#(this ones to rake in the cishets)

[edsheerankinnie]

EDIT: OK GUYS POLL CANCELLED BC OF SAMPLE BIAS, HERES A LESS SKEWED ONE U SHOULD VOTE ON+RB RN

Hey can yall vote and rb im trying to see smth

plus a follow up here

[dollypopup]

unpopular polin opinions (again)

-Colin honest to God didn't do anything even REMOTELY as bad as this fandom insists he did? framing him as the big bad in a friends to lovers story is deeply unsatisfying and pits him and Pen against each other when the whole POINT is that they're a team.

-Polin is meant to be ride or die. it's meant to be people who see one another for who they are beyond the front. it is NOT meant to be two people who hold grudges against one another with a scorecard of who hurt the other more huffing about how the other is frustrating. their whole dynamic is 'i like you' 'i like you, too'

-BOTH OF THEM have hurt the other without apology. NEITHER of them are actually in love with the other (yet). Both of them are closed off and secretive and neither of them should actually have to beg and cry and scream for forgiveness. they're supposed to be friends

-jealous Colin as we're pushing for it is a shit tier trope. Colin swooping in w/ feelings for Pen only after other people have expressed interest in her would always make her wonder if he wanted her for her or if he wanted her because someone else did first and that's not the dynamic at all. Colin falls for her organically, albeit slowly. He falls for her when she opens up, when she shows him who she is, and only after he shows her that he's a safe place to do so. Likewise, SHE falls for HIM for real when she sees who HE is, too. When she sees that he's imperfect and that his charming artifice is a mask he wears. They're both scared that who they truly are on the inside is unlovable or unworthy of serious consideration, and when they crack open and the other sees, they fall for who they actually are. It's a love made stronger because it's born out of trust and understanding, not out of an ultimatum of 'I could lose her!'

-Penelope ghosting Colin with no explanation after S2 would be her being a really bad friend and deeply hurtful

-Penelope would hate being the unofficial diamond everyone is seemingly rooting for and it makes 0 sense for her to suddenly have a bunch of suitors. it's just lazy storytelling.

-most of the Polin dynamics this fandom has actively rooted for in S3 is just Kanthony or Saphne 2.0. That's very much NOT the point of Polin's romance. and I do not understand why people want the exact same season playing out the THIRD TIME IN A ROW

-Pen's actual character would despise how some of y'all write about Colin. like. . .she's supposed to love him? he's supposed to love her? If someone called him an idiot or undeserving or uninteresting or that he should beg and grovel she would fight

-Polin's characterizations as individual characters as well as a couple have been so completely twisted and deformed in this fandom for the sake of drama and painfully cishet toxic tropes that it makes me legitimately sad. Polin is a great ship. So much of it is beautiful and healing. Two people who care for one another deeply, if with a good deal of confusion, discovering who they are individually and then realizing they're happiest with each other is lovely. Colin being an atypical male love interest in the sense that his primary draw is kindness and compassion and primary struggles being lost and jealous of his LI for her success is INTERESTING. There are a million and one brooding rakes out there breaking hearts and beating their chests howling 'she's mine!' in the middle of a room full of other men gawking. Ship Pen with one of them if you want that dynamic, but that's not Colin and I don't WANT it to be Colin. Colin is great without that

-Penelope is not an innocent lil bab who did everything she did out of good intentions. she is more complex and relatable as someone who fucks up. It is COMPELLING that she did deeply hurtful things not out of saintly altruism but out of jealousy or scorn or desperation mixed with a genuine desire to do well by those she cares for. It is a better story to acknowledge she isn't even remotely perfect and that in wanting to help, she just tangled things up even worse than before. Penelope has plenty of faults alongside her goodness: she's closed off, distrusting, traumatized, jealous. All whilst being funny, sharp, cunning, loving. She wants to be loved and to love those around her and doesn't know how. She hurts the people she cares about and she hurts herself in the process. THAT'S REAL. The idea that Penelope is a perfect bab who should be fawned over and all her ills can be excused away is flat and infantalizing. I understand: there have been a lot of criticisms of Penelope from people who genuinely dislike her character. But the pendulum has swung to the other side to the point where people who DO like her and DO ship Polin point out unsavory parts of her character, it's met with the same rabid defense as if we were haters. Guess what? I like Penelope MORE because she's made those fuck ups. I like discussing how she's hurt others because who of us haven't? Penelope is overlooked and unpopular and awkward and unsure and I LIKE HER FOR IT. I'm exhausted of the glittering, perfect Penelope who everyone else has to apologize to because she's the 'victim'. That makes her so much more unlikable

-speaking of unlikable, most of y'all who say you ship Polin straight up do not like Colin as a character. And it's obvious. Turning him into a character he isn't, wanting him on hands and knees begging for a second chance, considering him only as an extension of Penelope when he has so much richness as a character in his own right. Assuming the worst in his actions and striking out all the good about him in favor of a narrative that deforms Polin into a ship where he is always wrong and she is always right. And it turns a lot of people off to the ship. People who ship Polin already get turned off by how much this fandom hates Colin, let alone peeps just getting into it or outside of it. There are people who despise Polin that discuss Colin more favorably than we do in our own ship and it makes no sense because he is a genuinely fantastic character. He refuses to abide by toxic masculinity, he's gentle and sweet and caring, he's silly and unsure and self-sacrificing, he's putting on an act and he's self-critical and he's got such a big heart. He's the kindest person in Pen's life. He supports her unyieldingly. He's never done anything to purposefully hurt her and he cherishes her as a friend. Why do we so rarely talk about him favorably?

