#from across the political spectrum

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

is anyone else interested in joining my server? not quite ready to invite people yet but should be soon. just gauging interest right now. “like” or reply to this post and when i’m ready i’ll send you an invite.

server will probably be dual purpose. 

there will be (1) a semi-public side oriented toward general discussion (topics like politics, books, history, philosophy, religion, media, science, tech, etc) and community building (nothing is set in stone yet but i am imagining activities like book club, movie watching, playing games, contests and giveaways, etc). and there will be (2) a private side dedicated to more focused discussions and internal cult matters.

the server won’t be a “safe space” -- i’m fine with a bit of edge (within ToS. not trying to get terminated.) -- but i do want this server (at least the semi-public side) to be /relatively/ welcoming and civil. so if you’re egregiously toxic or vulgar or prone to shitflinging or sperging out you won’t be welcome here. neither will you be welcome if you’re overly sensitive.

otherwise, as long as you follow the rules, you will be fine. though i always reserve the right to executively veto your presence for any reason.

[utilitycaster]

I said this late last night but actually, I was serious: I really do feel like the stasis bubbles are ultimately at the core of Ludinus's attitude towards Aeor, and the fact that he doesn't seem to have focused on them at all is the key to understanding his agenda.

I don't believe the stasis bubbles are a lost cause. I think there's certainly failure points, ie, I think if one does not go about this with utmost care then yes, the people within will rapidly age or wither to dust and be lost. But I don't think a successful release of the Aeorians in these bubbles is impossible within the canon of Critical Role. I think it is very, very difficult, but I think it could be done.

Ludinus doesn't seem to have focused on this at all - not even a half-assed attempt. He's gone for a literal moonshot, connecting with something he didn't even know existed and destroying Molaesmyr in the process. To his limited credit I think it's entirely likely he didn't know about these stasis bubbles until Aeor excavations began about 60 years ago, but I don't think Aeor became his focus until he realized he could strip it for parts: both for its technology, and as part of his propaganda machine.

Ludinus's grudge against the gods began with the end of the Calamity, in his own youth, in those final battles, and we know that he was already studying mages like Laerryn and using the harness to extend his lifespan while he lived in Molaesmyr. He may very well have known about Aeor, but his goal was to kill the gods. He only just saw what was in the Occultus Thalamus now.

Aeor is a useful tool to him, and it's a better tool to him if he can act like it's lost forever and everyone is dead. Aeorians only help him if they're doomed corpses. If he cared about the deaths of the people of Aeor and the culture of the city, why let his general repeatedly target FCG, one of its only current survivors? Why shut down the researchers from Uthodurn and the Dynasty in the past 7 years? Why push towards this Thalamus even as his army falls to Dominox when the stasis bubbles are just outside? Are those collapses Essek noted just the ravages of time, or was he destroying the city even further?

He doesn't really care about Aeorians in the slightest. He wants to kill the gods, and treats this mass slaughter and cultural destruction of Aeor as a boon that fell into his lap so that he can say "look what they took from you" to the world that he's been ravaging and slaughtering his way through himself for the past few months (and, on a slower but no less violent scale, the last millennium). The second he lets one of the Aeormatons brought back by D speak? Or brings back one of the thousands of Aeorians who could, perhaps, survive and come back and even revive that lost knowledge? Well, then it's not lost forever at the hands of the gods now, is it, and that makes for bad press, and we can't have that now, can we, not when we're about to crack open the moon and eat the gods! Sorry that a phoenix killed your family and no one could resurrect them, but you know how it is. Let bygones be bygones, unless they're his trauma and his trauma alone.

Any claim that he cares about Aeor is a lie. He cares for himself and no one else. He loves that Aeor is gone because it's always been gone to him and, like any fossil, is only good as fuel for his own agenda. And we and Bells Hells are about to see a glimpse of life in the city that's more convenient to him when it's dead, and he thinks that's going to help his cause.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

y'all need to get a grip. you blab all day about how much you hate bigots and hateful people and how evil it is to dehumanize anyone and then you turn around and say "kys" and "i think [x] should all just kill themselves" and other disgusting, violent and childish trash

so many people on here are just full of hatred and vitriol and turn into frenzied sharks anytime the target 'deserves it' and they think they can get away with it and not be called bad people. then they whine about how sad it is that we can't all just get along and if only all the evil people in the world would stop doing evil things wouldn't that be nicer

you're just as vicious, hypocritical and fanatically puritanical as the caricature you have made in your minds of the people you think you have nothing in common with. if you've ever told someone, ANYONE to kill themselves you're not advocates of justice, you're not artisans of peace, and you certainly don't have any moral high ground that would allow you to pass judgment on others

[moghedien]

its crazy to me how people just don’t talk all the fucking time about what happened to the [Dixie] Chicks in the early 2000s

[rimouskis]

okay not to whine after going to a vegan food festival but. why are restaurants increasingly becoming meat-oriented again.

