#but also. old man yaoi aside

[rated-r-for-grantaire]

While there's some things I enjoyed about the 1998 Les Mis Movie, I will NEVER forgive the ending. I'm sorry, but there is no world where Valjean would walk away smiling as Javert kills himself. Like, I'm not just saying this as a Valvert shipper - I truly think it's such a genuine disservice to Valjean's character to do that, considering that JVJ saves and forgives Javert MULTIPLE TIMES in canon. Valjean would not smile at anyone's death, especially not anyone's SUICIDE! Even if that person is Javert! He saved Javert's life, and you write him SMILING AS HE DIES? NO WAY!

[lurkingshan]

10 Things I Love About Oppan

I have been tracking Ossan no pantsu ga nandatte ii janai ka aka Don't Care for an Old Man's Underwear aka Oppan in my weekly Japanese QL Corner posts, but this show is so good that I need to give it a full tribute now that the entire thing is available with English subs courtesy of @isaksbestpillow. You can find everything you need to watch here.

This is easily one of my favorite dramas of the year, and it had such a great cast of awesome characters and a story chock full of fantastic themes. This is a show that encourages us not to get desensitized to the world around us, to always challenge ourselves to learn and grow and update how we think about others and the culture we live in, and to prioritize personal happiness over conformity. I love it so much and I want to talk about why, because I hope more of you will, too! @twig-tea wrote a great spoiler free pitch for the show here; this one is not spoiler free in the hopes that those of you who like a bit more info will be further enticed to give it a try. On to the list!

This is a story about a middle-aged cishet man who realizes he has damaged his relationships and sets out to change to do right by his family

There are so few stories of genuinely great fathers in media, and I found something so healing in watching a dad try so hard to do his best. Just the very fact that Makoto cares that he has hurt his family and is willing to put in work to change sets him apart, both in media and in real life.

An unconventional friendship is the heart of the story—and it changes both the characters' lives

Our core relationship begins when Daichi prevents Makoto from falling down a set of neighborhood steps, and the two strike up a surprising friendship when Daichi proves open to listening to Makoto as he struggles to figure out where he went wrong with his family. Daichi is kind and warm-hearted but also firm in his convictions, and his wisdom is exactly what Makoto needs to start updating himself.

Daichi is a gay character who’s allowed to be a whole human—he is not here just to be a magical queer mentor for Makoto

And before you worry that Daichi is a Manic Pixie Dream Gay here only to support Makoto, let me assure you that he also has a story, and it’s more complex than you might initially expect. Daichi has a lot of confidence when it comes to helping other people solve their own problems, but we eventually learn that he's not so assured about his own struggles. Daichi has other relationships that matter aside from his bond with Makoto and his family and he gets his own character arc in which Makoto is able to support him in return. They have a mutual bond that changes both of them for the better.

It takes a gentle and thoughtful approach to figuring yourself out, and encourages us to be kind to others experiencing things we don't understand 

There are so many characters in this show whose stories highlight this theme, but it is perhaps most evident in the story of Kakeru, Makoto's son, grappling with his identity and gender presentation. This show will surprise you again and again with how open and thoughtful it is about questions of identity and preference, and it constantly reinforces that we shouldn't assume we know everything about others and how they will react to our truths--if we give people a chance to know us, they might be more kind and supportive than we think.

This story sincerely believes that doing what makes you happy is always the right choice

And they make it clear over and over again: your personal happiness matters more than any societal constructs or cultural norms. Letting go of what people outside of their family think is what heals the Okitas and helps them find their love and trust for one another again.

Relatedly, it gets fandom in a way few dramas do

Makoto's wife, Mika, is a kpop stan, and his daughter, Moe, is a yaoi mangaka. One of the best parts of the show is Makoto coming to understand and appreciate their fandom and learn to respect the joy it gives them, and in turn, the whole family.

Everyone has the chance to redeem themselves

Regardless of what they have done in the past, every character in this story has a chance to redeem themselves and earn trust and respect back--and earn is the operative word there. This show doesn't demand perfection, but it absolutely demands that you care when you harm others and earnestly try to do better, and we see many characters take that journey. This is further underlined by a character in the story who does not put in that effort to try, and consequently is not forgiven or brought into the family fold. So satisfying.

