#Platonic for now

[blueishspace]

Hero, Villain God 64

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*Pearl's pov*

You are going to murder Grian for this. What was he thinking?!? What IS he thinking?? You wish you could see into his brain but you doubt you would find anything there- breathe in, breathe out, you are getting too worked up over this.... Yeah, no, breathing isn't helping.

...You would vent to your roomates but Cleo is gone on one of their sudden trips and Scott is too busy fighting with Joel by chat to actually listen to anythy you say...which is a different problem Grian has caused by being an idiot. No, that's not fair, that specific thing is not completely Grian's fault, just 50 percent his fault for putting Joel in the chat.

Thats brings you to issue number two, the fact that Joel is a god too. Which is also not nevessarily Grian's fault but it's still going to be a problem anyway... It scares you, not Joel himself but the fact that you didn't notice he had been here for so long... You wonder about what would have happened had it been the blood god instead.

So all of that is certainly a lot and It's really getting to you, that's why you are here, taking a stroll trough the botanical garden of the city's museum in order to calm yourself down. Scarlet Pearl has been getting very strong lately and you want to avoid her taking control when the situation is so delicate, unfortunately even walking through the flowers and leaves isn't calming you down as much as you would like to, seeing the sorry state of the plants here is actually making it worse- You crash face first into the back of a woman, you grab her arm before she can hit the ground but it ends up being a close call... The same though cannot be said about the large fish tank she had in her hands which keeps falling and then shatters onto the floor with a splash of water.

You manage to shut down the scarlet whispers somewhat before offering your apologies.

"Oh I'm so sorry mate. I must have been too deep in my thoughts."

The woman groans loudly, her pants are drenched in water.

"Are you kidding me!?... sigh, that's going to be an extra trip back and forth..."

She seems frustrated, you look better at the ground, between the glass shards and the water puddles are what look to be-

"Pickles?"

She looks at you- no, she glares daggers at you.

"Sea pickles, I was supposed to carry them to a bigger tank but that's not happening any time soon... At least it wasn't the coral."

"Why are you even delivering sea pickles to a garden? They aren't going in the pond are they? That's already full enough. Also sea pickles live in salt water."

She just stares at you, the glare shifting from something offensive to something defensive.

"Do you normally start interrogating people after crashing into them? Geez."

She takes out a bag from her backpack and starts picking up the glass pieces from the path.

"And It's not for the garden, It's for the new acquarium."

You kneel and start helping her with cleaning up.

"Here, let me help mate. Say, what's this about an acquarium? Never heard of anything like that."

It's not completely true but you are a bit out of the loop, you haven't really been involved lately... Too busy dealing with Grian- no, no thinking about him or you are going to start getting angry again.

"Right, It's still hasn't been like properly announced yet has it? Uh..."

You motion for her to continue.

"Go on"

She shrugs before responding.

"You know top five superhero Tay? She funded a new acquarium for the city with association money, I was just bringing the sea pickles for it, not exactly a rarity but it was more for decoration anyway."

The way this woman talks about Tay...hmmm, something about it just feels familiar, like when Scar talks about Hotguy. You have a theory to confirm... you use a bit of your powers and- Yeah, your intuition was correct after all, this woman *is* Tay herself... Huh, shorter then you expected.

You wonder why she's the one working on the project she apparently paid for, you are all for work ethic but this feels suspicious.

"Oh, is it being built near the garden then?"

She points to the side.

"Yeah, It's behind that big fence over there so it makes sense you haven't seen the building yet."

"Say, do you need help mate? With getting another batch of pickles?"

"Are you offering?"

"I feel bad about making you drop these ones"

"Hmm...all right follow me you... strange lady."

"It's Pearl."

"... just call me Gem"

[emotelizardrambling]

Okay, so the idea was what if the BitterSweet Trio were friends as kids.

