#bi flag colors are so hard to use

[rgbwings]

Ultratober days 1-3

Favourite soundtrack: Order

[sorikufeels]

hi i made some soriku pride icons based on the headcanons i have for them! i also have alternate versions that i’ll post separately where i adjusted the colors of the characters themselves to reflect the colors the flags!! i had a lot of fun with these so if anyone wants them with a different flag id probably be down to make that!

please like/reblog if you use! :)

edit: alternative versions here!!

i’m gonna ramble a bit about my headcanons below the cut lol

for sora:

i see sora as pansexual and arospec!!

as an arospec person myself i relate a lot to what sora says in the character files about not really getting love so i hold him being arospec very near and dear to my heart!! i think differentiating different kinds of love is confusing for him and i don’t know where he falls on the spectrum (and i don’t think he does either!!) but he’s somewhere along there so that is why i used the arospec flag!!

that being said, i do think he experiences attraction to some degree and i don’t really see gender influencing his attraction at all so i hc him as pan. bi could also work but i personally identify more with pan and love to project lmao

for riku:

i see riku as gay, demisexual, and trans!!

riku has only really shown real interest in sora throughout the whole series (since him being like “i���ll share the paopu fruit with kairi” was a way to get under sora’s skin) so we’ve only seen him as attracted to a guy so that’s why i see him as gay! also his whole interaction with shiki in dream drop just fucking screamed that he’s gay and please get this girl away from him oh god

i don’t have a reason for hc’ing riku as demi i just feel like the vibes fit lol

i am a riku is a trans man truther!!!! i don’t really have a canon supported reason for this either i just love the headcanon that he’s trans. you know for a fact he wears his binder way too long bro someone tell him it’s bad for him please

also i have the trans flag for both of them above, but im really only hard set on riku being trans. however, t4t soriku is very sweet and i love it so much 🥺

anyway rambling over, thank you for reading lol

[becauseimanicequeen]

Ming and Joe's Colors in My Stand-In, Part 1: Overview

Part 2: Black and Blue

Part 3: Red and Green

Part 4: Yellow/Gold

Part 5: Brown

Part 6: Random Color Moments

I received an ask a couple of days ago asking me about Joe and Ming's colors (which is something I've been thinking about for a while) and decided to answer that question in a separate post. So, here I am.

I have a feeling I'll have a lot to say about this (because looking at the colors in QLs I love (and I love My Stand-In) is such a nerdy thing for me), so I'm sure I'll break this up into parts. I'll start by looking into what color/colors Joe and Ming are (which I'll do in this post) and then, when I've come to my conclusion about that, I'll dive deeper into their symbolism and meanings in separate posts.

Let's dive in!

My first impression, without having looked very deeply into this, is that Joe is mostly green while Ming is surrounded by/wearing a lot of black.

However, I also feel like they are both bi-colored because I believe Joe is also yellow/gold or blue (or both?) while Ming is also red. And, if this turns out to be possible, then I have them in contrasting colors and I will be screaming about that when I get to it in another post.

Since this is such a nerdy thing for me that I love to explore, I will rewatch every episode we have available now (at double speed because I'm only focusing on the colors and Joe and Ming). So, I'll be back with images and thoughts in a couple of hours.

*speeding through 7 episodes of My Stand-In*

I'm back! That was an interesting experience. (It might've been a second for you, it's two days later for me, lol.) Anyway...

I feel like I got a better sense of Ming and Joe, and I was a bit surprised that my ideas were mainly pretty good.

Before I figure out my thoughts in this post (because writing them down is how I come to conclusions about things I'm unsure about), I want to mention the colors first.

Based on my rewatch:

Ming is black and red.

Joe is blue and green.

Yellow/gold is significant to both.

Brown also has some significance (and this is where I get into nerdy territory with color theory).

(Btw, artists can discuss pink into eternity, but for the sake of simplicity in my posts, I will treat pink as the lightened value of red. So, when I mention red-ish in my posts, this is what I'm referring to. Also, since secondary colors (like orange) sometimes are hard to separate from the primary colors they're created from, because they can include a lot more of one of them, I will sometimes use yellow-ish to refer to yellow hues that might verge towards orange.)

Also, I think it's important to note my approach to Joe before I dive in. I will treat Joe 1.0 and Joe 2.0 as the same person when it comes to the colors unless stated otherwise. I might get into a tangent if I notice that the colors are different depending on the different Joes. But, unless I do, Joe is just Joe (whether 1.0 or 2.0).

Now, let's start with Ming because I feel like he's the most straightforward out of the two.

Ming is definitely associated with black.

He's often surrounded by/wearing black and it fits his moody brooder very well (I'll get into this more in another post in this series).

But Ming is also red.

Red flag jokes aside, the red goes very well with his fiery, passionate, dominant personality.

When it comes to Joe, I feel like green is the most obvious one of his colors.

Green is a color found in nature and it suits the more "grounded" parts of his personality (again, I will develop the symbolism and meanings of the colors in regards to Joe and Ming in other posts in this series).

(That Joe and Ming are green and red means that they use contrasting colors, which is also something I will yell about in another post in this series.)

Then we have blue, which I was a bit unsure about going into my rewatch. However, I feel like it has solidified a bit more since my rewatch, and I'll explain why.

The blue is usually quite subtle around Joe even though it is there. The thing that solidified Joe being blue for me was that Ming is seen surrounded by it a lot the deeper he falls/has fallen for Joe (and let's not forget the blue watch Joe gave Ming).

The blue fits Joe well as he's both caring, loyal, and sad.

I feel like this is pretty accurate and straightforward, so far. So, let's get into more complex territory.

Let's start with yellow/gold, which is a very prominent color in this series together with green and black.

I previously stated in this post that I feel like yellow/gold is significant to both Ming and Joe, and that's because they share this color.

Joe 1.0's home bathes in warm yellow/gold/yellow-ish light, which means he's constantly surrounded by it. It's part of his home, his color palette, his life.

The same goes for Ming, as his family home includes golden details. Also, I feel like the light aspect of things (which I will write more about in a separate post) also has to do with this moment where he has his queer awakening seeing Joe's back on that billboard.

Let's forget that Ming thought it was Tong and just look at those colors. Joe is surrounded by that warm yellow/gold/yellow-ish light, which latches onto Ming out of his devotion and desire for that back.

Ming and Joe both had some aspects of the yellow/gold color before they met, but it deepened the more time they spent together (especially for Ming).

In Ming's case, it started as that little light in the background when he met Tong, became more evident the moment he met Joe, until he's bathing in it every single day in his condo.

That's how affected he was by Joe.

I will probably dive deeper into how Joe is the light in Ming's life and how Ming was the light in Joe's life in another post in this series, but I wanted to mention it here as well. And it's very evident in Ming's case considering how his new place looks so much like Joe's with all that yellow/gold light.

This is the color they share. The color Ming used to mend the broken mugs that represented their life together, their connection, and their relationship.

Honestly, so far, these are the colors I'm most sure about because they show up all the time. And call me crazy if you want (I'm giving you permission to in this particular case), but I'm pretty sure this image sums it all up:

Look at the blue-ish ferris wheel, the green plant, the black sky, the two dots of red light (right underneath the right lamp), and the yellow/gold lamp. That's Ming and Joe's individual colors plus the yellow/gold they both have. Both of their colors are summed up in this one image, which leads into a scene where Joe tells Ming that Ming has made his dream come true while Ming agrees to move in with Joe.