-Polin is NOT Colin vs. Penelope. That dynamic can create some interesting conflict, sure, but it needs to move beyond that because at the core? At the core, it's Polin vs. The Problem. and it's so much more fulfilling that way

[lordofthechips]

had a few trial days at this all girls landscaping/gardening company… went into it multiple times stating that I am NOT familiar with the local flora as I have just moved into the area and used to live a thousand miles away… had a difficult but ok first day with one of the owners of the company. second day did not go so smoothly as the other owner of the company is kind of a bitch and caught me pulling a tiny plant that didn’t end up being a weed (whoops) and now I didn’t get the position. even though I was assured that it wasn’t a big deal by other owner. and another girl who had been there for a week did the same thing as me, just not in front of the bitchy boss lol.

even though I was one of a few ppl there with no education in this field, I rlly didn’t think it would be such a big deal since this job is, y’know, MANUAL LABOR.

never thought I’d need a degree to pull weeds and lift bags of soil and rake leaves etc.

has me thinking abt how privileged white cishet women co-opt progressive politics and movements just to end up kicking disadvantaged ppl out of them. anyways

[velvetvexations]

I don't have a problem with "cishet people be like" jokes, that kind of thing is objectively fine and always has been, but it feels like lately queerness has been slowly getting more insular and actively hostile towards anyone on the outside regardless of their intent. I'm considering looking into if there's anything I could volunteer to do that centers around outreach to non-queer allies. I feel like that could be my calling in this particular life. I get really, really bothered when a cishet person admitting they don't know something gets raked across the coals and I regularly cry a bit thinking about really early allies when things were so dicey and it took such courage and willingness to stand against seemingly insurmountable cultural momentum.

It's a weird thing about my personality. I know to most people it's like, oh, we shouldn't worship every non-[x] who isn't a bigot, we shouldn't center non-[x], and like, I get that, I get that, I fully agree, but I do also think allies are important and those that actively fight for us deserve respect and gratitude that acknowledges their efforts. And like, if it has to just be me doing that, that's fine. This can be my niche, I can fulfil the role of the designated person who focuses on relationships between my group(s) and people higher in the social hierarchy who want to help so everyone else can do the higher priority things. Like, I've donated to at least one cishet streamer who made a statement after something queerphobic in their game's community happened and I know people would be like "why didn't you just put that money directly to queer charities" or something, and it's like, maybe you can keep doing that while I do this? Because I understand it isn't a vitally life-threateningly important issue but it isn't nothing.

Going to the mat for an issue you don't have a personal stake in isn't the only definition of heroism, but it's one I have an interest in. I often worry people will interpret that as me endorsing some Last Samurai bullshit, but anyone of any race, religion, orientation, sex, or gender identity can do that. I would hope the fact that I opened talking about cis lesbians who support trans people made that clear. My appreciation of those who reach out to others, my admiration of those who actively march with them, and my idolization of those who die for them applies to everyone equally no matter the specifics.

[supersonicsamurai]

In fiction, the cishet white able-bodied man is like all purpose flour. Unless the recipe specifies to use a different one, that's what you dunk there.

**However** fiction isn't baking and so using the same cookie-cutter bloke gets stale rather quickly.

We've arrived at a time when it is acceptable to make him a woman, straying any further from the template will have angry denizens of Twitter swoop in on you either critizing you for being "woke", as if they knew what that means, or for talking over people's lived experiences. Ideally both for extra spice.

This makes it then borderline impossible to find a character who represents my lived experience. Perhaps there is a contemporary novel out there, whose author had heard of intersectionalism. Maybe.

Problem is,I don't read contemporary, and neither do many other people. I am not snubbing the genre, I just find it boring.

Unfortunately, the genre that I read, fantasy,only recently discovered the female species. The amount of misogynist macho nonsense some authors are capable of stuffing into one book...

I understand the concept of the male power fantasy and its purpose, but omfg some of these guys need to get out of the basement and touch grass. I thought I was reading a rags to riches, not a harem story.

Which brings me to the moral of this story. If there is something you want to see in media, you have to create said media, because house names like G.R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss or and especially J.K. Rowling don't give a fig. Their comphet fantasies are raking in cheese, so they have little incentive to change.

Of course, there's the other part of the problem. A cookie cutter story will a cookie cutter cast is easier to get published as the publisher feels less of a risk. Self-publishing is an option, but them you bear the brunt of the expenses and people might think you're self-published out of desperation.

So, where does that leave us? Stuck between a rock and a hard place as published and known authors, who could lend the cause their name and reputation aren't going to do so in order to protect their monetary interests, but trying to publish will have you jumping through hoops you didn't even know existed.

[matoitech]

trigger hinted at returning to promare but i also dont think they have the guts tbh. gay characters are fun to include when you dont have the time to make them explicitely get together but if u do anything post-canon.. youre shit out of luck w waving it off cuz you WILL have a majority of your audience now mad at you if u ignore or backpedal to get to where u dont Have to show the gay ppl together. yknow

[on-a-lucky-tide]

Werewolf of Steel

I listened to Werewolf of Steel by Carnal Agony (listen to it; it's hilarious), and this WIP popped fully formed into my head. It's already about 3k in, but won't be published for a while... I'm just so excited about it. @skaldingrayne and @tumbleweedtech helped me fully flesh out the world so I could start writing (their ideas not included here).

Premise: Lambert is a famous comic artist and author. His prize-winning work, Werewolf of Steel, is about a superhero werewolf who goes around rescuing dames, solving mysteries and kicking ass. He's a cishet male power fantasy and it's raked Lambert in a fortune. Nobody knows his secret...

Warnings: Lambert's father, brief violence against a child, the murder of Lambert's father.

Twelve year old Lambert's father is a top executive in a Big Bank and an absolute asshole. He's disloyal to Lambert's mother, shady, dishonest and just an all round massive shithead. One evening, Lambert catches him banging his secretary when he gets bored waiting around in a conference room for his dad to remember he exists. His father drags him out of the building and decided if he puts the fear of God in the kid, then he'll stay silent. This isn't the first time. Not even close. The noise of Lambert's pleas for him to stop, his screams for help, are largely ignored by passers by. Not their business. But a homeless man interrupts.

The homeless man warns Lambert's father to stop in a deep, metallic growth. He appears to be staggering, clutching his head, and Lambert's father assumes he's another drunk. He tells the man to fuck off and turns back to Lambert, who is crying and shaking. The homeless man, upon hearing Lambert's cries and the threat of continued horrors, transforms with a series of agonised yelps and cracking bones.

He's a werewolf.

The werewolf strikes Lambert's father down. It's not too horrific. A slash across the throat. It's quick and efficient. The wolf pins Lambert down and sniffs him. Lambert is ready to accept his fate. His life's a crock of shit anyway. But Lambert sees shame and fear in the wolf's eyes.

