#i miss when that shit was all over tumblr

[fanofthelamb]

So I went dumpster diving in my tablet for the first lamb I ever drew and WOW... I found a lot of sketches I really don't plan on revisiting. I am jsut gonna dump them below the cut for people to see!! Some of it is lore related, some of it is shit I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING HATE, but IDC!!! I will post it anyway for the tumblr users who I keep an eye on my notifs for. (yes, i see you guys. even if i dont always interact I see you and love you guys)

Anyway, here is the earliest drawin I have of me drawing the lamb!! I am going to write a comment under a lot of these to add context to them.

A cute little baby <3333 but I struggled a LOT of figuring out what the lamb was wearing, I eventually figured it out though. (I hope)

if you know, you know. (RIP VAL)

for my BTG AU. I decided I no longer wanted chemach to make the [spoiler] for the lamb, though, so I scrapped this

vaaaal,,,,,, i was still learning how to draw him, i wish i put pants on him but do those even exist in COTL? (yes)

I haven't been able to do much with them because I'm putting other stuff first, but Brear has two kids, Notre and Brejul who Narinder absolutely ADORES. he is the one who babysits.

fun fact but the lamb being touch repulsed is a projection LOL. i hate it when people touch me it feels so tickly and makes me want to bite their faces off. (but i am touch starved and i LOVE to show affection to other ppl, esp thru back rubs)

yes, they have a hoop for personal space. no, ill never use it.

drum corcl,,,, i love the little dancing guy that comes from the drums

more narinder and brear. they're not romantically interested in each other, but he is absolutely head over heels for brear, their brother, and the kids. they even call him dad sometimes.

[no context]

kallamar and leshy before their crowns. the scene i have related to this isn't happening anymore, but it was leshy begging to be taught to swim.

another "the one who baby sits" doodle. the bishops all came into the cult with a very good repuation thanks to narinder. he likes to tell the kids of the cult stories about how amazing his siblings were. at first, it was just to nobre and brejul with stories about leshy(he missed leshy a lot even though he was still mad at him, and the two reminded narinder of his time with leshy), but then it escalated into him hosting storytimes with larger groups after they started repeating some of the stories he'd tell them.

unfinsihed stuff about with the lamb and thier mom. their mom wasn't afraid of the bishops at all, but knew that they were a still a threat to her and her child's life. the lamb did NOT care for anyone thier mom didn't approve of/enthusiastically liked. they were much more afraid of the bishops than their mother.

i do not actually know if i posted this.i dont think so, but i giggle every time i scroll past it

brear and nobre <333

im still workong on BTG shit, and i post a little bit of the characters on here even tho the comics are going to be posted elsewhere. they have a "crownlike" beak, but a body part. there's different creatures who became gods through different ways; crowns are one way but their power is stuck with the crown and they are considered extremely weak compared to other gods. i wont blabber on about it tho.

so many sketches has random lines through em because i work with a tablet,,, i hate it. anyway, narinder and kallamar everybody!

sketches i made but didn't bother to finish of me and merbre,,,,,,,,, my husband #1 <3 them w/ narinder + merbre arent gonna be considered "canon" but damn it ill self-ship with them until i get a follower i can WORK with

i come back to this every few weeks and im never happy with it, i dont know if ill finish this but i think about them........ before the divorce </3

unused from an ask

heartstealer. menace. you can rip my heart out anytime, leshy <3

dreshy. he LOVES dresses and being pretty and cute and pretty. he sucks narinder into a lot and heket will sometimes join in if he demands asks her to <3

another unused drawing from an ask i'll eventually answer. (mildly offended at being called a mutton cube.)

.... aaand WOW! I think that's everything guys!! things are still kinda wild but they're calming down a little bit. idk how much longer it's gonna last like this but I have some energy so I made a way-too-long post showing off art I wasn't supposed to post! Awesome. :D

#cw gore #cotl au stuff in here #23 pics under the cut btw #cotl #cotl fanart #cult of the lamb #cotl lamb #the lamb #cotl narinder #cotl spoilers #cotl kallamar #cotl leshy #i dont think ill tag anymore #idek if i should've tagged this post at all #but well see how it plays out!! #THIS POST TOOK FOREVER TIME TO GO CLEAN

[orbleglorb]

blaseball in the tumblr universe, part 4

(part 3 might be needed for context)

[ID 1: divider to show that there is a new post]

[ID 2: divider to show that a new reblog has been added to a post /end IDs]

anonymous asked:

so what exactly did you think was going to happen when you made your tumblr username Official Jessica Telephone?

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

idk man i thought maybe before sending an ask, which you have to click on my profile to do, people would see my header that says "not jessica telephone" in all caps. maybe they'd even read my bio that says i'm a 17 year old transmasc named michael living in the uk.

#telephone calls #please please please it is not that hard.

620 notes

🦞 marketplace-shellfish 🔁

👛 antique-handbags Follow

Working in ILB offices is so fun. Why did my boss just ask me who Donald Trump is.

