#It was a very casual comment talking about why I'm personally not cool with it. Wasn't bashing or anything. And they pull that

[mako-island-moon-pool]

Thinking about the time r/ao3 got recommended to me on my homepage and it was a post asking 'what do you do when you're surprised by incest in a fic because it wasn't tagged' (paraphrased) and I commented basically 'I leave, since I was SA'ed by my sister incest really upsets me which makes finding platonic fics for [list of fandoms] a bit difficult' and a mod deleted it then DM'ed me that my comment was 'too heavy' for the subreddit (on a post ABOUT INCEST) meanwhile the rest of the comments were full of people gushing over how hot incest is...

[mmhcs]

The Big Dance (Prom AU)

Summary: Inspired by Chance the Rapper's 2019 album The Big Day (if you've listened to it, please tell me your favorite song off the album in the comments!).

Features: Gender-neutral reader, no mentions of reader's gender

Warnings: Mentions of grief and missing a loved one

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Miles Morales likes to consider himself brave.

Throughout the past four years, he's done a lot of brave things—especially during his career as Spiderman.

For one, he leaped off a skyscraper and into raging traffic. He was half-confident in himself, but he did it anyway.

And then there was that time when he followed Gwen into the portal, helped Pavitr and Gwen save Mumbhattan from collapse.

Oh, and when he challenged Miguel O'Hara about his understanding of the Multiverse. That was scary. But Miles did it and he managed to survive.

Point is yes, Miles Morales considers himself to be a very brave person.

Which is why he is so confused as to why he's struggling to simply even imagine asking you the question that has been lingering on his mind since September.

"Dude," Ganke says, looking away from his phone screen. "Just ask. You've been crushing for so long that these feelings might actually crush you."

Miles knows he's caught now. For the past few months, he's been casually mentioning that he wants to ask you to prom. And for the past few months, Ganke has only listened to Miles' ramblings with nothing more than one-word responses and nods that indicate his support and agreement. It's part of the reason why Miles loves to talk to him especially about this; in infinite universes full of people who demand so much and always want an answer, Ganke is the person that listens and understands.

Until now, though.

Ganke looking up from his screen is very rare. But when it does happen, it means that he's serious and is either about to give Miles some advice or tell him how stupid the decisions he makes are.

"I know, I know," Miles says as Ganke opens his mouth to say something else. He begins to pace back and forth, spouting all the possible things that he feels his best friend is about to say. "Miles, the world's not gonna end if you get rejected! Miles, we're still gonna go to Prom and turn up either way. Don't worry, man!"

"Okay, first of all, I do not sound like that," Ganke crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. "And secondly, did you just say that we're gonna 'turn up'? I swear, sometimes you act like someone's twenty-six year old uncle,"

Miles pauses his pacing. "What? I think it sounds cool. Is that not what we say today?"

"No, Miles, that's not what we say." Ganke sighs, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "Anyways, look, man, you've been talking about asking (Y/N) to Prom literally all year now. I think you should do it—you two are always together—but I can't make the decision for you. If you want to do it, do it. If you don't, that's sad but Prom is gonna happen either way. All I'm saying is don't let fear stop hold you back."

With that, Ganke turns back to gaming.

Miles stands there, letting his words sink in.

Ganke is right.

If Miles hadn't jumped off of that skyscraper, he probably would have gone home and stuff his suit so far back in his closet that he would have thought it to be an old Halloween costume the next time he pulled it out. If he hadn't stood up to Miguel, then his father would have died. And, if Miles doesn't ask you to the prom, then he could possibly miss out on one of the best nights of his life—and regret it.

"Yeah," Miles says to himself, slowly beginning to nod his head.

He will ask you to Prom. And either way—whether you say yes or not—he'll walk into the venue and end his high school career knowing that he finally did one of things that he's been wanting to do for the past four years.

"Yeah!" Miles yells now, wanting Ganke to hear. "You're right, Ganke! I'm gonna ask (Y/N) to Prom!"

"Knew you'd do the right thing," Ganke's tone is slow and lackadaisical once more and his concentration is still on his video game. But Miles knew that his friend was being sincere.

"I'm gonna go—"

"Score!" Ganke yells as his player in the game dunks a basketball into the hoop.

"Exactly!" Miles is nodding frantically now, hyping himself up. Before he has room to further question himself, he opens the door and says, "See 'ya, Ganke! Don't wait up!"

"Uh-huh."

And with that, the door to their shared dorm closes and Miles sprints through the halls of Visions Academy, with a mission (and no plan).

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"Okay, let's see,"

Miles opens his contact list and begins to scan through the potential givers of advice that he could do.

First up was his dad, of course. That man, as square as he is, was able to pull his mother. And credit has to be given where credit is due, Miles supposes.

Second is Peter B. Parker. Though when he and Miles met, things with MJ were less-than-ideal, Peter managed to change, win her back, and now they have a baby together! You have to possess some pretty good game to pull that off.

Third was...everyone else.

Of course, there are a million and one other people besides his father and Peter B. that Miles can ask for advice but those are the first two options that came to his mind and he's kind of stressed for time.

Smiling, Miles goes to click on the contact icon for his father. He's about to press the 'call' button when he remembers Jefferson's words from the last time that Miles called him at work.

"Miles, son, I love you—I really do. You're my son and I'm always here for you. But please, don't call me at work unless it's an emergency. And, for reference, not knowing where the Cheez-Its are is not an emergency. I'm talking when lives or grades are in danger and your world is ending—that's when you call me!"

Miles makes a face.

Technically this is an emergency. The trajectory of his life could be changed. Who knows? Maybe he and you would get married someday. Maybe you two are destined to be and if he doesn't ask you to Prom then he'll have screwed up the positive trajectory and you two will be cursed to live miserable, loveless lives.

Miles inhales sharply at the thought.

Yeah, he's calling.

"Hello?" Jefferson picks up on the first ring. "Miles, what's up?"

"Hey, Dad," Miles says the words slowly and awkwardly, not knowing how to proceed. "I, uh, need your help with something."

A sigh comes from the other side of the line. "Miles, if you're calling to ask me where the fish crackers are, I swear, it's gonna be me and you boy—"

"No, no, Dad, it's not that!" Miles waves his hands as he speaks as if Jefferson could see him. "It's—I'm planning on asking someone to the prom and I wanted your advice on how I should—"

"Oh, is this your little friend that you met freshman year?" Jefferson asks sounding ten times happier and calmer than a second ago.

"Yeah," Miles nods, glad that his father remembers you but also impatient. "I was just wondering if you could give me some advice considering that you're married and made me—"

"Son, while I would love to give you some advice right now, there's a ten-thirty that we need to take of down here. Can this wait till I get home?"

Miles moves the phone away from him so that his father won't hear the deep sigh threatening to spill out of him.

Ten-thirty. Great. And people are probably going to expect Spiderman to handle that, too.

"Yeah, Dad, it can wait." Miles says, trying his best not to make his disappointment evident. "I hope everyone's okay down there. I'll probably swing by in a second."

"Thanks, son," Jefferson sighs into the phone and Miles doesn't know if it's from stress about the situation or because he too is sharing in his son's frustration of not being able to this needed conversation. "I love you. Be careful."

"Love you too, Dad. See you soon."

Miles hangs up the phone and pushes his hands against his eyes.

That didn't go as planned.

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After swinging by the robbery, Miles decided to head to the Spider Society in order to find Peter.

He expected it to be a challenging task, considering that Peter is always with Mayday and Mayday is always everywhere, but it may be possible that after his failed conversation with his father, today decided to cut him some slack because Miles didn't have to search for long before he found Peter (and Mayday) sitting at a table in the cafeteria, eating lunch.

"Oh, so you want love advice?" Peter asks in between chewing his fries. "I got 'ya, kid. You came to the right place."

Miles sits across the table, his eagerness growing by the second.

"Okay, first thing's first: You gotta be calm. Cool and collected. Which, admittedly, you have a hard time with. So I'd start there."

A burn, but advice nonetheles.

"Okay, well, what about what I'm supposed to say?" Miles urges. "Do you have any tips on that?"

Peter scrunches his face and look up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking. He hums all the while, causing Miles to inch further in his seat until he’s hovering over the edge of the chair.

"No." Peter finally says at last, picking up another French fry. "But I did write a speech for MJ when I first asked her out. I rehearsed everything that I wanted to say in mirror at least fifty times until it stuck. It was absolutely worth it to see the smile on her face when I finally said it in-person. And plus, I still remember each and every word to this day. So maybe you can try something like that."

Miles nods frantically again.

Should he be taking notes? He feels like he should.

"Okay, and what about—"

"Peter!"

Before any of the two could blink, Miguel O'Hara appears behind Peter, his somber aura casting a dark cloud over the previous atmosphere of the conversation.

"Hey, Miguel!" Peter says cheerily. "I'm helping Miles ask his crush out to the prom. Wanna join in? Give some advice to the youngins—"

"Peter, I know ate the empanada in my office from earlier." Miguel tells him so serious and gravely as if Peter had done something far worse.

"Oh, right, that!" Peter perks up and snaps a finger, remembering. "Well, you see, Mayday is teething and we were both hungry so without thinking, I may have—"

"Come with me."

"What?"

"I said come with me."

"Why? Where are you taking me?"

"You're going to get me another empanada."

If it wasn't Miguel speaking, Miles would be on the floor laughing. But because it is Miguel and because Miguel is interrupting a very important moment, Miles only stares as the interaction progresses, with Miguel eventually picking up Peter by the shoulder to get him to stand up. He then ushers Peter to the food line but not before looking back at Miles, a bit apologetically.

"You're smart, you can figure this out, kid," he says. "Do what feels best. Be yourself."

Miles only stares in disbelief as Miguel marches back to his office but not before telling Peter to bring him the empanada and not eat it.

For what feels like the thousandth time today, Miles sighs with disappointment and frustration.

Seriously?

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"Hey, Uncle Aaron,"

Miles sighs as he plops himself in front of the gravestone, gleaming thanks to the recent rainstorm that they had the other day.

"How are you? I'm stressed."

Miles wastes no time explaining his predicament to his uncle. He starts from the very beginning, telling him how he met you freshman year but never got the chance to introduce you two to each other, how your friendship has grown stronger over the years and how and when he realized that he had feelings for you.

"...And I've been trying all day to get some advice but it just seems like everyone's too busy. And, of course, no one's more of a love guru than you were."

Thugh his last sentence is a joke, Miles's face falls.

Were.

"I miss you, man. Some days it's hard to keep going without you. But I do. I wish that you were here so that you could give me some advice. You would've been the first person that I went to..."

Miles inhales deeply.

No, he's not going to cry—this isn't meant to be a sad visit. He's just here to get some things off his chest.

"But anyway, I got into Princeton!" A proud smile creeps up onto his face. "Yep! Gonna be majoring in Physics! Dad and Mami have warmed up to the idea of me going away and now Mami can't stop telling everyone about her son, the Ivy League scholar!"

