#and parallels that mean a lot and. they just love each other ok

[absolutebl]

Top 10 Most Underrated BLs of the last 3 years

(mid year 2021 - end 2023)

This list will not include BLs that ended their run in 2024. I need some distance to know if something is actually underrated (We Are maybe?) or justifiably ignored.

1 I Cannot Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan 2023 Netflix?)

This classic friends-to-lovers BL is everything Japan does best. Angsty. Emo. Aching. Driven by real thirst. Yamato is deeply in love with his childhood bestie, Kakeru, and has been for ages, increasingly unable to hide his ungainly damaging high school need. He wants Kakeru in every way possible and it oozes off of the screen. Kakeru is silly and a little simple, but not frenetic or overly camp about it. He is earnest, and genuinely wants to keep Yamato in his life, which means giving a romance (and gayness) a fair chance. We watch him realize his affection and what form it can take in a truly authentic way. This show was impossibly kind to both of its lead characters and I felt almost honored that I got to watch something so lovely and rare play out on my screen. Full review.

2 My Ride (Thai 2022 Gaga)

Thai BL grew up with this pulp (the first ever pulp to make my end of year top 10). It’s a truly lovely and special little show featuring the extremely rare pairing of sunshine/sunshine (AKA a cinnamon roll couple) plus mature explorations of relationships using one of the softest, sweetest, and most innocent friends to lovers vehicles. Kindly, overworked doctor meets broken-hearted motorcycle taxi rider in an “other side of the tracks” slow burn romance. The support cast is excellent, making for great friendship groups and family dynamics. With honest queer rep that adds to, but doesn’t impede, the story, and genuine conversation about the nature of class, wealth, and classism, not to mention communication, honesty, and respect for boundaries, you can’t go wrong with this show. In other news, I am a sucker for a single dimple. Full review.

3 Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan 2023 Gaga)

A lonely salaryman (+ talented cook) gets accidentally adopted by a college kid (and his little brother). I was always gonna love this show if they stuck to the original yaoi (which is very dear to my heart). And they did! Paralleling it almost exactly. It’s a quiet & cozy little parable of found family alleviating loneliness. Possibly too slow for some but definitely high up there for me as the best of what Japan can do with softness (like Restart After Come Back Home). It’s only flaw (if I dare say such a thing) is that it is not really “romantic.” Lovely & sweet but the romance beats are being used to build a family relationship, not just couple intimacy, but that's OK with me. This is a very safe show for anyone to watch.

4 About Youth (Taiwan 2022 Gaga)

A truly lovely little coming of age high school BL with a classic YA low drama but high angst and earnest depth. I didn’t even mind the singing, and that’s saying a lot. A weak seme/uke dynamic but tons of BL tropes (both rare in a high school setting but common for Taiwan) makes this one feel both sweet and colored by real world authenticity and grit. Full review.

5 Step By Step (Thai 2023 Gaga)

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This office romance between a stern boss and sweet subordinate felt more authentic to cubical work than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. That authenticity added tension to the narrative and its characters development (how novel). I also really enjoyed the charming side characters and the brothers' relationship to each other (although I could have done without that brother's side BL). Full review.

6 DNA Says Love You (Taiwan 2022 Gaga)

DNA deserves extra marks for an upbeat approach to a queer story arc that other shows have systemically mishandled with sadness (in the guise of realism). There is a twist, which I found predictable, but knowing what would happen didn't spoil this show. The leads are luminous and engaging, and it’s full of queer found family representation and an unexpected amount of domesticity, plus it’s Taiwan, so the kisses are great. The first few eps are rough going but have patience, it's worth it I promise! The second half is really special and life/love affirming - and the end is big-grin charming. Full review.

7 Unintentional Love Story (Korea 2023 iQIYI)

Of all the BLs on this list, this is probubly the MOST underrated. OMG the plot! Uke forced into a totally understandable betrayal, falling in love despite himself, put into a corner he can't get out of, the AGONY, the PAIN in those gorgeous eyes. Gah. Okay, so: A boy loses his job due to trumped-up corruption charges accidentally discovers his ex-boss's favorite artist, now a recluse. Evil manager offers him his job back, if he can convince the artist to rejoin society. Instead, they fall in love. I found the artist a bit stiff and reserved but Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) is a fucking GIFT - he carried this show (which I do not expect from the idol element). He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes, just drown in the emoting abyss. The external conflict, social tension and pressure is complex and beautifully executed, plus Korea gave us legit side dishes (NOT a love triangle, hally-fucking-luya). Full review.

8 Dear Doctor I'm Coming for Your Soul (Thai 2022 iQIYI)

This is a romance between a doctor trying to save his patients and a reaper who is both his enemy and (eventual) lover (basically the genius premise of a gay Doom at Your Service). High concept looks good on you, Thailand. It’s lovely to see KarnNat back on screen together and they are still great, and Karn is just as painfully beautiful as ever. I enjoyed this one more than its ending deserved, and the best I can say is that it’s not strictly HEA but if you’re okay with Life: Love on the Line, you’ll be okay with this BL. It’s set up well, there’s no surprise unpleasantness like HIStory 3: The BL that shall not be named. Full review.

9 Destiny Seeker (Thai 2023 WeTV)

A darn near perfect pulp featuring 3 likable grumpy/sunshine pairings with uncomplicated iterations of enemies to lovers. At least one half of each does a decent amount of pining and there’s good chemistry, classic tropes, and excellent communication rep. It’s fun and full of linguistic jokes. Sublimely cheesy but a good rainy day offering with tons of rewatch potential. (Also WAR PEANUTS!) Full review.

10 Make a Wish (Thai 2023 grey)

A doctor who can see the dead strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage). Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not Ohm, but who cares because Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay AF - fag hag bestie and made of swagger. The cast is excellent but the comedic stylings are a bit overblown and tonally off. It has sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency.

10 others I rarely see anyone talk about:

Triage - Many would put this at the top of the list, but I don't find it very rewatchable and that weighs a lot in my assessments. Still it is GOOD and very underrated. BL does Groundhog Day featuring a doctor stuck in a time loop who must save a poor little rich boy from death by seducing the stuffing out of him, then PLOT TWIST, poor little rich boy must do the same for doctor! Unfortunately… stuffing keeps leaking. I thought the plot was engaging if a little redundant and occasionally exhausting. The pairs were all well done, low heat but with decent chemistry and the support characters were likable (or unlikeable, as required). My reason it's not in the top 10? If anything, the romance arc detracted and distracted from the main plot, but that doesn't stop this from being a genuinely good show it's just time loop is not a trope I personally enjoy. Review here.

See You After Quarantine? - This under appreciated gem is Taiwan’s answer to Gameboys and is just as charmg and adorable yet still as quintessentially Taiwanese as one might hope. It features a Japanese love interest and the cutest most confused disaster gay. Slow burn because the two have almost no actual screen time together and yet manage some truly amazing chemistry. Honestly how does Taiwan do it?

The Tasty Florida - I don't know, maybe it's Speed nostalgia, but I love this one, classic Korean BL with all those strengths and flaws... but The Prettiest.

You Make Me Dance - it's Korea but somehow they got this one, maybe by featuring mature characters and a real world crisis? Also they both ve hot.

Blueming - at the time it got a lot of attention but it seems to have faded into obscurity under the shod of The 8th Sense and Love of Love's Sack. This was a precurser to both and well worth a watch if you like it when Korea gets a little gritty.

Love Stage!! (Thai version) - I liked this IP alerady more than most. But this is the best of the 4 adaptations, and the first full Thai version of Japanese IP. It's both charming and notable in the industry. Hard to find and that's why it gets so little creddit but I think it's well worth the effort to track down.

Oh! Boarding House - I think most who watched this din't jive with it because it's an ensamble piece witha wicked love traingle. But I really enjoyed it. It felt like the move Kdrama BL that Korea has given us and I like me some Kdramas.

What Zabb Man! - one of the better BLs to come out of Star Hunter in the last few years. I like this pair a lot more than most, and the sides are wicked great. This is probably one of my favorite food themed BLs, actually.

2 Moons The Ambassador - possibly the lowest scoring BL to appear on this list but I just really like the leads. Nothing else is good, but they are kinda awkwardly fantastic. I also like how gay af the seme is.

Stay By My Side - This show was an interesting take on the "ghost boyfriend" trope. About a boy who is tormented by hearing the dead, except when he is around one other boy - desperation+proximity = love. Despite a strong initial premise it ended up mostly being enjoyable for sappy domesticity but nothing more. Still, I always give extra credit for the diabetes-inducing sugar content and rewatch capacity.

Requested by the lovely @l1xyz

FYI: I judge “underrated” on the strength of what I see people talk about (or more precisely not talk about) on social media, MDL reviews, and YouTube watch numbers (when available, as compared to comparable shows from the same country). 

Because of this, statistically, there will always be quite a few BLs that are difficult to get hold of.

Here's my pulls of the Top Underrated BLs prior to 2021. Considering the amount of content generated over the last few years, the pool to draw from is likely about the same.

My Top 10 Most Underrated BLs prior to 2021

Seven Days

Restart after Come Back Home

Wish You

Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding

He’s Coming to Me

Oxygen

My Day

Most Peaceful Place

HIStory 2: Right or Wrong

HIStory: Obsessed

I'd throw Great Men Academy in there, but I always dither over whether it actually is a BL.

[wufflesvetinari]

ok fine, wyllstarion rec list

the demons bade me write this. i have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings and a fabulous bookmarks list. come with me....and you'll be.......in a world of pure wyllstarion nation

note that this is like. an intermediate/advanced, 201-level list. i am trusting you, and assume you've already read asidian's body of work. you've read nothing is safe. you're reading Nothing Like the Sun &etc. Really anything that appears on the first two pages when sorting by bookmarks/kudos is disqualified due to pre-recognized excellence. (you could, however, go read them again)

are you back? good. now read:

"We Happy Few" - @geometea. listen to me. listen. i am looking deeply into your eyes. read this fucking fic. it's hard to shill without spoiling anything, BUT: wyll is a still-pacted grand duke. he used to have a bunch of unresolved romantic tension with astarion and now hasn't spoken to him for 15 years. now take that premise and add body horror, beautiful ominous surreal images, and SURPRISE BIG EMOTIONS. just trust me on this one, guys

"Crossed Blades" - @rebelontherocks. this is a...i think i have to call this a cozy sex romp. wyll and astarion are married, wyll is a busy duke, astarion needs more enrichment, astarion invents a very silly sex game by roleplaying teenage-wyll's smut books. wyll is So Deeply Into It. i love this fic for its characterization, its banter, and its commitment to paralleling character psychology to what sounds like an absolutely wild in-universe smut series (that is sketched with an impressive amount of detail and care tbh??).

"Comfort" - @acephalouscreature. short and sweet. wyll is injured and everyone expects astarion to take care of him. luckily, astarion has a dastardly plan to fake feelings for wyll by thinking about his feelings for wyll. you sure fooled them, astarion!! also featuring: astarion trying to figure out how to comfort someone by thinking about horses

"False Compare" - @jellyfishline. i'd recommend checking out their work generally, but i fell in love with this one first. wyll writes a sonnet! astarion is mean about it until he isn't! deeply in-character with an emphasis on how each of them communicates affection. gorgeous prose

"how to escape the torment nexus" - @ushauz. this series is incredibly unique, set in a fucked-up bad end where wyll is a lemure, astarion is still on the run from cazador, and almost everyone else is dead. where this really shines imo is wyll's POV: he's been through literal hell, doesn't remember his life, and is wading through his unconscious attachment to astarion like a foreign language. (side note also read Heart of Stone for a great lae'zel character piece)

"An Acorn in the Moonlight" - @anonyhex. this is one of the first wyllstarion fics i ever read and it has a special place in my heart!! it's particularly cathartic to read for Wyll reasons, including him actually getting to Have Emotions about what Ulder put him through. and they are so sweet with each other!!

