#haze code ass fandom

[jewishdainix]

We seriously need to bring back liking and being a fan of villians

[brotherwtf]

Girl we need more Dom! Gale. Just because it's widely accepted in the fandom that he's a bottom most of the time doesn't mean he's not the one incharge. Like he has the whole 100th worshipping him and if there's anyone who can put John in his place is Gale. And John is so dog coded that he blindly follows Gale

you have found the correct account for support of Dom Gale, that is my darling and I will endorse him all the live long day

for me I also hc Gale mostly as being a bottom, it just makes the most sense to me, him relinquishing his control to John and just letting himself feel for once

but Gale sometimes just likes to control people, to feel like he has some control over other people when he doesn't feel like he has control over his own life (control counter at like 6 rn)

but yes, Gale's the only one who can reign John in, even when he's drunk off of his ass and tries to rub Gale or make fun of him, a stern look will usually get the job done and stop him from being a brat

HOWEVER, John Egan is a hella stubborn and sometimes will continue pushing Gale even after Gale gives him that look, saying stuff like "oh big bad Gale is trying to put me in my place, he's not the boss of me," and Gale will just shrug, will give him another look before putting a firm hand on his shoulder and pushing him out of the bar, usually under the guise of John being to drunk to walk on his own

everyone sort of brushes it off, knows John's drunk off of his ass so it's probably true, but even through a drunken haze John can see the fire in Gale's eyes, the fire that shows he's fucked up and he's to be in for it that night

when they get back to their barracks John tries to apologize, says he didn't mean it, just had a little too much to drink, he didn't mean to be bad, but Gale just raises his eyebrows and chuckles to himself turns around to start taking off jacket until he's just in his undershirt, turns around to John and just shakes his head

"come on, darling, don't disappoint me again tonight. kneel," Gale says, turning back around to fold up his jacket neatly and place it on the bed

John, of course, does, kneeling at Gale's hand in front of him because he would rather die than be disloyal and when Gale smiles at him when he turns around it almost makes it all worth it

"there you go, I know you know how to be good," Gale says, caressing John's face and running fingers through his hair

"poor puppy just needed a firmer hand, well I can do that for you, baby, I'll do that for you," Gale says and John whines low in his throat

Gale just talks for the rest of the evening, sitting on the edge of the bed with John's face resting in his lap, looking up at him without a single thought in his eyes, like a good boy

[lesbianbooradleypsued]

The Etherian Party Bus: Point Zero

Fandom: She-ra and the Princesses of Power Pairing: Adora/Catra  Word Count:  6,898

Summary: As Darla approaches the point of no contact with Etheria, Adora thinks about how they got to this point. Just 7 months ago they'd won the war, and now she doesn't know if her little crew will ever return. Or After the defeat of Hoard Prime, Catra and Hordak were exiled for four years. Adora and Entrapta refused to accept being separated from them for that long, and loaded the two of them on Darla and then set out for parts unknown in space. Adora is currently considering everything that has happened to get them to this point as they are about to leave contact range with Etheria. Catra joins her on the bridge.

Notes: So this is just one part of a series. They'll be posted out of order with the time stamps at the beginning. Haven't written in a long while so have mercy on me. X-posted to AO3 as well. 

Tags: Smut, Porn With Plot, Rough Sex, Biting, Scratching, light bdsm aspects, Top Adora, Bottom Catra, Blow Jobs, Adora Has a Penis, Recreational Drug Use, if i forgot a tag tell me, Fluff, Not Beta Read

Seven Months Out

The rhythmic thump of heavy bass from two floors down on Darla thrummed through Adora's relaxed body like a second heartbeat.

She was shamelessly lounging on the bridge in her Captain's chair in a pair of baggy grey sweatpants, a white tank top, and the comfortable black slip on shoes she wore day to day around Darla. Her right leg was draped over the plush arm of her chair and her left leg was cocked out, resting comfortably on the floor. Her right arm was folded behind her head and her left was lazily holding onto a glass filled with shimmery dark purple liquid that rippled in sync with the bass.

The bridge was dark save for the few ever present blinking red lights on the various dash boards and panels surrounding the six strategically placed seats that now comprised the ship's bridge. All Entrapta and Hordak's designs. It was just those lights and of course the large windows filled with the brilliant kaleidoscope of stars that were reflected in Adora's peaceful hazed over blue eyes.

She was lost in reflection.

In front of her were countless galaxies filled with countless lifeforms and Adora wanted to meet and learn about them all. And hopefully quell that insatiable drive in her that'd been building steadily for the last four months of the exile to just keep going.

Adora finally knew what a passion was now, something not born out of circumstantial upbringing or a sense of duty, but something you do because you want to. She wants to explore further every day just to find out something new, chart new stars, learn about a different species cultures. She wants to see what Catra feels like in her arms there with her through every new experience, so far removed from their prior life. Untethered. She knows very little about the First Ones, most of it not great, but she does know they were explorers. She figures that's where this passion must come from.

Behind her, falling further and further away every second is Etheria. It's so far away now it's no longer visible even at their highest scanning capacity.

After seven months in space, the last four of them spent finally finding out what kind of person she was outside of child soldier/She-ra, Adora's feelings about their abrupt, messy departure from their home planet had managed to settle down between resignation and dull betrayal.

It's still a very tender spot. Her logical brain understands that Catra and Hordak couldn't just escape any type of punishment for their literal war crimes. It wouldn't be fair to the countless lives forever changed by them. She also will begrudgingly concede that it would have been a slap in the face to every citizen of Etheria if Glimmer had just gone against the public demand and pardoned them. She is also begrudgingly grateful that Glimmer had ordered the most minimal punishment she had within her power as Queen.

But four years exile still seemed so long. Too long. Even longer now that she knew what her and Catra actually had. She thought she had loved Catra at seventeen, but that feeling was hardly a single star in the quadrant compared to the way she felt about her now. And she knew that with every day that passed, the feelings were just getting more and more intense. She couldn't imagine going four days without the magicat, four years was absurd.

Less than an hour after the sentencing they had left Etheria in a messy, absolutely traumatic scene on the front lawn of Brightmoon. Two of them were convicted criminals who had just been exiled from Etheria and two of them were Princesses who refused to just accept being parted for four years, the need to rebuild Etheria be damned. And as an extra spicy surprise they found out a couple of months in, that Double Trouble had stole'd away on Darla for reasons Adora was still unclear on. Something about drama and possibly being wanted.

The first few months in space had been a disaster Adora acknowledged, taking a sip of her drink and savoring the smooth herbal flavor. They had been blindly chasing the idea of restoring magic to the universe like it was their assigned mission, and not just a distraction from their current situation.

The immediate space around Etheria, it turned out, was not nice to begin with.

In the month since Prime's demise a power vacuum had opened up in the area. Entire planets were without the resources to rebuild themselves and were more than willing to fight for them, and there were opportunistic ships filled with bandits everywhere. It was chaos.

And they had flown into the middle of all that and loudly pronounced they had killed Prime and were magic.

Que a three month long shit storm.

They all just suffered.

Entrapta retreated into herself, barely coming out of the engine room unless they were under attack or broke down. She had been shaken to the core by her sudden loss of confidence in the friendships she had tentatively built over the last three years. Friendships she thought were built on mutual respect for their unique abilities and qualities. Entrapta knew she was the smart one. But only Adora, Scorpia, Wrong Hordak, and Catra had spoken on Hordak's behalf even though Entrapta provided sufficient evidence that by killing Prime in the way She-ra had, it had changed Hordak in fundamental ways. Yes he was responsible for what he had done, took responsibility for it, but he was also literally a new being.

When She-ra knocked Prime's ass out of Hordak's body and vanquished him, it was like being baptised, exorcised, and reborn simultaneously. All the clones had experienced it. Hoard Prime could not control them even again, could never take control of them again. An order coded into their very DNA that demanded them to conquer all for Prime was obliterated. That drive, an instinct really, had been as deeply ingrained into them as breathing was.

Hordak was not really washed anew like the other clones though. He didn't go from a mindless drone in a hive mind like the others, no, he'd spent thirty years waging war in Prime's name on Etheria. He was now without purpose. He was overwhelmed with emotions he did not know he was capable of that lurched violently from happiness to guilt and more often than not ended up at rage. He spoke very rarely to anyone but Entrapta unless it was to loudly argue with Adora or Catra or both of them.

Adora had spent those first few months just absolutely drenched in anger and bitterness. Her mind circled around all of the hurt that had been caused during the last three years. So much of it was Adora and Catra's. They were hit with traumatic event after traumatic event for three years, after a traumatic as fuck childhood. And against all odds they had escalated and pushed that stalemate of a war to an end where everyone won. And now because apparently they couldn't have nice things, and Adora was not smart, they found themselves in a big galaxy filled with unexpected dangers. And what were they doing? Chasing and dodging said dangers because they were just barreling ahead under her command asking every being they met if they needed their magic topped off. She was being absolutely reckless and every near catastrophe circled back to two thoughts. I'm not good enough and how could Catra love me?

Catra had felt horrible that Adora had just given up her life on Etheria so she could stay with Catra. But she felt downright evil that she had selfishly agreed to it with very little argument. Adora had pointedly told Catra that this was what she wanted. How could she deserve this? After everything that had happened Adora had chosen her? Wanted her by her side to explore this precious thing they'd started? How could she say no? It was hard for anyone but them to understand how much it meant for Adora to say those words aloud. She wanted Catra. She could not actually believe it still. Fought herself against the notion in fact. She spiraled in self hatred and guilt. Which of course meant she lashed out at Adora because that's what she did.

Adora and Catra got stuck in a vicious cycle of fight, avoid, apologize, rinse, and repeat that went on for two months. And then finally after a truly shitty day, even by those early standards, it came to a head. Catra gathered all three of the brain cells aboard Darla and had a big "aha moment". They actually had their first real mostly calm and open discussion about their feelings and baggage in their lives. They also had sex for the first time. It was a really big aha moment.

