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aihoshiino · 1 month

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chapter 144 thoughts!

I don't think any other chapter of Oshi no Ko has ever baffled and confounded me quite like this one. Viewed solely in isolation this is a perfectly fine, functional chapter but as the followup to 143 and everything it contained, I actually feel like I'm losing my mind a bit. 143 might as well not have happened for all the weight it's given in this chapter. Ruby is not remotely acting like a girl who just tongued her crush of 18 years and in general, the total absence of any reference or cushioning of the shock of that event is just so loud and so jarring and so completely out of touch with how OnK has handled romantic developments in the past.

Both AquAka kisses had at least a scene or two in the chapter immediately following of characters reacting to and reflecting on both the event itself and the status quo change it represents in the relationship. Even 124 has that scene of Ruby clinging onto Aqua to let the viewer know what the new dynamic between them is going to be from now on. This chapter has nothing of the sort; I wasn't kidding when it says it feels like the kiss never even happened. The only thing I can point to is Ruby's little "we have sensei at home" exchange with Tsukuyomi but that's… kind of just exactly what she would've said even before the kiss. So if it has resulted in absolutely no change to their dynamic that we can see thus far, what was the point in ending the chapter on that note?

The part of me that is cynical and jaded can't help but suspect that this is intentionally hot button reaction bait paced specifically for the purposes of keeping OnK a trendy topic in the lead up to season 2 of the anime airing, But Who's To Say, Really.

I also had my worries about this last chapter, but unless we skip back in time to address it, it really looks like we've skipped over the remainder of the KamiAi romance and everything to do with the early stages of Ai's pregnancy. This is incredibly frustrating to me - they're parts of Ai's story I had been incredibly curious about and was excited to see her thoughts and feelings on, even filtered through fiction. In general, the way the Movie Arc has been increasingly dropping its focus on actually conveying Ai's story has been a real sore point for me. I fully acknowledge this rankles me more than perhaps it should because I am so deeply invested in Ai above any other character but… fuck, man! Once again, remember when this was supposed to be an arc about her? About her inner life, her pain and struggles and Aqua and Ruby working to a better understanding of her? I was excited for the Movie Arc specifically because I thought we were going to get peeks at parts of Ai's life we weren't privy to beforehand, but at this point it almost feels like Akasaka has just lost interest in following through.

Not only that but… uh, where's that KamiAi breakup scene, Akasaka? The one we were promised during the script reading? That huge I CAN'T LOVE YOU elephant that's been patiently sitting in the room? I can only assume that the 15YL version of this breakup happens after the twins are born or maybe even when Kamiki visited Ai at the hospital the night the kids were born but. What the fuck is even going on here anymore lol. The Oshi no Brainrot discord has been kicking around a joke theory that we were seeing the events of the Movie Arc out of their actual chronological order and it is becoming increasingly less of a joke in my brain because I can't make any sense of its progression otherwise.

oh my god i'm almost 1000 words in and i haven't started talking about the actual point of this chapter yet. god help me.

Anyway, MY SON IS HERE LET'S GO MELT!!!!!!

Ngl, I've always been a little disappointed that we didn't see much more of Melt in this arc, both just because I like him and because I think there's some really interesting potential in drawing on the parallels between Melt and Kamiki. I'm not the first to point out that Melt's experience with a dubiously consensual sexual encounter at the hands of an upperclassman - when he wasn't that much older than Hikaru was when Airi began abusing him - echoes at least in spirit Kamiki's experiences as a CSA victim; both were young boys, noted to be pretty and desirable, who were taken advantage of by older female figures. I think it would be extremely interesting and a great character moment for Melt to have some degree of engagement with that material and maybe to have some thoughts about it. It feels like a little bit of a missed opportunity to pass up on that, but I also acknowledge that Melt is ultimately not a huge mover and shaker in the overall story and I don't know how that would've fit into the Movie Arc as it stands, so I'll just have to make eyes at the AO3 tag and hope someone writes a fic about it.

Anyway as a lot of people predicted… here's Ruby being a jackass to Melt about his performance!!! Joking aside, I will admit it's a little jarring to see Ruby being so hostile to Melt over this…? Gorou is a sore spot for her, obviously and she would undoubtedly have high standards for his role in the movie. In addition, Ruby being snitty with people who rub her the wrong way definitely isn't new for her, but it still feels kind of odd both coming off her own struggles to connect with Ai through acting and her little "holy shit other people have feelings" breakthrough in the wake of the RBKN fight for her to be like this about it. I do think this is mostly just supposed to be just goofs and I'm overthinking it, it was just one of those things that kind of gave me pause as I was reading.

ruby's little little princess shirt is really good though, as is her referring to herself as a fan of the 'original work'. both of those got a solid sensible chuckle out of me.

Another thing that gave me pause for a very different reason was Melt and Ruby's exchange about his little merch pin. First and foremost, I think this is a really good Melt moment; while we saw him busting his ass to improve his acting in Tokyo Blade, that was very much when he had something to prove. Here, he really does seem to be going above and beyond for what is basically a bit part purely out of a desire to improve his craft and a passion for acting overall. It's nice to see the story double down in this being a lesson he did properly take away from Sweet Today and that he has committed to acting upon it (no pun intended) in the long term, not just when under outside pressure to do so.

The other thing that jumped out to me about this exchange is that… technically speaking, both Ruby and Melt are wrong, here? It's a very nice, flowery description of Gorou and it certainly lines up with his more positive traits but the idea of him not wearing his Ai merch in front of Ai herself is actually incorrect. Gorou is depicted (in the anime, anyway) as openly wearing the charm at what's implied to be all times, even in front of Ai herself. The manga also implies by way of where the charm is on his person when Ruby finds his body that this is also the case in that version of events, too. I don't think it's a retcon and may be an unimportant detail in the grand scheme of things but it did pique my interest.

There's a few ways to take this, I think; a more positive spin is that this is in line with what the story wants us to take away from 15 Year Lie as a production, where the literal granular facts of its events are sometimes less important than and can be bent in favour of supporting the emotional narrative it wants to convey. Melt may not literally be correct here, but he at least achieves the spirit of the right answer in his efforts. "Lies are love", after all.

However, given that Ruby enthusiastically endorses this interpretation - and is thus wrong alongside Melt - this could potentially be an indication of there being cracks in Ruby's rose-tinted view of Gorou. This strikes me as a fascinating idea and one I hope the series plays with; it would follow quite naturally from last chapter's framing of Gorou as Ruby's 'idol' that she's 'gachikoi' for. Oshi no Ko has pretty consistently portrayed the idol/fan relationship as inherently unequal, even when approached with the best of intentions and to truly know someone, you must let them off their pedestal first. She has sort of begun this process with Ai, just through empathizing with her during the 15YL production but we have yet to see anything similar happen with Gorou - if anything, we see the opposite here, where she asserts herself as the authority on Gorou's character as if she has the final say on who he was and what he felt and thought.

But the thing is, how well can Ruby really say that she knew him? They were only in each others' lives for a few months and in that time, she was only exposed to a very narrow slice of his life and his personality. Hell, you could even argue that Akane knows more about Gorou than Ruby does, given that we have no indication that Ruby or Sarina was ever privy to the details of his birth and his home life. Again, it's entirely possible that I'm reading too much into this, but now the idea is in my brain I'm simmering on it a bit. If nothing else, I hope the series takes the time to prod and poke at this angle, especially now it has made the fan/idol aspect of this dynamic explicit and textual.

Ruby and Melt's little senpai/kouhai dynamic has the potential to be really cute and I do hope the series actually spends some time on it. I've always thought a RBML friendship could be really fun to watch play out and seeing Melt gain some confidence in himself by teaching someone else could be really great. But with how unfocused the Movie Arc has been, it's really hard to get my hopes up that we'll be sticking with this even past this chapter lol

oh hey there crow girl we thought you were dead

Surprisingly, I don't have a lot to really say about her little lore drop here, since it's mostly mystery boxing and implications and, man. It's been 69 (nice) chapters since she first started showing up ominously muttering about supernatural things and while I don't mind her presence and I think she's evolved into a fun character, it's a little hard for me to get interested in these little supernatural tidbits until they resolve into something that feels meaningful for the characters.

This isn't helped by the fact that we don't really know what kami means in the context she uses it here. While 'god' and 'gods' are not strictly incorrect as translations, I think an English speaking viewer is primed to think of Abrahamic, capital G-Gods, which isn't necessarily correct. The term kami is a catchall that covers all manner of things from divinities to venerated earthbound humans, so kami can perhaps best be understood as being an umbrella term for something like 'an otherworldly being', which I think better lines up with Tsukuyomi's assertion that those who have memories of past lives are like kami in of themselves.

Ultimately though until we know what kami really means and amounts to in Oshi no Ko, it's hard to say what this means for the characters and I am ultimately only really interested in the characters. So until we know what this actually amounts to in-story, I'm just kind of nodding long with whatever Crow Girl says because sure. This might as well happen.

can we talk about how fucking funny her anime antagonist jump out of the tree was, by the way

break next week, or so i've heard... one of these days, we'll beat the allegations....

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers #chapter reviews

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ceoofhelaegon · 1 year

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The Coronation Scene

Hey everyone,

In this post, I will break down a small part of what happened at the coronation and the reactions between Aegon and Heleana.

We all have seen this a million times before, Aegon is angry, sad and also a bit defiant. He doesn't want to do this, but for some reason he is.

Everyone here has a different body language, I'll try to talk about them individually.

Criston and Aemond: they have the same body language, wide legs and arms behind your back means that you are confident, you are leaving your vital organs exposed.

Alicent: Also wants to project confidence, but unlike Aemond and Criston, she is protecting her stomach which is where a lot of vital organs are, that means that she isn't as confident and is scared.

Otto: Exudes pride and confidence, his chin is up and his chest is puffed up, basically he's feeling himself.

Helaena: The best way to describe her is a ball of anxiety, her whole body is tense, and the way she's releasing all of that extra adrenaline is with her hands, she's clenching her fists and moves her arm for a couple of seconds.

As soon as Heleana sees Aegon walking towards them, she doesn't stop looking at Aegon, it was as if she's studying his face for the first time. Everyone else has a different focus, but not Helaeana, she's only about Aegon.

Again, Helaena hasn't stopped. Her neck is slightly tilted to the side to look at Aegon better as if she's entranced by him. Alicent looks at Aegon for a moment but then looks away to the High Septon.

Haleana's posture is the same as her mother's, a protective gesture. In my interpretation, Helaena is the only one that is solely focused on Aegon in this scene. Everyone else is worried about the coronation, the people, but Helaena is solely focused on Aegon.

Heleana's hands now are slightly down, in front of her uterus, a woman's most vulnerable place. (tinfoil hat theory time, I believe that Helaena is pregnant with Maelor here and is subconsciously protecting him). She takes her eyes off Aegon for less than a second, but then is back on Aegon again, this is all about him.

Helaena only looks away when the crown is placed upon Aegon's head, Helaena rejects the crown, not Aegon. If she hated Aegon, she wouldn't be so intent in studying him with a fascination on her look.

This is the first time that Helaena looks at Aegon after he was officially crowned. It was as if she was waiting for her turn to bow, both Aemond and Alicent nod, but Heleana actually bowed.

You can see in her facial expressions that she doesn't like it, she doesn't like the fact that Aegon is King and that her family is in danger. Her jaw is clenched, but she still moves with grace, her movements aren't stiff, my conclusion is that she's conflicted.

Her dragon dreams might have something to do with it, I don't think that she can fully interpret them which might be the reason why she gets so angry when people disregard her. But what she probably has is a sense of doom, her face isn't like that because of Aegon, but because of the fact that he's King.

When the High Septon announces "Aegon Second of His Name" Helaena blinks rapidly, which indicates anxiety and trying to process information that can mean two things for someone like Helaena:

She's getting a dragon dream at that moment.

It might be her sense of doom.

I'll go on the route of the sense of doom, in that moment, she doesn't know what's to come but she knows it will be bad. I believe that frustrates Helaeana to no end, having this sense of doom and dragon dreams and not being able to communicate with anyone.

In conclusion, I think that their relationship way more layered and complicated than what we see at first glance and that Phia and TGC are great actors for conveying so much in a minimal amount of screen time.

