Ed must have been crying under that blanket, stunned and hurt as he was, learning Stede left him for Mary, who he never loved, Mary who made him miserable. He must have been sure Stede could never have felt what Ed felt and then done that. But Ed’s pulled it together by the time he sticks his head out to let Stede know how mad he is. And he keeps it together, even calling himself an idiot for trusting Stede, even baffled and longing, until Stede says “I love your chin!”
Hearing that word, Love, aimed at him by Stede, that does him in. That’s when Ed’s eyes fill with tears and he goes still, can’t look at Stede, orders Stede not to say the next part. Because if he can’t take just hearing that Stede loves his naked chin, then hearing the whole of it will undo him. And he’s spent the whole dinner barely holding it together, visibly feeling everything and terrified by the force of it.
So he says, No, you don’t get to say that to me, not after I never even got to say it and I meant it so much. And I’m not telling you anything now. I already said my part. Then the tears recede a bit with the strength of him standing up for himself, for his hurt, and he just peeks to see how Stede will take that No.
But when Stede drops his head and takes that in like it matters to him, what Ed doesn’t want, and doesn’t seem to spare a thought for his own pride — doesn’t take a moment to fret about Why did I come all this way, then, if you’re done with me — when he only wants to be sure Ed knows he adores him regardless, just being near him, whether or not Ed has anything to give him — that’s when Ed finally turns to him. His fear fades a little under the light of wonder, and he glows a bit at Stede, even sad and sore as he still is; because that’s when he knows he wasn’t wrong. He’s not in this alone. Stede feels it too.
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“I’m just a little worried that Mike has to have a whole gay realization arc all in the last season”- YALL. PAY ATTENTION THATS WHAT HES BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME:
Season 2: Mike is unaware of what his feelings mean but knows how much he cares about Will, legit spends the whole season being in love with him. By the end at the showball he realizes that somethings up, he doesn’t rlly understand what but he can tell something feels different and he doesn’t like it. Cue part 1 of his realization arc; subconscious denial
Season 3: Subconscious denial is rapidly turning to conscious denial, and at the start of the season we see Mike is in part 2 of his realization arc; a severe case of internalized homophobia. He cycles through it all the way to his absolute lowest point in part 2 (rain fight) and then he slowly comes back from it just a little bit. Then, at the end of the season, we see Mike shift onscreen from part 2 to part 2.5; conscious realization and fear. At this point Mike is halfway through his internalized homophobia arc. He KNOWS how he feels, but it still terrifies him. He grapples with this in the time period between s3 and 4.
Season 4: Ah yes, the penultimate season. The season that sets up endgame. The season that has an *entire gay road-trip plot line dedicated to byler*. This season is part 3 for Mike; acceptance. At first glance you miss it if you’re not looking, since s4 byler was almost entirely from Will’s lovely but very biased POV as he was also going through his own gayangstTM arc at the same time, but all it takes is a second glance to see that it’s there. At the start of the season Mike is on the very last, very flimsy legs of denial, and reuniting with Will again after not speaking for months is what catapults him into the acceptance chunk of his arc. In almost every cali crew scene, we see Mike slowly get closer and closer to total acceptance. We see him accept that he doesn’t love El the way he’d originally thought, he accepts that he loves Will the way he thought he was supposed to love El, and by the van scene, Mike is soso close to accepting that both of these things are okay.
Close being the key word here. Will accidentally throws him off again in volume 2, so Mike’s realization arc isn’t fully concluded yet, things are still very messy and season 5 has a lottt to address. But that’s the THING; season 5, as far as byler goes, actually only needs (for the most part ofc) to address development and realizations that have already happened. A lot of the fandom is really underestimating how much Mike suspects and has realized, at least about himself, and that’s where I think most of the remaining byler doubt is coming from (not including Twitter, we don’t count byler Twitter they do not know shit abt what’s going on 💀).
