#because a like means I want to come back to this in the future and it's important enough for me to not clutter my likes

[alotofpockets]

The London Derby | Lucy Bronze x Arsenal!Reader

Where you play an intense game against your girlfriend

Woso masterlist | Words: 1.5k

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The loud sound of your alarm broke the silence that had filled your bedroom, yanking you from a dream you could already not remember. With a groan you turned around, finding the warmth of your girlfriend. You snuggled into her side, and pulled your blanket further over your head. As if hiding from your alarm would magically make it go away.

Early mornings were not your strong suit, and early matches therefore even less. The struggle to get out of your bed on cold days like this was real. The warmth of your blankets is way too nice to give up just yet.

Luckily your girlfriend seemed to not notice time. It didn’t matter how early it was, she would be wide awake the moment the alarm went off. Ready to start the day the moment that the alarm sounded.

You felt Lucy shift beside you, rolling over to turn off the blaring alarm. Silence fell over the room, and you were ready to fall back to sleep. Your girlfriend knew better though, and instantly started a conversation.

“Good morning, darling.” You hummed and nestled your head further into her chest. “Too early.” You wanted this warmth and comfort to last, but you knew you had to get up and get ready, something your girlfriend wasn’t going to let you postpone, not on match day at least.

Lucy placed a few long kisses to the top of your head, “Come on, darling, big day today.” The London Derby. Lucy had heard you hype it up plenty over the years, but never before had she been a part of one. Let alone play one against you. Arsenal versus Chelsea this time around meant you versus Lucy. A match you had both been looking forward to, despite what fans had thought. Most fans thought it would be a tough match, to play against your girlfriend, but you loved it. You both respected each other and the other’s careers, so no matter the outcome of the match, you’d be happy for each other, like you had always been.

“Do I have to?” You groaned again, making Lucy chuckle lightly. “I mean, I’d say not getting up is a forfeit, so that means the first London Derby is automatically mine, no matter the score later.” This woke you up instantly. You sat up straight in bed, “Ain’t no way I’m forfeiting. Let’s go Bronze, we have to get up.” 

Lucy was surprised at how fast you had gotten up, taking a mental note to use similar tactics to help you get up in the future. 

When Lucy moved from Barcelona to London, you knew you wanted to move in together. You had been together for a few years, but had always lived in different cities. So, now that you’d finally be living in the same city, you didn’t have to think twice about moving a little further away from the training grounds to live somewhere between your jobs. 

After a quick bite, you headed your separate ways. Lucy towards the Chelsea training grounds, to take the bus to the Emirates with her teammates, and you towards Leah. You don’t remember when it started, but somewhere along the lines, you and Leah had started a pre-match tradition of travelling together. 

“Ready for your first derby against Luce?” She asked once you settled into her car together a while later. “Oh yeah, ready to start the tally 1-0 for us on the derby front.” Leah chuckled, she had known the both of you for a long time, and knew how competitive the both of you were separately, let alone together. 

“Well, if you need a place to stay after we beat them, you know the spare room is yours if you need it.” You shake your head with a chuckle. “Thanks Lee, but we’ll be good no matter what.” She smiled, “Yeah, I know you will be. The offer always stands though, because we are getting that first derby win for you.” 

It wasn’t until pitch inspections that you saw Lucy again. You met in the middle of the field, just for a moment before you’d join your own teams again. “Hey so one rule.” You said with a serious look on your face that made Lucy raise her brows in question. “You know how amazing I think your sliding tackles are.” Lucy nodded, a slight smirk playing on her lips. “Don’t you dare make them on me.” 

Lucy laughed at the way you had gotten so serious about the matter. “I make no promises. Good luck in the match, I’ll see you out there.” You wished her good luck too and made your way over to Alessia and Kyra. 

Like any London Derby, the teams were well matched and it had been a tough match for the whole eighty minutes you had played so far. Still no score on the board, and you were getting slightly frustrated with not being able to get around Lucy.

Yeah not only was it the London Derby against your girlfriend, but she was also the one defending you. It was a nice challenge, one you desperately wanted to win, but no luck so far.

Then seemingly out of nowhere, Kyra picked up the ball midfield. She lifted her head and you pointed forwards. Letting her know you wanted the ball over the top, so you could make the run. She had picked up on your instruction and kicked the ball exactly where you wanted it.

You started running and had surpassed Lucy, who was now chasing behind you. Lucy was fast, and you knew all too well that you had to keep going or she’d catch up with you.

Before you even had time to respond, you felt Lucy slide in, and knock your feet out from under you. You plummeted to the ground, before you ever registered what had happened, the referee blew her whistle signaling for a free kick.

You turned on your back so you could sit up, and saw Lucy’s hands reached out to you. “Are you alright?” You nodded and let her pull you back onto your feet. “Yeah, all good.” Lucy gave you a pat to the back before walking towards the line her teammates were forming in front of her goal.

While you were adjusting your cleats, Katie whispered something your way. With a smirk you nodded and joined the rest of your teammates that had made their way over to the penalty area as well.

Both Katie and Beth stood over the ball. Arsenal stood in a way that it could be either one of them kicking the ball. Katie’s words echo in your mind. “Wanna show your girlfriend what she gets for tackling you?” You knew exactly what she meant and had gotten in position. 

Beth ran first, but stepped over the ball. Then Katie kicked it to the far corner. You ran up to it and jumped into the air, heading it right to the back of the net. 1-0 for Arsenal, finally and only about five more minutes to play. You celebrated with the girls before lining up again.

When the final whistle blew and exhaustion hit you right away. The match had been intense to say the least, and in the end you were just happy you were able to get away with the win in the end. 

“First Derby win on the board!” Leah said as she hugged you. “That’s what she gets for tackling you.” Katie added with a teasing grin. You knew she was only joking but you knew you had to use that on Lucy as well tonight. 

When Lucy got back home, you were already showered and watching tv in your sweats. The game had exhausted you, and you couldn’t wait for Lucy to get home so you could cuddle up to her and take a nap together.

In the privacy of your own home, you hugged Lucy tighter and longer. “You played very well, my love.” You pecked her lips, giving her the recognition she deserved after playing so well. But then Katie’s words came to mind again. “Too bad you had to tackle me though. I had warned you not to do that.”

Lucy chuckled, “Yeah yeah, are you going to punish me for doing it anyways?” Your smirk grew, “Nah, I think scoring the winning goal off the free kick you gifted us is punishment enough.” 

“You’re hanging out with Katie too much.” Lucy joked with a shake of her head. “Great game, and good work on the set piece. I’m gonna take a quick shower.” She pecked your lips. “Cuddles after?” Lucy smiled at the puppy dog eyes you were giving her. “Always.”

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[karuuhnia]

TF2 Chapter 7 - Karuuhnia's analysis

Christmas came early for the TF2 fandom this year, didn't it? (Well, it really came 7 years LATE if we're completely honest lol)

It was an emotional rollercoaster and had a happy, wholesome ending and conclusion for both the mercs and for us. Several mysteries from the past comics were resolved.

And you know me: I love to overthink and overanalyze every bit of lore and story that I can get my fingers on lmao

So here's my essay:

A) Solved mysteries

1. What the Administrator was planning

It turns out: There WAS no evil plan of world domination or whatever. Just pure hatred for a man who ruined her life - apparently. It's been so long she doesn't even remember the reason. But the thought of revenge was enough to fuel her every life choice.

And to think, it all could have ended in the 1850s already - if it weren't for smart-ass Gray Mann and his narcissistic tendencies to brag about his knowledge and plans. (How he himself figured this out is never explained.)

He was the one who introduced the Administrator to Australium in the first place, around 1850ish. If he hadn't told her that it could bring people back from the dead and prolong life, the senseless Gravel War would have ended with Blutarch's and Redmond's natural deaths.

Well, on the other hand we must be glad that the conflict didn't go on even longer.

Since Dell stated that none of his family members ever went into the room where Zepheniah was kept, the Administrator must have build all of that herself, right? That would certainly explain why it looks so crude and consumes so much Australium. I mean, look at this construction and then compare it to the one Dell built:

The Mark 5 machine gave her ~6 months of life for just a tiny flask of Australium. Imagine what would have happened if one of the Conaghers had improved Zeph's machine as well! She could have kept the zombiefied corpse in a living nightmare for many centuries more instead of burning through tons and tons of Australium so quickly. Good thing it didn't come to that.

2. Who helped the Administrator

Well, we didn't get a clear answer, but I think it's safe to conclude now that it was the Administrator's elite merc teams A-E that obtained all the Australium during the 6 months Miss Pauling and the TF2 team went off the grid. Which only further proves that the Administrator did not really care for Pauling at all and only came to her and her "team of rejects" as a last resort, after everything else had failed.

It's really heartbreaking how much Pauling admired her and wanted to be her trusted second-in-command while the Admin apparently never even invited her to the secret HQ. Nobody there even KNEW of Team Fortress after all. It was such a relief to see Pauling let go in the end and choose a free life instead.

3. Scout's second chance

Well, not really a mystery here, but I really like how Scout had an epiphany that there were other girls out there that would like him as he was and moved on from Miss Pauling. There was no heartbreak, no animosity, no rejection. They are still friends and support each other! I love it!

And then Scout even saved all of humanity by having sex with several women so that God wouldn't have to destroy the world! What a great, selfless guy he is!

I really love Spy and Scout after the time skip. No more bickering, no more annoyance, no more mean comments, just kindness. Spy is also so sweet to his grandchildren! ADSGFSDAF

I hope they all remain in contact and on good terms. Because let's not forget: Scout's health isn't good and he even has a confirmed death date. Which is only 8 years into the future of 1979.

All of his orphaned children would still be minors at that point. When it comes to that I hope Spy and Scout's Ma can take care of their grandchildren.

4. What Charles Darling and Maggie were planning

Darling stated he wanted to obtain Australium in order to make his rare animals immortal and in return he would get Saxton's company back.

The way Maggie always reacted to Saxton led me to believe she knew Darling was planning something ELSE and she felt bad for not telling Saxton and having to betray him in the end:

But turns out, I probably just misinterpreted Maggie's facial expressions. She looked so sad because she loved going on adventures with Saxton again and just hated the thought that he'd go back to Mann Co. afterwards.

I'm very happy that in the end Saxton let go of the company and spent the rest of his days punching wild animals with his true love! (Although he might have started a war again, now between Reddy and Bidwell lol)

B) Unsolved and new mysteries

However, as much as I loved the last chapter, I feel there are still a lot of things that were never cleared up or adequately explained.

So after re-reading every single comic and update page these are some other things I still find inconclusive:

1. Olivia Mann's mother

Not really that important to be fair, but still: Is she really the biological daughter of the 150 old mummy Gray Mann? If so, who is the poor woman who… mated with him and where is she now?

Or was Olivia adopted, abducted or grown in a lab? Well, at least she gets to live a happy and free life now and is provided for by the dad who stepped up. Good on you, Saxton!

2. Darling's knowledge

Back to Darling real quick: Why DID Maggie start working for her nemesis?

HOW did Charles Darling learn about Australium's properties and the Administrator's history?

There is also the fact that the Mann triplets' mother was a Darling!

These things were never brought up again! Whyyyyyyyy?????

3. What was all the set-up with the TFC mercs about?

The TFC mercs made several ominous remarks that made us believe there was more to them:

Both Virgil and Greg were trying to say something interesting, but then got cut off before the revelation. And especially TFC Heavy talked about dying as if it was an immediate danger to all of them. Sure, they were old, but they were still going strong, being able to kill all of the Admin's elite teams after all.

4. Fred's destiny (and identity?)

In Chapter 6 Spy disguised as Fred, trying to trick Virgil. After being found out, the two had this conversation:

Spy managed to impersonate Fred really well apparently. That means he must have studied Fred's personality, mannerisms and way of speaking before he went to Virgil. That also means he must have spent quite a while talking to and studying Fred. Did he and Sniper capture and interrogate him? But more importantly: What happened afterwards? Tbh, they probably just killed him off-screen after learning what they needed.

Because I no longer believe that Fred was Dell's father, as much as that sucks. It would have made for a great plot point and possible conflict within the team.

But Fred obviously had no idea about anything related to Australium or the immortality machines.

Since later on in Chapter 7 Dell says that neither his grandfather, his father nor he himself ever set foot in that basement, we can conclude that they all knew that the Administrator was hiding something nefarious down there. Which also means they WORKED for her and thus must have also worked on her immortality machine. So it makes no sense that Fred would not know anything about that if he really were Dell's father.

That still leaves us with the question: Why was young Fred in the photo with child Dell? Or WAS this guy even Fred?

I mean, a lot can happen in 40ish years between those two pictures:

But my new headcanon now is: These two are not the same person. TFC Medic had to replaced by our beloved Dr. Herbert Ludwig (still not over that name btw lmao), so who says the original TFC Engie wasn't replaced too at one point? TFC Heavy was very obviously worried about his friends dying one after the other.

Virgil said he knew Fred since before the war. So maybe after Dell's father died/left the team, Virgil told TFC Heavy about his old comrade Fred who also happened to be an Engineer. And only then Fred became part of TFC.

But as I said, that's just my headcanon. In reality it's probably just an inconsistency over the many years of convoluted lore. lol

5. Soldier's cave, covered in Australium

In A Cold Day in Hell Soldier and Zhanna have the following conversation:

First it's a stink-barn, then he claims to be homeless. But in Chapter 7 Heavy suddenly says that Soldier lives in a cave.

And it turns out there is tons of Australium in that cave! Now of course I wonder: When did Soldier move into that cave and where is it located? We were always told that Australium only exists in Australia. But I highly doubt this American patriot owns a cave in Australia. Also, how is it possible that the Admin and the elite mercs never managed to find this cave? Did they just not bother to look in America because all known Australium is in Australia?

