#and also the other kind of imbalanced power dynamic

[prettyboykatsuki]

BLOOD FEUDS, ANCIENT AND MODERN | RYOMEN SUKUNA.

✮ tags ; no curses au, blood incest, use of honorifics (oji-san) abuse (mostly verbal / emotional), classism, grooming / generally predatory behavior, large age gaps (20+ yrs), blood feuds, imbalanced power dynamics, white collar crime, afab + fem!niece!reader, uncle sukuna, the word rape used in text, non/dubcon (not noncon necessarily), fingering, petnames (little one, kid, little lamb), thigh-fucking, and other things, very horrible and gross sukuna behavior 18+

this is very dark and it deals BRIEFLY with sukuna being very predatory to reader when she's UNDERAGE / young. nothing explicit happens WHILE she is underage, but sukuna does leer at reader and it is mentioned. please proceed with caution !!!

PLEASE HEED THE TAGS BEFORE YOU PROCEED!!!

✮ wc ; 10.3k (???????????)

✮ a/n ; thank you vic @saintshigaraki for always indulging my nonsense and also tomfoolery. kissing you.

i'll be honest lads this one got away from me BAD jksdfhjs. i think its interesting at least.I KNOW THE TAGS ARE WICKED but i promise its like. kind of sexy at least.

also yes the title is from the rdr2 soundtrack shhh

✮ synopsis ; blood is thicker than water. resentment, you think, is thicker than both.

Bastard.

An intimately familiar title, lacking tooth and effect. It's meaning eroded with time and usage - and a moniker you've wielded proudly for as long as you can remember. You don't recall much of your life before it became part of you.

The daughter born of wedlock. Bastard daughter. The only remaining stain to your family's reputation aside from your late father.

Your mother often tells you that you were her hardest child to birth. When you were littler it was a story relayed to you with affection, and but now it's with such bitter hatred you can feel it lodged in your throat.

The most important element is the predestination in it. You came into the world kicking and screaming, throat hoarse and violent. From birth, you knew you were half-forged with bad blood and came into the world trying to be absolved of it. It's shaped your life, your relationships, everything about you.

The other half of your DNA, the good half, is from your father. Before you were a bastard, you were your parents' only child. Your father was a good man. The best you know. An average, humble man. From a generation of other working class men with a tough job in construction. Your best memories come from when he was still alive.

A quiet life, untainted by the residual bitterness of your mothers heritage. You lived away from it, outside of it. The mother in your memories from back then seem like a dream now, some mirage from long ago - disinterested in anything but you and your father. Your mama and papa. Your father took good care of you both, and your mother loved him madly.

You lived as a normal family in a small apartment just outside of Gifu for the first seven years of your life. You attended a small local school and had friends with crooked teeth and messy hair.

Your childhood was mostly happy if you break it up into pieces like that. Blissfully uneventful.

There's a concise break of change of what your life was versus what became of it. Your fathers death the splinter in the wood, separating the two halves.

The worst of your childhood, of course, came in your fathers passing. Not just because of the loss, but what it made of your life. His funeral welcomed people of all walks of life with the most notable absence of your elusive mothers side of the family.

Another old memory you have with your mother is looking at her face during your fathers wake. The deep darkness of her eyes, sunken in and hollow. The first time you ever found her terrifying instead of comforting. While the world mourned your father, your mother—you think—mourned her life.

Forced into single motherhood with no prospects and no career, your mother decided it was best for the both of you to return home.

You think the worst of your life started there.

Your mother's side of the family has never welcomed you with open arms. You wouldn't come to know why until much later. You were a child then. There's no way you could've known about feuds that deep.

The only thing you knew was that you were hated vehemently, and nothing could change that.

Your grandmother's estate was always frightening to you in your childhood. You've yet to grow out of that feeling despite living there for the last fifteen years. It's remained unchanged since you moved in and the lights in the hall never seems bright enough. Jade green painted walls and white tile floors. Some rooms have classically Japanese flooring and heirloom paintings from the Heian era. Others modernized with sterile whites and grays and house plants that add no life to it at all. Stretched wide with tens of rooms, and easy for a child to get lost in.

A sinking abyss. A terrible place. A dark labyrinth. Anxiety inducing to even think about now. No place for a child your size or your age.

The best way to describe your childhood after your father died was cold. Removed from your life in the suburbs and placed among other rich kids, you became overtly self-conscious of the differences between you and them. Them being anyone who grew up wealthy and your other extended family. You were constantly reminded of your place as the bastard child. Later learning how your mother left her fiance many years ago for your father, your poor and worthless father.

(You theorize any warmth that your mother had for you was buried in your dead dads casket. Living there, among them, made sure she'd never find it again.)

Your mother is the most complicated part of your life. You don't have a time for when she gave up on raising you. There was a year when she tried, you think. For the most part, you lived in that house utterly alone. 

At first that abandonment was miserable (as it would be to any child, certainly) but a time came where you were glad you saw so little of her.

Your mother, who you had once loved and thought highly of, became a pitiful prey animal in the four walls of your grandmother's house. Small and anxious and utterly hateful. A bunny born with some cosmic knowledge and horrific understanding that its destiny is to become food for a wolf. Viciousness between her siblings, no doubt fostered by your grandparents and their establishment, tore apart the aspects of her your father mended and ruined her. You were too little to stop it. 

Blood feuds that ran bone-chillingly deep plagued most of the interactions with your extended family for as long as you've been a part of them. Your mother has exactly four siblings. Two sisters between her with her as the middle daughter, and two brothers. One of which is estranged so completely you don't know his name.

And the other being your Uncle Sukuna.

Your hatred for your aunts and their children came to you rather naturally. For every gala and ball and charity fund your worthless bloodline ever raised, came catty arguments and verbal abuse from the shallow mouths of your beloved cousins. You had nothing to prove to anyone in that house. You were detested since your birth and your grandparents made no small effort to show you through as much neglect and verbal lashing as they could get away with.

Rotten girl. Cursed daughter. You're the reason your mother is like this. You're the reason she is miserable. You should've been buried with your father.

Compared to the experience of your grandfather ripping into you at age ten for simply being alive, your cousin's commentary on you was remarkably uninteresting. You resented them for being nuisances, though, with the exception of maybe one who bucked it out of that place as soon as they could. Just like you planned too.

For a long time, Sukuna wasn't around enough to have a real presence in your consciousness. You tried not to think of your extended family more than you had too. You got used to not knowing about your relatives living there, but there was no one so elusive as him.

It was as if, increasingly, you heard whispers of his name at everything you were forced to attend.

The first time you ever meet your Uncle, you're freshly sixteen. It's the birthday party your mother throws for you each year in an effort to show how close the two of you are to the rest of your relatives.

The first time you see Sukuna in person, the only thing on your mind is how much he stands out from the rest of your relatives. He's a head taller than the tallest person there, and he's...bigger. He's not clean or neat, scruff lining his chin. Old, dark eyes. Visible tattoos that reek of disgraced son and hardly of prodigy.

At sixteen, you understood intimately what your family considered to be gold standard. Your uncle was antithetical to it. His very existence a paradox to the ideas you've had been hammered into you for years. Dyed hair, piercings, tattoos - his suit jacket undone to expose his chest. Lacking respect and formality and dignity. 

He was a lot like you. You got that impression, somehow.

When your eyes met with your uncles for the first time, you had your second fully formed thought about him.

Dangerous. Like an alarm. Like a ringing bell, throbbing through your skull and pulsing through your teeth. Some part of you just knew that he was a very dangerous man. Not just a wealthy one.

The first conversation you ever had with your uncle proves to be the most significant. Brief, yet - tonal in all ways. The gold standard for how he viewed you. How he would view you.

How he would treat you.

("So you're the new brat,"

Your uncle is an imposing man. You are sixteen and slightly tipsy, which is the least horrible thing you could be since your other cousin is coked out in the bathroom upstairs. You sway, staring at him. You think that's disrespectful.

He's the kind of man who might kill you for that. Might hit you. But you don't find it in yourself to challenge your defiance when you're far from sober and even father form happy. You lean your weight to one side and hum.

"New bastard," You correct him, and take another sip of the flute of champagne in your hand. "My worthless fathers, worthless daughter."

Sukuna pauses, his eyes widening before his lips break out into a grin. You wonder if it's because you're drunk. You think he's staring at you. Your eyes are too blurry to tell but you think he's gazing down the low dip of your top. At the curve of your chest. Leering at the body you've yet to even grow into.

"Tenacious," Your uncle says, and takes a long drink of his sake. You stare at the edge of his glass, carmine eyes gazing so deeply at you - you think you'll throw up. "You're your mothers daughter. Through and through.")

The night of your sixteenth birthday, your uncle announced he'd be opening a business venture in Tokyo. All this time he'd been doing work overseas, but seeing family helped finalized his decision. You remember the look on his face when he announced it. Remembered his eyes searching on you through the crowd as he held the mic up to his lips. How he named you the main reason, one conversation and he grew so fond of his little niece. That you were a clever girl, and that even though he hadn't known you long - he was sure you'd go so far.

Happy Birthday to you, little lamb.

You remember best the feeling afterwards. How the crowd went nearly silent. Hundreds of eyes darting your way in seas of strangers. All the attention people hadn’t paid suddenly mattering, all the congratulations. You remember how they crowded you and how your uncle came to your rescue with a cheeky grin and air of nonchalance.

You remember feeling sick. You remember the chill creeping up your spine, bile in your throat - all wet eyes and nausea.

Your uncle is a dangerous man. And you, the uninteresting bastard daughter, had caught his full attention.

The next four years of your life would pass so slowly, you often wondered during them, if you died that night and you'd live through these days as punishment for the crime of existing.

A little after your birthday, your uncle moved back to Japan permanently - in a residence not far from your grandmother's estate. He became a permanent fixture in your life. Many things came with that reality, none of them being especially pleasant.

You learn three things in the four years you spend with your uncle in your life.

The first is that your uncle is more powerful than you can really understand.

Through conversations at your kitchen table about his escapades abroad, you learn nothing of the work he actually does. Only what it involves, who it involves - foreign governments and people much more powerful than your family. Your uncle has ties to the Gojo family, and the Zenins'. Your time here teaches you that they make up two halves of private militarized arms and they work domestically and internationally. The only thing you need to know about them is they are filthy rich, richer than your own family and twice as corrupt.

And Sukuna works with them. Knows them rather intimately, from the pictures you've seen of Sukuna and Gojo Satoru drinking together - two prodigal sons with silver spoons and unsettling demeanors.

The second thing you learn is that your uncle's power and influence extend past all borders and include your grandparents and relatives. In the years he'd been away from home, he's garnered a formidable reputation. You never cared to notice it before, but it's all you can see now. Every arrogant, vapid relative you have the displeasure of calling family sees your uncle as some sort of king. The golden ticket to grandparents approval. A wishing well for all their hopes and dreams - so long as they appease him.

They fawn over him. Sukuna knows it. But they're all so busy trying to get on his good side they never catch his subtleties. Never seem to notice the cold sarcasm and biting edge to his questions. They pander and peacock to him constantly, but not one of them has sense enough to understand him a little deeper. Except you, incidentally. That's part of your problem

The third thing you learn about your uncle is that he takes pleasure in your cleverness no one in your life has since.... who knows? Since your father died, you think.

And you are clever. A head smarter than the rest of your family and a try-hard in all aspects. You graduated highschool top of your class and got scholarships into better schools. It was never about proving your worth of course, but about survival. You wanted away from this place, and the only way to cut your ties completely is to carve a life for yourself. Academia, education, using your name to make connections - you've been working silently on it since you were in middle school.

The only person who'd ever noticed your accomplishments was Sukuna. In between his work, he'd visit you in your room. You grew close in one sense of the word. It was a secret kept between you - but Sukuna often reminded you of it. That he saw you for who you were when no one else did. That his interest in you exceeds your own understanding, and it'd be in your best interest to remember that.

Some half-way between threats and affection, for four years - your uncle remained at your side. Uneasy as you were, he'd never try to advance on you while you were still in highschool. Some part of you knew he wasn't above it. Rather his interest hinged on getting to know you.

Your uncle is above all things manipulative.

Rather he preferred to keep you on your toes during the duration of your time together. To get close but not too close. To get to know each other openly. Your uncle made sure everyone in your family knew of his fondness for you. He'd keep you close to his side or follow you around, always in public places with a million eyes. He'd whisper to you, laughed and asked questions.

You hated being the center of attention, so Sukuna turned it on you any chance he got. It made it hard for you to refuse him, but mostly it made it hard to go under the radar without his protection. It made it hard for your relatives to insult and berate you.

You hated it. You hated accepting his kindness, because you know your uncle well enough to know that everything in the world came with a cost. And that this protection is little more than luxury, promised to you as long as you played nice.

And you always did play nice. But you were cautious. Never alone too long in the same room. Never somewhere too late. Never drunk, never high. Always within distance of a door. Sukuna was a dangerous man, and you may be a bastard but you're no fool.

It'd work for years. You evaded any real alone time with him for years. Years.

Until earlier this year where your mother had made arrangements for you to spend the summer with your dear old Uncle - in his villa, far from the safety of Japan's main island.

In the years of your uncle's favoritism towards you, no one has been more pleased than your mother. You've come to hate her for it. Your relationship hasn't been good in years and for her to suddenly attempt to be your mother again felt like a mockery.

