#I'm going to post on AO3 tomorrow

[johnslittlespoon]

ch1 of the leaving!bikeriders au done. fuck

[septimusmoonlight]

You doing ok?

hi

[hiyaluronic]

*whispers* what if a certain lvl 20 hot!boi failed his wisdom save?

"Yes, well, we must make haste then." Essek stated, clearing his throat to shake free the unease he was feeling. "Ludinus is one thing, but a demon of such design that prays on the fears and self-loathing of individuals is not quite what I had in mind for this excursion, I'm afraid."

"But it's powering the engine and killing people, shouldn't we, y'know do something?"

Ashton sighed and leaned against his hammer, pointedly staring at Imogen. "It's a grand demon that's been here since before fuck all. I doubt it’s going to matter if it stays chained to an engine for another year or fifty."

"Ash is right." Orym started ignoring Ashtons interjected 'Thank You' "Besides, anything that stalls Ludinus, however good or bad at the moment, is unfortunately a help to us right now."

"I... I guess," Imogen sounded conflicted turning from Orym to stare off to the side where Chetney and Dorian had been affected, "but once Ludinus is dealt with we should probably come back and take care of it."

Essek nodded in agreement. "A problem for another day then."

'And such is your nature to always run. Why?'

His hand was halfway to the pocket of his robes when he heard the whisper. Essek closed his eyes with a quiet sigh.

A hand ran gently across his back, delicate fingers tapping against his shoulders before seeming to settle on the gentle curve of his neck. 'Do you not wish to see the fruits of our research? After all, I have you to thank for everything that I have been able to achieve.'

"We should go. Now." Essek stressed and opened his eyes only to see Caleb in the middle of the room, his form taught against the imaginary bonds that held him in place. Essek swallowed hard when he caught sight of the deep purple bruises that shadowed the white of Caleb's neck. Bells Hells was nowhere to be seen.

Shit.

'If it wasn't for this one here...' Ludinus grinned from his periphery, fingers twisting in the air at the same time Caleb buckled, the man forced to his knees with a grunt.

'Such a thorn in my side.'

Caleb choked, blood beginning to trickle from his nose, his lips strained to form soundless words, his bloodshot eyes pleading with Essek.

"This is not real." It was not, it couldn't be, he refused to fall for whatever horrid illusion that had been thrust upon him. Caleb was safe. The man had said as much himself just the day before. "You will not get what you want from me."

'You think this to be an illusion?' Essek winced when he felt the hot breath of Ludinus burn against the shell of his ear. 'Some perfunctory grand play of a fiend wanting to eat up all those tasty little demons that call that anxiety riddled head of yours home?' Ludinus laughed, 'You aren't as important as you seem to think in the grand scheme of things Thelyss. Your life is nothing but misstep after misstep.'

Essek watched while Ludinus stepped from him and moved to stand before Caleb. He tried to ignore the way the vile mans hand traced delicately down Caleb's cheek smearing blood across pale skin before gently caressing Caleb's lips.

He clenched his hands. This wasn't real, no matter how convincing the stage set before him seemed to be; but, if so, then why did his chest hurt and his breath catch?

'Everything you touch eventually tarnishes.''

Essek grinned, "Then it is good that you are something that has had the pleasure of my acquaintance. It means you yourself are doomed to corrode and rust. That is if any of this was real and not just desperate parlor tricks."

Ludinus laughed and turned to meet Essek's gaze, the man's eyes bright even in the dim light of the room. 'You still think this to be fake? Some sort of set dressing? Why do you think your precious human was so desperate for you to get to Aeor with these hooligans?'

Essek clenched his eyes closed, his fingers twitched. Caleb had been hurried in his explanation that he guide Bells Hells through Aeor but nothing had seemed amiss. Caleb had even promised him that he was fine but that he was unfortunately indisposed at the moment; but, like a worm burrowing into a rotting apple, doubt began to slither into Essek's consciousness.

What if Caleb had been sending him a plea for help in his rushed sending? Had he maybe missed something in their nightly talks? Had he been so foolish and lost in the wonders of their relationship that he'd missed some minute detail in the soft words of Caleb's assurances? It wouldn't be the first time he'd made a mess of things.

Caleb screamed and Essek's eyes shot open with a snarl. He swung his hands up and cast gravity fissure; a black mass hurtled forward ten feet to the right of Ludinus cracking the ground and pulling the hanging bodies from their chains. Ludinus gave a yell of surprise as both he and Caleb were pulled towards the center of the fissure.

