#honestly apart from some very specific situations

[anarchy-and-piglins]

you want c!techno take asks so can i ask for your insight in the take that c!techno was the shitty one in c!bedrock bros because he... i'm not entirely sure what the argument is tbh just the way some people bend over backwards to make c!tommy leaving him alone in a crowd of enemies seem not like a shitty move

I feel like the insistence some people have that you should take a 'side' in the bedrockbros relationship is part of this weirdly prevalent trend now in some fandoms - and especially in dsmp - that every single relationship that goes bad has to have a 'victim' and an 'abuser'.

(Sometimes not in those specific terms, though I've certainly seen enough people call c!Techno abusive towards c!Tommy. But sometimes people just call it like, a good guy and a bad guy. Like they need to put the blame somewhere, and it's usually not with their own guy because their blorbo is perfect (part of a second, also very prevalent trend in fandom these days, where people seem incapable of viewing their favourite character as having any flaws, and thus they jump through hoops to excuse everything they do as perfect or flawless. Very common for a specific flavour of c!Tommy enjoyer indeed.))

The time between the failed Butcher Army execution and Doomsday was literally a low point for c!Techno, he himself talks about this afterward with the Syndicate and stuff. Emotionally and mentally this man was Going Through It (tm). So I don't doubt there are some aspects of the whole bedrockbros post-exile relationship he should have done differently. Though that hardly makes him a bad person, it just means he's imperfect and doing his best and also traumatized and trying to do what he felt was right. I'm very biased in siding with Techno because he's my fav but also because I just actually agree that he's right a lot of the time, kekw. And he genuinely did his best to offer Tommy shelter and make him feel safe while also not pushing any boundaries (and also Tommy straight up refusing to share a bunch of shit. Which is understandable from Tommy's side in context, but since Techno is not a mind reader, I really don't like how some inniters act as if Techno was supposed to act upon information he literally didn't have). While also meanwhile sticking to his morals and trying to ensure the continued safety of himself and his closest friend.

Like, at the end of the day, the bedrockbros relationship post-exile fell apart because it was a relationship of convenience and their goals and wants didn't end up compatible. And that's fine, honestly.

The part where Tommy's behaviour becomes somewhat shitty to me is at the Green Festival itself. Him deciding to switch sides and rejoin L'Manburg is not even the shitty part. It's the sort of thing that, especially in context of who c!Tommy is as a person and what makes him tick, makes sense, and it's the right thing to do for him, even if Techno feels hurt by it (which, see what I mean that characters can do things that hurt others or are maybe less than ideal, but that doesn't make them terrible people?)

The parts of Tommy's behaviour that I find shitty are:

1) Tommy stealing Techno's axe. Like, okay, I've posted about this before, but it will never stop bugging me that Techno gave Tommy the axe of peace specifically as a temporary thing and he wanted it back (the axe was important to Techno and he spent a lot of time on it) and then when Tommy decided to fuck Techno over by switching sides in the middle of a high tension situation (which, again, I don't blame Tommy for switching sides necessarily but doing it in the middle of an encounter with enemy forces threatening Techno was a little dickish of him), Techno asked for it back in a very calm, non-angry manner and Tommy's response was basically "lol, no". Like ??? That's just straight up theft, I don't care how much you like Tommy, that's shitty. That's a shitty thing to do! Even if it did end up giving us the peerpressureduo 'ranboo gifting techno an axe' arc that was peak

2) Tommy not really caring about what happens to Techno after switching sides. This is kinda tied into the thing I said above, about Tommy really picking the most terrible timing to betray Techno. But his general lack of care for Techno's wellbeing there - especially after Techno just promised to fight an angry mob for him - where Tommy does not at least try to dissuade them from killing Techno, or bothers to express any concern that Techno can make it out alive, also bugs me. Like, I know Tommy had a lot on his mind but him not seeming to care much if Techno is ganged up on and murdered, right after taking one of Techno's weapons AND after basically getting all his armour and shelter and potions and food from Techno, just feels like a major dick move.

I don't know what specifically the inniters are saying Techno did wrong at the Green Festival so if you know, feel free to enlighten me and I'll reply (though I'm assuming a lot of it is bollocks anyway. It's mainly some variant of 'Techno was mean to Tommy by not completely forsaking his own moral compass and agreeing with everything Tommy did ever, and also for having emotions :(')

[2manyfandoms2count]

Taylor Swift is so right when she says "the hospital was a drag/Worst sleep that I ever had"

[welcometomyoasis]

02.08am | Kim Mingyu

Synopsis: a drabble in which mingyu is a blanket hog and a snore monster (kind of a sequel to this blurb).  Mingyu x gn! reader | fluff | 1.28k words | no warnings A/n: written in the middle of the night because i couldn’t sleep. Not proof read. 

Cold.

Cold?

Cold!!!

Why was it so cold?!?

When your brain finally registered that you were freezing, you were abruptly pulled out of your peaceful slumber. This was the fourth time this week you were rudely awakened, and it was only wednesday. With your eyes still closed, you reached out to pull your blanket up to your chin. But you were grabbing at nothing. Shivering and confused, you continued to pat the area surrounding your side of the bed. Alas, you felt nothing except the cool bed sheets against your fingertips. 

Groaning, you reluctantly opened your eyes. As you groggily looked around for where your blanket was, your eyes fell on a large lumpy blob on the bed next to you. 

You squinted at the blob, trying to make out what this horrifyingly large mound of fabric was doing on your bed. Since you were still sleepy, your brain was slow to process things. It didn’t occur to you what or more specifically who this blob could possibly be. You pensively raised a finger, poking the blob a few times. For all you know, this blob was some alien who decided to call your bed home.

It was only when the blob let out a whimper and a whine at your incessant poking that you realised this blob was your boyfriend wrapped up cozily within your shared blanket. Unconsciously, Mingyu had somehow managed to yank the blanket away from your body. If you weren’t so cold and feeling so sleep deprived, you were sure you would have laughed at how adorable Mingyu currently looked. 

Despite being such a large man, he managed to curl up up inside of the blanket in a fetal position, making him seem very tiny. Honestly? He looked like a baby being swaddled. His whole body was covered by the blanket with the exception of his face. His bottom lip jutted out a little. Even when he was asleep, Mingyu still wore a small pout on his face. But he looked so content. When your poking ceased, he snuggled deeper into the blanket cocoon he made from himself. He looked so warm, cozy, and toasty in that cocoon. 

Mmm yes, warmth. That was what you craved and needed so desperately. You felt your teeth start to chatter. So, while you felt a tiny pinch of guilt as you yanked the blanket over yourself (rather forcefully you might add), knowing that Mingyu might be woken up, you were seriously going to turn into an ice cube if you didn’t get warm soon. Besides, if Mingyu woke up, it was entirely his fault for being an insufferable loveable blanket hog. 

Fortunately, Mingyu remained fast asleep. That man could sleep through almost anything. In fact, as you uncurled the blanket, it seemed that you took him along with it. Mingyu’s limbs uncurled along with the blanket, his arm and leg now draped over you as well. 

You mentally shrugged your shoulders. This new situation wasn’t a completely unwelcome one. Mingyu was a huge cuddle bug so he usually had one or more of his appendages wrapped around your body. You were used to falling asleep in his embrace, likening the weight of his arm or leg across your body as a weird rip off weighted blanket. Of course, it also helped that Mingyu radiated warmth. He was practically a human heater which was perfect because you were still freezing. 

You sighed in contentment, scooting closer to Mingyu’s body that was currently radiating all the heat you could ever need. Resting your head against his chest, you closed your eyes, ready to fall back to sleep. 

For a while, it was peaceful. At this time of the night, it was quiet. Nothing could be heard except the whir of your air conditioner and the occasional car driving past your apartment building. Now, nicely warmed up, you started to drift off. 

Sadly, just as you were about to be pulled into sleep’s welcome embrace, you were yanked from sleep’s arms once again by a soft snore cutting through the silence of the night. You felt the rumble in Mingyu’s chest as he snored softly above you. You paid his snores no attention. Mingyu always snored anyway. 

But this time, Mingyu snored again. And again. And again. His snores getting progressively louder each time. Already sleep deprived and annoyed from the whole blanket ordeal, Mingyu’s snores were slowly getting on your nerves. He was breathing and snoring right above your head. To you, those sounds were grating as it felt like he was rattling your brain with his snores. 

Still, you gritted your teeth and tried to go back to sleep. Sadly, your determination to sleep could not help you overcome Mingyu’s snoring. 

Annoyed might be putting it lightly? But then again, you weren’t exactly annoyed at Mingyu’s unconscious actions though that did play a role in contributing to your foul mood. Instead, you were more disappointed and angry at yourself. Your patience was non-existent today. You were usually more tolerant of Mingyu’s snoring. Perhaps your nerves were just completely shot from having yet another abrupt awakening this week. 

Huffing, you wiggled your way out from under Mingyu’s embrace as gently as possible. You made your way to the kitchen to grab a warm drink to calm your nerves before opting to settle on the couch for the night. At least it was quiet here, and you could have the fluffy throw blanket all to yourself. Ahh this was the life, you thought, as you finally managed to doze off.

“Baby? Baby!” 

For the second time that night, and the fifth time this week, you were rudely shocked awake. This time however, you were being shaken gently by Mingyu. Although your eyes were still heavy from sleep, you pried them only to send a glare towards Mingyu for disturbing your slumber. 

However, as you narrowed your eyes on Mingyu, you saw that he was towering over your form, sulking and pouting like a kicked puppy. You swore you could almost see his non-existent puppy ears droop in sadness. You softened immediately, raising your hand up to pull Mingyu onto the couch next to you. 

Laying down next to you, Mingyu adjusted his body so he was the big spoon. He rested your head on one of his arms, and used his free hand to rub your back in a soothing, circular motion.

Mingyu’s lip quivered, “M’ sorry baby. I woke up and you weren’t there… then I came out and saw you on the couch. I did it again, didn't I?”

You hummed, too sleepy and comfortable to respond properly. 

“M’ sorry. I know this isn’t the first time this week. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

You shook your head lightly, mumbling incoherently something along the lines of “you worked so hard this week and were tired. Didn’t wanna disturb you.”

Mingyu gazed at you lovingly, though he was guilt-ridden that he disturbed your sleep, “I didn’t understand a word you said baby. But I think I know what you were trying to say. Thank you.”

When you didn’t respond, your form rising and falling rhythmically, Mingyu knew you fell asleep. He pressed a kiss to your forehead, letting his lips linger on your skin a while longer. Mingyu snuggled closer to you, whispering, “You have no idea how much I love you. Rest well baby, see you when we wake up.” 

Then, he let his eyes flutter shut, falling asleep once again right there next to you on the couch.

taglist: @weird-bookworm @wonijinjin @babyleostuff @wishing-fieshes @kwanienies @mayashu @megseungmin @porridgesblog @haecien @mirxzii @scoupsofcherries @eightlightstar @brownsugarbaybee

[risuola]

▶ ONE BEDROOM? — short memory about how you found yourself sharing a bed with two of your best friends.

contents: college!au, roommates to be, fluffy, silly Satoru, caring Suguru and all that jazz — 0,9k words

a/n: feel free to send me suggestions for entries of this series! any specific situations you think might be funny? any topics that sound interesting to you? let me know!

𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 𝙈𝙀𝘿𝙇𝙀𝙔 | series masterlist

“Alright, I found one,” Satoru informed, a grin of mischief tugging on his lips and both you and Suguru knew immediately that there are some gears turning below the mop of white hair of your best friend. “Near our uni, rent’s cheaper than any other we looked at, it looks nice, and there’s even a balcony for the addict. Available anytime.”

It sounded too good to be true, really. You’ve been looking for weeks now, desperate to find the right balance between the price and quality and it turned out to be the hardest thing you had to face in your lives. It was honestly a nightmare, turned out that you were way too late to find a rental with three rooms in the college area – everything was already taken and you were forced to scratch the idea of all having separate rooms. Two bedrooms, turned out, were just as hard to find. You were slowly coming to terms that you’re gonna have to either spend three hours in metro every day just to get in and out of uni or pay an unreasonable amount of money just to live even moderately close. In your head, you already saw yourself searching for the second job.

“Where’s the catch?” Suguru’s raised an eyebrow, his mind analytic as always and his questioning tone matched your thoughts perfectly. He wrapped one arm around your waist and reached with the other to snatch a phone out of Gojo’s hands, but the snow-whites grin grew even wider as he dodged the attempt. You could feel your friend taking a deeper breath behind your back, you were seated next to him, resting against his body whilst Satoru was on the floor, with his head comfortably on your thigh. “Is it one of those ‘rent a room along with ten other students’ kind of deal?”