"temporal displacement" - @purplecatghostposts. ok this came out like. yesterday but listen, i LOVE outsider pov of an astarion who's learned to show affection somewhat, seen from the eyes of someone who doesn't know his history and has no reason to suspect All Of That. and when that "outsider" is a dying 20-year-old wyll who just saw astarion step out of a time portal. well.

"nothing to make a song about" - @grey-wardens. for when you want something meaty and casefic-adjacent, set in a post-canon where wyll is the blade and not the duke (for once). contains bonding on the road, getting romantically snowed in together, and Symbolic Fetch-Quests.

i am also watching closely: "One of Those Prince-Types" by @lesbianralzarek and "sigh no more" by @tomorrowsrain. both are one chapter in and promise to be meaty, with execution that already feels very very promising

SPECIAL MENTION TO "Like Death (or Birth)" by The_Dancing_Walrus, which has some fraught implied background wyllstarion and is just generally completely baller. astarion kind-of sort-of accidentally adopts yenna, who got fucked up by her time as a potential sacrifice to bhaal. it works! i promise it works

[will80sbyers]

What makes you believe that byler is real? I ship Mileven personally, but I'm trying to understand byler shippers' logic, because a lot of the time it feels like it makes no sense.

I personally think there are some scenes in the show and there are some choices that the writers made that are telling us that the plot of the show is going towards Will getting a "pay off", in terms of writing, at the end of the show and Mike and El finding out they are better as friends instead and Mike discovering he has romantic feelings for Will!

The writers have emphasized Will's sadness in relation to Mike and El as a couple both thematically and visually, in the writing & filming of the show there are too many scenes like this especially in season 3 and 4 they have made it clear that he will never be happy if Mike and El are the endgame relationship, even during Mike's love monologue after he supposedly decided that he was ok with El having his own feelings for Mike by saying that the painting was a thoughtful gift from El when it wasn't... They put a shot of Will's sad face in the middle of the monologue, and also he was framed behind Mike when he said "I love you" which in film is a EXTREMELY weird choice unless it means something more is going on that should make us not want El and Mike's relationship to work - the writers have been sabotaging the emotional connection of the fans with mileven by doing this and I don't think that professional filmmakers don't know that, I think it's on purpose!

The writers have shown Mike and Will as having a deeper relationship than all the other relationships Mike has, putting him in the same category of El as one of his possible love interests in the plot, they have multiple scenes bonding in a tender way than Mike has with any other of his friends, they happen in private usually or in emotionally charged moments that they film to make you as a viewer feel like they are in private and show how they have this connection that's more than just friendship

The writers have wrote in the show since season 1 MANY parallels between Mike and Will and other official couples (Mileven too!!!) that are, in my opinion, hinting at them ending up together at the end of the show

You can find the parallels here

The writers have continously shown El and Mike to have some kind of problem in their relationship and made El decide to leave Mike behind multiple times even if to save his life because she loves him, the writers have been showing us how Mike is not her PLOT priority and instead they have put having a romantic relationship with Mike as Will's deepest desire since season 3

The writers are building up El's character to have a coming of age that has recurrent themes of her finding herself without the influence of others around her, her becoming completely free from any kind of influence, and Mike has been represented as having too many internal fears to overcome at the moment about their relationship, especially with the love monologue at the end of season 4, he has beliefs about himself as a person that clash with El's character arc about not having to feel influenced in any way, the end of the show for El should be her having complete freedom in all aspects of her life because of the circumstances of her upbringing... Not saying that Mike is influencing her in a bad way necessarily, I think they both love each other a lot but having a relationship with someone that is that much insecure about his role in your life because you have powers will always be a type of influence

The writers have shown Mike and El as not being a team at the same level by separating them constantly after s1, instead they have shown the other couples that work as working together in the supernatural plot (Jancy, Jopper, Lumax, Byler)

The writers have paralleled Mike and El's relationship to all the ships that are not working for some reasons/are not endgame and have more infatuation than a real "true love" kind of relationship (Steve x Nancy, Karen X Ted, Bob x Joyce)

The writers have wrote in multiple scenes of Mike acting awkward with Will (Mike!!! Not Will) or them having coded conversations about how much they care for each other that have no sense to exist unless there is a pay off at the end

The writers have presented El, Mike and Will as being in a love triangle and have been framing them in a love triangle composition in the framing of multiple scenes, with Mike at the centre

When during season 4 the writers talked about all the movies that have inspired season 4 and 5 they have put multiple movies with love triangles that are almost identical to the situation between Mike, El and Will

Will and Mike have multiple fight scenes that are scenes you give to two possible love interests usually, the way the fight happen is written as two lovers having emotional fights instead of as how you would write two friends fighting

The writers wrote in the show a precise parallel in all the scenes of Vickie and Robin... between them and Will and Mike, paralleling Mike to Vickie specifically... who is a canon bisexual character and even paralleling Steve and Jonathan in that context as observers of the couples!

The directors filmed their scenes how you would film romantic scenes in stuff like Bridgerton or a romcom lol

The whole painting scene was Will making Mike feel so loved that he felt comfortable being vulnerable with El, but this means he was still not comfortable on his own relationship with her, he didn't feel safe enough to open up on his own and needed that talk and needed to believe all of those ideas about him being the heart came from Eleven so that he made the jump and told her how he felt instead of being selfishly silent on it because he was too afraid of her possibly leaving him one day... When you are really deeply in love with someone in the context of movies the characters don't let those type of fears influence them and if what gives him courage is the feelings of another character in the love triangle it means he's the right person for the character

( idk if you saw gossip girl but the was a love triangle situation between Blair, Dan and another character where Dan made Blair believe the other character felt some type of way towards her, she understood that she loved Dan because of this act because she wanted those words to be from him and not from the other guy... The whole painting lie is that same trope)

The writers are obsessed with IT from Stephen King and there are clear parallels with it in the show, the whole plot of s4 about the painting is a reprise of the plot between the romantic relationship of Bev and Ben in IT (with the postcard and the poem) Beverly is supposed to be Mike, Ben is Will and Bill is El.... Mike and El share a kiss at the end of season 3 that is supposed to parallel a kiss between Bill and Bev (they did love each other and liked each other but are not endgame)

Both Will and Mike are queercoded multiple times during the seasons

There are WAYYYY more reasons but this post is becoming too long so I'll leave it as this lol

You should rewatch the show and imagine if Will was a girl, I think many people would be seeing what I'm talking about way more and take it as a sign that Mike is going to choose "Willow" and see how Will is the better love interest for him...

Maybe it's all just queerbaiting, who knows, but at the moment I believe this is way too much for it to be queerbait!

I personally think Mike is bisexual

Masterpost about it here

and has feelings for both of them, but his feelings for El have always been a "puppy love" type that is growing to become more platonic than romantic with time, and I think he's a best match with Will, I think Will is able to make him be the best he can be, he's capable of making Mike feel worthy in a very natural way unlike the relationship with El does at the moment!

In my fixed post in the blog you can find all these things in more detail if you're interested!!

Thank you if you read all of this, regardless of what I believe I think everybody should be free to ship what ship they like best!! 😊

[clownprincehoeshi]

Parallel Hearts - Chapter 9

Synopsis: Never in your wildest dreams you imagined that you’ll meet your ult bias. Maybe you finally have your shot at love and happiness. Or not.

Pairing: fem reader x idol Jungkook fem reader x idol Mingyu fem reader x idol Hoshi

Genre: Fluff, Smut, Angst

Warnings: Kissing-Nudity-Sex 18+-Harrassment-Stalking-Death mentions-Cheating

Word count: 5681

Previous chapter

Masterlist

Rebloging is important and much apreciated. Leave your comments, oppinions, ideas, whatever you like. My inbox in open. Kpop writers, let’s be moots?

If you didn’t know before what you were feeling for Soonyoung, now you kind of do. That hug told you a lot. You had feelings for him, and these stupid feelings started creeping up here and there, without you realising.

You don’t know when it started or why. Maybe because he had such a soft and kind personality? Maybe because he was cute and fluffy like a teddy bear? And every time he smiled at you it made your day better?

You managed to pick yourself up and got that salad done. You all sat around the table outside, food and drinks all out and ready. You thought to taste some wine. Afterall, you were in a village filled with winery.

Being not such a big fan of wine meant you were not used to drink it so just one glass turned you into a talking smiley human.

It’s fine, you were among friends. Hana and Jun knew you very well. Then there was Vernon that would never judge or laugh at you. Joshua was completely drunk by now and Soonyoung seemed tipsy too, cheeks all red.

Now, maybe Seungkwan was the type to crack up some jokes, but he was too busy having fun.

Seungkwan: Ok, I have a proporsi…proprosi…porpo…shit. Let me try again. Pro po sit ion. There! Tonight is a night for deep conversations. We are among friends and I don’t know about you, but I would love to hear some touching stories and ideal from each of you. And maybe someone even has questions.

Joshua: I love this, Kwanie.

Seungkwan: Since I came up with the idea, I’ll start. I want to know what was the hardest moment of your life and what did you do to make it better.

Hana: Wow, that’s some deep shit there. The hardest moment for me was when my grandmother died. She practically raised me and I will never forget her. And I think you never heal from something like that, but with time, things get a little better and you cry less.

You try to show her some support by rubbing her back. You know the feeling of loosing someone close like that. It happened when you were in your home country few years back. You still think about that friend every single day. So yeah, it’s something that will always hurt.

Seungkwan: Ok, my hardest moment it’s similar. Everyone knows about my best friend and what happened. So….yeah, that was…really hard. I still struggle with the pain sometimes, but I have really good friends around me and my family. I know I am loved and it makes me feel safe.

Joshua: Yaaaah, this conversation while drunk hits different. Me next!! I think for me it was when I moved from the States. I didn’t know the language, the people, the culture. I was just a church boy that found himself in a foreign place. What about you, Hosh?

Hoshi: Ummm, there have been a few times when I had a really hard time. I can say that it’s hard to put one in front of the other because the contexts were very different. But for me, there were two moments. First one was when we first got hate from the public and antis. We were just kids and we didn’t deserve that much hate. I mean why would people be so mean? There is room for everybody. To tell us that we will never succeed. It made my blood boil. But we showed them. Look where we are now, there is no higher than this.

Vernon: And the second one?

Some of the guys were already prepared for what he was going to say, they knew it will be about his ex.

Hoshi: I mean…you know. Do I have to say it?

Seungkwan: Some of us don’t know, so yes. Not me, though, I know EVERYTHING!

Hoshi: It was when my at the time girlfriend cheated on me with one of my favourite idols. Caught them in bed. Something like that traumatises you for life. Really. I still have nightmares about it and I’m afraid of starting a new relationship. I think I better stay single.

Jun: Hosh, we talked about this before. You can’t expect that every future partner will act like that. For example, did you ever cheat?

