Thinking a lot about a more *intimate* Soap and Gaz friendship. Like they’re both head over heels for these unattainable (in different ways) men that they’re in constant proximity with and it all seems so hopeless so they go to the pub together sometimes to just commiserate about it and maybe Soap gets so drunk that Gaz can barely understand him except for the word ‘pretty’ and there’s a lot of looking at eachothers lips and maybe they get a little closer just for a hug and maybe they make out a little but before long they’re breaking apart and laughing and it doesn’t change that they’re best friends.
and sometimes best friends rub their pretty little leaky cocks together ok? I don’t make the rules!
... Oz might be regretting having all his friends together. It's a rare enough occasion that he never quite remembers why he prefers that. Until it happens.
It was so nice to be around his friends, for once, Ozpin mused as he glanced around the table. His house was crowded with visitors and the noise was a very welcome change to how he normally spent those few holidays where he wasn’t at Beacon with his students. It had been a very long time since they had all been together, scattered as they were throughout Remnant. But then, that tended to happen to adults. They all had their own lives, after all, and all four kingdoms were heavy weights to bear. He hadn’t exactly meant to be such close friends with Leon, Theo and James, or not at first. But they worked well together, able to support each other when needed and to be there to listen if any of them ever had doubts. The Brothers knew, Ozpin had a lot of doubts, at times.
… it was slightly less nice, later. A tipsy General Ironwood made for far too many arguments with Leon for anybody’s comfort. Qrow, as usual, was happily getting drunk in one corner. But then, he hadn’t really wanted to come at all. He was mostly there for Oz, but… yeah. Maybe he shouldn’t have been? Oz really appreciated his presence, though.
Unfortunately, James was several years older than him. Though he was hosting, cutting the older man off might result in some very awkward moments, later. Especially as he wasn’t the thought to ever acknowledge the fact that he might have gotten rather drunk at the party. Oz rolled his eyes fondly, recognising the bottle James was currently pouring shots from. It was part of a private stash, yes, but why would he ever think it was Oz’s? The rather too loud conversation seemed to confirm his belief, but surely he knew that Oz never drank? There were too many old memories tied to previous incarnations for that.
He winced, getting a slightly closer look at the bottle in question. It was really a rather expensive whiskey, part of a gift he’d given to Qrow a few months ago. Maybe he wouldn’t notice? He certainly hadn’t seemed to notice much of anything except for the frequent heated glances he shot in Oz’s direction.
That might be for the best, though, the arguments were already getting out of hand.
He exchanged a wry smile with Glynda, who was rather obviously concealing the need to laugh at them all. She’d been his friend as long as he could remember, the instantaneous connection solidifying the moment she entered Beacon as a student for the first time, Oz should probably feel guilty about that, she’d been all of fourteen and he had been her headmaster. It had all been highly inappropriate.
But he couldn’t really bring himself to regret that, since she was the only other sober person here. Especially since she, like Summer, had never bought his claims of being nineteen. He still wasn’t certain which of them was technically the elder, though from the fact he did tend to listen to her… well. Neither one of them had ever been able to explain their connection. It just was. Easy and instant best friends, like the memory of another life.
There was something deeper there, perhaps, but it wasn’t something he wanted to dig out tonight. Theo had disappeared somewhere, probably to take another of his many smoke breaks, but Oz couldn’t blame him. It was rather loud, but at least they were all having fun.
boss shifted the entire classics section without actually measuring any of the shelving, so of course it didn't actually FIT where he wanted to put it, and i had to spend my entire morning shifting it back. and then i just got to sit through a staff meeting to get scolded over his bad fucking idea
there's something interesting about all the posts i see telling eddie to 'go to therapy' because he............................................. did. like he really, really did. and it didn't work.
i've been consumed by contemplating this and i think there's two reasons why it didn't work for him.
1) he doesn't trust easily. and...
