#but like. he’d probably be worried about shippers so he wouldn’t want to admit the ships of hoo are…not great

[rosesradio]

i just realized that when the newest olympian gets to the later books, Mike is gonna totally root for jiper, frazel, caleo and solangelo just because they’re canon…🫠

[vrisrezis]

aot characters having a crush + dating hcs (havent proof read sorry for any mistakes)

- she understands that there’s something that draws you to her, however doesn’t fully understand what it is at first

- it’s enough to make her be more interested in you rather than the yeagers

- she believes that it might be your strength that’s overwhelming (and if you have overwhelming strength she is convinced that’s what it is for awhile)

- it is until she sees how Niccolo and Sasha are with eachother does she actually realize that what she feels is love and attraction towards you

- upon realizing this, doesn’t know what to do at first

- she was originally professional, but often kept to your side and felt an odd protectiveness admiration towards you

- now, she was much more casual and more flirtatious

- while acting confident around you, she secretly got butterflies.. you made her ... nervous ..

- nonetheless flirting with you is often, sometimes going as far as to kiss your hand

- she wants to properly court you and get you to return her feelings. She’d feel really bad if you never felt the same. Especially since she isn’t as used to the feeling

- it takes a long time for her to finally ask you out officially, but she does and is pleased by your answer

- however being with yelena isn’t easy, she isn’t one to follow you around like a lost puppy

- she had her motivations, she’s a yeagerist. If you’re not okay with that she isn’t gonna care enough to bother to stay along.

- she feels bad of course, she loves you after all but still

- if she ever had to go against you it hurt her but she would also understand it just needs to be done

- when that mess is over though she is fine with just sticking by your side

- or if you join her it just makes your relationship stronger and better

- doesn’t like pda cuz people might think she’s weak but she’s very soft when you guys are alone though

- lots of smooches from her

- she loves to tease you as well, she can’t help it though..

- she says you’re just so cute she has to bully you a little (more like a lot)

- secretly wants you two to get married so one day she will purpose be prepared for it

- she knows it’s stupid but hey... she has some hope

- secretly feels lucky to be with you even if she doesn’t say it

- doesn’t say that she loves you as often as she’d like, which she feels bad for deep down

- she doesn’t always know how to be vulnerable and express herself, while yes it does happen it takes time

- in a way you are her safe space and you make her calmer

- in a way, you were her hope and her god more than zeke ever was.. and that’s because you allowed to her to feel freedom, to feel love and to feel being loved, you’re more of a god to her now more than .. anyone else

- so maybe she tends to be a bit too protective, and maybe she tends to be very short with others that wanna talk to you because she wants your attention, aaaand maybe she tends to go overboard for you because she believes you saved her...

- so maybe she shows she loves you through actions rather than words

(While I don’t like her in the romantic sense she is my second best girl so I felt it was almost necessary)

- having a crush is always complicated, especially when you’re a kid.

- when you’re a kid as stubborn and prideful as gabi though, it’s even more complicated.

- she doesn’t even realize she likes you either, she’s too into her own head. Too overconfident to think about other people and especially in that way .. she’s oblivious, even to her own emotions

- she can’t help but wanna be around you all the time though, that’s something not even she can ignore

- she tries to impress you often, she will do the dumbest shit just to get you to pay attention to her in some way

- she works harder than normal, falco notices that immediately and catches onto what’s going on

- she tries to act tougher around you, just better in general

- she gets protective of you, when she does something stupid and you follow along she gets really angry and doesn’t understand why

- eventually after a talk with falco, she realizes (finally) that she likes you but never knows how to approach something like that

- eventually works up to the courage to tell you how she really feels about you but it’s really rushed

- is very happy when you guys start dating though

- doesn’t know how relationships should go.. important to keep in mind it’s her first relationship and you guys are just kids

- everyone likes you guys together though

- often grabs your hand, as her way of trying to keep you protected

- she hates getting you involved in her messes but it happens very often and she feels bad about it like everytime

- the first time you kissed she was a blushy mess wow

- yeah you’re the only one that’ll make her so flustered like that

- and it’s easy too, all you gotta do is kiss her cheek, or hand, and she loses it

- she lets you do her hair every morning, ah so today you decided to do her normal look? With the ponytail with some hair down? Or maybe a full on ponytail? Or maybe a little braid, or maybe just leaving her hair down for the day? Yeah who knows! Really she doesn’t care you do her hair everyday now

- speaking of which likes you playing with her hair even if she doesn’t admit it or say much about it

- hugs are often from her but usually when nobody’s around, she’s been through a lot... especially for a 12 year old.. (probably you too), just hug it out y’all

- she has a problem saying that she loves you, not that she doesn’t but she feels almost scared to say it.. like maybe you don’t love her and just like her

- after all, you guys are young.. how would you even know what romantic love is?

- but deep down you both know that nobody else would ever in a million years make you guys feel how you two feel about eachother

- on multiple occasions thought of leaving this all behind with you and falco and just living in a forest or something together but she knows she wouldn’t be happy that way

- she was meant to fight, but she and you make a promise to try not to die in this shitty war

- she will brag about how amazing of a girlfriend she is, but also brag about how you’re a wonderful s/o and how everyone should be jealous of how happy she is

- you know how she screamed while those mfs were getting trampled? Yeah if anyone were to hurt you she screams that kinda crazy ...

- she’s just extremely protective and really doesn’t wanna lose you too:( she’s lost some close friends and she’s scared of losing you as well

- kinda just always sticks to you like glue

- Levi just refers to you as the brats s/o

- real talk though Sasha would’ve adored you guys and been your biggest shipper

- gabi gets embarrassed if anyone says how cute you guys are

( not interested in him romantically either but he is a fav)

- falco realizes quite quickly that he likes you, gabi loves to constantly remind him and tease him to hell about it which is so annoying to him ...

- while he worries about you .. way too often.. if you ever wanted to become a titan he is doing everything he can to make sure it doesn’t happen

- he is extremely blushy and flustered around you like at all times

- he can’t say for certain he’s in love, after all he’s a kid and he knows at that age he has no idea what that shit is but at the same time he’s never felt this way for anyone in his life and he doesn’t think he ever will

- protective of you, especially in battles. Would not hesitate to jump in front of you to save you and take any hits he can for you. He does this for gabi and still does. He’s a protective guy when it comes to you two

- he lacks the confidence to tell you how he feels, he is extremely shy with you

- eventually gabi eggs him on so much that he’s basically forced to ask you out

- he’s relieved you say yes

- he’s even more blushy around you though, and ends up panicking because he’s not sure how he should be around you..

- should he act different? Or the same? Yeah you get it

- he loves holding your hand though, while it does make him die on the inside it makes him happy and warm

- hug him and he will die

- kiss him and he will die like 10 times over

- seriously this boy can’t handle affection without having like a heart attack or something

- gabi just thinks it’s so hilarious

- sometimes gabi purposelessly gets you guys to kiss so he can just die

- he’s an awkward boy but he loves you ... yes he loves you

- he’s way too scared to say it though, what if it’s too soon, what if you laugh, etc.

- will genuinely get mad in a relationship now though if you still wanna be a titan.. before he kept it to himself but he believes he deserves a say now that you’re dating and really hates the idea of your life being shortened

- eventually he admits he loves you, he wants you to live a long life, he wanted you guys to get married someday

- he would have dreams, fantasies, about you guys getting married.. even before you were dating

- it’s how he realized his feelings

- he would have dreams about you all the time

- now he still does, but he can just visit you at night and be by your side

- if he can, he’d like to buy you things and overall spoil you

- or try to take you out on dates as often as he could

- everyone knew about his crush though if we’re being honest he is obvious as fuck

- he would be too shy to hug you, but secretly wants a big hug from you give him a hug you both have been through it

- secretly a clingy boy don’t comment on it he will die

- he just wants to keep you safe and protect you please let him protect you

- she’s a bit of a tsundere let’s be real! She can be a bit mean at times and brush you off

- or just relentlessly tease you

- however she cares about you, she wanted you to live a long life and not get yourself involved in this fucked up shit

- that’s why she for the longest time wanted you in the military police

- and why it’s so obvious to everyone else that she likes you

- she eventually admits her feelings thanks to marlo and she is forever grateful to him for it even after him being gone

- hand holding is often, and gives you a big kiss on the cheek usually

- she’s not shy about her relationship, she wants everyone to know. She doesn’t see it as weakness

- besides she lost an important friend, she wants you to know you’re important to her and that she isn’t ashamed of you or to be with you.

- enjoys teasing you in general, sometimes will tease and call you a perv even if you’re so obviously not being one she loves to embarrass you

- often feels worried whenever she can’t be with you

- she often freaks herself out and thinks something bad might’ve happened to you

- she always tries to be respectful of you and your boundaries, while this is a normal thing to do she really gets worried about overstepping ever and will apologize even when she doesn’t have to

- something about you just makes her more soft and more worried she’s doing something bad or wrong

- protective gal that will kick anybody’s ass for you to keep you safe

- in the world you live in though, kinda necessary isn’t it?

- she tries to take you on dates and even if it isn’t always a common occurrence she tries her best

- kinda wants to baby you sometimes but she also knows how annoyed she’d be if you did so

- she just cannot help but act like a mom sometimes to you, especially if you don’t know how to take care of yourself

- now that you’re dating flirting with you is quite common, she likes to flirt !

- especially if it makes you flustered, all of a sudden she’s a huge flirt now

- overall you make her nervous and flustered, so she wants you to feel the same

- totally used to gush about you to like Annie before you guys started dating, she couldn’t help it! Thankfully Annie found it amusing

- still even after all these years swoons over you like damn how are you so attractive

- still tries to convince you to stop fighting within the survey corps if she can but she knows she can’t at this point with how long it’s been going on you’ve clearly had your mind made up for awhile now

- she wants to start a family with you but doesn’t know how to tell you

- honestly just wants a normal life with you she loves you so much

- (btw, y’all end up having kids named Sasha and marlo <//3)

- she hates the idea of you dying it’s something she thinks about extremely often and she gets nightmares

- she tries to keep that from you, honestly she tries to make herself look strong in front of you like all the time

- she eventually opens up doe

- give her cuddles and hugs ;( plz

- oohhh boy here we go

- if falco was bad enough well here’s armin

- motherfucker dies if you even look his way

- he’s so blushy and so nervous, he cannot help it

- he would eventually get comfortable around you though, and would often talk to you about the sea and things he wanted to explore with you together

- or read books for you to fall asleep to

- it made him happy when you did though, it meant you were comfortable enough to fall asleep around him

- if you ever teased him he wouldn’t know what to say and would just stutter and not get his words out

- in general stutters around you from time to time he can’t help it you make him so nervous

- he told you how he felt of course because of mikasa and eren

- when you guys started dating though, he still didn’t know how to go about romance as it was entirely new to him.

- in a relationship? Not a protective guy let’s be real you’re the one protecting him half the time and he always feels embarrassed about it

- he gets worried easily though, if you’re fighting and tend to be reckless.. it’s easy to be overprotective of a rather weak boy so it’s likely he’s constantly worrying about you .. yeah

- more courage now that you’re dating so if you tease him he may stutter but at least he’ll try to defend himself a bit better

- loves giving you cheek kisses

- shy boy is not for pda but if you wanted it who is he to deny

- likes holding your hand, loves when you hold his hand... man he just loves you so much please

- he probably spent a lot of time talking about you to Annie

- he’s thought about starting a family with you but truly cannot bring himself to talk to you about it, in the world you’re in and the place he holds .. he will just have to wait

- while a smart person, you are somebody he will go to for advice from time to time

- mostly though, he wants to be somebody you can rely on

- spoils you, my god he is such a simp he can’t help but spoil you

- sometimes you’re a distraction he will just stare at you and when he gets caught he’s so embarrassed

- like armin is so obviously in love with you wtf

- he likes being hugged a lot

- often lays his head on your lap and falls asleep he finds it calming

- he’s very sweet, and calls you sweetheart or honey

- he likes to just remind you how much he loves and cares for you, he never wants you to forget.. even if it makes him blushy and embarrassed

- hitch totally teases him about how lame and mushy he can be when it comes to you

- you’re his biggest motivation to finish this war for good

- also he is quite insecure in a relationship but he’s generally insecure asf just reassure him <//3

- what a sweet gal! She loves spending time with you, talking to you about random shit like how your day was and whatnot

- sometimes complains to you about how tough the day was or how hard Levi made her work lol

- or about all the cleaning

- she tells eren about you quite often and even somebody as dumb as eren catches onto her feelings for you

- she’s aware of her feelings.. or eventually becomes aware of them

- she’s not sure initially what to do with them, she’s young but she’s not an idiot and she understands that loving somebody in this line of work isn’t ideal

- she hasn’t truly experienced what others have though, she doesn’t understand the full extent

- so she allows herself to selfishly tell you how she feels

- she’s glad you return them, and if you weren’t already in Levi squad you are now as you show to be an important asset

- often you two will clean together and spend as much time as you can, you keep your relationship mainly secretive

- it’s unprofessional and besides you two might be separated due to Levi’s order

- it’s just best to say you work better together, which you do btw

- while her father believes she’s too young to marry, he does like you nonetheless

- she’s always embarrassed when he brings up the marriage thing and how she’s still young

- the idea of getting married to you just makes her flustered and drives her crazy that’s all

- not for pda, again your relationship is a secret

- Levi catches on, he could care less

- holds your hand mainly, kisses your hand, caresses it ... she loves your hands please

- often jokes around with you, she always did but moreso now that you’re dating

- she likes to tease you a bit but it’s all in good fun, plus bonus points if you get flustered

- she wants to brush and do your hair in the morning (yes even if short)

- she lets you brush and do her hair too though

- in a modern au would totally be the type to make you music playlists and have you listen to them but okay

- she finds comfort in being around you, even in her worst times

- which would’ve saved her tbh

- she tries not to think too much about the future, or a future that could be without you.. she just wants to live in the present with you for now and pretend everything’s gonna be okay

- she’s (mainly cuz of her father) had thoughts about having a normal life with you and getting married and having kids

- she knows that can’t happen, not for a long time :(

- clings to your arm a lot

- she’s good at comforting you

- she’d do anything to keep you from being moody or sad

- she’s also very sappy sometimes

- blushy boy, anytime he’s around you his entire face is filled with an enormous blush that anybody can notice

- while people might not notice things about bertholdt they can at the very least notice his rather obvious crush on you

- if you haven’t made a move by now you either wanna see him do it himself or your oblivious as fuck

- lots of stutters

- probably sweats a little tbh

- stares at you constantly, it’s hard not to notice and Reiner comments on it quite a bit

- if you’re a soldier he definitely feels guilty, but considers taking you back home with Reiner (kinda like ymir with historia)

- he tells you how he feels finally because Reiner keeps egging him about it

- he’s a blushy mess as he confesses, but he’s happy that you say yes

- in a relationship he can be insecure at times, he doesn’t think highly of himself so it’s to be expected

- just reassure him:(

- of course you would know about his secret if you’re a soldier, and you’d have to be okay with it and not expose him. Of course he’ll say his side of the story and all that. It’s likely you take his now

- he’s still a blushy nervous ... and rather obvious boy

- sometimes he just wants to hold your hand but is too shy to but he’s so obvious about it since he keeps staring

- just take this mf hand already

- he’s too shy for a lot of things tbh

- also side note if you’re really short like historia that is so funny to him but he doesn’t say it out loud

- will absolutely swoon if you touch or play with his hair, first of all you’re probably too short to reach his hair so it’s not a common occurrence (or if not, always in public), but also because nobody’s done that before it makes him feel so loved

- after dating for awhile and being a bit more confident he is the type to say I love you often, he can’t help it because he genuinely does love you but sometimes is scared it’ll lose its meaning because he says it so often

- is extremely protective actually, light cause him to make some grave mistakes on the battlefield because of how protective he can be of you

- you in general got him swooning

- he likes to cook for you (back at home?)

- in general would love to just spoil you

- if you do the same he dies

- if you ever compliment him, big blush on his face

- honestly can’t help but talk about you to Reiner, Reiner likes hearing about it though and he’s not annoyed by it because Reiner is a sweet boy that likes hearing his friend be happy

- while he likes you laying on him, likes laying on you more, like your lap or something ..

- he’s a big cuddle baby he wants to be held despite being so tall he is just.. please

- he wants to protect you during the day but at night just wants to feel safe and protected in your arms

- if you were ever threatened, if you are attacked and etc he is gonna be yelling he ain’t going down without a fight

- you make his brain short circuit and you make him stupid

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Questioning

Summary: Written for Banned Together Bingo. Set in a Modern AU. When Heather corners Hiccup over something Astrid has told her, he makes a realization about himself.

