#and while he's aware that he has his own issues he doesn't expect people to like his negative traits

[variantia]

          Decides to briefly look up all the books Lo threw away.   Immediately gets a funny look on his face ... followed by a wince.

          “   Sweet Archons ... I mean, I know I’m A LITTLE POSSESSIVE as a lover ...   ”   Once he actually gets into a long-term relationship instead of running away from anything more than a one-night stand, of course.   “   ... But even I’m not this bad !!   ”

          After all, he fully expects people to call him out if his behavior becomes, eh, less than charming.   Even if he might get defensive at first, he knows very well that he’s not PERFECT, nor is ‘   homeless, lazy alcoholic with three millennia worth of baggage and the metabolism of a four-year-old   ’ most people’s idea of an ideal boyfriend.

          “   I am sure that I could write a better love story than this in five minutes.   In fact, I’m almost certain that I HAVE.   If anyone ever gifts me a copy of any of these, I’m going to find my way out of this dimension just so I can have Dvalin eat it.   ”

[11rosebunny]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐓𝐎𝐗𝐈𝐂 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐒 (𝐁𝐎𝐅𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍 + 𝐉𝐎 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄)

content: f!reader, possessiveness, a hint of gaslighting and manipulation

Haruka Sakura

He tends to push everyone else including you and won't properly communicate his feelings if he feels it's too complicated for others to understand.

It gets extremely frustrating if you're trying to tell him what's wrong, he'll lie and say nothing, shift the topic somewhere else, and worst part is if you keep on trying to ask, he'll somehow make it your fault for worrying even though he's on the brink of falling a part. He still struggles with opening up to others but he can't continue to push away others that deeply care for him.

Hajime Umemiya

Sometimes, he forgets he can not treat everyone the same way, this goes for how he treats women especially. At first he didn't understand how friendly he acted towards girls while dating you was a bad thing, it took him a few days to understand your perspective and put himself in your shoes.

Eventually, he ended up getting a taste of his own medicine when he saw you being friendly towards Hiragi, since that moment, he understood boundaries with other people.

Toma Hiragi

His caring gratitude becomes a little too much to the point where you don't have to lift a finger.

If you simply ask him anything, a drink, to go to a place, to be picked up, or if he just decides to clean up after you, make sure you're okay, and practically do everything for you, he's on it right away.

The only downside is he expects you to stay obedient. If you don't want to do something with him (aside from sexual cases) he starts to tell you about all the different things he's done for you. It's a very well trick that he's not even aware of to make you comply to whatever he says. You can't even argue with him either because he is right about doing so much for you without you having to ask half of the time.

Taiga Tsugeura

He tries to be friends with everyone. At first it isn't a bad thing to keep up a good reputation but it's come to a point where if a person did something weird and rude in the past, he will continue to try to get on their good side.

You had to talk him out of it that a friend to everyone is a friend to nobody.

He still struggles to get rid of that habit of his and is currently doing a good job at it. So good for carrot head!

Mitsuki Kiryu

Everyone knows he's popular with the ladies, and most would think that would be his toxic trait, but in reality, it's his lack of communication. It's not like Sakura, where he'll push everyone away but Kiryu tends to have a hard time keeping up in the social life.

On some days, he's the driest person you'll ever meet but inside he doesn't see anything wrong with it because no matter what he still loves you.

He got confused when you accused him of not loving you, he was baffled because he didn't understand because he was sure as hell he did in fact love you. He's slowly starting to improve, and tried to text and talk more to make you feel happy.

Hayato Suo

He doesn't understand why you'd want to hang out with anyone other than him, this was a back then problem so thankfully, he grew out of it.

Before, since you two grew up together from a very young age, when you started to talk to other people he started to grow bitter, and didn't understand why you'd speak to them and not him. It was a small anger management but he soon grew out of it when he got older thankfully.

Jo Togame

His brave behaviour sometimes turn into the most possessive person on earth. He won't like it if you even go somewhere by yourself, he'll try to keep you in his sight at all times and would even forbid you to do some things, regardless if you really wanted to do it, he does not care and will shut it down with an argument if he has to.

Because of that, his jealousy issues are also quite high, to the point where if he has to make you cry, then so be it.

[purplehalnw]

I remembered a while ago someone mentioning that a lot of the characters in Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss are kinda similar and fall into some tropes.

And while I guess that's sorta true, the characters still feel distinct enough that they're not just carbon copies of each other even if they do have similarities.

Like yeah Stolas and Lucifer are both goofy fathers that are oblivious to their daughters' needs even though they mean well but they still have differences. Stolas isn't aware of Octavia's feelings partially because he has a problem of being oblivious to how his actions affect other people and partially because he gets wrapped up in his own feelings which he was forced to ignore his whole life. Lucifer isn't aware of Charlie's feelings because he doesn't contact her much due to him not wanting her to see him struggling with his depression.

Furthermore, Stolitz, Fizzmodeus, and Huskerdust are all mlm relationships that include one masc character and one fem character, with the fem characters all having issues related to agency. But the way Stolas, Fizz, and Angel all struggle with agency are all distinct. With Stolas it has to do with meeting up to familial expectations, with Fizz it has to do with trying to prove self worth due to internalized ableism, with Angel it has to do with being in a toxic relationship. Plus how all these characters express their masculinity and femininity are all different. Ozzie and (occasionally) Blitz present more feminine than Husk. Angel and Stolas are a bit better at fighting and standing up for themselves than Fizz but Fizz and Stolas are more emotionally mature than Angel. Also, Angel dresses in a more stereotypically feminine way, Stolas dresses feminine in a more high-class/royal way, Fizz dresses feminine in the sense that he wears clothes with lots of details, frills, and bright colors.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Have you noted that no one from Azula's family was shown to express love and affection towards her?

That is mostly true. Ozai's affection is clearly conditional (and full on manipulation at worse, like we see in the finale), Ursa canonically favors Zuko to the point that we never see her spending any alone time with Azula like she did with Zuko, and while Iroh gave her a toy like he did to Zuko the toy in question was so OBVIOUSLY wrong for a kid like Azula that it's comical AND show's he did not really know his niece at all.

But there is a constant exception.

Zuko's relationship with Azula is complicated. He clearly admires her strength and power, but he hates how she uses it. She lied to him many times, was seen apparently cheering Ozai on during the Agni Kai, tried to have him imprisoned and even said she'd celebrate being an only child - and then allows him to come home as a hero after Ba Sing Se, even though SHE had the control of the Dai Li and was not yet aware Aang could have survived, meaning she had nothing to gain from it.

And when she lets him know that if he's caught talking to Iroh people might think he is a traitor too, and explicitly says "Believe it or not, I'm actually looking out for you" Zuko drops his innitial suspicion that she wanted something and that's why she was helping him.

On The Beach, he just follows her when she say their old family home is depressing and they shouldn't waste their time there. When she's asking him who she is angry at, she mentions herself and Zuko explicitly says that is not the case.

He doesn't trust her and know she has a tendency to mock or full on lie to him... yet when he wants to know about Fire Lord Sozin he asks her about it, and lets it slide when she mocks him by saying he should make sure the royal painter got his good side - for a character as quick to anger as Zuko, that is a big deal. In Nightmares and Daydreams he also goes to her to find out if he'll be allowed at the war meeting.

More importantly:

1 - Iroh's infamous "She's crazy and needs to go down" line was only said because ZUKO, without anyone putting that idea in his head before, suddenly went "I know what you're going to say. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her"

2 - Zuko only jumped into the fight in Ba Sing Se when Azula was being cornered by Aang and Katara.

3 - Zuko looked genuinely shocked and even distressed when she was falling off that cliff. He just sounded so shaken saying "She's... not gonna make it..."

4 - In the writer's own words, Zuko felt no hate but only pity when seeing her breakdown. Katara tried to comfort him because, canonically, even though Zuko and Azula are enemies, this was never what he wanted because he still sees her as family. That's why the Last Agni Kai's music is not the epic you'd expect from a battle, but a tragic one.

5 - Aaron Ehasz, the lead writter for the show, probably the person with the most influence after Bryke, has REPEATEDLY said that he always felt Azula should have gotten a redemption arc, Zuko being an Iroh figure to give her advice and be the only one still by her side when all else was seemingly lost to her forever.

Even the comics (most of which I HATE, mainly because Azula's storyline checks nearly every box for "the mentally ill are inherently evil/less human, so it's fine if literally every other person on the planet mistreats them") didn't fully abandon their complex dynamic.

Zuko is not a perfect sibling, and for a long chunk of the story he seemed too focused on his own issues for Azula to ever be a factor in his mind (aside from the moments in which she was a potential/explict threat), but he DOES still feel a sense of obligation towards her, to the point that it made him do something no one else in their family had done before or since - actually look at Azula. Not the prodigious daughter/perfect weapon, or the problem child that is difficult to handle, or the pontentially deadly enemy that was in the way, but Azula.

His 14-year-old sister that got on his nerves a lot, was far from the kindest person alive, and that he had a ton of issues with, but that he could never fully hate or even be indifferent to. Because she's family. Because he remembers a happier time in which the gap between them didn't seem so big. Because if things had been slightly different he could have been her. Because he went from wanting to be her to seeing just how miserable her life ended up being - especially compared to the one he now had - and feeling deeply sorry for her.

Now if you guys excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in the corner. Have some wholesome/bittersweet fanart if you wanna cry too.

[dshksh]

Teen or adult christinaa..

Oh boy, anon, you asked for it.

Alright, so after Christina had her own "hunting trip" (I still haven't come up with an idea of what that event might have been for her. Would've been interesting if that happened between her and her mother instead of her father. Still have no idea, but she definitely had a major traumatic thing happen to her.) she, just like Orel, saw that her parents are (shocker), not decent people.

To cope with that, she becomes a bookworm and distances herself from everything happening around her, especially involving her parents. Her parents wouldn't notice that, since they were so caught up in their unpleasant marriage. She gets into psychology, reading a lot of books dedicated to it.

As for her and Orel, she would try to isolate herself emotionally and ignore her feelings for him. She knew that they wouldn't meet in years (due to living in different towns), so she tries to suppress her love and focuses on studying. College was an escape from her feelings and parents. Also, I think Christina's dad was really overprotective of her, which caused her to experiment a LOT in college. College was a big opportunity for her to not be as influenced and controlled by her parents as she was at home. She does end up having a few love affairs, but they don't last that long due to her being emotionally distant and still in love with Orel.

She finally meets Orel while she's still in college, almost accidentally. Orel is studying to become a teacher, and his college is doing a practice exchange of some sort with Christina's college (like sharing extra psychological knowledge with future teachers, so they would understand kids more). She doesn't recognize him at first, but when she does, they exchange numbers and talk a lot (mostly Orel, lol). At first, Christina is really cold towards him, but when she sees that he is still a good old-fashioned Christian and a nice guy in general, she grows fond of him.

As for her faith, when she first met Orel after so many years, she would be an atheist. But once she starts spending more and more time with Orel, she regains her faith.

Christina and Orel end up in a relationship with a lot of issues. They have unrealistic expectations of each other due to barely knowing one another and not having experience with emotional intimacy. Christina ends the relationship and focuses on graduating. Both are heartbroken.

She does graduate and ends up having a decent job as a psychologist. Her interest in psychology came from her wanting to understand her parents and the reason behind their actions.

They make up after a few years again, when Orel decides to go to therapy. Christina is there. She is the shrink that Orel visits. He bails and decides to cancel all the appointments.

Christina realizes that she is ready to confront her feelings and initiates the meeting with Orel. Orel gets extremely anxious and doesn't answer her message for weeks. When he has the courage, they meet and dot the i's. Finally have a meaningful conversation about their feelings and problems.

Orel was the one who insisted on her going to therapy. She ignored most of her feelings towards her own parents and childhood (towards Orel as well). Therapy helped her become more aware of her own emotions, yet she still remained her emotionally distant and cold appearance.

Orel gets a job in the town Christina lives and works in. They eventually make up and go to couple therapy. They still have a bunch of problems, but they cherish one another, and this love helps them to be better people.

[evilbihan]

Would u say bi han has anger issues?

Bi-Han does not have anger issues

But I can see why people would jump to that conclusion.

Let me say two things upfront before I elaborate on this topic: the writers have a very obvious bias for Scorpion and against Bi-Han which reflects in their writing and the way they twisted the story in Kuai Liang's favor to get the audience to root for him, despite of him being just as much in the wrong as Bi-Han is. However, we don't get to see any moments of Bi-Han outside of his role as grandmaster. We only get to see one side of him and we only get to see him in situations where his anger is provoked. I can see why that would automatically lead some people to believe Bi-Han would react with anger in other sitautions too, because that's all we've seen of him, but it's wrong. The story mode alone is not a reliable source to determine what Bi-Han's personality really is like.

