#I only got 3 friends but ones my queer platonic partner

[random-internet-teen]

I’m bad at the whole online friends thing, okay so just friends in general. And I’m looking to actually you know be a person, so this is my way of saying if you’re into Star Wars and Zelda or homestuck and rants about infrastructure

Let’s be friends?

I’m 17, bi but call my self a butch lesbian (I may be a lesbian idk even know) Grayromactic, ace (maybe?) She/her but masculine. Labels are annoying man

I’m trying to join a program at Boeing, I’m a socialist anti-fascist Jew who listens to kelzmer.

I don’t know how to write but I try. If’s it’s not clear I’m autistic.

I’m a cottagecore bitch, as I write oh hello’s is playing on my record player. I’m writing a history paper on folk music which I listen to extensively along with a healthy dose of pop-emo

If any of that sounds like the start of friendship hit me up?

[mcyt-trios]

PROPAGANDA:

Familoier:

I CANT SPEND THE NEXT HOUR TYPING

THE TRIO OF ALL TIME TRULY- ALL 3 OF THEM LOVE AND CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER SO MUCH- LIKE ROIER AND CELLBIT ARE MARREID YEAH BUT THEY STILL CONSIDER JAIDEN PART OF THEIR FAMILY SHE IS IMPORTANT TO THEM AND THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO HER- ROIER AND JAIDEN WILL ALWAYS BE PARTNERS NO MATTER WHAT

theee relationship of all time: roier is husbands with cellbit and jaiden is his qpp, they are all so caring for each other and they have had their tension and their bad moments but there's a genuine want to communicate and grow better all the time :( <3

Cellbit and Roier are romantic married, Roier and Jaiden were platonic partners raising a child together, and all 3 are chaos together! But get along so so well! They support each other so much and care about each other so deeply and they are all Sillies

this is jaiden, and this is jaiden's partner/ the father of her child roier, and this is roier's cannibal husband cellbit

Boreal Trio:

look. look okay so youve got two battle hardened at least mildly immortal warrior brothers-in-arms slash best friends slash partners for life, and then youve got this anxious, queer wet cat of an enderman who lives in their shed. oooh my god this is gonna be so incoherent im so sorry. ranboo was doing soooo awful when doomsday happened and both techno and phil immediately went him. that one. he needs to be safe and supported and away from all of this he should come with us. only if he wants to. and he did want to!! he was soo anxious but he got more confident!! none of them are great at expressing their feelings verbally (techno is but he also does other things) so they do it in other ways! phil rushing over as soon as he hears ranboo CLOSE to water because he knows it hurts him! techno moving the prison break up from 'some time soon i guess' to 'now now we are leaving now we are doing this RIGHT NOW' as SOON as ranboo gets detained!! avenging his ghost, throwing any and all hesitation about tubbo away to work with him because that was what ranboo wanted, that was what he asked. always checking in and making sure he was okay. all three of them are soooo dysfunctional but i love them so much. think of the mansion raid streams!! techno and ranboo off adventuring, phil taking care of the animals and getting up at 3am real time to trigger their stasis chambers!! they care about each other all so fucking much and they are a family! please vote for them i will be very sad otherwise :(

[queer-reader-07]

few things bother me more than people saying that it’s “dumb” or “intentional ignoring” or “impossible” to have interpreted crowley and aziraphale’s relationship platonically.

and look i could go on about all the things that do point to romance but enough people have done that so i’m gonna defend myself here and explain why i read them as platonic for so long and why i think it’s perfectly reasonable to have read them platonically.

and a disclaimer that all of this is from my perspective and my opinion. so if i make a statement as though it’s matter of fact, know that i’m speaking from my perspective and just can’t be bothered to preface every sentence with “in my opinion…”

and it mostly boils down to one thing: their love reflected the love me and my friends have for each other.

so no shit i interpreted them platonically because they looked like my real life platonic relationships!!

i’ve talked at length about how i think there’s a specificity to the way queer people love. i think there’s something special about the way queer people show love, especially platonic love.

here’s the thing. i’ve been mistaken as my best friend of 16 years’ girlfriend more than once. i’ve been mistaken as one of my other best friend’s partner so many times her friends were genuinely shocked when she got a boyfriend because they thought she was dating me.

i understand the whole “being so platonically in love that people think you’re also fucking” situation. i unironically live that situation on the regular. so naturally i assumed that’s what was happening with aziraphale and crowley.

my thought process was basically this

1) they love like i love (specifically, crowley loves like i love). therefore, they’re platonically in love.

2) weird, everyone on the internet is convinced they’re dating. something something everyone values romantic love over platonic love

3) well whatever they’re still platonic in my heart

and it stayed like that quite literally until i watched episode 6 of season 2. and you can tell me i was being oblivious all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that i genuinely believed they were platonic. queer platonic? sure. but definitely not romantic.

i saw all the witty quips and banter between the two of them and didn’t read any sexual or romantic tension, i read friendship. i saw aziraphale damsel in distress-ing himself on the regular so crowley could save him and thought “well it’s the only way he can spend time with crowley. checks out”. and i saw the bandstand breakup and the burning bookshop and “you told my only friend to shut his mouth and die and i did. not. care. for it.” and aziraphale so desperately trying to shield crowley from the horrors of the world and obviously i saw love. a love that is deep and profound, yes. it just never read romantic to me because i would do and say all of those things for and to my friends.

one of the few things i will never cease to find joy in is my friendships. i will ALWAYS love loving the people close to me, i will ALWAYS support them, and most importantly, i ALWAYS want to protect them. even when i know what is going to happen is inevitable, i don’t want to see them hurt. i want to shield them from the cataclysmic experience of the human condition and only have to experience in the moments of joy that await them. i don’t want to see the people i love hurt or in pain or jaded by how fucked up the world is.

because i already am those things. i am jaded by the world, i’m constant falling into the pit of cynical despair that the state of the world can manage to throw you down. and i know how fucking hard it is to pull yourself out of that place, to find hope and move forward and allow yourself to even enjoy the love and support you do have in life.

and the last thing i ever want is for the people i love dearly to experience those things.

so yeah. i related hard fucking core to crowley and the way he loves aziraphale SO. FUCKING. DEEPLY. and of course i read it platonically because it’s platonic for me. so deeply platonic in the best way.

and i could go on about how a lot of this stems from how much i value platonic love. how much i don’t adhere to social norms of love and how people express love. i will loudly proclaim my love for my friends, because i love them. i’m in love with them. but that doesn’t mean i want to date them or kiss them. and that makes perfect sense to me, and if it doesn’t make sense to you. well then, idk what to tell you.

this is longer than i intended but my point is that it hurts seeing people who act like those of us who did genuinely read aziracrow as platonic the first go around are stupid or that we chose to ignore the romance.

because, to me at least, it always felt like people were calling the way i love stupid or that i’m actually ignoring my “real” feelings

[lionmythflower]

Peter pettigrew hcs

he's trans :)

genderqueer and doesn't care what pronouns ppl use for him but he prefers he/they

He's a pudgey little thing but he's fine with it

He's a PROUD 2 inches taller than Sirius lol

asexual (him and evan bond over this)

He brings the best snacks on road trips

Will forget everything but the smallest of details

Like oh he can't really remember ur name but he does know that you played soccer for 2 years when you were in primary school

Hates the snow. Absolutely despises it (same)

Would have loved Lord of the rings

autistic but like the type that like when he tells ppl they're like "rlly? You don't seem autistic."

Hates running with a burning passion

had an eating disorder at some point but he got help for it

Still wears makeup and stuff even though he's trans bc fuck gender roles :)

He's first friends were James and Marlene (I heard someone say barty as well and I love that)

Hates the nickname wormy but is fine with wormtail

Constantly has seasonal allergies

Panic attacks

Yk the one person in troto that plays Peter? Ya that is hands down the best face claim/fan cast

Knows how to crochet

I feel like music would help calm him down

Like during panic attacks or stuff like that

Has hair that's like down to his shoulders but layers

100% had a crush on james when they were kids

Peter,evan, and barty are all besties

PANDORA AND PETER GOSSIP TOGETHER

Peter is the only one that all the girls get along with lmao

So Peter is invited to every girls night bc they love him

He clenches and unclenches his fists when he's angry (HELP THAT ONE MEME PLS)

He knows EVERYTHING. and I mean EVERYTHING. who's dating who, who has a crush on who, who doesn't like who, who pretends not to like who. He knows it all

So does pandora and sometimes lily and they all gossip

Peter, Evan and lily are js a group of trans asexuals. No I will not explain

(I lied, I will explain a bit) "My ribs are bruised again" "same" "lol can't relate" "fuck you Evans" "ilyt rosier" (Peter, Evan, lily, Evan, lily)

Benji is his queer platonic partner :)

HE'S SO GOOD AT COOKING

LIKE EXTREMELY GOOD

Peter cooks for Remus when the full moon hits

And he cooks for james when he's feelings down

and he cooks for Sirius when he's having trouble in anyway w smth

Idc what u say all the marauders loved Peter and they were all equal

Peter would he such a gas lighter 😭😭

"Wdym? That's always been there. Your imagining things. "

Peter and reg are pretty good friends actually lol

"He was a death eater tho!!!" Ok and?

Peter would do that thing where if he's lying down and doing smth he'll always have one arm in the air. No one knows why he does this but their js used to it at this point

Anxiety is a bitch and Peter has it

Ppl thinks he's kinda slow sometimes but it's js cuz he needs to triple check everything and needs clear instructions bc he doesn't want to mess anything up

Would have so many pillows

He loves plants

And mushrooms

James, Marlene and him are all trans and they transitioned together

Painted nails>>>>>

He would have different themes for he's nails each time he painted them

The moon phases for Remus, Suns for james, constellations for Sirius and regulus, stars for Marlene, flowers for lily, and hearts for Mary (her name means beloved), roses for evan, snakes for barty, jewels for Dorcas, Ravens for Benji, and crystals n spirals for pandora

He also paints Evan's nails

He's always tapping little patterns on everything and sometimes he's friends will notice and try to tap the same pattern (it normally takes them a while to figure it out)

Fidgets a lot

Everyone thinks that Peter and Sirius are not as good as friends are they are w the rest of the marauders but in reality, Sirius and Peter will js playfully insult each other (nothing that will actually hurt but there are a lot of death threats<3) and laugh abt it later

"Oi, Pete, you look a lot like a rat!" "I will tear you limb from limb siri" "the feeling is mutual"

He would also love vines as a type of room decor

Okie that's all who should I do next??? Pandora or lily?? Or sm1 else???