Because I have an all-consuming need to make things more complicated, my brain decided to come up with an entire alternate storyline to BitterSweet, where the roles are kind of reversed, and then build a childhood friends/rivals, to pining ot3, to lovers plotline...

This is the first part of it.

CW: mentioned domestic abuse, mentioned drastic personality change of romantic partner, mentioned (implied) mental illness requiring medication, cursing

Notes:

Background written up in a post here, but short version is:

SB was best friends with Seth and Frenemies with Alphonse when they were growing up.

SB was forced to leave without saying goodbye to Seth or Alphonse and remained separated from the two until sometime (less than a year) after Al's parents died, when they ran into Seth.

Shit with Derek didn't happen in this universe.

Seth and Al never worked for the gang in this universe and are still together after Al takes over the shop. (They still had some dealings with the gang and did meet Charlie through those.)

SB has an emotional support cat named Shade who is absolutely best boy and very smart.

While SB, Shade, and SB's partner are my brain children everyone else is from YuuriVoice's BitterSweet series. So all rights are his.

No beta we die like Derek did before he had a chance to fuck up the boys' lives in this universe.

End notes.

“Hello, this is the Corner Store.”

It's strange to hear a voice on the other end that sounds so much like Al's dad, but also clearly isn't. It sounds nothing like the boy they knew as a kid, but…

“Alphonse?” SB asked hesitantly, not certain they had even remembered the number correctly. 

“Speaking,” he responded, and SB was relieved for a moment, until he asked, “who ’s this?” 

“I…” SB suddenly realized they had no clue why they actually called the shop. What were they even hoping anyone could do for them? This whole mess had nothing to do with Al or Seth or anyone else, but at the same time SB couldn’t bring themself to just hang up. They searched for words, “I…. I’m sorry… I don’t,” SB was cut off by their own sob before they even realized they were crying. Shade rubbed against their foot trying to soothe his person. “I… he broke my phone… I … I don’t know any other numbers,” they tried to explain. 

“Okay, hey, it’s okay,” Alphonse spoke gently, “just take it slow, take a breath.” 

SB tried, but only managed a cough that made their cat urgently nudge their legs. 

“Slow breaths. In …. Hold…. Out… with me okay.”  Al talked them through enough breaths to ease their panic a little. They also crouched to pet Shade which helped.

“That’s it, can you tell me your name?” he asked more hesitantly this time. 

With their breath mostly back they couldn’t really control the torrent of words they let out. “Fuck. I’m sorry, I call you out of nowhere and I’m just crying like an idiot, standing in an old phone booth that smells like weed and piss, with my cat at… I don’t even know what time it is, and the only person I can even call is my childhood best friend’s boyfriend, ‘cause I never bothered to memorize anyone’s phone number and even if I did I…”

Alphonse cut them off. “Boo?” It had been years since they had been called that. You play the ghost dude a few times in Mario Kart… but they had to admit, right now, they welcomed the familiar nickname.

“I… yeah… it’s me. You can hang up if you want. I… fuck I don’t even know why I called to begin with. I mean even if Seth was there or something, what would either of you even do? I should have just waited till he calmed down, or, or left or something.” SB continued to ramble until Al cut in again. 

“Woah,  hey, Boo!” he called for their attention. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hang up on ya, just… what the hell is goin’ on? ‘Cause what I’m hearing is that you’re hiding out from somebody in a phone booth with your cat.” 

“I… well… kind of, yeah. I’m not really hiding, I just,” they attempted to clarify but trailed off knowing it would sound bad. “How did it get to be such a mess?” they ask themself. They were still processing the last half hour or so in their head. Their partner had been off for weeks, his brother was fairly sure he stopped taking his medication, and when SB tried to ask him about it he would just insist they drop it. 

“Can you tell me what happened?” 

“I… I went a few blocks and this is like one of those phone boxes with a door, I figured I could put shade down without worrying about him running away or something. I had some change in my pocket but I couldn’t remember any phone numbers…”

“I mean, before that. Why are you in a phone booth with your cat? Are you hurt? Is someone trying to hurt you?” 

