Steddie Upside-Down AU Part 96
Part 1 Part 95
Mom makes him go home when he starts dosing on Steve’s hospital bed. But it’s okay because she kisses Steve’s cheek before she leaves, and Eddie and Wayne stay parked by his side.
The connection’s easier now. It’s like all that time straining for Steve has snapped something into place. He can feel them all the time, a warm buzzing in his chest. He wonders if he runs hot now. If the warmth will diffuse through his whole being, make coats obsolete even in the dead of winter.
Hopper is waiting for them in the waiting room, El burrowed into his side. She looks wan, and tired, drooping into her extravagant coat, eyeliner running down her cheeks like she’s been crying. Something inside him twists when he looks at her.
Before he can untangle that knot of emotion, Hopper stands up, both hands slapping against his knees first the same way Mike’s dad does before he gets up from his recliner. “You ready to go?” he asks, not looking away from Mom.
When Will glances up, Mom’s smiling up at Hopper in a way he doesn’t want to think about. The adults talk quietly in front, leaving El to stumble tiredly along beside Will. She’s staring at the side of his face. Will can’t bring himself to look back.
“Steve,” she says, sounding the word out and making it longer like it still tastes foreign on her tongue. “He is okay?”
When Will gets up the courage to look over, her eyes are big and worried. He smiles at her helplessly. It’s almost funny how innocent she looks; like she’s a bunny dressed up in punk clothes. “He’ll be okay.”
She smiles, small and close lipped, but it still beams out of her like the sun. Will tilts his head to the side and tries to see what Mike sees in her. He wants to hide her in Castle Byers, build a fortress around her, and keep her away from all the lab people for the rest of her life.
Is that howMike felt, hiding her in his basement, giving her frozen eggos and keeping his mouth shut?
But then her lips thin and she looks forward again. The feelings vanishes. It’s just El, hia friend, despite how much of Mike’s attention she’d snapped up just by being herself.
“I’m glad,” she says, looking at Hopper’s broad back as she takes two steps for each one of his.
It’s quiet after that, the way it always is after; all of them too brittle and bruised and bone-deep tired for conversation.
Hopper’s truck rat-a tat-tats itself to life in the hospital parking lot. The radio croons out something quiet and thrumming until Hopper reaches over to shut it off.
El’s heads smushed into the window, vibrating against the pot-holed roads of Hawkins.
Will’s so tired he’s wide awake.
He watches the familiar buildings of Hawkins flicker by. It's been a long time since knowing his surroundings brought any comfort.
Monsters could live behind every door, every tree, every smiling face.
He’s not sure any of them will ever feel safe again.
Will closes his eyes, locking the scenery out so he can focus on the bundle of warmth in his chest. They’re still huddled together, two sparks merging in his chest.
The past couple days have been a necessary violation of Eddie’s private feelings. He’d bared them all with love confessions and grasping hands, trying to pull Steve back from the edge of immolation.
He’s not even sure Steve knows, hopes he does. Steve deserves to hold that love delicately between his palms and choose what to do with it.
He won’t crush it, even if it’s unreturned. He’ll hold it gently like he always does.
Will doesn’t realize he fell asleep, or that they’d arrived home until he’s in free-fall. It feels like one of those falling dreams where you wake up solidly in the middle of your bed, but this time he really is tumbling, only Jonathan’s arms keeping him from hitting the gravel.
“Are you okay?” he asks shakily as he pulls Will into his chest, holding him tight enough to hurt. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Mom murmurs, wrapping them both up in her arms, chin landing solidly on Jonathan’s shoulder, sandwiching Will between their bodies. “Everyone’s fine, right Will?”
Will murmurs his affirmation, feeling groggy and confused in the light of day.
“I was with Nancy,” Jonathan whispers. “I was just with Nancy, and you were–I almost–”
“Shh,” Mom cuts him off, reaching up to cradle his face and smile up at him. Will barely catches the edge of his watering eyes from his restricted vantage point between them. “Everyone’s fine.”
“I should have been he–”
“Jonathan,” Mom interrupts again, sharper this time. “Everyone is fine. You deserve a normal life.”
“But Will–”
“I’m fine!” Will cuts in this time.
Jonathan pulls back, looking down at him with worried, droopy eyes. “And Steve? Mike said he was possessed.”