(It mostly felt like a betrayal. You didn't think she could betray you a second time after she all but abandoned you the minute she stepped foot in that house.

Like something possessing the corpse of the mama in your dreams, your seething hatred towards her started then you think.)

You'd spent years indifferent to her, but it was this change that made you hate her down to your bones. You were furious about the decision. Furious she didn't bother asking, furious about all of it.

About everything.

An entire summer alone with the man you know to be most dangerous to you. You wouldn't put it past Sukuna, to plan this around you - but it didn't make it any less frustrating.

("You'll be going with your uncle," Your mother says, hardly listening to you. There's a baby on her hip, your half-brother and a vacant look in her eyes. You feel your jaw tighten. "We've already made plans. Your stepfather,"

"Your husband." You correct. Your mother gives you a tight-lipped smile.

"We are going on a family vacation. Your grandparents wouldn't tolerate you here alone , so you're going and that's final."

"I don't need to live with you," You seethe, fighting the urge to grab her and punch her. You've never been violent. Your mother makes you homicidal. "I can find my own fucking place, I'm twenty I don't need-"

She slams something. Your half-brother makes watery eyes. She stares at you distantly, righteously angry. Whether she's earned that anger or not, it makes your mood worse. .

"This is the least you could for me. For us." She hisses, turning around. You think of killing her. "For all the shit you put me through."

"What I put you through? Fuck you," You admit, your throat burning like a star falling through the atmosphere. Then, through a shaky breath"There's something off about him, mom. Do you understand what I'm fucking saying? Where you're sending me?

Three expressions pass over her face. The ghost of grief, some kind of solace and then more vacancy. She swallows, turns around to keep folding baby clothes. Her voice trembles. She knows she's sending you to your doom. Knows what waits for you as soon as you go.

"You're going. We need this." She says, and still doesn't turn to look at you. Her voice is so frigid it doesn't sound like hers anymore. "That's final."

You shouldn't be shocked by it anymore, but it doesn't make it easier.

You slam the door on your wait out. You hope their plane crashes on the way there.)

You tried your best to worm your way out of the situation before the semester closed out. But Sukuna, three steps ahead of you at all times, made sure that wasn't possible. Your uncle owned a villa out on an island, private - and the bags had already been packed. You'll like it there, he assured you so many times, it's comfortable. There's a good view and the kids in the place will remind you of the kids you grew up with.

(It's hard not to notice the ways in which Sukuna tempts you into wanting to go. Though there's nothing, truly, that could make the experience a pleasant one - it's posed to appeal to you. A place to remind you of your childhood. You try not to think about it.)

Despite your protests, despite your vehement frustration - there was nothing you could do but go. If you didn't go with Sukuna, it'd be enduring 3 months alone with your grandparents. You could try to crash with friends but the friends you've made so far wouldn't dream of being so polite and you dare not think of burdening your childhood friends with your family problems. They deal with enough as is.

The last option was running away. You're desperate enough to entertain it. You do, several times - considering what the worst outcome could be. All scenarios end with Sukuna coming to find you, because he's crazy and connected like that. Even if he's deliberate in not displaying those parts of himself, you know his apathy to be a facade.

You know him well. He knows you well. It feels like a competition to see who can outsmart the other that you were forced into with no say.

So, come the end of your third year of college - a driver picks you up right as your finals are finished to take you to the airport. A private jet, a nauseating display of wealth just for your uncle to torment you with you're sure.

On the plane ride to a small island on the coast of Japan, you think to yourself that all gods in the world must've abandoned you before you were ever born.

__

The first few weeks of your stay in the island of Nii-jima prove to be uneventful.

For a small island, it's still governed through something related to Tokyo. It's not the city or even the country, some quiet and relaxing in between. There are people here who've lived for generations and others who are only touring. Your uncle's villa though, is far from all life - and a few miles out from a beach.

You can hardly understand what a single man needs such a big house for. There's staff there too, though less than at your grandparents place which you're grateful for. You've met six of eight, two of them people who take care of the yards and garden.

Sato-san is the woman you see most often. The one cook Sukuna has and the woman who's been working longest. She is kindhearted and sturdy, often bringing her grandchildren with her. She's quiet and motherly - and so warm you're unsure of how to behave around her. Your uncle is seemingly fond of her which is saying a lot. She speaks highly of him. 

It's been so long since you've experienced something like maternal warmth, you're awkward around her. You try to not be too attached, try not to be fond of anything in this house because you know something horrible and dormant lies within it and you do not want to stay. Don't even want to entertain the idea of staying.

But Sato-san is good to you, with wrinkles and sunspots and a bright laugh. Her grandchildren are so well-behaved you wonder about how they were raised. A girl about seven and a boy about four, always quiet and inattentive. You've grown fond of them too, despite how bad you normally are with children. They're easy to be around.

You're frustrated mainly because you don't hate being here. The people are kind and welcoming and everyone locally is pleasant and good. You've been in the city too long, with insane people too long, and everything feels refreshing. The bus here is free and you can be at the beach whenever you like. You've made friends here - organically, with no strings attached. .

For the first time in your twenty years of living, you even have a guy you think is cute. It seems small, but back home everyone knows who you are. You've never had a relationship work out for one reason or another, but here? Here no one knows you, and the boy you meet at the beach with his friends is just a boy.

You don't want to like being here, but you do - and you don't want Sukuna to come back and he will. Nothing ever works out for you.

The worst of your luck you think builds on the edge of that thought.

You come home tonight doing a lot of things you would not normally. 

For one, you've gotten yourself drunk. The reason being the cute boy aforementioned invited you down to the beach with his friend. You justified going thinking if you were going to be miserable all summer - a single good memory wouldn't kill you.

You had fun. Your swimsuit is underneath your short skimpy clothes, and you sat in his lap and made-out with him all evening. Got to pretend you were a normal girl and you got to kiss for the first time. You still reek of alcohol and his cheap cologne. Blissfully uneventful. 

When you stumble into the foyer of the house with blurry vision and hear the T.V. playing, you know it instinctively that peace is going to be short-lived. You know that your uncle is home, and that he was waiting for you.

All the hairs on your neck raise. A shift in the atmosphere makes it hard to think clearly. Your lungs barely get enough oxygen in them to keep you upright. You think of leaving. You think of running up marble stairs to your room in hopes he won't catch you.

"Brat," Is yelled from the living room. Right, as if you'd ever get so lucky. You jump in your skin. "You home?"

Your stomach churns. You feel sick.

"Come to the living room."

You go obediently when Sukuna calls you, trying not to stumble over your two feet.You don’t think there’s more options than fearful compliance. 

Your uncle is watching Scarface on the big flatscreen on the TV. The subtitles are on in Japanese though you don't think he needs them. He only barely turns his head to look at you, his interest piqued when he sees what you're wearing.

You feel sixteen again, self-conscious of your body and womanhood. He hides it even less than he did the first time - the leering. He notices your skimpy shorts and top, the bottom of your bikini. And he grins, and stares but doesn't say anything.

"Oh?" He says, calm and casual, glancing back at the T.V. "Finally went and had some fun did you? Thought all that studying turned you into a bookish little shut-in permanently."

You don't say anything, arm clutching your other self-consciously.

"Did you need something?"

He snickers, low and predatory. "Come on. You're here to spend time with me so let's spend time together."

You don’t bother asking where he’s been for the last few weeks.  Your gut churns, feet heavy as they drag you to the far end of the couch. Sukuna stares as you sit hesitantly. You have no doubt he's going to make you move, but he's kind enough to leave you alone for now.

"Have fun on your..." He gives you another knowing look then laughs. "Outing?"

You aren't sure how to respond. "Just drank with some friends."

"Friends," He mimics, feeling the words out in his mouth. "The kind of friends that smudge the lipstick off your mouth, huh brat?"

You flush suddenly, embarrassed - and Sukuna barks a laugh. You don't know what he's expecting you to say there so you opt for nothing.

"Sorry," Is the only thing you can manage. Placating. He lets out a puff of air through his nose and relaxes further. There's an air to him, of nonchalance, that unsettles you more than if he was angry or unpleasant. Your throat bobs.

"You're a big girl now," He comments - sleazy and indignant. His indecency towards you, about you glints like a star. A sharp canine and piercing red eyes examine you from his peripherals. "Now that you're showing off it's only natural boys flock to you, hm?"

You can't explain the way this comment makes you feel. So much said with so little. The gap between is and has always been miles wide except sometimes it's not. Your uncle is unusual. Cold-blooded, manipulative, ruthless. There's no warmth in him in a comfortable, loving way. 

There's even less of a normal relationship between you.

But you both exist in this space with... similar awareness. Of the world. Of yourselves. There's a conscious intelligence to him that's reflected in you - that you are both fractured parts of your grandparents bloodline in two separate bodies. That self-awareness affords him a presence. In your mind. In your fear.

You are undoubtedly related. Sukuna revels in that.

It’s rare to see that kind of awareness in your family. You’ve never felt threatened by people dumber than you, even if they had more power or money. Vapid and shallow and useless - there’d never been anything that could win you on. It might sound cocky, but it’s true. It’s been true. 

It’s why Sukuna frightens you. He has everything, but above all - he’s smart. And hard for you to read. 

You swallow, shakily - your eyes looking down at your hands. In a profoundly long beat of silence, the movie plays. A fair bit of gunshots echo through the loud speaker and they startle you.

"You scared? Come sit closer, then." He tells you, less than asks you.

You stand and sit next to him, still a distance away. Sukuna remains unmoving. You don't know what to do with yourself.The silence seems to stretch for miles and minutes. Sukuna just watches the T.V. and stares at his phone - occasionally answering messages. You stay like that for a long time. 

"Need a smoke," He says, and it's not really directed at you. "Maybe later. Wouldn't wanna make you sick."

"People smoke around me all the time."

"Do you smoke?"

You shake your head, too tipsy to lie. He laughs at that. "Not even weed?"

You don't bother mentioning legality, you both know it doesn't matter between your lineage.

"Don't like the taste."

"How interesting. What a straight-edge kid. Most I've seen you get is drunk and this is the drunkest I've ever seen you. Still sober enough to talk clearly though."

"I just drink socially,"

"Ohh," He says, and then grins a little sharper. "A little shot of courage to fuck that little college boy then?"

This makes you jolt. "We didn't fuck—"

"No?" He looks genuinely surprised at this, though it's mild. "Poor kid must've wanted too if you came around him wearing that. Unless he came in his pants soon as you sat on him. Boys that age do stuff like that,"

The comment about his age reminds you of how old your uncle really is, and something in your chest flares hot.

"It wasn't that either—I've never-"

He cuts you off. "You're a virgin?"

You flush, stopping yourself from answering and he laughs.

"Ohhh, that's good. Very good," He grins, so genuinely pleased it makes you shiver. "I like virgins. Easy to please."

"That's—It wasn't for you."

For the first time in your relationship, Sukuna bridges the gap between you. He sits up and forward, his hand finding the bare skin of your knee. He rests it there, his thumb circling the flesh.

"Don't touch me," You hiss. Sukuna tightens his grip, but not threateningly. He turns to look at you that time, and you can't help but look back.

There's something in his degeneracy that horrifies you. It's fondness, you think. Genuine fondness.

"You sure?" He licks his teeth in a way that reminds you of a wolf. But not one that's starving. There's no desperation in his actions, but a self-assurance. Wolves don't often survive alone, but Sukuna has. And he hungers with the confidence of a predator who has killed all that stand before him. That's never been told no to what he wants to eat.

Your heart stops. Your voice a low whisper. "Stop,"

"You say that but you came in the house looking all desperate for sex and approval. You always look like that. Have for a little longer than what's normal for a girl your age,"

"I don't look like that!"

"You would've fucked that little college twerp if you stayed wouldn't you? Nothing wrong with honesty, brat."

Before you have a chance to understand what goes on around you, Sukuna changes position. You've never gotten a chance to feel and experience how strong he is - not like the way he's manhandling you now. You gasp at the arm around your waist and back. He pins you to the couch in a swift motion, not sure how he's done it, the alcohol making you dizzy.

Sukuna has never crossed the boundary with you like this before. Your heart is thumping loud, beating against your ribs. The source of it eludes you. If it's fear or discomfort or some other thing entirely causing such noice. 

There's a certain blase in his attitude that makes you forget momentarily about the taboo and gives way just to the tension between you. You feel it for the first time with his body pressed against you, all hot and heavy. He smells of cologne, but it lacks the acidity cheap ones tend to have. There’s strong hints of cigarettes and aftershave accompanying it. Appearance wise, he has lines in his face like a man in his forties. 

You don't know what's wrong with you. With a relationship so fucked up from the start, you thought crossing this line would feel different. You think you want to throw up, but you're completely calm. 

You want to be disgusted. You want to thrash and kick and scream and fight. You squirm away from him, the threads of what's left of your moral conscience urging you to do so. Like a last ditch effort to keep you sane. 

But there's just. Something. Something so inevitable about it that your heart doesn't beat at all. The panic itself feels hollow in nature. You are a rotted log and Sukuna has ripped the soft wood out of you with relative ease. But you’ve been that way for a long time, and nothing hurts. Not really.  

It's relieving in the worst way. 

"Get away from me,” You whisper again with noticeably less fight. Sukuna looks at you bright-eyed.

"You're a good kid," He says. The genuine praise knocks the air out of your lungs. That disgusts you more than anything else happening between you so far. "Interesting. A lot brighter than the other kids in our family."

