#Merited Partiality

[misfitmiska]

Gilbert: Surprisingly Supportive Straight Friend since 1777.

Paraphrased from chapter 10 of Merited Partiality by @clear-as-starlight

[almaprincess66]

Thinking about Chapter 13 of Merited Partiality and how phisically unwell it made me.

But yet I don't remember a moment in my life before that when I found my feelings seen.

[clear-as-starlight]

hello! I’ve been a big fan of your writing for years now, since the first chapter of merited partiality, and the amount of times I’ve re read it are probably unhealthy (in fact I’m in the middle of another reread). Mostly sending this to let you know how awesome your work is, but also to ask if you might be okay with me printing out your work and binding it to a physical book. This is only for personal use ofc, but I’ve always wanted to try my hand at book binding and I’m not sure about how to say “hey that fanfic that you wrote about two dead days? Banger. You mind if I have it on my bookshelf?” I’ll send the result if you’d like :) Anyways thank you for being so awesome and have a great day!

Hi!!

Aw thank you <3 It’s always really lovely to hear when people love Merited Partiality, it’s a fic that’s so dear to me :)

Definitely go ahead with binding it! Binding fics is so much fun and so cool, I’d love to see the end result!! ❤️

[sopaprimordialy]

Remember when I said merited partiality was "light angst"?

To paraphrase the novel, what a foolish claim.

1:30 a.m. and I still feel the emptiness left by the last 2 chapters

[almaprincess66]

The average experience of reading Merited Partiality because same! I still think about it at least one time a week

[lil-gae-disaster]

This takes place before they get together btw! :3

Also inspiration for this was the message I put in the discord chat yesterday evening because those gay guys are eating my brain

[ @hamalicious-soup @papers-pamphlet @paradox-complex @imobsessedwiththeatre @schnitzelsemmerl @cacaobeans @doodle-bug-nightmares @almaprincess66 @potatosneevees @half-eaten-baguetteee ]

"Truly, Sir, I do not see the necessity of such services when I am well able to do such on my own." Such words were uttered with a laugh by none other than Jonathan Smith, who had the- ill?- fortune of sharing a tent with one peculiar Frederick Kenneth.

The reason for such protests was quite simple; Frederick had insisted on tying his tentmates cravat ever since he had done so once during their shared winter and Jonathans fingers had been too stiff by the cold to do such mundane task for himself. The blond man- of schottish heritage if he had guessed the accents origin right- had offered his services when he had seen the Englishman struggle.

Not only had Frederick been aiding Jonathan with his quite long hair, now he had been insisting on tying the mans cravat for months now, as it was late spring and nearing summer, he had no such necessity for such generous services. And yet, his protests were not genuine.

Such acts made the blue eyed man look at him, genuinely look at him, and Jonathan found he thrived under such given attention.

"Why, I do enjoy such tasks. They are of repetitive nature, much unlike a lot of things in life." Frederick begun to explain. "Such motions are calming, unlike life itself. I find enjoyment in them." He continued while his hands were expertedly repeating such motions, which he had yet to do on himself.

Thus, leaving part of his lightly freckled neck revealed.

Jonathan found fascination in the man before him, especially in the pattern that decorate his cheeks and nose, and now apparently also his neck, but by far lighter than the clear spots of stars on this mans handsome face.

"Much like blacksmithing, I suppose. The motion with the tools are repeated ones. And yet, they bring different results." Jonathan added as Frederick was pulling at the cravat to make it appear as orderly and proper as possible.

Frederick nodded in agreement, but did not add anything further on the topic of blacksmithing, instead opting to speak of his own profession. "You are right, but I had thought more of sewing. The motions are repeated, I cannot switch to another kind of stitch halfway through sewing two pieces of fabric together, and result in similar and yet different works." He said while he was loosening the cravat where it was too tight for Jonathan without the latter having to tell him.

This was what Jonathan appreciated about his tentmate; the slow mornings and the small acts of kindness that have proven to be just as pleasant for Frederick as they are for Jonathan. And such mundane discussions of life and their professions, as if they are two young men, yet unexperienced of life, talking greatly of how they would spend their lives doing what they enjoyed.

It was bizarre for him. Not even a decade ago, he was trapped under his father and fiancé, but now he is here, free, with a profession his family would have never approved of, and in the presence of another man doing tasks that might belong to a housewife. But Jonathan found himself opposing little to none of this arrangement.

Frederick seems to be satisfied with Jonathans cravat now and has taken to straighten his coat, his deep blue eyes never leaving the other man, his lip between his teeth in concentration. "Sir, I would like to ask of you to cease such abuse of your lips for we are provided with enough food for you to not need to eat them." Jonathan asked his tentmate in good humor and genuine concern. Said man let loose of his lip, which is already quite rough to look at, but the Englishman can tell the other mans teeth have not ceased to bite.