The air was heavy in the room, pungent and sweet reminiscent of meadow after a rainstorm. "Caleb?" He winced at how loud his voice echoed in the quiet of the room.

Silence returned his call. Maybe he had misjudged the distance? What if he'd hurt Caleb beyond the point of healing? "Caleb!"

He moved quickly, "Caleb, you must answer me!"

He had been just mere feet from the still bodies of Caleb and Ludinus when something grabbed his ankle and pulled. Essek turned hand poised to attack only to falter when a familiar set of eyes looked up to him, the face distorted and bloated in death but still recognizable.

No it couldn't be, "Verin?"

'You left. They came and you had gone. I suffered your fate.'

"No. No you were safe, I made sure-"

Verin grinned, skin stretched taught, bloated and soured. 'A life taken for deeds done. Even if it was not the accused, retribution was sought.' A rattling breath escaped Verin. 'Why do you think you've been safe for all these years? I fell for crimes that were not my own, you killed me. You stole my future from me, brother.'

'You've doomed us all, Schatz.'

Essek turned from his brother to see Caleb, eyes dull, face stained red and kneeling in supplication. "Caleb, I..."

Ludinus, eyes alight with euphoria, slowly stood from the wreckage, his mangled form towering over Caleb's before resting a hand on Caleb's shoulder. 'The war of Ash and Light will be nothing compared to what Predathos will unleash and we all have you to thank.'

He looked at Caleb's tearful eyes and felt his own well in sympathy. "That's not..."

'Fuck, you'e truly made a mess of everything.'

"Beauregard?" Essek whispered confused. Where had she come from?

'You know how to stop this.' Beau grinned and brought her hands up to form a circle with a knowingly smile. 'Boom.'

[johnsbleu]

Hi, everyone! Please read this!

The next chapter is part 1 of 2 parts. I was planning to update today but after some thought, I thought it would be better to post tomorrow after i let this this post marinate for a little bit.

There are some things in the next chapter that I have never written before and it could potentially be triggering for someone. If you think trigger warnings spoil things for you, then skip this next few paragraphs.

I do not care about spoiling it in order to prevent someone from being triggered, so here are the content warnings mainly for part 2, but i wanted to give everyone enough time so they can choose for themselves if they want to continue reading it. Part two is where most of this takes place, but I still wanted everyone to be warned, even before posting part 1. This warnings will cover both part 1 and part 2.

warnings: nsfw moments, stalking, mentions of blood, hospitals, stitches, brief mentions of sexual assault. I don't dive too deep into that because it's not actively happening (nor would i ever actually write that) but it is mentioned.

If at any time you feel uncomfortable, please stop reading. I promise that I will understand. Again, I don't go into great detail and describe the situation, a character just has a post that involves it and it's mentioned.

At the end of the day, this is still a chapter of hmh, so you can expect light hearted moments and a very head over heels in love john wick. I hope you enjoy, and if you choose not to read it, i understand❤️

[anto-pops]

I'm not gonna lie, Ao3 being down all day feels a lot like the burning of the Library of Alexandria

[warrior-of-waistbands]

(part 1/2) | next | archive

when I was in elementary school there was a playground rumor that the founder of the school was buried under the school and that his ghost haunted the school bathrooms and we all just. Chose to believe it, I guess.

[hecatesbroom]

Another fic?? You bet! I almost finished this about 4 weeks ago, when I got sidetracked by the Dorothy gets dipped fic, so I finally managed to add the finishing touches here :) it's been in the works for about 3 months (off and on; many different projects got in the way) so I'm happy to finally be able to say it's done! (after that final edit at 3 am I posted about last night lol)

Summary

When Blanche announces that she thinks she's pregnant, each of the girls deals with it in her own way. (They find each other in Rose's bedroom in the end, for one reason or another.) // an exploration of S02E01: end of the curse, and what happens in between

[llamawrites]

Legacy

The warm tropical sun shone through the windows of the villa. Lucille Tracy sat at her desk. She let out a sorrowful sigh. I can’t believe that it’s his death date again. Lucille thought bitterly. Her vision blurred as tears spilled from her eyes. It had been years since her husband died, but grief felt like new. An ache pushed against her heart. He was her other half, the one whom she shared all her secrets with. He was gone, and all she could do was weep into her hands. She was so deep in her sad thoughts that she didn’t notice that she had company.

