#it's not really one of my ships but what ever

[criticallyacclaimedstranger]

My Place or Yours? [Joel x f!reader]

Read on Ao3

Ship: Joel Miller x you/f!reader

Tags/warnings: Reader doesn't like weddings, kissing.

Summary: You're being tortured at a wedding, but there is a man there who saves your evening.

Words: 1,550

A/N: This is written for the Summer Lovin' challenge by @pedgito, who also made the moodboard. I picked the theme 'wedding', which was a weird choice for me because I really hate weddings, but I got Joel to help me get through it. Enjoy!

”I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Had those magic words only been the end of your misery, this day would have been easy-peasy. But no, you wouldn’t get off the hook that easily. It was only the beginning of an evening filled with awkward speeches, parental tears, and drunk best men giving dubious toasts.

You just don’t do weddings well. Anyone you ever talked to would tell you that it’s because you’ve been burned, because you’re single, ”once you find Mr Right you’ll start to plan your own wedding!”, et cetera, et cetera. Maybe that’s true, but with your disposition, it doesn’t seem likely that you’ll ever understand the point of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for one single day during which both your parents get to watch you make out after a minister has sprinkled some magic words over the two of you. It’s just not in your nature. You never dreamed about a fairytale wedding when you were little, and you thought your friends would wise up when you got older, but no. As soon as the question was popped, they all reverted back to their childhood selves, and began planning as if for the event of the millennia.

You’ve been to three weddings these last few years, and it doesn’t get any easier. It’s embarrassing, lavish, awkward, and weird. And as always, you’re there without a partner, and must sit there with a fake smile plastered on your face, with no one to bitch to. At least you’re not the only single one at this wedding; that’s happened before, and even if you didn’t mind being single, you were definitely feeling blue when you got home that night.

At least dinner is good. This particular bride isn’t following any fad diets that she’s forcing on everybody, so you’re enjoying a really delicious three course meal. Still, what would a wedding dinner be without interruptions in the form of long, meandering speeches? You are forced to put down your cutlery one too many times, and by the time you’re finishing your delicious medium rare steak, it’s already cold. Chasing leftover sauce with a piece of bread, you nod encouragingly at the waiter asking you if you want more wine. You want to ask them to leave the bottle, but they probably wouldn’t find it funny.

Too tired to make polite conversation, you start to wait for the unofficial break between main course and dessert, when people get up to stretch their legs. It’s your opportunity to get away for a bit. You even have a modus operandi for it: you bum a cigarette from one of the smokers even though you’ve never smoked, go to the side, and pretend to smoke it for as long as you can. If the venue is nice, you then walk around and inspect it. This wedding offers a lot in that aspect: it’s a big house, almost a mansion, in the countryside, with a park and lots of smaller, old buildings on the premises. Perfect for hiding, and then you can just return back to the dining-hall late and blame getting lost.

When the break finally is announced, you let the smokers leave first. By the time they're greedily sucking on their cigarettes, you show up and ask for one. Cigarette in hand, and nod in agreement with the light conversation: yes, it was a beautiful ceremony, yes, the dinner is delicious, yes, the bride is so pretty and the groom so handsome. Eventually, you make a break for it, saying something about wanting to see the premises. So you walk away, flicking away the pillar of ash on your unsmoked cigarette.

The din of the house grows distant as you walk across the yard, shamelessly dropping the cigarette and crushing it with your foot before heading for the garden, quickly as if to escape the disgusting smoke. Once you reach the first, fragrant rose bushes, you start to relax. You find a bench and sink down on it with a relieved sigh. The light breeze smells of oleander, the birds are chirping, and it's pleasantly warm. Perfect.

You dig into your evening bag and check your phone. No messages, of course: most of your friends are at the wedding. Putting the phone away to instead enjoy the garden, you remain seated for a little longer than you know is considered polite. When you finally rise to go back, you notice someone approaching you. A man, around your age, a friend of the groom's, you think, but you've never talked to him.

"Hi," he calls out. "You okay?"

"Sure," you nod easily, "I just needed some air."

"A lot calmer here, isn't it?" He's standing in front of you now, all broad shoulders and narrow hips. Very handsome, but you're feeling defensive, and when your answer delays a little too long, he clears his throat.

"Sorry. Hi." He extends his right hand. "Joel. I'm a friend of Mark's."

You take his hand and give him your name. He doesn't let go immediately after shaking your hand.

"Nice to meet you." That smile. Goddammit, that's a charming smile. When his warm hand finally unclasps yours, you want to reach for it again.

"Can I help you, Joel?" you ask instead, trying to sound unperturbed.

"I saw you leave and wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Why wouldn't I be okay?"

He shrugs lightly, passing a hand over his hair. A curl bounces back to gently lick his forehead.

"You just looked like you weren't maybe having such a good time."

Well, shit. You thought you  had been keeping a straight face, but clearly you had failed. Your gaze flickers, and you clear your throat.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I’m not good at weddings.”

He chuckles low, but not maliciously.

“It shows.”

“Yeah, well, it’s hard to keep a straight face for all these hours,” you snap, a little harsher than intended. Joel holds his hand to his chest.

“Didn’t mean to offend you.”

You shake your head. “Don’t worry. We better get back before they send out a search party.”

“Hey, lemme make it up to you. Can I have the first dance with you?”

Frowning, you eye him, expecting him to be joking. But his gaze is open and honest.

“Sure,” you eventually smile. “Find me when the dancing starts.”

And so it is that after dessert and another couple of meandering speeches, after the bride and groom have danced their first dance, Joel finds you in the crowd. He leads you to the dancefloor with a steady hand, and when he puts his arm around your waist, you don’t mind that his hand comes to a rest a little lower than expected. He keeps eye contact, but not in a creepy way as he makes small talk, asking you about your life more than he talks about his own. He seems genuinely interested in you, and that makes your head swim more than the alcohol.

When the music changes to something more energetic, you pull him to the side.

“Not my cup of tea,” you explain, and he nods, seemingly happy with being off the dancefloor as people begin to shake their asses.

“A drink?”

“Sure.”

He takes you to the bar and you both get drinks. The bride and her bridesmaids are cheering loudly on the dancefloor, and the noise is beginning to wear you down.

“Let’s go out?” you suggest to Joel, who nods.

There are some people scattered around the yard, but the garden is empty. The smell of roses is even stronger now when the hour is late, and you notice that you’re actually enjoying yourself. Joel is so easy to talk to, you’re comfortable in his company, and he makes you laugh.

“Hey,” you finally say. “Thanks for not being weird about me not liking weddings.”

“Why would I be weird about it?” He sounds genuinely surprised.

“Because everybody loves weddings, and I just can’t,” you shrug, but with a hint of desperation in your voice. “And if you don’t like them, then you’re just bitter and probably in need of the right person to have your own wedding with.”

He’s quiet for a moment, sips his drink.

“I know I can keep a secret,” he starts, his voice low, “but can you?”

“I can.”

“I don’t like weddings, either.”

You stare at him for a moment before slapping his arm.

“You could’ve told me earlier!”

He laughs. “I know, I know, I’m sorry!”

“Asshole!” you blurt out, but can’t say more, because Joel’s lips are on yours, and you drop your glass on the gravel where it shatters, splashing liquor over your feet. And you don’t give a single goddamn. Your hands come up to his shoulders, pulling him closer, and you kiss him back, tasting the whiskey on him, a peppery twang from the steak he had earlier, the bristles on his face scratching your skin.

When you finally have to step back to take a breather, he licks his lips and looks at you with heavy-lidded, dreamy eyes.

“Not too soon?”

“No,” you shake your head, “Just perfect.”

He grins. “How soon d’you think it would be polite to leave?”

“I don’t care, we’ve suffered enough. My place or yours?”

[mal3vol3nt]

I think ZKs really exaggerated Zuko and Katara’s relationship, and this is coming from a guy who actually really likes Zuko and Katara’s relationship, just not a ship (it’s not as toxic as some say, by the end of the show at least).

Isaw this one post about how Zuko and Katara have the most intimate relationship of The Gaang. How he’s the only one who supports her, understands her and validates her anger. Whereas Zuko is the only one Katara doesn’t have to look after, the only one she can depend on emotionally, the only one who she’s sees as an equal and matches her maturity.

I question this, because when did we see this in the show? Besides like 3 instances. ZKs act like Katara was never supported by Aang (or the others). I’m sure that everything they say Zuko does for Katara, Aang does for her and more. Everything Katara supposedly has in Zuko, she already has in Aang. I could list all of this, but this is already running long as it is.

What do you think?

This the full post: https://www.tumblr.com/theotterpenguin/738115696097116160/thinking-about-how-katara-is-the-only-person-zuko?source=share

not only are they exaggerating the depth of katara and zuko’s relationship, but they’re underplaying the depth of her relationship with literally everyone else. like they undermine how much all her friends mean to her by saying the guy she was on good terms with for like 4 episodes immediately became her closest companion and confidant

the only time we see zuko offer her support of any kind is during the southern raiders episode where he’s encouraging her to go kill the guy who murdered her mother. and he’s not doing it because he genuinely wants to be a supportive figure for her, but because he thinks this is what’ll get her to finally forgive him and stop treating him so coldly. and then the episode ends with him admitting that he was wrong in terms of what she needed—not violent revenge but the chance to let her anger out without compromising her morals in blind rage. other than that, we don’t see him act as a shoulder for her to lean on, and the one instance we do see him act that way, he’s bad at it and ends up realizing there are ways other than violence to move on from internalized anger

and sure you can argue that zuko still gave her the chance to confront yon rha even if she chose not to kill him like he encouraged her to, and that inandof itself is an act of emotional support, but the reality is he did that to get on her good side rather than to be a genuine friend. had she already been friendly to him, would he have ever brought up that he knows who killed kya? would he have even asked sokka about the day their mom died to get that information? in the show he only does this because he can’t fathom why katara is still mad at him when everyone else has already forgiven him. he wanted to speed up her process of forgiving him, so had she already forgiven him and they were friends, i doubt the whole “i can help you avenge your mother” convo would have ever happened because it wouldn’t have served him to do so. and in my opinion, any support that has ulterior motives and an end goal isn’t genuine support

but compare this to aang and sokka. we see these two go out of their way for her countless times throughout the three books, which makes sense considering the three of them are the ogs and went through everything together (incoming really long list lmao)

aang offers to take katara to the northern water tribe so she can learn waterbending under a master after knowing her for only a few hours at most. he also does this after she expresses her upset at being the only southern waterbender left. “katara! we’re going to find you a master!”

