#why does it always take me so long to get a gifset out...

[angelshizuka]

#I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT THIS

HELLUVA BOSS 2.12 - Sinsmas

[carveredlunds]

"I have a room on Divisadero": A meta on the shots in "Don't Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape" and the female horror of Louis' apartment

So, I made a graphic comprised of some haunting shots from season 2 episode 5 of IWTV, and it accidentally helped me realise why I've not been able to get the episode out of my head, specifically the scenes between Armand and Daniel. I'm going to try to explain my thinking here.

From the moment we go from the Loumand scene in the bedroom, we're forced into Daniel's point of view. And the first thing we see? A "cellophane corpse on the floor", to use Daniel's own words:

It's right next to him, facing him, mirroring his own position lying on his side. As Daniel himself says, "Surely, I'm next". And this is then followed by a panning shot of what he can see, all filmed from this dizzying sideways angle where he's lying on the floor. And we're hearing Daniel in the present day list what he can see. "There's a TV in the corner near the corpse. Some kind of sock or shoe commercial? There's sheets of plastic tarp, some duct tape, bleach."

What does this call to mind? Well, obviously, body disposal, making people disappear, but specifically, for me, it brings to mind the monstrous serial killers of the 70s, specifically Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer, the cannibalistic serial killer of teenage boys. The most (in)famous serial killers of the modern imagination operated in the 60s and 70s, and these shots immediately bring that to mind. We're in the point of view of a victim.

I'm convinced this is not an accident on the part of Stuart Howell, the DP (Director of Photography, in charge of cinematography) for this episode. These shots are jarring, dizzying, and disorientating. And when Armand walks in, we stay in Daniel's point of view. Armand casually walks past Daniel, not even looking at him, and we're still on the floor, looking up at him. It's honestly the most frightening he looks in the whole season, in my opinion. Just look at these shots.

The blurriness? The low-angled framing, making Armand look taller and imposing? He's looking down at Daniel, but we can't see him properly. Obviously, this is down to show how confused and injured Daniel is, having been attacked and lost a lot of blood. But it's also what happens when you've been drugged or hit over the head or otherwise impaired.

Also to note very briefly, that this whole scene takes place during the day. I can't go into the Daylight Horror subgenre in too much detail here because this is already going to be a long post, but basically it highlights the mundanity of horror, the fact that acts of violence and horror don't always happen in the middle of the night. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a classic example of the Daylight Horror subgenre, and so is this scene. Just to go back to Daniel's quote:

There's a TV in the corner near the corpse. Some kind of sock or shoe commercial? There's sheets of plastic tarp, some duct tape, bleach.

It's the middle of the day, the TV is on, there's a shoe commercial on. All ordinary, daily, things. But there's also plastic tarp, duct tape, bleach, and a corpse right next to the TV. In this apartment. In the middle of the day. The mundane juxtaposed with the unimaginably horrific.

Anyway, let's move onto the next interaction, the torture scene. A lot happens, but I'm going to focus on certain aspects, otherwise this meta will be too long. The most important thing here is this horrific exchange:

Daniel: I can't move — Armand: Move your body? Daniel: Yeah. Yeah.

Again, this is bringing to mind being drugged or handcuffed, both common forms of restraint that serial killers use for their victims. Armand has "commandeered [Daniel's] body". It's mind control, but for all intents and purposes, it's basically possession. I've made a gifset on this here, but to summarise, possession is often a female experience in horror movies. The loss of bodily autonomy, being moved by forces outside your control, being bent to someone else's will. It's very feminine horror coded.

Daniel looks to the corpse on the floor beside him, and Armand follows his gaze slowly, and then they have this exchange:

Daniel: I don't want... Armand: To die? On that item, I think I know something you don't.

Throughout this whole conversation, Assad Zaman is truly giving The Performance of A Lifetime. He's barely blinked, and his pupils are pinpricks, and there's just nothing behind eyes. He's got this slight smile when he says "On that item, I think I know something you don't." He's saying here, "I actually know you do secretly want to die". It's such a frightening thing to say. There's just this insane gleam in his eyes. Words don't do it justice, just go and watch it again. You know what I mean.

Anyway, back to the mind control. What does Armand do to Daniel, with this power? Forces him to his knees. So, we have this truly nightmarish shot of the door closing on them both as Louis yells at Armand to leave Daniel alone:

As @molloyboi said in this post, "the horror of a door closing and unknowable violence occuring behind that closed door never ceases to horrify me". It's such a horrifying shot because of everything it implies. Daniel on his knees, his head bent, Armand leaning forwards with his legs spread, his hands clasped together. "You're going to teach me to be fascinating", he says, with that manic shine in his eyes. Truly the stuff of nightmares.

Very briefly on the torture scene itself. Armand puts Daniel in a stress position often used to extract information from the person being tortured. Only Armand didn't need to extract information from Daniel this way. He put him in this position and just pulled the information from Daniel's head anyway. And we have Daniel constantly trying to make it stop: "My legs are starting to cramp", he says, "I have Charlie Horse, left leg." But Armand doesn't listen. This isn't torture to extract information, this is torture for the sake of sadism.

And when Armand is done with him, he just leaves Daniel there, like that, crying and in pain, while he goes to dispose of the corpse. How long is he gone for? We don't know, because the next time we see the apartment, it's four days later. So, let's move onto that.

We've immediately lost time. We don't know what happened in this gap, or what Armand did to Daniel. And putting aside the Devil's Minion goggles for a second, this is objectively terrifying.

Daniel is obviously out of it. He looks like he's in shock, exhausted and vacant and just staring at the TV, with that disgusting bite mark on his neck, all crusted over. He hasn't showered in four days. We don't know how much he's slept or eaten.

(By the way, it is so interesting that Daniel in the present day tunes back in on this news report. "Spiro Agnew", he says in the present day, and then we smash cut to this TV report. Of course Daniel, a journalist, would be brought back to himself by this huge historical event.)

But anyway. He's not completely gone yet. The fight isn't completely gone out of him. How do we know? Because he's moving his fingers slightly, as he watches TV. This tiny, fragile, reminder that he's in control of his own body right now, that he can move his hand right now. That he's not being possessed.

And he nervously turns to look at Armand, as you can see here in this gifset by @loo-nuh-tik. It's the way you would watch your torturer, your jailer, the man who is probably going to kill you. But as soon as Daniel thinks Armand is going to turn to him, he turns away quickly and stares at the TV. You can see so much in his posture, in his slightly lowered head. Perhaps he's learned, in those four days, that if he just sits and stares at the TV, Armand leaves him alone.

So, he tries to escape the moment Armand leaves to go check on Louis, and even from the other room, Armand calls, "Rest", and Daniel collapses and hits his face on the wall. A pathetic escape attempt, but at least he tried something.

So we come to the "rest" scene. I could talk forever about the "rest" scene. I will probably meta about the "rest" scene. But, for now, I'll keep it very short, because this is already way too long and rambling. In the context of the Female Horror of the Divisadero apartment, I want to talk about two shots. Firstly, this one:

Again, we're in Daniel's point of view, staring at Armand in this creepy close-up shot. He's whispering, "Shhhh", and he's not blinking, and we're trapped in Daniel's point of view again, staring at the creature that's been torturing him for days.

Obviously, this parallels the first torture scene, where we were in Daniel's point of view, looking at Armand, who wasn't blinking and just pulling information out of Daniel's head like spools of tape, forcing him to relive these humiliating sexual experiences (by the way, I am not excusing the "paper bag" thing, but I don't have time to go into it here).

And the last shots I want to discuss are these ones:

Why? Because of the Feminine Horror of it, of course. Firstly, it reminded me of Hannibal Lecter cleaning and bandaging Will's knuckles in season 2 episode 10 of Hannibal (screencaps from here):

The horror of blood blooming in water, the intimacy of cleaning an open wound, the homoeroticism of it all. That's all there, but it also calls to mind an abuser taking care of their victim. Yes, they hit you, but they patch you up, afterwards. The hand that hits you is the same one that gives you a necklace to say sorry.

There's so much Feminine Horror in these shots of Armand and Daniel. It's finally here, the end of these several days of torture. And Armand is taking care of him, in the end. Cleaning his wound tenderly, leading him into this gentle, easeful death.

