#btw none of this is saying you can't or shouldn't like this dynamic. just that it's not canon even though people seem to think it is

[crossroadsofchaos]

"Two characters barely interact, but the fandom is convinced they're canonically very close" is a thing that usually happens with romantic shipping, but Dad/rius is the first time I've seen it happen with a familial dynamic.

They barely interact on screen, and until the epilogue there's very little implied off screen interaction where they'd actually build a close relationship, but some people who are on the Dad/rius train are convinced they were already basically father and son during season 2b, starting right after ASiaS.

This is not helped by what looks like fan service crumbs in the finale. I say "fan service" because their relationship didn't come across that way until the finale, and I'm choosing to assume the crew included some fan service rather than just being bad at conveying that this was the intended dynamic all along.

(Taking the "Dad/rius canon!!" people as a net positive though tbh. If this kind of thing is going to happen, at least let it happen with all dynamics, not just shipping)

[venomous-ragno]

I've posted these before but Tumblr's tag system is buggy so it's not showing up for ppl, which is a shame cause if this dynamic rots my brain y'all have to suffer with me

Ghost x reader x Soap headcannons

I take requests btw;)

Tags: Ghost x reader x Soap, sfw, gn!reader, fluff

Warnings: None

Gif by @collinnmckinley

• Brothers in arms, these two have developed a bond that goes deeper than that of just any comrades. They work like a machine, gears oiled and intertwined, always moving forward and further into unknown territory.

• Ghost and Soap aren't romantically involved, but they don't mind it if it's the other. Both know and respect the other's boundaries; Gaz once called them psychics for understanding each other without so much as words exchanged.

• Their lives are anything but conventional so why shouldn't their relationship be too? It's a strange idea, sure. Much to your surprise though neither seemed taken aback or even shocked at the suggestion - not in the slightest, for they agree on more things than they disagree on.

• If you ever go on a mission with them and the team gets split up, both Ghost and Soap would find solace in knowing you're with the other, that you're well protected even in the face of death.

• Ghost and Soap are two different types of love; Ghost is more of a calm, quiet lover. No big words or pda but rather small acts of service and quality time. Ghost remembers all your quirks, all your likes and dislikes by heart. He prides himself in knowing you better than anyone else, reads you like an open book, and slowly... Opens up in and about himself, too.

• Soap is loud, if not a bit boastful. He doesn't mind calling you sweet nicknames, throwing a flirty line or two over comms. His love languages are words of affirmation and physical touch, and he isn't shy about giving nor receiving. He's quite sensitive to personal space and highly receptive of your emotional state.

• You know that Ghost has a hard time conveying his thoughts and feelings. Hell, he can't even decipher them himself most of he time. Comes with the life he agreed on living, doesn't make it any more frustrating when he refuses to elaborate on decisions he's made.

• Soap understands you both. He's had his fair share of troubles with the stoic Lt, and thus acts as a mediator. He jokingly calls himself the "peacekeeper of the 141", taking the deadly stares from both of you with stride.

• Ghost and Soap often share late night talks. It's an intimate moment between these two on an emotional level: Let the stars be witness to their hopes and dreams, their frustrations and fears, let their heart get lighter until the sun shines on them and reminds them of the hardships daylight brings.

• It's nights like those where Soap nudges Ghost in the right direction when it comes to you. Gentle but stern pushes towards an apology, in whichever form it may come in, Ghost's words carry nothing but candour. Be patient and he'll do his best to learn.

• "Live as if you're dead", they say, but how can one not feel alive when you love pulses hot through their veins? They should know better. They should know better than to let themselves fall for you like so and yet they're utterly powerless, for no knife may cut that damned red string.

Bonus:

Price raises a brow at whatever you three got going on, but chooses to remain ignorant as long as it doesn't affect work. If anything, he finds amusement in it; how the three of you bicker back and forth, how your dynamic confuses everyone not sharp enough to catch on. Besides, he's won quite a few bucks over drunken bets with Gaz - and he gets to see Simon more often too, rather than Ghost. A bonus if anything.