👛 antique-handbags

Wrong blog but too late to delete now :P

🦞 marketplace-shellfish

Wait. So Parker IIIII knows who Ronald Reagan is, but not Donald Trump?

👛 antique-handbags

The Game Band (and me and some others, but mostly TGB) give Commish school lessons on off hours. They've only made it to around the 80s or 90s in history in the eleven-ish years he's been around. I usually do English and Math with him so IDK what's going on there.

🦞 marketplace-shellfish

Amazing. What the fuck

#I hope that's not supposed to be confidential #Would rather not get fired #<- Prev honestly I don't think anyone but maybe your coworkers could figure out who you are? #You're pretty good at not sharing personal details outside of this post #Or maybe I've missed a couple of posts idk

9,821 notes

anonymous asked:

You're one to get up on a soapbox about respecting celebrities. You literally named yourself after Mike Townsend.

☎️ official-jessica-telephone

i literally named myself after michael the distortion tma

#telephone calls #hitting my head against the wall #also i hate being called mike. lmao #canceling my parents for naming my sister after my grandmother

499 notes

🐶 catgirlfirefighter 🔁

🌼 buildmeupbuttercup Follow

🐶 catgirlfirefighter

what if this was my last straw

21,573 notes

☕️ eyesinthedark11

im sorry but the reader is so funny to me. giant eyeball that comes outta nowhere and says "your team is gonna suck absolute shit this season. here's a card and a riddle. fuck you" and then the coin is so clearly trying to get this guy away from blaseball but it doesn't care. comes every earlsiesta and is like "your team has a chance of sucking so bad it hurts. over under under over" and then LEAVES. do we think the coin and the reader are divorced

#i am NOT maintagging this shit

13 notes

#i did not check math at all so if the reader would have appeared later than 11 years after pvrker came around pls ignore that #blaseball #fake tumblr #fake tumblr dash #i have several more of these in my drafts

[jacqcrisis]

i can’t believe it took the horny straight dude side of the TF2 fandom this long to anthropomorphize a weapon into a waifu they can make sfm porn with. in a game filled with a cornucopia of big sweaty dudes and one (1) conventionally attractive woman side character who isn’t even someone you play as or talk to, I expected the straight dudes in the fandom to get tired of miss pauling and gender bending scout and pyro a LOT FASTER THAN SIXTEEN YEARS LATER

#team fortress 2 #tf2 #they squeezed every last drop of opportunity out of their limited options huh #in this kind of situation the humanizing weapons into waifus is usually like year 2 behavior #but they held the fuck out #also sucks to be straight dudes cause gay tf2 smut slaps hard #i miss when that shit was all over tumblr

[redysetdare]

every time i see a post that is like "ughh why cant we have aspec characters who aren't aroace for once" I have to do a double take like "is the aroace rep in the room with us right now?" because genuinely....where is all this aroace rep y'all are complaining about? Why cant i find it yet it's apparently the only aspec rep we get?? You admit that TV never says the word aromantic so where is the aroace rep. So far I've pretty much only seen canonically asexual characters and not much else buddy.

#text #half the time i think these ppl see other aspec ppl saying that x character feels aroace and then they take it as canon rep #instead of an interpretation of the character which likely was never meant to be written as aspec at all #because majority of people don't even know what that is #this isn't me saying that we shouldn't have aroallo or alloace rep btw #this is me complaining about people throwing aroace ppl under the bus because apparently we are 'hogging' all the representation in media #and it just reads as people being aphobic towards aroace people specifically and it drives me insane #you can ask for more aroallo and alloace characters without complaining and shitting on aroace characters???? #like bro we are all on the same fucking team. we are all trying to get seen and understood. we all want to see ourselves in media #stop fighting like one of us is somehow way more privileged than the other because 'you have x rep' #we all have crumbs my guy. just because someone else is getting crumbs doesn't mean that its your crumbs being taken. #idk i see so many posts like this and it makes me feel so unwelcome in the aro and ace communities #im tired of aroace people being used as a scapegoat that you can target to pretend like you're punching up #when in reality you're just committing friendly fire against people who are on your team #i miss when the aro and ace communities used to like... work together as a big aspec community #now ppl r way too focused on separating them and acting like they have nothing in common and don't have the same goals #and both communities now tend to put a lot of blame onto aroace people because of stereotypes we never had control over in the first place #it's exhausting #like the aphobia is coming from inside the house #i didn't go through the ace discourse on tumblr to deal with this shit.