“Nah, it’s a separate apartment. It’s not big, by any means, but as far as I’m concerned, it should be more than enough for us,” you reached your hand, but instead of giving you his phone, Gojo put his chin on your palm, smiling with the typical amount of cat-like mischief. “In fact,” he said, pulling the lollipop out of his mouth with a loud pop and threatening to lick you. The trail of sticky sugar covering his lips in a reddish tint from the cherry, his favorite, flavored candy. “I already sent a message to the renter.”

“Toru, spill it,” you pushed, pinching his cheek and with a theatrical roll of his pretty blue eyes, he put his phone into your hand, sticking the candy back into his mouth. You leaned back against Suguru’s chest again and with his head on your shoulder, you swiped through the pictures of the offer. “It… does look nice?”

“Sus,” the brunette mumbled, reaching to swipe over the screen with his own finger. “Very sus. What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing’s wrong with it,” Satoru said in fake offense and got up to his knees to peek on what you two were doing, sticking his nose in front of the screen so aggressively that you had to push him away. “But—”

“Wait, is there one bedroom in this apartment?” You noticed. The pictures you were analyzing all showed the same room and the living area with joined kitchen, the bathroom, and again the same room, and some weird kind of storage? and again the same room.

“That explains a lot,” Suguru laughed lightly and leaned back again.

“We can see the place in an hour” Satoru showed off his pearly whites. “Come on, let’s at least see it, yeah?”

“I guess we can see it,” you gave it a nod. “The price is really nice.”

“Alright… so let’s get going.”

And so, all of you hopped on the bikes, you behind Satoru, and took the ride to see the apartment. Turned out, it really was perfect. Despite the apartment having just one bedroom, it was spacious enough to fit all three of you. The bed was so big it could easily fit five and during the many years of friendship, you and two of your friends shared way too many single person mattresses, sandwiched and squished together to think twice about it. The odd storage room seemed to be a perfect candidate to become a guest room (later called: a fuck room).

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Satoru grinned, looking at both of you as he was bouncing his ass on the bed, testing it as if he was already the owner.

“It is nice, I’ll admit,” you said, looking at Suguru to hear his opinion, but the man seemed to be thinking still. “Sug?”

“For me, it’s perfect. But,” he looked at you, a concern clearly written in his eyes, “is it alright with you?”

Geto has a way of constantly reminding you why you love him. He doesn’t look like it, in fact, he looks quite intimidating to anyone who doesn’t know him, but to you he’s just the sweetest, most caring friend you could ever wish for. If anyone was to worry about your comfort, it was him because it is true that all three of you slept together already, sharing sheets and being as close and personal as it was possible, but a random sleepover doesn’t equal sleeping with them every single day.

“It’s fine with me, don’t worry,” you reassured him, squeezing his bicep playfully.

“If it’s fine with you, then I guess we have a place.”

taglist: @kibananya, @r0ckst4rjk, @rixo-19, @soraya-daydreams

[of-many-aus]

Why Jake calls you ‘Angel’

Summary: there’s always an origin story to a nickname, this one is yours

Warnings: none

A/N: let me know what you think of this series so far :)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game Masterlist

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

This was stupid. You had no idea why you had even let Natasha talk you into this, she knew this wasn’t your thing.

The noise was deafening with everyone screaming at the top of their lungs. Cheers and boos for this team or that.

Bodies rammed into one another as they jumped up and down, supporting their respective teams that were made up of either a sky blue, or a crimson red.

“You have to get to know him,” Nat chatted your ear off above all the yells, keeping your arms linked tightly as you wove back and forth in the crowd, “He’s your roommate, and you hardly know a thing about him.”

“Yeah,” You snapped back, shooting her a small glare, “Maybe he’s a serial killer. How does that feel, Nat? You could very well be the person who pressured me into accepting a living situation with a murderer.”

She rolled her eyes, long since used to your dramatic antics, “A cute murderer.” Your best friend flashed you a grin.

You rolled your eyes sarcastically, “Well, what he lacks in personality, I suppose he makes up for in looks.”

“Exactly!” She cheered, finally pushing through a clearing and towards seemingly the only two empty seats in the whole stadium, not giving you the chance to open your mouth and snap back about being sarcastic. She knew very well that you were.

It had been about two weeks since you and the star of your college's baseball team, Jake Seresin, had made a temporary arrangement of moving into an apartment together. And the two of you had been walking on eggshells around each other, which Natasha Trace never failed to throw in your face.

Honestly, you were more than fine keeping it that way. The less you were forced to talk to the cocky, ego driven athlete, the better.

Your best friend, on the other hand, seemed to think that it was fate that the two of you were thrown into the same living establishment. And apparently, it was an opportunity not to be passed up. Now, you had been dragged to his team's second game of the season. Evidently, missing his first one was some sort of crime in Natasha’s eyes and you now had to make up for it.

What did it matter anyway? He didn’t even know that you were here, and honestly, you hoped that it stayed that way. You didn’t need him thinking something other than the simple fact that you were dragged here, fighting tooth and nail to get away. But it was useless, Nat was impossible to stop when she put her mind to something.

Of course, the only seats available had to be in the very front row, just to the right of home plate.

The game had already started by the time you two sat down, and Jake's team was getting absolutely demolished.

No wonder all the other spectators were getting rowdy so quickly. Your school was trying to urge the team into coming back, and the other school was trying to keep their team up. The score was 1-6 and it was only the second inning.

Jakes team was up at bat, more specifically, a man you recognized to be Reuben Fitch, who was in your science class, at the plate, bat up and at the ready. According to the scoreboard, there was already one out, two pitches thrown, and nobody on the bases.

The pitcher from the other team glared against the sun as he wound his arm back, ready to release the ball. And when he so, it hooked in such a way that poor Reuben didn’t stand a chance of hitting it.

You felt a pang of pity in your heart for him, he had always been friendly to you, and watching his lips move in the shape of a curse and shaking his head in disappointment at himself made you sad to see. He made his way back to the dug out with a head hung low, not even reacting when Pete Mitchell, the coach, clapped him on the back in reassurance when he shuffled past him.

A frown pulled at your lips, “This is just sad,” You commented, “You picked the absolute worst day to force me to come and see a game.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to rebuttal, only to snap it shut when her eyes locked onto something behind you. A smirk slowly made its way onto her face, “Or maybe not.”

With furrowed eyebrows, you turned in your seat to see what she was looking at, only to lock eyes on a jersey you had grown accustomed to seeing thrown lazily around your apartment- along with other pieces of gear he never bothered to pick up- making it’s way towards you.

Jake was up at bat.

There was a determined aura about him, you could tell from the way his eyes stayed trained on the pitchers mound and from the way his jaw was set and shoulders were in a ridged square.

High pitched squeals erupted from behind you in a way that made you cringe at the sudden noise.

“It’s Jake!”

“He looks so hot.”

“He was totally checking me out earlier.”

You rolled your eyes at the group of girls behind you, babbling like a bunch of teenagers at the mall, and crossed your arms over your chest.

Natasha was looking over at you with a smirk that had morphed into a knowing one.

“What?” You snapped.

Her grin only widened, “Nothing, nothing.” She murmured, turning her attention back to the game.

After allowing your eyes to linger suspiciously on her for another moment, you tore them away from her and too looked to where Jake was now winding up to bat.

The pitcher threw the next one faster than he had moments ago, and it headed straight for the blond man.

Your heart jumped to your throat and your arms unconsciously loosened, falling to your sides as you leaned forward.

Jake jumped backwards out of the way just in time, the ball narrowly missing his stomach in the process.

Shouts of protest came from all over the stadium, cursing out the pitcher for trying to take out the star player.

A breath slipped through your lips and you felt the muscles in your shoulders loosen. Why they were even tense in the first place, you didn’t know.

Seresin let out a huff, taking a step back from the plate to give himself a moment to collect himself, and his gaze unconsciously swept over the crowd.

Bright green eyes locked onto yours before you could even think about looking away and trying to hide yourself.

Jake stilled.

All of the sounds seemed to drown out around you. Neither of you let up your stares, no matter how much as you knew you should.

Then, the corner of his lips quirked up the tiniest bit, and he threw a wink in your direction before turning back to the plate and stepping up once more.

One of the girls squealed from behind you, “Did you see that? Did you? Did you? He winked at me!”

You barely even heard her, eyes still yet to leave Jakes tall form.

“What was that all about?” You could hear the grin in her voice as Natasha whispered to you.

Not an answer came out of you though. You were too transfixed in the game.

When the ball came at him again, he was ready, and he hit it out of the park. Literally.

Again, it seemed like almost every person in the stadium began screaming at the top of their lungs. Whether it was from anger or pure joy at the home run the man had just hit.

Somehow, you had joined in with them, clapping as loudly as you could and cheering.

Jake threw one glance to you over his shoulder before taking a jog around the bases, a grin of victory playing on his lips.

It only went uphill from there.

Somehow, when put in the outfield, every single ball went Jake's way, and he caught each and every one of them. Then each time he came up to bat, he would get at least one other person home.

There was a reason he was the star player.

By the end, the score was 12-6, and your throat was raw from all the screaming you had done, as well as most likely every other person in the audience.

“Well?” You finally tore your eyes away from the field at your best friend's voice, “Worth coming?”

You hid a grin and tried to shrug nonchalantly, “I suppose.”

She laughed loudly, linking your arms together and beginning to lead you into the slowly dispersing crowd.

The two of you chatted all the way back to the row of cars, when a voice calling out your name made you both stop and turn.

Jake jogged after the two of you, baseball gear bag slung over one shoulder.

The group of girls that had been obnoxious behind you for the entire game now stood a few yards away with dropped jaws that soon turned into sneers.

Your roommate paid them no mind though, as he came to a stop in front of you, slightly breathless as if he had run all the way from the dugout to catch up with you.

“Hi,” You breathed out in surprise, eyebrows raised.

He grinned that blinding, award winning smile of his, “You came to my game.”

“Oh yeah,” Natasha piped up, nodding excitedly from beside you, “She practically dragged me here.”

Your head snapped into her direction and your eyes widened for a brief second before you began glaring daggers at her, “I did not-“

“I’m glad you came.”

The gentleness of his tone made your mouth snap shut and your attention turn to him once more.

“We were losing, bad, but then you showed up, and we suddenly won again.” He was yet to drop his grin.

You shook your head, “That wasn’t me-“

“Sure it was,” He laughed lightly, “You’re like my own guardian angel.”

You rolled your eyes, “Don’t call me that.”

If it was even possible, his grin seemed to widen, “Why not? I think it’s fitting.”

A scoff left your lips, and whatever weird haze you had been in during the game finally shook off, “Don’t you dare.” You warned.

“Hangman!” Bradley Bradshaw called from a couple paces away, waving the man down, “Come on! The boys are going out to celebrate!”

“Be right there!” The blond called back before winking at you once more, “See you at home, Angel.”

With that, he jogged off, leaving you in a speechless state that was so unlike you.

Nat moved to stand in front of you, wiggling her eyebrows.

You hesitated before softly shoving her, “Shut up.” You mumbled, turning to make your way to the car.

Taglist: none yet

[utilitycaster]

Wizard Breakdown Tracker: Echoes of the Solstice

You know it, you love it, it may return on an as-needed basis for Campaign 3 now that Allura has entered the narrative and we know the fate of Caleb, but no promises: it's the Wizard Breakdown Tracker! As a reminder, I now include PCs because I make the rules; wizard NPCs are included on the very scientific basis of "do I have something I think is kind of funny or meaningful to say" so as always, if I left someone off, it was on purpose specifically to annoy you.

Astrid Becke: well her boss is missing, Caleb has expressed concerns in private to Beau about all of the Assembly, apparently the king is bedridden and has been for some time, and I suspect news of unsealed things being unsealed gets to her quickly; even if she isn't aware of the events in Blumenthal yet, she's about to be. Also, it's the apogee solstice. 8/10; ever the opportunist, it is a good time for her to try to become head of the Assembly, but also shit's gone real sideways.

Eadwulf Grieve: lost his title of hottest mage (men's division) to one Fjord Stone during the last Nicodranas County Fair and has been sulking ever since but more importantly the temple of the Raven Queen is doing Not Great Bob as of like an hour ago so a rare Eadwulf stress moment. 7/10.

Planerider Ryn: just lost her arm...but is unaware of it, so that's probably helping. technically cannot be calculated because she is a rock but spiritually like an 8/10 and that's only because she is remarkably unflappable; she just witnessed the Malleus Key and that should drive anyone up to a 10.

Allura Vysoren: has absolutely sensed a disturbance in the force weave and I'm sure Kima's feeling some bad vibes from Bahamut right now, but rather like Ryn she actually has some degree of sangfroid, a concept unheard of in the entire continent of Wildemount. 6/10.

