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waitmyturtles · 10 months

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In this edition of FUCK, THINGS GOT REEEEEEEAL GOOD: Step By Step, episode 9 thoughts:

First off:

THANK GOD THAT BABY IS OKAY, BUT I'D LIKE A FOLLOW-UP UPDATE ON THEIR HEALTH, PLEASE.

I'm a mom. A slightly traumatic birth scene in a BL! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

I'm talking with @lurkingshan about this, but I'm going to leave the timeline issues of the pregnancy to the real SBS experts. If the baby was OKAY and CRYING after a traumatic labor like that, my mom spidey sense says the baby was likely 34 weeks or above. Otherwise, that would more of a real emergency situation, with the need for a very sterile environment, and a really fast, emergency transport to a hospital and a NICU. (Also, around 34 weeks is when moms are advised to not be far from a hospital -- at least in the States -- in the case of this emergency onset birth situation, so that's what's leading to my guess about Ae.) Again, this means that the show may have made a big-ass timeline jump, and I don't think I'm expert enough to apply that to Pat and Jeng, so I'm gonna leave that alone.

Also, at THAT stage of pregnancy, late and belly-dropping.... yeah. Maybe a short stop on a bus can induce labor. We have a family member whose labor was induced when she tripped from a bus. (Real quick education, family: if someone around you breaks water, GET THEM TO A HOSPITAL IMMEDIATELY if you can, the risk of infection SKYROCKETS after water breaks.)

Okay. Give me babies and I give you mom. Let me step away from that for a second to say:

The show FINALLY GOT GOOD, for my tastes.

Tee Bundit got an editor. We got CRISP dialogue. SMART writing. The episode fit what it needed in its runtime. That's all I was asking for, dear Tee.

We got words. We got real descriptions about boundaries. We got real resistance to CROSSING those boundaries. We got meditations on how to DEAL with those boundaries. We saw Jeng RECOGNIZING that those boundaries are preventing Pat from coming to Jeng intimately, and that Jeng HAS A RESPONSIBILITY to DEAL with those boundaries, instead of ONLY leading with his heart, in a difficult boss-employee situation. We got Jeng managing his heart, yes, but also DEALING ACTIVELY with being PROFESSIONAL as well, and recognizing that he has to STEP AWAY from his role as Pat's superior. GOOD, JENG.

We have Pat still Pat-ing. Pat's like, I'm not gonna date my boss, but also, he liiiikkkeess meeee? He's too good for meeeeeee! PAT, jesus. Thank you, Jen, for working on dusting off our guy. (@lurkingshan, I was literally JUST writing this, lol.)

But also, thank gawd -- at least we have PAT SPEAKING UP and using his words. Like an adult. (?!) And -- being EMPOWERED to USE his words by his WONDERFULLY COMMUNICATIVE PARENTS! So, now we see that Pat, while raised in a sad environment with the separation of his parents, is actually attuned to..... talking and using his words regarding his emotions! We know and see that he can do it -- because his parents can do it, and therefore modeled that behavior for him. (Amarin Nitibhon, great dad in 10 Years Ticket, great dad in Step By Step, keep being a great dad!)

But Pat's still gotta keep Pat-ing, and he's still confused, and... what? He's surrounded by snacks and might need the further reflection of another older adult in Jeng to get deep in his feelings.

I don't know if my read is accurate on this. Is Pat the kind of person that NEEDS people around him to help him reveal his complicated feelings to himself? I think so. He's a young adult, kind of overwhelmed by everything going on, his sister dropped a baby in public (HE'S AN UNCLE NOWWWWWWW) --

Homeboy is GROWING UP. Step by step? Maybe the point of this show is that you don't grow up as well in this world, step by step, without leveraging your family and community around you as best as you can. I like that read, but I don't know if it's accurate yet.

I'm gonna leave the rest of the meta to the real SBS experts. Thank gawd the baby was born okay, but I'm gonna need an update. If Tee Bundit gives me breastfeeding in the next episode, I WILL give him flowers in Thailand, FOR REAL. Come awn. Don't stop at birth! It'll be a good excuse to show SOME body parts -- maybe not the ones we expect, though, ha.

And we get funsies with Pat and Jeng, finally, next week?! Let's motherfucking go.

EDITING TO ADD: Any moms out there watching SBS? I need fellow moms to laugh/cry/emote at all that childbirth stuff with.

#step by step #step by step the series #step by step meta #man trisanu #ben bunyapol #jeng x pat #pat x jeng #jengpat #childbirth #ama about childbirth and nursing #i'll give you all the details #the hardest and most rewarding thing i've ever done in my life but television gives it no justice just letting y'all know #i wish my labors had fit into the timing of one scene of a drama #psh #moms watching SBS

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dinahdlance · 10 months

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it's really not funny but the way that hae sang looks at san yeong in these moments as they investigate the weird shit with this 'how do you not know this' expression is like my brother in christ she literally WOULDN'T know any of this, this is your area of expertise!!!

