#Which kinda comes off rude and invasive

[leronboi]

Ryuu and Belle

[morganacorp]

Lol

Grace getting her facial and her phone keeps dinging because Sadie's in the middle if her bi-awakening.

Text #1: where u at?

Text #2 & #3: Grace! ?

Text #4: i thought u were coming 2 spin class!

Text #5: i gave lola3 ur latte

Text #6: r u really not coming? i'll save you Aseat just in case

Text #7: nvmnd. this class is huge. tried to fight off an old lady to keep your bike open. Ur welcome

Text #8: omg grace this place smells like wet socks

Text #9: kimberkyn says ur getting a facial. rude

Text #10 & #11: lola says hi BTW. Hi

Text #12: *picture of Sadie and Lola and Kimberlyn* bout to get sweaty!

Text #13: the instructor said we can't have our phones. so peace out! ✌️😋

*missed call*

*missed call*

Text #14: ohmygod grace answer your phone!

Text #15: ok. it's nothing. it's probably nothing. don't worry about it. it's fine. i'll tell you later.

*missed call*

Text #16: ok. so this is probably gonna get long and there will be typosz bc i don't have a lotg of time bcz i had to sneak 2 the bthrm bc i need 2 tell u something but we can't have our phones on the bikes which is so dumb bc I can multitask its not like I'm gonna

Text #17: sorry. lola scared me. o thought it was the instructor. anyway listen there is this girl. no. not just a girl. she is a woman. like a sculpted by the gods woman in this class and she has like. The most insanely perfect ripples i have ever seen and like her eyes are nice too BTW but we were changing un the same room and she just

Text #18: sorry i think the memory made me black out. God. Like. Look. I know it's not okay to objectify someone just because we're in a environment that encourages tight fitting clothing and vigorous rhythmic activity but u don't understand grace. she is gorgeous and omg she laughed when I asked if she knew where the vending machines were and i think my heart kind jumped out of my body because she sounded so sweet. and I want to talk to her again but I also can't fucking breathe because spin class is hard and i already drank all of my water and lola's too and i hate that ur not here. There I said it. I can usually be more put together when ur arounfe but

Text #19: her eyes are green btw

Text #20: not even like gross green. they are like perfect and not even the same color which is somehow even better and they have like stars in them not even lying

Text #21: and she has her hair in a braid and she got kinda sweaty so there's little wisps sticking out around her face and i never like licking sweaty ppl but like if she asked

Text #22: oh shot. i didn't mean that. idk why my mind went to licking her face instead of kissing her like a normal person

Text #23: that would b normal right? i mean iv nver rlly thought abt it b4. not really. but i watched glee. i know it usually hits in high school and obvi it didn't 4 me so this is mayb just bc i only had two donuts this morning instead of 3

Text #24: omg she asked kimberlyn if I have ibs while I was gone. I hate everythibg

Text #25: fyi i took a quiz a minute ago and turns out glee lied

Text #26: i wanted to ask lola if she has like a booklet for ppl questioning their. Preferences but i think mayb it would b easier if u asked for me

Text #27: fuck this is all so weird

Text #28: but also not. it's scary nit weird. like I thought admiring Walker got a little too intense but this is. This is something else

Text #29: ive eaten some beef jerkey and i think it's too soon to think about kissing her. it feels too invasive. so I'm just gonna keep watching her ass in class

Text #30: thnx btw 4 all ur help grace. U r rlly good 2 talk 2

Text #31: ^sarcasm fyi

Text #32: omg her name is lena. isn't that nice? i think that is the most beautiful name in the whole wide world

Text #34: i think she waved at me

Text #35: damn. it was oneof her friends walking outside the door

Text #36: her whole name is lena kieran luthor. and her birthday is October 13.

Text #37: and no she didnt tell me that i looked through her purse while pretending to have ibs and hiding in the bathroom. she uses Christian Dior perfume. i think I have a problem

Text #38: grace can u please call me so I can just leave??

Text #39: i feel like everyone knows. they keep talking about me i can feel it

Text #40: omg she helped the little old lady in front of me asjust her settings on the bike. She's so nice. i bet she saves puppies and orphans in her spare time. angel in disguise right there

Text #41: how long is this fucking spin class?!

Text #42: lola was talking about a gay show called the bold type. will u watch it with me so I can see how a normal heterosexual would react?

Text #43: lena offered me a drink from her water bottle and i didn't even worry about germs. I just went for it

Text #44: how long is ur fucking facial?! Y haven't u texted me back?!

Text #45: only 5 more minutes. I can do this

Text #46: I think lens was flirting with lola and I wish I had laser vision so I could set everything on Fire this is awful

Text #47: my heart is broken

Text #48: nvmnd. she touched my arm and said she likes my shirt.

Text #49: I'm wearing one of kimberlyns work out shirts BTW but that's not the point. She likes it on me. So kimberkyn is never getting this back

Text #50: omg! Grace! Grace!

Text #51: she recommended we get kombucha after class. Idk what that is but I would eat anything for her

Text #52: Lola says kombucha tastes like ass and kimberkyn says we have to get back ;(

Text #53: SEE THIS IS WHY I NEED YOU HERE YOU COULD VOTE TO GO GET KOMBUCHA WITH ME

Text #54: NOOOO ILL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN. GOODBYE BEAUTIFUL GODDESS GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD

Reply: lol

Text #55: ur laughing. i bear my broken soul to u and ur laughing

Text #56: Not Cool Grace

ANON THIS IS HILARIOUS 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Thank you so much for this, it has made my night! There's so many gems hidden in here... I'm in tears! 😂😂😂

[northern-passage]

god i hope this doesnt sound sexual but does M! Lea have bottom surgery??????

maybe not sexual, but still rude to ask? :(

i debated answering this, but i figured i've gotten a lot of new readers recently and decided to take it as a chance to kinda readdress a few things. no hard feelings towards you anon, i get similar asks occasionally that are far ruder than you and i assume you were asking genuinely.

i've talked a lot about Lea and their various gender identities previously and while i haven't directly answered this question before it's not a secret (and if you're a patron you will have read the snippets and seen the nude art i've drawn of him anyways). Lea has not had bottom surgery, but he has had top surgery. like i said, it's not a secret, so i would feel silly refusing to acknowledge it, but it's also not something i like to address in this way.

my rule is that if you wouldn't ask someone in real life this question, you probably shouldn't ask it about a character. yes, they are fictional, but i've found that, especially online, it tends to set a precedent that leads to people asking more and more rude and intrusive questions, and being trans myself a lot of the time it makes me very uncomfortable and typically leads into harassment. i also don't like answering them because transphobia is real and even though these characters are fictional, i don't want to potentially imply that questions like this are "acceptable" and have people walking around in real life thinking they are entitled to real trans people's privacy. IF really tends to have a problem with entitlement and misgendering and obsessing over trans/nb character's agab and genitals, which is partly why i have the no nsfw rule regarding asks to begin with.

however, to be clear, my issue with this kind of question is not that it is sexual - in fact i dislike treating trans bodies as inherently sexual or as something that is "off-topic" and it frustrates me that i have to take these precautions when discussing my characters. but, again, we live in a world full of transphobia and it makes these conversations challenging at best and dangerous at worst, especially online where everyone gets to be anonymous.

i always intended for my characters to come out in-game, as the player/character gets to know them, in an attempt to avoid that entitlement and to make it more organic (though it hasn't really worked out that way. so it goes) but i've only just recently felt comfortable drawing and writing more explicit work with Clem and Noel, and that's been kind of a big deal for me, hahaha.

so i know going forward people will be curious and this will probably come up again as the game progresses and i write in more explicit scenes, and i just want to make it clear my stance on these kinds of questions and that i tend to either delete them and/or block people that send me transphobic asks or leave similar invasive comments.

[formulatrash]

Sorry for dropping something non-F1 related in your inbox but you are one of the first people I have ever seen acknowledge that in the harsh light of hindsight, baby Ryan and especially Shane do come across as a bit thoughtlessly dickish and insensitive in their older videos.. And how lovely it has been to see them mature into genuinely thoughtful, sensitive people who clearly value each other and what they’re doing all without needing to call attention to it. Your tags are just a nice little tribute to underrated growth <3

never apologise for putting non-F1 in my inbox tbh. (and sorry for not replying to the rest of the SM asks brain has been on low power mode)

idk what went on at Buzzfeed but the men who've come out of it - Ryan and Shane, Steven and Andrew, the Try Guys - have all emerged as very thoughtful versions of themselves. they're goofy idiots, also but I think it's interesting proof that cishet men, in particular, benefit massively from diversity. once they're allowed outside their regimented boxes they don't freak out, they grow.

Ryan and Shane are particularly sharp because Ryan's easy to point to as a no-homo jock but he was also the one least able to hide his emotions. whether that was excitement that he got to tell people about something or pretty deep empathy for the victims and circumstances of cases, which he often seemed quite distressed about even in the early BFU episodes, to the fear that he barely gets a grip on. he didn't have to get taught vulnerability and there's probably all kinds of things from being (relatively speaking) short and a PoC and coming from two different, non-white cultural backgrounds and working on all those muscles cus he seems like he was probably a bully magnet but when he wasn't scared the frat guy mask did used to slip down pretty fast.

Shane was a much worse, IMO, kinda dick in that he had a real or acted superiority complex in that nerdish self-defensive way where he had to be The Smartest Guy In The Room. he often went way over dismissive into outright rude and was insensitive about real-life cases. I don't mean the thing where he laughed at the woman in the Bellaire house saying her dog had been thrown - tbh, I can well imagine having some weird laughter response that was half-awkwardness and half-panicky there myself, confronted with a serious conversation about something that I don't believe happened and in such weird circumstances. I mean he used to be a bit snipe-y and often excessively cynical in a quite invasive way about the true crime cases and the same in searching for a slam-debunk on supernatural. the kind of guy your friend brings to the pub as their new boyfriend and he spends all night telling you everything you enjoy is wrong and stupid.

both of them obviously always had redeeming features and the flashes of them being dicks were small enough it wasn't actually off-putting. there were a few BFU moments where they'd either get snobby about crime-heavy neighbourhoods or have some weird cop-loving moment that gave me the heebs but also: standard 2016.

every time they got called out for shit, they seem to have learned from it. every time they were pushed to consider other people, they did. it turned out even though both of them had massive on-paper dickhead potential, they only needed the tiniest push to tear through that paper and find something much more interested in not just the world and people around them but who they are and what they really like/want to be.

a really interesting thing, I think, is the contrast between Ruining History and Puppet History. in Ruining History (which I really enjoy, I wanna emphasise) Shane is the smartest guy in the room. in Puppet History, he's at best the weirdest. using the Professor as a weird little blue ballsack avatar means Shane doesn't exactly disappear but gets more space to do his strange little bits as a production he creates, not something about him. it obviously has weird roots in the horrors of the Hotdaga and the determination to keep doing a bit whether anyone likes it or not comes from that standoffish superiority but in Puppet History it becomes a sandbox to play in, not an emotional straitjacket.

something I think about a lot is in the nearly-70th episode they have that bit where Shane fucking books it out of the body chute in Waverley. properly terrified, running up the stairs because of a frog or something and Ryan chose not to put that in the episode because he knew Shane being unflappable and immune to fear was a more interesting contrast to his own terror. idk I have a lot of Ryan And Shane And Masculinity And The Contrast Between Nerds (Stupid And Jocks (Also Stupid) And How To Exist In The Venn Spaces Overlapping In Between that are mostly about some complex relationship to my own identity.

