve pulled out of his ass when the rest of them all, individually, in their own way, tried to figure out if their newest member was okay or just having a few bad days.

"He told me he wasn't feeling good." Jeff said, worrying his lip with his teeth when they all finally convened together after school to discuss it.

"Are we choosing to buy that?" Tiffany asked, one eyebrow raised in a challenge. "He's been off since Tuesday. It's Thursday."

Grant huffed an agreement, arms crossed over his chest.

"Devils advocate, people are typically sick for more than one day." Stewart pointed out. "Dudes probably got allergies or something, it is the end of May."

"It's not allergies." Gareth said flatly.

Allergies usually came with symptoms like coughing and sneezing.

They did not come with vacant stares and falling over one's feet when their friends said hello in the hallway.

"Well clearly he doesn't want to talk about it so maybe he'll just…work himself out of whatever it is." Jeff reasoned. "I don't know if we should really push him about it."

"And miss out on another week's worth of baking?" Stewart bemoaned, as if Steve's lack of treats was the sole reason they were concerned.

Tiff swiped at him with her paperback.

Interestingly, Eddie had yet to say much on the matter. Everyone knew he was just as worried. The guy was a secret teddy bear, and they all still knew to warn him if a dog so much as got hurt in a movie. Worse, Steve was one of his "sheepies" as he so lovingly called them all, and was notoriously defensive of Hellfire as a whole.

Gareth had been eyeing him throughout their little gathering, watching as his best friend tapped his foot anxiously.

The guy seemed lost in his own head and while it wasn't completely unusual, it too, was odd behavior.

Gareth squinted at him, making eye contact and asking if he was alright with the kind of subtle facial expressions only best friends could pull.

Eddie didn't respond, but instead, looked away.

'That's a no.' Gareth thought, as the conversation around them wound down, without anyone coming up with any solid plans on what they were going to do about the Steve situation.

This is exactly how he ended up following Eddie home.

"Inviting ourselves over I see." The elder teen muttered out of the corner of his mouth as Gareth chased him to his van, hopping into the passenger seat instead of heading for his bicycle.

"It's a good night for a smoke sess." Gareth responded casually.

"You hate smoking weed." Eddie returned with a snort. "You prefer edibles."

"Just think of what we could do with Harrington's baking skills." Gareth replied wistfully--but made sure to watch his friend.

There it was. The slightest of weird expressions, flitting over Eddie's face like a shadow before he hid it back into whatever cage it escaped from.

"You're worried." Gareth guessed. Not like that was a hard one.

"Aren't we all, Gare-Bear?" Eddie returned, eyes never leaving the road.

He pretended like he couldn't feel Gareth scanning him, taking in the too tense shoulders and the shuttered, guarded look on his face.

"You know something." Gareth guessed after a moment.

The declaration made his best friend flinch, hands squeezing tight on the wheel.

'Got you.'

"Are you going to spill or do I have to blackmail it out of you?"

"Please Gary you have nothing you could blackmail me with." Eddie challenged with a snort. "I am shameless."

A challenge that could not be ignored, if only because Gareth wanted to remind him who had had the upper hand since Steve had crashed into Hellfire.

"Really? So you wouldn't mind if I show Steve those photos of the time we dressed up as a Barbie “ken doll” band for Jeff’s sister’s birthday? You know, the one were you were wearing that pink boa and the star glasses--”

A hand shot out, clapping Gareth over the mouth.

"Thank you, I got it!" Eddie said, voice an octave higher than normal. "Why do you still even have that!?"

"My mom." Gareth managed to get out, even if it was horribly muffled between Eddie's bony fingers.

"Curse that woman's thirst for nostalgia and scrapbooks." Eddie hissed, as if his mom was some grand villain.

"You love her crafts, you ass." Gareth rolled his eyes, wiping his mouth when Eddie finally removed his hand. "Now spill."

"I'm not sure this is what's causing it." The elder cautioned after a pause just long enough to be dramatic. "But rumor has it his parents are home."

"You think they're why he's acting all…" Gareth trailed off, unsure of what to compare Steve to and not wanting to say a kicked dog.

Eddie hummed in agreement. "Every time I walk into Steve's house, the place starts off feeling like a living tomb. There’s got to be a reason for that, and the only one I can think of is that his parents want that. The tomby-ness."

Gareth leaned back in his seat, contemplating. Turned the idea of Steve's mysterious parents over in his head, comparing it to how the guy's house did have a sort of museum quietness to it.

It wasn't that the place was huge, or even that Steve was typically its solo occupant beyond the occasional weekends one or both of his parents "popped in."

It was the perfectness of it.

How on any given day a photographer could show up to take pictures and the place would be camera ready.

A sort of--trophy house.

He went on to tell his best friend this.

"It’s like a shrine to their success." Eddie added an hour later, when they'd resettled onto his couch, trying to break down just what exactly about Steve's house made it so weird.

They'd shared a beer each--some gross kind that a cat couldn't have gotten buzzed off of, and Gareth had just finished helping Eddie select their chosen flower to roll when an awkward sound erupted throughout the trailer.

If Gareth knew any better, he'd say it almost sounded like someone was knocking on the shitty aluminum door.

Couldn't be though, because he'd never in his life heard someone knock--Eddie's uncle Wayne had a key, and every member of Hellfire was aware that the window in Eddie's room had a broken lock.

To get it open you just had to push at it from a specific angle, and with a few tugs it'd come right up for you.

The noise came again, this time a little louder.

Gareth looked to Eddie, and found his friend holding all the weed.

Understanding flashed between them, and Gareth stood up to answer the door as Eddie magically made the drugs disappear.

Thankfully, it wasn't the cops.

"Hey." Steve said, standing awkwardly on Eddie's porch, looking like he desperately wanted inside but wasn't sure he'd be allowed in. "Eddie said I could just come over if I needed to…?"

He trailed off, awkwardly miming smoking with his fingers.

Gareth couldn't hold in the snort.

"You're in luck man, because I just finished rolling a few." He said, stepping back to let their wayward jock in.

"Hey Stevie." Eddie drawled, now in the process of making the weed reappear. "Come in, have a seat, take a puff."

Rather than sit on the admittedly small couch, Steve chose instead to drop his ass to the floor, leaving the open spot above him to Gareth. He waited until the younger was seated before he leaned back, broad shoulders brushing both his friends legs as he relaxed.