[esmes]

don't mind me - just some rainy day musings bc sweeney todd 2023 has rotted my brain

someone's tags on a gifset got me thinking about 2023 revival lovett and todd and the special something their dynamic has. there's something about this particular iteration of these characters and their relationship, especially as we see it evolve throughout the show (even as we've seen it evolve throughout the show's run), that just makes mrs lovett's betrayal and her death at his hands hit hard. i know, i know - she deserves it. she lies! she's a lying liar. her deceit is no small thing. any one of us would be incensed to have been misled the way she misleads sweeney. even if a small part of her may have done it, as she says, to spare him having to see what became of his lucy, the larger part was certainly to serve her own interests.

but there's something about how close mrs lovett gets to bringing sweeney around to her this time that just gets me carried away. they're not just business partners - they're lovers, they're co-conspirators, and they're sort of each other's only friend in the world. at this point, he indulges her flights of fancy. they know each other intimately. they joke with each other! he's likely had to listen to countless hours of her prattling on about her thoughts, hopes, and wishes. this is a man who, at this point in the show, is slitting people's throats without remorse. and yet he spends the evening on the sofa cleaning his pipe while he patiently listens to his girlfriend rave about a seaside wedding. when she takes his hand, he doesn't wrench himself from her grasp like he used to. he doesn't get up and walk out, which he could do. he accepts her - her presence, her company, her warmth. he may struggle to admit it to himself, but he does. he can concede that he loves her - just a little bit, though he can't quite bring himself to say the words. sweeney is fiercely loyal to lucy's memory, so much so that he clearly couldn't ever wholly give his heart to someone else, but, in that moment after "by the sea", you can see that he's softened toward lovett. they were both alone a long time before this, after all.

it's not the stuff of great love songs, but it's something. it's almost enough.

this is what ultimately makes the final living moments between them all the more heartbreaking. mrs lovett has always been a sympathetic character to me - a villain, sure, but not without her reasons. she's a woman alone in a brutal world. whether the character is an older or a younger iteration, she's been alone for a desperately long time. when sweeney returns to her after all this time, she sees her moment and she takes it. she's not letting her second chance at life get away from her without a few claw marks.

when sweeney kills her, he sheds no tears over it - but the grudging fondness we'd seen him beginning to feel toward her only serves to emphasize how monstrous of a deception it is. his "you LIED to me" comes out in an anguished roar. when he throws her in that oven, all the light goes out from the world. it takes my breath away every time. though it should, it doesn’t quite feel like justice.

i know not everyone loves annaleigh's interpretation, but i have maintained from the first time i saw this revival that the warmth she brings, the honeyed, deluded, comical sweetness that lures sweeney into believing life with her could be tolerable, if not ideal, was a brilliant choice.

that's why the leap into hell together works for me. some productions have had sweeneys that barely tolerate their lovetts, so a cold diverging of paths makes sense. these two definitely fall into a different category. it makes sense to me for this sweeney and lovett's ultimate fate to be each other. who else would it be? lucy did nothing wrong - she's not going where he's going. having made lovett pay for her lies, they can head on down (hand in unlovable hand!!!!!!!) to live out the almost-enough life they created with each other. and sure, her chirping his ear off for eternity would certainly make an appropriate punishment for his crimes.

[markantonys]

i was looking at your latest gifset and realised why cauthor is such an amazing ship. mat needs someone who has his back in the way rand does. all the years of his parents and everyone else telling him he's no good, he'll never amount to anything - that kinda stuff sinks in until eventually you start to believe it yourself. and i'm not saying mat doesn't have any flaws of course, but I think some of the time his actions are dictated by what he believes about himself, that he really isn't worth it.

but rand - he's been mat's protector from day one, hasn't he? always in his corner, always defending him and letting mat know without equivocation that he is worth it, that he is a good person who deserves love and a second chance. and that was even before the whole dragon reborn thing came into play. when mat said at the start, "don't stay up-mountain too long" rand answered, "i won't". he won't stay up too long because he misses mat and knows mat needs him too. is it any wonder even ishamael shipped them?

THIS!!!!!! all of this, i'm weeping!!!! i remember in the wait between seasons i was going "oh man the cauthor reunion will be so angsty, rand will be so hurt over mat having stayed behind at the waygate!" but then we got to the actual reunion and it turned out i'd sorely underestimated rand's love for mat! rand is nothing but happy to see mat again, he gives him 100% unconditional love and understanding without bringing up the waygate incident at all, except for taking a moment to tell mat that they aren't better off without him. because he knows mat well enough to guess that the reason he stayed behind might've been that he thought the gang was better off without him, and he loves mat enough to believe this IS the reason rather than supposing something less charitable like selfishness or cowardice. and rand himself, for the first time in his life, has been struggling with feeling his loved ones are better off without him ever since the eye of the world, and this has given him new empathy for and new insight into how mat has felt for his ENTIRE life.

i know that "i'll take care of you" "it's rotten work" "not to me, not if it's you" has become a meme at this point, but it truly is the perfect descriptor of the cauthor dynamic! and on both ends too, since in s2 we see mat starting to be protective of rand and take care of him too now that rand's getting his own share of Issues. mat also assures rand that they aren't better off without him, after all! their lil amateur therapy session in cairhien is so perfect because they are both so well-positioned to understand the internal issues the other is currently dealing with, because it's similar to their own issues. and they each have their own way of showing care, and it just so happens to be perfectly suited to what the other needs; rand is very earnest and vocal in telling mat he's a good person, which is what mat needs to counteract all the fears that have been driven into him since childhood about being worthless, and meanwhile mat takes care of rand by teasing him and joking around and making him smile, which is what rand needs to lighten the burden of being TDR for a while. no wonder ishamael ships them, indeed! he is not immune to homoerotic devotion!

also, what really gets me is that mat didn't get to witness rand's passionate defenses of him in fal dara! nynaeve, you better have been recording the fight on your phone so you can show it to mat, he Needs To Know just how well rand continues to speak of him even when he isn't around. there probably won't be time for it in s3, but i would love a scene where egwene and mat talk for the first time after the great waygate abandonment, and mat's apologizing and egwene's like "well i was pretty mad at you at the time but we're cool now" and mat asks if rand was mad at him too, because he needs to know if he hurt rand but knows rand won't admit if he did because he'd want to spare mat's feelings, and egwene tells mat that rand was not mad at him and in fact defended him tooth and nail against everyone else, and mat's like 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 trying not to cry, and egwene's internally like "oh my god can you two just make out already". this scene happens between 2x08 and 3x01 in my heart!

[trilliath]

Hello Dr. Trill, how are you? I'm just leaving you this ask because I have not been on Tumblr much since January, but I found out today that you joined me down the slippery slope of 911LS and 911 fandom (though I stopped watching the latter a couple of years ago and am only reading fics) and it's just nice to know that we still share the same criteria for finding potential in a ship, it feels nostalgic! :P Would you like fic recs or are you good?

Ciaooooooo tesoro mio! It's been too long.

Oh my gosh yes I'm so deep down this rabbithole now, I'm writing so much garbage fic over it. I love that we're still on that overlapping wavelength - so funny how over more than a literal decade we can still go - yes, this. YES YOU GET IT!

Carlos and TK own my whole heart right now, oh my gosh. I'm obsessed. I'm about ready to make myself a supercut of the show where it's only scenes that are relevant to them lololol but I won't because I still love everyone else so much too like Nancy is my girl and jfc we get GINA TORRES I'm dead. Bur Carlos and TK dear god, I'm so deep in writing fic about them I'm literally forgetting to eat some days. I'm scouring scenes for background details. I'm writing stupid meta over clothing choices reflecting Carlos's emotional state. So ridiculous but honestly so fun.

And the whole Buck/Tommy thing took me OUT man, it's so fucking funny, I know I'm a late join to this fandom but I didn't even know it was coming. I just heard people talking about how they were excited Buck was bi, and I saw a few Buck/Eddie gifsets and genuinely assumed that was the canon ship. More interesting to me was all the talk about how we were missing out if we didn't already know that Hen was a hot badass lesbian firefighter so I was like - shit I'll check that out just for that part actually. So I did, and of course I adore Hen and Chim and Maddie and - ok just everyone - and was casually like, yeahh I see why people ship Buck/Eddie, does not vibe for me but I see it, that's nice they got their canon ship... and then I get to S7 and TOMMY shows back up and meets Buck and I bluescreen for a while because ohhhhhk yes, this is the chemistry for me. Yes.

So yeah, in the end I don't ship Buck/Eddie like... at all really. I feel the way about it that I do about Steve/Bucky which is basically... the way I feel about my childhood best friend who is also queer and who I love profoundly and intimately and not like a sister but also not like a lover y'know?

But I will always take recs my darling! Even when I don't ship it, I love all the characters so much regardless so if it's great I'll read it. And tell me what you love about your favorite characters and fav ships! So nice to hear from you and I hope you're doing well!

[televinita]

Derry Girls, season 2 thoughts!

IN GENERAL

There's often still a pervading sense to me of "we had this great idea for an episode, but it was too expensive so the girls were thwarted and here's a different story instead." That said...

Why did this show not run for six years and a hundred+ episodes. I've never seen anything so consistently delightful or so untethered to continuity or a throughline in my life. These episodes might take place in absolutely any order as far as I know.

Seriously, despite many attempts to ground it with news reports and the still-mystifying-to-me presence of a baby in the background who has clearly grown older since season 1, I have no idea how much time is supposed to have passed in this series.

(if it was more than a year you DEFINITELY could have fit fifteen extra adventures in per season at least)

(Does this show have fic? It should have SO MUCH gen!fic that is just canon-compliant-missing-episodes in style, and yet, I am sure without looking that the vast majority of whatever does exist is simply not that.)

I am loving (almost) all the music! This is the dead opposite of my experience w/ Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

Getting a real strong urge to rewatch "Finding You" btw.

CHARACTERS & EPISODES

+ 2x01: got quite a delight out of Sister Michael's opposite-in-appearance, identical-in-vision Protestant counterpart

+ "I do enjoy a good statue, it has to be said," another iconic line I've known as long as I've known this show.

+ Hot Priest returns to the fold, love that for me.