(which is def woman but also Stupid Car Boy)

anyway wow I will stfu but basically: the BFU to Watcher pipeline is a very good model for how to be fellas (considerate)

[shewhowantsmouseears]

Wizard Of Oz Disney AU plotpoints

Unexpected Free Time strikes, and so I decided to do this early.

So before we get started, this isn’t going to be a case of someone flying in from a new world, this is all staying in Oz, so no “it was all a dream” stuff. And there are gunna be skips and gap points because I haven’t gotten this fully fleshed out yet, and not heavily detailed so… ah well. Here we go.

Minnie Mouse is a Munchkin, and Munchkinland kinda sucks

Every day, everyone hands their job to someone else – being Special and Unique and Very Good at something is frowned upon, seen as very rude, why would you WANT to be different???

Minnie wants to learn magic – more specifically, she wants to be a Grand Witch, the ones who govern all of Oz and are the strongest magic-users. She wants to use this power to help people, and to see more of the world than her oppressive and boring Munchkinland

In order to do so, she has to enroll in a special academy all the way in Emerald City, but also needs the Mayor’s permission to do so – which isn’t easy when the Mayor changes every goddamn day

TBF the Mayor, Munchkinland and all of Oz is kinda going through it – The Grand Witch Of The West, Magica De Spell has begun an uprising/invasion/rebellion, attacking other lands, and trying to usurp the Grand Warlock Of The North, Scrooge McDuck. So even people who like Minnie are like “why would you wanna get involved in that?!”

But luckily in a few days they’re expecting a visit from the Grand Witch Of The South, Daisy Duck. Minnie hopes she can leave a good impression on her and maybe get a one-way ticket to Emerald City!

Also she has a dog, Pluto, our Toto

On the day of Daisy’s visit, Minnie keeps trying to meet her but Circumstances prevent it, though she does notice Daisy is Very Tired and kinda moody

That night Minnie sneaks out of her house to try and see Daisy one more time BUT DRAMA

A three-way-witch fight! The Grand Witch Of The East, Magica’s own mother, Evelina, and Daisy are fighting off Magica, lots of hateful accusations being thrown, lots of property damage

Minnie wants to help, and maybe this can prove she’s ready for Emerald City? So she tries some of the magic she’s been practicing in secret, Wind Magic!

It starts small at first but when the other three take notice, suddenly it winds up into a tornado

It picks up an empty house and down goes Evelina

Minnie, of course, is horrified as fuck and begins hysterically sobbing and apologizing, running to the house to see if she can maybe save the squished witch – who is wearing silver slippers

Daisy and Magica seem awfully OK with Evelina being dead

But once she’s close enough, MAGIC HAPPENS and now all of a sudden she’s wearing the slippers, and can’t get them off

Now Magica LOSES HER SHIT and demands the shoes, saying they are meant to be hers, threatening screaming almost crying, but those things ain’t coming off, and Magica finally leaves but not after making some vague warnings

Daisy does her best to comfort Minnie who has been through Some Shit in the last ten minutes, but she can’t get them off either. She suggests the one who can is Scrooge, since his magic is the strongest, and even offers to escort her there

But the shoes ain’t having it, they have a mind of their own, and insist on walking their own path – a golden yellow brick road which forms as Minnie walks

Minnie and Pluto head off, and Minnie swears she can hear a voice in her head thanks to the shoes, but can’t tell who it is

Meanwhile, Magica’s at her Castle, and her Three Familiars offer to snatch Minnie and the slippers, she gives some vague responses

Eventually they come across a scarecrow, but wait, that’s not a scarecrow! It’s a boy tied up to a wooden post with a cloth bad filled with straw stuffed over his head

His name is Mickey and he comes from a local village, he too wants to be a Knight, someone who guards witches and warlocks, but he’s failed the test so many times his schoolyard bullies tied him up like this

He has a short-term memory issue and sucks at testing, and laments he will probably never be able to take the test again since he’s failed it so many times (Brain)

Minnie suggests he come with her, surely if they talk to Scrooge he can give Mickey an exception and he can take the test again

During this entire conversation he’s been stuck with the bag on his head btw, and Minnie’s about to untie him when one of the Three Familiars attacks! The Crow Lady, who commands a small army of crows

Minnie doesn’t want Mickey to get hurt so she intends to shield him with her body, and that’s when the shoes “activate” – whole magical girl transformation sequence – brand new silver look, and she manages to use her wind magic in a more precise way with the “voice” guiding her

As they fight, Mickey frees himself, and he and Minnie get a good first look at each other

Instant dokidokis

But they combine their efforts and send Crow Lady flying, ha ha

They’re off to see the wizard

They arrive at a very technologically advanced city, Mortimer’s there and he hits on Minnie, boo

They meet Ludwig who is fascinated by the silver slippers and invites the two to stay at his place for the night

He shows them his latest project, an android that’s supposed to be as close to a person as possible… but it can also fly and shoot lasers because why not, Ludwig’s a nutter

Then the Next Familiar attacks, Wasp Lady, whose wasp army attacks the city demanding Minnie come out and fight

She does, but during one hit she lands on the button that activates the android, it’s Donald!

Donald and Minnie team up to defeat Wasp Lady, but Donald reveals Minnie “woke him up” before all of his assets could be downloaded. He doesn’t have/understand emotions (Heart), and Ludwig’s out of funding to repair all the stuff that was destroyed during the fight

Minnie suggests maybe Scrooge will give Ludwig funding if they talk to him?

Ludwig is reluctant – once upon a time, Scrooge was Very Cheap and hated to spend even pennies. But he admits ever since Magica’s rebellion he’s been acting super strange and splurging money like there’s no tomorrow

Donald joins the group, we’re off to see the wizard

Check in with Daisy who has been telling Scrooge everything, he’s very cold to her and berates her and even hurts her a little, and Daisy physically cannot make any of this stop for Some Reason

Now they have to pass through a forest/jungle where they get captured by Forest Folk who accuse them of trespassing, but will leave the final judgement for their King

King Goofy isn’t really a king, really, since this isn’t a kingdom, and all the titles are made up, it’s a very silly and lawless land, but since his dad was leader Goofy is expected to be the leader now and make all the big decisions

Everyone’s gunna nutters there too, like Wonderland but with knives

Goofy is too cowardly to make any big decisions, and Minnie suggests maybe if they get Scrooge’s “permission”, he doesn’t have to be King anymore

Attack number three from Flying Monkey Lady, but during this attack it’s revealed Magica used to be adored and revered by the forest folk after she once stopped a deadly forest fire, and they don’t know why everyone hates her now, Flying Monkey calls them all traitors

With Goofy in tow, off to see the wizard

Yay Emerald City! They stop by the Academy, maybe Minnie can enroll after she gets the shoes off? She learns from an instructor that Scrooge and Magica were in the same classes and everything, some people thought of them as friends. Evelina was always interfering in Magica’s school life and was kind of a bitch

Daisy is there to escort them to Scrooge, Donald suddenly grabs her face and goes “Hey did you know you are symmetrically perfect?” because he Does Not Know Social Cues and everyone has to tackle him down to make him stop

Daisy thinks he was hitting on her and she is Very Okay With That

Off they go to see the Wizard. And it turns out he’s kind of a dick? Very condescending and rude and expecting everyone to follow his orders without question.

Can’t get the shoes off, and explains that Minnie has been cursed – it was likely Magica that made Minnie’s wind pick up the Killer House and then cursed the slippers to never come off.

Minnie like “… but she wanted them???” “Yes well Magica’s always been kind of stupid.”

Minnie realizes the voice she’s been hearing in her head/shoes is Scrooge’s! So Something Is Not Adding up

Scrooge says the only way to undo the curse is to kill Magica, so do that and I’ll grant all your wishes

Minnie and the gang DON’T WANT TO COMMIT ACTUAL MURDER WHAT THE FUCK MAN

Well too bad now it’s an imperial order, do it or else

Minnie tries to remain positive, maybe they can just capture Magica or something??? The shoes are leading her on as always

Daisy wants to go with them with Scrooge won’t let her

Off the gang go, and Daisy decides she’ll try to help anyway from the shadows

They encounter the poppy fields, and everyone but Donald falls asleep since, yeah, he’s an android, but he’s frantically trying to wake everyone up

The Three Familiars arrive and scoop up Minnie (and mickey too by accident)

The poppy fields come really alive and try to kill the remaining gang, but Daisy arrives to help them out

She explains she literally can’t tell them everything, but seems very Sure that Minnie and Mickey aren’t in danger

They’ll still go after them anyway obvi

Meanwhile, the mice wake up in Magica’s castle, in a cage, the Three Familiars all gloating and partying woo yeah we did it!!!

Magica arrives and is super pissed off, the fuck did you idiots do, I never said to capture the girl

She sounds all menacing and dangerous, determined to punish the frightened familiars, summoning a huge ton of magic to…

Lock up the fridge “NO DESSERT FOR A WEEK”

The three familiars begin throwing tantrums like small children as Magica goes on AND I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVEN’T BEEN BRUSHING YOUR TEETH, YOUR TOOTHBRUSHES ARE BONE DRY

Minnie and Mickey are...Very confused

Magica explains that while the Three Familiars have the bodies of adults they have the minds of children, cause magic, they very clearly see her as a mother figure

Magica doesn’t let them out now because figures they’ll just go tell Scrooge and he’ll twist it as something evil, and she’s Exhausted

That night the mice sneak out but Minnie’s shoes lead her to a locked-up room that contains an old diary

The shoes Activate again and suddenly she’s walking through memories of Magica’s life!

Evelina was a real bitch indeed, always trying to control Magica’s life like she was some kind of puppet, not letting her have friends or anyone to rely on. She forced Magica to enroll as a Grand Witch just like mom

It wasn’t until the academy days that she met Scrooge and hey Real Friend! Scrooge encouraged her to stand up for herself, and yes Magica did stop that deadly fire and even used her magic to save three badly burnt babes (the familiars)

Years pass and Daisy enrolls, and becomes biffles with Magica, and senses the UST between her and Scrooge even though they definitely deny it

Evelina wants Magica to steal Scrooge’s staff (Every Grand Witch/Warlock has a Grand Conduit for which their greatest magic is stored) but Magica finally has the stones to say no fuck you

Scrooge is the one who made the silver slippers, to be Magica’s Grand Conduit, to encourage Magica to “walk her own path” and there was definitely some crying and cuddling. But they’re not done yet, after they all become Grand he’ll give them to her, promise

But not too long after they become Grand, Evelina has a meeting with Scrooge and suddenly he’s an asshole, giving the slippers to Evelina, and calling Magica all kinds of terrible things

Magica decides fuck this noise and just leaves, but Scrooge and the others framed her for terrible crimes

The memories end and Minnie is just. Sobbing so hard for Magica, she can feel Scrooge’s genuine love for Magica through the shoes

She finds Magica and begs her to come with them to Emerald City, surely they talk they can all sort this out!

