#leet's have some fun with it~

[lexumpysfunland]

You guys asked for it. so here it is! Walter in a dress! Yippeeeeee!

yes, he has strange anatomy, it's on purpose : D

NOW LET'S MAKE IT A FUN CHAIN TOGETHER!!!! let's share our Narrators in dresses~

I want to see others too 👀

[writerlyhabits]

Date Night

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female reader

Word Count: 8.06k

Summary: Bucky is determined to make everything perfect for your date tonight, so that he can tell you exactly how he feels. So long as he can make it back from Izzy's Sushi with Yori in one piece…

Ch 17 of the Neighbors Series | Masterlist | Ch. 16 | Ch. 18

Warnings: mild language, some angst, Bucky's anxiety, hurt + comfort, fluff, idiots in love, smut soft like a pillow… Leet me know if I missed anything!

AN: Hey look, the chapter that is almost solely responsible for most of the plot in this fic, she finally exists 😂 I swear @deceiver-of-gods and I came up with no less than five different concepts for this chapter, each of which inspired at least one of the preceeding chapters, and even some chapters that never made it to the final cut I'll always think of you camping chapter. But here we are, two hiatus' later, I finally have something to show you guys. Something that really, actually, truly, ties all of this into the plot of tfatws 😂

To those of you who know Neighbors, thank you for sticking around 💛 And to those of you who are new to the series, sorry in advance – I suck at updating in a timely manner. I hope you enjoy!! ❤️

gif from @steve-kemp

“Look at this. Nobody made it past ninety this week,” Yori lamented, turning the newspaper towards Bucky as he fit a roll of sushi into his mouth. 

“So young… Such a shame,” the super soldier managed through his mouthful, glancing over the names in the obituary column. He hadn’t anticipated the events of his day including an impromptu lunch with Mr. Nakajima, and yet here he was, stealthily keeping an eye on his watch to make sure this detour didn’t derail the rest of his plans. 

Bucky had big plans for the night. He had an image of a candlelit dinner in his mind, something nice he could make at home. He would pick up a bouquet at the florist shop that he had been frequenting for the past few months. The owner, April, always knew how to translate what he wanted to say into the right arrangement to have you fawning over them for days. He would make everything perfect for your date night before the diner so that he could tell you he loved you. 

It made him a little nervous, he hadn’t told a girl he loved her since… he couldn’t actually remember when. He didn’t know that he had ever actually meant it before. He thought he had, but what Bucky felt for you now made all those other moments feel like puppy love and schoolyard crushes. Despite his nerves, he was confident tonight would go well. He had to be. If he didn’t tell you tonight, he feared the words might just come tumbling out of his mouth one day and he’d have no power to control it. It was better to do it tonight while he still had some sort of hold on his emotions. 

Bucky’s phone buzzed in his lap, and he looked down to see your response to his message come in, bringing a small smile to his face. 

“Saw Yori on the way home, he was getting himself into trouble. Had to corral him to Izzy’s Sushi, I’ll be home later than expected.”  “That’s okay, have fun! Be nice to yourself. I’ll see you at home for date night <3” 

There had already been a few hiccups for what was supposed to be a perfect day. His morning in bed with you had been nothing less than bliss. But the abrupt reminder of his weekly appointment with Dr. Raynor was less than ideal, much like the actual session itself. In all fairness, Bucky hadn’t walked into the room with the best attitude. He wanted to be returning the favor you had paid him, not sitting in his therapist’s office rehashing the details of his nightmares. The one he didn’t want to talk about, and tried to convince his shrink he hadn’t had. But he’d always been a terrible liar, which made Raynor hone in on it even more, and she wouldn’t. Let. It. Go. 

By the time he was released from her office, Bucky was already putting all the pieces of his plan together to distract him from his souring mood. He had his phone out to figure out what he was going to make you for this romantic dinner – something different, but something that wouldn’t push his cooking abilities too far out of his comfort zone – and pick up what he needed to make it. Then he’d stop by April’s flower shop to pick up another of her masterful creations, before storing everything in his kitchen and figuring out how to keep you distracted while he set everything up in your apartment. 

That is, until he stopped Yori from getting into a fistfight over garbage bags, and corralled him into Izzy’s Sushi Bar. Not exactly part of his plan, but he could make it work. 

“You guys didn’t order the usual, huh? Feeling a bit adventurous?” a voice asked them, bringing Bucky out of his thoughts. Of the many times he’d dragged Mr. Nakajima here, Leah had been their waitress a handful of times. She was friendly, and definitely liked to chat. She always had a question ready for them, and seemed to enjoy hearing Yori’s stories – or at least humoring him.

As Yori gave her a quick answer, Leah’s gaze kept drifting over to Bucky, and it didn’t go unnoticed by the super-soldier. It was new, and he wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Did he have something on his face? Was she waiting for him to answer? Or had his sleeve slipped… Did she finally recognize who he was? 

Before he could figure it out, the couple sitting at the bar beside them grabbed her attention, giving Bucky a chance to pop another sushi roll into his mouth before she came back... And almost as soon as Leah’s attention had shifted, Yori leaned over to the man beside him. 

“You should ask her out…” he suggested in about as much of a taunting, sing-song voice as he could manage. Bucky whipped his gaze back down to the old man, his brows furrowed deeply as he shook his head, unable to say through his mouthful that he already had you. 

As Leah left the other couple, card in hand to make their final transaction, Bucky felt like he was watching in slow motion as Yori grabbed her attention, the impression of an important question written all over his features. 

“He would like to take you out on a date.” Leah’s eyebrows rose on her forehead, clearly not having expected such a blunt statement. Much less from Yori… Bucky did his best to swallow the half-chewed roll in his mouth. “Maybe to bingo, or a night of pinochle?” 

“I’m really sorry about him,” Bucky stressed, finally able to cut off the ramblings of the self-appointed matchmaker before he could make anything worse. He tried to continue with ‘I already have a girl of my own…’ but Leah cut him off before he could get a word in. 

“Why are you sorry? I’m game,” She said smoothly, and Bucky felt his stomach drop as he realized that she had been looking at him with interest. She had been trying to flirt with him this entire time, and he was so consumed with you that he’d been completely blind to it. 

Not one of his proudest moments.

“I picked up a later shift tonight, meet me here at closing?” Leah offered with a wink before she made to turn away and continue working. Shit.

“I- No, I’m not- Wait…” Bucky scrambled, but it was no use. Leah hadn’t even waited for an answer before she was out of earshot. How long had she been trying to flirt with him? Had he accidentally led her on? Why was nobody listening to him today? 

“I can’t believe you did that, what the hell was that for?” He shot at the culprit of the problem, who was happily snacking on his sushi with a sly grin on his face, clearly pleased with his results. 

“She’s cute! You shouldn’t be lonely.” 

“Lone- what are you talking about? I’m taking my girlfriend out dancing tonight,” Bucky almost pleaded.

“Ohhhh girlfriend?? Is she special? Is it that neighbor?” Yori asked with just as much enthusiasm as a middle school girl asking about her friend’s crush. 

“That would be her. She’s… I haven't felt this way about someone since 1943. Feels like,” Bucky admitted, quickly recovering from a comment a little too close to the truth for comfort. 

“Then she’s very lucky,” Yori said softly, and the sincerity of his words hit Bucky like a punch to the gut.  He didn’t have time to try and unpack the old man’s kindness, or growing fondness for him. It was tearing at his heart in a way he didn’t know how to cope with, so instead he moved on. 

“And I’m not, thanks to Mr. Matchmaker. Help me flag her down so I can get out of this mess.” As Bucky made to glance in the back of the restaurant for Leah, he could see Yori’s smug smile out of the corner of his eye. But before he could comment on it, another server deposited a plate on the bar in front of the couple beside them, and Yori’s expression dropped.  “What’s wrong?” 

“My son…” Yori started to answer in Japanese, and Bucky was still unsure if the old man knew – or even cared – that his companion could understand what he was saying. “He loves the red bean mochi.” 

Fuck. 

He wasn’t getting out of this any time soon. 

…

Bucky felt like his heart was in his throat as he approached your door. How were you going to respond? What would he even say? What if you never wanted to see him again? 

That last question made him feel like he was going to throw up, so he tried to focus on anything else, like how he would try to calm you down if this turned into a screaming match. Or how he would deflect things being thrown at him. One of those was easier to prepare for than the other, and for a rare moment, he wished dodging potential flying objects wasn’t the easier scenario for him. 

He wrapped his knuckles on your door as he held a bouquet tightly in his other hand, your amused response for him to come in following soon after. 

“You’re earlier than I expected! And I thought I was the ridiculous one for starting to get ready so soon,” you giggled from your room as he walked into your familiar living room, trying to ignore feeling like the walls were going to cave in around him. He looked down at his watch to see that he was, in fact, an hour early. 

“I uh… well, I wanted to talk to you,” he choked out, managing to only sound halfway suspicious. Hopefully. 

When you rounded the doorway of your bedroom, you cracked an amused grin as you gave him a once over. “Now I’m starting to feel a little overdressed,” you laughed. 

To be perfectly fair, he was very under dressed. Still wearing the dark shirt you threw at him this morning, he’d donned a dark pair of jeans and his black leather jacket. With the addition of his boots, this was what he wore every day. Except for when you went to the diner. 

But you were the picture of elegance. 