[centipedelightning]

General surface & x Reader Uf!Sans headcanons

this is mostly from the perspective of Red making it above ground without any resets from by frisk. The only resets he knows are the ones by Flowey. Not proofread it's nearly one in the morning.

CW: weed mention, underfell typical violence mention, uhh mental health and medication mention?, sex mention

reader: no gender mentioned and aroace safe <3

words: 1091

General stuff

A slut for a good coat. His main one is his favorite but he's a beast at the thrifts. There is a risk of bodily harm if someone tries to get between him and a vintage coat. He's ready to shank someone. God save you if you are a reseller. He can smell it.

On that topic I see the underground getting a Lot of vintage clothing from the dumps so monsters as a society have two distinct styles: 70s/80s/90s/00s and monster culture originals pre-burial

Style-wise he goes for anything heavy and durable. Above ground he lets himself enjoy dressing up more and his style gets a more specific direction and goes very 80s with a touch of the 90s.

He likes plays and musicals. Prefers more local, low-key stuff though. Mettaton put him off uber-professional productions. He'll still sit through it for Edge tho.

Big boy <3 He's like 5'1 (154-ish cm) and fat. The fat doesn't manifest the same way because monster food doesn't work like human food. He just is fat and so his body reflects that. Some of his bones are wider and thicker to take up more space to emulate extra fat on the body. (if I get any comments about fat being a bad word or fatphobia in general just know I will hunt you down and donate your organs to the needy)

Reset trauma... He gets a therapist topside. It took a lot of convincing though. He's been prescribed half the pharmacy but it's working!

I hope this makes sense but he's a conservative slut. Like his ass-cheeks aren't hanging out like another skeleton he knows, but the way he sips his apple-tinies is whorish (/pos btw I'm slut positive)

GLAM ROCK GLAM ROCK GLAM ROCK. You can't convince me he and Edge wouldn't bond over glam rock. Like Red enjoys pretty much anything that falls under rock, but he introduced Edge when Edge was a babybones so it's their thing. Mourned when he found out it isn't really a thing anymore.

Space nerd of course. Galaxy clusters are his special interest specifically (btw every single skele is autistic. All of them). He finds bigness interesting. Do not let him get high and bring up space he gets really philosophical and has breakdowns. Incomprehensible vastness isn't always fun to think about when blasted.

Flirty drunk of course, but that's just stage one of Red getting hammered. If he gets like super super plastered the bravado goes elsewhere and he starts taking bets and picking fights.

This is a lot darker but that gold tooth isn't his... And you might be thinking "yeah??? obviously???". You don't get it. He got his tooth knocked out in a scrap with a metal elemental and decided to just trade.... tldr he ripped another monster's tooth out of their face to replace the one said monster knocked out. [I stole this vague concept from a tiktoker but I can't remember who so shout out to you kisses <3. Your brain truly <33333].

x reader

On a less dark note, he's a great partner.

He. Would. Never. Cheat. I mean it. I get the fandom characterizes him as a whore and a womanizer but in my heart, I know he would never. He has a lot of trust issues from the underground. If you somehow managed to get into a relationship with him, he is yours from now to the heat-death of the universe.

He is comfortable with flings, but you have to be friends for at least a year (only kinda joking) before he considers an actual relationship.

Would I be crucified if I said he prefers Queer Platonic Relationships? probably. I think he would though. Like he enjoys intimacy and stuff but isn't actually dying to pursue a romantic relationship yk.

Whether or not it's platonic, romantic, or something else, he loves dates. He's not gonna do super big dates every other week but he loves a good movie marathon and cuddle sesh.

Or a sesh. He's not a pothead but he accepts any request to smoke. Quiet high. I also mentioned the introspective philosopher thing. I mean it, you gotta keep an eye on this guy. Other than that he's chill.

Big dates happen every few months. They usually happen when he realizes it's been a while. Big dates end up with you feeling more loved than you thought possible. You get at least one gift–not necessarily expensive–and are treated to something you both enjoy. Red prefers quieter or less social activities. You'd think this would be limiting, that "or" is powerful. An arthouse is quiet enough to cancel out the social aspect and a (car) drag race requires less social energy, so it cancels out the volume.

Speaking of art, he has a weird relationship with art. Initially, he was a hater. Simply put he was a hater. Then, as he spent time in art museums and art shows, he developed a much more personal relationship with art. As surface level as it might seem, his favorite artist is Van Gogh. Red nearly cried when he first saw The Starry Night on his computer and then did when he found Starry Night Over the Rhône. There was something about the way Van Gogh depicted the sky that touched him painfully deeply. Then he found out Van Gogh's life story and cried so hard he threw up. It wasn't pretty and Edge was very confused and very scared.

If you take him to see these paintings or others that are his favorites he'd seriously consider it some kind of lifelong promise. He'd also cry then and there too.

I really think he'd be a lot more emotional once he gets topside and a therapist

Receiving love language is touch. Gentle stuff. He isn't used to casual touches that both mean no harm and have no expectations from him.

Giving is acts of service. The laziness was not fully his own temperament. You see how you fare if your life is reset hundreds if not thousands of times by a rampaging flower that seems has a weird thing going on with your brother. You wouldn't do that well, would you? Thought so. Anyway, he likes to fix things to show he cares. Your toaster is acting funky? He's there and it's already fixed don't even worry about it. Ugh, there are dishes and you really don't have it in you to wash them right now? He's on it like a house on fire. Laundry? no. no he hates laundry actually.

[littlespoonevan]

Sending this to you bc I know you don't 100% believe in canon buddie. I don't really agree when people say that buddie has to happen any minute now. Is it just me or are they not very romantically coded at all? I struggle to find anything between them that isn't platonic. The guardianship thing? To me it seems normal for close bffs to do that. The extremely sexually charged kitchen scene? That was 3 seasons ago and hasn't happened again. Of course we can speculate based on those moments and say they'd be perfect for setting up buddie. But what do we actually have, without speculation? Maybe one or two looks exchanged between them, like during the couch metaphor convo? Also, atp neither of them is even canonically attracted to men. I say all of this as a buddie shipper, I want them to be together and I enjoy the speculations. But then I actually watch a new episode and I don't really see anything in the text that seems to lead up to it. Of course I'm hoping that'll change in future episodes but yeah. Idk, what do you think? Am I being too sober?

hey anon! i’m going to apologise in advance for how longwinded this answer is going to get but i wanna make sure i address all your points!! 

so one thing i went into the fandom believing (and something i still stand by) is that in s2 and 3 there is very little outside of buck and eddie’s dynamic with chris that implies anything romantic between them. i think the same can be argued in part for s4 and 5 (though i do believe something has shifted but i’ll get to that later!). and i know chris is so intrinsically tied to their dynamic it’s like, well what’s the point of removing him from the equation? but the thing is, for me, it’s about needing to see romantic attraction.

like, yes they’re a family, yes buck acts as a co-parent to chris, yes they’re partners and confidants and everything in between and yes they love each other. all of that is canon and none of it is extrapolation on our part. but all of it exists in this murky realm of plausible deniability. it could be romantic but it could also conveniently just be a very strong platonic bond if the show chooses to keep it that way. it’s Schrodinger's love story.

because, as we’ve all discussed before, the show very pointedly doesn’t define their relationship. except for the "you’re badass under pressure, brother” and the “you said it, brother” comments in s2 and buck calling eddie his best friend in 3x03, it’s never said out loud what they are to each other - particularly in these later seasons when their bond has only gotten stronger. and i think that’s absolutely deliberate. 

so if i were to describe my own views on everything right now i would say i’m cautiously optimistic. 

i believe there are writers and directors on the show who would make buddie canon in a heartbeat if given the green light, i believe the actors would be all for it and i believe the door has been left open for it to happen but i’m also not 100% convinced it will yet 

(especially because this is uncharted territory, like when has a network show Ever let two of their male leads fall in love and be together based on what was originally a fan theory????).

because as much as there are these underlying metaphors about hearts and the universe that we’re picking up on (and again, i believe they’re on purpose), i wouldn’t think the general audience is picking up on that. likewise, even though the fandom believes something like the eddieana breakup is queer coded (and i agree!!!) idk to what extent the general audience would make that leap??? like you said, as far as canon is concerned right now nothing has been confirmed to say either of them are attracted to men. my mom watches this show and i Know if buck and eddie suddenly got together in the morning she would be extremely confused. 

at this point what it would take to convince me is very simple. all i need is one close up shot on one of their faces while they look at the other person with the right music in the background and the right look on their face and i’m sold. that’s it. that’s all they’d have to do. they’ve already laid the groundwork. just give me one five second scene that would allude to something more as far as their feelings for each other are concerned

because right now, if i take off my shipper goggles and try to be objective my list of buddie scenes that made me sit up and go ‘wait this could be something more’ only consists of:

the kitchen scene in 3x09 (more so for the conversation before the flirting actually lmao)

buck’s reaction to the well collapse in 3x15

carla commenting on eddie’s relationship with ana in 4x13 (simply because the fandom had been predicting it for WEEKS before it happened)

how the shooting scene was filmed

the will reveal (more so for the “because evan. you act like you’re expendable but you’re wrong” part and eddie keeping the whole a secret for reasons unknown)

their dynamic in 5x14

buck’s description of love in 5x18 (actually probably the most explicit reference to buddie i feel they’ve done, especially when combined with ravi’s “a partner should have your back” comment)

the dinner scene in 6x01

those are the scenes i can’t explain. those are the scenes that feel romantically coded for me. those are the scenes that make me think there’s a chance at something. and like i mentioned earlier, i do believe something has shifted since the end of s4. so whether that means the writers have fully committed to bringing their relationship to fruition remains to be seen but they’ve definitely upped the ante.

i guess ultimately, to answer your question, i don’t think there’s anything wrong with reserving judgement right now or not being 100% convinced. i know sometimes there can be assumptions about why people feel like that but i think that can sort of feel a bit dismissive??? like, i don’t think the show is homophobic, i don’t think the show is queerbaiting, i’m absolutely nOT an ex-destiel shipper who believes this is a supernatural do-over (i have blessedly never seen a single ep of that show). i’m just waiting for a very clear and explicit indication that buck and/or eddie like each other and intend to do something about it.

i think what it comes down to is if that negatively impacts your view of the show?? like will i be disappointed if buddie doesn’t happen? of course. but will it ruin the show for me? absolutely not. i love speculating, i love reading theories, i love feeling unhinged about all the metaphors surrounding their relationship, i love every teeny tiny morsel of a scene we get between them and 100% believe they are the kind of person each other deserve at this point. but also that’s enough for me??? hell, it’s more than some canon ships have given me before lmao. and i feel like even if they don’t end up together, i still trust the writers to give them an ending that’s satisfying or, at the very least, is open to interpretation, y’know????

so yeah, i don’t know if any of this is helpful, anon, but i think if you’re still able to enjoy the ride and take their scenes for what they are then you don’t need to worry about what’s coming down the line 💛

[sunwarmed-ash]

🔥Sinful Sunday🔥

Death changes everything Chapter 2: Don't you know who I think I am?