Rating: Teen and up

Characters: Hiccup, Heather, Ruffnut, Snotlout, Tuffnut

Pairing: Hiccstrid

Words: 1 784

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: “Questionable

Whumpee: /

Author’s Notes: Reupload from yesterday.

I've decided to take this prompt literally by having one of the characters question a big part of themselves, a part to themselves that is often seen as something "questionable". A.k.a, one's sexuality.

Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Enjoy!

Ao3

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

"Okay, time to spill the beans, Haddock!"

Hiccup knew that when four of his friends decided to corner him in the kitchen during game night that he must be in trouble for something. He can't possibly fathom the reason why, but they couldn't have all followed him in here and surrounded him at the counter for nothing.

Because usually, the ones getting cornered like this are the twins, Snotlout, and occasionally Fishlegs purely when the former three want to get under his skin for something. But cornering him? That doesn't happen too often.

"Well, I don't currently have any beans on me, but I was just about to grab something to drink. So maybe I'll spill that, we'll see!" Hiccup tells them, sassy as always. None of them amused, but Heather looks the most serious.

"Look, I just wanted to talk to you about Astrid and these three overheard us and then followed me here," Heather tells him, referring to Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut. They weren't a part of the plan, she wanted to talk to Hiccup alone.

"Yeah, we're pretty much here just to watch the drama unfold," Tuff admits shamelessly, his sister nodding in agreement beside him.

"Of course, you are." Hiccup sighs, why else would they have followed them in?

"Heather, what did Astrid tell you? What's wrong with her?" But he quickly focuses on the matter at hand. He wonders what his girlfriend had to tell Heather that she didn't feel like she could tell him.

"Well," Heather begins, eyeing the third, fourth, and fifth wheel of this conversation. "It's about what you two do in the bedroom. Or lack thereof, I should say."

She knows that in this particular group of friends talking about such things isn't entirely as awkward. Any such awkwardness about the topic of sex and similarly related subjects went out the window the second they all went swimming together this one time and they all witnessed a leech on Tuffnut's-

"Ohohohoho, no! Does Hiccup perform badly in bed?!" Snotlout is quick to laugh, immediately drinking this all up.

"Wh-what?! No!" Hiccup's protest is instant as he blushes. "Besides, if I do, this is the first I've heard about it."

With a hand on Snot's face, Heather pushes him back and comes to stand between him and Hiccup.

"No, that's not what I wanted to ask. It's something a little different." Okay, maybe there are no secrets between these six, but Heather does still feel a little uncomfortable just sharing this with the group.

Astrid looked mortified when Heather dropped her controller and chased after her boyfriend when he'd announced he was thirsty and wanted a refill of his drink. Or maybe it had something to do with Snotlout and the twins sharing a look and following quickly after.

Without a doubt, she's planning her escape as they speak. But if Astrid won't talk about it with Hiccup, Heather will have to.

"Oookay?" Hiccup asks that Heather elaborates.

"Are you still attracted to Astrid?" The second she asks, Snotlout can't contain his snort.

"What? Where does that come from?" Hiccup asks in turn, surprised that this even needs to be questioned.

Well, I know I shouldn't be asking you this, but-"

"No, you shouldn't, but you are." The two agree on one thing, at least.

"But you two are my best friends and you are so cute together and I want you two to work out. So I'm worried!" Heather admits.

"Ah, right, the original Hiccstrid shipper." Snotlout tells Tuffnut, elbowing his ribs.

"Well, to answer your question, Heather, of course, I think she's beautiful. Why on Earth wouldn't I?" Hiccup provides her with both an answer and a question, wondering why this needed to be asked in the first place. Does he not tell her enough? If he doesn't, he'll have to make it right.

"But are you attracted to her, you know, sexually?" And then this question comes and it sends Hiccup reeling while the remaining three are amused with the guts it takes to ask this question at all.

"Oh, that took a turn." Hiccup gasps.

"Hiccup, you've had sex before, don't clutch your pearls now." Ruff lectures him, almost rolling her eyes.

"He clutches his pearls when someone swears in his earshot, I think he's a lost cause." Snotlout remarks and he isn't wrong about that.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Heather, I think she's the most gorgeous woman I've ever met." Hiccup decides to ignore that tiny discussion about him in the background and answers Heather's inquiry instead.

"No, what she means, Haddock, is if you like her boobs and ass or if there's some reason, a.k.a a certain lack of attraction, keeping you two apart?" Ruffnut dares to be blunt where Heather does not. He can think she's beautiful all he wants, but that doesn't necessarily mean he wants to sleep with her.

"... I regret asking you guys over for game night." This is his and Astrid's house, though, maybe he can still kick these four in particular out.

"Answer the question, Haddock!" A very forceful finger is forced into his face.

"Do I have to?" He asks and, judging by the looks he's getting, he has to.

After this conversation is over, he's so having a group talk to set new boundaries.

"Well, I think they're nice." He answers quickly, without hesitation, doesn't need to waste a single second to think.

But for some reason, there's a beat of silence.

"You think they're... nice?" Tuffnut asks questioningly?

"You think Astrid's fit, worked-out body is nice? Her strong muscles and her abs? Her voluptuous-" Hands up, Hiccup makes a series of noises to stop Ruffnut in her tracks.

"Yes! Every part of her is nice! Why wouldn't I think so?" Hiccup reiterates and hopes that now they will please stop talking about his girlfriend's body in such detail.

Heather, Snotlout, and Tuffnut cock their heads to the side together and in similar fashion.

Ruffnut hums thoughtfully, in the meantime, a thought sparks to life in her mind.

Hiccup realizes by the faces they're giving him that they were never worried he wouldn't like her looks, "nice" just wasn't the kind of word they were looking for.

Oh Gods, how to explain this?

"Listen, it's not just Astrid, okay? That's just my general opinion on all breasts and-and butts." Why do they make him say that? He feels so miserable.

Ruffnut raises a brow, taking a mental note of the discomfort Hiccup is showing discussing his sexual attraction to the human body. She adds it to a list of traits only she's keeping track of.

"Okay, so, what's your opinion on men?" Snotlout asks, shrugging. He's genuinely invested in this conversation now.

"And other genders." Tuffnut chimes in wisely, pointing matter of factly.

"Oh yeah, those, too. Are they just "nice", too?"

"They're nice, too? All people are nice." Hiccup sighs. "Listen, guys, what do you want me to say? Astrid is beautiful and smart and fierce and she can lift me over her shoulder any day of the week. What else could I possibly want?"

Three of his friends find themselves agreeing with him on that, but one has one unresolved question she means to bring up.

Ruffnut has a knowing smile, she's about to enlighten everyone present in the kitchen.

"Well now, is one of our two straight friends not as straight as we thought they were?" She asks, stepping closer to throw an arm around Hiccup's shoulder.

"How? I don't think Hiccup has ever shown any interest in men either." At least, not as far as Heather can recall.

"Well, he is pretty close with Eret in a way he isn't with us." Tuffnut is heard muttering thoughtfully, but that is something to unpack on another day.

"Hiccup, what's your intellectual opinion on sex scenes in movies?" Ruffnut asks confidently, already knowing exactly what he's going to say.

"Ew, unnecessary if not relevant to the plot, they make me uncomfortable."

"And which celebrity would you sleep with?"

"Literally none of them? I would much rather just play games with them."

"What is the sexiest thing you've ever done in bed?"

"Get a full eight hours of sleep."

This series of questions and answers between Ruffnut and Hiccup lasts for a little while before Tuffnut reacts.

"Oooh, I think I'm catching on!" He states, earning himself a look from Snotlout, who hasn't caught on yet.

"Uh, catching onto what? Ruffnut's questions that barely relate to Hiccup and Astrid's future marital problems?" He asks with fists on his hips.

"Hiccup, my friend, what does asexuality mean?" Ruff asks and Hiccup raises an eyebrow, but he decides to answer this question as well. If she wants him to start giving definitions now, he will.

"Well, sexuality refers to one's sexual attraction to others. So asexuality is the lack of that sexual attraction and a low or complete lack of desire to have sex, it's a sexuality. But what does that have to do with-" He stops himself there, a look of surprise appearing on his features.

"Oh."

And as it hits for him, it hits their friends, too.

Snotlout laughs.

"That explains a lot! Like, how Astrid was trying to show off her boobs in that new top that one time and all Hiccup said was that she had her top on backward!" He adds to the laugh.

"Wait, that's what she was trying to do? I thought she was just happy to wear that new top." Hiccup replies innocently. It looked really good on her, too.

"Doesn't help that he's an idiot either." Ruffnut chuckles and Tuff and Snot follow.

But while they're amused, Hiccup looks like his entire reality has just shifted.

And it probably has. He's 23 and all this time he thought he was the "straight friend" of his very gay friends. Well, one of the two.

Now he's wondering about Fishlegs.

In the meantime, Heather looks relieved. Her two best friends aren't growing apart after all.

"I guess that's all cleared up." She says, still feeling awkward over having made such a big deal out of nothing, apparently. She should leave the kitchen, let Hiccup, who wears quite a confused expression, be.

"And I guess I need to have a chat with Astrid and then look at some relatable ace memes to see how much I relate to them." He figures and the twins come to stand on either side of him, each throwing an arm around his shoulder.

"Oh, we know some places," Tuffnut reassures him and pulls out his phone to do a little bit of investigating online.

[hiirolangley]

Okay, we’re discussing Maruma ships now so here are some not on the main list yet! + my rambling and disjointed thoughts as they occurred to me. 

So there was the brief Flynn x Yuuri mutual crush thing that happened in Shimaron.  The almost-touch in Big Shimaron when Flynn reaches out to him springs to mind as well as the 'kiss' to knock Yuuri out and their dance at the ball where they just end up holding each other.  Although Yuuri very clearly decides in his brain not to like her in the end and Flynn is like, I'm married to Caloria, there was still a little something there (and it probably partially contributed to how much Wolf hates her XD).  Throwing in my thoughts about this one here... it's kinda ehhhhhhhhhhhhh.....  I mean, Wolfram is one thing because the whole mazoku aging thing, but Flynn is a human in her twenties and Yuuri is sixteen.  It's definitely ehhhhhh..........  I’m not calling the police or anything especially since nothing happened, just giving it a major side-eye.  In any case, this crush is significant because once Yuuri decides in words in his head not to fall in love with her, he stops looking at women altogether.  Name another woman from that point on that he fanboys over like he did all the time prior to meeting Flynn.

Sticking to Flynn, Flynn x Norman were a married couple and they did truly seem to be in love.  Just by how much she fights for her late husband's land and people and talks about how she regrets never having the chance to have his children and how she completely betrayed her family's expectations to infiltrate Norman's family for political fuckery, I think it's pretty obvious.

Also Conrad x Maidmer Princess!!!  How could you forget the most iconic pairing of the entire series!!  XDDD She's the one and only woman Conrad out loud admits to being in love with (although honestly not sure how that worked because they couldn't even have a conversation, but oh well).  The story this came from also gave us many fun moments ranging from Josak trying to set extremely obviously straight Conrad up with a group of crossdressers, Gwendal's mind getting blown like 10x in a row thinking that extremely obviously straight Conrad was sleeping with men (including Josak) but then trying to assure Conrad through his shock that he’ll be okay with it while Conrad freaks out, Gwendal wholeheartedly ready to accept a fish lady as his sister in law, Yuuri accidentally insulting the fuck out of Conrad's room, Conrad being worried that Yuuri was calling him boring for a minute before getting mentally smacked in the face by Yuuri complaining about being rated 88% unfuckable (and Conrad thinking to himself, well yeah of course), and just Conrad's POV in general which is always fun because he is a little shit XDDD  Also I love when he was thinking to himself, I spent the war sleeping with all sorts of women, some of whom were married, and when the war was over people called me a Whore Prince... and then the first complaint he makes about that is along the lines of I’m not a prince, dumbasses.  What a fucking gift to humanity that story was.

Getting off my Crack!otp, there’s Cherie's 3 husbands!  I think volume 5's prologue sums that up best so I’ll just direct people there.

And then, Yuuri’s parents!  Shouma x Miko.  The couple that should not have lasted because they literally went on like 5 dates before Shouma confessed to being a mazoku and Miko was like OMG MARRY ME NOW SO I CAN HAVE MAZOKU BABIES despite thinking he was lame af beforehand... and then they got married XDD  I feel like every time they appear on page together they get into an argument or misunderstanding, but they’re still together so /shrug

That’s all I can think of right now~  

Moving on...

My otp for this series is the royal couple.  How often is my otp the official endgame couple!?  NEVER!  Lord knows I get Second Lead Syndrome on every damn story I read/watch, but for this series I’m not rooting for Conrad.  Way back in my early maruma fangirling days, I liked Yuuram and Conyuu equally because who doesn’t love anyone Morikawa Toshiyuki voices?  I know that could be hard to believe I liked opposing ships the same amount, but that’s an actual thing that happened.  Once I grew up, the Conyuu went away.  That kinda sounds insulting to Conyuu shippers, but it’s not.  Let me explain~  Psychoanalyzing myself, me liking Conyuu was more me being like, Conrad would be the perfect boyfriend! instead of Conrad and Yuuri are great together!, but when I got older I was like, holy hell he would actually be the worst boyfriend after a while no thanks??? XDDDDD  That’s a whoooole other post I probably won’t make~  Anyway, we all have embarrassing college-aged memories whether you attended or not so let’s move on.

Anyway, I know Conyuu is baited all the time and rereading the Maidmer Princess story reminded me that Conrad says looking at Yuuri’s sleeping face gave him the same feeling as looking at the maidmer he fell in love with, but there’s no way that relationship’s gonna pan out canonically.  I feel like I’m playing with fire saying that though o.o

Moving on again, ships I fully support would be:

Yuuri x Wolf

Gwendal x Anissina

Adalbert x Julia (you know, in a posthumous way)

And you know what???  Josak x Murata.  The chaos.  The pure Bisexual Chaos™.  I’m here for that.

Also on the topic of couples!  Let’s talk about Nicola and Hube.  I have feelings here.  Say what you want about Wolfram, at least he’s mentally on the same page as Yuuri.  Gegenhuber is a whole ass man who knocked up a 15/16 year old.  I know they made her older in the anime, but don’t believe those lies!  Do I need to elaborate how he’s gross?  I don’t think so.  BUT, I do like how sensei filtered it through Yuuri’s POV.  (Fyi, I realize the following is partially headcanon) As an also 16yo, this grossness does not cross Yuuri’s mind at all.  In fact, the only thing he remarks on is that he can’t believe she was pregnant and getting married to another man ... but it crosses Gwendal’s.  Adult Gwendal is FURIOUS when he finds out Nicola is pregnant.  He was already mad because he hates Gegenhuber and was getting irritated that he and Nicola were in love/told her he’d use the mateki to help humans, but when he finds out she’s preggers and they totally had sex he loses his shit.  I dunno, it’s like sensei properly communicated that a teenager wouldn’t necessarily recognize the fucked-up nature of a man in his twenties (or the mazoku version of that) starting a relationship with a 15yo and that they also might misinterpret the anger of the older people who do know better.  

And like a cherry on top, Gwen’s anger is solely directed at Gegenhuber, not Nicola.  After this adventure, Gwendal personally takes super good care of Nicola and makes sure she’s set up nicely with the Grisela family and even visits her regularly... and then when Gegenhuber wakes up, Gwendal almost kicks him to death.  Seriously, he literally kicked him so much Anissina had to heal him so he wouldn’t die (and while she was healing him she was like, you’re fucking gross and I wouldn’t care if you dropped dead here, but I kinda have to do this.)  I dunno, I feel like there are so many reasons for people to hate Gegenhuber, I can’t make the claim that this is 100% significantly adding to the hatred.  Would you notice another drop in a bucket?  But this is my opinion on the matter~  Anyway, it’s 1:30am and I need to stop typing!

[onthevirgeofdestruction]

A Whole Castle

Words: 592 Warnings: Food Characters: Logan, Virgil, Janus, Patton, Remus Universe: Whole Castle Genre: Family Fluff Additional Tags: Logan Sanders is Extra about Safety

prompt from @kanene-yaaay-o-retorno's message thank you!!!

   Logan sipped at his coffee with an exhausted exhale. He had been grading tests all morning since he had run out of time during the week. Logan appreciated the hot coffee that had a secret scoop of caramel mixed in. The coffee had the boost he needed to deal with the afternoon. He wished Roman was here to help today, but he had a show. Logan wanted a book and a bath and Roman’s truly stupendous cooking. But he would see Roman tonight. Perhaps he would suggest eating out or getting delivery. Logan took a deep breath of the sweet caramel coffee and released some stress. It had been an overwhelming week for him but he knew things would be okay. Logan leaned back in the chair and enjoyed his drink.

