#Like obviously the characters and their dynamics can be read with that in mind. Obviously
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About to say something controversial but I think some of the Blue Lock fandom is getting way too comfortable with being homophobic
#Too exhausted to actually type my full thoughts out but#Blue Lock as a series ABSOLUTELY can be read with a gay lens and this does not just apply to shipping the characters#Like obviously the characters and their dynamics can be read with that in mind. Obviously#But a major themes of Blue Lock is following your dreams and passions and to a lesser extent that includes being true to yourself#ESPECIALLY with being true to who you really are and being confident in your identity#Which when combined with some character arcs you can 100% read that in a more overall queer lighting#And if you take Ego and Blue Lock itself into account as like. An extremely toxic masculine environment that is actively worsening the cast#There’s. Very interesting points to be made but again. I am not going into all that tonight#POINT IS. Blue Lock in general has a lot of gay reads you can make#And ESPECIALLY with a lot of ReoNagi news coming out with the oneshots and with the Episode Nagi movie#I see people uh…… Getting a little too comfortable being homophobic#I shan’t lie it is incredibly fucking alienating to keep running into#I don’t gaf about fandom stuff or what fans say and I partake in some jokes myself but like#Some of them… Coming from people who aren’t gay… Like come on#Come on guys what are we doing here#This is stream of consciousness rambly bullshit I’ve just had it on my mind awhile#🌱💚
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it’s so hard out here as an abedison disliker
#the truest repairman posts#These tags are long as shit sorry#im not fandom tagging this one because it’s not really about that it’s more like.#Guys I don’t see it…#At ALL#and obviously I know why I don’t but it feels like sometimes I’m just pulling the “can’t people be friends” card which sucks#And is NOT the argument I’m trying I can assure you#I don’t see it in a romantic or even. Even a qpr way??#They just seem like friends to me?#Even then I always see people singing the praises of their dynamic in s6 (obviously helped by the fact that Alison and Danny are friends#which is lovely obviously) but even then ehhhh. It’s not that compelling#They’re friends and I appreciate their relationship the same as I enjoy the rest of the group and their interpersonal connections#The things people point out to just come across personally like character moments between them? Not romantic in the slightest?#Even when they kissed- usually I can find a lot of appreciation for canon relationships in shows I like#Even if I disagree with the characterisation#But it really just felt like capital N Nothing to me#Also#As I’ve made very clear#I am a lesbian Annie truther 100%#I just don’t think I could ever read her another way without taking out the foundation of her character in my mind#And idk I dig non binary abed perspectives but they aren’t the ones I tend to examine the show with#Any more than I use the perspective that he’s queer as in peculiar as much as queer as in Queer#All this said 100% respect to the abedison shippers out there you do excellent work#It’s just not for me#Anti abedison#I want to clarify this post is NOT anti abedison at all but I don’t want people who are just having a nice time to have to see this
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Byka Atroksia (Masterlist)
This is the masterlist/moodboard/summary for my new series called "Byka Atroksia". It's a story between Daemon Targaryen x reader (Vhaela Targaryen)
First of all: This story is based on the HBO/Max TV show House of the Dragon and the works of George R R Martin. I don't own any of the characters.
This story should only be read by people over 18 years as it contains adult content.
You can find the following themes in this story: HIGHLY detailed smut, fingering, oral (f & m receiving), kissing, dirty talk, losing of virginity, gagging, p in v, unprotected sex, period sex, praising, degrading, edging, overstimulating, blindfolding, some non-con choking, possessiveness, body image issues, angst, mentions of period and pregnancy, incest, inappropriate relationship between uncle and niece, power imbalance, dom!Daemon, inexperienced reader, arranged marriage, toxic relationship, morally questionable behaviour, abusive behaviour, sexual abuse (not performed by Daemon!)
Disclaimer: I am aware that the dynamic of this relationship is problematic as Vhaela's inferiority complexes cause her to search for Daemon's attention. So please be careful while reading this and have in mind that this kind of relationship is neither healthy nor desirable. Daemon is a bad person. His actions are irresponsible and unethical and he manipulates Vhaela. Don't try at home please.
Disclaimer 2.0: The G Spot: In this story I mention the g spot (even though the characters obviously don't know this term for it and what exactly it is) as a way for women to receive pleasure. I know that the existance of it is controversial and it's not scientifically proven that something similar exists. However, I still decided to include it in my story so my main character is able to receive pleasure by vaginal sex, but be aware that a lot of women don't get pleasure plainly by vaginal sex. I just don't want to portray a false image of what sex is supposed to be like so I felt the need to write a short paragraph about it.
Summary: Vhaela Targaryen is the younger sister to Rhaenyra Targaryen and has all her life felt like she was competing with her sister for their interesting and dangerous uncle's attention. In Vhaela's mind her beautiful and confident sister has already won this fight but when Daemon Targaryen returns from a battle at the Stepstones things seem to be a little different and she explores a whole new world of emotions.
Smut is marked with *
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 * (very light smut) Chapter 3 * Chapter 4 Chapter 5 * Chapter 6 * Chapter 7 Chapter 8 * Chapter 9 Chapter 10 * Chapter 11 * Chapter 12 Chapter 13 * Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 * Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 * Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 * Chapter 26 (Final chapter)
#fanfic#fanfiction#smut#house targaryen#house of the dragon#hotd s2#hotd#hotd spoilers#rhaenyra targaryen#daemon targaryen#daemon x rhaenyra#daemon targeryan#hotd daemon#daemon x reader#rhaenyra#cregan stark#fem reader#x reader#reading#helaena targaryen#rhaenyra x alicent#daemon fanfic#daemon smut#daemon fic#daemon targaryen smut#daemon x y/n#daemon x you#daemon targaryen fanfic#daemon targaryen x reader#daemon imagine
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BTS As Girl Dads
Ot7 x Reader
Summary: Headcanons about how the members would each handle being girl dads
Warnings: none
A/N: Thanks to @coffeedepressionsoup for this request! This got me soo in my feels, they’d all be such great dads(I may have gone a lil self indulgent but who cares lol). Obviously, some/most of these could also apply to any kid, regardless of gender, but for the sake of the Hc, we’re focusing on daughters
Masterlist
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Jin:
He’s honestly such a girl dad, argue with the wall
I totally see him wholly embracing the title and all the things that are typically considered ‘girly’, like pink and sparkles and all that
He would indulge every single one of her interests. She likes animals? They’re going to the zoo every weekend. She likes music? He’s signing her up for lessons for whatever instrument she’s into
I have this mental picture of them sitting on her bed together while he’s reading her bedtime stories, using all these silly voices and wearing one of her princess hats or something bc she insisted he needed for the character and just-😭
Yoongi:
Yoongi would be the softest girl dad ever, like she had him wrapped around her finger from day one. He took one look at her tiny little scrunched up face, that reminded him waay too much of his own expression when he’s annoyed, and he was a goner
I see him just sitting soo patiently while she gives him makeovers, wearing like three different pairs of clip-on earrings at the same time
He would really focus on teaching her to stand up for herself and makes sure she never takes any shit from anyone
He might come off a little stern sometimes, but it’s just because he worries and wants the best for her
Hobi:
Okay, Hobi as a girl dad might be one of my favorite headcanons, bc he’d be soo fucking sweet with them!
The tea party King. Like he shows up dressed in the most ridiculous outfits to make her giggle, and ready to talk imaginary gossip with her and any plushies that are joining them🤭
He would love shopping with/for her, constantly trying to find the coolest outfits or pieces for her, and they would definitely wear matching outfits when she was little(she would be the best dressed toddler ever, lol)
I also see him being quite protective of her at times, being super nervous/worried about her doing things like riding a bike for the first time or on her first days of school
Namjoon:
Omg Namjoon as a girl dad would be soo fucking protective. Like if someone does anything to hurt or upset her, they’re fucked
I see him loving daddy-daughter days out together, taking her to the park or museums or bookstores, really just wanting to indulge her curiosity and interests
Like Yoongi, he would really work to make sure she knows how to stand up for herself, as well as others
For all of his sternness tho, he would have the biggest soft spot for her, he’s 100% the type to let her have dessert before dinner or something bc she gave him puppy eyes
Jimin:
Omg he’s soo girl dad coded, like it’s not even funny(he literally confirmed that on that ep of “are you sure?” like 🥺)
He would treat her like a little princess, doting on her at every possible opportunity, buying her toys/clothes/treats, taking her on special outings, etc. If she wants something, he will do whatever he can do give it to her
He would not be able to stand seeing her in any sort of pain. Like even her just having a scraped knee would make him slightly misty-eyed, even tho she’s not upset/crying about it
I see them having lots of long talks about whatever’s on her mind. He would really strive to be her safe place to ask questions about anything, from school and friends to life and the future
Taehyung:
I see him being an amazing girl dad! He has this amazing, comforting dynamic with the girls that he’s worked with/is friends with, so I can only imagine how supportive he would be with his own daughter
He would be so indulgent in whatever she wanted. Ice cream before bed? Heck yeah, let him grab a spoon too. She wants a new plushie/toy even tho she just got one like yesterday? Well, the new one needs a friend, soo-
But he would still have his more stern/protective moments with her, just moreso in little ways like making sure she’s always wearing her helmet and elbow/knee pads, brushes her teeth, does her homework, etc
He would play along with all/any of their imaginary games, fully committing to the role(and adding waay too many silly death/fainting scenes bc they make her laugh)
Jungkook:
Junkook would absolutely adore a daughter. Like she would be his little princess and anyone/anything that upsets her will have to answer to him.
On the flip side of that protectiveness tho, he is so unbelievably gentle with her. As an infant, he handled her like she was made of glass, and as she grows up, he would always speak to her in a softer tone than he uses for anyone else
(Also dodon’t think about him singing her to sleep every night as an infant. Getting up with her in the middle of the night and walking her around the house, singing to her softly till she drifts back off to sleep in his arms)
He would love teaching her things and playing games with her(I totally picture him teaching her boxing in tiny and falling over all dramatic when she lands a hit, lol)
Taglist: @sopebubbles-replies @btsw1fe @this-must-be-my-tardis @whitefoxgirl @bethanysnow @coffeedepressionsoup @main-bangtansmauyeondan @feminympho @classicalelephant @dfqcsqueen @mother2monsters @comingupwithacoolnameishard @universal-travel-er @bo0ghol @captainorangegoose @k4ngelz
#bts x reader#bts x y/n#bts reactions#bts reaction#bts requests#bts headcanons#bts scenarios#seokjin x reader#seokjin x y/n#yoongi x y/n#yoongi x reader#hoseok x y/n#hoseok x reader#namjoon x y/n#namjoon x reader#jimin x y/n#jimin x reader#taehyung x y/n#taehyung x reader#jungkook x y/n#jungkook x reader#7ndipity
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Percy, Nico, and Jason should have fallen into Tartarus together, while Annabeth should have remained with the rest of the Seven in House of Hades. Please hear me out.
1.
For one, this way Tartarus would have been much more intimidating. At least in my opinion, it has pretty much lost this aspect, especially after Sun and Star. Tartarus is the prison of the titans, a place so scary and so dangerous, that only the best of the best can make it through. Homer described it as being as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth. Overcoming it should be the ultimate challenge.