Ugh fine, but Magica and the Familiars have to pretend to be prisoners, off they go

They meet up with Donald/Goofy/Pluto/Daisy and explain things but Daisy goes NO FUCK YOU CAN’T COME BACK TO EMERALD CITY!! DO NOT!! And even fights them, but they win and Daisy flees

They go back to Emerald City anyway, and Scrooge wants to know why is Magica alive, Magica wants to know why he’s being an ass, Minnie approaches and just says “look can we just talk”

All the doors shut, Daisy’s there, and that’s when All The Big Reveals Happen

Evelina’s own special magic is Puppet Magic, all she has to do is slip a string into someone and she has total control over them… and she’s been controlling Scrooge and Daisy all this time

She faked her death (she used Minnie’s wind magic as a cover) because she thought Magica was close to figuring something out

But now she can’t let any of them live, not when world domination is so close at hand! So she sends her strings out to try and control all of them, all out brawl, and only Magica and Minnie are left to fight

Magica gets hit with a string, now it’s everyone versus Minnie, and she’s surrounded by strings

Minnie fights them all off as best she can, and realizes her True Magic wasn’t wind at all, but Gravity

She can make things float and crash back down, and make things heavy or light

Kicks ass, takes names

Frees everyone from the strings and ties Evelina up, making the strings so impossibly heavy she can’t get free

With Scrooge back to normal, the slippers can come off easily, emotional reunion, and Magica gets a fancy new silver outfit when she puts on the slippers

Mickey realizes he doesn’t need some test to be a knight, he can protect people all on his own and vows to never let anything like this happen again

Donald realizes he actually does understand emotions, and will spread the word making sure the truth of what happened is known by all

Goofy realizes it’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s better to work as a community than by one person making choices, and wants to have the forest folk work with other lands

Minnie gets to enlist in the academy, and one day take up the mantle that Evelina used to hold

Until then, Scrooge Magica and Daisy will work in unity for that missing piece, and all have great expectations for Minnie

Listen everyone loves Minnie, absolutely everyone, just as it should be

The end

[sagencelestient]

Operation: Secret Date Spies!

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Mari and Hero are on a date, and Sunny, Kel, Basil, and Aubrey spy on them.

Sunny laid on his couch, barely even listening to the Capt. Spaceboy episode playing in the background, preferring to daydream instead (he would probably start actually dreaming soon), that was someone knocked on his door.

KNOCK KNOCK, KNOCK KNOCK, KNOCK KNOCK, KNOCK KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK-

There was only one person that he knew who did that very annoying pattern of knocks, Kel. Sunny grumbled as he got off the couch and went to the door. He was just about to take a nap! When he opened the door, lo and behold, it was Kel. How surprising.

“Hey hey, Sunny!” Kel greeted, “Is Mari home?”

Huh? Why is Kel asking him that? 

Sunny shook his head.

Kel grinned, “Hero’s not either.”

Sunny stayed blank-faced. What’s that supposed to mean?

“Okay well, earlier I heard Hero asking permission to go out, something about helping the bakery and whatever-” Kel explained, “And he said Mari was gonna be there too, okay? And then my parents were like, “Oh go bring Kel too,” and Hero was like, “Ah- Uh- Well I can’t because…” something, something, I don’t remember.” Sunny had some problems retaining the information at the speed Kel was talking.

“Then Hero turned red, and my parents were laughing about “young love” and “how he and Mari look good together”, and Hero left!”

So?

“So, basically, I think they’re going on… a date!”

A date? Ew.

“Yea, they’re probably gonna kiss n’ all…” Kel stuck his tongue out, “Gross right?”

He nodded, but why is Kel telling him this?

“And I was thinking… let’s spy on them!”

Sunny gave a confused expression. Why… would they want to do that?

“Hey, don’t give me that look, I’m bored okay?”

The sound of footsteps was heard behind him, his mother coming up to the door.

“Hi, Kel!” His mother smiled, “What are you doing here?”

Kel shrugged, “Nothing, just asking Sunny if he wants to shoot some hoops with me at the park.”

“Oh, that sounds fun! He does need some exercise, now I’m not gonna keep you two here any longer, have fun!” His mother said as Sunny gave Kel a look of betrayal. How dare he lie to his mom just to force him into his plan of spying on their sibling's so-called date?

“C'mon, Sunny, let’s go!” Kel urged, grabbing his hand as he speeded down the road, dragging Sunny along.

Sunny groaned, his nap was ruined just for this…

Sunny became a deadweight, hoping to slow Kel down as he was running, and he was actually successful, managing to make Kel walk instead of run. He had no idea where they were going, so he had to trust Kel (which was usually a bad idea).

What made him confused is that they went to Basil’s house. Why would Mari and Hero have their date there? 

Before Kel could knock on Basil’s door, Sunny pinched him on his arm.

“Owww…” Kel whined, “That hurt!”

“Don’t knock like that. It’s annoying.” Sunny said.

“Finnnneeee…”

Kel knocked 3 times, pouting at Sunny, “Happy?”

He nodded.

The door opened to 2 familiar faces, Basil and Aubrey.

“Hello- Kel?” Basil said, very confused at the sight of them, “Why’d you knock 3 times?”

“Because SOMEONE-” Kel poked Sunny, who waved at them, “Told me so. Wait, why is Aubrey here?”

“Can’t I just hang out with him?! Why are you here anyway?” Aubrey huffed, crossing her arms.

“Wellll… Hero and Mari are going on a date! And we’re gonna spy on them!” Kel said excitedly. 

“Oh really?” Aubrey said with stars in her eyes, “They’re so cute together… ooo I wonder if they’re on a romantic date… with candles and-”

“Ew…. we’re gonna surprise them and ruin their date because that’s GROSS!”

Aubrey seemed to be in shock because of this, “Why would we do that?!”

“Yea… that’s kinda rude… we’re gonna be intruding on their private time,” Basil added.

“AH! Well- Sunny help me out here!” Kel asked. Sunny gave him a blank stare.

“Thanks a lot…” Kel grumbled, “Fine, we won’t ruin it! We’ll watch… ew.”

“Isn’t that still an invasion of their privac-” Basil said, interrupted by Kel.

“What they don’t know, won’t hurt them!” Kel exclaimed.

“Yea, but you’re so loud, I bet people can hear you from outer space!” Aubrey said.

“Hey! I’m not that loud!”

Kel and Aubrey began to bicker, which was how most conversations with the two of them ended up.

“Do you know where they are?”

Silence.

“Umm… Hero didn’t say where….” Kel sheepishly said as he scratched his head.

��KEL! Why’d you tell us then?!” Aubrey said, smacking him lightly on the head.

“OW! Well... I was assuming that we would-”

“Maybe they’re in the secret hangout spot?” Sunny offered.

.

.

.

“Yea! We should check there!” 

“Wait, let me tell my grandma we’re going,” Basil said, walking away.

They waited a couple of moments before Basil returned, nodding his head. 

“Alright! Operation: Secret Date Spies is a go!” Kel pumped his fist in the air a couple of times, before taking off.

They made it to the secret hiding spot, hiding themselves the best they could, trying to get to the open patch of grass. And there they were, Mari and Hero, by themselves.

They all hid behind a large tree, Kel and Aubrey whisper-fighting.

“Move out of the way Kel! I can’t see anything!” Aubrey whispered.

“Go to the other side!” Kel responded.

“Guys we’re gonna get caught if you two don’t stop talking!” Basil said.

That shut them up, and they could actually focus on what they came here for, Mari and Hero. They were on a picnic blanket, just chit-chatting and eating some sandwiches. Sunny couldn’t hear what they were talking about (just a “so many” from Hero) from the distance. 

Then they started to lean in closer, and Sunny was preparing himself to close his eyes when the inevitable kiss happened, but suddenly Mari put a finger on Hero’s lips.

“I know you guys are there, y’know.” She laughed, and they emerged from the back of the tree.

Hero turned bright red, “Wha- You guys! Who’s idea was this?!”

They all pointed at Kel.

“Hey- Um- It was Aubrey!” Kel lied.

“No, it wasn’t!” Aubrey was fuming.

“Kel!” Hero groaned.

“It’s okay Hero, I was expecting this was gonna happen, but don’t worry! I made enough food for everyone!” Mari got out all the sandwiches from the picnic basket.

“Is that why you have so many sandwiches?” Hero asked.

“Mhm, come on, what are you guys waiting for?” Mari gestured to the picnic, “C’mon!”

They all went to the picnic basket, Basil muttering a small sorry for ruining their date. Sunny refused the sandwich Mari offered him, instead opting to lie down on the grass, afraid to take up too much space on the picnic blanket. The ground was soft and comfortable, and he could feel himself slipping into a nice cozy dream, mimicking his current reality.

 Happiness was the only thing you could describe Sunny as at that moment, happy and surrounded by the warmth of his friends.

END!

Mmmmm fluff for the soul... anyway this was super fun to write I should write fluff more but... angst is just calling my name... Oh and btw I'm gonna write a continuation for "Hero's Misery" and it's gonna be in Kel's pov, I'm hoping to cover the rest of the friend group (the same timeline, but just different pov's). Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I liked writing this! - Sage

[tired-biscuit]

I wonder what kind of pick up lines Kiba would come up with. I feel like he would be kinda smooth ngl

i have no clue which specific ones he'd use cos they all sound weird in my first language, BUT i can imagine they'd be the kind that would make you blush and feel hot all over even if they'd sometimes come off as a little bit cheesy hdjdjshsh

but that's the charm in 'em, i suppose!!!

like maybe you go out for drinks as a group. he sits next to you, and after a couple, when he's pleasantly buzzed, he just kinda leans over and whispers something so smooth and effortless into your ear that it doesn't even feel like he's hitting on you necessarily. it does, however, still make your legs squeeze super tight under the table and look at him for a bit longer that you would normally........

and it's not just the words, it's the actions, too, imo!! i think he'd be super good with portraying his desires with his body language alone. his face is readable and his actions are, too.

like, he tells you he wants you by the way his arm lazily drapes across the back of your chair; assured but not invasive. how whenever he leans in, he pushes you kind of further into his side with the help of his fingers on your shoulder. how he looks you right in the eyes when he listens to you, nodding; paying attention. that kind of stuff. and your reactions, so bashful and cute, just encourage him to keep it up.

i think he's good at reading people, it's why he flirts with seemingly no trouble even if the pick up lines are sometimes corny. at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what he says, it's the way he delivers it so confidently that's important. and the confidence is there because he can tell when someone is interested in him just by studying them for a lil' bit.

the problem with him is that he just decides to read the signs only whenever they suit him. sometimes he comes off as rude and gets into arguments with people (people he considers having purely platonic relationships with as well) just because he's in no mood to be reasonable.

and because he's dumb.

[kitkatt0430]

No explanation is ever given, but...

It seems pretty likely that Eobard was paralyzed for real after the accident and his spine healed as his connection to the speed force returned, though he may have still been struggling with his legs on and off as late as the episode The Sound and The Fury, depending on how that one scene in the hallway with Hartley gets interpreted.

Caitlin would have been distracted early on by grieving for Ronnie, as well as dealing with his funeral and executing his will. And as she's not a practicing medical doctor in the correct field for patients dealing with paralysis, she'd have probably been largely satisfied by knowing that EoWells was seeing the correct specialists and annoyed because he's dumping a coma patient on her and this is not her field of study either, Dr. Wells.

To be fair, she probably assumed he was handing her a weirdo coma patient to give her something unusual to focus on instead of her grief and hoping maybe she'd connect with their patients family since she wasn't connecting to her own. Or Ronnie's. So as long as EoWells gave the appearance of taking his health care seriously, S1 Caitlin probably would have accepted that she's not the right person to handle his medical care and left it at that.

As for Cisco, he probably focused Cisco on making STAR Labs super wheel chair accessible. If Cisco were to have worked on Wells' chair it would have most likely happened between the prologue and episode proper in the pilot, so not long after the accelerator went boom anyway. Since it seems EoWells grabbed himself something fairly top-of-the-line, Cisco probably wouldn't have had much to work with in terms of tricking it out anyway - not without potentially risking EoWells safety by making the chair too fast to be reasonably controlled, etc.

