#the fact that it feels weird because it ISN'T a romance says something

[starfiresky]

Separated at dawn

[kalims]

ㅤdorm leaders being savages

summary. basically some backstabber mf tries to 'steal' him and... this is where the savage part starts

featuring. dorm leaders

content. bad friend, gender neutral reader, brutal rejection 😭

note. a full post after a while :')

malleus

I mean it's not like he would notice anyways, again. I firmly believe human and fae courting traditions are vastly different and c'mon... he doesn't even know what the fuck flirting is do you really think he'd get their intentions. 💀

when they start to slide up an arm in places he's quite bothered about, (cause guy is so whipped that he won't let anyone but him touch you.) he isn't even happy that someone is near his proximity anymore, not scared and whatnot.

just he no likey.

AND HES NOT EVEN TRYING TO BE ROMANTIC HE JUST SHRUGS THEM OFF EVERYTIME. he's just a genuine innocent lil' dude who wants his lover to come and save him from this touchy, weird, human.

no child of man cause that's your name ‼️

while he may not get it, he's got a feeling, sixth sense of sorts and when he sees it he's backing tf up away. he's not gonna entertain the doubts.

also he still doesn't get it in the end lmaoooo, he's avoiding all their advances thinking it's a part of human... culture? that he wasn't made aware of.

if they start putting in the forbidden words in the same sentence as your name you know shits going down, suddenly he's not that confused, oblivious, cute guy that they saw but a much colder shell.

when his eyes darken, and it starts storming they'd had better run, he's been kind enough to stay even with their relentless annoying behavior but that is where he crosses the line fr.

don't even be surprised when they get hit by lightning and end up in the infirmary or something, malleus didn't even say anything to them cause he believes actions speaks louder than words... *sends touchy, weird human to the nurse.* see?

someone insults him: ?

someone insults you: 😠😡🤬👿🌩⚡

just goes: "your friend is very unpleasant, I'd appreciate it if you refrain from spending time with them."

something unsaid; spend all of that time with me duhhh

idia

you know what I'm surprised someone actually likes him tbh 😭 except us because we're all built different and we love disgustang discord mod behavior.

you know what's even more surprising? the fact that idia is actually seen by your friend group. I swear he comes out of his room like once a day and that's just because he's craving something else that isn't in his food stock and he's just gonna rob whose mac n' cheese was in the microwave.

and that's literally in his DORM ONLY.

he's like a vampire and allergic to sunlight, he's more willing to come out in the middle of the night because that's when the least 'normies' are scattered around like flies.

(if that counts for anything at all??)

but hanging out is more fun and if you somehow managed to convince idia to come with you with your friends for some well needed, 'socializing' then you're in luck!

besides that you had to bet one of your items in that open world game you played together... all is good!

im like 99% sure idia is disgusted by any other touch from other people, besides you? cause if you touch him he's just embarrassed... but in terms of the disgusted faction, you've been there before.

he immediately spots their intentions cause he definitely plays otome games and this is one of them cliche scenarios to 'spice up' the plot by invoking jealousy in it.

only difference is its him, you and this... random.

if they weren't already offended by the absolute mortification and disgust on his face, somehow continuing to 'rizz' him up.. oh boy. it's gonna get worse.

he's got the worst fucking 3rd grade insults like... "back away from me you noob, are you supposed to be their friend?" he scoffs, surprising them cause they thought he was gonna be that red flag discord romance experience.

"sorry but im not really sorry. i don't associate myself with lower levels such as yourself, try to come back when you're higher but I doubt they'd accept a fiend back."

LIKE WHO USES NOOB AS AN INSULT?

when you come back he's steering you away, pulling on the hem of your sleeves practically begging to come home with the promise of 'grinding that outrageous drop rate item you've asked his help with.'

something unsaid; doxxing them as soon as I get back

vil

ok this one I get.

who wouldn't want vil... it's not like I've made the entirety of the fandom known about my obsession with him as my favorite character or anything, not at all... jokes aside he's a very prominent candidate, he's hot and rich. you get it?

forget about the other qualities because we all known those two can carry someone in life alone, life in luxury and fame? sign them up ASAP.

besides your boyfriend being one of the superstar actors, models, the dream jobs for a dream man even your friends had a hard time believing you. you should be offended that they even considered that you were clinically.. delusional.

plus you didn't even seem to know about vil before so how are you dating him?!

they found out the hard way and safe to say they're flabbergasted because what even?

of course out of everyone here, vil has the most experience in terms of being approached on a baseless appearance only, he's iffed by how fast people get infatuated when they're barely scratching the surface of him.

well, you somehow dug your way deep with a shovel so you're the only exception he will allow...

at this point he knows what to expect the moment one of your friends gave him a look he's all the well too accustomed to. it's easy to ignore the ones he sees in crowds cause there's always some type of fence blocking them from fully proclaiming their love or something.

problem here is that this person has no obstacles and he can tell they're waiting for an opportunity to strike like a snake. *texts the pomefiore gc to tell them about this SNAKE!*

honey this is a big NO for him, you need to consider your circle of friends if one of them immediately starts folding around like this and wastes what? a longer friendship with you? please, he's known his stylists more and they literally get replaced every single day.

he's giving them the biggest, sassiest side eye ever. putting a palm up before they even get to speak because frankly, he does not want to hear it.

they open their knarly mouth. "i—"

he raises a finger. "no."

a frown. "but i—"

"shush."

he can do this forever.

when you come back he's still giving a bombastic, criminal offensive side eye, mentally thinking on how to ruin this person's life in media of course! his natural domain. just one word and the rest of his army will attack fr.

vil usually doesn't do this but seriously? that was another level of low.

also he's just by your side, you don't even have to say that he's your boyfriend because he's lowkey rubbing it in their face that he is in fact, taken.

"next time you try to see me again, might as well buy one of the tickets to my fan signings because you’re not seeing me again otherwise.. well, not like you can afford it anyways." *fabulous hair flip*

something unsaid; either way I'll kick you out if you try to get in

kalim

most safest person to flirt with, even if you're friends with their lover but also the most impossible to actually try and 'steal.'

the thing about kalim is that he's adorably stupid, not to degrade him in any shape or form but he's so oblivious about everything that you could consider it as one of his redeemable traits to be adorable.

he takes everything you say so seriously to the point where if you joke about wanting to water an entire continent he's just there with his carpet waiting for you cause he's gonna do exactly that.

"you're in luck cause I have a lot of water in me!" pops his non existent guns on his arms. (he is talking about his unique magic..)

it takes a remarkable mind to be like... that but you like him all the well about it, compliment his stupid-ness and he'll just grin, flush a little and laugh loudly as he compliments you back. not an ounce of anger in his tiny body.

red eyes but what a bright heart!

the type of guy that goes. "any friend of yours is a friend of mine!" so when he meets your friend group, casually just throws them a grand ball. they don't know whether to be flattered or.. concerned cause this is pretty weird.

not only was one of your friends awed over the mere value of many things inside the dorm he renovated, apparently his very huge bank full of gold was something to gasp over too.

and that's exactly what they did. (I mean get that bag sis but that bag is already owned by someone else and that's you... so that's not slay of you, random friend.)

here's when his nature proves to be quite relenting, even after many flirting, even using those cringe pickup lines from the internet, he just won't budge! it's getting irritating cause they're sure the people already heard the embarrassing words coming out of their mouth.

also that they were flirting with a non-legally married man. (to you ofc ofc.)

kalim either laughs at them because he thinks they were jokes, and just funny or laughs just because he's kalim.

he didn't really mind the casual touches at first, maybe it was friendly? he does it all the time after all but there was a stinking feeling that it felt weird and that alone was weird cause friendly pats were supposed to feel good.

not with you though cause those feel great!

accidentally shuts them down cause they're feeling like a third wheel when you come back after a bathroom break and it's like a total contrast to how he was treating them.

how do you seriously not notice kalim now unintentionally flirting with you?! are both of you airheads?!

he was literally all over you when you quipped up a "hi, I'm back."

and he was like; "welcome back :DDDD!!!!" if it wasn't already obvious they'd even add floating hearts emojis all over his head.

something unsaid; girl he didn't even notice anything was up...

azul

kinda a 50/50?

I'm not sure if most people really dig the whole 'bad reputation' thing. he's friends with the most terrifying twins in the entire campus, notably scammed a lot of people, can give wishes with an extreme price.

oh yeah he runs monstro lounge too but that just means he won't have time to spend with a lover.

that's their own imagination but azul's actually very sweet and gets some overworked junior to do the work for him, usually jade since floyd just leaves if he's given the job. JUST so he can go fret over which tie to use for your unofficial date.

despite him annoyed and losing sleep 24/7 because of the tweels he still asks them which one to use, jade's opinion is most trustworthy since floyd picks the neon, vibrant ones. (don't question why he even owns it.)

I doubt he actually likes people though, anyone else than you? hard pass. he's a simp through and through but unlike idia who can't mask the mortification and disgust on his face even at the cost of his life, good thing that masks are one of the many things azul is good at.

he slips up sometimes cause he genuinely thinks it's embarrassing that they're doing whatever this is to him, (well more of an attempt?) and to you, who is also their friend and his lover.

slip up as in his eye twitches, he flinches away a little too fast when they touch him, and his smile wobbles.

I mean no one would notice if he uses his magic on one, singular person...

mentally makes a note to remember whoever this was cause they're not stepping foot in octavinelle ever again.

+ an object of fun for the tweels. #gotormentthatlife!!

he's just a polite guy, so he won't just straight up insult them but he does warn them. the only thing holding him back from cooking a whole table is the crowd that would definitely spread the news of him going batshit.

like; "could you please, stop this? I hope you're not as stupid as you make yourself out to be because if you think I'm an idiot to not know what you're doing.. "

meanwhile his mind; "ugh this bitch. [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]."

