#Man I barely ship any wlw pairs

[hadthatdreamagain]

Only ship things if it's funny btw, don't care how much sexual tension they have if they dont play off eachother Its a no from me

[lovecolibri]

Okay, I haven't been on Tumblr yet and thoughts may change throughout the day but here is where I stand at the moment.

I do not thing the show *as a whole* is baiting us, because the story is not finished yet, and you don't bring something like that up in-universe to make the audience think about it if there's no follow thorough. I DO think they are trying to tease it like a classic m/f slowburn but without consideration to the fact that it IS different for mlm pairs, ESPECIALLY 8 seasons in. If this was season 2 or 3 it would be a different story. If we'd had sometime even this season a "classic slowburn" trope of an almost kiss or something like that, even that might be enough to pull the kind of press stunt they did. But we are kinda in uncharted waters here, with characters/actors with so much chemistry AND the willingness to follow through on it, and a show/network/showrunner that seem to be on board, or at the very least not actively hostile. This changes the game a bit! And unfortunately the old marketing techniques are not gonna fly in the case without SOME KIND of immediate payoff, because mlm ships have been burned so many times before.

All that said, I DO think, for this episode specifically, the hard Buddie push and Buddie press before an episode where they did not even have a one-on-one scene talking together and barely spoke, WAS ship baiting people into watching what they knew was going to be a lackluster finale that was not giving anyone anything to look forward to. (Except maybe Chim becoming captain, what is anyone else even set up for next season???)

The Abbott Elementary cast can come make arguments about characters just being friends (while knowing they were getting together) to tease and rile up the audience because those shows and those m/f ships ALWAYS get the follow through, AND most viewers won't see one random article, and so will just follow the clearly laid path playing out on the show. For mlm/wlw ships, that kind of talking point plays directly into some harmful stereotypes, and fans are often looking for ANY scraps so the articles are much more likely to be seen.

IDK man. I think there is a reason they kept the writer under wraps (which should fucking tell them something about allowing that writer to continue on rhe show), and I think they hoped dropping a lot this week would be enough to carry everyone through hiatus, but if the show itself is not delivering ON SCREEN what is happening with these characters, no amout of press is going to get people to tune in. Why bother when you can catch any important character moment in an insta post or two, and read an article about the stuff happening with characters that never gets shown?

ANYWAY. I'd say disappointed but not surprised, but I AM actually surprised that the set up for a perfect 9-1-1 wacky save and triumph over death storyline was right fucking there, and they chose NOT to capitalize on it. They literally could have put a couple seconds at the end of the episode of Bobby in a lab and no one would have shut up all summer about it. I just...HOW do you utterly fail on THAT scale?

[furornocturna]

Queer Ace Charlastor shipper here also chiming in.

Charlastor is not lesbian, wlw or asexual erasure. A bisexual woman and an asexual man is not a straight couple when neither are straight. They are both queer, and neither’s identity is being erased by pairing them together. Charlie is still bi no matter what gender she dates, and being asexual does not mean Alastor is incapable of being in a relationship. Asexuality is a spectrum. If anything, it’s biphobic and acephobic to say either are “turned straight” and invalidating their LGBTQ status for dating the opposite gender.

I watched the pilot only knowing Chaggie was canon from supplemental material and while watching thought “did something change in production that they didn’t update on the wiki yet?” because there was so little there portraying them as a couple.

Then Alastor enters the scene and the sparks are EVERYWHERE.

In a matter of seconds, I was more invested in these two’s dynamic than what’s supposed to be the primary couple. Alastor is both a tentative ally and potential obstacle. He offers to help Charlie with running the hotel, but clearly states he doesn’t believe in the cause and is only in it for personal gain/entertainment at watching it fail.

He approached Charlie with this proposal because he found her disastrous interview to be the most novel thing he’s seen in years. It, in his own words, gave him something to engage in again after decades of endless, aimless, uninspired BOREDOM.

Charlie isn’t stupid. She knows his reputation and to be wary, so when she takes up his offer, she knows not to accept a deal and makes it clear that she’s not going to take shit from him.

You can do SO MUCH with this. The ways these two can challenge and inspire each other. Seeing who’s going to prove who wrong/right first. How they clash with their opposing morality and ideologies, yet bond over their shared love of performing, singing, dancing, the arts. They can contribute so much to each other’s character arcs.

Also just, that Reprise?

You expect me to watch this and not ship it a little?

I know Alastor’s an asshole, that he undeniably has ulterior motives. But where’s the fun in an Enemies to Friends to Lovers journey without the “enemies” part? Though perhaps it’s more “antagonistic tentative allies” than outright “enemies”.

The seeds of potential and their chemistry is just captivating. They both stand strong on their own as their own people with their own personalities as well as click really well as a duo in the pilot. And while they haven’t interacted much in the show proper yet, we know they’ll get some scenes together in later episodes from what we’ve seen in the trailer. And I’m excited to see how their ally-ship/friendship will be showcased.

When the show premiered, I tried to keep an open mind and hope that Chaggie would get to be fleshed out more. Only it didn’t. Four whole episodes, and every moment with them is a nothing burger. Either the scenes interchangeable being read as platonic (I’ve seen multiple people online voice how they mistook the two for just friends or sisters from their interactions in the show), or what are supposed to be more overt moments come across as hollow and shallow because there’s so little substance. No development, no chemistry, no depth, nothing.

Hell, Vaggie isn’t even a character outside being an accessory to Charlie. She’s just “the girlfriend”, and we barely even see her be that with their interactions. Everything about her revolves around Charlie. She even says this is her whole purpose practically in Episode 3. Most other things I know about her come from supplemental material and not the show itself.

I get wanting more wlw representation in media. I’m all for it. I’m also going to be critical when I see bad writing for any romantic relationship. Forced gay ships are no less annoying to watch than forced straight ships. Characters who don’t exist independent of their partner are examples of terrible writing no matter the orientation. It’s not homophobic for a queer person to want quality writing in queer representation.

I believe the upcoming 5th episode is going to involve Charlie introducing Vaggie as her gf to her dad, and supposedly they’ll have a romantic duet together too, but why did it take this long to get an explicit, unambiguously romantic confirmation in the show when it wants us to believe they’ve been an established couple this whole time?

I don’t ship Chaggie because nothing about them sells me that they’re a couple. I’m trying to like it, but there’s nothing there for me to invest in. I need substance to be invested, not just cute screenshots. And I actually feel bad that this is all there’s been to show for this couple for the people who do ship it. You guys are barely being given SCRAPS compared to everything the show’s given for HuskerDust by comparison and they’re not even official yet!

I know Charlastor will never be canon, but I’m still going to ship it regardless. The stories and themes that can be told with it are so much more engaging than anything Chaggie has provided in canon.

Can't belive people think Charlastor is popular because of lesbiphobia and not because it's just... better.

Like I wish Chaggie had that type of dynamic. Like

Surprise surprise people like naive character that has to work with a powerful being x powerful being that has to work with naive character + their relationship is developed through the story and they become friends/lovers more than naive character x her gf (that naive girl disrespects all the time)

Wow yeah I wonder why do people like Charlastor more

Exactly! Despite what Viv's fandom likes to parrot, not everything is about homophobia and plenty of Charlastor shippers are queer. People just gravitate towards whatever ship they feel has the most chemistry, and for a lot of people, that's Alastor and Charlie.

[dxringred]

HELLO FELLOW ST/DDIE NOT-QUITE HATER BUT JFC DO THE DOUBLE STANDARDS REALLY NEED TO BE SO OBVIOUS?

i love the fandom, but this issue has been present since. forever. since steve stans were shitting on nancy after the halloween party scene, making fics and long-ass paragraphs bemoaning steve’s puppy-dog eyes when he heard that nancy say that she was pretending to be in love. as if the scene wasn’t about NANCY and her grief??

and then again! when robin came out, the initial “holy shit, we finally have some canon queer rep of quality!! robin’s such a cool character, and this was a beautiful scene!” people immediately latched on to the fact that she didn’t label herself explicitly as a lesbian in order to shove her and steve together. and again, the steve stans raved about what an excellent ally steve was, when the scene was about ROBIN and pushing past her obvious fear to tell steve something like that.

and most recently, with the vickie and robin scenes. i personally don’t ship them, but even that was, apparently, content tailored for the steve stans. the fact that the directors might be leading into an actual romance life for a canonical lesbian character (though nancy has literally been right there. even the actors are in support of the ship)? unimportant because look!! look how proud steve looks in that scene, look how happy he is for robin. wtf.

steve’s a great guy, a fun character and he’s got depth and kindness etc etc. eddie… i mean. he’s also really cool and i get why people like him, i really do. but he barely had a season’s worth of character development, and already he’s a fan favorite. i like the ship, but i hate the fact that once again, the fandom is full-on obsessing over the “cute white boys” and neglecting the wlw pairings

and it’s so much more than a bunch of people upset that their ship isn’t as popular. this is an actual issue, where the lack of wlw content and attention is forever being overshadowed by the mlm pairings.

damn, i didn't even know it was possible to send asks this long-

sadly, i don't know any history of the stranger things fandom since i've never watched the show, let alone engaged in the fandom, but i can attest to the rock/ie one since i've seen several posts mentioning how steve looked like a proud parent or w/e, and then others being all "poor steve" since he's single while robin has vickie and nancy has johnathon. (for now.)

on his own, steve's an okay character to me. his development was good until 4B messed it up with him latching onto nancy again, but even with that, i've never gotten the impression that there's a lot of. depth to him? like it's very much the basic character arc of "popular highschool asshole realizes it is bad to be an asshole and that he actually cares for others". totally fine but hardly groundbreaking lol. and if i see his chest hair one more time-

i haven't watched the show, so i can't attest to eddie outside of gifs, but again. nothing special from what i've seen. his little arc seems to be 'manning up'? instead of fleeing like he did with chrissy (which i thought was a perfectly valid reaction, frankly), he dives into lover's lake, helps save steve and then sacrifices himself which ultimately then lowkey negates the development because he's fucking dead lol.

maybe it's just because he's a far cry from my type of male character, but. yeah, don't get the fan favorite thing. don't get the petition with 75k signatures. don't get the ship (no issue with it yet though) when they barely had any scenes. it's definitely a case of them both being (arguably) attractive white men. cishet girls in particular will eat that shit right up.

the fact that ste/ddie shippers are now going around reporting ronance shippers and calling them names for giving them a taste of their own medicine and/or politely asking them to tag their fucking fics correctly is disgusting imo. it's giving lesbophobia. they seem to think their ship is more important, and therefore nobody else's tags and spaces matter. the way they behave, you'd think the average age of that fandom is 12. (and i wouldn't be surprised if it is, honestly.)

the only canon lgbt+ character is wlw. (i can't speak for will. i don't know if his sexuality has actually been definitely stated yet, and it hasn't in the show as far as i'm aware, so. vickie also isn't confirmed anything as far as i know.) and yet somehow mlm pairings with minimal scenes are heavily overshadowing any wlw content. (first it was billy/steve which. what the fuck, actually. now it's ste/ddie.) i don't know what the huge disparity is rooted in (lesbophobia, misogyny, mlm fetishization, all of the above) but it's fucking annoying and boring. broaden your horizons. get a grip. uggggghhh.