Miles continues on, talking and updating his uncle about his life until he notices the sun beginning to set. Then, reluctantly, he days up his uncle's gravestone one last time before heading home.

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Hey son gonna be home late 4 dinner.

Still gonna talk tho.

Miles groans as he rereads his dad's texts over and over again.

At this rate, his promposal is going to be an absolute failure.

Miles flops back onto his bed with a defeated sigh.

"Miles?" Rio knocks on his door gently even though there is already a wide enough crack for it to be considered open. "¿Qué te paso?"

"It's nothing, Mami," Miles mumbles, not even bothering to hide the sadness in his voice. "It's just been a rough day."

"A rough day?" Rio frowns. She hates seeing her son like this. Despite all of Miles' moments, he's a good kid. And he's her kid nonetheless. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Miles nods and in an instant Rio is at his side. She sits down on his bed (which is made for once) and begins to gently card her finger through his hair.

"Ay, when was the last time you got a haircut?" Rio asks, trying to lighten the mood. "Are you trying to copy your multidimensional twin or something? You can't show up to the prom looking like this!"

Though it's a joke, the comment elicits another groan from Miles.

"Is this what this whole mood is about?" Rio asks, gesticulating to her son's defeated position. "The prom?"

Miles only nods in confirmation, the action rustling his bedsheets.

"Oh, Miles," Rio coos, bringing her son's head into her lap, "why didn't you say anything, mijo?"

"I did say something!"

Miles's hands shoot up in the air and one narrowly misses Rio's chin. She gives him an icy glares to which he apologizes.

"Sorry—I'm sorry," Miles sighs. He didn't mean to; it's just been a really frustrating day. Feeling like nobody has time for him and that he no one's priority.

"It's just that this is important, you know?" He huffs, running his own hand through his. "And it feels like no one around me cares! And I know it's not true—everyone's just really busy—but I need someone to help me. Someone to be my own Spiderman for a bit. Just someone to care."

Rio looks down at her son fondly. Her heart feels as though it's about to split in two. She wants to cry because her baby boy has grown into a young man with such an ability to articulate his feelings. But she also wants to cry because her baby feels alone—and he never should. Not while she's around.

"Oh, Miles, I'm so sorry about your day and that no one was around to help you, mijo," Now Rio's fingertips begin to ghost across his right temple. "But I'm here now and I care so please, tell me what's on your mind."

And so he does.

For the umpteenth time today, Miles starts from the very beginning and talks about you, how you guys met, how he realized that he has feelings for you and, of course, how he's been wanting to ask you to prom for a while now.

All the while, Rio listens and nods intently, smiles when it's appropriate, and tries to keep herself from happy crying at the young man before her.

"I think that it’s beautiful that you're putting so much thought into this proposal, Miles," Rio begins when it's finally her turn to speak. "But the truth is that no one can tell you how to plan the perfect promposal. Not me, not your father, not Peter nor Miguel. Only you know the person so deeply and intimately. Everything that we tell you to do should be taken into consideration, not as a fact. Only you know how this person so deeply and how your relationship functions. Use that to your advantage, mijo. You have a creative mind; let it shine and take the lead. Because you can say the same standard 'te amo' like everyone else does but it's how you say it that counts."

There's a beat of silence as Miles processes everything that his mother just said.

And then it clicks.

He knows what he's going to.

"Yeah," he says once more to himself. "Yeah, I know what I'm gonna do!"

Rio smiles. "You got it, mijo?"

"Yeah, yeah, I do, Mami!" Miles exclaims with a little laugh. He jumps up and wraps his arms around his mother for a tight hug. "Thank you, Mami! ¡Te amo mucho! You always know what to say!"

"My pleasure, mijo,"

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A week later, you and Miles are walking through the empty hallways of Vision's Academy hand-in-hand.

It's something that you two don't normally do but with this scavenger hunt that Miles has planned for you, you think it best that he guides you before you end up somewhere that you're not supposed to be.

"Okay, and now we reach the cafeteria," Miles says, gesturing to the grand, dimly-lit space. "A hint for your next clue: it involves us all those years ago on that fateful day that you discovered that I could turn invisible."

To anyone else, this would be a puzzling riddle. But you've grown to know Miles—all parts and aspects of him—throughout these four years. And so, the memory comes easily to you.

"Oh my gosh!" you scream, remembering. "It was that day when you kept hyperventilating after that Chem test!"

"Ding-ding-ding! Correct!"

You laugh looking back at it now. Miles was so nervous because was convinced that he had gotten a B on that test—the last one of the quarter—and was worried that he would end up with a B+ on his report card—a grade unacceptable for both Princeton and his parents who expected him to maintain that A+ that he had recieved last report card. The poor boy kept turning invisible every other breath. You couldn't believe it. So, once he was calm, you asked him to sneak you a few extra chicken tenders from the cafeteria line just to male sure that you weren't going crazy.

You look around the cafeteria for a moment before spotting something on the lunch line. You rush over to it, only to be greeted with steaming hot chicken tenders (how? You don't know.) and a note in the center.

"Chicken tenders almost as hot as you," you read, your words faltering a bit towards the end.

You had your suspicions about this scavenger hunt of Miles' but you never thought that there was a possibility of them being true.

Was this it? Were you finally going to hear him say that he liked you?

"And now on to the art room!" Miles urges. You must give him a look because he adds, "You can bring the chicken tenders too, don't worry."

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Maybe the walk to the art room is longer than you thought or maybe you're just hungrier than you thought because by the time the two of you make it into the hallway containing the classroom, you're down to two chicken tenders.

"Okay, who wants to play Guess What’s Behind This Door?" Miles asks nervously. He tries to play it off as much as he can but he can't help it—not when you two have gotten to this point in your adventure.

"Is it a snake?" you ask dumbly, taking another bite of your second-to-lst chicken tender. You have a feeling about what’s behind the door but you don't want to get your hopes up.

"No."

"A box full of puppies and kittens?"

"Nope."

"More food?"

"Nuh-uh."

Okay, well that was kind of disappointing.

You take a moment, feigning thinking.

"Is it...a promposal?"

At this, Miles' eyes widen. He swears, for a moment his heart stops. And then it starts beating again—and rapidly so—when he sees the shy yet hopeful look on your face.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," he says, opening the door.

To his luck, the promposal still does surprise you. So much so that your last chicken falls out of your mouth as your jaw drops from shock.

Displayed all around the room are photos, paintings, paintings, and props—memories of your friendship. And in the center of the room is a painting that reads Will You Go To Prom With Me?

You've always known that Miles enjoys art, so much so to the point that he could create his own museum. But you never imagined that he feels that same level of passion with you.

"Everything in here is a collection of you and me and the memories that we've made together," Miles begins. He's speaking slowly and putting extra emphasis on properly annunciating his words—both for his and your sake.

"Everything on this scavenger hunt was, really. Because every time when I'm with you, that's what we do: we make unforgettable memories to look back on and I—" Miles pauses now, searching for words. He'd rehearsed this speech a thousand times and yet he still managed to veer off course. Dammit.

You look at Miles intently but you give him time to collect his thoughts. It’s not easy to do this, as much as you would like to think so. If it was then you would have told him how you feel a long time ago.

"What I'm trying to say is that I like you!" Miles finally says. "I think that you're amazing and wonderful and I know that this may seem sudden but I know—I've known that you were the person that I wanted to be my date—and date, if you're up for all of this—for a long time. So, this is all a really long way to say will you go to Prom with me?"

"Yes!"

You barely let Miles finish his last word before you say it. You spin around, taking everything in, stopping when you reach Miles.

Both of you stare at each other as if it's the first time you're meeting.

And, in some regard, it is. This is the first time that you two are exposing such a raw, vulnerable side to each other and you both can't help but stare in awe at the sheer beauty radiating off of the other person at this moment.

"Hey." Miles says sheepishly.

"Hi." You return the awkward tone.

Before you can think, you close the distance between the two of you, pressing your lips to his. Shocked at first, Miles quickly melts into it, his bodying visibly relaxing as his hands move down to your waist, pulling you closer.

The two of you stay like that for a while and when you both pull back, you're both a bit red and nervous to look into each other's once more.

Best promposal ever.

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A/N: Okay, that's enough writing for one year. See y'all in 2025! (H/jk)

[cosmicanemoia]

Caged Hearts

Melissa Schemmenti x reader

SUMMARY

After one too many failed and traumatic relationships you gave up giving love chances but then you met her. The one who you'd tear the walls you've built for, Melissa Schemmenti.

You're good at reading people. Their motives, true colors, and what they would do in a given situation or certain situations. Safe to say you're never wrong, except when you fell for them, and when love comes to picture, that's a whole different story.

Love blinds you. It makes you uncertain about things you are certain about. Though, you give it a chance, lots of chance, but then they break, and break, then break you even more. You decided not to give love a chance any more, "never again" you promised to yourself, but you got sent to Abbott Elementary as their new academic coordinator by the government (the last one quitting because the pay is low and the school doesn't have much budget) and you met a hot headed red head. "Schemmenti, Melissa Schemmenti" you recall her introducing herself to you and your heart bangs your ribs wanting to be let out.

"What are you doing here? You have a kid here? What's you're name?" Melissa bombarded you with question but you were too stunned to speak. "Hey kid, why are you here?" The world kid pulled you out of your trance "sorry, I was too stunned by your beauty I could not form words or sentences for a moment" you said which made her took a step back not believing what she just heard, looking around checking if its real, you saw her response and you complimented the woman beside her who you've come to know as Barbara, but not in a flirty way "You're very beautiful too, Ma'am" you said as you slightly bow your head down to her "such a gentle woman, thanks, dear" Barbara nudge Melissa with her elbow "Schemmenti, Melissa Schemmenti. Second grade teacher" she introduced herself and Barbara did too and gives you a hug out of nowhere, Janine joined in, and you cleared your throat after a few seconds making them back out. Jacob introduces himself and Gregory did as well.

Ava reached her hand out to you and say "Principal Ava Coleman. Are you too stunned by my beauty that you can't form words again?" Before you could response Janine butted in "Do you think I'm beautiful too?" You just smiled at her and nod. Melissa introduces the man who came to took the trash but you already know him so you greeted him "Hi! Mr. Johnson" "Oh hey, bye" Mr. Johnson replied and went. Ava inquire "you already knew him?" "Yes. It seemed that I went here too early, he showed me around. He's a funny guy" you said and Melissa replied "Oh yes. I have a guy for everything and he's my funny guy. He's also my plumber guy" "you have a guy for everything-- that's so cool" you said and your casual attitude change into your business attitude, you clear your throat covering your mouth with your closed fist and say "Principal Coleman, can we talk in private?" "Sure come by my office, we could do more than talk there" the principal said and you just laugh nervously "ok"

"That poor woman" Barbara commented after you're out of sight "she seem to like what's going on" Melissa replied and Barbara gave her a warning look "I didn't mean it Barbs" Melissa explained.