   The boys laughed boisterously in the backyard. Janus and Remus were here playing with the boys, which was wonderful, but he had to admit he’d like a quieter afternoon. He could try to convince them all to settle down for a movie later with popcorn. Hearing their cackles from the yard was pleasant, though. It was amiable to know they were happy and getting some vitamin D. Virgil and Janus agreed to watch Patton and Remus and making sure they didn’t get into anything dangerous, and Logan appreciated that. He wouldn’t have been able to finish grading if they had refused. Perhaps he could reward them with some cookies. If he remembered correctly, Janus liked thumbprints with raspberry jam. Butter cookies were easy to make, so it sounded like a superb idea.

   He glanced out back and checked on the kids. Remus and Patton jumped on the trampoline and Virgil and Janus chatted on the bench under the awning right now. Everything seemed to be alright. Patton and Janus were incapable of getting considerable height on the trampoline alone. He wasn’t worried about much other than accidentally bumping into each other. Remus bounded off the net into the middle of the trampoline while Patton clapped on the side. It looked safe for now.

   Logan worked on making raspberry thumbprints for the kids, as compensation for Virgil and Janus for monitoring Patton and Remus, and also as a reward for being good for the babysitters. He enjoyed baking and so did his sweet tooth, so he and Roman would enjoy them, too. The activity of performing a task for the benefit of everyone sounded like a wonderful way to help reset and relax after the stress of midterms. He hoped his students participated in something similar. They did well, and he looked forward to handing the results back. They deserved a break and recovery time.

   After he set the cookies in the oven and Logan wiped up, he settled down on the recliner in the living room. The sun outside shone brightly today, so he should probably have the kids come in soon for a drink, but for now, he enjoyed a book in the calm atmosphere. The scent of the raspberry jam already filled the house, and it smelled delightful.

   Logan paused for a moment with a jarring realization. Children being quiet is a sign that something is occurring. Logan got up and hurried to the back door and opened it to see Virgil stomping down on the trampoline and propelling Janus higher while Remus vibrated with excitement and Patton held on to Remus’s shirt with worry. Janus let out a victorious cry as he peaked just above the protective netting.

   “Virgil!” Logan said firmly and crossed his arms.

   “Oh, sh-”

Taglist: @elizabutgayer​ @radioactivehelena @ollyollyoxinfree

The Taglist Repository Taglist: (ask to be removed)

freakin’ everything: @katelynn-a-fan @dwbh888 @royal-stormcloud @ananonsplace @brain-deadx0 @the-grounded-raven@grouptalekindnesssoul @the-hoely-bleach @anvil527up @fanficloverinthesun

Human AU:  @somehow-i-got-an-account  @starlight-era  @just-your-typical-trans-guy @potatsanderssides @idont-freaking-know

Logince:  @idontcareaboutcanon @silverobsidion-speaks  @a-fandom-trashdump  @averykedavra @k1ngtok1 @potatsanderssides

Platonic Moxiety (familial):  @kieraelieson  @star-crossed-shipper​

Adoption:  @enby-phoenix @idont-freaking-know

Foster:  @i-am-not-a-dinner-roll @nonasficcollection @idont-freaking-know

Found Family:  @supernovainthenightsky

[kaypeace21]

why is there so much denial of Will being gay?? Like, nothing Will has done has shown him to be anytging but possibly gay. Like, nobody thinks he'z gay because he's a nerd that doesn't have a girlfriend!! We think he's gay because of all the fucking subtext!!!!

There are a few reasons for this, and they’re all (for the most part) rooted in homophobia. 1) There are those who (may or may not) notice the subtext, but ignore it with the excuse of “he’s too young; stop sexualizing him!”. All while shipping lumax, and mileven. Whether they want to admit it or not, this is homophobic! They view (subconscious or otherwise) being queer as inherently sexual, dirty, and adult. And that only straight relationships can be pure and innocent and based on compatible personalities. Straight kids can have innocent crushes (but in their eyes) queer kids can’t- they may not even exist, to them. 

 2) There are some mileven shippers (who whether they want to admit it) hate Will, because the possibility he has powers or is gay- threatens their precious het ship. Because a lot of them don’t see El as her own person (just a part of their ship) or a vessel for being a badass with powers. They don’t appreciate her for the nuanced character she is.  They either get angry at the idea of Will being gay or having powers, or are only happy with him being queer if he’s sad and in an unrequited one-sided love/ or is single forever. Or they’ll say “why don’t you just ship him with someone else… like Dustin?” Ignoring the fact Dustin hasn’t been queer coded like Mike (or had romantically coded scenes with Will), or that people ship byler for Will and Mike, not cause it’s simply m/m. I mean, can you imagine byler shippers saying ‘Just ship El with Dustin, it’s a guy and girl… it’s practically the same thing”? No, of course not! It shows their bias- and how they feel privileged and entitled to their straight ship even though there are millions of similar ships in media to choose from- unlike queer ships which are far and few in between. However, we’re supposed to be the ones who pick another option- and are told our ships are ‘all the same’. Whether they are aware of this bias, they consider queer ships a joke, and all the same.

3) Those who relate to Will and his struggles,  hate the idea of relating to a queer character. There is a reason why shows like ‘Will &Grace’ in the 90s were popular, but even today the second a character who people assumed was straight is revealed as lgbt+ viewers get angry! It’s because they feel ‘tricked’ into liking, relating and empathizing with a character that they would otherwise have immediately put in a ‘box’ and  distanced themselves from . Whether they are aware of it or not, they would immediately attribute stereotypes to them and never try to empathize with them, because ‘they’re gay, and ‘how can I relate to that’? They don’t want to relate to them (because subconscious or otherwise) they think being gay is bad or just too foreign.They don’t see queer people as full-fledged people. They’re just gay- nothing more.

Which is why when they angrily say “he’s just afraid to grow up, HE’S NOT GAY!”  They are essentially saying a gay, abused kid, who has ptsd, and was violated by the MF (and was also hinted m**ested by Lonnie too) can’t be afraid to grow up, since he lost his childhood. Only straight people have these type of human-fears and characterizations!

Forget the fact, that Will also wouldn’t want to grow up- because than he’d have to acknowledge his sexuality (at a time where all you heard about gay men was they were evil , mentally ill, going to hell and dying of aids as a punishment by god). Not to mention Will’s ptsd and the fact he lost 2 years of his childhood on top of that.He even says “I’m not … going to fall in love” (not convincingly) , right after the movie date with Mike.

4) They’re so used to straight media, and everyone being presumed straight and having media catered to them (the straight audience)- That they’ll ignore or miss every hint there is a queer character. 

So what are the hints of Will being gay (or at least- some other lgbt identity.

Called many homophobic slurs  since s1 ( specifically ”queer, fag, fairy, and gay”) by his dad and bullies. Jonathan in s1 tells Will to “not like things just because people tell you you’re supposed to, especially not him” ( ‘him’ referring to their dad). Is positioned behind a rainbow apple poster in the av room (ref. to Alan Turning the gay creator of computers), dances with a girl with a rainbow hair-clip, has rainbow bandaids, has his mom says she’s ”so proud” (lgbt+ pride ref) of the rainbow ship he drew . When Will disparages himself as a “freak”, Jonathan asks Will, who would you rather be friends with-  David Bowie (who was openly bi since the 70s) or Kenny Rogers? Will says Bowie, and Jonathan agrees saying “see, it’s no contest”. In the pitch to netflix the Duffers described Will as having “sexual identity issues”. In the leaked s2 snowball script it says “he’s not looking at the cute girl- but Mike.”

All of s2 directly paralleled ‘romantic s1 mileven scenes’ to ‘supposedly platonic byler scenes’. No joke, they had identical scenes, with almost identical framing and dialogue, but it’s all dismissed as friendship (even though the scenes are identical).Byler was also  paralleled to Jancy, Stancy, Jopper, bob/joyce and others. . You can headcannon Will as whatever you want, but like it or not- Will is queer and m/m! We could debate his exact queer sexual identity , but Will was never written and will never be written to be ‘straight’! Stay mad!

If Will was Wilma, the majority of the fandom would be byler shippers. Think about it! Mike having byler scenes that are identical to s1 mileven scenes, and then additional unique byler scenes. Mike staying by Wilma’s side 24 hours a day for several days (not even changing clothes), carrying her out of the hospital, grabbing her hand (with a zoom in shot),constantly asking her if she’s okay at least 5-7 times, putting his arm around her twice, being the only one who could tell something was off with her (and it wasn’t her normal type of quiet). Calling and running all the way to her house and banging on the door to check on her, desperate. Proclaiming “i’m the only one who cares about Wilma!” Watching her sleep cause he’s so worried, that shed scene reminiscing about how they first met in perfect detail, saying “I asked, I asked if you wanted to be my friend. You said yes, you said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. (like a marriage proposal)”  The “crazy together” scene. Them being close since they were 5 vs the girl he knew for a week (but is somehow in love with?). If the witness said about El in s1 , “ same height… it could be the Byers girl”, instead of ‘boy’ (pointing out the resemblance). Mike getting into fights and getting upset (almost crying) about the bullies insulting Wilma. Mike having a whole binder of her drawings and caressing one of the drawings, after he thinks she died.  Being the only one of her friends to stay awake at the hospital, waiting for her to wake up- so he can see her and hug her first. Almost everyone would be team byler if Will was a girl- they probably would of started shipping it the second Wilma stared at him and was the only one who didn’t lie to him, in the first ep! Another parallel to El! 

And again think about s3 if Will was a girl.They paralleled the (comedic) mileven breakup vs (the sad/serious) byler breakup. Then Mike just complained and burped on the couch vs apologizing to Willma multiple times/even going into a storm to apologize a 2nd time (and to ‘talk’). Willma having a breakdown over the fight vs El laughing and high five-ing Max after.The shed vs the pool shed scene- “best thing I’ve ever done” vs “you’re the most important thing in the world to me”, “blank makes you crazy’ (as El stares confused) vs “crazy together’ (where Wilma says ‘yeah, crazy together). Mike going on ‘movie dates with Willma all the time’ right after making out with El. The last mileven kiss where Mike has his eyes open the whole time, doesn’t kiss back, and says he doesn’t remember saying “I love her” to El (and doesn’t say ‘I love you’ back). Right after having a talk with Wilma about playing games when she comes back (the crux of their fight). Mike getting excited that he’ll be able to visit El and Wilma on Thanksgiving and them visiting him on Christmas (those are holidays where family usually introduces their S.O.) Having the last scene of Mike,  be him looking back at Wilma’s house, and have that whole monologue in that scene be about “feelings changing”, and then he goes to hug his mom like the s1 byler scene where he thought Wilma was dead. And that’s not even all the scenes- and every time byler won by a landslide. If Will was a girl, it would be obvious writing on the wall, that Mike would eventually choose Wilma over El by the end of the series.

But since they are 2 boys, we’re delusional, because queer kids don’t exist … apparently.

[icevvitch]

Safe & Sound

Listening to: Safe & Sound - Taylor Swift

Submitted by: CS Anon here 

“Qrow wrapping Winter in his cape during Jacques’ fancy party to help her feel safe.”

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Fluff.

CW: Mention of past familial abuse

Inspired by @dcstinythief‘s Qrow, whom I developed Winter alongside. Also inspired by the scene all us QroWin shippers wanted in V7 and did NOT receive. Also my Weiss blog is iceqrincess and mentions of Weiss here are based on my portrayal of her. 

----

“You can’t just buy trust like everything else! You have to earn it.” 

An outburst Winter immediately regretted, especially when she felt the disapproval emanating from James as she curled her hands into fists and glared at her father’s smirking face. When she opened her mouth again, he shut her down. 

She excused herself, turning to hide the angry and embarrassed flush she felt creeping up her neck. Penny soon followed, and while Winter attempted to explain why she was so embarrassed... Penny admitted she did not understand.

Winter believed it best if she stayed in line, kept her mouth shut, followed orders, but here was her closest friend telling her that speaking from her heart was more important.

She reminded Winter of someone else, a person who insisted over and over that keeping her heart locked in an icy cage was no way to live - she deserved to be her authentic self.

Did she?

Taking a deep breath, Winter ventured further into the house that had become akin to a prison in her later years, a prison she had spent blood, sweat, tears, and time escaping from, only to have to return to it now.

And she was expected to behave.

Behave, follow orders, do what was best for the mission.

James truly would have to pay her to smile at all now, for the cameras or otherwise. 

Her feet unconsciously took her down a familiar path through the estate, and she found herself allowing them to lead her the way she would pace as a younger woman. When she came to a familiar door, she hesitated to open it.

As if the room belonged to anyone but herself. But... it did now. She wasn’t the person she was when she left this room behind for the last time. Winter wondered if she met her younger self now, if she would even recognize herself. If Winter passed a mirror, she wasn’t sure what she would think looking back at herself right now.

The door opened, her room was nearly the exact same way as she left it when she decided to board at Atlas Academy. It wasn’t required for her since she lived close to the school, but she had insisted that she board there and get the... how had she pitched it to Jacques? ‘The full immersive experience of a Huntsmen Academy’? 

Something to that effect, it was a good speech to an overbearing father that wanted nothing more than to keep his daughters under his thumb. 

Some of her old books still were here. Ironwood had offered her a position in the military right after her graduation, which she accepted the very next second, and she never returned home to fetch the belongings shes had not taken to school.

Winter would not step foot in that house for another six years, content to pretend she had never lived there at all, and she was happier. Better.

Maybe?

Did she trade one paternalistic figure for another?

James’ words rang in her ears again. 

That’s enough. 

Winter paced further into her room, loosening her usually strict posture and crossed her arms gently, rubbing her hands up and down as she glanced over forgotten memories of a world that seemed far away but suffocatingly close all at the same time. She hoped no one saw her come up here, she didn’t want anyone to see the frustrated and melancholy tears gathering in her eyes. 

She opened the door to her balcony, needing some air, expecting no one to be roaming the grounds. She pressed her hands to the stone railing sighing into the wind while she felt the maelstrom of emotions that she was not allowed to express. That she did not allow herself to openly express. She wanted her sister, it had always been easier for her, with her. Weiss encouraged Winter to be more authentically herself, by her words and her actions. 

Winter always thought it was the younger siblings who looked up to the eldest, but Winter found herself admiring her sister’s great strides. She had only been with her a short time after her absence, but one would be completely obtuse to not see Weiss’ development.

Another person came to mind, a person who was also here tonight, but she wouldn’t dare seek him out.

Winter contented herself with solitude, she would rejoin her Commander and the Council in due time, but she needed this right now. Faded memories at her back while she stood, solemnly gazing out across her father’s property to the city beyond. 

Only to be disrupted by the sound of something striking the stone near her hand. 

She blinked, glancing around. It happened again, closer, and she glanced down to see....

Qrow, standing below her balcony as if he has sauntered out of her thoughts into reality. He was throwing pebbles at her balcony to get her attention. 

A younger Winter, the Winter he’d first met as a young cadet, would have shooed him away immediately, annoyance evident in her voice. The Winter, the angry, hurt Winter he’d goaded into a brawl outside of the Vytal Festival at Beacon would have gave him her iciest glare.

But she wasn’t the same Winter, not at all. 

And she missed him. 

She fussed with her sleeves in nervous habit, she knew he could feel it all. They may have been separated, broken up for years after their relationship, but their Tie remained. Winter had no idea how to break something as seemingly permanent as a soulmate Tie, and she didn’t want to. Besides, they had been continent apart. She couldn’t feel him anyways.

But it was strong as it had been, albeit left unused for a while, and when she opened her heart she could feel what he was feeling and she knew he could feel her. 

He worried for her, he longed for her, he wanted to offer comfort.

She hesitated, though he could feel how much she wanted to talk to him. Qrow never judged her for her emotions, encouraged her to be authentic, offered support when she needed it. But there was a reason they weren’t together anymore - on both sides. 

But feeling him again, being so close but so far... she didn’t have the energy to lash out as she had - angry and scared that her sister and her friends had been arrested by the Ace Ops, though she knew it had been an order. 

“Qrow, do you... I mean. Would you like to join me?”

He smiled softly, nodding once before making the climb up look easy - Huntsmen skill. Winter felt a smile tug her lips as he gracefully got himself over the side, straightening up before taking a few short steps to stand closer to her.

“Hey,” 

Oh no, her brain hadn’t gotten this far yet and now he was here. 

“Hello.” 

“You alright, Win?”

Ah, a good question. But one she was able to answer honestly.

“No.”

“I understand.”

Winter sighed, taking a step closer to him, “I do not want to be here. I do not want to have to see him.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

She was quiet for a moment, trying not to allow her skin to flush when she met his eyes. They were kind, and Winter did notice that they were.... remarkably clear. He didn’t carry the smell of whiskey, either. 

