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petite-phthora · 11 months

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Do you think it was a date?

[DP x DC fic]

[Love at first... murder? - part 5]

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Part 1

Ao3

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In-chat nicknames:

Daniel = Danny

Sharpshooter = Jazz

TooFine= Tucker

Chaos = Sam

TheCoolerDaniel = Danielle/Dani/Ellie

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Private chat nicknames:

Bill = Danny

Pants = Jazz

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As soon as Danny enters his apartment, face bright red, he takes his head into his hands and lets out a silent scream.

He could have said anything, and he panicked and went with Toodealoo Kangaroo???

At this rate, he’ll never get a partner.

As Danny stands there in misery, his phone starts buzzing with messages. Curious, he checks his phone to see what going on.

Uh oh.

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Team Phantom 👻😎

Chaos: Guys check this out

Chaos: *link*

Chaos: The Joker escaped from Arkham again, but no one’s heard anything of him since, nor have they been able to find him

TooFine: @Daniel 👀

TooFine: ok the @ had been a joke but the fact that he has read it and not replied is concerning

Sharpshooter: @Daniel, what did you do?

Sharpshooter: @Daniel

Sharpshooter: I can see that you’re reading this, don’t ignore me.

TooFine: ohhhh someones in troubleee 👀

Sharpshooter: Tucker.

TooFine: 🤐

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Danny takes a deep breath.

Well, it’s now or never. Let’s hope Jazz is feeling merciful.

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Private chat

Bill: ok so you know how you said you would still love me if I was a worm?

Pants: I have no clue how this ties into the previous conversation, but yes. Why?

Bill: hypothetically

Bill: would you also still love me if I

Bill: hypothetically

Bill: accidentally

Bill: vibe checked someone that tried to uh

Bill: hypothetically

Bill: kidnap and or kill me??

Bill: 🥺🥺🙏

Pants: Danny, did you accidentally kill the Joker?

Bill: yes or no Jazz??!? 😩🥺

Pants: Yes, Danny. I would still love you if you, hypothetically, accidentally killed the Joker.

Bill: this is why you’re my favorite sister 🥹🥰😘

Bill: don’t tell Ellie 😳🫣

Pants: Danny, what happened?

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Danny lets out a sigh of relief before proceeding to tell Jazz what happened.

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Pants: Oh Danny.

Bill: are you mad at me?

Pants: I’m not mad at you, I just want you to stay safe.

Pants: While I don’t condone murder, I understand that it was self-defense and an accident. I‘m just glad that you’re alright.

Bill: 🥰💞😘

---

With a small smile on his face, Danny goes back to the groupchat.

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Team Phantom 👻😎

Daniel: you know

Daniel: if I had a nickel for every time I’ve had to fight off an insane clown that attacked me 🤡

Daniel: I’d have two nickels

Daniel: which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice, right? 🤔

Chaos: Damnit Danny, we leave you alone in a new city for a week and you already manage to get into a fight with one of Gotham City’s most infamous rogues

TooFine: actually its been 6 days 10 hours and 17 minutes

TooFine: so not even a full week yet

Chaos: Did you at least get a good few punches in?

Chaos: Danny?

TooFine: @Daniel ???

TooFine: if i had a nickel for every time danny said something concerning and then didnt provide context id be richer than vlad

Daniel: anyway, for completely unrelated reasons, @TooFine I need you to wipe some cams for me 😃

TooFine: danny im not wiping the cams again so no one will have proof of you tripping backward and falling ass-first into a trashcan

Chaos: Speaking of, Tucker do you still have that footage and can you send it to me?

TooFine: already done

Daniel: noo it’s nothing like that this time 😫

Daniel: pleaseeee 🥺🙏🙏

Daniel: I’ll get you an autograph from Tim Drake-Wayne?

TooFine: deal.

Daniel: 🥳🎉

Daniel: ok so the footage from somewhere around 3 am last night

Daniel: around some place named park row??

Daniel: I think it’s called?? 🤔

Daniel: though I’m pretty sure I’ve also heard some people refer to it as crime alley

Daniel: not sure why tho 🤷

TooTine: aye aye captain o7

Chaos: Danny, in an alley getting attacked by the fucking Joker: I wonder why this place is called crime alley

Daniel: stop bullying me 😠

Chaos: No

TooFine: hey danny r u sure thats right? i checked the cams n stuff but theres no available footage from the area n time u described

TooFine: its like someones already wiped it all

Daniel: oh!

Daniel: that’s so sweet of him 😊

Chaos: Wait who is this ‘him’?

TooFine: the joker????

