#will that isn’t given to mike’s other relationships for a reason. he’s still best friends with dustin and lucas and cares about el | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

soft-tender-emotional-music · 6 months

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okay say queerbaiting or milkvan endgame all you want but i have yet to see any plausible heterosexual explanation for the following

- the airport hug

he was happy to hug will in season 3 and happy to hug lucas in season 4. when the entirety of the show has made it clear that mike and will share the more profound bond (destiel iykyk) out of the party it makes no sense for him to not want to hug him- unless it’s because of his queer realisations atm

- ‘we’re friends, WE’RE FRIENDS’

um it is simply not plausible that mike clocked wills feelings enough to say this yet didn’t pick up what he was putting down in the van speech. bffr mike was absolutely on the defensive here, mans was trying to convince himself

- mike looking at eddie

you’re telling me you watched the scene in episode one where eddie has his ‘if you’re inTo baNd’ speech and still think mike isn’t a homo? he has a lil fanboy crush on eddie and none shall convince me otherwise

- mikes reaction to el kissing him and i love you too

there is no heterosexual reason for him to look so taken aback and distressed after her kiss and her saying she loves him too. the music and els face all suggest a beautiful moment of love but mikes face looks shocked completely contrasting this. esp contrasted against his face at ‘what if you wanna join another party’ and considering his face when he hugs karen at the end of s3. up till then he had made no effort to try and rekindle their relationship but still wanted to see her and talk to her while she was away. ur gonna look at me and ur gonna tell me that i’m wrong

- ‘i care for you so much’

yes i understand that some people have trouble saying i love you- as we see with nancy and steve. bUt the way this is framed in this scene makes it feel queer. he is deflecting he says he cares for her but can’t say he loves her. this is why i’m a gay mike truther this feels like he’s trying so hard to be someone he’s not but he’s reached his limit. he can’t truly say he loves her until under so much duress and pressure. even when he first said ily in season 3 was just a slip up and significance was only given to the words through everyone else’s reactions, not mikes own reaction.

- ‘mrs byers has this new job, mikes always complaining about it’

im sure i butchered this quote but we KNOW him and el only talked on walkies because she couldn’t talk on the phone for dead of the government figuring out she was alive. this line proves mike called plenty and he can only have been calling to talk to will. while yes it is feasible that he was calling as friends, why wouldn’t he say something? leaving this revelation until the last season makes it significant, and therefore makes it romantic and queer.

- shared looks

do i even need to explain. their looks are just fucking gay. especially that one in season 3 where wills like he’s here and mike just keeps staring at him for a good while

- the emphasis on lucas and mikes friendship

they make clear in season 1 that lucas is mikes best friend by mikes convo with dustin. and in season three their status as best friends is made clear because they relate and complain to each other all the time. then WHY throughout the WHOLE show is mike and wills bond given the most focus??? season 1 will is mikes motivation, season 2 he is his priority, season 3 they have an important arc and season 4 they have ups and downs but ultimately their relationship is regarded as most important- they are the only two from the original party who have consistently been paired together. dustin and lucas were both in the hawkins crew but were always in separate groups. there is no heterosexual reason to make clear who mikes best friend js then spend 4 seasons focused on his relationship with will.

- framing

there is no heterosexual reason to frame him in a closet at the milkvan season 3 kiss. there is no heterosexual reason to put a one way sign pointing to his closet. there is no heterosexual reason to pair him and will in the closing shot alongside two other endgame couples. need i say more.

- blue and yellow

obviously this colour symbolism is undeniable at this point. whether or not ppl believe it symbolises their relationship or just their characters, it’s clear that will is yellow and mike is blue. there’s a reason we barely see green clothing or lighting. there’s a reason mikes bouquet to el had purple (her colour) but too much yellow (will). there’s a reason their flannels always have hints of the other persons colour.

- will as mikes priority

instead of coming crawling back to el for forgiveness in s3 he goes to will. he says his life started when he found el (a lie like the rest of that speech) yet when will went missing he only cared about him. all of season 2 showed that he loves will so much he wouldn’t leave his side ever.

i have many other opinions about why milkvan endgame would completely undermine so many messages of the show but yeah i’ll stop for now

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #mike wheeler i know what you are #st analysis #stranger things 4 #stranger things 3 #stranger things 2 #byler analysis #st symbolism #queer analysis #that boy is gay and i really believe that

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eclipsebyler · 2 years

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Mike and the “Truth” (A Long Analysis)

I always think about this S4 Byler heart to heart in the desert and how we understood the queer-coding of Will’s statements here:

And how Mike nods along with it, like he understands and agrees with the sentiment: "Because what if they don’t like the truth?”

Which will always baffle me because it doesn't make sense that he agrees here given the context of his problem.

Mike was opening up about his situation with El in this scene. How he wasn't able to tell everything to her. How he couldn't say I love you to her. He's thinking that maybe if he did do that, he would still have El by his side.

He didn't say the full details of the problem to Will. He keeps it vague. And Will tries to empathize with it anyway with his own thoughts. Something that he relates with about 'not being able to tell someone how you feel' and adding how 'scary it is because they might not like the truth'. And Mike nods in understanding.

But... why would vocalizing his love for his girlfriend a truth she wouldn’t like? When El herself has cried and confronted him about it and was asking him to reassure her that he still loves her. It’s something El has been waiting for and would love to hear. It shouldn't have made him feel scared or made him think she wouldn't like it or that it would hurt if he said it because it hurt her more that he didn't.

Unless this isn't what Mike is thinking about in this scene. Maybe he has another thing he is scared of her knowing, something she definitely wouldn't want to hear. Maybe there’s another reason why he’s having a hard time vocalizing his love for her — the full truth that he's holding back to say.

And what could possibly be a truth he’s scared El might not like?

In a few S4 scenes, we see Mike opening up about the truth to his feelings. He even starts his statements with it when he slowly gets vulnerable.

1 - The bedroom heart to heart scene

The truth: His best friends are great, but they’re not Will. Will’s presence in his life is different from the others. Hawkins, their hometown, isn’t the same without him.

If we recall in S1, Dustin insisted that Lucas was Mike’s best friend after they fought — Mike denies this and says all of them are important to him. Lucas, Will and Dustin are all equal in Mike’s eyes at this point of canon, they're all his best friends.

But then in S4, he says Max and Lucas and Dustin are different to Will. Will is in a tier higher than them now. There must be a gradual shift to how he sees Will through the years as they grew older. He’s more than a best friend to Mike now.

And then another truth he opens up about is that he felt like he lost Will because of worrying too much about El.

Being in a relationship with El made him lose Will, has affected his friendship with him— but not his friendship with the other party members. This is another proof pointing towards Mike seeing Will differently from his other friends.

Instead, Will’s always being compared beside El — his supposed love interest. Mike even makes the comparison himself in their rink-o-mania fight.

When Will asks why he's been distant and didn't communicate with him for the past year, no letters, little to no phone calls; Mike retaliates with the reasoning that Will’s not his lover (like El is) for him to do that. He emphasizes they’re just friends.

What’s interesting in this scene is that Will isn’t even implying that. He just wanted to be close to be Mike again, like they used to be — best friends.

Mike made the implication himself that if he did send a letter to Will, if he did call him as much — it would mean something more. Even though that’s a simple communication that should be normal you do with friends. Unless Mike has started thinking differently and have this exact train of thought when he thought of reaching out to Will.

It wouldn't be farfetched. Given that Will did the same thing — he didn’t reach out as much to Mike and we know why. He must have been scared Mike would catch up on his feelings, that Mike would notice he's acting weird. He pushed him away because he’s scared of losing him.

(Mike has also felt weird the past year. Mike has also pushed Will away on a few occasions. It's easy to assume and put two and two together.)

2 - The van scene

The truth: He doesn’t believe El needs him. He thinks she just needed someone, that anyone could have found her in that moment but he just got lucky that night. Their first meeting is not fate nor destiny, it’s just simple dumb luck.

Mike is having doubts about their relationship just like El is. El thinks he doesn’t love her, and Mike thinks she doesn’t need him. They don’t believe in each other anymore because they both see what’s happening in their relationship. Where Mike couldn’t say nor even write the world love to El even after being together for long, meanwhile there’s El who couldn’t depend on Mike and tell him the real situation of her life in Lenora.

They’re slowly losing trust in each other, or rather, losing trust in their romantic relationship. (Or maybe they have already lost it.)

3 - The pizza dough freezer scene

The truth: Mike doesn’t know how to live without El. His life only started to have meaning or purpose when they found her in the woods. He fell in love at her at first sight and has loved her every day since.

Mike’s monologue is an emotional speech of everything El needed to hear at this moment. Mike finally says he loves her, tells her that the reason why he couldn’t say it is because it would hurt at the end if she didn’t need him anymore, and not because he was scared of her (in relation to her worries of being perceived as a monster). He goes on a long list of how much he believes in El’s abilities and that she could do anything, that he loves and accepts her for who she is. But more than anything, El is his superhero.

Now I don’t believe everything he said here is a total lie like most people say it is. Mike does love and cares so much about El, he does believe in her and he’s scared of losing her. El is important to him, just as she is to everyone else she loves.

But some of the things he says here are very contradictory and doesn’t sound like the full truth — especially in relation to their romantic relationship. One of the biggest ones being how he says their first meeting is this fateful night where he fell in love with her. Out of all the sweet and cute moments between Mike and El, why is their first meeting (a horrible night for everyone no less) something he focused on and made it sound so romantic?

It’s hard to believe because previously he admits that their first meeting is just simple dumb luck and suddenly it’s this grand romantic night of him meeting his first love.

Nevertheless, this whole speech is Mike pouring out his love and care for El.

However, between these three major scenes where Mike opens up about his feelings — which of these sounds like a truth Mike is scared of El knowing, a truth she (and the people he cares for) wouldn’t like?

Definitely not his grand love confession, because everyone already knows he loves El. If anything, El is the only one left doubting it and waiting to hear it. Mike finally says it, and whether El believes everything he said or not, we’re not sure of yet. But one thing for sure is Mike said everything she needed and would love to hear, not the opposite.

“Sometimes, it’s just scary to open up like that. To say how you really feel. Especially to people you care about the most. Because what if they don’t like the truth?”

The only narratives that could fit this sentiment is the first two truths he says in his heart to hearts with Will.

Mike might be scared of admitting that Will is more than a best friend to him now. He already grew romantic feelings for him. His life isn’t the same without Will. Mike has felt like he lost him because of El. And he wants him back like they used to. To be a team together, again.

And it also fits with how Mike admits that his relationship with El isn’t fated to happen and that it’s not going to last any longer. That after everything is over, he believes El won’t need him anymore. That with her, he feels like he’s just some random nerd who doesn’t have anything worth loving about him. Mike feels inferior to El, the same way El feels with him. They’re both stuck in this relationship that doesn’t help them grow individually.

Both of these are neither of the things he admits to El in the pizza dough freezer. He didn’t tell her the full truth (and given the grave situation at hand, I can understand why he couldn’t. El needed encouragement, not more disappointments). But more than that, Mike might still be scared of fully admitting and coming to terms with everything he feels.

I truly believe that in S5, all of these truths will be unpacked and come full circle. The biggest catalyst of it would definitely be the painting and the "You're the heart" speech. And it would affect all relationships involved one way or another: El and Mike. Mike and Will. And maybe to some extent, Will and El.

#byler #mike wheeler #it's not a normal day if I don't overanalyse mike #and whatever goes on in his head #mike's going to come terms with the truth soon #the truth being: he's bisexual #or gay #both works for me but I'm a Bi Mike truther!#more importantly he's very in love with will #and he and el work better as platonic friends #platonic elmike in s5!!!

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afishlearningpoetry · 2 years

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what happened with stranger things? not a fan, just curious

The character Will has been gay since the original pilot Montauk was pitched, described as having “sexual identity issues”. ST built on this characterization for the first two seasons, along with being largely successful of handling the rest of the story and cast. The original inciting incident of the show was wrapped up pretty neatly and everyone was waiting to see what happened next. El and his best friend Mike are dating. Then season 3 ruined everything by killing everyone’s characterization, which also killed everyone’s relationships by manslaughter, injecting dead-end creative decisions for the incredibly thin and boring story for action and spectacle over substance , and giving no one a real character conflict besides Will through the end of episode 3, where he destroys his childhood fort in a fit of anger and sadness over everyone (Mike especially) being able to move on from their childhoods while he can’t, because he’s been through so much and can’t relate to them spending so much time with their girlfriends (Mike especially), which fit really naturally with his own internal conflict over being gay in the 1980’s. The problem is in addition to everything else this arc is completely abandoned after episode 3 and the rest of the season plays out like a pretty soulless husk of itself. Will and his family, including newly adopted El move away in the closing montage.

Anyway so in season 4, which has only corrected some of the issues in s3 while exacerbating others, he hasn’t had anything to do in the story at all. He’s working on a painting of something in the first episode, but doesn’t show anyone what it is. He makes a school project based on Alan Turing. In episode 2 Mike comes to visit and it’s really awkward when they meet again. Will brought his painting to show him at the airport but decides against it, and spends the rest of the day being miserable as the third wheel with Mike and El until him and Mike finally blow up and argue about their relationship deteriorating since the move. Mike’s written El a lot, but only called Will a few times. At the same time, El gets mad at Mike for never saving “Love, Mike” in his letters, and only signing it “from”. They reaffirm their friendship later but the scenes play out strange, in the sense that something seems unresolved on Mike’s end, some other reason why he isn’t telling El he loves her, but we’re given no insight into what that might be, whereas we know why Will stopped reaching out to him. It *feels* like we’re supposed to notice it and aren’t given the full explanation. Lots of plot happens and they go on the run for a few episodes, and in episode 8 last night Will finally shows him the painting, which is of him and all their friends, and lies by saying El asked him to make it. Mike doesn’t pick up that El already said to him earlier she doesn’t know what he painted. Will kind of comes out to Jonathon but without saying it explicitly, and is clearly trying to come out to Mike, but can’t find the words and is crying really hard in the car but Mike doesn’t seem to notice (some people who watched it are still saying Will is not gay lol, so it’s not explicit). Will motivates him to tell El that he loves her so she can use her powers to save the day. His arc kind of drops off unresolved again, and I guess Mike just stopped reaching out to Will because he’s a bad friend, if we’re supposed to take this subplot between them at face value, which is absolutely not what Mike from the first two seasons would have done.

I don’t know if we are but it’s like, so boring to watch lmao. Straight characters in the show get to flirt and everything right away and we have to wait this long for this to happen possibly, maybe. Everything else is saying that we’re supposed to believe it’s not over but the shows been so messy the last two seasons it’s not like that’s a reliable metric. There’s also this weird parallel between lesbian character Robin seeing her crush with a boyfriend and Will seeing Mike and El. Is it on purpose? It obviously should be lol and I believe it has to be because why else? But it’s so frustrating regardless, so who knows.