Yes, Annabeth is smart, incredibly so, but, I feel like, because Rick wanted her to be useful in Tartarus, he used a lot of cheap tricks in her POVs to get her and Percy over obstacles, which seem a bit too simple to really work against beings like Nyx. This took the heaviness away from them being down there and felt at times even anticlimactic. Don’t get me wrong, again, because I know this is a sensitive subject, Annabeth is smart, has a strong resolve and is great at hand to hand combat, but that’s it. And, in my opinion, that should not be enough to overcome Tartarus. If it would have taken a child of each of the big three working together to only barely make it out, it would have definitely reinforced that status, and also the gods’ belief that such children can become too powerful.
2.
Secondly, Percy not letting go of Nico’s hand, would have done wonders for the development of their relationship and for each character’s individual arc.
Imagine, Nico dangling from the edge, instead of Annabeth. Nico, who had only days prior pretended like he didn’t know Percy, who is so full of self-hatred, he thinks the entirety of camp half-blood hates him, who is already weakened by being imprisoned in the jar, and who is scared out of his mind by the idea of being alone in Tartarus again.
Imagine Nico staring up at Percy, clasping his hand, while Percy looks up at Annabeth, the love of his life, whom he had been separated from for months. Imagine Nico being convinced, that Percy is going to let Nico fall down to stay by her side.
But Percy refuses to let go.
He refuses to let go, even after Nico tells him he should do it, and decides instead to fall together with him into the worst place on earth, just so Nico doesn’t have to endure it alone again. It would have further reinforced Percy’s self-inflicted role as Nico’s protector which he already had in the original five books and his fatal flaw of loyalty. To Nico, it would have given him a worse inner conflict about having a crush on him, which could have been revolved while they were travelling together. The confession scene would have been much more impactful and healthier, if it would have come from Nico himself, and if he and Percy would have had a more in depth talk about it.
And if Jason would have flown after them in a moment of desperation, it would have reinforced the sense of loyalty and protectiveness that he had already shown when he had saved Piper at the grand canyon. The scene with Polybotes could have also taken place in Tartarus instead, and him and Percy working together, and putting all of their differences aside would have been a much more interesting dynamic than the stupid, out of character, rivalry bit they’ve got going on in Mark of Athena.
And, to be honest, just having Nico, Percy and Jason go all out, would probably be one of the coolest scenes in the entire Riordan verse.
3.
All the while, Annabeth could have really cemented her role as a leader. I love her character, but to say that she has more leadership capabilities than Percy is laughable to me after reading the original five Percy Jackson books. These books are, after all, about Percy’s hero’s journey from an inexperienced kid to a smart, powerful and wise hero and the leader of camp half blood. Annabeth, in comparison, shows relatively little of that. (Obviously this makes sense, considering that the books are from Percy’s POV and revolve around him, but the complete switch-up to saying that Annabeth is the natural choice as leader of the seven just felt a bit out of the blue to me in Mark of Athena)
Her leading the rest, in a moment of such a tragedy and remaining strong would have really reinforced the strong resolve that she had already shown in holding the sky in titan’s curse and in remaining steadfast despite all the horrible things that happened to her with her father’s rejection and luke’s betrayal. Annabeth’s relationship to Piper, Leo, Hazel and Frank, which is painfully underdeveloped in the books, could have also been given some much needed attention. Like, I can’t remember a single scene where she and Hazel, or she and Leo really talk to one another, which is a shame, because they could have had really interesting dynamics with one another.
It also would have also been a powerful statement about Percy’s and Annabeth’s relationship, if they, while separated, still believed in each other and trusted that the other person would get the job done.
Without powerhouses like Jason and Percy on board of the Argo II, Hazel and Frank could have really shone as individual fighters. Hazel is probably the second, or third most powerful demigod in the entire franchise, but barely gets any attention, and for a guy, who is apparently so powerful his life had to be tied to a stick, Frank seems, outside of one or two scenes, also pretty underwhelming.
Without Jason, Piper’s and Leo’s friendship could have also gotten some more attention, and generally the reunion scene at the end of House of Hades could have been much more impactful with these character dynamics. I mean, Hazel, and Nico being reunited, Jason, leo and Piper, and Percy and Annabeth, and Percy, Hazel and Frank.
One of the biggest problems, I have with Heroes of Olympus is the extreme focus on romantic relationships. Having some couples be separated from each other like this, would have also solved this and given the only couple still together, Frank and Hazel, more room to develop.
#rick riordan#percy jackson#heroes of olympus#annabeth chase#nico di angelo#percy jackon and the olympians#pjo hoo#house of hades#pjo#the seven pjo
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Some Vital Scenes to Include in a Romantic Subplot, pt. 1
I’ve been in the plotting stages of a novel I’ve been working on for some time now. It’s not a romance novel, per se, but the romantic aspect is very prevalent… dare I say important. Anyway, so as I was working on my scenes and character arcs, I began to realize that I didn’t have enough fleshed-out about romantic arc, nor deepened the protagonist’s love interest or their connection, for that matter. This led me to devise up some scenes that I felt were crucial to the story if I wanted to keep this romantic angle to it, and now that I’ve most of them arranged, I find now that I’m way more excited about my characters’ love story.
These tips will be unnumbered because, obviously, the sequence of these events and how they will fall into your storyline will probably be different. Also, you don’t have to use only one scene for every suggestion that will be mentioned, as you can have multiple scenes of flirtations or deep conversations, for example. They usually blend all together into the narrative at this point. Just remember that there should be some relevance to the plot at hand in some of these scenes as to not derail completely from the main narrative or other conflicts.
I was going to post this all at once, but decided it was too long and wanted to split it into two parts to go more in-depth and for easy reading. /-\ Enjoy ~
- The meet-cute, or the meet-ugly:
Ah, yes, the first encounter. Or, as we sometimes like to call it: the meet-cute, or the meet-ugly if you’re feeling a little unconventional or perhaps mischievous. Though we may enjoy setting up our star-crossed characters in a whole range of moments from awkward to swoon-worthy, the initial meeting is what’s important (if your characters haven't already met before the beginning of the story, ofc, but this is useful to have in mind). Let us quickly define the two:
Meet-Cute: A charming and serendipitous first encounter between the characters in question that sets a positive, memorable, and oftentimes romantic tone.
Meet-Ugly: An unconventional, awkward, or disastrous initial meeting that adds a unique twist to the start of the romantic connection, often leading to unexpected chemistry and an added intrigue on whether or not they’ll get together.
You don’t have to nail your characters’ first encounter into a label or bubble such as these two examples, but I like bringing these up for a general idea.
- Bouts of flirting and/or banter:
Just as the title suggests, these are scenes containing the flirtaious communication between the two characters. These kinds of interactions will, of course, develop over time and deepen the bond or relationship. Playful interactions, gazes, and witty exchanges between the characters can create a lighthearted and flirtatious atmosphere that hints at their growing attraction.
The way they might flirt or tease can reveal their personalities. For example, one character might be more sarcastic, while the other responds with quick wit, or quiet bashfulness. There’s an element of subtlety, as flirting lets the characters express their romantic interest without explicitly stating it (unless one of your characters lacks subtlety in general and prefers to shout their undying love from the rooftops, which would make for an interesting dynamic, but I’m only spit-balling).
Banter, teasing, and romantic tension underscoring heated debates or loathsome gazes suit just as nicely, especially if you’re writing with enemies-to-lovers or rivalry tropes in mind. But be careful! A little goes a long way: too much all at once can repel any growth for the characters or narrative.
- Initial conflict or struggle:
Depending on your story’s big-picture conflict, the introduction of challenges or obstacles can create tension between the characters, adding depth to their relationship and making their eventual connection all the more satisfying. This might include cultural or class differences, opposing goals or values, history of past heartbreak, personality weaknesses such as stubbornness, or external pressures that threaten to keep the characters apart. Even a nosy family or a disapproving mother can be considered. How the characters navigate and resolve these conflicts contributes significantly to the overall emotional impact of the romance subplot, as well as allowing for some exploration of each character's strengths, weaknesses, and resilience.
- Shared vulnerability:
This kind of scene involves the characters opening up to each other about their innermost fears, insecurities, past trauma, or personal struggles. Shared vulnerability goes beyond surface-level interactions. It involves characters revealing their authentic selves, exposing their emotional vulnerabilities, and allowing the other person to see them in an honest — and sometimes new — light.
This is a symbolic gesture of commitment we’re talking about, here… something that requires trust. As characters share their fears or past traumas, they are entrusting the other person with sensitive information, fostering a sense of trust and emotional intimacy. It might be scary, it could be out from left field, but they will end up learning something new about themselves, their situation, or about the other person, and thus deepen their connection, little by little.
#writing advice#creative writing#fiction#writing#writing tips#character#on writing#story tips#story conflict#writing process#writer stuff#writer#writeblr#writing help#how to write#writing resources#writing tips and tricks#writers on tumblr#writers and poets#writerscommunity#subplot#romance#writing romance#writing characters
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I think what interested me the most about chapter 210 wasn't really the fact that Donovan has mind reading powers (I mean, that too obviously), but mostly the fact that now Anya knows. Because if it was only revealed to Loid, he would have easily dismissed it and things wouldn't have really changed for the characters for a while, it would have only been interesting for the reader. But since Anya knows that makes it waaaayyyy more interesting to me and I'm so glad Endo went in this direction. This creates so many interesting dynamics.
(more under the cut, because it was getting pretty long)
Since Anya knows telepathy exists and will probably believe Donovan is a telepath like her, then she also knows Twilight is in great danger. She knows they met and can probably suspect Donovan knows about the mission (I mean it's what Loid thinks about pretty much 24/7). So will she try to convince him that telepathy exists to save him? But that would compromise her, especially after this comment
I don't think Anya is ready just yet to reveal her powers to Loid.
Will she try to convince him telepathy doesn't exist with her usual silly antics to protect her secret? I can see that, but as I said, she also has the understanding that the evil boss shouldn't know that her papa is a spy, so what does she do to help him?
And she told Damian she's a telepath! Even if he didn't believe her, is she gonna be worried he thought about it in his father's presence? Will she ask him if he met his dad during the vacation and what did he think about in his presence? If Damian gets annoyed and doesn't answer, will she reveal to him that his dad is also a telepath? Maybe he won't be convinced when she tells him, but Demetrius thinks so too, so if Damian gets to know that his esteemed older brother also believes in telepathy then maybe he will actually start to believe it himself.
Or maybe she'll just play along with what Damian said about cartoons in the hope that he doesn't think about it, but that would be a risk because she can't really control what he thinks about and she would have no idea if Damian already slipped up during winter vacation. If she somehow gets to know that Damian didn't involuntarily reveal her secret to Donovan yet, will she actively try to make him avoid his father? I mean not that is hard, Donovan is not exactly involved in his children's life, but before she was hoping Damian and Donovan would become closer so that her papa could get close to Donovan, but now it would be the opposite.
And the experimentation! Will she connect the dots that Donovan was probably involved? If she does then she will realize that Damian accidentally revealing her secret would be an even bigger risk for her, they could take her back to the lab if they know where she is. So it's even more important that she makes sure Damian doesn't slip up.
