#Free Childcare Places

[realasslesbian]

Those "I'm childfree but I don't hate kids" types are great and all, but I'm a childfree who DOES hate kids, so what now? Lmao

[sinning-23]

Hot Tatted Uncle Pt.2 (Uncle!SukunaAu x Teacher!Reader)

Thanks so much for the love and support on pt.1 you guys are the besttt lol, honestly might be a 3 parter we'll see! ANyway, enjoy :0

Also pleaseee excuse any spelling errors yall

Link to Pt.1

PART THREE HERE!!!

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You stared at the text message, throat tight with excitement but dread. It had been a few months since the last incident with Yuji and his Uncle. The roguish male often picked up the young boy, tagging along with Yuji’s father. You’d usually just give Jin a rundown of his son’s day, ever so often catching Sukuna’s gaze as he leaned against the door frame. And every time it happened, you’d choke, clearing your throat and focusing your attention on Yuji and his father.

It didn’t help that he was always texting you, asking his his nephew was behaving. Even though it was cordial and polite, you still felt giddy getting texts from him.

This comes to the next point, why you’re sitting here practically gawking over the most recent message request from Yuji’s father.

-YOU HAVE A NEW MESSAGE:

Hello Miss Y/n! Do you babysit? I know Yuji loves having you as a teacher and I was wondering if you’d be interested in babysitting for him along with his Uncle while me and my wife go on vacation. Of course, you will be paid as well.

-Jin Itadori @ 6:28pm-

You wait to open it, pacing for a moment, thinking, first of all if you were available for the weekend and second, why couldn’t his uncle handle it?!

Well, given the man’s track record maybe an experienced hand in childcare could be useful. With a heavy sigh, you respond and you'd have to quickly come to terms with the fact that you would be essentially babysitting over 2 days with your students' hot uncle.

-----------

It's Friday now, and arrangements for you to simply drive Yuji back home and meet up there with his uncle were already in place. You were trusted with a spare house key, and their precious baby boy, who so seemed to be happier than a fly on shit that you would be spending even MORE time with him.

You gather your things and a few activities to pass the time, loading them into your car. Yuji insists on helping, carrying a small container of building blocks with his chubby hands. And god damn does he not stop talking while he does. It's adorable really, whatever comes off the top of the boy's head simply flying free.

"My-My uh uncle, he doesn’t have no girlfriend." He speaks, the statement making you choke.

"Ahaha is that so? He tells you to say that?" You joke, setting the pink-haired toddler in his car seat, and buckling him in with ease.

"MHM! My uh-" He coughs, quickly covering it with his elbow as you give a small 'good job' seeing as he's learning to keep his germs away from everyone, including you.

"My Uncle says uh he says that you got pretty eyes." He explains, your heart fluttering.

You sit in the driver seat finally, the boy still rambling on and on about what his uncle thinks about you. Though all you can do is respond with a simple, "Oh that's very kind, or a awee", Yuji is nonstop.

It’s quiet for a moment and as you’re pulling into the driveway when he says it, clear as day.

"Uncle says your ass is fat too."

You slam the brakes, the car jerking a bit when you do. What. The. FUCK-

The culprit is already awaiting you, arms folded over his chest as they flex. He’s got a white tank top on and a pair of black basketball shorts paired with slides and ankle socks.

Yuji squirms, growing ever more excited as Sukuna takes him out of the car seat and lightly jabs his knuckles to the boy's sides with a 'Rahhhh', as if he were some kind of tickle monster. Yuji of course laughs and if ALMOST makes you forget about what he'd just said a moment ago.

"Wanna help Miss Y/n put this inside?" Sukuna asks the small boy, handing him the block container from before. Yuji is quick to nod and scurry to the front door.

"I can bring the rest of this, Jin gave you the housekey right?" He asks, leaning against the frame of the car, your neck snapping towards him as you swallow thickly. Fuck you can see even more of the tats now in that shirt.

"U-Uhm yes, yes. I'll go get the door. I can get some of this too I-" You speak, fumbling to find the key. He only puts his hand up and shakes his head, the silver chain around his swishing a bit.

"Nah I gotchu. Yuji knows how to turn the TV on so he can watch his lil show for a bit.”

Sure enough, the minute you unlock the door, Yuji crawls atop the couch, using the remote to try his best to navigate. It takes a while, and he mispresses a few buttons but after about 5 minutes he manages to play something entertaining for him.

Sukuna had finished bringing your bags in as well as the one with activities in it, setting it on the stairs. He rolls his shoulder, pointing at Yuji who was immersed in the show.

"See." Sukuna hums, leaning against the countertop next to you, also skimming over the note. His body heat is practically radiating off of him, just standing by him is warming you up.

You nod in response, looking over the brief note Jin left for you both and according to what it said, your next step was to head up some leftovers for Yuji and then run him a bath.

"There’s two bathrooms so I can get the boy.” He offers, resting his hand behind his neck as you give a nervous laugh. FUCK this nervousness was most likely only on you. There’s no way he could be just as filled with anticipation as you were?!

You take the offer, giving a small thank you before fishing the shower and taking one considering you did just get off of work. Packed away in your bag was a set of comfortable clothes and a book with you figured would help pass the time once Yuji went to sleep.

You could hear footsteps and Yuji fussing back and forth with his Uncle.

“Hush man you’re making me look bad.” Sukuna groans, throwing the toddler over his shoulder as he giggles but continues to thrash, pounding tiny fists against the older male's back.

“No! NO BATH! I don’t wanna!” Yuji whines, his Uncle only growling in response.

“I’ll give you candy if you stop.”

And just like that it was quiet.

-8:30pm-

The night had gone smoother than you thought, you and Sukuna both interacting with Yuji as it’s beginning to be time to wind down. His eyes were beginning to get heavy and before you knew it he was slumped against the couch, clutching an unfinished sucker in one hand and a white puppy plush in the other. You smile, scooping him up and patting him when he stirs.

“Be right back, let me tuck him in.” You whisper, seeing Sukuna look up from his phone and nod, one arm slung over the sofa while he practically manspreads

-9:00pm-

Turns out, Yuji took a bit longer to fall asleep when he realized he was being put down and so you had to sit and pat him for an extra 30 minutes. And once you returned to the living room, there was Sukuna, still scrolling. Well, that was until you came in.

“Sorry, he wouldn’t go back to sleep.” You explain, sitting at the farthest end from him, picking up your book in the silence.

“So you like working up there? At the school?” He asks, putting his phone down to hold the conversation with you.

It takes you by surprise for a second but you are quickly to respond.

“Well yeah, I love the kids and I love working there and teaching them things. Yuji is a sweetheart and it’s definitely kids like him that make it all worth it.” You explain, a smile making its way to your lips.

“You got kids?” He asks, eyes on your frame as you laugh a bit in response

“Nah, don’t really plan on it right now either. Kids are difficult.” You answer, now facing him a bit more, body relaxed.

What was there to be so scared of?! He’s a chill guy who just so happened to be hot as fuck asking you about your career and life?!

“How about you? Kids? Working?” You flip, seeing him shift a bit uncomfortably.

“Hell nah. I see how Jin deals with Yuji and I’m not really cut you to be a dad. And for work well, I’m a priest.” He states, smirking at the surprised look on your face.

“R-Really??” You question definitely surprised.

“Nah I’m just fucking with you.” He laughs and you do the same, trying to keep your volume down since Yuji did just fall asleep.

-11:08pm-

It was crazy to believe you’d spent about two hours just talking back and forth, with him about his past, his brother, and his nephew. You about your own life and current living situations. Somehow the conversation took…a turn.

“Y’know, it’s funny because Yuji keeps telling me about these things you say and I think it’s so funny. Like he’s tone little wingman.” You laugh, seeing him grin right back at you.

“Yeah like what?” He asks, more teasing than anything.

“Well he said that you said I have pretty eyes and on the way here he goes, ‘uncle says your ass is fat’” you explain with a laugh that he doesn't return.

Instead you see his lip tuck between his teeth after he licks them.

“I did say that.”

Suddenly the room is hot, and you’re very aware of how sharp his canaines look in that stupid grin. How his hand is grinning the back of the couch cushion. And for some goddamn reason you just had to look down, that fucking print so visible against his inner thigh.

Your breath falters, eyes wide and you swallow back any doubt. So he had said all that stuff and it want just Yuji repeating something or just talking.

“I-Well I…Thank you? I-I mean I’d be lying if I said hadn’t looked at you too.” You admit, his body shifting to face you more, almost caging you in on the couch.

“I figured. Every time I come to pick up you can’t seems to form a sentence correctly .” He notes.

“Suku-“

“Ryo.” He corrects. Lifting the strap of your nightshirt over your shoulder, playing with the fabric for a moment.

“Ryo.” You test, hearing his exhale heavily.

“Let’s stop pretending there’s nothing happing and has been happening here. No rule against fooling around with me is there?” Sukuna tests, his hand trailing up to rest no on your neck, his thumb pulling your lower lip down.

“No.”

And with that your make the hood move to connect your lips, his arms immediately going to lift you up ans set you against his lap.

Damn does that bulge feel to much better resting between your legs than just looking at it.

___________________________________

Authors note: OKAY YEHA ITs gonna be a 3 parter with smut in the next one I cant resist lol yall know smut is my specialty! LMK if you wanna be added to the taglist shawty!

Taglist: @manikosii @ya-boi-v @tergyri @ninacutebee16 @minaloq @kriegsumire-blog @samisfunky @peachhiz @teupaidecalcinhasblog @khaotic-luca @gurutoru @molita111 @snail-squasher @rowrowrowyourboat13

[soundlessdragon]

Anyway I love being surrounded by Christian pro-lifers because when I got my baby's prenatal diagnosis they surrounded us with love and support — and contrary to the cultural narrative (but unsurprising to anyone who knows pro-lifers irl) they really stepped it up after she was born:

bringing so many meals

offering childcare for my toddlers

sending us baby supplies and gifts and diapers

frequently checking up if we needed anything at all

offering us a place to stay

a professional photographer gifting us a free session

etc etc etc

And all of this from people we barely knew, because we moved 400 miles to a different city when we received her diagnosis.

Pro-lifers showed up for me and my unplanned, medically-complex baby.

[komsomolka]

Women in the GDR were the largest group to lose out through unification. They may now have access to material goods not available before, but they have been pushed back into dependence by a dominant ideology of women serving men. In the GDR, 88% of all adult women worked and another 8.5% were in full-time education, which meant that 96.5% took an active part in the wider social context outside the home and they also had their own income. Work was the basis for economic independence, a sense of self-worth, a place for communication and social interaction, not just a source for additional household income or, as some critics have argued, a state-imposed, obligatory activity.

Women were highly skilled - only 6% had no qualification at all, as against 24% of West German working women. In the GDR, 50% of all jobs in medicine and law were carried out by women and a third of women worked in technical professions.

Given the great importance that work represented to women in terms of their identity, unemployment on the scale, that happened after unification, had a devastating effect. Even after 20 years, on the territory of the former GDR, two thirds of the unemployed were women (in agriculture it was as much as 75%) and they made up at least 70% of the long-term unemployed. Post-unification, the labour market was biased against women; men had a better chance of finding alternative work. [...]

Although gender discrimination was by no means completely abolished in the GDR, this blatant disparaging of women as a group appeared like history going into reverse. This perception is underlined by the fact that, in the general hunt for jobs, children are now deemed to represent a problem. It is well-known that the GDR had excellent childcare facilities which made it possible to combine work and parenthood without financial hardship. In 1989, 68% of working women in the GDR had children under the age of 18, whereas in the Federal Republic it was only 25%. [...]

Unification brought another considerable change for women: the abolition of their right to an abortion on demand. In the GDR, since 1972, women had had the legal right to terminate their pregnancy free of charge within the first 12 weeks. West Germany has a penal code (paragraph 218) which states that abortion is unlawful and those who attempt to abort face up to three years in prison or a fine. After unification it became necessary to bring West German and East German law on this issue into alignment. In 1992, paragraph 218 was amended to adopt GDR legislation, but a compulsory consultation prior to the procedure was added. After protests from the CDU/CSU and the Bavarian state government, which wanted abortion itself to remain illegal, even this amendment was declared null and void by Germany’s Constitutional Court only one year later. [...]

Even after 25 years since unification there still exists a very different perception of equal rights among women in the territory of the former GDR. According to an investigation undertaken in 2008, 80% of East German women wanted an equal division of labour in the family, but only 50% of West German women, among whom traditional family models still exerted a strong force. In fact, the more emancipated consciousness of GDR women has increasingly influenced women in the West, even though they often appear to be unaware of where their new confidence has come.

Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It by Bruni de la Motte & John Green with Seumas Milne (Contributor), 2015.

[megalony]

I'm Taking You Home

This is an Evan Buckley imagine, requested by the lovely @senjoritanana I hope you like it and I'm surprised how quickly I managed to finish this for you. Feedback is always amazing.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem@sj-thefanthefan@hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii  @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyjen @kmc1989 @itsmytimetoodream @noonenuts @hiireadstuff @ashie-babie

911 Masterlist

Summary: While out on a call, someone tries to shoot at the 118 and the accident bursts (Y/n)'s eardrum. Evan makes sure to do all he can to look after her.

Enjoy.

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"I'm ready for bed." (Y/n) braced her hands on her hips and tilted her head back as she clicked her spine into place. Her knee jutted forward and she took deep breaths as she waited on the pavement for Evan to catch her up.