#aegon ii targaryen #helaena targaryen #aegon x helaena #helaegon #helaegon meta [show]#helaena x aegon ii #house of the dragon

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akuma-tenshi · 4 months

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tell me ur theories abt 100 epitaphs

had to go back to get screenshots bc i felt like i was going insane. so:

at the very beginning, during the lyrics "lay your emotions with them like a mourning wreath", there's a shot of kt's face on a headstone. which makes me believe she may have been terminated at some time during this whole thing and there's going to be a twist where yura gets into the facility with whoever the hell decides to join him only to learn she's been dead this whole time and all this was for nothing

my friend pointed this out when the video first came out but there's a shot of yura during the first chorus where he's surrounded by several mostly-unnamed characters when they say "another apathetic epitaph". iirc he's between kolya and nikita, both of whom are dead, and their faces are shown in frames, likely symbolising those photos that are displayed during funerals. which could very possibly foreshadow yura dying, probably during the mission to save kt.

olga being shown with flowers sprouting out of her does not give me hope for her. this is especially worrying considering the fact that she's shown in occam's razor during the line "but some ventures require a sacrificial lamb" - this could refer to her taking the fall for yura after the whole incident in the zone but it's still concerning. oddly enough i'm less confident in this than in my yura and kt dying theories bc it just doesn't feel like olga would die (wouldn't make sense or be satisfying from a narrative perspective) but it's still possible. if she doesn't die then she's definitely not coming out of this the same

this is not the last we've seen of sergei. this may just be wishful thinking (love that square......) and ik he basically just gave up on sanya. but anyone who's tried to help an especially difficult person will tell you it's not that easy to just let them go, especially considering that he's already done so much for her and still has skin in the game even if he does completely drop his sister (*gestures vaguely at that one drawing of him reading a book on "breaking your girlfriend out of jail" or smthn.... ik it's just a silly joke but i'd be fuckin hyped if we got sergei breaking olga out of prison). something tells me he's going to keep trying to influence things from afar without getting too invested; whether he'll keep trying to help sanya or just focus all his effort on olga, i'm not sure.

sanya is becoming another yura. she's getting more hopeless and desperate, not to save kt but to protect / help yura. she's doing crazier and crazier shit and has managed to stay in contact with him even though sergei tried to stop them from meeting. the shot of her laughing surrounded by candles, the shot of her sitting so nonchalantly against the wall talking to dima, the shot of her standing up to sergei to protect yura... she feels very yuracore and it worries me. also the shot of her strangling her past self, the one that was much more optimistic and bright yet sheltered.. any writer will tell you that having a character literally harm / kill their past self is the number one way of indicating that they're completely cutting off their past and moving on.

this is a very stupid theory but kolya isn't actually dead. he plays way more of a role in 100 epitaphs than he ever did before. and yes nikita has content too but there are just.. so many shots of kolya (the one that stands out most to me is of him sitting in the center of the screen with headphones on). he may not be the same person but like. what if the grinder didn't kill him?? what if he's alive, just far away from all this?? what if he comes back?? changed and injured but still kolya. ((god i hope i'm talking about the right person here if that isn't kolya i'm going to look like such a dumbass))

also the title "100 epitaphs" and the prominent presence of two (supposedly) dead characters.... it doesn't inspire confidence in a lot of these characters' chances of surviving.

sorry if some of this is incoherent or just downright weird, i've been up for a while. but i will always take up an opportunity to rant about this video it's had me positively ill. i was literally fucking shaking while typing this

#happy one month to 100 epitaphs #came out at a time i really fucking needed it tbh #rambling #thanks for the ask!!#pafl #parties are for losers #pafl theories #100 epitaphs

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nikethestatue · 18 days

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I sort of miss the post-ACOSF elriel theories. I loved the idea of the IC needing elain to search for the fourth DT using her Visions. I loved that ACOSF made it very clear elain was next. I loved all the forbidden love, sex in the garden, sneaking around ideas. Don’t get me wrong I loved the lore SJM developed with the crossover but it’s starting to feel a bit choppy? We spent the original trilogy with the cauldron as a main plot point, then we spent ACOSF all on the DT which now seems like filler to build up the crossover, and now for the next acotar book we’re going back to the Cauldron? Idk. The scope has changed so much and I feel like SJM doesn’t have the same ideas for the next book anymore. I sort of have a fear all the focus will go to Azriel and the swords and Nesta, while Elain’s powers won’t be explored or utilized…

Same here. It's hard to know where SJm is going and it's kind of frustrating, but I do think that some of the theories have been confirmed/came to pass.

I think it's been a long time, so it kind of becomes more muddled as time passes. But I am hopeful that it will be good. It might be very different from what've expected but I am personally okay with that. I don't mind being surprised.

My biggest thing worry is that she will not remain true to Elain's character. I can deal with pretty much everything else, but I want to make sure that Elain remains the character that we fell in love with.

But honestly, I am okay with just a good love story. I am okay with less plot, but a good romance. Not 'it's just sex' or sweaty thong sex or no love story at all.

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mangoshorthand · 1 year

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Before A Fall [Five Hargreeves x F Reader]. Ch 11 (Hard Feelings Part 2)

SUMMARY: As your life begins to grow around Five's, his attitude becomes a little sinister. When does protection become suffocation and when does taking matters into your own hands become betrayal? (weekly updates)

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven - Chapter Twelve

Five's got a lot of grovelling to do.

Nothing objectionable below but proceed at your own risk anyway.

Chapter 11: A Biological Matter

Hastily, you hold Five to you and kiss his forehead once, twice, three times. Clearly bewildered, he brings a hand up to your back to reciprocate but you pull away too quickly.

"You need shut the fuck up, listen and not ask questions."

"What?"

You take Santi's hand and shout for Viktor. Already poised for an emergency, you hear him approach on the run.

Sloane is staring at Five's shoulder, still holding the scissors open, pointed at the ceiling. "It's gone...it's just gone!"

Five follows her gaze and brings his hand up to touch the new skin, disbelievingly. As Viktor skids into the room, Klaus waves his focus towards Five's shoulder.

"It was Santi."

You ignore this and kneel in front of the terrified little boy. His round face is anxious.

"Don't be scared. You just did something amazing."

You feel your brain whirr and you look sharply over your shoulder at the adults.

"I have a theory. Hear me out," you turn back to Santi, “tell me how you felt when that happened.”

He stutters and hesitates a little but when you take his hand, he manages.

“Like my tummy was scared. It was tingly.”

Five interrupts,

"What are you?-"

"Shut up Five!" you say, harshly. "Just listen for once!"

You don't turn back to Santi immediately, holding Five's eyes in a glare. Your tone has clearly taken him by surprise; he actually looks cowed. The look suits him. You turn back to Santi.

“Sorry, sweetie: your tummy felt tingly like you were scared? Anything else?”

“I felt sad…and my shoulder hurt a little.”

“Ok...did you feel like that when you hugged Alyssa in the hospital?”

His brow furrows slightly at this, surprised, “Yeah. A bit. I got the tingle."

"Any times before that?"

“The first time was…" his calf's eyes shift upwards as he recalls, "I think when I was crying. Alyssa hugged me because Cole called me stupid.”

Cole?

“Was this the week before Mommy and Daddy got married?”

“Uh...I think."

You think for a few moments. He can replicate…

You turn back to the others, most still stare at where Five’s wound was, Viktor shaking his head.

“We know Santi can replicate organisms, right? Simple ones now, but maybe more complex ones later? And once his body’s ‘remembered’ a bug, he can make one anywhere right?” your head whips back to Santi, like you're watching a tennis match, “could you make a spider for me right now, if I wanted?”

He nods his head and holds out a hand as if to create a dupe, but you put yours on top.

“No, there's no need. Illnesses are much less complex than animals: they’re just biological matter- cells, organisms. If Santi’s had a wound heal before, then maybe it's like an immune response. Maybe his body can replicate the cure."

And maybe the complaint too. If he wants.

“When you hugged Alyssa before the wedding, you were ill for a while, weren’t you?”

“Yeah.” He looks a little scared,

“It’s ok, don’t worry. It’s just, after you hugged her again- Alyssa got better. Did… your head hurt like when you were ill?”

“A little.”

“Has it hurt like that any other time?” you take his hand, “It’s ok. Don’t be scared.”

He sniffles and tears brim under his eyes. He's understood the truth before any of the others. Maybe part of him already knew. His eyes seem to be confirmation of your suspicions.

“I got angry one day. When Cole and Joe and Robert were-m-mean to me. Cole pushed me and the others laughed so I got up and pushed them all back and…”

“And what?” you put your hand against his hot, soft cheek as tears begin to roll down them.

“And my head hurt!”

You pull him into a hug.

"It's okay. Good boy. You're such a good boy for telling me this- and so brave. It's going to be ok."

As you whisper the comforting words, you look over his shoulders at the others. You think it’s dawning on Five, but the others aren’t there yet.

“It’s not JUICED. We know they’re doing shady shit with Ditrico-”

“What?” Five interrupts, face serious and hanging onto your every word.

You don't snap this time. He's asking to understand, not to take over.

“The compound: they’re trying to engineer the kids so that they feel thirsty unless they’ve drunk JUICED. So when four kids get cancer, they panic- in case it was Ditrico causing it- just like you thought.”

You incline your head towards him before continuing.

“So that’s why they set up the funds for their medical bills, that's why they set up the investigation and probably why there was all that security at their head office: they were doing damage limitation just in case it was a side-effect. But it wasn’t.”

You can feel your hands shaking slightly. You address all of them, pulling away from Santi only so much as to be able to look him in the eye.

“Alyssa…she was just unlucky. She was just the one in thousands that gets these tumors. But Santi- you absorbed it and your body learned how to fix it and replicate it. So when the boys were mean to you -when you got angry with Cole and Joe and Robert- you accidentally passed it on."

Your face turns back to Five.

"It's linked to his feelings," you glance at Viktor here and then back at Five, "he felt empathy for you and Alyssa and that's how he was able to heal. But he passed it onto the boys because they made him angry and upset."

There's a moment of silence before Five speaks, dismayed:

“Shit!”

“So…” comes Viktor’s voice, “does this mean we can save them?”

You smile kindly at Santi, taking both of his tense little hands and caressing the palms with your thumbs.

“Well…one of us can.”

That night, Five threatened to tear out his I.V if Sloane didn't remove it. He insisted on climbing all the attic stairs rather than let any of you set him up a bed elsewhere, only accepting help when he reached the third floor and couldn't walk any further, let alone blink.

He was too exhausted to ask questions and fell asleep as soon as you helped him into bed.

This morning, it was only with threats of physical violence that his siblings managed to contain him at the Academy instead of accompanying you and Santi to the hospital. It was lucky for them that his body was still too drained to blink or to put up too much of a fight.

Now, they stand sentinel in his doorway, not allowing him to go beyond the bed or reading chair at most. It’s reasonable to suspect that his weakness will soon fade but, for now, he needs to stay still.

Partly to distract him, partly to keep him up to date, Luther explains how you managed to obtain the information and hands Five the recovered files to read through. After absorbing everything, Five puts all the documents back into the folder and sits disbelievingly for a few minutes.

Klaus breaks the silence that follows with a roguish laugh: “Oh, have you got some shit to eat now, Mister”

“Klaus…” reproaches Luther.

“No. You gotta hear it Five: I did the only thing you didn’t think to do. I asked your girlfriend. And she dealt with it. In like, two days! And if you’d have asked her before you broke into the university, you’d have had an easier time then too. But nooo you’re so obsessed with ‘protecting’ her that you treat her like a kid.”

“So…you and her?” says Five, angry and disbelieving, “You’ve been investigating this behind my back? Behind all of our backs?”

Klaus makes a little noise of frustration “You’re missing the point! I wanted to show you what an asshole you can be. To me too sometimes.”

Five’s neck and jaw tense in that way his siblings have grown to recognise as a warning sign.

“So you did this to piss me off?”

Klaus’s voice takes on the soft cadence that would have held Destiny's Children in thrall.

“No Five. I did it to teach you a lesson…about love…”

He brings his hands together, as if in prayer.

“…and also to piss you off.”

One of Five’s hands thumps the side of his chair in frustration.