And just the fact that Donovan was behind the experiments. How will she react? We could finally get her backstory! See what she went through because of Donovan.
There is a possibility that Donovan is not actually a telepath, although I think he is, but regardless, I think the fact that Anya will most likely believe it already opens up a ton of interesting possibilities imo and I'm very excited to see where the story will go.
#anya forger#donovan desmond#loid forger#twilight#damian desmond#demetrius desmond#spy x family spoilers#spy x family#sxf#sxf 210#sxf spoilers
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what are your thoughts abot how Damian and Tim's relationship is portrayed in most fanfics?
personally, although I like the angst part of their relationship I wish there was more fanfics where they're closer and have real siblings dynamic (like u know they 'hate' eachother but they would destroy anyone who would want to hurt their brother)
oh, boy, do i have a lot to say about this one. buckle in, folks.
i feel like a lot of the time, if they're in a fic together and the fic author doesn't like one of them, the other is going to be mischaracterized to hell and back. sometimes... both are mischaracterized.
i'm all for a fanon interpretation of a character- obviously, because i have fanon interpretations in my fic too at least a wee bit- but sometimes it goes too far and it no longer feels like we're reading about the same character
let's talk about Tim.
Tim doesn't have a good view of himself or his standing in any emotional aspect. which is often misconstrued about him believing that he was Jason's replacement (neither he nor Bruce thought this, but it was Bruce's fear), or that his worth as Robin wasn't enough. that's not true at all. i'll say it again here: Jason didn't nearly kill Tim at Titan's Tower, nor did he go there to kill Tim. and Tim fought him back. he even told Jason to his face:
"you can't be that good" "I am."
he knows he's a damn good Robin! he trained with the best, he helps lead the YJ! he doesn't doubt that he was the best person for the job. but when it comes to the emotional aspect of Robin, i think this is where Tim stutters
this is because of how Tim's parents showed their affection.
i think canon neglects that aspect of his trauma, which is why so many people hang onto it. in the comics, Tim is shown to have a lot of friends both in and out of suit. he's abrasive and isn't afraid to ask the hard questions. but he is riddled with self worth issues. his parents were barely around him, they didn't know him well at all. and they loved him, but from a distance.
Tim now sees himself as someone that can receive love from a distance. he is incredibly self reliant, and has been from a young age. he sees all of his accomplishments as obligations. he does well at school because he had to. he takes care of himself because he had to. and in his mind, taking up Robin was partly another obligation. he does his job well because he has to, and he might doubt this sometimes like anyone else, but at the end of the day he is confident in his ability to get shit done.
now, the emotional part of Batman and Robin is where i believe i enjoy a fanon interpretation more. he actually does have a good relationship with Dick, but I'm not too sure about Bruce at this point. this topic is nuanced because Batman writers make him so diabolical at times to the point that i would consider it ooc. but other times they're very close and Bruce admits this. so i replace it in my head with a more stable and realistic version that i've seen written by fic authors very well.
Tim views himself as someone who is there for a job: help Batman. but there is a lot of wonder and awe there. his favorite Robin was Dick. (I'll say this again so everyone hears me: his favorite Robin was Dick. yes you are allowed to have nuance and put Jason in there as someone he looked up to as well, please do. but put some respect on Dick's name!) now that he's working with Dick Grayson, someone he admires so much, as well as getting the honor to wear the Robin suit, he feels more like himself than he has in years. he's good at this, and it's also fun. he meets so many people and he gets to make a difference in the world. yes, it's a job, but it's also very freeing
he never did this be Bruce's son, or to replace Jason. his relationship with Bruce started off extremely rocky, with Tim forcing himself into his life in some way because he believed that Batman was going to get himself killed or get someone else killed, or Batman would cross the line. and Gotham would lose the only person who had such unwavering optimism for them. he and Bruce come to an understanding of being partners but not father and son. Bruce doesn't want to open himself up to that hurt again. but we all know Bruce, and that's not what ended up happening. Bruce would never be the same person he was before, but he is not incapable of love.
Tim would not understand that change. I'd get more into this but i don't want this post too long and i wanna save it for when i'm not supposed to be sleeping and when i'm writing one of my Tim fics for once. all we really need to know is that Tim's emotional intelligence is dogshit, and him coming to see Bruce as a father, and Bruce seeing him as a son, would baffle him. because his parents love him... at a distance. and Bruce sees him every day. that's not how it's supposed to work, right?
so.
sometimes, Tim is treated like a porcelain doll who can do no wrong. many aspects of his canon has been altered by fanon to be "worse" than it is. his neglect by his parents did, indeed, happen, and it affects him deeply. but his parents weren't like. beating him, or leaving him without food or shelter or supervision. Tim was clever enough to get around that supervision all on his own. which is why they should have been there in the first place. (they should have been there regardless). and emotional neglect is still a very real issue??? no one has to make it "worse" by making the Drakes out to be monsters. i think Jack often emotionally manipulated Tim when he was around, and I don't know if Jack was even aware that he did so. (which is why i can see some people delving into that nonexistent relationship that DC gave us, and finally giving those implications more depth. there are a lot of good fics that go over this)
often it's hard to read a fic for Tim because they go too hard into making Tim an anxious shy ball of sunshine. Tim is weird, and he stalked the Bats, he stalked Nightwing, he broke into Titan's Tower before he even became Robin. he's a weirdo. he fits right in with the Bats for that reason. some people make him out to be the victim or some kind of damsel in distress, and sometimes we get to see a phenomena where other characters talk like a book about emotional intelligence that their therapist gave them. which is... fine, if you're just writing to write it, maybe helping yourself. but let's take a step back and see Tim is not like that. he is a very capable person, and his not some "uwu, woe is me, i'm so shitty at everything and if you even look at me wrong i'll cry." i honestly believe that Tim is the type of character to hate crying in front of someone and even if he was actively dying he'd be holding back those tears.
whereas Damian? gets the opposite treatment??
granted, i don't actually know too much about Damian, but i at least try to understand him and his background
he's the youngest of them, and i think many people forget that Damian isn't a reader of the comics like we are. he wasn't going into that family with the emotional connections to these characters and their backstories like we did. he was taught about these people, the idea of them. like how we could be taught in class about people from a long time ago. and i can ensure you that Damian was not taught proper emotional intelligence, nor would he have the best grasp of it himself when he was younger than 9 years old. imagine all of your teachers and also your mother told you about these people and their accomplishments, and then told you that the person all of them look up to is your father. the person that you want nothing more than to know, to see, because the people around you talk about him so highly. someone you haven't gotten to meet yet, because you aren't "worthy." can you imagine being told all your life that you are not worthy to see your father yet? and not knowing if he believes that too?
but one day, you are going to be by his side as his son. i don't want to get too into the culture of the Al Ghul family because i don't actually know that much (i'm sure someone would know more about this, feel free to add on if you want to), but this is important to Damian. it's important to his mom. it's important to his grandfather, the leader of an extensive organization that stretches hundreds of years.
then he gets dropped off in a different country, culture, language, and family and he finds that things are not as he had been told his entire life. his father has many flaws, they do not believe the same importance of a blood tie as his family back home does. they question his entire upbringing to his face many times, they question his mother who he loves deeply. he's nine years old. imagine yourself in that position. you don't know yet what role you're playing in an adult's life, but you want to. desperately. you want to know where you stand. you want a hug. not to mention that Damian actually is a very emotional kid. he was taught to shove that deep, deep down, and not let that out.
too many people write Damian as if he was a "feral" kid which is kind of not something to put on him? i don't like it both because he wasn't feral, he was an asshole. there's a difference. and because it feels like a microaggression?? at times?? because once again... the culture that he is from... is important.
they have been racially profiled for many many years... and yes, everything that you read is political whether you want it to be or not. the act of reading is political. you should definitely be aware of what a writer's goal is when they were giving something to you. you should be reading deeper. again, i'm not from his culture and i can't say if it is an insult/insensitive joke or not, nor am i saying everyone who's made the joke before is a bad person. i have made jokes about Tim being a feral kid before and whatnot. i'm saying that no matter who you are, it is your responsibility to think critically about your media and kindly about other people. it feels uncomfortable to me because i know how wrongly the Al Ghuls (specifically Talia) have been treated by writers in the past. and Damian is an extension of that bias. just look at how many times they try to push Ian Wayne on us. or how they'll pull back on Damian's character development when talking about the Al Ghul family.
this probably isn't my topic to write about, at least not before i learn more about it. but since i get a fair amount of viewership, maybe someone will listen to me that won't listen to someone of color that has already pointed this out many times. with the comics fandom, and Batman fandom specifically sometimes, people don't care to think further about why the characters of color are so often and conveniently left out or forced into an archetype. take that as you will
so! he has spent his entire life believing he had to live up to two great legacies, both of which are VERY different. the intricacies of the Al Ghul family are often boiled down to pure evil by both fanon and canon writers, which dulls Damian's resolve and reasoning for what he had done, or makes it hard to connect to him. he has since learned more about who he wants to be and has come to respect his family in many ways. excuse me if i'm wrong, but i think part of why Damian came so hard for Tim was because Tim had everything Damian wanted. he had a place by Batman's side as both his son and his partner, and was very well respected by Batman and Nightwing both. he's older, more mature, he has stature in both this society Damian now has to fit into and within the family dynamic. considering Damian grew up in an assassin cult that solved threats to their dynamics or positions in power by murder, it wasn't a far leap for a child from that environment to make. he was modelling what he had been taught his entire life.
think about the mistakes that you made as a kid. and i don't mean something silly or funny now, i'm talking something that makes you feel ashamed. embarrassed. hurt. something that perhaps now as an adult, you reflect on as being totally uncool. and i want you to think about if maybe your environment had a role to play in that. maybe you made an insensitive joke that your mom or dad would have found funny, and someone pointed it out and reasonably made you feel like a jerk. shit happens. but you hopefully grew from that.
now imagine that mistake was you hurting someone.
yes, he was annoying. he was bratty, at times. he could be a little calculating shit. he hurt people with both his words and his weapons. Tim obviously had many many many reasons to be upset about his treatment- but I fear that most of his anger ended up directed at the older people in their lives that were supposed to be the ones to do something about it!
and though i hate that Tim went back to being Robin (it feels redundant), i have seen panels that show that the two of them working side by side after Damian and Tim both went through some life and perspective altering events both together and alone, has made Tim see Damian as his little brother, and vice versa. Damian has grown so much and many people just... don't care. no matter their reasoning for hating Damian, it's unfair to not look further than those cutting words written decades ago, or to bring up his mistakes every time you want to be mad at him. and i think it does a disservice to Tim to make him a bleeding heart about this when he has clearly forgiven Damian and cares about him. he rags on Damian like any older brother would, and Damian makes remarks like a younger brother would. personally, i think the two of them are doing pretty good right now
the development of their characters is actually so interesting within the canon aspect, even if they can fumble the ball every now and then. and the mischaracterization takes away the value that their canon relationship has. i personally love reading fics that have Damian and Tim teaming up. in aus where one thing changes and Tim and Damian become brothers later, i think it's actually so silly and fun when Damian respects Tim or thinks he's cool. or even without the au aspect! just like, a fic where the two of them are working together and it's either silly or serious, Damian having a begrudging respect for Tim and Tim being protective over Damian, etc etc, is sooooo much fun
#this got so so so long#but i had a lot to say apparently#again take that one part with a grain of salt#i hope i did that topic some justice#if anyone wants to add on to that who knows more about it please feel free to do so#also also one fic that i think has a super fun tim and damian dynamic is Buzzard#i've recced it here before#i just love that fic#and uhhhh Red Raven i can't remember the author#tim drake#damian wayne#damian al ghul#damian wayne al ghul#robin damian#robin dc#tim drake robin#dc batman#batman comics#batman and robin#erin practically writing an essay again#i have a lot of feelings guys#i think even if you don't like a character you should be putting work in to understand them#and if you still don't like them then that's fine#but if you blatantly don't like them and don't bother to read up on them then you're a hater but in an annoying way#let me know if i forgot a tag im so tired rn
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bonjour cy-lindric, j'ai une petite question. when I was a young person, I read The Three Musketeers and then eagerly started to read Twenty Years After and was so upset at what had happened to my beloved young heroes that I put the book down and never picked it up. what do you think, should I try again?
