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#gonna tag the bigger fandoms I’m in for reach
itswrenly · 2 months
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COMMISSIONS FOR PALESTINE
All information can be found here. If you prefer to provide proof of donation through DMs here, you may do so.
Even if you can’t donate, please reblog this post, and continue to spread awareness for the ongoing genocide. We cannot stay silent. We cannot allow this to continue.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
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yorshie · 4 months
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Hey everyone!
HAPPY FIRST DAY OF THE YEAR!
I wanted to let you guys in on some things that I’m working on right now.
I’m getting through requests so I can open them back up, but I wanted to let everyone know that my askbox is still open for talking and for raccoon rambles. I guess it’s kinda like head canons but I totally don’t see them as requests and I’m down to talk turtles at any time, so feel free to come say hi!
I’m thinking about starting a naughty blurb/short story collection for Valentine’s Day. I got the idea from Tychou but I still haven’t decided how it’s gonna work, but I’m leaning towards letting you guys send in pairings over here, but the writing itself will be kept on AO3. Still thinking on that one.
You guys can still send me in sketch prompts! Nothing too detailed please but if there’s something you’d like to see me draw more of feel free.
The stories coming out next are most likely : Ch 6 of SMR, then Pick up the Pace, then Donnie’s not possessive.
Also, big thing at the end here, I’m opening up post submissions soon. I’ve never gotten one before so I don’t know how they work, but I started thinking about this the last time someone sent me writing in the ask box- now, there’s still tagging in posts, I know that, but I was thinking about when I first started writing for TMNT, how a bigger blog reposted Appy Slices and that was how I started reaching ppl. I want to encourage others to write, and I want ppl to stop seeing a gate in front of writing. No one gave us permission to write, we just had a little bit of audacity and a story to tell, and that’s all you need to write for a fandom. You don’t need anyone’s permission. You don’t need to be “good enough”. There’s no magical step stool where you get over the hedge and suddenly you’re a fic writer. We just wrote :)
Hm I rambled there a bit. But yea, post submissions. I’ll set up some rules and pin them nice and big in my master post, but I’d really like there to be a way for people just starting out or just getting into the fandom to get their stories out in front of other ppl. And as long as these rules are met, you could hypothetically submit your post or tag me in your work to read.
Hm. Think that’s everything. Thank you all once lord for being a part of the trash pile (address: tortuga brothers garbage truck) look! We got a mailbox! :D
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theemporium · 17 days
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Hey I don't mean to bash anyone here, everyone is allowed to have opinions. And I agree with some of them, such as not cluttering a tag. I just want to know how to reach a bigger audience when I write oc fics/blurbs. Because I can garuntee that people are straight up searching player x oc, they're searching player x reader. and I try my hardest to have some integrity when tagging my fics becasue I'm a people pleaser and I hate making people mad but there are some I'm really proud of and I find no one will really read them if i just tag player x oc.
And I just have to say I tend to do more oc things lately simply becasue I have more freedom when creating a character. When I do make reader inserts I try and make the reader inclusive to everyone and sometimes I just need to make them more specific.
Also I try never to over tag or tag unnecessary people. If a secondary player/person plays a big part in thing I'm gonna tag them, but just them and I always tag who the fic is supposed to be about first since thats the important part.
I'm sorry I'm just sad and I feel bad when and like I'm contributing to the problem and I just want to be better but I also want people to read my things, but at the same time not be a horrible person and get reported becasue I tagged the wrong thing.
aw bless, honey, it’s fine!! people here are mostly just venting their frustrations and such, I’m sure there’s no harm or ill will intended!!
honestly, I’m not too sure what to advise because this is something that goes across platforms and fandoms and it’s not just a single person. maybe trying to veer away from ‘x reader’ tags but still tagging what your works are? hypothetically, if it’s a jack hughes x oc work, maybe tagging it with ‘jack hughes fic’ and ‘jack hughes imagine’ and ‘jack hughes oneshot’ would be the best option! you’re still tagging your work fairly and it means it wont show up for people wanting specifically ‘x reader’ works
I understand that it’s incredibly frustrating and that you (and many others) just want to get your works out to the target audience!!🫶🏽
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pherryt · 8 months
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Crossover Fic Recs
I was thinking about the fact that I love Crossovers (heck, i have more then 20 that I've written and more in the works) and thought I'd make a Crossover Rec List. I know i've read a good number, but these are my biggest faves:
1 - Browncoat, Green Eyes by nonjon
Read on Fanfic.net or AO3
Fandoms: Harry Potter/Firefly
Ship: River/Harry
Rated: M
Words: 298,538
Summary:
Post Serenity. Two years have passed since the secret of the planet Miranda got broadcast across the whole 'verse in 2518. The crew of Serenity finally hires a new pilot, but he's a bit peculiar.
2 - By Your Side is Where I Belong by TexasBean / @texasbeanwrites-stuffhere
Unfinished
Fandoms: One Piece/Naruto
Main Characters: Zoro, Naruto, Gaara
Rated T
Words: 378,159
Summary:
All he was supposed to do in Konoha was collect the reward for the bounty and be on his way. But when Zoro defends some kid from a drunk during a festival, he didn't realize he'd get stuck with Naruto. Arriving in Suna, the pair meet Gaara, who ends up leaving with them when he sadly has no reason to stay. Luffy is overjoyed to get three nakama at the start of his journey… The world is much bigger than people realize, and the Straw-Hat Pirates find themselves wrapped up in the mysteries of the Biju, Ancient Weapons, and earning the ire of the World Government while they’re at it. The unwitting presence of one resulting in the absence of others has far-reaching consequences.
3 - Trust Me, I'm an Alchemist by @metisket
Fandoms: Full Metal Alchemist/Yuri on Ice
Rated : T
Words: 54,791
Ships: Yuuri/Victor
Summary:
In which Yuri Plisetsky began life with the name Edward Elric, and this has made the world of figure skating a significantly stranger and more alarming place. “Are you saying you lived a life of crime before you began skating?” “I’m gonna have to check the statute of limitations on a couple things and get back to you on that.”
4 -There May Be Some Collateral Damage by metisket
Fandoms: Bleach/Harry Potter
Rating: T
Words: 61,209
Summary:
Ichigo’s been ordered to go undercover at a magic school to bodyguard a kid named Harry Potter, and this would be fine, except that he’s about as good at bodyguarding as he is at magic. And he considers it a good day, magic-wise, if he hasn’t set anything on fire.
I first read Browncoat, Green Eyes on fanfic.net after my husband sent me the link and I occasionally checked AO3 to see if it was ported over since I don't use FF.net anymore and I found out literally TONIGHT that it's there, so marking THAT to read. I am VERY happy.
And I just realized that the rest of my faves were found by @socially-awkward-chocobo, so I get to blame her for them :D
*note - i tried to tag metisket, since I, for one, love knowing when I'm on a rec list but even though the tumblr shows as active, tumblr won't let me tag :(
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gosiksmallspace · 1 year
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Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.
I haven't posted anything since June 2022 so I'm just gonna share my WIPs. I hope this will motivate me to finish them. Also, I love talking about them 😅
All from Merciless fandom (nothing new here 🤣)
1. The Merciless - “The Meeting” with @daxianme (I still have faith we will finish it)
The meeting was going smoothly, or at least that is what Hyunsoo assumed from the calm atmosphere in the room. He knows only a few basic words in Russian that he caught in the last few months during the business meetings, but Jaeho and Byunggap don’t seem to have a problem understanding and speaking the language. It just left him watching the whole deal from his place at Jaeho’s side.
2. The Merciless - “Amnesia”
Waking up was sort of confusing. There were tense and angry voices around him but everything was hazy and muffled, almost like underwater. Fortunately, the sounds were becoming more prominent as he slowly gained back awareness of his body. His head hurt. A lot.
3. The Merciless - “Hyunsoo time in prison without Jaeho”
Hyunsoo was watching the rain hit the ground from behind the barred window of the cell. The puddles were becoming bigger and bigger, making the whole yard muddy. Nobody was really expecting heavy rain, considering the last few days were warm and sunny. And it was on this exact day it had to begin raining. On the exact day, Han Jaeho was about to leave the prison after spending over three years inside.
4. The Merciless - “Hyunsoo first night after release”
Hyunsoo could feel the tiredness and effort catching up to him but he refused to give up to it. This was too important. Finally, after all those weeks, he got a chance to talk alone with Jaeho face to face again.
5. The Merciless - “winter fic”
It had been a long time since December in Busan was that cold. The weather forecasts had warned about it but the drop in temperature still came as a bit of a surprise. It was still unknown if the snow would fall. There had been years when it didn't at all.
6. The Merciless - “Hyunsoo first time with Jaeho” aka the Discord fic
Jaeho again stared at Hyunsoo for too long, which was something he had been doing quite often since the moment they met.
Back then, his gaze had been intimidating and calculating, almost like he had wanted to reach into Hyunsoo's soul and know everything. The younger man hadn't been exactly comfortable with that at that time. He had felt something stupid could give him away, and his cover would be blown every second. But he also couldn’t have done much about it. He couldn’t tell Han Jaeho not to stare.
7. The Merciless - “Hyunsoo in love”
Hyunsoo felt like absolute shit.
He blamed Byunggap for it. The bastard had been coughing for the last four days and Hyunsoo finally got whatever he had been spreading.
Always curious to hear about their works so tagging (but no pressure): @daxianme @verochkasnightmarecorner @yardmargs @bobafvcks @godotismissingx @frayed-at-the-seams @stanaclown
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whitetrashjj · 1 year
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ok i’m gonna sound like a bitch for saying this but i hate how not only in the obx fandom, but in all fandoms in general, when u first into the fandom u try and become close with the bigger creators that are friends with other big creators and for some reason u just get unnoticed or unwanted how do i explain? it’s not only on tiktok that i see it happening but still.. like girl i follow u and i’m being supportive of u and ur content and u just ignore me? one girl that had less followers than me (just an example) followed me back and i was SO happy, i had just gotten into the fandom and now i see that she unfollowed me :D girl-
Okayyyy. Let’s talk about this I guess
I joined this fandom on day one, instantly I became friends with a group that were also there and very active in the fandom, fic writers mainly. I’m guessing this is the group of ‘bigger creators’ you are talking about.
Now I admit - I don’t venture out of this group much these days. Not because I’m snubbing anyone but because I am damn busy. Most of my time I get for fandom is answering asks because it’s quick and easy. I try to get writing and gif making in there and when I comes to reblogging content it’s always stuff that my friend have sent to our chat and even then I don’t get to it. I barely read fic anymore, I once used to read the jiara tag like the morning paper and now I barely get in there. So I guess that seems like I only interact with those creators. I’m sure the same goes for a lot of them.
I think you need to take a moment to consider what my notifications look like. I appreciate the support and of course I recognise blog names but there’s a lot there for me to be considering every note that comes through. As for asks, 99% anonymous so even if it’s the same 2 people sending me asks I have no clue who it is. And again, there are so many I try and answer as many as I can.
As for ignoring you directly. I cannot remember the last time I got a dm from someone I don’t already talk to. I don’t care if a follow someone or not my dms are always open to anyone who wants to chat. I’m not great at responding quickly because of who I am as a person - and again, busy af. But I don’t ignore people. I need you to consider that if you want to make more connections in fandom you need to make the first step, especially if you are dealing with people who already have a lot of traffic in their blogs. There are very few people in the jiara fandom on here that I would consider unapproachable or that would snub you.
As for this blog. I don’t know who it is so I cannot comment on why they would unfollow you but personally I only unfollow people if I find them to be rude or disrespectful or I don’t like the way the post or interest with content (this one is not always personal). I’m confused how you say you get ingnored by bigger blogs but site that this one who unfollowed you has less followers?
Look I don’t know you and I don’t know your content or your experience. But I’ve had this before and I simply do not want to be blamed for ignoring people when I haven’t seen the active effort to get to know me or become my friend. I don’t have the time to be scrolling through every jiara blog and following and starting conversations with people I find cool but that does not mean I won’t respond well to people who reach out. I do not see myself more than anyone because of any note or follower count - perhaps don’t put the bigger blogs on a pedestal and just try and make connections with them
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cupcraft · 2 years
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I primarily use the “For You” Tumblr page a lot to discover artists, (I am on Mobile and it’s very easy to switch between the Dashboard and For You pages here) the more posts of a specific artist I like, the more likely it is for that artist to show up on my For You page multiple times until I follow them, as well as other people who post for certain fandoms, I actually found you through the For You page (You were talking about the Liking vs Reblog situation)
The posts I tend to see on the For You page usually have more than a hundred notes, and I tend to enjoy going through the For You page more than my Dashboard.
Why?
Well, I have a bad habit of everything and everyone, this is my fourth tumblr blog, on every Tumblr I have had before this, I followed over 3,000 people, most of whom would get lost in my Dash. Most of these people are artists and writers, on YouTube I have been subscribed to so many people that I think I hit the subscription limit on an account I mainly used to follow animators and YouTube would unsubscribe me by oldest subscription.
Why am I saying all of this?
Well, put this into perspective, I am a blog with less than 10 followers, I am following a lot of artists and if I were to reblog every piece of art that came into my eyesight, I’d honestly be off Tumblr within 10 minutes due to how strict I am with tagging stuff, and for some reason tagging things drains me, I get frustrated every time a tag doesn’t show up in the auto options as I’m typing it, and it doesn’t help that I’m constantly exhausted due to various factors, including depression.