Hoshi: No.

Jun: Then, Y/N here that was cheated on by an ex should think all guys cheat and never get involved with a guy again?

Hoshi: Someone cheated on you?

Hana: Yeah, silly. Your friend Mingyu.

Hoshi: I am sure he didn’t.

Hana: How can you know?

Hoshi: He’s one of the most genuine guys I know and I trust him, he would not lie to us.

Y/N: It doesn’t matter now, and yes, I have been cheated on, but by a guy you don’t know. It’s all in the past.

Hoshi: I want to know.

Joshua: Tell us, Y/N, we won’t judge. It’s a safe space and it stays between us.

Y/N: Sooo, I was 21 and we were together since I was 18. He was my first love, we met in college. I thought he was such a kind person, until I started to pay attention to the things my friends were telling me. I was just so blinded by love that I couldn’t see the big red flags. Turned out in our last year together he started a new relationship with a girl who used to be his best friend’s girlfriend.

Vernon: Shiiiieeeet, that’s so fucked up.

Y/N: And the way I found out it made me sick. We used to live together and when I got back to our shared apartment from a weekend of taking care of my sister, because she got very sick. I found long black hairs everywhere. All over the bedroom floor, in the toilet, even inside of one of my fucking t shirts. He gave her my t shirt, guys! My favourite t shirt with the picture of my dog on it.

Hoshi: Where does this guy lives?

Jun: What’s his name?

Y/N: It obviously still hurts knowing I was so disrespected and humiliated. Of course it still plays with my head whenever I meet someone new. So you can understand why I just couldn’t believe Mingyu and get back together. Yeah, maybe he didn’t cheat, maybe it was a trap for us to brake up, but for me, having such low trust, it’s a deal braker. The moment the guy I’m with makes me cry and hurtlike that and feel unsecure about our relationship, it’s done.

Seungkwan: Oh, now things are starting to make sense. I think you two could share your experience, since it’s similar. I never knew how is to be cheated on.

He said, pointing to Hoshi while looking at you.

Y/N: Jun, tell us yours.

Jun: It’s like Shua hyung. Leaving home for a foreign country. Man, it was so hard to communicate with the guys. They were very good to me though and I really feel loved. So all hardship paid off in the end.

Everyone looking at Vernon, waiting.

Vernon: Oh. My turn. For me, it’s not a specific moment that happened and that’s that. It’s something that keeps on happening and I find myself having the hardest times when it does. It’s when I see members having a tough time, whether they are sick, or exhausted, or just sad and depressed. Their mood is affecting me a lot and it’s really hard to help when it happens. Because you never know what are the right words or the right actions, you know.

Everyone looking at Vernon with heart eyes and nodding, like he said something amazing. Which he did, Vernon is a pretty mature and knowledgeable guy. We love him, we admire him and we need to protect him, ok?

Y/N: Noni, I feel really bad about all those weird ass fan calls you are getting. I wish I would slap some sense into those fans, you don’t deserve that.

Seungkwan: Remember when Mingyu just hang up to a fan that told him to show her his abs? That’s what we should do every time someone is rude or out of line like that.

Y/N: Yeeesss!!!!! And you should hire me as your bodyguard and I’ll slap some bitches.

Joshua: Really? That’s how much you love us?

In your drunken state, you didn’t realise that the next second you looked right into Soonyoung’s eyes while replying “yes”to Joshua.

When he blushed red, you realised what you did and moved your eyes from him.

Shit shit shit!

Hana: Juniiii! Did you know that I had the biggest crush on you?

You were just having a sip from your glass and hearing her, you spit that all out. Luckily, in the air and on yourself, not on someone else. You rushed to the bathroom, took your shirt off and tried to wash it as quick as you could.

Stupid wine! I knew I shouldn’t drink it.

You think you did a pretty decent job with getting the stains out and now you have to get out of the downstairs bathroom to go up to your bedroom and find a new shirt to wear.

Hurrying out the bathroom door into the hallway, your drunk mind had no time to intercept the person in front of you and you crashed right into them.

The crash was so fast and silly and it threw both of you to the floor, whining.

Y/N: Ooooowww, my butt!!!

Hoshi: What about mine? Don’t you watch where you’re going?

Y/N: Me? What about you? Were you going to enter the bathroom while I was still inside?

Hoshi: I didn’t know you were in there.

Y/N: What if I was naked?

Hoshi: Why would you be naked?

Y/N: Taking a shower is supposed to happen naked.

Hoshi: Well you are half naked.

Y/N: Uh?

And you look down. You’re indeed half naked, only shorts and a bra on. You forgot all about the wet shirt you had in your hand that went flying somewhere on the floor.

Y/N: Like you’re not enjoying the view. Huh!

Hoshi: Am not!

Y/N: You are, look how you’re still starring.

Hoshi: Not my fault, I’m just a guy and you’re…

Y/N: I’m what?

He gets up faster than Flash and walks past you, right into the bathroom.

Y/N: I’m what? I’m what?

Hoshi: Shut uuuup!

He panicked because he was this close to tell you “you’re beautiful”

Because why would you tell a woman she’s beautiful, she doesn’t need to know. Keep your feelings to yourself, make her wait. Let her wonder. Wait a while, let her think, let her want you. Let her find another guy, get married. Maybe then it’s the right time to tell her. right?

You’re such an idiot! He tells himself. For almost blowing up his cover or for not telling you? He’s not sure. Just like he’s not sure what to do about what he feels towards you.

Now he’s sitting on the bathroom door, back leaned on the door, mouth open and eyes wide. He thinks he needs to stop drinking. How is he supposed to manage this week with you around? Why did he come here? He could have stayed back at the hotel with the other guys.

15 minutes later he gets out and walks outside. Nobody’s there. He hears music on the beach so he starts walking slowly, passing the trees and bushes in his way.

All of you were dancing in the sand, under the Moon. The sea was calm and the breeze nice. He felt happy, so in that moment he decided that what’s done is done and he will try to enjoy the next few days, even if it will become harder and harder for him.

He joined in into your little dancing circle.

Of course, you needed to tease him now.

Y/N: Now Kwon Soonyoung, we know we’re mere peasants compared to your dancing skills, please don’t make us feel bad.

Hoshi: Ha! I’m not a meanie like you, would never do that.

Y/N: Oh, I’m a meanie now?

In a fraction of a second you take his bottle of water he was holding in his hand and you run towards the water. He starts running after you.

Hoshi: Yaaaahh!! Give me that? I need to get sober!

Y/N: Why? You’re more easy drunk.

You stop few steps into the water and turn to him.

Hoshi: Easy? I’m not easy!

Y/N: Yeah you are. If DK was here you would be kissy kissy.

Hoshi: Well that’s because it’s our thing when we drink. My lips are not cheap, you know. I don’t just kiss anyone.

You start putting your lips, making kissing faces.

Y/N: Who will you kiss tonight? Seungkwan? I know you like to get him angry and he would hate that.

He starts pacing to your direction, his eyes mad and face serious. He grabs your chin with one hand and plants a kiss right on your lips. A small, quick kiss. Didn’t really feel like a peck, because it was wet, hard and longer than one.

With his other hand he grabs his bottle then he turns around and walks to the others.

Hoshi: Is this answering your question?

And he left you there. Pouty and upset. Shocked. He left you with your thought. There is nothing to say to that, he left you speechless for the first time. Well, it’s the first time that he knows of.

He stops somewhere a few meters in his way and turns to you, almost like waiting for an answer. He had no idea where this courage came from. He really kissed you.

Hoshi: Tiger got you tongue?

He crosses his arms before his chest and looks at you, still waiting. He thinks you’re so cute flustered like that.

Then you start moving and walk to him.

Y/N: Why did you do that?

Hoshi: What did I do?

Y/N: This is not a game, Soonyoung. After that conversation we just had one hour ago? You pull this? You can’t just kiss me then act like nothing happened.

Hoshi: I needed to shut you up somehow, you kept being mean to me.

Y/N: So what, now you’re going to kiss me anytime I tease you?

Hoshi: I don’t know.

Y/N: Do you like me, or something? Because it’s giving crush.

Hoshi: Pfff, as if. It was just a peck and I got the reaction I wanted. Look at you all flustered.

You shake your head and walk away. You hear his footsteps in the back, this time he’s quiet.

You don’t stop walking, telling goodnight to the group and heading to your room.

Seungkwan: Ya, Hoshi! What did you do?

Hoshi: Nothing, I was just messing with her a little.

You go straight into the shower, taking a cold one and all you can think about, all you can see and feel is that kiss. Stupid Soonyoung!!!

You get into bed and minutes later Hana comes and lays next to you, pulling one leg over yours.

Hana: Pooks, what happened?

Y/N: Stupid Soonyoung kissed me.

Hana: Wha..when? why?

Y/N: When we were in the water. I was teasing him about kissing the guys when he’s drunk so I guess he took it as a challenge? I don’t know.

Hana: Didn’t you hit his nut sack again?

Y/N: Nah, I was just speechless and I was standing there like a fool. Then I scolded him for doing that and left.

Hana: What did he say?

Y/N: He was acting like it was nothing. Really, I don’t get this guy.

Hana: You think he was trying to get back at you for that kiss in front of Mingyu and JK?

Y/N: You know…that didn’t even cross my mind. But you might be onto something. Still, after the conversation we had, he goes and kisses me?

Hana: Well, babe, you’re both single and adults. Nobody is cheating anybody. But I have the best idea ever.

Y/N: Oh no, here comes the worst idea ever.

Hana: No, I’m serious, it’s so good you will think I’m the smartest person. Here it goes. What if.

Y/N: Yeah?

Hana: What if? And bare with me here. What if you play his game, but better.

Y/N: What the hell does that mean?

Hana: I feel like he’s playing here, wanting to see your reactions. Beat him at his own game. Play it, do crazy shit to get a reaction out of him, flirt. Like, heavy flirting. You know what I mean.

Y/N: Hana, you know I kinda like him, right?

Hana: So what?

Y/N: Like, I don’t want to hurt my own feelings. You know, starting to like him more from all the flirting and he rejects me.

Hana: Pleaaaase, it will be so fun. I promise, boo! If you want, I can give you the ideas on what exactly to do. He won’t know what it hit him. Look at me! If he isn’t in love after I’m done with him, you can do whatever you want, I will be your personal servant for the whole year.

Y/N: I will do it only because I don’t lose at games. You’re on, Kwon Hoshi!

At least you could sleep now, knowing he’s been challenging you with that kiss and you’re going to get back at him.

Next morning the plan was in motion. Hana helped you pick the sexiest swim suit and you wore it for breakfast, with just a thin unbuttoned shirt over it. He hasn’t seen you like this ever.

And when he lays eyes on you  while you’re coming down the stairs it all feels in slowmotion. Your long golden hair shining when you walked in front of the window right into the sunshine. A light breeze was blowing your shirt away, revealing your spectacular tanned body.

He thought you looked like a goddess. Walking slowly and sensual towards the kitchen, his eyes went to your thighs. Magnificent, he thought. He wanted to be squeezed by them. They looked so soft.

Eyes going up to your perfect waist that he wanted to grip and never let go, to your breasts that were barely covered by the swim suit bra. If he was never a boob guy, now he was. Your neck sensual and long. If only he could put his hand around it while thrusting into you.

And don’t even get him started with your lips. He loved them. So plump, soft and sweet. Now that he felt them he wanted more.