Winter blinked with realization why she had felt he was different, why his emotions didn’t feel jumbled and blurry through their Tie.

He was sober. 

Pride rushed through her. Good. She was proud of him, this was a difficult path and she did not know what had encouraged him to take it, but she was proud. 

He broke the silence, “So, was it that bad that you’re already checked out?” His voice lilted with joking to lighten the mood, make her smile, but he was truly asking.

Winter did smile before answering honestly, “You have no idea. It was awful. He was awful.” She turned to look out into the expanse of her father’s property, “He hasn’t changed a bit.”

“Did you really expect him to?”

“No, I didn’t, but if he could lose the talent for being able to throw me off balance with two or three words after all these years... I would appreciate it.” 

Qrow smirked, and she was expecting him to joke about how easy her buttons were to push after you found them. He always had shared that particular talent, as well, though Winter hated it much less... at times. It depended on the context. 

But Qrow always challenged her, while her father cut her down, made her feel small. There was a difference. 

He didn’t take that road, however, though she could feel the teasing at the edge of his consciousness next to hers. She breathed a laugh and gave him a look, a knowing look that they often shared due to their Tie, and from knowing each other so well.

“Alright, alright, guilty.”

“You often are,” she poked back and they shared a tender smile. It felt.... different. Good different. But still familiar. They knew each other well, even now. Qrow had been a constant in her life for a while, it was not a stretch to say that he perhaps knew her better than anyone else. And she knew him. There was comfort between them. He made her feel okay again.

She sighed, “I just felt... like a child. I interrupted him, yelled at him for being an ass, all in front of the council, and Robyn Hill, and the General. It’s just.... have I learned nothing?”

Qrow hummed next to her, “Yeah, well, he’s an asshole,” he said forthright and Winter had to agree, “And it’s not a crime to express yourself.”

“Yes but there’s a time and a place.”

“Can’t think of a better time than against your asshole dad who probably rigged an election.” 

Winter sighed again, frustrated with herself but didn’t want to argue when she wasn’t sure if she disagreed or not. Penny had said similar things, now Qrow, two people who meant a whole lot to her.

And Weiss? Well, she probably would have cheered if she had been in the room. Winter stopped talking back and started shutting down, while Weiss found her voice, spoke so loud that she got herself across the sea to Beacon against they father’s wishes. 

 “I just wish it had come off more... mature than me shouting at him like I did as a teenager.”

“I bet you were great. Listen. This is.... hard. Really hard, I’m sure, ‘specially for you and Weiss. It’s not easy for you to be here.”

Winter nodded, agreeing. 

“I hate this place. I feel like I am going to be locked in again.” The last part was a barely a whisper, but her anxiety was loud. She knew it impossible, she was an adult. A strong Huntress and Specialist. She was not the scared little girl locked in her room for talking back, slapped across the face and locked away. 

But she was woman who was still dealing with the effects of this upbringing, and she didn’t fight her instinct to rest her head against Qrow’s shoulder. He gently brought his arm around her, and with it he unconsciously wrapped his cape around her shoulders, a gesture from their past.

She felt safe. 

“Thank you for being here.” 

“You’re welcome, Winter.” 

He leaned his head against hers. She couldn’t bring herself to yet wrap her arm around him from the side, meet his embrace with the enthusiasm she wanted. Winter knew she would eventually, but even though she was not wearing her ring right now, she could still feel its weight. 

For now, she was safe and sound. Problems she would sure face would be there when she exited her room, a place that felt like another world for now. One where she was with him. 

Winter would stay here for a while, it was better here. And she finally turned into his embrace, his arms both around her with his cape wrapped around her, pulling her close the way she craved. She wouldn’t cry, she didn’t want him to see it, but her arms looped under his as she pressed her cheek to his shoulder. 

Safe, with him. 

An alternate dimension where this could be, that ended at the white door frame of a room that no longer belonged to her. Just a few more precious moments.

****

Someone said fluff and I said how about I make this really sad lmfao. Why am I like this. 

I mentioned a Tie, and I’m gonna make a long HC post later about it but its basically called Aurabinding or a Tie and it allows soulmates to feel each others’ emotions, a headcanon i developed alongside @dcstinythief 

Anyways uhhhhhhhh bye

[lesbiansforboromir]

im sorry but im a shameless aragorn/denethor shipper. do you have any thoughts about how shit would have played out if both denethor and boromir had lived in a universe with past denethor/aragorn? would the old flame rekindle despite the animosity that aragorn claiming the throne would cause? would boromir ever find out that his father had a fling with aragorn, and how would he react if he did find out?

Migraines give me the time to finally sit down and reply to all my inbox but they don’t give me the skill so bare with me but FUCK I’m glad to know there are more Denethor/Aragorn shippers. ANyway, getting to it-

I’m iffy on how much of a relationship Denethor and Thorongil had all those years ago. Denethor’s married to Finduilas early on in that whole timeline, there isn’t much space for anything but a VERY hot and heavy and quick affair. But that definitely does suit them I suppose. 

I think I might go for a sort of… they’ve been dancing around each other for a few years and perhaps there’s a very sudden and surprising moment where Aragorn kisses Denethor- man perhaps… just before that last siege on Umbar. They’re both miles and miles from home… this whole intense thing between them is much starker after spending all this close knit and dramatic time together, and Thorongil knows he’s going to be leaving after this, essentially abandoning Denethor. 

It all gets too heavy, there’s an illicit kiss in the Captain’s quarters of Denethor’s ship, it lasts too long, they both come out of it knowing for a fact that the other feels the same way. Aragorn’s purpose is achieved, Denethor knows he loves him, and Aragorn knows he’s loved in return. But Denethor is married and this is not something he can do- it’s not even something he can explore! Think about! Despite how important Aragorn has become in his life, how oddly vital his company is, how strangely he’s stepped into this role of a confidante that understands him in a very specific way- Finduilas is also all those things, and she deserves so much better from him. They part ways, it’s more of a goodbye than anything that happens later.

Which makes a meeting between them after the siege at Minas Tirith all the more intense. In this kind of timeline it works best if Boromir was just saved at Parth Galen and followed the three hunters (meaning Denethor never even thinks Boromir’s dead), so you can also add in a juicy little nugget of ‘Aragorn actually did get there in time to save Boromir and took a few arrows for him to boot because it’s Denethor’s son of course he will! He has too!’ So now you have a great deal of emotions to get your teeth into. 

Denethor’s suspicious of Aragorn first, but that gets conflicted with tales his son tells of Aragorn saving his life later. And then Aragorn goes and saves Faramir too, it makes it difficult. Aragorn hasn’t changed at all, he even looks like Denethor remembers him. Which adds another knot of discolour to this picture, Denethor does not, Denethor looks ragged, rough edged, powerful but battered and old, despite only being 2 years older than Aragorn. I think there’s a little guilt to it for Aragorn, Denethor’s given up so much of himself just in the defense of Gondor, a kind of sacrifice that Aragorn hasn’t known. Aragorn hadn’t overestimated him precisely, but he’d underestimated how much of a toll it would all take. Perhaps… he should have been here, could he have? Could he have helped? Somehow? He’s not used to doubting himself overmuch, but this… 

So they start off with confusion that Denethor decides to deal with by not dealing with it. First they have to make plans for the battle at the Black Gate, which Denethor comes to by the way, ‘At the end of the world, I care little for the will of Kings’ he says. Looking Aragorn in the eye. As he shucks his robes of state and reveals the chain mail he still wears every day. And then there’s a beat where they fight and lead and battle together. Again. It’s like he never left, which is infuriating and uplifting and heartbreaking for the both of them. All this lost time. Yet they still know each other this well. Dreadful!

But it all feeds into that slow break down of barriers for them to finally start talking to each other. They have to discuss the whole kingship thing next, which is just so much time spent together and they’re arguing so much, it’s almost WORRYING, they sound like they’d get to fists at any moment but it never gets there. And Imrahil is never worried, ‘no they were always like that, it’s just how they communicate’ and he’s right, there’s more being said in these fights about policy than either of them want to admit. 

So… yes I do think eventually there’s some… ‘emoting’, as much as Denethor hates it. There’s some… hurt. There’s some tenderness. There’s a little hurdling over the inherent heteronormativity. There’s even some… ‘you were missed’ (I missed you) OH it’s so slow. OH it takes so long, way into Aragorn’s kingship and their partnership as King and Steward. Long enough for Arwen to go from curious to confused to shocked to confused again to bored to frustrated and then she falls for Denethor as well to boot. But in the end it settles out, and Denethor eventually decides he’s old enough to allow the wound to his pride of being a ‘secret lover’. Though he’d never admit it. 

As for Boromir’s reaction. Hm. I think it would be a shock for Denethor to realise how insightful Boromir is about him. He’ll be trying to hide the relationship, it’s his very personal life, no one needs to know and he doesn’t want them too. Not to mention he has no idea how Boromir would react. Despite the somewhat tolerant period they’re experiencing, it’s not easy, even he struggled with it. Even he’d had prejudices to reject. 

But Boromir, who developed his ability to read his father as almost a survival mechanism, can tell something has changed in his life and in his relationship with the king and queen. He wouldn’t pry, but it would be on his mind, it would confuse him, and Denethor would be aware of that. And I do think probably… he would come to realise that the extent of Boromir’s loyalty to him and all the things he carried for him, this very strange relationship they fell into where the war effort was their priority to the exclusion of all else- There’s a realisation that they both know each other too much and yet not at all. Boromir knows exactly what Denethor would advise, how to support him, how to win his wars, but they don’t know how to talk about the things that matter to each other. Denethor has no idea about either of his son’s passions, Boromir least of all since Faramir does tend to be loud about what he feels. It’s wrong. And he wants to resolve it. 

So I think in the end he does actually just… tell him. Submit to this mortifying ordeal in order to try and signal that he wants things to change between them. He’s aware it’s a risk, but if he wants Boromir to be open about the risky things, then this is what he has to do. 

And oh BOY what a doozey of a conversation for the both of them huh? It’s made an addendum to the end of one of their debriefs, a situation they’re both very comfortable in, even if it means Boromir’s standing before Denethor’s desk in his study when he speaks. Denethor just gets it out in his clear and decisive way that doesn’t brook interruption, but Boromir is in no position to do that anyway. And despite Denethor’s apparent confidence, he begins to worry with how long Boromir has to just stand there, hands clasped behind his back, expression neutral as usual, but obviously struggling with something if his prolonged silence and micro expressions are anything to go by. 

In the end Denethor has to just ask if Boromir has some issue with this. Which breaks through his knotted thicket at least, and he answers no, honestly, and yet there’s something… else… Denethor can feel behind it all. Boromir’s ability to simply withstand and rebuff Denethor’s prying has only gotten better with age but there’s still something. Boromir seems somewhat lost, things he wants to say but obviously doesn’t know how to say them to his father specifically. He wants to… comfort him, help him somehow, but there’s something else too. Which again clearly pushes home the realisation that they lost touch somewhere, they stopped knowing each other. Boromir is struggling with something and Denethor couldn’t even begin to tell you what it is. Although later, as he’s considering it, some logical answers come to mind, answers that could change a lot of how he views his son, things that are hard to see him as. 

Boromir’s going through the same thing but at a different angle. He’s only surprised at Denethor’s reclamation of a romantic life, and that surprise turns to a strange kind of gladness quickly. He never imagined Denethor would ever be able to live this way again and it does change his view of Aragorn rather dramatically, but he can reconcile to all that especially if his father is actually… happy. 

What’s more difficult is reconciling the father’s he’s known all these years, who’s said this and decided that, with this man he’s presented with now, in a relationship with a man, a relationship he told him about too. Quite apart from Gondor’s strict cultural disapproval of digging into people’s private romantic life, the concept of telling his father of his own relationships had never even come to mind. Boromir’d assumed he’d be dead before this would ever be in question. 

BUT after a long protracted period of time where everything appears the same but there’s some frisson to Boromir and Denethor’s conversations that literally drives Faramir up the goDDAMN wall. He knows it’s there, he can’t explain it, he has no idea what it could be and he HATES it so much. 

After that, Boromir does tell his dad. Surprisingly he chooses a not-professional setting, they’re just talking in Boromir’s quarters after a rare family dinner together. But woof it has to be eeked out of him still. He starts them off with just the clear acknowledgement that he’s been strange since Denethor’s revelation. And then tries to word ‘it was a shock to know we had this in common, that you were like me, though perhaps not entirely’ in as infuriatingly neutral a way as possible. But he still doesn’t look at Denethor as he says it. And the silence then isn’t so long, just a pause for a ‘ah, so I was right’ kind of sigh from Denethor. A little longer for him to let the big perspective shift start in his head. He starts running the numbers- how long had Boromir kept this secret, what was his life like because of it, what else did Denethor not know? Denethor’s mind is an analysis machine, he can’t help it.

And when he takes his shoulder and Boromir looks at him in just a little surprise at the affectionate gesture, he notices the slight tug down of Boromir’s ear lobes, where he’d used to wear the stately earrings common among young unattached noble men of wealth, but that Boromir had forsaken. Long ago, Denethor realises, when he thinks back. And he wears the more austere tunics and sashes and regalia that are usually reserved for older men, no, married men. Denethor and Gondor as a whole had assumed the slow change in style had been another mark of Boromir’s dedication to Gondor’s defense above all else, but it happened long after he’d made that commitment. Suddenly it all has a thoroughly different and more poignant meaning. Suddenly Boromir is standing there, a man with a life and a past and a family that Denethor had never even considered before. Suddenly there’s a stranger before him. 

And that… is painful… it’s a painful moment, an angry moment too, Sauron’s long dead but Denethor is still finding the corpses of things that creature took from him. But then Boromir returns the touch, his wide hand gripping Denethor’s shoulder in return, quiet but meaningful and holding his gaze with some quiet kind of understanding. Yes, the war took a great deal from all of them, but they have time now, and most importantly, they are both willing to build this relationship back up again. 

[noqueenbutthequeeninthenorth]

So, I thought this episode was SO MUCH BETTER than last week’s. I didn’t feel like I was getting whiplash scene to scene. Jon’s still MIA as a character -- and there were several things I would’ve liked to have seen that didn’t happen -- but otherwise this was pretty good, especially after the travesty we were forced to experience last week.

None of this is order, it’s just my thoughts as they come...

First of all ... I’m still slightly hesitant about political Jon because I’m always hesitant about committing to a theory, but I’ve never felt more certain than I have during the “Who’s manipulating who?” moment. Holy shit, was that on the nose or what? Sansa’s reaction tipped it over the edge for me. I think we’ve been cut out of Jon’s POV so entirely in order to make political Jon a giant twist and that’s annoying as shit but hopefully that bullshit will be over next episode and my boy can come back. The only moment he felt like himself was his reunion with Tormund and Edd.

But back to the library scene with Sansa and D/ny. What a good scene! I know people worried they were going to bond or Sansa would come around to D/ny’s side, but instead we got Sansa being courteous and smart, cottoning on to Jon’s game (if she doesn’t already know), and still remaining firm on the issue of the North’s independence.

I also loved Sansa’s reunion with Theon, both because it was so heartfelt and emotional, and because seeing D/ny’s reaction to one of her supposed allies pledging himself to the Starks and Sansa specifically? Oh boy. 

And D/ny! Look, people accuse me of hating D/ny but no one hates D/ny more than the idiots writing her, so it was actually refreshing to see her not being such a complete dumbass this episode (even if only because she was following Jorah’s advice). I was rereading old fanfic of mine and in it, I am remarkably generous to D/ny compared to how the show depicts her. Like, she is actually capable of being charming. I also tbh think she’s not wrong about Tyrion being a bad Hand, and think she should promote Jorah over him, so I was with her on that one. ANYWAY. It was good to see a little bit of that from her this week -- just enough, I assume, so that casuals are shocked when she does something terrible like abandon the battle next week.

Her reaction to Jon’s parentage was GOLD. The dawning HORROR in her face. Wow. J/nerys is truly dead.

Not sure how to read Jon’s reaction to her reaction though. Disappointment? I think he knows who what she is but I keep wondering if maybe he keeps hoping that she’ll prove him wrong at some point. I think he realizes he’s stuck with her, so he wants to imagine she might not be so bad. Maybe this time she’ll realize what’s actually important. Maybe this time I won’t feel like I’ve brought a tyrant into my own home. But she always disappoints. 

(Note also that this is the first time he calls her D/ny since kneelgate -- the moment he’s telling her that he’s got a better claim than her. Would’ve been a good moment to start “my queen”ing her but instead he appeals to her humanity? Her feelings for him? Instead of her pride. Interesting.)