Eddie’s hand twitched, as though he wanted to run it through Steve’s hair and thought better of it.

(Knowing him as Gareth did, that was very likely exactly what the weird little movement of his was.)

“You wanna tell us what’s goin’ on?” Eddie said softly, long after all three of them had an inhale of the joint Eddie had lit, sitting in relaxed silence. "Cause you've been pretty down, Stevie."

"Yeah." Steve agreed hollowly. "Sorry."

Eddie nudged his leg with a foot, then offered him the blunt again. "Don't apologize man, we can't all be sunshine and rainbows."

“You’d be surprised at how many people expect an apology for just that.” Steve muttered.

Gareth traded careful looks over Steve’s head, Eddie turning back and resolutely plowing on.

“You don’t have to, but talking tends to make people feel better.”

“Does it?” Steve asked, before taking a slow, measured inhale of the joint.

Idly he added; "Gareth you can't roll for shit."

"Fuck you dude!" The younger teen exclaimed, instantly offended, but knew a redirect when he saw one. "You try rolling them then!" He snatched the joint out of Steve's hands, huffing audibly.

It was an offer. If Steve didn't want to take the opening Eddie had given him, he could instead take the out Gareth had given.

The option reminded him of Alice in Wonderland (Gareth’s actual favorite movie, even if he tells everyone else it's The Empire Strikes Back)

Specifically when Alice was lost, standing before a split path and asking advice from the Cheshire Cat.

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" Alice asks.

The Cheshire Cat spins its head, smiling its smile as it answers;“ That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

Steve proved himself to be a stronger man that Gareth had given him credit for, and took the harder path.

"My parents are home." He said, eyes glued to the TV in front of him, as if that would make the conversation easier.

Perhaps it did.

Eddie to his credit, didn't treat the declaration as anything important. "Yeah? They bring you something nice back from New York?"

"Florida this time and no."

Steve fussed with a thread on his sweater for a moment, a single yellow thread unspooling from the end. It looked like he’d been tugging at it a lot, a small imperfection on an otherwise expensive looking piece of clothing.

"Apparently I've been such a disappointment they're demanding I get a job." He began again. "They want me to learn the realities of hard work."

Gareth traded puzzled glances with Eddie.

Steve had never shied from hard work.

Everyone had heard the story of how he’d won over every coach in Hawkins' High’s favor. It was practically school legend, since he was the first freshmen to take up and finish some bullshit exercise challenge they hosted every year.

The guy even had a herd of some of the most obnoxious children he looked after, without pay.

There was no way the source of whatever was eating at him was a summer job.

Or perhaps, not just a summer job.

"Summer jobs fucking suck, but I hear that new mall’s finally finished.” Gareth said hesitantly. “You could probably get in somewhere there before you head off to college.”

"I'm not going to college. Didn't get into any." Steve said flatly.

Ah-ha.

"I only applied to the one Nancy made me." He added, still refusing to look at either of them. "Couldn't bring myself to apply to any of the others."

Which--odd, but it wasn't the oddest thing ever. Some people just didn't like school, or traditional learning methods.

No matter how much Gareth's counselor insisted otherwise.

"My dad found that out too." Steve said after a moment.

"College isn't the fucking answer to life." Gareth continued. "There's plenty of other things you can do."

Eddie’s head cocked, like a dog who’d been presented with a puzzle.

Steve shrugged. "That's not my issue with it, but the old man thinks it is. He keeps insisting that the free rides are over now." His voice kicked into a deep mockery of his fathers at the end, the condescending tone coming through loud and clear. “Thinks I'm here to screw my girlfriend and party my life away. Wouldn't hear me about not wanting to go to college, at all. Definitely didn't care that I broke up with Nancy." The last part was muttered, almost said more to himself and for himself than it was for them.

Eddie’s head tilted the other way.

"Did you have an idea of what you wanted to do?" Gareth asked. He figured it they knew, they might be at least able to help.

He got a shrug in response.

Gareth was about to open his mouth--probably to put his foot in it, but hell if Steve wanted help brainstorming what he did want to do with his life, or at least get positive support from someone who wasn't a rich asshole, it might as well start here.

Eddie beat him to the punch though, because as usual, Eddie was able to track the weird unspoken thing that no one else could pick up on.

"It's the kids, isn't it?" Eddie asked softly. Reverently. "You don't want to leave Hawkins, because of the kids."

Steve took another sip of beer, waving off the joint Gareth offered him. For someone who'd come to smoke he'd barely touched it or the beer, but then no one here would push.

It was pretty obvious, (to Gareth anyway) that the weed had been a flimsy excuse to begin with.

"When those damn kids started trying to trap the--dogs." Steve started, correcting his slip so smoothly Gareth almost didn't pick up that he'd intended to say something else. “I was the only damn adult they could find.”

Steve gave up fiddling with his sweater to tug angrily at his beer tab, twisting and pulling at it.

"They had figured out where the dogs would be. Had an entire meat bucket they wanted to use as bait and but I was the only damn person to try and at least wrangle the little shits. You wanna know how they found me?" He picked up steam now, and Eddie couldn't even be satisfied that he'd managed to hit the nail on the head because clearly whatever was happening here was the actual thing Steve needed to get off his chest.

"Football practice?" Gareth asked mostly to fill in the tension-filled pause, and then ducked from the swat Eddie aimed his way.

Steve blew out a harsh, mocking breath.

"Dustin found me on the way to Nancy's house, where I was planning on apologizing. Had flowers and everything."

Oh.

Steve's tone said a hell of a lot more than that, the raw emotion making Gareth's own stomach roll.

A careful glance showed an equally punched-out expression on Eddie's face, the metalhead having physically reared back like Steve's words had struck him.

"What were you apologizing for?" He asked, recovering faster than Gareth could.

"Honestly man? I don't know." Steve laughed then, a harsh little disbelieving noise. "I just knew Nancy had said--well she said some shit while drunk, and wasn't able to say some shit sober, and I realized after that maybe I--I rushed her or something you know?"

He ran a hand through his hair, a self soothing behavior. "Or that I did, fuck I don't know. She's Nancy Wheeler, she's smarter than me by a longshot, so if she was mad, than I figured I must be at fault." Steve shrugged, like that was a fact of life.

Eddie interrupted immediately. "She's not smarter than you."

