#i am now homophobic but only towards bees

[constantvariations]

Going through the rwby tag is so fucking annoying because it's 50% bees, 40% ooc dialogue horny/shitposts, 5% worst takes you've ever seen in your life, and 5% everything else

Which is still better than any of the character tags because, no matter which character you look at, it's still somefuckinghow all about the fucking bees

[itsclydebitches]

nah, bit the fact old!jaune of all characters watches bees kiss and is like "I've waited so long for this to happen" it's like, bro, please leave. get out of here.

Finally watched the episode!

That line makes absolutely no sense to me. Last interaction Jaune had that was bees related was him (understandably) assuming that Yang would be worried about Ruby being mad at her and he notably doesn't realize that she actually meant Blake. Then he goes into survival mode when Yang falls, having no time to reflect on Blake's reaction because he's off collecting the civilians, and then he spends literal years, likely decades, living in the Ever After, entirely removed from his friends' lives and, frankly, with bigger things to worry about than another team's romance. Jaune has to confirm that this is really Team RWBY, a moment which to me read as both hesitance that what he's waited so long for has really come to pass and ensuring that his mind isn't playing tricks on him. That's really what Team RWBY looks like, right? That's what they sounded like back when I was a teenager?

So you're telling me that Jaune, who to my recollection has NEVER shown that he knows what's up with Blake and Yang (that was his role with Ren and Nora) and who has now spent half a lifetime away from these girls to the point where he needs to reassure himself that he can even properly recognize them... was waiting "so long" for them to kiss?

Agreed: nah.

This is just another version of Weiss' earlier comment. As much as I liked it at the time for being the closest thing to confirmation in a then unconfirmed tale, Weiss likewise hasn't expressed any impatience, knowing looks, or other background hints to tell the audience, "I know they like each other and am waiting for them to overcome their fear and just SAY IT already." RWBY consistently tries to retcon things via dialogue. What do you mean Blake/Yang wasn't an established slow-burn the whole cast was aware of? Here are Weiss and Jaune saying just that!

Don't get me wrong, I'm ECSTATIC that they're finally canon, both because fuck yeah queer rep and, frankly, because I'd long grown sick of having my guard up in regards to this ship. But reaching this point doesn't erase the tumultuous journey getting there. Already I'm seeing a lot of folks going, "Of course RWDE is unhappy. They're homophobic 🙄" but the reality is that none of our criticisms have changed. We've said for years that RWBY needs to confirm the bees, but that confirming them won't suddenly free the writing of its long-term problems. Waiting this long was one of the biggest problems, so of course it's a bittersweet moment. You finally did the thing fans wanted you to do years ago and you did it with a number of pitfalls, not the least of which was scaring a good chunk of your fanbase into thinking we might end this series by being told we'd just been 'reading into things.' That's... a lot to unpack. I feel like I ordered takeout and it arrived five hours late. It's now stone cold, the food was only meh to begin with, and waiting in annoyance all night has now put me off my appetite. The response to that isn't usually a, "Why are you whining when you got your food??" Like yeah... I got my food... but damn, can you really not see how the experience of getting it impacts my feelings towards the food itself?

[crimsonxe]

Since a pathetic little shitstain wants to post a reply then block, I’ll go this route (anyone else can feel free to ignore):

@twilightguardian regardless of the block or not, want it known who this is aimed at.

Get it through your clearly braindead (likely sniffed damn paint cans) head, I don’t give a single fucking shit if your bigoted ass little bitch of a friend likes the ship or not. I do give a fucking shit when his bitch ass uses homophobic dogwhistles, ignoring the goddamn things in the show, and props up the goddamn hetero alternative that has no substance to it cause its fucking hetero. He is a disgusting sexist, homophobe, and obnoxious piece of shit that knows absolutely nothing about what goes into mature relationships. Instead he thinks shallow bullshit makes it.

“protected class”, if that’s supposed to go towards actually being allowed to be a thing in media? Yes, absolutely. Also “evil straights” ROFL, no bitch I have plenty of hetero pairs (including Renora and Arkos in RWBY among many others in other shows). What I don’t do is put being hetero as the main reason for a pair to be a thing or give extra weight for it being straight; nor do I have hetero-lenses welded to my skull or just homophobia in place that has me ignore LGBT+ builds. My stance is that if a relationship puts in the time and proper elements to justify being romantic, then it should be. BB has that, BS lacks it on every single count. Now if it comes down to a straight pair and an LGBT+ one, I will 90% of the time go with the LGBT+ one not only cause its the rarer one but also 90% of the time its had to put in 10x the goddamn work to TRY to justify its happening; which still won’t work cause your and Kaiser’s shitstain types will ignore it cause it doesn’t fit what you want.

As for the LGBT+, yeah I will fully invalidate people who’s only damn reason for being anti-BB is because they want another ship to happen. Because that isn’t a valid issue, nor are there any pairs that have the same level of build that bees have in the show. Also newsflash, if 90% of a group is pro-something and 10% isn’t; probably is an issue with the 10%; especially since within that 10% are ones no better than the incel shitstains and worse ones that are so up-sugar shows asses that rush out their LGBT+ cause that’s their audience that they can’t take a naturally built slowburn. So no, I don’t put weight into them either.

Newsflash dumbass: How I talk IS how 30+ done with people’s bullshit year old’s talk. I’m not going to coddle your dipshit ass by curtailing myself to fit whatever bullshit your ass prefers. What’s embarrassing and disgusting is your ass latching your lips to a sexist homophobe like Kaiser’s ass.

Except your bitch ass didn’t, the moment your ass got bit-back, you ran to hide behind a fucking block. ftr Blocking is fine, but don’t sit there and act like you’re ready to go toe-to-toe only to run and hide behind it like a little bitch.

Yeah, I have plenty of ground to stand on and its firm af. Your friend is a know-nothing disgusting sexist homophobe with his head shoved very much up his own ass. He’s just another incel shitstain.

So stating that I’m confident in my knowledge of the show to be able to easily “run circles” around you and Kaiser who I haven’t hidden I see as being utterly dumb as bricks = me not being my age. Once again grow the fuck up. I am confident in my knowledge of the show, the relationship, and the characters and especially against ones like you; that isn’t immaturity.

I’m a 30+ year old that’s done holding shit back, especially against pathetic little shitstains that spout bullshit.

Cry harder, grow the fuck up, and try to evolve from being a bigot based on the company you keep. Maybe you can even pull Kaiser from being the sexist bigot he is, though I doubt it cause incel shtistain going to incel shitstain.

[relaxxattack]

hi im asking u this bc u seem to be bee duo enthusiast so

ive been calling c! beeduos relationship platonic because i thought that was what their cc’s said, and i thought they had said that they were uncomfortable with ppl shipping the characters. But ive seen a lot of posts that say their relationship is canonically romantic? and i absolutely do not want to come across as homophobic by watering down a mlm relationship to just friends because that happens so much in media so.

what is the canon state of their relationship / ur opinions on the platonic thibg

dont worry abt answering if u dont want to!! i see a lot of differing opinions and i trust yours :)

aw it’s totally fine, im flattered you asked me about this!

let me put it simply: it’s a whole mess, lol.

first im going to talk about what’s happened fandom-wide that caused differing opinions, and then i’ll explain my own opinion/interpretation. :]

(this got really fucking long im so sorry)

ranboo and tubbo initially proclaimed the relationship was romantic, specifically in argument with the wiki editors who had set it as platonic by default. (you can see this in the vod where they decide they’re canonically married— it’s very funny. chat tells them the marriage is already on the wiki, they check, tubbo is jokingly offended that it says platonic and asks if he needs to up the romance).

tubbo also makes jokes about adultry, which sort of implies the relationship is not necessarily a platonic one.

(theres definetly more in that stream alone but it’s been a long time since i watched it so i don’t remember a lot of it.)

the wiki, because of this, suffers from going back and forth on platonic and romantic, seemingly unsure where the joke ends and the canon begins, or if its canonically a joke! a mess, as you can already tell.

this gets more complicated as the marriage bit goes on: outsiders, such as phil and scott, both at one point say “platonic marriage”, which then ranboo and tubbo agree with. however, when chat asks them if they’re platonic, they say the opposite. so there is a lot of confusion there.

there’s also the difficulty of being able to tell streamers and characters apart. ranboo and tubbo both don’t like being shipped irl, and that’s their boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. (they’re also minors, but tbh when they’re 18 in a year i will still be following their boundaries regardless of their legal age).

due to people not wanting to be accused of minor shipping, they started adding the platonic tone indicator to most of their drawings— basically a way of saying “no homo”. meanwhile, tubbo frequently on stream flirts with ranboo and makes quite a bit of nsfw comments towards him that are frankly hilarious.

this goes on for a while with nobody really sure what’s canon, but a lot of people assuming it’s probably platonic, until: the drama of the mods night. a few mods dmed all the wiki editors telling them ranboo wanted his canon character relationship officially set to platonic.

unfortunately for those mods; the very same day, a few hours later, ranboo on stream makes fun of puffy delivering him and tubbo “friendship flowers”. because, and i quote, “bruh. we’re literally married. this must be how the ancient greeks felt.”

in case you don’t know, the internet often jokes about how historians will call ancient greeks ‘very good friends’ when they are quite obviously gay. so in this context, ranboo is joking that people will call him and c!tubbo, who are married, “close friends”, when he doesn’t think they are.

basically, ranboo canonized romantic bee duo, the very same day the mods told everyone he’d wanted a platonic one.

chaos and drama immediately erupted everywhere. on tumblr, we were talking about how weird it was of his mods to do something like that without asking him first. we ALSO talked about how weird it was of them to assume that ranboo can’t make his own decisions, or assume teenagers cannot be in relationships without it being sexual. twitter did the same thing but in the opposite direction: called ranboo mods homophobic, or said they were mad ranboo felt pressured into making a romantic relationship canon ‘just so people could have mlm rep.’

i dont want to go into detail about the drama that happened that night because apparently official people follow me and i dont want to stir it up or have them come “clarify” things. im just saying what we talked about.

ranboo in typical ranboo fashion apologized quickly and seriously. he was deeply sorry for possibly offending anyone with how he’d portrayed his rp relationship with tubbo, and he also assured everyone the mod thing was just a miscommunication.

he said he would talk to tubbo and they’d decide once and for all whether it was platonic or romantic, and then announce so everyone would know.

it’s now been a few months and we've had no word from them on that development. we still have no clue.

-

now, here’s my opinion:

i want to take ranboos word for it that it was a miscommunication with his mods, but... we had it on good authority from people on the wiki team and people in the discord with the mods that (while it was happening) they were really going after the wiki admins, and also made some weird comments about it. that combined with the way ranboo seemingly had no clue (considering he canonized their romance that very same day).... it’s very. sus of the mods.

then there’s the canon we’ve got since then. although occasionally adults in the room have called it a “platonic marriage” and tubbo once (back when it first started) called it a “plankton tectonic” marriage, in roleplay it’s been... kind of not that. tubbo and ranboo make nsfw jokes about each other in character, and their characters also share a master bedroom and bed in the mansion. there's also the way c!tommy really thinks it’s a romance between them as well, and they agree with and play off that— for instance confirming that they “fell in love” when he asked, or ranboo confirming that they “make out on occasion”.

people will still put platonic on their art and posts, imo, because they’re worried about breaking ranboo and tubbo’s irl boundaries by looking like they ship them. or even just being accused of shipping real life minors. and that’s a valid fear to have.

the thing is though: c!bee duo are not cc!bee duo. they’re roleplay characters. cc!bee duo are not okay with being shipped, but they made their characters get canonically married, and call each other “husbands”. so it’s okay to write the word “husband” in your comic without adding “platonic” to it, i promise.

telling the ccs that their characters have to be platonic is... weird. it comes off as not only babying them, but also as saying teens can’t date without it being gross. which isn’t true.

(this is why seeing people overuse “platonic husband” so much bothers me. like, they ARE husbands. you can just say it. what are you trying to hide...?)

-

do i think they’re canonically romantic? ehh, its likely. it’s still okay to interpret them as platonic, because again, it’s hard to tell where jokes end and roleplay begins. like, maybe it’s jokes in the rp too, and c!bee duo are just friends. friends can and should be allowed to make jokes like that with each other! aro & ace marriages exist!

or, maybe it’s actually part of the rp, and they’re very much romantic. we don’t know!

some people say they could be a qpr (queerplatonic romance), which i could see. (a qpr is a relationship that fluctuates between, or can’t quite be sorted into, “romantic” and “platonic”. people in a qpr can do romantic things while having platonic feelings for each other). in my opinion this is a very valid interpretation as well!

-

CONCLUSION (sorry this got so long omfg):

are c!bee duo romantic?

its likely, but you can still interpret them however you like!

should i put /p on bee duo content?

ehhh? i find it annoying when it’s overused (as do others), but if you’re worried you can. its up to preference. putting it too much is weird though

should i put /p on things cc! bee duo do?

no. you’re not the one saying it so you can’t decide the tone tags for that. imagine you said something to your friend and a random stranger came up and was like “haha but that was /p right...?”

can i ship c!bee duo?

mmm. i’m not sure on this one. they are canonically married and very flirtatious, but the ccs don’t like being shipped and they’re close enough to being the ccs that actively shipping might be against boundaries.

can i treat c!bee duo as romantic?

yes. literally just don’t be weird about it. it’s not that hard! you can understand that two characters are husbands without making it weird

here’s the most important thing: boundaries. cc bee duo still haven’t told us what their preferences and canon is about this whole thing.

right now, i am assuming based on what they already show us they’re comfortable with, but! the second they give us any more info! all these opinions will change!

i am only going off what they do. i would never want to cross boundaries at all. i just wish they would make theirs a little more clear.