[beeseverywhen]

The Tories have been trying to reduce the number of voters, by introducing voter ID, and planning elections to disenfranchise students and lower turnout.

Something they've literally admitted. There's been no attempt to hide this at all.

While labour are trying to increase the number of voters, arguing that if people are old enough to pay tax and go in to the army they're old enough to vote.

Tell me again that they're all the same. There's a clear divide here between a party that are pro democracy and a party that aren't even trying to pretend they aren't anti democracy anymore.

[cruelsister-moved2]

the conspiratorial thinking on tiktok is out of control ngl and i guess the blame is ultimately on the US propaganda machine because it's so easy to learn that communism is not "just like nazism" and feel betrayed and confused because you've been lied to your whole life and then immediately go and eat up a different set of lies that are specifically catered to your current distrust of any and all authority, rather than doing the hard work of educating yourself which involves scary things like reading "books" and critical thinking. instead just go nope the academic presses and fucking wikipedia are all controlled by Jewish Capitalists and only this random person on tiktok knows the Truth

[hella1975]

hella idk what to send to you for aftg im either bored or annoyed and I don't wanna just say bad things about it 😭 like that's just rude and yall obviously like it I DONT WANNA BE SOME DEBBY DOWNER MDMWKEM

I looked at the anti aftg tag too to see if I could intermingle there and last I checked it was a mix of fans obsessed with the series and haters being just a tad harsh imo, so i couldn't even do that RIP. I'm so lonesome in what is maybe a whole group of people gaslighting me 😔👊

honestly ive said this before and i always have to tread a very fine line with it because this isn't me saying it's OKAY or like. promotable. but i do think to an extent that aftg's problematicness is actually an aspect of what draws people in a lot. like the characters and their reactions to things feel real for who they are, what they've been through and the environments they were raised in if that makes sense? and then you go in the anti-aftg tag and it's just again and again 'they said THIS thing and acted THIS way in response to THIS scenario and it was PROBLEMATIC' and like. yeah. outside of the internet bubble you're in people do actually do that. like that behaviour exists. it IS problematic, well done. you pointed at a wall and called it a wall. but like? in real life people - PARTICULARLY deprived, traumatised people that typically don't ever get therapy or community or someone telling them why something is bad - DO act this way. ive said half of my love for andrew is literally just because he took an awful backstory and let it make him a complete cunt and ive NEVER seen a character do it as shamelessly as him before. and yeah there's the argument for how it's never resolved in the book where nora ties it with a bow and points at the bad behaviour so the readers can go 'see, this is wrong' and we all clap, but idk it just for me feels that when people point at the aftg characters and go problematic! problematic! problematic! it's like they're missing the point a bit.

the point being? that we need to be putting WAY more heat on the author. i really dislike her and a lot of her writing choices and her insistance of using slurs that aren't hers to reclaim and just because it happened to make the characters feel just that bit more authentic i can still acknowledge that she CLEARLY wrote it without characterisation in mind and just added all that problematic shit anyway. like i never get why there's so little focus on nora's writing decisions and thousands of posts just fucking CRUCIFYING the characters themselves and 'let's explain in detail why this behaviour is Morally Reprehensible and they should be Locked Up Forever'. like if u want to focus on the characters so bad and pretend they're the sole reason why aftg is Problematic and Bad then why is it so hard to acknowledge that someone raised the way they were might have some misinformed, ignorant beliefs. idk lol

[glorianas]

a lot of anti-historian stuff comes across like “i want history to be simple and i am suspicious of people who tell me it’s not” and this is a thing you see from people on any place on the political spectrum

[nyancrimew]

feverish ramble about tiktok and social media politics, probably not super well phrased so dont be too nitpicky about shit i said, but ive been meaning to put this into words for a while