[princekirijo]

Imma be honest with you chief this week has not been fun. At all

#oh boy i had a terrible three days time to go tell my tumblr followers about it! #ah no but jokes aside y'all. #i started my job on monday and i actually like it so far! #i haven't done any actual work or anything quite yet cause its all onboarding at the moment #but so far so good! all my colleges are lovely #so you might ask why is this one of the worst weeks of my life? two words #FOOD. POISONING. #this shit is straight up EVIL #im doing better today thank god but yesterday??? omfg #“look im being uber dramatic here but when am i not to be fair” #But seriously #ill try not to go into too much detail but. 10 hrs. yeah. #my throat feels like someone has shoved a metal ball down it #i havent eaten anything today #and I'm missing two days of training over this 😭 #this is so embarrassing first week on the job and boom food poisoning knocks me out for two of them #im gonna be the food poisoning guy 😭 #i hope y'all are having a better time than i am

[snixx]

the 39 clues girlies are having a field day in the notes of a post I made months ago and all I can do is gaze upon them fondly as I remember the most passionate late lover of my life

#they want to revive the fandom 🥹 #oh the stories i could tell #jesus my t39c hyperfixation was definitely a Time. i don't think I've had a more intense hyperfixation ever #i can STILL name all the clues off the top of my head. five years later #i feel like a grandma #i don't get as sad over it or as excited every time i see a sign of someone wanting to revive the fandom as i used to but #your first love never dies and all #throwback to that time i tried to organise an internet clue hunt!!! we should totally do that on tumblr it could be so fun #i had so many ideas damn #the 39 clues #girlblogging.pdf #holy shit wait it's more like 7 years now. not five #broooooo #almost 8 tbh #i miss the site i miss the ffn forums i miss the books being in stores... #i miss the gc that made me get a tumblr in the firstplace #oof #i do not play about this series when i say i am INSUFFERABLE about it #i literally used to think about it 24/7 for years not exaggerating #i had to relate everything to it i still do #i was fully convinced i was an undercover lucian agent #who am I kidding i still do #i don't have one notebook without all the clues listed in them from some time i was bored in class

[13eyond13]

.

#i have just realized i dont trust any tumblr blogs that are popular like obviously over 15k followers level popular bc #it almost always means they got their followers like pre 2014 when tumblr was kinda cool and full of people and #most of them have not updated their vibes since those days much at all and #anytime i see them posting its just like a reminder of all the shit i dont miss about early tumblr hahaha #like i specifically remember around 2010 when i would creep these incredibly mean and dramatic people with probably tens of thousands #followers and it was so lame and they were always toxic af anyways!! #this is to say that tumblr is actually way more enjoyable to me now that its quieter and getting that many followers is nearly impossible #and i love that its not really a bunch of 'tumblr famous' asshats and mostly just anonymous folks posting on their lil blogs #that is the aspect of current tumblr that truly feels like a remnant of vintage internet experience to me rn #at least in the dn fandom where i mostly hang out #like before influencers existed and everyone was just chillin #p

[apatheticlexicographer]

to be completely honest, the stranger things fandom has damn near ruined the show for me lmfao

#and i don't mean in the 'i know too much i can never be satisfied as GA again' way #people are just soooooo fucking petty #and i swear to god nobody in this fandom seems to remember that it's supposed to be... fun??? #for them and for everyone else #like. bro. have u considered sitting down and maybe drinking a glass of *insert preferred juice* #people take the stupidest shit tooooooo seriously #also HEAVILY controversial opinion so i'm banking on nobody seeing this lest i get hashtag cancelled: #the vast majority of the characters are pretty bland and have middling chemistry #yes. this includes mike and will #i enjoy them. i like them. i don't think they're BAD. but sweetheart they are not that deep i'm sorry ToT #truly fascinates me how worked up people get over a handful of fictional pubescent suburbanites #yeah i'm losing followers if anybody sees this but i honestly do not give a shit #it might just be the mental illness but i barely care about any of it anymore even on a perfunctory level #i miss stranger things being a show i really really liked without being muddied by how fucking annoying fandoms are #(just in general but indo tend to fall into obnoxious ones and ST is no exception) #honestly half the entertainment i've gotten here has been from participating and half has been from watching other ppl squabble #i guess we all suck. haha #i'll probably be less of a holier-than-thou jackass in a couple weeks when i maybe get new meds #but til then i am honestly so sick of logging onto tumblr and having my dash at least half full of stranger things #i'm sick and tired and bored. i just wanna enjoy my blorbos in the peace of my own mind and then forget about them for a couple of years #maybe the hyperfixation is finally ending #honestly??? i hope so #lexi stfu challenge

[whiteprairieroses]

♡ ♡ ♡

#i’m kinda SO over tumblr #it’s the last social media i have #and like i enjoy browsing my dashboard but the popular section and the for you section are so awful #and half my og mutuals are gone anyway #and i don’t like sharing on here anymore cause honestly i got nasty anons just for venting about my personal life on my personal blog #i think i’m gonna delete #i’ll re-evaluate tomorrow but i just don’t really see a point in sticking around #i hate the internet and i don’t want to be on it at all #and tumblr includes that #even tho there are some genuine people on here who i will miss i just think i need to commit to irl fully #i’ve been enjoying real life way too much to tolerate the shit i see here on a daily basis #i’m planning my wedding working on my house saving money listening to old records watching my favourite movies from when i was a kid #i just don’t want to come on here and read discourse between two 13 year olds in a cringy fandom #like all the power to the individuals who have been able to curate their feed just so but i just don’t care to filter out the bull shit #which is literally what all social media is #filtering out the bullshit ads and trends and ‘fake news’ and i’m so sick of the information over load #so anyways i probably won’t deactivate my account but if this post is 3 months old and i haven’t posted since it’s because i deleted the app #so goodbye and thank you and i love you and goodnight 💓🌟💕 #txt