Will feels that bundle of warmth in his heart, lets it shine through his smile as he looks up at his brother. “He’ll be okay.” As Jonathan droops with relief, Will feels his smile turn cheeky. “Eddie will never let you forget that you were on a date while we were fighting monsters, though.”
Jonathan closes his eyes, pained while Mom laughs.
It’s not until they’re walking toward the front door that Will notices the lack of demo-dog bodies. There’s still puddles of black oil-slick blood, but everything else looks normal. Who covered their tracks? The lab? Hopper?
He settles down for the debrief, pillowing his head on Jonathan’s shoulder as Hopper’s even tones flit through his brain.
Maybe familiar places no longer hold any comfort, but Jonathan’s bony frame is enough to lull him into a peaceful sleep.
Part 97
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Alright excuse my compulsion to situate everything within a timeline, but. I love that now there's more than one story taking place before The Killing Joke that establishes Bruce empathizing and relating to Joker, and that Zdarsky clearly took inspiration from the one before his own for this aspect of Bruce and Joker's relationship.
The events of Zdarsky's I Am A Gun take place while Dick is a boy and still Robin, early in Batman's career... and so does Darwyn Cooke's amazing-showstopping-spectacular Batman: Ego. In Ego, we get another instance of Bruce's mind being split in two; there being a separation between Bruce and Batman, with the embodiment of Batman arguing for Joker's murder:
-- Batman: Ego
But Bruce says no. He says he isn't a killer:
Forever obsessed with how Darwyn Cooke so efficiently conveys how Bruce understands Joker, and relates to him. He knows Joker chose madness to deal with tragedy, that he was faced with the same choice Bruce was, and that Bruce could've become him. Because that's what Bruce lapsing into laughter and acting like Joker shows.
But the story is centred around Bruce in Batman: Ego, while in I Am A Gun... perhaps the best line to summarize it is Bruce thinking to himself, "Is the Joker broken too?" in Batman (2016) #128. It's not just the two facets of Bruce vs. Batman in this story, it's also the two facets of Joker: a human being, and a monster.
The conflict in Bruce is mirrored in Joker, and I am kissing Zdarsky on the mouth for acknowledging it and portraying it so beautifully. There's a monster in Bruce made out of hollow anger, and there's a human being crying for help buried inside Joker:
-- Batman (2016) #130 -- I Am A Gun
"He'll fix you." And Martha being the one to say this, the one who becomes Joker herself in a different world, a different Universe... perhaps it's not intentional, but it feels so relevant. In Flashpoint, Thomas Wayne is a Batman who kills. In New 52's Earth 2, he's a Batman who killed Joker himself. And in Bruce's head, it's Thomas Wayne arguing for Joker's death.
But I just love that keeping both I Am A Gun and Ego in mind, knowing that these thoughts and emotions were there for Bruce for years, makes The Killing Joke... even more poignant.
Bruce has been thinking about this for a long time. And all of it coming to a head with the iconic offer for help, with the one time Bruce offered Joker his hand despite what Joker had just done...
-- Batman: The Killing Joke
[clenches fist] It's beautiful.
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Ride 762: The Inter High's starting line
Pag 1
2: I'll run
4: Miyazakii!!
Good luck, Kyushu teams!!
Let's do it, Kyushu!!
Hirayama-kun, you can do it!
5: Senpai, I'll replace your empty bottle
Thanks
6: Now
7: It's starting!
Soon?
Yes!!
8: Uh... ah....
Pag 2
1: In this Inter High!!
With my own legs!!
2: How many times have I pictured this?
Ah.....
3: How many times have I imagined this?
Uh.....
Pag 3
1: Myself standing inside the course!!
2: I can't breath properly and my heart is pounding
3: Earlier, I wanted to drink but my hands were shaking and I couldn't open the bottle
4: I was about to give up
5: If.....
Pfuii.....
6: If it's a dream
If this is a dream
Pag 4
1: Please don't wake up
I've worked too hard for this!!
Pag 5
1: Five minutes until the start of the boys' Inter High's first day!!
Pag 6
1: In the front, last year's champion, Sohoku High School, is lined up!!
Sohokuu...!!
Sohoku!!
Red-head!!
Ah, there's the orange-haired guy again!!
2: Ah.....
3: Ah..... in the front......
4: Don't look around so restlessly
Ye-yessir, teh
5: O-no-da-kuun
He's so cuteee!! Look this way!!
6: Ah- those are Back-gate.... Onoda-san's!?