When we're first introduced to Bi-Han during the tea house fight, it's quite obvious that he's unhappy with the whole situation. He doesn't seem angry to me, but rather insulted that he was given such a "lowly" task. His proud warrior clan is expected to pose as goons in order to test two farmers. Bi-Han is a very prideful man. It's understandable why he would seem annoyed or impatient here. He considers this test a waste of the Lin Kuei's time and skills. Not to mention, his pride is hurt when Kung Lao taunts him on top of all this. It only fuels his frustration further.

In the chapter where Johnny is recruited, Bi-Han finally blows up. He attacks Johnny and yes, he's furious this time, but again, not because he has anger issues. His reaction, though it may seem over the top at first, is actually justified when you think about it.

Kuai Liang later admitted that he was aware of Bi-Han's frustrations for a while, meaning that Bi-Han has probably kept quiet about them for years and they've just continued to build up to the point where he could no longer contain his anger. Imagine swallowing your pride for so long, reluctantly following orders you're secretly questioning while each time you show the slightest sign of doubt, you're being reprimanded by your own brothers and compared to your father, the very man who never believed in you and your visions. That along with the secret he had been keeping from his brothers about the circumstances of their father's death must have been a lot of additional pressure on Bi-Han's shoulders and on his mental health. Add to that the responsibilites and duties that come with being a grandmaster and you can see why he was bound to blow up like that sooner or later.

Johnny yelled at Bi-Han, touched him without his consent and got punched as a result of that. Then there's the fight in which Johnny defeats Bi-Han and Kuai Liang and it's the second time Bi-Han feels humiliated. His anger here is understandable in my opinion, especially considering that Liu Kang, who Bi-Han's Lin Kuei have served loyally for generations, sided with Johnny, a stranger, against him. Undoubtedly, this is the moment Bi-Han decided Liu Kang no longer deserves their loyalty or respect.

The scene of Bi-Han snapping at Tomas could easily be seen as an overreaction on Bi-Han's part because we, as the viewers, are witnessing this and listening to this for the first time, but from Bi-Han's perspective and judging by the way he reacts, it was definitely not the first time Tomas and Kuai Liang brought up their father and reminded him of the old grandmaster's teachings. I can imagine Bi-Han already feels haunted by his father's ghost and by what he did (his way of justifying his decision to himself implies regret) and his brothers' constant whining about their father certainly isn't helping.

That doesn't mean Bi-Han always snaps at his brothers when they disagree with him or that he always reacts this way when being met with criticism. I feel like he's just trying so hard to earn his brothers' respect and that it deep down hurts him that they still respect their fathers' teachings more than his.

When Bi-Han attacks Kuai Liang, he's angry and disappointed because his brothers betrayed him and broke their oaths to him. It must have felt so liberating for him to finally tell Kuai Liang the truth, to no longer keep everything bottled up inside him. He seems enthusiastic to pursue this new path and share it with his brothers, but they refuse to believe in his vision, just like their father did.

To sum it all up, I don't think Bi-Han is short-tempered or hot-headed per se. We only see him in scenes that are intentionally set up to paint him in a bad light and we're only introduced to him after his frustrations have gotten to the point where they have deeply corrupted him.

Kitana confirmed that Bi-Han was once a decent person, he was once someone Tomas looked up to and Kuai Liang was close with. We just never got to see that version of Bi-Han. However, good!Titan Bi-Han is a pretty good indicator of what Bi-Han was like before his frustrations poisoned him and he seems calm, kind and deeply at peace with himself and the world around him. Bi-Han's anger stems from how long he has kept his emotions bottled up inside of him. It doesn't mean he always blows up at the smallest things or that his only response to disagreement is violence.

Also, from a meta standpoint, Scorpion has always been the hot-headed, vengeful character with the anger issues while Sub-Zero has always been the cold and rational character. While some people claim their traits have been swapped in the new era, I personally disagree.

As proven by the scene where Bi-Han is nearly murdered by Kuai Liang in his rage, Scorpion is still the one with the anger issues. Meanwhile, during their fight, Bi-Han holds himself back and only scars Kuai Liang when he could have just easily killed him, but he doesn't give in to his anger and instead offers his brother a chance to reconsider.

However, there are a few examples of both brothers acting out of character in the story mode, such as Kuai Liang being depicted as the calmer, more reasonable brother, when he's very much beyond reason and gets criticized for being blinded by his thirst for vengeance by both Liu Kang and himself from an alternate timeline.

Kuai Liang is the one with the anger issues, not Bi-Han.

I'm not trying to paint one brother as good and the other as evil, just for the record. Both brothers are ruthlessly pursuing their goals, blinded by their own ideals. Both brothers are guilty of spilling the other's blood and both have made very questionable choices.

Regardless, I think Bi-Han's anger throughout the story mode is very much justified when you know the character's full story.

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

A bit of a loaded question, I know, but do you have any TF ships you prefer and would like to share?

I need you to be aware that you're opening pandora's box here. The vibes range anywhere from "god this is hot" to "god this is cute" to "their dynamic is so fucking interesting and i want to study them under laboratory conditions" to "this hurts so much and I need the drama, I am CRYING" to smashing barbie dolls together. I have crackships you ain't even THOUGHT about. I throw ships at the wall just to see if they stick. I like a lot of ships. Arguably too damn many. So many that I'm putting this under a cut to spare people from the long post. So many that I have to sort them by continuity so you're not staring at an unorganized list longer than do you love the color of the sky.

TFA

shockbee I feel has a lot of the potential for shockwave fearing what happens when bee finds out he's not longarm. Like a lot of the scenes in auto boot camp read to me like shockwave really did want bee as an ally while he climbs the ranks, and there's some juicy potential for shocker starting out as just using him until he actually catches feelings. Especially in aus where bee really did join the elite guard. Like can you imagine the drama. The heartbreak. The trust issues. Bee realizing he never really knew the guy he could trust most. Wondering if he's even safe to be around. If anything was even real. Shockwave wondering the same things. Hhhhhhhhh.

I do enjoy shockblurr conceptually but I'm not crazy about how they're usually portrayed in the fandom bc I feel like we're all forgetting that shockwave is a ball of anxiety and murder, and Blurr is a straight laced fuckin nerd who can't shut his mouth. An overpowered, highly capable nerd, but a nerd still. I like what the artist katzske does with them a lot tho.

I'm also a blitzbee enjoyer but on a less "bee can fix him and itll be so sweet" level and more "god imagine how annoying they'd be together." Looney Tunes levels of fucking with people. Either that or bumblebee is just horny on main and really likes the thought of bagging a con, but then he goes and catches feelings.

prowlbulk owns my entire heart. They're so sweet on each other and prowl really respects and appreciates bulkhead way more than bulky's used to. And bulkhead admires so much of prowl's skill and perspective. They work so well together as a couple and it's fucking adorable. With a hint of tragedy bc. Well. You know.

Bulkbee is also incredibly cute bc I'm a sucker for besties that very slowly realize they love each other so much it makes them look stupid. Good in romantic or qpr flavors. Bee already climbs all over bulkhead like a squirrel, they're so fuckin affectionate and very very stupid in social settings.

I like Optimus and blackarachnia from a drama standpoint bc God. They are tragic. They are MESSY. I genuinely think there's no happy ending for them. The trust is gone. But they still miss each other so much and they just CANT move on, so they keep stringing each other along. They're just hurting themselves and each other every time one does anything nice for the other. It's the kinda shit that just slowly rips your heart out. OP please don't text your ex. OP pLEASE

Megop is a classic but I feel we as a fandom underutilize how much Optimus pisses off Megatron. He is an asshole cat knocking shit off the counter for attention. Megs lets him be worse when he is so so fucking tired of being good. He loves that he hates him and he hates that he loves him. Full on "my esteemed rival" "dearly detested." Fighting each other is cathartic and addictive. Megatron finds it infuriating but he can't deny how much he likes having a worthy opponent, how fitting it is that the cosmos sent him so deadly a nemesis, and yet how lame it is that he was so forgettable at first so now he feels dumb being mildly obsessed with him. Optimus is just glad he has someone who doesn't expect him to be perfect and nice and upstanding. He can vent out a lot of his less noble feelings or impulses that he's had completely repressed for ages. The pressure's off in a lot of ways. And I think in an enemies to lovers sense, watching them figure out how to make that setup and that very odd mutual desire to be in each other's lives into something healthier could be really compelling. Or tragic in a "why did I let myself need you? Why the fuck did I let myself need you?" way.

Beeprowl is funny but I only really like it in a "you annoy me SO MUCH let's make out about it" way. Nothing committed, just dispelling the tension without having to kill each other. It is just kinda nice seeing them have genuinely sweet moments though. Squidbob ass relationship.

Lugnut and Strika are the perfect Decepticon power couple and I love them so much. So very much. Lugnut loves his big terrifying wife capable of leveling cities, and she loves her sweet devoted husband who could throw her across the room. I think they break chairs over each other's heads for fun and have been trying to seduce Megatron into a threesome for ages.

Shockwave and Megatron are also incredibly good. The loyalty. The "I commit my whole existence to you. I am yours, in mind body and soul. I will go wherever you need me to, I will put myself in immeasurable danger for you, just please say I'm doing a good job" and "all my efforts would be lost without you. In a world where I have been vulnerable and terrified, where I have been stabbed in the back by people I thought I could wholly trust, I can look at you and know, unwaveringly, you won't do the same. I trust you completely." It's Delicious. It's absolutely codependent but god it's tasty.

Also honestly? Bulkhead and the constructicons could make a pretty cute throuple. He wants them to be better. They want him to be worse. He just wants them to do honest work and they want him to stop letting stuffy, elitist autobot society control him so much. They love each other, they're friends (even if the constructicons don't totally remember the first night they met him). And they really do enjoy each other's company. They're just guys being dudes. Just dudes being guys. Just guys being gays. (It's also just nice when bulkhead gets to be the smaller one, scrapper totally carries him around like a big ol' cat).

I really like prowl being torn between lockdown and jazz. They're the devil and angel on his shoulders. Lockdown tempting him into relapsing, feeling himself fall into old habits, forsaking everything he's learned about patience and respect and being conscientious of the world around him. Jazz picking him back up when he slips, making him WANT to keep being better. And prowl can't decide if he wants to be loved in spite of all his toxic traits or BECAUSE of them. It's got me in a chokehold, your honor.

Megastar is fun in tfa because 1. It's implied Megatron never actually abused starscream while they were on the same side (the first thing starscream says after waking up from being shot is "YOU DARE STRIKE ME, MEGATRON?" which reads to me like this is a new development). Megs doesn't actually hurt anyone working for him other than Sumdac, who he fucking hates (at least not on-screen), and the only reason he was as aggro to starscream post-revival was because he knew screamer is the reason he spent all that fucking time as just a severed head. He used to actually trust him, sort of, even if he was a scheming, sycophantic little weasel. And 2. It's pretty obvious they have history together. I genuinely truly believe they were exes and Starscream only planted a bomb on him because he couldn't be fucking normal about the divorce. You look at how they bitch at each other in deep space and then immediately fall into what is most likely their old dynamic of getting things done and shooting the shit and tell me they never had an intense romantic stint that went horribly wrong. Starscream calls him Meggy in his internal logs for fucks sake.

Ratchet x Arcee are also very very cute together. Old married dorks. Ratchet's so soft with her and he wants her to be okay. She genuinely likes him and he makes the nightmare she's subjected herself to bearable. "Don't call me sir, I work for a living!" They're both horrifically traumatized, they understand each other on a level most bots can't, and they can ground each other when it gets bad. God. You know they're slow dancing in the kitchen together. You know they're sickeningly domestic with each other. They are holding hands in the park on a comically small bench on earth right as we SPEAK.

Oh also sumdac x megatron. It started as a crackship of mine but I really love the idea of sumdac feeling legitimately guilty for taking Megatron apart and unknowingly violating him the way he did, even if Megatron is terrible. Like the dynamic of "you lied to me" "if I told you who I really was, I would be dead. I don't owe you the truth when you held me captive. I was vulnerable. I was TERRIFIED. I did what I had to in order to keep myself safe. And you come to ME with accusations of doing you wrong? When YOU held all the power? And then when I'd taken back the power you left me without, made you feel what I felt, I'm a monster?" "I never meant to hurt you" "Well you did. And now you know just how much damage you did." Like it's such an interesting angle, ESPECIALLY when you consider that sumdac probably grew to legitimately care about Megatron while he was in his lab. He wanted to do right by him. He wanted to see him restored and thriving. He was his robot buddy that made a birthday gift for his kid once. Some part of him probably misses him after he's gone, some part of him probably feels guilty too, even through all the rage and hurt and fear and betrayal. That's complicated feelings!! That's juicy!!!!!