The moment your eyes meet hers, you felt something. When she showed you kindness, you know she'll give you a lot of trouble, so you took a deep breath and starts building a wall around her, which you willingly take down every now and then, you keep your guard up, but not even the strongest soldier can keep their guard up if someone they might "love" asks to bring them down. That word makes you hurl, makes you want to vomit, even when you just thought of it for a second, so you try very hard not to.

Your heart, mind, and guts is telling you the same thing, that she's actually a good person, that she genuinely care, but you know you have feelings for her, so maybe not. You know it's wrong to think that, but you just can't help but second guess anyone you have feelings for, especially when they're so kind.

Melissa is tough, speaks her mind. She tried to hide her softness, and you think she just needed a hug.

You flirt but you never commit. You let yourself feel something, but you quickly take a step back whenever you feel it could lead to something more.

What may be a harmless and a little mischievous flirting for you, sometimes might have lead to someone being led on.

Melissa and Barbara were at their usual table, while Janine, Gregory, and Jacob were in the table just behind the duo. Ava barges in, flipping her hair from side to side, with a gorgeous woman in tow, she's about your age, everyone thinks so. Ava and the other woman scans the room, obviously looking for someone who is not yet there.

"Who's she?" Melissa inquired, speaking everyone's mind. Ava looks at the woman "I don't remember. But she's looking for Y/N, said she's her girlfriend" Ava looked at Melissa when she said the word 'girlfriend', Melissa crosses her arms on her chest and let's out a quiet scoff only her friend could hear.

"Oh, Hi!" Janine squealed "You're so beautiful" she said with so much enthusiasm, it made Ava's eyes roll to the back of her head in annoyance. "Makes sense. You're both hot and beautiful" Jacob commented then Gregory raises his eyebrows and nods in agreement. "What's your name, dear?" Barbara asked and before the woman could answer, you open the door and walks in while your eyes are fixated on the food you were holding. Halfway in the room, you notice the silence, and you halt, you look up and look around, you narrowed your eyes, waiting for someone to tell you what's going on, you open your mouth to ask something but Melissa beat you to it "You just walk past your girlfriend" "I don't--" your reply is interrupted when someone suddenly give you a back hug, you flinched and tried to escape, but your reaction time is so slow, now your trapped.

"You're Y/N, right? I saw your pictures, you look more amazing in person" you turn to face her and push her away softly, you took a few step backwards to distance yourself from the beautiful stranger "I'm sorry but who are you?" "Don't you know your girlfriend?" You look at Melissa, confused by her question 'what girlfriend?' You think to yourself and you smirk at her understanding what's going on 'is she jealous?' You asked yourself and you scoff internally at the thought, slightly amused. "I don't have a girlfriend" you defended "I'm Jade. And we have a date" Jade said "Oh. Jade. You're the one they set me up with" you said thinking back on your silly friends "Yes, that's me. Didn't you see my picture?" She confirmed "I didn't bother to look. I thought they were bluffing.-- So, you're my date, not my girlfriend" you said and it relieves Melissa a little. "Yes and no. We'll go on a date, I'll end up in your bed, and I'll be your good little girlfriend in no time" Jade said and you just reply "Uh huh" "being your date and being your girlfriend is basically the same thing" she added, and Melissa scoffs in response, Barbara enjoying her friends reaction to the conversation, you say firmly "it is most certainly not" Melissa chuckled at your statement.

A few hours later you went to the date, after less than twenty minutes during the date you confronted the woman that you are not looking for a relationship, she understood, and you both ended up being friends.

You went in early to school and went to the teacher's lounge to make something to drink, there is only one other person in. You see Melissa drinking something, looking at something on her phone, you didn't bother her and just went to the vending machine. Melissa looks up and see you getting an energy bar from the machine, "How's your girlfriend?" Melissa teased and you tease back "I won't know if you don't tell me. How are you my baby?" You sit next to her, on her right, not wanting to sit on her best friends place looking at Melissa with puppy eyes and she just scoffs at you. "How's your good little girlfriend?" She paraphrased, it sounded like a mock. "FYI. She did not become my 'good little girlfriend' nor did she end up in my bed. And I was not looking forward to be her girlfriend, although, a beautiful woman wanting to end up in my bed sounds promising" you replied trying to convince no one, making Melissa's heart warm and swell up, she's now grinning ear to ear "Dinner. My place, just you and me"

This time the flirting got too much, you don't know how it happened, Melissa invited you to dinner. DINNER! at her house! Just the two of you. Then your vision blur and your face turn red.

"Now that's a good one" you point and nod at her "If that's a real offer I would decline, but it wasn't, so, sure. I'll play along" you added "I'm not kidding yah, kid. Let's have dinner" Melissa defended "Oh, so I'm a kid now, that's not what you were calling me earlier, baby" a smirk starts to show on your face. She just stares at you and you decline "I can't. I have a thing" Melissa's ego is bruised a little "You have a flipping thing so you can't. Okay. That's totally understandable" she said sarcastically and looks at you with a straight face "Yes. Thanks. Maybe some other time, we should invite the others as well" you declined again and she's just sitting there with an unreadable expression on her face, but you're getting the vibe that she wants to beat you up, hearing her in your head saying 'you don't know who you're messing with', you see her looking away from you "Sorry, babe. I swear I have a thing so I can't" Melissa rolled her eyes and scoffs at you "Whatever kid. Just admit that you won't have dinner with me because you truly think I'm too old for you" She looks down to hide her smirk, pretending to be sad. "What? That's not--" you were interrupted "Sure, kid. Whatever helps you sleep at night" Melissa's smirk grew wider and wider, she knew what she's doing and you have not yet catch up on it.

She's guilting you into saying yes, and with those eyes, now looking at you with so much anticipation, how could you say no 'it's just a friendly dinner and nothing more' you said to yourself but you know deep down, in your caged heart, it is something more.

"Fine. I'll have dinner with you, at your house" you finally cave in. Melissa looks up to look at you, the smirk she had, have turned into a wide grin, making you suddenly realise what she just did. "Come by my place at six" Melissa proudly said, so you try to burst her bubble "I see what you did there" but ended up kind of complimenting her, "I'll show you some more on our dinner date" Melissa said which made your eyes grow wide, not by her showing you 'more', but by her saying its a dinner date  "I don't doubt that for even a second-- so, it's  a date, huh-" you said and she shakes her head "what do you think it is?" She asked, you answer "like not a date, just something" you shrug "you're seriously so thick" she told you "oh my, thank you for the compliment. I could certainly say the same thing about you" she rolled her eyes, sick of you playing the fool, she sighed, and someone enter the room, bursting their bubbles and bringing them back to reality.

You are now in your lonesome trying clothes to wear for your date with Melissa. You applaud her for how she played you, but you can't believe how you let yourself be played and how you play along, how would you let her play you. 'Ah, shit. Here we go again' you told yourself before leaving your place.

You are now sitting infront of Melissa, eating her delicious home cooked meal.

"Why'd that beautiful woman didn't end up in your bed?" Melissa asked out of the blue "Eh, she's too young for me, and she's not my type" you answered her "too young? She's literally your age" she scoffed "exactly, too young, for me at least" you replied "What's your type, then?" You look up from your food already meeting her gaze, you almost blurted 'you' but you didn't, you describe her instead "short tempered, red head, leather wearing woman, who's great at cooking, uses her said 'old age' into making people to come have dinner with her. You know anybody like her?" She scoffs and tries to hide the red on her face that is now matching the red of her hair. After a minute of composing herself she finally answers your question "No. I don't think I do, but I know a guy who knows a guy who might" "of course you do"

You burst out laughing and the sound of your laughter warms and lights Melissa's house, she watch at the sight infront of her thinking 'I would love to get used to this' "I have something to say" she said way too loudly, the neighbors can hear, you look at her, willing and ready to listen "I'm all yours" you said with a sultry voice, Melissa sighed and thinks 'I wish' to herself.

"I've always keep people at arms length. Especially the people I find hot and am attracted to-- I flirt here and there, sometimes even date, but never something more, something real" you listen intently to every word she said, thinking to yourself 'same', you  and Melissa simultaneously took a deep breath and she continues "But you... You. When I met you, and get to really know you, somehow my walls came crashing down on me, but it didn't hurt- not even a little bit. I'm just glad. Glad that you came in to my life, glad that you took the walls down, and super glad to have asked you to have dinner with me. I'm so grateful that I get to hear your laugh and see your smile, and its because of me" the tears that have been falling from her eyes earlier, only got notice now that she's finished her speech, she brought her hands to wipe her tears and eventually cover her face "I'm sorry-" "stop" you commanded her and she followed.

You stand up from your seat and walk towards her, you hugged her. The warm of your embrace made Melissa hum in response. A couple of minutes later you break the hug and cup her cheeks, wiping some tears away using your tumb "you stole my line, you thief" you said and it made her chuckle "what do you mean? you won't know when I steal from you" you wanted to say 'I know. Cause you've stolen my heart long ago but I only notice earlier, when I saw you crying' but you didn't, instead you just say "I mean I was supposed to say that because that's exactly how I feel as well-- Everything you just said, all of it. Me too--"

You pulled each other into a kiss, your mouths working as one. Each minute the kiss starts to deepen. It gets sloppier every couple of seconds. The desperation, the passion, and the hunger, sated by each others tongue on the others' mouth.

"Why have we waited this long to do this?" Melissa asked out of breath "because we're both traumatised by our past relationships. --And we're both idiots" you replied, also out of breath and then kiss each other again.

You both pulled out of the kiss needing oxygen and when you get your fill you get back to kissing each other desperately. Hands wandering and exploring the bodies that is not their own.

You're both out of breath again "Wanna take this to my bedroom?" Melissa said panting, you nodded and she took your hand, kissing each other while walking over to the bedroom.

After making love with each other, one or two times. You're now spooning each other. "If you tell anyone about this, I know a guy who will make you regret it" she threatened you "I won't Ms. Schemmenti" you said in a slow and a grade schooler manner, teasing her "You're secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone, that you're the little spoon" you shower her face with kisses "also, you're not very threatening in this position" you added and she scoff "Yeah, Right"

In the morning, you wake up with someone laying her head on top of your chest. You smile at the sight of red strand of hairs in front of your face. There's still some doubt and worries, but for Melissa, you don't care if she'd end up hurting you. You're only focusing in the now, not dwelling back when and then, just thankful for the present.