“Will someone get this dumb cunt out of here before I’m tempted to over-exert myself?” he spits, teeth gritted.

“Ease up on him, Klaus.” mumbles Viktor, “Fine. You might just want to think about being a partner and less of a patronizing bastard to everyone. Otherwise, she’s gonna wise up, leave you and realize that I’m the hottest one. And then,” he said, rotating his hips suggestively, “she'll want to get a hot slice o’ Klaus and either it's going to be insanely awkward with you or I'll have to say no and that will be SUPER hard on her.” As Five's expression becomes dangerous, Luther wisely distracts him: “You wanna…organize that press conference? I had some adult uniforms dry-cleaned. Not the shirt and tie ones, the mission ones…the sexy ones.” Klaus sighs contentedly, smiling benignly at Five: “Excellent. Nothing like a trip down memory lane to bring the family together.”

His hand clasped tightly in yours, you and Santi stand in the doorway. Cole looks so small, sleeping with shallow breaths beneath the clean white sheets of his hospital bed. His father also sleeps, in a chair leaning against the wall.

It’s easy, when you care about one child, to demonize one that bullies them, but now you look at Cole, all you can see is another little boy, full of promise and on the brink of dying.

Sensing his hesitation, you squat beside Santi and whisper.

“Are you okay?”

He’s still looking at Cole.

“He’s asleep.”

“Yeah, but you can still go in to try and help him.”

He shuffles from foot to foot, makes as if to enter but seems to think better of it. He abruptly shies away and hides his head in your shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay, don’t worry,” you soothe.

“He doesn’t look like Cole,” he whispers.

You glance over at the small figure. He probably doesn’t look like the Cole that Santi knows. He looks skeletal, even worse than Alyssa did. His eyes and cheeks are sunken, like he could die any day. Perhaps something in Santi’s anger accelerated the illness.

“It’s because he’s ill.”

Santi nods but still hangs back. Gently, you give his hand a supportive squeeze.

“Come on, sweetie. He needs you to be kind.”

Santi hesitates for a moment longer, looking from Cole to his father and back again. Then, he squares his shoulders as much as a seven-year-old can and leads you into the room.

By the time you and Santi came home, Five was up and about again. His tip-off on Di-triberyllium colloid for the FDA and various other authorities were dispatched and his speech to the press ready for tomorrow. Nothing to do now but wait until the morning. Santi had told him excitedly about how he went into the hospital and fixed Cole, Joe and Robert even though they’re mean, because he’s kind.

All the kids saved and evil corporate machinations kept at bay…now he could no longer avoid facing you. No excuses any more. Time to take off the schoolboy shorts and put on his big boy pants.

Up in his room, (both of your room), he pauses. Now he’s here, he isn’t sure what to do. You're sitting on the slipper chair and he on the desk. There’s more to discuss here than just today’s events. He’d thought he understood what he had to do... but now it's time to do it...He straightens his tie, takes in a deep breath and tries:

“You did well.”

“Thanks.”

He thinks back to the first time he’d borne his heart to you. His mouth had still tasted of whiskey-vomit while he laid on your lumpy couch. It was so much easier when he was drunk. He opens his mouth, thinking that he’ll say sorry, or ‘I was wrong’ or ‘I didn’t mean it,’ but instead, it’s something entirely different that comes out:

“I wish you hadn’t gone behind my back with Klaus.”

You shake your head incredulously.

“Would you have listened if I’d come to you?”

He dodges this, looking down briefly at his clasped hands.

“It was still kind of a betrayal.”

“A betrayal of what? You never trusted me in the first place.”

He puts his hands in his pockets, watching his own foot as he swings it back and forth. He can't deny that's...fair. He should probably try this again.

“Luther tells me you really went for that guy when he tried it on. He said he was impressed. Is it wrong that I’m a little proud of-?”

You interrupt him, “I know a chemistry PhD at the college.”

“-huh?”

“My friend Lydia is a chemist. If you’d have just asked me, right from the start, I could have got you in. I could have got you an actual chemist to perform the experiment. That's the sort of thing she does.”

“-but…”

“No. No buts,” the little wisps of hair loose from your hair tie are awry in a wild crown around your face, “it never occurred to you that I might have information. You never thought that something I say could help you while you’re trying to put the world to rights. It never occurred to you that maybe I give a shit whether a corporation’s killing kids?”

“I never said-"

“-But what could I know? I can’t blink to the fucking bathroom or talk to the dead or float or whatever. But you know what, Five? I’m good at my job, I’ve lived in the world, I can comfort you when you wake up screaming and sometimes, maybe fucking sometimes, I know better than you and-”

You dissolve into sobs. They surprise him in their intensity. Shit. He stands and crosses the room.

“Hey- it’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“You can’t just fuck up and keep saying sorry like that makes it go away. You promised. When we first met, you promised to respect me.”

“I know, I know,” He puts a hand in your hair and tries to soothe, “I’m sorry. You’re right."

“You told me you’d listen.”

The way you emphasize this word makes his gut twist. He removes his hand from your hair. He did promise you to listen and he did promise you respect back when he'd first got together with you. But somehow, he'd never imagined this.

Hell, he'd trusted Dolores with his plans more than he'd trusted you...but then again, Dolores wasn't the kind of girl to run off on her own and get hurt. He'd imagined respect and listening in the context of sex and romance not...

His arrogance, presumption and condescension suddenly break on him like waves; his hand goes up to cover his eyes...fuck. He's a fucking shitty asshole!

“I’m listening. I’m listening now, I promise.”

He reaches for your face again but you pull away from him, putting your head in your hands instead. He steps back and then kneels in front of you, feeling his legs moving seemingly without his volition- it’s like you draw him like a magnet.

This is one of those moments where everything could change. He feels it in the way he feels his power; electricity all over him. He’s never seen you like this before, never understood on a real, guttural level that you might just up and leave him one day- that he might become just another shitty man in your romantic history. His chest hurts a little, and not from any bullet-related causes.

“Please. Let me fix it.”

“You can’t just ‘fix’ it,” your face is still covered, “that’s the problem. You can’t do and say shitty things, feel bad and apologize and think that solves it.”

He shuffles towards you, “I know. I know.”

“You have to change.”

“Yes. I do.”

He bends and lays his cheek on your knees, exposing his neck to you. You don't push him off. He feels vulnerable like this but he guesses he deserves that. This physical position feels important somehow. It's worshipful. It gets his mind into the right frame.

“When we first got together, I promised you to listen and learn and recently I’ve not listened. But I am now, I swear I am. And I’ll show you that I'm learning.”

“So for the next few days you’ll ask my opinion, smile and nod and then do what you were going to do anyway?”

“No.” He kisses your knee briefly before returning to the submissive pose. “Everything you’ve said...especially that night I spoke to Santi, I didn’t want to hear it but it was true. Or true enough. Every fucking time you know me better than I know myself."

He laughs at this sadly.

"I’ve disrespected you and I’ve side-lined you because deep down I thought I was better than you.”

He closes his eyes, as if waiting for a stroke of the guillotine to his bared neck. When you don't respond, he continues,

“You did go behind my back with Klaus but I guess I brought it on myself. I pushed you away. I told myself it’s because I wanted to protect you. That I didn’t want to see you hurt again. And that’s true but it wasn’t the whole truth. But now I know.”

His hands ball into fists as he comes to grip the hem of your shirt. He tries not to pull at you desperately.

“You’re intelligent, intuitive and everything to me.”

His voice cracks and he breathes in hard. He tries to regain control of himself and manages it with difficulty. He knows there’s more to say.

“I want to be a partner to you.”

You still don't touch him, your hands now grip the underside of the chair.

“We can’t be partners if we’re not equals.”

“I know,” he kisses your leg again, “but maybe in time I can learn to live up to you.

Tag list: (please comment to be added or removed.) @dilfjohhny , @sunsunhe, @w4stedtr4sh, @nevbrooke-555, @theredvelvetbitch, @td-miley01, @five-hxrgreeves

Masterpost Alternatively, join me on AO3. Here is a link to the whole series

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agentplutonium · 9 months

Text

EA talk!! I just got back from watching it and I need to speak about it. Thoughts/Theories under the cut <33 (also, this one is a long one guys)

OKAY FIRST OF ALL I AM GOING INSANE. LITERALLY INSANE OVER HERE. okay. now. onto things that stuck out to me (gonna bold the ones I'll focus on later in this post):

"... Abomination. I am authorized to end you." "You're chorus... is giving up on me already...?"

Articulate, answers to the chorus

Hush has telepathic abilities

"Do you have any idea what that freak is capable of?"

"He doesn't know I'm in your head" "We only have one shot" really the difference in tone between this and when Doc wakes up

THE SOUNDS OF HIS MAGIC. THERES WATER SOUNDS IN THAT BITCH. LIKE A GREAT RUSH OF IT.

"I don't know what I want to do with you, I haven't decided yet"

"path of least resistance"

"My name? ... Hmm. That would be rather odd if I didn't have one, wouldn't it? Let's go with... Hush. It's got a nice ring to it."

"I'm afraid I'm a little... new, here."

mentions a lot of people who want him gone

"I didn't want to hurt you. I still Don't think I want to."

"I needed it to act as a focal point. A Conduit. A bottleneck. I used your core to focus the spell song on a single point. Like channelling the entire force of a river through a pinhole and then using that pressure of all that magic to eviscerate Reticuli [...] I don't have a core. i needed yours. I could have silenced his connection to the spell song, but I didn't want his powers to be muted, I wanted him dead." (SCREAMING)

6'6" demon,,, (not hush, but like-)

"did it never occur to you that that demon might have been right? You have no idea about the man you saved. What I'm capable of. What I'm going to do" followed by "and foolish"

"I still don't know what I'm going to do with you. but I like talking with you, so that's something."

"What am I? [...] You're gonna have to be more specific. What kind of magic user am I? It's a simpler question, I'll give you that. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to think there's a lot of things I'd like to give you. If I get the chance" (SIR-)

Not a demon, not a human, not a robot "I'm more, and less."

that bitch disoriented us on purpose with the "complicated answer" Also, there's a voice in there, and it obviously did not feel good for human empowered Doc

"Maybe for now we just stick with that simple answer. maybe someday, knowing me won't have to hurt. Only one way to find out"

"I was put on elegy to do something very important, and there are a lot of people who are in the way of that."

"I don't think I want you to hurt. I don't think I'll like that."

"I'm not gonna wipe your memories. I think I want you to remember me. One day you might look back and think that, saving me was the worst mistake of your life. but here's only one way to find out, right?"

that bitch blew us a fucking kiss I'm dying

OKAY OKAY OKAY now time for me to go into hyperfixation mode.

First and foremost, I'm putting my stance out there: This guy is a sovereign. specifically, the one from Brachium's little journey into the river. The one who said "Death is already here" THAT GUY IS HUSH. I have no proof other than a hunch (that Max helped with), but I'm telling you guys. now as for which one, I have a feeling that (out of the named Soverigns) it's A'Xerahn (Desire, the one who created vamps, for the line "there's a lot of things I'd like to show you, given the chance." (still screaming)) or N'Dellex (Dreams, created Dreamwalkers, Hush, get it?). If it isn't a named sovereign then I still believe he's a sovereign from below the river. listen ARGUE WITH THE WALL I AM RIGHT ABOUT THIS.

Moving on. I want to point out the language that Reticuli used when talking about Hush. Abomination, Freak, "I'm authorized to end you." Whoever Hush is, he has the council worried. He's not like them. They're probably scared. This also hints that Hush has done things in the past to get attention put on himself. He's talking about how dangerous he is, and what he's capable of. it's clear that the chorus knows what Hush is. But unfortunately, that lil conversation doesn't give us much. However, Hush seems to be pretty willing to give information, for the most part.

This brings me to my next point, the things that Hush has said. Hush, for whatever reason, seems very comfortable telling Doc that he wanted Reticuli dead. Not only this, but he tells Doc that there is not an insignificant line of people who want him gone. This man is being hunted, and he knows it. He then goes and warns Doc that maybe Reticuli was right and asked if they considered that. He says that they can't know what he's capable of, or what he's going to do.