[girlvinland]

Does anyone else feel just completely overwhelmed sometimes bc of just. How much information we take in every day? Like esp on the internet and having so much access to phone/computer/etc. Recently I feel like it’s just been so much it makes me feel extremely stressed out just, there’s so much social media where people are talking 24/7 and getting enraged and having discourse and then there’s so much news and most of it’s negative and just so much so much of everything I feel like I’m losing my mind sometimes.

#by bug #idk it’s never really affected me as bad as it has lately #it’s just the sheer amount of ‘content’ and talking and ads and just. everything it feels sometimes like you can’t escape it #I don’t know it’s just really stressing me out tonight for some reason #🥲 #i feel like I really need a break from social media (like outside of tumblr tbh bc tumblr is kind of my safe haven) #i greatly decreased the amount of social media I use but it’s STILL overwhelming #I cut out IG #wasn’t on Twitter got one to like art but I check it like once a week #have FB mostly for family #I use YT as tv basically but idk maybe I shouldn’t #this is the only place I really am active bc I like it but the ads are getting annoying too #sometimes discord feels like a lot too #bc there are so many servers and I mute them but just watching the notifs pile up is like #😫 #idk man I’m just tired #i miss when the internet wasn’t 100% capitalism and outrage at all times #I think I used to enjoy it more when it was more about actually connecting to others and less about trying to sell us product #or making us paranoid over shit #how can anyone stay positive and healthy surrounded by it so much

[nerdyqueerr]

Im pretty sure they only pick rec league basketball refs out of like the most insecure young men who apply. These guys fucking suck

#sportsposting on tumblr dot com never works but i still do it #anyways these guys SUCK #ill take the vaguely condescending old men over these dicks any time #the way the held a grudge against us all game bc THEY made a wrong call at the beginning and our bench pointed it out #like not a foul call they just got the possession wrong. obviously did not like having their authority undermined #gave me a goddamn technical!! for telling my teammates to bitch more quietly. bc i said bitch. i just #ARGH #and every time the play stopped theyd go shoot hoops (they missed a lot which was funny) #its like when they applied the league said 'are you going to take this job seriously or is it all a dumb little ego trip for your mediocre #basketball star fantasies' #and then hired ppl who said the second one #UGH #its fine tho bc we won #fuck those guys #at least the othee team ks nice #my shit

[kuiinncedes]

holy fuck i made so many small mistakes on this homework TT

#this is the hw i was crying about a few days ago LMFAO like jeanne shut up but yeah #im redoign it as ''studying'' lmfao and looking at the answers and god i rly fucking #forgot how to do math yay #i had a chance at getting a good grade on this hw probably and then i fucking missed small steps and details and shit like #pls TT #ughausdhgslidfglbfauidfgh #i need to stop coming on tumblr lmfao bye last thing tonight i gotta finish this problem and then get ready for bed 💀 #hate it here :))) why couldnt i just do well on the hw #smh #jeanne talks #yall y does anyone follow when all i do is complain abt school esp during finals season ig lmfao TT #apologies it will be over soon djngjfg

[emdotcom]

I understand all these posts with the angle of "OMG new users don't know how the reblog system works -- we have to tell them so they'll reblog art!" Bc that IS true! I have seen new accounts roll up with 0 reblogs & just likes.

But, also, you cannot fucking pretend that the reblog/likes ratio has not been on a massive fucking decline for literal years before this. It is not just new users suddenly not reblogging -- it is a massive shift in how the Tumblr populace itself regards & interacts with art & artist.

& as an artist, there is very little you can do.

#gale chatter #eh actually yeah there is one thing you can do -- you either post exclusively popular fandom content or intentionally miss or over tag #but after that you just. try to color all your art in try to post digital try to post at the right times #but really how much does that affect notes? do gou get one or two extra? ten? #& how many of those notes are likes #there's a laugh rule for posts i wish there were an appreciation rule for art #if you are in any way impressed moved or want to see more art you need to reblog it. this is not optional. #girl i am hashtag artist struggles right now fuck #NOT to complain i get good notes on that art post & all my friends & homies rolled up to rb #that's a good amount of reblogs for me that's like 7 rbs & 4 of them had really nice tags that's good interaction #i just. kinda miss when a post would have so many reblogs i would lose track. i couldn't have told you how many notes i got #when i was in highschool posting batim fanart. the number was too big to me. looking back i know 200 notes doesn't mean much #but for me? for all the art I've made? shit I've spent hours or weeks on? vs me making a silly animation in about an hour? #the difference is about 190 notes. & that's a damn shame & discouraging. #it makes me think the only way to get notes is to post for big fandoms & that sucks bc i don't like to dance that dance anymore #idk. maybe i move to da or something. #how many other artists do you think go through this? spend hours on something & not get enough interaction #so they decide to pack up shop & go somewhere else #& the only way their art is ever gonna geace tumblr again is by reposters & art thiefs #or maybe they just never post art again period. & ain't that a damn crying shame.