Daniel: oh no not the Joker

Daniel: just some cute guy I met last night

Daniel: he witnessed me killing the Joker 🫣

Daniel: and didn’t call the cops on me afterward 🥰💞

TooFine: def green flag

Chaos: Oh hell yeah, he’s a keeper

Chaos: Wait you killed the Joker?! I thought you just fought him off!

Daniel: it was an accident!! 😭😭

Daniel: he crept up on me and tried to grab me 😓

Daniel: so I got startled and because all I saw was a clown

Daniel: I just kinda punched his face in with my ghost strength… 😰

TooFine: f

Chaos: f

Sharpshooter: Have you gotten rid of the body yet? Did you leave behind DNA at the crime scene? Will I need to start saving up bail money or getting ready to enact the Fenton Break Out plan?

Chaos: Jazz asking the important questions here

Daniel: well, considering the footage was wiped

Daniel: and also the fact that no one’s found him yet

Daniel: I think it’s safe to assume it’s all taken care of

Daniel: that’s honestly really sweet of him though 🥰😊

TooFine: oohhhhh ur mystery boo??

Daniel: yeah, this random guy saw me vibe-checking the Joker

Daniel: and let me go home without any trouble

Daniel: pretty sure he’s the one who wiped the cams 🤔

Daniel: and then today he showed up at my apartment with flowers 🥺

Daniel: they were sweat peas!!!! 🥰🤩

Chaos: Was that to thank you for the murder orrrr?

Sharpshooter: Oh those are your favorite, was that on purpose?

Daniel: well I didn’t tell him

Daniel: so I’m not sure if he knew or if it was a coincidence 🤷

Daniel: but yeah then he took me out to this restaurant called Pete’s for dinner

Daniel: they had some amazing cannoli

Daniel: you should try it sometime if you get the chance

Daniel: and then after dinner he took me to the observatory!!!!!!! 🤩🥰

Sharpshooter: Gotham observatory?

Sharpshooter: Isn’t that the one with the special telescope, I think you mentioned it before

Daniel: yeah, the crystal-powered telescope!! 😍💞✨🤩❤️

Daniel: and at the end, he brought me home

Daniel: and he asked for my number!!!

TooFine: nice dude!

Chaos: The guy really went all-out and planned your dream date hu? So, what’s this mystery hunk’s name?

Daniel: oh I’m not sure, I didn’t ask 🙃🤭

Sharpshooter: Danny…

Daniel: yes?

Sharpshooter: Did you go on a date with a complete stranger who witnessed you commit a murder?

Chaos: How do you not even know his name?

Daniel: two words Jazz: Johnny 13

Daniel: and he’s not a stranger!! 😠

Sharpshooter: But you don’t know his name?

Chaos: We just can’t leave him alone, can we? Less than a week on his own and he already murdered one of Gotham’s most infamous rogues and then completely forgets the concept of Stranger Danger

Daniel: I mean he probably just found it when he tried to do some research on me or something

Daniel: probably got it from the school’s system now that I think of it 🤔

TooFine: dude who the hell is this guy??

Chaos: Who the fuck did you go on a date with?

Daniel: do you really think it was a date? 🥺😳

Daniel: I wasn’t sure

Daniel: cause he mainly took me out for dinner to thank me for the night before

Daniel: but then again

Daniel: he did get me flowers and ask for my number after he brought me back to my apartment 🤔

Daniel: like I wasn’t sure if I was reading the signals right…..

Daniel: but do you think that was a date? 🫣

Sharpshooter: Danny, for the love of the Ancients.

Sharpshooter: Who was it?

Daniel: oh, it was Red Hood 🥰

TooFine: damn dannys got that vigilante rizz

Sharpshooter: Red Hood? The crime lord?!

TooFine: former, actually

Daniel: what he said ^^

Chaos: Danny, you really have a type huh? Vigilantes with a Red theme. Who’s next? Red Robin?

Daniel: stop bullying me

TooFine: never

Chaos: Never

Daniel: on a different note, who changed my name in the chat again?

Sharpshooter: Ellie did.