Fandom: Stranger Things

Ships: Mungrove, healing Harringrove, steddiegrove/harringroveson/metalsandwich

Tags: EmOTiOnz, Bad Ass Mother Fucking Wayne Munson, Abusive Neil Hargrove, inferred child abuse, harringrove catharsis, Billy hargrove needs a hug, and two boyfriends, emotional sex, M/M/M

Trigger warnings: homophobia, homophobic language

Chapter summary:

It had been three weeks, since their night together. And Eddie had become obsessed since. He only knew that because Robin had just told him, 

“You’re obsessed,” while they were sitting under the oak tree at lunch. Steve didn't join them today, which Eddie is actually grateful for. He doesn't know how to broach the topic of sleeping with Billy, Steve’s ex, with his new best friend. 

He told Robin immediately, had to, she was his absolute best friend, wingman, right hand man and partner in crime. Had been since 7th grade orchestra and they never looked back. They were the definition of The Odd Couple, but it benefited both of their strives toward queer anonymity that people just assumed it was natural the two weirdos were dating each other. They never bothered correcting the assumption, except with other queerdos who knew about The Code. Steve, recently awoken bisexual, fell into that category, and his relationship with Billy was complicated in the simplest, most convenient of terms. 

Eddie let out a heavy sigh. He could feel tears brimming on the edge og lids, but he couldnt let them fall. Not now. 

“He’s gonna hate me.”

Robin sighs heavily now too. And eddie hates hes the one who made her make that sound. 

“Every day you put it off is only making it worse.”

“Gee thanks alot Rob,”

“Well im sorry! I’ve tried the kind and compassionate route! Look where its gotten you!”

Shes right, of course she is, but he still doesn't want to hear it. 

“Eddie,” she sighs, interlacing her arm with his and kissing the edge of his bicep the way she does only when shes about to deliver some hard truths, “its gonna suck. Yeah. But, he will get over it. You gotta give Steve the chance to be okay with it before you convince yourself he won’t be. He won't hurt you, Steve’s not like that, but, it’s going to hurt him. I don’t think Steve will ever be over Billy.”

The tears fall anyway. 

“Fuck.” Which is annoying because he let himself be convinced he could save two dollars and go without waterproof eyeliner and now he’s paying the price. “I don't deserve either of them.”

“Stop that shit right now. I think you might be freaking yourself out a little. It’s just sex.”

“Sex with Billy is not just sex to Steve.”

“You're not Steve.”

“You're right, I’m a slut and an idiot.”

Robin sighs at his self depricary, resting her head against his bicep now. 

“Invite Steve over, make him dinner, then tell him. Then talk to Billy. If you’re asking for my advice.”

He was, he really was at his wits end after 3 weeks of no further contact, new injuries on Billy, and too long in his own head. 

“I love you.”

Robin snorted. 

“That’s so gay Munson. But I love you too.”

It got Eddie to laugh too, and he was so happy to have her as a platonic soulmate.

[oneiromania]

Welcome to oneiromania's RP blog!

♥ ABOUT ME ♥

Hi, call me Nei! I'm a 21 year old female student with just a little over a year of RP experience, though I've been writing for a lot longer than that. Ever since I got into the RP scene, I've been itching to write with others and finally let some of that brainrot escape it's fleshy prison. I try my best to be friendly and understanding, and I don't want or plan to get into any internet (and especially Tumblr) drama. I just wanna write!

I like to chat OOC when I vibe with my RP partners, and I'm prone to gushing about the characters, sending songs and playlists relevant to the RP, making Pinterest boards, sharing memes, and so on! I'd appreciate it if my partner shared the enthusiasm, but I get that that just isn't for everyone, and as long as the RP is fun and consistent, and my partner is respectful and understanding, I don't mind a more chill OOC experience.

♠ RULES ♠

Standard DNI criteria. MAPs, TERFs, racists, and other assholes, get the fuck off my blog.

You must be 18+. As I am an adult myself, I don't feel comfortable writing with minors regardless of the contents of the RP. I also prefer to write with people no older than 30.

I mainly write over Discord. I say mainly because I haven't yet decided if I'm going to make RP sideblogs for specific characters! I'll update this post if I do, but generally I don't RP outside of Discord. Additionally, I like making a private server for easier organization, and I like using Tupperbox. If you don't know what that is or how to use it, I'd be more than happy to teach you! But Tupperbox is not a must.

NO REALISTIC FCs. This might seem like a strange rule, but I simply cannot do RP when the faceclaim is a real person. This goes not only for actors, singers, and other celebrities, but really any photos of real people. You can use picrew or neka, or your own art, or even art you found on the internet. (I'm cool with using photos of real life outfits and stuff for reference, though!)

I write fandomless OC x OC, and sometimes CC x CC. I'll list my fandoms later, but generally speaking, I'm currently comfortable writing only a few canon characters.

My preferred ships are MxM and FxF, and I can also do ships with NB and genderfluid characters. I can do MxF as well, but I vastly prefer queer relationships, and I'll only do MxF if I really feel like it fits the RP. I hope you'll understand! Also: ships don't have to be romantic, I enjoy platonic and familial relationships as well, including friends, found family, and even enemies.

I write third person past and present, and I don't accept RP written in first person.

I can write anywhere from semi-lit/literate to novella. It depends on my mood and what the scene requires. Currently, I'm very busy, so I can only do shorter replies – around 2-3 short paragraphs, and likely not super detailed. Please just use good grammar.

Currently, I DON'T do NSFW. I'm comfortable with flirting and intimacy, but I prefer fading to black when it comes to sex scenes. It kind of depends on the RP and my partner if I'm willing to do more, because I need to feel comfy with writing it first!

I don't double. I know doubling means different things for different people, but however you define it, I don't do it.

My activity varies, as I am in college so sometimes life gets stressful or I get busy. I'll likely do at least 2-3 replies a week, though. At least one reply a week is what I ask from my partner.

Limits and triggers will be discussed before the RP.

Work with me when plotting! I CANNOT plot alone or figure out characters alone, if you're going into this with no plot or character ideas whatsoever, we're gonna have a difficult time figuring out what to write.

♦ WHAT DO I WRITE? ♦

I do both angst and fluff.

I like a lot of genres and settings! I have some plots in mind but I'd love to hear what you have to offer! The genres include: fantasy (high, medieval, victorian...), victorian settings, modern, sci-fi, supernatural, horror/thriller, futuristic, slice of life, and more.

I'm open to dark subject matter/whump. Since I enjoy horror, I also enjoy dark and gritty themes, as well as things that might be upsetting to explore. So long as we're both being mature about it, there shouldn't be a problem. This will, of course, be discussed in detail before we start writing.

I'm prone to making OCs on the fly or repurposing existing OCs, so even if I don't have an OC for our specific RP, I can make one in a matter of several days.

I reblog RP prompts and plots and make my own posts when I have an idea for a plot, so check out the rest of my blog and see if you like anything!

♣ FANDOMS ♣

This is a list of fandoms that I'm into! This doesn't necessarily mean I will RP characters from this fandom, instead, I'm listing them in case you're interested in RPing in the same or similar universe! I don't do CCxOC, but I do enjoy putting OCs in an existing fandom's universe, or making a world similar to that of the fandom. I also just get inspired by these fandoms, so if you look at any of these and think, "I'd love to do something inspired by this!", I think we can make some fun plots!

Fandoms which are bolded are those which I have CC characters I can RP, and I will write the characters I RP next to them

In no particular order:

Alice in Wonderland (the book, the sequel, the animated movie, Alice: Madness Returns)

Demon Slayer

Jujutsu Kaisen

Bungou Stray Dogs (have read the manga up until chapter 88) → can try my hand at a couple of characters!

Fate/Grand Order → Merlin (Caster), Jeanne d'Arc (Alter), Gudao/Gudako, probably more

Hades → Zagreus, Thanatos

Detroit: Become Human

Deep Sea Prisoner games (Mogeko Castle, Wadanohara, Gray Garden)

A Night In The Woods

Bloodborne

Soul Eater (anime)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Arknights (not super confident writing canon characters right now, but I'd love to use the setting)

Spirited Away

Spy x Family

RPGs (Mad Father, Witch's House, Pocket Mirror, Ib, Alice Mare, LiEat I, II and III)

Honkai: Star Rail

Noragami

Death Parade

Black Butler

Tokyo Ghoul

SCP foundation

Corpse Party

Little Nightmares (1 and 2)

and more, probably!

~LINKS~

A link to the overview of my current OCs! There's a short description for each of them, and a few of them have full docs ready, while for the rest, I can explain a bit more about them if you're interested in writing with any of them.

For my plot ideas, search the tag #nei's evil thoughts!

For my writing samples, search the tag #nei's evil scriptures!

I hope to find some more RP partners on here and write some incredible stories! If you'd like to discuss RP, please reach out to me via DMs and I will send you my Discord handle! Happy writing everyone!

[wizardrps]

Wanted: RP Partner(s)

Howdy! So long story short, I am once again getting back into roleplaying, and so I thought I'd make this silly little side blog to try and find some people to roleplay with! Soooo let's get on with it!!!

About me:

My name is Jessie, I'm nonbinary, and my pronouns are they/he! I'm a current college student, so I tend to get very busy out of nowhere. My style is what you'd call advanced literate/novella. I write only in 3rd person. I also have a habit of writing a lot. I have been writing and roleplaying for 10 whole years (I have a lot of stories about my rp history. It's kind of embarrassing lol).

As a little disclaimer regarding my response timing: like I mentioned, I'm currently in my undergrad and my schedule can be hectic. Some days, I'm not busy at all and that means I'm free to respond whenever. However, some days I'm super busy and cannot respond. I try my hardest to be as open and communicative with my roleplay partners as possible. That being said, I do not expect a response immediately after I respond. Take as much time as you need! I know that you have a life outside of roleplaying just as much as I do.

Preferences for Roleplay Partners:

I am over 18, so I am... a little uncomfortable with roleplaying certain themes and topics with people who are underaged. Under no circumstances will I roleplay NSFW with a minor. Please, for the love of all things that are good, do not lie about your age just so you can roleplay NSFW with me. I was 14 at some point too and got upset when adults wouldn't roleplay with me either, but trust me when I say it has nothing to do with your maturity or you as a person. It is for both of our safety and well-being.

