#Like they're not excusing her actions and they're directly like 'yeah this is a direct result

[and-stir-the-stars]

Tell me abt! MBMW William! MBMW Henry! What are the adults around like!! What are they up to!!

Also! Freddy! What was his life like before becoming a parent? What prompted him to make the decision to have children? Does he have other family or friends that haven't been shown?

Also. If Vanessa and Michael were in a fight. What methods would they use, who would win, and how close would it be?

long answer under the cut

MBMW William is,, yeah. He's physically never around, which isn't a product of my characterization of William so much as a product of me not knowing how to write him at first and not wanting him to get in the way of the drama between the Afton Kids, but whatever.

He actively tries to avoid being home, partly because he's annoyed by all the expectations his children have of him (expectations like, um, being a good father) and by all the needs they have. It's exhausting knowing that people expect things from you even if you have no desire to try fulfiling those expectations. And additionally, his mood tends to be sour at when at home because he has high expectations for his children that they can never fulfil in his eyes. Not completely.

He believes his children should be self-sufficient, unburdensome, quiet, obedient, loyal, eager to help him fulfil his goals. But even when his children display these qualities, he finds some flaw to tear them down with. Michael’s frustration with William and Elizabeth's clinginess are annoying to him. Evan, meanwhile, just sorta fades into the background most of the time; in the past Evan’s constant crying was an annoyance, but by now Evan has started crying silently and William doesn't bring his kids with him out in public all that much so it's not as much of an embarrassment anymore. Evan isn't the ideal kid, ofc; he's Weird, but at least his quietness and fear of others is a better level of weirdness then, say, Liz and Mike acting out all the time and Liz being so clingy. If it weren't for William’s experimenting on his kids, he'd forget Evan even exists at all, I think. Evan has learned by now (from experience and from watching his siblings) that it's best not to try reaching out to William.

Most of William’s time is spent in business meetings, dealing with business crises, designing animatronics and death traps, finding dirt on his higher up employees he can use for blackmail, forming contingency plans for contingency plans, forming "connections" and putting on shows he can use to further his family-man image, and casing Fredbear locations as he picks out the next crime scene and victim.

William’s a busy man. Especially now, with all the whispers about his company after the Bite, with Henry going awol after Charlie’s death, with his children ever so slowly growing closer (and therefore harder to control; it's more difficult to predict what they will get up to without them defaulting to trying to tear out each others throats), and with Gregory getting more and more bold.

There are some aspects of his job that he enjoys; the business angle gives him the opportunity to be cut-throat and aggressive with other adults in ways he can't get anywhere else. Getting his own way and being in charge of decision making is empowering.

There are some aspects he hates as well. Deep down, he hates sharing the glory with Henry. William usually leaves Henry in charge of buttering up potential business partners because William loathes to be the one doing any "ass-kissing," (lack of control + it's reminiscent of childhood trauma) but sometimes William has to be the one doing that, either because Henry is too soft-willed in William’s mind to deal with certain people/companies without them walking all over Henry or because Henry is just too busy. The times when William has to do some ass-kissing to keep his business afloat, when business deals go wrong, and when people question his authority and his image are often the times when William is the roughest with his kids. And with his murders.

The times he spends at home, he's mostly locked away in his room/office/the garage. The kids survive his worst days by trying not to break the routine of daily life that he sets for them. Liz chipperly asks him how his day was like she always does; they all have to listen to him where he slumps on the couch ranting about work things they don't understand as they try to balance doing chores with paying enough attention to what he says. He asks them about their days, sometimes, but the only answer he wants is either an "i was good, i got good grades and i behaved" or an admission of something he can use against them later. He's exhausted when he comes home and uses how hard he works to support the kids as a guilt tripping mechanism. He's emotionally distant and tense, and the kids all have different reactions to the rare times when he tries acting like a normal caring father and making them act like normal caring children.

He doesn't do much outside of work. William has no friends that he hangs out with outside of work, especially now that Henry is out of the picture.

And, speaking of Henry. He's "out of the picture" but he's not dead or anything. He just did not handle Charlie’s death very well at all. It's been two years since then and he's still withdrawing from everyone he loves; he insists that he's "fine" but everyone who knows him knows that he isn't. He drifts between Fredbear locations both in and out of the state like a ghost; he obsessively checks safety regulations at each one and tries to design and install new security measures like mad, and he's blind to whether these "security measures" are good (like coming up with stamps and coding devices so employees know which children came in with which parents, to avoid kidnapping situations) and which ideas are bad (your scene in Blips when Henry tells kids about the spare keys he keeps hidden around is the inspiration for this particular detail).

He's constantly with the kids at the Fredbear locations he goes to, trying to keep them happy and safe as a coping mechanism for his guilt over Charlie’s death. His wife divorced him years before Charlie died, and Henry drifts around from place to place without telling any of his friends where he's going or that he's leaving at all, so it's difficult for anyone to know where he is or to reach out to him and encourage him to stop and take care of himself. William has to pick up the slack from Henry neglecting his duties as co-head of the company. Henry wasn't always this bad, but things have been getting worse and worse, and I'm sure that by now William is actively trying to cut Henry out of the company, or else he has already succeeded in knocking Henry to a lower ranking position.

Henry is normally a kind-hearted, warm and jolly man. This persona does come out still when he's with the kids at Fredbear's, but by the time MBMW takes place, he's known for the anger and the ferocity with which he will cut you out of his life and burn you to the ground if you challenge his goals (his goals being little more than delusions about making up for not being there for his daughter now). William tried being "supportive" at first, but it didn't take long for him to get bored with Henry's irrationality rather than enjoying it; he tried getting Henry to stop and Be Normal again (maybe leading the company alone wasn't as easy as Will thought) and by now Henry has actively cut William out just like so many of his other friends and family.

Or, it could be interesting if Henry is actually past this point some time after BCOH. Henry starts getting a grip, gets some therapy, and starts letting people back into his life, including one slippery and manipulative William as well as his other friends and family. Henry would have fallen even further into his "William is a good friend and a good person" delusion than ever before, perhaps in part because he's already "wronged" William when William was just trying to "watch out for him" by discouraging him from letting Charlie’s death take over his life like all his other friends warned him about (and he leans further in because he's lost Charlie and is scared of losing anyone else he cares about). So even if the Afton children come to him for help after BCOH, Henry still does nothing.

Either way could work, but Henry hasn't meant much to the story so far and I don't have any current plans to write him in, so there's not much reason for me to settle on a single idea.

Moving on:

Frebby is complicated ig. The story that inspired MBMW is by Star_Going_Supernova on ao3, called Blood of the Covenant. That story, with the same premise of "Gregory and his sister Vanessa are being raised by Freddy and are friends with Evan" (highly recommend reading that story, btw) made me question: what would it look like if the Bite of 83 still happened despite Gregory and the Fazbears' presence?

Star_Going_Supernova has not just Freddy but all of the glamrock animatronics from security breach (tho Freddy and Bonnie are the parents of the household and they're the ones given most of the screentime; the others are extended family). When I made the decision to turn MBMW from a one-shot to an extended au, I liked the idea of having all of the glamrocks (except Bonnie and Chica, I suppose, since those are still animatronics in my au) be humans and part of Freddy's friends and family, but I didn't want to encroach upon Star's story.

Maybe I will write some of them into the story eventually, though, now that my au is developed enough to not be a carbon copy of Star's, because I do like the idea of the glams being there. I would have to figure out what to do about Glam Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, though; whether to keep the characters and give them new names or scrap them entirely.

Freddy is a writer and performer of children's songs for cartoons, and I think he's an aspiring voice actor as well. If DJ Music Man is a human character in the story, then MM might be what got Freddy into it; either MM had connections in the industry or just encouraged/inspired Freddy to go for it. I think it bothers Freddy, sometimes, that the kids he's so passionate about don't really know his name as the song writer behind the songs for their favorite episodes and shows, but for the most part Freddy just likes making good music that makes kids happy.