[janisarkisian]

The Beauty of Your Dance

It’s hard to believe this is my first contribution to wlw renegades week!! Anyway, today’s prompt was enemies to lovers dance au and im here to danceeee!! okay have some novissa. 

Pairing: Novissa

Word Count: 1,889

When Nova had entered the 8th grade, she had gotten serious about dance. Before, she had been serious to an extent. She had danced all the time and had gotten her pointe shoes two years before. And the best thing was, everyone knew she was the best at her studio. She worked day and night at Anarchy Academy of Ballet, but part of her wanted freedom. 

Ever since she had decided to become serious about dance, she had been sworn off to talk with people from any other studio. Technically, no one was stopping her from chatting with them, but it just wasn’t what was expected of her. 

And of course, today was the day that Reject School of Dance held an invitational. Most studios were just there as a formality. The real competition was between Anarchy and Reject. Narcissa Cronin, their best dancer there, and was just as stuck-up and snobby as the people she worked with. Nova tried hard to understand what she was going through, she tried to remember they were working through the same problems. But the problem was, she needed to hate Narcissa Cronin, simply because of who she was. 

As she tied her pointe shoes backstage, Nova regretted not sewing and breaking in a new pair yesterday. With all the dancing she did, Anarchy shipped her two new pairs a week, which still wasn’t enough. 

“Ew,” A Reject dancer laughed as she walked past, “I can’t believe you even have the guts to go up against the Rejects. You should probably save yourself the embarrassment, honey.” 

Nova’s lip curled up in disgust, but she wasn’t about to fight back. Before a dance competition, it was always best to have good mental health. Arguing wouldn’t help her. 

Finally standing, she did a few releves’ on pointe before marking her dances. This year, she had a duet with Winston Pratt, a man she didn’t particularly like due to his clownish antics, and a trio with Honey Harper and Ingrid Thompson. Not to mention their smash group number for the end. She knew the Anarchists would win this year. They had to. 

She watched in the wings as the first number started. As expected it was a really big group number from the Rejects. She had to admit they were really good. The energy their dancers had couldn’t be mistaken. And they all looked happy. Truthfully, it could have just been the lighting, but there was no mistaking the sparkles in their smiles. By the end of the dance, the audience clapped so loud she thought they would eliminate the rest of the dancers for the Rejects being so amazing. 

The next dance was pretty unimportant. It was a solo done by a boy who danced at Renegade Ballet. She had never even heard of the studio, but she wondered how he was able to dance with his cane. He made it seem effortless, but she knew it must have been incredibly hard for him to dance with a disability like that. 

Watching as the dances slipped by one after the next, she started to get anxious for her duet, which was coming up soon. Finally, the dance before her came on, so she checked herself over once, and headed further into the wings. 

When she got on stage, everything melted away. The competition, the crowd, even Winston, who was spinning her around. There were no Rejects and no Anarchists. It was just her, and this beautiful dance. Nothing could change that. As the lighting went dark, she realized that was the first time she had ever nailed that dance perfectly. As much as she practiced, there were still moves that didn’t come perfectly natural to her that were even harder to do with Winston. But on that stage, she had been perfect.

The tensions during intermission were high. The most communication that happened were whispers between dancers in the same companies. Nova’s anxiety started to kick in, so she did what she always did to help. Plies, crunches, and pirouettes all helped her relax and get into show mode. 

“Nova,” Ingrid spoke while spraying more hairspray on her bun, “We all know you’re going to be great, stop worrying about it.” 

“I can’t,” she responded, knowing it was true, “There’s always an opportunity for someone to get better. If I stop now, I won’t be the best forever. I’ve got to keep persisting. Narcissa Cronin’s probably practicing right now too. I have to beat her.” 

“Actually,” Honey interrupted, “She’s over there hanging out with her friends. Like you should be doing.” 

Nova dropped down from her posse, sighing. “It’s not my fault she won’t be the best at her studio soon enough.” 

“Nova,” Honey’s voice took a level on her heart. Her friends only wanted what was best for her. Maybe they were right. Maybe there was more to life than just dance. The only problem was that she had no idea what was missing. 

***

Soon enough, the intermission was over and everyone was back in the wings, hoping their studio would win. It was no surprise that Narcissa Cronin was opening Act 2 with her solo that every Reject claimed to be amazing. Nova hoped it wasn’t true, yet knowing Narcissa’s reputation, it probably was. 

As the music started, Nova felt all her worries wash away. Normally, this only happened to her when she danced, not when someone else danced. But watching Narcissa dance was like being in a dream. She flowed perfectly with the music, making the whole experience one you should have paid thousands for. Her fiery red hair lit up the stage, perfectly contrasting with the cyan lighting. Narcissa looked beautiful, and Nova couldn’t take her eyes off her. 

She was caught in a trance, something she had never seen before. Then, she heard it. Narcissa had picked up the pace of her dance and fallen. At first, Nova felt no remorse. With her enemy fallen, the victory could be her’s. But not long after, she got ahold of herself. What if Narcissa was hurt? Any dancer knew that an injury could keep you out of the studio for longer than expected. 

Narcissa didn’t appear hurt as she picked herself up, and continued her dance as nothing had happened. Nova admired her for that. If she was hurt, there were no signs of it, and if that had embarrassed her, there were no signs of it. But when she got back up, her dance didn’t have the same magical spirit it had before. It looked empty almost like she knew everyone in the crowd was disappointed. 

Her dance ended, and the crowd clapped, though it was half-hearted. Narcissa’s dance had been amazing, yet the crowd and the judges would only remember her fall. 

Still feeling remorse for Narcissa, Nova knew she needed to get ahold of herself. She, Ingrid, and Honey were on next, and they still needed to be flawless if she wanted to win. 

The dance was short, yet meaningful. It was hard too, their jumps needed to soar, and all be in perfect time. Only the most elite dancers were able to perform it. Still, she felt like she shouldn't be prepping to go onstage. She should have been with Narcissa, comforting her. 

She hoped that at least someone was there and that her whole studio hadn’t turned on her. 

There was something that Nova noticed when she went onstage. She felt happier, but sad all at the same time. Though her dance earlier had been flawless, it had been empty. This dance felt full of feelings and all the things she had missed before. It felt whole.

Before she knew it, the dance was over. It had felt so blur-of-the-moment, just like what had happened to her when she had seen Narcissa onstage. Quickly, the exited stage left, while Ingrid and Honey disappeared stage right. Since they had unloaded their stuff near stage right, she would have to walk around the large stage, but she didn’t mind it. It would give her a quick moment to process the blur of feelings she had just experienced. 

There were many reasons Nova liked the Reject’s theatre. The main reason was that the stage was so big. But another always-present reason was all the dark corridors. It was so easy to get lost if you wanted to, but easy to stay on track. Since she was done for a while, she wanted to get lost. Because sometimes, getting lost was so much easier than facing the things that were directly in front of you. 

She was so lost in her thoughts and problems that she barely heard the sniffle that came from a short, dark corridor which Nova was 87% sure led out to the stage, yet most people used the main wings. 

“Are you okay?” she asked the mysterious figure, who appeared to be pretty distressed. 

“No,” the voice responded. She now knew it was a girl's voice, and it was pretty too. It was probably the most serene voice she had ever heard. 

“Do you want some company?” She asked the shadow, hoping she would say yes. 

“Are you a Reject?” The girl asked, and Nova was unsure how to respond. 

“No,” She responded hoping she had made the right choice, “I’m an Anarchist.” 

“Then be my guest.” 

Nova stepped into the shadows, somewhat shocked to see the girl was none other than Narcissa Cronin, her former worst enemy. 

“Are you Narcissa Cronin?” She needed to be sure. 

“Yeah. Reject School of Dance’s biggest disappointment. I’m sure you love me for that. The Anarchists are practically guaranteed to win this year. All because of me.” 

“You know what?” She asked Narcissa, “I don’t really even care about winning this year. I mean, I did, but something happened to me, and now I feel like it doesn’t even matter. Anarchists, Rejects, we’re all human so why the hell does it matter who wins this stupid dance invitational?” She felt adrenaline rush through her. Why was she admitting things like this to Narcissa Cronin, of all people?” 

“I think that’s really cool because it’s a perspective I’ve never heard before. All the Rejects just want to win. It’s like their only priority. And truthfully, I’m like them. I’m like them so much that I’ve pretty much forgotten to enjoy dance.” She stopped, and for a moment, neither of them said anything. “I’m sorry,” Narcissa said after a moment, “Honestly, I have no idea why I’m telling you all of this. I don’t even know your name.” 

“It’s Nova. Nova Artino.” 

She watched Narcissa’s eyes grow big. “You’re Nova Artino? But I heard you were like, the most competitive person on Earth!” She let out half of a laugh, but the statement hit Nova pretty hard. 

“Well, I used to be.” It was true. 

“Look, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. You were really nice to talk to.” 

“Thanks. You were too. Do you feel better?” 

“Well normally, when I’m feeling down, I just dance. But right now, I don’t think dancing is how I want to cheer myself up,” Narcissa confessed. 

“That’s fair. Will you come backstage with me? I have a number coming up.” 

“Yeah. I think I’d like that,” Narcissa grinned. 

“Then come on. Let’s dance.” 

[chemsexholmes]

MASH...

MASH...

favorite character: listen. (grabs you)listen. It's trapper, it's trapper.

least favorite character: it's so easy to say frank, and so that's what im going to do. if I had to dig deep into my soul and come up with a more honest answer(because dont get me wrong, I hate frank. but there are slimier one-off characters), I would say that freak who tried to frame margaret for assault. oh oh !oh!!! and that captain loudon wainwright iii played for like three episodes. he barely has 2 lines but I hate his ass. no reason I just don't like him.