Chaos: Ellie

TooFine: @TheCoolerDaniel

TheCoolerDaniel: 😎

TheCoolerDaniel: wait i just read back, danny’s dating a crime lord?? :0 👀

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Taglist (for now, I’ll probably stop if I cant keep up):

@i-always-say-yea @uraniumwizard

#i had more planned for this chapter #but this already started to become too long #so the batfam reactions will hae to be in the next chap #sorry #anyway #dp x dc #dp x dc fic #dpxdc #dcxdp #dp x dc crossover #dead on main #dead on main ship #Danny in an alley getting attacked by the fucking Joker: I wonder why this place called crime alley #team phantom has questions #but then again weirder shit has happened #danny killing the joker and going on a date with red hood is barely in the top 10 of weird/fucked up shit he's done #he seems fine and happy so theyre not too worried #might be planning a shovel talk in a private chat tho #sam: alright ill get the creep stick #sam: jazz--#jazz: already getting the ecto-skeleton ready as we speak #oh for those who are curious #jazz and danny's private chat nicknames are references to invis-o-bill and jazzie-pants the nicknames #question: would anyone mind me adding some plot? it'll still be mainly crack of course #but i got a thought of how i could add in a lil plot #tho i won't do it if people prefer it like this #so let me know what y'all think

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blueskittlesart · 19 days

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Since you're asking for requests... Maybe Ran from Case Closed?

YEAHHHH if no one else got me i know my one follower who likes the same bad japanese detective show as me got me ‼️

#IMPECCABLE timing too since i literally started rereading the manga like a month ago. im on chapter 398 #which sounds like a lot but this shit is basically one piece in terms of length and plot insanity so #the amount of plot that i did not remember AT ALL is crazy to me but i KNOW i got further than this last time because there are still like #major characters missing from the story. which on chapter FOUR HUNDRED is insane but yk. theres 30 years worth of plot ig #anyway. wish me luck god willing im going to actually catch up this time #my little conan phone strap watching me draw this with that smug ass look on his face. im mentally ill #this show sucks btw don't watch it i just love detective shows

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arrimorr-otgw-spam-blog · 1 year

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I'm so sorry

#otgw #over the garden wall #the beast #honestly I don't even think he is scary anymore #I can rant about how funny and absurd his plot is for hours #Like...remember how the fandom decided that he keeps finding and masterminding different lantern keepers?#the thing is - IT WAS NEVER THE CASE #the woodsman just swung his axe on the guy in the comics and this silly creature went ! and dropped the only thing keeping him alive #And then the Beast had to come up with this fairy tale about the Woodsman's daughter being in the thing so the crazy dude won't shattert it #BUT OH WAIT the woodsman decided that he is going to keep the lantern to himself if that's the case - good job brainiac #and the beast even tried to steal the lantern from him a few times in the series but he had to be sneaky about it #because well shit the guy still has this axe with him #AND THEN WHEN WIRT GOT THE LANTERN IN HIS HANDS WHAT DID THE BEAST DO?#he decided to trick him with the same freaking story that got him into this mess in the first place #He is a girlfailure

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petricorah · 20 days

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i'm. so excited

#it's a very cliche plot i feel but im having fun #been reading so much manga #it's about zuko realizing sokka has a crush on someone and not knowing who it is #cue fear of losing his best friend and not quite understanding his own feelings #also azula's there. because i love no explanation redemption but she still talks shit. its who she is #featuring also...betrothals...sword fighting...angst...maybe even kissing. who knows #i think to do it properly it would be more than fifteen because im just at the beginning but we'll see how long it gets

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jasperthehatchet · 5 months

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I dont usually write posts about critical role but this episode did things to me and I have to talk about it right now right now right now don't mind me just yelling into the ether for a minute

the last half hour of ep77 just made me love Ashton (really everyone) so much more. They're being an INCONSIDERATE DICKSHIT and a HYPOCRITE with a MARTYR COMPLEX who makes HORRIBLE DECISIONS yesss gimme the complicated relationship dynamics and the morally gray moments AND THE ANGST. There's gonna be some good ass roleplay moments from this I feel it in my bones and it's gonna be DELICIOUS. Hey ashton greymoore my beloved shithead what is wrong with you <3

And it was such a sweet thing to look at Ashley Johnson/fearne and say "I see you don't want the shard and I want you to keep your characters agency I will take it" but then they were a fuckhead about it!!! Literally did a nice thing in the most fucked up way possible that it circled around to being terrible. I love that!!! Say what you will about this episode but by god is it entertaining. I ship callowmoore even more now that they have shit to work through. I love complicated relationships in fiction I am living!!!!