I mean he's not that intimidating ALONE but when he gets all threatening like that (🥰) he could pass for an assassin fr.

just gets the tweels to deal with them cause he does not have the patience to deal with this backstabbing ho and it's wasting his precious time that should have been spent talking with you.

ugh he did not spend like 30 whole minutes picking out his tie and gloves just for this.

azul when he sees you coming back: 😇

something unsaid; [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted].

leona

oh boy, cover your eyes cause we're stepping onto another level of SAVAGE. you don't call lions that for NOTHING ‼️ beastman or just beast.

has the least filter out of everyone, as in he just doesn't give a single fuck, he's the chillest (agressive) guy on the twst planet so if the thought of wanting to insult some stranger that doesn't have a significance in his life at all pops up in his mind he ain't gonna change it lol.

gives the stinkiest eyes, even his tail and ears pause to synchronize with his thoughts cause if they had googly eyes they'd have a side eye too.

if he's laying down and they try pulling him upwards, tryna latch onto him? *just shoves them cutely.* problem solved.

leona's nice enough to let them off without losing something cause you really do mean something to him if he's holding back for your expense knowing that this is one of your 'friends.'

they don't even deserve to be called that!

like no one interrupts his peaceful nap times except for when he stands up to interrupt it himself just to drag you down with him.

wait so basically anyone but him???

he, really doesn't want to waste energy on this fool and to be honest they're really boring him since you went out to grab something you forgot. (but knowing this person for less than an hour in his life, they probably had something to do with that too.) so you aren't here to give him a reason to stay awake.

them rambling but in leona's eyes they're a blurry figure cause he's really sleepy.

then suddenly he's an iphone promax when he's looking at you 💀

if they already didn't take a hint from his earlier shove, the dirt isn't the only thing he's gonna shove someone into. there's a lake there for a reason other than keeping a home for the fishes y'know. never would know if they eat people too. /j

"would you shut up?"

yeah that's all he says but we all know how sharp it is to hear that from somebody so they immediately shut up. there's absolutely no need for any waste on energy of them, just one look from him and they're SILENT.

hopefully embarrassed too cause wtf was that??

unfortunately he can't fully enjoy his usually relaxing nap cause this random is corrupting the atmosphere even when they're silent, I swear they could shift and leona feels like one step closer to smacking 'it.'

ignored them every single time they tried to call out to him LOUDLY before but when you just silently step back on the field, he already peeks out an eye??? like no words needed.

what love does to a mf... sighs... another cold male lead we've lost to romance because of our mc <4

something unsaid; I was really questioning if keeping myself from strangling someone was worth it. took more effort than doing it literally

riddle

I'd have a crush on him too tbh.

unlike azul who already knew their intentions from the start, polite enough to kindly drop signs that he's not interested. riddle doesn't get it, he's just polite as well but also confused?

like he doesn't know they're tryna flirt, but he does think their actions are strange like c'mon. why are they trying to feel him up? he has no idea except the thought that he doesn't like it at all.

also it feels like he's betraying you so he just straight up pulls their arm away off of him firmly and shakes his head.

"stop this behavior."

he sighs.

surprisingly he's patient but also impatient???

consider this the first and last warning cause he WILL excuse himself if it ever goes on, riddle can wait for you browse through a whole store with him following you around and playfully commenting on your taste but can't wait for their attitude to get better.

he ain't gonna waste any more of his precious minutes on this period.

I don't know how to explain it, he's totally unaware of what they want, which is him ironically. but the reason he's rejecting their advances is because he's so devoted and a simp for you.

not a lot of people have the balls to converse or touch around him carelessly like that so freely so isn't it basic human courtesy to hold off all the physical affection till they're more acquainted?

well, not that riddle's not gonna let their current relationship advance any further from strangers at this point...

he's so loyal to you that it's cute jabskans.

riddle sticks to his principles, and he certainly has his own preferences for the personality of people. one of the traits he despises is when they don't understand his earlier warnings.

of course riddle isn't very forgiving, they're lucky they were even given a chance before cause even he, doesn't spare his dorm members a second chance when they break a rule he's been plenty lenient with.

so if you were given a chance, you better take it cause he's not giving you another.

like how since you did take your chance he's not gonna let you go now 😍.

isn't the type to be rude to people for matters he deems conflict being easily avoidable so he just makes up a believable excuse and walks away loool.

and they're like thinking; didn't he say he was tired and had to sleep since he stayed up planning the unbirthday party... why is he having a tea date with you???

suddenly he didn't look too tired at all compared to when he randomly slumped to look exhausted before??

something unsaid; 🥰🍵 what a successful unbirthday party *forgets about them immediately cause you're both having an unofficial date.*

note. ok so something unsaids are basically that but don't misunderstand, it's something they didn't say.

[bitchimasnake-sss]

nsfw alphabet ft. monkey d. luffy!

set-up: no set up, just a collection of short nsfw drabbles featuring the most himboest himbo in town &lt;;3

warning: nsfw themes (obviously 😭); mdni thankyouu &lt;3

💟aftercare:

look, luffy sleeps in the middle of actual fights. there's no fucking way this man can stay up after y'all are done fucking (esp. if you've gone for a couple of rounds already). it's not too bad, since you get too tired too and he gives the best cuddles when he's passed out. just get used to getting the aftercare in the morning because that's when he checks up on you, get's you both some food (v.v. imp)

💟body part:

his favourite part of you: he is actually infatuated with every aspect of you but holy shit your tits??? he might actually be clinically obsessed with them. whenever you're cuddling, his hand finds your boobs (even if it's just to hold onto them lightly). he doesn't give a fuck about sizes and will 100% go on them for hours (i think it's his oral fixation lmaoo) his favourite part of himself: he loves his arms. other than the fact that they are one of his major weapons in any fights, he can see how you silently stare across his biceps when he's just helping around the deck. you always hold onto his arm when you're out in public too. he also loves when you get so pent up that you end up driving crescent cuts in his arms and shoulders as he fucks you.

💟 cum:

luffy's a nasty, messy man. do what you will with that info. he will cut off an arm and a leg just to finish anywhere on you whether it's inside, on your face or on your chest. just knowing that some essence of him remains on you drives him feral.

💟 dirty secret:

he's probably addicted to your smell. this sounds weird but i def think he's one of those people who steal their girlfriends underwear and then get off of them. like if he goes into the shower right after you and can smell your lingering shampoo and soap then he will fuck his fist as if it's you.

💟experience:

luffy was a complete dumbass in anything sexual but yk he is willing to learn anything that pleases you, so, once you teach him just what he's supposed to do, he will practice it on you till he reaches perfection. be prepared for a fuck lot of practice sessions tho.

💟favourite position:

i think his favourite position is missionary. he's a simple man. you're pretty as fuck and he's obsessed with your tits, what else is he supposed to do? but he's down to try just about anything and everything if you ask him to.

💟goofy:

goofy and luffy sound similar for a reason. im not saying he's giggling and kicking his feet as you go down on him but if something embarrassing happens, he needs atleast five minutes just to laugh it out. he doesnt do it in a mean-spirited way, ofcourse. he's just a silly little dude and that was funny.

💟hair:

on you: he literally doesn't care. it's totally your decision. if you wish to keep it shaved/trimmed, great but if you cannot be bothered, then that's more than fine too. he is more than excited just to have you to himself, he doesn't really care about anything more than that.

on himself: again, he doesn't really care. but incase you say that you wish he kept himself a certain way, then he'd go out of his way to pay heed to your preferences. your wish is his command.

💟intimacy (how romantic is he during it?):

luffy isn't a inherently romantic person. romance and love for him come in the form of small moments and acts of kindness rather than gigantic speeches and gestures. so in the traditional sense, he isn't romantic. but he will always make sure you're comfortable and feeling well. and to him, that is peak romance.

💟jack off:

he has a very very high sex drive and he quickly learnt that you can't exactly keep up with that so, he usually masturbates whenever it gets too much and you're not available. prefers your hands over his tho. so, like, he only does it himself if he absolutely needs to. otherwise, he would beg and whine till you please him.

💟kink:

food play (he loves you, he loves food, whats not clicking??) i think he definitely has a mommy kink (except he wont actually call you mommy. he's just act submissive and let you do whatever.) he loves to do whatever it is to please you when he's in that sub headspace but normally, he can get quite absorbed in the way he's feeling (especially when you're giving him head), so, dont blame him if he goes a teensy bit overboard.

💟location:

literally anywhere or planet earth or even beyond earth for that matter. just give him a surface to fuck you against and he'd handle the rest. in terms of favourite, i definitely think he's just sticking to the bed cause it keeps you comfortable and gives him enough safe, secure place to do whatever.

💟motivation (what gets them going):

anything and everything 😭🤭 his turn ons are so random. like you could be just chilling, talking to some crew member and suddenly he has this blinding urge to fuck you and there's nothing you can do about it.

💟no (things they are completely against):

although he's down with whatever, he won't do the classic stuff like scat, age play (extreme) or anything too disgusting. i think he's also pretty apprehensive about hitting you in bed cause he knows his strength and it feels against his entire moral code to hurt a woman. especially the woman he is in love with.

💟oral (prefer giving/receiving, how skilled are they?):

luffy goes both ways. he loves when you give him oral but he is also physically obsessed with you and will spend hours on end against your aching cunt, so, he likes going by turns. he doesn't even have to fuck you for real, just having his face pressed against your core as you rut on him is enough to make him cum in his pants. but since he's so impatient, i think he just prefers 69ing for the efficiency of it lmao (and also your moans feel so delicious against his weeping cock, please don't stop).

💟risk (how risky are they):

omg risk is the very essence of who luffy is. his risks are not even calculated, he just does shit that feels right to him. so, please do not object when you are exploring abandoned streets in an unknown island with him and he pines you against the wall and whines in that soft voice of his to have you right there and then. it also doesn't help that he doesn't feel embarrassed like ever. so, if you ever get caught he's just gonna laugh it off.

💟stamina:

ooooof, his stamina is insane!! can easily go a couple of rounds without feeling much fatigue. but he gets distracted easily, so fuck him before he gets too hungry to keep going lmao as for how long can he go for? i don't think he can hold off his orgasms for long, so, he cums fairly fast but he can push through it and keep going for a good while.

💟toys:

luffy didn't personally know much about toys till one night the boys got drunk and sanji asked them if any one of them owned a pocket pussy. he might have bought one the next time the landed on shore and well, he isn't afraid to admit that it's a handy little tool. but he doesn't know any more about toys than that. and he only got to know more once you started dating him and told him about it. he's not insecure to use toys during sex because he knows what he brings to the table. but he would pout if you fuck yourself with a toy instead of just asking him to give you some sweet sweet relief, so just dont do that mkay?

💟unfair (how much do they tease):

holy fucking shit this man LIVES to tease you. skimming touches, feathery kisses, endlessly toying with your cunt. he does it all. but do NOT tease him cause he can't stand it so, he would either lose patience and fuck you his way or he will get so overwhelmed that he would start whining and crying, begging you to ease up on him. both are good options tho 👍🏼

💟volume (are they vocal during it):

YES!! luffy is super vocal in bed. you make him feel great and he's not too shy to show it. i mean who tf will judge the would be king of the pirates?? he also adores your moans and whimpers too because all he wants is his pretty girl to feel good, obviously. (also when you tell him how good he's fucking you, that puts him over the edge because i just know he has a praise kink)

💟wild card (random headcanon):

luffy gets fucked out so easily. like literally, even if you have just been making out for like 5 mins then also his shirt will be halfway open, eyelids droopy, lips swollen, cheeks red, the whole sha-bam. so even if you both did nothing more than some pg-13 makeout, the entire crew will think you just fucked his brains out. evidence: 7th of august, 8:53 pm "ew." nami makes a face of disgust, "can you not do it before dinner? you're both nasty doin' it right before you see us." "we didn't do anything!!" you defend yourself before nudging luffy, "right luffy?" but he's in a daze, too blissful to say anything but: "uh yeahhh" ussop is holding sanji by the shirt like a rabid dog when zoro walks in. his eyes are lidden with sleep. he gives you and luffy a look before saying, "don't fuck before dinner, that's nasty." "we didN'T FUCK-"

💟x-ray (whats going on under those pants):

look he's the rubber man??? does it matter??? but no, i think he has a pretty decent size like im thinking 6" but definitely a bit more thinner. he also has a slight curve to it.