So in return, does that mean that Australium is NOT exclusive to Australia after all? If so, there could still be hidden caches of the stuff anywhere on Earth. At least the Admin and Gray Mann are no longer around to collect it and Miss Pauling does not look for it anymore either. The only one who still has an interest in it is Charles Darling. Him again...

6. Soldier with the photo of the Mann family

Quick reminder: This is the only version of the family photo we'd seen up until this point:

But when Soldier and Merasmus are held by the mafia and the wizard asks him why he needed so much money, Soldier pulls out an intact, unteared photograph of the Mann family!!!

His thumb conveniently covers up the still unknown person standing in the middle. How did Soldier obtain this photo? How does he even know who everyone is, considering he's, well, Soldier?

Could he have any relations to the unknown person in the middle? And why DOES he need so much money (granted, it was only like 20 $ in the end, but still lol)?

Am I just overthinking this? Has anyone an explanation??? Is he and if yes, HOW is Soldier connected to the frigging Mann family??????

*cough* Anyway. This concludes my analysis of the TF2 lore. For now. If I come up with more things or if Valve ever decides to continue the story (That was a joke, haha, fat chance), I will come back to this. In the meantime, thank you for reading this and please feel free to share your own ideas and opinions! I'd love to read all of it! ❤️

[holylulusworld]

Christmas Guard

Summary: Dean won’t let you down.

Pairing: Alpha!Dean Winchester x Omega!Reader

Warnings: fluff, Christmas fluff, sneaky kids

He's on guard. Dean cannot allow anyone to enter the room. It would mean the end of…simply everything, at least to him.

“No one shall pass,” he says, imitating Gandalf the Grey. He chuckles at the reference to one of Sam’s beloved movies. “Wait for it, you little shits.”

He lays out a mat and two blankets on top of it. “This year, you will not defeat the master. Not again. I’ll protect them at all costs.”

“Dean?” You sleepily rub your eyes as you walk toward the library. “What are you doing? It’s three am; come back to bed.”

“No!” He shakes his head. “They will try to get inside again! I cannot allow them to do it again. Not on my watch!”

You smile at Dean. He’s so eager to defend the library, that he forgets about sleep and even food. “I know you’re on guard duty, so I brought you something.”

Sitting next to him on the mat and blankets, you hand him a paper bag filled with goodies.

“Beer, beef jerky, and pie,” he hums while inspecting the emergency ration for tough alphas and former hunters. “Uh—and you got me a candy cane too!”

“All for my strong alpha defending the Christmas tree and gifts,” you kneel on the mat to kiss his cheek. “Do you want me to stay, Dean?”

“No, you'll get some sleep. You were on a hunt for the perfect gifts for weeks and wrapped all the packages. The least I can do is keep our little critters away from the gifts till Christmas morning!”

“Do not forget to eat the cookies and drink the milk,” you say and kiss his scruffy cheek again. “My hero. Past. Present. Future.”

“Alright, ma’am,” he chuckles. “I’m on guard duty now. Please do not distract me with your beauty and perfect scent.”

“If you change your mind, let me know,” you coo before ruffling his hair. “There’s a spot in my bed for you, sexy alpha.”

He purrs low in his throat but reminds himself he cannot let the little shits win. Last time, Dean Jr. distracted him to give Bobby Jr., Charlene, and his youngest Louise the chance to sneak into the library and rob most of the gifts. This won’t happen again.

Dean grabs the beef jerky, ripping it open with his teeth. “Wait for it, little critters. I’ll not let you get away with stealing the gifts again. This time, Daddy is prepared.”

“Not so fast, Dean Jr.!” Dean is fast to stop his eldest from sneaking toward the Christmas tree. “Go back to bed or Santa will be mad!”

“But Daddy,” Dean Jr. pouts. He tries once again to distract his father, but Dean knows better. “My stomach hurts.”

“Not. A. Chance.” Dean shakes his head. “Go. Back. To. Bed.”

“Fine.” Dean Jr. turns on his heels and hurriedly walks away.

Dean chuckles because his eldest looks so much like him when he walks away, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

“DADDY!” Half an hour later, it’s Charlene’s turn to distract her father. She fakes a sob and clumsily walks toward Dean. “Daddy, my tummy hurts.”

Dean nods thoughtfully. He opens his arms for a hug.

“Come here, baby girl,” he murmurs as she runs toward her father to jump at him. “You’re a good accomplice, Charlie, but Daddy knows your tummy doesn’t hurt. Tell your brother he failed. Again.”

“Damn it!” She curses before pecking Dean’s cheek. “You’re good…too good…”

Charlie giggles before running off to report back to the leader of their little conspiracy.

One hour later, the next try takes place. Bobby Jr. silently sneaks toward the Christmas tree, almost getting away with it as Dean is busy eating his pie.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He laughs and picks the four-year-old up. He plays airplane with his son before carrying him toward the gang waiting for their member. “Not good enough, Dean Jr.” Dean grins as his eldest and Charlene giggle.

“You haven’t faced our secret weapon yet!” Dean Jr. exclaims before taking Bobby out of his father’s arms. “You’ll fail, father.”

The gang rushes off, chatting loudly, as Dean decides to move his improvised bed closer to the tree and the gifts. He won’t let his sneaky son win this time.

“DADDA!” Two hours later, Dean Jr. uses his best weapon. His baby sister, Louise. She whines and makes a fuss while crawling toward her father. She almost reaches the tree and the gifts, but Dean is fast to pick her up.

“Nice try!” He laughs, slowly rocking his daughter in his arms. “Respect, ladies and gentlemen. Admit your defeat and try again next year.”

Dean can hear his sons and daughter mutter. They were so close to distracting their father. “Next year, we will win!” Dean Jr. says before guiding his siblings away from the library.

“That’s the spirit, son,” Dean proudly says. “You make a great leader.”

When you walk into the library, the gifts are still under the tree, along with your alpha and your baby girl.

She lies on top of her father’s chest, sleeping soundly, while he has his arms wrapped around her. Dean made a nest out of the blankets to keep her from getting hurt if she fell off his chest.

“So, your mission was a success?” You giggle when your alpha blinks his eyes open. “A job well done. Can I call the kids in now?”

“Give me a minute,” he yawns. “I think Louise needs a fresh diaper and her favorite drink.” Dean grins as his eyes land on your breasts.

“We will fix our little princess’s diaper and feed her first,” you coo while picking your daughter up. “Give me half an hour.”

“Santa was here,” Dean calls for your kids, telling them they can finally take a look at the tree and the gifts. “Let’s have a loo—” He yelps as his kids storm toward the tree, almost running him over. They squeal and laugh while looking at all the gifts.

“Dadda,” Louise holds out her chubby hands for her dad. “DADDA!”

“Aw, at least my princess wants to cuddle with Daddy instead of wrapped gifts,” he sighs and takes Louise out of your hands. He rocks her in his arms, looking at the tree.

“DADDY!” Your kids yell before hugging their father. “We love you and Mommy. Let’s look at the gifts Santa got for you and Mommy first…”

Tags in reblog.

[gd-dollopole]

The historians would be at the their doors twenty for seven, Gwen actually has to take bodyguards and managers to manage their interviews and stuff. Every interview then gets even more chaotic (Merlin’s already as we can see was pretty much crazy, LIKE, ARTHUR SCREAMING IN THE BACKGROUND, I CACKLED😭)

Everyone thirst for Leon, obvs, so he has a fandom, because “ he looks like the only sane on” (he isn’t) Arthur doesn’t understand Youtube, and asks Merlin, who was able to apologise and come to term with the fact that he is an idiot. It would be funny if Merlin remembers everything during an interview and he’s like,

“So there was this king and he was sort of a prat—wait… How do I know?” *everyone waiting on their sofas in their houses watching this live*

“There is someone—oh.”

Because at this point everyone knows their stories (Gwaine may or may not have spilled something during an Instagram live when he was drunk, Elyan recording him and laughing because what can you do? I love them as a chaotic duo, and Percival the boyfriend trying to calm down his man and his man’s bestie) and so they wait. Gwen is basically cursing every manager and bodyguard because they let MERLIN!!! OF ALL PEOPLE!!! HAVE AN INTERVIEW!!! AGAIN!!! And so she is calling people left and right while watching the telly, AND THEN LEON!!! HE BAKES! So he has important people in the house in the mean time and while the queen and his current wife goes batshit crazy, LEON IS SERVING BISCUITS WITH AN APRON ON!!!😭

And Arthur? Oh, Arthur is watching the live WITH A CAMERA ON AND HE DOESN’T KNOW IT’S LIVE!!!

He was on Youtube, trying to understand how that shit worked, and he was alone and he was thankful for that because no one wanted to leave him alone with technology BUT NOW HE CAN LOOK!!! So he put play on a live and doesn’t understand why the entirety of the United fucking Kingdom can see him and tells him shit like “what’s that behind you?” So while he’s scared and he’s also watching the tv with the phone recording him, the silence of the entire world is basically palpable and then Merlin widens his eyes, stays silent, a million images flashing back, his mark brightening up, and he goes,

“FUCK! THAT’S MY PRAT!”

And then he transports himself to Arthur’s house (who is live but doesn’t know. Everyone noticed, Gwaine is recording the live too)

only for him to tackle down Arthur on the sofa and kiss the shit out of him, and confess all his feelings and they cry and they’re a mess and meanwhile the UK is watching with pop-corns in hand like “FUCK, if that isn’t the Once and Future king shagging his hot man and also the most powerful warlock to ever walk the earth”

They keep going at it, while Gwen screams in the phone “ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION!”

Leon doesn’t understand shit because he’s still serving biscuits BUT THE WHOLE WORLD IS GONE AND THE REPORTERS ARE WATCHING THE MERTHUR MAKING OUT SESSION LIVE AND THEY GO, “Well, we have a clear image of Emrys the Great biting down on The Once and Future King’s neck—Oh, I’m so going to get a promotion—ZOOM IN, ROBERT!

*Robert zooms in*

Au where merthur have soulmate identifying mark but merlin is the only one who know they are because if Arthur knew he would find out about his magic 👀 (arthur's mark being a beautiful dragon mainly on on his back but its tall is draped on his torso, a wing stretch on his right shoulder, another end on his hip and its head rest upon his stomach. As if it were jealousy protecting him. its scale are of a blue so dark it nearly look black. It has golden eye and tread of gold on is horn, gold shimmer on its body highlighting its scale at some place.

It screams powerful sorcerer.)

And thus it doesn't change anything from the show. Merlin doesn't tell him not even at the very end (Merlin's mark is a smaller red dragon with its head on his shoulder and who is is holding itself on his shoulder)

It would be very angsty but also SO FUNNY if in a post return futur where arthur (Gwen, the knights) are very confuse and lost but luckily for them there exist multiple center for "People who got Teleported at the wrong place/Bought back from the dead? We are here to help!/ your five yo drank a weird potion? No problem! Etc" basically Magic help center.

Just imagine basic social worker sorcerers who tries to do their job at 3 am and see THE Emrys mark ™ on a random dude and they are like *gasp*.

Them : what the fuck

Arthur :???

Them :WHAT THE FUCK

the others :????

Them : we are calling your soulmate RIGHT NOW. WHAT THE FUCK should I call the government too???? I'M NOT PAY ENOUGH FOR THIS.

Arthur : my???

Them : YOU. DO NOT MOVE IF I LOSE YOU I'M DEAD. DEAD.

You can imagine arthur pendragon pacing like a 13 years old stressed before an oral presentation because even if he was afraid then thought he globally didn't really care about his soulmate. He realised that it wasn't so much that he didn't care but he thought it would simply never be so he just... Kinda forgot about it. Now he just can not put it away because is soulmate IS coming and WHERE IS MERLIN WHEN HE NEEDS HIM (he is blocking any thoughts about Merlin potential dead thank you very much)

(Gwen is currently finding the situation extremely funny because she figured out in 5x13 and she is 80 yo (in a younger body but still) . And she is waaaayyyyyy to old to see her former husband stay in his denial.

Leon is 78 years old and he is slowly recognising the dragon in question that look very much like Merlin's family crest. He is looking at his wife in a very conspiracy way.

Gwaine is currently not really giving a damn about the whole soulmate thing. What do you MEAN you can send messages to people in less that a second?!?!?

Elyan would usually not give a damn but he is very much not happy ™ to find out that his sister (first) husband had a soulmate mark who isn't dead and he is glaring at Arthur but he is also getting a hug from gwen so it doesn't look menacing at all.

Perceval (57) is right behind Gwaine but he is currently watching himself in the mirror because seeing his younger self again is weird asf

Meanwhile Lancelot is talking with the assistant (on the verge of a break down because they are going to see the GOD OF MAGIC OH MY GOD) about magical history

[astroyongie]

𓍢ִ໋☕️✧˚ ༘ ⋆ Christmas Female Idol Tea 𓍢ִ໋☕️✧˚ ༘ ⋆

Note: Hello everyone and Merry Christmas/ Happy Yule to everyone who celebrates theses days! for today we have a little gift. This is a tea post done through tarot, so please take it lightly.

-> Questions regarding who X is won't be answered. You can however send in theories about who you think X is but there won't be denial or confirmation from my part.

-> Each X is one member from the group.