Adora hadn't thought it was possible to fall more in love with the magicat but she did. After the incident, Catra began opening up in earnest to Adora. She whispered confessions of love and attraction into her ear, began to slowly become more physically affectionate towards her. Adora's focus started to shift from saving the universe to saving them. If Catra was safe, she was calm enough to be vulnerable for Adora, and it turns out Adora needed that vulnerability like fucking oxygen. It made her better, made her feel like she could do anything in the universe she wanted. It made Adora believe that Catra loved her for her, and not for what Adora could do.

So less running around space with her whole ass showing; ending them up in dangerous situations every other day, and more let's just go away from that situation and see what's over there.

But not enough because they all nearly died in a fiery blaze three months in.

Adora had snapped after healing Catra's broken ribs, pointed Darla in the general direction of far away, and gunned it. They'd cleared the small cluster of planets nearest Etheria that they had been nervously darting around for three months, getting their asses handed to them, and just kept going. She just put the whole magical quest on the back burner indefinitely. It wasn't working, was actively endangering them in fact. It was not conducive to a vulnerable safe Catra.

When they were a safe distance away she had hidden the ship in an asteroid field and Meelog cloaked them. And then Adora had turned to Catra and asked her what she thought they should do next. It had been a very wise decision.

Catra had taken control immediately. First she encouraged/ordered Entrapta and Hordak to use their combined intelligence and any means necessary to get Darla up to date and better suited to surviving four years in space. They absolutely ran with it. They'd practically completely redesigned the layout of the ship and had even managed to expand its size over the last four months. Darla was taking on the character of a jigsaw puzzle with all the different colored materials covering her hull now. Double Trouble called it Junker Chic, Adora said she had character.

After that, and another near death experience for Adora, the magicat had proposed becoming diplomats of sorts for Etheria. Space was dangerous Catra pointed out, and that danger would likely come for Etheria again eventually. Having strong ties to planets already established in the quadrant has leaders could only be helpful.

And as her last decision Catra had released Adora from any responsibility except for occasionally parading She-ra out when the situation called for it. Her girlfriend had poked and prodded at the new ember of passion in Adora's heart until it was a raging fire.

It had been an amazing change in their lives.

Still seven months in space and in her heart, Adora was still so raw from the sheer trauma of the entire trial, convictions, and absolutely cataclysmic immediate aftermath. She'd had to carry Catra aboard Darla because the magicat was crying so hard. She felt...betrayed? Somehow used in a way she couldn't express? She had nearly died over and over and over again for Etheria. She nearly lost Catra forever for Etheria. And all they got were two weeks before everything went to absolute shit and strangers who didn't know the full story started demanding Catra's permanent exile. Some had even called for execution despite Etheria not having a death sentence. "Make one" someone had said. Adora had nearly ran them through with her sword.

Adora knows if they are ever gonna return at the end of the exile she's gotta heal more. Has to get to a place where she wants to go back. They all do.

Two decks down, in Darla's expanded cargo bayn the wildest party this side of Etheria was raging on at, what her body believed to be, very very late at night. The beat changed suddenly, becoming more powerful, and it startled Adora out of her musings. The tempo sped up and the bass pounded harder and Adora released a throaty chuckle. Her groin tightened, partly from the vibrations and partly from the effects of the drink coursing through her blood. She took a long swill of her glass and moved to rest her right hand firmly on her lap, rubbing her hardening dick through her pants and sighing in contentment.

The thing Adora lovef most about this aimless explorer diplomatic lifestyle they'd gradually slipped into was the culture they'd shared with scores of different species. The drink in her hand was supplied by the fourteen Chix'eks currently onboard the ship at the moment, who were also supplying the music.

Of all of the species they'd met so far, the Chix'eks are by far Adora's favorite. Tall and willowy bipeds, their shimmery smooth bichromatic scales come in countless color combinations and their facial features remind Adora of a bird of prey. They were also the most sincere, friendly beings Adora has ever met, and their language was beautiful. When Adora had been downstairs with them earlier she had taken her translator earpiece out and just listened to them. It was like glass windchimes in a steady breeze. They also were absolute party animals. Like having a pretty good time was in their specie's nature.

They'd been traveling with this group for the last two weeks for no other reason than they were all going the same direction for a bit.

The Chix'eks were highly intelligent and eager to share their knowledge and learn from Hordak and Entrapta's own wealth of knowledge, Catra and Double Trouble practically fed off of their clever sharp wit and general "we're always at a rave" vibes, and Adora just loves listening to their intricate music and sampling the various mind altering substances they have crafted over several millions of years of inherited knowledge.

Medicine was a specialty craft amongst their species. Their medicine was arguably the furthest advanced in this quadrant of space. The fact that the plants that grew on their home planet could affect every species they had met so far seemed fantastically impossible to Adora. But she had experienced it first hand when she'd contracted some kind of alien plague virus from hell and almost died. It was not a great time. Catra had new nightmares for several weeks. But by chance a group of the scaled beings had happened upon them and saved Adora just cause they could. And then offered to make some introductions to other friendly worlds in that part of space. They'd sparked that explorative vibe.

Oh yeah, and their passion for making addictive free, highly specialized, mind altering substances was a huge bonus.

She was glad they were on board right now providing her strange crew with comrade and the drink in Adora's hand that has allowed her to sit and think in total peace for the last hour. It would probably be one of those nights otherwise. Outside of the moments she spent wrapped up in Catra's arms, where nothing else existed but them, Adora still couldn't ever just relax. It was a little easier these days, maybe because now her mind was usually racing about exciting things, but tense situations brought out her worst self destructive habits.

And they were in a tense situation, party aside.

They were almost at the point in space where they wouldl no longer be able to contact Etheria and Etheria will no longer be able to contact them. Entrapta officially called it Point Zero. As it was, the contact they did have with home had a two week delay. They'd hovered around this point for the last month. They'd even recorded a message telling Etheria they'd be leaving contact range for a while. It was an open-ended goodbye disguised as an update, just in case.

Adora knew the decision to venture out beyond this point was on her shoulders.

Entrapta and Hordak would have loved nothing more than to gain new scientific knowledge so they could continue their shared passion for turning Darla into a flying impenetrable fortress. As well as collecting new tech to bring back to Etheria to modernize the planet.

Double Trouble wad having the time of Their fucking life expanding Their repertoire of mimicry far beyond the limits of Etheria, and raising hell in Their wake for the drama of it all. Their gift for espionage had been especially useful on several occasions as well, either to get them all out of a tight spot, or just to gather information for Adora's research.

And Catra. God Catra had absolutely burst like a supernova away from Etheria. Gone was the self loathing, guilt ridden magicat who was immediately resigned to being torn away from Adora and tossed onto Beast Island because she thought she deserved it.

Catra is thriving in space, completely free of the demons that plagued her on Etheria. She's still as snarky and sharp tongued as ever but nowadays she smiled more often than not. Her eyes were brighter. She purred almost constantly. And they hadn't fought about anything more serious than what to eat for dinner in months.

Catra had slipped into the not exactly legit role of Etherian Ambassador like a second skin. Her skill for strategy and diplomacy were nearly fully responsible for Adora's continued ability to study other species without coming across as some insane space tourist. They'd made real diplomatic ties with other planets because Catra was a strategic genius. All she asked of Adora was to bring out She-ra when the need for "oohs and aware" occasionally arose. A smiling eight foot tall muscled goddess with a sword really topped off a presentation.

Adora had never in her life seen Catra so happy and carefree.

But still all that aside, Catra had made it very clear that where Adora wanted to go, she wanted to go. They were in sync now more than they'd ever been in their lives, more than Adora suspected they could have achieved on Etheria. Their bond seemed impenetrable after seven months of constant reliance on one another, cohabitation, and working through most of their shit. When they moved these days, they moved as one.

Just thinking about her lover made Adora's heart race in her chest and her dick jumped, going from a semi, to rock hard in seconds. She inhaled deeply at the sensation, and downed the last of her drink.

The drink wasn't usually this potent. Adora had been drinking a much lower dosage of it every morning at breakfast for a couple of months. It helped her to concentrate during the day, helped to keep her thoughts from spiraling when things were tense or she felt like she'd messed up. Entrapta had explained brain chemistry to Adora briefly, she got the gist of it. She didn't need to have an in-depth understanding of it to get that it really helped just manage everything.

Tonight's drink though was not about mental health management and all about that really good Chix'ekian time.

She set the empty glass on the small table at her side and shifted so she could pull her hardened cock out of her pants. The drink had a massive effect on her senses and her libido. Everything was so intense. It felt like she perceived time slower.

For example her sense of smell was so heightened now she could smell Catra, knew she was making her way down the hall to the bridge. Her heady earthy aroma was addictive. Adora had only been minutely aware of it growing up, when they were pressed up against each other in their bunk, or claws to sword in battle. She'd never stopped to examine the nature of it, why Catra had such a distinctive scent compared to everyone else. She hadn't understood pheromones. She didn't understand the magicat instinct to mark and claim. She understood now though that Catra was different on a very basic level from Adora. It made Adora love her more.

The door barely made a sound as it opened and closed. Adora stroked herself lazily as she listened to Catra pad softly across the carpeted floor, her eyes still drawn to the wild unexplored space in front of them.

She felt Catra move around her chair and her eyes turned away from the view to watch her girlfriend kneel in front of her lap, rest her head on Adora's thigh, and begin gently running a clawed hand over Adora's exposed stomach, inches away from where Adora was stroking her own dick.

Catra's eyes were wide, pupils blown, and her voice when she spoke was practically sinful. "Hey Adora," she rasped out looking up at Adora as she scent marked her inner thigh. Adora took a deep breath and her lips curled into an absolutely love drunk smile.

"Hey Catra," Adora replied, her free hand immediately going to Catra's cheek and scratching behind her ear.