💟yearning (how high is there sex drive):

VERY HIGH. very fucking high. he's like an animal in heat or something except its all year long.

💟zzz (how quickly do they fall asleep afterwards):

he's passed out before you can say "that was so good" he's asleep and you should sleep too, you can compliment him when he wakes you up in the middle of the night for something or the other. go sleep. seriously. i see you reading smut on your screen. go sleep.

a/n: thinking i might make a sfw list too lol. if i do, ill add the link here! thankyouu to anyone who reads the stuff i write lol, you're the coolest

[demonpiratehuntress]

steal the show

Trafalgar Law x F!Reader

summary - Based on 'Steal the Show' by Lauv. Law has seen many women before, but had never paid any attention to them. you, however, have him staring as soon as you walk into a room or when you do anything basically

warnings - none

Trafalgar Law is not a man known for being good with women. He is, in fact, not, and has never felt the need or want to be. He's never expressed interest in romance, and didn't even entertain the idea of one-night stands.

Then you came into his life and flipped it upside-down.

The whole crew notices when Law develops a crush on you, because suddenly his cheeks are just slightly more pink than they were a few seconds ago because you had just smiled at him. Suddenly his eyes are only on you when you enter a room, as if magnetically drawn to your figure.

"Captain!" You called cheerily as you slipped into his room without knocking, something he seemingly only allowed you to do.

At once, Law's eyes shot up to greet your figure. He cursed himself silently, annoyed that he would instantly gaze at your beautiful figure gracing him with your presence. You hadn't done anything to your clothes or hair, but you looked absolutely radiant and Law had to try his hardest not to blush when you gave him your sweetest smile yet.

"Happy to see me, captain?" You teased, unknowingly hitting it spot on.

"You called, (Name)-ya," he coughed, trying to keep the lovesickness out of his eyes and voice. He apparently failed, because you smiled more.

"We're approaching an island."

Suddenly, your babbling has become very interesting to Law, even if it isn't anything scientific and is actually completely useless information.

"And then Nami told me Luffy got them stuck on this sky island, and..." As you rambled on and on, Law listened intently, despite the fact that what you were saying meant absolutely nothing to him. "Sorry, captain. I must be boring you."

"And then what happened?" Law asked, tilting his head slightly. He ignored your comment, because you could never bore him.

You were surprised, but smiled again and then launched into an even longer explanation of the Straw Hats exploits in Thriller Bark, as told to you by Robin. But then your smile faltered a little, and Law frowned.

"What's wrong, (Name)-ya?"

You sighed, "Robin's so smart and so pretty. Just your type." You thought you'd murmured the last part, but Law heard it. Before he could question you or say anything, you excused yourself.

And Law wanted to so badly stop you and tell you that you're his type, but he was frozen, unsure what to actually do.

Law can't help it. He's never had a crush on anyone before. He's never been in love before. This is completely new to him, but somehow because it's you, he feels okay with it.

But he's afraid to tell you.

He tried to bring it up in another conversation you had with him a few days after you'd said Robin was his type, but he was interrupted by Bepo coming to get you to finally teach him how to make cookies shaped like him, just like you'd promised. And Law watches you go, pained by the fact that he can't tell you how he feels.

So he asks the bear for help.

And a few days later, he finally gathers up the courage to follow Bepo's plan and invite you to a private dinner in his room, set up and arranged by Shachi, Penguin and Bepo because Law himself had no idea what to do.

And when you walked in wearing the prettiest yellow sundress, braving the cold of the submarine just to look nice for him, Law ends up staring at you for so long that you get nervous and think he thinks you look weird. Or that he's going to reprimand you for not wearing your boiler suit. But he says something you never ever expected.

"You always manage to steal the show, (Name)-ya," he blushed as he said it, looking a tiny bit flustered, as if he couldn't believe he said it.

"Thank you, captain," you smiled at him, a blush of your own dusting your cheeks. Butterflies bloomed in your stomach, but despite your nervousness you were so incredibly happy that this was happening.

Law was thinking about what to say as you both ate. You looked so cute when you got food on your face and quickly apologised, flustered, making it hard for him to concentrate. Again, he couldn't help but stare and his heart beat wildly in his chest just looking at you.

"I want you to be mine, (Name)-ya," he finally spoke, slowly. Then his eyes widened, "Not because I think I own you-"

"It's okay, Law," you giggled, "I know what you mean. And I've always been yours."

He relaxed and smiled at that, before leaning over to kiss you sweetly. It was unlike anything you'd ever felt, and you immediately wanted more. You kissed him deeper, longer, dreading the minute you'd have to let his warm, soft lips go. It came all too soon, but he cupped your cheek in one of his hands and affectionately brushed his thumb over your warm, red cheek with a soft smile.

"Good, because I've always been yours too."

[11rosebunny]

Turn ons (BOFURIN + SHISHITOREN)

a/n: this is a repost from my wattpad, take this for now as i struggle for my exams…

Haruka Sakura

•Girls that fight back.

He's not so much of a romantic person so many of his turn ons do not have any correlation to anything that falls deeper into the aspects of romance.

But he does get off to the sight whenever you talk back to someone you refuse to let disrespect you. Even if you fight back with him, as much as he may seem he's annoyed, he's actually intrigued in the way you snap back making him grin at your remarks.

Some say he's sadistic for that (Suo).

Hajime Umemiya

•When you smell good.

He doesn't find it weird to openly go up to you and take a wiff of your scent. It was a complete accident the first time he smelt your aroma. You and him met up outside of school for the first time alone and because of that, he was able to smell your perfume.

He doesn't know why it gets him riled up, it's even come to a point when you two finally started dating, he wouldn't remove his head away from your neck whenever you were laying on his bed with him.

•Eye contact.

He absolutely digs the way whenever you two stare at each other. Something about the way your eyelashes bat at him as he falls into a deep gaze into yours makes him lose all sanity. He may seem like he's doing fine on the outside but on the inside, his itching to shove you to a wall and ask what you're doing to him.

Toma Hiragi

•When you're submissive.

This isn't put in a way to come off as sexual, it's whenever you simply comply to anything he says. It may sound toxic but he enjoys it when you listen to his orders, regardless if it stops you from doing something you really wanted to do, making you put on a jacket because it was too cold, ensuring you'll text him as soon as you get home, or when he tells you to help him with something.

Taiga Tsugeura

•Wearing his clothes

His wardrobe is quite boring to say the least; plain colours, bland shirts, and mostly shorts. But even so, he enjoys it whenever he walks by you and notices you're wearing one of his shirts.

He'll know right away that it's his due to the sheer size of it and the way it drapes on your body. It makes him go all giddy and smiley when he sees you. He has to look away or else you'll notice the blush dusting on his cheeks.

Mitsuki Kiryu

•When you're embarrassed.

There's a difference between being shy and embarrassed. If you so happen to get shy, he knows he shouldn't be finding interest in that because that's when you are genuinely nervous.

However, if you do get embarrassed, stuttering all over the place, blush creeping up on your face, eyes darting everywhere but his, a little alter ego of himself takes over in his head watching you melt into a puddle of ice cream.

He finds it so entertaining at the way you can't look him in the eye. He'll accuse you of going red and instigate your fumbling even further just for the fun of it.

Hayato Suo

•Accidental touches.

He tries to maintain being respectful but as soon as your hand brushes over his, his chest accidentally touching the back of your shoulder blade, the way youre faces get too close if he's helping you clean something off your cheek, it drives him nuts at the way you look at him.

He may seem calm and collected on the outside, but with how he's flickering his eyes to your lips and your eyes, you can tell if he wasn't holding himself back he probably would have smashed his lips onto yours by now.

Jo Togame

•When you make the first move.

He knows he's tacky for this but he can't help but to love the feeling of being chased by someone he likes.

He's all up for the way you two basically bicker with each other when he knows deep down you want him just as much as he does too.

He loves acting like he doesn't care till at the very last moment he'll say something so breathless that you'll be thinking about it for the next few days.

•Putting your hair up.

He also thinks he has a type for sporty girls due to the fact he just purely doesn't know what his exact type of women is.

If you're getting annoyed at the way your hair continues to fly in your face, need to focus, or simply just want to tie it, he loves watching the process of you tying it up for whatever reason.

Tomiyama Choji

•Fun to be with.

He has trouble being romantic and when he does, it's usually the worst thing you've ever experienced.

So if you two date, you have to expect most of your time with him to be more like fun play dates.

He likes the way you're able to make him laugh and want to do more menacing things with you, even if it ends up with one of you being in trouble.

•PDA.

You can argue this one to him but no matter what, he loves it when you publicly show others that your his.

If you hold his hand, take pictures with him in public, hold his arm, he thinks it's one of the best things you could do to show off your significant other.

It gives him the sense that you're possessive over him. As bad as that sounds, he loves it when you're willing to be aggressive to other people that try talking to him.

[weenwrites]

*Crawls out of the sewers to make a request*

Yoo! Hope you're having a good day, make sure to drink lots of water!

As for the request, would do you mind doing a romance pining headcanons Transformers Prime Bumbleee and Optimus Prime (separately, of course) for a human charge? The bots would develop a crush on the reader, and how would they're pining be-? Most of their time pining, he human charge would be oblivious to their advances (if there are any) and would just brush it off as them being friendly? Despote the human charge having mutual feelings for the bot as well.

Apologies for my bad english, and I'm not really good at describing stuff, so pardon if it seemed weird or something-

Anyways, thank you for your time!

A/N: Your english is great! I think you were able to communicate your idea just fine.

[ Please do not repost, plagiarize, or use my writing for AI! Translating my work with proper credit is acceptable, but please ask first! ]

Optimus

It's not that he's afraid of expressing his true feelings to you, it's that he's hesitant on whether he should. You already have such a massive target painted on your back just by being under his watch, to start dating you would raise the stakes higher than you'd ever know. Of course that isn't to mention whether he'd have the time and energy to be your partner.