[drbtinglecannon]

I am truly hoping Zeno was just joking but I truly don't have much hope for Dadrius anymore tbh. It will always be canon in my heart tho

I get what you mean but honestly I'm not sure it's worth worrying about yet for a few reasons

1. Zeno likes to troll (affectionate) the fandom a bit. He's done this before when asked "Who would Hunter go to Grom with" & he responded with multiple answers which included two of Hunter's most popular ships, he said his favorite bit of VAing was in "Thanks To Them" and prefaced it with saying his other favorite bits were "Hollow Mind" and "Eclipse Lake" and suggested we all brace ourselves for the scene (it ended up being the Luz calling Hunter family scene which was excellent & cathartic btw), etc. So while I said "I think we lost :(" I was partially joking bc I know Zeno likes to do this, but I was also a bit disappointed even if I know I really shouldn't be bc Camila is a top tier parent. I'm not actually committed that Noceda won, but I also can acknowledge that maybe it did/will & honestly it wouldn't be bad even if it wasn't what I staked my interest in yknow

2. Zeno already changed it again to "Heart of Flapjack", so I think since the special came out he's just having fun with what was revealed & is changing his name around accordingly

3. Zeno wouldn't actually spoil the series ending, none of the cast/crew would. They've been very careful about it in all the Post-Hoots, con questions, etc. If Hunter does explicitly become "Hunter Noceda" I'd say that's a sizeable spoiler for his arc given there was no specific sign of that happening in this special & the debate about who will adopt Hunter/what his last name will be is fairly common in the fandom. There are at least 4 different last names he gets tagged with, and while Camila has done so much for these kids, she & Hunter didn't have any singularly significant scenes together (in no way am I undermining Camila or how clearly important she is to Hunter tho) (& yes she did dive into the water for him but he wasn't conscious for that & she would've done it for any of the kids, so I'm talking more like. Her scene tucking Luz into bed kinda singularly significant, but obviously those kinda scenes would be focused on Luz)

4. Camila hasn't even officially adopted Vee or called her her daughter or even said "I love you", which I was definitely expecting when they parted during the ending & truthfully I was a bit disappointed by it not happening. I'm not saying Camila can't adopt multiple kids but given everything between Camila & Vee I'd say that's the more important dynamic, and it hasn't happened yet, if it will at all. That doesn't necessarily mean Hunter Noceda can't happen first but it'd be a weird decision

5. Like I said above Zeno expressed his favorite bit of VAing was the Luz Hunter family scene, so Zeno writing "Hunter Noceda" feels like a homage to that scene which was a milestone in his career (so completely independent of fandom discussion, which makes sense & he's entitled to). Zeno likes to troll a bit but he's also an actor building his career & has completely different experiences being in the show than we the fandom have watching it, so maybe he's making a statement of his preference, maybe he's spoiling, or more likely he's referencing his time with the show.

6. Because it was Zeno's favorite scene and given who was in it, it feels explicitly about Luz & Hunter being family -- not Camila at that moment, JUST Luz & Hunter. Luz doesn't go by Clawthorne but she's still undeniably a part of Eda & King's family, so Hunter "being a Noceda" doesn't automatically mean "Camila is his mom now", if any of that makes sense. Something something found family isn't so nuclear something

7. Even if we don't get Dadrius they've explicitly used precious minutes of screentime after the show got cut to build a dynamic between them where they both clearly have started to care a lot about the other, so he'll probably still have "mentor" or "gay uncle" status by the end if not "dad" -- not the same or what I wanted but I'll still take it. I've said it before but if the goal was to make Darius likeable all they had to do was reveal he was a rebel (which was gonna be revealed anyway), they didn't need to give Hunter another new dynamic when he already had so many and they didn't need to make Darius of all adults the first one to give a shit about Hunter esp considering he never did before.

8. Hunter can have multiple parents with different last names like Luz does, as a treat

TL;DR I don't think it's a declaration that Hunter Noceda is unarguably canon even if a lot of the fandom will & already have taken it as word of god. It might end up being so, but I think at this time Zeno is more expressing passion for a pivotal moment in his acting career & is just having fun.

Anyway here's how Dadrius can still win ---

[appocalipse]

hi!! could you please do a steve drabble with 60 & 70? and congratulations on 600!! <3

thank youuuu 💘 i love your writing btw <3  also i turned this into an exes to lovers, i hope it's okay and to your liking 💋 | “You were never my second choice” & “They're not you” with Steve Harrington.

“I think we should stay a little bit more, just to be sure,” he says. “What if you have a concussion?”

Steve Harrington is standing by the bed, shoulder resting against the white plain wall like he's all calm and relaxed — though his expression is anything but that.

He was at work when he got the call; now he could honestly thank his mom for something: when the local hospital called, she picked up the phone at home. She even went as far as to call him at Family Video and let him know the reason behind the call: your girlfriend, she'd said, she's in the hospital.

Steve didn't even acknowledge the fact his mom didn't know you two had broken up — though it has been a few months now — because when she repeated your name, he felt as if the world had stopped spinning. He mumbled a few almost unintelligible words at Robin — Y/N, accident, gotta go. But he thought she somehow understood, because she nodded her head vigorously and said go, watching as he clutched his keys tightly, running as if his life depended on it. 