Yussa Errenis: have you ever dealt with like, an ER Nurse, and unless something is actually exploding or someone is actually bleeding out they're like "yeah it be like that sometimes"? After you've been sucked into the Cognouza Hivemind while trying to do your silly little arcane investigations nothing short of the Calamity will ruffle you. He's an elf; he knows this solstice is wonky but also he knows this is Someone Else's Problem. Also Jester's left him alone for a whole 24 hours? Incredible. 2/10 and that's really just because he's still a little cranky about the disappearance of his blast scepter. As always: never change, king.

Prism Grimpoppy: by my calculations she's discovering that she's actually fucking incredible in combat right now. 0/10, she's doing GREAT.

Pumat Sol and sure, fuck it, Oremid Hass: I suspect the Zadash Wizard Contingent is dealing with some wild unsealed shit from the time of the Julous Dominion and they can't get in touch with anyone in the capital, but it's probably manageable. 4/10. On edge but not too bad.

Ludinus Da'leth: oh did your little plan to unleash the god-eater go a touch sideways? were you unprepared for the possibility of fucking all of magic? did you think it was going to be easy? did level 9 "Fuck Up Airship" and level 8 "Shield Against Werewolf" fail to save your bitch ass? As we've seen, he'll scramble and recover, unfortunately, but it's a well-deserved 9/10 right now. I love to see a plan fall apart.

Trent Ikithon: OH this motherfucker has LOST IT in prison. Like...he was able to put together a pretty elaborate situation, to be clear, but also he's gone bugfuck nuts and does not really improve. I think he's already broken down from the start having clearly been planning this exact scenario from the moment of his imprisonment honestly given that he appears to be going off of the frissons he picked up from Caleb and Essek shortly before he was captured, but regardless: he definitely ends it at a 10/10. Stuck in an egg for eternity, if he's even still a separate entity from Omentis. A well-deserved fate if ever there was one. Get fucked lol.

Veth Brenatto: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha 10/10 you know she watched Luc leap through the teleportation circle as it closed and has been shrieking loud enough to be heard at the Chateau.

Luc Brenatto: the arrogance and naivete of youth insulate him initially, but Aggy's demise probably spikes it to a solid 6 minimum and it's definitely 9 during the battle. It goes back down pretty quickly though; see Caleb's entry.

Caleb Widogast: he keeps it together pretty well, honestly! Still I have to imagine he's kind of at a 7 or so this entire time with occasional spikes to 9 (NEIN) throughout, and I wouldn't fault him for finishing up the Blumenthal Brunch and then quietly locking himself in a soundproof tower room to scream, cry, and throw up for a while. Indeed, I would encourage it; Caleb should go have a good cry and hug a magic cat for a couple hours until he feels better, and then come back down to find that everyone except the clerics but DEFINITELY including Luc has implemented Spontaneous Apogee Solstice Oktoberfest to celebrate the demise of Trent, the engagement of Fjord and Jester, and the general experience of being alive, and is varying degrees of extremely wasted. This will of course bring him back up to like 7 as he realizes he has to return a hungover teenager to Veth and then goes down to a 4 or so when he realizes the clerics can fix that and Veth will probably be so glad that Luc is alive she'll ignore the rest of it.

Essek Thelyss: Our international drow of mystery looms large in the narrative, but does not make an appearance, which makes this premise extremely funny. I assume he's feeling kind of rough given that the Dynasty wizards are well-attuned to leylines and I would imagine he picks up that Sending isn't working and was broadly aware Caleb was going into danger, so he's certainly stressed, but Trent doesn't actually seem to know Where in Exandria is Essek Thelyss and is merely threatening blackmail. Honestly while we're at it, we don't know where Essek is because I wouldn't put it past Mr. Geometer Owner to have been at a solstice nexus and to have possibly experienced his own Solstice Shunting. In fact I assume Essek is blissfully unaware of these specific goings on re: Trent and is just experiencing The Anxiety for all of the previous reasons. (1d6+3)/10.

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: Hmmm. Things becoming unsealed, you say? The uninvited guest list (The Real Gelidon, Isharnai) for The TusktoothStone-Lavorre wedding may have gained an extra entry.

[swamp-adder]

I keep wondering about the financial situation between Holmes and Watson after the Hiatus. At Holmes' request, Watson quits his job and moves back in with Holmes to continue helping him with cases. Did Watson receive any kind of payment for his help -- a cut of the money Holmes received from his clients perhaps? A lot of fanfiction seems to assume they were equal partners and Watson got half; but honestly any scenario I can imagine seems awkward to me in one way or another:

- Watson being treated as an equal partner and getting half the money seems awkward when according to what's depicted in the stories Holmes was doing the vast majority of the actual work and Watson was mostly there because Holmes liked having someone to talk to.

- Watson receiving some money, but not a full half, makes Watson explicitly subordinate to Holmes in an employer/employee relationship, which just seems like an awkward dynamic to introduce into any friendship.

- Watson not getting paid at all would be awkward because Watson just quit his job for the sake of helping Holmes out, and has also been forbidden by Holmes from publishing any more stories for the time being. Meanwhile Holmes at this point in his career we're told is absolutely rolling in dough, creating a serious income disparity between them which could hardly help but be awkward.

Watson's financial resources that we know of at this point would consist of his wound pension and whatever royalties he's still getting from his earlier stories, plus the money he got from "Verner" for his medical practice. We're told in DYIN that Holmes' "payments [for the flat] were princely. I have no doubt that the house might have been purchased at the price which Holmes paid for his rooms during the years that I was with him." That makes it sound like Holmes was more than paying the full rent for the apartment by himself, so at the least Watson was probably living there for free. (This quote is from DYIN, which seems to be set pre-Hiatus, so this arrangement might have begun even by then.) Which also seems potentially awkward -- like something that could make Watson feel like a freeloader or whatever.

Honestly it's very understandable why Watson never explicitly talks about money, because the whole thing is just awkward any way you slice it!!

In the earlier days the whole thing seems less awkward to me because a) Holmes had less money himself and b) Watson is just choosing not to get a job and to run around with his friend instead, rather than having given up his career specifically at Holmes' request.

One thing that makes the "Watson lives for free at Holmes' place, eats out at Holmes' expense etc but doesn't get paid in cash" scenario seem more likely to me is the fact that Holmes felt the need to give Watson a bunch of money sneakily through buying his practice -- it makes me think he felt like he couldn't pay him in a more straightforward, above-board way -- that Watson would be offended by it or whatever.

On the other hand I was also reading some stuff on the wiki about the concept of the "lady's companion", where a usually single upper-class woman would invite a single female friend to live with her and pay her an "allowance" in exchange for social companionship. The companion was technically an employee but was treated more like a member of the family. Now, there are reasons why this arrangement was specific to women: a) there were very few ways for an upper-class woman to actually earn a living that wouldn't compromise her upper-class status; and b) upper-class women were expected to stay at home most of the time, so a woman living alone (especially in the country) could easily become lonely. But it does show that there was at least some kind of concept in this historical era of "living with a wealthy friend and being financially supported by them as if you were family" without it being Weird. So yeah IDK.

[pensat-i-fet]

Cry wolf (Rúben Dias x Reader)

**Hello! Finally, a new Rúben imagine. This is a combination of two requests I got. It's a bit angsty and dramatic. What a comeback! I hope you enjoy it ❤️**

Word count: 1944

Masterlist

Wattpad

"Ahhh!", you yelled the moment you got inside the bathroom and saw what was on the floor. "Oh my God! What am I supposed to do?"

Saying you panicked whenever you saw any sort of insect or bug would be an understatement. You could barely stay out in the park for half an hour, worried about all the creatures that could be around you. So seeing a cockroach first thing in the morning wasn't ideal. And your boyfriend was gone. So what were you going to do?

"Ok. It's fine. I'm a grown woman and can do this".

You kept convincing yourself that you could kill it and so you put your shoes on, walked inside the bathroom again and spotted the disgusting thing that was still there. Placing your fingers inside your ears, you stepped on it, took your shoe off without lifting it from the floor and left the bathroom. There was one in the guest room you could use.

After a shower, you put some clothes on and called Rúben. He was at the gym but it was still early, so you knew his official training session hadn't started.

"Hi, everything ok?"

It was very unlike you to call him this early. You usually just send a text before going to work. "It is now. But there is a corpse in the bathroom".

"A what?", he laughed.

"There was a cockroach and I killed it".

"Are you planning on doing a funeral? Throw it in the bin".

"I can't. It's disgusting. Can you do it when you're back?"

"Are you for real?", you could hear his tone change.

"Yeah".

"You aren't a child anymore. You can clean that mess yourself".

"But it's disgusting!", you complained.

"And you think it's nice for me to do it? Honestly, grow up".

Well, growing up takes time, so what you did was hang up the phone. Why was he such an asshole?

He had been acting like that a lot lately. And sure, some of your requests were a bit childish but he was one to talk. You had to tiptoe around his feelings for a whole day after he scored an own goal. He could be childish himself.

But you guessed he was kind of right about this specific situation, so you went back to the bathroom but…you couldn't do it. You knew you were going to have nightmares about it for days. So you left the shoe and the dead bug there and went to work. You would deal with Rúben later.

**

By the time you were done with work, you expected a text from Rúben. He always sent one when he got home to let you know about any plans or just ask about what you wanted for dinner. But there was no text. It was odd but you decided not to worry. He might have stayed for an extra training session. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Hello?", you called when you got back to the apartment. "Rúben?"

You spotted him in the living room, glaring at you.

"Good day?"

"I guess. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I came back home and found you didn't clean the mess in the bathroom".

"Rúben", you said, back to that whining tone you hated but couldn't help but use sometimes. "I tried but it was so disgusting. I swear I couldn't do it".

"So I had to do it".

"Thank you…", you tried to say but he interrupted you.

"You keep doing this. Calling me while I'm working for stupid things you should be able to do".

"They aren't always stupid…".

"They are. And you know what happened to the boy who kept crying wolf?", you rolled your eyes. "One day you'll really need me and I won't believe it's an emergency".

You could feel the tears in your eyes. Even if he was partly right, there was no need to be so mean.

"If this is how you're going to be today, I'll go out to get some fresh air and be away from you. You're being really unfair".

"No need for you to go. Some of my teammates invited me to have dinner with them and I said yes".

"But it's Wednesday".

"I need the fresh air as well", he said, going back to the room.

Wednesdays were your day. You met on a Wednesday, kissed for the first time on a Wednesday, moved in together on a Wednesday,... Rúben's schedule meant he was away a lot, so you cherished whenever he had a day off on Wednesday so much. He often got you flowers or booked a table for dinner at a restaurant. And now he was leaving. Well, both of you could be pricks.

Picking up your bag again, you left without saying goodbye and got inside the car. You didn't even know where you were going. And you should have probably just walked but it was raining and the last thing you needed was to catch a cold.

Traffic wasn't too bad and you kept driving after the light turned green. And soon, everything went dark.

**

Rúben thought about staying home when he heard you leave. Maybe he should wait until you get back and apologize. You both had reasons to apologize but he knew he had been a dick to you. It was just that sometimes it got on his nerves how much you depended on him. For the stupidest things. You were independent otherwise. You had a good job, which meant you had your own money, and managed most of the important things around the house. But then you couldn't deal with killing a bug and cleaning the mess. It just didn't make sense sometimes and it frustrated him.

So Rúben met some of his teammates for dinner. And then, for drinks. Even if he didn't have any since the season had already started and, well, everyone remembered what happened the last time he drank. How could they forget?

"Your phone keeps buzzing", told him Nathan and Rúben looked to see it was you calling.

A part of him wanted to answer but he was still angry. And so he just moved the phone away and ignored it. Nathan gave him a weird look, he had seen it was you calling, but decided he wouldn't stick his nose in your business. Better to stay out of it.

Rúben still felt fidgety. He never ignored your calls. And what if it was something important?

"I'm going to the toilet. I'll be right back".

And while he was washing his hands, he saw the door open and turned to find Nathan staring at him with wide eyes.

"What?"

"Your phone kept ringing and then you got a text from your girlfriend asking you to answer in not very nice words. So I answered the next time she called…but it wasn't her who was calling you".

"What do you mean? Who has her phone?"

"Her friend Patricia, who is a nurse. They are both in the hospital".

"What? Why?"

Rúben felt dizzy all of a sudden.

"She had an accident".

**

"Patricia! Where is she?"

Rúben was running around the hospital's corridor, not caring about who he bumped into. And when he finally saw Patricia, he cared even less.

"Oh, now you care?"

"You can call me names later, please tell me what happened!"

"A drunk driver hit her car".

"Is she ok? Where is she?", now he was panicking even more. And feeling guilty. So guilty.

"The doctors were worried when she got here", started Patricia and she put a hand on Rúben's arm when she noticed he was about to lose control. "But she's fine. Well, as fine as one can be. She got really lucky. She was unconscious when she got here but there's no major damage".