When Gregory first found out what Freddy’s job was, and later when Evan first found out, both of the boys likely freaked when they realized Freddy has made some of their favorite songs. Freddy might even have worked on some songs for the tv show Fredbear and Friends. Gregory and Evan’s excitment and awe definitely helps him through that tidbit about him being bothered for the lack of recognition he gets in his field.

This ask made me realize that, yk, Freddy is an actual human being and he would have been an actual little kid at one point and he probably had parents... which. Weird. Really weird.

Obviously the animatronic Freddy was made by Henry and William, so I think it'd be neat to have MBMW Freddy's parents be loosely based off of Henry and William’s dynamic. Maybe Freddy grew up with one abusive parent and another parent who was almost maliciously, purposely ignorant to the abuse Freddy faced. Freddy growing up surrounded by adults who knew something was wrong but did nothing about it makes Freddy passionate to be there for Gregory and Vanessa and then for Evan-- and it makes it hurt so much worse that no matter what he tries, he can't get any authorities to believe him about his suspicions of child abuse in the Afton household. Even the biggest red flag of all-- the Bite-- is something that William weasels his way out of, and-- well, this is getting into spoiler territory for the next chapter of Funtimes, so... ah... yeah. I'll stop talking.

But basically, Freddy has tried doing things to get Evan and the other Afton kids help (it'd be out of character if he didn't), but for one reason or another (not having any evidence, William manipulating authorities, abuse not being as big a deal in the 80s, take your pick), nothing Freddy has tried has worked. Whether or not this is realistic doesn't matter; fact of the matter is, I just wouldn't have a story if Freddy’s attempts had worked. Or rather, I would have a vastly different version of the story. But I like the version of the story as it is, so Willy unfortunately just has Plot Armor to protect him for now.

There's not really a Big Story for how Freddy ended up adopting Vanessa and Gregory. In my head, I thought it would be funny if he just found them squatting in an abandoned building one day and was like well I guess I'm taking you home now!

Ness and Gregory were bouncing around in foster care for a while after they were both rendered parentless. They faced some traumatic stuff in the foster care system before Vanessa finally had enough. Either the foster home they were in was way too abusive or there was talk about separating the two of them into different foster homes, so 15-year-old Vanessa takes 7-8 year old Gregory and just bolts. She'd rather risk trying to survive on their own then the hell they came from. That's when Freddy finds them somewhere and ends up adopting them. It was a big decision, but these kids were desperate. A lot like him, when he was younger, so in a way... the decision was already made the moment he saw them.

And as for Vanessa and Mike,,

Maybe this is a controversial take, but I get "couldn’t actually fight to save his life" vibes from young Mike.

Most of his experience with violence comes from having to learn how to take being hit, thanks to William. With William, he's never actually been in a position where physically fighting back is an option. Even when Mike gets violent with Evan-- and yeah, in the au he not only psychologically and emotionally torments Evan but physically hurts Evan, too-- it's done because he knows Evan is too weak and gentle to fight back.

Mike talks rough, but he doesn't know a single thing about how to defend himself. He gets some pointers when he's with his friends (the fnaf 4 bullies) as they rough house together, torment younger kids, and play jokes on their peers who reject them. But for Mike at least, trying to fight against someone who actually has power over him (unlike Ev) and actually wants to if not deal him real damage then at least wants to incapacitate him (unlike the times he plays rough with his friends)? Young Mike doesn't stand a chance.

He'd be eager at first, managing to get in the first hit (very, very clumsy punches, maybe trying to imitate moves he makes with his friends or that he's seen wrestlers do on tv or on the school team), but an opponent like Vanessa would get the best of him very very quickly.

Vanessa already has the advantage in the fight because she's several years older and is taller; Vanessa herself is a couple inches taller than is average for her age.

Vanessa had a hard time adjusting when Freddy adopted them; she had been burned by foster parents in the past and didn't see any reason to trust that Freddy wouldn't do the same. I can see Freddy signing her up for self defense classes to help her feel strong enough to keep herself and Gregory safe.

Either way, I think that while Vanessa has the means and opportunity to instantly KO Mike, she wouldn't. She would purposely keep him in action. She stalks around him and forces him to constantly move to catch up to her and face her. She lets him keep swinging at her; most of these swings are misses or don't hurt all that much (both from her dodging and Mike having bad aim), but she lets Mike get enough hits in to keep his hopes and ego up so he'll keep coming at her and wearing himself out. Once he's exhausted himself, she moves in for the kill.

Well, not for the KILL, of course. For the most part she just wants to scare him; maybe she knocks him down and twists his arm behind his back until he cries before getting up and walking away; Mike gets away with scrapes and bruises and maybe a black eye, and he's sore for a few days but that's it.

But if she was REALLY pissed, like if she saw Mike hurt Gregory or Evan or even Liz really badly, I can see her losing control and Mike coming out of it with one or more broken limbs, maybe she breaks his nose too.

#General vibes for the ages of the adults: #Freddy- late 30s to early 40s #Henry- late 40s #Will- early to mid 50s #Like mike i myself know nothing abt fighting so i can't really answer ur question #But I'll say that while star going supernova makes a big point to say that the fazbears don't hold resentment over #Mike for the way he treated evan the Fazbears so hold resentment in my au. They're mature about it (esp freddy) but he Bothers them #I'm also thinking that while they have reservations about the way liz treated/treats evan #She's a bit younger so they go the smallest bit easier on her. And they'd especially go #Easier on her if she really was forgotten and left behind in the chaos of the Bite #But by go easier on her i mean like. The same level of 'go easy on' that freddy does in ch1 of mbmw with mike #Like they're not excusing her actions and they're directly like 'yeah this is a direct result #Of what you did and you need to understand that' but they're also like. Ur a traumatized kid so it's #Understandable if ur a bit fuckrd up. #A nest torn empty #My brother my wound #This is a good ask thank you #evan afton support center #tw child abuse #Tw child death

[y4n3on]

DOG SITTER'S JEALOUSY

Ayato Aishi x Female reader

A Fluff Romance.

As she walked to the street to go to Ayato's house wearing a simple above-knee length dress with a simple pattern, paired with a crop top jacket, a plain color doll shoe, and a same plain color sling bag, (Y/n) decided to give his boyfriend a surprise visit so that she could spend some time with him.

(Y/n) pressed the doorbell and stood in front of Ayato's house, waiting for him to answer. After what felt like an eternity, the door creaked open. Ayato stood there, his eyes widening in shock as he took in the unexpected sight of (Y/n) standing on his doorstep, looking as stunning as ever.

"(Y/n), what are you doing here?" he asked, his voice tinged with both surprise and delight. As (Y/n) noticed Ayato's disheveled appearance, with tousled hair as if he had just woken up and a highly stressed expression, her eyes widened as concern welled within her. She quickly cupped his cheeks and gazed into his eyes. "What happened?"

Before Ayato could respond, a small, fluffy dog darted past his legs and into the open doorway. It was Shiro, his coworker's dog that he was dog-sitting for the day. The dog, a white furball of energy, immediately took notice of (Y/n) and bounded over to her, tail wagging furiously.

"WHAT THE-" (Y/n) exclaimed in surprise, but her eyes softened as she glanced downward and spotted an adorable dog. Her eyes filled with warmth at the sight of the fluffy white pup, which made her kneel down and gently pet it. Shiro eagerly leaped onto her, showering her face with excited licks, his tail wagging furiously as if it could lift him off the ground. (Y/n) giggled at the dog's enthusiastic response and its undeniable cuteness.