#long post /#revenant sbs #child death cw #he is honestly hilarious in the way that he's like. expecting sanyeong to be aware of folklore even tho #the person that would HAVE told her was her dad and her mom split from her dad asap so no she doesn't actually know this #j watches dramas #making a little tag so you all can ignore my drama posts if you want or not idk

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kotonas · 10 months

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by the way!! sbs revenant's writer is kim eunhee who also did signal 2016!!! i'm on ep 2 and i already know i'm in for a goooooood story :-)

#i like how the plot is somewhat obvious and kinda cliche like rn it feels like #the story when a parental figure withholds truth from their child and then the child feels kinda wronged #or just naturally (bc they don't know the full picture and in this case - why sanyeong's mom divorced her dad) ends up steering #in a dangerous direction #like that's the vibe i get from the very first 2 eps #and despite all this it's very pleasing to watch #textposting #sbs revenant #revenant 2023 #kdrama #tvn signal #signal 2016

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risingsunresistance · 1 year

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listening to moving to mars, now i am thinking about barry and scarf

#i will stand by that ship till the day skyblock gets taken off the server idk what started it but i'll never stop i'm their no.1 fan now #does it make sense? no. have they ever met in canon? presumably no (i disagree)#does scarf care about anyone but his mom? Canonically no but *i* want to give him a bit more personality UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE. admins.......#i know he's basically a joke character BUT I CARE A LOT ABOUT HIM #what was he like before he lost everything. can he heal. can he move on. can he find life in death again.#and BARRY im so excited for whatever is happening with him but i already have a few too many headcanons jdhdjh #i know they're about to destroy all my personal worldbuilding 😭#chat #sb #no more song time with goat im gonna eat and watch some videos #and then stop talking abt all this #unless someone has an ask in which case i will continue lol

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gonnaeatyourgirlfriend · 5 months

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"---but fnaf is more serious than whatever they've done in the move"

the comedy-bot in security breach: "so where are the single dads? and how about my single moms? any single moms in the house tonight? there's no punchline"

#i so remember this #i was like Pause #single dads?#single moms????#soooo serious okay then go watch your vhs tapes girl #i'm here to have fun #(i also enjoy some vhs tapes)#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #honestly the entire SB was full of random jokes

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mvncesa · 6 months

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not knowing any of my neighbors (and being socially anxious) vs my first instinctual response to be asking them if they need help when I see them moving shit/carrying something

#( tell me to stop posting ; ooc. )#i mean i never do anything about it because i feel like #that's fucking weird to have sb u don't know randomly come out and ask to help #this was prompted by me watching sb & their mom carrying stuff from #their car into the apartment building and feeling like i should offer to help the entire time

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contradictivs · 2 years

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I send one (1) thing to quin and it got me thinking about ob/x ryder… fighty lil bitch

#( tell me to shut up ; ooc. )#remember when I said I would actually fully watch it (at least s1) and then didn’t? Yeah #but ob/x ryder just trying to vibe and live his best summer life #even though within a week and a half of being on the island he already broke sb’s nose :))#also I know he’d hang out with sarah but I just know he’d be friends with john b & ‘lowkey’ be a mom friend . I know it .

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starlightaxolotl · 2 years

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I’m reevaluating the timeline that brought me to where I am today and I’d like to point out the two biggest dates being the revival of my fnaf phase and my Michael Afton Become Blorbo moment are both tied to dates heavily associated with my mom and I think that says a lot

#it really is the loudest way to tell the world I not only have issues with my dad but I also have a dead mom #Michael is my comfort blorbo #I know this bc I know the focus started immediately after watching that one animation #and the fnaf fixation came back hard with SB and I know when I started watching coverage for that #iconic

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beom-pyu · 10 months

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truth or drink! (engaged edition): choi soobin

part 3 of the truth or drink series! <3

other parts: beomgyu & taehyun "my ex + my boyfriend edition" yeonjun "couples edition" kai "blind date edition"

slightly nsfw! (minors dni.)

welcome to truth or drink! engaged couples will ask each other a set of random questions. they can either answer the question or take a shot.

“i’m soobin and this is my fiance...”

“y/n!”

how long have you guys been together?

YOU: "4 and a half years."

how long have you guys been engaged?

SB: “going on 2 months now.”

who talked about marriage first?

SB: “y/n.”

YOU: “me.”

and how did that go?

SB: “they actually said it the first time we met at a mutual friend’s birthday party.”

YOU: “i was shitfaced and he had really cute dimples, so i told him we should get married. and he said okay!”

did you get engaged on the spot?

SB: “they completely forgot who i was by the next day, so i had to do all of the courting and work to even get them to go on a date with me.”

YOU: “it was worth it though.”

SB: “of course it was.”

SOOBIN: what was your first impression of me?

YOU: “other than the birthday incident, i thought you were way cooler than you actually are.”

SB: “am i not cool???”

YOU: “you are like… pitifully cute?”

SB: “that makes me sound like a charity case.”

YOU: “the cutest charity case ever.”

YOU: is there anything about getting married that scares you—something you haven’t shared with me?

SB: “hm… rationally, i know it probably won’t happen, but i feel like you’ll get bored of me at some point?”

