#I hate Bill and Mike
Text
Some notes that come to my mind as I watch Season 2, episode 3 of Stranger Things (YEs, this would be the equivalent of tweeting live watch, but in just one post)
Jim Hooper is VERY out of his depth. I get him trying to reassure El, but on one hand, BAD idea to lie, even white lie, to a girl whose only socialization after thirteen years or so is the phrase "Friends don't lie" and can make Carrie White look like a parlor trick magician. On the other, not explaining to El that he was late because of probable Upside down shenanigans? Good to protect her of a REAL danger, Bad to give his case. And also, uhm, he knows that Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas CAN keep El a secret. He saw them ride literal circles around the goverment Shop guys (I know they're not the Shop... but they act like the Shop, they quack like the Shop, they are as stupid as the Shop) so why not trust them a bit?
El of course got her teenage rebellion runaway mood going on. Because come on, El was going to run away. She absolutely tasted freedom in season 1, she was not going to stay locked up in a cabin in the woods forever. Plus, now that she has hair? She looks completely different from before. People wouldn't think much about "Jim Hopper's niece", not even if he is still working with the idiot Shop. OTOH, Why absolutely NO ONE ever tries to teach her how to act normally ? She calls attention to herself precisely because she doesn't know how to talk to people.
Dustin being equally smart (because he started researching wtf was hiding in his trashcan) and stupid (Because he feed it the ONE THING we know is really toxic to a lot of animals and then invited Max to see something that OBVIOUSLY came from the Upside down when Max has no idea of it) is... very sweet in a "teenagers will be teenagers" way. OTOH, not realizing that Dart is OBVIOUSLY from the Upside Down, is a mayor fail on Dustin. I get why Will didn't tell him "Oh, I puked him up", but still, it is an obvious alien thing.
Of course he'd tell Mike. But well, then Will has no taste.
Max has the patience of a saint. But then she has to have it if she's related to Bill.
Bob is equally sweet and while his advice is not that good for Will since... uhm... well, Big Nightmare Clown is not the same as what Will experienced -unless his Big Nightmare Clown was named Pennywise and now I weep that Sean Astin didn't have a chance to be a character in It- at least he is TRYING to treat Will normally which is far, far more than everyone else is doing... and of course his advice ended up backfiring because, well, Will wasn't having NIGHTMARES.
Jonathan has fell SO down on my list of liked characters, he's sitting in the fort with Mike. I would get him angry that his mom is dating a perfectly absolute great guy if his father was a) dead, or b) had been a perfectly absolute great guy. But we have established he hates his dad. So why the hell is he mad his mom has a chance to happiness? It's not as if he read the script and he knows Bob will die and break Joyce's heart!
On other hand... wow, Steve really matured in the year between Season 1 and 2. And he called out Nancy on her secret threesome because wow, she was so entitled "where were you?" so Steve is apparently her driver? So good for Steve to actually step out of something that is bad for him. I understand Nancy complaining that she was drunk and thus he shouldn't take what she said seriously... but then she didn't contradict anything of what she said while drunk so... yeah. No Nancy, you want everything? You need to communicate. While on the other hand, Jonathan absolutely thinks they're a trio and just didn't thought of mentioning it to Nancy or Steve either. This really doesn't work.
Nancy is an IDIOT. Like, she KNOWS her phoneline is intervened. She SAW them do it in a montage. I mean, I love her gumption when it comes to hit things with more teeth than the Osmond's family, but she is an idiot when it comes to common sense. Then again, her brother is also an idiot. Him treating Max like trash just because he misses El is not fair. And why the hell El reacts like a jealous girlfriend? That was the worst narrative choice ever for everyone.
Joyce should take a second job as a private detective. She's REALLY good at it. Of course, she's also a total Mama Bear. And the first one who sees that there's something going on with Will more than what everyone is telling her, because of course. How long before everyone calls her crazy? 10 minutes? (I have to say, Winnona Ryder? KILLS the role). Oh, wow, i was right. It took us 10 minutes to see someone rolling her eyes at her. At least it was not one of the main characters.
Oh, that line of Mike saying "That's like saying if someone is from the Death Star they're not necessarily evil" hits really funny since... in OUR timeline, in 2015, two years before? We got Finn. And a bunch of other non-evil Storm troopers in the comics. And well, by THEIR timeline, they ALREADY had Return of the Jedi, where we see that Darth Vader was, in fact, not evil. So yeah, Mike... You don't get to say that someone is evil just because they were born in a very ugly dimension. And while Dart might be dangerous, Mike's reaction to it is not a good one. Especially when the show shows us that yes, Dart DOES trust Dustin, as he's the one kid that it doesn't hiss at.
I also finally realized WHY it bugs me so much that Stranger Things is Stephen King's lite. It FEELS like a Stephen King story, it moves like an Stephen King story, the characters CAN be paralleled to a lot of Stephen King's characters (Jim Hooper is Alan Pangborn without the knowledge of magic tricks to ease kids into talking with him, Dustin is right out of the Richie Tozier school of kids who don't know when to shut up for their own sake. Hell, I can play "scenes that come right out of a King book" and write a ten pages or so post with season one alone), but it has NO credit or acknowledge to King from the creators at all. On the other hand, two years later we got a series that was supposedly based on King's works and... felt nothing like a King story. So part of my anger is that Stranger Things is what Castle Rock should've been.
I need to work on that because well, not fair to the series. Even if they did took a TON of "inspiration" from King.
#Stranger things 2#Luxshine watches#Steve Harrington#is growing on me#I hate Bill and Mike#Bill more than Mike#Dustin has the only braincell in that school#Max may have brought one too to the party#El needs socialization STAT#With people not named Mike
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
i think my favorite part of IT chapter two is when eddie crashes his car. like it kind of has everything. eddie insane road rage <3. eddie being a bit of a dick "it's my job to assess risks", it has "i love you mommy" which makes me want to jump off a bridge. eddie gesturing wildly instead of holding onto the wheel. his stupid fucking "edward kaspbrak speaking" <3 the face he makes when he's talking to mike lol. like he's expecting the car display to change. "EDDIE! are you okay?" "yeah! i'm pretty good."