As for the topic of NSFW, no porn-without-plots. I don't mind nsfw, but I really don't like it to be the bulk of a roleplay. It gets boring really quick for me.

Please be literate! I'm definitely not an amazing writer and don't expect you to be one either. I'm not a stickler for grammar or stuff like that, but literacy is important to me.

Last but not least, someone who is willing to talk OOC! The most fun I've ever had with roleplays was when I've roleplayed with people who have talked to me OOC. Whether it's about the roleplay or anything about your life, talk to me!!! We don't have to be best friends, but I like to think of roleplaying as a good way to make some really cool friends that I can basically work on a story with :) There's no obligation to always be talking to me, but talking from time to time is nice.

The fun stuff!!! What I'm looking for:

Fandom or OC! I lean towards OC, but if there's a fandom we both enjoy that I can comfortably write a character from, then let's do it! My main genres of interest are: high/dark fantasy, modern fantasy, horror/psychological thriller, pretty much any historical fiction especially if it is medieval or takes place in the last 200 years, some sci-fi, or anything that gives Life is Strange vibes. I'm down for realistic fiction settings, but I usually prefer the other stuff.

Ships. As a queer person, I prefer lgbt relationship dynamics. I'm comfortable with straight ships, but they're just not what I'm used to. Most of my OCs are guys, but I have gals, nonbinary, and trans people also thrown into the mix of my endless batch of OCs. Also, platonic ships are welcomed!

Fandoms:

If you are looking to roleplay a fandom, here's what I'm currently into/what I'm willing to roleplay! A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, the Witcher(show, books up to a certain point I left off at lol), the Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age (all 3 games), Hannibal, and Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit (movies and books I guess?)

No/no's:

Things that will get you immediately blocked if you try to pull include: non-con, incest, s/a, children in any sexual context, or any fetishes that have to do with bodily fluids.

Things that are iffy/icks: romanticization of mental illness (i.e. if you haven't done the research to be able to correctly pull of an interpretation of a character with ASPD, don't do it), abusive relationships, and dub-con.

Disclaimer: these are things that I am not okay writing into detail about. For example, if your character has a past of being abused, I am okay with having the subject touched upon. However, I am not comfortable writing an abusive relationship where my OC is abusive towards yours, or vice versa. Please just be respectful and speak to me OOC prior to bringing up any of these subjects.

Anyhoodles, that's about it! Sorry this post is long and drawn out. If you're interested in roleplaying, please interact with this post via comment or like, or message me! My main means of roleplaying is through discord. My discord tag is WizardLizard#2018. Please bare in mind that I get busy (and last time I made one of these posts I got absolutely swamped with responses and got overwhelmed), so it might take me a little while to get back to you! No matter what I will respond, though!

[strangertheories]

What (gay) Will Byers means to me

Several years ago, I decided to give Stranger Things a try. Season 3 had just came out and I heard about Robin (and how she was gay). At that point in time, I was trying to watch pretty much every show with a lesbian character in it so this made me pretty excited. But whilst Robin was meaningful to me, the one character I felt truly represented by was Will Byers.

Now a quick disclaimer: I'm a lesbian born in the 2000s and have not been to an alternate dimension at any point so obviously I'm not going to relate to everything Will goes through.

Okay now onto my post. This is going to be more of a personal/vent post so it feels only natural to start it off with an unnecessarily long storytime. When I was in my early teens, I realized that I really liked girls at pretty much the exact same time my female friends realized that they really liked guys. Worst of all, I had a crush on my most boy-obsessed friend. Suddenly all my friend group would talk about is their boyfriends or their crushes or whichever celebrity they thought was cute. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, but I was surrounded by this overwhelming hype for guys and I felt none of it. I came to the dawning realization that I wasn't ever going to like boys like they did and it was rough; I felt incredibly isolated but I couldn't talk to anyone about it to them because I was afraid to tell people that I was gay. In the end, I left my close friend group over this because every time I hung out with them I felt either bored or miserable. I went through all of this around the time I watched Stranger Things and I think you can see where this is going.

When I watched Will in Season 3 I didn't see a kid who was just immature, I saw myself for one of the first times. Everything felt so real and relatable, from the jealousy over your friend's partner to the thought that maybe that jealousy came from a non-platonic place. To me, Will was clearly gay (for Mike) and going through the same things I'd struggled with. I felt very seen and ever since then, Will Byers has been one of my 'emotional support' characters and watching him really helped me feel a bit less isolated and alone, even if he wasn't real. This is why I care that Will is gay; to say that he felt all of these weird, confusing and authentic feelings because he just needed to grow up and become straight would just be such a slap in the face and to have the character I grew such an attachment to just be going through a childish phase would be heartbreaking to me and to (I believe) many other queer fans of Stranger Things.

Before I finish this post, I'd like to tell another quick story. A couple of months ago, I rewatched Stranger Things with my parents and when we got to the 'it's not my fault you don't like girls' scene, my mother turned to me and said 'that's just like you, but with guys'. At the time I thought to myself that this comment was very funny as I am still not out to my parents but later on it kept on coming back to me. Both me and my mother were able to understand why having boy-crazy best friends was difficult for me and whilst she didn't magically realize I was gay at that exact moment, I do think it made her understand what I've been going through a bit more.

This made me realize that characters like Will are more than being just representation; they help others empathise with an experience that they'll never have to go through. But most importantly, they make people who have realized they don't like the opposite gender or people who have feelings for their friend that they are not alone.

Realising you don't like the opposite gender at the same time everyone around you discovers they do is tough. Having a queer crush can be scary. But characters like Will Byers can help people going through this kind of thing feel a lot less isolated. It certainly had that affect on me. And whilst I still have these issues, I know that Will Byers is always there to remind me that I'll get through this. ❤️

Also, Byler rights!

[polyadvice]

I want to live in partnership with another couple, but my husband is unsure

My partner and i recently got married. We're really happy, but for the past half year I've caught feelings for two other friends. My husband feels the same way and these two friends are already in a relationship and poly. My husband has feelings but more platonic than my romantic feelings and doesn’t really wanna pursue anything. Every time i try to have a discussion about it he gets overwhelmed or jealous. But its like I just want them in queer platonic polycule?

I don't want to have sex or even kiss them but I want to go on dates and hold hands and live together and raise kids with them. My partner feels exactly the same way but he is still super hesitant. He was this hesitant when we started dating so idk what to do about my feelings. Am I a bad person for wanting to pursue this even though my spouse is lowkey jealous? And am I a bad spouse for even wanting another relationship while being just recently married? I don't want to weird my friends out but I don't like to just not tell people how I feel about them. It feels wrong somehow. And on another note, sorry for all the questions, if my partner and I did decide to pursue this kind of relationship, how do I even go about it?

The good news is that the arrangement you’re describing is as old as humanity itself, and in fact how most families have been raised over the course of history. The “nuclear family,” where only two adults live in a detached home and are expected to meet all of each other’s financial, developmental, emotional, physical, culinary, etc. needs - as well as those of any children - is a very recent concept.

You may be well served by letting go of the concept of a “queer platonic polycule” and exploring language for what you really want that doesn’t signify a necessary departure from the monogamous marriage your husband feels committed to protect. What you’ve described may be well represented by other concepts, including family friends, kinship networks, close neighbors, chosen family, or non-blood cousins. Raising kids together, spending quality time together, supporting each other, and “doing life together” might be less threatening ways to talk about this, at least for your husband.

Talk with your husband about what he wants, and what he does not want. Be specific, using examples and real-world concepts rather than conceptual terms. What is his best case scenario, and what is his worst case scenario? What is he afraid of happening? Can he describe where his jealousy is coming from? What do you mean by “go on dates?” What kind of quality time spent with these other people would feel like “too much” or “jealousy-inducing” for him?

Talk through actual situations. Would you two want to plan joint vacations with this couple? How would you handle things like joint finances or individual healthcare costs? What does “raise kids together” mean for you? Are there any examples from books, movies, or your own lives that you can draw inspiration from? Do you know any neighbors, extended families, religious congregations, or other people who can help serve as a model for this kind of life?

Once you’ve figured out what you actually want, you can bring that up with the other couple. Instead of asking “do you want to form a queer platonic polycule,” ask them “what are your thoughts on co-living with us?” or “would you like to go camping with us next weekend?” Worry less about what words to put on things, and focus on how you want to be in relationship. In some cases, you might not need to have a Big Serious Relationship Defining Conversation, and can instead simply start intentionally living into the type of connection you want. Finally, you ask whether you are a bad person for having these feelings and desires, and my answer to that question is a resounding: absolutely not! Our thoughts, feelings, and desires are entirely our own business and don’t have the power to make us a good or bad person. It’s how you act on them that matters. If you’re pressuring your husband into doing something that he doesn’t want, or you’re acting manipulative or otherwise disregarding his boundaries, then those are not great things to do, but I’d still caution you against equating “did an unhealthy or unhelpful thing” and “is a bad person.” You are you, and you contain multitudes, and you’ve hurt people and you’ve helped people, and you’re just a person. Try to let go of this notion that anything you think or do can make you “a bad person.”

Completely unrelated: One of my Buzzfeed quizzes made it to the front page, which makes it the best contender for Maybe Actually Making Me Some Money. If you like this blog and enjoy my advice, would you be so kind as to click this link or even share it around to help it gain some momentum? <3

[adventures-in-poly]

My interior monologue yesterday led me to the conclusion that I actually do think that multiple life partners makes sense, and is something I probably want, but multiple romantic/sexual partners makes less sense to me and kind of makes me feel physically sad in my blood.

Let’s see if I can recreate this.

Yesterday I drove 40 minutes away to help a friend buy a car. This friend has had their car totaled 3 times (each time not their fault), and has also had to move twice this year (each time because the landlord decided they wanted to move into the house the friend was renting), so it’s been... a time. The friend posted on Facebook that they needed help getting to the auto dealer, and I had nothing to do that day and it’s been a few months since I’d seen them, so I volunteered.

The friend is also practicing solo poly, although I think not by choice. They also have a swath of friends and several partners who are available to help out. I don’t remember if my friend considers themselves an extravert or an introvert, but if they’re an introvert, they’re damn well good at pretending otherwise.

This led me to the thought, “Can introverts really be solo poly?” Of course, yes they can (and I think my question could even have been rephrased as “Can introverts really be single?”, which, duh.) But as an introvert myself I can’t foresee it really working for me. I don’t have the same army of homies that my friend has. I have a few very, very emotionally close friends who I can rely on for any emotional needs. But let’s see. Let’s play count the friends. Sorry if I've forgotten anyone.

