#and there were now two hotter angles that i'm much more invested in seeing the emotional payoff to currently

[biancabelairs]

i'm thrilled kenny might be coming back by all out, i've missed him dearly

i'm considerably less thrilled about hung bucks getting put on ice again and/or bucks/ftr 3 for all the belts at all out getting canned for the sake of kenny/bucks trios champs, as much as i love the three of them as a unit but like. it's been months since the timing for that was right and i'd like to see some payoff for the things that got set up in the meantime

[captainchewtoybaby]

Heart of Gold

Kurt Angle x reader

Summary : Kurt and reader were highschool sweethearts but years later after a bad break up they meet again. When they get put together in a story line, old memories start to come up. Will this storyline bring them back together or is their relationship doomed to fail?

Y/n Pov: 

Summer, 1996 

It was the summer of 1996. I had just enlisted myself into a wrestling school. I was excited of course since I've always found the spirit very interesting. I had found a job in a boutique that actually paid me pretty well. Everything was going great. But that was just the beginning for me. 

My boyfriend, Kurt, had done bigger things than me that summer. He was going to participate in the Olympics. It was a big deal for him, since he had been training  months for this.

Kurt and I had met in highschool. He was this shy, nice kid. The kind you would definitely bring home to your parents. We met during a school dance we both attended, well actually we were dragged to it by our friends. He saw me sitting alone at my table, came over and we started talking. I know it sounds like your typical teen movie moment but who cares, here we were six years later and still together.

Kurt had come by to visit me and my family, before he was off to Atlanta. It was after dinner when we decided to sit on the porch. 

"Are you just gonna stand or are you gonna join me." I said, sitting on the porch swing, looking at Kurt, standing there as if he was a statue.

"What about your dad?" Kurt asked. You see Kurt always was afraid that my dad would rip him apart if he saw me and Kurt touching or even sitting next to each other. I always told him my dad was just overreacting and sitting next to each other wouldn't make me pregnant. 

"For the love of god, Kurt, it's not like we're gonna have sex on this porch swing." I said. He looked at me and plopped down beside me.

 "On second thought, that would be hot." Kurt said and I slapped his arm. 

"So-" I said. "Tomorrow is the big day." 

Kurt sighed. "I'm having second thoughts about this." 

I looked at him. "You? Kurt Angle, the man who trained his whole life for this, the man who ran up a hill with someone on his back, the man who was too busy training to call me-" 

"Alright, no need to be an ass kisser here." 

"I'm not kissing your ass, I'm just saying what I saw." I said. "Kurt, you can't give up, you were too invested in this." I garabed his face and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I believe in you." 

"Ew cooties." He said in fake disgust. 

"Oh shut u-" before I could finish his lips were on mine.

"Thanks for believing in me." Kurt said and gave me a small kiss on my neck. 

"You know just a minute ago you were afraid to sit next to me and now here we are making out on this thing." I said. 

"Shhh, you're ruining the moment." He said as he kept kissing my neck. He worked his way up to my chin and then my cheek until he reached my lips. He then suddenly stopped.

"Oh shit, I have to go." He said and stood up. I walked with him to the stairs. As he was about to leave  he turned around and gave me one last kiss. 

"Make me proud." I said. 

"I will." Kurt said and kissed me one more time. He then walked to his car. And that would be the last time I saw Kurt Angle.

**********

March, 2000

The WWF. Listen, This was the number one company I wanted to work for, since I started wrestling. Sure the other two companies were interesting too but wwf was the game in town. So when a great friend of mine said that i should try it out, i went and now here i was sitting backstage of Smackdown. I've only been with this company for a year, so I was still trying to work my way to the top. 

I was currently in a storyline in this sort of friendship storyline with Molly Holly. The whole thing was centered around Crash Holly thinking I would betray Molly someday and that she trusted me too much. The story itself was fun but I felt that I could do much better than this one.

"Man it's hotter than a bitch."  I heard a voice behind me. It was Lita, who sat down next to me with a plate full of cookies. 