#this of course isn't even mentioning how the phone calls might be my favorite part of the film in general...#richie being a loser <3#patty <3#bev throwing shit at tom <3#ben in his fucking zoom meetings... <3#bill being kind of the worst guy in the world and also bad at his job <3#its hard to choose a fav scene tho... i'm still not over “probably like he was as a kid... the best” and the jade o h my god the jade#and when richie kills henry and when eddie stabs henry#also incredibly normal about the leper scene tbh...#also enjoyed when mike drugged bill and also their stupid “i love you”'s at the end#this movie has a lot of duds for me (i fucking hate adrian's death scene but thats more of an issue with king than the film#i also hate the barrens scene and the two dead children scenes are very meh to me. also not a fan of the pennywise fight because my EYES#why are there so many flashing lights... i have to close my eyes for half that scene because it gives me a headache)#but is overall sooooo silly <3
34 notes
·
View notes
Text
I have been in the It and Stranger Things fandoms a long time and I gotta say some crossover fics are sleeping on the fact that Stanley Uris and Mike Wheeler would hate each other.
Stan: You look like my Richie but you're somehow more obnoxious.
*Mike W looks over at Richie who's currently trying to force Bill to smell his armpits in the name of science*
Mike W: How am I more obnoxious than him?!
Stan: Rich has a certain charm that you lack. You're just a smartass.
Mike W: ...I'm sorry- have you met yourself?
#bonus points if its stozier#bc i feel like if Stan was dating Richie he'd hate Mike W even more#imposter syndrome ya know#stanley uris#stan uris#mike wheeler#richie tozier#it 2017bi#bill denbrough#it 2017#it 2019#stranger things
127 notes
·
View notes
Text
Why are people fighting about Richie’s sexuality again?!?
Please grow up and realize that people can HC him however they want because news flash in the original book the man is straight…. The biphobia I’ve been seeing is crazy and hate is the last thing we need right now.
Richie can be gay
Richie can be bi
Richie can even be trans or nonbinary
if it brings people joy, why take that away from them???
#like I personally HC him as bi and you don’t see me bashing everyone who hcs him as gay#this is getting annoying#can’t we just all agree that he has feelings for Eddie and move on?!?#I’m so sick of seeing the biphobia#it hurts#like who hurt you for you to just hate on bisexuals#the losers club#it stephen king#richie tozier#eddie kaspbrak#stanley uris#ben hanscom#bill denbrough#beverly marsh#mike hanlon#rant post
32 notes
·
View notes
Text
vecna attacking mike and showing him all the moments he's had with will, showing him not saying he loves el, forcing him to come to terms with the fact that he's not straight and it terrifies him because he's been trying to hide it from everyone including himself for so long.
so when they manage to pull him out, he's standoffish and defensive again, withdrawing from everyone but especially will until someone, maybe nancy, sits him down and asks what he saw, what's got him so frightened? so he opens up and he's so scared, but they comfort him, reassure him he's not dirty or disgusting or anything like that and there's nothing wrong with liking boys.
and maybe he feels a bit better, but is still largely uncomfortable and withdrawn, until vecna gets will. until he's faced with the very real prospect of losing will without ever telling him what he means to him, and he decides he'd rather be honest than hide in the safety net of dating el and pushing will again.
hence, emotional monologue (and maybe mike uses the mixtape he made for will to break him out)
#this doesnt even make sense i hate being illiterate#i only just woke up tho so eh#but yeah i Know vecnas gonna get will. we Know this#but. is he gonna gonfor anyone else? namely mike? and what could he possibly scare mike with?#cause mikes got trauma of course hes got trauma but i dont think any of it fits vecnas bill#el survived every time. mikes family survived every time. hes largely got his happy ending if el is what he wants#maybe theres the 'oh i shouldve protected will and el and i never can cause im inadequate' approach butbit feels cheap kinda#maybe mike feels useless sure but at the end of the day. it all still works out#so really i think if vecna gets mike it has to be some deep emotional torment that maybe he doesnt even know is there#anyway.#st#stranger things#mike wheeler#vecna#st4#stranger things spoilers#ig?? not rlly but#byler#byeler
406 notes
·
View notes
Text
me: omg hehe my comfort movie that I've watched 3 times in a row today they make me so happy bc they work together and they are there for eachother and they just so <3
everyone else: finn, a clown bites off a kids arm within the first 15 minutes of the movie
#it movie#i love you so much bill omg ❤️#reddie my beloved#OK BUT MIKE IS SO SWEET AND COOL AMD HE YES#i only knew georgie for about 15 minutes and i love him and miss him#BEN THOUGH.... HES SO CUTE#stan when he hates everyone /j#stanley the manley#staniel the maniel#stan the man#eddie got so pissed when pennywise threw up in him omg#WELCOME TO THE LOSERS CLUB ASSHOLE#bill denbrough#reddie#mike hanlon#ben hanscom#george denbrough#stanley uris#eddie kaspbrak#richie tozier#I WANT MORE IT FANS ON MY FOLLOWER LIST#bill is my main guys#it 2017#richie is me irl#i was k word assigned so fast#heheheheheheh giggling#insert a joke about fucking your mother
114 notes
·
View notes
Text
These 7 fucking 12 year old idiot loser faces snuck their way into my heart and dug a hole in it and that’s where they will reside for the rest of time. I hate these stupid losers that take over my thoughts everday, I can’t do one stupid thing without thinking about them.
I hate stupid Beverly Marsh and her personality as fiery as her hair, her wonderful sense of fashion and her take no shits attitude. I hate how she always puts her best foot forward and keeps her head up high. I hate how charismatic she is. I hate how she doesn’t realize that the guy made for her has always been right in front of her:
I hate stupid Stanley Uris with his unusually peculiar personality, I hate how fucking relatable he is. I hate how logical he is and his curly hair. I hate how smart he is. I hate how he cares so much that he doesnt care. I hate his need for everything to be perfect and even.
I hate stupid Ben Hanscom and his love for Beverly Marsh. I hate the way he wrote a poem so lovely for her. I hate the way he thinks he doesn’t need any friends to be happy. I hate how sweet and caring he is. I hate his strength in architecture and design. I hate how vulnerable he truly is.
I hate stupid Mike Hanlon and his stunning loyalness. I hate how he stayed behind for the losers to make sure they finished what they started. I hate how good of a person he is to anyone and everyone. I hate how he fought to make a change in Derry. I hate how he made sure his parents got the ending they deserved, even though most people wouldn’t care.
I hate stupid Bill Denbrough and his stutter. I hate his admirable leadership and and even more admirable personality. I hate his determination and bravery even when times are rough. I hate how obsessed he can get with one specific topic. I hate how good his art is and how devoted he is to getting what he wants. I hate his charming smile and warm soul.
I hate stupid Richie Tozier and his awful impressions. I hate how he can light up a room by just a sentence. I hate the way his glasses make his eyes look bigger than they are, and the way he pushes them up when they start to fall down his face. I hate how much he is in fucking LOVE with this dork named Eddie Kaspbrak.