"Thank God!", sighed Rúben. "Where is she? Can I see her?"

"Follow me".

Patricia could move around the area freely and she took Rúben with her to your room and then knocked on the door.

"Wait here. The doctors are still inside".

Rúben nodded and pressed his ear to the door. He could hear Patricia telling the doctors that your partner was there and wanted to see you and a couple of minutes later, the door opened.

"Come in".

Rúben took no time to do so and soon he was by the bed, right next to you and completely ignoring the doctors who were still there.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes", you nodded. But you looked so small and weak. There were a few bruises on your skin but Patricia was right. It could have been so much worse.

That was when Rúben decided to acknowledge the doctors.

"Sorry. I was really worried. Is she ok? When can she go back home?"

"Tomorrow morning. We want to monitor her tonight, just to be on the safe side".

He nodded and looked back at you, the way your eyes kept closing worried him.

"They gave her some medicine to sleep", said Patricia, as if she could read his mind. "She needs the rest".

"Of course. Can I stay here?"

"Yes. I'll get you a pillow and a blanket but that won't make the sofa any more comfortable".

"I don't care about that. And thank you".

The night was terrible for Rúben. He kept staring at you and wasn't able to sleep. That's why he was awake every time a nurse showed up to check how you were doing. And even if they all told him everything was fine, he still couldn't sleep.

When you finally woke up, he jumped from the sofa to go to your side.

"How are you? Are you in pain? Should I call a doctor?"

"I'm fine. I just need the toilet".

"I'll take you there".

"No you won't, Rúben", you chuckled.

"Then I'll call a nurse".

"No. I'm fine".

Despite his protests, you got up and went to the bathroom by yourself. Your whole body ached but it was bearable. And you were going to get more painkillers soon with your breakfast so it was ok.

"Let me help you", he said, taking your arm to help you walk back to the bed. And you let him even if you didn't need the help.

"Thanks".

"I'm so sorry", he blurted out. "You have no idea. You could have been hurt so badly and I wasn't answering the phone because of a ridiculous fight. I will never forgive myself for that. You needed me and I wasn't there".

"Rúben", you said, grabbing his hand. "We both made mistakes. You were right. I kept crying wolf and then when something bad happened, you didn't think it was an emergency. You were so right about …".

"No. No, that's no excuse".

"Don't feel bad, really. Plus, it wasn't even me calling. I was busy doing tests to make sure everything was ok".

"Still. It won't happen again. Call me anytime to kill a cockroach or to do anything you need . Seriously, I'll always be there".

"I know you will. But I have some growing up to do too. If I hadn't left like that because I was upset you told me off, this wouldn't have happened".

"Hey!", he was now the one grabbing your hands. "You drove when the light was green and a drunk driver hit you. You did nothing wrong. It was all his fault".

"But…".

"But nothing. Now let me pamper you until you're healthy again".

"I like being pampered", you smiled.

"Then get ready. Because even queens will be jealous of how I'll treat you".

And Rúben sealed his promise with a kiss.

[fashion-runways]

okay, i promised an explanation and i won’t go into too many details because honestly i’m still kind of a mess and there’s a lot we don’t know yet and everything but-- 2 weeks ago out of nowhere, in the middle of the night at 6am cops showed up at our home and raided our apartment and stuck around up until 2pm just making a mess of the whole place and taking photos and whatever, they broke the downstairs front door (which we now have to pay to replace off our own money), made an absolute mess of every room in the apartment, took every electronic device except our phones (and that’s only because i started crying about having all my healthcare info on an app and how i was going to lose all my appointments, and i think they felt bad for us?) and detained my father. they have barely given us information on what he’s accused of, they’re still nowhere near investigating those devices they took so they won’t give them back to us, and we have no freaking idea if or when my dad is coming back, because again, they’re not giving us a lot of information. on top of that my dad is pretty old, he's 65, he was supposed to have surgery this month because he can’t see very well from one eye (his workplace was paying for it) and he kinda can’t hear very well from one ear too, even though he refuses to accept it, and he’s been on anxiety medication for a while, so i’m kind of scared of what will happen to him without actual medical care or a nice place to sleep every night?? i don’t know. i truly don't.

now, this as you can imagine is traumatizing enough as it was, and it continues to be, but on top of that my dad was pretty much the only person with a stable job and a concistent income in this family, so now that he’s detained and we literally have no idea when he’ll come back, me and my mom got basically left in the dark. and even if he comes back, like, i don’t know, next week? i’m pretty sure he’ll get fired because he’s been missing work for 2 weeks now. i have some money that i saved from the stuff you guys send me, my mom has some money she makes, but it’s... obviously not enough, and this is a really stressful situation to be in, obviously, i wouldn't wish this on my worst enemies tbh.

so... i don’t know. i can’t promise i’ll post anything new because i’m limited to mobile for god knows how long, that’s why i’ve been reposting stuff. and if you want to help, if you enjoy the blog, if you have anything to spare, that would really be helpful. i know this sounds insane what happened, and trust me it still doesn’t feel real sometimes?? like i’m going to wake up and it'll be a bad dream? i don’t know. as always, since i’m from latin america, anything helps. literally even the smallest amount of money helps. sorry this post is so long and so trauma dump-y, but i said i’d explain and i need help more than ever, this blog is basically the only semi-stable thing i have income wise. if anyone wants me to tag this with any trigger warning specifically, let me know, i wouldn’t know what to tag this myself.

anyway, i have my kofi account that i link in every post i make here: https://ko-fi.com/fashionrunways and my redbubble account: https://www.redbubble.com/people/dinah-lance/shop if you’d want to buy something instead. and as always thanks for loving this blog and for always helping us, i know it doesn't seem like it matters sometimes, but it does to me 💖

[yelenabelovasbxtch]

Crush On An Archer PT.1

a/n: Hey! Omg long time no see! I kinda maybe lost interest in writing for a bit there but tbh I think I'm back. No promises because I don't want to promise and then break your hearts but also I realllyyyy enjoyed writing this and I hope you all enjoy reading it! Will def be making a part two in coming days so stay tuned. LMK if you want to be added to the taglist, I am going to put some tags of past taglists below just in case they are interested in reading :) ALSO! Special shout out to @scmg11 because their writing is honestly what made me wanna get back into it. So,,I hope you enjoy!

Kate X Fem!Reader

Concept: Reader has a crush on Kate (school/Uni setting) and she doesn't know how to tell her.

Warning: Cussing, mentions of smut, IM TRYING TO WRITE SLOW BURN BUT BEAR WITH ME ITS NEW!

Word Count: 2.7k

You’re a month into your summer vacation and things couldn’t be more…boring. You love and appreciate your parents dearly for putting out the money so that you could attend a prestigious school in New York with a kick ass archery team but does it ever suck to be this far from all your friends for four months. To make the situation work, your dad had to transfer jobs to another state that pulls in a little more money annually with slightly more affordable housing but that means you aren’t even near the people you grew up around. Rural Mississippi is a fairly big step from living in Boston. Boston at least had people, out here it’s like you’re lucky if you get to meet a neighbour because the land has us all so far apart. In all honesty, although it’s boring, you really have one specific reason for being so bummed out. Towards the end of your last semester, you got started getting closer with one of the girls a year younger on your team, Kate. Typically the older girls competed and practised together and the younger girls did the same. Although you two were only a year apart it’s just how things worked out, so you didn’t cross paths very often. However, one day you were walking home from class, stopped to get coffee and basically bumped into her. The meeting was really brief but it was enough to make you catch feelings almost instantly. 

Your interest in her grew as you followed her on Instagram and she followed back. Obviously you took a peak at her page and scrolled to the bottom laughing at the really cringey posts from 2015 she had still up. All you wanted to do was talk to her again but you didn’t know how, although she was a year younger than you she intimidated you so much. Her deep blue eyes were honestly enough to make you stutter whenever you had the chance to talk to her. A month had gone by already and you could not wait to get back to school so you could see her again. Luckily, coach has yearly “team-building” days before the season starts and they’re about half way through the summer so hopefully you can talk to her before then and maybe convince her to hang out when you come back to school. 

Over the next week or so you liked a few story posts that she’d upload every now and again but the day finally came where you felt like you could swipe up and respond to it…y’know…maybe spark a little conversation. 

“Damn Bishop, is this a new bow?” In response to a story post of her showing off some of her off season training. 

“Haha yeah it is, flips out and everything…it's really freakin’ cool.” She replied almost instantly and that made a giant warm smile come across your face. 

Shit– what do you say back? Your main goal was honestly to keep the convo going so you could subtly mention down the line hanging out with her. 

“Yeah that’s sick, wow I’d kill to try something like that out.”

“Well next time I see you, please by all means give it a shot” She replies back.

“Might just have to take you up on that. How’s your summer going anyways?”

“It’s alright, kind of boring though. All my friends from school move back home and I am working for my mom’s company over the summer so it all is just kind of dull. I miss going out and having fun. Wbu?”

“Yeah, I hear that. I am SO bored here. I would kill to fast forward to the fall, I miss being at school honestly. There’s only so much I can do by myself here during the summer.”

“Ugh right! I want it to be school again too but don’t get me wrong, I love the summer, the weather is great here recently and the nightlife is amazing too. I just have nobody to go with, you know.”

“Yeah I get it. Trust me, if I could be there to go out with you I would, there is definitely no nightlife here haha.”

Shit. That wasn’t too forward was it? She is taking a while to respond to you. She hasn’t even opened the message yet. 

*4 minutes later*

“Well, you’re going to be around for that team-building thing coach has us doing in a couple of weeks right?”

“Yeah, I should be.”

“Well, we can go out then if you want? Me and a few friends had plans but they’re all on the team and I’m sure they’d love to have you there too.”

“Yeah, that sounds great I’d love to!”

The conversation pretty much ended there and your contact with her was fairly limited, just a small comment here or there until you finally got to fly back to school for summer training. You settle back into the apartment you left a couple months ago, everything is still a mess where you left it but the kitchen and living room are even filthier since you are not around to clean up much after your roommates. You decided to wait until your team practice to talk to Kate about hanging out again. You didn’t want to come on too strong but also a small part of you feels like she forgot what she said months ago and you won’t end up seeing her, not outside of team stuff at least. 

You grabbed your gear and headed to the field where practice was being held. You saw some of your friends from last year and decided to catch up with them before coach pulled you all in to start practice. You were trying your best not to make it obvious but your eyes were tracking all around you looking for Kate but she was nowhere to be seen. 

*Whistle* “Okay team! Let’s bring it in. First, I just want to say thank you to everyone for making the effort to come back to campus for this, meeting I–”

“SORRY SORRY SORRY!” You hear the coach interrupted as footsteps are fast approaching the circle of archers. 

“Hi Kate.” Says coach.

“I am SO sorry. My driver was running late and then there was traffic because of a giant accident, I think there was some battle in the streets again, I don’t know, either way, my bad coach, won’t happen again…I promise.” She says with the most adorable grin that is absolutely saying she will be late again. 

“It’s alright Kate, it happens, I was just telling the team how thankful I am that everyone could make the trip back to campus for this.” Coach went on to talk about the drills you were doing for the day and man was it hard to not be in awe watching her. You tried your best not to stare all day because the last thing you wanted to do was make it obvious but fuck it felt impossible. The day came to an end and you packed up your gear, Kate was talking with the other seniors on the team as they were gathering their things and started to head out. You could feel your window closing to talk to her but interrupting her conversation with her friends and “inviting” yourself out with them just felt too weird and uncomfortable. If it wasn’t meant to be then it wasn’t meant to be but you would kill to be able to just spend an hour with her. 

You watched as she started to walk away towards the parking lot with her friends when all of a sudden she motioned for them to hold on a minute and she turned around and jogged over to you. 

“Hey y/n! Sorry we didn’t get to catch up much during practice, I saw your shooting though it’s looking good.” 

Yeah…your face is bright red. Control your shit. 

“Anyways, me and a couple friends are going out later tonight to a party that one of their friends is hosting. It’s like a Hawaiian beach summer nights themed type of party so if you have something like that to wear, that would be great.”

“Yeah, I might have something, I’ll take a look when I get home.” 

“Cool! I’ll text you the address once I get it off my friend and I’ll see you there?”

“Yeah, sounds good!” 

“Here, why don’t you put your number into my phone, I don’t like using DM’s that much.”

You take Kate’s phone out of her hand and fill out a contact for yourself, praying that she can’t hear your heart beating out of your chest. 

“Cool, thanks, I’ll send you a text in a bit.” She says with a smile and then runs off to re-join her friends. 

It seems silly sitting by your phone and literally watching the minutes tick by waiting for her to text you but that’s all  you could do. The anticipation felt like it was killing you. 

Your phone finally buzzed with a mystery number attached, “Hey y/n! It’s Kate. So…slight change of plans.”