It runs away.

The police arrive.

No one believes Lambert.

They think he's traumatised from a horrific mugging. He goes to therapy. His mother moves on and finds another abusive asshole to shack up with. Lambert never forgets what happened that night. He doesn't see the werewolf as a monster that murdered his father, but believes he was saved by a hero. He grows up into a comic artist and his hit bestseller is Werewolf of Steel. A heroic everyman, who's roguish with a heart of gold. He gets all the girls, rescues the vulnerable and howls at the moon.

We're talking movie deals, a TV series on Netflix. Lambert's hitting the big time, and his agent, Kiera, is pushing, pushing. He fancied her once but she told him that "cute, single nerds do better in the business", so that dream went poof. There's even a catchy theme tune to the new series and Lambert has to include the chorus on the inside of his next issue.

But he never forgot and never stopped looking. His obsession is good for his work, because every dead-end leads to a new story. But there's one tale he can't tell because it doesn't fit with the cishet male power fantasy of the Werewolf of Steel with women falling at his feet.

Lambert draws a second comic. One where he falls in love with the werewolf. He keeps it secret, stashed away in his desk, occasionally he'll work on it, drawing loving erotica and heartfelt romance.

One night he comes home after drinking heavily at the local bar to find a strange man standing in his study. He grabs a cricket bat and challenges him, but the intruder lifts both hands in immediate surrender. Lambert flicks the light on and two things knock the air from his lungs: 1) the intruder was leafing through his private comic, the one where he's wrapped in the wolf, his hands buried in its fur, and 2) he recognises that face. The face he'd seen moments before it turned into a wolf. It's the werewolf from all those years ago. He looks... embarrassed, rather than scared.

He gives his name. It's Eskel.

They stare at each other for a long while. Neither moving. Eskel offers to go out the window and disappear, Lambert tells him that if he does Lambert will hunt him until the end of time. He wants answers.

Eskel agrees, but Lambert sends him to the shower first because he fucking stinks.

Eskel showers and reappears just as Lambert places two empty mugs on the kitchen counter. There is something far too erotic about seeing the man of his dreams in his sweatpants, with damp hair and a naked chest, and Lambert tries to focus on making the coffee.

Lambert makes him put on a dressing gown, because tits that good would get him an NC17 rating on his next comic. And Lambert watches Eskel eat leftover chicken and drink black coffee; he studies those bright, golden eyes and the jagged scar down his face, the thick coils of muscles revealed in a 'big man wasted too thin' kind of way.

Lambert's first question to the man he has searched for, dreamed about, his entire life: "Does it hurt?"

[pandacommander24a]

While we don't have any minis yet, we have been promised Female Knight heads. Here we have Two named Female Knight one of them is in charge of defense and running of Bretonnia's Camelot, and she the fucking lioness of the founding dukedom. And on the cover we got one clearly female knight on the big first new novel of the Old World.

GW should be raked over the coals for a lot of shit, especially representation outside of the White patriarch Cishet "normalcy," but they are trying. You can point how little it is but its an attempt I guess.

Oh yeah, the old world is sexist as fuck.

The only factions that had women where the elves, even then it was sparce.

There where some female special characters sprinkled through out, but it was mainly a sausage fest.

Empire and Brentonian where very sexist, surveraly limiting what women could do.

But the worst? Skaven.

Because they reduced their women to nothing more than giant breeding factories, that's all they do, get fucked, have kids.... And they have to be watched because in their stupidity, they might roll and crush their pups... Or eat them.

I really hope with GW revisiting the Old World, they undo some of this.

[gayregis]

ok wait i'm a bit confused..,,,, lauren really gave a big fuck you to any other kinds of witcher lore and characters and is just not very talented but is she a actually bad person? bad meaning racist homophobic ableist etc? i can not find anything good and you always have 12/10 chefs kiss info (sry about my shitty english)

she’s not done anything racist personally, but in regards to racism i’d like to point out how all of the black actors/characters are treated in twn. they all were relegated to antiblack tropes:

dara was black best friend trope (”a black character whose role either A) revolves almost entirely around a white character or B) serves as a conscious effort for a white character/writer to appear inclusive”), 

queen eithne was magical n*gro trope (sorry that’s the name for the trope but i don’t feel like i should be saying that word) (”in order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom.”)

the dryads in general were depicted very stereotypically as somewhat hollywood natives (” typical depictions will show the (usually dark-skinned) natives as unkempt and scantily clad, decorated with tribal face paint and brandishing spears or bows”) and iirc some the actresses who played most of them were white (anneke weerts, nóra trokán are listed on imdb as being dryads, and i do not think they are black?) yet they all had dreadlocks... it’s uncomfortably close to blackface. also my question is why did “people who live in a large forest and are close to nature” garner one of the main black actresses involved in twn and the whole cast to have dreadlocks and spears (when dryads never used spears in the books)?

fringilla vigo was just straight up evil and does human sacrifice now for some reason, with no personality but being evil and mean to yennefer, who is played by white-passing anya chalotra. in canon, she wasn’t even evil, but they made her a villain for... what reason, exactly?

vea and tea were... okay... “sexy women who don’t speak a lick of the common language” was already a bad trope introduced by sapkowski, but sapkowski never specified that they were black (they’re described with blonde hair iirc, i believe they were based upon the ancient steppe peoples), so taking that trope and saying “oh hey, these two are sexy warrior women who don’t speak any english, they must be black!” is extremely uncomfortable to me

all the other black actors were relegated to background characters that have extremely few lines and appearances.

racism that isn’t antiblackness off the top of my head includes:

they took the depth and emotion out of toruviel’s character, which strikes me as poor treatment of people of color because i believe that natasha culzac, her actress is mixed race (half caribbean).

casting vilgefortz (VILGEFORTZ... the r*pist and main villain of the entire series) as a man of color, and casting very very few men of color in other roles besides this one... like, let me repeat again, VILGEFORTZ... 

yennefer is constantly shown naked and in pain in scenes that just were not canon at all, they cast yennefer as a woman of color and then made her naked and in pain MORE of the timem

since all of this racist treatment and also tokenization of characters is in twn, and lauren is the showrunner of twn, i believe she should answer for this, trying to appeal to a larger demographic to get more money.