[vampiromano]

I did get close to this when I went to the Lollapalooza but it was just one day so the happiness felt fleeting at the moment and I feel like if I'd gone all three days I would've gotten here sooner BUT it was too expensive and I got here anyway so w/e idec im sooooooo functional agajn bitch im at my PEAK

#fuck being depressed im sooooo over that for like 8 months AT LEAST #gonna make those THE MOST MONTHS of all months ever #gonna fuck so much bitch #gonna make SO MANY FRIENDS #gonna earn MONEY #gonna DO EXERCISE and gonna WASTE MONEY and gonna USE THE FACT I'M HOT #gonna DRESS WELL #bitch I'm doing so mcuh stuff #GONNA GET SO DRUNK YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT #gonna do drugs again oh drugs how I've missed you #(i don't do drugs when I'm depressed bc I'm not a real person when I'm depressed) #gonna WORK FOR REAL #gonna IR DE MOCHILERO POR TODA ARGENTINA #actually I'm not sure I will but I might I'm thinking about it long term (a year or two tops) #i wanna do some other stuff first around here but y'know #anyway I'm writing all this so tomorrow i read it and start doing shit #i knkw i will bc I'm no longer depressed I've got Plans #so yeah fuck yes fuck yes im so happy #tumblr be happy for me #or not idc but it'd be nice of u😙 #i do love tumblr it's got all my mutuals in it #i love you tumbkr mutuals you make me very happy when I'm sad i hope i do the same for u

[evermore-fashion]

Did I make a mistake?

As you're all well aware of I said goodbye to my blogs and Tumblr thinking my decision was final. However after reading all your wonderful messages I started to have doubts about my decision. So for the last few weeks I've been trying to pinpoint why I thought I had fallen out of love with high end fashion as well as Tumblr itself and the answer has been in front of my face for the best part of four years. A broken down friendship that has been plaguing my mental health… until recently and I'm going to finally explain why. I had a best friend for the best part of 15 years that went downhill both slowly and unexpectedly. We met on a forum back in 2005 and hit it off instantly. We then met up and went on various holidays, attended concerts together, did mini weekend breaks away and got to know each other's families really well. More importantly they were the only person in my life who knew about this blog and shared my love for high end fashion. Like most friendships though it had its ups and downs but no matter what we always gravitated back towards one another, until March 2020. A week or so before COVID and lockdown took hold of our lives they told me they had met someone. I was genuinely happy for them, except for the fact they had let slip that I was the last person to know. This broke my heart and their trust as they continued to let slip more details that indicated that I was being pushed out in favour of a new crowd (aka university friends who they had told me they disliked a few months beforehand) alongside their new partner. They stayed with their partner on and off throughout COVID and I was either pushed out the door or let back in depending on their relationship status. The relationship came to an end for good towards the end of 2022 and as always I was let back into their life with plans for 2023 being made. However I held back knowing the hurt it would cause me if things suddenly changed again. This was also my breaking point with them as I wanted to protect my heart from anymore hurt, and I believe this is where my love for creativity began to faulter. Whilst I found my love for gaming I felt this mental block around Evermore-Fashion and Evermore-Grimoire which I thought was down to my passions changing. I was clearly wrong. The friendship was up and down for another six months, until last summer. They had got back in contact with me despite the fact they had started acting cold towards me which manifested in a crap Christmas and Birthday. Yet I was still willing to hear their side of the story, but it never came as they ghosted me and I haven't spoken to them since which hasn't been fun to deal with both mentally and emotionally. Although I now fully believe this is what was killing my spirit and everything I had loved for so long. Anyway fast forward to January 2024, I've said goodbye to my blogs and Tumblr when lo and behold I come across a social media post that changed everything. The ex friend had written something personal that contradicted everything they had told me (over their relationship break up) which not only angered me but it lit a fire under my butt to stop stewing in the "what ifs?" as well as holding on to a small bit of hope that they'd finally apologise for treating me like a piece of shit on the back of their shoe for so long. Not only that but I started to miss why I enjoyed being online in the first place. I checked out Vogue to see what was occurring during Paris Fashion Week and I yearned to share the Spring 2024 Couture collections on Tumblr (even though I still think it's still a toxic cesspit). Yes I could easily start this up on Wordpress or Instagram but let's face it, Tumblr is still the easiest place to start blogging creatively. So here I am. The fog surrounding my love for fashion has lifted alongside the mental and emotional baggage I've been holding on to for far too long. There's just one thing I'm still wondering though… do you guys forgive me (as I feel like I've messed you all around ) and is it okay to come back? 🥹

#Personal #Hello again

[sp0o0kylights]

Wayne takes in a Beat to Shit Steve Harrington after Starcourt as n Owed Favor to Hopper Part 4

Part Three: link

First Chapter (parts 1-3 on tumblr) on A03: Link

The kid was madder than a wet hen.