“Oh, mother,” said Scott, full of sympathy for his grieving mother. The oldest Tracy had an inkling that he needed to check on his mother. It was lunchtime, so Scot grabbed lunch for his mother. He set down the plate on the desk and went to give his mother a huge hug. Lucille leaned into the hug, and she couldn't help but cry even harder. They stayed like that for a good minute before the eyes in the third oldest son’s portrait started to glow. 

Lucille looked up from her hands. She gave Scott a mournful smile. Gosh, he could have been Jeff’s twin. A new wave of sadness hit Lucille like a Tsunami. She swallowed the lump in her throat, but tears rimmed her eyes.

Scott let go of his mother. He flipped a switch on his mother’s desk and was greeted with the concerned face of one John Tracy. 

“Ma, how are you doing?” John asked.

A sad sigh Escaped Lucille's lips as sadness flitted across her face.“I’m doing as well as I can be.” Scott stood beside Lucille. He gently squeezed her shoulder as if to say, ‘I’m here, mother.’

John’s heart twisted as he watched on from Thunderbird Five.  In moments like these, John wished that he wasn't up in Thunderbirds Five so he could comfort his grieving mother.

‘I miss him terribly.” John said the whole family was grieving on this day. John himself had grieved in his own way. He had spent almost all morning talking to Virgil. They had talked about the bitter-sweet memories of their late father. He had found himself mourning the death of his father too.

Lucille gave a glum smile.” Your father came up with the idea of International Rescue. He told me about his wonderful organization that would save people. I was on board the moment he spoke the words "International Rescue.” There was a pause, a lump formed in Lucille's throat. “He told me about his International Rescue a few hours before his death. I made myself a promise when I saw Grant and his frozen bodies. That promise was to make  International Rescue real so that no one else had to go through the pain that I went through losing my husband and father-in-law.”

After another pause, Lucille shuddered, holding back a sob. She gestured with her hands to the room around her. “Scott, John, this is your late father’s legacy, “ Lucille said,” if it wasn’t for your father’s ideas, none of this would be possible. At that moment, Lucille wished that Jeff could be here to see his sons now.

“He would be so proud of you guys,” praised Lucille as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. 

“Mother,” said Scott,” Father would be proud of you. It takes a lot to run a billion-dollar company. He would be proud.”

John nodded in agreement and added,” You’re also a great author. You made three mystery novels, two of which were on the bestseller list. Father would be so proud of your novels too.” 

Lucille gave John a sad smile. She let out a sigh. The pain of loss was still there, but the pain was less.

Before they could continue talking, something caught John’s attention on Thunderbird Five. “Ma, I think I’m getting a call in for International Rescue, be right back.” With that, John hung up, and Lucille sat staring at John's still Portrait.

Thirty seconds later, John's face reappeared in the portrait. “Ma, that was the California Fire Department. They need help fighting a huge forest fire.”

Scott stood beside his mother, ready for action.

“Tell them that Thunderbirds One and Two are on their way.” 

“F.A.B.”

With that, John ended his second call. Lucille checked the clock that hung on the wall beside her. It was noon, and the rest of the Tracys were enjoying lunch. There wasn’t time to walk to the kitchen with fire rescues every minute counts. So, she did the next best thing.  Lucille slapped a red button on her desk, and all of a sudden, an alarm rang throughout the island.

Virgil was the first one to arrive behind him, Gordon and Allan.  They stood by the desk, ready for their mission

“Boys, there is a wildfire in California," stated Lucille. ”Launch Thunderbird One and Two, Gordon, you go with Virgil. Alan, you stay. You might be needed on another call.”

With that, the boys rushed to their Thunderbirds, and Alan went out onto the patio to watch the launch. Rubbing the last tears from her eyes, she glanced up at the heavens. 

“Keep watch over them, Jeff.”

---------------------------------------------------------

Here my first fic of my Role Swap AU, where Jeff dies and Lucille lives. It has been sitting my drafts for a while, Enjoy.

[bi-bats]

When in doubt go for the classic bonding over various breakfast foods :D ☕️🥞🧇🥯🥐🧋🥤

Thank you for the writing prompt!!! I took some liberties with the definition of "bonding," but this gave me a cute idea for a one shot so I still think y'all will like it!!! Here we go, fic after the cut:

Tim hides his smile under the lip of his mug as Jason presses a kiss to his forehead. He peeks at the bagel being placed in front of him— toasted perfectly and with exactly the right amount of cream cheese. As Jason pulls his hand away, Tim puts down his mug and reaches for his forearm, pulls it to his chest. Jason tilts into it, leaning his warmth against Tim. 

