#because yadda yadda yadda I'm Black and a woman and these things have been said to me and those I care about blah blah

[vegasvagus]

The one thing I do low key hate about the DA fandom that i simply can't escape due to being lazy as hell about blocking for the fandom (I don't care enough) but it's the way a majority of people will just....dub a character to be the "main" or the "best" romance and suddenly before even meeting the character I already know too much

[cctinsleybaxter]

Furiosa thots!!! Putting under a readmore since it only just came out and i don't want to dissuade people from going. I find it kinda funny I find it kinda sad (I lowkey hated it but the war rig scene made me go stupid aaaa)

Stuff I liked:

Pacing and sound design. Was really skeptical of the 2+ hour runtime but it went by quick and plotting made sense

Costuming! Any time a practical effect or something textured is onscreen (which is not always. bodes well for the 'stuff i hated' section) is awesome; I don't care if it looks stupid or doesn't make sense it's a pleasure to have in class.

Arm backstory

This car

I went in thinking 'sigh well they're never going to beat robert de niro exploding that helicopter in midnight run' and then the war rig scene happened; I was going crazy!!! I loved it from beginning to end. I actually gasped because I'd noticed the grey mass of cloth being used as a flag at the first encampment and thought 'that's my favorite thing they've shown so far' (i was going to say prop but idk that it was practical); WELCOME BACK GREY CLOTH

Chris Hemsworth was somehow my favorite performance, I felt like he nailed the combination of goofy/ridiculous and scary/threatening

Stuff I didn't like:

George Miller uses bible allegories and imagery like he's the fucking Ultraman guy (Eiji Tsuburaya.) Why make posts about how fascinated you are by 'the japanese' using catholic imagery when we got that egregious crucifixion setup. Australians are culpable.

We don't learn anything about furiosa as a person that can't already be gleaned from Fury Road. I do think this does a pretty admirable job of storytelling for a prequel, we learn about what happened to Furiosa and we (sort of) get the character development that led her to take the wives with her, but I wish it'd been a brand new character's story

I like Anya Taylor-Joy and disagree with people saying this was a miscast because she can't act and is only suited to play models (misogyny takes many forms...), but I do think she's best in roles with a lot of speaking and micro-expressions, so playing a woman who barely speaks or emotes and will later become charlize theron just wasn't it. I'm also legitimately worried about how skinny she is rn

Stuff I hated:

This movie looked like absolute garbage in comparison to the rest of the mad maxes; even the ones I think are irredeemably bad. The combination of whatever frame rate they were using and the CGI was just. Ugh.

Scene transitions (so many fades to black) and montage (specifically thinking about the sped-up footage of them assembling the rig, Furiosa's Lion King dream sequence, and 'the horrors of war') were a hot mess

Framing dementus's anarcho-fascism as worse than immortan joe's regular fascism is such a misstep it casts a shadow over the whole movie. Yeah the hedonist with the working class accent who hates art and is too stupid/selfish to run a territory yadda yadda. It's very Stephen King villain, which would be fine!, but Fury Road had such good politics it just felt tired

You're telling me that a woman who spent her childhood kidnapped and threatened with rape (interesting that said threat only comes from individual extra bad guys btw; both evil men-dominated societies accept slavery and rape but condemn pedophilia) falls for her male coworker and mentor figure. You're telling me this is a compelling relationship between two victims of the same system. You're telling me you filmed it like a YA dystopian romance. You're telling me her backstory is that she showed a guy her most treasured and vulnerable possession, a seed from the fruit she plucked before being taken from eden and losing her innocence, and he bade her keep it by putting his big-ass yaoi hand over hers, and that's what solidified their trust. You're telling me she doesn't once speak to a woman who isn't her mom. Can we die? Can we go to the wasteland?

[epickiya722]

I think far too many people analyse the content of MHA without considering the context.

That is not to say that there is no meaning beyond that, that it's immune to criticism or that it's simply not for anyone else - it is first and foremost a weekly shonen manga. Yes, I would say it has it unique edge in that it's a "battle shonen" that places a particular focus on sympathising with *all* characters - which are they the way they are? What does it mean to be a villain? Are people a product of their upbringing etc etc - but again, I think this is more than that.

This is a story for young adults+, a story about trying hard, accepting help, friendship, teamwork and becoming the best version of yourself within your means. I think that's important for kids and young adults to see these stories, to know they don't have to fight all of the time and know that they will have support even if they're disadvantaged in life. It's a story that shows changing perspectives and understanding. I think too many adults on the internet see media and automatically view it within their own limited worldview without remembering that they are stepping into something that was not necessarily created for them. This isn't a story that benefits from debating powerscaling (not that many do!) nor complaining about "talk no jutsu" - because it's not for them. You see the same reactions every time vocal westerners get involved in certain types of media. They just need to take a step back and think about why the media is presented in the way it is. Why their opinions differ. Just, they just need to be normal about it!!