"I--what?"

"Nancy isn't smarter than you.' Eddie repeated firmly. "She's booksmart, Stevie. School smart. Nancy Wheeler absolutely owns tests and papers and things you need to study for, and she’s a hell of a researcher--but she's not people smart."

"What?" Steve repeated incredulously and there Gareth caught a flash of bitchy Steve.

The real one, who'd been shoved aside by the apathetic version.

"Have you ever seen that girl get fixated on something? She's tenacious, gets her teeth in and won't let go.” Eddie snapped his teeth, shaking his head while growling like a dog.

Gareth rolled his eyes, but a ghost of a smile graced Steve’s face.

“But she hasn't figured out how that hurts people yet. She's caught up in getting the results. She's not intentionally unkind, she's just--a little out of touch." Eddie flopped back against the couch, making a grabby gesture for the joint Gareth now held. “People like you--”

Here, he poked Steve in the chest, before reaching past him to wave his hand obnoxiously in Gareth’s face for the joint (and get smacked at for the effort) “are people smart.”

"That's not--no." Steve protested head jerking from Eddie's fingers to Eddie's face, but it was weak, his eyes wide as saucers.

"Yes.” Eddie mocked, but it was in jest, proven by the easy, soft smile he gave Steve. “You said it yourself. The kids go to you, man. They go to you even now, when Nancy or Jonathan could be driving them all over town. You get people; how they work, how they tick, what makes them happy or sad, and people are drawn to you because of that.”

“Jonathan drives.” Steve muttered in disagreement.

“And yet we all witnessed the clown car act when all those kids came out of your backseat two weekends ago.” Eddie refuted. “You’re just as smart as Nancy is, Steve. Just in a different way.”

Steve frowned.

“My parents don’t see it like that.”

“Your parents can get fucked, Sweetheart.”

That was pushing it, but Steve didn't comment on the nickname. Never commented on any nicknames Eddie came up with, beyond the occasional eye roll.

Which is right about when the phone rang.

They all glanced towards it, then down at their respective watches.

It was well past midnight.

"Think that's Wayne?" Gareth asked, eyebrows raising as Eddie stood to answer the phone.

His friend just shrugged, before picking up.

"Munson Mortuary, you stab em we slab em." He chirped as he pressed the phone to his ear.

"Tiffy-Taffy isn't it kinda late for--whoa." Eddies easy smile flipped, back going ramrod straight. "Slow down, what happened?" And oh, shit, that was Eddie's "somethings wrong and I'm going to fix it" voice.

Gareth sat up, making sure the joint Eddie had put down was out as he stared worriedly at Eddie.

"Okay. Gareth and Steve are with me, we're all coming." Eddie finished, prompting Steve to also sit up. "Stay there and for the love of God, tell Stewart not to touch anything else."

"What happened." Steve and Gareth demanded as one.

It'd be funny if the look on Eddie's face wasn't so serious.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to break my promise about not going to the lab, Steve." He said, a hand going to tug anxiously at his hair.

"What?" Steve said, immediately on the defensive.

Then; "Why?"

"Because all our darling friends went to the Hawkin's lab without us. Apparently they ran into some kids on the way and now Stewart's stuck in a hole."

“All of them?” Gareth questioned, because sure, yeah he could see Stewart doing it. Could see Grant and even Jeff really, but Tiffany? Out exploring an abandoned lab that had killed people?

On a school night?

"She's gonna give us the full story when we get there, she called from the nearest payphone. Had some kid who kept interrupting her so she just gave me the basics, but apparently Stewart is really stuck, and for some reason the damn kids won't let anyone try to get him from some other door. They keep saying it's not safe or some shit." Eddie's anxious tugging grew as he moved to snatch up his wallet and keys, walking and talking as it were.

Gareth had expected a reaction out of Steve then, but  what he hadn't expected was Steve to surge to his feet in a near panic.

"Kids!?" He shouted, eyes wide and frantic.

Eddie flinched, but Gareth knew immediately what the jock was thinking.

"You don't think they're your feral pack of kids--do you?" He asked.

"It's always them so yes, yes I do." Steve snarled and for the first time that week, the guy looked alive.

Gareth just wished it was under better circumstances.

[callmegkiddo]

Reblog this if your wanna beat up your friends shitty abusive parents

This also applies to internet friends

[aroacesigma]

Every time I talk to my sister I feel like I'm going fucking insane how is she so utterly convinced she's the victim when she treats people like this

[imfrom-neptune]

Rambly brain dump

I’m probably venting actually idk

Maybe don’t read this I just need to put it somewhere

I don’t think I realized that all the shit that happened just genuinely wasn’t as funny as I thought it was

Like it was happening and I was like “lmao my dad broke in a window tryna get into my house”. But let’s be real. My dad broke in a window tryna get into my house. What?? That happened to me? I was supposed to go to a concert that night. I missed it because I was helping to clean up glass and keep my siblings entertained. My dad broke a window.

I freak out when cars pass by my window and get nervous when people knock in the door cause it reminds me of the night my dad had cops shine lights through our windows at 4am trying to see if we were home. And the stupidest thing is no, my mom wasn’t home. I was alone and I had to be brave and deal with that by myself. Because she stayed out with her boyfriend and was too much of a coward to come back and keep me safe.

I stayed up until 5am packing up and moving and leaving my entire life behind. I live in a little house with a tiny pull out bed and a toy box as a bedside table. I packed my shit up while my mom was throwing away my things and yelling at me for not being able to carry things that were too heavy. I still packed my things and I still ended up in this sad little house and I still left my safe place and I can’t ever go back. That home belongs to someone else. That place isn’t mine anymore.

And this doesn’t even only apply to things that happened during the divorce.

I had to have been like six at most, and my mom had my mouth tapped shut while I cried in a corner.

I’ve been locked out on my front porch at least three times. I was maybe 12.

My mom has been throwing out my things for years. It started with toys when I “misbehaved”, and now it’s things that actually matter to me. She broke into my fucking locker thing just to get into my personal stuff and throw it all away. And then she had the nerve to deny it. She threw away my art because she didn’t like it. She took away the apps I needed to make YouTube videos because she didn’t like them. Everything I’ve ever told her I liked, she’s always found a way to ruin.