Most of all, I hate stupid Eddie Kaspbrak. I hate the way he worries about germs more than anyone humanly possible. I hate the way he’s so annoyingly hilarious and the way he always makes me laugh. I hate how relatable he is as a person. I hate how he’s so oblivious and living in his own little world 24/7. I hate how secretly brave he is and how openly scared he is. I hate his stupid little shorts and his stupid Fannypack and his stupid inhaler that he doesn’t even need and his stupid polo shirts and his stupid watch that goes off everytime he needs to take his meds. I hate how he thinks he has asthma, but really it’s just anxiety creeping around. I hate his dumb smile and his cast that has “loser” with a red “V” drawn over the “S” on it. I hate how fast he talks and his hand motions.
If you haven’t gotten the message by now, I don’t hate these things at all. I admire them, I love them. You don’t understand how much this stuff means to me. I don’t know man, I just had to rant about this. They’ve been eating my heart (cannibal by Kesha much)
I’m honestly just ranting and this took me like 30 minutes but like ughhhh ugh hughguhfhdy I can’t get them out of my head istg they haven’t left in forever
#rant#hate means love#it stephen king#the losers club#eddie kaspbrak#richie tozier#stanley uris#bill denbrough#mike hanlon#ben hanscom#beverly marsh#I love the losers club so much bro I can’t take it yghhdhd#stupid ramblings
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
After binging The Magnus Archives for exactly two weeks straight it is officially all I can think about. Not even my previous Baldurs Gate 3 obsession can compare. Maybe it’s because it’s strictly a tragedy (which gets my emo little English literature nerd heart spiraling), maybe it’s because the idea of categorizing characters by their fears/what fear they’d be an avatar for is deeply fascinating to me.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s because Tim Stoker has a fucking choke grip on me and I’m failing to escape the “wump lover” accusations once again
#the magnus archives#literally obsessed with it#to a point where I’ll try to think about BG3 and go ‘I wonder what they’d be like in the MAG universe’#I am unwell#Tim Stoker has ruined me and I do NOT know why#my partner says it’s cause he ‘fits my bill of a lad with a chip on his shoulder and a disdain for authority’#which you know#probably true#also doesn’t help that Mike LeBeau’s voice is just VERY pleasing to me#even tho everyone on that podcast crew hates his stupid baritone for recording reasons#sorry you have such a stupid deep voice Mike please stop plaguing my thoughts with your performance as Tim now#captains log
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
“oh but staph why do you insist on making the losers from the uk?”
i- i just idk, is. i’m not sure
“why”
i h- i just. i couldn’t say
“why.”
… BECAUSE STAN WATCHES TIPPING POINT
#stan watches tipping point and i can’t hold it in anymore#stan watches tipping point and the chase and richie watches would i lie to you and pines to be there#stan watches the antique guy#stan watches the quiz shows and gets all the questions right#bill watches this morning#and ben#eddie watches loose women to complain#mike watches you’ve been framed reruns#ben keeps up with corrie#somehow#richie watches pointless and everyone hates her for it#they all have a tesco clubcard expect bill#she uses the others bc she has them all on her keys#they give all the vouchers to mike richie and stan#once a year they gather them all up and have a sleepover with a huge scran#they get together to watch doctor who each week#they get the print out asda cakes for their birthdays#with like a collage of the best photos front he last year#there’s one photo of bill stick in one of those huge farm gates thats ALWAYS on it#richie REEKS of space radors#STAN AND RICHIE WATCH COUNTDOWN AND COMPETE WITH EACHOTHER#you can’t look at them and tell me they don’t know what a meal deal is#stan got emotionally attached to a wonky looking double decker when they were 10#twas a rough time#BILL MET THE GO COMPARE GUY ONCE#oh don’t get me fucking started on horrible histories#the losers club#fem losers club#it
0 notes
Text
Lies, damned lies, and Uber
I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in PHOENIX (Changing Hands, Feb 29) then Tucson (Mar 10-11), San Francisco (Mar 13), and more!
Uber lies about everything, especially money. Oh, and labour. Especially labour. And geometry. Especially geometry! But especially especially money. They constantly lie about money.
Uber are virtuosos of mendacity, but in Toronto, the company has attained a heretofore unseen hat-trick: they told a single lie that is dramatically, materially untruthful about money, labour and geometry! It's an achievement for the ages.
Here's how they did it.
For several decades, Toronto has been clobbered by the misrule of a series of far-right, clownish mayors. This was the result of former Ontario Premier Mike Harris's great gerrymander of 1998, when the city of Toronto was amalgamated with its car-dependent suburbs. This set the tone for the next quarter-century, as these outlying regions – utterly dependent on Toronto for core economic activity and massive subsidies to pay the unsustainable utility and infrastructure bills for sprawling neighborhoods of single-family homes – proceeded to gut the city they relied on.
These "conservative" mayors – the philanderer, the crackhead, the sexual predator – turned the city into a corporate playground, swapping public housing and rent controls for out-of-control real-estate speculation and trading out some of the world's best transit for total car-dependency. As part of that decay, the city rolled out the red carpet for Uber, allowing the company to put as many unlicensed taxis as they wanted on the city's streets.
Now, it's hard to overstate the dire traffic situation in Toronto. Years of neglect and underinvestment in both the roads and the transit system have left both in a state of near collapse and it's not uncommon for multiple, consecutive main arteries to shut down without notice for weeks, months, or, in a few cases, years. The proliferation of Ubers on the road – driven by desperate people trying to survive the city's cost-of-living catastrophe – has only exacerbated this problem.
Uber, of course, would dispute this. The company insists – despite all common sense and peer-reviewed research – that adding more cars to the streets alleviates traffic. This is easily disproved: there just isn't any way to swap buses, streetcars, and subways for cars. The road space needed for all those single-occupancy cars pushes everything further apart, which means we need more cars, which means more roads, which means more distance between things, and so on.
It is an undeniable fact that geometry hates cars. But geometry loathes Uber. Because Ubers have all the problems of single-occupancy vehicles, and then they have the separate problem that they just end up circling idly around the city's streets, waiting for a rider. The more Ubers there are on the road, the longer each car ends up waiting for a passenger:
https://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Uber-Lyft-San-Francisco-pros-cons-ride-hailing-13841277.php
Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. After years of bumbling-to-sinister municipal rule, Toronto finally reclaimed its political power and voted in a new mayor, Olivia Chow, a progressive of long tenure and great standing (I used to ring doorbells for her when she was campaigning for her city council seat). Mayor Chow announced that she was going to reclaim the city's prerogative to limit the number of Ubers on the road, ending the period of Uber's "self-regulation."