Well, not his life. 

Your brain now registers his arms crossed over his chest, a familiar crinkle of worry between his warm brown eyes; he straightens his posture and stares down at you with utmost intensity. 

“I don't have a concussion,” you guarantee, your voice small. You're exhausted, yes, but his presence, his proximity, keeps you alert. 

You shift on the bed, about to get up, and he rushes to your side at lightning speed. 

“Hey, hey, what are you doing?” Steve nods at your ankle — on a cast — and the crinkle between his brows deepens when he turns to you once again.

You're painfully aware that he's touching your forearm — gently, respectfully, only in hopes of keeping you steady should you need it…but still touching your forearm. Not completely unlike all the times he’d touched this exact same spot before, in a completely different situation, an utterly different dynamic... 

“I'm going home. They said I could.”

“They didn't say you should.”

“It's just a sprained ankle, Steve. I'll live.”

You stand. He looks about ready to panic, hand firm on your arm.

He's wearing his Family Video uniform, you notice. Stripes under the vest, even that little name tag. Up close, he smells like good memories and heartbreak, like lazy mornings and sweet words and all the things you wish you could forget. 

But you can't. 

“Were you at work?” you ask.

His gaze is soft. He can read you like a book. “Don't worry about that.”

“They shouldn't have called you,” you insist, too quickly, too embarrassed. Too familiar. “I'm sorry, I completely forgot you were my emergency contact. I should have-”

“I don't mind.”

“I don't want to bother you.”

“You're not bothering me.”

“Steve,” you try to adjust yourself to the additional weight of the cast on your left foot. He stares at your face as if he is afraid you might break. “You should go back to work. I don't want you to get fired because of me.”

“I won't be fired. Robin will cover for me. Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer just to be sure?”

“Steve.”

“I can't just leave you here. Let me drive you home, at least.”

His tone is almost pleading.

“You don't have to,” you say, well aware that every minute this close to him is a new opportunity to make a mistake. “I can call-”

Who? None of your close friends have a car, you recall, maybe a bit late. You couldn't lie; he would know in a heartbeat. Steve also knows that your father is normally out of town this time of the month, and so all your excuses die down your throat.

All but one.

“I could take the bus,” you shrug. Sounds silly even for you.

Steve frowns. “Don't be ridiculous.”

Later, when you reach your front door with his arm around your waist — for support and nothing else, you assure yourself —, you’re not really sure of the hows and whys, and maybe it’s better that way. 

There are memories coming to the surface; you try to push them to the back of your mind as he leans down to grab the spare key. It’s under a small vase beside the porch, but he remembers it on his own. You don’t have to say anything.

You both enter. The house feels oddly warmer.

The sun is setting outside, painting his silhouette golden against the doorframe. “Are you hungry?”

He gently hands you the crutches you got from the hospital, making sure you have a firm hold on them before letting go. 

“I’m not gonna break, Steve,” you say. As if his concern doesn’t make you feel all warm inside.

“I know,” he’s biting the inside of his cheek. Anxious. Not looking at you at first, then staring like there was no other choice. “So, are you? Hungry?”

“I don’t know. Not really.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

He takes your silence as a bad sign.

“I”ll make something for you,” he says.

“Steve-”

But he’s already moving on to the kitchen, towards the fridge and the cabinets. He knows where everything is.

You half walk, half limp towards him with the help of the crutches. He watches your every movement from the corner of his eyes, trying to be subtle — but failing. He looks like he’s experiencing physical pain just from seeing you hurt.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Sit down and rest. Please?” Steve indicates a chair nearby, hands quickly sorting through everything you have in the kitchen — not much other than a bunch of ramen and a few carrots, he notices, defeated. And worried. How are you even alive eating like this?

He’ll lecture you about that later. Maybe he can even convince you to let him go grocery shopping for you.

Steve settles on a canned soup he finds stored in the back of the cabinet after checking if it’s not expired. He is halfway through warming it up when he glances over his shoulder and catches you staring back at him.

An eternity seems to pass between the moment your eyes meet and when you open your mouth and say, not particularly thinking it through before doing so, “I heard you had a date tonight.”

He’s taken by surprise, that much is clear. “I…Who said that?”

“Dustin.”

Steve rolls his eyes, turning his back on the soup once he’s sure it’s safe to leave it on its own. “Of course he did.”

“It’s okay,” you say. And it should be.

He’s silent for a moment. Then he sits down across from you, leaning back on the chair with his arms crossed. So close yet so far. 

“Is it?” he asks.

“Of course.” No, it’s not.