Oh my gosh, yes!!!

Even as a Westerner, that's one of my peeves about what other Westerners do. They tend to forget that not everything is made for them and if they don't understand it, try to. Still can't? Don't be an ass about it.

Everything you just said about BNHA, it's how I feel. Now I know some asshat is gonna be like "You're giving Horikoshi too much credit, yadda yadda", happened before and that person is blocked.

But no. No one is saying Horikoshi has perfect writing. But who really does? I write and I say I have flaws. Yet, that doesn't mean that my writing isn't enjoyable to me and to other people.

That's what I feel towards BNHA, as with other stories. It's enjoyable, perfectionism be damned. I also don't know Horikoshi personally, so I don't know how his mind works. Sure, I get confused sometimes and I'll cringe. It happens.

But honestly? Whatever flaws I or someone feels about BNHA, it allows for exploration. It brings fics and art from fans. Criticism doesn't allow have to be a weapon.

Example! Not necessarily a "flaw" I guess, but I liked if Miruko got just as much spotlight and backstory as someone like Hawks. What did that do to me? It got me motivated to writing fics and making posts about her.

There's also the fact cultural differences play a part here, just as much as gender and age does.

I'm a black woman who has never been to Japan. So I know when watching BNHA, created by a Japanese man, I'm not gonna catch and understand some things.

That doesn't stop me from trying to understand so I can follow along. And it doesn't hurt to learn. I don't have to relate to it to understand.

[olderthannetfic]

This might be a somewhat controversial opinion/rant, but as a black queer woman (i really id myself as being more genderqueer, but since i'm afab there are just things about womanhood growing up that has just stuck with me as formative experiences.), I find it really difficult to build community with queer men, even in fandom. I've tried to have friendships with transmen, but so many just feel the need to ramp up misogyny to 1000 to validate themselves as men, and then with gay men, some will say the most out-of-pocket, misogynistic things but because they're not attracted to women, it's somehow okay, I guess. But lately, there's been this trend among queer men of saying and doing misogynistic things but justifying it by stating they're talking about white, cishet women. But the thing is, there's nothing in what they said that can be specifically applied to only white women. It's a target to all women (I refuse to play the oppression olympics of who has it worse). And now I see other queer women in fandom saying the same things to each other. I typically stay in anime/manga and danmei fanbases because that's where a lot of my interests are now, and I don't have to deal with USAian nonsense as much. But now that 7 Seas has unfortunately decided to translate more danmei into English that's changed. A queer male fan of a popular series has been unfollowed en masse by danmei fans for saying wildly misogynistic things about the author. Everyone all week has been scrambling to figure out where this came from. "He only ever said these things about cishet white women," but you guys... he was always talking about us the whole time. Now, I just don't know. Now I see why men aren't generally welcomed in or are common within romance-genre circles. It's just really frustrating to see the same thing over and over again. I'll add on that the only genuinely cool queer men in fandom I've met have come from yuri circles. The ones who try to talk about BL are, from my experiences, generally misogynistic, toxic, and feel as though everything should center around them because they're men and in BL the characters are men, as well. But when other women don't want to form community with them, they scream about 'homophobia' and 'fetishizing gay men.' No, you're just an annoying, awful person to be around, and the queer male yuri fans didn't want to deal with you either. Has anyone else, or you specifically, dealt with this? Is there a way to become friends with more queer men in BL spaces who aren't... like That? Or are there specific things/patterns to look for as far as who to avoid?

--

God, so much of this sounds so familiar.

I've known a sad number of trans dudes who overcompensate in dickhead ways. A lot of them do calm down a few years into presenting publicly as male, but it's infuriating to see that crap even if it's temporary.

I will say that two of my close circle of offline friends are trans men, including one who came out during the time we've all been friends. The defensive tomfoolery is in no way inevitable. Both of these dudes are nonwhite and have experience in various other geeky and queer spaces beyond BL (gaming, drag queens, etc.). Maybe that broader perspective helped, or maybe they're just nicer and more mature people than a lot of the little jerkfaces I run across online.

TBH, I often have better luck in offline meetups because to show up at all, people have to be a little more comfortable with getting along with others and behaving themselves. It's also sometimes easier to detect the people you want to back away from slowly when you can see how they treat people in person.

One of my neighbors is a cis gay guy. White, able bodied, middle class, yadda yadda. Exactly the demographic you'd expect to be the worst in certain spaces. He and his partner have lots of queer friends, and plenty of them aren't fellow cis gay guys, which is basically my litmus test for non-annoying cis gay guys offline. (Toxic cis gay dude culture is its own kettle of fish with a different set of issues than defensive trans boy culture, but I've encountered it plenty too.)