aang gives himself over to zuko and his fire nation crew to save katara and sokka’s village

aang completes all of bumi’s challenges to save katara and sokka

aang credits katara for haru’s sudden bravery in saving that old man. “wow you must have really inspired him”

aang and sokka willingly (and eagerly) participate in her plan to get arrested for earthbending

sokka comes up with the plan to get coal to the earthbenders so they can find motivation again, something that katara is very passionate about, thus showing his support in her goal

aang and sokka help fight the fire nation guards that are keeping the earthbenders prisoner, aiding in katara’s goal of helping them help themselves

aang weaves katara a brand new necklace after she had her mother’s stolen. this makes her smile

aang is quick to reassure katara when she begins to show signs of self-doubt at aang’s natural waterbending talent. “well you had to learn all on your own. i’m lucky enough to have a great teacher”

aang refers to katara as a waterbender, something that clearly means so much to her after she spent the whole episode insecure of her abilities

sokka steals the waterbending scroll for katara and aang to learn from

aang travels alone in search of medicine for katara and sokka, all while an entire nation is hunting him down with the intent to torture him to the brink of death, thus risking his life for their safety

sokka tackles aang after hearing katara’s cries of pain when he accidentally burns her. despite knowing and caring for aang, sokka can’t stand the thought of someone hurting katara even if unintentionally, especially with fire

aang explicitly states he will never firebend again after accidentally hurting her. he too can’t stand the thought of her in pain and hates that he was the one who hurt her (this is also him taking ownership of his mistake and punishing himself—for those of you who think he is never held accountable for his mistakes)

aang refuses to learn under pakku when he rejects katara and only lets up when katara tells him he needs to take this chance to learn waterbending

sokka is the one to suggest that aang teach katara everything pakku is teaching him, and aang loves this idea

aang cheers for her when she fights pakku. “go katara!”

the general is only able to trigger aang into the avatar state after he is made to believe that katara was buried alive, showcasing once again how much he cares about her safety

aang pushes katara out of the way of falling rocks when the aftermath of appa getting burned causes the tunnel to cave in

aang refers to katara as ‘sifu’ after she made an offhand comment about him never calling her that. this makes her smile

aang turns away from cosmic power immediately after he sees a vision of katara in danger

aang lets her go so he can unlock all his chakras and save katara from impending doom against azula, zuko, and the dai li

aang eagerly participates in katara’s plan to perform ecoterrorism and calls her a hero

aang also eagerly participates in helping her scare off the fire nation general as the painted lady. sokka participates as well because “i would never turn my back on you”

sokka has a talk with toph after she blows up at katara for her motherly-attitude (and while i definitely have issues with this episode i still think it’s important that sokka sought out this conversation to sorta defend his sister and help toph see where katara is coming from)

aang and sokka hug and comfort her when she breaks down crying after becoming a bloodbender

after knowing her for so long (his whole life in sokka’s case—he’s her fucking brother) and witnessing the kind of reaction she had to bloodbending, aang and sokka both tried talking her down from killing a man. this is a 14-year-old girl in pain. the same 14-year-old girl who put her life and freedom at risk to save earthbenders from their metal prison and sobbed when she was forced to bloodbend to save her best friend from dying again and delayed their group’s traveling to relieve a fire nation village from fire nation pollution and control, was now demanding to kill a man in cold blood. aang and sokka were supporting her full on during this episode because they knew, more than fucking anyone, that killing yon rha would only hurt her once she came down from her blind rage. and to add even more proof of their unwavering trust in her to always do the right thing not just for others but for herself, aang allowed her to take appa to confront the man. appa, aang’s lifelong companion and animal guide, his only living reminder of his culture and pacifistic people, and who aang had suffered a painful separation from. aang trusted her with appa to go on this mission. because he trusts and supports her

———

now onto the claim that zuko is more mature than everyone else and therefore matches her in maturity. i just bust out laughing LMAO

for starters, let’s not act like katara is the epitome of maturity. yea, she’s the mom friend, but she’s still a kid and acts like one. yall just refuse to acknowledge the moments where she makes mistakes as her acting her age and being human. instead yall hold these mistakes over her more aggressively than the other characters or yall pretend they don’t exist in favor of idealizing her so she fits into your “she’s so mature and is a mother figure to everyone” role (her telling sokka “then you didn’t love her like i did”, blowing up at aang for picking up waterbending so quickly, antagonizing toph out of pettiness by making fun of her blindness—“too bad you can’t see them toph!”, etc.)

zuko is a whole other story lol. that boy wouldn’t know maturity if it hit him in the face, and when you compare his behavior to other characters in the gaang it becomes all the more obvious (incoming another—shorter—list)

aang when presented with his mistake in “bato of the water tribe” -> he accepts the consequences—katara and sokka leaving him—and admits he was wrong. he doesn’t blame anyone else nor does he beg for forgiveness or try convincing katara and sokka to stay. he accepts he was wrong and lets himself sit with the consequences of his actions. from then on, we never see aang selfishly hide information from his friends again

katara when presented with her mistake in “the waterbending scroll” after yelling at aang -> she apologizes immediately and punishes herself by handing the scroll over to him, claiming she wants nothing to do with it. she recognizes the mistake and quickly accepts a self-punishment to regulate her own behavior

sokka when presented with the issues of his sexism -> he gets on his knees in front of suki and respectfully asks that she train him, using the word ‘honor’ to communicate his sincerity. he admits his faults to her at the end of the episode and his behavior is different from then on. he reflects on a part of himself, deems that he needs to change, and then makes those changes without having to be forced into doing so or guided repeatedly into making the right choices along the way. he arrives there by himself after being presented with evidence that proves his original way of thinking wrong

now compare that with zuko’s journey of unlearning his prejudiced ways

when he is shown extreme kindness by song and her mother, he repays them by stealing from them

after having been on a good-streak while living in the earth kingdom, zuko sides with azula the moment his integrity is put to the test in front of the avatar, betraying his uncle in favor of “his honor”

when iroh stops talking to him, zuko screams at him and places blame on iroh for this change in their relationship

when mai is seen talking to another guy, zuko storms over and throws that guy across a room. she, understandably, breaks up with him

when katara gives him the cold shoulder, zuko demands “what’s your problem?!”, asking how it can be that she still hates him but everyone else has forgiven him, as if he hasn’t given her—and everyone else—plenty of reason to be distrustful of him for lifetimes to come

when aang is goofing off instead of training, zuko—instead of communicating—attacks him with blasts of fire, forcing aang to retaliate

the only reason why zuko is given this extreme maturity label is because his worldview was challenged and changed. whereas the other characters in the gaang already had correct worldviews and didn’t have to go through a series-long redemption arc to become good people. they were already good people, so their mistakes and shortcomings are held to higher standards than zuko’s because his are viewed as stepping stones to a pending redemption. never mind all the times in which he backtracked and hurt more people. those times were all “necessary” for his redemption to happen and be well-done. yall can excuse all of zuko’s flawed behavior by saying “but he was redeemed! that wasn’t really his true self!” and all that bullshit, so everything he does that’s good post-redemption gives yall this delusion that he was always this good person who is capable of making mature decisions (never mind the fact that he is still incredibly immature post-redemption and still has a long way to go in terms of unlearning his prejudices by the time the show ends)

in conclusion, yall have a weird obsession with isolating katara from all her relationships with the other characters in favor of making her zuko’s one and only, and yall have deluded yourselves into thinking either one of them are incredibly mature

that’s all i gotta say ✌️

[lemotmo]

Okay I'm going to partially tell on myself. I am new, as in the Buck/T kiss showed up all over my dash, as did all of Oliver's interviews and I just thought he was the yummiest most delightful human being I had ever seen and heard (my god is accent is heaven) new. And I thought that first kiss was really well done. It was a great scene. Now, that being said, I didn'twant to jump into a show that was seven seasons into the story with zero context, except the stuff I had been seeing on my dash for years. So I started from the beginning, with the full intent and excitement of getting to T in season 7. Imagine my surprise when he popped up occasionally in earlier seasons. His only good part was when we were supposed to believe that Chim could lift him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, haha. That was great.

Anyway by the time I made it to season 7, it was too late. I had just watched 5 seasons of Buck and Eddie. There was zero room for T to compete on any level. Which is why the behavior of some is so confusing to me. Let me say first that I do not think the show always intended to put Buck and Eddie together, I don't think that's been the intention since the beginning. There is however a very good case to make that Eddie's introduction was Buck's actual Bi bell ringing moment though (*what a man plays in the background*). I do however agree that the writing has trended, increasingly so, in that direction. The writers do not hold all the blame however, Oliver and Ryan have kind of acted them into a corner. There are several scenes, multiple scenes, where the acting choices the two of them made were interesting, to say the least (looking at you 'go for the title' kitchen scene I love. Buck was flirting on every possible level in that scene).

Sorry, I got off track, back to my point. The people like me, who came in after the kiss popped up everywhere, being all in on T is somewhat fine. The problem would be the ones who are deliberately refusing to go back and watch the entire series before pontificating on B/T being destiny and all that other nonsense. There is an argument to be made that they're avoiding it because they know most of the history dismantles their current ship fixation. So as a result those people can be easily dismissed because they have zero context to any of their opinions. The ones who were with you all for 5 seasons though, yes I've seen their posts, who lost their shit over 2 pairs of lips touching, is what I cannot wrap my brain around. I completely understand the excitement behind that first kiss. It was a much anticipated moment for BUCK. He was the important person in that scene.

But confusing, or deliberately misinterpreting, Buck's revelation and sigh of relief at finally figuring out something pretty significant about himself, as being about him finding T is a gymnastics act I did not expect to see from so many long haulers. I mean, it should be obvious but T wasn't important in that scene. His gender was what was important. Which is why they have barely bothered to show him since that episode. And the interactions they have shown, minus the hospital kiss, that they made sure to show Eddie's reaction to btw, have all been red flag scenes. Little things that show this relationship isn't really that different from his previous relationships. Buck may have figured out the gender part but he's still making the same relationship mistakes. It's why the few scenes they've had together, and it's the bare minimum of effort, have been about Buck trying to initiate some level of communication and emotional connection and him being dismissed or having it turned into a daddy kink joke. I also think Oliver's enthusiasm dipped drastically by the end and it showed.

Which brings me to Eddie. The show, and more so, Oliver and Ryan have already done the hard part. The emotional connection, which is way more difficult to pull off than a physical connection, is already there. Their chemistry is already established.They're partners in every way but physically. As a result it is not a huge character leap to eventually bring a physical relationship into it as well. That will not be a shocking character development for either character. It goes back to the way the two have been written and they way Oliver and Ryan have interrupted those scenes. I won't touch their interviews because I think it's pretty clear, at this point, they seem to agree it's the way to go. There's more story to explore with them learning how to navigate an actual relationship than there is in bringing in other, lesser characters, to firstly try to compete with that connection, and then try to establish endgame status. I don't know. It's not about any two pairs of lips touching it's about the right two pairs of lips touching. Because when it's the right couple the characters get that sigh and exhale of finally! But the audience gets their sigh and exhale of finally as well. That is the point.

Sorry this got looooong 🤣

Ooooh Nonny, you speak right to my heart.

First of all, thank you for going back all the way to season 1 to actually sit down and watch the show. We aren't just making up Buddie. It has been there since the beginning. I'm so glad you got to witness their beautiful history together and that you realised just how right they are for each other.

I can't speak for the people who suddenly turned 180° and dropped Buddie for BT. I have been shipping Buddie from season 2, so I don't understand their reasoning or motivation either. It like you said so beautifully:

"It's not about any two pairs of lips touching. It's about the right two pairs of lips touching."