I like the thought of Shockwave and Optimus but that's mostly for sexy reasons. Something about a big, smooth talking, scary cryptid monster, very well spoken and elegant, seducing Good, Upstanding Autobot Optimus to The Dark Side. This is mostly because Optimus is a huge nerd and so is Shockwave. I think Shockwave could potentially pique his interest with uncensored versions of the history Optimus is already a huge dweeb about, and seal the deal with a few gentle touches and honeyed words. From Optimus's perspective this is Very Obviously a Honeypot Trap but the trouble is Shockwave is very hot and very sweet on him and starting to seem less and less evil so he's not sure how long he can keep his guard up when the temptation is this strong. He has a duty to fight Decepticons and shut out their lies but man. He's so tired. And Shockwave's berth is very warm. There is something satisfying about seeing him choose to be selfish after nearly a whole show of him taking the high road. (It's even better if he gets attached when eventually Shockwave's Cool Sexy Collected vibes falter and he sees how much of an anxious, panicky dork he actually is)

I also just kind of like the idea of team prime being a polycule (other than ratchet, who is just watching the young bots having relationship drama and rolling his optics (the age gap and mentor role make me personally a little uncomfortable but I have nothing against people who do include him, they're all adults, its chill)). I like the thought of these losers getting home after a long day and collapsing into a cuddle pile, either on the couch or on the floor. They all love each other so much already, I think they should kiss about it, but they're super repressed so it's So Very Shy and Cautious and Sweet.

The same goes for the Decepticons but more in a "cons are pretty casual about sex anyway, they're in close proximity, and they tolerate each other at least so nearly everyone has a fuck buds setup with each other" way. I feel like the autobots are super repressed in that regard so the cons started leaning into being sluts to stick it to the mech along with all the other freaks shit they're cool with. God help Blackarachnia, she goes from Autobot repression to all her coworkers being sluts on main and she Does Not Know what to do about that (also it would make a lot of sense if that's why she started leaning into the femme fatale thing so hard)

TFP

Megop is also Very Good here. Literally the most divorced robots to ever exist. Megatron NEEDS Optimus back and Optimus still holds a torch for megs, but it's so fucking funny because they're clearly on fundamentally different levels of "I miss you." Like Optimus is kinda sad and he does want the old Megatronus back, but Megatron does these whole fuckin elaborate stunts to get Optimus to pay attention to him again and then locks himself in his room with a pint of ice cream and dark energon to cry about him. Mans is NOT coping. Alternatively, Optimus is coping just as poorly on the inside and he really does still love Megatron just as much but he knows that's a selfish desire that he quiets with everything else he sacrifices about himself in the name of being a good leader. Least repressed Optimus.

Optiratch my beloved. Gay old men who would do anything for each other, even when they really don't agree on how to proceed. They're best friends, they're husbands, they're crushing on each other and they think it's unrequited, they just started dating, they've been married for eons. All of it works soooo well. They know each other well enough that they can communicate by just kinda grunting in specific ways. I need them to hold hands SO bad.

Bulkhead and wheeljack should get to kiss on the mouth I think. If Arcee can call Wheeljack Bulkhead's boyfriend, and bulkhead does not deny it, logic dictates they should in fact French kiss sloppy style for a whole minute on live TV. It can happen. Only on the hub.

KOBD are adorable together, they are so unhinged and stupid and they love each other so much. Like the team rocket of the nemesis. Breakdown loves his husband soooo much and knockout misses him so bad when Silas gets him. And you KNOW they're freaks bc knockout is totally convinced that breakdown would've loved seeing how he torments Silas in bd's body. He's probably right about it too.

I also wholly support Ms. June Darby for trying to seduce Optimus. Me too girl, get that robo ass. Go get jack a new cooler dad. It's also very cute to imagine Optimus, the bigass 30 foot robot, the stoic leader of the Autobots who keeps stonefaced through just about anything, flustered and crushing on a very small and very flirty human.

For some reason the show was kind of trying to tease Bulkhead x Arcee for exactly one episode and then never again and like. Look. I understand it was a forced het ship that was there to distract people from how gay they accidentally made the show. I know it'd probably just be Arcee rebounding after losing Cliffjumper. But I think them having a fwb type relationship while she works through her feelings could be interesting. Though this could just be because Bulkhead is big sweet and comforting and him holding anyone and making them feel safe while they're Going Through it is enough to get me saying God I Wish That Were Me.

Bumblebee and Smokescreen appeal to me in the same way seemingly very hetero frat bros who are apparently a very sweet and affectionate gay couple do. It's an inherently funny irony and also theyre just both cute himbos.

TFP Megastar is horrifically unhealthy in general and there is absolutely no way in hell it could work out. Not pre-war, not post-megs-redemption, nada. Which is why it has my brain in a chokehold. This is one of the ships I like because it's fascinating and because god it HURTS. Like I have my gripes with how the show portrayed the abuse overall but there were some things they were cooking with. Starscream being an obvious victim but then turning around and inflicting it on everyone around him? Girl no, the cycle of violence and abuse!!!! Girl no, you're refusing to do the complex emotional work of accepting that what happened to you wasnt okay and thus you carry out the behaviors you've gaslit yourself into thinking are normal!!!!!! Girl no, society has failed you and you have no support systems to help you break the cycles, but you also simply refuse to try in the first place because your pride wouldn't allow it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cortical psychic patch was literally my fave showcase of their dynamic in the whole show. "I don't want to play this game anymore!" Like jfc ouch. Also the thought of post redemption Megatron lamenting how he treated Starscream, not having considered the damage he's done to him before now. Trying to make it right and only making it all worse by inserting himself into Starscream's life again and realizing how badly he's broken him, how fucked it is that Starscream seems to revere him after EVERYTHING. God. GOD. I'm in agony.

Rescue Bots

Speaking of starscream in the cycle of abuse, KOSS has postcanon potential. (Post Predacons Rising, rid does not exist 😌) Like. They've proven they feel some type of way about each other. "I've always admired your lustrous finish." "😏" But Knockout was the first person in starscream's life to set a boundary in a healthy way. And when starscream inevitably ignores those boundaries and knockout leaves, you know how much it fucking hurts starscream to realize how badly he fucked up. But of course, the pride. He can't apologize. Can't admit he's the reason knockout betrayed him. So he'll choke back the tears. He'll try to, anyway. But he can't stop the agony in his voice while he feebly spits out "Fine! I hope Unicron eats you too!!" You know the second they shut the door on him, the waterworks started, and so did the closest thing to self reflection Starscream's ever done. He Has the Potential to be Better with Knockout, but he NEEDS to put in the work, and the suspense of wondering if he WILL fucks my whole shit up.

It is so close to canon that blades and bumblebee are boyfriends. Hell I believe it pretty much IS canon. He loves that bug so much. He gets jealous when he hangs out with Dani and not him. He hugs him for a photo the first chance he gets. And since we know blades is confirmed as being into dudes, I think we all know what they were getting at. TFP bumblebee has an anxious twink boyfriend that lives in Maine and we have no idea whatsoever if the rest of team prime knows.

Graham and boulder pine for each other like you would not believe. Once again, pretty much canon. You can't just have boulder keep telling Graham "well I like you just how you are" when Graham's trying to impress a girl and expect me to not think he has a big stupid gay crush on his best friend. They love each other so much as partners and as friends, I know damn well they'd be SICKENINGLY cute together as boyfriends. They'd probably try to stealth it at first bc a human and a giant robot alien in love? What'll the others think?? Gotta keep it secret. Sneaking off into the woods so Boulder can work on his "art projects" but in fact they are kissing. They're not as slick as they think they are, Chief Burns 100% picks up what's going on but he lets them think they're sneaky. Nobody actually has any problems with it other than Kade making fun of them a little but don't worry that's just him projecting.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Heatwave and Kade are the worst fucking tsunderes about crushing on each other. Between heatwave refusing to let down the brooding tough guy persona and kade being so insistent on staying hyper masculine (to the point where mild internalized homophobia is inevitable), neither of them can just be honest about how much they mean to each other and they gotta resort to getting each other's attention by being mean in very low stakes ways. I am drowning, there is no sign of land, you are coming down with me, hand in unloveable hand, except they're not drowning and they're just dunking each other in a kiddie pool repeatedly.

Heatwave and quickshadow are fun for similar reasons but with less shit lord pranks and/or lowbrow bitching, and more classy verbal sniping and sparring with each other because heatwave thinks it's hot when quickshadow kicks his ass. They're insufferably competitive and I think that could be very fun and incredibly messy, especially since they both need to learn how to communicate. Very bisexual, they are forced to share the brain cell, 10/10

I also just enjoy the idea of all the bots being in a polycule the same way I like the idea for TFA's team prime. They're very sweet together and they clearly care about each other a lot. Its just kind of nice when they all hold hands together, you feel me? They're sneaking off to kiss in the bunker bc they don't know if the humans know dudes can like other dudes. They are also not as subtle as they think they are.

Oh also doc Greene and chief burns dated once when they were teenagers and it didn't work out but they stayed besties, nobody can change my mind on this.

Beast Wars

Dinobot and Megatron are exes, 100%. Dinobot is probably the only being in the known universe that Megatron actually kind of cares about other than himself and his rubber duck. Otherwise he wouldn't keep trying to fucking clone him to make a version that will never leave him. There's also some implications here and there that Megatron really did want the world to be better for Predacons (along with the desire for power, anyway) and that preds are genuinely treated unfairly, so there's a pretty compelling angle of dinobot having been drawn to megatron because he saw someone with noble goals and a way to fix their fucked up world before becoming disillusioned with the dishonorable tyrant he turned out to be.

Dinobot and Optimus are also very good together bc it really truly feels like Dinobot finally found the guy with honor he thought he saw in Megatron. And he's infuriating half the time because he isn't nearly as bloodthirsty as he's used to, but GODDAMN does he make him Feel Things. The entire episode Gorilla Warfare has me obsessed with them. The bitching. Dinobot freaking the fuck out and Optimus tenderly removing the seed pod stuck to the back of his neck that was freaking him out and only laughing at him a little. Dinobot constantly trying to choose violence. The stupid smile when Optimus also chooses violence and Dinobot realizes he fucked up. THE BEDSIDE VIGIL. "It was my shift" AND YOU KNOW THEY WEREN'T TAKING SHIFTS. THE FLOWER ON THE BEDSIDE TABLE. "it is good to have you back." "Back home or back to normal?" "...both." THEY'RE HOMOSEXUAL, YOUR HONOR.

Dinobot (shit maybe I just really like dinobot) with Rattrap is good for similar reasons but the vibes are totally different. DoOp is all soft and sweet and patient and light ribbing, Dinotrap is talking shit at each other as a love language. Dinobot is a good guy but he's also, fundamentally, a bitch. Rattrap has proven he can match his freak by bitching right back. They love each other by pretending to hate each other. To the point where if Rattrap doesn't hear any comebacks he genuinely starts worrying because "oh, we aren't playing the game, why aren't you playing, are you okay?" They have so many soft tender moments where they prove they actually love each other. Their last conversation is talking shit!!!! "You're just a slag spouting saurian, but it's nice to know where you stand." "Upwind of you for preference, rodent." They loved each other!!!!!! Rattrap is fucked up over losing him!!!!!!!!!!! It's bittersweet, it's tragic, it hurts so bad and I love them so much!!!! They're stupid your honor!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a much sillier side, I do love Rattrap x Rhinox. Rattrap kissed that man twice. On the mouth. On screen. Annoying little gremlin who goes "nyehhhh" x big stoic dude who goes "hn." And they're both tech guys so they probably work on projects together a lot. And they all survive and are fine bc beast machines isnt real 💖

I have my problems with Silverbolt in general but I cannot deny that he and Blackarachnia are pretty damn cute together. He loves his girlfriend, they trash her shitty ex together, she loves that he doesn't try to change her. She gets to be the bad girl and the sweet knight in shining armor still loves her. "Dark poison of my heart" like c'mon.

Airazor and Tigatron are also pretty cute AND they have the honor of being the first canon gay couple in the tf franchise bc of the Japanese dub, which made Airazor a dude but left the romance unchanged (the Japanese dub was also just generally fuckin insane tho so it's not all that shocking).

Waspinator and Terrorsaur are boyfriends for real and for canon, John hasbro told me himself.

RiD 2001

I ship skybyte with that one girl that lives in a state of constant talking-car-based torment. Why? Because when I watched rid with my roommate we had a running joke that eventually they'd meet and have a whole robotfucker romcom arc and it kinda just stuck. This is my only rid ship and I will not be taking criticism on it.

Cyberverse

Bumblebee, Hot Rod and Cheetor are in a polycule together and nobody can tell me they aren't. Just how it's gotta be.

