#fairly lights

[cup-of-jonas]

Heart By Heart Chapter Fourteen: Fairy Lights and Friction

✨Masterlist✨

The first few months of living together had been something out of a movie.

Kat’s lipstick was always somewhere it didn’t belong. On Joe’s collar, their coffee mugs, on the mirror above the dresser with the words “kill it tonight 💋” scrawled in red. Joe left guitar picks everywhere. In the bathroom. On the kitchen counter. Between couch cushions like they were breadcrumbs he couldn’t stop dropping.

And still, every time Kat walked into the apartment and saw his shoes by the door, she smiled. Every time he brought her a coffee from the corner shop—the one with the oat milk just how she liked it and the barista who always scribbled “K + J” on the side in pink marker—she kissed his nose and said, “My hero,” like it never stopped mattering.

They got into rhythms. Shared playlists for Sunday cleaning. Danced in the kitchen when they cooked together. Argued about where to hang the fairy lights—and then kissed under them anyway. Kat stole Joe’s hoodies so often that he started hanging one on the back of the bedroom door just for her. Joe added her name to the buzzer downstairs without asking. She started keeping her shampoo in the shower. Her earrings found a new home on the bathroom sink. Her books mixed in with his vinyls.

One night, they burned the pancakes because they couldn’t stop kissing in the kitchen. Another night, she fell asleep on the couch with her head in his lap, and he stayed still for hours just to keep her there.

The apartment smelled faintly like rain and fresh laundry. Kat had just gotten in from a long shift, still wearing her black work flats, hair in a low knot. She dropped her bag by the door, kicked off her shoes, and turned the corner to find Joe standing barefoot on the couch, his arms stretched overhead, a string of warm white fairy lights tangled between his hands.

He didn’t see her yet.

And that was when the argument began.

Joe stood on the couch, arms outstretched, trying to drape the string of lights above the window frame. The plug barely reached the outlet, and the whole strand sagged like it was tired of being involved. Kat stood a few feet away, hands on her hips, watching with a mixture of amusement and judgment.

“I’m home,” she said, looking up at him.

“Hi, how was your day?” he asked, not turning from the window.

“You’re going to electrocute yourself,” she said flatly.

“I’m not even touching the plug yet.”

“I thought we were hanging them together? Joe, you’re too close to the edge.”

“I’m balancing.”

“You’re wobbling.”

“I’m fine, babe.”

Kat crossed her arms, unconvinced. “Why don’t we just wrap them around the bookshelf? It makes more sense. It’s easier, and we won’t have to rearrange the furniture.”

“No one said anything about rearranging.”

“You’re literally standing on the couch.”

Joe paused, lifting one eyebrow at her. “What do you have against windows and ambiance?”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you have against symmetry and not falling off the couch?”

He grinned despite himself, stepping down with a dramatic huff. “You just don’t want to admit my idea’s better.”

Kat narrowed her eyes. “Your idea is chaos. The lights will droop, the plug will show, and the vibe will be ruined.”

“I am the vibe,” Joe said, tossing the lights into her arms.

She caught them but didn’t look away from him. “Cocky much?”

He stepped closer. “Confident.”

“Mm.” Her eyes danced. “There’s a difference.”

Joe took the lights back from her hands and looped them around his neck like a glittering scarf. “I’ll wear them as a statement. Problem solved.”

Kat smirked, but there was a softness in the curve of it. “You’re ridiculous.”

“And you love it.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

He moved toward her again, slower this time. Their banter hung between them like the lights—warm and fragile. Kat’s arms stayed folded, but her fingers played with the hem of her shirt, eyes flickering from his mouth to his eyes and back again.

“I’m not letting you ruin my bookshelf with tangled wires,” she whispered.

Joe leaned in. “Then let’s ruin the window instead.”

Their lips met in the middle of the room, just a few feet from where the lights pooled across the floor. She kissed him like she’d been waiting for a reason to stop talking. He kissed her like it was the best win he’d ever earned.