Her alarm rang and she wokes up, " I hate Monday mornings " she said groggily "good thing it's a Sunday morning then" you said certainly "No. It's monday" she said less groggily, you check your phone for the date and saw that it's indeed Monday, sighing in defeat you say "I better get going then" "what?" Melissa asked, now looking at you "I need to go, I need to shower and change clothes" you told her and she say "you could do that here, I'll lend you some of my clothes, we could shower together" you hummed at the thought of her last sentence "we can't, we'll be late" Melissa rolled her eyes and stands up from the bed "fine. Go take a shower first, I'll find some clothes for you to wear, and I'll cook us breakfast" "Roger that miss Schemmenti"

You ride with her on the way to school. You're both earlier than anyone as usual, or so you thought, you walk in the teacher's lounge hand in hand not noticing someone is there, Melissa kissed you and the person cleared their throat, which made Melissa jump "Shit. Barb. You scared the hell out me--" she looks at you seeing you with a grin on your face "why didn't you say anything?" "I was but I can't, your tongue was in my mouth" you replied.

"Everyone pay up" Barbara announced when everyone is in the room Melissa took her wallet out of her bag and you check your pockets "What for?" Melissa asked "Not you two" Barbara replied and it hit you, they've placed bets. You smile and nod your head.

"No, they didn't" Ava said, not wanting to pay. Barbara replied "They very much did, I saw it with my own two eyes earlier. If that is not enough proof, look at Y/N, she's literally wearing Melissa's clothes" Everyone looks at you and their eyes widened "you didn't" Jacob said to you and you just nod and grinned in response. "We very much did" Melissa confirmed.

Janine, Ava, Jacob, Gregory, and even Mr. Johnson placed their twenties on Barbara's palm. You raised your eyes at Melissa and then it hit her " You placed bets on us? Why didn't you tell me so I could join in" You just shake your head at her with a smile on your face.

[rinsuniverse]

[2:28AM]

imagining woozi as your husband!

i feel like there would be a slight jump from just dating to getting married

he'd be a lot more comfortable with you, of course

he's still very serious and independent

but his love for you is on a completely different level as soon as you guys tie the knot!

at that point, he wouldn't mind bragging about you or simply talking about you to LITERALLY ANYONE

he'd be so defensive of you, too

so imagine you're laying in bed next to him right after you announced your marriage

and he's slowly falling asleep (snoozi woozi) but you're skimming the tabloids, reading all the comments by some of the obsessive and rude "carats" (theyre not rly carats if they dont respect svt's personal life but whatever)

you're not upset, but you can't help the slight pout your mouth makes reading through those things

he rolls onto his side and lets out a deep sigh, so he says:

"jagi, are you not sleeping yet?"

"no, but you can go ahead"

youre turned away from him and he moves to spoon you, his head in the crook of your neck

he peers over your shoulder and silently watches as you read the comments

he doesn't say anything at first (because "who is he to tell you what to do/feel or not to do/feel" is his attitude)

it isn't until he hears you sigh at a particular comment that went along the lines of "i hope they separate because they aren't good enough for him"

he goes "aish. you shouldn't worry about that stuff, you know?"

"i know..." is all you can say

you shut your phone off and try to relax

little do you know, he's actually FUMING

he is SO PISSED

there's nothing more he wants than to be treated with respect EXCEPT for his spouse to be treated with the same respect

he nuzzles his head into your neck

"you okay, y/n?"

"yeah"

"i just..." (i imagine he'd be kinda flustered trying to actually comfort you and say romantic things, so he's trying to play it cool and casual) "it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. i think you're... the right one for me... so don't worry about that stuff."

you can't help but laugh

jihoon isn't very good with comforting words (but dont get me wrong, he KNOWS what to say, i mean look at his music, but it'd be hard for him to say out loud casually)

he always is straight to the point

but since you're now married, he already knows sometimes just telling you what seems to him as common sense/what's best isn't very helpful

"why are you laughing? i'm trying to help"

"thank you for that. i just think you're cute"

he shuts up and snuggles into you even more, muttering under his breath like "what the?" and "you're so weird"

after he gets over his blushing attack, he hums, "let's go to sleep together, yeah?"

tomorrow he's making a statement about those antis tho. im so fr.

one last scenario for you!

i think he'd be a liiiiiiittle bit more comfortable with pda now

when you're sitting next to each other, he'll put his hand on your thigh at times, and he'd move his thumb soothingly on your skin

he'd hold your hand, but his other hand would be blocking you from paparazzi/dispatch or guiding you carefully somewhere

and i can't stress enough how often his hand would be on your lower back if he wants to guide you somewhere or move you a little (no longer ghosting your back like when you're dating)

imagine you're both leaving his studio

he doesn't even bother making you leave separately and discretely from him for safety purposes like what he used to do while you were dating

but as soon as he notices the camping paparazzi outside of the building, he gently holds your hip and pulls you closer to him

one arm would be around your waist to keep you close

and the other arm would be out, protecting the both of you

you smile at his protectiveness

"ji, it's fine if they take pictures of me."

"yeah, but i don't want them to do anything weird to you."

bonus points if you mirror his positioning so you're protecting him from paparazzi, too (this man would love whenever you reciprocate anything back to him in an innocent, but goofy way)

you'd both be giggling all the way over

but anyway, he walks like that, protecting you until you reach a car to drive off in

he was already protective of you when you were dating, but he's now so much more protective now that you're completely public and official

woozi would be a wonderful husband to someone who deeply understands him and loves him for who he is

he wouldn't necessarily meet booktok stereotypes of a husband, but he'd def be a sweet and protective one that always supports you and what you think is best! 🫶

(p.s.: i'm planning on opening a requests thing! ofc i kind of specialize in woozi imagines, so if you have anything in mind for me to write about, def send a request! i also dont mind doing other svt members, too. would that be fun? i'll update you the next time i post! have a great day (*＾3＾)/～☆)

[asaka-lucy-dr-rc]

Random Komaeda questions from an English DR fanfic writer: I don't speak any Japanese, but when I played DR with my friends, we played with the Japanese voices and English subtitles. I'm very fond of Megumi Ogata's performance as Komaeda, and I'd like to write Komaeda in a way that reminds people of that performance! All of this makes me very curious: How does Komaeda speak in Japanese? Does he use formal vocabulary? Casual? I noticed that a lot of English fanfics tend to write him (on purpose) as sounding a bit "too formal", like someone who reads a lot of old books more often than he speaks to others. I heard that in Japanese, he speaks in more of a polite-casual sort of way, and that he slurs his words together a bit. Does he talk like a "normal guy" when he's not doing one of his hope rants? Does he sound "cool"? Does he sound a bit "childish"? I've heard all sorts of things. XD

Wow, this is a very interesting question! XD

Megumi Ogata's performance as Komaeda is definitely great. I really love it too! According to Rui Komatsuzaki's comment in the art book of Danganronpa 1・2 Reload, he adjusted the facial expressions of Komaeda's sprites many times based on Megumi Ogata's performance, so it is inevitable that Megumi Ogata's performance is very suitable for him. By the way, I might have an idea why Komaeda's speaking style in the English fanfics tends to be too formal. He talks very differently depending on who he is talking to, so it is hard to generalize, but basically he talks to other Ultimate students, so he gives too much praise because he respects those who have great talents, and he is very modest about himself to show respect for others. So I think that results in a more formal way of speaking in English.

His way of speaking is... um, yeah. Casual. I don't think it's cool. Sometimes it's childish. But it really depends on which scene you base it on, so it's hard to say in a nutshell 😣 I have my own personal standard for his way of speaking, which I call "狛枝構文 (Komaeda Syntax)". ---------------------- His way of saying YES: 日本語 -> 「もちろんボクが断るわけないよ。」 English -> "Of course I wouldn't say no."

His way of saying NO: 日本語 -> 「ボクは遠慮しておくよ。」 English -> "I'll be reserved about it."

----------------------

Can you see what I mean? His way of speaking is circuitous! XD

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

august 26, 2021 5:00 a.m. paradise hotel

[henry] hello! good morning, sunshine.

[grant] did i wake you up?

[henry] i was already up. and yes, i know my eyes are closed. it's just so i can go back to sleep at some point.

[henry] anyway, i dreamed about a hockey stick knocking out my teeth, which woke me up, and then remembered i have a dentist appointment in a couple weeks, so i decided i should floss my teeth all of a sudden to impress them.

[grant] they’ll still know you haven’t been doing it!

[henry] lalalalalalala, i am refusing to listen and learn.

[henry] so, how was it with cool shoes singer girl?

[grant] oh yeah, it was nice.

[grant] did you intend for that to happen?

[henry] nope. i didn’t care what you did. i just didn’t want you to not speak to her and restrict yourself because of some weird internal logic or because i was there.

[henry] if you can talk to someone because they seem interesting, you can flirt with someone for the same reason.

[grant] she is was cool. super interesting person. and, uh, i never like to comment on these things because it seems wrong and entirely disrespectful, but she is beautiful.

[grant] now i feel kind of like an idiot for not even trying to get her number, but also…

[henry] man, it’s not a huge deal. this is a thing most people do, flirting for fun. it doesn’t always have to be, “i won’t speak to you unless you’re prepared to marry me in two years.”

[henry] okay, i'm the wrong person to tell you that because that’s what happened with soobin, but trust me, most people are not as serious about flirting! flings are a thing.

[henry] and seriously, it’s not like you led her on. you didn’t fulfill your fear. she initiated things, so she could have followed through if she wanted to.

[grant] that, yeah. i got the feeling she wanted to follow through somehow, but she seemed really nervous, i guess, when the opportunity came up.

[henry] oh, at the end?

[grant] yeah. i don't think she knew what to say. i definitely didn't either. i was a little paralyzed.

[grant] i was thinking in the moment, like, it would be very irresponsible for me to do anything beyond flirt with someone, no matter how strong that desire to not be alone long-term is.

[grant] you know what i mean? there are probably very specific things i'm doing that get me into messy relationships or ones doomed to fail, and i haven’t even gotten there in therapy. i don’t want to subject anyone else to whatever those issues are.

[grant] but i didn't know how to let her down because i knew she was waiting for me to do something or say something, and then i felt bad about the idea of letting her down because i did like her and she genuinely seemed like a nice person.

[grant] and i wasn't expecting either of us to...fuck, man, i don't know, like each other so much. so, i didn't have a whole ending speech planned or anything. i seriously thought we'd just have a coffee or something and then part ways.

[grant] ugh. this is why i don't do casual things. it's too much. i never understand how to deal with all the feelings. i'm not super sure i'm securely attached enough to flirt casually, you know?

[grant] but she really was...

[grant] anyway! alright, well, we have an hour left to sleep, so.

[henry] night night.

[grant] ugh, i don’t want to get up.

[grant] my back hurts and in the lie down way, not the walk around and kind of sort of briefly fix it way.

[henry] don’t even think about sleeping within 13.75 inches of me.

[grant] okay, commencing movement to within 13.74 inches of you.

[henry] no, you can sleep here. i don’t mind.

