Shanks loving to tease buggy is so perfect because it could backfire so easily once buggy (obviously completely on accident and he doesn’t mean it) says something vulnerable and extremely lovable
Shanks leaned back on his hands, watching Buggy really stoke himself into a rage. His face got so red when he got mad… it was almost too much to bear.
“—absolute idiot, Shanks!!” Buggy spun around—well, kind of. His feet weren’t moving, but his upper body was pacing a tight circle in front of Shanks, arms locked behind his back (probably because they’d fly every which way if he didn’t hold them in place; Mr. Rayleigh had lectured him about not losing track of his body parts, but it was all still pretty new). “And another thi—oh, what now?”
“Huh?” Shanks looked down at himself, not seeing anything incriminating. Buggy was glaring at him pretty hard, though, so there must be something. A hand lifted to his face revealed that Shanks was grinning. He hadn’t realized. Shanks did his best to get his face under control. “Sorry, Buggy. What were you saying?”
Buggy flushed a darker red—oh, unfair, now his cheeks were nearly as dark as his nose! “You weren’t even listening, were you?!”
Shanks shrugged.
Buggy groaned, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “You’re impossible. And what was so funny, anyway?”
Oh, too easy. “You.”
Buggy let out a frustrated screech. “Excuse me?!”
“The way you flush when you get mad,” Shanks said, laughing a little at the baffled look on Buggy’s face. “Your whole face gets as red as your nose, it’s like you’re a tomato ripening at super speed.”
“Whose nose is as red and round as a tomato?!!” Buggy snapped.
Shanks blinked. “Yours, I just said so.”
Buggy yelled, a wordless cry, and stormed off, his shoulders trembling. Seemed like Shanks had pushed him pretty far. Hm… to push further, or to let it go? Shanks looked at Buggy’s ears, the only visible part of his face at this angle, a vivid red at the tips, and knew himself well enough to know what he had to do.
He leaned back on his hands again, putting on the casual affect he knew riled Buggy up something fierce. “Something I said?”
Buggy froze mid-step.
“I like tomatoes, you know.”
And before Shanks could blink, Buggy was in his face, hands dug into the collar of his shirt, pulling him close enough to count Buggy’s eyelashes… which were wet.
Oh, no.
“Do you?” Buggy asked, voice trembling, but with barely suppressed tears, not the rage Shanks had been expecting. “Do you like my stupid red tomato nose and my embarrassing red tomato face?? Huh?!”
Oh no. Shanks froze. He was totally screwed. If he told the truth, Buggy would think he was just teasing him more, like an absolute ass. If he lied, it would hurt Buggy’s feelings… more than he already had. And if he tried to defuse the situation, Buggy would think he pitied him, which would be worse than either of the other options by far.
Was there a fourth option? Could he prevent this moment from becoming a complete disaster?
“I…”
“Well?” Buggy spat, leaning in so close their noses touched.
There was one other thing Shanks could do… it might backfire on him, even worse than the others, but there was a small chance things would turn out for the better. All he had to do was tell the truth, and act on it before Buggy could blow up at him about it.
“I…”
Actually, maybe he should reverse those steps. Buggy could be real fast about blowing up at you if he had a mind to.
Decided, Shanks angled his head and leaned in.
Buggy’s lips were chapped and warm… and wet, and a little salty. Not to mention stiff as a board. Maybe this hadn’t been Shanks’ best idea ever. He pulled back, licking his lips reflexively, and opened his eyes to look at Buggy.
He was gaping at Shanks, wide-eyed, dumbstruck.
Shanks rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I do, actually. A lot.”
A strangled little squawk came out of Buggy’s mouth; he let go of Shanks’ shirt to slap his hands over it, and, still staring at Shanks, fled.
Once alone, Shanks sighed, and pressed a hand to his mouth. Definitely not his best idea, but… he smiled. Not something he regretted, either.
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On The Topic Of Eddie.
First of all, he’s completely fucked. He’s screwed. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again: I’ve never seen a character more doomed by the narrative.