One lives 40 minutes away, has no car or driver's license, is a full time PhD student and teacher, and is caring for her dying father.

One lives an hour and a half away and is caring for her dying father.

One lives 2 and a half hours north and just had a baby.

One is that friend who lives 40 minutes away, and now that they have a car they might be able to actually help.

My boyfriend and his wife live an hour away; he works 6 days a week and she doesn't have a driver's license.

One lives an hour away.

One just moved to Seattle.

Two just moved to LA.

Two live in New York.

One lives only 20 minutes away, but has a child who is unvaccinated and is not meeting up face-to-face with anyone until he gets the vaccine.

One lives 40 minutes away and doesn't have a car, and I haven't relied on him for "I need help" things before so I don't know how that would work.

One lives 10 minutes away but doesn't reliably answer her phone.

3 live within 20 minutes of my house and have few complications. One of them travels a lot, and the other two are dating each other, so usually if one's away, they're both away.

And then there's Silver, my husband's partner, who actually could be a perfect person to rely on for help and seems completely willing to lend a hand, just I personally don't want to rely on them too much at this stage in our friendship because I don't want to feel like I'm using them.

So yeah, plenty of friends, maybe like 5 who I could ask for help if I am ever in a bind, so not nobody. But we've all got shit going on in our lives, and we've all got mental illnesses and what have you. So if I needed a lot of help pretty frequently, wearing out those 5 people who have no particular commitment to me would probably happen pretty fast.

The thing in my white-people-American-society is it's pretty much everyone for themselves, partners excepted. We're much more used to relying on partners when we need help. If I ever needed it, I'd just ask my husband (M). No question. And of course he can say no, at which point I'd turn to a friend, but the assumption with a partner is that they'll help you unless they can't. That assumption isn't there with friends, at least not in my configuration.

So I was musing on that and thinking, "But why do I always assume that M will be free? Why do we make that assumption with partners?" And I think that's sort of part of the unwritten contract with life partners. But then it doesn't necessarily make sense that one person and one person alone in your life will be able and willing to help you out at a moment's notice. Wouldn't it be better if I had a small handful of people to have that unwritten contract with? If my friends and I all lived closer and we all agreed to help each other out, or travel with each other, or hang out when one of us is bored? It could be as simple as a group text where someone puts out something they need, and the assumption is that someone in the group will meet it (not that somebody might be able to meet it if the asker is lucky).

That actually sounds lovely.

The thing about that contract is that there's no need for anyone to be romantically/sexually attached. Technically there's no need in our one-partner system either. It makes perfect sense to me that someone could marry their platonic friend, or even have that kind of contract with a family member. The legal and financial systems that are in place to privilege marriages should be opened up to accommodate any humans that want to dedicate their lives to each other, no matter what that configuration looks like.

This idea is not new. An issue that I have, though, is that when I see this kind of thing idealized about, it's pretty much always painted as a "poly utopia".

Even in my socialist, leftist, poly-friendly, queer, weirdo circles - who are totally sold on the ideas I've written about and, if asked, would absolutely argue for the decoupling of partnership and romantic/sexual feelings - seem to equate the two anyway. Why does a commune have to be poly? Why can't it be a cluster of friends who support each other and is poly-friendly? Here's the thing - it can, and not a single person I speak to would ever suggest that a member would have to be poly or romantically/sexually involved in order to be included. But we still talk as if that's a given. And that's what makes me uncomfortable.

Because I want a lot of the things that the poly community puts forward as an alternative to our mainstream society.

I just don't want that part.

[shapeshiftinterest]

Thought Process, Does Mao Mao Is Gay?: mao x considering multiple ships

mao mao heroes of pureheart pride month event

prompt mix:

prompt 1 - Questioning

side: current and possible future questioning, because sometimes ppl find a label that they vibe with more and that’s hella valid

prompt 2 - Realization

story under the read more

Thought Process, Does Mao Mao Is Gay? (also on ao3)

Mao and Badgerclops were sitting on the couch, having a lazy day watching TV. It’d been surprisingly peaceful as of late, and Adorabat was on a class field trip with her dad as one of the chaperones.

Badgerclops was laughing at one of the cooking contestants flailing about as dramatic music playing during the timed challenge.

Mao shuffled in his seat, sparing a glance to his left before looking back at the TV.

“...Hey, Badgerclops,“ he started, “do you think I’m gay?“

The cyclops in question hummed, lowering the volume and leaning back on Sofia’s armrest so he could focus on his friend. “Whaddaya mean?”

Mao mimicked the other’s pose. “I dunno, just been thinking about it recently and I think I might be gay. Maybe. Maybe not??”

Badgerclops nodded, a silent encouragement for him to continue.

“I’ve dated girls before,” he started, before grumbling under his breath, “well, one girl. But that was a long time ago.“

“I mean, I used to think maybe you were aroace and just like, super flirty by nature or something,“ Badgerclops shrugged. “Most of your attention was geared towards becoming a hero, y’know?“

Mao rested his chin on his knuckles, taking a moment to gather and reword his thoughts. 

“Sometimes I get flustered talking with the King but he’s always like that,” he said, more to himself than to Badgerclops, “I banter with Orangusnake a lot but we’re rivals so that’s normal hero business. Eugene’s pretty interesting but I’m sure it’s only because we’re looking after Adorabat, and there was that whole thing with Tanya when she visited and almost took you as a bounty...“

Mao gnawed on the index knuckle of his glove before looking up. “It’s kind of embarrassing but I’ve tried imagining myself in couple situations with guys and-.”

He sighed, picking at his gloves. “I’m not sure if it’s only guys is what I’m trying to say.”

Badgerclops nodded. “You don’t have to like girls just because you dated them in the past, I get it,“ he said, patting the cat’s shoulder. “Hmmmm. Did you feel anything when Tanya was here?“

Mao’s brow furrowed. “Irritation, frustration, some sad and confused feelings, I guess? I can’t really remember, I was more focused on getting you back.“

Badgerclops aaawwwed. “But she was hot though, right?“ Aaand moment ruined.

“Badgerclops!“ Mao blustered, sitting up and blushing. His friend just laughed  and swung a leg over, pinning the cat’s down so that both heroes were lying down on their respective couch sides with their heads against the armrests.

“Answer the question, Mao~.“

Grumbling, Mao bit out a huffy ‘yes’ and crossed his arms.

“Hehe, so we’ve established that you at least still kind of like Tanya,” Badgerclops stated, ticking a claw, “and before that, you said you like daydreaming about (and flirting with) the King, Adorabat’s dad, and the leader of the Sky Pirates.” He ticked 3 more fingers.

“Wh- I said we bantered, Badgerclops! It’s completely different!“

Badgerclops rolled his good eye.

"Oh yeah, you guys were tooootally just bantering during last week’s fight," he scoffed, crossing his arms, "was checking out his butt when his axe got stuck in the fountain part of your word battle or was it a distraction tactic on his part?"

Mao let out a string of indecipherable sounds as his partner snickered.

“Dude, Mao. The king gives you looks when the two of you ‘talk’. Looks and sass that don’t really come out when he directly talks to any of the villagers. From a third party perspective, he’s definitely flirting. Same with Orangusnake. Well,” Badgerclops made a face, remembering their recent hospital visit, “almost the same.”

“Honestly I don’t talk to Eugene all that much, but I’m pretty sure he’s been warming up to both of us. Plus, I do think you should also consider...,“ he gestured between the two of them, raising an eyebrow. 

Mao stared at his co-hero, unamused. 

Badgerclops repeated the gesture, this time wiggling the eyebrow and giving a suggestive hum.

Mao snorted, giving a few half hearted kicks to the other’s leg until the other freed him. The two sat up and faced the TV again.

“Maybe,“ Badgerclops said, “you’re bi, instead of like, being into guys, specifically.“

Mao blinked, heroic brain thinking about what his companion just said. “Huh. Maybe you’re right.” He glanced at his friend and smiled, before going back to watch the screen. “Thanks, Badgerclops.”

Badgerclops raised the volume back up. “No problem, dude.” He grinned, wrapping an arm around Mao as he leaned into his side. The cat’s head rested on his chest as his ears brushed against the taller’s cheek. 

They stayed like that until both of them fell asleep.

________________________________________________________________

this is semi based on how i talk out my problems to my siblings sometimes

the couple situation is an actual thing i did when i was questioning if i liked guys and girls or just girls, in possible romantic ways

so like, could i realistically imagine and be ok with holding hands, kissing, just lying next to a person, having them touch my hair or something if they were a girl vs a guy if i HAD to be in a relationship with someone

bonus stuff i wasn’t sure how to write in:

mao and BC were holding hands while watching the TV before this conversation

mao has had dreams of him and BC living together before coming to PHV, and even after living there

mao and BC are both bi leaning towards men in this fic (badgerclops already knows about himself)

overall vibe is badgermao but they’re not dating (closer to queer platonic i think?), BUT neither of them would be opposed to dating the other

also if they did date each other later on in this fic they would definitely talk about the others (tanya, snugglemagne, orangusnake, eugene) and who would be their 3rd for a polyamorous kind of thing

[neongreengummiebears]

Thoughts on BakuDeku

I’ve been lurking in the MHA fandom for a while now, just kind of silently watching, and I have a few observations that I would like to make. Just perspectives that I would like to put out into the universe. I am on the older side of this website, much less this fandom and so I am no stranger to fandom culture. And when I say old? I mean like I was an active participant on ff.net circa 2005 so like, I’m sure some of you are older but I’m getting up there. My point? I’ve seen things.

As far as fandoms go in general, the MHA is far from the most toxic that I’ve seen but there does seem to be a few points of contention and per usual it comes back to shipping. This is nothing new but lets speak a little on BakuDeku as a ship. I warn you now, it’s not always going to be things you want to hear, but I encourage you to read to the end anyway. 

Horikoshi has fully admitted to having been a huge Naruto fan and it’s pretty easy to see the influence in his work. On that note, it’s pretty safe to say that the Midoriya/Bakugo relationship can be compared to the Naruto/Sasuke relationship. You can see other parallels (All Might = Iruka, Aizawa =  Kakashi, etc...) but for the sake of argument let’s focus solely on Midoriya/Bakugo. Personally, I tend to prefer MHA to Naruto overall, as I just like the characters better and as such I like Bakugo a lot more than Sasuke. Horikoshi has taken more time to humanize Bakugo, and while he started off being a total dick, he’s also a dumb fuck teenage boy and he’s had a lot of character growth over the last 29 volumes. 

