Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4
Eddie takes the piece of metal for the new piece and runs his torch along it. The flame flickers against the silver as he does, white hot.
But instead of bending it quite yet, he hammers down on it roughly before flicking the flame over it again. He bends it around the sizing device, still estimating Steve’s ring size to be just under his.
Once it’s shaped and melded together, he hammers it more, giving some of it a rougher edge.
The next part is tricker, the oxidation process.
Eddie is grateful his uncle stays out of his room and his business, he’s sure by now that the noises that aren’t just Iron Maiden or his own musical talents have caused confusion and intrigue.
He meant to tell his uncle about his jewelry, but honestly it made him nervous for people to see his work and know it was his. Like suddenly they’d change their minds and decide it was actually quite shit.
Especially the person he was giving most of his projects to.
Eddie takes out the clean plastic box from under his work station and puts a paper towel on the bottom, soaking in ammonia. He covers it with a plastic lid after the smell hits him and opens his tiny trailer bedroom window.
Realistically, he shouldn’t do this in the confined space, but he figures he’s inhaled enough bad shit; he’ll survive.
Eddie opens the box again to take a piece of tinfoil next and puts it in the middle of the box for the ring to sit on, then rolls the ring in the ammonia. He pours salt onto the ring, focusing on the spots he hammered more.
Placing it on the tinfoil, Eddie smiles to himself. This piece is going to be beautiful, but it’s also rougher than the last few pieces.
Steve would probably think his secret admirer, a woman no doubt, bought it from somewhere a little edgier. Eddie sighs at that thought, wishing he wasn’t such a coward. Wishing he could just tell him outright.
But it really wasn’t that simple.
As Eddie sketches out the final details of the ring, he hears the front door open, figuring Wayne might’ve come home on lunch. He had been doing that a lot lately, coming home from work to eat, to check up on Eddie.
But Eddie startles when he turns around to his own door swinging open, something his uncle would never do without knocking and waiting on an answer.
Mike Wheeler and Lucas Sinclair stand in his doorway, arguing something about their character sheets for the next campaign and apparently needing Eddie to be the tiebreaker.
Before he can hide the sketch or the box with the ring—
“What’s that?”
They ask it in unison with wide eyes and pinched noses, staring at the box containing his next secret gift to Steve.
“Nothing,” Eddie moves it aside with the sketchbook on top, trying to walk forward until they all go into the living room. He isn’t that lucky.
“It looks important,” Mike tries to look over his shoulder at the work station.
“Yeah, looks like a secret,” Lucas so helpfully chimes in, little shit.
“Can you guys drop it? What’s this about your—“
“We can stand here all day,” Lucas folds his arms with a smirk, nudging Mike’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m what Nancy likes to call ‘insufferable’,” Mike follows up, and Eddie has to stop himself from snorting at that.
“Fine! God, you guys are the worst and I’m starting to regret bringing you under my wing,” Eddie doesn’t, not once, but who is he if not dramatic, “you have to swear to secrecy of the highest level. It’s quite literally life or death.”
They exchange looks and then smile wide at Eddie, nodding in agreement with the terms. He takes a deep breath and starts.
“Eww, seriously? Steve? Like my sister’s ex, that Steve?!”
“For the millionth time, baby Wheeler, yes. Like your sister’s ex,” Eddie rubs his temples, having to literally repeat himself for the last twenty minutes.
The boys finally stop asking questions shortly after, at least about Steve.
“So how long does it sit like,” Lucas gestures vaguely to the now fully covered box, “that for?”
“About twenty four hours,” Eddie answers.
“So you make your own? All your rings and chains?” Mike asks, seemingly dropping his whole Steve grudge. For now.
“Yeah, have been since I was sixteen probably,” Eddie outstretches his hands and stares down at them himself.
“Cool,” is the last thing Mike adds before they seem to move on from the subject all together and ask about their character sheets once again finally.
The night becomes an ongoing argument, Eddie having to break them up multiple times. But he can’t help but feel a little relieved from being able to have people who know about his secret.
The teens leave late with promises to keep everything under wraps, they of course both want updates, even begging to come with to drop the next ring off. Eddie says he’ll think about it, but they’ll be louder than his clunky van so he’ll just tell him later he forgot.
The next afternoon, the ring is ready to pull out and he looks it over with pride. Taking fine grit sandpaper, he rubs over the piece and inspects it thoroughly to make sure it’s ready for final touches.
Taking a silver wire that he already prepped, Eddie takes jewelry pliers and wraps it around the thinnest piece of the ring. He fires over it and looks it over one last time.
It’s everything he wanted it to be, nothing else he’s given Steve has looked like this.
Smiling to himself, Eddie puts it in it’s box and writes the note to accompany it.
‘Stevie, something different.’
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the difference between zosopp and sanuso (romantic OR platonic) is that Usopp is Zoro's specialest little guy and Zoro is someone Usopp hangs out with and looks up to and hides behind when things get scary, but Sanji and Usopp are best friends. They horse around, they beat each other up, they confide their worst fears trying to one up each other. Usopp hides behind Sanji sometimes, sure, but idk, Sanji's weaknesses are more obvious (bugs, fighting women, etc) so there are times when Usopp has to stand in front of Sanji too, yknow?