Go on, call me crazy.

And my crazy doesn't stop there. Because then we have brown, which can become a bit complex.

Since I've already used up the image limit (why tumblr, why do you only let me have 30 images per post? This visual artist needs visual aids in her posts, damn it!) I will have to do this part without visual aids. However, I will develop the use of brown in a separate post in this series, which will include images as well.

Anyway...

Let me first get into some brief color theory, because it matters to my view of how they use brown in My Stand-In.

There are two ways that I usually mix brown when painting. The first one (and the simplest) is to mix orange and black. This is pretty interesting considering some of the yellow/gold light that often surrounds both Joe and Ming sometimes verge into the orange (which is why I call it yellow-ish). Mixing that with Ming's black gives us brown.

The other way I usually mix brown hues is by mixing the primary colors: yellow, red, and blue. Does that sound familiar? Yellow is the color they share, red is Ming, and blue is Joe.

So, in my color-deranged mind, brown happens when Ming and Joe's colors are mixed together. And, in Joe and Ming's case, I've noticed that brown has two opposite effects. It either shows up when they feel the most grounded and relaxed or when things become "too much" between them. (I will develop this in a separate post.)

Some of their more explosive scenes actually include brown, but since my image limit is reached, I can't show examples of any of those right now, so I'll leave that for the post where I'll focus on the use of brown in My Stand-In.

Now that I've established all this (which will be the focus of my other posts in this series), it's time to move on to the next part.

Part 2: Black and Blue

Part 3: Red and Green

Part 4: Yellow/Gold

Part 5: Brown

Part 6: Random Color Moments

[helluvaartcritique]

I can't get over how confusing that pride picture is. I have no idea what to think about it. I know the artist/s worked hard on it (and they are obviously talented) but... its just so ugly! Idk maybe it was the direction, but its so busy and hard to look at. Theres a lot of color (ofc its pride) but the shades of the bg make all the fun colors look muddy. Theres also a lot if weird blurring? Like idk if that was supposed to hide edits/mistakes but it makes the picture look even more confusing. Then there is the characters they chose to show vs not show and why.

A lot of this has been talked about, so what I wanna add is how I really don't get why they put Millie in a sparkly gold dress? I've been to pride events and there is no rule about having to just wear flags that match your label? Like just have her wear the bi flag to support her husband. The idea that they are using this picture to confirm/deny sexualities/transness in cannon is the stupidest shit I've ever seen. Why can't allies wear flags like everyone else? It feels more like a clarification for the wiki than a celebration of pride

My guess for Millie is that they didn't want her to be bisexual so they didn't put her in any bi colored outfit.

But at least she could have shown to be an ally.

I also noticed the blurring, especially on Millie and Loona's tail. Seems odd.

[improbable-implosions]

Okay, so brace yourselves gang, this one's a bit long as it's actually secretly 3 mends! First up, we've got some simple sashiko crosses with some nice contrasting bee-themed yellow fabric! You might not be able to tell by the way I've got that grid laid out partially in the progress shot there, but originally the idea was to have this one follow a pattern I'd found from someone on youtube that had a sort of 3 dimensional look to it, but I miscounted some stitches, and so had to stick with crosses instead.

As we can see here, it's pretty blatantly cleaner with the grid to use as reference! sure, my stitch length isn't exactly the same every time, but to be honest with you? I could probably only nail that with the stick and stitch patterns, they're at least roughly correct!

Unfortunately, I also mis-placed the fabric slightly in the process of that patch, so that leads me to the other two mends here! Coming off decorating that mask, I had a good bit of remaining embroidery thread in bi colors. Found a tutorial for the ceylon stitch, liked the way it came together, and since it's really great at squares, decided I could use another little bi flag, much closer to properly proportioned this time!

Last but not least here, we've got a flag for demisexuality, which, honestly? a piece of my identity I don't bring up much! I figured, though, in for a penny with the pride mends, in for a pound, and honestly, the little chevron wasn't even all that hard, I just adapted a crochet pattern for the stitch count. (Really, the hard bit was the purple stripe in the middle, as I had to chain all those single stitches together with only the black triangle as an anchor!)

I absolutely love the way this particular mend came together, even if it was mostly a recovery from fumbles. I swear, these jorts are cursed, they only got this sashiko patch because the normal denim patch I put on them previously wasn't the right size, either! Plus, after I wore them a bit more, the other side of the seam wore out, too, so I've still gotta apply a patch there, but hey, it's more wears than I would have gotten out of them normally anyway!

[9w1ft]

Hi 9! I've been supzr busy and its hard to catch up. I'm wondering if "we're watching a specific date rn or if there's a new pattern of hints from Taylor that we're examining?

hello!

don’t worry, i think it’s hard for anyone to stay on top of stuff these days!!

for me, i’m not watching a specific date at this time, but i have my eyes on november in terms of a potential tv announcement somewhere. i just have a feeling that taylor will probably announce a 2025 release date for either rep or debut or both while she is still touring. and i think she might also announce another tour movie before the tour ends, maybe on the final night. she has concerts until december 8th, hence why im interested in november! she’s giving us plenty of reasons to continue to tune in.

let me summarize some of the stuff i’ve noticed skimming twitter while watching the miami show livestreams

i did see on twitter that a swiftie has a theory that maybe she’ll release rep during one of the indianapolis dates? which i thought was sort of interesting? so you can take a look at that if you’re interested.

more generally i saw more than a few people (i think gaylors?) point out some stuff about the timing of lent (the religious holiday) or about how new orleans is the location for mardi gras, and mardi gras is also known as “fat tuesday” and is held on the day before lent starts (“ash wednesday”) and is supposed to be a celebration where you eat a lot in anticipation of fasting for lent. lent is a period of time observed by christians leading up to easter, a period to reflect on jesus’s death and resurrection. taylor sang guilty as sin? at this last concert before going to new orleans, and there’s the line “what if i roll the stone away? they’re gonna crucify me anyway” which to me is a direct reference to the bible story about the stone door in front of jesus’s tomb rolling away with his resurrection, which ties to lent kinda… just this idea that maybe she’s gearing up to do something big?

for a lot of gaylors that something big is assumed to be a coming out i think? at the recent miami shows, she debuted a new reputation outfit, and she wore new surprise song dresses that were widely seen as being bi colors and lesbian colors, so i think this is contributing to the hype. so would she do some sort of death/resurrection arc in new orleans… and then come out in… *checks notes* …indianapolis? i’m not too sure about that but i had a mutual point out to me that indianapolis *is* home to the indy 500, so, race cars..getaway cars.. a checkered flag, mayhaps?

anyway, as i’m sure you know, i’m not expecting anything huge but i do think that we have prime conditions for a content drop of some sort, so, ive been keeping one eye open for something like that 🥴

[roo-bastmoon]

Heteronormative Nonsense? On MY timeline?

When Jungkook and Charlie sang Left and Right and the lyrics were gender neutral while the music video implied Charlie was having a whole psychotic meltdown about his romantic obsession with Jungkook, folks said that assuming it was a song about a gay couple was being irrational, and that speculating that either artist might be queer was full-tilt delulu.

