#that's an angle i didn't think about before bc i have such little experience with the like

[theriverbeyond]

if you’re looking for stuff about necromancy as violation I always considered the cow thing to be a big example of that! Maybe it’s my inner 4-H kid, but it’s such an undignified and horrifying way to slaughter an animal IMO. It’s this drawn out, grotesque death that parallels both Mercymorn’s death and the 7ths blood cancer. It’s just such a disrespectful way to slaughter an animal, and I think you can read it as John’s first major betrayal of self, especially as it relates to his indigenous roots. Anyway. There’s just so much there.

you're RIGHT and i also think this is a case of how this is a feature, not a bug of necromancy.

death fuels necromancy, but it is specifically cruel, violent death that results in the most necromantic potential. gradual death/senescence en masse gives general ambient power (necromancy only works in areas where things have lived and died) but it is a mass of sudden violent death that flips a planet. Siphoning, in both the style of the Second and the Eighth house, lends necromantic power via an exquisitely painful process that can easily end in death. Necromancy itself eats away at the tissues, leaving all necromancers essentially physically disabled (Ianthe barely had the ability to hold her arms up to braid her own hair). Babies give off the largest burst of power when they die, and the Fourth House -- a planet that could very well be filled with only children -- specializes in suicide bombs.

and then of course you have the eugenics that is built into both the Seventh and the Eighth Houses -- and the Heptentary blood cancer specifically fascinates me because of how it is positioned as, essentially, a boon. If you get death-fuel by being in proximity to death, and you yourself are always dying, then you always have access to a very personal well of power. Until you die. "A dying woman is the perfect necromancer"..... An entire House that values short-lived necromantic potential over anything else and breeds their heirs to have this violation embedded into their blood.

and that isn't even really getting into the fact that this is just the violence that the House enacts upon it's own citizens. the majority of people on the business end of necromancy aren't House citizens at all, but non-House civilians whose death and dead bodies are hijacked to serve the Empire's purpose. but that's another essay

[inchidentally]

Why do I feel like Oscar is intentionally keeping Lando at a distance because he assumes it would never work out? And Lando kind of wishes Oscar would show an interest but he isn't so Lando pulls back too? Maybe I'm totally crazy but feels like they're doing a double fake out. If not then why not just be friendly the way they are with other guys?

This is my thought on them too. Anon explained really well. I see the same when I look at them. One of them wanna get more friendly but other's shields up and visa versa :I

(the quote comes from this anon and possibly also this one I'd received before)

I've tried giving this a look at other angles since obv none of us knows - and likely won't ever know - for sure, and I think the one way I can see this being the case is mixed signals? bc I feel like it being deliberate on either of their parts is too far a stretch.

long thing below and usual caveat that no I do not write this stuff thinking I actually know what's going on and it's just for fun and I do not take it seriously !!

like on the one hand, for a while before and even after meeting Oscar, Lando kept having to hear about this "rookie" who'd soon be his teammate and how he'd be the more experienced one etc. jokes about him "looking after" the new kid and how is he settling in blah blah. none of which Lando was remotely enthused about, understandably so. unlike team sports, mentoring isn't really something teammates do for each other in racing since they're each other's greatest measure of competition.

and Lando joined F1 so young (and was in the McLaren development program even younger) that while his talent and personality often deceives a lot of people into thinking he's become established and experienced, Lando himself doesn't rate experience much when it isn't bringing race wins or the WDC any closer. and his personality on camera was largely defined by latching onto Carlos and Daniel. he was a little more vulnerable around Carlos but mostly the dynamic of big brother/baby brother was the same for both those relationships. Lando with Max F and the Quadrant folks is pretty different to who he is with those older guys.

so it's easy to see why he didn't feel at all prepared to play the role that everyone kept assuming for him when Oscar came along. and re this babbling I did I genuinely think the difference between how young and small Oscar still was when they first met in winter of 2022 to the infamous "did you grow, what the fuck" moment was transformational for Lando. you look at his eyes gluing themselves to Oscar when Oscar isn't looking and the cheeky way he keeps getting Oscar's attention - and the way Oscar can't hide his surprise and how pleased he is - and I truly think the dynamic started to shift from a sort of stiff friendliness to Lando being genuinely interested in this guy.

Lando said himself that before the season properly started, he and Oscar had been so busy when they were in the same space that they didn't really talk beyond hello and goodbye. which needn't have been the case. I think a fair part of that was Lando's poor bruised heart at having Carlos leave and then Daniel being bought out, just not ready to deal with what he could fairly assume would be some younger guy jumping in wanting to do the bromance bit and glom onto Lando's popularity - all while probably cynically planning to strategize a way to a better seat or maybe one day take Lando's place at McLaren. his knowledge of Oscar at that point was of what a strong up and coming threat he was and that he had the balls/audacity (depending who you ask) to go up against his development team. and that Oscar had gone F1 fandom viral multiple times and was actually an existing personality to F2 and F3 circles. nothing about Oscar seemed vulnerable or unsure and yet people would not stop asking Lando about him as if he were Lando's responsibility.

and as Oscar said, his low frequency personality can often get mistaken (even by Mahk Wibba!) for not caring or being engaged. and if someone wasn't aware of his social media then I could see them thinking that someone as cool and calm as Oscar was almost aloof or disinterested.

with that limited knowledge, Lando would have been right to be wary. hell, Lando was distinctly cool toward Daniel when Daniel showed up pushing the 'landan' agenda as replacing carlando. we all know they ofc became good friends. but we also know that Lando wasn't remotely going to be guilted by Netflix or the fans into feeling responsible or overly concerned for Daniel's struggles. Lando was still very young and focusing on cementing his place in the sport. Daniel's inner and outer turmoil as a 30-something was for him to deal with.

so knowing what we now do of Oscar, this was not an ideal setup for him to meet the driver and new teammate - The Lando Norris - who he'd been a fan of for almost all of his junior career.

and on Oscar's side, it is extremely safe to say that after the Alpine/DR drama he just wanted to get his head down and prove to McLaren he wouldn't be any trouble and was more than willing to put in overtime at MTC and solo with the engineers (I think he essentially said this in the Laura Winter interview). his time spent in the car would speak for itself. but I feel like it's also fair to assume that Oscar not only being a fan of Lando's already but also knowing that he was following in Daniel's wake, Oscar mostly tried to just… not be a problem for Lando. that he put all the power and control over how their relationship developed outside of the track and meetings fully into Lando's hands - if indeed a relationship would develop (and it doesn't always). Oscar was used to looking after himself and he'd probably preferred to not risk upsetting Lando's routine or worse, pissing him off. I would not be at all surprised if that's what Oscar assumed was the safest, simplest approach.

but !! Oscar not launching into a bromance for the sake of his own image and him not trying to push for a relationship immediately for the sake of cementing the partnership would absolutely have felt weird and alien to Lando. and considering what was popularly said about Oscar following the Alpine stuff, him not pushing himself into Lando's space possibly would've come off as distant or cold and probably a bit calculating/cocky. maybe even a bit as if Oscar was so sure of himself, his youth and so laser focused on his own advancement (and boy did Netflix frame it up that way, dramatic Dutch angle and all) that it seemed as if he didn't see the point or the need in benefiting from an alliance with Lando. again - that's just possible conclusions that someone like Lando who hates having his stability threatened might have felt.

this is an even more HUGE leap but we know that Oscar visibly watched Lando closely since the start of the season and was learning from him and about him. and that Andrea had already instilled his new 'team before driver competition' ethos. and that Lando had seen examples of Oscar showing up for him - as a teammate at least - when their relative 'fortunes' before the updates would regularly see Lando in a better position or a better result. and like, if I were to truly jump to a conclusion here I'd say that Lando's gradual thaw in between Australia and Monaco absolutely delighted Oscar - and that he wouldn't have expected any more from Lando at all. Lando being chummy with him during media and a bit of bonding over the state of the car at the time could easily have felt more than enough for Oscar. (and just to throw in here as well that in those much earlier videos together, there were little flashes of Lando's sarcasm bordering on passive agressive but Oscar just laughing delightedly. like I think he fully either didn't mind or didn't notice that Lando was bleeding a bit of genuine annoyance over the car into their dynamic at times. the British theory test is a very good example of that.) whereas from Lando's perspective, maaaaaybe Oscar being so content with so little effort from him - compared to Carlos and Daniel - could have confirmed his suspicion that Oscar wasn't actually interested in being truly friends or bonding? idk that's me really exploring a big blue vague space asgfjlsagf. even more than I already do lol.