You reached the kitchen table where he was sitting and his mouth almost drooling, opened wide, made you chuckle.

Y/N: Soonyoung, are you feeling ok? Too much Sun for you here? What can I do to make you feel better?

You put your hand on his thigh and look at him with a cute pout.

He snaps out of it like your hand burned his leg.

Hoshi: Sorry, I just had too much to drink last night and I’m not feelings super.

Y/N: Did you eat yet? Want me to make you something?

Hoshi: I ate what Shua hyung made earlier.

Then you pat his head and leaned in a little to push your breasts together right in his face.

Y/N: Ok Soonyoungie, just tell me if you need anything.

All the guys were looking at each other lost, was clear you were teasing Hoshi and honestly, it was funny to them.

After you had something to eat, you saw the group outside around the pool and you signaled Hana that you’re going for another attack.

Hana: Girl! Already, a second attack? You trying to finish the poor boy?

Y/N: He started it, I’m going to finish it.

And like that you walked outside, slowly, moving your hips from side to side like a tease. You knew you will leave collateral damage in your path but it was war. You’re not weak.

Walking to stand in front of him on the other side of the pool, you drop your shirt and slowly sitting on the edge, dipping your feet in the water. At some point you lean forward to get some in your hands and splash it over your chest.

Droplets of cold water dropping down your sunbathed body, running down down to your belly and further into your bikinis.

Hoshi gulps loud, he fears the whole planet heard it. His throat feels dry like he just chewed a cactus and swallowed it.

He starts coughing agresively.

Noticing this and knowing it’s because of you, you raise the stakes. You look at Hana and nod and she immediately brings over some oil for tanning.

Since he drank some water to calm himself down, you took advantage and started to pour oil all over your barely covered body, massaging slowly and sensualy.

The worst thing for Hoshi was not that, but the way you locked your eyes with his while massaging yourself with the oil.

Jun knew already what was coming, Josh was quietly waiting, looking between you two, feeling the tension. Vernon was somewhere on a daybed sleeping. Again. Seungkwan was waiting for the drama like hot bread and Hana was trying not to die laughing.

You knew your acting skills were at a high level, in a funny way. But now you were trying to be more or the sexy side of acting.

So after you put oil all over your front side, you were pretending you couldn’t reach your back side so you grabed your little oil bottle and came to Hoshi.

Hoshi: Soonyoungie, help please?

Looking up at you with the bambiest eyes that ever bambied, he stopped breathing.

Hoshi: What?

You grabbed his hand to pull him up and he was just like a rag in your hold. He was just so weak and complient. He stood up and you handed him your oil.

He took without questioning any further; you turned your back to him.

He was like a lost puppy waiting for instructions.

Y/N: Come on, Soonie, the Sun will burn my skin. Are you scared?

Hoshi: Scared? Of what?

Y/N: I don’t know, you tell me.

 As soon as he heard scared, his competitive side came to life and he started to rub the fuck out of that oil on your body. When he finished with your back, he went down on your butt, being not very gentle with it.

You got a soft moan out of your mouth, could not figure out if it just happened or it was planned. You’ll tell your friends later it was planned 100%.

When he heard your little moan, he rolled his eyes so hard he could feel them on the back of his head. He felt tormented and tortured.

He felt getting hard under his shorts. He had half a brain to keep his oversized t shirt on, hiding his shameful hardon. He felt like a perv.

Then he had to kneel behind you to rub your legs too.  Just some 30 minutes ago he was thinking how would those thighs feel.

Well I’m dead already. Stop being such a pussy, you know she’s doing this on purpose. Keep your head up! No! Bad idea! Not right now, dummy, there’s that unbelievable ass up there. Keep your eyes to the ground and finish this quick. Mingyu, you idiot.

Hoshi: I need to wash the oil off my hands.

And he sprints to the bathroom upstairs where he can be sure nobody will bother him for the new minutes. The guy was beyond turned on. He hadn’t had sex in a few good months, they were on tour, he hasn’t  even had a passing friend with benefits since he can’t even remember.

Then it was this..thing he felt for you. Was it just lust? Just a horny guy who needs it bad?

As soon as he entered his bathroom, he locked the door, threw his clothes off, got under the cold shower and took care of that impossibly hard cock he had in his hand.

Thinking about how that hand also just touched your ass, your legs. Oh, he felt like such a big perv again. But he admitted he was weak for you.

He wasn’t usually like this. He was always drawn to feelings then came the lust and sex. He always needed some sort of connection with his partners to feel the need for sex.

But this? Now? He couldn’t describe, it felt animalistic almost. His hand up and down his thick leaking cock started to become faster and faster. He really needed to cum and calm himself down.

He thought this was the best orgasm ever, even better than when he had sex. What is he doing with his life? That’s not right.

You splayed yourself over a towel next to the pool. Hana was next to you, whispering in your ear about Hoshi.

Hana: I could bet that he went to jerk himself off. I just know it.

Joshua: Y/N, that with Soonyoung was fucking hilarious. Please do it again, I love watching him flustered.

Soonyoung appeared after a short while. He needed a cold cold shower too. He gave you a look, shaking his head, almost like wanting to say “you’re not playing fair, but it’s on”

He maybe be weak sometimes but he’s a fighter. He never gives up.

That same day at night it was time for your third and final attack of the day.

You baked some cake with chocolate and brought it to everyone to taste. The chocolate easily melted on the fingers when you took the small piece of cake with your hand.

You didn’t bring any utensils, exactly for this reason. Damn, Hana is such a menace sometimes, she has such crazy good ideas.

You hoped everyone will take the cake with their hands and it is like you suspected. You offered one to Hoshi, with a cute innocent smile on your face. If only he knew.

As soon as you saw his fingers covered in chocolate, you made a worried face.

Y/N: Oh no, you’ve gotten a bit dirty. Let me help.

And when you took his thumb and put it in your mouth to suck all that chocolate off, his legs melted. He forgot his own name.

With a shocked face he asked: What are you doing?

Y/N: Helping you clean up.

Hoshi: Aish, this girl.

He started smirking and pretending to scold you.

Hoshi: I had no idea you wanted me this much.

Y/N: I don’t, though. And I am not trying to do anything.

He leans closer to your face, locks ayes with you and runs his thumb over your lower lip, then puts it in his mouth.

Hoshi: You left some chocolate here. You’re welcome!

So he’s hitting back. Good, I would feel bad for having a weak opponent. I might like him even more now.

It went out like this the whole week. You did something, he did something. Every time you both got flustered. Your friends were getting tired of it, seeing the obvious tension between you too. And it was more of a sexual tension.

You two looked at each other like you wanted nothing more than to spend the next 24 hours in bed.

The last night before you had to go back in Barcelona, you decided to have a serious talk to him, because you felt overwhelmed. You felt like your heart would explode.

You knew it, you were in love. You didn’t want to be, you wanted to erase every single little feeling.

You were all walking to your wooden cabin in the woods where you spend the last 3 days. It was a narrow street that took to your place. Planning to hold him back to talk, you grabbed his wrist and just gave him a look.

He understood what you wanted and he took your hand telling you to follow him. He took you to a little hill where there was a big swing where you two sat, under a big jacaranda tree.

You both sat there in silence for a while, just enjoying the moment, knowing it doesn’t come often.

Hoshi: What am I going to do with you, huh?

Y/N: What’s that supposed to mean? Am I insufferable? You hate me yet?

Hoshi: Is that what you were trying? To make me hate you?

Y/N: Of course not.

Hoshi: Be honest. What were you trying to do?

Y/N: Ummm, getting back at you for that kiss.

Hoshi: I see, I see. So if I gave you a real proper kiss, you would try to stab be whenever you see me?

You giggle and push your shoulder into his.

Y/N: Soonyoungie, come oon.

He starts acting cute, calling you Y/Nie and touching your nose with his finger.

You stare at each other one minute too much.

Hoshi: What are we doing?

Y/N: I don’t know. You just annoy me so much.

Hoshi: Am I?

You nod, smiling cutely.

Hoshi: I thought I was one of your favourite people.

Y/N: My God, Soonie, what made you think that?

Hoshi: Hmm, you calling me those cute nicknames, for example. We have been teasing each other for months. And I am pretty sure we have gotten close. You know, it’s like my friendship with Kwan. It’s a love-hate relationship.

Y/N: Friendship.

You repeat.

 You look up at the night sky. He puts his hand over your hand that is placed on the bench of the swing. He smiles. You get up, not looking at him.

Y/N: We should head to the cabin, we’re leaving early in the morning.

He gets up too and grabs your wrists, standing so close.

Hoshi: You wanted to talk but you are not saying anything. Why do you keep running away when we’re having a serious conversation?

Y/N: Serious about what?

Hoshi: Our feelings. Don’t act like a little brat now, you know what I’m talking about and I think you owe me some answers.

Y/N: It’s not like you had some answers for me.

Hoshi: Did I hear any questions and I refused to answer?

Y/N: I… guess not.

Hoshi: So then stop being a brat and ask me. I’ll answer.

Y/N: Don’t treat me like I’m a baby, I’m just one year younger than you!

He pouts and cups your face with both his hands.

Hoshi: I like it when you get feisty and angry. Now you say something you like about me.

Y/N: I like…your silly jokes nobody laughs at, but you. I secretly find them so funny but I keep my laughter inside.

Hoshi: Wow, that’s mean. I like how you lose yourself in thoughts, it feels like you’re thinking about 1000 things all at once.

Y/N: I like how you’re actually really soft on the inside, even when you scream like a loonatic to make people think you’re dangerous.

Hoshi: Hey, I am dangerous!

Y/N: Not in the way you think you are.

Hoshi: Oh? Then In what way?

He gets even closer this time, his hands now falling from your face.

Y/N: You know, I can’t seem to figure out if you’re trying to kiss me or kill me, since you had your hands cupping my face for the last 5 minutes.

Hoshi: First your answer, then mine.

Y/N: You’re dangerous in the way you make girls fall for you for being too cute. Should be illegal.

Hoshi: Oh?

Y/N: Your answer?

 But he doesn’t answer. His hands fall on your neck, his thumbs rubbing your cheeks lovingly. His nose touching yours, his plush lips hovering over yours. You can feel his warm body glued to yours. It’s like you can feel his heartbeat. Or is it yours?

You don’t want to close your eyes, you want to see him. Those eyes that tricked you into falling in love again. Why did it have to be him? Why not a complete stranger? A random guy you met at work, on tour, even a tourist, a friend of a friend.

You whisper over his lips: What are you doing?

Hoshi: I really really really want to kiss you right now.

He said it.

You won’t go for the kiss and it seems he’s delaying the moment. He might still be playing with you. He might not even like you like that.

So you pull away just when his lips slightly touched yours.

Y/N: I can’t.

He looked at you with sad eyes, trying to understand what he did wrong.

Hoshi: Did I mess it up?

Y/N: No, I just can’t and shouldn’t.

Hoshi: Will you tell me why? Apart from the reason I already know about the past and not trusting men anymore? I won’t be a jackass and say that I’m different. All I can tell you is that I like you. I can’t tell you what the future will bring, if we are good for each other or not. Shit, I am scared too. I’ve never felt like this and I have absolutely no idea how to manage everything I am feeling.