(i genuinely didn't like the very real tension at the table and had to skip it on Thursday night but! Im excited anyways!!! I'm having the time of my life)

Anyway <3 i love this show thanks for reading

#writing this partly because i knew immediately after watching there would be disk horse. i dont know about yall but im having a blast #like i totally understand that so many people are very attached to these characters and we want the best for them #i feel that way too. but im also seeing posts from people genuinely so mad at not only ashton but taliesin jaffe as well??#I understand if youre upset about what they did but!!! so much Good Shit is gonna come out of this #good roleplay moments and angst and weird mechanics and its gonna impact the plot on the moon and angst and changes in character dynamics #and angst.#critical role #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #critrole spoilers #ashton greymoore #fearne calloway #callowmoore #cr3 ep77 #ep77 #i will admit that if ashton had died i would've definitely been so upset and mad i wont lie. like im not gonna pretend i wouldve accepted it #but still. i respect everyone at the table too much to genuinely be upset with any of them for their character decisions #y'know

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ghosttotheparty · 1 year

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love me softly p5

tags from @howdidyouallgetinmyroom on part four bc hello!! tentative but sweet!!! describes their relationship EXACTLY

They end up at the quarry, parked up on the cliff and listening to the water in the dark after the lights of the van turn off. And they talk. And talk and talk and talk. Steve is a little drunk. He keeps giggling about how Eddie fell on his way out the window.

Eddie tells him about his own dad when they’re sitting in the back of the van. How he used to talk to Eddie, what he used to call him. That Eddie moved to Hawkins when he was a kid with his uncle just to get away from him. And Steve mumbles that he’s glad that Eddie is in Hawkins. That he likes seeing him in the hallways.

And Eddie doesn’t think he’s ever felt peace like this, sitting in silence, in the middle of the night, in the dark, with a tipsy Steve Harrington.

He takes Steve home after a while, doing his best to follow Steve’s directions around town until he finds his house. It’s in the woods, hidden from view until he’s pulling into the driveway, and it’s fucking massive. A mansion out in the asscrack of nowhere.

Steve just sighs when they arrive. And Eddie tells him softly, Go to bed, Stevie. And Steve tells him softly, Thank you.

Steve avoids his eyes at school on Monday, but it isn’t weird. Because his cheeks are pink every time Eddie catches him looking, and because because he isn’t just looking, but he’s taking sneaking glances.

He seems almost nervous, anxious about something, but Eddie doesn’t know what until the end of the day, when he’s hurriedly swinging his locker open. He stops short, his eyes catching on a folded piece of paper on top of the mess of books and trash that fill his locker.

His face is burning immediately, and the hurry of catching up with the guys is gone from his mind as he reaches for it, leaning into the locker to hide as he unfolds it.

He has to close his eyes for a moment after seeing it, falling into his locker with a quiet giggle.

It’s a messy drawing of two figures sitting side by side. The pencil marks are zig-zagged in shadows, dark and heavy, and he can see the smudges from Steve’s hand, where it dragged the graphite across the page.

Eddie’s face hurts because he’s smiling so hard, and he feels so warm he might develop a fever. It feels like there’s a beam of sunlight in his chest.

The drawing goes up on his wall when he gets home. He tells Steve he got it by sending him a wink next time he catches him looking, and Steve’s face lights up pink before he looks away.

He does that a lot. Especially if he’s with his friends. Eddie doesn’t mind.

Because he’s the one that got to sit in the dark with Steve, that got to listen to his nearly delirious giggles, that gets little sketches in his locker. No one else got any of that.

The next time he sees Steve do That Thing, it’s after school on a Friday, and Eddie is headed to his locker after Hellfire.

Everyone else has already headed home, and the halls are quiet and dark as he’s sorting through his notebooks, struggling not to drop anything, and he startles when a door bangs open.

He rolls his eyes at the sound of raucous, dude bro laughter, trying to hurry so he can leave before they make their way down the hall, but a notebook slips from his arm, and loose papers scatter across the floor. Character sheets, stats, everything.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck—”

He scrambles to pick them up, shoving everything into his locker and falling to his knees, snatching them up without caring about wrinkling and folding them.

The laughter and banter falls silent when they round the corner, and Eddie grits his teeth.

“What’s this?” Tommy Hagen’s voice says, and it’s so patronising and mean that Eddie glares up at him. “You cleaning up from your Satanic club?”

Eddie huffs, grabbing the last paper and standing.

“Nothing Satanic about it, man.” They’re the same height. Eddie wishes he was taller. “You should stop talking about shit you don’t understand.”

Tommy cocks his head, his eyes narrowing.

“What the hell makes you think you can talk to me like that?” he asks in low voice. Eddie almost laughs.

“What the hell make you think I can’t?”

Tommy’s nostrils flare, and his eyes are shining in the dim light of the hallway, and he smacks the papers out of Eddie’s hands. They scatter across the floor again, and the boys behind Tommy laugh. Except Steve.

“Tommy, come on.”

“Not so brave when you’re not on tables, huh?” Tommy says, ignoring Steve and pushing at Eddie’s shoulders. Eddie stumbles back without breaking eye contact, setting his jaw and pushing Tommy’s hands away, but Tommy just pushes him again.

“Tommy, stop,” Steve says sharply, tugging on Tommy’s hood and pulling him away. “Come on, man, cut it out.”