..... i hope that helped anon, i went way off the rails... i need to go to sleep.

[sjw-publishings]

Stay Straight Babe

“Im so glad I still have my lovely boyfriend with me during Quarantine, Amirite Cherry?”

“Yeah...hehe, so glad to have Sammie with me too...”

Anton, the Drama Queen laughed with his lesbian shy bookworm bestie as they discussed about theatre and all about. Of course, they would’ve invited their lovers along, but they were too busy being techno geeks and talking computer games in their gaming rooms.

“Did you have lunch yet?”

“Yeah, tried takeout from that famous Chinese restaurant downtown! Was super good!”

“Oh my god! Me too sistah!!!”

“OooooooAHHHH!”

A large groan came from their study, where his boyfriend’s currently at. Anton naturally looked concerned for his boyfriend.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know! But something came from Sammie’s room too...”

“Yeah! I gotta check Kenny, Brb!”

Ending the call, Anton left the bedroom, and headed his way outside the study, about to open the door, but then a loud masculine voice rumbled from behind the door.

“Samantha? You’re just such a great fri... girlfriend... eungh so hot...”

Samantha? Who is that....But more importantly, why would his friend...boyfriend be moaning to a lady? Is he...cheating on him? But that can’t be, his geeky nerd cutie is as queer as a three dollar bill! But still, he had to check it out....that deep voice certainly did not sound like a nerd’s...

“SO HOT!”

As Anton walked into the room, his eyes widened at the pile of clothes and tossed garments on the ground. Large XL sandblasted jeans, track pants, sneakers. Tons of sports posters and trophies decorating the shelves, and a large television screen playing the latest soccer match...though for some reason, he vaguely recalled seeing football and baseball at intervals.

But it definitely did not look like a study room...despite him initially thinking that it was. Alongside a couple of dart boards, some sports equipment, and a pool table, seemed like a recreation room...but since when could they afford...

“oooooOOOOAAAAAAHHH!”

A large moan came from the couch, as Anton came to the front of it, all his eyes focused on was an incredibly muscular asian hunk man-spreading in bliss, dressed in a white tee with an iconic sporting good logo in the front, left hand gripping his cellphone while his right hand dug deep into his clean white boxers. The man panted out of relief, and relaxation, like a weight lifted off his shoulders. Whispering into branded phone with his deep husky, asian tone.

“Stay Straight Babe~”

CLICK!

So hot...NO! Anton get a hold of yourself! Who was this Asian man? Where was his roommate? He had to get questions, even if this...extremely hunky cutie, looked so sexy dazed and looking up.

“What?...Who are you!”

The Asian man snapped out of his trace, eyes opened...but ever so slightly. He was asian after all, but he was chill...in control. Still leaning back on the couch, he looked at Anton, puzzled, before looking down at his exposed boxers and then back at the stranger. His mind cleared up in an instant, forcing out a-

“Kevin Lang, Fag!”

The man said it, and gave that signature sarcastic response from only a jock bully like him. Smirking condescendingly, he was in charge, and that theatre gay started to tremble.

“Listen Queer, I know you’re thirsty and all for men during this. But some of us got girlfriends who we can’t visit. So stop being a WUSS and deal with it.”

“I...wasn’t...I...”

Now this really pissed him, not even caring about the stickiness on his right hand, or that he had a pitched tent. All he knows now is to deal with this gay of a roommate who spied on him and his girlfriend. The tall 6ft 2 jock cornered Anton to the door.

“Go jerk to your boyfriend or something...oh that’s right! Even a FAG like you doesn’t have one!”

Anton was in tears, he remembered the countless dates that he had, alongside the taunts made by this douchebag Kevin who somehow managed to wolf his way into his life throughout college. He had to get out of there..., quickly opening the door and running back to the bedroom, locking it.

“I...I have to call Cherry...”

As he typed for her number, a sudden ringing notification popped up for the name Chelsea. Must be a typo when he was saving Cherry’s contact right? Cause that number definitely was Cherry’s.

“Anton....”

“What happened?”

Almost suddenly, his mind shrugged off of whatever his homophobic roommate had said. His best friend was weak right now, he had to help her.

Gripping ahold of the phone, he didn’t notice the warm tanned spot spreading on his palms, down his wrists every second as he held the cellphone.

“Samantha...called me a dyke.”

“Samantha?”

“You know! My roommate, the one that’s dating yours!”

It made sense now, the two of them bonded over how much they despised their roommates bullying...and the strangeness of how the douchebag jock and queen bee couple somehow always interfered in their respective love lives...

Clutching the phone tighter, his wrists tightened as definition thickened his forearms. Curling his biceps subconsciously, toning strongly till they were the size of baseballs.

“Yeah Kevin was such a douche, had to defend myself from him tryin’ to whoop me...”

“Yeah, had to backflip and dodge Samantha’s attacks. Didn’t feel good knowing she still holds a grudge about me being a dyke.”

Heh, he knew his best friend could handle herself. She was still a cheerleader in training, but could whoop Samantha’s arrogant butt anytime. Must also be her half asian genetics like his.

Sitting up straighter, Aiton’s broad shoulders filled out his sweater, which almost ripped if it was not for that white stain sealing up the cracks. That white stain...which came from Kevin...right? Was there a stain?

The white coloration spread all across the attire, shrinking up the sleeves to simply resting just below his shoulders, accentuating his large biceps which he proudly admired. Alongside his large back which occupied his entire bed...wait, didn’t he?

Taking a closer look at his bedroom...wait, looking DOWN at his bedroom. He was on the upper bed of a double decker, with training equipment at the side and a couple of sports memorabilia which looked reminiscent of the recreational room.

Yeah of course that douchebag Kevin had to have most of the room with his crap...though it was not all bad. He worked out quite often during his spare time...outside of that artsy degree he had no idea why he took...did he take an artsy degree? He shrugged, doesn’t matter, he worked out.

Anyways it showed, leaning back and taking full charge of the entire bed. At least he was the alpha HERE! Listening to what his best friend spoke...though she was mostly talking about drama with her roommate, not the kind of thing he was interested in.

But he always liked her voice...

“At least...I think I like girls? But that was an accident! I don’t like Samantha!”

Aiton nodded, unsure of what to say, but felt...pretty cool about it. Crossing his legs, as he saw those large trunks that trained...almost like for years. They which reached the end of the bedside, as those khakis lengthened and stretched into XL sweatpants...gotta snatch that back his junk from Kevin later, but not now. He was cool, now. Kicking off his large trainers which went-

CLUNK CLUNK!

As they hit the floor, wiggling his size 12 feet beneath those white socks. Kevin could insult him all he wants later, it was his room too. The fledgeling Jock can say whatever he wants to anybody, and he says-

“You were like ‘I think I like girls’, sounded pretty dyke to me.”

Aiton smirked, teasing the cheerleader from across the phone. He always liked doing that, he was in charge after all.

He knew how icky the two cheerleaders felt towards homosexuals...but then again, wasn’t he a bit rude towards them as well? Not as bad as Kevin but an occasional joke here and there meant nothing right?

“Who you callin’ dyke, Fag?”

“Who you callin’ Fag, Dyke?”

Okay...maybe he didn’t like being called Fag either. But it was just insults between him, Cherlse, and Kevin and Samantha. Anyone else and they answer TO HIS FISTS....except maybe ladies...especially hot babes.

He began to palm himself, and as he kneaded his hard rocket, he sneered in disgust over a rainbow wristband on his wrist. He blinked, in its faggy place was a white sports watch. His rocket doubled up in size, while darkening in tan, its always time to be a Jerk, just like his Bro Kevin.

“You know i get weak when you use my own words~”

Cherlsea opened up her phone webcam, and Aidon did the same. Both smirking at the other. The Jock knew it was always ladies first, but he was a Jerk so-

“Oh damn...she’s hot!”

“Of course I am, do I still look pretty dyke to you~?”

Watching her seductively pose on her bed, it felt like ages since he had seen a woman like that! In that revealing tank and double Ds he could just!

SQUEEZE!

“Oooaahhh!”

Squeezing his own chest, feeling rock solid muscle layering his nipples, pectorals filling his sports shirt massively like the man he was. Feeling those abdominals as a well deserved 6 pack emerged from years of crunches.

“I....I NEED RELEASE!”

“So hawt~”

“I...I AINT A FAG!”

“Course you aren’t hunky~you are so hawt, ooooooaaaaah!”

The Queen Bee’s second in command had let out her mating’s call, the asian babe was too much for the Douchebag Jock’s right hand man, and vice versa. As their desires linked up, with the help of a fortune cookie they ate prior, they were about to finally be set into motion.

Each of them felt a tight stinging to their holes simultaneously. As the Asian Jock’s butt hole tightened, the Cheerleader’s lady hole expanded. Like a trade of preferences, but that is not all.

As testosterone pumped in the man, churning larger sacks, as he watched his babe’s hair lengthen, his shrunk, and BUZZED off the sides and back, leaving a stylish gelled top, maintained with a pair of shavers, scissors, and his Bro. Not actually brothers, but they were asian , jocks, and total jerks. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were related.

Speaking of Asian, his tan had bathed his facial features alongside the rest of his body. Cleansing the GAY away from him as his jaw hardened into a fierce square. His lips snarled in momentary disgust, before his raising his cheeks, as that scowl shifted to an arrogant smirk as he watched his girlfriend do the same.

“Ooooaaaaaah~”

His brows complimented his prominent features, as they frowned, closing his eyes as his girlfriend’s moan was too much to bear...he needed RELEASE! RELEASE!

“OAAAAAAAH!”

Aidan Long expelled a thick goo from below, as his eyes gave way to a thin fierce asian dark brown. Staring into the ceiling in a haze...before the sounds of his lover’s panting sent him back to reality.

“Man...that feels good, but still miss our hot damn ‘Dragon and Empress’ sessions before all this happened.”

“Yeah totally...stuck with bestie the whole day is fun and all but...she and your douche roommate keep doing it all day.”

“Caught him jerkin’ off too jus now...”

“Whaaaaaat! Omg same, saw Samantha doing that too!”

“Course...nothin’ beats my empress...”

“Same for you too...my long muscular dragon.”

Almost instantly, the doors slammed open. Of course, Kevin had the spare keys to the bedroom too, and he was sneering right at the door.

“AND YOU SAY IM A FAGGOT!”

“SHADDUP KEV! YOU GAY!”

“NO YOU GAY!”

“NO YOU GAY!”

“HAHAHA!”

The two jocks laughed arrogantly, before sneering at each other. The two of them were thirsty, and they understood and respected that.

“Ohhh almost forgot, mwah mwah mwah!”

“Mwah mwah mwah back to you GAY!”

Kevin left the room, most likely going to order more of that Chinese take out or something. Doesn’t matter to Aidan though...he was friends with the man, but he wasn’t INTO INTO him.

“I swear this stay at home thing is turning me gay...”

“Oh there’s nothing wrong with some bonding sessions. Me and Samantha are pointing each other’s nails later on, and that isn’t DYKE!”

“Yeah, should probably binge watch soccer with that douche. Felt like We haven’t did a sports marathon in ages!...No homo of course.”

The two of them chatted for a while more, loving the company of the other intimately as they teased one another like the lovers they are.

But they eventually have to go to other stuff. And by stuff he wants to do, is CHILL.

“Love you hunky, talk to you l8r!”

The Jock simply posed to the camera,and spoke.

“Stay Straight Babe”

[theexecutionerssong]

I want to ask you as spn expert hdbfbdj i heard that destiel made creators/actors uncomfortable and they banned mention of it at the cons? And made anlotbof writing decision to keep dean and cas characters from each other in the show? So how do you think what changed and why the decided to make deancas canon (bad as it is but canon) in almost last episode when they could just not do it jrbfkf

Hi! Oh damn I hope you’re ready for a long ass answer because I have 13 years worth of memories to answer this question dfghjklm

So, your first question, when you say creators, you have to keep in mind that the original showrunner stepped down years ago and since then, there’s been several showrunners who each had a different view on where they wanted to take the story, which explains the disparities in writing quality from one season to another, in my opinion. Of course the orginal showrunner is still around and would chime in from time to time but he went on on working on other shows (which flopped, besides The Boys, tbh), and we definitely didn’t see it that way in 2005.

Then comes the writers team, that has also seen many changes over the years. I truly believe some left because they wouldn’t make Destiel happen, among other things like the treatment/lack of representation of female and POC characters. Robbie Thompson definitely left because they killed Charlie in the most horrifying way, and Charlie was his baby, and he got better opportunities elsewhere. I remember over 7 years ago when Bo Berens (the writer of last night episode) joined the team, my whole dash was full of people screaming because holy shit the new SPN writer is gay!!! and wouldn’t that change things??? Well it did. He wrote, along with Robbie Thompson, some of the most explicit Destiel episodes that they could get away with. I don’t believe this was ever queerbaiting, not from them, and I think they took advatange of the other writers just not seeing it, or not wanting to see it.

For a very long time, the showrunners and writers were kind of oblivious to the shipping, they didn’t take it seriously because it wasn’t how they had thought it could be interpreted. As time went on and the shipping only grew and as the cast and crew actually started to see what we were seeing in their own damn writing and acting, they started to be more aware and careful around it. Some were downward enjoying putting down fans, like fucking Guy Norman Bee gloating on Twitter and engaging with fans over it. A mess. He left 5 years ago that one, good riddance. It was also the time when actual canon queer ships would appear on TV - keep in mind that in 2010-12, Destiel was as explicit as it could get. We had nothing else, so of course we would latch onto that. But we started getting more and more actual explicit representation with Shameless, Shadowhunters, Eyewitness, Skam, HTGAWM, Orphan Black, etc around 2013, and shipping Destiel got very frustrating. 