Fuck. Is she bailing? Your eyes were glued on the three dots as she typed and you watched as they disappeared and reappeared. 

“Turns out the party is actually around the corner from my place so if you wanted to just come here first, we could pre-game and shit and then walk over together? My friends said they were going out to get their hair done so they’ll be running late.”

“Hey Kate, yeah no problem that works for me just send me your address and lmk what time you want me there.”

Kate dropped a pin of her location to you with the text attached telling you to come over at 7pm. 

7pm rolled around and you were already there outside but you kind of felt like you should wait another minute or two so you weren’t RIGHT on time. Or is it weird to be a minute late? But wouldn’t being on time be weirder? Whatever, you decided to just wait a minute and then knock on her door. 

Knocking on her door was the most nerve wracking thing you ever did, you were genuinely shitting bricks. 

“HEY! Come in come in!” Kate eagerly yells at you as she swings the door open. She’s wearing shorts with a bright purple bikini top and a button down Hawaiian shirt over top that doesn’t have a single button done up. Are you starring? Yes. Probably? Absolutely you are. 

“Make yourself at home, feel free to grab a drink from the fridge, my roommates are out of town and left all their alcohol so help yourself.” She said with a laugh. 

You heard that right? Her roommates are out of town. Just the two of you…you never know. 

You grabbed a drink from the fridge and took a seat on the couch next to her and yeah…the drink started going down faster than usual because of all the nerves in your stomach. The two of you made small talk for awhile but the conversation started flowing a little more naturally about 2 drinks in. Were you still kind of awkward as hell? Yeah…a little. But at least you warmed up to her a bit and weren’t acting so weird. About an hour later, her friends showed up and grabbed you guys to head over to the party. Honestly, things were going so well with just the two of you that you didn’t even want to go to this party but if it meant you got to spend more time with her then there you were. You got to the party and you honestly knew practically nobody. You weren’t exactly a social butterfly but Kate clearly was. She was talking to EVERYBODY. The boys at the party especially loved her. There was lots of laughing and flirting going on, you could feel the jealousy building but acting out was definitely not an option. You ended up socialising with a few of the other people at the party but for most of the night you stuck by Kate’s side, the two of you got pretty drunk together, pouring shots for one another and dancing in the pit of people to extremely loud music. There was a point where it felt like it was just you and her and nobody else was there while the music was blasting into your ears and the two of you were jumping together to the beat and singing out the lyrics to whatever song was on at the time. Kate got really close to you until some guy would come and pull her away in an attempt to make a move on her. Although, it never actually happened. Kate always ended up finding her way back to you. At one point she grabbed your hand and pulled you into the middle of the crowd as the two of you sang (screamed) the lyrics to “love story” into each other's faces. The party, as all do, started to simmer down. You guys actually ended up being some of the last people at the party, you stuck around to the point where the music was gone and most people were just sitting around chatting halfway sober. 

“Hey, I think I’m going to go home, I am super tired right now.” Kate says to you. 

“Okay, I’ll walk with you, I left my bag at your place anyways so I have to grab it.” 

“Right, sounds good.” 

Although the two of you had been singing and dancing for hours, she looked just as perfect as when you left and you were trying your hardest not to stare at her while the two of you were walking side-by-side. 

The walk back to her place was pretty quick, when the two of you got inside you went to grab your bag and get your things together. You were desperately trying to figure out what to say to her while you were organising your stuff. You didn’t want to come on too strong but you also want to make sure that she knows you had a good time…I guess just tell her exactly that?

“I had a really good time tonight, thanks again for inviting me.” You say as you’re leaning against the wall in her hallway. 

“Of course, anytime. And I did too. We should really hang out more when we come back to school.” She replies. 

Kate walks towards you and stops about a foot away leaning up against the doorframe to her bedroom. The hallway is super narrow and all you can think about is pinning her against the wall while you kiss down her neck and pull her tight by her waist. 

“Yeah I think so too. I guess I should probably head out.” You say as she looks at you with the softest eyes that you swore said “please stay”. You lingered for a second longer as the two of you were looking at each other, tired, kind of tipsy and on the verge of ripping each other's clothing off. All you wanted was for her to actually ask you to stay a little longer but before she had the chance you were already walking towards the door. 

“Have a good night y/n.” She says. “Text me when you get home safe.”

“I will. Sleep well Kate.” You reply as you turn to look at her with a smile and step out the front door. 

That goodbye felt different. It felt like there were still feelings in the air and lots that wanted to be said that wasn't. It felt like the perfect opportunity with nobody around after an amazing night together has passed but you regret none of it. Although you weren’t able to get a confirmation on whether or not Kate even likes women like you do, you knew there was definitely a type of tension between the two of you that she definitely noticed.

-- END OF PT 1 --

Taglist: @yelenaslyubov @youreatotalposer @jeyramarie @flosbelova @bridgecitybrad @justthis-stuff @chloe7076 @ailenepuff @ravenclawbitch426 @mellowladyangel @amcg0605-blog @kassies-take @yelenaswife1996 @wandanatchick @lilroachsworld @inluvwithfictionalwomen @x666hours @natashaswife4125 @onetruwhore @karmasgxrl @hopelesslyfallenninlove @setsuna1415 @swiftdazer @imobsessedwithmilfss @madamevirgo @louisprettybab @splatalia-jumpanova @jediluka @t00manyfand0ms

[yellowhollyhock]

because I'm the shield

I was trying to write a little scene between rise Raph and Mikey since his overprotectiveness is something they've argued about. But that's turning out slower than I expected and will have to be for another time--maybe will fit a different prompt when it's done, who knows.

I've been rewatching some of 2003 season 4 and having feelings about shield Raph.

Fight scenes do show a lot of him throwing himself between his brothers and physical harm. But season 4, with the family relationships strained, highlights something else, which is Raph shielding his brothers from Master Splinter and each other. Especially Leo.

I learned from the tmnt fandom that sai is meant to defend against sword. And that's so fitting for these two.

Raph defending his brothers from Master Splinter mostly looks like being the loudest and most openly rebellious to draw attention away from (honestly mostly Leo and Donnie) blatantly doing what they're not supposed to do (like traveling to an alternate dimension without telling anyone or fighting the Foot alone. Seriously they call him and Mikey the impulsive ones??). And Splinter isn't a danger to the turtles, he is very loving in 03, but his opinion matters to them and Raph makes himself the squeaky wheel so the others can stay squeaky clean.

But about Leo. Two things going on season 4: Raph is (trying to) protect Leo from his own inner thoughts, verbally replying to his anxieties with positives or neutrals; and Raph is on guard to keep Leo off Don and Mikey's case.

I just watched Aliens Among Us and found it especially sweet when they're all on the roof to watch the President how Raph and Leo interact. Leo is upset with Don and Mikey for fooling around, and says out loud that by even coming to watch they 'may as well ask to be dissected.' (Because it's gonna be a Bishop episode so Leo obviously has to foreshadow that. They just had Bad Day, they will not watch as the various enemies their memories pulled from do in fact torment them.) Anyway, it's the way he keeps a pretty calm, almost lighthearted tone while he talks Leo down from his catastraphizing, drawing attention away from his other brothers who were getting yelled at in the process. And this is just an example of how Raph acts this season.

side note, I adore how these two specifically could be talking about their favorite flavor of potato chips and look like they're plotting a murder. This is a picture of Raph getting as close as he can to physically beating up Leo's inner demons.

Another small moment in this episode that I loved: Raph grabbing Leo by the shoulder with, "Whoa, where are you going? Don't you think we need a plan?" and Leo's plan is 'take out every alien we see.' This is not a Leo at the top of his game, in spite of what he told Splinter last episode about 'doing whatever it takes to protect this family.' Raph knows it. He and Leo have different strengths and different approaches, but he knows a healthy Leo would be analyzing the situation, briefing them all on what they should most likely be prepared for and what information they lack that everyone should keep an eye out for. Leo is an analyst, that's one of his greatest strengths. And he's not doing that.

it's literally like 'hey bro are you okay? you've barely picked apart the enemy's battle strategy or lurked in the shadows.' Leo isn't doing the things he loves and Raph notices.

Also speaking of Bad Day. Here's a picture of Raph telling Donny it's not his fault.

Again he looks like he's plotting murder but he is actually speaking in the softest sweetest voice to his stressed out little brother. This is a turtle who just watched his best friends get blown up by people who were looking for him and his family.

That is all ❤️

[cheeriecherrymain]

Your Room [Viktor x fem!Reader][Part 1/2]

Pairing: Viktor x fem!Reader Rating: E (18+) Chapter Content: fingering | Viktor has a filthy mouth | he calls you a whore (affectionately) | sexy stuff in a semi-public setting (but you guys are alone) | dirty talk (kind of) Proofread: not a chance in hell

---

---

You’ve known Viktor for a couple of months now: almost an entire year, if you were to be specific. And in that period of time, you’ve learned three main things about him.

Firstly, his intelligence isn’t just limited to the subjects of science and machinery. His entire thought process is as quick as a whip, in every aspect of his life. At times it almost seemed like his mind was on fast forward, moving at a pace that the rest of the physical world couldn’t keep up with.

As such, his sense of humour is startling. As proper and calm as he appeared on the outside, he was often capable of making deadpan quips that would have your sides aching in seconds.

No one could make you laugh the way he did.

Secondly, you’ve learned that despite his ability to logic his way out of any situation, Viktor was a deeply emotional man. You’d had your doubts at first - never being able to get him to emote beyond a slight frown or smile, in the beginning.

But the more you’d gotten to know him, the more you’d realized that yes, he really did have feelings. And a lot of them, at that.

He was just guarded when it came to matters of his heart, and for good reason. Growing up as a lonesome boy in the Undercity couldn’t have been easy for him, so you’re not really surprised that he’d come up with all kinds of ways to protect himself.

But you’ve always been a patient woman.

You’d taken your time getting to know him, listening intently when he spoke to you and asking questions all throughout. You’d opened up to him about your own life, about your desires and fears - showing him that not only did you enjoy the things he had to say, but you also trusted him with your own issues.

And, like you had desperately hoped, he’d eventually begun to trust you in return.

Which leads to the third thing you’ve learned about Viktor.

For all his skills and capabilities, and his attention to detail when he works, he is…not a subtle man. 

He knows his way around technology better than anyone you’ve ever met, and he’s an above average partner for conversation. He’s insightful and clever, and kind, and funny, and…

…and he lacks so much tact, that at first you’d thought he was doing it on purpose.

Perhaps the shirt you’d been wearing that day had been too low cut, and he’d been to awkward to say anything about it. Maybe he’d liked the colour you’d chosen, and hadn’t known how to compliment you. But whatever the reason, you’d noticed him, on multiple occasions now, unabashedly staring at your chest.

The first time it had happened, you thought maybe he was trying to make some kind of point to you. Something about dressing appropriately for the lab, yadda yadda. But he’d never made any kind of silent acknowledgement to you - as if he wasn’t even aware of the fact that you’d caught him ogling you.

As if he wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was doing it.

And you…aren’t sure what to feel about it.

On one hand, if you pulled him aside and spoke to him about it, you’re fairly certain he’d combust in some aspect. At the very least, he’d be embarrassed about his actions, and would avoid you to an extent: at the worst, he’d end up having some kind of internal crisis which would undoubtedly lead to your entire friendship falling apart.

Neither of which you wanted.

On the other hand, you’re not sure you mind the way his attention always seems to fall to you.

You’d never seen him act in such a way with anyone else, even with the people you yourself would consider pretty. He’s professional, and keeps most others at a distance, and…honestly, it makes you feel special. It makes you feel desirable.

Which has raised the question: what do you want from him?

Were you happy to be the apparent recipient of his attraction?

Or did you want more?

Did you want to go on dates with him? Did you want to fall asleep next to him, and wake up with his hair in your face and his arms around your waist? Did you want to traipse into the lab without so much as a warning, and kiss him good morning? Did you want to hold his hand as you wandered around together? Relax with him in the bath after a long day, tenderly soaping him up as you dig your thumbs into the many knots all over his back, letting your hands wander across his skin-

You take a deep breath, and pull yourself away from the thought before you get too carried away. It’s strikingly obvious what you want, now that you think about it.

Now you just needed to figure out how to approach him.

—

You wander into the lab the next morning with your bag slung over your shoulders, and a tray of coffee in your hands. It’s later than you’d usually show up to work, but given the fact that you’d brought some much needed treats, your friends let it slide.

Jayce wastes no time in fixing himself a cup, briefly squeezing your shoulder in thanks before heading back to his desk.

Viktor, on the other hand, remains seated. Engrossed in whatever he’s working on, you’re fairly certain he hasn’t even noticed your entrance. It would sting a little, were you not already used to such a behaviour.

It also means he hasn’t noticed the clothing you’d decided to wear that day.