They're his die-hard fans
Waa, as expected!! As expected!!
Pag 7
1: But he's so nervous that he turned to completely “ignoring” them
Ohhh...!!
2: Huh!? I don't know why, but seeing Onoda-san so nervous, is naturally.... making me relax, teh
Ah!! That was his goal!?
3: No, that's just his pre-race ritual
Don't worry about it
Teh!?
4: Also lined up in the front are the members of the local team of Fukuoka, the Fukuoka Josei High School
Pag 8
1: Behind them, are Kyushu's veterans, Kumamoto Daichi from Kumamoto
Kumamotoo!!
The super express of Higo country!!
2: Fukuokaa, Kumamotoo, take the stage!!
I'm looking forward to it.!!
3: We're looking forward to your race
Do you want to say a word?
Yes, uhm.... Higo
4: will work hard!!
We'll work hard!!
Pfuii
Pag 9
1: Wh... what are the conditions!?
2: Earlier you said “there are difficult conditions to meet in order to run”...!?
Yeah
3: It's simple.... but hard
4: Sugimoto, the fact that you're running in the Inter High
5: means that Sohoku now has seven members
6: Despite the rule that says that each team can only have up to six people, there is one that has seven
7: It's the same situation that would happen if, for example, you took a reserve from another team
During the race, they could do things like blocking the wind, or attack; the higher your number, the more at an advantage you are
They could even help preserve the ace
8: So, in order to maintain equality
Pag 10
1: during the race you cannot get close to “Sohoku”!!
2: It's better... if you avoid conversations with them too
You have to run like you're a member of the “selected team”
These are the conditions
3: It means that you have to break away from “Sohoku”!!
5: This is all I can help you with
Pag 11
3: Don't worry about Sohoku
They have Miki, and Sadatoki and Kinaka are reliable too
5: Are you Sohoku's Sugimoto-kun!?
Ah, ye-yes
Quick, wear this, and the number bib....
6: Thank you, Touji-san!!
7: Can you follow it? That rule
Pag 12
1: Yes!!
2: I'm a man who follow the rules, after all!!
Pag 13
2: From now on I'm not a Sohoku member... but I'll run as a member of the selected team!!
3: There wasn't much time but I remember
4: Iwatani-kun from Nishihori Hisch School in the Saga prefecture
Ah- yes
5: You.... you remember my name!?
As expected, Sohoku is amazing!!
I'm counting on you
Yessir!!
Pag 14
1: First year, Uchikawa-kun, from Matsushima Business school in the Miyagi Prefecture
Ah-woah
2: I've always done track and field, so I don't know much about road racing, but thank you!!
Yeah, do your best
3: Second year Kobayashi-kun from the same Matsushima business school
Yes!
4: Babagome-kun from Toyotsukita High School in the Aichi prefecture
I'm a second year!!
And the first year Shingi-kun from Izumobata High school in the Shimane prefecture
5: Hyoo, thank you so much!!
6: As expected from Sohoku, huh
That's why they're the two-times in a row champions!!
Pag 15
1: I'm a third year from Chiba, Sugimoto
2: I'll cheer for you from behind the scenes
3: Run without regrets
4: Yes!!
5: Sugimoto-san!!
We're counting on you, Sugimoto-san
Touji-san.....
6: And everyone.....
Pag 16
1: Thank you
2: Without realizing it, my shaking has calmed down
3: I'm prepared!!
4: Hydrate yourself frequently, and eat supplementary foods at fixed time
Once every forty minutes, remember it
Yessir
Yessir!
Ohh, such a precise advice
5: I'm glad, it's so reassuring! Who would have thought that there would be a member of Sohoku
When I heard that our coordinator, the third year Yamashita-san, was absent due to illness, I wondered “what do we do now”
I'm so glad!
Pag 17
1: Let's run!!
2: No matter how hard the road may be!! Without giving up!!
3: We'll fight, with all our strengths
But I'll tell you one thing first
4: Even if we give our everything, the probability that we'll lose is high!!
Huh
Huh
Prepare yourself
5: Because I know
6: The opponents we have to fight that are lined up before us....
Pag 18
1: I know how strong they are!!
Pag 19
2: And how much they long to win
Pag 20
1: And how hard they have worked!!
Pag 21
2: The first day of the Inter High tournament in the Fukuoka Prefcture, starts now!!
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