her husband is michael hissrich, who won primetime emmy awards 3 times, which leads to how i believe that lauren got her position out of nepotism

and the two are filthy rich, i mean they listed their house in hollywood for $2 million

tldr she’s not done anything horrific, but she’s just another wealthy white woman. she’s not your ally or my ally, she doesn’t care about representation like she pretends to. she’s a very rich cishet white woman who can’t write, and attempts to appeal to more diverse demographics in order to rake in more cash

[buunbi-archive]

slur discourse and lgbt+ discourse as a whole is so incredibly asinine, especially when you start trying to box people into these neat little holes where they can only say and do certain things based on their identity.

like i’ve seen people legitimately say that bi men can’t say faggot, and as a gay man i just wanna know why?? how is a bi mans experience so fundamentally different from my own that he can’t reclaim a word that’s likely been levelled against him countless times, lest he be raked across the coals?

cishets aren’t going to care about the distinction. cishet people will look at you, decide who they think you are, and act accordingly. i’ve been called a dyke or a lesbian (derogatory) for the crime of being afab and having short hair, i can assure you it has nothing to do with whether or not i’m “solely attracted to women” as i’ve seen some people say it means.

if two groups of people, or even two individuals, have an overlap in experiences they should be able to speak on those experiences without threat of harm. in my eyes as long as someone is reclaiming a slur in a positive way, and not using it towards people that aren’t okay with it, anyone can say whatever they want. i’m using slurs as an example here just because it’s the simplest one i have, but i’m talking about discussions pertaining to varying genders and sexualities too.

a bi woman and a lesbian and a bi or straight trans man have more in common than a lot of people seem to think, and it’s baffling to see people get so distraught over the idea that maybe, while our struggles aren’t identical, they’re similar enough that there shouldn’t be so much of a divide between everyone.

[spaceskam]

I'd love to see someone explore kyle being at the gay bar possibly hoping alex walks in? gone there bc of feelings for alex and wanting to explore it? have gone there with alex once and kept going back? has actually gone there ever since getting back to roswell but nobody noticed? idk so many possibilities but ending up with alex 😌

(i keep trying to add a read more and it refuses I hate it)

“You know, gay bars are supposed to be safe places, not places straight people go to for a museum experience.”

Kyle quickly looked up to Alex, eyes wide as he watched him walk towards him. In all the time he’d been coming here, he never actually expected to run into Alex here. Alex didn’t exactly seem the type to actually go out without being provoked to do so. It meant Kyle had to actually explain himself.

Which, you know, would’ve been easier if he knew how to.

“That’s... not what I’m doing,” Kyle said. Alex smirked more to himself than anyone else, sitting down at the table with his drink in hand. He looked more relaxed than Kyle was used to seeing him which immediately told him that absolutely was not his first drink.

“What are you doing then?” Alex asked, “Because I’ve been trying to figure out why the hell you’re in here for about thirty minutes now.”

Kyle huffed a laugh. “You’ve been watching me for thirty minutes?”

“I was trying to see what you would do if a guy came up to ask you to dance,” Alex told him, “Weirdly enough, no one did.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m anyone’s type around here,” Kyle laughed, shifting in his seat to try and hide the actual reason no one asked him to dance. There were only so many queer people in Roswell bold enough to go to a gay bar. Kyle had already been there enough times that anyone interested had already asked.

“Bullshit,” Alex said, shaking his head and looking way too hot doing it, “You just give off vibrant cishet vibes.”

Kyle tilted his head at his clearly very drunk friend. “That’s a new descriptor.”

“Yeah, I think it’s fitting.”

“I don’t know if I’d say that,” Kyle said, taking a sip of his own drink. If he was going to have to do this, he needed to catch up to Alex’s level of intoxication immediately. He ended up downing it before he looked back at Alex.

“Oh, shit, so you’re trying to get drunk to avoid to question,” Alex said, still smiling and laughing easily. It was weird seeing him so light. Kyle was kind of obsessed with it even if his presence was stressful. “Here, have mine.”

Kyle took it and drank it all, deciding he needed at least one more before he was at Alex’s level.

“How about this,” Alex said, leaning forward, “I buy you a drink and you dance with me.”

Kyle licked his lips and stared at him. All his visits here, all his experimenting, seemed to lead up to this moment. That was all training and dumb shit to test the waters and make sure he wasn’t a fool. This... this was the real deal. This was Alex, his friend and the guy who made him question anything in the first place. This was like fighting the big boss. This was the fucking Superbowl. 

“Why are you staring at me like a deer caught in headlights? You want a drink or no?” Alex asked, still smiling. Kyle blinked out of his daze and nodded.

“Yes, absolutely,” he agreed. Alex nodded and stood up, walking to the bar to get him another drink. Kyle took that moment to prepare himself, knowing that this was the night he was going to come out to Alex and it was going to be fucking awesome. Hopefully. Maybe. Fuck. 

Coming out was easier said than done. It was one thing to stroll into a gay bar for the first time with no confidence and be boosted up by a ballsy twink who gave him head before the end of the night. It was one thing to get comfortable with the idea of being with men and trying his own hand at new things with strangers in their cars. All of that was easy because he wasn’t even necessarily attracted to them, it was just a good way to experiment and they didn’t mind teaching him when he admitted that he was new to it all. It was something completely different to try and approach his friend who was so confident he was straight and say ‘hey, I might be in love with you in a gay way’. 

But Alex came over with a drink and kept looking at him like he was curious and Kyle tried to tell himself this was going to go his way.

“So, am I ever going to find out the real reason you’re here?” Alex said as Kyle tried to consume the drink as fast as he could so they could go dance, “It’s not to, like, creep on women who come here for other women, right? Because I might have to kick your ass for that.”

“No, that’s definitely not why,” Kyle said, pulling the straw out and just tilting the whole thing back. Alex shook his head.

“What the hell are you hiding, Valenti?” he asked, looking somewhere between amused and turned on and Kyle had exactly no idea how to handle that. Probably because there’s no way that’s what he was actually feeling.