"The weather man said we could expect hotter than this."  I said. 

"You watch the weather, lame." She said and took a bite out of a cookie.

"No, it's not lame, it's educational." 

"Oh really? How?" 

"You learn about the weather." 

"Listen, the sun shines everyday, even I can tell you what the weather is gonna be like." Lita said and stuffed another cookie in her mouth. Just then Trish Stratus sat down in front of us, holding two ropes. 

"What do I wear tonight, this or this?" Trish said, holding up a red and yellow rope. Besides Molly, Trish and Lita were the two girls I became very close with. One my first day they were the first two people to talk to me and show me around. Ever since then we just clicked.

"They both look terrible." Lita said.

I hit Lita on her arm. "What happened to the black one?" I asked. 

"It's in my bag but I wanted to try something different, ya know, a lighter color." 

"Just stick to the black one." Lita said. I rolled my eyes.

"Listen, these ropes are pretty, okay the yellow one looks uhm- 

"Like shit." Lita said.

"No, it looks fine and the red one looks-" 

Okay I had to admit they were terrible looking ropes but I just didn't want to tell Trish that since she was a bit too happy to show them to us. 

"Admit it, they look horrible." Trish said

"Alright you got me." 

"Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have trusted the new tailor Matt sent me too ." Trish said.

"Matt Hardy?" I asked.

Lita almost choked on her cookie. "Matt? Trish, there are reasons why he and Jeff wrestle in jeans." She said. "And never take advice from Matt or Jeff, you'll end up in an even shittier situation." 

I snickered. "Listen guys, I gotta go and get ready before Molly kills me." I said. The girls waved goodbye to me and I walked out of catering. On my way to.the dressing room I noticed someone walking the opposite direction. I said someone because I knew who it was. It was the one person I was trying to avoid since the first year I came here. The one and only, Mr. Gold medalist himself, Kurt Angle. 

It had been four years since we drifted apart. Why? Heck i didn't even know why either because right after he won that medal things went downhill for us and one day he just disappeared out of my life.I was hurt. Deeply too. But I kept my chin up and worked on myself a bit more. 

As we passed each other I looked in his direction and he looked in mine. And for a split second it felt as if we were strangers. No hello. No waves. Nothing, we just passed each other like it was nothing. 

Part of me wanted to walk over to him and slap him but I always said to myself: "y/n, just let it go." 

Besides, I was here to make my career, not get back with the man who dumped me. As I passed him, I let out a sigh. I just hoped to never ever pass him again. 

********

@aritamargarita @diesels-jacknife @rainchyna

A/n: enjoy yall

[aerodaltonimperial]

Apparently I am doing this now because UGH LIFE IS SO OVERWHELMING AND UPSETTING listen i can't explain this except We Best Love season 2 knew that everything is hotter in business wear and I agree

A beginning scene from a Chrono Cross enemies to lovers corporate AU!!! (Apparently I will be writing this here so lol if you for some bizarre reason want to be on a tag list whenever I become upset and write more let me know)

Acacia LTD's office building was specifically designed to be confusing, which is why Norris is so frustrated when he loses twenty minutes trying to find the right elevator to take him to the right lobby in order to get out to his car again. He's tired, and the reception on his first day was, predictably, not met with friendly smiles, and he's already missed the hotel bar's happy hour. If he punches the ground floor button on the elevator harder than necessary, well, at least there's no one around to see it.

At least until the doors open up on floor 21, and Glenn steps in. Norris swallows a long-suffering sigh, for Glenn, as a son of the late co-owner Garai, was part of the marathon four-hour meeting at the beginning of the day when tensions were already high and there wasn't nearly enough coffee to keep people from snapping at him--not that caffeine would have stopped any of them, given the circumstances.

Glenn is quiet until the elevator starts moving down again. "Luccia says you used to be on the R&D team with Porre."

"What did you do, a full background check?" Norris asks, and then huffs. "Trying to find something to use against me?"

"Know thy enemy, right?" Glenn counters. His eyes flash. "Why did you move up into management?"