They took a few more breaths, They didn’t want to explain it all to Al, Seth had talked about how much Al had grown up since they were kids, so they didn’t really think that he would be an asshole about it, but they knew if it had to do with them, Al would tell Seth. Seth who, ever since elementary school, looked out for them as if they were family, who may well assume the worst case scenario, considering his own experiences. “I’m not hurt… or, well, not really…” They absently rubbed their arm. My partner… he isn't like this. He stopped taking his meds, and then, tonight, he saw that I was texting Seth and somehow he thought that meant I was cheating on him, even though I told him about Seth before, and even that you two were together.” 

“Did he try to hurt you?” 

“He… I don’t think he meant to, but I’ve never seen them like that before. There was yelling, and he threw my phone down. Then he grabbed my arm and I panicked, Shade scratched his leg and, before he could do anything else, I grabbed Shade and locked myself in the bathroom. I… I don’t do well when I feel trapped though, so I climbed out of the window and made it a couple blocks before I even stopped to think… I don’t even know if he realizes I left.” 

“Fuck, okay, look I’ll… shit it’ll take me at least half an hour to get there.” 

“What? No you don’t have to do anything I just…” 

“Even if you hung up right now I’d be heading into the city to look for ya, you shouldn't have to be alone after something like that.” he must have sensed they were about to argue, so he added, “And let’s not even mention what Seth would do if I told him and didn’t already have a plan for getting you out of there safely. He'd probably rather go get you himself, but I can’t imagine that cat of yours would enjoy riding a motorcycle.” 

“Look I appreciate it, but it really isn’t that big of a deal.” 

“Well if it isn’t a big deal I’ll just drive over there and check on you. Or,” Al’s tone wavered a little, “I mean, if this is about me being… well… me, I can get Seth to…”

“No!” SB cut him off. “I mean, it isn’t that. I don’t mind you. I just…” 

“Great, is there anywhere nearby where you could hang out for half an hour? Somewhere that maybe doesn’t smell like piss and weed? A public place, a coffee shop, or restaurant?” 

“I… I doubt it, and even then I have Shade, and I don’t have his harness or carrier or anything.” 

“Right, okay, where are you? 

“I… I’m near the corner of 8th and Kennedy drive.” 

“Okay, listen, I got a… well, I know a guy. Pretty sure he still lives around there and he… he’s kinda a rat bastard to be honest, but he’s harmless and scared shitless of me n’ Seth. He owes us a few favors too so, if you’re okay with it, I could call him to meet up with you. I don’t like the idea of you sitting alone for so long, and I can ask him to find something to keep your cat from running off so you aren't stuck in a phone booth.” 

The last part was the most enticing. It really did smell and SB didn't do great with really strong smells. “Yeah, okay. I mean you really don’t….” 

“I want to help. Hell, even if I didn’t owe you for all the dumb-ass shit I did when we were in school, you’re Seth’s best friend, and I know you deserve a lot better than all this. Now I'm gonna call my guy and let Seth know what’s up. I’ll be there in a little over half an hour. If that ‘partner’ of yours shows up you call the fucking cops on his ass or something. You hear me?” 

“I… Yeah. Thank you, Alphonse.” 

“No problem Boo. I’ll see ya soon alright?” 

“Yeah. I’ll see you soon.” 

—

[everythingwasnormalhere]

pls rb if you think cuddling doesn't have to be s3xual

im tryna prove a point to my bf's mother help me out

[candyskiez]

Y'all have gotta get more insane about platonic relationships like you are about romantic relationships. We need to get more annoying about them NOW. I need to see more meta and losing our minds over them. Get more annoying NOW. More than that. More than that also.