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Red Velvet

not only her career will keep blooming and be prosperous, X will have another solo in 2025 since her last one was rather well perceive by the general public 

January will be an interesting month for X.. she needs to be careful on protecting herself if she doesn't want to end up with a round belly 

X has met someone through a night party organized by SM. This person seems to have good intentions toward her and they have clicked together. not an idol but someone who works in the industry 

X is going through some huge inner conflicts with herself. she is developing a lot of complex as she allowed some mean comments get to her 

X is healthy, both mentally, emotionally and spiritually

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Blackpink 

X has refused an endorsement with a huge and very famous brand 

X needs to stop smoking and be more careful with her health, especially her breathing. i am feeling like she could easily develop a few diseases if she isn't careful with her consumptions 

X has cheated on her partner or she was the one who cheated. hard to guess

Ever since May, X has been lying to the public about her whereabouts and her public life in general to keep the appearances 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Aespa

X is with this one idol, but largely she has been avoiding to be around him because she feels overwhelmed with his ideas for the future. X feels alone despite many people round her

4 months ago, X started a relationship and she is realizing now that this person isn’t liking her for who she is. it seems like her partner doesn’t like her as much as they initially thought

2025 is X year as she will be promoting a lot outside korea

X is in a loving relationship, maybe with her forever partner 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Gidle

X didn’t want to renew her contract with the company, but the whole month of September was a month of self reflection for her. she is still sacred that the CEO will do something nasty on their back

X feels lucky and she is happy to be renewing because that is what she wanted. 2025 will be a good year for her individually

X is a victim of some strong spiritual blockage. she has seen a few shamans to be able to get rid of the heavy feeling in her shoulders, but it seems it hasn’t yet left 

2025 will be a totally nw cycle and new year for X and she will be more free to express herself and do the projects she wasn't able to in 2024

X’s payments are 9 weeks late. 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Itzy

X has some hot tea on JYP, and who knows, it might slip one day 

It’s been around 9 months since X family is trying to battle with the company so they can break off the contract of X with the company so she leaves the group

5 days ago X has started getting closer with someone she met during collab

X has fought and has won the heart of her current partner 

X has been dealing with a lot of anxiety lately but she is trying to hide it because she believes she is “better than this” which isn't helping her 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

StayC

2025 will be way better for X when it comes to health in general 

X will have a solo project in 2025 

X is still in her toxic and co dependent relationship with a fellow member (they broke up and got together again). it's been 7 months since they have come together 

Ever since spring, X has been dealing with a lot of emotional suffering, poor mental health a dn a lot of grief and despair. I am concerned for her well being. 

6 months ago, X went through something very traumatic 

X will make an important choice for her career in 2025 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

XG

June will be a very interesting month for X and her little project 

X has been dating a very hot topic korean idol since July 

X is dating the CEO of their company 

X baby scare?? who knows

X has been very close with her family and despite her young age she knows that becoming a mother is one of her dreams beside music 

X hates fans that are always following them everywhere including airports, hotels, outside in the street, ect 

X has been growing distant from the group after a few arguments that have happened. she doesn't feel seen by the company either 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Twice

X has been living with her partner for the past 8 months 

X 2025 career will take a new turn and fans might get sad by it 

X is in a stable relationship 

X’s physical condition is really ba, her tiredness and exhaustion is actively messing with her physical health 

X is dating this idol who has currently light brown hair for the past 3 weeks 

X has tried dating a woman this year

X has been undergoing therapy to deal with her mental issues that were affecting her quality of life 

X has thyroid issues which influences her weight and health 

X is a very nice idol and people often take her kindness for granted 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Mamamoo

X has been dating a very famous divorced actor since last autumn 

X will surprise everyone with a surprising solo in 2025

X is honestly a sweet girl but a lot of people don't care about her 

X is dealing with a very complicated poor mental health which has been impacting her health but her career as well 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Le Sserafim 

There isn't much to say about X, other than her life has been rather stable lately. she is however seeing 7 different people but they weren't anything official 

X has been giving y’all signs about the change she will make in her career

All of her outside friends and the people she hangs out with are toxic as well and it is showing on X a lot 

X is in a healthy relationship at the moment 

X has been giving “help calls” to her fans but they seem not to notice it

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

IVE 

X is also in a relationship where there’s a toxic bond. it’s not healthy but she also doesn’t want to let go of them 

X doesn’t care what people say about her on the internet and yet she still tries to reach a certain standard. she lives through a double edged sword

X’s energy is very heavy and dark, and she probably needs to be spiritually purified 

X has been in a relationship like 4 days ago and this person is maybe the person that shall stay in her life for a long moment 

X will not only have a big boom in 2025, she will make solo projects and a solo as well 

X’s relationship wasn’t the best before of the age gap between her and her partner but since August they have been able to work it out and they are on something way more mature and healthy 

♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡♡➳༻❀ ☕ ❀༺➳♡

Kiss Of Life

X is either having a baby scare, either she has been wishing to become a mother or she has been seeking for her mother's support a lot. i will allow you to choose which one makes sense

X’s mental health is so much better. she is a very positive girl and she alway snakes bad look good through the way she sees life

Solo project for X in 2025

X is in a relationship with an idol since this summer who is 5 years older than her 

[daisies-and-domming]

Boxing Day (SFW)

Thank you to @glassofapplejuicee for beta reading saving this work! Love you so much babes, don't know what I would do without you <3

Happy Merry Boxing Day, everyone! I’ve been a little quiet as of late (oops), but I figured a fluffy little set of headcanons about our favorite boys would get me writing again. Lo and behold, it totally worked - so Happy Holidays everyone, and enjoy!

Summary: You and your partner had a Merry Christmas, but now it’s time for you to move on to the new year! How long does it take for you to take down all of your Christmas decorations, and what challenges do you run into along the way? 

Warnings: light swearing, petnames (Gojo is a menace, Nanami calls you darling, Sukuna calls you brat, Toji calls you doll, Shoko calls you lovely), minor injuries in Toji’s

Features Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Sukuna, Fushiguro (Toji), Ieiri, Higuruma

Let me know if you think I missed anything!!

All characters are over 18 :)

– – –

Gojo Satoru

If anyone is over the top, it’s Gojo. Definitely takes Christmas decorations too far, and is not past putting vulgar things on the tree. Tried to decorate it with Polaroids of you in…compromising positions, much to your chagrin. You shut that one down pretty quickly.

One of those rich assholes who hires people to put up/take down the lights outside. Before you, he definitely had only the boring white lights and maybe one of those sad wire light-up reindeers (like this, for example). Just one of them, all alone - he thinks it’s symbolic and deep because he was all alone at the time but it really just makes his huge yard look extra empty.

With you, however, he wants to do it himself. He thinks there’s something magical about putting up decorations together, with people you love. 

(It’s sweet, really, until he sucks at it and cries because he has no actual idea how to do it - why is it so hard to hang the lights straight?? Or at all, for that matter?? You’ll probably end up having to do all the work)

Once Christmas comes and goes, he does NOT want to take stuff down. You put it up “together” (you put it up), he wants to leave it up forever! A memory of the Christmas you spent together. 

Plus, his big house feels a lot less empty with all the lights and garlands and various other decorations he spent too much money on. Please, let him leave it up?

You probably let him get away with leaving up the tree until the beginning of January. He, of course, bought a huge, very much real, tree. The needles are a mess, and when it reaches the point where there are barely any needles left on the tree, you put your foot down.

He’s whining the whole time you two are taking it down. He tries to sneak out and drag it back inside, but you catch him every time.

Don’t even get him started on taking down the lights…

– – –

“But baaaaaaaabe!!”

“Gojo Satoru.”

“Full government name? You wound me, baby! Just like you’re wounding our beautiful Christmas memories!”

You groan, rolling your eyes at your boyfriend’s whines. “Satoru, you’re the one who wanted a real tree. I told you it was too much responsibility and cleaning, but you-”

“Baby,” he said, eyes watery and lips pulled downward in a pout. “Why’re you so mean to me, huh? Just want to keep all of our Christmas memories safe, is all.”

You soften at this. Satoru didn’t really get a chance to celebrate Christmas often, before you. You know there’s no way in hell his family celebrated with him, and you’re sure that once he lost his best friend (on Christmas Eve, no less), he and Shoko didn’t truly celebrate again. This was the first real Christmas he’s had in a while.

“Toru,” you murmur, pulling him to you. “We have plenty of years in the future to make new Christmas memories, hm? We’ll get to put up Christmas decorations all over again.”

His eyes find yours, and you wonder briefly if the glow in his eyes is the lights he refuses to take down, or the jujutsu endlessly flowing through him.. There’s a hint of something melancholy hidden in them, mixed with something else you can’t quite put your finger on. He doesn’t say anything, just looks, almost studying you - you’d be freaked out if you didn’t know him so well. Know that your words and your kindness were unfamiliar to him. In a world where he’s expected to be the strongest, he doesn’t know what to do when someone expects him to just be himself. You want every piece of him, the good and the bad, the strong and the weak, and you try to convey that as much as you can with your eyes. 

You let him stare until the silence becomes too thick, too heavy with something inexplicably sad that leaves a lump in your throat and a weight on your chest. You pull your hand away from his, running a gentle thumb over his cheek. Your eyes can’t seem to leave his, as much as it hurts.

“I’m not going anywhere,” you say, with such finality that he can’t help the smile that stretches across his face. It’s still full of grief, but there’s a glimmer of hope in it, too. “You know that Toru. I’m here. I’ll always be here, okay? Don’t you forget it.”

“I won’t.” he says, devoid of his usual humor. “You promise me?”

“I promise, Toru.” you say. You barely get it out before he’s smashing his lips to yours. It’s messy, it’s frantic, and it’s full of all the words he can’t say. He knows it’s selfish of him. To want you, to love you. His life is full of danger and death around every corner, and he knows that by bringing you into his life he’s brought you into that, too. But he can’t help himself. Gojo Satoru gets what he wants, he always has, and there’s nothing he wants more than you.

So he holds you close, and hopes that you keep wanting him forever, too.

Geto Suguru

He’s been going all out for Christmas since he found Nanako and Mimiko. It was clear that the two had never really had a proper family, and he wanted to give them that as much as he could.

He went all out when they were little - fake reindeer hoofprints in the yard, piles of presents under the tree, half eaten cookies left on the plate labelled “for Santa”. The girls are his whole world, and he’d pluck the moon from the sky if they asked him to.

The girls love you, too, once you become part of their Christmas traditions (even though Suguru made you tell them that Santa’s not real because he couldn’t do it himself). You’ve helped give them a family that they never had, and they welcome you with open arms.

Nanako and Mimiko become menaces when you even mention that it’s about time you all take the Christmas decorations down. They love the way the house feels brighter with all the decorations up. Expect a bit of a fight (and no help from your boyfriend, who seemingly can’t tell his girls “no”).

– – –

“Absolutely not.” “You want to do what?!”

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t your best idea to suggest taking down the tree, after all. You figured it’d be a good thing to do together - a touch of family time that you don’t always get with the girls - but they seemed to be appalled that you had even suggested such a thing.

“Nana, Mimi, it’s not Christmas anymore.” you say, laughing a bit nervously. “We can’t leave the tree up forever, can we?”

“We certainly can,” Nanako starts with a frown, “What’s stopping us? The pressure from society to conform to its trends?”

You barely manage to stop your eyes from rolling. You loved that Suguru was honest and open with the girls about what he does and who he is, but Nanako was definitely picking up some preconceived notions from hanging around Suguru’s literal cult all the time. Perhaps you’d have to talk to your boyfriend about it.

“Nana, sweetie, I love you-”

“Clearly you don’t if you won’t let me keep the tree up!” “What’s going on in here?”

A smooth, deep voice cuts through your conversation (argument?) with Nanako and Mimiko, and you feel a wave of relief crash over you. Surely, your lovely boyfriend would talk some sense into the girls (primarily Nanako).

“Suguru! The girls and I were just discussing taking the Christmas decorations down.”

Oblivious to Nanako’s scowl, he smiles softly at you. “What a good idea! We can do it as a family, hm? I could use a family day after the meetings I just had.”

“We’re not taking it down,” Mimiko mutters, eyes flickering between you and Suguru. “It’s too early.”

“Yeah, it’s way too early! We need to leave them up waaaaay longer. We did so much work to put them up, we can’t just take them down now!” Nanako whines out, doing her best puppy dog eyes at her father.

“You two,” you sigh, massaging your brow. “We can do it all again next year, but we seriously need to start taking these down, it’s getting a little late to still have our decorations up-”

“We can leave them up.”

Your head snaps to look at your boyfriend, mouth agape. “What?”

“I mean…” he says, looking anywhere but your face. “They seem really excited about it, you know? It can’t hurt to keep them up a bit longer…”

You should’ve known he would succumb to their puppy dog eyes, the bastard. “Suguru Geto, it’s the middle of January. We absolutely cannot keep them up much longer, the neighbors are starting to give me weird looks-”

“Who cares what the neighbors think?” he says, pulling you towards the couch. “C’mon, how about family movie night instead? We can take the tree down another day, hm?”

You know you shouldn’t let the girls win this one. You know it, and yet you let yourself get led to the couch anyways. Some 1980’s chick flick is put on, and you all settle in, curled into each other. You think you catch Meg Ryan out of the corner of your eye, but you’re more busy looking at your family, all together at this moment. 

The tree can stay up another day, you decide. You could handle a couple of judgy stares from the neighbors - because you wouldn’t trade moments like these for the world.

Nanami Kento

Nanami didn’t necessarily celebrate Christmas when he was on his own. It felt like a lot of work to put up a tree and decorate it if he was barely going to be home anyways.

After his return to jujutsu, Gojo tries endlessly to try and drag him to the yearly Christmas work party to no avail. Especially after you enter the picture. Gojo wants nothing more than to tell you embarrassing stories about your lover. 

But now he has you, and the little pink-haired menace that is Itadori Yuuji. You two had inserted yourselves into his life when he thought he needed solitude the most, and he couldn’t be more grateful.