5 favorite ships: hawkey and trapper, bj and peg, bj and hawkeye, max and soon-lee :-), and radar and that one girl he met at the airport, because omg...young love................ ..

character I find most attractive: this is actually so funny but if you eliminate trapper(arms) it's a tie between bj and margaret. little a man crunch for the dyke in the back row(me.)

character I would marry: klinger :-). or any of the nurses. margaret I wish I could say I'd get on with, but she's the exact sort of person that I for whatever reason just can't get along with irl

character I would be best friends with: klinger I think! max is so similar to some of my irl friends and just seems like a real great person to be friends with.

a random thought: putting a pin in this one. I share plenty of those here already

an unpopular opinion: not sure how unpopular this is, but wlw klinger is so important to me. I defo understand not being comfortable with interpretations that portray klinger as a trans woman but like... indulgence. in a transgender and homosexual way. on both fronts.

my canon otp: max and soon-lee.......they're sort of thrown together at the end but (at least from where I'm sitting) it managed to feel natural, and they clearly care about eachother a lot. also staying with soon-lee to help find her family was obviously a big character moment for klinger wrt maturity, and one I enjoyed a lot more than the on-screen end of max's gender-nonconformity.

non-canon otp: you already know what's happening here. "what a picture you are of gluttony....greed..lust. oral sensation."

most badass character: bizarre question to ask but I'll say margaret because she was a #girlboss

pairing I am not a fan of: ohhh mash fans drive me up the wall. let me count the ways: 1.) non-platonic pairings involving radar and anyone over like..20 if im being honest. especially with henry(established father figure.) radar's what, 19? next. 2.) hawkeye and frank. not much to say just tear em' fascists down. not like that. 3.) charles and klinger. just doesn't do it for me. -4/10 because of established charles-is-racist-and-this-is-bad reasons.

character I feel the writers screwed up: tuttle. 0/10 why did they kill him off so soon. rest in peace, captain.

favorite friendship: hawkeye and margaret...two of them. sometimes a friendship is just you and another you but with wildly different coping methods.

skipping the adoption question because I see these characters more as objects of thirst rather than parental figures and don't care to cross those wires like that.

[t0ken-g0th]

Destiel is bad for mlm. An essay with comebacks.

CLARIFICATIONS BEFORE I START: DESTIEL FANS DON'T INTERACT WITH THIS OF COURSE!!! Btw, I am mlm, I have a loving boyfriend who acts like Castiel while I act like Sam a lot... so yeah, I'm a Sastiel shipper so this post may come off as a little biased but I want to help other shippers who are against Destiel.  So if you're not a Sastiel shipper, still, don't leave- I'm not forcing you to ship it. That's wrong to force someone to ship. I'm also anti-Dean person.  In this post, there will be spoilers for Supernatural.

Ight let's put this show on the road... first off...

WHY DESTIEL IS BAD: -Yes, the ship is mlm and if canon, will be a mlm ship... but it’s bad rep. Why? Because if you want good representation, you gotta have a good relationship and not be queerbait for about 12 years. Dean literally beat Castiel up multiple times (even without the Mark of Cain). Let me ask you this fellas in a relationship... do you beat your partner? Bark commands at them 24/7? See them as a monster at times? I don’t think so.

-Stepping away from the ship itself, the fans are toxic and normally straight cis women who think they know what’s good for mlm or fetishizes mlm. (However, I’m not saying everyone who ships Destiel is straight and a cis woman) Also, the Destiel shippers will often times force others to ship that ship with them.

-What is mlm fetishization? People who solely love mlm ships- they barely have any wlw ships or straight ships. Just... mlm... or forces two males together, even if they are straight. They are or the equvialent of asking a gay male to be their 'gay friend'. That is very toxic. Destielhellers... get a new hobby, something healthier than reading/watching sexual assault, emotional abuse, and physical abuse.

COMEBACKS:

-When Castiel raised Dean from hell, he didn’t do it because “he loves Dean!” It was because Castiel is a soldier, a perfect soldier too, created by God to obey orders without question. When Castiel was first introduced to the show, he didn’t understand human emotions nor actually feel them so how could he quickly love Dean? Castiel also raised from Sam from hell.

-“#Theysilencedyou” on Instagram... the CW didn’t silence you, no one did. It was never canon in the first place. If Destiel was canon in the first place and Dean says “I love you too” OUT LOUD to Castiel, then killing Castiel off and NOT GIVING Dean a happy ending would be a “they silenced you” moment. But did that really happen? No. In the end, Castiel and Dean got a happy ending, just not together. And WOAH WOAH WOAH DON'T PULL CHARLIE INTO THIS. The show does a good job of giving her a lot of screentime about her sexuality and whatnot. She got a girlfriend multiple times. Her first death... she died in a Joan of Arc kind of way too which is awesome to me- but that's not the point with Charlie. She didn't come back in the finale because of covid and it's heavily hinted that everyone in the alternative universe place did go to heaven. I bet you anything she's in heaven right now.

-Castiel’s last words were the words he said in 15x18. He was dying. The empty was getting him. Those were his dying words, if he had said those while not dying, I would understand “they silenced you” there too. But Castiel didn’t say it while NOT dying, right? Also, there are different types of meanings behind "I love you" such as the friendship kind, which I say "I love you" to a lot of my friends, there's the family kind, and yes, there's the lover kind. Castiel most likely meant it in a family way since he said- same with Dean- that the Winchester brothers were like family to him.

-The CW writers aren’t homophobic. Here’s a list of the lgbtq+ characters from their other shows:

-Sara Lance (Arrow) -Alex Danvers (Supergirl) -Clarke Griffin (The 100) -Nyssa Raatko (Arrow) -David Singh (The Flash) -Anissa Pierce (Black Lightning) -Toni Topaz (Riverdale) -Teddy Montgomery (90210) AND MORE.

Granted, there aren't many gay men in that list. That's because they haven't found an actor who would feel comfortable playing a gay man... toxic masculinity happens guys... Reminds you of a certain character in Supernatural?

-“Kill Sam/Jared!” Sadly, I’ve seen that comment. Firstly, if you kill Jared... that’s literal murder and... dude that’s so extremist... you shouldn’t wish death upon anybody. Secondly, Sam is a main character in the show. He’s Dean’s brother. If Dean was left alone with Castiel, it still wouldn’t happen. Why? Because like we saw in the finale (15x20), Sam was mourning after Dean and it left him to FOREVER remember his brother. Dean would be the same if Sam were to die and go to heaven. Dean’s and Sam’s brotherly relationship is the glue that keeps it all together in the show. One brother is very rarely without the other in screentime.

-“Sam is Destiel’s number one cheerleader!” Okay, no, I get where they get it from... the episode, Fan Fiction (10x5). But Sam was messing with Dean because he knew how squirmy he’d get. Dean sees Castiel as a brother... and imagine being shipped with your friend that you see as family. Horrible, right? because it’s getting rid of the aspects of your relationship? Sam even shipped himself with Castiel in one of the scenes. So how would that make him a cheerleader of Destiel?

-Destiel fans admitted to being queerbaited, which is bad and can lead to other shows in the future doing that. I’m gonna add the definition of queerbaiting: "a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation." -from Wikipedia. I'm sorry but there was little queerbaiting with Destiel... because Dean would CONSTANTLY be a jerk to Castiel then we'd have like... one scene where Dean wasn't a jerk to Castiel in the episode, then never see a scene where Dean was kind to Castiel until two episodes later.

-"Dean isn’t straight!!!" Yuh he is straight, have you seen him with a man? Let alone, feel comfortable with one romantically? I'll type up all of the episodes in which he was passively homophobic later on... AND don’t push Sam into this saying some stupid stuff like “he’s homophobic!”

-“Jensen is homophobic!” I actually used to believe this until I woke up and did some research on that. How that started was by Dean, the character Jensen plays, not saying "I love you" back to Castiel/Misha. They're practically forcing the ship to happen. Jensen was just following the script, same with Misha. They're under a contract guys, they don't have much say in it. However, there have been some rumors saying Jensen is homophobic even before 15x18. I cannot confirm this but I've heard that Jensen did decline a fan's request to hold a pride flag... but there's not much context behind it because the fan themself could of been weird and creepy and harassing Jensen, or forcing Jensen to say Dean is something so he needs to hold up that pride flag. Or... yes, Jensen was lowkey being homophobic...

-Destiel fans are signing stuff to change the ending... like??? That won’t work. The cast's contract with CW is done. Also, this like the equivalent of Trump’s “STOP THE COUNT!!” and “I won the election!!!”.... changing stuff to make people believe you are right. That's hella manipulative. -[Insert that one shot of all of the crew together at the end of 15x20.] Destiel fan: "WHY WASN'T CASTIEL THERE?!! WITH DEAN IN HEAVEN?!?!!?!?!" Okay, firstly, Jack wasn't there too and he's now God, covid happens and the writers really wanted Bobby's actor to be there ((I forgot why, I'll add it in later!!! BUT THERE'S A REASON)). Mary and John Winchester could of been in that finale... there are so many characters that could of been in that finale guys, but COVID-19 happened. The lack of characters was for the actors' safety. I don't know about you but some show isn't more important than my own safety. Besides, the contract is about to be lifted, and they had other shows to act in.... Jared with Walker... Jensen with The Boys...

-"How is Destiel bad for mlm...? It's gay ship..." I already answered that question, but I just wanted to remind you guys that Destiel fans WILL ask this. But I'll sum it up for you guys: it's fetishization because you're pairing up a toxic man who sees that other person as another brother/best friend. Also, that 'toxic man' isn't bisexual. He always has been with females and makes lowkey homophobic remarks. On top of that, Dean has beaten Castiel up sooooo many times, both physically and mentally. ***This essay is a WIP... and I take constructive criticism. However, if you are a Destiel fan and write about this, I will ignore you.

[x-ladydisdain-x]

for the salty ask thing: 1,4,6,23

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Adlock. It’s a canonical lesbian and a heavily gay coded man?? Why ship them when they could be such a powerful wlw&mlm friendship??

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

Adlock and Sherlolly. Sherlolly, I understand I just don’t like it. Honestly I feel like Molly deserves better than Sherlock. Both are pretty popular I think, Sherlolly probably more so than Adlock.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*

I used to totally not get drarry but when I joined tumblr I saw a lot of drarry stuff and now I think it’s kinda cute. I wouldn’t read a fic for it, but I like the dynamic.