Just as slippery as one too, when he got like this--music pulsing like a living thing to signal all his rage and upset. 

Not like Wayne hadn’t expected it. 

He just wished it wasn’t quite so damn loud. 

The music had started up almost immediately after Eddie had stormed to his room, startling Steve awake and nearly making Wayne curse for it.

Normally it was a good thing--music meant Eds was willing to listen instead of heading for the hills.  

Normally, they didn't have a house guest who looked like he'd gone ten rounds with a bear.

They had a routine for this, was the thing and the music was a key part of it. It worked all the edges off for Wayne, and he'd long figured out that about thirty minutes was a the perfect length of time for Eddie to stew before he could actually talk things through.

Given the hand Harrington put to his forehead, Wayne wasn't eager to give him that thirty minutes.

Not when Steve deserved little peace he could have.

Unfortunately, so did Eds. 

Still.

 Strutting through the door and demanding to talk right now was a bad move and so, with a sympathetic look given to Steve, Wayne did what he did best

Gave space.

Let Eddie rage, as Wayne got up and shuffled about the kitchen.

Pulled out the soft earplugs he pretended weren’t there for Eds to steal (playing that damn loud guitar all the time could not be good for his ears) and offered them to Steve, before making two cups of what Wayne privately thought was the Munson “chitchat” drink. 

One cup of hot water, one packet swiss miss, a small amount of maple syrup drizzled in, topped with little marshmallows they reserved for these types of situations. 

Wayne took his time with it, thinking through what he wanted to say. 

‘I understand that this is a screen door on a submarine kind of situation...’ 

Nope. 

‘Son I know you hate listening to anyone for anything but this is serious...’ 

Absolutely not--that would end up with the boy bolting for sure. 

‘Ed’s, I love you but could we please turn Ozzy off while we talk? That man wails louder than any damn cat I have ever met.’

That one was purely self indulgent, mostly because the wall was starting to shake. 

Wayne put the finishing touches on the cocoa before staring at both of them. 

Perhaps if he stared the Garfield mug in its eyes hard enough, the right words would come through. 

They did not.

He kept trying, standing there long enough for the cocoa to reasonably have cooled and for Eddie’s song to flip over to something with more screaming in it than singing. 

Wayne supposed that this was the hardest part of being a parent. You just didn’t get to have the magical one liner. The right thing to say at just the right time.  

The joke that would ease all the tension and let things progress forward nice and easy.

Instead, you got to fumble your way through the dark with a flashlight up your ass and hope you were going in the right-ish direction. Ideally without making things worse. 

Wayne was here though, and that had to count for something. 

(Knew it counted for something--because Eddie was still here. 

They had cleared hurdles far higher than this when it came to trust. They’d get through this too, come what may. 

Steve too.)

“Can I just ask,” Eddie started, aggressive as always when Wayne finally gave in and entered his room, feeling all sorts of awful for the migraine Steve had to have, “what the absolute fuck is happening?” 

Sure as fire he was sitting on his bed, leg bouncing a mile a minute.

An unlit cigarette hung between two fingers, looking a little chewed on, but otherwise undisturbed--as it should be, because one of Wayne’s few rules was that smoke stayed outside the house. 

“You could.” Wayne said loudly but agreeably, as he turned himself around and dropped down next to his kid.  

Held out the Garfield mug, and was happy when it was taken from him. 

“Figured you might have other things to say, though.” 

Likely a lot of things. 

It was as good an opening as any, and his kid didn’t disappoint, launching right to it. 

“Why is he here and not at a hospital?”

 ‘Here’ was punctuated by Ed’s hand winging towards the door, and while it wasn’t the righteous fury Wayne expected, it was at least, an easy answer to give. 

“Steve has some people looking for him. Bad people. Hospital makes him an easy target.” 

Wayne was still talking loud. Could only hear Eddie himself because he was looking at the kid’s lips more than he was actually hearing his voice. 

Eddie took that in, swallowing it about as well as he’d swallowed anything he hadn’t liked. 

And thank the stars above, he finally reached a hand out and turned the music down. Not a lot--Steve wouldn’t be able to hear them over all this--but enough that Wayne didn’t have to struggle. 

“We’re hiding him from the cops now?!” Ed’s spat. 

“Cops know he’s here. Hopper’s the one who asked me to take him.” Wayne reminded him, because it was the truth. 

Not the full truth, but given how Ed’s pissed off half the local PD on a good day, Wayne absolutely did not want to see his nephew take on Federal Agents.

(Particularly not the kind who were going ‘round killing kids.) 

“So--what?” Eddie yanked hard on his hair, a gesture that looked less intentional and more like he was trying to fight his own anger down. “Hopper just called you up and said ‘Hey, we had a whoopsie with the rich kid, the hospital’s not safe anymore. Can we stash him with you for a few days?” 