This neighbor is interested in geikomi and was delighted to find out I'm a fellow nerd and eager for all my nonfiction book recs about queer Japanese stuff. We don't necessarily overlap in our manga tastes, but there's still a lot we do share. When I ramble on about how AFAB queer people and/or bisexuals study history that's presented as cis gay men's history because that's all we have for most historical periods, he's like "Yeah, that makes total sense!" and not "Mine and not yours!"

I think the key here is that this is a dude who is secure in his identity, who's getting both his media and queer community needs met, and who's in his 40s, so he has some god damn perspective and doesn't need to pretend BL is aimed at him.

A lot of the little jerkfaces make me think "Did your preschool teacher not teach you how to share your toys?"

--

To be honest, there seem to be plenty of dudes hanging around my tumblr. A few cis. Many trans. But they're not going to bring it up incessantly in some defensive "you know I'm not a cootie-having girl, right?" way because who does that?

It comes up when there's a discussion about trans shit or BL as #ownvoices or whatever. (And, in general, any dude worth hanging out with will not think BL as an industry is, or should be, anything of the sort—even if he's expressing his own sense of queerness by writing some.)

On the flipside, I have seen some pretty extreme "no boys allowed" clubhouse nonsense in fandom. It's less common than it was, and past shitty dudes have often been the inspiration, but it can still be a bit much. The nicer class of fandom dude is often pretty hesitant in certain spaces because he's expecting to be met with hostility and is trying to figure out how to participate without tromping all over everyone. (TBH, the guys worrying about this are rarely the problem, but you know how it is.)

I've had dudes send me private messages being like "this thing you said seems kind of stereotypical and anti-man", but in the adult capable of conversation way, not in the tantruming 5-year-old way. And we had a conversation, and they stuck around.

I think having a very clear "It's not #ownvoices, fuck off" stance deters a lot of the more pestilential set. Being equally clear that everyone is welcome and that male yuri fans and female BL fans are pretty equivalent makes the guys worth knowing come out of the woodwork.

In 99% of spaces, I do not give a fuck if some man has his precious feelings hurt by a double standard or default suspicion of men... But fandom is a little unusual because of the demographics and relative power here being so different from in most spaces.

I've definitely seen some people who think women liking BL are fine because we care about characters' personalities, while male fans are all predators or all write f/f that is just fetishy porn or m/m that sounds like Nifty.org and not other fanfic or whatever.

And, yeah, I'll shut down the dumbasses crying in my inbox because I made a joke about Nifty and "coke can dicks" (the kind of guys who have clearly never read m/m that's aimed at dudes outside of fandom spaces), but at the same time, we should extend a little benefit of the doubt to our fellow fandom members of whatever gender. There are usually plenty of men facepalming right along with me at these inexperienced young fools who cannot bear to share.

I think you're just running into the problem that the loud people whose identities you know are often using those identities to browbeat other fans on social media.

--

There are fewer men in BL spaces than women or nonbinary people, so one will typically end up knowing fewer men.

Honestly, I think you find the reasonable people and get rid of the unreasonable ones in the same way regardless of gender: Gatekeeping bullshit is a red flag. Very Online understandings of oppression are a red flag. Enthusiastic and clueless blanket endorsement of own voices as a concept is a red flag. Lots of talking about "fetishization" or even "appropriation" in a very online way is a massive red flag. Monetizing fanfic or seeing other pro authors as competition instead of peers is another. (Professional jealousy and fear about earning potential are behind a lot of bad behavior.)

A lot of it is down to whether you're willing to make yourself a target by publicly telling annoying people to fuck off.

If others can tell what you stand for, they can figure out if they want to hang out with you. Most people keep their heads down a lot of the time, so it can be hard to even hear of them, let alone know if they're your sort of person.

--

tl;dr – Be nice to nice men. Tell shitty men to take a hike. Making friends with men is really as simple as that.

There are larger issues here with what kinds of queer spaces exist and whom they prioritize and with toxic understandings of what representation even means and what should be demanded of whose art. But as you say, a lot of women are also promoting toxic-ass understandings of these things.

The bottom line is that we must resist social media clout-driven understandings of justice. The loudest assholes in the room are rarely worth listening to.

[meanmisscharles]

I didn't want to 'derail' another post that has been making the rounds that asks the question "What's Wrong With Izzy?" so I'm going to let fly with my take on it here.

Izzy, in my Black opinion, suffers from what I and my family call "Cookout Syndrome".

Yes, you read that right. See, "Cookout Syndrome" is when you have a white person who in in deep relationship with a PoC and gotten used to being in spaces with PoC that eventually thinks they can do any ol' thing they want around us.

Let me explain.

Izzy is the 'right hand' of Blackbeard, a MoC. He's trading on Ed's reputation not only as a pirate, but as a MoC and the spaces that allow Ed in.