[bi-bard]

Insecurities & Loose Lips - Max Wolfe Imagine [Gossip Girl (2021)]

Title: Insecurities & Loose Lips

Pairing: Max Wolfe X Reader

Word Count: 946 words

Warning(s): talk of sex, arguing

Summary: (Y/n) trusted Max. Trusted that anything vulnerable spoken to him would remain between the two of them. They are soon shown that their trust was likely misplaced.

Author's Note: I don't really have anything to say here... but it felt important to write this. An important discussion.

-------------------------

I always had this inherent understanding that if a friend told you something in confidence, then you don't share that information without their permission.

Especially when it comes to deeply personal information.

You don't go around telling people stuff that a friend told you about their past traumas or their insecurities. You just don't. It's wrong. It's fucked up.

It always felt natural to think that way. Unless I thought someone was a genuine danger to themself or another person, I kept what they told me to myself unless I saw them discussing it with other people. It wasn't my job to decide what they were comfortable sharing.

Apparently, that's not a universal concept.

I would never have known if Audrey hadn't said anything. We were sitting together, working on some project that I could barely remember now. She muttered some light-hearted joke about me.

My sex life.

My lack of a sex life, actually.

It made me pause.

If it had just been an off-handed comment, then I wouldn't have questioned anything. But this joke had a very specific detail that she shouldn't have known about.

My heart was instantly kicked into the back of my ribcage.

"What," I asked, trying to play it cool.

She repeated herself.

"How do you know about that?"

I had only told one person. There was literally one person in existence that I had felt safe enough and comfortable enough to open up to about stuff like that. And that wasn't Audrey, that was-

"Max told me," she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?"

"What do you mean?" she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why did that even come up?" I explained. "Especially because I wasn't even there. What conversation caused that to even be relevant?"

She shrugged. "It kind of just came up. Not really sure."

I wanted to be angry about her casual tone about whole the conversation. But I couldn't. Chances are, Max convinced her that this wasn't a big deal. That it was a normal conversation to have.

I felt sick.

I took a deep breath before standing up, trying to quickly gather my stuff.

"Hey," she said. "What's going on?"

"I... I just need to get home," I muttered. "I forgot that my mom asked me to be home early. I'm sorry."

"If this is about Max-"

"I'll see you later," I cut her off, just trying to get out of the situation.

I walked out before another word could be spoken.

I had originally planned to go home. To go home and collect my thoughts before I confronted Max about any of it. But it was like my body moved without my mind's control because I ended up at Max's door.

I stared at it for a moment. There was a weight sitting in my stomach that was starting to hurt. This needed to happen. I knew that much.

I took a deep breath.

Seeing Max again was so... strange.

He truly looked like nothing was even close to wrong. Like he had no idea that he did anything that would make me uncomfortable. Maybe he didn't. Or he just didn't care.

"Hey," he grinned at me.

"We need to talk," I said, deciding to skip any polite small talk. I just needed to get through this.

"Okay," he furrowed his eyebrows, drawing out the word a bit.

"Did... Did you talk to Audrey about the stuff I told you about," I asked.

"'Stuff?'"

"About... About the... the sex stuff, Max."

"Oh," he replied. "Yeah, it came up."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it was just a conversation," he scoffed.

That made me feel gross. "A conversation about private things I told you. Things I told you with the expectation of respect and privacy."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"To you," I corrected. "You knew very well how anxious I was talking about that kind of thing. Why would you think that sharing it without my knowledge or permission was okay?"

"God, will you relax?" he rolled his eyes. "You're acting like I went around telling everyone about it. Or I was shaming you for it."

"First of all, you don't know if whoever the fuck you talked to is going to keep their mouths shut," I snapped. "Second of all, whether or not it gets spread around or it was meant to shame me or whatever, it was my fucking business."

He just shook his head.

"I trusted you," I continued, anger peeking through my quiet voice. "I confided in you about things I was anxious about and had insecurities about. You knew how much it took for me to be comfortable talking about that. I... I thought you respected me enough to keep your damn mouth shut about it. You went around and talked about it like it was nothing. All without telling me that you did. It's fucking disgusting."

When Max didn't respond again, I scoffed. He couldn't even offer some kind of apology.

"I... I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to see you... I want to completely ignore your existence from this point forward," I said. "Go fuck yourself, Max."

I turned around and walked away. I stormed back through his front door and started my walk home. I was tired. Tired and angry and sad and just... done.

That was the best way that I could describe it. Done.

And the worst part was that Max couldn't even bring himself to apologize. Even if it was half-assed or insincere... it would've been better than nothing.

Maybe I should've known better than to expect so much from him.

-------------------------

Navigation Guide

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

[twistedwonderlandobsession]

Hey, that matchup thing looks cool, can I ask one for me?

I'm an introverted person, don't usually talk much and dislike small talk, hence why I cling to my close friends. I usually maintain a calm and laid back demeanor, only to surprise people with my chaotic and carefree personality.

The truth is, I'm a very adventurous person, I jump into random pastimes for the fun of it. I live to have fun and am a firm believer of freedom of speech and action.

I also tend to be very blunt and truthful, I say things as they're and don't sugarcoat anything. Additionally, I expect and encourage people to do the same to me, as I believe the truth must always be heard.

Since I'm a rather carefree person, is inevitable that I end up as rebellious. I dislike receiving orders and I'm not afraid to stand my ground.

I'd like to say I'm a rather strong person mentally. I have tough skin and don't get offended easily. I'm also stubbornly optimist, as I want to believe things are going to end well and prefer to look at the brighter side.

I'd say my faults are that I'm a bit too accepting. I'm not judgmental at all and understand that people are different from myself. I forgive mistakes easily and sometimes I wonder if I'd be better be more judgmental. Of course, I won't ever let anyone walk over me, but it's something to be think about.

The good side of it, is that I'm really open minded and welcoming. I don't ever judge someone by the cover and accept them as they are.

Some people might assume I'm on the clueless side, since I'm not the type to point things out uncalled and prefer actions over words, but I'm always in tune of things around me. I'm surprisingly good at reading people, I'm always aware of what they're thinking but as I've said before, I just don't see the point in speaking about it.

I also have a very nonchalant and chill demeanor. I speak very casually, mostly in slangs and I swear a lot. It has brought me problems in the past, but I keep doing it lol.

My interests are actually variable. I love reading about mythology, ancient history and ghost stories. I'm a big fan of horror movies and web novels.

I also like to watch anime and read mangas, manhwas or manhuas. Sometimes I play games too, but it's not often, since I can't seem to stand still for too long lol.

My main hobby is going outside on adventures. I love exploring new places, traveling is a thing too but honestly, I'm up for anything if it's fun.

I love to go to more outgoing places, like the arcade, an amusement park, explore an abandoned building, hiking, a festival or even better, the circus.

But I'm also up for more quiet places, as long as they're interesting. Like the movies or a museum.

My lifestyle is rather free and my routine is totally random. The only pattern you'll find is that I wake up late, shower and depart of the house to do whatever outside, I always look for fun activities and places to spend my day on.

Normally, I spend the whole evening out and just show up at the dead of night, hence why I wake up so late.

My house is rather dusty, since I don't spend much time inside anyway. But it is manageable lol I always clean once every two weeks before it gets too much.

I match you with Lilia Vanrouge

The First Impression:

Lilia didn't really think to much of you at first, as much as this old man is observant of his surroundings unless you stand out against a crowd his eyes don't linger on you for more than 3 seconds.

Though that all changes when he overheard your conversation with your friend. What - No! Of course, he wasn't listening in because he was bored. Look at that adorable face. He would never! After a few particularly chaotic comments and topics he found himself a tad bit curious. So he began to hang around you more often, with each and every moment he began to realize just how amusing you were. Every spontaneous decision and blunt opinion bringing the fae closer and closer.

Why He Fell:

Lilia may be a spontaneous and youthful appearing fae, and as much as this silly little guy loves chaos that's not why he fell. He fell after getting to know you fully because of your acceptance. It may be a weakness in certain aspects but to him there was nothing he loved more in a partner than accepting people for who they are and embracing it.

The Relationship:

If you managed to stick by this old man and make it into a relationship he was very clear about who his family was and how important they are to him. Despite his goofy behavior constantly doing small pranks on you, and rolling with whatever spontaneous decision you may make he was also surprisingly serious and wise at times. Always making sure to be there for you when you need it and somehow Always knowing what to do and say.

Your schedules were forever changing, and he loved it with each and every day being a new adventure for you to experience together.

Lilia rather enjoys our love for mythology and ancient history, often listening to whatever new information you had learned recently or whatever subject fascinated you that day and often pitching in with whatever information he had on yhe subject. Occasionally he would tell you his own stories whether it be about hid experiences in different lands or a moment in history he was present for.

As much as Lilia loved each spontaneous movement he cares for the soft ones just as much if not more. Knowing that he has lived a lifetime and had a multitude of experiences and relationships he takes his time adjusting to your pace.

He also makes it very clear that this is not just some summer fling, that he considering this as a serious relationship and is willing to stand beside you as you learn and grow with each experience.

[aitadinnerwex]

Your story doesn't add up, there are too many logical inconsistencies. Just gonna copy+paste a great comment from BORU:

"Starting with the very beginning… So they broke up but lived together and coparented without dating anyone else for YEARS? But she was okay with him dating as long as she got to meet the lady first? Ummmm… Possible, but not realistic. Except then why would he take their daughter clothes shopping without OP while she is just chilling at home? Then turn around before they even get to the store because GF summoned him…? He’s managed to secretly date for 6 months then randomly ditches his crying daughter back off to expose him. Could happen, but again it is odd. He calls to smooth it over and OP is all, “I was hoping we could FINALLY coparent in peace.” Um, finally? Because as of 2 days ago y’all were living together in a separated-while-together bliss. Suddenly the new GF moves in with the in-laws. OP assumes she can just show up like it’s fine without speaking to any of the adults. But she wouldn’t want to put the kid in the middle, oh no! The in-laws back away and she has a “sneaky suspicion” it is because of the new GF. As we used to say, no shit Sherlock. Can we also take a moment to acknowledge that OP has a very unique situation where she doesn’t have any financial concerns with Ex moving out. Also has more free time than FIL to take MIL to medical appointments etc. Naturally new GF also has such free time. “There is no custody agreement.” I am mentioning that even though it never occurred to me to get one until the later comments bring it up. Remember, I don’t think kids should be put in the middle. That’s why my child decides who to stay with at her whim. Panic attack over a jury notice… What? Daughter is a daddy’s girl that mostly chose to stay with her dad. Even after K moved in. (Which seemed to have happened immediately.) But they should make official the status quo that daughter mostly stays with OP and only visits dad. Which is it!?! That’s before we get into the cartoonish caper. Through I appreciated that OP explained to us what a safe is used for and how it works."

Yeeaahh, I saw this ended up on Reddit. Yay for me, truly.