When they pulled apart, his forehead rested against hers, breath shared in the quiet.

“So?” he murmured. “Window or bookshelf?”

Kat ran her fingers through his hair and smiled.

“Let’s try both,” she said.

But the conversation didn’t end there.

Because just when Joe moved to plug the lights in again, Kat hesitated—and the fight snowballed.

“I just wish you would’ve waited,” she said quietly.

Joe turned back around. “Waited?”

“For me to get home. To do it with you.”

He blinked. “I thought I was doing something sweet.”

“You didn’t think I’d want to be part of it?”

“I didn’t think it’d start a fight.”

Kat’s voice rose slightly. “It’s not about the lights.”

Joe sighed. “Kat, I know it’s not about the lights.”

Her arms dropped. “Then what is this? Because it’s starting to feel like you only want me here when I don’t disrupt your plans.”

His voice tightened. “That’s not fair.”

“Neither is feeling like a guest in the apartment I live in.”

That landed hard. Joe’s shoulders fell. He walked toward the couch and sat down, quiet for a beat, looking anywhere but at her.

“You’re not a guest,” he said eventually. “I just… I saw a photo of a room with lights like these, and it made me think of you. I thought it’d make this place feel more like home for both of us.”

Kat looked down at the strand in her hands.

“I would’ve liked them,” she said softly. “If we’d done it together.”

Joe stood again, slower this time, and crossed to her.

“I want you here. Not just your stuff. I want you to take up space. I know I mess things up. I rush. I get in my head. But none of that means I don’t want you in this.”

She nodded, voice quieter now. “You don’t have to be perfect, Joe. You just have to let me in.”

His voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

Then she kissed him again.

Fierce. Forgiving. Full of feeling.

The lights stayed curled in a lazy heap on the coffee table while they curled up together on the couch instead, her sweatshirt halfway off, his shirt rucked up under her ribs, their hands and mouths discovering all the ways love stays, even after a fight.

Later, tangled together in the flickering glow, Kat whispered, “Window and bookshelf.”

Joe pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Anything you want,” he said, holding her tighter on the couch.

And that was the truth.

They never finished hanging the lights that night.

But they glowed anyway.

Like the fight was never really about the lights.

It was about choosing each other.

Even when it gets messy.

Especially when it does.

And sometime after the silence settled, long after the kisses turned to stillness and Kat drifted to sleep, Joe lay awake with one arm tucked under her shoulders and the other resting over her ribs.

The lights blinked faintly against the window glass.

Her fingers curled beneath his shirt.

And even though the lights never got hung, something about the night still felt complete.

Like home had never been the walls.

It was the space between them.

Always was.

[thebibliosphere]

I feel like I've complained about Tim's email situation in Gotham Knights before (edit: I have), but the truth of it is just so funny.

He's signed up for so many podcasts, video game streamers, and random news alerts; it's just a constant barrage of data going straight into his constantly whirring brain. Hell, he even floats the idea of the Batfamily having their own podcast as a way to correct misinformation about them (which Jason shoots down instantly), and it's made me realize something.

Timothy Drake would be a YouTuber.

In this universe specifically, Timothy Jackson Drake, the heir to Drake Industries and the foster son of the late Bruce Wayne would be a YouTuber.

Think about it. It'd be the perfect cover. Who would ever suspect that some 16-year-old nepo baby with a YouTube channel could ever be Red Robin? You'd have to be mad. I mean, look at him.

Red Robin just dropped out of literal thin air and garotted someone four times his size, and you expect anyone to believe that's the same kid who does 24-hour Minecraft charity streams and occasionally drops 6-hour video essays (his last one was on Lex Luthor's illegal bit mining operation on the moon)?

That kid?

You think that kid is Red Robin?

Ch'yah, okay, sure. And the Joker is funny 🤡.

