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#post is horrible here in december
blood-orange-juice · 8 months
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Important question
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risingsunresistance · 2 years
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ugh
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#vent/rant ahead i just wanna say stuff:#forcing myself to draw for my friends and post content for my friends and keep Being Active just for other ppl is wearing me out#i WANT to continue to be a part of the community but. man this sucks fkjdhsg#it's entirely my fault. the situations i've put myself in that i dont wanna make public#(not just stuff related to art and content motivation but also Oops i Upset A Friend And Feel Horrible)#but it still sucks even if it is my fault#idk man im just running out of stuff to care about. everything is getting worse 🧍#i'm sure i'll be here every once in a while but will i ever post a full drawing again? great question#clips? very very rarely#actual content? not likely#i have like. one thing i wanna post about at christmas (i know one of my gifts already). besides that uhhhhhhhh i've got nothing#might have one drawing/sketch for december but that's very up in the air#if you know my priv and wanna request go ahead. im always active there and that wont change unless twitter explodes#even if you've requested before and aren't in it now you can request again. i'll try to be more lenient with it (again this is my fault)#i doubt i could ever make myself straight up abandon this blog. i'll continue to answer asks and ramble when i want to#but forcing myself to be a Content Provider sucks. it's not working. i'm still sad. he's still dead. my friends are leaving.#i'm not gonna have anyone left by this time next year it'll just be me and the void lmao#too nervous to follow anyone new. too nervous to talk the friends i already have. cant hold a conversation to save my life#this is why i have like... 3 friends here (i think we're friends). sorry i never talk to you guys it's just Difficult :/#and it's not getting any easier. not since june/july !#all goat knows is talk about skyblock (getting harder to do). post link to song. and make 50 more non-rebloggable posts#chat#come back later#(to delete probably idk)#now the real question: is this all related to [current issues causing mood swings] or is this something that's been building since june#we'll see i guess#i could be fine a month or so from now. or tomorrow. or all the way in the summer. who knows#*attaches a picture of techno to make this seem slightly less miserable* jkfhdkg#i hate there being like 2000 people here. nearly 3000 i think. idk#i want to talk and rant without feeling like im making the world's worst apology video KJFDHKG i dont like having so many eyes on me
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bagofshinyrocks · 6 months
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A Little Bump on the Head
Prompt: As your and Simon’s little man is exploring the living room, he bumps his head. Simon is almost more upset than the baby is. [Requested by anonymous]
Featuring: Simon "Ghost" Riley x GN!Reader
Word Count: 0.6k
Warnings: none
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You were so relieved when the little man started to entertain himself.
Watching birds and dogs outside, building blocks, sorting colorful balls and toys, climbing through a series of tunnels made by his daddy from recycling.
Simon was home as much as possible, deployments never being more than a week, and demanding desk-duty or training on base. But it was still hard to run a two-adult one-infant household with both of you only getting a few hours of home-making between you. 
And sometimes, both of you needed some sleep. Sometimes he had a late night at work. Sometimes baby decided to scream at 4 AM and scare both of you so horribly that you couldn’t fall back asleep even after the baby was all snork mi mi mi.
You were re-reading some comics on the couch, encouraging the little man as he scribbled on his coloring pages or crawled to follow the robot vacuum. Once Simon finished loading the dishwasher, he came in and flopped on top of you.
“Ohhhh, what a comfortable pillow.”
“Heavy,” you grunted, freeing your arms and wrapping them around your husband.
“You callin’ me fat?”
“Just a smidgen. In a sexy way.”
Your baby suddenly sat up and vocalized. A happy smile when his dad waved. With a great heave, he pulled himself up on the chair and started making his way over to you.
Eager coos and cheers from both of you, as he waddled from the chair to the coffee table.
A hiccup! An obstacle! Your son falls on his bum. But he perseveres and pulls himself back up again.
But he misjudges and bonks his head on the underside of the coffee table instead. He falls back on his rear. And his sweet face crumbled and flushed as he started to cry.
Both of you jerked forward, reaching for him and starting to comfort him. Simon rolled off you  and onto the floor and scooped the boy up in his arms.
“Oh, bubba,” he hushed, cradling the lightly bumped head into his chest, “it’s alright. You’re alright.”
You wrapped around your husband and gently rubbed your son’s back. He stopped fussing fairly quickly, just sniffling and holding on tight to his daddy.
The top of your boy’s head had only a slight bump on it; nothing you needed to worry about. A light reddened line where he hit the corner, and not even that raised of an egg. He had done this a couple times before.
You looked to Simon to reassure him that the boy was okay and almost started tearing up yourself. The baby was quietly leaning into his daddy’s chest, and your husband was the one fighting back tears.
“Baby,” you coo, cupping Simon’s face in your hands and kissing his cheek. Then kissing your son’s before he could get jealous. “Baby, he’s fine. Just a little bump. He’s had worse.”
Simon nodded, not trusting his voice, and kissed the top of the baby’s head.
A few minutes later, the boy was crawling through his cardboard maze. Moisturized. Flourishing. Living his best life. And now you had your husband in your arms.
“He’s alright.”
“I know but he bumped his head while coming to see me-”
“Shush. Not your fault.” You leaned him back and pinched his nose.
“He’s just learning his gross motor skills. It happens.”
Simon rubbed his nose. “They’re not gross.”
You almost laughed in his face, but didn’t, you were a good spouse. He was still upset. “As in gross motor skills versus fine motor skills.”
“... Oh.”
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Enjoy reading this? Here's a link to my other works! Thanks for reading :-)
Posted: 2023 December 25
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theoddest1 · 4 months
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Let's Actually Talk About The Issues With Vivziepop
Okay, first off, hello you beautiful people! Sorry about this foreboding title, but I needed to catch y'all attention on this so I can break down the issues that I and many have with "Hazbin Hotel" and "Helluva Boss" creator, Vivienne Medrano. Now I am sure you all on here are already aware of at least a couple of the controversies that revolve around this particular creator and if you have seen my posts floating around already, some have been greeted with the problems surrounding her social media presence and just her overall as a person. I know seeing another callout on her seems very very tiring at this point, but I felt that a lot of the current callouts missed key details that were not at all addressed or properly delved on. I plan on shedding light on my issues with her and I hope you get where I am coming from when I say that she sucks.
BULLYING
Okay, I am starting off with Vivienne's blatant use of bully mentality, her agreeing or encouraging her fans to call people who see flaws in her works sub-humans or harass those who find issue or simply jest about her works trademark cussing and and overcrowded designs. She has had this issue for YEARS and refuses to grow up and act her age despite many telling her, even her own fans at times, that she shouldn't be acting so unprofessionally. Clearly, she doesn't care and thanks to her fanbase caring more about her feelings than her being better she feels as though she doesn't need to change or do better. This goes for her friend group as well, who defend her tremendously and act as though she is never in the wrong. Name one time a friend of hers called her out for acting childish, I'll wait.
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Now, you're probably wondering, "Wtf could they have done to warrant such a response?"
Criticism...That's all they did. (White Text is random peeps they would speak with or maybe mutuals)
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Keep in mind...they used to be a fan as well. They were also a minor at this point
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But, Viv doesn't care, this person's critical yet harmless tweets about her shows is what lead to her painting them in a horrible light and making them out to be someone who has attacked her personally and as "nasty".
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Rich coming from Viv since she is completely fine doing exactly that for "Ava's Demon". Not only does she criticize it, she takes a shot at the creator as well, but GOD FORBID others do the same towards her.
And according to someone who knew her well, it's all cause they felt creeped out by her.
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Her hatred for criticism is so prominent that Ima makes that a section of its own. But let's get back on the topic of bullying.
Vivienne has a fanbase filled to the brim with pushy and overall annoying individuals who have harassed, threatened, disrespected, and wished harm on many people, all cause someone had a negative thing to say about Vivziepop's mid af show. One of the earlier known instances is the one revolving around a MEME of all things.
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This was what started it all, and it led to both parties blocking each other and people being mad pushy and calling them an idiot and the like over their opinions. Now look, their take and you're opinion on said take is fine so long as you stay respectful and humane about it all, but don't dogpike someone all cause they think HH sucks. And while Viv can not control her fanbase, for they are not a hivemind (some of y'all act it tho, ima keep it real) she is seen here ENCOURAGING the behavior. Tell me how someone who doesn't even like your trash ass show has the sense to tell people not to harass others, someone with a smaller following, but not your grown damn near 30 year old ass?
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Oh, but people wanna act like she can handle criticism, is a sweet person, and grew from her past experiences. Fam, she was 27 in this screenshot [December 16, 2019] and has shown no change from 2013 to fucking 2024. Over a decade of the same petty ass behavior, and keep in mind, according to several of her old friends and workers, she is worse behind close doors. WORSE. She's already acting like she got no damn sense out in the open, imagine behind closed doors.
Last but not least, a glimpse into her outright blatant slander towards Dollcreep, a once good friend of hers that she even visited and spoke with frequently!
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She stated that they fetishized pedophilia yet according to the victim and friends of the victim who were once friends with Viv as well, Viv actually threatened to end their friendship if he hadn't drawn NSFW art of her character and his character having sex [Addi was 15 at the time this was drawn]
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On top of that, she liked the post, something she didn't need to do. The art also depicted things she had regularly drawn on her own. Addi being tied up forcefully, being sexualized, being harmed to some degree through bondage, etc. The claim that she forced DC to draw this out is backed up by her own art depicting similar elements. Also, if my memory serves me well, Viv and Doll were 17-18 years old [Doll was 17 Viv 18] and have a 1-year age gap. The way Viv frames things here is as if DC was way older and imposed some sort of power over DC, which sources say otherwise. If anything, Viv had a LOT of control throughout all of this drama, which deserves its own section.
I'll be making posts that talk about the different issues regarding Viv, so one post isn't too long (this one is already lengthy enough) and that you can just pick at one post targeting certain issues around this creator.
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dreamlanddeluxe · 2 months
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Hey everyone, one of my friends from college is in a real tight spot at the moment and could use all the help they can get. They’ve been homeless since December as their apartment flooded and have been horribly mistreated by the friends they were staying with since. I’ve gotten permission from them to repost their dono post here. The gfm is linked above, and in addition to that their vnmo is @amangem cshpp is $AmarachiEm and pypl is amaranee. Please donate if you can and reblogs are greatly appreciated.
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murderofsomeone · 6 months
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happy december 1st, which means it has officially been a year since I've started posting lemon demon to tumblr. here's your horrible present.
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And to fit with how the first post had his first render attached, I decided to do the same with his I Am Become Christmas alt
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harlondes · 1 month
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something something horrible hallmark romcom movies something something im balls deep in love with you
(davekat redraw from december 2023 .... og under the cut but It was my last post on here so)
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jo-harrington · 3 months
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Stranger Than (Fan)Fiction - Chapter 2: Out of Character
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Previous Chapter: Alternate Universe
Summary: Things are starting to get weird in Hawkins. Weird for Eddie, especially. (AKA Eddie Munson and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week)
Word Count: 9k
Pairing: Eddie Munson/Fem!Reader
Warnings/Themes: No-Upside-Down AU, Fluff, Angst, mention of virginity, Smut (male masturbation), sexual fantasies, brief Breeding Kink mention (I SWEAR IT WILL MAKE SENSE bear with me), Isekai, Mentions of FOI-compliant events and characters, Lovesick Eddie, jealousy, satire, a Monkey’s Paw type situation, Cliffhanger, Meta Fiction, Eddie acts a little OOC—it’s in the title
Note: Hey everyone, we're back with hopefully some more regularly posted chapters now that my baby SMVerse is complete. Very sorry for how long this chapter is, the next one is admittedly planned to be shorter. There was just a lot of dough to knead here. Thank you to @dr-aculaaa @powderblueblood and @rosewaterandivy for their contribution to some details of the chapter. IYKYK. And they know. Especially how much it means to me.
You can find my masterlist here.
Please do not interact if you are not 18+.
Enjoy!
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It goes without saying that your newfound independence had led to the most fun you’d ever had.
You weren’t afraid to be by yourself; on the contrary, it was almost like you were by yourself for the first time in your life.
That was the thing about living in a small town, everyone knew everyone else and your friends and neighbors always popped in unannounced, usually to a lot of fanfare and excitement.
There was never a dull moment with your friends.
But every aspect of your life in Port Geneva hinged around them, and now you could really focus on you. Realize that you were worth more than what you did to enrich someone else's life. Now you could enrich your own.
You listened to music you'd never heard before. What music had you even listened to before?
You ate foods you'd never eaten before. If you really thought about it, what had you ever eaten but short stacks with strawberries and sandwiches from the deli and cafeteria pizza?
You saw the world; sketched buildings and landscapes that were so different from the ones you were used to. Had you ever seen a house that didn't look like the ones in your cookie-cutter suburb? Or seen grass that wasn't perfectly manicured?
Who knew that wildflowers existed outside of storybooks?