Uber, naturally, lost its shit. The company claims to be more than a (geometrically impossible) provider of convenient transportation for Torontonians, but also a provider of good jobs for working people. And to prove it, the company has promised to pay its drivers "120% of minimum wage." As I write for Ricochet, that's a whopper, even by Uber's standards:
https://ricochet.media/en/4039/uber-is-lying-again-the-company-has-no-intention-of-paying-drivers-a-living-wage
Here's the thing: Uber is only proposing to pay 120% of the minimum wage while drivers have a passenger in the vehicle. And with the number of vehicles Uber wants on the road, most drivers will be earning nothing most of the time. Factor in that unpaid time, as well as expenses for vehicles, and the average Toronto Uber driver stands to make $2.50 per hour (Canadian):
https://ridefair.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Legislated-Poverty.pdf
Now, Uber's told a lot of lies over the years. Right from the start, the company implicitly lied about what it cost to provide an Uber. For its first 12 years, Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar it brought in, lighting tens of billions in investment capital provided by the Saudi royals on fire in an effort to bankrupt rival transportation firms and disinvestment in municipal transit.
Uber then lied to retail investors about the business-case for buying its stock so that the House of Saud and other early investors could unload their stock. Uber claimed that they were on the verge of producing a self-driving car that would allow them to get rid of drivers, zero out their wage bill, and finally turn a profit. The company spent $2.5b on this, making it the most expensive Big Store in the history of cons:
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/infighting-busywork-missed-warnings-how-uber-wasted-2-5-billion-on-self-driving-cars
After years, Uber produced a "self-driving car" that could travel one half of one American mile before experiencing a potentially lethal collision. Uber quietly paid another company $400m to take this disaster off its hands:
https://www.economist.com/business/2020/12/10/why-is-uber-selling-its-autonomous-vehicle-division
The self-driving car lie was tied up in another lie – that somehow, automation could triumph over geometry. Robocabs, we were told, would travel in formations so tight that they would finally end the Red Queen's Race of more cars – more roads – more distance – more cars. That lie wormed its way into the company's IPO prospectus, which promised retail investors that profitability lay in replacing every journey – by car, cab, bike, bus, tram or train – with an Uber ride:
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1RN2SK/
The company has been bleeding out money ever since – though you wouldn't know it by looking at its investor disclosures. Every quarter, Uber trumpets that it has finally become profitable, and every quarter, Hubert Horan dissects its balance sheets to find the accounting trick the company thought of this time. There was one quarter where Uber declared profitability by marking up the value of stock it held in Uber-like companies in other countries.
How did it get this stock? Well, Uber tried to run a business in those countries and it was such a total disaster that they had to flee the country, selling their business to a failing domestic competitor in exchange for stock in its collapsing business. Naturally, there's no market for this stock, which, in Uber-land, means you can assign any value you want to it. So that one quarter, Uber just asserted that the stock had shot up in value and voila, profit!
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-nine-despite-massive-price-increases-uber-losses-top-31-billion.html
But all of those lies are as nothing to the whopper that Uber is trying to sell to Torontonians by blanketing the city in ads: the lie that by paying drivers $2.50/hour to fill the streets with more single-occupancy cars, they will turn a profit, reduce the city's traffic, and provide good jobs. Uber says it can vanquish geometry, economics and working poverty with the awesome power of narrative.
In other words, it's taking Toronto for a bunch of suckers.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/29/geometry-hates-uber/#toronto-the-gullible
Image:
Rob Sinclair (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Night_skyline_of_Toronto_May_2009.jpg
CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
#pluralistic#uber#hubert horan#fraud#toronto#geometry hates cars#urbanism#ontpoli#olivia chow#self-regulation#transport#urban planning#taxis#transit#urban theory#labor#algorithmic wage discrimination#veena dubal
900 notes
·
View notes
Text
That the Editorial Board of the premier U.S. newspaper of record is finally warning about Donald Trump is significant. As such, this is a gift 🎁 link so that those who want to read the entire editorial can do so, even if they don't subscribe to The New York Times. Below are some excerpts:
As president, [Trump] wielded power carelessly and often cruelly and put his ego and his personal needs above the interests of his country. Now, as he campaigns again, his worst impulses remain as strong as ever — encouraging violence and lawlessness, exploiting fear and hate for political gain, undermining the rule of law and the Constitution, applauding dictators — and are escalating as he tries to regain power. He plots retribution, intent on eluding the institutional, legal and bureaucratic restraints that put limits on him in his first term.
Our purpose at the start of the new year, therefore, is to sound a warning.
Mr. Trump does not offer voters anything resembling a normal option of Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, big government or small. He confronts America with a far more fateful choice: between the continuance of the United States as a nation dedicated to “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” and a man who has proudly shown open disdain for the law and the protections and ideals of the Constitution.
[...]
It is instructive in the aftermath of that administration to listen to the judgments of some of these officials on the president they served. John Kelly, a chief of staff to Mr. Trump, called him the “most flawed person I’ve ever met,” someone who could not understand why Americans admired those who sacrificed their lives in combat. Bill Barr, who served as attorney general, and Mark Esper, a former defense secretary, both said Mr. Trump repeatedly put his own interests over those of the country. Even the most loyal and conservative of them all, Vice President Mike Pence, who made the stand that helped provoke Mr. Trump and his followers to insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, saw through the man: “On that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution,” he said.
[See more under the cut.]
There will not be people like these in the White House should Mr. Trump be re-elected. The former president has no interest in being restrained, and he has surrounded himself with people who want to institutionalize the MAGA doctrine. According to reporting by the Times reporters Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage and Jonathan Swan, Mr. Trump and his ideological allies have been planning for a second Trump term for many months already. Under the name Project 2025, one coalition of right-wing organizations has produced a thick handbook and recruited thousands of potential appointees in preparation for an all-out assault on the structures of American government and the democratic institutions that acted as checks on Mr. Trump’s power.
[...]
Mr. Trump has made clear his conviction that only “losers” accept legal, institutional or even constitutional constraints. He has promised vengeance against his political opponents, whom he has called “vermin” and threatened with execution. This is particularly disturbing at a time of heightened concern about political violence, with threats increasing against elected officials of both parties.
