#and i'm never letting anyone see them again

[ccsainzleclerc5516]

Away From You For The Holidays

Pairing: Lando Norris x reader

Warnings: unstable family relationships, please don't take offense this is completely fictional

Since Lando and you are not from the same country, this is another holiday that the two of you spend apart from each other. You still haven't gotten to the point where you spend the holidays with his family or he with yours because during the year you're both on the road all the time and spend little time with your families, so when Christmas time comes, your family wants you to spend that time with them, just like Lando's family wants to be with him.

You came home to your hometown a week before Christmas, and now that it's already the third day after Christmas, it's becoming difficult for both of you to be so far away from each other.

Now, your family can be tough sometimes. You've never had the warm and close relationship with your parents that Lando has always had with his. You love your parents as much as they love you, and you can thank only them for everything you've achieved in life, but the truth is that growing up, they weren't always fair to you, and you never had the emotional support from them that you wanted and needed as a child.

For example, your mom always has to add something a little negative to every compliment she gives you. Always. And if you mentioned to her that her comments sometimes, most of the times, hurt you, she would somehow find herself offended. It's just always been that way, and that's why you don't like spending too much time at home with your family anymore.

It was the same today, your mom made some inappropriate comment that threw you off balance and it just all came together and became too much for you. You missed Lando, so you retreated to your room and started crying quietly longing for his warm comforting hug. Lando seemed to sense that you needed him because not long after tears started to fall down your face, your phone rang showing his name on the screen.

You quickly wiped your tears trying to hide that you were crying knowing it would upset Lando before you answered.

"Hey, baby" You spoke, sniffling a little.

"How's my most beautiful girl in the world?"

"I'm fine, I'll be even better when I see you." Your eyes water and you sniffle again.

"Baby, are you crying?" Lando notices immediately.

"I'm not.."

"Baby, what's wrong?" He asks worriedly. "Turn on the camera, let me see you."

"I'm okay, don't worry. I'm just a little emotional that's all."

"Can you please turn on the camera? I want to see you." He pleads.

You hesitate for a second, but when he asks you so tenderly, you really can't say no.

"Hey" You smile at him, but your red eyes betray your sadness.

"My baby..what’s goin on?"

"It's nothing, I'm just tired of being home and I can't wait to be with you again."

"I'm getting on a plane tomorrow and I'm coming to pick you up." You expected this from him and that's why you didn't even want him to know you were crying because you didn't want to disturb his family time at home.

"No, no! We're both flying to Spain in two days anyway so I'll survive until then, don't worry." You reassure him because you definitely planned to spend the New Year's together in Spain.

"I know, but I don't want you to spend a single second sad, especially not during the holidays. I can't sit still at home knowing that you're crying miles away from me."

"Don't worry, love, I'm fine, you already know how it goes during the holidays at my house."

"I really want this to be the last year we're not together for Christmas. Next year, I don't care if anyone gets mad, but next year on Christmas Eve I want us to be together in our home in front of our Christmas tree and under our blanket. I'm tired of being miles away from the person I love most in the world on such special days of the year."

"I know, baby, I want that too more than anything, but-"

"No but's, no, I know what you're going to say and I don't wanna hear it. You're my priority and I want you to be next to me at all times." He says and you sigh knowing it's easier said than done. "Baby, one day we'll have our own family and we'll most definitely want to spend Christmas at our home with our kids, and then later come everyone else. And I want it to be like that next year as well, you and I at our home for Christmas, and then we go and visit our families together. Okay?"

His words brought a smile to your face and warmth around your heart already fantasizing about what it could be like next year. You wanted it more than anything. You and him. Together.

"Okay, baby. I want that too and I honestly think that's the only right way."

"It is. No more crying, okay?" He says and you nod. "Ugh, I wanna kiss you so bad right now” Lando sighs tilting his head and looking at you with nothing but pure love.

"Trust me, you won't be able to get rid of me in two days."

"Baby, in two days, I'm not letting you out of my arms anymore."

[drawing-prompts-ideas]

"You have to learn anatomy before you can develop a style"

I focused on drawing for fun, not necessarily accuracy since a young age. Overtime, I naturally picked up basic rough anatomy, though it wasn't perfect, and still looked OFF if you were experienced. But it was definable, and not horrible, even looking back at it years later.

My style developed long before I actually put any real effort into learning anatomy.

And even then, rarely have I sat down and strictly focused on learning anatomy or any . I think I've done it 3 or 4 times for full-body anatomy, and a handful of times for various things I continued to struggle with and wanted to improve.

I sat down to learn feline anatomy after drawing almost exclusively cats for years because I recognized that I had places where I could improve and to help me learn better posing.

I sat down and learned various mythical beast anatomy because I got really into fantasy and wanted to draw the characters I was writing about. This was still after previously only referencing artists whose style I liked the depictions of those creatures. Despite being decently happy with my art, I wanted to make things more accurate and characters more recognizable.

I sat down and learned human anatomy because of wanting to do fanart for Undertale, which has a multitude of humanoid characters. But yet again, I was drawing these characters before then. This was the most extensive anatomy study I did, as I had never focused on humanoids before, and while I had been drawing anthro characters for a while, human proportions, heads, and limbs were huge struggles.

I sat down and learned anatomy for digigrade and partial-digigrade legs, hands, facial dimorphism, equine attributes, cervine attributes, and other various things I noticed I still struggled with and wanted to fix and felt ready to work on.

I sat down and learned body language, dynamic posing, facial expressions, clothing folds, hair, and other various things that weren't necessarily anatomy based in the same manner.

I didn't push myself to learn just because I felt I should. I dove into learning once I already had a basic understanding of each thing. The one time I DID push myself due to feeling like I should, it greatly discouraged me, as I didn't even have the basic understanding yet, so references and advice did next to nothing other than make me feel like a failure for not understanding them.

Overall, the best advice I can give anyone who is learning to draw or already considers themselves an artist is to keep that 5-year-old attitude of "I'm so good at this!"

With that attitude, seeing better artists' work you like makes you go "My art is awesome, but they're better!" rather than "My art sucks, their's is so much better." A small difference in phrasing, but a huge difference in motivation.

The first starts you off with pride and confidence in your work, and seeing artists you look up to helps motivate you to improve. Your self-pride and confidence are necessary because it gives satisfaction every time you improve, but doesn't let criticism hit too hard. "This drawing is awesome! Even if I did mess up this part a bit." It gives you a more accurate view of where you need to practice more.

The second has you having little to no pride or confidence in your ability, so seeing artists who are better than you discourages you from improving. Being too ashamed and perfectionistic about your work is a huge detriment because even when you can see improvement, it's never good enough. "I got a little better, but I won't ever be as good as them." It tends to end up with people burnt out due to pushing themselves to learn what they aren't ready for yet, lack of motivation to draw at all, and avoiding looking at art at all to prevent themselves feeling bad about their own art, and therefore slowing the very improvement they want.

artist friends: what are some art tips youve been given/have given that you now think are unhelpful/provably NOT true? for example - 'don't shade with black!' is one i used to tell people, until i realized its completely possible to do so successfully in diff styles

also - this is the tutorial that explained shading with black to me in a way that made sense! please check it out, its by datcravat on tumblr!

[renren-006]

Familiar Eyes | Lucius Verus x fem reader

plot: eyes will look familiar when they belong to your best friend.

a/n: ahhh im obsesed!! I can't stop watching edits of Paul Mescal!!! I just had to write something for him. I also have another story idea I'm playing with for him as well! Let me know if you have any ideas for more Lucius stories!!

Word count: 2136

You sat in the emperor's box, watching the gladiators in the pits with curious eyes. Get and Callicalla both sat in front of you, turning to see your expression every once in a while. They were both playing the game of waiting for you to grow yourself at them. You were playing the game of waiting till their deaths to celebrate. You wanted nothing to do with either emperor. You only wanted to sit and watch till it was time for you to take your leave. Lucille cast you a look of subtle remorse for the role you were thrown into, and you returned it with a small smile. You had known the woman for so many years, when you were younger you were her son's favorite friend. Lucius’s disappearance cast a hole in your heart and soul that could never be filled by anyone; your love for him lasted all these years and forever will. 

Your eyes again focused on the arena, already cleared of bodies and resetting for the next fight. The announcer's loud voice boomed through the Coliseum, causing an uproar from the spectators. Awaiting the next game was always torture, anticipating who or what would fight. 

When those doors opened and out came the group of gladiators, but one, in particular, fought your eye. A man with brown hair and the bluest eyes caught your attention. When he made eye contact, a sense of familiarity warmed your heart. He looked away almost as fast, leaning down to grab at the sandy gravel. You remember from your youth a particular gladiator used to do the same.

 It couldn’t be him, could it? 

The question swarmed your mind as you watched the man before you fight. It was mesmerizing watching him move around the arena; it was an art. How he moved around the arena reminded you of the boy you used to watch play “gladiator” with his guards. He would always have you watch and clap when he had won, always smiling brightly when you sang him praise. As you watched him, the realization shone through your eyes; Lucius was the gladiator. You wanted to scream, to run into that pit and throw your arms over that boy you loved and thought lost. You looked to Lucilla whose face was unreadable and calculating, she too was watching Lucius. When the game was over, and he and a few of his men won, you knew you had to wait and be careful before you ran to see him. 

It wasn't until late in the evening when you rode our horse over with one of your guards and snuck inside the gladiator's cells and training grounds. You watched some of the men in the late hours training, and a few stopped and stared as you passed through the halls through the cell you were told Lucius was in. As the door opened, you saw the man sitting facing away from you. 

“To go from the boy who played gladiator with his guards to being one in the Collosiem is quite a jump,” you said, causing Lucius to slowly turn, “or have I mistaken you for my best friend?”

“You have the wrong person,” he said; the hurt look in his eyes told you enough. The man in front of you was not him, not anymore. Lucius was a diffrent person. 

“Ah. Seems I am wrong,” you said, stepping back and slowly turning to be able to tell the guards to let you out. A hand came up and took your wrist lightly. You jumped slightly. 

“Your best friend…the one you thought I was…why did you think I was him?” he asked. 

“When I looked in your eyes, you made me feel like I was looking at him. My heart felt whole again.” you told him, “Sorry to have bothered you, gladiator.” His hold on you loosened, and your hand slipped out when you left his cell. You didn't turn to see if he was still watching, but the feeling you got told you he was.

The next time you saw Lucius was the next round of gladiator fights he was to partake in. Another group battle was to commence. Watching Lucius, you could see there was a fire in him today. He glanced at at the box to see you, you tried your best to hide your gaze but it failed. Lucius gritted his teeth and looked back to fight. 

“Seems that Gladiator has an attitude today,” spoke Geta, “I hope it foils his game”

“I hope he proves you wrong,” you said. Geta's eyes met yours, and fury was in them. His face folded into anger. 

“How dare you speak to me that way. We have done you favors, making you a woman of high status,” Geta said, “Would you like that to be changed?” “It seems I spoke without thinking; truly, I am at your mercy,” you spoke, bowing your head toward the emperor. You knew your mouth would get you in trouble one day. These emperors tested you constantly, and the game you played was tiresome. Geta and Callicalla expected things from you, but you never gave in. Their feelings of annoyance were always made clear to you about this affair. 

“Sit,” he spoke. “We shall not rid you of your status today,” Calicalla said from his chair. The man was relaxed in his chair with that pet monkey he loved. Geta sat down, letting the words of his brother flow over him. You bowed your head again before looking back towards the fight. Lucius caught your eye. He had seen the spectacle. A small smirk appeared on his face, one matching that same boy from the courtyard. You smiled slightly, this boy has a history untold to you making him difficult to understand. You were desperate to understand. 

You revisited him a few nights after his battle. He was waiting for you this time. Lucius sat on his bed, watching the door with intensity. When you entered, it was clear he wanted you there. 