Sometimes you stayed for a while; got a little room at a motel in a town that reminded you a lot of home and nothing like home at all. Too homesick to keep jumping around but not homesick enough to go back. You'd get a job for a few weeks--always lucking out on an opening for a waitressing or babysitting gig or something--pad your pockets, fall in love with the town and sometimes with the people there.
Then the need to leave simmered in your bones once again and you were forced back onto the road.
There was one town you were almost loath to leave. A midwest town and a goofy guy named Ed who made you laugh and called you sweetheart and kissed you shyly; he really understood you, understood the need to march to the beat of your own drum, because his big dream was to get out of his hometown too and make a name of himself.
Which is why he wasn't mad when it was time for you to go.
You'd always remember Stuckeyville.
But it was no matter; the world was yours for the taking. You'd keep going, on and on to the next destination, until you couldn't anymore.
Then one day, a year-or-so into your trip, it happened.
You'd been driving, thinking of the postcards that were burning a hole in your backpack to be sent back home. It was late, and you were tired and ready to make it to your next destination.
That's when you crashed.
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December 1985
"Ed..."
"Hmmm?"
"I've gotta get up."
"Five more minutes."
"You're lying on my arm." He could feel the slight movement of something beneath him. "God, you and your big fat head, my hand is numb!"
Eddie groaned as you pushed at him and before long, your finger--cold and wet with spit--slid into his ear, rendering him fully awake and squirming to get away from you.
"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed as he hopped off his bed and tried to rid himself of the phantom feeling of your invasion. "Gah, ugh, gross!"
"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," you grinned and got up from the bed to stretch. You put your hands on your hips and glared at him playfully. "Especially when she's gonna be late. You should know how Bev is better than anybody."
Violation quickly forgotten, Eddie watched you run back and forth around his room; a satisfied feeling settled in his chest as you picked bits of clothing up to layer back on, fixed your hair, swept the fingers over the corners of your eyes to wipe the sleep from them as you got ready for your shift at the Hideout.
It was a feeling that he was quickly becoming addicted to.
How many weeks had you been dating now?
Not enough to satisfy his rapidly increasing dependence on you.
Dating.
You even called him your boyfriend. God it still seemed like such a dream to him. One he never wanted to wake up from. But it was real. You had dates and you took naps together and talked on the phone; sure it was just easier to cross Forest Hills and sit on one of your porches to chat until it was past midnight and you were dozing off, but as the cold weather rolled in, the phone was the easier bet.
Racked up a bit of a phone bill but who was he to complain?
He always paid Wayne back.
It was worth it.
More often than not he started the call with the obligatory “what are you wearing” despite having most likely seen you earlier in the night. But you, not one to leave a man hanging, would always come up with a comical response: astronaut suit, Princess Leia’s bikini and a clown nose, pajamas made out of the hide of Big Bird himself.
It was ridiculous and nothing less than Eddie expected from his favorite tv character and the one true love of his life.
Thankfully, the two of you decided that sickeningly sweet was not your style. Not like some couples. There was no you hang up first or schmoopsie pet names. More often than not he just called you sweetheart; it rolled off the tongue. And you? Called him your idiot.
Yours.
He'd worried with Paige once upon a time that he didn't know how to be someone's boyfriend. Turned out, he just had to find someone to be a friend first, then the rest just...fell into place.
And aside from some of the nerves he'd had when you first showed up in town, and the ever-present question of just how you came to be in Hawkins--
There was a knock on the door to his bedroom.
"'Right Ed, I'm heading off to work," Wayne said through the door.
"Wait up," you called out to him as you hopped to pull your boots on. "I'm about to leave too."
You stopped briefly to give Eddie a tender kiss, and he chased after you when you tried to pull away. His lips refused to part from yours, his hands found your waist to tug you closer, and his heart soared when you sighed and gave into him a little longer.
--Everything was perfect.
You gave him a dreamy smile when you pulled away, one that quickly turned into a feral grin.
"I'm gonna be late," you whispered conspiratorially. "And the old man is gonna question whether your innocence is still intact or not if we take any more time."
Eddie froze.
Well. Almost perfect.
You took the opportunity to stick your tongue out at him and reached up to honk the tip of his nose, before you bolted from the room to leave.
Once the door to the trailer slammed shut and Eddie was alone, he fell back onto the bed with his hands over his face; his head spun as he wondered how the fuck he'd gotten here. To this point. This moment in time.
Because somehow...some way...you thought he was still a virgin.
"Somehow," he grumbled to himself after a second. "You're the one who told her you were, you idiot!"
And he had.
It was a funny story; it always was with Eddie.
Except this was anything but funny.
It has been the third date and there was just…a natural progression of things on your sofa after a day out at StarCourt. Music was playing, hands were wandering; he’d gotten a bit excited and rocked his hips against you creating a delicious crescendo of moans from both of you.
Then for some reason, Eddie thought back to Port Geneva.
Besides a few sweet kisses you shared with douchebag Mark Fisher, you never engaged in any…physical show of affection. No one did, actually. There had never been anything heavier than hand holding and kissing—maybe the occasional make out—shown on screen. Which, in hindsight he should have rationalized as being obvious; it was a family show on television, after all.
Instead he’d opened his big mouth and asked “hang on, are you a virgin?”
Rather than answer, you got bashful all of a sudden; you turned the question back on him, stuttering all the while.
“Eddie…a-are you a-a virgin?”
What could he say looking into your big wide eyes and kiss-bruised lips, thinking you were nervous and wanting to fix his gaff—especially considering all the blood had rushed from his brain to his cock—but yes?
Next thing he knew you were cuddling him, coddling him, and telling him that you could proceed with whatever next step he wanted, whenever he was ready.
In that moment how could he admit that it was all a lie? That he was an idiot and a liar trying to make you feel better? That he was no bumbling, blushing virgin; he was only saying it because he thought you were.
He knew if he tried to backtrack, you’d either believe he was a jerk or that he tried to lie again to feel less embarrassed.
So he let it slide.
Whatever. Virginity was a bullshit concept anyway.
The truth would come out eventually. It just made everything a little more complicated in the mean time.
“As if everything isn’t complicated enough anyway,” Eddie huffed.
Speaking of complicated, between napping in your comfortable embrace, your kiss, and thinking of the events that led up to the unfortunate virginity confession, he was in a bit of a situation.
Stiff and aching in his jeans, he did what he always did: Eddie took care of himself.
He unbuckled his belt and quickly rid himself of the barriers of denim and flannel, then scrambled to find the bottle of lotion that he unceremoniously shoved into the drawer of the bedside table. Just like all of the other things he tried to hide whenever you came over.
Other things...including the poster of you that he'd cut out of the TV Guide.
There was a spark of desire in him—of need—at the sight of it. Of you.
"I shouldn't," he muttered as his fingers hovered at the edge of the drawer, ready to close it. He'd already found what he needed. Best just close the drawer and crank one out and be a happy camper til the next time the need arose.
"It's just...not right...right?" he tried to convince himself as you stared up at him from inside the drawer.
He weighed the pros and cons, tried to convince himself that it was a normal thing. How many other times had he jacked off to pictures in magazines, or crushes from school. Shit, he'd even done it to the fantasy of you.
But now you were real and his girlfriend. Wasn’t that some kind of moral dilemma?
On the other hand, he would just be using a picture of his girlfriend to get off. That was normal, right?
Except...well...it was you, but not you you. Rosemary Glass you. The real you just left for work. The you in real life and the you in the TV Guide were not the same. You were full of life and energy and affection and not an ultra posed picture on a page.
There was another beat of debate before Eddie made a decision.
"Fuck it," he groaned and grabbed the flimsy magazine page and then slammed the back of his hand against the drawer to shut it. If he spent any more time weighing the moral implications here, he'd lose out on the opportunity.
So, poster in one hand, lotion well-coating the other, Eddie immediately sought out his hard cock and groaned with the brief sense of relief.
"Yeah," he sighed. His tongue traced the seam of his lips and he locked eyes with yours in the poster. "That's it."
Internal debate forgotten, he lost himself to his imagination with every stroke and squeeze and twist.
You kissed on him and your hand replaced his. No, your mouth instead of your hand. His mouth on you? He knew what your mouth tasted like; what about the rest of you? It was a delicious fantasy to explore.
His eyes roamed over the dips and curves of your body; he focused on the way your legs looked in that skirt as he squeezed the base of his cock and moaned.
What he wouldn't give to rip that skirt off of you. No, wait. You deserved better than that. He would undress you carefully, show how much you meant to him, then skink into your warmth. How would you feel? Like Heaven, he was sure.
His hand moved faster now, his toes curled, as he imagined this scenario and that one. What if he fucked you in the backseat of your car? Or shit, what about if he bent you over it? Take a drive out to the quarry and have his way with you.
"Fuck, fuck," he groaned and stilled for a second, savoring the intense build of feelings, before he bucked up into his fist repeatedly. "Yeah sweetheart just like that."
He focused on that sly smile, that tilt of your head.
Would you smile up at him like that when he was buried deep inside you, finding all the ways he could make you whine and keen for him. Shit, finding all the ways he would whine for you, just like he was now. Would you ask him for more?
"I'll give it to you baby," he muttered and bit his lip as the wave of his pleasure began to crest. He closed his eyes again to savor it. Savor the fantasy of you there with him, rocking and riding the wave with him. He couldn't wait for the day. "All of it. Whatever you want. Whatever you need."
Would you let him cum inside? You'd beg for it. Beg for his cum.
"Yeah? You'd let me?" he asked breathlessly.
"Please, please," you'd whine.
"Uh-huh? Yeah?"
"Please." You'd scrunch your eyes tightly, pull him in as deep as he could go. "Put a baby inside of me Eddie."
Eddie's eyes shot open and he choked on air. He let go of the now-crumpled magazine and his throbbing cock with a shout.
Panic gripped him.
"W-what the fuck?" he panted, rapidly coming down from his high like a man plummeting to the earth with a parachute that simply wouldn't open. "What the fuck? Why?"
His mind raced.
How had he thought of that? Where did it come from? He wasn't...he didn't...he'd never fantasized about something like that before. With anyone. Ever. Not alone either. Shit, he'd even accidentally checked out a porno from Family Video once that had a pregnant...
"Blagh," he gagged at the memory and fully lost the edge of his erection. The need to come was now gone; in fact, he suddenly never wanted to come again. Not if it meant that he was going to think thoughts like that?
With intense clarity, he tried to retrace his metaphorical steps. Tried to remember what exactly got him to those thoughts, to that...well, he could hardly call it a fantasy now could he? Nightmare. But he simply couldn't fathom how it had cropped up.
"Fuck," he groaned and looked down at himself. At his softening cock slick with lotion, at the crumpled picture of you with the sparkling eyes and smile. And he was reminded of the moral dilemma that he'd encountered a short while ago.
"No," he shook his head. "Not her. Rosemary Glass. That's all it is. I just...fucked myself up fantasizing about Rosemary Glass and my mind punished me. Haha Eddie, jokes on you, got the girl of your dreams and you'd prefer a picture. That's it."
Yeah, that's all it was.
All it had to be.
Otherwise...what the fuck was wrong with him?
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What the fuck was wrong with Eddie Munson?
That seemed to be the question of the day, every day, for the rest of the week.
Well, that was what everyone seemed to ask Eddie; friends, teachers, bullies. To Eddie, though, it seemed like everything else was wrong.
It all started in O'Donnell's history class the following day after the, uh...fantasy incident.
He was excited to show up to class.
No, that wasn't why things were wrong. He'd been passing History, working hard ever since that first study date, excited to show up and succeed and actually graduate. And that day they were due to get a test back, one that he actually studied and prepared for.
So yes, he was excited.
Imagine his surprise when Mrs. O'Donnell placed the packet face-down on his desk and shook her head at him.
"I don't know what went wrong here Edward," she tutted. "You were making some real improvements. Such a disappointment."
Eddie frowned as she walked away, and he quickly flipped his packet over to the oh-so-familiar sea of red pen scribbles and a big fat F at the top of the page.
Not just an F. A zero.
"What the fuck?" he whispered.
He might not have been a star student but he’s never outright tanked a test before. Especially not one he’s studied for.
He went over every question again and every answer, wracked his brain for the responses he knew to be true—he had several B’s and C’s on quizzes to prove it—and then read the wrong answers on the test for all of them. Written in his obvious chicken scratch with doodles in the margins just like he remembered drawing when he took the test. So it's not like someone just wrote his name on their test.
O’Donnell took pity on him at the end of class and said he could sit for the test again during his study hall, especially since he’d been making some improvement. He’d practically kissed her.
Only for him to fail again.
He burned with self-hatred at first, and then simply turned his rage on O'Donnell, because he knew all of the answers. She must have just been a picky grader.
That was it, right? She just had it in for him.
But then other things just got worse.
Jason Carver might have been a tool bag and an antagonistic bully but he’d never been outright hostile before. Not like some of his predecessors.