Her gaze drifted down to Catra's neck, and the thick white collar affixed with a golden o-ring she was wearing. This was a rather recent addition to their relationship and Catra had only ever worn it in their cabin. But she smelt of the woodsy incense the Chix'eks liked to burn and the herbal blend they'd created for Catra to smoke. Which meant Catra was wearing it at the party. Her dick twitched in her hand.

Catra purred at the affection and movedn her hand from the blond's stomach to swat away Adora's hand from her straining dick and began softly stroking it herself. The fine furs on her palms felt amazing to Adora's overly sensitive cock and she groaned with pleasure, head lulling back as she buried her hand in Catra's wild shoulder length hair.

"Those Chix'eks really know their stuff," Catra hummed as she shuffled closer and higher on her knees so she could press a small kiss to the base of the blond's length.

"Feeling good?" Adora asked, chuckling. She tightened her grip on Catra's mane slightly and kept her in place against her dick. She moaned when the corner of Catra's lips pressed momentarily against her balls.

"Feeling great," Catra said before beginning to lick at the hot flesh in front of her face "I'll be bummed when they break off to go home."

"Oh my god same," Adora said laughing and breaking out into a wide smile. Gently she pushed Catra backwards and sat upright in her chair, kicking her shoes off and to the side.

"You know," Catra said as Adora pulled her back towards her lap, "we're about ten minutes till we're out of range."

She might have said it conversationally but Adora knew Carta was nervous about Adora's decision. But Adora was not. Just like she wasn't nervous when she leapt into the darkness in Prime's ship, just like when she chose to spend some well deserved time with the love of her life over "duty", and just like the time she gave Catra control of their situation.

Adora pushed Catra back, leant forwards, and cupped both of Catra's cheeks, fingers immediately curling around her ears. She kissed the magicat on the forehead and deeply inhaled her scent. "Kitten I sent the message and set the course for straight ahead when I came in here an hour ago. I want to see what else is out there." Her blue eyes flitted up hungrily to the stars and then back to Catra before she reclined back into her chair.

Catra didn't look up, but she did release a suspiciously watery chuckle before she shifted forwards and wrapped her perfect lips around the head of Adora's cock suddenly. She took it deep down her throat so fast it seemed effortless. Adora groaned obscenely and buried her hands in Catra's hair, her grip tight and immediately desperate.

Adora's cock wasn't exactly small. Fully erect as she was now it was eight inches long and thick as fuck. And Catra just kept sliding her lips further and further down her length until they were stretched taunt and her breath was coming out in hot, fast puffs against Adora's abdomen.

"Gods, fuck Catra," Adora groaned out as Catra's head began to bob up and down in her lap. The blond watched Catra's throat greedily as the muscles contracted to deep throat her over and over again. They were strained against her collar.

Adora felt a sudden sharp sting at the base of her dick and hissed loudly in pleasure. Occasional knicks on her dick were an unavoidable experience when the woman sucking it regularly had needle sharp fangs. Adora relished in the familiar sting, craved it actually.

Adora's fingers tightened roughly in Catra's hair and when the magicat made to bob up, Adora forced her back down until Catra's claws pressed into her thighs, easily piercing through her sweats and into her skin. The magicat sputtered around the cock firmly blocking her airway.

Catra let out a sound somewhere between a moan and a yowl as she struggled to breath for a second. And when Adora pulled her back up she sucked in a ragged breath before a deep growl rumbled in her chest. Her bi-colored eyes were completely blown and she pulled against Adora's hand, trying to take the blond down her throat again.

"Fuck you're so desperate to choke on my dick, aren't you Kitten?" Adora slurred out. She didn't even wait for a response, just shoved Catra back down as her hips jolted up.

She began fucking Catra's throat in a slow but firm pace. Push Catra down and hold her there for a few long moments and then yank her up. Catra was growling nearly non-stop as she fought to keep her lips firmly wrapped around Adora and the vibrations from it made Adora's toes curl into the carpet.

She could happily cum like this, just release herself into Catra's eager mouth like she'd done plenty of times before, but she was suddenly starving for more. Catra's body was practically writhing on the floor, her hips jerking forwards repeatedly, and her thighs pressed firmly together. The sight of her girlfriend so fucking turned on from sucking her dick made Adora feel godsdamn invincible.

"Up," Adora ordered, not waiting for Catra to respond before she was leaning over and practically ripping the magicat's leggings off. Catra was too far gone for words or to be much help, and Adora practically had to pick her up to get the pants and underwear off her feet. She made quick work of both of their shirts too. "Come on," she growled, pulling her writhing girlfriend into the chair with her.

Adora pulled Catra forwards at the hips, pressing her down until Catra's dripping pussy was pressed against her abs. Immediately Catra started rubbing wantonly against against her, spreading her slick up down Adora's stomach. Her mouth found Adora's neck and she began pressing possessive needy kisses against her.

"Fuck you're so sexy," Adora groaned as she held firmly onto Catra's hips and watched her grind against her. Adora didn't need heightened senses to know even after multiple showers, she was going to smell like Catra for days.

"Mine," Catra growled out territorially as she made new marks to Adora's already colorful neck.

"All yours Kitten," Adora agreed. She loved feeling Catra move against her like this, but her dick was begging for relief.

It was difficult to push the writhing Catra back enough to enter her. Her girlfriend was nearly completely gone, operating on her most base instincts and desires, but Adora managed to grab her hips in a bruising grasp and lower her further down her body.

Her own hips were jerking violently upwards on their own volition and it was a frantic moment as she tried to hold Catra still enough that she could stroke up into her. "Hold still," she ordered, her blunt nails digging into Catra's hips demandingly. Catra let out a frustrated growl but stopped fighting against Adora. Adora grunted as she shifted their bodies, lined up, and slammed her dick hilt deep into her girlfriend.

Catra let out a guttural sound from deep in her chest and her claws raked through Adora's hair, pulling their foreheads together. "S-so good f-fuck Adora," she stuttered through clenched teeth as Adora began slamming up into her roughly.

Their eyes were wild and locked onto one another's. The room was filled with the thumping bass, the lewd wet sounds of their thighs slapping together, Adora's harsh ragged breathing, and a constant rumbling growl from Catra.

Every time she bottomed out in her lover Adora's heart skipped a beat. Catra's pussy was clenching around her cock almost in sync to the music and Adora felt like she would die if she couldn't get further into Catra. She wanted to live inside the woman in her lap.

Catra's head fell to Adora's shoulder and she began rambling out adoration and praise for Adora as she sucked, licked, and bit at Adora's neck repeatedly. "Fuck s-soooo fucking good. You fuck! You're f-fucking me so g-good Adora Fuck." Her body was becoming pliant above Adora, allowing the blonde to drill up at her own pace and pull Catra down on her like a toy.

The praise combined with a bite hard enough to draw blood at the juncture of her neck and shoulders had Adora howling. Adora was like a woman possessed as she heaved both of their bodies up and then down onto the floor. Catra began to scramble up when Adora pulled out of her but frantically got into position when Adora started to forcefully roll her over into her hands and knees.

This was Catra's preferred position to get fucked and Adora wasted no time before slamming back into her girlfriend. She leaned over Catra until her front was flush against the magicats silky back and braced herself on her right arm. Her left hand shot up to Catra's neck and her fingers dug in between her collar and fur.

"Fuck!" Catra howled as Adora began violently rocking against her, pushing her further to the floor each time. Catra's claws were fully extended, digging grooves into the carpet and scraping at the metal beneath it. "I love you," she growled out, giving up any control she had left and just letting Adora pound into her.

"Y-you're my, my fucking whole world," Adora managed to gasp out as she lurched above Catra. "I w-want to be inside you forever."

Catra trilled below her and her pussy began to clench so hard around Adora's cock it felt nearly impossible to pull out. She felt like Catra was sucking her into her. They were almost completely down on the carpet now, with most of Adora's weight fully on Catra.

"Mine," Catra growled desperately, her eyes were clenched shut and her body had begun to violently tremble. Her claws were locked several inches down into the floor beneath them.

"Yours. All yours. Everything I am is for you," Adora gasped out. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she felt like it was about to explode and her focus had completely narrowed to the feeling of Catra's pussy gripping her cock like a vice.

She could feel a scream building up in Catra's chest below her and Adora latched onto her shoulder with her teeth. She bit down hard and Catra's head snapped back as she screamed Adora's name and tipped over into her orgasm.

Adora's balls and upper thighs were drenched as Catra's pussy spasmed and squirted below her. The feeling of Catra's white hot release was it for Adora. She slammed down once, twice, a third time, and then her body went rigid as her own orgasm ripped through her. The blond's back arched and her head snapped back, eyes open and wide, her vision filled with porta literal stars as she emptied her balls deep into her girlfriend.

Below her Catra writhed and rubbed up into Adora, her pussy was milking Adora's dick for every last drop of cum it could. Adora felt dizzy from her violent release and she pressed them both down against the floor, barely managing to not rest completely atop Catra's petite frame.

They laid there together like that for a long while. Taking greedy breaths and shaking against each other. Adora was still buried deep inside Catra as the woman's pussy contracted around her. Finally when Adora started to come back to herself she eased out of her lover, chuckling lightly at the disgruntled whine Catra let out.

"Ssh baby," Adora cooed. She kept a hand on the small of Catra's back and stroked her fingers through the thick fur as she straightened up on her knees. Her back gave a satisfying crack at the stretch and she sighed looking down at Carta whose fingers were starting to dig into the floor rhythmically. Her hips were raised trying to get as close as possible to Adora's gently scratching hand. "Come on baby," Adora murmured softly as she picked Catra up.

Catra was practically boneless in her arms but Adora managed to get her knees locked around her waist and her arms over her shoulders before she hoisted both of them up off of the floor. She took a moment to get her bearings and wrapped an arm more securely under Catra's ass.

Catra had almost immediately started purring after Adora picked her up and now it was turning into a loud rumble as she nuzzled her face in Adora's neck and started to scent her. "Bed," she grumbled out against Adora's skin as her claws started to kneed the blond's shoulder.