His proximity is suddenly suffocating, his gaze suddenly heavy. Your eyes prickle and you’re not sure why.

“It smells good,” you stand up, not bothering, or remembering to, grab the crutches as you start for the stove, not one bit interested in the soup but pretending to be so. 

Steve is up in no time. Which is good, because you trip almost immediately, and his hands on your waist are the only thing keeping you from falling over unceremoniously.

But now he’s close. Closer than before. Closer than he’s been for the last few months you’ve spent apart.

“Careful,” he says, not moving an inch.

Your traitorous, traitorous eyes end up on his lips. You don’t want to get away from him, but you must. 

And yet, you don’t move.

Then, unexpectedly, almost unintentionally, he lets out, “You know none of these dates will ever lead anywhere, right?”

You’re not entirely sure you’re breathing now.

“Why not?”

“Because,” he whispers, taking his time, “they’re not you.”

Or maybe you’re breathing too fast. Is there such a thing? Suffocating on too much oxygen?

Maybe more like on too much love.

“Steve,” you mumble. He leans down, closer, the sound of his name on your lips pulling him in. 

Then….

“We broke up.”

“No,” he says, lips brushing against yours as he speaks. “You broke up with me.”

He tilts his head to the side, too close, and your breath catches in your throat. 

“Steve.”

His voice is nothing but a whisper, “I miss you.”

Your lips part. You wanna reply I miss you too, so much, but you’re breathing each other, his hands now hugging you tighter, closer, more desperate, and there’s a voice in your head saying you should probably remember why you broke up with him on the first place.

So you do.

“I can’t do this. We can’t do this. You’re…”

You step back, not half as gracious as you’d hoped, but still — out of his reach. He lets you. No resistance, arms falling back to his sides.

His eyes tell a different story, though.

“I’m not the one you’re missing,” you say, your own eyes prickling with tears. “Not really.”

“Y/N-”

“I don’t wanna be your second choice, okay? I won’t.”

“You were never my second choice!”

He sighs; licks his lips, runs a hand through his hair. Steve’s a mess; he wants the words, the right words this time, but he feels like he can’t think straight, like you’re slipping through his fingers once again.

It’s complicated. Everything is so complicated. 

He wants to make it simple.

He takes your hands in his; gentle, familiar, comforting. Your touch anchors him, his thoughts, his feelings — here, where he wants to be.

“There was never even a choice to make, Y/N,” he brings your hand to his chest, movement gentle, and places it over his heart; carefully, in no rush, finding the exact spot where you can actually feel his heart beating under your palm. 

For you.

Maybe he’s being cheesy, he thinks. But he's helpless; Steve couldn’t care less if he does.

“It has always, always been you, from the moment we met, this heart has been nothing but yours, all yours, Y/N. And even if you don’t want it- even if-” he gives your hand a gentle squeeze, eyes wandering everywhere as he tries to grasp the words once again. “I was yours long before I had the guts to let you know. I'd rather be here eating canned soup with you then anywhere else with anyone else.”

[hazydaaze]

An analysis of the Bold Type that I need to get off my chest (it'll be worth it, I promise)

I studied English literature at university, and it has always been instinctive for me to analyse characters, storylines, bigger pictures and under the surface tensions in film & tv. Discussing emotions, motivations and themes with my gf and my pals late at night is one of my favourite pastimes ever and I love everything to do with filmography and art ahhhh. (I wrote my dissertation on David Bowie & The Artistry of Sexuality, ya feel me?)

The Bold Type isn't filmography at all, but I think Jane Sloan and Jacqueline Carlyle hit different for me, being a queer woman in my 20s and a full-time writer. I can't really explain why. I guess there are a lot of queer female characters in film & tv that don't really feel inherently queer, and even as two identifying straight women Jane and Jacqueline felt queer to me. Their connection and understanding of each other was authentic and quite complex. I think they had potential to be something that we'd never seen before in mainstream media, because of their age difference and life experiences. I thought that was so compelling and so important to talk about and to give a recognised space to.

There is one thing that struck me most about them and it's insane to me that I haven't seen a lot of analysis on it, so it's the point of this post.

To my knowledge the show or actors haven't delved too deeply into it either, and given what went down I don't understand why people AREN'T talking about it. I wanted to bring it up. Btw, this post contains spoilers.

***Sexual abuse trigger warning***

In season 1, we learn that Jacqueline is the victim of rape, and the only person she has told about it is her husband, Ian. Given that she mentions that they've been married for around 19 years and the assault happened before they met, we can assume Jacqueline has been carrying the weight of what happened to her for over two decades. During all that time she didn't talk about it with anyone else, not a single other person.