"Oh my God, when did you get a dog?" (Y/n) asked as she petted the dog to keep it from licking her face. Ayato chuckled, his eyes turning cold as he observed (Y/n) and Shiro's interaction. "It's just for this day," he explained. "My coworker needed someone to care for Shiro while they're away, so I offered to assist."

(Y/n) couldn't help but smile at Shiro's antics. "So, your name is Shiro? How cute that it suits you. Well, Shiro, you're super and absolutely adorable," she exaggerates, scratching behind Shiro's ears, causing a contented sigh from the dog. Unaware of Ayato's gaze "How about we go inside first?" Ayato, trying to calm his jealousy, suggested.

(Y/n) suddenly realized, "Oh yeah, I forgot we're still at your doorstep." She stopped scratching Shiro, causing the dog to whine. "Aww, I'm sorry, but we need to go inside first." Instead of entering the house, Shiro whined even more, and (Y/n) tried to calm the dog. Ayato shot an annoyed and irritated look in the direction of the dog.

His face quickly turns to all smiles when she suddenly looks up from feeling his gaze "We should go inside now?" She smiled directly at him as her eyes met his, and this made Ayato's heart melt away from the jealousy he had "Yes, we should," he smiled at her lovingly. However, in just a quick second his sincere smile became an irritated one when he heard Shiro bark.

"Then excuse me," she said as she entered Ayato's home, immediately making herself comfortable on the couch. Ayato glanced at her and chuckled at her actions. However, his amusement turned into a glare within a split second as the dog swiftly positioned itself on (Y/n)'s lap, just like earlier.

"It seems Shiro really likes you, doesn't he?" With a clear dislike for the dog, but still having a smile on his face (Y/n) noticed it smiled at him while continuing to pet the dog "Is someone jealous?" she teased, "Not at all" his tone slightly changed, though (Y/n) couldn't help but notice. She giggled as she watched him prepare their drink.

"You mentioned he'd stay until the end of the day, correct?" She rested her head on the couch, her gaze fixed on Ayato as she continued to pet Shiro. "Yeah, they'll pick him up later once they're finished with their business," he replied as he placed the drink, he had prepared on the coffee table.

He took a seat beside her "So, Ayato, why are you looking after their dog? As far as I know, you've never really cared about animals." She paused in her petting to take a sip of her drink, thinking, 'delicious' she thought while drinking. Ayato averted his gaze "Because you do," he replied emotionlessly. (Y/n) looked at him dumbfounded at his answer, (Y/n) covered her mouth with her hand while the other lightly gripped the cup.

She was touched by what she heard. "Really?" Ayato looked at her, a slight blush coloring his cheeks, and he nodded in embarrassment. Her gaze softened, and they slowly leaned toward each other, their faces inches away from a kiss, when the doorbell rang.

Ayato's irritation flashed as he shot a quick glare at the door 'I'm gonna kill whoever asshole is that' he thought while (y/n) snorted "I think you should check that" she suggested. Still glaring at the door, Ayato forced a fake smile as he answered her. Meanwhile, (Y/n) resumed petting the dog, and Shiro perked up, then quickly scurried over to the door as Ayato continued his conversation with the unexpected visitor.

(Y/n) quickly followed Shiro and observed him licking the person Ayato was talking to "(Y/n) That's Ren, Shiro's owner", "Hello," (Y/n) greeted with a polite bow. "Hello to you too," Ren replied, returning the bow. "Thank you so much for taking care of Shiro. Here I hope you two will like it" He extended a box of sweets toward her.

"Thank you," (Y/n) accepted the box with a warm smile, to which Ren responded with a smile of his own. "We'll take our leave now," Ren said, bowing once more before departing with a happy Shiro. Ayato shot them a glare before he grabbed (Y/N)'s hand and ushered her inside. He quickly closed the door and guided her over to the couch. Placing the box on the table, he startled (Y/N) with his swift movements, gently pushing her onto the couch.

Ayato held both of (Y/n)'s wrists with his left hand, while his right hand gently lifted her chin to make her face him. "You know you shouldn't be smiling at other guys, right?" he said with his expression remaining emotionless. (Y/n) began to reply, "I'm just..." but Ayato silenced her with a kiss. Afterward, he grinned mischievously and whispered to his ear, "Looks like you need a little punishment."

ANOTHER UPDATE LET'S GO! It took me a long time to make a new post because of dog sitting and with the new inspiration we have Another Ayato Aishi x Female reader if you have any suggestions or requests, I'll be happy to receive them I could only write a story about what I'm familiar with if you like to suggest please give me the theme and concept of your suggestions.

Anime: Bnha, Saiki k., Ouran highschool host club,

Game: yandere simulator, Genshin impact, Honkai star rail, Tears of themis

These are the game and anime im very familiar with so try suggesting about them and i only do male characters so sorry to disappoint others.

JUST LIKE LAST TIME SEE YOU NEXT POST

#ayato aishi #ayato aishi x reader #x female reader #x female y/n #yandere kun #yandere simulator #fluff #male yandere

[walks-the-ages]

"You can't criticize this character because they're only 'x' age!"

Cool, dude, you know that means literally nothing if every other character is ALSO that age?

You realize that argument only works if the character in question is much younger than the other main characters, right?

Like, that argument COULD apply, in a Miraculous Ladybug context, to the character of Manon ( age 5) because she's five years old compared to our main protagonists, who are all 13-15 years old?

But this argument does not apply to, say, Marinette/Ladybug (13-14), because 90% of the other characters are in the exact same age group, barring the main antagonist of Gabriel Agreste and the occasional adult that is either a parent, teacher, or random villain-of-the-week.

When media is being criticized, and when a character and their actions are being criticized, you cannot defend the character by proclaiming "they're just a kid!!!" if every single other character is ALSO a kid. Because guess what? These characters are being written by and are the direct products of adults and the adult mind. you cannot ignore the fact that these are children characters, yes, but children being written by an adult.

If a character is being criticized because they're stalking their love interest and it's played off like a haha-funny- joke? If a character is being critized because they're romanticizing extremely dangerous incel behavior, sexual harassment, lying and manipulating all of your friends for the benefit of a girl who will throw a tantrum otherwise, and the romanticization of the rich? You shouting "they're just 14!" is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for people pointing out how the dangerous, abusive behavior is being romanticed and shown as correct or fine.

If a character is being criticized because they're a white man's version of an activist and feminist, aka, they're a militant vegan hell-bent on forcing their diet on everyone around them, are homophobic, they're the child of billionaires, and they're only an activist for parody-levels of rediculous causes and treat other girls like crap because they're a romantic rival for her crush? Yeah, you can't say this character can't be criticized because she's 14, when every single other character is also 14.

If a character you like is being criticized, you cannot just say people aren't ~being fair~ because the character in question is a kid, when their actions are directly being compared to other characters that are the same age. It is not an excuse to not criticize the behavior present in canon that is harmful and perpetuates dangerous messages and stereotypes to the audience, who are usually also children, which is where the importance of criticizing such behavior becomes paramount.

#walks speaks #fandom #Dp #Danny Phantom #Miraculous Ladybug #Sam Manson #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrien Agreste #ml salt #dp salt #fandom salt #this also applies to other fandoms where people try to say the same thing #even though literally all of the characters are that exact age #bold text #all caps #capslock

[piracytheorist]

If I had the time I would re-watch a completionist gameplay of RE8, write down every demeaning commentary, every violent action and every injury the characters causes Ethan and every innocent villager so that every time someone tries to be snarky about Ethan being anything but an unfortunate person doing what he can for his daughter, I’ll just direct them to the document and let canon speak for itself

Lol! That would take a while, to be honest. But you know, for me it's enough that the Lords kept Ethan chained up and fought over who gets to torture him - at this point he doesn't even know for sure if they have Rose, and even without that the whole "trial" thing is so fucked up - and when Ethan "oh so horribly trespassed into Castle Dimitrescu, what a villain oh em gee", aka the house of the woman who openly said she will let her daughters siphon the blood out of him, that same woman watched with glee as said daughters strung Ethan up in one of the most painful ways possible.