Before we continue, I do kinda want to talk about the hints that we get for just what Hush is. He says he isn't human or demon. With that, for a being of power, that is, there's really only two options left, and that is Sovereign or Shade. However, he can't be a SHade, cause even when becoming tangible Shades just simply look a certain way that empowered's are aware of. "Oh but pluto, Sovereign is so out there-" not really, not if you think about it. We are getting an Avior narrative push around the same time that we got a new character. What was Avior's whole plot? El'aetum and Min'ara wanted Starlight to be the middle ground cause something was going down with the Meridian. In Inversion, Brachium met someone who tore a hole in the meridian and let the shades loose (or so I'm thinking). Who got out right as the Inversion was happening? Avior and Starlight. The fact that he doesn't give us his real name, and the endless fucking river references when he's being all mysterious- like it's obvious. Not to mention his "I am More. And Less." line. He is more than a regular empowered because he is a Sovereign, but he's also less cause in his "true form" I'll say, he is not exactly tangible or anything, he is power as a concept.

Okay, continuing on. Hush is a Sovereign. He's powerful. He can do things that others cannot. He got sent to Elegy to do something important, something that others don't want him to do. He's ruthless. And he's cutthroat. And he will do what he has to do to survive... but he's curious about Doc. He didn't know whether to let them go or not in the beginning, only to decide so at the end. He has a soft spot for them. He doesn't want to hurt them, but he will do things that might cause them to hurt. One of the last things he says to Doc was "I'm not gonna wipe your memories. I think I want you to remember me. One day you might look back and think that, saving me was the worst mistake of your life. But there's only one way to find out, right?" and guys. GUYS. I think we have a proper antagonist on our hands. I think we have a real villain. One that's gonna affect more than Docs/possibly Avior's storyline.

I think that's all imma write for tonight, but this new boy has effectively gotten me back into the redacted fandom in full swing. I literally don't know what to do with myself.

#help im going insane #theres just so much #i love when new bois show up #redacted audio #redactedverse #redacted headcanons #redacted theories #plutonium_rambles #screaming crying sobbing i cannot #plutonium_theories

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hamliet · 1 year

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With that Phantom Troupe backstory coming out, do you think it's more or less likely that Hisoka will succeed in killing them all? (Bc of that trope of giving a backstory before killing a character). The whole setup of this arc screams that at least a few more members are going to die, but do you think there's a chance for a TPK?

Alas, I do not know what a TPK is! :(

I don't necessarily think the point of this flashback is For the Sadz Before Deaths. I generally think that's pretty mediocre writing, and Togashi's better than that. This flashback has a far weightier feel to it than just a cheap sucker punch, in other words.

I think the point of this flashback is to again establish Chrollo as Kurapika's shadow, and to point towards the likely resolution of this arc. If what @aspoonofsugar theorizes is true (which someone suggested to me way back in 2018 too), and I think there's a pretty damn good chance of this, then we've got an entirely new perspective on Chrollo... albeit one with hints along the way. Either way, the set-up of this flashback, with it focusing on Chrollo, seems to indicate that the point of it is to make the audience ponder about revenge and to see Chrollo and Kurapika as two sides of the same coin.

We know what made Kurapika lose his idealism. What made Chrollo lose his? That's what this flashback seems destined to show us. If the Sheila theory is true, it's probably the final domino... I doubt it was the beginning. We're probably about to see what those disappointments were that turned him into such a hardline utilitarian to where he'll find his identity with his troupe, but not ever say he loves them like he did before.

All that said: Hisoka is absolutely not going to kill all of them. In addition to what I said above, that's just not how Togashi tends to solve issues in his stories; the journeys matter more. What is more likely is that Chrollo and Kurapika almost certainly are going to have to work together to escape the boat; Kurapika will have to choose between the living (Oito and Woble) and the dead (Pairo's eyes), and Chrollo will have to choose between the people he has left and revenge.

However, I do think it is very likely some Troupe members are about to die. Chrollo kind of has to lose more people to get the wakeup call, because right now he's all about revenge. The ironic thing is that Hisoka's actions are calling Chrollo on his precise hypocrisy: the fact that he truly loves the Spiders. Is he going to choose to save them, or continue revenge and lose everything?

Considering he's Kurapika's shadow and you integrate with your shadow, you don't kill it, my guess is that as Chrollo loses more members and more stability, and comes into contact with Kurapika (who will probably also find out about Sheila, if that's what really happened), he'll eventually decide to choose to live. Kurapika will probably choose the same. But they'll only get to live if they integrate (aka work together).

If you want to know whom I'm currently worried about, any Spider except Chrollo, Kalluto, and Illumi. Those kids all have plot armor.

But my concerns are primarily for Shizuku, Bololenov, and Franklin, because they are far less developed, and Nobunaga, because he's gotten a lot of focus in recent chapters. See, Nobunaga, Machi, Feitan, and Phinks have more ties to the philosophical debate raging inside Chrollo--they, along with Paku, were the five who debated whether or not to save Chrollo from Kurapika back in Yorknew. Machi and Nobunaga represent Chrollo's genuine care, while Feitan and Phinks represented his utilitarianism.

But Nobunaga's focus lately really does concern me, and I wonder if how he might die will prove important for Chrollo making this decision...

#ask hamliet #hxh #hxh meta #hxh theory #chrollo lucilfer #kurapika #hunter x hunter #hisoka morow

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kohanayaki · 2 years

Text

.:Survive the Tide:. (Eddie Munson x Reader) Ch 3

The gang takes refuge in your house in an effort to keep Eddie safe and come up with a plan to defeat Vecna. You find yourself grappling with your budding feelings, the loss of a friend, your resurfacing past with Billy, and the return of a fight you thought was over. Luckily, you don't have to do it alone.

LINKS: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

___________________________________________________

Ch 3 .:In Some Other Life:.

“So this. . . thing-”

“Vecna,” Lucas supplied as you paused.

“You really need to stop naming these things after D&D monsters,” you sighed.

“Seconded,” Eddie grumbled, “it's confusing and mostly inaccurate.”

“So Vecna,” you corrected yourself, “has been targeting mostly young adults in Hawkins and uses their trauma to get in their heads and kill them?”

“More or less,” Max said grimly.

“Why?” you asked, “I mean, not to assume this thing has any real motives, but this is a step up from what we've dealt with before. You said he spoke to you, like real sentences and shit.”

“Yeah,” Dustin said, “He's definitely the most sentient being we've come up against from the Upside Down. The demogorgon was pure brawn, the mind flayer was pure brains, but Vecna has both. Not to mention the power to affect people in the real world without even crossing through the Gate.”

“Fantastic,” you deadpanned.

“As far as motive goes,” Robin said, “we've. . . got a theory.”

“Something tells me it's not good,” you said.

“It's not,” Dustin grimaced, “if we're going by traditional D&D lore and cross-referencing that with what he's been doing so far, we think his goal is the same as within the game.”

“Which is?” you asked warily.

“Destroying the foundations of the multiverse and reshaping reality to his will.”

You turned at the sound of Eddie's voice. Seeing him just sitting on your couch felt somehow surreal. A week ago he was the person who gave you inexplicable butterflies whenever you thought about him. Three days ago he was the person who ditched you at the movies and hadn't reached out since despite knowing your close friend had just died. An hour ago he was the person who had murdered said friend, and now. . .

You drew in a deep breath. You had to focus on the situation at hand; you could sort out your feelings later.

“Right,” you said, “So in D&D this is the guy with the cult, right? Should we be worried about him having a following?”

Eddie, Dustin, and Lucas stared at you like you'd grown a second head.

“What?” you huffed, “I pay attention when you twerps talk about your campaigns.”

“Color me impressed, if not somewhat concerned for my privacy,” Dustin said, earning an eye roll from you, “But yes, you're right. The Cult of Vecna doesn't seem to have any real world parallels, but we think he might be trying to build something like it.”

“When he had me trapped, he said it was time for me to join him,” Max said, “I saw everyone he took, and they were. . . ” she swallowed hard, the image all too clear in her mind, “they were almost on display. Like trophies on a wall. I don't know exactly what his plan is, but he's keeping everyone he's killed for a reason.”

Your stomach churned at Max's words, feeling your breathing turn shallow at the thought of him keeping Chrissy's body in that awful place, even if it was in another reality.

“Plus, we know the Mind Flayer was trying to do the same thing when it-” Steve faltered, trying to avoid mentioning Billy, “When it started taking over people's bodies in the real world,” he said carefully, “That thing was building an army.”

“And if we assume that most creatures from the Upside Down share the same goal,” Lucas said.

“That means we're royally screwed,” you finished.

“Not if we had El,” Nancy pointed out.

“El's the one with the superpowers?” Eddie asked.

“The one who's on the other side of the country and doesn't have superpowers anymore,” you amended, “What's your plan? Just waltz into the Upside Down through the Gate that doesn't exist anymore and kill a mostly invincible, mind-controlling monster without knowing where he is or having any idea of how to take him down?”

“Actually, we know where he is,” Robin said, “Nancy's a genius and found out Vecna had some sort of connection to the old mansion at the edge of town.”

“It used to belong to Victor Creel,” Nancy said, “That guy in the 50's everyone thought murdered his family. But Robin and I visited him, and he told us that what actually killed them was something that killed in the exact same way the recent victims died. It made him see visions of his past, of his worst fears. It lifted his wife into the air and broke her bones. It's the exact same curse.”

“Patrick was attacked when we were at the house investigating,” Robin continued, “and all the lights went crazy, just like they did the first time the demogorgon appeared.”

“So you think Vecna's lair is that house in the Upside Down?” you said.

“Almost certainly,” Dustin nodded, “Although finding a Gate and a way to kill him is still a work in progress.”

“When isn't it?” you sighed, “But I'm seriously proud of you guys for figuring all this out. It's not your first rodeo anymore.”

“We saved the world three times, we can do it a fourth,” Dustin grinned.

And for the first time in the last torturous few days, you found yourself smiling.

“I know we can,” you said. As you looked around the room you almost chuckled at the sight of this ragtag team of unlikely friends. If anything you looked like a knockoff Breakfast Club, not what you'd picture when you thought of a team of heroes. But the fate of the world as you knew it was once again placed in your hands, and you knew you would succeed. You had to.

“I'll, um. . . I'll just be a minute,” you said, getting up from your seat, “Anyone need water or anything?”

You were met with a chorus of shaking heads and muttered 'no, thanks' as you headed to the kitchen. You opened your fridge unit and fished out three frozen pizzas from the back. Not the most nutritious, but they'd do. You placed one on each rack of your oven, letting it do its magic. As you stood there waiting for them to finish baking you took a deep breath, your fingers instinctively coming up to massage your temples. Every part of this scenario was becoming increasingly unbelievable the more you thought about it. It felt like your brain was racing to catch up with its own thoughts, and a wave of fatigue washed over you.

Suddenly, Dustin's head popped out from the doorway and you immediately brightened, not wanting him to worry.

“Pizza?” he said, kneeling to stare straight into the oven.

“I could tell you guys were starving,” you said.

“How'd you know?”

“You twiddle your thumbs when you're hungry,” you grinned, “Steve might've taken my job, but I was your babysitter first.”

“Not a babysitter!” you heard Steve shout from the living room.

“He can keep telling himself that,” you chuckled, “Besides, you've been on the run for days. Can't imagine you were able to stop at a Burger Chef while you were hiding Hawkins' most wanted.”

Dustin gave you a pensive look. Even in a situation like, this your first instinct was to take care of them first.

“You seem. . . strangely calm for someone housing a fugitive,” he remarked.

“Oh, trust me, I'm not,” you said, “but the alternative doesn't help anyone.”

“(Y/n). . .”

“I'm fine, Dusty,” you said, “Maybe not right now, but I'll be okay.”

The silence that followed was suffocating. You kept your eyes trained on the kitchen timer, watching the minutes tick by.

“I saw what keeping everything inside did to Max,” Dustin said after some time, “I don't want that to happen to you.”

“You don't have to worry about me,” you promised, turning to fully face him, “I'm not going anywhere. Who else is gonna save your ass?”

“I think it's about time for us to save you for once,” Dustin scoffed playfully.

“We'll see about that,” you said. Another, more comfortable silence returned between the two of you. “You know I'm not going to let anything happen to you guys, right?”

“I know,” he said.