I like things so people know I’ve seen it and enjoyed it. Do I reblog art? Yes, I do, but that’s like, a very small percentage of what I see on my dash weekly. And usually when I reblog stuff in bulk, its me documenting something that is going on, a fandom or tumblr’s reaction to something, or a cool concept I may like to play around with in the future or something that I want to comment on (Or an animatic or animation, those are high on my reblog priority list), other I just reblog because I feel I’m able to in that moment.
I understand that a lot of people on tumblr say “Just reblog it! You need to add tags!!” I can’t just not add tags, I view the contents of my blog as a history thing, if I don’t tag things and I want to look back on something, I won’t be able to find it. At all. Especially not if I want to show someone something.
The worst part to me is when people threaten to block people like me because “I like too much but don’t engage enough”, bro, I physically don’t have enough spoons to reblog every single thing you do, you are punishing me for saying I like your art, there is a possibility for me to reblog your art sometimes, but don’t get mad at me for not reblogging your thing when my depression and exhaustion is telling me that reblogging and tagging everything is just, too much work. I want to relax for a bit, and liking thing is how I say “Great job!”
I do try to reblog smaller artists, but me reblogging isn’t gonna get your post anywhere buddy. If I had more than 15 followers I’d make an bigger effort to reblog art with less notes all the time because there is a higher chance that one of them will be on and see it, but as it stands I believe most of my followers are bots, I barely have the energy to write, and in my opinion getting Likes shows that your post is reaching people and you should be proud of that.
Social media has made a post reaching 5 or 50 people seem like a failure, but if you put that into perspective that’s enough people to fill a room, and how many people do you know who would willingly go to the same place to see the work of a random stranger completely willingly and tell someone they liked it?
Stop comparing posts with hundreds or thousands of notes or views to your own numbers, the fact people saw it and cared enough to leave a sign that they like it is impressive, there have been times when I posted something, hoping it’d gain traction, only for no one to even bother looking twice, I have had so many posts and art pieces that never got a single note in the last 10 years I’ve been on tumblr, less than 50 posts broke 10 notes, I’ve only had 3 posts break 100 notes, and only 1 post go past 500 notes. This is across multiple blogs.
Yes, it can be disappointing when things aren’t reblogged, but it’s a sign people see you, and that’s a good thing, because most people don’t even get that. Engagement of any kind is a sign you’ve done something right, especially when it comes to art. Sure, only getting likes can be a frustrating thing, but don’t let it ruin your day, it’s still valuable, people are looking at you, and if they had decided to not leave those likes, you wouldn’t know they saw you in the first place, because there would no sign anyone even knows you’re there.
hey anon i just wanted to thank you for reaching out and i appreciate your perspective. There's a lot of nuance to the discussion you brought up so i just was replying to your ask to let you know that i read it and appreciate you sending this to me.
I hope youre having a good day!
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ungusthebungus · 3 months
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Your Friend's Boyfriend Part 2 (Hisoka x F OC, F OC & F OC)
Rating: E
Fandom: HxH
Relationship: Hisoka x F OC, F OC & F OC
Characters: Hisoka, F OC
Additional Tags: Best Friends, Texting, Concern, Muscles, Boyfriends, Pizza, Brownies, Flirting, Jealousy, Horror Movie, Stomach Ache, Ice Cream, Cheating, Gags, Cunnilingus, Vaginal Fingering, Oral Sex, Vaginal Sex, Not Canon Compliant, Self-Insert, Self-Indulgent, No Research
Summary:
Annie finally arrives at her friend's house and meets Hisoka.
It was about 5 pm when Annie reached her friend’s house. Before opening the door, she took a minute to calm herself down in her car. Suddenly, she remembered that she had pepper spray in the middle section. Reaching way down past old receipts and coins, she finally found it. Quickly, she shoved it into her purse and calmly exited the vehicle.
After her friend’s grandmother died, she inherited this cute house with three bedrooms. It’s perfect if she ever wanted a family. Otherwise, she could just use it for hobbies or spare bedrooms.
As Annie walked up the rickety steps, she took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. She heard a bit of rustling behind the door, so she assumed she was busy with something. Finally, the door swung open revealing Mona and her…
Annie stared at Mona’s new boyfriend with her mouth open. He definitely looked taller than in the photos. Although he was still in his strange clothes, she was more focused on his muscles. For a second, she wondered what his workout schedule was like.
Mona called out her name, bringing Annie’s attention to her.
“Oh, hey! Sorry for coming so suddenly. I just wanted to see how you were doing.” She said, looking at the ground. Why the hell was she feeling so shy now?
“I told him about your concerns already and he also wanted to meet you.” Mona looked up at him and smiled.
He brought out his long nailed hand.
“Hisoka. A pleasure to meet you ♥ ” He purred, staring directly into Annie’s eyes. He still had those golden eyes that were present in those photos. Does he seriously wear contacts all the time?
“Cool eyes. Are those contacts?” Annie asked, which caused him to chuckle.
“No, darling. These are real~” He told her, placing an arm around her friend. Mona blushed as she leaned into his chest.
Bullshit. There was no way in hell those were real. Those were the eyes of a crazy anime character that killed people for pleasure.
“So are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna come in?” Mona offered. Annie leaned down to grab her bag, but it disappeared.
“Oh. While you were staring off into space, Hisoka took your bag into one of the spare bedrooms. The bed’s a bit old and loud, but at least you don’t have to sleep on the floor.” Mona gestured for Annie to come in, so she finally entered the house.
As the both of them came in, Hisoka was walking down the steps.
“Shit! I forgot to thaw that chicken for dinner tonight!” She grabbed her head with frustration.
On cue, Hisoka brought out a debit card.
“Don’t worry, dear,” He said as he placed the card into her hands. “Why not buy some pizza?”
Mona mouthed something along the lines of “Isn’t he the best” as she rushed towards her computer. Even though Annie still was unsure of him, she had to admit that paying for food was kind of cool. It was a bit weird that they just started dating and he already trusted Mona with his card.
As Annie and Hisoka walked into the living room, she was focused on his ass. It was bigger than the average male’s. Was he really blessed with a huge butt or did he have implants?
“So how was your trip?” He asked, catching her a bit off guard.
“It was alright. Not very eventful.” Annie answered.
He still had that smile on his face as he sat on the couch.
“What does everyone want on the pizza?” Mona yelled from the other room.
“I’m fine with anything!” Annie yelled back.
“Same with me, dear ♥ ” Hisoka stretched his arms out, purposefully flexing his muscles.
Feeling heat rise to her face, she turned her face away. This was going to be a long night.
Note: If you liked the story, feel free to give me a kudos! :)
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bluejaysandblackbats · 3 months
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A Yellow Ribbon
Fandom: DC Comics, Young Justice, Flashfam, Superfam
Summary: Conner's been best friends with Bart ever since they met at the carnival when they were children. The problem is that Bart can't remember meeting Conner that night. But Thad does...
Chapters: 6/?
Characters: Clark Kent, Conner Kent, Lois Lane, Bart Allen, Thaddeus Thawne, Don Allen, Meloni Allen, Jonathan "Pa" Kent, Martha Kent, Max Crandall
Relationships: KonBart, KonThad, Clois, MelonixDon, Ma/Pa Kent
Additional Tags: No Powers AU, Mistaken Identity, Possibly Unrequited Love, Unrequited Crush, Twins, Lies, Stolen Moments, Unconventional Love Triangles, Misunderstandings, Childhood Friends, Complicated Relationships, Family Dynamics, Family Bonding, Best Friends, Secret Crush, Autistic Bart Allen, Autistic Thad Thawne, Thaddeus Thawne Gets a Hug, Conner Kent-centric, Bisexual Conner Kent, Conner Kent Needs a Hug, Third Person POV, Hurt Clark Kent, Boys in Love, Friendship/Love, Farm/Ranch AU, Farmboy Conner Kent, Grandparents and Grandchildren, Unconventional Families, Unconventional Relationship, Romance, Light Angst, Strangers to Lovers, Cyrano, Jewish Superfam
Chapter Six: Shabbat Dinner
Clark took Conner’s tie and yarmulke on their way in from service. Conner cradled Clark’s face, still humming the song Ma taught him. “Clark, are we gonna have chicken soup for dinner?”Conner asked. Clark smiled.
“Okay. Do you wanna help me remember the ingredients?” Clark questioned. Conner grinned as he loosened Clark’s tie. “Temple’s a little different here, huh?”
“There’s a lot more music at this one,” Conner grinned. Clark draped their dress shirts over the couch and placed their ties and yarmulkes on the side tables. They washed their hands together in the kitchen.
“Does Ma let you cut veggies with a knife?” Clark asked. Conner nodded. “Okay, so let’s get our ingredients together. Wanna list them for me?”
“Celery, carrots, onion, garlic, potato, ginger,” Conner listed. Clark repeated Conner’s words in a low whisper.
“Potatoes? You want to put potatoes in the chicken soup?” Clark asked as he picked Conner up, and they giggled together. “What else?”
“Lots and lots of cabbage,” Conner replied. Clark kissed Conner’s head as he sat him on the kitchen island and gave him a knife.
“You can cut carrots, celery, and cabbage. I’ll cut the other things, okay?” Clark delegated. Conner nodded seriously. “Thank you for coming to live with us.”
“I’m having fun… And I like sleeping in your room when I’m scared,” Conner answered as he worked. “Is Bart still in the hospital?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so… Barry said he mostly sleeps now,” Clark replied without making himself sad.
“Does Mr. Barry still come home to his apartment?” Conner asked. Clark nodded.
“He’ll be home tonight to get a change of clothes and a shower, but he won’t sleep there,” Clark answered.
“Would it be okay to make Mr. Barry some soup too?” Conner asked. Clark smiled and nodded.
“And we have to save some for Lois too. Is she gonna be at work all night?” Conner questioned. Clark shook his head.
“No, Lois has a lead, and she’ll follow it to the ends of the earth to get her story, but only until her stomach starts rumbling,” Clark half-joked. Conner smiled.
The meal came together faster than they expected while they worked together. And it gave them time to talk. “Conner, are you happy?” Clark asked.
“Uh-huh, but sometimes the city feels too big,” Conner confessed. Clark seasoned the soup in one pot and watched it boil. Conner reached out and touched Clark’s wrist. “You don’t seem as big here… You got smaller.”
“The city got bigger, and the doorways and ceiling are higher than you’re used to. I had a hard time adjusting to the city when I moved here… And I was much older than you,” Clark whispered.
“I’m okay. There’s not much to do, but you said I’ll make friends. I believe you,” Conner smiled. He didn’t want Clark to worry. The door swung open, and Conner jumped.
“Oh, hi, Conner… Hi, Clark,” Lois smiled as she collected herself. Conner could see she was angry underneath it all.
“What happened, Lois?” Conner asked. “Did you wanna eat something else for dinner?”
“No, Scout. That’s not it. I’m mad at the story,” Lois half-explained, “And I must’ve missed dinner-.”
“No,” Conner smiled, “We’re making dinner right now! Do you want some soup?”
*
Conner helped Lois wash dishes after dinner, and she carried him to bed. “Thank you for the soup, Conner. I appreciated the hot meal,” Lois whispered. Conner couldn’t smile. “What’s eating you, Scout?”
“Is Mr. Barry back yet?” Conner asked. “I wanted to give him his soup.”
Lois cocked her head. “I don’t know. Let’s go check,” Lois whispered. Conner put his slippers on, and Lois wrapped him in his robe. “Bundled up?”
Conner nodded, and she led him to the kitchen to get Barry’s soup out of the fridge. “Lois? What if Mr. Barry is sad?” Conner questioned.
“It’s okay to be sad,” Lois whispered. She took Conner’s hand and squeezed it as they went next door. Lois knocked while Conner held onto the soup container. Barry opened the door with tears in his eyes.
“Mr. Barry, are you okay?”Conner asked. Barry crouched in front of him and smiled. “We wanted to bring you some soup. I know Bart’s sick, but I hope he gets better soon. I’m sorry that you’re sad.”
Barry took the soup container and shook Conner’s hand. “Thank you, Conner," Barry whispered, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"You can hug me if you want to," Conner whispered, "I hope Bart gets better soon. Sleeping always makes me feel better. So, maybe he'll be good as new" Barry embraced him.
"You're so much like your father," Barry chuckled. Conner patted Barry's back but couldn't shake the idea of being compared to Clark. Clark was so imposing and special… And everybody loved him. How could he possibly measure up to that? He smiled at the thought. Maybe he'd be a hero like Clark someday. Helping people. Protecting others no matter the cost.
They said their goodbyes, and Lois took Conner back to his bedroom. "Lois, why did Clark get locked away?" Conner questioned.
Lois frowned. She hated thinking about Clark's time in prison. "The government there hurt people because they were different… They put them in prisons to force the people to be like everyone else, and Clark tried to help them get out… When he got caught, they said he was a spy and broke the law, and they locked him away and kept him in secret until he'd tell the soldiers who sent him. They kept him for almost a year, Conner… For doing the right thing.
"He wasn't afraid of what they'd do to him. Clark couldn't let innocent people get hurt. The government here worked hard to get him home when we found out he was alive because he didn't do anything wrong," Lois explained.
"How did he know it wasn't wrong if it was against the law?" Conner asked.