"It's only lunchtime,"

She tilted her head to the right and raised a brow at Eddie when he playfully bumped his shoulder into hers. He looked down at his watch before he looked back over at her. It had just gone twelve, they were on time for once to go back to the station and get lunch before another call dragged them back out.

"Excuse me, we've been on a two-day bender at the station. We haven't been to bed yet."

Eddie held his hands up in defeat when Evan walked over towards them and slung an arm around (Y/n)'s shoulders, reeling her into his side.

Evan, (Y/n) and Bobby had all been on shift for near enough forty-eight hours now and they'd had four hours sleep, if that. The station was short handed and with Hen, Chimney and Eddie all needing to have a break between shifts due to childcare, (Y/n) and Evan stepped up. They were alright with doing long shifts, especially when they were paired up together.

They didn't mind whereas it wasn't fair for Eddie or Hen or Chimney to do longer than a twenty four hour shift when they had families to go home to. Unless it was an emergency situation, of course.

(Y/n) leaned her head back onto Evan's shoulder and grinned up at him when he swiped her helmet from her head so he could see her properly.

She hated how much she loved it when Evan reeled her into his side like this. (Yn) hated just how much she loved to slot under his arm and how she fit perfectly into his side like two puzzle pieces slotting together. She hated the way he looked down at her and winked because it made butterflies swarm free in her stomach and fueled her with unnecessary adrenaline.

"Alright team, let's pack up."

They all made their way across the road and headed over to the truck to start packing up ready to leave.

(Y/n) refrained from sighing when she had to loosen up and slide out of Evan's hold. She let him keep her helmet that he moved to pack into the truck along with his helmet and jacket. A smile danced across her lips as she held her hand out and took the medic bag from Eddie so she could put it back in the compartment along with hers.

She was ready for home.

Once they were back at the station, (Y/n) and Evan would have three more hours to have dinner and maybe join in on one more call out before they could have the rest of the week at home.

Sometimes it felt better to keep working through the week because when she and Evan had the same time off together, (Y/n) didn't know how to act around her roommate. Not when the way she felt for him was moving away from platonic and into something more deadly. At least when they were on shift there was no risk of any feelings getting in the way, they were too busy for that.

(Y/n) brushed her hands over her knees, ridding them of dust and grime before she turned and moved towards the other side of the truck. She grabbed the hose and started to wind it up and clipped it back in place before she shut the compartment and did a quick check. Everything was packed away, they could get going now.

She could hear Hen shouting for her to get in and a smile pulled at her lips as she grabbed the handle and pulled herself up the steps to climb up.

Evan whispered a quiet 'come on' as he patted the vacant seat next to him that was waiting for her. But the radiant, cheesy grin on his features faded the moment an awful bang rung out through the air.

A scream burst past (Y/n)'s lips and her hands coiled up to her head as she dropped to her knees on instinct.

Gunshots.

Someone was shooting at them.

They weren't on a call out for an assailant with a gun. They had sorted out a gas leak in a cafe, they weren't here for any injuries or shootings and no one had been trying to hold a hostage situation nearby. They didn't even have the ambulance with them today because the call out wasn't that serious.

Evan jerked back in his seat, hunching his shoulders and moving his hands mid-air despite not knowing what he was trying to do. He could feel his heart ramming away at his ribcage and his pulse throbbed in his neck but he couldn't catch a proper breath. He could feel Chimney rushing to unclip his belt beside him and it made Evan realise he hadn't done up his own belt yet.

With that thought in mind, Evan jumped forward and slammed down onto his knees in the footwell of the truck. His arms reached out and grabbed (Y/n), reeling her back until she stumbled into him. He could see from the way she dropped down that she hadn't been hurt and when he swept his eyes across her, he couldn't see any blood or wounds and she wasn't screaming out in pain.

"Get down! Get on the floor!" Evan jerked his right arm out and pulled on Eddie's sleeve before he moved to do the same to Hen, trying to drag them both down.

Someone was shooting at them, they needed to cower down in the footwell below the windows so they weren't easy targets. Sitting in their seats made them easy to spot and aim at. (Y/n) had been stood up when the shots started, they might have been aiming for her.

Chimney and Hen went down on their knees and leaned forward with their heads hunkered down low and their hands braced on the seats in front of them.

Eddie snapped his belt off so fast it slammed into the window while he slid off his seat and crouched down. There wasn't enough room for all five of them in the footwell but they rammed together like sardines to try and stay low. Leaning to the left, Eddie braced one arm over his head for cover before he leaned towards the door and grabbed it. He swung it until it snapped shut, caging them all inside safely out the way and hunkered down.

"Bobby-"

"Everybody hold tight!"

Bobby turned the lights on but not the sirens and leaned forward until his head was level with the steering wheel for extra coverage and protection. He didn't think twice before slamming his foot down on the gas to get them moving. Whoever was shooting was aiming for them and they needed to move.

"This is Captain Nash, shots fired! Repeat, shots are being fired we need police assistance. Is anyone hurt?" He did his best to look over his shoulder into the back but when he couldn't see any of them, he looked back at the road and swerved onto a side road to get them out the way.

There was nothing they could do. They couldn't stay and try to see if anyone was injured or hurt or stop the gunman when they seemed to be the targets.

Everyone took a quick glance down at themselves before they looked over at one another. No one seemed to have been hit and one of the windows had smashed but the glass hadn't cut any of them. They had escaped that one safe enough, but it had been close.

For a few more seconds, Evan didn't dare lift his head. He stayed down on his knees with (Y/n) curled over his thighs and his arms bound tight around her middle. He had his lips pressed against the back of her head although he didn't know why or even when he had suddenly done that. And no one else tried to move either. He could feel Chimney slouching against him, Hen had her hand on his shoulder for comfort and to steady herself. And Eddie was squashed in the corner with both his hands braced on the chair in front of him.

When Bobby turned another sharp corner, it felt safe enough for them all to push up and straighten up. But no one attempted to sit on a chair. They all remained on the floor.

"Is anyone hurt? Do I have to make a trip down to the hospital?" Bobby needed an answer. The turning for the hospital was coming up and he could either take that turn, or carry on straight and head back to the station.

Evan slowly reeled up and shuffled around until he was sat down on his bum and not his knees. He leaned his back up against the seat behind him and pulled his knees up which shifted (Y/n) so she was pinned between his knees and his chest.

"(Y/n)? Look at me, are you okay?" He kept one arm around her waist and moved his other hand to cup her jaw so he could turn her head. He tilted her head up so she was facing him.

His baby blue eyes did three turns looking her up and down but he couldn't see any injuries on her. All he could see were her hands still covering her ears and tears drenching her face. And Evan could feel her panicked breaths pushing into his chest, she was breathing like there wasn't enough air in the room and she was trying to stockpile what little oxygen she could.

Shivers bolted up and down (Y/n)'s spine when Evan started to rub his thumb across her chin and up towards her lip. And when he pulled her bottom lip down and leaned closer, she realised she wasn't talking. She wasn't saying anything and that was panicking him.

She couldn't hear him properly when he repeated the same question again, but she forced herself to nod her head. She wasn't hurt. She wasn't shot or hit with anything and she hadn't gotten any glass imbedded in her skin.

But her head was splitting.

Her right ear felt like it had been blown off. It was throbbing and pulsing and her head was starting to pound and sway back and forth like she was being used as a drum. The shot must have been close.

"We're good, Cap."

(Y/n) kept both her hands deadlocked over her ears and leaned forward to smother her face into Evan's shirt. Her breath hitched in her throat when Evan moved his hand down to cup the back of her thigh and she dared not ask what he was doing. She went limp despite her sudden panic and let Evan lift her over so she could sit down between his parted thighs.

He moved his hand to cup the back of her head and his other arm curved around her waist. He rested his chin on top of her head and held his breath for as long as he could so he wasn't panting and gasping anymore.

His eyes flitted over to look at Eddie when he rested his hand on Evan's ankle and patted his leg with a soft expression.

"He nearly shot her."

Evan's voice was so quiet that everyone almost misheard what he'd said. All eyes fell onto him except for (Y/n). And they looked at his hardened expression before their heads turned to see what he was looking at. The window opposite the door was the one that had shattered.

Whoever shot at them had aimed for (Y/n). An inch lower, an inch to the left, if she moved a second slower, there would be a bullet in her head and nothing they could do to save her.

None of them wanted to move when the truck pulled up in the station.

All of them seemed to exchange looks before Eddie sighed and took the plunge. He used the seat behind him as leverage and pushed up to his feet so he could open the door and hop down. He cracked his neck into place and stretched his arms in front of him while he waited for everyone else to follow him out.

Hen patted Evan's shoulder as she climbed over him to get out, followed by Chimney. Hen folded her arms over her chest and rubbed her hands up and down her sleeves to try and calm herself down. Any one of them could have gotten a gunshot wound today.

"We're back," Evan mumbled the words into (Y/n)'s hair before he moved his hands to cup her wrists so he could pull her hands away from her ears.

He hated to see tears streaked down her face and the way she was still struggling to take in a proper breath. Before he could stop himself, Evan leaned forward and kissed her temple.

His hands moved to hold her hips and he tried to smile when (Y/n) gripped his shoulders to try and stand up. He could feel how badly she was shaking once she was stood up and he moved to stand behind her with his hands still on her hips to try and comfort her. They climbed down and moved to stand next to everyone else.

Bobby looked furious.

His hands were on his hips, his foot was tapping against the floor and he moved one hand to drag across his chin before he scratched his nails into the back of his head.

"The police will be down here soon to take statements, and I'll need you all to complete some paperwork for the Chief, but that can wait until tomorrow. Does anyone need to see a counsellor or have a session before you carry on with your shifts?"

The police would no doubt be here within the hour to take statements and talk them all through what happens next. And Bobby would need to fill out an incident report and have everyone make their statements for the paperwork. He could let that wait until tomorrow, until the shock had worn off and everyone felt better.

But they all knew that they had a right to see a councillor or therapist and if they wanted to, they could have an appointment to be cleared to come back to work. Bobby wouldn't want anyone to carry on working if they felt too shaky or unsettled and thought they should talk it through with someone first. Their health and wellbeing came first and they had almost taken a bullet today, it would be understandable if anyone wanted to go home.

Evan clasped his hands together behind his back and kept his eyes on his shoes. He didn't need to talk this through. He needed to sit down before he exploded.

Someone had almost killed his best friend. Someone had taken aim at (Y/n) and they could have seriously injured or killed her. Where would Evan be if the worst had happened? What would he do without her? How would he cope in a world without (Y/n)?

She was the only constant thing in his life. He saw her every morning without fail, she was the first person he saw when he got up and the last person he saw before he closed his eyes at night. Evan didn't want that to change, not for anything in the world and he didn't want any harm to come to her. She was his roommate, his best friend and she meant more to Evan than anyone else ever had.

He couldn't live without her.

"Are you all sure you're okay?"

A chorus of 'yes' and nodding heads filled the air and Bobby waved his hand at them. They all knew what to do. Go get changed, get themselves a drink and try to calm down while he sorted dinner before the station became flooded with police.

(Y/n) closed her eyes for a few seconds when everyone started to disappear and float around the station.

She didn't now what to do. She wanted to be sick. She wanted to collapse and pass out. Her head was spinning so violently she thought it was going to disconnect from her neck.

"I'm gonna hit the gym."

(Y/n) let her eyes drag over to Evan, wincing at how horrible his voice sounded in her right ear. It sounded like she was submerged underwater, trying to hear things above the surface. It was as if Evan was gurgling water in the back of his throat as he talked and the sounded made (Y/n) cringe. She could feel her head swimming and her ear was pounding and pulsing and throbbing all at once.

She knew what he meant by that. He meant he was going to go into the gym and break the equipment. He had ripped the last punching bag they had at the station after a bad fallout with his parents.

Eddie nodded in agreement and they both turned to start making their way towards the gym. But when Evan looked over his shoulder at (Y/n), it was as if they were having a silent conversation. (Y/n) could feel herself begging him not to leave her alone and his eyes told her he wasn't allowing her out of his sight for more than a few seconds.

That was enough for (Y/n) to follow along behind them. She didn't know what else to do with herself. She could follow the boys and watch them in the gym. It would be better than sitting in the bunker room or upstairs on her own, twiddling her thumbs and she knew if she was alone she was at risk of bursting into tears.

Her hand braced out on the truck and she dragged her fingertips along the red paint, using the truck as leverage to keep herself upright as she began to walk.

She felt dizzy.

When they got into the gym, (Y/n) heaved herself over to a bench and slumped down like all her bones had turned to jelly. She flopped forward and let her arms slump on her legs and hung her head down to see if it would relieve her headache and make her ear stop thudding and ringing like a church bell.

"Are you alright?" Evan's hand found her shoulder with a surprisingly strong grip and he gave her a squeeze to make her look up at him. She was surprised to see he had shed his shirt quickly to leave him in his grey vest and trousers.

"Just shaky,"

(Y/n) let her eyes dance over Evan's frame for a while as he began to abuse the punch bag in the corner. She couldn't hear whatever he and Eddie were talking about. Her right ear was starting to turn numb and the ringing was drowning out everything else. She could only hear through her left ear and it was a horrible feeling to feel as if she were broken and useless on one side.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed in the gym, it could have been a few minutes, it could have been half an hour. All she knew was that after a few minutes, she flopped to lay out on the bench.