Dustin managed to go all of two seconds before flying at you, arms wrapping tight around your waist. You felt your eyes well up as you returned the hug. Dustin had always been like a little sibling to you; all of the kids had. You made a mental promise that you would do whatever it took to make sure everyone made it out of this alive, for their sake.

The high pitched sound of the kitchen timer rang out in the room, making the both of you laugh through your misty-eyed moment.

“You're turning me soft,” you said, playfully pushing Dustin away from you.

“You've always been soft,” Dustin said, “don't worry, I'll keep your secret.”

You huffed, concealing your smile as you got the pot holders out of the kitchen drawer, opening the oven door. The smell coming off the pizzas made your mouth water, and you reached in in anticipation. But just as you were pulling out the first tray, you bumped your arm on the top of the oven right above where the mitt's protection ended.

“Shit,” you cursed, quickly setting down the pizza down on top of the stove and pulling your hand back to inspect the angry burn on your arm, “Damn it. Dustin, could you please take the rest of these out and tell everyone it's time to eat? Carefully.”

“Will do,” he said, slipping the oven mitts on.

You ruffled his hair gratefully, making your way down the hall to the bathroom. You switched on the light and started the faucet, running your burn under the cold water. You hissed at the initial sensation before it began to sooth the pain.

As you looked up you were met with your own reflection in the mirror above the sink, although it looked like a stranger was staring back at you. Your eyes were red and puffy, dark circles hanging from beneath them. You were wearing the same pajamas as the day before, and your hair was an unprecedented mess. You stifled a laugh.

You looked like hell.

The thought seemed to click into something in the back of your brain, your mind drifting to the last time you had said something similar about yourself. Before you knew it, you were replaying snippets of the past in your head, one thing leading to another. . .

“Hey sweetheart,” Billy grinned from ear to ear as he let himself in, sliding past the door you opened with ease.“God, you look gorgeous.”

“I look like hell,” you retorted.

“Still just seeing gorgeous over here, doll.”

“Laying it on a little thick, Hargrove,” you laughed, “I'm already your girlfriend, if you didn't know.”

“I do know,” he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes as his hands trailed down to slide into your back pockets, “and I'm considering myself pretty damn lucky right now.”

“(Y/n)?”

“We could go to California.”

“You'd actually come with me?”

“Billy Hargrove, you're an even bigger idiot than you look.”

“(Y/n).”

“I'm so fucking sorry. (Y/n), please. I made a mistake.”

“Yeah you did, Billy. The same mistake. Three Times. God, I can't believe I actually bought your lies.”

“I wasn't lying. Not when I said I loved you. Hell, you're the only person I've ever even said that to since-”

“We're done, Billy. Please just leave.”

“(Y/n)?!”

“No. . . god, no. Please, Billy, hold on. . . fuck, someone help!”

“It's okay. . . Just. . . let me look at you.”

“(Y/n)!”

You jolted as someone grabbed your shoulders, shaking you slightly. You forced air back into your lungs, your hands trembling. As your heart rate finally slowed back to normal and your eyes could register what was in front of you, you realized that the person calling your name was Eddie, his eyes darting across your features.

“Hey, are you there?” he asked frantically, “(Y/n), tell me you're with me!”

“Yeah. . .” you blinked slowly, “yeah, I'm here.”

Eddie's shoulders visibly lowered as he sighed shakily, releasing his grip on you.

“Jesus, you scared me,” he said, turning the faucet off, “you weren't seeing that clock or anything, were you?”

Your eyes widened in horrid realization.

“No,” you shook your head, “Nothing like that. I'm sorry. . . I didn't mean to make you worry.”

“Don't apologize,” he said, and you could hear the tiredness in his voice, “I'm sorry for shaking you, guess I'm still kinda frazzled. When I saw you staring into space like that, I freaked. It was just like. . .”

He trailed off, and neither of you had to finish the sentence aloud to know what he was thinking. The ache in your chest when you pictured Chrissy's smile reignited like a fresh wound ripping open, and you fought the stinging in your eyes for the umpteenth time in the last few hours. Eddie could sense your pain so clearly it was as if it was a physical presence in the room, and his own heart broke seeing you like this.

“I couldn't save her,” he said; a helpless, sardonic little smile taking over his lips out of defensive habit. “I was right there and I did nothing, except run. Which is what I do now, apparently.”

“There's nothing else you could have done,” you said, placing a hand on his forearm in an attempt to ground him, “you can't blame yourself for this.”

“Never tell a Dungeon Master what is and isn't possible,” he said, his attempt at his usual lopsided smile coming out as more of a grimace than anything.

“Eddie,” you said softly, “I'm serious, please don't think like that. You couldn't have known how things were going to play out. If you take on the weight of what might have been if you did. . .”

Unwanted memories flashed through your head; The neon signs of Starcourt Mall blurring around you as you ran as fast as you could towards the Mind Flayer. The splatter of hot blood that hit your face as it ran Billy through the chest. Max's screams. The look in Billy's eyes as he told you he just wanted to look at you in his last moments because it felt like going home.

“. . . you'll just drive yourself crazy,” you finished, fighting hard to keep your voice even. “Vecna feeds on negative emotions. Fear. Anger. Guilt. We're already trying to save Max with borrowed time. I can't have him going after you too. I can't.”

“What, the monster-slaying princess wouldn't come to my rescue?” Eddie quipped, a tiny shimmer of that lost light back behind his eyes.

“Of course I would,” you smiled weakly, “But I'd like to avoid that all together, if possible. So please, for the sake of my own rapidly deteriorating mental state, don't think that any of this is your fault.”

“Guess I could make an exception to my usual thought process,” he said with a wry smile.

God, he looked. . . exhausted. Dirt streaked his face, and dark bags hung from his sallow eyes. You couldn't imagine he'd been sleeping well the past few days. His hair was flat and matted, his clothes covered in grime and new tears in the fabric.

“If you want to rest up and take a shower here you're welcome to, by the way” you said.

“You trying to tell me something?” Eddie huffed playfully.

“Well, you do smell like dirty swamp water.”

“Don't like the new cologne? All the basketball players wear it,” he grinned— his first genuine one that week, and it was impossible not to notice how his entire face brightened.

“Down the hall to the right,” you laughed, a warm feeling spreading through your chest, “You can leave your clothes outside the door and I'll toss them in the wash.”

“Thanks,” he said, “Seriously. Don't know a lot of other people willing to risk their hides for me. . . What won you over? My roguish charm?”

“Go take a shower, Eddie,” you bit back a smile, and your silent 'you're welcome' was not missed by him. As he left down the hallway your heart felt just a little bit lighter.

As you heard the water start to run you stopped by the door, seeing his clothes in a pile on the floor. You picked them up and tossed them in the washing machine for a quick cycle.

As you busied yourself with tidying up the rest of the house, you poked your head into the living room to see the kids eating the pizza you'd made and joking around with each other. A sense of relief came over you as you saw their smiles. They'd been through so much, but they were still able to laugh like that in the face of the end of the world. It was something you'd tried to pick up from them.

You were pulled out of your thoughts by the alarm going off, and your vision sharpened as you looked up at the machine and opened the door. You caught Eddie's shirt before it could come tumbling out, and you stared at the now-familiar Hellfire Club logo on its front. Just a month ago he had lent this to you, and now it was frayed at the hem, small gashes cut in the sleeves. You shook off the thought as you loaded everything into the dryer, turning the heat on high.

“Need any help?”

You turned to see Steve lingering in the doorway, fingers tapping against the wood of the frame.

“I think I've got it, but thank you,” you said, “Did you eat?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, “thanks for that. Paranormal investigation really, uh, works up an appetite, y'know?” He bit the inside of his lip, unsure whether or not to follow through with what he really wanted to ask you.

“What's up?” you asked, noticing his eyes still on you.

“I know this is kind of a stupid, relative question,” he said, “but are you okay?”

“Probably not the first word I'd choose,” you told him honestly. You watched the clothes in the dryer tumble in circles, squeezing your eyes shut for a moment before turning to Steve.

“I just thought it was over,” you said, your voice raw and tired.

“I know,” he sighed, “me too.”

“I feel like I'm giving myself whiplash,” you said, “There are moments where it's fine, then all of a sudden the tiniest little thing will remind me of something, and I just spiral.”

“(Y/n), you have to give yourself a break,” Steve said, “I know your first instinct is to make sure those kids are alright, because it's mine too, but you don't have to take on everything by yourself.”

You nodded stiffly, trying to ignore the lump in your throat.

“Come on,” Steve said, pulling you into his arms.

“Why does everyone feel the need to hug me today?” you grumbled, your words slightly muffled by his shirt.

“Because you were robotically doing laundry while staring into the void,” Steve said plainly.

“Point taken,” you said, “You're a good friend, Harrington.”

“Yeah, I'm kind of the best.”

“Don't ruin it.”

“Hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I kind of need those.”

At the sound of the new voice you and Steve jolted apart, turning to see Eddie standing in the hallway fresh out of the shower. His hair was still wet, small droplets dripping down his shoulders and chest. The only thing he was wearing was a towel wrapped around his waist and a bemused smirk on his face; There was a tinge of bitterness in the latter that flew over your head, but that was mostly because you were busy staring.

Eddie's eyes flickered between you and Steve, his gaze ultimately settling behind you on his clothes in the dryer. You forced yourself to snap out of it.

“Right,” you coughed out, flustered, “Um, here. They just finished drying.”

“Thanks,” he said. He stepped forward and reached around you to open the dryer door, and you felt your face burn as the distance between you dissipated in an instant. You could feel the warmth coming off his body, the scent of your own shampoo in his hair. You stood there frozen, unable to get another word out before he disappeared back into the bathroom to change, the door closing just a little too loudly.

“Subtle,” Steve snorted, “both of you.”

“Whatever you're talking about, Harrington, I suggest you stop it,” you warned.

“Come on, it's almost physically painful to watch you dance around each other,” he groaned, “You're worse than me.”

“Nothing's worse than you,” you scoffed, flicking him in the forehead.

“Hey, watch the hair,” he said, slapping your hand away.

“And we're not 'dancing around' anything,” you insisted, though your heart pounding against your ribcage betrayed you.

Steve leveled you with a look, and you both knew the words that had just come out of your mouth were a blatant lie.

“Whatever you say.”

Meanwhile Eddie was in the bathroom, trying to shake the water out of his hair and that ugly feeling out of his chest. As he began to get dressed he found his thoughts wandering back to you and Steve, and why the hell it seemed to bother him so much seeing you be such good friends.

Eddie didn't usually let things get to him; he'd been used to being met with ridicule and comparison his whole life, and he thought he'd done a pretty damn good job of not giving a shit. But for some reason Steve Harrington in particular had a special way of getting under his skin. He seemed like the antithesis of everything Eddie was; popular, athletic, and from a well-off white picket fence family. The fact that everyone seemed to collectively agree he was an asshole helped, but something noticeably shifted in him his junior year. He stopped hanging out with Tommy, Carol, and the basketball team, instead mostly spending time with you and Nancy; and the next year, Robin. When Eddie first met Dustin, he would always go on and on about how cool Steve was, and Eddie had to admit he was a little jealous of the way his new Hellfire recruit seemed to idolize him.

And now it was dawning on him just how close you and Steve were. It was completely understandable; you and Steve had been through hell and back, almost literally. Eddie always saw you two together even after Steve graduated, and the rumors that you were dating spread like wildfire at Hawkins High, though Eddie had never given them any thought until now.

He sighed deeply, slapping his face lightly with his hands to pull himself out of his thoughts. He looked around for his belt and his chain, and when they came up nowhere he realized you must have taken his things so they wouldn't get ruined in the wash. His heart softened, his irrational bout of jealousy quickly replaced by a tinge of guilt. You were a good person; it wasn't your fault you were so damn likable.

As he exited the bathroom he could hear a vaguely familiar Rolling Stones song playing upstairs, from what he could only guess was your room. He slowly walked up, stopping in front of your door which was cracked slightly. As he knocked it swung open a little further, and he saw you look up at him from your seat at your desk.

“Hey,” you said, your eyes widening as you realized you still had his stuff, “Oh, right.” You got up from your chair, crossing over to your bedside table where you'd made a small pile of belongings you found in his clothes; including a half pack of Marlboros, a lighter, a few stray guitar picks, and of course his belt and chain.

