#And how you react to other ships//them joking about other ships bc I've seen people going

[sapybara]

also like. do u have a good way to tell if someone is a truther or just having fun bc sooo many dnfers give me the squick but i can't tell if im just being overcautious or if they're actually like. wierd about it idk.

I think that as long as someone can acknowledge that they're not actually publicly dating in real life, they're in the clear and can make all of the jokes they want 👍🏼

[angelhummel]

it triggers me and makes me upset when people call blaine abusive, because i relate to him in a lot of ways. and i have such an issue with people seeing one behavior happen in one instance and instantly leaping to abuse, because abuse is a repeated pattern of behavior intended to be malicious/cause harm. and some of the stuff these people write fics about and put in their tags (even the titles) of their blaine bashing fics, just make me really upset and i hate seeing them appear in the klaine tag on ao3.

i kinda feel like blaine antis are just trying really hard to convince us blaine/klaine was abusive, but you said it in your post, these characters are fictional. no one situation is universal. i think they think because they so believe this was abuse that it's their moral duty to convince everyone of such, and it's gotten to the point where i feel like i'm kinda being gaslighted lol the amount of people who used to like klaine and are now stanning kurtbastian/seblaine/hevans/etc and being all "i've seen the light and realized how abusive and toxic klaine actually were" make me question whether there is just something i'm missing that they've seen. and it just.....these are fictional characters. this is fiction. no one should be allowed to make anyone feel like this.

(i'm so sorry for rambling on about all of that - feel free to delete this if you want! - your post just made me feel a lot better about all of this but also brought on some thoughts of my own lol)

You're absolutely right, anon. And I am sorry that you feel that way because of a bunch of idiots online. Like I tell everyone, the best you can do is block tags, and block whole blogs if you need to. Just try your best to curate your fandom experience for you. And don't worry bc there are plenty of die hard Klainers still out here, despite the fact that people seem to be jumping ship. That's on their bad taste ;)

And what you said. I have seen a lot of myself in Blaine as well. And it's honestly very worrying for me, seeing how people react to his character. Blaine is a good person deep down. He's always willing to help his friends, he puts others before himself, he has everyone's best interests at heart. And he loves Kurt and tries his best to do right by him, even when it's a struggle. A struggle bc of his own internal issues, not bc he ever doesn't love Kurt

But especially throughout season five, watching him struggle with what are clearly signs of mental illness. And his body image issues, his feelings of self doubt and thinking he's not good enough... These are things that anyone could struggle with. God, especially someone who's still a teenager! They're problems that anyone could have, that a ton of people do have. It's part of what makes Blaine a relatable, layered, and dynamic character

And I know we joke a lot but it really does hurt my heart to see people who try to make him out to be a violent abuser bc of his struggles. Blaine is not evil. He's not a demon. He doesn't secretly take pleasure in seeing Kurt struggle. He isn't a sadist. He's just a kid who's living in a new city in a new living arrangement that's hard on him, and everyone else, including Kurt

But struggling and getting into a difficult place like that, that doesn't make you a bad person. Reacting less than perfectly to a difficult situation doesn't make you a bad person. Emotions are always hard, but especially when you're a kid. But Blaine always had and always will have a good heart, and mean well. He just needed some help, and he got it. I think it's a really inspiring story and I love Blaine Anderson for giving that to us

[thestupidhelmet]

[Different anon btw] I used to not understand why Goons and Zennies were at war back then. But honestly with what I've seen lately in fandom... I'm starting to get it. J/H are my otp, but it's getting tiring how ppl feel the need to put down E/D + Donna in contrast. The amount of fans that are still bitter that Eric and Donna proclaimed themselves "the perfect couple"... jfc guys it was a joke! They were excited to be back together let it go ugh.

(2) It's got to a point where I'm not even excited to read JH fanfiction anymore. If your ship's that awesome, you shouldn't feel the need to compare them to others (or lie about them, bc Istg it's so obvious by people's comments when they haven't even paid attention to the goons' arc). I sure know that I love Zen, I'm not going to cry because their friends teased them at times.