now I'm not saying at ALL that these friendships are remotely phony or PR because they're absolutely close in real life! but there's also no doubt in saying that like a lot of the drivers, Carlos and Daniel show up to a new teammate with the usual bromance shtick in their back pocket. and with how successful carlando and dando have proven to be with fans and sponsors and networks, they play into it with just a touch of cynicism even now. again, not saying that's nefarious at all and Lando's no dummy when it comes to personal brands and "shipping" etc. the boy is a youtuber/streamer lol so he /knows/. but yea, the 'oooh aren't we acting gay!' and overly touchy feely stuff especially is entirely for the fans' benefit. and we eat it up aslgfjsagf.

but Oscar has literally never had a bromance in any of the stages of his career and he doesn't publicize any of his non-racing friendships like the boys from boarding school he's still close to. we know he has probably a higher level of awareness of queer existence/culture than most of these guys and he doesn't hide it. I know the bar is in hell but it's significant enough that Oscar's never once used 'gay' as either an insult or as a hilarious joke - and he's had an active presence on social media since 2019 (his dad managed everything before that). when a Prema challenge was for him to kiss someone in the room and Arthur kept pushing, we know from the thumbnail that Oscar gave him a kiss through the covid plexiglass and then rolled around giggling. but he didn't treat kissing a guy in particular as 'hilarious' and he's never 'played gay' with any other guys. he also doesn't talk about Lily as if she's an accessory or "his". he brings her up in the context of things they did together or things she told him etc. the boy just doesn't know any degree of toxic masculinity apparently!!

where this gets confusing for Lando is that men are always dying to touch or cuddle or fawn over him - whether it's as a cute little brother like Carlos does (sorry fellow carlandos but that's the non-rpf truth) as a stereotypical bromance like Daniel does (and oh how I love that his ass caught feelings when he didn't mean to) or some potent mixture of fondness and attraction, which constitutes basically every other man who's met Lando.

and god knows I've written time and again how poor Lando does not know what to do with Oscar when Oscar looks with such intensity and he says so many things that show Lando respect and care and kindness. but he simply will not touch him ?? and he won't even half-fake half-serious flirt with him !! and he won't even take the bait when a bromance moment is pushed on them ! and when they're pressed close like in Twister, Oscar looks pink and flustered and refuses to put his leg between Lando's even though Daniel and Carlos have practically wrestled Lando with limbs akimbo multiple times. Oscar initiating the side hug at Silverstone was such an event that even Lando looked staggered by it. that's so strange !! Oscar is not remotely homophobic and he's not at all stand-offish physically and he's fine with people touching and hugging him. sure he doesn't do excessive PDA even with Lily but he still does some. he clearly is fond of Lando and doesn't mind when Lando decides to touch him. but we haven't even seen them hug ! and Oscar will give Lando such sincere praise and respect but he won't use hyperbole or make jokes like Carlos saying he was jealous of Lando liking Daniel or Daniel cracking sexual jokes about him and Lando.

and I fully feel like that breaks Lando's brain a little and has to make him falter at times bc everyone touches Lando and crosses easily over into some form of casual intimacy with him. Lando hides absolutely nothing and is extremely easy going. people feel very comfortable engaging with him, knowing that he'll play along so long as they're being kind or friendly.

and I think that's where the decision Lando made to let his brattier moods out around Oscar comes from. it's a very weird sort of compliment to Oscar that Lando isn't worried about pissing him off or being rejected - and I think it came from Lando being a little frustrated with Oscar for not falling in line with how everyone else is with him and not being able to get a secure read on how Oscar feels about him. as well as like I said earlier how Lando would be a little passive aggressive in his humor but Oscar never took offense. so Lando lets all his petulance and impatience come out around Oscar in a way I don't really know that he does much with anyone else? I think there's been a few times he's gotten like that around Max but Max has a good strong hand with him. but even when Lando goes Full Brat like the beloved Tic Tac Toe filming day Oscar is still endlessly charmed by Lando and you can see Lando soften and blush bc he knows he’s really letting it all out and Oscar is still being so good with him. Carlos would’ve picked him up and put him in a bin and Daniel would’ve out bratted him ajsbjsbsjd.

we know that Silverstone was a huge stepping stone for Lando and Oscar's relationship but I wish I could pinpoint before then when it was that Oscar realized just how much he couldn't apply his former racing friendships as a model for interacting with Lando. that Lando is anything but 'typical blokey guy' and even more than that, he isn't remotely typical or like anyone else in any way. definitely it was after Australia and by Austria the shift had already happened and we could see Lando watching Oscar as much as Oscar watched Lando. the trust and beginnings of feeling comfortable had already begun to be earned before Silverstone for sure.

and by the time he did this BTG interview, the genuinely fond way he talked about Oscar and mentioned the ways they're similar is such a major shift from simply saying that Oscar is calm and super quiet and fast as a driver. then we hit Singapore (where Lando sought Oscar out to spray champagne on him) the double podiums and Oscar's extension.

and then the Austin weekend and the filming they did and Lando posting that beautiful photo of Oscar smiling back at him all seems to have brought them to a place where yea, if we're being honest the lingering looks and the sense of sweetness to their shared humor is the dynamic we've had ever since.

and at this point I think what people are mistaking for a fakeout or misunderstanding is just that their lives outside of racing are so vastly different. Lando is in perpetual motion and constantly in demand and if you don't do a common activity with him like golf or padel then good luck catching him. whereas Oscar has been snared by a growth spurt that seems like it's still going on and he's either sleeping, sleeping, sleeping some more, spending time with Lily, sleeping, or spending time with his friends if possible. so there just isn't really an overlap with how their lives are right now.

to go out on another pretty out there limb, the one thing I might say is that Oscar still defaults to letting Lando call the shots about how much he wants to spend time together outside of being teammates. his own life is so uncomplicated that from his perspective it would feel a little daunting to try and insert himself in Lando's ever-changing schedule and multiple friend groups - esp since he already has so much time with Lando anyway due to the racing calendar. we know that it happens at times and that it's never broadcasted, only mentioned after the fact. it tends to be flying together or choosing to have lunch or after race meals together. the one time that rly gets to me is after Vegas when Lando could barely muster the energy to hit the tables with Max, Ria and Aarava. we find out later he spent at least part of that night with Oscar and someone mentioned that Oscar will have wanted to watch the cricket so like? it's kind of touching as well as saying a lot that the best time for their social lives to overlap is when it can be calm and quiet and Lando specifically does not want to be busy or loud. Lando dopey with painkillers and moody about crashing out of the race, possibly holed up in a hotel room with Oscar and the cricket playing on TV just sounds very sweet and likely. but other than those moments, their social lives just don't intersect easily. yet!!

but yea, I think ?? that by now they've kind of reached a comfortable place of knowing - at least for now - what their relationship is. it's why I honestly assumed Lando was finally doing the visit to Daniel's ranch and wouldn't be meeting up with Oscar in Australia. they're simply not to the point of coordinating off season schedules. even less of a surprise since he ended up spending less than 24 hours in Perth before he and Martin moved on!

ofc we as fans cannot get enough content of them together and just want more. but a lot of that is McLaren social media deciding to drop off just as McLaren started climbing up the grid ??? if they can get their shit together for 2024 then we'll see as much Lando and Oscar as we always did Lando with Carlos and Daniel.

[niki-phoria]

i really love how you write for enha :(<33

can i request a reaction for all members where m!reader got a bad hair day? *totally didn't experienced this rn*

‧₊˚✩ enhypen helping their boyfriend with a bad haircut (8th member reader)

note: i tried to keep this as inclusive as possible but i'm asian (chinese) and have no experience with curly hair so if there's anything i can edit or any word choices i should change please let me know

includes: 8th member reader, thinking of 07 different scenarios was hard but i tried to keep them semi different, blushy jake, nothing suggestive but reader takes a bath with sunghoon, riki's is extra long bc he's my bias

a/n: thank you for requesting !! i kept this as them helping reader with a bad haircut/dye job in general but some of them differ into damaged hair in general lol i hope that's okay i hope you like it :))

male reader (he/him pronouns used)

requests open !! read my rules first

‧₊˚✩ heeseung

word count 296

your manager glances back at you through the mirror of her car as you readjust your cap again, pushing it further over your head. “it looks good y/n,” she reassures. “besides, we have stylists for a reason.”

you nod, thanking her. she winks at you before she parks the car, leading you up the steps to your dorm. heeseung is sitting on the couch when you enter. sunoo and niki sit on the floor, playfully arguing about mario kart. he smiles, greeting you with a hug. you cling onto his body. “do you wanna cuddle?” he whispers. you nod, letting him lead you into your shared bedroom.

heeseung sits on the bed as you change out of your jeans into a pair of sweatpants before finally taking the hat off. “did they cut your hair?” 

you hum. “i’m not sure i like it.” 