And that is what it comes down to. We can be content with a lackluster, meaningless relationship for queer rep. Or we can be exhilerated with an amazingly complex and years in the making relationship, which will be so much better for queer rep. It will be revolutionary in so many ways to make a slow burn queer ship canon.

(Before anyone comes at me for talking about queer rep. I have slowly been figuring myself out over the last couple of years and, looking back at my life and relationships, I've come to realise that I definitely belong somewhere on the ace spectrum. Not sure where exactly, I'm still searching for the right label, but it feels right to me. This is actually the first time I said this on a public forum for people to read. Kinda scary to be honest.)

I know what I would choose for myself if I was faced with these two options. Why wouldn't we automatically choose this for Buck and Eddie as well? It's mind-boggling really.

So yeah: queer Eddie and Buddie canon in season 8! All the way!

Don't apologise for your great post. I loved reading it. Feel welcome to drop in whenever you want. :)

[xjulixred45x]

Guess who just watched Apology Tour/Helluva Boss Critique

MY GOD, STOLAS' DEAD MOSQUITO ATTITUDE HAD ME ROTTEN FROM MINUTE ONE. Does this grown man really believe that HE is the one who should be angry because THE POWER IMBALANCE IN HIS DYNAMIC WITH BLITZ WAS CALLED ATTENTION? Flaco, mature.

APART FROM STOLAS LITERALLY MANIPULATING HIM TO MAKE HIM FEEL BAD "do you feel any remorse for WHAT YOU DO?" FLACO, SKINNY, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO CAUSED THIS SITUATION, NOT HIM (and apart from being a hypocrite, he says that the Exes party is immature but decides to go anyway).

And on top of that they treat it as if the problem were Blitz's insecurity regarding his supposed ""relationship"", how Blitz feels that no one loves him is well stated, but using it in STOLAS OF ALL THE CHARACTERS FEELS LIKE A LACK OF RESPECT FOR THOSE WHO CAN REALLY DEVELOP THIS (like, I don't know, BARBIE WIRE, BLITZ'S SISTER, WHO DIDN'T EVEN APPEAR IN THE EPISODE!!!).

Let Blitz handle the situation the way he handles it, but WHY SHOULD HE GIVE STOLAS AN APOLOGY? SERIOUSLY WHAT MADE HIM OWE HIM AN APOLOGY? I understand it with his exes because well, Blitz gave them a hard time, BUT STOLAS?? It's like some kind of Stockholm syndrome, Blitz REALLY believed Stolas' manipulative bullshit.

The satanic ritual scene made me laugh tough, I'm not going to lie, the second/only positive point.

FOR GOD THE MUSICAL NUMBER WAS BASICALLY THE MOST SUGARCOEATED VICTIM BLAMING I HAVE EVER SEEN, how Stolas ignores all the vital information but at the same time DOES RECOGNIZE THE SITUATION ("i went too hard" and the image of Loo loo land where SEXUALLY HARASSES HIM ) is DISGUSTING.

It's like saying "ah yes, i did shit but it's your fault"

That's it, Verosika my beloved, the best character of the episode. although definitely if she knew the whole context she would have cut STOLAS' dick off.

The fact that they try to make us think that Stolas and Blitz are """over"" when we all know it's endgame is a waste of time, if they really wanted to fix this ship, they would take advantage of the episodes they have, they couldn't have unnecessary drama, but I guess Asking for quality is a lot these days with Vivziepop:)

In general, a deplorable episode that leaves aside aspects that could really help the plot and development of the characters (like Barbie Wyre and focusing more on Verosika for example) and that makes me hate the show more with each episode.

______

(ESPAÑOL)

Adivinen quién vio Apology Tour

POR DIOS, LA ACTITUD DE MOSQUITA MUERTA DE STOLAS ME TUVO PODRIDA DESDE EL MINUTO UNO ¿realmente este hombre adulto cree que es EL el que deberia estar enojado porque LE LLAMARON LA ATENCIÓN DEL DESEQUILIBRIO DE PODER EN SU DINAMICA CON BLITZ? flaco, madura.

APARTE DE QUE STOLAS LITERALMENTE LO MANIPULA PARA QUE SE SIENTA MAL "do you feel any remorse for WHAT YOU DO?" FLACO, VOS SOS QUIEN CAUSO ESTA SITUACIÓN, NO EL(y aparte un hipócrita, dice que la fiesta de Exes es inmadura pero decide ir igualmente).

Y encima lo tratan como si el problema fuera la inseguridad de Blitz respecto a su supuesta ""relación"", el como Blitz siente que nadie lo amara esta bien planteado, pero usarlo en STOLAS DE TODOS LOS PERSONAJES SE SIENTE COMO UNA FALTA DE RESPETO PARA LOS QUE REALMENTE PUEDEN DESARROLLAR ESTO(como, no se, BARBIE WIRE, LA HERMANA DE BLITZ, QUE NISIQUIERA APARECIO EN EL EPISODIO!!!).

que Blitz maneje la situación como lo maneje esta en personaje, pero PORQUE DEBERIA DARLE UNA DISCULPA A STOLAS??ENSERIO ¿QUE LE HIZO QUE LE DEBA UNA DISCULPA? lo entiendo con sus exes porque bueno, Blitz les hizo pasar un mal rato, PERO STOLAS?? es como una especie de sindrome de Estocolmo, Blitz REALMENTE se creyo la mierda manipuladora de Stolas.

La escena del ritual satánico me dio risa, no voy a mentir, el segundo/unico punto positivo.

POR DIOS EL NUMERO MUSICAL FUE BÁSICAMENTE EL VICTIM BLAMING MAS SUGARCOEATED QUE HE VISTO, el como Stolas ignora toda la información vital pero al mismo tiempo SI RECONOCE LA SITUACIÓN ("i went too hard" y la imagen de Loo loo land donde LO ACOSA SEXUALMENTE) es ASQUEANTE.

Es como decir "ah si, oa cague pero es tu culpa"

eso si, Verosika my beloved, el mejor personaje del episodio. aunque definitivamente si ella supiera todo el contexto le hubiera cortado A STOLAS el pito.

el hecho de que traten de hacernos pensar que Stolas y Blitz """terminaron"" cuando todos sabemos que es endgame es una perdida de tiempo, si realmente quisieran arreglar este ship, aprovecharian los episodios que tienen, no podrian drama innecesario, pero supongo que pedir calidad es mucho estos dias con Vivziepop:)

en general, un episodio deplorable que deja de lado aspectos que realmente pudieron ayudar a la trama y desarrollo de los personajes (como Barbie Wyre y centrarse mas en Verosika por ejemplo) y que hace que odie el programa cada episodio mas.

[kevinsdsy]

THE TROJANS SOCIAL MEDIA AU HEADCANONS pt. 2

jean moreau & shawn anderson dynamic

jean properly likes having shawn around. although he keeps telling shawn to fuck off. and to leave him alone. and to shut up. he doesn't actually mean it (most of the time).

and shawn knows this too. and what’s so great about shawn is he knows to set boundaries even though jean has never asked him to do so, but when jean seems even more quiet than he usual is, shawn takes a step back.

shawn notices when they're in a group environment jean is keeping more to himself and staying in the background where he can watch the group instead and shawn lets him without trying to put too much attention towards jean.

ananya deshmukh

ananya is a youtuber. idek why i made this a thing. i just love girls vlogging and blogging and i want her to be an it-girl like.

haoyu liu & travis jordan

look i'm going to be really honest. i forgot they were mentioned in the books for the longest time and then i did some stalking and was like ohh they exist too so i made their accounts on the same day and now they're dating each other in my mind

shane reed

OKAYY SO hear me out shane has not yet be mentioned in the au. but i’m posting this now for his introduction in today’s upcoming part. i was going through the book and noticed i missed his appearance when starting out the au which is CRAZY because he's mentioned quite a few times when the foxes vs trojans game is happening.

BUT I DECIDED TO ADD HIM AND I HAVE A FEW THINGS IN MIND FOR HIM (i want to give him shawn anderson treatment LMAO) but his character would be connected to kevin and it might be weird to have a canon x canon ship that's build on shit and giggles

but now that i think of it, is that literally not what jerejean used to be anyways??? SO LET ME TALK MY SHIT!!!!!!!!

with the summer olympics socmed au coming and having the foxes and trojans in one place i want to have them flirting with each other

like one day they barely know each other and the next day people are like ...wait?? what's going on here.

and not many of the trojans even know about the sexuality of either one of the guys so they all have to go and be like WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN

and i just think i can have a lot of fun with that LMAOO but maybe i'll decide to not even do it we'll see

angela "angie" lewis

angie, god bless her, has to put up with shawn during media training

angie pretends to be so sick and tired of shawn but she actually absolutely adores him

i was talking about them with @amberlouigi and i told them how i think when shawn graduates she will always mention him and be like "you guys be better! you will never believe, but i had to put up with shawn and he said..."

if shawn ever becomes pro he will be an ABSOLUTE menace to society/press/social media

@amberlouigi said they think angie would get a call/message from his pro team asking if she wants a job. and angie decides to take it.

shawn will not necessarily stop his behaviour, but he respects and loves angie enough to cut back a bit on his behaviour so he can prove to everyone how well of a job she's doing.

i truly wish i had added angie to the socmed au before and added more of their dynamic together :((

bonus: kevin day

KEVIN DAY IS BISEXUAL !!!!!!!!! i think in canon he would have a lot of feelings to deal with and to unpack this but in the au he knows this about himself and he doesn't really care. he keeps it hidden from the press & media

[sistersorrow]

Finished Harrow the Ninth a couple hours ago

I'm not a reviewing type, so I'm just gonna include a bunch of things that made me have reactions and other miscellaneous things about my experience with the book

I don't care what Gideon says, the waters may be choppy, but the Harrow x Ianthe ship ain't sunk yet

TV Tropes is a godsend for me, cause it wasn't until I read the Foreshadowing page that I remembered a bunch of details I'd completely forgot about

I didn't bother to actually google how you pronounce Ianthe until 300 pages into the second book

People sold Gideon the Ninth as "lesbian necromancers in space" but Harrow the Ninth is the one where Harrow and Ianthe are both down horrendous

I had a vague inkling that The Locked Tomb was set in our future just because there were nine houses on nine planets and the Ninth House sounded like Pluto, but I did not expect this to be all but confirmed through a 10,000 year old immortal necromancer referencing the "It's for church honey" Facebook post and God himself mentioning None Pizza Left Beef

This does not however explain not 10,000 year old Gideon referencing Llamas in Hats

No one is allowed to say they Fucked Nasty Style anymore unless it involved cutting off your partner's arm and replacing it with a necromanticly animated bone one

The author confirmed on Reddit that partway through writing that scene she realised how sexually charged it felt and ran with it

My pronouns are She/ cause I'll never be Her (toxic immortal lich wife Ianthe, who killed a man and ate his soul to attain unlimited power and get her face on posters)

The author has stated that Ianthe is a very intentional Draco in Leather Pants character with the core differences being that she's a woman and as a sense of humour, which is why she is in fact Best Girl

I was left wondering if I'd imagined all the memes being referenced cause TV Tropes didn't make mention of a single one, so I checked the Locked Tomb subreddit to make sure I had not performed The Work on myself

If there are any Homestuck references, I didn't notice, cause I have expunged most of my knowledge of it

Dad jokes are the pinnacle of all humour

The Emperor is really bad at gaslighting

Harrow may have died with the last thing she ever saw being a nudie mag that doesn't exist, which is just hilarious

Ianthe did everything wrong, and that's why she's the best

Reading this book has reminded me I'm very bad at picking up on foreshadowing, hence scrolling through TV Tropes right after finishing the book

That threesome is the most uncomfortable I've been in weeks, which makes it good writing

I'm probably gonna read the short stories next then start Nona the Ninth sometime next week

[loumandiel]

Lestat becomes so much easier to understand when you realize he isn't a machiavellian mastermind supervillain making calculated manipulative plans, and actually everything he ever does is an impulsive, emotional spur-of-the-moment decision. "What is Lestat's plan?" He doesn't have a plan! "What was Lestat thinking when he (x)?" He wasn't thinking! He was angry/scared/excited/sad/horny and it was something he felt like doing at that exact moment! I don't think that that man ever thinks about the future in any meaningful capacity at all. In the first episode he was on a ship going to St. Louis but suddenly decided to disembark in New Orleans when he heard good music and stayed a few nights because he wanted to have sex with as many prostitutes there as possible. Then he sees Louis, falls in love at first sight and decides that they're destined to be together forever. Within like few seconds. He doesn't even know anything about Louis, what if Louis doesn't want to be with him or even like men? He'll cross that bridge when he gets there!