He has repeatedly demonstrated a deep disdain for the First Amendment and the basic principles of democracy, chief among them the right to freely express peaceful dissent from those in power without fear of retaliation, and he has made no secret of his readiness to expand the powers of the presidency, including the deployment of the military and the Justice Department, to have his way.
[...]
Re-electing Mr. Trump would present serious dangers to our Republic and to the world. This is a time not to sit out but instead to re-engage. We appeal to Americans to set aside their political differences, grievances and party affiliations and to contemplate — as families, as parishes, as councils and clubs and as individuals — the real magnitude of the choice they will make in November.
I encourage people to use the above gift link and read the entire article.
[edited]
447 notes
·
View notes
Text
#i hate myself for making this poll#but not as much as I find it funny#one of them has to have it#and i want this debated#sex tw#kink mention#notsfw#bill denbrough#richie tozier#eddie kasprak#mike hanlon#ben hanscom#beverly marsh#stanley uris#it 2017#it 2019
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
i looked up the current candidates for the 2024 presidential election in the usa and it is. really fucking bleak.
democrats:
joe biden - current president. doing...ok. he's pro trans rights and has been doing some good stuff to fight climate change, but he's like a hundred years old and
robert f kennedy jr - seems to have decent opinions on a lot of policy, but thinks that chemicals in the water are making kids transgender and has suggested that covid is a conspiracy by ashkenazi jews and chinese people
marianne williamson - anti vaxxer apparently, also i guess thinks love is the only thing that will defeat trump
republicans:
ryan binkley - conservative pastor that thinks marriage is "between one man and one woman", anti choice, wants to Build A Wall
doug burgum - republican governor that has actively passed anti trans legislation, anti regulation (unless what you're regulating is trans people ig????)
chris christie - is apparently opposed to bans on gender affirming care, but vetoed a bill allowing trans people to change their gender marker, anti choice
ron desantis - i feel like i don't need to explain
larry elder - denies systemic racism and wants police to be harder on crime, anti crt and dei, pretty solidly anti trans
nikki haley - anti choice, extremely anti trans, anti immigrant, supports israel while also having an evangelical pastor who has a history of antisemitism and racism and queerphobia open for one of her events
will hurd - doesn't seem too horrendous, not noticeably anti trans, but supports 15 week abortion ban
asa hutchinson - great value brand trump
perry johnson - was republican candidate for governor of michigan but was disqualified due to fraudulent ballot signatures
mike pence - yeah
vivek ramaswamy - "anti wokeism", would pass a law requiring teachers to disclose to parents if they found out their kid is trans, supports bans on gender affirming care, wants to end sanctuary cities and address mental health through "faith based approaches", hedge fund bro
tim scott - said that america is not a racist country and the biggest problem facing black people is "fatherlessness incentivized by welfare", opposes same sex marriage and gender affirming care and thinks democrats are using school to "indoctrinate children"
corey stapleton - montana secretary of state, couldn't find much abt him
donald trump - donald trump
independent
cornel west (green party) - seems really cool actually but two party system will fuck him over
i hate the two party system so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
also congrats to the dems for yet another milquetoast kennedy, and congrats to the republicans for having the most racially diverse list of racist and transphobic candidates!!!
337 notes
·
View notes
Text
Getting really tired of all the Aang hate/criticism (honestly I can't even call it criticism because it's just that stupid) that I've been seeing on my dash lately. Mainly by people who for some reason, don't think that Aang is an airbending prodigy/master because we are only "told and not shown that he is one". Like....guys. The literal airbending tattoos on his body prove that he is a master:
The only way for an airbender to get his or her tattoos is by becoming a master, as was stated in the show. Not to mention that Aang was also the youngest airbender to have received his. Also, saying that we don't see him practicing his airbending is so dumb. Seriously, why would they show us that, when he literally did that 100 years prior to the show starting, hence the tattoos? Throughout the show we see Aang doing amazing things with his airbending that proves he is indeed a prodigy. Denying this just proves that you didn't watch the show at all, but rather you saw a version that you made up in your head.
And if you really want to go there with the whole "we aren't really shown how or why Aang got his prodigy status" you wanna know who else fits that bill? Toph and Azula. With Toph, we're given the flashback of her learning from the badger moles when she was lost in the cave.
But outside of this moment? Nothing. We aren't shown her training to hone her skills or anything like that. When we meet Toph in book 2, we are told that she is an earthbending prodigy and the perfect person to teach Aang earthbending. The only reasons we are given for this is that she "waits and listens for the right moment to strike", something that Bumi told Aang was key to mastering earthbending, and because she's blind but can still earthbend and kick ass like it's nobody's business. Same thing with Azula. When we first meet her, we see her bending lightning.
This is quite obviously a powerful technique. But are we given a reason as to when and how she learned and eventually mastered it? No. Azula's firebending is blue, and as we know, she is the only firebender who's fire is this color.
We aren't given an explanation as to why this is in the show, however. Nobody in universe really comments on it, Zuko and Iroh don't bring it up either. Which, considering the fact that in her childhood, her firebending was the same color as every other firebender's, you'd think that would be a conversation at some point.
And yet it isn't. In fact, the only explanation for this, as far as I know? Comes from the art book. Mike and Bryan wanted Azula's firebending to look different from Zuko's in their final fight, which is why they decided to make her firebending blue. Much like with Toph, we aren't shown Azula training throughout the years to perfect her bending, or throughout the present timeline. So this whole stupid argument against Aang does not hold up at all. Stop hating on his character just because you prefer a different ship to the canon pairings, I'm begging you.
258 notes
·
View notes
Text
Date Night - Mike Schmidt
!not proof read!
