#maybe continue this?

[tragedykery]

the best characters are ones that suffer from a chronic case of Dramatic Cunt Syndrome

#hey please don’t tag this as hp characters it makes me very uncomfortable #and if you Really feel like you need to please just block me after #elli rambles #tropes #love how I keep making posts like this. bestie maybe it’s time to acknowledge being a ‘good’ character isn’t determined by #fitting into tropes….. #(<- will continue to make posts like this) #breached containment (derogatory)

[ashestoshadows]

Capgras Syndrome

I was inspired to write this from a itch.io video game I came across and played briefly and I got the idea to write a story with this formula despite the game being from 2020. Of course what I'm writing here is different but it is written for you, the reader, not myself here.

----------------

"Welcome home, how was your day?" his smile was beaming with light like the sun on a sunny summer day, "I'm doing alright" - "That's good! I decided to cook you your favourite food tonight," - "Before you have your shower," he quickly smooched your cheek before continuing to the kitchen. "It's good to see your cute face, seeing you haven't changed a single bit after these past few years of being together." he mused in a love-struck manner as he turned his back to you.

You walked to the bathroom nearby, locking the door behind you before undressing for your shower. Minutes passed as you rinsed yourself off from the weariness of your job, using the towel to dry yourself as you walked out of the now turned off shower. "Come sit! Your food will go cold, I don't want my hard work to be wasted" you were quickly rushed to the table, your husband forcing you down. And you couldn't help but stare at the food in front of you seeing the subtle lines of smoke coming off of it meaning it was still hot. Your partner watched, head resting atop their perched arm on the table. A lovey-dovey expression on his goofy face.

A few minutes passed and you felt… off. You didn't feel right to eat, "Come on, eat!" he yelled, slamming his hand against the wooden table as he yelled, startling you deeply and badly, they went from all lovey-dovey to berserk. His eyes wild and feral as they slammed their hands on the wooden table again. You saw no soul behind those two eyes as he grabbed your fork, placing some of the food on it before shoving it straight into your mouth. Hurting your mouth and stabbing your upper lip slightly at the metal piercing it.

"I don't want my food going to waste, especially when I cooked it for you!" he yelled as he continued to shovel food into your mouth as you were barely able to swallow the loads going into your mouth as he gave you maybe only 20 seconds to swallow the food before being forced more. You finally swallowed the last load of the  food before you began feeling bouts of… dizziness and tiredness? "Hush, go to sleep my dear. Drift off to sleep, sweetheart," their face was feral. Evil. Devoid of any soul you thought he had.

You tried to fight back from the tiredness, their face was enough to give you cold chills but apparently not even his devoid expression was enough to keep you awake as your eyes slowly closed despite your protests. You awoke with a  jolt to see an old, dreary, and lifeless basement with your husband in front of you contrasting the lifelessness of the basement.

Grinning ear to ear like the damned Cheshire cat himself reincarnated. You felt sick seeing him looking at you in such a way, you didn't even know he would do such a thing. "Hmm… Good morning, Or evening, not sure." you raised an eyebrow, they didn't know the time? Did they stay down here with you ever since they dragged you down here?

"Don't look at me like that! I know what you are!" he yelled, a finger pointed at you, like you're a thing instead of a being with emotions and needs. Or a soul for that matter. He giggled before continuing "Don't worry dear, I'll rip that nasty demon right out of you!" he lunged at you, knife raised as you leaped from the chair you were held in "You!" you breathed heavily, your chest heaving as you wobbly got to your legs.

"You cannot escape me!" you rushed towards the light of the staircase willing to do anything to escape, anything to be away from that… being! You know that's not your husband. He wouldn't dare do that to you, not in a million years. He promised to protect you, to be with you until the end. Not be the cause of your end!

You felt the knife graze and cut your leg as you trampled up the stairs in a blind panic. You quickly u-turned to slam the door on the man you grew to love but weren't sure if it'd stay that way after today. That is if you live to see the next sunrise. "Let me out! I know what I need to do Y/N!" the knife could be heard scraping against the door, hurting your ears at the unpleasant sound after locking it from the outside not before you barricaded the door with the kitchen table. You tried to fumble with the front door and open it, you wanted out. now.