Yes, he sees you every day because you're his charge, but if you were to make your relationship romantic, he would need to be present and available in your life outside of decepticon-related issues. He is uncertain whether he has the time to, though he understands that he has a capable team who are well willing to break their own backs just to give him some time off, he doesn't want them to go to such lengths.

So while there's no verbal confession right away, or for any time soon, he's much more talkative with you and attentive to your every need—not overly so, but enough that it's noticeable. And however you spend patrols with him—whether it be listening to music as you drive, or just sitting in silence—words are what fill the silence as you meander down the road.

At times he'd dream about life with you, and in those dreams the war is the least of his concerns. In those dreams he thinks about how he could make his schedule align with yours, he thinks about how you might enjoy this one activity, or this one place on Cybertron. And at times he finds bits of his dreams even seeping into his waking thoughts as he finds himself wondering about your well-being on a day you're elsewhere.

Bumblebee

Surprisingly it's rather difficult to tell that he likes you because he's already so friendly towards you, but it's not inherently impossible if you can read the signs. Firstly, he's a lot more expressive around you—and while that may be surprising to hear given the fact he's already a very expressive person, I mean "more expressive" as in he seems even more enthusiastic and happy around you (even more than either of you knew was possible).

You can see it in the way he tries to keep you around, and the way that he admires stares at you for a bit longer than is considered acceptable by your societal norms. Especially whenever you go out on patrol with him, it almost feels like the seat belt around you is hugging you in a way, but you could also pass that off as he's just trying to make sure you're nice and secure.

His confession is very shy, yet there's something so endearing when it comes to seeing him offer you a hand-made Valentine's day card. The cover of the card is simple, yet the inside is what really stands out to you the most. The inside details his feelings for you—not in any showy or verbose way, but in a few straightforward and simple sentences. Yet each word is teeming with his unexpressed adoration for you, and his hesitance barely conceals the fear of your rejection, and yet he's still brave enough to look at you as if to ask "well, what do you say?"

[bonny-kookoo]

Yoonkook

𝓓𝓸 𝓡𝓮 𝓜𝓲 [Part 1]

There's something happening.

Tags/Warnings: Vampire!Yoongi, Vampire!Jungkook, Human!Reader, Angst, poly AU, emotional confusion, blood (duh), fluff, romance

Length: uh 2k I think

There is no taglist for this fic.

-> Masterlist

🩸.━━━━━━━━━━.❤️.━━━━━━━━━━━.🩸

True to what you've told him in the car, you didn't really reply to any of Jungkook's messages for the rest of the day of the donation.

And while the vampire had been a little worried, Yoongi had reassured him that you seemed competent enough to seek out help if you need it, and that he shouldn't feel bad for taking the chance of your donation. You'd done what you did because you clearly wanted it- not because you felt obligated to do so.

And today, you've begun to be texting a lot more.

Jungkook is glued to his phone the entire day it seems like, and Yoongi can't say it upsets him too much. Jungkook craves friendships and social contact sometimes- something that doesn't come too easy when in a situation similar to his. People infected with vampirism tend to be avoided, no matter the circumstances of their initial infection.

It's like people stop listening after hearing that yes, it can be infectious- healthy people without the infection simply take that fact without looking into it, and run with it.

It's how the stigma had evolved in the first place- parents telling their children not to believe anything they teach about vampirism in schools, churches call infected people demons, and the elderly refuse to be taken care of by vampire staff at care homes or hospitals. Most companies won't even hire people with the infection, and they don't have to- there's no law protecting vampires, after all.

So, Jungkook has been rather lonely.

Apart from Yoongi and Seokjin, he doesn't really have any friends, and his parents had cut contact the moment he was diagnosed. So Yoongi can understand how excited he must feel at the prospect of making a new friend. And he also can't deny that he himself isn't at least slightly interested in you as well.

"How is she doing?" Yoongi asks as soon as he notices Jungkook's facial expression darken a little. The young vampire scratches the edge of his chin for a second, before he answers.

"I mean, she said 'good', but I don't know." He hums to himself. "I feel like I should like, maybe check? Ah, I don't know, this is so weird.." He mumbles more or less to himself, and Yoongi becomes interested.

It couldn't be that Jungkook and you.. no, could it?

"If you're really that worried, ask her if you can visit." Yoongi shrugs, well aware his partner won't really be able to rest easy unless he's got proof of your wellbeing. He's just compassionate like that- he's awfully empathetic towards everyone around him he cares about. It's something that's used for personal gain left and right- and Yoongi hates it.

Though he hopes you're not one to use him.

"Or.. what if we invite her over so she can eat with us?" Jungkook asks. "I don't want you to be alone." He complains, while Yoongi sighs.

"You know I don't mind being my myself, Jungkook." He reassures the younger vampire. "Go and visit her, it's not that big of a deal.." He mumbles to himself as he puts the last dishes on the side to let them dry.

"I mean, I know you don't mind it." Jungkook offers, hugging his partner from behind. "But that doesn't mean you should be so okay with it. You deserve to have friends too."

Yoongi is quiet for a moment, simply enjoys the close proximity, before he sighs. "Alright. Ask her what she likes to eat, we can order something in." He caves in, making Jungkook smile and eagerly run to grab his phone again so he can text you the new idea for the night. "Ah, and if she wants to drink something she can sleep over on the couch!" He calls to Jungkook, who gives an agreeing reply back as he texts you in the living room, sat on the couch.

Only a few hours later, you're calling Jungkook, who suddenly gets up to look out the window of the apartment the two vampires live in where he can see the bus stop. "Are you wearing the pink coat?" Jungkook asks into his phone, earning Yoongi's attention, as the younger vampire sighs. "You were supposed to tell me when we should pick you up! It's raining so much!" He whines in complaint, rushing to grab his own jacket and an umbrella, before slipping into his shoes to walk out the door, leaving Yoongi to search for the mentioned pink coat- and he finds it, standing beneath the somewhat shielded bus stop. You're stubborn, that's clear- he'd told Jungkook to not give away any hint at their address to you, because you'd surely go out to get here yourself instead of asking for someone to pick you up instead. And it turns out he was right.

Yoongi helps you take off your coat as you step inside, thanking him for the kind gesture before you slip out of your shoes. "Sorry-" you start, somewhat fixing your hair a bit. "-I just didn't want either of you guys to drive in that weather." You laugh, making Yoongi shake his head.

"No worries." He brushes it off, before he leads you into the living room. As you sit on the couch, you look around- noticing how long they both must be living together already for the entire apartment to look this.. alive.

"You have a lot of workout equipment." You notice as the oldest vampire sets a glass of water in front of you before Jungkook enters the room as well, jumping over the back of the couch to sit on it next to you.

"Yeah, that's mine, but Yoongi uses it too sometimes." He shrugs. "Mostly me though. It's like a hobby."

"Oh, that sounds nice." You agree. "You're very conscious about your body?" You wonder, and Yoongi chimes in from the side as he sits down as well, though a bit further away from you.

"He has to be, as a vampire." He says.

It's quiet for a moment, since you don't know what to say to that, really. You've noticed while Yoongi doesn't wear any identification at all, Jungkook still has his ID tag on his wrist, meaning that he's not been infected for long enough, or hasn't been evaluated either. "Oh, don't worry about that." Jungkook suddenly says a bit bashful, having noticed your eyes on the silver bracelet around his wrist. "I'm totally fine to be around. I just.. haven't gotten around to get tested yet." He tries to justify.

"Oh no, don't worry, I didn't mean to stare!" You wave him off. "I was just in thoughts." You laugh.

"Then think about what you want to eat first." Yoongi tells you a bit roughly, making Jungkook sigh as he leads you to sit on the couch together with him to look through the takeout menu on the little tablet he picks up from the coffee table.

"Yoongi just sounds a bit mean." He reassures you. "I promise he's actually a really nice guy."

"Have you been together long?" You wonder, tapping on the items you'd want to eat.

"Uh.. kind of? It's hard to explain, really." Jungkook chuckles. We're.. we have like a platonic, but also romantic kind of relationship. I know it sounds kind of weird." He sighs a bit uneasy, but you shake your head.

"Not at all, don't worry." You shrug him off. "I mean, if some people can have sex but not a relationship, why can't others have it the other way around?" You just say, making Jungkook look at you almost in wonder, before he snaps his attention back to the tablet when Yoongi reaches over his boyfriend's shoulder to tap some items into the order himself, resting his chin on Jungkook's shoulder for a moment.

"Oh, let me get my wallet real quick-" You move to get up to fetch your bag- but a hand grabs at your sweater easily, keeping you on the couch. You look back to spot Yoongis eyes on you, chin still on Jungkook's shoulder, before he shakes his head and stands up properly again, letting go of both of you.

"Don't bother. It's fine." He reassures you, leaving to do something in the kitchen you can't see.

"Alright, next time you come over to my place then, and I'll cook." You tell Jungkook. "Please- or I'll feel bad eternally, and you'll never hear the end of it! I'll haunt you to pay back the food, I swear!" You threaten the vampire, who can't help but laugh at the finger pointing at his chest.

"You're cute." He comments, causing you to laugh as well.

Later on, you're all a little tipsy from the beer, and sluggish from all the food you've eaten. You're nodding off against Jungkook's shoulder as the movie slowly comes to an end, your eyes closed as unbeknownst to you, Yoongi adjusts the blanket over your shoulders to make sure you stay comfortable.

You're very easy to be around, even for him- and he's actually not that social, usually hates anybody visiting at all. But he'd invited you simply to kind of pay you back- but now that you're here, he doesn't actually mind you all that much, if at all.

Jungkook seems very comfortable with you as well- the younger vampire having easily fallen into conversation with you as you two drank and laughed over jokes only you two seemed to understand. But even then, you always remembered and attempted to make Yoongi feel included.

And maybe that's the most unique thing.

It's only one single day, a little more than five hours, and he already has an odd feeling about you. And the weirdest thing about it, is that he feels so good around you it's intimidating to him. He never really felt so drawn to a person before than he does to you- he wants to hear you talk even if it's about nonsense, he wants to know how you feel, what you like, what you hate, what annoys you, and what makes you happy.

For a second, truly so, he thought it was just some.. dumb sexual need. A fantasy almost that his mind, or rather dick, came up with- because you are, absolutely, pretty. He'd never be able to deny that.

But he doesn't actually really think about that- not entirely at least. You get along so well with Jungkook and himself, as if there's nothing different about them compared to you at all. And maybe, just maybe, there's a chance at this already odd relationship he has with Jungkook could become just a bit weirder, because in a way, Yoongi can't help but feel like nothing is impossible when it comes to you.

Though, that creates a new predicament.

How does he propose this idea, without potentially scaring both of you off?