YOU: “i could never get bored of you, baby. well… only your league of legends talk, but i love everything else.”

SB: “what’s wrong with my league of legends talk?”

you gently place your hand on top of his.

YOU: “everything.”

SOOBIN: what is something you want to try in the bedroom that we’ve never done before?

YOU: “bottoms up.”

SB: “hey, no! this is a safe space.”

YOU: “i think my mom is watching this, soobin.”

SB: “hi, y/n’s mom. now tell me.”

YOU: “if i say mine, you have to say yours.”

SB: “deal.”

YOU: “i want to like… tie you up.”

SB: “wait, i was gonna say that!”

YOU: “no way.”

SB: “yes way.”

YOU: “see, we’re a match made in heaven.”

YOU: on the count of three, both of us say the number of children we would ideally have.

YOU: “one, two, three. two!”

SB: “five!”

YOU: “five?”

SB: “i was going to say six, but i lowered it just for you.”

you give soobin an incredulous stare.

YOU: “i need a shot.”

SOOBIN: if you had one hall pass, who would you sleep with?

YOU: “people we know or…?”

the producer gives you a thumbs up.

YOU: “i’m gonna drink.”

SB: “wait, now i’m curious.”

YOU: “what about you?”

…

SB: “...pour me one, too.”

YOU: who proposed to who, and how did they propose?

SB: “i proposed. but it was really messy.”

YOU: “really cute actually. he had just gotten home from a month-long business trip and, if you didn’t know, he’s a really emotional person—”

SB: “i’m not that emotional.”

YOU: “you cried watching shrek, honey.”

SB: “that was one time.”

YOU: “you also cried during our first ti—”

SB: “continue on with the proposal, please.”

soobin pours another shot, just because, and you laugh under your breath.

YOU: “i was already in bed when he got home and he just got into bed and started bawling.”

SB: “i wasn’t ‘bawling’, i was sniffling.”

YOU: “you were bawling. anyways, he pulled me into his arms and was just like ‘please, please marry me, the love of my life, my entire universe, i can’t live without you, i need you forever—’”

SB: “okay, now you’re just making stuff up.”

YOU: “so you admit you were bawling?”

...

SB: “next question.”

SOOBIN: have you ever seriously considered breaking up with me?

YOU: “i wouldn’t say seriously…”

SB: “so you actually have considered it?”

the pout on soobin’s lips is prominent.

YOU: “you know work takes up a lot of your time, and i didn’t really understand where you were coming from in the beginning. so i guess i’ve thought about it once or twice, but i never really wanted to go through with it. i can’t see myself with anyone else but you.”

SB: “i think i’m the only one that can handle you, anyways.”

YOU: “woah, what does that mean?”

soobin just laughs and kisses the back of your hand.

SB: “take it as you will, baby.”

YOU: how often do we have sex, and how often should we have sex?

SB: “every other day…? i feel like that's more than average.”

YOU: “yeah, you’re very needy.”

SB: “i’m not needy. i’m just obsessed with you.”

YOU: “see, look, you’re trying to get into my pants right now!”

SB: “...is it working?”

YOU: “yes.”

SOOBIN: when was the last time you masturbated, and where was i?

YOU: “like, two days ago? and you were out with one of your friends.”

SB: “i still don’t know if he accidentally saw the videos you sent me or not...”

YOU: “doesn’t sound like you’re complaining.”

SB: “i’m the only one who can fuck you right, so i’m not worried.”

YOU: “mom, if you’re watching this. i’ve never had sex. i don’t even know what sex is.”

YOU: who or what do you picture when masturbating?

SB: “your ass. and your lips.”

YOU: “that was quick, woah.”

SB: “sorry y/n’s mom.”

SOOBIN: what’s your favorite and least favorite sex position?

YOU: “i think i like spooning the most? only because i don’t have to do a lot of work.”

SB: “i can’t believe you tried to convince me you’re not a pillow princess.”

YOU: “i’m not! i can be on top if i want to!”

SB: “isn’t that your least favorite though?”

YOU: “yes, but anything is good if it involves your dick so…”

SB: “and you say i’m the needy one.”

YOU: “it’s mutual!”

YOU: the average duration of sex for most couples is 10 minutes. how long do you think we last?

SB: “honestly, hours.”

YOU: “he has an inhuman libido. please pray for me.”

SB: “okay, ‘inhuman’ is an exaggeration.”

YOU: “no, you are like superman. i’m serious.”

SOOBIN: what is my biggest flaw?

YOU: “you only dress up if it’s for special occasions.”

SB: “i try my best!”

YOU: “will you let me reform your closet?”

SB: “as long as you’re paying.”

YOU: “...nevermind. you look sexy in sweatpants anyways.”

SOOBIN: about 40 to 60% of married couples divorce. do you think we will last?

YOU: “check back in after a year.”

SB: “woah, i thought we were going to grow old and wrinkly and brittle together? you don’t want to bump canes?”

YOU: “i don’t like the way you worded that.”