"Because he knew those people didn't deserve to be locked away. People go to jail for doing bad things, but sometimes innocent people go to jail because the system is imperfect and unjust. You'll understand that more as you grow up," Lois explained. Conner nodded. "Clark's asleep right now, but if you want me to stay, I will," Lois whispered. Conner nodded. Lois climbed into bed, and he cuddled close to her.
"I love you and Clark very much," Conner whispered as he shut his eyes.
"And we love you… So much," Lois smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. He held her hands and kept her close to him. "What made you ask that?"
"Mr. Barry said I was like Clark. I'll never be as brave as Clark," Conner whispered. Lois kissed the top of his head.
"Clark said you're braver than he was as a kid," Lois whispered, smiling into the back of Conner’s head. She wanted Conner to feel important because he always downed himself when he compared himself to Clark.
“Ma says you help him be brave… Will you help me be brave too?” Conner asked. Lois made a soft noise.
“Of course,” Lois whispered, “You’re something special, Scout. You’ll always be special like this.” She meant it. Conner smiled to himself as he drifted off to sleep.
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80s4life · 3 years
Text
God Help Me*
Word Count: 2,306
Status: Not Requested!
Fandom: Orange Is The New Black
A/N: Just watched some more of oitnb and felt that Joe was an underrated character. So, here's something dirty for the dirty dog!
Relationship: Joe Caputo x Female Reader
Summary: (Based loosely on S3:E7 (”Tongue-Tied”) where the new recruits for security are supposed to be getting the 40 hours of training, but denied by the new employers. Specifically, when Bayley makes his mistake with the pepper spray incident, Caputo is outraged, in the need of a break. Luckily, you know how to ease his tension.
Warnings: language, age-gap pairing, against laws, forbidden, smut, retardation name calling (once, not me though, a line from the show!)
Taglist: @intersellars-the-networks-of-eve @snapessecretdiary
Masterlist Orange Is The New Black Masterlist
{gif is not mine, credits to @thompsonconnors}
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"What the fuck was that?" Joe Caputo asks, confused and struggling to keep up with the messes every corner he turns. "You assess the situation and you respond with the appropriate level of force! And you never, ever, ever discharge your weapon unless it's absolutely necessary!" he continues, not done just yet. "And if you do, and that weapon happens to be pepper spray, you better damn well make sure you're upwind!"
Bayley, the new recruit, alongside Donaldson, a long-term member of this prison, look down, ashamed of themselves. Blinking their eyes every so often, the pain in their eyes searing with the combination of the regret in how they got in this position in the first place and the stinging pepper spray.
Motioning towards Bayley, Caputo continues with his mantra, "You are a trigger-happy knucklehead who just got out of diapers," now turning his attention to Donaldson, "But you, how could you let this happen?" he finishes, exasperated.
Donaldson, finding some courage, fires back, "Sir, with all due respect, I'm not a nanny." He may have screwed up, but he is not putting his life on the line for an idiot.
"No! You are an officer with 20 plus years' experience, and your job was to impart some wisdom on fucking Baby Huey over here!" Caputo spits, motioning towards Bayley once more.
"Well, this is what happens when you put untrained officers in gen pop," Donaldson says once more, although very quickly and almost fearfully. As if he were a child talking back to his parents.
"You don't think I know that? I fucking know that!" Caputo says once more, placing a hand over his head, letting out a tired sigh as he walks back behind his desk. "Bayley, I should be firing your ass," he motion towards the young man with two pointed fingers.
"I know," is all he manages meekly.
"But, it's your first day, so I'm gonna chalk this up to mental retardation. If you so much as look at an inmate wrong in the next week, you're out of here!" Caputo motions with a "whoosh." Now looking Bayley up and down in disbelief, he catches the small paper taped to his chest as well, "Take that stupid fucking name tag off."
As the men nod once more, he finishes with, "Now go! Get your asses down to medical and get an eyewash. And read the stupid fucking manuals!" he grunts, shaking the book in question and slamming it on his desk as the officers leave.
Throwing himself into his chair, he almost considers kicking and flailing around like a child in order to let off steam, but he is quickly denied the chance as you knock and burst through his office within a second.
“Sir.”
“What is it now?” he asks quietly, a hand holding his head up by his chin, fingers covering his now closed eyes.
“Well- uhm- well...” you continue, quite nervous as you don’t know where his hostility had come from, you being unsure whether it was your doing or not. It was uncharted waters you weren’t sure on stepping into or not.
“What. Is. It!?” he yells now, eyes wide open, hands clutching the ends of his armrests. Making you yelp and jump a bit, taking a few steps back into the doorway.
Seeing this reaction, he sighs once more, taking in your wide eyes and slightly tense posture, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. It’s been a long day, okay?”
“I-I understand sir.”
“How many times have I told you to call me Joe, or Caputo if that’s what floats your boat?” he says, an attempt to coax you out of your startled state.
“I’m sorry s- Caputo. I only wanted to tell you that I bought ya’ something. A little gift, I guess.” you say, a blush tinting your cheeks.
“What? You didn’t have to get me anything!” He smiles now, relieving you, and bringing a smile to your own features at his now somewhat upbeat mood.
“Well, ya’ know...I remember you telling me about a band of yours, right?” you ask.
“Yeah,” he smirks, looking back at fond memories and the new ones with his new band.
“Well, since your style of music was rock, and I just so happened to be in the area of a new music store, I found some goodies there!” Pulling a seat in front of his desk, you grab the wrapped presents from the waistband of your belt, having hidden it behind your back in attempt to completely surprise him.
He smiles at your childish antics, lightly taking the wrapped good from your small, delicate hands. Unwrapping the smallest one, he finds a box underneath the covers. Opening it, his smile grows bigger as his eyes meet a black guitar pick, a skull etched into it and painted white. 
His eyes meet yours for a second, a fondness there, looking back down once more as he admires it. “I love it,” he says after a second.
“That’s not all!” you say, excited now as he already likes one of the things you’ve picked out for him, pulling out a medium-sized present next. You take this sudden change of attitude as a sign, wanting to hopefully ease the stresses the guards and staff have been taking, especially Joe.
Taking it from your hands once more, your hands make contact, the blush on your face intensifying a little more. Unwrapping the present, he finds a black bandanna, his band name printed onto it, matching the guitar pick. He giggles at this, tying it around his head for your view.
You laugh as well as you go to hand him the biggest and last of the presents, his eyes lighting up once he finds what it is. “Nu-uh! You didn’t! This must’ve cost a fortune!” he almost yells now, a genuine leather guitar strap in his grip as he jumps up from his seat.
“No, actually they gave me a little discount on it. It took a lot of searching to get the one you’ve been specifically looking for, but the guy said I was cute- anyway! I just thought you needed these since work has been beating your ass,” you say, smirking lightly.
“You didn’t need to do this,” he says, settling back into his seat as he grasps your hands lightly, still star-struck as he looks at the strap still in his hand.
The gesture was innocent, but as time goes on, you blush a deep red, him still not letting go of your hands. Noticing this, he goes to pull away, clearing his throat, standing, and straightening out his suit. There, you notice a slight tent in his pants, igniting a flame in your belly. 
“Well, thank you Miss Y/L/N, these were very nice...”
“Anytime...” you say slyly, dragging on your words as you stand as well, not bothering to fix your pants as it sticks tightly to your ass and thighs. 
He looks down, gulping as he takes in your curves he usually tries to ignore, clearing his throat once more as his eyes meet yours. Only now did he realize the close proximity between the two of you, you intending to lean in and fix his tie. As you do so, he grabs your hand, pulling it away, “Don’t tempt me. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
“Oh, I’m pretty damn sure I do,” you say as you pull him down to your height by the tie, pulling at the base of his neck, kissing him now. 
Breaking apart for a moment, you make your way around the desk, perching yourself atop it as you pull him between your legs, kissing him once more. Tongues fighting for dominance, you tease him, sucking on it, and nibbling on his lips. He growls, the tent now very evident in his pants, the tightness an annoying constriction.
He pulls away once more, going to lock his office door, having placed a ‘On a lunch break’ sign above his name. Making his way back over to you, his lips attach to yours once more, moving to remove your weaponry belt. You do the same, unbuttoning the top of his dress shirt, moving to leave kisses, bites and hickeys. 
Continuing your attack, you move your hand to his belt, working quickly as he unbuttons your shirt, exposing your constricted, perky breasts. He grunts once more, adding to your eagerness as you finally get his belt out of the loops. Now both full of impatience, you unleash his cock, him doing the same for your breasts and pants. Completely removing everything from your being, leaving your half-unbuttoned shirt.
Not wasting time, he starts to work your clit, moisturizing ever bit of you as he collects it and moves his finger in all the most special parts, lubricating your core with ease. You grip his cock, teasing it as you run your finger along the slit at the top, precum already oozing. Looking him in the eyes, you notice his golden browns now a dark chocolate eyes, admiration sparkling them as he looks back at you. 
You moan as he enters a finger into your core, soon adding another as you loosen yourself for him. Finally, when he deems you ready, he reaches into one of the desk drawers, pulling out a condom. Motioning to him, he hands it over, letting you take over and do the honors. He simply places both arms on either side of your form, caging you in his embrace, smirking down at you.
Finally, once the condom was rolled onto his member, he goes to line himself up to your entrance, tip placed right at the beginning, not crossing the threshold just yet. “Are you sure?” is all he asks, wanting consent.
Knowing that this is wrong, you contemplate your options. You have already thought of the many ways he could take you, having been attracted to the older man for many years. Looking him in the eyes, you nod, “I’ve wanted this for too fucking long.”
With this new reassurance, he thrusts deeply, not giving you a chance to adjust just yet, pushing in and not stopping until he’s bottomed out. Taking a breath, you relish in the familiar sting of being stretched out, leaning back on your elbows for a minute. When you’re finally ready, you grab onto his shoulders, nodding once again. 
He starts slow, not wanting to hurt you, but, as you bite his pulse point, he jumps, taking the hint. Pounding into you mercilessly now, you moan and scream loudly, meeting his thrusts with the same momentum and speed, wanting this just as much as he does.
Instead, wanting to hold onto this feeling for as long as you can manage, you busy yourself with admiring and teasing the man before you. Specifically when he switches positions slightly, hitting your g-spot, your hands find their way into the tiny tufts of hair remaining on his balding scalp. Tugging lightly, he groans, pounding harder.
“Fuck!” you choke out, “I’m gonna cum! Joe! I’m gonna cum!”
“Just hold on a bit more, I’m almost there!”
Using his hands, he moves one to your clit, rubbing hard circles, intensifying the pleasure. You moan, the pleasure almost too much for you, settling for leaning your head on his chest. The chest hair tickles your nose, making you giggle between whimpers, kissing him there every so often.
With all your strength, you try to maintain your composure, the knot in your stomach begging for release. But, as you feel his dick twitch, the veins touching every inch of your walls deliciously, you couldn’t hold on any longer, milking his cock. With the sudden tightness and feeling of warmth bursting against him, he continues to thrust just a few seconds more, riding you through your orgasm as he meets his. 
As he slowly comes down from his high, he sighs peacefully, placing his head underneath yours and in the crevice of your neck. You kiss the top of his head as you take his weight, leaning back on your hands, one wrapped around his neck. After a moment, as he now goes soft within your being, he pulls out, disposing the condom.
Smiling, the two of you joke and throw clothes at each other as you get changed again. “So what are we now, Joe?”
“Well, it’d be fucked up to say nothing after mind-blowing-sex, now wouldn’t it?”
“I guess...So does that mean we’re together?”
“Do you want to? I would’a thought a young girl like you would want someone who can keep up with ya’?”
“I mean yeah...but they aren’t you, Joe. I want you,” you say honestly.
“Shit...” he mutters, smiling now, “This is the best thing that’s happened to me all day.”
“Is that a ‘yeah’?”
“Hell yeah it is!” he says happily, “Now how about round 2?”
“You’re on Old Man,” you say giggling, hopping into his lap on his desk, kissing him once more.
However your giggling and kisses get cut short with a knock on the door. You sigh, getting off of him not and making sure your clothes are straightened out.
“I guess not...” you say defeated.
“Well...Not right now,” Joe answers, going to the door, giving a sly wink as he opens it. 
Work is only temporary, you know this. You’ll get all the time you need with him tonight.
168 notes · View notes
artzee-bee · 3 years
Text
Best friend’s ex | Benny Weir x reader
Fandom: My babysitter’s a vampire
Request: “ Um if you don’t mind can you write for mbav? Something along the lines of the reader and Ethan try a fake relationship thing cause Ethan asked her to? Like to get to Sarah/ or get her attention. And everyone is shocked cause they thought Benny and the reader would date instead cause all 3 of them are childhood friends”
Genre:Fluff mostly but I guess a little angst torwards the end
Warnings: some arguing and also it’s LONG, don’t say I didn’t warn you
A/N: This has a little Ethan x reader too but over all it’s Benny with a guest apperence from jelous!Benny torwards the end (or at least that’s what I was going for)
~~~
“Wait, you’re dating?! Like for real dating?!”
 You clinged tighter to Ethan’s arm “Yeah, we are” but you weren’t. You didn’t want to lie to your friends and it was honestly making you kinda uncomfy but you were doing it for E.
“Ok so how long has this been going on for?” asked Benny. You and your entire friend group were gathered around his locker and you decided to break the news to them about your and Ethan’s “relationship”, which was all bullcrap. He had asked you a couple nights before to pretend. He was hoping it would get him closer to Sarah.
“Um, no more than a month” E said, trying to sound as confident as possible and doing a fairly good job at it. Of course you saw right through him but everyone else seemed to buy his act.