Bucky knew you weren’t done getting ready, but it didn’t matter. You were wearing the navy blue dress he’d bought for you at the boutique, the same day you’d given him the first edition of The Hobbit. The skirt floated around you as if it had magic weaved into the fabric, making you seem even more graceful than he already knew you to be. The waist was beyond flattering, and he had to blink away the mental images flashing across his eyelids when his gaze lingered on your hips. The neckline was the perfect middle ground; it accentuated your natural curves, yet stayed modest, leaving more up to the imagination than anything. Or in his case, up to memory. 

“You look beautiful,” he breathed wistfully. But when Bucky finally met your eyes, he noticed that you wore a confused – and slightly concerned – expression. 

“What’s wrong?” You questioned, and the fact that you had honed in on his weird energy so quickly threw him off guard. 

“Wh- How’d you know something was wrong?” 

“You’ve got that look on your face, like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.” 

“I didn’t realize I had a look,” he muttered, recounting all the occasions where he had felt that way, and how quickly you had been able to notice.

“C’mere, come sit with me,” you reached for his free hand, and he let you take it. “Let’s take some of that weight off your shoulders.” As Bucky watched you float over to the couch, pulling him in tow, he just about melted. And if it hadn’t been for the bombshell he still had to drop, your ability to read him and know just what he needed would’ve relieved all the tensions in his body. 

Currently, he was stuck waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

“Talk to me, Buck. What’s going on?” You asked gently, and he tried his best to spit something out. Anything. But his tongue currently felt like it was too big for his mouth, and his brain was moving too fast. “Do you need a place to start? What happened with Dr. Raynor this morning?” 

He grunts. “She was convinced I had a nightmare.” 

“Did you?” 

“Yeah, but that's not the point.” You rolled your eyes at him, but held your comment to allow him to continue. “Raynor was … it was irritating, but it was fine. The problem was at lunch with Yori.” He stopped to consider his next words, and you gave a light chuckle before you offered your assistance. 

“What’d he say this time?” If it weren't for the lump in his throat, he may have laughed at your shared exasperation. You were used to helping him relieve the weight of his visits with Yori, and thus, the old man’s antics. 

“He asked our waitress out.” 

“Oh no,” you giggled, and your infectious amusement gave him the extra boost to say the last few words he needed to get his point across. 

“On my behalf.”

“Ahhhh I see, so I’m a secret you don’t talk about,” you teased, and for a moment, all Bucky could do was sit and stare at you. He didn’t feel like he was processing your words correctly… The scene in his head led to you being pissed at him, not making jokes of this situation as you sat next to him on the couch.

“I do, of course I do,” he quickly recovered, wanting to stay in your good favor for as long as it would last. “He just doesn’t fucking listen.” 

“That must’ve been awkward to be asked out by an old man, and then hear just kidding, I have a girlfriend,” you teased, lowering your voice to make a mock-baritone impersonation of him and what he should have said. 

His stomach flipped. 

“That’s what I tried to say,” he admitted quietly. To his dismay, your witty comebacks stopped. “He waited until I stuffed my face, they just kept hashing out the details and I couldn’t get a word in. And then she was just gone.” 

“She was gone? Like, she left her number and vanished?” 

“She didn’t leave her number, that’s my problem.” Something dawned across your features, and Bucky was doing everything he could not to start panicking. “I have no way to tell her what’s actually going on. I stayed long after Yuri went home, trying to flag her down. I even went to April’s to get flowers for you and went back, but she still wasn’t there.” 

“Do you mean these flowers?” You asked, gesturing to the bundle of purple hyacinths he was still clutching in his vibranium hand. As he looked back down to them, he was genuinely surprised to see that he hadn’t crushed them in his nerves. 

“April said it’s the flower to say I’m sorry,” he pleaded as he extended them to you. You still looked like you were contemplating something as you took them from his hand, your gentle touch lingering over the vibranium. 

“What are you apologizing for?” Your tone was steady and warm as you answered him, and he was starting to wonder how far your patience with him would go. You didn’t seem upset in the slightest… though he wasn’t confident enough in his male judgment to think he was in the clear just yet. 

“That there’s another girl expecting to go on a date with me tonight…?” He tried hesitantly. The corners of your lips started to turn upwards. 

“Okay, but… what else happened?” What… what else? Bucky could only look at you in confusion. “I mean, are you going to go on the date? Are you interested in her?” Your last statement wasn’t as steady as the others, shaking slightly on the word interested, and he leapt to remedy it. 

“No, of course I’m not interested in her.”

“Then what’s the problem?” 

“I… I don’t know what to do,” he answered lamely. You lifted an eyebrow, prompting him to elaborate. “It’s- I don’t feel good leaving her to wait by herself at the end of a late shift. But I’m not going on a date with another woman. I won’t stand you up like that, especially not tonight. I didn’t want you to have to deal with this, this was not in any version of my plans for tonight, it was supposed to be perfect… But I don’t know what the right thing to do is, and I need your help.”

For a few beats, you both were silent. Bucky was trying to swallow his heart back down his throat, watching intently as your face changed from earnest confusion, to something akin to… adoration? 

“I love that you care so much, James.” Your warm, gentle tone washed over him, feeling very similar to your comforting embrace. “And I love that you came to talk to me about this so that we could handle it together. Makes me feel like we’re a team.” 

“We are a team.” It slipped out of his mouth so easily, he didn’t even have to think about it to know it was true. But he was lucky certain words hadn’t come out along with it… no, that was for later tonight. Well, if he could ever get there. 

“You should go.” 

“What?” This conversation was giving him whiplash. It was almost worse than having actual whiplash, which he’d had more of his fair share of experience with. 

“Go!” You exclaimed enthusiastically. You were serious? “You could even take the flowers with you, she’ll appreciate it.” He looked down at the hyacinths in his hands for a moment to try and gather himself. 

“And then what? I’m not going to pretend I’m genuinely on a date with another woman, that’s not happening.” What Bucky thought was a romantic notion made you look at him with amusement. 

“Just tell her the truth,” you sighed, as if he was ridiculous for not coming up with it himself. “Either she’ll understand and still want to hang out, or she’ll get upset and send you right back to me.” 

“I’d love for her to understand and send me right back to you,” he grumbled, making you giggle lightly.

“Mhmm, I guess you’ll have to see,” you shrugged, your warm smile helping to ease some of the tension that had built up leading to this conversation.

“Is... is that it?” You raised your brows in question. “You’re not upset?” You looked away for a second to ponder your answer, but released a breath and began to speak before he could start to worry again. 

“I mean, I’m bummed about date night… but we can always pick another night. Maybe it’ll give you more time to flesh out this perfect plan of yours.” Bucky was surprised to find himself releasing a soft chuckle at your slight jab at him. When he looked back up at you, he felt his throat catch when he caught your eyes. 

Fuck, don’t say it Barnes. This is not the right time. 

“I’ll make up for it, I promise,” he offered, trying to force his voice not to waver. “I… I’ll always catch you.” Your smile grew bashful, and you were scrunching your lips in the way you did when you tried to hide how much he got to you. But before he could catch your face flush, you looked away from him to collect yourself. 

“Speaking of catching…” you started, changing the subject, “you know River is going to kill us, right?” 

“Why?” 

“For not showing up to the diner. Again.” Bucky laughed as he imagined a caffeine-filled River marching through the door to tell the two of you off, her dark eyes full of fire. I could taker her, he thought to say, but instead he settled for a noncommittal shrug. “She literally made us promise last night! And I don’t know that she makes her threats lightly,” you reminded him, smiling at his lack of concern. 

“You should go,” he heard himself say. There was no reason why you had to stay home, he could bear that consequence alone. “She can’t be upset if one of us goes, that’s half of her request.”

“Why on earth would I go to the diner without you?” You retorted. Bucky dropped his voice low to make his argument. 

“Because you’re wearing a very pretty dress that you deserve to go dancing in?” He said a little more sweetly, unable to hold back his compliment. 

“And dance with who exactly? You’re not gonna be throwing me around,” you threw back at him, and he grimaced before he could catch himself. 

“And that’s what I get for acting like a meatball, and ruining our plans tonight.” You tipped your head back in a full-belly laugh, one hand clutching your middle while the other landed on his shoulder to keep your balance. “Please go. Have fun, hang out with everyone.” 

“I’ll think about it,” you relented, rolling your eyes as you continued laughing at him. There was something in your voice that led him not to believe you… but considering how much better this conversation just went for him, and how much he liked your hands on his again, he figured he’d let this one slide. 

…

Despite Bucky’s attempts to persuade you into joining your friends for your regular night out, you had decided against going to the diner… again. 

Who was he kidding, of course you weren’t going to go without him. What fun would it be to get dressed up all nice and not have Bucky throw you around the dance floor? Any inkling that a night at the diner could be just as fun dancing with someone else had left your mind ever since the Single’s Dance on Valentine’s Day. 

As he waited for it to get closer to Leah’s late shift, you tried to convince yourself to at least consider his suggestion by continuing to get ready. You leisurely applied your makeup for the night, carefully choosing an eye shadow palette that would compliment the beautiful dress, and enjoying your super soldier watching you with the equivalent of heart eyes through the mirror’s reflection. You toyed with different ideas to style your hair – careful to select ones with minimal bobby-pins – and getting Bucky’s opinion on all the inspiration pictures you showed him. 

You figured some part of him had to know you were stalling, but he played along excellently. And around six, he dragged his feet to tell you goodbye, promising to get it all over with as soon as he could manage. But as soon as the door closed behind him, you stopped pretending to fool yourself. 