That’s what I meant by series 4 being so ahead of it’s time. It was able to distill this weird, strangely modern but also timeless kind of dilemma into an unreliable narrative that captures the emotionality of it really well. Is it on purpose? Are the inconsistencies there for a reason? In Sherlock there’s a science to it, but everywhere else in the world, you’ll just find uncertainty.

#not an empirical judgement on volume 2 in general because a lot else happened #they don’t even have the excuse of retelling 130 year old gay stories in a subversive way lol #stranger things spoilers $:&/&/&/&/

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jpswan · 2 years

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Paxton parked her Jeep, another Bon Jovi song blaring, and glanced over at Bella who’d just parked the truck Charlie had given her the evening before. To say their morning had been awkward would be the understatement of the year. Neither sister truly knew how to act toward each other but Paxton was trying. Maybe something Angela had said did get through to her or maybe it was actually having Bella in front of her that caused the desire to make some type of relationship between them. But she knew just from their small interactions it was going to be nearly impossible or so it felt.

She shut the vehicle off, jumped out backpack over her shoulder and an open Monster energy drink in hand. Truly the drinks were a blessing. She’d just made it near Bella when the truck backfired, Paxton’s mind trying to figure out a way to fix it, and she stepped out. The looks were already starting, a new animal in the zoo on display. Paxton groaned. But was pulled back into the moment as Tyler laughed, “Nice ride.” The sarcasm and taunt dripped from his voice. Paxton hit the back of his head as she passed. Today was going to be a long day.

She caught up with Bella at the stairs, “Ignore him. Hell, ignore everyone really.” She tried to joke but Bella didn’t really react. Mentally Paxton counted to five, “I can help you find your first class if you want, your locker. Maybe introduce you to a few people that shouldn’t drive you crazy. Ang—“

Bella stopped walking, turning to her, “Look, I get you’re trying to be nice. That Charlie probably asked you to. And I..I appreciate it.” Her tone said the complete opposite of that though. “But I’m good on my own. Really. So just do what you normally do and I’ll figure things out. You don’t have to babysit me. We’ve gotten this far without each other. I’ll see you at lunch.”

Paxton stood there as Bella walked off, the sting in her chest unexpected at what was basically a rejection. Her shoulders slumped some and she chewed on the inside of her lip until she could taste copper. A few fingers began to tap the can in her hand as she tried to ignore the anxiety and inner demons taunting her failure. “Hey,” Angela’s concerned voice hit her first, before her best friend's touch on her shoulder brought her completely back. Paxton refused to look at her as Angela would instantly see the pain. “Just give it some time.”

Before she could reply Eric was rushing past them, “I’ve got her don’t worry!” He called over his shoulder, still intent to catch up with Bella. Paxton rolled her eyes and turned to Angela.

“This is why I hadn’t planned on trying,” Paxton muttered as they headed toward their own lockers, “Clearly she isn’t interested. And I wasn't.” She balanced her drink as she took her backpack off. “Until you got into my head.” A faux glare was thrown toward Angela.

“She’ll come around. You can be deceivingly charming when you want to be.” Angela tried to reason with her.

“We’ll see.”

——

Lunch had finally rolled around and Paxton was thankful for the time out of class but was instantly dreading what she was going to walk into. She’d seen Bella walk toward the cafeteria with Mike...and Jessica. Mike was perfectly fine, she truly valued their friendship. But what Jessica could be scheming was anyone’s guess. The fact the two didn’t get along but put up with each other for their other friends was a high point of tension. Charlie had nearly begged Paxton to stay away from the girl after the incident last year. Jessica had been the breaking point for her, her rumors and homophobic ideas. But Paxton wasn’t willing to risk losing her other friends just to avoid the girl. All Paxton could do was pray Jessica wouldn’t start anything.

As she entered the cafeteria her eyes landed on the table of friends just as Tyler kissed Bella’s cheek, yanked Mike’s chair out from under him, and bolted. Paxton notes the way Bella’s body slightly curled in on itself—everything screamed uncomfortable. As Tyler got closer with Mike on his tail a small plan formed. At just the right moment Paxton angled her converse covered foot out, in an instant Tyler was on the floor and Mike was laughing. “Thanks Pax!” Mike cheered when he reached them. But Paxton ignored him as she squatted down Tyler as he rolled over.

“What the hell Paxton?!”

Paxton places a hand on his chest to press him back down, “You don’t kiss someone, even on the cheek or as a joke, without them being a willing party. Consent is a thing Tyler.” The words were low, raw...a promise of pain if he ever tried a stunt like that again. “Don’t fuck with my sister again.”

Tyler swallowed roughly, hands up in surrender. “Yeah..yeah, sure. Sorry.” He hadn’t seen Paxton like this before and it actually scared him.

“Good,” She stood up, gave Mike a nod as she continued toward the table. Again Bella seemed uncomfortable. Paxton sighed as Eric stood up, one hand on Bella’s back. Did no one get personal space anymore?

“I got your back, baby.” Eric attempted to sound reassuring while also charming. Paxton caught the way Jessica rolled her eyes, barely holding in her jealousy of Bella being the center of attention but also the way Angela watched the two. Paxton knew how she felt about him. Eric patted Bella’s arm and turned to leave only to hit directly into Paxton’s chest. She was a few inches taller than him, her height coming from Charlie thankfully.

“You saw what just happened with Tyler right?” She asked, face neutral. Eric was a sweet guy and she liked him. A different tactic was needed.He nodded as he swallowed roughly. “Don’t call her baby again or touch her. You think you’re being charming but you're not. It’s making her uncomfortable.” She moved out of his way and couldn’t help the small smirk as he scurried off to the other guys. “Idiots.” She took a seat across from Angela and next to Bella.

“I was fine,” Bella whispered toward her.

“You were uncomfortable and if no one points it out they’ll never learn it’s not okay.” Paxton reached across the table to steal a chip from Angela. She’d get her lunch in a minute. “If you don’t want to think I did it for you then pretend I did it for anyone else they might act that way with.”

“What a charmer,” Jessica sarcastically commented, “They’re being boys.”

Paxton huffed dryly, “Of course you’d think that.” Boys will be boys was the most cliché thing in her mind. It was outdated and wrong.

Jessica’s jaw tightened a new fire in her eyes. Bella could feel the tension and shuffled in her seat, unclear of what history these two had. Angela knew she’d have to be the one to stop them before this escalated. Quickly, Angela passed the extra lunch she packed for Paxton toward her to slightly distract her. “So if the feature is dead, I guess we’ll just do another editorial on teen drinking.” And changing the subject to diffuse them both.

Bella caught on to what Angela was doing, “You know you could…” She hadn’t exactly planned for their attention to be completely on her. “Um..could always go for eating disorders.” She paused for a second to think of another one, “Speedo padding on the swim team.” That one actually caused Paxton to chuckle. There were a few guys who came to mind for that.

“Actually that’s a good one,” Angela gave Bella a smile, one for helping to stop the drama but also for the idea. She glanced over to Jessica, “Kirk.” They both said the name at the same time. Paxton rolled her eyes as she opened her can of soda.

“Right?” Jessica’s mind off Paxton and onto the new gossip. “That’s exactly what I thought.”

“We’re talking Olympic size.” Angela teased, eyes going to see Paxton’s reaction.

Said Swan closed her eyes to get the image out of her head, “I’m trying to enjoy my lunch.” Angela laughed at her friend’s face.

“Stop being a child,” Jessica sassed toward Paxton before giving Angela her attention again. “There’s no way. He’s so skinny. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Totally.”

Paxton felt a tap on her arm and looked toward Bella curiously, “Yeah?” It might have been the first time Bella had actually initiated conversation between them.

“Who are they?” The question gathered the attention of the other two as they all looked toward where Bella was looking.

For a moment it felt like Paxton’s heart skipped a beat as she saw gorgeous blonde hair, knowing exactly who it was as if it was a sixth sense. In the corner of her eye she saw Angela watching her expression closely. She fought to ignore it. “The um...the,” Man, were words hard when the door opened and Rosalie stepped through. It should be illegal and impossible to be as beautiful as the blonde was. Nearly unblemished pale skin, softly kissed by the beauty mark above her lip, blonde hair that looked silkier than even the finest Egyptian high thread count sheets, and a body that should have been on the cover of the Vogue magazines.

“The Cullens,” Jessica finally finished for Paxton, a scoff leaving her lips. Angela gently kicked Paxton under the table to bring her back to Earth, but the amusement in her eyes was clear.

“Hush,” Paxton jokingly hisses and tosses a chip Angela’s way. This was not the time to bring up that topic, if ever with Jessica around. Jessica leaned in closer to the Swan sisters, a glint in her eyes that told Paxton she was going to be more than annoyed. “Here we go,” she leaned back into the chair with a shake of her head. Give a dog a bone…she thought.

Jessica ignored Paxton and focused her attention on Bella, “They’re Dr and Mrs.Cullen’s kids. They moved down here from Alaska two years ago.”

“They keep to themselves. Mainly,” She sent a look at Paxton, who playfully flipped her off.

“It’s only because I’ve had classes with a few of them.” Generally, just Alice. She was always so kind to Paxton and went out of her way to say hi. Then Rosalie, but that was just confusing whatever it was.

“Don’t make her sound special, Angela.” The words were harsh, biting. It made Paxton grind her teeth. “They all ignore her outside of class.” Both Angela and Paxton look toward each other. Angela was probably one of the only people who knew Alice always at least said hi to her or smiled. It was like she wanted Paxton to know someone cared. It had started last year after Paxton had made a drastic decision. But there was no way Alice could know unless Dr.Cullen had said something—which she didn’t peg the man as the type to share something that traumatic or personal. “Anyway, they keep to themselves because they’re all together. Like together, together.” Jessica explains as if it’s the biggest piece of gossip. “The blonde girl, that’s Rosalie. People tend to call her the Ice Queen. She’s kind of a bitch.”

Paxton huffs, her annoyance rising, and she leans forward putting her soda down just a little harder than it needs to be done. “People? You started that because she didn’t want to be friends. She’s not the bitch.” Words clear who she thought was. “Maybe she doesn’t want to deal closed minded people or ones that put on a show.” The urge to defend the Cullens, especially Rosalie, was high. Not just for her crush but some deeper instinct and the fact it was the right thing to do.

“Whatever,” Jessica shot Paxton a glare. “Like you’d ever have a chance.” That sentence made Paxton’s blood chill. It was the first shot fired toward outing her to Bella, a warning. Bella hadn’t asked about the way she dressed or her haircut. Though they hadn’t had personal conversations at all. “Anyway, the big dark haired guy is Emmett. They’re like a thing. I’m not even sure that’s legal.”

“Jess,” Angela cut in before Paxton could. She knew this whole conversation could become explosive quickly. “They’re not actually related.”

“Yeah but they live together. It’s weird.” Jessica tried to hold on to her point and make it seem like a scandle.

“Don’t make it seem like incest,” Paxton warned, “They have different last names, different birth parents. Legit, they just have the same foster parents and live in the same house. It’s not that big of a deal. Your parents live in the same house. So do half the couples that get married. Hell, you could even think about it like in college when two people are dating but live in the same dorm. Get over it.”

Jessica’s jaw twitched as she stared Paxton down again, but Paxton didn’t cower. Though the first seemed to decide to focus back on her original task and looked toward Bella once more. “The little dark-haired girl’s Alice.” A quick glance at Paxton knowing the next sentence would get under her skin. “She's really weird.”

Why had Paxton thought sitting down at this table was a good idea today? Especially with the guys all gone and it just being them. She pushed her lunch away from herself, no longer interested in eating. “You only think she’s weird because she has enough confidence to be herself and doesn’t give a flying crap about bullshit opinions from people like you. Alice is one of the nicest people in this school. She doesn’t judge a soul.” Paxton bite the inside of her cheek as she looked toward her sister, “Take everything she says with a grain of salt.”

“You only like her because she makes you look normal,” Jessica countered. “Maybe I was wrong about which Cullen you like?”

“I might not be normal but at least I’m not stuck up.” Paxton nearly snarled and Angela softly kicked her under the table to stop.

“You are such a fr—“

“And the blond guy?” Bella asked to again break the tension but also she really wanted to know.

Jessica licked her lips debating on what to do, but the chance to keep riling Paxton up won out. “The one who looks like he’s constantly in pain? Jasper. Again, they’re together.” She relaxed her shoulders, giving off the air of letting the tension go. “Dr.Cullen is like this foster dad slash matchmaker.”

“Maybe he’ll adopt me,” Angela joked to try and keep the table calmer.

Paxton took the bait for what it was, “You would kinda need to not have parents for that, Ang. Not to mention you don’t need a matchmaker. You’ll find someone worthy of your greatness.” She send a playful smirk her best friend’s way.

“Or maybe you already have,” Jessica said clearly looking between the two.

“Jess,” Angela gently warned.

“What?” Jessica faked innocence. “I was talking about Eric.” It was such a lie. The sentence had been meant as another hint to Paxton’s sexuality and the three knew it.

“You really want to try and start this again? The rumors?” Paxton questioned, hands trembling. She wasn’t sure how they’d stopped last year, or who had stopped them, but she would forever be thankful to that person. If it started again she didn’t know how she’d react. Sure, mentally she was stronger and more self confident but Jessica had a way of making people believe her.

“Who’s he?” Bella asked, her tone letting the others know she hadn’t been paying attention to them at all.

Jessica looked and lightly chuckled, it was laced with jealousy and rejection. “That’s Edward Cullen.” Finally they’d hit one she didn’t truly want to talk about. The discomfort made Paxton internally smirk like the Cheshire Cat. “He’s totally gorgeous, obviously, but apparently nobody here’s good enough for him.” It made Paxton chuckle, oh the glorious memories of Edward shutting Jessica down. “Like I care, you know?” But it was so clear she did.

“She cares,” Paxton leaned closer to Bella to whisper. “He’s shut her down so many times.” Normally Paxton wasn’t a gossip but how could she pass this chance up? She couldn’t. Thankfully, Jessica didn’t seem to notice. But she did notice the way Bella watched Edward.

“Seriously, don't waste your time.” Jessica looked Bella up and down, her eyes showing just how little chance she thought Bella would have with him.

“I wasn’t going to,” Bella had once again become uncomfortable and it rubbed Paxton the wrong way.

“Hey, ignore her. Edward seems like a nice guy. He would probably talk to you.”

Bella glanced at Paxton, trying to gauge how truthful she was being.

“He’s made it clear we’re all below him. She’d be wasting her time. He’s just as conceited as Rosalie is.” Jessica cut into their moment. It was the last straw. Not just her messing up their first nice moment but also the insults again—toward Rosalie.

“Jessica just shut up!” Paxton snapped. “You’re just pissy because they ignore you and treat you like the bitch you are. Maybe that’s why Edward shut you down. Because he could tell how fake and judgmental you are. How narrow minded you love to be. It’s probably the same reason Rosalie acts like you don’t exist. Which good for her, more people should do that. Newsflash, people generally don’t want to be around someone like that.”