When he turns Louis into a vampire i don't think he has any more detailed ideas of what their life is going to look like other than 'i and my beloved shall hunt together for eternity and fuck twelve times a day 🥰', he really doesn't predict any of their problems at all. When he announces that they have an open marriage now he really doesn't predict Louis pulling an Uno reverse card even though it should be obvious. He knows that turning Claudia is a terrible idea but it was the only way he could keep Louis with him at that moment so nothing else matters. Everything he does to Louis and Claudia makes the situation worse, but he wants to do it so he doesn't think about what is going to happen. I suspect he wasn't really going to kill Claudia in s1 finale but what was he going to do? Drag weakened Claudia across the world with his other fledglings and never let her out of his sight again? Leave her behind in New Orleans and risk she'd follow them and he'd always have to sleep with one eye open? I really think he hadn't thought about it further than the murder attempt night, he'll figure something out! And what is he even trying to achieve in Paris? Who knows, probably not Lestat himself!

[dinosaursatemymom]

Okay little rant about shipping culture

Like why have ships become about like canon ability like ykwim like shipping can just be for fun😭 like just cause I think a ship is cool doesn't mean I think it's canon or should be canon. Like what happened to rarepairs and shipping from other fandoms😭 like y'all are always arguing about which ship is better because of how canon it is like it's really not that serious 😭 like I understand not wanting to ship something that has no canon basis or whatever but why go out of your way to shit on other ships and make like shipping wars because you don't like a ship😭 is it really ever that serious 💀💀

Okay this was supposed to be like a short rant but wtvwtv. I just wanted to give some examples

For one Bkdk, like I personally ship it but I also think that izuocha is cute(and like a bunch of other ships with them) and idgaf about canon tbh in the context of shipping 😭. But anyway y'all always arguing about which is more canon and which one is more important like it really doesn't matter what's canon you can like a ship even if it's ridiculous and be a multishipper.

And ik I'm not in the fandom anymore but mleven and bylr, dude the amount of arguing and like harassing over those ships was ridiculous like leave each other be someone can like a ship without it needing to be canon.

AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING ik I used to be the same way about byler IK😭 I've realized the fandom is low-key toxic and we all just need to chill🥰.

And um I don't feel like thinking of other examples rn but like I just feel like everyone needs to stop worrying sm about what's canon and what's not, like yes it's really nice to see canon moments between your ship. But it's not that necessary and we need to stop placing canon ships on such a high pedestal. Like shipping is for FUN 😭. Anyway this has been my rant if a ship is legal leave it be 🥰

[a-killer-obsession]

🔞 Minors DNI 🔞

A search for a rumored Vegapunk weapon leads the Kid Pirates to an unexpected new crewmate, with a bloodlust that rivals their own and an incredible power.

CW: Please check AO3 for all current warnings, but general warning for smut, slow burn, serious gore, and really dark themes. AFAB reader, she/her pronouns.

Masterlist || AO3 || Chapter 1

Chapter 34 - Empty

Everything goes to shit again, who is surprised? Please heed the AO3 tags for this one, immensely dark chapter ahead.

Word Count: ~3.5k

Taglist: @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @tremendoushorsepatrolgoth @iggy5055

You could barely make out the jagged rocks below you under the white seafoam that crashed against them, the half moon giving just enough light to make out your surroundings but not enough to pinpoint colours. You probably could have if you had your mask, but you’d left it back at the ship, along with any happy memories you previously had. The sound of the waves crashing echoed up the side of the cliffs, a howling wind at your back bidding you to step forward, encouraging you. Your hand rested on your abdomen, empty, void of anything under the bandage that covered it. Only one week ago you’d discovered you were having a boy, and now you were alone. Silent tears rolled down your cheeks from eyes that already stung from days worth of sobbing. There was no sound accompanying it, you didn’t have the energy left, and your throat was raw from screaming. It didn’t matter, you were exhausted, you were sore, your heart was torn to shreds, but the pain would end soon.

Cold grass coated with the early morning dew wet your bare feet, sore from running over gravel and dirt paths. The sun was doing its best to break past the horizon, but you would never see its efforts fulfilled. You had no plan on making it as far as dawn, this was as far as you go. A lifetime of fighting, and you were admitting defeat. You thought back on the last three days, all the things that brought you to this moment, the things that finally broke you after years of pain and suffering, the things that led you to the cliffside.

[Three days ago]

“Will you just fucking listen to me woman?” Killer shouted after you as you unsheathed your katana to check it over before replacing it and sliding it into your belt. “It’s not safe”

“What am I good for then, Kil?” you huffed, moving to attach your dagger to your thigh, “My role on this ship is as a weapon, I’m not just going to sit around like some broodmare. I feel fine, I’m only five months along for fucks sake”

“But what if they see your belly and target you?” he urged, following you around the room as you gathered your weapons.

“So what if they do?” you replied, “I’ll protect myself like I do from every other enemy. You know perfectly well I’m a competent fighter”

“I know you are, but you’ve been so tired lately, what if you’re not as focused and you make a mistake?” he pleaded, “I’m not asking you to entirely sit out, just go sit with Double like you did when you were hurt, you can still fight from up there, but it’ll be safer”

“Yeah, and no fun,” you complained, “I’m done with this conversation Kil, I’m fighting, you can’t stop me”

You stormed off before he could say anything else, huffing in annoyance. Ever since your belly had started to become noticeable, people had started treating you differently. You felt like nothing but an incubator, like all you were good for was growing babies. The coddling was getting suffocating, you fucking hated it. You were an army destroying weapon, not a fucking delicate little thing. And you enjoyed fighting, so you were just as excited as always when the lookout called out a marine ship had been spotted. Killer had been quick to find you and try to convince you to stay out of it, but you were going to go insane if he made you stay out of fights for the next four months. You’d promised not to use meteor wave, but that was the best you could do.

Kid scowled at you as you appeared out on deck with your weapons equipped and a frown on your face, Killer following out behind you, his shoulders tense. He decided not to get into it, clearly Killer had been unsuccessful at getting you to stay back, and like hell were you going to listen to Kid. Frankly, you were scary while pregnant, captain or not, he liked his balls where they currently were and would rather not have them ripped off today. Cannonfire drew his attention and he started using his devil fruit to send them right back to sender, explosions rocking the marine ship as it drew closer.

“At least stay on the Victoria,” Killer pleaded as he stood behind you, “please, for me”

“Fine,” you huffed, “but that’s as much as I’m willing to hold back”

“Thank you,” he sighed, stepping in front of you so he could bonk his mask against yours as you makeshift way of kissing, before turning back to the fight and jumping the short distance to the marine ship.

The battle erupted on both ships and you swung into action, running between marines and bursting their hearts inside them as you moved. You drew your blade as you approached the back of a marine who was fighting Pomp, taking off the man’s head and continuing without even waiting for the body to floor. You were just as swift as always, just not quite as agile since you couldn’t bend as low as usual. Your swollen breasts complained from the continuous jostling, you really needed to buy a sports bra, but you ignored them and continued fighting.

Mosh cried out from somewhere on your left and you turned to assist him. It was a split second of distraction, but it was enough for a marine to get the upper hand on you, kicking you right in the gut. A sharp pain rolled through you and made you gag, and you grabbed the marine by his neck and melted his spinal cord, letting him fall limp to the ground. You ignored the pain as best you could, continuing at a slower pace as you kept up the fight. Hip appeared next to you, covering your back as she saw your struggles.

Something started to trickle between your legs, and you groaned as the worst cramp you’d ever had ripped through your abdomen. You collapsed against the mast, Hip quick to protect you as you reached down and swiped a hand against the trickling liquid, pulling it back to inspect and finding your fingers red and dripping with fresh blood.

“No no no no no NO,” you cried out as another cramp made you cry out in pain. “Not now, please, please, it’s too soon, you’re not ready”

Try as you might, your body wouldn’t listen to you, leaning against the mast for support as you screamed. Hip took one moment to look down at you, seeing the blood between your legs and the anguish on your face as you looked back at her.

“What do you need?” Hip asked as she cut down another marine.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” another groan was torn from your throat as wave after wave of pain drove through you, an incessant need to push taking over even though you knew it wasn’t right. You squeezed your thighs together, crying out in pain, the cramps getting worse as every muscle in your abdomen tried to push against you. There was nothing you could do, you couldn’t fight it, your body wouldn’t listen. “It’s coming, oh god”

“KILLER!” Hip called out, scanning the deck desperately for the stripped mask of the first mate. He was on the other ship, his mask turning in her direction as he heard his name called. The concern was clear on Hip’s face even from the other ship. He heard your screams now behind her and saw your kneeling figure, his eyes wide as fear overcame him and he ran towards you as fast as he could, cutting down whoever was in his path.

Between your legs something was tearing you open. It was all too fast, the baby was small but your body hadn’t had any time to prepare, you weren’t open enough, and you screamed as it forced its way out. You felt the small head in your hand, kneeling with your head against the mast, your face wet as you sobbed. As soon as the head had passed, the rest came quickly, sliding from your body with a wet squelch and a rush of fluid. You looked down at the lifeless body in your hands, no bigger than a sweet potato, nowhere near developed enough to take even a single breath. Ten minutes ago you'd felt them move inside you, and now they were dead in your palms, covered in amniotic fluid and blood. You quivered, your entire body shaking with a level of despair you never thought possible as you fought to not gag from the pain.