“I was waiting for you to come,” he told you. 

“I can see that. I tried to come sooner, but…had to play the role I am stuck in,” you told him. He scooted over in his bed. You took that as an invitation to sit next to him. Your blue dress flowed around you as you did. 

“I see,” he said. You both sat in silence. Lucius nervously played with his hands, something he never grew out of. 

“I have to know; you are Lucius, right?” You asked him, eyeing him hopefully. Lucius nodded. 

“I am”

“Why lie to me?”

“I am not the same boy you knew, y/n,” He told you. You laughed a bit and smiled at him.

“You think I would care if you were? You were gone for almost 20 years, Lucius. I should not expect you to be the same. I know I am not”

“You are a woman of status now,” he said. You nodded your head.

“Underneath, I am still the same,” you told him. “I hate this role I was shoved into”

“What happened when I left?” he asked you. 

“Rome was in disarray for so long, they still are. No one truly likes the emperors, and they are too blind to see the hate people have for them.” You told him, “I was still working in the palace when they came into power. For some reason, they wanted me, so they gave me a higher status, a ploy for me to…marry one of them,” you spoke slowly, looking up a few times. Lucious had his hands in his lap, fiddling. It was enough for Lucious to understand that there was a game at play with the gladiators and in Rome.

“Have you?”

“No” you spoke fast, meeting Lucius eyes. 

“The emperors are not happy about that.” The open-endedness of his statement answered itself. Lucius had always been a smart boy. Even when his uncle played emperor in his palace, he could see through it all. Rome had always been home to a game, not the gladiatorial games, which was worse. 

Lucius started calling on you throughout the week. You would enter the gladiator's home and walk with him, watch him train, or even sit with him and talk. You knew these meetings would get to the emperors sooner or later, and with what was conspiring behind closed doors, you knew it was sooner. Lucius was informed by his mother of the plan she and Acacius were planning. He didn't particularly like the man, but seeing how happy her mother was with him, he let his hatred die. He never would tell you that a part of him was also less hateful because he had found you again. 

It became apparent the word of your meetings had spread to the emperor's ears. The tretory of your betrayal to the emperor's hearts while the tretory of two others came to light the same night. You stood in their halls in your evening gown, feeling as though you wore nothing. Acacius and Lucilla stood in the halls, too. 

“You have betrayed your emperors,” Geta yelled, “You have betrayed our hearts,” He yelled at you as he grabbed your hair. A shrill cry left your mouth. “Do you love this gladiator? Hm? Should I make a show of his death for you”

“No! Please!” you spoke. Geta sparked a plan brewing.

“When I make a show of your treasuries, I shall put this…whore…on display as well. Show these gladiators never to mess with what is mine” 

You stood on the balcony with the emperors, your hands bound, and a giant bruise was forming on your cheek. They had not done too much, but the show of your night clothes, a bruise, and unkept hair was enough for the people of Rome to know something had happened. Next to you stood Lucilla, a similar unkept state about her. 

“Today! We have some traitors in our mist!” In the pits was Acacius. You watched as he fought and as Lucius entered the pits. He saw his mother, and he saw you. When you made eye contact, Geta grabbed your face.

 “In horror of the betrayal of Acacius and the lover to my betrothed. Fight to the death.” Lucius was furious and wanted revenge on Acacius for his actions in Numdia. You watched as they fought; he was angry.

“Do you see now why you should have kept your promise” Calliclla spoke. You looked at him with hatred in your eyes.

“I will never be with you or your brother,” You told him. The slap rang in your ears and turned the heads of others. Lucius and Acacius both stopped and looked at the emperor's box. Lucius stepped twords the box.

“No,” you said to him; Callicalla didn't like this. He took your face in his hands and made you look at him. You wished your life at come to this moment. 

“Let her go” Lucius yelled twords the box. 

“Back to your game, gladiator. Kill the general, and all will end for today,” Geta told him. When Lucius refused to end the general's life, his was taken anyway. You watched as the crowd took uproar at the action. A small smirk played on your lips.

“You think my hate for you is small,” you told Callicalla. “Try Romes hate.” You were let go when the mob started their terror in the stands. The Romans disrupted so much that you managed to be forgotten about and were released. You ran down to the gladiators, many letting you pass so you could get to Lucius. He turned in the hallway as he heard your footsteps. When you saw him face you, he started walking towards you, picking you up in his arms and holding you tight. 

“I will never let you go again” He spoke softly to you.

When all was done in Rome, you could finally rest. Sleep came easy to you next to Lucius in his mother's home. A new room and bed to accommodate the older prince. You were brought to his home and welcomed warmly by the others. You were no longer the mistress of the emperors but the wife of the Prince of Rome, your true love. You lay next to him, watching the stars through the window. 

“Awake are we?” Lucius asked. 

“How am I to sleep when you are here, home, next to me,” you spoke to him, smiling. Lucus met the smile with a kiss.

“Sleep my love,” he told you, “I will be here when you wake”

[woso-dreamzzz]

Injured (Jenni's Version): Christmas

Jenni Hermoso x Child!Reader

Summary: Christmas with Bambi and Jenni

"Mama?" You ask as Jenni checks her reflection in the car mirror.

It's dark outside and it looks like it's cold outside of the nice, warm car. It's not snowing or anything but it'll still be cold, you can tell.

"Yeah, bambi?" Jenni fluffs her hair briefly before smoothing it down again when it doesn't have the desired effect, folding back the sleeves of her shirt.

"What if they don't like me?"

You can't look at her in the rear view mirror, choosing to look down at your feet.

Jenni bought you a pair of shoes that look exactly like your favourite ballet flats but could be worn outside so you're wearing them now. They're a nice, pretty pink colour and shiny too.

You flex your feet inside the shoes just to see them move.

"What if who doesn't like you?"

Jenni tries to catch your eyes but you refuse to look at her.

"Your Mami and Papa. What if they don't like me?"

Jenni twists around in the driving seat to look at you properly.

You're wearing your new shoes and a very cute reindeer pyjama set and an even cuter train conductor hat that Jenni had bought on a whim after seeing it in the window of a charity shop as she passed by.

Andy sits in the seat next to you, little tail wagging as he stands next to you in a matching outfit to protect him from the cold.

"Why wouldn't they like you?"

You shrug, still looking down at your feet. "'Cause I don't look like you. The kids at school say I can't be your daughter if I don't look like you."

Jenni undoes her seatbelt and climbs over the centre console into the back with you.

Andy seems overjoyed, trying to escape his own seatbelt to lather her in kisses but Jenni's only focus is on you.

"Those kids at school are stupid."

"Mama, you say to never call people stupid."

"Huh...I guess I do but I can't help it if people are stupid and kids like that are. Alright? It doesn't matter if we don't look like each other. Do you know why, bambi?"

"Why?"

"Because we chose each other." Jenni gently unclips you from your car seat and pulls you into her lap. "And I think that means more than anyone will understand."

You rest your head on her shoulder, reaching out to gently play with her fingers as you think through her words. "Really?"

"Really. The kids at school are silly for thinking that just because we don't look alike means we're not family."

"Like how Andy's family too? Even though he's a dog and we're not?"

"Exactly like Andy. He's still part of the family and we still love him the same."

You nod. It's only a little nod, barely a movement of the head but Jenni feels it against her shoulder. "And your Mami and Papa will understand that I'm like Andy? And I'm still yours even though I wasn't always?"

"My Mami and Papa have been looking forward to meeting you for so long," Jenni replies. Her fingers gently stroke up and down your back, touches featherlight as she draws you close to her body like she wants to enshrine you under her skin - kept close and safe forever next to her.

"Are you sure?"

"It's all they've been talking about for weeks," Jenni assures you," They're so excited for you to open the presents they got you."

"They...They got me presents?"

That shouldn't have really been surprising for you. It's Christmas. People get other people presents for Christmas. But, still, you find yourself a bit confused.

Jenni was Mama, that was certain. That was definite. She did all the things that Mamas were meant to do like feed you and give you cuddles and kisses and take you to ballet and even let you sleep in bed with her when you woke up from a nightmare.

Jenni was Mama but that didn't make her parents automatically your Abuela and Abuelo. Jenni chose you. Jenni looked at you and decided that she would be your Mama. You chose her too.

But her parents haven't chosen you. Not yet anyway.

You've met them before, a long while ago when you were still Alexia's. It had only been in passing though and you don't really remember them now.

You wonder if they're actually excited to see you or if that's what they told Jenni.

You wonder if the presents they got you are actually something you'll like or something they think you should like.

The little knot in your stomach returns, like a tiger pacing its cage and you lean more heavily into Jenni.

"Tell you what," She says softly," We'll go inside, we'll open our presents and if you're still filling a little icky, we'll grab some dessert for the trip home and get out of there."

"Really, Mama?"

"Of course." Jenni presses a kiss to your crown. "It doesn't matter where we are so long as we celebrate Christmas together."

[skittles-secrets]

I just wanna say I love your writing sm! 🥰 and I’d like to request hcs on how the batboys act when they have a crush on the reader, and how they work themselves up to asking them out? Tysm!

how they act when they have a crush 😯

bruce wayne

had known the feeling all too well. he'd had lots of crushes before. bruce is worried, though, because most of his other relationships ended in some sort of crazy plot twist and he couldn't handle that again. plus, he was driving himself crazy worrying.

will they not like me after they spend more than a day with me at a time? will they break up with me when they see all the kids? how can i tell them i'm batman?

he got over it though when his eldest son, dick, hit him on the back and encouraged him. "bruce, you can't keep waiting around. if you want something, you have to get it before it's gone, okay?"

so, then he wasn't so afraid of having his little crush anymore.

dick grayson

could've asked you out a loooong time ago. he has the confidence. he has the looks. he was a fan favorite in all of gotham. so why hadn't you? well, he wasn't sure if you'd go for someone like him. he didn't know of your past relationships, let alone if you'd had any. so that's how he talked himself out of it.

it was only when he caught himself giggling at your texts to him at 3 a.m. when he realized that he was down bad. he needed to confess to you. if he didn't, he'd be stuck pining after you and laughing at your texts like a hormonal teenager for the rest of his sad, sad life.

jason todd

didn't really understand the feeling at first. he didn't get exposed to crushes and those sorts of things as a child because he didn't have the luxury of elementary school. then, he spent most of his teenage to young adult years.. well.. dead, so... it's not like he could have been dating anyone then.

that's why he was so confused and nervous. why doesn't talking to you feel like anyone else? why does he mentally scold himself after every conversation for every stupid thing he said.

he realized he had to confess to you on one of the occasions he made you smile. he realized that he wanted to do it over again a million more times, because he wanted to be the one to make you smile and laugh. he wanted to be there for you while you slept, or were sad, or scared. damn.. he really likes you.

tim drake

was no stranger to crushes. he'd always been the type to look at someone and crush on them for years, never say anything, and then it goes away when he realizes that it's never gonna work out. that's what his crush was like, pining after you.

he just automatically assumed that every person he'd like would never even consider dating him. it was weird, because he's a good looking guy and there's no reason for him to think like that.

he realized that he needed to confess to you when he found himself accidentally stalking your instagram so hard he hit the first post you ever made. also, jason called him out for it in front of damian and damian is mean so he got embarrassed and flustered and decided that it wouldn't be so bad if he actually did say something to you.

thank you so much for the request and the follow! i loved this idea, and it was so fun to write. thank you for liking my writing!

[inthelibraryrecs]

again bc one is not enough but let's dissect it this time okay?

THE PLAYLIST SHE DID FOR HIM? we healed fr, my family is back together.