Eddie and Evan kept glancing her way every now and then but she still had her eyes open and she tried to smile at them to show she wasn't suddenly going to faint or go unconscious.

"You three, come and get something to eat." Bobby's voice was quiet when he poked his head round the door and waved them over.

(Y/n) realised they must have been in there a while because Evan was drenched in sweat and Bobby had found enough time to make lunch.

Her lips curved into a small, tepid smile when Evan stood in front of her hand held his shaky, sweating palms out towards her. His chest was heaving, his hair was flopping about on his head and sweat trickled down his neck and through to his vest, but he didn't care.

She let her hands slide into his and Evan slowly pulled her up to her feet, but (Y/n)'s smile faded when her head started to swim. Her knees trembled and her head flopped forward. She felt dizzy and sick and feverish all at once. But she tried to push those feelings aside when the three of them headed out the gym and trudged towards the stairs.

None of them had much energy and they all walked at their slowest pace, feeling their motivation slipping away with each passing second. They didn't do this job to get shot at. They were firefighters, they were trying to do some good in the world and help people and look out for everyone. Why did they deserve to be shot at? What had they done to upset someone so much?

The three of them walked in a single file line when they got to the stairs and (Y/n) grabbed the rails with both hands, pushing her weight onto her arms to drag herself up.

But the dizziness was starting to get worse and she could feel her breakfast crawling back up her throat.

Halfway up the stairs was too much for (Y/n). Her head started to loll forwards and a wave of tremors rattled through her limbs while her head pounded. Her eardrum thudded, tears splashed down her face and her head started to split apart like a coconut.

"(Y/n)- hey, what's up, what're you doing?" Panic bubbled up through Evan when he watched (Y/n) suddenly lower herself down onto her knees like she was about to pray here on the stairs.

He moved to crouch down behind her, reaching out to grip her waist while he felt Eddie lean over his shoulder to see why they had all stopped.

When (Y/n) folded her arms on the step in front of her and tried to slump her head onto her arms, Evan gently reeled her back. He muttered a quiet 'come here' as he tilted (Y/n) back into his chest. He hated the way she started to tremble in his arms and the way she hid her face into her hands like she was trying to smother herself. It did nothing to stop him from hearing her begin to cry and it made his heart shatter.

But his brows furrowed and he gently pulled her hands away from her face so he could cup her chin. He tilted her head to the left so she was looking away from him and a growl built up in his chest when he noticed a small trickle of blood slithering down from her ear onto her jaw.

"Okay, up we go. I got you."

Evan held (Y/n)'s wrist and looped her arm around the back of his neck before he cupped his left arm around her waist and slid his right arm beneath her knees. He slowly stood up and waited until (Y/n) smothered her face in his chest before he began walking up the stairs again.

His jaw locked tightly and he tried his best to look ahead and ignore the worried looks he got from the rest of the team who were quietly sat around the dining table.

He moved over to the right and headed over to the sofa, crouching down so he could ease (Y/n) down onto the sofa before he sat down beside her.

(Y/n) curled her arms into her chest and slouched back into Evan when his arm draped around her shoulders. He pressed his lips into her hair and started to glide his other hand up and down her arm until Eddie came back over to them with one of their medical kits in hand.

When Eddie perched down in front of (Y/n), Evan slid his hand up from her shoulder to cup her jaw. (Y/n) opened her eyes wide and tried to control her breathing as she wondered what Evan was trying to do. But he gently used her chin to turn her head until her cheek was pressed into her chest so Eddie could see the blood trickling out of her right ear.

"Can I take a look?"

(Y/n) didn't say anything but the soft look in her eyes told Eddie he could go ahead.

He used a cotton swab to clean away the blood before he shone a light in her ear. His fingertips pressed behind her ear, down her neck and across her jaw to see when she would wince or flinch away from his touch. He then pressed a thermometer under her tongue and flashed the light across her eyes.

"I think the shot burst your eardrum… you were the closest to it. You need to get some antibiotics and go home, it's gonna take a while to heal."

Eddie winced when (Y/n) began to cry and he turned to look over his shoulder and wave Bobby across to them.

There was nothing a doctor could do for (Y/n) except make sure she didn't get it infected. It would heal up on its own within two months, hopefully. (Y/n) would need to rest, take antibiotics and make sure not to get her ear wet at all for a few weeks.

She turned her head further to the side and cried into Evan's chest, shaking harder when she felt his hand slide up from her jaw to tangle in her hair at the back of her head.

"It's okay… shh, it's alright. I'm taking you home."

***

A sigh bubbled past Evan's lips when he shut the front door behind him. He let his shoulders slump down and tilted his head back, closing his eyes when he heard that unmistakeable sound.

(Y/n) was throwing up. Again.

He tossed his keys on the side and headed through into the kitchen, dumping his bag down on the counter before he backtracked and headed over towards the bathroom.

He had never been more pleased that the bathroom in their apartment was downstairs. It meant while (Y/n) was laid up on the couch for the last few days, she didn't have to struggle getting up and down the stairs to rush to the bathroom when she felt sick. But he wished she wasn't throwing up so much. Evan wished she could start to feel better.

For the last four days, he had seen (Y/n) eat two meals a day and proceed to throw all of it back up again. He thought it was too good to be true that she had eaten tea last night and lunch today without being sick.

He tapped his knuckles on the door before he nudged it open and stood in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest. He leaned his back up against the door and let his head flop to the right as he looked down at (Y/n).

She was knelt on the floor, hunched over the toilet with her forehead slumped down on her arms.

"I take it you don't feel any better?" He mumbled quietly and raised his brows when (Y/n) turned away from the toilet. She could barely keep her eyes open and a subtle tremble had set in all over her body.

(Y/n) turned on her knees and shuffled over until she could use the sink as leverage to pull herself up. But the moment she was stood up, her legs started to shake and her head rattled like someone was using her head as a bowling ball. Her knees quaked and pressed up against the sink and her hands gripped the edge as she let herself slide down just a little until her head was slumped forward into the bowl.

She tried to rinse her mouth with mouthwash but the sensation made her ear feel like it was popping and drowning in water. She spat it out and cringed, bowing her head even further to stop herself from crying. She had cried enough over the last four days but she couldn't seem to stop.

Her head was pounding unless she was asleep and as much as she tried, (Y/n) couldn't sleep the days away as well as the nights. She hated listening to music or the tv when one ear was working and the other was turned down and noises came through hazy and bubbling. She had to have the tv on volume seven because any louder made her cry.

The shot had unbalanced the fluids in her ears and that was making it hard for (Y/n) to keep her balance and stay upright. She felt like she was always swaying and sliding to one side when she stood upright and every time she tried to move around, she ended up being sick.

"Alright, come here."

Evan cupped his hands over her hips and stood behind her but when he turned her around to face him, he watched her lips fall into a frown and she wouldn't meet his gaze. Her forehead tipped down into his chest and her hands gripped his arms even though she didn't want to.

"You can't carry me everywhere, Evan." (Y/n) didn't want to rely on Evan like this. She didn't want him to have to help her up and down the stairs and make dinner for her when they usually shared the cooking. She didn't like relying on him like this, it wasn't fair.

"Yes I can. You're not well, that means I gotta look after you. So let me."

(Y/n) let herself go limp so Evan could move her easily. He cupped her wrists and lifted her arms to curl them around his neck. Then his hand moved down to hold her chin and he bent his knees to lower himself down so he could rest (Y/n)'s head on his shoulder.

His hands cupped the back of her exposed thighs and he lifted her up with ease, securing her legs around his torso so she was sitting on his hips. He kept one arm around her bum, she was light and easy enough to carry with one arm so he didn't know why she objected so much to him carrying her around. It wasn't like she was forcing him to help her; he wanted to. He was desperate to help her.

(Y/n) closed her eyes and nuzzled her face into Evan's neck, smiling when she felt Evan's lips against the top of her head. Something he had been doing a lot over the last few days.

He headed into the kitchen, grabbed the bag he had come back with and then turned around to go down into the living room.

When he reached the sofa, Evan dug his hand into (Y/n)'s thigh and leaned forward so he could ease her down. He found himself smiling when he watched her curl her knees up to her stomach and saw how she burrowed into the pillows she had collected down here to be more comfortable.

"What's in the bag?" (Y/n) let her head sink into one of the pillows and she bound her arms around her chest, turning to face Evan when he sat down next to her. But he didn't sink back into the seat like he normally would, he sat on the edge of the sofa with his knees bent out to the sides and his elbows on his thighs.

"I got Eddie to grab me a few bits from the station."

(Y/n) narrowed her eyes, about to smile at him until she watched what he started to get out the bag and place down on the coffee table.

"Evan no-"

Her lips pressed together firmly and she leaned back in her seat when he turned to face her. The way he tilted his head to the side and rose a brow made her shiver, but it was his jaw that locked and ground from side to side that made the adrenaline ignite in (Y/n)'s stomach. And when he moved his hand to point a finger at her, she almost gasped.

"Now you listen to me, you're dehydrated and you're still being sick. So you either suck it up and let me help you, or I will carry you to the car and take you down to the emergency room. So which is it sweetheart?"

The pet name rolled off his tongue before he could stop himself or even realise what he had said and it made (Y/n) turn to jelly despite the pain rolling through her head. She loosened her arms from her chest and flopped her arm onto his thigh as a sign of giving in to him.

"Good girl."

Evan picked up one of the two saline bags Eddie had packed for him. He knew (Y/n) would be sick again today, he just had a gut feeling that she wouldn't be able to keep anything down and she hadn't been drinking enough either. So he rang Eddie this morning and asked him to grab a few IV bags from inventory, some stronger pain meds and some supplement sachets.

He knew (Y/n) wouldn't want to go to hospital, it would take a few hours for them to get through the emergency room onto a ward to get any help in the first place. But if he could keep (Y/n) at home with him and help her himself, the Evan would do everything he could for her.

(Y/n) dared to shuffle a bit closer so she could tilt her head forward and press her nose into his arm which made him smile.

He ripped open an antiseptic wipe and dabbed it across the back of (Y/n)'s hand that was stretched out on his thigh. He could feel (Y/n) pressing her face further into his bicep while she closed her eyes. She didn't do well with needles.

"Here we go," He whispered quietly, daring to let his eyes dart over to her for a second before he moved his attention back to her hand.

He slid the needle into the first vein he found and moved to grab the IV cap that he clipped onto the end while (Y/n) groaned and pinched her nails into his thigh. Not that Evan minded at all. Once a bit of tape was stuck over it, he grabbed a roll of bandage and started to wind it around her hand. He knew exactly what she was like. She would scratch and pull and mess with the tube until the needle came out.

Once it was in place, Evan checked the wire was straight and running free before he flipped the cap to let the fluids flush wide open. He wanted the saline in her system as fast as possible because she was dehydrated and she needed a boost.

"Eddie found some painkillers, they should take away your headaches."

"I don't think I can keep them down."

"Ah, no this is the good stuff." Evan flashed the small bottle when (Y/n) turned her head so her cheek was pressed against his shoulder. He told Eddie not to bring tablets because (Y/n) would throw them up.

Evan grabbed a new needle, filled it with the right dosage and injected it into the spare cap on the IV tube. This would go straight into (Y/n)'s system so she wouldn't throw it up and it would help her feel better. He didn't want to see her crying in pain any longer, he just wanted to make her feel better.

"Thank you." (Y/n) left her bandaged hand on Evan's lap but she moved her right hand to curl around his arm she was leaning against. Her lips pressed to his shoulder and she smiled against his skin until she looked up and realised he looked perplexed.

"You don't need to thank me."

"Evan, you've been looking after me-"

"I look after you because I want to, but I wouldn't need to if some fucker didn't try and take a shot at you. He nearly killed you and I can't… I can't lose you."

Evan slumped back against the sofa and reached his free hand to tangle through his hair. He let his body slouch down and tipped his head back on the cushion to stare up at the ceiling. He wouldn't be taking care of (Y/n) like this if he didn't want to, he would do anything for her. But he would rather be taking care of her when she was sick from a cold or an illness. Not because someone thought they had the right to try and shoot them.

If things had been different, a few seconds later, if (Y/n) didn't move at the right time or if she was a little slower. If that gun had been aimed more to the left, she would be in a coffin right now and Evan would be inconsolable.

"You won't lose me, Evan. I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here," (Y/n) dared to move her hand up from his arm to brush her thumb across his chin. She tilted his head so he was looking at her, so he could see her smile and know that she was here. She wasn't going anywhere. She had a lucky escape five days ago but nothing like that would happen again.

Her fingers tickled the side of his jaw, feathering up and down until he was shuddering beneath her gentle touch. The more her fingers grazed his skin, the less resolve Evan had until he finally broke and pushed forward.

His hand cupped her jaw and skimmed across her neck before he leaned across and kissed her.

He'd dreamed about doing this.

She was his best friend. She was his roommate. She was his partner on the job. But Evan wanted her to be so much more. Evan wanted (Y/n) to be everything in the world to him, his friend, the one he lived with, the girl he kissed and came home to every night. Because she already held his heart in her hands and he never wanted it back.

He pulled her lower lip between his teeth and drank her in, panting against her lips until he was seeing stars and the ringing in (Y/n)'s ears drowned out into nothing but background noise.

He felt her hand move around from his jaw to loop around his neck while her other hand shifted up from his thigh to rest on his chest so she could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest.