“come here.” heeseung sits across from you, holding your face in his hands. his eyes scan your face intently. you feel nervous under his gaze. even after dating for so long, he still manages to fluster you. he raises a hand, brushing your bangs out of your eyes. “it looks good.” he finally hums. 

you raise an eyebrow at him. “that’s it? it looks good?” 

heeseung smiles. “y/n, you are the most handsome man i’ve ever seen. you look incredible, even when you’re wearing my sweatpants and dancing around our kitchen with bed hair and no makeup on. nothing will change that. not even a ‘bad’ haircut.” 

you can’t help the smile that spreads across your face. heeseung always seems to know exactly what to say to make you feel better. “i love you.” 

he leans forwards to press his lips against yours in a sweet kiss. “i love you more.”

‧₊˚✩ jay

word count 254

the dressing room is cold as you sit around, patiently waiting for your turn with the stylists. you’re surrounded by mirrors - usually a common item in a dressing room, but today, the different reflections seem to add to your growing insecurity. it’s hard for you not to notice how your haircut doesn’t fit your face at so many different angles. 

“babe,” jay calls, gesturing for you to walk over to him. “come here.” 

you obey, making your way over the corner of the room. he coaxes you to sit down in the chair in front of the mirror, standing over you. “what are you doing, park?” you tease, looking up at him. 

“i’m gonna be your stylist today.” you raise an eyebrow as he begins pulling out various different hair products. 

“did you get permission for this?” 

“i won’t tell if you don’t.” you stifle a chuckle as jay begins working, manipulating your hair in different directions until it’s styled properly. you focus on his face in the mirror, admiring how he looks when concentrated. his brows furrow slightly as he works. he squints a little, completely focused on your hair. 

you can’t help yourself, waiting for jay to lean down when you press a quick kiss against his cheek. he pauses, looking over at you. “what is it?” 

“nothing,” you smile. “thank you.” 

jay hums, his lips quirking upwards into a small smile of his own. he presses a small peck against your lips before he pulls away again. “anything for my boy.”

‧₊˚✩ jake

word count 295 he's so OESINLSDKL i love him

you pull your knees up to your chest as you scan through the comments scrolling on the side of the screen. they move quickly, though you do your best to pick out the ones that catch your eye. “any comeback spoilers?” you chuckle, shaking your head. “you know i can’t say yes to that.” you dramatically glance over your shoulder before leaning in, lowering your voice. “don’t tell anyone about this, but you should ask niki. i’m sure he’ll be happy to give you some.” 

the comments move even faster as you move back, readjusting in your seat. you bite back a smile at the flurry of words that pass by. a knock at the door startles you. you turn towards it, trying to see who it is through the glass. “i’m on live!” 

“it’s jake,” the voice replies. “can i come in?” 

instead of responding verbally you stand up, opening the door for him. jake smiles brightly at you, tugging you into a hug. he sits in your chair in front of the camera, greeting engene as you pull up another chair beside him. despite it being your live originally, jake all but takes over as you fall into silence beside him, simply admiring him. you don’t say anything about the blush on his face as he looks over at you. “you’re staring.” 

“you dyed your hair,” he hums. “i like it.” 

“it matches yours.”

this time it’s your turn to be flustered. you turn away from him, attempting to refocus on the comments. there’s an implication to jake’s words that makes a warm feeling spread through your chest. your dislike of your haircut fades a little bit more each time you look over at your boyfriend and see the same color on him.

‧₊˚✩ sunghoon

word count 267 i wanna look like hoon SO BAD oh my god the gender envy is real

the water is still warm around you as you lean back against sunghoon’s chest. he smiles, pulling you even closer. despite having been an idol for years now, you still haven’t gotten used to the various hotel rooms you stay in on a regular basis. 

you had jumped at the opportunity to room with your boyfriend, especially after finding out your room had a tub with a view of the city below. the lights shine brightly through the streets - a rainbow of flashing colors illuminating the buildings below. 

sunghoon coaxes you to lean down a little lower, cupping his hands into a bowl to wet your hair. it drips as you sit back up. he reaches over to grab something you hadn’t noticed before - strengthening conditioner. “i know you aren’t a big fan of your hair,” he murmurs. “and i know how important it is to you, so i got something. i’m hoping it’ll help. it’s supposed to strengthen damaged hair.” 

you smile as sunghoon uses his fingers to massage it into the strands. he’s gentle. he always is with you, as if you’re a precious thing he needs to use the utmost care with. in some ways, you are. 

“what did i do to deserve you?” you sigh. the question is more directed at yourself than sunghoon, though he chuckles anyway. 

“i ask myself that question every day.” 

you don’t say anything else. you don’t need to. sunghoon’s tiny kisses he presses against your neck and shoulder as you lean back against his chest under a beautiful skyline view says enough for the both of you.

‧₊˚✩ sunoo

word count 290

“baby!” sunoo excitedly opens your door, setting down multiple different bags on your bathroom counter. you sit up, watching as he pulls out various different products. “i have an idea.” 

you cock your head at him, leaning against the doorway of your bathroom. “what is it, sunshine?” 

“i know you don’t like your haircut, so we’re going to have a makeover day!” there are a multitude of different skin and hair care products spread across your counter. you can recognize different cleansers, toners, and hair care masks. 

despite your hesitation that this won’t change your feelings, sunoo’s enthusiasm is infectious. besides, the bright smile that spreads across his face is more than enough of a reason for you to join him. “where do you want to start?” 

“here,” he says, holding your face in place. you close your eyes as he spreads the cool substance against your skin. “it smells like peaches.” 

once the skincare mask has been applied, sunoo moves onto a hair care mask. his hands are gentle as he massages it into your hair, fingernails gently scratching against your scalp. you let out a content sigh, letting your eyes flutter shut. sunoo smiles, leaning down to press a small kiss against the side of your neck before he continues. 

once finished with the masks, you join him on your bed. sunoo props his laptop up in between you as he puts on a movie. you’re overly cautious of the products in your hair as you lean against him. he takes the cue to wrap his arms around your waist, pulling you in to cuddle with him. 

“i love you.” you mumble. “thank you. i needed this.” 

sunoo presses a kiss against your temple. “i love you too.”

‧₊˚✩ jungwon

word count 352

jungwon watches as you pull at the ends of your hair, holding the strands up to the light. your eyebrows furrow as you let go. “do you think my hair is damaged?” 

he cocks his head at you, looking your hair over. “it looks fine to me. what makes you say that?” 

you sigh, leaning back against the couch. “the stylist cut my hair really short earlier. she said it’s really damaged so she had to cut all the split ends off.” you roll onto your side. “maybe i’m just overthinking it. i’m not a huge fan of how it looks.” 

jungwon reaches out to brush a hand through your hair. “i think it looks good.” you smile, grabbing his hand and pressing a kiss against his knuckles. 

“thank you.” you sigh, forcing yourself to stand up. “i’m gonna go to bed.” you press a kiss against his forehead mumbling a quick goodnight before leaving to your shared bedroom. 

when you wake up the next morning, jungwon isn’t in bed. it’s odd to wake up without your boyfriend curled into your arms. you rub your eyes as you sit up, leaving your room. 

jungwon is in the kitchen, helping jay with breakfast. you smile, wrapping your arms around his waist into a hug. “hi baby,” he murmurs. you groan, leaning against his back. he turns the heat down before twisting in your hold to hug you properly. “jay-hyung, can you finish breakfast alone?” 

the older boy nods. “of course. thanks for the help earlier.” 

jungwon smiles, grabbing your hand. “i asked the stylists to drop something off earlier. come on.” 

you let him lead you into the bathroom where he pulls out three bottles. you recognize seeing them in the salon, though you’ve never used it before. “what is it?” 

“it’s supposed to help with bleach damaged hair. you use it like a regular conditioner.” jungwon lets the words trail off, a little embarrassed. “i figured you would like it.” 

you set the bottle down, wrapping him into a quick hug. “thank you.” 

jungwon smiles, relaxing into your arms. “you’re welcome baby.”

‧₊˚✩ niki

word count 576 i couldn't find a gif of niki with his highlights for some reason :// i hate the tumblr gif system why is it so difficult to find enha gifs

it’s night when niki rolls onto his side to look at you. the dorm is quiet. the other’s are gone; either already asleep in their rooms or working late somewhere else. “wanna sneak out?” 

“now?” you roll over to grab your phone, turning it on. “it’s 02:00 in the morning.” 

niki simply shrugs. “i have an idea.” 

you sit up, slipping on your shoes and a coat before grabbing a hat and a mask as you follow niki out of your dorm and into the night. he holds your hand tightly. it’s a luxury. you aren’t given many opportunities to be affectionate. despite the lax social rules around friendship, the possibilities of what could happen if anyone was to find out the true nature of your relationship keeps you from holding his hand wherever you go the way you long to. 

niki leads you along into a convenience store. it shines like a beacon of light in the darkness. he pulls you along to a particular aisle full of hair dye. “what are you thinking, nishimura?” 

he dramatically gasps, placing a hand over his heart. “my last name? ouch.” you roll your eyes at him as he continues looking through the various products. “we’re gonna have matching hair.” 