Adora chuckled and gently butted her head against Catra's. "Yes bed time now," she whispered softly as she spared one last glance to the star filled windows in front of her before focusing on the task at hand.

By Adora's estimate she had about five to ten minutes to get Catra to the privacy of their cabin before the magicat would be forcefully holding Adora down regardless of where they were. Catra's after sex hormone driven instincts were always pretty strong and were Adora's absolute favorite moments to witness. She knew they'd be intense tonight with how hard they'd fucked and Catra still riding the high of that Chix-ekian herbal blend she'd smoked.

"Okay," she murmured taking stock of the situation. This was not her first naked Catra on the bridge rodeo. She knew there was no way she was going to be able to put Catra down long enough to get their clothes back on, the possibility didn't even cross her mind. Still, in an attempt at civility she toed their discarded clothing into a pile and mostly kicked it under her chair.

Adora took a few steps to Catra's chair and grabbed the large fluffy blanket folded up in it. "Hold tight baby," she whispered, waiting a second for Catra to tighten around her body before shaking out the blanket and wrapping it around their bodies.

She grimaced a little at the ten rivets cut into the floor at her feet. Double Trouble would have a field day with that. She shrugged because what could she really do about it now? Quickly she checked Darla's readings before heading off of the bridge. Out in the dim hallways of Darla she could just slightly make out the sounds of music and laughter and it made her smile impossibly wider as she tightened her grip around her purring girlfriend.

She had just reached their door when Entrapta swung around the corner laughing. She just managed to stop herself from running into them and snapped back. Hey smile was sweet as she observed them. "Hi Adora," she managed to whisper out despite her obvious excitement.

"Hi Entrapta," Adora giggled lightly, shifting Catra's weight to her other arm.

"I've noticed we have continued on at our current trajectory Adora," Entrapta whispered, her hair expressing her obvious delight with the way it rolled around her body.

"Indeed," Adora whispered and then smiled widely when Entrapta had to cover her mouth with her hair to keep her excited shriek down.

"Goodnight Adora," Entrapta whispered, and then leant towards Catra and whispered even quieter "goodnight Catra."

Gently Entrapta patted the area between Catra's ears with her hair, and Adora had to push down a delighted gasp when Catra's tail came up and curled around the end of the hair. Adora honestly felt like she could cry at the way Catra's tail intimately held onto Entrapta, swirling around her hair for a few seconds before dropping back down to tuck under the blanket. That gesture from Catra held more meaning than any hug could and it was clear from the happy smile on Entrapta's face that she understood that. The princess waved before barreling back the way she'd come from.

A sharp, pointed nip at her shoulder made Adora chuckle and she turned and walked them into their cabin. She shrugged off the blanket wrapped around them and headed into their little bathroom, Catra still in her arms.

In a clearly practiced routine she ran a washcloth under warm water and brought it up between them to wipe at the sticky mess between Catra's legs. Catra was starting to purr like a skiff motor now and rub her face in earnest against Adora's neck and shoulders.

Satisfied that Catra's fur wouldn't mat Adora headed back into their bedroom and turned out the lights. A light glow from the baseboards was all the light Adora needed to walk the few feet to their bed. She turned around and carefully lowered their bodies down, her muscles tensed to keep them from tipping back. They had picked up the unique bed a few planets ago after Catra had fallen in love with the design. It's sides raised up gradually creating a deep pocketed area in the middle. It was a little tricky to get in and out of, but being nested down in the middle with Catra was absolutely worth it.

After some practiced maneuvering Adora laid down and stretched out her legs, a deep sigh releasing from her chest as Catra wrapped her body around Adora's. A big goofy smile split Adora's face in half as Catra started to rumble on top of her. A moment later her kneading started back up and she began to lick gently at Adora's bruised and scraped neck.

Adora was absolutely blissed out with contentment as she buried her fingers into Catra's furr, one hand right above her tail, the other behind an ear, and started scratching. The rumbling and purring kicked up several notches and Catra began to lick at her skin in earnest.

She'd learned a lot in the last seven months, but the most important lesson had been figuring out all the ways Catra had been saying "I love you" since they were toddlers. She hadn't gotten it before the heart, hadn't thought it was possible because Catra had never said the words out loud. But every purr, nuzzle, and kneed Catra had let out just for Adora had said it for her. Adora was so fucking glad that circumstances aside, she'd finally gotten the chance to figure this out.

The room was absolutely silent but Adora could still feel the light soothing pulse of bass. They laid together for a long time as Catra's rough tongue laved over Adora's neck and upper torso. Adora kept up her diligent scratching, shifting whenever necessary to give Catra easy access to her body. The sounds coming out from Catra were honestly favorite sounds in the universe, a constant deep purr that was laid under a rumbling growl.

Catra was apparently satisfied with her grooming job because she started to settle against Adora, her purr has toned down into a lazy idle as she gently rubbed her scent glands against the splotchy skin of Adora's neck

"I love you so much," Catra murmured, shifting up to press gentle kisses against Adora's face. Her eyes blinked slowly.

"I love you too," Adorab breathed out before pulling Catra down to settle her head on Adora's chest. Adora kept gently stroking behind Catra's ears up until the moment sleep claimed her, warm and content, wrapped completely around her lover.

Darla cruised quietly through space for parts unknown.

[alirhi]

chapter two :)

Title: Winter's Frost Chapter: 2/? Fandom: MCU Rating: R to be on the safe side Pairing: Loki/Bucky Summary: Loki never told anyone the real reason he became so obsessed with Midgard. Much better to let them think he wanted to hurt his brother than draw their attention to the one thing in the universe that makes the God of Mischief truly vulnerable.

WARNINGS: m/m, in case that wasn't obvious. probably some swearing. I rarely do explicit sex but it might get to that point, depending on if the mood strikes me. If you're under 18, just go away XD Notes: taking advantage of the muse while I've got it lol. I should be working on actual books but... Loki took over my brain [EDIT] I rewatched CW after writing this chapter and realized there was no snow XD everything was green. Clearly, they were in SoCal, not NY. I'm from the Northeast, so I automatically associate December with snow, ice, and all things evil (I hate extremes lol). My bad.

Loki, you've changed.

"I'm fine."

Loki, you've become so unfocused.

"I'm fine."

Loki, are you alright, dear?

"I'm fine!" Maybe, he'd thought, if he repeated it often enough, it might become true. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. He's gone-I'M FINE!

He'd never told anyone about his soldier boy; Heimdall was the only one who even knew Loki was going to Midgard frequently in the early 1940s, and even he didn't know why. Loki had made sure of it. A handy, if tiring trick, to keep prying all-seeing eyes out of his business. The end result of his desire for privacy, though, the price he paid for being cagey, was that when he went back and found himself alone, he couldn't tell anyone what he'd lost.

Bucky was gone. He was gone, and Loki couldn't even share his grief with his mother, because he'd been so scared to tell her about his unexpected, unorthodox love. For a brief few months, he'd found little stolen moments of bliss; a heartbeat, and barely that. He'd known his fragile human love would one day perish, and that he'd never be ready, but even in his darkest nightmares of the war Bucky was facing, he'd never truly thought it would happen this soon.

He was gone, and Loki was left all alone. He couldn't let anyone see his grief, so he showed them indifference. He showed them callous disregard and a flippant sharp tongue that drove them all mad. He could turn to none of them, so he did all he could to turn them away; maybe if they weren't all looking at him, for just a few minutes, he could let himself break and weep for the love stolen from him too soon.

Eventually, he realized he would never have that moment if he stayed on Asgard. There were simply too many prying eyes, and not enough holes to hide from them in. Though it tore him to shreds to even think it, he snuck away back to Midgard for the first time in decades.

The spot he'd chosen was meant to be deserted. A snowy woodland road in the middle of the night, he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to be there. It was perfect, really. Except that it wasn't actually deserted.

It took him a moment to understand what he was seeing as he approached the two vehicles. One was an automobile, its front end smashed against a tree and in flames, with two silent, unmoving passengers. The other was a motorcycle, and that really confused him. Who would ride around so exposed in this kind of weather?

Movement caught his eye, and for a brief, foolish second he felt relief. Someone was helping the unconscious pair in the car-no. Someone was walking away from them.

Someone unnervingly familiar. "James?" It couldn't be! He'd died in that bloody war! Even if he hadn't, humans aged rapidly; he'd be an old man, barely able to move, much less choke the life out of a woman, which Loki's brain oh-so-helpfully had just processed, belatedly.

This man, who looked like Bucky but wasn't, had just murdered someone right in front of him. Loki wasn't even sure if he cared. He was too stunned and confused to feel much of anything.

The man didn't respond, but he did march straight up to him. At first, Loki thought they might have a conversation – perhaps this was a relative of Bucky's, wondering how Loki knew his great-great Uncle or some such?

No. He was getting rather tired of being wrong. Perhaps Odin was right; he was unfocused, off his game. The man's icy metal fingers were wrapped around his throat before he'd fully processed what was about to happen.

Without thinking, Loki smirked and taunted, "Straight to it, then? It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

That voice! "It can't be...!" Eyes wide, Loki broke his own code and slapped a hand onto the man's fluffy head. It couldn't be Bucky, after all, so reading his mind wasn't betraying the man he loved.

The mad, nonsensical scramble that flooded his mind nearly made him faint. It was like a long, distorted scream tearing through his head. They both let go of the other and stumbled back, not-Bucky looking stunned and confused, and Loki barely able to think straight through the pain and confusion.

One word slowly made its way to the surface out of the din: HYDRA.

"What is HYDRA?" He was still clutching his own head, willing the world to stop spinning at such an alarming, nauseating rate, when he heard the other man's voice again.

"Hail HYDRA." It was soft, monotone and automatic, as if he wasn't even fully aware of what he was saying. Even with that haunting lack of emotion, that voice was too familiar.