But that worry is unnecessary! Some of you guys don’t realize how perfect of a plot device Vecna is. I’m saying this as a writer: He’s like a writers dream bc you can basically tell viewers what’s happening in a character’s psyche while still maintaining “show don’t tell.” Bc now? All the writers rlly have to do to start canonifying Mike’s gay realization that has, once again, already happened, is have vecna target him! And they’ve clearly been planning that if that several billion hints in s4 and 3 and EVEN 2 AND 1 are anything to go by 👀👀
Guys, Mike’s *realization* arc is practically FINISHED. The duffers and writers have just been hiding it this whole time by not giving us any Mike POV in s3 or 4 bc they couldn’t confirm Mike before confirming Will, that would make byler endgame wayy too obvious they had to sneak it in there.
But it’s there, and it’s happened. The only thing WE have to worry about now is preparing ourselves for the sheer level of angst that is going to be Mike’s internalized homophobia plot line getting confirmed… I rlly don’t think we’re ready for that. I know IM not 😭
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I have to wonder how much of s2 being "not good" was more a product of people constantly complaining about it and even going through the trouble to meet Anthony only to insult him to his face and say they hated the season. I feel like a lot of the pacing and problems started when Anthony gave up on the literal main conceit of the series: Monster Of The Week btvs shit. And sure, he said that he supposedly agreed with the fandom that the first like 10 episodes weren't "going anywhere" but we had all the time in the world to fuck around in s1 and do literally nothing but talk around a car for episodes at a time so I don't think it would've been bad if we hung out at school and weren't going for Plot™!!!! nonstop with no breaks.
And to be fair this happens with pretty much every one of these spontaneous succeses. It happened with Taz Amnesty going way too hard, too fast and not necessarily taking the time to pace it correctly and just live in the world. They want to recapture that magic that the first season had but forget that magic usually comes from fucking around for 30 episodes to sufficiently (though, accidentally) come to that great and badass final episode conclusion.
I love Anthony very much and I think he is genuinely an amazing writer but as someone who has played the pre-sequel, I can definitively tell you when Anthony Burch is halfassing something lol. I don't think he didn't care about the season, I think he was just super stressed and the way they were going about this season wasn't supporting his strengths as a creative. He's obviously very good coming up with the most heart wrenching shit you've ever seen on the fly and he's good at writing a planned and prepared story but he's not as good at trying to do plan a semi-prepared story with half baked ideas literally in the moment as it's happening. Anyone would forget shit even the important things when you're trying to juggle multiple plot lines and execute character arcs. And it is funny but I can't imagine the Psychological Warfare the dads put him through is all that helpful when you're trying to figure out how to bring a football stadium organically in the story lol.
I really hope our parasocial distant father who fucked our mom and then left for milk takes a rest and pulls himself away from all this negativity and he finally just gets to be a Deranged Small Child with a Knife again. Thats clearly all he wants and who can blame him
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— WIP WEDNESDAY
The Wednesdays start comin and they don’t stop comin. Just like smash mouth used to say
Tagged by @inafieldofdaisies and @adelaidedrubman thank you both!!! 💕💕💕
No pressure tags: @marivenah @voidika @simonxriley @corvosattano @socially-awkward-skeleton @detectivelokis @minaharkers @shegetsburned @loriane-elmuerto @florbelles @roofgeese @kyber-infinitygems @chuckhansen @queennymeria @jackiesarch @shellibisshe @jacobseed @unholymilf @aceghosts @nokstella @risingsh0t @jinfromyarikawa @shadowglens @sstewyhosseini + anyone else who wants to share a wip!
Well this is basically just *sees one grainy screenshot of a trailer leak and becomes mentally ill about it*
warning for a bit of a heavy mood: suicidal thoughts implied as well as talking about trauma and the like
Bix lay sprawled out on her stomach in the messy bed, appearing about as put together as her living quarters. If Imogen hadn’t heard her voice just a moment before, she would have thought Bix wasn’t even conscious. As she drew nearer, she noticed a familiar blaster rested loosely in her mechanic’s grip.