But making the ultimate wheelchair accessible building? He could have Cisco crawling all over STAR Labs, but in the 'safe' areas where Cisco wouldn't notice hidden AIs or inconvenient flaws in the now defunct accelerator (or that the accelerator is perhaps less defunct than told) which would keep Cisco out of Eobard's hair at inconvenient times, give Cisco to focus his grief and guilt onto, and make it a lot easier to keep watch on Cisco in case his powers triggered since it would awkward if Cisco accidentally vibed one of Eobard's 'I shall hate you forever, Barry Allen' rants because Eobard is canonically a dramatic dork who monologues at coma patients.

By the time Barry's woken up, it's been nine months since EoWells was injured, so it does make sense that none of this comes up. Barry doesn't really think to ask these sort of things, or if he does he recognizes that it's kinda invasive and none of his business so he doesn't. Which is unfortunate for those of us who crave the world building information that Barry being nosy and a bit rude would have gained us. (Barry Allen, letting us down by being polite. *sigh*)

I do wish we'd gotten things like Caitlin chiding EoWells for avoiding check ups with his specialist or grumbling that he's transferred his care to some Dr. Gideon she'd never heard of before or Cisco being hyper-aware of when some place isn't ADA compliant and revealing he did all the clean up to bring STAR Labs back into accessibility compliance so that EoWells could return to STAR Labs in his then-new chair safely.

(I have a lot of headcanons about those nine months and lots of ideas for fanfic to showcase it all in. It... probably shows.)

It's also interesting to me that the two people Eobard retains at STAR Labs post accelerator catastrophe are ones destined for powers potentially dangerous to a speedster. Caitlin's buried powers and Frost's sleeping personality. Cisco's potential to become Vibe, with same sort of powers we later see Cynthia use to stop a speedster in his tracks. (Wally would rather not have been the example she used.) EoWells was clearly keeping these two specifically under watch in case they became dangerous either to himself or to Barry, since he still needed Barry in order to go home. He couldn't force them to stay, but I suspect he manipulated them into staying even as everyone else left.

am I missing/forgetting something but was there ever an in show explanation for how Eowells maintained his paralysis lie around Caitlin and Cisco. Like I assume Caitlin would have wanted to examine him herself. And I can see Cisco offering to help/adapt the chair to improve it more.

[innak1]

Can’t You See Me? My Moon, My God (Part 1)

So I finally decided to finish part one and yeahh, its kinda canon convergent and nonconvergent, so if you haven’t finished the show please do. I don’t want to spoil anyone. 

The prologue is here uh if you haven’t read it, and kinda warning for small panic attack, and I think that’s it, If I have any typos... that’s embarrassing but most importantly please point it out so I can fix it. Next part I’ll try to make longer

Prologue

It's been so long since you'd last walked this Earth, everything is so new. The sun shines brightly above you, as it warms your skin. Although you care nothing of this new world around you at this point, you simply just want to find your god. You wander into a building with familiar images of gods, whos faces you'd not seen in so long. "Hello there, I saw you were looking at the banner outside, are you interested in the gods of Egypt? Oh, apologies my name is Steven." You look oddly at the hand outstretched to you. "I am not interested in idle chatter, I am looking for someone." You of course didn't mean to sound rude, but you were not aware of how to speak in this time period.

"Do you need any help?" Steven asks. "I am not sure you would be of much help." You wander off dragging your hand across one of the pillars, when you're suddenly pulled behind one of them by the wrist. "What in- Steven what the hell are you doing?!" You hiss out at him, yanking your wrist out of his hold. "Well- you see there's this not so nice fellow following me, I think I just saw him," he whisper-shouts, if you can even call it that. "I am not one for invasion of personal space..." You mutter. You briefly hear an apology and then a squeak?

"Steven Grant of the Giftshop."

Steven immediately bolts, although he doesn't get far since he's stopped by a group. You scan the man to the front of you. Nothing noticeably special or concerning about him until you see the tattoo on his wrist. Those scales... so familiar. It isn't until you see what he's holding that it all becomes clear to you. The scales, that staff, the early judgement and death that had once plagued the land. All those souls, sinking the ship that had once effortlessly sailed across the sands. There's only one name that occupies your mind, Ammit. The power of that staff should not be in the hands this mortal, nor any mortal at all.

Your blood turns hot and you seethe as he monologues about his god and how she's "true justice". It feels like a jab at Khonshu and you'd never let someone disgrace your god.

Maybe you were a impulsive, maybe launching yourself at the man who had the staff Ammit had gifted to her first avatar was a bad idea. It's not a maybe when you're struck in the chest with said staff. The air leaves your chest, and you feel like you're coughing up your lungs or it's just blood, you think as you clutch at your shirt.

You first notice there's something odd about Steven when his scales don't balance, nor do they stop at all. The Ammit followers soon leave, and as much as you want to follow your chest feels like it's on fire. Steven asks if you're okay, which you nod to before he helps you to stand up. The trail has long grown cold to follow those men, so you stick with Steven the rest of the day. The skittish man has said he was following him, they'd be back. Nothing is ever good when Ammit is mentioned.

You wait for Steven to grab his things before you leave the building apparently named a museum. You notice the man is taking a while and you vaguely hear him calling out for a dog before a voice seems to come from all around, the voice of that man from earlier. As his voice rings throughout your head, you all too soon realize the "dog" Steven was calling for was a damned jackal. The idiot is going to get himself killed you think to yourself, and you kind of need him so you swiftly follow the sounds of screams and cries. You soon join Steven in running as he knocks things to the ground attempting to slow down the jackal.

You weigh your options, you're stuck in a bathroom with a hyperventilating idiot, your chest absolutely throbbing from running, there's no way you're fighting this jackal and leaving scot-free. While you contemplate you fail to notice Steven having a crisis with himself in the mirror. The door bursts open and the jackal lunges at Steven, but you grab the creature by it's neck before it reaches him. It claws at your aching chest ripping your shirt and drawing blood, your grip loosens and as you stumble back you're knocked into one of the sinks and your vision turns black.

✩✧☾✧✩

"Do not look at them!" That voice, it's one that you could never forget, one that has stuck with you throughout your many lives. Your vision is hazy, your attempt at rapidly sitting up is unsuccessful. Indistinct shuffling and mumbling fills your head. "Khonshu..." The name comes out as barley audible rasp. "Marc, get them a shirt," the god demands, blocking your view of this Marc? "Why didn't you look for me?" Your voice cracking, gods you could use some water.

"Sleep, you need to heal," the god says harshly, and you feel like a chastised child. "I am not tired, can't you just accept me as your avatar, the armor will heal me as it has before. Have you gotten so old that you've forgotten how this works?" You successfully sit up this time, despite the protests of your body. Khonshu is silent for a while, but before you can question him you're handed a shirt. You unashamedly take off your torn shirt and put on the new one. You turn to Marc to thank them only to see Steven? What the hell?

"Khonshu?" Marc/Steven looks shocked at the fact you could see the god. "I will no longer be taking you as my avatar," Khonshu says, his tone leaving little room for debate. "Have I done something to be unworthy to hold the title as your avatar?" You hope your voice doesn't as choked up as your throat feels. "You've done nothing wrong, I simply have a new avatar I wish not to part with. Marc is sufficient avatar." You direct a glare at the man standing awkwardly in the corner of the room. "You deem this man a better avatar than me?" The disdain is evident in your voice.

In attempt to ease your anger, Khonshu and Marc try to explain why and how he became his avatar, adding in information about Steven, but the story does little to ease your rampant emotions. "It seems you will never understand my decision, My Star." With that Khonshu leaves, and you're left alone with the man who stole your god from you. You glare holes into the man in front of you, maybe it's attempt at seeing what was so special about the man. You have no idea what you're looking for so you find nothing, you're vaguely aware of Marc shifting uncomfortably under your stare, if he wants you to stop he'll have to tell you himself.

You finally release him from your stare, after getting tired of trying to figure him out. Khonshu does not do things without reason, he has to be lying, you must have done something. Did he think you not useful enough, not devoted enough? Your thoughts are never-ending. You pull your legs up to your chest and tuck your head down onto your knees. Did he find out of the feeling you harbor for him? Is he so disgusted at the thought of your love? No. I hid it well, you tell yourself, but those thoughts were no help. The world was constricting around you, your insides tearing you apart, pushing and pulling you in a seemingly indecisive internal battle. The air was leaving your body, you felt like you couldn't breathe. You choke trying to hold back the tears caused by the blatant rejection from your god.

Then silence. The bitter calm that surrounded you, tainting your taste-buds with it's foul taste.

"Are you- Are you alright?" Marc asks, at least you assume it's him because of the accent. "What's so special about you?" It comes out as almost a whisper and you think the man didn't hear you until he speaks up. "You were his avatar..?" The man states, but his uncertainty made it sound like a question.

"I wasn't just his avatar. I was his first avatar, you know nothing of my god." Okay, maybe that sounded a bit mean, but your heart felt like it was just torn out of your chest. "So, unless Khonshu just started this whole avatar having thing... wouldn't that make you like super old?" Marc sounded very confused, and honestly who wouldn't. "I am far older than your mortal brain could comprehend," it would sound more ominous if your voice wasn't gone from holding back tears. "...and your sad your not his avatar anymore? I find it odd you are not happy to finally be away from that god." If looks could kill, Marc would die a million times over after that sentence left his mouth.

"Okay.. touchy subject. If you don't mind me asking?" The look you give tells him to choose his next words wisely. "Why are you upset about not being his avatar anymore?" You stay silent, mere words could not explain the love and devotion you have for Khonshu, so why bother trying to explain to the god stealer. "So I'm going to go out on a limb and say you don't want to answer so... let's change subject. Khonshu asked me to let you stay here if you've got no place to go, and since you partially saved Steven, I'm trusting you not to murder me in my sleep."

You mull over staying at the apartment of the man who stole your god, but thinking about it if you stick close to him, you're closer to Khonshu. If this was all you could do to stay close to your god then you would take it... anything for Khonshu. "Okay God Stealer, I will stay."

[godtakenlove]

Warm and Still

TW: Yandere, Weirdcore, Shadow person, Invasion of privacy, Breaking and entering, Mentions/implications of nsfw, Stalking, Sexual tension(?)

Summary: You forgot to lock your window at night, and they're so worried to see you still on the bed.

Alt summary: Nobody stares at u for 8 hours and gets kinda horny near the end

They peered into your window, you got mad at them. They broke something of yours and you got so mad at them...

They were horrified to see you like that, your face twisting in such a horrible expression, then to be out of the door in a flash.

Of course, it was only your backyard, you knew of their condition and Nobody was so glad you weren't so cruel to kick them out farther. You told them to stay there till morning.

But, that wasn't important! You were important!! And now you were lying on your bed, still as still can be! It worried Nobody to no end!! They pressed themselves against the glass, a guttural whimper coming out of their throat on instinct. Oh they wanted to obey you so bad!! They do they do! They hate seeing you looks so mad at them! But! But! But but but!!

Nobody feared the worst, were you still as him? Did... Oh god did you-!! Nobody fumbled as the windowsill opened, almost planting face first into the ground. O-oh you must've forgotten to lock it! Nobody crawled inside your room, trying not to make as much noise as possible. After all, if you were still, you'd probably be really mad at them for disobeying you!

They made sure to close and lock the windowsill though! They didn't want anyone to steal your heart after all!! Nobody puffed up their chest a bit, proud of themselves to remember how you locked it whenever they hung out in your room.