Bonjour !
After reading The Three Musketeers, I also wasn't sure I wanted to read Twenty Years After, and I took a break inbetween both to read something entirely different (The Locked Tomb, iirc). I think my reason for that was kind of the opposite of yours ; I enjoyed T3M a lot and loved the characters, flaws and all, but by the end they had somewhat crossed over the line into being Too Awful and the lack of retribution left me a bit frustrated. I didn't see it as a failing of the story - on the contrary, their strong character flaws and downfall in the conflict with Milady is one of the most emotionally intense and compelling parts imo - but I wasn't sure I felt like hanging out with these guys for a few hundred more pages at that point.
If your vision of the characters as a young reader was a very positive and perhaps idealized one, I can imagine why you might not have enjoyed entering into Twenty Years after. The illusion of glory has worn off ; the characters have separated, they live unremarkable lives, and their personalities have evolved drastically with the passing of time. It's almost a brutal return to reality.
For me though, it added layers of characterization to the point where now it's clear to me that this version of the Inseparables is by far the one I prefer.
I hope it's ok if I take the opportunity to talk at length about what I like about TYA below the cut. TL;DR : I love that Twenty Years After is a more realistic look at the big four's personalities and how they evolved while still keeping them thematically coherent, and that TYA makes them confront the reckless and cruel shit they did in their youth.
Spoilers ahead obviously.
We've often talked about how T3M is at its core a story about the end of knighthood. It's a tongue-in-cheek approach at chivalrous initiation, set at edge of the modern world, inbetween the time of ballads about knights in armor and that of adventures about journeying gunmen and soldiers. I think TYA embodies that particularly ; the story of people who have carried the last of these intense, dangerous chivalric ideals in their youths, and who have now grown into middle aged adults who need to find their place in the world.
For a good chunk of the book, the big four are separated into two teams ; that in of itself might discourage some, but imo it's genius. Instead of the natural two-by-pairings, Dumas goes for a d'Artagnan+ Porthos and Athos + Aramis split on opposite sides, which makes for good drama and develops lesser explored dynamics. D'Artagnan and Porthos form a scrappy team of opportunists with money on their minds, and Athos and Aramis a more idealistic duo fighting for a noble lost cause. I think it's a bold choice but also premium sequel writing.
I also love the way the young and wild characters we knew evolve into middle aged men ; at their core, they're still the same, but they've all changed and struggled against the sunset of the golden age in their own ways.
D'Artagnan, after knowing such adventures and subsequent rapid social ascension in his teenage years, has been met in his adult life with the harsh reality that he is, in fact, not a noble knight but a soldier on payroll. His modest origins give him little hope for any further career advancement, and he takes on a new mission in his early 40s for a man he has no devotion for and a cause he doesn't care about, simply because he is bored and broke. D'Artagnan still has his quick wits, his strategic talent, his fencing skills, but he has grown out of the excesses of pride of his teenage years. I loved meeting him again in TYA, and it made so much sense to me that his bouts of anger and aggressivity would be a youthful trait that he'd ended up taming. He also realizes now a lot of what seemed like funny adventures and necessary violence was actually kind of fucked up ; that was a shock to me, as their shenanigans are treated so lightly in T3M, and tbh it healed me a little. Grown up d'Artagnan is cunning, calculating, down to earth and realistic. My foxy little man. I love him.
Porthos, likewise, has been struck by the weight of reality. He has made the sensible choice and got married to the rich widow who sugar mommied him in the first book. Now she's passed, he is rich, but he still fails to earn the respect of the high society he evolves in because he's not high born enough. Like d'Artagnan, he's stagnating and bored and now that he goes back adventuring it has nothing to do with the queen or the kingdom or honour ; it's about getting his damn nobility title.
Athos, on the other hand, is the eternal knight : the only truly high born of the four, and still hopelessly holding on to a time gone by. It's no surprise imo that his storyline brings him into the english civil war, doomed to fail at saving a king who'll end up executed right in front of him. TYA acknowledges more clearly than ever that at 28 yo, Athos was a depressed alcoholic, and an embodiment of what an excess of aristocratic righteousness can do. In TYA, he is sober and moisturized and a DILF, and now he's running around frantically looking for absolution for his numerous crimes. It's delicious.
Aramis is maybe the hardest pill to swallow. TYA confirms the T3M hints that he isn't really the prim and proper romantic boy he acts like he is, and that he's possibly the most hypocritical and ruthless of the four. It might be a harsh one for Aramis fans who like him better as a cute bean, but I love the early onset of remorseless conniving bloodthirsty ambitious Aramis. Another harsh bit might be the evolution of Aramis and d'Artagnan not really liking each other ; they were always the least close combination, and imo it makes sense that their personalities would clash. I think it's clever and compelling conflict.
Now, obviously, if you've cared enough to read all this and if you know me a little, you know that a huge highlight of the book for me was its late-appearing antagonist, Mordaunt. Mordaunt is the son Milady had with her english husband. Because of the Musketeers' intervention, he's grown up in poverty and has been denied his father's inheritance. He's now a Roundhead working for Cromwell, and set on avenging his mother at all costs. Mordaunt, unlike his mother who was this beautiful and dangerous force of nature, is very uncool and pathetic. She was the primordial snake, he's the gutter rat. Obviously, I love that in and of itself, but it's also kind of striking image of the wretchedness of what they've done to her, a fucked up little goblin ghost come back to haunt them as they're trying to make their life worth living again. This time, their enemy is not a cunning political rival with a flamboyance of body and mind akin to their own ; it's a shitty little guy with bad skin who wants to kill the king and punish the murderers. Watch out babes, it's the modern world coming for you.
Of course, they're the Four Musketeers, and they did what they had to do, so they get together again and swear friendship and keep going their way. But they're also old guys with difficult personalities in a world that's never going to be the same. I think it's a cool book.
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NCT Jaehyun | Long Drives
All works are copyrighted ©scarletwinterxx 2025 . Do not repost, re-write without the permission of author.
(gif not mine, credits to rightful owner)
The engine hums beneath you, a gentle rhythm that matches the steady pulse of Jaehyun’s hand resting on your thigh.
It’s your spot—the universal “you’re mine” gesture he’s adopted since the two of you started these aimless drives. You can feel his thumb tracing absentminded circles through the fabric of your jeans, and it’s enough to make your heart flip, even after all this time.
"Did you bring the snacks, or am I going to have to pull over and starve dramatically on the side of the road?" he asks, his eyes flicking over to you with that teasing smile that’s somehow infuriating and irresistible all at once.
You reach into the brown paper bag at your feet, pulling out a pack of gummies and dramatically waving it in his direction.
“Crisis averted. Your survival depends on me, you know.”
“Obviously. What would I do without you?” His voice is laced with exaggerated sincerity as he navigates the winding backroad, one hand on the wheel and the other still on you.
“Starve, apparently.” You rip the pack open and pop a gummy into your mouth before holding one out to him. He leans over, eyebrows raised expectantly, and you roll your eyes as you press it to his lips.
“Why do I feel like you enjoy this power dynamic a little too much?” he says around the candy, his smile muffled but no less charming.
You shrug, feigning innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jaehyun chuckles, low and rich, and it fills the car like music. It’s moments like these that remind you why these drives are your thing. There’s no agenda, no deadline. Just the two of you and the open road, wrapped in this bubble of unfiltered happiness.
The car ride is a little quiet for a while. That is, until Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield comes on the playlist.
“Oh, it’s happening,” you declare, turning the volume up.
Jaehyun groans dramatically but doesn’t even try to stop you.
“You’re going to make my ears bleed, aren’t you?”
“Rude. I have range, thank you very much.” You clear your throat and launch into the opening lines, overly dramatic, dragging every syllable out just to mess with him.
“I am unwritten, can't read my mind…”
Jaehyun glances over, biting his lip to keep from laughing as you wave your hands around like you’re onstage at a sold-out concert.
“You really think you’re the main character right now, don’t you?”
“Obviously.”
But when the chorus hits, something magical—or maybe chaotic—happens. You’re belting the lyrics with every ounce of air in your lungs, completely off-key, and instead of stopping you, Jaehyun joins in.
Unlike you, his voice is smooth, deep, and stupidly good. You pause mid-line to gape at him, but he doesn’t even notice. He’s too into it, drumming the steering wheel and singing like he’s in a music video.
“Feel the rain on your skin!” he sings, his voice so good it’s unfair.
“Okay, why are you actually good at this?” you demand, trying not to laugh and also not to feel a little jealous.
“Why are you still singing like a drunk cat?” he shoots back, grinning.
“Oh, it’s on.” You double down, your voice cracking spectacularly on a high note, but you don’t care. You’re too busy laughing at the way Jaehyun starts harmonizing with you, turning your off-key performance into something almost listenable.
By the time the song ends, you’re both out of breath from laughing so hard. He glances over at you, eyes crinkled at the corners, looking like he’s never been happier.
“See?” he says, reaching over to squeeze your hand. “We’re a duet made in heaven.”
“More like made in a karaoke bar at 3 a.m.,” you retort, but you don’t let go of his hand.
“Hey, I have an idea,” he says suddenly, breaking the quiet
“That’s dangerous.”
“Ha ha. No, really. Let’s find a new bakery. Something random, middle-of-nowhere kind of vibe.” His eyes spark with excitement, and you can already tell there’s no point in arguing.
“Sure, but if it’s weird and their bread tastes like cardboard, I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so.’”
“Deal.”
You pull out your phone and start scrolling for nearby bakeries while he hums along to whatever playlist is shuffling through the speakers. Ten minutes later, you’ve got a winner: a little mom-and-pop spot a town over.
When you arrive, the place is as quaint as you’d hoped—chipped paint on the window frames, a bell that jingles as you step inside, and the scent of freshly baked bread that makes your stomach growl.
Jaehyun wastes no time grabbing a tray and loading it with pastries. “We’re getting one of everything,” he announces.