23. Unpopular character you love?

MYCROFT

I don’t really ship Mystrade (I’m not against it, I see it, I’m just not in the fandom) but I adore Mycroft and outside of the Mystrade fandom he barely gets any love which makes me sad

[yyrz]

it’s in the water, baby

note: this is my piece for the @bnha-wlw-exchange! my pair was @mina1717 and her list had tsuchako as her number one ship, so ofc i had to go with them!! this is a tsuchako avatar au (also ft. momokendou and implied todoiimido) that’s purely fluff. 

love them girls

ao3 link!!

monday.

“Do you know what you’re going to tell Izuku-chan?”

A hand touched the edge of her shoulder, a little tap to let her know that there was someone behind her. Ochako wasn’t a jumpy person by any sense of the word, but the slight graze on bare skin caused her to let go of the flowers in her arms. Everything fell, a myriad of pinks and yellows coming into contact with the ground while some were surreptitiously swept by the sudden breeze (likely caused by her).

Tsuyu looked as impeccable as always when Ochako turned around, though the bright blush that marred Tsuyu’s cheeks told Ochako of her embarrassment.

Laughter bubbled out of Ochako at the sight. She gestured to the flowers scattered around them and, with a flick of her wrists, commanded the air to push the flowers into one pile by her feet. Airbending her surroundings to order was always a nice skill to have. Ochako made sure to do that for most of her chores.

“Sorry about that Ochako-chan,” Tsuyu apologized, picking out a lone flower that had found its way to Ochako’s hair. “Also, you missed one.”

Ochako laughed again, much more pronounced than her first. Tsuyu always had that special way of bringing out Ochako’s smile, plastering it for the world to see. Even as an accident, she could always count on Tsuyu to make her laugh. 

“No worries Tsuyu-chan,” Ochako replied, taking that small flower from Tsuyu’s hands and examining it. It had a fading pink color, with a petal missing. “I haven’t thought of what to say to him. Besides, he’s a bit busy right now.”

They both turned their heads towards Izuku, who was in the middle of learning a thing or two about earthbending from Tenya. The look of pure concentration on Izuku’s face, coupled with the mechanical way he was swinging his arms, was all it took for Ochako to start giggling again. Even Tsuyu cracked a small smile at the sight, noting the invigorated friend-turned-teacher beside Izuku, who watched the Avatar fondly.

“You should say something. Izuku-chan’s planning to leave for the Earth Kingdom in a fortnight.” Tsuyu leaned over Ochako’s shoulder (Ochako’s brain was trying to process how close Tsuyu was now), only to pluck something from her sleeves. “There was another one.”

Certainly, after that display, Ochako would be flushed red and stuttering. And she probably already was, or at least her brain currently was, because the silence that stretched between them was far too long to be considered normal. 

Tsuyu was the picture of nonchalance, holding out the small flower for Ochako to take. 

Someone let out a strangled cough from behind them, and at once, whatever spell that enveloped Ochako and Tsuyu broke into two.

Itsuka stood by the threshold of her summer home, staring at the two girls with a mischievous grin lightening her face. Beside her was Momo, who was much more amicable in her expression, though Ochako noticed how her face was flushed red.

She wondered why, and from what? Was Momo sick?

Before she could voice out her concern, a shout from the house called for all of them to come inside. Specifically her, Tsuyu, Izuku, Tenya, Itsuka and Momo. 

“You don’t need to shout!” Itsuka bellowed back, earning herself a tap on the cheek from her companion, hushing her.

Momo turned back to Ochako and Tsuyu, who watched the exchange curiously. “We came out to call you. It’s dinner time.” Momo said as a way of explanation. When that was said and done, she took Itsuka’s hand into hers and entered the house again, leaving Ochako and Tsuyu to stare at their retreating backs.

Ochako stole a glance beside her; Tsuyu was still watching the two as they turned to a corner. She was wringing her hands together; like she wanted to do something but was second-guessing herself. The flower had long fallen to the ground now, but Ochako didn’t care about that. 

She’d been having particularly specific thoughts lately; wanting to hold Tsuyu’s hands, running her thumbs against Tsuyu’s palms— wondering how the calluses of her knuckles felt.

They’ve never felt as intrusive before. It was only until she’d seen Momo and Itsuka casually holding each other close that they've started to occupy every moment she spent with Tsuyu.

 ///

 Dinner in the Kendou household was a noisy affair. The large group that scattered around the room never ceased in their chattering. To Ochako, everything was background noise when her brain wouldn’t stop thinking about Tsuyu’s hands. 

Her eyes wandered around and saw her friends mingling with each other.

Itsuka sat beside Momo, head lowered to hide beneath the girl’s braided hair. Momo was whispering something, from the subtle way her lips moved. 

Prince Shouto was teasing Izuku while Tenya moved to defend the smaller man’s honor. 

Ochako couldn’t ask for a more peaceful night. 

Now, if only she would stop overthinking.

Tsuyu nudged her ribs when Momo placed a cup on the table, having zoned out from whatever story was being told. Ochako looked up to see the prince narrating to the table. 

He was talking about that one time when Prince Natsuo took a fire ferret home after his trip from the Earth Kingdom and let it loose in the Fire Lord’s chamber. The fire ferret survived the ordeal, but the Fire Lord found himself under the ridicule of his younger siblings for the next few months.

“Who would’ve thought Touya-nii could shout that loud and that high?” Prince Shouto said, as the table erupted with laughter. Everyone began to share their own stories then, except Ochako, who remained eerily silent.

“You okay Ochako-chan?” Tsuyu asked, watching her stare at the untouched cup of tea in front of her.

Ochako gave Tsuyu a half-hearted nod. Leave it to Tsuyu to notice her sulking. She lifted the cup to her mouth and tasted the sweetened tea on her tongue, just the way she liked it. Requesting more than one dollop of honey made it better, in her opinion. 

Once her tea was all gone, Ochako excused herself to go to the bathroom, leaving behind a contemplative Tsuyu, who watched her until the door closed.

 ///

 The smell of tea wafted through the air when Ochako entered the sitting room after the ordeal that was dinnertime. Everyone was stuffed to the brim with delicious food, courtesy of their host, who was now sitting cross-legged by the fireplace. Itsuka was laughing loudly, slapping her thighs in an effort not to do the same to Momo. Meanwhile, Momo was giggling, a hand covering her mouth as she allowed herself to enjoy the moment.

Itsuka wasn’t as flamboyant in showing her roots, unlike Momo and Shouto, who carried their family legacies on their shoulders. They held themselves up to a standard, and it was hard to let go of tradition and etiquette.

Maybe that was why Momo was so, so smitten with Itsuka.

Belatedly, Ochako remembered Momo’s face from earlier. She wasn’t sick at all. A giggle almost spilled from her lips.

“Hey, Ochako?” Izuku’s voice halted her thoughts to a standstill.

Avatar Izuku smiled at her. Trepidation was present on the lines crossing his features, but he still sat on the floor with her. Ochako had taken her place by the edge of the room, so there was room enough for the both of them, plus the pile of flowers she’d picked earlier.

She was weaving them into crowns, a habit left over from a time when she still lived with her parents, all the way down at the Southern Air Temple.

“You alright Izuku-kun? Need anything?” She asked, hands still tangled within the inch of flowers she’d already strung together. 

Izuku sighed, picking up a bunch of flowers left on the floor. His hands were scarred, long gone stitches still visible beneath the skin of his palms. When he glanced beside him, he saw Ochako looking at him curiously, like she was waiting for him to say what he needed to say.

“You probably heard from Tsuyu, but I’m planning on going to the Earth Kingdom in a few days, and, well, I was wondering if you’re still willing to come with us?” 

He started to make crowns with the flowers in his hands as he spoke. Ochako had taught him how, after he asked her once during their trip to Ember Island. In and out the stems went, and Ochako watched him, for a moment, as he worked.

She didn’t answer him. Not yet, at least. She kept on her task, letting Izuku get to a quarter of his crown done. When she’d finally made one, a complete flower crown with the pink and yellow Ixora plants she’d gathered earlier, Ochako finally stopped. 

She didn’t need to think twice about it. This was what she’d been talking to Tsuyu about for the last few days, after all.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I want to go with you?” She answered, noticing the way Izuku brows furrowed. “You don’t want me to? Or,” the grin that settled across her mouth grew tenfold, and the way her eyes flitted across the room, resting on Tenya and Shouto, made Izuku shift in his seat, “you just wanted to keep Tenya-kun and Shouto-kun to yourself eh?”

Ochako watched as Izuku’s cheeks turned beet red. She couldn’t help but let out a guffaw, hands falling to her sides. The finished flower crown fell to her lap, and she let it sit there while Izuku tried getting his bearings back. 

“Ochako!” Izuku almost launched himself towards Ochako, but didn’t, because it was at that precise moment that Shouto decided to sit with the two of them.

Ochako laughed again. Izuku couldn’t even fathom what his life was now, and the prince watched as the avatar choked on air. The look of concern that flashed across Shouto’s face vanished the moment he glimpsed at Ochako.

“I’m going to get a drink. D’you want anything Izuku-kun? Shouto-kun?” She asked. Just so that she’d have a reason to leave them alone; because as much as she’d like to stay, Shouto was too shy to ever show emotion when she was around and Izuku was slowly getting a conniption from the way she was wiggling her eyebrows at his direction. 

Izuku continued to choke on nothing. Shouto murmured a quiet “no.”.

Ochako didn’t need to ask twice. She rose from her position, holding the crown she’d made, and made a beeline for the kitchen.

 ///

 Tsuyu watched Ochako drag herself into the kitchen, flower crown in hand, heaving herself towards the sink with all the grace of a dying cat.

“You couldn’t tell him.” Tsuyu didn’t need to ask.

“Nah. I chickened out.” 

“That’s fair.” 

Both were silent as Ochako held out the crown she had. Tsuyu looked at it curiously, staring at the four-petaled flowers weaved together to form a beautiful wreath. Then again, anything Ochako made was beautiful in Tsuyu’s eyes. 

“For you.” Ochako grinned. She made a gesture as though asking permission to put the crown on Tsuyu’s head. Tsuyu let her, bowing so that Ochako could do it.

The crown fit perfectly on Tsuyu’s head, nestled nicely on her hair. Tsuyu blinked and smiled. Her teeth showed and her cheeks hurt because of how big she was smiling.

“Thank you, Ochako-chan.” She gingerly touched the crown, making sure not to accidentally crush it. Tsuyu didn’t want all of Ochako’s hard work to go to waste. 