Back to business however! Nobody tiptoed to your bed, getting on it carefully as they got closer to your form. Looking at you now, as scared they felt about this, they can't help but think about how wonderful you look. Your face has never been so peaceful, so... Nobody stopped themselves, realizing they were leaning closer and closer to your face.

But they didn't pull back, they simply stayed there, watching you. Even looking at you made them warm, and after the cold chilly night, they simply couldn't crave anything more. They noticed your lips parting ever so lightly for air, which washed the worried shadow with relief.

....

They should've went off then but...

Oh they couldn't help themselves!! The way you looked and felt, oh it was simply addicting!! Besides... You look so cold, alone. It would practically be rude if... Nobody didn't slip in beside you. Still, they made sure not to touch you, after all, you taught them well that they shouldn't touch just anyone, anywhere, anytime without their consent!

.

..

...

Okay, but it was very tempting!! Just you laying there... So...

So vulnerable...

Nobody felt their chest tighten at the thought, a warm fuzzy feeling swarmed their body as a peculiar idea swam right in their head.

Was this your forgiveness?

Surely, it had to be! They've never seen you like this before... This must be!! You've must've changed your mind and felt guilty! Oh suns... They're so happy! And of course they forgive you!! How can they ever stay mad at you?

And this... My, this was the perfect apology gift... To be so vulnerable to them... As they were to you, once... More thoughts polluted the dark humanoid as they stared at you... Hell, they were already starting to put their hands on you! Don't worry though, it was only at your sides and face! Very gentle, after all, if you moved it meant they were doing something bad right? Suns... You're such a wonderful being...

The fact that you didn't react much to their touch, that you didn't stop them, it made Nobody get very peculiar thoughts...

[whaleofatjme1920]

On Your Bedroom Floor with Her By Your Side (Kate the Chaser X F!Reader)

On Your Bedroom Floor with Her By Your Side

[Kate the Chaser/Kate Milens-Hayes X F!Reader]

[Warnings: slight language, minor violence, none really]

[AN: I started my oneshot book on quotev because I loved Kate that much]

You weren’t supposed to even know she existed. In fact, the way she found you was entirely an accident over winter break your freshman year of college.

Your parents had been out on a well needed vacation and left you home to handle the house. That was fine, you needed the time off and wanted to relax as much as you could before getting back into the swing of school in January. You spent most of your time moving about, pleased that you had the space to branch out and do what you pleased. This included listening to your music without headphones and generally, being weird without anyone to judge you.

A few days into your well needed alone time, you had laid in your bed watching videos on your phone. The house was dark and quiet, easily giving off the appearance that no one was home. On your own, you were naturally pretty silent when night fell over the land.

That’s what led Kate to make her first mistake.

Somehow, she had gotten separated from her group. It was supposed to be a simple clearing, a one and done it kind of deal, but they were essentially ambushed. Masky got shot pretty bad, so Toby’s priority was getting the group leader out and to safety. Hoodie stayed behind with Kate to finish the clearing, but they were swarmed. They had to abandon the operation and return to it later, or perhaps, another group would take it over. Hoodie yelled for Kate to scatter and that he’d get them off her trail. What a selfless guy, always watching out for the proxies in his group. And she obeyed him because he was Masky’s right hand. On her way out, she’d gotten shot. From what she could feel, it wasn’t fatal, but it still hurt like hell.

She stumbled while sprinting through the woods and found her sense of direction totally shot. This was a relatively new area to her and her group; she hadn’t committed it to memory just yet. No matter, she could return to them in the morning. She was probably too far to send out any mental notes to her comrades, but she attempted anyway just so they wouldn’t stay up worrying about her. Kate eventually stumbled upon this empty looking house and quickly deduced that the owners must’ve fled this cold place for somewhere warmer for the winter. Perfect! She’d spend the night there, fix herself, and leave without a trace.

Kate grit her teeth as she trudged through the snow and eventually, dragged herself to the back door. The wound on her side felt like ice, and the freezing temperature was not helping her feel any better. With a slight grimace, she pulled her coat sleeve over her fist and punched through the glass of the door. It shattered surprisingly easily and that alone made her raise her brows. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kate opened the back door and threw most of her caution to the wind as she shut the door behind her. There were no neighbors, so she could turn on the lights and no one would care. Kate flicked on the kitchen lights and began working her ‘in real life magick’ after she shed her coat haphazardly on the counter.

Upstairs, you heard quite a commotion going on downstairs. Immediately alarm bells rang in your head. Your parents weren’t due to come back until much, much later. There was an intruder. You slipped out of bed, phone in hand and began to creep out of your room. From where you stood at the top of the stairs, you could see the lights turned on and someone’s shadow dancing across the floor followed by pained muttering.

You took a tentative step down and immediately panicked when it creaked. Time seemed to slow.

“Shit,” you heard your intruder mumble.

A tense second later and you heard they were running towards your direction. You screeched in surprise when you finally caught a glimpse of them and high tailed it back up the stairs, the image of their mask burned into your skull. After all, there was no way a human looked like that.

They chased you up the stairs when you narrowly made it back to your room, accidentally dropping your phone in the process right when you slammed your bedroom door shut as it acted as the only barrier between you and the intruder.

“What the fuck do you want from me?” You cried out as you locked the door, then quickly worked on piling various things in your room against it.

They didn’t pound on your door, nor did they try to violently enter the room, but the doorknob did jiggle a tad too much for your comfort. “Look,” the feminine voice said. “I’m in a lot of pain right now. I don’t have the time to deal with you. If you stay in there and don’t try running or telling anyone about me, I’ll do what I have to and be out of your hair before the morning.” You heard her tap at the door a few times. “Besides, where are you gonna go in a snowstorm like this? Your phone is out here with me, and as far as I can see, no one is coming for you any time soon. Even if you did have your phone, authorities wouldn’t be able to reach you,” she said as she tried to reason with you. “Don’t do anything stupud, and I’ll be gone before you know it.”

“Don’t even think about taking anything-” you began, eyebrows furrowing in rage. You balled your fists and glared at the door while you attempted to control your breathing.

“There’s nothing here I want but medical supplies,” she waved off, clearly exhausted. “I got shot, princess.”

Your eyes widen slightly. “You got shot?”

“I’m not explaining this to you; I don’t have the time,” she sighed in an exasperated tone. You heard her pad away from your door and to the direction of the upstairs bathroom. “You got first aid in here?” You heard her ask.

You wonder if you should answer her or not-

“Never mind,” she said, effectively cutting you from your thoughts.

An awkward silence falls between the two of you for about half an hour as she works on herself. You’re almost certain she’s ready to leave when you hear your phone ring. You instinctively glanced down at your hand only to remember she still has it.

“It’s your mom,” she said, voice on the other side of your door. “Do you uh, want to answer it or not?”

Of course you wanted to answer it.

“Look, I’m not gonna hurt you or anything. You can literally just stick your arm out and I’ll hand you the phone.”

You find yourself more than apprehensive.

“Tell you what,” she said, verbally looking down at the ringing device. “I give you the phone and you let me leave and I won’t hurt you so long as you don’t tell anyone about me.”

Hesitantly, you found yourself cracking the door open to get a good look at the woman who broke into your house. She’s still wearing that mask, but her eyes are so dark it’s like looking in the recesses of the universe and getting pulled into them. She’s not terribly tall, but she’s still taller than you. She looks tired - her body sags slightly. The shot must’ve taken it out of her.

“Give it to me,” you mumbled.

Without any words, she handed you the device, momentarily stopping you before you answered it. “I’ll be back soon to ensure you’re not talking about me. Have fun talking to your mom,” she nonchalantly stated, then nodded for you to answer it.

You shot her a more than confused look before finally answering your mother’s call.

And that was the start of your very strange relationship with the woman you came to know as Kate the Chaser. Though, she preferred you just called her Kate. Kate was a very odd woman, and she was only like, a year or so older than you. The second time she visited, she still had a mask on - something about privacy. You wondered often why she wore it, but she always claimed she had a reason, just could never tell you.

It was odd to admit how you had grown used to her visits. After the first few rocky visits, the two of you had established a schedule. Kate would only visit on the weekends, and your parents could never know she was here. That was fine - she often climbed up to your bedroom window anyways. Sometimes, the two of you would sit on the roof and star gaze. It became all too apparent that Kate enjoyed spending time with you. And slowly, you found yourself enjoying your time with her as well.

The two of you grew to like each other’s time so much that right at the eve of your graduation, she was the first person to wish you congratulations.

She had come into your room like she normally did, by climbing and knocking on your window with a special knock before you let her in. Truthfully, she could have just lifted the thing herself, but she felt it rude and an invasion of privacy (which you found ironic.) After hoisting herself into your room, she took her spot on your bedroom floor, thankful you had a mug of warm tea waiting for her.

“I graduate tomorrow,” you say with a small smile, plucking your mug up from your desk. “I’d kinda like if you were there.”

“I’d love to be, you know that,” Kate replies before taking an appreciative sip of the liquid. “I… I don’t think my boss or my coworkers would be pleased, though. Besides, I’m kinda nocturnal,” she chuckles, making you giggle in response.

In the back of your mind, you wondered why she couldn’t do so many things with you. Everything had been chalked up to her boss, her coworkers, herself. And any time you tried to pry it out of her, she went tight lipped, like she was afraid of telling you anything relating to her. Still, you knew enough of her. She was sarcastic, had a smile like the stars in the sky. And was incredibly knowledgeable on topics you’d never even thought to consider in your daily life. You knew her work, that much was apparent just by looking at her, but you wondered what type of work it was to keep her from you when the sun was out. You knew it was shady, but in order to keep her, you had to resist pushing. “It would be so much better if you were,” you continue, throwing your best puppy dog eyes.

Kate playfully rolls her eyes before ruffling your hair. “Not this time, princess.”

“I legitimately only graduate once,” you reply with a smirk painting itself onto your lips.

“It’s why I came tonight,” she continues as she gestures to the two of you on the floor. “Thought I’d bring you some little gifts to celebrate.” She slings the backpack off her back and opens the biggest pocket. Her hands rummage for a moment before she procures a medium sized leather book. “Here’s the first thing,” she places it in the space between you. “And the next.” out pops a set of high grade art supplies. “This,” now there’s a small little gift basket full of treats you enjoy. “And this thing.” It is a plush giraffe and is donned with a graduation cap.

You smile widely and look over the objects with fascination, gently holding them. The leather journal fascinates you the most. “Where did you get these?” You ask with that same smile.

“Here and there,” Kate answers, her eyes looking over the things she’s gotten for you.

“Thank you so much,” you say in a grateful tone, closing the gap between you and Kate with a hug.

She quietly giggles and hugs you back, her lips pressing to the side of your head. “I’m proud of you, y’know that?”

The two of you chat for a bit more before finally turning to a streaming service. Your parents thankfully, haven’t heard either of you over the sound of some anime playing on the screen, so you’re able to cuddle next to her on the floor and giggle about the world and its happenings as she holds you in her arms. You stay like this until her gaze goes blank, like she’s getting a message only she can hear.

“Have to go,” she says softly. It’s nearing 4 am.

“So soon?” You whisper back, hand holding hers like she’s the only thing grounding you.

“Yeah, work,” she mumbles, quietly standing up to not make too much noise in the quiet house (save for that anime that’s still playing in the background). “I’ll be back before you know it.” She tries to reassure you, her hand gently cupping your cheek.