Loki had to know what was going on. Bracing himself for another onslaught, he gripped the man's head with both hands and focused with all his might. The static nearly overwhelmed him, but the images slowly made their way through. Capture, imprisonment, torture... Trauma and anger and diving right back into the fray. Falling. Pain. Delirium.

"You will be the new fist of HYDRA."

It finally clicked, and he threw his arms around Bucky – yes, Gods, it was Bucky! HYDRA. He knew that name! That was the organization within the Nazi ranks that Bucky had been fighting against.

"Oh, James! What did they do to you?"

He was so caught up in trying to piece it all together from his love's suppressed memories that he was completely unprepared when Bucky shoved him back, and he fell right on his ass in a snow bank. Indignant, he hopped back to his feet and started brushing himself off, but paused when he found the barrel of a gun in his peripheral vision. With his patented arrogant smirk firmly in place, he informed him, "That won't kill me."

Bucky looked confused, and the gun wavered. Then, for a split second, Bucky – his Bucky – was back and Loki was folded tightly in his arms. They held each other like a lifeline, smashing their lips together in a fierce kiss that left them both breathless.

"Loki?"

He smiled through the haze of tears suddenly blurring his vision, a choked laugh that was more than half-sob escaping him as he ran his hands through that ridiculous long hair over and over again. "Yes. I don't know how you're alive, but I am so grateful!"

"Run!" Eyes wild, Bucky pushed him back, more gently this time, but with far more urgency. "'No witnesses.' Loki, you have to run! Now!"

"What?"

"Get out of here, before I figure out what will kill you!"

"I don't understand..." The machine. The final piece fell into place from Bucky's scrambled memories, and filled him with rage. The reason Bucky's mind was so screwed up, the reason he wavered even now and the dull, robotic look returned to his eyes; they'd figured out how to control him. They'd stripped away his free will and left him a shell of himself, able only to obey their orders.

He could see the internal struggle as what was left of his Bucky fought against the mindless soldier. Hoping to mitigate that as much as he could until he could free the other man, he assured him through clenched teeth, "Do what you have to, Sergeant. Survive. I'll take care of the rest."

The look of profound confusion, of a little lost puppy, was heartbreaking. Bucky was trying so hard to stay himself, to not harm him. Watching him suffer was more than Loki could bear.

"I'll return for you," he swore as he slipped back into the shadows. "I'm going to burn it all down."

______________________________________________________

Next Masterlist

[ivedonestranger]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Teen Titans (Animated Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson/Raven Characters: Robin, Raven, Koriand'r (DCU) Additional Tags: Kissing, Surprise Kissing, Confused Robin, Short One Shot, Rob Rae week 2019 Series: Part 3 of RobRae Week 2019 Summary:

It was a random occurrence in the elevator but was it meant to be more? Day 2 "Kissing" for RobRae Week 2019

Read it on your favorite Fanfic site or here under the cut! 

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13255397/1/A-Kiss-in-Passing AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391892

The elevator was slow, it had to be. For Robin, it had felt like an hour waiting for it to descend from the common room floor all the way to the second where he was waiting, arms filled with a box of files he needed for the case Jump City PD asked him to look into. It was not often that the local police wanted them involved preferring humans handle human matters and metas handling other metas. In actuality, it was safer all around. In one way, humans were not risking their life while a meta was not being faced with an obscene amount of force because the police were not sure what to do.

Finally, the elevator dinged and slid open. For a second, he froze not expecting to see his friend Raven in the elevator. She stood there with her hood back and book in hand. Her eyes darted up for a moment to see who it was and went right back to reading. One thing was sure, being roommates for as long as they had been, the whole small talk had died away to nonverbal cues each other could read.

"Heading to the common room?" Robin asked not at the right angle to see the buttons.

"Mhmm," was the only answer he got in return. The elevator doors slid shut, and it began to slowly crawl towards the third to the top floor of the tower where they spent most of their time living. For a few seconds, nothing changed.

Robin was standing in a way that he had a chance to study the young woman who shared the elevator with him. It was not often that she was not hooded or uncovered. The cape had been thrown back to hang down her back, so the dark leotard she wore was visible. Robin's eyes studied the lines of her nose and cheeks, the amethyst eyes that moved slowly across the page and the full lips that were deceptively thin. He chuckled inwardly to himself that they looked actually quite kissable. Not that he had any thought of girls as of late, but Raven had an allure of mystery, and that was tantalizing in itself. He finished taking in her curvy but athletic figure and let his mind rest on those lips for a little while longer.

When Raven clapped the book shut, Robin jumped not expecting such a quick movement. She tucked it under one arm and turned on him. If he had not been leaning on the wall with the box in arm, he would have been able to evade her hand that snaked back around his head holding on to the back of his neck. Before any other thought could cross his mind, his entire body went rigid as he felt something warm and wet press up against his mouth. Robin felt the movement of Raven's lips against his seemed to send chills of excitement and fear through his entire body, Adrenalin pumped into him for no reason as the smell of her skin, the aloe lotion, and the scent of chamomile wafted into his nose.

Robin's heart felt as if it was going to explode when she pulled away. There was a stray twinkle in her eyes, but she immediately opened the book and had gone back to reading as if nothing had happened. The door dinged open, and she walked out towards her room, and Robin watched her go and then decided to carry the boxes a bit lower, so nobody else saw how exciting things had gotten in that small elevator.

It had been two weeks since Raven ambushed him in the elevator and he could not get the thought of those lips out of his mind. Anytime Robin made eye contact with her, they invariably dropped to her mouth. She never spoke of the kiss nor did Robin feeling like there was an unwritten rule in place. They fought, they healed, and they ate dinner together like the team they were and known were the wiser.

Finally, Robin had decided it was either some sort of experiment or Raven was just trying something new. She had been experimenting with different sensations and feelings since her father's defeat, and maybe the sorceress felt more comfortable experimenting on him since he was a fellow teammate and with an ironclad moral code. If that were true, Robin would not be against more experimentation if she was up to it.

It was late evening when Robin chose to throw down the binder he had been reading. The police files surrounding the jewelry store robberies were almost identical. It was not the actions of a meta, but police were stumped and wanted a profile. Robin had done them before, and so it was something he was known for. The notes on the profile lay strewn about only a quarter done. He needed more coffee. Robin was wearing his pajamas already and still had his mask. It was paranoia more than actually required to keep his identity a secret from his team. When you were raised and trained by the bat, you never took any chance unless you had to. So far, the group mentioned nothing, and he continued to wear it around people.

Striding through the halls towards the common room's kitchen, he passed the bedrooms of his compatriots. Raven's room was silent, but he could make out Beast Boy and Cyborg snoring up a storm. The Boy Wonder stopped a Starfire's door for a second alarmed that it was half open. He saw the Tamaranian princess laid out on her round bed, simple pink pajama-clad form half fallen off. It took him a second to see Silky, the strange mutated creature trying to crawl out but blocking the door from closing. He nudged the beast back into her room, and it growled in irritation of being foiled.

With the creature secured, Robin finally found his way to the coffee pot. Cleaning out grounds and pouring in triple the recommended amount of fresh coffee, he got the pot started. It was only a matter of minutes before the smell wafted around him. That was when he felt the arms snake under his and lock in place. He instinctively wanted to spin on his attacker, but the gray skin told him who exactly it was.

He turned himself in Raven's hold and came face to face with the sorceress. Robin's heart began to beat faster as the male side of his brain realized she stood there in a faded T-shirt and a pair of black panties. Oh, god those legs seemed to run forever.

"Uh...you need some coffee, Raven?" Robin asked trying his best to sound normal and praying to any god that would listen his body didn't realize the Azerathian was half naked.

She closed with him slowly and tilted her head up at him expectantly.

"Ummm,"

"You've been broadcasting all week how much you liked that kiss," Raven finally said. Her melodic lilt reaching his ears. Now, he had butterflies in his stomach and still did not move.

Raven cocked her head to the side in what could only have been a sarcastic thought. "Are you going to kiss me or what?"

Robin leaned down tentatively and placed his lips against hers. Immediately she closed the little gap that was left and pressed her warm body up against his. Her mouth enveloping his own in a kiss that was pronouncedly erotic. Her tongue explored his mouth while he instinctively returned the favor. Robin's breath became erratic as his body reacted to the gorgeous woman pressed up against him. His fevered brain realized she wore no bra under her t-shirt and that only two pieces of clothing separated her from being completely nude.

Raven broke away, and a growl of frustration escaped him before he could check himself. Her arms were still wrapped around his wait, but her face had taken no a sarcastic smirk, the girl's eyes twinkling.

"Got a comfortable grip there, Robin?"

Robin frowned trying to figure out in the mush that was once his brain what the girl was talking about. It was when she shifted her weight that he realized that in his haze of their passionate kiss, his hands had found their way down, slipped under the fabric and gotten a good hold of her ass.

"I AM SO SORRY!" Robin sputtered as he let go as fast as he could and tried to find a place to put his hands that were at least a million miles away from her body. "I am so so sorry! I didn't' mean to get into your personal space!"

"I didn't say that I minded, Robin," she breathed softly, her face still close to his.

She tugged on his hips away from the forgotten pot of coffee. "Wanna go back to my room?"

It was like a bucket of cold water that drenched him at the words. Robin broke out into a sweat. The thought of climbing into bed with Raven was one of the worst temptations he had ever faced. Her eyes were dark and mysterious, beckoning to a night that he would not soon forget. Robin let out a breath he did not know he was holding and gently extricated himself from her.

"Raven,"

"Yes?"

"I don't want to say this in a way that will insult you. I understand and appreciate how vulnerable you are making yourself but I...I can't go back to your room. It's wrong."

"Wrong?" Raven asked her eyebrows scrunching down. "I'm a grown ass adult, Robin. I can sleep with anyone I want."

"No, it's the way you're behaving. You have come out of nowhere, I can't...I can't take advantage of my best friend in case something is affecting or influencing you."