Crying wasn't enough, your rage and sorrow was too much. The air around you began to tingle with electricity, the electrons around the two ships beginning to move faster and faster. You threw back your head and screamed, and in a flash of blinding light, a thick blade of lightning summoned down from the cloudless sky and struck the mast of the marine ship. There was a deafening crack of thunder and wood and the mast split right down the middle, straight to the heart of the ship, where the boat tore open and the ocean began to flood through. Kid called a hasty retreat from the enemy ship as it began to sink, everyone more than confused at what had just happened. They didn't know the pain they would return to on the Victoria Punk, they had no way of guessing how truly wrong things had gone in only a few short minutes.

Killer finally reached Hip, who stepped aside to reveal your crumpled body, cradling something unseen protectively in your arms and sobbing, blood pooling underneath you. He stood over you and finally saw it, his son, his tiny baby, too small to exist, too still to be alive. He roared in pain and dropped to his knees, his tears seeping through the holes in his mask as he clawed at the wooden deck and sobbed. The baby was so small in your hands, he’d never seen something so small. The rest of the marines were quickly cut down, Kid using his fruit to crush the remainder of the ship, before coming to his best friend’s side. He saw the tiny baby, lifeless, covered in blood, growing colder every minute, and he did something he hadn’t done since Victoria had died. He fell to his knees and sobbed - loud, anguished cries that had the rest of the crew pausing and paying attention. One by one they fell to their knees too, the Kid Pirates kneeling in a semicircle that fanned out from you, the air thick with weeping and despair. Only one didn’t fall, as Mohawk made his way through the crowd. He too mourned, but that didn’t do anything to help what your body had been through. You were still alive, and you needed help, that was all that mattered right now. At five months gestation he had no hope of saving the baby, it was an impossible effort, he didn't need to see it to know it'd never taken a breath, it simply didn't have the ability to. You wavered slightly as he knelt beside you, clammy and pale, the pool of blood under you getting wider by the second.

“Yin, I know you’re sad, but we need to get you to the infirmary,” he said softly. “I’m not gonna take your baby, I promise, I just want to help you”

You knew Mohawk was right, you could feel your life slipping away from you as you bled out internally. Killer was lost to his emotions as you tried to stand, holding the small body for him to take. He held it gingerly as you wobbled on your feet, before collapsing entirely as the strain and blood loss finally became too much. Kid caught you easily, sweeping you into a bridal hold. The crowd cleared quickly for him, as he carried your limp body to the infirmary, Mohawk and Killer following close behind. Killer didn’t know what to do, staring down at the tiny thing he could have held with one hand, but cradled carefully in both arms. His son, lifeless, not fated for this cruel world. He was shaking, and Kid guided him to sit. Neither of them spoke a word as Mohawk cursed and worked on you. Bloodied rag after rag were dumped on the floor as he tried and failed to stop the bleeding.

You didn’t wake for another day, the all too familiar sight of an IV in your arm, connected to a depleted blood bag. Your abdomen ached and when you touched the sore area you could feel a bandage covering it. Kid was at your side, watching you carefully as you groaned and sat up. Behind him you could see the flowing blond mane of Killer’s hair, his back to you as he sat in front of the other cot in the infirmary. His mask was on, and he made no sign of moving at the sound of your waking groan, save for the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. You could have mistaken him for being asleep, if not for the fact he was sitting straight up.

Heat adjusted the pillows behind you to help you sit up, you hadn’t even noticed him quietly standing there. Kid squeezed the hand he’d been holding before standing and walking to Killer. He whispered something in Killer’s ear, but the blond still didn’t move. Sighing, he tried to take what was in front of him, but Killer grabbed his wrist and growled.

“She deserves to hold them,” Kid said softly, “Kil please, you have to let go. Sitting here staring ain’t gonna do shit, she needs you now. She's alive and she's awake and she needs you”

Killer stood and left the room, not even sparing a glance in your direction, the door swinging on its hinges behind him. Kid took what was on the cot and brought it over, carrying it like it was glass, gently placing it in your arms. Your baby was entirely wrapped up, and he moved the cloth covering its face for you. Tears rolled down your cheeks as Heat held you tight.

“I’m sorry Yin, there was nothing anyone could do,” Kid sighed. “Mohawk said he was too small, his lungs weren’t functioning yet. Even in a hospital they wouldn’t have been able to save him”

You stroked the baby’s cold face before covering them back up and holding them out for Kid to take. You couldn't bare to look at the tiny body any longer, it hurt too much. He took the baby and placed him back on the other cot, returning to your side. You felt empty, devoid of emotion, you didn’t know what to do or how to feel. All you could feel was heartache.

“He blames me, doesn’t he?” you whispered.

“I’m gonna go get the doc,” Kid sighed, avoiding your question. You let out a sob as he left, the avoidance was answer in itself.

“Shh, shh, I’m still here,” Heat cooed, climbing onto the bed and laying beside you. You buried your face in his chest.

“It’s my fault Heat,” you sobbed, “he told me not to fight and I didn’t listen, I did this, I killed our baby”

“You didn’t,” Heat assured, squeezing you as much as he could without hurting your injury, “A marine did this, not you. It just… wasn’t meant to be”

“I’ll give him another, I’ll do better next time,” you sobbed, “please tell him, please, I need him to forgive me”

“Yin, there won’t be a next time,” Heat sighed. You sat up and blinked at him, your hand going to your stomach.

“There was too much bleeding,” Mohawk explained as he entered, having heard the end of the conversation, “I couldn’t stop it. I had to… I had to remove the whole thing. I’m so sorry Yin”

“YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME DIE!” You shouted, becoming light headed and swooning. Heat caught you and laid you back down flat.

“Don't overdo it, you lost a lot of blood,” Mohawk sighed, “what happened to your body was physically traumatic, it tore your insides. If I was a better doctor I might have been able to save it, but this far from land it was either remove your whole womb or let you die. Kid gave the order, none of us wanted you to die. I know you're hurting right now, but you have friends here, we're here for you”

He injected something into your IV and the dizziness faded a little, and you grappled at Heat's corset to try and sit back up. “Just stay down for now Yin,” he soothed, “I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere”

Two days later and the ship made landfall, and you were immediately carted off to the nearest hospital. The others planned to bury your baby, you didn't want to be there. They said they'd wait till you got out of the hospital, but you told them to go ahead without you. You couldn't bear the thought of watching the tiny person you'd been growing as they were lowered into the ground and covered with dirt, it felt suffocating to just think about. You'd been immediately taken in for surgery, the remainder of your reproductive system removed before necrosis could set in. By now your breasts were actively leaking milk, your body tricked into thinking that your baby had been born and needed nourishment. The nurses bound your chest and it ached as your breasts swelled with milk that only served to remind you of your failings. Every time a baby on the maternity floor cried, your breasts leaked and the nurses would have to change your wet bindings as you sobbed.

Heat was by your side as much as he could be, but since he wasn't family or the father of a currently alive baby, he wasn't allowed to stay overnight. Those extra cots and private rooms were reserved for new mothers with babies to care for, leaving you in a four person room with other emotionally devoid women who had lost their babies as well. Every little step you took hurt like you were being torn open again, but the nurses insisted you keep active.

On the third night after losing your baby, you were walking along the hall of the maternity floor, and a happy couple passed by you on their way from the labour and delivery ward, the woman holding a healthy full term baby in her arms as she was pushed along in her wheelchair by her doting partner. Every nurse and doctor they passed were congratulating them, and you couldn't do it anymore. You could be here, you couldn't keep feeling your breasts leak while the healthy babies of other mother's cried out, you couldn't take the barren emptiness in your stomach. You would have done anything to see Killer, you needed him so badly, but he hadn't even looked at you as Heat carried you from the ship. Did Heat even want you anymore? He was so enamoured with your rounded belly, did he want you if you couldn't give him a baby? It felt like that was all you were good for, but you'd failed even at that. Pathetic, useless Yin, thrown away yet again when you proved yourself to be worthless.

Before anyone could stop you, you started power walking, navigating the labyrinth of the hospital till you finally came to an exit. Wearing only the comfortable shirt Heat had brought for you to sleep in, you ran. You didn't know where you were going, only having seen one small part of the island as you were carried to the hospital, but you ran anyway, hoping something would guide you and you'd find what you needed, an answer for your anguish.

Over gravel roads, dirt trails through forests, thin mudbanked streams and dewy meadows, you ran till you couldn't anymore. There was nowhere left to run, the island coming to an abrupt end as the meadow gave way to a harsh drop. An answer to your prayer, to your pain. Relief from it all, relief from the unbearable sadness that racked through you and shook you with silent sobs. Just one step, that was all it would take.

And so, the sky turning to a pale green on the horizon and the fading stars twinkling above you, you stepped forward.

[NEXT CHAPTER]

[ausssbutlershortstories]

The Fandom & Unhealthy Shipping

Hello. In light of all the uproar and recent focus on Austin’s relationship. I felt moved to post this. As someone who isn’t exactly a fan of the relationship he has with Kaia Gerber, I feel like this is needed. Us “fake fans” as some may call it are tired of being silenced and bullied.

I will like to start off with that I love Austin. I want, as well as other fans like myself to see him thrive. Not just in his career , but in his love life too. I am in a very serious relationship myself , and see myself spending the rest of my life with the man I am with right now. I want that for Austin , I want him to have the love he deserves, that I am sure he craves. I want to see him happy again. The same way he was when he was with Vanessa Hudgens.

As we all know Austin began dating Kaia December 2021. From jump…I knew something was very odd about them. We all did , including those who call themselves “shippers” now. That itself should tell you something when a fanbase as a whole damn near feel something was off about the relationship. None of us were “jealous”. I have been in a few fan bases in my lifetime. Typically you can tell when there is pure jealousy vs genuinely getting a bad feeling about a person.Normally when people are “jealous”, it’s only a select few. A handful of unhinged weirdos who no one really cares for anyways.I have never seen it where the majority of the fanbase are on the same level. The same thoughts and uneasy feelings.I also wanna add when people are just jealous they never give a detailed, logical answer on why they feel a certain way about their favorite’s partner.It’s always some blind rage and childish reasons to be against a relationship.I don’t get that with the people from this fandom who side eye whatever Austin has with Kaia. We all knew something was just not right with them from the get go. Between Kaia breaking it off with Jacob Elordi a month before she got with Austin, and snatching him up before all his Elvis craze. We knew there some shady shit at play here. Especially since her and Jacob dressed as Elvis and Pricilla the Halloween before they broke up.It’s like she had some creepy Elvis fetish.Also, let’s not get started on how no one really knows the true story on how Kaia and Austin met,which is quite unusual. Almost every Hollywood couple has some story on how they met, even the bs PR relationships do. 2-3 years later and we still don’t know anything. Very peculiar to say the least.

As Austin grew bigger, the relationship progressed more. Kaia’s name was always attached to him some way , some how. There were pap walks, her being with him at events. No matter what Austin did , Kaia’s name was somewhere in the mix. That’s when people started to suspect that the relationship had to be PR. Not saying they definitely are PR BUT the way they moved , there was something just so unnatural about it. People started calling it out and voicing their concerns. However somewhere along the line certain fans began to do a 180, out of no where people started shipping them together and actually liking Kaia. Which was extremely questioning.