Like, I'd probably try to fight back too if someone trespassed into my house holding a fucking gun, but I'm a mere 5'2'' mortal who can't even deliver a punch, let alone grab a grown man's head and smack him to the ground. I also wouldn't like the idea of keeping a baby's decapitated, crystallized head in a jar, but as we said Dimitrescu was too far gone to realize how fucked up that was. "How dare you talk about saving your daughter when you've murdered mine?!" Um excuse me did that six-month-old baby laugh while you were being tortured or try to kill you while you were trying to run away? Like, again, I understand her grief. Horrible human ("human"?), loving mother, layered and interesting villain, not necessarily redeemable.

Yeah, I get that Ethan was """""trespassing""""" with the other Lords (aside from Heisenberg who literally opened the doors for him, only the tea and moldy cookies were missing) but like, idk, if someone cannot grasp the fact that any caring parent can be capable of such stuff (which let's be honest it's mostly self defense - many players may turn into murder hobos while playing but Ethan himself never attacks anyone who isn't attacking (or directly threatening to) first (unless you count the animals but that's a discussion of vegan nature)) if their kid was in danger, then no matter how long and complete of a list one makes, nothing is going to convince them that Ethan is not the most horrible person iN thE HiSTOry of ResIDnET EviL!!11!!!

In any case, I may not have been in many fandoms, but I have seen how haters work. They do not listen to reason. I was once arguing with someone over a character's characterization, a character who appears only in the last season of a seven-season-long TV show, and they were obviously wrong about the facts and I was like "Did you even watch the last season" and they were like "I read recaps uwu". Like. This is how haters work. They do not care for the facts. I can assure you that some Ethan haters out there have only watched clips from Village, probably compilations on youtube that are like "all scenes/cutscenes/dialogue options of [character]" and again, I'll sound like a broken record but it's perfectly fine to focus on the parts you want to focus, the parts you enjoy the most etc and ignore anything you don't give a damn about. But going out there and trying to make a "statement" when you don't have all the facts... people will call you ridiculous and you will have that coming. So with that in mind, a list of all the times the Lords were horrible to Ethan (or the villagers) wouldn't prove anything to them, they probably wouldn't even bother to read it. Though in a whumpy interest, there is this very extensive list of all the shit Ethan goes through in both his games (including the stuff the Lords do to him). So as an advice, don't spend any time trying to convince haters. "Haters gonna hate" can also have a meaning like that. They're gonna hate and never listen, so it's like arguing with the wall.

#nette speaks #long post #fandom #Resident Evil #Resident Evil 8 #anonymous #ask and ye shall receive

[gifted-burnout-archive]

Jim’s Best Friend

Part Ten - Gambling More Than Money

Word Count: 3640

Author’s Note: EEk! Casino Night time! So excited!

WARNING: Cheating.

For previous chapters, click here.

April, 2006.

You sat in the office, sorting through the files you had to look at that day, the rest of your colleagues settling down as well, when Mr Schrute decided to walk in looking like a penguin: full tuxedo, bow tie, too long trousers.

He hung his coat up by Pam's desk, and Jim sauntered over, hands in pockets.

"Excuse me. How long is the wait for a table for three?" Jim asked with all seriousness, gesturing to you and Pam as he spoke. Dwight straightened up, far too unhappy for so early in the morning.

"I would never, ever serve you. Not in a million, billion years." Dwight stared Jim down, and then glanced at Pam.

"It's a nice tux." She offered the compliment.

"I know, it belonged to my grandfather. He was buried in it so... Family heirloom." Dwight fixed his bowtie, and the three of you just took a moment of silence to process that information.

"So... Did... Did Dwight dig up-" You started, and Jim looked back, shaking his head. Not because you were wrong in your line of thinking, but rather he just didn't want to think about it anymore.

In the next five minutes, as you all settled in to your desks, Roy turned up, giving Pam a quick kiss and beginning so chatter about the night ahead: Casino Night in the Scranton Business Park, a fundraiser for some unknown charity, but the entire warehouse staff were spending the day setting it up.

"So, what's the deal? We've gotta pay for our own drinks? That's lame!" Roy exclaimed, and Pam quickly defended.

"Come on, it'll be fun! And besides, I'm a roulette expert." She wiggled her shoulders, getting a smile out of you and Roy.

"Impossible!" Dwight called from his desk, which he stood by as he sorted through files. "Roulette is not a game of skill. It is a game of chance."

"I can always kind of win at roulette." Jim said casually, not looking away from his screen.

"Oh really? Mm-hmm?" Dwight said, sitting down. He was clearly not amused. "How would you do that?" He asked, and you glanced up.

"Mind control." You answered for Jim, on the same wavelength. Dwight chuckled, looking between the pair of you.

"You can't be serious." He said, but when Jim returned it with a blank stare, Dwight's smile dropped. "Are you serious?"

"Ever since I was a little kid, like eight or nine, I could sort of control things with my mind." Jim shrugged, and you did your best not to smile.

"I don't believe you. Continue." Dwight was staring directly at him, intrigued in that half-creepy way only Dwight could be. Jim sighed.

"It was just little things, you know? Like I could make something shake. Or make a marble fall of the counter, you know. Just, little things." Jim said, and you nodded along. Dwight scoffed.

"Hah! That's ridiculous. You know what? Why don't you move that coat rack? Or..." Dwight looked around, seeing you replace your pencil holder near the edge of your desk. "Or knock Y/N's pencil holder to the ground." Dwight demanded. "Excuse me, everyone! Attention in the office, please! Jim is about to prove his telekinetic powers, and he needs absolute silence." Dwight announced, looking over at Jim. "Go ahead."

"Okay... I'll try." Jim said with a nod, his mood sombre. He twisted his chair to face you and Pam, holding one handing up and directing it towards the coat rack. With an exhale, he pointed his finger, and you all waited in silence, watching the coat rack.

Suddenly, it began to move, and Pam's eyes darted from Jim to the coat rack in surprise. Jim's attention then switched to your pencil holder, and as the coat rack stopped moving, your pencil holder begun inching closer and closer to the edge of the desk.

"Jim, can you-" You started, the cup tipping over and onto the floor. Dwight just watched in silent amazement.

"My God..." Dwight brathed out.

--

You and Pam sat together in the conference room, facing the cameras, and without a word you both lifted items: an umbrella and a strand of thread attached to your cup holder, both trying to hold back the laughter that threatened to erupt.

--

"What are you doing?" You asked Pam, heading up to her desk with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Oh, nothing." Pam said softly, and you leaned over the desk, reading a label on one of the video tapes.

"Till Death Do Us Rock..." You said aloud, and within a second Jim was by your side, inspecting the scene.

"They're wedding bands." Pam explained, the two of you letting out a joint 'ah'. "Roy was supposed to pick the band but he's concentrating more on the bachelor party now." She added, picking up the box of video tapes and going to stand, put them away. Jim held a hand out to stop her.

"Wait, wait, where you going?" Jim asked. "I mean, even if you don't hire a band, you still have to watch the bands." Jim lifted a tape out, and held it in Pam's face. "Pam, these are people who have never given up on their dreams. I have great respect for that." Jim nodded, and Pam started to giggle.

"And yes, they're all probably very bad." You added, a smirk across your lips. "And that'll make Halpert feel better about not having dreams." You nudged him and he laughed, and Pam gave in.

"There's a KISS cover band in here."

"Let's do it." Jim decided, beckoning to pair of you to follow him into the conference room. And while Dwight sat outside, trying to make his bobblehead move with his mind, you were lounging in one of the conference room chairs, Jim changing the video tapes.