“Paxton,” Angela tried to cut in.

“At least I’m not a freak like you. Wanna be emo who tried to—“

“Jessica!” This time Angela actually raised her voice. Which caught the attention of some other students around them.

“What, she is! And if that’s not enough, you’re into girls! Do you have to flaunt it so much? Newsflash, no one is ever going to want you.”

Paxton felt her anxiety rising with the eyes on them, all the people listening. Everything seemed to slow down and her skin grew cold, goosebumps pained her arms where she’d pushed the sleeves of her hoodie up earlier in the day. She ground her teeth as she went to stand up, eyes burning with tears of frustration and pain. She wouldn’t let Jessica see her cry. “You’re a lesbian?” The question beside her made Paxton’s heart stop as she glanced at Bella, unable to read any of her sister's feelings on the matter.

“Yes,” The word was a whisper but she knew Bella heard her. She wouldn’t ever deny who she was, even with the fear of rejection.

“It’s obvious isn’t it. The clothes, her hair cut. The way she totally zoned out when Ro—“

“Jessica, shut up.” Angela repeated Paxton’s words from earlier, now also realizing the eyes on them. Including the Cullen table.

“Fuck you, Jessica.” With that Paxton hurried out of the cafeteria.

Angela gathered her things, making sure to grab Paxton’s soda because she knew the girl would need it to take an anxiety pill when she found her. “She forgave you once Jessica. She probably won’t do it again.” Angela looked toward Bella, “Don’t let the fact of who she loves stop you from seeing how much she does want a relationship with you.” Then she too was gone just as the bell rang to send them all to their next class.

#twilight drabble #drabbles #drabble #hc #headcanon #not edited

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calpalirwin · 3 years

Text

Let The Walls Break Down

Summary: Calum gets over his skepticism

Word Count: 2.7k

And away, and away we go!

“It’s almost impossible. Love sucks. Don’t try it. It’s a scam.”

That had been Calum’s general thoughts on relationships since the two of you called it quits. The “almost” bit was in admittance that 1.) your relationship had been amicable from start to finish, in fact the two of you were still close with each other, and 2.) he knew love worked for some people, however he didn’t view himself as one of those some.

Being close to Calum post breakup meant you had a front row seat to the man’s brief stints at romance, which was a nice way of saying “endless stream of one night stands.” The flip side was he had a front row seat to your own count of nameless men. While in the beginning, the others in your friend group joked in hushed tones that it was an act on both your parts to stir up jealousy, the longer it went on without any animosity building up between you and Calum, the more the whispers died down until they disappeared all together. Because the simple truth was that the one night stands were just about sex. After all, you and Calum had learned together that the two of you were too busy for anything more than casual sex. A lesson both of you considered well-learned until Michael got engaged and flipped everything into a new perspective.

“It’s not that I don’t believe in love,” you said after Crystal recounted all the details and you stopped squealing in excitement for her. “I mean, anyone who sees you and Michael has to believe it’s real.”

“Aw, Y/N,” Crystal blushed shyly.

You laughed, “I’m serious. You and Michael. Luke and Sierra. Ashton and Kaykay. I’m surrounded with reasons to believe love exists. The real ‘can’t imagine my life without you’ kind of love. But for me?” You waved a hand dismissively. “Pfft, nah.”

“Because you don’t believe he’s out there for you, or because you already had him and the timing was wrong?” she pressed suggestively.

You rolled your eyes. Right person, wrong time was the excuse you had given when asked when you and Calum split, because to you, it was the closest thing to the truth. “Okay…” you started slowly. “Of course I loved Cal. And I still love him now. But when we were together… We were kids who were focused on our careers. And we’re still those career-driven kids. Understanding the balance between professional life and personal life without feeling like we’re sacrificing a piece of it for another was something Cal and I will never master. We tried. I thought if I could find that balance with anyone, it would be with him. But it wasn’t. And that’s okay. I’m fulfilled in other ways.”

“But…” Crystal kept trying to press.

“But nothing,” you laughed. “I’m happy with my life the way it is, Crys. And beyond happy for you and Michael. You’re getting married!”

~~~

Across town in a celebration of their own, Calum was under similar fire. “Happy for ya, mate,” Calum said, clapping Michael on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Cal,” Michael beamed. “I think I’m still in shock from all of it.”

“I think that’s probably a natural feeling,” Ashton told him, playing the voice of reason. “It’s an exciting change that pulls things into sharper focus.”

“Yeah, like all I wanna do now is tell Sierra how much I love her,” Luke put in.

“Oh, you fuckin’ sap,” Calum laughed.

“Just because you’ve never been in love…”

“I have too!” Calum defended.

“Oh, really? Who?”

“Y/N, idiot…” Ashton told Luke with a roll of his eyes.

Luke nodded in a “Oh, yeah!” fashion, before going on, “Is she the only girl you ever loved?”

“Yep.”

“So why aren’t you still with her?”

Calum shrugged. “Timing was off. And we haven’t changed. So why would the timing have suddenly changed?” The question was rhetorical, without the slightest hint of hurt. A simple fact of life, nothing less, nothing more. A fact Calum had made peace with long before.

“So what? You’re fine with the greatest love of your life being over 2 years ago?” they questioned anyway.

He shrugged again. “Have been for a while, in case ya haven’t noticed. And no,” he raised a hand, cutting off any protest, “this isn’t a bitter, ‘oh convince me otherwise’ deal. Y/N and I are both more than happy with the lives we’re living.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I talk with her, and I trust she’s telling me the truth…”

“Alright, alright,” Ashton was willing to let the conversation rest, but he had one last question. “Is there any part of you that would want to try again with Y/N?”

A third and final shrug. “I mean, she was the only one I ever saw a future with aside from the band.”

“That has to mean something, Cal. C’mon. If there was ever a time to give love a chance, it’s now.”

~~~

While Calum’s head raced with his friends' words of encouragement, if he could call it that, yours raced with thoughts of feeling like you somehow failed in life. Sure, your career was everything you wanted it to be and more. You wouldn’t trade a single moment of your life for anything else. But now that your friends were clearly doing more than simple dating, the doubt started to trickle in. Would it be nice to share a life with someone? Absolutely. But not at the risk of your own independence. And the only person who had ever proven that you could maybe have the best of both worlds was Calum. And even that hadn’t worked. But maybe there was something to Crystal’s words about it being a case of bad timing. Maybe it was worth another try.

So that’s where you found yourself, sitting on the edge of your bed, sharing at Calum’s contact, finger hovering over the call icon, trying to figure out where and how to start again with the man. And then your phone was buzzing in your hand, and you gasped. Had you accidentally hit the call button?! No. Calum was calling you. Confused, you hit accept. “Hey, Cal. What’s up?”

“Not much. Just had a quick question for ya.”

“Well I might have a quick answer for ya.”

You heard his soft chuckle and then a brief pause as he cleared his throat, and you knew he was pushing a hand through his hair, stemming whatever nerves this “question” was creating. “You got any dinner plans for Friday?”

“No. Why?”

“There’s this new place I’ve been wanting a try, and you know how I am about eating out alone. And it’s been a minute since just the two of us hung out. So I’ll pick you up at 7?”

You gave a small laugh at the rushed excuse, wondering what he was really up to. “Sure thing, Cal.”

“Cool. Oh, and uh, dress in something nice-ish? The restaurant’s kinda uppity.”