The actors have always been another story, and I saw a lot of comments being made today towards Jensen so I’m gonna copy paste my answer to an ask I got last year : “I think he was just extremely “protective” of Dean and would get actually mad and shut down every conversation about Destiel because that’s not how he sees his character. Like, proper pissed off. He would get uncomfortable about pride flags during photo ops. It came to the point where people would walk on eggshells at cons. 2012-13 was hard on the fandom on this point. He would never speak up about lgbtq related topics in politics either. Liking a tweet like Chris’s 10 or even 5 years ago? Never. He used to say that people in highschool would bully him for “looking too gay” because of his pouty lips and big eyes. I think he didn’t want to care about it but bullying leaves scars. Getting married to Danneel, meeting Misha, who are both very outspoken about lgbtq matters, opened him up, and he’s said himself that having his first daughter changed him deeply. He had a whole new perspective on unconditional love. Now, he’s enthusiastic about posing with pride flags, to sign fanart, he’s always so supportive of lgbtq fans at cons, hugs them, gives them words of encouragement, etc. Years ago he said “my father told me that there’s no manly way to drink out of a straw” and now he’s out there being crowned King at the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, posting rainbows on his social media, having makeup sessions wit his daughter, etc. He was very outspoken about his support for Beto in Texas last year, he goes to rallies, posts about it on social media, etc. And yeah maybe that’s the bare minimum but he wouldn’t have done it years ago but now he does and that’s worth something. He’s not a Destiel supporter but now the topic isn’t banned at cons anymore. He jokes about it, he understands better where people who see Dean as bi are coming from, even if it’s not his take on the character. He’s much more comfortable with himself and has come a long way. I’m happy for him.” That was my reply last year to somebody asking if Jensen was homophobic and while I obviously don’t know him, it’s what I gathered over the past 17 years or so. I was already a fan of him beofre Supernatural soooo, I’ve been around a while. Yes there was this moment, over 7 years ago at a con, where he let fans boo other fans for asking a question about Destiel, and he shut down the question, then the questions about Destiel were banned. That’s not the case anymore and it hasn’t been that way for years. Misha on the other hand as always been supportive of the ship, his “You’re not crazy” tweet from 2013 fueled us for years, and the fact that he went back to like it and bring attention to it today is the biggest I Told You So he could have given us.

About your question, making decision to keep them away from each other, yes, that has been a pattern for years, something would go in the script, and then they would change their minds - “the only thing we have left, Dean and I, is each other” in 5x04, the “A part of me always believed you would come back” in 7x17, the “I love you” in 8x17, Castiel’s heaven being just pictures of Dean everywhere, etc. The decision would come from either the actors or the writers and they gave tons of reasons but I won’t get into that. And every time we would have a Destiel heavy episode, it would be no Cas for weeks. Their reason for that is that if Cas was always around, what with how powerful he is, then there would be no plot for monster-of-the-week episodes, because he’d be able to fix the situation with a snap of his fingers. So they gave him storylines that would weaken him and/or keep him away from the Winchesters. But I also think they would give us crumbs to keep us hooked and then backtrack because it wasn’t the end yet.

Destiel is the only ship I’ve really invested in that wasn’t canon. Yet. Because, to me, it’s been canon for years. And I am absolutely convinced that had Supernatural ended with season 10 as planned, it would have been canon then. There were tropes and parallels that nobody could ignore. The whole of season 10, with the Cain/Dean and Colette/Castiel thing was so obvious even my Dad picked up on it. But the series got renewed again and again and they pushed it back, because The Powers That Be at the CW didn’t want to lose their homophobic fanbase, I guess. Isn’t that great :)))) Now that it’s ending for real, who cares? They don’t have anything to lose anymore. It must be quite an unpopular opinion but I think making Deancas canon at the end of the series has been the plan for a while, but it got pushed back with every renewal. 

To me they have been canon since season 8 thanks to a few selected writers, and as infuriating and sometimes hurtful as it was to keep watching for all these years when it could have been so much better, I’m still ecstatic they finally did it. Maybe for the wrong reasons, definitely not in the right way, but 1. the show isn’t over, and 2. this was my first real big ship when I had nothing else, and to be able, after over a decade, to hear that I love you, with no room for doubt that it was meant romantically, is making me happy., 

[torisfeather]

Flufftober 4 - Fake Dating

Prompt by @vex-bittys

Read it on fanfiction.net or AO3

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

Wooh, this one was not easy, but I managed to finish in time! It's the first time I'm writing fake dating, so I don't know if I did okay ^^'

Anyway, this one is Roman, Remus, Patton and Logan. So... Intruloroyality? I don't know at this point XD

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

Okay, you've got this, Roman thought, that night, at the dinner table, and showed his best smile for his grandma.

He felt so awful, and it felt like everyone at the table could tell how uncomfortable he was. He couldn't even look at his brother or their friends, Patton and Logan, for too long.

Which was bad, because he was supposed to be Patton's boyfriend.

It had started maybe a month ago. When their obnoxious homophobic aunt Beth had tried to introduce them to yet another girl she knew – a coworker's daughter, or cousin, or sister, it didn't matter.

At that point, Roman almost believed she had selective deafness. He and Remus had told her, over and over again, that they were gay, didn't want to meet girls, especially not when she was planning dates for them. Aunt Beth was still 100% convinced this was just a phase and that they could be "fixed".

So when she brought another miss-what's-her-name to their place without their consent, Remus had cracked and yelled: "You can't stay because we're having a gay orgy with our boyfriends tonight!"

Roman had honestly thought that would be enough. Surely their aunt wasn't around his brother enough to be used to the gross nonsense he blabbered all the time.

But it hadn't deterred her. The orgy part, at least, she realized was just a joke. "You don't have boyfriends," she had said, her chin raised in contempt. "I would have known already! You're single and you can give a chance to Natalia here."

"No offense, miss," Roman had said at the lady, who just nodded, looked quite bored. "We are not single. We're dating… uh…"

"Logan and Patton!" Remus panicked.

"Uh, yeah! You know, our classmates?"

"I thought you said they were dating each other?" Aunt Beth said, suspicious.

"No, we said they were dating us! Have you had your hearing checked, Auntie?" Remus asked, and cackled when Aunt Beth gasped in outrage. "What if a bee got inside your ear and started making a nest inside your skull, and that's why you never hear us?"

"Well, I hope you're happy for wasting such a nice girl's time!" she had cried, and promptly vacated the place, followed by the girl.

The twins had high-fived each other and then the rest of the night was spent arguing over what movie they were going to watch to celebrate.

But it couldn't be that simple, right?

Because the twin's mother was very close to Aunt Beth, and so had questioned her sons when she heard about their "boyfriends". Roman and Remus's mom was way more tolerant than her relative, but she was also a gossiper and she couldn't know it was a lie, or she's rat them out immediately. So the twins told her the exact same lie.

Their mother of course told all of her side of the family, as well as their father, who told his side of the family, and now all of their relatives thought they were dating their childhood friends.

So that wasn't ideal, and Roman thought of coming clean, or at least "breaking up", but Remus won him over arguing as long as they believed that, their aunt and any other relatives would stop trying to set them up with people. Which, honestly? Worth it.

And then winter break happened.

Every winter break, the twins and their parents would fly a couple states north, where their grandparents lived, and spend the holidays there with the rest of their family. And it was always expected from the younger people to bring any significant other at least once during that time.

They could have said Logan and Patton were too busy or had other plans, but the twins' grandparents were so adamant they contacted Logan and Patton's own parents to ask for them to join the family reunion, and not knowing anything about the situation, they all agreed on one week.

When they told Logan and Patton what the whole deal was, they were surprisingly calm about it. Logan, especially, thought this was one solution. Patton, of course, bless his little heart, wanted to come clean and apologize, but after Remus begged him not to unleash their aunt on them again, he took pity and agreed.

So Patton would pretend to be Remus's boyfriend, and Logan would act as Roman's. What could go wrong?

Several things, actually. Starting with everyone's ability to act. Roman, of course, was fine on that part. He was a theater kid and he knew what romance looked like. Patton was also pretty good at being all lovey-dovey, except he tended to look nervously at Logan whenever Remus tried something, because he was scared of Logan being jealous.

And Remus tried a LOT. He was a pervert pretending to romance a grey-asexual. And it showed.

As for Logan, well, he wasn't uncomfortable with Roman's flirting, but…

"Roman, your existence is greatly appreciated."

… He was the WORST actor Roman had ever met.

Okay, fine! It was fine! Their relatives were all kind of dumb anyway. The twins' parents didn't notice anything during the trip, and so far it seemed the charade was working.

Except, as days went by, another problem arose.

Roman had probably flirted a little too much. Or maybe it was all the time spent together. Or maybe it was from sleeping in the same bed.

In any case, he had started crushing on Logan.

Okay, not just on Logan. Patton too.

Which was a big no-no. No, you don't get a crush on childhood friends who are already dating each other. Especially in a situation where they are away from home, and thus already vulnerable and/or uncomfortable.

But he couldn't help it. To be fair, he had always been very close with the two. Just not that close. Not enough to notice how cute Patton's sleepy bed-head was, or how gentle Logan was when he was hesitant or stressed, or how warm Patton was when he was hugging him in the morning, or how hot Logan was with his glasses off.

Now he couldn't look at them without thinking "what if", and feeling itty-bitty butterflies in his tummy.

And he was certain everyone in the house could tell. And that was not how he was supposed to act right now.

So he kept his head low, trying not to draw attention to himself, which was very unlike him. And that night, at the dinner table, the boys had had enough.

"I apologize for interrupting, but I believe I have misplaced my phone and I am waiting for a very important call. May I leave the table?"

"Oh, of course Logan," their grandmother had said.

Logan stood and looked at Roman. "Would you mind helping me, Roman?"

"Uh…"

"Come on, you two hurry up, okay?" his cousin said.

Logan grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the corridor and up the stairs. Once they were out of hearing distance, he stopped and turned to Roman. "Now, please tell me what is bothering you."

"What? Nothing! I'm great, let's go look for your stupid phone…"

"Roman, in the past two days you have displayed an increase in signs of stress, you are not doing 'great'. And also, the phone thing was a falsehood."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Logan, just because you took a psychology class doesn't allow you to analyze me, and for the last time, I am okay. Now let's go back."

"I don't think that's right…" Patton's voice said from behind him.

Roman turned around and grimaced as Patton and Remus joined them. "Guys, seriously, you're making a big deal out of nothing!"

"Hey, I didn't say anything!" Remus argued. "You do look like you stuck a lightbulb up your ass and you're scared of it breaking at any point and turning your insides into a bloody purée, though."

"Great, super helpful bro…" Roman sighed. They were all looking at him, and they couldn't spend too much time or someone would come find them, and he couldn't tell them or he'd just make everyone feel bad, and it was all too much. He angrily ran his hands in his hair, pulling a couple time, closing his eyes. What the fuck was he supposed to do?!

"Okay, okay, let's calm down first…" Patton said, and now his hands were on his arms, and he was being so gentle. Roman let the others guide him into the closest room and sit him on the bed. "Now, it's okay Roman, you can tell us…"

"No…" he said stubbornly.

"Roman, we will love you no matter what the problem is, you can trust us!" Patton insisted.

"I promise, it's if funny, I will only tease you about it for two weeks!... Maybe a month."

"Remus, please! Roman, I promise it's safe to tell us."

"And, if I may add," Logan said, "we will help with the best of our abilities if at all possible."

Roman grabbed the pillow next to him and screamed as hard as he could into it. Eventually, it made him feel calm enough to look up at all the worried faces around him. He muttered something into his pillow.

"Ah, sorry, can you repeat that?" Patton asked.

"… I'm crushing on you and Logan. There, I said it, happy?"

Logan and Patton were agape for a moment, but Remus just shrugged. "Pff, me too, you're not special."

"What?"

"Bro, have you seen Logan's bare chest? He looks like a nerdy Edward Cullen. And Patton is the best cuddler in the world."

"How the fuck can you be so calm about this?!"

"It's just feelings, nobody's dead yet!"

"Yet?!"

"Okay, time out!" Logan asked, clapping his hands like a preschool teacher. "I think we need to assess the situation step by step…"

And then he stopped, because Patton was kissing Roman with all of his uncontrolled impulse. Remus cheered and kissed Logan, and for about two minutes there were nothing but kissing noises and sighs in the small room.

"So, um, does that mean you guys also…" Roman started, when his mouth was free again.

"For literal months," Logan admitted.

"That's so much time we have to make up for!" Remus cried.

"Agreed," Patton said, blushing. "We, um… We should go back, everyone's still waiting."

Roman's eyes widened and he fell back on the bed dramatically, hiding his face in his hands. "How the fuck are we going to tell them?!"

[vynnyal]

dumping my random thoughts, comic ideas, and wildly misinformed theories abt hk onto my victims: part 2!!! p clear what I was doing in some of these, lmao

btw if you have any input im very, super interested please feel free 2 share

"So who's the mother?" Grimm: "Mother? No, there was no mother." "Then how--?" grimm: "Mitosis, obviously." Cut to two panels of the person dissociating over what they imagine the process to be.

FUCKIN... ASEXUAL PRIDE GRIMM

Hornet yelling shaw instead of yeet or koby.

Hornet yelling git gud at inappropriate times in place of like... Actual Advice. Alt: jdghghf or when she gets nervous, as a distraction.

Her thinking of something cool to say while waiting outside the black egg temple. alt: her thinking so hard she almost misses her cue, making her flub; aka the reason she says somn more like "geddun" in-game. alt alt: thk and ghost sharing a blank look (mid-battle) and thinking "she flubbed" in disbelief.

Hornet and something with the "spidersilk paper" lemm mentioned, maybe using it to """document""" her day when she has time to spare. She insists it's not a diary, so don't even try.