Yet over on Twitter, there's apparently a leak of one of JK's upcoming songs, and it seems the word "girl" is used, so some folks are tweeting that assuming Jungkook is heterosexual in his personal life makes complete sense now.

Golly gosh. I didn't realize those were the rules!

I guess Elton John, Freddie Mercury, George Michael, Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga, Demi Lavato, Halsey, AND LEONARD GODDAMNED BERNSTEIN all have to turn in their rainbow flags, then.

OR we could all rub our two collective brain cells together in this, the high holy month of pride, and stop allowing heteronormativity to bias our perceptions of a person and their body of work.

*pauses to remember Jikook's bodies of work*

Look, let's be for real for real right now, okay?

Wearing a skirt in a photoshoot doesn't make you trans instead of cis; putting a queer icon on your pants doesn't make you gay instead of bi; using rainbow colors on a set doesn't make you bi instead of pan; singing about the opposite gender doesn't make you straight instead of gay.

It makes you an artist portraying various aspects of the human experience.

That deserves to appreciated without being weaponized as a "gotcha moment" in online ship wars.

And if, over time, a consistent theme keeps cropping up in an artist's work? Like maybe the constant use of pink-purple-blue colors and the male and female symbols?

That's worth speculation.

But unless the artist specifically talks about it, it's really not our place to go making assumptions and stating them as fact.

Get comfortable with not having all the answers. Not knowing things is also an aspect of the human experience.

Anyway, did you guys get a chance to see all the goodies from FESTA? I managed to catch some of it. Loved it so much, especially the dance practices. Wish I saw all of it, but there's so much going on these days.

Oh! Plus! Happy Pride, y'all.

I'm gonna go have a hard cider or six and take a bit of a break from the circus this weekend.

Be well. Love, Roo

[frozenfirecats]

Pirate101 ask Meme!!!

Questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6,7, 9, 10, 12, 18,27, 28, 34, 38, and 41!!!

oh man that's a lot of questions, ok lets go

1 - Favorite crew member/companion?

bonnie anne my beloved. she’s so cool I wish foxes were real.

2 - Favorite world?

marleybone. the aesthetics and music go hard and the story peaks here

4 - What is your favorite class to play as and why?

musketeer for soloing cause it's the easiest imo and also the most fun, privateer for group play cause I like playing support

5 - What are the backstories for your Pirate? (Parents' death, where were they trained, Etc.)

Esmee: armada/skull island. Grew up among the rats in the sewers, having to steal what she could to get by, leading to her being quite adept at sneaking and using daggers. Strongly despises the Armada since she lost her parents to them, so she tends to be a lot more reckless whenever in a battle against clockworks.

Remmy: storm/marleybone. Was aboard a ship with his parents and sister, Maeve, when a storm struck. His parents died in the storm while he and Maeve where separated. After which, he was found by a Marleybonian ship and the dogs took him in. He grew up in Marleybone training to be a privateer but eventually found ranged weapons to be more to his liking. Was aboard a cargo ship tranporting weapons to Port Regal when he got captured in ambush by the Armada, and met Esmee that way.

Brynn: lost/marleybone. AU character of my ice wiz Brynn, just thought it would be fun to have her as a pirate so yeah no backstory.

Flint: mutiny/mooshu. haven't really worked out a backstory for him, this is just what it says in game. Will likely be change once I develope him more.

Maeve: squid/krokotopia. As mentioned earlier, she is Remmy's sister who was seperated in a storm (that a squid may or may have not been present in idk yet). Ended up in Krok where she learned magic.

6 - Who is your LEAST favorite crew member/companion and why?

wing chun, his voice and personality is a bit grating. idk I don’t really hate any of the mainline companions, and most of the non-story ones aren’t memorable and are lackluster combat-wise so they all meld together, so again I don’t have strong negative feelings towards any one in particular.

7 - How many Pirates do you have?

six, have five maxed out, the sixth was actually my first pirate I made, a musketeer named Ingrid, but I didn't make it that far into the tutorial before stopping. Later I made Esmee and it was then I got super into the game. I don't plan on questing with Ingrid anytime but I don't really feel like deleting her so she's just kinda there

9 - Any headcanons for your crew?

uuuuhhhheeeeuguh i got nothing sorry

10 - What does your flag look like? What are your crew colors?

Esmee

Remmy

Brynn

Flint

Maeve (hopefully I stay settled on this one instead of changing it a fifty more times)

12 - Do you headcanon anyone as LGBTQIA+? If so, who?

yeah I got a few. Bonnie: Lesbian, Ratbeard: gay, Toro: bi, Gracie: aro/ace, Sarah: lesbian. I would include Catbeard but that's canon now so.

as for my pirates, Esmee: ace, Remmy: bi, Brynn: pan, Maeve: trans mtf.

Flint is the token straight who's on thin ice

18 - Opinions on Cool Ranch?

love Cool Ranch. Visually it's gorgeous and the music absolutely slaps, however some parts of it drag and I don't like having to choose between wearing something culturally offensive or having shitty stats for my witchdoctor.

27 - Is there anything you wish was in the game? (Crafting? Fishing?)

tbh I find crafting really annoying in wiz so I hope it never comes to pirate. But I would love to see events akin to wiz's lost pages/five boxes. Especially five boxes I would love to see pirate get its own version of that.

28 - How long have you been playing Pirate101?

at least 3 years, can't remember exactly when I started

34 - What are the hardest and easiest parts of the game to play for you?

easiest is pretty much everything up until Cool Ranch, which is where the difficulty starts to ramp up. hardest is definitely the new updates, Tartarus and Wheeler especially.

38 - Is there anything you hope for in a future update(s)? What would you like to see?

would really love to go to Albion sometime. as for features, pretty much stuff we already have in wiz like character name/appearance changing, option to hide quests, and setting a minimum player requirement for team up, and please for the love of all that is holy give us the option to trash doubloons

41 - How did you first discover Pirate101? (Commercial, a friend, fanart, etc.) What inspired you to play?

kind of always knew about it through wiz, wasn't until around 2020/2021ish that I got interested in playing

[anopenbookunderlockandkey]

The 118 Gaycation Chat

Buck: Eddie won’t go on vacation with me

Eddie: I didn’t say that

Bobby: if you two want to go on vacation I’ll find a way to make it work with the schedule

Buck: Bobby! Tell him he has to go with me!

Hen: why won’t you go on vacation with Buck, Eddie?

Eddie: I didn’t say I wouldn’t go on vacation with Buck

Buck: he absolutely said that, we were watching Ru Paul and they won a trip through gay getaway and it looked fun so I said we should do that and Eddie doesn’t want to

Hen: I mean does Eddie just not want to go?

Chim: didn’t you just get back from one of those Hen? Do all gay people love vacations? maybe we should quit firefighting and start a gay getaway company

Ravi: who doesn’t love a vacation?