Another small laugh. “Alright, Cal. See you Friday then.”

~~~

“It’s just dinner. It’s just Cal,” you told your reflection as you finished getting ready. “Nothing you haven’t done a million times before,” you kept trying to calm the butterflies in the pit of your stomach. While you had a pretty good idea on what this dinner really was, you didn’t want to get your hopes up that Calum was having the same change of heart that you’d been having. The man really did hate eating alone at restaurants, and if the place was as upscale as he had told you, then it made sense that he’d rather bring you along than Ashton. And he had been right about it being a good while since it was just the two of you spending time together rather than a larger group outing.

But when Calum knocked on your door rather than texting that he was in your driveway, you couldn’t stop the blush coloring your cheeks. And when you opened the door to reveal the man on the other side, dressed sharply with a bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hand, you felt your heart skip a beat. “Oh, Cal,” you breathed. “You didn’t have to do that,” you told him, taking the flowers and moving to put them in a vase of water.

“It’s how you deserve to be treated,” he said simply with a shrug as he leaned against your doorway.

“You’re too sweet to me, Hood,” you teased lightly. “Ready?”

“After you.”

When he went as far as to get the car door for you, you had to laugh. “Okay, Hood. What gives?”

“I told you. I’m treating you the way you deserve to be treated.”

“Nah, there’s more. I can tell. C’mon. Spill it,” you pressed when he got in the driver’s seat. “Flowers. Getting the door. Dinner at a place that requires me to dress like this. You’re up to something.”

“You look stunning, by the way,” he said, reaching over to give your thigh a squeeze.

“Calum Thomas Hood.”

He sighed. “We were good, right? Like when we were together? It’s not my memory playing tricks on me?”

“You were the best boyfriend I ever had,” you answered honestly.

He nodded. “Okay. You’re not allowed to make fun of me. But since Mike got engaged, it’s gotten to me a bit. Almost like I’m missing out on something, but it’s weird because my life is already everything I want it to be. So what could I possibly be missing out on, you know?”

“Why would I make fun of you for that?”

“Because it’s a stupid ass reason to take you on a date.”

“Oh, is that what this is? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Ha-ha,” he deadpanned. “Look, I guess what I’m saying is, recent events made me reevaluate things in my life. And I think I’m in a better position than I was a few years ago to be a real partner to someone. And even when I wasn’t that person, you were the only one I could see myself becoming that person for. So… if you’re up for it, I’d really like for us to try again.”

Underneath the streetlight casting him in a soft reddish hue, he turned his head slightly to look over at you, brown eyes hopeful and solemn. When the light turned green, he turned his attention back to the road, but kept stealing glances over at you, still waiting for your response.

“I guess it’s only fair to let you know that I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

The corner of his mouth curved up in a smile. “Really?”

“Really,” you said with a soft smile and a small nod of your head. “I was actually hoping this was more on the date side than the friends grabbing a bite to eat side.”

“Good, because this is definitely a date.”

“Good,” you nodded again before leaning across the center console to press a kiss to his cheek, grinning as warmth spread across his face.

~3 Years Later~

You startled awake at a phone ringing nearby, a tangled mess of limbs and bedsheets. “Mmm?” Calum rasped, voice heavy with sleep as he answered the phone, followed by a quick, “Whoa, mate, stop yelling. You did what now?” There was a small pause as whoever was on the other end of the conversation spoke in a rapid flurry that you couldn’t decipher. “You did?!” Calum clarified whatever the news was, sitting up straight in bed, your head falling from his chest to his lap.

“Ow…” you giggled, shifting to sit up against the headboard like Calum was.

“Sorry,” Calum mouthed, listening intently to whoever he was still talking to, raising a finger for you to give him a minute when you raised an eyebrow in silent question. “That’s fuckin’ great, Luke! Congrats to the both of you. Lemme know what the plans are for celebrating and give Sierra a hug from me in the meantime, yeah? Alright. Talk to ya later, mate. Bye.”

“Well?” you demanded.

“Luke and Sierra are getting married. Or he proposed anyway, and she said yes.”

“Oh, that’s great!”

“Yeah, I’m really happy for them. Wow… first Mike, now Luke. We really aren’t the same kids we used to be, are we?”

“I think in some respect you guys still are. You still cling to those roots of who you used to be, the things that shaped you into the people you are now. But you guys are also growing up, too. It happens, Cal.”

“Yeah, no, I just… Wow. It’s not something I really pay much attention to, us growing up, until something like this happens.”

“The last time one of your band members got engaged, you got a case of feeling like you weren’t measuring up somehow. You’re not feeling that way now, are you?”

“No. Not at all. In fact… Luke said something when Mike told us he got engaged. That he wanted to go tell Sierra how much he loved her.”

“Aw, that’s really sweet.”

“Yeah, and at the time I made fun of him for it. But… I dunno… I get it. This type of shit really shifts things into perspective.”

“I mean, yeah. Last time it resulted in both of us thinking we should try being an ‘us’ again. What’s the perspective shifting to this time? You’re not gonna go out, and buy a ring, are you?”

“No, I already have one in my sock drawer.”

You choked. “What?”

He climbed out of bed with a laugh, making his way to the dresser and rummaging around in one of the top drawers. Then, something small was soaring through the air as he tossed whatever it was onto the bed towards you. “Told ya,” he said simply, as you grabbed the small box, popping the lid to find a ring inside.

“How long have you had this?” you asked, your voice a small whisper.

“Uh… 2016 I think,” he said as he rejoined you in bed.

“So, since the first time we dated?”

“Yep.”

“Calum!”

“What?” he laughed. “I told you our entire relationship, both then and now, that you’re the only person I see a future with. Did you think I was lying?”

“No! I- I just didn’t know you went so far as to get a ring, and keep it for 5 bloody years.”

“Well, it would have been a little weird if you had it all these years, considering… ya know.”

You laughed in a mix of disbelief and shock. “You are absolutely crazy.”

“I’m not actually proposing, you know that, yeah? I mean, yes, the ring is yours. But only if you want it to be. I love the life we have together, more so than I thought I could love any other version of my life. I never feel like I’m stuck in place, or missing something when I’m with you. I’ll be just as happy if you never wear that ring, as I would if you wore it every day for the rest of your life. You, me, Duke, and music is all I’m ever gonna need in life. I’ve known it since the first time I said I love you. Even in those years we thought chasing our careers was more important, you were still the only person I’ve ever been in love with.”

“Calum…” you breathed, your lip trembling.

“Shh, if you want the whole deal of the proposal and the picture perfect wedding, I’ll give that to you gladly. That’s what the ring’s for. But if you’re content with what we have now, this will always be enough for me, and that’s a promise.”

“I don’t want a proposal only because Luke and Sierra made you extra sentimental. I don’t want to take their moment away from them either.”

“That ring has been yours far longer than any extra sentiment our friends getting engaged could stir up, but I get what you’re saying. If/when you want it, say the word.”

“Ask me again in a year,” you decided. “And I mean really ask me. The whole deal.”

“I can’t fuckin’ wait,” he murmured as his lips crashed into yours, his hands cupping your face. “I’m so in love with you. Always have been. Always will be.”

Tag List

@aquarius-hood1996 @creator-appreciator @philthepegacorn @myfavfanficsever @cxddlyash @youngblood199456 @stormrider505 @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @hoodhoran @metalandboybands @maybeememez @major5sosstan @1weekago

#let the walls break down #calum hood #calum hood fic #calum hood x reader #5sos #calpal irwin

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years

Note

There's this sort of trope I've noticed in a lot of Twilight fanfiction where the Cullens do not return as quickly as they did in canon during New Moon and somehow inexplicably run into Bella years later, when she's in her early-to-mid twenties and I was wondering how you think this would go? In my head the Cullens would skedaddle the second they got a whiff of Bella, but suspending disbelief there I always have a hard time buying it whenever older Bella ends up back together with Edward.

I think it depends on the Cullen in question, or, if it’s all the Cullens together.

The Yoko Ono Effect

To be honest, if the Cullens had stayed away in New Moon, I don’t think they would have made it as a singular unit to five-ten years down the road. The cracks were already to show even a few months in.

This isn’t to say Bella is responsible for the collapse of the Cullens, I believe they’re doomed anyway, but she serves as a catalyst.

After leaving Forks in New Moon the Cullens immediately begin drifting apart.

Edward is despondent and depressed, within a few weeks leaves the coven, and travels down the continent until he reaches Rio where he stays for months. Note, Edward knew by the time he hit Rio that he had long since lost Victoria’s trail (for the record, he lost her in Mexico) but I think it’s very telling he does not return to the coven.

I don’t think Edward was ever coming back.

This puts a significant strain on Emse, as Edward is far and away her favorite child, and she’s noted as being anxious and severely unhappy with Edward’s disappearance. In time, I believe this would lead to the collapse of Esme and Carlisle’s dumpster fire marriage (which at this point only survives on denial and miscommunication).

Alice and Jasper leave the group to both a) get out of dodge b) investigate Alice’s past. While they do later return things are... awkward.

Rosalie desperately tries to keep the family together, tells Edward the bad news to a) be the only one with the balls to tell him and b) hopefully get him to come back to the family. This, obviously, doesn’t work.

I think without Bella’s suicide attempt the coven would have broken apart probably within the year. Rosalie desperately would have tried to keep them together, but Esme would crack and go to be with Edward, Carlisle would let her go, Alice and Jasper would probably keep their heads down and go on extended honeymoons, and eventually they all realize there’s just nothing to go back to.

They go their separate ways.

The Cullens Are Still Cullening

But lets pretend that things work out.

Edward gets tired of being depressed in Rio and comes back to... be depressed with the family. To be honest, I don’t think he’d get over this. Edward was severely depressed before Bella.

He was very contemptuous not only of his own family but of humanity in general. Yes, he has this very strange idolation of humanity but he also views them as inherently beneath him and lesser. High school is his purgatory where he listens to the mundane thoughts of mundane mayfly humans.

He outright despises Jasper and Rosalie and even Carlisle, who he adores, he often views as something of a fool in great need of Edward’s personal protection.

Edward has lost all passion in life, even in his hobbies like music, and is slowly but surely spiraling down into a place where he can never recover. His obsession with Bella, while far from a good thing, brings light back into his life.

This is an Edward who gave that all up and willingly returns back to what he used to be. And I think that would destroy something in him. Frankly, I think it’d leave him in an even worse place than canon.

So, if the Cullens run into a now adult Bella...

Well, it’d be a clusterfuck.

Edward will be very conflicted as he tried to leave for Bella’s own good but now she’s done exactly what he wanted. She grew up and got over him, Edward presumably means nothing to her now.

Worse, there is now such a gap between them. Edward is physically much younger than she is now, he poses as a high school student while she’s an adult. Bella’s fears were warranted, she’s too old for him now, and in many ways has outgrown him.

If Bella’s in any sort of relationship with anyone, I think Edward would flip his lid, and murder her significant other. As he often fantasized murdering Mike as well as her nameless future husband. If she’s single...

I think with enough time, distance, and therapy Bella would be able to make significant strides towards a healthier mindset. She’d get over her depression and in turn over Edward. She might be angry at him for a while but in time would likely decide that he had left her for what were immature but noble reasons.

What they had was nice, but the relationship was never going to last. Even when she was a teenager, she knew this, which was why she so desperately wanted to be a vampire.

She likely might talk to him to find closure, but I imagine a more mature Bella realizes they know nothing about each other. She’s had so much time in her life now without him and he’s so different from what she remembered, younger. There’s no way to start a relationship, more, Edward himself realized it was never going to work.

I imagine Edward doesn’t take this well either. For all that Edward says he wants certain things, really, he does an impressive job making sure Bella never ran from him. Bella legitimately not being interested in him would destroy him and... likely lead to him devouring Bella eventually.

After all, Alice had predicted that Edward would not be able to stay away and that, ultimately, there are only two futures for Bella: death or vampire.

Edward Comes Back Alone

Alice had predicted that Edward would not be able to keep his distance from Bella. He tries twice. Once, in Twilight, when Alice first announces that Edward is in love with Bella and she will become a vampire. The second time is New Moon.

The first, he cracks in a week. It just doesn’t work out and Edward has a minature crisis over it and tells himself it’s fine because he has to protect her from spiders therefore he has to be in her life AND THIS IS FINE.

The second, he notes that he’s dangerously close to cracking and Alice predicted he couldn’t do it. He makes it six months, but does confess to Bella he often considered finding her again and watching her life from the shadows in Rio.

So, I highly doubt that Edward would make it to five or ten years or that he’d make it with the Cullens. He probably comes back alone by the time Bella’s senior year starts, and intends to watch her from the shadows.

Now, given the plot of Twilight, he realizes that nothing’s working out. Bella’s not free from the supernatural, as her best friend/potential new love interest is a werewolf who might maul her any second now. She’s being hunted by Victoria and everything’s spiralling out of control.

So, Edward probably gives up the charade fast and comes back to get Jake out of the picture and be very upset with Bella for ruining his plan. Bella’s just glad Edward is back. Given Edward probably calls the entire family back, who likely have nothing to say to this nonsense, things proceed pretty much as in canon.

Jasper Runs Across Bella

Considering the last time he saw her, Jasper would run like the hounds of hell are on his heels. This is a world in which he never sees much of Bella after the birthday incident and, as a result, is still mired in guilt. He can’t imagine Bella’s reaction upon seeing him in the wild nor does he want to.

Rosalie Runs Across Bella

Rosalie likely makes no contact. She probably views Bella with bitterness, sees her as the reason for the collapse of her family, and never understood Bella’s appeal in the first place. However, for all Rosalie’s bitterness, she wouldn’t take it out on Bella mostly because there’s nothing to say.

She’d just choose to be distantly happy for Bella that she got to live her human life and glad she adjusted well.

Emmett Runs Across Bella

Emmett and Bella don’t actually know each other that well, Emmett certainly has no personal connection with her. He wouldn’t make contact because it’d be awkward and would piss off Rose.

Alice Runs Across Bella

Alice doesn’t agree with Edward, but she’s also proving a point to him and ultimately values Edward far more than she does Bella. She’ll abide by his rules and not speak to Bella. Also, she sees that if she tries, there’s no way the conversation goes well as Alice would have to explain why she never answered any emails.

Best to avoid that.

Esme Runs Across Bella

Esme values Edward over everything, and while she perhaps thinks that Bella could fix Edward’s desperate unhappiness I think she’d acknowledge that Edward also doesn’t want to see her. She’d snoop from afar but ultimately, I don’t think she’d make contact.

If she did, it’d be with the sole purpose of matchmaking the adult Bella with Edward, which would lead to disaster.

Carlisle Runs Across Bella

Carlisle I think actually would talk to her, to offer up some explanation of what happened and how they got where they are. He and Bella would likely talk about vampires, the Cullen way of life, etc. and ultimately go their separate ways.

He’d try to give closure if she wants it but nothing more than that.

Though if he thinks Bella doesn’t want to talk/see him or any Cullen, he’d likely also make himself scarce.

Some Thoughts On Fanfiction

But that’s not why people are writing these types of stories, and, really while I can give my depressing takes on Twilight I think it’s fair to note that people write these fics for significantly different reasons.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #bella swan #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #jasper whitlock #alice cullen #rosalie hale #emmett cullen #carlisle cullen #esme cullen #the cullens #meta #headcanon #opinion

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trshpando · 3 years

Text

Rewriting Twilight (2009) cause I’m bored

- I may or may not be looking into this as a modern thing bc fuck the 2000s lmfaoooo so let’s say... 2017? that works right ?

- Okay, starting off, can we pLEASE give Renee a better reason for ABANDONING HER TEENAGE DAUGHTER? literally just the while leaving to be on the road thing just, pisses me off so badly

- okay okay okay hold on if i have to go into that route to fit with the story🙄 can we at least do it so that renee and phil take bella to forks instead of just being like “yup here’s your plane ticket see ya whenever” like renee at least takes bella and helps her settle in, even if she and charlie aren’t on the best of terms they’ll get along for their daughter

- growing up, charlie was way more involved with bella. she would spent several weeks during summer with him in forks, and the occasional time in several other places given that charlie got the time off

- while in forks, bella and charlie would spend time with the blacks; billy, rebecca, rachel, and jacob. she and the twins were closer than she and jacob ever would be, but the four of them were always disappointed when bella had to return to arizona