This thing between them is new. Not the touching itself, but the tenderness behind it. The way he just expects Jason to be on his couch when he gets home from work or stumbles in after his patrol, covered in grime and smelling like Gotham. The way he stays the night as often as he reasonably can. The way whenever he’s within an inch of him, Tim seems to be reaching for him. The way Jason seems to be less than an inch away from him an awful lot of the time.

Tim stares at his bagel and tries to think of when he actually taught Jason how to make it the right way. Maybe he just learned through osmosis. Just absorbed it from spending so many breakfasts together that he knows exactly where to turn the toaster oven knob between light and medium to get it that exact shade of brown Tim prefers. 

His thumb rubs a track over the skin of Jason’s forearm as he thinks about exactly what’s going on between them, and the exact way they haven’t talked about it. 

He’s almost brought it up a few times, but he doesn’t know how Jason feels about labels. How that conversation is going to go. And it isn’t all that important what they call this, really, as long as Jason is on his couch or in his bed or within his reach.

He’s only pulled out of his reverie when he feels Jason tuck his face into the curve of his neck, feels the pull of lips that mean he’s hiding a smile there. 

“Are you feeding me breakfast, or are you going to let me go? I’m starving.” 

A soft laugh falls out of Tim, and the sound is an echo of the blissful feeling that’s occupied his ribs for weeks. He nuzzles into Jason’s hold, humming like he’s thinking about it. “I don’t know, you’re pretty warm.”

“Well, you’re starting to look pretty tasty.” Jason’s voice is muffled and a little rough the way it always is in the morning, and he can feel the vibration of it rippling along his throat. 

“Starting to? Haven’t you had enough of me yet?” The questions aren’t laced with anxiety the way they might have been weeks ago, before Jason did things like wake Tim up with coffee and breakfast. The questions are easy and light, because he knows the answer, even if he doesn’t know what to call this thing between them.

“Mmm, I don’t know,” Jason answers anyways, because he thinks he still has to pretend he isn’t going soft. He lets out a put-upon sigh, his breath hot and tickling on Tim’s skin. “Well, I am a zombie, so I guess it makes sense. Brains. Flesh,” he teases, tilting his head in. He lets out a playful, undead noise and lightly bites down on the skin of Tim’s neck.

A giddy laugh pushes out of his mouth as he squirms away, just lightly enough that he isn’t really going anywhere. Jason’s teeth release after a moment of them giggling together, and when he starts to pull away, Tim lets him go.

“Eat your breakfast, Zombie Boy,” he instructs.

“Guh,” Jason deadpans, turning to grab his plate as Tim snickers. When he sits down, he tangles their ankles together under the table and piles a bite of eggs onto his fork.

As Tim goes to pick up his coffee mug, his eyes meet Jason’s. There’s a soft, warm thing in them that’s sweeter than the sugary mocha he was about to sip, and his heart does a little flip as he thinks about how absolutely perfect things are-

And then the window behind him slams open.

There’s a noise like a body tumbling to the floor, a sigh he hears every time that particular body tumbles through his window—

And Jason freezes, the panic slamming down in his eyes as they go wide, and Tim knows his eyes are mirroring the expression. Tim thinks maybe Jason is trying to communicate something as they watch each other panic. He wonders if he should be trying to communicate something back, but it’s not like they can telepathically come up with a believable excuse as to why Jason is at his breakfast table, not wearing a shirt because Tim is wearing his shirt, and since Jason isn’t wearing his shirt you can see about fifty hickies in various states of fading-

“Ugh. Mornin’, guys,” Dick interrupt the silence.

And then Jason’s eyes aren’t on him anymore, they’re on Dick, tracking his every movement like he isn’t sure if he should run or pull a gun on him.

But Dick doesn’t say anything else, he just strides over to Tim’s kitchen and pulls out a box of cereal from the cabinet. Jason’s eyes are flicking between the two of them, still panicked, as Dick opens his fridge and sniffs the milk, makes a disgusted noise, then replaces the cap and puts it back in the fridge. He ends up just grabbing the box and going to sit at the head of the table, noisily digging pieces of cereal out of the bag with his fingers.

“Good morning,” Dick repeats pointedly, because no one actually answered him. Tim forgives Jason for looking like he’s leaning more towards option B, because he’s starting to think that shooting him isn’t the worst idea he’s ever heard.