"you love me so damn bad" he will NEVER stop being cocky, like i could see his smirk you know what i mean? and i ate it up LIKE EVERY SINGLE TIME

her spiraling and him listening to her and giving her the space to let it out what she's feeling? MHM YES, AND THAT'S ON GROWTH

THE KISS i will never stop talking about the kiss like, they are so in love, they are it, they will marry, they will have kids, they are a happy family bc that cat is officially now his child too. I'm just trying to picture the kiss and I'm like giggling and kicking my feet, bc I can only imagine his face after like a weight he didn't know he had was lifted off his chest. For her to do that is like closure like moving on, to this new version of them that will be in fact together forever bc there's no way they want anyone else, IT'S END GAME

HEARTBREAK: OFFLINE | 74

All | MASTERLIST (SMAU)

Pairing — Ex-BF!Rafe x Radio Host!Female Reader

Summary — You and Rafe were the perfect couple. But after a mysterious breakup, you went off the grid. When your best friends pulls you back into the spotlight to host a on-campus radio show, you find yourself opening up to the world about your experience. This time, with everyone listening—including Rafe. And him? He wants you back.

Content — college au, football player!rafe au

Navigation — Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT TAGLIST AND UPDATES: if you want to be notified about all my fics and updates, follow @zyafics-library and turn on notifications! however, if you want to be added to this specific taglist, let me know (but to remain tagged, you must interact with the posts).

TAGLIST FOR HB:L: @ghostofwriting @mimibaby01 @itneverendshere @inthelibrarybtw @psychocitylights @carrerascameron @theeternaloptimistt @frankoceanluvr11 @lilithblackkk @promiscuousg1rl @whytheylosttheirminds @harrys-housewife @maybankslover @cnnamongrl @a-lovers-card @rafesgiirl @psychicnatural @rrosiitas @enthusiastms @doll-face222 @ilovefiction4lmen @goldsainz @starkeygirls @maybankiara @yootvi @4ria790 @rafegf-real @rafeslovergirl @yuckblushin @xoxosblogsblog @logansblackgf @watchmerora @lou-la-lou @astroniii @vonhoe @congratsloserr @ilyrafe @rafesdrew @marooningmirrorball @drwstarkeys @xdaughterofpersephonex @ivysprophecy @murdockcastleslut @jeongintwt @evelynffics @sematarygirls @winniemoe @chenslucy @oceandriveab

[et6rnalsunshine]

࣪˖ ִ⭑ ࣪ avoidance (chris sturniolo)

⭑ soph's note. second post hi. idk how i feel about this, ive never written something like this so hopefully it's not that bad.... also, thank you for almost 70 followers already and the likes on my last blurb, appreciate the love so much ♡

"is this what we do now? have sex, and not speak about it?" you ask, the question hanging heavy in the air as you look over to chris, who pauses his actions on his phone. he stays silent, not responding, but you knew he had heard you. you look away from him, sighing quietly as you glance around the slight darkness of the bedroom. you were tired of opening yourself up to chris, just for him to push you away.

"what?" he responds after a moment, looking over to you, but he knew what you meant.

you scoff slightly, looking over to him and sitting up slightly on the bed, "you know what i mean, chris." you had tried to talk to him. over and over, but it was like a wall had been built between you. one that felt impossible to break down.

"what 'd you do that for?" he murmurs, still staring blankly at his phone. you furrow your brows at his stupid question, opening your mouth to speak before he interrupts you. "make things into a big deal, i mean. why do you want to keep complicating things?" he looks over to you, setting his phone down.

"do what? i don't want to complicate things," you correct him, slight frustration bubbling up. "i just wanna talk, chris. can't we just talk, for once? you don't get to push me away like this. it isn't fair."

things were complicated, sure, they always were with chris. in the beginning, it felt like everything was falling into place. his words were sweet, wrapped in promises, ones that lingered even after he said them. for a while, those words felt like enough. even if there was no label on your relationship, it was enough. but then, slowly, something began to shift. it's like he realized how close he was getting to you, and immediately started pushing you away emotionally. the way his gaze would linger on you, but never quite meet your eyes. he was always there, always close, but never really there. not anymore.

every time you showed him the parts of yourself that you kept hidden from everyone else, he would pull back a little more, retreating into himself. you had began to wonder if maybe, you were the problem. if your presence was too much, too heavy for him. but it wasn't. you weren't the problem.

the silence stretched between you after you spoke. the air felt thick as he sighed at your words. no, it wasn't fair. but that didn't matter to him, did it? you could feel it—his avoidance. it was a feeling you had grown familiar to when it came to chris.

"seriously, chris. i'm tired of acting like everything's fine." you speak again, needing him to talk to you, to at least give it some acknowledgement. you look over to him, silently begging him to open up, to say anything. instead, he looks down at his hands, his expression unreadable.

his words full of affection, promises that were never quite fulfilled, had turned into nothing more than distant echoes. you had been vulnerable with him, you had opened yourself up in ways you hadn’t with anyone else, and yet, it was like he was too afraid to let you see him as he really was. you wanted to be there for him. you wanted to show him that you cared, that your care for him was beyond lust. that you weren't going anywhere. but he wasn't letting you in. and you realized, maybe he wasn't going to. maybe he couldn't—no. maybe he didn't want to.

and so, you sat there, both of you in that dimly lit bedroom. two people who had once been so close, but now felt like strangers. you hear chris let out a heavy sigh, meeting your eyes for a moment before getting up from the bed.

"where are you going?" you ask, disappointed as you once again had no answer to the questions lingering in your mind. you watch, a frown plastered on your face as he grabs his car keys and phone from the bedside table.

"are we seriously talking about this again?" he huffs to himself, running a hand through his hair before answering your question, "i just need to clear my head. ill be back," he mumbles before leaving you there, the bedroom door left open as you hear his footsteps retreating and eventually the faint hum of his car driving away.

you were left with nothing but your thoughts, the quiet hum of the ac, and the weight of something that never quite blossomed. 

© et6rnalsunshine

[lesone-shot]

Your child calls her mom for the first time

Jenna Ortega x fem!reader TW: just pure cuteness <3

Jenna glanced away from the TV and to your little girl on the couch beside her, noticing that she was so tired that she was struggling to keep her eyes open despite how excited she'd been to watch this movie a little while ago.

It was no surprise though.

Bedtime is always eight o'clock for Amelia but since you had to work late tonight, Jenna let her stay up a few extra minutes, as long as it was their little secret.

Amelia had been pretty excited about that. But it's ten minutes after eight and she's already falling asleep.

"Are you tired, honey?" Jenna asked, and Amelia nodded before reaching out to Jenna to pick her up.

She chuckled before turning the TV off and bringing her into her arms.

"I've got you", she carried her up the stairs and turned the light on in her room so she wouldn't trip over her toys scattered across the floor.

"I'll help you pick those up tomorrow", Jenna whispered as she gently placed Amelia on her bed. She brought her blankets up to her shoulders and sent Amelia a little smile.

"Go to sleep. Your mom will be home soon and I'm sure she'll come tell you goodnight when she gets here."

"Okay," Amelia said before reaching for Jenna's hand. It melted her heart.

She's been trying so hard to form a bond with your five-year-old daughter because your relationship is getting stronger day by day. Since Amelia's dad hasn't ever been in the picture, having left months before she was born, you've been anxious about letting anyone get too close because it doesn't impact you if they leave, it impacts Amelia as well.

But Jenna's the one for you and you're the one for her, you both know that wholeheartedly.

All that Jenna wants is for Amelia to love her and know that she's always going to be there for her whenever she needs her and she'll never leave.

"Did you have fun today while your mom was at work?" Jenna wondered.

The two of them had spent the whole day together.

Jenna let Amelia decide how they spent the day and it mostly consisted of watching cartoons, having a tea party, and Jenna reading her stories from Amelia's bookshelf.

"Yeah," Amelia replied with a bright but tired smile.

"Good, so did I. Now go to sleep, okay? I'm just going to be down the hall if you need me".

Amelia nodded and Jenna pulled her hand away from her tinier one and kissed her forehead softly, making her giggle.

"Goodnight princess. Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite"

"I love you, Mom," Jenna froze as she stared at Amelia, her heart about to burst as she replayed what the five-year-old had just said.

"I love you too" Jenna whispered.

"I love you more, Mom" Jenna giggled and blinked away the tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"Impossible. I love you most, now go to sleep" Jenna held back the tears of happiness in her eyes as she turned on Amelia's nightlight, turned off the light over her bed, and then stepped out of the room after closing the door almost all the way.

She went down the hall to your room, knowing that you would be home soon.

Through the blur of her tears and with her big smile on her face, she texted you excitedly.

"She called me mom!" she grinned proudly.

This was the very first time Amelia had ever called her that and it meant everything to her. Her phone chimed and she picked it up again to see you had texted back.

"That's so adorable! I knew she would in time. I'll be home in about ten minutes and I want you to tell me everything! I love you!"

"I love you too, baby" She texted back before setting her phone down and laying back on the mattress.

She'd never forget this day for as long as she lived.

You and Amelia are her whole world and hearing her call her mom meant the world and more to her.

She was truly the happiest woman in the entire world and felt so thankful for you and Amelia; her beautiful little family.

[himbosandhardwear]

Steddie I Soulmate AU I 2k I Rated Mature I idiot4idiot

The thing about linking with your soulmate, you never knew when it was going to happen. There were horror stories about it happening during weddings to someone else or while performing heart surgery or landing a plane, but linking was so rare, stories like that seemed more like fairy tales than cautionary ones.

If anyone had asked Eddie what he thought about it, he would've said the odds of there being some guy out there destined to be his mate, let alone that he'd have to worry about linking during some critical moment, were astronomically low.

He'd be wrong.

Because his ears are ringing, his vision has tunnelled, and there's an empty vacuum where his usual chaotic thoughts should be. All signs pointing toward-

Hello?

Jesus H. Christ, not now! Not right now, this cannot be happening now. Quick! Think of something else! Uhhh… Golems! Ice golems! Or maybe frost giants. Yeah! Not having hate sex with your arch nemesis. Shit! Stop thinking about it! Frost giants, frost giants, frost giants!

Hate sex? He hears echo around his noggin next. Arch nemesis?

Fuuuuuck. No, darlin’, don't even worry about that stray thought! Nothing to see here. I'm, uh, baking! Yeah. Brownies. For a charity bake sale

A long pause, empty space between them, before he says, I don't believe you. I think you are having sex

Sex?! He screeches. How dare you! I would never!

You would. Go balls deep into a guy you don't even like, sounds like to me. Class act.

Oh god, there’s gotta be a way to salvage this.

No, let me explain, please!

Knock yourself out

Right. So, this guy, I know him from school, right? And he was always kind of a jerk. The space between them pings with a sort of stung feeling but Eddie doesn't understand how any of this works yet so he ignores it. But we end up having a few mutual friends, and this one really weird event happens that forces us to, like, team up, I guess. After all that I'm spending more time around the guy and he's not so bad. Invited me over to smoke up with him, which was cool. I'm gonna be totally honest, I'm not sure how exactly we got here, the sex part, but it’s pretty hot and heavy, kinda aggressive, so… yeah. Hate sex I guess

Soulmate is quiet again. His feelings bleed through anyway, at least Eddie's pretty sure that's what he's getting. It feels like embarrassment and disappointment.

You okay? Did I scare you off?

You don't like the guy at all? You said arch nemesis

Oh. Uh. Well… How did he explain to his future partner, if he hadn't already ruined it, that he likes him plenty, he's just been holding him at arms length, metaphorically, because he assumed the guy was straight? Up until roughly twenty minutes ago. He should probably start with honesty.

No, I like him okay. He's not as bad as I'd always thought. We give each other shit but I'm pretty sure it's just left over bullshit stereotypes from high school. I bully him about his music taste, he bullies me about my shitty van. That type of thing

…Right

He waits to hear back from his soulmate but he's not very talkative. That's okay, Eddie can talk enough for both of them.

So, what were you up to when we linked? Not driving I hope

He can hear the guy sighing over the link, which is worrying.