You couldn’t go to the diner without your partner. No matter what he said, there was a part of you that felt like it’d be wrong. Or at the very least, you would feel incomplete. 

Instead, you paraded around your apartment enjoying the weightlessness of the skirts around you, delicately falling to the couch cushion, and turning on your comfort show. This choice, however, meant you had to field River’s impending texts about an hour later when you still hadn’t shown your face.

I’m disappointed that you’re running late, but you still have time for a delayed redemption…  How far out can I cash in that delayed redemption?? Girl you better not. I will come find you and drag you here Pause your Netflix & Chill now before I see something I don’t want to XD Calm yourself, James isn’t here … Where the hell else would he be?

River’s last text bubble had taken a bit longer to come through than the others, and you winced as you realized your mistake. You hadn’t come up with a good reason for all this that would keep your friend off your back. You had to play this very delicately in order to try and gain some kind of forgiveness without letting Bucky’s situation slip. He was already beating himself up about it so much, there was no need to expose him to your friends teasing... not yet. 

Something came up and he couldn’t reschedule. We figured you’d be upset since you just reprimanded us for skipping First of all, I didn’t reprimand, I simply pointed out an injustice. I require a companion to judge other people’s dancing. Charlie is too nice to do it with me What comes up that keeps him busy past 7:00 pm?? The man’s a retired veteran, leave him be

You allowed yourself a giggle at this last message before you panicked for an answer. If only she knew just how true that statement was… Bucky, a very retired war hero, was overdue for a fucking break. However, you were still trying to decide whether trouble sought him out, or if it was sometimes the other way around. 

I think something with an old army friend, I’m not sure Tell him I want the full story next week or I’m legally allowed to punch him XD I’ll be sure to give him the message So does that mean you’re not coming?  If you give a woman a dance partner who throws her around like a rag doll, she won’t go dancing unless he comes with Did you just “give a mouse a cookie” me??  I resent you for that atrocity  Bad analogy or not, my sentiment still stands Boo, you whore

River’s last message came with the matching GIF, which did make you laugh. With nothing more to say on the matter – at least, nothing that wasn’t self-incriminating – and your friend mostly placated, you sent a laughing reaction to her message and closed your phone. You settled back into the couch to continue watching your show, the pattering of rain on your window a soothing sound in the background. 

Only for it to start exploding with messages twenty minutes later. 

You fumbled for the remote to pause your show after a handful of rapid vibrations, and opened it to see a barrage of messages in the “Jukebox Saturday Night” group chat – which included your entire diner crew other than Bucky, who wasn't quite hip to what a group chat was at the time, and settled to get the information through you. 

River: YOU FUCKING LIAR Jay: You’ve got an explanation for James’ vague “I had a date” comment, right??  Izzy: In what world is JAMES asking US where you are??? Jay: He wouldn’t tell us he had a date, and then ask why you weren’t here, he’s smarter than that Charlie: He rushed inside and started asking about you, he seems really concerned Jay: Please tell me he’s smarter than that, and that’s not what’s going on River: He seemed to think you’d be here having a great time with us, and I can’t say I blame him Charlie: He left in a rush before we could talk to him, he said he needed to see you… River: I knew I should have dragged you out with us earlier, would’ve solved this mystery Izzy: I thought y’all were psychically linked, wth is happening Charlie: Is everything okay with you guys?

As the last message came across your screen you read it in Charlie’s distinct motherly tone, and you tried your best to figure out how to respond. You needed them to shut up so that you could focus and figure out what they were talking about. 

Bucky had gone to the diner looking for you? He hadn’t even been gone that long, what was he doing at the diner? What had happened on the date? Why did he need to see you? 

You tried to put your rising panic to the side and type out a response, to show the group chat a sign of life. The constant pinging and vibrating mixed with the storm growing outside was not making it easier to concentrate. But no sooner had you tried to fumble your way through a response did a lightning bolt flash across the sky. Your living room, which had been dark for proper movie watching ambiance, was filled with the purple-white light of the bolt and your front door swung open as the crashing thunder followed outside. 

Bucky stood in your doorway, his breathing heavy as if he had just run all the way here from the diner. Which, now that you thought about it, might have been exactly what he'd done. You rose from the couch, tossing your phone to the side as you took in his appearance, looking for answers. The rain had clearly been against him as his black shirt was made even darker with the water it had soaked up, his now damp hair dripping onto his face, and his strong features bearing a look of distress. 

Before you could ask what was going on, another flash of lightning illuminated the room, and it dawned on you that he’d been running to you during a lightning storm while his entire left arm was made of vibranium. Was it conductive? What was he thinking?!

“What the hell are you doing running around in a thunderstorm?” You scolded, your voice dripping with concern as you made your way over to him and pushed the soaked coat off of his shoulders. He moved his body in response to your touch to help shed the piece of clothing, his eyes never leaving your roaming ones. 

“I had to see you, it couldn’t wait,” he almost pleaded. You shook your head as you tossed the coat to the side, another wave of thunder rolling in the background. 

“Just in case you forgot, you’re lugging around a shit ton of vibranium, you could have died,” you argued, your voice quivering on the last word. You tried to distract yourself from your own words by further examining him, finding his leather gloves already off and shoved in the pocket of his discarded jacket. You ran a hand over the arm in question, feeling the cool temperature of the metal even underneath the sleeve of his dark Henley. 

“I’ve been through worse,” Bucky smirked, and you shot him a hard glare. Picking up on the fact that you were not in the mood for jokes, he dropped the grin. 

“What happened? Why are our friends asking me what you were doing at the diner? What were you doing at the diner?” You questioned, and he at least had the decency to look abashed.

“I didn’t mean to make a big deal of it… I thought you were going to be there with everyone,” he reasoned. “You didn’t go dancing.” 

“No, of course not,” you answered, and his brows furrowed in confusion. “I couldn’t go dancing, not without you.” At these words, something flickered in his eyes, and not from the continuing storm outside.   

“I shouldn’t have left you tonight.” 

“Buck, I told you, it’s not-”

“Please, sugar, hear me out,” he begged, and you gave a slight nod for him to continue. “I shouldn’t have gone. I could’ve figured something out, asked the other servers to let her know, left a note, anything. I should not have been there tonight.” Bucky finished his statement a little softer than he started it, and it reminded you about how little you still knew of what he got up to. 

“What happened?” 

“I went to Izzy's Sushi and explained everything. Leah did appreciate the flowers… And she said she understood, but I could tell she was still flirting — whether or not she meant to, I'm not sure,” he explained, and you started to visualize the scene. 

If you were being fair, when a man like Bucky Barnes still came to a date saying he was taken, you couldn’t blame the woman for presenting herself as a viable option if he happened to change his mind. But your stomach flipped when you remembered you were the woman she was happy to replace. 

“It didn’t take long before I wanted to be anywhere else. I was fielding awkward questions about my past, and then she started going on about Yori and his son… I tried to hide how uncomfortable I was, which gave her no reason to stop talking about what she thought was a common interest… I just – I don't know, I started to think about something April told me when I picked up the flowers from her shop."

His blue eyes shone bright as another lightning bolt flashed beyond your open windows, and you felt your cheeks growing warmer under his intense gaze as you both waited for the rumbling thunder to pass.

"Do you remember the bouquet I got you on Valentine's Day?"

"Of course I do," you answered hesitantly, not expecting the callback. "Red tulips and white lilies… You said you 'didn't speak flower' but that they reminded you of me," you recounted, unable to help the corners of your mouth lifting slightly as you remembered the way his sweet gesture made you feel. It felt so long ago now, having only just started to explore your feelings for each other.

"Exactly – and I still don't speak flower. So when I asked April for help today to pick something that might help soften the blow of what I had to tell you, she tried to fix that. Told me I needed a crash course before I fucked up anything else," he finished with a smile, and you couldn't help but release a small, amused breath.

Bucky took half a step closer to you so your bodies were now touching, his super soldier body heat ever present under the cold, damp clothing clinging to him. The crinoline under your dress spilled out around his legs as its shape accommodated for him.

"Daffodils, for good news and new beginnings. Bluebells, for kindness and gratitude. Hyacinths, for apologies. I was drawn to the white Lilies, because they represent commitment. And the red Tulips… because they declare love."

Bucky paused for a moment, taking a steadying breath. You felt like your brain was working in slow motion, not fully processing what he was telling you. Or at least, too shocked to know what to do.

"And as I thought about what she said, I realized that I had already told you. I thought I needed some perfectly tailored evening to show you how I feel, but at this point, I may as well have been shouting it from the rooftops," he continued, and he paused for a moment to take another breath. "All I needed to do tonight was make sure you knew."

"James… are you-"

"I love you," he interjected, clearly just as eager to get it off his chest as you were to get the answer. "I have for a while, whether I knew it or not. And I needed to get back to you, I had to tell you tonight because if I waited any longer I swear it would've come flying out of my mouth with the worst possible timing," he finished with a nervous laugh that seemed to power over his attempt to keep it at bay.

The room was bathed in the purple-white light again, followed by a low rumble of thunder, but you weren't even sure you could hear it. You couldn't focus on anything else past the sweet, wonderful, sopping wet man standing before you with his heart in his hands.

James Buchanan Barnes loved you.

"I know I come with a lot," he started to say, and you realized – as your brain began to pick up speed again – that he was trying to fill the silence following his confession. "I'm not easy to be with, but I promise-"

"Don't say that," you breathed, pulling yourself out of your initial shock. "You are not hard to be with. Loving you is the easiest thing I have ever done."