+ everything about the poetry episode omg.

+ It continues to baffle me that Michelle is everything I should absolutely hate in a character, this is THE miscreant I'm always like "why are you still friends with this loser?" about in YA novels, yet she remains beloved and cherished 2 me just the way she is.

+ The Concert: an episode of pure unfettered delight

+ Let's not talk about the drugs/funeral one.

+ 2x05?? I went into this show with Erin/James on the brain, but with only a single screenshot to support it, so I simply perished of joy when he turned up at her door for Prom.

(also, Orla taking her grandfather because he's the fella she likes best?? awwww)

+ The finale!! I have also known that "you're a Derry girl now" quote (overlaid over different images) for as long as I've known this show existed, but it was still so great seeing it with context.

+ Did I rewind the girls swarming him with hugs at least seven times? Yes.

+ Also, okay, that's it, I need some version of James in a book and I am currently CURSING at how little British YA I have stored in my memory banks to make it so.

(ALSO I just remembered that a book version of Erin's diary exists and I require it. After some investigation, appears I can borrow the physical book via I.L.L. but I equally want the audiobook and it is not on Libby, sadface)

Now that I have forced myself to practice writing down actual thoughts, Imma go queue some gifsets, and I'm still going to make myself sit and process all this footage for another week or two, but VERY excited to get to season 3.

[mushroomwriter]

Hermanos anon here - WHY WOULD YOU PUT THAT GIFSET ON MY DASH AAAAAAAH!!!!! i came out here to have a good time and honestly i feel so attacked rn

Anyway, so happy for you that the exam is over and you passed <3 I actually have exams coming up myself lol so I completely understand... also have you heard? Berlin was renewed for s2! Really really hoping Alvaro returns and we get Sergio and hermanos rights in the next season 🤞 (and to fill the need for hermanos content!!) Also pls don't feel like you have to make a set again soon, happy to wait until you get the inspiration, and ofc it's always a good idea to rewatch their scenes, instant serotonin boost - just skip that minor scene that shall not be named at the end of the Mint Heist 😭

Haha I'm sorryyyy! It's something I realised long back but I never had the chance to inflict the angst on anyone else lmao. you added the cherry on top with how you worded it "literally a little brother begging his big brother not to leave him, and knowing on some level that he'll never be able to make him change his mind" 🥺 in some way he would've known right at the moment nairobi and helsinki emerged alone so seeing him going from denial to desperation. hurts

(pt 2) YES, brotherssss!!! Oh, the fact that Andrés is so selfish and narcissistic otherwise just makes the hermanos bond even more special to me?? it hits different than if they'd just been relatively normal/good characters, idk. And yes that's such older brother behaviour of him!! I will tell you some happier observations of mine this time. One of my favourite "older bro" things Andrés does in the series, when he and Sergio sit down to drink together, he ALWAYS pours wine for Sergio first. In the bella ciao scene, his wedding scene in s4, even s3 he literally wakes up Sergio to come have breakfast with them, which means he didn't even allow either Martin or Tatiana to start without his hermanito lol. It's a very sweet minor detail that melts my heart. I can totally imagine them in the Toledo house, pretending they don't know each other but then andrés does little things like these, serving Sergio first or preparing coffee for his brother just the way he likes it before making his own cup :') OH, the feels. Yes, I agree, I definitely think the Bella Ciao lyrics are foreshadowing, and that is exactly what happened in the end. (I have been struck by that thought too, more than once 🥲 it's heartbreaking isn't it? especially when you consider that oslo/moscow had their loved ones with them when they died + a funeral. nairobi had a funeral too. tokio had rio with her before she died. but andrés had none of that, sergio was miles away and then ofc they had to escape leaving him behind... don't think about the guantanamera scene lyrics in this context too. Poor Sergio :( (pt 3) Btw sorry for how long this got!! Please feel free to put everything under a cut if you want 😅 I'm just out here rambling like there's no tmrw. Back to the happier note (omg we really just keep switching between angst and joy) I love that idea!! Yeah, I can definitely see them having that as an inside joke, something that only they share from their childhood memories, it's very sweet! Sergio "I don't dance" Marquina WILL dance if his big bro requires, and it makes me a puddle everytime. Somehow he has the most stiff yet adorable dance moves ever, I loved those moments we got. Andrés mirroring Sergio's moves in the guantanamera scene never fails to bring a smile to my face. Unironically, I used to watch that scene so many times during the pandemic days. I was not doing too well but those few seconds seeing them smile and laugh and dance despite everything used to give me such comfort :D I was glad to see your reply (and once again, completely understand, hope you're taking care of yourself <3) Thank you for putting up (and being so kind) about my rambles, glad you like them! And ofc, please feel free to tell me to shut up if I get too annoying 😭 As always, such a JOY sharing the enthusiasm for these heist bros with you and i hope you have a great week!

AT LEAST WE CAN SUFFER TOGETHER!!! And talk about Sergio, who usually considers every single possible outcome, Never considering his brother could die... whew!

Thank you so much! The best of luck on your exams!! (If you've already taken them, I hope they went well!) I saw that, yeah... and speaking of the spin-off I watched some more of it, I need to watch the fifth episode next... anyway, they better use that new season to give us some new hermanos content or ELSE 🔪🔪 like, just Andrés mentioning Sergio was enough to reawaken my heist brothers obsession, an actual new scene with the two of them would be so Powerful (also I miss Sergio sooo) Thank you, I'd like to gif them again soon but right now the inspiration isn't really on my side, UGH. But I really hope watching and rewatching their scenes (and looking for possible quotes) can help! Honestly since I love pain I will probably watch the Scene That Shall Not Be Named as well but I promise I'll proceed with caution...

Well, I can't blame you, angst is made to be shared! Poor Sergio, he really is in denial at the beginning, huh, insisting Andrés should get into the tunnel... and that's another thing that gets me, because truly there was no time, waiting for Andrés and not blowing up the tunnel basically meant getting captured, and yet Sergio who's usually so cautious and always aware of every risk just refuses to see it. Andrés must get into the tunnel and to safety! And then he gets more and more desperate when it really becomes apparent that it isn't going to happen :(

Oh, I definitely agree! Part of the appeal of big brother Andrés and of their bond imo is the contrast between their usual demeanor and how they behave around each other. When they're together they're a big brother and a little brother, you know 🥺🥺 OOOH thanks for sharing! I don't know if I ever noticed that (if I did I forgot) it really is sweet! I'm smiling a bit at the thought of Andrés not allowing Martín and Tatiana to have breakfast because the most precious hermanito in the world is not there yet! I love that thought! I enjoy picturing how it was for them in Toledo, having to pretend they didn't know each other, and the image of Andrés finding all the sneaky ways to take care of his hermanito makes me melt <3

What can I say, Bella Ciao, Guantanamera, they truly looked at the lyrics and went "ooooh 😈" That completely breaks my heart, like it makes Sergio's grief even WORSE.

Please never apologize about how long your message gets, as far as I'm concerned it only means I have more stuff to enjoy (also thank you for reminding me I can put this under a cut, I probably should lol) It's kind of amusing how we can switch between oh no Andrés was killed and Sergio was completely helpless and awww nice little childhood memories but hey it's great how they give us tragic and happy thoughts both! I absolutely agree about Sergio having the most stiff yet adorable dance moves ever, at some point he's basically like "ok, since I'm doing this with my big brother I'm... actually enjoying it, but this doesn't take all my awkwardness away" and it's so CUTE, Alvaro plays it so well! And Andrés mirroring his moves makes me smile so much!! It truly is a comfort scene and I'm glad it helped you through those times (man, it was surreal).

Thanks so much for your patience! And nooo don't worry, I LOVE your rambles!! It really is a real joy to talk with you about these brothers!

Thank you so much, I hope you have a great week too! (And if you're still studying for your exams, well, I wish you a productive study and hope it doesn't stress you out too much!)