“Let’s dance,” Kyle said, pushing himself to his feet and absorbing the slightly woozy feeling of the alcohol. 

“Yeah, let’s.”

Kyle avoided any looks the men he’d hooked up with before gave him as he pulled Alex onto the floor. They didn’t need to know anything and Alex definitely didn't need to get any ideas from them. He wanted to tell Alex himself. That was the goal.

Alex pulled him close, a challenging look in his eye as if he was just waiting for some type of line to be crossed. He grabbed his hand in one of his and put the other on his lower back, slow-dancing to the relatively fast-paced music. Kyle went along with every move.

“So, what’s the goal here?” Alex asked, leaning in close to speak. Kyle swallowed harshly at the feeling of his breath on his ear. Okay, so there was no time being wasted.

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you at a gay bar?” Alex asked again, “And why are you so okay with dancing with a gay guy? I’m trying to decipher your motives.”

“I’m not some straight guy trying to prove that I’m not a homophobe anymore if that’s what you mean,” Kyle told him, “I come here because I like the atmosphere.”

“What straight guy comes to a gay bar by himself?”

Kyle took a deep breath and focused on the alcohol in his system. Now or never.

“Why are you so sure I’m straight?”

Alex froze in his grasp before he leaned away from him, his eyebrows furrowed as he eyed him. Kyle stared back, unwavering and trying not to seem like a total loser. There was no way this was going to end the way he would’ve liked. 

“So... what do you mean by that?”

“I guess the word is bisexual?” Kyle said, “Or something. I’ve talked to a couple guys here and they agree that sounds right. I’m pretty sure my percentage is, like, 85% women, 15% men, or maybe even less towards men, but I’m still working it out, I just know it’s there on some level because when I look at you, I... Is that too much information?”

Alex was still staring at him like he’d grown another head. Kyle just waited and hoped he would be okay with that. He assumed he would be considering Alex didn’t seem to have a problem with Michael’s bisexuality. Except that confusion slowly slipped into something so close to betrayal that Kyle’s heart sank.

“Are you trying to say that you’re into me?” Alex asked. Kyle slowly nodded and Alex pulled away from him. “So, what, you’ve only been nice to me for the last year because you wanna fuck me?” Kyle’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

“What? No, oh my-”

Alex didn’t care to listen, shaking his head and quickly making a beeline for the exit. Kyle quickly followed him all while trying to follow Alex’s thought process. Of all the reactions he’d expected Alex to have at that moment, that wasn’t it.

“Alex! Wait, just talk to me!” Kyle called, following him to his car. “Just let me explain!”

“Explain what? That you’re just one of those people who is an asshole until you want something from me? Because that’s what I’m hearing. I thought you were my friend,” Alex said as he turned to face him. His face was red and Kyle didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the anger. 

“No, I swear to God, that’s not why I’m nice to you,” Kyle said, holding his hands up, “I didn’t even know I was into guys until, like, four months ago. Like I said, my percentage for liking men is extremely low. You just happen to be in that section and I didn’t realize until four months ago. You are my friend, I just... Wouldn’t mind also being more than that if you wanted.”

“Four months ago?” Alex repeated, eyeing him skeptically, “Like, four months ago as in that time my dad knocked us out and locked us in a small ass bunker together for 24 hours?” 

Kyle grimaced, still keeping his hands up by his head. “Guilty.”

“What the fuck about that day gave you a second sexual awakening? I-I was literally sweating the entire fucking time and covered in dried blood. I was gross.”

“What can I say? I guess I like when you’re gross?” Kyle said, trying to smile but it didn’t really work. Alex scoffed, shaking his head before raking his hands through his hair.

“I’m so confused,” Alex breathed, leaning against his car and covering his eyes. Kyle took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts. He decided the best way to do it was just start from the beginning.

“Um, I think it was actually when we got out. I had to kinda help you walk and you were leaning on me and then, when we got in the backseat of Isobel’s car, you still leaned on me. You fell sleep on my shoulder and I, I was so scared that if I moved you’d wake up and get away from me. It took me a few hours after that to even realize that what I was feeling when you were leaning against me was sort of how I felt in high school with Liz,” Kyle explained. Alex peaked up at him through his hands. “It wasn’t sexual at first. I just... I kinda realized I loved you in a way I wasn’t supposed to.”

“At first?” Alex asked. Kyle shrugged.

“That I realized a little bit later when we were working on self-defense together. I definitely should’ve realized that earlier because I’ve had, like, x-rated dreams about you, but it never really clicked that that was something I would be legit interested in that until I saw you that day. Sweaty and shirtless and breathing really hard and pouring water over your chest like... Sorry,” Kyle said, rolling his shoulders back as he tried to get back on track, “But once I realized that, I realized I had no idea what to do about that. So I started coming here and, well, pretty much every single queer guy in Roswell is down for a meaningless fuck. I learned a lot, so...”

Alex dropped his hands, still looking semi-conflicted as he stared at him. Kyle waited patiently for him to say something. 

“You promise me you weren’t just using me?” Alex asked. Kyle nodded.

“I promise. I would never. And if you’re not interested, I promise we can just go back to acting like this never happened. It’s still early enough in my stupid crush that I can move on without issues if you say you’re not interested,” Kyle explained. Alex nodded slowly. “So, uh... are you? Interested?”

“I don’t know,” Alex huffed, “I’ve never thought about it.”

“Never?” Kyle asked. Alex gave him a look. 

“Not, like, since we were kids and I had, like, a dumb little kid crush on you. I kinda haven’t let myself think about it because you’re straight. Or, I thought you were.”

“If it helps, I thought I was too.”

Alex let out a soft laugh, looking at him with those eyes that reminded him why the hell he’d fallen for him in the first place. If only he’d been slightly less good looking or slightly less ridiculously caring and loyal and strong. But then he wouldn’t be Alex.

“Look, I don’t need an answer right now, I know I kinda put you on the spot,” Kyle said, “You can sleep on it or we can talk more or, fuck, you can shut me down right now. Whatever you want, Alex.”

Alex took a deep breath. “How about we go on a date?” Kyle blinked in surprise.

“For real?”

“Yeah,” Alex decided, “Take me out, woo me, see if it’s actually something we could do without it being weird.” Kyle nodded easily.