If you changed your mind about something/someone okay…that’s one thing. But to change your thinking and then proceed to bully others is a no go. Ever since then multiple people have been ran out the fandom, or bullied into to silence for still upholding the same thoughts on Kaia. Not being a fan of her and this relationship, thinking that Austin can do better. It’s like it suddenly became a golden rule to ship the relationship or get backed into a corner and harassed and have people assume that you’re some jealous bitch.

Lately though, some of us are beginning to speak out and stand on what we think. We are simply sick and tired of not being able to enjoy Austin without other fans making everything about Kaia. Everything he says and does. He smiles…it must be about Kaia. He wears a purple hoodie…must be Kaia’s…he mentions a damn dog….ooop he is really talking about mf Kaia. This man is 10 years older than her, he is his own person. Not everything he does is about his “girlfriend.” He has his own thoughts and feelings. His own personality. His own identity. He is not a puppet Kaia controls that just abides by what she says and has her mannerisms.

Us who do not ship this relationship have a right to do so in peace. We have a right to our opinions and a right to discuss them. We have a right to voice our validated concerns for what we see. It’s not like we are reaching and pulling things out of our asses. After all, the whole fanbase almost as a whole all thought the same thing at first about this relationship. Some of us just kept our opinions the same.We didn’t sit there and change it for the sake of followers and clout…like some. We are actually concerned for Austin’s well being.

With that being said. Stop harassing people and bitching because they do not want to ship this relationship. Stop bugging people when they say that he has good chemistry with someone else other than Kaia. Stop coming into people’s inboxes pretending like you are someone else but really you’re just trying to aggravate people by the questions you ask. People are not dumb , they know they know it be shippers low key on anons. Us here on this side do not come bugging and bitching about your opinions so why do that to us? Why does it matter to you so much that we be on board with what this bs? We are fans of AUSTIN BUTLER..not Kaia.

It shouldn’t matter if we do not support the relationship or not. We are here for his work. Half of y’all do not even care about Austin it seems outside that damn relationship anyway. Which…says a lot. Yet you have the AUDACITY to say we can’t be a real fan just because we don’t care for Kaia Gerber.Just know if you were so confident in Kaia and Austin’s relationship you will not be pressing others about their outlook on it just because it’s opposite of yours. It’s ridiculous you are this uptight like the relationship is yours. You guys are not Kaia Gerber so stop trying to live through her by projecting your raggedy ass delusions on everyone. All you’re doing is creating a divide in the fandom no one wants.

Just stay in your lane and let people who don’t want to make this relationship their entire life stay in their own. While we may disagree with y’all…we let you have your space to discuss your thoughts & feelings on your own platforms , so please do the same for us.

Note: Shipping real life people is weird. It’s fine to think two people are cute together and have good chemistry. It’s okay to do little cute fan edits and such. But when your shipping starts disturbing the peace in a fandom there is an issue. These are real people not a Prince and a Princess in a Disney fairytale. Calm down when people don’t agree with you and let it go!

[izzystizzys]

Ever since touching down on Triple Zero, both a military and quality marker for the planet in his mind, Marshall Commander Fox had become intimately acquainted with the biting pain of headaches and migraines.

This, however, feels like it’s going to make his skull cave inside out.

“I can hear voices, Thorn”, Fox hisses, wide-eyed, breathing harshly through his nose. His bucket sadly lolls around on the pavement from where he ripped it off in a panic, unable to breathe all of a sudden. But even exposure to the open air hasn’t helped much - now, Fox just feels like a fish drowning in water, desperately breathing in the air but unable to keep it in his lungs.

“I mean, we all hear voices, ori’vod, that’s really less concerning than if you couldn’t -“, Thorn begins, hands stretched out towards Fox like he’s trying to approach a rabid beast. “Voices, Thorn!”, Fox repeats, whisper-screaming over the strange sensation of all his blood pooling in his head and ears popping. “In my kriffing head!”

Thorn’s mouth opens to gape, then closes again immediately, countenance turning decidedly more alarmed than before. Fox crumbles to the ground, head clutched in his hands, moaning in painpainpainpain-

The only thing like this he’s felt before is after one of his private meetings with the Chancellor, the one he never lets anyone else have and Fox never remembers. It feels like there’s something else in his head, worming around his thoughts and bouncing off the insides of his skull-

“- is kriffing losing it, Thire, I don’t know what to do -“

“- keep position, help is -“

“- kriffing RED ALERT, what the -“

“- do you mean a karking Venator exploded over Coruscant?!”

“- call it the Zillo Beast - it caved in the side of the ship, apparently, and is making for the surface -“

The pressure inside Fox’s head increases, warmth dripping over his cheeks and from his noise, swelling until he thinks his head really will explode, and then - stops-

Fox looks up, gasping, at the shadow that has fallen across his and Thorn’s patrol, into two massive, glowing eyes. The thing tilts its head, and chirps. It sounds like a greeting.

Silence. Then -

“You’re right”, Fox says, in a daze, “we should kill the Chancellor.”

“WHAT”, Thorn screeches.

———————————

Fox wakes an indeterminate amount of time later to a gentle breeze and nebulous feeling in his head. This is strange for several reasons - one, Guard HQ are both insulated and airconditioned like ass, thus the temperature is always wrong and the air constantly stuffy, and two - he hasn’t woken up not in pain since touching down two years ago.

“Stabby gave you the good shit”, his own voice says, and yeah, that would explain that.

“Stabby is a little bitch”, Fox tries to say, which comes out more like a warbled gurgle. “You’re welcome”, a third voice replies, sarcastically. Fox pries open his eyes with great difficulty. Ah, yes, that’s Stabby looming across the room - and Stone, next to his bedside, lounging in a chair next to a passed-out Thorn, whose head is tilted across the back of his chair at an angle that will definitely put a crick in it.

And, behind them, where the medbay wall used to be, two gigantic, glowing green eyes, tilting along with the rest of the eldritch face floating next to Fox’s bed.

“Hgngndndnsndnfnfffhhh”, he vocalizes, and Stone shrugs. “Yeah, been there the whole time. Do you remember anything?” Fox frowns. Stabby snickers somewhere from his far corner, quietly bustling around and probably concocting something nefarious to make Fox sleep or “take a break”.

Stone’s eyebrows rise incrementally. “Really? Not even when you mounted the space monster, took a joyride through half of Coruscant, crashed through the Senate Dome and battled a lightning-launching Chancellor?”

Fox blinks. The Zillo Beast chirps cheerfully. “Huh.” A sense of strange, deep satisfaction spreads through Fox’s chest, raising goosebumps. “Did we bite his head off? I think we bit his head off.”

Stone chokes, and Stabby races over to thump him on his back, Fox watching warily for any sharp objects. You never know on that one - one second he’s checking your pupils for dilation, then you’ve got a needle sticking out of you and boom, ten hours gone. Or suddenly you’re spitting out decaf - ew - at five kriffing in the morning, being lectured about heart health and some other banthashit.

Something that feels strangely like a chuckle titters across Fox’s mind, and when he looks over, the Zillo Beast is blinking innocently at him.

“Yeah, your little friend did actually bite off the Chancellor’s head” Stone confirms, once he can breathe again. Thorn slowly stirs, until he jackknifes to awareness all at once, and then Fox has a lap full of hugging vod’ika.

“ - took twenty years off my kriffing life, goddamn, ori’vod, you’re giving me grey hair -“

“It’ll match your old man bones”, Stabby murmurs, making Thorn screech indignantly into the top of Fox’s head. The Zillo Beast trills mournfully, aiming a sad look at the medic, who shakes his head and brandishes a hypo at the thing. Fox wonders if he’ll have to intervene - he would try to hypo an eldritch space monster, the absolute lunatic. “Absolutely not - we talked about this, no scritchies until we can be sure it won’t bust more of Fox’s ribs!”

Fox’s mouth opens, and Thorn snickers mercilessly. Stone, far too dignified for it, buries a grin in a datapad. “It’s imprinted on you, Fox’ika”, he says instead, the traitor. “Tried to gte to you in the Jedi temple, but it wouldn’t fit - which is when we brought you here. The interior design was so butt-kriffing ugly it wouldn’t matter much to tear it out.”

“Imprinted?”, Fox asks, not even willing to touch on anything else that’s been said yet. An image flashes across the inside of his skull - him, tossing a space-tennis-ball into the air, and the Zillo Beast slithering off after it. In reality, it perks up and mrows hopefully at Fox God, he wishes he was still insensate. Thorn snickers again, and the desire increases tenfold.

“Yeah, like in that one holoshow, whatchacallit - with that one blonde chick, the Mother of Krayts - you know, the one that made Hound cry when they killed the loth wolves so we had to ban it in barracks?” Thorn’s eyes light up. “Wait, does that make you the mother of Zillos?!”

“Oooh, mummy Fox!”, Stabby screeches, the absolute traitor. Stone breaks out into barking laughter, and Thorn sounds like he’s actively asphyxiating. Fox hates them. Fox turns to the Zillo Beast.

“Please, please eat them.”

[danmeiconfession]

I interpret the ending of "Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System" (SVSSS) as more of a horror story. The protagonist is trapped in a lifelong relationship with Luo Binghe, who is so emotionally insecure that the relationship could potentially end in mutual destruction. Unlike the other main leads (MLs) in Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's (MXTX) works, where the foundations of their relationships are clear, Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (SQQ) have a much more precarious dynamic.

It's evident that Binghe is infatuated with SQQ, whether it be Shen Jiu or Shen Yuan, it doesn't seem to matter. I see the fact that MXTX concealed the identity behind the mask as a literal loose cannon – revealing it would have caused everything to fall apart. I don't ship Bingmei and Shen Yuan because their relationship is based on a facade. They are obsessed with an image, not the true person behind it. Claiming it's true love is laughable when they idolize and fall in love with a persona.

In reality, both Luo Binghe and Bingmei are in love with the crafted pretend image of the lofty immortal Shen Jiu created and his beauty. LBG is a stallion protagonist for a reason – he was mesmerized  with his Shen Jiu looks. Let's be for real, would Bingge would have spared a glance at Shen Yuan without SQQ's identity? The OG stallion not lacking in beauties? So what if Shen Yuan is funny and loves Binghe for who he is, he's not the only one?

It's almost as if Shen Yuan’s denial of reality, his jokes, and dissociation prevent him from confronting the truth. As an internet troll, ending up with Bingmei seems like a punishment. The system purposely chose someone who obsesses over their idol Binghe, the opposite of Jiu, who despises him purposely almost as if the original wasn't satisfied with the ending . Shen Yuan will love Bingmei wholeheartedly, just like fans love their idols regardless of their faults.

Yes, Shen Yuan made sacrifices and helped Bingmei, but no one would react calmly in his situation. Bingmei, the most bipolar character ever, would obviously lose it if he realized the truth. He thought he finally gained approval from the Shizun he worshipped.