I ship Eric/Donna, though not to the extent of J/H (who are my OTP). The T7S writers themselves didn't know what to do with D/E after season 5, and I think T7S fans are largely reacting to the lack of originality in D/E's storylines post-S5, true stakes, and conflict / tension. Hence, D/E are deemed boring.

Another issue is the fact while Donna has a bunch of passions outside of Eric, the writers gave Eric one main passion: Donna. He has a lot of personality and personality traits, but he doesn't have a lot of drive. Without drive or goals, that makes a character generally uninteresting to watch (or read about). Another tick in the boring box.

Then there's the rampant Donna dislike, where misogyny (internalized or otherwise) is a root cause. People either ignorantly or willfully ignore the truth of Donna's treatment of Eric, which often gets reduced to and mischaracterized as constant unjustified anger. People also get frustrated with her inconsistent feminism, but that's the writers' fault for putting punchline over fidelity to characterization.

Eric and Donna's arc (made up of smaller arcs) from S1-S4 is well-written, with plenty of foreshadowing and proper development. Unfortunately, the T7S writers lopped off D/E's S1-S4 relationship struggles with one line of dialogue in "Going to California" (5x01) to dive into the engagement storyline. Doing so disrupted the characters’ narrative throughline. They still could’ve become engaged, but it should’ve happened organically after they’d dealt with the issues that broke them up in season 3.

With the proper writing (and writers), Eric and Donna are an interesting, dynamic couple. They’re playful and have conflict derived from their separate baggage. Even the happiest, most self-aware couples will have moments of tension between them. That’s inherent to being in a relationship and sharing a life together.

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Imagine during live with Cal she's like "I've been craving [favorite snack] but I can never them at my store" and then Cal is at his goto grocery store and sees them and buys like 5 of them. And then he just mails them to her with some other goodies and a few pictures of Duke and him and ~him~ 😉👉👉 and she posts the carepackage on her ig story and everyone on twiter is freaking out bc they remember her comment on live

I’m seeing a vision! I tweaked this just a little. 

Here’s part one, two, and three. It’s the Distance series on my masterlist. 

Feel free to send me any ideas you have for this universe. I’ll try to use as many as I can, while still progress the story along!

_____________________________

So Calum’s waiting at the airport, sunglasses and baseball cap. It doesn’t completely make him unrecognizable. But it helps enough. He had planned to get the airport right as she was landing so that he could avoid the crowd as he waited. He got to the airport and she hadn’t texted him yet. So he assumed that the plane got delayed just a little bit. So Calum just waits and a couple fans approach him, asking for a quick picture. He obliges but when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket, he graciously backs out. “Sorry I can’t chat for longer. Here to pick someone up.”

And the fans totally understand and thank him again for the time he did spend with them. When Calum checks his phone, there’s a text from her: On my way out now. Plane had to circle for a bit before a strip opened up for them to land. Calum’s not worried and keeps his gaze glued to the sliding doors. There area few minutes, that feel like an eternity, but soon the sea of people starts to thin and Calum can spot her, with her suitcase next to her and she’s glancing around too. 

And just before he calls out her name, she spots him. Her bright is just as big and she runs over, colliding into his chest. And Calum’s trying not to think of how she somehow just seems to fit into his arms and how he really likes having her there with him even though it’s only been literal seconds. And she’s trying not to think about how Calum’s scent of Old Spice, faded but not gone cologne, and Gain detergent reminds her of her childhood and she’s not even sure how that happened, but it did. Dear God, save their souls. 

 So inside the truck, after getting her suitcase into the truck, Calum points to the bag at her feet on the floor the passenger seat. “Didn’t bring Duke, but I did bring snacks.”

So as she peers inside she sees her favorite snacks. “You did not!”

“I was going to ship them to you. But by the time, I was able to get my hands on some, travel restrictions her lifting and like, we started planning on your visit. So I just held onto them. They haven’t expired! I checked.”