There was a beat of silence as you watched your words hit him, and he took the smallest intake of breath as he processed it. You continued before he could try to fill this silence as well.

"Buck, I love you and who I am when I'm with you. I love our little adventures, I love watching you learn new things about the modern world. I love the nights when we cook together, and when we stay in to watch a movie. I love when we go dancing, and take a step back in time together. I love how much of a nerd you are, how sweet you are…" You took a second to gather your thoughts after having admitted your feelings without filter. From here you wanted to make sure your words told him exactly what he needed to hear. "I love merging our lives together, and starting something new and wonderful and ours."

You watched as his shoulders dropped in relief, releasing the breath he had been holding as he let your words soak into him. He reached out for you, and you responded immediately. His mis-matched hands wrapped around your waist and he buried his face into the crook of your neck, holding you close as you lifted your arms over his shoulders. You cradled the back of his head to keep him close to you, running a soothing hand down his back.

Enveloped in the euphoric haze of it all, you couldn't help but let out a small laugh when Bucky started to plant small, sweet kisses against your neck. He trailed his lips up the column of your neck, to the spot beneath your ear, before making his way to the curve of your jaw.

When his barrage of affection made it to your cheeks, your giggles took over you, feeling his lips curl up in a smile as he continued to cover you in affection. He leaned back to look at you, sharing the radiant smile that was beginning to burn your cheeks in your joy. You slid your hands from around his neck to cradle his face and pull him closer to you, instinctively resting your foreheads together, the tips of your noses brushing against each other.

You tilted your chin up to connect your lips to his for a sweet kiss, one which he matched with the full force of his emotions. Bucky pulled you still closer to him, his wet clothes cool against your dress as his lips danced across yours.

Sweetness became passionate, and the two of you quickly began to get restless in your attentions. You gripped his impressive biceps as you searched for a tether to reality, and his hands explored the curve of your ass, still covered by the weightless layers of your skirt. You released a small moan in response to his touch, and were momentarily dissapointed when he broke away from you. Your eyes fluttered open to see him lower just enough to no longer reach your lips as he navigated to hold you beneath your skirts. Bucky's strong hands then hoisted you into the air, your legs immediately wrapping around his waist as you clung to him.

You swooped back in to continue kissing him, one hand playing with his still damp hair while the other clung to his shoulders, only vaguely aware of the fact that you had started moving. When Bucky removed one hand from underneath you to feel his way through your dark apartment, you reluctantly detached yourself from his lips, instead planting them across his neck while he navigated to your bedroom.

The next thing you knew, you were being gently lowered onto your bed, Bucky crawling on top of you to continue pressing some of his weight into you in a way that caused a familiar heat to start licking at your core. But instead of leaning back in to keep kissing you, he propped himself up on his elbows, simply gazing down at you with a smile toying at his lips.

"What is it?" You asked, half-laughing. His smile only grew, shining above you.

"I just… I don't think I have the words to describe it," he admitted softly. "I'm so incredibly happy right now, to be here doing this with you. To be loved by the woman who must have come out of my dreams," he breathed, and you felt your breath hitch.

"Well that's certainly eloquent for having no words," you teased as you faltered for a response, laughing with him as both of your nerves were escaping you. "I feel the same way about you." Bucky leaned down for a single kiss, quick and sweet before he leaned back just far enough to keep your noses touching.

"What do you say we finally do this thing properly?" He asked in a hushed tone, a shiver running up your spine, despite the fact that you giggled once again, causing him to cock an eyebrow.

"What is it with you and doing things properly? I like our way much better," you admitted, reaching up to toy with the chain of his dog tags.

"And what is our way?" Bucky asked softly, choosing not to look at what your hands were doing, even though it clearly still had an effect on him. You thought for a moment, not quite sure how to describe what you meant. While you contemplated, you pulled ever so slightly on his dog tags and Bucky followed, leaning in closer to you – clearly ready to resume kissing you once you finished speaking. There was your answer…

"Just being two idiots in love, doing what feels right," you finished, rather impressed with your assessment and your ability to keep an even, sultry tone. Bucky let out a low rumble of amusement as he pressed ever closer to you.

"Hmm, I like the sound of that," he hummed, then wasting no time reconnecting his lips to yours once more. The fire of his passion had returned, they way his lips danced with yours feeding the flame building at your center.

The storm outside could have doubled in it's fervor, or faded into the night, neither of you paid it any mind. There were more pressing matters at hand, like freeing Bucky from his rain-soaked clothes, wriggling the damp cotton of his t-shirt up his washboard abs and over his head. Or the feeling of his lips dancing at the neckline of your dress while his nimble hands reached behind you for the zipper. Or, even more satisfying, the high you got at the feeling of his bare skin returning to yours – having stepped away to allow for you both to rid yourselves of all the layers of clothes that stood between you.

Bucky's super-soldier body began to heat up again very quickly, soon feeling his hands – one cool, and one comfortingly warm – caress your curves as if he was admiring a sculptor's artistry. You smoothed your own hands across his back, pressing him closer to you as you felt the muscles there ripple with his ministrations — though your soft touches soon transformed. Soon you were raking your nails across his back while you attempted to find purchase, overcome with the feeling of ecstasy his hands brought you as he expertly massaged your bundle of nerves.

Before you could come back down from your high, he had inserted his thick fingers into your heat, making you cry out in a way you didn't know you were capable of. Bucky's lips soon found yours again, unable to decide whether he wanted to attach himself to any patch of skin he could reach, or to sing your praises as you fell apart beneath him again.

When you had returned back to earth, reeled back in by Bucky's gentle attentions, you wasted no time reaching back out for him. You kissed him with an urgency that overtook you, feeling like you needed him more than the air you were breathing. You were desperate to communicate your desire for him, your hands trailing down his toned chest, until you wrapped your fingers around him, causing Bucky to moan into you.

You only managed a few slow, gentle pumps before he broke – Bucky released a low, gruff. whine as he reached for your hand, removing it from around himself, and settling between your legs. You could feel his weight pressed against your core, teasing you in the most delicious way.

"You're killing me, sugar," he breathed, and an involuntary shiver ran up your spine. "I won't last long if you do that, and I want to feel you around me." Bucky caught your gaze, his pupils blown wide as he waiting for your permission.

"Please, James," you whimpered, and he shot forward to steal a kiss before you felt him line up with your core, and ever so slowly push inside.

When he was finally buried to the hilt, the sounds that emanated from both of you created a beautiful harmony, floating above you as he waited for you to adjust to his impressive size. You whined at the slow drag of him as Bucky pulled back, and rolled your eyes back when his hips met yours again.

"Fuck, you feel good," you groaned, and your words seemed to encourage him to pick up the pace. Your hands searched for purchase, gripping his biceps as he continued to fuck you.

Bucky's razor-sharp thrusts right into your sweet spot at a calculated, measured rhythm made it difficult to form coherent thoughts. Though you didn't need to, Bucky tuned into your needs with each flutter of your walls around him, and each squeeze of your grip on his arms. He kissed each patch of skin he could reach without breaking his pattern, scattering sweet, gentle praises between his affections.

When you began to cry out in time with his hips, the sounds of your pleasure began to cloud his focus, a strained whine escaping from him as he began to falter. You were so fucking close, he could feel it. He paused for half a second to reposition himself on the bed, and you made a sound of protest.

"Don't stop, James, I need you." You words went straight through him, and he could feel their affect on him like a shot of adrenaline. Resting on one elbow right above you, using his other hand to guide your legs around his waist, he resumed his motion with a newfound fervor.

You rocked your hips in time to match his thrusts, and he could tell you were already coming undone. Your hands were restless, and the sounds of your pleasure stoking the flames of his desire. And only when you began to clench around him, releasing a cry of rapture, did he give in to his own euphoric release.

Bucky collapsed on top of you, having only enough willpower to keep his weight from crushing you. You would feel him twitching inside your heat as his body came down from it's high, and you did your best to keep from clenching around him in response – though your pleasure-addled brain could find no down-side to working up your super-soldier for round two… Instead, you smoothed one hand over the muscles of his back, the other carding through his soft hair as your rapidly beating hearts pounded against each other, your heavy breaths bringing them back down to a regular heart rate.

The rest of the night was draped in a shroud of pure bliss. Bucky – with his enhanced recovery – came back to himself first, and was monumental in keeping your weak knees from collapsing beneath you as you both prepared for bed. As you tucked into each other's embrace beneath the covers of your bed, neither of you could help your radiant smiles, and infectious giggles as you relished in whispered 'I love you's until you both drifted into peaceful sleep.

Thanks for reading!! If you’d like to be notified when I post a new fic, be sure to follow @writerlyhabits-library + turn on post notifications! 💛

Masterlist | Ch. 16 | Ch. 18

[kyliafanfiction]

One of the things I like to do sometimes is imagine the canon - any canon - as the fanfic, with all the tropes and changes that implies, and try to imagine what the notional canon of that would be.

And one of my many fic ideas is a little write up of what the notional canon for what was the 'source media' for Worm would be. It's actually a crossover between three things:

a novel centered around Eidolon and the Triumvirate, includes Scion and the Endbringers,

a fairly dark, aimed at like college-aged people graphic novel series about New Wave (and especially Amy and Vicky) that really delves into how fucked up having superhero parents and them being open about it could really be (like what Worm/Ward canon does with them),

and a cartoon about the Undersiders that's like, aimed at 12-15 year olds. And it would get a little more serious with each season, as the initial audience got older or something. Though obviously not as much as Worm canon did. Vaguely 'saturday morning cartoon network superman/batman/etc' vibes perhaps.