I theorize As long as Shen Yuan has the face and voice, Bingmei would still accept him, even though his world turned upside down. Why? Cause he's delusional he'll accept anything of his Shizun regardless. I think if an identity reveal were to happen LBH is selfish enough if SY didn't have a Face Reveal to be the 'not my problem' type. SY personality (if you can really call it that since everything he shows to everyone is different than what be thinks/inner monologues) + SJ face and LBH could live happily in his own delusion. Just look at Bingge, he wanted the 'kind Shizun' because he believes it was an alternate SQQ not a completely different person. I mean who will believe with his 600 harem of 'Peerless Beauties' he would settle for SY true face? Oh no sir/ma'am, he wanted the 'kind Shizun' cause it has SQQ looks and thats the end of the story.

I don't see Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu as looking alike or being twins unlike the popular au or fanfics I've seen personally. Shen Yuan feels like a parasite who can't stand alone and just attaches himself to OGShen Jiu’s face, body and everything he worked for. I headcanon his looks as a normal dude, not a peerless beauty from a book.

Like? Why do people who read the book are so surface level with it as if the Male lead's feelings isn't complex enough about OG? I do believe he was charmed by OG, but SY's SQQ feed onto those pre-existing feelings that were already there in the first place.

Why do readers of "Scum Villain's Self-Saving System" (SVSSS) often take such a surface-level approach to the complexity of the male lead’s feelings toward the original Shen Qingqiu (OG SQQ)? I believe Luo Binghe was charmed by the original Shen Qingqiu (Shen Jiu), and Shen Yuan's version of SQQ merely fed into those pre-existing feelings that were already there in the first place. In fact, I'll go as far as to say he fell in love with Shen Jiu – an unpopular opinion, but one I stand by.

This isn’t about shipping them. It simply doesn’t make sense that Luo Binghe fell in love with Shen Yuan’s SQQ so easily unless the feelings were already there. This is why he spent his teenage years trying to gain Shen Qingqiu's acceptance and why he transitioned from worshipping the ground Shen Jiu walked on to absolutely hating him, despite not seeing him for years.

I don’t think his feelings toward Shen Jiu changed during his time in the abyss; rather, his perspective did. Binghe concluded that the only way to get Shen Jiu’s attention was to be cruel. No matter how strong or kind he became, Shen Jiu’s disdain for him was an undeniable fact within the canon. Binghe convinced himself that Shen Qingqiu was incapable of love and a terrible human being to cope with the constant rejection.

In the book, Binghe’s reaction to Shen Qingqiu’s grief over Yue Qingyuan’s death is telling. Despite going out of his way to kill the one person Shen Jiu loved most, Binghe is genuinely surprised by Shen Qingqiu’s sadness. When he sees how broken Shen Qingqiu is, he doesn’t mock or berate him as he thought he would. Instead, he walks away, uncomfortable because he has to confront the reality that SQQ is capable of love, just not for him.

When Binghe meets Shen Yuan’s SQQ, his worldview is further crushed. There exists a reality where SQQ adores him, but it’s not the same SQQ. He can't even win SQQ’s affection in competition with himself. I despise Binghe, but I feel for him because this must reinforce the idea that something is inherently wrong with him. This realization is so distressing that he starts crying, something he hasn’t done since he was 14. Both versions of Binghe are obsessed because that’s the only way they know how to love

To be clear, Luo Binghe isn't bitter about the abuse maybe it's a part of it but to me ; he's bitter because he was rejected. Had Shen Jiu accepted his love, Binghe wouldn't have gone to the extremes to destroy him and honestly respect to him for rather going through torture than to succumb to a genocidal murder maniac of a yandere.

.

[sadiecoocoo]

Just saw someone headcanon that Rex was the clone that fell out of the ship with Padmé in AOTC and Anakin found out and made him his captain and i can’t decide if i like it or not

Cuz I ship Rexwalker but that’s a very anidala thing for Anakin to be so grateful to the guy that protected his wife in an active war zone that he gave him a promotion so he would always be by his side

But I’m also a rexanidala shipper and this seems like a beautiful way to start a polyamory. Everyone always depicts it as Anakin being the one to bring up Rex joining their relationship, but now Padmé could have been the one and just have been like “hey this guy was pretty cool, I think we should spend more time with him *wink wink nudge nudge*” and Anakin does spend more time with Rex and makes him his captain and is eventually just “yeah he is a pretty cool guy! We’re practically raising a child together anyway (Ahsoka).” And Rex is very confused throughout all of it cause he’s not really a romantic guy and has no idea what’s happening whenever anyone tries to flirt with him but eventually he realizes “oh shit oh god I have a crush on m my general and his wife wtf do I do???” And eventually Anakin and Padmé find out and are just “FUCKING FINALLLYYYY!!!” And they all live happily ever after and nothing bad happens ever

[zeephyre]

CR3 EPISODE 98 SPOILERS

???????????? im not sure where to start or end.

lets just start with how incredibly beautiful the cast looked at the live show. and how much i enjoyed seeing both brennan and aabria present (we will get to brennan again in a second)

as far as the actual episode, i think this episode is both one of the best episodes and one of my favourite episodes. dominox's visions were brutal but it was really interesting seeing how the hells handled them. chetney and dorian seemed the most affected, and honestly chetney's was the most mindfuck-y, but the way that ashton and imogen just got to the root of the manipulation, trying to reach out to dominox.... *chefs kiss*

i loved the mystery of this episode... smth abt how creepy dominox is and bells hells going back and forth on what they should do with it/him/her. dominox manifesting as a little girl was so??? creepy but also the greatest shit ever, i found it so compelling and far scarier than the big scary demon form. something something the corruption of innocence something something

it is really fucked up to give ashton that fcg vision just after sam got back to the table... like that was just twisting the knife deeper and deeper.

we NEED to lock braius up or something, i thought fearne was the most horny poly pc with chetney but GOD he really locked tf in as soon as he took bells hells in. in all seriousness i cannot wait for more braius (in like....a fucking MONTH I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE). interested in whatever the fuck he's got going on with dorian, ashton and fearne... will need him to flirt with chetney cause we didnt get around to it.

speaking of fearne... teven saying they're bound together and expressing desire to have her join him in the hells... love toxic romance idc. also him saying he's bound to a lot of people and then fearne saying SHE IS TOO??? can y;all stop the ship wars now please how much more explicit can fearne get about being poly and not wanting or needing to CHOOSE. hell... ashton literally keeps flriting with other dudes, i.e: essek, and now braius. HERE'S HOW POLY HELLS CAN FINALLY BECOME REAL.

bells hells morality in question is always my favourite bit at the table becausse like... they're good people, i guess but really they care more about each other than other people. (and then theres orym who is just a little guy with trauma... he'll match our freak eventually)

LUDINUS APPEARANCE WAS SO INCREDIBLY INSANE LIKE HE WAS WAY TOO CASUAL ABOUT IT AND THAT WAS SO FUNNY TO ME. GOD. AM I IN LOVE WITH LUDA??? (a little yeah). tag teaming dominox with ludinus is literally the greatest shit ever i am so SO sorry keyleth i know we were supposed to kill him on sight or whatever (and they did attack him immediately) but i want to ask him my silly little questions.

i have never thought that ludinus was... wrong, idealogically, as the discourse can have us going in circles, i mostly just dont like people who murder hundreds for their own agendas. however comma i do love a motivated hot old man with religious trauma.

whatever the hell ludinus found... if it shifts bells hells' reality to the point they join him (unlikely but not totally impossible) i will lose my fucking mind. regardless i WANT ludinus to do what he said he said he wanted to do -- show exandria what the gods want BURIED.

brennan... brennan please reveal your secrets to me. please. pleas.e nwow. pleae brewnan. im begging,

anyway, is it thursday yet (AFTER TWO WEEKS GOD WTF)

[bangtannism]

Tkkers are the biggest jkkers there have ever been. They're the very embodiment of yelling "I'm not mad" while punching a hole in the wall. If their moments don't mean anything, why are you so mad? But they know that km's moments are significant which is why they desperately play down their relationship, call it fanservice, foist jm off onto other members (liking shipping ymn), anything to make it not real, because they know as well as we do, that if what km do is real and not scripted fanservice, then it blows apart their romeo&juliet fanfiction. For example, if its all real, then jk was drunk spinning jm and jm gave his best friend's "boyfriend" a hickey, and how would that make sense when tae and jm are still so close and loving on each other? If its real, then jk chose to spend the next 2 years with his "boyfreind's" best friend and not him, and how does that make sense?

The problem with tkkers is that they have built this perfectly insulated little belief system where they believe not in what they see, but in what they don't see, which is a nebulous relationship that supposedly exists only in private (I mean they literally brand tk the private couple). They don't even have to be based in reality or think critically because they've come up with convenient explanations for everything. If tk say something that goes against the tkker narrative, well that was the company forcing them. If they say or do something that supports it, well that was them being bold and fighting back. If interactions with another member don't threaten their ship, then that's fine and cute. If it does, well then that's just fanservice pushed by the company. They decide what is the "truth" based on if it already supports what they believe. I firmly believe there would be almost no tkkers today if they didn't stumble upon tkker accounts and become indoctrinated with the ideology because just watching content, seeing their actions, and listening to the boys talk (and believing them) would never lead you to thinking tk are romantically involved.

If its any consolation though, I do think way more army (not just km shippers) do acknowledge km's relationship being unique or sus at times, they just don't say it as much on tkker dominated spaces like twitter, where even using their duo name gets you branded a shipper and makes them mad. Like here on tubmlr, I've only checked the tk tag a handful of times out of curiosity, but the km posts and blogs seem to get waaay more engagement. Or even on reddit, I've see users make comments "like I hate shippers and I would never actually claim they're together, but km do make me questions sometimes LOL" while tkkers coming in hot with their crazy bullshit get shot down immediately there. Also this is anecdotal, but I wasn't involved in the fandom for a long period because of personal stuff (I still kept up with the member's solo projects though), and I was surprised at how much engagement km fan twt accounts get now or just how many big ones there are. At least from my memory a couple years ago, I don't remember km accounts (not just "shipping" stuff, but also accounts for km moments, etc.) getting as many likes and followers as they seem to have now, so I do wonder if the tides are turning (would make sense given recent events, rumors, etc. for tkkers to lessen imo).