I can’t believe Jon told her about his parents before the rest of his family though. What the fuck. (Yes it’s possible he’s already told them but it would be so fucking annoying for them to do that offscreen.) Also, why would he pick that moment? IDK maybe he had a reason, maybe he just couldn’t keep it in anymore. I’m also so depressed that we’re not really getting any insight into how he’s reacting to the news, other than trying to avoid his aunt like the plague.

I thought this episode did a really great job of just kind of showing us people getting ready for the battle of their lives. The scene with Davos, Gilly, and the little girl was adorable. The knighting of Brienne was a truly incredible scene, one of the show’s best ever, and Podrick singing was beautiful. The montage of people was sweet -- and I know people think that Theon and Sansa’s inclusion means something romantic is happening with them, which it might be, but I’m not sold either way. That said, I did recently say I hoped some kind of Theon/Sansa/Jon love triangle pops up so we get some jealous Jon up in here and not just jealous Sansa. Maybe my wishes have been answered? I’m lowkey into Theonsa so I don’t mind, but absolutely no part of me thinks it’ll be endgame or Sansa’s great epic love or anything like that. (Sorry Theon. I think he’ll probably die protecting Bran.)

Gendry and Arya was odd. I’m not mad about it, and I’m fully prepared to admit that a lot of my reaction was related to seeing Maisie Williams (somewhat) naked because to me she is a BABY. Again, this isn’t something I’ve ever really shipped, but I have no problems with it and think it can be cute, so I’m happy if the shippers are happy. Part of me does think this means Gendry’s doomed though.

I will say that I never used to think Gendry/Arya would happen because I thought if the show knew it was coming, they wouldn’t have hired actors with such a large age gap. I’ve long had the same thought about Jonsa so this pretty much waved away that particular doubt. I also never thought we’d get a Jonsa sex scene but now that we’ve gotten a Gendrya one, it feels a lot more probable.

The trial scene was a bit of a letdown, wasn’t it? I loved Brienne standing up for Jaime and I loved Sansa putting complete faith in Brienne, but that’s about it for me.

Missandei and Grey Worm discussing what they want to do after the war!!! It has LONG been a hope of mine that they don’t spend the rest of their lives serving D/ny so you can imagine how happy I was to hear them making plans. (Wonder how D/ny would feel about...) That said, it makes me think at least one of them is going to die (probably Missandei) but I would be overjoyed to be wrong.

What am I forgetting? We saw Ghost! For two seconds! Doing nothing! But okay, at least he exists.

It’s insane (and disappointing) to me we didn’t get ANY one-on-one Stark scenes or even all-Stark scenes. I know this is part of keeping Jon inaccessible to us or whatever, but him not saying anything to Sansa before the battle is crazy to me. Or Arya for that matter! Even if they’re both out there fighting, he’d want to speak to his baby sister!

I have to assume that this means we’ll be getting some of those conversations next week ...... or all the Starks are surviving, except maybe Bran, so the show’s not bothering to set us up for any farewells.

All in all, a good episode imo. Bryan Cogman came through -- even if we didn’t get any of the yummy Jonsa we expected, we got a lot of other good stuff, and I’m hoping when the show stops trying to keep political Jon and dark D/ny under wraps (i.e., hopefully in the next episode), things will improve even more.

Also, several of the Chekhov’s guns that were set up last episode kinda didn’t come up again, especially the food crisis and the dragon’s eating habits, but I’m feeling pretty confident they’re going to go off eventually. Last week they were setting up the pins but it might take a few episodes before they knock them all down.

[sweetmemories2606]

Grayza (brotp) Appreciation (Royal AU)

A ship that's on my list of perfect backups alongside Lyvia and NaLi. I couldn't not have written interactions between them, although in this story, they are purely platonic.

I always love writing Gray and Erza together because they have such chemistry and the fact that Erza is a major Gruvia shipper brings up many possibilities.

In this case, their interactions were about the plan to have Gray infiltrate Avatar and leave Juvia behind. 

WARNING: This contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the story. 

Hope you'’l enjoy!

Chapter 3: Choices:

Gray found himself on the terrace above the bar where Fairy Tail was still celebrating their victories from the second day of the Grand Magic Games. Not in the mood to celebrate after the awkward and infuriating conversation he'd just had, the ice mage chose to go out for some fresh air.

Surprisingly, he soon learned that Erza had had the same idea. Spotting the red head leaning against the balcony, he greeted her casually.

"Hey, Erza. What's up?" She turned around slightly and he was immediately concerned. "Is something the matter?"

"Hello, Gray." She greeted him, sounding a bit tense. "I'm fine, don't worry."

He was about to ask about what was bothering her, but she beat him to it. "So, what brings you out here all alone?"

"After dealing with Juvia and Lyon's nonsense all night, I figured I could use a little fresh air to clear my head." She gave him a knowing smile.

"You think it's nonsense, huh?" Gray looked away.

"I don't understand why they can't leave me alone." Erza laughed, albeit bitterly.

"Is that really what you want?" He frowned, confused.

"What do you mean?" Of course that's what he wanted, he'd just stated it.

"Do you really want Juvia to stay away from you?" She asked. "Or to be with Lyon?"

"Please." Gray rolled his eyes. "She would never settle for that idiot."

"What if she did, Gray? What if she chose him and they started dating?" The ice mage immediately tensed at the thought. "Would you be okay with that?"

"She wouldn't." Erza sighed.

"You didn't answer my question and I think I know why." Pausing, she placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him around a bit to face her. "You can't deny that you've been jealous of Juvia with Lyon."

"So what? It doesn't mean anything." Gray tried to convince them both.

"Maybe you haven't yet figured out how you feel about her, but you really should." Erza told him, sincerely. "Because she won't wait around forever and I know that it would hurt you if she chose to be with someone else."

"She won't chose someone else." He affirmed, unsure whether to feel happy or bothered by it.

"Denying it won't help you." She warned. "You must give her a real answer, unless you want to lose her forever."

Once again, Gray looked away, but this time Erza was confident he would think about it and give the water mage an answer. What she couldn't have possibly imagined, though, was that by the time he did, Juvia would actually be engaged to someone else.

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

Chapter 4: Confidence

"Gray?" Erza frowned, concerned when he was silent for too long.

"Sorry." The ice mage blinked. "It's a lot to take in."

"Yes, I know." She nodded, remembering when Jellal had filled her in on the situation.

"So there's this dark cult who worships Zeref and you want me to infiltrate them and figure out their final goal?" Gray asked for clarification.

"Exactly." Erza nodded once again. "Jellal made it clear that they are a real threat, so the sooner you do it, the better."

"But why me? Why can't he infiltrate them himself?" It made no sense to him that the man who once ruled over the Tower of Heaven wouldn't volunteer to infiltrate Avatar.

"He's got a lot of his plate now that he's responsible for the former Oracion Seis." The red head explained. "And besides, I don't think you'll have a problem pretending to be evil."

"Is that a compliment?" Gray raised a brow.

"You're a skilled liar, so I believe you can convince Avatar that you're on their side." She continued. "And these black markings should be enough to prove that you're no longer one of the good guys."

"So you think they'll believe me just because I look evil?" He looked down at his chest, where the black markings remained.

"I think that it will help you, but you still need to come up with a convincing lie." Erza replied.

"Okay. So, say I do infiltrate them. What happens then?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"You'll gather information. It shouldn't take longer than a month for you to get close enough to figure out their plan." His eyes widened.

"A month? I can't be gone for a whole month, Erza!" Remembering the bluenette who was probably patiently waiting for him to come home, he shook his head. "I can't do that to Juvia."

"I'm glad you brought that up, Gray." Erza said, looking conflicted. "Because I'm afraid we won't be able to tell her what we're doing."

"What do you mean?" He didn't like the sound of that.

"Gray, you know Juvia even better than me. Do you really think that she'll be okay staying behind while you go on this dangerous mission?" She did have a point.

"She'll probably try to convince me to take her too." Gray groaned.

"Which would only put the two of you in danger." The read head crossed her arms. "Avatar could use her against you or vice-versa."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Her face showed regret as she said it.

"You'll have to leave her behind." The words hit him like knives.

"So you're saying I should abandon her?" He swallowed hard, tears threatening to fall. The mere thought of it hurt deeper than the fear of Juvia getting hurt. How could he do something so horrible?

"I'm sorry." Erza offered a sympathetic look. "But it's for the best."

"I don't see how." Gray shook his head, feeling disgusted with both of them for even discussing it.

"It's the only way to keep her safe, Gray. Isn't that what you want?" That wasn't yet enough to convince him, but after he reluctantly agreed to follow Erza's plan, her words became his constant reminder every time he thought about Juvia.

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

Chapter 6: Changing

"She did what?!" Erza's eyes widened.

"It caught me off guard too." Gray admitted.

"How did we not count on this?" She shook her head.

"I guess I just never thought that she would go that far." He sighed. "She was always trying to get me to talk, but I guess she finally realized that I wasn't going to."

His mind flashed to multiple conversations with Briar, who never ceased to ask about his past and the "mysterious woman" whose mention always made him tense.

After months of asking, she apparently decided to take matters into her own hands and stole Gray's file from their leader's office.

"What about the other members? Do they know the truth as well?" Erza asked.

"As far as I know, Briar's the only one who read the file." Gray replied before correcting himself. "Besides Arlock, of course. He showed it to me when I first joined."

"We've always known that their leader was aware of everything." Erza stated.

"It's never been a big problem since he accepted me nonetheless and didn't tell the others that I used to be in Fairy Tail." Gray added.

"What about Briar? Do you think she will become a problem?" His answer was expected.

"She knows about Juvia." The ice mage swallowed hard. "So, yeah, that's a problem."

"Are you absolutely sure that she's going to hurt her?" Erza asked.

"She's made it clear that if she ever finds Juvia, she will be eliminated." Gray tensed at the thought. "She even said one time that she would use Juvia as a sacrifice."

"Why is she so eager to kill her?" He shrugged. Even though he was aware of Juvia's feelings and his own, he failed to see Briar's.

"I don't know. She just hates Juvia, for some reason." Erza was thoughtful for a moment.

"What should we do about this? Should we perhaps eliminate her?" Gray shook his head.

"If we get rid of her, they'll be suspicious." Frowning, he tried to come up with a better solution.

"Perhaps we should move Juvia, then." Erza suggested.

"I agree. Take her somewhere safe." He nodded.

"I'll go back to Rainfall Village tomorrow, then." She told him before sighing. "I hope Juvia's alright."

"It's been 4 months since I left her." Gray swallowed hard. "I doubt she will be."

"Is there anything you'd like me to say?" She knew it was best if they told Juvia nothing, but maybe there was something she could say to ease the water mage's suffering.

"Tell her that I'm sorry." The ice mage pleaded. "And I will come back."

That was exactly what Juvia had needed to hear, but his words never reached her since she was long gone.

[velancea]

well if you insist---

had a lot of fun answering these! thank you so very much for the asks, @redwoodrroad, @aameyalli, and @disaster-bi-canach!!!

under the cut because idk how to shut up and keep things brief i’m sorry

****

How did they meet?

Through him being the wanted and her being the hunter. They first met in his lair with her hammer swingin’ and his bombs blastin’. Romance, amirite?

Who developed romantic feelings first?

Canach. He was also the first to accept and admit to them. Romance was always lost on Vel until she actually started to feel. Of course, then she just ended up trying to ignore them and avoid Canach for dumb reasoning

Who is their biggest “shipper?”

I wanna say Caithe just because she tried so damn hard to help Vel understand the romantic feelings she had early on before HoT, despite how clueless Vel is. Now she sees them together and just sorta smiles to herself cause they’ve both come so far and she’s seen much of their development alone and together firsthand

When did they have their first kiss and under what circumstances?

Maguuma. The terrible, terrible jungle. Mordremoth’s voice was so jarring and difficult to drown out, that they couldn’t sleep, and Vel joined Canach while he was on watch duty one night. This lead to them talking about everything that had been happening and how worried they were about their fates and just pouring shit out to each other. Canach kissed Vel when she leaned in and whispered for the first time of many, “make me forget.”

Who confessed their feelings first?

There was never really a true confession between them. Vel started to realize that Canach was in love with her and totally freaked out and tried like hell to distance herself from him. When in the Domain of the Lost, she saw just how much Canach was always there. She watched the memories of them together and realized she loved him. When she came back to life, she’d confess, right? Ha, wrong. She continued to avoid any alone time with him until he cornered her right before All or Nothing, where she told him that once Kralkatorrik was said and done, they would talk about them and a future together - that only then would she allow herself to fully embrace her feelings and return his

What was their official first date?

Probably their first meetup after returning to Lion’s Arch after the most recent episode. Nothing extravagant happened, and they mostly just talked in a bar and walked around the city. Eventually they found a quiet place to just sit in silence which, believe it or not, was probably the best part of the night. Until Vel latched onto Canach and started crying.

How do they feel about double dates/group dates?

The two hardly really know how to have a single date tbh. Vel would be one to agree to it (only out of politeness - not because she wants to) with Canach being resistant one. They’re both still pretty lost on the mannerisms of dates, much to the amusement of those they’re with

What do they do in their down time?

Currently a lot of their down time is spent with Vel getting in high-risk situations in order to learn how to control her [new magic]. Other times they travel around and spend time doing as the locals of the area do if it’s a different culture Vel wants to learn about

What was the first meeting of parents as an official couple like?

The Pale Tree sorta knew all these feelings between them and was happy when they finally got together. While they have been back to the Grove and visited the Pale Tree after their relationship started, there was never a formal meeting or statement of “so we’re a thing now” or anything

What was their first fight over and how did they get past it?

As a couple or since knowing each other? Since knowing each other it was the fight in Southsun. Their first fight as a couple was over how Vel sleeps. She claims she’s a great sleeper, and refuses to believe Canach when he says she’s the messiest sleeper he’d ever seen. She still fights this even as she wakes up halfway sprawled on the cot and halfway off. They got past it with a pretty simple solution (see: cuddling question) :>

Which one is more easily made jealous?

They can both get a little jealous. Both of them have fans, no doubt, but this really only was an issue when Canach met Driskel for the first time (he is /very/ flirtatious towards everyone, and Vel is no exception. Well… neither is Canach), and when both he and Clodagh come around (Clodagh has a sort of history with Canach, and while there was never anything between them, Clo likes to rile Vel up and get a little too comfortable with Canach. ….and vice versa)

What is their favorite thing to get to eat?

Vel’s always on the hunt for saltwater taffy, but as far as meals go, neither are too terribly picky and will eat just about anything (and for the commander, that’s taken quite literally)

Who’s the cuddly one? What’s their favorite cuddling position?

Vel is probably more cuddly, but if you asked anyone who happens upon them when they’re sharing a cot, they would say Canach, only because he has a death-hold on her with his arms around her when they sleep. Many don’t realize that this was his solution to the messy-sleeper issue and not getting smacked with flailing limbs.

Are they hand holders?

Occasionally, but not as casually. They’ll hold hands as a way of support, but don’t often walk around with their hands locked unless they’re alone and it just sort of happens

How long do they wait before sleeping together for the first time? What’s the circumstances?

About 2 years since first meeting? The circumstances were the same as their first kiss and again followed by the “make me forget” statement. It was about a night or two after the kiss

Who tops?

Canach a majority of the time, but Vel has her moments :>

What’s the worst first they’ve ever gotten into?

Dying/seeing the person you love dead on the ground? Is that a first? Worst for Vel because as she walked through her memories and saw that Canach was always there and loved her and now she was dead and she only avoided him was just a shitty feeling (of course she didn’t rectify that when she was revived because she’s a loser). Worst for Canach because… it’s pretty self explanatory. She was dead and it was a gruesome scene and he really didn’t know how to feel in the time she was gone. Everything was blank. Everything was… gone. She was gone.

Who does the shopping and the cooking?

They both sorta shop together, but neither can cook. Canach could probably manage, but Vel definitely wouldn’t. They’re too used to taking what they can put together or grab on the go. They never had any preparation to go through

Which one is more organized and prone to tidiness?

Canach for sure

Who proposes?

I’m still unsure if they would really get married, but for the sake of these questions I’ll stick with the possible yes they do. Vel would try and fail - not that Canach said no, but because she could never quite get the words out before something else came up they had to tend to. Canach then asks her quietly before they fall asleep one night and damn is Vel relieved that she doesn’t have to try anymore

Do they have joined bachelor/bachelorette parties or separate?

Separate turned joined, and the two end up straying from the party together for the rest of the night at some point and nobody really knows where they go off to

Who is the best man/maid of honor? Any other groomsmen or bridesmaids?

Honestly Driskel and Clodagh would probably be the best man/maid of honor (and the order could go either way tbf). There probably wouldn’t be much prep if it was a ceremony, though, and the rest of Dragon’s Watch / remainder of Destiny’s Edge and some Vigil members would be there

Big ceremony or small?