"You think I'm possessed or something?"

"Raven," Robin pleaded. "I can't risk hurting you. I love you too much to let that happen."

Silence reigned in the room as Robin realized he used the L word and it had just come out. He had not recognized he had feelings for Raven until she was offering herself. Was she possessed? Was it that she was actually just looking for company for the night? Either way, he could not risk hurting the beautiful, amazing woman who stood in front of him.

Raven hung her head, and the leader of the Teen Titans braced himself for the verbal or physical assault that may come. Her head popped back up, and to his relief, she looked like her usual self. Raven, herself, let out a breath. She only said one thing.

"He passed."

There was a squeal from the hallway that was out of view, and a blur of red hair came flying out shrieking like a happy banshee. Starfire hovered there in her own PJs, her eyes lit up with excitement.

"That is SOO WONDERFUL, friend Raven!"

"What the hell is going on?" Robin asked, frustration and anger beginning to seep into his voice. His face flushed with hot embarrassment but Raven closed the distance again and took his hand.

"I...I had to understand you, Robin."

"Understand me?"

"We've been through a lot. Slade, my father, and since I've been free, I've been experimenting with my emotions. I trust you as a leader, Robin, but...I've been wanting to have a closer relationship but didn't know how you would actually be."

"We've been living together for how many years?" Robin asked angrily. "You know me!"

"Do I really? I don't even know your real name," Raven scolded gently. "I wanted to know the true depth of your character when you were presented with a choice. I wanted to know how you would be when you were just with me in a non-professional environment."

"Why?" Robin finally asked sitting down at the kitchen table, his emotions expended.

"I...I was hoping you'd be willing to go out on a date," Raven asked sitting down beside him. "I completely understand if you don't want after tonight, but I had to be sure you were not going to take advantage of my new emotional state. I just had to be sure."

"And Starfire? She there to protect you in case I decided to take advantage of you?" Robin asked gesturing to the Tamaranian who had remained uncharacteristically quiet. She had her fists in a ball and holding them to her chest.

"Actually, she was there in case I tried to take advantage of you," Raven grinned, showing the smile that he had fallen in love with. "I am half demon. Who knows what it might have done if it had a chance to get you into bed."

"Oh."

Silence reigned the room as Robin tried to think, but the more ragged gasps coming from Starfire finally made him turn to look at her. Her skin had become paler, and she seemed to be about to fall to pieces.

"I don't think Star can take the suspense, " Raven chuckled. "Robin, could we go out on a date?"

Robin broke into a smile and reach across the table to take his friend's hand. "Of course, I kinda already admitted I loved you...you know in a very strong friendship way of a man who's gone to hell to save his best friend."

"Sure," Raven answered with no belief in her voice.

Starfire exploded in a shrill squeal of delight and wrapped her powerful arms around them shoving them both against her.

"My bestest friends of the worlds are now lovers!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Robin tried to cry out. "Wrong word, Star. We're dating, not lovers."

"There is a difference?"

"Quite," Raven laughed. "I'll explain it to you on the way back to our rooms. Have a good night, Robin. I'll see you in the morning."

"Maybe."

"You do know there were easier ways of finding out your answer," Robin volunteered thinking about the cup of coffee for the first time since starting the pot.

The kiss she placed on his mouth was the sweetest kiss he had ever received. There was a sparkle in her eye, and a gentleness he did not know the half-demon sorceress of Azerath was capable of. Robin sat there until the sounds of their talking had faded. He finally decided what he was.

Tonight, Robin was the luckiest man in Jump City.

[angraavenger]

shipping kanokido is homophobic. for one, both characters fall in line with stereotypes for a gay man/butch lesbian meaning that they are obviously coded as gay. Kano's speech patterns are very effeminate, which is similar to how many gay men speak. Similarly, kido speaks very masculinely, like a butch lesbian. Not to mention how she was extremely willing to let Momo into her bedroom (the chamber of lust). Also, since Momo is a personification for lust towards females (the large breasts and her eye power attracting people's attention). Going back to Kano, he is often associated with bananas, which is phallic imagery. Also, Kano was sent to the heat haze after being stabbed with a knife, which is also phallic imagery. The constant usage of phallic imagery surrounding Kano is enough subtext to prove that he is gay. The parallels between Kano's abusive mother and Kido's abusive father are also similar to how many gay Japanese youth are rejected by their households. Not to mention Kano takes on the guise of Ayano, a woman, to get close to Shintaro, a man. In this warped act of heteronormativity, it establishes Jin's rejection of heteronormative attributes in fiction. (Shintaro and Ayano and Kano breaking the heteronormative approach to grief recovery in media is for another post). Going back to Kido, all of her positive role models are women. Rin is what saves her from her ostracization at her father's house, and Ayano inspires her to become a strong leader figure. Kido's eye power also involves her turning invisible, which is a nod to how lesbians are erased in media. Shipping them despite their obvious gayness is representation Erasure. Honestly, I can't believe this fandom completely glossed over their conversation in novel 6 chapter 9 where kido says "I'm a lesbian" and Kano nods and says "I took two dicks up my ass last night I support you"?," smh. the kagepro fandom needs a lot of work to stop being homophobic and begoneathottaphobic. They are gay.

[alethiometry]

[fic] Non Serviam

Title: Non Serviam Fandom: Silicon Valley Characters: Jared Dunn, Bertram Gilfoyle, Dinesh Chugtai Rating: PG Warnings: show-level swearing Word Count: 2,021 words Summary: While Richard goes and meets with Gavin, the guys back at the house pour one out for Anton, have a rare sincere conversation, and contemplate next steps. 4x10 coda/addendum.

Notes: A quick self-indulgent thing that I threw together after watching the season finale one too many times. Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone. Enjoy!

Read below, or on AO3.

The server room is cold without Anton—empty, now, and spacious. Far too spacious. And silent, like a tomb. Almost like the offices they’d populated during Barker’s brief tenure as CEO, after the clearance sale. But whatever somber feelings their former office space had stirred in Jared, it’s nothing compared to the cold sterility of an Anton-less garage.

It had taken a couple weeks to get used to falling asleep with all the humming fans and little flickering LEDs, the constant whirrs pulsing through Anton’s circuit boards; the silence now is oppressive by contrast, even with Jian-Yang and Dinesh’s muffled argument coming from the kitchen. Jared wonders how long it’ll take to get used to sleeping in his own bedroom again. Maybe the constant twinge of muscle cramping in his back will go away after a couple nights on a real mattress. That would certainly be a silver lining.

Still, he’ll miss the server room. He supposes he should call it a garage, technically, but a garage is for parking cars, and he doesn’t think anybody’s parked their cars in here since Erlich bought the place.

Speaking of which, Erlich should have checked in with them by now. Jared pulls out his phone to shoot him a quick text (Does he have international texting? Can he even get a signal way up in the Himalayas?) but when he unlocks his phone all he sees is the falsified Hooli-Con app glaring up at him.

Right.

Somehow, even after everything, he can’t bring himself to delete it.

He’s got half a bottle of Martinelli’s in his mini-fridge, leftover from the one night they thought they’d be rich—the one night of unbridled, carefree celebration before Keenan’s betrayal. The cider’s beyond flat by now, almost disgustingly syrupy, but somehow it seems fitting.

Bottoms up,

he thinks glumly, and that’s when the door creaks open.

“Thought you moved back to your place,” Gilfoyle says, as tonelessly as ever. The air mattress bounces a little as he sinks down next to Jared, swigging directly from his bottle of Pappy van Winkle.

“I did,” Jared replies. “I just thought I’d come pay my respects. I can leave, if you’d like.”

Gilfoyle shrugs and clinks his bottle against Jared’s. “To Anton,” he mutters, pouring a bit of his bourbon onto the ground.

“To Anton,” echoes Jared, joining him.

They sit there in silent contemplation, each with his own beverage, staring at the empty room. Other than a couple shelves and crates that hadn’t fit into the U-Haul, some scattered wiring and electrical components that Jared can never seem to remember the names or functions of, and that giant photograph of Gavin Belson (turned, mercifully, to face the wall), there’s not much else to see.

“Can I ask you a question, Gilfoyle?” Jared says quietly.

“Why was I so attached to a stupid fucking machine that I built with my own two hands, that sat in here holding every goddamn byte of data and line of code that we worked our fucking asses off for?”

“Well, when you put it like that—”

“Have you ever built anything from scratch, Jared?” Gilfoyle asks.

“I set up a bird feeder once,” Jared says. “It was from a kit that I got for Christmas at one of my foster homes, but I assembled it myself and filled it with feed and climbed up the big tree in the front yard to hang it from one of the branches. A few days later, a mother bird built her nest on another branch right above it to lay her eggs. I never saw how many she laid; it was too high up to see from the ground and I didn’t want to disturb her—”

“For fuck’s sake,” Gilfoyle mutters, taking another swig.

“—Then one day I came back from school to a crow savaging the eggs,” Jared continues. “The mother bird was so helpless against it, and it just kept tearing and tearing and eating and eating. And then—she just flew away. And the crow finished eating and

it

flew away, and all the twigs and bits of egg just sort of—dripped down all over the bird feeder, like some grisly tree ornament gone awry.”

Gilfoyle snorts. Once upon a time, Jared would have found it mean-spirited. Now, though, he’s come to expect the callousness. Welcome it, even. It’s a testament to how far they’ve come, if nothing else.

The door swings open again. It’s Dinesh this time, nursing a bottle of—

“Are you drinking my fucking beer?”

“Fuck you, Gilfoyle,” Dinesh snaps. He takes a long, slow swig while flipping Gilfoyle the bird.

Jared watches them stare each other down for a moment, gauging whether he needs to intervene yet again, but then Gilfoyle deflates with a muttered “whatever” and a roll of the (still cat-contact-lensed) eyes.