Second, Eddie’s halloween costume was Frankenstein’s Monster. And pray tell, what was the Monster’s whole thing? That he’s betrayed by his own creator, rejected / attacked by the town, deeply misunderstood & interpreted as a violent beast despite being well-read and helpful/benevolent. There are some interesting ties there - especially with the Misunderstood Despite Being Well-Read (switch out violent beast with forgetful klutz and it’s a perfect fit). That, plus Eddie’s description of “...brought back from the dead… by the scientist… stitches… a deathly pallor… a bit of a moral conundrum…”
Take that and add it to how Eddie resembles the “night” side of the clocks (this will be expanded upon with Sally in a different post), and how @/theneighborhoodwatch once pointed out that the color purple is only shown in relation to Eddie & may represent secrets, how in livestream trivia it was implied that Eddie doesn’t sleep at night as he is a “busy guy”, and how Sally’s “monster” only comes out at night and likely isn’t a monster at all - she is dramatic, an embellisher, and said to present things that she herself doesn’t know / is uncertain of As Fact, or at least present them as if she knows exactly what she’s talking about (even when she doesn’t and knows it).
Another tidbit that I may have mentioned but I’ll bring it up again: Eddie’s eyelashes match the scalloped trim under Home’s windows. Three round curves.
As an additional tally in the “Eddie is soooo fucked <3” scoreboard, Eddie is the mailman in a story where one of the first things we knew to be actually happening was the WHRP receiving letters of Welcome Home media (now I’m not saying Eddie sent them, certainly not. He may or may not have had a hand in helping with the delivery, but what I mean with this is how it ties in symbolically/abstractly/thematically.) That plus the red envelope, the general unfolding delivery theme… Eddie even has a holiday explicitly associated with him - Mail-In Time Day.
Then there’s the fact that Eddie tends to express Knowledge and a more worldly disposition, in a way. Despite Frank being mentioned as the neighborhood “intellectual”, and he is so with facts, Eddie seems to have a deeper well of… let’s say cultural know-how. Pair that with how his bio is the only one to say/imply that he comes from elsewhere, that he’s been Around. Everyone else came from their family or don’t have a stated before, but Eddie? He was strongly implied to have delivered to a lot of different places - this is made into a running gag, but we all know a running gag for the Show has deeper implications and meanings.
And the fact that his genuine knowledge as well as his past are consistently dismissed and/or played off for laughs…
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THIS NEXT BIT: I CANNOT FIND THE OG ASK OUTSIDE OF SCREENSHOTS SO TAKE ALL OF THIS WITH A MASSIVE GRAIN OF SALT, AS THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE ASK WAS FROM PRE-2021 AND SO - ALONG WITH THIS SPEC CHUNK - IT MAY BE NULL & VOID. BUT IT ALSO MAY NOT BE! SO I’LL TALK.
A while back - this is related I swear - there was an ask Clown answered where they talked about some of his notes on Eddie. The first part that I want to point out is how apparently Eddie is a good source for information (specifically How-To), but despite being talkative he doesn’t share unless prodded for it. This directly relates to the above points.
Then there’s the one I really want to talk about - how Clown says that “He [Eddie] has a great deal of precision for someone who presents themselves as a semi-clumsy busybody!”
That single line made me insane, personally. First, the wording. The choice of saying presents themselves as instead of something like for someone who is. There’s an obvious discrepancy between his precision and clumsiness. Now I don’t doubt that he may be a tad accident-prone, but what if Eddie is dialing up the clumsy nature to disarm his Neighbors / craft a specific reputation for himself / give himself leeway in other areas.
On one hand, this is suspicious as fuck.
On the other hand, this is so adhd of him.
One of the things rarely mentioned about it is how sometimes we adhders will play up our more “useless” traits in order to create a bit of a social safety net. Admittedly, I will sometimes play up my forgetfulness so that a) if i do forget things (truth more often than not), people aren’t surprised. b) when i remember things, people are pleasantly surprised. I mean, if people start thinking we’re competent then they’ll start Expecting things from us, which is never a good thing!
And another thing that relates to it that that ask said - Clown says in it that Eddie is slow to anger, but he gets frustrated more easily. Which is fascinating and very relatable. They also said that he can’t talk about it without wandering too far, which - if the post is viable - has… implications.
Anyway I am very confident that Eddie is in fact adhd. List of reasons (refer to the wiki trivia Eddie Dear section for sources):
He’s forgetful
He gets so involved with a task and cannot break away until it’s finished, thus often making him late
He’s particular
He has a watch - likely to help him keep track of time, implying that he has difficulty with the concept (time blindness!)
He is very talkative and rambley
& seems to have slight difficulty with picking up on social cues telling him when to / when not to speak
He’s slow to anger but more easily frustrated
Beyond all of this I don’t have much to add that I haven’t already talked about in a previous post! I’m sure even so I’ve restated some (or a lot of) things - it Happens!
In conclusion: bbg is so screwed & also adhd <3
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