And the idea would be that Worm is a crossover fic between all three media, taking bits and pieces of all three and combining them into one surprisingly cohesive fanfic world.

And the Undersiders cartoon idea just really sticks with me.

Like, I envision the Undersiders cartoon being about them as like, friendly neighborhood supervillains, they rob sure, but it's mostly harmless and they usually go up against supervillians (like sanitized versions of Bakuda and Lung) most of the time in their robberies anyway.

Coil could still be their boss, but he'd be played for laughs, probably regularly exasperated in a comedic way by the Undersiders antics. Armsmaster would the hapless superhero who keeps trying to bring the Undersiders in but eventually has to accept they're not actually that bad (because of course that would be an arc of the cartoon, them becoming heroes of a sort).

I have this image of Piggot being a police captain or something that keeps having to not prioritize the Undersiders or something, and at one point she lectures and scolds them like a principal. Just seems like a funny mental image and fitting for the medium/genre/target audience there.

The show would start with Taylor joining the team. There'd probably be a lot more chance of the Trio getting punished, maybe near the end of the first season, and some of what they do would be toned down. Sophia being a hero who bullies in her civilian life could be kept. Taylor's power would probably not be exploited to the fullest in the cartoon, but I think they could make it work. Rachel couldn't be called Bitch, of course, and Regent and Heartbreaker, etc, would need to be toned down some, but I think you could keep the broad strokes and put it on implication.

Uber and Leet would probably be in the cartoon, and they'd probably be more the mostly fun and friendly version of them some fics paint them as, rather than the jerky assholes who also beat up hookers just for the bit version they are in canon.

I hardly have the whole idea worked out, and the notional fic Idea would probably be like, an outline of the 3-4 season show (and related summaries of the other two media) focusing on what Worm took in from the media and how the 'OG' version differs, etc. All in good fun. No idea if I'll ever write it, but the idea of an Undersiders Cartoon is just an alluring notion that I can't get out of my head.

[forsaken-headcanons]

god y'all are so lucky... i wish i got that many asks.....

No. No, you do not.

We're a team of 6 people and we're struggling to keep up. Imagine what it was like when I was one person doing all of this. My poor, poor mental health.

hello!! mod c00lkidd here– what Leet said for sure. we get where you're coming from, really, but in this scale..? it's a pretty big pile to take care of. not that we hate doing so of course, have you Seen some of our replies? /silly hehe. but still! while yes, we agree that we are definitely lucky in getting a whole lot of asks, we do Not agree with your apparent wish to having this many. 340+ asks, dear anon! it's fun, definitely, 200%, but as Leet said, we are STRUGGLING to keep up. yeouchy —mod c00lkidd! /pos /pos

It's so difficult. I worry at times about how many asks keep piling up, and I feel the guilt of not being able to answer them all weigh down on me. I enjoy seeing all the asks come in, and I genuinely enjoy doing this, but it piles up. -Mod Letsky

Coming in to add onto this, I understand the want for the popularity. However, with this many asks, it'd be likely to become overwhelming without a group supporting the blog. Also, as soon as your real life begins interfering with your time, the overwhelming feeling gets like 100x worse. -Mod Two Time

[ewingstan]

Figuring out what dnd class each undersider is can be fun enough. But we can get sillier with it. I propose that we instead start arguing about which playbook each undersider would be as characters in a game of Most Trusted Advisors by @thehorizonmachine.

The game is about rollplaying a group of rich assholes on a monarch's privy council: enacting overly complicated schemes, trying to appease your liege's insane whims, and attempting to avoid getting killed by the inquisition. Characters get a list of privileges they can do for free as well as actions that give them points (ducats) determined by what tropes their playbook is riffing off of—for instance, the treacherous Blackguard can always "emerge from the shadows" or "sharpen their knife meaningfully", and gets a ducat whenever they make an overcomplicated plan or wear a terrible disguise. Its terrific fun, and my go-to game for oneshots. Y'all should play it. Lets imagine if we forced these fuckers into it.

Brian

While the "no fun allowed" aspect of his later characterization tends towards the Hierophant, I'd say given how he's both the most practical and most mercenary undersider, The Treasurer is the best choice.

The Treasurer's whole thing is combining a get-rich-quick schemer with the long-suffering voice-of-reason archetype, and that fits Brian "trying to be a responsible older brother in a financially stable position by punching twelve year olds" Laborn perfectly. The Treasurer "can always freely roll his eyes at tomfoolery" (Brian trying-to-hard-to-be-a-parent Laborn), gets a ducat when he "runs into someone who drives [him] insane and tells the table why" (Brian introduces-shadowstalker-as-a-problem Laborn) and gets a ducat when he "personally suffers as the result of another players scheming" (Brian suffered-more-than-Christ Laborn). Give him points in Skulk and Shadow and some titles that help with combat to complement his powers and background, and you have Duke Brien the Gruesome of House Laborn, Royal Treasurer, Knight Marischal, Seneschal to the Royal Household, and Adeptus Major of the Hermetic Order.

Aisha

While the Blackguard's whole assassin-in-the-shadows thing is a pretty good match for Imp's powers, I feel like I'd be doing her a disservice giving her anyone but The Alchemist. Its the playbook that's all about being a weirdo court wizard who may or may not have actual magic, but who will definitely try to convince you that speaking to them before 10 AM risks unleashing one of the daemon's they've binded to help serve the kingdom.

The Alchemist is archetypically most similar to a Tinker (Leet is definetly in the Hermetic Order), but the playbook's abilities to cause small unexplained mischiefs and make people question themselves certainly lends itself well to a Stranger. Their privilege to "spout obscure technical jargon" fits with her determination to get good at literary reference-based one-liners, and their ability to declare people cursed fits well with her crusade to scare off/torture to the point of suicide any enemies or would-be despots. The playbook's tendency towards unexplained occult behavior seems in line with Aisha making dolls of Alec to keep around all the time. Also being incentivized to "egregiously violate a moral, religious, or cultural taboo" is just part of being a youngest child. I'm open to other choices, but Madame A'Ishah the Improbable of House Vasil, Royal Alchemist, Queen's Chemist, Archsorcerer, and Master of the Castle Ravens feels like a winner to me.

Alec

The Blackguard looks like it would fit with its focus on snide comments and bad lies, and The Alchemist would potentially justify his powers while satifying Alec's whole "rude bitch who only half knows/cares how to fit into polite society" thing. But I'm gonna take the wildcard option and fit him in as The Lover.

The romantic "let them eat cake" figure might not seem a great match for Mr. Vasil (ooh weird feel no not calling him that again), yet nevertheless there's a lot of fun tragic irony to be wrung out of it. Have the former Heartbroken who dies before his odd little situationship with Aisha can become anything be the loverboy, it'll be barrels of fun.

The playbook starts with a high Appease score, which you'd have to have coming out of the Vasil household. They're incentivized to "share a moment of physical or emotional intimacy with someone," and while Alec probably wouldn't seek out such a moment, God does he need to have some intimacy he isn't forcing someone to give him. They have an option to take a title that lets them release angry swans whenever they want to, I know that's not really related to anything Alec can do in canon but c'mon he'd love that. They get a ducat whenever they "say something insensitive without meaning it to be" which is pretty much his and Taylor's whole relationship. The playbook's theming fits the "I'm disconnected from all this and not taking it as seriously as you think I should" thing that he's trying to project with his costume, and as a result the aesthetics are a natural match. Honestly you probably wouldn't need to change him from how he dresses in canon. Maybe put him in one of those fancy Victorian nightgowns iota draws him in. Convergent evolution.

Also I think the "You can always coquettishly bat your eyelashes at someone" privilege just fits. Dollboys can have coquettishly long eyelashes to bat at people. Prince-Consort Alexander the Hijink-Prone of House Vasil, Royal Lover, Court Jester, Keeper of the Swans, and Junior Karian Dynast is ready to take a depression nap lounge luxuriously while his fellow councilors make their plans.

Rachel

A natural fit for The Marshal, the overly aggressive general. While the playbook is meant more for a proud and hawkish thumb of a person (think TF2's Soldier) than a traumatized and paranoid homeless girl, there's more than enough overlap to make the match. I could just list off the actions that give the Marshall a ducat:

"Run into someone you wounded in a duel, and tell the table why": has taken a chunk of nearly every hero in the bay

"Walk directly into danger, knowingly and fearlessly": walking into Khepri's field of influence because she trusts her too much

"Kill or maim one of your enemies in a fair fight" see point one

"Overcomplicate a simple plan by going in all guns blazing": does not like plans more complicated than "point your dogs at the problem"

"Overreact massively to a perceived slight on your honour": literally the first thing she does on-page

Overall, I feel pretty confident in my pick for Marchioness Raquel the Bitchin' of House Lindt, Royal Marshal, Knight of the Order, Commander of the Hussars, and Member of the Equestrian Order.

Lisa

A bit trickier to narrow down. I could see an argument for how she's fits in as an Alchemist; the ability to spend a ducat to have a vision fits with her powers, and she certainly lives her life as if she gets a ducat whenever she "egregiously violates a moral religious, or cultural taboo." And by Ward she might have been long-suffering long enough to be a Treasurer, which would fit in with her tendency to manage everything.