You bite back a smirk as you prepare a cup for him, dropping in an obscene amount of sugar and a dash of cream. You’d decided to go with the blouse he’d first ogled you in - it’s gotten a little tight over the past couple months, but that, in your opinion, only serves as better bait.

It hugs your form better than it had before, and had made it so you’d had to leave the top couple buttons undone. Paired with the fitted skirt you’d chosen, and the gartered stockings that peeked out from beneath, your entire ensemble was perfect for showing off your figure.

Entirely unprofessional, you’re aware, but necessary.

“You should take a break,” you say sweetly, as you set the cup of coffee down on Viktor’s desk. You make sure to lean well into his field of vision, with the excuse of making sure the beverage is away from the edge of the table, but you can feel the effects of your actions immediately.

His gaze, darting up from his work to look at what you’ve gifted him, only to trail over your body in the most obliviously lecherous way possible. 

“I- hm?” he replies smartly, blinking out of his momentary stupor.

You bite back a laugh.

“I said you should take a break,” you reiterate. “You’re so focused, I don’t doubt you’ve already been sitting here for a couple hours. You should give your eyes a rest, and have something to eat.”

He makes a noncommittal noise, and slouches back in his seat.

“I’m almost finished,” he tells you, though you hardly believe him.

You carefully set your hands on the arms of his chair, leaning forward so that you’re at eye level with him and can fix him with a disapproving pout. He swallows hard, and at such a proximity, you can see the way his pupils widen - hear the way his breath comes in short draws, as you lock your gaze with his.

“Take a break,” you say again, and this time, he nods in agreement.

—

You continue like that throughout the day. Touching and teasing him in ways that would seem innocent to any onlookers - a hand on the shoulder, your lips by his ear, or your chin on his shoulder while you watch him explain something to you. 

But each time you find yourself in his personal space, you can feel his resolve slipping. He’s realized by now what you’re doing, and he knows that you know. But he’s yet to say anything about it.

It’s maybe a little bit selfish of you, but you want to see him crumble, and you mean it in the kindest and most loving way possible. You want his stubbornness to be washed away by desperation - you want him to be incapable of resisting you.

It takes most of the day, but eventually you make it to that point.

Eventually, after Jayce bids goodnight to the two of you and the room is cast into silence.

You lean quietly against the edge of his desk, affectionately watching him while he tries in vain to ignore your eyes on him, attempting to finish his work.

“Viktor,” you murmur.

His hands tighten around the tools he’s holding.

“What are you doing?” he sighs. Finally addressing the tension.

Slowly, oh so slowly, you reach towards him. Sliding your fingers tenderly along his jaw, reveling in the way his pulse thumps quicker the moment your skin makes contact. You carefully tilt his face towards you, drawing his attention away from the trinket laying in front of him.

And guilt immediately flickers in your stomach, the moment you see how he’s looking at you.

Wholeheartedly, entirely, and terribly frustrated.

You stroke your thumb over the curve of his cheek, watching as the prettiest shade of pink begins to rise in your wake.

“I’m trying to get your attention,” you gently tell him. “You’ve been staring at me for weeks, and you haven’t done anything about it.”

Worry rises up in your throat, the longer the silence lasts between you. Fear. You’d been absolutely certain that he’d been showing an interest in you, in a way he did with no one else. But what if you’d been wrong? What if you’d completely misinterpreted his actions, and had now made a complete and utter fool out of yourself-

The soft press of lips against your palm draws you out of your spiral.

Viktor’s lips, specifically, his breath warm on the hand you’d laid upon him.

“I had hoped you wouldn’t notice,” he mumbles, swiveling in his chair to face you. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, or make myself appear rude or…unsafe. I had hoped that admiring you from a distance would work well enough, and that our friendship would be able to continue unchanged.”

You scoot closer to him, until you’re all but sitting in his lap.

“Why would things change?” you wonder, letting your cheek come to rest against his shoulder. “We’ll still always be friends - just now with the added benefit of…you know. Romance.”

You lay a kiss to the pulse point on his throat, smirking at the way it jumps beneath your touch.

“Among other things,” you tack on.

Slender arms snake around your waist, then, pulling you impossibly closer. Until you’re pressed firmly against his body, with your legs spread and hooked over the armrests of the chair. You can feel the way your skirt has ridden up, revealing more skin than you’d intended, though Viktor hardly seems to mind.

Once you’re resting comfortably against him, his hands begin to wander. Slowly walking his fingers down your body - pressing into the curve of your hips, and dipping over the exposed meat of your ass.

You know he can feel the way you shiver when he touches you, if the self-satisfied smirk he wears is anything to go by.

“Other things,” he huffs, sliding a single finger beneath the band of one stocking. He keeps it there for a couple seconds, sliding around to the back of your thigh, where he pulls away and draws the elastic taut. 

“Is that what you came here for, today?” he asks, feigning innocence. “Did you dress up all pretty, hoping I’d bend you over my desk and have my way with you?”

His breath is hot on the soft skin of your neck, until he digs his teeth in.

And lets your stocking snap sharply back into place.

“Viktor,” you whine, squirming in his lap.

“Poor thing,” he murmurs, as he dips a hand between your legs, stroking the pad of one finger along the obvious damp spot on your panties. “You’ve been throwing yourself at me all afternoon, like some kind of common whore.”

You whimper, when he pushes the wet fabric to the side and immediately starts drawing lazy circles on your clit, already slick with desire.

“Even now, spreading yourself open for me, in a place where anyone could walk in. I bet you’d let me fuck you like this, wouldn’t you? You’d let me use your slutty little cunt however I pleased, and you wouldn’t even care if you made a mess - you’d let me stretch you open and fill you until I’m satisfied.”

You’re humiliated by how quickly he manages to bring you to the edge. Sliding two slender fingers into your dripping hole, he curls them and spreads them so perfectly within you, grinding the heel of his palm against your puffy clit all the while.

“Would you like that?” he wonders, though it’s hardly a question. “Ridiculous - of course you would. You’re already dripping all over my hand, and clenching around my fingers. Are you really about to come? Even though I’ve barely touched you?”

You nearly sob as he continues to work you closer and closer to the edge, crying out in desperation when he slides another digit in with the first two. You don’t think you’ve ever been spread so wide by someone’s fingers before, the stretch burning in the most delicious way.

Closer and closer, your orgasm approaches, your breath coming in short gasps as you tremble bonelessly against him.

“Please,” you whine, nearly begging. The obscene squelch of your dripping pussy echoing through the room.

“Please what?” he teases. “Please take my fingers out? Is three too much for your poor little cunt? Or please give you another one?”

You wail when he stills his hand.

“Please let me come,” you sob, your voice catching in your throat. “Viktor- I want to come- please-”

Blessedly, deliciously, he slips a fourth finger in, and begins his ministrations anew.

“Look at you,” he sighs, almost dreamily. “You’d look so perfect split open on my cock. I know you’d be able to take it - you can take most of my hand, after all. But it would be tight.”

You nod along with him, barely able to form a coherent thought, orgasm so close you can practically taste it.

And then, like a monster, he stops.

“No- no no no don’t stop-” you cry, rolling your hips in an attempt to grind down on his fingers, only for him to pull them out of you completely, leaving your hole empty and clenching around nothing.

“I’m not fucking you in here. And I’m not letting you come until I’ve filled you up,” he says plainly, and the statement alone makes you want to start weeping. However, he tilts his face down towards yours, nudging his nose against you until you find the will to stare sadly up at him.

Your eyes meet, and you’re entirely started by the sheer desire that shines within his pretty, honeyed gaze.

“Unless you want this to be a one-time thing,” he says, his words catching briefly, as if the thought itself pains him. “If you don’t want…more…then I’ll let you come now, on my fingers, and there will be no hard feelings. Our friendship will remain unchanged, and we’ll never speak of this again.”

You frown slightly at the idea.

“But if you do want more from this,” he continues, “If you do want a relationship, if you want to be mine…then come back to my room with me. Let me take my time with you, let me feel you, let me bring you pleasure in every way I know how - my fingers, my mouth. Let me love you.”

You don’t bother with a verbal answer, choosing to instead bring your lips to his in a hurried frenzy. Your breath mixing, his tongue sliding tentatively against yours, until your chest is so full you’re gasping for air, knitting your hand in his hair to briefly pull him away from you.

Even so, he tries to chase you.

You stare at each other for a couple seconds, chests rising and falling as you calm yourselves and gather your wits.

And then, sweetly, you ask your question.

“Where’s your room?”

[hansols-yoda-boxers]

Oct 6th [I.N. + Voyeurism]

[10:19] Why did you have to live with such a stupid roommate? Really, how hard was it to close a goddamn door?

Of course Jeongin was dumb enough to think that just because you weren’t home meant he could leave his door wide open while enjoying some personal time and of course he didn’t account for the fact that if you did come home the only way to get to your bedroom was past his. So at present, it was his own fault that you were stuck in the hallway, frozen in the shadows as it had dawned on you and you contemplated what you should do.

If you walked past now he would be embarrassed. Honestly, he should be embarrassed acting like this as if it’s just a normal thing to do. You wondered idly what he did in the common areas when he knew you wouldn’t be home. God you hoped he cleaned up after himself. 

Your other option was to just stand here, and wait. There was no way you could do that. If you were lucky he’d fall asleep but if he went to the kitchen or bathroom he’d see you. Was it possible to just leave the apartment? Maybe but you would just sit in the hallway trying to time your entrance and that was decidedly stupid.

Jeongin let out an unabashed moan, no doubt because he figured no one was around to hear, and you shifted a little where you stood. It didn’t help at all that your body was reacting of its own accord, warmth pooling between your legs from the sounds of his moans and the sight of him laying back on the bed, hard cock in his hand as he moved at a slower, steady pace.

Maybe he liked teasing himself? Or being teased? You tried to wipe the idea from your mind, cursing him once again for his stupidity. And cursing your own stupid, horny brain for enjoying it at all. Would you be able to wipe this from your mind or would your brain bring it all back up when you tried to have your own alone time? You didn’t want to think about it.

Jeongin let out another moan, but this time much more of a word. A specific word. A word that happened to be your name.

Nope, you were definitely not about to try and process that. You did not need your mind dwelling on why he was moaning your name of all names. The hall was dark and Jeongin was decidedly distracted. It was better just to make it to your room, if you were careful he never needed to know and you could pretend this never happened.

You managed to tear your eyes away from Jeongin’s form, trying to block out the pretty moans and gasps from your mind. You stepped carefully, into full view of the door. Another glance you stole towards his form, planning to be past the doorway but instead your foot landing on the one creaky floorboard in the whole apartment.

Jeongin’s hand froze in place and his eyes snapped open, meeting your expression of bewilderment with his own. Very quickly you noticed the way his face started to flush red and he scrambled to grab his blankets and cover himself as your feet refused to move and take you to the safety of your room.

“Wh-What are you doing!?” He cried.

“I-I should ask you that!” You retorted. “Why did you leave the door open!?”

“Y-You were gone!” He said indignantly. “I don’t- You- Why were you watching me?! Pervert!”

“How am I a pervert?!” You cried. “Your door is wide open!”

Jeongin opened his mouth to respond but a banging and a yell from the upstairs neighbor to shut up made you both fall quiet. When Jeongin met your eyes again some of his frustration had melted away into pure embarrassment. Your feet still felt frozen to the spot and after a moment more of staring at each other Jeongin cleared his throat.

“H-How um- Did you h-hear anything?” He mumbled.

“Y-Yep.” you kept your answer short, looking anywhere but Jeongin and wondering if chopping off your legs was an acceptable behaviour in this situation.

“I-I thought- you- Th-This isn’t h-how I imagined it.” You weren’t sure if you were meant to hear that with how quietly he said it but at this point you couldn’t ignore it. You felt the embarrassment flushing through you too. 

“Were you- Did you want me to- Oh my god did you leave the door open on purpose?!” Surprise crept into your voice as the thought dawned on you.

“No!” He said immediately. “N-No I just- I didn’t think I-I was just horny a-and thinking a-a-about u-uh-”

“A-About?” You weren’t sure why your heart was racing so fast as you tried to anticipate his words.

“N-Nevermind,” he mumbled.

“Hey, you left the stupid door open. You did this to yourself,” you pointed out, though there was more softness in your voice. “So you have to deal with it.”

He dropped his gaze away from you, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Y-You’re really gonna make me say I like you, huh?”

Why you felt your heart burst out of your chest you refused to think about. You stood there in silence until he started to crumble in on himself and only then did you stumble forwards. Despite half your brain screaming to go to your room because this was weird, the other part of yourself wanted to offer him some comfort or at least tell him you didn’t hate him.

“I-I you don’t have to say it.” You managed.

Jeongin eyed you shyly. “I should, though.”