You heard the basement door clatter open, violently coming off of it's hinges as you finally got the door open. Your husband is smart, just apparently not smart enough to tie you up to the chair you were sat on for who knows how long. You kicked him back as he tried to grab at you, you ran down the street wildly, hair messy and very dirty from the lack of self-care as you felt panic surge through your veins and adrenaline run through you at a wild pace.

 Passerby's watching in confusion and some in horror as they watched you being chased by your berserk and deranged husband wielding the knife still swearing like a sailor at you to stop. Calling you many things you never though he'd say to you. "Come back here you deranged demon! I will end you and your pitiful existence right here!" he threatened as his voice roared and sounded harsh to your ears. You felt and heard your stomach rumbling with hunger as you continued running, your legs still keeping you going as you refused to give up.  You have to get to the police! They need to help you, they have to.

The nearest station was five minutes away and you were four minutes away now. You felt your legs start to give in. You could still barely hear your partner yelling for you, swearing he'll slay you and free you of that demon. Yet does he know, does he? You won't give in and let him take you and murder you not when you've come so far! You cannot! You felt unending pain coarse through your legs as you collapsed inside the cafe nearby "Please help! He-" the door swung open to show him. Covered in some blood from your leg wound which you just remembered existed. The adrenaline carried you even with that nasty wound on your leg which will definitely leave a gnarly scar.

"Sir! Get away!" the officer who was on break and inside the cafe yelled as she approached you collapsed on the floor realising what was possibly happening, you ended up getting away and transported to the hospital for your deep cut and got therapy. All of that incident happen three years ago and he'd been sentenced to a mental institute for life, wonder what would happen if you didn't get out alive from a very strong stroke of luck? Maybe we'll never know...

#writings #original writings #ashestoshadows #yandere #maybe continue this? #based on something #capgras syndrome #imposter #we're you an imposter? or was it him? #we'll never know #will we?

[hyenaa-euphoria]

best buddies

aaahhh hope you like this idea jajaja i tried to do angst for the first time in my lifeee

dogday is a therapist for kids btw :P

#dogday #catnap #poppy playtime 3 #poppy playtime chapter 3 #fanart #comic #maybe they are both bizarre in this comic #yeah they are both a bit weird #should i make a continuation?

[lazylittledragon]

pls dad astarion i beg of you

as much as i really want to i don’t know how much sense it makes, so for now let’s just be unserious

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #tavstarion #maybe i’ll make some actual art if someone can come up with a VERY good reason why he would agree to it #dorian would be a GREAT dad though #don’t worry as soon as i have a character who gets with gale i’ll dad the fuck out of him #for now they’re the funcles #maybe after a decade of therapy? #i hate that i did this because dorian and the bab are SO cute that i want to continue

[seasideoranges]

the blue spirit spotted with a kyoshi warrior! i wonder what they're up to? (part 1?)

#this was suppose to just be a quick sketch but i lost control #will in continue this? maybe!! #i have some fun ideas with this plus if ppl are interested ill make this into a mini comic thingie!! #sokka #sokka atla #zuko #zuko atla #atla #avatar the last airbender #zukka

[spielzeugkaiser]

I come back for a hot second (and go into hiding pretty much right again) with some redrawn screencaps of what I'm watching currently!! 👀 All I have in me are the sillies-

#one piece #straw hat pirates #tony tony chopper #roronoa zoro #sanji #cat burglar nami #monkey d. luffy #from those scenes I picked you might be able to guess where I currently am on my rewatch 👀 #I NEEDED SOMETHING SILLY GUYS #and since I've seen opla I was like. what if. what if I do continue to watch it #(I originally have only watched one piece up to water 7 - maybe parts of the timeskip and sabody - that was YEARS ago) #I also need to add that I LOVE NAMI THIS TIME AROUND AAAAA #also sanji my pathetic wet kitten #CHOPPER!! ZORO!! LUFFY MY BELOVED #also I have not been sleeping on usopp guys

[toxungen]

woof woof wats up lol

#maybe my most self indulgent oc #chronic loser who participates in throwing fights as a get rich quick scheme (never gets rich) (the cycle continues) #furry #anthro #blood