Our family. You wince. .

"Stop, this is—" You don't know what word to use. He's your uncle and you're his niece and he's been gazing at you like this for god knows how fucking long. "Stop."

"You've got something going on behind your eyes at least, even if you're still just a wet-nosed and angry little housecat," He says, staring down at you. He's so imposing. His facial hair and his various tattoos. Everything about him, down to his bones. "But I can't tear my eyes away from you at the same time. You know that?."

You do know that. You cast your gaze away.

"I applaud how cautious you've been. But it didn't make a difference in the end. You know that too, right?"

You don't say anything.

"Clever little lamb you are, indeed. I like that about you." He hums, leaning down closer to you. His face is inches from yours. "You should be smart enough to know how this ends. But you know, you've been so entertaining to me this whole time I feel like I should at least be a little nice. So I'll offer you something. A deal of sorts, we can even write it on paper."

This catches your interest and he knows it does. He knows. You’re cut from the same cloth. And this place has made you lose your character, just like it always does. So if it means your survival and sanity or your morals, one comes before the other.

He grins at you.

"Come stay with me. Here in Nii-jima and back at my estate at home. I'll take care of your expenses and whatever else. I have better connections than the old hag," He says, leaning down even closer to you. You can smell him. He's intoxicating "You can be away from everything. I'll even let you have boyfriends and girlfriends over. You can throw sleepovers. I don't care. You can do whatever you want."

"What's in it for you?"

You can feel his knee press up against your cunt through your shorts and you gasp, hand going up to his shoulder. "This. Been thinking about this tight little cunt for a while now. You'd have to be at my beck and call. We'd be the closest uncle and niece in all of Japan," He snickers.

You wince at the reminder. You hate yourself for considering it. "Why me? There are plenty of women who are dying to fuck you."

He scoffs a little. 

"Once we get you a little farther from the trenches kid, you might start to understand me. Wealth, fortune, fame - all of it's fucking boring. I came back to Japan prepared to leave again but you made me stay. Not much more to it than that."

"You're fucking your blood-niece out of curiosity? Your sister's daughter?"

"My sister never did anything good with her life except marrying your father and making you." Sukuna says, and laughs lightly. You hate how validated it makes you feel. Your skin crawls. "I'll have to thank her for it. She'll be pleased.

You make a face at him, uncertainty. Apprehension. Fear. Frustration. Everything you’ve been compartmentalizing comes bubbling to the surface and making your head feel weighted with lead. You want to kill everyone and everything including him. You want to run away from this place. You want to go home, though you don’t know where that would be anymore. They demolished your old apartment years ago. 

You think spending a few years getting fucked and used might be less miserable than the suffocation of living with your mother and your baby brother and your grandparents. How much abuse you’ve endured already vs. what awaits you when their true heir starts to walk and talk horrifies you. 

You look at him. 

“You’re horrible.” 

“Tell me something new.” 

“I hate you. I don’t…want this. Any of this. I want to go home.” 

You’re just venting. Really. You’ve made the choice already. 

“Has there ever been a time where it’s been about what you want? I doubt it. But if you stay with me, appease my wishes for a while, well,” He laughs confidently. “You’ll get something, at least. Better than what you have.” 

“The contract. Are you serious about that?” 

He laughs at you. “Sure. If it makes you feel better, you can draft it and I’ll just have my lawyer sign. Bring your defenses. Whatever. Don’t really care as long as I get what I want.” 

“And that’s me?” 

“Seems like it,” 

You purse your lips. It seems like a rash decision to make in the moment, but truthfully your heads never felt so clear. Even with the alcohol. 

“...Fine.” 

Sukuna hums when you agree. It feels anti-climatic somehow. Not that he’s not expecting your yes but that you’ve come to accept it so easily. It’s not like this takes away from the coercion, from the awful feeling of being violated. Sukuna was going to rape you whether you liked it or not. This way, at least, you get something out of it. This way it’s something you choose. Something tangible results from your inevitable doom - the fate your mother damned you to. 

It affords you some plausible deniability too. In truth, you’re afraid for yourself. You’re afraid of what will happen when he finally does cross the line completely. You’re afraid you’re going to accept it, that it’s going to feel pleasurable, that years of repressing yourself will come back to make sure you never return to normalcy. 

What will become of you when Sukuna has his way with you? Will you become a more apathetic version of yourself? Is it possible? Will you sober and feel like scrubbing your skin clean in the shower? 

The worst outcome, you think, is nothing so horrible happening. The worst outcome is knowing you’ve fallen far enough for none of it matters at all. 

Sukuna grins down at you. “What a well-behaved niece I have. Good girl. You’ll do well living with me.” 

You make a displeased face at him, but your breath catches in your lungs soon after. Your uncle leans in to kiss you and you close your eyes trying to get away from it. But it’s true that your body has been burning up from the inside since you came back home - a dull throbbing between your legs turning you all kinds of stupid. 

When Sukuna kisses you - your first thought is that he’s unexpectedly gentle. 

You didn’t think he’d care about kissing to begin with. In your head you thought he’d tug off your shorts brutishly and fuck you without any prep. You were readying yourself for tears and pain, for screaming and crying - the sharp sobs of your own voice piercing your ears. 

A gentle press of lips startles you from your drunk haze. You can feel the scruff of Sukuna’s face on your own, your arms wrapping around his neck instinctively. The taste of cigarettes and something else mildly smokey fill your mouth and make you dizzy. Sukuna tastes like kissing a man - or what you might’ve imagined that to be like. Not a boy, but a man. You feel his strength, your hands splaying at the base of his neck and feeling the faded undercut of his neck, the texture of his dyed hair. His weight shadows you, his strength making you feel fluttery. 

He doesn’t tease you all during the kiss like you’re expecting. Nothing goes the way you expect. He kisses you in slow, short pecks and escalates to his tongue dipping against your lips - a little added element to his deep kisses. He kisses like he’s been doing it for longer than you have, with experience and finesse. You’re all but too conscious of everything little thing. About the sounds you make, about knowing when to breathe, about trying not to get wrapped up in the pleasant euphoria. 

All you can think about is how good he is at it. Effortlessly good. You think part of you latches onto it to avoid thinking about what’s happening. Denial feels pleasurable at least. 

You kiss like that for so long, your lips have swollen - sticky with spit and saliva. Sukuna has a self-satisfied smirk on his face when he pulls away from you, laughing at the flush in your expression. 

You hit him lightly, looking away from his face. 

“It’s a wonder you’ve kept your virginity,” He says, chuckling. “A kiss and a dirty old man like me could’ve taken it from you.” 

“Shut up,” Your reply is weak. He laughs against your mouth, and you can’t get over the intimacy of it. You hope you’re deluding yourself but then he kisses the corner of your mouth. Hot, warm air tickles against your jaw and neck when he presses his lips there too and suddenly it occurs to you how real it is. 

You don’t think your uncle is capable of warmth or love or anything that doesn’t come from coercion. But fondness. Maybe fondness. 

He spends more time doing that than what’s comfortable. Relishes the feeling of you in his arms, his bulge grinding against your clothed cunt but not forcefully. Just with enough pressure to make you gasp once in a while when you don’t have a mind to fight it. 

“I won’t take your virginity tonight,” He says declaratively. It surprises you. “You’ve got three months with me. It’d be boring. I’ll give you something else.” He looks at you then, then grins impishly. “What do you want?” 

Your eyes widen, suddenly unsure of yourself. You push away, brought back to reality by the questions. 

“How would I know?” 

He blinks at you. “I know you said you were a virgin, but did you really mean in everything?” 

You pout at him all of a sudden. “So what. I didn’t have that kind of time.” 

Sukuna barks a laugh. 

“Huh. I thought you were a goody two-shoes out of necessity but you really don’t do a damn thing in that house. Not even a boyfriend to do hand stuff with?” 

“Ugh. No, alright? I don’t have time for that kind of thing like I just said.” 

He laughs a little breathless, sitting up for a minute. You’re wondering what it means for you. Sukuna pulls you up along with him. He sits down again with his legs spread before looking at you. He pulls you into his lap with relative ease, until you’re half-way pressed into him with your legs over his thighs. You stare at him, feeling more exposed in this position. You get a closer view of his neck tattoo, realizing how far down his back it must go. You go to ask him what he’s doing - but he’s undressing you before you can. 

Confident, large hands trapeze down your back as he finds the end of your overwear and pulls it off - leaving you in the microkini you wore to the beach. It barely covers your nipples. You made the choice to wear it, yet seeing Sukuna examine it so closely leaves you wallowing and regretful. Still, he’s silent as he does something similar with your jean-shorts. A hand lifting your legs up enough to roll the cheap, denim shorts and discard them right on the marble floors. 

You’re still half-way over his lap - sitting on his thighs but you’re naked now.

You feel yourself growing self-conscious. Never mind that it’s the first time anyone’s seen you this naked, who exactly you’re showing it to makes you want to throw up. He stares for so long you wonder what he’s thinking, a lazy grin splitting his face. A hand nudges your thighs apart, moving your leg to give Sukuna more access to you. With an arm around your waist, his hand cups your cunt, rubbing it softly. You shift nervously. His thumb moves then, rests at the hood of your clit, pulling up to look closer at it. You hold back any noise as he examines you, bent pointer of the opposite hand brushing over the hair on your skin with a laugh. 

“Unexpectedly, it’s pretty,” He says and your eyes shoot wide open. “Good job brat.” 

“What are you,” You pant, your breath hitching as you close your eyes.”staring so much for it?” 

“It’s mine to stare at.”

You don’t think of your uncle as particularly possessive. It’s more like he believes in that so much, so unshakingly nothing else could be true. You wonder if there’s more to it. He didn’t seem angry even after you told him about seeing a boy. 

But comparing the two, Sukuna outclasses him in all ways that it should matter. He must be confident about that. 

He spreads your thighs a little further. You’re half tucked into his side now - an arm around the back of his neck and shoulders. Sukuna ducks down a little, nudging his nose against your neck and scraping his teeth lightly against your throat. He doesn’t do much other than… touch you. Not directly. His other hand, the one not secured around your waist, rubs at your pussy but not in an attempt to pleasure you. It’s exploratory and intimate. He’s just touching you in a way that’s making you restless. And the angle he’s bent down, the proximity gives you a better view of him. From the side where you sit in his lap, you can see the tattoo again. 

You shudder then, pussy suddenly clenching in a way that leaves you ashamed. Your uncle notices, though he doesn’t look up. 

“Thought of something, brat?” 

“No.” You deny, vehemently. He spanks your pussy but not hard. You jolt in reply, a shock traveling up your spine. 

“C’mon now,” He hums, predatory. “Don’t lie. That’s not fun.” 

“Y-your tattoo,” You say, suddenly feeling the influence of alcohol in a way you hadn’t all evening. “It’s…big.”

“Into bad boys or something, kid?” 

You frown. “You look like a yakuza.” 

This makes him laugh, more genuinely than you’ve ever seen him laugh. “Getting warmer, I guess.” 

You don’t say anything to that. Instead spurred by the sudden confidence. “Why aren’t you…touching me?” 

He looks at you surprised then tilts his head. “Is that what you want? 

“I don’t want any of this but it,” You squirm again. “Feels weird.”

“Sounds like you want something, at least. Go on, tell your oji-san what you want.” 

You scrunch your nose up at him, a familiar feeling of disgusting flitting through you. It fades as quickly as it comes.

“I’ve never put a-anything inside,” You admit, suddenly feeling self-conscious. 

“That so,” He hums. His middle finger slides down the wet seam of your cunt as you tell him this. You nod but you don’t think he’s really listening. His hand is warm, and big - and his fingers are thicker than yours. One of yours may as well make two of his, no end to how imposing he is. You don’t protest as he starts to touch you. You simply take a deep breath, holding onto him a little tighter. 

With your head turned towards him, Sukuna leans in again to kiss you. It’s deep from the beginning this time, and a little rougher. He bites lightly on your lower lips as his middle finger dips down towards your sex. Your insides are throbbing, hot and wet as you feel some friction. It’s the first time anyone else has ever held you in your life, every touched you directly like this. Against your will, your body is sensitive to the stimulus. Everywhere he touches you goes alight, and the kiss makes your tummy flutter. A tender feeling of want spreads you open, tears you apart right in front of him. 

With parted lips and a heavy head, you kiss him as his middle finger dips down low enough to penetrate you. A soft gasp pulls from your throat. 

It doesn’t feel unpleasant.

“I thought it was going to hurt more.” You admit, feeling him inside of you. It’s a new sensation but it’s not bad. 

“It shouldn’t hurt if you’re aroused enough. And wet enough. You seem to be both.” 

You frown at him, face pinching. It’s washed away quickly by the sensation of him pushing deeper. It’s hard to describe it as anything other than feeling something inside of you. Deep in a place you didn’t think it could go. You shake a little, trying to get adjusted. Sukuna does it carefully, slowly - thrusting in even strokes and keeping you focused on kissing so you’re not too conscious of it. 

He’s not thoughtful, not really - but you can tell that he’s going slower for your sake and that makes your heart stammer uncomfortably. The last word you’d ever use for him is kind but he’s not being horrible and it’s unsettling you. 

Once one finger goes in and out smoothly, your uncle starts to add another. You feel it that time, the stretch of it - gasping hard at the sudden sensation. Your breath catches in your lungs, hand clutching at his shoulder for purchase. He pulls away from your mouth, his breath near your ear. 