“Are you feeding an army?”
“Nope, just my girlfriend who’s definitely going to steal bites of everything I pick.”
You can’t even argue, not when he grins at you like that.
Back in the car, with the sun dipping low on the horizon, the two of you dive into your haul.
Crumbs scatter across your laps as you take turns feeding each other bites of cinnamon rolls and flaky croissants, laughing when powdered sugar ends up dusting Jaehyun’s nose.
“You’ve got something—” you say, leaning over to brush it off.
“Are you helping me or trying to kiss me?” he teases, but he doesn’t pull away.
“Both.” leaning over to do exactly that. The kiss tasting a bit sweet and you love it.
You love him.
It’s not glamorous or grand, but it’s yours—just two people, a car full of snacks, and a love that feels like it could stretch on forever.
#fic#story#nct#nct 127 fluff#nct 127#nct 127 jaehyun#jaehyun#jeong jaehyun#nct imagine#nct au#nct scenario#nct x reader#jaehyun imagine#jaehyun scenario#jaehyun boyfriend#jaehyun fluff#jeong yuno
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SPOILERS FOR THE DOGMAN BOOKS! HIGHLY ENCOURAGE READING THEM! THEY ARE SO CHARMING!
With that out of the way, I just wanna rant because I picked up the series again. I wanted to read it before watching the upcoming movie. Think of this as a Dog Man appreciation post <3
I stopped reading the series at "Lord of the Fleas" in elementary, so I started my binge read there.
I honestly wish I had never stopped reading so soon because this book is already a banger. I just love the way Petey is slowly accepting Li'l Petey as his son. Even without realizing it, he has grown so attached to his son and cares so much about him. Like, come on, that's hecken sweet.
Not only that, but I wanna mention George and Harold (I also used to read Captain Underpants back in the day). Back then I thought it was cool that it established that they were now fifth graders and were creating Dog Man as their next story after Captain Underpants. Now that I'm older, I feel this fuzzy feeling watching these goofy fifth graders try to be "mature" and in turn try to add some mature themes into Dog Man.
I find that really sweet and amazing! You really don't often see fictional authors of a story grow up like this. The authors themselves are characters. It's one of the most special things about this franchise. I really do appreciate this detail a lot more now. You get to grow up with them…or, I suppose, see them grow up. And in turn you see how the series changes!
The next book has a lot about Petey and Li'l Petey, but I want to cover this Dog Man part before talking about the cats.
Yeah, it's pretty strange to rationally realize that Dog Man is just a normal dude's body with a dog head. So in that way, Dog Man is a bit of an outcast (I can definitely use this for my own character exploration of Dog Man in a hypothetical fanfic). But the words used against Dog Man is"misfit," which I found interesting. Obviously, they are not outcasting him for his looks (that's not the main focus) but how he can't behave like he's expected to.
Dog Man isn't the most perfect hero. He can be clumsy, and his canine instincts can get in the way. It wouldn't be such a problem for him as a dog; however, he's not just a dog. He's a dog with human responsibilities. He's been given expectation ever since becoming Dog Man.
Don't get me started with the whole angst of his owner dying because that's already so much...but you have to realize that he's taking over Knight's job. Which the idea is hecken mind-boggling!
The thing that makes Dog Man overcome these problems is his golden heart. In the end, Dog Man wants to do the right thing and save the day. That's just Dog Man for ya. That's what makes him so much like a dog and a man.
I'm really overreading this all, but I love this idea for Dog Man. It's kinda hard to put it into words, but I hope this all makes sense.
OOOH BOY! This scene actually made me stop and put my phone down.
The sweet, sincere words of Li'l Petey as it sinks into Petey while Grandpa is just breaking stuff in the background. Guys. I wasn't expecting this from Dog Man. I was so shocked reading this part. Like you can see how much Petey loves Li'l Petey but has such a hard time seeing the world like his son does. Which, by the way, is literally his clone, so it's like him arguing with his inner child. That single hug speaks so many words. Petey just wants to protect him.
I love their dynamic so much. You got this old, disheveled cat who became realistic about the world in a sad way, and this young, wide-eyed, optimistic cat who has so much to learn about... but at the same time can teach so much. That's beautiful, man. That's beautiful.
Anyways, there's so much to talk about Dog Man (that's just how fantastic the books are), but I think I'll just end the post here for now. I'm still busy catching up, so maybe I'll share again. I'm just so glad I came back to this series again <3
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I was wondering if you could make a part 2 to "the instrument"? I got invested reading it was so sad that it ended :(
I don't rlly know what I'm looking for but I loved the plot of that fic and I wanted to see it progress further (´;д;)
Like, it js ended with him giving her flowers, I wanted to see their love bloom more yknowww ಥ_ಥ
(Also is it weird that I see y/n as her own person?)
Synopsis: You were right from the start — Michael Kaiser has always been a dog, albeit perhaps not in the way you first meant it. (part one here!)
BLLK Masterlist
Pairing: Kaiser x Reader
Chapter Word Count: 4.5k
Content Warnings: fake dating trope, mentioned/implied/referenced abuse (both child and animal), call me tabito karasu the way i assassinate kaiser’s character in this, relationship dynamics many would consider…interesting…
A/N: EEK i feel like kaiser is so hard for me to do romance with but i tried my best!! and LMAOO this y/n is definitely a very interesting one so i can see why you got that sense 😭 but i’m glad you liked the instrument and ty for requesting 🥹 i hope this is somewhat satisfactory??
Additional: check my pinned post to make sure i have requests open; after reading the rules, please feel free to make your own!
You are quite certain that your mother was involved in this exercise, considering she’s the only one you can think of with a spare key to your house. So, when your phone call to Michael is sent immediately to voicemail, you don’t hesitate in dialing her number, knowing she’ll pick up immediately, as she always does.
The phone rings only once, and then she’s answering. There are voices in the background that are faint and muffled, which means either she’s watching a new drama or your father is watching some sports game. Then you detect the faint sound of cheers, and you conclude it must be the latter.
“Hello, Y/N,” your mother says. “Did you need something?”
She is very obviously trying to maintain an air of mysteriousness, as if she has no idea why you might be calling her, but the fact that she is putting on such an act makes it all the more obvious that it is just a facade. You’ve known for many years that your talent onstage is not a genetic one, though it does not stop your parents from pretending that it’s something you inherited from them.
“The flowers,” you say. “You put them there, didn’t you?”
She coughs. You don’t know if she’s disguising a laugh or if she’s just taken aback to that extent. Either way, you give her a moment to compose herself, for it’ll be a mess if you don’t. Your mother is like that, after all. If you inundate her with questions, she’ll respond to exactly none of them, so patience is the only method you have if you wish to obtain any measure of success.
“It wasn’t my own doing,” she says finally. You sigh.
“Of course, someone told you to, and I’m sure we both know who,” you say. “What did he say?”
“He meant well,” she says. “Are you angry with him? He seemed to think you might be. Anyways, he just told me to give them to you. It’s his way of saying sorry, I think. Or perhaps of saying something else. I’m afraid I can’t understand him the way you do. It’s magical, really, how you all but read his mind…”
“No one can read his mind,” you scoff. “He’s a convoluted man, and his thoughts are his own.”
“And you despise him because of that?” she prods, in a way that indicates she already knows the answer and is only asking for her personal satisfaction.
“I love him all the more for it,” you say shortly. Somehow, it’s worse saying it to your mother than it was with him. More real, maybe. Unable to be taken back. You don’t want to take it back, of course, but nevertheless, even if you did, you no longer can. It’s out in the world, now, and the world has a strange humor; it takes things one says even carelessly, without thought, and it turns them into undeniable, inescapable truth.
“Well,” she says. “That is a predicament.”
“There’s no predicament,” you say.
“He believes there is,” she says. “Right before he left, he—”
“Left?” you repeat. The flowers on your counter are arcing towards the sun, their petals unfurling towards the light pouring from your window. It’s a behavior more typical of flowers other than roses, but these roses are blue and they are Michael’s, so it stands to reason that they behave peculiarly. “Where did he go?”
“I couldn’t tell you,” she says. “He didn’t mention where he was going, just that he had to leave for a bit. But he looked sad. I mean, it’s difficult to tell with him, given how stoic he is, so I don’t know. Don’t take me at my word and start a fight about it.”
This is all you’re going to get out of her. You’re sure of it; there’s a wavering to her voice that signals she’s out of her depth. It’ll be unproductive and all but cruel if you continue to drill her, so you grit your teeth, squeezing your eyes shut and counting to three in your mind. Frustration is a wasted emotion, especially when the target of your frustration is somewhere far away, gone with nothing but a pot of flowers as a farewell.
That’s what it really is. Not an apology or a confession, but a goodbye. The fact that he thought to do it does mean something, but that meaning doesn’t outweigh the intention. So you make meaningless small talk with your mother and then your father, who she passes the phone to, and as soon as you can, you hang up and call another person, one who might be your only chance at finding the wandering stray that is Michael Kaiser.
Michael doesn’t really have friends, claims he doesn’t need them, but if there is one man who he might deign to bestow that title upon, it is his Bastard München teammate, Alexis Ness. They have been playing together since they were young, and so, if anything, there is an empathy between the two, although Michael will never admit it.
You’ve only met Alexis Ness a few times, at the various events which Michael used to drag you to when your relationship was still in the public eye. He’s never been anything but polite, albeit reserved, and on your third meeting, he gave you his phone number, telling you to call him if you ever ran into trouble. He had left the with Michael unsaid, but the implication had been there. You had thanked him and never called him since.
He’s quick to respond, like he was expecting the call — for all you know, he really was, though you would never ask either way. However, he does not speak first, so there is an awkward pause as you both wait for the other to say something.
“Good morning, Mr. Ness,” you say once a minute has gone by and he still has said nothing. “This is Y/N L/N. You gave me your number once.”
“Ah, Kaiser’s girlfriend,” he says. They have this habit, those soccer players, of referring to each other solely by last name. Your theory is that it’s to create distance, to avoid becoming close to a person who can be stolen by another team at any moment. You can’t fathom any other explanation. It’s a little sad to you, but you try not to judge, because there’s as many or more judgements that can be passed about your own lifestyle and habits.
“Yes,” you say.
“Are you calling to ask me where he went?” he says.
“I am,” you say. There’s no point in games. You don’t know Alexis Ness well enough to play them, and he seems to appreciate candidness, so the both of you are blunt in your conversations.
“I’m not supposed to tell you,” he says. “He swore me to secrecy.”
“I see,” you say. It’s disappointing, but it doesn’t come as a surprise. Michael is more than a little paranoid, so of course he took these ridiculous measures to cover his tracks.
“Nothing against you,” he says. “In fact, you should take it as a compliment. It sounded like there’s some messes he needed to clean up before he could bear to face you.”
“He’s horrible at cleaning,” you say.
“I don’t mean literal cleaning,” he says. It’s patient but also mocking. You roll your eyes, a silent form of retribution that he’ll never know of.
“Neither do I,” you say. Alexis Ness exhales heavily. Perhaps you’ve given him a migraine. It’s a particular skill of yours, or so you’ve been told.