I want Perceptor and Dead End to kiss so badly. They're technically canon already given how hard the creators ship them. They hold hands your honor. "only a bolthead would go out there... UGH I'm such a BOLTHEAD" HES IN LOVE YOUR HONOR.

Hot Rod and Soundwave are great as enemies to lovers, they're so annoying 💖. I feel like they'd start playing gay chicken and be married with three kids wondering when the other guy is gonna back out.

SHOCKWAVE AND WHEELJACK OH MY GOD. fellas is it gay to program your drones which are just tiny versions of your own altmode to dance funny to Tetris music specifically because it makes your lame ass boyfriend laugh and then keep that function eons after you break up and still remember exactly what the command is? Fellas is it gay to get kidnapped by your ex and then get really excited about all the cool shit he's been making while you were separated? I wish they could've gotten a happy ending man, they could've been so cute together.

I don't ship it romantically but I believe in Grimlock & Arcee qpr. They love each other so so much they would've readily died for each other. I love their dynamic, they're insane 💖

Same goes for Shadowstriker and Soundwave tbh. Decepticon besties, and Shadowstriker being aro kinda just feels right. I like to think they cuddle and talk shit about Shockwave while Sounders blasts heavy metal. They play cod as the most insufferable duo.

Megop in cyberverse is so good because it really feels like they Had a relationship but it was unstable and moved too fast and they just assumed they were on the same page about things without communicating properly until suddenly they were in serious disagreement, and TRIED to work it out in a mature way but they were simply Doomed From the Start. And then it culminates in a whole fucking war but it rages so long, and they are so tired of fighting, and they realize they want to try again because nobody was really to blame for how things ended because they both handled it poorly. I wish they got that chance to try again properly. I wish when Optimus retired to just fuck around and vibe, he could've taken Megatron with him. I wish they could've fallen in love all over again.

Oh also Slipstream and Windblade being lesbian enemies to lovers bait was Fucking Phenomenal and I Love it So Much. They're smug and terrible and I want them to make out. They can make each other worse 💖

G1

I have not seen that much of g1 but I do know a few things are absolute truth.

Soundwave is gay for Megatron. This is arguably reciprocated.

Shockwave is gay for Megatron. This is not reciprocated but it is taken advantage of.

Starscream vacillates between gay for Megatron and trying to kill him. Megatron seems to reciprocate but only a little bit. Enough to keep him alive because he's cute. But megs also gets a lot of cuteness aggression so he feels the need to chuck starscream against the wall every now and then.

Powerglide and Astoria are tied for the pinnacle of robot on human romance in the entire tf franchise with Tracks and Raul, and if none of them come back in ANY tf media, I will riot.

Cliffjumper and Mirage have fucked at least once.

Wheeljack and Ratchet are gay married.

Optimus is bisexual and he loves elita-1 but there is something distinctly homoerotic going on with Megatron.

Conclusion

I like when the robots kiss <3

[zeroducks-2]

This is quite random sorry but has Dick ever acknowledge (or as close to it) that a lot of things that Bruce did to him are abusive? (this is for a fic I’m trying to write)

Yes and no!

Dick knows Bruce is an assholes and WILL yell at him to stop being an asshole, or at least he used to. Dick would call him out on his BS and wouldn't let him get away with a lot of things, but this was once upon a time, before they rebooted everything and erased decades of character development. The closest he gets to that post reboot is after Forever Evil - everyone thinks Dick is dead, and Bruce wants people to keep thinking that, hence he forces Dick to join Spiral and become Agent 37.

Dick is, as you can imagine, not thrilled. He yells and fights and Bruce beats the everloving shit out of him in a very upsetting sequence, where Dick is half naked and Bruce is wearing most of his gear while he keeps hitting him to the point of leaving him bleeding on the floor of the Batcave.

Dick begs and tries to appeal to everything he can including the "things can never be the same between us after this", to which Bruce essentially replies that it's a sacrifice he's willing to make. Ha. I say that this is especially upsetting because Dick went through a horribly traumatic experience during the events of Forever Evil, in which among other things he was tortured by Thomas Wayne Jr AKA Owlman, who wanted to turn Dick into his own sidekick after losing his Talon. The way Bruce beats and humiliates Dick is drawn in a way which creates a clear parallel between Thomas and Bruce's actions towards Dick, in a way that suggests they're "not that different after all", but this narratively goes nowhere and I don't get why they fuck they even came up with that. But anyway.

All of this gets forgotten soon enough. Despite his own warnings Dick forgives Bruce after a very short time, pines for home and tries to communicate with Bruce in any way he can because he "misses his dad", which to be honest made my guts churn and my bile rise after Bruce nearly beat him comatose. Essentially the story forgets Bruce did all of that and so does Dick, but for the brief time Dick was allowed to be aware of it and angry about it, he was indeed aware that he was being abused even if he never used the word abuse.

This is the case for lots of stories in which similar instances happen, as I mentioned before especially pre-reboot. Dick does call Bruce out on his bullshit - especially if Bruce is being an abusive asshole to someone else, since Dick is way more prone to defend other people than he is to defend himself, like here

or here

But despite being obviously aware that there are issues in the way Bruce does things, to put it mildly, he never uses the word "abuse" (which is sort of a prohibited word for DC standards, kind of like "rape". They're way more likely to say non consensual than rape because it's a less upsetting word apparently).

There is an instance of this post reboot, and it's during a conversation Dick has with Tim. I believe it happens in the Pride comics of 2022, but I don't have the panels on hand at the moment. Basically Tim asks for advice on how to please Bruce, being the man demanding and prone to bad moods, and Dick flat out replies "I spent a very big part of my life trying to please him, and I left when I realized it was impossible" which to me is so interesting since it's the textbook reaction of a former Golden Child who fell from grace and became a Scapegoat (please note that tumblr's definition of Golden Child is completely arbitrary; golden child doesn't mean "good kid", it means a child who the parent holds to the highest standards, on which there are the biggest expectations and the strongest pressure regarding everything the child does. Sometimes a parent lives vicariously through them and perceives them as an extension of themselves, but not necessarily. If you watched Encanto, Isabella is the Golden Child of the family).

Something similar happens during Nightwing's run from the 90s.

Dick lives in Bludhaven and at this point he's gone essentially no-contact with Bruce. Tim, being the new Golden Child, is trying to reel Dick back into the toxic dynamic because he genuinely thinks it's going to be good for both Dick and Bruce.

I'm pointing this out not to fault Tim in any way, he's just a kid what does he know, but to show you that indeed yes, Dick is aware that he's been abused otherwise he wouldn't have left, he wouldn't be on a no talking basis with his parental figure, and he wouldn't reply to Tim that he spent so much time of his life deluding himself into thinking that Batman actually needed him. Of course this also goes nowhere and their relationship isn't allowed to grow or heal (things are just conveniently forgotten after a while), but as I mentioned, Dick knows what's up.

That being said, I believe it's also worth noting that many many times Bruce abuses the fuck out of Dick and Dick doesn't really acknowledge it, just takes it. Sometimes he doesn't have the spoons to fight back, sometimes he thinks he deserves it, sometimes he just doesn't know how to react because Bruce strikes like an unprovoked viper (this happens especially when Dick was still a kid but already a Titan). A very good example of this is what happens after Jason's death.

Bruce doesn't tell Dick that Jason died. When Alfred offers to let him know, Bruce says "I will handle it", and he doesn't. Then there's Jason's funeral and Bruce doesn't tell Dick about it, again Alfred offers to inform him, Bruce says he will handle it. He doesn't.

Eventually Dick finds out for collateral reasons and has an emotional breakdown in front of the other Titans, which are powerless to help him. For reference, this is how he reacts when he has definitive proof that the boy is undoubtedly gone, if there was any doubt that Dick did care about Jason.

So Dick goes to the grave with Kory but then decided to confront Bruce alone, and Bruce, in the abusive feat of the century, blames Dick for not having showed up to Jason's funeral, despite having refused to 1: tell him about Jason's death AT ALL, and 2: refused TWICE when Alfred very gently suggested to inform Dick.

Dick of course argues that he didn't know anything, and so Bruce reacts by gaslighting him, telling him they he never cared about Jason and in fact he was angry that Bruce adopted Jason and not him. Which is not true, Dick just wanted to know WHY Bruce adopted Jason and hot him. Oh and also punches him in the face when Dick tries to argue that Jason was an untrained kid. Please note that when all of this happens, Dick is hurt and can barely stand on his feet, having one of his legs in a cast.

Cherry on top, Bruce explicitly saying that he never should have had a partner and never will again, essentially "our partnership up to this point meant nothing".

In this instance Dick is too neck-deep in his own self guilt to see that he's been through a sequence of extremely abusive behavior, and never really faults Bruce for that, using the easy-coming rationalization that Bruce was in pain, suffering for Jason's death, couldn't see reason etc etc (quick PSA: someone suffering isn't entitled to abuse and gaslight anyone. And even if we really want to enable Bruce cut Bruce some slack because he was grieving, it doesn't make his behavior any less abusive. Regardless of the reasons why, the way he acts here is very damaging towards Dick who in turn did nothing to deserve it, and is grieving Jason too).

See, the problem with Dick and Bruce is the sysyphean nature of comicbooks. Dick is doomed to be the original Golden Child who falls from grace, becomes the Scapegoat, but ultimately can never be completely free of the clutches of the relationship he has and had with Bruce, for better or worse. And since he can't ever truly get out and can't ever completely be independent, the abuse end up getting downplayed. If Dick never truly gets away from Bruce it's because it's not that bad, isn't it? Nay, it's because Dick cant. He is quite literally not allowed to, same as Bruce is not allowed to truly grow from his mistakes and learn to treat his former partner, sort-of-child and dear friend with the respect and love he actually feels for him, because despite all of this and because this is fiction, Bruce does love Dick more than it can be put into words and would set the world on fire for him. But, alas, he also is doomed to keep treating Dick like shit and never really learn from his mistakes.

So again, the answer to your question is yes and no. Dick is aware of how much of a difficult person Bruce is. He's aware of the domineering aspects of his personality. But he will ultimately brush it off in the name of the good that there is and there was between them, and he will keep answering Batman's call every time, because he's not allowed to ever truly grow apart from him. It doesn't matter how much he gets angry and how much Bruce hurts him, they're indissolubly tied in this dynamic and unless there is a huge shift in the way DC execs handle things, I don't see how this dynamic can change in the foreseeable future. Sadly enough, because I'd really like to see something new.

[bloodstainedsaint]

rumors and gossip (ronald speirs x nurse! reader smut)

summary: (takes place around episodes 2 and 3) ronald speirs has trouble expressing his feelings towards you. when he catches wind that you're spreading rumors about him, he gets upset and doesn't exactly know why. but there's only one way he knows how to solve this issue: through action.

word count: 3100+

warnings: SELF-INDULGENT SMUT, reader has female genitalia, abuse of authority (read: speirs likes getting called by his title), degradation, praise, spitting, unprotected sex ("remember boys...flies spread disease, so keep yours closed!"), spanking, rough p in v sex, facefucking, fingering, orgasm denial, mentions speirs being taller than reader for like one second, SOFT SPEIRS AT THE END BC HE HAS A LIL CRUSH

notes: i see your soft speirs and i love him too, but i raise you mean dom speirs (both can exist at once). also i'm sorry in advance

Ronald Speirs didn't know what to make of you.

You, the pretty nurse he kept staring at whenever he’d catch a glimpse of you around base. You, who he often observed diligently treating the many men that came under your care. You, who sometimes met his gaze from across the post with a bashful smile before turning away.

One could say that within Ron, something was brewing towards you. Something that made his heart skip a beat in a manner he hadn't expected war to allow at all. As of recently, however, you began to elicit different feelings in him.

Ron was well-aware of all the rumors and gossip being spread about him. He wasn't oblivious to the fearful way the men looked at him, or, rather, preferred to not look at him. The more people who viewed him as a mean son of a bitch the better, he thought. So he let them circulate without much care, with only a dead glare that reinforced them.

When he heard that you were helping pass on those rumors, telling anyone in need of a good story about how Ronald Speirs, or as he had heard, “Lieutenant Sparky”, had heartlessly killed German POWs after offering them smokes or how he put down one of his own men for being drunk on duty— he was upset. This mystified him: why was he annoyed (or was troubled a better word for his feelings?) when you gossiped and not when any of his men did? It couldn't be that he secretly yearned for your approval; that seemed foolish, too unlike himself…but then again, you made him feel unlike himself on several occasions before.

Ron was a man of action, and he was going to ensure you induced no more bothersome feelings within him by simply giving you something to gossip about.

-

It was late at night when you found yourself alone in the medical station. Every wounded soldier had been relocated to another facility either on base or out of it entirely for some reason or another, leaving you with a number of empty hospital beds and an entire station to yourself. You had told the other nurses to pack in for the night and that you would tidy up by yourself; you didn't mind having something to do while it was finally tranquil in the hospital.