“Figured I’d find you guys here,” Dinesh says, seating himself on Gilfoyle’s other side. “Jian-Yang’s been chain smoking all fucking day since getting back from the airport. And blasting fucking Chinese pop ballads. No wonder Erlich wanted to fucking kill him all the fucking time.”

“Where is Erlich, anyway?” Gilfoyle asks. “You guys ever hear from him?”

Jared and Dinesh both shake their heads. Gilfoyle shrugs again. They lapse into another comfortable silence, sipping their drinks.

“So where will you two go from here?” Jared asks.

Gilfoyle and Dinesh exchange a look.

“I go where the money goes,” Dinesh says. “And right now, as big of a fucking prick as Richard is, the money’s with him and his new internet.”

“I told you when we were working with Gavin Belson,” says Gilfoyle, “I hate to see good tech go to waste. Richard’s a lying sack of shit with piss-poor management skills, but he’s still a brilliant programmer.”

“I mean,” Dinesh adds, “As long as—” He trails off, looking embarrassed, and takes a hasty swig of his beer.

“As long as what?” Jared asks.

“As long as you keep him in check,” Gilfoyle finishes.

“He fired me,” Jared says. “You were both there.”

“And then he hired you back,” Dinesh says.

Gilfoyle grunts in agreement. “We were perfectly happy leaving him out in the cold until you called us. Totally worth it, though, to watch Melcher lose his shit. Again,” he adds with a smirk.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Dinesh says. “About Richard sleeping with Melcher’s fiancee? I mean, like, before Melcher started beating the shit out of him.”

“Oh—yeah. Yeah, he told me what happened. He didn’t want it known, though, for obvious reasons. Not that it matters now, I suppose. Cat’s out of the bag.”

“Right. Point is,” says Gilfoyle. “Richard trusts you, Jared.”

Dinesh nods. “And so do we.”

“Richard went to go meet Gavin at Josefina’s,” Gilfoyle says. “I’d bet half my shares in Pied Piper that Gavin’s offering him another acquisition, and I’d bet the other half that Richard’s gonna turn him down. It’s only a matter of time before the space saver app takes off—I mean really takes off—and we’re on track to make servers, including Hooli’s box business, completely obsolete. And with the new, decentralized internet, well. It’s a brave new fucking world.”

Dinesh smirks. “What Gilfoyle is trying to say, but can’t because he’s an arrogant dick, is that even though we’re on board, we can’t do this without you. Me, and Gilfoyle, and especially Richard. We need you, Jared.”

“That’s very kind of you to say,” Jared says, “but it’s been a long couple of days and I should head back to my place. My squatter didn’t exactly leave the place spotless when he left, so I still have a lot of cleaning to do.”

He leans over to drop his now-empty Martinelli’s bottle into the recycling bin, then pulls himself to his feet. It feels like a longer walk than usual to the garage door opener, despite the fact that he now has a direct and open route where he doesn’t have to worry about bumping into shelves or knocking some rigging out of configuration and thereby, to quote Gilfoyle, “skullfucking the entire company.” The door opens with that familiar creak and long groan, and Jared finds himself already missing the sound.

The sun has set over Palo Alto, the sky a light-polluted haze of dull greys. Richard should be back from his meeting with Gavin soon, and Jared would very much like to have some more space to think things over before getting back to work. Suddenly he feels very tired.

“I, uh, I’ll see you two tomorrow,” he says with a half-hearted wave, digging in his pocket for his car keys.

Dinesh and Gilfoyle exchange another look.

“Hey, Jared,” Dinesh calls. “Jian-Yang’s already moved all his shit into the master bedroom. We’re gonna have to start looking for someone to take his old room soon.”

“Erlich still owns the place, so there’s no rent to pay, but even without Anton eating up all the power, Jian-Yang’s stupid smart fridge is gonna piss all over the electric bill,” Gilfoyle adds. “And we’re not exactly rich yet.”

“That’s true,” says Dinesh, “but it’s a lot of hassle to look for people and schedule showings—”

“—and we’ve got a fuckload of work to do on Pied Piper.”

“And even if we do find someone, they could be, like, a serial killer or something—”

“—which, fascinating though it may be to share a living space with someone so uninhibited in his or her hobbies, poses a very real threat to the productivity of the company. Not to mention all the potential legal bullshit that comes with housing a murderer.”

“Roommates aside, the Palo Alto housing market is more competitive than SAT prep at a private school. I bet a nice, one-bedroom condo in a convenient location would sell in no time.”

“Would make the seller a shitton of money, too.”

“Right, and driving to and from your workplace every day is pretty bad for the environment.”

“And gas prices are going up again.”

“And taking the bus or biking seems pretty inconven—”

Jared holds up a hand. “I get it,” he says with a smile. “Thanks for the invite, guys. I, uh. I’ll let you know soon.”

He surveys the empty garage one more time as Dinesh and Gilfoyle return to the house. The garage door squeaks shut, Pied Piper logo gleaming bright from the light of the streetlamps. Jared starts up his car and pulls out of the driveway. It still stings, to be sure, Richard’s betrayal and near-immediate outreach and apology. Jared doesn’t doubt the sincerity of it for a second, but it still gives him pause. Forgiveness was easy when they all thought they’d be dead in the water in just a matter of minutes. They would see Pied Piper through to the bitter end, and part ways as amicably as they could manage, under those circumstances; that had been the plan, and he had accepted it. Now that they’re very much alive and seemingly thriving, though—now Jared’s not so sure.

But if what Gilfoyle says is true, that Pied Piper will only grow from here to one day overtake Hooli as the new tech giant in the Valley, well. They’ve all of them now seen what Richard is capable of, both the good and the bad. But the three of them—Dinesh, Gilfoyle, and himself—perhaps they together can somehow save Richard from becoming Gavin 2.0.

Jared smiles to himself as he pulls into his designated parking spot behind his condo, remembering that hazy, sleep-deprived night they’d spent on the dick-jerking algorithm that gave rise to middle-out—remembers the cables he’d hauled from the garage as Gilfoyle tore holes through drywall and Dinesh and Erlich kept their viral livestream afloat. He remembers the roller-coaster tumult of his first (and last) Pied Piper board meeting; the revelations of Peter Gregory’s storage unit; the dread, then ecstasy, then alarm as they assembled in Melcher’s office that very morning, very much ready to go down as a team, only to discover their unlikely salvation via smart fridge.

Brave new world, indeed.

[icecreambat]

Hello. Code Geass fan here. Oh, apart from SuzaLulu in Code Geass what do you think about the other relationships, the dynamics of Lelouch and CC in particular? And what do you think of them in a romantic sense (regardless of you being a fujoshi)? lol. It is either them or SuzaLulu with the biggest fandom. I don't see many blogs about Code Geass here on tumblr tho. Idk if it's cause it's been a long time or most fans are just not here on tumblr. CLuClu is ruining my life tho.

Okay this is about five million years overdue and probably not worth the wait either way, but I wanted to get off my ass and respond at last ahaha. Though I must say it’s been years (years!!) since I saw Geass so there’s a good chance whatever I say is coloured and/or clouded by a haze of memories I may or may not agree with fully if I watched the show again now, but here goes:

I have a complicated relationship with the girls in Code Geass, to be honest. On one hand, I genuinely, honestly like them; on the other, I’m frustrated by how much of their personal agency is ultimately shadowed by Lelouch’s presence in their lives. I know it’s partially “the point” that everyone and their mother is secretly in love with Lulu, but Geass takes the Women in Refrigerators trope on a whole new loop. Because Lulu is such a self-centered (though not always ill-meaning) tool, many of his dynamics ended up hitting a wall for me, romantically speaking, because of how unbalanced they seemed. I just wanted to scream “you are too good for this dumbass gODDAMMIT” at my screen most of the time. Like I said, I view this separate from how I feel about the girls themselves, though (there’s only one person I was actively annoyed with in Geass and his name begins with R and ends in O).

Now CC, well, she kind of throws a wrench into this pattern. In a manner of speaking, I view her role in Lulu’s life very similarly to that of Suzaku’s – they’re both people Lulu has a relationship with that is in a constant conflict of interests. These are the main relationships that interest me in the show because it keeps both (or, all three) parties in a constant state of change. It’s this ability to affect and influence one another that always made CC stand out to me, and combined with their mutual ability to understand the burden of Geass, it’s a dynamic I value a lot. So how do I feel about it romantically? That’s a good question! On paper, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t be interested in it: CC has enough attitude to combat Lulu’s idiocy and enough indifference to combat his egotism. I’m also easily swayed by CC’s character type, heh... But I guess the fact that the two of them are already such great partners in crime –that their dynamic is undeniably presented on screen, from beginning to the ambiguous end– that I never really felt the need to explore it further. I was satisfied with the complexity, in a way, as their mutual understanding seemed to satisfy the characters too. In that sense, I think I ended up on the SuzaLulu train for the sheer weight of unresolved issues and (awkwardly mended) broken bonds; it’s simply one of those personal bias points where it could have easily gone either way, yet the type of conflict that those two generate ended up hitting my romance button at the time instead.

Ah man, I kinda get the urge to re-watch Geass just to see if I’d feel any differently now; it’s almost been 10 years since I watched the show, and with the new material, it’s interesting to see what kind of feelings I’d leave with. I apologize that this could have (and should have) been a lot more in-depth response but I’m not 100% confident I’d do the characters justice as I am now, so hopefully this will suffice in the meantime! CC in particular deserves more than my half-assed character analysis haha, the way all Geass girls do. I both love and hate Lulu for being such a tool, as you can probably guess...