“Jesus,” Tommy says, shrugging him off. “What, are you friends with this freak?”

Eddie’s head tilts, still staring silently at Tommy.

“No, I—” Steve hesitates, adjusting his bag. “You’re just being a dick for no reason, he isn’t doing anything.”

“He’s taking up space,” Tommy says dryly, giving Eddie a look.

“Come on,” Steve says again. “You were already saying you’re gonna be late home, let’s just go.”

Tommy just huffs and walks past, stepping directly on a character sheet and kicking it away behind himself. The other boys laugh and bump into Eddie, jostling him as they pass, and Eddie finally lowers to the ground, slowly collecting papers.

He looks over his shoulder to find Steve looking back at him, an unreadable, desperate expression on his face. Eddie looks away.

The last page he collects is ripped. And his eyes burn.

He hasn’t cried in a long time. He doesn’t know why this is the last straw.

Tears are falling on the paper, and he wipes his face so hard it hurts, standing to shove everything in his locker before he slams it shut, the sound of it echoing down the hall.

He goes to the closest bathroom to splash some water in his face, but the water just mixes with his tears, which won’t stop.

So he lets himself cry, lets the tears slide down his face as he slides down the wall to sit on the floor, tucking his face under the collar of his shirt.

He hasn’t cried this hard in months. Maybe years. His throat hurts, and his body is trembling, and his face aches, and he can’t fucking stop.

He’s distantly aware of a voice, but doesn’t lift his head until a hand lands gently on his shoulder, and he startles violently, recoiling and hitting the hand away as he lifts his head.

Steve is crouching in front of him, but he’s covering his head with his arm, his eyes squeezed shut before he open them to look at Eddie, a fear in his eyes that makes Eddie’s whole body hurt.

Eddie moves quickly, shifting to his knees so he’s kneeling in front of Steve, and he hugs him tightly, his arms around his neck, and he’s still sobbing, his words almost unintelligible.

“No— I’m sorry, I— I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry, Steve—”

Steve is already hugging him back, pulling Eddie against himself.

“No, it’s okay,” Steve says quietly. His hands run over Eddie’s back, and he’s hushing him softly, whispering to him, and Eddie is just crying.

He presses his face into Steve’s shoulder, letting out hiccuping sobs, and Steve’s cheek presses to the top of his head as his arms tighten. He slides until he’s sitting, gathering Eddie between his legs.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Eddie sobs, clutching at Steve’s arm. “I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Steve says softly, rocking them slightly. “I know, Eddie, it’s okay.”

He’s rubbing his back gently, combing through his hair, taking shaky breaths that tell Eddie that he’s crying too.

“God, I’m sorry,” Eddie chokes, reaching to wipe his own face, trying to sit up, but Steve doesn’t let him, wiping it away himself.

“‘S okay to cry,” he says gently.

And Eddie realises something awful.

Something irreversible, something so fucking terrible that it just makes him cry harder.

He’s falling in love.

He closes his eyes and falls against Steve, crying harder.

“Eddie,” Steve whispers after a while, almost cradling Eddie’s head. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why the fuck are you apologising?” Eddie asks weakly, lifting his head, and Steve wipes his cheek again.

“Because I… said that …”

Oh.

Eddie shakes his head, grabbing the front of Steve’s shirt.

“No, I don’t care about that.”

“You know I was lying, right?” Steve asks desperately, leaning forward. Eddie wants to kiss him.

“I know,” Eddie says, nodding. “I’m not— I’m not crying about that.”

“Okay,” Steve breathes. His eyes are glistening with unshed tears, and Eddie’s chest hurts. “Then why…”

Eddie shakes his head, swallowing thickly, and a tear falls down his cheek. Steve’s hand is warm when he wipes it away. Eddie wants to die.

“I don’t know,” he says quietly. His eyes drift down Steve’s face, tracing his moles. “I think I just… Today’s been long, I think I just— like, crashed.”

“That’s okay,” Steve says softly.

“‘M sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologise for.”

Steve’s voice is soft, echoey, bouncing off the white tiled walls. Eddie exhales shakily, wiping his face again.

“What would make you feel better?” Steve asks softly. Eddie shrugs weakly.

“I don’t know.”

Steve is quiet, one of his hands still running through Eddie’s hair gently, and Eddie realises that he’s still grasping Steve’s shirt in his hand. His cheeks burn and he pulls his hand away, releasing the fabric, but Steve catches his hand, squeezing it.