While you replaced bedsheets, you remembered Ronald Speirs glowering at you earlier that day, rather than his usual intense, unreadable stare. You hoped it wasn't because he found out that you were spreading rumors about him, but you suspected it was; really, you had overheard a Private Malarkey talking about Speirs’ supposed actions to a fellow soldier he was visiting, and several more soldiers had told you similar stories about Speirs as you tended to them. When your other patients asked you if you had heard anything juicy, what else were you supposed to tell them?

Behind you was a click of the door opening and closing and a gush of wind, nearly imperceptible enough to keep you in your musing. Expecting to see another nurse or perhaps a soldier who had somehow gotten himself injured in the middle of the night, you turned around and felt your eyebrows raise when you saw the man in question, half-shrouded in darkness by how the moonlight fell upon him.

Still dressed in his fatigues, he stalked over to you with slow, steady steps. He towered over your form, his eyes almost completely covered in the shadow beneath his helmet. The slightest glint you could see of them was cold, and you could almost feel his leer pierce through you. You had never realized his height from all those times you saw him from afar; you’d noticed his good looks instead, though you never wanted to admit that to yourself. Not about the soldier you were spreading such heinous rumors about.

“Lieutenant Speirs?” Your words came out more unsure than you would've liked. You didn’t even know why you were nervous; it's not like you'd done anything particularly wrong— nothing that dozens of men weren’t also doing as well. “Do you need me for something?”

A suffocating silence pervaded the room. For the moment that he didn't respond, instead fixing you with a stony glare, your heart stopped beating in anticipation. You half-expected him to materialize a gun and shoot you on the spot until he finally broke the silence and said blandly, “I've heard you've been spreading rumors about me.”

When you didn’t answer immediately, he stepped closer to you. Willing yourself not to flinch away, you could now fully see the cruel look in his eyes; it didn't help your uneven breathing or your clenched heart.

“Have you?”

You blanched, mouth going dry. “...Yes, sir.”

He tilted his head, carrying on in that unemotional yet somehow soft tone. “Our good little nurse is the one gossiping, huh? That right?”

You furrowed your eyebrows. Good little nurse? “I, uh—”

“Answer me,” he demanded, his voice hardening. His calloused fingers reached for you, clenching your cheeks so tight together that your jaw could not move to form words. You slurred your words like a drunk trying to give an intelligible answer.

“Pathetic,” he scoffed. Your eyes widened, and, shamefully, you felt heat rush to your core. Speirs noticed your surprise, and you were sure you weren't hallucinating a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

“You wanna tell me what you've been saying about me, nurse?”

You could only mumble in response. “What, too scared to say it in front of Sparky himself? I heard you were running your mouth earlier, though.”

You shook your head and uselessly struggled in his unyielding grasp. Bastard.

Gazing down at you for another tense heartbeat, Speirs let go of your face and took off his helmet, placing it on a nearby metal table and revealing his slightly tousled hair. “Get on your knees. Let’s put that mouth to good use.”

Your blood went cold, yet your body felt hot. You must've looked shocked because he sighed and looked at you expectantly.

“Well? Don't keep an officer waiting.”

You blinked dumbly. He gave a command. Who were you to disobey? You thought as you sunk down to your knees, your skirt acting as a barrier between your skin and the rough floor.

“That's what I like to see.” He began unbuckling and unzipping his pants before pulling out his erect member, standing tall, girthy, and swollen at the tip. Your mouth watered at the sight.

Again, you hesitated, looking up at him in disbelief at what was happening. You never expected to be kneeling in front of Ronald Speirs; maybe in the darkest recesses of your mind you fantasized about the Lieutenant doing whatever he pleased to you, but you never expected it to actually happen.

“Nurse, open your mouth now before I take your face and start fucking it.”

You clenched your thighs at the thought, opening your mouth to take his cock in it. You kissed the tip and licked a stripe from the base to the end before slowly enveloping it with your mouth. Ron shuddered at the feeling and put his hand in your hair, petting it with a whispered curse —perhaps he had thought about this exact scenario as much as you had?

You continued to swallow his cock whole as his hand tightened in your hair. You whimpered at the sensation, sending vibrations to his member. He stuttered your name out in response.

As you sped up your steady pace, you looked up at him from underneath your eyelashes, watching as he lost his composure, his chest heaving. “Shit…that's my girl. You're even prettier with your mouth full of my dick. Can't yak as much, can you, nurse?”

A moan slipped out at the unexpected praise, and you let your legs part as you slipped your hands between them and rubbed yourself through your soaked panties, adrenaline coursing through your veins. When Ron’s eyes focused themselves again, he caught the movement and his eyes darkened, no longer glazed over.

“Who said you could touch yourself, nurse?” he gritted out, as if his cock didn't twitch in your mouth at the sight of you pleasuring yourself. The hand in your hair clenched into a fist, but that didn't discourage you; instead, your hand went faster as he started pulling your mouth off his cock and slamming it back in at a punishing rate. You felt drool trickling down your chin, your throat burning. You greedily breathed in air during the brief respites he granted you before brutally shoving his dick down your throat.

When your eyes stopped rolling to the back of your head, you took in his disheveled state and rubbed yourself faster. His hair messy from running his hand through it, his face and a sliver of his chest gleaming with sweat, his barely suppressed deep groans. He looked heavenly compared to his actions.

Abruptly, you were pulled off his cock and placed on your back on the metal table next to his helmet. He hurriedly unbuttoned your nurse uniform, damn near ripping your clothes off of you and throwing them carelessly next to you, until you were bare before him. The cold table chilled your spine, and you arched your back into his wandering hands. In your lust-filled daze, you managed an indignant thought of how unfair it was that you were the only one naked, that his body was being left up to the imagination.

“You ready for me, girl?” He rubbed your clit in tight circles, better than you could've done yourself and better than you could've ever imagined at night, before gauging your wetness with two long fingers plunged deep into your heat.

“That wet from a little roughness?” he smirked. “Our little nurse isn't so innocent after all. Maybe that's why you spread all those rumors about me. You wanted this.”

“N-no, sir—” You gasped, cut short as his fingers quickly found that spongy place within you. You cried out for air as he relentlessly pressed against it with every movement. “That’s, mmh, not true…”

“Can’t understand you, nurse. Can you repeat that?” He said, voice tinged with smug amusement.

Closing your eyes tight, you could only whimper in pitiful reply as you felt the knot in your stomach tighten. So close to the precipice of sweet release, you could almost feel yourself stepping off—

But before you could, Speirs pulled his fingers away. You eyes shot open to gape at him in irritation until you saw him slowly bring his slick-coated fingers to his lips and suck them off.

“Did you really think I'd let a little gossiping whore like you come so easily?” He fixed you with a remorseless, sadistic look. You panted, desperation festering within you as he forced your mouth open and spat in it. “Now swallow, and I'll fuck you like you deserve it, nurse.”

You swallowed obediently, yearning for his cock inside you. In an uncharacteristic display of softness, he pressed his lips to yours and whispered against them, “Good girl,” before switching back to the Speirs you knew and roughly flipping your body over so you were bent over the metal table, your tits flush with the frigid surface and your ass on full display to the Lieutenant.

Speirs took a moment to run his hands over your body, grabbing and squeezing at the flesh of your breasts, ass, and thighs, spreading your juices around your sensitive pussy as you tried to wiggle away, overstimulated. Holding your hips so you wouldn't move, he grinded his dick against your heat and teased your hole, his precum mixing with yours. Just as you were about to whine for him to stop teasing and fuck you already, he seemed to grown impatient himself because he slid into you in one fluid motion, punching the air out of your lungs and forcing your walls to stretch around him and accommodate his size.

“Fuck, so tight for me,” he grunted out, his voice hoarse as if it had taken away his breath as well. After a moment of heavy breathing and a squeeze of your hips, he began brutally pummeling into you. You unabashedly let out a high-pitched moan at the pace, and you felt his cock throb inside of you as his name left your lips.

“Quiet, nurse. You want the whole base to know?” he said, out of breath, “Guess that'll give you another story to tell about me, yeah?”

You wanted to rebut this, saying that the lewd slapping noises of skin on skin that filled the room were probably spilling out through the thin walls of the station anyway. Instead, you heaved a breathy, “Yes, Lieutenant,” that had him growling and picking up the pace, your body moving with every thrust. He took your hands, which until then were gripping the table for dear life, and held them together at the wrist with one of his.

The hand still gripping your hip was so firm you felt it was going to leave bruises in the morning. The more pressing issue, though, was how you were going to walk the next day.

“All you needed was some good dick in you to shut you up, huh? What a dirty girl,” he groaned as you clenched around him, “And here I thought you were all innocent, nurse. You wanted this, didn't you? Say it.”

Your cheeks burned red out of embarrassment, and you floundered for words. “N-no, Ron, that’s not—”

You were interrupted by the resounding smack of his hand colliding with your ass and the stinging pain that brought tears to your eyes. Your hands twitched in his grasp.

“When you talk to an officer, you say ‘sir’. Understood?”

“Y-yes, sir,” you breathed out, and he tenderly rubbed the aching skin of your ass, calling you a good girl as he resumed pounding into you. Your heart ached at the praise.

In your fucked-out state where all you could focus on were Speirs’ deep grunts and his cock inside of you, you felt yourself getting pulled by your hair until you were mostly standing with your back pressed against his well-built, sturdy stomach. One arm closed in on your neck so that your throat was in the crook of his elbow while the other hand roamed around your body, pinching and kneading as it went, until it settled at groping your breasts.

The new angle allowed him to thrust deeper into you, so deep that you could almost feel him in your throat. Tears that had welled up in your eyes freely fell thanks to the restriction of air. When his hand moved downward from your breasts to your lower stomach, pressing down upon it, the pressure and fullness of his dick inside you intensified. You could tell you were ready to freefall from that peak again as your breath hitched with every thrust, walls clamping down around him. From the increasingly erratic rhythm of his thrusts, you could tell he was there with you.

Then, for the umpteenth time that night, Ronald Speirs surprised you. His mouth became a stream of praise and words of adoration, like you were some kind of angel and this was his altar, while his lips possessively decorated your neck and shoulders with dark marks you were sure you wouldn't be able to hide.

“Fuck, you were made for me, weren't you, sweetheart? You're, hah, so beautiful when you're under me. So perfect. My pretty little nurse.”

His soft words in his husky tone, though they threw you for a loop and definitely required your attention when you were back to thinking straight, sent you into the sweet release of your climax. He swallowed your pleasured scream with his lips on yours, gently bruising your lips with the passion of his kiss. You had no idea Ronald Speirs could be so tender and so dominant at once.

The sporadic clenching of your walls around him led him to his orgasm, and he bit into your neck with a low, long groan as he filled you with his warm release. Your body went limp against his, held up only by his arms around your torso. After the two of you regained your breath, he pulled out, and you quietly whimpered at the sudden emptiness. He carefully laid you down with your back to the metal table, tucked himself into his pants, zipped and buckled them, and looked around, searching for a towel to wipe yourselves off.

“The towels, uh, are over there.” You pointed in the direction of the cloth. “You can run some water over them in that sink, if you want.”

He nodded wordlessly and followed your directions while you laid there, thinking about tonight's events and wondering if maybe you had dreamed it all after a late night of cleaning up.

You were broken out of your reverie by a glass of water being placed next to you and a warm, damp cloth gingerly wiping the insides of your thighs and your privates. Speirs didn't dare to look at your face as he did so. Once he was finished, he looked around again for a place to discard the used towel. You laughed, saying, “I'll take care of it, sir.”

He set the towel down on the table. “Do you,” he started, but then paused, glancing at your still bare form and your flushed face, realizing how intimate this had become, “need help getting dressed?”

“I'll be fine, sir,” you said with a tired smile, “I know my way around some clothes.”

He nodded again, more to himself than in response to you, and picked up his helmet. The moonlight now illuminated all of his face, revealing the red that had risen to his cheeks, whether out of exertion or, if you were interpreting this right, shyness. He now made eye contact, his gaze decidedly gentler than when he walked in. “Goodnight, Nurse (Y/N).”

“Goodnight, Lieutenant.”

His eyes lingered for a second, his expression the same as the ones he would hit you with from across the base, before he turned, lit a cigarette, and left into the night.

Watching his retreating form and the smoke cloud dissipate behind him, you shook your head and pondered his strange deviation from the Speirs you knew, or who you thought you knew. As you got dressed and prepared to clean up the mess the two of you made, you came to the conclusion that maybe Ronald Speirs is more than the ruthless man the myths had made him out to be.

Maybe Lieutenant Sparky had a heart after all.