“Well that’s...interesting news” Sarah laughed awkwardly
“You think so? Why?”
The group went silent for a moment
“Well, just cause” Sarah started, nervousness laced into her tone “I mean I would have guessed that Benny and Y/N were going to get together eventually.” Rory and Erika just nodded in agreement while Benny tried to suppress a nervous laughter.
“I mean, come on guys” he said “ I’ve known Y/N for just as long as Ethan.” 
“Yeah, but you two just always seemed, I don’t know, closer?”
“Well” Ethan interrupted “ seems like you were wrong on that one.”
Suddenly aware of how rude she sounded, Sarah babbled some lame excuse and left quickly, face red from embarrassment. Rory and Erika left as well, each in their own direction, but not before congratulating the couple once more. Benny was the only one left.
“You good Benny?” E asked
“Yeah, I guess it’s just interesting seeing you like this”
“I hope you’re not mad or anything I mean we…” you were quickly cut off by Benny
“No, no, absolutely, not! I’m really happy for you guys! My two best friends are in love, that’s really cool!” A pink tint made its way onto your cheeks hearing Benny say “in love”, even though you knew it wasn’t true. E smiled at you and hid his face in your hair. You wrapped your arms around his neck and he placed his hands on your hips, swaying you two back and forth for a moment
“Alright, well I gotta go. Chem starts in a few” you told your boys and headed to class, not before hugging both of them and leaving Ethan with a quick peck on the cheek
As soon as you got to class however, you texted your “boyfriend”
“Think that went pretty well”
“I think so too. Everyone seemed to buy it!”
“I know!” you said and the conversation ended like that. 
You switched your attention back to your teacher, who was discussing your next assignment but even though your eyes were on her, your mind was replaying Sarah’s comment on repeat. You and Benny, huh? You couldn’t say you disliked the idea or that you’ve never thought about it. You’ve always felt different when hanging out with him compared to all your other friends.You felt more free and comfortable. You couldn’t stop the smile on your face from the fuzzy feeling you got just thinking about Bens and you together.
“So how long are we gonna be doing this for?” you texted Ethan. Now that you thought about it, you could never date Benny after this. The sudden realisation made your stomach twist in knots. He would never even go on a date with you if he thought you to be Ethan’s ex! Bro code or whatever but you couldn’t blame them!
“I don’t know for sure, I don’t see why it should last more than a couple months.”
“Ok” you didn’t mind helping E. He was a great guy and one day, some amazing girl is gonna see that and be all over him, even if it’s not Sarah! And he’s going to fall in love and have a beautiful wife and a happy family and this thing you are doing right now is just gonna be a silly high school memory to look back at. You tried not to overthink everything like you usually do and go with the flow, have fun.
It was surprisingly easy to do. Holding hands and occasional cheek kisses didn’t mean much and you never had a “proper kiss”, telling everyone you were simply not fans of PDA. It didn’t feel much like you were a couple, just closer friends. Touchier.
About 4 months down the line, you and Ethan go on your last “date”, which really just meant pizza night at Morgan’s.
“Thanks for all this Y/N, I know you didn’t have to and it might have been awkward at times but it means a lot that you went with it all this time” Ethan says sincerely while pouring you a glass of soda
“Don’t be silly E! You are one of my best friends. I would do anything for you.”
“Yeah but, now you and Benny won’t be…” he didn’t finish his sentence, as if he wasn’t sure if bringing this up was even a good idea or if it was gonna make you mad. You told E about your crush on your best friend not long after your first day as a “couple”. You couldn’t lie to him and quite honestly, you needed someone to vent to. The more you thought about Benny, the more it hurt and while you weren’t mad at Ethan for bringing it up now (you knew he had the best of intentions), it was putting you off
“Let’s not talk about that tonight” you said softly
“Right, yes, of course! Sorry” you giggle and reached out for your glass of soda, raising it up
“A toast!” you declared dramatically, making E laugh “To our breakup!” Ethan raised his own glass and clicked it with yours 
“To our breakup!” he said before you both took a sip of your drinks
You laid down on the couch, getting ready to watch Scare Finder. Your head was resting on one of Ms. Morgan’s decorative pillows and you placed your feet on E’s lap. He rolled his eyes at you and you giggled
“I love you!”
“I love you too babe” he joked before laying down next to you and wrapping you in a hug. The couch was a bit too small for the both of you to lay down side by side and you felt the left side of your body  hanging off the edge but E’s arms were around your waist, holding you and you felt safe
“Can we..” Ethan whispered nervously “can we keep cuddling during shows even if we aren’t boyfriend- girlfriend anymore?” 
“Yes of course” you giggled
“Good, cause this is really comfortable” he whispered in your neck
“I know, I love it too”
~~~
 Your breakup was a much bigger deal than you anticipated.Your friends seemed not only shocked, but heartbroken too. You didn’t tell them anything about why you ended your relationship, saying it was too early and you didn’t feel like talking about it but that you were still close friends and nothing was going to change
Things went back to normal afterwards, except now you were single and so was Benny and you couldn't help the invisible pull, dragging you closer and closer to him. Everyone of his silly jokes made you crack up and you couldn’t even be mad at him when his failed spells ended up in a big mess that you and the friend group needed to solve. You hadn’t realised how much you missed him until you broke up with E. Whether or not that relationship was real, it felt like a real reason to stay away from Benny. It felt like you were taken because everyone else belived you to be. You couldn’t make a move on him because everyone knew you to have a boyfriend but now you didn’t and you couldn’t help yourself from looking at B in a different light.
You were over at his house, helping him pack some herbs he had to organise for his grandma, as punishment for wasting all her old ones on some spell. You were stuffing dried leaves in tiny jars, while Benny was busying himself attaching little tags to them, with the name of each plant.
“Thanks again for coming to help me, you didn’t have to”
“Anytime Bens, you know I’m always here for you” you looked at him and smiled sweetly. He looked into your eyes and said
“I know, Thank you” you nodded and switched your focus back on the plants, hoping he wouldn’t notice the blush on your face. Lucky for you, he started telling a story that happened in his geography class and things slowly fell into their usual, casual place, at least up until you had to leave.
You placed the last little jar in its respective spot on the shelf
“I think this is it, right?” Benny asked
“It should be”
“Perfect, I’m in dire need of a snack. You want chips? I have some upstairs”
“No, it’s late, I should head home”
“Um, ok yeah. No problem” but none of you moved after that, you just looked at one other for a little bit, until the awkwardness got too much and you took your backpack and headed to the door
“Thanks again” Benny said right when you reached the door
“No problem” and then time froze again. You got lost in his pretty eyes and barely noticed his chest rising and falling faster with every second that passed until, you both found yourselves in each other's arms, kissing deeply and desperately, as if you’ve waited all your life for this. Your hands tangled in his hair, pulling at loose strands, his hands running up and down your back, bringing you as close to him as possible. All your senses were intoxicated with him and finally, the little pit in your chest disappeared. Your lips fit together like puzzle pieces but than, all of a sudden, Benny pushed you away aggressively
“No, I can’t do that!” his back turned to you, but you saw the red in his face and his hands went to his head, massaging the back of his neck just like you had been doing
“Benny…”
“No, no, you are Ethan’s ex and we can’t do that! I can’t do that!”
“B, listen to me!” you tried to step towards him but at your slightest movement, he jumped back, finally turning to face you
“Y/N, that was a mistake and I’m sorry! We shouldn’t have done that! It was a mistake” your eyes stung from the tears threatening to spill down your cheeks
“Don’t say that…” you could barely hear your own voice and were genuinely surprised when B replied
“Of course it was! As much as I wanted to do it and as right as it may have felt, it’s barely been a few weeks since your last relationship with MY BEST FRIEND and your best friend too and we can’t, I CAN’T do this to him! You, you guys dated and…”
“But we didn’t!” you said
“Of course you did, are you out of your mind?” Benny looked at you, teary eyed and desperate “I saw you, we saw you! Holding hands and cheek kisses! He had his arm around your back every moment of every goddamn school day and every time I wished it was me! He had all of you and he could hold you during movie nights and spend all his free time with you and kiss you and run his hands through your hair and everytime he did it I imagined that I was in his spot, hoping you would look at me with the same love and admiration that you looked with at him but now it’s too late! It doesn’t matter that he didn’t cherish you better while he had you because I still can not take you! I can’t do that to him!”
“Benny it wasn’t real!”
“What does that even mean Y/N?” he was yelling now, but you knew he wasn’t angry, just hurt. You saw the tears in his eyes and how hard he tried to stop them from running down his face.
“We weren’t ever dating! We just pretended!” the madness in his eyes turned to a question, an invitation for you to continue “It was all a show Bens. He wanted to impress Sarah. He asked me to fake a relationship with him.”
Benny leaned over the table, resting his body on his arms. He seemed to be thinking for a while, until he said “That’s a stupid idea”
You laughed “I thought so too when he told me” Benny seemed to think some more before saying
“Such an Ethan idea to have” which only made you laugh more
“So it was never real?” he asks you finally
“No! It was just an act” but even now, Benny couldn’t say anything. He was looking at his hands nervously. You took a deep breath and said the one thing you could think of
“He knows if that’s what you are wondering” the boy looked at you with questioning eyes again “Ethan I mean”
“Ethan knows what?”
“That I like you” Benny straightened and looked at you with soft eyes once more, you felt your cheeks heat up and turned to walk away but Benny quickly grabbed your wrist and pulled you into him, holding you in a tight hug. 
“So, does that mean I can kiss you again?” a small smile tugged at your lips
“Please do”
719 notes · View notes
mittensmorgul · 3 years
Text
For anyone interested in long-term residence in the supernatural fandom, please have some observations I’ve made over the decade I’ve been here. Take it or leave it as you will, but I’ve found all of this info useful over the years I’ve been here.
I wrote this yesterday, and it achieved its mission of identifying the sort of folks who would react negatively to it (i.e. a lot of block lists have been updated), so now that it’s been edited for content, it’s going under a cut (because that is how we do things on tumblr in general, unless we have a deliberate purpose for annoying readers with excessively long text posts) for the sake of people who actually do care about the fandom and its history. If that’s not you or your reason for being here, then keep on keeping on with your own thing, I guess. For those who are interested, there’s a lot of fandom resources some of us have been building for years that you might enjoy knowing about.
First off, I’ve been informed by a few friends who’ve read through this for coherency’s sake that it sort of reads like a *shakes cane from porch* fandom grandma complaint, but honestly... I earned this rocking chair and goshdangit imma rock now. So apologies for any “back in my day” vibes or faint aroma of tiger balm this post might give off. Then again, it’s loosely based on a similar post from 2012 so like... time is a flat circle anyway I guess.
1. There is no such thing as “tumblr famous,” unless you’re referring to the hilarious and delightful fic of the same name (please go read it, you will cackle). Posting Hot Takes for imaginary Clout™ on this site is kind of pointless in the long run. Sure you can post solely for the sake of stirring shit and getting notes, but the majority of the folks who do aren’t long term residents of the fandom. They’re just tourists moving through our little beach town for spring break. If you’re actually intent on moving to this corner of the fandom for an extended stay, please bother to really feel out the permanent residents and understand the culture and general mood of the neighborhood. It bears no resemblance to whatever’s going on across town where all the bars and beach parities are happening, and those loud, drunken revelers are, again, gonna disappear back to their regular lives or on to the next party eventually. That doesn’t mean the fandom is dying, it’s just evolving.
(funny how I had several comments implying that I’m just trying to keep the fandom from evolving with this post, because I sincerely do want the fandom to continue on for years to come, and that is impossible without evolution. We can evolve without self-immolating, though. mostly i included point 1 for an excuse to push ancient but hilarious fanfic on you.)
2. Once you post something here, it’s been unleashed to the fandom winds. You never know where it will end up, or who will comment on it or add to it. Remember that time Misha tweeted the link to the Epic Cockles Love Story post? No? It was wild. That was 2012. They all know we’re here, and how to find us if they want to. Please don’t take it to their doorsteps.
Obviously if someone is being a dick on your posts, please feel free to block them, but the whole entire point of this site is to engage people with your posts. Being big mad that someone reblogged your post with comments or supporting evidence, or happy headcanons or “HECK THIS IS GREAT BECAUSE (insert personal story about their experience or whatever else made them Feel Things about your post)” is frankly ridiculous. If your goal is to avoid any sort of engagement with your posts, then maybe try instagram instead. From what I understand, there is a SPN fandom presence there, and nobody can tarnish your original posts with unwanted commentary. But the ability to reblog with additional commentary is a FEATURE of tumblr that builds community through conversation. Otherwise we’re all just talking to ourselves in a vacuum, and that’s what actually kills fandoms.
(and for the folks who just want to blog how they want to blog and don’t want people to engage on their posts at all, please feel free to block anyone you want, as well... nobody wants to step on your toes, but most of us also don’t want to walk on eggshells wondering if this post is one of the “do not add comments for any reason” sorts of posts, either. This is a huge fandom and most people can’t even begin to keep track of every creator and their url du jour, and what their personal rules might be regarding interaction with their content. Including a “please don’t add comments” note at the bottom of your posts-- and not in your tags that won’t even show up on reblogs, but in the actual body of the post-- would sincerely help avoid any awkward or unwanted interactions, too. At the end of the day, you are in control of your own fandom experience and the block button exists.