“you’re gonna dye your hair without telling anyone?” 

“no, you’re going to dye my hair without telling anyone.” you can’t help the laugh that escapes you. niki looks gorgeous, even under the dim convenience store lights. you reach forwards to brush the hair out of his eyes. 

“do you remember how long it took to bleach your hair? and how much they fuss over keeping your highlights blonde?” 

“well, yes, but…” niki pauses, glancing at the dye for a second. “i know you don’t like the color they chose. and i also know that you won’t say anything about it because you don’t want to be a bother. you’ll just silently dislike the way you look for the next few months, or however long it takes before they change it again.” he steps closer to you, reaching up to put a hand on your face. his voice drops as he leans closer. “i love you. i want you to be confident in yourself and the way you look. i know you don’t like breaking the rules. we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. i just thought this would make you feel better.” 

words fail you. there are a million thoughts running through your head. things you want to say, should say. but the only thing that comes to mind is that you want to kiss him. so you do. you tug his mask down before removing your own to press your lips against his. niki smiles into it, pulling you into another kiss. 

he readjusts his mask as you grab the box before taking his hand into yours once again. he intertwines your fingers, following you to the self checkout section. “how are we gonna rinse the dye out?” 

“i was thinking the bathroom sink.” 

“okay, but if it stains, you’re cleaning it up.” he playfully glares at you. 

“come on, we both know you’re too much of a sap to let me clean it all by myself.” 

he’s right, but you don’t give him the satisfaction of admitting it. instead, you quickly pay, hiding the bag under your jacket as you make your way back to the dorm. “whatever you say, nishimura.”

[visceravalentines]

yesterday I learned about Coregasms and then you post a fic about Bo working out 🤔

just gonna drop these couple excerpts here 🤔

"What exactly is a ‘coregasm’?

A coregasm is an orgasm that happens while you’re doing a core exercise or workout. When you engage your muscles to stabilize your core, you may also end up contracting the pelvic floor muscles that can be essential to achieving orgasm."

"There is one thing that scientists know for sure: Coregasms occur independently of sexual thoughts and fantasies. They’re considered asexual in nature."

"For men, a coregasm may feel similar to a prostate orgasm. Prostate orgasms are said to last longer and be more intense. That’s because they can produce a continuous sensation instead of a pulsating one. This sensation may also expand throughout your body.

Ejaculation is also possible — even if your penis isn’t erect."

"Although high-intensity workouts are thought to inspire a quicker coregasm, you can also make a low-impact routine work for you. If you want to spend time on an easier exercise, you can improve your chances by doing more repetitions.

Use mindfulness to bring your awareness to your body and notice any sensations that arise. Even if you don’t have a coregasm during your workout, it’s possible that by promoting blood circulation you’ll be more likely to respond to sexual arousal after you finish.

You may experience exercise-induced arousal if you don’t have a coregasm."

I'm not big into gym bros I swear I'm not but this really sent me on a journey. Not one but TWO filthy little blurbs below the cut:

You flinched like a kicked puppy when the mudroom door flew open with such force it rebounded off the wall. You almost bolted when you saw the look on his face, but the fight and the flight had been ripped out of you long ago and replaced with fondness, so you pressed yourself against the sink and waited for him to do what he would.

He pinned you to the counter with his hips, wrapped his big hands around the back of your skull, and kissed you with a fury. You melted into him, eyes open, always willing, always wary. Christ--he was already hard. His hands smelled like iron and his shirt was damp.

"Take your clothes off," he muttered, but he didn't give you the chance, hoisting you up onto the counter and forking your legs around his waist.

You gasped as he sucked on the hollow of your throat. His hands were all over you. There was something validating about his blind need, something that felt like purpose. "You feel good, baby?" you asked, almost but not quite teasing.

"Shut up."

You obliged.

And then AND THEN bc life is short and brutal and thinking about this man's general nasty makes it all okay

56 seconds. He could hold a plank for 56 seconds.

He was going to make it to a minute this morning, or he was going to be annoyed all day.

He sank to his knees on the frayed carpet square, wincing at the twinge in his bad leg. From there he went down on his stomach, trying to center himself, trying to clear his head. Exercise helped quiet the hum of his thoughts but today had been a struggle.

The carpet smelled like mildew. He planted his forearms, tried to focus. There was a bite mark on his wrist from the night before and he snickered at the memory.

Damn, he was struggling today.

He pushed into a plank position, started counting. The first 20 seconds were always easy. Around the halfway mark shit got hard.

33...34....

His breath started to come in spurts. His arms quivered, just a little, and he flexed them in protest. He felt his spine begin to bend and forced it straight, eyes boring into the floor. Bo Sinclair was a man made of will.

47...48....

His tongue played at his teeth. He angled his hips, demanding his trembling abs hold--hold--

A sudden rush of saccharine sensation flooded his body with a vengeance. Before he had a second to process what was happening he was collapsing to his knees, convulsing, gasping, rendered completely ineffectual by the merciless euphoria gripping him deep in his core.

Some semi-functional corner of his brain kept counting, 56, 57, 58....

He came back to his senses around 71. Panting hard, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the unfinished ceiling, stunned. His muscles were tingling, all of them. His chest heaved with an exquisite lightness; he was weightless, levitating off the filthy floor.

It'd been a long damn time since he'd cum that hard.

When at last he hauled himself up to a sitting position he felt the dampness of his boxers against his thigh. His mouth dropped open in unfeigned bewilderment. He hadn't creamed his pants since high school, when Stacey Fenway palmed his dick over his jeans while he sucked on her tits behind the drugstore.

He supposed he ought to be grateful for what he was given, but fuck. He couldn't even be mad. He wasn't sure what to be mad at.

Gingerly he climbed to his feet, stumbled, grimaced, and made his way inside the house, hoping to god he didn't run into you on the way to the shower.

[souryogurt64]

never watched stranger things bc i do not care for that shit but it's so popular that i actually wanna ask what you mean abt it being propagandistic. i trust your media analysis and you've never missed so. am sitting on the floor in front of u and listening

Huge essay on stranger things and propaganda lol

I majored in Communications in college which was a lot of media studies and we did talk about this in class from time to time so I'd like to think I'm not just a looney tune whose brain is cracked from smoking too much weed in college.

Part One: Country Depiction

Obviously ST is a fun sci-fi show that takes place during the Cold War so some of this stuff is just a given. But I think it's um... a bit interesting that this massive, massive cultural phenomenon comes out during a major US election where there's accusations of election interference by a country the US has a long history of conflict and propaganda and ideological type warfare with. And then that angle of the show seems to steadily ramp up as time goes on.

With the most recent season especially, the structure of the release and the runtime of the episodes was a bit strange, and this season was released shortly after the whole thing with NATO and products made in that country being pulled from US shelves.

Obviously they had been filming for years and I think this weirdness was partially due to Covid, but also. They brought back a beloved character, who was a cop, from the dead this season with no explanation whatsoever so he and the other side characters could go on this elaborate mission.

This subplot had very little effect on the main plot of the series, and I have only watched it once, but I imagine if you removed this subplot from the show, nothing would change up until the very end when all the characters are emotionally reunited.

This entire subplot revolved around portraying this country in a very negative light in ways that were much more horrific and violent and disturbing than the content of past seasons of the show (IMO), and included some historical information about this country that was factually incorrect (peanut butter being illegal) as a main driving narrative force in this subplot. The previous season had also employed this tactic with red icees.

Part Two: Govt. Lore Retconning

A lot of the most recent season especially retconned a lot of the central lore of the show. IIRC, the first three seasons seemed to toy with the idea that the Cold War itself and the military's experiments and desire for total destruction and power had opened up this dark supernatural world by torturing children to be weapons, which is a really cool premise obviously. They were also portrayed as a primary villain and trying to kill Eleven because of the powers they had given her via horrific experimentation and training.

Yeah, there were monsters, but they were just like wild animals without true sentience, and were a side effect of the military's poor decisions. This aspect of the show was based in MKUltra. MKUltra was a real thing that happened where the military tried to develop mind control and other stuff. Obviously MKUltra didn't accomplish this, but people actually died, were tortured, and were destroyed mentally and it was illegal.

In this season. God. In this season, one of the main villains and the head of the child experimentation program, "Papa," is suddenly brought back from the dead and presented as morally gray. Basically, they retcon the previous lore of the show by creating this character named Henry, who was a child that randomly developed horrific powers and tortured and killed his parents and was adopted by Papa and studied until he grew into an adult, and the experiments on other children were to try and replicate Henry's powers.