Your hand meets hers and gently squeezes before she reluctantly leaves your side, heading towards the window. You stand and pad over to her, arms wrapping around her waist and face burying into her back. She smells like the forest. “No,” you mumble.

“His word is law,” she sighs while attempting to turn around to hold you properly. When she can’t get free of your iron grip, she tries something else. “Hey, first thing, you need to rest before the graduation ceremony and, second, just remembered I wanted to give you this.”

You look up from her chest and see she’s unclasping the necklace that’s captivated your attention since you first met her. Your eyes widen slightly when you realize she’s putting it on you. Your hands instinctively reach to look at the pendant, and with it, she’s able to move.

“Promise I’ll be back, so, take good care of it for me,” Another kiss to the top of your head and she’s out the window faster than you can even look up.

You rush to the windowsill to see her running towards the forest with three figures waiting at its edge for her.

She momentarily turns around, waves to you, then disappears into the woods with them.

You feel a slight pang in your heart, but holding the pendant between your fingertips quells it until she returns.

[tobeornottotc]

The Problems with HIStory4; Close To You Ep 1-4 (Observation and Comments)

The verdict is out!  I actually enjoy History4, as much as there's problematic elements to it, and it does feel a bit like a regression; the acting is great, the chemistry is perfect, and it's not as bad as the trailer made it seem. Like yes, we have a very invasive annoying fujoshi trope, but the characters are written in a way that it makes sense that they fall into this.

The Fujoshi Harassing Invasive Fake Dating Trope:

Cheng is so childish and so up in the clouds, and from a typical sexist, ignorant flawed man perspective, it's like he's always never taken anything seriously because he doesn't see any need to. Also, because he doesn't take anything seriously, he's ignorant and very self-focused and takes things too far; it's his character flaw. The only person who keeps in line is Moren. Who is someone who takes a lot of things seriously but also kind of ignores or avoids feelings and what that entails.

Moren is very gentle and sweet with his friends whilst on the surface, he seems cold and distant, but he tends to be very comfortable and have fun, like the childish part of him is brought out by Cheng. They compliment each other so well. There's something about the way they like each other so unconditionally despite being so opposite to each other, they do care a lot, and they have a very ignorant homophobic mindset because of how they've been raised in society, so they don't know a lot about queerness and what it means, so that's interesting to see them learn their feelings and grow from that.

I like their domestic vibes and how they are when they're just together alone; it's not entirely romantic or in your face that there are feelings; it's very soft, and very based and focused on the depth of friendship that they've developed, and I think that's so cute and adorable to see. The only thing I don't like about their storyline is the fujoshi trope; she's not always there; she's hidden but her presence always reminds me of why this trope is so problematic because she should be called out for her invasiveness. She should be taught about why what she's doing is not okay; maybe she does, later on, do so but I can't tell how serious this writer wants to be with this show. She may have genuinely just wanted a typical old BL style novel like show in the past that we used to read that doesn't address problematic stuff.

The show is very light and funny with these twos story so she may not want it to be so serious, which is why I'm trying to be careful when analysing the show. My thing is the fujoshi thing needs to be addressed because her actions aren't okay more than Cheng and Moren. The trailer for the show is wildly exaggerated and made me dread watching the show. Still, although Cheng is sometimes quite touchy and can fall into that line of harassment, it's been called out by Moren in episode 1, and everything in the trailer that seemed problematic with harassment for them isn't like it is.  It's just them joking around and being Moren and Cheng. Moren may feel weirded out by some situations, but it's not against his consent, is what I'm trying to say. Cheng is not meant to be a perfect character; his flaw is his childishness, and how he doesn't take things seriously, so he comes across as rude, invasive, loud etc. But for them, there's nothing so far that is as bad as what the trailer suggested it would be. Maybe, later on, I'd change my mind.

The Stalker Obsessesive Step Brother Trope:

For Jie and Xingsi. It's different. It's the same issues with stories about obsession, possession and trauma tropes. People will not like Jie because the reason why he does what he does, is because his character outline is based on a mental disorder (that isn't even diagnosed, but it's clear he's on a  sociopathic spectrum), he's emotionally shut off, so he doesn't have any feelings, doesn't know when he's gone too far or when he is doing something to others that are seen as problematic. All he focuses on is his feelings for XingSi because he's the only person who makes him care.

Not goanna lie, their storyline has toxic elements, and it is weird that the show wants to humanise his actions and make him seem pitiful. For me, he is pitiful, and I do understand why he acts the way he does, but I think others would have an issue with him. I think it's hard to accept the storyline because it is romanticising toxicity and dependency, but I kinda after being freaked out by him; I've come to kind of understand why they write his character the way they did for him and Xingsi. The theme of these two's story is conforming to societal pressures vs being free and accepting your self. So they kind of help each other with the other's problem/issue.

You can decide if you want to see that as romantic or if you are so turned off by Jie's insensitive actions. For me, this is a typical toxic storyline that makes sense to me why they'll be together. For example, when looking at Jie; Obviously, he's been nurtured into developing parts of being sociopathic to deal with the pain of his childhood. It's not an excuse to let him get away with his actions; I'm just saying I understand his character outline. He doesn't trust people; he doesn't let anyone in. So he's automatically someone with sociopathic tendencies, very possessive, can be aggressive if he isn't sure he trusts what's happening, alienates himself and doesn't care for how others view him. But he's someone who kind of helps Xingsi deal with his own secrets; Xingsi is someone determined to be responsible/right in society; hence he hides himself and his actual wants and needs to please people.

So Jie, with his own twisted ways, is always a catalyst to helping Xingsi find out what he wants and for Xingsi to come to terms with being brave and showing who he really is to people. In a way, Jie, because he's so emotionally uncaring about what others think of him, is the antithesis to Xingsi; he is freer because he's not hiding who he is or conforming to what others think is right/wrong he only cares about his own freedom/happiness. So he provides that way and escape for Xingsi to be himself and stop pretending or acting to please people and society. That's what the writers are trying to achieve with them. Jie is then also taught about feelings and emotions because of having Si as someone he does care for automatically and does want to change for and be gentle to whilst Si learns to accept himself /stop conforming to societal pressures.

They follow typical old BL novels in the past; they have problematic issues and toxic stuff around them to discuss, and they're very flawed; they are written to help each other deal with their flaws/issue by falling for each other. Is it right to romanticize that storyline? Maybe or maybe not, we need to do better stories for BL; that's something we know, it's not okay to always have toxic or problematic storylines, but if you know me, I also enjoy the past BL tropes as well. I like toxic storylines because they have so much interesting character dynamics that are wild to explore and analyse. They usually are very angsty and dramatic, and they have a good plot. That's something I never try to hide away from, I don't agree with when people say you shouldn't write toxic storylines or add problematic characters, but that's an argument for another day etc., I just want it to be called out when its a toxic thing/problematic trope like give consequences and show them learning why its wrong, or have them go through a character development.  

It's not going to make me judge the show so badly or stop watching it when I actually enjoy the friendship, characters and lighthearted, funny vibes the show brings every Sunday. Like it makes me smile and laugh when I'm watching Cheng and Moren, and it makes me think when I watch Xingsi and Jie. So yeh I enjoy the show and I'm not ashamed to say it.

[kiirokero]

Nepenthe (KTH)

Nepenthe: A drug used to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow; something capable of causing oblivion of grief or suffering.

Part of the “Protect the Village!” Oneshot Series!

Masterlist

Pairing: Baker!Taehyung x Reader

Genre: Fluff, angst if you squint, romance...? Reader has troubles with their emotions and TaeTae tries to help them, ft. a blonde smug Jimin,

Note: Time to sleep. Catch up on writing :)

Summary: Mama always said that sweets give you cavities. But she didn’t warn you about the boy who makes them. Or, having an insatiable sweet tooth has left you spending much of your time in Taehyung’s bakery. But nobody prepared you for the feelings your cold heart caught.

Word Count: 2.4k

      Contrary to popular belief, you did have feelings. You felt happy, sad, angry. You were human. But people tended to forget that. Whether it was because you were academically intelligent or you were just an easy target, you were used to... Well, getting used. 

     You were often the cash cow. The dead horse everyone thought was entertaining to beat. The goose with the golden egg and no farmer would leave you alone before you popped out the next solid gold money maker. And when you gave in and gave them what they wanted, you were the one left behind, high and dry. 

     Years of being treated like this in college left you emotionally unavailable. You opted to protect yourself from the hurt you felt by not allowing yourself to feel at all. You had built up your walls so thick that you barely allowed yourself to even feel happy half of the time. Many people tried to break down the brick hell you’d banished yourself to, but gave up when the stone didn’t relent. But it's not like you care, right?

      You didn’t care that you had nobody to voice your worries to late at night when the self doubting thoughts plagued your mind. You didn’t care that people avoided you because of your frigid nature that left the happy little people in Bangtan Village uncomfortable. So what if you didn’t have anyone to catch you when you fell? You didn’t need anybody. 

You just needed your comfort foods. 

     Yes, maybe it was an unhealthy habit to drown your self hating thoughts in the taste of sugar and cinnamon. Maybe anyone looking into the state of your mental health would cringe at the way you personally dealt with it. Who cares? This was your life and you would live it however the hell you wanted to. You were tired of others dictating you. 

     So you often found yourself at “Kim’s Confections” sitting in the corner, looking out with window while you ate your danish and sipped your tea. Every single day, whether the sun was up or down, you sat in the same seat, at the same bakery. You changed up the pastry, of course, you could only eat danishes for 3 days straight at most. But the routine of visiting the small shop was one thing that never changed. 

     As leaves fells and winter came, you visited the bakery. As rain fell and flower bloomed, you visited the bakery. You like the atmosphere the bakery gave off. The aroma of sugar and bread that wafted through the air made your body feel like jello as you could easily fall asleep to the smell. The small wooden tables that were scattered around made the shop feel more personal. The food that never failed to melt in your mouth calmed any tension that seeped into your bones. 

But one thing about the bakery that didn’t calm you down was the owner himself. 

Kim Taehyung.

      Nothing was wrong with Taehyung, per se. He was an attractive guy who always had a friendly, boxy smile on his face. He had beautiful brunette hair and majestic auburn eyes. His skin was always shining, 24/7, always looking like he walked off the cover of a magazine. Even if you gave off a cold, icy aura that screamed “Don’t talk to me,” he never once failed to give you a smile and a warm welcome. 

     No, you were never purposely mean to Taehyung. You never snapped at him or showed any sort of distaste towards him, because you didn’t have any. He just confused you. Normal people would stop trying to be nice to you by now. Most people would take your less-than enthusiastic responses as rudeness or dislike. Not Taehyung though. 

      You often asked yourself what was up with him. I mean, who would look at you and think, “Yeah, I’ll give the snow queen a shot,” Nobody. Except Kim Taehyung, apparently. Without fail Taehyung tried to initiate conversations between the two of you that would last more than a few one words answers (Mostly from your side,) He would ask how your day was or what you did over the weekend. To which you would respond with “Good” or “Nothing,”

      It’s not that you didn’t want to talk to the guy. He just made you feel... Weird. His smile made your heart quicken. His laugh made your cheeks heat up. Whenever he had his eyes on you, your hands would turn clammy. It just made you feel... uncomfortable. You were used to feeling 2 things, “Bleh,” and “What am I doing with my life,” not some odd feeling of quickened hearts and clammy hands. 

      But alas, no matter how much you wished to banish the invasive feeling all together, your sweet tooth needed to be satiated. So here you were, standing in front of “Kim’s Confections,” Walking in and chiming the small little bell that hung above the door. The familiar sight of wooden chairs and the glass display case full of confections filled your eyes. But there at the counter was the man himself. 