For the record, I block zero fandom blogs (which is why I posted this, I wanted it to reach a wide scope... refer to the opening paragraphs as to why).
3. Since this post was partly inspired by a tag I left on that post going around about how “previous tags” mean fuckall on this site (which you can read here), just a reminder that if you like someone’s tags or feel they add value to the post, part of the Peer Review structure of tumblr encourages you to PASTE THEM INTO A REBLOG. If you do this, then at least credit the person who actually wrote the tags! Don’t just copy someone else’s tags into your tags on your reblog of the post without credit either. They were not YOUR tags. (I have had this happen to tag rambles I wrote and someone else got credited with them on a subsequent reblog and it is FRUSTRATING). Just... don’t even bother to write “previous tags” because WHAT PREVIOUS TAGS?! Nobody is gonna bother to chase back the chain of reblogs trying to find where the mystery tags came from, friendos. That way lies madness.
(for the record, since some folks seemed to focus on this point solely, writing “previous tags” on a post isn’t inherently a BAD thing, but for anyone who actually is here for more than one-off shitposting, then it’s sort of a pointless thing in the long run. This wasn’t intended to suggest people who ARE here for one-off shitposting are bad or “doing it wrong,” but for people who might actually want to preserve that hilarious joke or insightful comment. People delete posts and entire blogs all the time around here. Links break. I get that the upcoming generation just shrugs at that and moves on with their lives, but heck... you don’t have to accept that all entertainment is disposable if you don’t want to. There’s a bizarre sort of nihilism plaguing us all about the impermanence of pretty much everything that feels like something we should be fighting against rather than buying into wholesale, even in our escapist entertainment. I’m just exhausted by the complete loss of joy in community.
*shouts from the peanut gallery* IT AIN’T THAT DEEP, JUST GET SOME FRESH AIR AND LOOK AT A PUPPY OR SOMETHING
Yes... yes it isn’t really that deep, but bigger picture in the state of reality we’re all entirely disillusioned with, are we supposed to just give up on everything, including the things we cling to because they bring us a tiny spark of hope that we’re not all just trapped in this dystopian nightmare and things might actually be worth living for?
*peanut gallery clinging to burnt husks of peanuts in a barren peanut field* but this is how we have chosen to cope
Okay... you do you... I feel bad for you but if that’s the case then this post is NOT FOR YOU. AND THAT’S FINE. I honestly do not care if you don’t care! I mean, I’m sorry anyone has to live in a world that drives them to that mindset, but I understand. This post is for anyone who might look at their lives and their choices and think “no wait, I unironically enjoy this and want more from the experience of that enjoyment than I’m currently feeling.” Everyone else can continue with their lives as usual.)
4. CONTENT THEFT IS NEVER OKAY. PERIOD. Things like “credit to the artist” or tagging gifs or images you found on pinterest as “not mine” isn’t actually credit. If you can’t source an image or gif set, DO NOT POST IT! We don’t REPOST (i.e. save an image and then create a new post with it as if it was our own creation). We REBLOG (click the little square arrows and reblog from the actual creator). That goes for gif sets, fanvids, screencaps, meta, fic... everything.
(hopefully everyone here already understands this one, but I felt compelled to include some “these are stupidly obvious” reminders anyway, since this is ostensibly some sort of advice column. This is the equivalent of the warning label on your toaster reminding you not to use it in the bath. Like... duh...)
5. Close kin of item 4 is SOURCE YOUR SHIT. 
(for 100% disclosure purposes, I specifically discussed this one in this specific way because of an influx of anon ask messages I received in the wake of the finale. Literally the inciting incident for creating this entire post was what I can only assume was a joking ask about a comment Misha made at a con years ago. Someone actually bothered to take the time to type out those sentences to me. I have no idea what they were expecting in reply, or what could possibly motivate them to send this comment about something so entirely random from, again, several years ago. Just a joke? No idea, but whatever... it got me thinking that there might actually be people who are new to the fandom who MIGHT actually care about the fandom history, and maybe they just don’t know where to go for that info, or how to even begin searching through 16 years of history for things they might actually find enjoyment in, rather than just hauling random out of context garbage out on main and pointing and laughing about it now. People are actually allowed to care about things. It’s not cringeworthy to actually care about things, and you are not alone in actually caring, and there’s this whole big room over here full of people who are thrilled to share in that with you. This post is intended FOR THOSE PEOPLE SPECIFICALLY, so if that is not you, please just continue walking by.)
Yes, I know lots of y’all are new around here right now, but dredging up stuff from years ago that fandom has completely debunked and presenting it as TRU FAX again is just exhausting. We’re not trying to be party poopers, but seriously, we have seen it all and are mostly done with extinguishing bags of flaming dog poop on our front porches for the umpteenth year in a row. I’ve seen a lot of posts that have the same tone as “I saw Goody Proctor dancing with the devil” or “I heard kylo ren has an eight pack” and just... the information is there for anyone who cares enough to find it.
This goes double for “why is nobody talking about this thing I just discovered while watching the show for the first time?!” And, oh hon, we have talked it all into the ground over the last fifteen years. We’re happy you’re discovering it again, but I promise we talked about it plenty when the episodes originally aired. We have such a rich meta history that lots of us have worked really hard to preserve. I encourage you to seek it out, if nothing else than as historical artifacts. The way we have discussed the show has been a 16-year evolution. People have written literal doctoral dissertations on this show. Your shitposts are fun! We love reliving our own experience through fresh eyes, and seeing your wonder at experiencing it all again for the first time! But y’all didn’t invent this fandom in the last six months, either.
Meta Sources and Minerals provided by our friendly neighborhood fandom archivist, @lets-steal-an-archive
Academic books and articles about SPN 
A collection of Meta Essays going back to s1 and organized by topic (all of this has happened before, all of it will happen again)
SPN Heavy Meta Archive (s1-3)
Mel’s Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-12)
Oranges8hands Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-15, with many similar entries to Mel’s... though ymmv on viewpoint in a lot of these too)
Anyone remember Fandom Wank? Not the concept but the actual LJ... No? Okay have a link to SPN topics that ended up there. Through 2013. We have seen so much... including several fandom containment breaches.
for all your art sourcing needs, please see @theroadsofararchive, the repository for so much fandom art.
need to find a gif of something? canonspngifs is a vast repository of gifsets of the entire series. If the gif you want to use in your post happens to be the first gif in the gifset, in the tumblr gif finder thingy just paste the permalink to that post from canonspngifs (which is easily searchable by episode, character, location, situation, quotes, and sometimes even color and clothing items the actors are wearing... it’s really well organized, especially for tumblr >.>) and the first gif will be automatically linked with credit to the gif creator attached. It makes life easy that way. It’s also convenient when trying to remember something specific but can’t remember what episode it’s from. I’ve used the site to jog my memory before going to the superwiki armed with more specific search results to find episode quotes and references. Or sometimes I just scroll through all the nice gifs for fun, too.
Need a screencap of something and know exactly which episode it’s from? Try Home of the Nutty. You might not find the exact screencap you’re looking for, but they have a complete set of caps of every episode, and it’s an incredibly useful resource for quick reference checks and the like. Just give pages a chance to fully load before clicking on the next one. The site is easily overloaded, but it’s still free to use (and again, with credit... Pretty much every screencap on my entire blog is from HotN unless otherwise credited).
As you can see, this is a fandom built on preserving our history. You absolutely are not required to engage with any of this if that’s not of interest to you, but I can only assume that there are people who would be interested in it if only they knew it existed and how to find it. Well, now they do.
6. A few more notes on tags, and how they work on tumblr. The first 20 tags on your ORIGINAL posts are searchable sitewide, so if you want to be able to find something again, tag that thing first before going on general tag rambles. The only place tags on reblogs are searchable is on your own blog. So you don’t have to put 50 tags trying to get a post seen if it’s a reblog. You’re just spitting into the wind at that point. If you have a filing system for finding things again, then by all means add those tags (again, in the first 20, so they’re searchable), but you don’t need to tag a reblog “destiel” and “deancas” and “dean” and “cas” and “dean x cas” or whatever. Pick one for your personal blog’s filing system, that’s all you need.
(this was only added because tagging and searching on this site is so very broken... I get that a lot of folks don’t care about ever searching their own blogs again for anything, so this one only really applies if you do often find yourself trying to find old posts. If not, then it’s not really relevant.  It took me years to work out a decent tagging system, and at the beginning of my time here I never thought I’d end up camping out here for a decade and falling this deep into the fandom, and I regretted my lack of consistent tags only years later when I realized I actually wanted to be able to go back and find specific old posts again. So... for anyone who wants to err on the side of caution, working out a sensible tagging system really helps if you’re here for the long term. I personally tag content by episode, because some of my other general tags are so large as to be practically useless as a search term. But whatever system you choose to file stuff on your own blog, it really only has to make sense to you. And again, if this is pointless advice for someone who has no intention of settling here for the long term. Please feel free to ignore it. I just wish someone had explained it this way to me ten years ago and saved me the hassle of retroactively tagging something like 30k posts... especially now that using the mass tag replacer is the fastest way to get your entire blog deleted... oops? so yeah, don’t use the mass tag replacer either >.>)
7. Tags on Tumblr DO NOT WORK LIKE TAGS ON TWITTER. If you @ someone in the body of the post, it will show up in their notifications (if they’re the sort of person who even checks their notifications... not all of us do. For the record, I generally don’t...), but putting actor or ship names in the tags on a tumblr post does absolutely nothing. It’s not the same as tagging the actor’s twitter account in a tweet. Nobody’s getting notifications about you tagging a post about Jensen here as “Jensen Ackles.” There is a difference. Please learn it. (and don’t take headcanons and ESPECIALLY RPF or otherwise explicit art or fic from tumblr to twitter and tag the actors in it. That’s just... not okay.)
(I have seen the pearl clutchers getting all in a huff about the mere existence of RPF or even explicit content of fictional characters if it doesn’t meet their purity standards, but tagging those things allows people who don’t want to see it to actively avoid that content here. Nobody has a right to tell people their fictional content shouldn’t exist at all, or that creators of that fictional content somehow deserve harassment or threats for having dared to create such “immoral” content, won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children... and no... you do not do that here. Don’t be the problematic behavior you wish to ban from the world. Learn to use tags to protect yourself from, as i have attempted to emphasize here, fictional content you are personally upset by. That’s a you problem, not a problem for the creators of potentially upsetting content that they tag appropriately for.)
8. General formatting stuff: If you’re writing long text posts, visually break them up so people aren’t faced with one long wall of text. The enter key is your friend. Also, if you put long text posts under a Read More break and send people to your blog to finish reading, please ensure that your blog is actually visually accessible (tiny text, or light grey text on a dark grey background, or a visually busy background might be aesthetically pleasing to you but nobody can actually read it. Loads of folks won’t even try. Which is great if you don’t actually care whether people are able to appreciate your content or not, but something to at least consider if you *do* actively want to encourage engagement with your work. Confirm how your blog looks on both mobile and desktop and make sure it’s actually functional in both, too).
And since I mentioned that most of my experience on fandom tumblr has been in the SPN fandom, here’s a bit of a reminder for folks who are new around here. With the reminder that I have been here more than a decade and still feel like a newbie myself sometimes...
This is an OLD FANDOM. There are many, many people who have been at this longer than some of you have been alive. The average age for creators in this fandom is older than you think (I think of my friends in their 30′s as young’ins okay? okay). With that understood, you are responsible for the content you consume and are exposed to. Curate your experience. Ship and let ship. YKINMKATOK. Don’t deliberately expose yourself to content you find upsetting for whatever reason. Tags and warnings are your friends, not targets for you to attack in some sort of purity war. People will ship things you do not like (or in specific ways you do not like), will say things you do not agree with, and will find their happiness in things you abhor. That is not your concern. Find what you do like, and support and engage with it, and ignore (or block, or unfollow) the rest. Tumblr has a feature that lets you blacklist tags so the content you’re trying to avoid won’t appear on your dash.
Remember the paradox of tolerance.
It is not your job in fandom to police how other people enjoy the fandom. It’s not *my* job to police how *you* enjoy the fandom, UNLESS your enjoyment is in actively harming other real human beings in the fandom. If you don’t like their take on the character or the show or the plotlines or their ships or anything else, you don’t need to engage with their posts at all! The necessary corollary to this is that clarifying misunderstandings or correcting factual misinformation is not “policing.” 
(this is where the peanut gallery reminds me it ain’t that deep, and I plead with them to put down the social media and find just one (1) thing to actually believe in in this godforsaken life, find something other than disdain and cynicism and spite to live for. If those things motivate you to find a larger cause for yourself, then great, use them to your advantage, but use them to find something that makes you a better person or brings you a modicum of joy and connection to your fellow human beings despite living in a dystopian hellscape of a world)
I have seen a lot of posts lately that are founded on the sort of authority that comes with “I watched through tumblr for a few months and then watched the last three episodes of the series” and as such are just... missing the larger context of the entire show, and are unfounded entirely in canon. I 100% appreciate the new enthusiasm for the fandom that we’ve been living in here for years, and it’s wonderful to see new people enjoying the thing we love. Your headcanons are valid, you are valid, but recognize that your headcanons aren’t canon. All of us finale denialists have accepted this in some measure, so we feel you. We truly, truly feel you. But regarding actual canon, we have a resource for that: the Superwiki. Learn it, live it, love it, as Metatron would say.
(which you could discover he said in 10.17 Inside Man, thanks to the superwiki! accept no substitutes!)