“Easy, little one. Give it a minute.” 

“It feels different. It’s,” You can’t form the words as two fingers penetrate you in full, slowly being eased inside of you until Sukuna is knuckle deep. Your breath hitches. “Not like it hurts.” 

“It’ll feel good in a second.” He says assuredly, voice smooth and raspy against your ear. You feel combative at his confidence, but then a minute passes of him rubbing along your insides and something strikes against you like lightning. You pause, blinking confused as Sukuna laughs. “There it is,” 

“There what is?” 

“C’mon kid, I know you’re too busy with school but you don’t know something so basic about your own body?” 

“What is it, oh.” 

His other hand toys with your clit, rubbing it in slow circular motions as he gauges your reaction to the touch. You jolt from the sudden pleasure, getting used to it slowly. You didn’t realize how badly it was throbbing to be touched until he does it in full. Your mouth dries up immediately. Little shocks of electricity spark up through you as his hands go full in on your body. The combined pleasure starts to uptick, something building slowly but surely. It goes from not feeling like much to feeling like something. Feeling physical. 

Your mouth drops open in sudden shock, eyes lidded as you moan unabashedly - unable to keep the sound at bay. You own a vibrator, use to cum quick and hard just to curb the feeling. You’ve had orgasms on your own but nothing has ever felt like this before. It’s undeniably satiating, mimics the feeling of eating something and nearly making yourself sick on it. You go slack-jawed, your nerves on fire. 

Two fingers curled against your silken walls and another two toying at the sensitive bundle of nerves between your legs leaves little room in your brain to think. The only thing your body seems to remember is how to moan and whine - make these pathetic little noises you’ve never heard in your life. You didn’t even know you could make. Oddly enough, Sukuna is quiet through it. He makes grunts and little affirmatives but he’s mostly silent. You mostly hear the sound of your own voice. 

The sound of your own wetness. You can feel the sticky sensation of your arousal but you can hear it even better. It’s lewd to listen too, wet smacks mixing with the pathetic bleats of your voice make you feel hot all over. Skin prickling with heat and sensation. 

“I knew you were sensitive but haah. If I would’ve fucked you today, you would have cried.” 

The thought drifts idly by about his cock and your whole lower half reacts to it by going weak. It aches just thinking about anything bigger or longer entering you than his fingers. 

“Figure an insolent little kid like you isn’t much of a crybaby. I’m sure I can make you one.” 

You don’t even think about asking what he means. 

“Feels,” You make a gasping noise, body suddenly going tense. “Hngh, fuck. Feels so good, holy fuck.” 

He groans a little. “I’m being too nice to you. I really should be balls deep in your cunt already and I’m not. You gonna cum for me, huh brat?” 

You nod your head dumbly, unable to retort. To think of anything but the sensation washing over you.”Go on. Do it. Cum for your perverted oji-san.”  

Something about the depravity of it sets your mind numb. Your body goes tight, every nerve firing off at once as you grip onto his shoulder and let the feeling of euphoria wash over you. Your whole body is so stimulated it’s numbing. The feeling of pleasure crashes into you, leaves your spine arching - mouth dropped open and nearly screaming. Your sanity melts, fades off completely and your brain feels like it’s gone empty. You close your eyes so hard little splashes of white show up in your vision, like you’re seeing T.V. static. 

You think you scream. You don’t know. You just know that you’re cumming, hard, just from his hands and you’re terrified of what else he’s good at. You don’t think it boils down to sensitivity as the waves of your first orgasm ripple through your body. 

You lay in his arms, sweaty and limp. Your vision is blurry with tears as you open them to look at him. Sukuna is rubbing your side, taking his fingers into his mouth. You look at him surprised as he does. He grins. 

“Tastes good, kid.”

You flush. “Shut up.” 

“Don’t think I’m done with you quite yet.”

Sukuna guides your hand to his pants, over his bulge. You gasp a little at it. His size through clothes is astounding to you. 

“I’m not so generous to leave with nothing, you know.” He pats your thigh, moving you from his lap. “I’ve got a better idea than trying to teach you anything today, so try to hold still.” 

You don’t know what he’s talking about until he guides you on the floor. You’re confused until you feel him position you  - facing towards the couch with your knees spread on the floor. In doggy, you realize a little too late, your upper-half supported by the couch cushion. You feel more confused than you felt a moment ago. 

Sukuna positions himself behind you. You can’t see him, but you can hear the soft rustle of his clothes moving as he stands on his knees behind you. More than that, you can feel his cock resting on your bare ass. You gasp, feeling the weight and size slide against your curves. Sukuna does a breathy little laugh at your reaction. He’s huge. 

“Don’t cry kid. I told you I wasn’t gonna put it in tonight and I meant that,” He hums. His hands come to your hips, all of a sudden pushing them together. “Push your thighs together as tight as you can.” 

You listen to him. You can do it with some effort despite how weak your body feels. You lean forward on the couch for support, bringing your knees together and pressing your thighs. You don’t understand what it’s for until something hard pressing along your spine moves down the curve of your ass. You gasp aloud as his thick cock pushes between your thighs, tip catching against your swollen clit. Your whole body is covered in goosebumps. Sukuna moans low in his throat, resting his head on your shoulder. 

“Fuck, that’s it.” He hums, sounding pleased. “Keep them tight for me, alright girl? Try to at least.” 

Sukuna is wordless as he grips your hips, your flesh dimpling under his bruising grip. You're silent, your voice threatening to spill again as you try your best to listen to him. You keep yourself tight and firm, your hands gripping the couch cushions as Sukuna pushes his cock between the fat of your thighs and starts a pace.

The angle makes you gasp, body feeling weak at the way it touches your clit with each bump. Sukuna doesn’t hold back at all. You’re not being penetrated but the weight behind each of his thrusts makes you feel like you’re being fucked. The bruising sensation of skin against skin - the hard muscles of his own legs smacking against the softness of your thighs. 

Most embarrassing is the way the position makes you conscious of your uncle's cock. You knew he was huge before, but the way he’s thrusting. Where it reaches when he does thrust makes your throat feel nearly tight. You can’t stop thinking about the fact it’ll be inside you. You can’t imagine taking it in your hands - the girth and length of it fucking impossible. And he wants to fuck you with it? Take your virginity? 

He’ll stretch you so open if he does. You can barely think of it fitting in you. When you do, your whole body shudders in a horrible and pathetic way - a new wave of arousal striking a strange chord. As he bumps and ruts against your clit and your mind fills with such lewd images, a new wave of lust starts to pour through you. 

It’s unhelped by the feeling of Sukuna’s cock - getting so close. The throbbing with each thrust and the low, throaty groans he keeps vocalizing against your ear. All of it proves to be too much for you. It shocks you when you feel yourself grow hot all over again. Not even being touched directly and so soon after your first - a mere few minutes. 

And you find yourself with all your muscles tight, your hand reaching back for Sukuna as you plant your face against the cushions and let him fuck hard between your thighs. You feel incoherent, stupid and so fucking horny. You’ve never experienced it. You can’t think of what to moan, so you choose his name. 

This makes him laugh as he bends over you, his teeth biting your shoulder blades. 

“Gonna cum again from this brat? Aren’t you fucking easy? Come on, cum with me. Just like that, take it. Fuck, that’s it. Good. Good girl.” 

It’s the last bit of tension that pushes you over the edge, whether you care to admit it. Your voice breaks as a second orgasm washes through you - more intense but much shorter than the first and you nearly fall limp. You only barely manage to hold yourself up as your uncle keeps thrusting relentlessly. 

You can feel him twitch hard between your thighs when his orgasm finally hits. You shake as you feel him squish the tip between your thighs - hot ropes of cum spurting against the swollen mound of your cunt and dripping down your thighs as he finishes. He smacks your ass as he finishes, making you yelp. Your whole body is rife with exhaustion, finally coming down from high-highs and low-lows. 

“We’re gonna have a lot of fun together for the next few months kid,” He says, almost affection in his words. You’re too exhausted to reply, looking at him over your shoulder. “Let’s get along and do our best.” 

“You’re a sick-fuck, oji-san.” 

“And you’re a whole lot like me, aren’t you kid?.” 

[perpetualcontrolleddrowning]

The point is that they don't fall into the trap of an oppressive society

Svsss power dynamics are absolutely wild, and I've seen another post mention that already, about how every time you think you're seeing a fucked up dynamic, it's actually three layers deeper and flipped and more imbalanced than you could ever imagine

But the point! Is that they live in an environment that is Always giving each character some power over the other person in the relationship! And none of them ever use it

The novel is critiquing these power trip fantasies and the exploitation often seen as inherent in porn and BL and wish fulfillment stories

Sqq was lbh's teacher. There is often abuse inherent in the teacher/student dynamic. Sqq never even considers lbh as a romantic option until they have been apart for years and there is no age gap

Lbh has a tracking device on sqq and the ability to seize control of sqq's body at any time. He never uses this and only wields his blood parasites to heal

Mbj is sqh's boss who regularly heaps too much work onto him and would physically attack him. Mbj's role as boss is never utilized to coerce or manipulate sqh into a romantic relationship. Mbj was engaging in demonic bonding activities that were acceptable within his culture and stopped the Moment he realized that it was not received that way

Sqh invented the world and created his dream man who he is now romancing. He could be considered a god. It could be wish fulfillment. He uses his knowledge to protect mbj's kingdom and mbj himself and takes up a servants role

There are a thousand other tropes in this book like this. You hear student/teacher, god/creation, body control, fuck-or-die, demon lord/prisoner, age difference, corpse in bed, boss/employee, King/servant. You think you know what kind of book this will be, what kind of abuse and power differences there will be

But the point is that they all just love each other instead! The world is Constantly giving them the opportunity to abuse each other, manipulate, take power over another person. And the point is that they all choose to ignore those customs. The teacher just wants to relax and live a simple life. The god wants to serve. The king learns to serve. The demon lord wants nothing more than to leave it all behind and become a housewife

And it works! They get their happy ending! They fix the world by refusing the opportunities to exploit and abuse others

It's beautiful! And it also makes it absolutely impossible to recommend this novel to anyone!

[lambmotifz]

re: looking for examples of sam being manipulative and controlling over dean.

i think most people who have this interpretation focus a lot on sams resistance and anger directed towards johns refusal of his independence. sam is a complex and well rounded character. i think people are used to applying how a character reacts to one character as how they will react towards all characters, so they made up domsam. dean and john are both paternal figures to sam who have control over his autonomy, but sam GIVES that to dean whereas he fights john. the difference is the codependency.

in the first season sam argued with dean over him going back to stanford so i can see where they think the overlap is. sam will put up a fight but ultimately he submits to dean pretty much all of the time.

also i think they think sam telling dean that he needs him in his life is emotional manipulation. (whether it is or isnt kind of doesnt matter when you compare it to dean) sam is more in touch with his emotions so they take that as sam purposely guilting dean into doing what sam wants. and then they just ignore how actually abusive dean is towards sam. physically AND emotionally.

overall i think its selective blindness towards the characters they prefer. and i think there are a lot of people who only watched the first couple of seasons and rely too much of their interpretation on those early episodes.

YES. 100% all of this. i’ve noticed that people who think sam has more power than dean usually only care about their early seasons dynamic and apparently don’t consider anything past it as canon. sam was more independent in s1 but it doesn’t erase the fact that their dynamic changed with time and became more nuanced and power imbalanced. you can enjoy their s1 relationship without caring much about other seasons, but saying “they’re equal” or “sam is dominating” when most of your examples are from s1 is just wrong. because their post s1 relationship is very different from what they had in early s1. their post s1 (and especially s4-5) dynamic blatantly mirrors dean and john’s, with dean becoming more like john, needing more & more power/control over sam, and sam preferring to submit more & more often

[flicklikesstuff]

(⚠️TW! Mentions of Abuse)

………..

I hate to see/hear people react to Husk’s situation with:

“Alastor doesn’t abuse him, he only threatened him once.” OR

“At least it’s not as bad as Angel’s!”

Uhhhh…no?? We shouldn’t be comparing 2 abusive scenarios as which one is worse? Also, what do you MEAN he’s not being abused??? Do y’all know what abuse is?

……

1. Alastor literally threatened his life.

2. Husk suffers emotional stress being under his control.

He’s downright shaking in fear. In non-abusive relationships, this shouldn’t happen.

3. Alastor constantly degrades Husk.

“You may own my soul, but I ain’t your f*cking pet.”

“Oh, but you are~”

||

“You think I’m some kind of f*cking clown?!”

“Maybe.”

4. Husk gets repeatedly forced to do stuff against his will.

“You’d actually think I’d be here cleaning bottles and listening to you f*cks, b*tch and moan all the time if he weren’t forcing me?”

5. Power is imbalanced in this dynamic. Alastor felt the need to put Husk in his place.

6. Alastor dismisses his concerns.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle. Don’t worry Husker.”

7. Alastor gives no shts interfering with Husk’s achievements.

“I was about to win the whole damn pot-!”

“Good to see you too!”

………..

Plus, even if it’s presumably a one time occurrence, it’s still the same thing. A single act or a cycle is still considered harmful. But I personally have a feeling this isn’t the first time Alastor lashed out.

“N-nothing! I- uh…l

Husk looked and acted very panicked before Alastor started walking his way. Like he knew what direction this is going already. He even attempted to backtrack. I feel like if it was the first time, then he would’ve been more surprised and stunned into silence. But I interpreted his reaction as if he’s already familiar to this situation already.