“Berlin,” he says.
“Berlin?” you say.
“That’s where he is. If he asks, I’m not the one who told you,” he says, and then he’s ending the call before you can even thank him.
Berlin’s a big city, so Ness’s advice isn’t as helpful as he might’ve thought it would be, but at least it’s a start. Besides, for all his idiosyncrasies, Michael has a few patterns he follows with religiosity, so you tell your agent you’re going on a trip and silence your phone before he can call you and sputter protests about the impromptu nature of the semi-vacation.
The volunteers at the dog shelter tell you that Michael’s been there for the majority of the day. They’ve left him alone because they don’t know what to say; it’s not everyday that a celebrity wanders into such an establishment without so much as a word, and he’s remained relatively harmless, so they’ve continued about their daily business, ignoring him as best as they could when it became obvious he had no interest in speaking to them.
When you enter the kennel room, you find him sitting in front of one with a large hound in it. It has a pointed muzzle, and its tail does not wag at your approach, but it does lift its head and blink at you a couple of times before going back to sleep.
The cement floor is cold, but still you sit beside Michael, hugging your knees to your chest in a mirror of his position, careful not to touch him, thinking that he is wild enough to flee if you do. The hound lets out a soft breath. You notice that there are pink lines cutting through the black of its fur, marring its wide torso, shiny as the skin does its best to heal.
“She was seized from her owner,” Michael says. “The neighbors called the police one night when things got too loud.”
He’s not looking at you, but it’s obvious you’re the one he meant that statement for, so you shift closer to him, placing one hand on his arm. He flinches the tiniest bit, but when you try to pull away, he reaches up and stops you, holding your hand there, though he still refuses to turn away from the dog.
“Apparently, the guy got drunk and beat her,” he says. “She belonged to his wife, but once his wife died, he became an alcoholic, and that poor dog was the only one there to see it. I’m sure she tried to keep loving him at first, though. Even when she was frightened. Dogs do their best to love you, because they can’t understand that no matter how hard they try, it doesn’t matter. If someone wants to hate them, then all of the love in the world won’t be enough to stop that.”
He’s talking about the dog, but that’s not what he really means. That’s just how he is: he speaks in circuitous riddles to avoid ever saying anything plainly. Flowers and dogs — both are just methods of avoiding what he really wants to tell you.
“We can take her home,” you say. “Give her a different name and a place where she can be happy. Even if something has been hurt before, that doesn’t mean it has to hurt forever.”
His eyes lower, and then he stands, yanking you to your feet. Steadying you when you stumble, he lets go of you abruptly, frowning and turning away from the dog, who is awoken by the suddenness of the movement, flattening her ears against her head and shrinking back.
“She’s frightened of men now,” he says. “Has been ever since she was rescued. Bites every male that comes near her. I can’t blame her. If I were her, I’d do the same. Apparently, that means she’s not really adoptable. Not by us and not by anyone.”
The dog whines plaintively. You offer her the back of your hand through the bars of the kennel. She sniffs it before licking it carefully, and then she thumps her tail against her bed in approval — only one time, though, and then she’s standing, pacing in unhappy circles around the small kennel, which can hardly fit an animal of her size.
“I want her,” you say. “I don’t care if she isn’t adoptable. I want her.”
“Of course you do,” he says. He would sound aggravated, but there is a curious delight dancing in his eyes, a childish sort of joy that so rarely sparkles in those blue irises, so he completely doesn’t. “Of course you want her. You can’t stay away from hurt things, can you? Who told you I was here?”
“No one,” you say. “I figured it out by myself.”
He purses his lips, following after you as you make your way to the front desk. Disapproval rolls off of him in waves, but also something else. Something shriveled and cowering which is fighting desperately to crawl to the surface.
The volunteers are surprised to hear which dog you insist on taking, and they try to convince you to look at any of the more appealing ones — the puppies, or the well-trained retrievers that already have waitlists of potential adopters. You’re an actress, however, so they’ll put you at the top and give you whichever one you want. You tell them you know which one you want already, and eventually they give up on arguing, only frowning as you sign the litany of documents they produce, clicking their tongues and telling you that she’ll be difficult.
You respond that it’s fine. You’re used to difficult things; in fact, you think that you prefer them. They shake their heads and then you are told that your dog — yours, miraculously she is yours — will be ready for you to get her whenever you want.
Michael’s business in Berlin is not yet completed, you can sense it, so you tell them that you will return later and then you chase after his disappearing back, catching him by the sleeve of his coat in a narrow alleyway which leads to a theater.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he says. He’s gazing at a poster with a woman on it; she’s beautiful, with elfin features and flowing hair the color of gold. She’s also someone you recognize. “Fuck Ness. I know he told you. I’m going to kill him when I get back.”
“Leave him alone,” you say. “He didn’t tell me anything.”
“Sure,” he says. “Whatever.”
“Do you know her?” you say, pointing at the woman.
“Do you?” he shoots back. He’s crabby now, snapping easily and readily, though you’ve not really done anything to provoke him.
“Yes,” you say. It’s not the answer he had predicted, which you can tell because he whirls to glare at you instead of the movie poster. “Why are you surprised? We’re in the same industry. I was almost in a movie with her a while back, though it fell through because of an issue with the writers. She’s nice enough, I guess. I went to her wedding a couple of years ago, but other than that, I wouldn’t say we’re particularly close.”
“You…went to her wedding?” he says, and then, inexplicably, his fingers are weaving in between yours. It feels like he is holding onto you for something more than affection, so you stand as still as you possibly can, only humming in agreement.
“Yes, I did. Actually, she married her childhood sweetheart, which took everyone by surprise. It was commonly thought that she’d marry one or another of her costars, you see. She’s always been good at creating chemistry…people always say that she can make even a rock seem desirable, that’s how she is,” you say wistfully, leaning your head on his shoulder. He doesn’t shove you away, enraptured by the story. “It’s amazing to watch. But isn’t it kind of sweet? That despite how excellent she is at feigning affection, how she could’ve had any man in the world, she chose the boy from her youth? I remember talking to him. He has nothing, no money or connections or investments. She really just married him because he loves her for who she is.”
“Is love really all she wanted?” he says.
“I suppose it’s all that a lot of people want,” you say. “Rumor has it that she's pregnant.”
He stiffens against you. “What?”
“Well, I think she’s a little old for it, but it’s common for women in my line of work to wait until the signs of age are beyond concealment before they have children, so it’s not a shock,” you say.
“Why?’ he says.
“It’s the industry’s standards—” you begin before he cuts you off.
“No,” he says. “No, why is she — why does she want — why is she pregnant?”
“Isn’t it common for people to start a family eventually?” you say. “By the way, you never answered my question. Do you know her?”
“She’s my mother,” he says. The words are angry, but his tone is forlorn, his hand in yours cold and small. “But I’m — I’m not her son.”
He looks so wretched that you cannot help embracing him, and when he reciprocates in earnest and without pretense, you know that you have done the right thing. His breaths are fast and shaky, though he is not crying, and as much as you wish you had not said it, you believe deep down that it is important that you did.
Platitudes are meaningless. If you say it’s okay or something along those lines, you will be a liar, because the truth is that it’s not okay. You are not the one who can decide if it’s okay or not. You can only remain as you have been, motionless and gentle, stroking his back in the way one settles a restless infant, allowing his fingers to dig into your sides and his looming weight to collapse into you — for his sharpness is not borne of malice but helplessness, however loath to admit it he might be.
“Why?” he whispers. There’s a million questions he could be asking, and none of them are ones you can ever answer for him, but that will not stop him. “Why couldn’t it be me? Why couldn’t she be happy with me? I would have loved her. I would have been her family.”
“A lot of people don’t deserve children,” you muse. “Or love, or many other such happinesses. And still more people cannot understand the importance of these things when they are within their grasp. Your mother must’ve been very young when she had you. It’s easy to be blinded by stardom and glamor and fairytales at that age. It’s easier still to abandon everything for just a taste of the spotlight. There’s a school of thought that fame is impossible to attain without that necessary sacrifice.”
“What about you?” he says.
“I’m not an exception,” you say ruefully. “Any normal person would have hung up on you when you first called, Michael. I’m only lucky in that it was you and not anyone else on the other end of the line. It’s only because I know you that I realized there are more important things in this world than celebrity and popularity. Once I would’ve spurned the thought of obscurity, but now, if I can have you, then I wouldn’t even mind it so much. It’s the same conclusion your mother must have reached.”
“It’s too late,” he says. “She reached it too late.”
“Yes,” you say. “Yes, she did reach it too late, but it’s easier to give this kind of life up once you’ve known it than to never have it at all. That’s the only reason why. She was greedy, and you bore the consequences.”
“It’s not fair,” he says. You’ve never heard him like this. Normally, he’d laugh at the mere thought of such vulnerability, but the gray of the city has clearly twisted him into a wounded and fragile version of himself, prone to shattering, made of a glass that is already jagged at the edges and can hardly keep together because of it. “It’s not fair, it’s not — I hate her, and I hate him, and I hate her stupid new family, and I —I—”
He silences himself, obviously unsure of what to say, and then he holds your face in his hands, giving you a pleading stare. Help me, he seems to beg. Tell me what to do. He is lost, and somehow you have become a map of sorts, or a compass, one which points in a direction he has no choice but to follow.
“Why did you come here?” you say. “When you knew it would hurt you, why did you come?”
“I wanted to remind myself,” he says. “For a second, you even convinced me that I was worthy of being — you know. So I had to come back. I had to see with my own eyes the kind of person I really am. If my mother and my father and my entire damn city hate me, then why should you be any different?”
He’s scared that he will hurt you, and that you will hurt him, and that he will be alone again, as he has been for much of his life. For all his brashness, his bravado, his smugness and his smooth way of speaking in public, he’s never really been anything more than a little boy who’s frightened, who presses against the back wall of his enclosure like that beaten hound did.
“You know that I am different,” you say. “I am not your mother, nor your father. I will leave everything behind but you. In fact, I’ll leave it for you. Tell me to and I will.”
“What if I tell you to quit acting?” he says.
“Then I will retire at once,” you say. “I already have more money than I know what to do with.”
“And if I tell you to move across the world?” he tries, resting his forehead against yours. “Would you do that, despite your entire life being here?”
“Yes,” you say. “I am quick at making friends and learning new things, so I will adapt to it.”
“What about if I tell you to marry me?” he says. His lips are so close to yours that he is speaking against your mouth, but he doesn’t try to kiss you yet.
“You wouldn’t ask?” you say.
“I don’t ask for things,” he says.
“Naturally, I’d marry you,” you say. “There isn’t anyone else I’d ever want, anyways. We’d have the most beautiful wedding in the world, and we’d only invite the people we like.”
“That’s a short list,” he says. His heartbeat is calming down; it’s a temporary solution, but if it manages to distract him, then you’ll indulge the flight of fancy.
“My parents,” you say.
“Ness,” he says.
“I always knew you liked him,” you say.
“Only because I have to,” he says.
“Anyone else?” you say.
“No,” he says. “That’s it. We can even forget about all of those people, actually. I just want it to be the two of us. Nobody else matters but — but you.”