      “Hello Y/n! Welcome back!” Taehyung said with a smile on his face, enthusiasm laced in his voice. “Hello,” You said, sounding dead compared to his lively way of speech. “What will it be today, sweetcheeks?” Taehyung smirked, resting his head on his hand as he leaned over the counter. “Don’t call me that,” You said, not liking the heat that made its way onto your face the moment he called you “Sweetcheeks,” 

      Taehyung chuckled, saying nothing, just gesturing to the glass case of goodies. Taking a look, you noticed your favorite was in stock today. Red velvet cupcakes. “That one, please,” You said, pointing at the mouth-watering pastry. “Coming right up, sweecheeks,” Taehyung smiled. You decided to ignore the endearing nickname, instead trying your best to cool down the heat on the tips of your ears and apples of your cheeks. 

      Taehyung grabbed the cupcake and put it on a plate for you, sliding it towards you as you handed him the money you’d already fished out of your wallet. “Thanks,” You mumbled, grabbing the plate off of the counter. “Anything for you,” Taehyung smirked. You didn’t say anything else to him as you went to your corner to eat your cupcake. 

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.

      You’ve read The Iliad a thousand times before. You know how the adventure ends and what the climax of the story will be. You knew what happened to the characters, and you were well versed in the outdated way of speech. But that didn’t mean you appreciated the interruption of a certain blonde haired male. “What Jimin?” You groaned, putting down your well-worn book, glaring at the man in front of you. “Ah you wound me, Y/n. I just wanted to see you is all,” Jimin shrugged. 

      “See me? Dumb move,” You countered back, face unchanging. Jimin just chuckled, shaking his head with a smile. “You know, I was talking to Taehyung and he said you barely speak a word to him. That’s surprising since your with him every day,” Jimin smirked, swiping off some stray frosting that laid on your plate and putting it in his mouth. “I have nothing to say,” You said, turning to look outside the window. 

      Jimin scoffed, “I find that hard to believe. Tae can make anyone talk, do you not like him?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. “I didn’t say that,” Was your immediate answer, debunking Jimin’s dumb theory. “Well, you kinda did,” Jimin teased. “He makes me feel weird,” You admitted, unable to face the man in front of you. 

“He makes you feel weird?” Jimin asked, confused. 

“He makes my palms clammy and face hot. He’a like a witch or something,” You sighed. 

      You didn’t know Jimin, no. Jimin was one of Taehyung’s friends who tried even harder than him to get on your “Good side,” When in reality, there was no good side. You were just in a perpetual state of saying “Cool,” and throwing up peace signs at everything life threw at you. So no, you weren’t Jimin’s friend. 

So the unimpressed, disdained face you gave him when he burst out laughing at your words wasn’t entirely unwarranted. 

      “Oh my goodness, you’re funny,” Jimin chuckled out. “What did I say?” You asked. “You have a crush on Tae!” Jimin whisper shouted. Your eyes widened, and you flicked his forehead. “What are we? Twelve? A crush? That’s preschool shit,” You seethed, not allowing yourself to believe what Jimin was saying. “Woah, calm down Y/n. Crushes are normal,” Jimin explained, right before Taehyung came up to grab your empty plate for you. 

      “Did you enjoy the cupcake?” Taehyung said in his deep baritone voice that made goosebumps rise on your skin. You nodded your head yes, avoiding looking right into his eyes. “I’m glad,” Taehyung whispered to you, giving you a smile as he walked back to the kitchen with your plate. You watched him go the whole way. 

      “Scratch that, your head over heels,” Jimin spoke up, and you whipped your head around to glare at him. “Shut it,” You spoke through gritted teeth, gathering your book and purse, standing up to leave. “I don’t have a crush. That’s childish,” You countered, but Jimin just gave you a knowing look, a smirk plastered on his face. 

     You never missed a day to visit the bakery. But maybe you should’ve today. It was pouring outside. Thunder rumbled through the air and lighting flashed through the sky. You were without an umbrella or anything to protect you from the rainy onslaught that was happening outside the shop. 

      Sighing, you flipped through the pages of The Iliad. You had just finished the story another time, and the epic was still too fresh in your mind to begin reading again. So you sat in your corner, listening to the pounding of rain that rammed against the shop windows. 

“It’s pouring out there, huh?” 

      Taehyung’s soft, deep voice cut through the rain ambiance that filled the tiny shop. You nodded, tearing your eyes away from him and suppressing the thoughts of his muscular figure from your mind. “Do you have someone coming to pick you up? I don’t want you walking out in that,” He asked, coming to sit in the seat in front of you. 

      “I don’t,” You answered, avoiding his gaze. “Really? No boyfriend coming to sweep you off of your feet?” He chuckled. You shrugged, picking at the edges of your book. “I’m not girlfriend material,” You sighed, finally looking up to meet his gaze. “Not girlfriend material?” Taehyung asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “I just have too much baggage, I guess,” You shrugged. 

     Taehyung chuckled, “Everyone has baggage, Y/n,” Was his answer, looking right into your eyes with his deep auburn ones. “I guess,” You mumbled. The two of you sat in silence for a couple of minutes, just listening to the sound of the rain outside as the two of you just enjoyed each other’s presence without the other knowing it. 

      “I think you’re girlfriend material,” Taehyung spoke up suddenly, startling you out of the thoughts that swirled around your mind. “Ha ha,” You sarcastically laughed, but Taehyung doubled down. “I’m serious, Y/n,” He said, leaning forward on the table. “No I’m not,” You argued, shaking your head at what you believed was a ridiculous claim. 

     “Why do you think that?” Taehyung asked, but you didn’t respond, feeling the walls you meticulously built start to crumble. That scared you. You’ve always been focused on others trying to force your walls down, but you never thought about what it would be like for someone to urge you to bring them down yourself. To want to willing talk about the thoughts that plagued your mind. To let someone cozy up with you inside your walls. It was scary how you wanted to talk to Taehyung. 

      You didn’t know what it was about Taehyung that made you want to let him in and turn your hell into a sanctuary. Maybe it was because he was always so nice. Or maybe it was because he made the best comfort food you’d every have. Whatever it was about him, he was starting to get through to you, and it scared you more than you’d like to admit. So you shut down. 

      Taehyung kept asking you why you thought that or what made you think that you were any less than amazing, but you just kept shaking your not wanting to open your mouth in fear that you’d spill out all of your emotions like a hangover full of regrets and puke. 

     You heard Taehyung sigh as he got up from the chair. You felt your heart squeeze at the thought of him finally giving up on you. You knew it was a bit selfish to expect him to stick around after you gave him no reason to, but it still hurt. You were so out of tune with your emotions that you had a hard time identifying what was what. 

Was this disappointment? It’s been a long time old friend. 

Was Jimin right? Am I in love? Is this what love feels like?

      A hand placed a plate with a cinnamon roll on it in front of you. The aroma of cinnamon filled your nose, and you cracked a small smile at it. Taehyung sat back down in the seat in front of you, giving you a warm smile. “You don’t have to push yourself to answer,” Taehyung spoke up, “I don’t know exactly how you feel, but my friend, Yoongi, is like you.” He smiled as you took a bite of the cinnamon roll. “He says that talking to others about feelings is a monumental task, so don’t feel obligated to answer my question. You have your walls for a reason, Y/n. It’s up to you if you want to let me in. But I will say, I’m waiting at the door with cookies.”

      At his words, you gave him a sincere smile. The first sincere smile he’d ever seen from you and you could tell by his huge, boxy one that it made him happy. “Thank you, Taehyung,” You said. “Anything for you, sweetcheeks,” Okay, so maybe your heart was a bit cold. Maybe the thick walls you built around yourself prevented you from properly processing your feelings. Maybe Jimin was right and the clammy hands and giddy feeling you got from being around Taehyung was love. 

But right now, the two of you didn’t care. 

Because you were in the middle of your first genuine conversation. 

[fiore-rosewood9]

♫FrUk :D

Thank you for the ask, I will send a few songs that remind me of fruk, a whole playlist if you may, not only one song. I also touch a few of triggering topics as I explain the nations's personalities and relationships with one another so I apologize in advance if I upset/trigger someone and will put my trigger here - Warning - mentions of abuse, alcoholism, s*exual trauma. Under the explanation there is a playlist of songs that make me think of Ukfr/Fruk, so if anyone gets upset you can feel free to skip my general headcanons about fruk/ukfr relationship dynamics. There are too many songs that make me think of different characters or ships but I collected the ones that make me think the most of them.

I know the original song is by Lady gaga but this version is too sweet and cheesy for me so I chose the rock cover by the group Halestorm since I prefer it, it sounds more genuine and rough and kinda makes me think of the dynamic that ukfr/fruk has, that some people present is as just the enemies to lovers trope or them just fighting which is.....simply unhealthy????? Fruk is much more than that and I wish people would stop seeing it as a two dimensional thing, yeah they do argue on a lot of things and it is not the healthiest dynamic however it does work in my mind because they stick through thin and thick and that requires effort and true love since a lot of people nowdays do not take time to know the other person, they just jump into marriage and have a few divorces and just argue over everything and then separate, fruk is an off and on thing where they break and make. This kind of dedication is hard to find in today's couples. I know they're fictional characters and no one really cares but I practice my psychology skills and my knowledge of people around me, and I sometimes see people with similar or almost the same characters as fictional characters, they may not have all of their hobbies but they do act the same way. And certain pairs, no offence, just make me want to gag my self due to history with bad and toxic fans but if I look at it subjectivly and never encountered mean fans from a certain ship, I would say that they ship simply doesn't work. No ship bashing but as far as I know, people with this kind of personality from this ship that I dislike, and get upset when seeing fan art of, simply just do not get along and had a hard time divorcing, it is not only unhealthy and unbalanced, it is downright abusive because both partners seek control and to have the upper hand and this is not...what romance is about???? It is about two people taking care of each other, understanding personal space and boundaries, lifting each other up and yeah, they will argue a lot, sometimes for small things, sometimes for bigger things, but generally the point of romantic relationships is not someone using you, or abusing you financially and generally being better or bigger than you. This breeds insecurity and jealousy in the other partner and makes them feel inadequate. Usually such problems are not talked over and one of the partners acts passive agressive which is what ultimaltly leads to said divorce. So yeah, people can go away with their (BUT IT IS CUTE, IT IS SO FUCKING CUTE) pairing because real life pairings and how humans communicate and develop friendships and relationships isn't based on what your mind conciders and doesn't concider cute and there are lots of factors on whether relationship will ever happen like common interests, type personality, etc and just block me so I will never hear from them and their childish mindset ever again, which is why I blocked certain tumbrl fan art hetalia accounts who produce art of a pairing I (dislike) lowkey hate, for historical reasons, for manga reasons, for toxic fans who bullied me and made me go on 3 hiatuses reason and ultimatly in real life experience and psychology and how humans and the human mind works and what is healthy and unhealthy reason. Why should I support something where certain people have been hateful towards me and these same people that act like these characters and I know in my life are on bad terms in real life? Why shouldn't I just move on to something more realistic and more healthy, that I have seen that works with humans I know first hand? I am not a clinical psychologist and I have no power or saying in this but I had to write thesis and read books by psycholgists and analyze them in high school and my first year of Uni, in order to pass the year and I have also read reccomended books by a psychologist I went to because I wanted an advice on how to deal with my anxiety and talking to people, because my condition is extremely severe but I honestly feel stuck and try to improve but also feel confused, I sometimes feel like I am not doing enough to

self improve as a human. I sometimes come off as too cold or overly bitter and angry without intending to, and it sucks.