SB: “so i’m going to take that as a yes.”

you roll your eyes, but a smile forms on your face nonetheless.

YOU: “in all seriousness, you know i’m in love with you and i don’t think there’s anyone else out there that i’d even consider marrying. i’d love to grow wrinkly and old with you.”

SB: “awe, my little prune.”

YOU: “you’re so weird.”

SB: “and now you’re stuck with me forever~”

you look towards the camera.

YOU: “save me, please.”

masterlist

©️BEOM-PYU

#txt imagines #txt drabbles #txt fluff #txt smut #soobin imagine #soobin imagines #soobin drabbles #soobin hard hours #soobin fluff #soobin smut #txt x reader #txt x you #txt x y/n #soobin x reader #soobin x you #soobin x y/n #beom-pyu

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fnafluffy · 7 months

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I love glammike bcs, imagine watching this wet cat who can’t win at anything suddenly becoming a single mother.

this is exactly michael to me. a single mom who works two jobs who loves her kids and never stops....... /ref . no but i think gregory would change his life forever i wish he was in sb and i didnt have to make an au

#asks

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dinahdlance · 10 months

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oh my god she cursed those fish sdgfdhjsfhbdr

#j watches dramas #revenant sbs #i will say i love the whole transferring of curses via objects and the like #in the way that's like everything....has a memory (water has a memory) pictures and objects also have it and passes #my mom's very superstitious and hates like vintage shopping/getting stuff from yard sales bc she is a big believer of objects #retaining energy good and bad from previous owners and you bringing them into your home is inviting bad things #so to have this cursed picture move into this fish tank #that's nuts #anyway

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visualtaehyun · 5 months

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Had some more notes while watching the rest of ep. 5 so this is an attempt to put them into one halfway coherent post before ep. 6 airs tomorrow and my brain will inevitably have moved on djshdsjh

This is gonna be highlighting word choice as well as a bit of meta. I'll be color-coding words referring to Day and Mork like this again for ease of understanding.

Disclaimer: not a native speaker, still learning 🙏

Day and August

The word choice in Thai is just as intentionally ambiguous as the subs make it out to be. Both Day and August use the word คู่ /khuu/ a lot which can be used for anything that comes in pairs, is matched against each other, is equal/even etc. After observing the two of them the entire episode, Mork very fittingly remarks that if Day wasn't talking about Badminton, he'd think Day was talking about his ex.

- คู่ของผมเอง /khuu kaawng pom eng/ -> Day doesn't even feel the need to specify what kind of partner, the subs added the word 'badminton' - เขาขายเป็นคู่ /khao khaai bpen khuu/ - นี่กูเป็นพาร์ทเนอมึงนะเว้ย /nee guu bpen partner mueng na woei/

- มึงไปหาคู่ใหม่เหอะ /mueng bpai haa khuu mai huh/ -> หาคู่ /haa khuu/ = find a partner - กูก็ไม่ได้อยากจะคู่ใครหรอก ถ้าไม่ใช่มึงน่ะ /guu gaaw mai dai yaak ja khuu khrai raawk, taa mai chai mueng na/ = I don't wanna pair with anyone if it's not you.

ทุกวันเนี้ย เวลาเล่นยังคิดถึงมึงอยู่เลย /thook wan niia, weh laa len yang khit thueng mueng yuu loei/ -> คิดถึง /khit thueng/ literally means 'to think about/of' in a yearning kind of way so it's often translated as 'to miss sb./sth.'

August holds Day's hand and asks Mork (??!) for permission and then Mork's face after letting go of Day's hand and walking behind them hoo boy

An observation: With August it's monochromes, just as the headbands he got for the both of them are black and white. With Mork it's blue and orange and pink and just- vivid colors! I love that Day is caught between them in terms of feelings but also in terms of colors and clothing and framing while Mork is caught in the middle in this shot here, observing, relegated to the background, an outsider. P'Aof is so 😩👌

Cars & Care

Mork is thinking about his sister's car and how he feels responsible for taking care of it now because it's all he has left of her after he couldn't take care of her. Meanwhile, Day is remembering the fight he had with his brother in this same car and how it doesn't matter if he's taking care of the car if he doesn't really care for his own brother. I'm certain both their perspectives here are gonna come to a head once Night and the mom show up again or once Mork fully opens up about Rung.

Mork with Day

เราก็ว่างอยู่อะ /rao gaaw waang yuu a/ -> another instance of 2nd person pronoun เรา

He calls Day คุณหนู /khun noo/ (=young master) and uses polite male ending particle ครับ /khrap/ in both these instances. The first use of ครับ /khrap/ here is more teasing and sarcastic, the latter is just one of many instances during their practice date where it makes him sound sweet, the way you might use it with a partner.

subbed as baby is the word ที่รัก /thee rak/ = literally beloved, a term of endearment like darling, honey, sweetheart - layin' it on thick to tease and flirt lol

When Mork holds Day's hand under the menu, he calls him เธอ /ter/ - an informal 2nd person pronoun that's used a lot in songs, poetry, literature etc. and so it has a bit of a romance trope connotation. Outside of that, it's also used between female friends and by teachers to refer to students, for example.