[taeyegu]

me to you, you to me — 013. not slick

previous // next

word count — 1.0k

warning(s) — mention of food and drink, mentions of alcohol and being tipsy, mingyu being a himbo lol

"y/n are you ready yet?" seokmin called from the living room of your apartment. seokmin was waiting for you to finish getting ready so that the two of you could head over to the restaurant for dinner.

"almost! i'll be out in five minutes max!" y/n called back. seokmin couldn't help but chuckle, he knew y/n hated being late to any event but he still wanted to get to the restaurant a little early so they could take their time going in without causing a scene.

at that moment, y/n exited from the bathroom looking absolutely stunning. for someone who talks way too much, his girlfriend definitely knew how to take his breath away each and every time. and seokmin couldn't help but blush as he felt so lucky to be able to call y/n his most precious significant other.

now that the couple (finally) decided it would be appropriate to inform the rest of the hospital of their relationship, everything was a little more at ease. however, even though most things seemed normal, there was a weird feeling that seokmin couldn't quite shake away. especially when minghao had invited him to attend the dinner…

y/n and seokmin both arrived at the restaurant and entered the establishment to see some of the other staff members had already reserved a room for the party to enjoy.

"hey look who arrived!" minghao interrupted the small talk around the table. everyone looked up to see that y/n and seokmin had walked in. "nice to see you guys!" minghao greeted as he leaded the two over to the table. he sat the two next to each other because obviously the couple would want to be seated next to each other.

"did you guys arrive at the same time?" mingyu asked the two.

"yeah, you could say that!" y/n giggled.

"how about jaehyun though? i thought you and him would have come together." mingyu laughed. y/n's smile dropped and seokmin couldn't help but roll his eyes. he decided not to really listen to them as his current conversation with one of the interns, vernon, was much more interesting… well mostly.

"what do you mean mingyu?" y/n asked politely, "did jaehyun mention that he needed a ride or something?"

"no not really, but i just assumed from your guys' tweets that you were together!" y/n couldn't help but tilt her head to the side in complete confusion. however before she was able to respond to the doctor's absurd theories, the rest of the party guests arrived.

the dinner finally began with drinks being served and appetizers being passed around happily. the dinner progressed with delicious entrees and lots of alcohol. the mood was fun and light, it made seokmin almost forget about the fact that dr. kim kept bugging his girlfriend about jaehyun.

actually, he couldn't really forget about it because the man kept bringing it up every other conversation topic. it got to the point where almost everyone at the table was focused on their conversation.

"mingyu i don't know what you're talking about," jaehyun chuckled, "i'm not dating anyone at the hospital." mingyu slapped jaehyun's back in a friendly way,

"no need to hide your romance dude! it's completely okay for coworkers to date!" everyone could tell that mingyu was a little tipsy at this point, "just look at the gs and neuro department! now it's time for pediatrics to come out with a cute couple!"

at this point, seokmin isn't sure if he can take it anymore. he is millimeters away from just telling mingyu off that there is indeed already a couple in pediatrics…

"i thought you guys already had a couple?" everyone at the table turned their attention onto chan the intern. "is it not nurse seokmin and nurse y/n?"

the whole table got quiet. seokmin couldn't help the blush the appeared on his cheeks. did y/n already start telling people that they were together? seokmin stole a quick glance at y/n and was surprised to see that she was also flustered at the revelation.

"pft! it's not them chan!" mingyu laughed heartily, "it's jaehyun and y/n but the two lovebirds are just too shy to admit it!"

"i thought y/n and seokmin were also dating… i mean i thought it was obvious." vernon said in his usual tone.

a few nods and agreements were heard around the table and minghao couldn't help but keep the smile off of his face, "that's literally what i've been telling mingyu but the guy just wouldn't listen!"

"yeah it's pretty obvious that y/n and seokmin are together," seungcheol added, "i saw seokmin multiple times come to the hospital to pick up y/n even though he was off for that day."

"we've also seen them on multiple dates at the sushi place a few blocks from the hospital!" jun said happily, "the neuro department goes there sometimes for happy hour and we've seen them all lovey-dovey together!"

"i also have multiple pictures of them sneaking off at the hospital garden together," seungkwan adds, "you guys aren't slick!"

"w-what?" mingyu blushes, "are you guys serious?" the pouty puppy looks towards the couple in question who are quite frankly still in shock that the whole hospital indeed knows that the two are dating but not because anybody told them, but because the couple themselves are just not good at hiding their relationship.

"we all knew that the fighting and the hating each other was a cover for it." jihoon stated, "the two of you are the nicest person ever, so you guys acting like you hate each other… i'll just say that you're not cut out to be an actor."

it was now at this point where jaehyun decided to pat mingyu on the back reassuringly, "if it makes you feel any better dude i am dating someone--but they don't work at this hospital."

unfortunately, this was not the easy win that mingyu was expecting.

[lovemyromance]

I don't really get Gw*nriel. I genuinely read that bonus chapter and was like 🤩 azriel made a friend 🫶🏼 Gwyn feels comfortable enough to talk to him

... that's it.

Did I miss the part in ACOSF where Gwyn showed any attraction for Azriel?

Like, any actual explicitly written canon text that shows she is attracted to this man?

"You're the new ribbon, Az." - Said by Nesta, when referring to the ribbon Gwyn regarded as a challenge. I don't think she was flirting with Azriel on behalf of Gwyn, right after she discovered "Azriel's secret" (which, he himself states was that he couldn't be around the Elucien mating bond).

"See you tomorrow, Shadowsinger." - literally just her saying bye? It's not like she said "bye pookie 😍". It's like when I call my guy friends by their last names - hope they don't think I'm in love with them now 😬

"Do you sing?" - girl asked the question we were all wondering, let's be honest. Like wtf is a shadowsinger even??

And that about... sums up all their interactions?

Not sure where it showed Gwyn being attracted to Azriel, but okay. In fact, all their interactions literally reminded me of when girls joke with their coach on the soccer team or something. Because that's literally all he is to her right now?

A teacher??

She has shown no attraction or signs that she is attracted to or in any way, desires Azriel on a romantic level. So I don't know where any of this is coming from? People are complaining that Elriels ship Vassien just to get Lucien out of the way when Vassa hasn't shown any hint of desire for Lucien - Okay, but didn't the entirety of the Gwynriel ship start just to get Azriel away from Elain, without considering whether or not Gwyn even wants this man??

It's honestly really wild to me that y'all read an entire bonus chapter where Azriel so desperate for Elain he's willing to beg on his knees, and then read that lil interaction with Gwyn and thought "Yes. This is the epitome of romance."

Stop reducing Gwyn down to a man she isn't even interested in?? She is a warrior in her own right, it has nothing to do with Azriel.

Now, if SJM had written literally anything that shows Gwyn were interested in Azriel, I'd understand this crackship a bit more. At least Elucien are declared mates already, so I understand if people ship them. Gwynriel has not even interacted and yet people are saying their book is next??

Make it make sense.

Eluciens & Gwynriels stay shipping women with men they haven't shown any attraction or affection for, beyond politeness. Weird as hell

[wellofdean]

So in my ongoing efforts to say nice things about Supernatural and, as @luckshiptoshore said yesterday, "reclaim this nice, gay show" together, and also probably because I listened to Bruce Springsteen earlier today while I was thinking: why is it that this particular love story has me like it does? Why can't I let this Destiel thing go? I mean... I watched all the recent queer love stories and as much as I enjoyed Good Omens and OFMD, they just don't take up real estate in my soul like Supernatural does -- and that's not a decision I made, it just is. I don't know about you guys, but my little rages choose me.

Anyway, I was thinking -- it's probably not just because of queer representation or whatever, and I don't think it's because I want to see dudes be tender -- I think I ran out of that form of interest in the life of dudes awhile ago, but yeah, Bruce Springsteen. Born to Run. He says "I want to know love is wild, I want to know love is real" and I felt like it pretty much hit the nail on the head for me, somehow.

It's been a long time since I have felt moved by a het romance story. I feel like I can no longer believe it when the roles are so pre-packaged in the tropes and trappings of what was sold to me as idealised love in my younger days. And, like, I am Gen X, so it was pretty gruesome out there when I was learning how to want love -- the power of compulsory heterosexuality was strong, and the shit that was sold to us all as ways to love and be loved were pretty gross, just watch any romantic comedy from the 80's or 90's.

I think I love Supernatural so much because of the way Dean plays the role of a standard issue dude, and postures like he is a stereotypical red-blooded American dude, but it's so transparent that it isn't him. I don't know if it's just Jensen things, or if it was consciously done, but I love how unconvincing Dean's act is, and how clear it is that he is a wounded child whose own real desires and needs have been beaten out of him somehow, and I just love the way the real Dean and what that guy wants slow rises out of him as the story goes on, until he's choking on it, and visibly swallowing it down. For me, the queerest thing about Dean is his pain, his aching loneliness, and his sense of failure at being what he thinks he is -- a violent man who only knows how to kill, and I love Dean's moments of clarity, moments when he speaks from his own soul -- when he tells Cas he's sorry, tells John he has a family, tells Chuck "that's not who I am" are just everything to me.

Both Dean and Cas are victims of conditioning and coersion -- Dean trying to be his Daddy's perfect son, and being manipulated by Chuck, and Cas horribly violated and brainwashed repeatedly for millennia in heaven -- and they love each other in defiance of conditioning, because love is wild, and it's the product of their freedom.

I feel like ALL actual love eschews force and arises out of freedom. All real love is specific and weird, and is co-created in the space between lovers from what is most real in them and in that sense, all real love is queer in some way in that it is not part of the big social project of subjugating what doesn't comply. I feel like a lot of people lead lives of mindless compliance and that a thing that's wonderful about queer people and queer community is that we work against the grain to honor what is truest in us, whatever that is.

I guess I just love that, on Supernatural, the kind of love that saves the day is the kind that grows wild, like a weed you can't kill, out of more than a decade of choosing each other, again and again, and choosing to fight coercion and conditioning. Love that just fucking refuses to comply, and in fact, cannot comply, because non-compliance is it's very nature. There's something so hopeful and beautiful about that to me. I want to believe in it, and I do.

It's also why, after ALL THIS, in the context of that narrative, Dean is incontrovertibly queered, and anything else is just straight up narrative malpractice.

[corvuscorona]

"You Never Forget Your First Love."

The other day, a mutual (hi! you know who you are I think probably hello hi! thank you for the Posting Impetus!) said something that made me curious (for, like, the 80th time, actually; lol. I Have Thoughts) about something: what's the split on people who subscribe to the "Stranger of Paradise probably intended for us to believe that Jack & Sarah were in love" mindset, vs. not? In general, but ESPECIALLY around these parts.