“H-Huh?” You shifted a little, standing at the edge of the bed and feeling the quick pattering of your heart as he properly trained his gaze on you.

“I should tell you, I like you.” He said. “I just didn’t want to make things weird.”

You managed a laugh, feeling a little more relaxed as he relaxed. “So this isn’t your idea of weird then?”

Jeongin snorted as you sat with him on the bed. “I could make it weirder.”

“Oh?”

He grinned at you. “I could have asked you to join me.”

You weren’t sure if he expected you to laugh, or maybe shove him away and call him gross. But he seemed almost unprepared for the way you gave him a wide-eyed look. You could feel the heat creeping up and down your body at the thought of his suggestion. You sputtered a little and Jeongin’s smile faded.

“S-Sorry,” He mumbled.

“U-Uh,” you shifted a little, looking away from him again and unsure how to explain the way warmth was sinking into the pit of your stomach. “That’s not- you’re fine.”

“Oh?”

You weren’t sure if he noticed how you pressed your thighs together. Or maybe he saw how you grabbed at the covers on his bed, but he grinned again, moving closer to you. It made your stomach do flip flops as he leaned in.

“Unless you wanted me to ask you to join,” he giggled.

“I-I look I didn’t leave the door open so-”

“Do you?”

“You were moaning my name-”

“Do you?”

“And you called me a-”

“But do you?”

You finally looked at him, swallowing hard.

“Maybe I do.”

Jeongin grinned wider, not saying anything and instead closing the distance. Despite his slight cockiness his kiss was full of a sweet desperation. It took very little time for you press closer to him, feeling a rush of excitement as his hand grabbed your waist. But a much bigger rush of heat as your hand landed in his lap and even through the covers you could feel he was still hard.

You didn’t think too much about the fact that that embarrassment didn’t kill his boner and opted to save that tidbit of information for later.

You started to remove your hand but he grabbed your wrist, keeping it there. “No.” He said first. Then, more gently. “I-I mean if you want.” Another pause and then “Please?”

You felt your heart melt just a little as you palmed him through the covers, taking in the way he was starting to pant into kisses with you. Carefully you pulled back the covers enough and while your lips never left his you wrapped your hand around his cock, squeezing him a little and running your thumb around the head.

Jeongin breathed out curses against your lips. “Your real hand feels so much better.”

You felt some rush of arousal from his words, some part of your mind feeling extra warm that he was imagining you. That didn’t stop you from laughing into the kiss at his comment. He stiffened a little, gripping you a little more tightly, but you moved your hand, pumping his cock steadily.

“You’re cute,” you murmured.

“I’d prefer sexy,” he retorted.

“Should have thought about that before admitting to fantasizing about my hand,” you snickered.

Jeongin pulled away from the kiss, whining and hiding his face in your neck. “Y-You’re mean.”

“I never told you to have a crush on me,” you started to pump him more quickly, starting to draw moans from his lips. “You did that to yourself.”

“D-Didn’t choose th-that,” he managed.

“And yet here we are,” you chuckled. “Innie being a cutie, not wanting me to leave him alone, not wanting me to stop touching him.”

“Sh-Shut up,” he mumbled, fingers gripping you tighter as he muffled your moans against his neck.

“But it’s fun,” you hummed. “And you get all cute when you’re shy. Don’t you want to be cute for me?”

“‘M not a-answering that,” he mumbled, hips pressing up into your hand as you moved just a little faster. 

“One day I’ll get you to,” you grinned. “Doesn’t have to be today.”

He let out a whine, pressing even more into the skin of your neck.

“Are you gonna cum, innie?” You hummed. He didn’t answer, just nodded quickly, fingers digging into your waist. A few more gasps fell off his lips until he let out a soft cry and hot cum spilled from  his cock, all over your hand. You helped him through the waves of his orgasm until he started to tremble and you tried to pull back.

He let you free his cock from your grasp but he kept you close, resting his chin on your shoulder. You had a hunch he was too embarrassed to let you look at him.

“D-D you have to tease me like that?” He mumbled.

“Jeongin, if you can look me in the eye and tell me it doesn’t turn you on I won’t do it again.” You murmured.

“You suck,” he muttered.

“You’re welcome for the orgasm,” you snorted.

He pulled back only enough to peek at you. “I bet you won’t be so cocky when I return the favour.”

“H-Huh?” His change in tone caught you off guard and he took advantage of it to push you back onto the bed.

“I bet you’ll be just as cute for me, won’t you darling?”

[the-descolada]

Spoiler-Free Advance Review:

Exordia by Seth Dickinson

I could not put this book down, my god. Staying up super late multiple nights because I couldn’t stop reading is such a great problem to have, and Exordia gave me that problem more than any book I’ve read in a few years.

This is a very different book than Baru, but Seth’s evocative prose and dark humor is familiar from page one, and the laser focus on defamiliarizing real world injustices is again the core of the work. Despite being far more immediate (Exordia is set during the Obama administration in our world, with an alternate history beginning from the moment the book starts), the heaviness of the topics never gets overwhelming. There’s some incredible (and extremely fitting) tonal dissonance here, with every perspective character having their own sense of disaffected humor about the apocalyptic situation they’ve been thrown into.

I described this to my friend after just starting as “if the Books of Sorrow were written with Gideon the Ninth’s tone and just straight up in our world,” and I think that remains true throughout. There’s a huge amount of references peppered in, and it helps maintain that lighter tone to balance the despair of what is essentially a doomsday clock ticking down throughout the book - and it helps keep things grounded, honestly. I never felt it took away from the gravity of things, or was unnatural - after all, if I, an early 21st century sci fi nerd, was thrown into some fucked up alien bioweapon mystery, it’s hard to say my first thought wouldn’t be “oh shit, this is just like the Andromeda Strain!”

Having seven (eight?) different protagonist (or deuteragonist, I don’t know which they qualify as) PoVs is pretty wild but works perfectly here. Every character has such a unique outlook that you can instantly figure out whose head you’ve popped into even before any identifying names or things are mentioned - Seth’s mastery of the tonally cohesive PoV shifts was something I had loved in Tyrant, especially, and they’re equally impressive here. The characters are lovable, hatable, and everything in between - and each as mentioned is so distinct and compelling that I can’t say there was a single character who I was unhappy to get into their head. And that’s saying something, given who some of these characters are, but I’ll leave the specifics a surprise. Predictably, my favorites were the dysfunctional autistic butch-femme lesbians, but I really loved all of them in the end.

The base premise is almost comical in how small it starts to how much it escalates - a cynical, disillusioned Kurdish genocide survivor, Anna Sinjari, meets a terrifying (and yes…very hot. I’m a simple woman) alien in Central Park, and this seemingly chance encounter sees her roped into a small group of scientists, soldiers, and her own mother in a desperate countdown to solve an otherworldly mystery and save their world. The twists and turns of the plot are intense, so engaging that I was bouncing up and down at times (there’s plenty of sci-fi insanity that I absolutely eat up), and tightly paced.

Seth seems to really enjoy writing ethical dilemmas to great effect, and Exordia is ruthless in that area, taking the base concept of the trolley problem and the moral justification for what someone would sacrifice for the greater good and carving it apart for narrative weight. What greater good does the sacrifice serve? Is it actually good? Who gets to make the choice, and do they have a choice but to make it? There’s a lot to dig into here, and Exordia is a four course meal.

One aspect of this simply taking place in our world, rather than being an alternate universe like Baru, is that the defamiliarized commentary is even more on the nose. Whereas Baru is a commentary on empire and homophobia as a whole, transparently pulling from primarily American history of genocide and imperialism to shape a culture unlike our own in many ways to defamiliarize this moral exploration, Exordia is just literally about real world American imperialism and enabling of genocide in the MENA region, primarily the ramifications of the military industrial complex’s usage of drone warfare and the extremist regimes armed and encouraged by “counterterrorism.”

All this sets the stage for the question of what happens when a bigger fish arrives, one just as hell bent on empire building and justifying its own atrocities. The sci-fi intervention into this banal evil is at the same time a reflection of that evil, and asking if the world has the capacity for resistance to both. Exordia’s answer is profound, and far from easy, but entirely fitting for the ethical dilemma that runs throughout the book, creeping up on you slowly as you start to recognize what shape it takes in this story.

The central material conflict of the book, a locked box mystery of sorts that you piece together with the characters, is fucked up and fun and scary, a reality shifting threat that treads the line between body horror, meta-narrative, and lovecraftian math. It’s extremely cool, and I think it’ll be right up the alley of fans of The Andromeda Strain, The Locked Tomb, The Books of Sorrow and other parts of Destiny lore, and a lot of other SFF stories where ethics, horror, and mystery mix together.

I don’t want to say too much about the climax and the ending - going into this book without knowing too much was an incredible experience that had me on the edge of my proverbial seat - but the ending left me asking myself some very similar questions as I had at the end of Traitor, and I cannot wait for a reread when the physical book is in my hands to see what little foreshadowed things I can pick up on.

I don’t think people are going to be quite as completely emotionally Destroyed at the ending of this one as Traitor, but…it is very much a Seth Dickinson book, and they have quite the talent for making every thread tie together at the end to make the reader feel every emotion at once and realize that this could never have gone any other way. I cried, I laughed, sometimes simultaneously, and a book that can do that to me is entirely worth the experience - and what an experience this was.

Absolutely fucking incredible, I want more of these characters and everything they’re wrapped up in, 10/10.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[allhappyandgay]

Gay mike, autism, and his signature grimace.

[most images used as examples were taken from @howtobecomeadragon because they were already compiled in this wonderful series for easy access so thank uuu teehee]

The Mike Face. we all know it, we all love it, but do we all understand it? to some degree, yes, but Im going to pull apart it’s insides and look at it under a magnifying glass because it honestly kind of confuses me sometimes—almost like its the wrong facial expression to make 👀—even though it usually works in our favor (gay mike).

The main consistency is that he does it when he doesn’t understand something. but not that he doesn’t actually know what something means, more that he doesn’t understand the logic behind it. and it pisses him off.

This is a very common experience for autistic people, we often get agitated by our lack of understanding and feelings of confusion toward things that nobody else seems to question. or similarly, why everyone else understands something, when you don’t, or can’t, no matter how hard you try.

It can make you feel “othered” or maybe even less than, compared to your peers. everyone is confused sometimes, and everyone gets frustrated from being confused sometimes! but the difference is, when you just can’t seem to grasp the reasoning for things over and over again, and are made to feel bad about it, it can result in the person feeling broken or hopeless (which lucas literally calls him for not getting his metaphor for an opportunity to talk to his ex girlfriend).

honestly it’s probably one of mikes biggest insecurities, he’s ridiculed by his own friends for not understanding simple things that come easy to them, for being oblivious to things, being ‘blind’ to things, constantly.

Mike just so happens to make this face a lot when things having to do with girls come up. especially in s3 when lucas is trying to guide mike in his relationship with el, something he seems to know a lot about and understands easily compared to mike. almost everything lucas says to do, mike just simply doesn’t get. but again, it’s not that he doesn’t understand the words coming out of lucas’s mouth, or how to do the things he’s telling him. he’s confused by his own disinterest and lack of motivation to do what lucas is telling him he needs to do in order fix his relationship with el, in contrast to lucas, who is completely confident in his methods. he doesn’t understand why people would do these things, or why they would actually work.

And I think this also shows just how well he actually knows how to go about these situations in a way that works for him, because he does it flawlessly with will every season.

In s1 we see him do the Mike Face (that’s what i’ll be calling it for consistency) before being presented with anything having to do with girls, he hasn’t even met el yet. this gives us some lore of the expression (lmao), and let’s us see what it really means before attaching it to anything specific (like distaste for women).

Here we see him grimace in response to bullying:

If we apply what i’ve already said about the expression, he clearly doesn’t understand the bullies’ motive for making fun of them, which reflects his personal values. re: “so? the x-men were weirdos,” and “I think it’s kind of cool. it’s like you have superpowers or something,” etc. which is kind of obvious, most kids who get bullied don’t agree with it, but why have him make this face in response to it rather than anger or fear or something. instead he looks at them like he’s smelling something bad lol. he just looks so confused, like, ‘why? why are you doing this?’

Mike rarely makes fun of his friends. he only judges their motives, reasoning, approaches, plans, and ideas. which also plays into how his understanding of other peoples logic is shown. mike is always the one to make a plan that works, he doesn’t dislike other peoples ideas because he didn’t come up with them, he dislikes them because he can see the flaws in them. mike can create a perfect plan that takes everything into consideration. because he is autistic. 🤭

(btw Im not saying every single person on the spectrum is a fucking genius that can detect every inconsistency in any given situation lol mike is just shown to be good at the devising part of plans in the show, and why have that as one of his strengths if not to show how his brain works, just like other characters having strengths in different areas to show how their brain works)

And I know he’s also just simply upset over the fact they’re getting bullied in the first place, nobody wants to go through that. but it’s the presence of this specific repeated expression that will give us some background for future reference in the different circumstances it shows up in.