พี่ว่าถ้าเดย์ผ่านด่านบอสเป็นสเต็กแล้วเนี่ย พี่ว่าเนี้ย หวานเจี๊ยบ /phi waa taa Day phaan daan boss bpen steak laao niia, phi waa niia waan jiiap/ = I think if you made it past the boss level that is steak then this is a piece of cake.

That's not a literal translation but I had to because I can't believe they didn't seize the chance to substitute a slang expression/meme with a pun at least lol - หวานเจี๊ยบ /waan jiiap/ basically means very sweet but หวาน /waan/ can also mean easy.

Mork the sunflower

Mork asks why Day likes sunflowers (him) when there are so many pretty flowers out there (better men) - Day says it's the flower's (Mork's) refusal of darkness, instead always turning its face (Mork's!) to look at the sun. 🥺 Mork is that positivity for Day!!

When Mork offers to buy the sunflower for him, Day declines - he can't see it so he thinks he can't appreciate it (MORK) the way it (M O R K) deserves (Day: น่าจะมีความสุขกว่า /naa ja mee khwaam sook gwaa/ = It'd be happier). About liking August he also said- I should've told him sooner so I'd still get the chance to see his face.

I can't wait for how ep. 6 is gonna unfold, this show has me insane 🫠

#last twilight #thai bl #jimmysea #local woman harps on about linguistics #this one feels significantly more chaotic than my last post but that's bc i literally hastily took these thoughts down after the ep. lol

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puhpandas · 6 months

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Rabbit Burrow

(3,785 words) Part 1 (part 2 found here)

Tony Becker, one year after surviving the attack from GGY, tracks down Gregory post-SB. But he has to get through Vanessa before he can get to Gregory.

Tony likes to think his detective skills are pretty good. So when he swings a leg over the seat of his bike and wheels it near the entrance, he hopes it's the right place.

He'd tracked down Gregory to this apartment complex somewhere in Gale county. It's still in Hurricane, and Tony had been able to reach it with just a bus ride. The apartment is somewhat run-down, but clean enough to where you can tell it's well kept, just old. The air conditioning units he passes on the way to the front door are brand new.

He'd taken the closest bus to Gale county right after school let out. He'd been restless all day up until finally acting on his findings. Tony has been searching for Gregory for a year. Finally finding something and having to wait for his middle school day to end was agonizing. He just hopes his Mom and Grandma wont be too mad at him.

He'd wrestled his bike he'd ridden to school that day discreetly onto the bus and wedged it in-between his legs and the seat in front of him. The air had been humid and thick all day with the signs of a storm, and Tony had seen the dark clouds and heard the thunder peeking over the treeline outside the bus window on the way here. He ducks inside the front door and beats the rain by seconds.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist asks him, giving him a weird look when he steps inside. Shes a lady with long, styled black hair and covered in jewelry. Tony tries not to look too suspicious as he sends her a polite smile, heading to the elevator on the wall to the left. He would also be wary if someone he'd never seen walked into a resident building.

"Just seeing an old friend." He tells her. He presses the button to the third floor and tries to break her gaze by stepping behind the closing doors. The elevator shakes a bit before moving up.

He tries to take a deep breath. Theres some kind of excitement floating around in his chest at the fact that he's done it, but he pushes it down, lowering his expectations.

Despite his theories, he really has no clue what to expect. Theres some sort of worry mixing with the excitement, and all he decides is that if he escaped once, he can do it again.

It both took too long and not fast enough when he finally reaches the third floor. He double checks his crumpled sheet of notebook paper in his hand once, then a second time, something nervous but anticipating thrumming in his veins.

He steps onto the beige carpet of the long hallway, fresh vacuum marks in it, and follows the number plates by each door before coming to a stop near the middle of the hall.

3-05 The plate reads back to him. He quadruple checks his paper again. Its right.

He sighs out deeply, not even realizing he was holding his breath. Despite himself, his brows crease ever so slightly.

He shakes it away, pushing past it. Maybe digging too deep is what got him into trouble before, but its different now. Tony... Tony's learned things during his search for Gregorys location. If there was any point during his investigation that he would call digging too deep, it would have been months earlier from now.

Besides. Tony has always been bad at staving off his curiosity.

He thunks his knuckles on the white wood of the door quickly after that, three times in succession. He kind of bluescreens for a second when he realizes what he just did, then shakes it off. Waiting with wide eyes at the door, watching for a rattling of a doorknob or listening for incoming footsteps.

Nothing. He waits a few more minutes before knocking again, this time a little louder and harder.

Tony perks up when footsteps finally near the door, and his lips part prematurely when the doorknob rattles, not even put-together words yet on his tongue. They fall away immediately when a woman with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail opens the door, one of those chain locks keeping it open maximum of three inches. "Hello?"

He stutters for a moment, words lost on his tongue, before he clears his throat, putting on a polite smile. "Hi, there." He says. "Um. Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that, kid." The woman raises a brow at him, never opening the door more than the chain lock allows it. She peers at him through the gap, and Tony tries as discreetly as possible to look past her head and shoulder into the apartment itself. "What are you doing here?"