Part Three: Henry

There is no explanation for how Henry was created whatsoever. None. Zero. He just spawned from nowhere. Papa is also weirdly somewhat redeemed before his death in the most emotional scene of the season, and several sympathetic government characters are introduced as well. Until this season, Papa had been using Eleven to attempt to retrieve monsters from the sci-fi world to use in war, but now it's revealed Papa was just driven by mad by grief and was trying to rescue Henry from the sci-fi world the whole time.

I cannot stress enough that the addition of Henry retcons the basis of the entire show and a lot of the important ideological themes within it about power and greed creating evil. It also makes no fucking narrative sense.

The explanation of Henry's backstory is that he's a young child that is angry his father is a former soldier that burned a baby to death while fighting in WW2. The father says this was a mistake. So Henry inexplicably and randomly develops superpowers and decides to torture and kill his mother and younger sister and frame his father as punishment.

Henry's backstory of being angry that innocent children die horrifically in war also resembles a lot of propaganda-type plots in sci-fi- I think Killmonger in the Black Panther series is seeking to end the oppression of Africa and Magneto in X Men is a Holocaust survivor who is concerned about mutants being killed for being different. Except these characters just start killing everybody for reasons that are kind of narratively unsound to make their whole ideology seem insane and unreasonable.

Part Four: Copaganda

Next, the first few episodes of the most recent season contained scenes that were very difficult to watch from an emotional standpoint but were completely and utterly ludicrous from a writing perspective. For background, the cop's adopted daughter and main character of the show, a 14 year old girl named Eleven, switches schools and is horrifically bullied en masse by both adults and older students because she is traumatized after her police officer father supposedly died rescuing people in a "fire." (Not a fire, sci-fi related, but that's not important lol).

The writing is so unrealistic it is almost obscene and culminates in a scene where a handful of other students take over an entire roller rink to publicly humiliate Eleven for being a "crybaby" and telling her she can't cry to her daddy because he's dead. This is in front of a million people, no one stops it, and the employees participate, but as soon as Eleven retaliates, the police are called and Eleven is taken to literal actual PRISON.

A big part of the show is Eleven having speech issues and difficulty fitting in since she was raised as an experiment in a lab, so it's... Interesting that the show chose to make the recent death of her adopted father as the reason she is singled out by her peers rather than this. It's like they wanted to attach this series of emotional scenes on the idea that people, especially young people, have no respect for cops putting their lives on the line to save people and think cops dying is the funniest thing in the world.

Conclusion

Everyone knows propaganda happens deliberately with stuff like Marvel, Top Gun, The Wire, every other cop show, etc. So I don't think this is too far fetched even if I feel a bit crazy saying this and it might not be that deep haha but I definitely thought it was kind of glaring in the most recent season to the point of being a bit distracting as the plot no longer made a lot of sense

[iron-sides]

actually lemme Break Down issue 23 and why max's behavior is. soooo frustrating esp if u read from the 'speedsters lean adhd' angle that seems pretty common

he asks for bart's plan, bart evades, and max accepts this-- he wants to see what bart does. he gives no instruction and never actually bothers to interrogate barts half-baked plan or even to tell him that "hitting" doesnt count as a plan. its pretty clear to me esp since max KNOWS bart that bart doesnt actually have a plan.

bart's right. lol. objectively. also at no point was he told to do the thing max is scolding him for not doing. lol.

hey max remember how at no point have you bothered to explain how your way is better? because you haven't. at any point. also bart's still right. lol.

a) max you literally have a speedster metabolism leave him fucking be. jesus

b) surprise camping trip is not a good solution to helen being justifiably irritated with you but whatever

c) hey so on a related note (and remember for a sec that bart is simultaneously 2 and 14) the most important thing you can do with toddlers and teenagers is give them as much autonomy as possible. so uh. well. surprise camping trip. that bart really doesnt seem excited about-- and like, i cant blame him! i wouldnt be either, and i love camping!

d) hey do you see max poking fun at barts past mistakes bc as someone who has had their parents do that it Fucking Sucks

e) look at the first panel its so pretty. anyway

he's framing this as a criticism, which is fucking rude considering bart has literally no way of knowing you dont bring video games camping, also-- he is knowingly setting bart up to be bored out of his mind. on purpose. he doesnt even propose another way for bart to entertain himself. remember this.

a) hate that he uses normal like that. like i get it but still, to have something inherant to your existence constantly used to abnormal-ify you fuckin sucks.

b) wow max its almost like you didn't fucking plan this. the WHOLE THING YOU'VE BEEN MAD AT BART ABOUT THE WHOLE DAMN TIME

b.1) like again i cannot emphasize enough that what hes been mad about the whole time is bart's lack of planning. and now here is is not planning this whole trip

c) hey remember how i said max was knowingly setting bart up to be bored. lol.

max is genuinely trying to level with bart and i get how its frustrating when people completely miss that but like. girl. you forget that hes both fourteen and two and spent most of that time in VR. he doesnt exactly have a lot to look back on king. you cant hold that against him

ok the blah blah paragraphs are kind of babbling but again-- bart makes a good point about how max isnt exactly very active in the superhero scene, and, again, HAS NEVER EXPLAINED WHY HIS WAY WOULD BE BETTER TO BART. anyway. lol notice how he's choosing to give bart his "final exam" (not a good way to view parenting OR mentorship btw. just for reference) out of frustration? ive worked with kids. ive worked with some WILDLY frustrating kids. any choice you make out of frustration will be a mistake 100% of the time you have to make your plan of action BEFORE you get frustrated. this is rookie stuff this doesnt even just apply to kids it applies to everything

its fucking mean to fake a life-threatening experience for yourself and then make the young teen you're in charge of save you. btw. even if hes a superhero and shit like this is still mean.

HE LITERALLY JUST SAVED YOU. HE DID THE FUCKING THING YOU ASKED HIM TO DO. "little thanks to you" FOR DEMOLISHING THE AVALANCHE YOU PUT YOURSELF IN THE PATH OF? REALLY?

"id like to think ive taught you something" at no point have you done that though. at no point have you actually sat him down and taught or explained anything except maybe secret identities which youll notice he cares very much about upkeeping because he loves and respects you and wants you to be proud of him. lol.

also yelling never helps anyone. btw. i get why people do it but like.. you didnt TELL him to pull you out of the way you never even explained why he handled the hostage situation wrong! you just told him he did! thats not how teaching works!

this wouldnt surprise you if you had like ever sat down and talked world-view with him btw. hes pretty open about it.

hey fun fact if theres a teacher and a student and the student doesnt learn anything it's the teacher's failure. because bart's trying- bart's trying REALLY HARD. and sure, so is max, but more is expected of teachers than students because a) theyre the adults and b) they know more. theyre coming from a place of knowledge. so anyway hes literally soooo mad at bart for something thats his own damn fault

and here we're seeing bart who clearly can feel that max is mad at him and wants to fix it so so bad. but max isnt mad at bart hes mad at himself (for his failure with helen) and he's taking it out on bart. lol. which means nothing bart does can fix it. which is a horrible feeling.

anyway. this whole thing just makes issue 24 physically painful becasue max and bart separate (presumably forever) without ever making amends, max never apologizes for this and since im now at issue 28 and theyre not mentioning it im going to assume itll be a good long time from now if he ever does, which fucking sucks. anyway. the whole point here is that i love max very much and this was seriously painful to read. and that i saw a post in the bonnie tag about how max shouldve adopted cissie and girl max shouldn't have adopted BART. like dont get me wrong they love each other very much but max is NOT fit to be ANYONE'S mentor.

[outrunningthedark]

Your blog is a breath of fresh air and I love seeing such nuanced & well-thought out comments about the show. As much I loved 911/Buddie, I stopped watching like 6 eps into s5 bc the BT + overall OOC-ness of the show became too much and didn't wanna put energy into something that was upsetting me. I only know stuff thru tumblr posts and never fully understood what happened w/ lucy and the fallout. was she planned to be a main/B's LI but ppl hated her so much they wrote her outta the show? [1/2]