When my parents found out I was queer they yelled at me about it for hours. Punished me for it. Told me I could tell anyone I wanted but no one would ever believe me. And y’know what? I told my Opa and he believed me. They’re probably half the reason I was so scared to tell him. But guess fucking what? They were wrong. And now they want me to believe they’re soooo supportive? Fuck that.

In 7th grade I was (for lack of a nicer way to say it-) very suicidal and I struggled slightly with hurting myself. Ofc I didn’t hurt myself in a way that mattered, I don’t even have scars anymore, but regardless. They found out about this, and punished me for that too. I literally wanted to be dead, thought I deserved it, and they grounded me for it. Didn’t help me at all. Just made me feel worse about it. I got myself clean and I made myself want to be alive again. They didn’t do anything for me.

I’ve been hit for things I shouldn’t have been. Sometimes I made the mistake of fighting back. I haven’t been hit since the divorce, cause y’know, they want me to like them. But I used to be hit all the time and I’m now realizing how scary that really is.

I’ve been threatened to have cops called on me. I’ve been threatened to be abandoned. I’ve been threatened to be killed.

I’ve been told straight up that my mother regrets me. Which is the funniest (or, maybe not funniest?) thing because I was literally unplanned. Though my mom refuses to admit it, I did the math, and my dad told me. We all know.

And I guess I just find it easier to play it like a joke. But it’s sorta hit me over the past two weeks that it actually affected me and I actually have problems because of it. It’s not funny. I may have had a childhood full of toys but I also had yelling outside my door at late night hours.

And I just played it as a joke because I didn’t know what else to do. Now it’s too late to be upset about it. It’s all happened and now I’ve gotta grow up and pretend it didn’t. I didn’t get the good parents. And I can’t do anything about it.

and it’s so scary cause if they can fake 20 years of love, what does that say about me? I’m both of them in one. I’m every bad thing they’ve done, put together. I’m a result of those mistakes. Am I designed to be as bad as they are? Cause I desperately want to be nothing like them.

I wish none of this ever happened to me. I remember too much and at the same find half of my memory is blank. I don’t know why I deserved this, and it makes it so hard to believe I didn’t. Why would such bad things happen to me if I didn’t deserve it? I did it all by myself for what reason?

[codenamehazard]

.:The Dam Breaks:.

Chapter 27: The Dam Breaks

[TRIGGER WARNING: SEVERE MENTAL BREAKDOWN, SMALL MENTION OF CORPERAL PUNISHMENT, ANXIETY, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, MENTION OF ABILISM, SHITTY PARENT BEING SHITTY, MENTIONS OF BUGS AND SPIDERS.]

Hey guys! Hoooooo man, this is a chapter I've been chomping at the bit to share with you guys ever since I finished it! I hope you guys like this as much I liked writing it! Big shoutout to @rogueshadeaux for helping me with research, brainstorming and being the creator of Jean and Brent Rowland!

Without further ado, let's jump in!

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

Warmth runs down my throat as I take a sip of warm water. How long has it been since the chaos that was Pangolin’s transfer into the Poison Ward of this hospital went down? Around 12 hours? With how on edge everybody was, it was hard to tell and it didn’t calm down either.

Sometime earlier, The metal man had walked out into the waiting room to get Mako with a worrying urgency. She got up with no questions asked, but this prompted Dove to jump up and try to blitz through the doors. It took both Kestrel and I to hold the thrashing pigeon back. I actually had to zap him hard enough to knock him out just so that Mako could get through unimpeded.

A squabble followed when Dove came to, the dodo and the bird of prey locked verbal talons as they screamed at each-other. It wasn’t until Kestrel gave a sharp-tongued snap at Dove that he backed down and conceded the argument. Now he was just sitting in the corner, sulking like a child.

I don’t blame the kid, really. If that was my brother, I would be ready to become a one-man demolition team. Though I understand that right now, the best way we can help Pangolin is to stay out of the docs’ way until we’re called upon.

I paid little mind to the plague doctor knock-off as something else has my attention. Kestrel…

Ever since Pangolin was admitted, she hasn’t been acting right. Granted, she’s always been an odd bird, eccentric, but this? This isn’t normal even for her. Pacing back and forth like a trapped zoo animal, fussing with that evil eye bracelet I remember seeing from when we talked in Droptown, sometimes she would flap her hands when she thinks nobody’s looking. She’s silent as a church mouse, something that she just isn’t.

The thing that really had my attention were her steel-blue eyes. Wide and wild, darting from the bay doors to a door painted a cool blue with a moon on it. Back and forth, back and forth, incessantly. Something’s not right in her head and it isn’t just from the fear for her fellow Misfit.

Watching Kestrel pace about with her wild eyes, it made me feel something I haven’t felt in a long ass time. An emotion I didn’t expect to feel. A weight in my stomach, an ache. The sight twists my guts into a knot that claws at me. Worry. I scoff at the sensation and brush it off.

Why should I worry about the girl? She’s a grown woman, she can take care of herself. Besides, it’s a waste of emotional energy. There’s no point in worrying about someone who hates me and who I hate in kind.

Despite my reasoning, the knot remains, so I just ignore it. There’s probably another reason why it’s there.

I turn my head as I hear the door open, seeing Mako and the tin-man… Coyote, was it? I don’t know, so many new names. They were quietly talking among themselves before turning to face us. Kes takes a deep breath and shakes her head, trying to calm herself and hide her… Whatever’s going on in her head, before asking the two about Pangolin’s status.

God, she’s not even sounding right. Her voice is too quiet, despite trying to speak with confidence, her tone’s also…. Restricted, I guess? There’s the kind of cracking that happens when you’re trying to hold something back. Mako and Coyote look at each-other before nodding, Mako stepping up towards us.

“Pangolin’s status has been stabilized, but he’s not out of the weeds yet. That sting from the blink scorpion went into his bones and was wreaking havoc on the marrow. I had to help Crow infuse the anti-corrodium serum directly into his bones without throwing up.” She says with a shudder as Coyote rubs his hand, must have had her hold it during everything. Mako was never a fan of patterned holes. “Thankfully the infusion is working and he’s stable enough to have another visi-”

Before Mako could finish her sentence, Dove leaps up from his seat and practically disappears as he turns into a gust of wind. The only thing that tells me where he is was the movement of objects as he rushes through to be with his brother.