Hen: plenty of queer people don’t like traveling 🙄

Bobby: Athena and I did come across a lot of gay cruises when looking for one, they seemed fun

Ravi: it’s also safer for queer people to travel in packs

Buck: yes yes all of that but Eddie said he won’t come with me

Eddie: I just don’t think it’ll be fair for two of the best looking firefighters in LA to steal their thunder

Chim: hey! I’m Mr April

Hen: we know Chim

Buck: I think it would be perfectly fair and you might just enjoy the attention Eds

Eddie: I’m too old for that type of attention

Buck: so you’re not denying you’d like the attention???

Eddie: who doesn’t like attention?

Buck: from men?

Eddie: sure, I’ll give them something to look at

Buck: 👀

Hen: you know what, that tracks

Chim: what tracks?????

Hen: Eddie and Buck being bi, have you seen the way they sit?

Eddie: how do I sit?

Chim: Buck did make out with Albert that one time

Buck: you’re bringing that up again?! It wasn’t a make out

Chim: hard disagree as the one who saw my brother and brother in law kissing with no warning 😵‍💫

Eddie: wait, you made out with Albert??? 🫨

Buck: you jealous?

Eddie: 🙄

Eddie: Hen, how do I sit??????

Hen: I mean sitting wrong and sexual behavior don’t a queer person make… but I was just saying it makes sense

Buck: wait! Did y’all not know that I’m bi? I thought it was obvious

Hen: it is obvious… but thanks for confirming, love you Buckaroo

Bobby: thank you for telling us and trusting us, kid

Chim: does Maddie know?! You know I can’t keep a secret

Chim: also congrats bro

Buck: yes, Maddie knows… it wasn’t a secret 🤪

Eddie: 🩷💜💙

Buck: you know the bi flag colors Eds?

Eddie: yep

Buck: 🧐

Hen: pretty sure no one in this chat is 100% straight 🏳️‍🌈 can’t forget the day Eddie joined the 118

Eddie: wait what happened the day I joined?

Chim: don’t worry about it

Eddie: 😬

Ravi: does this mean y’all are going on the gaycation afterall????

Buck: please please please

Eddie: fine, Buck, I’ll go with you

Buck: 🥹🥰🤩

Bobby: there will be vacation request forms waiting for you next shift

…..inspired by an actual conversation between me and my parents about an ad for a cruise 🤣

@professionalprocrastinator22 and @gravelyhalversobbing may you be blessed with my comedy

[mourningmogaicrew]

-fluiere

A suffix that indicates that an identity is fluid, fluctuating, changing in essence, and vast.

This suffix is different from -fluid and describes more complex shifting labels. Instead of fluidity, the quality of -fluiere orientations is fluienity. (Pronounced flee-N-it-ee or flew-N-it-ee)

It was originally designed for orientations but someone could also be genderfluiere, label/pronounfluiere, etc.

These identities may seem to ebb and flow like bodies of water, and feel like they're almost constantly changing (quickly or slowly). The base identity remains the same while everything about it shifts and moves. These orientations work like lava lamps in that they are moving and changing colors (feelings) while still having the same container (label). They are impossibly large but also small.

These identities may feel difficult to describe using traditional concepts and may rely on metaphors or hyper-specific scenarios instead: they are like a planet in the vastness of space, constantly moving and spinning while staying in the same orbit. They are a moth's wings fluttering, the colors and patterns of a kaleidoscope shifting, plasma moving, a flower growing and blooming, everything and nothing at once, the cycle of the tides and the phases of the moon, a 3d shape rotating, etc.

(Sorry for getting so metaphorical. But I guess it kind of shows what I mean about this being hard to describe)

Some people may feel that they’ve given up on describing themself because every time they find a label their identity seems to slightly change again. I’m not forcing anyone to identify as -fluiere but I think this term may be helpful for people with similar struggles!

Flag IDs in alt text. I also made flags for bi, pan, poly, nonbinary, trans, agender, catgender, genderfluid, spiritine/kenochoric, androgyne, demigender, aro, ace, aroace, polyam, and pronoun- fluiere and hopefully I'll get around to posting them!

[ethereal-nightingale]

the spiderverse brainrot is real so have some hcs (mainly gender/sexuality but some backstory shit thrown in there)

Miles: thought he was straight but is more bi-curious now

-hes got some pretty serious anxiety/depression stuff going on

-and his parents and friends try to be super supportive

-so he's slowly working through it

Gwen: -she is transfem y'all! her big speeh to her dad was literally in the trans flag colors

-shes also bi!

-part of the reason her relationship with her dad was so strained was because he tried to be supportive with her gender identity but they didn't always see eye-to-eye on it at first and she never fully forgave him

-shes also has Some Shit (tm) going on but didn't want to ask her dad for a therapist or doctor, but her friends help <3

Pav: -he/they pronouns because gender! also he's pan because he just. loves. everyone!!

-hes adhd and uses spider-ing as a way to let out energy

-parents just figured he was an active kid before he was bitten but he was struggling to be more "normal" all the time

-part of the reason why being Spider-Man is so great for him is because it actually improved his life a lot more since he can let out his energy now

Hobie: -gay ass right there. but he also uses any pronouns because fuck societal gender norms!

-the others are pretty chill about most stuff but he's reluctant to tell them a lot about his past

-when he was younger he came out to his mom who made his life hell after he told her

-he finally ran away when he was 16 (I hc him to be almost 18 in the movie) but has had trouble finding a place to stay ever since

-sometimes he crashes at HQ although Miguel doesn't know that. if he didn't he would just be on the streets since he doesn't really have any friends other than the spider kids.

-hes also autistic and goes non-verbal sometimes- another reason why he had a hard time (I haven't read his comics so I know jackshit about his past so I'm just headcanoning that his mom was a single mom okay), she didn't have a lot of time so he was kind of just left to do whatever he wanted for a while and it didn't really become obvious until he got older

-he does know BSL for when he goes non-verbal but it's not the most useful since most of his friends are American, so he just tries to hide when it happens and text them instead. he hasn't told them that he goes non-verbal yet

I got some others for Miguel, Gayatri, peni, noir, Margo, etc. but it's late so I'll do them in the morning lmao

[cursed-man-prayers]

What are your thoughts on the lavender haze video? I love your analyses and would love your take on all the bearding discourse. I felt like she was being truly loud as hell

Lavender Haze as a song didn’t really stick out to me until I watched the video.

My main theory starts with the lesbian sweater.

I had forgotten that it was in the teaser we saw before the album came out, and it was so jarring to see if when the only notable color she’d worn throughout the video was lavender (obviously).

At the start of the party scene, it’s not obvious what she’s wearing. Her and Laith’s arms are covering the sweater.

Taylor reaches up to touch Laith’s hair, revealing the sweater. Around them is a crowd, some of whom are taking photos. She dances with Laith, still wearing the shirt, in a literal lavender haze. At the 2:42 time stamp, the shots flicker rapidly back and forth to foggier shots. We also see shots of women dancing with each other.

I think this scene represents how Taylor surrounds herself with queer people (see: Eras Tour openers), flags loudly (see: the sweater), and references queer history (see: lavender), but just the *thinnest* veil of hetero still prevents most people from seeing her as queer. They see one photo of her standing near Joe Alwyn and are convinced.

Then there’s a fairly hard cut to Taylor alone in the room the video started in. She’s still wearing the sweater, which is interesting because, in the rest of the video, each setting came with a different outfit.