[2/2] I've seen folks mention that they filmed a lot of scenes with her that got cut? I know next to nothing about her character, and was trying to find a summary of what happened in regards to her/her planned arc from the lens of buddie/tumblr fandom (not just wiki summaries), and your posts are some of the most informational and level-headed content I've seen on here, so thank you for that! <3 Hello, nonnie! First things first: I put together this post from 5x11 -> 5x15 that details AK's deleted scenes and how she was told to set up the BL dynamic. You'll see that Lucy as a love interest was never confirmed, but the show wanted the audience to keep the possibility in their minds. (Cliffs notes: "Sometimes they’re borderline poking at one another. Sometimes it’s flirty…. But is it flirty, or is it poking?") Another quote to back up the will they-won't they angle: While she does move on after [Buck] reveals he has a girlfriend, expect to see them “bounce very quickly between being best pals and having a little bit of sexual tension.” Because that post only went to the midway point of 5B, I can now add that an Eddie and Lucy interaction was also cut from the later episodes (possibly the finale): "...there’s a really nice moment towards the end of the season between Lucy and Eddie and you get to see Lucy gets it.” As for whether or not the plan was to make Lucy a main...AK and Kristen and Tim know the answer to that, but from the onset AK and Kristen spoke about Lucy's future, probably in hopes of endearing the character to the audience over the course of 5B: Reidel also revealed that fans won't meet Lucy's family this season, teasing: "Depending on what happens going forward, though, we'd love to. We make jokes about doing the whole Blue Bloods dinner set-up." Kebbel hinted that if the show is renewed for a sixth season, the plotline leaves room for more developments with Lucy. Peter Krause gave an interview prior to the finale where he referred to Lucy as a new member of the family because, as we found out, the final shot of the season was all the OG firefam + Lucy (+ Ravi, on the opposite side) walking together towards the trucks. But then summer came. AK posted about preparing for her first day on set - a day that just so happened to be the first for s6 production. And then...she wasn't there. She was actually in North Carolina filming a movie (but she sure did have people freaking out for a minute, which was probably the goal). We never saw her on set. The Lucy scene from 6x01 was a "surprise" to the audience. Before and after the premiere Kristen gave an interview where she said she was hoping to bring Lucy back in the second half of the season. This is what Kristen said at the conclusion of 6A: Are there plans for Arielle Kebbel’s Lucy to return to 9-1-1 this season? “I’m not sure yet. We’re still planning the back half of the season (premiering in Spring 2023), so there are some question marks about space and real estate and what the stories are going to be. We’re still figuring that out.”

I don't think it's out of line to say the negative/dismissive reception impacted AK's place on the show rn, but I also think that it's possible that even *if* Kristen wanted to "start over" and act like the BL stuff didn't happen, AK made the decision to distance herself from this experience for now since it did not go at all like she was told/believed it would. (Many will say that Kristen probably thought people would look past the cheating because they just wanted BT to end, and with the way AK was able to discuss her character and Buck potentially having something brewing while he was still going to be in a relationship...yeah, that checks. On the one hand, I want to feel sorry for AK that her boss completely misread the room and had her thinking it was a great idea, but on the other....she did not sign up for another coming-of-age teen drama. People don't want to see that kind of stuff on a show like 9-1-1, especially not from a character as loved as Buck. If she knew anything about the show she could have seen the backlash coming. Do your research, babes.)

[ackerfics]

hey, I hope you're doing well! could I request some pining!levi?

is my love too much? — levi ackerman

— levi ackerman x female reader (modern au | headcanons)

— warnings: slight angst bc we all experience this while thinking about the person we like (i know i do lmao), fluff <3

— summary: levi will always pine for you.

— notes: awww, i'm doing alright, anon :>> i was listening to lauv's 'feelings' while planning this in the car and god i'm starting to regret it because i can't stop smiling agh :<< now, i want a partner damn it. thank you so much for this request, here's some pining!levi for you mwah

ah, pining!levi, this is such a fluffy scenario.

levi doesn't believe in love at first sight. a person isn't worthy of his affections and attention if he doesn't form a deeper bond with them. so, it's a great surprise to him when he first saw you because the first word that he immediately associated with you is --- magical. you are so pretty in his eyes that he takes a sharp inhale. initially, he brushes off this little tingly feeling that he gained in his first meeting with you during the freshmen welcoming and buries it in the deepest chest of his heart. ultimately, he even forgot that you made him feel that way as the entire academic year blurs in front of him.

you two aren't in the same college major and you don't share classes until sophomore year. he stops in the middle of walking to his chosen seat the moment he sees you sitting in one of the chairs of the lecture hall. levi even stares down at his phone, where his schedule was set as the wallpaper, to make sure he's in the same room. nonchalantly regaining his thoughts (because you make him look like a fool just standing there with parted lips), he calmly walks to the row in front of yours. it was kind of fast how the two of you became acquaintances, exchanging small talks here and there, until you became close friends.

you are placing your belongings back to your backpack when you hear someone clearing their throat in front of you. you look up from the act of putting away your iPad, with levi's blank face greeting you. you instantly smile at him, your eyes sparkling under the overhead lights. "hi, levi," you tell him, tucking a stray lock of hair behind your ear.

"hey," he responds, deep voice sending ripples of warmth inside your chest. levi inserts one of his hands in the pocket of his hoodie, eyes darting from yours to the seats beside you, anything but you because you make him nervous for some reason. "let's grab lunch together?" he nods towards the opened entryway of the lecture hall, face never betraying his thoughts and emotions.

"sure," you agree before finally standing up from your seat. "let me just text my roommate real quick."

levi slightly deflated. "oh." the one-syllable word making you glance at him. "you already have plans?"

"oh, no." you slightly laugh, waving your hand to reassure the onyx-haired man. "they don't have class the entire day and they're too lazy to get out of our dorm room. i just wanted to let them know that i'll be buying them lunch."

"ah." levi nods in understanding, looking at anything but you again. now, both of his hands are in the comforts of his hoodie pockets. "let's go?"

you sidle up next to him, both of you walking side by side in the hallways. "the bistro?" you casually ask, looking at levi with a giddy smile. he didn't reply to you for a few seconds, only staring at you with an awestruck look on his face. you tilt your head in question, breaking the spell you cast over him. "you alright, levi? looks like you were in a trance there. you're not feeling well?" you raise your hand to his forehead, stopping with a centimeter separating your outstretched hand from his skin. "is this okay, right?" at his nod, you gently place your hand, humming when it's his normal warmth. "you're fine. just tell me if you don't feel well, okay? i won't mind if you go and take a rest in your apartment."

he only shakes his head, angling his head away from you to hide the redness blossoming on his cheeks. levi clears his throat. "i don't get sick that often, though. i was just thinking of something."

you smile at him. "don't let those thoughts swallow you." you cling on the sleeve of his hoodie. "here, i'll anchor you."

levi's heart is racing and he hopes you won't hear the song his chest is dedicating to you.

two things: longing stares and hesitant touches.

no matter where you are, levi is always looking at you. even though his face remains impassive while staring at you, somebody from a three-meter radius can distinguish that his eyes are soft around the corners, holding an emotion he unknowingly show whenever you're around. if he sees you from across the courtyard, walking to your next lecture, he will literally stop and take the time to admire you from afar. he's pretty contented with this kind of set-up; him being your secret admirer while you're oblivious about his affections. levi's comfortable that way.

he doesn't expect too much from this crush of his. yes, it's hard to hide when you're sitting close to him, your fruity shampoo entering his senses and intoxicating him in the best way possible, but he's alright with just admiring you. there's that small voice inside his head telling him to make a move but he stays put because he knows you have a lot of priorities, with you being a part of your department's org and a scholarship student at that --- you once told him that relationships are the least of your worries. yeah, it pinched his chest but levi understands your sentiments. the most he can voice out to you is his support, at least from that, you know he cares for you so much.

levi's completely drunk in you. absolutely smitten. whipped. down bad as farlan puts it. because fucking hell, you're so beautiful it physically hurts him.

"do you think she's sleeping right now?"

farlan stares at levi with an incredulous expression. "... levi, i think you're the one who's supposed to be sleeping. i can see your eyebags from here." the blond closes the refrigerator, one hand placed on his hip while the other holds a carton of soy milk. "why are you pulling an all-nighter in the kitchen? and don't you have a free day tomorrow? and is that," farlan leans forward to see what's inside his best friend's mug, "beer?!" he practically hissed the word, fully-aware that if he shouts, isabel will be in a bad mood tomorrow morning.

"wrong," levi drawls. "this is apple juice." he lifts the mug to let farlan smell the contents.

farlan only sighs. "man, this," he motions to levi's figure, ignoring the small glare directed at him, "is getting bad. you have to tell her what you feel. you'll end up being single your entire university life if you continue being this groaning boy. we don't want that." the small glare transforms into a full-on glower. farlan sighs again, sitting on one of the counter stools, directly in front of his brooding roommate. "listen, what's the worse that could happen? if she comes to reject you, we'll drink all the apple juice we could find in the uni's convenience store. my treat."

"that's the problem." levi chugs down his drink. "i know i'm saying i'm alright with her not reciprocating my feelings but it hurts just thinking about it. as much as i don't want to admit that i'm completely fine if she finds happiness with other people, i'm still wishing it's me who's making her happy." he groans, burying his hand through the locks of his hair. it's getting longer, practically going past his eyes. "i like her so fucking much," he whispers at nothing, wishing it's your ears he's directly saying the words.

farlan grimaces. this is the first time he's ever seen levi so vulnerable and he doesn't know if he should be empathetic or laugh about it. levi looks nothing like the blank-faced lovesick idiot he has been since the start of sophomore year. "okay, here's the plan. we collect information by following her socials. i know her twitter and instagram because isabel follows her. you don't have those, right?"

levi shakes his head.