Hornet grieving the little weavers.

(speedrun) "You wanna fight? Huh? Huh? Well I dont, bye"

Zote "I only saved you for the money" joke.

Quirrel pretending not to understand modern slang.

Quirrel... Dad jokes... Holy shit

FUCKIN... DAD BOD???

conifer appearing in increasingly absurd locations.

Quirrel playfully commenting on the uh... "information"... The tablets display. alt: he can actually read it just fine, but is coy abt telling ghost what it says.

rather than just appearing, Quirrel and ghost walk through the archives together, the mood bittersweet.

Hollow knight passing the time in the black egg lightheartedly.

Wyrm and root trying to argue but the height difference just makes them both laugh.

ghost appearing before Root, expectant, only for them to slowly realize she doesn't actually... care about them. or any of the vessels, really. she expects them to do their duty, her claims of shame apparently not deterring her away from the fate they were created for. alt: she acts like that not out of any kind of malevolence, but out of pure ignorance. It doesn't occur to her how much it costs the little vessels... Or that they even have anything to lose, at all.

Cut to the future after the bad end, as yet another fragile vessel appears before the queen, far too late to save anyone now.

Godmaster traitor lord battle, ghost walks in looking very nervous. Traitor looks smug, asking if they're afraid (of him), only for the next panel to show ghost sweating profusely as they have Fragile Flower Flashbacks. alt, they're imagining/being pressured by the ghost girlfriends glaring at them/wailing "WAIIII" in tendem.

Ghost asks how thk got so big, only for them to reveal their body is still the same size, and they're just controlling a big suit of armor like false knight. Jdbfjfgjr

its been pointed out the bee knight doesnt... actually have any wings to buzz with. the noises are entirely vocalized. The reason buzzy baby makes buzz noises is because he felt left out when he was a kid; the queen, seeking to comfort him, explains how he can create his very own buzz sounds using an alternative method, instead. Despite his battle prowess, his mind never matured, continuing up to his very last moments to make the habitual noises of his childhood.

(godmaster) having soul left over and fuckin SCREAMING in the faces of the nail masters just before the bench.

Defeating bee boy by one mask, relaxing for a sec, before realizing the bees are stILL COMING ACTUALLY,,,,

The aftermath of the sheo fight, ghost just DRIPPING with rainbow-colored paint.

ze'mer and her lover meeting in their dreams.

flower lesbos hanging out with the thorn husbos (nailmaster/sheo hfshh)

Team cherry hid the gays behind some of the hardest missions because, let's be honest, no homophobe would put that much effort into anything.

Quirrel saying "I've only had ghost for a day, but if anything happened to them I'd -" Cuts to ghost, shade over their body Quirrel: "..."

Messing with the hot springs... geysers? Idk 3 heads things. whats in there? How were they made? By the ancient civilization, maybe pale king? alt: finding quirrel relaxing casually inside one of the eyesockets instead of in the spring, lmao.

"I'd sure like to be a shade, like heck- they can fly, they can do that weird teleport thing, and they have-", turns to it, "- ALL MY MONEY!!!"

Ngl I still don't fully understand the relationship between ghost, their shell, and their shade, and should prolly read up before blabbing, but what is it that separates ghost's body from their shade? Or their shade from ghost, themself? We see in the dnm ending they can very much "control" their shade, as they voluntarily rip off their shell to release it. Or... Oh shit am I dumb? Did ghost kill themselves right then? Oh fuck did ghost die to let their shade kill the radience. Please tell me I'm wrong I'm really upset now yfjfihrufhgi

Gonna be honest the previous one was me trying to contextualize the concept of ghost being able to fly like shades do but now I'm just thinking abt ghost, fuck. Still. Imagine ghost n thk just, like, hovering towards people with their funky tentacle legs. Or better, no tentacles, they can just Do That. Establish your dominance, little vessels.

Ghost doing the superman "ripping off your shirt to shift into super-mode" thing except they just tear apart their shell. Alt: hornet: "that looks painful"

Broken vessel was stuck. Out of all the dead vessels we see- the one in greenpath, those hung in nosk's den, the floor of the abyss, even ghost themself- not one retained their body after death. Except, that is, for broken vessel. Something, somehow, was anchoring their shade to their shattered shell and keeping it there, unable to seep away and reunite with their siblings below. They weren't just another corpse. That was ghost's sibling.

Just what is a vessel's coak? From what I've seen of the sprites, it's clearly attached to their shells; some in nosk's den are even hung from them, with their shells dangling below it. It seems biological- by which I mean, not some sort of clothing or ambiguously god-based substance- which makes its selective decay rather odd. On one hand, in greenpath, nosk's den, and some specific corpses within the abyss, their cloaks have stayed firmly attached. On the other, we have countless shells left naked all over the place- even ghost's shell is like this. Of course we have to keep in mind ari prolly just didn't wanna animate that, but that's no fun. I don't really have a prompt or theory here, as nothing I come up with quite fits the bill... Just more of a thinkpiece, I suppose.

Nyooming past quirrel at blue lake, freeze frame of ghost and q sharing a startled look.

Ghost distracting sheo by making him gush over his artwork. alt, "winning" the battle by showing him something they made, and/or just having a paint-off. Ghost wins no matter what, obviously.

Ohhh... Ghost learning to express themselves through art...

Lurien secretly has multiple eyes, fit neatly in the one socket.

Appreciating the genius of the mimic grub room (the real grub's location is hard-coded. im still mad)

Hearing Hornet say "get down" instead of "git gud" and the connotations of that. alt: hearing "git gud" when she's actually saying "get down", being offended or otherwise reacting to that, before being promptly smacked in the face by whatever she was warning them abt.

Hornet doing weird, obscure spider things.

Ghost: WHAT is THAT?? uumuu: uumuu emoji face

Where does the shade get its sword? Is it a void-sword? Did they scavange it? Did they make it???

The actual guttural horror of falling into the centipedes in deepnest.

The irony of feeling incredibly sad and hurt at thk's pain, but absolute bloodlust for pure knight.

What was written upon the journal found with the corpse in ash at hollownest’s edge. Alt: h. how did ash even get up there.

[doriansapprentice]

Road to Undermount

Ship: Mal Volaris X M, MC Solaris

Words: 1 586

Warning: Racist slure and homophobic mention, fighting, and one curse word.

Disclaimer: All characters belongs to Pixelberry

A/N: Part of @choicesweeklychallenge Prompt "Why are you looking at me like that!? I swear I didn't do anything!" Who will appear in bold. Partly inspired of Road to Eldorado cause I can imagen its something Mal and Mc would do 😉

The archer beamed bubbly as Mal ran a hand in his dark blond hair and wrapped a lock around his thumb. Adventures in all honor, when the wayward group of mages, royalties and acident creature had to search for dark artifacts and fight the shadow court. Tho the young man loved the harmonic and quiet nights like this.

After buying supplies in a rustic middle large village a couple of miles from White Tower, the gang set camp in a hidden valley in a old woods not far from the main road leading almost all the way to Underwood. It were the first woods since they left the capital after going on bumpy and rocky steepe lands. If they wanted to hide properly the experience gang would not make a fire and perhaps even choose a valley further from the main road just to be sure. Mostly they wanted a warm meal after eating lukewarm food and sleeping in drafty inns for days, and wanted to sleep around a fire on soft grass. Tho the gang were a bit wary not making the fire to high. Due to what happen earlier that day...

On their trip to the village three rough guards had mock Tyril calling him knife ear and beeing threatful towards them. The men did not have the royal emblem on their armors, who were a bit worn out but else in good shape. By the hips in old scabbars it were long swords and a arm long dagger. So Tyril and Solar sucpected it were three guards from a bigger city, going around the villages nearby to maintain order, or what seems to be in this case scaring and harassing villagers and drinking ale.

It were only Tyril and Solaris there as Nia and Threp looked to buy new pots and pans, Imtura and Kade for meat and Mal were heavens know where. The rogue had mishviously left the group grinning said he got buiness to do. So the elf and human had walked into a tavern/ Inn to gather usefull informations on the road aheas from the old women incharge. One of the guards wobbling got up from the guards table, waving his knife and grinning his teeth, hissing that he would gladly cut the tip of rough prince ear so he would look normal.

To the guards annoyance the elf did not move a muscle in his face, instead he shoved a elbow in the bend of the mans arm so he dropped the knife. The guard being very drunk had a hard time to to draw his sword, who got stuck in the scabbars, making it easy for Tyril to slide to the side drawing his own sword and hitting the hilt in the back of is head. Rolling his eyes up the guard passed out and it all took a second, so his friends only reacted after he hit the floor. One guard had just stood up when Solaris shot an arrow that stuck in the hard wood one inch from his ear. Laughing dry the archer said the next arrow would cut the tip of His ear of if he did not ran away this instant. Tyril blocked the knife that the third guard throwed with one flick of his sword and glared at the man who feelt over confident and ran at Tyril. Solaris had looked at the knife on instict and that gave the second guard a chance to attack. The guard raised his sword high over his head to attack and it got stuck in the wood cealing. Swiftly Tyril kicked the man in his groin and when his tumble to the floor the elf kicked his knee under the chin making him fall backward bumping his head and lost concious. Solaris did just as good swordfighting the other man and happen to hit the flat side of the sword at the cocky guards hand who dropped the sword howling of pain, and wasting no time the dark blond man headbutted him so he passed out before hitting the wooden floor. It were only a few people in the combinated tavern and inn who looked wide eyed on the fight. Cheering impressive that they succeded to win and moreover did so in under ten minutes.

Hours later the gang meet up after the old women incharge insisted that the man would stay for a drink on the house. Imtura groaned of missing all the action and Kade wide eyed wanting every detail of it, while Nia fussed about them getting some shallow wounds wanting to treat it.

Tyril sat down reading a book near the fire to get more light to read in than the moon and stars. Kade hummed quiently and lazily played on a new song he improvised out of the blue. Nia sat near Tyirl knitting on another scarf, already knitting one for Mal and Solaris. Threep layed on the ground biting and rolling the ball of yarn between his pawn and since it did not disturb Nia's work that much, the gentle priestness let the nesper play. The archer loved that Mal continued to play with his hair as he talked to Imtura about the adventure they both been through competing who were had the wildest ones.

" Maybe you should join my crew landcrab? I would gladly accept the challange to make a pirate out of you." Imtura smirked taking another big swing of her ale burping loudly.

Mal grinned loopsided now running his thumb around the archers sharp cheekbones.

" Why not? What do you say Sol? Wanting to sail the seven seas?"

" We would make a dashing pair. I can imagen." Sol winked tilting his head up and tug Mals hair so their lips meet halfway.

The orch captain rolled her eyes as they snog fiery.

" We might get to work harder to make you a fiery pirate River boy."

Over dramaticaly the dark blond man sat up gasping, ruffling the tousled hair.

" I have you know Captain I am VERY Fiery."

Kade snickered.

" Its true. One time I ate the last chocolate we stole from a rich foreigner, travling through Riverbend. Sol blue eyes burned and he hunted me around the village. It lasted for three days I have you know."

It did not convince the orch who grunt poking a meat club of chicken at Tyril who rolled his eyes wondering what shenanigan the pirate were up to.

" No offence baby cheeks. But prince fancy pants is even more fiery than you and is more likely to grow a pirate beard."

Tyril did not bother that with a answer and had his nose burried in the book.

" Okay enough with the cock measure contest." Solaris glared at Imtura. " And that goes for you to!" The orch just shrugged going thats fair. " We should play a game. I know we knew eachother well. But there is always more to tell and this is our last chance before everybody go their seperate ways. What say you all?"

Mal wrapped his arms around Solaris stroking his thumb on his shoulder and the other ruffled his hair, who the archer doubt would get any messier but alas he were wrong.

" I like that idea. We could do a classic game I have no clue where it orgins. We all tell three stories. One is the truth and two a lie. Then we have to guees. Which one i true. Loser gets to drink."

They all agreed. Mal cleared his throat when three men marched into camp.

" There you are your cheeter! We want our money back your street rat!"

The gang bounched up ready to fight. First beliving it were the three guards, only to see it looked like villagers, arm with axes and knifes.

" Why are you looking at me like that!? I swear I didn't do anything!" Mal said looking at Solaris skeptical face. Not able to smirk smugly.

One of the men throwed some dice on the ground, and Mal made a oh I must have grab their dice as I hurried of.

" Your dice are Loaded!!!"

" What?! You gave me loaded dice?!" Mal theatrical turned to Solaris

" I gave you what??"

The bard played a dramtic tune. Mal winked and Solaris just played along being used to Mals schemes by now.

" You better give them their money back or I will..." The thief pulled out his sword. " En garde!"

The archer on instict stretched his arm to get his bow who hanged round the shoulder and draw his sword.

" I am thief? Take a look in the mirror."

The men jumped around and fought near the fire and up a boulder.

" Ah. You fight like my sister!" The rouge laughed dodge the other rouge sword.

" I fought your sister. Thats a compliment!" Sol grinned loopsided.

" Get them!" One of the men shouted.

" Ops well it were worth a shot. One last fight as a group Kit?"

Beaming of the nickname the dark blond man looked at him mishviously.

" Beside you? Always. But why did you use loaded dice tho?"

Mal brown eyes turned dark as the night sky.

" The men were rude and homophobic to a couple who owed a small inn. So I thought I scam them and give the two men who own the inn the money."

Sweetly Sol gave Mal a kiss on the tip of his nose.

" Okay Mr adventurer. Lets kick their asses."

Also beaming of the new nickname the due jumped down.

[petrichoravellichor]

Can I please have a (platonic) Balthazar and Castiel in the prompt “-some dude with a megaphone is spewing homophopic crap outside the cafeteria and we’re both protesting him because the college is adamnant about his freedom of speech rights, make out with me to piss him off?”