I’m just saying, just because the show only showed it onscreen once, doesn’t mean it probably hasn’t happened before.

……….

Back to the main thing at hand,

Anything that treats the other person with cruelty or force qualifies as abuse. If the intention is to exert control and power, manipulate, or retain someone against their will, then that is abusive behavior.

You can try and argue that this kind of thing is common in hell.

Argue that it’s not as physical and constant as Angel’s.

Argue that Husk signed up for this and it’s part of his soul contract.

Still doesn’t take away the fact that Husk is still being emotionally abused. So you can stop defending your precious deer baby. You’re still allowed to like him as one of your fav characters but just don’t brush this one over.

[beevean]

I keep not understanding what exactly are Lenector shippers seeing in their "dynamic". At least they agree that it had poor development, but then what is the appeal?

If you like the abusive, toxic, manipulative, imbalanced, BDSM, "good boy" part of S3, there's none of it in S4. Hector and Lenore talk like good friends, without a hint of their previous sexual tension, unless her puerile dick jokes are what passes as tension now.

If you like them as foils, if you see Lenore as the only person who has ever been kind to Hector, if you think it's romantic that the two want to protect each other in S4, then you have to ignore or justify Lenore's previous physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse of Hector.

And if the appeal is the "development" (which one of these commenters called "enemies/lovers", literally where, Hector was never Lenore's enemy, he was her victim)... then it sucks majorly. There is no development. There's a switch! Like someone changed the radio station! It's jarring! And there is no good way to fill in the gaps without downplaying the horrible things Lenore did to Hector, or without justifying them because "she only meant well 🥺 it was the best solution 🥺", which makes me want to tear my face off my skull.

In fact... Lenore really didn't develop at all. I talked before about Hector in S4, who regressed to the point where he'd want Dracula back just to feel better about his mistakes and never addresses his apathy towards humanity or his tendency to cling to people who give him scraps of appreciation, but a similar thing happened to Lenore. Remember these wonderful lines:

"Oh, shush, you were having fun."

"I'm sorry for everything you went through."

Lenore doesn't care. She doesn't care that she has hurt Hector, that she has used his feelings to lie to his face and force him into an arrangement he hadn't consented to. She doesn't apologize for her own actions. She doesn't even try to explain herself, only retorting Hector's understandable irritation at the ring against him - "well you got hard, what are you complaining about?". Because that's what relationships are in this show: nothing but "cute" banter meant to camouflage abuse.

Oh, she wants to "protect him"? Big deal. She still doesn't seem him like a person who can be hurt by her actions. She still fits the description of vampiric love Carmilla gave in S2. He's still her pet in her eyes, even if she does nothing with it. Nothing has changed. She has just lost sexual interest in him, because now it's no longer fun to put a leash on him and talk to him like a dog. She got what she wanted, so now there's no point in flirting and being nice to him :)

Lenore is nothing more than a power-hungry coward when you read between the lines, less interested in power over the world (which she dislikes) and more in power over singular people. She's happy to beat Hector to an inch of his life when he's weak and in a cell, to prove that she's not to be underestimated, but when she is in a cage, she won't attempt a damn thing to flee it or protect herself from Isaac. She stops molesting flirting with Hector once he gains more confidence, because flirting for her is a mere weapon to psychologically bend someone to her will. After she "solved Hector's problem", she does nothing but whine because she doesn't know what to do, because she feels useless - her spending time with Hector seems nice on the surface, but it might also be seen as her going to be a brat to the only one willing to tolerate her. And, of course, the dialogue frames her choice to kill herself not as her being horrified at her own nature and what it has lead her to do, because villains in this show get to be painted as tragic without doing the work to earn it (*coughcoughdraculaandisaac*), but as her wanting to flee her cage - her position of powerlessness. Not even spending a few more decades with Hector, the man she supposedly has grown to care about and who only wants her in his life, is worth not being in total control.

And the clincher? This doesn't sound bad for a villain! Selfish and pathetic at the same time, under a veneer of "kindness" or "good intentions": that's interesting! And if this had been intended, good job for not spelling it out like I'm stupid, allowing me to put the pieces together? Problem is, the story and its fans insist that actually Lenore is a great person and she really liked Hector no really they should have stayed together and married each other because aren't they so uwu and 🥺 and why couldn't the story give the abusive rapist a second chance 🥺

And I can't see it. I can't. The deeper I look into this story, the more rot I unearth. And it's definitely not because I don't like unhealthy ships; in fact it's precisely because of it that I think this example is terrible. I haven't even touched other issues such as how I don't care for the power imbalance because I'm prevented from caring for the lump of flesh in the shape of Hector in S3 lol.

And to be honest, the more I see fans complaining about the lack of screentime, the more I suspect that the appeal of Lenector is the same as Trephacard's: you get to make shit up in your head and ignore what the screen shows you. Which sure you can do that, but then the actual story doesn't deserve praise, does it?

[jaskierx]

people fundamentally misunderstanding what abuse even is all for the sake of arguing about fictional characters and being an abuse apologiser kind of actually drives me crazy like. real people get abused. and these idiots who do this are going to end up repeating violent rhetoric that will be harmful and actively put people in danger by normalising something like "you can't be abused if you fight back against your abuser because that's also abuse" or "abuse is when someone physically larger physically hurts someone who is smaller" or something. ("abuse is when the scary brown man hurts the defenseless small white man")

like 😭? ed holds a certain degree of authority over izzy as his captain and someone izzy projects his own fantasies onto, but izzy holds an IMMENSE amount of power over ed, and has for a while and maybe even ALWAYS has been building it up, and that fantasy plays into it. abuse occurs when someone holds power over another person and misuses that power and causes them harm, even if that person is "unaware" they're doing it... it's not complex and it's nothing to do with what's "typical", a parent can abuse their offspring, an adult child can abuse their parent. it's about the power dynamic. their relationship is incredibly imbalanced and it's always been in IZZY'S favour, his role is LITERALLY meant to liken to like an evil advisor whispering in ed's ear – an imbalanced, toxic dynamic where ed is the victim with false control over the situation, because the entire point is izzy wants him to be The Best He Can Be (a ruthless pirate).

izzy eventually getting hurt physically in retaliation isn't ABUSE because ed isn't enacting what little authority he does have over izzy (who allows him to have it as izzy finds perverse joy in SEEING ed use that authority against him and Be the fantasy he wants ed to be), he's just fucking retaliating to being taunted by someone who hates him. izzy got physically hurt, sure, but he was not ever scared of or threatened by ed, ed did not hold any further power over him other than the fear in any man's mind who knew they fucked around and found out and got fucking shot for it.

when ed severed their connection with that bullet he severed izzy's hold over him to a vast degree, but that still doesn't mean he then held an equal amount of power over izzy in his place. and ed even had the insane heart to actually feel bad about hurting him and forgive him for everything else 😭. izzy literally acknowledges this IN THE SHOW. it's actually concerning the lengths people will go to defend an aspect of a character that is written in the damn script (izzy is a toxic manipulative cunt who wants to control everything ed does who eventually stops doing that because he knows he went too far).

anyway. sorry for that. good morning ^_^

good morning anon you are correct and you should say it

it absolutely baffles me like how the fuck are you going to be so committed to banging a drum for your shitty fave that you end up posting stuff with real world implications about who can and cannot be a victim of abuse

like even without the nonsense the take was full of headcanon and weird analogies anyway (like it's useless to compare being a pirate captain to owning a house. those are fundamentally different things. turns out piracy doesn't neatly map onto 'normal' life today. who knew!)

but the lengths that people will go to to declare that izzy did nothing wrong after the show has looked them in the eyes and said 'the narrative is telling you that izzy was wrong'??

i'm so glad they killed him off bc i cannot cope with another season of shit like this. i patiently await their exit from the fandom tbh

[akanposting]

ESTELLE ROGERS (shown here late teens - early twenties)

Writing Estelle has been tricky. Her character doesn't get much development in the film, and she's not present in the Hardcore Akan comic to get any backstory, so she's kind of a blank canvas. But boy oh boy do I have plans for her……..

Pre-Akan, she is the daughter of a disgraced political family from the US. Her parents were both high level federal representatives, arrested on fraud and embezzlement charges when she was around 17 or 18 years old, so her life up until that point has been pretty cushy. She still has money, a home, education resources and will get by just fine, but the constant hounding by US media outlets for a sound bite about her parents would be enough to drive anyone insane.

Estelle moves to England for university where she studies bio-mechanical engineering. She graduates near the top of her class, and thanks to her parents’ overseas connections she is able to secure a research job at a top biotech company (rivaling Akan Inc.) in Russia right after she graduates.

Her political upbringing means she has been training all her life for public appearances and first impressions. She is charismatic, graceful, and can talk her way into (or out of) anything. It also means she’s power hungry and will do whatever it takes to get back on top, which includes (but is not limited to) securing her place as one half of a Power Couple with everyone's favorite billionaire CEO.

Her relationship with Akan is… complex, to put it simply. Estelle is about 10 years younger than Akan, and their courtship begins as what I can only describe as an HR nightmare with more NDAs than necessary. They are insufferably affectionate when they’re together and rarely seen apart outside of work. Rumors circulate about their union being a PR stunt but they are very much in love and are just… like that. They are codependent, obsessive, possessive, and toxic to everyone but especially each other. BUT I do want to make it clear that no one is being taken advantage of in this situation and Estelle is fully aware of the imbalanced power dynamic (and is probably into it).

Akan is already a terrible person but they can make each other worse, somehow.

[evilwriter37]

The crazy thing is that I ship Vigcup but at the same it’s hard to imagine them. I feel like they wouldn’t be emotional or physical to one another but some bickering. Every time I write I’d always put ooc. I mean there might be unbalanced power dynamics but that’s kinda it, they are going at each others throats and then say thank you if the problem is solves. 😂

I ship them so hard but I gotta be honest with myself. They are not having dinner with each other, they are trying to make each other dragon dinner.

Also about the power imbalance, they’d be just imbalancing each other if that’s the right way to say it. Never one sided like Viggo being more powerful over Hiccup. Like Hiccup being more favorable because of his kindness or favorable for being an heir than a chief that calls himself a “business man”. Or that Hiccup’s dad puts him on a pedestal more than Viggo can with himself. Like who is more favorable to get better privileges, the one who is closer to the heavens or the one closer to hell or so to speak.

I personally think it’s canon that Viggo had feelings for Hiccup. It’s obviously never said outright, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of moments where it’s shown that Viggo is interested in Hiccup for more than just his intellect. (But of course, that’s what drew him in.)

Hiccup, on the other hand, has mixed feelings about Viggo, (though canonically none of those are romantic.)

Idk, I feel like I still write both of them pretty in character for the situations I put them in. Most of the time. And hey, fanfic is about putting those guys in situations that we don’t see in canon. Like, that’s the whole point.

As for the power imbalance, there are definitely times in the series where it exists, (and not because of age.) It has more to do with the fact of who has who captured and who has what information. Hiccup learns from his mistakes with Viggo and kind of evens out the playing field.

[kbirbpods]

Voiceteam 2024 has brought about the need for a new pinned Dear Podficcer Letter! This is kind of a year-round one of sorts for ease of access. This are the fandoms/tropes/etc that I always love, not just what I am hyperfixated on! For events I tend to focus on hyperfixations + always have the section about what I will make outside of my wants ~

So, please look below the cut for my general letter.

Recent-ish letters: Purimgifts '24 | ITPE '23 | Summer Swap '23

Things I Like, Regardless of Fandom:

THEMES: trans/nonbinary characters (extra points for neopronouns); gender exploration in general; found family (genfic or otherwise); angst with a happy ending; polyamory; good asexual or aromantic representation; genfic

TROPES: fix-it fics!! extra points for time travel or time loops in fix its; fake dating/marriage; mutual pining; soulmates (AU or just clearly soulmates); crack treated seriously; rivals-to-friends/lovers; oops only one bed; secret identities

CROSSOVERS!

AUs: soulmates soulmates soulmates; regency era (or any different era); modern AU; crossovers, provided i know the other fandom or the fic doesn’t require knowledge of the other fandom!; college/sport AU; fantasy/fae AUs

Star Wars AUs/Tropes (yes they need their own categories): no Order-66/Order-66 happens differently; force sensitive clones; Jon Antilles lives; [insert clone here] lives; Anakin doesn’t fall; Palpatine dies; Domino Squad Lives; force sensitive Leia; modern AUs; trans clones

PODFIC SPECIFIC: anything epistolary (texting/chat fics especially but letters and such are also fun to explore); including music / SFX if you’re comfortable; including bloopers if you have them/are comfortable exposing them

RATINGS: Contrary to popular belief I do not hate explicit fics so really any rating but I generally prefer G-M because I can be picky about what explicit content I’m absorbing.

Do Not Wants (triggers, squicks, please no):

major archive warnings (major character death is okay so long as it’s temporary and resolved); unhappy endings; I really don’t like pregnancy, which includes MPREG (I like omegaverse dynamics minus that aspect) - kidfic is cool I just don’t want pregnancy as a theme & especially not graphic depictions of it; suicide/self-harm “on screen” (mentions of past suicidal ideation/self harm are fine if not a flashback/graphic); non-/dub-con or any depictions of rape (once again, recovery is okay if done well); adult/minor relationships or relationships with unaddressed/starkly imbalanced power dynamics; any sort of poorly depicted mental health tropes (no BPD or other personality disorder bashing, no institutionalization, no “split personality” as a trope) - i really like explorations of PTSD/trauma but it has to be handled with fidelity and gentleness; and I have a random trigger about cockroaches

as a note: I do not like slave!fic but acknowledge that the situation of the clones is, at it’s core, a form of slavery. so while i ask for slave!fic AUs to be fully avoided, I do appreciate fics that tackle that aspect of the Clone Wars series with tact, fidelity, and honesty.