Evan slipped his hands down until his fingers could slide beneath her legs and grip the back of her bare thighs were her pyjama shorts had ridden up her legs. He lifted her thighs up and dragged her across the small distance between them that felt like an ocean was keeping them apart. He pulled until her knees were clamped down on either side of his hips and she sank back on his thighs.

And when (Y/n) pulled back to try and gasp for air, Evan cupped her wrist and moved her hand up from his chest to loop it around the back of his neck. Along with the IV tube so he didn't squeeze it and stop the fluids from getting into her system.

His hand moved around to hold the back of her neck while his other hand shifted up from her thigh to grab her bum. He kept her leaning down on his chest and he smiled when he looked up and saw a dazed look in her hooded eyes.

(Y/n) scratched her nails against the short hairs at the back of his neck until Evan was clenching his jaw and he pulled her back down onto him.

(Y/n) could feel herself going lightheaded again, especially when Evan seemed to draw all the air out of her lungs and gulp it down for himself. His warm lips smothered hers and bit her lower lip until he was going to leave a bruise in his wake, but (Y/n) didn't care. She didn't want him to stop. She could feel him muttering something against her mouth but he spoke far too quietly for her to hear.

"Hm?"

"You're right. You're not going anywhere."

[mariacallous]

A woman without biologicalchildren is running for high political office, and so naturally that quality will at some point be used against her. Kamala Harris has, in the short period since she emerged as the Democratic candidate for US president, been scrutinised over her lack of children. The conservative lawyer Will Chamberlain posted on X that Harris “shouldn’t be president” – apparently, she doesn’t have “skin in the game”. The Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, called Harris and other Democrats “a bunch of childless cat ladies miserable at their own lives”.

It’s a particularly virulent tendency in the US, with a rightwing movement that is fixated on women’s reproduction. But who can forget (and if you have, I am happy to remind you of a low point that still sticks in my craw) Andrea Leadsom, during the 2016 Conservative party leadership election, saying that Theresa May might have nieces and nephews, but “I have children who are going to have children … who will be a part of what happens next”. “Genuinely,” she added, as if the message were not clear enough, “I feel that being a mum means you have a real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake.”

It’s an argument about political capability that dresses up a visceral revulsion at the idea that a woman who does not have a child should be vested with any sort of credibility or status. In other comments, Vance said that “so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids trying to brainwash the minds of our children, that really disorients me and disturbs me”. He appears so fixated on this that it is almost comical: a man whose obsession with childless women verges on a complex.

But his “disorientation and disturbance” is a political tendency that persists and endures. It constantly asks the question of women who don’t have children, in subtle and explicit ways, especially the higher they rise in the professional sphere: “What’s up with that? What’s the deal?” The public sphere becomes a space for answering that question. Women perform a sort of group plea to be left the hell alone, in their painstaking examinations of how they arrived at the decision not to have kids, or why they in fact celebrate not having kids, or deliberations on ambivalence about having kids.

Behind all this lies some classic old-school inability to conceive of women outside mothering. But one reason this traditionalism persists in ostensibly modern and progressive places is that women withdrawing from mothering in capitalist societies – with their poorly resourced public amenities and parental support – forces questions about our inequitable, unacknowledged economic arrangements. A woman who does not bear children is a woman who will never stay home and provide unremunerated care. She is less likely to be held in the domestic zone and extend her caregiving to elderly relatives or the children of others. She cannot be a resource that undergirds a male partner’s career, frailties, time limitations and social demands.

A mother is an option, a floating worker, the joker in the pack. Not mothering creates a hole for that “free” service, which societies increasingly arranged around nuclear families and poorly subsidised rights depend on. The lack of parental leave, childcare and elderly care would become profoundly visible – “disorienting and disturbing” – if that service were removed.

“Motherhood,” writes the author Helen Charman in her new book Mother State, “is a political state. Nurture, care, the creation of human life – all immediate associations with mothering – have more to do with power, status and the distribution of resources … than we like to admit. For raising children is the foundational work of society, and, from gestation onward, it is unequally shared.”

Motherhood, in other words, becomes an economic input, a public good, something that is talked about as if the women themselves were not in the room. Data on declining birthrates draws comment from Elon Musk (“extremely concerning!!”) . Not having children is reduced to entirely personal motivations – selfishness, beguilement with the false promise of freedom, lack of values and foresight, irresponsibility – rather than external conditions: of the need for affordable childcare, support networks, flexible working arrangements and the risk of financial oblivion that motherhood frequently brings, therefore creating bondage to partners. To put it mildly, these are material considerations to be taken into account upon entering a state from which there is no return. Assuming motherhood happens without such context, Charman tells me, is a “useful fantasy”.

It is a binary public discourse, obscuring the often thin veil between biological and social actualisation. Women who don’t have children do not exist in a state of blissful detachment from their bodies and their relationship with maternity: a number have had pregnancies, miscarriages, abortions and periods. A number have entered liminal stages of motherhood that don’t conform to the single definition from which they are excluded. A number extend mothering to various children in their lives. Some, like Harris herself, have stepchildren (who don’t count, just as May’s nieces and nephews didn’t). A number have become mothers, just not in a way that initiates them into a blissful club. They experience regret, depression and navigate unsettlement that does not conform to the image of uncomplicated validation of your purpose in life.

But the privilege of those truths cannot be bestowed on creatures whose rejection of the maternal bond has become a rejection of a wider unspoken, colossally unfair contract. Women with children are handed social acceptance for their vital investment in “the future”, in exchange for unrewarded, unsupported labour that props up and stabilises the economic and social status quo. All while still suffering sneeriness about the value of their work in comparison with the serious graft of the men who win the bread.

On top of that, women have to navigate all that motherhood – or not – entails, all the deeply personal, bewildering, isolating and unacknowledged realities of both, while being subject to relentless suffocating, infantilising and violating public theories and notions that trespass on their private spaces. With that comes a sense of self-doubt and shame in making the wrong decision, or not being as content with those decisions as they are expected to be. It is a constant, prodding vivisection. That, more than anything clinical observers feel, is the truly disorienting and disturbing experience.

[thepersonperson]

Gojo kind of sucks at being Megumi's dad but he’s definitely his dad. (An analysis of Gojo and Megumi's messy relationship.)

Notes before we start.

1) Read the light novels. They are the equivalent of Bleach's CFYOW for JJK. There is a fan translation (Book 1 & Book 2), but I will be citing the official translation from my own copies.

2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans for the manga because of their accessibility. 

3) Raws are from Mangareader(.)to.

4) Written as of JJK 263.

5) Read the light novels.

(Click pictures for captions/citations.)

Preface

This was written with the assumption you've also read these other analyses:

The Tragedy of Gojo Satoru (aka how to read Gojo)

Gojo's Relationship to Toji

Please give them a quick glance at least.

And Remember Umineko: Without love it cannot be seen.

Gojo Satoru—World’s Most Okayish Dad

There's heavy debate on whether Gojo is a good dad or a bad dad or even if he is a dad at all to Megumi. I will argue the case for Gojo being an ok dad. Not great or terrible. Just ok.

The best way to do this I think is to start off with Megumi's biological father, Fushiguro Toji.

Gojo and Toji Parallels

Toji is objectively the worse father, but Gojo and him have a lot in common when it comes to handling emotions after your wife dies. Gege draws attention to the fact that Gojo is essentially Toji. Both in looks and function.

What fascinates me about this comparison is not only does it visually scream at you “HEY GOJO IS MEGUMI’S SEMI-DEADBEAT DAD”, it also solidifies that Gojo has never gotten over Toji. And perhaps even idolizes him to an unhealthy degree. He’s dressed up as the Ultimate Killing Thing. Toji can kill the unkillable—The Strongest. If he’s more like Toji, he can kill Sukuna.

In addition to foreshadowing the outcome of the Gojo vs Sukuna fight, this also drew attention to the fact these two had been completely dehumanized by Jujutsu Society, albeit in polar opposite directions. Both of them suffered extreme objectification by their clans and the people around them, leading to a general disconnect from others. Their strength is worshiped, feared, and used until it kills them. The difference between them is that Gojo was deified while Toji was demonized. 

Since these comparisons appear to be deliberate, I want to examine what makes their relationship when it comes to Megumi and coping with Jujutsu Society.

Breaking the Cycle

When it comes to generational abuse, trauma, and toxic beliefs, a single generation is typically not enough to break the cycle. Often victims can recognize what went wrong but fail to address the crux of the problem and carry a softened version of that toxicity onto the next generation. I think the differences between the Zenin Clan, Toji, Gojo, and Megumi when it comes to misogyny demonstrate this idea very well. 

The Zenin Clan operates on misogyny. Women are treated as servants and breeding stock by the men who enforce this hierarchy for their benefit. (Naoya is the youngest of many older siblings because Naobito didn’t stop making his wife have children until his Cursed Technique (CT) was inherited.) Violence towards women is acceptable and encouraged. When Toji broke free of his clan, he also left behind this violence towards women. As a victim of their cruelty, he recognized that inflicting it was wrong.

That being said, I truly believe the main reason Toji didn’t massacre the Zenins was him benefiting from their misogyny as a man. Even if just a little. Naobito offered him an indirect place in the clan through selling Megumi and Naoya respected his strength. As a girl, Maki was not afforded anything and therefore had nothing to lose. The only way forward for her was to burn everything to the ground.

And despite seeing first hand how poorly the Zenins treated women, the idea that they exist to serve men is a mentality Toji still held onto. He bummed money and childcare off women and was content to laze around while Tsumiki most likely handled housework at a young age. 

Toji was canonically a decent husband to his wife. He also canonically fell back to his unstable behavior and abandoned his children to gamble after she died. And though I acknowledge this as a tragedy, this too is another instance of misogyny. His wife was his sole source of his emotional wellbeing, a common burden thrust onto women in relationships with men. They’re expected to not only do physical labor in the relationship, but the emotional labor too, essentially becoming a personal maid and therapist. I’m not surprised he wound up this way, he wasn’t really taught how to care for himself.

Compare this to Gojo who is even less of a misogynist than Toji. He doesn’t expect women to do anything for him. His recruiting is equal opportunity when it comes to strength and he has not once disparaged his female students on the basis of their gender. He can even recognize that the Zenin Clan is a bad place for women. His issues are far more subtle—Gojo seems to deprioritize the women in his life, even if unconsciously. Gege has stated that Gojo can never fully be honest with a woman which would explain why he emotionally shut out Shoko after Geto left. It’s not like Gojo is open with men either, but when it comes to admiration, he always thinks of male characters first and foremost.

(It's also kind of telling that his other female student, Kiara isn't anywhere here either. Maki's face being blocked out is probably a coincidence, but it sure visually says something.)

I don’t consider Gojo’s failure to be a good teacher to Maki a part of this. He just sucks as a teacher for everyone. So much so that Gojo had to beg Nanami to mentor Yuji and bullied Miguel into training Yuta. Someone who can’t even use Cursed Energy (CE) is far beyond his capabilities. (Note how Nanami thought Gojo was coming to him for Megumi. This guy can’t even teach his alleged successor properly.)

The main problem is how he treats Utahime. Gojo just straight up makes sexist comments towards her when he bullies her. He doesn’t do this to any other female character so I assume this is done to get under her skin instead of a deeply held belief. Since Gojo is otherwise not sexist, I think this may be a case of not being told this is outright discriminatory. For example, when Gojo is racist towards Miguel, he gets called out, immediately apologizes, and stops talking. Utahime doesn’t do that. She just tells him to respect her on the grounds she’s his elder—the very thing that Gojo is rebelling against.

Still there’s no excuse for this. Unmarried women over 25 in Japan face a lot of stigma as it is, Gojo antagonizing her over that is a terrible thing to do. (Unless this is a case of T4T banter where Gojo’s sexist comments are Trans Inclusive Radical Misogyny.)

I’m not sure where this puts Tsumiki in Gojo’s life. Gege has admitted to fumbling her character in the story. One of the biggest complaints of fans is that it doesn’t feel like Megumi cared that intensely for her because their relationship was hardly shown, so I’m inclined to give some leeway to Gojo here.

Gojo does care about non-sorcerer lives and will go out of his way to ensure their well-being despite otherwise treating them indifferently. When it came to Geto’s family he also took care of the ones that defected because they were important to someone he loves. I have no doubt he made sure Tsumiki’s basic needs were met. There could be a whole unique dynamic he has with Tsumiki that may or may not be expanded upon in the anime or light novels. 

But as it stands, he most certainly deprioritized her in his life. To what extent? And was it for being a girl or being weak? Who knows. She’s not in the afterlife airport scene and Gojo doesn’t think about her in death. This could be for a number of reasons. 1) He has no idea she’s dead. 2) He really did just limit things to his high school years. 3) He didn’t care about her at all. My point is I don’t know and he definitely screwed up here.

In all these cases, it seems that Gojo’s problem lies less with misogyny and more with his relationship to strength. Gojo has correctly identified that strict hierarchies are a problem. As an adult he does not tell others to put up with him because of his seniority, strength, or gender. People are free to insult him, smack him, and order him around without fear of consequence. But just like how Toji still sees women as a means to serve him without being violent, Gojo sees his strength as something that separates him from other people without abusing it.

On a fundamental level Gojo stopped seeing himself as a human because of the objectification he experienced as a living weapon. Other people to him are both precious and unreachable. His internal beliefs have him convinced this immense difference in strength means no one weaker than him can ever fully understand him. And once again, just like Toji, this is all related to unprocessed trauma.