Frederick has finished nitpicking everything about Jonathans attire, accompanied with mutters of what he should seek to repair with his own thread and needle he took with him when he had joined, and looked Jonathan in the eyes with his intense gaze.

Oh lord how had Jonathan just wanted to reach to cradle this mans face, to hold all the intense emotions he may portray in his hands and to trace the star-filled nightsky this man was bearing on his face.

He wanted to run his fingers through this mans near golden mess of curls and hair. He wanted to tell him how much he meant to Jonathan and how much he would loathe should Frederick perish in battle or fall victim to the harsh winters.

He wished to make Frederick understand just how dearly he is regarded by many, but mostly he wished to tell Frederick how he felt, he wanted to pour his heart out while gazing into the intense and endless blue that seemed to be this mans eyes. He wanted to yell at the top of his lungs just how dearly he regards Frederick, how much this mans existence has kept him afloat when should he be sinking instead.

Frederick is the embodiment of sunshine, and Jonathan is the plants that need such to survive.

Jonathan does not know for how long he was lost in the other mans eternal blue, but he gets thrown out of the daze he finds himself in by Frederick breaking the eye contact, excused with a mutter of "I should move to get ready."

Jonathan nods in agreement, but he stays put. He feels he would leave a part of himself behind in this tent should he leave without his friend. This seems to not bother Frederick, for he is too busy searching his coat and cravat.

Once he had found such- his coat had been hiding under their shared cot and his cravat had made itself a home under Fredericks pillow- he hastily put them on and made a move to leave, but Jonathan halted him.

The blond man looked at him intensely with his eyes reflecting pure confusion. Jonathan said nothing, instead he moved to straighten Fredericks cravat and coat, much like the other man did with him. Perhaps it was just an action of camaraderie between them without any other intentions.

Jonathan did not achieve such a flawless result as Frederick, but yet as he stepped back to allow the man to have his space yet again, Jonathan discovered Frederick watching him wordlessly with a slight rose tint on his cheeks, unable to be hidden by the countless freckles that adored the mans face and seemed to add individuality to the universally human reaction of flattery and care.

Jonathan smiled and it took a great amount of restraint to not let any adoration he may hold for the man show in his eyes.

It seems he should not have reason to worry, since Fredericks only reaction was a darker flush of his cheeks and a hurried exit out of the tent.

Jonathan sighed. What was this game of feelings and friendships they were playing?

The Englishman did not ponder on such further and instead opted to follow his tentmate in a hurry to greet the new day they should be thankful for getting to experience, since death seems inevitable in such times where war is looming over them all, threatening to take their life every moment they spend on the battlefield.

[problemnyatic]

OP if you see this i'm sorry but this is objectively hilarious so I had to.

[not-a-snowman]

Okay so (and this is a genuine question) do we actually KNOW what Mephone4's age is? I assumed he was an adult because of the voice and general demeanor, but we know from flashbacks that, on account of being essentially a robot, he has sounded like an adult pretty much his entire existence. Cobbs in episode 16 constantly referring to him as being a "kid" and "young" is absolutely a tactic in order to downplay Mephone4's autonomy, intelligence, and overall independence... but it is making me wonder if its a pure lie (Mephone4 isn't young) or an exaggeration of reality (Mephone4 IS young but is far more independent and capable than Cobbs is making him out to be) I'm trying to think of an instance that proves it one way or the other. I WOULD point at the prison and trial episode, but while Cobbs could be lying about it being fabricated, he does specifically call out the truthful strangeness of how Mephone4's prison sentence only lasted one day... something that was acceptable enough at the time, because of the nature of the show, but the actual acknowledgement OF it being strange implies it is abnormal, and likely fabricated

Mostly asking because I've seen some folks being very confident about it being one way or the other but not a lot about why that is.

[mantisgodsdomain]

Betas dropkick children...

unfortunately a small children may appear very similar to any other small and huntable animal when you are set up with instincts that really really badly want you to chase and jump on small moving objects and bite them very hard in a very lethal way. as you can see this can cause incidents

[saintlesbian]

not for nothing but like I don’t wanna be a Carly hater I swear. esp bc I know how iconic of a character she’s been on this show and how popular she is for a lot of fans. but I think the show’s frequent favoritism towards her and her family is what takes me out of it… which is unfortunate since this is probably a lovely wedding from the perspective of a Millow or benson fan and I wanna be able to see whatever appeal those fans see! but nina was right about carly not facing consequences for things anymore, and she’s gonna continue to be right about that even with the SEC on Carly’s tail bc with her huge family support system she’ll be seen as a martyr rather than a criminal. again. and Ava is right that CarSon has this strange inescapable bond even when they’re not in love with each other bc carly is the mother of Sonny’s kids… which is unfortunate since while their constant on again off again relationship is iconic to many fans, it just looks… toxic to me 😵‍💫 ofc they’re obviously setting up the foundation for a CarSon reunion which is unfortunate bc they bring out the worst in each other at times.