[the-meme-monarch]

ooty and deltroon moments

#the art gallery #undertale yellow #deltarune #uty spoilers #a martlet is a heraldic symbol of a footless bird ! #it represents continuous effort(always flying never landing) which I imagine was the angle with uty martlet but i thought it’d be neat #that drawing of her was intended to be a deltarune universe martlet but i #but i like to think she maybe just has different prosthetics in uty and they’re just covered by her pants and boots

[newttxt]

another comic for “utilities included” skfkskdjsjs

this time for chapter two 😅

masterpost

#one piece #sanji #zoro #zosan #narrator: and he continued to wait. and yes it was worse for him #i was humored that some ppl thought i had whipped up the last comic in less than 10 hrs #when in reality i had early access and had drawn it in advance #but then i DID make this one in less than 10 hrs so maybe im just rly inspired by this fic #also i will NOT screw the link up this time i swear… #i just have to wait to add it bc im scheduling this BEFORE the chapter is edited and posted— #which reminds me im supposed to go edit that arent i dkfkdkfkdkf #utilities included

[artemismoorea03]

DP x DC Prompt: The New Teacher

(So, I've seen a lot of prompts that have Danny go to Gotham and be a teacher but I don't remember seeing any with it in this direction, so on the chance that this is an original idea here we go!)

Jason was given a choice, or multiple choices. Babysit the Replacement on a mission that could last a week, go to Bludhaven and have some 'brother bonding time' with Dick who needed backup on a big case, or take a temp solo-gig in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere called Amity Park.

Well, considering he was still a bit hurt about the fact that B replaced him all those years ago and the pit loved to grab hold of that bit of frustrations towards his younger brother, that didn't seem like a smart idea. Dick wasn't an option either because he knew that would lead to 'talking about feelings' and other shit that he didn't want to do.

So he took the solo-gig.

It was supposed to be easy, at least that's what had been implied by the others he'd spoken to about the case. It seemed like most of the Justice League thought this situation was being 'exaggerated' because most of the time when somebody checked out what was going on there was nothing happening. No big take over, or kidnapping, or 'end of the world' situation, but there had been too many calls to put Bruce's mind at ease. The frequent calls mixed with the fact that the Government apparently had the area under a 'black out' made Bruce even more nervous.

Hell, if it hadn't been for the fact that Bruce was famous and that Scarecrow, Penguin and Riddler had all escaped from Arkham he would have been doing the case himself.

Which is how Jason ended up in a restraunt named 'Nasty Burger' looking at the news papers he had managed to get from a stand down the street while taking notes of things he had already seen. It wasn't just that the Government had cut them off, all of the tech in the city was easily 20 years outdated compared to the rest of the world.

Nokia phones, chunky computers, hell he'd even seen a kid with a PDA of all things. Thankfully, it looked like his tech still worked other than running slower than it should have, but thanks to modifications made by Barbara and Tim things were running better than he expected. But, they did struggle to have access to anything, specifically the news.

Hence the paper.

Ghost Boy: Friend or Fiend. A new vote cast by the city has found that the Ghost Boy - Danny Phantom - has had an astounding rise in support after the events over the Christmas Holiday. The new polls suggest that 43% of Citizens support Danny Phantom, with the majority of his support coming from the students at Casper High who insist that Phantom is a hero who has saved them countless times over the past few months. 49% of people still agree, however, that Phantom appears to be at the center of the majority of the attacks with many still claiming that he is the sole cause of the attacks. However, 8% of the population remain undecided, including many teachers, police and hospital staff. Upon seeing the new results of the pole Mayor Montez had this to say; "While I will admit that Phantom appears to favor the younger generation and frequently seems to come to their aid, we cannot forget what it has done in the past. Taken hostages, injured innocents, and caused millions in property damage. Phantom may not be a 'villain' in the typical sense of the word, but we shouldn't blindly trust him just because of a few good deeds."

So there was a... hero? Half hero - potentially villain - in Amity Park? That might have explained some of the calls they'd gotten from Amity park over the past few months. Still, he was concerned by some parts of the report.

Students at a high school were frequently coming under attack? So much that this potential-villain kept saving them? Just what was the cause? What could cause so many issues?

Jason looked up as he saw that same PDA kid talking with a girl with short black hair in a half-ponytail who was wearing a black crop-top. The girl seemed annoyed while the boy seemed worried about something.