I genuinely didn't read it that way myself (& I do NOT normally give media (general) this much credit, but the writing in this game is sublime; I had no choice but to fully engage Scholar Mode on it), + I think it's interesting that SPECIFICALLY any of my fellow tumblr people / AO3-heads / Gay People Online / etc. seem to have. (I expect nothing from people who haven't been basting themselves in the same online sub-subcultures as me for over a decade. They're allowed to write wrong things on wikis, and have done so already; it's whatever.)

I wanna metapost badly again, so let's go. Join me. No poll. If you have an opinion on this, I'm looking directly into your eyes and beckoning you towards your own keyboard + also the reblog button / comment section, like a weird ghost. What did you think when you first played the game?? What do you think right now? What are you about to think after you have read a bunch of my words. Tell Me. I Need To Know This.

Spoilers for, idk, everything? Today we will use everything we've got to talk about Princess Sarah.

1. As a Narrative Element

This game makes a point of referring to Sarah as things like "a symbol of hope and peace" as often as possible, & when it isn't doing that she's usually in the role of An Object Or Device Of Some Kind, anyway. She's important because she's capable of holding light and dark in balance & SOMEONE'S gotta hold onto this dark crystal for safekeeping, and also we're gonna need to upset that balance on purpose later. There's that conversation in the Wicked Arbor about whether the Strangers would "choose" her (as opposed to "treasure") as the "reward" for succeeding in their mission[1], & there's the one in the Sunken Shrine where Jed asks Jack what he thinks of her and Jack says that he doesn't care about her as a person[2] BUT that protecting her is mission-critical (lol), too.

Sarah's death is metaphorically charged. It's the point of no return: the dark crystal breaks, the balance of light & dark gets extremely ruined, & Literally All The Darkness In Cornelia converges in one place (Fool's Missive XXVII). That's the payoff for the "symbol of hope and peace" motif, and communicating this idea that "the metaphorical light of hope just For Real Died, Like Catastrophically Imploded, No Take-Backs" feels to me like it was the highest priority here. Second-highest goes to "Jack had way more humanity before, but he set it aside on purpose and is actively in the middle of losing the rest of it." "Sort of." "I'm not getting into what counts as humanity or doesn't because if I did we would be here forever."

Basically, I'm saying that the tidiest read on the situation is "Jack despairs because Sarah dying means in a very literary and final way that everything is ruined forever, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with, like, Love (romantic)." I don't think the text of the game is particularly signaling that Love (romantic) is involved, and I think that if it meant to, it would be more obvious about it. You could bundle "an romance" into the "humanity" thing if you wanted to, but I'm not inclined to, based on some additional list items that you can read below this one.

[1] The fact that Neon ALSO says she feels bad for her for being thought of in this way only reinforces my conviction that the game is pointing at Sarah & yelling "REMEMBER THAT SHE IS MOSTLY A SYMBOL!", tbh. Who wants to go point out how freaky the mechanics of Being An Royalty are w/ me and the boys??

[2] I will give the Wiki WrongPosters this: I can totally see this as some kind of irony thing, given that he's still missing like a fucktillion of his memories when he says it. However! As mentioned above, I have other reasons not to read it as evidence that he was ever, like, romantically interested in her.

2. As a Sheltered Youth™

We don't have a TON of information to work with RE: Sarah as, like, a person, but here are a couple of hard facts to start with: she's 19 (per the data book, but she'd have to be somewhere in the 18-to-early-20's age range regardless or her whole deal wouldn't really make much sense, imo. She's a baby...!), and she's royalty. I think this ties into her utility as a walking metaphor, among other things; she's archetypically young, fresh, & idealistic. I'd call her naïve but the game obviously isn't interested in portraying it as a weakness, so positive words only; why not.

You could argue that people look to her as a symbol of hope because she hasn't directly experienced enough strife to exhibit hopelessness or fear in response to bad news in the abstract. I find it interesting that before Jack, like, knocks the wind out of her & tells Sophia to take her outside so she can see for herself how bad things have gotten at the end of the game, she says that her duty is to die with her people if she has to, & it doesn't even seem to occur to her that she could lead at least some of them away to safety...? When she changes her mind, she still talks about herself as a symbol before she ever uses the word "leader". She sees HERSELF in terms of symbols and metaphors, and takes action based on her designated role As One Of Those. Not very practical.

There's also the dialogue you can have with the queen the first time you're allowed to run around in the throne room at the beginning of the game, where she asks Jack to smile in front of her daughters (NOT just Mia; daughters, plural). Even if she only means "dude can you be polite please," the fact that this is The thing she has to say to Jack is telling. Is it going to upset your 19-year-old daughter to see that the Guy Whose Job It Is To Kill Monsters looks serious? Why do you think this? Does your 19-year-old daughter understand how serious the situation is, generally speaking? Do you not WANT her to for some reason? Boats don't work anymore unless a weird elf messes with them first. Not thinking very hard about the implications of this is something a sheltered person does.

Residual time loop un-memories aside, a young woman in this situation is so obviously going to have a huge crush on Jack Garland no matter what. He Is So Cool, first of all, & he's also Different from the adult men she gets to see on an everyday basis (family, guards, rando townspeople[3]...). It's not like the political social scene could POSSIBLY be thriving in this world, either; it all seems to be one kingdom we're dealing with and they're kind of busy with the external threat of being Under Fucking Attack By Monsters. Does she even get fun treats like "handsome visiting dignitaries" & what-have-you? The game doesn't present us with any potential options, here. Jack is mysterious, he has special-boy Warrior of Light status, his one job & apparent life's purpose is protecting the kingdom she loves, he's pretty nice to her (even in later cycles he at least goes out of his way to be polite!), & additionally, he's shredded. THIS makes sense to me.

There's a Q&A in the data book that has something to say about JACK as a symbol & what that has to do with this whole thing but we'll get there. We'll get there.

[3] Tangent: what's up with how Cornelia's entire adult male population appears to consist of aging queens. Why did they only make models that look Like That for the NPCs? It's awesome but I have 1 quastion

3. JACK JUMPSCARE !

I'm not about to say that he's just humoring her, or anything, but please humor ME for one second & put yourself in Jack's shoes. Not the default shoes; we can have more fun than that. Maybe the Banded Boots. Blurple ones? Shaped like a cartoon would wear them? Big spikes on the back for no reason? I love those things. Anyway, you're Jack. You're working for literally the king, & the work means Everything to you for reasons you can't even necessarily explain except to say that it JUST does. The king's eldest daughter (very young adult; Never Been Outdoors; a little overly-sociable but nice enough & what do you expect from a princess, anyway) has imprinted on you like a duckling for whatever reason. You would be nice to this person, yes? You'd be patient with her while you're in town. You have Brutal Murders to be doing, but not until, like, 2 days from now, or whatever; you're sharing space with her in some capacity in the meantime & it's in your best interests to keep her happy. (You probably even enjoy doing this, if you're Jack of a Way Earlier Cycle; I'm in no way ruling that out. Sharing your music collection with an enthusiastic Baby Adult? That's fun. I think he was probably having fun. Okay, you can step out of the fun purple shoes if you want; the Humoring Me Minute has concluded; thanks.)

Also, @2000sanimeop and I think that if Jack felt that way about her Astos would have been a little More Something about how much it was gonna suck for him when she died. In Fool's Missive XXVII he uses the word "painful," but that's about it. He doesn't even bring it up in XXV, which is the one where he says he's curious about whether she'd survive being turned into a fiend (side note: Astos fucking rocks. Why did he write that down?? I love him). & Hey SPEAKING OF ASTOS,

4. I wouldn't put Jackstos on a wiki, either.

The writing in Stranger of Paradise, SERIOUSLY, WITHOUT EXAGGERATION, is some of the best I've seen in literally anything ever. It suits not just its medium but also its sort of Place in History Relative to Other Video Games & the things it chose to DO with that medium & that niche INSANELY well. It is CUSTOMIZED. It's SO INTENTIONAL. I can't get too far into this or we'll be here all day, but the essence of what I want to say here is: there are relatively few facts presented to us by this game, compared to the implications we can go about drawing from those facts & other, external sources of context.

Sarah calls Jack her first love; that's a fact. No facts are presented to us that REALLY say much one way or the other[4] about what Jack thinks of this, himself; "fucktillion memories missing" Jack says he doesn't care, but he's missing a fucktillion of his memories, and DLC2 Jack has a set of dialogue options (hi Anne the Malboro I love you Anne the Malboro) that can point either way depending on what the player chooses, which is kind of nothing, on balance. As the audience, we can (should!) draw whatever conclusion we want about it, but none of those conclusions are text.

[4] I WILL GET TO THE DATA BOOK IN ONE SECOND. HOLD ON.

And, okay, please let me level with you. Let's be on the same page. Jack & Astos had some kind of thing going on, imo, OBVIOUSLY, but I want to be CLEAR and I want to get CREDIT for the things I'M bringing to the table to help generate this conviction. I drew that conclusion & I read that reading based on subtext, context, personal history, personal preference, & sheer gay zest for life. It is also, emphatically, NOT TEXT.

Astos refers to Jack with the ol' "...friend" in Fool's Missive XXI. He calls him "my Jack" in Fool's Missive XXXI. Canonically, textually, he has some big fucking COMPLICATED fucking feelings about this man. These are facts. If you're playing this game as Some Guy, I can see how you could potentially absorb these facts & still pay them much less regard[5] than I did & continue to. My argument here is that god I wish I lived in a world where Some Guy could extend the same courtesy to me and not treat Sarah's textual affection for Jack as something that necessarily indicates Some Kind Of Reciprocal Romantic Whatever, Definitely, Obviously, Of Course.

[5] Longer Tangent: I have been informed that the Some Guys of the world are currently pretty good at Recognizing a character that behaves in a way that's Pretty Gay, but tend to stop there, possibly for the combined reasons that A. they're not very familiar with a lot of the the ways gay relationships often work (you know, soul resonance. mutual recognition. sharing a brain etc.) and B. the Object Of Affection is usually the player character and they subconsciously shy away from thinking of a Guy They're Supposed To Identify With as gay. This is practically a lead-in to an entire separate post I could make, so I'll leave it at that, lol.

The writing is too good for that kind of assumption! I'M SERIOUS!! It's mind-blowingly subtle & endlessly fascinating to hold up to the light & view from every possible angle, and "Jack & Sarah were in love" + "Jack & Astos were in love" are BOTH ANGLES. I'm personally very very interested in giving the text credit for that. I think it's impressive. I think it's really, really cool, and I think it was on purpose. Speaking of which,

5. Word of God agrees with me, btw

This is from the Q&A section on page 156 of the Confidential File. The translations below are my own (I think they're straightforward enough, but lmk if you know more than me & I'm actually being stupid in there somewhere. Alt text has the JPN, if you want to copypaste it or something). Someone asked:

Why is it that you established Garland as someone Sarah has a romantic interest in?