In the Naruto fandom, much like in the MHA fandom, there were loads of fans who shipped Naruto and Sasuke romantically. If we are judging the probability of Midoriya and Bakugo becoming a cannon couple, it stands to reason that we can examine the author’s influences and infer that, no, they probably won’t. For one thing, homosexuality is still considered a controversial topic in Japan like in America, and even if the author wanted to make it romantic he would probably receive a good amount of push-back from publishers. 

Now I don’t want you to read this and think that I am at all against it. I’m not. And forever ago when I was reading Naruto I occasionally wondered what would happen if an author published a Shounen manga, got millions invested, and then SURPRISE it was a M/M romance all along. I think it would be fun but I can’t say that I am realistically convinced that it will happen. But that isn’t really the point of this post.

My point, is that this fandom, like many others (And this website in general???) needs to learn the difference between actual queer baiting and a ship that just...doesn’t happen? And I’ve seen all the arguments, about how they clearly love each other and how their bond is so deep and how if either of the characters had this kind of relationship with a female character it would ABSOLUTELY be romantic. And I hear your points, but if I may provide a few of my own: 

1. There are many different ways to love in the world and they don’t all have to involve romance and kissing and sex. Do you love your family? Do you have friends that you would die for? These are relationships that people have and their just as valid in fiction as in real life.

2. Yes, if they were opposite genders than it probably would be the central romance of the mange, but that isn’t proof of queer baiting so much as a general failure to accurately represent opposite gender friendships in media. There should be male and female friendships that are just as strong while remaining platonic so this is a failure but not the failure you thing it is.  (If anyone likes Kdramas, Suspicious Partner is an excellent one that has not only a great romantic subplot but also some WONDERFUL platonic M/F friendships and it’s just beautiful) (That being said I also recommend the Taiwanese drama HIStory 3: Trapped for a wonderful M/M romance since if you’re reading this post that’s probably something you’re into) 

I think that a lot of the problems come from the fact that good romantic relationships do build similarly to friendships. You get a lot of bonding moments, the characters getting to know each other better and coming to care for one another and since media tends to focus predominantly on romantic relationships it’s easy to just get into the mindset that like, all bonding moments are leading somewhere. And in a way they are: to friendship. And then sometimes that friendship leads to romance and sometimes it doesn’t but what I’m saying is that the two look very similar. You SHOULD be friends with your romantic partner, and I think that that is why it’s so easy to ship these sort of couples. Especially when they do have an especially deep bond like these two have.

As far as BakuDeku as a couple in general, yeah, I ship it. I’ve read my fair share of fanfiction and if it did happen I would be psyched. I didn’t always like Bakugo (He’s just doing THE MOST at all times) but I grew to love him and if he continues to grow in the direction that he has been I wouldn’t personally have any problems with it. They have an interesting dynamic that incorporates some of my favorite tropes and I think it would be cool if the manga went there. But if they don’t? That’s also fine. 

There have been several ACTUAL examples of queer baiting in media that I can point to such as the Japanese ads for Sherlock (I didn’t necessarily find the show itself to be queerbaiting but the Japanese ads for the new seasons hardcore did) and while I tried hard to defend Supernatural (WAY too much of the fandom shipped actual brothers together for me to believe that they understood the value of any sort of platonic relationship) they kind of blew that out of the water with whatever the fuck happened in that last season. 

I don’t see that happening here and while I know a lot of you are set for your ship to become cannon I just want you to maybe manage your expectations. Because in my experience, when it gets built up this big, if it DOESN’T happen the next thing fans do is start ranting about queer-baiting and insulting the series and the team and I don’t want to see that because it isn’t fair to any of them. I’ve seen it happen in other fandoms and it gets real ugly real fast. 

Alternatively, if anyone has watched the reboot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power you will know that the creators played their cards super close to their chest, doing their best to properly develop the homosexual relationships they wanted while keeping it subtle enough that they could prevent themselves from being cancelled before the last season aired. Then they went all in and made their homosexual ships cannon in the final season because at that point the whole show was out wtf was going to happen? They’d get cancelled? It was already over. So if you would like a serving of hope to cling to, that is a thing that happened. I just wouldn’t necessarily bet on it. 

That being said, I fully support your right to ship anything you want. And if by some chance it does become cannon? More power to you. I’d be psyched. Horikoshis assistants ship the hell out of it and he clearly doesn’t mind so there is a point in your favor. But if it doesn’t? A lack of romance doesn’t invalidate the depth of their feelings for one another. Platonic love is still love and it’s still a powerful driving force in the story. Their relationship is still compelling even if there isn’t ever a kiss, or a confession. And hey, that’s what fanfiction is for. 

Remember kids: Please ship responsibly. 

[eiloh-dystonic]

Jotakak headcanons

Slight part 3 spoiler warning

Also I refuse to acknowledge kakyoins actual fate

They love sparring with eachother. Fighting in general is a big part of their relationship. Being able to trust eachother enough to hold their own in a match without seriously injuring the other, and to have their back in a battle is super important. Its a major form of intimacy for them

The adrenaline, the trust, the physical closeness, the intimate understanding of eachothers strategies, thought process and movements. They just love sparring ok

Their sparring matches can get pretty emotional too. It's difficult for them to confront and express their emotions with other people. So they use fighting as an intense emotional release that makes it easier for them to talk about things after. Its not uncommon for one of their sparring matches to end in one or both of them crying about their share trauma or something similar and holding eachother

Jotaro doesn't want to use time stop in their sparring matches at first, but kakyoin insists that he's comfortable with it. Jotaro is worried about hurting him more than he already has been with it, or scaring him. kakyoin trusts jotaro enough to use it safely in matches and he really wants to push himself to find good counters to the ability. It takes a long time but he does eventually find a few that work reasonably well (don't ask me what they are, my brain is basicly just a small plastic dinosaur toy)

Neither of them like p.d.a. much, especially jotaro. The most they are comfortable with is occasional hand holding but even that they wouldn't do around strangers. Jotaro gets super self-conscious about it and it makes him feel like he's being weak and vulnerable. Kakyoin just thinks p.d.a. is rude

They don't really do pet names either except for ONE. They were joking one day about how awkward they think pet names are and how they don't like them. Jotaro jokingly calls kakyoin "angel" and kakyoin realizes that he actually really likes that one and that one ALONE. jotaro likes to say that it doest suit him and he still finds it kind of awkward, but he will still call kakyoin "angel" occasionally because he knows he likes it. (And because its easier to sweet talk him into things when he uses it agfjdjfj)

Jotaro fell in love with kakyoin way before kakyoin fell in love with him. Jotaro started really feeling for kakyoin about mid way through their trip, but kakyoin didn't realize that he was in love with jotaro until a while after they got back to japan. Kakyoin was still processing what having friends feels like for the first time. I think he would have needed a calmer, non-life threatening environment to process all that and sort his emotions out.

Their relationship would best be described as queer platonic, though I don't think they would ever use that word. Its a semi-romantic, non sexual, and deeply committed relationship. Their commitment to eachother and level of emotional intimacy is outside the range of a typical friendship, but they don't really know how to distinguish if their feelings are platonic or romantic.. They would have a really hard time defining their relationship and they would never really know if it was platonic, romantic, or something in-between. So they just gave up decided to do whats best for them without really labeling it. That, the lack of p.d.a., and the fact that they call eachother their "partner" instead of "boyfriend" tends to confuse a lot of people

They have a sort of separation anxiety for a while after the trip. Kakyoin is worried that jotaro only really liked him for his utility in fights and now that they aren't fighting for their lives, jotaro will get bored of him and leave. Jotaro is irrationally afraid that kakyoin will suddenly die or just dissapear entirely. They tend to visit eachother or atleast call for a few hours once a day for a several months after returning to Japan. They eventually return to being able to maintain a healthy distance when its necessary, but it take them a while

Holly LOVES kakyoin. she would really treat him like a second son and kakyoin would find it easy to confide in her. He would also help her around the house and with cooking and things too. They just get along really well

Kakyoin's parents do not like jotaro much. They sort of blame him for kakyoin "running away". And they think he's a bad influence. They don't say much though because this is the first time they have seen their son have a friend and be this happy. Their interactions with jotaro are still pretty tense though

Both of their love language are bullying and info dumping

Ok their ACTUAL love languages are quality time(jotaro) and acts of service(kakyoin)

Jotaro is the little spoon, enough said

Jotaro thinks kakyoin is hilarious (this i take as 100% canon)

Jotaro's favorite qualities of kakyoin's are his strength/confidence and his ability to understand him

Kakyoin's favorite qualities of jotaro's are how caring he is and his selflessness

Both of them keep in contact with polnareff after the trip. Particularly kakyoin who calls him atleast once a week and schedules his calls so they're at a reasonable hour in France, even if that means staying up super late

That being said, polnareff had no idea that jotaro and kakyoin were together until like 2 years after they started dating. They both just kind of assumed the other one had told him already.

Despite them being in a gay relationship themselves, they love to bully polnareff and Abdul for acting gay. Gay and homophobic kings

[spaceskam]

Pretty Little Picture (1/3)

fake dating au, pure fluff, no serious tags, just a bunch of fluff

for day 1 of @malex-cupid​

ao3

When Alex agreed to this, he thought it’d be a piece of cake.

“You’re going to regret this, it’s a horrible idea,” Liz said through the phone as he walked around his room, packing his bag for the weekend. He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why? We’re friends. And I’ve done musicals and stuff, I’ve acted before.”

“Okay, but this isn’t acting. This is going on a weekend getaway pretending to date your friend who you have a crush on is a bad idea,” she scoffed. Alex shook his head, looking between his plain black button-up and his plain black fitted turtleneck. He chose the turtleneck one and folded it carefully.

“I don’t have a crush on him.”

“Really?”

“Really. Trust me, I’ve seen him after pulling an all-nighter and falling asleep in his coffee. I know not to have a crush on him,” Alex said. Though he will admit, that was pretty cute.

“Sounds like something someone with a crush would say,” Liz scolded. Alex snorted a laugh. “Fine, do what you want, at least you’ll be believable with the heart-eyes and everything.”

“I do not have heart-eyes!”

Truly, Alex was sure it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. He lived with Michael already. They shared the house he inherited‒Michael needed a cheap place to live while in college and Alex wasn’t really looking forward to living alone, so it worked out‒and nothing weird had happened in the last three years. They were best friends, what would one weekend hurt?

“Alex, I need your help,” Michael had said, bursting into the living room and nearly making Alex spill his coffee. He stomped towards him, dropping his bag on the ground and flopping onto the couch with a pathetic whine. “Help me.”

“Help you with what?” Alex had asked in return, taking his eyes off his laptop to give him his full attention while he threw a little tantrum.