paring female reader and Mike Schmidt
Warning: MNDI smut, fluff
summary: You just worked six days straight so you could help your boyfriend Mike with the bills and he has a surprise for you when you get home
๑ ⋆˚₊⋆────ʚ˚ɞ────⋆˚₊⋆ ๑ ︶ ︶꒷ ₊˚ฅ๑ ⋆˚₊⋆────ʚ˚ɞ────⋆˚₊⋆ ๑ ︶ ︶
You just pulled up to the house you and your boyfriend Mike share. You grabbed your bag and locked your car and then headed inside
You open the door and you see Mike sitting in his recliner waiting for you the moment he sees you he gets up and walks over to you helping you get out of your shoes and jacket
"Here come here and let me take care of you," He says
You follow his lead leading you to the couch he sits down and you sit down next to him he signals for you to give him your feet so you could rub them
"Baby you don't have too" you say tiredly
"But I want too you work your ass off for me and Abby it's the least I can do" he replies
"Speaking of Abby where is she?" You ask
"She's at a freinds house because we have a date night right now so get up and go change" he says in a bossy tone
"Alright Mr. Bossypants" you Answer
He just laughs and you go to the bedroom to go change your clothes
It takes you five minutes to change clothes and fix your makeup and your hair
You leave the bedroom "okay I'm ready babe" you say
"Good, let's go" he responds
Mike drives you to a skating rink
"But I thought you hated skating?" You ask
"You know I'd do anything to see you smile" he replies
The two of you enter the rink he pays for your guys skates and you take the skates to sit down and put them on
You both put on the skates and go on the part where you skate around
you start skating around this was easy for you because your dad would take you rollerskating every weekend when you were younger
you turn around to see Mike struggling to keep balanced you smile and skate over to him
"Need help babe?" you ask
he looks at you with pleading eyes " Yes please" he answers
you take his hand and start skating around together 'you take his hand and start skating around together
"See you got it babe," you say
the music in the roller rink starts to pick up and the two of you start to dance while skating around
you start to smile and he looks at you adorably "What do I have something on my face?" you ask
"no baby I just love seeing you smile," he says as he runs his thumb down your cheek and then he almost loses his balance but you catch him
"Alright let's get you off this floor," you say as Mike nods in agreement
you and Mike take off the skates and head over to the arcade part of the building
" lets play skeeball?" Mike askes
"Let's do it " you answer
you both put a quarter in and began to play
You start to throw the skeeball and while trying your best not to look at Mike because you know he'd distract you big time
The two of you played until the end of the game and you beat him by one point
"Oh come on babe I totally beat you" he says with a chuckle in his voice
"Well according to the game you didn't, " you say with a smirk
"Well maybe you distracted me you ever think of that?" He says wrapping his hand around your waist
《》》》《》《》《》《》《》《《》《》《》《》》《》《》《》《》《》
Part 2 coming soon!
Sorry that I haven't been posting some personal things have been going on but hopefully I can get back to posting soon!
I hope you like it lmk
Not edited
#mike schmidt#josh hutcherson#mike schmidt x reader#mike schmidt imagine#mike schmidt x you#fnaf mike
188 notes
·
View notes
Note
Request: ok so listen; so Steve Harrington who didn't tell anyone he gets into a medical school (Indiana University School of medicine) but he travels to school during the week and Mike finds the graduation letter in Steve's apartment. He graduated as a premed student with a full scholarship to Harvard Medical school for the trauma surgeon program. The party realizes that their constant jokes making fun of Steve's intelligence caused him to not tell them about this. I want a mixture of angst with a full proper apology & a few years later him graduating from Harvard with the party cheering him.
MY LOOOOOOVE!!!! Nothing gets me going quite like a secret super smart Steve Harrington. Is it OOC? Maybe. But writing Steve as a fucking Harvard Med School graduate!!! A whole trauma surgeon!!!! YES!!!!! I obviously had to put some Steddie in there, mostly because Eddie deserves a happy ending, too and any chance I have to give him one, I will. - Mickala ❤️
---------------------------------------------
Steve was late. He’d been late a lot recently.
Mike started driving a few weeks ago, got his hands on Nancy’s car since she was busy traveling the world now, and he’d been quick to pick up the slack.
But he was growing impatient.
When they asked Steve why he was late, he shrugged it off, said he forgot. Everyone just went with it because obviously Steve’s kind of scatterbrained and a few fries short of a happy meal, especially after the head trauma.
But Mike was suspicious.
Steve let it go a little too easily.
And Eddie hadn’t stuck up for him like he usually did when they were teasing his intelligence.
Mike was letting himself into Steve’s apartment, using the key that he kept under the mat so the kids always had a place to go if they needed it.
He wasn’t home yet, but Mike had just been to Family Video and he wasn’t there either. Apparently, hadn’t been in at all today. Keith said something about ‘taking the day off for exams.’
Steve wasn’t in school though, so that meant he was lying and Mike wanted to know what he was lying about.
He looked at the counter, saw a large stack of mail, and decided that was probably a good place to start his search.
Most of it seemed like junk, a few bills, a letter from Robin, and an envelope that was torn open already from Indiana University.
If it was already open, it was fair game. That was his motto, at least.
He pulled out a thick stack of papers.
The seal in the corner of the first page said School of Medicine.
Was Steve sick? Had he started seeing the university doctors because of some weird problem with his head? Maybe that’s why he’d also been so forgetful lately.
Maybe they put him on a new medication trial or something and it was a side effect.
But he kept reading and felt his chest cave in.
Dear Mr. Steven J. Harrington,
It is a great honor to announce your successful completion of the pre-med degree program at Indiana University. Your incredible tenacity has proved that you’re prepared to work through any medical school program in the country.
Graduation is currently set for May 18, 1989. Please contact your advisor to reserve tickets by April 28, 1989.
Thank you for trusting Indiana University with your education. We look forward to seeing your accomplishments in the future!
“Holy shit.”
“Why are you reading my mail?”
Mike jumped at Steve’s voice. He’d been so busy reading the letter, he hadn’t heard the front door to the apartment open.
“You’re going to med school?”
“Hopefully, yeah.”
“What the fuck?”
Steve rolled his eyes and made his way to the fridge, grabbing a can of soda for himself.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, like. You’re. You’re you. How are you going to med school?”
Steve’s brows furrowed as he leaned against the counter and sipped at his drink.
“I graduated from pre-med as valedictorian. I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
“You? Valedictorian? You barely got through high school!”
Steve rolled his eyes.
“I hated high school. I was going through a lot of shit. It wasn’t because I’m stupid.”
Mike’s mouth was gaping like a fish, confused at literally everything that was happening.
“But-“
“I also just got into Harvard on a full scholarship if we’re gonna put it all out there. I was gonna tell everyone this weekend at El’s birthday party but I’m sure you’re about to run to tell them all.”
Well, how could he not? Steve had been hiding going to college for years! He was about to move to Harvard!
“Wait! Is Eddie going with you?”
“Yeah. We found an apartment over a record store and the owner hired him to run the store while he transitions into retirement.”
Mike felt like he was in an alternate universe. There was no way Steve Harrington was going to be a doctor. There was no way Eddie and Steve were moving to Boston.
There was no way he was leaving all of them.
“But. But what about us?”
“You guys are all practically adults. You barely even hang out with me anymore unless it’s to get a ride or get snacks for Hellfire. You didn’t even notice I was driving to and from campus for years. I think I’ve given enough of myself to people who don’t seem to want it,” Steve shrugged, looking down at the floor.