The answer is from Daisuke Inoue (director, one of 3; the other 2 are from Team Ninja; he's from Square Enix):

That was because, from a narrative standpoint, we wanted Sarah to be the kind of person who holds onto hope. You can imagine that she saw the "hope" to save the world in Jack, a potential Warrior of Light. Sarah is seen by her people as a symbol of a bright future, but if there were nobody to give her hope, that might destabilize her emotionally. As for whether she felt genuine love for Jack, or just mistook her feelings of admiration towards him for "first love," we'll leave that to your interpretation.

The first time I read this, I thought the question was implying the aforementioned Reciprocal Something, but on closer inspection that doesn't even seem to be true! "思い人" seems to indicate a directional relationship; as in, the question assumes that Jack is an object of affection to Sarah, but assumes nothing about what Jack thinks.

Also, the answer uses the word "初恋" (hatsukoi), which is a very established Concept as far as "first love" goes, but in that one cutscene, Sarah says "初めての恋" (hajimete no koi), which is. Different, but I couldn't tell you how, lol. It's Not The Exact Same Phrase, but I'm not sure whether it's meaningfully different in this context. If I had to guess, I'd say that IF ANYTHING it could be a way of saying "first love" without invoking the cultural CONSTRUCT of First Love (as much)? But it's whatever. The localization holds up. All sources show that Sarah had Feelings about Jack, and all sources CONSPICUOUSLY neglect to mention Jack's feelings about her.

It was on purpose. This is my license to be as annoying as I want for one second here. I am right. All the other writing in this game is notably subtle, efficient, intentional, and skilled, AND ALSO, WHEN do you ever see anyone write such a richly beautiful, mostly-subtextual relationship between two men, which can easily be read as a romantic thing, and NOT explicitly canonize a very possible romantic relationship between at least one of those men and a woman, like not even in an interview or anything. What the fuck, man.

I'm putting away the Respectable Scholar Hat now. This is so funny. The person asking this question didn't EVEN go as far as assuming Jack & Sarah had any kind of Actual Romance going on, & the answer STILL dials it back to "she might have been conflating her feelings about Jack AS A SYMBOL with actual affection, also. We'll let you decide : ) ". This game is everything ever.

[sincerelyhannahx]

To celebrate Asexual Visibility Week (which Happy Asexual Visibility Week by the way omg), here is a list of characters who are now asexual because I said so:

Crowley and Aziraphale (Good Omens) I mean, this is basically canon for me already but their relationship genuinely means so much to me because it's not inherently romantic or sexual or even strictly platonic, they just have such a strong emotional bond and love each other in a way that I think could only be asexual. And being fairly new to my sexuality (not even a year yet) I really needed them in my life. Maybe I don't want an allonormative relationship - maybe I just want what they have. Idk they're just really special to me.

Belle (Beauty and the Beast) Belle being ace removes the beastiality aspect of the story so I think this is best for everyone involved. (This goes for Tiana too, actually - ace!Tiana, let's go). But she literally fell in love with the Beast because of his personality after spending a long time getting to know him (and because of a Library but ykw me too girlie). And it helps that I've had a strong attachment to Belle since forever (and I actually played her in a school production when I was 6).

Peter Pettigrew (Harry Potter) Right, so I do hate Peter and I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to, but omg he is so asexual. And definitely not saying that asexual people are going to betray and murder their best friends but I feel like not fitting in with his very allonormative group and maybe not even knowing what the term asexual means could be an interesting motivation for his actions. Peter feeling like he's broken somehow for not feeling what the others are feeling, thinking there must be something wrong with him since everyone else is falling in love, viewing himself as unloveable because platonic love isn't enough when everyone else has a brilliant romance, turning to the Dark Lord because he's been left behind but maybe this will fix him... and then losing that platonic love too and realising he didn't need fixing after all and his friends were enough, but now it's too late. So, anyway, ace!Peter makes me sad.

Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) "There's never been anything romantic between Gale and me." This is 100% because Gale is a walking red flag but I'll take it as an aroace thing too. “Remember, we’re madly in love, so it’s all right to kiss me any time you feel like it.” The fact she didn't fall head-over-heels in love with Peeta as soon as he said this is honestly all the evidence I need. Also trying to act like you're madly in love with someone? I know it was for survival but, again, I'll take what I can get. "What I need is the dandelion in the spring... And only Peeta can give me that." This is not an allosexual relationship, I will not change my mind. Personally, I think Katniss is probably demisexual and I love her for that.

The Doctor (Doctor Who) If I had a nickel for every time David Tennant played an 'immortal' genderfluid asexual non-human who loves the stars and humanity, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. And if I had a nickel for every time I was in love with those characters, I would also have two nickels. But, yeah, the Doctor is asexual, that's just canon for me (and David Tennant said it too soooooooo).

Zoe Nightshade (Percy Jackson) The Hunters of Artemis are a sisterhood that requires you to swear off love and relations with men. Oh no, what a sacrifice! Come to think of it, she also has a connection to the stars - this is becoming a recurring thing.

Artemis, Athena, and Hestia (Greek Mythology) The fact there is a trio of asexual goddesses will never not make me so happy. In the Homeric Hymns, 5, To Aphrodite, Aphrodite is described as having "no power" over these three, which basically just confirms what everyone was already thinking. Artemis is quite literally the Maiden Goddess, who asks her father, Zeus, to forever remain a virgin and protect those who wish the same. Athena never took on any lovers (and in the Percy Jackson series, her children are conceived through her thoughts and born in the same way she was). And Hestia just wanted to be left alone with her hearth, also never marrying or having children.

Barbie (Barbie) "To do what?" Girlie literally has nothing going on down there (for the majority of the movie, idk what happened at the end) and doesn't understand why Ken wants to stay over because they're girlfriend boyfriend. The point of the Barbies is that they show women can be everything so, legally, no one can stop me saying she's an asexual icon.

Regulus Black (Harry Potter) I apologise to all the Jegulus stans out there but you can pry Regulus from my cold, dead hands. Asexual and Bi/Pan friendships are my absolute favourite (shout out to me and my bestie <3) and that is exactly what he's got with Pandora. Also, after Sirius was disowned, the responsibility of continuing the Black family line would fall to Regulus and that aroace pressure makes for some beautiful angst. And it means he's okay with sacrificing himself because at least he won't have to force a life he doesn't want. Why does the Marauders era always turn so sad so quickly?

Inej Ghafa (Six of Crows) Again with the Asexual and Bi/Pan friendships - I'm really just projecting myself and my best friend onto Inej and Nina, but who's going to stop me? I could say Ace!Kaz as well but I think his is more just a trauma response than a sexuality.

Elsa (Frozen) and Merida (Brave) Watch out, Disney; I'm coming for all of your princesses. I'm putting these two together because they could be asexual but I could also see them as lesbians - or maybe they're both.

Charlie Weasley (Harry Potter) He is the blueprint. Mum wants me to get married and settle down? Yeah, okay, but have you heard about dragons?

Newt Scamander (Fantastic Beasts) He is also the blueprint. Yeah, okay, but have you heard about every beast to ever exist ever?

I could keep going but I won't (for now). These characters mean so much to me and my asexuality and these headcanons honestly make me so happy. But honestly, we need more asexual characters in media because we're so underrepresented and it's such a serotonin boost. Like, in S4 of Sex Education, I actively gasped and had such a big smile on my face when O came out as ace (at the representation, not the being forced to come out). Anyway, Happy Asexual Visibility Week!

[asofterhibou]

This post from @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier making it as good a time as any for a The Magicians brain dump I guess: like the post says the Qualice reunion scene is a weird and weirdly perfunctory scene, and honestly who knows what the writers were smoking for those last two episodes, but. in the secretly good show in my head, the scene is perfunctory and not particularly romantic because it's not really supposed to be, or at least the main purpose of the scene is not exactly Quentin and Alice's romance. To me the narrative problem/tension of Qualice at this point in the show is not whether they love each other. They do. They've said it and shown it in multiple ways, there's not really any need for romantic declarations. In fact Alice made a romantic declaration at the end of s3 on the muntjac, saying that Quentin was the one she loved etc. And then still destroyed the keys in Blackspire, which Quentin clearly takes as a personal betrayal, why he can't trust her. In s3 Alice loves Quentin but she doesn't trust him, not with her feelings, or with her secret plans. Which is where the many many parallels of Alice and Eliot in s4 begin! If the plot of s3 (magic gone and fairy takeover) is mostly the consequences of Quentin and Margo's choices in s2, the plot of s4 (the monster and the library) is mostly the consequences of Alice and Eliot's choices at the end of s3 (with help from Fogg). In s4 Alice and Eliot are both prisoners, and they both escape their prisons, in different ways. And a lot of the tension of this scene for me, which is linked also with the flower scene, is - can Quentin escape his prison? He's repeating the same story he told himself in pilot episode, that false dichotomy: there is the escapist dream of Fillory/fantasy/magic where Quentin finally finds the secret door and becomes someone he wants to be, where his life becomes something he wants it to be, which is childish and must be left behind for the cold hard wasteland of the adult world, of harsh reality, and you just have to suck it up and deal with it. I don't think this scene feels particularly romantic because it's not supposed to be: Quentin says he can forgive Alice, can change his notions, his expectations, but he's still trapped. He can't see the third option yet, in the garden he says: isn't the idea of Fillory enough, but does he see it yet? It's not the idea of Fillory, it's his idea of Fillory, Quentin's idea, when it says in the magicians books that the world might be a wasteland but we are not, we're the source, there's no oasis out there waiting, we create the oasis ourselves.

Tldr this scene has Quentin and Alice getting back together but it's not actually about them, it's about Quentin's fucked-up-ness. Does the show actually know this? could not tell you if you paid me.