Kes sighs in relief, or rather tries to. Whatever demon she’s fighting in her head is crossing some wires in that brain of hers. The sight is strange, the only thing I could really describe it as is like she’s forgetting how to be a normal person right before my eyes. The wild eyes now damn near flying around in their sockets and her smile becoming more forced by the second.

Coyote and Mako look at each-other worriedly before the shark gives the metal-man a nod. Coyote nods back before heading over and whispering something into Kes’ ear, I try to listen in, but it’s too faint. Whatever he said prompted the girl to make a beeline to that weird moon-door with Coyote hot on her heels.

The man gets in front of Kes and opens the door for her before she shoulder-checks it down and closes it quietly behind her. What happens next…. Makes me nauseous.

Screaming, warped and metallic. Just like back at her shop when Pangolin pushed her too far. Hearing it the first time made me sick and angry but this time it makes my blood run cold and the knot in my stomach grow tighter, the sound of twisting metal inside the room didn’t help either. Without thinking, I push myself off the wall and walk over to the door. Coyote looks at me worried and about ready to go into a defensive stance when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head to glare at the offending party. Mako.

“You better have a damn good reason for why I shouldn’t fry you for touching me.” I can hear Shiny getting ready to say something, but Mako holds her hand up.

“Cole, slow your roll for a second. I can explain what’s going on…. Somewhat.” She hums and I try to relax. Eyes glowing intensely as I watch her.

“Kestrel’s having a meltdown.” Mako says with a sigh and I scoff.

“Yeah, I can see that but that doesn’t explain anything.” I snip as I cross my arms, Mako facepalms.

“I was getting to that, Cole.” Mako growls in aggravation. “She’s on the Spectrum.”

“... The internet company?”

“NO!!” The shark bellows out before thumping her hand on her forehead. “The Autism Spectrum. She’s high functioning!”

Autism? That’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time. Last time I heard that word was back when I was in high-school. A classmate of mine fell to pieces in band class after the asshole behind him wouldn’t stop screeching on that damn violin he had. Surprised I didn’t have tinnitus from that asshat alone. The last horrendous squeak had me turning around to deck the fucker when the poor kid just lost it. Threw himself on the ground, covered his ears, started to rock himself to pieces and yelled at the top of his lungs to “shut up” repeatedly. The teacher’s assistant had to help the guy out while the teacher dragged Screechie McFuckface out of the class to give him a verbal lashing.

I remembered asking the assistant what was going on and she told me it had something to do with Autism and then shooed me away so she could focus on getting the kid calmed down… Then I asked my dad about it. 

“That’s what damn brats like you become when parents are too soft on them. 16 years old and throwing fucking tantrums like toddlers. Damn kid should have gotten the belt, not a coddle.”

Needless to say that was the last time I talked to Dad about that kid.

With that word associated with Kestrel, things started to make sense.. Things I thought were normal girl things started to line up with things the rocking kid did and even the things that weren’t normal made some sense. How she would get irritated when things she had placed just so would get moved or just people moving her stuff in general. How she avoided certain textures. How she would sometimes stop and stare at the ceiling or at corners at odd times. Even how she couldn’t quite look me in the eyes, always looking at the large scar on the left side of my face. It all made sense.

And now, her screaming also made sense.

“Everything that happened?” Mako continues. “The monsters, the bugs, the big ass spider, Pangolin getting tagged badly, all of that on top of shouldering the physical and emotional burden that comes with taking the lead? It was like a landslide falling into a reservoir. Yeah, the dam can hold it all back for a little bit, but it starts to crack and leak until-”

“-It fails and breaks.” I finish as my brain processes everything, dots connecting in ways I didn’t know were there.

“Mhm.” Mako hums as she nods. “She did well to last as long as she did, but that constant burden of having to always put on a brave face and look like she’s in control is one of the reasons why she wants nothing to do with leadership at all. It would wreak havoc on her mental-state, that’s what she says anyways.”

Mako continues to explain, but at this point my mind begins to focus on something that’s only growing more and more insistent. The knot in the pit of my stomach that I’ve been trying to ignore. The gnawing of worry. It’s damn-near suffocating, but why?!? I don’t worry about people like this unless I care about them, but why am I caring about the bird?! Why do I care? Why am I giving a rat’s left testicle about the freak-out of someone who hates my guts, Autism or not?? Kestrel doesn’t like me, I don’t like her. We both hate each-other, so why should I give a shit?!

The clicking of the door draws my attention as I see Coyote peek into the room, it’s at that point I notice that the screaming has quieted. He walks inside and stays in there for a little before peeking his head out of the door. Signaling for Mako to come over. She nods and ushers me to follow. I walk over to the door to peek in and…

Oh… Fuck…

Kestrel Morrison, the Fiery Gunsmith… She’s just… Sitting in the middle of the floor, anything metal around her twisted and warped from her powers going haywire. A black, fuzzy-looking blanket wrapped around her form as listless eyes gaze out at a wall. Her appearance looked almost sickly with the blanket around her body. Flushed face, cheeks streaked with drying tears that stained the fluff and her expression blank, almost hollow.

The only other time I’ve seen her look that lifeless was after the Mine Incident and it pulled at my heart just as strong.

I turn my head to see Coyote walking over to a shelf and grabbing two large totes full of colorful items. The sound they make when the totes are gently placed near the silent bird told me what they are, the tell-tale rattle of Legos. The metal man quietly opens the totes to show that yep, they were Legos, one’s full of the tried and true bricks, the other was full of more mechanical looking pieces. Bionicles.

The sight of the toys caused the girl to stir, a small turn of her head, a twitch of her lips upwards and the light in her eyes brightening.

Coyote sits down next to Kestrel and begins to build, the bird following suit with her Bionicles, no words spoken, only small looks and the sound of clicking and clacking as they begin to build. With the bricks Coyote builds a small city, showing his skill in architecture. The Gunsmith takes the robotic parts and snaps them together, creating monsters to re-enact favorite kaiju movies in among the growing buildings.

Seeing Kestrel playing quietly with her mechanical creations soothed the knot that ate at my stomach, but a new feeling takes its place. A feeling that makes my blood start to boil, I resist the urge to frown. What the hell? Where did this come from?! The worry is gone, the screaming has stopped! This is the most wholesome sight I have seen in a long-ass time! Kestrel’s fine and she’s just playing Legos with Coyote! I’ve lost track of how many years have gone by since I’ve seen anything remotely this sweet!