Not like Tommy…Tommy H.
On an unrelated note, that bothered Eddie too. He couldn’t remember Tommy’s last name. Tommy who bullied him and his friends viciously. Tommy H…Tommy Hayes? Tommy Hagan? Both existed in his mind. And yeah normally he wouldn't give a shit but what the hell? First the History test and now Tommy H?
Regardless, Jason had been especially brutal lately.
Overly antagonistic, even calling Edde a freak in the middle of class. He and the rest of the basketball team had even begun their physical assault on him and his friends openly. The jocks pushed them into lockers, spit on them, and threw things. Gareth even got a black eye when they "ran into" the jocks after gym on Thursday.
Eddie knew he wasn't well-liked, but it burned him deep inside that no one spoke up, students and teachers alike. It was all out in the open, where everyone could see or report to the faculty. Even his friends kept their mouths shut and endured the abuse.
No one seemed to be bothered though; they kept to the status quo. And Eddie wasn’t gonna try his luck with Higgins on his own.
Cowards.
Friday morning, Eddie thought he had the answer; Chrissy Cunningham—Queen of Hawkins High and Jason’s girlfriend—spoke to him in homeroom. Not only spoke to him, but made moon eyes at him in every class they shared and in the hall between the classes that they didn't.
And it was getting annoying.
“Dude, Chrissy keeps looking over here,” Jeff whispered at lunch.
“I know!” Eddie slammed his hands on the table, startling the others. He took a calming breath and repeated himself, softer, to Jeff.
“What’s her deal? Does she wanna join Hellfire or something?”
“I dunno man, something strange is happening,” he shook his head and picked at his food. “I don’t know if she’s in some…argument with Jason and is trying to make him jealous. Or if she’s just bored and is enjoying his torment of the village idiots or something.”
“Maybe she wants to buy some weed,” Gareth piped up. “Slumber party with the rest of the cheer squad. She is the Captain. It’s her job to score.”
“Nah man,” Dave chortled. “I think it’s more likely that she’s trying to score in a different way. Get Eddie to fall in love with her or something and make a fool out of him.”
The guys all started laughing and making kissy noises, much to Eddie’s growing annoyance. Every puckering noise grated something deep within him. And it only pissed him offs more when the freshman started to get in on the fun, with Mike and Lucas singing about Eddie and Chrissy sitting in a tree—
“K-I-S-S-I-N—”
“Shut up!” Eddie slammed his hands on the table and shouted, voice echoing across the cafeteria, practically silencing everyone at the intrusion.
His shoulders heaved as he glared over at the jock’s table, where a certain someone with a bouncing strawberry ponytail waved hello, even as she sat with her boyfriend’s arm comfortably around her. And said boyfriend was glaring knives at him; if looks could kill, Eddie would be done for.
His thoughts spiraled and his ears started to ring.
What the fuck was going on? Why was everyone trying to fuck with him now? Why was everything suddenly out of control in such a short period of time? Was this karma? He got one thing he desperately needed so everything else was going to shit?
Suddenly he had an out of body experience, or at least…that’s what it felt like. He watched it all happen, felt all the movements and the words fly out of his mouth but he wasn’t in control.
One moment he was sitting at the head of his table, hands tented in front of his face as he contemplated life, and the next he was standing. Standing on top of the table, actually, and while that wasn’t an unusual occurrence, it’s what he did up there that was.
“Hey Carver, you have a fucking problem with me?” He shouted, hands cupped around his mouth. “Why don’t you step into my office and file a complaint!”
His arms swept outwards of their own volition and he bowed over to gesture to the table and to his friends.
“Pretty sure my associates have a few choice words for you too.”
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck…
Jason was on his feet immediately, with Patrick and Andy quick to follow.
“What’s your damage freak?” He chuckled sardonically through gritted teeth. “Trying to have your own little David and Goliath moment? Prepare to get toppled.”
“Wait, do you think you’re David right now? You think you’re a hero?”Jeff scoffed and got to his feet, spurning the rest of Corroded Coffin to do the same, sending jeers and taunts across the room. The jocks did much of the same, name calling and shouting vicious threats.
“I’m gonna kick your ass Emerson!”
“Kick? How about kiss! Just like your mom likes to do!”
It kept going until Eddie took a few steps down the table, leant down, and scooped his fingers through Mike’s gloopy mashed potatoes, ready to fling a handful towards the enemies.
He was prepared for the worst as he witnessed it all from inside his own body, as he felt the gravy slip down his hand and into the sleeve of his jacket. An all out war, the need to protect his friends again—worse this time with the Freshman—the dread of listening to Gareth’s fingers breaking once more…it would all start once the first shot was fired.
If there was a God—or some fate writing this in the books of the universe who was just really bad at writing a fight sequence—now would be the time for them to make themselves known.
“Munson!”
Eddie inhaled the air greedily as he regained control of himself, and he marveled at Higgins' sudden appearance: standing in the doorway to the cafeteria with Coach Palmer and Nancy Wheeler standing behind him.
He’d never been so happy to see them in his life.
“Munson,” Higgins shouted at him. “Get down from there!”
Jeff, knowing what was good for them all, pulled Eddie down from the table and he stumbled on legs made weak from the rapid loss of adrenaline. Lucas passed a handful of paper napkins for him to clean off his hands as Higgins and Coach crossed the cafeteria, Coach to take care of his little minions, and Higgins to take care of him.
Despite their tenuous truce, Higgins grabbed Eddie by the arm and tugged him towards the cafeteria doors.
“Detention,” he hissed in Eddie’s face.
“My fucking pleasure,” Eddie replied desperately, suddenly a devout believer in whatever deity he had evoked.
Man, this was getting to be a habit.
As he was escorted out of the cafeteria, Eddie vaguely heard Dustin over the din of classmate whispers.
“Guys, that was weird. What’s wrong with Eddie?”
“What do you mean?” Gareth answered blithely. “He’s always like that.”
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"I can't believe you got detention."
"I mean, Higgins could have expelled me. Or tried to get me to drop out again."
"I really fucking hate that guy," you muttered and reached out to grab a box from the shelf. "How about this one?"
"Seen it, fake blood is obviously fake."
"You're such a horror snob."
"Don't deny it," he whispered in your ear and pressed a kiss to your cheek. "That's your favorite thing about me."
You put the movie back on the shelf in a huff and then the two of you shuffled forward down the aisle.
Saturdays were made to be spent together; Saturday mornings specifically. Eddie would take as much time with you as he could, but Hawkins was Hawkins and there was only so much to do. So you designated Saturdays as mornings out before you went to work and Eddie made the rounds to whatever parties he could safely show his face at and make some quick cash.
You traded off on whoever made plans, and today he had pathetically suggested a movie, snacks, and cuddling on the couch, needing to find a respite in your arms after the abject chaos of his week.
He already felt worlds better, more like himself, because you listened and understood.
He ranted and cursed during the drive and you hung onto every word, only interjecting to offer gentle encouragement. You didn't pity him or blame him--well, you blamed him for almost starting a food fight and since he couldn't explain what overcame him in that moment, he accepted it--but you made sure he knew that you had been in his shoes and understood exactly how he felt.
His dependence on you made itself known when you got into the store. As much as you protested his arms latching around you immediately, he knew you secretly enjoyed the proximity and the sweetness that he lavished you with.
Hobbling down the aisles with him practically attached to you; whispered stories, jokes, and terms of endearment; and an occasional raspberry on your neck if and when you had differing opinions about a movie.
Eddie thought The Outsiders was a good movie. You preferred the book. Which was fine. You tried to tell him Rob Lowe was cute, though; that earned you some punishment.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you never had a crush on a celebrity," you snorted and squealed and tried to free yourself from his grasp. Which you did successfully as your words made him freeze. "Or like...a character from a tv show or something."
You didn't know how close to the truth you were.
He felt his world tilt on its axis as you kept browsing and spouting off names and laughing, and with each celebrity or character you named, the more he thought of Port Geneva with intense clarity.
He could hear the theme song, see the neon text of the closing card, and feel his heart skip a beat when you'd show up on screen and greet your friends "Hey guys!"
"Hey guys!" your same voice rang from the other side of the partition of tapes, same emphasis and volume and cheer as you would on tv, as you greeted Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington. "Are those new?"
"Mmhmm," Robin affirmed. "Technically they were supposed to go out yesterday for the weekend, but someone was too busy flirting with Melanie Hartford."
Steve's embarrassed trip-up over a response was overshadowed as you called out.
"Hey Eddie, come here, I think they're putting out some new movies."
Eddie took a breath to compose himself, carefully placed the mask of cool and adoring boyfriend back on, and then rounded the corner to join you.
"If it's Death Wish 3 on tape, it wasn't that goo--" Eddie trailed off as he stopped in his tracks.
He understood why Steve sounded so embarrassed.
Eddie mainly steered clear of Steve Harrington over the years; yeah he was a shithead and a bit of a bully, but especially since the Freshman insisted that Steve was a nice guy, he'd tried to put it all in the past. Best not think of King Steve and all of the opportunities and advantages that he'd gotten, no matter how good of a guy they claimed he was.
Knowing Harrington's reputation and then fall from grace over the past few months though, he wondered if Steve had ever had some unreciprocated crush before.
Because he was certainly acting like he had a crush in front of you.
A crush on you.
Eddie knew what it looked like when someone had a crush; shit, he'd felt that way plenty of times over the years. The shifting eyes, the nervous stuttering. He'd gotten pretty good at hiding it, being able to put on the cool guy front. But Steve was doing it all out in the open.
Steve watched as you and Robin passed tapes back and forth--watched you more than Robin, actually--threw a comment in every now and again. When he cracked a joke, his eyes slid directly to you, and when you laughed, he beamed brightly.
And Eddie didn't know what he was more grateful for: the fact that you seemed oblivious to it all, or that he was there to witness it and put an end to it.
He tamped down the fire that built up inside of him and closed the distance; he threw an arm over your shoulder with a cool greeting to Robin and Steve.
"I've never even heard of some of these movies, have you?" Robin asked with some bewilderment.
"I don't know, this one sounds familiar," you hummed thoughtfully.
"See that's what I told Rob," Steve interjected and Eddie grit his teeth.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Robin scoffed.
"Isn't this the girl from Legend?" You held up a video box to Eddie to show him. He couldn't be bothered to really notice the titles of the movies on display--Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Lost Boys, Lethal Weapon--and instead he chose to press a kiss to the side of your head and continue glaring at Steve.
You turned back to Robin.
"Do you guys have Legend? I saw it when it came out but it'd be nice to see it again."
"I can show you!" Steve jumped at the chance, but Robin rolled her eyes and pushed him away.
"I've got this dingus," she waved at the tapes on the counter. "If you could finish processing these like you should've done yesterday?"
Steve huffed as you and Robin walked away, but Eddie stayed behind. He leaned over the counter, elbows resting against the edge.
"How've things been Harrington?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Uhh," Steve shrugged but pointedly ignored Eddie's eyes. "Good, fine."
"Did I overhear Buckley right? Going on dates? You finally over Nancy Wheeler," Eddie's voice got progressively louder.
"What the--listen keep your voice down, Jesus," Steve laughed nervously, gaze shifting in the direction that you and Robin had disappeared. "A guy's gotta move on. Can't be lovesick over Nance forever."
Eddie plastered a fake smile on his face and laughed heartily.
"Yeah? Gotta find someone else to obsess over?" The smile dropped almost immediately and he became dead-eyed. "Stop making goo-goo eyes at my girlfriend."
"Hey, Munson, I'm sorry--" Steve held his hands out innocently. "She just came in one day and I thought she was cute; I didn't know that you were--"
"I'm sorry," Eddie mimicked Steve, standing stiff and straight with shaking hands. "I didn't know the freak could have a girlfriend."
He reached across the counter and grabbed Steve by the vest and pulled him forward, close enough so he could get in his face.
"Don't look at her again, don't talk to her again," he hissed. "You can have literally any other girl in Hawkins, King Steve. So you better get over your crush fast."
Yeah, it was harsh, and in hindsight he should have been a little nicer about it. But after everything had compounded on him all week, it was nice to just be a raging asshole like everyone expected him to be.
Unfortunately, you had never experienced Eddie The Villain Munson.
"Eddie, what the hell!" you exclaimed as you appeared in his peripheral vision.
Until right that second.
"Let him go, what are you doing?" you rushed forward and slapped at his hands to get him to release Steve. He did, but continued to glare as he backed away and took several calming breaths.
"Hey, in all honesty," Robin laughed nervously as she returned to the counter. "Dudley Do-Right here probably said something dumb and deserved it."
"What's going on?" you ignored her and whispered to Eddie. "I thought we were just gonna have a relaxing day. You were fine two seconds ago. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," he deflected. "Don't worry about it."