Norris levels him with a hard stare. "Leadership qualities."

"So you're a kiss ass."

"Said by the nepotism hire."

Glenn’s expression darkens, his mouth curling. "I'm good at my job."

"So am I," Norris returns.

The elevator dings, doors opening on the ground floor, just as Glenn offers a threatening little, "We'll see about that."

Norris steps forward to slam his hand on the button to close the doors again, because it's been the longest day in existence and he's already out of sorts, and the last thing he needs is some privileged upstart giving him sass. "You can't stop this merger by making me look bad."

"Can't we?" Glenn says, eyebrows rising. "What happens when you go back in two weeks without anything to show for it but a headache and a mile-long room service tab?"

"You're lucky this is even being proposed as a merger instead of a buy-out!" Norris exclaims. "Acacia is in the red--"

"And we'll figure out how to fix it on our own. "

Norris stares at him. "It's not my fault that your CEO made a bad investment and tanked the company stock, you know; should these talks prove positive, Porre is planning on keeping everyone here in their positions."

"Are you threatening my job?" Glenn demands.

"I'm not, but my boss might."

Glenn laughs, mirthless. He tries to roll up his sleeves as though they aren't already folded just below his elbows, the crisp lines of the buttons disappearing into the deep V of his pinstripe vest. "You're a real piece of shit, you know that?"

"I'm trying to help," Norris says.

"No, you're angling for a promotion, and you're using our company's downfall to do it."

"At least you finally admit it's a downfall."

Glenn glares at him, thunderous. "You're a dick."

"Doesn't seem to matter much," Norris replies, even though it stings.

Glenn surges forward, and Norrs steps aside out of instinct; the elevator doors open up with another mechanical hiss. "Don't expect to find any friends here."

"I wasn't, but thanks for the heads up."

The other man pushes past him with a breeze of aftershave, the barest hint of the cologne remaining after the day. "Go to hell."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," Norris calls to Glenn's retreating back, and then, fuming, he follows the other into the lobby with full intentions of having the hotel front desk send up an entire bottle of Scotch once he returns. At this point, it's worth putting it on his own credit card.

Not for the first time, he wishes Porre would have sent someone else to see the initial merger discussions through, because he's encountered nothing but hostility amongst Acacia's employees.

[gascon-en-exil]

I think the Ike queerness was 100% bait. Nintendo wanted to appeal the yaoi crowd, mostly females form Japan who were the biggest playerbase, but yet not making him openly gay to not alienate the western male fanbase. 3H with Dimitri is arguable but the Claude's bait in the pre release trailers was proposital. I think the devs thought that the avatar having more than one gay option was enough and didn't care to focus on other same sex relationships despite the queerness.

Ok, but what about the subtext that's less in the spotlight but still very much there, like Quan/Finn, Raven/Lucius, or Sigrun/Tanith as examples? I don't see much value in speculating on what the writers of these various games intended when so much of it is up in the air and there's more useful angles to approach this topic - like FE's love of recurring patterns, which is definitely something with certain dynamics.

It also gets difficult to talk about intentionality because different queer content appeals to different audiences. Yaoi fangirls aren't going to care much about Edeleth even if it is canon, and straight men only will if it's hotter to them than the M/F equivalent (and while transformative fandom overwhelmingly favors F/F Edeleth, overall opinion seems more mixed). I have zero emotional investment in F/F even if I'm able to analyze their more obvious subtext, but I also don't care about Avatar M/M S ranks because I don't do the self-insert thing and would prefer interactions between two (or more) actual characters. Dimidue might be the closest thing we'll ever get to a full realization of a homoerotic knight/lord relationship, but I still don't think it was written specifically to appeal to people like me who are into that.

With its large playable casts FE's approach to shipping has been rather like a buffet for a long time now: take some of what you like, avoid what you don't, and try not to judge anyone who's really into what you personally find disgusting. You can get creative and serve yourself in ways that surely no one in the kitchen intended, but if you do you should make an effort to eat with people who won't judge you (publicly) for it.