Y/N: Soonyoung. I am so scared about everything. I don’t want a failed relationship anymore. I just want to be THAT someone to somebody, you know, not someone who’s left aside just in case the grass is greener on the other side. I don’t wanna feel like a second choice. I want to be wanted, completely, loved.

Hoshi: I want to give all that to you if you’ll let me.

Y/N: I don’t think I can, I’m sorry. Please, just let me go to my room.

He lets go of you and watches you slowly get further and further away. He just stands there, eyes filling with tears ready to burn his cheeks. Should  just give up? Is this the Universe telling me we would not work together? Why do I feel such a strong pull towards her then? Man, this sucks. Now what?

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buddie: 4x13 Recap in preparation for 7x9 (other ships included too)

Ok... I'm intrigued for the last two episodes now after reading the journalists' commentary who've previewed the episode. MG said 7x9 and 7x10 should have been billed as a two part finale and the GIF he used to describe it in one word was "Pain". Also, KP said it seems like they're picking up "old threads" that weren't properly explored. Well... I REMEMBER THERE'S A LOT THAT WASN'T EXPLORED BETWEEN BUCK AND EDDIE 👀 (more on them below).

I've been thinking about 4x13 and the whereabouts of all the 'ships during that episode to parallel them with 7x9 and here goes. (Buddie is last just like they were at the end of 4x13).

Bathena

4x13 - Bobby and Athena were on the outs because in 4x12, Athena mentioned after she was attacked by Jeffrey in 3x17, she was offered early retirement but she turned it down. She never told Bobby about it. They ARGUED for the first time in 4x13 and they were still arguing when Hen called Bobby in 4x14 to tell him Eddie had been shot.

7x9 - Bobby's struggling with his past and Athena's worried about him just like she was worried in 4x13 that he was hiding something from her. It's possible from the 7x9 sneak peek that Bobby might be having delusions of someone being after him.

Henren

4x13 - Toni (Hen's mother) got sick and she fainted. Hen's medical school classmates helped her figure out what was wrong with her. After she was admitted to the hospital, Toni told Hen, the medical field needed more African American doctors.

7x9 - Hen and Karen have a foster child named Mara. Reminder, they had just given Nia back to her mother earlier in season 4 and Hen struggled with it because she didn't want her to go back to Evangeline.

Madney

4x13 - Maddie was struggling with PPD and she was going through it. She was still going to work but Chimney wasn't aware of how much she was struggling until she told him. Maddie quit her job in 4x14 and in 7x7 she told Amir she used to be a nurse.

After 7x6, Madney is in a happy place so it's unclear what, if anything, they could be struggling with in 7x9.

Buddie

4x13 - Buck and Eddie’s storylines were the most intense, the most intertwined and the biggest. Reminder, Eddie didn't breakup with AF after Carla told him to follow his heart and not Chris'.

AF found out Charlie's mother was swindling people out of their money which led to Eddie figuring out she was poisoning him.

He told Buck and Chimney about it and Buck didn't even put on his uniform, he just left with Eddie.

Captain Jeshan Mehta and the 133 were dispatched to the call and Buck drove the Batallion SUV to the scene with Eddie in the passenger's seat.

Then the 3 minutes and 17 seconds that changed everything. It showed the audience that Buck and Eddie are in love with each other and if they missed it, they should rewatch the episode.

Eddie reached for Buck and in 4x14, he asked him if he was hurt.

7x9 - Eddie didn't breakup with Maris*l in 7x5 like he should have the same way he didn't breakup with AF in 4x13 like he should have.

The 133 will be on a scene in 7x9 or 7x10 and it'll be interesting to see if Captain Mehta will be there too.

Also, Eddie’s either having delusions that the woman he met either looks like Shannon or he thinks she does. This parallel with Bobby appears to be mental instead of physical this time, so if history is about to repeat itself, then it's likely Bobby and Eddie could both be suffering from delusions. Reminder, Bathena and Buddie ALWAYS PARALLEL EACH OTHER.

If TM is really about to redo a scene for Buck and Eddie that will rival the shooting and explore EVERYTHING THE F*X NETWORK WOULDN'T LET HIM DO WITH BUCK AND EDDIE THREE YEARS AGO THEN... THIS IS ABOUT TO BE EPIC!

IYKYK Buck and Eddie are in love with each other and if Eddie gets hurt again, EVERYBODY IS GOING TO SEE IT THIS TIME INCLUDING T*MMY, HELENA, RAMON AND THE 118.

The will was revealed in 4x14 and maybe it's meaning will be explored in 7x10 along with the reason why Eddie waited a whole year to tell Buck about it. It's possible it will come into play again before the end of the season, especially if Eddie's badly injured this time and the Diaz parents show up. If Helena thinks she's taking Chris to El Paso with them, she'll be WRONG because Buck’s his legal guardian.

Reminder, the 133 was there the last time but this time they'll be with their found family and Buck can't hide his feelings for Eddie, like EVER especially when he's injured or hurt.

In 7x6, the foreshadowing was there when he thought Eddie was dead while he was lying in the bathtub.

These are pictures of Buck’s face whenever Eddie’s hurt.

T*mmy doesn't have a chance with Buck because Buck and Eddie gave each other their hearts a long time ago and I can't wait until T*mmy sees it with his own eyes so he'll be gone. He won't be able to pretend Buck was trying to get his attention anymore because Buck’s going to go nuts if Eddie's hurt again. His heart will be on full display and there won't be any denying who he loves.

Buck loves Eddie Diaz and Eddie loves Evan Buckley!

I ONLY SHIP BUDDIE!

[rfpetals]

Why I think Ramattra deserves a redemption arc

OKAY HEAR ME OUT. First of all, what I mean by “redemption arc” is a bumpy journey of self-discovery and inner peace akin to Zuko’s. I don’t think Ramattra will ever forgive humanity or join Overwatch. The end goal of a redemption arc that I want to see is one where he finds inner peace and forgives himself for his sins.

Exhibit A: It would parallel Zenyatta which is really cool because I love characters that are foils of each other and follow a similar path with an outcome opposite of the other’s and-

It’s implied that Zenyatta didn’t have the best circumstances before joining the Shambali. When Ramattra found him, he may have saved his life, as the “nearly got him killed” line in Ramattra:Reflections seems to allude to a dangerous situation. Ramattra also set him on the path of the Shambali, where Zen found belonging, purpose, and perhaps inner peace. Ram gave Zen a second chance and he turned his life around because of it.

(Side note: This may be why Zen was so adamant in helping Genji. He knew from experience what a second chance can do for someone. This makes Genji and Ram’s hatred for each other even funnier.)

It’s clear that Ram is not in the best mental state right now. I don’t think normal people attack the planet and subjugate their own people. I believe if Zen successfully reaches out to Ram and (somehow, idk we’re too early into the plot) gives him a second chance to go on a journey of self-discovery, and he does end up finding inner peace because of Zen, it would be a very satisfying payoff and poetic parallel. It would also lean into the implied thesis of Ramattra’s character arc: “You didn’t have to fight alone”.

Exhibit B: Throwing him in jail/killing him off would be a waste of potential

Yes, Ram needs to face the consequences of his actions. Yes, throwing him in jail is a realistic and satisfying punishment. But you know what else is a realistic and satisfying punishment?

Facing worse discrimination from the humans who hated you and hunted your kind to near extinction and also being cast out and feared by the very people you tried to save and now you’re left with the guilt and shame of your ultimate plan to help your people having failed and you’re left with nothing and nowhere to go. Seeing Ram struggle with these consequences, try and fail to be better, and finally achieve inner peace for himself despite everything, would be ten times more narratively satisfying than watching him rot in jail for 10+ years.

Exhibit C: The seeds are already in place

There’s already a lot of foreshadowing and word choice in Overwatch official media that implies that this is the direction that Ram may be heading towards. Hell, even Ram himself has literal redeeming qualities. In one of the Ram Dev Updates, it’s stated that the Narrative Designers wanted Ram to be “exciting, felt understandable, dangerous, and someone you wanted to get to know better”. In the iconic Invasion cutscene, there is a lot of stuff that Mondatta says to Ram, and his reply, “Perhaps, one day, we truly will be together again”, implies he once had hope for peace, which could be a key motivation in his arc, or could lead to a realization he needs. In a 2022 Polygon article, it’s explicitly stated that “players should not think of Ramattra as a villain, but an ‘antagonist’”, again, alluding to the possibility that he’s meant to have an arc. There’s also the fact that Talon is clearly being set up as the bigger, actual villain, and they’re cooking up some sort of plot that leads to their betrayal of Ram. Why else would Doomfist send Mauga, Reaper, and Sombra to steal Ram’s technology instead of just asking him for it? (maybe he did and Ram told him to fuck off)

Ok so, Ramattra gets a redemption arc. What happens? I DON’T KNOW! YIPPEE!! Exhibit D is that Ram is already such an unpredictable and complex character that his journey could go in any direction.

He could try to regain his following, he could atone for his sins, he could return to the Shambali, he could try to reconnect with humans again, he could be an ally of (not join) Overwatch and get to know them, he could wander the world and find the answers somewhere out there, he could see the errors of his ways and try to rebuild the world he destroyed knowing full well that it wouldn’t make people forgive him and he does it because his journey has led him to a path where he finally chooses to do things for himself and achieve the life HE wants and thus fulfilling the sacrifice and wish Aurora made for him, meaning he accepts his own sentience and finds inner peace! What makes the possibility of a redemption arc so fun and exciting is that anything can happen. It’s what storytelling is all about!

Why wouldn't you want that? And why can't I be a little delusional sometimes? If Ramattra ends up being thrown in jail or nuked or whatever, I will definitely be disappointed, unless I am horribly wrong and the foreshadowing is actually pointing to that fate instead.

Anyway Bliz please stop dumping the budget into collabs and pay attention to the lore more thanks farewell

[bettyshoweduptotheparty]

1989 - The story of two muses

Back to my first and forever love – Lyric analysis!

1989 is very close to my heart, and I have always found it noticeable that this album has quite a contrast between love songs about a very up and down/anxiety filled relationship on one hand, and the very raw and heartfelt romance as portrayed in ‘This Love’ and YAIL on the other.

And the 5 new vault songs we have on Taylor’s version now have added quite a bit of detail to the picture that emerges and I’m more convinced than ever that there are two distinct relationships/muses being described and I fancied doing a deep dive into how each one is described in the music and how the themes connect to other songs. (And it may even explain the beach theme 😉)

Ok, so, I have actually sorted every song from 1989 that is about a romantic relationship, including the 5 new vault tracks, into this scheme (even though I found some really hard!)

Muse 1 – “The heartbreaker” This relationship is described as very up and down, very anxiety-driven, something you can’t walk away from like an addiction, “against your better knowledge but can’t help myself” kind of way. Taylor has described this person as ‘the one that might one day interrupt your wedding, because you’re never truly over’.  Break up: ‘you left me’.

Muse 2 – “The one that came back” While this relationship is by no means described as perfect, it has a very different tone to it. It’s very much based in secure feelings, ‘us against the world’, any difficulty faced is worth it. Break up: ‘had to let it go’. And the person came back when it counted.

(Sorry about the pictures, I couldn't fit a table in any other way)

I am really impressed with how much just five new songs have furthered the story of these two relationships and I (personally) love how much this is filling in the blanks and makes everything make so much more sense. 'You can hear it in the silence' vs 'Now your silence has me screaming' almost killed me, honestly. She really found the love that needs no words. 🥰 And the direct contrast of the metaphors, one relationship as an addiction with very high highs and very low lows, and the other as the calm waves on the shore that continually come in and out with the tide, is just so masterfully done, I love it. And I think given the beach theme of the 1989 TV covers, we can guess which of the muses is being honoured in this re-branding.