Can I Get an Amen

Relationship: Balthazar & Cas (platonic)

Other Characters: Sam Winchester, Naomi (unnamed, but it’s her)

Rating: T

Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Balthazar POV, Bi-/Pansexual Balthazar, Slightly Hippie!Cas (like, a mixture of Endverse!Cas + Crazy!Cas), Bees, Homophobic Language (which gets shut the fuck down), Very Exaggerated Make-Out Session Between Friends (to piss off a homophobe, so it’s for a good cause)

(Ao3)

*****

When Sam’s alarm went off at seven a.m., Balthazar’s first thought upon jarring awake was that he was going to throw the bloody phone out the window. (He didn’t, because doing so would have required him to get up, but it was a near thing.) Balthazar had no idea what sort of cosmic fuck-up he’d committed in a previous life to get landed with a roommate for whom going for an early morning run beat out having a lie-in, but as he grumbled under his breath while Sam rose and dressed, he felt fairly certain that fate was having a laugh at his expense.

Sam, the bastard, found this all very amusing.

“You know,” Sam said mildly as he sat on the edge of his bed and did up his shoelaces, seemingly impervious to the death-glare Balthazar was giving him, “it wouldn’t kill you to get up a few hours before your first class. You don’t even have to exercise: you could just, like, read or get some extra studying in or something.”

Balthazar snorted. “I could, yes, but why on earth would I,” he said, stretching luxuriously beneath his sheets, “when I could just as easily stay in bed and dream of having a ménage à-whatever-French-for-twelve is?”

“Okay, one, it’s douze, and two, ew. Also, don’t even pretend like you could keep up with that many women.”

“Mm, bold of you to assume they were all women.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” he said, standing, “I’m gonna go. Have fun dreaming about naked people.”

He left, and Balthazar promptly buried his head under his pillow, determined to fall back asleep. He gave up after half an hour of angry tossing and turning, rising in a huff and stomping over to his dresser. If he was doomed to be awake this early, then he might as well go down to the quad and fetch himself something caffeinated to drink.

Ten minutes later, he was trudging down the steps outside the dorm building and mulling over various forms of revenge—his current favorite consisted of tossing out one of Sam’s beloved running shoes, then watching with glee as Sam searched for it in vain—when he heard a voice from the lawn to his left:

“You’re up early.”

Balthazar turned and spotted his friend Cas, who was currently dressed in a loose-fitting shirt and sweats; he was barefoot, balancing on one leg with the other tucked up under him, palms pressed together, and was peering at Balthazar with a mixture of surprise and amusement. “I didn’t know you even existed before noon.”

Balthazar sighed. “Yes, well, annoying roommates with early alarms are annoying.”

“Ah.” Cas shifted into a different pose, placing both feet flat on the grass and raising his arms above his head. “And here I thought I’d finally convinced you to try yoga with me.”

“Cassie, the day I willingly twist myself into a pretzel while both clothed and sober is the day I forgive you for making me sit through three hours of that god-awful Titanic movie.”

“You’re just mad because you hate Celine Dion.”

“It’s not her I hate, it’s that bloody song! And furthermore,” Balthazar added, pointedly ignoring Cas’s snicker, “our dear Rose’s heart wouldn’t have had to go on if she’d just done a better job of making room for Jack on that piece of fucking debris.”

“It was a door.”

“It was a travesty, is what it was, and I’ll thank you to quit bringing it up. Now then,” he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the quad, “I’m going for a latte. Care to join me? Or have you still got to do your downward doggy-style or what have you?”

Cas rolled his eyes and reached for his sandals. “It’s downward dog, and no, I’m done.”

“Brilliant, you’re buying.”

They headed toward the quad, Cas talking animatedly about some new Save the Bees project he and a few others in the Environmental Club were hoping to kick off soon. Balthazar, who was busy trying to decide if he wanted a muffin or a scone with his latte, was only half listening, a decision he regretted when he heard Cas say, with a hint of smugness, “I knew I could count on you,” and, after a quick mental replay, realized that he’d just agreed to attend an all-day event that coming weekend. Fuck. He opened his mouth to give an excuse when a commotion ahead caught his attention.

A small crowd had gathered at the edge of the quad; as Balthazar and Cas neared, Balthazar saw that at its center was a middle-aged brunette woman dressed in formal clothing who was speaking into a megaphone:

“…TIME HAS COME TO RENOUNCE YOUR SINFUL LIFESTYLE AND REMEMBER THAT ONLY THROUGH GOD’S GRACE CAN YOU ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT MAN SHALL NOT LIE WITH MEN AS HE DOES WITH WOMEN, THAT IT IS AN AB—”

“—SOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL WAY TO SPEND A FRIDAY NIGHT!” interjected Balthazar, causing the woman to pause and several heads to turn in their direction.

The woman lowered her megaphone. She looked from Balthazar to Cas and back again. “I am here to spread the Lord’s teachings to you and others like you, those who have been led astray by immoral temptations of the flesh. You should thank me.”

Balthazar let out a bitter laugh. “Thank you? What on earth for?”

The woman frowned. “I told you, I’m here to spread the Lord’s teachings—”

Balthazar cut her off. “You did, twice. Good for you.” He crossed his arms. “But, you see, we’re a litter-free campus, so it’d be lovely if you took your rubbish elsewhere.”

Several of the surrounding students cheered. The woman glanced around, seemingly unsure. “I have a permit. I’m allowed to be here.”

“We’re students,” said Cas. “We pay money to be here.” Even more people cheered. “And incidentally, the line you’re referring to, Leviticus 18:22, condemns pedophilia, not homosexuality.”

Balthazar turned to Cas. “What, really?”

“Yes. The original wording translates to ‘man shall not lie with young boys’.” Cas regarded the woman coolly. “Also, since you claim to concern yourself with the word of God, I’d check the tag on that suit. Leviticus 19:19 prohibits wearing garments that mix linen and wool.���

The woman pressed her lips together in a thin line. “I will not be lectured on my faith by a young man who has clearly lost his way.”

“I’m not lecturing you,” responded Cas. “I’m simply telling you what the Bible says.”

“You mock me.”

“You do that to yourself.”

The woman scowled, eyes boring into Cas. “There are places that can help you, programs that can teach you to make more Godly choices.”

“You’re referring to so-called conversion therapy,” said Cas, and though he was still speaking calmly, there was an edge to his voice that Balthazar rarely heard, “a practice that has been discredited by every leading expert on human sexuality for over two decades.”

“Despite what you think, it can be effective if you’re willing, if you want to be fixed—”

“We’re not broken,” said Cas. “Your beliefs are.”

“Now wait just a minute—”

“Oh, piss off!” snapped Balthazar. Cas might have had the patience to deal with this sort of thing uncaffeinated, but he most certainly did not. “Aren’t there more important things you could spend your energy bitching about? Take bees, for example: they’re dropping dead at an alarming rate, which could have frankly catastrophic effects on our food supply, but no, you’re right, let’s get all dressed up and tell gay people they’re going to hell because they have the audacity to be themselves, that’s clearly the bigger priority.”

Cas gave him a surprised smile. “You were listening about the bees.”

“Of course I was listening, I’m a wonderful friend like that. Speaking of,” said Balthazar, turning to Cas with a raised eyebrow, “fancy a friendly snog to piss off this hag?”

Cas thought a moment, then shrugged. “Why not?”

“That’s the spirit,” said Balthazar bracingly, grabbing a fistful of Cas’s shirt and pulling him in for a kiss.

There was no real heat to it—at the end of the day, Balthazar knew Cas was about as romantically interested in him as he was in Cas; that is to say, not at all—but in for a penny, in for a pound. Balthazar closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Cas’s shoulders, letting out an exaggerated moan; he could feel Cas practically shaking with suppressed laughter and gave him a very subtle pinch. Cas let out a muffled snort before gasping, “Oh, Balthazar!” in mock passion and pressing their lips more firmly together; he even groaned a bit, which at which point it was Balthazar’s turn to bite back a chuckle.

Thankfully, their tactic worked: the students around them erupted into applause, and scarcely five seconds had passed before the woman let out an affronted huff and stormed off. Once the sound of her heels had sufficiently faded, Balthazar cracked an eye open and, with the visual confirmation that she was gone, gave Cas a tap on the shoulder, stepping back with a grin. “Well, that went swimmingly, wouldn’t you say?”

Cas looked off in the direction the woman had gone. “It did seem to have the desired effect, although,” he added, lips twitching in a poorly concealed smirk as he reached into his pocket and produced a tube of organic lip balm, “you probably need this more than I do.”

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “Oh, we’re giving post-snogging critiques, are we? Here, then.” He took the lip balm and, in exchange, held out a small tin of mints. “You absolutely need this more than I do.”

Cas snorted, accepting the mints and making a show of popping one into his mouth; Balthazar, for his part, applied a liberal amount of lip balm. “Right, then,” he said, smacking his lips together and pocketing the tube, “coffee?”

[popentertainmentmusic]

THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART? (2020)

Featuring Barry Gibb, Peter Brown, Eric Clapton, Vince Melouney, Mark Ronson, Noel Gallagher, Mykaell Riley, Lulu, Nick Jonas, Linda Gibb, Alan Kendall, Yvonne Gibb, Bill Oakes, Dennis Byron, Blue Weaver, Karl Richardson, Chris Martin, Albhy Galuten, Justin Timberlake, Nicky Siano, Charlie Steiner, Vince Lawrence, Dwina Gibb,  and archival footage of Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Hugh Gibb, Barbara Gibb, Robert Stigwood, Arif Mardin, Lindsey Buckingham, Alice Cooper, Mick Fleetwood, Steve Dahl, John Travolta, Ed Sheeran and Andy Gibb.

Directed by Frank Marshall.

Distributed by HBO Documentary Films. 111 minutes. Not Rated.

Screened from the 2020 Philadelphia Film Festival.

Although they don’t always get the respect of say Lennon/McCartney, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon or several others, the Gibb brothers – Barry, Robin and Maurice – should be right up at the top of the list of the great songwriters of the 20th Century. Not only that, they were amazing performers – natural singers with an uncanny sense of harmony. They created some of the most gorgeous ballads of the 1960s and early 1970s before reinventing themselves as a dance band, which led to one of the greatest hot streaks in music history. As pointed out in this film, from 1977 through 1979, it was not unusual to find songs that they either performed or wrote in four of the top five positions of the pop charts.

The songs speak for themselves. “Massachusetts.” “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” “Jive Talkin’.” “Staying Alive.” “Run to Me.” “Too Much Heaven.” “To Love Somebody.” “I Started a Joke.” “How Deep is Your Love?” “Nights on Broadway.” “You Should Be Dancing.” “Lonely Days.” That’s just scratching the surface of the Bee Gees’ hits. Most artists would give anything for half as many songs that became musical standards.

This is at least the third full documentary on The Bee Gees of the new millennium, each one exactly a decade apart. Previously, there was Bee Gees: This Is Where I Came In in 2000, which was released in conjunction with what turned out to be the band’s final original album of the same name. Then, in 2010 they released Bee Gees: In Our Own Time. And now, as timely as the census, we have our 2020 Bee Gees doc, Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.

Unfortunately, since two of the brothers Gibb are now dead (three, if you count youngest brother Andy, who had a very successful solo career), the filmmakers had to use archival interview footage of everyone but Barry (and they even used some older footage of him). I can’t swear to it, because it has been a long time since I saw it, but I am almost certain that the interview footage from Robin and Maurice (and some of Barry, too) was the same footage used in This Is Where I Came In. Not only that, since Maurice died in 2003, I’m almost positive that they previously had resurrected some of this same interview footage from In Our Own Time.

However, there is new interview footage of Barry here, as well as from their producers, musical fans and members of their band, so this is not all just a repeat of previous films.

And, let’s face it, the Bee Gee’s life story and most importantly their music is endlessly entertaining, so if they are going to release a film on it every decade or so, even though the band has not released any new product in about 20 years, I’m on board.

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? actually adds a touch of tragic pathos to the story. Barry Gibb – the oldest of the brothers and probably the most recognizable – is now alone. As he states towards the end of the film, he still misses every single one of them and still feels like they should be performing together, even though they are long gone. Andy died soon after his 30th birthday in 1988, of a heart attack due to a previous drug problem. (He had just been announced as an official member of the Bee Gees soon before his death.) Maurice died in 2003, due to a surprise complication on what was supposed to be a fairly standard surgery. Robin succumbed to cancer in 2012.

The film occasionally plays fast and loose with their history. During Robin’s early 1970s break with his brothers, the film says that the band was completely broken up for a year and a half, but Barry and Maurice released the Bee Gees’ Cucumber Castle album and telefilm as a duo, while Robin tried his hand as a solo artist – which was shown here. (However, the film ignores Barry and Robin’s solo attempts in the mid-80s.)

Also, as far as the disco backlash that finally knocked the band from the top reaches of the charts, the film blames the – granted stupid – novelty song “Disco Duck” for the death of disco. But they forget to acknowledge that song came out a year and a half before Saturday Night Fever – in fact, it was even used mockingly in the film (though not on the soundtrack album) during a scene of middle-aged squares learning how to disco dance.

However, it is nice that as a talking head, house musician Vince Lawrence, who was working as an usher at Chicago’s Comiskey Park on the day of Steve Dahl’s infamous “Disco Demolition” stunt, which did essentially kill disco, called it out for what it was – a racist and homophobic book burning.

However, calling the Bee Gees a disco band would be way, way underestimating them. They were one of the great pop groups of their time, and Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart is almost two hours of sheer bliss.

(Ed. Note: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 annual Philadelphia Film Festival has been changed to a virtual festival. All films and Q&As will be available for streaming. You can get information on the festival at their website target="_blank"http://filmadelphia.org/festival/)

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2020 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: October 28, 2020.