When he looks back, shes still looking at him in a way Tony can only describe as cautious. The light in the hallway on the ceiling is flickering, and it casts split second shadows on the womans face that makes the bags under her eyes that much more prominent and her face that much more intimidating. "Well?"

Tony realizes he hasnt answered, and coughs slighty. "Oh. Sorry." He says, reluctant to continue. "I'm... I'm looking for Gregory."

Tony watches intensely to see if the name rings a bell or catches her attention. Just as he expects, her face twists ever so slightly in recognition. Tony catches something adjacent to panic or fear in her eyes until it's gone not half a second later.

"Who's asking?" She asks eventually, voice carefully even after a what appeared to Tony to be a mini conundrum in her head.

"His friend." He answers honestly. He ducks his head when the woman scrutinizes him, looking almost angry, but restrained enough to not show it. "I mean it," He says earnestly. "he and I... we were best friends. Last year. I came here to look for him."

Her eyes widen ever so slightly at that, and she studies him, eyes flicking back and forth over his face and his clothes and his hair. Tony doesnt miss the way her eyes linger for a millisecond on his scars. Its silent in the hall save for the two looking at eachother, and the buzzing of the flickering light on the ceiling is enough to save him from hearing his own heartbeat.

"Okay." She says eventually, and Tony subconsciously feels himself sag a bit at the relief that he won't turned away right as he was this close. She shuts the door without a word, and all Tony can do is stare at the peeling landlord white paint on the door as the sounds of the woman unlatching the multiple locks on the other side reach his ears. He waits patiently, until she cracks the door open not much wider than it had been with the lock, but just enough to fit his body in. "Come in. But no word to anyone. Got it?"

About what? Tony's about to ask, but then he steps through the door and the words die on his tongue.

"Oh." He says outwardly when Glamrock Freddy Fazbear sits on the couch. His body is adjacent to the patchwork quilt Tony has on his bed that his Grandma made him, and any of the makeup he had been painted with has long since scratched off.

His eyes are shut, and theres two jump cables attached to his ears that are plugged into a portable something. He doesn't so much as twitch when Tony enters the room.

The woman gives him a look after she re-locks only the deadbolt behind him and passes him into the apartment. "Oh." He repeats. "Not a word."

She nods at him, and it's only now that Tony can see the rest of her that isnt just her face. Shes in her twenties, if he had to guess, and she has a white tank top on with some sort of stain near the collar along with Hello Kitty fleece pajama pants. Her socks are mismatched and her nails are painted a purple color that could rival the deep bags under her eyes.

She collapses into an armchair (which hes pretty sure has a mismatched leg attached to it half-hazardously) and only looks at him silently as he steps further into the house, not so discreetly angling his body to get a peek past walls and open doors across the house.

Shes about to speak when Tony does first, "Wheres Greg?" He asks straight up. "Can I see him?"

Her lips twitch, and she just leans further back into the chair. The TV is playing some sort of Spring baking show, and the droning of the host mixes with the pattering of the rain on the window on the wall by the TV.

Anticipation and impatient-ness buzzes under his skin at being right here, and this woman undoubtedly knowing Gregory certainly doesnt help.

She only hesitates for a moment, but Tony can see the influx of thoughts that undoubtedly ran through her mind. She opens her mouth, taking a slow breath, before, "At school."

"He goes to school?" Tony gasps slightly, eyes widening. He moves to the couch, toeing past Freddy Fazbear as to not touch him even with just a brush of his jeans before sitting down, facing her. "What school?"

"He goes to Raindrop." The woman tells him, seemingly not hesitating this time.

It doesn't ring a bell, but it must be a middle school in Gale county. "...I go to Hailstorm." Tony says. "We both did. Or used to."

She stares at him after that, fingers drumming on the arm of her chair. She says nothing, just scrutinizing him, before, "You sure have a lot of cryptic ways of telling me how you used to know Gregory."

He wants to apologize, because it seems like what to do in response to that statement, but for some reason, that feeling in his gut he's learned to trust as his Detective sense tells him that he shouldn't.

Shes still looking at him intensely, and the rain outside pattering on the window somehow feels louder. There's some thunder outside that rumbles the floor, and the lighting casts a shadow on the living room. A few white lines across the coffee table caused by the blinds covering the window.

Her face doesnt so much as twitch, he notices, and she doesn't blink when she looks at him. Her green eyes bore into him, almost glowing in the shadow cast beneath her bangs. It reminds him of how he'd done to her not minutes ago. What he does to people he wants to analyze. To see how they react to something.

That's what shes waiting for, he realizes. He has a feeling that if he doesnt match her cryptic bluntness and instead apologizes and caves that easily, that it will somehow result in her turning him away.

Theres a glint in her eye when he becomes aware of reality again enough to look, and he thinks she somehow just came to the conclusion that Tony figured it out.

Then, he tries to sit up a bit straighter, and muster up that same glint mirroring back at him. "You sure have a cryptic way of letting me know you dont trust me."