and Nina will once again be on the outside of everything, demonized and hated again. bc she wasn’t able to fight against her internal impulsive nature, her need for revenge. she disregarded any possible negative consequences and instead gave into her momentary desire for cruelty. and at the end of all that, there’s no satisfaction to be gained from Carly going off to jail, due to how important she is in her family’s lives, including sonny’s life. Carly is essentially Willow’s new mother figure, and Willow is not going to forgive Nina for taking Carly away. Nina’s little breakdown as she realizes the full severity of her actions, how she’s made herself into the bad guy again and made carly the martyr, ironically Nina’s regret at her own selfish actions just makes me even more of a nina apologist sorry 😅 something is very DEEPLY wrong with her and she knows that but also she should really seek therapy instead of trying to one up Carly bc with the way the narrative is setup in GH, there was never any chance nina could come out of this victorious. I know nina wanted to balance the scales but this is just going to unbalance things even more 😬

[misfitmiska]

I wasn’t going to post these cuz I was like “none of my followers are here for this” but then I realised,,, who cares.

MERITED PARTIALITY / AMREV ART DUMP TIME!! (long post under the cut.)

Based on that scene from chapter 8 where Laurens is like “ugh my brand new sash is ruined ://” DUDE you got SHOT.

Speaking of chapter 8…

I love this dialogue hehehe. :p

GOD I love @clear-as-starlight’s Gilbert. <3 I gave him brown hair though cuz there are Enough Gingers Already.

John getting stuck under the cot was sooooo shoujocore I just had to draw it.

[Something something art as an outlet for the emotions you’ll never allow yourself to openly feel…]

That picture of Alex Hirsch in the writers room but with the military fam (left to right: Reed, Tench, GWash, Harrisson and the local gays).

^^^^ The iconic first meeting from chapter 1.

Miscellaneous stuff~~ feat. resident pretty boy Ben Tallmadge

Also some modern AU stuff because I am Not Immune hggffdfc—

[almaprincess66]

Hello! I just wanted to give everyone an update that I finished the first reading of my year.

It was Merited Partiality on Ao3 by @clear-as-starlight

It made me laugh, it made me cry and it broke my soul again, even through I knew it was coming.

I am not well. I will never be the same person I was before reading this masterpiece and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you. Seriously. Just thank you!

[clear-as-starlight]

I'll go on AO3 to read other fics but I always somehow end up reading Merited Partiality lmao

ALSO THAT ONE SHOT FROM FRANCIS' POV IS SO GOOOOD WTF

anyways. forcing all my friends to read Merited Partiality :D

Aw haha thank you! And it’s so lovely to hear you enjoy the one shot from Francis’ pov as well!

Hope your friends also enjoy ;)

[sopaprimordialy]

Chat I'm a fraud, I can't deal with angst 😭 especially historical Lams angst 😭 and it's not even *that* angsty byt still 😭

[appendectomy]

i started reading arthur conan doyle a study in scarlet and the amount of times john refers to sherlock as a bloodhound or some other type of dog. oh i am going to be so abnormal about this

[raisinchallah]

you know whats so fun about xena is like it feels like the marriage of the traditional text and a theoretical subtext that people can construct out of a story and like there may be a consensus on some level of what u are reading as gay subtext and different elements but its like both so explicit and overt in xena there ends up being like a consensus subtext reading as well but it remains a fun wink to the audience nonetheless and manages to go over the heads of plenty of straight viewers like i think whats so fun and obsessive driving about the entire media phenomenon and like idea of queerbait is the endless dance between the explicit text of the show and what you are picking up on and sharing as a communal experience with other people and like the idea u are sniffing out clues to alternate and more interesting readings but like thats literally the explicit intended goal of the subtext in xena that u get the full cohesive story that has by the end of the show gone from interesting subtext u raise an eyebrow at in season 1 to like literally just the fabric of the show and while impossible to deny still gives the fun of like discovering the hidden show under the surface of the explicit text you know and i dont know if its something that can really be repeated as an idea because it would be strange to create a show when its far more normal to have openly gay characters and dance around the subject like that leaving it to imagination yet also not really offering any reasonable alternatives to that interpretation to the degree that xena did but like i do actually think that i kinda find the text subtext interplay well very fun and gratifying and idk how u like continue that