(and again, there have been people who have been involved in fandom for years who haven’t engaged with canon in years, either! You can play in this universe however you choose, BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT CANON AT ALL, WHICH I AM AGAIN POINTEDLY SAYING MIGHT NOT BE YOU, READER, AND I’M NOT SUGGESTING YOU ARE WRONG FOR NOT WANTING TO ACTUALLY ENGAGE WITH CANON, but if you DO want to engage with canon, please have some useful resources. Why do people feel personally attacked by being presented a list of helpful resources? Absolutely baffling.)
(also: words have definitions. “Canon” is a specific thing, meaning in this case “the finished media product that aired on television.” Anything beyond those limits is secondary canon (think: john’s journal, which is not canon but canon adjacent at best...), word of god (i.e stuff said by the writers and showrunners), or headcanon (which includes actor commentary-- they may have helped create the show with their acting choices and whatever, but they are not in control of the story overall). If there’s something you dislike about actual canon, you can reject it and supplement it with your own theories or preferred outcomes-- that’s basically what fanfic is-- but that doesn’t make your theories canon (much to all our dismay, that’s just not how any of this works. This is not to invalidate how anyone engages with the show or the fandom, just trying to clarify what seems to have been a source of unintentional misunderstandings. Your theories do not have to be “canon” to be legitimate interpretations.)
***I am setting this section apart, and did make a separate post of just this following information, because this is where we go from being relatively chill about different parts of fandom choosing to interact in different ways and you do you and blog however you want, to “hey can everybody please understand that the way you are interacting with this specific material might be harmful for specific legal reasons, and stating that you do not care about the consequences of your actions does actively make you the asshole here...” Okay, now that we have that understood:
The spnscripthunt collective has been steadily acquiring new scripts (which are posted in full on the superwiki for everyone to enjoy, for free). The language around how some folks are talking about these scripts is... concerning. For very real legal reasons, actually, and not because we’re feeling precious about the collection and don’t wike it when meanies use them in shitposts.
-First off, these scripts are not “leaks.” They are all verified and legally purchased (or gifted, in some cases, but still acquired entirely above board. we didn’t whack anyone over the head in a back alley for these scripts, or swipe them out of someone’s trailer on set).
(in case anyone was unaware, these scripts are the copywritten protected property of Warner Brothers. So yes, how we use them and share them with the fandom could have legal repercussions. We present them as a collected resource of fandom history which SHOULD fall under Fair Use doctrine, but this is untested legal water. Insinuating that the scripts are somehow not entirely legally obtained, or that posting them for public access involved less than 100% transparent and entirely legal transactions is incredibly concerning.
Once again for the peanut gallery, if you don’t care about any of that and are just having a good time with it, at least be mindful of the work and expense a large group of people have gone through to acquire and present the content you’re all too eager to exploit for cheap thrills. Some of us do actually care and are not exactly comfortable with the fact that others don’t seem to care about burning it all to the ground. We can’t force you to listen or behave as we’d hope you might, but at least be aware of the potential consequences of your actions. All we’re asking is for you to not be the douchebag who sets the whole neighborhood on fire with your illegal fireworks display. Is that too much to ask for? more on that in a second, first... a psa)
-If you see a script for sale and are unsure if it’s legit (or believe it might already be freely available in our collection), please feel free to ask us for advice. Our goal is to make as much of our fandom history available to the entire fandom, and we absolutely do not want anyone shelling out money for stuff you can already find for free.
(seriously, we’ve seen a bunch of resellers cropping up selling printed versions of the scripts we bought and uploaded for everyone to enjoy free of charge, or scripts that are otherwise of dubious origin. We’ve been at this for years now and know what’s actually out there. We don’t want anyone to fall for a scam if we can help it)
-Also, the usual reminder that the scripts we acquire ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL SHOOTING DRAFTS. In fact, the majority of scripts in our collection are NOT. Changes are made daily to scripts, even during filming. Comparing a Production Draft (white pages, effectively the first “final draft” of what usually becomes a series of drafts before filming wraps) to a much later revision (say... green or goldenrod revisions, several of which we DO have in our collection for comparison) and how those earlier drafts often differ wildly from the aired version versus how similar a much later green draft is to the aired version, for example, can teach you a lot about the television writing process. The link above to the superwiki scripts page has a nice little explainer about how this process works.
Differences between our posted scripts (many of which are white drafts, aka FIRST complete drafts, which will likely go through multiple rounds of revisions before filming even begins) and the aired version of the show are not all “acting choices” or a director or editor just cutting whole scenes on a whim. It’s insulting to everyone involved in production to suggest that’s the case.
(and yeah, fine... whatever, make any sort of posts you like regarding how those changes came about, but at the very least understand that it’s not actually the truth about how any of this works. Don’t care that that’s not the truth and want to make the posts anyway because shitposting is fun and that’s the extent of your sense of humor? FINE! You’re entitled to do that! But at least you DO know the truth now, and hopefully so do the people who engage with your posts. Deliberate ignorance isn’t cute, smooth lions notwithstanding)
There’s probably a whole other post to be made on fandom tagging etiquette, but again I don’t really use the tags enough to know what’s going on with that whole situation. I’ve also probably left a lot of stuff out, so please feel free to add things I’ve overlooked.
Thanks also to @trisscar368 and @thayerkerbasy for help compiling this, too. They were kind enough to escort me through the park to feed these pigeons. Now I need to take them out for ice cream. :’D
So I guess welcome to the neighborhood. Make yourself at home, but like... try not to trash the place while you’re here. Some of us live here by choice, lol.
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starlessalex · 3 years
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A long ass post in which I think too hard about future ACOTAR couples.
After lurking at the ACOTAR tag, I saw a lot of great theories and analysis that try to predict the trajectory of the spin-off trilogy. I’ve decided to write my own take on the subject (probably to my own detriment - involving myself in another ship war wasn’t on my bucket list this year, but here I am). I was thinking about what the potential future couples of the story might be, but through the lense of the plot - which couples make the most sense plot wise, which couple have the most potential to drive the plot toward. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
Before I start I will make a couple of disclaimers: 1) I obviously have my ship preferences, and it just so happens that the ships I like the most are the ones that according to me make the most sense narratively. That being said I’m not trying to be malicious or rude about all other ship possibilities - I actually like some of them quite a bit too. 2) I let the books speak for themselves. I do not invoke any paratextual information regarding those books: no SJM interviews or online posts. This analysis is based on what, imo, can be logically inferred from the text. 3) Of course there will be spoilers.
If that’s clear we shall being:
In my analysis I focus on the plot and which couples ensure the smoothest and most logical progression of it. Because of that I do not focus on the foreshadowing SJM included in the previous ACOTAR novel: I don’t quote anything, nor do I talk about previous interactions of those couples. In this analysis, I’m interested in the bigger picture so-to-speak. So first we need to establish what that bigger picture is.
Those books are meant to be standalone fantasy-romance novels with an overarching plotline that will reach its climax in the third book (since it's a trilogy). Each book will feature a different couple which apart from falling in love will lead the story to its next stage. What it means for the story is that the couples that we will be following are all heavily connected to the main story/conflict of those books. ACOSF established that story/conflict as stopping/defeating Koshei. I would argue that ACOSF also established Beron as a secondary antagonist as he is Koschei’s ally. With that in mind, the potential future couples all have to be connected in some way to those individuals.
We actually have a pretty small pool of characters to choose from. Since the story was pitched as SJM was writing ACOWAR, that book is where we can start our search for clues about which characters are going to be the future leads. I don’t want to use SJM interviews for information because things often change during the writing process, however, just in this instance I will note that recently SJM said that not much changed from that initial pitch so all foreshadowing in ACOWAR is still relevant. ACOWAR established 7 characters with potential future romances and storyline: Nesta, Cassian, Elain, Lucian, Azriel, Vassa and Mor.
Four of them are directly connected to Koshei or Beron: Nesta and Elain were made by The Cauldron gaining power that might potentially threaten Koschei and Beron. Elain is especially connected to Koschei - she’s a seer and had visions of him. Additionally, as far as we know she’s Lucian’s mate which makes her connected with Beron. Vassa was entrapped and cursed by Koshei and is currently trying to escape him. Lucian resides with Vassa at the moment, plus he is Beron's stepson.
Out of the 7 of the potential lead characters, two (Nesta and Cassian) already had their story told, which leaves as with 5 possibilities. Mor, unfortunately, also seems quite unlikely to have a book for herself in the near future because since ACOWAR no love interest for her was introduced and plot wise she also doesn't have a lot to do with Koshei. She has a connection to Eris (about whom I will talk about in a minute) and by proxy to Beron, but, again, there isn't a love interest for her in sight (I will talk about why Emerie doesn't seem like a possible candidate, at least not yet). With that we are left with Azriel, Lucien, Elain and Vassa. All of those characters have direct ties to Koshei and Beron with the exception of Azriel.
After ACOSF, three more characters caught people's attention as possible love interests too - Emrie for Mor, Gwyn for Azriel, and Eris for ...well for no one, at least for now.
Especially the Gwyn and Azriel ship gained a lot of traction among the fandom. I for one, don't mind them. I like the fanarts and the aesthetic but, logically, they together won't lead any of the two upcoming novels.
Gwyn, Emerie and Eris, are characters that were only just fleshed out on page in ACOSF, with Gwyn and Emrie being only just introduced to the story in ACOSF. Additionally, Gwyn and Emrie have nothing to do with Koschei and Beron so, unless they are paired up with one of the three remaining characters with those connections they won’t have their own books. Maybe, if SJM decided to continue the story beyond the spin-off trilogy, then we will get books with them as leads.
So, we are left with the above-mentioned quartet: Azriel, Lucien, Elain and Vassa.
So how do we couple those characters up?
Elain has two possible love interests - Azriel and Lucien. Technically, both ships work but if SJM goes with Elain and Lucian than their book would have to be the last, because that is where I imagine Koshei will be defeated. Also since Lucien is connected to Beron, I imagine he will be the one to strike him down for good, or at least have a huge rule in opposing him at the very end. If Elain and Lucien book will be the next one we are left with Vassa and Azriel to lead the last book, not together obviously. They would have to have different love interests - the last book would have to be either Vassa x someone (Jurian, probably) or Azriel x someone. To be honest, if the next book is Elain and Lucien that would mean Azriel isn’t getting a book because as I said Azriel x Gwyn makes little sense as the second novel in this trilogy and no sense as the third one because neither Az or Gwyn have connection to Koschei.
I strongly believe that the person who is most likely to deal with Koschei and the person who has the absolute right to defeat him is Vassa. She's the one who has been entrapped and cursed by him. Additionally it was her conversation with Feyre at the end of ACOWAR that was a giveaway as to what the spin-off trilogy is going to be plot wise. It also seems right up SJM alley to have her female protagonist defeat her abuser in a very poignant and satisfying way. I’m pretty sure that Vassa is going to be one of the leads of the future two books.
Lastly, I think we all can agree that at this point it's obvious that Azriel and Elain are two characters that SJM wants to write about and they will be main characters in the spin off novels, whether in the same book or not..
So to add all of this up we have two possible scenarios in fort of us:
1) The next book is going to be Elain and Lucien, and the last book is gonna be Vassa and someone (Jurian, Eris?, Azriel????). This scenario doesn't make much sense because: a) It would mean Azriel won't have a book (unless he's paired up with Vassa, which by now is not foreshadowed or hinted at at all). b) There's no clear love interest for Vassa, because Lucien would end up with Elain. Jurian is a possibility but he's, you know, Jurian. I don't think many people would want him as a MC. There's also Eris (bare with me here). Eris, technically, has a lot of the same plot connections that Lucian has (son of Beron, connected to the Night Court where most of our heros reside) + SJM clearly loves him. This couple is far fetched, obviously.
2) The most likely scenario, imo. The next book is Azriel and Elain - they have plenty of foreshadowing, Elain is connected to Koshei, the seer and the spy infiltrating Koshei/ Autumn Court (there’s plenty of possibilities as to how they together can be involved with the main conflict). The last book, Lucien x Vassa - the will defeat Beron, defeat Koschei, Lucian as the son of Helion the Spell-Cleaver will break Vassa's curse once and for all.
There's also other scenarios, however unlikely:
1) Gwyn and Azriel, Elain and Lucian (why yes: both Az and Elaine get books, why no: Vassa doesn't get a book which is unlikely cause she's the person most connected to Koschei, Gwyn has nothing to do with Koschei)
2) Mor and someone, Elain and Azrie or Elain and Lucian or Vassa and Lucian (why yes: we get a Mor book which is great, why no: Mor has nothing to do with Koschei, we don't have a clear love interest for Mor, Az or Elain, or Vassa are not going to get a book.)
To sum this all up. The characters that the fandom should keep an eye on are Elain, Azriel, Lucien and Vassa. The next books will be about them, and the most logical way to tell their stories is to couple Elain with Azriel and Lucian with Vassa. There is plenty of great analysis of the subtle and not so subtle way SJM is foreshadowing those couples since ACOWAR.
Of course I can be totally wrong with my predictions but judging by what's on the page I think I'm mostly right here. To be 100% sure we must simply wait
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nicknellie · 3 years
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Anonymous requested: Can I request a one bed trope for willex?
Oh, you absolutely can request that! I’m a sucker for this trope and I think this is my second time ever writing it (first for this fandom) so this was a lot of fun to get into. Thank you for the request, anon!