You know what? Screw it, let's be petty and respond to strangers speculating about my life point by point.

"Starting with the very beginning… So they broke up but lived together and coparented without dating anyone else for YEARS?

When did I say we never dated anyone else for years? I went on a few dates and so did my ex, but that wasn't relevant to the post so I didn't see the need to recount his or my dating history. I'm not really interested in getting into another serious relationship at this point in my life and thought it was the same for my ex. To be fair, that was an assumption on my part because when we were living together we mostly just talked about chores and bills and our daughter, we didn't discuss life plans or our love lives anything. It would just occasionally come up that he had been on dates with various women and if it did I would say something like "Cool. How did it go?" to be cordial, and he would usually respond with "Fine". Before K I never saw any signs that he was getting serious about anyone, and I never asked for details.

But she was okay with him dating as long as she got to meet the lady first? Ummmm… Possible, but not realistic.

When did I say I had to meet every girl he dated? I have no idea how many women he dated in between 2020 and 2023. I DID assume if he ever got serious about someone he would tell me about her before making her a fixture in our child's life, though. And yes, that much was on me. I really did just assume we could have a casual roommate relationship where we didn't really talk about personal stuff, but also be coparents who discuss anything that might affect our child at the same time. I agree that's pretty contradictory looking back.

Except then why would he take their daughter clothes shopping without OP while she is just chilling at home? Then turn around before they even get to the store because GF summoned him…? He’s managed to secretly date for 6 months then randomly ditches his crying daughter back off to expose him. Could happen, but again it is odd.

The "why would he take his daughter clothes shopping while OP is at home" bit is odd to me. Why did a father take his daughter to buy things she needed? Do I need to be there for her to get clothes? Is this a "all dads are incompetent parents" thing? Because before all this happened I would have said he was a pretty good dad.

As for that specific incident: My daughter wasn't crying in her dad's car, she was actually mad at him. I was working on my laptop and I heard a car door slam from inside and our dog started barking like someone was there. A second later the front door slammed, which surprised me because I thought they'd be gone for another hour at least, so I went to see what was going on. I saw my daughter stomping to her room looking like she was about to cry from frustration. I asked her what was wrong and that's when she started crying. I agree my original wording made it sound like she was sadly crying her eyes out in the car, when I should have clarified she's an angry crier, as that changes the context.

I can't say with 100% certainty why K called and wanted my ex to come over right away, and why my daughter couldn't be there for that when she had met K before. But considering she was living with her son at the time and they also took drugs together? I'm assuming her son was out of the apartment and she wanted my ex over to do adult things or drug related things, but I have no way of confirming that.

He calls to smooth it over and OP is all, “I was hoping we could FINALLY coparent in peace.” Um, finally? Because as of 2 days ago y’all were living together in a separated-while-together bliss.

You know how they say "ignorance is bliss"? I THOUGHT we were coparenting peacefully, only to find out my ex had been, for reasons unknown to me, coercing my child into lying to me to cover up his relationship for god knows how long. I did not know how long or for what reason at the time and didn't want to stress out my daughter by pressing for more details when she was already upset over her dad moving out. So yes, those few days I was thinking a lot about how long things must have been going on for, and how a situation I thought was peaceful was anything but just under the surface.

Suddenly the new GF moves in with the in-laws.

I agree it was pretty sudden. It happened about 2 and a half months after my ex moved out, so they had only been dating for 8 months or so. I did not know why at the time and it wasn't my business to ask. I now know she had been kicked out of her son's house for her drug use and had nowhere else to go.

OP assumes she can just show up like it’s fine without speaking to any of the adults.

I did assume that, yes. FIL and MIL have always had an open door policy for family, and at the time I thought I was still being included in family. It was not uncommon for me, or my ex, or my daughter, to come over unannounced. I mentioned that in the post, but only in passing, so maybe I should have expanded upon that more: I showed up without telling FIL and MIL I was coming all the time. They were always happy to receive me, or at least give me a "sorry, not a good time, can you come back tomorrow?"

But she wouldn’t want to put the kid in the middle, oh no!

K and my ex were mad at me for coming over and were being pretty toxic about it. My daughter invited me over. If I told them that, they could have directed that toxic anger towards her. I would rather them be angry at me than her, when just by me ASKING if she had asked if it was ok that I come over, I had made her realize that wasn't a smart move. She felt bad for doing it. The lesson had been learned. I didn't need them blowing up at her like my ex was at me, so yes I didn't throw her under the bus to save my own skin in that situation. Should I not have done that? Maybe, but I honestly can't say I regret doing it.

The in-laws back away and she has a “sneaky suspicion” it is because of the new GF. As we used to say, no shit Sherlock.

I agree, hindsight is 20/20, and I should have known a new variable (K) might have meant the status quo of me coming and going from FIL and MIL's house as I please had changed. I had genuinely not considered she might have a problem being around me, and that's the whole reason I was concerned I might be TA. That is, as we used to say, my b.

Can we also take a moment to acknowledge that OP has a very unique situation where she doesn’t have any financial concerns with Ex moving out. Also has more free time than FIL to take MIL to medical appointments etc. Naturally new GF also has such free time.

This is really presumptuous apropos of nothing. Just because I did not discuss my financial situation in the post (because it was not relevant) doesn't mean my ex moving out didn't put a financial strain on me. It did. I DID have more time to help FIL and MIL out when my ex lived with me, because having 2 incomes and splitting household costs meant I could work less hours. The flexible hours coupled with the fact I've worked remotely for a few years now meant I could be the one to stay with MIL in the hospital. I would sleep in her hospital room and stay with her all day (often times glued to my laptop, but still there physically at least), then go home to shower, change, and make dinner for myself, my daughter, my ex, and FIL. Drive the food over to FIL and visit with him for an hour or 2, then drive back to the hospital and stay the night with MIL.

When she got out of the hospital I switched to only going over 2 or 3 times a week, usually to be the one to accompany her to doctor's appointments or physical therapy or grocery shopping or to clean. But they would also invite me over just to do fun things sometimes, like go karting or fishing or out to dinner.

After my ex moved out I picked up another job, and right now I'm on call at one or the other job 6 days a week. K didn't have a job, but (according to MIL) got disablity checks every month. I didn't ask what kind of disability she had, because it's none of my business and not relevant to anything concerning me.

“There is no custody agreement.” I am mentioning that even though it never occurred to me to get one until the later comments bring it up.

It didn't occur to me to get one not because I wasn't aware custody agreements exist, but because I genuinely didn't think about the fact that my ex might try to take my child from me. Call me naive, I know I was, but it just never occurred to me as a possibility before all this started to happen. He had given me no reason to think he might do something like that. To me "custody agreement" meant piece of paper setting up a schedule for where the child goes and when, and that's what I meant by "there is no custody agreement" in the first instance. I knew they existed, it just didn't occur to me I needed one, and that was my bad. I've said so.

Remember, I don’t think kids should be put in the middle. That’s why my child decides who to stay with at her whim.

This is an odd sentiment to me as well. Yes? I don't think a child should be put in the middle as a "Well don't look at me, look at her! She did it!" when their parents are arguing over something. But they should also get a say in who they would like to live with? Plus my daughter isn't a toddler. If that were the case I would absolutely want to a court order to split time with her as equally as possible, but she's almost a teenager now. She's her own person and should get some say in where she goes and when.

Panic attack over a jury notice… What?

Sometimes people have irrational fears, and my ex was irrationally anxious about going to court for any reason. Yes he's been to jail before, no he didn't have a traumatic event happen in a court room that I'm aware of. He just felt like being there made him extremely anxious and didn't want to go back for any reason. Idk what to tell you beyond I'm not gonna dive further into the father of my child's personal anxieties to justify a post for the internet.

Daughter is a daddy’s girl that mostly chose to stay with her dad. Even after K moved in. (Which seemed to have happened immediately.) But they should make official the status quo that daughter mostly stays with OP and only visits dad. Which is it!?!

She WAS a daddy's girl that loved her dad and was slowly starting to warm up to K, until all this stuff happened, and then she was mad at her dad and K and didn't want to talk to them until they apologized to her. Idk how that is hard to follow.

And while she mostly chose to stay at MIL and FIL's house back then, it was not her primary residence. All official school and medical documents listed her address as MY house. She doesn't have her own room at MIL and FIL's house, she sleeps on the couch, she brings clothes in her backpack, etc. My house was her primary residence where she DID have a bed, her own room, a closet full of clothes, etc. Most days she would get off the bus from school at our house, hang out with me for a while, then grab some clothes and ask me to drop her off at FIL and MIL's house. Or ask her dad to come get her. Sometimes the answer was no, but for the most part neither of us had a problem letting her come and go as she pleased, and she was also content to be like that.

That’s before we get into the cartoonish caper. Through I appreciated that OP explained to us what a safe is used for and how it works."

I agree the original description was cartoonish, as I was reporting what a 12 year old had told me about an incident she did not see and had only heard about. Children lie, children exaggerate, children misremember. I wouldn't have mentioned the money being stolen at all had I not been able to confirm it by seeing my MIL complain about it on Facebook. I said as much myself back in December.

And I felt the need to explain the safe required both a key AND combination because not every safe does? Some only need one or the other.

[shwoo]

Nearly forgot about the new Fionna and Cake episodes, (Destiny and the Winter King) and had to go to bed immediately after watching it, but now I have thoughts! About those two episodes specifically. Very overthinky thoughts in places.

I got tired and took all day writing this, so it might decrease in coherency as it goes on.

-It's nice to see Simon having motivation again. Even if that motivation is to... basically die.

-Simon is such a nerd, with his excitement about the library and his Ship of Theseus joke! I love him. Why did he not actually go into the library, though? :(

-I wrote a fanfic once when a Farmworld character comments on a normal Adventure Time style character's lack of nose, and the character covers it self-consciously! It was... weirdly validating to see the show make the same joke?

-Farmworld Jake is still alive... Did main world Jake not die of old age? I'm sure a normal dog wouldn't have a longer natural lifespan than a magical talking dog who is also half stretchy alien.

-Farmworld Finn's named kids have the same names as Finn's pillow kids in Puhoy! That was a cool callback, even though pillow Bonnie's name made more sense. Did Finn not name her after Princess Bubblegum in the pillow world, or did he also know a Bonnie in Farmworld?

-I thought Jay was a girl for most of the episode, until someone referred to him with masculine pronouns. I like living in this world where I could think that despite his thing for Little Destiny being obvious from the beginning. (I like that gay relationships are more commonly and casually depicted in fiction than they used to be)

-I like Farmworld Finn. He's a good person who's doing his best. I hope he didn't die in the end. It seemed a little ambiguous.

-Simon, you of all people should know not to talk positively about the crown to someone who was cursed by it. Unless he didn't realise Finn ever wore the crown?

-After Simon assumed that Jay's dad was another version of him, I was hoping he'd find out what did happen to him in this universe, but I guess the corpse was a little bit close to the giant nuclear bomb thingy.