Christmas, which had once come and gone, became something tangible. It meant endless hours of baking and decorating cookies, and time spent together, as a family. Yuuji wasn’t technically his son, but he was certainly a part of your little family (the gifts under the tree for him spoke for themselves). 

Like Gojo, he’s oddly hesitant to take down the decorations. The memories of putting them up and celebrating Christmas with the people he treasured around them are very dear to him.

Unlike Gojo, he can picture a future with you and Yuuji. Not quite on boxing day, but before December ends, the three of you are taking down decorations together, as a family, knowing that you’ll get the chance to put them up again next year.

– – –

Despite the date being not-quite-Christmas, you had insisted on playing Christmas music as you all took Christmas decorations down. Something about it being your “last chance to listen to Christmas music!” and you needing “one last dose” of Christmas before it was gone. And any level of time spent together with you and Nanami had Yuuji bouncing off the walls, so of course he was down for Christmas music after Christmas.

Despite his slight distaste for the music, Kento couldn’t help but smile at you and Yuuji. You’re rolling the lights neatly as Yuuji unwinds them, laughing and joking as you do. He remembers when you had asked Yuuji to come over to decorate for Christmas with the two of you. He had seen the boy excited before, but there was something special about the joy he radiated as he happily agreed to come over. You’d offered him the spare room many times, and even though he “can’t” stay, his clothes soon filled the drawers and his toiletries lived in your bathroom. While there’s not necessarily a “break” from the life of being a sorcerer, Fushiguro had gone home to Gojo’s, and Kugisaki had gone home to her family for the holidays. But, with nowhere to go, Yuuji had been planning to stay at the dorms, alone. Normally Nanami would’ve asked you first, but the second he heard he invited the boy to stay - lots of empty excuses about needing more company for Christmas and not wanting to eat all of the Christmas goods yourselves. But when Yuuji came bouncing in, you already knew, giving your husband a knowing smile. 

Now he was certain the house was going to feel empty, once Yuuji was gone. Ever respectful, he insisted he would be out of your hair the second the holidays were over.

“Ken, c’mere!” you call, beckoning him over. “Help Yuuji with the tree, won’t you?”

“I’ve totally got this, I’ll be fine!” Yuuji exclaims, trying to pick up the plastic tree without even taking it apart. “See?? Totally got it-”

Famous last words, of course, as he slips and thuds to the floor, the Christmas tree atop him. You and Kento both fly in, working to roll the tree off of him as quickly as possible. Of course, once he’s free, Yuuji is laughing, already re-telling the story of his “epic fall” (“it landed on me like whoosh! and I slammed against the carpet like kapow! Did you see that??”).

You sigh, glad he’s okay. “Could thank Nanami for helping you out from under it, you know.”

He flushes, stopping mid-story. “Oops, sorry! Thanks for the save, dad!”

He grins toothily before he catches his mistake, but by then, Nanami’s already tearing up. You are, too. Yuuji lost his family a long time ago. To feel safe enough, to call your husband dad? This was the best Christmas you’ve ever had, you’re certain.

And if you all end up crying? That’s nobody’s business but yours.

Sukuna Ryomen

He’s aware of the human tradition of “Christmas”, but if you think even for a second he considered celebrating it before you, you’re sorely mistaken. He’s the King of Curses, he doesn’t have time for nonsense like Christmas.

When you insert your annoying self into his life, he’s unsure on how to approach the holiday. His estate was not a place for “joy” or “being merry” (two very important things to Christmas, you had informed him), but with you here, perhaps it could be.

Very against decorations across the estate. In the privacy of certain spaces, he may allow it, but there will be no outdoor decorations or house-wide decorations. He does not want his servants to think he is getting soft for the human he’s been toting around. He will cede to some decorations, but he does not care about you and your silly human traditions.

(they already know he’s going soft for you. Any servant can see the way he looks at you, and how delicate his hands are with you. They’d be stupid not to know at this point the affection he holds for you)

He, at first, refuses to let you put up anything yourself in the approved rooms. He has servants, and he has made it very clear that they are yours to command. Why do you insist on doing it yourself?

You explain the importance of doing it yourself, even have the gall to ask him to do it with you, and he scoffs at this. He’s the King of Curses, he doesn’t have the time to 

Later, you will find him reading on Christmas traditions and decorations. When you catch him, he will refuse to acknowledge it, but the way he won’t quite make eye contact with you says all you need to know.

Once Christmas is over, decorations are down and boxed immediately. He instructs the servants the night before to take them down, and by the time you wake, the decorations are gone. 

With all of this Christmas decorating and celebrating, Sukuna has barely had a proper moment alone with you. Now that it’s over, expect him to be the closest to “clingy” that you will ever see him.

– – –

It’s early morning, December 26th, and Sukuna could not be more glad that this “Christmas” thing was over. You had become consumed by it, and despite finding some sort of amusement in the way you bounced around all excited and glowy, he was sick of it. You talked on and on about what he had to do with you, and while he indulged you on some of them, he was not fond of being bossed around. You had also mentioned another man, whom you referred to as “Santa” - you had assured Sukuna he wasn’t real, but Sukuna didn’t like the way another man’s name was so easily rolling off your tongue - who brought gifts to children in their homes. You had made an attempt to put up a little “Santa” figurine on the mantle, but found him in pieces (and in the trash) hours later. Sukuna would not allow another man you spoke so highly of to taint his space. 

You shift slightly, and he looks down at your sleeping face where it lay against him. You looked utterly ridiculous - your face was smushed against him, your hair was tousled, and you were lightly snoring - but for some reason Sukuna couldn’t tear his eyes from your form. He could hear the servants shuffling around in the other rooms on the estate, taking down the eyesores that you had put up all over the house. While he had instructed them to take everything Christmas-related down across the estate, they also had very specific instructions to never enter his chambers without explicit permission from him. This meant that his chambers were still a little Christmas bubble, the tree you had put up in the corner still standing tall.

When you first tried to get him to put a tree up in his chambers, he had refused. You could put a tree in the approved rooms, he had reminded you, and his chambers were very explicitly off limits. You had frowned, saying something about needing a “personal” tree that you could decorate yourself and keep presents “safe” under it. He informed you that anything you left under the other trees would also be safe, as this was his estate, and no one would touch anything without his permission, but you had just thrown your hands up.

“It’s about the principle, Ryo!”

“Brat, be grateful I’m letting you put up any trees at all. I could call off this whole ‘Christmas’ nonsense whenever I want, so watch your mouth.”

He sighed. He doesn’t know how you managed, but you had eventually wore him down. A sparkling tree sits in the corner of his chambers now, glowing softly. Once you had risen and started to go about your day he was going to take it down, he resolved. Whatever weird feelings were bubbling in his chest were the fault of this Christmas rampage you had gone on, and nothing else. Once his estate was cleaned of the Christmas blight you had cast upon it, his chest would return to normal, he was certain.

But for now, as the Christmas lights shining from the tree glowed behind your sleeping form, the feelings would remain. He felt himself melt into you, and ran a gentle hand through your hair. His eyes flick to the ceiling before drifting closed again. He sighs, and pulls you a little further into him. Softly, so softly that even the wind barely catches it, he murmurs to you.

“Merry Christmas, brat.”

Fushiguro Toji (ft. Tsumiki and Megumi)

You think this man has ever owned a house? Jokes on you honey, he’s never had that kind of money (or that good of credit).

Subsequently, there’s nowhere to decorate outside, really. Other than the apartment door, but that's too much work for Toji, so any Christmas decorations he might have are inside the walls of his apartment.

He’s boring, but surprisingly your biggest opp in Christmas decoration is little Megumi. Tsumiki is an angel as always and goes along with whatever Christmas shenanigans, but Megumi doesn’t want even a hint of Christmas in the house.

The most you get is a Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, which was all Toji was willing to do before you, anyways. As much as he pretends he doesn’t, he’s always loved his kids, and keeps a plastic tree and a small box of ornaments (which is mostly comprised of the ones Tsumiki and Megumi has to make at school) shoved in the corner of his closet for this time of year. He may have been a shitty father, but he cared, in his own way.

When Megumi is little, that tree is down on December 26th, shoved back in the corner of Toji’s closet. Christmas is dumb, and so is anything that reminds him of it.

But now, with warmer memories surrounding it, the tree might take a couple more days to find itself back in the closet. It’s definitely down within the week (Megumi can only handle being sappy for so long), but maybe Christmas isn’t so bad with you around.

And (even though he won’t say it), Toji feels the same way - you see it in the mistletoe that now hangs in the entryway between the kitchen and living room, in the way his eyes find yours as you all decorate gingerbread houses together, in the way he’s just a little sweeter when Christmas comes around. You’re the best present he’s ever gotten, and the only one he needs, this Christmas and every Christmas in the future.

The actual act of taking stuff down, though? With four (mostly) grown bodies shoving around in a tiny apartment, it’s a lot more hectic than you’d like it to be. Someone always ends up minorly hurt every year in the clean-up process. It’s inevitable, and you’re considering making a Christmas scrapbook of all the injuries you all have gotten over the years.

(your personal favorite will always be when Toji yanked on the lights impatiently and the whole tree came down on him. You can still see Tsumiki’s wide eyes and hear little toddler Megumi’s laughter as Toji grumbled about “stupid tree” this and “damn lights” that. He was fine, but his ego was not)

– – –

“Shit-”

You spin around at the gruff swear from your husband, about to scold him for swearing in front of the kids, when you’re met with a facefull of Toji. His chest slams into your face, and you both go down. He barely manages to catch himself over you (if he hadn’t, you’re certain you would’ve been flattened under his weight). Your head smacks into the carpet and you groan, squeezing your eyes shut to battle the throbbing pain in your head.

“Dad, what the hell-”

“Are you two okay??”

Two overlapping voices come from above you, but you don’t think you can open your eyes. You haphazardly throw up a thumbs up, just to blindly whack your husband in the face.

“Ow, doll, Jesus Christ. Watch your hand, won’t you?” Toji gruffs out, but one of his hands is already moving to cradle your head, gently touching around it. He doesn’t feel any blood, and he lets out a sigh of relief. He didn’t really feel like making a trip to the emergency room a couple days after Christmas, especially for something this embarrassing. He’s sure they’ve had enough Christmas-related injuries from the idiots who go out and party, anyways. 

“Get off of them, you oaf.” Megumi says, shoving his father off of you. Toji rolls off of you, letting Megumi shove him aside. That kid always liked you more than him, even if you weren’t related by blood. 

He lets the kids fuss over you and goes into the kitchen to grab you an ice pack for your head. At worst it’s a concussion, but he’s hoping it’ll just be a bump. Not his fault that Tsumiki got distracted midway through taking the lights of the tree and left them hanging haphazardly. And yeah, maybe it was his fault that he wasn’t looking where he was going and got his feet tangled in the lights. But Megumi was complaining about them still having all of the ornaments he made as a kid, and Toji had to make sure that brat wasn’t throwing any of them away. So yeah, maybe his eyes weren’t on the floor. But in his defense, the lights were only supposed to be in two places - the box, or on the tree.

Grumbling, he makes his way back to the living room, where you’re now situated on the couch. Christmas teardown long forgotten, Tsumiki is asking you questions and holding fingers in front of your face. Megumi is standing broodily to the side. His arms crossed, as if he doesn’t care, but his eyes are watching you with rapt attention. 

“For your head, doll.” Toji says, passing you the ice pack. You accept it gratefully, cradling it to where your head smacked into the floor. Your bleary eyes meet his, and you can see the glow of worry hiding behind them. You offer him a weak smile, hoping it’ll ease at least some of his worries.

“I knew I was gorgeous, but you didn’t have to literally fall for me, you know,” you joke, eyes sparkling. There’s a distinct “Ew!” from Megumi as Toji leans down to plant a kiss on your lips, rolling his eyes at your nonsense. 

“Merry Christmas, doll.”

“Merry Christmas, Toji.”

And if the half-taken down tree stays up for a day or so more, Megumi doesn’t say a word.

Ieiri Shoko

Shoko has no intention of owning a house, ever. Her apartment has always been more than enough space for her, and being the only sorcerer with her abilities, she works crazy hours, anyways. She wouldn’t have the time to take care of a whole house.

Even with you in her life, she’s still home at odd hours. She tries harder now, to be home more often, but there’s only so much that’s in her control. You’ve woken up many nights to her crawling out of bed and throwing on her coat to get to Jujutsu Tech.

It sucks and she knows it, but both of you know it’s always going to be her reality unless she leaves jujutsu. And both of you know that, at this point, she isn’t going anywhere.

Your Christmas decorations are very sparing. A wreath on the outside of your door, a small tree in the corner of the living room, and perhaps a wintry candle burning. Your apartment isn’t really well-lived in, but you two try to make it as cozy as possible.

Christmas decorations could stay up year round, honestly. She barely cares to put them up, taking them down is way more work than she wants to go through. The wreath is notoriously on the door until mid-February. It’s a miracle if it’s gone by Valentine’s Day.

Things get taken down, piece by piece, until all of it is gone. Unlike most people, it’s not a day that you two do it, but over the course of the rest of December and January. 

(The door wreath always gets forgotten because by the time post-Christmas rolls around you’re both used to it and forget it’s even there)

By the first of the new year, the lights and ornaments are off the tree, and all of the Christmas cookies (that you stole from Gojo’s stash) are eaten. At some point, the tree goes down. Eventually, the candle’s been burnt to the end of the wick, and it’s replaced with something more flowery. Any sign of Christmas and the holidays slowly fades away.

Until one of you remembers the wreath, of course!