“Good morning, Dick.” Tim says, in what is probably a more pleasant tone than warranted. He’s being incredibly patient. “Get out,” he says in the same pleasant tone.

A disappointed look flashes in Dick’s eyes as he purses his lips. “Don’t be rude, Timmy.” 

“I’m rude? You didn’t even knock!” Tim says, his patience starting to fail him. 

“I did, actually,” Dick starts, a knowing, antagonistic little smirk starting to pull at his lips, and Tim’s starting to actively wish Jason would pull out a gun or two. At least a knife. But he doesn’t, so nothing stops him from adding, “But you lovebirds looked a little busy.” 

Tim’s eyes flick to Jason involuntarily, the word love seeming to detach from the rest of the sentence and suck all of the air out of the room. 

Jason looks terrified. 

But it’s not the kind of terrified Tim expects, not the kind that screams TOO SOON in neon, flashing lights. 

Huh. 

Tim forces his eyes back to Dick. He shoves the question, “Why are you here?” through his gritted teeth. 

“I wanted breakfast.” He shrugs, but it’s obvious that’s not what he wanted. However, he has something far more interesting in front of him than whatever he came for, and he clearly isn’t going to be distracted. “The more important question is: what’s going on between you two?” 

He pops another piece of sugary cereal into his mouth, his gaze locked on Tim. The smug grin on his face makes Tim consider grabbing one of Jason’s guns himself, and in the following moments, he treats himself to several violent, bloody fantasies that end in Dick begging for mercy.

Then there’s a clatter that pulls Tim’s gaze away, and his eyes instinctively lock onto the source: Jason’s fork has fallen out of his hand and onto his plate, a bit of egg scattering across the table in front of it. 

“We’re dating,” Jason says, like he’s just realizing it. 

And again, it leaves Tim pleasantly surprised to find that he doesn’t look scared of that.

“We are?”

Dick sucks a breath through his teeth like that was the wrong thing to say, but a smile is spreading across Jason’s lips, because he didn’t ask it like he was being forced into it. He asked it like he couldn’t believe it. Like he’s won a prize.

“Yeah, we are,” Jason confirms, giving him a warm, crooked smile. Then he drops his eyes to the table and grabs a napkin to wipe up the egg, his tone light as he continues, “I mean, unless you don’t want to-”

“No! I want to-” Tim realizes his interruption was just a little too eager, and color bursts across his cheeks. Jason’s eyes flicker back to him and he looks pleased, smug, and Tim realizes what he just did. “Oh, fuck you,” he huffs, even though he finds he isn’t all that upset about it. 

Amusement glitters in Jason’s eyes as he starts, “I mean, last night-” 

And those are all of the words he gets out before Dick drops the cereal box on the table and clamps his hands over his ears, letting out a loud, panicked noise to cover whatever Jason was about to say. 

“Okay! Don’t need to hear that!” Dick says, his hands still over his ears. Jason snickers at him and picks his fork back up, apparently deciding to go back to his breakfast.

“That’s what you get for interrupting me and my boyfriend,” Tim tells him, because he knows Dick can hear him even with his hands covering his ears. Besides, he wants to see how the word tastes. And he wants to see the look on Jason’s face when he says it. 

It’s his new favorite word, he decides. Jason’s eyes flash back up, and the heat in them hits him like a bullet. Suddenly, all he can think about is how very far away Jason is.

“Hey, Dick, I think you should leave.” Tim can’t look away from the warm look on Jason’s face. Dick needs to get out of the vicinity as soon as humanly possible, because in about 10 seconds, this is not going to be rated E for everyone.

“Fine. But I’m taking the cereal,” Dick groans, pushing away from the table and grabbing the box.

Two hours later, when Jason throws away the forgotten breakfast from earlier and starts over, Tim decides he’s glad neither of them shot Dick. 

[meownotgood]

Can I ask what your ✨Aki journey✨ was like? I’m a Aki girlie but you clearly love Aki more than any blog I’ve ever seen (purrr) When did you start becoming interested in him? Was it an aHA moment or did it develop over time? I’m really curious!!! What inspired you to start this blog? I live, laugh, love backstories 🫶🏾❤️‍🔥

YES I would be so happy to answer this!!!!!!!

so before I read chainsaw man, I knew next to nothing about it, I wasn't really a manga reader in general to be honest but I started getting into it because I wanted to get caught up with jujutsu kaisen after finishing the anime. when I did, I really enjoyed jjk, I wanted to read more manga and a friend suggested I read chainsaw man because it's similar. I was like okay... a lot of people are into it... it looks cool... why not.