They decide what is the "truth" based on if it already supports what they believe.

that's really the entire crux of the problem, nonny. instead of regularly examining their own beliefs and assumptions based on information as it comes out, they simply figure out how they can fit the information into the belief. the ways they come to their conclusions are filled with so many fallacies that it's usually not even worth addressing because if someone is willing to twist themselves into that many knots over their beliefs then theyre not actually going to listen to logic.

and dont get me wrong, shippers of all kinds do this, but i have never seen it with such frequency and aggression as the tkk crowd. once i saw someone on tiktok claim that jk only ever mentions th on his lives. when they were told that jk does indeed talk about other members on live (they'd know if they watched og content instead of just socmed clips), the person actually refused to believe it. that's not only absurd, but it brings me to my whole conclusion about why tkkrs constantly write off and redefine moments from other pairings (and obviously especially jikook):

if tkkrs took in all the information without trying to fit it into a pre-established narrative, their ship would fall apart. even if we assume that every other pairing in bts is platonic only, tkk does not hold up. the things they do for each other, say about each other, the things others say about them, the amount of time they spend together and activities they do, the way they touch and cuddle and joke, none of it truly stands apart from the rest of their friendships. especially when we take vmn and jikook into consideration. so the only way to make romantic tkk make sense is by simply ignoring or rewriting reality.

they have to imagine that jk only cooks for th, only sings for th, only spends free time with th, only does this that and the other thing for th because if they acknowledge that jk doesn't do these things for th exclusively, what do they have? (also it's really fucking weird that their entire ship seems to hang in the balance on what jk does – they really are so threatened with how jk behaves with jm that they're constantly trying to redirect that attention from jk to th.)

as a jikooker, i am sure you have heard so many of us talk about exclusivity and consistency, and tkk just does not have that. 🤷‍♂️ i enjoy seeing tkk together and i enjoy their friendship but at the end of the day, that's all you can glean from their interactions unless you start making stuff up.

as for engagement from army in general on jikook, i do think that a lot of the time the lack of it comes from fear because fandom culture as a whole has become so volatile towards rps. but why is it that jikook comments are automatically seen as more shippy than ones about other pairings? that's what doesnt make sense unless everyone else is seeing what we're seeing. talking about the "sus" stuff between jikook forces people to acknowledge that it is actually sus and that makes them uncomfortable because nobody wants to be branded a shipper in our current fandom climate.

but yes, imo there has been a turn in tides for jikook within the fandom. i talked about it before that jikook began gaining popularity quickly in 2017 which was then solidified with gcft. i think that the 'jikook wave' so to speak probably won't ebb unless we actually see a shift in their dynamics or they start dating other people. i am really curious to see the state of the fandom and jikookers after military service tbh.

[cerisefait]

Hello my dear!! As i promised here's my request. Can you write a Shanks x reader fic where they have been together for a really long time and beacsue of this Luffy looks at the reader like his mother figure? Like just imagen the Strawhats meet the reader and Luffys first reaction is to shout "Mother!" and the Strawhats are like "Wait.. That your mom???" i could imagine all of the being like really surprised XD and also obviously Shanks is there as well and tgat also cause another set of confusion like?? Shanks a big pirate?? Here?? I can just imagine the chaos and happiness that it would bring to Luffy

The Confession

[1,9k words]

a/n: I'm baack and motivated than ever! so sorry for the long wait @smolracoon25 but I hope I did you justice with this one and I hope all of you readers enjoy it <3 I've put a little spin on the request and wrote an angsty romance with a happy ending x

(warning! description of drowning)

‘Look out!’

The sound of swords clashing filled your ears: Metal on metal clanking in a deathly duel against Red Haired Pirates and the Intruders.

‘I can handle myself Shanks!’ You exclaimed as you made your way to the butt of the deck in an attempt to escape the guy who was chasing you with a sword in his hands.

You were successful for a moment. Taking a quick look at your crewmates, you couldn't help but feel your heart shatter at the scene which unfolded before you. Most of the barrels were scattered on the floor, some of them were on fire: One of your crewmates was trapped in a corner and the others were fighting for their lives.

Your view was suddenly cut off by a larger and thus, threatening frame.

'Don't you dare come closer.’ You stated sternly but the quaver in your voice gave your fear away.

'What are you gonna do about that, princess?’ said the unwelcome pirate, clearly enjoying the display of his actions.

Upon hearing the disgusting cockiness and the nickname that came out of his mouth, you furrowed your eyebrows. 'Don’t you fucking dare! …Stop!’ You yelled, taking small steps backwards.

'You'll make a very pretty hostage, it's been so long since we had a woman on our ship.’

‘I said stop!’

Now, you were on the edge looking for someone to come to your aid. Your eyes wandered around in hopes of finding Shanks but to your misfortune, he was too busy trying to save the trapped crewmate.

For a split second, he looked back at you; the fierce and confident look in his eyes turned into a fearful one.

Knowing what's to come, he knocked the guys he was dealing with within a blink of an eye and rushed towards you but he was far away.

Seeing your gaze fixated somewhere else, the foreigner tried to take advantage of your distraction and took a step closer to you.

And out of instinct, you took a step back.

'NO!..’

Suddenly you were face to face with the sky: falling on your back, feeling the cold breeze on your skin.

As you were falling, you screamed Shanks' name at the top of your lungs with terror. The feeling of panic and adrenaline was coursing through you. Squeezing your eyes shut, you waited for the inevitable.

‘(Y/N)!’ he exclaimed rushing to you, knocking everyone and everything that got in his way.

…that was the last thing you heard before submerging deep into the depths of the ocean.

At first your back came in contact with the water's surface in which you felt a sharp stinging pain that spread all across your body. Feeling that pain, your eyes opened widely.

You tried holding your breath for as long as possible but after a few seconds, you inhaled some water which made you splutter, cough and inhale more.

There was a burning sensation in your chest, making you instinctively panic... Until you surrendered.

When you stopped fighting you felt calm, tranquil even. You knew what it meant: the loss of consciousness was showing its symptoms because of the oxygen deprivation.

In the meantime, Shanks was done with the intruders. The rage he had inside of him was enough to fight all of them. He was swinging his sword in such a delicate way that made his enemies fear and search for a place to hide. Your fall gave your crew a massive anger which they couldn't contain any longer and lashed out on the enemies with more power.

Seeing his mates handle the foreigners, Shanks immediately jumped off of the deck to save you. The water was dark, chilling and you were nowhere to be found: he had to swim deeper.

He didn't have the time to think about taking off his clothes before jumping, he had only removed his black coat. And the fact that he was wearing layers didn't make it easier for him to swim.

But luckily he found you quicker than expected and got a firm hold on you, manhandling you in order to waste no more time.

When both of you came up to the surface, he called out your name multiple times but you weren't responsive. Holding your fragile frame in his arms, with the help of his crewmates, he managed to get you back on the dock.

Looking at your face in desperation for a sign of life, he tried his really best to keep his composure. But the fear in his eyes was evident. Getting on his knees he laid you on your back, tears welling in his eyes while maintaining a stern, angry look on his face.

He gave you cpr, tried everything in his power but nothing seemed to bring you back to life… to him. After the last mouth to mouth, he was exhausted. He looked at his crewmates for hope, but all he saw was faces close to crying.

He then turned his gaze back to you, drained and hopeless. He put his hand on one of yours and held it gently. Your skin felt strange, it wasn't like what he was used to. With his thumb, he circled swift emotions on the back of your hand and gave it a little squeeze.

…with that, he gave up.

He lowered his head, letting a warm tear move across his cheek and drop onto the wooden floor. He didn't want anyone to see him so… defeated.

Just then you moved your fingers a bit, the warmth of Shanks' hand was a huge contrast compared to the coldness of your damp clothes clinging to your body.

You weakly mewled Shanks' name but he was in a complete trance; He didn't hear you the first time.

You tried calling his name one more time, trying to open your eyes ever so slightly to get a look of his face.

He quickly switched his gaze back to you. there you were breathing, alive. That was the most miraculous thing Shanks swore he had ever experienced.

He softly whispered your name, a look of relief and adoration in his eyes as he tried to help you to get in a sitting position. With the help of his left hand on your lower back and right one holding your hand, you sat up coughing.

‘I thought I lost you.’

'Me too...’ You winced in pain. The air in your lungs was filled with water and the burning feeling made it hard to breathe or speak. Shanks looked worried but he continued.

'I'm glad you're here, with me… I can't bear the thought of you not being right by my side.

I need you more than anything in my life (Y/n) and I'm done trying to hide the fact that I love you. ’

'Shanks… I-’

'Don't tire yourself out sweetheart.’

Not being able to say those three words frustrated you so you grabbed him by his collar and planted a weak kiss on his lips.

Everyone around you was happy.

Ever since that day, Shanks and you became inseparable. Luffy always saw Shanks as a father figure, so it was only normal for him to look up to you as a mother figure.

Even though it created some sort of confusion and the assigned family ties made it difficult being a pirate, all that mattered to the both of you was Luffy's happiness.

*****

Present day

'Luffy! Looks like we have a visitor.’ yelled Nami.

'What? Where?’ He got hyper excited as he always did.

‘'Calm down cap. Visitors are mostly never welcome.’ Told Zoro in his usual grumpy tone.

'Would it hurt to be positive for once, Mosshead?’ asked Sanji.

'If it means that I'll be agreeing with you then yes… Cook.’

They started snarling at each other.

'Guys, quit it!’ Nami yelled once again.

The figure started to become more recognizable. It was a beautiful woman walking with a larger crew behind her but it was quite hard to observe the others: They were further away.

'Anybody know who she is?’ asked Usopp, confusion clear in his voice.

The strawhats stared at her, then turned to their captain in unison. Luffy was awfully quiet.

‘... Who is she Luffy?’ Nami questioned.

'That's my… mother.’ He stated very calmly.

The rest of the crew was shocked for many reasons. One, how could he stay so calm and two, she's his what now?

The woman and Luffy made eye contact. She looked so relieved to see him. Her eyebrows lifted upwards, her eyes teary. The same look was now on Luffy's face.

When they were few feets apart, the woman shouted

'Luffy?’

Upon hearing her calling his name and the sound of her voice, Luffy broke into tears of joy, lifting his arms high above his head, yelling ‘Mom!’ before running to her.

They hugged, everyone was confused. Then, the bigger picture started to unfold: The strangers' jolly ranger was the one no other than Red Haired Pirates’.

‘Are my eyes deceiving me or is that…’

‘Oh my god.’

‘Shanks?’

Luffy was crying like a baby in his mother’s arms while she looked peaceful holding him. They were lost in the moment when Shanks came up and wrapped his arms around both of them.

‘We saw your wanted poster… I’m proud of you kiddo.’ said Shanks pulling away from the hug to look Luffy in his eyes: They were already swollen.

‘We’re all proud of you sweet boy.’ added the woman.

Luffy was enamored, his happiness was all over his face. His hands then went over to his head, moreso to Shanks’ hat.

‘I think this is yours..’ he said, offering it back to Shanks, looking grateful. But Shanks could see through his defeated smile that he loved his hat and didn’t want to let go.

‘Don’t think so, kid. It belongs to you.’ he said, smiling warmly.

‘Plus.. your mother here thinks it suits you more.’ he whispered, rolling his eyes at her, laughing.

‘You think so?’ asked Luffy with a golden retriever energy, smiling ear to ear.

‘I know so.’ she replied, giving him a wink and shoving Shanks’ shoulder playfully.

‘Uh.. sorry to interrupt but… Luffy?’ It was Nami.

‘Yeah?’ Luffy answered, expectant huge eyes directed in her way. He looked completely oblivious.

‘...Care to introduce us?’

‘Oh right!’

He introduced his crew one by one: They were all thrilled to meet Shanks and the others. After all, he was one of the biggest pirates.

But what mattered the most was, Luffy was over the moon: He was with the ones he loved the most. Shanks, his mother and his own crew all in one place. How could he not be?

THE END