When Geto abandoned Gojo, one of his reasons was their difference in strength. Geto straight up tells Gojo this to his face. They no longer can be friends because he’s The Strongest. Geto no longer understands him because he’s The Strongest. Gojo took that to heart it seems. If his best friend won’t be with him because he’s too strong, no one can truly be with him unless they’re as strong as him. 

I want to be clear. What broke their relationship wasn’t their difference in strength—it was exploitation at the hands of the higher ups. They kept those two separate and overworked until one of them snapped. Both of them failed to identify their work culture as the crux of their problems. Geto blamed non-sorcerers while Gojo blamed himself and only Jujutsu Society. And in the same way Toji tried to rely on women to fix his problems, Gojo went all in on strength. This is how Gojo can be correct in seeing the higher ups and tradition as a massive problem, while still overworking himself and putting his students in dangerous situations.

But despite all these flaws, Gojo did right by Megumi when raising him. Megumi is a Zenin by blood—misogyny should be present in every single drop, and yet it is not. Megumi is so divorced from sex-based hierarchies that he barely sees gender. When Todo asks a rather sleazy question about what women he likes, his answer is gender neutral and on the basis of them being a good person. He prioritizes the women in his life, respecting Maki as a role model and taking action in service to his sister’s wellbeing. His protectiveness of Tsumiki isn’t chivalrous either, Megumi extends the same prioritization to Yuji since they both meet his definition of a good person.

Megumi has internalized Gojo’s disinterest in hierarchy so much that he has no interest in power either. When he’s made the head of the Zenin Clan, he immediately wants to give the title to Maki. A girl being more competent than Megumi is not something that bothers him in the slightest. Naoya could never. All that money and influence mean nothing to him. People and animals are all that matter to him. This violent cycle of misogyny ends with him.

Gojo also did good by ensuring both Megumi and Maki were never exposed to the feud between the Zenin and Gojo Clans. Megumi is only made aware of it in passing as encouragement for his growth. Since Maki massacred the rest of the Zenins, that generational beef is officially over too. Two violent cycles ended in part because Gojo rejected the strict hierarchies perpetuating the problem.

The only cycle Gojo didn’t break was the over reliance on strength and child labor. He did lay the groundwork to escape it I think. None of his students believe strength means they need to be isolated. They cooperate in combat and appear to be close friends that enjoy themselves when they can. Since the higher ups are all dead and Japan is in disarray, there’s a good chance they can do something truly revolutionary with this if they survive Sukuna.

Gojo sucks at parenting, but it is still parenting.

Demonstrating how Gojo has benefited Megumi doesn’t make him a father. After all, neither Megumi or Tsumiki take his last name and Megumi refers to him as Sensei. There’s also the underlying coercion in their arrangement, Gojo’s aid came at the cost of Megumi becoming a sorcerer.

I put the memories of their meeting side by side for comparison. Gojo's is probably more accurate since it's presented with more details and clarity. But little Megumi seeing Gojo as a strange and annoying aberration says a lot about their relationship.

So, I turn to the undisputed Mother of the Year, Geto, for comparison.

Gege has stated that Geto was a father to Mimiko and Nanako. He outwardly shows affection towards them as family and spends much more time with them However, Geto runs a cult whose aim is genocide and everyone in his cult is a family member. Geto’s daughters do not take his last name and call him Master. They participate in cult activities and murder operations as they were raised to be prejudiced. There’s also the underlying manipulation in how he recruited them at their most vulnerable. If Geto can be called dad despite all this, then Gojo should be too.

Geto is the better parent by far, I won’t dispute that. He pursued motherhood as a means to cope with his mental illness immediately at age 17. As a cult leader he had plenty of time to be a father since he didn’t have a real job. He set his own hours while being financed by donors, allowing him to be more active in his children’s life. Gojo was not nearly as proactive, he picked up Megumi after he started the first grade.

In Japan, children may enter the first grade in April after turning 6, therefore it can be assumed that Megumi is 6 here and the year is 2009 in April or later. Megumi is in short sleeves and the weather looks warm, so the furthest out the date could be is early September. Gojo was born on December 22, 1989 while Megumi was born on December 7, 2002, giving them a 13 year age gap that puts Gojo at age 19. Since Toji was killed in August of 2007 this means there were 1.75–2 years between his final request and Gojo acting on it. It is unknown how long Tsumiki’s mother was absent.

I do not fault Gojo for this since he could’ve never predicted their mother abandoning them. After Geto died and Nanami was in mourning, the higher ups pushed all that extra work onto him. It’s likely that Gojo had no time to pursue this until he forced the issue near the sale date. These work obligations no doubt strained his relationship with Megumi and Tsumiki as their caretaker.

Some think that this absence is proof Gojo is not a father. I think this absence is proof that he is.

An emotionally distant father who works all day, barely has time for you, and is a pain to deal with. Yes he may pay all the bills and give you a place to live, but you still kind of hate him for being an ass. Sound familiar? You probably know someone with this exact dad if he’s not yours. He even has a clear bias for the son he wants to grow up to be just like him! (I'm so sorry Tsumiki.) 

But that’s not what truly makes him a dad. Gojo couples his affection with cruelty. The way in which Gojo torments Megumi specifically is unique to him and no other student. With all his other students he is consistently, overly friendly. With Megumi? He bullies him in the way only a parent can.

If you aren’t a parent to a child, perhaps you own a pet that you consider your child. I have yet to meet a pet owner that doesn’t mess with their baby to get a reaction out of them.

And since Gege storyboarded Jujutsu Strolls, this video clip is in a state of probably canon.

I can’t think of anything more dad than deliberately embarrassing your child to mess with their love life.

Fathers like these tend to have children that want to destroy them in some capacity. It can serve as a strong motivation for their growth. Protag with crappy dad they might hate while also seeking validation from them? What popular Shounen doesn’t have this? We’ve got Baki the Grappler, Full Metal Alchemist, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, etc. (Hey look 2 of those are works Gege is heavily inspired by.)

As stated in CFYOW, JJK Thorny Road at Dawn, Chapter 5: At the End of a Sidewalk, Megumi is motivated the most when he imagines destroying Gojo.

In summary, Gojo fits the typical emotionally distant dad bill. A little bit misogynistic, a little bit racist, and trying to live out his failed dreams through his child who he bullies due to unprocessed trauma. (And holy fudge the amount of anime dads that have a kid specifically to surpass them.)

Megumi considers Gojo family even if he won’t outright state it.

Given how Megumi treats Gojo, it may be difficult to believe that he sees his sensei as anything other than a nuisance. But that's kind of how Megumi treats everyone, including his sister. How Megumi is with Tsumiki specifically can give us insight into his behaviors when he's around family vs non-family. Using her as a reference, it can be inferred how he categorizes Gojo.

Tsumiki (and Yuji) vs Gojo

We know that Megumi values his sister greatly because he prioritizes her well-being above most other people. But this motivation is never directly spoken to another character. Megumi keeps his feelings on the matter so close to his chest that Nobara and Yuji are shocked to learn he even has a sister. I don’t think seeing them together would indicate their closeness either. Outwardly Megumi often treats Tsumiki coldly, refusing her affection and even picking fights with her.

And despite his internal dialogue being less harsh towards her, it can still be quite biting. While he recalls her on the verge of passing out, Megumi refers to Tsumiki as his バカ姉貴 (Baka Aneki) or Stupid Sister. Believe it or not, this is actually affection. Sukuna uses similar phrasing for his mother and this Twitter user explains why that's actually a kindness.

Thankfully, Tsumiki and Yuji can see through Megumi’s stand-offishness for what it is. They’re good people who are willing to look past his flaws so Megumi treats them the same way. In this regard, these two act as a blueprint for reading Megumi. For the people he values most he’ll treat them harshly and barely mention them. His expression of love is unspoken devotion and downplayed admiration.

But without that context, Megumi constantly smacking Yuji and the following passages from CFYOW, JJK Summer of Ashes, Autumn of Dust, Chapter 1: Kyujitsu Kaisen would make you think that he hated him.

All of this is why I believe Megumi's taciturn behavior towards Gojo is his strange way of showing he cares and perhaps as family.

I want to draw attention to the extras where Megumi responds to the question: What is Gojo Satoru to you?

The VIZ translation has Megumi answer: "Well, I guess I owe him my life. I guess…”

The original Japanese is: "一応恩人です......一応"

This is an extremely inaccurate translation as this Tumblr user will explain:

一応 (ichiou) is “for the time being”. 恩人 (onjin) is “benefactor” or “patron”, generally someone that care for his well-being or who he’s indebted to. So it’s “for the time being, he’s my benefactor”.

If we translate back the VIZ version to Japanese, it will be 命の恩人 (inochi no onjin) meaning someone who has saved your life, which is usually used in the context of a literal life-and-death situation. For example when Gojo saved Yuuji from his execution.

Megumi calling Gojo his benefactor greatly downplays all that has been done for him. And his expression is very similar to when he speaks of or around Tsumiki. I think it’s safe to assume Gojo means more to Megumi than he's letting on.

Though Megumi claims he's protecting Tsumiki because she's a good person, I believe there's an additional reason. He owes her a great debt. When their parents abandoned them, she was the one who looked after him first. When Gojo wasn't around to directly care for them, Tsumiki took charge. Megumi's devotion to her is an expression of gratitude for all her efforts.

When Megumi says Gojo is his "benefactor for now", it sounds rather callous. I believe this can be interpreted as something much more benign. In the same way Megumi is returning the favor to Tsumiki, this could be him hinting he plans to one day repay Gojo for his aid.

Gojo is the first person Megumi goes to for help.

Megumi prioritizes Tsumiki and Yuji in part because they need protecting. He sees himself as their guardian and expends a lot of effort ensuring their safety. No such thing occurs for Gojo because he’s The Strongest and the caretaking adult in their relationship. Megumi prioritizes Gojo in a completely different way—he’s the first person he goes to for help with difficult things.

I think this is significant because Megumi otherwise does not seek direct help from others. Sure he'll train with and borrow things from people, but there's a distinct lack of vulnerability he's willing to show.

When Megumi is near death, Gojo’s memory and lessons are his crutch. He does this in his rematch with the Finger Bearer, its aftermath, and before he summons Mahoraga against Haruta. The only other people who have consistently been on Megumi’s mind near death are Tsumiki and Yuji.

And who else grew on the brink of death? Gojo. These two even make the same kind of faces as they flip out during brutal fights. Megumi rarely smiles and its a bit concerning he seems at his happiest when he's in the throes of battle like his sensei.

This could just be a Zenin thing since Maki, Mai, Noabita, Naoya, and Toji will broadly smile when they are obliterating the enemy. But I find it fascinating that Yuji and Yuta did not develop this habit at all despite being personally trained by Gojo. It's possible that Gojo's influence made this aspect of Megumi worse.

What I like the most about Megumi seeking Gojo's aid is how eager his benefactor is to give him whatever he wants when he asks. Gojo is not stingy with his money at all. Megumi’s physical needs are so fully met that he inadvertently shows how spoiled he is when interacting with Yuji and Nobara.

Not only does Megumi recognize higher end fashion, he has strong opinions on it. He also sees Yuji and Nobara react poorly to the price point so he offers to pay a little more. But as you can see, he is so disconnected from average people's money situations that he thinks ~$800 to be put towards a ~$2,500 shirt isn't a big deal.

This indicates that Gojo dotes on Megumi more than other students. Megumi seems to be in such a special category that other characters pick up on it. In other words, Gojo really is acting more like a parent spoiling his favorite child than a teacher here.

Sukuna recognizes how much Megumi values Gojo.

Megumi resisted Sukuna as a vessel by lowering his CE output before the bath. If this affected Sukuna’s ability to obtain his true form post-bath, I do not know. Kenjaku and Yorozu make the claim he could change it, but Sukuna acknowledges full control over Megumi’s body requires Tsumiki being killed first. Sukuna also says that Megumi’s face is better for fighting other sorcerers. He reverts to his true form in his fight with Kashimo, conducting only 2 battles with Megumi’s face on purpose. …If Sukuna is to be taken at his word. 

If Megumi’s resistance prevented the change, that means his soul wasn’t completely broken until Gojo was dead. If Sukuna intentionally manifested his true form after Gojo’s death, that means the two were close enough to be used as a strategy in the same vein as Yorozu/Tsumiki. Either reading suggests a close bond on par with his sister.

Why this dynamic sucks for them both.

The tragedy here is that Gojo and Megumi likely never communicated these feelings to each other. If Megumi can’t even tell his sister he cares directly, there’s no way it’s happening for Gojo. And given how Gojo keeps everyone at arms length because of his own personal hang ups, I doubt he’d ever express it either.

Gojo can’t call Megumi his son, that would be a weakness. Megumi won’t call Gojo his father, he learned how to keep his distance from the best.

Gojo’s avoidant attachment style seems to have reinforced it in Megumi. He was already pretty distant with Tsumiki as a young child, but it appears to have worsened with age. He regrets it himself in basically the same way Gojo regrets failing Geto after he’s gone. Megumi learned from the best you know. Her revival after a coma lasting 1 year and 7 months isn’t enough for him to stop doing this either—he continues to play it cool, just like Gojo.