[retrieve-the-kraken]

Oh wow, I wasn’t expecting the reception that this post had overnight, I’m glad that I brought something interesting to the fandom 💙💛💜🧡

Just to expand on somethings that occurred to me after I posted it, before I went to bed (and I kinda wish I had added it right away to the original post for clarity, but I was tired..):

The reason why I brought toxic masculinity into my point on secrecy vs privacy is that secrecy and silence play an important role in cultures and environments of harassment and violence and abuse, and therefore toxic masculinity. It has a lot to do with privilege and power, with control and dominance. “Discretion” and a culture of silencing are a very big part of toxic environments, perpetrators take advantage of the power imbalance to maintain a culture of fear, and victims feel like they can’t speak up, they fear consequences, so they stay silent. (BTW, this is not something that I’m making up, this was all explained by a gender and inclusivity expert during a work training yesterday, and it absolutely prompted me to finally make this post).

Hillerska fosters a culture of discretion and secrecy masked by concepts of loyalty, and condones toxic and bad behaviors that reinforce the need for discretion and secrecy, and only those in the inner circles know the kind of things happening in there: abusive hazing rituals, as Lisa discovered during her research, are established and encouraged, as character-building.

August reinforces the culture every chance he gets, but when he is about to be reported to the police he is scared, mostly because of legal consequences to his actions, but low-key because of how he knows he ultimately broke the code of secrecy, he is a traitor. He cannot go down for this.,And so he finds the way to manipulate, overpower, dominate to save his ass, to maintain the code, and he threatens Wille with the phrase “Erik would never go to the police”.

Which makes me fear that it’s true, that Erik as a member of the Society, a brother, would reinforce the culture, it makes me wonder what he would have done in this situation, and what else we don’t know about him. Wilhelm thinks he knew his brother, the public Erik and the private Erik, but what if there was a secret Erik…? (The Erik that Wilhelm didn’t know also went to see Boris regularly, as Nils revealed).

Nils himself is both a perpetrator and a victim of the culture, he had to learn to play the game, he would have too much to lose if he didn’t. Because in any toxic masculine/ abusive environment, the most vulnerable groups are women, minorities like Simon, who as Latino, son of an immigrant, working-class socialist and gay, is the victim of constant micro aggressions, and queer people like Wilhelm, whose position and identity are a constant source of anxiety. Nils and Simon are both minorities and queer, but at least Nils is privileged by his money and his family. He plays the game, he gets to win on occasion. But he is trapped in it, he is trapped in the cycle.

At some point someone has to speak up, break the cycle of silence and secrecy. That’s why it’s so powerful to me when Simon chooses to sacrifice potentially being with Wille and decided to go to the police and he says “someone here has to do the right thing”. Unfortunately we know what happened then…

Meanwhile Wille had everything to gain from staying silent as well, potentially letting August take over for him as Crown Prince, even if it meant rewarding him with what August has always wanted, but Wille would potentially gain something ever bigger: his freedom, and the freedom to be with Simon. But then he realized that he couldn’t do that, the goodness in him wouldn’t let him, he had to put a stop to the endless cycle of enabling, secrecy and silence, otherwise he would never be truly free. He was done playing the game.

And then we see Sara, who wants more than anything to be in the elite group, to be rich and privilege, she starts playing the game too: she keeps the secret of August leaking the video from he brother, from her friends, to get ahead, she manipulates August for her own benefit, and the truth only comes out when she realizes someone else (Wille) has the upper hand. She quickly realizes how toxic it was for her to trust August, to betray Simon, to betray Felice.

But she was still playing the game a little while later; she went from keeping Stella’s secret love for Fredrika like a “good friend” to basically threatening to out her.

But is Stella’s sexual identity a secret? Is Wille’s? In my opinion no one’s sexuality should be considered a secret, because “secret” can so often be given the connotation of something that is perceived as wrong, something bad, something that shouldn’t come out, and even worse, something that can be used against someone, that can be used as leverage for manipulation…

Sexuality is instead a matter of privacy. Wille didn’t have to come out, but he chose to. Stella chooses not to come out. Nils chooses not to come out. Nobody owes anyone their sexual identity.

(By the way, that whole storyline hit very hard especially with everything that happened with Kit Connor from Heartstopper… and to think he was forced to come out only a day before the release of YR season 2… and then we’re presented with that storyline… I will never not be mad about it…)

Ugh I’ve gone down the rabbit hole again…

Anyway, shout out to my brave boys Wille and Simon for breaking the cycle.

I don’t know if someone has already said this, but to me sending Wilhelm to Hillerska was never about him adopting the right routines or learning responsibilities. And it wasn’t, like the Queen said, about keeping him from situations like this or making sure that they don’t arise. Sure, maybe it was a part of it, but not the only reason. Ultimately, it was about keeping Wilhelm a secret.

Tucked away in the middle of nowhere in a boarding school where the press can’t catch a whiff of anything, and it can’t damage the image of the monarchy. What happens in Hillerska stays in Hillerska, and the Queen knows this very well, having attended there. She talks about going to wild parties at the Palace and being aware of the culture of drinking and drugs and sex and partying, because it’s encouraged. It is an environment that fosters secrecy, that enables bad behavior and keeping it under wraps, it is part of the code, both the Royal code and the Hillerska code.

So Wilhelm could do whatever he wanted over there, he could be as wild as he had been before, he could do anything, hook up with anyone, the important thing was that it would stay out of the news, out of the public eye.

Except that it didn’t.

(It was a particularly big deal that the video, “the truth”, was revealed by August, one of the strongest advocates for the secrecy code, the one that claims that they could kill someone and get away with it… so for him to break the code of secrecy is brutal… but it’s worth pointing out that he only did it after Wilhelm broke the code himself, when he revealed in front of the members of the secret Society that August had financial problems. An eye for an eye…)

So maybe the whole commotion regarding the video being public wasn’t so much about Wilhelm being queer, although it probably was in part, but mostly it was about him being queer on a video spread all over the internet. It was about how public it got, how very un-secret it became.

And the only way that the Royal Court resolves to fix this secret coming out is to cover it with more lies. The show itself opens with a lie, when Wilhelm has to give a statement saying that he’s willingly going to Hillerska, and the season ends with him lying about being in the video, hiding his own identity, having to pretend that August wasn’t behind everything, and having to hide his relationship with Simon. Then season 2 is about him dealing with the aftermath of all of that, with complying with the secrecy, being offered new ways to stay secret (Nils and his invitation to Verbier, to hook up with men that will be discreet, etc).

Wilhelm is never really okay with secrecy, he is an advocate for privacy. He doesn’t want to say anything but he doesn’t want to hide either. He is not ashamed of his sexuality, but he is worried about how it reflects on the monarchy, on his family, his brother, and he is stressed about having to maintain appearances, having to hide his anxiety, having to be a public figure, having to be basically perfect, or at least perceived as perfect.

Wilhelm is very aware and a victim of the toxic masculinity around him, and it makes me wonder where he gets it from: from little things like when he looks annoyed when August talks about getting with Felice before she develops self-esteem (to which, to my dismay, Erik did laugh) or being affectionate with his brother or being a perfect gentleman when Felice kissed him and when she apologized for kissing him, to bigger things like being close friends with Felice and refusing to participate in “on the table” and of course, revealing his relationship with Simon on national television.

(Wilhelm does, unfortunately, play into the toxic masculinity a lot this season, because that is what often happens in toxic environments, in masculine competitive culture. You have to “play the game” if you want to survive, and Wilhelm sees that the only way to get revenge on August is to play the same game: playing with power, taking away power, being dominant when he wants to get into the party and when he dismantles the seniority hierarchy in the dining hall, when he challenges August knowing that he has him “by the balls”, cheating during training, lying to Alexander… and ultimately pointing a gun at August. All of these things are enabled by the environment of Hillerska, and they work for a while, but they definitely don’t work with Simon. What ultimately helps Wilhelm get Simon back is showing all the non-toxic qualities that he already possessed: being kind, being honest, owning up to his mistakes, being patient, giving him space, letting him go, even if it hurts like hell… It’s obvious that Wilhelm is not perfect, but fortunately Wilhelm never aims for perfect, he aims for good.)

(It’s worth mentioning that, as a monarch and as a former student of Hillerska, Kristina was probably a victim and a perpetrator of the same toxic masculinity, competitive culture, because as a woman in a male dominated world, she probably also felt that she had to play the game. She continues to enable this culture by maintaining the secrecy code, to her own detriment and the detriment of her son, but she probably knows no other way. But we’ve already talked at length about this. EDIT: I forgot to add that I think that’s part of the reason why she looks so disconcerted and tense when Wilhelm says what he says during his speech, because she’s scared, because she’s aware that it’s a toxic man’s world out there, and it’s particularly harsh and toxic for anyone who doesn’t fit into the masculinity role, that means women like her, queers like Wilhelm, and minorities like Simon… )

Simon also likes his privacy, he doesn’t need to be public with Wilhelm, until the whole thing comes out, and Wilhelm is forced to lie. Then of course he feels awful, like he’s some dirty little secret. He doesn’t understand that that’s just how Hillerska works, how the monarchy works, that is the secrecy code, and he doesn’t understand the pressure that Wilhelm is under to continue to uphold that code. That is until he has a secret of his own to hide, the drugs he stole from his father, and that he has to protect himself and his family. When he finally understands that the secrecy is a monster that he will never defeat, he realizes that maybe it’s not worth fighting it anymore, the important thing is to be with Wilhelm, to be able to love him, no matter what, even if it has to be in secret. As long as there are no more secrets between them.

And that’s when it hits Wilhelm. The moment that Simon tells him that he’s okay with being a secret, is the moment that Wilhelm realizes that he is not okay with that, that he doesn’t want any more secrets at all. He realizes that he will always be trapped in one lie after the other, always be a victim of the secrecy code, unless he puts a stop to it.

So he tells the truth. The ultimate truth. “It was me in the video. Me and Simon. I lied because it was private. But it’s me.” In one single moment the video goes from a raunchy sex tape to a horrible violation of privacy, he condemns the “unknown” perpetrator of this violation, he makes it seem that it was his choice to lie and absolves the Monarchy from having forced him to lie, he advocates for privacy, he regains control of the narrative for himself and for Simon, he condemns secrecy, and he sets himself free.

The truth will always set you free.

Or at least we hope.