You'll never believe it, but I'm also having sex at the moment

Seriously? That's hilarious

Yeah. A hoot

Not having fun?

I was. But I recently found out the guy doesn't like me that much. So, yeah, real mood killer

Oh man. That sucks

Oh my god. Yeah, it really does. Kinda wish he'd get off of me so we can get the awkward part over with but he's distracted at the moment

Doing what?! Eddie yells, offended on his behalf.

“He’s busy not realizing he linked to the guy he was hate fucking.”

Huh?

“Eddie, open your fucking eyes.”

That's Steve talking.

He blinks his eyes open to see Steve looking up at him. He's not pleased.

Wait

“Yeah.”

Oh my god

“As impressive as it is that you managed to stay hard through that whole thing, I'd appreciate it if you-” He hisses as Eddie, rudely he realizes, pulls out without warning.

He scrambles to the end of the bed, bunching up the comforter around his junk. “I'm so sorry, fuck, Steve, I'm so sorry. I don't… I didn't…”

He can't fix this, he starts to slowly comprehend. He's made Steve think he hates him.

“Nah, it's cool. I get it.”

I don't hate you, I swear. You have to believe me

“Sure, Eddie.” He's yanking his briefs back on, angry and trying not to show it. “You just don't like me much.” Can't believe I did this again. So fucking stupid

Eddie's certain he's not meant to hear any of that but he responds anyway.

You're not stupid. Please let me explain

“You already did. And I am fucking stupid,” he snaps. “Here I thought we were flirting this whole time and you thought we were bullying each other. That's real fuckin’ stupid of me. I'd convinced myself you actually-” He snaps his teeth shut but Eddie can still hear the unfinished -liked me. “I really wish you would control your feelings, dude. You're broadcasting your horror straight into my head.”

“I don't know how to stop,” he quietly admits.

“Well if you'd ever shown up to health class you'd know how to control it.”

I never thought I would get a soulmate

Steve's surprise at that pings around his brain before he does what Eddie can't and shuts it down.

“I did. I've been thinking about it for years.”

And you ended up with me… And I ruined it before we even got started. I ruined it. Steve Harrington is my soulmate and I ruined it. What the fuck

“You don't have to say it like I'm some kind of prize.” He steps into his jeans and tugs them back up to his hips, not even bothering to do them up. Which is- “I guess it's nice that you think I'm hot. That's something. Maybe we'll be the first casual hookup soulmates.”

He has to fix this. Somehow. Think, god damnit! Wait! That's it! He just has to show Steve what he's thinking!

“I wish you wouldn't.”

“Too bad!” He snaps back.

Okay, as embarrassing as this is about to be, he has to tell the truth.

Eddie was in the 8th grade, Steve in 7th, when they first met. Or, when Eddie first noticed Steve anyway, they never really spoke to each other, their cliques already established by then. But Eddie can remember it like it was yesterday. It was lunch, Eddie was walking by with his bagged PB&J, when he heard it. Steve laughing. It was so joyful, Eddie didn't even know what he was laughing about but it made him smile anyway. Of course one of Steve's shitty jock friends caught him staring and called him a queer freak but that wasn't unusual.

“What the fuck, Eddie? Why do you remember that? And how are you so good at visualizing?”

He ignores the questions to move on to the next memory. Eddie's sophomore year they somehow ended up in the same Shop class. Again, they never spoke but he got to watch Steve work, tongue poking out while he concentrated, the proud look on his face when he whittled some hunk of wood into a recognisable shape.

“I forgot about that. It was a dolphin. I was dating Chelsea Hosteller, they were her favorite animal.”

“Lucky her.”

“Hey, fuck you, man, you're the one showing me this shit! What am I supposed to assume from any of this? You thought I was cute? So what? You clearly don't like who I am as a person, so what difference does it make?”

He's not going to have the patience for every single moment, and they're a lot of them, Eddie realizes that now. So he speed runs through them, making sure to send every bit of feeling through their link.

Steve in his Scoops outfit, luring Eddie to the mall but never making him brave enough to go in. The horror of not knowing whether Steve was alive or dead when he heard about the mall burning down. The joy of finding him at Family Video, somewhere he had reason to visit.

You never even talked to me there

Listening to every word to every story Henderson told him about Steve and his bravery. Pretending to be annoyed so no one noticed he was eating it up. Getting to know the real Steve over Spring Break, the giddiness he couldn't quite tamp down, even as he was scared shitless. The pain of knowing Steve was still in love with Nancy Wheeler, even though it was the obvious narrative to Steve's fairytale life. Of course he gets the girl at the end.

What? Is that why you-

The way he stuck around afterward, even though their dynamic was more antagonistic than friendly, and the way Eddie thrived off of every snarky comment. How it felt like banter even though Eddie knew, by all logic and reason, Steve was merely tolerating his presence. They would always be antithetical to each other, circling but never meeting.

Eddie, no

Steve growling ‘Do you ever shut up!’ before pouncing on him downstairs. The heavy pounding of his heart as he wrestled Steve up the stairs. The way his brain never did catch up to what was happening or why, until it was too late, and he was ruining both the greatest sex he'd ever had and also the chance to prove, though he's still completely unworthy, that he has already been primed and ready to fall for Steve for years. The shame of ruining it. The heartbreak of ruining it. The teeny, tiny spark of hope as Steve stares him down. He has to close his eyes to avoid it, lest he say something stupid and fuck it up again.

You…do like me?

Yeah, Stevie. I like you a whole lot. I just didn't think I was allowed to like you. I didn't realize you liked me too. I'm sorry I said all that shit earlier. I didn't want to tell the guy I'd just linked with that I was thoroughly enjoying the chance to sleep with this guy I'd had a crush on for years. That seemed rude

The bed dips and so does Eddie's stomach. Steve's enormous hands slide up his neck, into his hair, and gently cradle his face as he leans in to kiss Eddie square on the mouth.

Oh. Hi

Hi

This is nice

I think so too. How do you feel about finishing what we started but this time we both know that we like each other?

That sounds awesome. But are you sure? I really, really fucked up the first time

I thought you were perfect up until you called me your arch nemesis

I have been told that sometimes I'm a little dramatic

You know what, that's fair. I really should've taken that as a compliment, if anything

See? Now you get it

What I'm getting is another condom. Hold my ankle so I don't slide off the bed

You got it, baby

Unbelievable. Salvaged the wreckage of his own stupidity and managed to bag the hottest guy in town! Score one for the nerds!

“I heard that.”

[absolutebl]

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 2

Lost on the River

Thai

JudoFluke are back! From Sammon, Fluke is the doctor and Judo a record producer. And not only that - there's a third person on the cover.

Love Carved in the Moonlight aka Salak Rak Nai Saengjan

Thai One31 trailer

Peak is back in BL? Wow.

Love of Silom

Thai WeTV

UpPoom are back in another complex piece. Closeted brokenhearted policeman meets struggling single dad.

Love Upon a Time

Thai trailer

Domundi's long awaited historical was announced for 2023, but after recasting, officially moved to 2025.

Love You Teacher

Thai trailer

I do like Perth & Santa (although I'm not sold on them as a pair). But words cannot describe how much I dislike this premise. SERIOUSLY? No thank you very much. I could, just maybe, hate watch Only Friends 2, but it's gonna be hard for me to even turn this on. Infantilization and people acting like children wigs me tf out. YKINMKBYKIOK of course, but not in my BL GMMTV. Stop it! (This one also got the dreaded pink of will not watch.

Loy Kaew First Love

Thai trailer

Historical pulp. About a farmer's son and his clsoe friend, son of the village headman.

Make a Wish Season 2

Thai

JudoFluke reprising their roles, rumor reported here.

Mandate

Thai

A fierce political battle is the starting point of love between two men of different statuses and backgrounds, not to mention a 17 year age gap.

Me and Thee

Thai trailer

A photographer gets involved with the mafia? OMG is this a Thai dupe for Target the Finder? Only mixed with Cyrano? WILD. I mean to say, this one is wild WILD! Plus Est (my love) back in suits and ear dongles I see. Also GMMTV never gonna let us forget they bagged two of BL's best bods with PP, thanks all for the visuals. Of course this is for me. I'm the shallowest, remember? Plus I love a BL that's just a little bit...... well...... stupid.

Me and Who

Thai WeTV trailer

Lead pair from Monster Next Door, BigPark, in an adaptation of Wickedwish’s novel of the same name. A poor young man dies and is reborn into the body of a billionaire heir. The heir happens to be engaged to a handsome man who come to understand his secret.

Melody of Secrets

trailer

Not wild about ForceBook, do like a mystery, don't like horror or psychological thrillers... not sure on this one. I like BL pushing into new territory, even if it's not my territory, but this is defiantly not made for me, that's for damn sure.

Memoir of Rati

Thai trailer

Sing the praise song with me BLabies! GreatInn in a HISTORICAL with a class divide and everyone's favourite side couple! Be still my heart! I'm beyond pleased. (Also I got my boat in a lotus pond at last.) My only concern is this could end sad, it's in the title after all.

My Magic Prophecy

Thai trailer

Paranormal mystery with a fortune teller and a doctor. I'm in. I hope the script doesn't fail JimmySea again, they are such a great pair. I'm intrigued by this one but it felt the most formless of all the trailers, so I'm thinking we could see some significant tweaks.

My Romance Scammer

Thai trailer

New couple! My boys Ohm and Fluke (no, not that Fluke, the one from My Ride). Honestly, Fluke has popped up as a side in a couple GMMTV shows I was wondering who they'd BL him with.

This could win. Prettiest human on earth paired with the world's most potent single dimple. Will I survive? I honestly don't know, because Ohm historically doesn't have much chemistry with anyone but the original Fluke so... Still I l do love JuniorMark and this as a really unique premise (gay Heartbreakers), so I'm game.

My Stubborn

Thai YouTube trailer

Very high heat office romance involving best friend younger brother intern, boss meets assistant, bit of a love triangle, and GL crumbs and few other tropes.

Not My Bro

Thai trailer

Meen's mother sends Tul, the son of her close friend, who has recently passed the entrance exam to pursue engineering, to live with Meen and assigns Meen to take care of Tul.

Only Friends Dream On

Thai trailer

I will not be watching this. But dude was it nice to see all those pairs busted. That's always a good time for me. Anyway, all you so-n-sos who gave the first one your eyeballs are to blame for this. Watch it n weep. Without me. (Side note: I love it when a title reviews itself, Only Friends: Dream On, indeed. It's like media aptronym.)

Personal Manager

Thai

A secret relationship between a model and his manager.

Pit Babe The Series 2

Thai trailer

Rearrange

Thai trailer

Bandmates romance meets time travel, intreaguing combo.

Reset

Thai iQIYI

Yet another time travel kinda thing this time with Pond & Peterpan (we love this idea). On the night of his greatest success, famous actor Armin dies after being betrayed by his lover. However, death is not the end. Going back in time and meeting mysterious fan TD, the path to superstardom begins again.

Revamp the Undead Story

Thai YouTube trailer

BounPrem vampire vehicle from 2023 officially moved to 2025 Formerly My Broccoli

Secret Relationship

Korea

This 2022 offering is now officially moved to 2025. To be adapted by Cradle Studio (a subsidiary of Kakao). About clever and resourceful Daon who has worked hard to overcome being poor. His cheap ways annoy his coworker, Sunghyeon but after “an incident” with his parents, Daon grows closer to him. But Daon also has feelings for his former tutor. This has the signs of a classic Kdrama all over it: Office setting, love triangle, lead suffering for his self-actualization. I’m optimistic about a longer treatment.

Secret Relationship

Taiwan

Rivals to lovers with unhinged behavior that in the source material ranges from rock-paper-scissors contests to competitive handjobs (yeah, you read that right). Taiwan is perfect for this.