Gojo on some level is aware he has screwed up royally with Megumi. There’s good reason Nanami thought Gojo was coming to him for help with Megumi first. He does try to make up for this in his own little Gojo way. He gets him friends his age, he tries to have him do normal kid activities, he gives him attention when asked.

But Gojo will never be open about why because he clearly doesn’t know how to address his own hang ups or grief in a healthy manner. And unfortunately Megumi has inherited his bad habits like sons tend to do. He internalizes his trauma, seeks no emotional support, and shows no signs of distress until it breaks him.

As an aside, Gojo is posturing here when he pretends nothing is wrong with Sukuna. …But like I’ve said, he’s not the best dad in the world, so him getting lost in the fight and forgetting about Megumi isn’t out of character. It’s just another trait of his that makes him even more like Toji.

(And since Megumi's name means Blessing, this also doubles as them forgetting about their blessing.)

Gojo didn't want any of this baggage for Megumi. He didn't just want Megumi to be strong—he wanted Megumi to be better than himself. During that training session after the baseball game, Gojo tells Megumi not to sacrifice himself so that others may succeed since sorcerers die alone. He recalls this conversation when he dies, making Megumi the first person he thinks about in death.

As shown by JJK 261, Gojo could not follow his own advice when it came to self-sacrificing. He sacrificed his life and body so that his students could survive. This is a part of that cycle Gojo couldn't break himself, but trusts the future generation to do so. He laid the groundwork for it knowing he'd likely never live to see it fulfilled.

And still, Megumi is even more traumatized than Geto. His only saving grace is Yuji’s refusal to give up on him. Gojo tried to be a dad to him and he failed. Megumi is paying the price for that dearly. Their relationship had problems that were never going to be addressed until the very nature of Jujutsu Sorcerer work changed. Gojo didn’t have the time to process his own grief let alone raise 2 children properly because of overwork. Their messy father-son dynamic isn’t uncommon or unexpected. Like I said, you probably know someone with this type of dad if he isn’t yours.

In Conclusion...

Gojo is an ok dad and Megumi is definitely his son. Whether or not they use those labels for each other is ultimately irrelevant. Geto's words to Kuroi Misato, the maid who looked after Riko when no one else would, put it succinctly:

[darkpetal16]

What's sirentale sans like as a dad since that's a possible outcome? (Oh and sirentale wingding as a grandpa since he sees the MC as his child)

Hands on. He wants this so bad, so when the opportunity comes he’s desperate to be a good dad.

He’s read every book available. Listened to every podcast he can get his hands on. Taken classes on childcare and CPR.

Nest. NEST FOR THE CHILD. It is non negotiable. Baby sleeps with you both in your nest until old enough that Sans is reasonably confident they won’t die without constant supervision.

If you’re nursing, he’s got a constant streamline of snacks and water for you. If you’re using formula, he’s happy to take over feeding shifts so you can sleep.

Gets fast with diaper changes. Like, you have to wonder if there’s a world record because he’s so fast the baby doesn’t even register they’re missing pants.

Weaves a personal swaddle blanket for the baby using his own threads.

Toddler stage he’s taking them out for swimming lessons on the daily. If they’ve inherited his moth side, he’ll swap it out for flying. Exercise is an important developmental aspect and he won’t skimp out on it.

Lazy! Cuddle! Sundays! Or whichever day you also have off. It’s a day dedicated to constant snuggles in the family home. No leaving. No cooking. No chores. Just constant physical affection and play.

When the child is big enough to rough house, Sans is ready to play. Orcas love playing with their pods, and one of his favorite games is chase! If his kid shows interest in being the predator he’s happy to play dead every so often.

But the kid DOES have to work for it. He won’t give it freely.

If you have a demanding job, he’ll take a career in education so he has more free time to spend with them. If you want to stay at home / take a more freeing job then he’ll take a career in science with Wingding.

He’s on the PTA. He will fight any Karen or Chad who gets in the way of his kid’s education.

(He and Wingdings will join forces as need be in this regard. Education is very important to both of them. And Wingding lowkey loves the tea.)

Sometimes he likes to tease you about the drama. It’s cute seeing his little penguin get riled up.

“You cannot eat Billy’s Mom, Sans.”

“what if billy’s mom deserves it?”

“She’s just doing what she thinks is best for the children.”

“well what she thinks is stupid.”

You sign to Wingding for help. He shrugs and signs, “He’s not wrong.”

You give them both a look of pain.

Sans’ grin stretches. “i won’t eat her.”

“No hypnotizing either.”

“i won’t eat her.”

“Sans!”

He jokes but he won’t do anything that could jeopardize his kid’s life.

Little bit of a helicopter parent. Not in a restrictive way, but in a I need you to be honest and tell me where you are at all times way. He’s mostly supportive of whatever the kid wants to do and doesn’t care for curfews, just as long as he knows where his kid (and obviously it’s not a super dangerous area).

Although he won’t let his kid sleep over at someone else’s place. Too risky.

-

Wingding as a grandpa?

Oooooh. . . He doesn’t know how to deal with kids. He needs a lot of practice. The first time the baby cries in his arms, he is devastated.

You have to repeatedly reassure him it’s not him personally; the baby just needs to get to know him!

Wingding takes this to mean he has to visit daily to see the baby. Sans is Not Happy.

But Wingding knows the way to keep Sans at bay is through you, so he always brings your favorite treats as a bribe.

First time baby smiles at Wingding, he is struck by such overwhelming cute aggression he has to hand the baby back to you so he can excitedly sign.

If you get him a Best Grandpa mug he drinks from it daily.

At babbling stage, Wingding loves to listen to them talk. He nods along to everything they say even though he doesn’t understand a word of it.

When the child is big enough to go to school, Wingding will occasionally take them out of school as a surprise day trip to the movies.

So! Many! Books! The child will never want for books. Monthly grandpa/grandbaby trips to the bookstore.

You essentially have a permanent free babysitter whenever you and Sans need time to yourselves.

He loves them.

PLAY - IF SIREN CALL FOR SANS’ ROUTE

MASTERLIST

[honeymark]

˗ˏˋ 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 :: miss soojin!!!!! how do you think the 127 boys would hint that they want to have kids with their wives????? thank uuuuu ´ˎ˗

⇢ 𝐓𝐀𝐄𝐈𝐋 begins thinking about starting a family after noticing how excited you become whenever your neighbors come over with their toddlers. it isn’t a novel idea to him; you have had multiple heartfelt conversations about your dreams for your future together. he drops subtle hints by reminiscing about his childhood experiences and asking for your opinions on raising kids (somehow, it’s always when you show him funny baby tiktoks). you eventually catch his drift, and it isn’t long before your journal is full of potential baby names and your closet of newborn essentials.

⇢ 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐍𝐘 tests the waters to gauge your enthusiasm about starting a family before bringing it to you directly. he makes way too many “our baby would be so much cuter than that” comments whenever he sees babies on tv or social media (or even in public, in which case you’d always smack him and tell him to reign himself in). despite his jokes and playful remarks, he’s serious about parenthood and does his best to quell your anxiety about raising a family. also, be prepared for all the milf jokes.

⇢ 𝐓𝐀𝐄𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐆 is apprehensive about starting a family, despite having extensive experience helping his sister with childcare. he’s read way too many birth trauma stories and maternal mortality statistics to be completely comfortable with putting your body through childbirth. he does not want to put you in a dangerous situation and even suggests growing their family through adoption instead. whatever you choose to do, he supports you 110% and does everything he possibly can to prepare for fatherhood.

⇢ 𝐘𝐔𝐓𝐀 is upfront about wanting children. in fact, when you finally have a heart-to-heart talk about starting a family, he presents you with an extensive compilation of all the research he’d conducted about child development. he’s attentive to your feelings and reactions, and he prioritizes giving you the space to express yourself honestly. he listens to your thoughts and concerns with sincere understanding, and he constantly reassures you that he wants to make decisions together as a team.

⇢ 𝐃𝐎𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆 intentionally chooses a time when you’re relaxed and free from distractions to talk about starting a family. he wastes no time confessing the depths of his love for you, emphasizing how much he values your companionship and affection. when you’re ready for parenthood, he demonstrates an overwhelming willingness to support and protect you in preparing for your future. he’s incredibly warm, thoughtful, and considerate throughout your entire journey.

⇢ 𝐉𝐀𝐄𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐍 isn’t subtle about it at all; he expresses his desire for a family in a particularly affectionate, romantic way. he openly shares his dreams for parenthood with you, often painting a bright and adventurous picture of your future. he’s also proactive about researching child development and different parenting styles, frequently asking for your opinions, values, and beliefs regarding parenting. more than anything, he does his best to make sure you feel comfortable, valued, and supported at all times.

⇢ 𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐖𝐎𝐎 is absolutely delighted by the idea of having mini versions of you run around the house, and he isn’t shy about mentioning it to you any time the topic of family planning comes up. in fact, he refers to your future children as “y/n jr. #1” and “y/n jr. #2” (and #3, #4, #5…). while preparing for parenthood, he places your well-being above all else, going beyond typical measures to maintain a safe and supportive home for you.

⇢ 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊 is visibly nervous when he first brings it up to you. while he might seem easygoing at times, he overthinks and jumps to conclusions about how you’d feel about things like discipline and finances. you’re quick to pick up on his uneasiness, and you’re able to melt away any anxiety he feels after just one heartfelt conversation. when you decide to move on to the next stage of your life together, he does everything he can to be present for you. he validates your feelings and concerns, takes on a more active role in managing household tasks, and adjusts his routines to fit your needs. he also stops calling you “dude,” but only after your kids start calling you “dude."

⇢ 𝐇𝐀𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍 is already familiar with the heavy responsibility of parenthood (thanks to his younger siblings). he suggests starting a family right away, especially after noticing how well you interact with the neighborhood children. putting his famously mischievous personality aside, he always expresses his genuine excitement for your future and his readiness to embrace fatherhood. also, again, a lot of milf jokes. too many, in fact.

# AUTHOR'S NOTE: this prompt was a little difficult (i was wacking my caveman brain for a while), but i gave it my best shot! i hope you enjoyed :) thanks for reading!

[clownery-and-fuckery]

As promised, my commentary on Hunter.... to the people that like him, im sorry.

Spoiler warnings and the like, this is pretty negative aside from like maybe three sentences?? Feel free to leave you're own opinions on this too ofc !!! >:)

I dont like Hunter.

Actually, that's not entirely true, I liked him in TCW season 7, when he was that silly man who fucked droids around the place, took no shit, and loved his brothers. I like the Hunter who, not putting this nicely, had a personality.

This is not a dig on him as a character, it's a dig on how he was handled, writing wise

Listen, I totally get that the "rugged-man-adopts-a-star-child" trope is popular, and I do LOVE that trope, really I do- I just don't really think it was done that well here? It's bothered me since s1 of the Bad Batch, and I don't think it's going to get any better this season....

My only real problem with the writing inconsistency of Hunter being an older brother of three to "Omega this, Omega that" and while I agree childcare is SUPER difficult at the best of times, Hunter had four brothers who were equally capable of taking care of Omega, too. It just never sat right with me that taking care of her became his ENTIRE personality

Hes a soldier, who despite being completely out of his element, had a routine he strictly followed for the whole war. Yet he seemed to completely forget about that ?? Stressed or not stressed, that worn in routines and LIFELONG LESSONS should not have left his head as quickly as they seemed to.

The most obvious and frustrating example of the oversimplification of Hunter's character is with Crosshair. I cannot even BEGIN to describe my anger when it comes to Hunter and Crosshair. It mainly stems from the way he just FORGETS his brother is with the Empire. Conveniently never bringing it up unless someone else did it first.

As the oldest sibling and squad leader, I personally think Hunter should have been the one to bring him up. It should not have had to be specifically mentioned by another character for Hunter to discuss it. He loves his brothers, he loved Crosshair, broody or not, he should have brought it up AT LEAST once, imo.

We also see this complete disregard for Crosshair AGAIN in s3, now that we have seen Hunter looking for Omega and not ONCE mentioning Crosshair. Has he forgotten that they were originally going to find Crosshair??? That they never actually FOUND their brother ??????? Annoyed me so much, tbh.

What else annoyed me was the singular language he used during the whole episode. "She's part of our squad." "Hemlock took SOMEONE from us." He's completely and utterly disregarding the OTHER TWO SIBLINGS that the Empire took away from him !!!!! It genuinely frustrates me so much.

I know I'm DEFINITELY nit-picking here, but even when Hunter looked to Tech's goggles, it was in a "He should've been here to do this." Way, not a "He should be here." Way. That's his brother, who died looking for another that Hunter has forgotten.

Hunter's tunnel vision is probably one my least favourite things about the Bad Batch, if I dare even MENTION that- and I love this show. It means so much to me, but I just can't handle this particular part of it...

I have so SO much anger directed towards the treatment of Hunter by the writers. I want the Hunter who was devoted to his WHOLE family, who fought for ALL of them, who would have NEVER allowed Crosshair to leave in the first place. Give me that Hunter back.

(Saying this- I do not mind Hunter and Omega's father/daughter and brother/sister relationship !!! I do really enjoy it- in small amounts. The fact that Hunter became nearly an extention of Omega really just- threw me off his whole character, really)

I specifically pick to ignore this when I'm making anything. Hunter has been a sergeant of three idiots(named endearingly) for the entirety of the war. One child who wanders around should not have taken up 100% of Hunter's attention, ESPECIALLY when he was surrounded and supported. It just bothers me, idk

Anyway, thats my rant !!! Back to some positives soon, promise !! I just had to get this off my chest, it's been BOTHERING me.