I see a lot about "Ohhh, girl, if Izzy was racist, how come he was able to do business with that tribe?"

Simple. He uses the pass that comes from Ed, an Indigenous man. His proximity to Ed has given him that ability and again, it's not just because of Ed being 'The Dread Pirate Blackbeard. That tribe didn't seem to have a fuck to give about that.

"Well, girl, he was at Spanish Jackie's and everything! They're probably friends and why would she deal with Izzy, blah blah..."

Spanish Jackie puts respect on Ed's name. Or Blackbeard. They're the same guy, so whatever! Once again, Izzy is using his Cookout Pass to go into the space of a Black woman and it's more than likely based on his relationship to Ed.

He also suffers from Cookout Syndrome with Spanish Jackie, because he ignores her discomfort with the stunt he's trying to pull with the English and brings them to her business. Mans is way too comfortable doing it, too.

We see it again when he's pulling on Fang's beard. I mean, he's got a lot of nerve putting his hands on him in the first place, but what keeps his ass from getting beat over it - Ed. That's Ed's first mate and Ed has given him that power. Izzy decides it means treating his crewmates of color like shit, because he's got Cookout Syndrome and is clutching that pass for all he's worth.

We're shown Frenchie and Oluwande actively rooting for Stede to kill him during the duel - they know what kind of guy they're dealing with. Do they want Stead dead, nah. But they know a Cookout Pass Offender when they see one.

Now, when it comes to how he treats the crew of the Revenge, I want to preface this part by saying that I know what's been said about who he had doing the hard labor being because someone in the cast had a bad back and yadda yadda...

I don't believe that. These showrunners and writers were too meticulous elsewhere for that to 'accidently' be what happened. I think that they did the scene as they wrote it, in hindsight decided it wasn't a good look for what was obviously a fan fave and came up with an excuse. THAT'S MY OPINION. You don't have to share it.

He's gotten to the point that he thinks he can operate in Cookout Territory without Ed. He truly believes that he's managing Ed. He gives Ed a whole speech about it and even expects him to buy his reasons for going to the English. That's why he gets blown off by Ed initially and later knocked on on his ass.

Okay, moving on, he's waving that cookout pass around in everybody's face on the Revenge in Ed's absence and something happens - pay attention here - it doesn't work. Izzy's card was DECLINED in the realest way possible and he did not have another in his wallet.

See, when the issuer of the Cookout Pass is gone, so is the pass. Ed, as far as the crew is concerned, is off to do the King's bidding. So there's no power behind the threats. Not of Blackbeard the pirate, or Ed the Brown Guy. They do what you should do with someone suffering from Cookout Syndrome and get ready to toss his ass overboard.

The final, glaring instant of it is with the whole "Ed better watch his step," business. This is a motherfucker who forgot who got him the pass in the first place. This is a white man that thinks he gets away with dealing with PoC the way he does because of something to do with him. He's saying the n-word as he sings along in the car now, because why the fuck not? Who's gon' check him, boo?

And Ed has to do what many of us who have had someone go off the fucking deep end with their Cookout Pass have had to do. He gives him a reality check. He reminds him of where the real power lies and he does it in a manner that is as obvious as the transgressions.

Ed is showing him You got too comfortable. You got cocky with it. You forgot who the fuck you were talking to. This isn't about whether Ed wanted to do it. That's irrelevant. You have to reign in Cookout Pass Abusers, because they will end up fucking up how you navigate the spaces you need to be able to go into.

AND THAT is why you can't invite everybody to the cookout, y'all.

Anyway, that's part of what I see wrong with Izzy and I think it's interesting! I think that's it's realistic - because as I've said before, some of us have dealt with That Guy who is Like That, for Those Reasons.

This isn't me trying to convince anyone, of course. It's just me adding to what I think is a diversity of takes from a diverse fandom about a diverse show.

[idontknowwhatsarcasmis]

Hi! I'm a big fan of your writing. Can you or are you planning to write a fic about Maria or Natasha being jealous? I need some angst in my life.

Helloooooooooooo! 

Nawwww! That’s so nice, anon!! Thank you so much! I’m soooo sorry this took a wee bit! WAs lacking inspiration, buuuut here it is now! 

You asked to see either Natasha or Maria jealous and I thought…. Why not both!? =D

It’s quite short, but I wrote it really fast cause I’m working on other stuff (sorry), but I dooooo hope you like it! It was really fun to write haha

Also, it takes place during Iron Man 2, soooo it is a Lost Moment as well but a prequel! =D

Anyways, enjoy!

P.S.: this fic starts with Natasha’s POV and alternate with Maria’s every “Xxxx”, kay? Sorry if it’s confusing!Ao3

Ff.netXxxx

“Sooo, Hill asked you to her room, eh?” Clint’s voice was loud and far too happy for her taste.