One step forward, two steps back.
A lump formed in Imogen’s throat, but she swallowed hard and sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”
The first sign of life from Bix was a weak shrug. “Somewhere in between wanting to blast some Imp’s head off and my own.”
That filled Imogen with a sickening, ice-cold dread. She carefully reached for the blaster. “You know that I would never allow you to do that.”
Their fingers brushed as Imogen took the weapon out of her hand. The touch roused a reaction and the mechanic’s gaze snapped up to meet the former Inquisitor’s. Imogen expected to see anything from pain to fear, but Bix’s eyes were simply hollow. She could not bear to witness it for more than a couple of seconds.
“All of a sudden you’re so concerned with coveting life, huh?”
“I covet yours above all others, Bix,” Imogen replied.
A sigh expelled from her lungs and she dragged herself into a sitting position. “You don’t need to worry. I was just… too deep in my own head.”
Imogen nodded, but fully recognized the danger of such a thing. “Have you gotten out of this room today?”
“No.”
“One prison is enough to endure. You should not make it two,” she said gently.
Bix ran a hand though her disheveled curls and released another impatient huff. “Everyone has been looking at me like I’m some broken thing. I mean, I am, but… seeing it all over their faces makes me feel like I’m still strapped to that chair, losing my mind.”
Imogen knew she must have inadvertently contributed to that. Guilt twisted her insides. Of all people, she should have known better. “My master used to look at me differently than anyone else. Not in a way I found to be encouraging. Though she never said it, I could see she spent most of her days anticipating the worst from me. It is taxing.”
“It is,” the mechanic agreed wearily. She shifted closer, looping an arm through Imogen’s and resting her head on her shoulder.
Despite the topic of conversation, Imogen felt a light flutter in her chest as the heat of the other woman’s body warmed her. This type of candid affection they had started to share more frequently brought a specific kind of intoxication. It felt just as thrilling as any intimate touch and she hid a smile. Imogen could be content with her like this. Just like this.
Imogen turned her attention to the blaster in her hands. “I had not realized you still had this. I thought it was lost.”
Bix studied the blaster like it was the only object of importance to her. “I kept it from you.”
“Why?”
“It makes me feel less vulnerable. And because it’s yours.”
Imogen recalled when Bix had taken it straight from her holster out of a strong will to escape the Empire with her life. Perhaps the blaster was not some dark force searching to prey on an addled mind, rather the only tangible reminder of her own survival.
After a long moment of deliberation, Imogen offered the weapon back to her. “Now it is yours.”
Bix leaned back enough to meet her gaze again. Relief washed over the bounty hunter at the small spark that reignited within her rich eyes. “You’re sure?”
“I trust that you will continue to protect yourself with it. As I will continue to protect you.”
A soft smile tugged at the corner of Bix’s mouth, drawing Imogen’s gaze down for a split second. She suddenly became keenly aware of their lack of personal space. Bix took in her features as well before she accepted the blaster. “Thank you.”
“You will not be broken forever, Bix,” Imogen promised.
The movements were subtle. Fingers tightened around her arm. Bix tilted her head towards hers ever so slightly. Imogen felt even the most acute form of contact. It pulled her in like a magnet, making each short breath stutter past her barely parted lips.
“You can kiss me, you know,” Bix whispered.
Imogen had never experienced a deeper temptation in all her life. It would be as easy as leaning in an inch or two. The last time her lips were graced by a kiss was on Ferrix before the uprising. That moment felt so far away and it made Imogen ache terribly for her mechanic. This pain reached past every defense to tear at what was left of her very soul. Somehow, that only made her crave it more.
But Imogen could not bring herself to give in. Not while Bix was like this.
Wordlessly, the bounty hunter tilted her chin up and gently pressed her lips to Bix’s temple. Imogen felt her beloved lean into the kiss as her tense muscles eased. She sensed it gifted them both a moment of peace, so she pulled away and rested her forehead where the ghost of her kiss remained, feeling no rush to part from her mechanic.
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