Francis is a really manipulative person and Matthew picked up that from him while part of Alfred's agression doesn't only come from confidence in his own abilities but the fact that England him self is an overly agressive person and is very dominant or at least used to be for a very long time, now he is more mild to keep his gentleman persona but he does suffer from severe anger issues which he hides while Alfred is prone to breaking things and screaming, Arthur is more prone to being rude, sarcastic and generally mean before he loses it. Matthew and Francis do not engage in fight if they can avoid it which is why sometimes people call them cowardly I think? And Matthew is a bit prone to being a codependent people pleaser as far as I see and he seems to have severe anxiety issues. Francis albeit charismatic and beautiful, is deep down in his core lonely.

I think that part of his pervertedness, shocking people with his s*xual humour and all of this sex obsession comes from trauma in his childhood and dressing like a girl. I wouldn't explain what the trauma in question was since it is not canon but I do headcanon that he had s*xual trauma and it is partly why Hungary dressed like a guy. I don't know if this is legit, it is bias from reading too much japanese fan comics relating to hetalia or just general history of humans and how they treated consent and what is moral today, wasn't amoral or against the law a few centuries ago, but I have seen artists touch on it. I think both Arthur and Francis suffer from neglect and they weren't particularly good fathers, in fact no country is, the whole FACE family is dysfunctional and while I love all of them, I kinda pity them. I think Rome was a bit discriminatory mostly towards France and never towards his other children while Arthur had to constantly prove him self and was bullied by his brothers. While other nations have suffered from trauma too (I headcanon that Prussia was burnt on stake and people threw rocks at him due to his albinism and being left handed) something similar happened to Arthur, who I headcanon that he was burnt for being a witch and Francis went a few times through the guillotine, or Arthur still having a bullet scar on his arm from the American revolution or Francis having nightmares from that day where Jeanne was burnt and waking up in his own sweat. Arthur also must suffer from workholism and alcoholism, judging by how much he works and goes to pubs to drink. Everyone chooses their own poison and how to cope with life and many use unhealthy coping mechanisms, hell, even I used unhealthy coping mechanisms a lot in the past and I am not proud of them, in fact, I try to improve.

I can talk about their history and how it relates to their mental health and what scars they have for hours but I would bore you. You came for a song and I am probably boring you so I apologize for writting a lot of words, in advance. I basically think that fruk/ukfr is the ultimate ship for many reasons because they click, I do ship spuk/engita/asakiku and many other things but fruk/ukfr is kinda like butter and bread, it is a great combination. I never said it is 100 percent healthy, however their relationship makes psychological sense and their personalities click. I know people like to present arthur as this dumb tsundere man that blushes and says baka, or he is this garbage rat dad that no one likes or francis is presented or at least used to be this perverted sex machine that touched other countries inappropriatly or at least the 2012-2015 fans saw him this way and while he still has the reputation of a pervert, what many young people in the fandom see as disgusting, I just see as an overly lonely man that just happens to have high libido and copes with it by having casual sex and just has a sex humour, the same way some people have fart jokes humour or darker, more cursed humour, I am really glad that fans mostly left off this whole - Francis is a r**ist and will grope you, in the past, because honestly r**e is not joke and as a character he clearly understands consent and boundaries and I don't think someone like him would do such a thing. Also Greece and Turkey have even higher libido than him and sleep around more, yet he is the ''pervert'', I don't get it??????????? but fruk is just so much more than opposites attract, they have a lot in common so I can't say they're full opposites, no one is truly. I have heard people ask why does anyone ship fruk when it is just opposites attract/enemies to lovers trope and I am honestly confused, because that is extremely rough generalization to say the least, it is like saying - All men/women are the same, it is simply wrong/uncorrect. I think they ''married'' five times - The Treaty of Paris (1657) formed an alliance against Spain. The Anglo-French Alliance (1716–31) formed another alliance against Spain. The Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata (1845-1850). The Anglo-French joint invasion of Qing Dynasty (1856–1860). And the last one which is their official marriage The Entente Cordiale (1904) fought together in both World Wars. As far as I remember Francis tried to marry Arthur but he refused and why he refused is up for subjective opinion but I must write a whole thesis on why Fruk/ukfr works so well and people are not here for that, they're here for the music and I will provide. I also always saw Francis as the more gentle and more submissive partner, I just love to see him drawn in frilly beautiful dresses with bows and stuff and Arthur as the more dominant, I mean as a country he was a powerhouse during the 1600s-1800s and used to be a punkrocker, usually rockers are mentally tough and that man is extremely cunning and witty so...people drawing him as this useless baka uwu overly feminine anorexic boy that looks more like a tween rather than a 23 year old guy just assasinated his character in my opinion and it disturbs me but I am just some awkward human on the internet and no one values my opinion anyway because this is the internet and many people nowdays love to have hot takes and try to gain followers through clickbait stuff which sometimes goes out of control and everything just seems more fake and shallow to me, the more old I get.Okay that was my silly rant no one asked about but I feel really passionate about hetalia and Fruk/Ukfr. Anyway, I apologize again for my long rant and going all over the place, please enjoy this playlist

PLAYLIST WITH SONGS THAT REMIND ME OF FRUK/UKFR

1 - Halestorm - Bad romance - rock cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll4NJs3NBIU

2 - Queen - Somebody to love - lyrics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj69iA_goIk

3 - ABBA - Voulez vous - (I know everyone chooses Waterloo and while waterloo is a fruk theme, I think Voulez vous works too) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwcgMVXuBJc

4 - London beat - I've been thinking about you - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixBryyQSrD8

5 - Santana - Smooth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Whgn_iE5uc

6 - George Michael - Careless whisper - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izGwDsrQ1eQ

7 - Robbie Williams - Feel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy4mXZN1Zzk

8 - Michael Buble - Feeling good - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edwsf-8F3sI

9 - Edith Piaf - La vie en rose - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFzViYkZAz4

10 - Chopin - Marriage d'amour (Spring waltz) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFJ7kDva7JE

11 - Vanessa Carlton - A thousand miles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERw2LuU6Jj8

[negans-lucille-tblr]

I’ve been interested in turning my fics into books (obviously changing character names and such) and I know you self published, so if you don’t mind can I ask what that was like? Did you attempt to go to a publisher or did you know you wanted to self publish from the start, and how much did publishing cost and is your book in stores or making money? Sorry if this is invasive or rude im not trying to be, im genuinely interested and anytime I google it I can’t get a straight answer so I figured I’d ask someone who’s gone through the process 😊

I didn't even attempt going to a publisher with His Property. Mainly because it was erotica and I was a little embarrassed about submitting it to places (I'm kinda over that now lol) but also I have a family friend who is an author, and she's often in the top ten romance writers in the UK, so she's got a lot of experience under her belt.

I was talking to her about publishing, and she said that when you get published via a publisher, 80% of your "job" as a writer is not writing. It's promo or editing or meetings, then you've gotta write X amount of words by X date, and then you've gotta include XYZ in your books, and then you send it off and when it comes back about 40% of it has been changed by editors and you can't do anything about it. She also hates every book cover she's ever had because she had no artistic say.

She's signed to three different publishers under three different contracts but they're all the same. She heavily advised I did my own thing, and as I'm very fortunate in having a decent following on here, and I've already got a pool of readers familiar with my work that I can promote my books to, I decided self-publishing was the way forward.

Obviously, I had to take care of editing myself, I designed the cover myself, found the printers and whatnot. I had to create my own website and handle all the sales on that end (Which for me was easy to do as that's actually my 'real life job' already) I did have to pay out for the first print run, but I made sure to price the books accordingly so I'd make my money back plus a profit for all my efforts/time. The first print run paid for itself easily enough, then you use some of your profit for the next and the next etc etc

Honestly cost will depend on what you're gonna pay others to do and what you're gonna do yourself. It also heavily depends on how many books you're gonna want to print. The company I used charged like £15 per book for the first 5, and then it got much less per copy the more you bought. Once you're looking at 100+ copies it's very very reasonable.

Sorry I can't be more help and good luck!

[spooky-chapscher]

What is the "Maintain Parasocial Distance" thing? Is that like a separate project that Ryan is doing? Why do people need a warning about asking invasive questions, is there something going on?

Thanks for asking, because I have always kinda wanted to talk about this.

Parasocial interactions refer to the sort of relationship that audience members develop with celebrities and other performers. When people watch a performer for long enough, they can begin to view this performer as a friend. Even if the audience member acknowledges that they aren’t actually friends with this performer, they still can become emotionally-invested in this performer’s career and personal life.

Parasocial distance refers to the emotional/social distance fans keep from their favorite performers. Maintaining parasocial distance refers to acknowledging that the performer/fan relationship is largely one-sided and that the performer and fan are not “friends.” As much as some performers enjoy and encourage fan engagement, fans (and performers) need to realize that they are, ultimately, strangers.

This isn’t to say that there should be no interaction between creator and fan. Instead, I feel that a lot of interactions should be viewed as if they are taking place between strangers on a bus. If a stranger on the bus genuinely complimented someone or was just generally supportive, they’re probably being nice. However, if that stranger was “playfully” rude or started fawning over the person or asked personal questions, they do not come off as that nice – even if you don’t mind your friends treating you in a similar way.

I made the initial post after Ryan’s engagement and I reblogged it again today in the wake of Steven’s engagement. I made it because, as anyone who has ever gotten married or had a friend get married knows, for some reason, people love to come out of the woodwork to give unsolicited advice about the wedding and ask invasive questions. “It should be in THIS church.” “You two should wear this and serve this.” “Are you going to have kids?” “*looks at non-engaged couple* So when are YOU going to tie the knot?” People have a lot of opinions about weddings and they have a lot of questions about the future. It’s okay to think about these things, but it’s important to remember that it really is none of our business.

I’ll be honest, I’m not active on the same social media platforms the boys are active on. I myself haven’t seen responses to these announcements and the posts that follow. Perhaps everyone just says “congratulations” and that’s it. I hope that’s the case. However, I have seen things in fan-circles that echo the kind of comments in the previous paragraph, and I hope that these comments never touch a platform where the boys would see them. For the most part, this fandom is pretty good at keeping fan interactions and creator interactions separate. That’s great! They’re maintaining parasocial distance! However, I noticed that there has been some spillover between fan-space and creator-space when there is a major life event.

For example, fans have repeatedly asked the boys to post a “why I left BuzzFeeed” video. They might post that video. In fact, they probably will once the contracts are up. However, that doesn’t make it acceptable to go up to someone, a stranger, and ask, “Hey, why did you quit your job?” Some people may not think that this is a kinda entitled question to ask someone you don’t know; I, however, think it is. I acknowledge that it’s a little subjective, but I err on the side of caution. And I think that asking about people’s personal lives is way more invasive than asking questions about their career; which is why I didn’t bring up parasocial distance until recently.

I don’t think that the majority of fans need the warning I posted. Most of the fans I know pretty much keep to themselves and stay in fan-cultivated corners of the internet. However, weddings tend to bring out people’s invasive side. So I felt compelled to post.

TL;DR – “Maintaining Parasocial Distance” means “We respect these people, but acknowledge that we are not friends. Therefore, our interactions with them should reflect this.” People need to be reminded about this sometimes, especially when there is a major life event. (Also, Steven’s getting married! Mazel tov, Steven!)