The lavender gray t-shirt. the fluffy coat thing, the slip, and redacted. When she’s in the room with Laith, she’s wearing what’s essentially a muted lavender shirt. Then she smokes, crawls through, and swims in vibrant lavender. It would almost make more sense if the progression of vibrance gave us the lavender-est outfit during the party scene, but it’s a cold switch to warm colors, and the warm (lesbian) colors stick around when she’s alone in the room.

She’s wearing it when she opens the curtains and pushes down the walls. Alone, she can be who she is (queer), but it comes at the price of being alone in an enormous fishbowl (see: Lover mv). There’s no one there with her anymore.

She falls asleep on the cloud that, from earlier, we know represents her melancholia (which is basically an archaic way of saying depression). She covers herself with the cloud, submerging into it, and the cloud evaporates. She disappears. She has lost herself to the sadness, the melancholia, the depression.

(also, the cloud is bi flag colors. I honestly am not sure what I think is the meaning of that while she’s also wearing the lesbian sweater mshsbdhs)

tl;dr: Taylor starts off in bed with a man, lying awake, staring at the ceiling while he is fully asleep next to her. While she sits up, he is oblivious to the cloud (depression, mental illness generally). Taylor smokes the lavender haze strain of weed and progresses through various stages of lavender, including a sexy little baptism, and then at the party she wears the lesbian sweater. People take pictures of her with a man, a veil between the public and her queerness. She’s hiding in plain sight. Alone, she is able to be herself, but has to lie in her bed of secrets and sadness. No one is in the fishbowl with her.

alt: lavender haze mv is about weed and only about weed

[ask-obt]

What’s the current orientations for all cast members? More importantly is Requiem Nonbinary?

// starting with our main girl Rune, she's bi! though bi and pansexuality have pretty similar definitions (and also nothing concrete), my personal definition of it that bisexuality has a preference for one gender over others. in Rune's case, she prefers girls!

next up we have Malachi, who is straight/questioning. he's only ever had one crush to go off of, so it's subject to change in the future! Maelstrom, meanwhile, is a lesbian. but it's hard to flirt with girls while Malachi is sitting there withering away, so she's holding out for getting a physical form so she can do so more effectively.

Dielle is a lesbian! and very much so.

Inigo is trans and on the ace spectrum! He hasn't ever experienced a crush of his own, though he likes to read slow burn romance plots. The slower the burn, the better.

Yohann is gay! He frequents the local matchmaker board for fun flings.

And speaking of gay, Keaton and Julius are also gay! Or at least, that was my initial thought. After thinking about it some more I think Julius could possibly be bi with a preference for men- but we'll see how that shakes out!

Then we have the Guildmaster, who is genderfluid (male-presenting for I expect the entire duration of OBT's main story) and pan! He has a long list of exes, but he gets along well with all of them. He's wearing the trans flag colors in this image because I thought they were cuter with his ensemble and since he'd probably be fine with it as an umbrella identity, haha

And finally, we have the requested Requiem! They consider themselves a Demigirl, and are fine with she/her and they/them pronouns. You can use whichever tickles your fancy!

And since you read on this far, I can confirm we've got some nonbinary rep coming soon!

[thelostgirl21]

My small issue with the current Alterous Attraction Flag design...

So, I wanted to make myself a personal pride flag design - combining all of my own personal pride flags and orientations into one - and suddenly found myself hitting a bit of a wall when it came to the alterous attraction one.

Because, what's absolutely amazing about the romantic v.s. sexual orientation "binary" is that, when it comes to their flags, both flags are the same, except one has a heart on it.

Left: Pansexual. Right: Panromantic.

Therefore, you can combine both orientations into a single flag, by having the heart show your romantic orientation, and the "wallpaper" in the background showing your sexual orientation.

Ex: Bisexual Panromantic.

Or, when they are the same, doing "half and half, or adding the little Pansexual heart somewhere...

So, it works great!

But there's no such symbol attached to alterous orientation!

And there's no guaranty that the person's alterous orientation is going to be the same as their romantic and/or sexual one, either!

And, as a demisexual, it is SPECIFICALLY alterous attraction that triggers my sexual desires for someone, not romance!

What typically happens, is that I'll develop alterous feelings for one of my friends, become deeply committed to that "friendship" and very much "in love" (with absolutely no romance nor desire for us to ever become an actual "couple", live together, etc.) with them.

And, because I feel so emotionally close and like I could trust them with anything, should they also be aesthetically attractive also, I'll (very instinctively, very strongly) desire to have sex with them.

It's that sense of emotional intimacy that runs soul deep, and where I could no longer imagine my life without them, that makes me want to sexually connect as well.

That being said, I can also desire certain people romantically and have powerful crushes.

It's just that I never sexually desire my crushes until we reach a level of emotional intimacy that can match my alterous friendships.

And, when I find myself desiring a romantic partner both romantically and sexually - should they also be are monoamorous - then I'll stop experiencing any sexual desires for my alterous friends. We usually remain physically intimate/at ease with each other (heartfelt hugs, hand holding, etc.), but those intense friendships lose their sexual appeal.

So basically, I was trying to combine my:

Panromantic

Panalterous

Pansexual

Demisexual

Ambiamorous

identities all into one flag...

And was getting heavily frustrated by the fact that, thus far, people were simply making different color schemes for each alterous orientations!

For example, here are two of the suggested bialterous and panalterous flags I found...

Beautiful flags! The person that designed them did a very nice job with the colors!

That's not the problem.

It's just that there's nothing on them that screams that we're talking about a form of emotional attraction that is different, yet just as important and significant as romance.

Romantic attraction has its very own love symbol. It makes no sense that alterous attraction shouldn't be a symbol driven orientation as well!

I'm also having a bit of a hard time connecting those designs with their romantic and sexual equivalents, and recognizing the "bi" or "pan" elements in both. And I don't know where to place them on my own flag design, either, so that people understand that I'm talking about a form of emotional attraction...

What I needed, was a symbol, similar to the heart of the romantic flag, but specific to alterous forms of love...

After obsessing a bit too much over this, I eventually came up with my own personal versions:

Alterous Flag

Meaning

Possibility of replacing the white areas with other personal flags.

Example of a Panalterous Flag.

Example of a Homoalterous Aromantic Demisexual Man

Example of a Panalterous Panromantic Flag

Example of a Bialterous Greyromantic Queerplatonic Asexual Flag

My personal Pride Flags (Panromantic, Panalterous, Ambiamorous, Demisexual, Pansexual).

When combined into a single flag design.

So yeah, I did like the color scheme of the originally designed Alterous Flag, it's just the lack of potentially recognizable symbol for alterous attraction that bothered me.

And I thought that putting 3 hearts like that would have people ask "Wait. Why 3 hearts?", and give us the opportunity to explain that the one in red (or with the red border) means romantic attraction, the one in yellow (or with the yellow border) means platonic attraction.

The flag inside the yellow (if there is one) is about Queerplatonic relationships that are unconventional friendships where the two friends might share the same level of intimacy as romantic partners, but without the romance and/or sex.

So the yellow includes all types of friendships, from the less emotionally intimate to the most emotionally intimate ones.