Every character and every relationship matters

I was constantly amazed by how attentive this show is to every single relationship, not just the big family ones, or even just Makoto and Daichi. Makoto also goes out of his way to get to know Daichi's boyfriend Madoka, his coworkers, and Moe and Kakeru's friends, and we see connections form and deepen between so many side characters in this story. It really cares about all its characters as whole people.

And while it's doing all of this important thematic work and making us cry on the regular, it also manages to be very fucking funny! 

This show is hilarious, which may surprise you given all the heavy thematic work it's doing. But the writing has a deft touch and it manages to explore all these themes with a lot of humor. Watching Makoto learn new things and blunder his way through connecting with others is truly a delight.

And it caps off all of this with a great story about having the courage to love in the face of bigotry and a beautiful gay wedding

Perhaps the biggest spoiler here: we get a gay wedding! I was so surprised and thrilled to see Daichi and Madoka decide to marry--and not without some stumbles--and bring the Okita family so fully into their joy. What a beautiful way to end a gorgeous show. I will miss all of these people dearly.

[thechibilitwick]

more ramblings that sit in my drafts for an unspecified amount of time before i eventually decide to finish and post them!!! (also sorry if someone has already done an analysis like this i just thought it was an interesting detail)

today I shall go over what I believe the woman that Kazui is seen with in Half is supposed to represent. (+ some general analysis)

This lady is basically the reason why the entire cheating theory existed in the first place, and understandably so. But after his T2 voice drama, Kazui confirms that he never actually cheated (also his wedding ring is. right there. on his finger. man.) If that's the case, then who is this woman? If he didn't cheat, why would a random woman be in his MV? I actually think the answer might not be that complex:

The woman simply represents women.

For one, there are two other side character in the MV besides this lady: Hinako and the bartender. Moreover, both of those characters have a significant difference from the woman: they don't have a full set of facial features.

I personally believe that Kazui views them without eyes because they are people he finds painful to remember. Therefore, the woman still having her eyes visible would mean that she isn’t as significant as Hinako or the bartender.

Moreover, the way the woman is framed has a lot of implications.

The first scene establishes a correlation with the lady and Hinako. Both scenes are framed similarly, and both have Kazui staring at them. (with the same "i'm such an old man. yaoi." look on his face idk how else to describe it) The only difference is that there are two different versions, or sides, of Kazui.

Kazui in the bar, suit and all, has been heavily implied to represent his “true desires”. He's the one that notices Kazui watching from the audience and makes him notice the apple, and the one who appears in the champagne glass in Cat.

Kazui in the house, less dressed-up than bar Kazui, likely represents how he believes he should act. He looks upset over the distance between him and Hinako and he’s the one who's shocked upon realizing his actual feelings.

With this in mind, the transition between both women has implications on the way Kazui views them and in turn how he views women (in terms of his desires vs. what's expected of him.)

The second scenes then implies what it specifically is that both sides of Kazui feels about women.

The first scene starts off with Kazui in the house, staring down at his wedding ring with a sizable distance between him and Hinako.

Then the scene shifts to Kazui in the bar, where the woman is probably drunk, and leaning onto him with possible hints of intimacy. Yet he ends up putting the woman aside.

This is where what the lady possibly represents becomes a bit more clear. Similar to Magritte's art (which Kazui's MVs regularly reference), the woman is not a literal woman, but the representation of a woman. Kazui pushing away the woman as his desired 'true self' could mean he doesn’t feel the need to comply to the expectation of being attracted to or in a relationship with a woman.

Both scenes also contrast each other. The distance between Kazui and either woman as well as the way he reacts to said distance are the opposite. Kazui and Hinako have a considerable gap between them, and he feels guilty for this because of the expectation of being in a (heterosexual) marriage. Despite believing that this is what's 'correct' and what'll lead to happiness, he's still somehow failing.

Kazui and the bar lady have practically no space between them, yet Kazui is able to put her aside because he doesn't feel the need to conform. Even if she's conventionally attractive and is being intimate with Kazui, he quite literally does not give a shit.