[koroart]

I put way too much effort into this ( based on this meme, it wouldn’t leave me alone until it was drawn — I am freee )

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

Hey, do any of you people remember that one tf2 comic where soldier is talking to a bunch of wooden cutouts thinking they’re real people? You know how it was supposed to be a joke about how insane Soldier is, unable to differentiate the inanimate from the alive? Am I the only one who lost my mind about the implications of that or am I going just as insane as him.

You can see how lazy I got near the end but I couldn’t be bothered to work on this anymore

[neo--queen--serenity]

When the Wizard, grasping for straws to get Elphaba on board, reaches around for Glinda, hauls her forward, and awkwardly declares, “you can even bring your…friend…” in a last ditch effort to win her over?? Like queer subtext or no, that man 1000% assumed they were already dating.

[halloweenorangesoda]

let him be fucked up sega hes earned the right

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Okay 3 things

1. I was thinking about an aroace Sonic who says things that can be taken as wildly flirty/romantic but he just means them genuinely. “You have beautiful eyes, I keep getting distracted while looking at them,” not cause he’s interested romantically in them but because eyes can be really cool and pretty man I dunno what to tell you he likes looking at cool things and he thinks his friends are neat. “You’re the most beautiful person here,” because he really thinks that, he loves his friends

2. Sonic randomly dropping heartfelt genuine comments on his friends out of the blue completely blindsiding them and then moves on like nothing happened while they’re left going ?????? Bonus points if he does something immensely stupid or jerkish just before or immediately afterwards and they can’t tell if he was serious or not with the compliment (yes he was)

3. Sonic usually being so allergic to truly vulnerable moments that when he expresses something heartfelt randomly Tails thinks he’s been stabbed or something and does not believe him when he reassures him that he’s fine he’s fine he’s not dying yeesh

[noornight]

Long distance besties. This definitely happened after the third movie (source: trust me bro)

Based on this

[bloggingboutburgers]

Flashback to that one moment where it felt like I'd found an aroace cheatcode on life somehow

[the-ramshackle-prefect]

･ ｡ ☆∴｡　* 　 ･ﾟ*｡★･ 　　 ･ *ﾟ｡　　 *　　ﾟ｡·･｡ ﾟ 　　 　ﾟ *.｡☆｡★　･ 　* ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡ 　　　 *　★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡ 　･　　ﾟ☆ ｡ ☆ ｡･ﾟ*.｡ 　　　 *　★ ﾟ･｡ * ｡ 　　　　･　　ﾟ☆ ｡

True Love's Kiss

[physical-manifestation-of-spite]

Let's be crystal clear. Queerbaiting is real. But it occurs when the creators intentionally hint at a queer relationship to lure in a queer audience to give them money, but never actually follow through on their heavy-handed implications of a queer relationship. Queerbaiting does not occur when the creator has been transparent from the very beginning that Malevolent is about friendship and platonic love, meant to work through the toxic masculinity they've lived throughout their entire life, and to express healthy platonic love (and sometimes unhealthy love) between two male-presenting characters. It is not queerbaiting when they emphatically tell each other that they love each other, because love isn't exclusively romantic, and while it is absolutely okay for people to ship them (and something that the creator is totally FINE with, btw), it is not okay to accuse the creator of lying about their relationship when he's been clear about it from the very beginning.

Friendship and platonic love is just as meaningful as romantic love and that's the whole point of Malevolent.

[daily-odile]

heard it was valentines a few days back bonus:

[bluespiritshonour]

I thought it fits Aang and Zuko.

[yuwuta]

there’s a right and a wrong way to hold hands. you know this, because whenever katsuki extends his hand and you cup his in return, he frowns and releases tiny explosions from his palm—not big or intense enough to hurt you, just enough to tickle—until you’re giggling and readjusting your hands so that your fingers are laced together. he huffs to himself and then keeps walking, ignoring the way you tease him about being a romantic, much too focused on the feeling of your thumb is rubbing against the back of his hand, instead.