“Thank you,” she returns, stretching against the seatbelt and kissing cheek. So she pulls out her phone and starts recording. And it’s just the profile of Calum’s face as he’s working to get through the traffic of the airport, but it’s fine. “So this man, right over there,” and her hand comes into frame as she gently pokes his cheek, “bought me my favorite snacks? And like, where the hell have they been hiding all the good men like you at? Thanks, Cal.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles, throwing a quick glance in her direction and into the camera. But on the inside, he’s trying not to LITERALLY die. Because she just kissed him. Yeah, it was on the cheek, but still.  It fucking counts. That was a kiss. She initiated that and holy shit, he really needs to focus on the road but his cheek is tingling from the brief contact of her soft lips. Calum hopes he’s playing this really cool, but he’s so not cool on the inside. No, right now his pits are a swamp, and he’s pretty sure he might vomit, but right now he has to keep it together. He’s not thirteen for fuck sake, but everything feels so new in that first puppy love kind of ordeal. Even he’s over himself for reacting this way, but still as the drive settles in, his stomach still tenses up a little when she laughs and he’s hearing it in person and not ever speakers or through headphones. It’s ten times more magical in person. 

Soon they get to his place. As she gets situated, Duke’s sniffs around her, but doesn’t go straight up to her. However, a couple hours later, while she and Calum are in the kitchen, figuring out what to eat for lunch, Duke walks up to her. She feels his snout at the back of her heel and she laughs because it tickles. “Hello, nice to finally meet you Mr. Duke.”

He looks up at the sound of his name and then when she squats down, her palms up for Duke to sniff at. Calum’s heart is melting in his chest. He knows that this is it for him. He’s literally falling off the deep end because Duke, who’s not great with folks, is approaching her, of all people. If Duke falls in love, then he has not choice. That’s it, that’s a wrap. 

She doesn’t want to startle the old man, so she settles for some sniffs and gives him some head scratches and Duke’s content with that. He can handle that before going over to Calum and then flopping onto his belly.  “I would be offended but I know that’s your human,” she jokes. She misses her own dog.  Calum mentioned Duke still being a little hesitant around other dogs and she arranged for a friend to watch them. She would have daily video calls though and that would be enough for the five days she was out of town. 

And later on, in the day, while she’s stretched out on Calum’s couch with her head in his lap and Duke curled up on the opposite side of Calum, she scrolls through Twitter. The TV’s playing a rom-com that she didn’t have to to beg Calum too much to watch. The fans are having a RIOT over the video you just posted. With comments like: He remembered her favorite snacks. Wow, what a world to live in when i can stan a thoughtful King. And a few others. One sticks out, I totally get that their relationship is their business. But omg, this is love if I’ve ever seen it. Calum and her both deserve this. Attached is a bunch of crying emojis along with the weepy eyes one too.  

“You begged me to watch this movie, and you’re on your phone,” Calum teases. 

“It’s a commercial break, thank you very much.” But she’s just staring up at him, the cut of his jaw and the way his eyes melt when he looks at Duke. She’s not sure how she’s going to be able to leave. 

As the movie resumes, she sits back up, the comments on Twitter forgotten.  Because it’s just getting to the good part, the climax of every rom-com ever where the two fated loves are on the brink of losing it all, and Calum’s not even paying attention to it because he’s trying to memorize the way she looks curled up on his couch, and the way her nose wrinkles when she laughs, and the way scoots closer to the edge of the cushions like she can’t get close enough. She just belongs there and Calum’s praying that the universe treats him right just this once. 

As the week continues on, they fall into a easily into a routine and they sight see and just hang around the local shops and places that Calum loves. She snaps so many pictures of Calum, when he’s looking, when he’s not looking. One morning along with her morning cup of tea, there’s a stack of photos. They’re polaroids and some are really tiny, some are bigger. “What’s this?”

“When I got you the snacks, I was gonna send along some photos too. Make it like a care package, and I didn’t want you to leave without them.” So she looks through all, with pictures of Duke, and Calum and Duke and some just of him and she smiles softly. One specifically, of Calum and Duke chilling in Calum’s backyard is just small enough to fit in the tiny slot between her phone and the clear backing of her phone case, so she slips it inside, so the picture faces out and it’s not obstructed by the Pop Socket on the back of it. 

Calum only notices it later in the evening when they’re out at dinner and she’s put her phone face down onto the table. His heart is goo, and while it was goo a long time ago, it’s definitely goo now and he’s not even phased. He’d rather his heart melt and run through his fingers if it means she’s the one with the bucket to collect it all. 

-H