"But it's Vlad, Sam... what if he does something?" He heard the boy whisper, "We should go back him up..."

"He doesn't need our help, besides Jazz ran away from home, remember? She got herself into this mess it's her problem to get out of it. Something that Danny should have learned a long time ago."

Jason frowned, pretending not to hear them as he hesitated then got up and walked over to the two younger teens. "Hey, excuse me."

The girl looked annoyed and suspicious while the boy looked confused.

"Uh, yeah?" Tucker asked.

"Hey, sorry to bug you both. But could you guys tell me about this... 'Danny Phantom' person?" He asked, holding the newspaper out.

The girl looked even more suspicious, "And... who are you?"

"And how haven't you heard of Phantom?" Asked the boy.

"I just moved to town." Jason admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, I'm just trying to catch up on all the town drama."

"You moved to Amity Park... willingly? Psh, what do you have, a deathwish?" The girl grumbled.

"Come on, I just moved from Gotham, which is worse?"

The girl blinked as the boy laughed.

"Furries vs Ghosts, who will win~" He said as the girl elbowed him. "Ow! What?!"

"Danny Phantom is a hero." The girl explained, "He showed up in April and has been protecting the town since."

"A hero, huh? Could always use more of those in the world, but the mayor seems to have it out for him."

Tucker sighed, "No kidding, man. Somebody framed Phantom for something really bad and no matter what he does to try to fix it the city just see's that incident as the only thing he's ever done. It was the first big 'public thing' outside of the high school so it was huge but it wasn't his fault."

The girl reached for her phone suddenly, looking at it before she answered. "Hey, Danny. What's up?" She was quiet for a moment, "Yeah, we're at Nasty Burger, wanna join us? Lunch on me?"

A quiet mumble came through the speaker before she smirked.

"I'll order for you then. Double or triple?"

More mumbles.

"Triple it is. See you soon." She said, then hung up. "Come on, Tuck, Danny is on his way for lunch."

"Hell yeah, see you later, dude." The boy said, then jogged off with the girl.

"A teacher? Yeah, it looks like there's some openings but why would you want to have your cover as a teacher?" Oracle asked as Jason sat in his hotel room, looking through the paper again.

"Most of the incidents seem to surround the High School, I want to see what's going on."

Oracle hummed, typing for a moment. "Alright, well as luck will have it, it looks like teachers are sparse at Amity High, at least from what I'm able to get using your connection... which is infuriatingly slow, by the way, are you sure you did it right?"

"I've done it a million times, of course I did it right."

Oracle grumbled, "Stupid Amity black-out. Okay, so you have options. Most of the teachers have fucked off so all of the teachers in Freshmen year switch around to cover lessons or do mixed lessons. For example the English teacher also teaches Math and the normal Math teacher also teaches Science. So it looks like you could have any position you want and the school would just shuffle around the teachers."

"You said English is taken, right?"

"Yep, the teacher is named William Lancer and he- oh... wait, he's on a leave of absence due to injuries he suffered over Christmas Break. Concussion, broken arm, and bruised ribs, he'll be out for a few weeks."

Jason smirked, "Perfect. Sign me up."

". . . Jason, the English and Math teacher... never thought I'd see the day. Alright, I'll type up your application, send it in and casually push it to the front of the line. You'll be official by the time Winter Break ends in a few days. So get studying."

"Sounds like a plan, but I'll be fine, I mean our family is crazy and i deal with criminals on a nightly basis. How hard could this assignment really be?"

He would regret asking that question by the end of his first day as an Amity High School teacher.

#dp x dc prompt #dc x dp prompt #my prompts #might continue this #maybe not #we'll see

[mooncheese3]

just bestfriend things

#everyone hates them but everyone wants to BE them #it girls of their gen #original shang qinghua #original shen qingqiu #idk maybe this is a time travel au and theyre drinking their problems away rn #maybe #maybe theyre one second away from a breakdown over how the fate of the world rests on their shoulders #yknow #the world that continually gives them the finger #svsss #mxtx

[sanfezu]

I think I just sold my soul.