– – –

A gentle buzzing shakes Shoko from her lunch. She’s rarely aware of what time of day it is in the hellscape that is the basement of Jujutsu Tech; but Gojo, in a rare moment of kindness, had visited her with lunch in his hands. He was blabbering on and on about something nonsensical, as always, but she was grateful for the break. As much as he acted like an idiot, Gojo was anything but - he knew the conversation he was holding was one-sided. He’d act all offended later, she was sure (what a headache), but her little noncommittal “yeah”s and “mhm”s would do for now. 

“Ooooh, who’s calling you?” Gojo asks, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She rolls her eyes, looking down at the caller ID. Your name lights up the screen, a goofy picture of you flashing behind it. You had thrown the Christmas lights for the tree in the air over your head in excitement, and had ended up all tangled up in them. Despite being somewhat wrapped  up in Christmas lights, you had a big smile on your face, laughing at your own predicament. It’s perhaps one of her favorite pictures of you.

Before she can answer it herself, Gojo snatches her phone from her hand, and answers it himself. “Helloooo, Ms. Shoko Ieiri speaking. How may I be of doctor-ly assistance to you?”

She can hear you snort on the other end of the phone, clearly amused. 

“Hi, Gojo. How’re you?”

He gasps dramatically. “Gojo?? How dare you confuse me with that no good idiot-”

“Gojo,” Shoko starts, extending her hand, “give me my phone back.”

He sticks out his tongue, handing her the phone. “Boo, you two are no fun!”

She sighs, running a hand through her hair. “Hey, lovely.”

“Hey, Sho!”

“What’s up, hm? Need something?”

“Oh, nothing urgent,” you say with a laugh. “Just found something I thought you might find funny.”

“Yeah?” she says, smiling. “And what’s that?”

“Do you know what the date is?” you ask, and she hears a bit of shuffling on the other end of the phone. You’re clearly on the move as you call her.

“Uhm…” her eyes drift to the childish cat calendar Gojo had hung in her office. He had insisted it would “boost morale”, but mostly it had been an eyesore. “February something-th, I’m sure.”

“Yeah!” you exclaim. “It’s February, Sho.”

“I know that,” she says, though there was no real bite in her tone. “I literally just said that.”

“Oh shut up,” you say, a bit muffled on the other end of the phone. “I’m just saying it’s February. Getting awful close to being March, even.”

“February’s short, lovely, that’s not much of a feat.”

“Shhh, let me talk!! Anyways, you know what I found?”

She racks her brain, but there’s nothing that you would find in the house that would make you react like this that she could think of. “No idea, lovely. Would you like to tell me?”

“The wreath, Sho!”

“The wreath…?” she says, before recognition sweeps across her face. “Oh my god-”

“We left the wreath up!” you’re laughing so hard she’s sure you’re crying. “I- how do we forget every year-”

“We got it down by January last year!”

“Mid-January, Sho, not by January-”

“Maybe we should stop putting it up.”

“Noooo! I love having this conversation every year. Don’t you?”

She’s laughing too, even if she doesn’t want to. “Mhm, of course, lovely.”

“Anyways, you’re probably busy, so I’ll leave you be, but Merry Christmas, Sho!”

She laughs, rolling her eyes at your antics. “Merry Christmas, lovely.”

Higuruma Hiromi

Another busy fellow. Being a lawyer and a sorcerer does that to a man.

But it also means he can afford a nice house in a nice area. You’ve got decent land, and a nice big house to decorate for Christmas.

He’s a total sap, and definitely makes time to decorate the house with you. Your tree will look more like a scrapbook than a Christmas tree - covered in picture frame ornaments of the two of you and dinky little ornaments he saw that he was out that reminded him of you.

Expect Christmas/winter dates with him, too - he may be busy, but he’s bending his schedule as much as possible to take you ice skating or to decorate gingerbread houses with you.

When December 26th rolls around, he’s in the office. He overloads himself in November to clear as much of December as he can, but it’s inevitable that he ends back in the office before the month ends. He’s just glad he got to spend Christmas with you.

The decorations stay up perhaps a little too long, but you’d both rather take things down together. You don’t always get the chance to be domestic with Hiromi, so you wait. The rare moments that you do are always worth the wait.

– – –

You can hear Hiromi across the room faintly humming some Christmas tune as you gently lift the garland from the mantle. After some sort of miracle (and a little bit of string pulling), Hiromi had finally managed to land himself a day off post-Christmas. Things always get busy after Christmas - drunk idiots making post-party mistakes, kids misusing their new toys, marriages that barely manage to scrape through Christmas day at all - and he’s been on back to back cases for a couple weeks now. His eyebags have been cutting deeper into his face by the day, and you’re glad to see something like joy in his step as he weaves the lights off the Christmas tree. Once the sun reaches its peak in the sky, the two of you would bundle up and head outside to get the lights and the wreath, but for now, you could enjoy the warmth of the house for a little longer. 

You drop the bundle of garland into one of the many boxes. You knew in your heart that the you of next year would look at the messy pile of garland and be incredibly pissed, but you didn’t have it in yourself to care right now. Sounded like a problem for next year you, not a problem for the you of the present. You had other decorations to take down, and boyfriends to mess with.

You take a peek at said boyfriend as you move the other Christmas knick knacks off the mantle and into the box. He’s still humming something or other, but it’s definitely a new song. He’s dancing to it, a bit, as he gently places your ornaments back in the box. He pauses, sometimes, to look more intently at the little picture frames. A picture of the two of you, at the beach a couple of summers ago. A snapshot of your trip to Paris. A polaroid of you laughing, covered in flour, that barely fits in the frame he bought for it. That one was from this year - he had insisted that you two make Christmas sugar cookies and decorate them, but when you had pulled the flour from the top shelf, it had exploded right out the bottom. It’s what you get for buying the cheap flour, perhaps, but you remember how you couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled from your throat in the moment. You don’t even remember Hiromi grabbing the camera - just the snap it made as it framed your mishap forever. You shake yourself out of your stupor and look around. You’ve cleared the mantle and the side table, all that’s left in this room minus the tree was…the mistletoe. It hung neatly between the living room and the kitchen, a little glint of green and red against the horrendous light yellow of the kitchen (the old owners had been so pleased with the color that you couldn’t bring yourself to repaint it). You went to grab it down, but even with a stretch to your tippy toes, you couldn’t quite get a grasp on it. 

“Hiromi,” you call out, and he makes a noncommittal sound. “Romi, honey.”

He flicks his head over to you, huffing softly at your pout. “What is it, honey?”

You point up at the offending party, its green and red staring back at you mockingly. “Can’t get the little bastard down. Any chance you’d be willing to help me out?”

“Of course, honey,” he says, striding over to you. You expect him to pluck it off its hook himself, and squeal when his arms wrap around your waist and he lifts. You know he’s strong - hell, you’d have to be strong to do his job - but he lifted you with an ease you didn’t know was possible.

“Are you going to get that down, or do I have to hold you here forever?” he says, a teasing grin making its way to his face.

You jokingly contemplate, putting your finger to your lips to ‘think’ about it. “Hmm, I don’t know, feeling pretty comfy in your arms. Might just have to stay here forever, I fear.”

He snorts, gently bringing you back down. He reaches up and unhooks the mistletoe himself, though he hesitates to bring his arm back down.

“What is it?” you ask gently.

“One last kiss? For Christmas’ sake?”

You laugh breathlessly, knowing damn well that it’s late enough into January that this kiss isn’t for anything but him. But, as he dangles the mistletoe above your heads, you can’t help but lean in to kiss him. And if you two don’t stop, even when the mistletoe is long forgotten? Well, that’s nobody’s business but yours.

[bittersweetresilience]

writing year in review

i like those artist summaries my friends are doing so i'm making my own. one excerpt from each month of the year. many words incoming.

JANUARY

metempsychosis (Miraculous Ladybug, 4,935 words)

“Adrien?” Félix asks. He can feel his arms shaking as he pushes himself up, his cousin’s face wide and startled beneath him. He’s okay. Félix saved him. There’s something wet weeping from under the silver platter, watermelon juice on his sleeves. The room smells like iron. Adrien’s breathing bleeds. When he starts to choke Félix pulls the platter away and reveals the seeds stuck to his clothes, the knife stuck between the seeds.

FEBRUARY

never been in love (Miraculous Ladybug, 1,559 words)

Maybe Félix had felt something like that before. It’s since been bled out of his memory. To his father, Félix was a church, an idea, a trophy; there was no room for yearning. He wears his crown of thorns on his finger now, but even so he is empty.

MARCH

silent things (Miraculous Ladybug, 1,379 words)

“Félix!” Adrien shouts. The slam of his hands against the wood is a heartbeat. “Come on! Open the door, Félix!” But Félix wakes up from the dream.

APRIL

watership down (Miraculous Ladybug, 10,965 words)

She’d dropped the memory somewhere between the hospital and the jeweler’s curb, between her fingers clenched white around the driver’s wheel and the set of Colt’s scowl as he pushed into the doors. But what’s one more funeral pyre? What’s one more cross to burn?

MAY

i want to hold the hand inside you (Miraculous Ladybug, 962 words)

Félix opens his mouth, breathes in thickly. Cold and hot, stage lights, his pulse sharp in his throat with sense-memory. It’s not his father. It’s still Félix. The tempered sensation of being held on a leash. It’s not real. Marinette hasn’t done anything.

JUNE

Meditations (Miraculous Ladybug, 800 words)

London, England, 2013. Shale damp firmament or something. You ran into the nesting grounds and startled the mute swans with your sneeze. Mute is in their name but they are not mute, really. Cygnus olor is the Latin. Other Latin words: exitus acta probat, cogito ergo sum, felix. Names don’t seem very accurate because mine is supposed to mean happy.

JULY

浮生若梦 (Honkai: Star Rail, 3,065 words)

Even the cycranes are mute in their nests, wings folded over themselves like mourning clothes. Blade walks along the vertebrae of the streets, and no one approaches him. Perhaps he is invisible. Perhaps he has lost the last of what made him human. People whisper amongst themselves, but Blade doesn’t listen. They wouldn’t know as well as him.

AUGUST

大鱼 (Honkai: Star Rail, 11,572 words)

When Jing Yuan finds himself here, he is always here as a witness. He cannot run; he cannot move; he cannot avert his view. This time, though, a fervency unravels in him, a lurch of desperate wanting. Mingled breath, a sanguinary abyss, and the ground tilts, sending him falling toward the eye of everything. “Jing Yuan,” Baiheng shouts, but it is Jingliu, but it is a dragon, but it is an exhale in his ear, seven centuries in the future, the scattering of stars like a Stellaron bursting under his skin. It is Blade, and it is Yingxing, and he is the one who is burning, and Jing Yuan is clawing at his shoulders, untangling at the seams.

SEPTEMBER

起风了 (Honkai: Star Rail, 7,164 words)

His hands land on Blade’s chest, and he finds himself craning his head up to regain his bearings, to reach—warm skin and scars and the tongue that sweeps into his open mouth, and Jing Yuan pushes up onto his tiptoes, just a bit, forgetting everything. Blade releases Jing Yuan as soon as he’d taken hold of him, so that he lands gently back on his feet. Jing Yuan blinks at him, his lips still parted, startled out of all his feelings. “Sit on the bed and don’t move,” Blade tells him, and then leaves.

OCTOBER

age has never made me wise (Honkai: Star Rail, 8,185 words)

He allows himself to touch Jing Yuan’s face, finally. Wipes the towel very softly over the drying tracks, washing away the tears and the blood and the grime as if they had never been there, as if it had never happened. But he can’t wash away the mark that sits starkly on Jing Yuan’s cheek, nor the shape of Blade’s fingers on the hollow of his neck— —you’re lying, you’re lying— —and Blade pulls his hand away abruptly.

NOVEMBER

tell me we'll never get used to it (Honkai: Star Rail, 2,101 words)

Wants. The word is a strange sort of notion. After all this time, Blade is still getting used to being allowed to want things. Things of his own, things that he can touch and take and keep. Things that aren’t broken bones or drying blood under his fingertips.

DECEMBER

mad wandering man (Honkai: Star Rail, 6,072 words)

Jing Yuan doesn’t have to think about this yet, not when the ending is still approaching. It isn’t something real, isn’t something that will last, isn’t anything more than an idle dream. And he already knows, as does the rest of the Quintet, that dreams are dead things walking.

THAT'S THE END OF THIS VERY LONG POST... will you join me @coffeebanana @ninadove @isabugs @mostmagical @asukiess...

...line break because too many spouses @hartwign @purplecatghostposts @teafig...

[jeannyjaykaydeh]

Merry Sinsmas (Part 2)

Alastor x Reader

Some of you have asked me if I could write a sequel. So, here it is. I hope you like it. :)

———————————————————————————

And there you are. Directly in front of the radio demon. Under a sprig of mistletoe. And everyone around you is expecting you to kiss him.

Including him.

Smug as he is, he grins down at you. Expecting you to submit to tradition and pressure.

How much you would love to.

How much you would love to give in to it all. Surrender to him.

And the longer you stare into his beautiful, ruby red eyes, the more you realise how incredibly in love with him you are.

But that simply can't be! No! That would be your downfall!

A relationship with Alastor would never have a future. He's a demon - no - he's THE radio demon. Dangerous. Feared.

He murdered people when he was alive. And possibly enjoyed it.

Would he even be capable of love?

"Come on now, doll," Angel urges you on his behalf and on behalf of everyone who is staring at you as intensely as if they were waiting for the show of the year, "it's just a kiss. Nothing wild."

You look to the others.

Charlie grins like a rainbow unicorn that's been eaten up by romance. Vaggie doesn't look like she approves of what's going on, but there's a certain curiosity in her eyes, too. Husk looks like he always does: unmotivated, bored, annoyed.