-Cake apparently reads AO3, or at least something adjacent enough to know what enemies to lovers is, which is impressive for someone who was a normal housecat like a day ago.

-The next episode has a Gumlee subplot for some reason? Okay! And Gary's not wrong that Fionna flaked out on him. She could've at least tried to explain where she was once Winter King fixed her phone, but she didn't.

-Also I love that Ellis P was randomly at Fionna's apartment too. They only just met.

-I wonder how much of the differences between the Winter King and Simon are intrinsic to this world's Simon, and how much are a result of him using the crown. He's definitely still influenced by the crown, but I'm not sure what his line about Betty is implying. Did he start feeling that way because of this universe's point of divergence, or did the point of divergence happen because he never liked her as much as the main Simon did? He reacted so calmly about her that I don't think he was lying.

-Interesting contrast with Simon being fine in the snow while Fionna and Cake are clearly freezing. That's some superhuman cold tolerance Simon has.

-"How'd you stop being Ice King" "I just tried REALLY HARD and now everything's great!" "Oh, okay,"

-Was it winter in the Fionna and Cake world in the first episode? The world is obviously affected by Simon's mental state in some way, and now it's snowing over there.

-I'm not sure what to think about ice Marceline, but wasn't she older than that when she turned the family axe into some kind of lute? I don't know if this world's Marceline is supposed to be dead or not, but Winter King seems to have depicted her at that age for a reason.

-I thought it was a role reversal world when the Candy Queen showed up, but all her Ice King-like traits were just foreshadowing! Disturbing, disturbing foreshadowing. I thought it was interesting that she did the same leg kick thing while playing the piano that the Winter King did. Or maybe that was a just a callback.

-Simon seemed to legitimately like her song. He's so sweet when he's not marinating in self-hatred.

-No wonder the Candy Queen feels such a sense of kinship with the Winter King that she wants to mash them up in a blender. He's giving her all his negative traits so he doesn't have to deal with them.

-The Lemoncarbs were never going to like Gary's proposal. They're Lemongrabs and he's a Princess Bubblegum, and there's been multiple episodes about how incompatible their interests are.

-Fionna did that weird demagickifying Prismo thing like Cake did with one of the hot dog people in the second episode. Does that only happen when they're feeling happy and accepted, or was the timing coincidence? Also, I think it might have something to do with why Prismo's not supposed to create things, since it uses the same effect as his powers. Their world is probably inherently unstable regardless of whose head it's in, or something dramatic like that.

-I'm glad Fionna's rethinking her self-centred worldview. Maybe she can also realise that her own world isn't as boring as she thinks, because I'm pretty sure that's also a metaphor for Simon's self-hatred. Though would it still be a metaphor if she's not currently in his head?

-So we've had a revisit of Farmworld, where FInn was negatively affected by the crown's curse, and a world where Princess Bubblegum is negatively affected by the crown's curse. Is Marceline up next? She was at least as important a secondary character on the original show as PB was. And more important personally to Simon.

[reimenaashelyee]

how did you get your comics seen? it's one thing to make them and a whole other thing to get people to lay eyes on them and read them and I have no idea how to do the second part

I think you'll have to at least make friends with some of your peer group (artists who are at the same stage in their career as you) so you can both share your audiences and if nothing else, have each other as readers. If you're really new, it's kinda a fact that your work will be tiny for a few years: there's a lot of stuff online.

I am not a spring chicken anymore so all my current advice for promotion wouldn't apply as the majority of it required years of presence and establishment with the comics industry... now that my peer group has matured and become successful creators (I know that my peers are casually aware of what I put out, they may or may not read it or even comment). Additionally, my way of promoting is as avoidant of playing the algorithm and virality and tailoring to the most amount of possible audience. If you want the opposite of that, you can ask @secondlina - who has done a lot of experimentation with social media and gaming the internet attention economy.

I'm not all that interest in gaming anything: I only want to serve the audience I have and always had - thoughtful, chill readers who are ok with slow reading, in the sense they don't ask me for constant content since they get what my vibe is. They are here for my lush visuals, original material and approach to topics/characters. It's this audience, and the academics + people who tend to be older and are equivalent/less levels of "online" to me. I personally find that gaming for views on purpose steals time and energy away, since a lot of the tactics tend to ask you to behave or post or draw a certain way that might feel unnatural with no guarantee whether the effort is worth it. For example, making memes of your characters, doing funny reels with music. If you are cool with doing all that though, again, @secondlina is your expert. I can see why those tactics are popular: that's how Big Tech dictates you get access to their "discovery" algorithm.

For me, in the early days what got new eyes onto my narrative work was making one-off illustrations (not necessarily of the comic - just some original character concepts) that somehow got popular. This was during the peak eras of Twitter and Tumblr though. The other thing was mostly talking about my comics: I document so much of my process. People love this apparently. It's the only guaranteed way for myself that gets people hype and aware of the comic's existence - though this might partly be caused by the aforementioned audience I always had. It's very low effort cos I mostly post screenshots of WIPs or developmental sketches and include a comment.

But like, with webcomics, I always operated on the assumption that people don't read my work. I am just here vibing. If there are readers (and I know who you are because of comments made across social media / my websites over the years) I appreciate them, but I don't want to ask much of them either. I put out the work I like, and whoever comes across it and likes it can stay, maybe comment, maybe get the print edition.

Yeah, this is not such a satisfactory answer for marketing if you're not subscribed to my brand of being an online artist: which is slow-growth, sustained working. My established methods now are: talking about my work, documenting it, connecting with peer group + older generations of professionals (established critics, journalists, editors), running a newsletter, going on interviews/podcasts, submitting my art to whatever I think would help promote it - pitch to Shortbox Fair, apply to Knife Beetle or the Cartoonist Cooperative, join a Discord.

And advanced methods, like applying for artist residencies.

In the end I cannot emphasise enough to get to know your peers who are at the same level of career as you are. Find creators who started at the same time you did and read their work (your choice); talk to them directly if the style/vibe matches. This is long-term mutual commitment - you won't see the effects until years later when you each find success in the paths you chose. And just to give you an idea of who my original peer group is - choo, Ariel Ries, Kay O'Neill, Bree Paulsen, Toril/Eden Orlensky, Kaeti V, Kevin Jay Stanton, Victoria Grace Elliot, Britt Sabo - we were all obscure mutuals/friends at more or less the same time. Then we each found our own way. Over time the circle grew to include other peer groups - ones that started slightly earlier or later, and new contacts of the same level. And that's how one gets established. As this is happening you will get eyes to your work naturally.

[aita-polls]

AITA for sleeping with my friend’s “Hall Pass”?

**I am not the OP and do not claim the statements below to be my own** [Link to Reddit Post]

I (49F) have been friends with "Sarah" (49F) for about 15 years. She’s happily married, with two kids. I’m (amicably) divorced with a kid. We met at our childrens’ preschool. We’ve been there for each other through some tough times.

Sarah has a huge crush on…I’ll call him Jake, as long as I’ve known her. Jake is a popular, but not, like stadium filling musician. From what I can tell, he makes a living, has had popular albums, and has toured with A-Listers, but he’s not necessarily a household name. He’s in his late 40’s. Sarah has never met him. She’s been to several of his concerts and owns a bunch of merch and considers Jake her Hall Pass. Again, she’s married and would never actually cheat on her husband.

Honestly, her crush never seemed off the rails to me. Like she’d joke about him wooing her through IG, but she didn’t, like, stalk him.

So let me say here, I would NEVER, even when I was younger, date or even flirt with a guy a friend of mine liked/was interested in. fries before Guys/Friends before Men - all that. It just wouldn’t be cool.

However.

A few weeks ago, I randomly met Jake at a charity event. He was hired as the entertainment.

We got to talking, and one thing led to another… and I ended up sleeping with him. It was a one-time thing, fun and we both knew it was casual.

At first, I thought it was a funny, wild story to share with Sarah. After all, it’s not like she would ever actually \*be\* with him, right? But when I told her, she looked really hurt. She wasn’t mad exactly, but she said something like, “Wow, I can’t believe you actually did that,” and she’s been distant ever since.

I didn’t think the “friends before men” rule applied here because he was basically her Movie Star Crush—not a real romantic prospect for her. But now I’m second-guessing everything. I feel awful for upsetting her, but I genuinely didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Now I’m wondering, AITA? 

EDIT - omfg. no, it was not dave grohl. I'd never sleep with a married guy. Thats just vile. Plus, correct me if I'm wrong, he was in fucking Nirvana and is Foo Fighters. Not exactly the type to play small corporate gigs.

More information from OP’s comments are under the cut

(INFO - Did you sleep with him because he was her crush or because he was famous? because that would kinda make you TA.)

No. Like, he's a good looking and charming guy. Under other circumstances, totally someone I'd date.

Like, tons of people are famous, but not necessarily nice to be around. And if he wasn't physically my type, I wouldn’t sleep with him for bragging rights. She's actually the only one I told because I thought she'd be amused.

——

Oh, her husband knows Jake was her Hall Pass. Her husband has a Famous Person Hall pass too. MY husband did. Like, It's all said in fun.

But people here are giving me a little more perspective in how she might feel.

——

( … why did you tell her? Even if there was zero chance, it was a fantasy for her that you ruined. Maybe do some introspection as to why you hurt a friend)

I honestly thought she'd be amused. Or even glad her friend had a fun night out. And if I really, truly believed she'd be hurt, I wouldn’t have done it.

Or, in all honesty, it was the most fun I'd had in awhile, so at the very least I would not have told her about it.

And maybe that makes me the AH anyway?

——

("So let me say here, I would NEVER, even when I was younger, date or even flirt with a guy a friend of mine liked/was interested in. fries before Guys/Friends before Men - all that. It just wouldn’t be cool." I mean you can't just put it here and then do exactly that, with all this excuses reasonings and what not, are you trying to justify it to us or yourself? No judgement here, I'm just figuring that since this has weighed so heavily on you, you must know how you would feel in her shoes.)

Fair question.

I guess because I feel there is a difference between going after someone your single friend personally knows and is interested in, and maybe even wants to pursue a romantic relationship with -

compared to

A guy she know of but has never met and would be for all intents and purposes, unavailable to her because she's happily married with two kids.

——

[hyggehooligan]

(Also last night at my wife's high school athletics event) she was catching up with one of her teammates she hadn't seen in a while and we were asking about her kids, and she said "we have a 6 year old and also 3 year old twins" and I said "oh twins! We have twin nieces and we love them!" And she basically brushed me off and said "haha well being a parent is a lot harder than being the aunties" like ok???? Casual misgenderjng aside, why the fuck would someone say that? First of all, my feeling with polite conversation and small talk specifically is the same as with improv: "yes, and." You want to be able to volley with people. I was trying to relate to her and she just shut me down. Also it's not a competition, I didn't imply it was, actually I implied that twins are very cool and fun! But she didn't want to hear anything about my experience.