"Wow, I don't know how you're going to decide." You remarked, and Pam looked back at you with her endearing smile, enjoying the fun that came with planning a wedding instead of the stress.

"They are all extremely good." Jim commented too as the fourth tape was inserted and read.

"I think I should hire them all." Pam nodded, fake serious in tone. "Do like Lalapalooza. Three stages."

"Your mom would love that." Jim said, making Pam laugh. His face lit up when she did, and you got up, heading towards the door as the next band started to play. The others didn't notice, Jim providing head Judge Pam with information on the next band, named 'Scrantonicity'.

"Oh, shit, wait. Y/N, wait!" Pam spoke up, pointing at the screen, and you turned to look. "That's Kevin."

"What?"

"On the drums, on the drums!" Pam squeaked, and Jim's jaw dropped.

"Oh my God! That's Kevin." Jim confirmed it, and you couldn't help but laugh, walking out of the room to your desk with a smile on your face. You sat down, dialling Patrick's work number, hoping to get him during his lunch break.

"No personal calls, Y/N." Dwight scolded, and you glanced over.

"Jim may be able to move things with his mind, but you haven't even seen what I'm capable of." You warned, sighing as the phone went straight to voicemail. It had been doing it a lot lately, but Patrick was a busy guy.

--

"Do I look alright?" You asked Patrick as he parked the car, and you ran a hand through your curled hair once more. Patrick smiled at you, pressing a kiss to your cheek. Pam had made you promise to dress up a little with her, so you swapped the work attire for a black dress that hugged your figure and heels just a touch taller than usual. You felt good, and the kiss of approval from your boyfriend, who had dressed nicely in a button down shirt and fitted trousers, was all you needed.

The pair of you got out of the car, Patrick quickly typing away on his phone before offering you his arm, and you took it, letting him lead you inside. The warehouse was full of people from across the business park, and you took Rick's hand and led him towards a large gathering of your colleagues, though Michael and Dwight were nowhere in sight.

"Evening everyone! Thought I'd introduce you guys to Patrick. Patrick, this is the office!" Everyone said hello, Jim coming over and handing his friend a beer. "So, you know Jim. This is Stanley, and Kev, Ryan and Kelly back there, Meredith, Phyllis and her partner Bob, Oscar and Angela, and this is Pam." You went round, giving Pam a hug yourself as you reached her.

"It's so nice to meet you Patrick, you seem to make Y/N very happy." She complimented, and Rick went to respond when his phone buzzed. He looked and muttered a soft 'shit'.

"I'm so sorry Y/N, it's work." He apologised, but you gestured for him to take it, and smiled at Pam once he had headed out.

"He's so cute! Did Jim really make it happen?" She teased you, and you couldn't stop the blush rising to your cheeks as you nodded. Pam smiled in response and led you over to Roy and Darryl so you could say a quick hello.

A half hour later, Jim sat across the poker table with Pam, a ten of spades being placed down as the river card in Poker. Pam couldn't stop the smile that crossed her face, shaking her head a little in excitement.

"Yeah, right." Jim spoke up, looking at her with disbelief.

"Yeah, right what?" Pam feigned innocence.

"What was this?" Jim asked, copying her previous action and causing her to laugh.

"I have good cards." She smirked.

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. And I'm going to take you all in." Pam announced to the table, matching Jim's total chip count.

"Wow..." Jim said as Pam placed her chips in, and looked her in the eye. "I think you're bluffing." he decided, and the pair continued a few more seconds of smiles and funny looks until Jim just couldn't take it any longer, tossing the last of his chip in to match her bet and breaking eye cotanct in the process.

"Yeah, I think she's full of it." Kev said with suspicion, and she mouthed a 'sorry' to Jim as she turned her cards.

"Straight."

"Three nines."

"Congratulations Pam!" The table clapped, Pam collecting up her chips and Y/N wandered past, stopping by Jim.

"You haven't seen Rick around, have you? He's just sort of disappeared on me..." You asked, trying to hide the worry in your voice. Jim shook his head, glancing back at Pam and leading you away from the table.

"No stress, we'll find him, maybe he just needed some fresh air?" Jim suggested, and you nodded, heading towards the back exit. Before you could leave, Jim caught your arm.

"Y/N, you look really nice tonight." He complimented you, and you smiled, squeezing his hand before heading out the door and coming face to face with Jan Levinson.

"You're... Y/L/N, right?" Jan asked, and you nodded, glancing around but seeing no sign of Patrick.

"Yes. Y/N Y/L/N.. Thank you for coming all the way down from New York." You said, and Jan beckoned you closer.

"You smoke?" She asked, and you thought on it for a moment before accepting the cigarette and taking a long drag, handing it back.

"Could I talk to you about something, Miss Levinson?" You asked, and Jan smiled softly.

"Call me Jan, please. And of course."

"Well, at the Women in the Workplace meeting we had, I overheard you on the phone talking about a project. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but if Dunder Mifflin International is still a project corporate is investing in, I'd like to put my name forward." You weren't quite sure how you had mustered up so much courage, but it seemed to impress Jan.

"That's... Great initiative, Y/N. It's a scouting mission mostly, though. Not so much as a foreign branch as foreign clients." Jan corrected, and you quickly replied.

"I speak Spanish, and coversational French. If you need someone."

"What sparked the interest? Aren't you Michael's little prodigy?" Jan quizzed, and you sighed.

"I've been in Scranton for six years now, and when Jim told me he was accepting the transfer to Stamford, I was motivated to get off my backside." You said honestly, Jan handing you the cigarette again. "I don't think I'll work with any other company, so I might as well try for better pay here, right?"

"Indeed... Good to hear that Jim is accepting the position too..." Jan blew out the smoke, and sighed. "Why did I sleep with Mi-"

"Hey, Y/N, can we talk?" Patrick appeared out of nowhere, interrupting Jan's thought.

"Rick, not right now? Jan was talking?" You tried to hint, but Jan shook her head.

"I'll put your name in with New York, Y/N. I should be heading anyway. Nice to meet you, Patrick." She said with a nod, stubbing out the cigarette and walking over to her car. Patrick pulled you inside and upstairs.

Jan's car drove past a pickup truck, seated inside was Roy, with his fiancée Pam stood at the window.

"Sorry babe, I'm just beat." Roy emphasised the last word, and Pam nodded.

"It's okay. I'll see you at home." Pam assured him.

"Okay. Don't try to lose too much money, alright? Cause we still want a honeymoon?" Roy joked and the two shared a laugh as Jim walked round the corner, looking for Y/N. "Hey Halpert! Keep an eye on her, all right?" Roy called to him, and Jim nodded.

"Okay. Will do." Jim promised, and Roy drove off into the night. Pam walked over to Jim, arms swinging. "Hey, how's it going?" He asked.

"Good. Especially after I took all your money in poker." Pam teased, and Jim let out a low-effort laugh.

"Yeah... Uh." Jim thought for a moment, and realised he still hadn't told anyone by Y/N about Stamford. It would only be fair if Pam heard it from him first. "Hey, can I talk to you about something?" Jim asked.

"About when you want to give me more of your money? Did you wanna do that now? We can go inside, I'm feeling kind of good tonight." Pam joked with him, biting her lip as she smiled.

"I was just um..." Jim started, but seeing that smile, and that girl in that dress, telling her about his transfer was the last thing he wanted to do.

"I'm in love with you."

"... What?"

"I'm really sorry if that's weird for you to hear, but I need you to... Hear it." Jim breathed out slowly as he spoke, looking down at his shoes. "Probably not good timing, I know that. I just-"

"What are you doing?" Pam asked, a look of fear and confusion across her face. "What do you expect me to say to that?"

"I just needed you to know. Once." Jim stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets. Pam couldn't meet his gaze.

"Well, I, um... I... I can't." Pam said, fidgeting, and Jim nodded. "I don't... And Roy, and Y/N." she started.