 ///

 Ochako watched Tsuyu prod at the crown, delicately, carefully. Even with her large hands, Tsuyu had a semblance of grace that Ochako often associated with royalty.

In the crevices of her head, far from public scrutiny, Ochako thought of holding Tsuyu’s hands again.

  tuesday.

 When the sun rose the next day, Ochako knew she had to talk to Izuku. She lifted herself from her bed, shielding her eyes as light filtered into her room. She glanced around, noting that most of the items in her room belonged to Itsuka. Everything she owned could fit in a knapsack, but with how they traveled, a knapsack was all they could carry.

Itsuka was so good to let them borrow her things. Momo too, if she thought about it. Ochako had long since allowed them to pamper her when they wanted to, though she made sure to pay them back when she could.

She never did, but not for lack of trying. 

Laughter seeped beneath the cracks of the bedroom door. Early mornings were a routine in the Kendou household, though it was mostly because of Izuku and his training regimen. The Fire Nation blood in Shouto rose with the sun too and often, they would be seen training together, doing katas under the early morning light. 

Sometimes, Tenya would join them. Ochako would see them when she found herself awake at those ungodly hours, peering through the windows.

Once, they even offered her to join in. Ochako quickly declined them, running out before they could persuade her. She didn’t want to intrude on their time, and besides that, she was never going to wake up as early and be as energetic as they were. 

She could hear someone outside her door, feet padding along the wooden hallway. Not even a second passed when she heard a voice. “Are you awake, Ochako?”

“Yeah. Door’s open, just let yourself in!” She said, moving to the edge of her bed.    

In came Momo, who closed the door with a quiet click. She was already so well put-together even in that early morning, with the way her hair was coiled into her usual ponytail and how she’d donned her traveling clothes. Ochako belatedly remembered that she was the Yaoyorozu heiress, so she had to be presentable at all times.

“You going somewhere, Momo-chan?” Ochako asked, standing up to stretch. The joints in her back cracked nicely. She let out a satisfied groan.

“Oh yes. Itsuka and I are going to the market place to buy some supplies.”

“Isn’t it too early for that?”

Momo was shaking her head. “Ochako-chan… it’s noon.”

“Oh.”

A giggle escaped Momo. “Well! I just wanted to ask you if you needed anything in particular? I’m asking now so we won’t have to make another trip. Goodness knows how long we can stay here, after all.”

Ochako grinned, walking towards the closet where she kept her clothes. She plucked one out and stared at the fabric. It was faded in places and thinner in some. 

“Maybe a new traveling coat?” Ochako asked, turning to toss her old coat towards Momo. She caught it and rubbed her fingers against the thinner spots.

“A new traveling coat then.” Momo agreed, placing the old one on Ochako’s bed. “We’ll be back before dinner, I hope. It’s Tsuyu-chan’s turn to cook so it shouldn’t be a problem if we’re a bit later than expected.”

She took another look around the room, nodding to herself. Ochako watched Momo’s gaze swept her surroundings before it settled back at her. “You should help her later. She’d appreciate it, you know.”

Ochako was silent as Momo closed the door behind her. The way she said that, and then the way she left with a mischievous grin reminiscent of Itsuka’s own, worried Ochako.

 ///

 It was quiet around the house when Ochako finally left her room. Everyone (and by that, she meant Izuku, Shouto, Tenya, and Tsuyu) had converged by the sitting room, talking amongst themselves. 

Ochako’s appearance by the entrance caused everyone in the room to look up, greeting her in different ways. Izuku’s was an energetic ‘good morning’, Tenya’s was a booming ‘good afternoon’, Shouto’s was a curt nod and Tsuyu kept quiet.

That was because, instead of greeting Ochako, she stood up and made a beeline towards the girl, pulling her before she could even take a step inside.

“Kitchen. You haven’t eaten yet.” Tsuyu simply said.

The kitchen was empty when they arrived. Tsuyu motioned to the plate on the table and it took all of three seconds for Ochako to realize that, yes, she was hungry, and not because of the way her stomach had loudly grumbled as the faint smell of cooked salmon hit her nose. 

A fierce red dusted her cheeks as Tsuyu chuckled. “This is why you should wake up earlier Ochako. You missed both breakfast and lunch.”

Ochako’s cheeks puffed with feigned annoyance. “Hey! It’s not my fault I was sleepy!”

Tsuyu laughed as Ochako settled on the wooden chair, removing the plastic wrap that kept her late lunch clean. The smell of food intensified as she took a whiff of cooked salmon and fried rice, and her stomach protested from the lack of food entering her system. She sent a sheepish grin towards Tsuyu, who couldn’t help but giggle, urging her to eat.

“Thanks for the meal!”

The food was halfway gone when Ochako glanced at Tsuyu, who’d taken to brewing tea for the both of them. Steam rose from the kettle, and just as Ochako swallowed the last bite of her rice and salmon, Tsuyu poured out their drinks into two small cups. Before she could even ask of it, Tsuyu had also taken a jar of honey from the cupboard.  

“Momo-chan said something about them probably getting home late,” Ochako said as she spooned honey into her tea, “she also said you were going to cook dinner later?”

Tsuyu hummed, taking a sip of her tea. It hadn’t cooled in the slightest, but waterbending scorching hot tea was a technique she’d long since mastered. Just knowing that people’s jaw hit the floor when she’d take a sip of the newly brewed drink sent her on a metaphorical high. 

Was that a bit mean? She thought it was.

“Yes, I’m going to make curry for later unless you want something else?” 

“Curry’s fine! I could even help you if you want?” 

“It’d be nice. Izuku-chan was supposed to but he’s going out with Shouto-chan later.” Tsuyu smiled, and Ochako’s brain melted at the sight. Her thoughts spiraled from what Tsuyu had said about Izuku and Shouto. Any other day, she’d have pounced on the information and gossiped with Tsuyu (and Momo and Itsuka if they were there). But, right now, she was distracted by the way Tsuyu’s face lit up.

Absently, she reached for her cup, only to retract her hand with a loud yelp.

Her cup had spilled, and scalding tea cascaded across the table and drenched her fingers. 

With no time lost, Tsuyu bent both the water from the pouch that hung by her waist and the spilled tea. The tea was dumped back into the cup, sat upright once more, while clean water covered Ochako’s hand. 

Ochako was red in the face, both at her embarrassing display of airheadedness and the fact that Tsuyu’s hand was touching hers, albeit with a sheen of liquid separating the two. It glowed bright and blinding for a few minutes before it was gone again.

Her hand felt better already. She felt better already. Well, everything except for her heart, which was probably trying to fly out of her ribcage.

Once the water was back in Tsuyu’s pouch, she turned a sharp eye towards Ochako. “You should be careful Ochako,” Tsuyu chastised, “you were lucky I was here to heal that.”

“Yeah, sorry about that Tsuyu-chan,” Ochako bit her lip. “I was just, uh, there was something on my mind.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“O-Oh! No, I don’t, I mean, it’s nothing!”

With only the vaguest sense of disappointment, Tsuyu relented, dropping the topic altogether. The slight grimace on her lips told Ochako that she should be truthful and yet, she didn’t say anything else. 

How do you tell your friend you want to hold her hand and then, possibly, if she’d allow it, that you’d like to kiss her too?

  wednesday.

 Ochako sat beside Izuku, cheeks puffed in an almost comical fashion. She tucked her legs beneath her body and crossed her arms. Her breath came out in short, shallow puffs like she’d been running a marathon outside the blistering Fire Nation heat. 

Now, why she’d do that, Izuku didn’t know.

The Avatar, bless him, continued to read the scroll unfurled on his lap, blocking out the aura Ochako was continuously sending out in waves. He came to appreciate the intense focus needed for meditation at times like what was unfolding in front of him, especially when the topic felt heavy that it had Ochako ‘I will never shut up about your crush on Shouto and Tenya until you tell them’ Uraraka as quiet as a tamed lion-cat.

Minutes passed before Ochako seemed to have calmed down. Izuku rolled the scroll, neatly tying a piece of string around it, before placing it on the table. 

It was as if she’d been waiting for that exact moment because Ochako uncrossed her arms and flailed towards Izuku.

“I’m sorry Izuku-kun,” her voice was loud, “I don’t think I can come with you after all!”

“Does it have anything to do with Tsuyu?” Izuku took the scroll out of range from Ochako’s swatting hands. Better to keep it out of harm’s way.

The silence that stretched between them and the abrupt end to Ochako’s movements confirmed Izuku’s question. 

He watched her. The airbender in him watched as she heaved a heavy sigh, decompressing her thoughts into the breathing techniques taught to them by the monks of the Eastern Air Temple.

Without waiting for her answer, Izuku stood up to gather two cups left out for him. The teapot he’d been given to use was still warm to the touch. Izuku poured for both of them, then headed back to sit beside Ochako and handed her one of the cups. 

“How do you do it?” She murmured, accepting the cup he held out. Their fingers brushed and all Izuku could think about was how it would have been easier had he felt that familiar jolt of electricity for Ochako instead of their two other friends. Maybe Ochako was thinking of the same thing, eyes drawn to her hands. 

“Do what?” 

“You know, spend time with Shouto-kun and Tenya-kun and not get an aneurysm.” 

Izuku laughed. It was deep and full of mirth. At any other time, he’d stutter and weave through his words with an embarrassing flourish. “I get what you mean. I don’t know how I can function when I’m with them. But I have to tell you, my brain dies when it’s only the three of us together.”

That made her giggle, mouth haphazardly covered by a bandaged hand. If Izuku noticed it (actually, Ochako would eat a sock if he didn’t), he said nothing. Ochako busied herself with imagining how Izuku would flail around and mutter incessantly, going on and on about Shouto and Tenya’s bending styles or whatever thought came to him. 

“Hm, it’s like, I do want to spend more time with her, but—”

“But you’re not sure because you want to go with her even though you already promised me you’d stick by me until the end of my training?” Ochako nodded. 

“Yeah, that.” Awkward laughter filled the air. She was scratching the back of her head, like admitting it was something embarrassing. 

“You’re not coming with us then?” Izuku asked though he knew what the answer was.

Ochako looked at the table again, head low. “Yeah. I, well, that’s what I wanted to tell you before. Maybe, I was planning on going with Tsuyu-chan to the Northern Water Tribe. She asked me if I wanted to come with her, and, well, I want to go with her.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, then you should!” At that, Izuku gave her one of his brightest smiles, something sincere and heartfelt supporting his expression. “You should do what your heart tells you, and besides, I have Tenya and Shouto with me! Plus Momo and Itsuka too.”