Lyrical connections to later albums

Perhaps not surprisingly, these two muses and their lyrical themes show up again in Taylor’s music in later albums. The connection I’ve already seen a lot of people make is the playing cards reference from Say Don’t Go (‘I’m trying to see the cards that you won’t show’) linking to Cornelia Street (‘back when we were card sharks, playing games’). And I love how this tells the story of someone whose previous relationship impacts how they react in a new relationship. Because the person in Say Don’t Go really did lead her on and played her and then left, whereas the Cornelia Street muse didn’t but Taylor thought as much based on her previous experience (‘I THOUGHT you were leading me on…but then you called, showed your hand…’).

Another parallel to Lover songs is the ‘light in the dark’ theme that starts in This Love with “lantern burning/ flickered in my mind for only you”, which feels very similar to “chandelier still flickering here” from Death by A Thousand Cuts. This relationship/lover is the light that perseveres in the dark, even if it’s just flickering, it never goes out. It lights up the darkness (‘glowing in the dark’), whereas the other relationship is a “shot in the darkest dark”. We obviously get a whole lot more songs in later albums that reference love as light in the darkness, most prominently in Daylight, the Lover album closer. But more subtly, I also think that “Takin’ your time in the tangerine neon light” from Slut, and “hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine” from Cruel Summer follow that same pattern. Something that illuminates the darkness. And just btw, Slut and Cruel Summer give me a very similar vibe in terms of different takes on the same situation…anyone else get that? But one last, maybe more subjective, connection is the line “I’ll pay the price, you won’t”. Which everyone immediately took as a comment on double standards between men and women, but I think it could also be interpreted to mean ‘I’ll happily pay the price and take the hit, so you don’t have to’, if you interpret the song to be about dating a man in public to keep a female partner out of the public eye.  With that in mind, the line becomes very reminiscent of ‘I can never give you peace’ from folklore, both expressing that Taylor wants to shield her lover from the media scrutiny that comes with dating her.  

Suburban Legends alone has so many links to later songs that I had to give it its own paragraph. The chorus ‘I didn’t come here to make friends’ is so ‘I don’t want you like a best friend’ coded, and ‘We were born to be suburban legends’ gives me big reputation/big conversation vibes. Other people have already pointed out that ‘flushed with the currency of cool’ draws links to Gold Rush and Gorgeous (‘You’re so cool it makes me hate you so much’) and ‘so magnetic it’s almost obnoxious’ is very similar to ‘magnetic force of a man’ from Lover. All painting the picture of a person who is so cool and alluring that they feel almost unattainable. The whole premise of the song being that the narrator didn’t come to make friends, but instead is on a mission to get what they want, feels very Mastermind to me. The background music over the outro confirms that, as it’s the same production as Mastermind (I call it ‘game show music’ 😊) and the lyrics saying that the muse now doesn’t knock anymore, suggests to me that maybe the masterplan has worked. Lastly, the conclusion of the song being ‘my life is ruined/I always knew it’ is a different way of saying I’ll happily ruin myself for you, as in ‘for you I’d ruin myself a million little times’ from Illicit Affairs.

We don’t get nearly as many references to the first muse’s themes in later music, but ‘fell from the pedestal, right down the rabbit hole” from Long Story Short is a nice drawback to the wonderland theme. Bottom line though, ‘It was the wrong guy…’.

And there we have it, the story of the two muses of 1989. If anybody here is even remotely as excited by lyrical analysis as I am, this one is for you, and feel free to have a friendly chat in the comments if I’ve missed anything!

[starboysbrainrot]

Since it’s jetko week, do you any hc about jetko ? Any hot takes about jetko ? Any specific thoughts ?

hey anon !

i think that my fav hc jetko would have to be either Jet becoming his personal bodyguard, first as an attempt to “keep the new Firelord in check” and then in an attempt to just protect Zuko when he sees how often Zuko’s life is threatened by him being the new Firelord.

or Jet & Zuko living together far from any big cities, with a big family, after abolishing the FN monarchy. it’s probably the least realistic one but it’s I think the one where both get that they deserve : a peaceful life, filled with love and happiness.

now if we’re speaking about hot takes, i posted this thread on x bc anon inspired me to put my thoughts on paper so I’m just gonna copy past it here

it’s not specifically jetko thoughts but I do think that the fandom tends to be too harsh on Jet & Zuko in one specific episode. and for me that’s City of Walls and Secret.

now don’t get me wrong. yes, Zuko was lying about his identity, yes Jet was stalking two people and started a fight, but that’s really, textually, not that bad. Jet is traumatised, paranoid and stressed so when he has the slightest hint that maybe Iroh might be a firbender he’s TERRIFIED literally and every single part of his brain that might think rationally just doesn’t work anymore. and that’s perfectly understandable given what happened to him.

that’s doesn’t make it 100% ok since, yeah they are so many EK citizens that might come from colonies, with mixed heritage, or with fn ancestry that might make them a firebender without being fire nation, and Jet had no way of being sure about this. but as I said his reaction is textually completely understandable.

now for Zuko, he would be in mortal danger if his identity was revealed (which people tend to forget) and he cannot afford to give up on his secret identity for a boy he barely knows. I know y’all like to make it big by saying he kind of betrayed jet’s trust, but jetko, as much as I love it spent max a few days together on the ferry, and that’s it. that’s literally it.

zuko even declines Jet’s offer because he cannot afford being close to someone when he is hiding his identity. cuz it would be risky, it would be even more lying, etc. it’s perfectly understandable and sincerely it funny that out of all the horrible things Zuko did it’s often that one that people will point out. I know that canon divergent jetko au might use that angst potential with Zuko lying to Jet but in canon it’s really not that deep. if he doesn’t lie = he dies/or gets imprisoned at BEST. if he does lie, he gets a chance at surviving both the EK and the FN. and that’s basically it.

as much as it is a popular trope to make Zuko or Jet guilty in jetko fics, I really don’t like it because canon jetko and fanon jetko are really two different things. canon jetko isn’t about betrayal. it’s more about how two severely flawed and traumatised teenagers start to form somehow a friendship because of how similar they are, but the instance of war, trauma and the sick need of survival get between them and tore them apart before they start to remotely form a meaningful relationship.

like in canon these two boys owe each other NOTHING. and I mean it. no Jet doesn’t owe Zuko his trust and no Zuko doesn’t owe Jet his honesty. not in that specific context. and that’s something that a lot of people don’t get about these two in canon

people even fail to realise that Jet’s lack of trust and hostility towards even the slightest hint of firebending & zuko trying to survive, burying his honesty to do so, are wonderful parallels that could be exploited in fics. not necessarily the “you lied/you attacked me” but just the “I had no other choice, I’m sorry” which is so much more tragic.

I would add that this specific trope of “Zuko earning Jet’s forgiveness” when it one sided doesn’t work for me. it works for ships like maiko or zukka, and especially zutara, but not really jetko. at least not if it isn’t reciprocated. like both guys did horrible things but none of these “horrible things” were directed towards eachother.

what happened in BSS is ultimately tragic because both didn’t had another choice. both were clinging on the idea of surviving. both were terrified by what could happen to them. DO YOU SEE HOW TRAGIC THAT IS 😔

[pilferingapples]

OK my random question for you to think over is— If you could schedule some bonding time between Jean Valjean and any one of Les Amis, which Ami would you choose? Who would he click with/who would help him out the most/who would be the best most helpful Buddy for him to have ??? Or would you need to pick multiple Amis?

(This may or may not be related to a future fic idea I have planned. I have asked myself this question but currently do not know the answer, so I am curious about your thoughts! You always have great Les Amis takes)

OK before I get into this, I want to be clear that I think Cosette does an AMAZING job with Valjean's emotional Everything, but (a) she's a kid (b) she's HIS kid (c) no one person, no matter how close or important, can ever supply all of another person's emotional needs, even if they're a lot less traumatized than Valjean to start (d) a major problem with Valjean is Social Isolation, which only people Besides Cosette can alleviate (e) that is just the start of the issues that Cosette can't and should never have to handle alone! So no consideration of adding Other Friends to Valjean's life should be taken as an insult from me to Cosette (and I know you wouldn't , but people get weird). Cosette is a star.

Also: I am in all of this assuming a setting/ series of events leading to Acquaintance that does right by both parties ; importantly, that means Valjean is sure, somehow, that none of these men are romantically interested in or romantically interesting to Cosette. Maybe it's post- marriage, maybe it's an AU, maybe Whatever. Valjean's not doing his Lion With a Dog routine about it.

OK THAT SAID, let's Consider:

Enjolras: if they met outside a barricade, I can see them getting along very well! Unfortunately, that's because without pressing political action or conversation be thrown at them, I can imagine them both just sitting quietly and reading or being lost in their thoughts for as long as they're hanging out. Even GIVEN a political topic, like..Valjean is not gonna argue with anything Enjolras says and Enjolras is already gonna say it and they are just...gonna continue to Agree and then go back to Quiet Reading Time. Parallel Play For The Cats. Valjean will think Enjolras is a pleasant young man, Enjolras will think Valjean is a restful older gentleman, they will go to the library at the same time every Wednesday and nod hello and read in chairs near each other and never talk. Probably exactly the kind of interaction Valjean wants, and not at all what he needs to get out of his routine.

Combeferre: a very strong option!! assuming they've gotten talking about Nearly Anything, Combeferre can find the Fun Conversational Trivia in any subject. I bet Valjean would LOVE to hear about how steam engines work and the latest discoveries about bees or rubber or tinctures of opium. Valjean might be willing to tell him Cool Gardening and Metallurgy Knowledge and Combeferre would LISTEN. Combeferre is sharp and cutting about Interests and Ideas, but shows no signs of being someone who wants to get more emotional or personal with people than they're already setting up. This could be a great Hobby Buddy friendship and that's something Valjean really needs! Potential Issues: if they DO run into the sort of conversation where they're debating ideas, Combeferre does not seem to have an Easy Mode. IDK how much Valjean would be willing to enter Debate Thunderdome about politics or social issues; I worry greatly that he would shut down in Automatic Defense System Mode. But if they can work around that, Combeferre could be so good for getting him interested in the outside world!

Prouvaire: Much as above for Combeferre, except Prouvaire is already something of a gardener, DOES have a Gentle mode for debates, AND is goth, which would surely speak to Valjean's " some alive people like to be in coffins too" soul. Also lbr we know Prouvaire is on the 420 Crew in any era and it might do Valjean some real good to get baked once in a while. Strong potential here.

Feuilly: HE'S LIKE THE SON VALJEAN MIGHT HAVE KNOWN, or the grandson really-- as I recall, we've done the math and figured out that Feuilly really might be in the right age range to be one of Valjean's nibling's kids. I don't know how much Valjean has ever considered international politics but I bet he would deeply resonate with the plight of refugees and the displaced, which after all is a lot of the real issue. And maybe from there they can even get into how this is all systemic and Valjean might start to understand how he's not Uniquely Horrible if these injustices happen to so many people!!! A Little !!! Possibly!! Either way,they can get earnest and emotional over just wanting everyone else to have a better deal than they got. Go Team Lower Class Orphans Too Good For This World !