"I know..." Jim kept his gaze down.

"You have no idea..." Pam began, but Jim cut her off.

"Don't do that."

"... what your friendship means to me. And honestly, Jim, I think you're wrong." The words came out suddenly, stopping both of them.

"What do you mean, I'm wrong? I've been in love with you for almost four years." Jim said it softly, doing his best not to get frustrated, and Pam looked him in the eyes.

"Do you seriously not see how she looks at you?" Pam spoke quietly, and Jim met her gaze. Pam took a step back, "You don't... You really don't."

"What are you talking about Pam?" Jim gave up trying to decipher phrases, and Pam just shook her head, starting her walk down to the road, hailing a taxi. "Pam! Don't do that... You know I want to be more than this." Jim followed her.

"I'm really sorry, Jim... If you misinterpreted things between us, but you need to figure this out on your own-" Pam started once more.

"Just don't..." Jim sighed, getting the message, or at least part of it, loud and clear, before walking back towards the building. He needed to be alone, and repelled by the noise and laughter that came from the warehouse, Jim made a quick turn and headed into the front door, taking the stairs up to the office.

A place to think, to process, to hide. Pick up the pieces of a broken heart without judgement. But as he got through the door, he heard loud voices, muffled by the walls and doors in the way. And he would never admit that he wanted to see how someone was suffering just as much as he was, but his curiosity took over, and he walked further into the office, spotting Patrick pacing around the kitchen, Y/N stood by the door. He moved closer to hear it all better.

"And you just had to wait until now to tell me? After I had just introduced you to the entire office as my boyfriend?" You asked, raising your voice a little. It's not like anyone would hear.

"What was I supposed to do? Tell you in the car?"

"Yes Patrick!" You exclaimed, and he sighed.

"Listen, we don't have to end this badly, Y/N." Patrick tried to rationalise with you, and you let out a laugh. "It's not like we were planning more than a week ahead."

"Right... Really glad I didn't think about a future with you." You snapped, taking a seat. "But I did, and I..." you felt your eyes watering, and you took a deep breath. "But you know what? Fuck you, fuck Jennifer, I hope you're happy together. No more need to lie for my sake." You announced, and Patrick looked away.

"We were barely anything, Y/N."

"Still sucks to be cheated on, Patrick."

"Like you haven't cheated on me!" He yelled suddenly, and you stood up to defend yourself.

"No! I haven't! What would give you such an idea?"

"Don't lie, I saw the way you were looking at Jim all night." He spat out, and you stepped back. Jim?

"Jim... Jim Halpert? My best friend? My co worker, who is in love with someone else?!" You rolled your eyes. "God Rick, don't shift blame onto me with that bullshit. You've spent this entire night ignoring me and texting your ex, planning a booty call the second you dropped me off home."

"She's not my ex... You are." Rick silenced you, and you bit your lip to counteract the stinging in your eyes. "Do you really not realise how you look at him? Even when I'm around. All the touches and the winking and the hugs. No wonder half your colleagues were surprised I existed."

"You cheated on me! My friendship with Jim was never a threat to us, but you HAVING SEX WITH JENNIFER IS!" You reiterated it, plain and simple, shaking your head in disbelief. He had been seeing her all this time, and only today, when Jennifer got impatient on waiting for you and Patrick to break up amicably did the ass finally have the balls to do it. "Just... Delete my number, Rick. I hope you and Jennifer have a great life, fuck you both."

Patrick stormed out past her then, Jim moving back to not be noticed as Patrick marched out the office, slamming the front door in the process. Jim took a second, and hearing quiet sobs from the kitchen, he decided to head in. You could be heartbroken together.

You looked up as he entered, wiping the tears from your face and smiling as wide as you could.

"Hey, Halpert. What are you doing up here?" You asked, but Jim gave you a look, and you knew he had heard everything. You smile disappeared, sighing and looking down as Jim sat down beside you. "Heard all of it?"

"Enough..." Jim said, taking your hand in his. "But if it helps, Pam rejected me, so two broken hearts..." He whispered, and you looked up, reaching over to hug him tightly.

"I'm so sorry Jim..." you sighed, and he broke the hug with a nod.

"You know, she said she couldn't because of Roy... And because of you." Jim scoffed, wiping away a tear. "I honestly think she's convinced you like me."

"Patrick said the exact same thing..." You commented, and the pair of you laughed. "People have been losing their minds tonight, it seems."

"Yeah... I'm going to Stamford now. No point staying here really..." Jim sighed, and you nodded.

"Jan is putting my name in with New York for the Europe scouting mission..." You told him, and the pair of you sat in the silence for a little longer.

"Things will get back to normal, right?" Jim asked, and you looked up at him. "I don't want any of this to have ruined... What if I've lost Pam to this, for good?" His voice wavered, and you shook your head quickly.

"Like Pam would want to lose you... It'll be okay Jim... It has to be." You assured him, and he smiled a little.

"Want to head home? Ice cream fest and movies until we crash?" He suggested, and you nodded. He helped you up, holding you for a moment more to hug you. It felt nice, warm, safe... His threw his arm over your shoulders, and the pair of you walked out the office, turning off the lights as you went, and getting into Jim's car.

You may have been heartbroken, but there was nothing in the world Jim couldn't make better.

--

Tags: @imsuperawkward​

#au #jim halpert #michael scott #pam beesly #dwight schrute #the office #jim halpert x reader #jim x reader #office au #reader #reader insert #reader is female #romance #friendship #pam and jim #jim and pam #slow burn #from season 1 #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom #john krasinski #steve carell #jenna fischer #rainn wilson #jackryanplz #part ten

[samaraclegane]

Do you mind a Harringrove prompt where they're together and out to the party but everyone is giving shovel talks to Billy, and it's annoying and amusing at first but then it's depressing because he doesn't think anyone cares about him enough to give Steve a shovel talk on his behalf. He ends up shocked when someone does give Steve the shovel talk.

author’s note: not going to lie I felt like a grandmother when I had to look up what shovel talks meant aha. also not too sure if you meant they were at a party or out with the party (like out with the kids/joyce/hopper etc.) but took creative liberty and opted for the latter. sorry if that’s not what you meant! hope you enjoy anyway, and thanks for teaching me a new term ;)

-for once in their lives, they’ve got a day off.

-apparently even the monsters of the depths of hell have weekends and weekdays, because today - the sunniest saturday billy thinks he’s ever seen in hawkins, and he doesn’t expect to see many more of them what with the changing seasons.

-it took approximately five seconds of the sunlight breaching his window to decide he’s not going to sleep in and waste the day. billy arose rather early, dressed himself, made some food for himself and even left some for max (hey, the sun makes him a nice person, who’d have thunk it) before hopping in his car and driving over to billy’s.

-there, he rings the doorbell, and prepares himself if steve’s parents answer the door. if it’s his mom, he can play it off pretty cool, because although neither of them know the extent of his and steve’s relationship, she knows that they’re pretty close ‘friends’. his dad, on the other hand, has next to no idea who billy is, because whenever he sees him he scurries away. once, he even opted to leave through steve’s window rather than introduce himself; it was more fun that way, anyway.

-now, though, steve’s parents don’t open the door. it’s not steve either, to his dismay, because there, when the door swings open, stands his step-sister, her expression matching his own.

-”billy?” she says, almost in sync with him as he says, “max?”

-they stare at each other blankly for a moment, both lost in confusion, but their encounter is cut short when steve appears behind her and drinks in the situation. he takes a sip of some ice-cold cola he’s holding, only perpetuating the awkwardness of the situation, then by some unspoken sixth sense they all begin moving in coordination, letting billy in and closing the door behind him, automatically welcoming him to the gathering.

-inside, there’s the rest of the kids. billy half expects joyce and hopper to be there too because the only time he spends with the kids is when the world is ending. this time, though, they’re all dressed in shorts and lairy shirts, and billy notices for the first time that eleven and max are wearing matching scrunchies.