“Feeling any better?” you asked, handing them over. Eddie took them gratefully.

“Well the swamp water smell is gone,” he said, scratching lightly at the back of his neck, “And my clothes don't stick to me like a latex glove anymore, so that's a plus.”

“Glad to hear it,” you chuckled.

As Eddie used the mirror to adjust his chain, he caught sight of the rest of your room behind him. A string of Edison light bulbs lined your ceiling, casting a warm glow over the space. A few different scented candles were burning in the corner where you were reading. Countless books and VHS tapes lined the shelves by your bed, and your walls were covered in movie posters, vinyl sleeves, and pictures of you and your friends. The record player on your desk was still spinning that Stones song, and Eddie understood why you'd come here for a little peace of mind.

As his gaze swept across the floor, he noticed a box full of cassette tapes at his feet, and Eddie grinned at the sheer variety you owned. There was everything from Prince, Elton John, and The Beatles to Megadeth, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. As his eyes landed on a certain tape wedged in the side of the box, he grabbed it in disbelief.

“Hold on, is this mine?” Eddie turned to you with a look of mock scandal as he held up a copy of Dio's Sacred Heart between his fingers.

“No?” you said sheepishly.

“Lies.”

“I swear, I was going to return it,” you said.

“And more lies,” he tutted, turning the tape over in his hands, “but it is kind of the best album ever, so I understand your criminal behavior, though it isn't excused.”

“Didn't you say you shoplifted this from Family Video?”

“That's different,” he waved off, earning a small smirk from you as he leaned against your desk. It was only then that he saw what you were reading through before he came in. It was a worn red notebook, wide-lined and filled with scribbled guitar tabs.

“That was Billy's,” you said when you followed his gaze down to the book, your heart squeezing slightly in your chest.

“He played?” Eddie asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” you said, “He wrote his own songs too, even though he never had a band. Mostly metal, but he actually penned a few soft rock ballads for me. . . Don't ever tell anyone I told you that.”

“Cross my heart,” Eddie swore with a small grin. He thumbed through the worn out notebook, the binding almost immediately flipping open to a page in the middle. A polaroid picture doubled as a bookmark; It was a front facing shot of you and Billy sitting on the hood of his Camaro. You were beaming at the camera, squinting slightly against the sun as the wind whipped through your hair. Billy was looking at you with a small smile on his face, his expression surprisingly serene. Next to the photo were loosely connected tabs scrawled on stray pieces of paper, wedged in between the pages of lyrics, written and rewritten again and again in a web of songwriting process that Eddie was familiar with.

He never knew Billy Hargrove that well. How you had befriended the gruff playboy was a matter that confounded all of Hawkins High, but Eddie suspected it had something to do with the way you threatened Billy the first time he made a move on you, which led to him immediately giving you his number. Billy wasn't the most pragmatic student, always in some kind of fight and sending half the basketball team to the infirmary at least once. Although Eddie was okay with the latter offense, there was no denying Billy Hargrove spent a lot of his time being a grade-A asshole. Your messy breakup was proof enough of that. Hell, he'd almost run over Dustin and the kids with his car. But. . .

'Girl, you're the California breeze that sends me on my way.'

Looking down at the pages in front of him, he almost chuckled as he imagined Billy writing something like this.

“He was complicated,” you said, as if you'd read Eddie's mind, “not an excuse for how he acted sometimes, I know. But I think. . . in some other life, you would have gotten along really well.”

Eddie let out an amused little huff at that as his eyes lingered on the tabs for the solo. It was slow, intricate, and covered in detailed markings that showed off Billy's play style. Eddie could hear it clearly in his mind as his gaze drifted across the annotations. If he didn't know any better, he'd say he could almost feel Billy watching him read through it, a self-satisfied smirk on the west-coaster's face as he knew Eddie was impressed.

Some other life, huh?

A sad, nostalgic smile tugged at your lips as you re-read the familiar lyrics.

“He died a hero, and we can't even tell people that,” you said quietly.

“Billy knew about all this Upside Down stuff?” Eddie said in surprise. You nodded.

“Last year, his body was taken over by the Mind Flayer. That explosion at Starcourt Mall? That was us fighting it. In the end he was able to fight back against its control, and he sacrificed himself to save El's life. To save all of our lives.”

The crease in your brow deepened as that feeling of fatigue crept up on you once again.

“I thought that was the end,” you said, “But now I can't help but feel like he died for nothing, because it's not over. It's what had me so spaced out earlier when you found me in the bathroom, and-”

“No way,” Eddie said, making you look up. There was an intensity in his eyes you hadn't seen before; a sincerity that caught you off guard. “Not a chance he died for nothing. If he didn't do what he did last year, you wouldn't be alive to save the world again right now. If I've learned anything about myself in the last week, it's that outside of D&D, I'm no hero. What he did? That's some certified heroic shit right there. In my experience, if someone sacrifices his life for the rest of his party, he did it so that they could live theirs to the fullest potential. Jumping back into this shit head first, being as fearless as you are after everything you've seen. . . I think he'd be proud.”

You stared at him, your eyes immediately welling with tears, and Eddie's own widened in horror.

'Shit,' he thought, panicked, 'Definitely didn't want her to cry. What the fuck is wrong with me? What do I do? I can't just take it back. What if I make it worse? How-'

His train of thought was derailed completely as you suddenly threw your arms around him. Eddie stood there for a moment, frozen, before slowly wrapping his arms around you in return. Standing there with you in the warm light, your bodies seemingly fitting together perfectly, it just felt right.

“Thank you,” you whispered, and Eddie thought his heart would leap right out of his chest. He felt your tears start to soak into his denim vest, but he just held you tighter; the embrace was something he didn't realize he needed just as much as you. He put up a damn good front, but he was fucking terrified, and if he seriously thought about what was going on for more than a second, he was afraid his cowardice would make him run as far away from this as he could and pretend like none of it was happening. But you grounded him more than you could ever know.

You buried your face into his shoulder, breathing him in like your life depended on it. This was your third hug of the day, but the first that you had been the one to initiate. Dustin, Steve, Eddie— everyone in this house had become such a crucial part of your life. No matter how fucked up things got they were always going to be there, you had to remind yourself of that. You and Eddie stayed there for a moment in each other’s arms, and for the first time the entire week your mind quieted, and you felt truly at ease.

Read Chapter 4 Here !

Taglist: @bloodyziggy, @getosugaru, @httpjiikook, @castiels-lilass, @bubblebuttwade, @slvtherinseeker, @dontcallmesavvy, @eddiemattress, @nightless, @sleep-yv, @tabloidteen, @katiemrty @lokidala @aereth @shinydixon @lune2u @whatisbeefifnotcowpersevering23

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#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #stranger things x reader #billy hargove x reader #stranger things season 4 x reader #eddie munson fanfic #stranger things reader insert #eddie munson x y/n #Billy Hargrove #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things x you #stranger things 4 x reader #eddie munson x you #steve harrington #jealousy #multi chapter #stranger things season 4

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starry-mist · 5 months

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Okay so, as I can’t recall if I’ve delved into the mind of Season 6 Charlie here or if I’ve just posted it elsewhere, this might be repetitive or it might be brand new. (Yeah, my memory suckssss.)

Anyhoo. So in looking at what little we’ve seen of s6, and given they’ve basically all been filler episodes so far, definitely take all of this with a grain of salt. It requires a bit more continuity than we’re used to with this show, and I know we like to expect things from the writers that they rarely deliver on, but bear with me.

I think in s6, with its apparent shift in focus away from Team As Family and back to All Charlie All The Time (thanks I hate it) we’re potentially going to learn a bit more about other aspects of his character than we have previously. For instance: what’s the deal with his dad? Why have we suddenly gone from his referencing what sounded like a happy family (though to be fair, they’ve really not been mentioned that much) to this apparent friction with his dad over some kind of tension between his dad and his brother? I feel like they could potentially be setting up more of his family appearing this season, but also, as a friend helpfully pointed out, they seem to be wrapping up each episode as a stand-alone, so I could be way off base.

With regards to Charah, and Charlie’s hesitation with meeting more of Sarah’s extended family: Let’s assume that Charlie hasn’t had a ton of meaningful romantic relationships. He married young, so in theory Julia was likely his last “meet the family” experience. We know (though the writers may have forgotten) that he’s met Sarah’s parents before they were in a relationship, but meeting the extended family likely feels like a much bigger step. So the hesitancy makes some sense.

And this leads us to where Charah are at this point in time. They’re past the honeymoon phase, but they also seem to have pulled back a little relationship-wise (or they haven’t and the showrunners just decided to appease the haters, but that’s a whole other theory.) She’s taking classes, so she’s a little more busy, and he’s…randomly working on his motorcycle? Whatever, let’s just assume that was a throwaway to set up the bike stunt, IDK, I was too busy disliking the episode to pay much attention. But at any rate: while they’re clearly making time to spend with each other (lunches, dinners that we never see,) they seem to have hit pause on the depth they had in s5 (again, I’m basing this on all of two episodes, so there is a decent chance I’m wrong and this is just the general shitty continuity again.) Sarah’s got her school thing going on, she’s perpetually career-driven, so there’s that keeping her occupied and maybe making less space for her personal life.

Charlie, on the other hand…I think (and it was touched on briefly in 604, and dammit, I wish they’d give us more than throwaway lines as to his mental state) he’s worried about measuring up when it comes to Sarah. Which is a bit strange, because he’s a success in his own right, but is he potentially comparing himself to her in terms of her higher education and feeling like he’s not on her level? I mean, that’s one option (and it’s kind of a silly idea, because we all know he’s brilliant as well.)

But also: he’s at a point he’s maybe been at once before in his life, which is him considering what the future holds for this relationship. And I think he’s likely scared. He’s been burned, and his character arc for the past five seasons has been getting over the divorce and opening himself up to love again. So now he’s at that point where maybe he’s considering taking the next step with Sarah, but he’s terrified (and it’s not rational, but emotional reasoning rarely is) because he’s been burned by love and perhaps in the back of his mind he’s worried that it could happen again. Even though it shouldn’t be a worry, and they’ll eventually have their happily ever after because that’s clearly where they’re headed, I could see him having a bit of self-doubt when it comes to really committing long term. It’s something he would really wrestle with, because he knows he’s found his One, but emotional baggage can rear its ugly head at any given time.

I think this season’s arc (assuming one exists) is going to be Charlie letting go of any of that possible self-doubt, realizing he’s ready to take that next step, and really just solidifying that he’s built this life of his own after his divorce. I also think there are allusions being made to him settling down and “finding home” in the sense of perhaps officially moving in with Sarah (real estate seems to be the only theme I’ve managed to pick out so far in s6) and maybe (big maybe) we end the season with a proposal.

I do still think there is an obvious parallel between Sarah going back to school and Julia having done the same once upon a time, which was the beginning of the end for their marriage. And I do think, based on that, there is a potential for some rocky bits to come. But, I repeat, they suck at continuity so it might never be mentioned again and the school thing is just to slot Sarah into that psychologist role and we’re not meant to think more deeply about it. (We will though. Dammit, writers, throw us a bone here.)

Anyway, for the rest of the season, I look forward to the usual format which should give us a solid Sarah episode, a Joe episode or two, a couple of Jesse episodes, and my favourite “Charlie and Sarah isolated somewhere” trope, wherein some of what has turned into basically my rambling essay on the mind of Charlie Hudson (help) might actually play out. And I hope that what we’ve seen so far has just been a rocky start, and there are some really decent episodes to come.

Okay well…that was a novel. I’m so sorry. 🤣

#hudson & rex #charah #charlie hudson x sarah truong #charlie hudson #starry speculates #season 6

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yukidragon · 1 year

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Damn! The last user won me the question but not exactly how he would do it, I love the context where Jack and Shaun become good friends and they take care of MC a lot but Ian's part and his reaction didn't seem to me...weird

I mean, Ian gives off vibes of being someone who would go crazy just knowing that his ex (who he cheated on) is starting a family with another man, while reading that I imagined a scene where Ian accuses Shaun of getting MC pregnant and even trying to forcefully take MC to form his "happy ending with the woman of his life" I honestly know that it is his canon but if we can in the context that Iban can be someone jealous, possessive and manipulative I see him capable of trying to force MC into having a relationship with him, threatening her and pretend to be the father of the BB (although I think this would be torture for the bb)

In another scenario, in the death of MC during childbirth, Ian tries to kidnap the son of his beloved and a scenario is created in his head where it is his son.