[mikelogan]

What is the best way to get noticed when I post my own posts? I use hashtags but it still doesn't work?

anon, i'm genuinely so sorry for how long this ended up. i just wanted to try and cover all my bases and share things that i wish i knew when i first started giffing!! as always, take my advice with a grain of salt because i can only speak for myself! 💙

so the fun thing about tumblr and gifmaking (or any kind of editing) specifically is that engagement is shit garbage. for real, take a peek at the like-to-reblog ratio on any decently popular gifset and 90% of the time it skews heavily toward likes, which, on tumblr, do absolutely nothing. this is why you'll see me periodically rant a little about how people have to reblog things they enjoy! no one's going to see the hard work someone spent on a gifset if all the average user does is give it a like and keep scrolling. quite honestly, i've had to work a lot to manage my own expectations when it comes to notes. i now consider anything with over 300-400 notes to have done well when Back In The Day, it used to be a lot closer to 1k. but you also have to know your audience. when i post a law & order set, i expect less than 30 notes. the good wife? less than 10. it really just depends on how active the fandom is.

secondly, it definitely depends on which hashtags you're using. your post will only show up in the tag of the first 20 hashtags you use, so those are the ones that count. i never go over 20 unless i'm just adding my own commentary about the set i'm posting. i can only speak for how i use tumblr myself, but i don't track "regular" tags. let's take Friends as an example (bc i'm still heartbroken over matthew perry). i don't track #friends -- it's virtually useless to me. i track edit tags instead: #friendsedit. check out those tags for whatever media you're posting and see who those blogs tag! i would recommend sorting by recent rather than top posts for that as well so you can see what's relevant now, not whenever the most popular sets were posted. what you'll most likely see are the following:

edit tags (#friendsedit, #ofmdedit, #rwrbedit, etc.)

source blogs, whether they're general source blogs for film or tv, specific forms of media (animation, period dramas), or specifically for that media (heartstoppercentral, ofmdaily, etc.)

other tumblr users: i'm not entirely sure when this started bc back when i regularly giffed (8-10 years ago), everyone just tracked their url tag and that was it. i started giffing again this past may and was very confused at first about all the tags on gifsets that were #user____ and similar. and a lot of the time, it's next to impossible to figure out who that person is, what their url is, unless you check the notes and see who's reblogged the post, tagged it as "tagged" or something similar, and go to their blog to check their description and see what their tracked tag is. that's why i highly recommend starting a directory and/or taglist if you're going to be posting a lot of your own creations. i wish i would have started doing so sooner, but i now have a massive google doc sorted by who wants to be tagged in what and what user tag is associated with which url. i have a terrible memory as well, so that definitely didn't help matters.

a note on tagging etiquette:

you should be following the blogs you're tagging. this is my personal opinion as well as what i believe to be a general "rule." i'm sure not every person cares whether or not the people tagging them are following them, but i think it's polite to do so. when someone tags you, they're both saying "hey, look at this cool thing i made!" and "would you maybe consider reblogging and boosting this?"

i don't know that it's exactly a mistake per se, but when i first started hopping on the train of tagging users as well as sourceblogs, i kind of just tagged whomever in whatever. now that i've established taglists of who wants to be tagged in what, i don't really worry about this much anymore. but i would say it's again good etiquette to check out what the person you're tagging posts themselves and reblogs. if i see someone posting a bunch in #thohhedit and i follow them, i'll probably start tagging them in my own hill house edits because i know they enjoy that media! again, this will vary from person to person as to how discerning they are about what they reblog. i have some of my hard no reblogs listed on my about page, but not everyone will do this.

tagging someone doesn't necessarily mean they'll reblog your post! i can almost 100% guarantee you that it's not personal as well. i don't reblog everything in my tag, either bc it's someone/something i don't know, don't like, or is listed in my "won't reblog" section. at the end of the day, tagging someone is a kind way to ask them to reblog your post. it's not a guarantee and you're not entitled to anything. it's their blog! also, some blogs queue their tagged posts rather than reblogging them right away, so you might not see them do it for a while, especially if they're tagged in a lot or have an extensive queue!

lastly, and in no way do i intend this to be mean or rude or condescending -- or at all negative -- but a lot of blogs prefer to reblog creations of a certain quality. if you've just started out, there might be a chance that your gifs or edits just. aren't the greatest right now. and that's okay!! everyone starts somewhere, and i mean that in the sincerest way possible. for reference, this is one of my first gifs ever:

i'm showing you this bc not only am i proud of how far i've come with gifmaking, but because literally you have to start at this level to go anywhere!! there are multiple ways i've gotten better (both over months and years), but i think the two most valuable have been resource/tutorial blogs and gifmaking networks. i joined LGBTQ Creators in early September and it was hands down the best decision i could have made for myself. not only do i now have a network of likeminded, extraordinarily talented individuals i can go to for inspiration, advice, etc., but i also have a ton of motivation to make new sets and continue improving my skills and try new techniques! so yeah, maybe there are some users you'll tag who might not want to reblog your gifs because the frame rate is too slow or the coloring is off, but please don't take it personally. is it the nicest feeling in the world? of course not. but compare that stelena gif to one of my more recent gifs:

anyway, i hope that at least some of my ridiculous rambling is helpful to you! if you have further questions, i'm so happy to help in any way i can whenever i can. obligatory thesis statement: notes don't determine your worth or the quality of what you've created. gif or edit because you enjoy it! (this is quite literally the only reason i've made and posted hundreds of gifsets of law & order and the good wife lmao) 💙

[callivich]

Just a reminder for anyone new or anyone who has been lurking:

I know it’s difficult coming into a new fandom but everyone in the Gallavich fandom on tumblr is very friendly and kind, so don’t feel nervous - just jump in and say hi.

Make an intro post and check the #gallavichintro tag to find fellow fans! Here’s the general Shameless version!

Like seriously just send a message or reply to a post. We’re here to have fun, the idea of new people is great because it means more engagement.

When I say people are nice, I mean it. I’ve been in so many different fandoms over 20+ years and this is genuinely the kindest group of people I’ve ever encountered online in a fandom space.

Give your blog an icon. People tend to assume that ones without are spam blogs and may block immediately. Here are some great icons you can use with credit: here / here / here

If you’d like a Gallavich banner for your blog, send me a message - I’d be so happy to make you one! I’ve got ones free to use here / here.

Please don’t steal gifs and repost them, here’s a great post explaining why and another one explaining why and how to use the gif search function! And another one explaining the gif search function.

Reblog content you enjoy and write in the tags or reply to the post - how much you liked something or if you have other thoughts…..creators love to hear this!

Use the tags. They’re the best way to get your posts noticed if you’re new- #gallavich #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich #ianxmickey any or all of these will work. When you make a post, you should see a little grey box that says something like add tags to help people find your post, just type in there. (You don’t need to use the # symbol. Tumblr automatically does that.)

There are so many brilliant active communities that you can take part in - I’ve done a roundup post here & I will update it with new communities.

If you feel creative? Got for it. Don’t worry about what people think, just share your work. Write that fic or headcanon or meta, draw that art, create that gifset, design that aesthetic piece, share that playlist. Chances are that a lot of people will enjoy your work!

Don’t feel shy about promoting your work either - tag it with #gallavich & the tags mentioned above.

Recommend what you’ve enjoyed! There is no time limit on sharing links to fic, art, headcanons, gifsets, posts of any kind…..reblog/share what you love and keep sharing it. Whether it’s brand new or years old, sharing the work is great idea.

Go back and explore things. Older fics on ao3, gifsets and art from years past, moodboards and headcanons that are years old. None of these things have an expiration date. So reblog them, share them, let people experience them for the first time and allow people to enjoy them for the 2nd/3rd/4th time.

Comment!! It’s such an important thing to do in fandom. Whether it’s on new work or old work, whether you write long comments or just a keyboard smash and emojis - it’s great way to share love to creators, to support/encourage/inspire them and to get involved in fandom. Check out Ian and Mickey’s guide to commenting and other posts about commenting: here // here // here

Try the Gallavich AO3 Fic & Art Comment Bingo or the Gallavich Tumblr Art Bingo!

Share your ideas. Whether it’s headcanons or meta or fics or art, share it. Feel free to explore your ideas. There’s always room for discussion, analysis and creativity.

If you see ask memes or tag games going around, take part! Or even reblog one of these games and tag some people you’d like to get to know better! Don’t feel intimidated, it’s always nice to be tagged.

Keeping reblogging posts. Not just once or twice but again and again. The queue is there for a reason. And each time you do? You’re sharing it with your dash.

Remember, pretty much everyone starts out as a lurker and when it comes to being creative - everyone starts at the beginning. Those writers and artists and creators that you are in awe of? They all started out at square one. Everyone practices and creates over and over again, that’s how it goes. The more you write or draw or create, the better you get. And fandom loves to see it.

Need ideas or inspiration? I’ve got lots and lots of prompts for you!

This is a relatively small-ish fandom but it’s active and there is nothing nicer than new people joining, so don’t hesitate - jump in. It’s so much fun and we’d love you to join us! 💖

If anyone has any tips or encouragement they’d like to share, please reply to this post! 💖

And if you have any questions about using tumblr, send me an ask!