"We can just go home and hang out like you wanted; you said Wayne has some Bonanza reruns on tape. We can laugh at Hoss and Little Joe and--"
His eyes went wide; the Bonanza tapes were by the TV, mixed up with the Port Geneva tapes.
"No!" he shouted aggressively...defensively; it startled you. "No Bonanza!"
"Oh...kay."
Then your whole demeanor changed.
You crossed your arms in front of you and your eyes went cold and distant; you frowned, deep enough to create lines on your forehead and around your mouth. You suddenly looked a lot older than you were, aged by disappointment and...guilt maybe? He didn't know. He'd never seen you like that before, and he suddenly felt bad.
"Let's uhh...let's just go," you offered quickly, then apologized to Steve and Robin for taking their time.
"Hey wait, I'm sorry," he tried to apologize. "We can still get a movie and hang out. I just...I don't know...I fucked up. I'm sorry."
"No, I...I forgot Bev said she might need some extra help today. Making some changes, I don't know. I need to go in. It's my fault. I'm sorry."
"Sweetheart wait!" he called out as you walked out of the store and towards your car. He looked back at Robin and Steve, who pointedly avoided looking at him, and then huffed a sigh and followed you.
The ride back to Forest Hills was tense and silent.
Eddie knew he fucked up, knew he hurt you, but didn't know what to say or how to fix it.
"What the fuck is wrong with Eddie Munson?"
That was the question of the week, and now even Eddie was asking it of himself. Especially since he couldn't even control himself.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to you when you parked in front of his place. "I don't know...I'm just sorry."
"It's ok," you shook your head. "Seriously Eddie, don't worry about it. You just had a bad week. I need to go to work. We'll hang out another time."
"I'll call you tonight," he promised. "After work."
"Sure," you offered a tight-lipped smile. "Just rest today ok? And feel better."
"Yeah."
"Everything's gonna be ok."
"I know."
He leaned over and gave you a kiss and there was something about the way that you kissed him...that made his heart ache, and he didn't know why.
Eddie watched as you drove away, off to the Hideout to help Bev, or whatever else you could do if it ended up being a lie so you could just get away from him.
He'd fix it; he had to. He just got his wish, got you; he couldn't lose you. It would be the last straw.
He climbed up the porch steps, lost in his own thoughts, but when he opened the door--
"What the fuck?"
--all of his worries were forgotten, because the trailer was trashed.
Wayne was blissfully asleep on the fold-out bed, but there were piles of laundry on the couch, dirty dishes piled in the sink in the kitchen. Empty, crushed beer and soda cans littered the floor; honestly, there was just trash everywhere.
Eddie had only left an hour or two ago, and the trailer...well it might have had some clutter but at least it was tidy. It looked like an atomic bomb of trash had exploded in here.
If he had just been wondering what was wrong with him, he was suddenly wondering what was wrong with the universe again.
"What the fuck?"
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The rest of the weekend had been spent cleaning.
Not tidying, literally cleaning.
He'd tried to ask Wayne about it all--maybe some weird trash bandit had come or kids trying to pull a prank, it wasn't like they really locked their doors--but what was even more suspicious was that Wayne didn't blink an eye at the mess.
"I work, you have school," he shook his head and tried to go back to sleep. "Chores pile up kid. That's the way it's always been. We'll get ahead of it again eventually."
And that just made Eddie feel bad; had it actually been this bad all along and he never realized it? Had Wayne done all this cleaning and housework on his own and now the weariness and the years just started to catch up? It must've only gotten worse now that Eddie lived with him.
So Eddie kept his head down and his mouth shut and tried to make it all better.
He cleaned and cleaned, and it seemed that no matter how much he cleaned, everything only got worse. The laundry on the sofa had been put away--more laundry than Eddie or Wayne really even had clothes to be honest. The fridge was somehow both empty--even though he'd just remembered to do a little grocery shopping...or had that been the other day--and full of rotten food at the same time. There was plenty of beer though. The dishes were all cleaned and spotless, only for him to come home from school on Monday afternoon to find them all to be right back again. Has they even used real dishes? Not that he could recall.
Fuck.
He complained to you on the phone late Saturday night--
"I don't know how it happened. It's like suddenly out of the blue it all just...appeared."
"Wayne didn't hold a secret party while we were out?" you asked, although your voice seemed stiff...distant.
"He just rolled right over and went back to sleep."
--but aside from some sympathy, you didn't seem to think anything was weird.
Hell, even his friends didn't seem suspicious.
"The trailer is always dirty," Gareth scoffed at practice on Monday night. "Like...no offense man, it's a trailer park, what do you expect."
It took everything in Eddie not to knock his buddy out right then and there; how many times had he told them how awful and stereotypical that kind of idea was. How hurtful people were when they found out he'd moved in with Wayne. Only for Gare to come back and spit it back at him again?
Instead he put that hateful energy into coming up with some kind of way to make you...forgive him...or love him again or something. He'd floated the idea of a ballad or some kind of love song to the guys at practice, ready to wow you on Tuesday night at the Hideout.
They hemmed and hawed but after he promised they'd all roll with advantage during the following Friday's session, they agreed and even suggested songs to get him back in your good graces.
Now it was Tuesday night. Time had passed by in a flash and he was standing at the door to the Hideout, ready to knock your socks off.
The guys were inside already, setting up, but he'd needed a moment to think of what to say to you.
He paced in the gravel, thought about his apology, thought about the song that he'd picked. The last song of the set, one he'd dedicate to you.
It would be perfect.
He mustered up the courage and walked inside, only to be hit by shock once again.
How many times could someone utter the words "what the fuck" in one week? Eddie had to be going for a world record.
When Eddie had suggested the Hideout when you mentioned looking for jobs, he'd warned you that Bev was a curmudgeon but the nicest curmudgeon you'd meet, and that the bar itself was, affectionately, a shithole. A house turned into a bar on the side of the highway, with a bunch of plywood in the corner that doubled as a stage, a makeshift bartop that was probably older than his uncle, and chipped glasses.
Now, it was almost...nice?
With an actual small, raised stage and a few spotlights hanging from the ceiling, neon signs boasting brands like Old Style and Coors--something Bev had always said was just the glitter and not the gold--and a sleek black bar with a marble top and comfortable-looking barstools. And it all had Eddie wondering if he'd stepped into the Twilight Zone.
That was it right? That had to be it. He'd stepped into the Twilight Zone the minute you'd showed up outside of his trailer and he hadn't returned to the real world since.
"Hey, there you are," you approached him from behind the bar with a tense smile. "The guys were wondering when you'd come in. I got them all cherry cokes to shut them up."
"You didn't have to buy them drinks," Eddie shook his head. "They don't deserve it."
"On the house," you reassured him.
"I'm sorry," he choked on air. "On the...on the house? On the house meaning...Bev's treating? Bev who must've secretly won the lottery or something? Look at all of this." He gestured around the bar and then lifted his feet. "The floors aren't even sticky."
"I told you that she was making changes," you shrugged, but refused to meet his eyes.
"Changes, not...a full renovation, wow." He looked around in awe, then squinted when he saw something on one of the tables. "She even sprung for printed napkins too."
"Yeah," you laughed nervously. "Guess she did. It's as much of a shock to me as it is to you. You, uh, better get the guys before they cause too much trouble."
"Yeah I should," he nodded slowly, but grabbed your wrist when you tried to walk away. "I know I've said it a million times sweetheart but I'm sorry I scared you."
"You didn't Ed, I promise," you tried to smile but it didn't quite reach your eyes.
"Can we talk maybe? After the set? Like really talk? I'll even wipe the tables off for you." You hesitated but nodded, and he gave you the briefest peck on the cheek before running down the back hallway to the little smokers exit to find the guys.
Only to find them in a legitimate green room in what he was sure used to be the storage room where Bev kept the kegs. His friends were all laid out along leather couches that sat along the perimeter of the room, sipping their cherry cokes and chatting. There was a coffee table right in the center laden with snacks and magazines.
"Man," he commented with a whistle, alerting the guys to his presence. "Can you guys believe this?"
"I know," Jeff giggled maniacally and then reached out to grab a bag of peanut M&M's. "Brand name snacks, and not the generic kind we usually get."
"Makes me feel like we're about to hit it big," Dave agreed.
Eddie tripped over his words for a second, not entirely sure that they were as astounded by the Hideout's transformation as he was, but he shook off the bewilderment to tell them it was time to go perform.
They raced back down the hall to the stage, and although the bar had just been empty when he walked in--save for you and some of the regulars slumped in their seats--there was definitely a crowd. Or the beginnings of one. A couple canoodling at a table, a few college-aged people ordering beers, and a group for a bachelorette party or something at the large booth that had been installed in the corner by the door.
"Wow," Eddie breathed out, nerves suddenly overtaking him. They'd never played a crowd like this before. "Hope they like metal."
And they did. They were head banging and once they were familiar enough with the lyrics a few people were singing along.
It was invigorating. Refreshing. Aside from the handful of people who'd been involved in the whole...record label fiasco, he'd really never experienced this many people who were excited for his sound. Their sound.
He wasn't gonna betray his friends, his band, like that again.
There were a few songs that Jeff and Gareth suggested that weren't originally on their setlist, and they really weren't metal technically, but they all knew the songs and the crowd was excited for them, so he couldn't complain.
Towards the end of the set, he felt his stomach churn with nerves again. Worse now, because it was time.
"Uh," he stepped up to the microphone, a little too close as it squeaked with feedback. "Hey guys, thanks for uh...thanks for coming out. Make sure you...tip your bartender...and her lovely assistant." He gestured over to you and a grumpy-looking Bev at the bar.
The audience clapped, even the handful of drunk regulars.
"Now uh, speaking of the lovely assistant, I...um..." he cleared his throat and looked down at his guitar. "I might have messed some stuff up with her the other day, and I know she's still a little mad at me. So sweetheart, without further ado, this one's for you. Corroded Coffin's rendition of..."
He paused. Froze.
The words were right on the tip of his tongue: All Through The Night.
They'd practiced it for hours, really making the cover theirs. They added all sorts of guitar riffs and a sick solo that ended with him sending a kiss across the bar to you. It was supposed to be perfect.
He cleared his throat and tried again.
"Corroded Coffin's All..." He shook, struggled to get the words out. "All...All My Only Dreams. Enjoy."
What the fuck? What the fuck?
He felt that out of body experience again, just like he had in the cafeteria, as his fingers plucked at the strings of his guitar and Gareth and Dave set a slow beat.
It felt like some bad knockoff song from the 60's. Maybe something he heard on one of his mom's records. But he couldn't place it.
What was this song? How did the guys know it? Why had he said that? What was All My Only Dreams?
It was certainly not metal. Certainly not music.
"Every night I pray, I'll have you here someday," he felt himself sing. "I'll count the stars tonight, and hope with all my might..."
He stared at you across the bar as the song continued, out of his control; the couple stood from their table and began swaying back and forth and you stood there behind the bar, wide-eyed with a hand covering your mouth. In shock or disbelief or pain he couldn't quite tell.
"Every waking hour it seems, I only have you in my dreams."
All he knew was, this song kept going and going and he couldn't stop it even if he wanted to. Couldn't stop himself from playing or singing, couldn't stop Jeff from harmonizing with him on certain verses.
Until the song was over.
"If I could have just one request, stay with me girl I'll confess, all my only dreams."
He strummed the last few notes, and as soon as the audience started clapping, he felt whatever puppet strings get cut, felt himself in control again.
Eddie panicked. He didn't even wait for the applause to be over, didn't thank the crowd like he usually would. He just swung the guitar over his shoulder and jumped off the stage with the guys hot on his heels.
"What's going on?" Gareth hollered after him.
"Yeah Ed, where are you going?" Jeff caught up to him and tried to put a hand out to stop him, but Eddie just shrugged him away.
"That was our best performance ever," Dave insisted. "And applause on an original song to boot."
Eddie froze as he reached the green room, and then turned on his friends, hackles raised.
"Original song." He parroted. "Original song? That wasn't an original song!"
"Yeah it was," Jeff nodded. "All My Only Dreams. You made us practice it all night last night so it was perfect."
"We practiced All Through the Night," he laughed dryly. "Are you high right now Jeff? Fuck, am I high right now?"
"Are you?" Gareth exclaimed. "Because I didn't just learn that song so you could make it up to your girlfriend just so you could act crazy like this man."
Jeff walked over to the pile of their stuff in the corner of the room, and fished a folded piece of paper out of the pocket of his backpack.
"Here I'll prove it to you," he grumbled and unfolded it. "All My Only Dreams. By Eddie Munson."
He shoved the paper into Eddie's hands and Eddie stared at it in disbelief. His handwriting, again, with words that he didn't remember writing. A little heart in the corner with your name scribbled inside of it, just like he did in his school notebook sometimes.
"What the fuck..." he muttered to himself, and then looked up at his friends, suddenly lightheaded and sick.
He felt angry, he felt like crying, he felt like...like everything in the world was turning upside down on him and it was some kind of cruel joke that everyone was in on but him.