and when I started reading and I got to that third chapter and I saw aki... I literally said to myself: yeah, he is going to be my favorite. because he's exactly my type — the suit, the hair tied up so it's long and pretty when he takes it down, the SMOKING??? THE PIERCINGS????? I thought his hair was silly but adorable, his personality was stern but quirky and likable, his kon power was so cool. he was just so cute and hot and definitely my type of character.

but really, even though aki was always my favorite character from the start, my obsession truly began when I finished the manga. aki's arc is just so good... I fell in love with him the whole way through but especially after the manga was over... I loved watching him grow as a character, he just feels so real and relatable personality wise and story wise. he's immensely flawed but kindhearted to his core. he's so human. I love how he's emotional and soft and the conclusion to his arc is genuinely my favorite thing in any piece of media ever, it's so bittersweet and compelling. (and I'm a mess for that bittersweet shit okay)

anyway after I read chainsaw man for the first time I was feeling a mix of emotions between "wow that was the greatest thing ever" and "what the fuck did I just read" but more than anything I yearned for more aki, and so I read it a second time almost immediately after, and then the aki brain infection just grew worse and worse.... was screenshotting every panel of him... I read it a third time... a fourth time in the colored version to collect more panels......... I started my blog over a year ago to post fanfic and rant about aki and the rest is history

[naavispider]

The week of Caught updates is nearly upon us! I'm away for work this week but have all the chapters saved and ready on AO3 🥸

Chacon was two feet to his left, his rifle hanging relaxedly on his back… He’d betrayed them. He’d led them to the Na’vi. “Lower your weapon,” one of the warriors spoke.  But Miles was distracted by the figure emerging from behind the man. A tall, blue, intimidating figure with black dreads tied back loosely by a Burnfiber band. He knew that face… Wait.  He knew that face. 

Caught - chapter 26 snippet

A reminder of the posting schedule:

Monday: chapter 25 Tuesday: chapter 26 Wednesday: chapter 27 Friday: chapter 28/epilogue

I'm so ready!!

[necrotic-nephilim]

Fandom: Grayson (Comics) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Dick Grayson/Tiger Characters: Dick Grayson, Tiger (DCU) Additional Tags: Omega Dick Week (DCU), Omega Dick Grayson, Alpha Tiger (DCU), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Forced Bonding, Mating Bites, Mate or Die, Porn With Plot, Oral Sex, Spyral (DCU), Ambiguous/Open Ending, Unrequited Love, Bittersweet, Intense Sex, Hurt Dick Grayson, Whump Summary:

Tiger does what he has to, to save Dick's life. Unfortunately, that just happens to be forcing a mating bite onto Dick. Together, they figure out the aftermath and find a mutually satisfying way to deal with Tiger's subsequent rut.

-

Omega Dick Week 2024 - Day 3: Forced Bond

[shubaka]

nail painting and finger painting

Fandom: Kinnporsche Pairing: BigKen Warnings: pwp, rimming, anal fingering, anal sex Summary: Ken has a thing for Big's hands. Nails (and fingers) are painted. gift for @kimchaybrainrot

please note that this is locked on ao3, so you'll need an account to read

ooooh my god I'm just going to throw this out into the wild and i'm gonna run away

[batsplat]

your negative takes on recent tennis rivalries pleaseeee🙏🙏🙏

ps. you’re a treasure

okay so I'll do the copy paste thing from what I did just cut from the initial post, which was my polite 'I'm attempting to write a reasonably neutral post' approach

so, this may come as a shock, but obviously I'm a bit of a fan of rivalries. we do have some bangers in tennis history, rich narrative texts, but... well. the landscape out there hasn't been great for the past decade or so. sometimes you can get invested in match-ups between specific players that are fun to watch and interesting tennis-wise, but it's all very much about the sport rather than the personal relationships between the different players. I enjoy matches between all three or ryba, sabs and iga!! but also. they are coworkers. you do kindaaaa get the sense sabs and iga aren't particularly fond of each of other, but it's all perfectly cordial. again, the tennis is great, I support them in all their endeavours, but it's very much the tennis itself you need to look for for the drama (also they don't play each other as much as I'd like, but that's a conversation for a different day)

you do still sometimes get some fun beef but it's very much isolated dumb stuff like the fritz/rinderknech "have a nice flight home" thing. this isn't going anywhere story-wise but it's fun in the moment