i do think its kind of interesting (read: concerning) how tiktok is like the one social media site where everyone all across the political spectrum is so quick to somehow blame the company for opinions people have on the app, like there is massive groups of people having weird fringe shit opinions on tumblr and there is never really any calls to shut tumblr down over it. and even with youtube there is this certain nuance where people blame youtube for how it recommends right wing content so readily, but do not equate that with youtube being in on some sinister US government conspiracy or whatever, but when tiktoks (fairly neutral and overall not much more sinister*) recommendation system pushes fringe content to people (who usually interacted with similar content before) it immediately becomes a whole conspiracy theory about how china is trying to do x or y and how they are definitely doing this on purpose. rather than it being the same bad recommender as youtube which pushes divisive content as it creates engagement. like to be clear this isn't a defense of content any recommendation systems push, and they definitely need to be made more robust to prevent artificial polarization, but when it comes to actual suppression of content all social media sites do that sometimes (it's not like the US government never requests and does shit like that either lol, like try posting a link to ddosecrets.com on twitter, good luck) and im just tired of seeing misinformed blatantly sinophobic takes about tiktok from all across the political spectrum, like no forcing tiktok to be an american company instead wont change shit, if they do censor it would then just be at the whims of the US which is what they really want. * basically it comes down to the shorter form content making it way easier to forget about anything that shows up on your feed that you arent actually interested in as you just swipe it away, studies have shown no significant difference in youtube and tiktok recommenders

[spanishsongs]

There's been a lot of support for organisations like Standing Together, B'Tselem, etc.... But this won't be solved by just Israeli organisations. The sister side of this is combating antisemitism, and here are some Arab and Muslim organisations that are doing just that, so please consider supporting them as well.

The Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism - https://stopglobalantisemitism.com/

Muslims from across the political spectrum dedicated to fighting antisemitism. Officially endorses the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and have been raising awareness of the sexual violence committed by Hamas.

American Muslim and Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council - https://ammwec.org/

Empowering Muslim women on the frontlines, their goal is to get more Muslim women involved in all facets of political life, and they worked with the Obama administration on counter-radicalization efforts.

Builders of the Middle East - https://linktr.ee/buildersofmideast

Social media initiative dedicated to promote anti-extremism, and to building a more tolerant, stable and hopeful Middle East. Funders come from across the political spectrum include Israelis and Jews, Palestinians and Muslims.

Sharaka - https://www.sharakango.com/

An NGO dedicated to young leaders in the Middle East to encourage people-to-people engagement. Includes Israelis, Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze.

Sharaka has an entire program to dedicated to Holocaust education, and their members were participants in the first ever official delegation of Arabs and Muslims to participate in the March of the Living.

[soon-palestine]

JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE

Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.

This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations. This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalised. We will provide more information as soon as possible.

After more than five years in a 2x3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars.

WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles, and for the people's right to know.

As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom.

Julian's freedom is our freedom.

[chronicbitchsyndrome]

disabled people who are lifelong, permanent dependents, i love you. you are my friends and my lovers and my siblings and you are me and i am you and i love you.

i'm really despondent sometimes over the ways society sees us. how conservatives see us as burdens and drains on society, yes, and also how liberals mock our lives, how the idea of being an adult dependent is seen solely as the result of poor life choices, how everyone all across the political spectrum sees things like "getting an allowance from your spouse" and "relying on one person for housing" as cause for mockery, jokes to make, nothing but a conceptual stick with which to beat people into performing well in work and school. still others see us as childish, as pitiable, perhaps not as worthy of mockery but definitely not as worthy of being treated as a social equal, never someone you could invite into your social spheres and make an effort to include--they're just not independent, no offense to them, it just makes them so childish, i can't have an adult friendship with them.

but we persist anyway. we're here. i'm lucky to love the people i'm dependent on, i'm lucky that they respect me as a person and would never leverage their power over me, i'm lucky that they're willing to constantly self-check to make sure they're not accidentally using that power. i hope to g-d you're lucky in the same ways, because i love you. and if you're not, i love you. i'm holding your hand and i'm standing with you and i'm going to try to make a better world for both of us.

[hacash]

also there’s no pithy, Tumblr-friendly way of simultaneously saying ‘Rishi Sunak being a man of colour doesn’t let him off the hook for the crappy Tory policies he’ll undoubtedly install’

and ‘the left needs to make sure that their criticism of Rishi Sunak does not veer into racism because directing racism at Tories does not make said racism acceptable’ 

and ‘Britain having its first British Asian PM is a big freaking deal and is going to be significant to Brits of colour across the political spectrum’ 

and 'the fact that Rishi Sunak has not been elected by the general public in such a time of political upheaval is just plain appalling, ‘mandate from the people’ my arse’

but that doesn’t mean it isn’t all true

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

My thoughts about the Trump assassination attempt

After having a few hours to process this whole thing and see reactions from across the political spectrum, I'm having some thoughts and some feelings.

First off, as I said earlier, Trump is a fucking boss. Take anyone who ran for president in the last 20 years, put them in that exact situation, and I don't think a single one responds by raising his fist and snarling in defiance and righteous anger. They run. They cry. They keep their heads down and the first statement you h ear from them is hours later filtered through 20 different speech writers. Today proved to me that, whatever else he may be, Trump is a genuine bad ass. He's exactly the person I want at the end of a sword pointed the United States. Because he's going to have a sword of his own pointed right back, and he's not going to run and hide when it comes time to use it.