They both try to aim for small, but it likely gets out of hand at some point

Do they have a honeymoon? If so, where?

Anywhere and everywhere! They both love to travel, and they will go wherever they possibly can until they get a call for help.

Do they have children? How many?

Nope - not unless you count the skyscale they raised together!

[swans-anime-ramblings]

An examination of LuNa in Strong World

*note: I’ve had quite a few new followers in the past 10 days or so, hooray! But because of that, I just thought I’d give a quick FYI. I occasionally post about LuNa on my blog, so if that isn’t your jam, no worries! Just block the lunami tag so you don’t have to be subjugated to my ramblings on this specific topic 😊. I always tag accordingly, so you don’t have to worry. I hope we can still be friends!*

Let me start off by saying that I don’t consider myself a multi-fandom hardcore shipper. I definitely enjoy certain ships, but on the whole I’d say I don’t particularly care who ends up with who for most of the anime/manga I’m into. However, LuNa is a whole different story. It really is my OTP.

I’ll admit, I resisted becoming attached to LuNa. I wanted to keep an open mind, and honestly, shipping complicates things. It sets you up for monumental disappointment because there’s a chance your ship will not become canon. And if this happens (and it happens a lot), it taints your experience. I’ve never believed you should invest in a story solely for shipping, but the disappointment remains all the same.

For me, Strong World was a big factor in shipping these two. I remember smiling and thinking, “yeah...I want these two to find romance.”  And so, I think it’s high time for me to go through their biggest moments in the movie and why I think they have meaning. Be warned, this gets lengthy!

1. Luffy is Nami’s emotional anchor/ support

This is one of LuNa shippers’ biggest arguments in favor of them finding romance, so I won’t explain why this is a thing, but I think there’s two major instances in the movie.

When Shiki first abducts Nami in the beginning of the movie, Luffy yells for her and his attention is focused on her while everything else is in chaos. She immediately responds by yelling his name back, but it’s too late and he’s knocked away. I think this exchange sets up the movie being about their relationship, and reinforces that their bond is strong.

The second, and perhaps more potent time, is when Nami hears of Shiki’s plan to wreck the East Blue. She’s napping inside the house when Xaio comes in excitedly because her friend’s dad came home. Shiki is leaving and he’s going to destroy the East Blue. After Nami hears this horrible news, she immediately says, “Luffy” as she gets up and goes to find him. She’s dazed, scared, and there’s a terrifying situation about to happen. Saying his name is completely reactionary because he is her rock.

2. Luffy and Nami find each other

Unlike the other Strawhats who were separated into groups, Luffy is completely on his own. It’s a convenient, purposeful way to give them some time alone when they happen to meet-up. Nami sees the Sunny and she exclaims, “Sunny-go!” And then moments later Luffy runs out of the forest, sees Sunny and also exclaims, “Sunny-go!” Luffy sees Nami and starts running towards her. Some hilarity ensues, but luckily Billy is there to save the day.

3. Luffy’s tenderness toward Nami

Normally, I wouldn’t peg Luffy as a “tender” guy. He’s usually getting into all sorts of trouble, is brutally honest, yells a lot and has a monstrous appetite. In this movie there’s a couple instances where Luffy’s boisterous nature is calmed, and here we can find Luffy focused on taking care of Nami.

After they are reunited, Luffy is cooking up some food and turns toward Nami giving her a tender smile while he tells her to eat. She refuses since it’s scorpion, but I love his moment. That smile is so irresistible.

Another good tender moment is after they’ve reunited with some of the other crew. Everyone is exhausted and Xaio’s mom invites them to come in and rest. As far as I can tell, it was an open offer, and before anyone has a chance to respond, Luffy says,“Nami. Why don’t you go and do that?” He knows she’s been through a lot, and gives her an opportunity to rest without any other interference. When the crew sleeps outside, Luffy is the one closest to do the door.

This type of quiet caring is the right type of caring. It’s natural, non-intrusive, and has such a lovely feel. Nami is an independent woman, so smothering is annoying to her. I think Luffy cares for her instinctively like this since he’s not the type to do things that are unwanted. For Nami, I feel this works best for her.

4. They’re comfortable with each other

One of things I love about the scene where Luffy and Nami are reunited is how relaxed they are talking to one another. I feel like there’s this common misconception that Nami is yelling at Luffy every waking moment of the day, but that’s simply not true. I bet they talk like this often. While Nami is changing, she’s asking Luffy where everyone is and he responds while cooking his scorpion. Honestly, this feels to me like a couple who has come home from a long day at work. After they’ve been reunited, someone starts cooking while the other gets out of their work clothes. “How was your day?” “oh just fine. It’s been busy at the office since everyone is off for vacation.”

Their comfortability with one another is shown again just a short time later when Nami is riding on Luffy’s shoulders with her hands gently sitting on top of his head. While flying, they’re casually discussing where the rest of the crew might be. I feel like if Nami were in this situation with anyone else, she’d be furious, or at least we would’ve seen her temper flare before accepting her fate.

Luffy is angry at Nami

This right here is the big one. After Luffy and the others are pulled out of Shiki’s trap, Luffy is somber because he’s lost. Ussop says, “she went with Shiki to save our hometowns” and everyone, including Luffy, heard Ussop say this. Luffy doesn’t react beyond continuing to look defeated.

When they start playing the message Nami left them, Luffy hears Nami’s words about how they (i.e him) isn’t strong enough to face Shiki. And Luffy is furious. His hands start shaking and he starts screaming. It makes him so angry that he goes and punches a rock out of frustration.

This isn’t like Luffy at all. And interestingly enough, we have something to compare it to. Robin’s departure from the Strawhat’s is over the same circumstance. Robin leaves so that the crew will not die because she believes they aren’t strong enough to face the World Government. After the failed attempt to rescue Robin, the crew explains what happened to Luffy. His response is seen below (also shutout to Luffy+Nami yelling at each other over it hahaha).

Now, he’s definitely angry but there’s one key difference. Luffy is angry at Robin for not worrying about her own safety, not because Robin doesn’t believe Luffy is strong enough. He isn’t taking her leaving personally.

But he does take it personally with Nami.

This idea of Nami “not believing Luffy is strong enough” fits in the category of things that you absolutely DO NOT say to a man you’re in a relationship with, in real life. This is a thing, and even an implication of  “you’re not strong enough” can be hurtful. I’ve seen this firsthand. But for confirmation I googled “things a woman shouldn’t say to a man they’re in a relationship with” and got a bunch of listicles (some of which were weird, I grant you). However, in the ones written by men, this was close to top. Here’s a random one I found.

From Glamour Magazine:

4. “He’d kick your ass.”

Telling us that anyone--even a grizzly bear or some sort of terminator from the future--- can beat us up is equivalent to us flipping through a magazine and physically pointing out the women we think are betting looking than you. It’s ridiculous, I know, but we like to think we’re tough (true story: an ex told me her friend, a mixed martial artist,could kick my ass--- my response: “not at Jeopardy”).

And absolutely, a couple of men don’t speak for the whole of masculinity, but I think it’s safe to say a lot of men would feel this way. Luffy’s reaction tells me Nami’s words cut. He was expecting the trust he places in her to be reciprocated (to quote Warlordgab). The idea that she didn’t was too much for him and he reacted. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry at one of his crew members.

Luffy protects Nami’s honor

Despite Luffy being furious with Nami, he will not allow her to appear weak in front of Shiki, who makes fun of her sacrifice. “You’re an idiot,” Luffy scowls. “Nami didn’t sacrifice herself, she just came to fight as our vanguard, is all!” before the Strawhats begin shooting up the palace. What’s funny about Luffy’s statement is it’s truer than he thinks. But she was gone and could not defend herself, so he did instead.

Luffy holds a grudge

Luffy’s anger toward Nami isn’t just a gut reaction. He stays angry at her, and when I watched this movie for the first time I was surprised. You can feel his anger when he’s about to beat the crap out of Shiki. “Nami. I’m gonna beat this guy up and then we’re going home.” He can’t talk with her about his anger until later, so he doesn’t even mention it, but it’s written all over his face. Even though he’s angry, he reaffirms to Chopper and Ussop to take care of Nami. Again, I feel like this is an accurate response to how a real man would act if they were in a similar situation.

Luffy scowling while fishing would probably be funnier if the circumstances hadn’t been so serious, but it’s evident he’s been by himself stewing for a while. When Nami is better, Luffy lets Nami know EXACTLY what he thinks. “You said some really mean things! I can’t believe you didn’t have faith in me after all this time!” And it’s then, the truth is revealed.

Nami is embarrassed at her message

At the very end of Nami’s message, she quietly asks to come be saved and doesn’t want Luffy to hear it now that the situation has been resolved. Sanji says it was “a message of love,” and Nami doesn’t even deny it. She just moves on to the next thing which is..something.

I think the reason Nami is embarrassed by the message, is that it does show her care for Luffy. Nami says that she directed the message to him because “you’re denser than anyone else”. So Nami, in the middle of Shiki breathing down her neck, is worried that Luffy will be angry by the message she’s being forced to give, and tries to say something so he understands. That she DOES believe in him, and she wants him to come get her. Nami understands Luffy.

What does all of this mean?

Well, that’s a good question. Because at this point in the game, are we really seeing “romantic love” from these two? I don’t think so, despite some of their reactions normally stemming from romantic love. So what is it then?

Recently, a good friend of mine has been going through One Piece. He is extremely analytical to the detriment of him enjoying shows at times. He told me admittedly that he doesn’t care about shipping nor does he pick up on shipping cues. As he’s watched One Piece, shipping isn’t a thing I’ve ever asked him about.

He watched Strong World right after finishing Thriller Bark, and this is what he had to say while giving me his thoughts on the movie.

"Luffy and Nami have a cool relationship. It’s an unstated love that’s purely platonic but incredibly strong. It’s not brought up much but I have sensed it.”

Honestly, I was wowed by his statement. He was able to put into words something I was having a hard time categorizing. The movie makes them feel like more, but at the same time it’s not romantic. This bond, which at the time of Strong World is platonic but strong nonetheless. They care for each other deeply and they have a special relationship.

So how does it progress?

Have you ever fallen in love with your best friend? I have, and I can tell you there was a single moment when everything became crystal clear to me. Afterward, I spent hours trying to sift through my feelings. When, exactly, did my caring for him transition to love? Did I always love him and was incredibly dense? Or was it gradual, and like a flower, it had been growing for some time beneath the surface and had just sprouted?

Yes…I think that was it. The seed; our friendship. The water; our caring for one another. The earth; the time we spent together. The sun; our shared laughter.

I think this analogy best describes Luffy and Nami, too. As my friend picked up, there’s something beneath the surface, something strong and lovely. Will Oda give it a chance to bloom? I don’t know, but I hope so.

I really hope so 😊

[senatorrorgana]

Saving What We Love

 Summary:  Continuing the little moment where Poe & Rey finally meet in TLJ and Poe may or may not finally get to at least sit in the pilot seat of the Falcon.

Pairing: Damerey

A/N:  My first Post-TLJ fic for Damerey is finally complete! I'm excited about what Episode 9 may give us, JJ don't let me down now! Also, this fic is an early birthday gift for @tulleofdecember20th , her birthday is coming up on the 20th and you guys should go give this fellow Damerey shipper some awesome birthday wishes ;)

AO3: (x)

  The Resistance wasn’t much anymore, barely enough people to fill up the Millennium Falcon and narrowly escape the certain death that awaited them during their last stand on Crait. The loss was always something Poe had trouble dealing with, and though he knew the moment he joined the Resistance that he’d be surrounded by it, he never imagined them being engulfed in it like this. But he still smiled despite all of it, part of him still smiling for the sake of those around him who had lost so much in the past few days, the other part, well, that part of him still held onto the small sliver of hope he desperately needed to believe in. They were on their own, at least for now, with nowhere to go other than the infamous freighter they were now aboard until they could find a suitable new base. In all the commotion, he’d almost forgotten that he should finally introduce himself to the woman who saved them all from certain death.

   He wasn’t surprised to see BB-8 at her side, his little droid hadn’t stopped talking about Rey since the moment they were reunited, the droids little circuits nearly overloading with all the wonderful stories he told of Rey and Finn protecting him and getting him back home. He’d only briefly seen Rey at the D’Qar base before she was sent off on her mission to retrieve Luke, but he never got the chance to thank her for BB-8, now it seemed he had more to thank her for.

   He walked up to her and the moment she looked at him, he felt nervous. It was something like the first time he met Leia Organa in person when he was stunned and taken aback that he was lucky enough to be in her presence. Rey was a hero so many times over now, doing these impossible feets and saving the Resistance time and time again, she was kind and strong, especially strong with the Force which he had to admit was an amazing sight to see firsthand.

   “Hi,” Poe managed to finally speak, her eyes meeting his while she got to her feet.

   “Hi,” She replied.

   “I’m Poe,” He introduced himself.

   She looked down for a brief moment before looking up again as she spoke, “Rey.”

   “I know,” Poe said with a nod and a smile he couldn’t quite wipe off of his face.

   She lit up with a grin that was contagious, it was hard to look away from or break the small moment between them. For a moment, it felt like the noise around them died down to silence, like the galaxy was waiting with bated breath for something else to happen between them.

   “Thank you,” Poe said, breaking the silence.

   “For what?” Rey asked curiously, her features scrunching up in confusion.

   For what? He felt like asking, she’d only saved them all. “For a lot of things, really,” Poe said, “For saving Beebee-Ate, for saving all of us. If you hadn’t come for us, I don’t know what would have happened back there.”

   Deep down, Poe knew what would have happened, they would have died, and the hope for the galaxy with them. How could they ever repay her for all she’s done? How could he ever repay her for saving his only friend in the galaxy and bringing him new ones along the way?

   “Oh,” Rey said, looking away again with a slight pink coming to her cheeks, “it’s no problem, really.”

   “We wouldn’t be here without you,” Poe said, trying to catch her eye and let her know his sincerity.

   Her hazel eyes met his again and her smile returned. He felt happy for the first time in a while talking to her, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.

   “Are you alright?” Poe asked, she looked at him confused for a brief moment, “I mean, you went through a lot, probably haven’t had a second to think over the past few days, and you’re hurt,” He pointed to the mark on her shoulder, though he could sense that there was a deeper pain.

   “Oh, it’s nothing, I’m fine,” She quickly said, covering up her shoulder, “I’ll be okay.”

   “I know we just met and everything but...if you ever need to talk to someone, I’m here,” Poe offered up, “it’s the least I could do after all you’ve done for us.”

   BB-8 chimed in now with a beep of his own, causing them both to laugh.

   “And Beebee-Ate too,” Poe made sure to add.

   Leia clearing her throat was enough to break their moment together, leaving Poe wondering how long the General had been standing there and listening and how he didn’t notice her by his side.

   “Commander, do you think I could borrow Rey for a minute?” Leia asked, using his old title once again.

   “Of course, General,” Poe gave her a nod, “I’ll go check on how everyone else is doing. It was nice to meet you, Rey.”

   “Nice to meet you too, Poe.” Rey grinned.

   Even as he walked away, that smile of hers stayed on his mind, and even when he should have been paying attention to other matters now on the ship, he found himself looking over at her.

   Rey was talking to Leia or trying to at least, she found it hard to focus after everything that had happened. She had so much to tell Leia, about Luke, about Ben but found it hard to find a good place, to begin with all of that. Instead, her brain wandered onto other thoughts, she wondered who the girl was that Finn seemed so intent on taking care of, she wondered where the Resistance would go from here, but perhaps the most nagging thought she now faced was simply the thought of Poe Dameron. He wasn’t what she expected in the least; sure, BB-8 had told her stories of him on Jakku without really saying his name, saying he was the best pilot in the galaxy and the kindest master that any droid could hope to have, but she figured them to be musings of an unshakeable loyal droid or that his master was someone cockier or older or just not the Poe Dameron she’d actually met.

   There was just something about him that she felt through the Force, some kindness that was relentless, some warmth that was reaching out towards everyone around him, something peaceful that drew her to him now with her mind a mess. But despite the peace he seemed to offer, it wasn’t something Rey could focus on at the moment, there were too many other things on her mind. After her talk with Leia and the broken lightsaber safely tucked away, Rey thought some flying with Chewie might help clear her head.

   Instead, she ended up walking right into part of her problem. Poe Dameron was standing outside of the cockpit, Chewie inside and carefully trying to pilot the ship while swatting the new porg residents of the Falcon off of the control panel.

   “Hey,” Rey said, pulling away from Poe and trying not to blush at her own embarrassment.