And the one in the middle, with the pink border reminding us about how those relationships all share affection, is about alterous attraction, a form of love that feels neither romantic nor platonic, but somewhere in the middle and/our outside of it. It can be accompanied by the eventual desire to form a queerplatonic relationship (or not), a need for different forms of emotional and physical intimacy, including sexual in some cases, etc.

The "romantic" crowd sort of "stole everyone's heart" with the romantic flags.

Now, the people on the aromantic spectrum are left without anything to symbolize their own "love".

We need to put the love into the aromantic flag to remind people that love and romance aren't synonyms.

When you remove romance, all that's left isn't "casual sex" or "casual friendships".

I kinda want to see a visual counterpart to romance on flags out there!

Even if that's not my own design!

The reason why I put the "Alterous" heart bigger is not because I believe that "Alterous orientation" is more important than "Romantic orientation" nor "Queerplatonic orientation and relationships".

It's simply because the focus of the Alterous flag should be Alterous love.

It is connected to romantic relationships and queerplatonic ones, but romantic orientations already have their own well-known flags and tons of visibility.

As for the Queerplatonic flag(s), well, let's say that those are relationships we need to talk about about, and having them there on the flag opens the doors for curiosity and conversations, and lets people know that some friendships run as deep and are as powerful as romance.

So I've kept both the same size (romantic orientation + queerplatonic relationships).

And they're not spaces that HAVE to be filled. It's more an added option for convenience's sake to be able to describe what's included in the "red heart" (romantic attraction) and in the "yellow heart" (friendships, if left yellow, or queerplatonic relationships, if a flag is added).

It's a design that I personally could play and have a bit of fun with...

So, if some of you guys enjoy the idea, and want to start using them to express yourselves, until the day we eventually have a more official agreed upon flag, here are the .png files , enjoy!

If you have other ideas that could improve on those designs, too, I'd be very glad to hear them!

(If you want me help you make them, I might be open to do it if I have the time...)

[dabisqueen]

Okay

Listen

I have things to say

First of all, I'm OBSESSED with your writing.

Secondly, I came up with an interesting idea that I would LOVE to see your take on, if you're interested. I am NOT a writer, my ADD won't allow it, but I think your writing would really bring this idea to life...

Touya Catfishing you...

Now HEAR ME OUT

Imagine a modern au Touya catfishing you. Not for any nefarious reason, but because he's self conscious about his scars. We know canonically that he thinks he's ugly af.

He's never had a girlfriend. sure he's had the occasional drunken hook up, but they never stay once they see him in the harsh light of day. None of them can see past his scars. He's tried online dating, only for it to result in the same rejection. Although he loathes to admit it, he's a romantic at heart; he just wants someone to love him. Maybe he met you at your job at a coffee shop, or a book store, either way he's met you and he wants nothing more than to get to know you. so he does something stupid. He knows it's a shitty thing to do, but he did it anyway. he makes a fake Instagram account, opting to use his nickname from high school; Dabi.

but instead of using some random person's pictures, he makes the decision to use his much more attractive (though he'd never admit it) little brother's image. It's the perfect plan, shouto doesn't have an Instagram, opting to stay mostly offline since he had no interest in it and he's got access to all the pictures he could ever need of him to send to you. He'll use his little brother's pictures to reel you in, and when you fall in love with his personality he'll reveal his true self to you. You'll be so in love with him that you won't care about the scars and the lies.... Right?

He begins a conversation with you on insta, he's funny, charming. A real smooth talker. His dry sense of humour compliments your own perfectly.

You guys chat online, about your lives, about your similar interests, and you quickly start to catch feelings for him. After about 2 weeks of strictly dming, you give him your number and you start talking on the phone. And OH, his voice does things to you. He's a sweet talker for sure, but it's more than that. he's everything you want in a partner, and you desperately want to meet face to face. You try to facetime him, only to be met with a blank screen. 'Dabi' tells you his webcam is broken and he hasn't gotten around to getting a new one. You shrug it off, continuing the one sided facetime. Things eventually heat up after a few more weeks, you do things on camera for him that you NEVER thought you would do, but you're falling so hard that you'd do it for him.

The more time that passes, the more suspicious you get. He never got a new webcam, he's never met you in person, siting every excuse in the book as to why he can't meet up with you; He got called into work last minute, he's out of town, he's sick, there was a family emergency. You bought the excuses at first, maybe he just had really bad luck? But the red flags are getting bigger by the day.

Touya knows he should tell you, the longer he waits, the worse it will be when you do find out. He hates disappointing you with another excuse as to why you can't meet, he feels sick to his stomach every time you tell him you love him. He loves you so much it feels like he can't breathe. He had to tell you, he knows..

But everytime he tries, he feels his throat closing and he can't will himself to do it. He's used to rejection; he's been rejected by every love interest he's ever had. Hell, his own father rejected him and he'd been able to move on. But he doesn't think he could take it from you. Not you.

So he tells himself that he'll lie to you for just a little longer. Next time, next time he'll definitely do it.

He never does.

Until one day, you're at work and are surprised by a very familiar bi colored head of hair coming into the shop. It's Dabi, you'd know his unique appearance anywhere. You're elated, he's FINALLY come to meet you, you weren't being scammed, he is real. You call his name excitedly, only for him and his companion, his brother Natsuo, to look at you like you're crazy.

You try again, looking directly at him, but he continues to look confused.

His name is not Dabi. He tells you as much

His name is shouto, and he doesn't even have Instagram. He's nice enough, he feels bad for you, your heartbreak so apparent on your face. The conversation is awkward, and he and Natsuo leave without making a purchase.

You're completely humiliated. He tricked you. Dabi, or whatever his name is, had been catfishing you this whole time.

You take your break to call him, as soon as he answers you let him have it. You don't let him get a word in edgewise. Why would he do this? Was he trying to earn your trust so you'd send him money, or did he derive some sick pleasure from making you fall for him? And oh God, the things you did on camera just for him... Did he screen record them? Was he going to blackmail you with them? Was he going to sell them? No matter how many times he tries to tell you he would never do that, that he loves you, he can't. you keep cutting him off with worse and worse accusations.

You tell him you hate him. To lose your number. You block him on EVERYTHING

It's been weeks. You're heartbroken, he's heartbroken and you don't know if you'll ever recover.

Touya NEEDS to talk to you, to clear things up, to explain himself. If he can just talk to you you'll understand. But try as he might, he can't reach you. As a last ditch effort he does the one thing he'd been avoiding; he goes to meet you in person at your job.

The shop is quiet, your boss decides to close early, sending you home. As you make your way out of the store, keeping your head down, you knock into someone.

You mumble an apology and continue on your way...

Until he speaks up

"... Hey Doll..."

That's all you need to hear to know EXACTLY who he is.

You try to storm past him, all you want is to go home and cry into a strong drink, but he follows you begging, BEGGING for you to hear him out.

You stop, waiting with your back to him to hear what he could possibly say to justify his actions.

So he tells you everything. About his low self image, his disfigurement, the rejection, the hurt. He also tells you how much he loves you, everything he loves about you . He's frustrated, with himself for fucking everything up, with you for making him so nervous. Never in a million years did he think he'd ever be this open with anyone, but he's desperate.