Second, the modern left is full of monsters. The amount of people screaming and crying because this assassination attempt failed actually sickens me. It's one thing to have fantasies about easy solutions to the things that scare you. Hell, I'm not innocent. I've thought about how much better things might be if this politician was no longer around or this activist group got axed. But one of the things I did today was think about how I would feel if the assassin succeeded. And then I thought about how I'd feel if someone took a shot at Biden and he didn't survive. Neither thought gave me any good feelings. Obviously I'd be more upset if Trump died, but today showed me that I don't want us to start down the path of shooting political leaders. But too many people on the left, people who should know better, at least enough to hide their true feelings, have no problem publicly wishing Trump was dead right now. That assassinating presidential candidates was a legitimate tactic--but only against the politicians they don't like, of course.

Fuck that.

Fuck them.

America is better than that. Americans are better than that. We're not some third world shithole like Mexico. We're the greatest country in the world. We're the last bastion of representative government. The last place in the world where freedom exists. And it's time we started acting like it.

Third, I ain't got no time for conspiracy theories. Sorry guys, but this wasn't staged and this wasn't a CIA hitman. Unless real, hard evidence comes out otherwise, you won't ever get me to believe any of the nonsense I've seen floated around. Don't be so lost in the true things the media has dismissed as "conspiracy theories" that you immediately jump to the most conspiratorial explanations first for everything that happens. It's lame and cringe and a lot of people I've seen seriously putting these theories forward should know better. I know we're in our emotions right now, but keep your heads.

Fourth, my heart breaks for the families of the people who were hit with the bullets meant for President Trump. But that's the kind of evil we're facing. Whoever did this decided that the idea of a Trump presidency was so awful that they were okay with shooting innocent people just to stop him. And this is after he was already president and none of the things the media is fear mongering about happened during his first term. Those people just wanted to see a man speak. To have some hope for the future. And some piece of shit shot them because he didn't like a presidential candidate. Or worse, because the TV made him scared.

Fifth, fuck the media. You think you hate them enough, but you don't. The media is the driving force behind our enemies, and there's no such thing as a good journopig. They're all lying propagandists. We just like some of them because their propaganda occasionally hits on the truth.

And that's all I got. None of this is organized, none of this is proofread. These are just the thoughts I've been wrestling with for the past few hours. This is the only place I can get them all down without being interrupted or feeling like I need to censor myself. Do with them what you will.

[sunrizef1]

Back in Japan

Pairing: Logan Sargeant x Reader

Warnings: Not edited, cursing

Summary: You and Logan visit a restaurant and get your picture printed on the wall. Three years later, you’ve broken up and Logan’s right back where the picture came from.

Requested: Yes/No

“Have you ever been here before?”

Logan glances over at you, tilting his head to the side for a few seconds before shaking it, “No.”

He really hadn't. He didn't get around to Japan very often. The only reason he was here is because you wanted to visit during the off-season, trying to make the most of the rare break your boyfriend gets.

Logan notices the shiver that runs through you after his answer, the December air causing your shoulders to shake slightly. He reaches over, pulling you into his side. You shift closer to him, suddenly cursing your decision to wear such a thin shirt.

Luckily, the walk from the parking lot to the door of the restaurant is short, blessing you with a relieving respite from the cold winter breeze.

Logan, to his own discontent, untangles himself from around your shoulder after you've both walked in.

You're immediately greeted by a happy-looking older man, his hand coming up to wave at the two of you as you enter. Food stains line his apron and Logan can see a small notebook peeking out of his pocket, scribbles he can't really understand lining the pages. His glasses are fogged with steam, the man having to reach up to clear the lenses. The small name tag pinned to his shirt has Japanese lettering but, under it, there's what Logan assumes is the English translation, “Hiro.”

“Welcome! Welcome!,” Hiro shouts out as he walks toward the pair from out of the kitchen behind him, “Sit anywhere, please!”

Logan nods with a smile, turning as you grasp his hand and start to pull him through the restaurant, navigating around chairs and tables before coming to a stop at a booth in the corner.

You slide to one side and Logan sits across from you, his knees knocking against your now-crossed legs.

It's not much longer before Hiro walks up, setting two cups of water on the table along with two menus. He drops down two straws as well before he stands up straight, a large grin on his face, “Drinks?”

You smile politely, basking in the man’s joy, “I’m fine with water.”