#post #screenshots #i should probably stop with the screenshots and continue drawing #maybe #i think #idk #rottmnt #rottmnt donnie #rise of the tmnt #rise donnie

[glittter-skeleton]

Steph can just do shit like that huh

#maybe she screamed in a bathroom stall for 5 seconds after this #maybe not #anyways I love them SO MUCH #and she STILL continues to think of Pete as the seductress in that relationship #it’s his fault for looking so kissable #stephanie lauter #peter spankoffski #richie lipschitz #ruth fleming #npmd #npmd fanart #nerdy prudes must die #stephski #hatchetfield #hatchetverse #lautski

[puppyeared]

Somebody give this kid a home

#the owl house #toh #toh spoilers #the owl house spoilers #labyrinth runners #EDA ADOPT HIM CHALLENGE #he is loved with people other than belos and I hope it continues to stay that way #I’m on mobile so I can’t squeal abt this episode as much as I want bc of the tag limit. but I AM SCREAMING #myart #the owl house season 2 #my art #toh 2b #labyrinth runners spoilers #Gus porter #toh Gus #toh hunter #toh fanart #the owl house fanart #I kinda wanna tag Dana with this but I don’t have twitter and I doubt she’ll check tumblr. maybe I’ll ask a friend of mine to post for me #the owl house 2b #toh 2 #golden guard #Idk if we’re still using that tag for him but just in case

[pinkiemme]

Spent all day reading this fic and it has consumed me, so I needed to do something to let my feeling out

#I want to color them #and finish them #but soon it will be 1 am and if I start I won’t go to sleep until I finish #so maybe hopefully I will continue these tomorrow #who knows #but #damn #what a journey reading that fic was #a masterpiece #emmeart #Gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #gale x tav #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #tara the tressym #Gale and Tara

[steddiehyperfixation]

don't you forget about me (steddie fic)

saw this post and was inspired to write something angsty <3

The first thing Eddie is aware of when he wakes up, before he even opens his eyes, is the dull, aching pain throbbing through pretty much his entire body. The second thing he’s aware of is that someone is holding his hand. 

“Eddie?” The hand in his tightens its grip as Eddie begins to stir; the voice it presumably belongs to sounds immeasurably relieved, yet only vaguely familiar. 

Eddie groans. His eyelids flutter, blinking awake, and he groggily rolls his head to the side to get a look at whoever had spoken. 

The voice sighs again, “Oh thank god-” 

“Harrington?” Eddie’s eyes fly open wide now as they land on the mystery man sitting beside him on the edge of the bed - a man he most definitely is not close enough with to be holding his hand, and a bed that is most definitely not his own. He snatches his hand away. “What the hell are you doing? Where am I?”

“Ed-” Another man’s voice, this one just as relieved and infinitely more familiar. It fills Eddie with relief too as he looks to his other side to find his uncle Wayne rising from a nearby chair to come up next to him. 

“Wayne, what-?” His surroundings are becoming more clear. “What happened? Why am I in a hospital? And why the fuck is King Steve at my bedside?” Eddie tries to sit up only to gasp and wince in pain as the dull ache in his sides sharpens to near agony at the movement. 

“Take it easy, son.” Wayne’s hand lands on his shoulder, gently but firmly pushing him back down onto the pillows. “You were hurt real bad.” 

“Yeah, I got that,” Eddie grumbles out. He sucks in a deep, intentional breath and exhales slowly, the pain beginning to dull again now that he’s settled. His questions are still largely unanswered, though. Blank mind reaching desperately for any logical piece to this bizarre puzzle, he turns an accusing glare to Harrington. “Did you land me in here? Is that why you’re here, some sort of weird guilt thing?” 

Harrington’s looking at him like a kicked puppy. “What? No, I-” he falters, takes a shaky breath and swallows painfully like he’s trying not to cry. “You don’t remember?” 

“I don’t remember what? Will someone just tell me what happened?” Eddie’s confusion is rising more and more into agitation with every second he remains without an explanation. 

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Harrington asks quietly.

“I was driving home from school, just found out I wasn’t gonna graduate again.” Eddie frowns as he thinks back, still trying to put pieces together. “Did I crash my car? Is that it? I was emotional and not paying attention and got into an accident?” 

Yet again, he receives no answers. 

“Eddie, what month is it?” Wayne asks instead, his tone dangerously measured and serious. “What year?” 

“May…” Eddie says warily, “1985.”