You're still mad, it's not an excuse to do what he did, but you can empathize. And when you do finally look at him, so vulnerable and open, your heart stops.

He's scarred, and pierced and tattooed, but he's so so beautiful.

You take him home, you show him in the most NSFW way possible just how gorgeous you think he is, how his scars don't deter you, how deeply you love him.

You still give him shit after for lying to you, but you'll give him a chance to make it up to you.

And OH BOY does he

WOOOAAAHHHHHHH.... Sp, I wanted to reblog one of my fics this weekend but this is actually way much better!

Thank you so much for sharing, this had me really captivated! I love it when you all share your ideas with me. 💙💙💙💙💙

Now, if you don't mind, share how Dabi DOES make it up to us hehe...

[zombiebabysitter]

LOCATION: Portland, Maine TIMING: Mid-June PARTIES: Charlie & Finn (@animotoph0bia) SUMMARY: The boys go to a pride parade and meet up with Finn's siblings.

“Knew we should have gotten you a rainbow morph suit”

Admittedly, Charlie hadn’t been to a pride event in years. With Zombie Babysitter blowing up, every free moment he had was dedicated to getting the band off the ground with Lindz, Vik, and Gareth. But now that it was just him, and his career was established? He was going. It had taken some convincing on Charlie’s part, to get Finn to join him. He’d promised that if it ever became too much, they’d leave immediately to be with Finn’s siblings instead. The promise of seeing his siblings seemed to be enough to calm Finn down enough to join, albeit a bit nervously, which Charlie expected. 

On the day of the event, Charlie was a walking gay flag. He wore a rainbow flag as a cape strewn across his shoulders, black skinny jeans, and a gay pride shirt, with all the shades of blue that came with it. Charlie drove the entire way to Portland with excitement in his heart, knowing he was going to be stopped continuously. After all, Portland was Finn and his hometown, and people knew Charlie here, knew who he was before, and the fame he’d skyrocketed into. He was excited to go home, especially because it was for pride, of all things.

It was a rare moment that Charlie wore makeup. He was good at it, too. He had put all the colors of the rainbow on his eyes, completed with winged eyeliner and a gay male flag painted onto his right cheek. “Are you ready? Your siblings said they’d meet us near the coffee shop.” Charlie spoke as he checked his phone one last time, the group text with Finn, Charlie, Ellie, and Bennett giving directions on where to meet that Charlie was using as his compass. 

Charlie gave Finn one last once over, love for his boyfriend shining in his eyes before leaning over and kissing him, then pulling away and hopping out of the van. “Let’s do this!” 

__

Finn had never been to pride. He’d never even been to a parade or a big event like this, at least not one that he properly remembered since he would have just been a kid. Big crowds, jubilant or not, were among things to avoid. This list of things had been slowly crafted over the years, eventually boiling down to ‘stay away from people and big feelings’, neither of which was possible now that Charlie was a fully integrated part of his life again. Not that Finn wanted to hide away forever, not anymore. 

That didn’t mean he wasn’t mildly terrified of today all the same. 

His imposter syndrome was running wild and he was acutely aware that this was basically a hard launch for their relationship, since just telling their families wasn’t enough. Of course Finn’s introverted self had managed to fall in love with someone so prominent in the public eye. He didn’t really care what said public had to say about himself but more so, that they would judge Charlie for moving on and for who he had moved on with. Letting Charlie put some colored glitter on his face had weirdly helped, made him feel like he was dressing up for the part and would help him better pretend to be a good boyfriend, be someone who belonged at pride. 

“I’m never ready to meet my siblings, they’re gremlins,” Finn replied, letting the softness in Charlie’s eyes ease the knot in his stomach, as well as the thought of seeing his siblings who were indeed gremlins but they were gremlins he loved. Ellie had facetimed him practically screaming once he’d texted her the news, Bennett appearing on screen as well once she had tried and failed to coerce details from Finn. They were happy for him but Ellie was also annoyed that Finn’s ‘bi awakening’ (her words) had taken so long. The kiss was way too short before Charlie was bouncing outside, a blur of energy and colors. With a fond sigh, Finn followed. 

“I can’t believe you actually got him here,” Ellie was quick to greet with an accompanying hug, not for her brother mind you, but for Charlie. Bennett, to his credit (but honestly probably just because Charlie was preoccupied) started with Finn, their hug quick and with some back pats. Then, when Bennett pointed at the shades of pink, purple and blue glitter on Finn’s face with a small smirk, there was a second hug where Finn gripped his brother and aggressively rubbed their faces together to share the colorful decorations. “Good to see you, doofus,” she finally acknowledged Finn’s existence, sparing a hug for him as well. 

“I think you’re just happy to see my boyfriend, actually,” Finn shot back, reveling in how happy his use of the word made his siblings who had (with good reason) probably assumed their eldest brother would die alone. Where they stood outside the coffee shop now wasn’t too crowded but Finn still found himself hesitating to slide back into Charlie’s space, aware that there were people around and they were watching. 

__

Letting out a chuckle as Ellie pulled him into a hug, Charlie hugged Ellie back and patted the top of her head. “Well, it took some well-placed bribes.” He replied, looking back to Finn and giving him a salacious wink. “Good to see you two,” Charlie spoke, giving Bennett a half hug, half high-five. “I can’t promise I won’t be stopped by people,” the rockstar reminded the others before putting his arm around Finn’s waist and holding him close. “But I think I’m covered in enough gay pride that there’s a real chance it won’t happen.”

Of course, Charlie was wrong. As soon as they stood in their little area, someone walked up to Charlie with a nervous smile, asking for a picture. “Oh, yeah, sure!” Charlie replied happily to the younger girl, who couldn’t have been older than 20. Charlie took her phone and posed for the photo, then snapped the photo and handed it back. The girl thanked him, then scurried off to giggle amongst her friend group. “Maybe not.” Charlie quickly corrected himself with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“So what have the two of you been up to?” Charlie asked Finn’s siblings while keeping an eye out for any more approaching fans. A man with a rather expensive-looking camera walked up to Charlie and asked if he could take some photos of him for the local paper, and Charlie agreed happily, stepping out into the street and raising the flag that he was wearing and posing for the photos. More people began to recognize him and come up, and Charlie knew that this could turn into a situation if he didn’t ask for space. “I’m happy to take photos later, but right now I want to wait for the parade with my boyfriend, yeah?” He gave a friendly wave to the small group, who all backed off as soon as Charlie had asked for space. 

“There.” He muttered, stepping back to Finn’s side and sighing. “Maybe next time I wear a cap and sunglasses.” Charlie decided, realizing that he wasn’t really in disguise at all. “That’s my bad, sometimes I forget that I’m somewhat famous.” Charlie knew he was too nice for his own good, people knew he would graciously take photos with them until he couldn’t stand anymore, but sometimes he had to put down boundaries. Today was about pride, and Finn and his siblings. The little family that Charlie had managed to carve out for himself. 