Like, how do I say this, all the crewmates are equal- Usopp and Zoro are equals- but with Sanji it feels like more... comradery? Zoro's a rock in a terrible storm- even rocks tend to get weathered and chipped and worn down, but they overall stay strong and steady. He has trouble being vulnerable and there are times when the burden he's placed on himself to keep the crew safe is crushing his chest. Usopp would help with that and be very understanding, but the point I'm trying to get with that is that those moments are few and far between. So I feel like Usopp, especially after Water 7, would take Zoro's lead on something like that, and keep most of his worries to himself or only talk about them sparingly unless they're really bad and/or he can't hide them.
Sanji is like a tree in a storm; he can be strong, yes, but it feels like he bends and sways with the storm, and has more obvious breaking points. He can relate more to Usopp's struggles rather than resorting to blunt honesty that might border on callous like Zoro. And while, with Zosopp, I tend to think of scenarios with Zoro being blunt like that as a good thing- because sometimes when you're spiraling, it's nice to have someone say exactly what's great about you and shoot down all your worries with straight facts that you can't argue with- I can also see this as being a bad thing. Anxiety can really twist up your brain sometimes, you know? And despite the words, the tone could still mess someone up if they're already feeling like a burden on others in some way.
With Sanuso it's a lot more understanding and thoughtful words. It's distractions and comfort food and patience- the kind reserved for Usopp- until Usopp talks about whatever's troubling him. Compared to Zosopp, it doesn't take as long for Usopp to open up, since he's done the same thing to Sanji at times and it's more familiar to him to talk and commiserate with Sanji about his worries and doubts and such. However, there are times stuff like this has absolutely no effect and Sanji will end up at a loss, no idea what to do or how to help over the course of several days with Usopp being quiet and keeping his distance, and he'll end up working himself up about it which will only serve to make Usopp feel worse and. yeah. bit of a vicious cycle with them.
So it's like. Usopp can be weak with both of them, but since I see Sanji as the type of guy who'd be more open with his worries (at least compared to Zoro), there's less of a need to 'perform' and be his best self around him. He's comfortable around Zoro, yes, but he is constantly wanting to show that he won't be a problem to him. On the other hand, while he's more open with Sanji, and Sanji with him, they tend to relate a bit too much with each other and they both have issues with causing trouble for others and being 'deserving of love' so failed attempts at consoling one hurts the other and creates an unpleasant cycle of misery and avoidance before some other crewmate (Zoro) tells them to quit being stupid and just fucking talk to each other.
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Streamer Xiao headcanons
Content: Some general hcs, some stuff specific to a relationship with him (separated so you can just skip to whatever you like), gn!reader
General:
Started streaming kind of on a whim because he was bored one night, but then he actually enjoyed it so he kept going. Back then he had a super sucky microphone and the camera quality of a potato, but over time things improved and now his streams are pretty high quality
He's famous for playing nothing but horror games, particularly because he never gets scared and stays completely composed, no matter how bad the scares get. The whole "totally deadpan guy who stays calm no matter what" thing has kind of become his online persona over time
Because of this persona he prefer to stream alone because he feels like it wouldn't be a great match for collabs
His favourite game of all time is Omori, which is famously the one instance where he completely broke out of his usual unimpressed state and was going through it because the game got to him
Generally speaking, he's more into niche indie games than whatever horror game is currently "in", although he will give more conventional horror a chance as well
Overall he prefers games with a good admosphere over ones that are littered with cheap scares
Also doesn't shy away from games with darker topics. If he does play some heavier stuff, he always makes sure to treat it with all due respect and actually try to start a conversation about whatever the topic is because he thinks it's important
He doesn't really have a set schedule and just streams whenever he feels like it. Sometimes he starts in the middle of the night just because he found a cool game he wants to share right away
Because of this he usually doesn't have a massive audience because people didn't know he was streaming beforehand, but he prefers it that way. He likes the more chill atmosphere caused by just a couple of people watching him play rather than having to entertain a huge amount of people
He usually gets straight to gaming and doesn't do a lot of casual chatting before or after the game. Just every once in a while he might show off his pet birds on stream, particularly when he (or you) recently taught them some new cool trick
In a relationship:
He's always been very open about him being in a relationship and frequently mentions you in offhanded comments
He actually let you design his stream alerts, stickers, etc. (Bonus points if you picked something super cute because it's like... Xiao playing a dark, scary horror game while a chibi catboy version of him is dancing in the corner announcing the latest subscriber)
You'd never guess so based off his online persona, but he's actually really soft and affectionate with you in private. He adores you and always makes sure to remind you of that.
Even if he has a stream planned, he'll drop that in an instant for you, no matter if it's because you had a bad day or just because you really want to spend time with him
But also, he'll sometimes invite you to just sit with him while he streams, which is usually very cute to watch with you freaking out and clining to him while Xiao is just cliff-faced as usual
That being said, he'll break out of that persona if he notices that you're getting too scared. Then he'll usually take a break and make sure to check in on you, see if you're doing okay or if you want to stop and hold you close to comfort you
If you're not sitting next to him while he streams, you always make sure to be in the audience. It's become a fun little game to you to try and get him to break character by subtly teasing him or flirting with him in chat. You're usually pretty succesful at getting him to crack a smile or at least blush a little (But he doesn't mind. He knows you think it's cute and he cares about you being happy more than keeping up some online persona)
Liked this au? You can find more of it here
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