Additionally, it was a special kind of shit feeling to be told that my experience was "less than" just because they aren't my children. I've always wanted to be a parent with my own children and it is becoming more clear that that might not happen, I am processing it, it is what it is; and I'm working on building other areas in my life to fulfill that need. I really enjoy my work with animals (cuddling some foster puppies as I write this) and I love my nieces and all my friends' kids and I feel so lucky that I get to be in their lives as they grow up. I want my own babies but I can't do that for a variety of reasons. As a queer trans person, logistically that is complicated and expensive. As a person with physical and mental illnesses it makes full time childcare difficult. But I have a lot of love to give and I give it freely where I can. Love takes many form and there are so many different types of families. We don't have to compare. We just need to support each other.

But I think it's very important to be sensitive to the struggles people might be going through in their families, whether we know about them or not, whether they are your friends or not, because these kinds of casual comments can really hurt. And the thing that gets me is that it was just such a rude and unnecessary response.

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

Hello!! I would like an outsider ship please

I'm 5'5 with curly brown hair that I dye purple and Greenland it goes to just below my shoulders. My eye color is green and i wear glasses. My style tends to lean goth but on more casual days I look like a metalhead or a nerd. I listens to gothic rock, various metal genres, classical music, punk, ska and 60-80s rock. I love reading; I typically read horror, sci-fi and some classical books(currently read les miserables) but really down to read anything that sound interesting to me. I love horror movies, especially older horror movies, and I am a huge slasher movie fan. I also love star wars! I watch some anime and play DnD. I am a recovering theater kid(jk I'm not recover) and I love musicals. I have a RBF and I am fat. I'm fem presenting but my gender is a mystery and pronouns are whatever. I'm pansexual, so girl and/or boy ships are very welcome. I am learning how to play the guitar and skate board(I'm shit at both tho). I am a very needy/clingy person, not in a "i need affection constantly" way but more in a "im now stuck to your hip until you tell me to leave" and I love giving gifts to those I love. Sorry for this being pretty long.

Ps. Love your writing

(Why thank you pookie and bc of the compliment u got both a girl and a guy also you sound like so cool let’s be friends)

Your Outsiders Ship (s): Angela Shepard and Ponyboy Curtis!

Explanation: starting off with your appearance, I think that he would be extremely attracted to you from your purple and green hair that just stands out from everyone else in the crowd and alternative style. I’m not sure if you wanted me to mention this or not, but he would not give two shits that you’re fat. Pomyboy is a firm believer in #bigthighssavelives (like me) and if anyone has anything to say about you, he would for sure punch them in the face, even though he’s not a generally violent guy. I just think he really loves the way you look and you really stand out in a crowd and got his attention immediately. He saw you walk by him. His mouth was open for a full minute. It dropped so low They had to dig a hole in the concrete to make room for it. I think he also just really loves your alternative style in general. As for music, he would love listening to any type of music you introduced him to. I think he’s pretty into alternative kind of sad or stuff and would love it if you introduced him and you guys would have the best dates of just listening to music and sitting down with a good book and then afterwards at some point discussing it with each other and coming up with theories and just talking about the characters, the books surrounds and things like that. as for your nerdy hobbies, I think he would love it. I think he would absolutely be into dungeons and dragons would create the most complex, insane characters that aren’t even really that good at fighting but you know they just build the story a lot I feel like that’s the type of character he would create in DND. For movies, I think he would be a bit scared by horror movies so be prepared to have him end up in your lap, clinging onto you or something because I don’t know. I just feel like he would be terrified of them lmaoo He doesn’t mind you’re needing us and clinginess, and I honestly think it kind of goes perfectly with him because he loves that you still respect his boundaries but give him the love and affection that he feels like he lacks sometimes anyway I totally ship 💚💚

Explanation: OK I really ship you guys like so hard but starting off with appearances, I think that she would absolutely adore you. I think she would be a bit taller than you and find that absolutely adorable. I think that she really loves your hair and even wants to dye hers to sort of match yours a little bit she really loves your style and asks for fashion advice, like 24 seven so you better be prepared for that. She also thinks your glasses are incredibly cute and is constantly commenting on them and just loves the way that they make your eyes look. As for you being fat, she doesn’t really care at all if anything it just makes you guys have more subjects to bond over because she’s also used to being judged for the way that she looks maybe not in the same way as you, but she’s been treated pretty crappy by a lot of guys her entire life because of her both her family and, the fact that she stereotyped as a slut. People think that because she’s part of some big scary, greaser family that she can handle any kind of emotional damage and she’ll easily sleep with you which really isn’t true and she’s way more of a person than that and she really wishes people would see beyond that. She thinks it’s bad ass that you play guitar and I think she would ask if you would give her skating lessons and she absolutely sucks at it but you know it’s the thought that matters and I think that would become a little date for you. You guys that you frequently have like you’d have a scheduled day where you guys go to skate park and just have an absolute blast. I would love to introduce her because she has a generally limited range and generally is popular so whenever you introduced her many different genres, she’s mind blown and finally starts to get a little bit of diversity. as I think she’s used to being clingy and ignoring her like I said I just think guys have treated her really shitty in relationship so you would be just such a breath of fresh air and I think that she would absolutely love you and really appreciate, again, like Ponyboy that she feels wanted, but you’ll still respect her boundaries if she ever doesn’t feel like it.I SHIP THIS SO HARD BRO 💚

[reflectionsofthesea]

You know what, I'm gonna write a small rant about language learning here, and particularly, about how entitled people can be when you talk about your language journey.

I remembered when I was talking to this acquaintance of mine, and since we were talking about hobbies and what we were up to, I mentioned I recently started studying finnish by myself with a book of exercises, and online resources, because I was very interested in the culture and language. This person proceeded to say, in the most sarcastic and condescending tone possible, that 'It was cool I was doing it, even though It would take me 3 years to learn what people studying it at university learn in 1'.

This person studied languages at university by the way, which is why I think they made this stupid ass comment. This just genuinely made me really mad and also kinda sad for them, because it felt like they HAD to downplay my hobby and passion for absolutely no reason other than... what? Feeling unresolved with theirselves for some reason? Threatened?? Something?? It felt like a snap back to me personally, a random cruel and mean comment just done because they could, since we never fought or had any unresolved business between ourselves that could've sparked the mean comment. I guess they just made a mean-spirited comment because they could, why not, right?

The casual ugliness of that response just pissed me off so much that I haven't basically spoken to this person since, which hey, at least is not that hard to do, since I always had a bit of an iffy feeling about them. I just saw them as an introverted person (like me), so I tried to get closer to them anyway and push myself to put more effort into developing a friendship because I relate to not being very sociable at times, and I know how hard sometimes it is to make friends. But if this is what I should expect out of my attempt to get closer to that person, then fuck it I guess lol!

I genuinely don't get why you would ever reply like that to someone unprompted, just casually shitting over their hobby and journey. Also, what if it takes me 3 years? What about it? Who gives a shit??? I'm having a lot of fun discovering this new language, studying and getting better bit by bit, it's engaging, it's interesting, I've discovered a brand-new world and culture, and it has become a fun hobby for me to indulge in when I have free time. It allows me to travel with my mind and have the prospect of speaking to my friends in their native language and maybe even make more friends, get to know more people, more about the country, and get the satisfaction of learning an entire new language.

What if it fucking takes me 10 years to do it?? Is this a challenge or a tournament over who's the fastest language learner? Do i have to prove anything to you just because I'm not going to university for it and studying by myself? Why the hell should I need to prove myself to respond to your ugly ass mean comment?

Sorry to put this here but honestly just what the fuck lol.

[cazort]

I find it really off-putting when people post online asking for a specific type of attention, but then they only appreciate or value that attention if it's from specific people or groups. It's especially bad when people repeatedly post complaining about (respectful and positive) attention from people in their non-target group.

My blog is unconditionally inclusive. If I post something and you like it and it resonates with you, and you engage positively with it, then I don't care who you are, I'm grateful that you have engaged with it. If I post a selfie and you think it's cute and you want to give me (respectful) attention or compliments on it, then I don't care who you are, I don't care if I find you attractive or not, I appreciate your compliments and attention. Whether or not the engagement feels comfortable to me is not about who you are, it's about how you engage. Me finding you attractive does not give you license to leave a rude or harassing comment (hint: it will also probably kill the attraction pretty fast.) If I write a personal text post, and you empathize with it, I don't care who you are, if you empathize with it because you are similar to me, or if you are very different from me and yet there is still a common thread with your own life, or maybe there is no common thread but you still relate because you understand the way I explained myself, regardless of why you relate, it's a beautiful thing and I appreciate it. Or if I'm selling a product or service, and you're not in my target demographic and/or you don't have the money to pay, but you still think it's cool that I'm doing what I'm doing, and you reblog something, then hey, I'm grateful, you're giving me free advertising. It's not like I only talk to potential clients or customers when I'm running a business, I'll talk to anyone, that's how you do business! I can't count how many big business deals I've gotten through casual friendships where a friend eventually referred me to someone who became a big client.

When people seem to only want certain types of attention from people, especially when they put up with specific types of attention from specific people that they would find rude, harassing, or unwanted from other people, this rubs me the wrong way. It's judging people by identity rather than behavior, and it strikes me as kinda tribalist. Like "I'm queer you're queer so you can be a dick but fuck that cishet person for just existing." like hello no just no. I don't care whether you're queer or cishet or whatever, I just want you to be decent to me and to others. Or "you can be a dick to me but only if you have money". Like okay it's one thing to live this way because you're forced to, but to come out and say it? That's kinda an asshole move right there and it doesn't exactly set up good incentives.

It absolutely blows my mind how many people flaunt the fact that they only want attention from certain people, on their blogs. Isn't this rude? I find it rude, whether or not I'm in the "desireable" group. Like you like me only because I'm neurodivergent? Only because I'm nonbinary or queer? It's almost fetishizing me. And with money it's even weirder, you only talk to me because I have money? How disgusting is that, no one with money wants to be approached that way. Or you only talk to me because I don't have too much money? Now you create a weird incentive for people to pretend to be poorer than they actually are, which of course people do. Stop, just stop.

Like...whether it's people with a certain identity only wanting other people with that identity to interact with them, or it's people sharing memes or posts denigrating or devaluing the attention they are getting on their selfies or other posts because it comes from people they don't find attractive or aren't romantically interested in, it's just rude. Or people who run a business and repeatedly post about how they only want to interact with people who have money. And it boggles my mind that people think it's okay to share content like this.

To me, it's not. It makes me unfollow. It makes me feel profoundly uncomfortable with you on a human level. It's just not nice, like...you share stuff like that it is telling me you are just not a very nice person.

Like in what world was this ever okay? It's never been okay to me.