Niffty has a look of madness in her eye. It's a look that sends a cold shiver down your spine, but her grin reveals that she too wants to see this love that seems to be in the air here in action.

Then you look at Alastor again. He is standing in front of you, in his upright, elegant posture, with his arms behind his back. He probably hasn't even blinked the whole time.

What is he thinking right now? You don't know. You just can't read him.

You sigh. Then you gather all your strength and slowly shake your head.

"No. I don't want to," you say quietly.

Alastor raises an eyebrow. You hear annoyed groans from the others.

"Spoilsport," Angel condemns you with a teasing undertone as he strokes your head once to show that he means no harm by what he says to you.

You walk past Alastor and up the grand staircase to your room.

----------------------

You sit on the large windowsill of your room and gaze thoughtfully through the huge pane of glass, which offers you a breathtaking view of the Pentagram City skyline.

It's hard to believe how beautiful hell can actually be.

Speaking of beautiful: your thoughts wander to Alastor. As so often lately. And even more often since the mistletoe incident.

It was just a few days ago.

Since then, you've hardly dared to leave your room. The whole situation was so unpleasant for you, you just don't know how to deal with it now if you meet Alastor again.

You don't know anything anymore.

Suddenly there's a knock on your bedroom door.

"Yes?" you call out and shortly afterwards the door opens. Angel enters your room and comes towards you.

He sits down next to you on the windowsill.

"Well, little one?" he starts his greeting and gives you a touching smile.

"How much longer are ya going to isolate yourself? Do ya think you can hide in your room for all eternity?"

He chuckles slightly, because as sympathetic as he is to you right now, he also finds your behaviour a little amusing.

You shrug your shoulders: "I don't know. Maybe Alastor will be redeemed one day in four hundred years or so and then I can move around the hotel freely again."

Angel laughs softly. He knows just as well as you do that the idea of Alastor being redeemed is the most unrealistic thing imaginable.

"And what exactly are ya hiding from?" he asks curiously.

You reply: "I have no idea. I guess from embarrassment again."

"And do ya think it was only ya who was embarrassed?"

You look at Angel Dust. Your expression shows surprise and questions in response to his question.

"What do you mean?"

He puts both hands on your shoulders and fixes his gaze on you.

"Y/N," he sighs at your naivety, "sure, maybe it wasn't the most tactful of us to push ya into a corner like that and it's also yer right not to want to kiss someone."

He wipes a strand of hair from your face and continues: "But ya don't seem to realise how much Smiles likes ya. The way he looks at ya every day, that happiness in his eyes, and I could swear his permanent smile at those moments is a genuine smile for once. For months, this buck has been trying to get ya round, which we all notice, and ya keep turning him down. And the expression in yer eyes when ya see him is no different to his. Girl, we don't just see the tension between ya two, we feel it as soon as ye're both in the same room. And it's starting to hurt to watch ya still resisting it, even though it's clear that Alastor is exactly what ya want. Ya both really need to fuck. So please, do it already."

You look at Angel and raise an eyebrow. You can't suppress a slight giggle at his strange speech.

"Oh man, you're out of your mind," you reply jokingly, looking at him with a grin.

He laughs and replies, shaking his head: "Eh, no, YOU are out of your mind. After all, I'm not the one who's stupid enough to have broken the radio demon's heart."

Your laughter stops abruptly and you blink at Angel in surprise: "What? I broke his heart?"

"Absolutely, sweetie! Even if creepy voice master would never admit it, but I think I've known him long enough to realise that he was definitely not happy after yer rejection. Which is understandable, ya embarrassed him like that instead of just pulling yerself together and giving him a fucking kiss."

You broke Alastor's heart? What is Angel talking about? Is it even possible to break this man's heart? Does he even have a heart?

You think about it.

And the more often you replay this scenario in your mind's eye, the clearer it becomes to you how outrageously you behaved towards him.

It wasn't the fact that you didn't want to kiss him that was rude, no, it was that you went against your own feelings. That you treated him so disparagingly and he simply went out of his way to show you what a gentleman he was and that he seemed to be genuinely interested in you.

And that you don't admit to yourself how much you're in love with him, even though that's exactly what he deserves.

An uneasy feeling spreads through your chest. It's pity. Pain.

Poor Alastor!

Suddenly you leap from your windowsill and walk resolutely towards your bedroom door.

"Hey, what are ya doing?" Angel calls after you, curious and puzzled.

"Throwing myself into embarrassing situations," you answer him and hurry out of your room.

-----------------------

You hurry down the stairs into the lobby - Angel is right behind you.

As expected, you find the others there: Charlie, Vaggie, Niffty, Husk - and Alastor. They are all busy preparing the Hazbin Hotel for the next upcoming celebration: The New Year's Eve party.

Charlie and Vaggie are decorating, Niffty is cleaning, Husk is setting up the bar and Alastor is standing there in his usual elegant pose with both hands on his staff, giving instructions to his shadow demons, who are eagerly lending a hand.

You walk purposefully towards the radio demon - he doesn't notice you at first and when his gaze finally falls on you, it's too late for him to react, because you stand in front of him quite quickly, immediately grab the man by the collar of his coat, pull him down to you and press a short but intense kiss to his lips.

And his lips feel really good! Wow!

As you break away from him, you hear the brief, startled static and his wide eyes, which stare at you briefly but quickly return to their arrogant state. Alastor's grin widens slightly as he looks down at you.

"WOOOOOH!" cheers Angel, clapping his hands. Charlie joins in, Niffty claps along and Vaggie and Husk just stand there with their mouths open, as if they can't believe what's just happened.

Just like you.

Because only now do you really realise what you've done.

Why did you do that?

You look at Alastor, astonished and confused. Your own action has left you speechless, but you can see from the look on his face that he is waiting for an explanation.

"That- um," you start to stammer, "well, I still owed you a kiss... Because, about, um. Mistletoe and all that."

You pause for a moment as you notice Alastor looking at you with a raised eyebrow, amused at the way you're stammering.

You take a deep breath, then start again. With a serious expression and an honest look in his eyes, you say: "Al, I'm very bad at this sort of thing. Romantic gestures in public can really put me off and I generally have massive commitment issues. But the fact is that I kind of like you and I've realised that I should jump over my own shadow and give it a chance between us."

And that's where you stand now: with your trousers metaphorically down. You've poured your heart out in public and shown your weakness to the guy you should never show your weakness to. Your pulse is rising. The stress level in your head is high. You can feel the blush creep into your cheeks and take on the colour of his coat.

There is a brief but uncomfortable silence between you. So uncomfortable that it seems like hours, even though it's only a few seconds.

Alastor looks down at you with a surprised expression and a frozen grin.

And then the radio demon suddenly bursts out: "Hohohoho! Now that's what I call a surprise. Tell me, my dear, how are you feeling right now? Judging by your red cheeks, this must be more unpleasant for you than the moment I confronted you with the mistletoe."

Wait a minute! What?!

Horror spreads across your face. And questions. That's not the reaction you were expecting.

Well, actually, that's exactly the reaction you'd expect from Alastor.

But then again, you assumed that you had broken his heart.

"W- why are you laughing?" you ask meekly and anxiously.

You feel a little stupid right now.

Alastor tries to get his laughter under control again to give you an answer.

He puts a hand on your shoulder and replies: "Sweetheart, what makes you think you've hurt me? Me? Because of some pathetic mistletoe? Haha! Oh, that's downright hilarious!"

Your gaze falls on Angel Dust. "You said that-"

Angel grins sheepishly and replies, "Oh come on. As if I or any other cock here knows what's going on in Radiodaddy's head. Alastor's a walking enigma and he'll always be one."

So Angel just made it all up to get you to finally take the initiative. He just wanted to see you kiss the radio demon.

Furious, you shout at him: "YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Well, ah, ah! My dear! Watch your choice of words," Alastor admonishes you, "look on the bright side: you've finally managed to come out of your shell and now I know what's really going on inside you and that my advances weren't in vain."

You bury your face in your hands.

Then this difficult step that you finally managed to take was completely in vain.

Fuck!

You're so embarrassed.

----------------------

It's New Year's Eve. The party at the Hazbin Hotel is in full swing. Everyone is drunk out of their minds.

You're having an incredible amount of fun together, the music is good and the games Charlie has come up with amuse everyone who joins in.

But at some point, like at any party where alcohol is flowing, you feel the need for some fresh air - if you can call those smelly fumes that are spreading through hell fresh.

You excuse yourself and go out the door. You look down from the hill at the city lights and can hear the other inhabitants of Pentagram City celebrating from a distance.

You put your cup, which is filled with a sugary cocktail, to your lips and take a big sip.

You realise that you are already very woozy.

Suddenly you notice a hand moving out of the corner of your eye towards the cup at your mouth and taking it away from you.

"Hey!" you exclaim and are startled when you see Alastor next to you.

He shakes his head with mock indignation and says: "Oh, my little deerling, don't you ever learn from your mistakes? You barely manage to get through a day without embarrassment and then you still dare to pour yourself full of alcoholic drinks."

He takes a look at your cup, raises an eyebrow sceptically, takes a quick sniff and then grimaces in disgust. Cocktails really aren't his thing.

But the glass filled with whisky he's holding in his other hand is his thing.

You may be well drunk, but you still have the ability to notice that the radio demon is in the same mood.

He's trying to mask it and continue to maintain his mysterious, elegant demeanour, but it's clear he's having a pretty hard time of it right now.

"Well," you reply, shrugging your shoulders, "I've got nothing to lose now anyway."

"Hmmm," the man hums happily and slightly judgementally to himself. Then he says: "Do you know what your problem is, my dear?"

"You?"

A short laugh escapes him.

"Ah, hahaha. Hilarious. Oh yes."

He likes your joke, but feels a little offended at the same time, which is revealed by the dark undertone behind his laughter.

He continues: "You're trying too hard. Either you don't want to stand out or, if you fail to do so, you're trying far too hard to avoid the centre of attention."

"I see," you reply sceptically, "and what would be your advice for me?"

"Advice?" he asks in mock surprise, "hahaha! No, I don't have an advice at all. Oh no, little doe, I'm having incredible fun seeing you so pathetic. I'm just taking advantage of it."

You grimace. Anger rises in you. You turn your gaze away from him, cross your arms in front of your chest and stare silently into the distance.

And suddenly Alastor says something that throws you completely off course: "But I don't want to be like that, because - as you probably already know - I like you too. My advice would probably be that you should learn more from me. As Angel said a few days ago: I'm an enigma. None of you deluded souls could have guessed that you hurt me with your rejection on Christmas Day. Because none of you would have believed me capable of it."

Your gaze wanders to him again. You look at him, shocked and surprised by his words.

He's just openly said that he likes you? And has he just admitted that you hurt him after all?

Is he serious? Or is he just taking the piss?

Or is that perhaps the alcohol talking?

"So I did hurt you after all?" you ask without restraint.

He narrows his eyes menacingly and replies: "I hope you realise that this will stay between us, right?"

A warmth spreads through your chest - and it's definitely not the alcohol - and you're overcome with joy.

So he really likes you.

He seems to have a genuine interest in you.

And jumping over your shadow was not in vain.

Now you know: You are ready! Ready to embrace this feeling. Ready to get involved in a new relationship. Ready to get involved with this man.

A smile plays around your lips and you look at him in love.

"Ah, that smile suits you beautifully, my dear. You should show it to me more often," Alastor comments on your facial expressions with a warm look as he puts his hand on your cheek.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you at Christmas, Al," you whisper, looking intently into his eyes.

His smile widens a little, then he turns on his heel towards the door and holds out his elbow for you to hook onto.

"Let's go back inside, my dear. The evening is still young and the party is too good to miss. And believe me when I tell you that I know a thing or two about a good party. There was never a better party than in the Roaring Twenties. Ahaha!"

You catch up with him and you walk towards the hotel door together.

Alastor opens it and holds it open for you - like the gentleman he is.

You walk past him and enter the lobby. Alastor follows you, he walks upright and elegantly with his arms behind his back. He walks right behind you into the hotel and suddenly you feel him lean down a little and whisper in your ear:

"It's midnight in two hours, sweetheart. And you know by now that I'm a man of tradition. Where I come from, it's customary to kiss at the turn of the year, otherwise it's bad luck in the new year."

You look him in the eyes and giggle. A suggestive smile spreads across your lips and you reply while winking at him: "Don't worry. Unlike mistletoes, the New Year's Eve custom also exists in my home country."

@stattikdemon @coffeesefied

[mjbarrosart]

My Dragon Prince Boards season 7, episode 705, part 1

It's time to talk about my boards for episode 705 of the last season of The Dragon Prince. I did a lot of stuff in this episode, so instead of going in order, I'll divide my work differently for this one, we will talk by group of sequences and not in order of appearance.

Let's start with the sunfire elf side of the plot. As a lot of you know, most of my work in this show was related to the Sunfire elves, and to be honest Janai and Amaya are two of my favorite characters of the show, so every chance to work with them is always a bless.

I did all the scenes of Karim talking with Amaya in this episode. It is hard to explain how I feel about Karim, he is such an idiot, but I am also kinda fond of him because I spent so many hours working on him thinking about his mannerism and motivations. I am fond of him, but I also hate him, hahahaha.

There is not a lot to say about this sequences, they are pretty straight forward. While I can understand why Karim hates humans so much, that doesn't mean he is right about it, and this hate is starting to feel like pettiness, and well fits him, he is a really petty man.

Let! Green! Say! Ass! hahahaha. Its always funny to board this kind of little jokes. I love Green and Amaya dynamics, they are such good friends, and I love how Green is always making sure that Amaya's bluntness is not coming out as "rude". But sometimes I feel he should just translate directly what Amaya is saying, because I don't think Karim deserves special considerations, haha.