-”what... er, what’s going on?”

-he’s never sounded stupider in his whole life, but then he’s never witnessed something like this in his entire life, either. there, in steve’s clean, white living room, are the kids, lathering themselves up with copious amounts of suncream, then donning caps and glasses, readying themselves with drinks to head outside into the sun in steve’s back garden.

-”I can explain,” steve speaks, voice oozing jest, like he’s pretending to be a cheating husband whose wife has just witnessed him lying with another woman.

-”uh huh,” billy nods, scanning the room once more before landing his frantic eyes on steve, signalling something he can’t quite encapsulate, trying to tell him how the fuck are we going to explain why i’m here.

-the kids are beyond smart. after all they’ve been through - more than once, mind - they’re borderline geniuses, so billy knows it’s only a matter of time before they figure out-

-”pretty.”

-eleven, the girl whose hair is even wilder than her actual superpowers is speaking to him. she’s looking directly at him - through him, straight into his soul it feels like - and she’s calling him pretty. they haven’t really spoken much before this - he hasn’t heard her say much to anybody, now he thinks about it - and this is what she chooses to say?

-”what?” his natural standoffish self comes out, and he can’t help but narrow his eyes at her. he doesn’t want to be that douchebag he was before steve, but it’s still some part of him that he can’t get rid of. he does admit he feels instantly guilty, though.

-eleven looks at him again, then directs her gaze to steve and then back at him, signalling for him to look at billy. “pretty. pretty?”

-steve can only laugh and scratch the back of his head, standing awkwardly with one hand on his hip as he mumbles, “yeah, yeah. pretty.”

-billy can’t control the flush that comes to his face. steve’s called him stuff like that before, sure, but not in front of anyone like he’s doing now. granted, he looks as awkward as billy feels, but he’s still said it, and now all the kids are exchanging glances, amongst themselves and between him and steve.

-they know.

-they don’t mention it, but even by the time they’re all outside and taking their seats on the loungers and on the grass, their eyes still aren’t off the pair of them. billy’s flush hasn’t gone yet, either, and he becomes further flustered when he can’t decide where to sit. 

-they’re all beginning to relax (well, not strictly true, because there’s still the occasional prickling sensation of eyes on him, but still) when steve stands up. billy watches him as he does a quick drink check around the group, not wanting to interrupt the quiet conversation going on between the boys, and heads inside with his own empty glass.

-in an instant, all eyes turn on him. the conversation stops, and the kids begin descending on him. it’s like something from a horror movie, how they look deadly serious as they watch him, then the eerie silence is broken by dustin.

-”if you hurt steve-” he begins, only to be interrupted by mike.

-”-we’ll declare war on you.” 

-billy scoffs nervously, but nobody else laughs. lucas takes his step forward, signalling it’s his time to speak to billy, and their eyes meet.

-”if you put a hand on him-” billy feels a pang of guilt, remembering how he had acted towards the boy the first time they had met. honestly, pinning a preteen to the wall and threatening him? who had he been? “we’ll come for you.”

-billy gets scared now, because what in the fuck does that mean? eleven is perhaps the least intimidating, surprisingly, because she’s just looking absently, as though she’s not really understanding what’s going on or what anybody’s saying. billy decides then and there that ignorance really is bliss.

-max clears her throat, and billy’s gaze instantly drops to her where she’s sat on the grass. she eyes the others, looking mildly irritated, and pipes up.

-”what they mean,” she clarifies, “is that we really care about steve, and we really wouldn’t appreciate it if you were to hurt him.” she looks more serious now, as she finishes, “don’t mess around with him, billy.”

-that’s when billy’s up and out of his chair because fuck that shit. he’s always known he was the latecomer to the gang, but jesus christ. if they don’t like him, they can just say it. there’s no need for the dramatics and pretending his relationship with steve is the causation for their disdain.

-he barely murmurs, “i’m going to get a drink,” before he’s heading inside and he’s forgetting his glass, figuring the kids know he wasn’t really telling the truth anyways. he stops in steve’s kitchen as he nearly bumps into his boyfriend, who chuckles and says something billy can’t quite hear over the thumping in his ears. he thinks he can feel the blood travelling around his body at its high speed.

-he rests himself on the kitchen sink, leaning forward and trying to zone back into himself. he tries to reason away why the kids were so put off by him, but always comes back to the fact that they must just hate him. he gets why, of course, considering he’s threatened to kill one of them in front of the others, and since then he’s tried to retract himself from the main action through embarrassment of the aforementioned action.

-even still, as he finally begins to return to himself, he can’t help but wonder whether they’d do the same for him. after all, relationships take (at least) two parties, and both are as capable of hurting the other as one another. not that he thinks he would, but what if steve were to hurt him? what then?

-he’s about to head back out, feign disinterest as he grabs his glass and excused himself again to fill the glass he was meant to the first time around, when he’s stopped in his tracks. he’s barely caught sight of red locks before he’s frozen, and he’s listening in.

-”...fragile, what with everything at home,” max says, “neil’s really bad to him. if you were to do anything, i worry he’d-”

-billy stops hearing at this point, because the thumping in his head comes back. is he hearing what he thinks he’s hearing? is his little shitbrick step-sister defending him, giving steve the shovel talk?

-forget eleven, he thinks max might have the real superpowers, because she seems to have read his mind. 

-”yeah, of course,” steve says sincerely, sounding invested in the conversation, “you’ve gotta know though, max, i really do care about him. i know it’s easy to say, but it’s true. in fact, i think i even-”

-billy withdraws from the conversation, not wanting to hear steve’s next words because he thinks he knows what he’s going to say, and the first time he hears them he doesn’t want to be eavesdropping. he loudly makes an entrance, covering up steve’s words, exclaiming something along the lines of, “aaand i’m back!”

-he knows it’s dumb, but it does the trick. steve sees him, and he shuts up. he and max part to let billy get past, and billy all but skips out onto the grass like a fairy princess, because he’s feeling lighter than a feather right now. even if he did just get interrogated by a group of fourteen year olds, he just got defended by one, and that seems pretty balanced in his mind.

-steve, who had previously looked terrified that his confession had been overheard, sees his boyfriend and smiled so wide, billy can’t help but think it’s the sweetest sight he’s ever had the good fortune of seeing. better than california, better than those old pictures of his mom, better than anything.

-”self-absorbed,” steve calls him in the softest tone known to man, and follows him out onto the patio. 

-i love you too, billy thinks, but doesn’t say. that much can wait for later.

#steve harrington x billy hargrove #harringrove fic #harringrove #steve harrington #billy x steve #steve x billy #billy #billy hargrove #steve #stranger things season 2 #stranger things season 3 #stranger things #mine #prompted works #harringrove prompts #send me prompts #send me questions #send me stuff #send me anons #send me asks #chat to me

[hippityhoppityyourenowmyproperty]

Reset!Rant (part 5)

Gemini Ascendant

Chapter: 1

Max: "Are they always like this?" Helen nodded and turned the page of her bodice-buster romance novel. "This is the status quo for them. Bart gets bored. Bart annoys Thad. Thad overreacts. Chaos, followed by a scuffle in the back yard. Boys come in dirty and exhausted. Repeat."

She forgot to mention the part about Thad abusing Bart and being the one who insults him. And getting murderous thoughts and viciously beating Bart up is something a little more inexcusable than just overreacting, as Helen puts it.

Thad stared at his costume that he still held in his hands. "I don't think this is going to fit, either." At least Bart was good for making the embarrassing mistakes first, so he didn't have to.

Sums up pretty well all that Thad sees in him. Because despite proving his worth and helping out numerous times in this story, Thad still refuses to acknowledge how essential Bart was to the mission and how helpful he can be.