Shine

Thai WeTV

MileApo vehicle that may not be BL. A tale of love and ideals unfolds in an era resistant to diversity set against the backdrop of the political turmoil of 1969-1971.

Sweet Daddy

Thai trailer

Sweet Tooth Good Dentist

Thai YouTube trailer

Finally Mark is leading out a BL! This one based on a Jittirain novel about a weird sunshine student dentist and his sugar-addicted patient, described as a romcom meets romantic therapy. Also, Jimmy is there, primarily to give me second lead syndrome. It looks silly but kinda earnest, I'm intrigued. (Not sure this one will still happen.)

That Summer

Thai trailer

The only GMMTV side pair to level up. Okay so amnesia is my least favorite trope, and I tend to not be wild about secret identity either, but I like both pairs in this one, so I'll watch.

The Hell Guard

Thai

Boy wakes up from a coma and becomes a messenger between grim reapers and the underworld. I love this premise.

The Love Matter

Thai trailer

2 students fall in love with their respective teachers who happen to be dating each other

The Next Prince

Thai trailer

ZeeNew in a fantasy/historical set in a palace where Zee plays a knight and Nu a prince - YES PLEASE.

The Promise of The Soul

Taiwan

I hate bodyswap.

The Wicked Game

Thai

DaouOffroad doing some Jack & Joker action. Trust is a luxury. Deception is a game.

The Young Gangster

Taiwan WeTV

Adapted from a novel, may not be a BL. Sociologist begins doing research in the underworld, falls in love with a gangster.

Ticket To Heaven

Thai trailer

GMMTV is doing Boy Foretold by Stars concept? Interesting, did not have religious boundary pushing and bildungsroman down on he Thai BL bingo card. This isn't my thing but I think G4 are actually going to be amazing in it and I certainly look forward to them pushing their acting chops. Not to mention the discomfort something like this can cause in general/global viewership. I like it when BL makes people (who aren't me) uncomfortable.

Time Zone

Thai trailer

A cheeky version of high school president only the seme actor seems to be taking his cues off Ohm. Interesting to me because I like this kind of BL

Truemoon

Thai YouTube trailer

A take on my single favorite trope love rivals to lovers.

Your Dear Daddy

Thai trailer

Haunted by his past, Saithan is unwilling now to tie himself to anyone. On holiday in Chiang Mai, he happens to meet Sila, the wealthy owner of Phu Saengdao farm and hotel. The two find themselves strangely drawn to one another and ultimately spend a night together, thinking they wouldn't see each other again.

2025 BL Part 1 is here

(source)

This post is static and not updated. All information is to the best of my ability at the very end of 2024. Not responsible for changes, cancellations etc...

[thekirammanjinx]

Let's talk, this got long, addressing continued ignorance and misunderstanding of caitlyn and vi:

"Am I the only one who hates caitvi" no you're not, there's plenty of people with the same ignorant misunderstandings and virtue signaling ideologies. The same people who will spout false information and project their opinions onto the media vs taking the information the media is giving them and actively interpreting it.(that's not to say you can't be indifferent to caitvi. But all the hater are literally so dense and spout the same nonsense.)

"Who you have oppressed for decades" first of all CAITLYN didn't oppressor anyone. So saying she oppressed them is ignorant and a blatant lie. Caitlyn did not have any control or contributions.

Speaking on oppressors; silco and the chembarons have actively been oppressing and beating down their own people. Making zaun a thousand times more unlivable than when piltover did with vander. The firelights came to be because of silco and shimmer. Now, caitlyn did not gas an ENTIRE city. She targeted those afformented groups who have contributed to a downfall and hostile environment in zaun.

(lest we forget the council literally wanted a full scale assault on the entirety of zaun to aquire jinx. So even if caitlyn had done nothing zaun was doomed either way. War was looming if she did not act, you literally cannot talk about this without mentioning it, so the amount of people who choose to exclude this information to skew their "critical analysis")

Caitlyn didn't suddenly become empathetic because of vi. We see her being gentle with the jaw guy after he gets shot by jinx, she listens to vi before they even become more, yes she's apprehensive at the start but to say she changed because vi? Were you watching with your eyes closed and the TV on mute?

Saying that "these are her people" about vi. These are not her people. She actively hated silco and those aligned with him. Also she never was a freedom fighter for zaun. Idk where you got that. She just wanted a better life for HER and her FAMILY. Not to mention a tactical force to get chembarons off the streets isn't an act of oppression. That's a military action of snuffing out a drug cartel who are actively oppressing and harming the people of zaun.

(why are yall so in defense of the chembarons? Like yall truly don't give af about the people of zaun. We literally hear ekko say how bad the chembarons and shimmer have made zaun???)

"If the show didn't paint them good" you must be stupid if you thought the show was presenting it as good. The show is telling the story, it's giving a visual, just because it's there doesn't mean it's good. Or bad. Yes the show presents it as the BETTER option but it still shows how it is not 100% a morally good thing. But again you'd have to watch the show to see that wouldn't you??

(And again why are yall fighting for your lives trying to justify the chembarons existing and treating zaun like their own drug playing grounds.)

And to even say you like ambessa but not caitlyn & vi just feels embarrassing and you definitely missed the mark. People truly miss ambessa role in the entire season/series and it shows.

(i enjoy ambessa as a character but it's wild to see people try and tear down cait and or vi while praising ambessa in the same sentence. But this goes back to "we can handle evil characters but not good characters that do morally gray/bad things--which some of yall really need to have some introspection)

"Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons" there's literally a song IN THE SHOW with lyrics adjacent to this. No not verbatim, but it's basically right there. I'm convinced this person has not actually watched the show. There's no way. There is NO way.

"I'm not done with arcane" then idk, stfu and finish the damn show, if you feel the *narrative* is painting these actions as good that's a you problem. You do not know how to interpret the media in front of you. Because that's literally not what's happening.

Giving a character motives and reasons isn't justifying their actions or painting them as good. It's giving them a fleshed out story with emotions and said motives. Putting reason behind the actions. Not to mention this show is all about showing how people are complex, but you want to target caitlyn and vi for what?

Jinx targeted caitlyn literally because she was jealous and wanted vi to choose her over caitlyn. She wanted vi to shoot caitlyn. Caitlyn had personally done nothing to jinx. Jinx then killed 3 councilors, unprovoked.

So we can see how "targeting" a group of people for the actions of 1 is bad when it comes to caitlyn and vi, but we cannot say the same for jinx, or silco, or the likes??

(caitlyn strategically targeted chembarons and the shimmer cartel. Something ekko and the firelights were trying to do in s1. But everyone forgets that. Explaining and understanding what caitlyn did does not mean writing off her actions. But some of yall need to learn not to vilify her for doing what other characters wanted to do in the first place. She simply had the resources and means to do it. If a different character did it yall would not be so up in arms)

[wolfpants]

my year in fic: 2024!

Thank you so much for tagging me @sitp-recs! I loved putting this little roundup together. I struggled a bit this year, creatively - I think because I had such a massive output in 2023 (226k words 😱) I was going through burnout and also feeling like I couldn't quite live up to the longfics I had posted the previous year. But putting this together, and realising I've written 120k words, I'm actually really surprised - and happy! I've done a real mix of pairings, too.

I look forward to 2025 - I'm planning to take part in Kinkuary again, and I have a few other projects up my sleeve including my first Drarry (long) 8th year fic, a collab, and a follow-up fic to a Drarry I've already published. I'm determined to go into next year with a clear and positive head and continue to stick to writing (and sharing!) what I love!

Much love to you all - wishing you all a fabulous festive season! No pressure tagging @getawayfox @tackytigerfic @maesterchill @houndsinhades @the-invisibility-bloke @toomuchplor @citrusses @skeptiquewrites @hoko-onchi-writes and anyone else who wants to share their 2024 wrapped!

-

Drarry

🌟 All Is Calm, All Is Bright | E, 7k | Drarry

Tags: infidelity, Christmas markets, photographer Harry, angst and feels, pining

“Ernie and I are getting a divorce,” Draco says. A stone drops heavily in the pit of Harry’s stomach. He startles. Draco nods. He lifts his mug to his lips and sinks the contents. “Yes,” he says, his voice tight. 

🌺 Come In, the Water's Lovely | E, 4k | Drarry

Tags: established relationship smut, showering/bathing/swimming, tent sex

Harry laughs against Draco’s wet, soap-sweet skin and lets his hands fall to his waist. He steals another soft kiss. “Want me to help with that? Reviews say I’m not very clinical at all. I’m positively… extravagant.” Draco bends his head forward again and nips Harry’s lip, then soothes it with a slow swipe of his tongue. “A giver of deluxe wanks.”

🥂 How to Begin | E, 8k | Drarry

Tags: friends to lovers, drunk sex, second chances, mutual pining, they were roommates

“I think we owe it to ourselves to do it again properly,” Draco says smartly.

✈️ Longhaul | E, 9k | Drarry

Tags: mile high club, pining, flirting, mild d/s elements, competent draco

“So you’d risk plummeting us all to our deaths just to get filled? You slut,” Draco whispers.

😈 Raising Hell | E, 21k | Drarry

Tags: colleagues to lovers, case fic, occult, UST, exhibitionism, ritual sex

Malfoy pinched the bridge of his nose. “How do I put this delicately, Potter.” He shook his fringe from his face and sighed. “The initiation is sex. They want us to fuck. In front of all of them. It’s—what they do.”

-

Others

☕️ Come as You Are | E, 2k | Sirius/Ron

Tags: pwp, age gap (19/40), big dick Ron, blow jobs

Open up, he imagines Ron saying with that easy, casual dominance he exudes so beautifully, so he does, just in time for Ron’s mouth to meet his. 

🎶 In My Room | E, 21k | Dron

Tags: 8th year, angst and h/c, unhealthy coping mechanisms, no hea, first time

Draco rattles around in his brain for something to talk about, something beyond the immediate obvious—we are lying in bed together, we are spooning, you are shirtless, you are holding my hand, my chest feels like it’s on fire, my head is as light as air, do you feel it too? I will die if I get hard, I might die if you change your mind about me.

🚗 A Light That Never Goes Out | E, 6k | Sirry/Draco

Tags: Sirius returns, timey wimey, road trips, hotel room hookup, threesome

Sirius’s fingers twitch around his glass. The pleasure looming in the pit of his belly at seeing Harry so happy and turned on isn’t quite enough to stem the niggling sense of envy and outsiderness he feels. Harry and Draco’s careful pleasantries melt away into something more familiar, something they’re both clearly equally relieved to pick up after, apparently, a good few years of not being in one another’s orbit.

❅ Snowdrift | E, 9k | Dronarry

Tags: married dron, threesome, domesticity, drarry pining

“Is this what you wanted?” Ron asks, turning his attention back to Harry, daring to ask the question that’s been floating in the back of his mind since the moment Harry stepped through the front door; maybe since the moment Harry’s text landed in the group chat.

🚙 Spellbound & Acheron | E, 7k (total) | Dralbus

Tags: kidnapping, stockholm syndrome, watersports, virginity kink, power imbalance, age gap

Albus hears the click of a seatbelt. His nose fills with the smell of cloves and cedar—Mr Malfoy’s cologne, his shampoo, the scent that clings to his clothes and that Albus thinks about, persistently, because it is the scent that he has come to enjoy the most. 

[bottomhyunjinbuffet]

Dessert of the Day

╰┈➤ Pairings: Bottom! hyunjin x Top SKZ

╰┈➤ WC: 1.5k

╰┈➤ Warnings: MDNI, Freeuse! Hyunjin, top bang chan top changbin, top felix, top jeongin, top seungmin, top han, top lee know, aftercare mentioned and done, no plot, mainly smut

╰┈➤ Summary: after a long day that never seemed to end, hyunjin offered to help his group in anyway they wanted to use him and they took him on that matter and made sure he was taken care of at the end of it.