[angstics]

it's always been interesting to me that the only thing seemingly "separating" the transgender truthing from the homosexual truthing, in terms of legitimate proof that someone who only knows gerard way through interviews and stage performance could provide, is the history of open gnc-ness. which doesn't really correlate to any kind of transgender identity but obviously i know why people choose to interpret it that way. (even then, the offstage dude kissing could and usually does fill an identical role in other peoples interpretation of gerard as being secretly gay so. shrug). but this time TRUST ME his performance art in solidarity with an oppressed queer group is ACTUALLY him being secretly trans. i try not to engage with any mass discourse events and find the she/her pronoun usage distasteful and just personally uncomfortable, so i dont directly encounter many people who even orbit this kind of discussion lol. im curious what you think about this comparison! and i apologize if anything was worded unclearly :)

this is a big can o worms! i like hearing your thoughts. there’s sooo many different readings on his identity and how the outfits factor into that.

it’s invasive but it’s not the same ethics as theorizing about a friend. understanding an artist is important to people. it’s part of being an artist which is normal but heavily contested. im always reminded of siken’s response to the student who wanted to learn more about his life to understand his poetry lol (he wasnt nice). why would it matter? authenticity, connection, need to label? there’s no universal or moral answer

anyhow back to gerard. the shift from homosexual to transgender truthing is funny! people didnt give up, they just concluded he’s unlabelled gay 😭 not from the on/off stage kissing (which were all performative) but from the tweetsss. “when people try to define your sexuality [morrissey picture]” and “why would i hide it if i was a Homosexual”. the affair conspiracies and gay music themes and general stereotypes probably aided that. whether the assumption is true or false makes no difference. the reasons behind why ppl even make the assumption are so intriguing to think about… but this is already too long.

the “trans truthing” is complicated bc it’s more personal to ppl. im not gonna create a boogeyman. ive seen all of this, some i align with some i dont. putting them in a list cuz it’s easier to read

ppl in my corner of the fandom are comfortable with calling him queer, nb, trans — from most to least common. all as umbrella terms. all to mean not-cis. justification is good ol FLAGGING. like getting an undercut to tell girls yr a dyke without needing to come out. i can expand on this thought process if wanted. ive seen this kinda labeling for YEARS

a lot of ppl i follow stop at gnc because that is the only visibly obvious option. and it’s the term The Advocate used for him in 2018 (tho we gotta note that he didnt self-id — the writer used the same principal of gnc being about presentation over id). the term is treated as if it were between cis and trans. or more accurately, not-cis not-trans.

ive noticed that old/ex fans or outsiders under my 30k cheerleader gifset see the dress as a coming out…? people of 1 and 2 chalk it under that history of gender nonconformity. it’s surprising but makes sense. i think that’s the function of said history

all the egg talk ive seen is on twitter among transfem ppl and tumblr posts in the wild. i searched “gerard way trans” and got so many tweets referencing kurt cobain. that is transfem business, not mine 😭

all this to say that i havent seen anyone in these circles insinuate he was Secretly trans. it’s the same as the gay assumption. it isnt about proving what reality is. just whatever individuals accept as their truth. lots of 1 ppl have said that if he suddenly came out as cis, their perception wouldnt change. i take that to mean bc the performance itself is the person and the performance they see is transgender.

i dont see how art and artist can be separated in performance. what other version of the artist are you getting? i dont know if anyone round here is talking about the couch sitting gerard way. like why would we 😭 even if one does, it’s under the perception of the performance we know. if we werent talking about the performance, we wouldnt even be talking about it. you wouldnt imagine your loved one watching tv. youd sit next to them. look at them. talk to them. YOU KNOW? like this whole debate on whether it’s invasive goes NOWHERE. we arent talking about someone who could be known. we are barely talking about the real person.

and he knows this because anyone with a Name becomes this. the real life person doesnt need defending. he needs respect. to me that means not harassing him, not digging into his private life, not speaking for him. the rest is what feels ok for me. if the environment is uncomfortable, all i can do is share why. which is why talking about it is important.

ill say, im fine with she/her-ing him. i know those arent his defined pronouns. i know i use them as a term of endearment and character-dedication. i know when to avoid them. i personally dont believe in rigid pronoun use. i don’t believe in there being a handbook of rules of what is or isnt rude (not to say there arent general rules). you learn person to person.

goes back to the Pursuit of Universal Morality. god i remember last year getting so mad at the trans labelling id leave tumblr to complain on twitter. but ive changed my tune to seeing the non-cis ambiguity. not because of Evidence but because i found comfort in that connection. i wasnt wrong then, am not wrong now.

it isnt really about him, it’s about what he says and does. which IMO he’s likely to accept as an artist.

so yeah. TLDR: posts that are like “how can you say he’s [cis/trans] if X?!” are really just stating their own perception. even if they uncritically believe what theyre saying is reality, it’s THEIR reality. there is no difference btwn “his performance art in solidarity with an oppressed queer group” and “him being secretly trans”.

[air--so--sweet]

All. Of. This.

Also not to shit on the entire fandom, because I do mostly have fun here, but I've been always been a someone who saw fandom as a fun and was always confused by people saying stuff like 'I survived superwholock tumblr' because I was on tumblr then and in two of those fandoms (and had a lot of stuff from the third cross my dash) and I never encountered whatever it was that was bad enough that people felt they survived it.. I was just happily reblogging gifsets and minding my own business.

And now, even when I'm more involved in fabdom spaces and fandom tumblr, I've mostly been having a wonderful time and the odd occasion I have come across something I dislike for whatever reason I've been able to just scroll on past.

And then I became part of the 9-1-1 fandom and I finally get what people mean when they complain about fandoms. Again, I mostly have a great time here, but the ship wars and sniping and people twisting the narrative, taking things out of context or just willfully and intentionally perceiving things incorrectly to fit their narrative and ideas of the show is exhausting. I have the tags bucktommy and tommy kinard filtered, not because I have Tommy or bucktommy as a ship (I don't hate either by the way, I think most of their relationship is fine and Tommy is an okay guy because I do believe people can and do grow and change over time) but because it was always either a buddie shipper shitting on Tommy and their relationship or a bucktommy shipper moaning about he was so much better for Buck than Eddie and he better come back and be endgame and the ship is so so superior to Buddie in every way. Why, why does this have to be a fucking competition? Why can't we just ship who we ship and let others ship who they ship and scroll past their posts if they come across our dash. Also I wish people would understand that any character who is romantically linked to your character who isn't who you ship them with, isn't the devil and they can add value to the narrative and the help move the story along, maybe even in the direction you want? Because Tommy being there in 8x11 actually furthers the buddie canon arc. But people are too busy shitting on him to stop and consider that (and/or they lack to media literacy to understand that).

While I'm here I'm also going through out another unpopular opinion because why the fuck not? I don't hate Taylor Kelly and I think the scene where they say I love you is awkward but cute and I do believe Buck was in love with her. I have issues with some of the writing of their relationship but I rarely see people complaining about the writing, they just don't like that she had a relationship with Buck and so focus on any minor tging she did that they can make look negative so they can act like she treated Buck terribly (don't get me wrong, she deserves criticism for some of her actions but Buck also deserves serious criticism for things he did in that relationship and never seems to actually get any).

I feel like I'm going to get shit for this and I also feel like maybe I shouldn't post it because I try keep my blog as free of negativity as possible but dear lord I am tired and I've been biting my tongue way too long.

the best part about tommy being back on 911: tommy being back on 911 the worst part about tommy being back on 911: watching my whole dashboard start shitting on a character I really like again, and having to decide if this or that post was mean-spirited enough that I should unfollow about it

[matan4il]

I apologize for the length of this in advance but I need to nerd out here for a moment. I love that you covered Bill and Frank because it very much reminded me of a point I have always made about Buddie scenes.

So if you watch TLOS, it's a mix of gamers and casual viewers. I watch with my BF and a group of friends and I am actually the only one who played the game. Now in the game I always thought Bill was gay, but we never even met Frank. He's already gone and their relationship is presented very differently. In fact the notion that Bill could be gay was a huge controversy in the gamer discourse.

On to when the actual episode aired. Unless you know all this, it can't be fully appreciated what this show accomplished. From casual viewers to those aware of the source material like me? The showrunners accomplished completely removing us from the world, the threats, introduce 2 character you have never seen and tell a 17 year long love story about them without me, fully processing we are in a different universe. Also add you had to make me understand and almost root for the suicide at end and not even be mad. How could they accomplish it, I truly believe it was the scenes, the lighting. There was no wasted space. We bridged 17 years knowing what happens without being beat over the head with it. Frank wasn't with Bill because of running water and hot food. Bill wasn't with Frank because he's lonely. The fact that their marriage scene is no dialogue, yet I get it, and I am bawling like it's masterclass.

So the Buddie aspect. It's always been the same for me. It's the filming and attention to details that show the love, but also alert me to like I need to pay attention. When Buddie goes Canon I feel like a large part of the audience will go oh yeah it all makes sense now. It's sad that in queer storytelling it can't be more obvious, but hopefully in a few years that will change . However again when it comes to showing Buddie as family there has never been wasted space or shortcuts in their scenes.

Does that make sense or am I being a romantic clown.

Oh one more thing. If you didn't watch all of TLOU, Tessa (the girl from the garden lunch is a perfect example of why Bill and Frank were beautiful. Because the Tess we know in the present day wasn't the Tess you saw giggling with Frank. It proves how Bill was able to protect Frank in a way Joel couldn't with Tess.

Hi Nonnie! Thank you so much for sending this ask referencing the gifset I made paralleling Buddie with TLoU's Bill and Frank.

Okay, I am going to start from the end and point out that I LOVE that comparison you pointed out of what Bill managed to do for Frank, versus where Joel couldn't do the same for Tess. But Bill did more than that. Bill could protect Frank because he was naturally a hermit. It didn't require effort for him to shit the rest of the world off and build defenses against it. He was doing that even before the apocalypse hit. What's truly amazing about Bill's love for Frank is the moments it allows any openness in Bill. First to Frank himself, to letting him in, talking to him, sharing personal stuff, playing his favorite song for Frank and letting Bill's own pain be present and seen. That's the moment Frank falls in love with him, after all. It's when he sees that and he wouldn't be able to if Bill hadn't chosen to be open and vulnerable with him.