Mike wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, but he also kind of just wanted to hug Steve and tell him that wasn’t true.
But it kind of was, wasn’t it?
They’d all taken advantage of Steve’s kindness for years. He’d been the best damn babysitter they could have, saved their lives multiple times, gave them money for the arcade and dates and pizza for pool parties when he lived in his old house.
They grew to just expect it.
He didn’t even know the last time he’d heard anyone say thank you. He certainly hadn’t said it in a long time.
“But, Dustin will be devastated.”
“He’ll be okay. He’s gonna go to MIT when he graduates and he’ll be right around the corner or something. I dunno. He hasn’t even called me just to talk in months. I don’t think he’ll miss me that much.”
Which just. It wasn’t true. Mike knew for a fact that Dustin would be heartbroken about Steve leaving.
“I.”
“It’s fine. Eddie’s gonna be home soon so if you wanna wait for him that’s fine. I’m gonna go shower and get an early night. Been up since three this morning.”
“Did you really have exams?”
“What?”
“I checked to see if you worked today and Keith said you had exams,” Mike said shakily, feeling entirely off balance.
“Oh. I just had to do an entrance exam for Harvard. They let me take it on IU’s campus since I can’t move until two weeks before classes start.”
Mike nodded once.
This was really happening. Steve was leaving.
Steve was going to Harvard.
He was taking Eddie with him.
And not a single one of them had bothered to notice any of it happening.
————————
“I told you I don’t know! I’m giving you everything I have!” Mike yelled at Dustin, who was pacing and clearly trying not to cry.
“It just doesn’t make sense! He always acted like he didn’t understand half of what we were saying when we talked science stuff!” Dustin yelled as he walked back and forth across the floor, wearing a pattern into the carpet.
“Maybe it’s because we’ve always just assumed he’s dumb. I mean, none of us really treated him like he could keep up, so maybe he just. Didn’t,” Lucas shrugged.
“He could’ve told us!”
“Or maybe he didn’t want to since we all thought he’d be lying,” Max added from her chair in the corner.
“He could’ve proved it!”
“Maybe he didn’t want to have to,” Eddie said as he walked in the room.
Hellfire was at Dustin’s tonight, and Eddie had been late.
His sudden appearance made them all cower where they sat or stood.
“No Hellfire tonight. I was gonna call, but had to drive by here anyway. Steve’s having a bad night and I’m pretty certain it’s your fault, so I’m gonna go try to get him through it.”
It was a bit harsh, but not undeserved.
“Why didn’t you tell us, Eddie?” Dustin asked quietly.
“It wasn’t for me to tell. He was going to when he got accepted into IU, and then you guys spent most of that night telling him he wouldn’t understand what you were talking about with your group science project so he kept it to himself. Then he just decided it wouldn’t be worth trying to explain anything since you wouldn’t believe him anyway. He asked me not to say anything until he announced his graduation and Harvard this weekend, so I didn’t.”
“But we would have been proud of him! He could have shown us his acceptance letter or something.”
“That’s not how you made him feel,” Eddie shrugged before turning back towards the door. “We’ll see you at El’s party.”
When Eddie left, the room was silent.
Everyone was deep in thought, trying to unpack everything.
With Hellfire canceled, they didn’t have much of a reason to stick around, but none of them felt like being alone.
Not when they started to realize that Steve was kind of the glue that held them all together and without him, they may not ever be whole again.
—-----------------------
El’s party was simple, just the usual guests and some cake and balloons. She didn’t like a big thing, usually preferred to have a sleepover with Max and just do their nails and listen to music.
Joyce insisted on having a little get together though, said it would be nice to celebrate something since they hadn’t really since Will’s birthday.
Steve was there, holding Eddie’s hand in the corner, talking with Hopper while Eddie talked with Joyce.
Steve told them everything when they got there since the kids knew, and while he knew Joyce and Hopper were happy for him, for both of them, they could send their shock.
All of the kids had hesitantly hugged Steve when they got there, barely saying anything to him, unsure where they stood.
Steve felt like he was closing the book on his life in Hawkins, and he hated that it felt like no one would join him in the next one except for Eddie.
Throughout the day, the kids would find their way up to him to just be close, soak in Steve’s energy, try to appreciate him now because they clearly hadn’t been before.
He let them. He could have told them to go away, or tried to talk them into apologies, but it wouldn’t do any good right now, and he didn’t want to ruin El’s birthday party.
Eddie could tell he wasn’t himself, though. He saw the way Steve’s eyes dropped down to his lap every time one of the kids would walk away from his side, how his leg started bouncing when things were quiet for more than a few seconds.
“You wanna head out?”
“I-”
“Steve? Can we talk to you for a minute?” Lucas asked, the rest of the party behind him watching with wide eyes.
“Oh. Sure.”
Eddie patted his knee and stood up, but Lucas gestured for him to sit back down.
“You, too. We owe you both explanations and apologies.”
So, Eddie sat. He would support Steve through whatever this conversation entailed, and maybe get something else out of it too.
“We all want to take turns saying stuff, but I wanna start,” Lucas said, playing with his hands nervously.
Steve nodded, always more patient than the kids deserved.
“I always saw you as the jock, ya know? Like, I respected you because you were a great basketball player and you had a lot of friends. I just kind of thought that was who you were, even after high school. You always made time to help me over the summer, even when you’d just worked an opening shift or had to go in for a closing shift. I didn’t really consider you an adult, even though you were. You were just there. You protected me, all of us, from some of the scariest shit any of us will ever have to deal with without even taking a second to consider your own safety. You just did it. And I don’t really think any of us thanked you. None of us would be here without you.”
Lucas was biting his lip, trying not to cry as he wrapped up his speech, but didn’t get a chance to start before Will started talking.
“I haven’t spent as much time with you as the rest of these guys have. But I know that you’re always there. You give me a ride when my mom can’t and you always slip me an extra $1 or 2 when we go to the arcade because you know I don’t have much. You hung up my art on your apartment wall even though it sucks and isn’t your style because you wanted me to know that someone supports me. You’ve been one of the only constants in our crazy lives, and we haven’t done nearly enough to show that we appreciate you,” Will wiped his eyes quickly as he turned away to let someone else speak.
“Billy was an asshole to all of us, but especially to you. You could’ve walked away that night, left Lucas and me to defend ourselves or die trying, but you didn’t. You knew he was a racist piece of shit and you got another concussion just so he wouldn’t lay a hand on us. That was the first time I ever had someone stick up for me like that. And after everything with Vecna, you were the one who always checked in, made sure I had rides to appointments, had food I could easily make when my mom wasn’t around, brought me to the skate park as soon as I was cleared by my doctor. I’ve never had someone who cared so much like you do and I’m sorry I didn’t know how to show you that it meant so much to me,” Max said seriously.