- bella and renee were like a perfect lil mother-daughter duo up until bella realized how lonely her mother was and encouraged her to date. although she was the one to encourage her, there was an immediate shift in their relationship

- when bella moved to forks, she hadn’t seen charlie for years—having decided herself to just, stop visiting. the few days renee was spending in forks with her were very much, as the kids say, awkward as fuck

- the boys in the high school weren’t just, so attracted to her? like have you been a new kid in a school? you’re the interest for like a week or two and then everybody is like eh whatever

- she still met mike, jessica, and angela and whoever the other guy is, um his name isn’t on the wiki so pardon me and they are absolute best friends, minus mike who 100% has a crush on her from the moment he sees her

- ERIC HIS NAME IS ERIC

- jessica, angela and bella totally have girl nights and you cannot tell me otherwise i mean theyre 17 ofc theyre gonna have girl nights and hangouts all the time

- jessica and angela help bella settle into the school, angela actually asks for bellas help for tips for the newspaper from time to time

- CULLEN TIME BB

- bella and edward are intrigued with one another but after that one day in science (biology? idk science class let’s go) bella thought he was kind of a massive dick and didn’t want anything to do with him, especially after jessica mentioned that he was totally closed off from everyone except his family

- okay fr cullen time

- i 100% am keeping the stories of emmett rosalie esme and carlisle cause yes

- one thing i do want to change, my girl rosalie is poc<3 fuck that white cullen vampire bullshit

- jasper was nOT a confederate soldier, fUCK THAT he was drafted, upset about it, but he still tried his best to make his country proud—which maria took advantage of.

- alice is poc too<3 we love poc women in this home<3<3

- (im only saying poc the rest is up to you<3>)

- can we pUHLEASE have the cullens act like regular people? instead of “oh those foster siblings and their love lives, oh dr cullen adopt me pls” can it be like, yeah carlisle and esme are foster parents and the only ones they’ve really “adopted” are edward and alice. rosalie and jasper are twins, and they just kind of have permission to live with the cullens and then emmett comes from let’s say an abusive home and the cullens were like wow fuck that shit we give you shelter AND THATS LESS WEIRD THAN FOSTER SIBLING LOVE

- AND THEY DONT SPARKLE IN THE FUCKING SUN, PLEASE

- okay back to regular programming

- edward still saves bella from getting crushed, and bella tries to talk to him about it but after edward is rude once again bella just says fuck you and bounces off

- jessica angela and bella say fuck boys and decide to do a girls group to prom bc my girls are besties

- edward knows that bella is his mate but he is pushing her away bc of her being human and he’s hurting bc of it

- despite his protests, alice befriends bella on her own and becomes close to her, with bella even inviting alice to join her and the girls to girls night — alice 100% tries to invite rosalie, but she only goes when she has nothing to do

- victoria james and laurent are still 100% tracking the cullens

- jessica angela bella alice and rosalie all go dress shopping. rosalie goes for the dresses while alice goes to watch over bella for edward. bella still detaches from the group, and gets harassed by that group but ITS ROSALIE THAT SAVES HER bc fuck if she’s gonna let another woman go through what she went through

- it’s through alice and rosalie that bella realizes the truth about the cullens (with the help jacob and his lil group making comments about the cullens)

- alice invites bella over to the house a lot, mostly trying to get edward to get close to her but it mainly just became a thing of bella getting close to literally everyone but edward bc he’s a pussy and doesnt wanna be near her out of fear of hurting her

- it isn’t until the baseball game (which rosalie thoughtfully invited bella to) and james victoria and laurent attack that edward finally admits that he is attracted to bella but at this point she’s like yeah that’s cool but you’ve been nothing but rude to me so

- as much as it pains him, he settles on just being friends with her

- the same tricky james story is the same. he tricks her to the ballet studio and tries to kill her blah blah blah

- edward tries to suck the venom out of bella’s system and nearly kills her in the process; rosalie and carlisle practically have to drag edward off of her, with rosalie taking him out of the building while carlisle takes care of bella

- everything is happily ever after, bella is in the hospital but edward isn’t there. he can’t trust himself around bella anymore, nor does he want to be near her after having almost killed her, though she doesn’t blame him cause he was really just trying to save her life

- bella still goes to prom, but it’s as a group instead; her, jessica, angela, mike, eric, and tyler (the guy that almost killed her with his car lmao) all go as a group.

- the cullens be there too with edward watching over bella but the moment she tries to talk to him, edward bounces.

- victoria still watches over, a plan already set in motion to kill bella as revenge for the cullens killing james

#twilight #twilight rewrite #Bella swan #edward cullen #rosalie hale #jasper hale #Emmett cullen #alice cullen #carlisle cullen #esme cullen #Charlie swan #Bella cullen #twilight new moon #twilight breaking dawn #twilight eclipse

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mediocre--writing · 3 years

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Sad hc but Billy teaching Will about what’s going on with AIDS and giving him a really strict talk about it and being careful/cautious about who he gets involved with

Also, Billy helping Will learn to sort of “hide” his queerness in Indiana to keep him safe

oooooh i like this one

so i’ve seen another story or blurb about this (it was either on here or ao3 but i don’t remember who wrote it) but i really liked it and am making my own twist on it

steve and billy have been dating for a few months, now. the kids haven’t given them more than the wave of a hand at the specifics of their relationship, other than the ‘shovel talk’ the boys gave to billy, and the one max gave to steve

other than will. not in a critical way, no, just pure curiosity and wonderment about how they’ve managed to find one another and remain happy together

it’s not until a few weeks after wills initial wondering that things start to piece together, the stupid names his dad would call him, his dependency on mike, the way he never felt to strongly towards girls

will is gay.

how could he not have realized, all the clues were right there! maybe he was ignoring that part of him from the awful things that have been ingrained into his mind at an early age

but if steve and billy are met with love and kindness from their friends, then will should be too, right?

but with acceptance came one crucial point: telling people. will was not ready for everyone to know

so he went to an expert

steve had been brushing his teeth, getting ready for bed when he heard the doorbell ring. rushing downstairs, toothbrush still in his mouth, he quickly unlocked the door and opened it to reveal... a sweaty will byers

“uhh... kid it’s late and i—“

“i’m gay.” will cut steve off

steve’s jaw dropped and, as a result, his toothbrush went clattering to the ground

“that’s great! i mean, it’s not great— wait it’s good that you are— shit i’m no good at this? i’m sorry. billy is much better at dealing with these kind of situations,”

and steve left will standing in the open doorway as he ran upstairs, after bending down to pick up his toothbrush

will, shocked to his core, just stood, waiting in the open door

but how was he to know that the most surprising thing to happen that night was billy, groggily and probably just asleep, coming down the stairs quietly scolding steve (who was pattering next to him)

billy took one look at will, still bundled in coats standing outside the door, and gave a look to steve

“go make hot chocolate, we’re gonna be here a while,”

steve walked off to the kitchen and billy invited wills in, closing and locking the door and sitting down on the couch with will

“so... you’re gay?”

“uhhh... yeah”

“alright so what’s the story?”

“i’m sorry?”

“what made you realize you were gay, or who?”

will felt the blush creep up his neck and felt like dying in that moment. seeing the boy floundering, billy began speaking,

“when i was in california, there was this boy when i was 13, his name was jackson, and he was one of the coolest people i’d ever known. he skated, much better than max does, and he had this long, black hair and wore these cool, painted jean jackets, even when it was super hot outside

“he had really dark brown eyes and wore this cool, feather earring. he had the prettiest smile and we had been friends for years before that, but one day, we were sitting on the beach, and the sun looked so pretty shining down on his face, and i realized i liked him, a lot,”

will didn’t think that billy realized he was smiling as he reminisced. he doesn’t think billy knows that steve is peaking out of the kitchen listening either

“did you date?” will asked innocently, seeing the way the light in billy’s eyes started to dim at the question

“not, not really. my dad, he wasn’t a fan of our kind, if you know what i mean. we kind-of started dating at 14, snuck around for two years. we would go on dates, but would usually go in a group of friends so it wasn’t too obvious. we would kiss, sometimes, but we never were really ‘together’

“it’s the reason we moved here, ya know?” wills interest was peaked, “my dad caught us kissing and that, of course, wasn’t ok, so he moved us out to the most conservative place he could find, far away from california, and i haven’t talked to jackson since. but i found something better, i was lucky and i—for whatever reason—got steve,”

will figured that steve disappearing back into the kitchen was a result of the tears that were coming out of his eyes.

“so what’s your story, kid?”

“i think, i might like mike. but i didn’t realize i was even... gay until you and steve came out and were happy how you were,”

“ok, so why didn’t you tell your mom, or jon?”

“you guys understand. they would support me so much, but they just wouldn’t get how hard it is to feel, to feel this way! because, i don’t know everyone says we’re going to hell or are awful and i don’t wanna be hated because i like guys!”

wills eyes were all teary after his confession, and billy gave him a comforting side hug (will realized max wasn’t lying when she said that billy gave the best hugs) and steve came out with three hot chocolates

billy was still shushing him in his ear, whispering ‘i get it, i understand, you are still you, doesn’t matter who you like,’ and will swears he has never felt more comforted by anyone other than his mother before

will stopped crying a few minutes after, taking a cup of hot cocoa and sipping on it in peaceful silence

steve was more than half asleep on the opposite end of the couch, but billy was wide awake next to will, despite how tired he was earlier

“how much do you know... about, gay things?” billy cringed at the way he phrased it, but assumed joyce and jon weren’t exactly the best people to explain the situation to will

“what’d you mean?”

“like... aids?” billy set his mug down and leaned foreword, resting his hands on his knees, “you know anything about that?”

“i... have seen some things. not a lot, but i know of it,”

“well, i want you to be safe. this isn’t some thing you should be joking about at school or anything. it’s serious, like really fucking serious. i knew a guy, he owned a diner in cali, and he got it from... a partner... and he died. you understand that this is serious?”

will nodded his head quickly, billy continued

“you don’t sleep with just anyone, ok? you don’t seem like a person who would, but just be careful, always use condoms, always be careful. don’t do drugs, at all, because i’m not dealing with you if you become a heroin addict, ok?”

will nodded, but there was something in billy’s voice that told him that id he did get addicted to heroin, billy would try his hardest to take care of him.

“if you sleep with someone and you just want to be sure, get tested. its better safe than sorry, alright?”

“alright,” will nodded again. “what about you and steve?”

“we both got tested and we aren’t sleeping around with other people, we’ll be fine, kid,”

“ok, good,”

“no need to worry about us, ok?”

“i worry about all of my friends,”

“kid, i really want you to be safe, alright? and you know you shouldn’t really blab about this to the town, me and steve haven’t even told our parents, your little group are the only ones who know,”

“they already call me a f—“

“i don’t give a shit and don’t you dare call yourself that! you’re better than whatever shit they wanna call you. you’ve got a great future and you’re not gonna get it if some hick in this town kills you because you like dick, alright?

“i want you safe, and if anyone gives you trouble or you have questions, you can come to me or steve, any time, any day.”

billy’s eyes were intense and will felt small under them, but also felt safe and loved as an entire person, as who he truly is and who he wants to be.

steve was still snoring lightly at the end of the couch, making billy chuckle a little

“well, if it’s past 10:30, steve’s not gonna be awake, he’s an old man on the inside,”

will laughed at the comment and steve choked on a snore as he woke himself up, wild eyes looking around, catching a bashful will, who was still laughing

“wha—“

“go back to sleep, princess,” billy chuckled and steve nodded, laying his head back on the pillow and closing his eyes

“can i sleep over? my mom thinks i’m at mikes, and probably wouldn’t like me biking this late,”

“course kid, this house has like six extra bedrooms, we’re lucky steve’s all rich ‘n shit,” billy wiggled his eyebrows and led will to a guest bedroom and made sure he was settled in before going to pick up steve and carry him to bed

will figured he’d still have to tell his mom and friends, but he felt safe here with billy and steve, so he guessed things wouldn’t be so bad.

#stranger things #harringrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove #will byers #mw harringrove #mediocre—writing #will and bill(y)#billy x steve #steve x billy

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princess-of-the-corner · 3 years

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I never watched Winx as a kid, so I really hope I don't sound like an idiot for asking this. What exactly does the Netflix Winx series do wrong besides giving it the "dark and gritty" makeover?

So like. There are a lot of problems here and I’ll try to tackle them. I haven’t finished the reboot because I have difficulty getting through things I like, much less things I hate watch. But anyway, this gets long and is separated into parts.

Let’s start with it’s issues on it’s own and not as an adaptation:

It’s still pretty garbage. Not ‘the worst thing ever’. Interesting enough. But it does have problems. Some racist and homophobic and fatphobic writing. The characters range from ‘kind of a jerk’ to ‘straight up assholes who will cause physical harm for petty reasons’. The nicest one so far is Terra, but even she kinda snaps and strangles a guy with her plant powers.

Now on to things it fails on as an adaptation!

First, the whitewashing!

Of the six main characters, 3/6 were poc-coded in the original cartoon(I say ‘coded’ because they’re not Humans from Earth but still). Aisha is black, Flora is Latina, and Musa is Chinese.

Aisha is the only one who remains black. I’ve heard varying testimonies on Musa’s actor, but the ‘best’ I’ve heard is that she’s 1/4 Singaporean and white passing. I don’t have the authority to say if that’s in the clear or not so I’m leaving that to other fans.

Flora gets the worst though. They cast a white woman to play her. Then backtracked and said ‘oh, this isn’t Flora. We replaced her with her white cousin Terra’. Yeah you can see the problem there.

Characters they got rid of entirely! I’ll only discuss characters that showed up in the first two seasons of the original show since Fate only has one season. (I’d say just the first, but they included Aisha who is from Season 2).

Let’s see. They got rid of Tecna, one of the main six girls. It’s likely because they’re going for a more ‘bootleg Hogwarts’ vibe, and Tecna’s magic being heavily technology based ruins that. So she’s just tossed altogether.

The boys! Oh my god my boys! Sky and Riven are the only ones who were kept in, while Brandon, Timmy and Helia got scrapped and replaced as well. The other boys like Dane and Sam? Totally could’ve just given them those names and been done with it.

Then there’s Icy, Darcy and Stormy! I’m counting them together because that’s exactly what Fate did! The three Witches are villains in the series, and instead of keeping a trio, they combined her into a single character. Beatrix.

I think Silva was also an amalgamation of the remaining Headmaster/Headmistresses and a few other staff members but considering they condensed it to just one school it kind of makes sense.

Sometimes there’s just a name change like the Headmistress of Alfea was changed to Farah Dowling instead of Faragonda which is so pointless.

Overall there’s other minor characters that don’t show up, like the rest of the school staff, Mirta and Lucy, so on and so forth. But I’m less upset about that. Still upset though because I love them.

Personality changes! And romance drama!

Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

I already mentioned how they made everyone an asshole in this reboot. In the original show, the only protagonist that was consistently a jerk was Riven, but he was more of the ‘grumpy but still a good guy’ type of asshole.

Let’s compare just one character and her relationships to others!

Stella in the Original Cartoon: Preppy and sometimes a little vain, could be blunt to the point of insulting, but never malicious. Very sweet and loves her friends. She and Bloom are best friends, Stella having been the one to bring Bloom into the world of Magix and will do everything she can to make sure she’s safe. Stella’s love interest is Brandon, who is bffs with Bloom’s love interest Sky. Stella and Brandon are very cheesy and cute together. They aren’t usually jealous, and can even make a competition out of ‘how many phone numbers can I get?’.

Stella in Fate: Total bitch to all her roommates. She’s getting the common ‘my mom’s a bitch who puts pressure on me so I’m going to be a bitch’ thing that’s become popular now. Since Brandon was deleted, they put her in a love triangle with Bloom and Sky, Sky being Stella’s ex bf. And despite breaking up with him, Stella sees him just talking to Bloom and decides ‘Hm. Let’s prey on her insecurities that she doesn’t belong here, and manipulate her into leaving!’ Which includes walking through a forest where there was recently a man attacked and viscously killed by some kind of monster, so I’m putting it up to attempted murder.

Yeah. Everyone’s kind of like that. It’s awful.

Bloom’s backstory and parents!

Okay, this can kind of fall under both ‘personality changes’ and ‘plot changes’ but it deserves it’s own section.