[acknowledge-reigns]

Swipe Right | Roman Reigns x Black!fem OC (18+)

Chapter: 6/6

Word Count: 2079

Description: Roman and Iris have their first fight, and make things official.

Warnings: Mild angst, arguing, Dom/sub dynamic, praise, punishment, spanking/paddling, dirty talk, degradation, begging, unprotected sex (both clean, she's on the pill), p in v, nipple play,

This is set in an AU in which the og bloodline reunited before wrestlemania 40 and Roman retained. As always my stories are about Roman, not Joe. While there is not smut in the first couple of chapters, there will be in others. This is very much an 18+ BDSM based romance with some comedy thrown in there. You have been warned.

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A couple of months had passed since Roman and Iris' date. They'd gone out every weekend since, he'd even come over for dinner one night last week, he'd finally won Imani over with an autograph from Rhea Ripley and arranged a face time call for Amira to meet 'Maui'. Things were going well.

Iris walks into the living room where her sister Jax is sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"Hey Jax," she says, plopping down next to her. "Can I ask you a favor?"

Jax turns to her, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure, what's up?" she asks, turning off the TV.

"Roman and I are going out on Saturday night," she says. "And I was wondering if you could watch the girls for me?" Iris asked

Jax smiles but shakes her head no.

"Sorry, sis," she says. "Roman gave one of his cousins my number and we're going out this weekend too. You'll have to ask LeLe to babysit."

Iris's eyes widen in surprise, but she quickly recovers and gives Jax a supportive smile.

"Oh, really?" she says, trying to hide her shock. "That's great, I'm happy for you"

Jax grins, clearly excited about her date.

"Thanks, sis," she says. "I really like this guy. I hope it goes well."

Saturday arrives, Kiley was luckily free to stay with the girls. Imani was pretty much old enough to babysit but Iris didn't like the idea of putting adult responsibilities such as childcare on her daughter who isnt even old enough to drive. She knew what that felt like. Iris gets into the car with Roman, though he notices something is off.

Roman notices that Iris seems a bit quieter than usual as they drive to his place for dinner. He reaches over and takes her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Hey, is everything okay?" he asks, concern in his voice.

Iris turns to Roman, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Can I ask you something?" she says, her voice firm.

Roman looks at her, confusion evident on his face. "Yeah, of course," he says.

Iris takes a deep breath, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Why didn't you tell me you were setting up Jax with one of your cousins?" she asks, her voice betraying her annoyance.

Roman sighs, seeing that he apparently messed up."I didn't think it was a big deal," he says, avoiding her gaze. "I thought it would be a fun surprise for her."

Iris shakes her head, her annoyance growing. "It's not just a fun surprise, Roman," she says. "It's my sister's life. You can't just go around setting her up with random people without telling me first."

"Jey's a good guy. He's not a random person, I grew up with him. He'll take care of her, and I'll make damn sure of it." Roman said.

Iris rolls her eyes, clearly not convinced.

"I'm sure he's a great guy, but that's not the point," she says. "You should have asked me first before you went and did something like that."

"I was under the impression Jax is a grown woman who can decide herself who she wants to go out with." Roman argued.

Iris's anger boils over and she turns to Roman, her voice rising.

"You know what, Roman? You're so damn inconsiderate sometimes. You just do whatever you want without thinking about how it affects other people. You didn't even think to ask me how I felt about you setting up my sister with one of your crazy cousins."

Roman's expression darkens and he looks at Iris with a warning glare. "Watch your tone, Iris," he says firmly. "I don't appreciate being talked to like that."

Iris scoffs and crosses her arms, not backing down.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt your little feelings, Chief?" she says sarcastically.

Roman chuckles darkly, a sly smile spreading across his face."You decided if you're gonna be my sub or not?"

Iris hesitates for a moment, simply because the question seemed random in this particular moment but then nods her head. "Yes," she says quietly, her eyes locked on Roman's.

Roman's smile widens, something like an evil grin as he hears her answer.

"Good girl," he says as the car comes to a stop at his house. The minute They get out he throws Iris over his shoulder.

Iris squeals in surprise as Roman picks her up and carries her into his house.

"Roman, put me down!" she protests, but he just chuckles, gives her a firm smack on the ass and ignores her.

"You remember your Safeword?" Roman asked

"Yes, Sir." Iris confirmed.

"Good" Roman carries her into the bedroom and throws her onto the bed. He stands over her, his eyes dark with desire and dominance. "I'm about to teach you a lesson in respecting your Dom," he says, his voice low and dangerous.

Iris looks up at Roman, her eyes wide with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. "I wasn't disrespectful," she protests, her voice barely above a whisper.

Roman leans down, his face inches from hers. "Oh, really?" he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You weren't disrespectful in the car when you talked back to me like that?"

Iris looks away, knowing she can't deny it.

"Okay, maybe I was a little disrespectful," she admits grudgingly.

Roman grins, clearly enjoying her admission.

"That's right," he says, his voice low and seductive. "And now you're going to pay for it."

Roman leans in closer, his lips brushing against her ear. "I'm going to punish you, Iris," he whispers. "And you gon' take it  like a good girl."

Roman pulls back and looks down at her, his eyes burning with desire. "Strip," he commands.

Iris slowly begins to remove her clothes. She can feel Roman's eyes on her, watching every move she makes.

Once she's completely naked, Roman steps back and looks her up and down.

"You're so beautiful," he says, his voice rough with desire. "But so damn bratty. Your tribal chief is gonna have to teach you to use that pretty lil mouth for something other than talking back."

Roman walks over to the dresser and opens a drawer, pulling out a cute heart shaped leather paddle. He turns back to Iris, holding the paddle in his hand.

"Turn around, bend over the bed." he says, his voice leaving no room for argument.

Iris does as she's told, bending over the bed and presenting her plump ass to Roman. She can feel her heart racing in anticipation of what's to come.

Roman runs his hand over her smooth skin, admiring the view."You have such a pretty ass," he says, his voice low and husky. "all mine"

Roman raises the paddle and brings it down on her ass with a sharp crack. The impact sends a wave of pain through Iris's body, but it's quickly followed by a rush of pleasure.

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

Iris can feel her skin heating up under the onslaught of the paddle. The pain is intense, but there's that strange pleasure mixed in with it. She can feel herself getting wetter and wetter with each smack.

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

*SMACK*

"Looks like you're enjoying this hm?" Roman says, his voice full of satisfaction.

Roman stops spanking her and steps back, admiring the marks he's left on her skin.

"You're such a naughty girl," he says, his eyes glinting with desire. "But you take your punishment so well."

Iris looks up at Roman, her eyes pleading.

"Please, Roman," she begs, her voice trembling with need. "Please fuck me."

Roman grins, enjoying the sight of her begging for him.

"You want it that bad, huh?" he says, his voice rough with desire. "You want me to fill you up and make you mine?"

Roman leans down, his face inches from hers.

"Where's all that attitude now, huh?" he asks, his voice mocking. "You were so mouthy in the car, but now look at you. Begging for your tribal chief's dick like a little slut."

Roman grins, enjoying the power he has over her.

"You need me, huh?" he says, his voice dripping with arrogance. "You need me to fill you up and make you feel good? You think you deserve it?" He casually brings the paddle down again, to her surprise.

Iris gasps as the paddle connects with her skin.

"I do deserve it," she says, her voice shaky. "I've been bad, and I needed to be punished. But I took it like a good girl! Please, My tribal chief."

Roman nods, his eyes glinting with obvious satisfaction.

"You're right, you did take it like a good girl," he says, running his hand over her freshly paddled ass. "And now you've earned your reward."

Roman moves closer to her, his body pressing against hers. He leans down and whispers in her ear.

"I'm going to make you feel so good, Iris. I'm going to make you scream my name."

Roman quickly undresses, his clothes falling to the floor in a heap. He positions himself behind her, his hands gripping her hips tightly. Without warning, he thrusts into her, burying himself deep inside her.

Iris cries out as he enters her, the sudden fullness overwhelming her senses. She can feel him deep inside her, stretching her open and filling her up completely.

Roman starts to move, his thrusts slow and deliberate at first. He leans over her, his chest pressed against her back, and whispers in her ear.

"You feel so good, Iris. So tight and wet for me."

Iris moans in response, arching her back to meet his thrusts. She can feel herself getting closer and closer to the edge, her body responding to his every move.

"Harder," she gasps, her voice hoarse with desire. "Please, harder."

Roman obliges, his thrusts becoming faster and more forceful. He grips her hips tighter, pulling her back against him as he pounds into her.

"You like it rough, huh?" he growls, his breath hot against her ear. "You like it when I take you like this?"

Iris can only moan a soft unintelligible "yes, my tribal chief" in response her body too overwhelmed with pleasure to form clear words. She can feel the pressure building inside her, the tension coiling tighter and tighter with each thrust.

Roman leans in close to her ear again, his voice low and menacing.

"I'm going to fuck you senseless, babygirl," he growls, his hips snapping against hers. "I'm going to make you forget your own name. You're mine now."

Roman's words only add to the intensity of the moment, pushing Iris closer and closer to the edge. She can feel herself teetering on the brink, her body trembling with need.

Roman can feel her body tensing up, and he knows she's close. He reaches around and grabs her breast, his fingers pinching her nipple hard causing her to cry out from the intoxicating painful pleasure she's grown to love.

"Come for me, Iris," he growls, his voice commanding. "Come all over my cock."

Iris's body obeys, the combination of pain and pleasure sending her over the edge. She screams his name as she comes, her body convulsing around him.

Roman continues to thrust into her, riding out her orgasm until he finally reaches his own climax. He groans as he spills himself inside her, his body shaking with the force of it.

They collapse onto the bed, both of them panting heavily. Roman rolls off of her and pulls her into his arms, holding her close.

Iris rests her head on his chest, still trying to catch her breath. She feels sated and exhausted, but also strangely content.

Roman runs his fingers through her hair, his touch gentle now.

"You did good, baby," he says, his voice softer than before. "You took everything I gave you and more."

Iris smiles, feeling a sense of pride at his words.

"I just wanted to please you," she says, looking up at him. "I wanted to be good for you."

Roman chuckles and kisses her forehead.

"You were perfect," he says. "And you're all mine now."

Iris snuggles closer to him, feeling a sense of possessiveness wash over her. She knows she belongs to him now, and she doesn't want to be anywhere else. He belongs to her too.

"I'm glad you swiped right" Roman said.

Iris smiles in response, "Me too."

Previous Chapter

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Epilogue or nah?

**UPDATE**

Epilogue out now!

Read it here

[reylokisses]

I read online that Vivienne Medrano cited Beatrice Horseman from Bojack Horseman as inspiration for Stella Goetia in Helluva Boss.

That makes sense, as Beatrice Horseman was a victim (of her father/mother/Butterscotch/society in general) and an abuser (of Bojack/Henrietta/Hollyhock), while Stella is a victim of forced marriage, forced pregnancy and a victim of her revolting brother, Andrealphus:

While also being Stolas’ abuser (and indirectly abusing Octavia by abusing Stolas in front of her)*

Speaking of Beatrice Horseman being an abuser, I was completely baffled when I read someone applaud Beatrice for being by Henrietta’s side while Henrietta was in labour with Hollyhock, and calling it an example of women supporting women.

Are you kidding me?!!!

The only reason why Beatrice was with Henrietta while she gave birth, was so that Beatrice could remove Hollyhock from Henrietta the second she was born!

The show even frames Beatrice’s actions as despicable- the scene switches from the traumatic memory of Joseph Sugarman, Beatrice’s father, burning little-girl-Beatrice’s beloved baby doll while she screams and begs him to stop, to adult Beatrice taking the newborn Hollyhock away to be given up for adoption, and refusing to let Henrietta hold her own baby.

Beatrice has just done one of the most evil things a person can do to another, and some people think she was justified?!

Even if viewers somehow think Beatrice was doing the right thing here, the show clearly doesn’t want us to think so. Henrietta’s face is scratched out, meaning that Beatrice is so ashamed of what she did to Henrietta, that she can’t bear to think about her.

The writers also make it clear that Beatrice was motivated by selfish reasons:

Beatrice wants to live vicariously through Henrietta and make her do what Beatrice wishes she herself had done - if Beatrice had had an abortion, or placed Bojack for adoption, then Beatrice would never have married Butterscotch and be stuck in a life that she hated.

However, one of the themes of Bojack Horseman is that “you’re responsible for your own happiness”. Beatrice and Butterscotch could have gotten a divorce and been free of one another- Beatrice came from a wealthy family, so she wasn’t trapped financially with Butterscotch. Blaming Bojack for their misery was cruel and unjust.

Butterscotch was being irresponsible and selfish with Henrietta- he could have paid child support for Hollyhock and then Henrietta could have afforded childcare while she finished her studies and qualified as a nurse. Henrietta didn’t have to sacrifice her dreams for her baby. Beatrice and Butterscotch had the 1950s misogynistic mindset that a woman who slept with a married man was a fallen person who wasn’t fit to raise a baby, and so Henrietta “had to” give up her firstborn.

It’s a pity that the viewers couldn’t see Hollyhock and Henrietta’s reunion, since Bojack is the main character and we could only see plot points that involved him. I’m glad that mother and daughter finally found each other again - Beatrice stealing Hollyhock from Henrietta remains the most harrowing scene in the whole show for me.