“You did say we could have a free use, after today? Of course we're gonna use it.” bang chan groaned out, holding hyunjin's blonde hair tight in his hands while he was throat fucking the poor shaking male. Who was holding onto the man's thighs and letting out muffled gagging sounds, his eyes constantly rolling back in his head while letting out muffled moans at the feeling of his ass being smacked. “I'd never thought it was going to end, seriously trying to ask me out at a fan sign? Can't even get one normal day without getting pissed off.” “Guys, come on we have the poor man shaking already and you two just started! Leave some for the rest of us.” Felix pouted, pushing back some of his hair from his eyes while his cock stood up outside of his pants, not wanting to touch it because he was excited for tonight, being left alone in the dorm room knowing everyone would get a turn.

Chan and changbin let out deep, gruntled growls before staying still, both releasing at once while feeling the bottom male trembling under them. Changbin rubbing hyunjin's already red bum before slowly pulling out with a sigh of relief, like a weight had just been lifted off his shoulders before hearing the sounds of hyunjin panting, seeing that Chan had also pulled out but didn't let go of his hair. Chan leaning down and wiping some of his cum off of hyunjin's swollen lips. His eyes looking at the older male with nothing more than want and never ending need. His tongue sticking out like a dog wanting some wanter, his back was arched in a way that showed he was craving for more, wanting to be used anyway that would help his group. “Someone better be recording this for later, definitely gonna need this when he passes out.” Lee know huffed, seeing that Seuingmin already had his phone recording while Felix happily walked over, turning hyunjin on his back just to crawl over him and trap the panting male under him, Hyunjin's legs instinctively wrapping his legs up to Felix's shoulders while his hands were free, his mouth staying wide while he was panting.

“Sorry hyun, I know I'm usually the gentle one, but tonight I need to fucking pound something.” Felix pushed himself in and began quickly moving his hips, watching hyunjin arch his back while he continued to let out loud moans and pleads. His drool mixing with Changbin's cum while his back kept moving up from the hardwood cold floor under him. His head titled to the side while Felix left large purple marks on his neck and collarbone, leaving almost no room for anyone else to leave marks. “Yes, yes yes! Please don't apologize- fucking gods! Just do it!” He cried out, hearing his skin slapping while his eyes rolled back into his head once again with his tongue sticking out. He knew Felix loved holding him close when they were having times like this, getting the best angle and results while a phone was getting all of this on camera for everyone to enjoy in their own private time.

Feeling yet another release, hyunjin let out a mewl, letting his head move side to side as if he were trying to stay awake with all the help he could get. Feeling Felix slowly pull out and feeling content while looking at those who have yet to get their turn. Seungmin, I.N., han, and lee know all waiting their turns to enjoy themselves. Slowly rolling over, feeling the mixed juices slowly leak out from him while he moved his legs opened more with his mouth staying opened. He still had four more to take, he could do it. He's done it before and he can do it again. He looked up at seungmin, who was slowly panning the camera around just to get everything. Seungmin would go last just so he could get both holes in each shot so he could then send it to the group chat on their separate phones for them to look back and remember how it ended. Seeing hyunjin all tired and shaking afterwards knowing he was going to be taken care of no matter how late it was.

I.N. walked in front of him, tapping the tip on hyunjin's open mouth, watching him take it in and quickly bobbing his head back and forth, holding onto I.n.’s thighs as tight as his shaking hands could while feeling someone rub his back slowly, tracing his middle back and he knew it was Han. Han always loved messing with his back knowing he would squirm even when being in a spot like this and there was little to nothing he could or would want to do to stop it either. It was already driving him crazy while leaning into I.n.’s touch, looking up while the youngest member already had a handful of hair in his hands while slowly moving his hips to hit the back of Hyunjin's throat. His voice was going away feeling two dicks inside him once again both going at different paces just to throw him off once again. It was never enough and he could still take more if he truly wanted to, knowing Lee know would go harder than chan would on his ass. And that is saying a lot when it comes to the two of them.

Even with droopy eyes, he swallowed each drop he could, letting out a pop and a whine when I.n. slowly pulled out, slowly letting go of his hair with a smile on his face before arching his back, feeling himself release once again combined with Han's own release. His mind was blank and he could barely tell what was happening around him before just being picked up once again. Even being lumped against Lee know's chest, his chest rising and falling, his head leaning to the side while trying to keep his eyes wide opened. His arms and legs being numbed but his legs were shaking. He knew Lee Know liked to make him. HIs back against him, his arms behind held back behind him with his weak and tired knees keeping him up while pounding into him. Being able to look over to see Hyunjin sticking his tongue out while looking at seungmin’s camera, his way of begging him to come closer. Even while himself bouncing, he could still take it, and take it well. His mouth latching onto Seungmin’s dick, looking up at the phone into the camrea, despite his lower movements he would swirl his tongue while teasing him but taking everything he possibly could.

His muffled moans getting quicker and higher, his eyes rolling back while he could hear Lee know whispering in his ear, saying words he knew would get Hyunjin closer and would get picked up. “Look at you, taking everyone’s dicks like they were made for you. You were made for these weren't you? Even after everything here you are, taking it all in like nothing else matters. You love putting on shows for us to watch later now don't you hyun?” Seugmin having to hold his head still while lee know bucked his hips up one more time, the two of them releasing once again while hyunjin's body trembled even more. His legs squirming around while seungmin pulled his head back for everyone to hear the broken cry coming from him. Coughing even while his head laid on Lee know's shoulder who was also smirking the entire time. “You sure you want your last turn seuingmin? He would pass out before he could eat.” “Felix should have the straw coming, I can go slow.” He started, watching Hyunjin's eyes flutter back opened before he got on his hands and knees to crawl on the sticky floor, slowly turning on his back with his legs opened. His legs were down, meaning he was done and ready to be cleaned off and eat. Not anything else.

So seungmin stopped the recording and set it to the chat, tossing his phone on the couch while kneeling over. “Alright who ran the bath?” “Han ran the bath with the bubbles and will help you bathe him, Felix should get the smoothie ready since he won't be able to chew and I.N. should have the large bed made with his pj's out so we can hold him to bed while Chan-hyung and Changbin are ready to help lift him up. Let me call Changbin.” Lee know got up, fixing his pants like everyone else before calling out to changbin outside the door, of course they had to take care of their golden boy, after all he did great for all of them today.

[miloformula123fan]

Mick x driver!male!reader but childhood friends to rivals to lovers trope pls?

been writing this for so long, but I love it so much, and I'm finally happy with it :)

if you want to participate in my 400 followers event, look here :)

Please keep requesting - y'all have awesome ideas we agree on a lot of stuff :) - my guidelines are here, and if you want some prompts, they are here.

also feel free to come in and start chatting to me in my asks, would love to get to know y'all better

and if you want to be added to my taglist lmk :)

mick schumacher x male!driver!reader - childhood friends to rivals to lovers

2004

---

“Micky, Micky!”

Michael watched as the 2 kids smiled at the camera, both struggling to hoist their trophies up for the trophy. He saw the trophy tilt and tried to cry out, however it was too late.

Y/N could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as his head hurt. He’d heard his friend Max’s dad say that men don’t cry, and unless he was dying, there was no reason to cry. But he was 5 and the impact that the metal trophy had made with his head had really hurt.

But before the tears could fall out, Mick had already placed both his and Y/N’s trophies on the ground and was giving his best friend the biggest hug, and trying to stop him crying.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay You’re okay. This only hurt because it scared you. It doesn’t hurt as badly as the karting crash from last month, you’re okay, aren’t you.”

Y/N wiped his tears and nodded, trying to smile as he gasped to get his tears under control. Mick gave him the biggest hug ever as he stopped crying and picked up his trophy again.

Michael watched as the photos began again and the 2 kids smiled. Those 2 were going to do great things some day, he knew it.

---

2009

---

Michael didn’t think that Y/N would be happy when he got out of the kart. Mick and him had been fighting the entire race, miles ahead of anyone else and it had looked like Y/N would win it.

Until Mick went for a daring dive down the inside of Y/N’s kart, resulting in a spin for Y/N. He’d gotten back, gotten up to close to Mick again, but that spin had been costly, as Mick crossed the line and Y/N crossed it in second.

Michael didn’t even try to look for Y/N’s parents. They either would’ve gone home, expecting Michael to bring him home, or they’d be waiting in the pits for an opportunity to berate their son.

If they had done the former, Michael reckoned he would simply decide to let Y/N stay over for a sleepover tonight. He needed it.

As Michael wandered down to the pits where the drivers were finishing and parking up, he tried to blend in. It was easier than it used to be, back when he was racing he’d spend a while after every race taking photos with a couple of kids, talking to them, trying to convince them not to give up on their dreams even when it’s impossible. But now, ducking through, he was almost invisible.

And as he approached the two 10 year old boys, all he saw was jubilation. The 2 kids were happy, celebrating each other.

‘Papa! Papa! Did you see that, I won!’

“He did very well, even though I’m not exactly happy about that dive down the inside.”

Nothing about Y/N’s face indicated that he was unhappy, except for the darted around eyes that signalled he was looking for his parents.

They weren’t here. Clearly. Michael pulled Y/N into a hug. “C’mon, let’s get you 2 on the podium, and then we can head home. You wanna stay at home tonight?”

Michael didn’t even realise he had referred to his own home as Y/N’s home, as he saw his face light up.

“Home sounds good,” smiled Y/N, as he darted off to follow Mick to the podium.

---

2019

---

“Mick. I get that we were friends, back in karting, but life happens. Stuff happens. We’re both gunning for the championship and the f1 seat.”

“That doesn’t mean that anything has to change between the 2 of us, Y/N. We never let that stuff get between us usually. We were fighting for seats our entire childhood, and it never got between us then.”

“Yeah, well, this is the big leagues, Schumacher, sink or swim. I would wish you good luck out there, but I think I need it more.”

Y/N smiled at Mick, but it wasn’t a nice smile. It was a planned smile, like he knew what he was doing the whole time. Then he turned and left the driver room, heading towards the garage.

Mick tried to stop his eyes welling up with tears. First of all, Y/N was his friend. He didn’t know where this competitive spirit had come from. Well, Y/N had always been competitive, but not an asshole. And right now, he was being an asshole.

And Y/N knew of all people how much he hated his last name. How he hated when people referred to him as Schumacher, how he wanted to be seen as his own person, not his father’s son. And yet Y/N had called him Schumacher.

“Fucking asshole” was all Mick thought to himself as he prepared for the race.

---

2020

---

Y/N looked like he was going to throw something. Or murder someone. Or crash his car into a barrier. He looked positively fuming as Prema surrounded Mick, congratulating him on his driver championship and celebrating the team’s championship.

But Y/N, the person who’d been with him since karting, since they’d both been born. That was who he wanted to see and talk to. He bounded towards where the other prema driver was getting weighed.

“Y/N! Y/N, we got the championship!”

Y/N didn’t respond, just simply nodded, before listening to whatever the official was saying and wandering away from Mick.

As if he didn’t exist.

“Y/N” he called again, seeing him take out his headphones, maybe he hadn’t heard Mick’s calls. He could hear his family and team calling out, ready to celebrate. But he wanted to celebrate with Y/N.

Mick called out again “Y/N.”

“The fuck you want Schumacher?”

“I… wanted to celebrate the win with you. We won the teams championships. We should be celebrate.”

“Yeah, congrats. Congrats on your seat for next year as well.”

“I- oh, c’mon Y/N, you’ll get a seat. I bet Christian Horner’s just seeing how long you can hold out before he gives you the Alpha Tauri seat.”

“Yeah, well. Currently you have a contract and I don’t, so excuse me if I’m a little salty.”

“Y/L/N.”

Mick saw the way his jaw tightened, as he heard his father’s voice.

“I have to go, now Mick. Enjoy your win, and congratulations.”