Eddie’s eyes catch on their hands, watching Steve’s fingers brush over his skin. His hands are so different from Eddie’s, longer and more graceful, smooth and soft and unscarred. More tan, especially against Eddie’s pale skin and the silver rings he’s wearing. Eddie can’t looks away. His breathing is slower, and the tears have stopped, but his skin is tacky with them, and he can see his clumped eyelashes in his peripheral vision.

He can feel Steve looking at him. Steve, who’s sitting in silence on the floor of a school bathroom, holding his hand.

“Do you wanna go for a drive?” Eddie asks quietly.

“Yeah,” Steve says softly. “I’d like that.”

“Okay.”

Eddie drives. They leave Steve’s car in the school parking lot and sit in silence until they reach the quarry again. Eddie drives there almost on instinct, like it’s where they’re supposed to be, and they sit in the back together, close enough that their legs are touching.

It feels easier for Eddie to exist when he’s not in the school.

“You wanna talk about your day?” Steve asks quietly. It’s dark in the van, dark outside, and Eddie can hear the sound of the water below them. It’s nice.

“‘S just…” He pauses. “I don’t know, it wasn’t that it was bad, it just… Was long.”

“You, uhm.” Steve hesitates. “God, that sounds mean, never mind.”

“Just say it,” Eddie says with a little laugh.

“You… You look tired lately. When I see you.”

Eddie sighs, letting his head fall back to the wall.

“I really hate school,” he says. “Don’t like being there.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Eddie nods, and he takes a deep breath. It shakes.

There’s a quiet moment, and then Steve is moving closer, his arms stretching to take Eddie between them, and Eddie lets himself fall against Steve again. His chest hurts.

He lays against Steve’s chest, tucking his hands between them comfortably, and Steve’s face presses to the top of Eddie’s head. Eddie closes his eyes.

“I’m sorry my friends are assholes,” Steve says quietly.

“‘S not your fault.”

“Still.”

“Don’t apologise to me, Steve. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“…Okay.”

“You even got Tommy to stop,” Eddie adds, suddenly remembering. “Which…” Steve’s hand runs over his head, over his mangled curls. “Thank you.”

Steve just holds him tighter.

Eddie’s eyes squeeze, and he’s almost nuzzling into Steve’s chest. He smells like cologne, and like something that belongs just to Steve. Eddie wonders if his house has the same smell. If his bed does. (It probably does. Though Eddie would love to do his own investigation into the question.)

“One of my character sheets ripped,” Eddie says quietly, breaking the silence. “That was— That was what kind of… I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What did I just say?”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Steve.”

“Fuck, sorry.”

They’re both giggling quietly. Eddie can feel Steve’s chest shaking with it.

“Steve.”

“Sorry— Fuck—“

Eddie sits up and claps a hand over Steve’s mouth, watching as Steve’s eyes sparkle and crinkle under his grin.

“Just stop talking,” Eddie says.

Steve nods.

Eddie removes his hand and lays back down against his chest.

“Who was the character?” Steve asks after a few moments.

“Hm?”

“The— The character sheet. Tell me about the character.” He drags his fingertips through Eddie’s hair. “I don’t know anything D&D, I’m very out of my element. But I’m… willing to learn.”

“Jesus,” Eddie breathes.

“What?”

“You’re a sweetheart, Steve Harrington.”

Steve giggles again.

Eddie tells him. He talks and talks and talks, tracing lines over Steve’s arm mindlessly, melting against Steve even more when his fingers tangle in Eddie’s hair and tug lightly as he’s playing with it.

It feels nice.

Steve asks him questions, prompts him to give him more information, and he’s actually interested in what Eddie’s saying, and there’s a swarm of butterflies in Eddie’s stomach. He might die.

After a while Eddie falls quiet, and his eyes falling shut, and the feelings of Steve’s heartbeat on his face and Steve’s fingers in his hair are lulling him to sleep.

“Shit,” he says softly, starting to sit up, blinking his eyes.

“What?” Steve says in a small voice, his hand falling away from Eddie’s hair.

“I’m falling asleep, I’m…”

“That’s okay,” Steve says. His hand tugs at Eddie’s shirt gently. “‘S fine, come back.”

He sounds so small, so desperate, that Eddie doesn’t even think twice before he falling onto Steve again, and Steve is hugging him tightly. Eddie squeezes his eyes shut, gripping Steve’s shirt.

“When am I driving you back to your car?” he asks, his voice muffled by Steve’s chest.

“Don’t know,” Steve says, sighing softly. “Don’t care.”

“…Okay.”

Their legs twine together, and Eddie turns slightly, his head resting under Steve’s chin. He can feel Steve’s chest rise and fall with every breath, can feel Steve’s arms firm around him like he’s holding him in place, and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt like before. This safe and protected and comfortable, in the arms of a boy he’s actually talked with approximately three times.