  “Hey,” Poe said, seemingly unfazed by her clumsiness, “funny running into you here.”

   “Sorry,” Rey sighed, “I-”

   “Hey, I was kidding,” Poe assured her with a smile, “don’t worry about it.”

   Rey gave a slight nod and let the silence settle between them, almost curious to see if the slight warmth she felt earlier from him was still there, and relieved knowing it was. “What are you doing up here?”

   “Honestly, I’ve been dreaming about the Falcon since I was a little kid, I never thought I’d get to see it in person much less fly in it,” Poe said, his eyes scanning the room around her with a sense of wonder that Rey couldn’t even begin to put into words, but could very much feel through the Force, “I kind of tried to go in there but Chewbacca didn’t appreciate it much.”

   “Chewie doesn’t like new people in the cockpit much,” Rey said, “come on, I’ll have him let you in.”

   “You don’t have to-”

   “Chewie,” Rey called out to the Wookie, walking into the cockpit with a slightly nervous Poe behind her, “Poe can come in here, he’s a pilot.”

   The groans and grumbles that might have sounded like nonsense to most made perfect sense to Rey while she listened to Chewie’s reasoning.

   “He’s one of the best pilots in the Resistance, he’s not going to mess anything up,” Rey said.

   “I won’t touch anything, I swear,” Poe chimed in.

   A few more reluctant grumbles came from Chewie.

   “It’ll be fine Chewie,” Rey assured the Wookie one last time before turning to face Poe, “you can come in, he’s fine.”

   Chewie complained some more but eventually subsided, keeping his eyes on the control panel in front of him.

   Rey watched as he walked into the room, slowly and cautiously, almost afraid to disturb the very air in the room the wrong way.

   “You want to sit in the pilot seat?” Rey asked.

   This caused both Poe and Chewie to look at her now, Chewbacca on the verge of protest from what Rey could sense.

   “It’d be an honor,” Poe said, “but I don’t want to impose.”

   “You’re the best pilot in the Resistance, aren’t you?” Rey asked with a slight grin, “I wouldn’t trust it to anyone else.”

   “If it’s alright with you, Chewie,” Poe said now, leaning over to catch a glimpse of the Wookie.

   Rey couldn’t help but grin slightly now, sensing Poe’s kindness through every word he spoke.

   Chewbacca grumbled and groaned, and from the look on Poe’s face, she knew he couldn’t understand a thing that he said.

   “Chewie said that since you asked it’s okay,” Rey clarified for him.

   Chewbacca interjected with more that made Poe stop in his tracks.

   “He also said that it’s a one-time thing,” Rey said.

   “Completely understandable, thank you Chewbacca,” Poe said.

   Poe sat down in the seat slowly and carefully, taking in the sight from the pilot seat once he was settled. He smiled bigger and brighter than Rey had ever seen anyone smile in her life, like a child filled with pure joy. She knew it took every ounce of his willpower to not touch anything around him despite how badly he wanted to actually pilot the ship.

   “I can’t believe this ship is real,” Poe said in a half whisper to himself.

   “It took me a little bit to realize that too, that I was actually on the Falcon,” Rey admitted, taking the seat behind Poe and peering over his shoulder.

   “It’s one hell of a ship,” Poe said.

  “She sure is,” Rey agreed.

   Poe turned to smile at her yet again, and for some reason, Rey finally felt a bit of peace. She didn’t know where the Resistance would go from here, or where they could go for that matter, but Poe gave her the sense of stability, if only for a little bit.

[charlotte-bane-blog]

Charlottes POV: Lillian's Birthday

This is Char’s pov from @princepercyschreave fic with a bit of rp with @berklee-boyer and @evadne-leventhorpe Thank you guys so much, I love y'all 💖 Sorry for the length and typos :/ Enjoy! This is for the Charcy shippers 😉 ————————————————————

Waking up in the palace was positively surreal. Maids in your room, shaking you awake was slightly normal for me, if it was my mother.

I got out of bed, albeit reluctantly, and allowed my maids to help me into a soft green dress. The fabric was thankfully quite comfortable. Since I’d been feeling uncomfortable pretty much all the time, it was a welcome feeling.

I made my way down to breakfast, accompanied by the other Selected. The royals were also in the dining room, seated at a separate table of course. It was the day after interviews and I was doing my best to catch Dom’s eye, but it seemed my attempts were proved fruitless. Instead, I caught someone else’s eye. Percy.

I would be lying if I claimed to be unshaken as his blue green eyes held mine. He grinned wickedly as he saw he caught my stare. I tried to tear my gaze away, but strangely experienced a great deal of trouble. Thankfully, Berk forced my attention.

“Hey Char, do you want to hang out with Vad and me today,” she asked whilst spooning strawberries into her mouth.

“Sure,” I smiled. “We could go to my room. My maids are going to be away all day anyway making some new dresses.”

“Awesome! We’ll be there,” she grinned.

With breakfast finishing up, the Selected were dismissed for the day. I started to make my way out of the room but turned back to see if Vad and Berk were with me. Instead I saw Percy speaking to Aricia. He spoke for a mere second but whatever he had said had left her exploding with joy. A sick feeling rose in the pit of my stomach. I hated it.

<<>><<>>

“So how’d your interviews go,” I asked the girls as we hung out in my room.

Vad seemed to think about it for a moment. “Surprised me, a bit, since he was was politer than I expected.” I shook my head and chuckled at her response.

“Eh, okay. I could have done better,” Berk jumped in. She mentioned that at breakfast too, that she felt her interview had been awkward. With a personality and face like hers, I was sure she’d redeem herself.

“You could only talk about so much in a couple of minutes,” Vad offered.

“He actually called the first question I asked boring,” I laughed. I had simply told him I looked forward to the Selection and asked if he had too. I couldn’t think of anything else without coming off like some freak.

Berklee looked at me sympathetically. “Oh Char.”

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand. “It was fine, he was more eager to answer the second question I suppose. I asked if he’d been kissed.”

“I guess he obviously has been,” Vad snorted.

Berklee laughed. “Oh my God.”

“He said he had.”

“He’s a prince, people would jump at the chance to kiss him,” Vad said as she pretended to sigh dreamily. That girl could make anything amusing.

“People or you, Vad,” I smirked.

“Both.”

Berklee laughed yet again. “Oh my God.”

“Berk, use your words!” I threw a pillow from my bed at her. Knowing her, she was probably trying to annoy me on purpose.

Sadly, she dodged the attack. “Okay, but really who wouldn’t?”

Vad shrugged. “I’ve kissed heirs to billions, I wonder what an heir to an entire country would be like.”

“I haven’t kissed anyone actually,” I piped. If you’d met my mother, you’d understand why. She would say she was simply protective of me, but I think she really just wanted me to focus on work. Romance wasn’t exactly a focus where I was from. Vad and Berk stared at me with shocked expressions. “That can’t be hard to believe.”

Vad looked at me as if I was insane. “No, because that other Prince last night was all over you. I would have thought he’d at least attempt it.”

“Other prince,” I raised my brows. “What, Percy?” Please don’t bring him up. Please, gosh, no.

Vad and Berk both nodded. I inwardly groaned. I had spoken to Percy once or twice but he had g left my mind. I didn’t want to say or admit anything I’d regret, so I prayed they wouldn’t ask.

“Dom actually brought him up during our interview. He said he’d talked about me,” I trailed off as I played with the tips of my hair. I tried to avoid eye contact at all costs.

“Oh my God you do!” Berklee exclaimed.

I looked up quickly. “Are you insane! Of course not! We’re here for Dom remember?” Oh God, I was beginning to sound like my mother.

“You so do,” Vad joined. “Next thing we know he’s knocking at your door.” As she said that, a soft knock came upon the door.

My heart sank to my feet. “What the hell was that?”

“Hopefully food,” Berklee muttered as Vad said “A knock.”

“Thanks Sherlock,” I replied sarcastically. “Now hide, I’ll answer the door. One sec,” I called out as I ushered the girls into my bathroom.

I patted my dress down, plastered a smile on my face and pulled the door open. Please don’t be Percy, I thought. “Oh.” Yep, it was Percy.

My heartbeat quickened at the sight of him and I pleaded for it to stop.

“What? You’re not happy to see me?” he asked, putting a hand to his chest sarcastically. “I’m so hurt.”

You have no idea.

“Just surprised is all,”I replied. I leaned my head out the door and looked around, checking for any watchers. I didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea… or the right one? I don’t know. “Why are you here, exactly?”

Percy seemed to hesitate. “I just… wanted to see you, is that a problem?”

“Um, n-no it’s not,” I stuttered. “You wanted to see me?” I asked. For some reason, my mind could hardly comprehend he’d be here randomly. Sure, he’s flirted with me before, but I thought of it as more of his way of passing time. I never thought he’d actually seek me out.

He smiled at me and I felt myself watch him. His smile was breathtaking. It wasn’t his typical smirk, it actually seemed genuine. I wanted to see it more. “Yeah, I did. I just… haven’t had the best day and needed to see a pretty face.” He glanced into my room, probably checking for anyone. Crap, I nearly forgot about Berk and Vad. “Can I come in?”

I thought about it for a moment before deciding the look on his face was more important that Vad and Berk having to wait for a bit. He seemed so… sad. “Sure.” I motioned for Percy to come inside. I closed the door as he sat down in one of the chairs. “What happened?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “Evan’s just been stressing me out all day," he began. He spoke to me about all his problems with Evan and his family. He spoke to me about his worries and look on his situation. He spoke to me about how Evan acted like he was so much better than him. I could see in Percy’s eyes that a part of him believed it. If he could see through mine, it would be the opposite.

I did my best to listen intently to him and offer advice. I wanted him to know I cared. I needed him to.

“Whatever. Let’s not talk about this sad stuff anymore. Let’s talk about something fun,” he finally said, ending the topic and effectively changing the subject.

“Are you sure?” I question. I scanned his features trying to see if he was truly okay.

He offered me the same smile from earlier. It lit up the room. “Absolutely.”

I smiled back, fully aware it would never shine as brightly as his. “Alright, what counts as fun?”

“How about the awesome date I’m working on for you?” He smirked.

Date. Oh my God. Did he just say that? He had to be joking. Please don’t be joking. “Awesome date? Yeah, okay, Percy.” I laughed.

“Oh, it’ll blow any other date you ever go on way out of the water. Which reminds me, do you want the spectacular date before or after your boring date with Dom?” Percy seemed to ask all this rather casually. It was hard to tell if he was being serious.

But… as much as I wanted his offer to be genuine, I knew I wouldn’t be able to accept. It’d be treason and I really didn’t want to lose my head. “Oh gosh, the options. How will I ever choose? How about never; I’d like to not be killed, thanks.”

Percy seemed unfazed by my response. “Well, the date will be to ‘die for’.” I saw him contain a laugh at his own joke and I held back from rolling my eyes.

“Do I get any hints?” I asked.

“Well,” he starts. “We won’t be leaving the palace grounds like Evan and his stupid secret date.”

I can feel his annoyance from earlier rising back up again and I try to help him get past it. I rolled my eyes. Hopefully if he sees my disapproval, he’ll stop… not that my opinion means anything but whatever. “You’re unbelievable.”

“What?”

I met out a breath. “Whilst failing to give me a helpful hint, you also managed to insult your brother in the process.”

Percy let out a laugh and I relished the sound of it. He had a really nice laugh. “I’m great at multitasking,” he winks. I mentally high five myself at my success of diverting the topic. I hope he’s okay. He better be okay.

I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me. “Clearly. What else are you good at?”

“I think the better question is what aren’t I good at?” Cocky, aren’t we?

“Being humble, to answer your question,” I retorted smoothy.

Percy smirks. He better be admiring my cleverness and wit, it was hard earned. “Touché.”

“It is what I do best,” I shrugged. It was fun speaking with Percy. Actually pretty relaxing, aside from the fact that my heart could beat anything in a race.

“What? Being gorgeous and amazing at the same time? Seems we’re both good multitaskers.” Percy winked again. Part of me wanted to throw a pillow at him, the other didn’t want to dare cause any harm. Oh, conflict.

I promised myself I would never blush at anything he said. I hated blushing. “You, my dear, are a senseless flirt. Is this what you say to all the ladies here,” I asked, barely containing a laugh.

He paused as he thought about it. “Mmm, not all of them. You’re pretty special, angel.”

At his words, my face sobered up a bit. “You know close to nothing about me, Perseus.” No one really did. I had friends, but no one that close. I still haven’t fully opened up to anyone yet. I didn’t want to force my problems upon anyone.

Percy leaned in closer, seemingly trying to show he was actually serious. “I know enough, and I’d like to know more if you’ll give me a chance.”

I looked away, thinking of a way to lighten the mood. “Here’s your chance. Ask me anything. And I’ll ask you something in return.”

"Why don’t you seem to want to give me a real chance?”

I snapped my eyes back to his. I searched them for any sense of malice or falsity but saw none. “Um… I don’t know.” I tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. “Why do you want one?”

Percy took a deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. You just… intrigue me. I mean… ok, well you may have heard me say that I plan to travel the globe in a year or two and just… see everything. Enjoy myself. You seem like the type of person who would enjoy that as much as me and I’d… like someone like that to come with me. And maybe as… more than just a friend.”

It wasn’t the answer I expected. I expected him to say something like ‘I’m bored’ or ‘You’re right, I don’t care’. But he didn’t, and that was what mattered.

I hesitated as I searched my mind for a proper response. “You’ve mentioned before that Dom gave consent to this– talking to the Selected. Does that still stand?” When we had first met, it was something he had mentioned, but I wondered if he was serious.

“As far as I know,” he nods. Every bone in my body screamed for it to be true.

“Okay,” I paused. “Then… where? Where in the world?”

I’d always wanted to explore the world and go on adventures, it amazed me that Percy would ever dare to invite me. I wanted to accept. He seemed to possess every idea or dream I’d ever longed for, every wish I had made.

He smiled. “Everywhere, I guess. There have been a few places, especially around Europe, that I’ve been before and I’d like to go back, but I’ve never been to New Asia, so I’d like to go there. And Africa, too. And I don’t know where else, I just want to see it all and have fun doing it.”

“I like that idea,” I smiled softly. “I haven’t done a lot, really anything at all in life.”

“You seem like you need a bit of an adventure.”

I stared at him for a moment. “I’d agree to that. What kind of adventure, though?”

“Whatever kind you want, angel.” I just still couldn’t believe he’d want to take me.

Suddenly, I hear muffled sounds coming from my bathroom. I laughed to cover it up. I needed to keep a reminder to kill Berk and Vad.

“Oh, the possibilities,” I exclaimed jokingly. “You really like adventure, don’t you?”

“Absolutely,” he said breathlessly. I glanced at him strangely. “So… about that date…”

“Yes… that date.”

“Is it… I mean… are you okay with it,” he asked shyly.

I was practically screaming internally at that point. I wanted to grab him and hug him but he’d probably call a guard to restrain me. I tried to remain stone faced as I responded but it was harder than it seemed. I pursed my lips to hide my smile. “Why not?”

Percy looked at me as if he couldn’t believe I had agreed. “So… before or after your ‘date’ with Dom?”

Oh right, technically I was still here for Dom “Umm… before? That sounds reasonable.” Truthfully, I had no clue which to choose. I chose the option soonest.

“Alright, I’ll start finishing up the arrangements then. I guess I’d better go… unless you’ll allow me to stay?” He gave a hopeful smile.

I knew he probably didn’t mean that to sound the way it did but I simply couldn’t help but mess with him. “Stay in what way, dear lord,” I dropped my jaw as if acting appalled.

“Just that it’s getting late, and it’s SUCH a far walk back to my room…,” he grinned. If he wanted to play so badly, I’d gladly join along.

“Exercise is healthy, dear.”

“So you are kicking me out?” He looked at me as if I’d shot his dog.

“Do you need an escort,” I teased.

“Hmm, you know I think I might.”

“Should I call a guard?”

Percy let out a sigh. “No. I’ll… see you later, Charlotte?”

“Sure… later,” I trailed. “Unless you would like me to walk with you?”

He looked at me hopefully. “Only if you want to. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.” He would probably never understand what those words meant to me.

“Sweet sentiment, but I’d love to escort you. I wouldn’t want you getting hurt.”

He grinned jokingly. “It’s good to know you care.”

I hoped he knew I actually did. “I’m sure. Shall we,” I asked as I extended my hand towards him. Percy smiled softly at the gesture before he lifted my hand up to his lips and placed a chaste kiss before lowering it by our sides. My hand tingled as he kept it in his. A blush formed across my cheeks and I cursed myself for breaking my promise.

“Let’s go,” he said as he smiled down at me.

“Alright then, let’s.”