[nono-bunny]

"The Fortuneteller" is such an interesting episode to me because like? Aunt Wu is never wrong in the end, kinda like how in "Jet" Sokka's instincts are always right as well- the show tries to play it off in the end by saying "sometimes they're right and sometimes they're not", but throughout the whole episode his instincts led him to eventually save an entire town! If they never ran into Jet, he WOULD have destroyed that town, not to mention how Jet does eventually change through his experiences with the Gaang, but! This isn't about Jet rn

Aunt Wu not seeing anything about romance for Aang while she DOES see it for Katara is strange to me if we're to assume he's the man she's ought to marry, because like? Wouldnt their fates be intertwined? Which is why it's a good thing I fully don't believe she WAS talking about Aang, and this episode unintentionally serves the anti-Kataang narrative so well its not even funny (well, okay, it's a little funny, seeing Aang get subtly rejected over and over is very healing). Even if we take out the fact that I believe she was talking about Zuko because, c'mon, he's a fantastic bender who already loves Katara a bunch by the end of the show (platonic? romantic? nevertheless they share an incredible bond)... The Avatar isn't the only "great bender" in the world by a long shot, and I'd argue Aang doesn't even qualify because of his poor work ethic and lack of interest in bettering himself, like- Aang is acknowledged by more ATLA fans than just me to be the weakest bender in the group (until he enters the Avatar state, at which point, he's just the weakest Avatar because he has no control of it) and? Yeah being born with the Avatar Spirit is never gonna be enough to become a great bender by itself, which is something even all the other Avatars aside from Aang seem to recognize, y'know?

I forget who it was, but I saw a post saying that in a better written show, this episode that has such a big focus on unreciprocated feelings would be when Aang recognizes his situation for what it is, recognizes seeing his own lack of interest in Meng when looking at Katara and her lack of interest in him, and have him start to accept that and move on, but... Aang ALWAYS shows himself to either be incapable of understanding or just straight up ignoring Katara's nonverbal cues, not to mention how he goes on to ignore her express vocalization of her discomfort with him, so.

This episode also has Bryke use Sokka as a mouthpiece to give a very incel-y feeling pick up artist lesson and? Yeah, what could I have possibly expected? For Sokka to show some consistency? He fr never takes his own "advice" here, it's so weird! He's always been very forthright about his feelings, so him teach Aang to play coy is so ooc for him unless the point they want to end up making is "love makes fools of us all", which. Doubtful

It's yet another episode with a morality lesson about "Destiny", but fr this one feels so weak when compared to Zuko's whole thing later on about CHOOSING his destiny, where we actually see him do it when he defies and upends his harmful legacy in favor of peace, because here? Here everything plays out as foretold, with a "you control destiny" messaging tacked on at the end- the cloud bending was cool, but I hate the implication that Aang legit goes on to twist and bend Katara to a shape he sees fit, right by his side forevermore, but... Yeah, that's fully what he does, so? Thanks a lot, I guess, Aunt Wu! Look what you did! He was the closest he ever comes to giving up in this episode, some tough love would've done the trick!!! But noooo, god forbid Aang has to face and acknowledge any sort of REAL rejection, Katara simply... Doesn't yet understand that her ultimate role in life is to end up as his trophy wife, that's all! God, fuck comics and LOK Katara!!!

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Season 5 really killed my love for love square, especially with the way the choose Adrien, a kid with massive trauma and depression, as a therapist for his girlfriend. The whole "I want to be everything Marinette want" is bad for Adrien even more so because he doesn't get the same effort from Marinette.

The whole Adrienette is one sided and it remind me of a girl in one yt clip where she basically said she want a man who do everything she want while the man should already be grateful to be chosen as her boyfriend, which means she will do the bare minimum if nothing at all in that relationship.

Marinette isn't that kind of girl but the way the story goes it sure seems like that because Adrien doesn't allowed to bother her, he just continue to serve whatever she needs without her needing to do the same.

People saying that they'll break up and I agree, but also it will take a whole lot of character development for Adrien, something that the writers seems to hate it seems. Even if they argue or have a break up, I doubt it will be last for an episode before Adrien goes back to Marinette and say sorry. That's how Ladynoir conflict solved Kuro Neko after all, with Cat Noir be a bigger person while Ladybug do nothing at all.

Girl power is supposed to be a slogan to empower girls and Marinette supposed to be a role model for the young audience but at this point I don't even want my nieces and nephew to watch this show if what they teach them is that boy should do whatever the girls said and never bother with their girls with their feelings because man should "suck it up" while the girls can do whatever without minding about their man need.

I would actually be surprised if they broke up. Not because it's unearned, they arguably should breakup or at least get some sort of therapy, I just don't think that the writers have the guts to do that.

As you said, a breakup would only work if it led into character growth and they're allergic to doing that in this show in part because of the mandate that every episode must stand alone. That's a fine rule in a monster of the week show where all the drama is sitcom stuff that can be easily solved in 20 minutes, but a terrible rule in a show that's diving into the levels of complexity that Miraculous is trying to pull off. The show's current format is the worst of both worlds: complex plots that lack the complexity to really work and monster-of-the-week battles that feel rushed because they're being squeezed down to make room for the more complex stuff.

Prior to season four, my opinion of Miraculous was that it was a decent show for its indented audience, but there were a few plot points that required serious discussion to explain why they were wrong (for example: the "don't confront liars unless you're doing it for ideologically pure reasons" lesson from Lila's intro). As the show currently stands? I would not willingly introduce it to a young kid for a myriad of reasons. One of those reasons is the fact that the relationship drama we're currently dealing with is suited to a show for teenagers while still having the writing of a show for young children, leading the drama to feel weird and toothless. Yet another worst of both worlds.

All of this is quite sad because Miraculous has such a fantastic setup for being a cute, fun, healthy romance for all ages! It's why I started watching it and the choices made by the people running the show are truly baffling.

They picked a setup that allowed for all of the tension of a love triangle with none of the awkward fallout and then.... decided to introduce two love triangles.

They went with a duo setup to allow the male romantic lead to be mostly comic relief without feeling superfluous and then.... decided to introduce a larger team without establishing anything to make him feel like more than the comic relief.

They picked a setup that allowed for balanced support needs and then.... never let Adrien get any support.

That last one is the thing that really upsets me. When it comes to magical girl shows and their male-focused equivalents, it's somewhat standard for the main character (or main characters) to get all the struggles while the love interest (or love interests) are just there to give comfort and support, leading the love interest to have minimal character development. (Ex: Sailor Moon, Winx club, almost every shonen show ever made, the list goes on)

This isn't necessarily a flaw. You don't want to bloat a story with pointless side conflicts and you can still write a good romance under these conditions. After all, in real life, it's perfectly normal for relationships to go through phases where one person needs more support than the other. As long as it's implied that the love interest has more going on than just being a love interest, you're okay. Not amazing, but okay.

To put it in more concrete terms, if the Prince Dreamy Eyes is ruling the kingdom with his best friends at his side while Princess Sparkle Tutu is stopping the monsters, but the show mostly focuses on the prince supporting the princess and the princess fighting to save the day, that works. The prince is clearly not just arm candy. And maybe the viewers would really like a few one-off episodes about what Dream Eyes does while the Sparkle Tutu isn't around, but this IS a magical girl show so it makes sense that all the "filler" episodes go to the Sparkle Knights and not the Prince and the Dream Team.

This excuse obviously doesn't work for Miraculous because it didn't relegate Adrien to background love interest status. He is a key part of the team, but that's still something you can work around. In team-based shows with a large cast, it's not uncommon for some of the team to just kinda be there to round out the team while one or two main leads get the character growth and personal struggles. This isn't even a flaw as it's arguably better to have more focused drama. If everyone had a sob story, then no one does.

But that excuse doesn't work for Miraculous either because the show is driven by a conflict that's centered around Adrien. A beautifully simple yet powerful conflict that was perfectly tailored for making the relationship between the leads feel balanced.

On the hero side, Ladybug needs all the love and support because everything is riding on her. On the civilian side, Adrien needs all the love and support because he's a sheltered kid whose father is the villain. That allows for a setup where it doesn't feel like either character is nothing more than the love interest. You can make them both complex and flip around the support/supporter roles based on what part of the conflict the story is dealing with in a given moment. It will forever be a tragedy that such a wonderful premise was pulled off this terribly, which is why I say that I'm still a fanon shipper even though canon is dead to me. I love writing and reading takes on this premise that do it right. It's why I got into the fandom in the first place! I'm not really drama to cute romance. I'm drawn to interesting story ideas that feature romance, which is what Miraculous should have been.

[positively-mine]

Hello I loved your bf HCs I was wondering if I could get headcanons of how Reki and langa act when they have a crush on someone?Would they try to impress their crush with their skateboard skills and other things. Thank you

Crushing on you

How Reki and Langa act around their crush

A/n: Thank you for your request, hope you like it! I think it's a little too long but once I started writing i couldn't stop. Also not proofread bc im still sleepy (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

When he realizes he has a crush on you he's like

Oh

And then becomes a blushing mess

Mind you he just realized this when he took a candid picture of you

He's staring at the picture and is like "I want to take more pictures of them"

And from them it spiraled into a worldwind romance

(Is what he would like to believe)

Honestly he thinks it's one sided pinning but little does he know...

Everyday when he enters the class he scans the classroom trying to find your face in the sea of students

He's elated when he finds out that you're in school that day

When's there's group work, he usually tries to strike a conversation with you

And when he's distracted you enough to realize that everyone else already had a partner

He'll swoop in and offer himself

(I like to think he's cunning)

And from there he's just cracking jokes and flirting with you a lot

He wants you to think he's reliable so he's offering to do a lot of things

Like, is your bag heavy? Let me help you

You're tired? Sleep a while and I'll wake you up when the teacher arrives?

You didn't bring your lunch? Take mine, i wasn't hungry anyways

I can definitely see him doing weird & cool things to impress you

Would take you to the skate park to watch him do tricks and practice with him

And if you don't skateboard he's going to ask you to rate how cool that trick was

Say 10/10 or we're going to have a problem 😕

Overall he's very blushy blushy like

The color of his hair blushy

Bonus

Personal hc that he's clingy so when you're together expect lots of physical touches

He found out he liked you when he wasn't just looking up to you anymore

Something along the lines of "wow, they're kinda cool...i want to be friends with them"

I have a gut feeling that he's more direct about his courtship with you

(It all came from his mom)

Once you've established a friendship, he'd ask to pick you up along the way to school

Waiting somewhere near your house or public transport area, whichever you take

Not very subtle, if he finds something funny or interesting he's immediately tracking you down to show you

Also another one to actively seek you out

He'd approach your table to ask if he could eat lunch with you

If he needs help with his classes, you're the first person he turns to

After school also offers to walk you home along the way

When you guys start hanging out more, i can definitely see him inviting you to watch him practice skateboarding

(Early on when he's still learning) he wants you to see him improve

Once his gotten better is he then showing off to you

He wants you to see what he can do coupled with his experience of skiiing

He's doing this to fish compliments from you

Another personal hc that he will do stupid stuff just to impress you

You'd have to deter him from doing such things pls, Reki isn't being much help

In fact he's encouraging Langa to do it

I can see him attempting to make a bento box for you

Heavy emphasis on the attempt

It's kinda messy and ameteur but he did it because he heard your classmates say food is the way to the heart

Bonus

Another one to be clingy, if you're walking together he wants to hold your hand or be close to you