Ok this is kinda getting wordy so I shall close off here. tl;dr I personally think the bar lady serves the purpose of symbolizing women, marriage, and maybe even heteronormativity, in order to express Kazui's conflicting views. Maybe I'm actually wrong and she really is an existing person, but uhh hey the themes still hold up in regards to Kazui soooo

(also it's possible that the woman is purposely between him and the bartender in both scenes, because societal norms still get in his way of his actual feelings or smth idk i can't word anymore)

anyways that's all i hope this makes sense 🥹

[toorumlk]

what are your other fav ships from harry potter aside from romione! love love your art so much!

thank you friend!!!! ehehe i have a few ships i enjoy but let it known that im a full fledged canon enjoyer and some of these ships can be deemed “”problematic”” but please know i have the wherewithal to understand when its fiction and i just love a good story

- grindledore (!!!!!! huge old man yaoi enjoyer but also, the greatest wizard of his era had a torrid love affair when they were 17-18 with his generation’s most notorious dark wizard? they were next door neighbours but still sent letters to each other at night bc they couldn’t stop talking?? this horrible dark wizard is the great dumbledore’s one true love and his achilles heel and the reason for all his grief and suffering? SIGN ME TF UP)

- tedromeda (i find them so heartbreaking, the sunny muggleborn hufflepuff boy who stole the heart of the slytherin girl who comes from the most infamous blood supremacist family, i looovee andromeda she’s one of the few slytherins who deserves rights in my book)

- snily (i like them mostly platonically but i don’t mind them romantically either)

- tomarrymort *starts breakdancing*

i actually enjoy a lot of the snape ships bc i really like snapes character so, snupin (like what do you MEAN snape was making monthly wolfsbane potion for lupin in poa), snack, and… snarry (DONT WHACK ME there’s something i find titillating about a 30 year old harry with a 51 year old sev)

- LINNY

- i love ronarry but mostly as a tortured bi harry who has an unrequited crush on his clueless best friend

- wolfstar but only the middle-aged, life has beat them up, gary oldman/david thewlis version of them (i actually don’t find the fanon young version of them all that interesting…)

- jily (but within reason…. i think james potter is a dickhead and i don’t like him very much)

- oh!!! this is the one marauders ship i like i think the kids call it quillkiller which is bellatrix and rita skeeter ohhh hell yeah that sounds so good

- i also fw bellamort a little bit but only in an abstract messed-up concept way

that’s all i can think of, i know that some of these are unpopular and my reasonings behind a lot of them certainly are in the fandom but I’m speaking my truth.. romione still on top forever though

[peachglumpear]

twitlonger doesn't work anymore so i've decided to compile my thoughts on tumblr.

there are two reasons why tvskyle being arrested for csem enrages me aside from the obvious of the matter.

tvskyle was a known predator for years. if you google his name and "callout" there are troves of information about his harassment and predation to women. back when i had a professional art account despite that i was not an animator or heavily in animation circles this was public knowledge even to me.

2. this is what happens when people refuse to acknowledge predators can and will co-opt GOOD GUY / BAD GUY language to infiltrate and stay in circles.

anyways, that is the short version. this is the long version where i get into topics regarding abuse and harm that may be triggering.

first off, let's get over how using the word "paraphile/paraphilia" has become fearmongering and taking the words away from what they actually mean. "paraphilia", at its most base level definition means "a paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals."

if you like BDSM, you're a paraphile. if you like bondage, you're a paraphile. if you like pregnancy, you're a paraphile. if you like fictional brothers kissing, you're a paraphile.

considering the DSM used to characterize homosexuality as a mental illness until 1973 (51 years ago, not that long in hindsight!) if you are not a cisheterosexual white man and like anything that is not cisheterosexual sex intended for the sole purpose of procreation with the intent to create children, you have a paraphilia.

paraphilia/paraphile in both proclaimed 'anti' and 'proship' spaces is becoming the new 'pedo', which is really just BAD PERSON. do not interact with me if you are a BAD PERSON who does BAD THINGS. BAD PEOPLE get away.

the reason why i do not have any disclaimers about "antis/pedos/zoos/etc dni" in my bio is because to me this is the same thing as saying "serial killers dni" ...i don't mean to sound snarky, this is just what it boils down to. if a person is out there harming someone, human or animal:

i do not know why they would proclaim this information publicly.

if someone is harming real beings, i do not think they would respect text on a screen if that very prominent line in the sand has already been passed.

tvskyle fits the mold for animation dudebro who was established in the industry of his choice despite the open knowledge of his predatory behavior. i cannot testify to if anyone knew he was possessing csem before he was officially arrested, but it was definitely open knowledge that he was the kind of man you wouldn't want left alone with female coworkers. some of this behavior was bad enough that even male coworkers would avoid him.