He opened his mouth to start yelling, when your head appeared behind the guys.
"Hey, 'scuse me guys," you announced your presence and Dave, Jeff, and Gareth all parted so Eddie had a full view of you.
You looked just as sick as he felt. Your face was crumpled in a terrible pensive frown, hands wrung together in front of you.
"Can you give me and Eddie a few minutes alone? While you all break down your stuff?" you asked softly, and Eddie felt his heart drop into his stomach as the others left.
You closed the door to the green room behind you and then took a few deep breaths.
This was it.
You were gonna break up with him.
The universe was cruel to let Eddie have you, only to play these games and lose you in such a short amount of time.
He was so caught up in the panic of possibly losing you that he didn't notice you talking until you were right in front of him. Your hands cradled his face and you stared into his eyes, your own full of worry.
"Eddie, Eddie are you ok?" you asked, voice edged with panic.
"Yeah," he cleared his throat. "Yeah, sorry...I was..."
"It's ok, don't worry," you reassured him. "It's...fuck...it's ok."
"Did you like the song?" he questioned, dumbly.
You let out a snort of laughter and then squished his face between your hands for a second.
"We need to talk," you whispered. "It's gonna be a lot. And it's not gonna be easy to hear, and I know you're gonna have a lot of questions, and I don't...I...fuck Ed...I'm so sorry."
"Are you breaking up with me?"
"I..." You looked lost for a second. "Eddie, I don't know how to answer that question. No...not really."
"Not really isn't no."
"Alright smartass," you scoffed. "No, I'm not breaking up with you. But that doesn't mean...doesn't mean that this thing we've got going on now isn't over. It's...what I'm gonna tell you right now is gonna change everything."
You helped him to sit down on one of the leather couches and then you paced back and forth, nervously chewing your thumbnail and looking for a way to start.
"This..." you began tentatively. "This isn't...real."
"So I am dreaming," he looked around for a moment. "Makes sense."
"No...you're not dreaming. It's just...well, ok, Ed. It's gonna be really hard to understand. But I'm gonna need you to tap into that big imagination of yours. Ok? Because God damn, if there was anyone I could get to understand, it's honestly you. Making up all sorts of stories and fantasies for Dungeons and Dragons.
“I’m sure you’ve started noticing things happening? Weird things, uncanny things, impossible things. And it’s making you go a little cross-eyed, a little crazy, makes you feel like you’re losing your mind because the only person who notices the changes…well it’s you. But it isn’t only you.
"This..." you waved around. "It's all real. It's a real world and we live in it. I'm real, you're real. I can touch you, kiss you. But it isn't. Not really."
He suddenly felt like you were talking down to him, and felt that irrational anger start to build again. You’d made sense up to a point. This was real, but it wasn't real, but it was real enough so he could kiss you? But somehow not real enough because you were bringing up stories he created for DnD, like it was all part of his imagination. But somehow he was also crazy?
"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded.
"Eddie," you took a breath and closed your eyes for a second. "This right now? Everything you see? This room, that song, me, and you?"
"Yeah."
"We're all fictional. We're all...in a fan fiction."
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Next Chapter: Lore Dump
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mochinek0 · 6 months
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Daminette December 2023: 18-Hiding in the Shadows
Marinette looked around her pent house in Paris. She had everything she wanted as a teenager. Well, almost everything. She was a well-known fashion designer, to the people that were aware of her. She kept her business a secret and used an alias. Her clients all came from judgement on her other clients. Others designers knew her as 'Passion' after her store's brand. Very few knew her as Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Gabriel Agreste, Audrey Bourgeois, and Jagged Stone.
Marinette had enough money to pay her rent, her fabric, all of her equipment, anything a business woman could need. Marinette herself, not so much. She missed being able to walk out and go sit at a café for a bit. When she saw Wayne Enterprise opened a section in Paris, she came up with an idea.
'Wayne Enterprises is a place that usually pays big. Even a part time job should be fine. A little play money couldn't hurt. A few extra euros so I could eat out, get some comfy clothes so I'm not rushing between orders and messing up wouldn't hurt.'
Damian Wayne sat at his desk, looking through potential applicants. Many of them were attached to big names or had one of their own. As he rang background checks, he could see they were all connected to each other in one way or another. He smirked at his idea.
'Let's put on a show. I want to see what kind of people these applicants are around each other. Would they out themselves?'
Mari was escorted to a waiting room as Damian Wayne got through other interviews. When the door opened, the last thing she expected was to see some familiar faces: Chloe, Adrien, and Lila.
"I don't know why you're even here, Dupain-Cheng." Chloe snarled, after the door was closed, "This is a big company that would love to work with our families. You have nothing going for you."
Marinette sat down and smiled, "Is that right? I guess I must have sent the wrong order to your mother and that's why she wore my design down the red carpet at the MET Gala."
Chloe tensed up and refused to meet her gaze. She could tell Adrien and Lila were surprised as well.
Chloe cleared her throat, "You're lying."
"Call your mother and ask." Marinette shrugged, "Oh, that's right! She doesn't like you; she prefers your half sister, who can actually work and living on her own, instead of leeching off of her Daddy."
"This isn't you, Dupain-Cheng." Chloe declared.
"No. This is me." Marinette shrugged off the concerned looks, "I'm just not being forced to coddle you to make Caline Bustier's life easier. 'Oh, just show Chloe some love, so she'll know what it's like and she'll get better eventually. You'll see.' Even she knew you were a horrible person. She basically thought you were The Grinch. That with enough love, your heart would grow three sizes and you wouldn't be such a bitch anymore."
Everyone was speechless at Marinette's attitude. This wasn't the Marinette that they grew up with.
"Chloe Bourgeois." a security voice called.
Chloe held her head high as she walked into the office.
"Damian Wayne." Chloe stated.
"Sit!" he demanded.
Chloe was shocked by his attitude.
'Doesn't he know who I am?'
"Do you know who I am?" she shouted.
"A spoiled brat; Ive read the articles on the internet." Damian stated, "You are known for crying for your father when you don't get what you want. Even though you are the oldest, your half-sister is who your mother relies on to bring customers for Style Queen in New York."
"My father-" Chloe snarled.
"Isn't the mayor anymore. He hasn't been the mayor in three years." the Wayne heir spoke, "If you're thinking of blackmailing me, you chose the wrong person. Spread whatever lies you want or cry to your father, the hotel owner. I could make one post about how horrid his hotel is and he would go out of business. Could you live with that?"
Chloe stood there, speechless. The only person who talked to her like this was her mother.
"I'm in charge, here, and if it came down to it, your job would be scrubbing toilets all day." Damian declared.
Tears formed in Chloe's eyes.
'He's glaring at me, just like Mommy. He doesn't look happy. He looks at me like he wishes I was gone or someone else.'
"We're done here." Damian stated.
Chloe quickly rushed out of the office. The three saw her rushing away, crying.
'I knew she wouldn't last.'
"Marinette, I can't understand why you're like this." Lila spoke, as she took her seat.
'He made that Daddy's Girl cry. I better go at this carefully.'
"Oh, shove it, Lila." Marinette sighed, "All three of us, here, know you're a lying manipulative bitch. You don't have to fake it."
"I don't know-" Lila continued.
"Adrien already told me years ago that he made a deal with you. He made one with me, too. Did he ever tell you that?" Mari questioned.
Lila glanced towards Adrien, who kept his head down.
"Oh, he didn't." she giggled, "You see, I was already designing for Jagged Stone when you arrived to our school. Adrien even had me autograph things I designed for him."
The model had turned towards Adrien and was now glaring at him.
"I could have made your whole 'tinnitus-kitten bullshit' story go up in flames since day one." Mari smiled, "I could have video called him and you would have been labeled as delusional."
"I took all our friends away!" Lila cried out, in victory.
"No." Mari answered, "You took away people, who were finally talking to me. Chleo ensured that for seven years, I had no friends. Those 'friends' just went back to not talking to me. You didn't actually do anything. If anything, you helped me. You took away the class president duties from me and I had more free time. You turned Alya and Nino away, so I couldn't babysit. I designed more clothes and got more clients. You didn't make my life worse, Lila, you made it better."
Lila fumed. Adrien had played peace maker between the both of them. From what Marinette was saying, she could have won the war in an instant! She thought she had chased Marinette Duapin-Cheng out of school all those years ago and here she was smiling, practially laughing at her, saying it wasn't true. She had thanked her and said she made her life better.
'I need this job so I can rub it in her face! I need to win against her!'
"I do hope you at least did some research into Damian Wayne." Marinette stated.
"I've known Damian Wayne since we were children!" Lila announced.
"Is that what it told you, you should say when you looked up how rich his family is?" Mari inquired.
Lila stood up, in rage.
'How dare she!'
"Lila Rossi." security called out.
Lila smirked, "I'm coming."
"She really should have done her research." Marinette spoke out loud.
"Why do you say that?" Adrine asked.
"Lila likes to play off her tears and looks." Mari declared, "Damian Wayne hates going to galas because of girls that try to attach themselves to him."
"And?" Adrien questioned.
"He broke an Italian model's arm two months ago, for lying to him." the designer stated.
Adrien paled at her words. Marinette merely smiled and pulled out her phone and dialed emergency services.
"Hello, what is your emergency?" the voice asked.
"I think we need an ambulance at Wayne Enterprise." Marinette stated, "I think someone's arm is broken."
"Are you with this person?" the voice questioned.
"No." the designer answered.
"I have sent medical to your location." the voice declared, before hanging up.
"That was pretty extreme, Marinette. I have faith in Lila!" Adrien shouted, "I don't think he would do that! The Waynes have an imagine to uphold!"
"Maybe, you should have done your research." Mari shrugged, "You still have time. Maybe five minutes."
Lila sauntered her way into the office.
"Hello, Mr. Wayne." She spoke, calmly.
"Sit." He demanded, not looking up.
Lila waved off his decleration. She moved past the chair in front of his desk and walked her way to his side.
"Can I sit on your lap?" She asked, "You see, I have tinnitus and-"
"There is nothing in here that would activate your tinnitus. Tinnitus is when you can't here anything for a brief amount of time, but a loud ringing. It's usually followed after hearing an extremely loud sound. I should know; I went to medical school." Damian stated.
'Shit. My usual tactics won't work here.'
Lila nodded and made her way back to the seat.
"Why shoud I hire you?" The Wayne heir questioned.
Lila fluttered her lashes, "I'm a model for Gabriel Agreste."
"Former model." Damian interjected, "You now model on Instagram and Only Fans."
Lila turned red. She didn't expect them to aware of her new lifestyle.
"Now, Miss Lerouch-" he continued.
Lila paled, "Wh-What did you call me?"
"Cerise Lerouch." Damian stated, "Did you think I would not delve into your background? I have to know who I am working with."
Cerise quickly leaped up from her seat and rushed around the desk.
"Don't touch me." Damian demanded.
"I'll do anything." Cerise cried out, grabbing onto his arm.
The Wayne heir growled, "Let go."
"I can help you relieve stress in other ways, you know." Cerise pleaded.
Damian grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, harshly. Cerise screamed in pain.
"I have no need for whores." Damian spoke.
He grabbed the back of her shirt, arm still twisted, and walked her to his office door. He grabbed the knob and threw her out, in front of his security team.
"Drag this whore out by the hair, if you have too, but I want her off Wayne Enterprise grounds and blacklisted!" Damian shouted.
"Yes, Mr. Wayne." they spoke simultaneously, as he slammed his door shut.
"Shit, I think her arm is broken." the one on the left declared.
"She would call an ambulance?" the one on the right asked.
"Please, help me! It hurts so much!" Cerise begged, cradling her arm.
"You shouldn't have pissed him off." the one on the right declared, "Damian Wayne isn't one to mess around."
A man rushed towards them with medical workers.
"Did you guys call for an ambulance and someone with a broken arm?" the new guy asked.
"No, but perfect timing." the one on the left stated, "Girl with broken arm right here."
Cerise was walked by the waiting room. Inside, she could see Adrien looked horrified before turning to Marinette. She was smiling at her. Then, the baker's daughter flipped her off.
'She knew! That bitch knew how this would end!'
Cerise burst into tears as she was carted off.
"I guess that just leaves you and me, Agreste." Marinette stated.
Adrien began to feel uncomfortable.
"I do hope you do better than they did." She spoke, "For your Father's sake."
"Huh?" Adrien asked, confused.
"Damian Wayne isn't one to back down, not even to his father. He can make his father bow down to him. You have no idea how......attractive that is to a woman, Adrien." Mari smiled, "A man with a spine."
The model gulped, watching Marinette lick her lips.
"You should grow a spine." she declared, "Maybe then your father won't force you to model for him. I' sure that's why Kagami chose Felix over you. Your cousin has a spine. It looks good on him. Maybe, that's why Kagami didn't take my advice on how to get back with you after the break up."