He slides a hand down Steve’s arm, over the folds of his shirt, over his forearm, over his wrist, over his hand. He traces his knuckles. They’re so soft.

He traces light lines over Steve’s fingers, and Steve is lifting them to meet Eddie’s until their fingers are curling together.

Eddie squeezes his eyes shut, furrowing his brows. Steve’s arm tightens around Eddie and he squeezes his hand, and Eddie turns his face to press to Steve’s chest.

Eddie wonders if Steve knows what he’s doing. If he has any idea how fucking gay this is, snuggling Eddie in the back of his van.

But Steve doesn’t seem to mind. His other hand runs over Eddie’s hair again. And Eddie drifts off.

part six

read the whole thing on ao3

#taking ideas/suggestions in my asks or dms <3 #also considering a title so i can put this on ao3 bc thisbis not even a ficlet series anymore #although i still don’t rly have an actual plot for this i’m just making shit up #but that’s What I Do #anyway love u #steddie ficlet #steddie #steve harrington #steve harrington fanfic #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #steve x eddie #eddie x steve #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #love me softly

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dolokhoded · 11 months

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my one season 4 complaint is Where The Fuck Was Aneesa

#never have i ever #i really wish her and fabiola had stayed together them not working out didn't rlly serve any purpose to the plot for the new season #fabiola's new relationship was barely rlaborated upon. as expected.#and aneesa was basically written out she was barely even part of the group #plus that scene of them at the staircase talking about fab's robotics team. they still have so much chemistry and they were literally just #talking about robotics #i understand she's not a major character and she can't have a separate plotline to herself but she wasn't even involved in anyone else's #her and fabiola were cute together and she would've at least been part of the plot if they were still dating #allison was barely a character what was the point of writing some random new partner for fabiola when she already had a perfectly good #love interest #it just doesn't make sense to me. whi decided it would be a good idea for them to break up #was it just an opportunity to shove in a nonbinary character who had no personality and was just there as someone's s/o and call it #representation #cause there are Many better ways to have nonbinary rep than this #but ofc mindy kaling wouldn't give a shit about this.#n e ways for this support my nonbinary aneesa hc . it's real.#fabiola torres #aneesa qureshi #OR AT THE VERY LEAST SHE SHOULD'VE GOTTEN WITH PAXTON. SHE HAD THAT NICE HOT JOCK LINE AT THE END OF SEASON 3 #im fabneesa 4 life but i would honestly be haply with her dating paxton. they're both cool and they'd be fun together. and she deserves a #nice hot jock boyfriend.

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chirpsythismorning · 1 year

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We moved on way too quickly...

#stranger things #byler #will byers #stranger things theories #stranger things 5 #st5 predictions #will byers was a kid at hawkins lab confirmed.?#idk man i just find this interesting #i think it would be pointless to rehash el's connection as a kid in hawkins lab in s5 #there was already a whole plot dedicated to her role in that in s5 #'including multiple kids' implies that in s5 we're going to see a kid other than El or Henry in relation to that program #and it would be moot to introduce an entirely new character to explore that with #when will is literally right there as the main focus #holy shit #nick from 8flix defenders are going to rejoice i predict #did will indeed recognize brenner in the desert?...#the way they refer to it as a program is so interesting too #because we know about it already #but they're talking about it as if there is still a lot of unanswered questions related to it beyond what we know right now...#they're going back to the day will went missing?#they're going back to the origins how hawkins lab evolved post henry...#hahahaha #i'm scared #i fear lonnie byers has something to do with this...

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butcharyastark · 6 months

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i cannot explain how simultaneously complexly fascinating and deeply hilarious this fucking intimate coming out scene between flint and silver is in the s3 finale of black sails.

like. imagine you are james flint. you have a horrible secret tragic backstory you won't tell anyone about how you became the fearsome and capable pirate captain you are today. that tragic backstory involves being the bisexual unicorn for a rich couple's poly triad dreams in 1700s england. you confide in someone outside of this dynamic for the first time after everything happened about what happened because they asked to know. you bare your soul uncharacteristically about being bisexual, polyamorous, and griefstricken. nobody else but one person in your life has seen this of you. the person you confide this to is someone that genuinely worried about you killing them in front of your entire crew like, literally 10 days ago, for confessing to betraying you abt smth that took months of efforts and dozens of death to try to achieve. this person, who is the most kindly understanding and softspoken person on your ship of ragtag hardened pirates, looks you in the eyes by the soft lighting of the campfire under cover of nightfall after burying literal and now metaphorical secrets, and says, in order, to your FACE, that 1) firstly he is a hashtag gay ally (in the 1700s) and so sorry for your loss but 2) he's been thinking lately it's kind of weird everybody around flint dies and he doesn't want to be next bc everybody flint trusts is a dead man walking bc 3) hey flint have you ever considered maybe it's your fault this happened and that you are doomed bc of just who you are as a person? and 4) but it's okay actually bc if it came down to it i think i've grown as a person enough that if anyone dies in this partnership it will be you 😤