And then Tiny Jane comes along. Jane Sloan, the big swing writer who just wants to write meaningful stories that help other women and girls that need it, like she did growing up. She fucks up a lot on the way and slowly begins discarding her judgemental opinions as she grows. But when she is at her best she has genuine compassion and empathy for people, and despite her reservations, Jacqueline gives her the opportunity to write about the story of a rape survivor and performance artist. She isn't aware, at the time, what that means for her own trauma or her own acceptance of it. But she does it anyway, because she sees something in Jane and she has seen it there from the beginning.

Jane starts to write and, as we know, in the most beautiful and compelling moment at the season 1 finale, Jacqueline is confronted with what happened to her. She stands in Central Park holding these weights, and you can see the crushing pain in her eyes as the realisation descends down on her. She shares a look with Jane, and a moment of understanding passes between them at what this means.

Despite all this, she lets Jane capture her trauma. She lets her publish her untold experience of her rape from two decades gone. She lets millions of people see her story in writing, with Jane Sloan's name printed above it. She re-lives and faces up to the harsh reality of that pain and that truth, through Jane.

Can you even imagine the trust you must have in someone to do that? The sheer love that took, for Jacqueline to give Jane her voice and her truth, with all its painful and hard repercussions?

This storyline is the boldest part of the Bold Type. It's the most honest and the most authentic. It captures the raw emotion of Jacqueline, and of Jane, and the two characters really see each other for who they are. It's one of the reasons why their relationship is so central to the other's storyline.

We don't ever see Jane truly unpick in detail what Jacqueline did for her. It spoke so many volumes and ... well, isn't that what love is?

It's this storyline that sets the tone for their relationship over the course of the show. Jacqueline sacrifices herself for Jane again and again. She publishes the article about the lack of accessible healthcare at Safford and gets fired for doing so, purely so Jane can afford to freeze her eggs. Jacqueline says there were a lot of other things that contributed to it, but Jane knows her article was the final straw, the point of no return.

Over a decade of pouring everything she could give into Scarlet Magazine and it’s readers, only to be gone in a second. All for Jane.

And again, in season 4, in the few real moments we are given between them, one of their final interactions is Jacqueline giving Jane the go-ahead to explore a story of potential abuse at States & Nations, a company Ian is associated with. Ian literally asks Jacqueline to stop pursuing the story, due to the sexual relationship he had with the source when he and Jacqueline were separated. When Jane challenges Jacqueline over her reasoning for pulling the story, she asks her to give the story a chance. Jacqueline lets her, knowing full well that it could prove irreparably damaging to her marriage and her family, and she does it anyway.

Jacqueline chooses the truth, over her career and over her marriage. She chooses Jane. As humans, there isn't much more you can give to someone else. I’m wracking my brains trying to think of a way Jacqueline could portray her love for Jane more, and I’m all out of ideas.

I want to reiterate again how insane it is to me that none of this is really acknowledged, or at least not nearly as much as it should be amongst the show, its creators and its viewers, Jacqueline continually falls on her sword for Jane (weird analogy, but she does) and it is repeatedly glossed over. Their relationship is quickly dismissed as a "mother Jane never had" or a simple "boss/employee" power dynamic, and it seems so hollow, unjust and sorry - so unbelievably boring - in contrast to the experiences they have shared together and the sacrifices they have made.

I understand Jacqueline’s character was based on Cosmopolitan Editor in Chief, Joanna Coles, and therefore it makes sense that this queerness to her relationship with Jane was not intended. However, it’s there. Everything I mentioned in the post happened on the show in canon.

In 2021, the possibility that these two women could have romantic or sexual feelings towards each other shouldn't be a stretch. If either of these women were male characters with this much intertwined investment, high stakes and sacrifice, there would be no doubt they would be endgame. They would run away, have the hottest sex, all the while their reputations would be forever ruined in the name of love. And we, as viewers, would celebrate it without question - we would never dismiss it.

The concept of what they are, and what they can be as two women should be able to live and thrive. It should be given a beating heart. In the very least, the reality of it should be on the table and up for debate. But for many viewers, and the show’s creators, it just isn’t. And here lies the problem.

Jane and Jacqueline have such a beautiful dynamic, it is so deep and soul-wrenching. How can we ever limit what these two women are and what they would do for each other?

I really hope that one day we can see a relationship like theirs given the queer space it deserves. Because it would've been the bold thing (and the right thing) to do.

I'm going to publish a longer and more in-depth article about this on Medium, because as I said, analysing is my favourite pastime and I can't stop doing it. But for now, this is all I can manage.

Edit: Read my published Medium article.

Here's to Jane and Jacqueline and what could've been.