Courfeyrac: listen Courfeyrac's a delight and all but..he's just very bourgeois student. He is. Even assuming we're in the best situation where he and Valjean are talking politics and social issues enough for Valjean to NOT just mentally write him off as Standard Student Guy, I suspect Courfeyrac's many charms are just the wrong ones here. I'm not saying they can't get along, I think Courfeyrac can probably get alone with nearly anyone,but this is gonna be one of the harder options for any real connection.

Bahorel: you know I was all ready to go on a big ramble about how this could go multiple ways until I remembered the ONE THING, THE ONLY THING that gets Valjean to really open up and talk about his past is watching a younger man make horrible life choices that could get him arrested, never mind about trying to get Valjean to open up, Valjean is gonna trauma-dump on Bahorel so hard in the first fifteen minutes of them actually hanging out. And unlike Montparnasse, Bahorel pays attention and gives a damn about other people, and he is SO ready to get into how the legal system is pure evil and screws everyone over. Hating the legal system is a major component of his personality! I had honestly not really realized it until making this post but wow this will, eventually, be So Good for Valjean's mental health. (I am perhaps being a little silly here but I do think, on consideration, that Bahorel's over the top Everything would be on balance kinda reassuring for Valjean; plus there IS the goth factor XD Bonus points if it's a Better Post-Barricades setting where Bahorel's taken in Gavroche and they can bond over Unexpected Child Acquisition)

Legle: For Legle, see Courfeyrac, I'm afraid. You KNOW I love Bossuet so very much but he speaks 90 percent in too-smart-by-half puns and references and his entire social presentation depends on knowing how to parlay a bourgeois social skillset into Endless Crash Space. He's super weird and an incredibly good guy For Real but I don't know if Valjean would put enough effort in to realize that! Like with Courfeyrac, I feel like this would just be a Polite Acquaintaceship. Open to being convinced otherwise though!

Joly: ..ok I know Joly is also Student Guy as heck, but he's also direct and enthusiastic and overtly sweet in a way that Courfeyrac and Legle aren't. I can see Valjean enjoying his company somewhat the way he enjoys Cosette's actually-- here's someone who will be cheerful and chattery about things that he, Valjean, does not really know or care about. I still don't know if they'd connect on any deeper level but I could buy Valjean actively noticing and enjoying Joly's company.

Grantaire: HAAAAAHahahahhahaAAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHAH *runs out of breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAA hahahaha nooooo. No. Nooooooooo. Grantaire talking to Valjean would go about like Grantaire talking to Javert in the I Mis Miniseries. Grantaire will talk! You cannot stop him unless you are named Enjolras! Valjean will nooooot care.

...Writing this up has made me reflect on what I think Valjean really needs out of a potential friend and it's - someone to do the talking - shared interests, or new interests they can be enthusiastic about while he nods ahead - a willingness/ ability to get HIM to talk at least sometimes ?? maybe?? - shared goth vibes or at least the ability to understand that sometimes u__u you just gotta be in a coffin now u__u - ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY overt disdain for The Rules this is why Fauchelevent was SO good for him but I think he also needs someone who is not in life debt to him! he needs to know he can socialize with Kind New People and Not Explode!!

....and this is a long post so I'm gonna save more Valjean rant :D I am pretty sure you and I will discuss later anyway!! Thank you for the random question!

[legokingfisher]

DR s3 predictions 💪 (contains s2p2 spoilers)

First of all. I’m so so excited for Ras manipulating Arin… i want my boy to be some sort of okay in the end, but narratively ohhh this is gonna get SO interesting im so so so so exciteddd… right now, Arin only intends to use Ras to find his parents. But I can definitely see Ras holding this information out of reach for as long as it takes to convince Arin of all sorts of fucked up shit. And Arin won’t be able to do shit about it even if he realizes he’s being toyed with, because of my favorite thing abt Ras as a villain: he is fucking Ruthless.

Although, I’m not 100% on Ras even knowing where Arin’s parents are. I don’t really buy the whole “anything Jay Walker knows, i know” thing. It’s entirely possible that IS true though. Ras is pretty decent at covering his bases. WHETHER OR NOT RAS KNOWS, though, won’t matter. Bc he can clearly be pretty convincing. And this is something Arin is extremely desperate about.

I feel like Arin will spend a lot of time (like, perhaps all of next season or even longer) grappling with the idea of helping Ras reverse the merge. There’s no way doing that will end well (since overarching themes have been unity and coping with change) but I love when characters fruitlessly reach for a past they can’t return to. I hope he gets to meet different people that give him different perspectives on the merge— some people who’ve had a rough time adjusting and have lost a lot (paralleling Arin) and people who have been okay with or even benefitted from it (paralleling Sora). I hope it helps him make the right decisions when it comes right down to it.

I wonder if they will show Sora’s grief. I hope they do because hourhrhghrrhghhghgrheghregrvrhegrgehgegrhehegrhrghgrgrhgghhhhhhhhrgrrhgrhgh. I mean because hhrgrgjeghhghrgg. I mean. Because yes he’s not dead but she would have no idea if she’ll EVER see him again at this point. This probably felt relatively out of the blue for her. The last interaction they had was a fight. Ohhhgghghhrgghh. Oh god. Listen. My roommate and I are tight as fuck. We are Sora and Arin for real. It has hurt both of us so much being apart from eachother this summer. And we only lived with each other for 1 school year. ARIN AND SORA HAVE BEEN INSEPARABLE FOR MULTIPLE YEARS, YEAR-ROUND. She’s got to be dying. She’s got to be feeling like he’s dead. She wants him back… it literally makes my chest physically hurt to think about. She doesn’t remember how to go about her day without him around. And vice versa for Arin honestly. Urggrghhgg i know it’s not that deep i know she doesn’t like Need him to survive she’s her own person and it’s not like she can’t stand alone as a character . And they aren’t genuinely codependent (im not trying to make it out like they are. I hope i never come across that way) they’re just. They belong together ok

I have Arin brainrot so most of my thoughts are Arin-centric as yall can see but. What ever (i also have more shit bouncing around my brain than this but this post is already long enough)

[gffa]

Ok over on the discord we're invested in your 9-1-1 journey and agree 100% with your assessments, but we NEED to hear your thoughts on Mr. Eddie Diaz, esp his introduction, like I still cackle that this weewoo show actually introduced a new character half-naked in slow-mo with "Whatta Man" playing in the background (and I'm sure you've figured this out but it's him and Buck that's the giant ship).

I have struggled to put my 911 thoughts into coherence because there are two giant blaring sirens going off in my brain whenever I think about this series: 1) 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 ANGELA BASSETT🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 How am I supposed to care about anything else on this show when Angela Bassett is there, being stunning and delivering a performance that's top tier every single time??? Okay, I'm being tongue-in-cheek about it, but genuinely Athena is my favorite character and the one I'm most emotionally invested in, the one that it's hard for me to look away from. It helps that I'm also deeply fond of Peter Krause because I watched Sports Night and loved him in that a lot, so connecting Bobby to Athena's story has been a double shot of my faves. 2) I AM LAUGHING SO HARD BECAUSE I'M SURE THEY DON'T MEAN IT BUT WHAT IS UP WITH THE WAY THEY ARE STRUCTURING THE BUDDIE DYNAMIC? Introducing a character with "Whatta Man" playing is hilarious, but even more hilarious to me is the way their arcs are kind of thematically running parallel to each other. Buck's whole character arc is about him feeling finally ready to grow up, to take on the scary parts of relationships that include responsibilities towards other people and being genuinely emotionally available, that was the entire point of getting close to Abby, who came with her sick mother that was always going to be part of her life. So, Abby leaves, then along comes Eddie who has a kid that he takes his responsibilities for very seriously, where it's not intentional to intersect with Buck's arc, but then they have them immediately interacting in a way that neither character does as much with any other character, conflicting at first, but then opening up and being real with each other and I'm sitting here going, "If one of these dudes was a lady, the way Buck just stared at Eddie with his kid, they would 100% be signally that this was building subtext." I can't say I'm deeply emotionally invested in them yet (see my Angela Bassett Problem), but it's been a wild ride watching them interact and going, wow, are they doing this on purpose? Because they sure clicked really fast. *eyebrow raise* Bonus thoughts: I knew Chimney/Maddie was going to be a thing beforehand, so do I like them because they're cute or because I was primed for them? Who knows, but they're cute! I love that they brought back Tatiana and I have to say, maybe she was kinda cold, but I was 100% on her side, because she was right. She didn't love him and if she'd gotten pulled into that, she'd have been expected to drop her entire life to be at his bedside and that's not what she wanted, I love that the show was so gentle with her and Chimney's reunion and realization that they sparked each other into realizing they each needed to get on a new path. I love that Hen got to be complicated and almost left her ex to die because it would have saved her a lot of hassle and she really hated her, but ultimately was a hero, yesssss, let queer women be complicated, messy, and ultimately heroic!

[dutchdread]

Hey Dutch what is your opinion on crises core reunion ? I had few ca tell me it didn’t do anything for zack and aerith relationship it just made things worse ? I don’t know we’re they get that belief from but it’s there opinion. Did you think the story was ok and gave good context on what they mean to each other?

People give too much flack to Crisis Core. I only played the original CC back on the PSP so I can't say anything about whether or not Reunion made it better or worse, but I enjoyed the original. But part of that is because I simply had lower expectations for portable games than I do for AAA pc or console titles. I won't deny that the game has a bunch of stuff that could have been done better (Cough, genesis, cough), but it had its strong points as well. I think some of the basic concepts of Crisis Core are good in principle, like theme of hopes and dreams, and watching how Zack through adversity unwillingly becomes the hero that he always wanted to be. But the execution was often lacking. I love the idea of watching a several friends slowly break, and I think there is potential in tying that story into them being "monsters" and exploring what it really means to be a monster vs being a hero. But again. The way it was handled made it rather ridiculous and overly obtuse. The constant quoting of Loveless, ESPECIALLY without it ever getting a clear meaning that allows the player to connect with it, Angeals random dramatic self-pity, and a bunch of other stuff just made it so that storywise a lot of the bad overshadowed the good. But I played CC for Zack and Aerith, and they were perfect in my opinion.I loved seeing Aerith like an actual 16 year old girl and how her time with Zack rubbed off on her and caused her to start living every day to the fullest. I still think that the scene with Aerith hugging Zack from behind is one of the most romantic scenes in FF, simply because of how viscerally real it is. Her trying to make small talk, him just being there, choosing to mourn in the presence of the woman he loves, not needing to be consoled, but just needing her presence. And then that hug "sometimes you don't need words to tell a person how you're feeling" indeed. This is also a part of the reason I am convinced Aerith was still projecting Zack onto Cloud at the end of Rebirth "our place", "the church", Yeah right. For Cloud and Aerith the church is just a place they happened to spend about 5 minutes at one point, not even the place they met. Meanwhile Zack went there to see her for I think about one and a half years. He goes there instantly in intergrade, he goes there in Rebirth, we see him waiting there for Aerith at the end of rebirth, the core visual for Crisis core was changed to TAKE PLACE IN THE CHURCH. But the Church is Cloud and Aeriths place.....yeah right. Either that is an intentional hint that Aerith is still projecting, or the writing has fallen off a cliff. Then we have the other character moments, Cloud and Tifa pining for each other, the parallels between Cloti and Zerith. Zack promising Aerith he'll come for her underneath the water tower. And my favorite Aeriths "23 tiny little wishes", all encompassed in the one with to "spend more time with Zack". Which is then ultimately fulfilled via Cloud in the OG/rebirth. And then of course there is the ending, my favorite ending of any game ever aside from Nier:Automata. Man I bawled my eyes out. So yeah, I like Crisis Core, it's messy, but it's messy with a lot of gold in it, and for a portable title I think that's not half bad.