like. to his face. i repeat, to the face of the most feared pirate this side of the americas, who has considered killing him within the past month or two, who opened up to silver in the most baring way possible for a regular man, much less a man like flint--to his FACE silver said that "maybe the homophobia you experienced that ruined your entire life was actually your fault for existing and everybody you love is doomed to die because being around you is a curse :/" in the most GENTLY understanding tone of voice while staring deeply into his eyes and professing genuine care and friendship and respect for him.

i'd lose my mind. i'd implode. no fucking wonder flint takes a preparatory, longsuffering swig of liquor with the most exasperated expression i've ever seen on a 40+yo man's face the literal second silver's mouth is open for longer than 2 sentences. silver is SO goddamn lucky this man stopped seeing him as an enemy 6 weeks ago and instead switched to begrudgingly ominous mentor and weird older brother.

and they're both still being friendly about it like silver isn't casually portending one of their deaths because of the other because of the inherent darkness of their souls and like flint hasn't killed men on his own crew for saying less than this behind his back. this is fucking insane energy. i want to study them both. i want to microwave them at high heat. i want to put them in a jar and shake it. you two really live like this?

#my post #black sails #nomi liveblogs #this is the gayest cishet-toxic-masculinity ass conversational response to being told someones darkest secrets #its the straightest queer man to queer man 'im here for u bro' conversation ive ever seen #silver is talking exactly like a man who only stepped foot onto a boat 3 months ago acting like he knows shit abt longterm captaincy #and flint is reacting like that while stsring into the ground questioning all of his life choices up til this moment.#somehow james flint being a bisexual unicorn in a poly triad is still relevant as a plot point for totally separate characters #i love all of this its so. fuckinf. hilarious #@flint and silver: this is amazing. you live like this?

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dazais-guardian-angel · 7 months

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Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

#bungou stray dogs #meta #bsd season 5 #bsd s5 spoilers #alternatively titled 'when you copium so hard out of stewing in your denial anger and grief that it becomes reality'#is it still copium if there's strong evidence for it? idk #i DON'T know what i'll do if the stuff in this finale ends up being canon :))) make no mistake about that #but until the very moment the schrödinger's cat box is opened and i am forced to acknowledge it with my own two eyes in chapter 111/110.5 #i am choosing to stay calm and rational and look at things with a sound mind... and acknowledge all the signs that are there #of which there are so many #Asagiri is a troll. he has always been a troll and this is more evident than ever lately #and he would know that everyone who watched the finale would take it at face value #never expecting it to go completely differently in the manga #and he's so much smarter than what was in that finale. he would never write those things. i would stake my life on it.#i don't care how many flaws BSD does have that i do acknowledge; he is a good writer in so many ways and he is so much better than /that/#i could fill an entire BOOK (ha ha) with all of the reasons why this finale does not work. seriously it is a never-ending can of worms #of ooc characterizations and plot holes and abandoned threads and straight up CONTRADICTIONS with what has been stated before in the arc #with fukuchi's motivations and presentation; with things that were happening in meursault; just.... so much illogical shit in general #THE MACHINE HEALED THEIR WOUNDS??? ARE YOU FOR REAL????#*sigh* but i said i wasn't gonna rant alskdjgfkdls #tbh though the only REAL thing i need to know that the finale was anime only was what the youtuber i watch pointed out:#that Bram magically regenerated all his clothes. because if it were Asagiri Bram would be naked from the shoulders down fjdkslsaskd #...anyway. This theory is real and true. I am manifesting it into existence 🙏🙏🙏#Asagiri my man...... you have never let me down yet in all the years I've known your series. Please don't let me down now.#I'm trusting in you more than ever right now...... and your ability to blow all our minds in the best possible way #(guys i'm really really really scared deep down; please hold me hahaha ahahahahaaaa- *cries*)#this would the coolest thing in the history of ever though if it happened though. I am SO EXCITED FOR THE POSSIBILITY!!!!!#ASAGIRI YOU SICK AND TWISTED MF; HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME BEG FOR MY FAVES TO SUFFER JUST SO THAT THIS BAD WRITING DOESN'T BECOME REALITY!!!!!!#he knows exactly what he's doing *SCREAMS* :))))))))

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