His words hold a weight he doesn’t understand, landing heavy on the others in the room and thickening the air. It sends a chill of dread down his spine, the way his answer etches concern deep into the lines of Wayne’s face, the way Steve Harrington seems to take it like a blow to the chest. 

Harrington exhales sharply as if he’s been punched, standing abruptly and taking a few stumbling steps back. Wayne says, “It’s April of ‘86, Ed.”

Eddie’s blood runs cold. “No. No, it can’t be.” 

“I’m gonna go tell the nurse you’re awake,” Harrington mumbles, his voice strained and his eyes glassy with barely held-back tears. 

“I’ll go,” Wayne offers, pushing himself away from Eddie’s bed. He gives Harrington a meaningful look, though what that meaning is, Eddie can’t decipher. 

Harrington turns his devastated gaze to the older man. “But, Wayne, he doesn’t-” 

“I know, kid.” Wayne gives a sad smile and places a sympathetic hand on Harrington’s shoulder as he passes by. “Just talk to him.” 

Eddie is thrown off by this familiarity between them. Since when were those two close? He feels like he’s entered some sort of parallel universe where everything is just ever so slightly wrong. It leaves an itch beneath his skin, uncomfortable and out of place, like he no longer quite fits in his own body, in his own life. He’s lost 11 months, apparently, and this world is no longer his; he doesn’t know where he fits into it anymore. 

Wayne leaves the room, and Eddie wants to protest: Don’t leave me here with this guy I don’t know in this time I don’t know, please, you’re the only thing that feels safe and familiar! Anxiety is crawling through him like a thousand tiny bugs in his veins. He wants to scream, he wants to cry, he wants to run. Anything to shake this feeling loose. But he’s confined to this bed, trapped both by his pain and by all these machines he’s hooked up to, and he sure as shit isn’t going to have a breakdown in front of Steve goddamn Harrington. 

Instead, Eddie resigns himself to this situation and casts a sideways glance at Harrington who very much looks like he’s also trying not to have a breakdown. “I’m freaking out, man,” Eddie says finally, hating how shaky and pathetic his voice sounds. “I swear to god, Harrington, if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on…” 

Harrington worries his lip between his teeth as he hesitates. “It’s a lot to explain.” 

“Yeah, I bet,” Eddie scoffs out a humorless laugh. “I’m missing nearly an entire year, of course it’s a lot to fill in. Unless I’ve been here this whole time?” 

“No.” Harrington shakes his head. “No, you’ve only been here about a week. I- I don’t know why you’re missing so much time, the whole Vecna thing only started like a week before that-” 

“Vecna?” Eddie interrupts to question. “What does any of this have to do with the D&D campaign I was planning? And, also, how the fuck do you know about that?” 

Harrington closes his eyes for a second and takes a breath, like having this conversation is the most painful thing he’s ever had to do. “I’m not talking about D&D, Ed. Vecna was a real-life monster from a real-life alternate dimension we called the Upside-Down. The kids only called him Vecna because we didn’t know who he was at the time and he, like, cursed people before he killed them, but he was actually Henry Creel, which is a whole other fucked up story.”

“Okay…” Eddie doesn’t know who ‘the kids’ are and he’s skeptical of the way Harrington talks so factually about monsters and dimensions and curses existing in the real world, but he does remember his uncle telling him stories about the demonic tragedy of the Creel family, which is the only thing that makes any of this even halfway believable. It still doesn’t explain how Eddie wound up in the hospital with his entire body feeling like it’d been run through a blender, though, or why the former king of Hawkin’s High was hovering over his sickbed. He gestures for Harrington to continue. 

“I never wanted you to get involved in all this Upside-Down shit,” Harrington’s voice breaks. He steps closer to Eddie’s bed again, and he looks so so sad as he stares down at him that it makes Eddie’s own heart ache, just a little bit. Harrington’s hand twitches at his side as if he means to reach out for Eddie but then thinks better of it, running the hand through his hair instead as he continues, “I tried to keep you from it for so long, I really did, but then Vecna killed Chrissy in your trailer and the whole town blamed you and you were just a part of things then, there was no getting around it. You helped us fight him - Vecna. You kept his army of bats off our ass while we weakened his body and El weakened his mind. If it weren’t for you we never would’ve defeated him and we certainly wouldn’t have all made it out alive.” Harrington’s gaze softens, as does his voice, his next words almost a whisper, “You were a hero, Eddie.” 