Thad was not letting go of the subject. "You used to just cook out of box or can, too," He accused Bart. "Well yeah, but I leveled up." He stuck his tongue out at his brother. Thad's arm shot out and he grabbed Bart's tongue, eliciting a yelp of surprise.

This is another one of those scenes that is creepy and makes me feel very uncomfortable. This is a physical threat and it's aking towards physical abuse. Bart is playfully teasing him, and Thad sees that as such a big threat to his position of power that he feels the need to physically intimidate him and maybe even elicit pain. His actions aren't justified. They're not okay.

Thad complied and Max sighed. "Can't you two keep your hands to yourself for one day?"

Can't any of you see that Thad is always the one who starts fights and gets physical first? If you want to stop their fights, then maybe start by punishing the one who starts them.

Chapter: 2

"It's your own fault that they don't like you." Thad ducked a flying shirt and smirked at Bart's angry glower. "You let your nature get the better of you." Without lowering his chin, he sneered down at his twin. "You always do."

Weird, I could've sworn that you were the one who wasn't able to control his angry outbursts one chapter ago and tried to hurt Bart because he was teasing you. You're the one who resorts to abusing Bart because you can't control your anger, so get off his back for being impulsive. He's better at not letting his impulses control himself than you are, you're just too deluded to understand that. Impulsive anger is still impulsive.

Helen leaned against the counter and looked Thad in the eye. "He's a little excited right now, and we all know what happens when he's wound up like that. None of his friends can keep up with him if he gets too enthusiastic." Thad knelt down to rub Dox between his ears. "Fine, I'll babysit him."

Yeah, great idea Helen, give the person who's ripping on Bart and abusing him even more power over him, what could possibly go wrong? Isn't Bart the one who constantly had to stop Thad from doing stupid, reckless stuff because he was mad?

Max: "Do you see what I'm aiming for? Helen has done wonders in turning a potential Cain and Abel into Castor and Pollux. Now, we have to make sure that it sticks.

Sure, except for that Pollux actually loved his brother and gave up his immortality so that he could be with Castor, and that he wasn't an abusive jerk. Thad is the opposite of Pollux. He would never sacrifice something for Bart, he would let him die if it wasn't for Max. He's callous and toxic to Bart. Helen didn't make Thad less hostile towards Bart, if anything she encouraged his vile behavior. She doesn't deserve credit for this. Making sure that it sticks means that you are keeping up an abusive relationship. Max should work with Thad on his behavior if he really cared about Bart and their whole team dynamic.

Chapter: 3

Anita: "I remember us joking around that you couldn't be normal if you tried."

"Hey! I can too!" Bart glared at Thad, who was snickering at his expense. "Like you're any better." "I am", Thad replied with a grin. " I can fake being normal just as easily as I can fake being you. How else do you think I get through the day?" Bart ticked off the items on his fingers. "Picking on me, chatting with your internet girlfriend, playing with Dox..."

Thad really has a problem with self reflection in this. Then there's the immediately trying to embarrass Bart for his short comings, and saying that he's so much better than Bart. He's condescending as ever.

And not being able to fake being normal a.k.a. neurotypical is funny because..?

Thad braced against the wall and raised a golden eyebrow. "It doesn't look so much like he's joining it, as it seems more like he's owning it."

Kon's sudden frown and the telekinetic ejection of Bart was just the payoff he was looking for.

Because when Thad is in company of Bart's friends and therefore can't hurt Bart, he will try everything in his power to get them to hurt or humiliate Bart for him.

Bart: I don't get these guys. They don't act like zombies are supposed to. They're tearin' stuff up, yeah, but the're not biting people or eating brains." Thad leaned over Greta's sketchbook with his hands folded behind his back. "Then maybe they're not zombies, moron."

While casually calling him a moron (for the fifth time, by the way) Bart's friends are standing right next to him. They say nothing in response to Thad being an absolute dick to him.

Thad decided that he had enough of Greta play fashion designer and je hovered over Bart's shoulder to supervise the monitor. "Use the traffic cameras, idiot. You can follow the pseudo-zombies and extrapolate their path. Then you can tell your team where to head them up."

"I am using the traffic cameras!" Bart snapped back.

"You're not doing a very good job of it."

"Yeah? I don't see you doing this job!" Bart challenged.

Thad sneered down at him and countered, "I'm not part of your little team, and I wasn't asked to sit here."

This is the very definition of senseless criticizing and abuse that's disguised as advice. He's chewing Bart out for supposedly not doing a good job, but offers no help whatsoever. He's criticizing just because he can. He reigns Bart in for mistakes that don't even exist. Despite saying "You suck at this" He gives him no advice how to do it better. Imagine having to live with someone like that. Imagine having to listen to someone ripping on you for everything you did, even when there was nothing that you did wrong. There will always be something the abuser will be upset about, whether that thing exists or is just made up in order to be a reason to judge and criticizise the victim. Everything the victim does is somehow false.

As always, there's the put down directed at Bart's intelligence.

"He did," Thad grumbled. "I wish I could say that I had no obligation to save him, but I made a promise to Max that I would look after my idiot brother."

This confirms that Thad really would let Bart die and/or suffer right in front of him if Max wouldn't have told him to do otherwise. Also another put down.

Greta: "You're not moving very fast for a speedster saving his brother." Thad shrugged and kept his eyes on the monitot. "I'll let him dangle a bit just so he appreaciates my timely intervention more. Bart's a little dense." The last word came out with a derisive grimace.

He's risking Bart getting hurt or killed in a fight just so that Bart will learn to appreactiate his time more. Thad is the one who needs to learn to not take Bart's support for granted. He's the extremely demanding one who wants more than he deserves. In his eyes, Bart is a worthless idiot who needs to show more respect to him. And don't forget the insult. Thad wants everyone to understand how shitty Bart is because he has ADHD.

Conclusion

From the very start of their relationship Thad is a manipulative abuser who uses every opportunity he gets to ridicule and belittle Bart and continually wears his self esteem down. The lack of punishment Thad receives from his parental figuers for his damaging behavior not only turn Helen, Wally, Max and Jay into neglectful and borderline abusive guardians, but also lead to his toxic demeanor intensifying. The lack of indignance the characters show when faced with Thad very obviously and aggressively abusing Bart right in front of them makes it seem like abuse is something normal and acceptable, and not something that is contemptible and needs to have consequences. Moreover, the fanfiction is ableist in that it paints insults that are directly meant to degrade ND people for being mentally disabled (such as r*tard and shortbus) as harmless and appropriate swear words for that group of people. It is infuriating that so many people praise it as 'the best fanfic about Bart and Thad out there with the most accurate characterisations of them' when the mental torture he inflicts on Bart is objectively so plain obvious. I think I know why the readers of this work failed to recognize the maltreatment. Sibling abuse isn't as known as parental abuse is, and even more people deny that it exists. Many people excuse abusive behaviors in sibling relationships because they're under the false assumption that siblings can't be abusive. They're even harder to convince that it is abuse when the siblings are twins and don't have a significant difference in age and physical appearance. Abuse always includes a power imbalance, and you can definetly see that in Bart's and Thad's relationship. It starts in that Thad is chronologically and mentally way older than Bart. He is also more knowledgable and well versed in combat situations and fighting. Through the use of intimidation, put downs and threats Thad enhances that already existing imbalance and makes it easier for himself to abuse Bart.

This version of Thad is one of the most evil, reprehensible and crude monsters I had the misfortune of meeting in fiction. Living with someone like him is a nightmare and through the entire work I felt bad for Bart. Despite what this work is trying to make you belive, abuse is never justified, no matter who is the victim and who is the perpetrator.

#tw abuse #sibling abuse #tw manipulation #thad thawne #bart allen #helen claiborne #max crandal #wally west #rant #reset!rant #fanfiction #impulse #inertia