But ultimately it comes down to the tropes she's playing off of, and she seems much more like a reconstruction of the duplicitous-second-to-the-big-bad archetype that The Blackguard is based on than anything else. She's certainly making frequent use of that playbook's "disparage someone's intelligence" and "announce 'I have a cunning plan!' " privileges. The Blackguard's ability to spend a ducat to learn a secret is probably the closest we could get to her powers (coupled with some more titles that let the players learn shit they shouldn't know), and its abilities related to thin disguises works well with Lisa's whole "subsumed by the mask, nothing behind it she's just a collection of masks" thing. Give her more points in Survey and Disdain and Baroness Elisabethe the Tale-Teller of House Wilbourn, Royal Blackguard, Postmaster General, Lord Spymaster, and certainly not Silent Watcher of the Skychamber is ready for a day at court.

Taylor

On the one hand, her tendency to be much more judgy than the other undersiders suggests The Hierophant. And maybe that would work if I was specifically making Weaver. But for the Warlord of the Boardwalks I actually think I'm going to assign her The Liege: the GM-equivalent who plays the monarch the rest of the players are advising/serving the whims of. They're the one whose "the lynchpin of the story, the instigator and motivating factor for everything that happens," and if there's one thing about Taylor its that she's very good at making herself a lynchpin. Also the book advises the GM/Liege to "cause new problems and to complicate simple situations," and that seems like a pretty good way to describe Taylor's tenure as an Undersider. Admittedly, she might not fit the suggestion that "your Liege should be the least qualified person for the job in the realm, perhaps the world," but nonetheless. Have her play either as a Have-at-Them or a Powder-Keg and you're ready to give the Royal Council the headache of their lives. "Queen Taylor what do you mean you want us to accompany you in dueling Lord Slash and his brigands, we have armies for this." "Queen Taylor why do we have to break you out of the Holy Protectorate, what do you mean you killed the Pope." "Queen Taylor the second coming has arri—what do you mean you want to declare war on the resurrected Christ."

[homestuckreplay]

💙 John Egbert's Glorious Return! 💙

(page 843-847)

JOHN IS BACK!! HI JOHN I MISSED YOU <3

He is not doing so hot though. On top of making the dangerous, precarious decision to fight with an impressively bouncy weapon on a small platform above a bottomless pit, he’s clearly outmatched by these two giant ogres. The infinite loop of this animation is really well done, it genuinely feels like these two teams could stay in this stalemate for a while – until Rose gets back online and turns the tide, perhaps. And I laugh every time the grainy ‘Sassacre’ gets stamped over the otherwise very clean art style.

I’m really looking forward to Rose entering the Medium, so we can find out what’s specific to John’s game and what’s general to Sburb. For example, is it part of the game that a sprite will try to protect their assigned player? Or is it John’s nanna specifically (or the harlequin doll, I guess) who has that instinct? Do all sprites have the same powers (eye beams that destroy imps and heal players) or do the powers vary based on what’s prototyped?

I also want to know more about Jade’s predictions; it’s a fun narrative trick to have the reminder on her finger transition into another character, but has she literally seen a vision of this event in the same way that the Wayward Vagabond might watch this moment through a screen? (If so, is it possible she has these visions via her strange holographic computer?) Or does she have more of a vague understanding of things she shouldn’t, just ‘happening’ to be right as she does with the memory modus and the gadgets she’s created, a general sense of ‘John and his benevolent guide will have a challenging battle’?

I am DELIGHTED by the return of ‘Years in the future…’ followed by GameFAQs, and the fact that different characters have taken over these pages to mark a different act. In Act 2 we eventually learned that WV and Rose were in the same location; in Act 2 we already know that the Peregrine Mendicant and John are in the same place. I barely know the Peregrine Mendicant but I think they are so cool. They met a giant metal worm and got so angry when it ate one of their mailboxes (!) that they immediately reached for their sword, which incidentally is the first cool sword in Homestuck (not sorry, Dave). The cross on top of the sword looks like the cross usually found on the king in a chess set, so this must be a powerful sword from the dark kingdom, while PM is from the light. Could this be a clue to what happened in the battle of light and dark in John’s Sburb game?

Page 845 (incidentally one of my favorite pages in the comic so far) is the first time we’ve seen longform writing from John, and it’s a WHOLE new side to him. His character voice is a little different in this medium, but still recognizably John. And he is SO SO SMART, I apologize for everything I have ever said about John being bad at things and not sticking with them, because it turns out that ‘You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT’ (p.4) was just John’s low self worth and dismissal of his own skills, like here when he says ‘wow ok that pretty much looks like shit, but you get the idea’ about his cool ASCII art. Like, the John of page 843 is not in his element, he’s fighting two gigantic deadly foes when before today he’s never seen worse combat than being pied in the face, but the John of page 845 knows his shit, has reverse engineered some pretty complex mechanics from just a few punched cards, and is explaining it in terms easy to understand. And he’s making all these really clever leaps and he does brag about his ‘leet haxxor cred’ and he’s clearly excited about what he’s writing about, but I still feel like he doesn’t have much confidence, as he ends by deferring to Jade’s skills. I love how these two John pages are juxtaposed, and I cannot describe the pride I feel in seeing John really shine at something.

Goth queen Rose Lalonde has gone from cat mausoleum to vast, ominous green science lab full of uranium and/or slime, and I’m happy for pages like 840 and 847 that are primarily atmospheric, something I don’t think we’ve seen much of before. The lab’s logo reads ‘SN’, not the cool S, but one with an atom symbol in the upper curve and a spirograph in the lower – both familiar symbols, as both appear on Jade’s shirt (p.794), the atom appears on some of her inventions such as the wardrobifier (p.793), and the spirograph has appeared regularly as a symbol of Skaia. Could SN be SkaiaNet, developers of Sburb, first mentioned on page 114? If so, could Rose’s mom have something to do with the development of Sburb, potentially explaining why Mom knew to build a tunnel from the mausoleum to the lab if she’s had some visions similar to Jade’s. I think that would suck for Rose, as she’s worked hard to be independent from her mom and have her own interests, and to find out that her mom has been controlling her life in a pretty major way the entire time would probably be really hard to come to terms with.

I have been having loads of fun with this punch card calculator; more great work from Gankra, who has programmed several of the interactive pages including p.253. I would punch so many cards if I had a designix.

> John: Take another look at that rocket pack.

[nekropsii]

Im not an Native english speaker and some years ago when my english was still bad my teacher suggested for me to start reading books/comics to help me, saw some fanart of homestuck and decided to try reading it.

Most trippy experience I've had ever lmao, I read the entire comic and still could not tell you a single plot of it(I also could not for the life of me read most troll diologue im so sorry) I did however came out of this experience with a shit ton of american slang.

Recently, I found your blog and read some analysis and decided to reread the comic, and I've been having a blast! So thanks for that it's really nice to finally be able to understand what's happening even if I still struggle with some troll quirks(mituna bby, im so sorry)

That’s really fun, I’m glad you’re having a good time!! If it makes you feel any better, a lot of native English speakers also struggle with some of the quirks- Leet is inaccessible on purpose!! It’s, like, the whole point of it.

[ace-s-fav-dp-posts]

Fic Rec of one my favorite WIPs

Ancestral by Five-rivers (Marsalias on Ao3)

[When several of Maddie's relatives die mysteriously, the Fentons return to her ancestral - and extremely haunted - homeland for the funerals. But there's more at stake than just a family funeral, and the inheritance is more complicated than even they could expect.]

Lots of fun things happen, you get to meet Maddie's side of the family. There's interesting world building involving a fictional country that Maddie's family hails from. Lots of interesting lore, both family, cultural and otherwise.

Note of caution:

Some parts can be kind of difficult to read if your dyslexic, because what I'll just call "Not English" for this post. It pops up pretty frequently when we actually go to Maddie's homeland.

The (fictional) language that said country speaks is kind of like a linguistic cousin to english because it and english have the same root language. So it's mostly written as just english with the spelling of words tweaked to make it clear that it's not english.

It's no where near as hard to parse as say leet speak, more similar to the struggle of figuring out if that W is replacing an L or an R in UwU. Because a lot of the time it's just another vowel being replaced with a Y.

So if you can read UwU without too much struggle and don't mind that kind of language fuckery, you should be fine. If you can read leet speak you'll definitely be able to read the Not English of this story.

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 16 second half thoughts (after Defiant interlude, 16.7 to end):

I'm very glad I split this arc where I did cause WHAT THE FUCK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

Tattletale . . . the entire time . . . in secret!

And Coil's whole crazy plan at the town hall debate!

And and and Rachel held Taylor's hand and it was gay BUT IT WAS SAD GAY!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the bug box (I'm sorry, "The Famine Engine") what the fuck

And Taylor was shot and almost lit on fire and she become a fucking terror demon scary bug monster and got away from all the people and set off some grenades and and

passes out

...

ALSO MY DAUGHTER KILLED COIL! SHOT HIM RIGHT IN THE HEAD!

Taylor sees her dad and argues with his friends a little and realizes that things aren't as clear as she thought they were maybe but whatever I just want to get to know Lacey better. For reasons.

I knew something would happen at the town hall. Once Dragon was taken care of I figured it would be Coil but I wasn't sure what he would do and I didn't expect this. I thought he would mostly be trying to take out Skitter or something.

Happy to see Uber and Leet again, even if they are working for the asshole. They are fun.

Getting more info on Leet's power and I'm even more fascinated then I was before. He couldn't make the teleporter work if it was putting the target into instant danger, like a bomb or a vat of acid. Wild. I wanna know more.