[didon]

My two cents on this whole Taylor Swift drama

I normally only reserve my rants for tv shows, but I’ve seen enough crap in the last day that I kinda want to add a little to it.

First of all, I’m not a swiftie or whatever her die hard fans call themselves. Do I like some of her music sure, but there are other songs that make me cringe the same way there are things that happened with her that made me dislike her and others where I’m now looking back at and thinking that it was just me wanting to fit in and that it was ‘’cool’’ to hate on her. Cause I think that there really is a movement where you have to hate on successful women because they are not perfect until the point where they are no longer human beings but actual mythological creatures that we must revere or die otherwise (Beyonce and the Bee Hive come to mind). Has Taylor always been right? Nope. It’s that simple, she has done some not so great things and instead of trying to understand them, I just went with the motion of hating her because I thought it made me special (it did not).

Secondly, to the people saying that he didn’t bully her, that it was his client, remind me his job again? Dudebro is a manager. His job is literally to MANAGE people, to make sure that the celebrities he has under his care not only receive the best but are also perceived as great. Seems like him allowing Bieber to post a dig at a woman for no reason and then not issue an apology right after was a bad managing decision because the only thing it did is make him and his clients seem like pissy little boys that can’t take people not agreeing with him. Him allowing Kanye (because tell me how he could not have vetoed that whole video that I’ll talk about later) to show someone that he knew Kanye had a troubled relationship with naked WITHOUT that person permission is a bad management decision. Especially since it could have led to more than one lawsuits toward his client. I feel like a manager normally tries to avoid his clients getting sued. So either he allowed her to be bullied by his clients and probably had his own hand in it or he’s shitty as his job and should not be allowed to manage anybody. Because it has to be one or the other, there is no third options where he didn’t advise his clients not to do bad things and had no knowledge of it. If anything, he could have at the very least if that was the case wrote his own appology for being in Bieber instagram. No instead he chose to stay silent, giving his approval toward it and to keep people that were attacking a female celebrity for pissy reasons as clients.

Thirdly, concerning the whole Bieber thing. Dude has to stop talking. He is not someone that can truly speak having grown up being influenced by Dudebro. Didn’t he sign Bieber when he was still a minor and everything? And yet he allowed him to make a fool of himself more than once, to be agressive toward more than one person knowing that it could cost sales. Dudebro was both a bad manager and a bad friend toward Bieber. Bieber who seems to act as if a lot of his fanbase isn’t young influencable girls that he is pushing toward not only bad decisions like bullying someone else because the friend of a friend doesn’t like them and also supporting people that are homophobic. Because let’s remember that for a long time (and I think still now but I’m not 100% sure), Bieber was friend with this pastor who was known for being homophobic. You can’t call someone coming at your friend a bully, but then have one of your close friend be someone telling others that something they have no choice in makes them bad, evil in some cases and that the one person that is supposed to love them (I’m talking about God here for the Catholics) hates them. How many queer people are we going to lose to suicide because they are constantly told by some biggots that God hate them, that they are going against everything that is good, that they shouldn’t be allowed near children, etc.? And no saying that just because you attend his congregation and hang out with him doesn’t mean you don’t agree with him. This isn’t the same as someone prefering strawberry milk over chocolate milk, this is someone spewing hate to who not only are you giving a platform by being near them (because yes it does), but are listening to. How many young teens are going to see that guy and go ‘’hey Bieber follow him so maybe he’s right’’? When you chose to be a celebrity, yes it means that you lose part of your privacy, but it also means that you should be obligated to lend your voice to those who aren’t listened to. Taylor Swift did that with her letter against homophobia, with her video and her support of queer artists. Bieber does that by giving a biggot relevance and then getting mad when his ‘’friends’’ are called out on their bad behaviours.

Fourtly, the whole Kardashian/Kanye thing. I can’t believe it’s 2019 and it has to be addressed but it is NEVER okay to showcase somebody else’s naked body even if it’s for ‘’Art’’ without their permission. His video was not only revenge porn, it’s an attack on her. Revenge porn is mostly defined as sharing private pictures of someone. This isn’t the case. She didn’t send his a naked wax art of her body. As far as I’m concerned, this is straight up violating her privacy and her body. And not only hers but the one of everybody else included in that video. Sure he probably has the signed statement from his wife saying it was okay, but does he has the one from every single other person? Also stating where their wax double would be placed? Because I’m pretty sure that Rihanna wouldn’t have said yes to her body being exploited by a man and placed next to someone who’s biggest relevance is the fact that he ABUSED her. It’d be the same as a celebrity asking fans to stop drawing porn of them and then getting backlash from their fans because they believe that they own that celebrity body. Your body is your own and no egomaniac should be allowed to have a naked wax statue made of it and put it in his video. Speaking of videos, Kim’s one is void. Not only is it clear that the video has been edited, but it was ILLEGAL!! A court would not take it as proof of anything just based on this alone. This is the same as a cop breaking and entering to get proof to arrest someone because a warrant takes too long and he’s sleeping with the other suspect. I don’t care if she actually agreed to one line and not the other or whatever. The whole video is void and should never be mentionned because it’s something illegal that again violated someone’s privacy which a celebrity should really know about. Especially Kim. The whole claim that Kanye made Taylor famous is ridiculous too. Bitch didn’t make her famous, he made an ass of himself. She became famous with her own hard work and good strategy (something her manager might have a hand into). What he did at that award show was just stealing a moment from a woman because he was prissy he didn’t get his way. There’s a reason why Beyonce gave the stage to Taylor and that everybody got mad at him. He took a young woman achievement and try to ruin it because it wasn’t what he wanted. That shows clear immaturity and if anything it made him more famous that it made her. She wasn’t known as Kanye’s victim, she was known as a singer while he was known as the guy that made an ass of himself and ruined a 20 years old big moment. I don’t care who deserved the award more or if he was right, nobody else does it and for a good reason. I may not have always have agreed with award winners, but you haven’t seen anybody stopping Matthew McConaughey speach saying sorry to interrupt but Chiwetel Ejiofor had one of the best performance ever. It’s almost like his manager should have stopped him from making a fool of himself.

Fiftly, just a little mention for Demi Lovato that came to Dudebro defence. Girl is coming out of a very emotional situation, is probably not 100% okay yet so don’t send her hate. Plus, she has known him about two months and he makes money off her so he has probably not been a dick to her. Her entire defence may even have his hand in it since people around her may be employed by his company. I almost killed myself over a year ago and I know that I’m still very emotional and that people can still have a big influence on me depending on how I’m feeling. I can’t imagine being around people that may not have your best interest 24h/7. On her claim that he is not homophobic because he signed her though, I will say that she can’t refute somebody’s experience with the man simply based on her own especially since she’s a famous artist that probably brings him a lot of money. Plus, while she’s a queer woman that consider herself fluid (and good for her tbh), it doesn’t mean that she has the same experience as a gay person. She has (mostly) dated men in the recent years and biphobic people will use it as an excuse to say that while she is ‘’fluid’’ she’s mostly straight (which is bull, but that might be how they see her in her mind). She can’t come at a gay man and say that because she’s also queer, the man cannot be a bigot toward anybody in the queer community. Heck, queer people in the queer community are bigots toward other members. How often do we hear transphobia or biphobia coming from queer people? The answer is too often. Especially black queer people who are often erased from their own history (*cough* stonewall and camp *cough*)! My own father was super friendly toward a trans tennant he had, calling her by her name and the right pronouns like it was nothing, only using her deadname on the official papers since it wasn’t officially changed, but to me he told me that if I came out as trans he would kick me out because I am his daughter not his son. If you asked that woman than yeah my dad is a great ally, but she wouldn’t know how he interacts with other queer people including his own daughter.

Finally, on the whole master thing. Shut up. She wrote the songs so I don’t care who owns the right right now or if they gave her a chance to ‘’buy’’ them back. This is her own work. When Devianart started selling artists art without their consent because they ‘’owned’’ it, how many people did I see on this website calling for a boycott? How many people were pissed and swore that it was horrible and that no artist should ever lose the right to their own art? Well, it’s exactly the same for her. Yes even for those songs of hers I hate. She put her time, her effort in them and so they should be hers. The idea that some white dudebro has right over them is ridiculous. The fact that he will own her feelings, a part of her soul should be upsetting especially since one of his artist already violated her body by showing it naked without her consent. I would be furious if I was raped and a friend of my rapist got the right to some of my writing. Heck, I would probably be a lot more agressive than she was in that post. The fact that she managed to stay polite and calm is a miracle if you ask me. Especially since he will be making money of a video that his friend and client didn’t even deem good enough to win an award!! Cause let’s remember that as cringy as it might be to look back at how we were all obsessed with some of her music video (god knows I was even though I would have never admitted it at the time), a man representing someone who put her down for one of them is going to make money off them. 

This is in no way acceptable and I encourage people to raise their voices against this and to keep those boys (because they are not men let’s be honest) accountable for their actions. Cause when Kesha needed help getting away from her rapist, Taylor Swift gave it to her and no matter how famous you are, you deserve to have people stand up for you. I’m not saying send hate, but keep holding men accountable for their shitty behaviours and for the creepy thing they say about women. We are not their objects, they do not own us in any way and we need to unite to stop them disrespecting us!! No matter your feeling on Taylor Swift and her music or her previous actions, this is something hateful that’s happening to her and women need to stand up and support each other! We own it to each other!!

[aceadmiral]

Tell Me What You See

One thing I really like about the way @asexualjournal is run is that even though the whole volume comes out at one time, the editor spotlights a different article with a different pull-out quote every week so that it stays top of mind and can be easier to digest.

The other week I saw a quote that ignited my curiosity, that the “right person” is the right person for a reason. Yes, I thought, this is an idea I’d like to read about. This is something that could really be fleshed out, could be a pithy way of pushing back on one of the most frequent responses we get.

The article was a first-person account of an awkward situation where the narrator is trapped in a car with a driver who bulldozes over the author without any thought given to the idea that her idea of a good relationship and the author’s might just be different.

I want to be clear: it wasn’t a bad article. As I was reading it, though, the penny finally dropped for me why it is I don’t actually read much of The Asexual, why I am more and more frequently disappointed with Carnival of Aces entries, why Twitter makes me so frustrated.

I read and I read and I get to the end and think, “what’s the point?” I know the answer, though. They are recounting this experience to have others say, “yes, that happened to me too.” To make an environment where others can say, “I recognize this feeling.”

The point is for the author to be seen.

--Wait, let me back up.

Last spring I watched all of my man Gerald on Shortland Street. No, I don’t mean I re-watched for the umpteenth time the bits that have been up thanks to Ace Hero SootmouthNZ for 8+ years. I mean I watched every second he was on the screen.

It started as an offhand comment to my girlfriend--who of course had no idea it even existed--but as I was going through collecting the links, I noticed how all of the episodes of Shortland Street are on YouTube now. But like often happens to me, a whim turns into an obsession.

I was watching late into the night for weeks, going to work every day exhausted and not quite sure what I was doing. It was interesting to see the bits both before and after the “Asexuality Storyline” vids, especially because I was vaguely aware at how mad people were at the time over the “gay representation” being pulled out from under them, but also because after asexuality-as-a-plot ended, he was still around. Being a person.

It was right here that I realized why I felt the need to go back to this show for the umpteenth time right at this point in my life: I was trying to be in a relationship as an asexual person for the first time, and I needed to see it could be done. Even though I’d been over it again and again in my own fiction, someone else’s fiction made it more tangible. Someone else’s character standing in a kitchen ripping into a homophobe--I could take courage from that.

I know what it’s like to need to see, and I know what it’s like to be seen, but. But.

When I was in 3rd grade, I lived just down the street from my school; Google Maps tells me it was 10 houses away. Because it was a side entrance, there were rarely any people or cars around, especially when I was walking home. But if I heard a car coming, I would run and hide behind one of the big oleander bushes, braving the bees over a stranger’s eyes.

Now that I’m an adult, that’s still very much the case. I’ll fumble my key into the lock in panic if I hear a neighbor’s footsteps or hide behind a column until a respectable distance is between me and a coworker leaving the office at the same time. I’ve even attempted (without complete success) to banish my family from the kitchen if I’m cooking because even having them in the same room is too distracting.

I don’t want to be seen.

I come from an internet age where you never put up your real name or picture, and then an age after that where revealing yourself made you open to attack. Yet, I still do write incredibly personal things on the internet.

And I’ve moved more and more towards the “personal narrative” to do it.

I’ve done it because it’s safer in a way to tell one’s own story on one’s own terms. Instead of being told, for example, that if only I knew any ace women who dated women, I would totally agree that my ideas were wrong. Instead of watching people tell stories of how they personally were attacked with bear repellent and therefore you should trust them when they say asexuality is homophobic. Instead of couching thoughts of one’s own masculinity in removed language and then having male voices completely miss that crucial detail when responding.

It tears at me to do so, but I rend myself in order to sew the pieces together in a new way, that gives form--makes meaning. That means someone coming after me might be able to put them on and be protected or empowered.

My history in the asexual community is almost turning into a barrier for me. With my girlfriend, I had so many things I needed to discuss, so many options and ideas. We sat down one night with @queenieofaces​’s Five Factor Model open on my laptop, but how do you have a relationship discussion with someone when you’ve got 10 years’ head start on the nuances of things like what infidelity is, or what a non-romantic couple looks like--especially when those things are so subjective and also who says you’re right?

But, you know, she hadn’t been involved because she hadn’t seen the point. “Same hat!!” is nice, and sometimes important, even life-changing, but it only gets you so far.

And yet, while I struggle with this, I see people on twitter say things like “people keep telling us to go make our own community. Maybe we will!” and I think, where have you been thus far?