Why in the name of GOD is this pissing me off?!?

[allmyhomieshatelawns]

TW: discussion of ED aka an eating disorder

really wish my dad would stop contributing so hard to it. bc like, when i was young it wasn’t a whole lot of stuff, mostly them being like “wow are you sure you should have More?”

then i got a job when i got into college and it got worse. i’d be working until close, and get home. usually this was around 9:30, and i’d fix myself something to eat, bc most likely, i hadn’t eaten yet. which like yeah i’ve had an ed for p much most of my life. i’ve skipped breakfast on the reg since middle school. i’ve skipped breakfast and lunch on the reg since high school.

anyway, back to the topic at hand.

my dad would start harassing me. “it’s really late to be eating.” “you shouldn’t eat now.” etc. over and over until i snapped at him: “Would you prefer i went without?” and then he p much said yes, giving a non-answer means yes in this household unfortunately.

so now i don’t eat in front of him. it makes me sick even thinking about eating in front of him. like my stomach hurts, nausea, the works.

i keep eating later and later bc he won’t go to bed early enough. i hate him so much bc i WANT to eat earlier, but the thought makes me freeze and feel ill. why did he have to do this to me? why can’t we sue parents for being pieces of shit?

[shigussy]

the amount of pedo youtubers i watched growing up was insane but its actually really worrying that i had crushes on most of them and im so so thankful that my interest in most of them disappeared before they got exposed bc i would've lost my mind which did happen once with miniladd

[chaosgremlinmunson]

I don't have a title for this, I wanted to explore the feelings and thoughts that come with anxiety and depression and how that could have affected Max during season four.

Tw: suicidal ideation, depressive episode, trauma and just very sad thought. Please read with caution if any of this is triggering for you.

Max sat in her dark bedroom, surrounded by blankets and shadows as she stared at her wall, blankly. Lately, everything had felt empty, devoid of any of the joy she'd been grasping for, try as she might, she couldn't find it in herself to care anymore. Her life had continuously been spiraling for years. Ever since she was young and just starting school she'd been the butt of jokes - the unwanted, unneeded friend trying to worm her way into people's lives and hearts. Before Hawkins she'd learned the hard way to lock her feelings down - let no one close to you, keep those walls up and defenses up higher. So high even the dragons in town couldn't break them down. 

She scoffed inaudibly as that last thought had crossed her mind. Who'd have thought she would be sitting here thinking about dragons of all things? She'd opened up and let these annoyingly endearing geeks into her heart and then she'd lost the one constant in her life. Her shitty family, and now her mother and step-father, Neil,  just stared through her. Like she was the reason this family was fractured. Of course it was her fault, everything was always her fault. 

She gripped her knees close to her chest, her tears silently falling down her cheeks. She just wanted the pain to stop, for the void to go away, and for once to not feel like she may just bring down everyone around her. She'd overheard Neil telling her mother how if it hadn't been for her, maybe Billy would still be here. How she'd overheard her mother scream back that he'd been the black hole, the reason her daughter was slowly falling away from them. Max had heard everything about how she was the problem, she was the reason, or her reactions were the reason. Part of her wanted to scream out for it to stop, to pull so far into herself that maybe, just maybe, she'd disappear and no one would be hurt from her existence anymore.

She reached over the lip of her bed, picked up the shoebox of letters, and held them close before opening it, clicking on her bedside lamp. She caressed a purple envelope worn over time, still just faintly smelling of jasmine and chamomile and opened it - spreading out the letter she'd memorized years ago. 

She read the words again as they ripped into her heart - her first love, Jessica, and how she'd broken things off after her parents had found out - seen the photo booth strip where they'd kissed chastely - and told her that she couldn't be Max's friend anymore. She begged Max not to contact her, She'd written that Max was the reason her parents didn't love her anymore. Max was the reason they looked at her like she was a demon. Max didn't know why she kept the letter, just that Jessica had been the first person she loved. Then she met Lucas and now how long would it be before he too walked away from her? Before he realized she was nothing more than a walking, talking black hole who would destroy his life too.

She rubbed her chest in circles, her breathing starting to hiccup as she fought to keep her thoughts to herself. To lock them away, find the mask with her smile and lock it into place, better than to bother anyone with how pitiful she truly was. 

She closed her eyes, wrapped her blankets tighter around herself, and willed herself to sleep for a while. Lord knows tomorrow she'd have to show up to school and pretend the world wasn't a vast abyss filled with pain and suffering. “Tomorrow,” she thought to herself, “tomorrow we'll try again.” And let herself sink into a dreamless, restless sleep.

[thattheater-kid]

A very merry fuck you to the “at least your parents are still together!” kids.

Becky, my mother has driven my once cheerful and energetic dad to depression and mild alcoholism, threatens to end her life when anyone calls her out on her bullshit, and loses her shit if I breathe too hard in her direction. Do you think I give a shit that your parents are divorced? I wish my dad would take us and leave my mom.

[angelfoodscake]

OKKKKKKK WAIT im thinking of changing bo's lore to like , him and his sister had shitty parents actually so they ran away but some time after she passed, so currently he tries to be happy and stay positive in life because its what she wouldve wanted

[tallyhoot]

ough vent

i was talking about how i flinch at every loud sound and my mom was like "i think we let you spend too much time with your grandma" um no you were very fucking abusive and grandma never fucking did anything to me so what the fuck are you going on about?!

[cuntwrap--supreme]

I come home to my mom telling me about how some girl she works with died and how she's happy. Says she "contributed nothing to the world" and "was a whore," after telling me how this girl used to call her a whore and how it hurt. She said she told everyone she works with that this chick didn't matter, too, and said she hopes it was suicide. She said it's gross how everyone pretends to have cared for her only after she died, to which I told her she does the same shit. I then said that she couldn't have full mental breakdowns when someone in her life dies but call everyone else who cries over someone's death selfish assholes. She said it's because the people in her life actually matter. I asked if she was implying that this whole ass woman had no meaning and brought nothing to anyone's life and had nothing that made her her. She said no, she's just some ugly whore who should have killed herself years ago. And I'm like... I don't know what you want me to say? You're a bad person for thinking like this, period. I told her she's a miserable, lonely old woman who's mad because this girl (around my age) "stole" the guy she'd been dating after he realized my mom's a psycho. She told me to go fuck myself, said of course I want to make her seem like the bad guy in every situation. Like? Hello? Are we hearing the same fucking story? How in the mother fuck am I supposed to hear you talk about someone killing their self and laughing about how it's dumb for anyone to mourn this person and then side with you? It's not like she killed one of your kids then shrugged and told you to get fucked. She's a 31 year old woman who you never even mentioned past the time you cried about how she "stole your man" 8 months after he left you, you buffoon!