In the Original Cartoon, Bloom’s home kingdom was attacked and destroyed by villains searching for something called the Dragon Flame. Bloom was a baby with said power, so her older sister sent her to Earth, a world without Magic, where she would be safe and hidden. Mike and Vanessa find her and adopt her, loving her and raising her very well. They are good parents. Bloom learns she has powers when she meets Stella, and instinctively uses Magic to protect her.

In Fate, the only thing really the same is that Bloom was sent to Earth. I’m a little unclear on why, but instead of giving her loving adoptive parents, they made her a Changeling with emotionally abusive parents! Let me elaborate a little: Instead of adopting Bloom of their own free will, Mike and Vanessa’s real child died in the hospital and was secretly replaced with Bloom. Her parents are also, as mentioned, emotionally abusive. So much so that Fate!Bloom’s powers first manifested by setting them on fire in the middle of the night.

Fun. Ain’t it?

Now onto plot points!

Again, pretty much the only thing the same is ‘Bloom discovers she has Magic, goes to another Dimension to learn at a school called Alfea. Gets into adventures with her Roomates while trying to figure out where she’s really from’.

The whole ‘Burned ones’ were.... not a thing at all. There wasn’t any kind of ‘barrier’ to keep out ‘dangerous creatures’ or anything.

I’m not going to go over every single subplot but that was just. No. They were easily allowed to go outside the school.

The whole vibe

This is a big thing to talk about. While the reboot went for ‘dark and gritty’ over the bright colors and sparkles, it also went for ‘bootleg Hogwarts’ instead of anything interesting.

In the reboot, the merging of Magic and Technloogy is mostly like. ‘Yeah we go to school in this old ass castle and we don’t use guns in weaponry class, but we have smartphones and social media and Harry Potter!”.

In the Original??? The whole world was very Magitech. It was a combination of Magic and Scifi! Kinda Steven Universe style actually.

The transformations!!!

Look. LOOK. Winx Club is a Magical Girl show! They have those beautiful transformation sequences that last a solid minute or so of screen time. And they also have like. At least one new Transformation a Season, which comes with an ungodly amount of different cool outfits.

The reboot? One transformation sequence. And while the effects are nice, Bloom doesn’t even get a new outfit. Just a few flames coming off her that look vaguely like wings.

SPEAKING OF! They are Faeries!!!! But they don’t have wings????? What????

Look idgaf about your effects budget you could’ve made the cheesiest shit like the live action Sailor Moon stuff and fans would’ve loved it!

Bonus: The fact that they didn’t have to change anything to make it ‘Dark’!

So like. Netflix decided to take all the color out of it, and make it ‘dark’ by having the characters smoke and drink and have sex and say swears.

But they.... really didn’t have to! The original cartoon was plenty dark, despite it’s colorful aesthetic! If you wanted to do a more serious reboot, you could have easily done it by focusing more on those aspects.

Hell, there are many fans who have done it. I’m one. I know a couple others as well.

anyway it’s 2:30 am and this is long af so I’ll leave it at that.

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wibble-wobbegong · 2 years

Text

no it’s the way will’s potential was thrown in the garbage and stomped on and burned alive. not just as a queer character but just in general. like there are so many unanswered questions surrounding his experience with the upside down??? they could’ve delved into any of that, they HINTED at delving into that, but at the end they reduced him to a plot device for mike’s shitty new “character development” and they couldn’t even manage to make him explicitly queer.

it’s the way el is still dependent on mike and isn’t being given another chance to grow and change on her own with the love and support of someone who actually knows who she really is and loves her for it(hopper). Mike’s monologue was about how he loved her for who she is but everything he’s been told about her for the past 8 months has been lies and their entire in person relationship was just them kissing?? el was only able to branch out without being with mike.

it’s the way mike’s character has been absolutely demolished like no other. he was just a massive dick to lucas, dustin, AND will for the past two seasons for no reason? there’s no explanation?? they just decided to make him an asshole who doesn’t exist outside of supporting his girlfriend after season 2. it’s the way mike used to be so caring and kind and inclusive to everyone only to have his entire character focused on el. and his life started when he met el?????? so 7 years of friendship with Will and so many years of being friends with Lucas and Dustin just don’t mean jack shit thanks to this girl he met in the woods one day who he literally said he was using as a weapon to find Will? it’s the way he went from “asking you to be my friend was the best thing I’ve ever done” to “I feel like my life started when I met you in the woods that day” where the first one is his life long best friend and the other is his girlfriend who he treats like shit and knows nothing about

#i cannot believe the duffers genuinely just suck at writing #all the redundancy of so many character arcs????#byler

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 4 years

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If Byler turns out to be a non-canon, what ending would you choose for Will? For him to find another guy? Or maybe a girl? Or maybe he would have remained alone? Or would be completely asexual? Or is he better off dying a heroic death?

This is hard to answer because I don’t see an ending for Will that doesn’t involve him and his feelings for Mike. There will no doubt be more to Will’s story than just who he ends up with, but this is a key part. The writing currently just wouldn’t support any other resolution. Everything points to him and his feeling for Mike being critical to his story. Will coming to terms with his feelings has been hinted at, in increasingly obvious ways, since the beginning.

Dying a heroic death? No, definitely. He’s suffered enough already, and killing him off, even in a heroic sacrifice, would just be needlessly cruel. I don’t believe any of the main cast need to die in order to craft a fulfilling story. It’s not like the situation isn’t already dire. Will may try to sacrifice himself, as he was ready to do in Season 2, since one of his character traits is how unwanted he feels. He was rejected by his father, he’s bullied, and he felt abandoned by his best friend. Yet, the show has gone to lengths to show he’s actually very loved (particularly by Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike), so someone would manage to save him. Anything else would make it seem like he really was just as unimportant as he always saw himself.

Asexual? I have nothing against it, but there just isn’t anything set up to support it. Will said he was never going to fall in love, but he didn’t really sound like he believed it. It sounded more like the protest of someone who already has fallen in love.

Being with a girl? That would just be the ultimate queerbait ending. This would easily be insulting.

Being with another guy? I don’t like characters being invented just so another character has a romantic partner. Yeah, in real life, Will could very well get over Mike and find someone else, but this is a story. Also, the main reason I like Mike and Will as a couple is that they have a well-developed history. This would just be another forced relationship for the sake of the fans.

Remaining alone? Well, maybe, as long as it’s done correctly. It still wouldn’t be satisfying, and it would probably be a coward’s way out, but they can still write Will as gay, make it explicitly canon, and still have him single. Throw in some more subtle hints that he likes Mike and that they’ll get together in the future, and you have the cop out ending that doesn’t totally negate everything they did. I’d hate it, but it’d be my least hated of the given options.

#stranger things #will byers #byler #mike wheeler

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hakka84 · 3 years

Text

I still can’t understand the nature of Duchy’s feelings for Kate.

Foreword: I’m not a Duchy/Kate shipper. I liked how her romantic life was depicted, I liked her with Roth, I liked her with Mike (with all the baggage and angst) and I respect the future narrated in the ending. I just wish to understand if what I get from the show is there and meant by the authors or if I’m seeing things. And, in case of the latter, if I’m the only one or others shares my headcanon.

Long meta under the cut.

In the first half of the Season 4, Dutchy’s behavior whenever is around Kate is erratic at best. It’s protective, a bit too much to be healthy, but at the same time he’s very cold and dismissing toward Kate. Only in Dutch Courage we finally understand the reasons behind his acting - because yes, we’re basically told that Duchy was acting around X so to not get too emotionally close.

But he clearly failed. He did became emotionally invested. Because, after he has finally faced his trauma, Duchy allows himself to drop down that wall that built regarding the XO and we see him looking at Kate more and more affectionately. Never, when his eyes land on Kate, are devoid of a feeling - even if the scene is full of humor and laugh, there’s this lingering affection that cannot be ignored. He clearly has feelings for her that go above a simple frienship - especially because that friendship had no time to blossom yet, we will see it more (even if usually in subtle gestures, never “in your face”) in Season 5. Duchy’s hovering and being over-protective might be a result of his trauma and the need he feels to make sure something like that won’t happen again. But. But there’s clearly more, else he would act the same when around and towards Mike. Which he doesn’t. He’s clearly loyal to Mike, as their CO, but not in the same way he displays toward Kate. The only other member of the crew that gets this protective treatment from Dutchy is Bird, toward whom Duchy (and basically everyone) acts like a big brother. Bird is this young cute thing that must be protected at all costs (the fact she’s 17yo and basically taking a 6-months tour to decide what to do next, so she has little to no training, clearly has something to do, but I guess Bird kicks in their protective streak because she looks frail - although they all admit she is strong, and she clearly is considering all the shit that happens to her in S4).

Sorry. Digression. Anyway. Kate is clearly the opposite of Bird. She’s trained, she has plenty of experience, she’s tough. She isn’t the woman that should kick-in a protective streak - and you see it in Buffer’s interactions with her. Buffer approached Kate like a respected XO who deserves his loyalty, both as Lieutenant and person, but nothing goes out of the line. Sure, the crew joke about Buffer’s infatuation toward Kate, but it’s just that (we know that, if there were someone Buffer was infatuated with, was Nav). Kate gets priority, when protection is concerned, as the second in command on the ship, but not as “woman named Kate” per se: she’s a crewmate, she just happens to matter a bit more because of her rank and position on the ship.

Yet, Duchy feels it’s his duty to protect her with the same diligence of a bodyguard that protects a princess, or a very important woman activist who’s been targeted by terrorists because of some reformations she is pushing for. By the way, Kudos for the actor, he manages to convey Duchy’s wish to protect and to shield Kate from any harm - not only physical but emotional as well.

But then you have this:

KATE: You can’t help who you fall in love with DUCHY: Yes, you can.

I’m not sure if this were the intention of the authors, but it feels to me that Duchy speaks for a personal experience that is still hurting him (see how harsh he sounds, if he just believed in it in abstract or is something from a distant past he would sound more... placid). And why would this exchange be included to start with?

Ok, at first it seems it’s there to highlight what’s happening between Bomber and 2Dads and how wrong it is. The main point I believe is actually to give Kate some food for thoughts that will eventually lead her to the breaking point in the S4 finale - especially when later you have Mike claim the same (you can choose who you fall in love). But what if there’s a third level to read here? Is this exchange meant to hint that Duchy is currently in the same situation for Kate nonetheless, where he choose not to fall in love with her and he therefore has managed to switch to platonic one-sides romance?

In this same episode, later, we see Duchy drugged up and he calls Kate “an angel” and acting like a a besotted guy and I don’t believe in the amused explanation given by Swain that it’s all up to the drugs. It feels that those drugs removed Duchy’s inhibitions, the strict control he acts on himself so that he may not let his feelings for Kate reveal themselves. The drugs allowed (of forced him) to reveal his true feelings instead, and he just can call himself lucky because he won’t remember anything - and neither Swain or Kate will likely tell him about it. So the secret - if a secret exists - is safe.

And then there’s the finale, when he sees Kate kissing Mike. He silently steps away, but the look on his face, some kind of mourning, and then how he diverts his eyes. There’s sadness, mostly sadness. I can’t tell if it’s just the sadness for discovering that the person he cares the most for is forced to suppress her feelings because of their job... or because the heart of the person he silently loves belongs to another. There’s no jealousy, but resignation. Perhaps I’m giving the actor too much credit here, but he always pull the “I suffer to see or hear that you’re suffering” look whenever Duchy is faced with a hint (be it a subtle gesture or a word) that Kate is suffering because of her unresolved thing with Mike (as during Mike and Kate’s reunion after the bombing in 5x01, when Mike explains how he felt when he heard about the news and couldn’t get in touch with them to know they were alive).

So. My impression is that Duchy loves Kate in a platonic way and acts like her shadow, protecting her and doing his best to make sure she is safe, with the kind of the generous love of a dog. He wants nothing in return, just see Kate is safe and sound and possibly fullfilled with her life, be it professional and personal. He’s the man who choose to step aside and keep his feelings a secret, wishing for the woman they love to find happiness. But is it an impression or this was what the authors were aiming to? If it’s like this, which is my heacanon, Duchy feels for Kate the most pure form of love: he doesn’t want Kate for himself because he knows he can’t, he wants to be the XO’s second, and to be so he cannot aspire to any relationship with her - his need to protect her and be at her side for as long the Navy will allow him exceeds any wish to be romantically involved with her. Or perhaps he doesn’t even feel any physical attraction for her, she “worships” her (in a healthy way) and he just feels “in the right place” at her side.

Or am I seeings things that don’t exist? Are romantic - platonic - feelings for Kate hinted at or not?

What makes me lean towards the “I cannot have her, my duty will be make sure no one and nobody will harm her”, is how his situation is a mirror of what we saw between Buffer and Nav. Buffer clearly harbored romantic feelings for Nav, she respected her as Nav but as person as well, and was pretty clear with E.T. about what he felt for Nav went beyond a “I like her as crewmate” (so much that he got the “you could be her dad” retort). But then Nav - unaware - tells him he’s a valuable friend so he quietly backs away, accepting that she doesn’t see him like he sees her, and that their friendship is more important than his (eventual) broken heart and disappointment: she doesn’t need to be told that he had feelings for her because she did nothing to encourage him, and he will always be there for her, he’ll be the friend she needs and loves. And yes, when he understands that E.T. is serious, he steps back: E.T. will not hurt Nav so he doesn’t need to protect her from him. Buffer isn’t the most emotional of the group (compare it to Swain), so it’s most left to us to imagine it, but I get that he was fine with Nav and E.T. and he would demand to be a witness in the wedding (although he would be ready to back down and allow Mike the honor), because that’s how Buffer shows he’s a sweet cinnamon under his macho navy glorified combat and security expert.

Now, Buffer and Nav are at the same level (although Nav is higher, rank speaking?); Duchy and the XO no, so the context is a bit different. But there are many similarities, as the two buffers both feel affection for a woman crewmate who happens to be courted/involved with another. They are the most respectful they could be, in such a situation of unrequited romance.

Kudos to the authors: both (if we believe Duchy loved Kate) situations were depicted with the upmost respect. Seldom you see one-sided romances treated this way - no angst, no drama, the man stepping back and not forcing the woman to their unrequited feelings, the man not taking any frustration and broken heart out on the unaware object of their feelings (or like, anyone else).

As far as I can tell, all the romances in the show were good written - we got all the kinds you can get, from “girl/man of the day - it felt like a fairytale until I discovered you’re a drug dealer” to the longer spanning a half a season, the “we must repress our feelings for job reasons” to “I can’t literally control myself”, but all were tasteful, wonderfully nuances and with a decent balance between the two parties involved.

#sea patrol

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jonny-byerss · 4 years

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Why Jancy Is Endgame

So, recently, I’ve seen quite a bit of Jancy hate which I literally don’t understand, because how can you look at Jancy and think “Wow, I hate them”...like, it genuinely baffles me that people don’t ship Jancy, like how? They have SO MUCH CHEMISTRY it’s unreal. In all three seasons, it’s evident that there’s something more between them than just “monster hunting partners”. So, recently, I have been asking multiple people including my irl friends why they think Jancy is endgame and this is what I’ve come up with.

1.) The Duffers Aren’t Dumb

Even though quite a bit of people are disappointed with the way they’ve taken their writing, you have to admit one thing: they aren’t dumb. They’ve been setting Jancy up to be canon since S1, and fans have been rooting for them to get together since S1. It’s not until Steve’s turn-around that people started hating on Jancy.

Jancy is definitely more popular than Stancy for sure. To a majority of fans, even if Jancy isn’t their favorite Stranger Things ship, they still at least ship it. And, with the exception of hardcore Steve stans, most people who like Steve as a character admit that Jonathan and Nancy fit better together than Steve and Nancy ever did. We know the Duffers like to give in to what a majority of fans want, and Jancy seems to be what a majority of fans want.

There’s 3 core ships that the Duffers have been building up since S1. Those are Jopper, Jancy, and Mileven. It’s obvious in S1 that these ships are going to become canon eventually, and they’re also the three core ships of the show that people love. They also tend to focus on these three relationships quite a bit in their writing, with the majority of major relationship moments being with these three ships, especially Mileven. It’s obvious they want us to root for these ships.