Hiro nods before turning his attention to Logan who nods as well, “Water’s good for me.”

The older man nods, smiling politely before stepping back, “I’ll be back to take your food order in a minute.”

You both gleam, nodding as he walks away before turning to each other.

“Do you know what you want?” You ask your boyfriend, a grin settled on your lips.

Logan shakes his head, grinning as well, “No idea.”

You laugh, looking down at the menu in front of you. Logan just watches you for a few seconds, noticing the way you bite your lip as you focus on the words, eyebrows furrowed slightly in decision.

He does eventually look down as well, though, eyes drifting across the menu items. He honestly has no idea what to order, the pure spectrum of unknown items practically sending his brain into a spiral. But then his gaze is caught by an item he’d had a million times and he lets out a relieved breath. Sushi. He loves sushi. He decides he’ll just order that and then pick off your plate, knowing you’ll, no doubt, pick something he’d never had.

He’s proven right when Hiro comes back and he doesn’t recognize your order, wincing slightly as he’s forced to order sushi after you, making him really seem like the tourist he was.

When Hiro walks away to go put in your order, Logan looks up to see you holding back a laugh. When your own eyes catch his, you fall victim to your own humor, the giggle echoing out of your mouth.

Logan rolls his eyes playfully, leaning his elbows on the table, “What?”

You quiet slightly but your grin is ever-present as you explain, an occasional laugh spilling out of you, “You looked so awkward when you ordered!”

Logan huffs, leaning back and glancing around defensively, “Well how could I not be?! You ordered like a person of culture and I ordered sushi! Like a tourist!”

“You are a tourist!” You laugh, resting your own elbows on the table and leaning toward your boyfriend. There’s a sparkle in your eye as you say it, a sight Logan would never get tired of.

Logan scoffs, matching your posture in leaning on the table, “So are you!”

You laugh again, your eyelids falling closed as your head tilts up momentarily. When your head falls back and your eyes drift open, your met with your boyfriends smiling face, his slight laugh only fueled by your own.

Logan gazes at you for a few moments, basking in the happiness between you. You stare back, tilting your head as your eyes rake over his face. Logan’s pretty sure he’d do anything to stay in this moment forever, just watching your happiness.

After a few seconds, the warm moment starts to fade so Logan leans up, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead before falling back into his seat and picking up his water, taking a long sip.

His affection seems to have frozen you as you still, eyes wide. Logan’s almost concerned but then you grin, cheeks heating as you lean back as well, picking up your own water to try and cool your face. Logan smirks.

Conversation flows between you smoothly, topics ranging from the upcoming season to your shared London home to your dog, Archer and even drifting to the topic of the most recent season of Love Island.

Eventually, the food does come, Logan being presented with your sushi and a bowl of what looks like stew of some sort is placed in front of you.

Logan watches you pick up your utensils first, biting into some kind of noodle that was in your soup, prompting him to pick up his own chopsticks.

You hum lightly as you take a sip of the broth in your bowl, smiling absently as you take another bite. Logan catches a piece of sushi between his chopsticks and raises it to his mouth, relishing in the taste of fish and rice hitting his tongue.

“D’ya wanna bite?” you manage to ask Logan through a bite of your stew, a hand coming up to cover your mouth as you ask, attempting to retain some amount of etiquette.

Logan looks between your face and the bite of stew you're offering him a couple times, conceding when he catches your eye and you grin, “Sure.”

He leans forward and you hold the food up to his lips, pulling away as soon as he's got it. It takes a few moments for the taste to register in his mouth but when it does, he hums warmly, eyebrows furrowing.

“Good?” you question, your face lit up as you take in his response.

Logan nods, swallowing down the stew, “Very good.”

You look down, pleased, to dip your spoon back in and take a sip of the broth. You look back up as you sip it, smiling at your boyfriend who laughs and takes another bite of his own food.

You both sit at the table for another hour or so, finishing your food and scarfing down whatever dessert Hiro had suggested for you.

Logan practically scoffs when you try an pay, gently slapping your hand away. You roll your eyes but concede, leaning back with crossed arms as Logan looks your way, a satisfied look on his face.

“You ready to go?” Logan asks you once he's paid, quirking his head as he points his gaze your way.

You hum, nodding as you start to slide out of the booth. Logan stands up first, swinging an arm around your shoulder once you manage to get up. Your head falls onto his shoulder, a small hum escaping your throat.

“You tired?” Logan asks, steering you both away from the booth. You don't respond, simply nodding your head against his shoulder.

“Well, we’ll get out of here and head straight back to the hotel. You can even sleep in, we’re not doing anything tommorow morning.”