Ochako finally looked up, watching as Izuku took her hand into his. They were warm, likely his firebending at work. Or maybe it was just him and the way he brought her his brand of optimism. “It’s not like we won’t see each other! Maybe after the Earth Kingdom, I can drop by the Water Tribes.” 

He offered her a wide grin, one that she returned in full.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to turn back on my promise,” Izuku gave her a pointed look. “Okay, it’s fine, it’s fine!”

Her heart swelled with relief.

 ///

 They both shared a conspiratory smile. Ochako was glad to have cleared that up with Izuku.

Now, it was time to tell Tsuyu.

  thursday.

 Tsuyu sat on the grass, legs tucked beneath her as she weaved through the piles of flowers resting by her knees. Half-finished crowns littered the ground, a variety of pinks and yellows decorating her surroundings. She knew she was making a mess of things, discarding those that looked deformed and starting over with a new batch.

It was only because Tsuyu wanted to make the perfect crown to give to Ochako.

Preferably, something that didn’t fall apart, or something that didn’t look so grotesque compared to the ones Ochako made on a whim.

Like the one sitting on her desk drawer back in her room. The one Ochako made yesterday when she was still thinking of what to say to Izuku. Even though it wasn’t really for Tsuyu, she thought it was the most beautiful thing she’d been gifted.

So there she was, attempting to make flower crowns while everyone had done their chores. Ochako was with Izuku and Tenya, so it was highly unlikely for her to find Tsuyu fiddling with the flowers. Shouto had slept that afternoon, and Itsuka and Momo were nowhere to be found.

She thought it was the perfect time to make crowns. She hadn’t realized that a person crept along the edges of her vision until a shadow shielded her from the midday sun. Looking up, Tsuyu found herself face-to-face with the lady of the house, grinning at her as though she stumbled across a secret worth sharing.

Itsuka’s hair, held up by her typical side-ponytail, swung at Tsuyu’s face. She looked at Tsuyu’s form and, then, at the unfinished flower crowns that were scattered across the grass. Her eyes twinkled with mirth, but before she could say anything, Momo appeared from out of nowhere to pull her back. 

Tsuyu was thankful. 

That feeling was short-lived when she noticed how Momo’s expression mirrored that of Itsuka’s. It rose with an equal amount of teasing at the helm, just at the sight of all the flowers littering their surroundings. Tsuyu’s brows narrowed as Momo let out a giggle, sitting next to her while Itsuka continued to hover over them.

“Do you need any help Tsuyu-chan?” Momo asked, gesturing to the flowers around them. Yes, they were a mess, and yes, Tsuyu probably needed help. Badly, if they took into account the progress she was currently making.

Which was to say, none at all. 

“I know who those are for~” Itsuka sang, nudging Tsuyu as the other girl took a seat on her other side. She was sandwiched between the two taller girls, who sported the same facial expression that spelled nothing but trouble. 

“Itsuka please, Tsuyu-chan looks like she needs help.” Momo picked up one of the flower crowns resting near her shin, turning it over like one of her art pieces. With the smallest of grins, she then said, “although we both can tell that these are all for Ochako-chan.”

Tsuyu’s heart wanted to jump out of her ribcage, or possibly melt and fuse with the blood rushing to her reddening cheeks. The teasing lilt in Momo’s tone betrayed her true intentions, and Tsuyu could do nothing but allow the slaughter to commence. 

“Aw, you don’t have to be shy Tsuyu!” 

The way Momo was looking at Itsuka despite the loudness of her voice, that soft expression that she had, had made Tsuyu abruptly ask, “who confessed first?”

“Huh?” Momo said as Itsuka replied, “it was Momo.”

A beat passed them. Tsuyu’s expectant gaze switched between the two girls. 

Momo’s face flushed a deep shade of red (likely from embarrassment), as she bellowed a sharp, “Itsuka!”, earning herself a slap on the shoulder from the other female, who had been laughing mercilessly.

“But Tsuyu, just go for it. We know what you want to do, and if things go south, we’ll be there.”

“Not to say it’ll go as badly as you’re imagining it because it certainly won’t,” Momo piped up, rubbing the shoulder that had an unfortunate run-in with Itsuka’s hand. 

“Now, didn’t you want help with your flower crowns?”

 ///

 Tsuyu’s hair fanned underneath her head, laying on the ground as if it were her bed. A whole hour had passed. Her fingers were itchy from all the flowers she’d ruined. Momo and Itsuka had long since left her to go to their rooms, leaving her to wallow in her apparent distress.

A lone flower crown sat in her lap. Only one had managed to be presentable from the numerous others she’d been weaving the past few hours.

Momo wanted to stay, but Itsuka dragged her away. Tsuyu was grateful, even as Itsuka left with a noticeably childish grin. She hadn’t asked to take their time, even though she dearly needed it. 

Grass tickled her cheek. She’d been lying there for god knows how long now, watching the sky slowly turn from blue to red. 

“Tsuyu!”

Tsuyu sat upright so suddenly, she felt like she gave herself vertigo. The world spun for a second, and her focus wavered as Ochako came to view, clutching bags on both her hands. Behind Ochako, Tenya and Izuku appeared, waving at her. Izuku took the bags from Ochako and the two men headed into the house as Ochako skipped towards Tsuyu.

She looked like she had something to say.

It was only a second later when Tsuyu realized what was surrounding her.

The gleeful look that Ochako sported grew at the sight of the flowers. Tsuyu would’ve died there and then had she been given the chance to, but then, she wouldn’t have seen the way Ochako’s smile slid past all of those flowers to rest on her. 

“I talked to Izuku-kun again,” Ochako started, thumbing the petals of the nearest crown she could reach. She sat at arm's length in front of Tsuyu. The crown she had in her hand wasn’t the best but Ochako held it all the same. “I told him this time what I wanted to tell him, and he wasn’t mad at all!”

“He wouldn’t be mad at you.” Tsuyu supplied. She was smiling, glad that Ochako had finally gotten to say what she wanted to tell Izuku.

“I thought he would,” Ochako mumbled, “but I guess I was wrong.”

The silence between them was somewhat comfortable, despite the apprehension that Tsuyu felt crawling over the tips of her fingers. Above and around them, the sky was slowly turning dark and the air colder than she thought. They were going to catch a cold if Tsuyu didn’t act now.

Tsuyu held out the crown she’d made, without thinking about it any further. Ochako had been eyeing it for the past few minutes, smile widening when Tsuyu finally pushed through her anxiety to hand it over. It was the best she created out of the bunch, though it was still incomparable to the flower crown Ochako made.

Ochako didn’t take it with her hands. Instead, she lowered her head like Tsuyu had done before, allowing it to be placed on top of her hair. It was smaller than her head with how it fit, but all the same, Ochako looked like she was happy enough, from the grin that erupted from her lips.

Before Tsuyu could even say a word, Ochako’s body came crashing onto her, and they both fell on the ground. The grass tickled Tsuyu’s face, as did Ochako’s brown hair, strands failing to shield the pink hue her cheeks have taken.

“I want to go with you,” Ochako whispered, resting her forehead on Tsuyu’s own, “back to your home.”

And then, without missing a beat, Ochako said, “I like you, Tsuyu-chan.”

Beneath Ochako’s weight, staring into her eyes, Tsuyu felt her pulse spike. This would be the most inappropriate time for Tsuyu to self-combust, but she willed herself not to. She felt like the earth would swallow her whole, and if she were an earthbender, she might’ve willed it so.

Ochako was looking at her, expectant and unassuming of her inner plight. Tsuyu couldn’t keep silent for long, but she was because no words can explain the amount of throbbing her heart was doing from hearing Ochako say that. As the seconds passed, the triumphant grin on Ochako’s lips lessened, as though taking that silence as an indicator for Tsuyu’s answer. Tsuyu could see the gradual shift in Ochako’s form, from confidence and assurance to a hint of despair.

It was now or never.

Tsuyu held the sides of Ochako’s face, feeling the heat from her blush permeating through her skin. Ochako blinked slowly, and Tsuyu could see each eyelash from their proximity. She could also see the way Ochako was holding in her words because she knew Tsuyu wanted to say something.

“I like you too, Ochako-chan.”

And then, Tsuyu lifted herself, a little bit, touching Ochako’s lips with her own. It was short, it was clumsy, and Tsuyu had no other experience except in her dreams where she held hands with Ochako and kissed her silly underneath what she always imagined as the night sky, with a blanket full of stars covering up her mistakes. 

Ochako’s lips were wet while hers was chapped and dry, and she was sure her way of kissing was bad.

But it didn’t matter, because the breath that Ochako let go once their lips touched, her mouth quirking into a triumphant grin, thinking finally, was all that mattered. Both to Tsuyu and Ochako, who gazed at each other with newfound promise.

  friday.

 Ochako’s lips brushed against Tsuyu’s lips, and her hands found Tsuyu’s hands. She squeezed tightly; like Tsuyu would vanish in a puff of smoke if she ever let go.

Tsuyu squeezed back and Ochako realized this was real. She couldn’t help the smile that sprang uninhibited on Tsuyu’s lips. 

  saturday. and sunday. and monday. and beyond.

 It wasn’t until they sat beside each other, surrounded by flower crowns weaved and molded  between the two of them, that Ochako realized just why she’d been so obsessed with holding Tsuyu’s hands.

[margridarnauds]

for the ship thing: wash/mira, ronan/laz, solene/olympe, ivanova/talia, domona/elisa

Wash/Mira 

The TN pairing we deserved. Like, we’ve talked about that “Still doing Taylor’s dirty work?” for ages and you did such a good job discussing it in your answer, but it’s just....SO IMPORTANT. Especially given that we get so little of a personal life for either of them. Like, Mira does NOT like Wash’s position with Taylor and obviously thinks she could do better. I know what the writers probably were going for (bitchy comment by female rival, probably out of jealousy) but....it didn’t work, especially because the look on Mira’s face is rather...irritated? Tired? Pissed? Like, this is not just a casual comment. Mira thinks Wash could do better than Taylor, and if she ever decided to leave Taylor for the Sixers, they would be a damn good power couple. And then that Wash does know exactly where Mira’s old quarters are....like, I’m sure Wash knows where everyone on the colony is, but you can’t tell me they didn’t bang in that house. (Which would have made it more painful when the Shannons moved in because it was one more reminder that she’s Gone and things are never going back to normal.) And, really, we don’t really get how much of a personal BETRAYAL what the Sixers did was, even though you know that personal bonds would have formed. Like, for me, they missed out on a lot of potential by not deepening this bond (and instead giving us an Unfortunate Taylor Bondage Ep), not just as far as giving both of them development, but also on a broader level as far as increasing the emotional stakes (and giving you more vid editing potential because I NEED THAT GAY SHIT IN MY LIFE). 