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Okay. Then... it’s a date.”

“It’s a date.”

Kyle couldn’t help but smile at him, feeling giddy and already beginning to plan it in his mind. It was going to be fucking great and he was going to sweep him off his feet. Then he was going to put his new skills to use.

“But I think I need to go home now,” Alex said, huffing a laugh.

“Let me get you an uber or something, you’ve been drinking,” Kyle said, already pulling out his phone. Alex smiled and shook his head.

“What a gentleman.”

“That’s not even the beginning,” he said, “I’m going to sweep you off your feet.”

“Can’t wait.”

And, honestly, Kyle couldn’t either.

[corporatehorror-au]

CHARACTER INTRODUCTION POST

Mike from Marketing

He/Him | Gay cis man | Married, has a child

364 days a year, Mike from Marketing works a 9 to 5 job just like anyone else.

He rakes in the big bucks with his unbelievable work ethic and nye-on supernatural capabilities.

He usually wears a blue boiler suit to work, and never comes in without his mask.

He also strangely emanates the Halloween theme, permanently.

As a man of actions, not words, he never speaks. He will, at most, stare at you informatively. If he ever writes something down it’s for his eyes only.

Employee of the month record holder. Most popular guy in the office. Great listener.

BFFs with Ghostface. Shares an office with them.

Ghost Face from Customer Service

Any pronouns | Nonbinary | It’s complicated

Charming voice can lull even the most hostile customer into a sense of serenity.

A very proficient employee. Always seems to be slacking.

Suspected of frequent scheming, fridge raiding, but nothing ever sticks. Always has a solid alibi.

Rumour floating around that there might be 2 of them.

Shifty, mischievous, always several steps ahead of everyone.

Loves gossip.

BFFs with Mike from Marketing. Shares an office with him.

Mysterious. Follow the official comic to learn more.

Freddy “Turtleneck Fred” Krueger from Upper Management

He/him | Cishet man | Divorced. Has a daughter.

Wears a red and green turtleneck sweater

Basement office, in the building’s boiler room.

Owns a significant stake in Slashers, Inc.

Has been reported to HR more than even Pinhead.

Thinks the company couldn’t run without him. It would probably thrive without him.

Banned from attending “Bring your daughter to work” day.

Entrepreneur. Runs several smaller businesses.

Jason Vorhees, Global Brand Director

He/Him | Aro-Ace Cis Man

Has a heart of gold

Momma’s boy

Nobody ever sees him around work most of the time

Smart casual clothing, almost always.

Only works Fridays.

Smells like fish.

Pinhead, from Human Resources

Uhh…

Umm….

Carrying on,

Candyman, Graphic Designer

He/him | Transgender man | Looking for a victim.

Highly talented artist.

Responsible for the brand’s look and for packaging.

Does weekend seminars on diversity in the workforce.

Volunteer beekeeper.

Red Secretary Thing

Above human comprehension of sex and sexual identity.

Vapes.

Fred Krueger’s personal secretary.

Usually wears an immaculate white dress, reminiscent of a butcher’s apron.

Bubba from Retail

He/Him | Hasn’t thought most of this stuff up | Cis guy | Neurodivergent

Polite. Kind. Friend-shaped.

Clumsy, but loves to be of assistance.

Incredibly strong. Incredibly tall.

How big he’s gotten…

Has been known to wear former employees’ faces.

Lots of manual labour. He doesn’t mind.

Best friends with Ash, he feels like no one else understands him like he does.

Requires permanent supervision, generally Ash.

Free hugs.

Ash from Retail

He/him | Cishet | Horny.

Groovy.

Has been working here nearly the longest.

Works minimum wage.

Has had a stroke, and has developed a sixth sense as a result.

Slacks off but he’s got a heart of gold.

No one can bring themselves to fire him.

Only member of staff to understand Leatherface’s attempts at communication.

Has hit on customers. It works out more often than you’d think.

Kind of racist.

Acts really weird around Candyman.

Best friends with Bubba. They bond ocer their love of chainsaws and their lack of education.

Chin.

[spaced--cadet]

the thing is about equal pay in film/arts/music

it is fair that someone more well-known and who is able to draw a bigger crowd gets paid more because they’re gonna bring a bigger audience and stuff.

the issue is though that this is unfairly balanced to begin with esp. in film/tv because barely any men would go and see an anne hathaway movie but most people will go to see something starring like taika.  the cishet male experience is treated as default and universal in cinema, something everyone can relate to; but 99% of films with a female protagonist are ‘chick flicks’ and won’t be seen by a male audience.

it’s the same in music bc the biggest composers are all old white men; a lot of them are really talented, but they got there because of their privilege while women or poc or queer people are going to struggle to get to  the same position. half of my class for comp is women but every composition teacher we have is a white male and we’ve had around 5 or 6 presentations by women in composition in a year and a half of weekly seminars. One woman of colour.

discounting this fact because a certain actor is going to rake in more money is already neglecting to acknowledge the inherent discrimination behind why they’re going to bring in a bigger audience/provide a better product compared to others in the field is just plain ignorant.

[sharkfish]

[on ao3]

Or, you know, this: Stiles has pretty much always known he wasn’t a girl. It’s why he started going by Stiles in elementary school: Zofia isn’t actually that hard to pronounce, but it isn’t him. Stiles, though, yeah: the first time Scott says it, Stiles is sold. That’s his name. He knows who he is.

No one will cut his tits off until he turns eighteen but he’s pretty small-breasted anyway, lanky and lean, so under a sports bra and a couple of layers, no one knows the difference. His mom buzzes his hair with clippers up until she dies and then he starts doing it himself; it’s cheap and easy. Jackson and Matt call him a lesbian all through middle school but freshman year Stiles starts insisting on male pronouns and actually everyone at school just kind of goes with it. They don’t all remember all the time and he’s still not allowed to play lacrosse on the boys’ team, and he’s still a total loser, but it’s not that big a deal. It’s not like he’s the only openly LGBTIQA student at Beacon Hills High, anyway: there’s Danny, of course, and a genderqueer person who calls themselves Tugs and makes out with a girl who wears cat ears in the hallway outside Stiles’s history class every morning, as notable examples.