(just take a second here to consider how much this reflects Eddie, who chooses to be open with Buck as early as 202, sharing Christopher's pic, letting Buck into their lives, and then letting Buck in on the pain and the vulnerability during his breakdown arc starting in 513)

Then there's the fact that Bill DOES NOT want to have other friends. He doesn't want Tess there, he doesn't like Joel, he would never have let them in no matter how many advantages friendship with smugglers may offer. But he accept their presence because Frank wants it. That's love. Leaving your comfort zone, making room for what the other person needs.

(don't think about Eddie not wanting to go to the horse ranch in 514, but agreeing to just in order to humor Buck, not even realizing how much this in turn is actually going to end up helping him)

But I wanna add something to all this. I heard Tess and Joel's relationship was discussed and what TLoU ended up going with is them being lovers, but never explicitly stating it. And I think that's SO interesting. 'Coz that means you can easily see some of the same tropes we see with Buddie happening with Joel and Tess as well. They're life partners, and we're never told in what way, but it is implied, and we're meant to pick up the hints and figure it out for ourselves, it explains their dynamics in ways that platonic friendship/business partnership does not. One trope, for example, is the parallel of the subtextual relationship to a canon one. Bill and Frank are canon. Tess and Joel are subtextual. Yet we have basically the same line from both Tess and Frank uttered at their partners: in 102, Tess reminds Joel she has never asked him for anything before, and in 103, Frank does the same with Bill.

(Buddie and every freaking piece of meta I've ever written about them paralleling every single one of 911's canon couples, like in the Buddie vs Lone Star meta posts, or the parallel with Madney in 512 or with Henren in 606...)

Thank you for this! Have a great day, lovely! As always, here's my ask tag. xoxox

[papa-evershed]

Hello papa evershed, you are a gift to all rjc fans and have impeccable taste. I loved your gif sets of robs nose, completely agree that it sets his face apart from the rest, making it less basic despite him being very conventionally handsome. I can’t believe that he would diss his own nose, I think in an press interview for the ritual, he and rafe were joking about the insecurities that come with seeing themselves on film and he remarked that sometimes he would do a double take at his profile, going “did someone glue a giant fake nose on my face?” Breaks my heart.

Anyways, I ramble. I originally sent this ask to humbly inquire about the chances of you making a gif set of rob’s “tongue bleps?” I don’t know how else to describe them, but he does this adorable thing where he sticks the tip of his tongue out of his mouth like a cat blepping. I think I noticed it first in a DA press interview with Michael j fox. No worries if it’s too much trouble. Thank you for your wonderful gifs and resources!

Yes, I was thinking of that exact interview when I said I'd fight even him for talking shit about his nose! 😂 That man talks too much shit about himself, period. Like, damn boy, calm down. He's a good-looking bastard and all those unique features he's always so self-deprecating about are exactly why he's attractive. Ugh, don't even get me started on this because I could go on forever. 😅 I suppose that's the case for all of us though, right? The things we're insecure about are the things that make us stand out.

But anyway, yes! I can absolutely work on a gifset like that for you, I know exactly what you mean about the tongue. Not sure how long it'll take, I've had about as much time to myself lately as I've had energy (spoiler alert: very little), but this will be fun to put together! And thank you for the request and the kind words! ♥

[batfamtv]

me after writing smut: is this who i am? is this who i represent? lmao i've never written smut until trese, i guess the thirst was too much, let me know how y'all like it! thank you so much for all your support, ily <3

(ﾉ´ з `)ノ

kambal x reader; established relationship

gif by @rasputinaillyanna (see their original gifsets here!)

sfw

the three idiots

seriously, alexandra feels like she keeps aging 20+ years whenever you three are together and goofing around

this is one of the reasons why you’re not allowed on the field with them, they’d get absolutely nothing done

that, and the twins simply wont put you in danger under any circumstances

alexandra also treats you like a sister (in law) and wants you safe, but can only do so much to keep you out of their lives since you still find ways to help them out

absolutely rowdy when you’re with basilio, you and him practically have a lot of inside jokes and a secret language

people would give you both weird looks when you’re out in public, just because you’re both so damn loud

with crispin you’re more mature (but not a lot), he does these grand gestures like taking you out on expensive dates, takes instagram/pinterest style pics of you

basilio also takes pics of you, but those are some of the most unflattering ones that he sends to your groupchat as memes

the ppl who arent familiar with your relationship with the twins are almost often confused when they see you with just the one twin: they’d think “huh i saw this couple a week ago, but i could have sworn the boyfriend had much shorter hair, it couldn’t have grown that long in a week, right?”

when you do go out with the twins, they flank you and you almost get squished in between them, so sometimes you have to push them both to the sides so that you would have space to move around

the three of you like to just chill at the mall sometimes, go window shopping and then eat samgyup/mang inasal later on

other times when you manage to drag alexandra with you, people would assume that you guys are on a double date, and alexandra has the ugliest/most disgusted look on her face as she corrects them “these are my brothers” “im gay”

in your groupchat (just you and the twins) crispin is the sweet, doting one who would text you “have you eaten?” “want us to pick something up for you on the way home?” while basilio sends you memes and selfies of the twins

they send you videos and pics of pets they meet “today we met brownie and blackie”

with regards to living arrangements, the twins have separate rooms (basilio’s is the messy one, smells weird)

when you moved in, alexandra offered you your own room, and most of the time that’s where the boys stay anyway

the bed is much larger than theirs because it needs to accommodate all three of you

you three try to cook meals for ate alexandra, but it almost always turns out disastrous - mostly when basilio insists on helping

so you always make him run errands (“can you go pick up some more garlic and magic sarap”) while you and crispin man the stoves

you braid basilio’s hair while crispin tunes his guitar!!

and you spend a couple of hours listening to crispin play the guitar, basilio’s head now resting on your lap

crispin’s movie taste are like *film* and *poetic cinema* while basilio might enjoy movies that are so bad they’re good, but you three are all suckers for superhero ensemble movies and horror movies

the boys become really annoying when watching filipino horror movies because they like to point out mistakes in the film “aswangs dont do that” “why would you go there all alone are you stupid???”

“please boys i just wanna watch the movie”

a huge cuddle pile

both boys run hot, so during cold nights (that never happen, bc you live in the philippines) you’re all warm and toasty between them

both light sleepers! they were pretty heavy sleepers when they were kids/teenagers, but the occupational hazard of their jobs require them to be ready at a moment’s notice

they still, however, snore quite loudly

crispin doesn’t ever tend to move positions when sleeping, he wakes up in the same position he fell asleep in

basilio rotates around the bed like hands of a clock

most often falls off the bed, but clumsily climbs back up and cuddles you

really really simpy when it comes to you, though most of the time it’s just you three sharing one brain cell (it’s with you, mostly), they can be quite romantic and cheesy if they want to

crispin probably has his brother as just “Basilio” on his phone, and “Y/N ❤️" for you

basilio has “my love ❤️😍😘💘 ” for you and crispin’s number isn’t even registered lol

nsfw under the cut

nsfw

threesome? threesome

boys barely do anything separately and usually just have a Single Thought in both their heads, so if one is horny, the other one is 69% (lol) horny as well

you realize that crispin doesn’t like to be teased at work, but basilio enjoys it so much

you find this out when you’re alone and horny, so you send a pic of you touching yourself to the boys in your groupchat

crispin sees it first, but doesn’t say anything?? he honest to god just left you on read

meanwhile basilio also sees your pic not too long after and you quickly get a “what the fuck” as a reply from him

like 10 mins later he sends you a pic of him in what looks like a washroom and his cock is straining in his pants

he texts you “had to find a washroom so fucking fast so that ate alex and the police captain doesn’t see me so fucking hard in my pants” and “wanna eat you pussy babe”

crispin does text you when the three are on their way home, not mentioning the picture you sent “we’re on our way home”

and at first you thought he is mad at you bc he didn’t bring the nude up?? does he not want you anymore :(

but the moment they arrive crispin all but sprints to your shared bedroom and sees you there, in your underwear

holds your cheeks in one hand, “what the fuck was that baby, hmm? what did you send us?”

you try to ask if he’s mad bc you sent him a nude, ask him if there’s anything wrong, but he just lets your face go as he takes his suit off, basilio finds his way to your room, locks it, and gives you a kiss

basilio whispers “missed you baby” against your mouth before moving away to undress

crispin, now fully naked in front of you, makes you suck his cock, which is hard and twitching, its tip leaking with precum, he makes you place both his hands on your head, “do you know how surprised i was when i saw a text from you and it’s a picture of you touching your cunt? hmm?” he sighs as he sees you looking up at him, eyes watering as you struggle to take all of his cock down your throat “i had to stop myself from getting hard in front of everyone, baby, basilio couldn’t even do that”

basilio huffs but the boys reposition you so you’re in bed and on your back, crispin kneeling to your side, his cock still throbbing in your mouth, basilio positions himself between your thighs, moaning when he sees how wet you are

basilio removes your panties before rushing to sniff your cunt, groaning in delight--you’re sure his eyes roll to the back of his head before he dives into your cunt

you moan into crispin’s cock and he grunts, shoving more of his cock into your mouth, now moving faster, “i really wanna cum down your throat baby, would you let me?”