Ronan/Laz 

Definitely not the ship that I jumped onto 1789 for, but definitely the one that I stayed on it for. I think it’s very versatile, as far as the number of dynamics that you can work with, and the fact that both pairs (Matthieu Carnot/Louis Delort and Ryuu Masaki/Seijou Kaito) had better chemistry with each other than Olympe certainly helped. Obviously, it’s an inherently unequal pairing on multiple levels; I don’t hold any ill will towards anyone who ships it as such, but personally I find it more fun to reverse it so that Laz is a total gay mess who is totally whipped by his boyfriend even though neither party really notices. Personally, I think if we’re going to have Laz represent “the order and rigidity of the Ancien Regime” and Ronan representing the common man’s hopes for the Revolution, there has to be a point where they meet up and reconcile, given that, historically, there did come a point where both sides were pretty damned burned out. (Which is why I go SO HARD for the French version having them embrace each other at the finale, though I’m also enough of a slut for angst that Zuka!Laz turning his back on Ronan at the end also owns my soul.) 

And, in both the versions that are currently available (I’m steeling myself for the Toho with the knowledge that we’re going to get a much more...aggressive Laz this time around), there are so many queerbaiting signs that there’s...something that extends past hatred. Like, you’ve got French!Laz SWITCHING THE FUCKING “YOU”S DURING MANIAQUE (Going from over politeness to an extent that really would NOT be necessary with a man so below his station to using the informal “you”....after the half-naked homo-erotic dance number. Gee, I wonder what they could have done to merit the switch), you’ve got Laz jealously lingering in the background during La Rue Nous Appartient, you’ve got Olympe’s nightmare having the words “Monsieur de Peyrol, he’s yours now. Do whatever you wish with him” (Which....Olympe knows.) And...again....the FUCKING HUG DURING POUR LA PEINE. And this is post-Father Killing, not including the Almost Kiss. And then the Zuka version just.....ramps it up. From the entirety of Maniaque to Laz IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS trying to get Ronan away from the Revolutionaries, to Ronan actually calling out his friends the next time he sees them (if he really hated Peyrol that much, why the Hell would he give a damn what he thought about his friends, AKA the people who gave him a job when he staggered into the print shop?), the way Laz steps up from behind Ronan when he talks about “being able to make the ones we love happy,” and then...the finale, where Ronan gets shot in the cross-fire, Laz IMMEDIATELY gives the Bastille up, and Ronan reaches out to him before falling on the ground. And that’s not even touching on things that can be strung together like The Coat Theory. 

Basically, they banged on the printing press. It’s canon. And Ronan wanted to save his boyfriend and his boyfriend wanted to save him but, at some point, they just...barely missed one another. It’s so nice they end up in the Cretaceous together. 

Solene/Olympe 

The age old joke with me: 

Me: Oh, Peyronan is my OTP; I have so many ideas I want to work with them! 

Me: I want to do some writing! *Writes Solympe fanfic*

*Starts sweating*Me: I have no idea where that came from, I swear it just--

*Three more Solympe fanfics crawl out of my Notes application*

Me: .....Fuck. 

Still a very odd ship for me, because it’s so damn hard to work with what we’ve got in canon and keep a continuity going. I ship it to Hell and back, since it gives me an opportunity to work with two characters who never got the chance to meet up, as well as really touch on a lot of things that we never really got in canon. (Also, I’ve lowkey considered doing a straight-up self-indulgent role reversal where Solene is arrested and sent to the Bastille, where she meets up with Olympe, who is following in her father’s footsteps.) In many ways, I think they do work as a more functional version of L/R, having to make many of the same decisions and choices (though I’d argue that Solene parallels Laz more than her own brother and, in some ways, Olympe mirrors Ronan.) In many ways, I can’t really...conceive of writing one without the other, in the sense that I think they’re very much two sides of the same coin? I don’t know; one day I’ll actually type out how these two ships mirror and contrast one another, but suffice it to say I do try to tie the two of them together SOME WAY even if it’s not always exactly...clear to me. Solene has definitely gone through some hard knocks, and it’s a lot more obvious in the way she carries herself and goes about relationships, whereas Olympe has never really taken a fall like that. She’s obviously experienced pain (especially post-canon), but she’s still had a somewhat rose-tinted childhood, with a loving, middle-class aristocratic family deeply entrenched in Enlightenment ideals. I think in some ways that it’d be hard for Solene to really trust Olympe in a relationship, given how many people she’s loved have betrayed her. (Personally, one thing I really try damn hard to do is to build them up so that, if and when Solene decides to leave her profession to be with Olympe, it’s not so much “Let me take you away from this” cliche for sex work and more...Solene weighing her possible decisions based off of where she is and taking a risk.)

It’s a bit hard because I tend to write them a bit more....pure than I usually like writing, in the sense that so much of their dynamic comes from healing one another. Which is good (obviously, it’s more the relationship ideal that you want to aspire to IRL) but also is very odd to me. Like, with Ronan and Peyrol, I tend to write them as helping one another as well, but they also have so much baggage to get through whereas Olympe and Solene don’t...have that, as much. There are differences, obviously, but it isn’t AS WIDE as I’m used to dealing with. One thing that’s going to be interesting with Pour la Peine is dealing with some of the political differences between the two of them, though I know that tbh it’s not going to last. 

Ivanova/Talia

Obviously, I’m still fairly new to B5, but there is SO MUCH tension here and I really, really appreciate that they’ve built it up like an actual RELATIONSHIP? Complete with fighting over PsiCorps, THE WATER SCENE, etc. Like, it isn’t an insta-love situation, it isn’t just SOFT GIRLS IN LOVE, it has a lot of...weight given to it, and the dynamic isn’t something we get all that much with WLW TO THIS DAY in media. Like, I know that referencing the DS9/B5 Schism is a dangerous game (I love both dearly, so when I speak, I speak as a fan of both), but compared to the cop-out they did with Dax, where we got a kiss, the relationship being due to Dax being (heterosexually) married to the host in another life, and then the love interest being shuttled off, not to be seen again because of a Trill law there was NO sign of in TNG, this feels like a more solid relationship as a whole, even with the knowledge of...what’s going to happen. It wasn’t something that was done lightly or as a stunt, it was a relationship built from the ground up. Which SHOULDN’T be praise in the Year of Our Lord 2018, but here we are. I’m fully expecting this ship to crush my soul. 

Demona/Elisa Maza

Outstanding chemistry in the battle scenes we got, a lot of potential, though it’d be hard to work it into a complete arc with how DEEPLY entrenched Demona’s anti-human attitude is. It would take a long, long arc to do something like that, but goddamit Gargoyles I WANTED it. Also, so much of Demona’s attitude, aside from her own unwillingness to take blame, comes from this sort of need to pull the trigger before someone else betrays her, so it’d be interesting to see how that dynamic would work in a relationship. Like, we got a hint of it with the Thailog/Macbeth situation, where she showed that she STILL could be trusting in a relationship, but Thailog is...odd in the sense that he’s a clone of her ex. Being with someone else, especially a human post-Macbeth...that would be interesting for her. And we do have Weisman saying that Elisa, “also proves or rather disproves Demona's theory that all humans are evil destroyers of the Gargoyle race. Demona's semi-fragile -- or at least ultra-calcified -- psyche can abide that thought.” Obviously, he’s using it to explain why Demona HATES Elisa so much, but...hatred’s a funny thing, and no matter what, Elisa does challenge Demona’s point of view. (Which...again, the last time we really saw that was with Macbeth, which, even though it’s not a ship of mine, still has a lot of romantic tension. And she has the same level of absolutely blinding hatred for him that she has for Elisa. My girl’s even worse than me at dealing with this sort of thing.)

I do like that this is a good, solid enemies to lovers type of ship (or, alternatively, just hatefucking), which is SO RARE to get solid examples of in femslash. And, on many levels, Elisa and Demona are really toe for toe. There wouldn’t really be one of them that’s “weaker” or “more innocent” than the other, and I think Elisa could give as well as she could take, which...being with someone like Demona, would have to be a necessity, and I think that’d extend as well into calling her out on her shit. (We’ve seen repeatedly that she’s not afraid to call Goliath out openly, even in front of the Clan.) Basically, I think it’d be a long arc, it’d be tricky to pull off with anything more than just hatefucking, especially given how often Demona does hurt people around Elisa (with a body count post-City of Stone that at least ranges into dozens of people smashed in a non-fun way), but I think it’d be a fascinating one. And even though I like Goliath, obviously, I never really felt the chemistry between him and Elisa (I know, I know, fandom heresy), and I think Demona/Elisa could yield a LOT more. (Pls Greg Weisman don’t kill me.) 

[thestuckylibrary]

Hi! As an avid fic reader, there is something that has always bothered me about a lot of fan-fiction I have read in the Stucky fandom or the marvel fandom in general. There is almost always a level of casual sexism against the female characters, for example, in many fics the female characters are referred to as "girls" despite being grown fucking women also is it necessary to talk about how beautiful Natasha or Peggy are in every single fic? Aren't we reducing them to their beauty?

This is actually an incredibly complicated issue. Yes, there definitely is a fair amount of casual sexism in stucky fanfic and in fanfic in general. But on the other hand, compared to general fiction and the world at large, there is significantly less sexism. I’d also point out that the majority of transformative fandom is female identifying, queer, or both, this makes fanfics relationship with sexism a lot more complicated. Internalized misogyny is incredibly hard to sort out and be aware of, because it’s your own internal monologue and in the case of many fanfic authors, your own internal monologue as a woman and (in most cases) a feminist. 

The specific examples you pulled are tricky ones, cause on one hand, yeah theres certainly an element of sexism in there, but on the other hand there also isn’t necessarily a bad wicked thing. In most stucky fics, the narration is third person pov through either steve or bucky, and in the case of two men born in the 1910′s calling grown women girls would absolutely be a part of their vernacular. It’s absolutely sexist, but I’d argue that it’s a strongly internalized attitude and language pattern both of them would absolutely have problems recognizing and or getting rid of. So even if it’s not a carefully thought out choice from the author, it serves as interesting characterization. Also since the majority of fic authors are women, the relationship with using girls isn’t as simple, for one thing it is a part of common english to use women and girls interchangeably and it’s not something that’s closely examined by all women all the time. Also, I think theres as aspect of it’s usage that is reclaiming it in a way. I mean girls isn’t a slur by any means but it’s not free of negative meaning, and by referring to wonderful characters as girls it in some ways seeks to remove those negative connotations- by presenting to the reader a group of people who the reader admires and saying some of them are girls and thats great, it does something meaningful for a woman reading. Using the word girl/s isn’t always something bad, especially when women are using it.