[phinjeet]

* little art dump (batting my eyelashez)

* we dont talk about the art style change idk whatz going on either💥💥💥💥 but look at my silliez boy

[darcyolsson]

since kit & ty are going on a european road trip i desperately need them to visit the amsterdam institute which is canonically just a massive boat. i'm not being funny need to see it described in detail so bad. big invisible divine angelic boat.... if institutes have to be on hallowed ground does that mean the entire river IJ is holy water in the tsc universe?

[jellojolteon]

Izuocha week 2025 day 7: Flamekeeper/Kryptonite

(essentially both, but y'know...)

[bastart13]

Special commission for @electric-ecclectic! It was a lot of fun trying this style again

[beetle-baguette]

costco and walmart

+ bonus sketches

[iamfandomtrashandimproud]

[torabdos]

Unfortunately yall need to claim yall's blorbos i don't think tagging everyone at once is appropriate

Anyway. Poor Edward rotation club. With mediocre punch, just about enough chairs, an upside down banner and a single microwave. And as many FLPCs as I can scout out from the boundaries of the light fingers tag

[fountainpenguin]

Okay, so I left this note in my "Operation: Birthday Takeback" liveblog:

omg, Dev needs his godparent to stand up for him against Vicky and Peri's having a MELTDOWN and hiding behind his mom. Um??? Holy cow, I've never seen him break like this, except maybe when he gained his fear of the dark in "Lights Out."

I decided to go check if I was right and... Hm.

Good to know!!

Bonus pics

[sysig]

Got your number (Patreon)

[peculiurperennial]

Just a little lighting practice. The scene depicted is from the most recent chapter of my fic over here.

[deathnotepolls]

most overused DN fandom joke?

I'll take this line... and REPEAT it

[skywalkr-nberrie]

I absolutely get wanting more Padmé centric content and deeper character dives of her from official material, and don’t get me wrong - i’m 2000% on that bandwagon too and I’ll die on this hill, like give me deep thoughts ranging from her survivors guilt and ptsd of becoming a child queen to basic silly and trivial fun facts about her life, hobbies, and antics.) and to this day I’m disappointed and dissatisfied with the lack of content we have on her, despite that she’s the center to the whole saga and and plays a pivotal role in the start and finish of the whole story from being the sole purpose of Anakin’s fall to being the reason why her babies were the last hopes of the galaxy and lastly being one of the founders of the rebellion. However, I just can’t agree that the ROTS novel didn’t do a good job at portraying her.

In it’s raw nature, the ROTS novel is where the starting point of Padmé begins along with the TPM, and AOTC novels. I don’t see her role as solely associated to “just” Anakin and I seriously doubt that GL and Stover intended for it to be read that way either. What feels intended is the emphasis that Anakin is as equally enjoined to her character as he is to hers. While I can understand undoubtedly that it may come off to some people that Padmé only exists to be Anakin’s wife, I feel like the book very clearly offers much more nuance and depth in the writing than just what’s interpreted on the surface.

A Padmé stan will always see her moments and begin analyzing every detail and inch of it no matter what, (guilty) and while I do agree that the novel should’ve included extra bits about Padmé as well, and that there are some passages provided by the book that gave us an opening to fully dive into more of her character and story arc, I still firmly believe that what we got is amazing work and content.

Like first things first is that loving Padmé means also loving and appreciating that a big part of her character is heavily associated to Anakin, if you can’t accept that, it’s sort of hard to fully accept Padmé. And I get that Anidala isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s fine and I’m not saying you gotta ship them to love Padmé, but it is what it is that some characters are so heavily intertwined that sometimes it’s impossible to separate them. You have be able to understand character A if you want to understand character B, and Anakin & Padmé are these types of variants.

However, this doesn’t mean her dialogue being about him and her life with him is meant to undermine her independence and individuality. Padmé is already a well established iconic, feminist like character that can balance both her lover girl side and warrior side. The previous movies/novelizations drove the point home to show us just WHO Padmé Amidala is. So the ROTS novel gave us the chance to see the side of Padmé that’s hopelessly in love and finally at the tip of earning her well deserved, fairytale happily ever after.