Not long after Derek and Stiles meet, Stiles goes on his period. As soon as his scent hits Derek in the doorway of the loft, Derek jerks back, blinking rapidly at him.

“That’s kind of embarrassing,” Stiles says, laughing at least half-heartedly. “You can smell it?”

“Oh,” Derek says. “I didn’t know you were -- um. I didn’t realize.”

It’s Stiles’s turn to blink incredulously, looking down at himself. “This shirt has the trans pride flag on it. You’ve seen me wear this a million times. You -- last week you asked me if I ever washed it.”

“I didn’t know there was a trans pride flag,” Derek says.

Stiles rolls his eyes. “There’s a pride flag for everything. So, can I come in? Or is my stench too offensive?”

“It’s not offensive,” Derek grumbles, stepping back to let Stiles through the door. “I was just surprised.”

Derek doesn’t seem to like Stiles much, but Stiles is pretty sure it has a lot more to do with his ever-rambling mouth than the trans thing -- after all, Derek likes Scott even less, and Scott is as unfortunately cishet as they come.

Stiles comes back from his first year of college, and he knows he looks a lot better than he used to. He took up running and weightlifting and between the gym and the T, he’s filled out. His skin is golden from (too many) days skipping class to lay on the beach. He let his hair grow back shaggy enough for boys to wrap their fingers in while he sucks their cocks and, yes, he lost his virginity and was even mostly sober when it happened.

Derek stares at him really intently without any expression for a long time. Finally, he says, “You look different.”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “You know I had surgery over winter break.”

Derek’s eyes travel down Stiles’s body, all the way to his feet, and then slowly back up. “It’s not that,” he says.

“Wanna see my scars? Hey, would a werewolf scar from surgery like that, do you think?”

“I’m not sure. No, I don’t need to see them.”

Stiles throws himself on the couch. “You’re being really weird. Weird even for you.”

“You smell different, too,” Derek says, frowning. “You smell like…”

When Derek trails off, Stiles raises his eyebrows. “Like what?”

“Like someone’s been touching you.”

Stiles blushes. “Well, so what? Someone has been touching me.”

Derek looks away, turning his whole face from Stiles like he’s in pain. “Is he good to you?”

“Um, sure? It’s not a big deal. It’s just a hookup.”

“He knows that you’re trans?”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “Yes, Simon is intimately familiar with the state of my genitals. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“I know. I just -- worry sometimes.”

“Little Trans Human does not require a Big Scary Werewolf to take care of him. It’s awesome, dude. Simon thinks I’m hot.”

It’s Derek’s turn to roll his eyes. “You are hot.”

Stiles laughs, but Derek isn’t cracking a smile, just back to staring at him intently, like he can erase the mole on Stiles’s cheek with his laser eyes. It’s unnerving. “Uhh,” Stiles stammers a little, “you think I’m hot?”

“You know you’re attractive.”

“But I don’t? I’m ok, I guess, and let’s be real, T is helping, but it’s not like -- I’m not running around looking like you.”

Derek looks down at himself, the cloth of a henley clinging to his stomach, his too-tight jeans. Stiles realizes that Derek is dressed a little nicer than usual, and his hair is overly-styled, too. “Wait a second,” Stiles says, all too aware -- as usual -- that Derek can hear his heart pounding. “You’re -- are you into me?”

Derek sighs deeply, deflating, eyes still cast downwards. “I had this stupid idea,” he says, voice low and resigned, “that I could be your first.”

“Whoa,” Stiles says. “Holy shit.”

“I’m sorry,” Derek says.

“Back up, nothing to be sorry for, I just need a second to kind of filter this through my brain, because, like -- wow, I mean -- ok, there’s a lot of stuff I still haven’t done, though, you know. Like anal. You could totally be my first at that. Or, um. I haven’t tried the strap on thing yet. If you’re into that. Honestly mostly I just blow him and he fingers me.”

Derek growls and stalks up to Stiles on the couch and leans over him. He rakes his fingers through Stiles’s hair -- yes, definitely a good idea on growing it out -- and tugs Stiles’s head back to kiss him.

It’s gentler than Stiles would’ve expected, if he had ever let himself entertain the idea of kissing Derek before, which he has mostly avoided for his own sanity, because up until about two minutes ago he was one hundred percent certain that Derek was one hundred percent unattainable. Now that all seems a little short-sighted, as Stiles’s lips part to welcome Derek’s tongue into his mouth.

It’s a long kiss, and Stiles gasps a little when they part. Derek’s eyes are dark, flaring red at the edges. Ridiculously, it turns Stiles on -- he can feel it tingling from his groin to his stomach to the tips of his fingers.

“So, uh, you want to become intimately familiar with my genital situation, too?”

Derek sighs, long-suffering, but Stiles is pretty sure the edge of his mouth tips upwards, too. “Yes, Stiles. I would like to become intimately familiar with your genital situation.”

[vamplifyingdotjpg]

please tell me ALL about your ocs!!! 💕

I am Crying thank u so much thank u for Finally asking abt my ocs I have so many of them and I love them all so much so I’ll just sum up my few main ones and favorites (buckle up and also this whole story takes place in london as of now bc I’m uncreative):

Beckett (full name Beckett James Montgomery) is a happy little man who’s full of love and also a lot of chronic illnesses and other conditions. He just has really rough luck but he’s still pretty content with things. He’s working hard to overcome his shyness to set boundaries with others and he’s becoming a lot more confident in himself!! Of course losing a large portion of your childhood to illness and injury is pretty traumatic but he has a really solid support system. He loves his friends and is also very passionate about horticulture. And some other facts abt Beckett:

his favorite colour is pink (which is why his hair is pink throughout his teens and into his 20s but it’s naturally a mousy brown!)