I think, what was the point of letting myself be seen?

Being in this community is not going to stop hurting me, but I’ve got enough maturity and experience and perspective to know where my limits are. This community is important to me, even if it means I have to take my own actual face to a pride parade or send my own actual name to LinkedIn connections and government agencies and Japanese city councilors. It’s worth it. It’s worth it but--in the rush of “visibility visibility” maybe keep in mind what it costs.

The other day @grison-in-space​ reblogged a post about metafandom, and it made me feel some... complicated feelings. On the one hand, I do miss metafandom (and not because people there cared about what I had to say about asexuality for some reason), but on the other, I wonder, how would it work? That phase of the internet is over, and you can’t go back; it’s folly to try and go back.

Today is today, not yesterday or 2011 or 2007. And what I notice is the desperate need to be seen: face and haircut and name and story. And that visibility is leverage now--a Boomer got mad at me in May for refusing to put up a selfie for a political cause. You win hearts and minds by standing in front of someone and saying, “Here I am. I am a person. Will you scorn me now that you’ve seen my face?” It’s powerful, and I recognize the power. I’m trying to do better, fight better, be more open with those who already know my face and name. That wears at me too.

But you know, even as I crave that meaning, I can see that just being seen is enough for some people. And I have eyes. I’ll watch.

I see you.

I see all of you.

It’s the least I can do... isn’t it?

[ralvezmood]

Pride & Prejudice | Ralvez

A/N: The one where ralvez have to deal with a homophobic police officer. TW for homophobia and the f-slur. It’s set sometime after season 12 and 13ish, so after they’ve gotten scratch and are just back to solving crime as normal. I hope you like it!! I’m never super confident about my fics, and this one is no exception. I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me know if you like it! Tagging my ralvez fam so they can see it (if you want off or on to this list let me know!): @dontshootmespence @reidbyers @lukeassmanalvez @reidoneshots @stunudo @reidalvez am I forgetting someone? I feel like I am...

From the moment Luke Alvez and Spencer Reid laid eyes on each other their attraction was instinctual, involuntary even. Their teammates knew when they started dating before either of them had broke the news. Their body language around each other was unmistakable, like magnets they gravitated towards one another.

While on a case in small town South Carolina, Spencer stood hunched over a map spread out on the table in front of him, Luke stood next to him. His hand was placed gingerly on the small of his boyfriend’s back, listening intently to the geographical profile he was rattling off.

This caught the attention of one of the local police officers assigned to the case from across the room. He sauntered over to where the young couple stood, though he was unaware of their bond.

“Hey, what are you two? A couple of fags?” the officer joked in typical hetero macho fashion. Spencer’s eyes went wide and he felt Luke’s hand leave his back. Within a second Luke was in the officer's face.

“Yeah, actually, we are,” Luke challenged, “is there a problem?”

Spencer reached out, grabbing Luke’s arm from behind. “Luke...don’t,” He warned.

“No,” Luke insisted, “I want to know what the problem seems to be.” His eyes bore into the officer’s, refusing to back down.

“Hey, man. Relax,” the officer, noticeably more petite than the bronze skinned man in front of him, stood with his hands up in surrender, “it was just a joke, alright. I didn’t know, relax.”

“Oh, a joke huh?” Luke condescended, “listen, I don’t want to hear that word come out of your mouth in front of me, or Dr. Reid here, ever again. And if I do? Rest assured, the outcome will not be ideal for you.”

The officer just stood there, dumbfounded, before sending a weak nod Luke’s way and heading towards where his fellow officers had congregated.

“Luke,” Spencer spoke, “Why did you do that? We have to work with him on this case…”

He sighed, he knew Spencer was right but he couldn’t help himself. “I know, I know,” Luke replied, “there’s just nothing I hate more than a homophobe.”

Spencer wrapped his arm around his lover’s torso, rubbing his side. “I know, babe. Just forget it. Let’s get back to work, alright?” Luke nodded and the two continued what they’d been working on prior to the encounter. Out of the corner of his eye, Spencer swore he could see the officers glaring at them.

That night when the pair got to their hotel room, Luke bee-lined straight to the bathroom to wash up and get ready for bed. All he wanted to do was sleep. He was exhausted from the long day, which had been prolonged by the now uncooperative officers. Spencer had been right, in standing up for himself, he had not only created one uncooperative officer, but several. He had clearly spread the word of the incident to the others.

Luke sighed as he reached for a towel to dry his now fresh face. As he opened the bathroom door, his boyfriend’s figure appeared, leaning against the door frame and blocking his entrance into their shared bedroom.

“Do you want to talk about what happened today?” Spencer inquired, eyebrow raised. Luke approached him, kissing his temple as he placed his hands on either side of the slender man’s frame, moving him out of the way.

“What’s there to talk about? Some guy was a dick, who cares,” Luke retorted, though his annoyance with the officer was evident on his face as he made his way to sit on the bed.

“You just seem pretty worked up about it still,” Spencer continued, joining him on the bed, sitting slightly behind the raven haired man so that he could work on the tension in his shoulders. Luke hung his head, relaxing under the feeling of Spencer’s hands kneading away his troubles.

“Yeah, I just hate that he gets to win, you know?” Luke hummed, leaning back into Spencer’s hands, urging him to continue, “He’s derailing the case, making things harder, but why should we have to suffer? We’re not the assholes.”

“Hmm, you’re right,” Spencer agreed, “but you can’t control others. People are going to do what they’re going to do. All we can do is react, and we get to decided how we’re going to do that.”

Luke turned around to face the man he loved. He leaned in and placed a kiss on the genius’ soft lips. “You know what?” He began, “that gives me an excellent idea.”

“Oh no,” Spencer chuckled, no idea what Luke could be planning to do. This was the man who threatened and then transferred one of the FBI’s most notorious traitors just because he hadn’t kept Spencer safe in prison. Luke was not the sort of man you messed with.

The next morning, Spencer made the journey to the police station alone. When he’d woken up to his alarm at 7:00am, Luke had already left. He stepped out of the elevator into the station, coffee in hand, to see the officer from yesterday storming out of the police chief's office and past him into the elevator. Luke, smiling, walked over to meet him.

“Good morning, babe,” he beamed, following him to the conference room the team had been given as their headquarters.

“Morning,” Spencer replied, “What was that all about?” He gestured in the direction the officer had taken off in.

“Someone may or may not have told his boss that by creating an intimidating environment, he was in direct violation of his oath of honor, since he was not holding up community standards,” He explained, shrugging, “but I don’t know for sure.” Without even looking, Spencer knew that his boyfriend was donning a huge shit eating grin.

“You got him fired?!” Spencer exclaimed incredulously.

“No, not fired,” Luke explained, “taken off of the case.”

Spencer was laughing now. “You’re always so dramatic,” he shook his head.

“I’m not dramatic, I just care about you,” he explained, “I wasn’t gonna let that asshole get away with talking to us like that and then acting like a dick for the rest of our time here. Anyway, a wise man once told me that all we can do is react. That was me reacting.”

“I love you, Luke Alvez,” Spencer said, beaming.

“I love you too,” Luke concurred, stealing away a quick kiss on his cheek, “now let’s get to work. We’ve got a unsub to catch.”

[veronica-rich]

To wind Rimmer up, Lister mucks with his projection and puts him in a ballgown. Refusing to rise to the bait, Rimmer keeps it on, and Lister finds himself hopelessly (and surprisingly) aroused. :-D

There it is, he decided, a wide smile creasing his face as he scrolled past the hideousness, then came back to it, studying the folds and shimmer in detail. That’ll fix him.

It wasn’t one thing that drove Lister into the holographic projection program in the middle of the night, but a series of events over the past few weeks that had culminated to snap his trigger when Rimmer snottily suggested at dinner that perhaps Lister didn’t really require chocolate sauce over his carrots. It was an unsubtle dig at the fifteen or so pounds that had crept up around his middle over the past several months of depression and unchanneled restlessness.

“Carrots are nutritious,” Lister muttered aloud in a mock-nasal whine as he futzed with the ship’s catalog to find the specifications. “They’re VEGE-TABLES, Lister. They’re meant to be eaten PLAIN, Lister.” Then he added in the same parody of Rimmer, “I like to shove them up my ARSE one at a time while I whistle Zippity Doo Dah, Lister.”

So, the smeghead liked carrots, did he? Force-feeding him a dozen bags wouldn’t do any good, but Lister could sure make the homophobic git wish he’d gone that route instead. As he changed some coding and meshed programs together, Lister felt the happiest he had in a long while. On this ship, with this crowd, this was sure to provide entertainment for him, Cat, and Kryten for hours, possibly days. It just depended how openly contrite Rimmer could find it in his shriveled, blackened little light bee to BE.

Probably the days one, Lister mused once he was done, hit “execute,” and password-locked the program, getting up to head back to his bunk. DAYS.

*****

The thing Lister noticed when he finally woke up at eleven in the morning, once his brain fog had cleared, was what hadn’t awakened him. He’d been left to wake up naturally so late. That couldn’t be right; had he simply been so tired he’d slept through Rimmer’s yelling? Had it been so loud it had simply elevated him to a higher plane of unconsciousness?

His answer didn’t present itself until he ambled into Starbug’s midsection for some crispies. At first he couldn’t identify the alien sound, but as he dismounted the steps, he realized it was swishing. To be fair, he only realized it when he saw the space’s other occupant emerging from the kitchenette to set his tea on the communal table. Lister bit down on his grin, but not fast enough. Rimmer breathed in at the sight of him, tunnel-like nostrils filling with the oxygen. “YOU.” It wasn’t a yell or a bellow, or a question. It was an intonation; Lister expected winged demons to begin falling from the ceiling.

“Oh, hey, man- um, I mean, Ma’am. Miss?” he corrected himself. “Ma’am? I’m sorry, I don’t know the cutoff age for titles.”

Rimmer straightened, fixing his roommate with a muddy green glare. “Lister, fix this, NOW!”

Lister instead eyed his creation. Already tall, Rimmer was statuesque in the three-inch heels Lister had fixed to his feet via programming; he knew the shoes were there by the minor teeter in Rimmer’s stance. They were of course covered by the hem of cake-like tiers of shiny orange taffeta, draped in loose-parachute folds. The fitted bodice encased nothing but was stretched by a chest deceptively slimmed by Rimmer’s usual quasi-military jackets and tunics. Long-fingered hands were perched on his hips, surprisingly muscular arms tense with presumable rage. “You’re a right picture, there, Commander.” He winked.

Rimmer’s haughtiness was creased by confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Been whipping the houseboy this morning?” he asked. “Sipping mint juleps?” He nodded toward the cup on the table. He could just about pinpoint the moment the reference dawned on the other man. “For Io’s sake!” Rimmer shouted.

“Face it, Arlene; you’ve been more of a bastard than usual lately. You deserve this.”

“Get me out of this getup!”

Lister shrugged. “I don’t really tilt that way-” He was cut off by Rimmer’s giant sigh. “Look, all you have to do is apologize. And mean it. That’s it.”

Rimmer stared at him, then nodded. “Right. Not like I can’t fix this myself.”  He put his right hand down further on his hip, patting it … then looked, and swore, presumably as he realized or remembered his belt control pad was not an accessory to this ensemble. “Well, I don’t need that!” he fumed, jerking to the left toward the cockpit and presumably a mainframe.

Staying quiet, Lister watched him stumble and totter toward the small room, pausing at the door divider to lift his voluminous skirt and step over it, then nearly fall as he tried to negotiate the grating in heels. He waited until the ranting began, then called, “But you might need the password!”

Shortly, Rimmer swayed back into sight, grabbing the sides of the doorway to balance as he stared murder at Lister. “CHANGE. ME. BACK.”

He leaned forward, enunciating as well. “A. POL. O. GIZE.” Instead, Rimmer gave him the middle finger; Lister tutted. “That’s not very ladylike. Keep it up and I’ll give you a hairstyle to match. Rimmer gritted his teeth and muttered something that sounded much like “dog food breath” just under easy hearing.

******

“Well, the color ain’t bad,” Cat judged at their evening meal as he critically eyed Rimmer between sips of milk. “But that style’s all wrong for his body type and age. And orange doesn’t really work on a redhead.”

“Eh?” Lister looked from Cat to Rimmer, then back again, confused. He looked back, studying Rimmer’s hair, and realized it was sort of a ginger, of sorts. “Oh, eh. Never noticed that before.” Rimmer continued eating and reading his data pad, studiously ignoring the conversation.

“Sure, it does a lot better with a nice gold, or maybe some deep primary colors,” Cat continued. “Also, those rhinestones are all wrong; man his age and skin tone needs one piece of jewelry, maybe two, tops. Not all blingy like that.” He made a circular motion mid-air indicating Rimmer’s chest area. “Now me, I can pull it off. But that’s ‘cause I make anything look good.”

“It’s not supposed to look good,” Lister pointed out. “That’s the point. I made him look how he acts.” Rimmer briefly glared up. “Don’t give me that attitude; you know how to fix this,” he reminded the hologram.

“Like a sixteen-year-old prom date?” Cat asked.

“Young and immature, yes.” He didn’t explain he’d chosen a dress because he wanted to put Rimmer on his back foot, and misgendering his image was a sure way to do it.

He wasn’t surprised when Rimmer didn’t apologize that day. He wasn’t even surprised when two more days passed in relative silence - a blessing, actually, since of late, Rimmer not only had not shut up, he’d used most of his words toward Lister to complain about something or other. He was surprised when he noticed Rimmer was no longer teetering in his new shoes on the fourth day, but getting around rather gracefully and forcefully, and appearing to give his hips an extra twist here and there to get the giant skirt around corners through narrow doorways.