That little speech Karim does about how he and Amaya are not the same was interesting to board for me. I wanted him to feel aggressive and menacing, even if his hands were tied. Like he was trying to intimidate Amaya, but she will not bend, she can see thru his BS. I wanted him to trespass into Amaya's personal space, portrait him as the bully he is. He says that his faith comes from knowledge, while the truth is that he leads using fear. Such a pathetic little man.

Another instance where is wish the rigs where able to translate between the expressions from the boards. I wanted him to spit his words trough his teeth when he says "humans are vermin, a plague", like his mouth is full of poison and hate.

But the Amaya, who is mostly motivated by making sure that Janai doesn't regrets the decision of killing her brother, does the right thing and reminds him of the fact that Miyana is pregnant, that there is a future worth to live for. Karim shows some doubts, so Amaya leaves and Miyana enters the stage.

I feel kinda bad for Miyana. I mean she deserves the punishment she got, at the end of the day she betrayed her people. But I feel bad for her, because I think that she honestly loves Karim. Imagine loving such a foolish man. And Karim can not learn a lesson, he keeps being an idiot. He is offered a second chance to be with his family, but the only thing he can see in Miyana is that she is carrying "his heir", and Miyana is right of being offended by that. But she wants to believe that he will made the right choice. And maybe for a minute Karim ponders it. I wanted him to loot vulnerable and maybe open in the final shot, so I made him kneel close to Miyana, laying his head on her belly, close to his child. We know how this will end for him, but for a moment there is maybe hope that he will change... no?

My next scene in this episode is one I am really fond of. Is the one when Terry says that the only person who can stop Claudia is her mom, and Soren is really against that idea.

First, is always fun to have a moment with Terry. I have really small ones during my work in the show, so this one was a blast. Second, I got to have another emotional Soren moment, and that is always nice, because Sores in my boy.

The back and forth of this conversation is pretty straight forward too. What was important for me was what will be the moment that will make Soren change his mind, and support the idea. So I decided to use Corvus for this.

Soren is struggling with the idea of bringing her mother back, even if that means they will have a real shot making Claudia stop. Corvus see his pain, and touch his shoulder. We talked before on how touching is a love language between this two, they don't need tons of words. Corvus is saying "I know that it's hard, but I am here with you". On my boards I had him giving Soren a little nod, they removed that for the final shot, and I think is ok. The nod is not necessary, Soren understand what Corvus means. With his support Soren can do it.

So he gathers strength and gives the drawing to Ezran. I like that in the animation stage they kept Corvus hand all the time on his shoulder. For Soren the idea of facing his mom is one full of pain and conflicted feelings, but he doesn't need to face it alone, he has Corvus at his side (as a partner, friend, soulmate, brother, whatever you see them being).

I love them so much...

The second part of this post is about the last sequence I did for this episode, it is a small one, but one that you could say... brings a "surprise"!

I will posted right away, so stay tuned!

[seokmn]

FAILURE

pairing: dokyeom x gn!reader

wc: 0.6k words

lua’s note: maybe this fic is a bit specific because its kinda a vent. i wanted to get this out of my chest somehow and decided to post it because maybe there’s someone who’s going through the same thing as me and need to read these words. essa vai pros que so fizeram o enem e vestibulares de faculdades publicas e nao passaram pra segunda fase deles e agora precisam esperar a nota do enem pra meter no sisu ou prouni 😛

another instagram story you viewed, another text with those three cursed words you read and another ‘congratulations, lets celebrate it!’ you had to write as a reply for that text. you sighed, placed your phone on your lap and hid your face with your hands.

the only thing that comes to your mind right now is the word failure. you failed and now you have to watch other people celebrate their accomplishments.

seokmin heard your sigh and turned around to look at you, taking sight of your disappointed figure. he stopped cooking, dropping the knife and washing his hands before sitting down next to you on the couch. his hand rested on your thigh, a way to try to comfort you without words being said. he already had an idea about why were you like that. “another one?”

you hummed and stopped hiding your face. you looked at him with a small smile and nodded. “another one,” you looked down and took his hand before looking back at him, trying to sound and look okay. “another friend of mine was accepted at the university she wanted.”

seokmin let out a quiet sigh and rubbed his thumb against the back of your hand. he didnt say anything, already knowing you’d keep venting about it to him. “im happy for her, i really am. but i cant help but ask myself: is this it? am i going to stay behind while all my friends will go to college and live their lives? am i too dumb to go to college?” your lips began to tremble and your voice was cracking, “and i hate myself for feeling this way, i hate to compare my life to theirs and not being able to be happy for them without feeling miserable about my situation. they studied a lot for this and they deserve it, but i studied as well. is it something wrong with me?”

seokmin frowned and placed your head against his chest. “theres nothing wrong with you,” he began to caress your head, trying to soothe you. “you said yourself that this year took a toll on you because of studies, trying to be sure about your future and trying to find an university that youd like the thought of studying there. do your things in your own pace. you not being accepted in any university until now doesnt mean youre a failure, you cant be accepted in any university yet because you gotta wait your results of the national exam come out.”

he cupped your cheeks and pulled you away from his chest so you could look at each others eyes. “listen to me, you are not a failure, okay? you just graduated from high school, youre so young and you have so much things to do. take your own time, that doesnt mean youre staying behind. that means you’re building your own path.”

you nodded as he brushed your tears away with his thumb. listening to his words was like being hugged by your mother after spending a whole day away from her when you were a little kid, was like being kissed by the wind while watching the sunset at the beach with a loved one.

seokmin always knew how to comfort you, how to make you realize youre not being fair with yourself and that you should be way kinder with yourself because you are loved and are capable of doing anything.

“dont forget about that,” he kissed your forehead and stood up, looking at you with love in his eyes and that comfy smile that no one else but him could smile like that. “now help me to cook. we’re going to eat a delicious meal and then spend the rest of the day watching your favorite sitcom”

[raayllum]

An interesting thread in S7 that I noticed:

You are destroyed by the things you create.

The first time we see this kind of thread (at least I think, I might've missed something) is with Kpp'Ar and Viren in season 6. Kpp'Ar takes Viren on as his "most eager student" and teaches him much in the ways of dark magic, even eventually handing over the position of High Mage. And even once acquiring said position, Viren betrays him in order to take the Staff of Ziard, citing:

Then you have Viren being destroyed and creating the exact circumstances he didn't want. In corrupting Lux Aurea, he expelled the Sunfire elves, leading to Karim's increasing fanaticism, power struggle, and usage of Sol Regem. This led indirectly to Sol Regem bringing Viren's worst nightmare down upon Katolis.

We see this more directly with Aaravos as well, as he created Sir Sparklepuff and had Avizandum specifically summoned back from the dead in S7, both of which have a hand in his demise:

This also ties into Aaravos' desire to destroy the Cosmic Order, as they created the circumstances that led to his anger in killing Leola, and therefore his violence and great machinations:

This "you are destroyed/defeated by what you create" is also one of the things that won me over when theorizing about S7, as I thought that if Callum used dark magic to defeat Aaravos fully (rip Rayla's positive character development theorized there too), while it might have felt a bit thematically muddied, would've had a great layer of irony: Aaravos, being imprisoned/defeated by the very thing he created. Close, but no cigar!

Then, for the core protagonists, to a certain degree we have this theme with Viren and Claudia. Viren realizes his horror at what Claudia has become, as well as the path that he's pushed and led her down by example. This doesn't literally destroy him, but it does emotionally devastate him, and does end up destroying their relationship in a lot of ways.

Even Claudia gets a bit of this, as she stabs her mother in the back—a daughter killing her own mother—just as Soren stabbed Viren in 3x09. Children killing their own parents, even as illusions, fits the theme, don't you think?

Ezran also gets interwoven into this idea in a few interesting ways in season 7. In creating the circumstances that led to Ezran being king, and thereby creating the child king and his rage, Runaan could've become a victim of it, and indeed nearly was (7x01, 7x02).

The second way this could come to a head for Ezran is Project Ruby Fire, though we'll have to wait for future seasons. While the project is his and Aanya's brainchild to keep Katolis (Evrkynd now?) safe and safe from the threat of dragons in the future, it's unlikely that these weapons of destruction will stay unused, and could possibly lead to devastation and loss in their kingdoms and/or of their friends (Zym).

Last but not least, we have Callum and Rayla. While not a literal destruction (but close to), they were prepared to sacrifice everything for one another. Callum's death would've made Rayla an assassin, hardening her heart further than it already is; on the other side of things, Callum became a mage and a dark mage because of her (2x07, 5x08): "If you love her, you'll be the you who can save her," even if that means demanding she'd become the her who can kill him, and save him / the world from a fate worse than death.

At the same time, Callum only begins doing the dark magic spell because he trusts Rayla to be his safety net. I can see solid arguments for whether she would've actually gone through with it on either side, but it led to Callum re-corrupting himself and opening himself up to Aaravos' possession in the future either way.

Like with Ezran and Project Ruby Fire, I expect this plot thread to be more of a beat in Arc 3 / future seasons, but am still deeply interested to see how it may all come to pass - and how there could be more consequences (the Nova Blade?) even from trying to do good.

[absolutebl]

20 BLs Announced for 2025 That I'm Really Excited About

Boys in Love

Thai trailer

Our only true high school BL from GMMTV and it's fresh faces for the youths and old favs for the teachers. It's milk teeth Make it Right and that is perfectly fine with me! I like lotte milk. Also DIMPLES! Yay! I suspect they're using this one to test some new pairs for future seasons. Like a Project 101 Thai BL. (Honestly I just invented an amazing reality TV for you GMMTV, you're welcome.

Fight for You

Taiwan

Da Hei reluctantly takes on dangerous odd jobs to earn medical funds, unaware that his roommate Xiao Bai is secretly an operative sent by the intelligence agency to take them down.

Dare You to Death

Thai trailer

JoongDunk as police investigators in a mystery suspense thriller. Yes, I'm in. This is it. This it the one I wanted to instantly watch. Even though their's 20 BLs airing right now.

Interminable

Thai YouTube

BillyBabe are back in a reincarnation historical.

Love of Silom

Thai WeTV

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

Mandate

Thai

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

Me and Thee

Thai trailer

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

Me and Who

Thai WeTV trailer

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

Memoir of Rati

Thai trailer

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

My Magic Prophecy

Thai trailer

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

My Romance Scammer

Thai trailer

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

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

Secret Relationship

Korea

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

Secret Relationship

Taiwan

Rivals to lovers with unhinged behavior that in the source material ranges from rock-paper-scissors contests to competitive handjobs (yeah, you read that right). If anyone can do this, it's Taiwan.

The Hell Guard

Thai

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

The Next Prince

Thai trailer

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

The Wicked Game

Thai

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

The Young Gangster

Taiwan WeTV

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

Top Form

Thai WeTV

Adaptation of a Japanese manga. Boom (Chains of Heart) opposite Smart (Don't Say No). Actor recognized as the "The Sexiest Man of the Year" has his first-place position usurped by young newcomer. But while he sees them as rivals, turns out the new kid has other ideas.

Truemoon

Thai YouTube trailer

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

Your Dear Daddy

Thai trailer

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

(source)

Historically I am pretty poor at picking the ones I end of loving, but it's fun to try.

[leighsartworks216]

Calling Out

Zayne x gn!Reader

I do really love this one. I love when Zayne is staunchly trying to take care of us even when we're a bit stubborn about it

Warnings: fluff, a little silly, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, stress

Word Count: 714

Main Masterlist

First Love and Deepspace Masterlist

Second Love and Deepspace Masterlist

AO3

Tag List Form

"How long have you been awake?"

"You don't want the answer to that question."

"I assume I wouldn't be jumping for joy if I heard it."

You sigh and rub at your tired eyes. All day, you've been hunched over your desk, clawing your hair out in frustration with your school work. On top of that, someone at work just quit, meaning you're one of the lucky few that gets to pick up the slack and take on more shifts until the company can bother to hire someone halfway decent. You're just grateful you have enough time in between the two to meet with Zayne for lunch.

"I was up all night," you admit. "One of my teachers thought it would be a great idea to give us an assignment that should take a week and have it due that same day."

"You didn't go to bed immediately after?"

"No."

"Is there a reason?"

"Couldn't sleep."

The waiter brings over a cup of coffee and a cup of green tea. You mutter a thanks and grab some sugar packets from the caddy on the table. You rip a few of them open at once with your teeth, lazily stir it in, and go to take a sip. Zayne's hand covers the top, and your mouth hits his fingers before he drags it down.

"You just put salt in your coffee." 

... No fucking way. You pick up the "sugar" packets to read the writing on the side. Sure enough, it's salt. You groan and slouch in your chair, head back and eyes closed. A touch melodramatic, perhaps, but Zayne thinks nothing of it as he places the cup of green tea in front of you.

"Drink this."

You look at it with a frown. "There's not enough caffeine in that."

He nods. "Precisely. You need to rest."

You sigh. "I can't, Zayne, I have work after this."

"Call out."

"I can't-"

"Doctor's orders. I'll give you a note."

"Zayne, I can't call in sick now! We're already understaffed and there's nobody who can cover for my shift on such short notice!"

He pushes the cup toward you more insistently. "Drink. You're going to work yourself into the ground if you keep on like this."

You snort humorlessly. "Hey, kettle."

He shoots you a disapproving look. "If you're not going to worry about your health, then allow me to. There is no situation that you can think up where your well-being comes after work."