-

taglist: @ronsparky, @krispybearbouquet, @mads-weasley

[kanmom51]

JK Radio Stationhead 1 October 2023

And a little more as well...

cr./and huge thanks to the translation accounts I used in this post.

I think this was the most interesting Stationhead we've had so far with JK. JK was chatty, informative (well, to an extent), I would maybe even say combative? Maybe that's a little too strong a term to use, but I do think he came to show that he is unbothered by the shitstorm going on and clap back just a little bit. And he knows about that shitstorm, make no mistake.

I see Jikookers falling for this hateful campaign against JK. Not only are they perpetuating it, but they are also adding to it, embellishing it, and spreading it.

By now JK has had several girlfriends named, he's a baby daddy (she was pregnant in Feb, so...), he's going on double dates with his mate Tae, trucking (censorship issues had me change that - you know exactly what it's meant to be) her with the windows and curtains open for all to see (after telling us he's aware he's being followed around including home). All this he managed to get done before he sat down and did hours on end of JM dedicated lives, calling him his fan, flirting with him online while in bed for all of us to see, and going on a 4 day private trip with him.

A very wise blogger once said: (@ourwinterspring, hope you don't mind me quoting your wise words):

Rumors are created by haters accepted by fools and spread by idiots

That. Just that!!!

People that called themselves Jikook supporters (I'm not talking about shippers, they are in this for their own self gratification, while supporters are supposed to be looking out for JM and JK and supporting them both individually and their relationship, which btw is still considered tabooed in their own country), they are rushing to conclusions, and aiding in the spread of these lies.

K-army laughed them off.

Chinese army are fighting them off.

And I army are just spreading them like wildfire.

Why this long winded introduction?

Because Jikook are in an impossible position really. They are a closeted queer couple in a country and industry that would not accept their relationship if it would become publicly known. As long as the door is open for deniability they are ok. Taking that step through that door and out of the closet, that is one hell of a step with many consequences, to them and to those who surround them.

JK is about to release his 1st solo album, and he's in the midst of trying to infiltrate the American and Western music market. To do so they are selling a very certain image, and being queer is not part of it.

They are also both before enlistment to the military.

Them going: "hey bitches, the stories are untrue, we're in a long term loving relationship", is not a realistic expectation. And no matter what JK would say otherwise, the rumours they are just gonna keep coming, cause this train, this coordinated smear attack, it's not finished. And if and when that would be done, we'd be back to Yubi and Rose and Lisa (oh, oops, she's with Freddie), and Miju. Ehm, she's married. But wait, since when has that stopped anyone, eh? It didn't stop the Nicole stories, which, btw, are still rampant, including among some Jikookers (?) - what the actual truck is wrong with people???

So, no Jikook announcement.

A company one? Kind of feel that one won't come either. Again, JK 3D promotions and upcoming album in mind. Not to mention, and this my friends is me being super cynical right now, other than the harassment claims, the company doesn't have a problem with these rumours, given it solidifies his bad boy, truckboy, heterosexual image they are selling right now. There, I said it.

But Jikook, JM and JK, they aren't happy with this. They can't be happy with this. As much as this image is a price to pay, on the way JK is sending us constant hints that it ain't all that you see. That he's a complex being. That he might appear one way in 3D, but another in Seven and another in his CK and Vogue photoshoots (the latter with him being the artistic designer and bringing along some outfits and/or accessories that he wanted himself), not to mention someone else all together in his long lives with us. He tells us this is him. Who we see. But those that only see that image in 3D are just not looking at the full picture he's painting.

This is him:

But also this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

They are all pieces of the puzzle that is one Mr. Jeon Jungkook. And I'm sure there are pieces we have yet to see.

It's funny that JK is singing 3D (basically having phone sex and wishing for more) but at the same time he's telling us "this is me in 3D". Not one dimensional. A complex grown up human being.

Btw, I kind of feel like I need to link this post again, seeing that so many are still thinking that having muscles, tattoos and piercings makes you heterosexual or at least bi. Cause, I mean, you must be sexually attracted to women if you are super masculine, and get tattoos or pierce your body, right?

Oh boy, this is a long one. I haven't even started with Stationhead, lol.

So, JK is trying to show us he's a complex human being. This is him. Not one MV or song he chose to sing. The full picture. The shoots he chooses, the concepts for his songs (do I have to remind of his Seven concept shoot?), his lives, what he shared with us (as in past tense cause Idk how much more he will with everything that's going on).

And in the midst of this, knowing you are in a committed relationship, having your integrity, your good name smeared, being with the person you love and knowing that the world not only doesn't see how dear you are to each other but also thinks you're being sexually intimate with multiple others. Not to mention, having to deal at this young age with the knowledge that there are people out there that hate you enough to want to hurt you on such a level, to ruin your good name, your career. It can be paralyzing. And they put on a brave face. JK says he knows people hate him and good for them, he'll continue to live his life. But it's hard, it's hurtful, and these two, they are the kindest sweetest people out there, they don't deserve this.

OMG, when will I finally get to the point?

I think about now would be a good time.

So, no speaking up. No announcement. But at the same time they don't want to just sit there and take it.

Phew, here we go?

JK came today, 1st October (or more so 1st Jimtober) to Stationhead after his 3D dance practice video landed (same day).

And by some strange coincidence (no coincidence at all), JM released his second #ThisisJimin dance clip to Dominic Fike's Phone Numbers with these lyrics, coincidentally:

Woah, Kenny! Why you not here with me? Can you break bread with me? Why you switch phone numbers like clothes? Why you can't answer me? (Yeah) 'Cause I got more coming

(Not a love song)

Using a prop. Wait for it...

Oh, and the outfits that happen to be kind of similar and sticking to the black and white.

I feel like I'm repeating myself here, but you know, sometimes you need to in order to hammer the message in.

And JK, well he also posted a selfie on Weverse (while on Stationhead).

1st Jimtober with his fave Jack Skellington.

So yeah. The little things. Those little codes that say "we are here, we are ok, all is well, this will definitely not break us."

Yes. I get all of that from those little things, lol.

But, it didn't end with that.

And here we are.

Finally at the precipice.

Well, not precipice per say. That's being a little dramatic. But I am finally going to get to JK on Stationhead, as in what we got from him during the show.

I guess with this long introduction I should start with the Jikook related, right?

Let's start with JK repeating the endearment JM used in his IG post for 3D.

And then JK basically confirmed that he and JM were together when drawing the cloud whale drawing JM shared with us on IG telling us JK drew it.

Making sure we know that they drew the whale together.

You don't have to understand Korean to hear the amusement in his voice. We don't know when this was taken (CT or perhaps more recently... although my initial thought was CT I'm kind of leaning to it being more recent, like very recent), but we know they were together. We thought so and now JK confirmed it.

Enjoyed confirming it.

He also brought up JM's birthday being this month. Yes, he could be reacting to comments, but we've discussed this multiple times in the past. You know. Choices. And in this case, his choice which ones to answer, right?

Once again, it's all in the way it's all being said. The "I know something you don't" tone of voice. The "a-ha, yeah, Uhah" while supposedly looking up if he's doing something on the day. The "I'm going to be busy...I see I have a schedule..?" ending with a question mark? As in "do I really?" Lol.

The way he was talking, the man has something planned. I really don't want to have any expectations here. But man, he's making it hard for me not to have them. Lmao.

And another JM related comment he chooses to answer:

This time you don't get the sassiness or teasing in his voice like we did with the JM birthday answer. Idk why they aren't doing each other's challenges. It's for them to know. We know JK was showing/teaching JM Seven moves. We know that JK knew SMF pt. 2 moves. I guess it's something they just decided between them. Or perhaps schedules didn't and aren't aligning. Who knows. And who knows, we might just get a surprise. Next phone song JM does could be 3D, lol.

Ok, so he saw his parents. He goes on to also talk about his mother's cooking (oh, that man is so in trouble with his mom calling her cooking bland, lmao). Kind of gathering from it all that JK was in Busan for the holiday. Could that photo JM shared, you know, the one JK made sure we know they both drew the whale on, have been taken when they were both down in Busan for the holiday? I wonder...

This here is, I feel, JK clapping back a little at the haters. But also telling us, once again, that he's an adult and does adult things. Knows how to work hard when needed, and when to "play hard", as in relax and have a good time, when allowed.

This one isn't about Jikook (well in a sense maybe it is, as it's about shooting down TKKs hopes and prayers, lol). JK clarifying Tae's story about him recording a song at JK's place and JK directing him.

So, no pre-planning, JK's reply "and I was like "suddenly"? And also letting us know Tae didn't record the final at his place. Burn, lol. Also answers (again - like in the Inkigayo live) a question about karaoke with Tae. More or less same answer. More or less "that's a no"?

And this I already shared with you guys:

This is basically JK. Again, when he says I'm showing you my true self. It's not the image of the hunky guy with the sexy expressions doing that sexy choreography with the female dancers hands on him. Well not only. It's the shy introvert that feels awkward when these women are touching him. And just to be clear here. This isn't me saying anything about his sexuality. But it's definitley me saying he is not this careless truckboy people are so badly wanting him to be. Being an adult and having sex (let's call it rex from now on), a lot of it, enjoying it, doesn't make it the core of who you are as a person, doesn't mean you are having rex with multiple people for the only pursual of physical gratification nor does it mean that the rex you are having is necessarily with a female even if you are singing a song saying girl in it, to which the lyrics were not written by yourself. JK also sang a song about having rex 7 days a week, but with that one person, in his words, wanting to be all the time with "the love of my life". See, that was a little slip of the tongue by him, lol. But very revealing. Thank you ever so much for that one JK.

Do you understand the difference here?

One being lyrics to a song he's performing, him being a singer. Lyrics he didn't write himself.

The other is his explanation, his take on the meaning of the song he is singing (also not written by him). Inserting that little very personal touch.

Do we get it? JK isn't the lyrics, the lyrics aren't JK.

Oh, and by the by, JK's lyrics aren't referencing multiple partners. If we are being all about "but he's singing it, so it must be who he is". The multiple partners, the truckboy image, that's Jack Harlow's bit. JK is still talking to one person.

But again, I stress, the song doesn't represent JK as a person or his character. And those that are making that leap are simply...

Moving on.

JK's asked which he prefers more? 7 or 3D. Very diplomatically makes sure we know that at the time he liked Seven and now it's leaning more towards 3D. Well duh, this is him promoting it. Then he combines the two to 7D.

"What's your favourite part of 3D?" Him asking the listeners.

JK talked about eating chicken, being busy practicing all the time (I am curious to know what for), finishing up and going home to workout, shower and sleep.

He also talked about GCF and his appreciation for Army.

Asked about music or variety show, and the answer is probably not, it's hard for him (this is where the shy introvert part of him wins, I guess). It's easier to be alone on a stage in front of thousands performing than have to interact one on one with people that you aren't as familiar or comfortable with. On stage you go after much practice. Small talk and interviews and socializing means having to be focused (neuro divergent prince here) and it's so so hard for a shy introvert to deal with. Key word ALONE.

Although he's asked about further plans he's adamant not to give spoilers (well, more so afraid he'll be told off by the company, lol).

He misses the old days I guess. Of Kakao Fancafe. The intimacy of it. The safety of it perhaps.

He also wants to cook for army.

I feel like him telling us he is pulling back on the lives, allowing for the mystery, well he's also missing those lives. He needs that connection with his fans. Maybe even more so with this path he's going down, disconnecting from the idol and becoming the mega star. He needs that emotional connection with his fans. But at the same time, a more intimate setting, where he can really connect with them, is something he prefers.

And again, the connection with Army.

About the members:

F u c k , this is getting way too long. I can't talk about it all. I will add a couple more things and leave it at that. My apologies.

So, this is another clap back from JK:

Oh, and this was curious.

Ooh, one last thing.

He finally tells us where he got the scar on his shoulder from. Well, not too glamorous, lol. He slipped and fell while running in the car park shooting the CK ad. Hurt his finger as well, but that has healed already by now.

JK ending with:

Funny how the little things just added up. All very little perhaps inconsequential actions as of themselves, but add them together and you get a message.

One you will see if only you wish to.

Oh, and end comment. This is utterly disgusting and childish and I'm at a total loss for words here.

We have 2 more of these coming, if I'm not mistaken. Will be interesting to see what we get next.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

What would push them far enough to kill?

Undertale Sans - Pretty much having really no other choice. Sans is not a killer, he's even one of the most empathetic monsters around. He's against any sort of violence and will always try to talk before anything else. If he has to kill, it's only after being cornered and all his previous attempts went unheard. It's the last solution.