So the main things that repeatedly invoke the Mike Face are:

things that go against his principles

attraction to girls

love at first sight

When somebody does anything that goes against your own principles, it’s hard to understand why they would, or could. that’s what makes them principles, they’re things you stand by because you just can’t see it any other way. for example, think of something like premeditated murder. this (most likely) goes against your personal values, which makes it very difficult for you to understand why someone would do it.

The other two are pretty obvious in that they’re things some people simply don’t experience (which says a lot about mike if you know what I mean teehee). as we all know, it can be harder to understand things that we don’t personally experience ourselves. that is the thing that all of these have in common: mike not understanding the reasoning behind them, and his difficulty in accepting it. which is very autistic of him lmao.

Mike is not canonically autistic, but he is very coded, and if we take that—whatever the in-show equivalent to autism is—into consideration, the extent to which mikes confusion surrounding these things goes compared to his friends makes a lot of sense,*which also greatly plays into the disposition of his arc. lucas dustin and will all disagree about things sometimes, but they get over it fairly quickly. mike on the other hand is dramatic and has a hard time letting things go, which is why there is emphasis on him being confused as shit all the time! lmao

Anyway, what that means is there is a purposeful tenaciousness to the things that result in the Mike Face. they’re supposed to stick in your head, the things he doesn’t understand/like/agree with.

This is the reason it’s so obvious that mike was lying in his monologue to el despite the absence of the Mike Face (although, he did look pretty close to it a few times lol), because that would be way too on the nose, literally. instead they have connected the characters recognizable grimace with a motif in the show: love at first sight essentially equating them to each other in your head.

love at first sight? does. not. compute.🤖

We are shown time and time again that mike does not believe you can like or dislike somebody you haven’t known for very long, and so have the writers themselves. these are only two out of like four different examples throughout the show:

And surprise surprise, the Mike Face.

Now circling back to mikes difficulty understanding lucas’s instructions in s3 pertaining his relationship with el, this clearly belongs in the aforementioned area: attraction to girls.

There’s a lot of this in s3 as you can see, but it’s definitely present in every season. even 1:

^mike after reassuring el she’s pretty.

There are so many more instances that Im not going to put here because I don’t have room but that simply proves my point, you don’t need to see them. because it has been so drilled into our subconscious through the association of these two things in the show (and many others), that if you were to visualize mike flat out stating “I like girls,” it’d be really, really weird. because, other than el (supposedly) …since when?

Alright. we all know the phrase ‘friends don’t lie’ lol. this was technically created by mike, so telling the truth between friends was recognized in that moment as one of mikes core principles. if we take that and apply it to moments he’s lied to in the show, the Mike Face will be there as well because we’ve established it as one of the main things he cannot abide.

The only exception to this is when he himself lies, which makes sense because he can understand his own reasoning for it, and validate his lying based on that. but anyone else does it and it’s:

*What other character is shown to have so many strong opinions on things that other characters just don’t really care much about? It is to contradict what the casual viewer sees and hears, because as we know, a good portion of stranger things fans have mikes character all wrong. either because they trust his actions blindly (ga), or they misconstrue his behavior to their favor (milevens), or both! this was done so that when mike has his character arc in s5, despite what we’ve been shown, it will be clear that the opposite was true all along. the patterns that our subconscious picked up on will become evident.

Im not at all saying there’ll be a big reveal that mike is autistic in s5 lmao, his coding just has a lot to do with his character and gives an explanation (other than the heaps of unrelated evidence that he’s autistic) for why he makes such a big deal out of these things (girls, lying, love at first sight), or has such a strong reaction to them in contrast to other characters. because it needs to be very clear that he disagrees.

Basically what Im saying is mikes autistic traits help in demonstrating his hidden queerness through a single facial expression. lol what a sentence.

[halliescomut]

Boss/Noeul for The Boy Next World

So we got official confirmation (that we were all expecting) that Boss and Noeul will be playing Cirrus and Phugun respectively in The Boy Next World series coming form Mame/MeMindY. I read the whole novel in about 2 days...finishing up 4 hours prior to the announcement. (Poor decision making on my part honestly.) But I wanted to talk about the novel and basic story, the characters and what I think makes Boss and Noeul a good fit for them, some concerns, and some moments in the novel I'm excited to see.

I am going to attempt to sort of graduate spoilers, so we'll start with no spoilers, move on to potential mild spoilers, and the on to pretty moderate-severe ones. I will clearly mark each transition, so you can stop reading when you like.

No Spoiler Section- Story and Character Summaries

We'll start by going over the basic summary of the story. Phugun and Cirrus are university students that live in the same apartment building. One night Cirrus shows up at Phugun's apartment and tells him that he is his boyfriend. Phugun is understandably confused, as despite having attended the same high school and university, they've NEVER interacted before, but invites him in. Cirrus asserts that he is from a parallel universe where they had started dating in high school. From there it's a bit of a shenanigans ensue situation, but Phugun, being soft-hearted, agrees to try and help Cir get back to his own world, and Cir simply can't help doting on whatever Phugun is available to him. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you might yell.

Now to the characters:

Phugun (often called Phu) is a 2nd year humanities student. He is described as small, cute, and a bit silly. He's also quite feisty and soft-hearted (though he doesn't present that side of himself) and importantly he's kind of superstitious. It is a main character point that he believes that wearing certain colors on certain days will bring him luck, and on days where he can't bad things happen to him. He's an only child and his father passed away when he was in middle school or junior high, so probably about 12-13. After that his mother began travelling abroad, leaving him under the supervision of an aunt. He has a close-knit group of university friends, though from what I can tell none of them pre-date uni.

Cirrus (most often referred to as Cir or P'Cir) is a 4th year business management student. He is described as tall and very handsome, often pursued by other students, but he entertains no one. His nickname on campus is Ice Prince, and many people seem to be afraid of his dark glowers. He does have a small group of friends as well, one from high school (or possibly previously) and one that appears to be just from university. He is the eldest of two children, with a 1 year younger brother (Zone), and his parents are divorced. With Phugun, Cirrus becomes warm and doting, in contrast to the cold persona he presents otherwise.

Now reading through those descriptions you may think...those sound kind of a lot like Rain and Payu...and you are correct. Beginning the novel, I had the same concerns, that these characters were far to similar to their LITA ones and wouldn't offer much space for growth and progression as actors. I have also read the LITA novels (they're actually the only Mame novels I had read before embarking on the Boy Next World) and while I enjoyed Love Storm, I did feel that there wasn't A LOT of serious depth or emotional growth happening in the novel. This is not bad, it's simply my observation, and I enjoyed the novel and series regardless. Through the BNW novel we do have access to both leads points of view and a lot more detail about their backstories, so they are far more fleshed out, complex characters from the start. Because of this, I am potentially hopeful of some really affecting moments that will give Boss and Noeul a great opportunity to really stretch their acting wings. I've made a post before about Noeul's acting specifically, as Rain is incredibly different from him overall, and that remembering that definitely increased my appreciation of his performance there. Rain as a roles is more one that seems simple because he's kind of the most relatable, but for him to be so different from Noeul would offer a specific set of challenges.

There are also a couple of instances in the novel that I think Boss and Noeul in particular could convey very well....

Parallel World Set-up

I also want to give a small explanation of the parallel world basis for the novel, as there are many wildly different systems used in fictional stories, some more complex than others. Below is a pretty basic diagram of the type of parallel world set-up we're looking at.

It's pretty basic, the timeline moves forward and a certain point an occurrence or decision changes the course of the timeline creating to separate but parallel worlds (hence why they travel in the same direction together). In media this divergence point can be anything, in Sliding Doors it's Gwenyth Paltrow's character catching the train versus missing it, but it can also occasionally be a decision. A yes leads to one future, no leads to another, similar to a choose your own adventure story. The divergence point is revealed in the novel, but I won't spoil that, but that decision creates Timeline B where Cirrus and Phugun meet and begin dating in high school. That is the only difference between the two timelines. The orange dashed line is the inciting incident of the novel itself where Cirrus-B ends up in timeline A, and Cirrus-A ends up in timeline B.

I'm going to finish up with trigger warnings for the novel (and likely the series) if you choose to pick it up prior to the show coming out. There are some pretty serious instances of emotional and physical abuse of Cirrus at the hands of his mother, starting from when he was a child. There are also a couple of instances of homophobia. Most of this stems from two specific characters, but there are insensitive and degrading comments made by sort of background characters as well. Grief and grieving is also a potential trigger, as there is discussion related to the death of Phugun's father throughout the novel. As someone who has lost both parents, I did cry at these moments.

Mild to Moderate Spoilers- Scenes and aspects I would like to see in the series

So there are a handful of portions of the book that I really would like to see in the series, and a couple of 'silly' things that I think would just be fun/funny. I'll start with those.

Since we've now established the potential for recasting... I think it would be hilarious if Mame cast a bunch of the actors from the friend group in LITA as the friends in BNW. Specifically Pepper as P'Ren, one of Cirrus's friends who is obsessed with his tropical fish. It would just give the whole thing a bit of a community theater vibe, and I love that.

Since we have a a parallel or alternate universe situation, cast the previous Cir and Phu (Haii and Title) from TharnType 2 as the other versions of them. We don't actually see the other versions in the novel, but it feel like it would be funny like in the opening credits to see like side-by-sides of their lives/timelines.

Now on to actual story points and scenes from the novel I really want to see, and one I kind of hope we don't. We shall get the No out of the way first:

-I do think it is important to keep the child abuse storyline, but I very much hope that it is kept very circumspect or minimal in the show. I would especially not like to SEE it. I think maybe having Cir and Phu talk about it, maybe with audio-overlays or allusions to what happened. But it's pretty dark, and I don't want something like what we got in Don't Say No. Mostly because I have concerns about how filming those scenes can psychologically impact a child actor.

Now the YES's:

-I very much want to see the potential or alluded to second couple of P'Wim and Jin (who are friends of Cir and Phugun). Their vibe is one best described as Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood, and their interactions in the novel were delightful. I'm sure how much we'll get depends on the episode count, but I'm hopeful for more than a Ryu/Sun situation in Wedding Plan.

-As discussed, Phugun has some superstitions related to the clothes he wears, and in the novel this goes all the way down to underwear. I would love to see like a calendar montage where you see him rotating through a rainbow of different colored outfits. (It would be delightfully gay.)

-I want Zone to be in the show. He's only present a couple of times in the novel, but I do feel that he's necessary to the story and that removing him would negatively impact Cirrus's character/backstory, as his relationship with his brother does play a role in a lot of his choices. But in the novel, they have a fun dynamic, and his interactions with Phugun are quite sweet, so I feel like it would be a great inclusion.

-There are a couple of instances in the story where Cir sings Phugun to sleep to comfort him. We know Boss has a lovely singing voice, I would like to see that.

-There is a scene related to a musical instrument that was left to Phugun by his late father, but Phugun can't play it. In the scene Cirrus plays it for him, and it's one of the scenes that made me absolutely lose it. Now the instrument isn't a guitar, but since we know Boss can play guitar, I don't think it's unreasonable to just change the type of instrument, as that doesn't really affect the story. Though I am aware that a lot of viewers hate the "guitar in BLs" trope, there is a real emotional gravitas to this scene that I think it would be unfortunate to lose.

-Lastly, there are not many NC scenes in the novel, I think 3 fully explicit ones and a couple that are alluded to. But the first one is a BJ in which Phu is receiving and Cir is performing. Now BJs in general are rarely even portrayed in BL, for many reasons, but the fact that it's not easy to film in a manner that would get by censors, or to portray in a romantic light are probably major factors. It's also something that could be far more uncomfortable for the actors to film. But when they are even hinted at it's often the 'Top' who is receiving, we honestly rarely see concentrated effort from a 'Top' to pleasure their 'bottom' without achieving their own 'completion.' I think a lot of this stems from the heteronormative relationship aspects traditionally applied to BL couples. Just as there's an idea in heteronormative/patriarchal society that a woman is there to provide pleasure to the man, and a man is not obligated to return it, that get's saddled on homosexual characters, leading to a situation where we rarely see Tops do much more than prep and penetrate (and the prep is often off screen). It's something that bugs me regularly, even in shows I really like. It's something you see with Kinn/Porsche, with Dean and Pharm in UWMA. These are characters where there is supposed to be this insane level of affection and adoration in the Top for their bottom, but they're not going out of their way to make sure they feel good??? Seems fake. In fairness to Mame, while she does fall into many a problematic trope, she also really likes bossy bottoms who advocate for their own pleasure, so there is that.

So....that's my thoughts on what to expect and what I hope to see. I hope you enjoyed.