He nearly went back and fixed the programming himself that weekend when he caught himself staring at the back of Rimmer’s head, musing over how long and slender his neck was and admiring the sharpness of shoulder blades framed by the shiny, taut material. Small auburn curls littered the bottom of his hairline above his neck, and Lister imagined blowing on the wisps to see if he could make Rimmer laugh or shiver. He caught and slapped himself mentally when he considered making an excuse to go shower so he could have a wank at the thought.

OF.

RIMMER.

This was not good, he determined. Gay was fine for everyone else; he was tolerant. But it wasn’t for him. He definitely didn’t have any attraction for Rimmer. Maybe some other men, somewhere. What sensible straight bloke wouldn’t have slept with the late, great Sir Daniel Radcliffe, if given the chance? The man had been a sex symbol well into his nineties, after all. Even in Lister’s time, the Ryan Reynolds Sexbot had still been a popular purchase for every gender.

But Rimmer? He was officious, arrogant, narrow-minded, and stiff, all angular and pinched, weasel-like expressions marring what should have otherwise been handsome features. His nose was too long, his brow too frowny, lips too thin, hands too large. His throat bobbed too much when he talked, especially visible in that gown; Lister was only distracted when Rimmer would tug at the strap, then run his fingers through his hair, clearly exasperated, then lick his lips. Lister pondered all this as he watched Rimmer trying to study the seventh morning at their bunkroom table, leaned forward on his elbows and mouthing words to himself as his eyes tracked across the page, the front of an open-toed apricot sandal peeking out from beneath the hem of the dress, fingers drumming the tabletop. Lister could see a little down the top of the dress because there was nothing to mold to the built-in bra, and wondered if he pulled the dress off, if it would fizzle and stay off-

He abruptly threw himself forward and up from his bunk, standing. Rimmer jerked upright, shooting him an annoyed look. “Do you mind? You’re like a bull in a tea shop.”

He really wanted to change Rimmer’s clothing back to the blue uniform. He needed that apology soon. “Are you ready yet to get out of that gown?” he snapped. Rimmer raised an eyebrow, and Lister, uncomfortable, decided to turn the tables. “Or do you like it in that gown?”

Rimmer frowned, then sighed. “It’s just a covering, Listy.”

Are you kidding me, he thought. “So you DO like it.”

“I’m tired of yelling about it, is what I am,” Rimmer insisted. “Though I do wish I knew why orange.”

“You’re the one who loves carrots so much.”

“THAT’S what all this is about? That I said you shouldn’t turn your vegetables into a sundae?”

“That you need to smegging well quit trying to micromanage every move I make, is what it’s about,” Lister informed him. “You comment on what I eat, what I wear, how I move, what I do. What I look like. Always with the criticism! YOU DO IT CONSTANTLY. I feel like I’ve got a stalker, and it’s not even an attractive woman!”

“Is that why you put me in a dress? So you could imagine I’m a woman?”

Lister let out a mid-level growl meant to serve as a warning. But Rimmer kept on. “For what reason, then? Have you gone a bit light in the loafers, Listy? Maybe you’re so desperate that I’m starting to look good?” He was clearly the one taunting now, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, smirking. “Or maybe that’s why it’s so hideous - so I wouldn’t look SO good, hmm?”

He took a few seconds to compose himself before smiling deliberately and shooting back, “I’m not the giant homophobe here, Rimsy.”

“Aren’t you?”

“No, you’re confusing me with you.” He pointed in front of him. “Come stand here. I can get within range of you and it not bother me, but I bet YOU can’t!”

To his surprise, Rimmer stood, nose aflare, did a little pirouette around the edge of the table, and came to stand a foot away from Lister, hands on his hips. He towered as much distance above him, and Lister fixed him with narrowed eyes in challenge. “I see you’re not falling off your shoes anymore,” was the first thing he could think to say.

Rimmer shifted on his feet a little. “You get used to them. Still not pleasant.”

“I could’ve made them stilettos.”

“And I’m supposed to thank you for these?”

They glared at each other, and Lister was dismayed to discover for the umpteenth time in the past few days that he wanted to put his hands on that hard-light fabric, feel how slick it was, how warm from the body encased in it, and maybe even peel it off. “I can see right up your nose,” he taunted. “You have a big nose. How does it feel, getting criticized for something you can’t help or don’t even want, or like, maybe?”

Rimmer glared silently. Presently, he said, “I am not apologizing.” Before Lister could think of what response that could possibly deserve, Rimmer spoke again. “I can … moderate, my observations regarding your person and habits going forward, though, I suppose.” Each word was like chewing a metal gear and spitting it out.

The only thing Lister could wonder was, “Why does it matter what I do?”

“I have to keep you riled up. It’s what keeps you going.”

“Wait, fighting’s not-”

“Listy, think about it,” he sighed. “You do best when you have an enemy. Someone telling you you can’t do something. It’s the only reason you passed your pre-tests so high, because Hollister said he didn’t think you had two brain cells to rub together. Once you figured out after he was just baiting you, though, you gave up on the engineering program and went back to slobbing around on Zed Shift.”

“What’re you saying to me?”

“I’m saying, you have brains just rotting in there that you don’t like to use, and meanwhile, here am I, busting my arse to figure out basic physics that a child should understand!” he shouted, throwing his arms out to the side. “I’m saying you’re not stupid! You’re not a total smegging moron, and it’s hell to watch you wallowing like you are and just wasting what you’ve got!” He was breathing hard, some thick curls coming loose from tightly styled hair, the taffeta rustling with the rise and fall of his chest and shoulders as his eyes bored into Lister’s.

Lister finally said, “You want me to get you out of that getup?” Rimmer gave a little nod - and so he did.

******

Later, Lister curled an arm around Rimmer’s bare waist as he nuzzled his jaw. “I think I like this look the best on you,” he teased, rubbing his foot along the man’s equally bare shin.

Rimmer gave a little breathless laugh as he shifted on the bed. “You do realize the next time you lose an argument, you’re wearing a ballgown of MY choosing.”

“Bring it on, Big Man,” the Scouser muttered as he kissed his decidedly adult prom date again.

BONUS IMAGE OF INSPIRATION:

[victor-v]

so yesterday i finished all for the game for the second time in my life (weird thing i've never read a book or series twice) and it wrecked me for the second time. it was unexpectedly nice that i actually understood everything with so much clarity, but that makes sense i've got lot of practice in reading english since then. also, i wrote my thoughts on the book this time.

i can't understand how a book can have such an impact on me, i hate that and i love it, everything else that crossed my mind is under the cut

★huh andrew really bullied aaron into dressing identical to mess up with neil

★"i don't swing either way" is the phrase that made me feel more valid that the whole queer community ever

★neil is pure nihilism

★how can i EVER forget neil wore a tight long sleeved TORN tshirt that andrew bought this is way too much

★seth is dead and all kevin can think about is the line up tbh i do that often

★they are making a scandal about how they sit

★kevin telling neil "destroy him" filled me with power

★the most unreal part is neil ALWAYS keeping his roots another colour the guy must dye his hair every fucking week

★how did neil buy andrew's promise to protect him from the japanese mafia's professional murderers when the only people he physically bullies is an obsessive young adult with anxiety, a princess in high heels and his sunshine sister in law

★wait a fucking minute andrew saw neil filled with terror while holding the phone and immediately gave him the car keys so he could be alone fuck

★nicky fucking hemmick attended to improv class

★ according to dan few athletes were crude enough to start trouble at an ERC event, you mean as crude as neil?

★how to take care of your teammate while he's in a crisis according to: andrew→show concern and reassure him. wymack→10 seconds of vodka

★"hey, jean. jean valjean" is peak comedy

★the ravens walking in v formation is genuinely the most cringy thing you can think of

★neil first finds out the only possible person to date him is andrew because he was jealous of renee are you kidding me

★andrew only missed 13 from 150 shots on goal for fucking real what a Man

★renee is an angel, she's specifically andrew's angel

★neil truly is a watcher

★bee wearing a bee costume is the only good thing on this world

★dan and matt dressed like greek gods!!!!! they can adopt me already

★can you believe nicky is the one who got into neil's brain and planted the idea of realying on someone, and since then neil actively pursues an investigation on andrew's relationship status how on god's name i missed that HOW he's not even subtle about it damn

★he first worries about renee now about kevin goddamn it josten how can't you se how much you care about him

★it's funny how sexuality is such a heavy topic between them when they sure as fuck have some pretty huge stuff going on you know like dying in the hands of the mafia or being tortured

★i imagine andrew running to renee all bonkers like "listen if the cute guy asks, for fucks sake tell him i'm gay but make it ~casual~ maybe this way he'll get it"

★the sole mention of thanksgiving dinner makes me want to die

★kevin is checking the scores in a newspaper I forget this book is so 00's

★they should have spent the day eating turkey and frozen pie at abby's fuckkkkkkkk

★are you kidding me they are in the middle of a conversation and andrew casually chokes neil a little but it's ok they carry on wtf

★"we are all going to regret this" is the fucking worse piece of foreshadowing in this book

★neil interrogating andrew the same night he was raped what kind of fucking piece of shit does that

★i can't fucking believe neil went ahead and shoved andrew's hand under his tshirt in front of kevin, wymack, betsy and two fucking lawyers are you kidding me

★neil asking "are we? friends?" to nicky is so relatable because i also would have an aneurysm if someone told me i am their friend

★someone else tries to flirt with him and he immediately considers andrew how i was too ace to see it the first time i read

★jesus fucking christ riko is one truly fucked up sociopath and neil is the bravest motherfucker on the land

★how can he face riko like that in the nest and be extremely pure in other occasion

★"are we watching the ball drop? i want to make a wish" he wants to make a wish and i want to die thanks

★i can't believe the whole if it means losing you then no and side effect of the drugs shit it's unreal fucking unreal how oblivious neil is too ace to realize anything SOMEONE JUST CALLED YOU "DREAM" THE LEVEL OF ROMANTICISM

★the amount of heavy staring in this trilogy is ridiculous and all i can think about is twilight

★these books made me see how far from the 00s we are, for many reasons, but mostly for some jokes that can't let slide; like calling neil a battered wife, domestic misogynistic violence is not a joke

★i can't believe from all people, wymack was the first one to get andrew was into neil

★"that doesn't mean I wouldn't blow you" is such a funny phrase to be said casually why is it

★"you are a racoon, not a fox" oh andrew

★it only took andrew admitting he had a crush for neil to be all sentimental and shit, and that disarmed andrew too

★they are like some kind of animal that while you think they are fighting, they are actually mating, that's exactly what nora meant with feral

★half of last book is neil mooning over andrew jfc

★nicky made neil smile while distracting him from riko im gonna throw myself off a cliff

★i can't quite believe neil goes through a detailed monologue about andrews memory the man is impressed and borderline turned on about every talent on his crushe's shelf

★i literally can't follow and will never understand the quarrel/promise/agreement between aaron and andrew what a bunch of pretentious idiots

★every time neil's phone buzzes all i fear is the fucking countdown

★i thought "i want to see you lose control" was a collective fever dream i can't believe it's written on the books

★if i was nicky i already have told andrew to stop his freaky pretentious shit towards me

★neil to the upperclassman: ha ha fellas is it gay to unthinkingly call andrew in the middle of a anxiety breakdown

★"you gave me a key and called it home" is as soft as heartbreaking i want to jump off a cliff

★"i won't be like them, i wont let you let me be" is actually pushing me off that cliff andrews feelings are a fucking storm

★neil was kidnapped and tortured the day of my bday and that's not a coincidence

★neil's talent to twist the truth in order to convince andrew of anything is outstanding

★excuse me they have no right to be this soft i hate them

★they miss so many opportunities to be funny about the whole "protection" thing

★did he really had a mental breakdown over where to fucking sit on the bus lmao

★"don't come crying to me when someone breaks your face" is the second most awful piece of foreshadowing

★lets be honest for a second andrew should be a fucking writer because all those things he says? edgy myspace pretentious poetry

★im sorry but i don't care about literally anything except neil smiling onto andrew's neck bye

★andrew ghosted a kiss across neil's hip im dead for real

★abby kissed neil's forehead farewell after cleaning all his injuries i have no words he's recieving all the affection he deserves

★cant believe you don't see aaron is fucking worried neil is taking advantage of andrew

★i mean yeah ok don't talk love but neil is sad that nicky thinks it was only hate sex, and he immediately acknowledged it meant more than that to him bc his demi btw wtf does hate sex mean i can't believe you hate someone so much you wanna suck his dick

★they all went horseback riding when will i have a group of friends like that

★"who's humanising who in that relationship" i know right nicky

★kevin locking himself to have a panic attack is the most relatable thing

★the car encounter with ichirou holds the same tension as a mr robot scene

★the proposal of playing olympics and being unstoppable feels like marriage or smth

★neil is literally having his hot girl summer

★i adore neil's overflow of emotions after swallowing everything for so many years. represented, thanks.

★andrew terrorising katelyn who the fuck does he think he is what an annoying asshole

★"did you know i've never been skiing" is the most epic line

★i cheer to the sole mention of laila

★alvares can deck me right now and i would say thank you

★"war is profitable" aaron knows what's up

★sometimes i want to slap them is2g

★that scene at eden's where they are all discussing how roland found out and aaron ends up being the only straight one lmao boy it's your punishment for being so homophobic

★the whole "deadliest piece on the board" spech is 100 times better when you consider kevin was wasted and overly exaggerating every word and gesture

★can you imagine those few fans supporting kevin's new tattoo screaming YAAAAASSSSS QUEEEEEEEEEN while snapping fingers i'm cackling

★matt in court body slamming into anyone that's been a problem to the foxes: VIBE CHECK MOTHERFUCKER

★neil kissed andrew in castle fucking evermore the audacity i adore him