“It’s for a mission, Barton.” She stated, not bothering to look back.

“Actually, she never said that. She said, and I quote, ‘Romanoff, my room in 10, and  keep the idiot that tends to tag along away.’” He said.

Natasha smirked.

“We always knew she was ridiculously smart.”

She didn’t need to look back to know he was rolling his eyes.

“And ridiculously attractive?”

It was Natasha’s turn to be exasperated.

“I never denied that, Clint.”

“True, but you keep saying that’s all there is…”

She finally stopped to look at him, right outside Hill’s door.

“Yes, so? It is.”

He just looked at her.

“It is, Barton. I’m the Black Wi-“

“Widow, I do not do love, infatuation or crushes. I have no feeling. I am a dark knight, yadda yadda.” He cut her off, shaking his head. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Yes.”

“Uh-huh, and yet we’re best friends, Miss I-feel-nothing! And you keep flirting with her!”

“Friendships are different, and jury’s still out on that, fyi. I flirt cause it’s fun. I wanna see how far she can take it.”

He gasped in mock outrage.

“I am hurt! Also, I’m betting marriage and two kids.”

Silence.

“What?!” She whisper-shouted.

“How far she can take it. Marriage and two kids.”

“To the Black Widow? You’re out of your mind.” She turned around and opened the door before he could say anything else. It was just harmless flirtation. Hill didn’t even acknowledge her, most of the time.

As soon as she walked inside the room, however, she stopped. A very unpleasant feeling crept along her spine, and a heaviness settled in her stomach. Right in front of her was Coulson and Hill. Less than an inch between their faces, staring deep into each other’s eyes. Coulson’s hand was on Hill’s shoulder and Maria’s on his sternum. She clenched her teeth and put on the best fake smile she had ever plastered on her face.

“Oops, so sorry! Are we interrupting something?”

It was with very little pleasure she saw the two officers spring apart, a blush rushing to Coulson’s cheeks. As her gaze locked on Maria’s, she felt her perfect spy smile diminish a notch… there was also some redness on the older agent’s cheek.

Natasha clenched her fists.

Just harmless flirtation…

Just fun.

Then why the fuck was her stomach clenching more than her fists?

Fuck Clint.

Xxxx

“I hate that bastard.”

Coulson rolled his eyes and closed the laptop that was in front of them.

“I mean, who the hell does he think he is? Just blatantly flirting with every woman that passes by him. What is wrong with him?” She started muttering, drumming her fingertips on the table. ”And what is Romanoff thinking? Actually answering to it like that?!”

Coulson laughed at that.

“Come now, Maria, she’s hardly answering in an encouraging manner. She’s being more sarcastic than anything.”

“Well, Stark keeps on going, so she’s not stopped him.” She continued, even though she knew there was absolutely no point in doing so. There was just… this unpleasantness in her stomach. She did not like it.

“It’s in her best interest to keep him thinking she might be interested, but either way, Stark is harmless in that regard, Maria.”

“There is no point of view or regard that could or would EVER make Tony Stark harmless, Phil.” She kept glaring at the laptop in front of her.

He stopped gathering the stuff around the table at that.

“Fair, but worry not. There is no way Natasha would ever look at him that way for real.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“What does that have to do with anything?” She asked, knowing it was futile, but trying for a confused tone, even as her fist clenched under the table.

He just stared at her.

She stared back.

Silence.

Sigh.

“She’s far too busy making goo-goo eyes at you to really notice anyone else.” He finally caved, rolling his eyes.

Maria scoffed even as her heartbeat accelerated at that.

“You’re out of your mind.”

“Maria, the other, day when we told her about her new assignment to Stark and she saw us close to each other, she almost killed me with her eyes. I was honestly quite scared for my life.” He mumbled that last part as an afterthought, but Maria chose to go with that.

“Serves you right for teasing me so much about her!”

“I was just showing how she stood with you the other day! You were that close, and don’t dare say it was nothing, otherwise she would not have been that jealous.” He quickly answered, throwing his hands in the air. Maria rolled her eyes.

“I’ll just ignore that, and say that we can’t have a handler being scared of his agent, now can we? Maybe we should give her to someone else?”

He laughed at that.

“Sure, to you maybe? It’d be fun to see the Black Widow’s impeccable record plummet ‘cause she couldn’t pay attention to any debrief by being too busy making heart eyes at her handler.”

Maria huffed at that, getting up and starting to fix some papers herself.

“Enough with the eyes this and that already. I’ll start to think you’re the one with an infatuation.”

“Huh.”

She stopped at his tone. The paper in her hands crumbling a tad. She looked at him with narrowed eyes. He looked pensive.

What.

“What?”

“She is quite attractive.” He shrugged.

“What the fuck Coulson?”

He held her gaze.