As for calling them beautiful all the time, I’d argue that 9/10 times theres absolutely nothing inherently sexist about mentioning their beauty. I mean it is objectively true, mcu’s female characters are beautiful. Now the reason behind all of them being gorgeous is pretty sinister, hollywood has an insanely toxic and sexist beauty standard and the fact that female characters in movies have to be beautiful in the same way is a whole other barrel of fish and we’re talking about fanfic, we’re dealing with characters who have a appearance and personality not 100% set by the author of a fic. Honestly, I’ve read thousands of Stucky fics and I think I’ve read a handful where women were actively reduced to their beauty. I mean when was the last time you read a novel by a cishet man? It’s absolutely horrifying, the way they treat women is disgusting, and fic is so much better. 

Most of the time in fic, beauty is just one aspect of their character, for example Peggy’s strength and steely determination usually follow any mention of her beauty and Natasha’s dry humour and keen intelligence usually follow any mention of hers. On the other hand yeah, you get a lot of Bucky dancing with a beautiful nameless woman who only appears as an object of desire and jealousy and yeah, thats a problem. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all to mention a woman’s beauty provided shes being not shown as important only because she’s beautiful. 

I’d also argue that the vast majority of sexism in fanfic isn’t calling female characters girls or referring to their beauty, its demonizing or ignoring female characters who are “in the way” of a m/m ship. I see this happen a LOT with Sharon in particular, but also Peggy and Natasha. You don’t see the female character who is canonically with one half of a m/m ship is a controlling, violently jealous, homophobic monster plotline often anymore, but it does still come up. More common is the female character who is canonically with one half of a m/m ship is a endlessly pure, patient, supportive and unconditionally understanding prop who exists only to step graciously out of the way of the m/m pairing. I see that all the damn time and it bothers me. 

Female characters tend to not be as developed in canon and because of that often also remain underdeveloped in fanfic and also tend in both canon and fic to be there only to support the male characters not existing outside that context. That or the fact that f/f ships are incredibly neglected. I mean theres like one f/f fic for every like seven m/m fics. Part of that is the fact that there are so many less women than men in fiction. Part of that is on us for just not writing wlw and favouring mlm or m/f ships. I have really complicated feelings about this as a queer woman, I mean I‘m running a ship blog about two men. I could be putting my time into natsharon, cartinelli or claire temple/misty knight, but I’m here instead. I worked through lots of internalized homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and aphobia while reading m/m fics, not f/f and I spend so much more time and energy on m/m ships. I mean here I am, a wlw and here I am investing almost all my leisure time on men. I mean I love it in this fandom and it’s absolutely my choice to be here but part of me wonders what it would be like if I had gone through that process with a f/f ship instead and what it would be like to invest this time on women. I wonder what it would be like to be in mcu fandom if our source material treated it’s female characters better and had more of them.

You also see barely any not white, disabled, unattractive or poor women in fic, but once again part of that is a distinct lack of diversity within the source material. But you know what, I do not see many fics with Helen Cho or Claire Temple in them at all, let alone as developed characters.

Anyways sexism in fandom is a lot more complicated than it initially appears. Nothing is ideologically pure, even fanfic, but due to the nature of fanfic being written by people who you can easily contact in the sometimes caustic forum of tumblr I think it’s incredibly important to be gentle with authors who violate what you individually see as correct. Much of tumblr’s atmosphere of callout culture has a very black and white view of what justice is and what is correct, when in reality theres a lot of layers to this, it’s not a simple black and white dichotomy. People are at different places in their journeys, theres a lot of reasons why authors write things the way they do that you might not be aware of, broad sweeping statements saying x is always bad are a real dicey area to step into (and yes, I see the irony in saying that)

So while fandom certainly needs to take a closer look at our own internalized misogyny (and racism and ableism and audism and so on), I think theres much more to be gained from larger conversations, self reflection and making an active effort to be kinder to women than there is from things like carefully abstaining from words like girls.

[sloanecore]

hey whats up taz fandom can we chat

hey yall can we talk abt lesbophobia for a hot second bc it has been uhhh disturbingly prevalent lately. i just wanna preface this by saying i absolutely welcome feedback + don’t claim to speak for anyone else. if you have thoughts on this i’d love to hear them + possibly have a discussion.

so here’s the thing: there’s been an Uncomfortable amount of lesbophobia in the TAZ fandom lately in 2 distinct ways. #1 is, of course, the Lup discourse. I KNOW I KNOW you feel a creeping sense of dread at the very words but hear me out for a second.

here’s my hot take: her sexuality hasn’t been confirmed and anyone can have whatever headcanons they want without people slamming them up until her sexuality gets confirmed (if it ever does). before i delve into how lesbophobia has starred in this particular discourse, let me get something out of the way that may raise a few eyebrows at first:

blupjeans isn’t canon (yet).

 do i think it will be? yeah probably. is it as of yet? big fat nope! we know barry has feelings for lup. we know lup trusts him. we do NOT know if lup has romantic feelings for him. she told taako to trust him, she put a friendly arm around him in a portrait that she didn’t pose for that was painted before she knew he had feelings for her, and she picked up his glasses. it isn’t canon yet, and insisting that it is is dumb and a waste of time because it contributes nothing to this discussion.

Anyway! on to the main point. i headcanon lup as a lesbian. hi! what’s up, how ya doin. i’m a lesbian who loves projecting. most of my TAZ friends are in the same boat. none of us have made any posts, messaged each other, or anything of the like about disliking bi/pan lup HCs because—news flash—we don’t dislike them. we think they’re awesome. lesbians and bi/pan women aren’t “natural enemies” like some of you seem to want them to be.

but you know what i have seen? a RIDICULOUS amount of posts—a lot of them from people who aren’t even gay/bi/pan women—decrying lesbian lup HCs, talking about how much they hate them, how entitled and whiney the people who have them (lesbians) are, and like, listen. I get it. every fandom needs its opportunity to Let It Out re: hatred of the Big Bad Dykes. but it’s getting ridiculous.

if your reasoning for why lesbians can’t HC lup as gay is because she’s “been involved with/is involved with a man” (which, still, unconfirmed) surprise! that’s lesbophobic. plenty of lesbians (hi! me! what up!) have had past relationships with men due to compulsory heterosexuality. this doesn’t make us “not gay” and it super sucks for non-lesbians to try to enforce the toxic gold-star mentality that we as a community have spent so long fighting to move past.

lesbians having lesbian headcanons for characters with unconfirmed sexualities/straight characters harms no one and does not nullify bi/pan headcanons that people might have for the same character. We Can Get Along it’s not as hard as y’all are making this!

also, a lot of the justifications for trashing lesbian lup headcanons i’ve seen have included something along the lines of “all the other girls in TAZ are lesbians” “there’s a ton of lesbian representation in TAZ” “this is the PERFECT opportunity to HC a character as bi.” which. okay.

1: no. 0 characters have been Confirmed as lesbians. zero, zilch, nada. as it stands, taako is the only character with a confirmed sexuality. there’s confirmed WLW for sure! but No confirmed lesbians.

2: nope again! what is this in reference to, the side couple that’s barely mentioned or the dead ones?

3: hoo boy! here’s the thing: the other women in relationships in TAZ have been in relationships with other women. lup is the first to be implied to be involved with a man. none of the canon WLW in TAZ are canonically confirmed lesbians. there is and has been nothing stopping anyone from HC’ing sloane, hurley, killian, or carey as bi or pan. if lup is “the perfect opportunity” because she’s maybe involved with a man and you’re subconsciously making that a prerequisite for Good Bi Rep, that’s a You problem that you need to unpack on your own without dragging lesbians into it!

if you can tweet all day about how lesbians allegedly think lup being with barry is “not queer enough” (no one alive has ever said that and also that’s its own special flaaaavor of lesbophobia, so thanks) but you automatically consider a woman whose only canonically shown relationship was with another woman to be a lesbian, that says more about you and you should probably examine that before you project your weird insecurities onto your imagined Enemy Dykes. i know it’s easy to impulse hate us, but here’s a thought: Fucking Chill Dude

Alright!! onto the second Big TAZ Lesbophobia: objectification!!!!!!!

let me set the stage. eh-hem.

Years ago, lesbians in fandom said “Gee, I wish people would stop ignoring us!” And the monkey paw curled one finger, and the TAZ fandom was born.

i see posts Every Goddamn Day about how the whole TAZ fanbase are toxic homophobic fetishizers of MLM and to an extent i understand where that anger comes from because MLM fetishization is a pervasive issue in fandom (though the specific Issue addressed in most of those posts makes me fall asleep instantly because it isn’t even deep enough to drown in). but the thing that really gets me is that the authors of those posts—and like, a good 80% of the fandom in general—objectifies WLW to an OUTRAGEOUS extent and it is honestly hilarious for them to be getting on a soapbox about how shipping certain characters is homophobic while perpetuating almost that exact issue with WLW as their puppets.

i don’t know when lesbians and having a new wacky ~cute~ f/f pairing (between characters who have never spoken and never will) every hour on the hour became the Hot New Trend, but as a lesbian, It Kind Of Fucking Sucks Guys!!! we aren’t dolls. we aren’t your Pure Soft UwU playthings that you can jam into any pairing you want to make wildly OOC art of them braiding each others’ hair in the moonlight or whatever. if you’re a nonlesbian/non-WLW and you have 18 ships with the same 4 girls or you reblog posts like the “luptroth is the new ship” post (altho hey at least those two have fuckin Spoken), You’re A Fucking Geek and Very Annoying and i also probably feel unsafe or at the very least uncomfortable with you!

instead of pouring your energy into f/f crackships (get off your high horse, you aren’t ‘creating representation,’ you know damn well that isn’t how that works) maybe you could create some more fucking content for the two (2!!!! one of whom is UHHH dead!) canon f/f ships that we have—*spongebob “AND LIVE” voice* AND NOT AS THE BACKGROUND PAIRING TO A M/M FIC!!!!

also, quick note before i finish, stop using the futch scale to refer to nonlesbians/if you aren’t a lesbian you freaks it’s For Lesbians. bye