__

Finn did good with the first fan, a young girl that was all excited nerves, stomach fluttering and it was kinda cute. It helped that she hadn’t even acknowledged his or his siblings’ presence, too excited about the selfie. “Yeah, you definitely spoke way too soon,” Finn huffed, elbowing Charlie gently in the ribs. They managed a moment of peace, Ellie excitedly sharing the details of her in progress master’s degree essay in psychology (to which Finn reminded her that she was a nerd) and Bennet telling Charlie about how the last hockey game of the season went, humbly muttering about how he maybe scored the game winning goal. And Finn loved all three of them so much that it honestly kind of hurt a little bit but he wasn’t allowed much time to linger on the feeling as more people had taken note of the colorful presence that was Charlie. 

The familiar presence of his three favorite people was helping but the sudden influx of people, excited and giddy though they were, had Finn very interested in the scuff marks of his shoes while he focused on just breathing. It was fine, he knew it was still fine but it felt like a situation that could quickly turn not fine for whatever reason and he was pretty sure he was definitely being perceived now and then Ellie’s hand was sliding into his. Finn exhaled and looked up just in time to see Charlie expertly clearing the crowd. 

“Knew we should have gotten you a rainbow morph suit,” Finn joked, grateful to find his voice to be mostly steady as he gravitated closer to Charlie, Ellie’s hand still firmly in his own. 

“Is that like a gay kink thing?” Bennet piped up and Ellie was on him before Finn could even register his brother’s dumb comment, smacking the youngest Cooper on the head and hissing about how ‘they had discussed this’ while Bennet was adamant that it had just been a joke, sheesh. Finn wondered what the hell that discussion between his siblings had entailed, laughing in slight disbelief as he looked over at Charlie, mouthing an apology with a smile. It was almost easy to pretend that his stomach didn’t knot up at the sight of raised cellphone cameras down the street, obviously pointed in their direction. With another steadying exhale, Finn bit the inside of his lip and wrapped an arm around Charlie’s waist, trying his very best to pretend that it was just the two of them and his annoying siblings here. 

__

Listening as Bennet told him about his hockey game, Charlie nodded along with his story, punching the younger boy in the shoulder and telling him that he deserved to be proud of himself. “You’re going to go somewhere big, Ben. I know it.” Charlie often got a look in his eye when he said things like that, something that said dare to prove me wrong. 

The crowd was gone, and Charlie seemed to relax back into the swing of things with Finn and his siblings. “I’m not going anywhere for a while.” He told the three of them, a soft smile on his face. “No tour because my band isn’t around anymore.” He shrugged his shoulders. “They asked me to do a solo tour, but I refused. It didn’t feel right.” He got a faraway look in his eyes that disappeared as soon as he could will himself to blink. “So the three of you? You’ve got me for as long as you want. No obligations.” He ran a hand through his short curls, then brought it back down to his side. 

Unable to stop the loud bark of laughter that escaped his mouth, Charlie shook his head at Bennet and shoved him back playfully. “You fucking wish it was, you perv.” He told the other, wrinkling his nose with a bright smile on his face as he turned back to Finn wrapped an arm around his waist, and pressed a kiss to his temple. “I don’t need a fucking rainbow morph suit.” He grumbled though he was all smiles. “People respect my space, and if they don’t? That’s on them, not on me.” 

He turned to Bennet and Ellie, pointing a finger at the two. “You guys know you can stay with us whenever, right? Though I cannot recommend living in Wicked’s Rest any less that I already do, so.” He looked to Finn, a smirk on his face. “But can you believe that? We have a fucking house.” He stomped his feet excitedly on the pavement below his feet as if he couldn’t quite contain it by standing still. 

Charlie didn’t need to be an empath to sense Finn’s fear of crowds and knowing that eyes were on the two of them. So Charlie pressed his lips to Finn’s cheek. “If it’s too much, we go.” Charlie reminded him. “We take your siblings and we have a road trip, show them the new place.” He squeezed Finn around the waist, grounding him in reality as the parade started. While he wanted to be excited about the festivities, all he could do was stare at Finn, pure love and adoration in his eyes. 

__

There had never been any question about whether or not his siblings liked Charlie. There had even been a ton of nagging those years where Finn had been busy being a dumbass and distancing himself from Charlie, questions about why they didn’t see him as much or why Finn didn’t talk about him. Because it had been dumb, if only because it separated the three of them. It felt almost unfair to have denied Charlie access to the closest thing he had to siblings and there was a certain relief to not being alone in his part of eldest sibling. Even if Ellie had mostly taken that part over the older she got, his feeling of responsibility never went away. Sharing it with Charlie felt nice. 

“Yeah, they are so not staying overnight, ever. Trust me, you don’t know just how loud that bastard can snore,” Finn cut in, smacking Bennett on the shoulder. Of course, that wasn’t the real reason - he wanted them as far away from the horrors of that town as possible. It was impossible to get stuck on the mind numbingly awful thought of anything Wicked’s Rest related getting to his siblings when Charlie was literally vibrating with joy next to him. “You’re such a dork,” he sighed and when the kiss was pressed to his cheek, Finn was quick to turn his head to snatch an actual kiss as well. 

“I don’t know how to deal with you being all cheesy,” Ellie noted, though there was some relief to be found in her voice. That maybe her brother would be alright. All Finn could do was shrug, the noise of the approaching parade growing closer. He could still clearly hear Charlie’s voice, comforting and steady, reminding him in more ways than one that this was fine. 

“I’m good,” Finn assured him, turning his head to make sure Charlie heard him and almost crumpling under the weight of that gaze. It was still too surreal, to be the object of that much affection. He’d gotten more used to literally feeling it at this point without freaking out, even if a strong surge of Charlie’s emotions sometimes took him by surprise, but it was things like these that always gave him pause. Being faced with the reality of Charlie loving him by using one of his normal senses. Finn turned his attention back to the street, pushing himself closer into the warm embrace. For a moment, actually managing to be blissfully unaware of the sneaky photos being snapped. 

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For a moment, Charlie was in his happy place. He was with the people he loved and who loved him in return. He’d never had siblings, he’d never known the love that comes from a bonded family. But with Finn, Bennett, and Ellie? He knew what it felt like, to be loved unconditionally. They were his family. He didn’t care who snapped photos, he didn’t care who would start controversies about how he’d moved on from the death of his previous boyfriend. Because Finn? Finn is right where Charlie wanted, no needed to be in that moment. He had someone who loved him that he loved in return with abundance. 

Glad that Finn was quick to shut down them ever staying over, Charlie rolled his eyes to cover his relief. He knew Wicked’s Rest was bad news, yet he and Finn stayed anyway. It wasn’t a place for humans who knew nothing of the reality that lay in that town. “Well then we’ll just have to come out of our cave and visit more, then won’t we?” He nudged Finn gently in the side with that same, love-sick smile plastered onto his features. 

Finn turning his head to kiss him had surprised him, but he appreciated it all the same, the happy surprise coursing through him as he kissed him back, then wrapped his arms fully around Finn and pulled him in close. “I’m full of cheese,” Charlie shot back to Ellie. “It’s no wonder it’s rubbing off on Finn.”  In the background of all the happiness and cheer, there was a figure lurking in the shadows, snapping a photo of Finn and Charlie from behind and sending it off to someone unknown with narrow, focused eyes. “We’ve got eyes on the witness,” the text that accompanied the photo read. “We cannot approach, too many witnesses.” It was followed with. An incoming text came in that simply read, “Keep eyes on the witness, keep yourselves far away. We don’t know if he knows.”