#stand up

Billy gets his curls from his mom.

Of course he does. Everything he actually likes about himself is mostly just because of her.

(And everything Neil despises about him is mostly just because of her.)

She didn’t leave many things when she left.

But, she left a dove grey scarf. A soft soil one that she would use to tie up her hair before she went to bed.

She told Billy it made her curls smoother, more defined, less frizzy.

Billy had forgotten about it. It was actually Steve that had found it in a box of miscellaneous items Billy was refusing to unpack, even after being in Hawkins for nearly six months.

Steve had let the cool silk run between his fingers.

“What’s this?” He asked, and Billy always likes how Steve can keep his voice even. Nonjudgmental.

“Scarf.”

Billy’s heart had tightened at the view of that scarf. He had forgotten about it.

“Why do you have it?”

“My mom. It was her’s.”

Steve just gave him a doe-eyed look, holding the scarf in front of him like some kind of precious artifact of Billy’s fucked up life.

“She used to wear them to bed. Tie her hair up, you know? She said it made her curls better.”

It always did. Her hair was always so beautiful. Sometimes she and Billy would sit in the back yard, in the soft grass, and she would brush out her hair. And they’d laugh at how huge it would get, but it was always as soft as the silk that Steve was holding.

Steve smiled, sitting down in front of Billy on his bed.

It was a rare moment of having the house to themselves.

Steve had parked three blocks away and walked, ducking around the back of the neighbor’s house to sneak in Billy’s window.

He reached up, clumsily tying the scarf around Billy’s head, tucking his hair in.

“There.” He smiled brightly, leaning forward to press a kiss to Billy’s heated cheek.

Billy started sleeping with the scarf.

Not only because his curls got better, (smoother, more defined, less frizzy, just like she always said) and not only because Steve liked to play with the thick ringlets, but because he missed her. He missed his mom every goddamn day of his goddamn life.

And sometimes, when he tied his hair up, he could pretend she had just done the knot for him. That she had tucked in any stray hairs and pinned the scarf to each side.

He’d do anything to feel close to her.

Based on the way the story has been written, especially following season 4, I do believe mike is likely gay atp. But “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls” still makes sense as projection if Mike is bi because lots of closeted bi teens are confused about their feelings, especially in the 80s where terms like “bisexual” wouldn’t have been as readily accessible to kids from Hawkins, Indiana.

Simply the fact that Mike likes boys/Will could make him worried that he’s gay and cause him to hyperfixate on the concept of not liking girls more often, especially if his feelings for El were waning, or if his feelings for Will were overwhelming, even if he did in fact have a crush on El at the start of the show. Nothing says being a closeted bi teen like bouncing back and forth between “I can’t be gay, I like girls” and “Oh no, I like boys, am I gay?”

I think there’s a common misconception that the bi Mike view necessitates oversimplifying the story as “Mike used to be into El, and now he’s into Will.” That isn’t necessarily the case. A bi Mike reading can still involve internalized homophobia, projection, the heteronormative pressure to conform and date girls, repression, and most of the things we talk about here.

(I didn’t really wanna get involved in this, but I feel like this is important to add).

[Harrison Ford at the “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Hollywood premiere - IGN - 6/16/23]

— WDD

i know people are not watching Stranger Things for period-accurate indiana culture but it’s wild to me over the course of 4 seasons now, no one has mentioned the colts once. not even in passing! they moved to indianapolis in 1984 and it was a huge deal! you’re telling me officer callahan never tried to break a painful silence between him and hopper with “how about them colts?”

writing fic will have u googling shit like "when did winston come out with menthol cigarettes" and "cigarette purchasing laws 1980s indiana"

max and charles road tripping across america?? who am I. (this idea started consuming my brain approx 24 hours ago and I haven’t been able to let it go since)

the writing process on this one is fast (right now) but it’s still gonna be a long fic so here’s a snippet in the meantime just for fun:

"It's mental," Max says, because he's never really trusted ovals. Feels unnatural, like you're trapped on a hamster wheel, no open road in front of you. "It's amazing," Charles breathes out, eyes lighting up.  Max can see it then; Charles, glorious and unburdened under the midwestern sun. He thinks it'd be something pretty special to watch. Just Charles and a car, nothing else. Nothing but raw speed and a healthy dose of insanity. "You think you'd like to do it?" "Maybe, one day," Charles grins, climbing up the banking.  "You'd win," Max says, and Charles turns to stare at him. "What?" He shrugs, it's the truth. "In a spec series, nothing to hold you back. Of course you'd win." No Ferrari to hold you back.  The comment hangs there, for a minute, itching to be heard. Max swears he can feel a prickle on the back of his neck, like any minute he'll turn around and the ghost of Enzo Ferrari will be standing there, glaring at him under the Indianapolis sunshine.  Ferrari, he thinks again. Just to taunt himself. Like Beetlejuice. He glances over his shoulder, wonders if he's going crazy.  "Maybe I would," Charles concedes, shaking Max out of his stupor. It's reassuring in a way, that Charles hasn't lost sight of his own abilities despite the clusterfuck around him.  He smirks at Max. "Since you're too scared to race ovals." It sounds, in Charles' own complicated way, like a promise. You're the only one that could ever catch me. "I'm not scared," Max protests, though he does glance at the banking under him in suspicion. "I just don't like them." Charles laughs, like he sees right through him.  "You can admit it, we're the only ones here." 

There's a post going round explaining why Stephen Amell is a scab. And I don't want to hijack that post, so I'm doing a whole new post.

Because I got fixated on this: “Nick Cage has a crippling dinosaur bone addiction and somehow managed to stay the picket line soooo.“  

He what now?

I knew he had a habit of living it up and going on major spending sprees to the point where he would go broke, and then he’d have to make another movie, which is why he has made some questionable career decisions. But “a crippling dinosaur bone addiction”?????

So I did a basic internet search and yeah, he buys a lot of dinosaur bones.

But then I read: “Leonardo DiCaprio got into a bidding battle with Cage over this rare dinosaur skull but Cage emerged victorious, having paid more than $270,000 for the fossil. Almost six years later, things were complicated by the discovery that the auction house had obtained the skull from someone who had illegally imported fossils from China and Mongolia.“ (Source: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/nicolas-cage-leonardo-dicaprio-dinosaur-skull/)  Cage returned it to Mongolia and never got money back for it. But the whole incident inspired him to now hunt for the Holy Grail?!?!?! (Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/nicolas-cage-explains-his-dinosaur-skill-fiasco-his-hunt-literal-holy-grail-1229919/)

TL;DR: TIL Nic Cage got into a money battle with Leonardo DiCaprio over a stolen dinosaur skull and is now obsessed with finding the Holy Grail.

The whole world is adopting the sacred spiritual Knowledge of Saint Rampal Ji.

i think robin signs up for a billion different clubs and societies when she gets to college. not because she cares about them but so she has an endless rotation of places to get free snacks

Marvel released a magazine style oneshot adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with a cover date of September, 1989. ("Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" Marvel Comic Event)

Wes "INDIANA JONES" Borland

I'd let THIS Indy crack his whip on me any day

fuck it. post ohiocore

as someone from the midwest and who's been to Indiana on numerous occasions it never stops tickling me the way people write Janeway's backstory/home like she's from some remote quaint farm when Bloomington is like. a real city. it's a huge college town. there are a lot of businesses there. apparently very few fanfic writers know this. apparently judging by 11:59 the writers of the show don't know this either.

(this is not a complaint, i think it's very cute to see people writing about places near me and i'm not bothered at all by any of it. it's just very funny to think about all the people who assume just because you're from Indiana then you must live on a farm. it's like thinking everyone from California works in the entertainment industry and lives on the beach.)

(also if you are one of these fanfic writers, don't fear, there are still a plethora of farms in Indiana and near Bloomington. and anyways who knows the actual city could have long since been destroyed by the time the Trek shows take place.)