Fandoms & Characters I Would Love to Receive:

Star Wars: I love so much Star Wars that to split them like I did on AO3 would make this post too long. I think it’s easiest to say this: I prefer Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One/Andor, anything about Jon Antilles, anything about Hevy & the Domino Squad, anything Ahsoka Tano, Mandalorian culture (including Din & Grogu content!), and Mandoa as a language.

My main ships are: Cody/Obi-Wan, Kallus/Zeb, Hevy/anyone (consensual), Finn/Poe or Finn/Poe/Rey, blackkat rarepairs (mainly Jon Antilles/anyone), Jon Antilles & Fay (platonic), Waxer/Boil, Fives/Echo, Kanan/Hera, Quinlan/Fox(/Jon), Quinlan/Obi-Wan(/Cody), & Fox/Bail/Breha [also Clone OC ships!!] My favorite characters are: Hevy, Fox, Cody, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Leia, Poe, Fives, Luke, Jon Antilles, Fay (Legends)

Ted Lasso: My favorite ships are Roy/Keeley/Jamie, Ted/Trent, Roy/Keeley, and Jamie/Dani. Ted & Rebecca as platonic soulmates/besties in general. I love explorations of how much Dr. Jacob sucks and fix-its for the ending!

Batfam/DC: I can be picky and yet not? Basically, I just prefer no inner-Batfam fics of the boys because I truly view them as brothers. Jason is my boy forever & always. My favorite ships are Jason Todd/Roy Harper(/Kori), Dick Grayson/Wally West, Harley/Ivy, Tim Drake/Kon, Tim/Bernard, Tim/Kon/Bernard, and Wally/Artemis from Young Justice. This is the fandom that I specifically am obsessed with found family in. – I love exploring Alfred being the boys’ Grandpa and Bruce’s complex dadhood!

The Locked Tomb: I’m definitely Gideon/Harrow on main; I really like fics where one or both of them are trans/nonbinary. Nona is my favorite character so explorations of her found family (the household or the friends or all of them) are important to me. Cam/Pal is important to me. I love modern AUs a lot.

Our Flag Means Death: Obviously Blackbeard/Stede is a big deal and I ship it forever. But my heart belongs to Jim/Olu and any explorations of Jim’s gender identity! Pining Izzy Hands makes me weak, as long as he’s not being abusive towards Edward or Stede, so Izzy/Ed or Izzy/Ed/Stede is always choice.

ATLA: Always and forever a Zuko/Sokka shipper, specifically obsessed with found family in this, gen fic exploring the universe at all is super important to me!!!

All for the Game: Jean/Jeremy forever and always. I will always always eat up Jerejean fics. Of course Andrew/Neil. Renee/Allison. Andrew/Neil/Kevin is perfection. And really just... Gen fics around the Foxes or Trojans will always bring me so much joy.

A RARE ASK: I am super into both Dragon Age & Mass Effect. The former is much easier to find fandom for and there are a lot of fics with blanket permission statements. For Dragon Age, DA:O is my favorite (especially Alistair) or any sort of Hawke!centric fics. But in April 2024 I became re-obsessed with Mass Effect & anticipate it lasting a while. My rare ask is for Mass Effect fics - specifically Shep/Garrus or Shep/Liara (or them as a triad). Or gen fic!! But I feel like I am on an island here lol

MISC OTHERS: The Old Guard; First Kill; The Adventure Zone (Balance & Amnesty); Red, White and Royal Blue; Good Omens; The Tarot Sequence; Teen Wolf; Fallout (New Vegas, Fo4, & the show); Legend of Zelda; and Buffy (especially genfic & crossovers).

Authors with BP that I love, as a starting point:

Flowerparrish, trixree, wanderingjedihistorian, hoebiwan, blackkat, cac0daemonia, elismor_aswell, SunsetsOverLA, friendoftheJabberwock

[mermaidsirennikita]

The enemies to lovers trope has been distorted way to much, practically anything is considered enemies to lovers when in fact is not enemies to lovers

Can I be real real right now? The idea that "enemies to lovers must have an equal power balance between the lovers" is uh... not real. I've been a fan of enemies to lovers since I was a fan of anything. I've watched more movies and shows than I can even begin to count. I've read more romance novels (and non-romance novels!) featuring EtL than I care to admit. I've consumed it in so many genres, so many eras of production. In kids' media, in YA, in content for adults. Long-form, short-form. Open door, close door, whatever. With or without an HEA.

While an equal power balance may be a thing that YOU as an individual (not you, anon, the general you lol) want out of EtL--and that is okay! I endorse people finding their joy, and honestly, if You've Got Mail is EtL for YOU, whatever, I can't see that but chase your bliss--this has never been a universal requirement of EtL. It just isn't lol. In many forms of media, EtL gets DARK and always has! And that's okay.

I see that the rhetoric has shifted to the idea that if the power balance is not equal, one party is oppressed and the other is the oppressor, and like... I don't think a power imbalance inherently equals this (because there is a lot of territory you can cover between "are not on an equal playing field" and "one is oppressing the other") but sometimes, yeah. That is the case.

And I don't think you're a bad person or that it's inherently wrong to enjoy that dynamic.

I say this because I read historical romance, and if you want to get super real about it, on a basic level essentially any m/f historical romance ship in any form of media is oppressor/oppressed because men have historically oppressed women. (I mean. Men still oppress women. But I'm talking about "the heroines in historical romance novels usually do not have significant legal rights" here.) Whether or not the characters are enemies to lovers, the hero is legally an oppressor on some level. Unless, MAYBE, he's completely broke and lower class and she is rich and upper class; but even then, once they're married? In most of these settings, he has the ability to acquire and use her funds and control her bodily and legally.

I feel.... that is.... kind of the point.

Because while there are many reasons why people get into these imbalanced power dynamics, I believe that many consumers (and I'm definitely thinking of historical romance readers who love a horrible alpha, like ME) enjoy seeing the person with more power broken down. (Would recommend Fated Mates's episode on the Alpha hero, by the way, it has a great discussion of this.) We want to see them lose the power, bend the knee, become powerless and at the mercy--emotionally, physically, or both--of the other party.

Is that not the appeal of the grovel, often? Seeing the person who should have done better and had the power to do better and didn't completely shattered and begging for forgiveness?

And look dude, there are a lot of things I absolutely will not mess with. I'm never going to be down with, say, the type of dynamic you'll see in a movie like Palm Trees in the Snow. But that's kind of the point. Not all of these things are the same.

Some things are absolutely not okay, and I would side-eye people who are into them. But I don't think you can look at like... a very BROAD concept and go "if you do it in this very broad way that covers a million angles, you are bad" without missing a lot of nuance.

I also feel like a lot of this often comes down to some people actually just disliking certain ships and using these qualifiers to make people who ship those things look bad, and that's just not my game anymore lol. I mean, I try not to do that anymore.

[the-owl-tree]

don’t have any opinions on it other than surface level skepticism but enjoying tigerdove is kind of similar to mothpool for me. is the age gap and power dynamics weird? absolutely. are both of them related? nnnnnnno? I don’t think so? also I don’t think tigerheart ever manipulated or hurt dovewing did he? I skipped all of po3 + oots because I don’t like lion jay or holly

I'm not really like. aware of the age gap or power dynamic you're referring to with Mothpool. The claims of them being related are also like....not true lol Sandstorm has no canonical family within the books, I still don't know why that's argued that somehow because of some off-hand comment the authors made that it is now suddenly akin to "shipping" incest. idk, I find a lot of the backlash behind Mothpool to be a bit manufactured but that's me.

Tigerdove though....def get why people don't like it and don't want to see it. They start off as friends and pair up when she's older, she cuts things off when he betrays her trust (i think he told his Clan something she said to him? either way the fact she can tell him to fuck off without fear of repercussion is good) and they get back together when he's begun to mature and repair that trust. Rhe presence of an imbalanced power dynamic isn't always equatable to an exploited power dynamic, Dovewing and Tigerheartstar seem to do just fine in comparison to, uh, another couple. but you know, obvious disclaimer, people are fair to not like it, i like their build up when they're older more.

[malfoycest]

What are your thoughts on Snape's relationship to the Malfoy family? There's a lot of different reads + built-up fanon around Snape&/Lucius and Snape+Draco, and I'd be curious to hear your take if you feel like answering.

As usual, I don't really go by fanon. Fanon does get one thing right, though, which is that Lucius and Severus were friends: Severus reacts to his name when Harry names him as Death Eater in GoF, Narcissa names him as Lucius's old friend (but not hers), and Snape heavily favors Draco in his classes. I find their friendship very interesting to think about, firstly because it's atypical in the sense that Severus is a poor half-blood and Lucius is very much not and is even the kind of person we've come to expect to be prejudiced against that sort of thing, and secondly because of how it falls apart over the course of the story.

The class differences are why I do not think that Severus would have been named as Draco's godfather. It's probably largely a symbolic role in wizard society, as in our own, but that doesn't meant that it would be likely (If I had to guess, I'd put Draco's godfather down as either Rodolphus or Mr. Nott). I also don't think that Lucius wouldn't have implicit prejudices against Severus, as they live in very very different worlds. But in some ways I think that the Inner Circle of the Death Eaters is an equalizer . . . and Lucius has a history of not discriminating against half-bloods like Bellatrix does (he works with Rita and Dolores, both confirmed by Word of God as half-bloods, and was willing to follow Harry if he was a new Dark Lord) and in my opinion he at least suspected that Voldemort was, seeing as he would've seen the name "Tom Riddle" in the diary he was given. I think he's in a unique position to genuinely appreciate Severus's (copious) talent and he would also find him genuinely funny while being willing to look on his parentage as his mother's mistake (it also helps here that Severus is descended from a pure-blood family with influence and history, even if he doesn't have the family name. The Malfoys and Princes very possibly intermarried at some point in the past, too.)

We don't actually find out how close they were, but they were close enough that Narcissa thought she could go to him when Draco was in danger. Whether this is because he and Lucius were particularly close (as in, closer than the way Lucius and Severus both knew Igor Karkaroff) or because of Severus's proximity to Draco we don't know, but she does explicitly invoke his relationship with Lucius. Lucius also speaks positively of him to Dolores Umbridge. While I have significant reservations on the levels of affection/loyalty they have for each other, as we'll see, I do love their dynamic and yes I think it's at least plausible they could've fucked.

It's hard to lay out a timeline of their relationship, because all we get are SCRAPS! I'll try to be clear where I'm editorializing and where I'm pointing out canon incidents. The first one is when we see Lucius patting Severus on the back when he gets sorted, showing that he's generally amiable to even impoverished Slytherin first-years. There's basically nothing else on their relationship at this point, but it's very worth noting two of Severus's character traits: attraction to power and desire to be validated by male authority figures in his life. I refuse to believe that Lucius wasn't his first real crush on a man! Beyond that, their relationship would've been at least implicitly imbalanced in the early years, first with Lucius as a Prefect and then as an adult and then as someone in the Dark Lord's favor - and of course on top of all that being a politically influential rich kid. (Snucius opportunity: teenager Severus being coaxed into sexual activity with a much (5y) older boy. Hot, in my opinion, and sketchy as fuck. Checks out as being the sort of thing Lucius might plausibly do and the sort of thing Severus might plausibly enjoy). I imagine Lucius as the first authority figure to genuinely appreciate Severus, or make him feel appreciated and welcomed in general, which would do wonders for a neglected kid. It also explains why they're friends despite some inherent mismatch in their personalities.

However at some point these dynamic became more equal; Lucius doesn't treat Severus any more like a lackey than he treats anyone else. Severus eventually got Marked by Voldemort, became the youngest Hogwarts Professor, and - here's the elephant in the room with them - in 1981 sold him out with everyone else he knew at the time to the Order in order to save Lily's life. Which brings me to my next kind of killjoy point: this was a war. Lucius was facing life in Azkaban or the Dementor's Kiss if Severus's information lead to his capture; Severus was facing Lucius torturing him to death if he was found out. Also, imo, the reason Severus turns his back on the Death Eaters for Lily is that Lily was the first truly no-strings-attached true friendship and relationship and likely the only one that he ever had. And as much as Lucius liked Severus, that man does not do "no strings attached loyalty." I do not think they were what we would imagine as "best friends" or "found family." YMMV on how disillusioned with the Death Eaters Severus was before he went to Dumbledore, but he certainly wasn't risking his life spying for the Order before Lily was put in danger. But . . . I do think they genuinely cared about one another. And they're both bisexual so they could have sex, even though Lucius is . . . way out of his league, unfortunately.

But Lucius escapes Azkaban when the Dark Lord falls and stays friends with Severus (who has Dumbledore's confidence but didn't get anyone arrested, not that Lucius seems to care with how he and Igor get along) for the interim. All we know is that Severus favors Draco when he comes to Hogwarts, but I think they were probably hanging out. Maybe exchanging some nasty poisons and hot Dark Arts tips. Talking about Draco. Etc.