Michael twisted onto his stomach and rested his chin on his hands, looking up at him. Alex’s heart absolutely did not skip a beat in adoration. He wasn’t that cute.

“You know my internship? The fancy one with all the rich people that pay me to be an intern for them and actually listen to my ideas and‒”

“Yes, Michael, I know about your internship,” Alex laughed. Michael pouted just a little bit.

“Okay, so every year, the CEO takes all the interns and entrance-level employees and their partners on a trip for Valentine’s day and it’s a fun trip, I guess, but it’s really just this big, super informal interview where he and his wife sort of see if you’ll be a good fit for the company long term. Khalil said I have to go no matter what, that it’s super crucial and to make a good impression. Like, I have to go, Alex. I have to get hired for real after I graduate. Do you know how much I’ll get paid just to start? $35 an hour, Alex! I could do so much with that money!” Michael explained, exasperated and overwhelming as if Alex hadn’t heard how much money he would make if he got this job a billion times.

“Yeah, okay, then go,” Alex told him, “Sweet talk them like we all know you can.”

“I need a partner, though,” Michael said, pouting all over again, “So come with me. Please? We can pretend to be, like, long term boyfriends and, like, convince them I’d be a good queer diversity hire at the very least.”

Alex felt his cheeks grow warm at the suggestion and shifted in his spot. “Why me?”

“Because! You were raised around a bunch of bougie rich white people, you know how to act at these things! I’d ask Isobel or Max, but I don’t even wanna pretend to be in love with them. With you, I can do the whole starry-eyed thing and if we have to show PDA, it won’t be that big of a deal because, like, it’s you,” Michael persuaded, clambering onto his hands and knees before putting his head on Alex’s arm and pouting up at him, “Pretty please? I’ll buy you something nice and fancy with my first big kid paycheck.”

“Okay,” Alex agreed, not letting himself think too much about it. They spent all their time together anyway. He’d fallen asleep with Michael’s feet in his lap, he’d seen him basically naked, he’d hugged him and gotten platonic head kisses from him. They could pull it off.

“Okay?” Michael repeated, sitting up more. His smile was shining and bold and Alex had to take a breath. “Okay! Okay, so we have two weeks to pack and come up with stories and shit to tell. It’ll be so easy, they’re gonna love you, you’re so chill. Thank you, Alex, thank you so much.”

Which led to now when Alex was preparing to go on this trip. From the way Michael explained, it would be a lot of just talking and discussing with a side of couples retreat-esque activities.

“He’s apparently superfamily and relationship-oriented. I don’t know if it’s because he’s, like, super conservative or if he’s super progressive and is all for, like, living wages for family and will give people ample time off. I’m too scared to ask just yet,” Michael had explained.

Michael had also assured him that, during discussions, he could either sit with him or go talk to the other partners, whichever he preferred. He basically just needed Alex to look pretty and seem like they were totally in love. According to the way Liz spoke about them, it wouldn’t be a difficult feat.

So Alex packed his clothes and anything he thought he’d need to get by on a three day trip to some bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere. He wanted to look nice the whole time, even when they weren’t at formal dinners, and he was even going to flip his septum piercing. He planned to use his skills at selling himself to sell Michael as well.

“If you ever need a break, I’ll cover for you while you drive to the nearest convenience store to get a bunch of snacks,” Michael told him as he threw their bags in the backseat of Alex’s little car. Alex snorted a laugh.

“What about if you need a break?”

“Well, I plan to work for this fucker for at least the next thirty years, so my only break will be sleeping,” Michael said. Alex shook his head, going over to fix the collar of Michael’s shirt. It’d taken a bit of convincing to get him to forgo the flannels for a couple of days, but now he had a collared shirt that wouldn’t stay down for some reason. “Speaking of, are you gonna be chill sharing a bed or do I need to sleep on the floor? I don’t mind it, just wanna know if I should ask for an extra blanket.”

“Dude, we’ve shared a bed before,” Alex laughed, “It’s not gonna kill me.”

“Just making sure,” Michael said, taking a deep breath. It was only then that Alex realized that he was actually nervous.

“Hey,” Alex said, grabbing his shoulders and looking him in the eyes, “You’re going to impress the hell out of them, I’m gonna make sure of it, okay?”

“I just really want this job, Alex,” Michael said. Alex smiled.

“And you’re going to get it,” he said, “And, hey, if you don’t, this internship will always look good on your future resume.”

“Let’s just stick to telling me I’m gonna get it, okay?” Michael breathed. Alex laughed and nodded, patting him on the shoulder before shoved him gently in the direction of the passenger seat.

“You’re going to get it. Now get in the car.”

The whole ride there Alex was completely fine. This was going to be a piece of cake and he was going to show Liz that he could totally handle it. He didn’t have a crush, he wasn’t going to catch even more feelings, he was just being a good friend.

It didn’t really dawn on Alex just how stressful this weekend was going to be until they stepped inside the bed and breakfast and Michael looped an arm around his waist and tugged him in close. He knew they were going to be showing casual PDA, Alex agreed to that, but saying it and doing it in private was a whole different world to having Michael hanging onto him in front of other people.

Alex could hear his heart in his ears over the ringing, suddenly very aware of the fact that Michael was muscular. He knew he did a lot of manual labor jobs before he got that internship, but had he always been obvious about it?

Even then, Alex was able to smile through it as Michael led him up to the group of people that were already there. He was able to keep his feet under him as Michael leaned up to his ear to whisper a ‘you got this’. Alex was even stable as he shook the hand of the man whose suit was probably more than Alex’s inheritance.

“This is Alex,” Michael said, smiling over at him like he was the most important thing that ever existed, “My boyfriend.”

Well, shit.

Maybe Liz was onto something.

-

No, honestly‒Alex was fine.

Michael was charming, he knew that. He’d seen him with girls and guys he liked, he always laid on the charm thick and so it absolutely made sense for him to turn it on Alex. He just wasn’t used to it, that’s all. He just needed to adjust and then it’d be all roses.

“Alex, have I mentioned today that you’re my favorite?” Michael hummed as they went into their little room. Alex finally felt like he could breathe and tilted his head at him, raising an eyebrow. Michael was grinning with his back pressed against the door. “You’re incredible. They like you. Ivan laughed at your joke‒he never laughs.”

“Well, I’m glad you picked the right suitor,” Alex laughed, rolling his shoulders as he sat down on the bed. His back was facing Michael, finally, and he used it to close his eyes and count to three.

Michael was charming, simple. And, honestly, Alex was on the receiving end of it the more he thought about it. Just not in front of people. That’s what made it feel like so much. The audience. He’d never been so loudly out in front of that many people before. That’s what it was.

“The best,” Michael insisted. 

The bed creaked under his weight as he crawled across it and Alex was only able to prepare himself for the weight to be draped over his back because he was used to Michael being clingy. Just… in private. 

“Hey, you okay?” Michael asked after he was quiet for a second too long.

“Yeah,” Alex breathed, “I’m fine. Just never proudly stated I was into guys in front of that many people before.”

“Oh,” Michael said, pressing against his back just a little more, “Good feeling or bad feeling?”

Alex didn’t answer quickly enough.

“Alex, if you want to go home, then‒”

“No, this is good. I feel good. Just overwhelmed,” he explained. It wasn’t a lie.

“Okay, fair enough,” Michael said, kissing his temple before throwing himself backwards onto the bed, “I swear, it feels better after the overwhelming feeling goes away. None of them are gonna say shit to you either.”

Alex nodded and laid back on the bed beside him, looking over at him. They had to get ready for one of their informal discussions and dinner, but it sounded like a good idea to just lay there for a moment. The longer they laid there, the more he was able to realize this wasn’t going to be too bad. In fact, he was going to have fun with it.

In an actual relationship, he wouldn’t want to show a lot of PDA or be super touchy. But this wasn’t an actual relationship. He could just be a little extreme for the fun of it. He was going to school to perform. Why not try his hand at acting?

Bonus points if Michael got flustered.

“Okay, I’m good,” Alex said. Michael turned his head and they locked eyes, a smile on his face.

“Good,” Michael said, shifting onto his side, “But if you start feeling overwhelmed again, you can just squeeze my hand. We’re boyfriends for the weekend, so it doesn’t matter if they think it’s gay.”

Alex huffed a laugh, turning onto his side as well. 

“Do they actually know you’re bisexual or is this like your coming out and you’re just letting them think what they want?” Alex wondered, “I saw a couple of shocked faces.”

“Some people know, mainly the people I talk to every day, but I don’t try to hide it. I think most of them thought I was straight until Callie was showing Emily some picture of a hot guy and I said I wanted to see,” Michael said, grinning in that way that told Alex he’d done it purposefully to get a shock out of some people.

“Oh yeah, how’d that go?”

“No one really said much, the girls laughed. Khalil breathed like a sigh of relief because they thought they were the only queer person working there,” Michael said, scooting closer, “I think there’s probably a couple more somewhere are the office. It’s a big place, there’s gotta be.”

“Mm, but we’re gonna be basically the only same-sex couple this weekend, right? I didn’t see anyone else while we were down there,” Alex pointed out. Michael nodded.

“Yeah, sorry. But only for a couple of days! It’s already Friday afternoon and we’re leaving Sunday afternoon, it’ll be fine. Plus, you got me,” Michael said, reaching out to poke Alex in the side, “I’ll make it worthwhile.”

Alex found himself smiling just a little.

“Yeah, I know you will.”

They both eventually got up and got dressed. Alex broke out the turtleneck and some relatively tight black slacks, drawing on fresh eyeliner. He pulled as much of his hair back as he could into a small low ponytail and deliberately made his bangs and everything hanging down a little intentionally messy.

This was a performance and he was going to sell it easily.

When he came out of their bathroom and into the main room, he saw Michael was in a pair of chinos and a maroon button-up that he was sure Isobel had gotten for him. He was just fastening his belt when Alex made a show of leaning against the doorframe as he whistled low.

“Well, well, well, don’t you look good,” Alex said. Michael looked up at him with a shit-eating grin, hands fumbling as he tried to tuck the end of the belt into his belt loops. 

“I bet I smell better, Isobel got me fancy cologne,” he said. Alex huffed a laugh.

“Yeah, I can smell it, it’s nice,” he said, pushing off the door frame and walking closer, “You wearing real shoes, or am I going to have to publicly break up with you for wearing cowboy boots?”

Michael rolled his eyes and reached out to grab Alex by the waistband of his pants, tugging him in. Alex’s eyes went wide as he laughed at the forwardness.

“I’m wearing shoes, the fancy ones that are pointed at the end and click when you walk,” Michael said. Alex grinned and put the back of his hand to his forehead.