Anyway, this is why my mother will die, sad and alone; and she'll never understand that it's her that people are repelled by. She thinks it's somehow my fault when people don't like her - people I've never even met! But really, it's just people seeing past the facade she puts up and realizing that, underneath the appearance of being a normal woman in her 50s, she's actually a hateful, spiteful, vindictive cunt.

[going-to-superhell]

my parents to me as a kid: don't take pain or allergy meds man up, don't eat that much you should want to be hungry its good, punch and beat the people you don't like me at 18: has to be forced to take allergy and pain meds even though i'm suffering pain equivilant to a heart attack or worse, struggles eating and rarely eats propper meals, threatens to punch and beat people who cat call me or biggots my parents: wait no my parents: we totaly never said that #gasslight

[wrenthemoralfander]

My Dc Au

Gotham: Jaded City (this is where I just ramble facts about the DC characters in the story.)

Trigger Warning: mentions of murder, referenced child abuse, theft, burning someone alive, mutilation, forced drugging, suicide, damage of property, toxic family are mentioned

(Two Face)

Best friends with the Riddler. Like these two are best friends. They have known each other since high school.

Two Face hates Amanda Waller because she keeps screwing him over.

Harvey Is rich, due to his hard work in college, and his work as a lawyer. Harvey spends his money. Two Face, unlike Harvey, is smart enough to save the money and hide in a place where Harvey can’t find it.

Hates Cobblepot, but seemingly likes tolerates Sionis.

Loves Lasagna. Like he would eat that shit for days. 

Has an allergy to cumin. He doesn’t know why he has this allergy, but he does. 

Harvey usually cleaned his coin after he flipped it too much to make a decision. If however it starts to get rusty, he replaces it. This seems to satisfy Two-Face

Doesn’t trust Lady Shiva. Why? He’s worried she’s going to hurt his best friend. Two Face hasn’t killed her, yet…

(The Riddler)

Full name is Edward “Luis” Alonzo Nashton.

Is of Latino heritage.

Had a bad upbringing.

Is a single father of a young boy named Cody. Cody’s mother is dead, after committing self termination.

Is one of the more feared villains in Gotham. For a few good reasons. 

Is one of the few Gotham villains who have managed to capture the Batman, but one of the the only two Gotham villains who successfully made the Batman question his thoughts on Riddler.

Killed the villain Killer Frost, all because she tried to hit his son. When the Batman asked why, he said “So… here’s the thing, Batman. I don’t like kids, can’t stand them. Yet, even I wouldn’t stoop so low. You see where I came from, if you hit a kid, and that kid was your own flesh and blood, it meant you were teaching them discipline. If you hit a kid, and that kid wasn’t your own… Well nobody stuck around to find out what that meant. The people who hit kids that weren’t theirs? They were dealt with. I learned that from the elders. As to why? She tried to hurt a kid, and besides… I was just doing what the elders taught me.” He stopped her, knocked her out, chained her up, poured a lithium formula on her, surrounded her with wood, and lit the wood on the fire. She couldn’t use her powers because her hands were covered in an antifreeze like powder. He dragged her death out and laughed as she started screaming.

Used to work in the law industry. No longer does as he went to pursue his own path.

Despite not liking kids, he’s actually a really good dad. Makes Cody some lunch, takes care of him when he’s sick, helps Cody with school, praises Cody for his drawings/accomplishments, tries not to be out committing crimes so much, speaks highly of Cody’s mother, and tells Cody she would’ve been proud of him, and will drop everything for his child.

Yet, Ed worries he is not a good fighter. The reason he’s worried he’s not a good father, is due to Edward’s relationship with his own father and sometimes he has nightmares. His nightmares will go from beating his father to death, to finding Cody near dead in the old man’s place. Due to these nightmares, he often wakes up in a panic, checks on Cody before locking himself in his office, not sleeping for the whole night.

Steals money and saves half of it to put it in a bank account to support his son for college. A quarter of that money goes to bills, and the rest is for Riddler.

Has severe religious trauma. Like he will not attend church, but he’s very polite and respectful about it.

He hates leaving his son alone, sometimes he’ll skip the criminal activity, but if his work truly demands him, he’ll hire a babysitter and pay them a generous amount if they do a good job.

He has killed several innocent people. Some of these people skipped babysitting in favor of going to a party. These people who were found brutally mutilated and deceased in alleyways. He’s also killed people who witnessed crime scenes, because he keeps getting told ‘not to leave any witnesses.’

Actively make sure his son is safe and happy. Ed doesn’t involve his son any crimes because it’s the fastest way to ensure Cody either gets killed or taken away from him. 

His cane is a weaponized cane. He can go from a cane to a taser, to a full blown sword. Yes, he has stabbed people with this. No, he is not sorry.

Has slaughtered a room full of cops before, but have left no clues, as with the GCPD…? He doesn’t take the risk. 

Riddler’s victims if they are smart, but failed to use their brains, are often killed in gory and gruesome ways, so sometimes they are left mutilated. This is because he expects his victims to be aware they cannot afford to screw up, as he reminds them constantly that their lives are on the line.

Ed also doesn’t like playing with his food, unless his victims are interesting, he does not like it.

Has a thing for Lady Shiva and for Jason Todd.

(Poison Ivy)

Her outfit is a live floral ball gown. I am literally not joking, it can turn into a literal poison ball gown. Her outfit is made of nature despite being a ball gown.

Pamela is Poison Ivy by tradition. All the woman and her family before her happen poison ivy since her great grandmother. She is the only one who isn’t evil.

Pamela loves kids, absolutely adores them. She doesn’t like adults, because of what they teach the kids.

Works as a daycare worker and as a gardener.

Has three types of pollen. The first is special pollen that can help people understand her plants. The second is pollen that cure is the person of any ailment/wound. The third is a toxin that allows her to hypnotize people. She is working on the fourth one which will be the powder that poisons her enemies.

Has a PhD in English, botany, and biology. 