Undertale Papyrus - Unlike what most people think, Papyrus could kill in self-defense or to protect a friend or his family. Very easily, actually, as he has a titanic force that could even knock Undyne's down if he really wanted to. But Papyrus chooses not to use it because his own strength scares him. But that doesn't mean he won't use it if the situation is very urgent and threatening. After all, it's a tactical advantage. No one would expect sweet Papyrus to transform into a warrior in two seconds, which can completely change the issue of a fight. So far, only Flowey is aware of it. It's a secret he intends to keep hidden.

Underswap Sans - Even if he doesn't like that, it happens he has to kill people as a police officer. It's a hard decision to make, with consequences, and being a guy who hates to deal with consequences, Blue will always choose another option if he has the choice. He's quite good at fighting and is often faster than his opponents which helps a lot to disarm someone before they can do more damages.

Underswap Papyrus - He could never. Honey is not a fighter, far from that, and with his anxiety, he could never find the strength to end a life. He's way too empathetic for this, and all sorts of violence makes him sick. Even cornered, he couldn't find the strength to fight back, trying to talk to the last second.

Underfell Sans - He hates that, but he will do it to protect himself or his brother. He killed in the past. He will certainly kill in the future. Red had been hurt too many times to give threatening people a chance because he knows determined people rarely change their mind. Killing before they can is the best he can do. He never kills before someone threatens him or a friend though.

Underfell Papyrus - Underground, he had no limits. Being a target, he didn't have any choice but to kill every person threatening him or his brother, out of fear they make things worse if he let them live another day. A lot of these kills are driven by past traumas of the rare people he trusted and they revealed themselves to be killers in disguise. He promised it would never happen again. On the Surface, he's more reluctant to kill, but he can't help the instincts to kick in once in a while. If he's alone and someone is threatening him, he attacks without remorse.

Horrortale Sans - No, thank you. He's done with all of this. The only reason he could kill is to protect his family, with no hesitation. But most of the time, he's chill. Oak wishes to never kill a human ever again, as it wakes up traumatic memories. He's not the survivor he was Underground anymore, he moved on.

Horrortale Papyrus - He can't kill, not anymore. Willow is deeply traumatized by what he had to do Underground, and the simple sight of blood can send him into a panic attack. He might hurt people in this state, but never to the point of killing them. He refuses to cross that line again. He never wants to hurt someone ever again.

Swapfell Sans - He's a cold-blooded killer. His LV is way too high for him to feel anything anymore when he's taking lives. Since he's still general of the royal guard, he has to kill people and execute some others. That's his job. He doesn't hesitate either to get rid of people that can be a threat to him or his brother. He hates his job, he hates he has to take lives to live a normal life, but what else can he do? His hands are tied.

Swapfell Papyrus - Oh, he can kill when the situation is very desperate and he has no other choice. He's not feeling that much remorse either. Rus grew up thinking murder is a normal way to solve conflicts so... When he can avoid it, he avoids it. If he has no choice, he has no choice. That's life.

Fellswap Gold Sans - He can kill in the blink of an eye. Wine thinks all people against him are possible threats and that it's better to eliminate the threat than wait for it to attack. He doesn't feel any remorse, as he has the higher LV of all skeletons. He's completely disconnected from reality, which makes him so dangerous. To defend himself or his brother, he can do everything. The only reason he's not in prison is because no one managed to arrest him and stay alive longer enough to reach the prison quite honestly.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - He can defend himself when needed, but he's far from a killer. If he kills someone, it's purely by accident, trying to save himself or his family. He knows how to do it, Wine taught him to survive, but he could never do it willingly, which is mainly the problem and why Wine had to protect him so much Underground. Coffee is just born in the wrong universe.

[twilightspinkyfinger]

It's not a Crush! (Warriors x reader)

Warriors was in too deep. He never expected to have such strong feelings for you, but he couldn't help himself. It started off simple enough, with him admiring you from afar and wanting to get to know you better. But that was normal, right? To want to get to know another member of the team, to admire how strong and smart they are, and to think about what it would be like to kiss their very soft plump lips.

He tried his best to not make his feelings known, he is so very scared of making you uncomfortable, after all, he thinks he would rather die than have you upset with him. He has seen you angry before, he thinks he would shatter on the spot if that glare was ever aimed at his direction. But that is normal, right? After all, Warriors doesn't like to be on the receiving end of one of Time's glares either.

He normally has no issues with flirting with pretty people, but for some reason with you, it feels different, like he would be preying on you. And he doesn't want to make you afraid of him. Plus, most of the people he flirts with are people he will never see again, and he prays to all that is holy that he will get to spend more time with you. He knows he'll be devastated beyond repair when the group goes home after going through so much together, when you go home, without him.

He tries to distance himself from you when he realizes his admiration is slightly stronger than the kind reserved for friends. He really doesn't want to mess up and have to see you every day as a constant reminder of what he believes is an inevitable rejection. He reminds himself that he has self-control.

You are his diety, his guiding light. How could you ever feel the same way about him? But staying away from you is so very hard, he wants so badly to be near you, to discuss his deepest darkest fears as you wrap your perfect arms around his undeserving body.

He steals glances at you from across the campfire and checks up on you specifically after battles. But he's not being obvious, that's just normal behavior when you care about someone, and why wouldn't he care about you? He cares about the others, this is the same thing, right? He supposes that the only difference is that he doesn't want to pull the others in for a kiss after finding out they are still alive and kicking.

He ends up giving in to his desires a few months in, following you around like a lost puppy, offering to carry your belonging for you, to roll up your bedroll, or any other tasks he can potentially assist you with. He helps the other boys too, and you're not a hero, so as a captain, you deserve more of his attention than the others, you haven't done and see the same things that they have after all. He's just trying to help, plus he gets to spend more time with you this way.

Time and some of the others have been aware of his infatuation for a while, but it takes a little bit longer for Wind, the youngest of the heroes to figure out Warriors' feelings. Taking the role of a younger sibling to heart, Wind takes it upon himself to annoy the hell out of Warriors. He teases him constantly despite Warriors trying his best to deny his motivations for wanting to help you around camp.

Wind purposely will ask you and Warriors to help him with things he could very easily have done on his own, and one time he even set up Warriors' bedroll right next to yours in the guise of being nice to the older hero and helping him get ready for bed. Warriors didn't sleep at all that night, he was too distracted by your soft snores, and imagining you curled up beside him in a shared bed in the house he hopes to provide for you. His heart pounds at the thought, and he curses the young sailor for his realization and the emotions that flood his system at the thought.

[dried-up-f1sh]

This is my Hazbin Hotel OC, Genevieve. She's a siren overlord. In this drawing, I just drew her in a different outfit from her usual ones, so yes, I'm aware it doesn't fit her era. Her main outfit is actually a yellow polkadot swing dress. Anyway, here's some info about her:

TW: brief mentions of murder, and drowning

Death Age: 35

Height: 6'7

Powers: She can control people's emotions with her singing, shapeshift, imitate voices, she has hydrokinesis, and she can detect electric fields underwater (kind of like a shark). She's able to do so because she has ampullae of Lorenzini.

Likes: Gardening, cooking, her kids, singing, keeping the hearts of her victims as trophies, making people smile, old movies

Dislikes: Being undermined, misogynists, being watched, being replaced, not reaching people's expectations

Backstory:

Genevieve, a famous singer in the 1950s, and a scientist with a streak of impulsiveness, was opened to a world of crime after accidentally killing a man in self-defence. After getting away with it, she became bolder, killing those who deserved it by luring them backstage after concerts, but unfortunately one night her recklessness cost her.

While attempting to dispose of a body by throwing it off a pier, her still conscious victim dragged her to the sea with him as they drowned together. One moment she was kicking and screaming against the water as it forced its way into her lungs, the next moment she woke up to the feeling of cold concrete and reddish skies. That's when she realised, she was in hell.

Determined to continue her career as a singer, she decided to work alongside a strange demon who called himself Vox. He promised her a world of ideals, similar to that of the life she lived before it was tainted with sin. Unfortunately, this dream involved the destruction of herself in order to fit the expectations of everyone. To be completely flawless at the expense of her individuality. Sure, it was unhealthy, but she was used to it.

Eventually Vox's partnership with a certain moth man drove her away, but it was for the better... or for her it was. That's when she decided to work for the radio demon, a friend who taught her that she didn't need to create an image of herself for people to enjoy, just to be adored. She assisted him in his killings by broadcasting her songs and putting demons to sleep, so he could carry out his next step. He was more than capable of doing it all on his own but her assistance was appreciated.

She enjoyed it all. She enjoyed showing up to the studio, being greeted by the familiar sight of his wide, almost uncanny, smile every day, but one day it was gone. He was gone. Genevieve's old habits returned and with it, some crippling abandonment issues.

[amymbona]

I think that people who hate on the Challengers main three really forget that no human is perfect, that people are flawed and you can't expect everyone to always make the best decision.

As much as it may offend someone, you can't always be the good guy. People tend to overreact or act irrationally when something crashes with their plans or just causes some issues. I myself am very aware of this and know I am a bitch in certain situations, that I have hurt some people before or done something that may not have been the best decision at the moment. But things happen, have happened and as much as you regret something, you can't really change your decision.

Tashi, who's probably the most hated out of the three (which is really fucking odd, considering that she's literally the main character of the movie), has gone through something really fucking hard. She lost her whole goddamn career, the thing that was her fuel, the main purpose of her life, and she never even made the decision to end it. It simply ended mid way, before she could become the world champion and call herself the best. She was so young and healthy and successful and then lost it all because of one goddamn injury.

It's obvious that at first she blamed Patrick because of their argument before that match. She must have been so fucking stressed not to see her boyfriend at the match, knowing that he's gonna be gone for the next few months. At that moment, she needed to blame someone and Patrick was the right one. Though I agree it was unfair that she was that rude to him in 2019 too, but then again when I think about it, the interaction probably reminded her of the injury once again. But then, when she slept with him, in my eyes it was because he reminded her of the peak of tennis. Because he was better than Art. And the better the tennis is, the more Tashi is tempted to grasp it.

Patrick, poor guy, is seen as this sex obsessed bad boy who only find pleasure in fucking women. And while his movie personality is concerned about those things, he is much more. I believe he really genuinely loved both Tashi and Art and then when they left him found himself totally lost. They were his compass, his safe space, each of them offering something different but something he very much needed. He was hurt by them too, first Tashi after Atlanta 2011 when she just went on living with Art, and then when he hoped she'd fuck him in his car in 2019, but she only did it to save her marriage with Art. (That's also why I believed she truly loved Art. I think she wanted to sleep with Patrick at that time, but she could have done it without asking Patrick to lose.) And then by Art, in the sauna, telling him he doesn't matter. It's obvious that Patrick was seeking revenge against Art, hrnce performing the ball gesture during the final match.

In my opinion, Patrick is the most "innocent" one, having not sinned as much. But he's not flawless either. Using his tinder dates to find a place to sleep, flirting with women to earn what he needs. As I'm writing this, honestly, I can't think of many more bad things that he's done. And that only shows the dishonesty, how we were almost showed that he is the bad guy, only because two successful people have decided that they hate him. What happened wasn't really his fault, but the mutual hate he received from Art and Tashi convinced us as well that he deserved it.

Art is honestly a bit of bitch, too victimized and babied, but then again on the other side, he's the prime example of someone who stands up for himself and then gets hated for it. He got too fed up with his own best friend for constantly casting a shadow over him. Went so fucking far to spread rumors over Patrick, how he's a womanizer and all that stuff, just to eventually play the good guy with Tashi, take care of her and then marry his way into her life. (He went a bit overboard with that, but good fucking job, plotting such a thing.) Poor Art, people say, how Tashi responds that she knows to the fact that he loves her. But once I read somewhere that she responded this way because she was aware that Art can't really verbally display his feelings, and she just wanted to make sure that she knows he loves her. And that's what I believe.

It's obvious that Art fell into depression, the combination of his injury and non fulfilling tennis career. This probably caused him to be almdor indifferent, perhaps rude and bitchy too Tashi, getting fed up with the career he has built for her. Oh, he definitely loved tennis, I'm sure of it, but not as much as Tashi did. And because he loved her, he allowed her to mold him into her good tennis boy. But he was a human with free will too, and didn't really need to ask for Tashi's approval, despite her being his coach. Doing all that back arch, sad expression thing, he was just trying to manipulate her to feel bad for him, probably a form of self defense or response caused by his depression. Again, not a flawless human.

All three of them lost something. Tashi lost tennis, her biggest passion. Patrick lost Art and Tashi, the people be loved. Art lost all the enjoyment of life, becoming miserable. Many things have caused them to behave the way they behaved and showed us that nobody can be fucking perfect, that sometimes people just are bitchy and you really can't find them being all sunshine and rainbows. But we also know that all three of them are tender, capable of love and giggles, we know that they can be nice and kind and loving and that's okay too. People are colourful and full of emotions, each one of them different and made not to be perfect.