There's no way that Severus knew about Lucius's diary schemes, or Dumbledore would've known, so there were certainly limits to his confidence. I think this was a tipping point in their relationship and very likely one of the things Dumbledore brought up to convince Severus to so ruthlessly sell out his former friend. Lucius is, genuinely, ruthlessly murdering Severus's students. Does Severus like his students? No, not particularly, but by this point I think he's grown some actual morals. These students aren't any older than Lily when she was at Hogwarts - if she was there, she would've been targeted. Lucius isn't any worse than he was in the 70s, but I put this down as a moment that sparked or lit the match for an eventual reckoning with Severus's friendship with him.

Until the Dark Lord comes back and Severus goes back to spying, where particularly in OotP he specifically targets Lucius (Sirius Black calls him his "lapdog," which, okay Sirius, I too believe in Severus's honeytrapping abilities I guess). Lucius is telling him enough for Severus to get a lot of crucial information to the Order, enough so that the Death Eaters (and Voldemort) suspect there's a spy in their ranks, so either Lucius trusts him or this is Inner Circle information. Crucially, Severus doesn't know that Harry intends to go to the Department of Mysteries until Harry tells him, at which point he alerts the Order, and the Order shows up, and Lucius gets so completely screwed. (He may not have known what time they were going to attack, suggesting even Lucius had some reservations about his trustworthiness). So Severus is responsible for Lucius's failure and capture, and general downfall. Which is fantastic for me as a lover of pain, misery, suffering, etc. Severus tanking his one positive Death Eater relationship is just wild to me and I love it so much. It's also great to see Lucius as the victim of abject betrayal and see his trust being taken advantage of by someone he didn't suspect.

Dumbledore hints this was his plan all along in the pseudocanon Tales of Beetle the Bard notes, where he notes his plans to oust Lucius as Voldemort's de facto right-hand-man. Draco's feelings on Snape turn at this point, when he starts (correctly!) accusing Severus of trying to take his father's place and any positive relationship seems to be forgotten. We don't see them interact positively after that even though we know Severus lied to Voldemort about Draco lowering his wand (maybe because Dumbledore asked him to, maybe because he knows Lucius cares about Draco, maybe because Narcissa asked him to, or any combination). At this point Severus has known him for six years and it's not a stretch to think he wouldn't want to see Draco dead. On the other hand, he argues with Dumbledore about having to kill him to save Draco, and seems more attached to him than Draco. Or maybe he's just mad that Dumbledore isn't taking his feelings into account. Severus is hard to get a read on when it comes to feelings sometimes (a lot).

At the end of the war, Lucius is the one to send Severus to his death, which is genuinely so poetic. I have to wonder what Lucius and Draco thought of him after the war: doubtless Lucius was furious, but Lucius and Draco also pull an Igor Karkaroff and sell out every other Death Eater and collaborator they know for a free ride out of Azkaban. I don't think that Lucius would forgive him, but I think Draco, as someone who took on a similar role during the war of not truly wanting to be there and becoming disillusioned, would have more sympathy. This is also why I can't take post-war fluff with them very seriously. What I actually want is Lucius getting sentenced to death after the war or Severus being found out as a spy in the v!wins AU. But they just have SO MUCH there to work with! They can't be too close, but that doesn't mean they didn't care or there wasn't real conflict in their relationship with each other. It's also super compelling to me that Severus was ever friends with someone as, honestly, nakedly evil as Lucius and had a clearly positive relationship with him. I love the idea of Severus's first in-depth experience with watching someone be a loving father being Lucius parenting Draco and him genuinely looking up to Lucius for a very long time. And Lucius taking Severus's virginity . . . and Voldemort forcing Severus to rape Lucius during Deathly Hallows sorry who said that!

[zalrb]

LOVE YOUR RESPONSE! delena just fucking sucks man. lack of chemistry aside, their imbalanced power dynamic is the main reason why i never got into them

i dont typically fuck with toxic ships, the reason why i love the concept of drarry sm is because it makes perfect sense: they're rivals and therefore equals but they're also undeniably obsessed with each other. also they have a lot of shit in common. it just flows man.

i dont even feel like i should be comparing them to delena cause delena isnt just toxic theyre fucking abusive. i feel like if any hp ship resembled delenas fucked up dyanmic itd be the fandoms idea of dramione

drarry aint that at all. in my mind they have the same type of chemistry as bonkai:

That's interesting because I don't even see Drarry having that kind of chemistry either ... this is so funny but in my mind Drarry is what Kanthony should've been onscreen except more like this pent up frustration and tension and resentment and dislike and then one day they're just making out lmao

[smolbird]

The spoiled rich kid and his arranged playmate/servant, who will do anything he says, both possessive of each other👀This is GOOD.

This is exactly what I want for my toxic, power-imbalanced CP!!!

Many time, a power-imbalance CP like this will kind of make it up by having the powerless person act like they are not to mask the toxic aspect and then just act like the power imbalance won't screw them over eventually, but they don't do it here. They blatantly displayed how imbalanced their dynamic is here, and I'm really excited to see how they're going to make this work.😊if they make this work.

Oh, and the other one that I think has a really interesting power dynamic with Nuengdiao is Chanon. In that scene where Nuengdiao wants Palm to eat with him but Chanon comes and says no, we can't do this, and both Nuengdiao and Palm are compliant, I think it's quite interesting that while Chanon firmly places himself as a servant, he has power over Nuengdiao. I think that it's very normal for their situation (child-caretaker), but what interests me is: does Chanon realize this? And how is he going to affect the Nuengdiao and Palm relationships?

What we already saw is that Palm is very afraid of displease his father, Chanon has a really firm idea of everyone's role in mind (Nuengdiao is going to be his boss, and his son is going to be Niengdiao's servant), and also how someone in that role needs to act, and now we see that Nuengdiao will likely be compliant with Chanon even when he clearly doesn't like it. (Well, we saw that in Ep. 1 too, but I think they really highlighted it in that scene.)

And that scene at the end! The way Nuengdiao look at Palm when Palm promises to take care of him is spell angst in the making.

I want the next ep now☹️☹️

[mejomonster]

Also implied by my other zhoudu posts but. Love absolutely love that ultimately Luo wenzhou is in control of when they have sex. Fei Du flirts up a storm for months, but probably wasn't earnestly fully ready to do it until he came home to Luo Wenzhous house post hospital. And heart wise probably not until he got handcuffed to the bed, and asked when Luo Wenzhou confessed his love, and was told by Luo Wenzhou all his caring acts have been love confessions dummy. I mean heart wise he's probably Still not totally ready for like "in depth I love a guy I'm gonna let down in a Big way when I go murder revenge as planned." But like at least Now (chapter 94) fei du is aware if he bangs Luo wenzhou that Luo wenzhou is completely in love and trusts him and gave his heart to him. At least fei du is aware what his player urge to sleep with the hot man is like tied up into.

But also, Luo wenzhou as we know, acts like a scolding caretaker in charge. He IS shixiong sjdjjd. And fei du is intensely okay with that despite being so surprised with himself for being so okay and even happy about it. About that element of their relationship actually staying this way. So Luo wenzhou gets final say on if they keep kissing, keep flirting, or if fei dus being "naughty" and needs to cool down and do some non-sexy manual labor or get a lecture or get handcuffed and restrained in a very cock blocking kind of way (to be fair - Luo wenzhou is adamantly against fei du being in pain or not well cared for so honestly fei du I think there's little chance you're fucking until Luo wenzhou sees your health is recovered well and ur not hiding signs of pain anymore, so get used to the blue balls). And fei du, probably baffling to his Own self, is completely okay with just letting Luo wenzhou make that call. Be the one with the control to decide, letting it be out of fei dus hands.

It's so funny to me that in the end they both kind of like their skewed power dynamic to the degree that they choose to Maintain it when they could be ignoring it now. Like as total equals, equally competent adults (what Luo wenzhou wins in being older or more emotionally brave fei du balances with filthy rich power and being tolerated despite being closed off and keeping secrets and requiring Luo wenzhou to be more emotionally vulnerable than him so he's always less exposed). They could be that roughly. Luo wenzhou in the beginning was clearly concerned a degree about Not being equal, given he did try to caretake fei du for years, so Luo wenzhou full on refused to consider fei dus flirtations at all until they seemed to be on fairly equal footing with fei du having equal ability to refuse and leave him and keep up walls and all the rest (versus teen fei du that he tried to break down the walls with to try and see how he was doing). And when he did say he'd respond, he communicated abundantly to reinforce to fei du what that'd mean and give fei du plentiful chances to reconsider. And then Still mostly held back from responding. And so like. Idk for them to both get "together" and yet Luo wenzhou is holding them back Still, being the more emotionally mature guiding one, is on the one hand so much more than he needs to do (though the wise decision with fei du tbh). But on the other hand they've both fallen into this shixiong ish dynamic which is a bit power imbalanced again, and despite Luo wenzhou initially trying to Stop that, it seems like fei du actually prefers the imbalance. Prefers letting someone, and only that specific Luo wenzhou someone, have control over rhe things that affect their two hearts.

They're still equal Where it matters - this is very much almost a domestic non sexual dom/sub vibe to it, as in fei du lets and wants the coddling/scolding/controlling behavior from Luo wenzhou and can simply refuse it easily if he doesn't want it. And Luo wenzhou is aware it's a bit Much and would frankly put all his cards on the table verbally, Again, if they needed to clarify. Luo wenzhou is aware he's stepped back into this cause fei du responds to it, and is aware outside of the Dynamic they're creating (with him in control and fei du not) there's their actual power dynamic of Fei Du CAN break my heart, can lie, and he is choosing to respond to me and meet me emotionally and I do coddle him to help him do that but in the end he is Not a child anymore and I don't and can't force him to open up to me emotionally. Fei du has to decide ON HIS own now to open up emotionally (that's the key part of the dynamic that HAS become equal, while the surface level behavior of Luo wenzhou ordering stayed the same). You can tell in their emotional conversations now. When they talked about the questions in bed: fei dy wasn't forced, he didn't have to answer (whereas Luo wenzhou would've like a parent tried to force a teen fei du to say his thoughts). Fei Du chose to, we saw his pov choose to decide how much to give Luo wenzhou and keep secret. And Luo wenzhou accepted it. We see it in their car ride conversations now of Luo wenzhou saying you don't have to tell me X I'm not stupid ill catch up eventually if you don't tell me (instead of pressing on fei du like a suspect interrogated or child interrogated by parent). Now when fei du says "leave" when Luo wants a conversation, Luo wenzhou will leave and return with food but not force fei du to talk since he did refuse. THAT aspect of their relationship is equal now. (Which is great cause I don't think fei du could love him and fall for him and open up to him Unless it's fei dus choice to open up on his own, which it is now that they're equals in this sense. Fei du still LIKES the shixiong/brat dynamic and likes being treated like he's a younger ordinary member of the household because its Home and unlike his other ties and lets him let go of control and leave it to someone he TRUSTS, but he also likes that emotionally they're equals now in a way they weren't until this year. That now where it counts he has the POWER to actually leave Luo wenzhou - the power to choose to say "I'm moving out" or "I'll stay with you" the power to choose to lie or be honest without facing interrogation over it, the power to know Luo wenzhou DOES trust him and it's on him to actually repay it or break it but they're both adults now and it can Actually be broken now in a way that teen fei du couldn't break it before.

Basically they Are equal Where it counts now. But it's also funny to me how they like a very particular d/s domestic dynamic out of familiarity and comfort. And I still think it'd be Very Funny if Tao Ran ever got to point it out to them

[pretty-emo-dad]

Asking you about the party dynamics rn

I GUESS IM BREAKING MY PROMISE BECAUSE ILL NEVER BE NORMAL!!!!!!

Okay breaking things down season by season:

Season 1- Will in the upside down, Dustin, Mike, & Lucas trying to find him. Dustin & Mike become separated from Lucas because of the El/Mike/Lucas conflict

Season 2- together at the start, but separated after max is added with Mike & Will and Lucas & Max, and Dustin is with Steve. Before Dustin is with Steve, he’s with Lucas.

Season 3- Will, Lucas, and Mike are together and Dustin is gone at science camp. When he comes back, he feels ignored and goes with Steve again. Will and Mike are being ‘led’ by Lucas.

Season 4- Will is in California, and Lucas, Dustin & Mike are in Hawkins. Mike & Dustin are closer than either of them with Lucas at this point because of the basketball/hellfire situation. Then Mike & Will in Cali and Lucas& Dustin in Hawkins.

So what’s really interesting to me is that Dustin is usually emotionally and also physically separated from the other boys in every season. In season one, he talks to Mike about feeling inferior to the other boys and how he’s not as close as they are because he join the party late. Mike is able to reassure him that they’re all best friends and that’s why him and Dustin are able to stay physically together for the rest of that season.

But in season 2, Max enters the party and creates a love triangle between her, Lucas, and Dustin. Max’s choice is Lucas, Which makes Dustin feel even more inferior to the rest of the party. Because he feels like this, he confides in Steve, who makes him feel more appreciated than before.

Season three is the weirdest season because instead of Mike being the ‘leader’ of the party, Lucas is leading Mike and they kind of just drag Will along with them. Dustin, feeling left out again, is with Steve at this point.

I think that Mike not being his usual self plays into Dustin’s insecurities because when we enter season four, Mike is acting more like his usual self and him and Dustin are closer than either of them and Lucas are.