2) he doesn't know how to apply the stuff he's learned to himself.
eddie has been hurt. kind of a lot. every time he starts to trust someone he's been hurt again, with one or two exceptions. now, the thing with therapy is that you have to be receptive to it--it usually doesn't work when someone else is forcing you to do it or you're holding back. so the fact that he has a hard time trusting people with the soft and vulnerable bits of himself is definitely going to make it difficult to talk to a complete stranger about everything that's going on. also not to bring up helena and ramon but his relationship with his parents must feed into this a LOT. the two people who are supposed to love and care for him THE MOST, the two people who he should be able to trust more than anyone in the world, have forced him to be self-sufficient to a fault because they couldn't let go of his past mistakes and did nothing but doubt him when he came back from afghanistan. like... no wonder the boy has trust issues.
additionally, helena and ramon (i'm guessing mostly ramon) have made it VERY clear how eddie is supposed to act. it is INGRAINED in the boy to push through things. the one time we ever saw eddie ask for time or space to deal with something was in the eddie begins flashbacks with shannon, when he asks for time to deal with coming home from an active warzone, and he's rewarded for that moment of weakness by shannon picking up and leaving. it was a messy situation and everyone was struggling but it always makes me think about buck and chris on the firetruck during the tsunami. you guys remember that? when chris says he complained once and it didn't work so he didn't complain again? yeah. eddie admitted he couldn't handle something one time and the world said 'you have to, sorry not sorry' and he took that to heart. and the thing is, like....... he was angry at shannon for leaving, but he never blamed her. he always blamed himself. there are SO MANY instances where he is kind and compassionate and forgiving toward someone who is struggling, but every time he finds HIMSELF in a situation like that he brushes it off, gets angry at himself, blames himself, etc etc etc. so it's not that he doesn't know how to cope with these things--clearly he knows the words and the advice you're supposed to follow. he just.... can't apply it to himself. like look at this gifset and tell me it's not a pattern.
(interestingly................................... there is one glaring exception to the above paragraph. the ONE TIME i can think of that eddie tells someone else to suck it up the way he tells himself to suck it up is the fight with buck in the supermarket during the lawsuit. this is, notably, before his therapy with frank, but i don't think that's all it is. i think it's an intersection of the two issues above--buck is one of the only people eddie has EVER trusted, and also one of the only people who never made eddie feel like he had to take on the world by himself. until the lawsuit happened, and both of those things were pretty much thrown back into eddie's face. eddie didn't have the one person who always had his back; his trust was fucking SHATTERED. it was another reminder that he isn't allowed to be vulnerable, and he dealt with it by lashing out at buck.)
so what do i think the solution is here? if eddie isn't ready for therapy and it's not going to help him much? well... the answer is buck. eddie has been telling buck for years now to take care of himself, to be kind to himself, to give himself worth. he literally came out in the s4 finale and said that buck acts like he's expendable but he's NOT. if there is anyone who can convince eddie to do the same for himself, it HAS to be buck. and honestly, thematically and arc-wise.... it would be a really beautiful inversion of where their relationship started in s2, with eddie being super put together and buck being this kind of punk-ass kid still. it would show how they're still teaching each other things, still growing together and changing together and that they still have each others' backs.
Was browsing old posts and tags. Found the 'Power Moms' tag again and re-read what I can find. Now I miss Millie :( Can I request a little revisit headcanon? Maybe what is Millie like when she's grown up? Does she take more after El or Byleth? Or maybe a good balance between the two?
Barely a sound - a pebble, perhaps, caught under a foot.
It was the only sound.
Still, Claude heard it.
He smiled.
And he was ready. For once.
She came in like a shadow. Like a demon.
Ashen demon.
She had finally learned to care for her hair - learned, presumably, from Edelgard. Byleth had never managed to do the same, and didn't seem to care. But the imp had hers in a careful, coiled braid, keeping it out of the way.
She knew what she was doing. She'd been trained by the best.
"Including by me," he reminded her, whirling with bow already pulled.
She laughed. She had Byleth's careful movement, Edelgard's control, but in this, she was what none of them had been: a person raised in love, and confidence, and security.
"Heya, Imp," Claude said.
She grinned, lowering her sword. "Still got it, old man."
"Better believe it."
She cocked her head - very Byleth. "Got any of that Almyran stew? I could use lunch."
Now it was his turn to laugh. "I bet I can talk the kitchen into it. But you get extra spice."
A wicked smile, now: "Wouldn't want it any other way."