Adrien only looked at her in shocked.
"Alya told me you broke up and I went to see her." Marinette continued, "I tried to help, but she didn't want to. She said it was better that way and well, Felix and you did look alike as teens. The same face with a spine; kind of hard to resist. They're so happy and their twins are adorable."
"Adrien Agreste, Mr. Wayne will see you now." the voice spoke over the intercom.
The model looked over at the designer. She waved at him, but said nothing. Adrien stood up and stood tall.
Adrien walked into Damian's office. It was intimidating; Marinette was right. He was scarier than his father.
"Why should I hire you, Adrien Agreste?" Damian questioned.
"I hate modeling. I prefer computers and science. I want to break free of Gabriel." Adiren admitted, "You don't have to worry about me telling him anything because I never learned anything about fashion. I couldn't even tell you the names of two different shades of fabric. If anyting, you should hire Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette has always been an amazing designer. She was recognized by Father and Style Queen when she was only thirteen. She's the one who would know everything about fashion."
Damian hid his smirk behind his hand and looked down at the papers about Adrien again.
'What a miracle worker you are, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Agreste grew a spine.'
"We may have an internship available in our science department." Damian spoke, "Do you still live with your father?"
"Yes." Adrien spoke.
"We have a company home we prefer our interns reside in." Damian continued.
He noticed Adrien seemed relieved about that.
"The internship isn't a guarantee." The Wayne heir continued, "We need to see you commitment and dedication first hand. If you can't keep up, we'll put you in a different department. If you keep failing to meet our expectations, you'll have no choice but to keep modeling for your father."
"Tell him we'll work with him for one year, as a test." Damian continued, "You have one year to get your affairs in order. You'll need to move in one month from now and if not, consider the contract cancelled. I will inform them you are expected."
"Thank you." Adrien smiled.
Damian waved him off and Adrine walked out of the office, happy.
Marinette stood up when her name was called. As she walked towards the office, she saw Adrien smiling at a paper. She entered the office and closed the door.
"Please sit Miss Dupain-Cheng." Damian ordered.
Marinette immediately took a seat in front of him.
"Why should I hire you?" He questioned.
Mari shrugged, "You don't really have to."
"Oh?" Damian pushed.
"I'm only here for a part time job." the designer answered, "You know, helping out on the floor, coffee grabber, secretary gig. That sort of thing."
"Excuse me?" he asked, shocked, " Aren't you a fashion designer."
"With my own clients and I can pay for my own things." She smiled.
"Then why are you here?" Damian questioned.
Marinette sat back further in the chair and got comfortable, "Play money. I spend my own on my deisgns, fabrics, equipment, rent. Why not have a little extra to treat myself to a night out or a night in, for once?"
That was not the answer he had been expecting.
Damian laughed, "What if I decide to keep you?"
"Keep me as in?" Marinette pushed.
"I decide I want to become one of your clients." he offered.
"Are you offering?" the designer asked, "I've seen some of those suits you wear to galas and it doesn't bring you out to your full potential."
"And that would be?" he asked.
"You're outshined by your father, your older brothers, and the company." She spoke, "You can stand out, but maybe you want to fade into the back, less people to grope you."
Damian chuckled and stood up from his seat. He made his way around the desk and rested on it.
"What would you dress me in, right now?" Damian questioned.
"Depends." Marinette smiled, "Do you always wear a suit to work or are you interested in a change?"
"Tell me about this hypothetical change." He demanded.
"Ever heard of quick change wear?" She asked.
"No." he replied.
"It mainly takes woman into factor. Clothes that can go from working at the office to going out on a date or partying." Mari answered, "Just a few adjustments and possibly a new shade of makeup and usually people tend to think they took all day to get ready."
Damian took what she said into account, "And for men?"
"Most don't really have the option." Marinette shrugged, "Shame, but on you.....your figure. Well, there's nothing sluttier than a man wearing a sleeveless turtleneck."
The Wayne heir couldn't help but think of his old League of Assassin's outfits.
"No one at work would know if you have a blazer on and buttoned." She continued, "It is your office so you can always install a closet here and keep an extra pair of clothes. Jeans, if you prefer. Who is to say that this whole time, you weren't wearing sweatpants and just dressed from the waist up."
He chuckled ather way of thinking.
'Effective, but true not the less. I could kick out anyone who entered my office, should I choose to dress comfortably, and there was a closet hidden behind the cabinets.'
"Another thing most people tend to do is incorporate their culture into their clothing, as well." Marinette spoke, "Personally, I use apple blossoms in most of my designs for myself."
"Miss Dupain-Cheng, you are not what I was expecting." Damian declared, "I like to expect everything."
Mari smiled, "I've been known to be...unpredictable."
"You want to work part time in the fashion section." The Wayne heir stated, "Even if it's just grabbing coffee or lunch for others."
"Correct." she answered.
"Fine." Damian spoke, "You can work here, part time, at least three days a week. I f you have a big comission, I want to know about it. You can keep the details to yourself, but I want a time frame."
Marinette nodded, happily.
"I also want you to make me something to relax in the office that could pass for office wear." he suggested, "I'll pay for fabric of course. I can send you the details of my heritage via email, later."
Marinette stood up, "I'll start on that and bring it by Friday."
Damian grabbed her hand and kissed it, "I'll see you Monday morning, at 9AM, for work. We can go over your schedule then."
Marinette felt her face flush as his lips connected with her hand. His gaze was piercing.
"Yes, Mr. Wayne." She answered, flustered.
Damian waved his hand, dismissing her, but he still followed her to the door.
"You know, Miss Dupain-Cheng." He whispered, pressing himself to her back, "They may not be able to see it, but I see what lurks in the shadows. I can see what you hide there. I can wait a bit longer for the side of you that wants to come out and play."
"Is that so?" Marinette whispered back.
"I'll enjoy getting to know you, in the future." Damian spoke, before opening the door.
Marinette took a breath before she walked out the door.
"Marinette, did you get the job?" Adrien asked.
"Yes." she answered.
The model sighed in relief, "I told him you were good. I told him about Father and Audrey."
"Did you think I wouldn't be able to get it on my own?" Mari questioned.
"That's not what I meant!" Adrien cried, surprised at the question.
"Then, don't belittle me and my work." Marinette declared, "He already knew who I was. The Wayne keep a check on everyone and everything. Did you seriously not expect him to know about our families? He was probably listening to us in the waiting room."
Adrien gulped in response.
"Besides, I wasn't apart of whatever you three were fighting over." Marinette smiled, walking away.
'What did she mean by that?'
Adrien turned to see Damian Wayne leaning against the door, wearing a smirk on his face. Damian took notice of the model and hardened his gaze. Adrien gulped as Damian stood tall and closed his door again.
'What was he staring at?'
Adrien turned his head back down the corridor and saw Marinette speaking to the receptionist.
'He was after Marinette the whole time!'
'He already knew who I was.'
'He was probably listening to us in the waiting room.'
'Besides, I wasn't apart of whatever you three were fighting over.'
TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events @animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218
355 notes · View notes
kithtaehyung · 5 months
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back to december (teaser) (m) | ksj
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title: back to december (teaser) pairing: brother's best friend!seokjin x reader(f) rating/genre: m (18+) ; angst , fluff , smut ; brother’s best friend au, wedding au, second chance au summary: ever since you left town to pursue your dreams, life has fast forwarded into one big blur. so when you hit pause to attend your brother’s wedding exactly three years later, your brain instinctively resets and rewinds. because you have to spend it with the very person that had been there at the start. the one person you regret leaving behind. note: this originally started as a one-shot for @raplinesmoon for the maui relief fundraiser, but turned into something more. since it also fit into the mold of this holiday collab, here we are! note 2: this is part of the jingle all the way collaboration with @kpopfanfictrash, @leahsfavefics, @cybrsan, @yoonia, and @sugaurora! all the holiday collab fics have the phrase “the holidays aren’t so bad with you around.” warnings: [explicit warnings to be posted on drop day!] language, alcohol, angst lol, time switches/flashbacks, seokjin being the sweetest until he’s not >:)), reader being damn cool, overthinking, bbf!jin needs his own warning i am warning y’all now, horribly great jokes, winter themes, relationship failures, stress/anxiety, jin being jin, did i say angst?, falling into cold water, a lot of gd yearning mood: back to december - taylor swift, halley's comet - billie eilish, universe/snowing in la - thuy teaser word count: 1.2k | est. word count: uhhh 20k+ lol wanna be on the taglist? add yourself here! est. drop date: january 2024
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It all started with an accident in winter. 
Ever the gracious hosts, your family decided to throw a cookout for your brother’s birthday, inviting everyone in the neighborhood and its outskirts to join in celebration. While your brother was initially opposed to being outside in the frost, word got around that his crush of three years running would be present, which suddenly warmed him right up to the whole idea.
Typical.
You were also initially opposed—having to sit through the festivities while your older sibling hogged all the attention—until you discovered your own downfall was attending, too. 
Because of course he would.
And if he was coming, you were set on making your naive self presentable and noticeable, and you still consider the day of the party to be the best you’ve ever carried yourself. You were confident, you were radiant.
Until you got bumped into the backyard pool.
You don’t even recall who knocked you in. All you remember was water rushing into your vision, and paddling through outright shame and embarrassment when you shakily swam your freezing bones to the ledge. Everyone saw you: your friends, your family, your brother’s older circle and acquaintances. In your adolescence, it was the literal worst thing to have happened to anyone in the history of ever.
But someone’s outstretched hand greeted you when you got to the pool’s edge. 
And when you looked up, you questioned if you hit the bottom on the way in because the face you were seeing was a shock. Were you deceased? Did you somehow swim to heaven’s beach?
No. It was really him, the very person you got all dressed up for. 
Seokjin. Handsome, reserved, off-limits friend of your brother Seokjin. 
Years later, you still question why he was the one helping you out. But it didn’t matter at the time because all you wanted was to get thawed out as soon as possible. 
“Come on,” he had urged. “You’ll get sick.”
Trembling because of the cold and nothing else, you took his hand and let him haul you into the house, wondering what the hell was going on the entire time. Why was he the one helping you? Where the hell was your brother? 
Because not only did he lead you inside, but the boy also accompanied you to your bathroom, grabbing a towel off its rack and wrapping it around your knocking shoulder blades. 
“Grab some clothes, okay?” 
“Huh?” 
“Go get clothes,” Seokjin ordered, moving towards your shower. “And change out of those as soon as you can.” 
“Oh.” Blinking, you couldn’t decide if your shivers were from the fall or his comments. But either way, you were shaking horrendously. “Yeah, okay.” 
After that, you remember being so cold you couldn’t even move your legs. Which meant that Seokjin had to lead you to your room and wait at the entrance while you hastily grabbed whatever you could find. 
There was no way he was gonna catch the cutesy patterns of your underwear. No way. 
When you were done, Seokjin brought you back into the restroom, the spray of water echoing through the festively decorated space. “It should be warm enough now,” he urged. “Don’t wait.” 
“Thank you,” you finally huffed, hating how your shakes stifled your gratitude. “You can, uhm. Go back out there now.” 
“Mm.” In the doorway, his eyes reflected the bright lights so perfectly. To this day, you still remember the way you compared them to stars. “Well. Umm. Good luck.” 
And you will never forget the way you felt heat before you even touched the run of the shower. 
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“Yes, it’s all set. We are still on for Monday.” 
“Good. This is the meeting we absolutely cannot miss.” 
“Umm, yes—I mean—Understood.” 
“Is everything okay over there?” 
Rushing to close the door of your rental, you bite back a curse as your suit jacket catches in the edge. Because of course it does after the frantic day you’ve already had. “Yes! Everything’s”—you smush your top against your side while shutting the door again—“Fine! But I do have to go.” 
“Sure, sure. Oh, one more thing—”
Right. Rummaging through your purse, you locate the keys at the very bottom while trying to ingest the four things being tossed into your ear, locking the car in a fast walk to the massive mountainside property ahead of you. 
“ —then we’ll finalize the merger. Got that?” 
Holy shit, your brother must be doing even better than you or his fiance is loaded. 
“Hello?” 
“Oh, shit, sorry. Yes, Mr. Hamada, we can do that.” 
“Mm. What did we say about language.” 
“Apologies.” Damn your filthy mouth for running even faster in cold weather. Because it is the goddamn arctic out here. “I will say I have been getting better, though.” 
“Improvement won’t matter if you fuck up during the meeting.” 
“Alright, buddy.” Your superior’s laugh grates your ear as you haul ass into the warm estate, worry suddenly gripping you when you realize that no one is walking around. 
Shit, are you that late? Did you miss everything? 
Skittering right to the main doors, you start to panic. Are these the main doors? They look like them. Fancy. Very fancy. Shit, shit, shit, is the wedding over—
A full body bumps into your side as you round a table bursting with flowers. Having a sound enough mind to cover your receiver, you react in a shout, “Hey, watch it—” 
“Sorry!” 