“I’m swooning.”

“You should.”

Michael let him go and went to go slip on his shoes while Alex went to his combat boots‒much more situation-appropriate than cowboy boots and he would stick by that. They gave each other another once over of approval before leaving their room. 

“Those boots make your ass look great,” Michael said as they headed towards the elevator. Alex’s eyebrows shot up and he looked over his shoulder. Michael flashed an innocent smile. “What? You’re my boyfriend, I can look at your ass, right?”

“If I can look at yours, boyfriend.”

“I’m begging,” Michael said warmly as they stepped into the elevator. Alex shook his head and pressed the ground floor.

Because, of course, this was what it would be like to be with Michael. Flirting, banter, touching. No wonder he had so many people wanting to be with him. Hell, Alex got a decent taste of it and they didn’t even like each other like that. Though, it definitely helped him understand where all of Liz’s concerns came from.

“You really are feeling better, right? Like, don’t let me do anything you’re not comfortable with. I’ll try not to, but, you know, slap me if I do,” Michael insisted before the elevator doors could open, sincerity dripping from his tone.

Alex held out his hand as the doors opened.

“I’m fine.”

Alex was able to make that statement even more true as they started socializing and he managed to snag a flute of champagne. It tasted expensive, just like the shit he and Kyle would sneak at their parents’ parties. It was easier to loosen up when pretending that’s what this was.

“Michael, Alex!” Curtis called as he neared, a big smile on his face and a gorgeous woman on his arm.

Curtis was the CEO of Disionic, a company that specialized in doing work for other companies’ prototypes. Companies of all sorts would use Disionic to outsource their new and fancy inventions for all sorts of different things, from engine-powered toys to ad blocking apps to literal blenders, as a way to test run them and get credible feedback from engineers and usually would employ them to fix any mistakes that were made. Michael loved it, it was a constant stream of new things and it made big money. 

The fact that he made a point to know all the interns' names was simply a plus.

“You two look like the perfect pair,” he said, looking between the two of them with a warm smile. Alex raised his eyebrows at Michael and offered a smile.

“Thank you, Mr. Iverson,” Michael said, nodding to the woman on his arm, “Mrs. Iverson.”

“Call me Jeannie,” Mrs. Iverson said, holding out a hand. Michael shook it firmly and Alex did the same. “So, I’ve heard about Michael, the agricultural and mechanical double major from Berkeley, but I haven’t heard about you. What do you do, Alex?”

Alex felt Michael take a deep breath, a silent ‘oh God, am I good enough that he told his wife about me?’ and he tightened his hold around his waist. Alex gave his award-winning polite smile that did wonders when he took etiquette classes back when his father thought dressing him up in a suit around other boys in suits to learn about how to act right would make him less likely to be a raging homosexual.

“I actually go to SFSU for right now,” Alex said, “Music major.”

“Oh!” she said, and Alex had already predicted her words before she said them because it’s what people always said, “That’s cute!”

“Mm,” Alex hummed, taking another sip of his champagne, “My major is piano education, but I also take vocal classes as more of a minor.”

“Oh, good, you’ll be able to do a lot with that. And it’s not that far from Michael’s school,” she said. He nodded, looking towards Michael.

“Yeah, we live somewhere in the middle,” he said.

“That’s good that he’s with someone who’s also focused, it’s a good environment to be in for a boy his age with his promise,” Curtis insisted. Michael went a little weak in his grasp and Alex didn’t have to be a genius to know it had everything to do with a grown man caring about his promise. 

“I think so too.”

After moving on from Curtis, Michael was able to regain his legs and his brain and Alex didn’t have to carry too much of the weight‒literally and figuratively. They sat and had dinner, all paid for by the company, and then got back to socializing. It was honestly a bit draining, but Alex kept reminding himself it was just for the weekend and it was for Michael and also that most of the people there were winging it just as much as Michael.

“So, how did you two get together? I know Michael said you were roommates before things got started, so that must’ve been a risky move,” Alisha‒Michael’s coworker’s wife of two months who wouldn’t let either of them forget how sad it was that they couldn’t make it to the wedding as if they’d known either of them long enough to be invited in the first place‒asked. She was kind and all, but she asked a lot of questions. Alex was waiting for her to ask something that was too invasive to even justify a polite answer.

Honestly, some of them already felt too invasive, but Alex knew that was probably him just being touchy.

“Oh, I just got up the courage to ask him out one day and hoped it wouldn’t be weird. I mean, look at his face. It was impossible not to catch feelings,” Michael said. Alex rolled his eyes and leaned into his side, playing it up to the best of his ability. It helped that the champagne he’d been sipping on had made him a little more comfortable.

“Stop it.”

“I’m serious! I couldn’t help myself. I just wanted a chance to look at the stars with you and know you were mine,” Michael cooed, pressing his nose into Alex’s cheek and nuzzling just a little. Alex’s ears were ringing a bit as he turned his head to look at him up close. They locked eyes for a moment too long before Michael cleared his throat and looked back to Alisha. “So, yeah, couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

“How cute, I wish straight men were that romantic,” she cooed, just tone-deaf enough to level Alex’s thoughts, “Have you talked about marriage? I’d love to come to the wedding, it’d be so fun.”

“Not really, yet,” Alex said, pinching Michael’s hip just enough to make him jump, “But I figure one day I’ll get him on one knee.”

“What, you won’t propose to me?” Michael said, trying to put but failing through his smile. Alex cupped his ear in his hand, running his thumb gently along the curve of it. If Michael’s eyes drifted to his lips, well, Alex pretended he didn’t notice.

“Maybe I just like seeing you on your knees,” Alex said. Michael’s eyes widened.

“Oh, dear, I feel like I’m intruding,” Alisha giggled and Alex blinked out of it.

“Sorry,” he said, “Just teasing.”

“I totally get it! Me and my Tom get like that all the time.” 

“Speaking of your Tom,” Tom said, sidling up beside her and looping his arm around her waist. She smiled up at him. “Emily wanted to see your ring.”

“Oh! Okay, see you later, guys! I had fun talking to you,” Alisha said, waving as she let herself be tugged off to wherever Emily and her boyfriend were.

Alex let out a breath of relief and raised his glass to his lips. Mid-sip, Michael leaned in close to his ear, lips nearly pressed against his skin. Alex focused on his drink.

“You’re gonna do something stupid like make me fall in love with you,” he breathed, leaving a kiss on his cheek before he pulled back.

“Ah, a tragic mistake many men have made,” Alex said playfully. Michael beamed at him.

“Seriously, you’re amazing, Alex. I’m so glad I brought you. You even managed to make Alisha bearable,” Michael said. Alex laughed and looked over to where Alisha was proudly showing off her ring.

“She’s not that bad.”

“You haven’t met her as many times as I have,” Michael huffed, “I was terrified when I saw her comin’ this way. She means well, but, you know.”

“The straights just aren’t as romantic, Michael, don’t you know?” he said. Michael laughed and squeezed his hip. “But are you good? You’re starting to look a little drained.”

“I’m gonna start lookin’ for a way out so we can go upstairs. My people tolerance is dropping,” Michael confessed. Alex nodded.

“Well, you’re doing really well. I almost didn’t notice.”

“Hopefully no one else will.”

“No one else knows you like I do, so I’m assuming you’re good.”

Michael tilted his head, that little smirk on his lips as he said, “You know me so well, huh?”

“I do live with you,” Alex pointed out. Michael nodded and his eyes went to the flute of champagne in his hand.

“How many of those have you had?” he asked. Alex shrugged, swirled it around a bit before downing the rest.

“Three, maybe four. Yeah, four, one before dinner, one during, two since,” Alex explained. Michael nodded.

“Feelin’ good?” he asked. Alex hummed and nodded, looking over Michael’s face easily. “I’m not a champagne man.”

“Neither am I, but this shit is too expensive not to drink.”

Michael laughed, “Guess I’ll have to taste it.”

“You will.”

Alex’s eyes drifted to his lips, not for the first time. He started wondering what he actually looked like on his knees. Then he shook that thought right out of his head.

“I’m tired,” Alex said, maybe a bit louder so other people would hear. Michael grinned.

“Okay, let’s make our rounds in saying goodnight.”

They said goodnight to Michael’s coworkers that they passed on their way to say goodnight specifically to Curtis and Jeannie. It was an absurd amount of small talk, very ‘oh, yeah, we were up early, Alex had class’ and ‘it’s a long day, want to be fresh in the morning!’ and ‘you know how it is, can’t wait to get this one alone, haha!’ It was all tragically boring and as he got closer to when he’d be free of it, Alex began to itch to get back to their room.

By the time they said goodnight to Curtis and his wife, they were basically speed walking to the elevator. Once the doors closed, Michael tugged Alex into a hug, burying his face into his neck and Alex giggled, feeling light as he draped his arms around his neck. Michael lifted him off the ground for a moment, until the doors slid open.

They made it back to their room and Alex didn’t have a moment to process anything before the door closed and Michael was closing in on him. He grabbed his face in between his hands, staring at him with the biggest smile. Alex was probably a little too drunk for this.

“You are so fucking good at this, I could kiss you. The flirting, the touching, the lines? Alex! You’re a genius, a pure genius. I knew they’d like you, but they like like you. You are so good, Alex Manes,” he gushed, peppering kisses to his forehead and his nose and his cheeks. By the time he pulled away, Alex’s face was on fire and he was smiling so wide it hurt.

“I’m just selling it,” Alex said.

“And you are doing a damn good job. I should date you more often,” Michael said. Alex nodded lamely and Michael laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling it to his mouth. He pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I am going to go take a shower, boyfriend. You start trying to sleep off that champagne, okay?”

“Okay.”

Michael dropped his hand and turned, stepping out of his shoes on the way to the bathroom. Alex let out a breathy laugh and sat on the edge of the bed. He slowly pulled his hair down and pulled off his boots, taking a deep breath. He licked his lips and turned his head to the bathroom door, head swimming with too many thoughts as the water kicked on.

Alex changed out of his shirt and his pants into sweats and a t-shirt, climbing into bed without much thought. He tried not to think, at least. He closed his eyes and tried to lull himself to sleep.

But, when the bathroom door opened, he couldn’t help himself.

Alex peeked over the edge of the blanket and watched as Michael, dripping wet with just a towel around his waist, searched for his clothes with nothing but the bathroom light to guide him. He was gorgeous and overwhelmingly… Michael. Alex couldn’t remember the last time he wanted something so bad as he wanted to touch Michael at that moment.

At the thought, he pulled the blanket over his head, his eyes going wide.

Oh.

Oh no.