Wayne nodded once, slow-like. 

Always remembered how too fast movements had made Eddie flinch and jerk back when was littler, and given the way Steve was looking, figured it was a good time to be cautious again. 

“He did.”

“And you just--agreed? Just like that!?” 

“I did.” 

He pretended not to see Eddie boggle at him at the simple admission, so furious that he seemed to struggle for words when he normally had too many to say. 

Wayne took advantage. 

“We did talk a bit more than that, I’ll admit.”

Ed’s scoffed. “About the weather I’m sure.” 

“‘Bout trust.” 

Eddie blinked at that. 

“Trust.” He echoed flatly. 

“What have I always told you? People like to ask you to trust them, but you they don’t get to have it until--” 

“They provide proof or a reason.” Eddie finished with an eyeroll. “So which did Hopper provide then?”

Wayne took a noisy sip of his coca. Smacked his lips a little before saying: “Both.” 

Didn’t bother to say anything else, because he knew Eddie would finish the thought for him. 

“One of them was me, wasn’t it.” 

Eds didn’t say it like a question, but Wayne hummed in agreement anyway. 

He wasn’t gonna shame his boy, but he wasn’t gonna sugar coat Eddie’s involvement in this either. Not when he’d already admitted that was half the reason Hopper had gone to Wayne to begin with. 

“No one is expecting Steve to be here.” He said, seeing the chance to hammer home the most important part of this entire shitshow. “So long as no one finds out he’s here, he’ll be safe. Everyone will be safe.” 

Steve from the Feds who were hunting him for while he was busy being involved in shit he couldn’t control and Eddie because he had a mouth that most people didn’t like. 

Not small town people anyway, and absolutely not authority figures with guns. 

“Who’s even after him?” Eddie was theatrical as always, hands waving away as he talked. “Did he make a deal with the mob? Piss off some other rich guy? I know it’s not anything drug related, I’d have heard about it by now.” 

After years of experience, Wayne knew exactly how far to lean away to stay out of range, too used to his nephew talking with his entire body.

“That’s his story to tell ya, Ed’s. It ain’t mine. Same way it ain’t my place to tell him your story.” 

That at least got the boy to think for a minute. Put down that frustration he carried with him all the time, and use the brain they both knew he had. 

“How long is he staying here?”

Wayne shrugged. “Don’t know.” 

Eddie sighed and mockingly mimicked Wayne, taking an obnoxious slurp of his cocoa. “The neighbors are going to notice if he’s here more than a few days. The trailer park isn’t exactly big.” 

“They didn’t notice that time you decided to make fireballs with the cooking spray and about blew up half the driveway. Don’t think they’re gonna notice someone being quiet in the house.” 

Eddie snorted, and probably rolled his eyes again, not that Wayne could see it given the kid was looking into his own mug as he thought it all through. 

Wayne sat with him as he processed. 

Eds worked at his own pace with things, and while life at large might be against that, Wayne was happy to let him do it. Found it easier that way, then trying to poke and prod and force him like so many father figures did. 

Wayne’s patience was rewarded not even a full minute later, when Eddie turned to him and asked; 

“What if he finds out?”  

This in a quieter voice. An unsure one--words and body hunching in a way unlike the Eddie the world outside knew, but very much like the little boy Wayne had brought inside his home. 

It took Wayne  a moment to connect the dots--he’d been speaking out of the place parents and authority figures often do, and in doing so hadn’t thought much of the fact his nephew had a real secret. 

The kind small town minds didn’t like--and would kill him over. 

This all wasn’t about Wayne taking in Steve, he realized abruptly.  It was that Steve being here meant Eddie couldn’t be himself. 

Could not relax in a place he was accepted for who he was, because Wayne knew and made sure Eddie understood he was wanted here, had a place here, regardless of who he loved. 

Now, Wayne had gone and removed it.

‘Shit.’ 

“He won’t.” Wayne said. 

Knew that wasn’t enough, and so, promised: “But if he does, I’ll make sure he understands his safety here relies on your own.” 

Ed’s chin jerked in a nod, the two of them sitting in silence for a moment before the boy did as he often did when he wanted a hug but felt too awkward to ask for one, and tipped himself into Wayne’s side. 

“Thanks old man.” Eddie whispered into his shoulder and not for the first time, Wayne wished things were easier for the poor kid as he put his mug in one hand and hugged his kid with the other. 

Hoped that in the future, it would be.

Even if he had to force everyone and everything coming after him--and now Steve--to do it.

(Wondered vaguely, how bad it was that he was already getting as protective as Steve as he was of his own kid.

Probably very, given his kid clearly hated Harrington.)

xXx

Wayne took the first night of Steve’s stay off.

He wasn’t the type to use his PTO lightly. Was used to rationing it for any possible thing Eddie might need him for.

A night up sick when he was younger, to a night spent chasing him down during some of their bad spots--but the last year or so Wayne had slowly realized he hadn’t had to use it much.