You hum again and Logan smiles at the thought of getting to sleep in with you for once.

As you both start to reach the door, you stop, causing Logans arm to slip off your shoulder. He's about to turn to the door and hold it open for you when he hears you call out.

“Wait, Lo, look,” Logan turns his head to see you gesturing widely at the wall next to the door. He concedes, slipping away from the door to stand back by your side, wrapping his arm around your waist.

Your attention is still stuck on the wall so Logan looks as well, observing whatever had made you so attentive. He's met with maybe a hundred Polaroid pictures, all of happy friends and couples and families, grinning as they pose together. Logan glances over to see you staring at one specific photograph, a soft smile on your lips. He looks closer and sees that's its of an old couple, the mans arm wrapped around the woman as she places a kiss on his cheek.

“Thats so wonderful,” you practically whisper, eyes starry as you glance back over to Logan who smiles warmly.

You take one last look at the photograph of the older couple before you turn and practically launch yourself at Logan, giving him a tight hug before falling into his side. Logan, not exactly prepared for the hug, leans back slightly, laugh echoing from his throat.

As you turn, Hiro walks out of the kitchen, camera in hand. He holds it up with a gleeful grin, gesturing over your head to the wall you'd been staring at, “Do you two want to take a picture? For the wall?”

Logan can feel you straighten up, looking over to catch the excited look on your face, “We’d love to! Come on, Lo.”

Logan lets you turn him toward the camera, wrapping an arm around your waist as you lean into him. He glances over to Hiro, who's smiling widely at your obvious happiness. He holds up the camera and Logan smiles, face heating when you press an unexpected kiss to his cheek.

The camera flashes and you laugh slightly, pulling away from Logan who turns to press a kiss to the side of your head, trying to hide the red on his cheeks.

You pull away from the kiss, smiling when you see Logan’s flushed face. Hiro pulls the picture out, the picture developing quickly in his hand. You step away from Logan to watch Hiro stick it to the wall next to the picture of the older couple that you’d pointed out earlier.

“Ah, look, Lo!” Your bright grin practically forces Logan to walk over to you, the sight of your smile almost magnetic. He glances over as you point to the picture, admiring the way your picture almost perfectly mirrored the one next to it.

Logan lets out a small breath, lips upturning, “It’s cute.”

“Yeah, it is,” you laugh, turning your boyfriend away from the wall by the crook of his elbow, no doubt eager to get back to the hotel and sleep.

Hiro chuckles as you turn away, Logan leading you to the door. You turn your head to look back at the restaurants owner, bringing a hand up to wave, “Bye, Hiro! Thank you!”

“Of course, come back anytime!” Logan turns his head to nod politely at Hiro before he turns back around and steers you both out the door, sliding it open with the hand not wrapped around your torso.

The cold, night air immediately hits you both and you lean farther into Logan side, his hand moving to run over the skin of your shoulder in an attempt to warm you up a bit.

“Dinner was nice,” you say quietly, burrowing into your boyfriend’s side, “Thank you, Lo.”

He hums, pressing a kiss to the top of your head, “Of course, baby. Did you like your food?”

“Mhm,” you hum, stifling a yawn as you both reach Logan’s car. You stop in front of it but, instead of walking around to the passengers side, you turn to fully face Logan, “I love you.”

Logan’s face brightens and his cheeks heat as he looks down at the huge grin of your face. You reach your arms around his neck and lean into him, slightly swaying as he grasps your sides between his hands. Logan observes the content look on your face for a few seconds, simply grateful to be here with you right now.

“I love you too,” he finally responds, leaning down to capture your lips with his briefly before pulling away. You hum softly, looking at him with stars in your eyes. Logan’s pretty sure he could stay in this moment forever, swaying under the stars of the Tokyo night sky, your eyes on his face and his arms around your waist, “So much.”

You laugh, pressing another quick kiss to his lips and stepping away to walk to your side of the car, pulling the door open and sliding inside. Logan’s stuck to his spot, a stupid smile on his lips as he watches you walk away.

“You coming?” He hears your voice call from inside the car, causing his feet to actually move back toward you.

And when he falls asleep that night, your arm wrapped around him, he thinks that there’d never been someone so perfect for him.

——

“You ever been here before?” Oscar asks from the drivers seat, glancing over at Logan who’s sitting in the passengers side with a bored look on his face. They’d just pulled into the parking lot of some restaurant in Japan, the weekends race already practically forgotten in their minds.

Logan pockets his phone, having been staring straight down at it since Oscar had started driving. He glances up to answer his friend’s question, a denial already ready on his lips.