speaking of men. obviously the most important rivalries for the last however many years have been between various big three/four members, and federer/nadal specifically is extremely popular. tennis-wise, I still think federer/djokovic was the most fun match-up, and at least there was a little tension there because federer used to hate djokovic. they've played a lot of matches that are worth watching!! also they've finally mostly retired so it's not super relevant any more, but well tennis fans as a collective are very big three-pilled so you'll hear a lot about these blokes

and now there's alcaraz/sinner. they've only really had one match that was good start to finish (uso 2022), but definitely some fun ones (miami 2023 and wimbledon 2022 are probably the other ones that stand out, their most recent match was very much in the 'long does not equal good' category). plus, they're quite good at producing highlight reel content, like this one point everyone remembers (shown here from every angle... tennistv produces longer videos for single points than the wta releases for most finals). it's an interpersonally warm rivalry between two young guys who are both very successful and will presumably win everything for the next decade. again, I'd suggest trying to become a fan of one of those two

this was the polite way of phrasing it!! everything below here is quite rude and negative, peace and love to all

okay, let's ditch the thin veneer of neutrality, here's what I actually think: it is completely baffling to me how popular quite a few of these rivalries are, I don't get it, I have never understood it, I will never understand it. tennis went 'what if we had rivalries without narrative tension' and everyone just kinda rolled with that? mind you federer/nadal early confrontations were happening at the same time as clijsters/henin, who were like?? dude it got so bad henin said she had never been friends with clijsters so nothing clijsters and her father said could hurt her ("nothing was broken between us because there was nothing to break" ???? ffs). which is obviously not true!! but it's so... she denied the friendship ever existed and called it all pr like that's so SAD! look, this is beside the point, I'm not talking about henin/clijsters here, I do understand why people aren't that into a rivalry that was at its peak like two decades ago and federer/nadal were still playing slam finals in 2k17 (a dark dark time for some fans, federer had already HAD his decline and then he was suddenly winning slams again like tf). and to some extent I go 'well clearly people will just be into anything if you have two successful blokes' but there's clearly quite a lot of genuine passion there? like I'm not denying the passion EXISTS, people do clearly care about these guys, it's not all a psyop by Big Fedal who have suckered people into caring for these two dudes. and I'm not denying the tennis is great! I still personally prefer the match-ups that involve djokovic, and also the match-ups that involve none of those three, but fundamentally I have been watching these matches for like!! so many years! it's part of my childhood, I have enjoyed plenty of these matches, the tennis is obviously otherworldly. I have hot takes on a bunch of their matches, I can have the goat debate with you, I can give you the rundown on surface-specific match-ups and how long since nadal won a set on hard court against djokovic and federer's peak year domination rate and what they all did at madrid and blue clay and yec and golden masters and all that shit, of course it's part of my dna as a tennis viewer too!! I did usually have a slight order of preference in my head when I was watching big three match ups to have someone to root for (it's different now but back when I was a kid it was djokovic > nadal > federer, these days federer's redeemed himself a little bit in my eyes by having the decency to retire and I was radicalised against nadal). but like!! what's the narrative hook! I need somebody to explain to me what the story here is. these guys are all very good at tennis and they are racking up their titles and it's so!! whatever!! no tension no arc no real interpersonal development once federer stopped being so bitchy about djokovic. twenty plus slams who CARES, what are they doing this for! it's all so?? ugh

anyway now that I've taken a potshot at the most popular rivalry in men's tennis, I should quickly back it up by saying I feel almost the exact same way about the second most popular one (at least on tumblr) and also feel nothing for alcaraz/sinner. that one was still like... vaguely palpable? when alcaraz was clearly a way better player but struggled in that match up and also was way more invested in the rivalry than sinner was. but well, sinner is world number one now so THAT'S been ruined. again, sit me down and explain to me what the narrative stakes here are. like, if sinner wins that roland garros match, he'll be fine? alcaraz will be fine? everyone will be fine? their relationship is basically 'friendly coworkers', zero chance of anything more substantial developing there. now, don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm massively into the current state of the women's game when it comes to rivalries either, but at least I have a base level of fondness there for the top players and am ideologically inclined to hype up any rivalries there whenever they come along. also, quite frankly, it DOES matter viscerally more to them!! iga spends a lot of her time kinda like,,, on the edge, the way she was in tears when getting physio after the naomi match, united cup last year, a bunch of her 2021 matches, like she's so intense and so tightly strung on the court that you do really get the sense that a loss could just cause her to have an existential crisis. there's so many unanswered questions about her ultimate potential off clay, I'm still proper curious about her story develops. and then with aryna, she's obviously ALSO so intense but in a different way, and she feels every single emotion so completely and entirely and iga has beaten her in one of those infamous semifinal chokes and it's kinda... you know, aryna also feels like she has something to prove, and you can tell they both really really want to beat each other. there's something there!! it's something real! I'm always seated whenever we actually get to see them play