Her mouth twitches slightly, but its all Tony needs to know he'd guessed correctly.

Its silent for a moment, and the woman grabs the remote on the next arm over and pauses the baking show she'd been watching. She shifts in the red velvet seat, as if getting comfortable, before, "Tell me how you know Gregory, and I'll tell you how I know him."

He has a feeling he isnt getting to Gregory unless he gets through this woman first, so he clears his throat, leaning his forearms on his knees.

"Me and Gregory met early last year at the beginning of the school year." He begins. "Right after summer ended in August. He was the new kid, and he sat at our table at lunch since it was mostly empty. Me and my friend arent the most popular, so there was room to spare."

She waves a hand, signaling him to stop. "Your friend?" She asks. He nods. "How many of there were you?"

"...Just me and E-- my friend." He says. "There were two of us, and when Greg sat at our table, we remembered how he looked a little lost earlier in class and we introduced ourselves. Then we just... clicked, I guess. He would partner with us in creative writing."

"Writing, huh?" She smiles slightly.

"Yeah." He replies. "Then, it was just business as usual for the months afterwards." He pauses, fidgeting with the hem of his jacket he loves so much that reminds him of the trenchcoats big city investigators wear. "Then... I had gotten wrapped up in this mystery."

She shifts, crossing a leg over the over and holding her hands together. "A mystery?"

Tony nods, remembering it like it was yesterday. He thumbs the part of arm where a scar is on his arm that his jacket covers. "The three of us would always go to the arcade in the Pizzaplex." He tells her. "And one day, I noticed high scores that seemed impossible to reach, and I became obsessed with solving who it was who had gotten there."

Tony thinks hes very good at reading people. So he doesn't think it's just his imagination when the woman in front of him goes a little rigid in her seat.

Theres some sort of creases under her eyes, Tony notices, that weren't there before.

"What did you do?" She asks.

Tony has a feeling that she somehow knows already. So he doesnt beat around the bush.

"I solved the mystery, eventually." Tony says. "Because GGY had been Gregory, and he'd invited me to the Pizzaplex and tried to kill me."

She sags a bit, looking somehow infinitely more tired, but no surprise detected. "But you survived."

"Not..." He shakes his head, picking at the skin by his fingernails. "I wouldn't have. If not for Greg saving me."

"Huh?"

"He--" Tony searches for the words, looking at the carpet between his knees and remembering that afternoon in every vivid detail he'd looked over countless times before. "He'd tried to kill me, yeah, but... he was almost fighting himself as he did it. He was like having a fistfight with himself."

He doesn't look up at her, he just keeps remembering how Gregory had gone rigid right before plunging the knife into Tony's gut a second time and stopped himself. How it had looked like somebody yanked Gregory backwards, but it had been his own self throwing his body. Just so he didnt hurt Tony again.

"He looked like he was a malfunctioning robot." He recalls. "He was like, hitting himself, and was making noises like he was fighting something. I was too frozen to move at the time, but then he threw me a really high security pass for the Pizzaplex and told me to run."

Then he had collapsed in front of him, like he was holding himself down. He doesn't tell the woman, though.

He looks back up to see her staring, eyes wide in suprise. She looks deep in thought for all but a few moments before shaking herself out of it. "So what did you do?"

"I ran." Tony says. "He had got me already. He stabbed me in the back, the first time. That was how I knew he was attacking me in the first place. But I ran away with the pass, and I went to a room with a ton of monitors and erased the security footage."

Her eyes blow wide as saucers, that time. "You got stabbed," she begins. "and instead of getting help, you erase the security footage?"

"Yeah." Tony nods. "Greg would have gotten in trouble if I didnt."

She's silent, after that. Tony just keeps picking at the skin on his fingers. "I somehow knew that Gregory didnt deserve to be. He just..." Tony trails off. "He didnt seem..."

"Seem like himself?" She suddenly cuts in, and Tony's eyes widen.

He nods, a small tilt of his head, and the woman sighs. "That's what being mind controlled will do to you."

A year ago, probably longer by now, Tony would have never believed that. He would have never thought something so outlandish that is only ever shown in fiction could be a possibility.

Not that he was wrong, to. Really, anyone in their right mind wouldnt think so. But things have changed since then.

And Tony has seen a lot of things during his search that probably nobody else has. Plus, This woman has been so cryptic up to this point. If she told him this straight up, and it's clear that she knows Gregory...

Suddenly, everything that day seems to make perfect sense. And everything he'd found that he'd filed away into his little mental Gregory crazy wall.

(He'd used to call it evidence wall, like normal people do. But, well, at some point, maybe Tony had thought the things he'd been finding were a bit too crazy to deem as normal.)

Theres been a stretch of silence while Tony had been taking that in, and he only breaks it to say, "Is mind control a topic you're familiar with in this house?"

Her eye twitches, a bit. And now that Tony is looking for it, he notices that same strange sheen on her eyes that Gregory had during their friendship. That weird red tinted film that makes their eyes turn a completely different color when the light hits them right.