1…2…3…

He exploded in laughter.

Fuck.

“Oh my god, you should have seen your face!” He breathed out, still laughing.

She clenched the bridge of her nose, pissed at herself.

She could not believe she’d fell for that. What the hell was wrong with her.

“Oh my god, you’ve got it bad!” He said as he kept on laughing. She counted to ten. “I honestly thought it was just a harmless crush, but for you to glare at me like that! Oh my!”

… Maybe one hundred… Fury would kill her if she killed Coulson.

“Maybe I can make her even more jealous next time she’s in for a debrief! Oh, this should be fun.” He mumbled, wiping the tears in his eyes.

Or maybe she could do it and just ran away. Or make it look like an accident. She was quite the agent, after all, Fury would never find out.

“Oh, stop planning my demise! You know you can’t live without me!” He said, coming around to her side and patting her back. “Also, making Romanoff jealous might work in your favour!”

Silence.

She would not ask.

Silence.

Sigh.

“Why is that?”

“Maybe she’ll finally make a move, you’ll have dinner, bang, fall in love, get married and adopt a couple kids!” He said joyously as he walked towards the door.

She stared after him for a few stunned seconds.

“Are you high?”

“Nah, can’t. I’m on the clock.”

“Then maybe I should just ask Fury to reevaluate your mental stability.” She deadpanned, because okay… maybe she did harbor a bit of a… ahm… liking… for Romanoff’s flirting. It was… nice… and funny. The Russian woman was quite creative. And maybe she often awaited those moments. Also, she maybe did realize her glaring at Phil last meeting. But from that to ‘marriage and a couple kids’? What the hell.

“I’m pretty sure he’d agree with me!” He called over his shoulder, not even bothering to turn back.

“Well, I’ve always known he had one or two loose bolts.”

Coulson laughed at that and looked at her once more right before closing the door.

“Fair, but anyways, remember one thing, Maria.”

Against her better judgment, she nodded at him.

“Denial is not just a river in Egypt.” A wink and a closed door were done faster than the paper weight she tossed in his direction. Damn him.

She looked back at the table in front of her, which had a picture of Stark starting at Natasha’s ass as she walked away.

Maria calmly picked up the paper… then promptly crumbled it into a very tiny ball.

Maybe Phil had a point.

Fuck.

Xxxx

“Ooh, another meeting, huh?”

Natasha had to very count to ten very quickly as she made her way through the halls, Clint hot on her tail. She had no idea how they were friends.

“I called for it.”

“Hm, couldn’t keep away, huh? The assignment kept you too far apart for too long, I know. I get you, I get you.”

Worst part? He did. She hated it.

… Not.

Best friend indeed.

“Not the point of the meeting.”

“Maybe, but a bonus, for sure!” He said cheerfully as they rounded the last corner. Soon she’d be free.

He was making good points, though. Maybe he did deserve something.

She stopped and turned around, making him almost lose his balance trying to stop before hitting her.

“Fine, I’ll give you that. A very good bonus.”

“Aha!”

“But not the best part.”

“Hah, and what would that be?”

“You’re not in it.”

She smirked, opened and closed the door on his face. She was almost fast enough not to hear the small ‘liar’ that came from Clint’s voice. Even so, she was still satisfied with her last word.

As soon as she looked inside, however, her smirked died.

“What’s he doing here?” She said before she could control herself.

The three other people in the room looked at her with wide eyes at that. Fuck.

Silence.

“He is your handler, Romanoff.” Fury finally said, looking between her and Coulson.

Right.

“Right.”

Coulson had a little smirk on his lips. Why did Coulson have a smirk on his face?

Silence.

Long silence.

“Is there a problem, Romanoff?” Natasha’s heart skipped a beat.

The question came from Maria.

Swallowing both her pride and absolutely nothing, she turned to look into blue, blue eyes.

Was that… a smile on her face?

God.

She was beautiful.

“Romanoff?” She raised an eyebrow.

Right. Question. She looked back at Coulson.

“No, of course. I was just surprised.”

“Good, ‘cause after your report, we thought of a few changes.”

“Oh?”

“I’m meeting Stark. And you’re meeting me there.”

“Already?”

“It’s time. He’s become too dangerous.”

“Worried about me, Commander?” She smirked at Hill. To her surprise, the other agent mimed her.

“I worry about all my agents, Romanoff –“

“Oh?”

“And their missions.” Hill completed over her, but her smirk grew.

“Stark is the mission. You worried about him?”

Maria’s eyes narrowed at her at that, and a brief glance around showed Coulson and Fury fighting to keep laughter in. Interesting.

“Well, hard not to. Being played with by a pretty girl is quite the hardship…”

Natasha did not hear anything else said, her mind froze on one single thing.

“You think I’m pretty?”