Wait. You know that voice. 
Even though it’s one that you haven’t heard in years. 
“…Jin?” 
Everything slowly stops as the man turns and, if you weren’t so in shock, you would’ve noticed the way his eyes traveled from your heels to your perfectly trimmed brows. 
You expect both something and nothing. Because when it comes to the person standing in front of you, there’s no telling what he’ll destroy you with next. 
But what comes out is merely a tiny, chest-constricting, 
“Hello.” 
You stare, and stare, and stare some more. Even your boss cannot bring you back to the present with his incessant poking. 
Because Jin looks so fucking handsome in his suit that’s not quite dressed yet, with hair that’s swept just enough to throw you off planet earth. Even the way his tie lounges around his neck gives you pause, because it showcases how broad his shoulders have become. 
How can he look the same and yet so heartbreakingly different?
“I—” 
“Later, tuna fish.” 
Your heart lurches. 
“They’re waiting for me.” 
To your dismay, Seokjin presses a soft hand on your shoulder while passing through the ornate entrance, his lingering burn searing through as you watch him button his suit on the run. 
Well. At least you didn’t miss the wedding. 
You hear your sibling’s hearty shout echo throughout the hall, but you have to physically tear yourself from your spot to finally answer your boss. 
And to not fixate on the one person you thought you were safe from today. 
But of course he’s here. Why wouldn’t he be? Him and your brother have been inseparable since the beginning, and you should’ve known even being on different planets wouldn’t keep them apart too long. 
Speaking of… 
Traveling to another galaxy might solve the numbing ache in your chest. Maybe you should consider that gigantic leap yourself. 
Because seeing Jin again brings you back to December. 
And the frost you feel in your bones overshadows any weather brewing outside. 
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tbc.
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wheee! we have a teaser! | join the taglist!
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a/n: isi i hope you know what monster you're about to unleash lmao. here's to another holiday seokjin! gosh, he will keep haunting me and i love him for it. second chance with isi's initial brother's best friend!jin request? gotta love it. the one-two-three punch, i reckon. anyways, hope y'all enjoyed the teaser and i am so so nervous about the main drop but hope you like that, as well :'))
links: jingle all the way collab ; masterlist
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sesamie · 2 days
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"i don't know / i'm bald / any other miscellaneous infinitely nuanced answer"
masterpost for me to link people to, hi, i'm nauta, i made the original "i'm bald" poll. the anon asks have gotten very bad over the past week so i'm making this post that people can link to and explain the context so people might stop calling me horrible things!
on december 20th, i make this poll: "can you read sheet music?" in writing the options, i forgot alto clef, cause i don't know any viola players and it's really not a super common clef anyways. the anon asks and reblogs i get for this are RIDICULOUS and very rude, and i get annoyed at how strangers get so mad over poll options not including every single little thing.
for a couple polls after that, i wrote snarky "other" options, like "i have never been influenced by anything ever" and the like.
on january 3rd, i make this poll: "was your hair a different color when you were little?" and knew i would need an option for people who don't have hair currently/anymore, for any number of reasons. i certainly didn't want them to feel alienated by seeing that poll and not having an option to vote for! i also didn't want to alienate people that didn't know what their hair color was as a child, for any number of reasons. so i wrote my "other" option as "i don't know / i'm bald", then realized that wasn't broad and nuanced enough. remembering the poll about sheet music and the response to it, i wrote, annoyed, "any other miscellaneous infinitely nuanced answer", thinking, yeah that'll cover it.
radio silence for a while!! then someone points me to another post by someone whose url i can't remember, and who is a complete stranger to me. they screenshotted just the last option from that poll, and posted it independently, and that post basically blew up. after that, people start writing "i'm bald" in their "other" options, cause they found it funny. i really had nothing to do with it getting popular, and it wasn't originally intended to be making fun or body shaming!
thank you for reading and if you see people questioning the origin of this phrase please link them here!!!!
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piosplayhouse · 1 year
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Ayo thank you for your contribution to society and world culture through the SVSSS iceberg, now if you don’t mind can you please explain it? I’ve been in the fandom a while but I swear I’ve never heard of some of these
Sure! Explanations will be sorted under the cut:
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SHEN YUAN TIER:
- all items in this tier are either surface level details from the source material or
- daily bingpup is a popular fandom meme (used in the metal gear sense lmfao) started by @ kamkamquats on Twitter that's pretty self explanatory: kam draws and posts a bingpup picture every day! The archive is available here.
I probably should have made this point just bingpup, as I believe his origins precede kam's art, but she certainly boosted his popularity significantly, and now her art and bingpup are canonized with the publishing of the 4th volume English translation of the novel, so I thought it was a fun point!
LUO BINGHE TIER:
- Feynite's au collection: an extremely popular collection of alternate universe fics written by legendary Scum Villain fic author Feynite.
- Scum Villain is a tragedy: an interpretation of the books that poses that from every other perspective besides Shen Yuan's, Scum Villain is an incredibly depressing tragedy.
- Luo Binghe is Airplane's self insert: "Don't asky why Luo Binghe wasn't the embodiment of [Airplane's] ideal man; Luo Binghe's use had primarily been to fulfill his desire to be a badass and get revenge, as well as his desire for wanton [this section has been censored]" (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System volume 4, page 163).
- Shen Yuan died on his birthday: Shen Yuan's death date is never given in the original novels, but in the first scene of the donghua when he dies while at his computer, you can catch a glimpse at the date reading September 21st (both his birthday and the day svsss was published!)
- Shen Qingqiu's canon fursona: binghe compares sqq to a crane multiple times in the story but is depicted as a cat in fandom much more frequently, leading people to joke about how the fandom disregards his "canon" fursona in the same way bingpup is much more prevalent than sheep binghe.
- Shen Qingqiu can knit: there's official crossover Christmas merchandise that shows all of the mxtx couples participating in different holiday activities: wangxian are decorating a tree, hualian are baking cookies, and shen qingqiu is knitting a scarf for luo binghe.
- Luo Binghe's birthday: Luo Binghe is actually the only main mxtx character that doesn't have a canon birthday. He's noted in the books as being born on "the coldest days of the year", but it's debatable whether this is late December or early January, and there's no specific date from this that we can confirm is his birthday.
- sv manhua's indefinite hiatus: much to the excitement of starved fans, a Scum Villain manhua began publishing in 2019. It ran for a grand total of 3 wonderful weeks before being unceremoniously put on indefinite hiatus because of drama within the fanbase stemming from rumors that the artist/company drawing it actually hated scum villain. It has yet to return.
SHEN JIU TIER:
- Moshang's horrible first time: MXTX stated in a Q&A interview that neither Mobei-Jun nor Shang Qinghua enjoyed their first time having sex together.
- Shen Qingqiu invented maxi pads: the "scum villain pad commercial" is a commercial from the first season of the donghua depicting an exchange where Ning Yingying is self conscious about going out on her period because her sanitary supplies aren't cute, so Shen Qingqiu magics her up some maxi pads.
- Shen Yuan read mpreg yaoi: "#18 Peerless Cucumber [Expert]: Upthread, keep cool. This forum has a lot of Green JJ sisters 😎" (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System volume 4, page 145). / "''Great Master' Liu! Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky didn't write a green Jinjiang mpreg novel!'" (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System volume 4, page 295).
- Shen Jiu transmigrated into Shen Yuan: A somewhat popular theory in the fandom that when Shen Jiu died, he transmigrated into modern day Shen Yuan the same way Shen Yuan did to him.
- Cursed monkey island: Cursed monkey island is/was a private discord server made up of very og sv fans that was known for outputting somewhat dark/off-color/weird fics for each other, often with funny porn spoof names and niche concepts. The first fics from there were published in 2018, while the last fic in the collection seems to have been published in 2022, so they might still be active, but I'm not sure.
- Moshang has a 20 year age difference: Shang Qinghua died at at least age 20 (probably older) and since he transmigrated into a baby, he has 20 extra years of consciousness from his first life on the PIDW native characters, who he meets when they're both teenagers in the Airplane extras. Though physically the same age group, he would've been mentally somewhere around 30-40 years old at this point getting bullied by teenagers.
- The microwave: some of the first previews released for the donghua were static turnaround videos of the 3D models set to elevator music -- after these dropped, it was radio silence on the show's status for a long, long time. Fans called these previews "the microwave" because of the static rotation of the models and referred to the time it took for the donghua to come out as "defrosting it in the microwave". There's a fair amount of art/memes from this time period featuring the characters literally inside microwaves, even to the point where people made microwave-themed SV merch. When the donghua finally came out bingqiu were declared "free from the microwave" and a wave of fanart of them destroying microwave prisons emerged.
TIANLANG JUN TIER:
- Wangxian have read resentment of chunshan: in the mdzs audio drama extra episode "Accompanying you to sleep - Lan Wangji", Lan Wangji takes care of a drunk Wei Wuxian by getting him ready for bed. Towards the end of the episode, Wei Wuxian asks Lan Wangji to read him a bedtime story. Lan Wangji says he isn't good at telling stories and Wei Wuxian suggest he reads him The Resentment of Chunshan (bingqiu fanfiction). Unfortunately, Lan Wangji had never heard of it before and thereby could not ASMR it.
- Six Balls x Zhuzhi Lang: a rarepair (also called bamboo balls) written by the lovely Alex here.
- Shen Qingqiu has the protagonist halo: a theory/headcanon suggesting that when Shen Yuan transmigrated, the role of protagonist and subsequent protagonist halo left Luo Binghe and transferred onto him. Often used in angst canon divergences wherein due to the lack of a protagonist halo, Binghe dies from an event he otherwise would have survived because of his story invulnerability.
- Shen Yuan's sister found his dead body: an angst headcanon centering around the idea that Shen Yuan's sister found his dead body rotting in his apartment after he died- very good art made about this here!! (Gore/blood cw)
- Who is zhuzhi lang's dad: we all know zhuzhi-lang's dad was a big snake but what kind of big snake? How big? Why did his mom fuck him? all important questions heavily debated about in this fandom.
MOBEI JUN TIER:
- Every ship is cumplane: we already know Luo Binghe is Airplane's self insert, and Mobei-Jun's cold demeanor is somewhat reminiscent of Peerless Cucumber's tsundere wife-isms, making bingqiu and moshang arguable proto-cumplanes. However, we can go further and argue because Airplane created the entire world of PIDW, all of it in a way reflects him and his feelings, therefore meaning that because it loves Shen Qingqiu and Shen Qingqiu loves it back, every possible PIDW asset x sqq is cumplane in its basest form.
- Original donghua designs: the first pv for the donghua actually featured slightly different designs for bingqiu, which were then changed later in production! You can see the original ones here.
- PIDW is real: someone actually posted PIDW on jjwxc so you can get the real Shen Yuan experience.
SHANG QINGHUA TIER:
- Shen Yuan penetrated into the body of the scum villain: there is a listing for the svsss donghua on Amazon prime video (though no episodes are actually available) which features this banger summary:
 An ordinary youth, Shen Yuan, after reading the novel "Arrogant Gods and Demons' Journey", triggers the mysterious system so that he crosses into the book world and penetrates into the body of villain--Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu's disciple, Luo Binghe, is the main character of the novel.
- Airplane's foot fetish:
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usedpidemo · 1 month
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Update - 3rd year anniversary! (and some future plans, a reflection, etc.)
Hi everyone! π here.
By the time this post is up, it'll be the 13th of May. Three years since I began my writing journey and this Tumblr blog. Three years. Time flies by so fast. I was close to graduating senior high after it was delayed because pandemic, had my graduation in an empty room basically, now I'm hitting my third year of college. Crazy stuff.
With that said, here are the stats + timetable of the blog so far:
First work: Sandwich (Wendy) (published 05/13/21, 4:03 a.m)
Highest note count: Tell your friends (Yujin x Wonyoung) (published 01/14/23, 1274 notes)
Number of works published: 91 fics (1 fic every 12.03 days)
500 followers: June 18, 2021 (36 days)
1000 followers: October 12, 2021 (152 days)
2000 followers: June 18, 2022 (401 days)
3000 followers: November 12, 2022 (548 days)
4000 followers: May 22, 2023 (740 days)
5000 followers: December 18, 2023 (950 days)
Current follower count: 5615 (1 new follower every 5.12 days)
It's been a hectic final month of college, so I apologize for the lack of activity in recent times :< But summer is coming up very soon, so hopefully I'll have all the time in the world to write more till then! I will say, a new fic is on the near horizon, so please be on the lookout!
I would like to take the opportunity to thank every single of you, whether reader, lurker, or a fellow writer for your support! Especially during these lull times, your unwavering support has kept me afloat and has been a motivation in continuing to write. Love you guys as always. Here's to another fruitful year <3
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From this point, this part will be an overall reflection and life summary of the previous year, my thoughts on some personal matters, and some ideas I've been contemplating. If you don't wanna read this, you can stop here.