tvskyle also coopted proship/anti terminology.

this isn't me knocking on someone for their age, but when i first saw tvskyle posting about of all things, invader zim yaoi, my first thought was "why in the world would a 45 year old man who is an industry professional be so obsessed with arguing online about cartoon smut."

i guess you can argue about stupid things on the internet at any age at any level of industry success. but it was bizarre to me because it's not as though cartoon smut of any problematic variety should be news to someone working in animation in their 40s. The animators on the original Beetlejuice made jokes that BJ's fingertips were red from fingering Lydia on her period. The rugrats storyboarders drew horny jokes. There's infamous posts about animators finding the secret smut vaults for their shows. Cartoon smut has basically existed as long as cartoons have existed.

and then you find out tvskyle also drew pokemon porn that involved may (age 12), brock (age 15) and max (may's younger brother, age 8.)

wow, kyle! a threeway between a 12 year old and her 8 year old brother! that seems pretty problematic! incest and shota combo!

but i guess that's not an issue. it's not problematic when i draw it because i'm not a BAD PERSON.

tvskyle became weirdly obsessed with calling people out for cartoon smut despite that he drew smut you could categorize just as problematic in nature. and then he was found possessing some of the worst csem you can be found possessing. and he was found possessing over *600 images* of csem. that isn't something you gather overnight.

so there is the uncomfortable truth of the matter that predators can and will co-opt terminology to blend into any space. and this can happen anywhere. if someone wants to get under the radar in anti circles, they will rave about how bad cartoon smut is. if someone wants to get under the radar in proship spheres, they will adapt and use the appropriate terminology for that sphere.

and this is why to a whole, i find it incredibly reductive to use terms that reduce people into bad person / good person because at its most harmful, all it does is protect people who are continuing and perpetuating harm to real people.

i think everyone needs to acknowledge their capacity to harm as much as their capacity to heal. and before you think "wow peach that is a really wide assumption i would NEVER hurt someone like [x]" yes, i know, imaginary stranger in my head, this is not what i am saying.

what i mean when i say we all need to acknowledge our capacity to harm is because i believe the choice to be a good person or a bad person is a choice you make every day. if i am a "good person" my whole life and then one day...i don't know. i steal money from a homeless person, or i throw a drink made wrong in an overworked barista's face. all of the "good things" i have done would not cancel out that in those theoretical moments, i was not a good person. in fact, in these hypothetical scenarios, i was very nasty.

there have been days where i've had to be the friend who sits another friend down and talks with them about how something they said or did really hurt me. and likewise, sometimes i've had to come face to face with when i wasn't the good friend. it hurts both ways but let's be honest, someone hurting you doesn't come with the same fearful sting of "i hurt my friend. do they think i'm a BAD PERSON. am i the BAD PERSON now?"

and none of these conversations would have been productive or involved growth or greater understanding if they had come from the angle of YOU, a BAD PERSON, hurt ME, a GOOD PERSON. (on either end.)

i think acknowledging your capacity to harm simply means acknowledging you're human. you won't always be right. you will mess up and that's simply a part of the human experience. but being able to take accountability and examine when your actions have caused harm will be more beneficial to yourself and your loved ones in the long run.

the person who groomed me would not admit they had groomed and exploited a minor because in their mind, they are not a BAD PERSON.

the person who abused me would never admit to these things because in their mind, they are not a BAD PERSON.

to be a BAD PERSON is to lose everything because being a BAD PERSON is not to be any person at all.

of course these people never took responsibility for the harm caused to me.

only BAD PEOPLE do BAD THINGS.

the uncomfortable truth is there is no way to ping with 1000% accuracy someone intent on predation and harm. there are predators in white vans lurking outside of high schools, but the predators were also the charming and well spoken teachers who were very popular with coworkers, parents and their students. some people are simply better at adapting and blending in the system they want to exploit than others.

i think tvskyle fell somewhere in the middle. other inappropriate behavior of his was well known, but this wasn't enough for him to be blacklisted. as we all know, sexually harassing women is not a firable offense. for people missing the 50's, feel assured some thing have not changed. (<- very biting sarcasm.)

tvskyle is definitely not the last predator in animation, but what do you expect from circles that are essentially glorified high school cliques that only require ego stroking and circlejerking.

tvskyle may have been the most recent predator found, but he is definitely not the only one and anyone acting otherwise is just leaving the door open for these people to continue perpetuating harm.