As Maria’s smirk grew, Natasha was very proud of not blushing, even with Coulson and Fury’s barely contained laughter as she focused on Maria’s blue eyes.

“Well, I had meant Pepper, but…” She trailed off, and this time Natasha could not stop the blush.

She had been played, yes, but… That was not a no.

“The complete report, Romanoff.” Nick had apparently decided to take pity on her and she turned to the matter at hand. But before she could focus on the one-eyed director, she saw Maria.

Not Commander Hill, Deputy Director. She saw Maria Hill’s shoulders shake with silent laughter and an easy and content smile on her lips.

Natasha’s heart did funny flips and flops at that, translating into just the slightest pause on her speech to Fury, barely noticeable to anyone but herself.

Damn… Maybe Clint was right.

It was more… And she was jealous. But Maria had laughed with her, looked at her. Called her pretty (indirectly, but still…).

Fuck.

She was in deep.

Xxxx

“Where’s ‘Phil’?”

“Where’s Stark?

Silence.

Clearing throat.

“Phil is at a date I set him up on, he’s my best friend, and he needs to get over his infatuation with a mutual friend.”

“He’s hopefully on a date with Pepper if either of them took my many hints that although he’s too good for her, she loves him.”

They said at the same time, eyes snapping back to meet each other at that.

…silence.

Oh. Both Phil and Fury had been right about Stark, then. Maybe… maybe they were right about Natasha as well.

They started at each other for a long time.

Maria cleared her throat.

“Well… that, ahm… that was a very good mission, Romanoff. Congratulations.” She passed over the completed dossier.

Natasha smiled at the papers for a moment, then moved it on to her.

“Another compliment? Why, Commander, a girl could get used to that.”

Heart beating so fast it felt like it would come out of her chest at any time, Maria answered, deciding not to deny that she had indeed called Natasha pretty. She was. Beautiful in fact.

“Well… I’d love to keep them coming, Agent Romanoff.” She said, deliberately slow, as she got up and around her desk, coming face to face with the other woman.

“Oh?”

“Aye, you just have to keep excelling at the missions.”

Natasha smirked.

“Are you asking me to keep being a good girl?”

Maria was very proud of not choking at that.

“A good agent.”

Natasha hummed.

“Is that an order?

“It is, agent.”

“Aye aye, Commander.”

[toomuchbroadwayquotes]

This might be ignored,its a long read, but if you want to have your forces restored on feminism my dead feminists i really wanted to share something that is making me tear up every 5 seconds.

As some of you might now, in my country (Brasil) we currently have a situation where our "president" is a misogynist (said he had a bunch of boys, they he went weak and have a daughter that's a "small" example for yall), homophobic ( said he would beat the gay out of his son if he ever "got it"), racist ( talking about killing native Indians and saying slaverism was a choice yadayada) anyways, just a piece of crap, we call him Bozo, like the clown. Well ever since his election we have been feeling so down (I'm sure my American friends can share the feeling). We are the country that kills more transexual people on the world. And it's not even illegal here, that would put into perspective. So, all this are real, serious problems, but bear with me as I get I little... naive maybe?. Well we had 20 seasons of BigBrother over here (Or BBB, Adding the Brasil at the end) and the show is on "the liberals tv channel, all the conservatives try to boycott it yadda yadda ") . But this season is just a gem. I feel like a revolution is happening and (I'm crying rn) I can't even put into words. Its gonna sound ridiculous, but you have to understand that 1) TV is a huge part of our culture, and is 100% connected with politics for us. 2)This show has been silencing woman, making men do anything they want without consequences and put woman as simple objects for their enjoyment. And somehow every year we wouldcomplain about how that was the reflection of our country. Something like this year edition NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.

Our LGBT movies, Theather and books are being censoreds right now. Our country is on the verge of becoming a conservative doom.

The secretary of health system said :abstinence of sex is the best way to avoid DSTs and pregnancies. THATS HOW DEEP IN SHIT WE ARE. And we feel voiceless. Is like they are the majority you know?

Is like, you know when Katniss made every distric rebel by leading an example on the hunger games? Is THAT KIND OF SHIT. So, firsts things first:

I will introduce you the leaders of our current feminist movement

First, Thelma, she is not just ya regular powerful black queen. She is a doctor, with a bunch of degrees on stuff I can't even pronounce,she is specialized on anesthesia and she is a resident like those bad ass ones in grey's anatomy. She she is A BOSS. She is strong, and even though she is not 100% familiar with the feminism in "theory" she lives it in practice with out even knowing it ( now she knows, cause the other two are teaching her!) I want to make clear that on this reality show, the majority of the public has always been racist, and black people normally are eliminated first, yes it sucks and is one of the reasons I stopped watching a long time ago, as most of us millenials, but thank God we came back. She isn't going ANYWHERE CUZ WE ARE NOT LETTING THAT HAPPEN.