“That doesn’t sound like me,” Eddie says, like that’s the least plausible part of Harrington’s story. And, really, it is. He can wrap his mind around a lot of things: a murder in his trailer - sure, Forest Hills always was a shady place; the whole town accusing him of being a killer - yeah, of course, that tracks; even an evil wizard from another dimension with an army of bats - fine, okay, why the hell not. But Eddie Munson is no hero, and he’s definitely not any sort of fighter either.

“No, you never did think so, did you?” Harrington mutters with a sad sort of fondness and the barest trace of a wistful smile. “But it’s true. Dustin was in danger and you didn’t even think twice. You ran right into the fray without a second thought, sacrificed yourself so that the rest of us might survive. Those bats nearly killed you, b-” he breaks, choking on whatever word he was going to say. His eyes swim with yet more unshed tears. “I almost thought they had killed you, you know. I thought you were dead when I carried you out of the Upside-Down,” he admits shakily, choked up and barely managed, “and even when I brought you here and you were stable, I was still so scared you wouldn’t wake up…” 

Eddie doesn’t know how to react to any of that information or to such a display of emotion. His own hands twitch now with the urge to reach out and comfort him, but he too denies that instinct. He tries for humor instead, something lighter, cracking a grin and teasing, “Aw, Stevie, I didn’t know you cared.” 

Harrington makes a sound halfway between a sob and a laugh. “Oh, Ed, you have no idea.” 

“We were friends then, weren’t we?” Eddie guesses now, carefully. It’s rapidly becoming the only possible explanation for the guy’s behavior around him. “Before all the Vecna stuff?”

“Yeah,” Harrington manages, forcing a small, sad smile as his eyes finally overflow and streak his cheeks with tears. “Yeah, we were good friends.” 

~

Wayne reenters the room then with a nurse in tow, and Steve quickly turns away and rubs his hands over his face. He needs to pull himself together; he can’t break down right now, not yet, not here. 

He listens, distantly, as the nurse asks Eddie a bunch of questions and then tells the rest of them that she needs to take him in for some tests to determine the cause and prognosis of Eddie’s amnesia. He watches, numbly, as she wheels Eddie’s entire bed out of the room. 

Steve can barely hear, barely see, his emotion clouding his eyes and roaring in his ears. He stares blankly through the open doorway and struggles to swallow down the ever-rising lump in his throat. 

Wayne’s voice rumbles from somewhere beside him, but he can’t quite make out the words. “What?” 

“I’ll take that as a no, then,” Wayne says, the sound reaching Steve’s ears a little clearer now. “I asked if you were alright.” 

Steve shakes his head. His voice comes out coarse and raw, “‘Course I’m not alright.” 

“Right, ‘course you’re not,” Wayne echoes. He follows Steve’s mournful gaze to the door Eddie had disappeared through. “What did you tell him?” 

“Told him he was a hero,” Steve croaks, “...and that we were good friends.”

“Ah…” Steve’s vision is so blurred behind a thick layer of tears he can’t see the sympathetic frown on the old man’s face, but he knows it’s there. “At least he’s alive, kid,” Wayne tries to be comforting. “You can always start over.” 

“Yeah, I know, but I don’t- I don’t want to start over, I just want-” Steve chokes back a sob. He just wants Eddie.

It’s a horrible thought, but Steve almost thinks that this just might be worse than if Eddie really had died… Because how is Steve supposed to handle the fact that his boyfriend of 9 months no longer knows him? How is he supposed to cope now that the love of his life looks right at him and no longer sees him?

He closes his eyes, presses the heels of his palms into his eyelids, inhaling a shaky breath and exhaling an even shakier sigh. Steve whispers, “It feels like I’m losing him all over again.” 

(part two is here!)

#i have plans to fix it don't worry. eventually. maybe #i'm really really bad at writing longer multi-part fics but i've got a lot of ideas spinning around my head for this one so #hopefully i will continue it if any of y'all are interested in more of this #steddie #steddie angst #steddie fic #steddie ficlet #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #ficlet #fanfic #mine #1k #dyfamsteddiefic #<- tag to follow for this story