Champagne and Roses
Alex was never trusting Luke to book a hotel again. There was a reason Flynn handled admin for the band despite not being in it, and that reason was that all the actual bandmates were useless at it. Still, Luke had found a hotel that he had described as “super insane, like bro, it’ll be awesome, I promise” and had insisted on being the one to book it so nobody had the surprise of what was so good about it ruined for them. But it looked like Alex was set to reap the consequences.
Technically, Julie and the Phantoms were on tour, but what they were really using the opportunity for was something more akin to a road trip with just their nearest and dearest. Alex, Luke, Julie, and Reggie were there to attend their shows and meet-and-greets, Flynn had come along as their manager, but Carrie and Willie were also tagging along for the fun of it. So far they had stopped off at six different venues around North America, and they were on their way to the seventh, namely the hotel Luke was so pumped about.
He hadn’t stopped talking about it since they’d got in the tour bus the previous night, and it was starting to drive Alex a little insane. He was sat on one of the bus’s plush sofas with a cushion clamped over his ears as he tried to drown Luke’s voice out, but it wasn’t working all too well. Sat next to him, Willie was clearly trying not to laugh at him.
“I know I said I wouldn’t tell you guys anything about the hotel,” Luke was saying, the biggest grin plastered across his face, “but just wait until you see the pool. It’s gigantic, and there’s like a thousand slides. And Reggie, bro, you’re gonna love the breakfast buffet they set out, from the photos on their website it looks like they’ve got literally everything.”
“It sounds expensive,” Flynn called from the front seat, sat between Julie (who was taking her turn at driving the bus) and Carrie, who was somehow managing to paint her nails immaculately in a moving vehicle on the highway. “If you’ve blown the band’s budget on a hotel, Luke Patterson, I’m going to hop back there and murder you.”
“It wasn’t that expensive,” Luke said, looking sheepish. Still, Flynn’s threat shut him up a little – Alex decided it was probably better not to ask how much Luke had spent on the booking. “Besides, I saved money by booking shared rooms instead of individual ones.”
That grabbed Alex’s attention. If ever they were away as a band they shared rooms – Alex would buddy up with Luke and Reggie, and Julie and Flynn would be together – but this time there were two extra people in the mix, and Alex didn’t really see how it would work having Willie and Carrie share a room when they hardly spoke to each other outside of this kind of setting.
“Who’s with who?” Alex asked, removing the cushion from his ears and setting it down next to him. A moment later, Willie reached across Alex’s midriff, plucked the pillow from the sofa, and put it behind his own head, laying back comfortably. Alex’s pretended that he wasn’t blushing profusely at the brief touch.
“Well, we can probably change it if we want to once we get there, but I’m with Julie, Flynn and Carrie are together, Reggie’s got a room to himself, and you’re with Willie.”
Alex had no idea how to react. The moment Luke had spoken, his mind had imploded. At every other hotel they’d stayed at so far, everyone had got their own room, purely to give themselves some alone time because they were spending every minute of every day together on the tour and it could get a little suffocating. To go from that to sharing a room with Willie of all people?
Luke had to have known what he was doing. He knew how Alex felt about Willie, so this plan had to have been formed in the deep dark corner of his brain that was designated for doomed matchmaking. It wasn’t like Alex had never shared a room with Willie before, but they had always chosen to, it had never been forced upon them like this. He couldn’t help but wonder what Willie made of it, if his heart was hammering the same way Alex’s was, if the thought of sharing a room made him giddy and nauseous all at the same time too.
He cast a quick, careful glance in Willie’s direction, only to see that his expression had remained completely unchanged, which was unhelpful. Complete neutrality could mean anything. Still, Alex supposed it was better than Willie looking annoyed or disgusted or downright angry at the thought of sharing a room together.
This was silly, Alex told himself. He had shared a room with Willie before, they’d had the occasional sleepover and it had always been lovely. There was no reason that this time should be any different. He tried to calm himself, school his features into something resembling nonchalance.
“Alex,” Reggie said, sounding concerned, “are you feeling travel-sick again? You look like you’re about to vomit all over Willie.”
Apparently nonchalance hadn’t worked.
Alex seized the opportunity. “A little bit of fresh air might be nice,” he said.
Julie pulled over a minute or so later and Alex hopped out of the tour bus. They had pulled off the highway a while back and were now on a much smaller road lined with tall hedges and completely deserted except for their bus. Alex let a gentle wind wash over his flushed face, closed his eyes, and let himself calm down a bit.
It would be fine.
“Hey,” came a voice behind him, startling him. Alex jumped and looked to see Willie stood beside him, his hair blowing elegantly behind him. Not for the first time, Alex wondered how he managed to look like an angel constantly. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Alex replied, trying to smile. “The roads were getting a little twisty. I’ll just take a minute to cool off. I’m fine, though.”
He leaned back against the cool metal of the tour bus and felt Willie do the same. He could feel Willie’s side pressed against his and his heart starting beating faster at the slight contact. Their fingers brushed gently together and Alex felt a smile tugging at his lips.
“If you don’t want to share a room with me, that’s fine,” Willie said. He rushed the words out as if he didn’t really want to say them, avoiding eye contact until he’d finished speaking. Then he turned to look at Alex – Alex was bad at reading expressions at the best of times, and all he could make out of Willie’s right then was something close to nervousness. He just couldn’t pinpoint why.
“No,” he assured Willie quickly, “I don’t mind. I do. I do want to share with you, I mean. It’s cool. We’re cool.”
“You sure?” Willie asked, sounding unconvinced. “Because the moment Luke mentioned it you freaked.”
Alex felt himself blush faintly. “No, I told you, it was just the roads getting too twisty. I’m not worried about sharing with you, if that’s what you think.”
“So we’re okay?”
“Of course.”
“Great,” Willie said. He beamed, and Alex couldn’t help but smile back. It was impossible not to smile when Willie did. “I’m going to head back onto the bus. Take as long as you need – I don’t think any of us want to clean up after you again.”
“That was one time and it was four years ago,” Alex protested, though he couldn’t help but smile at Willie’s teasing. At that, any nerves he’d had were gone; how could he be worried about being with Willie when doing just that was so easy? “I’ll come back in a minute.”
As Willie disappeared back onto the bus, Alex closed his eyes and leaned his head back again. His panic was replaced with butterflies in his stomach, silly with excitement at the thought of what the night might hold. Not much, he reminded himself, it was just sharing a room with a friend. Still, he suddenly couldn’t wait.
To Luke’s credit, the hotel was amazing. They arrived there in the late afternoon, checked in, and had their luggage taken up to their rooms for them, leaving them free to explore the hotel. The pool looked bigger than the actual building, with six different slides, people zooming out of them gleefully every few moments. They found the restaurant, which was currently preparing for dinner, and the smells wafting from the kitchen were to die for. There were bikes to hire (Julie suggested a group bike ride which led to mixed responses from the others, ranging from Reggie’s immediate enthusiasm to Carrie stating monotonously that she’d rather do literally anything else), an enormous duck pond nearby, and a small cinema which that night was showing some generic action film Alex had never heard of. Overall, Luke had really outdone himself with the booking.
They busied themselves for the rest of the evening, splashing about in the pool (or, in the case of Alex, Willie, and Carrie, relaxing by the side of the pool on the sun-loungers) and spending far too long in the mini arcade that Reggie had stumbled across. Luke hadn’t been wrong about the food either – the staff set out an enormous buffet that had every food Alex could think of. Alex tried to stick to a regular meal because mixing so many different foods felt strange, but Luke’s plate was piled with pizza, curry, and a slab of chocolate cake.
The evening had been so hectic and jam-packed that by the time Alex and Willie bade farewell to the others, he had almost forgotten all his whirring thoughts surrounding the shared room. But by then he was too full and tired to be too bothered anyway. It was just sharing a room with Willie – what could go wrong?
Willie pushed open the door to room seventy-three and entered ahead of Alex, flicking the lights on as he went. Alex was exhausted and his vision slightly blurred as his eyes kept closing, but he could still make out that this room was nothing short of luxurious. There were chocolates on the pillow, complementary tea and biscuits, a bottle of champagne cooling in a bucket of ice, a vase of roses, a flat-screen TV so big it looked as if it would fall off the wall, and a gorgeous king-size bed with rich red satin sheets.
It took Alex far too long to realise that there was something a little off.
He looked around again. Chocolate pillows, tea, biscuits – that was fine, that was normal. Flat-screen TV – expensive, but every hotel room he’d ever stayed at had a television. But champagne, roses, only one bed… Alex felt the pieces click in his mind.
“This is a couples room,” he said.
He was never letting Luke book a hotel ever again.
Willie looked just as bewildered as Alex felt. They had both frozen in the doorway when they saw the room, but now Willie headed in cautiously, picking up the champagne and one rose as if trying to work out whether they were real. He smoothed down the bedsheets, not that they were rumpled, and then turned back to Alex. His expression was infuriatingly neutral and hard to read again.
“Yep,” he agreed, “definitely.”
Alex carefully followed him into the room and looked around. Those old nerves about sharing a room with Willie came back – if they had to share this space then surely it was going to be incredibly awkward. Especially since they weren’t even dating.
“Do you think there’s been some sort of mix-up?” he asked, eyeing the singular bed. It looked invitingly comfortable, and Alex was knackered. He wanted nothing more than to just crawl in and sleep beside Willie as the room was clearly telling them to do. But he couldn’t do that, not if Willie wasn’t comfortable with it, not if there had been a mistake.
“I don’t know,” Willie said, shrugging. “It’s definitely the right room, otherwise the key wouldn’t have worked. I could go and ask at reception if there’s a different room, if you like? With two beds?”
There was something in the way Willie said it that caught Alex’s attention, but he couldn’t identify what it was. But he could see that Willie was watching him carefully, looking for all the world like all he wanted was to make sure the night went well. He thought, Alex realised with a start, that Alex wouldn’t want to share a bed with him. It nearly made Alex laugh, but his nerves stopped him.
He did want to share the bed, but the idea terrified him.
He shrugged, trying to seem indifferent. “If you want. It’s up to you, I don’t mind.”
“You sound like you mind,” Willie countered.
“I don’t.”
They stared at each other for a minute or two, sizing one another up. Alex didn’t want to seem like the idea of sharing a bed with Willie made him uncomfortable, but equally he didn’t want to seem too eager. He wasn’t sure what the middle ground was – indifference maybe? But if he seemed like he didn’t care at all then it could look like he simply didn’t feel one way or the other about Willie.
He decided he was reading too much into it, worrying about it too much. So he was the one to break the silence.
“I don’t mind sharing a bed with you, Willie,” he said. “It’s late and I’m exhausted, I could sleep anywhere right now. And I’m sure you don’t really want to go all the way back downstairs just to ask if they have another room. It won’t make any difference. We can share a bed – we’ll be fine.”
Willie blinked, seeming surprised, but then he smiled lightly. Alex felt his heart flutter despite his exhaustion – it was incredible how Willie could have that effect on him no matter what.
“Okay, hotdog,” Willie agreed, nodding resolutely. Just with the use of the nickname, any tension in the room dissipated. Suddenly they were just two guys about to share a bed and it was completely fine. “You’re right. Let’s get some sleep.”
They took turns getting ready for bed in the bathroom (which was far bigger than a bathroom had any business being, Alex thought) and eventually settled down into the bed, side by side, plenty of room between the two of them. Though the day had been hot, the night had turned cold, and the satin sheets were doing very little to keep them warm. Alex burrowed further into the covers, pulling them up to his chin and trying to settle himself. He was still a little nervous, it would have been impossible to be completely chilled out about the whole situation, but he was too tired to really notice.
There was total silence for a few minutes before Willie quietly said, “You talk in your sleep sometimes.”
Alex turned to his right to face him. Willie was laying on his side, facing Alex, one hand under his head on the pillow and the other hidden by the duvet. The top he wore was oversized and revealed most of his collarbone, his hair was mussed as it spilled out over the pillow, and he had the sweetest little smile on his tired face. Alex, heart hammering, mirrored his position without realising he was doing it, but he did register that his movement brought them much closer together.
“Do I?” he asked, voice low and hushed.
Willie giggled gently, nodding. “Yeah. I’ve heard you on some of our sleepovers.”
“What do I say?”
“Nonsense, mainly,” Willie told him. “But sometimes you talk about the band, that’s always sweet. It’s a change from you calling Luke and Reggie annoying so often. And it’s nice to know you love them really.”
Alex grinned. “Of course I love them. They’re my brothers and Julie’s my sister. Although I am still annoyed at Luke for this whole thing.”
Willie’s expression changed abruptly, from amused to… what was that? Hurt? Had Alex said something wrong without realising it? Oh god, had he just changed the tone of the situation back to awkward?
“I thought you were okay with this,” Willie said. His voice was a different kind of quiet. Small now in a way it hadn’t been before.
“I am,” Alex said quickly. “I’m more than okay with this.”
“Then why are you still angry at Luke?”
“Because he knows how I–”
He stopped himself abruptly. He knows how I feel about you. That had been what he was about to say. The late hour had loosened his tongue and he had almost ruined everything. He stopped, changed course, started again.
“He knows how I get nervous about this kind of thing. If I’d been sharing a room with him and Reg like normal then there wouldn’t have been this whole problem.”
“Why is sharing with me a problem?” Willie asked, brow furrowed in confusion. “Would you have been like this if we were just sharing a room, not a bed?”