Mick watched him walk off, towards his father. He saw the way he curled in on himself, as his father slung his arm around his shoulders.

Days later, when Y/N’s seat at Alpha Tauri was confirmed, Mick messaged him congratulations.

Y/N didn’t message back.

---

2022

---

“When did you start hating me Y/N?”

Mick was pissed. Y/N had nearly taken him out early in the race. He hadn’t spoken to him in years, since the end of 2020, over a year ago. He missed his childhood friend, and the fans had too.

Finding childhood photos of the 2 of them, often with Michael, had brought up more painful memories than he would like to admit.

Y/N was hyper aware of the cameras following them through the paddock, and so continued walking until he could pull Mick into a quiet corner where the cameras couldn’t reach them.

Inevitably, Y/N thought as he pulled Mick into the side of a motorhome, this will end up on the next season of drive to survive, but god do I care, no.

“I never hated you Mick. I tried to make myself hate you, but I couldn’t. You could hate me, and I would still love you.” 

Y/N tried to retract the ‘l’ word as soon as it came out of his mouth, covering his mouth and praying that Mick didn’t hear him correctly. Yeah they’d said ‘i love you’ to each other as kids, but that was when they were young, and kids and they didn’t understand the word, or the world that they lived in, or themselves fully. It was just another silly childhood promise.

Besides, while Y/N understood himself as queer, there were never any queer drivers, and he was probably about 95% sure that Mick was straight. He’d been spotted with girls through the junior formulas and he’d even been introduced to a couple of the girls. They were all lovely, but they never seemed to last a long time.

Mick's eyes widened as he heard the love word come out of Y/N’s mouth. Honestly, he was confused as to how he never saw the signs of Y/N’s queerness. The fact that there was 1 girl in karting, when he was 14, and then she never showed up again. The way his eyes had always lingered just long enough that it was unusual, but not long enough to cause any real suspicion. The way he’d gone on a few dates here and there, but always been super hush hush about the whole thing, not mentioning it until after it had happened. The way those dates had always had they/them pronouns, or they hadn’t been named.

“Y/N…you love me?” Fuck, Y/N had really fucked this up.

“No,” Mick’s heart dropped “No, I, fuck fine. It’s not like I’m ruining any friendship. Yes. Yes. I love you. And I have since, well not the day I met you. Maybe when we first got into single seaters… fuck i don’t know, but yeah i love you.” Y/N took Mick’s silence badly and just decided to walk out towards his driver’s room.

Mick didn’t follow him.

---

2025

---

Y/N couldn’t even be pissed as he crossed the line second behind Mick. The Ferrari just seemed happy, even from 5 seconds behind.

“AND MICK SCHUMACHER CROSSES THE LINE FIRST TO WIN THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX AND CLAIM HIS FIRST EVER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, and there’s his father on the screen looking every part like the proud dad that I’d imagine he is right now.”

“That’s right Crofty, it may not be the 7 world championships that Schumacher Sr achieved, but still this championship must mean so much to him.”

Mick pulled in to the pitlane, behind the number 1 stand, and he just sat in the scarlet Ferrari crying.

He had done it.

He had won a world championship.

Y/N pulled up beside him in the dark blue red bull, smile evident even after losing the championship.

He watched as he pulled off his helmet, watching as Mick embraced his family, his mum, his dad, his sister, his niece. He stood to the side high fiving his team, and thanking them for a great year. Next year would be their year.

And he didn’t exactly try and stop Mick as the German ran towards him, helmet off, and pulled him into a kiss.

---

taglist: @leosxrealm, @tallrock35, @wolf-knights, @janeholt3, @anicega, @badblondebisexualboy, @ghostking4m, @koalapastries, @camelliaflow3r

[beevean]

It's really noticeable how vampires in NFCV are... so boring.

For getting all the main focus of the narrative at the expense of the heroes, the worldbuilding is incredibly lazy, to the point that they almost suffer from Twilight syndrome and don't even feel like real vampires. They're more like blood drinking elves.

Under a read more because this got long and picture-heavy. What can I say, I love my references.

1) Vampires don't bite. The only vampire shown biting is Dracula in one flashback.

(in S2E4, Godbrand leads the other generals on a drinking spree, but they are mostly shown dismembering humans with swords and claws, the closest thing to drinking being Raman pouring blood down her throat from a decapitated person.)

The need to drink blood to survive is an important plot point both in S2 and in the Styria subplot, and it is repeated that vampires see humans as nothing more than livestock, but we rarely, if ever, see vampires feasting on humans.

Hell, not only the Styrian council keeps blood in convenient chalices, which could still be justified by them living a decadent lifestyle (something something symbolism of how detached nobility is), but a starved Godbrand dreams of decapitating humans, not eating them. As I explained here, it is especially noticeable with Lenore, the "kind" vampire who owns a human slave. like. the topic of feeding on him or marking him as her property should have come up at one point, right? Or making her look "weird" for not wanting to bite anyone?

It would have been so cool if it became a plot point in the last episode. Isaac, naturally, refuses to deliver humans for Lenore to drink from, so her only choices once the reserves are run out are to either feed like a "real" vampire from Hector, who would gladly give his life for her because he wants to keep her with him, or starve. Hence, the decision to just kill herself, in shame of what she is. Instead, whatever she's drinking is portrayed as wine, and herself like she's getting drunk. Not a bad idea, as she said that she enjoys human food, but that tidbit went nowhere fast. Aside from this one scene, we never see one vampire eating food, not even her.

(I forgot, until now, that she says "we eat", and not "I" like I thought. With how she looks at the side, I'm almost tempted to think this is one of her uncountable lies, but for the sake of this argument, let's assume that she's being sincere)

In fact, nothing is done with the details of a vampire's general diet and their alternatives: the most we know is that Godbrand hates pig blood because "it gives him the shits". This is the only mention of the classic trope of a vampire drinking animal blood, a staple in works that aim to give moral depth to vampires. Lenore introduces the concept of eating human food not for nourishment, but for hedonistic pleasure, implying that vampires don't suffer any consequence from doing this and it's the equivalent of eating treats (which is a shame: it would have been much more interesting to see a vampire insisting on eating human food even if it causes nothing but pain. conflict? never heard of her). This contradicts what we see in the rest of the series, which is that vampires' idea of hedonistic pleasure is to simply, as I mentioned before, dismember humans. It could have, however, furthered Lenore's character as the "odd" vampire who prefers to indulge in human habits like that silly "diplomacy", perhaps even hinting at a resentment against her own vampirism which is another staple of the genre (indulging in shallow pleasures seems to be, for her, the only reason to live forever - an empty lifestyle for an empty person who might be easily pushed to suicide...), but once again, nothing comes of it until it becomes time for her to ragequit out of life in a way that feels less "I am disgusted at the monster than I am" and more "weh i don't want to face the consequences of my actions :<".

The lack of biting was thankfully fixed in Nocturne, where vampires, here depicted as more bestial, are frequently shown eating in all of its messy glory, including a poor girl frequently victim of Erzsébet's hunger.

2) Turning is barely given lip service. In S2, Carmilla mocks Dracula for never turning his "pet", and since her backstory involves being turned by a "cruel old man", one can assume that this is expected of vampires, that they turn humans they fall in love with - if they don't, it means they just see them as toys. Which makes sense from a vampire's perspective: humans are inferior, and being turned is bestowing them a high honor. As she says,

But after that, the topic gets dropped. We don't know anything about any other vampire's past and how they have joined the ranks of the undead. There are no (living) sires and broods. The question "why didn't Dracula turn Lisa?", which could have spurned an interesting discussion about damning one's soul to selfishly cheat death, never gets answered, as Carmilla asked it only to make the Lord look stupid, and stupid he looks. And let's not even talk about that out-of-nowhere shot of vampire children skulls that rise all sorts of questions that the show does not bother to answer. This, too, was finally fixed in Nocturne, where Erzsébet turns Tera by forcing her own blood in her mouth, and we see the process in all of its uncomfortableness.

3) Vampires invoke God's name despite being outside of God's graces, which shows the lack of care in these details.

And I wouldn't think much of it, if S4 didn't also include that idiotic, lore-breaking scene of crosses being harmful to vampires not as a symbol of God, but because "it confuses the shit out of their brains". When you think about it, for a series infamous for its CHURCH BAD philosophy, you'd think they'd want to explore vampires' relationship with God and the Church, even in a "we're better than the stupid Christians" way. Even in the games you have oddities like Dracula declaring war against God, yet often including a chapel in his castle, that raises interesting questions about his own relationship with religion which were half-answered in Lament of Innocence. Again, this was at least mentioned in Nocturne, when Drolta can walk around in Emmanuel's church because his actions desecrated it.

And do I need to even mention that water-blessing zombie bishop that is the bane of my existence? Sure, God would absolutely lend His blessing powers to an evil vampire and her necromancer lackey! Sure, crosses upset vampires for """scientific""" reasons but holy water burns them because of divine intervention! Love how it makes all the time wasted on that asinine scene of vampires discoursing about running water hurt just a little more!

4) I simply don't get the feeling that vampires are dead bodies animated by some sort of demonic energy. The most we get is a general pallor - and even then, the vampires of color like Sharma, Raman or Morana have a perfectly healthy skin tone. Or, I don't know, Dracula and Carmilla getting blood in their sclera when particularly feral. If they can, apparently, eat human food without any consequence, it suggests that they have a functional digestive system and all (make of this what you will). Carmilla is shown being unaffected by the cold, implying that she has a naturally low temperature, but humans don't even flinch when touched by what are, by all means, walking corpses.

Hector being, apparently, able to smell Lenore before even hearing her (which logically should mean that everytime she invades his personal space it would give him the mother of all headaches, but I could chalk it up to clunky writing) could have been a hint that vampires reek of death and need to mask it by covering themselves in perfume; but of course, like many possibly intriguing details, it goes nowhere, because having our Ms. Fanservice stinking of rot and strong perfume would be unappealing.

and yes i am saying hector should have frozen his dick off while fucking lenore why do you ask. she didn't even drink his blood to warm herself up, i swear the basics of vampire sex 😭

5) A smaller nitpick before the main course: vampires sleep. They sleep exactly like humans, just during the day: Carmilla, Striga and Morana are implied to sleep in their own beds, and at one point Godbrand falls asleep on a chair. They even have dreams and nightmares. Again, I must stress: even Twilight scoffed at the legend of vampires sleeping in coffins, but not only that story took place in a modern setting, the catch was that they didn't sleep at all, which makes sense for a race of undead predators!

6) This one drives me up a wall: "vampire culture" is a farce. In S3, Lenore makes a whole show of gifting Hector a book about their culture, which he finds utterly fascinating because he didn't even know vampires had a culture in the first place.

Well, neither do I! What is this vampire culture? Social norms? Biting etiquette? Rituals of bonding and turning? What is this "philosophy" that he mentions, "conquer all the things" as implied in the "strength and power" conversation in the very last episode? Is part of vampire culture turning human children, as accidentally implied by the shot of kids' skulls? And what does the aforementioned scene about running water tell us, if not that not even vampires are all sure of what hurts them and what doesn't? Which would imply that vampires are left to fend for themselves by their sires and they have to learn about their own weaknesses the hard way, which is not a bad concept, but this contradicts the idea that vampires are an united society and some of them write down their knowledge! "It's not like we're given a manual for being a vampire" i dunno chief, you yourself seem pretty knowledgeable about ancient vampire history!

(incidentally, we see Hector reading a book in S4E2, which could have implied he's still interested in vampire culture but this time for the sake of playing their own mindgames, but we don't know what it's about and I'm not going to do the writers' job for them, afawk he was just chilling in his gilded cage)

The only "vampire culture" we see is that they essentially preserve human technology that would otherwise be lost to time.

What Lenore is flaunting here is a hypocaust. Which, while they were mostly used at the time of the Roman Empire, actually survived for longer in Eastern Europe than it did in the West, meaning that the Greek Hector should not be this surprised. Turns out, not all humans forget.