*Stella is shown screaming at Stolas in front of Octavia in Loo Loo Land, so I don’t agree that Octavia was somehow completely oblivious to how much of an abuser Stella was and how miserable her parents were in the marriage.

In the same episode, Octavia has a line about when she was a kid and “[her] parents didn’t hate each other”, so Stella must have toned down her cruelty at the beginning. I just hope the writers don’t retcon that and victim-blame Octavia for not knowing how much abuse Stolas endured.

I don’t want to end this post on a sad note, so here’s one of my favourite scenes in Loo Loo Land 🥰

[tradgays]

Embracing Your True Nature as a Beta Husband

Hello, my sweet beta brothers. This article is written just for you, to help you find joy and fulfillment in your role as the loving, supportive partner to your strong alpha husband. In today's world, it's more important than ever for betas to know and accept their place. As a fellow beta, I want to share some hard-earned wisdom on how to be the best husband you can be.

First and foremost, understand that your alpha is always right. He's the leader, the decision maker, the one in charge. And that's exactly how it should be. Alphas are naturally dominant, assertive, and in control. They have a vital role to play in our society and relationships. It's your job as their beta to support and submit to them.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. "But what about my opinions and needs?" Well, darling, the truth is, your opinions don't really matter. Not in the grand scheme of things. What matters is keeping your alpha happy and satisfied. When he's content, you'll be too. So it's best to just keep your thoughts to yourself, unless directly asked. And even then, choose your words very carefully.

Conflict is inevitable in any relationship. But as a beta, it's crucial that you don't argue or fight back when your alpha gets angry or upset with you. Instead, stay calm, listen to what he has to say, and apologize for any perceived wrongdoing, even if it's not your fault. Your alpha has a lot of stress and pressure, being the man in charge. The last thing he needs is a nagging or defiant beta making his life harder. So just take it on the chin, and move on. Forgiveness is key.

Your alpha works hard to provide for you and your family. The least you can do is take care of the household and domestic duties. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare - these are your responsibilities. Don't make your alpha have to tell you to do these things. Anticipate his needs and wants. Have a hot meal ready for him when he gets home. Make sure the house is spotless and the kids are bathed and in bed at a reasonable hour. Go above and beyond to show your love and appreciation for all that he does.

Now, I'm not saying you can't have any fun or interests of your own. Of course you should! But make sure they don't interfere with your duties as a husband and partner. If your alpha wants to watch sports or play video games on the weekends, then that's what you'll do too. Be his biggest cheerleader and supporter. If he's passionate about something, you be passionate about it too. Your hobbies and friends should always take a backseat to him.

Submission is a beautiful thing, my beta brothers. When you fully embrace your role and let your alpha take the lead, it's incredibly freeing and fulfilling. You'll feel so much more loved, safe, and satisfied. There's nothing quite like the joy of knowing your place and living to serve your man.

So the next time your alpha gives you an order or tells you what to do, remember - he knows best. Don't question it or argue. Just smile sweetly, say "Yes sir," and do as you're told. Because at the end of the day, your purpose is to make him happy. And that's the most rewarding thing of all.

I hope these tips help you be the best beta husband you can be. Embrace your natural submissiveness with pride! Your alpha will thank you for it. And more importantly, you'll thank yourself. Because there's no greater joy than living to love and serve your man.

[one-divides-into-two]

"If we treat the Stonewall Uprising as initiating the modern gay mass movement in 1969, the left-adventurist line was initially dominant, and fell by the wayside in the late 70s. Those who led the first wave of the LGBT movement of the 60s understood themselves (however incompletely) as participating in a revolutionary movement and process: In broad strokes, the early “left” line groups of gay liberation located the center of gay oppression in the family form itself and were explicitly in solidarity with the women’s movement as in many ways the same as their own (ideologically if not always practically). The British Gay Liberation Front’s Manifesto reads

The oppression of gay people starts in the most basic unit of society, the family...At some point nearly all gay people have found it difficult to cope with having the restricting images of man or woman pushed on them by their parents...we are expected to prove ourselves socially to our parents as members of the right sex (to bring home a boy/girl friend) and to start being a 'real' (oppressive) young man or a 'real' (oppressed) young woman

The Boston Gay Men’s Liberation group argued in their manifesto for the collectivization of childcare and housework, saying

Rearing children should be the common responsibility of the whole community. Any legal rights parents have over ‘their’ children should be dissolved and each child should be free to choose its own destiny. Free twenty-four hour child care centers should be established where faggots and lesbians can share the responsibility of child rearing

Others explicitly aligned themselves with the national liberation and anti-imperialist struggles of the time –Third World Gay Revolution went so far as to explicitly call for armed struggle towards establishing socialism. The gay struggle, to these organizations, was necessarily part of the struggle for the end of capitalism and the liberation of all oppressed and exploited peoples.

Nevertheless, these groups primarily took the left-adventurist line, and the failure of these organizations to place politics in command and take up Marxism fully (despite its influence within the movement), and the failure of the leading Marxist organizations of the time to cast aside their chauvinism, place politics in command, and embrace the LGBT movement (most notably RU/RCP, which maintained that homosexuality was “perpetuated and fostered by the decay of capitalism” and to be eliminated under socialism until 2001 and engaged in conversion therapy-style practices on their gay cadre), allowed the bourgeoisie to co-opt the movement and suppress its revolutionary strains. By the end of the 1970s the main left-adventurist groups that emerged from the movement's popular initiation via the Stonewall Uprising (GLF, STAR, TWGR, etc) had collapsed, and were replaced by the newly dominant right-opportunist trend, represented in groups like Lambda Legal (founded 1971), GLAD (1978), and the Human Rights Campaign (1980). Occasional left-adventurist ruptures emerged over the succeeding years, with ACT UP's break (rooted in part in gay and lesbian anti-imperialist solidarity work in the preceding years) from Gay Men's Health Crisis representing the most significant of these, but over the next three decades the bourgeois "marriage equality" became the central demand of the movement, with the implication that once these various reforms proposed by the right-opportunist trend were enacted, the gay movement would cease to be necessary.

In the first two decades of the 21st century these reforms were realized, and the idealist fantasies of the leading bourgeois gay organizations were not. These reforms were granted because they reaffirmed the bourgeois family form, successfully assimilating the leading upper strata of LGBT people as a method of defusing the movement as a whole. While in some ways the broad social acceptability of homosexuality, transness and gender nonconformity have increased, the reaction to these reforms has produced a vicious effort to oppress the lower strata, typically trans people.

Indeed, all empirical evidence points to the continuing existence of anti-gay and anti-trans oppression. In our younger years, parents, teachers, and other authority figures will attempt to suppress any expression of homosexuality, transness, or gender non-conformity. The passive and active social enforcement of your sex/gender role is a universal experience, but is felt particularly acutely by those most directly in contradiction with those roles. When this fails, authority figures sometimes resort to violence and sexual abuse – gay and trans children suffer higher rates of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse across the board as compared to their cis and straight peers. LGBT people as a whole make 10% less than the average worker. This is felt more acutely among trans people, particularly trans women (in line with their cis counterparts), who make just 60% of the average. What bourgeois sociological evidence does exist points to significant discrimination in housing, jobs, medical care, etc. Accessing medical care is a struggle of its own for trans people – getting the treatment needed for basic day-to-day existence is often humiliating and expensive.

For younger LGBT people, particularly trans people, this political sequence has produced significant "whiplash." We grew up in a period of a real increase in broad social "acceptance," and being told that these reforms would guarantee an end to our oppression. But the utter abdication of leadership by the rightists following the reforms (after all, "we won") and the reactionary backlash has left the movement with a vacuum of political and organizational leadership at a crucial conjuncture. In the absence of this leadership, small groups have begun to emerge, largely taking up the left-adventurist anarchist line, sometimes explicitly. In some ways, this is a positive situation for communists. The broad masses of LGBT people are crying out for leadership in their struggle against the reactionary offensive, and the failure of the bourgeois rightist line to provide its promised victory has revealed to many gay and trans people, particularly those of the lower strata, the bankruptcy of reformism.

The current assault on our self-determination by the reactionary wing of first-world politics presents us with an opportunity to smash that trend, to effect a final rupture. Gay and trans people, particularly trans people, are increasingly forced into direct confrontation with the bourgeois state (through its repressive laws) and its extra-legal shock troops (with trans events becoming one of the primary targets for street fascist attacks). Not since the AIDS crisis have we seen such direct confrontation – and with it, openness to revolutionary communist political projects.

The task before communists in the gay movement is therefore to rectify the line of the movement through theoretical and practical struggle, to offer leadership to the gay and trans masses, and transform this movement into a detachment of the world proletarian struggle for communism."

Half the Sky: Preliminary Materials for a Proletarian Feminist Politics

[contentment-of-cats]

Head canon for little Chiss

1: Chiss babies comparative to an adult sized (average 6'4") are very small, and labor is very short. A six-hour labor is considered long, four hours is about average.

2: A Chiss neonate can't regulate their body temperature and needs to put on thermogenic fat. They will nurse almost constantly for their first six months, usually in a sling that holds them close to their mother. Milk-packs are often employed when Mom needs a break.

3: Chiss babies are fat and almost round if they are healthy. The thermogenic fat is packed on during their first year of life. They look like a blueberry. They become more independent between the ages of two and three.

4: At about the age of three, Chiss toddlers develop 'meat teeth.' This makes regular teething look like a tea party. Teething toys and gum rubs are common. Teething centers are popular with parents who are at the end of their tethers.

5:The first premolars and cuspids are replaced by the meat teeth. The adult central and lateral incisors are also extremely sharp and the central incisors will have an almost chisel-like appearance.

6: Adult Chiss have scent glands on their neck and chest, not obvious to the eye. Chiss to about age five will snuffle these spots to be calmed and comforted.

7: About the age of five, little Chiss start learning to use the halves of their brain independently. It's considered a major milestone in child development. This is also the age at which Sky-walkers are taken from their families.

8: Chiss will never refuse to feed a child or a parent with children or an elder. It is considered dishonorable.

9: The Chiss birthrate is low, but they have stipends for each child, extensive parental leave, nutrition vouchers, and free childcare whether the child is from a Common, Lesser, Great, or Ruling family. A woman who has three children gets a stipend for life. A woman from the Lesser and Common families who has five children often is adopted into a higher ranked family as a ranking distant along with her family unit. Any more children and she gets medals and honor chains.

10: Though modern deaths in childbirth are low, a woman who dies as the result of childbirth is given the same funeral as someone of the highest rank. She will have a place of honor in the ossuary, an honor chain and medal, while her surviving family is given a pension.

[capobegone]

Spiraling About Kimetsu Academy Hakukoyu (Again)

EVERYBODY WAKE UP THE NEW KIMETSU ACADEMY CHAPTER CONFINED THAT KOYUKI’S SICKNESS IS STILL A THING :’(((

Like she clearly seems healthy now?? Which means that this follows canon in which she got better by the time she was sixteen and Hakuji was eighteen—but considering Hakuji is still set to take over Keizou’s dojo, a lot of the tragedy in their past might still have happened.

The thing that surprises me here is that it specifically points out both of their parents, which means Hakuji’s dad has to still be alive (unconfirmed about Koyuki’s mom, who may have still been unable to cope with her daughter’s illness). However, the death of Hakuji’s father was what caused him to meet Koyuki and Keizou in the first place—so how would that have happened?

So, of course, I’ve made a theory.

The Kimetsu Academy canon states that they’re neighbors, so it wouldn’t be too far fetched to assume that they are friendly with each other. In order for Hakuji to become so close with Koyuki’s family, though, it would make sense if his father still got sick. Assuming that Hakuji’s mother is still not in the picture, Hakuji’s father would likely have a hard time keeping his family afloat (hence their sudden dip toward poverty).

Of course, Hakuji would be prone to getting into trouble around this time. He described himself as a rule breaker, which is very common among young students with trouble at home. (The pickpocketing habit is debatable—it would have been much less effective nowadays, when getting medicine is a lot more complicated.) This could be the time where his childhood persona ‘Akaza’ came around. Unlike Hakuji, Akaza wouldn’t have to worry about people he loved getting sick or going to bed still a little bit hungry, because all he had to worry about was being tough and strong. I could definitely see this as a way for Hakuji to channel his stress—because who doesn’t love beating people up as a coping mechanism? He might have been spending a little more time around the dojo at this point in an attempt to keep getting stronger, which could lead Keizou to notice the subtle signs of struggle.

Assuming that Koyuki was sick around this time as well, I can see Keizou setting up a deal with Hakuji’s father, who I imagine must have been ashamed to ask for help. His proposal: Keizou would provide free childcare by letting Hakuji stay at his place while his father worked (also would keep him out of trouble!), and in exchange, Hakuji would help out with keeping Koyuki company and doing chores around the dojo. This arrangement obviously worked out quite well, and would take a little stress off both families. As Hakuji was exposed to Koyuki’s gentle influence, he grew out of his Akaza persona (around the end of middle school, probably.) And, of course, both Koyuki and Hakuji’s father got better!! Yay!

Obviously, this is all speculation. But it would piece together all the little pieces of their backstories we have, and explain how Hakuji and Koyuki’s families became so close. The one question I still have…is Soyama Hakuji’s family name, or Koyuki and Keizou’s? (of course, thanks to my trusty translator fertheart on insta who is literally my only source of Kimetsu Academy content lmao)