Steve was sniffling, and Eddie knew if he tried to comfort him too much right now, it would just make it worse. He squeezed his hand and wiped the tear falling down his cheek as the kids continued.
“I hated you for the longest time. I thought it was your fault Nancy changed, and then I thought it was your fault when Nancy and Jonathan got together, and then I just hated everyone and everything for a while. But I think it was just easy to use you to blame everything on because you let me. You just let me treat you like shit. You let me complain about your driving while you drove me anywhere I wanted to go. You let me blame you for Nancy being upset about the break up when she was the one who hurt you most. You let me think you were stupid when you’re brilliant enough to go to Harvard on a full scholarship. You let all of us take advantage of you and I don’t know why, but I wish I could turn back time and not let you do that. You didn’t deserve to be used by any of us, but especially me,” Mike said surprisingly sincerely.
In fact, Eddie watched Mike take a few deep breaths like he was holding back a sob.
“I am sorry for how we all treated you, Steve. I did not know that we hurt you. Dad said sometimes the people who hurt the most are the people who accept hurt as the way they are supposed to be treated, but that is not true. You should be loved so much, like Eddie loves you, by everyone. We should have done better,” El said as she held Max’s hand.
Dustin had been incredibly quiet, hiding in the back, not even looking up from the ground. Eddie could tell he wanted to say something, but probably didn’t know how to start.
It was no secret that Dustin was Steve’s favorite kid. It was also no secret that Dustin loved Steve like a brother, maybe even more, and that if Steve was upset, Dustin would want to make it right.
“I never had someone to look up to until you came around,” Dustin started, still not looking up from the ground. “My mom always felt bad that she didn’t give me a good role model or a brother or sister to look up to. But when you started watching over me, she felt like it was better this way. ‘That Harrington boy is special.’ That’s what she says all the time. And I guess I got used to her saying it and just didn’t think anything of it anymore. Like, yeah, you’re great. You do all kinds of stuff for me and for all of us, but it just felt like you wanted to so what made it so special? When Mike told us everything, it hit me that even if you wanted to do all that stuff, you still deserved a thank you. You went out of your way to make us safe and happy, and our only way to repay you was to constantly put you down and bully you. We spent years calling you out for what an asshole you were in high school while we ended up being assholes to you. You’re my brother and I haven’t been good to you. I’m sorry.”
Eddie was watching as Steve finally let out a sob he’d been holding in for too long. He pulled him into his chest, watching as the kids all wiped tears of their own away.
He knew the kids were genuinely sorry, he could tell that when faced with the reality of the way they treated Steve for years now, they felt terrible. But he also knew that Steve let it go on too long without saying something, and that it would take a while for him to really figure out a good balance of being there for the kids he loved and setting boundaries he needed to set long ago.
“Can you give him a minute guys? I’m sure he wants to talk to you all, but I think he just needs to calm down.”
The kids all nodded and scurried away.
They weren’t kids anymore, was the thing. They would always be kids to Steve, though. That’s why this was hurting so much. They were his nuggets, and they’d been unintentionally hurting him for years.
Steve had been so excited to tell them about getting into a pre-med program at IU, and when he couldn’t tell them, he changed. He was withdrawn in ways Eddie had never seen or expected. He was focused on school, and their relationship, but nothing else. He would go through the motions of driving the kids where he could when he could, throwing the occasional pool party, keeping up appearances.
He’d been exhausted for two years now. Running on fumes for miles, no end in sight. Until he got his acceptance into Harvard.
Eddie had never seen him so happy or proud of himself.
But the happiness faded quickly when he realized what telling the kids would mean, what going to Harvard would mean.
It meant moving, it meant leaving the kids, it meant spending the next 6-8 years so focused on school and residency that he probably wouldn’t have time to visit much outside of major holidays. It meant hoping that Eddie would come with him, support him, and love him regardless of the limited time he had to spend outside of school.
But Eddie would be there for every moment. He’d worked so hard, and Eddie wanted to be there for him every step of the way.
The kids would understand. They were almost graduated at this point, probably heading off to college themselves, and had their own lives to start.
“I wish I’d just told them about IU.”
“I know, sweetheart. But we can’t change the past. You’ve got such an amazing future ahead of you. Everyone is gonna be so proud of Dr. Steve Harrington.”
Steve smiled at that as Eddie dried his tears away.
When he’d calmed down completely, he walked over to where the kids were sitting on the porch.
He stood in front of them with his hands on his hips, a small smile on his face.
“If I forgive you all, will you stop looking like I just stole your ice creams and kicked your puppies?”
Dustin was the first to jump up and run into Steve, sobbing when Steve’s arms wrapped around him.
“It’s alright, bud. I love you, even when you’re a shithead, okay?”
All of the kids piled into Steve’s arms and around his back, all of them crying as Steve started telling them all about his program.
“I’m going to be a trauma surgeon. I was always pretty good at patching everyone up after Upside Down shit, so I figured why not make it a career? And I placed so high on the entrance testing, they suggested I go for pre-med instead of the EMT program. One of my professors my first semester suggested being a surgeon, so that’s the track I took.”
The kids looked at him in awe, like they were seeing him in a new light.
Eddie thought maybe they were finally seeing the Steve he’d seen all along.
—---------------------------------
May 11, 1997
“Steven Joseph Harrington, MD, summa cum laude.”
The cheers from his group were so loud, but they all ignored the dirty looks from the surrounding family and friends.
Steve Harrington was a Harvard graduate, a graduate with the highest honors, a trauma surgeon who already accepted his first position in a nearby hospital.
Everyone was so proud of him.
Wayne and Eddie had arranged for everyone to either ride in a rental car with Wayne or fly in to surprise Steve for his graduation.
He could see Steve look up into the crowd when he heard the screams, could see the grin spreading across his face as he realized his whole family was here to support him, just as they had been for the last eight years.
Everything Steve wanted and worked for was coming together, and everyone who believed in him was here cheering him on.
He was the best damn babysitter those kids had, and now he’d be the best damn trauma surgeon Boston Children’s Hospital would ever have.
#steddie#steve harrington#eddie munson#stranger things#the party#ficlet#request#steve is actually incredibly smart and this is my ted talk#eddie is about to become a housewife who works 'for fun'#that boston surgeon money is about to make steve his sugar daddy
854 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