He was still careful with it though, precious as it was, and was thankful for it now as it ensured his nephew didn’t murder their house guest. 

Or at the very least, didn't sit there pecking at him.

The kid might've failed English a few times, but he had a real gift with words and an even better one with insults.

(Wayne wasn't quite clear on what all the "King" jabs were about, and absolutely did not get why Steve looked far more hurt at the comment about his "sad ass floppy hair" but given the increasingly flat look Steve was throwing Eddie's way, Wayne figured it couldn't be anything good.)

Thankfully a pointed reminder about Steve's injuries had finally gotten them all some peace, enough for Harrington to drop back to sleep--and for Wayne to realize he looked a little too dead while he did it to be comfortable getting any sleep himself.

The kids chest barely moved, and that it ate at Wayne’s until he got up and shoved a hand under his nose. 

Felt his breath, and told himself the poor sod was fine. 

Hurt, absolutely, but alive. 

Over and over again, until the sun had made its rotation in the sky, bringing the morning with it.

‘Better than nightmares, I suppose.’ Wayne figured, as exhaustion scraped at his eyelids.

Those Wayne knew, would come later. When Steve’s brain caught up to the rest of him, and stopping dumping survival chemicals through his battered body. 

He'd given up on sleep entirely sometime around 1 am, and now he sat at his small kitchen table, writing out a medication schedule for Harrington so he and the kid both knew when he could have his next Tylenol. 

Wasn’t even halfway through it before Eddie made his typically late appearance and blew through his door. 

Had his back up from the moment he’d stepped a foot in the kitchen and it didn’t take a genius to see he’d worked himself into a snit again.

Unfortunately for him, whatever scenario that imaginative brain of his had cooked up fell flat to the reality that was the poor kid on the couch. 

Steve Harrington was one a hell of a sight.

Didn’t help that he was doing his level best to make himself as small as possible, curled deep into Wayne's ancient couch.

The blankets covered the ribs and hid away most of the damage, but there wasn’t much Steve could do to hide the shiners on his face--or the marks around his neck.  

Not when they’d grown worse overnight, practically inviting questions.

It was almost laughable how quickly Eddie ate whatever words he’d prepared, mouth awkwardly chewing around them as if they were tangible. 

The less-than-sneaky looks he threw at the younger teen were equally amusing, and if Wayne wasn’t trying to peace keep, he’d have given in and chuckled when Eds split attention caused him to pour half his coffee into the sink rather than a cup. 

Looked utterly lost when, after finishing putting his coffee together and grabbing some junk food thing that absolutely was not a breakfast item, he came to stand awkwardly at Wayne's shoulder, openly staring as Steve blatantly ignored him.

Eds didn’t know what to do, and Wayne couldn't blame him. 

Seemed to keep thinking he was going to encounter a boy that likely no longer existed, and whose blood tinged specter just made things sad.

Shit like this, Wayne knew, took a man’s ego and warped it, shaping it to something else entirely. 

At least for Steve, it seemed that getting wrapped up in whatever mess he had had shaped him for the better, instead of pretzeling him into something worse. That, Wayne thought, spoke to the boy's character more than anything he’d done prior. 

(It helped to know what Hopper tolerated and what he didn’t. That he’d vouched for Steve in the same way Wayne knew he’d vouched for Eddie, even if Eddie didn’t yet realize the cop he antagonized so much would do that for him.) 

That didn't erase the history his kid had with Harrington, though.

Wouldn't stop him from seeing the old Steve, first.

‘Don’t you got school?” Wayne asked when he decided Ed had stared enough. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Eddie waved him off, trotting out the door. “Bye old man, house parasite!” 

It was clearly a jab, meant to nettle, but Steve barely acted like he heard it. 

Wayne rolled his eyes. 

“Goodbye, Eds.” He said firmly, much of a warning as he ever gave, and fondly watched his nephew scuttle out the door. 

Turned to see how Steve was taking things, and was once again given a reminder that Steve wasn’t doing a hell of a lot other than feeling his injuries. 

“I think I promised you a game, son.”  Wayne said gently, startling Steve out of the distant, dim look he had trained on the wall. 

It wasn’t a lot to offer in terms of a distraction, but it would have to do.

#small town rumors #this is the first part of chapter two #I will post all parts of chapter two once im done fighting through it lol #steddie #or pre steddie #where I exist as a person #best dad wayne munson #wayne pov #did I say this entire chapter was going to be eddies pov bc haha I lied #outsider pov #s3 au #hurt/comfort #enemies to lovers but like softish enemies to lovers as in Eddies not caring a whole lot that Steves hurt....yet #beat to shit steve harrington #0o0 fanfics #stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #Eddies out here ready to face down snotty af rich boy king steve #keeps working himself up so much he forgets how badly off Steve is lol #dont worry his munson doctrine goes to shit later #mostly bc Eddie thinks steve stuck his nose where he shouldnt have and finally got what he deserved lmao