that being said, yes, obviously I do think we're not exactly peak rivalry potential in either gender. the men's is more egregious because the way the game has shaken out since like,,,, 2004, is incredible top level domination by just a few guys. and now, yes, I'm aware I'm a fan of another sport where this was also incredibly true. but. the key difference is that the aliens had the decency to not be so fucking boring about it. sure on paper they were as a PACK winning everything, but good lord were they screaming crying throwing up whenever things went mildly wrong for them. like!! they despised each other and they needed to beat each other, which makes ME care!! I'm not saying I NEED rivals to hate each other, though it sure does help for my investment levels, but I need a narrative hook! borg/mcenroe had a narrative hook, evert/navratilova had a narrative hook (unfortunately that narrative hook these days is 'being united in transphobia'), agassi/sampras had one HELL of a narrative hook. noughties wta tennis about fifty million narrative hooks!! when I watch alcaraz/sinner, I just try and enjoy the tennis (though their roland garros match was mid as shit so what's that all about) but like... I don't care? or I care because one of them has pissed me off recently. I do fundamentally watch most of men's tennis as a hater, and admittedly this is accumulated bitterness over way too many years, but I do also think it's frustrating! tennis gets in its own way with this whole gentleman's sport business, the amount of wanking people do over federer/nadal in particular is truly insufferable... this is a sport filled with millionaire tax evaders and they'll have you believe that smashing a racquet is not only not fun (obviously it is) but also some kind of arbiter of morality. congrats to nadal for not smashing a racquet in his career!! could we please get his thoughts on gender equality in prize money? oh... okay. hm. this isn't supposed to be some gotcha, these guys all suck. but ultimately I would prefer not to engage with this sanitising and pearl clutching, given they do all suck, over shit that fundamentally does not matter while giving them a pass over all the stuff that DOES and instead maybe just have some fun. maybe you need to be single-minded and kind of dull to be good at men's tennis these days, maybe it's inevitable, doesn't mean I don't find them boring and pointless. there's some people who just enjoy like,,, watching greatness, endlessly racking up numbers and reaching the pinnacle of the sport or whatever, that's not me, I need there to be a story

thing is, right, obviously I'll still watch these matches (though I have massively turned it down this year, especially on the men's side - I did have a kind of breaking point this january where I was like 'wow I don't think I can ever care about anything any more?' and broadly speaking this has proved to be correct). I've tried hard to like a lot of these men because, god knows, it'd be a way more pleasant experience if I could trick my brain into it, but I can't! I think they're dull! fundamentally I'm too embedded in this world to ever be able to leave it. but I think it's funny when fans go 'oh people who are into drama don't appreciate the actual sport' like buddy I can basically guarantee I know more about the sport than you do. I Just Think that actually interpersonal relationships do also enhance the actual sports, like this shit is a conversation right,,, it has its history, it's a development over time in terms of your tactics and your knowledge of your opponent's tactics and so on, your expectations going into every match. when you have an interesting interpersonal dynamic, the sport also becomes more interesting... it's actually pretty straightforward lol. a lot of tennis is in the head, rivalries are also in the head, you're playing the other guy (gender neutral) as much as you are the actual ball. I get super annoyed by fans who are too busy being nostalgic to actually enjoy the players we have now, and I really don't like it when people call iga boring for instance, but I do also have a little bit of that. love the game, hate a lot of the players, simple as. bring back agassi calling his pet parrot more interesting than sampras in his autobiography, we used to be a proper sport

[neverkayzat]

Cool announcement: I've started a fic over on Ao3!

Currently, I'm only on Chapter 2. However, It's going to have many, many more chapters and I'm super stoked to write more of it!! Even if you don't read it, checking it out means a lot! It's my first fic, and I'm excited to share my delusional thinking about these guys.

If you're interested, read it here!

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

good [location time zone]! this is a reminder that ao3 will be going down in like six and a half hours and if you desperately need to download fic so that you can read about your weird little guys while you go to sleep or take the train to work or whatever, now is the time to do that thing!