Despite what people say about her, she’s not a villain. She’s an antihero. She does not believe in following the rules of the GCPD but she wants to help Gotham.

Has little fireflies in a lantern on her belt that she freeze every night. Surprisingly however, they always come back to the lantern.

Makes snacks for people.

Often styles her hair because she doesn’t like people touching it. It makes her uncomfortable for some odd reason. She normally doesn’t mind Selina doing it but anyone else? If anyone else does it, and they may get poisoned.

The first time Batman met her, she had saved a young Dick Grayson from meeting his fate by penguin’s men. She healed him and patched him up, so when Dick told her she was grateful for her help, Pamela told him it was no big deal.

Batman was skeptical of her. She understood as Gotham was full of tricks and surprises, and trusting others was risky.

Loves the rain. She doesn’t like when it storms but she loves it when it rains. She will dance and play in the rain, often getting soaked much to the disappointment of her roommates Selina.

Her roommate is Selina Kyle. They talk about everything.

(Johnathan Crane)

Is arguably one of the scariest villains in Gotham.

He was scientist who’s work was mocked by the people of Gotham, and due to his family’s peer pressure to be perfect, he slowly went berserk.

Has made people go insane from his fear toxin.

Is an anarchist, and loves when his fear can invoke riots.

With how much he loathes the city, one would think scarecrow could never find happiness. This is far from true, as he has a fiancé named Alicia.

Alicia is the one woman that brings him happiness.

Alicia does not know he’s a criminal. He would prefer it if it stayed that way. (Although he doesn’t know she’s a criminal either)

Alicia and Jonathan have both agreed if they do have kids, they will have two kids. So far, both are uncertain if they want kids.

He has a M.D. in medicine, psychology, and in Crainotomy (surgery of head trauma). 

Due to being diagnosed with strider, he has a raspy voice and is unable to breathe as well.

Respects and fears Riddler and for good reason. Listen, you would think that Scarecrow, Gotham’s bringer of fear and paranoia, would not fear someone as petty as Edward? The thing is, there’s only so far Jonathan would go. Jonathan was there when Riddler murdered Killer Frost. While he respects Riddler for handling Frost’s powers correctly and preventing her from hurting a child, he fears Riddler due to how brutal and how long Ed drew her death out.

While Crane plays with his food to better understands his victims, Edward does not. So when he dragged out her death, Crane was scared for his life.



(Deadshot)

Gotham’s greatest assassin. 

Is efficient with firearms, blades, and poison.

Floyd does have two sons, and one daughter.

His wife, Wyona is working as hard as she can to support the family. Despite’s Wyona’s job paying super well, she’s always worried about what if they don’t have enough. Floyd actually tries his hardest to be there. Unlike Riddler, he’s not great at time management, but does manage as best he can.

Can poison a drink without notice, and cover his tracks. This is to ensure his targets (and GCPD) won’t trace it back to him.

Thanks to his line of work, and being born into the rich class, Floyd and his wife are rich. His wife keeps telling them even though they are wealthy, they should not take it for granted.

Despite being born into the wealthy class though, Deadshot does not like the upper class, so he targets them on a semi-weekly basis.

One of his sons, Devine (Da-vee-en) has autism, and is non verbal. Floyd uses a device to help his son communicate what he wants, yet he reminds his son that Devine does not have to use it if he does not want to.

Floyd is afraid of spiders. They make him uncomfortable. He can’t stand them, but he does like them when it’s a plush one that his son gives him.

When he’s not killing people, he’s making plushies for his kids… Especially his son Devine.

He has told his kids they are never too old for a stuffed animal.

He sews his kids clothes as some store bought fabrics makes the itchy. His other son, Terrence, likes wearing dresses. His daughter, Sierra loves fancy hats.

(Wyona “Anne” James Lawton/“Serenity”)

Deadshot’s wife, and the retired Gotham hero “Serenity”.

They met in a church and as she was turning to leave after a prayer, she walked up to Floyd and whispered in his ear, “I’m very grateful for the assassin who took Carmine Falcone’s life.” 

Her family in severe debt thanks to Don Falcone, but when he was assassinated, they no longer owed him and his men anything.

They had three kids despite being told by doctors that Wyona would never make it through the pregnancy.

She is very hard-working, very responsible, and always knows to plan ahead.

She changed her name to Wyona to cut off her family. Mainly because of her father, Felix. The main two being that one, Wyona’s family didn’t come to her wedding because Felix, her father said Floyd fidn’t have his blessing. The second reason was because her father tried to get her to give all her savings to him, and when she didn’t, he destroyed her laptop. Floyd, when he found out why Wyona couldn’t communicate with him, bought her a new laptop pro with a four year warranty on it. Thankfully, she never lost hope that she would escape a terrible place… and in a way, she did escape.

Due to the neglect and abuse that Wyona faced of a child, she has leg issues, and has a vision impairment which makes it hard to see. 

She hasn’t told her husband she was once a Gotham hero.

She knows Floyd is Deadshot. She knows he is Gotham’s greatest assassin, but is worried that he’ll be upset with her.

She is in and out of hospitals due to having poor health, and feels terrible for her husband, but he is patient with her because he knows it’s not her fault. 

Wyona struggles with self-love. Her husband is there for her though. 

Bonus: She is only retired due to her vision impairment which got worse as time went on, which made her job significantly harder. Her leg was not an issue for her as she found a way to manage the pain it caused her.

————————

Part two will contain the following:

Alicia Grey

Alfred Pennyworth

Zatanna Zatara

Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter

Detective Nora Fries of GCPD

Mr. Freeze





















[malewifehenrycooldown]

wrestling plans have fallen through, the person i was planning on going with hasn't been feeling well and they're worried about getting me and other people sick (and they will take a covid RAT test tomorrow). and so i have to go with my dad, but then mum said that i should have asked my friends earlier (completely ignoring the fact that maybe they can't take time off work because they already have done so earlier in the month or had things planned WAY beforehand. also these people have actual lives.)

[oflostinfound]

Always been you, Ash: "I can help you go to sleep, Hax! This is a trick I learned from my parents. Just lay down, so I can put this pillow over your face, and it will lull you to sleep!"

|| 💛 ||: ❝ Yeah my mom and siblings used to do that too, worked like a char- ❞

|| 💛 ||: ❝ Hm... Actually let's- not do that. ❞