The main point I’m trying to make is the Duffers have been setting Jancy up to be canon since S1. They have shown us many moments in all three seasons that show us just how much chemistry Jancy has. From the bed scene in S1, to the hallway scene in S2, they’re obviously trying to show us that Jancy is meant to get together.

Not only that, but Jancy was ACTUALLY supposed to be canon in S1. I don’t know how many people know this, but Steve was supposed to die in S1, and Jancy was supposed to get together. The writers liked Joe Keery so they decided they needed to find a way to keep him on the show. It’s clear to me that the writers themselves are rooting for Jancy, which means that they want us to root for Jancy too.

I’m not here to say how the Duffers should write the next seasons, and I myself don’t know what happens in the future seasons, but I do see the clues that the Duffers have given us since S1 and I also believe that the Duffers know what they’re doing. They know what the majority of fans want and it’s clear to me that they want us to root for Jancy, so obviously they’re gonna keep them together.

2.) THAT Ending Scene In S3

A lot of people that say “Jancy has no chemistry” clearly have not seen their last scene in S3. To me, that scene is a promise. A promise to each other and to us that Jancy is in it for each other.

In this scene, you can see that they are so painfully in love. They don’t want to leave each other. You can tell it breaks both of their hearts that they have to separate for a bit.

I could do a whole analysis of this scene, and I just might do that later, but to me, what they’re saying to each other is “We’ve been through so much together, why can’t we go through a little more?”

Sure, long-distance would be harder in the 80s, but I do believe that their love is strong enough to last. They clearly both love each other very much. And there’s always phone calls and letters and visiting each other on breaks.

When thinking of the LDRs that the Byers move caused, lots of people think of Mileven, but Jancy is actually way more likely to be endgame than Mileven at this point. We don’t know what happens in future seasons or if the Byers eventually move back, but we do know that Jonathan and Nancy are seniors in high school and almost 18. Mike and Eleven are barely starting high school and have more time to be apart than Jancy does. Once Jancy graduates, they can do whatever they want. Sure, one could say that Jonathan might feel an obligation to stay with his family, but we also know that he has an ambition for NYU. We have no idea what Nancy wants. I can honestly see her go to college for journalism or something similar. What’s to stop her from going to NYU or somewhere in NY with Jonathan?

We don’t know what the Duffers have in store for Jancy’s future, but I trust that they can give Jancy the perfect ending they deserve. That scene in S3 has so much underlying meaning to it, like the fact that the song that play in the background during it is called “You’re a Fighter”. I have a whole different thing planned on analyzing that scene, and I’ll post that later, but basically, with that scene, to me, the Duffers are trying to say “They’re in this for each other. They’re so in love that they’re going to make it work”

3) They are the most mature relationship on the show

I’ve seen quite a few people say that the argument they had in S3 is “proof they are incompatible” but that is simply not true. In fact, if anything, it shows how they are exactly the opposite. Here’s why.

So, every couple fights. It’s the ability to work through a fight and come out stronger and more understanding that shows just how committed a couple is to each other. Jonathan and Nancy are a prime example of this.

Jonathan and Nancy come from different backgrounds. This argument of “I’m poor” and “People are being sexist towards me” is a very adult argument. I mean, most teenage couples you see have fights about jealousy-type crap. Jancy’s fight is a fight that adults would have. That’s why I believe they are a very mature couple.

Not only that, but the key thing to remember is that they both admitted that they felt bad for what they said and apologized, reaffirming their commitment to each other. This is a fight that they can grow from as a result. Because they apologized and acknowledged their wrong-doings, they have a better foundation for understanding each other in the future and they can grow as a couple. This can also give them a perspective on life that maybe they didn’t think about before.

Honestly, Jancy has been through a lot crap together so they kind of have to be mature. Plus, Jonathan himself had to grow up faster than most children, which gives him a perspective on life that he most likely passed on to Nancy.

This is why I believe Jancy is the most mature couple. Instead of letting their fight get the best of them, they acknowledged their wrong-doings and became more understanding of each other as a result. It takes real maturity to do something like that.

The reason I compare them to the other couples is because, look at Mileven’s fight in S3. It seems sort of childish compared to Jancy’s. And Lumax has broken up 5 times apparently. And Jopper, gosh, they have a lot of issues to work out. Jancy seems to have effectively worked out their differences and become stronger as a result.

Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) himself said that when he first read the S3 script, he thought that Jancy seemed like a married couple, which I think says a lot about their relationship. They are so mature and comfortable with each other like that. He also said this, which basically sums up what I said, here:

4) They are more than just “shared trauma”

I’ve seen a lot of people criticize Jancy by saying stuff like “Shared trauma isn’t a good foundation for a relationship”, but I’m about to prove why that’s bullcrap, because Jancy is more than their shared trauma.

So, shared trauma seems to be what the writers like to point out about their relationship. In the ending scene in S3, Jonathan tells Nancy “We’ve got shared trauma”. He is referring to what Murray said to them in S2 when he was telling them why they should get together. Just because “shared trauma” is what Murray emphasized, doesn’t mean it’s their only foundation.

I’d quickly like to point out though, that shared trauma is actually a real life relationship trope and there are real-life couples founded on this. But, I’d also like to point out that Jancy’s trauma isn’t just any trauma. They didn’t just fight in Vietnam together or something, like it’s not every day your loved one gets kidnapped by an otherworldly demon.

I think the main emphasis that the show is focusing on when they say “shared trauma” is the scars. I mean, when Jonathan said that line in S3, he was touching Nancy’s scar that he shares with her. They are the only two people with those matching scars. Those scars are something that unites them and reminds them of the past they share.

Their “trauma” isn’t just how they met either. I mean, they obviously knew each other before the events of S1. Their brothers are best friends. I’m not saying they were friends or anything, but they were definitely acquaintances.

Their trauma is how they grew closer. I mean, before their first traumatic experience, they seemed to be getting on each other’s nerves a bit. It’s not until Nancy almost became Demogorgon lunch that they started realizing they could trust each other. After that, they realized they worked well together and they may or may not have fallen in love.

Also, let’s not forget all the flirting they did before their traumatic experience. The darkroom, even the target practice scene.

I think the key thing to remember with their trauma though is that, because they both went through similar experiences, they understand each other in that way. I mean, part of Stancy breaking up was because Steve didn’t realize the trauma she was going through and didn’t understand fully how to help her. Jonathan understood in a way what she was feeling because he went through something similar.

And yeah, shared trauma might not be a good foundation, because obviously there’s other things to consider in a relationship, but if there’s anything S3 showed us it’s that Jancy knows how to communicate and work through their problems, so clearly that’s not an issue for them.

5) The love triangle is done

I’ve seen some online articles that say things like “Now that Jonathan is gone, Nancy will go back with Steve”. I’ve even heard people say “Nancy will go with Robin”. Both of those are bullcrap.

First of all, Stancy’s arc is finished. S2 showed us how incompatible they were by showing how Steve hasn’t been a good support system for Nancy and showing that Nancy no longer loved Steve. Nancy obviously felt something more for Jonathan, who could support her in a better way than Steve could, because Jonathan had similar experiences. After they broke up, they were done. And when Jonathan and Nancy kissed the love triangle was over. It was solved.

I think most of the fans can agree that they are glad the love triangle was solved, that way Nancy’s story can be about more than just boys. It would be stupid for the Duffers to bring it back and it would ruin every ounce of character development that Steve and Nancy have gone through. And I am confident that the Duffers aren’t stupid.

Part of Steve’s S2 arc is getting over Nancy and accepting that she no longer loves him and even finding a friend in Dustin. Part of Nancy’s arc in S2 was realizing she should embrace that girl she was for a week in November 1983. She gets justice for Barb and even embraces her feelings for the school outcast. Nancy and Steve can still be friends, and even Jonathan and Steve, but that’s it. Nothing more. It’s been decided that Nancy doesn’t love Steve, she loves Jonathan. Even if Jonathan is far away, it’s possible to love him from a distance.

And about Robin and Nancy, it’s also highly unlikely. Again, I think most fans are tired of Nancy’s love life and love triangle and are glad it’s over. Adding Robin to the mix would make it even more complicated.

First of all, it’s not canon that Nancy is bisexual. The only canon LGBT character is Robin. It is implied that Will may be as well, but nothing has been confirmed.

I can see Robin and Nancy being good friends, but Robin did call her a priss in S3 and also, it’s like an unspoken rule in best-friendship that you don’t date their exes. Robin and Steve are best friends. This would break that rule.

I do know, based on leaked photos, Nancy and Robin most likely work together (maybe even with Steve) in S4. I believe, however, that the relationship is fully platonic. It would be nice for Nancy to have a friend that’s a girl after her loss of Barb, and Robin is a good person and would be a great friend for Nancy. I also believe, however, that Nancy is 100% dedicated to Jonathan (based on the last scene in S3) and will only be working with Robin (and maybe Steve) because they know something that would be useful.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is: Nancy’s love life arc has ended. It’s been decided that Nancy doesn’t love Steve and he can’t give her what she wants. And I think most Ronance shippers are just trolls, tbh. No one seems really serious about any Nancy and Robin relationship that’s anything more than platonic.

———————

And I think that about sums up why I believe Jancy is endgame. Jonathan and Nancy clearly love and care for each other very much as shown in all three seasons. Plus, there’s the fact that THEIR ACTORS ARE LITERALLY DATING IN REAL LIFE! (Seriously both Jancy and Natarlie are relationship goals).

I am extremely confident that even if Jancy does break up at some point, it won’t be for long and they’ll somehow find their way back to each other because they are soulmates. That is a guarantee. I have full confidence that the Duffers can give their relationship the perfect ending they deserve. I’d like to hear your guys’ feedback (please try to keep negativity away). Do you believe Jancy is endgame?

And here’s proof that Jancy loves each other:

#jancy #stranger things #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #let me know what you think #but i firmly believe that they will be endgame #nothing will convince me otherwise

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ghostnebula · 4 years

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I’ll gladly keep the asks coming 😘 Let’s have some Richie comforting hurt Eddie

I think I’m legitimately running out of ways to write this because it’s in almost every single fic I’ve written shjdshsdjkhf

I’m thinking college AU, therefore set somewhere in the 90s, but the Losers stick together through it. Which gives Eddie the opportunity to learn and grow as a person in some ways, but still -- old habits die hard, and old cycles of abuse die harder. In fact, sometimes they return with a vengeance :))))

(haha get it)

Anyway, what Eddie gets right is escaping Derry with his friends, owning his sexuality (albeit tentatively right now), and taking matters involving his health into his own hands. What he gets wrong is steering clear of people who remind him of his mother, but this isn’t entirely his fault, because the resemblances aren’t always obvious, and even then the association tends to be subconscious.

So when he meets this guy who he just can’t stop thinking about, and who dotes on him but in ways that are comforting in their familiarity but not glaringly obvious in their origins/associations, and he seems to... maybe even like Eddie that way, well, Eddie’s fucking gone for him. He doesn’t know why. He wants to be around him, is all. It’s like they’ve known each other forever. Incidentally, he has pretty much known Richie forever, and Richie dotes on him, too, but in ways that aren’t bordering on sinister, and Richie’s head over heels for him, but Eddie’s so accustomed to that kind of stuff that he wouldn’t realize Richie was in love with him if it slapped him across the face. He also doesn’t seem to realize half the reason he’s even chasing after this guy is because he’s trying to get over his feelings for Richie, or at least just find a different outlet for them, because “obviously” it’s never going to happen.

He’s less than a week from risking it all and just asking this dude from his program out on a date when this guy (let’s call him idk Curtis or smth) asks Eddie out, and Eddie’s fucking elated. He’s on cloud nine. He has a fucking boyfriend. “A boyfriend, Bill, can you believe that? Someone who actually wants to date me!” (Poor Bill’s ready to fucking explode, he’s just nodding along like, holy fuck oh my god how are you this oblivious oh my god I can picture another person who’d saw off their arm to date you pretty fucking easily to be honest.

Things with Curtis are fantastic for the first couple months, and then once -- about 3 months in -- Eddie has this weird fleeting thought that Curtis... kind of reminds him of his mother, sometimes. Funny, huh? Maybe it’s just that he’s so insistent on doing everything for Eddie, which is just him being a gentleman, obviously. Then there’s that time Curtis cries for a fifteen minute car ride because Eddie chose to spend the afternoon studying in the library with his friends instead of with him, and he was so lonely, and “You don’t hate me, do you? It makes me feel like you hate me when you put me on the back burner.” And, of course, Curtis asks him to move in with him, in his apartment just off campus, which means he’s not rooming with Richie anymore. It feels weird and almost awful the first few nights, but he gets over it because Curtis would be offended if he thought Eddie might like Richie (or any of his friends) more than he likes his own boyfriend.

By the time they’ve been dating for a year, Eddie’s lucky to see the Losers more than once a month outside of classes or grabbing a quick meal on campus, but he’s always so grateful when Curtis lets him spend time with them. And Curtis is (usually) so nice, and he’s always taking care of Eddie, and Eddie doesn’t even need to have a job anymore because Curtis pays for everything, anyway, and insists on never letting Eddie spend a cent, which is just so nice, right? Isn’t that lovely of him? In fact, Eddie doesn’t even need to be bothered with money at all, because Curtis handles it all.

Bev tries to tell him, while they’re waiting in line for coffee before class one morning, that she doesn’t like the way Curtis treats him, and Eddie snaps at her. He doesn’t know where it came from, or why he felt the need to be so defensive, and after he storms off he feels so terrible about the whole thing he doesn’t know what to do. He tells Curtis first thing when he sees him that afternoon, because there’s guilt weighing in his chest about it, and Curtis spends the whole evening pampering him and telling him how much he loves him and how one day, if ever it’s possible, he’s going to marry him. “Don’t you see what they’re doing, Eddie? They’re trying to sabotage our relationship. They think we’re disgusting. They think we’re sinners. They won’t say it out loud, but they’re going to try to ruin us because they can’t stand what we have. You just have to ignore them, okay? Don’t let them ruin this for us.” Of course Eddie believes him. That makes sense. Of course it does. He must be stupid for not realizing that earlier.

But as with all things doomed from the start, there’s a breaking point, and it’s the day Curtis has the gall to actually hurt Eddie. Not in a little way, like he sometimes does when they argue, or how he’s been pushing him to eat less and less because he’s “put on some weight,” or the way he’s been carefully manufacturing comments and insults to keep him down, keep him doubting himself, which in the end is just as bad as any physical hurt, isn’t it?

Eddie’s late coming home from school because he ran into Mike outside the library and they sat down to chat, and he lost track of the time, and there’s a cold feeling in his gut when he gets home and Curtis doesn’t look up from the television as he asks, “Where have you been? Your class ended over an hour ago.”

And Eddie knows, he knows they’re trying to sabotage his relationship, Curtis told him so, but part of him just doesn’t want to believe that, and Mike seemed so sincere. He never once made any kind of negative comment about Eddie’s love life. The most he’d done was ask how Curtis was faring. That was as much as it was even mentioned. So he tells the truth, and Curtis still isn’t looking at him in the few moments of quiet that stretch between them, or when he says, “Come here.”

Eddie obeys. He always does, after all. Curtis grabs his arm too hard and it hurts but he bites his lip because he should have known better, after all, and he’s stupid, and that was stupid of him, and what if Mike is just out to get them?

“Do you want to fuck this up? Do you want them to take you away from me?” he demands, face contorted by his anger, and Eddie shakes his head. He can feel tears burning at his eyes but he fights them because Curtis told him he’s a crybaby and no one likes a crybaby -- he doesn’t want to make him more angry.

“No,” he tries to insist. “I just--” But he doesn’t get a chance to finish because Curtis’s free hand connects with his cheek hard enough to snap his head to the side, and the tears overflow even though he really really doesn’t want them to, as he stands there, stunned, mouth agape, cheek stinging. “What the fuck?” he’s demanding, and Curtis is yanking on his arm to drag him closer, holding so tight he’s almost worried the bones might snap.