But, instead, he’s met with a familiar building in front of him, his brain fighting to push away memories he’d buried deep down over the past three years. He isn’t entirely sure how to answer the question, not wanting to lie but also knowing that if he tells the truth, Oscar would have questions about his previous visit. Questions he really didn’t want to answer.

So he settles for a half-truth, “Maybe, I don’t really remember much of Japan.”

He wasn’t exactly lying, he’d tried his hardest to not remember most of his time in Japan, the entire trip having your face intertwined in every building and street he passed.

Oscar hums, a small smile on his face as he turns the car off, “I went here last season. With my girlfriend.”

Logan nods, well-aware of the girl Oscar had taken a last-minute plane to Japan for after Suzuka last season. He’d been on the end of many a late-night text chains detailing just how into her he was. Considering Logan’s current relationship status, he sometimes honestly wished Oscar would turn these rants toward Lando. But, for the sake of friendship, he persisted.

As soon as Oscar kills the car, Logan steps out, hoping this would end Oscar’s relationship talk. It’d been three years since your breakup and being back at the restaurant was bad enough but if Logan had to hear Oscar talk about his persistent love life for the next two hours, he’d probably need to be admitted.

He hears the car door slam closed behind him and assumes that must be Oscar following him so he keeps walking, quickly reaching the threshold of the restaurant and pulling the door open. He turns back to face the parking lot as he holds the door open, half-hearted politeness seeping out of him. The only reason Logan’s holding the door open is to make up for his quick exit out of the car.

Oscar seems to be aware of Logan’s false-kindness, dramatically bowing his head as he walks by and into the building, “Thank you so much, Master Logan. How will I ever repay you for your kindness?”

Logan rolls his eyes, not even glancing at Oscar as he walks in behind him, eyes instead trailing over the rest of the space as he crosses his arm over his chest, “Shut up, man.”

Oscar huffs, smirking as he joins Logan in glancing around the room. His attention is brought back in front of him when Hiro’s familiar face walks up to them.

“Ah, I know you two! The American and the Australian!” Hiro exclaims, gesturing widely at the two, “Sit wherever you like!”

Logan nods, walking away as Oscar stays to talk to Hiro for a few moments. Logan makes his way around a few tables, sliding into a far corner booth. Oscar does eventually get to the table, a grin splitting his face.

He falls into the booth opposite Logan, tossing two menus on the table, “Hiro gave me the menus, he was asking about my girlfriend.”

Logan hums, eyes not moving away from the menu that he’d picked up. He’s not entirely sure why he’s even looking at the menu, he knows he’s just gonna order sushi like he always does.

Oscar, on the other hand, seems entirely too interested in the menu, eyes continuously scanning back and forth over the pages in front of him. Logan rolls his eyes, shutting the menu and setting it down on the table.

They both order, Oscar going for something Logan had never heard of, which Oscar explains is some eel dish, and Logan choosing sushi like he knew he would.

Conversation passes lightly, talk of the season passing over the table as they wait for their food. The food arrives eventually, the pair digging into their respective dishes. Oscar feeds Logan a bite of the eel dish, which Logan is slightly surprised to find out he enjoys.

After they’ve finished, there’s a quick argument over who’s gonna pay for the meal, Oscar being the first to give up and let Logan cover it after Logan starts listing everything Oscar had paid for so far over the weekend and Oscar, not wanting to hear Logan ramble, concedes.

Once Logan’s paid, Oscar gets up quicker than the American, finding his way to the exit. Logan huffs, having to rush out of his seat to catch the Australian.

“Osc! Wait-" Logan rolls his eyes as he gets up, a few steps behind his friend. He steps quickly toward the exit, starting to rush to the door when something on the wall next to it catches his eye.

He turns his head, stepping closer to the wall. Hundreds of Polaroids splay out before him, covering the wooden planks of the wall. Swarms of smiling faces look back at him, memories of friends and family of the past all ingrained into the mural of photographs.

His eyes trail the wall, skipping across the pictures and landing on one familiar one. The picture is now surrounded on all sides, unlike how it’d been the last time he was here. The picture of the older couple is still there, their smiling faces causing a passive smile to break out on Logan’s face.

But on the other side of his photo is an unfamiliar picture but with oh-so familiar subject matter. Logan rolls his eyes, smile dropping when he notices that Oscar had gotten a picture of him and his girlfriend slapped right next to Logan’s. He’s not even sure how he’d managed that. It’d been over two years since the original picture had been taken and Logan thought there would’ve been someone else’s picture stuck in that spot. But apparently not.

Finally, Logan can’t help when his eyes drift to the photo in the middle, his face almost twisting into a grimace. He’s suddenly reminded of everything he’d forced himself to forget since your breakup.