Mike being the ‘leader’ of the party also contributes a lot to their personal dynamics because we see Mike trying to be a leader without Will (S1), Mike trying to lead Will separate from the others (s2), and then Mike giving up his leadership to Lucas (s3) and Dustin (s4).

When I say that Mike is the leader of the party I don’t mean it in the way that Eddie was the leader of hellfire because their dynamics are very different. Eddie’s hellfire club is more of a club than it is a close-knit group of friends and we can see this and how his D&D table is set up and how he acts as a DM. He has a longer table and sit at the head of the table, where as Mike Has a smaller table where nobody is the head of the table even though he is the DM. Well considering how they act Eddie is a “sadistic” DM and obviously has power over his players, but with Mike he is on more equal footing with the other boys in the party. Even though they look to him as a leader, they are still very equal and don’t feel afraid to check him when he needs it.

We see this in season one, when Lucas feels like Mike is failing as a leader and checks him for discarding what Lucas feels is “really important”. And after they stop arguing, the other boys still look to Mike as a leader again. In season two, situation is a little bit more complicated because of the way that the boys are split up. There’s been many people pointing out how Mike/Will are separate from Dustin/Lucas because of their queercoding. But this isn’t the only way that season two is complicated, it’s also complicated because of the love triangle and how Dustin starts befriending Steve because of that situation.

In season three, we see Mike give the leadership role to Lucas because he knows that Lucas knows more about women than he (and Will) do. The party’s also imbalanced because Dustin isn’t there to act as a mediator between Lucas/Mike and Will. There’s a lot to be said about how the party is when Mike gives up his role as a “leader”, but one of the more interesting things is how Lucas and Dustin differ in handling that leadership role.

In season one, it’s apparent that Lucas feels like he is able to step up as a leader if Mike isn’t doing the best job. We see him fully fulfill that role in season three when Mike asks for his assistance and they end up ignoring will and dragging him along on their escapades. He is more comfortable in the role as leader, likely because of his household role as an older sibling to Erica and because of him being more emotionally mature than even Mike (at this point.) But Dustin isn’t there to balance things out so things still go awry. There’s still a certain level of wrongness because Dustin isn’t present, he isn’t present because he feels inferior, much like Will, to the other boys.

In season four, when Dustin gets that leadership role, he handles it by transferring leadership to Eddie. He lets Eddie teach them and lead them in the way that Mike wants Dustin to do because Mike isn’t able to. This is likely because of Dustin being not only an only child, but also a friend of Steve’s. He’s never really been in a leadership position because he’s always had someone either older or more of a leader to be that for him (which is another part of the reason why he feels inferior to the other boys.) Eddie isn’t a good leader to the boys either, he lets them forget about Lucas even though this is one of the times where they should be sticking together the most. The reason why Mike wants Dustin to be a leader is because he is in a state of depression since Will isn’t there with them.

The party is never at its full potential unless Mike is in a leadership position and every member is present.

Now breaking it down by specific dynamics:

(This part of the breakdown will exclude Will and Mike because they are too complex and need a separate post of their own since yk byler)

MIKE & DUSTIN:

Even though Dustin feels like Mike doesn’t think of him as one of his best friends, it’s very obvious to the audience that when times are hard for Mike he’s closest with Dustin. And season one when Will is away, Lucas and Mike automatically start fighting and Dustin is in the role of mediator between the two. But he still takes Mike’s side because he knows that Mike isn’t reliable on his own. Dustin is a very observant character and most likely caught on to how Mike acts when people don’t need him. This is why when Mike is depressed in season four AND without Will, Dustin steps up to his side.There’s also just them usually agreeing on things when the others don’t. In season one, they both want to help El and in season four, they both want to play DND. This is also part of the reason why in season two, Dustin and Mike get split up. This time they don’t have a common interest in Max and aren’t able to connect like they usually do. 

For them, their relationship at this point is better than Mike’s relationship is with any of the other party members. Dustin is able to provide this unconditional acceptance of Mike. It’s not Lucas or Will’s fault, but Mike feels more accepted by Dustin (even though he knows Dustin doesn’t know about him being queer). Once Mike gets his relationships with Lucas and Will fixed, Dustins insecurity will also be fixed. This is because when Mike isn’t himself he isn’t able to provide Dustin with the reassurance that he would be able to if he was himself. When he fixes his other relationships, he’ll go back to the type of person who can reassure Dustin.

WILL & DUSTIN:

Will and Dustin have had the least explored friendship in the show, but from what we’ve seen Will has been able to reassure Dustin and include him because they both have this feeling of inferiority. They can both relate to feeling like they aren’t enough and like Lucas and Mike are better than them for separate reasons, but they are still able to relate to each other. Some people argue that Will could have also acted as the voice of reason when Dustin, Mike , and Lucas were arguing about the basketball/hellfire thing because he understands Lucas’ point of view more than them; But he wouldn’t have had to because they wouldn’t be in that situation in the first place if he was present.

Even though they have one of the least explored dynamics between the original party, it’s clear that Will and Dustin have similar feelings around being a part of the party. Them both feeling less than the others is a way for them to connect again like they weren’t able to in prior seasons because Will had been at the center of the supernatural things happening around them.

LUCAS & DUSTIN

Dustin and Lucas have the most comedic relationship out of the original party, but they still have other things that contribute to them as deeper characters.In season one, we don’t really see Dustin and Lucas having a dynamic that’s deeper because whenever they do interact it’s them arguing for communication affect or two emphasize how Mike is (at this point )more emotionally mature than the others. In season two, we see them have more of a complex relationship because of Dustin’s jealousy. They’re able to relate to each other and liking Max which makes them a duo for a lot of the second season, but when it’s clear that Max chooses Lucas, Dustin starts isolate himself from the other boys. When he finds dart, he doesn’t tell any of the others about his discovery because he feels left out from the rest of the party. When he befriends Steve, He feels like there’s finally someone who can appreciate him and his intelligence. He continues going to Steve and Eddie whenever he feels like he isn’t getting enough credit from his friends especially Lucas. On Lucas aside, he feels like Dustin doesn’t take things seriously enough for the circumstances that they’ve been in. Lucas’s realistic outlook on life is implied to be formed by him experiencing racism throughout his childhood and having to deal with that. He’s also an older brother to a sister who has also experienced racism, so he goes through life with a realistic outlook because he wants to protect people close to him. When he sees Dustin not have as realistic outlook on life as he(and Mike and Will) do, he feels annoyed because of its unfairness, and because of how easy he feels Dustin has it. Dustin can’t really see this until Billy attacks Lucas, and from then on they are able to reconcile and become friends again. But there’s still some things that need to be worked on in their friendship.

Like I said before, Dustin offers unconditional acceptance to Mike, but he also does this with Will. He isn’t able to provide Lucas with the same feeling because their interest and feelings don’t often align. For them to fix their relationship, Dustin will have to overcome his insecurity and start providing Lucas with the same unconditional acceptance feeling that he provides the others with. Lucas will also have to understand why Dustin constantly feels inferior to the other and understand why he continues to seek out older people to be his friends. He doesn’t feel valued by the others, but especially Lucas because he sees Lucas as better than him. I feel like Lucas and Dustin fixing their conflicts is more likely to happen sooner than Mike and Lucas resolving their issues. Not only because Dustin and Lucas were physically closer than Lucas was with Mike in season 4, but also because Mike and Lucas’ conflicts run deeper with outside pressure influencing their decisions.

WILL & LUCAS

Will and Lucas understand each other on a surface level. It’s clear that Lucas cares a lot about Will and it’s clear that Will cares a lot about Lucas, but since their relationship isn’t shown a lot they have the same vibe that Dustin and Will have. They understand each other because they have both experienced discrimination for things they aren’t able to change about themselves. But one big factor is that everyone knows that Lucas being black is true, though nobody knows that Will being gay is true. I’m season 3, when we see the most of their dynamic, Will is trying to hide his sexuality, but also wants to get back his childhood. He lets himself be dragged along by Lucas and Mike acting straight, even though he knows he isn’t. This differs from Mike who actively seeks Lucas’s advice because Mike is trying to be straight, whereas Will already accepted that he isn’t. He’s also bored of Mike and Lucas because he doesn’t like that growing up. He wants to experience the part of childhood that he missed out because he has been traumatized by Henry. Lucas probably would have understood this if he wasn’t so distracted by Mike needing somebody to fill that leadership role. We see that once the party is back to semi normal, Lucas is able to pay more attention to Will and less attention to what Mike meets because he sees that, realistically, Will is going to be the most affected by the supernatural things going on. I like that Lucas and Will have this understanding of each other, because it shows how Mike and Lucas could have been if Mike was a more open person. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy Lucas and Will’s bond for what it is, it’s just interesting that it’s a foil to how Mike and Lucas are.

With Lucas and Will “fixing“ their relationship, the thing I said earlier about how the party needs to be balance really stands out here. This is because in order for Will to not feel left out and for Lucas to not leave out Will, Mike will have to step up again as a leader. With the other things, like well wanting his childhood back, Lucas can understand that. He has already apologize and most likely understood why Will wanted to play DND as much as he did that summer, but again he was distracted by what Mike needed. We also see that in season four he has learned from this because he doesn’t let Mike’s depression stop him from doing what he believes he needs to do for himself. This isn’t to say that Mike is a needy person for being depressed, but it is saying that Lucas is a very loyal and one track minded person, and tends push things to the side when trying to help someone he loves.

MIKE & LUCAS

If you read all of this you’ve probably noticed that I mention Lucas and Mike’s relationship a lot and that’s because they have a lot of issues to address with each other. But most of these issues come from their greater character arcs. like I said earlier, in season one Mike is emphasized to be more emotionally mature than the other boys. There’s a lot of reasons why this makes sense for him in season one but not for the later seasons and most of it boils down to his repression of his own feelings and how he handles the trauma that he’s experienced. But when considering season one him and Lucas being the most emotionally mature of the party causes them to clash a lot. This is because Lucas is emotional maturity comes from having a more realistic point of view on the world and Mike’s emotional maturity comes from his family dynamics. When Lucas meets El he, automatically doesn’t trust her because he’s grown to be wary of strangers. This is very different from Mike because when Mike meets El his first instinct is to take care of her. Mike automatically taken care of El shows that he’s expected to take care of things and his family (@aemiron-main is currently piecing together and analysis of why that is). With this key difference Mike and Lucas end up fighting over the leader ship role. This is only resolved when Lucas is able to accept that Wl isn’t trying to hurt them and when Mike apologizes for being aggressive towards Lucas. They solve that specific conflict but don’t address the underlying motivations that caused the conflict. Lucas does grow to be more trusting of other people because he welcomes Max in season two, but Mike only gets less mature from that point. We don’t see Lucas and Mike fight like they did in season one, but they still have disagreements in season two and season four. And season two Mike is the less trusting one and Lucas is the more trusting one. This is because Lucas has grown but Mike hasn’t . Another factor is Mike’s survivors guilt and not wanting to put Max in danger. In season three we don’t see a conflict between Lucas and Mike because for the most part they’re interest align. But we do see them argue on what’s important. Because Lucas is more realistic and Mike’s survivors guilt , they disagree on how important it is that El uses her powers to fight the Mindflayer. Mike is afraid of losing El again , but Lucas doesn’t understand that because he lacks the guilt that Mike has and only thinks about the situation realistically. That conflict goes unsolved because of how quickly everything else happens. In season four is where we start to see them butt heads again. Lucas’s reason for wanting to play basketball is not only because he enjoys it, but also because he doesn’t want to be bullied. Mike doesn’t seem to care about this even though they have both been bullied, this is because Lucas’s bullying is apart of racism that Mike has never had to experience. Mike wants to go to the game, but he doesn’t want to disappoint Eddie because he idolizes Eddie so much. I get very upset when people imply that Mike doesn’t care about Lucas’s game, because we see that he would have gone if it was on a different day, but he chooses to side with Eddie. This is partly because he feels like he’s already lost Lucas and partially because he needs Hellfire to operate normally. We see each other boys have interest outside of D&D in the show, but never Mike. For him, D&D is the main source of several of his conflicts but also how he keeps himself connected to the real world. Lucas likes D&D, but doesn’t have as strong as an attachment to it, so he can’t see why Mike is this upset about it. It’s also notable that when talking to Eddie, Mike is the most vocal about moving Hellfire because he still wants to be there for Lucas.

Most of Lucas and Mike’s conflicts connect to how they see the world and how they deal with their emotions, in order for them to fix things, they’ll have to conclude their separate character arcs. Lucas and Mike don’t have the advantage that Lucas and Dustin have with being physically close, nor the advantage of having similar experiences like Lucas and Will or Dustin and Mike. They are both very stubborn people but when one falls, the other is there to catch them. It’s very clear that they love and would do anything for each other, but right now they can’t connect in the way they usually are because of how they’re handling their respective traumas. They won’t understand each other until they’re able to talk things out and have an open conversation.

Conclusion:

The original party is a very interesting core dynamic because while there are power dynamics, everyone is the party is equal. Wills was right about Mike being the heart of the party, he needs to learn from previous seasons in order to fix many of the broken relationships in the party. This isn’t to say that he’s fully at fault, because he isn’t, but they still rely on him as a leader. They all have things to figure out for themselves, but they’re always there witch each other when they need it. They have all the small conflicts that will eventually need to be solved, but their bond is one that’s unbreakable. They need each other, and I’m really excited to see what season 5 gives us in regards to them!!