“Sometimes I think you don’t love me at all, you know that? Sometimes I think you’re just fucking mooching, and you don’t give a shit if I feel valued or not.”

Eddie would normally defend himself. Tell Curtis that isn’t true, that he does love him, that he shows him that every day, to the best of his ability. That he’s given himself over to him completely, and isn’t that proof enough that he loves him? Except right now, he can’t remember exactly what it is that he “loves” about this man.

The arm Curtis isn’t crushing in his grip reels back and Eddie smashes his fist into Curtis’s nose and he knows, in that moment, there’s no salvaging any of this, and wonders how he ever even cared. In his shock and pain, Curtis lets go of him, and Eddie doesn’t hesitate to get the fuck out of there.

He’s definitely crying when he shows up outside Stan and Richie’s dorm, and he’s trying to stop it because he doesn’t want them to be mad when they see him (because he’s an annoying fucking crybaby, isn’t that right?) but he’s knocking before he’s able to compose himself because he can’t fucking compose himself. He’s shaking and he ruined it but, really, isn’t that for the best? When was the last time he was truly happy with Curtis? The shaking won’t stop anyway, and he can feel anxiety building in his gut, making his stomach twist, because he has nothing now. He’s just gone and completely fucked himself over, and the rest of the Losers, well... they probably barely consider him a friend anymore, or if anything they probably think he’s a shit one, and this was a bad idea. Yeah, this was definitely a bad idea, because he’s imagining Stan sneering down at him and demanding to know why the fuck he thought they’d help him when he hasn’t been bothered with them in months, or Richie scoffing and telling him maybe if he wanted help so bad he could go ask his boyfriend, and--

The door swings open and Stan’s eyes go wide, and Eddie can’t get the words out, and he knows he isn’t having an asthma attack but this feels like an asthma attack. “Richie!” Stan is calling, but Richie’s already leaping up from his bed because he caught sight of Eddie through the gap in the door, and besides, he’d know that wheezing anywhere. Stan barely moves out of the way in time to avoid being bowled over. Richie freezes, though, halfway to grabbing Eddie to drag him into a hug, not sure that he’s alright with that (didn’t he always used to be?) and not sure what the fuck is wrong, but there’s a red mark on his cheek that’s pretty telling, anyway.

Eddie’s the one who surges forward first and wraps Richie up in a hug, because he needs it, and because Richie looks stricken, and Eddie knows somewhere deep down that Richie would never hate him. He’s always known Richie could never hate him. He has to repeat it to himself, like a mantra, as Richie awkwardly tries to shuffle back into the room with Eddie latched around his waist, but Eddie’s scared to let go. “Please don’t be mad,” he says, not quite meeting Richie’s eyes.

Everything he’s done in the last year has been so fucking stupid and he’s a fucking idiot and he’s well aware of that, so everyone else must be, too. So he excuses his behaviour with, “I just thought he loved me.” Maybe, in some way, Curtis does love him, but not the way that Eddie wants or needs to be loved, and he just wasn’t smart enough to see it before. He can barely wrap his mind around it now. But his cheek is throbbing where Curtis landed a pretty fucking solid blow, and his arm aches with the beginnings of a bruise, and he’s tired and hungry and miserable and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt less loved.

Richie, though -- Richie helps. Richie makes him feel better just by being here. By not letting go of him as they settle onto the bed, lying on their sides. Probably because he can tell how much Eddie can’t stand the idea of letting go right now. Stan brings them ice wrapped in a cloth from the kitchens and Richie holds it to his cheek for him and wipes the tears away and Eddie apologizes, over and over, until Richie tells him to stop. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, Eds. Okay? You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.”

Stan whispers something to Richie as he’s pulling on his shoes, and Richie nods, eyes flickering up to look at him, but then he’s looking at Eddie again as the door clicks shut behind Stan.

“I’m just glad you came here. I really am. You know we’ve got your back, right? Whatever you need. We’re here for you.” Richie’s gone all soft, eyes shining, his hand resting on Eddie’s cheek even though he isn’t trying to dry his tears anymore. His glasses sit at an angle on his face, one side pressed to the pillow, and it would probably be funny if Eddie weren’t so goddamn miserable right now.

“I gave him everything,” he says, through the thick feeling of tears blocking his throat. “I... I just thought he loved me.”

(That softness in Richie disappears for a second -- so brief Eddie’s immediately wondering if he might have imagined it -- to be replaced by something hot and fierce and pissed, like he could burn cities to the ground if so inclined, and inclined he is.)

A tear finally slips out of Richie’s eye and runs sideways down his face to soak into the pillow. “I know,” he says. “I’m sorry. We’re here for you. We love you, you know that, right?”

He should. He can’t believe he’d ever doubted it, but something (Curtis) had him doubting. It’s hard to believe Richie doesn’t love him when they’re lying here like this, and harder to believe he ever thought Richie might turn him away. And as for the other Losers... well, he can only hope they’ll forgive him, in time.

He doesn’t answer because he isn’t sure how to explain that, but he’s sure that he fucked up, in some capacity, and that the love the Losers have for him isn’t completely unconditional. Right? Or is that something Curtis wants him to believe? He bites down on his lip so hard it bleeds but he starts crying all over again, anyway.

The door slams open and Bill is there, Stan behind him with Mike in tow. They file inside just as Bev and Ben come thundering up the corridor behind them, and then the mattress is shifting and dipping as several more bodies pile on around them, and somewhere he hears Stan snap at Bill to, “Take your damn shoes off, you animal,” and Richie, close above him, retorts, “Who the fuck cares? I wear my shoes in bed all the time.”

“Animals,” Stan repeats, climbing over them to sit against the headboard and pull Eddie’s head into his lap. He takes the melting ice from Richie to hold against Eddie’s cheek, which is still swelling despite their best efforts.

“Sorry,” Eddie says, when Stan tsks and shakes his head after examining it for a second, and several voices at once are telling him, “You have nothing to apologize for,” and “We love you,” and Richie smiles at him, albeit tremulously, before pressing a kiss to his forehead. Eddie hides his face in his hands because he can’t stop fucking crying but now it’s because he’s so fucking happy. Happy to be back with his friends and to know beyond any doubt that they do love him and it is unconditional and he might just be okay, after all.

#Anonymous #reddie #the losers club #a family of dumbasses tbh #they all love each other sm #ask #writing #cw abuse #cw manipulation #cw domestic violence

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daresplaining · 4 years

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Do you think there's any resentment or jealously between Mike and Matt. Matt was called a local hero and became a lawyer and Mike is a little more rough around the edges. Maybe Mike blames Matt for Jack's death or something but I'm REALLY into the two of them having a rocky relationship after Jack's death and Matt distancing himself for Daredevil reasons.

YES! Hell yes. I absolutely do. Roll the tape:

[ID: A panel from Lee’s Daredevil run. Matt Murdock is in his office, with his back to the viewer, looking uncomfortable.] Foggy (off-panel): “We’re both lawyers, Matt! You know how thin that story sounds!” Matt: “The truth sometimes does, Foggy! Anyway, Mike was always wild-- sort of a black sheep type! I was never too anxious for people to know about him! Surely you don’t find it easier to believe that a blind man can be a costumed super-hero?” Daredevil vol. 1 #25 by Stan Lee and Gene Colan

Everything that Matt frantically ad-libbed about his “brother” in Lee’s run now has new significance, and that includes the fact that Foggy, Matt’s best friend, had no idea that Mike existed. Matt comes up with a bunch of excuses, but overall, they give the impression that Matt and Mike aren’t that close, and maybe don’t have that great a relationship-- especially since we now know that Real Boy Mike wasn’t Daredevil. If Matt wasn’t protecting Mike’s secret identity, then his other excuses for pretending he didn’t exist-- that Mike is “wild”, he’s a “black sheep”-- take on extra significance. (I’ll point out that these are similar to the reasons Foggy later gives for not telling Matt about Candace.) If we assume that the Mike Murdock Saga has not been changed at all by the New Mike Continuity (which, Zdarsky has stated, it hasn’t), and that therefore Foggy was friends with Matt for years, even met Jack, and still never knew about Mike... it’s pretty clear that something was going on between the twins. It’s the explanation that best allows that plot point to still fit into the new reality. We could even now psychoanalyze Matt’s unwillingness to pretend to be concerned about his “brother” as the channeling of some kind of actual resentment.

[ID: Another excerpt from Lee’s run. Matt is feeling around in a desk drawer, while Foggy leans on the desk, yelling at him. Karen is standing next to Foggy and toweling off her hair.] Foggy: “Come off it, fella! You can’t tell me you don’t know your own brother’s number!” Matt: “You know how secretive he is, Foggy!! He’s never even told us his address, has he?” Foggy: “Even so, you’re pretty calm about the fact that the Trapster threatened to kill your own brother!” Matt: “Can’t see where my getting excited would help him, Foggy!” Karen: “Matt Murdock! We all know that you’ve visited Mike before! You must know his address! How can you be so unconcerned about your own brother!” Matt: “Mike can take care of himself, Karen!” Karen: “Yes! No thanks to you!” Daredevil vol. 1 #35 by Stan Lee and Gene Colan

This is all essentially no-prizing (but necessary no-prizing!), but the Modern Mike Saga has also given us more blatant evidence.

[ID: Excerpt from Soule’s run. Mike Murdock, seen from above, is in a bar, standing at the counter and talking to a guy (Freddy) with black hair and giant shoulder pads.] Freddy: “What makes you think Matt Murdock’s brother would be welcome here, you idiot?” Mike: “Easy, buddy. I just wanted to go somewhere in this damn town where everyone isn’t talkin’ about how great my brother is.” [ID: Mike’s hand, raising a glass to the rest of the bar.] Mike: “Matt Murdock’s a bastard! Can I get an amen, people?” Daredevil vol. 5 #606 by Charles Soule and Phil Noto

(This one can either be read as Mike being honest about his feelings, or Mike putting on an act so the supervillains don’t kill him. My interpretation is that it’s a little bit of both...)

[ID: Excerpt from Zdarsky’s run. Young Mike is sitting on a low stone wall, and Jack Murdock is kneeling in front of him. Mike is crying.] Jack: “Mikey... he needs us. He needs you. This isn’t your fault.” Mike: “I know that! It’s-- it’s Matt’s stupid fault! #$@% goody two-shoes-- saved some nobody-- now that-- that goop’s probably gonna give him cancer! Or make him a-- a monster!” Jack: “Mike!”

[ID: Another excerpt from the same issue. Jack and an older Mike are alone in a boxing ring. Mike pokes Jack in the chest.] Mike: “You take falls for mobsters! You rough people up for them too! And you lied to Matt and me about our mom!” Jack: “Son, I--” [ID: Mike walks away, leaving Jack in the ring.] Mike: “I may not be my law school brother-- but I sure as #$@% ain’t you!”

A lot of what was revealed about Matt and Mike’s relationship in the Annual wasn’t a surprise, since it followed up on ideas that had already been either established or at least hinted by Lee and Soule. We know that while Matt sometimes resented Jack’s overprotectiveness, and he kept a lot of secrets, he loved his dad, and Jack loved and was proud of him. Young Matt was an upstanding kid, selfless, obedient (or at least good at faking it), and a high achiever. He fulfilled Jack’s dreams for him by earning good grades and getting into college. And since we know Mike was... not any of that, it’s easy to imagine that he would have been both scornful and resentful of Matt, and with good reason. How do you measure up to a sibling like that? In the Volume 6 Annual, Zdarsky does a great job of showing us that while Matt and Mike were loving brothers, there was also tension as Mike found himself continually compared to his smart, perfect, heroic twin.

I love his reaction to Matt’s accident (above). I'm inclined to think that Mike isn’t entirely telling the truth there when he says he knows it’s not his fault-- in this version of events, he was responsible for Matt being on that street corner, and that has to have bothered him at least a little-- but I also love that his grief is mixed with anger at Matt for being selfless; for being such a good person that he has actually been hurt by it. It’s a heck of a scene, and a powerful commentary on their relationship. And I’ve already analyzed the boxing scene several times in other posts, but here it is again because it perfectly embodies the difference between Matt and Mike, and their individual dynamics with Jack. Jack breaks his one big rule about not wanting his kids to fight because he doesn’t know how else to deal with Mike, and Mike’s resentment about that is painfully blatant. The Annual is structured around the idea of Mike asserting his identity, “I’m Mike Murdock”, with the idea that he is willing himself into existence, but also with strong undertones of “I’m not Matt Murdock”, which is key to both his present-day experiences and to the idea that people have always compared him to his brother and he’s sick of it.

I also want to bring up the idea that Matt was probably jealous of Mike too. Matt followed Jack’s rules, but he didn’t actually like them, and he did all of his rule-breaking in secret. Mike, on the other hand, was just out there having fun whenever he wanted. And again, that brings us back to Mike’s original role, as an identity that allowed Matt an escape from his stifling secret-keeping. Now that he’s real, I could see that translating into some genuine envy.

[ID: Another panel from the Annual, showing adult Matt and Mike from the shoulders up, standing next each other. Matt has his hand on Mike’s shoulder. They both look solemn.] Matt: “We all love one another. We’re all we’ve got. I’m worried about you too, but at least I can talk to you. Dad is... he’s drifting. I think he’s just worried about-- about being alone when we’re both moved out. Come to the fight tonight, okay? You, me, supporting the old man, like old times.”

I’m posting this panel because I am obsessed with it, but also because it’s a glimpse of Matt and Mike right before Jack’s death, which is something I very much want to talk about, thank you. I’ve been ruminating on this idea since Real Boy Mike was first created two years ago. If Matt and Mike were estranged (or at least, avoiding each other) in the early Nelson & Murdock days, then the blatant, obvious angst-inducing reason for why that could be is, yes, Jack’s death, and specifically, YES, Mike blaming Matt for it. I assume we’re on the same wavelength here, but for anyone who may not be following:

[ID: Excerpt from Lee’s run. Jack Murdock is walking down the street with his hands in his pockets. He kicks a discarded can in anger.] Caption: “But, there is one problem which Battling Murdock keeps from his son...” Jack: “I haven’t been able to land a fight in weeks! I’m gettin’ too old! No manager will take me! But I can’t let Matt down! I’ve got to keep fightin’... until he gets through college! I owe him that... for the way he’s worked all these years!” [ID: Jack is shown in silhouette, talking to a bald guy in glasses. A door in the background says “exercise room”.] Caption: “Finally, in desperation, Murdock makes a fatal decision...” Guy: “Look, Murdock, you’re all washed up, and you know it! The only guy who’ll manage a has-been like you is the Fixer!” Jack: “The Fixer! I always swore to myself that I’d steer clear of a guy with his reputation! But now I’ve got no choice! I have to get a fight!” Daredevil vol. 1 #1 by Stan Lee and Bill Everett

The main reason that Jack got mixed up with the dangerous people who ended up killing him was because he needed money to pay for Matt’s college education. And even if Matt didn’t know that at the time, Mike certainly would have. It’s easy to imagine a grieving Mike blaming Matt to his face for getting their dad killed, and for that to result in the separation that is implied by Matt’s 60s attitude toward his brother and by Mike’s long absence from Matt’s life. Of course, since Matt and Foggy were friends while Jack was still alive, this doesn’t entirely explain things, but it’s easy to assume that maybe Matt and Mike weren’t too close beforehand either, particularly with Matt aiming for a law career and Mike essentially becoming a petty criminal. That’s maybe not the kind of thing you’d bring up to your roommate, and again, it lines up with 60s Matt’s comment about not being “too anxious for people to know about” his “wild” brother. Jack’s death would be such a culmination of everything-- Mike’s resentment of Matt’s success, Matt’s frustration with Mike’s unruliness, both of their complicated relationships with Jack-- that to not in some way address how losing their father affected them both would be a huge waste of storytelling and character-building potential. I want that drama, yes, but more to the point, I think that drama makes sense for the story that’s been set up.

[ID: Excerpt from Zdarsky’s run. Mike puts down a black stone he’s holding and curls up on the wooden floor of a small room, in the middle of a white circle.] Mike: “Oh god... Dad... I’m sorry... I’m sorry...”

There’s also this, which is a moment I’m still trying to puzzle out. The last flashback in the Annual shows Mike betting a large sum of money on Jack winning his last fight, shortly followed by this present-day moment of grief. It’s really unclear what’s going on here, but one way to read this is that maybe Mike blames himself for Jack not taking the fall and being killed for it... which would be a fascinating addition to that pivotal Daredevil event. We know that Mike’s relationship with Jack was not great, but that he still loved and looked up to him (note how much he talked about him in Soule’s run), and this seems like something that could inform his journey moving forward. And obviously, since it’s about Jack, it’s something Matt would be invested in as well.

So this was a very long way of saying: yes. I really, really hope all of the implied disfunction in Matt and Mike’s past is explored as their relationship continues to develop, because just look at how much material there is to work with!

#Daredevil #Mike Murdock #Matt Murdock #Jack Murdock #Adventures in Continuity #Mike Murdockalypse #Commentary #Asks

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