[emotsper]

SO after my szai explanation ask went absolutely insane and two people added their own stuff to it, I am not obsessed with szai thank you very much

anyways, point is that i watch a lot of music videos in my freetime, and while watching watashi wa, watashhitachi wa here are some szai moments that may be overinterpreted but!!!! who cares we're all insane anyways

so first of all the fact that airi got this line.......

second, these two lines

AND LAST THE FACT THAT AIRI WAS THE FIRST ONE TO LIGHT UP IN "there are many things I want to protect"

stupid fruits i love them

oh god dont make me started on song lyrics bc they absolutely devastate me ok . this time thankfully i remember to put the read more but anyways. click only if u gaf enough ab szai bc i do. (also i am not converting u its ok im just crazy enough to remember specific parts of the covers bc they make me insane)

ik the "covers aren't exactly canon" is pretty much accepted on a good chunk by the franchise but it doesn't mean it cant make u crazy.... here are a few cases of crazy ass lines i can think of with a more recent one. starting off with haruai's superhero.

1. HRAI SUPERHERO

this one makes me go insane bc as pris pointed out in the server we're in before, airi sometimes in a sense compare shizuku to a goddess with how pretty and gracious she is and while it can be seen as exaggerated, we can kind of see that she also meant it even in a way that shes not aware of. and shizuku is there to remind her that she's not a god and neither is airi, the one she wants to love 🥲

2. MMJ DEEPSEA GIRL

this one is a bit more straightforward, except now the szai and mnhr parallel(?) is also included. but we'll talk ab szais part only ofc.

(first chorus) airi shutting herself in the shadowy beyond just like her act of moving away from the idol stuff due to her being marketed less of an idol and she disliked it despite her fame rising up, and shizuku who. do i even have to say it. fell in love first.

(second chorus) shizuku had a line before this that reads as "deep sea girl, purposefully falling down" where she starts to doubt herself as an idol when airi lashed out on her back in mainstory, and airi who still haven't moved on her hope of her being a real idol ever since she left her old group up to the point of the confrontation with shizuku 🥲

3. Flos

GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL theyre both clearly feeling guilty over dropping off their past idol work especially after airis proclamation of them being rivals when they debuted 😭 im so.

4. I'm a loser!

🥲🥲🥲🥲 airi being the first one who acknowledged shizuku as a real idol, and so is shizuku who acknowledged airi as a real idol, and it got better with them acknowledging each other as their ideal idol.... coughs coughs coughs co

5. Ice drop

🥲 again i dont have to explain this one. the . ough

okay im not gonna do every single comms im just doing the ones i remember from the top of my head 😭 but theres definitely way more crazy ass lines from their songs and yeah. that i am we are line points back to the event where shizuku was worried with her self image after airi lashed out on her and it lasted long enough until the color of myself event where she starts to show more of her true self, not the perfect elegant idol shizuku but the more clumsy and imperfect shizuku :") i love them your honor

[24hrsoda]

This is gonna be long and prob uninteresting so feel free to skip but I saw that you wrote that you didn't think of species when drawing bats for your au and that we're free to interpret them how we want and though Large flying fox wouldn't match what you've drawn super well (outside of colour) cause they've got small ears and are raven sized(up to around 1kg in weight and 1.5 meter wing span), it'd mean that Cass could very easily hitch a ride as long as she's a normal sized bat(like a black myotis, though all vesper bats are prob too small so a species of leaf nosed bat might fit better but she doesnt have a leaf nose).

Also Cass having small eyes but being able to echolocate while Bruce has big ol eyes and can't would be a fun parallel to Cass's mask not having visible eyes and her whole 'body language as a native language' thing(like... both being an extra sense kinda deal).

I really hope this isn't a bother i just love bats and will use any excuse i can get to word vomit about them, they are such an awesome group of animals(they make up a fifth of all discovered mammal species(1300) and the smallest have a weight that's like 1/400th that of the biggest! Not to mention the variation in noses and ears!) and your au is very cute(Not to mention all the other awesome art)!

Hope you have a good day! Also, please look up the Lesser mouse-tailed bat if you haven't seen it i love them, ghost bats(woag... like the ship) are really funny looking too. Most bat species are fucked up little freaks and i love them all, they might be part of what got me into batman ngl 👉👈. I'd def recommend looking through bat species just for the hell of it cause they really are awesome, theres some real cute and bizzare ones out there. I've personally used dif species as inspiration for dif batman designs.

Ok i'm restraining myself so hard to not write more i want to write about the bird eating spectral bats so bad but this is. So long. And unsolicited.

Ghostbats are ugly-cute little gremlins! I’ve come across so many pictures of them while looking up ghostbat (the ship) related things!

I do find a lot of bats to be strange and funny looking but cute in their own way :3 I just don’t have enough bat knowledge to decide which species of bat first best for each Bat family member lol. But plenty of people seem to have better ideas than i do!

These are all interesting, Anon! And the differences between Cass and Bruce would make for some super interesting and cute connections between the two of them.

(I did go back and do some research to find the photos i used as references when i first started sketching the AU and i believe i used pictures of fruit bats, which may be why i colored them brown!!)

and speaking of ghostbat…maybe Khoa needs to make an appearance or two in this AU…and i have a pretty good idea of how to do that :3

[dukeofdelirium]

less than a year until byler is bones ❤️

awwww is someone scared of byler endgame? 😂

let’s look at the facts, shall we?

1) Will was deliberately written to be gay and in love with Mike

2) in the same season this was revealed, Mike was deliberately written to be incapable of telling his canonical girlfriend he loves her

3) Mike also cannot touch Will for some reason even though they are canonically best friends. Cant even hug him without having a whole crisis

4) Mike is confirmed to not know that Will is gay or in love with him, stated by the Duffers AND Finn meaning there is no reason Mike shouldn’t be able to hug him unless…. 🤔 he is perhaps in love with Will?

5) Will gives Mike a coded love confession using a piece of art he created that was never resolved, meaning it is absolutely going to come into play in the final season

6) Mike was pushed into telling El he loved her BY Will, and then afterward she barely spoke to him

7) Mike and Will ended the season at each others side, literally paralleled with 2 canon couples in the same exact frame, which is very intentional foreshadowing

8) again I repeat the lie Will told Mike, the lie that is the ONLY reason Mike even confessed to El in the first place and tried to say he loved her, has not been resolved.

What do you really think is gonna happen in s5? That Mike is gonna find out Will lied, that everything Will said was from El was actually just how he felt and that Mike’s response to said lies was a direct response to Will’s own love confession and that Mike is gonna be like “well that’s so weird and gross of you, Will!” 😂

They literally wrote Will as a second love interest to Mike. They wrote Mike as having serious issues with his girlfriend. They wrote Mike and Will together the entire season and Mike and El broken up the entire season. They ended the season with Mike and Will together and a whole lot of unresolved romantic tension between them that we again are not making up or imagining with shipping goggles. It’s literally a canon love triangle.

And you think the love triangle isn’t going to end with byler? Lol. Why even write byler as an option if it won’t be acted upon? There’s literally 0 reason to have written Mike or Will this way in s4 unless the plan is for them to end up together. It’s not some difficult narrative to comprehend. If Mike can’t tell his gf he loves her, there logically must be a reason for it. 🗿🍷 but it’s ok, I know you’re slow seeing as you’re a mileven. Take your time, maybe eventually you’ll get it <3

y’all rlly think Mike isn’t in love w Will when he’s out here looking at him like this for literally no reason LMAO bro is gay. bro can’t tell his gf he loves her cuz he’s gay and closeted. bro is gay coded more than Will ever has been and Will is the confirmed gay one 😂

[moon932]

I feel like Vautrin as a character gets passed by a lot in the fandom, which is a shame because he is such an interesting part of Neuvillette's past in Fontaine. And in my (very humble) opinion, I feel like out of all the characters he probably had the biggest impact on Neuvillete.

(more thoughts under the cut)

First thing that stands out to me with him is that he's the only other human character that is mentioned to have been close to Neuvillette. And most likely the first human, outside of Furina (which she both does and doesn't count? idk it weird), he would've met and grown close to when he came to Fontaine ~400 years ago. And this is interesting to me because we know how this story ends and I wonder if he is partially the reason, or maybe he just reinforced the idea, that Neuvillette abstains from forming close relationships?

Think about it, Neuvillette and Vautrin worked closely for years. Hoyo likes to be vague with their timelines so idk how long they would have been working together, but it must've been substantial for Neuvillette (who is an immortal being, so time probably feels different to him) to remember and reminisce about. We're both shown and told that they both had great respect for each other. Also one of the biggest things that stick out to me with the trial part of the story quest, is the noticable emotions in Neuvillette's voice as he juries over the trial. Which yes we know that trials make him emotional which usually manifests in the rain, but this is the first and only time (I think? pls correct me if I'm wrong on this) that it's noticeable in his voice.

The last big thing I think about isn’t the trial itself necessarily, but the way Neuvillette talks about it in the fortress with Wriothesley. I think this is more specific for the english dub bc Ray Chase, instead of saying “And I believed he had every right to feel that way.” he changes it into present tense: “I believe he had every right to feel that way.” Ok this one may be a bit of a stretch because they essentially mean and get across the same thing, but it’s so interesting that it’s changed to present tense. And honestly? I think it works better with the present tense. Because Neuvillette doesn’t condemn Vautrin for the emotions he felt, (which wild theory but maybe he was channeling his emotions towards those he killed and not necessarily towards Neuvillette? so out there ik) if anything Neuvillette seems more then ok to readily accept them and the fact that they are (supposedly) directed at him.

Some other minor stuff that always makes my brain start to whir is that while the parallel were drawn between Vautrin and Carole / Traveller and Paimon in the quest, I do think it’s more fitting to say Wriothesley and Sigewinne are a more accurate parallel. Is this a slight critique on main character privilege? Yes.

If you’re wondering why I’m fixated on this it’s because Neuvillette is a character, that while his interpersonal relationships are sparse, they’re usually a lot more complex and often deeper under the surface. Neuvillette and the melusines are some dynamics that I wished Hoyo explored more often because I would love to know how to the melusines view Neuvillette more in depth. (If Sigewinne’s voice lines or character stories touch on this please let me know! I’d love to read them.) I have barely even touched on Neuvillette and Furina because their relationship is such a complex mix of trust and fear and pain and love. Not to mention Neuvillette and Wriothesley “The words unspoken are the flower.” Okay sir, keep your secrets I see how it is.

Do I think that Neuvillette always had the idea that the Chief Justice must remain impartial in any circumstances running through his head when he first took position in Fontaine? Yes, but I do think that the trial with Vautrin may have exacerbated this thought and made it more of a lifestyle type thing. Or maybe Neuvillette believes all his relationships from then on may be set in a perpetual cycle of grief and loss because surely nothing will out live the sovereign of water, the original god of life itself?