Tony doesnt yet understand how the mind control Gregory had been under works, but all he can hope is that there are some side effects.

She stares at him, eyes narrow, and theres another roar of thunder outside the window.

"Who are you?"

"Tony." He answers. "Tony Becker. Ring a bell?"

She hums, and she looks at him in a way where he feels like he's being dissected.

"He didnt remember anything for a while." She says eventually. "But hes been having dreams, lately. Sometimes he talks about two kids he used to be friends with."

"Me and Ellis." Tony's eyes widen. It doesn't even occur to him that he shouldn't share Ellis's name.

"He worries about you." She says. "I've heard him say he hopes you're okay. You and that other kid. You must have been close if he remembers being that good of friends with the two of you."

"We were." Tony replies. Memories of him, Ellis, and Greg going to the Pizzaplex and trying to get the most dunks in the basketball hoops flash in his mind. He thinks about when Gregory would come over to Tony's little run down house that he shares with his Grandma, and they write graphic novels together for the fun of it.

Gregory liked to call them comics before he'd suddenly decided that stuff wasnt cool anymore and stopped coming over. It had been like everything Tony saw him enjoy that wasnt painfully average for a child suddenly didn't mean anything to him anymore.

And then Gregory tried to kill him in a dusty back room.

Everything hed given up seems to make more sense now. It wasnt willingly at all.

"He doesn't remember your names." She speaks up suddenly, ripping Tony out of his thoughts. "But he remembers more and more every time he has a dream. Something reminded him of you one day, I guess. That must have been when it started."

Tony opens his mouth, but the beeping of a digital clock interrupts him. He follows the womans arm as it reaches across the seat to turn it off.

The time reads 5:00pm.

He watches as she looks over at him, and nods to the door. "After school activity." She informs him, getting up out of the seat. His eyes follow her as she moves towards the front door. "I'm his ride."

Tony's eyes widen at the implications. "So I just--"

"Stay here." She tells him. She grabs a flannel off of the small coat rack by the front door and slips it on, sliding some Adidas sandals on top of her socks and reaching in the pocket of the coat to grab car keys. She pulls them out, and Tony notices that theres a keychain of a white rabbit dangling from the key ring.

The breath is suddenly stolen from his lungs, and he bolts off of the couch, a buzzing under his skin. "You're bringing him?"

She nods to Freddy Fazbear. "If you can wait." She smiles at him, and it's the first time Tony has seen her smile, instead of the carefully kept nonchalant-ness. "He'll wake up pretty soon once he's done charging. So you won't be completely alone."

Tony doesnt know what to say to that. Thousands of words spawned from the thousands of thoughts hes had about finding and tracking down Gregory are on the tip of his tongue, but he only gets any out when the woman begins to leave the house.

"Wait!" Tony reaches out a hand. She turns around, a brow raised. The door is still slightly ajar, and the sound of heavy rain reaches his ears. "What's your name?"

She smiles a bit at the question. "Vanessa."

"Vanessa," He asks, oddly desperate. "Dont tell him I'm here." He swallows. "I want to see him remember me."

Vanessa tilts her head, but nods after a moment. "Sure, kid."

She smiles one last time on her way out, and says, "Tony Becker."

The sound of the rain outside disperses when the door shuts and locks, and Tony doesnt move for a long while. He just stares at the landlord white door, electricity under his skin and something floaty in his stomach.

Greg. He thinks in his mind when he finally rips himself away and looks around some more, seeing a door propped slightly open down the hall with a bed and a desk with pencils and paper strewn all about. He doesn't dare go in, but stares at what he can see. Its been a while.

The silence is numbing, when he can only hear the faint whirring of Freddy Fazbear on the couch next to him and the rain on the window, he plants himself on the couch cushion next to the animatronic, grabbing the remote and resuming the baking show Vanessa had been watching.

He doesn't listen to a word. He just trembles with anticipation and bobs his leg up and down as he stares at a random corner of the screen.

ao3 link

#i had a lot of fun with this one. if you need help understanding the strange interactions between tony and vanessa #its supposed to be a right of passage i guess. vanessa doesnt want anybody else to get involved #or to drag back any of the vanny & ggy stuff.#not if theyre not serious. so if tony had apologized #it would have shown vanessa that she shouldnt humor him and to just turn him away so he doesnt get involved #because he'd just be a scared kid looking for his friend.#but tony matching her and showing that he understood the test and is still serious about it #& he also matches with gregorys descriptions #shes like alright you can know.#theres meant to be a part 2 to this little oneshot thing where gregory and tony actually reunite #but i still need to plan it out. ive been obsessed with detective rabbit reuniting for a bit now and wanting to write it so #it shouldnt take too long. but no promises lol #just wanted to write tony and experiment with something new and this happened :) it was fun #my fics #pandas writes #tony becker #fnaf gregory #detective rabbit #ggy #tales from the pizzaplex #twoshot #gregory #tony #ellis #vanessa #3 star fam #freddy #also rabbit burrow is a reference to the saying rabbit hole #but i made it burrow because like tony said #he crossed the line a long time ago

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