he’s big gay

he’s a manlet (5'6")

he goes on to open up a plant nursery

he plays piano

his entire life is like 1/8th of a plan and 7/8ths of a prayer

Cherry Nova Griffin is a cool girl who’s super smart and just the raddest ever. She’s the older sister friend despite being the baby of her family bc she really really cares abt her friends and wants the best for them. She’s no square so she’s not gonna harsh anyone’s vibe but she is very sensible so u won’t go fucking yourself up on her watch bc she’s your voice of reason. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t partake in her friends foolishness, she just makes sure the foolishness goes smoothly. She’s super smart and very interested in science. She’s also pretty much always dressed to the nines (heavily influenced by her sister Azalea who’s a fashion icon). And some more facts abt Cherry:

her favorite colour is purple

her and elfie are the co-Just Dance™ wii champions of their friend group

she comes out as a lesbian in her 20s because that Internalized Home Of Phobia Tho

she’s 5 foot nothing she’s Small (she looks nothing like her two tall, rake thin older siblings)

her and Beckett are childhood friends, meeting when Beckett joined her class at school when they were both 7 or so

she’s always trying to prove herself to others but she has enough people around her that know how cool she is

Elfie Pepper (or Elfie Kiyoko Takemago-Pepper) is a fun, spritely Irish girl (her mom and biological father are Japanese but she was born in Ireland and raised there by her mom and now-stepdad). She’s super funny and very much the life of the party like she will always get u to chuckle. She can make any situation better just by being there bc she’s hilarious and rad. Her girlfriend is a super butch buff athlete but Elfie’s more often than not found eating lucky charms straight out of the box on her couch. She does like to skateboard tho and she’s pretty darn good at it. She’s the friend who makes all the playlists for driving/partying/chilling bc her music taste is universally liked (without her everyone would be fighting to play their own tunes she’s the peacemaker). Basically everyone likes Elfie. Now for The Facts:

she’s probably the rowdiest of the bunch. she’s like permanently cranked up to 100

Elfie is Big Lesbian

she’s a decent base player

her mom wanted to name her Kiyoko but let her hippie boyfriend pick the name Elfie for her

she moved to England when she was 12 and joined Beckett and Cherry’s squad then

She’s like 5'3" their whole squad is Tiny

Eleanor Lucille Atwin is the only one tall one in their squad. She’s 5'11" and the definite mom friend of Elfie, Cherry, and Beckett. She’s always got snacks and extra sweaters and pain medication and makeup wipes on her. She’s patient and caring and will have your back no matter what. You could indefinitely count on her in a crisis. Eleanor is also trans and has really been through it and still sometimes struggles with loving herself (not to mention dealing with transphobia) but she receives endless love and support from her friends. She’s good at painting and is always lookin super pretty. And some Eleanor facts:

she’s 20

she was born in Yukon, Canada

she joined the main group when she was 15

she’s prefers painting with watercolours

she marries her high school sweetheart (a ginger soccer/football player who’s like the only cishet guy involved in this story)

she goes on to become an interior designer bc she’s got rly good taste

Kimmo Alric Seppänen (23) is kind of a bitch, but he’s been through a Lot so it’s kind of expected. He had a really rough childhood where he was neglected severely by his parents before he was taken out of their house and placed with his adoptive parents who treated him super well and loved him a lot. He struggled a lot with fitting in and became really edgy in high school where he started dating Fredrik on and off. Then after school he had problems with addiction and did a lot of unhealthy shit but he eventually sorted it out. Now he’s living with Fredrik in London and they play in a band together (he still smokes like a pack a day). Kimmo is grumpy, and prone to lashing out, but he’s also a talented musician, wise beyond his years, and very dryly funny. He’s hard to get through to, but oddly lovable when you get to know him. And some Kimmo facts:

he was born and raised in Jyväskylä, Finland

he’s a killer guitarist and an adequate singer

he has a total of 12 piercings, most of which he got in his teens

he was diagnosed with Klinefelter’s syndrome in his early teens

he uses he/they pronouns and hes bi

his nose is crooked as shit from being broken several times

Fredrik Jeremiias Harmaajärvi is beefy and dumb. He’s the second oldest of 4 brothers. He’s like a big stupid golden retriever: cute and overall friendly, but kinda air-headed. He drinks too much (though he has captain america-level alcohol tolerance) and doesn’t notice many emotional cues from others, especially his emotionally unstable boyfriend Kimmo. When he was 21, he formed a band with some friends and Kimmo (his then ex-boyfriend whom he had newly reunited with). Kimmo and Fredrik moved to London after the band lost its two original members. Fredrik is easygoing and fun, but he has literally no brain cells. Some facts:

he’s a killer singer and an adequate guitar player

He’s also from Jyväskylä

His whole family is absolutely disgustingly beautiful (to his kinda ugly bfs dismay)

pure, unconcentrated himbo

His band is primarily punk/garage rock but Fredrik loves pop music

he’s also pretty into fitness and maintaining his image so he frequently goes to the gym (this is why he’s a big muscly Viking man)

Phoenix Delphinus Griffin is Cherry’s oldest sibling and he’s also a gem and a treasure. He’s a professional dancer and dance instructor. He’s 6'5" and all lanky, wirey muscle. He’s a laid-back, sociable guy who easily builds relationships with others. He acts super chill on the outside but he does struggle with pretty bad anxiety. He’s very fit and health conscious and is always up early to go to the gym or go for a run or drink a smoothie or whatever healthy people do. He has a number of large friend groups and is probably the most “popular” of all my ocs. And some facts abt him:

Phoenix has a phobia of drowning and is very uncomfortable with swimming in large bodies of water

he prefers contemporary ballet, but he’s trained in classical ballet and tap as well

he was once in a local production of cats the musical (he played macavity and plato due to his height and lack of singing required for the roles) and his friends won’t let him live it down

he’s bi

he dated the bassist in kimmo and fredrik’s band for a few months

he’s just a way friendly dude everyone loves him

I seriously needed motivation to make a post like this of all of them so thank u again!!!!!!!!

[gaywoodwraith]

that post just pisses me off so much like, yeah i was raked over the coals in my high school’s gsa, you know why?

i reblogged A Post explaining some of the ways that lgbt people would be materially harmed and disadvantaged by allowing cishet aces/aros access to lgbt resources. like, it used specific examples and explained everything calmly and without any kind of charged language or angered accusations, but because one of my mutuals who was also in the gsa saw it, i had to sit through a Talking To about...idefk anymore, the point is that from that point on i knew that that group would not be helpful at all in addressing the issues that i face as a gay guy and apparent Angry F*ggot