He’d been pushing back every memory, having never fully gotten over you. He’d thought that if he just didn’t think about your relationship, it would eventually fade into the back of his mind and he could live in peace without you.

But now that’s he’s been forced to face what he’d been trying so hard to avoid, he finds himself missing you. Badly. He knows the couple in that picture were happy, happier than either of them had even been. He also knows that he’d grown since the breakup, grown into the person you’d wished he been all those years ago.

“Shit,” Logan forces himself to tear his eyes away from the picture, hands fumbling in his pocket for his phone as he rushes into the parking lot, Oscar having already wandered back to his car.

“You coming?” Logan hears Oscar shout from across the lot. Logan holds a hand up, pacing just outside the restaurant as he types frantically into his phone.

“Yeah! One second, man!” Logan replies, holding his phone up to his ear. Oscar seems to let this go, sitting back into the car and shutting the door.

Logan paces back and forth, hoping to god you’ll answer your phone. You should, considering it was the afternoon where you were. Or where you should be, at least. Logan is suddenly hit by the reality that he has no idea if you’d moved recently out of England. Or if you were on vacation that specific weekend, he’d never know.

He’s about to give up when the phone clicks and Logan’s head shoot’s up.

“Who is this?” Logan winces, the sound of your voice almost unfamiliar after so long.

“Hey,” he starts, trying his hardest not to sound stressed, “It’s Logan.”

“Oh,” you sound surprised and Logan can’t blame you. He really had no reason to be calling you, “What’s up Lo?”

The nickname sounds wrong coming from your mouth. But maybe that was just because it’d been so long since he’d heard it.

“I’m in Japan,” Logan runs a hand through his hair nervously, “With Oscar. We went to that restaurant, the one with the photos, I saw that picture of us.”

There’s silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments and Logan has to check that you hadn’t hung up.

But you do reply. Eventually, at least, “Yeah?”

He hums nodding even though he knows you can’t see him, “Yeah. And it made me realize that-“

He takes a deep breath. It was now or never. He had to do this now, before his confidence ran out or you got scared and hung up.

“I really fucking miss you,” he huffs, a small laugh escaping him as he finally admits it out loud. Really healthy that the first time he’d acknowledged the thought is him saying it to your face. Well, not to your face, but close enough.

With every moment that passes and you don’t reply, more and more dread fills Logan. He shakes his head, suddenly aware of how stupid this idea was. He’d just called you out of the blue after two and a half years, sounding just like a clingy ex-boyfriend. God, you’d probably moved on by now, you probably weren’t even single! He’d done nothing but freak you out and he, honestly, wouldn’t be surprised if you blocked his numb-

“I miss you too.”

Your voice is almost a whisper and Logan momentarily thinks he must’ve heard you wrong.

“What?”

“I miss you too, Lo,” your voice is clear this time, leaving no room for Logan to mishear you.

“Really?”

You laugh, the sound causing Logan to brighten and a huge smile to shape his lips, “Yeah, really. I’ve been watching your races just to see you. I’m proud of you, by the way.”

Shock at not being rejected is still coursing through the man, causing his brain to completely miss your admission about watching his races. He only hears that you miss him.

“Are you still in England?” Logan asks, thoughts and ideas sprinting through his head.

You hum softly, “Yeah, I am.”

The American grins, trying his hardest not to fist-pump, “Can I see you? When I get back?”

“I’d love that, Lo.”

Logan pulls the phone away from his mouth, whispering a quick “let’s fucking go” before he pulls the phone back to his face.

“Alright, I’ll see you then, yeah?”

He hears you chuckle, his own smile getting slightly bigger, “Yeah, you will. Bye, Lo.”

“Bye, y/n.”

The phone clicks again, turning dark as you hang up. Logan finally gives into the fist pump, trying his best not to skip as he moves across the parking lot.

He reaches the car and swings the door open, falling into the passenger seat unceremoniously.

Oscar sends a confused glance his way, not familiar with this level of glee from the American, “What’s your deal.”

Logan, too happy to give any attention to anything other than the text he’s about to send you, waves his hand passively, “Don’t worry about it.”

Oscar rolls his eyes, it seeming that the pair had switched roles in the past five minutes, Logan suddenly the happier of the two, “Whatever.”

Logan huffs, looking out the window with a loopy grin. His thoughts are stuck on the date he’s gonna take you on when he gets back to England, ideas coursing through his brain.

When he pulls out his phone to search for potential restaurants to visit with you, he finds himself looking for Japanese food.

——

Tags: @casperlikej @evie-119 @c-losur3 @llando4norris @lokideservesahug