I get the vibes you’re talking about. It’s why there’s a pretty popular theory that Ian is actually a yandere too, or is going to go yandere in the game. In fact, I suspect all the love interests are yandere for MC, as I went over in a previous theory.

Admittedly, I didn’t touch too much on Ian’s reaction in the previous pregnancy headcanon post since I was trying to stick with happy headcanons, and, well... Ian’s reaction is definitely going to be anything but happy.

But since you really want to go into those darker headcanons and touch on the Yandere!Ian AU... let’s go for it, shall we?

Buckle up, y’all. If you don’t want to dive into darker topics such as the ones Anon here came up with, you might want to give this post a skip. Don’t worry, I’m sure to make a happy headcanon post following this one as a pallet cleanser because hoooo... we’re in for a ride..

First let’s get the warnings out of the way. Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack is an Adults Only game. There are mature themes in this story, and this topic no doubt is going to go into 18+ territory after the cut, if not just very disturbing territory.

Any and all pictures I might post for references are drawn by Sauce/Jambeebot and were publicly posted on their twitter before it went down. I’ve asked them if it’s okay for me to use them in these theories with credit.

As a reminder, what isn’t okay is posting private pictures from the SnaccPop Patreon. If you enjoy the lore of the game, then consider joining. It’s only $3 to get some lovely SDJ bonus content, including the very cozy Sleepy Time Jack virtual body pillow. While you’re at it, consider pledging to the kickstarter. There’s less than 2 weeks left to go, and there are lots of amazing rewards still left to get!

While I’m plugging links, why not check out my SDJ fanfics Sunshine in Hell and Sunshine in Another World? Sunshine in Hell is my interpretation of the game’s events, while Sunshine in Another World is where I intend to collect my AU short stories. With all these headcanons I’m making, I’m likely going to have more AU short fics appear sooner rather than later.

Lastly, it’s time to tag the lovely people who want to be alerted whenever I post some headcanons. If you want to be added to the list, please let me know!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars

Now, with all that said... let’s play with another “what if” scenario about one of the AUs on the art meme Sauce did: the Yandere Ian AU.

First of all, how Ian finds out and how much he knows about Jack will likely depend on how open MC is with him despite their falling out. Since there are a lot of possibilities, and the last post specifically centered around the headcanons of my personal version of the MC, Alice, I’m going to use her in these hypothetical scenarios. I’ll try to make note of where things apply to most MCs across the board, but with the specific scenarios you’ve given me, I’m going to need to narrow my focus, since otherwise there are way too many variables to consider. We are talking about a late-stage relationship with Jack after all, which is tricky enough to headcanon when we don’t know what’s going to happen in the game.

Sorry for giving you some more Bad End AUs to run through, Alice. I’ll make it up to you later with more smutty loving cuddle time with Jack.

Let’s start off with Ian accusing Shaun of getting Alice pregnant. This would be the most plausible explanation Ian would think of once he hears about the pregnancy. Alice(/MC) was his first relationship and puts a lot of stock into love and relationships. Unless she changed while he was gone (and of course she wouldn’t, since he would know her best), it’s unlikely she would get knocked up from a casual sexual encounter. If she did, it would be because she was in an emotionally compromised state and/or incredibly lonely, like what prompted Ian to cheat.

Alice does talk about Jack on her social media once they’re in a relationship, and had alluded to having a “new roommate” before that. She doesn’t give details about the whole supernatural situation, but Ian would have heard a little bit about Jack from stalking her socials.

I know this might not apply to all MCs, as some might just keep Jack entirely a secret even after getting pregnant. Again, there’s a lot of variables with a general MC at this point in the story, especially if they’re the vindictive type or just want to rip the band-aid off and tell Ian directly about the pregnancy to get it over with. An MC that carried a torch for Ian for a long time until finally learning to love Jack will react differently than a MC who still can’t forgive him for what he did, after all.

In any case, Ian has heard about Jack in this scenario. He’s even seen drawings Alice made of him, but no actual photos. It strikes him as suspicious, and the fact that no one he knows has ever met Jack or talked to him in person would make this seem like a “my girlfriend in Canada” situation. Without any evidence of this “Jack” person existing no matter how hard he scours the internet or their mutual social circles, it would be easy for Ian to assume that Jack is a fantasy, a husbando Alice made up to make herself feel better or to keep him away.

Ian is familiar with the concept of husbandos and waifus, having had many of his own before. Alice had some herself before they got together, which makes the possibility all the more likely in Ian’s mind.

In this scenario, Ian would not have encountered Jack before Alice was pregnant. If he did, well... he would’ve gotten the Nick treatment with those horrific nightmares... if not worse. We’re assuming Ian lucked out in this regard simply because Alice herself gained the strength to cut him off and block him completely, not allowing him to get near her again. As such, he didn’t become a threat that Jack needed to personally take care of.

While Ian could potentially ask Shaun about Jack to get answers about who Jack is and Jack’s relationship with Alice... Shaun and Ian, most likely, have a rough relationship due to the whole cheating thing. Shaun is protective of Alice, and he knows Ian hurt her very, very badly. With how manipulative Ian has been to try and get back into her life, Shaun would most likely cut him off and tried to encourage Alice to do the same until she finally did. I can totally imagine Ian getting in contact with Shaun after the cheating incident, only to get nothing but a “Fuck off.” in return.

Those who Alice trusts enough with the truth about Jack are unlikely to talk to Ian, as solidarity with her and what she went through when Ian cheated on her. Those who sided with Ian and tried to talk Alice into making up with him were similarly cut off unless they stopped trying to send messages from him to her. She wouldn’t be able to trust these friends completely even if she remained friends with them, as there’s that risk of them feeding Ian information, and the situation with Jack is too... supernatural to share with anyone but those she can truly trust with a secret.

Hearing about Alice being pregnant sends Ian into a spiral. Is this real, or is this made up like Jack? Some people who have imaginary spouses do have imaginary pregnancies. Alice has always been chubby, so you can’t tell she’s pregnant at a glance alone, so he still holds out hope that she’s deluding herself and tries even harder to figure out ways to reconnect with her.

It’s only when Alice posts a sonogram of the unborn baby and reverse image search turns up no matches does it really hit home for Ian that she really is pregnant... and it’s not his baby.

Ian is hit with similar sickly feelings that Alice experienced when he cheated, and he finds perverse irony in that. Is this karma for what he did?

...This makes them even now, doesn’t it? Ian slept with someone else, and so did Alice. The pain is even now. They can put it behind them. He’ll accept the baby as his own. He has the money to take care of all three of them, he has an acting and modeling career, acclaim and connections...

So Ian goes to further extremes. He can’t track Alice down, as she won’t let anyone who is still friendly with him know where she lives, and she’s blocked him everywhere electronically. Burner phones and new accounts are used, but never answered, but that’s to be expected - she never answers random numbers anyway and typically deletes messages from unknown numbers without even reading them.

Ian turns to other methods, going to Alice’s family and to closer friends like Shaun. Shaun can’t ignore Ian with an in person confrontation. The discussion gets heated quickly, as Ian is desperate and Shaun is disgusted by his insistence that he and Alice are meant to be together. Shaun puts his foot down, making it clear that Ian isn’t going to get anything about Alice from him and to fuck off and leave them alone.

Ian laser focuses on the use of “them” and jumps to the conclusion that Shaun is the father. Shaun is “Jack.” It all makes sense, right? Shaun likes to dress up in costumes with heavy makeup. Sure the drawings don’t look remotely the same, and, hell, are even the wrong race altogether, but that’s just a drawing! It’d be the perfect cover to hide their secret relationship, making him go crazy looking in all the wrong places.

Violence isn’t Ian’s first solution even when enraged and his sanity is fraying - he’s not very strong or tall after all; Shaun would snap him like a twig. Still, the argument gets heated and things escalate. Ian accuses Shaun of being the father of the baby, and Shaun snorts a bitter little, “I wish.” It only makes Ian more sure that he’s on the right track even after Shaun insists he’s not Jack. In fact, Shaun admits that he and Jack are friends. Sure, they butt heads sometimes, but ultimately Jack makes Alice happy, and she’s doing far better with Jack as a partner than she ever did with Ian.

That sets Ian off. It’s all but an admission of guilt, Shaun bragging about himself under the character of Jack, while at the same time insinuating that Alice was unhappy with Ian when they were meant to be together. Sure, Ian made a mistake, but so did Alice! He’s going to fix this!

Ian starts getting physical, adrenaline making his shove actually have enough force to it to shove Shaun back, but Shaun doesn’t just stand there and take it.

There’s a bit of a scuffle, but since they encountered each other in a public place, the fight would be broken up quickly. Ian still has his image to maintain, and too many eyes on him are judging him... judging what he did. He has to maintain that image if he wants Alice back.

Ian can’t let Jack win.

So, reluctantly, Ian is forced to retreat. For now.

Shaun is the primary target for Ian now. Word about the encounter with Ian gets back to Alice and Jack. Although Shaun wouldn’t want to worry Alice, especially since she’s pregnant and stress is bad for her and the baby, he would be worried about Ian acting so unhinged. It would make him fear Ian might do something to her and the baby.

Jack would take charge immediately, telling Alice gently not to worry about Ian. Ian doesn’t know where they live, otherwise he would have tried coming after her, not Shaun. Shaun won’t tell anyone.

Yes, Jack is trusting Shaun in this scenario. I did say I wanted them to be friends, remember? ;)

I will point out that doesn’t mean it’s a blind trust or that Jack fully lets down his guard around Shaun, but the two of them have formed a bond. Shaun accepts Jack makes Alice happiest, so Jack learned he’s not a threat to steal away his sunshine, essentially.

Naturally there’s a lot more to the relationship and trust building between them than that, but I’m keeping it short since this is about yandere Ian and this post is getting long enough as it is, so let’s get back on topic.

Jack’s focus would be on protecting Alice, both from Ian coming after her, and from the stress knowing about all this would put on her. Although Alice would feel like she should do something about this, Jack would remind her she already did - she told Ian it’s over and to never contact her again. She blocked him. Right now, she needs to focus first on herself and their little bundle of sunshine she’s carrying inside her. She shouldn’t be thinking about stressful things.

“Just leave Ian to me, okay, sunshine?”

Though reluctant, Alice allows Jack to talk things over with Shaun about the topic without her direct involvement. Even Shaun considers if Jack should use his spooky ghost powers to give Ian a little scare to make him back off... not thinking about the extremes Jack would be considering at this point. Shaun is thinking more along the lines of leaving spooky notes or making some stuff float, like he’s seen around the house. It’s more campy horror images.

However, Shaun would have some sense of Jack’s yandere side by this point, and caution Jack not to take it too far. After all, Alice would be hurt if she found out Ian got hurt. If nothing else, Jack needs to keep in mind how she hates to hear about even strangers getting hurt, never mind someone she grew up with and used to love.

Jack responds - via writing - that he’ll keep that in mind. Shaun goes after him for the ambiguous phrasing, and gets him to promise not to take things too far.

“Okay man... I’m trusting you not to lie about me about something like this. Keep the scares PG-13 max, okay?”

“Don’t worry, I know how to keep things kid friendly. The SunnyTime Crew Show had a Halloween special, you know. :o)”

Why not get a restraining order? Ian hasn’t done anything yet to require one. Besides, it would be up to Alice to jump through the legal hoops, which means stress for her and the baby.

Besides, how can a goth horror director resist setting up a good spooky scene?

Jack starts giving Ian nightmares... which does not help Ian’s fraying grasp on sanity. Now Ian has a face to go with the drawings, one covered in blood with putrid skin telling him how he is a burden to Alice, worthless, how she’s better off without him.

Ian knows it though. He knows he’s flawed and awful, but he and Alice are meant to be together.

They’re each other’s other half. There is no one else for Alice but Ian.

On normal Ian, Jack might break him with the nightmares. On yandere Ian, it only makes his obsession for Alice even more twisted.

Ian keeps up his outwardly shy, unassuming persona. He has an image he must maintain if he wants his happy life of stardom with Alice and their baby by his side.