Alex opened his mouth but couldn’t think of anything to reply with that wouldn’t prompt further questions. He couldn’t see this night ending well for him at all. It was barely midnight and already he had offended Willie by saying the wrong thing. How was he meant to carry on from this?
“I wouldn’t have been so worried if there were two beds,” he admitted slowly. Willie deflated, nodded, curled into himself slightly. It broke Alex’s heart. “But it’s not because I don’t want to share a bed with you.”
“Then what is it?” Willie asked pleadingly. “Just tell me, Alex – whatever the reason is, it won’t change anything between us. I won’t hate you or anything like that. Just tell me what’s on your mind.”
Alex couldn’t help wondering from that if Willie had already guessed. And if he had then there was no point in pretending anymore. Perhaps he wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been so tired, his brain working so slowly, but he made his decision then and didn’t back down.
Willie’s hand had come out from beneath the covers and was now resting in the space between them on the mattress. Alex placed his hand over it and linked their fingers. He heard Willie gasp quietly and didn’t stop to think whether that was a good or bad sign.
“Luke knows how I feel about you,” Alex said. His voice wavered nervously and he couldn’t look Willie in the eye, but he still felt a thrill knowing that he was finally saying this, taking an enormous weight off his shoulders. “He knows that I’ve liked you for as long as I’ve known you. He knows how much this could mean to me, but also how nervous I’d be. I don’t know if you feel the same way, Willie. If this is weird or I’m out of order or anything like that then you can tell me to stop talking. I was just nervous because Luke did this, got me this close, without telling me about it and it threw me off. You threw me off. I’m sorry if I’ve upset you or made you uncomfortable. But that’s what’s on my mind.”
Alex finally took his eyes of his and Willie’s interlinked fingers to look Willie in the eye. Willie’s eyes were sparkling, an incredulous half-smile on his face. Alex took that as a good sign.
“Really?” Willie asked.
Alex swallowed heavily and nodded once. “Really.”
Willie said nothing. He just used their intertwined hands to pull himself closer to Alex and rest his head on his chest. Alex was glad his heart was on the other side of his chest, otherwise Willie would have been able to hear how fast it was beating. Willie had thrown an arm over Alex’s waist, holding him close, so Alex’s wrapped his around Willie’s back. He felt Willie sigh contentedly, and on a burst of confidence he pressed the lightest kiss possible to the top of Willie’s head.
“Does this mean you like me too?” Alex asked. He was fairly certain, but it was always good to double check.
Willie chuckled and Alex felt his heart swell with love. “Yeah. I like you too, hotdog.”
“So the couples room worked out after all, I guess,” he joked.
Willie tilted his head to look up at Alex, looking for all the world like an angel on Earth.
“Definitely,” he agreed. “But I think we finally use this bed for its real purpose and get some sleep.”
“Goodnight, Willie.” Alex reached over and flicked off the little bedside lamp, plunging them into total darkness.
“Goodnight, Alex.”
*
Taglist (if you want to be added or removed just let me know): @ace-bookworm @williexmercer @willex-owns-my-heart @itstiger720 @the-reckless-and-the-brave @that-one-newsie @bluedarkness @lookingthroughmirrors @tmp-jatp @salty-star @julieandthequeers @lmaohuh @sunnysbright @sylphrenas
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tearsofgrace · 3 years
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written for destiel december day 10: mistletoe (a day late again... or maybe i’m just on my own schedule?)
word count: 1k, tags: happy, christmas fluff, literally NOT sad, eyeliner!dean (no it didn’t fit, yes i put it in anyway), established relationship, family
They were all crowded in the Deancave, which turned out to be bigger than he’d thought. Hell, they’d managed to fit a real tree (decorations and all) in the corner and everything, lighting up the whole room with a warm glow. 
The chatter, the voices, the unending noise was slightly overwhelming, but it was their family. Their entire family (or everyone who could make it anyway). All gathered in one room. And Dean wouldn’t have thought that they would all get along so well, but they did. Charlie and Stevie had immediately taken to Claire and Kaia, and they sat in a corner laughing about something on Claire’s phone. Jack was getting drinks from the kitchen, but he and Claire had already become fast friends. 
Eileen wasn’t even with Sam at the moment because she and Bobby got along so well. Jody and Donna sat next to them, following the conversation with interested eyes. 
Dean leaned back into Cas with a sigh, letting his weight full on Cas’ chest. He felt warm underneath him and he shifted slightly to adjust to Dean. 
“Hey,” Dean said softly as Cas’ hands came up to comb through his hair. 
Cas just hummed quietly in reply, his fingers twisting further into Dean’s hair as they breathed slowly together. 
The buzz in the room died as Jack walked back in, two bottles of whiskey in one hand and a bottle of sparkling cider in the other. 
“Ready for presents?” he asked cheerfully, setting the drinks on the center table. 
Everyone gathered around the table, Claire and Kaia joining Dean and Cas on the couch. He tried to ignore the soft looks cast their way as Cas’ fingers smoothed through his hair. He didn’t care that his family knew. He wanted them to know. He just didn’t want the overwhelming investment in their relationship. Didn’t want them to see how vulnerable he got around Cas. He had a reputation to maintain after all. 
Still, he resisted the urge to push away and create space between him and Cas. They didn’t need to anymore and goddammit he was going to enjoy it. 
The presents went quickly, loud laughter ringing out as they exchanged socks and photo albums and nice whiskey. Cas and Dean were doing presents later, and luckily no one pushed the point. 
Eventually, there was just one present left, and it was from Claire to Dean. 
It was small, messily wrapped, and as Claire handed it to him she gave a smirk that sent his heart pounding. 
He propped himself up, choosing to drape a leg over Cas instead, and looked around the silent room. “You sure I wanna open this?” 
Claire shrugged. “Positive. It’s sorta a gift to Cas, too.” 
Dean looked back at Cas and smiled, licking his lips. Then he ripped open the paper and pulled out the shiny metal tube. He gulped and looked down at it, his hands shaking as he immediately recognized it for what it was. It’s not like it was the first time he’s used it. 
“What is this?” he said through gritted teeth, trying to control his face. 
“Eyeliner,” Claire answered. Her voice was innocent but she looked up at Dean, smirk still firmly intact. 
This shouldn’t be a big deal. He knew that. But it still felt big, huge even. Then he looked back at Cas, saw him staring at Dean with wide eyes and a tilted head, and everything seemed to slow down. He had Cas. He was in love with Cas so fuck everything else. 
He glanced around at the rest of his family as he unscrewed the top. They were all grinning, clearly expecting him to flip out or roll his eyes. Instead he just lifted the tip to his eyelid with semi-practiced fingers and drew messy lines on both eyes. 
Everyone was looking at him with some form of shock or pride or confusion and all he could do was smile. Dean screwed the cap back on and tucked the eyeliner into his pocket. 
“Thanks, Claire,” he said. Then he glanced back at Cas and stood up. “We’re gonna go do our presents and then meet you guys back here for games. What we playing?” 
He glanced around the room, everyone’s faces still mildly lost and he let out a short laugh. “Poker it is. I’ll grab the chips. C’mon, Cas.” 
Cas took his hand and stood, following him from the room. 
“I like it,” Cas said when they were out of earshot, his voice slightly breathless. 
Dean stopped in the hallway and turned to face him. “Thanks, Cas,” he said, the nerves starting to take over. 
“Look I know the reason we said the reason we were doing presents alone was so we didn’t have to get anything because I think all this Christmas stuff is bullshit and-” Dean slowed down, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry if this means more to you, man.” 
Cas smiled softly at him and reached into the pocket of his sweats. “Dean, I understand. But I did get you something. It’s nothing, really.” He pulled a clump of leaves with a few small berries from his pocket and held it in front of Dean’s face. 
“Is that-”
“Mistletoe,” Cas finished, a grin spreading across his face. 
Cas raised his arm above their heads and Dean looked up, his heart beating fast. 
“You’re ridiculous,” he said, leaning in. 
“I know,” Cas mumbled right before their lips touched. 
They stayed there for a while, Cas’ hand dangling mistletoe above their heads, their bodies flushed against each other. When Cas finally let his arm drop Dean pulled back and pressed his forehead against Cas’. 
“I love you,” he said, almost a whisper. It was still hard to say it out loud. To admit that this was real, that they were happy, that it wasn’t going away. So he’d only said it a handful of times. 
At the words, Cas kissed him again, his hands pulling him tighter against him. 
“I love you too, Dean.”
thanks to @galaxycastiel and @jellydeans for hosting!
tag list: 
@starlightcastiel @chaoticdean @larryforeveralways @dreamnovak @heller-jensen @tlakhtwritesdestiel @wanderingcas @prayedtoyou @good-things-do-happen-dean @jayus-fandom-writer @dean-you-assbutt-cas-loves-you @gayyyy-tv @starrynightdeancas @radiantdean @piemaker-from-gallifrey @on-a-bender @eshaninjer @trasherasswood @dreadful-delight @feraladoration @trenchcas @contemplativepancakes @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @thefourthheadofcerberus @seffersonjtarship @randomblabbling @craftywitchywoman  @adsp-destielcockles @tehmanda @castielscrookedtrenchcoat @queen-rowenas @expectingtofly @that-one-fandom-chick @mishas-blog-url @destielle @charmedbycastiel @cursed-or-not @faithcastiel @internetintroverts @tasersloth @dea-stiel @lulu-zodiac @my-favourite-hellatus @footstepsontherun @withclawsandsympathy @nguyenxtrang @marichankitty @celestialcastiel @goblinwritergay @deancasology @cassgetoutofmyass0907 @destielskygalaxypalace @anelitefangirl @destiel-bitches @ciniluv @fandomstuff67 @fortiusnitius
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letoscrawls · 3 years
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Hiiiii
I hope you're doing well!
I would like to ask if u have and advise about starting and art account on insta. I have a small one here on tumblr but people say insta is better for art accs. So I just create an account and start posting? Or do I promote myself in some way, maybe taking dtiys and other challenges?
Thanks in advance:D
Hi! thank you so much for checking on me! :) 
okay, i get this question quite often and i wish i could give you solid advice, but the problem with instagram right now is its algorithm. when i started my account it wasn’t that fucked up, so i don’t really know how it is for new artists who have just started their accounts now! but i can tell you that it really affected every artist, even the bigger ones, so please keep that in mind. if you “fail” to reach your audience it’s not your fault, instagram is literally sabotaging artists and i don’t know for how long it’ll be “the best platform for art”. so just to warn all of you, i don’t want you to compromise your mental health for a social platform that makes money out of our stress and insecurities, i’ll try to share what i think could work because sharing art can be really rewarding and shouldn’t be an ordeal so i’d be happy to help somehow!!!!!
so this is the “algorithm tricks” part: 
when i first opened ig, i remember my stories were viewed by at least 100 people for the first two days even though i had less than 10 followers, so i think that’s instagram way to encourage you to keep posting, so my first advice would be to post your art in the stories too, at least for the first week or something?? now, i know the algorithm is currently promoting reels, so if you’re skilled with those go for it! make videos of your creating process and stuff like that. it’s important to inform your followers when you make a new post bc the chances of it being noticed are higher, you have to do the work bc ig won’t show that post to most of your audience (did i mention that i hate whoever made this algorithm?? yes??) i’m not really sure about this but i think ig prefers the reels you make with their set of editing tools instead of just uploading a pre saved video (i think it’s their way to sabotage those who post their tiktoks), i’ve never tried them so i don’t really know what they’re like, but i’m pretty sure tiktok is way better. i read somewhere that IGTV aren’t ig big thing anymore, so i don’t think you’d get much engagement from them. in general i’d say to always promote your posts in your stories and to wait at least an hour before editing a post bc i think you’ll lose engagement if you edit it right after posting (i know, it’s so stupid).
the use of hashtags is the only thing that i approve, because it’s an helpful tool made by social media before it got so bad and they really help you to reach more people (that’s like their purpose, i just wish there weren’t dozens of other stupid rules to follow in order to be noticed besides hashtags). so using tags like “art”, “artists on instagram” and “daily art” along with tags related to the pic you posted (like the name of the character or the fandom etc) is really helpful, just don’t use unrelated tags bc it’s annoying and idk how convenient it is :P the last thing is promoting your posts by using the sponsored feature; i never used that because i’d rather eat a slug than give money to instagram, but if you have the possibility and you are okay with that then you could try!
now for the “artsy” part
artists have found many ways to bypass the algorithm and keep the community alive over the years, challenges are probably the best way to do so! dtiys are awesome, not only they help you get more recognition, but they also make artists incredibly happy! i should host one very soon myself, i’m looking for a pose and an outfit to draw one of my ocs in, hopefully you’ll see it soon! i cannot explain how happy it makes me to see people draw a character of mine, and it’s great to see them in so many different styles, so i highly recommend dtiys! usually the artists who host them post the entries in their stories too, so yeah, you should definitely try those! there are other challenges like art vs artist, memes etc, it’s incredible how creative the community is despite all! and lastly, draw fan art! contributing to a fandom with your art is so cool, personally i prefer it over original content most of the time, i feel the need to share my point of view and to let out all the idiotic thoughts i have when i consume some kind of media so i’m really biased, but every artist is different, so don’t force yourself to do something if you don’t feel like doing it! drawing something you don’t particularly enjoy because you want to get recognition is gonna make you burnout REALLY BAD, trust me, i personally think that passion>effort, so never forget to put your enjoyment first!!!! 
okay this took me a while and i hope it was helpful! good luck!!! i definitely forgot something dskfjhis
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