Hand in hand, I walked with Percy back to his room. Mercifully, there was no one on the way. I didn’t want to end up in some tabloid or magazine. I wanted to have this moment. I wanted to keep it to myself.

When we arrived at our destination, he kissed my hand again. “I’m sure you’ll be fine making the journey back?”

“I can take care of myself, thanks.”

He grinned at me one more time before opening his door and going back into his room. I smiled to myself as I headed back to my quarters.

“Oh, you’re still here…,” I trailed off as I saw Berk and Vad placed in the middle of the room looking not so pleased.

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” Vad said as she crossed her arms.

Berk gave me a look. “What happened?”

“Oh, nothing…,” I responded. “I just spoke to Percy for a bit. Like pals.” Why the hell did I have to add the pals part? It’s not like they were accusing me!

“Yeah ‘pals’.”

“Lying. We heard you. Where did you go”

Shoot. “No where,” I defended quickly.

“We thought that you didn’t like him, but there you were, flirting with him,” Vad comments.

They didn’t seem bitter. It seemed more like they were obsessed with knowing the details. Details I would never share.

“I… I don’t l-like him.” Dear Lord, I probably sounded like a hurt puppy.

Vad and Berklee shared a look. “We heard everything.”

“You heard nothing.”

“So where are you planning on traveling,” Berklee asked smugly. “A spectacularly planned date with Percy too,” Vad pointed out. I really wanted to kill them.

“Y-you heard that?” Why me?

Berk scoffed. “We were in the bathroom, not Whites.”

I needed to end this conversation quickly. “Non of that matters, it’s not like I like him…” Wow, I deserve an Oscar for that awful performance.

“Sure you don’t.”

I groaned. “I don’t!”

It was quiet for a moment as I tried to imagine myself anywhere else.

“Oh you so like him,” Berk piped.

Kill me.

“Please don’t tell.”

[elizabethrobertajones]

I feel a little awkward about people proclaiming Dean slamming Cas into a wall romantic, no matter the provocation or the fact that Cas is an angel. Violence is NOT romantic. Dean packing an angel blade because he's angry is horrifying. Cas letting Dean do this to him because he "deserves" punishment? My god, does noone understand what this sound like? This is shit Dean needs to work on, like the anger issues and verbal abuse issues, not something to be romanticised.

Yeah, it’s not great, but I feel like the show actually thinking about how violent it is last of anything it ever might address, so what can you do except write a disclaimer every time you end up discussing it that you don’t approve, and if you’re discussing it (or, especially the crypt scenes which had a ton more problematic tropes if you take away the mind control and magic) that you’re looking at basically everything but the violence as a point of interest and it’s an unfortunate way it meant the show put such and such a line in or whatever >.> 

I think a lot of the excitement is the tension and physical closeness (which helps that we know the actors are doing it and that there’s no real threat there and a lot of people would be perfectly happy just that Jensen and Misha did a wall slamming scene and that’s what they enjoy when they reblog gifs of it)… I don’t think there’s anything romantic about what Dean did - it’s not even like the crypt scenes which use a power of love made them stop thing which is really problematic when you take away that only because it’s fictional and they were ACTUALLY mind controlled and not responsible for their actions that that’s even half not the worst thing ever to do… It’s just Dean went to go fight Cas because he was pissed off and technically they do fight a lot of things that are causing harm and Cas going rogue to them is still a possibility they might not like to think about but 6x20 still probably haunts Dean of what exactly sort of cosmic force of nature is he giving mixtapes too anyway and how very very bad is it that it ends up being the antagonist like, almost every other year of their lives even while also being their BFF, which just makes things confusing. 

Dean starts referring to Cas’s feathery ass again which is something he does when pissed at him - Cas is all human and cute when he’s harmless and Dean’s worried or affectionate. But when Dean is pissed off Cas suddenly is an angel again in his language, and at times especially earlier on he used the same language about Cas he would use interchangeably about someone like, say, Uriel, who he hated and picked on all the things like “junkless” and so on… Dean getting like that is him remembering that Cas is not human, and could be as unpredictable and dangerous and taking inhuman approaches to things, that it’s not safe to think of him as a nerdy little guy, but to remember what they’re really dealing with, and as hunters, that means something that is potentially dangerous enough to hunt, and also it’s personally how he’s hurt Dean… 

For what it’s worth I think Dean was making a pretty horrifying display packing the angel blade, but when it came down to it, no matter how betrayed he feels he wouldn’t use it on Cas - he didn’t want to kill him in 6x20 or after - when Sam stabs Cas in 6x22 Dean actually mouths “No!��� even though all logic would say Sam did the right thing there.

But I would bet though that people are kind of using a difference between “romantic” and “romanticising” like they don’t think there’s any romantic gesture or point to it like this is a way Dean shows he loves Cas (even with his anger born of worry born of love issues which is a whole other thing I was talking about earlier today at great length so I won’t go into it) but they are enjoying the shoving around - again, because it’s a lot more fun and safe when it’s actors doing it and when you take it out of context it might be fun wall slamming…

although side note about fanfic etc, I utterly can’t stand Cas in “fun” wall slamming situations etc where he’s the slam-ee, precisely because he makes that face like he thinks he deserves it and is just going to take whatever happens to him when it happens in canon and that’s depressing and horrible and I can’t un-see it ever… Cas getting passive and self-defeating in pretty much any fight with anyone drains any fun out of the idea he’d enjoy it playing around… It makes me feel sick and sad and horrified on his behalf because of how he reacts and I can never get past that exact thing, even with totally fanon AU Cas, with none of this baggage, because I just see him making those sad defeated faces… Not that the reverse of this scene in 5x18 is any better for saying anything about Dean, but in less high-tension situations like when he’s being manhandled by cops he only feels lightly threatened/mostly amused by, he seems to have a lot more fun with it :P Using 5x18 to say anything about Dean is just as unrepresentative, even if he DOES have a ton of fun wall slamming history, just not with Cas, like that. There’s plenty of other stuff in canon about how submissive Dean is without needing that gif… Like where he just admits he wants to be slapped around in bed or wants sexy rules or whatever. He doesn’t make it difficult to headcanon and he’s talking about wanting fun consensual sex in those moments :P I don’t think Cas has anything like it on his side (if anything he was compared to the pizza man who did the spanking >.>) and so anything where Cas is shoved around or gets that despairing passive look in his eyes I just can’t ever see him enjoying messing around getting in a similar headspace for fun, so I personally really don’t get anyone enjoying that side of it because Cas is in such a depressing place with this in the show >.> Idk if this is an unpopular opinion or not because at least in my experience of just following meta blogs and seeing fic recs etc second, it seems like a favoured dynamic anyway. About the gifs of these scenes and fanon though - I know a lot of people have fun with it out of context (e.g. “what if it was Cas shoving Dean against a wall because they were about to have sex”) and it just kinda looks bad without disclaimers which people might think were obvious they’re enjoying out of context because if they WERE asked they’d immediately say well duh the scenes were bad in context but that’s not what we’re enjoying here, or they actually have an interest in the whump factor of them getting beat up, but that’s something entirely out of my ability to talk about at this point, because I’m depressingly vanilla and boring about it all :P

Aaaanyway idk I’m not the best person to talk to about this because I don’t have a great deal of IRL experience to draw on for sensitivity about how to handle this except to say, obviously threatening to kill and shoving around your friends is not a good way to show love, and I also take that fact for granted when talking about it (so apologies if you were directing any of this message at me because it only occurred to me now, that you might not have been talking about the fandom in general, because I have been taking for granted that anything I say about this, I’m making a fairly horrified face about things like Dean packing an angel blade to meet Cas or shoving him around and I’d ASSUME that’s the normal reaction, except apparently people are romanticising it so NOT saying anything is playing into a bigger problem? Idk. >.>)

I haven’t really been on  my dash much since the episode so I don’t know how everyone’s really reacting, but I wonder how much of the discussion is also running away with ideas relating to these scenes, while taking for granted the main details are pretty crappy and it shouldn’t be treated as romantic per say, but come across wrong for not putting a disclaimer. The crypt scene discourse after 10x22 made me really hyper aware of that and how people who were most critical of or affected by this behaviour were seeing so much more of people supposedly romanticising it even though these people were just really not taking care to say of course they weren’t and to pick their language more carefully and not get over excited about meta textual reasons to reblog the gifs and so on, and I remember that it sort of came with a lot of snide hater anon messages to some blogs that this is why people hate Destiel/Destiel shippers because of all the romanticising abuse, it’s a horrible ship, etc etc, and even people who’d been really upset by that scene who then moved on to talk about other stuff aside from how Cas got attacked, were in danger of having this accusation about stuff they said… I don’t know. Fandom is a difficult space to navigate, and there are toxic sides to it, and people enjoying things in ways which other people might think they shouldn’t, when it’s not really their place to say HOW they enjoy it, but it’s all such a mix eventually wires cross… it makes me hesitant to go around saying everyone’s doing such and such romanticising a thing because it tends to be more complicated and weird and maybe there’s not such a great pool of people uncritically doing the thing that everyone is being accused of in a blanket statement. I’m now thinking I’ve said at least 2 of the things you mentioned, but I meant them in the way that I was horrified by what I saw and thought it would be obvious this was my reaction, but at this point I wonder how clear it was, and also how dangerous is it to ever open your mouth in a fandom space >.>

[dma-dima]

Faradima (Part 1)

(Right okay folks I have no idea if anyone will want to read this, but I’ve decided to start writing a little series about the growing relationship between DiMA and Faraday. I’m treating it as canon for this character as I play him, but that doesn’t mean I’m not open to roleplaying him in other relationships in the future. Any romantic relationships which develop through rp will simply be considered AU from the main day to day story I’m creating for him. This was inspired by a little interaction with @scarletthearts. I hope any faradima shippers will like what I’m doing with these two science boys. Under the cut for length.)

Soft light spills through the ragged curtains which wave in the gentle breeze, chirping birdsong carrying from the forest. The fresh mountain air ruffles the messy mop of hair that is the only visible part of Faraday when DiMA comes to check in on him. The scientist snores softly, undisturbed by a burst of loud cheering outside as someone, probably Chase, scores another touchdown. DiMA lowers a tray laden with pancakes and syrup along with a steaming mug of herbal tea down on the bedside table, and smiles as he notices Faraday turning slightly towards it in his sleep, drawn by the appetising scents. He carefully adjusts the blankets which have gotten tangled around his friends legs during the night from his fevered tossing and turning before he gently calls his name. “Faraday.. I brought you something to eat if you're hungry. Rise and shine.” He kept his voice low and soft, only just above a whisper. When the snoring continued he stifled a laugh and gently prodded his shoulder instead. The scientist groaned, batting his hand away, but his growling stomach chose that moment to make itself heard and it woke him. Yawning, he blinked the crust of sleep out of his eyes then focussed in on his visitor. “What'sa time?” He slurred, stretching and wincing when a badly knotted muscle in his neck twinged painfully. “How long was I out?” “It's a little past midday, and no don't look at me like that, I never actually agreed to wake you early today. A shrug does not a yes make my dear Faraday.” The scientist (who's eyes had flown open with alarm once he'd heard the time) huffed his displeasure, but consented to recline back against the pillows when DiMA pressed a hand to his shoulder. “I shouldn't be wasting time in bed when there's so much work to catch up on, but I see it's a little late to worry about that now. Is the whole of Acadia out there?” He nodded towards the window where he could catch glimpses of the synths playing their game through the holes in the curtain. “For the most part.. it was such a beautiful day and it seemed a shame to waste it. You worry too much Faraday, our work can keep for a little while without the whole island falling apart. Now eat these before they get cold.” He dropped the tray over Faraday's lap, effectively trapping him until he'd finished his breakfast. He only grumbled a little before he started wolfing pancakes down like a starving man, making DiMA grin like a cheshire cat. “Somebodies feeling better I see.” He teased, only grinning wider when he noticed the faint blush spreading across Faraday's cheeks. “They're really good.” He said it like an apology. DiMA merely shook his head, softening his expression while he set about straightening the room out a little. He paused when there was a sharp intake of breath and a quick exclamation. “You don't have to do that!” “No I don't have to.” The old synth agreed while he picked up a haphazardly discarded lab coat and folded it neatly. Faraday was definitely blushing now there was no mistake about it, but they passed a few minutes in relatively comfortable silence while the man finished his meal and drank his tea. He was usually a very tidy person but he'd been feeling a little sorry for himself the previous night and hadn't had the motivation to clean up, so he kept flashing apologetic glances DiMA's way whenever the synth turned to face him, but they were all waved off with the same gentle smile. They kept on this way until the room was spotless and DiMA helped himself to a seat on the edge of the bed. “So.. about last night..” the synth started cautiously, lacing his fingers together in his lap and keeping his gaze locked on them. Before he could say another word however the scientist suddenly found a burst of energy, practically leaping out of bed and talking over DiMA loudly. “Well I'm certainly feeling much better now that's for sure! Thank you for bringing me food, and for tidying up.. you really are a good friend to me DiMA.” There was something sad in his grey blue eyes as he put subtle emphasis on the word 'friend'. “You're right though it looks like a beautiful day outside. If I'm going to be forced to take a day off work then I'm going to do it properly. Give me some time to shower and I'll be right out.” He was already rummaging around for towels, studiously avoiding DiMA's attempts to catch his eye. The old synth knew when he was being dismissed, but he still found himself hovering awkwardly, clacking his metal fingers together in a nervous gesture as he debated how far to push it. When his shadow fell across Faraday's back the scientist froze, his posture tense. DiMA reached out to touch his shoulder. “Faraday.. I-” He pulled his hand back sharply as the man flinched away from his touch. One look in his eyes when he turned to face him told DiMA that it hadn't been intentional, but he looked so uncomfortable with his presence. His eyes were shuttered, any emotions he might have been feeling carefully stowed away. “DiMA it's okay. I'm okay. I just..” tailing off with a sigh, he slumped back against the dresser he'd been searching through, defeated. “I can't do this right now.” Something inside DiMA ached with longing to somehow give him the courage to talk about his obvious feelings, but it hurt so badly to see what it was costing his friend even to admit that there was something to do. It was more than he'd managed to get him to admit to last night, after he'd joked about kissing a woman right in front of him. It was progress. He hid his disappointment behind a gentle smile and reached behind his slumped friend, ignoring the way he tensed, to retrieve the toothbrush he'd been searching for. His fingers brushed against Faraday's hand as he handed it over, the skin heated even to his slightly dulled sensors. It took a lot of willpower to stop himself from letting that touch linger, instead taking a step back to give him some space and trying to keep his tone light as he made to leave. “Naveen made the pancakes.” He blurted clumsily, unable to find anything else to say. Faraday blinked slowly, still frozen in place with a towel in one hand and his toothbrush clutched tightly in the other like he was seriously planning on using it to stab something. The flat expression he'd been carefully maintaining broke as one eyebrow rose higher than the other, questioning. DiMA cursed himself inwardly. “So you know who to thank, if you wanted to. He's been asking after you quite a lot.” It was true of course, for someone struggling so badly with his own problems Naveen had a remarkable capacity for caring about others. It just hadn't been what he'd wanted to say. The scientist rubbed the back of his head, messing up his bedhead even further. “Oh well.. I will then. That was nice of him.” It wasn't the right time for crickets to start chirping, but the silence between them was so uncomfortable that DiMA wouldn't have been surprised to hear them start singing now, just to fill it with something. He eyed the door, planning his escape, but he always found his eyes drifting back across the room to linger on Faraday's despondently slumped form. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't force himself to leave. Something was too wrong with the picture in front of him. “I'm sorry but I have to do this.” He uttered like it was some kind of solemn promise, and crossed the room in three long strides until he was standing barely an inch away from the source of his frustration. Blue grey eyes widened, the pupils in them blowing out wide as DiMA leaned closer, the gap between them rapidly reducing down to nothing as the slightly taller synths hand came up to hover near his cheek. “D-diMA..” the scientist stammered breathlessly, unable to look away from his pale gaze. Hearing his name spoken that way, with longing, would have cemented DiMA's resolve if it hadn't been so easy to feel his violent shaking at such close quarters. He was scared.. borderline terrified. It wasn't the right time. Quickly running every possible excuse through his mind for why he'd needed to come so close, he cheered inwardly when he found the perfect one nestled in the corner of Faraday's mouth. The crumb of pancake fell away as DiMA brushed his thumb over it. He watched it fall with an overly satisfied nod, then turned on his heel and made for the door before he could acknowledge any of the flustered spluttering coming from the man he'd almost kissed. “Well I'll leave you to it then Faraday. It's good to see you with some colour again.” He breezed a little too cheerfully, pausing in the doorway so as not to seem rude. “I'll see you later.” He tore himself away from the sight of Faraday holding his head in his hands before he did something stupid.