"i figured. okay, so we'll make you an account today and there, you get to update on her life, whether she has someone she likes or her preference." farlan faces his palm to levi. "give me your phone." once he receives the device, farlan opens it to an unread message. "uh, i think she texted you." farlan jumps back because levi lunges at him, both of their eyes wide, with the former placing a hand on his chest because damn, that surprised him. "what'd she say?"

a rare smile lights up levi's face. "she invited me to study in the library." he looks up at a grinning farlan. "we'll have lunch together, too."

"i think you don't have to worry about her not liking you."

"what?"

"shh, young grasshopper, let fate do their thing."

he turns on your account notifications the moment you two are following each other in twitter. you're the only following he has in his instagram no matter how many times farlan says he should follow back people, levi still chooses to have you, only you, in his following list. this is the same case in twitter. the sole reason he created these accounts is you so it feels right to see your posts in his timeline. he doesn't care if he's behind the trends spreading across the student body, you're there to send the latest memes to him.

random yet shy compliments.

levi is one of those people who can't say anything positive without it coming out as sarcasm. most of his compliments for you comes in the most random of moments. you'll be slurping on your ramen or stuffing your face with some fries, and he'd go, "you're so pretty". he doesn't even know how to stop his thoughts from coming out of his mouth, especially if before he says those words, everything is quiet.

when you're cold, levi takes off his oversized jacket and drapes it over your body. it doesn't matter if you didn't voice it out, levi knows that when you rub your arms or exhale longer than necessary, it means that you're getting cold. he likes it when you wear his jacket or sweaters because your perfume sticks to the piece of clothing. every single day, he lends his jacket to you without a word before turning to the other direction.

"you don't have to walk me to my next class, levi," you tell the blank-faced man. "don't you have a class in about fifteen minutes?"

"let me just walk you every day, yeah?"

"... if you say so. bye-bye! see you later, levi." a tug in your shirt stops you in your tracks. you turn around to find levi taking off his jacket, handing the material to you with his head tilted down to avoid your gaze. "you're not going to use it?"

"no," levi answers. "just take it."

you tentatively take the denim jacket from his hands and insert your arms through the sleeves. his signature perfume immediately blankets you in another kind of warmth that you didn't mind, making you smile with heat coloring your cheeks. you look at levi through your eyelashes, finally meeting his wide eyes. you sweetly smile at him, admiring the way his eyes flicker from your torso to the sweater paws on your hands. "thank you, levi."

he clears his throat, rubbing his undercut awkwardly. "no problem. well, see you later."

"ah, wait."

"hm?" the moment levi turns around to the sound of your voice, he's met with a soft kiss on his cheek. everything stops for a moment and all levi can do is stare at you while you prettily smile, waving those adorable sweater paws as a temporary goodbye. he waves back at you, mind still hazy from the kiss and heart beating loudly that the entire hallway can hear it. he covers his face with his hand, feeling his cheeks becoming warmer by the second. levi murmurs through his hand, "fuck, why are you so cute?"

a pining levi means you get the best of both worlds. you have an amazing friend who knows everything there is to know about you and a possible lover who's willing to dedicate everything just for you to feel so much more than the intensified sparks you share while being close friends. there is no worries of feelings being unrequited because you both know the other holds an extreme amount of affection that can rival the stars in the sky.

general taglist:

@angelofthorr

[mythiccheroacademia]

A/N: Thank you hottie❤️ Tumblr was fucking with the format, so I had to repost.  Anyways, I looovveee this request. I’ve been waiting to be in the right mood to write this. Like, jealous muscular himbos completely head over heels for their s/o? Sign me up.

Sorry for the wait. I hope you enjoy this, sugar plum

All characters are 18+

Warnings: smut below the line!

Katsuki Bakugo:

SFW

bakugo doesnt get jealous

he usually felt secure in your relationship

yeah he got annoyed when kaminari would jokingly flirt with you

and yes, it made him angry when the dekusquad would literally stare at you with puppy dog eyes

and it pissed him off when kirishima suddenly became the funniest guy in the room when you were around

but he wasn’t jealous

how could he be? he’s bakugo katsuki

you agreed to go out with him. the strongest. the best. you couldn't get any better than him

right?

lmao no

the bigger the ego, the more fragile it was

bakugo doesnt handle jealousy well

there’s a small part of him that knows he can be an asshole

he’s not the most...affectionate person

but damn it, if he doesnt try his hardest for you

you notice that he gets quieter but his actions become a lot more aggressive

he’s glaring at anyone that smiles at you

it’s honestly scarier than his threats

forces you to hold hands

is suddenly into PDA??? when he kissed you in front of your friends you literally made a face

you didn't know what was up with him, but you were really confused when you told him to chill and he visibility wilted

once he came around to telling you that he wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to leave him, you were quick to reassure him

give him a couple kisses and rub his ego just a tad, and he’ll be back to normal

acts like he didn't just look like he was about to cry two seconds ago

NSFW

there are two things that happen when bakugo gets jealous

at first, he’s very rough and handsy

he likes to talk big and say things like

“imma fuck you up when we get home”

“you like when daddy does that, sweetheart?”

“kiss it right there, baby”

“youre mine. tell me your mine”

he’s doing everything he can to get you screaming and thrashing

he’ll go down on you for hours, leave you trembling, only to tell you that was a warm-up

there’s this dark look in his eyes when he’s pounding into you, gripping the headboard so he can angle himself in the best position possible

it’s like he’s trying to prove himself by wrecking you

in the midst of your fucking, just when you feel like youre about to pass out, bakugo’s head falls on your shoulder

he’s still thrusting into you, but it gets slower and deeper

needier

now it’s not just fucking

looks into your eyes with the most adoring gaze and kisses the breath of out you

he can’t speak, too deep into your lovemaking to express how much he loves you

how he’s so scared of losing you

but you don’t need his words to understand

lock your legs around his hips and tell him how you’ll always be his and he will let out a moan that makes your toes curl

when you reach your high, it’s a vulnerable moment

lots of soft kisses and hugging

wont admit to the tears that sting his eyes but is willing to express his adornment for you through his embrace and aftercare

Todoroki Shouto:

SFW

todoroki doesnt have a lot of experience with jealousy

he knows what anger is

he’s felt insecurity

and he knows what it feels like to long for something or someone

but envy was a foreign concept to him

that was until he got into his first romantic relationship with you

don't get him wrong, he trusted you with everything

you gave him no reason to question your loyalty

and it never occurred to him that you would leave him for someone else because of how strong your love was for one another

however, his insecurities always got the best of him

he had a lot of baggage

he knew that

and when someone would approach you, someone that looked free-spirited and independent, he’d wonder if he was holding you back

even then, he can’t help but think that no one is worth the ground you walked on

not even himself sometimes

he never brings it up

but you notice that he started touching his scar a lot more

todoroki would try to act more extroverted thinking it would be better if he was livelier

youre deep talks about family matter diminished little by little

he tried to fill your comfortable silence with awkward conversation

you were so confused why your bf was acting so different

it took a couple attempts to get him to spill his thoughts

once he did, he’s stark quiet, looking away, fearing that you’d be so disappointed in him

but you just take his face in your hands and tell him

“you’re my whole world shouto. why would i ever give that up?”

he holds you in his arms for a long time after that

NSFW

behind his jealousy of onlooking eyes is a deep steed of low self-esteem

and you can feel it when you get intimate

he’s always looking to please you, but now he’s desperate, trying so hard to think of what will make you feel good

it makes you sad bc he already knows the answer to those questions

but he overthinks it

he’s noticeably shier

his touches are hesitant as he second-guesses himself

is continuously asking if you’re okay or if he’s doing it right

at one point, you have to take charge and push him down on the bed

“let me show you how much i want you. just you”

licks his lips as you kiss down his body

one of those guys that believes sucking his dick is a chore 💀

“you don't have to do that” face ass

so when you suck the soul out of him, he’s SPRUNG

would write a song about it if he could LMAO

quickly says he loves you before kissing you like the world depends on it as you ride him

twirl your hips in the way he likes and he’ll hiss out curses

run your hands through his hair and kiss his scar and he’ll give you such pretty moans

please tell him how beautiful he is and how much you love him

my mans will nut on the spot

after the first round, he regains his confidence and flips you on your hands and knees

before you even know what’s going on, he’s pounding into you, gripping your hips like a lifeline

now that he’s reminded that he’s your man, he spends the night realigning your spine

bc who could do it better?