ALSO COIL LEGIT CONSIDERED DROPPING SKITTER INTO A VAT OF ACID!

He really did go full supervillain right at the end. Monologuing, using cheesy lines, stopping the execution of his enemies when one of them yells "Wait!" and letting them talk. Crazy elaborate plans. Good for him I guess.

The Wards new "teleport without swapping matter" tech is quite fancy and it can apparently do a heck of a lot of people at once! Which I could see becoming a big deal. I had initially assumed it was Kid Win who made it (since he did the same with is guns before) but with how stuff has bounced around I'm legit not sure.

OH AND I KNEW I LOVED CIRCUS FOR A REASON, WHAT A WONDERFUL LITTLE GENDERQUEER! THEY GET A PASS FOR STABBING SOME PEOPLE CAUSE THEY DESERVE TO GET TO STAB A FEW PEOPLE.

I had fully called Coil being Thomas Calvert by now, so that itself wasn't a surprise. But I hadn't expected Thomas to have gotten back to working with the PRT. Makes sense if he can make it work, that is a wonderful source of power.

Too bad Tattletale pulled the fucking rug out from under you Thomas!

Taylor leaving her dad at the hospital without stopping to see him is unfortunate I guess, but not really unexpected. I've kinda given up on their relationship getting repaired. Besides who needs Danny when shes got me!?

Oh and I guess Taylor can't really see now. Cool. I'm sure that will just get better right away with no issues! /s

I mean it isn't really a huge deal for her vs most people. But still.

OH AND SKITTER'S DEAL WITH COIL WHEN HE WAS GOING TO KILL THEM ALL INCLUDED "Ta

Oh and Skitter's deal with Coil to turn off the dead man's switch included "Take care of Bitch's dogs!" GAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

And "Tattletale gets to live!" like ya ok sure it was all so she could get Tattletale here and such I get that but whatever, it is also GAY! GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY!!!!!!!!!!

But for real Tats has been coming in with the fucking long con OH MY GOD. I legit didn't see it coming. Coil losing this arc? Sure, maybe not likely but possible. Coil dying? Again, was surprising but not shocking. But Tattletale having payed off have the mercs in a carefully planned coup in the works since Arc 3 at a minimum? Blindsided me. Just hit by a bus. HOLY SHIT!!!

Fake Skitter shot Bitch!!!! AHHHHH!!! But she was ok. And the speed of her accepting that real Skitter didn't do it and not staying mad at her!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

Seriously though Skitter breaking out of the house she was teleported into and getting past all those troops? God. Using the swarm speech for physiological warfare? Chef's kiss

I wonder how Cauldron is feeling with Coil dead? I don't know exactly what they needed him for but he sure ain't doing it now.

And Dinah at the end!! Just me sobbing.

I'm sure the whole thing with Noelle (or should I use my cape name for her when she's on a rampage - Traveler in a Vault, or TiaV) will just blow over and won't be a bigger deal than arc 8 in the end. Everything is fine.

Marquis interlude thoughts:

TINY PRISON! I love tiny prison.

Look I'm sorry I don't make the rules but Marquis and Lung are totally gay for each other. They are both terrible people. I don't ship them because I want to, I ship them because there is no other option. I do what I have to do.

Glaistig Uaine is my new favorite. She is terrifying and I love her. Forget Bonesaw's passangers or Coil's agents, they're called head fairies now.

I'm sure Amy and Glaistig Uaine working together in the future won't be bad at all.

[spindle-girl]

Coil has three main flaws that lead him to his death despite the amount of resources he has to call on. Possessiveness, cruelty, and pride.

Taylor picks up his possessiveness over Dinah quickly enough in Arc 7. She knows that he’d never give her up if he could. She also knows from her meeting with him in Arc 6 that he is a very prideful man. If he takes over a city, he wants it to be run well. If he gets what he wants, he’ll ensure his subordinates get what they want because what’s the point of being king if he can’t provide. She takes him up on his offer of anything that she wants, asking for Dinah’s freedom should she prove more useful to his take over the city plot in Arc 10. She then reaffirms this request as a promise, in Arc 16 when Dragon shows up, in front of all his subordinates. The other Undersiders, the mercs, and the Travelers all hear it so that Coil can’t back down or else he’d lose out the worth of his word, which everyone else is banking on to get what they want. 

And Taylor and Lisa know this. They know that they have to plan around either flaw of Coil’s to achieve a victory. If it’s his possessiveness, then they go with Lisa’s plan. Gather enough money, make Coil spend enough of his, so that only she can pay off his mercs and then bring Dinah home after the take over. If it’s his pride, then they go with Taylor’s plan. Get Coil what he wants, the city, and in return Dinah gets to go home.

But Coil also knows this. He reveals to them that he knows in Arc 15, showing that he can trick Tattletale’s power. He didn’t have to, but he wanted a bit of fun. A challenge against Tattletale to show that he’s better. The same as when he words his recruitment of Lisa as a choice. The same as when he guns down his assistant in his interlude because it’ll bring him some enjoyment. His cruelty. 

This is where he really fails. We find out in Arc 16 that Coil tries to kill Skitter about twelve times with a teleport trap, but because he’s using Leet as the tinker it consistently messes up if the trap is too lethal. He can’t keep trying either because he’s on the clock to fulfill the promise he made to Skitter. Coil wants Skitter dead. He needs her dead. But she won’t die. Time after time after time. It isn’t even the first time he tried to kill her but it is the time he needs it to work. 

He’s got an injured pride, is what I’m saying. If you ever played any video games, imagine trying to fight this one enemy who’s not even a boss, but no matter what you can’t manage to kill them because of some busted game mechanic and you’re also trying to beat the game under a mandatory time limit. 

That’d piss you off, right? To the point where you might take a more enjoyable route, just to finally get rid of this thing that has been bugging you right before the moment you beat the game. 

Coil has a double body of Skitter. He already planned for her to attack the Undersiders and teleport out with Dinah. Make them think she went rouge. But isn’t it better if, instead of trying so hard to kill Skitter himself in that burning building, he just focuses on weakening her to the point where when she meets up with her beloved, valued teammates, that they'll do the job for him? Won’t that be far grander? Especially because Coil already knows the Undersiders have agreed to turn against him for her. When he does take care of them as Director Calvert of the PRT, he can send them to the Birdcage with the knowledge that the teammate they killed never actually betrayed them.

Coil would keep Dinah. He’d even keep Tattletale and the body double he had with her as another false betrayal later down the line. He’d be able to say he kept his word to all appearances. Heck, he never said that he wouldn’t capture her again, so he might even think he did keep his word himself. And once he captures the Undersiders as a win for his civilian identity, he can revel in the Undersiders reactions as he tells them that he played them for fools for daring to betray him.

[dicebound]

System Wars

So system warring in the hobby has taken a weird turn since the whole WotC debacle. I shared two different posts kind of touching on the subject, that I agree with in some manner or the other. Let me lay it out for you: No one should be shamed for their preferred system. This hobby is about fun & games and people should be allowed to enjoy what they enjoy. If you only wanna play 5e, fine. If you'd rather play anything else, also fine. If you're shaming people for their preferred system you're doing more harm than good.

A little homebrew here or there also does not mean someone needs to play something else instead. Everyone has house rules.

However, treating 5e like it's a universal system that can run any genre of game is insane. There are literally thousands of games out there that already do what your homebrew D&D 5e conversion would do and more, save yourself the energy and just play that. Additionally, Most systems you could play as an alternative to D&D are way cheaper, if not free in comparison to the massive tomes WotC puts out each year. Many of them are just as supported if not more so by their creators in the form of digital tools and add ons too. If you are affording new purchase of 5e books on the regular, you can absolutely afford to branch out into other cheaper systems. A dogmatic devotion to D&D is what contributes to WotC's stranglehold of the market share. This fear of learning new systems in the hobby is bad for players, bad for GMs, and bad for the hobby's health. If you've genuinely tried other systems and still prefer 5e, Great! Have fun! If you're a person who wants to play a genre conversion for D&D (think Pokemon D&D! One Piece D&D! Fallout D&D!) - I recommend you grab one of the numerous games specifically designed to capture that genre rather than putting a D&D square peg in a round fallout hole. If you're a player in this scenario, then shame on you for demanding your DM go through the hard work of converting an entire genre into 5e just so you don't have to learn a new system.

Some of my favorite mechanics and favorite sessions at the table have come from sessions of Pokemon Tabletop Adventures, Call of Cthulhu, City of Mist, Pathfinder 1e, etc. I've even carried minor game design back into my 5e games to make them better too. There is space for both. 5e Players and Other System Players are brothers and sisters in gaming, and we should be uplifting and challenging each other - not fighting and demeaning each other.

5e players aren't stupid, and you're not some leet gamer because you play Pathfinder or GURPS instead. 5e also isn't God's gift to gaming. Expand your horizons, but enjoy what you like. Catch flies with honey not vinegar. Telling people they have BRAIN DAMAGE FOR ENJOYING 5E is beyond the pale and insisting there's NO POSSIBLE WAY I COULD EEEEEEVER learn a new system is just laziness to the point of idiocy.

[lovestruck-lamb]

🧊🍋‍🟩☁️🫧 + toki ^_^

haii thank u for the ask!! ^^

🧊 - how would your f/o text you? would they use proper punctuation/capitalization, or type more informally?