you nod and he pushes his cock all the way into your mouth, your nose practically touching his groin and pubes

you gag, for a moment panicked as you try to breathe in, while crispin just eyes you, his cock growing ever harder when he looks at your face wet with tears and drool, he grabs your hair, softly at first, to make sure you’re okay, and when you nod crispin groans as he sets up his pace, groaning as he feels his orgasm building

basilio, meanwhile, is licking and sucking your clit with three fingers knuckles deep in your cunt, and when he starts to feel you spasming, a telltale sign that your orgasm is approaching, he pulls his mouth and fingers out and quickly replacing them with his fat cock

immediately, you and basilio both groan, your eyes roll to the back of your head as you feel yourself so full of cock

basilio curses under his breath before taking your legs and resting them against his shoulders “fuck, y/n, im sorry i’m not gonna last long” “your pussy got me so fucking hard you tasted so good baby, you know how much i love your little pussy, right?”

crispin groans at this before he pulls his cock out of your mouth, leaning down to kiss you, he then moves down your neck and your tits, making sure he marks your chest

basilio whimpers and thrusts three more times before releasing a long groan, his cum exploding deep in your pussy “fuck baby you feel so good” he manages to pull out and you see his cock wet with his cum and your juices before settling beside you, panting harshly

you barely had the type to recuperate before crispin flips you on your stomach, making sure your face is resting on the pillows before he thrusts into you with a grunt

“fuck, still a tight little pussy after basilio rammed your cunt, huh?”

your eyes rolling, you couldnt do much other than hold onto the sheets and basilio’s hand, moaning loudly when you feel crispin’s fingers on your clit

“can you take one more, y/n? can your pussy take one more load?”

speechless, you nod, trying to grind your ass against crispin’s hips, but his hands on your hips hold you firm

he grunts approvingly, “good baby, take it deep in your pussy okay? and cum on my cock, baby, i wanna feel it”

you cum on his cock, almost violently, and twins groan at the sound of your moaning, and the sight of you spasming and shaking on crispin’s cock

a couple of deep thrusts later, crispin also cums deep into your pussy, his cum now mixed with basilio’s

crispin moves to get a washcloth to clean the three of you up, before all three of you collapse in bed, huddled together, basilio with his arms wrapped from behind--already falling asleep, you rest your head against crispin’s arm

“so, no more nudes when you’re at work?”

crispin laughs softly before pressing a kiss on your forehead, “unless your cunt is ready to take two cocks at once, no nudes when we’re at work”

[scoobydoodean]

I haven’t seen anyone suggest Luther is queer before. Interesting. You made me go back to the discussion with Luther’s brother, Garland:

Mr. Garland: Everybody was scared of Luther. They called him a monster. He was too big, too mean-looking. Just too different. Didn't matter he was the kindest man I ever knew. Didn't matter he'd never hurt no one. A lot of people failed Luther. I was one of them. I was a widower with three young 'uns. And I told myself there was nothing I could do.

[…]

Mr. Garland: Jessie was a receptionist at the mill. She was always real nice to Luther, and he had a crush on her. But Frank didn't like it. And when Jessie went missing, Frank was sure that Luther had done something to her. Turns out the old gal killed herself, but Frank didn't know that. They found Luther with a chain wrapped around his neck. He was dragged up and down the stretch outside that plant till he was past dead. Dean: And O'Brien was never arrested? Mr. Garland: I screamed to every cop in town. They didn't want to look into Frank. He was a pillar of the community. My brother was just the town freak.

Say someone doesn't read a queer subtext here. Dean is still a victim erroneously framed as a villain, just like Luther. I've bitterly mentioned this many times, but Kripke himself was actually so incensed by erroneous fan readings of this episode as "Dean is just an asshole" that he issued a definitive interpretation.

So I’ve never before responded directly to the fandom’s comments about an episode, and I don’t plan to make a habit of it, but I couldn’t resist dropping in a thought about the episode “Yellow Fever.” Which is this: Dean is not a dick. None of the writers, or anyone on the creative team of Supernatural, think Dean’s ever been a dick, past, present, or future.  He’s a hero.  Dean did NOT contract the ghost sickness because he’s a dick. Victims contract the illness because they use “fear as a weapon.”  Dean asks Lilith at the episode’s end, “why did I get infected?”  And she cryptically responds, “you know why.  Listen to your heart.”  We, as the writers, probably should have emphasized this mystery more, I take responsibility for that omission.  But the point is: the reason he was infected is because of a SECRET he’s keeping.  A dark secret that will be revealed in Episode 10.  And not at all because of any dickishness, implied or otherwise. Thanks, gang. Eric Kripke, Creator Supernatural

Dean was infected because he tortured souls in Hell under extreme duress—after 30 years of brutal torture and psychological conditioning. That doesn't exactly make him a dick, does it? It makes him a victim—one who is paralleled with assholes in a manner that is almost sickeningly unfair—just like Luther was treated as a villain when he wasn't one.

Something that caught my eye while I was looking is Garland’s dialogue, after Sam suggests he must have hated his brother's killer:

Mr. Garland: I did for a long time, but life's too short for hate, son. And Frank wasn't thinking straight. His wife had vanished, he was terrified. A damn shame he had to put Luther through the same, but... that's fear. It spreads and spreads.

Frank O’Brien, the man who killed Luther, is a John parallel. Blinded by revenge after the perceived murder of his wife, he harms an innocent (Luther) erroneously and that's why Luther becomes a vengeful spirit infected with ghost sickness. This interests me, because I was comparing Sam's actions in 3.10 with his actions here in 4.06 Yellow Fever, and Dean and Jeremy (the guy Sam kills in the same manner through which his father abused him) are also parallels. I have a gifset and a text post. In 3.10, Dean's apathy about his impending demise is placed at John's feet—the feet of a man blinded by revenge with Dean as his collateral damage.

Sam is Jeremy's executioner and Luther's, and kills each in the same manner through which they were abused or killed by a John parallel... and both Jeremy and Luther are Dean parallels. Sam of course, is heavily paralleled with John in the Kripke era, and also has had many moments blinded by desperation for vengeance (1.02, 1.10, 1.11, 1.21, 1.22, 2.02, 3.05, 3.11, s3-s4 gap) on behalf of Jess > John > Dean.

Thinking about 3.10 Dream A Little Dream of Me and 4.06 Yellow Fever as two episodes where Dean is the case of the week in a sense, and Sam kills a traumatized bad guy using their greatest fear.

[scuttling]

In Those Jeans

Fandom: Criminal Minds Pairings: Aaron Hotchner/Female Reader Word Count: 2,599 Tags: 18+, NSFW, Blow jobs, Thigh riding, Car sex, Unprotected sex, Semi-public sex Summary: After almost two years of dating, you and Aaron still can't keep your eyes—or hands—off of each other, even at a company picnic; but who could blame you, when he looks like that? *Inspired by this gifset I think we all reblogged last night. I'm feral for Hotch in jeans. 🤤 Link to AO3 or read below! As Aaron’s girlfriend of almost two years, there have been countless times when you’ve gotten to see the rarer sides of his personality, things he doesn’t show at work, or at least not often.

You’ve seen his silly side with Jack when he builds pillow forts, plays tag in the backyard, makes messes in the kitchen. You’ve seen his sweet side when he gives you a back rub just because, makes your favorite dinner when you’ve had a stressful week, when he’s there to talk or just cuddle after appointments with your therapist, which he knows can bring your mood down a little.

You’ve seen him tender, romantic, playful, emotional, loving and caring and capable, but nothing compares to the hidden knowledge you have of one aspect of his personality: your man is horny as hell, and also kind of a freak.

At work, of course, he is the epitome of stoic, expressionless, buttoned-up suit, but a little flash of panty, or a sultry look, or even a well-timed innuendo is enough to have you knees up in the backseat of a government-owned SUV before the rest of your team even leaves the parking garage.

You silently thank god for tinted windows; you not-so-silently thank god for Aaron.

It’s amazing, because you are the same way, half turned-on at any given time of the day, catapulted to full on horny mess depending on the look on his face, the outfit he’s wearing, whether or not he calls you by your last name—before you were dating, you longed to hear him say your first name, but now it’s the impersonal bark of your surname that really gets you going.

Because you share the same predisposition for being down to fuck most of the time, all it takes is a raised eyebrow or a sway of the hips to signal you’re in the mood for something to happen, and if it’s physically feasible and won’t get you arrested, you usually follow through.

It’s how you end up getting absolutely wrecked in the back of the SUV at an FBI family picnic event—you don’t feel great about it, but it is what it is, and it all started with a pair of jeans. Aaron is hot. There’s no doubt about it, and it’s not up for debate. He doesn’t see it, but that just makes him hotter; if other people don’t see it, that just makes them stupid. You see it, though, everyday, in the smallest of ways, can’t stop seeing it. When he gets ready for the picnic, throws on a soft, worn t-shirt and a pair of jeans that fit him so well it’s almost criminal, you make a noise in the back of your throat, and Aaron grins.

“What’s happening over there?” he asks as you sit on the edge of the bed, hooking the strap of your sandal over your heel. You exhale, scowl.

“I think you know very well what’s happening.” He chooses a belt from the back of the door, slides it through the loops on the jeans, and your mouth waters. “Fuck, Aaron.”