The second one is Marcela, every since the first we saw her she said loud and clear:I AM A FEMINIST, she is also a Doctor. She calls her self doctor unicorn, she is an OB/GYN and choose her career because she wanted to fully support her transexual brother /yess/, she is also expert on female sexuality and give classes about it, think Carina Deluca. She also takes care of sexual abuse victims. Oh yeah, she is bisexual as well. And everyone is shipping her with the next one btw.

Now our last warrior: Gizelly, She is a Lawyer, and she advocates for woman, she has suffered all the types of abuse from her ex husband and after all the trauma, she decided no one would do that to her again. Feminist, we call her the hurricane, she just shoots fire and defends any woman that is being belittled.

What happened was, some guys decided they would "seduce"any woman who was in a relationship outside the reality show, so they would look bad, and be eliminated easily. Wellx those 3 heard that, and they just couldn't get quiet. They went and tell all the girls about it. Some of them didn't believe them, the guys said they were CRAZY, and were LYING (what a shock)

The confrontation scene:

So one of them said: If I am lying, I will be eliminated this round. If I'm back, then you are the lier. So, regular reality show stuff right?

Here are some things you should know: Marcela, the leader ( as she was the one with the initiatives) was anonymous when she first got on the show, and 13 days later, she had 2 MILLION FOLLOWERS. Every feminist, every LGBT+ and ally on this country just woke up ya know?. We were all mad as hell that they were being treated as liars, but, and that's a HUGE but, the guy mentioned earlier was against one that was even worse. He was touching inappropriately the girls while they were completely DRUNK at the parties ( they wouldn't remember later), he was the one who actually made said plan mentioned before, but they didn't knew at the house because he was a completely different person when he was alone with the guys. A complete scumbag, he mocked and made fun of every woman on the house because of their looks etc. Sooo, all those millions of feminists watching were like : "do we take the biggest jerk and make the girls think we think they are lying or ?" Well, we decided to take the bigger toxic monster first, and left the other one for the next. But we had a special card. Every year, after the show starts, they put a glass house in the middle of a mall, with 4 candidates inside, we vote for 2 of them to be on the actual show yada yada. What happened was:people started showing off by the mall, with posters, begging for whomever got in the house to :"PLEASE TELL THE GIRLS EVERYONE BELIEVE THEM. THAT THEY ARE NOT LYING. THAT THEY HAVE MILLIONS OF SUPPORTERS. THAT HE ONLY CAME BACK BECAUSE THE OTHER WAS WORSE ETC"

So, last night was elimination day, the worst one got out with 80% elimination A victory for us (there were 4 people on this run, and one of them is a Black guy, fat, older than everyone else, and by history, he would obviously be the first eliminated but he was the one with LESS VOTES. AGAIN THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED IN OUR COUNTRY SPECIALLY SINC THE FOURTH PERSON COMPETING IS A CARISMATIC YOUNG KOREAN MAGICIAN YOUTUBER WITH A NETWORTH OF MILLIONS, BUT THE BLACK GUY WAS LESS VOTED THAN HIM, GUYS I CAN'T STOP WRITING IN CAPS.The second worst one tho, comeback celebrating, saying he knew he was right. Singing victory. The girls were crashed. No one understood and they all started crying and talking about how it was a reflection of our country, but that they wouldn't change their ideals etc. (Again, they didn't knew everything trash bag number one did, cuz he did it in secret so they thought it was an answer)... well, 2am, the couple from the glass house got in. And they told them. They said everything. How the public loves them, and the why the other one got out first, and how we knew they were saying the truth. This part is just a sweet ending for y'all. They then proceeded to get all the woman in one bedroom and talked and talked, they even explained to the ones who had some deep patriarchal mindset and were believing the boys up until that point, they had conversations about feminism, about not accepting to be treated that way, they cried, they were so relieved, it's silly because is a reality show, but last night everyone felt like we were supported. Like, people got our backs! People agree that we wont take that bullshit anymore. In other editions those guys would be the handsome guys that all the girls would die to be with, you know? But know they are the villains. It happened. The girls are not the crazy ones. They are not the powerless wones. They were the STRONG ONES forming OPINIONS, moving the big pieces on the board.

I can't even talk about how this will impact on many young girls, especially with all those girls having such strong stories you know? Today is a reality show but whatch us on the booting vote! Watch us at the March's. Just watch us. I'm telling y'all. Brasil is gonna turn this shit upside down.

Anyways here is a little clip of when our guardian Angel Dan, told the girls that they should trust Marcela's word

The relief the felt, we all felt. Having your word taken seriously after being called crazy and lier...

( even the production of the show tryied to deny the guys plan was real before the videos started pouring up, and they had to take back after saying on national television that Marcela was lying. Because that was the standard)