Toki types soo informally, it's terrible. He's the worst texter, right behind canonical leet speak user Murderface. He types the same way he speaks, so lots of broken English. I think he REALLY likes typing in all caps when he's excited/angry. Chronic emoji user, loves using the cat face emojis. Definitely just spams me with heart emojis too. ALSO 100% figured out how to use kaomoji's and drops them all the time when regular emojis don't cut it

🍋‍🟩 - similarly, what would your contact names be for each other?

I answered this one here !

☁️ - how does your f/o like to spend their free time with you?

Toki really loves to play video games with me!! He gets really competitive over them, so most of the time we play co-op games so we don't start killing each other (not really. We might play wrestle tho lol). Or one of us will watch the other play a game while we're cuddling! Toki inspired me to pick up the guitar/the bass, so I think we'd also jam together!! I lay down a bass line for him, and then he plays something over that. It's usually not very good but we're just having fun making music :D I think we also like to just sit on the floor and color/play with toys while watching, like old Cartoon Network/Nickelodeon cartoons or YouTube videos

🫧 - what song(s) remind you of your f/o?

OMGG SO MANY THANK U FOR ASKING THIS!!! I won't drop the whole playlist, but here are some Choice Cuts. The songs that are So Painfully Toki to me

THEY'RE SOO HIM!!! Like it's the perfect combo of metal and pop, I can't help but think about him when I listen to them. I think he'd really like these songs too!! Concrete especially is THE Toki song for me.

Also Cookies by Ninja Sex Party is SUCH Toki song to me. "The demons are consuming me! Everybody eat some cookies today!" is perhaps the single most Tokicore lyric ever written

also bonus song for our ship!! This is one of The smidgetooth songs to me because Smidge and Toki met on an old stupid Internet forum for model building! It feels very fitting for their early relationship :3

THIS GOT SO LONG SORRY.. I HEART MUSIC

[nanalineni]

The Elina way to get an uncrackable password:

Write a sentence with correct capitalization

Put some leet in it

Have fun with the punctuation

Example "Here's 1 fucking passw0rd !!?!"

[forsaken-headcanons]

hello! hello! hi! 🪷lotus anon here :3

I. uhm. I checked the anon list. I'm pretty sure I've, uhm. accidentally been written down twice. lol. lotus²

ps: also I'd like to be renamed to 🪷lotus🪙coin anon... I wanted to go that as a side thing around but I like it too much now

besides that, I hope mod leet's doing better, and greetings to all the other mods! ^^

with that said,

-Two Time really really likes those uhm. bread crust thingys. the uh. not sure how to describe them. little cylinder crouton things with olive oil (not fried). this is oddly specific I CAN'T SEND IMAGES BEAR WITH ME but i like them and i like to think they'd like them too

-Azure has always had a mild poison tolerance. Probably because they tried eating some of the flowers they grew back in ye cult days. Now in Forsaken they're just fully immune.

-1x is poisonous.

-as a silly does, if Azure is mad and they do not think they resort to biting. doesn't help that they have a short temper nowdays. (projecting)

-1x is good at getting on people's nerves.

you see where I am going with this, yes.

-1x has to carefully think out their words whenever around Azure to not risk getting bitten.

-whilst Dusekkar's head is.. y'know.. a pumpkin. It is a rock hard pumpkin for that matter. If somebody tries to headbutt him they're getting a concussion.

-since all of the hatred has been channeled into 1^4™️ Shedletsky is physically unable to feel it now. Whenever he gets mad it's half anger and half a hollow sensation of mild discomfort because he no longer can feel something normal. I'd say he hates it but, y'know...

-the reference skins are just the survivors/killers having fun with cosplay and not having enough time to change back so they've just got to deal with it.

-this one is, er, more skin specifi,c, but Voidbound 1x and Inaba Taph are connected in some way or another. (they are my fav skins of my fav characters to play. this is why this is here.)

-lil crossover thing, but Partynoob from Regretevator and Noob met before at a rave by accident after Sixer confused PN for Noob.

-whenever a rat or such is spotted around the cabin it mysteriously disappears soon after. the admins know it's just Shedletsky eating them.

Uhmnburgeruhnm yea that's it for now ig,,

🪷🪙 anon

Oh how fun! Everybody dabbles in some cosplay now and then. That’s so cute. Poisonous 1x is wonderful.

Shedletsky needs to share those rats, man. They make for good meals.

Sure! Down as 🪷🪙 anon you go.

[hispovonher]

Part 1 ( The day )

:)

So we all know that it's a new year for us a new beginning. for some of them it's a new start in their life. I hope it goes well with everyone who breaths. We'll for me it's just a normal year with my flashy past in my mind. My past oh god bless me with it again. I mean to not the worst part but the one which was with the one who used to glaze my eyes, sore my throat, and makes me lovable all the time.

Zoya.

Zoya used to belong with a good family background. And also my childhood friend a so called friend. Cause living just across the street we never talked or even looked at one. Our families used to gather around, laugh, attending functions together, sharing emotions, and showers of care. But zoya and I used to be like we both never existed. Being at same place where we took birth, same age, same school and now in same college. The day I remember when I was a guy who never behaved normal being alone scribbling on books always in my own imagination. But zoya was a girl who used to love her self being free and leeting things go. Basically she was a happy soul. The day came where we had to be in one of the annual function in college I was same as the one I was being at back with my books of imagination which was written by me. And zoya was at first row cheering her friends for the performance. The time I saw zoya for the first time the way her hairs were moving. Those eyes being small while she smiles. She was just fine. I was so into her that she clapped her hands and shushed me saying hello where are you dude. I just hold my breath and left from there. At that same day my mom and dad were out of station for some staycation. But later I knew that before leaving my mom threw all my old books knowing those were useless. I was so frustrated cause all my memories my imagination those words were in those pages. Later at night zoya was coming back from annual function her eyes got into one name dhruv I was imprint on a book It was on road side threw away like it's nothing. Zoya picked it and blowed away all the dust and dirt on it she didn't returned that book to me cause she used to know that I write something everytime but used to never show. She took that book and some of it pages at home with her. She rad some pages and it was all about love and sensual imaginations. She stuck those pages in that book and told her mom that dhruv is alone and aunty told us to make some extra food for him so should I call him for dinner mom? Her mom said why not go call him even her dad said yes child goo get him here we'll have some fun. Zoya came at my house ringing door bell for multiple times. I opened my door and our eyes meet like we saw eachothers for the very first time. She called me up for a dinner but my eyes were on her lips striking with eachother. I just nod my self and said yes I'll be there. Later on I went at her place the food was good the talks with her family was very much like blessing. I laughed a lot over there. I was out from there being at my own place I went up in my bedroom with opened window those cold winds I was just feeling them.

I saw zoya in her window she was practicing for her annual day performance and my god being honest she was beautiful. she sat at one place and held one book. I was shocked, sweaty, and panicked that from where did she found it. Cause att it was written was my imagination and her name in it. I was nervous about it but was reading and turning pages and I was here nervous being numb. Suddenly she locked her door and told her parents a night and went on her bed.her lights were off but her windows were open so there was a moonlight glazing her body like a sparkling star. While reading my book she took some advantage of pleasing her self she held her self on her and her one hand was grabbing her boob and the other was holding that book. I was looking at her doing all thisy whole body was heated. And by looking at this I was hard. My dick was wet from my precum and hard as It never was by looking at zoya. She knew I was looking at her but still she never stopped. At a point she was being out of it She threw that book away and slides her hand in pants pleasing her pussy it was all wet her small fingers were pleasing her so much that she was had goosebumps. On the other side it was me staring at her actions and holding up on my dick strocking it slowly. But after sometime she closed her window by looking at me I was like did she knew that I was staring at her I was left with a question? Her lights went off and I thought that she slept as she was tired all day. But later sometimes my door bell just ranged it was late 12 at night I was shocked who can show their self at this time I slowly opened my door. I saw zoya her night suit was on her her nipples were hard and It was clearly visible that she was without her inner wears. And later..

TBC...

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

honestly zutara being such a popular ship doesn’t bother me because the most recent 2000’, 2010’ and 2020’ romance stories have being the worst shit u could imagine i mean twilight, 50 shades of gray, the after series like my god they’re so popular aand soo bad no wonder zutara is so popular lol aand i do see zutarians wanting their ship to be like pride & prejudice which is one of the only good romances who are popular buut they will never compare to mr darcy and elizabeth leets be honest

I'm gonna be real, I don't care that people like shitty "love stories" like Twillight or 50 Shades. What bothers me is when these people are not even a little bir aware that the relationships in these stories are not healthy, and thus are only to be immitated in other works of fiction, not in real life (50 Shades in particular annoys me since it's taken as BDSM 101 by some clueless people even after the actual kink community went "PLEASE don't take this as a guide, you WILL get seriously hurt"). If they're aware of it and just want to enjoy some trashy fun to turn off their brains for awhile? Good for them, none of my business.

Same for Zutara - I think the ship is boring and makes no sense, but if people like it, fine. if they are writting fics in which their relationship is problematic, toxic, abusive or they're just selfish assholes in geral, while being AWARE that's what they're writting? Power to them. Do they want to write some self-indulgent crap and get all pretencious? Same, that's a Tuesday for me.

It's the non-stop, condescending, arrogant "We are totally the feminist ship", "We are canon actually, you MUST treat us a such", and "We can write full on non-con fics if we like, but if you dare to ship Kataang after the Ember Island kiss, you're an abusive apologist" that I cannot fucking stand.