“No time for that,” he says, looking up at you through his stupidly dark eyelashes, and he clasps the buckle, smooths his hands down his thighs. You’re going to be soaked before you even leave the house.

“I beg to differ.” You stand from the bed, twirl a little in a blue sundress you know Aaron won’t be able to resist for long. Two can play at this game: if he wants to watch you slowly lose your composure in public, you’re sure as hell not going to make it easy.

“Ugh. Love those little dresses,” he murmurs, stepping toward you, but you shake your head and wag a finger at him.

“Nope, no time for that,” you say, but you giggle when he narrows his eyes and stalks closer anyway.

He tackles you, tosses you back on the bed, kisses your mouth and neck, then whispers dirty things into your ear and rubs you through your panties until you come so loud it could wake the dead. You undo that stupid belt, tug his jeans down just enough to free his cock, toss your hair over your shoulder, and blow him like you’re being graded on it—if that were the case, you’d be getting extra credit for technique, no doubt about it.

You leave a little later than intended, and you know you just made a huge mistake, because getting him out of those jeans again is going to be all you can think about for the rest of the day; you’re not certain what’s going through his head, but you know for a fact he’s thinking pretty much the same thing.

Even though you’re both bummed that it’s Jack’s weekend with Haley and he's missing the picnic, you have to admit it’s kind of good timing, because you don’t let yourself get distracted when he is with you, but Aaron is looking so damn distracting today. You sit at a picnic table with JJ and Garcia, drinking iced tea and watching Will and Aaron play catch with Henry and a couple other kids. You’d say this is just a tactic, because seeing Aaron interact with kids always gives you baby (and babymaking) fever, but you know deep down he just loves children, and that makes your heart warm more than anything.

When he lifts the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face? Now that’s a tactic, and a damn good one. You can’t hold back your whimper, and your friends take one look at you and share an amused glance.

“It’s a family picnic,” JJ says, scolding and teasing all at once. “Keep it in your pants.”

“It’s his pants you need to be worried about,” you mutter, and you fan yourself with your hand to try to bring yourself down a notch. That, of course, does not work, so you sigh, stand from the table, pour a cup of lemonade, and give them a wink before walking over to Aaron’s side. You get his attention with an innocent look, hand over the lemonade with a sweet smile.

“You look hot. And thirsty,” you tell him, and he smiles, tips his head back, and drinks it all in one gulp. You watch him swallow, squeeze your thighs together.

“So do you,” he says with a hint of a smirk, handing back the cup, and he leans in to whisper in your ear. “Thanks for the lemonade; now let me watch you walk away.” You pull back, lick your lips slowly and turn around, throwing him a look over your shoulder as you make your way back to the picnic table. Emily and Derek are there now too, and Emily laughs when you take your seat.

“Two years in and you still look at each other like that? Please tell me your secret,” she says with a grin, taking a sip of her iced tea.

“Tons of quality orgasms,” you answer with a fond sigh, tucking your chin in the palm of your hand and watching Aaron cross the lot. There’s something so powerful about his stride that it makes you horny just to watch him walk; your downstairs brain is so stupid. “He also makes really good jalapeno mac and cheese.” The answer to your question, when am I going to get fucked by my gorgeous boyfriend?, will be answered shortly, you’re fairly certain; you have a good feeling, because you’re talking to an agent that works on the floor above yours, and the strap of your dress has fallen down your shoulder, and he keeps glancing at it. You’d fix it, but that would only draw more attention to it, and you can already feel Aaron looking at you.

He doesn’t get jealous often, but get him in the right mood and his dumb caveman instincts switch from fight or flight to fight or fuck pretty quickly; when he heads your way with swift, purposeful steps, you’re pretty sure you know which one has been activated today.

“Hey. Time to go,” he says, looking over your face; he turns to nod at the guy you’re talking to, then very slowly hooks his finger in the strap of your dress and slides it back into place, making eye contact with you while he does it. You don’t know why that makes you so goddamn hot, but your breathing picks up and you bite your lip, take his hand when he offers it.

You don’t say goodbye to anyone, just follow him quickly to the car and climb into the backseat when he opens the door. The second he closes it behind him, his mouth is on yours, and you fist your fingers in his t-shirt, hitch a leg over his hip, and pull him closer.

“I want you, I need you,” you breathe into the kiss, and he slides one hand around your back, uses the other to push up your dress and grab a palmful of your ass.

“I know, baby. God, I want you. You look fucking perfect in that dress; I want to tear it off.” It’s sort of expensive, and pretty, but fuck, you’re going to let him. He shifts so his back is against the seat, pulls you into his lap, and you moan when he presses you right on top of his cock, hard and bulging against the seam of his jeans. “Feel what you do to me, when you’re looking like a goddamn angel and other men can’t take their eyes off of you?” You tug on his hair, kiss him roughly, move your hands to his belt, but he stops you with gentle fingers. “First I want you to ride my thigh. You’ve been staring at them all day; do you want to?”

“Fuck, absolutely,” you whine, and he puts his hands on your hips, shifts you so your knees are on either side of his perfect, firm, denim clad thigh and encourages you to grind against it. You don’t need much encouragement, but he eases down one of the straps of your dress and maneuvers it so that he can bare your breast, get his lips around your nipple while you work to get yourself off. “Oh, god yeah.”

You plant your hands on his shoulders, dig your nails in through the soft fabric, and slide against him like a needy, horny teenager. You’re wet, and he’s undoubtedly going to be wet too by the time you’re done with him, leg soaked with your come—god, that’s a hot prospect. Both of you are panting, not from exertion but arousal, and you move a hand to the back of his head, grip his hair in your fingers while he sucks and softly bites your nipple. When he pulls back, his lips are wet, and you capture them in a kiss.

“Yeah, you’re doing so good, keep going. Keep humping, baby, come on me.” He gets a hand in your hair, kisses your neck, and you cling to him for dear life, broad back and shoulders beneath your hands as you work your hips desperately in pursuit of your orgasm. “So fucking perfect, come on me,” he mutters against your throat, and you hug him close, absolutely lose it as your climax makes your body tense from shoulders to toes.

You moan in his ear like an absolute slut—if you are one, he’s made you that way, so it’s only fair—and he kisses your mouth, deep, rough, wet kisses that ensure your desire does not dip in the slightest. You feel dirty and incredible, but no more relieved or satisfied than you were ten minutes ago.

A little bit of Aaron is never enough; no amount of Aaron is ever enough.

He makes sure you can hold yourself up and then takes his hands off of you, opens his belt and his pants and pushes them down his thighs far enough that you’ll be comfortable. You slide off of his leg to slip your panties off—they’re useless at this point anyway—and he gets his hands on your hips and puts you in his lap, holds you up so you can line his cock up with your entrance and let him press inside.

“Mmh, fuck, Aaron,” you gasp, and with the way he looks at you, eyes dark and serious and possessive, you know this will be quick for the both of you. You wrap one hand around his bicep, press back against his knee with the other; he slides his hands up to your waist, dragging the skirt of your dress up with him so he can watch himself disappear inside you, which is ten different kinds of sexy.

“Thinking about this all day—burying my cock inside your sweet, tight pussy, coming deep inside you. Do you like it, getting fucked here because I want you so bad I can’t stand to wait?” Even though you know you shouldn’t, you do, and you nod, moan yes when he fucks up inside you, strong thighs flexing. “Me too, love it, love you.”

“Love you,” you murmur while you bounce in his lap, eyes on his, tongue slipping over your lips while you snap your hips against his thrusts. “Gonna milk your cock, take every last drop; greedy for it.” Aaron groans, tightens his hands on your waist, and you clench around him when he comes, riding him fast and thorough; you follow quickly, leaning forward to rest your head against his shoulder while you shudder through the pleasure.

His hands are gentle after, smoothing up your back, around your neck, and he pulls you closer for a soft, sweet, passionate kiss. When it breaks, you smile against each other's lips.

“Tease,” you whisper, smoothing your hands over his throat, his jaw. “New unwritten rule: if you wear those jeans in public, I get as much sex as I want for the rest of the night.” He chuckles, but ultimately nods.

“Deal. New unwritten rule: when we’re out in public and someone is looking at you like that guy was looking at you, I have permission to throw you over my shoulder and take you home and remind you why it is that you belong with me.” You pull him close for a hard kiss and grin.

“Deal, caveman. So what do you want to do now?” He wrinkles his nose in contemplation, straightens up the top half of your dress.

“I think I want to go home and tear this off of you as previously mentioned,” he says; you bite your lip and nod. “What do you want to do?”

That’s a loaded question, but at the moment, only one thing really comes to mind.

“Fuck me wearing these clothes again; I don’t care where or how, you can surprise me.”

Aaron is, unsurprisingly, on board with that plan; you slip off of him, smooth out your dress, and he pulls his pants up—they are still very wet from your first orgasm, and you rub the spot with the edge of your dress to no avail.

“Don’t get pulled over, Agent,” you joke, because that would be both very hard and very easy to explain, and he groans like you’ve just done something very sexy.

“Love it when you call me Agent,” he says, pulling you in for a kiss, and you plan some super hot roleplay for later and hop out of the car so you can climb into the front seat like the fully-functioning, non-horny adult that you are.

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