[sunflowerwemadeit]

Because of something that I saw on my dash. As someone who completely coincidentally stumbled upon 9-1-1 3ish years ago (I watched LS first do NOT come at me I love queerness) and have watched it from season 1 all the way through the fifth one at that time? Yeah. I saw buddie happening. Mostly because I saw Buck and Eddie giving each other the one thing they both want- companionship.

Buck's arc from season 1 till season 7 has been about a man who never got love so he doesn't know what it looks like. Even when he came to 118 the house wasn't family yet. Bobby was closed off, Chim was very insecure with Tatiana and we'd seen Hen open the Eva Pandora's box. In short, everyone already had their own family, issues, past that they were dealing with. Slowly they all came together and became the 118 through the first season. In all of it we could see that Buck has only ever wanted to belong. To have companionship so he isn't left alone once again. Not when he has just started to experience what a family actually feels like.

His insecurities made him act like a dick and that's.....a fact. Yes during his probie years because he hadn't really committed to growing. He wasn't even aware there was a scope of growth because he had a set pattern. Of the reckless-casual sex-acts before he thinks-young man (he still just wanted people to stay or atleast not cut him off, hence the whole bobby giving him a kick in the ass to get it together). With Eddie in season 2 because again, of course he wasn't sure of his place in the 118, it was still very precarious for him so he doubled back and hated how Eddie was seemingly able to make space in the team easily when Buck himself had had to fight for it. Because of all aforementioned reasons. So he acted out. Because he thought it was him vs Eddie. But the moment he understood it was actually going to be him AND Eddie, that man folded like wet paper. He got companionship. He let his ego go because it was never about that. It was about feeling he has to fight for his place in the family and so he let his guards down the moment he realised that this competent af kinda closed af man was ready to reach out to him first, who had given him acceptance and saw his good side on his own without Buck having through walk through fire for it.

And Eddie? He was a single father with a kid with CP, had just moved into a new place because his parents were suffocating and ableist and who was running, just like always. Found this man who loved kids and despite acting out and being less mature was so ready to just. Try and make it a little better for him. To drive him to the school after a 7.1 earthquake. Both him and Shannon unfortunately never had anyone else to even just be present while parenting. Both of them have been alone for so long and Shannon ran away too and then it was his turn to take care of his kid all alone. And he was, but not for long.

Because Buck was there. To help him out with Christopher and all the red tape bullshit and just someone who loves to fix things or make it better for others was there lending a hand to Eddie without any suffocating or scary implications/expectations. Buck was just there for him. Buck also gave Eddie the easy acceptance he's never gotten from anyone else his whole life.

So yeah. As someone who has watched since season 1 and saw Buck's (and everyone else's) growth and development arcs, buddie makes a lot of sense. All they've ever wanted was companionship and acceptance and they found it in each other, quite seamlessly if I do say so myself.

And yeah I don't conform to the romantic love is completely different from platonic love bullshit because it isn't for me. So it's not even about that. It's about Buck and Eddie just finding it so easy to love each other and be there for each other. And continuing to build and maintain that relationship together. They understood each other and forgave each other and were just always present. They didn't let the other feel lonely if they could help it. It's about companionship. And Buck and Eddie constantly giving the other the feeling of belonging. So yeah.

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

YOI meta: How episode 7 lays bare Viktor's strong compassion and his struggles with putting himself in someone else's shoes

Of all the events in episode 7, the kiss and the fight in the underground parking get most of the attention, but how often do we discuss the deep care Viktor exhibits for Yuuri in this episode and the difficulties he faces in the process?

Having learned the general aspects of supporting an athlete in competition in episode 5 (I discussed this at length here), Viktor now pays more attention to Yuuri's mood and actively supports him. However, there's a striking discrepancy between his compassion and his clumsy attempts to help Yuuri. Viktor has no prior experience with coaching, and he's not familiar with anxiety either, wherefore some difficulties are to be expected. However, his trial-and-error-informed handling of the situation implies general struggles with putting himself in someone else's shoes.

Let's go through this from the start:

Seeing Yuuri nervous and overtired the morning before the free skating worries Viktor. However, he neither understands Yuuri's feelings nor does he have a clue about what Yuuri is thinking. He thus resorts to his own experience to solve the problem: taking a nap. Note that, whereas this enables Yuuri to catch up on some sleep, it doesn't solve the underlying cause of his anxiety.

However, Viktor underestimates Yuuri's anxiety which renders his effort ineffective. At the warm-up, Yuuri is less than one hour away from his free skating, and his anxiety is getting worse. This forces Viktor to take more drastic action, for which he relies on past observations of Yuuri.

As a coach, Viktor has to weigh the risk of a panicky Yuuri messing up against a calmer but less prepared Yuuri messing up. Yuuri has reached a point where forbidding him to jump during the warm-up is worth a try despite the risk of sending him into the free skating poorly prepared. It's a very savage solution, though. Not that Viktor canonically is savage at times, but in a sport that heavily relies on muscle memory, this instruction borders recklessness. I wonder what Yakov would say to this.

Using observations, past experiences, and logic to empathise with and support someone is a common workaround for people with poor cognitive empathy. Viktor does this a lot, especially in this episode. His low cognitive empathy is also the reason for his canonical bluntness.

In my experience, this workaround leads to mixed results as observation and reason can only compensate for so much. The good news is that it becomes more effective with experience, even more so when one is aware of their issues with perspective-taking. Viktor is only 27 and he's smart and committed; he can totally improve this skill in the future.

Please note that struggling with cognitive empathy doesn't make someone a bad person. There are several empathy types which work together but manifest differently in people depending on personality/neurotype. The emotional empathy, which enables a person to share someone's emotional experience, is not affected by this. In Viktor's case, it works pretty normal as I will detail in the following.

Viktor has learned that a lecture is inappropriate when Yuuri disobeys his instructions (and it doesn't stop Yuuri from disobeying again). As Yuuri is visibly distraught, he thus tries to comfort Yuuri using another method common for poor cognitive empathy: He uses facts and makes it sound as if it's not a big deal. Spoiler: for someone with anxiety, it is.

While facts work great as a great reality check and are more effective than flowers of speech, Yuuri is already too far gone to feel comforted. Facts and logic only work in the early stages of an anxiety episode. From Yuuri's perspective, Viktor's cheerful tone suggests he doesn't take the situation seriously, even though quite the contrary is true. As a result, Yuuri sees his feelings dismissed and withdraws into himself as he spirals into a panic attack.

This image speaks volumes of the isolation Yuuri experiences in his anxiety as well as Viktor's compassion and lack of understanding as he turns away from the camera. This boy is deeply worried but has no fucking clue how to handle the situation as it's uncharted territory. As the free skating progresses, Viktor is under increasing pressure to get Yuuri into a headspace that allows him to skate clean. Again, he relies on logic to solve the situation. However, while removing Yuuri from the anxiety-inducing situation is helpful, it doesn't eliminate the source of his distress.

In Yuri!!!, characterisation is often narrated through minor characters. While Chris's lines express bitterness about losing Viktor as a rival, they also reveal Viktor's change from being 100% devoted to the ice to 100% devoted to Yuuri. And you can see how much he cares for Yuuri on his face.

However, Viktor's efforts continue to be ineffective, which at this point is no longer surprising. So, in the following, we see more clumsy attempts at calming Yuuri in the following:

This entire episode is a textbook example of Viktor gloriously failing at taking Yuuri's perspective. As the situation escalates and Viktor fails to reach Yuuri, he finally starts to analyse Yuuri's distress.

While Yuuri's anxiety dominates the plot, the depth of Viktor's care and compassion is told through small details like expressions and gestures like the tenderness with which he holds Yuuri's face as he covers his ears. Even more so than the scene in the mixed zone, this frame perfectly captures the discrepancy between Viktor's emotional and cognitive empathy.

With Yuuri's free skating approaching rapidly, the pressure to solve the situation is on Viktor, and the inevitable happens: he messes up completely.

I cannot stress enough how much Viktor sucks at perspective-taking. It's already hard for most people to understand anxiety disorder if they haven't experienced it themselves. But Viktor having such a hard time with perspective-taking is a general issue, and it runs like a thread through the entire series. One cannot overcome this by just trying hard enough as it's cause by a differently wired brain.

And so, here in the underground car park, Viktor's inability to put himself into Yuuri's shoes reaches a dramatic climax as he threatens Yuuri with resigning as his coach as a last resort.

While cutting into someone's panic attack by directing their anxiety at something else appears to be an effective emergency exit, it's one of the worst things you can do to a person with anxiety disorder as it creates a new demon in their head. Don't. Do. This. Ever. Yuuri might go into the free skating relieved, but he will agonise over Viktor returning to his home country throughout the next two episodes. As I said above, anxiety defies reason. (I'll write more about how Yuuri's anxiety works in another meta-post.)

Right here, it drives them even further apart, as represented by their physical distance.

Viktor could not be any farther away from understanding Yuuri. He has not a fucking clue what he's doing. He's just trying out what comes to his mind, and it backfires.

Ahh, I love him to pieces but I want to slap some sense into him! I solemnly swear that from now on, every time I agonise over my poor social skills, I will think of how Viktor fucked up in the underground parking and Yuuri forgave him.

Ironically, Viktor's trial & error approach finally succeeds. As Yuuri starts to cry, the underlying cause of his fear is finally unveiled.

Asking Yuuri right away would have avoided this escalation, but that's not how Viktor's brain operates. At least he is aware of his issues to somewhat extent.

To calm Yuuri, he comes up with something I guess is another default that worked in the past:

Nope. This is not how you introduce the subject to your boyfriend, Viktor! Not when he's upset. You could have just given him a hug, but the idea doesn't even cross your mind even though you seem to be a hugger by nature.

On the other hand, Yuuri didn't communicate his needs unprompted, but communication is key. You cannot expect a person with poor cognitive empathy to magically anticipate your needs and read your mind. It just doesn't work that way.

Unfortunately, the Stammi Vicino reference is lost in the Crunchyroll subs, but that's what Yuuri says to make Viktor understand.

Note how close they are again, while people in the corridor are blurred. The creators did an amazing job at letting images speak for the characters.

I doubt asking Yakov would have helped. Not only because Yakov would have used the situation to dismiss Viktor once more as a coach but because Yakov's method is unsuitable for a student suffering from anxiety. However, as Yakov is one of Viktor's to-go-to defaults, he naturally considers the option.

Imagine this scene but with Yuuri. Just nope.

Now back to the aftermath of Viktor messing up and saving Yuuri from going into his free skating with a panic attack by accident rather than design. While Yuuri is relieved of his anxiety, the situation is still awkward as he and Viktor had no time to make up or process the fight.

This small gesture of reassurance is so important as it gives them both closure that enables them to enjoy the free skating. I regard the tissue as a token of peace (I mean it even contains his DNA).

Ultimately, Viktor's trial & error approach to calming Yuuri succeeds. Yuuri, albeit rightfully annoyed, understands the intention and recognises Viktor's affection and compassion in his clumsy attempts to support him, which culminates in him reciprocating his affection by jumping Viktor's signature move.

Does low cognitive empathy make Viktor a bad coach? Certainly not. Viktor is very passionate about the task and his high emotional empathy and his natural drive to support Yuuri with all his heart speak for themselves. Like everyone, he needs to grow into his role and make it work for him. In Yuuri, he has someone who calls him out on his bullshit gives him immediate feedback he can use to improve.

Episode 7 is a major learning experience for Viktor in understanding Yuuri and supporting him in a distressing situation. And as Yuuri can see beyond Viktor's flaws, it brings them closer together.

A side note on harmful mischaracterisation

High/normal emotional but low cognitive empathy is a trait of autism albeit not necessarily limited to it, which is one of the reasons many autistic fans of Yuri!!! including me identify with Viktor. (I have a theory that the creators accidentally gave him a bunch of autistic traits when they applied the socially awkward genius trope, which generates autistic-coded characters per default. I discussed these traits and why autism is a valid interpretation in response to another post that brought up the subject.)

Whether or not Viktor is autistic, his struggles with perspective-taking are so obvious I consider them canon. I suspect this spurred fan theories from Viktor having ulterior motives for becoming Yuuri's coach to labelling him as downright evil. It explains takes like "Viktor became Yuuri's coach because he was bored and doesn't care about coaching at all until some arbitrary point mid-season where he suddenly falls in love with Yuuri". While I believe that everyone is entitled to their own headcanon and can change characters for their fics in whatever way they like, labelling his behaviour as uncaring, ill-intent or assuming a hidden agenda and calling it canon or at least a valid interpretation not only mischaracterises Viktor but hurts and demonises autistics and other people dealing with this issue. So please for the love of god and the YOI creators keep that in mind!

If you enjoy my meta posts, please consider giving my blog a follow or checking out my works on AO3(link in bio). You will find the results of my meta musings in there!