This is what happens when the amazing, unbelievably talented @stervrucht suggest that we collab (like, this morning, literally). Dropped everything to give her something to work her magic on.
At risk of being a bit too much (I warned you), let me tell you, this is the most fun I've had playing around with art in a long, LONG time. Thank you for this amazing experience, art buddy 💞
In the cage, there's an obscene amount of props to change the scene whenever Steve feels like it, so they can be together in every alternative universe.
(Oh, Steve knows now a lot of alternative universes, because it's hard not to listen to him when he speaks so passionately.)
He speaks up, shares secrets, holds hands and looks straight in the eye of Eddie Munson with no fear, in the cage.
And Eddie reciprocates. He stares back right into Steve's soul and he feels like nothing but flesh and bones made to break with love words. Steve longs to be no more, no less.
In the cage.
The cage is safe, because it's secret. Nobody knows about it, not even Robin. Talking about the cage means it exists. And if it exists, then he has to do something about it. It hasn't always existed, though. There was a time where Steve wore his heart on his sleeve and, well, you know, he never got a good eye to guess how strong or delicate are the things he holds.
His heart was fine once, though. Now it's patched up, now he's more careful with it. Fragile, damaged goods that he's sure that can't afford another blow. Not even a little one.
Not even by accident.
So, the cage is impenetrable. Nobody comes in, nobody comes out except what Steve decides, and this time, the cage fits everything that can't exist with Eddie Munson out of it.
The cage is where all those feelings he can't ever express go to die, and they both bury them together. Steve and Eddie. They make art with it.
The cage is fine, the cage is safe, because everything is contained in there.
Until it's not.
Until that stupid morning he wakes up in a mess of bed sheets that feel ablaze, and he's sweaty, and half hard, and wet, and he wakes up with Eddie's name in his lips.
But hey, nobody is there to listen to it, so does a tree make a sound when there's nobody to hear it fall down?
That is no comfort, though. Not even in the slightest.
Because there's a breach in the cage, now.
He said his name and his heart is balancing on breaking branches and unstable now.
After that day, everything leaks.
He blushes, ridiculously so, when Eddie so much looks at him.
He tries not to flinch at the accidental touch, not to react to the shock wave it sends through his system, and given that Eddie is a very tactile person, it's torture.
He never looks at him in the eye. He might see the breach. The cage.
They are never alone.
Not anymore, really.
Steve avoids it, and it's getting more and more difficult to find excuses, because they see each other all the time.
He's starting to notice that Eddie knows something and Steve is freaking out. Eddie acts a bit hurt with every rejection, and good. Steve would rather Eddie thinks that he doesn't like him than to admit the truth.
But it's a loss.
The cage is the home of uninvited grief now.
Steve wonders, when he's alone, holding his heart with shaky hands, if he has the right to cry.
Hasn't cried in years.
Steve decides that he hasn't any.
Puts his heart away, broken glass, in a shelf to gather dust, though he knows he might forget about it and break it accidentally when he tries to clean his cage.
Has happened before, will happen again, because Steve is cursed.
A fight is the better choice.
Destroy the cage.
He goes to meet Eddie to be his worst self, he's got experience in that. He can be mean, no, cruel. He'll be cruel, he'll make him want not to be in the same room with him and Steve will eventually find peace.
He will be able to rest.
To fall in a dreamless sleep in what's left of what was safe once.
Yeah, he'll do that.
Only it's not that what happens.
Steve is tense, doesn't know if to punch or run. Push him against the wall because how dares Eddie to be understanding. How dares he to be considerate, and how dares he to read and listen what's coming out of the cage.
What give him the right.
How dares he to say "it's okay."
Fuck you, Eddie, it is not okay.
He's wrong.
He's delicate.
How dares he to grab his heart, he's going to crush it with those stupid, careless fingers full of stupid rough silver chunks he wears for jewelry.
Fuck you, Eddie.
He actually says that, though.
"Fuck you."
The fact that he's about to cry, now, of all times he could have done it, he's about to cry now, when his voice is shaky, and his insults don't land.
"I love you."
His heart is in pieces.
He is in pieces. Destroyed. Demolished.
"Let me hate you", is what he begs. Isn't that pathetic?
"That won't change a thing."
Eddie is touching him now and Steve is not flinching. He wants to grab his face, push him away, scream and spit on his face. Why is Eddie not seeing what Steve is trying to do here? He's just trying to survive, because he can't avoid it anymore. He's already broken.
Tags: run for your life, Steve Harrington - Freeform, Praying to the Old Gods, Eddie the Banished, Ancient Gods of the Fallen Forest, Eddie Munson is a God, Old God!Eddie Munson, Demon!Eddie Munson, If You Squint - Freeform, Demon Eddie Munson, Demon Summoning, steve on his knees, Steve Harrington Worshipping Eddie Munson, LITERALLY, on accident, Fate has a plan for these two
Summary:
It was another one of those nights- Steve was running through the dark trees, waking nightmare chasing him down.
He prayed his footing stayed true. He prayed that his breaths didn't falter. He prayed that the hungry darkness falling fast in his shadow didn't catch him.
He prayed to all the gods. Every deity he had ever learned of, all the new gods, and the old. He prayed until the sweat burning his eyes blinded him and he felt a root leap up in front of his foot.
He stumbled but did not fall.
But the sound of a snapping maw was closing around the dust he kicked up.
Suddenly, in his desperation, a name floated from the depths of his erratic heart to the tip of his bitten tongue.
"Eddie the Banished, of the Fallen Forest— Please- Please," Steve huffed, a force behind the name punched through his diaphragm and left him no air to plead with.
Thanks for the rec! This recommendation is apart of our Writer's Wednesday! All of the recs today are written by @travelingtwentysomething . Want to nominate an author? Fill out this form!
At some point "fanfic can be as good as professional writing" became "fanfic should be as good as professional writing" and that's caused major damage to fandom spaces.
Racism in fandom spaces is actually insanely bad and if you ever try to downplay or avoid conversations about it because "fandom is supposed to be fun" then I'm not sorry to say this: You're adding on to the problem.
If POC speaking up about a fandom's racism issue offends you more than the racism itself, you need to think about that. You need to think about how POC fighting racism offends you more than the racism.
Gotta tell you guys something wild in the Chinese fan sphere
So some fanartist drew a “sexy” (read: booby) version of a (cartoon) character who is traditionally very non-sexualised. Fans of the character got mad about it because it’s kind of groundbreaking how that character is written and portrayed and this art totally ignores the entire point of the character. They demanded the art be deleted. In response to that other people said, well what the fanartist did may be distateful but they have every right to draw what they’re into. The two sides fight for days and each starts a harassment campaign and even report their “opponents’” accounts.
So far so typical. But things eventually come to a head and they decide that this will be settled by votes - not through a poll. Through donations to a children’s education charity via each side’s portal. Whoever can get the highest amount of donation wins.
And that is how this charity received over 1 million in donations in three days lol. Oh btw the “freedom of expression” side won by a landslide (960k to 40k)
The first rule of fandom is have fun. The second rule of fandom is find an enabler and become an enabler. Yes you should write that fic. What if it was even hornier? What if it was angstier? What if you wrote it just for me?
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