When we first get introduced to ‘Padmé’ in the novel, we get the full rundown of all her accomplishments, achievements, and even a poetic composition of Padmé’s talents and her power and impact through out her career. She’s very young and she’s already pretty much achieved everything a very career oriented person could strive for. Even in the same paragraph- it highlights how compared to Anakin, Padmé is much wiser and she can understand him better than he can understand himself, levelling or even somewhat heightening her stance in comparison to the main character. If anything, this passage doesn’t undermine her character but uplifts it more.

And even throughout the book, despite that Padmé is now at a point in her life where she wants to settle down, leave duty, run away with her husband to have their child, her passion for democracy, and being a fierce advocate for freedom doesn’t let her just walk away from the chaos. A lot of her story that was included in the novel is about how Padmé can be a lover and fighter at the same time. She’s out here forming rebellions with her colleagues, trying to help her husband out with the issues he’s facing all while carrying twins inside her womb.

The novel focuses on what a strong person Padmé really is not just in political terms but also out of all that, which is part of what made Anakin fall so deeply in love with her. Even her own colleagues such as Mon Mothma rely on her to help them out with founding an entire rebellions because they know she’s the reason why there’s any semblance of humanity left in the Galaxy, and basically admitted that she carries the Republic on her shoulders. This passage right below is basically what sums Padmé up and I gotta shout out to my girl Mon for saying it loud and proud:

And Anakin is written to be the same way as her, completely and utterly obsessed. His entire arc and story in the novel, is centred around Padmé, no matter what situation he finds himself in, whether it be a meeting with the Jedi council, or a discussion with OWK, or a weird encounter with Palpatine, Anakin thoughts always lead back to Padmé. Bringing us back to my previous point that their characters are heavily interconnected.

And when Padmé discovers that Bail and Mon along with the rest of the Delegation of 2000 are making plans to move against Palpatine’s rule, Padmé doesn’t only find concern in the fact that she’ll have to keep this secret from Anakin and that breaks her heart, or that she’s planning to go against her husbands somewhat “father figure” (mentor) but she herself finds disappointment in the fact that a friend and mentor of hers is being suspected and she even argues with the rest of her Senator colleagues about her disagreement. It wasn’t just about Anakin for her, it was also about herself and the fact that she’s finally coming to terms with the truth that maybe her ally isn’t actually her ally.

There’s even a point where she comes to the realization that she would vote against Palpatine and find others to do the same because she acknowledges how corrupt things are getting under his rule, and she would do it despite the fact that she knows it would hurt her love, which showcase Padmé’s ability to dissect corruption and evil even when it’s delivered in a well wrapped confetti paper package like Palpatine and also demonstrates her ability to do the right thing even when it pains her to hurt someone she deeply loves. She’s resilient, powerful, and strong!

And of course how could I do a Padmé study without mentioning her most important and climactic moments that mark the end of democracy in the Republic and the rise of the corrupt Empire which was artfully delivered in a poetic prose that can only be attributed to Padmé herself:

Before this powerful scene, Padmé graces us with yet another glimpse inside her intelligently crafted mind by the way she advises Bail to pretend to ally himself with Palpatine’s government and asks him to encourage the other members of the Delegation of 2000 to do the same so that there’s preservation for them to continue to root the seeds of the rebellion against Palpatine’s Empire in the future. (Painful as it is, she’s fully aware that she may not be alive much longer due to Anakin’s visions.) Only someone as articulated and calculated as Padmé would’ve been able to think of a plan so long term like that and it actually work in the end. Proof of what a political genius she is and a true warrior or champion of democracy.

Overall, I just think there are many moments in the novel regarding Padmé that could really speak to the person who loves her, and all of this is fuel to understand and analyze her in ways that enhances her character to the fullest. Do I think there are points that could’ve added a bit more? Absolutely! But I’m also happy with the results we have because Padmé is such a well packaged character that even her smallest moments reveal the best of her.

[beetle-baguette]

honorary lgbt couple

[spiralstatic29]

sleepover ft. some devzel and lighting study :)

idea inspired by this post!