Ian will accept that maybe Shaun donated the DNA, but that baby is his by right... and he’s going to take care of that issue.

Shaun, regrettably, gets caught in the crossfire. Again, Ian confronts him, but this time it’s several days later, after Ian has gotten his schedule from paying people for information. Ian knows Shaun works late at a certain studio, often alone to get extra work done. It’s the perfect time for them to have a chat.

The coffee is especially bitter that night, but Shaun chugs away at it anyway, trying to stay awake and get this one part of the editing done. It’s mid-sip that he hears a familiar voice, and he coughs.

“Careful, you might choke,” Ian says, and he seems genuinely concerned about that.

“What the hell do you want?” Shaun snaps once he finishes clearing his throat. His temper is short due to his lack of sleep coupled with too much caffeine. Now he has to deal with Ian’s shit on top of his deadlines? Fantastic. Looks like whatever Jack did wasn’t enough to make Ian take the hint.

Ian seems a lot calmer this time, more reasonable. He’s soft spoken as usual, but strangely more confident before, though still docile in appearance. He gives Shaun a heartfelt plea about how much he loves Alice, and how Alice loves him, but is just hurt and is hurting both of them in the process. He talks about moments that prove their love for each other, winding up with an impassioned statement about how they can only truly be happy together-

Which Shaun cuts off right at the climax of the speech. He’s in no mood for this nonsense, and listening to Ian talk about Alice like that is making his stomach churn. He’s going to need to buy a party sized bag of peanut butter cups after this.

Irritation flickers across Ian’s face at being interrupted after he went through all the effort to memorize what he wanted to say, but then he goes calm eerily quickly.

Ian had a feeling that this was how it was going to go. That’s why he spiked Shaun’s coffee - it was easy to bribe the intern to swap out the order for his own special blend before they left. The drug should be kicking in right about now.

Shaun gets hit with a spike of adrenaline, and getting worked up only makes the toxins in his systems activate faster. The world blurs and he staggers to remain upright, fear coursing through him.

“I have the antidote, you know,” Ian smiles, but it’s strained around the eyes, a tiny flaw in his act. “You have about 15 or 20 minutes left before it’s too late, and I don’t want Alice to be sad if she hears about your death on the news.”

Shaun tries to lunge at Ian, only to nearly fall over. He barely grabs onto the table to support his wobbly legs, knocking the laptop and other random items he was working with across the floor. Fear sinks in as he realizes that this is really happening, that Ian, crybaby Ian, constantly apologetic and pitiful Ian, has snapped. He tries to cling to the futile hope that this is just some sick joke to psyche him out, but the words no sooner leave his mouth before his stomach churns, and he winds up throwing up all over the floor.

Ian grimaces in disgust, stepping back. He fakes an apologetic look, saying that’s not going to help at this point. He did his research. Now, Shaun really better hurry up and tell him where to find Alice and his baby before it’s too late. Ian makes it clear with his deliberately chosen words that the baby is his, not Shaun’s, or Jack’s, or anyone else’s. His.

Shaun knows without a doubt that Ian has lost it now, but he’s not going down without a fight. He knows even if he gives Ian the information in exchange for the antidote, it would just be putting Alice in danger. His only chance is to take Ian down while he still can. He throws what’s left of the coffee at Ian, forcing the redhead to dodge or risk getting hit with the poisoned brew. It serves as a cover for Shaun to tackle Ian, intent on getting the antidote. Ian might be lying about it existing at all, but getting it is Shaun’s only hope if the poison works as fast as he says.

Unfortunately, Ian planned for this possibility too. A stun gun works wonders for a bigger attacker, and Shaun goes down hard.

Ian really didn’t want to do this, you know. Tears well up in his eyes, perhaps genuine ones. He didn’t want to take things this far, but Shaun forced him to do it. He’d never do this if he didn’t have to, but now... now...

Ian straightens up with a shuddering sigh, collecting himself. His acting coaches taught him how to shake off distractions and his personal feelings during a scene. He still has another act to perform.

Ian informs Shaun that this is Shaun’s last chance. He really doesn’t want to hurt anyone, really! He doesn’t want to make Alice sad, especially not over Shaun, but Shaun isn’t giving him a choice here. He asks for Shaun to please tell him where Alice is, then he’ll give Shaun the antidote. If not, well... Ian shrugs and gestures to the fallen laptop. He has the money to pay someone to hack into Shaun’s phone or computer.

Alive or dead, Ian will get the information from Shaun either way.

Does Shaun live or die? Feel free to headcanon that part for yourself at this point, but let’s move on. Ian knows where Alice lives after this encounter, and he’s not wasting anymore time.

Ian did rehearse what he was going to do when he finally saw Alice again face to face. He had done nothing but go over what he would say or do once he could finally reach out and touch her once again... but it’s a different thing seeing where she lives now. It’s a cozy little house in the suburbs, just like the one they talked about having someday. Sure it’s not exactly the same as the one he and Alice imagined back when they were together, but at this point he gaslights himself that every last detail is exactly what they planned out. It’s proof that Alice does still love him and has been waiting for him to come back home to her all this time.

Home. Their home.

Ian won’t leave her waiting a moment longer.

An unexpected late night visit isn’t out of the ordinary for Alice, not with a night owl friend like Shaun stopping by at odd hours. There are two ways it can go - either Alice happened to be closer to the door, and Jack was taking care of a chore, so she answered it... or Ian is surprised by the door opening to reveal nobody there.

It could go either way, really. Due to the late hour and Alice being pregnant, Jack would want to be the one to go to the door for her safety. However, if it’s not Shaun, a door opening with no one apparently there is a risk that can’t easily be explained away. Jack is limited in what he can do, after all. Shaun might be used to being invited in by a ghost(?) but a stranger is more unpredictable in how they’ll react.

Regardless of which way it goes, Jack is not going to be far away when Ian makes his grand entrance.

Since the scenario given is MC being directly threatened, let’s go with Alice answering the door while Jack is in the kitchen, preoccupied with making her food. Pregnancy cravings demand snacks at odd hours after all, even if they just had dinner a couple hours ago.

Ian is elated at the sight of Alice. Tears come to his eyes and he throws his arms around her, heedless of her shriek - obviously of joy - as he embraces her. He calls her name, gushing how he missed her so much. He loves her and is never going to let her go ever again.

Alice tries to push Ian back, but he’s not letting her. The hold is tight, too tight, and she yelps in pain. She demands he let go of her and cries out to Jack for help.

Or at least... Alice would have, if Ian didn’t silence her with an unwanted kiss just as she started to speak. He was just so happy to see her, and he needs to prove how much he loves her. She barely manages to pull back to breathe, and Ian gushes how everything is fine now, everything is fine. He’s here, he’s finally home. He forgives her for cheating on him, so now she can forgive him for his mistake, and they can be together, just like they always wanted. They can get married and have children. Oh, and don’t worry about Shaun or “Jack” or whoever knocked her up when she made her mistake, he’ll take full responsibility and love the baby as his own.

Fortunately, Ian isn’t going to get his way for long. An unseen force suddenly rips Alice out of his arms and holds her high in the air.

You best believe Jack dropped everything when he noticed something was wrong. He might not be able to touch Ian, but he can touch Alice. He’s much taller than Ian and is strong enough to hold her out of the intruder’s reach even at this late stage of her pregnancy.

Ian’s grasp on reality is tenuous at this point. Alice is... flying? Is this another nightmare? He chuckles, the sound cracking with this strange note to it as his sanity crumbles a little more, and he praises her on the trick. Did she set this up to surprise him? Aww, Alice, Ian already knew you were an angel, you don’t have to pretend to be able to fly now too.

Alice is terrified, clinging to Jack as best she can as her body shakes. She’s never seen Ian like this before. She barely even recognizes him as the man she once loved. She tells him to leave or she’ll call the police.

Ian chides Alice, saying she doesn’t have to pretend anymore. They’re even now. She paid him back for what he did, so now they can just forget everything and move on. Everything is fixed now, doesn’t she see? He said he can fix them, and he did. Now they can be together forever, just like they promised.

Ian tries to get closer, to grab Alice, assuring her that no one will get between them now. He can take care of it. He can take care of her. He won’t let anyone get between them ever again, not the police, not Shaun, not their mistakes. He took care of everything.

Jack doesn’t let Ian touch Alice, backing up every time Ian tries. The atmosphere is dangerous, chilling in fact despite the warmth of his sunshine protectively grasped in his arms.

The implication is not lost on Alice. She asks in a shaky, terrified voice what Ian did to Shaun.

Ian frowns, but quickly smiles again saying Alice can forget all about Shaun. Shaun’s gone now. Neither of them will make the same mistake again.

Fear grips Alice as she stares at this monster she can no longer recognize as her childhood friend grasping out for her with a gaze filled with desire that’s so sickeningly sweet.

Jack might not be able to speak directly to Ian, not in a way that the other man will consciously hear, but he can see that he went too easy on this threat that invaded their home.

The gloves are off now.

Figuratively of course. We all know how Jack likes to always keep the gloves on no matter what after all. ;)

(Yes I had to break up the tension for a moment to give a little roast about that. This situation is pretty dark even for me and I felt we could use a little levity. Anyway, back to the yandere vs yandere fight.)

Even though Alice is there in this moment, she’s scared and in danger. Jack uses his words, honeyed and like a devil whispering in her ear. He says that the police aren’t enough now. Ian isn’t going to listen to her, isn’t going to stop. He’s too dangerous. He did something to Shaun, probably killed Shaun. Jack won’t let Ian hurt her or the baby, but he can’t take care of Ian for good unless she lets him. Jack knows Alice doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt, and neither does he, but they need to think of their baby.

What will Ian do to their baby?

Alice turns away from Ian, shuddering, burying her face in the crook of Jack’s neck, as she nods, asking him in a tiny, terrified voice to make Ian go away.

Ian thinks Alice is speaking to him, until he hears a voice speak, not with his ears but like nails raking the words into his brain.

“As you wish, Alice.”

Alice doesn’t see what happens next. She blacks out. She wakes up the next day in their bed and everything is normal, sunny. Jack is cuddled up next to her like usual, and she buries her face into his chest, thinking it was all a nightmare.

It was all a nightmare, Alice keeps trying to convince herself, and Jack will let her believe it for as long as possible...

If Shaun survived the poisoning, Jack could possibly even cover up what happened to Ian with his help. Let Alice believe it was a nightmare. If he didn’t, well... Jack will do his best to comfort Alice and reassure her that getting rid of Ian was for the best. Ian was a murderer too dangerous to live. It’s not Alice’s fault or Jack’s for what happened. She should try her best to take it easy, if only for the baby’s sake.

Jack will do everything in his power to help his sunshine smile again. Alice deserves to feel nothing but joy at the birth of their child... and to never have to think about people like Ian ever again.

Jack slips back into his more unsavory habits to be more protective of Alice and their baby in the aftermath. Growth that came from his friendship with Shaun and the reassurance Alice gave him is backslid to some degree from this threat. If Shaun survived, it’s not as bad, but still...

Jack needs to convince himself that he’s still clean now, even after that night that Ian invaded their home and tried to take his sunshine away. He’s still clean... he has to be...

Personally, I prefer the option where Shaun survives, so I’m going with that. Maybe Ian left the antidote behind when he left, or maybe there was a miscalculation with the dosage and Shaun’s size. In any case, let’s not make Moon Pie an orphan on top of everything else, okay?

Besides, Jack would prefer it if Alice just thought that it was all nothing more than a bad dream...

That would be about where this specific scenario ends.

In the scenario of Ian trying to steal the baby away if MC(/Alice) died in childbirth... yeah, he’s not getting very far. Jack already snapped from the death of his sunshine. You think he’s going to let anyone touch their baby, let alone Ian?

Whatever happened to Ian that night in the earlier scenario, would pale in comparison to whatever Jack does to him if his sunshine was already gone.

Hoooo... that was sure a lot of dark headcanons, wasn’t it? I hope you liked this horrifying “what if” scenario. I’m probably going to go with a much happier headcanon post after this to counteract the bitterness with some sweetness.

Happy early Halloween, everybody! 🎃

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #swwsdj #sdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Ask #Sauce-y Art

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