It was also kept lit by slaves, which raises all sorts of interesting implications about how the Styrian castle works. But naturally, we never see humans slaves being forced to keep the castle warm: that would make Lenore and her attempts to sell the castle as a great place to live in look bad, and Hector's gilded cage less dreamy for the people who believe he got a great deal.

And to briefly go back to the issue of confusing biology... why in the fuck would a castle of vampires, established to be impervious to cold, need a heating system? Are humans part of the castle? Who benefits from the heat, the same slaves that keep the hypocaust lit? They torture Hector in all sorts of ways, including dousing him in icy water, because they see him as little more than a stinking dog only kept alive because Carmilla needs him, but they bother to keep prisoners warm, wasting precious resources? At least I can see why Dracula would build a heating system for Lisa! This is just stupid! This was mentioned ad hoc to stroke the vampires' dick! "I keep telling you, we're not monsters" only because the writing is bending itself backwards just for you, Lenore!

But back to the main point. This could have been a very interesting topic of discussion, because this means that vampires are soulless parasites who can only vicariously benefit from humanity's ingenuity, unable to produce and only able to steal for themselves (much like they steal human's blood), arrogantly believing themselves to be superior but not acknowledging that they need those creatures they see as livestock! Even the comment that vampires "don't forget" could have a negative side, as it means that vampirekind is stagnant, stuck in the past, unable to move on! But no, they are simply framed as superior for their long memory, because they are so technologically advanced, unlike those stupid humans held back by the CHURCH BAD, that they can wear modern clothes and have electric lamps, ohhh, ahhh!

Vampires wear more modern fashion than humans in Castlevania (Alucard invented the V-neck), so there's more room to play with clothing periods.

Yeah, vampire culture is Alucard's cheap, tiddy-exposing V-neck shirt! And dazzling the backwards brown people humans in the spare time. Sign me in!

Incidentally, do you remember when Dracula was framed as being unique for being a man of science in a largely ignorant, religion-riddled world, to the point that it's the main reason Lisa approached him to teach her "real" medicine? And the main reason Alucard feels sorry for his father's madness, because he will use his massive knowledge for evil? And the main reason Isaac wanted to lay down his own life to save that of his Lord?

Yeah, neither do the writers. Dracula is only valued for his ancient "knowledge" by the people who care about him, and by S3 that same knowledge isn't even special anymore. I swear, Dracula is the third most hated character in the show after Hector and Trevor.

Speaking of Hector, he's by far the worst victim of this vampire idealization. He could have had an arc of him learning to love humanity over vampirekind, the same kind that did nothing but use him and hurt him even worse than humans did. He could have accepted that, despite its flaws, humanity can also be good, and the world overall isn't as black and white as he thought. Not at all. His lack of empathy towards his own species is never addressed if not to make him look stupid. Most infuriatingly, his character arc ends with him declaring that he has learned to appreciate "the value and the beauty of things (i.e. Lenore, the only thing he gives one singular shit about) that live longer than he does", keeping him stagnant and shooting in the foot S4's half-hearted attempt to dismantle this idolized image of vampires as a species. Appreciation for humanity's virtues? Not in my adaptation of Castlevania, which is all about the strength of mankind prevailing over evil!

6) Their powers! What a lack of imagination. What an embarrassment. Vampires are super fast and super strong, with sharp claws, and they are shown turning into bats and mist. Dracula, the most powerful vampire, can shoot one Hellfire. That's. That's it.

Really? This is the adaptation of a videogame series where the most wet cat of a vampire uses telekinesis to throw swords at people! There is a whole ass vampire who stole Dracula's castle through the power of reality-warping paintings! Ohh look how cool Carmilla is dashing around in her final stand, yeah well my Carmilla can turn into a giant naked lady riding a skull that cries corrosive bloody tears!

Where is the damn creativity?! Where is my True Dracula in all of his monstruous Dark Lord glory???

(as a miniscule kernel of positivity, I need to quickly praise Cho for outright weaponizing turning into mist, a power mostly used for evasion. And Sypha for weaponizing it right back, by freezing and shattering her. See, this is a creative display of power! And it's for one of the most wasted cardboard cut-outs of the show. riveting :V)

You know the worst thing? The vampire with the most vampiric traits... is Alucard. Alucard sleeps in a coffin, and even implies that it's more comfortable for him than a bed.

Alucard flashes his fangs and hisses the most to enemies.

Alucard reminds the Japanese not-twins in a spar fight that he's tempted to bite them and drink their blood. Alucard has a sword that he can swing around with telekinesis, more similar to Joachim's power than his own in SoTN. Alucard also shows an extra transformation in the form of a wolf.

Why is the dhampir more of a vampire than the vampires in this setting??? If we didn't see him casually standing in the sun, no one would be able to tell he's half-human! Why, is it hotter if he hisses and talks about his non-existant bloodlust?? It only makes the scene with the kids' skulls, where it's all but said that he keeps cruelly insulting Trevor and his entire bloodline because they kill "his people", all the more demeaning to his character! The whole point of Alucard is that he chooses his own humanity over his vampire side!!

I know that at this point I should give up all pretenses that this show has anything in common with the videogame series it stole its name from, but I am still utterly baffled that they took three protagonists - Trevor the vampire hunter who chose to help the same people that shunned him, Alucard the dhampir who chose to honor his human mother's wish to stand against his vampire lineage, and Hector the Devil Forgemaster who chose to forgive humanity and turn over a new leaf from his Devil-serving days - that in different ways represent the virtue of humanity, and pissed all over them in different ways to prop up their shitty elves! Because this is what vampires are in this universe: arrogant, smug, flaccid, incompetent dark elves that can't even make a proper threat but we are still meant to see as hot!

And that's really the thing. Vampires in NFCV aren't just as dull as dishwater and with a less defined biology than that of Meyerpires (the comparisons with Twilight aren't casual), but they don't stand for anything. Vampires are a prime concept for metaphors such as feudalism, illness that consumes you, the taboo of homosexuality, carnal desire, abusive relationships, feeling like "others" and "unwanted" by society, etc. Even Nocturne, NOCTURNE, one of the emptiest stories about vampires I had the displeasure of watching, uses vampirism as a metaphor for nobility and colonialism and the way they greedily suck away all the resources of the people they oppress! It's as subtle as a kick in the balls and it shatters what little original lore there was left, but the idea is there! It's trying to send a message!

What is NFCV's message conveyed through its decision to focus on vampires as a species, that humans suck? It certainly would fit the nigh-relentless cynicism of the show. Who cares about worldbuilding or consistent characterization? Just add some "deep", pretentious speeches about the evils of CHURCH BAD and how shitty humans are, and look how the praises for being Peak Fiction fall from the sky.

[rayofmisfortune]

Realized I've never really provided context for this? Or I may have lmao. Anywho found the context to this doodle in my notes app and may as well post it hehe

The drabble and au by extension take place after a video from nearly a year ago at this point. I'm not at all caught up to the current events. There are some mentions of things that make no real sense show-wise but they are connected to a one-shot I had written for this au, sort of a prequel-ish thing before everything went to shitz. No real need to read it, but it provides some more context to why Solare is going off at Wamoon here. The fic if anyone's interested.

Anyway without further ado, le ✨context✨

"Are you sure the exit's this way?"

"As sure as any other of the dozen times you've asked, I'm losing more and more hope of ever getting out with each time you ask me, Moon."

"Right, right."

The two trapped attendants round yet another of the labyrinth's corners. Each turn and twist of the path diminishing their spirits more.

Moon batted at the watery end of his nightcap. "I just hope that when we get out it won't be to find out Ruin's crazy face leering down at us."

Solar's shoulders stiffened at the mention of Ruin. They were the one reason they were even trapped in here. Though he can't really blame them. They couldn't have known their rescue mission would turn into such a disaster. He really hoped they were okay.

"I hope they're okay."

"Who? Sun and the others back home?" Moon tilted himself, manhandling his watery nightcap. It got too close to brushing Solar again.

The firey attendant peered around a corner. "Those too, but I was more so thinking of Ruin."

Moon swatted at Solar's gloved hand. "Psssh. Why him? If I'm being real with you, I don't trust 'em farther than I can throw 'em. Which..." he considered, "is rather far." Moon shock his head as if to shake the wrongly used expression away. "What I mean is, I don't trust him. Don't you see how suspicious it is that Eclipse comes back shortly AFTER you're knocked out. The only person there to witness the whole thing didn't see anyone and was SITTING with you for an hour waiting for you to wake up? Ruin's been there with you unconscious long enough to copy over your files to use to make Eclipse."

The exit/entrance was down a darkened hall. Hopefully no... lurkers would jump them before they can get to it. It's all been rather peaceful thus far.

Solar turned around to look Moon in the eye. He shook the hand Moon batted at previously. The leather helps with avoding any pain reactions, though it does still leave a slight sting. "No, no I don't."

Moon sputtered. "Wha- wh- you can't be serious. Did he brain wash you while he had you knocked out as well?" He adds on in a mutter. "I'll have to check your systems for any out of place protocols..."

"No, no THEY didn't. Don't think I can't hear you, you will be doing no such thing." Solar was trying to hold back from raising his voice. Moon's been going on and on about Ruin betraying them. He's been TRYING not to snap, keep his promise to Ruin. He really was. And he'd been doing a stellar job at it. As seen in the lunar bot openly doubting said merged AI.

He'd had enough. He'd had enough of this. "It's them, not him. For one."

Moon's vocalizer stuttered, getting a retort ready. Solar shushed him before he could even think of opening his mouth. "No, no no shut UP for once and let me talk." Solar ran his hands over his face. "You are SUCH a hypocrite, you know? You have no proof of them working on something behind your back, but EVERY proof of them just trying to reach out and help. Yet you turn them down or send them away at EVERY TURN. Do you know what happened on Christmas Day? Why I left?"

"I just thought you w-"

"No, no let me FINISH!" The flames around Solar's head flared up. "I went up there, because I saw Ruin watching us from the balcony. You know, at first I thought they were spying on us to gain some form of information out of it, as you kept on hammering in my head at EVERY chance you got! No, no that wasn't why they were there. You wanna know WHY?"

"Why was he th-"

"THEY were there because THEY were LONELY, Moon! They came to the Daycare to help YOU with clean up." Solar jabbed a finger into Moon's chest. "And you wanna know the best part? The COMPUTER ITSELF told them where we were! Would it do that with someone who has bad intentions? NO! NO IT WOULDN'T!"

Moon glared at Solar through the rim of his hat. "That DOESN'T prove anything, Solar! They could have even the computer fooled!"

"Ooohoho, doesn't it? If I'm going by your oh so SOUND logic. Then by all means, I would be in the right to assume you're not some new guy, with no knowledge of past events. But just the Old Moon pretending to have gone through a memory wipe! Taking enjoyment in making everyone fumble to keep him in the loop of things when they're all in deep SHIT! Taking the chance to throw all his misdeeds into some personality he calls the Old Moon."

Solar took a step back. "No, no, what you did. Was throw a person clearly struggling to come to terms with the situation they suddenly found themself in to the wolves. The first chance you got, you threw them under the bus. Discarded them like an unwanted TOY. And then you're SURPRISED when they distance themself when they clearly see they aren't wanted..."

Solar turned around, back towards the next exit. He took in an artificial breath. "I hope you're proud of yourself."

Solar didn't look back. The automatic door activated by his elemental signature to let him through. He had his fists tightly clenched, shivering in barely held restraint. He waded through a pool of lava. If he looked at Moon's face any longer, he's sure he would've done something he'd regret.

Moon stood in the empty corridor. Speechless. Thoughts running through his mind so fast he couldn't focus on a single string of thought. Was... was Solar right?

Some future stuff for the au

✨No context✨