Togata Mirio:

SFW

mirio is one of the most confident people ever

not only is he secure in himself, but he’s secure in your relationship

he knows he bagged a baddie

ofc people would be all over you

he couldn't blame them! i mean, look at you!

when people approached you, he usually let you handle it

if they were persistent, he would just put an arm around your waist

“you’ve got good taste, but they’re taken! sorry!”

it’s so wholesome that the other person can’t even find it within themselves to be upset

there was only one time he recalled getting genuinely jealous

it was during the time you two weren't exclusively dating

just going on dates to see how things went

at the same time, he overheard from your friend that your ex was trying to get back with you

when he heard that, he started sweating

it wasn't jealousy, but more like fear

he was determined not to lose you

not when things were going so well

mirio literally goes above and beyond on your dates

mans deadass learns how to cook all your favorite foods to bring to you

youre crying bc the seasoning was just *chef’s kiss*

brings you flowers at random times of the day

sends you pictures of things that remind him of you

you’re just soaking up all the attention

he’s always been an extra person so you didn't think much of it

it wasn't until you two were cuddling and watching a movie in his apartment that he confesses to you

“i know that i’m competing against history between you and your ex, but i want you to know that my feelings for you are strong, y/n. and i’ll do everything to prove to you that i can be the man of your dreams”

you stare at him before bringing him in for a kiss

“there’s a reason my ex is my ex”

“but--”

“just ask me to be yours already, mirio”

he didnt have to be told twice

NSFW

it was actually that same night that cuddling turned into something a little nastier

honestly, from then on, if you cuddled for more than 20min, there was a 99% chance yall end up fucking lmao

but that night, when he was kissing your neck and grinding his dick against you, he noticed your phone light up on the nightstand

you were too caught up in his fingers between your legs but he saw the text from your ex

it read: “i know this might be out of the blue, but would you wanna catch up over dinner sometime?”

now, mirio wasn't one to be spiteful

but he couldn't help but get a little heated

knowing your ex was trying to get back with you was way different than seeing it

a tiny switch goes off in his head and now he’s ready to make it known that you and him are together

you’re in heaven as mirio’s lips suck and nip at your neck and body

his head game is immaculate

turns you on your stomach so he can massage your back and ass before sliding into you

mirio holds your neck and gives you sloppy kisses as his hips swim into you

your phone lights up again and you can barely think straight when he gets rougher

starts pounding into you like he’s tryna put a baby in you whether it’s possible or not 💀

youre grabbing for anything you can hold as he starts whispering sweet nothings about how he’s gonna take care of you

whew...what a man yall 🥴

the entire time he’s wearing a shit-eating grin

bc he knows he won

might have accidentally sent your ex a voice recording of you moaning his name

oops

[esther-dot]

They say that the heart in conflict is bc Jon will be in love with D; that being in love with S has no conflict (my personal experience with such a J-D fan;). S's womb quickens when Stannis arrives at KL, and guess who was there. Oh, right, Jon's stand-in, the Hound! The treason for love is clearly the love of Sansa, not that of family or honor or anything else. A conflict for honor, as if Ned didn't give up his solely for love. Sigh, the ridiculusness of their theories!

(continuation of this convo)

Wait, they think there is less trauma/inner conflict with jonsa than J/D??? Really?! This is as bad when that article talked about GoT ships and said Jonsa was cuddly in comparison to J/D. I thought we were toxic and disgusting?! I was told I was a degenerate! Why can’t we have anything nice???

Before s8 I thought Jon would defy Dany and that would be his treason, but honestly, it makes more sense (it’s gross but it does) for him to kill her. We already know he’s willing to betray someone he’s sexually involved with/a “wife”, we already know he’s willing to kill a leader he doesn’t hate to protect his people, so, what’s the escalation? Doesn’t the next thing have to be more difficult? Is Dany being a relative that he betrays enough? I feel like the parallels between him and Jaime matter. IMO, Martin likes to look at an idea from different angles. We think of Jaime killing Aerys as right, even heroic, and that if Westeros knew, his reputation would be totally different. 

Isn’t it the best kind of mindfuck for the author to invert that, and mess with us? Westeros will view Dany as a monster, but we knew her when she was raped and abused, we know she isn’t intentionally doing evil, we know she was a little girl who wanted to be loved and had to be strong to survive and chose the wrong kind of strength. To have our hero, Jon, kill her, even though it is 100% justified, will leave us very conflicted. I think Martin likes to make everything more, not less, complex, and while I would prefer Dany die by dragons or fire, something she created herself, that’s a tidy sort of ending. If instead Martin takes our hero, makes him commit the same act we celebrated another character for, only this time, we loved her (book Dany is very different than show Dany!), it leaves us conflicted. I think the idea is to delve into moral ambiguity, to create it, and it’s hard for me to return to thinking Martin would settle for just allowing Jon to betray Dany, when he could do this to us. 

Anyway, because of the Ned and Jon parallels, it also makes sense that this ends with Jon choosing love too, choosing Sansa too, and the way the fandom refuses to consider it, even though it works without any romantic connotations, is very amusing. 

[corvidexoskeleton]

Hm. I think I might have asked this before actually but here goes. :V Darryl is established to be very perceptive, even more so if you end up going with the hitman angle. So did she ever notice Deacon shadowing her? I assume since she covered the most ground out of everyone that she'd be the target for his espionage. If so, did she just let him and play the long game or confront him? Or did Deacon do a way better job than he actually does in game and remain undetected

I think I mentioned it a bit in this ask, but didn't go too much into detail

Basically, Deacon keeps tabs on Darryl bc of how quickly she becomes a prominent figure in the wasteland bc of her stagus as MM general. But also, because she picks up on the rumors of the Railroad and synths, she learns more about both, and with the stuff she's learned, stuff she's seen in the wasteland, and what she knows of how secretive groups work, she can kinda tell that there's a little bit of Railroad activity going on both in the MM ranks and in some other areas. And I think that Deacon would be able to tell that she either knows some stuff that could hurt the RR, or is at best perceptive enough to notice them, which could be dangerous

Since she's as prominent a figure as she is, I think Deacon would start keeping tabs on her relatively early on. Cause like, the MM got wiped out, but now they're back? And they're surprisingly well organized, put together, and competently led? There's obviously someone with half a brain in charge here, so it would be to the RR's benefit to make sure this person won't be a threat to them

And while I do think that Deacon would be waaaay better than ingame - actually blending in and being good at lying - Darryl would eventually catch on. She wouldn't immediately, bc she's busy and has other stuff to worry about, but it wouldn't take long for her to start to get a feeling like she's being watched, and maybe she does have some experience with being tailed or followed and knows not to ignore that gut feeling. So it ends up with Deacon tailing her, and Darryl in turn keeping an eye on her tail to try and gauge where or not she should take action or not

[vengefulartist]

Thank youuuu! I'm just very jealous as well, and a few months ago it got out of control and I would initiate fights over every little thing that made me feel like I was losing my place, either other girls, or a love reaction on facebook or just comments. Like literally everything. It was a nightmare for me because I always felt like I was not enough and I could lose my place to anyone but also to my SO bc it made them feel like I didn't trust them and also it isn't healthy --

- fighting everyday over little thibgs that didn't even matter. And I knew they were stupid but it just affected me so much I always ended up making a huge deal out of it. I'm very self aware that being jealous is not the best trait. And my SO is literally the least jealous person I've ever met, so he couldn't really connect with my feelings and that made me explode more y'know? Now I feel like I've truly come a long way, I recognize things don't have a whole subplot to them -- and I feel way more sure about my place in life in general as well as my so's. I'm still jealous and I sometimes can't help my lil 15 minutes of quiet and some slip up pouts in public when something happens but I can tell not everything is worth a fight over. And I don't fight with my so anymore. He recognises that some girls will always rub me off the wrong way, like a couple I'll never fully digest, but neither he has to alienate anyone nor I be resentful of anyone near and I justI feel so relieved I've come this far but I also wanna maybe go as far as I can, bc to a point it's just who I am. I'm glad you're the same bc you understand!!!! Any tips on your experience? And thank you for listening!!!Jealousy tends to root in on our own insecurities. As we grow and go through life its easier to notice what is a real problem versus something trivial. In my own experience I’ve had do work on my rational thinking and situation evaluation. I tend to work it on a strike count before I really let it stir and bother me. (i.e. If i see one thing, it wont bother me but patterns of the same thing that keeps happening will.) However, I am also really awful at confrontation so I tend to stew a lot longer than should be accepted. Looking through a situation at every angle usually eases my mind without confrontation. It’s a tricky road to be on since a lot can trigger these emotions without any solid cause. It’s almost like it initiates our bodies immediate flight or fight response. I wish I had a better way to put all of this but feeling out a situation and being level headed will get you a lot farther for your own mind. Also recognizing how people act or think will be very differently than yours is also a good assessment tool to have. But don’t ever be hard on yourself for taking those 15-20 minute breathers because it’s still a stepping stone to where you want to be. Gather facts, look at whatever problem is ahead objectively and really think about their own thoughts behind it.