Honest to god Eddie doesn’t remember when the first call happened. It was sometime after he got released from the hospital and was trying his damn hardest to graduate from Hawkins High finally. But he clearly remembers that Wayne was not home, had to take a double shift for a friend of his, so Eddie was all alone since early afternoon. Drowning in his spiraling thoughts about high school and creepy alternate dimensions, smoking his worries away in his room.
It was around 1:45am when he decided to take a well deserved shower in the fancy bathroom that came with their government presented shiny new trailer. He walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and another on top of his head, trying to dry his long curls with it when the phone rang.
He glanced at the digital clock on his desk, which read 2:05am and raised his eyebrows. He let the towel fall from his hair down to his shoulders as he walked to the phone mounted on the wall near their tiny kitchen and picked it up, already expecting some drunk or angry townsfolk to curse him out of his skin.
“I am wet and sleepy, please get this over with quickly so I can put some pants on” he greeted his late night caller without giving them a chance to speak up. He was shocked when instead of angry yelling there was a light chuckle coming from the other end of the line.
“You greet all your friends like that, Munson?” The voice spoke and Eddie felt both shock and happiness wash over him as he recognized the caller.
“Nah, I only keep that for the best ones.” He replied with a big grin on his face. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Harrington? Calling me at such odd hours.” He asked as he let himself relax and lean against the wall next to the phone.
“Uhh yeah, sorry about that.” Steve mumbled. “I shouldn’t be bothering you so late.”
“No, no it’s fine! I wasn’t gonna sleep anyways.” Eddie quickly blurted out because he didn’t want Steve to end the call. It was unusual of him to reach out, especially to Eddie who he barely knew and haven’t really spent much time with, but they were bonded by shared trauma and matching scars, which is fairly a good reason to let someone call you up in the middle of the night. “What’s wrong, Stevie?”
“Stevie?” The other boy sounded a bit surprised at the nickname and Eddie would have felt more embarrassed if they were standing face to face, but being bold over the phone was so easy for him. “It’s just… y’know… the nightmares.” He explained after a short silence and let out a deep sigh, Eddie felt that.
“Yeah, it feels like we never really escaped that fucking hellhole.” He agreed and ran his fingers through his hair. Steve sounded exhausted and weak over the phone, he clearly been having issues with sleeping just like Eddie did. “How can I help you?”
“I… don’t know…” he mumbled and Eddie could hear rustling of sheets on the other side, probably meaning Steve was in his bedroom. “I really just wanted to talk to someone.”
“Well, I’m all yours, sweetheart. Especially if you let me put some pants on first, cause to be quite honest with you I’m freezing my balls off right now.” He replied with as much flourish as he could produce such late at night. The giggle he got in response was honestly worth standing there almost naked in the cool trailer.
“I’m pretty sure calls like this go the other way around, Eddie.” Steve quipped and wasn’t that just a shocker? Eddie felt like the world suddenly started spinning faster cause he felt just a bit dizzy. Steve Harrington, ex-douchebag extraordinaire, well known ladies man with a body count he doesn’t even wanna think about just flirted with him. He was really glad this didn’t happen in person, cause Eddie wouldn’t have been able to recover from the emotions those words caused him. But through the phone? He was braver, bolder and decided to roll with it, since the other man was so easygoing.
“Oh, Stevie! If you called me for that kind of service I have to disappoint you.” Eddie chirped in a low voice, rolling his head to the side, twirling a strand of wet hair around his index finger. “Maybe next time, if you will be a good boy for me.”
“Is that a promise, Munson?”
“You really trying to charm me, don’t you, Sweetheart?” Eddie bit back playfully, he never would’ve thought flirting with a boy outside of a gay bar in Indy could be possible without him ending up beaten to death. “Now be patient until I get dressed, alright?”
After Eddie got into some pajama pants and a worn out shirt he stole from Wayne a while back, he grabbed the phone again. They ended up talking for hours about sweet nothings and silly childhood stories. Getting stuck up on a tree, getting stung by a bee while trying to pick flowers, falling off a bike etc. Eddie enjoyed every second of it and when the Sun started to come up, he went to bed with a smile on his face. He managed to sleep 5 hours without jolting up from a nightmare.
Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Feedback on this would be very appreciated since it’s a work in progress fic that I’m planning to post on ao3 when finished
Now we’re getting to the point in the week where mostly everything ends. It’s sad that Isekai Office Worker/Bean Counter has finally ended, but at least the spring season has another BL anime that will air, so BL fans aren’t deprived yet. To be honest, while this isn’t the best BL adaptation, I do commend DEEN for doing the best they can because it definitely was ambitious.
The finale of the anime has Sei and the others going back to the church to put an end to the suspicious activities once and for all. Like they (and the viewers) predicted, Cipriano is the culprit behind the assassination attempt on Sei and is the one doing the embezzlement and storing Yua’s magic behind her back. What is his motive? He’s actually a heretic who believes in a goddess called Melke and ridicules Abran. He hates everything related to Abran, especially anything revolving around the Holy Maiden and purification. It’s to the point that he reveals his purpose of gathering Yua’s magical power—making a magical bomb that he plans to detonate inside the church. Fortunately, Yua’s powers have grown to the point that she’s able to stop the bomb with ease now. It makes me so happy to see her grow into a capable person. While Cipriano is stopped, he isn’t forgiven, so both he and Bishop Mateus, who was his accomplice in a way, got punished.
Other than that, the episode is mostly Aresh swatting away the other men trying to get too close to Sei as Kamil and Siegvold both express fondness towards Seiichiro that Aresh isn’t having; poor Nor for being the third/fourth wheel in the cafeteria scene. Fortunately for him, Sei is falling for Aresh to the point that he initiates a kiss towards him for the first time. It’s also revealed that Sei wrote a reply letter when he got Aresh’s first letter that he never sent, but Aresh received it when Valtom found it in his drawer. His feelings for Aresh is also apparent when he is protected by him as the bomb was about to detonate. Knowing how much Aresh risked his health and safety for him before, he realizes that he wants Aresh to be safe too. It’s definitely a nice conclusion to how he behaved throughout the story—not that it’s bad.
Still, it is unfortunate that the story ends with Sei and Yua still trapped in the isekai world and whether they will return or not is still left ambiguous. I do wonder how the overall story will end since it’s still on-going. Will they really go back? Will Sei leave Aresh behind? I honestly might have to buy the manga going forth… Regardless, I do like that the ending is happy in that the private school is finally in session and Yua and Julius are getting closer.
Regardless, one thing I really like about Bean Counter as a whole is that, while it’s BL, it doesn’t focus just on the romance aspect, but more on the world building and the characterization. It kind of shows that BL has gone a long way from being just a story about two guys falling in love and getting together. Now, there’s entire storytelling in addition to romance, which is what I enjoy most; it used to be uncommon back in the day. As a writer myself, I personally enjoy narratives, hence why Bean Counter was interesting.
Though, I do admit that this adaptation was mediocre in terms of quality, but it was still decent to watch. I know some of my moots on Twitter loathe the quality, but I’m someone who takes what I get and try to find the good side to things. Still, it’s nice to have BL animes in general. However, I do think the manga version is better than the anime. If you want to read the manga after watching this, the anime basically covers six volumes, which are what’s available in English. Basically, it’s incentive that you start the journey over and look at much prettier art as you do. By the way, the story is actually a light novel series, but I don’t think the light novel got licensed in English—please correct me if I’m wrong.
Overall, this wasn’t the best BL anime adaptation, but it’s still a decent watch for those curious about the genre. Hopefully, this will be an opportunity for more BL media to get anime adaptations. Let me know your thoughts on the finale and the anime as a whole!
yes yes yes blue lock anime bad and all, and they fucked up this iconic shot yes
a shot I love so much, I fucking own it and have it on my wall
BUT.
Y'all are not realizing that the purpose of this shot is to convey to the audience just how massive the stadium is, and how important this match is.
This is the first time Blue Lock has shown its face to the world, and this is the Blue Lockers stepping out into the real world, and either failing, or succeeding, in showing it that they can handle it.
The anime might not have done this shot as well, but it had plenty of build up before that, which the manga couldn't have. For example, all the build up with the merchandise outside and the cardboard cut outs of players and people buying shirts.
All the parents coming to see their kids. The build up with Sae and Rin, and Aiku. The pounding of the stadium above and the cheering, which sounds awesome.
the focus on Isagi as he stares in wonder at the lights.
the actual ambience is there.
it just didn't do it exactly like the manga... and so what?
y'all are the ones complaining that it's an anime, not a manga.
the tension and atmosphere were there!!!
it just wasn't one to one with the manga is all.
blue lock fans try to use more than two brain cells at once challenge (impossible)