You stare down into the green tea. You know he's right - of course he is. But there's a guilt that gnaws on your conscious every time you think of taking a break. For better or worse, that guilt has been the driving force behind your work. How long have you been detached from the "love of the game", from getting your degree to get the job you've always wanted? It no longer feels like a stepping stone to your future. It's a boulder in the way that you need to push up a mountain, inch by agonizing inch. It's only a matter of time before it comes rolling back on top of you; if you keep working through it, maybe you can avoid that happening.

And yet here you are. Your grasp on the boulder is slipping.

You take a small sip. It's herbal and warm. It doesn't have the kick the coffee does. You hope you can stay awake through lunch.

The stern look on his face relaxes slightly. He doesn't have to worry about you being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance because you passed out on the job. "How many sick days do you have saved up?"

You rub your eyes as you think. "I don't know. Enough for an emergency."

He flags down a passing waiter and hands them the ruined coffee. They take it away with a confused look. "Would you like me to make the call for you?" he asks, genuinely.

"Won't they be confused why my doctor is personally calling them from my phone? Would they even believe that?"

"Let me worry about that." He holds out his hand expectantly. You sigh. There’s no way you’re getting out of Zayne’s care now. Resigned, you pull it out of your pocket and pass it over.

---

Tag List:

@the-golden-jhope @deepzombieyouth @huen1ngk41 @armycaratlover @cheesemachine44 @nyx2021 @angel-jupiter @thelittlebutton @pikachuzhc @pomegranatepip @cordidy @an-ever-angry-bi @thejysemongko

[gh0stofstarman]

A Ramble about X-Men

I’m a pretty big Marvel comics fan. I’ve had a Marvel Unlimited Subscription since the pandemic and I’ve pretty much run the gamut of heroes. Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Fantastic Four, Peter Parker Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Miles Morales Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, Quasar, Thor, Eternals, Hawkeye, Howard the Duck, What if?, Deadpool, I could go on forever. And I can pick a run for each of these characters that I specifically clicked with a certain author and the themes they chose.

Except X-Men.

Which is ironic, because I love the X-Men shows, the characters, their major themes, their designs, their movies. Heck it’s not like I haven’t read most of Claremont’s run and beyond.

But I’ve never had a run that actually fully clicked with me, and I kinda wanted to ramble about why. No idea if this will be a series or whatever.

Chris Claremont

Admittedly I’ve never really been one to seek out every single spinoff of a series so most of my experience with the “golden age” of X-Men is with the mainline Uncanny X-Men rather than stuff like the New Mutants. I know it’s sacrilege in some circles not to go in full chronological order with the spinoff series bouncing between but I’m just not that way.

Anyways while Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created the blueprint for what would define X-Men on a fundamental level, Chris Claremont would be the author who made the heroes popular. Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Banshee … Sunfire, Thunderbird … okay not all of them stuck. But Claremont would write iconic stories that are beloved and I love as well such as the OG Giant Size X-Men comic, Proteus, Days of Future Past, God Loves, Man Kills, and the Dark Phoenix Saga. Stuff that truly gets to the heart of the X-Men fighting against discrimination and hate, proving they deserve a chance to live as they want.

Then that should settle it! I like Chris Claremont, then! These are the most iconic storylines that means I love the most iconic incarnation of the X-Men.

Not really.

Chris Claremont founded a lot of good ideas that would be the springboard used by other authors in years to come. But it’s not as though his stint was as brief as Lee/Kirby or Roy Thomas.

16 years.

And most of what I mentioned is spread far across the first 8.

So what about the bits in-between?

Well, if I had to describe the majority of Claremont’s writing as X-Men outside of these storylines is that it’s kinda a roulette wheel.

This was back in the day where you had to have some bonkers concepts to hook the reader in. Vampires, sci-fi tech, aliens, gods, demons, etc. And most of the time Chris chose a random one to analyze the X-Men under and reevaluate how they can be used for the X-Men’s explicit purpose of fighting against discrimination and promoting equality and diversity.

Which often leads to those aforementioned storylines where they build on this very well. X-Men vs Televangelism does go out into creating weird devices to mind control people but it’s all in service to the team’s message. The bad future the sentinels create in Days of Future Past can easily be seen as a dystopian future where discrimination is normalized.

However sometimes Chris can’t help himself and adds more layers of insanity to the plot, to the point the message kinda gets lost in the mix.

Here’s an example.

X-Men go mysteriously missing, only for Beast to find them working at a circus freak show. Interesting. Leads back to the idea of them being demoralized and treated as freaks rather than real people.

Beast does some snooping around, finding that Magneto is the mastermind behind this. Perhaps he’s trying to humiliate the X-Men and get them to give up their hope for equality seeing how humanity makes fun of them while also getting revenge because he’s the bad guy.

They fight Magneto but are bested in combat. It’s then revealed that Magneto, after being turned into a baby in a previous comic did want revenge, so he took the X-Men to his Antarctic base to … mentally regress them into babies and torture them with a nanny bot.

Huh?

And I’d be lying if I said this sort of weird progression isn’t a repeating theme.

X-Men go to space to fight aliens; makes sense because all the other heroes were fighting aliens so they gotta prove they’re on the level. Alien fighting leads into them meeting Xenomorph-like aliens that slowly transform the X-Men into them; drama is created. X-Men escape but still are transforming, so Storm befriends a space whale and then becomes one to cure everyone; buh?!?!

Like I feel like some of these stories increase the insanity progressively but they go a little step too far. Sometimes it’s just out of nowhere like when demons kidnap the X-Men even though they were never hinted before to care about them, and somehow age up Magik to an adult. Or just Storm becomes a vampire suddenly even though last issue there was nothing even slightly referencing vampires.

It’s kind of a curse because X-Men is constantly trying to get bigger and bigger under Claremont but sometimes you’d prefer it just to take it slow and get back to the more straight forward connections to fighting oppression and discrimination.

Ironically it causes me to appreciate the more mundane moments that aren’t trying to be huge plot twists one on top of each other. Stuff like Kitty Pryde and Storm hanging out, going to Japan and getting to know Wolverine better, Nightcrawler trying to socialize more, and just Beast’s witty banter.

But even that can be a little fumbled at times because well,

Chris Claremont is a straight white guy.

And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. But you can tell he has hang-ups trying to write about race or women because he doesn’t really have those experiences. Therefore, sometimes when he tries to write soliloquies and romances (which is pretty common), sometimes it can fall flat because of his perspective.

There is a lot of romance and relationship drama in X-Men, which is understandable and needed for the narrative. But so much becomes either bland, unintentionally problematic, or just too brief to make any true impact.

I’d say the biggest exception is Jean/Cyclops because they’ve been established for years and it’s very clear they care about each other. However, Jean dies in Dark Phoenix (at least that was the intent of the time) so a lot of the time the series bounces between other couples.

He later meets and then marries Madelyne Pryor, who is noted to look nearly identical to Jean. However that just makes things awkward as Madelyne often plays the role of “Not-Jean.” It at least has an interesting through line of him working through his grief, but little time is actually given for Madelyne’s own agency to break out of “Not-Jean,” which makes it really awkward when it’s revealed she’s a clone of Jean and Jean was alive all this time. So … what was the point?

Charles Xavier has so many love interests but often times he comes off as a jerk. Moira MacTaggart, Liliandra … even at one point Jean herself but everyone buries this for good reason. He comes off as very manipulative both to his partner and the X-Men. Charles is very unsympathetic to Moira’s predicament in raising Proteus. Liliandra he’s willing to bend over backwards for even if it means that he’s breaking his own morals in the process. And we don’t talk about Jean. However this would mostly be used by other authors to analyze how good of a leader Charles is, and more of his flaws. Meanwhile, Chris Claremont normalizes his behavior and rarely calls him out on it.

Colossus and Kitty Pryde.

What can I say about them? Colossus is an adult, Kitty Pryde is still a kid. It’s gross, but Chris wants you to really know they love each other more than a brother-and-sister relationship would. And they even point out it’s creepy, yet they still do it anyways.

Wolverine is entirely a whole other can of worms that I could write about separately.

Ironically some of the relationships that aren’t confirmed because of the times but are implied like Mystique and Destiny or Storm and Stevie are actually a lot better and written with much more nuance. However again nothing is confirmed and could be left to interpretation such as with Storm and Stevie. After all they do try to pair up these characters in straight couples … problematically but still.

Ultimately I feel like Claremont does have a lot of good ideas but the execution of them is where the ball is dropped. I would never call his run bad but I’ve never really felt compelled to return to it. I can’t deny the impact it’s made by any measure. However, returning to the originals just makes you wonder, how did some of this lead to Claremont’s X-Men being held up as an absolute gold standard comic?

I don’t know this was a long rant and I dunno if I’ll do it again. If you liked this let me know

[lover-lyn]

(EPIC ithaca saga spoilers)

In 'Odysseus' I love how brute he is. He didn't beat around the Bush, you wanted to do this and this. So I'll do this to you. He had absolutely not a single drop of mercy or pity for them. He shoots them up and cuts them down and feels absolutely no remorse. contrary to before, even after 'monster' he still felt guilty for the six men, the voices still haunted him. He hadn't moved on. Yes he was ready to make sacrifices but he also still felt bad about it, he'd still do it again but he'd also drown himself a little more.

The exact moment he truly loses all sort of guilt and remorse is 'six hundred strike'. Before that he still sung along to the tune he used to harmonise with the crew to. He still gave them a place in his song. He was still dragged down by their blood staining his hands.

But now? That blood weights nothing. He accepts the violence and animosity with open arms. Even when his dear friend's words are brought up, he doesn't hesitate. Doesn't falter. He keeps his mind on his goal and those words mean nothing now. Simply a memory of the past to maybe come back at night, maybe a soft whisper in the back of his mind he has learned to ignore and not care for. He doesn't even feel anything. In his eyes, the suitors deserved to die. So he killed them. That's all there is to it. Nothing more, nothing less. No regret, no satisfaction, no joy, no guilt. It must be done so he does it. Like with poseidon, he achieved his goal and left. No more. Unlike before where he contemplated his actions, now he doesn't have to because he's lost his moral compass.

There are only certain people he cares about anymore, and he did what he had to protect them. Even athena (bear in mind, I'm not saying he doesn't entirely care about her, but maybe she's fallen from the friend title in his eyes. I'll try to elaborate in the future) he explains what changed to her in as little words as possible and moves on.

Anyways I love odysseus's character development

[atrustfulplace]

looking at 911 and shows that queer bait makes me feel deranged. because like i’ve seen all the classic queer bait shows, some of which i ship (destiel), some of which i don’t (johnlock) and some i can go either way on (merlin/arthur). To me what makes me look at a story and decide whether i ship the characters is the question: would this make a better story if they were together? Usually i can see the straight explanation as possible but often i think it makes for a less intresting story. like dean could have had completely platonic feelings for cas and he just thought of him as a bestie, but the story and deans character become WAY more intresting if he was queer of some kind and in love with cas. Stuff that doesn’t have the same meaning for a straight person, can be world defining if the character is queer (ex: john having him kill the lesbian nuns). it’s that simple to me, destiel makes the story better.

now let’s look at 911, specifically eddie diaz. like i mentioned i can always see the straight explanation, stories can make sense without a character being queer, often they are just worse ones. eddie is my exception, i legitimately cannot see his story as anything other than that of a closeted gay man. like let’s take buck out of this, like the shipper goggles are off here, his and bucks relationship is fruity as fuck but it doesn’t even have to be counted to argue for a gay eddie.

like you have this character and he married the first woman he sleeps with because she gets pregnant and they are both catholic so they are pressured into marriage. he joins the army to get away from her and the responsibility. he would literally rather be SHOT AT than be married to his wife. when he finally gets back home he and his wife fight constantly, he will not give up the simplistic of things to support the needs of a woman who has put her life on hold for years so he could runaway from his family. she leaves, giving no phone number or address and the man is now a single father. years pass and they meet again, not because he wanted her in his life but because he needed her. she tells him that she’s pregnant again and he proposes to her again. she dies and he spends years using her as an excuse to no date women. (all the while growing incredibly close and co-dependent with his best friend who helps raise his child with him). when he finally starts dating again it is because everyone in his life is telling him he should, the relationship gets serious and when someone implies they have a serious future together he has a panic attack so bad he falls over and goes to the hospital. he breaks up with her because he was only dating her because his son loved her. again he spends years before dating again, saying when asked that why he isn’t dating is because his late wife was the love of his life, the woman who he spent LESS THAN A YEAR LIVING IN THE SAME SPACE WITH, WHO IN THAT TIME HE WOULD CONSTANTLY FIGHT WITH, but she was who he was meant to be with. ok eddie sure. when asked why he hates dates he says it’s because he has to pretend. he dates another woman after his family and friends pressure him again. he asks her to move in with him way to soon then quickly comes up with an excuse not to have sex with her, she moves out, they still date. he meets the carbon copy of his dead wife who he proceeds to have an emotional affair with, not physical at all, all his relationships implode from the fall out.

like this story doesn’t make sense for someone who is not gay. the pressure from the church, the denial about the realities of his marriage as an excuse not to date, HAVING A PANIC ATTACK WHEN HE THINKS ABOUT MARRYING A WOMAN, making exuses not to have sex. on its own maybe i could believe he is straight but together it literally does not make sense if he was. the stuff they add to make him seem more straight (dead wife obsession) is what convinces me the most that he is gay!!!!!

the funniest part is that if they actually made him gay they could have one of the most well written and authentic portrayals of deeply held internalized homophobia, repression, coming out later in life, and ultimately choosing happiness and love despite all of those challenges. like he makes me insane, i don’t even like him that much!!! like he’s tied with every other character on the show for me. but he confuses me in a way that none of the other characters come near touching. like eddie diaz I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE!!!!

tld r: eddie diaz as a character does not make sense as anything other than as a closeted gay man.