He’s stuttering as he comes to his senses. These declarations aren’t typical of him, as foreign as French on his tongue, but he’s making them anyways. He’s been fighting the compulsion for a while, you can tell, but it’s hard for him to keep fighting on all fronts of his life. Eventually, one side will give. You are glad that it is your side, that you are the one he has given to, no matter how reluctantly he has done it.
“Is there anything else you’d like?” you say. “All of these are easy for me to do. Ask for something difficult, so that I may prove to you that I am telling the truth, that I mean what I say.”
“It’s not a request, but a condition,” he says.
“You only need to name it,” you say.
“If I hurt you, then you have to run,” he says. “Run so far away that I can never reach you. Even though it’ll hurt me, I want you to run. Even though I’ll beg for you to stay, please leave.”
That’s it, then. The most difficult thing he can imagine a person doing: leaving someone they love. Certainly he is unable to do it. It doesn’t matter if he’s suffering. He’ll suffer longer just to stay by your side, just as he suffered for all of those many years as a child.
It’s how you know he loves you more than he’ll ever let on. He holds you in such esteem that he’ll let you leave him if you have to, though it’ll indubitably destroy him, destroy him more than staying could ever destroy you. Yet still he is giving you that permission, commanding it, even, because he’d rather destroy himself than let even the slightest harm befall your being.
You can only draw that conclusion because you know that he will never, can never, hurt you. He isn’t saying this as a warning, because it isn’t an inclination that he has. No, it’s a dark and ugly voice in the back of his mind — does it sound like his father’s? You feel that it must — insisting that he will do it, he will. He’ll hurt you. He’s the reason that his mother left and his father became something sick, and he’ll be the reason that you are broken and ruined and torn apart. He’ll do it. He’ll be the one to do it, it’s inevitable, he’ll scratch you with his thorns and gnaw at your remains with his fangs and maybe he’ll even cry during the act but he’ll still do it.
“Alright,” you say, though you want to protest that he is incapable, because it’s clear that he is testing you. Every argument which might fall from your lips, he has heard before, and if you dare utter them one more time, it’ll be the proof that you are lying. The way his thoughts work, the paths that they follow, they are winding and narrow, but perhaps your mother is right — perhaps you are coming to understand them.
“Do you think that I can?” he says.
“No,” you say. “The fact that you worry about it tells me that you won’t. You are better than that, Michael.”
“You really believe that?” he says. “With everything you are, you believe it?”
“I do,” you say.
You almost can’t believe it, but he laughs. Well, calling it a laugh is generous, it’s really more of an exhale, yet one which is unquestionably seeping with amusement, and you’re about to ask him what he finds so funny when he was so close to breaking down mere moments earlier, but he stops you before you can.
“I do,” he says. It’s an odd thing to repeat, but a second later your mind registers why he’s done it, and then the corners of your lips are curving up.
In the streets of Berlin, the two of you are alone; his mother’s poster is your only witness, but if she takes some offense, she remains smiling and silent, her gaze far away as her son — who isn’t her son, he isn’t hers at all, he’s yours and only yours — finally closes the minuscule gap between you both and kisses you fully.
#kaiser x reader#kaiser x y/n#kaiser x you#michael kaiser#bllk x reader#bllk#blue lock#reader insert#fake dating#m1ckeyb3rry requests#m1ckeyb3rry writes
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Let's address the blue suited elephant in the room!
I want to preface this by saying, of course, what Prosciutto does to pesci isn't okay in the slightest. He's a grown man who should keep his hands to himself, but i do want to talk about the scene itself and how araki has addressed this in the new la squadra lore drop.
If you've ever read or watched part 5, you must be familiar with pesci and proscuitto. The dynamic these two shared was quite unique, considering that at the time Araki wrote these two, we didn't really see two minor antagonist banter and interact with each other in the same way they did.
People who like La squadra have especially taken a liking to the dynamic Pesci and Proscuitto share, but one thing that we don't really talk about or acknowledge is the fact that proscuitto hits / manhandles pesci. So let's talk about it!
When you think of Prosciutto, your first thought might not be kind and doting. However, Araki goes on to emphasize that prosciutto is too soft on Pesci and praises him too much.
"This makes it a total of FIVE TIMES he supported pesci in an hour."
"People might wonder if Prosciutto was being over protective"
This makes sense in the context of the episodes, and Araki also goes on to state Prosciutto cares very deeply about pesci, to the point his love is deeper than that of a mothers love.
Araki tells us readers that the only time prosciutto has used the "stick treatment" was when pesci got ambushed by Mista but he quickly brushes it aside by highlighting the fact prosciutto was brave and grabbed the gunslinger risking his own life to save that of pesci.
"My prized hook and line" written by yoshihita okita, does a reversal of what araki has shown us. Instead of pesci constantly being praised by proscuitto, pesci gets scolded multiple times throughout the short story, and it is only at the end that we see proscuitto praising pesci for doing the right thing. This signals a turn in how proscuitto views his subordinate.
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Prosciutto's actions and Pesci’s Reactions
Now, this is where the novel differs from what we see in canon and where I start to project some of my own thoughts and feelings on these scenes. It's not exactly a one to one comparison, but it'll do.
Leading up to the impact in the anime, we see pesci praising prosciutto on how amazing he is for disguising himself as one of the passengers. Even though pesci nearly got himself killed, he still excitedly walks up to prosciutto. So when prosciutto hits him, he looks genuinely confused because he didn't expect that to happen. THIS makes sense in combination with what araki has told us.
Prosciutto is overprotective and praises pesci too much because he deeply cares for him and his safety. Of course, pesci would feel comfortable walking up to prosciutto. He hasn't given pesci a reason to make him feel otherwise. However, the stakes are much higher than normal they went on this train knowing they'd either come out victorious or die trying to obtain their goal. But pesci still doesn't act like it, and so in the heat of the moment, prosciutto hits him, which gets followed by the 5 times of praise Araki loves to mention.
In the novel, Prosciutto doesn't actually hit Pesci, but he does instinctively cover his face out of fear of being hit. This doesn't exactly contradict what Araki has told us, but this pesci is much more fearful of Prosciutto, which would make sense because this takes place when pesci has freshly joined the team and hasn't really realized which buttons he can and cannot push.
(I think it's also important to keep in mind this wonderful short story wasn't written by Araki himself, so obviously, the way the characters interact and behave aren't going to be 100% accurate. However, it did get approved, so it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to accept this as canon or not)
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What happens after?
In the novel, there's not really anything that happens after because nobody's getting hit, so we're going to be focusing on the anime.
If you've seen the episode, we all know what happens after. Prosciutto starts giving pesci pep talks and praising him and touching foreheads invading pesci's space. This exclusively happens after Prosciutto hits him. Why is that? Why do that after decking pesci in the face?
Well, it's because pesci lost the confidence he had after being scolded so harshly by his mentor. In the anime, the difference between before and after isn't very noticeable because pesci has been changed to come across as more meak and shy. But in the manga, pesci goes from a playful and cocky newbie to a meak and anxiety filled mammone in almost an instant. THAT is why prosciutto goes overboard with the praise and PDA. He's aware of what type of impact it has on pesci and tries his best to steer pesci back in the right direction with kind words.
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(I'd place some examples here but I've reached my limit unfortunately)
Conclusion
I'm not really sure how I want to end this, but regardless of how you see pesci and proscuitto's relationship, I think it's very important that we continue to have fun and mess around with their dynamic as two characters in our favorite show. You can choose to ignore that prosciutto has done this, or you can choose to come up with your own explanation for his behavior, but at the end of the day, we're all here to have a good time.
Thank you so much for taking the time of your day to read this <3
#jjba#jjba part 5#jjba fandom#la squadra#pesci#jjba pesci#la squadra di esecuzione#jjba proscuitto#prosciutto#rambling about my faves#really wanted to get this out of my system#this was not proof read#golden wind#vento auro
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I'm just now finding out that people did not like my villain academia arc.
I truly watched bnha for the LOV (besides bkdk).
The main cast is nice and all but if i put on my critical lenses i honestly don't see the hero society as a viable option. Economically and structurally i just don't get it - it's a cult that creates celebrities/heroes who are obviously used as both propaganda and tools of war, under the guise of fighting crime. At this point, heroes serve as either military special op forces or double-agents, or even as nuke level power holders. Either way, they are totally dehumanised soldiers. On the other end, the hero cult itself triggers people becoming villains. It does so by blaming individuals for becoming villains, even when it's obvious that they are direct results of wider structural societal problems. It's shown many times how hate can manifest in families as perfectionism, abuse, obsession, suppression, phobia (Shoto, Dabi, Shigaraki, Toga), poverty and human trafficking (Hawks) and xenophobia and racial (?) discrimination with mutants (Spiner).
The only moment i was hopeful they're gonna address the structural problems was the liberation army attack on the hospital in the war arc. But what was crazy to me is that the hero society held a war prisoner in the basement of a public hospital - using a civilian shield tactic, which is considered a war crime. Spiner's character arc is also extremely sad and unhelpful. Even the school itself becomes a military stronghold.
For the question of family dynamics we get Endeavor atonement arc. But we also get a scene which implies that he sa'd his wife (as if the fact that she was sold to him wasn't enough). The one scene that wasn't believable to me at all was Rei coming to visit Endeavor in the hospital. God bless Shoto, that kid is so strong, understanding perfectly Endeavor is to blame for all that. But it shows that in case of powerful men, sa and child abuse are not treated as crimes, as they should be.
Hawks is another great example of literally being sold and used, similar to Lady Nagant - and nothing is gained from their arcs in the sense of revealing the hidden corruption. Both of them side with the "hero" side in the end, the side that made them do their dirty work for them. He even becomes a murderer because of this but still manages to keep in the public’s good graces by acting as if killing is something he had to do for the greater good, same reason he sided with Endeavor.
Toga is a brilliant representation of discrimination towards a sexual minority but then she dies to save a hero she loves. It's tragic, honestly.
Deku is the only one trying to do something and helping (Shoto, Bakugo, All Might and Shigaraki are some examples) people change their mind and views on heroism/what it means to live righteously. I haven't read the manga so i don't yet understand what Deku losing his quirk could mean but honestly this AFO-OFA tug of war is the most boring part to me.
The show still mostly puts everything down to individual level and blames the villain or makes it somehow personal responsibility of heroes to deal with it.
Thus the league of villains becomes the focal point of the show - their double bind with AFO on one end and heroes on the other.
It just bugs me that the whole show could be read as cop/military propaganda and that our protagonists are basically glorified cops. This is why vigilante Deku arc was so exciting, finally! And this is why the whole concept of the show would be very different if it was made from LOV's pov from the start.
As it is, there's lots of bright and shiny feathers but not much substance in the show. The biggest stars of the show are personal tragedies, sometimes out-shining the main plot and gloriously failing to tie into the bigger picture.
#mha#bnha#lov#mha spoilers#bnha spoilers#league of villains#dabi#touya todoroki#todoroki family#shoto todoroki#toga himiko#tomura shiragaki#anime discussion#anime discourse#discourse#bnha analysis#mha analysis#bnha hawks#mha hawks#hawks#spinner#mha spinner#bnha spinner#bnha dabi#mha dabi#my hero academia#boku no hero academia
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I tried to get myself to like gwyn and azriel but I just couldnt. Ill look at fanarts and stuff but I just cant SEE it.