I miss 2023 quite a bit, not gonna lie. I know nostalgia can quickly grow warm and fuzzy, seeing the past through rose tinted lens, but I'll admit that 2024 hasn't been off to the start I envisioned it to be. That year was mostly peak for me, and I could even argue it's my favorite year to live out based on all my experiences. Traveling to new places, finally attending live events, interacting with my K-pop biases, and so on—it really felt like the best was yet to come with how 2023 flowed and transitioned into the new year.
Five months in, and I am struggling. Horribly. Most plans, dreams, and ideas have gone up in smoke, and it's just one devastating gut punch after another. I have a shitty professor in one major that basically made me check out of that class, and I don't know my family will react when I tell them I have to repeat said class because that professor was a dick. My family's been infighting on a daily basis, and I'm mostly collateral damage to them. Not one week can go by without some serious confrontation between them. There was a brief health scare with my mother, but that seems to be a nothing matter; thank God she'll be okay.
All this just makes life so deflating, in all honesty. I get that no life is without struggle, but I genuinely don't know when we'll be in the clear. Not anytime soon, I reckon. In these tough times, there's very little comfort except the past, when everything was pretty all right for the most part. It's been demotivating to write when mom comes forward with another grievance with my sister. It's hard to write when you have a professor who likes to power trip their students into submission. It's hard when you don't know how to admit to your mother that he failed his one class because of said power tripping professor.
But that doesn't mean I will let it eat me alive. I know we've been through some utter lows in the past. And we always get back up. If no one has us, then God does.
Summer break is fast approaching and I want to fix things. Even in my own little way. I know none of what I'm saying has anything to do with writing degenerate stories about hot K-pop idols, but real life circumstances have definitely affected me more than I can brush off. I should be calm, unfazed, undeterred.
After all, some stories are meant to be finished. They just take a more unconventional route. Ask Cody.
With all that being said, I will finish these commissions over the next two months. I'm really sorry to everyone who requested and paid for their stories months and months ago; I genuinely feel bad for not getting these out on time, but I am very mindful of quality control, and I have no one to blame but myself for being a slacker and lazy worker. Despite my feelings, I should remain professional—that's what being a worker means.
A lifestyle overhaul is definitely in my list of things to improve over the summer too. Figuring out how to get writing done, finding ways to alleviate my PokeRogue addiction (GOTY), whilst having a healthy work/life balance and not losing my sanity over it. Or worse, burning out.
And I want to take this opportunity to thank all my friends—peach, caps, majorblinks, chunk, frisky, raf, c.o, levi, sins, iz, ken, v1n, ddeun, notions, kevin, eros, brandon, kaede, svn, frisky, cray, rpg, prael—for putting up with my shit for another year. This life is tough, but you guys make it tolerable. Thank you for letting me air out my grievances even when it wasn't the best time to. I pray that when everything passes, I'm able to repay you all in some shape or form generously.
And to you, dear reader, for making it this far, thank you. Whether you've been with me since day one, or day 1094, as a commenter, reposter, liking, or just passing by/lurking, thank you for giving me a chance. Without you, all of this would have been for nothing. I don't know where I would be now if I didn't take that chance, that leap of faith back in 2021, and it's because of you I am able to keep doing this for the love of the game.
With grace,
Peter / π
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coraniaid · 6 months
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I know this is tediously pedantic of me, but "daylight savings" is not the reason it starts getting dark at 4pm now, no matter how many posts on here complain that it is. Daylight savings is an adjustment that is made to clocks during the summer. It is the reason that (in those parts of the northern hemisphere where it is observed), solar noon -- the point at which the sun is highest in the sky -- happens closer to 1 pm than it does 12 pm between March and November. This happens because clocks have been set forward an hour compared to where they ordinarily would be (with solar noon happening at ... well, noon).
Before daylight savings was introduced in the 20th century, time between November and March was the same as it is now: it's only the time in the summer that daylight savings changes. If we simply abolished daylight savings it would get dark in December at exactly the same time as it does now. (This is why the recently proposed Sunshine Act would not have abolished daylight savings but rather made it permanent throughout the whole year.)
The thing you are upset about is something much worse than daylight savings. It is something horrible and disgusting that many scientists are calling "winter".
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nightgoodomens · 4 months
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Okay strange anon but the sheens and Tennants have been dropping sooo many hints lately it’s genuinley getting to the point where I feel like they don’t really care if anyone knows. Idk if that makes sense but I feel like they’re either building up to actually coming out as some form of poly or something (which still feels unlikely) BUT if they are actually poly that’s four famous adults and about 100 blonde children to all keep something a secret that they aren’t really trying to keep a secret so it’s almost like back for if/when someone does slip up and the polycule tm (however that looks) gets leaked.
I mean Michael and David have been so very obvious from the very beginning but I honestly thought they will never confirm anything.
Look what’s happening at the moment at the mere suggestions - people are being called sick and twisted and not normal just for saying that these two are in love. Fucking hell. People are even finding all the excuses for them being neighbours, they can’t even cope with that.
So I thought no way these two will want to deal with this shit.
But… fuck, something seems to be going on.
Here is my take on when I think things shifted, this is of course a very personal guess, so obviously I might be wrong about this.
So before I get to that certain day - at the time I was only watching things unfold and not commenting on the blog about it apart from dropping a little hint here and there, sorry lovely people who sent me asks then and I didn’t respond, but fuck it, I’m going to talk about it now…
Remember that day GT posted that unfortunate picture of her child and said she was a drunk accident? She bragged about sex.
Remember how Michael went a little insane on Twitter about David then?
Because I remember seeing that and it kind of hit me and I remember thinking… fuck, Michael is jealous. And Michael is no longer happy with being a complete secret.
If I remember correctly, after causing uproar on Twitter that day, he went dead quiet - apart from just showing up quickly the exact moment David was on stage presenting in New York and then he disappeared again.
And things have changed since then.
This is when we started having David talking about Michael, his outfits becoming more obvious, and his behaviour, GT going very hard on queer promo highlighting everything queer he wore, now the outfits being a clear response to Michael’s “Thin Dark Duke”, etc.
December.
Suddenly a private picture of DT and MS.
Suddenly a perfect picture of Michael and David sharing the most special look after Macbeth, like there’s nobody else in the room.
I expected damage control. Surprisingly no.
Instead we got Lapland. One big happy family. In their matching sweaters. And when the general idea was for a photoshoot of Family/Couple/Celeb-on-their-own - we got family and a couple… of Michael and David.
That was a lot within just a few weeks.
And that was PR, official photos. But not the damage control that I expected, instead another nod to the family thing.
Then Georgia starts promoting Anna’s paid for photoshoot and they’re playing wives which is horribly lame to look at because there’s such a lack of real sympathy between them that it only highlights to me how real MS/DT are. But! It does work to show the whole family thing, doesn’t it? It does push the whole we are one big family and nobody is a victim here.
(Also I think they hope she gets a job and goes, considering how miserable Michael looks by her side)
And now we are here. GT dropping on us that they’re neighbours. It’s only beginning of February.
And I see people doing mental gymnastics regarding whether it’s rented or bought and whether door by door… it literally doesn’t matter. At the end of the day the point is the effort to live close to each other.
My opinion though - there’s bigger probability that Michael and David discussed Michael getting something in London and David letting Michael know as soon as a house became available on his street - rather than a house miraculously becoming available to rent by David just when Michael needed it for NYE. Unless David owns another house and rented it to Michael. But - the specifics don’t really matter.
Curious now then… GT just dropped this before Michael’s Graham Norton show and David having something that day too I think?
So… we are either getting damage control next or we are continuing feeding the rumours.
At the moment to me it looks like they want people to realise that there indeed is something going on. Either so if something slips then they go “well… we never hid anything” or there will be some sort of confirmation.
But when I think about confirmation… There’s already been love declarations. What else is there to say?
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traffic-light-eyes · 1 year
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lloyd hcs? i wanna hear them ALL
Oh boyyyy here we go. I think my LONG Lloyd headcanon post is still one of my top posts, so you can check that out there. I already know this is gonna take a while, so strap in. Dunno if I'll get to all of them or not because I still need content for the future, though.
He's a hungry kid. Always hungry. They don't know if he's having some belated puberty thing where he's hungry 24/7 365 or if it's just his heritage, but he's just. Starving. He gets shy about it, though, even when he knows that his friends would never belittle him because of it. He'll just shyly and slowly push his plate towards Zane and look at him with his big puppy eyes and a pout and Zane can do nothing but give him what he wants (you're spoiling him, Zane. - What would you do in that situation, Cole? He looked horribly pathetic, and I couldn’t do anything but give him another slice of pie.)
He is either chronically online or he has 0 knowledge of the internet. No in-between. For chronically online, his vocabulary mostly consists of tiktok references, and you can definitely hear Zane crying in the distance because he doesn't know what Lloyd is saying. For 0 knowledge of the internet, Jay and Kai make jokes and references to tiktok/reddit/Twitter/etc. and when Lloyd doesn't understand (and subsequently tilts his head like the adorable dragoni he is), you can hear Jay crying in the distance and the soft shushing voice from Nya as she tries to calm him down.
He will steal all shiny things. Shiny rock on the ground? Yoink. Jay left a particularly sparkly bolt on his desk? Well, it's Lloyd's now. Loose change on the counter? He'll take the shiny ones, thanks. He doesn't use the money. He just owns it. When Garmadon came back and saw his stash of sparkly things, he was like, "Ah, so you did inherit some of my genetics. I was getting a bit worried."
Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't own many plushies. Just one. It's a little stuffed tiger with half-off eyes and practically tearing at the seams. Kai won it in a claw machine for him back when he was a kid, and he will not part with it nor have any alterations to it no matter what. It's his and it has survived all the fires in the monastery, the crashes of the bounty, and the angry throws at the wall when Lloyd is mad (he immediately picks it back up and cries for throwing it). He remembers each mark, each missing patch of fur, every scratch on it stupid beaded eyes, and he treasures it. Because his brother got it for him.
He bought Jay a Hatsune Miku body pillow.
He's not a very good gift-giver, actually. If it was December, and he was tasked with some white elephant something he would perish at the spot. So, to combat that, he buys trinkets and things that remind him of his friends or things that he thinks that they'd like, and during the holiday or birthday, all he has to do is stuff it in a bag and put a bow on it. During the missions where they miss the holiday/birthday or if they're not close to his stash of presents, he gets really upset because he can't show them how much he loves them because nothing nothing can compare to the year of scouring shops and finding that cute little spoon engraved with Zane's initials that he found in a thrift store.
More of the gift giving: he's bad at showing affection or just verbally saying that he loves his friends, so he does the neurodivergent thing of just. Giving them pretty rocks or, like, soda tabs. Cole was horribly touched by the rocks, and now he has a shelf full of Lloyd rocks. Sometimes, to calm down, Lloyd and Cole paint the rocks. There's a cute collection of ninja look-alike rocks sitting next to their photos. When Lloyd was younger and everyone started gunning for his affection, Kai got a bunch of jars and wrote everyone's names on them. The person with the most soda tabs by the end of the year would have won the "Lloyd's favorite" award. The thing is, though, they never stopped doing it. When Pixal joined the crew, she was surprised to find herself a jar with her name on it with a purple soda tab.
Speaking of Pixal- a little after she joined, she realized that Lloyd had not finished school. When she had asked about it, she was told Wu was teaching him. She searched more to find out exactly what he was being taught. Lo and behold, it was exclusively ninja things or ancient, ancient history. And much to Lloyd's annoyance, she immediately stormed up to him and got him learning some algebra. She was not going to let him live his life without schooling. When she realized that he was having a lot of trouble with high school mathematics (because she had assumed that he was in the highschool age), she slyly went lower and lower in the education scale just to see where he left off. She was horrified to find he had not exceeded 5th grade math. No more than 5 minutes after his daily lesson, all of them (save Lloyd) had a nice, long conversation about his age and his schooling. She made it her life duty that Lloyd became one of the smartest gosh darned people in Ninjago.
On a lighter note, Jay and Nya sometimes have robot battles for fun. But. Not aggressive or combat related. They make robots do silly tasks like planting a flower or making a sandwich. They always make Lloyd judge who did it better because he has 0 clue the mechanics behind it, and he doesn't pick favorites. (Even if he's not trying to be his father anymore, he loves stirring up chaos by making each of them never truly beat each other by a lot)
He had a lisp as a kid. He didn't know it at the time, but it was because his mouth was unfamiliar with his sharp teeth. It makes him speak funny. For a while, he just didn't speak at all because he was embarrassed when the other darkleys kids made fun of him. He toughened out, though, and sat in his room, reading out loud to himself (occasionally with his kind roommate and friend Brad helping him) to correct his speech. To this day, he sometimes messes up words because he doesn't have proper speech therapy. But it's just another cute Lloyd thing to the team.
Mkay. I only did a few for just in case someone else asks for Lloyd stuff
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