I fear they would be boring. People call elain and azriel boring and cliche but be fr... thats literally gwyn and az. you can literally see how their story would develop. it would literally give feysand and nessian.... im tired of seeing the same stuff.
Hey anon 🫶
You’re so right. At one point, earlier on in the fandom, I too tried to get myself to see where gwynriels were coming from and what the appeal about Gwyn and Az were. It’s nothing special. There is nothing unique or interesting about Gwynriel.
I promise this is related to my poimt. Lately, there’s this discourse going on about the decline in individuality and quality of books. After 2020, people have started to notice that recent books are no longer as intricate as books once were. Every book within a genre feels the same. The plots, characters, dynamics, tropes etc - are all mirrors of each other. There isn’t individuality anymore when it comes to books within a set genre. Now, a genre that rlly increased in popularity was romantasy. Over the last few years, which trope has become increasingly more prominent? Enemies to lovers. Which fmc character type is more favoured? The sassy, “I can do it all”, powerful warrior who is the best at everything and is great at wielding a sword type. Almost every single book thats comes out will be advertised as enemies to lovers. The fmcs themselves have all become similar. Another point I would like to add in: when it comes to these sort of books, there will be lots of banter between the couple and the fmc always proving the mmc wrong - sometimes even challenging him. Aside from acotar: many of us are also readers who consume other genres and books/series. I think its fair enough to say, many of us consume all types of “popular” books. I can guarantee that many of us have read enemies to lovers books or even have it as a favourite trope. When you are constantly consuming a specific type of media, as a reader, you will want more of whatever you are consuming, limiting your mind to other possibilities. As an example, if you constantly are reading enemies to lovers books’ -> you won’t really like anything that is not enemies to lovers. Obviously, we all have our favourite genres and tropes we love to consume BUT we should always be open minded to try new things. Ok, slightly of course but back to my point:
Gwynriel fits in the checklist for your standard couple: in a fantasy, “enemies to lovers”, book. . Girlboss FMC that can do it all and shoves it to do the dark, broody MMC.
. “Banter”. The couple “challenging” each other
. MMC’s dark trauma and past that only the FMC can help him to heal
you get my point. People love gwynriel and it is so popular due to its lack of originality. They are such cardboard copies of a typical EtL book + we have literally gotten not much scenes on them -> it is so easy for their stans to self-insert and virtually put on any HC they want onto gwynriel.
Now compare that too elriel? There are not many “soft”, “feminine” fmcs. The recent one I can think of is “Evangeline Fox” from once upon a broken heart. So you already have Elain Archeron that stands out as an fmc from the norm - people aren’t used to her character type therefore view her as weak and boring. Elriel is far from enemies to lovers. They do not banter. They’re not the type of characters to draw attention to themselves or their relationship. Their dynamic is more mature instead of fun and childish. They have more dangerous stakes then anything gwynriel can have. Their story is more unique -> people aren’t used to that as it isn’t often potrayed in books anymore therefore they are disliked and people find them uninteresting.
Gwynriel is popular as it lacks originality. Elriel is hated due to their unique dynamic.
When I see gwynriel fanarts, the concept is lovely but knowing that Gwyn and Az don’t even like each other romantically and Az was ready to beg for another woman, it usually puts me off. I can’t view them as a couple since the books do not potray them as potential LIs.
#I think I made 50% sense#elriel#pro elriel#azriel shadowsinger#azriel acosf#gwyn berdara#elain archeron
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Ballsy
Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem reader
Summary: Your alter ego does something you always dreamed of but never had the balls to do. Let’s just say it leads to something great😈
Warnings: Shower sex, SMUT, NSFW 18+, slight breading, oral (female receiving), praise
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You grew up a hunter and crossed paths with Sam and Dean ages ago. Since you were around their age, you guys hit it off well and stayed in touch over the years. Soon after the boys had moved into the bunker, you did another hunt with them and mentioned you didn’t have a permanent home either and they graciously offered for you to stay with them! It’s now been 8 months of living with Sam and Dean. For the most part, it’s all great despite your hopeless crush on the eldest brother. You and Sam were best friends, and you and Dean had a weird, complicated friendship. You could never read him. Sometimes he would be flirty with you, giving you hope that something could happen, but then he would bring a girl home from the bar, breaking your heart a little more each time.
For the past two weeks, however, Dean has been extra flirty with you. He enjoyed making you blush and making inappropriate jokes at the worst times to embarrass you. This morning at breakfast, you sat across from Dean. While you both ate bacon, he kept watchful eyes on your every movement and when you’d make eye contact, he would wink at you or raise his eyebrows up and down. It made you giggle. You particularly loved when Dean was in a flirty mood, soaking up any and all attention from him before it would be gone.
You were pacing the floor in your room, thinking about the advice Charlie had given you.
“Just pretend you’re someone else and make a move.” Charlie said earlier in the week.
“I can’t do that, what if he doesn’t feel the same. It would ruin the whole dynamic. I’d have to move out and then go back to crappy motels and eat diner food all the time and-“ you rambled on.
“Y/N, please. Dean has had eyes for you for like… ever. Why else would he flirt with you like that? You can do it, just create an alternate version of yourself. She can have a new name and all the personality traits you want to have.” Charlie said.
“I don’t know, this feels kind of dumb”
“Just do it. Introduce yourself to me as the new you.”
“…um hi my name is-“
“Oh absolutely not, more confidence. Say it like you’re the queen of LARPing” Charlie states.
You clear your throat and try to push away any resistance that you normally would have. Right now you’re not Y/N, you’re Tessa; a smart, sexy, confident chick who goes and gets what she wants. You switch into this alter ego as best as you can and confidently say with some sultry in your voice, “Hi Charlie, I’m Tessa.”
“Much better. You got this, just go for it!”
I can do this. I just have to go for it. No fear. Well lots of fear, but fake it til you make it, right? Walking out of your room, you head for Dean’s bedroom. As you near the door, your heart races. The sound of the shower comes to your attention. “Oh shoot, of course once I muster up the courage to do this, he’s in the shower” you whisper to yourself, rolling your eyes. Then a thought crosses your mind. What would Tessa do? Walk right in there and take what she wants. Am I actually going to do this?
You open the door and enter Dean’s room, heart beating so loudly you were sure it was audible for the whole bunker to hear. You come to the bathroom door and knock so quietly that Dean doesn’t hear you. You take the opportunity to pause and get into character. You knock a second time, this time he hears you.
“Who is it?” Dean calls out behind the sound of water hitting the floor.
“It’s me” you shout back.
“Y/N? Are you okay?” Dean asks from behind the door.
“Can I come in?” You ask. Despite wanting to walk in there, you obviously want to ask for consent.
“I- I’m kind of showering” Dean says thrown off by your question.
“I know” You retort back, lacing your voice with undertones.
Dean blinks under the running water, realizing what’s going on. “Come on in, sweetheart” he says. You open the door, trying to not let your fear show on your face, but the second you see his naked body dripping wet under the water, you’re sure your face falters. Without saying a word, you start stripping off your clothes. Dean watches in shock of the sight in front of him. Once your clothes are nothing but a pile in the floor, you stand in front of each other, both breathing kind of heavy but not saying a word.
“Y/N, what are you doing?” Dean asks cautiously.
“Making a move” you say more confident that you thought possible with a smirk on your face. You slowly close the gap between the two of you. Deans eyes are dark with lust.
“Are you sure this is something you want?” He says, his voice much deeper than before. You nod your head as you look at him with your doe eyes.
“Words, sweetheart” he urges.
“Yes” you say breathless, now an inch away from him. With that confirmation, he quickly closes the gap between you two. The kiss was needy, but soft however quickly grew hungry for more. Stepping more into the shower, the warm water runs down your back and Dean starts to push you back against the wall, lifting your leg to his hip with his hand.
Breaking apart only for air he says, “You have no idea how many times I’ve dreamed of this moment”. He lips make contact with your neck, trailing down to your collarbone as he tentatively paws at your boob. It’s all passion between you. 8 months of sexual tension all being released at once. His kisses move lower, as he starts sucking on one of your nipples, slowly lowering himself to his knees. His mouth follows this southbound patter until he lands on his knees in front of you.
Grabbing your hips with his hands he looks up at you. “God- you are so fucking sexy” he says as he starts to kiss and nibble at your thighs, urging them apart. Your core is aching for any kind of contact. Dean pokes out his tongue between your wet folds, causing you to gasp at the contact. He gives you one last devilish smirk before he laps away at your sex. It throws you off guard, almost causing you to lose balance, but Dean steadies you with his hands never stopping his pace. His mouth latched onto your clit, sucking and biting. It doesn’t take very long before that coil winds up so tight and you release all over his face. He rides out your orgasm and then you pull him up to kiss him again. The kiss is different this time, almost more meaningful but still steamy. You open your mouth, allowing his tongue to graze over yours tasting yourself on him. You reach a hand in between you to palm his hard cock, causing the most pornographic groan from Dean into your mouth. Despite having just came, your core was practically crying for more. Wanting to return the favor for him, you started lowering yourself to your knees, as you still palmed him.
He quickly grabbed your arms. “Not this time, darlin. I want to feel you. Can I do that?” Dean asks.
“Yes please Dean, I need you.” You say standing upright again. Dean lined himself up with you and slowly pushed in, allowing you to adjust. You squeeze your eyes tight as the pain melts into pleasure.
“You can move now” you tell Dean and he does at a gruelingly slow pace. He starts speeding up as he kisses your lips again and rests his forehead against yours. The only sounds are of the water hitting the floor, the contact of your skin, and the heavy breaths and moans coming from the both of you. Dean reaches his hand down in between the two of you putting his thumb against your clit and making small circles. You’re sensitive from your last orgasm so you suck a breath in through your teeth and close your eyes.
“Please look at me, I want to watch you unravel on my cock. You look so beautiful like this” Dean praises. That familiar sensation builds and builds.
“That’s it. Cum for me. You can do it, uh huh. Good girl” Praise repeatedly falls from Deans lips as you orgasm for the second time, so much harder than before. The tightening of your cunt around Deans cock causes him to cum as well, spilling his juices into you. You both stay in that position for a moment, foreheads pressed together, taking deep breaths. Dean slowly pulls out of you and leans in for another kiss.
“We should’ve done that a long time ago” he says and you just chuckled. You two clean up by finishing up the shower together, Dean sweetly cleaning up your sex and washing your hair for you. Once you two get out, you both cuddle up on his bed.
“So, um… what caused you to be so bold?” Dean asked as you nuzzled your head into his shoulder.
“I don’t know, I guess I was just tired of you flirting with me but not making any real moves” You teased.
“Hey, those are my moves” Dean said defensively.
You two chatted some more, then fell asleep in each others arms watching old tv show re-runs.
The End.
#dean winchester#dean winchester fanfiction#dean winchester x reader#fanfic#sam winchester#supernatural#dean winchester smut#smut#praise k!nk#shower scene
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