[damianbugs]

thoughts on bruce x jack drake?

hello anon apologies for the late reply but when i first received this ask i immediately assumed there was a leak in mine and @plutoslvr messages because we were literally talking about it about two seconds beforehand. i could barely sleep that night.

my thoughts are that old man yaoi is so enjoyable when it's just slightly ridiculous and entirely impossible. there are three ideal sections of the brujack ship (enjoyed by population NO ONE, apparently, but with our combined efforts i imagine we can spark this flame):

rivals to lovers

bruce wayne vs wanting to bone people who want him dead

doomed by the narrative

1. rivals to lovers.

bruce and jack competing in the worlds most intense "who is the best average-leaning-towards-okay dad" battle. trying to outperform in casual "okay dad" actions to win "okay dad" points from tim, something that is totally normal and entirely possible (jack is always in the lead and bruce has not yet realised that he will never overtake him).

this one is so fucking funny to me. silly events such as them fighting on who gets to take tim to his school events, comprising on taking turns (for tim's sake, not because they want to) or attending them together (the pta now think bruce wayne and jack drake are in a relationship). jacks like im taking tim to the skate park and bruce is like well i told tim i'd take him to lunch — now it's bruce and jack taking their kid to the park then lunch together and the paparazzi have no idea how to headline this.

i imagine eventually tim can't handle this truly bizarre tension filled dynamic anymore so he cancels last minute and bruce and jack are like, well, we've already booked a table at this super expensive restaurant AND that cool movie afterwards, so we might as well make use of them.

at some point the "i HAVE to one up the other guy to impress my son" becomes "i HAVE to one up the other guy to impress our son AND so he realises how i'm obviously a catch"

i imagine eventually when they form some sort of established relationship ("do not call me your damn boyfriend, bruce, are we fifteen?") the rivalry doesn't really stop, but it's far more fond and well, tim's just glad he doesn't need to set aside two days a week to make sure he spends time with each of them.

2. bruce wayne vs wanting to bone people who want him dead

now we all know bruce's ideal type is someone who is either a) actively a danger to his life or b) was at some point more inclined to being a danger in his life or a secret third thing that is c) would become a danger to his life if pushed slightly in that direction. we've no time to psychoanalyse this but it's hardly a point that needs to be explained after taking a look at his long list of exes.

now, after this, is it truly out of the realm of possibility that after jack drake finds out that bruce wayne is the fucking batman and is to partly blame for tim's dangerous life choices he stomps over to the man's house and threatens to SHOOT HIM, that bruce wants him carnally. my exact words when reading this scene was "rather reservedly, i imagine this level of foolish and almost stupid bravery impressed bruce, regardless if it it was for entirely unselfish reasons on jack's part or if it was genuinely out of care for tim" i then say "i also think this would have moved bruce, emotionally, figuratively, poetically, sexually WOAH"

we all know that canonically when bruce falls in love or becomes even slightly interested in someone, he goes STUPID and impulsive. he's sending jack rare artefacts and really specific gifts and throwing galas with the sole purpose of inviting jack all without even considering that is actually not a normal response to have after someone threatens to kill you. perhaps he doesn't even realise this is something more than just paranoid obsession, and he tries to rationalise it like "i'm only trying to convince him to come with me to the museum so i can work out what kind of person he is in casual date settings and also to kiss him WAIT"

this one is funny if jack is just not interested at all and he's like okay what the fuck what kind of mind games is this guy trying to pull. tim is your mentor trying to tell me something through the purchase of these front seat opera house tickets and tim is like i can't believe this is real life i hope this is all a nightmare this can't be happening to me. bruce is hopelessly infatuated and jack is like don't think i won't file a restraining order against you BATMAN.

or it can get funnier if jack is like I WONT FALL FOR YOUR SEDUCTION TECHNIQUES BATMAN (proceeds to fall for batman's seduction techniques).

bonus alfred is actively praying on jacks downfall (canon) and is experiencing war flashbacks when bruce begins to display lovesick behaviour

3. doomed by the narrative

now as you may have noticed most of these work before the bright red alarm that is JACK DRAKE'S TRAGIC DEATH. his death in and of itself is already so sad, because he was changing, he was better and tim was so close to having everything he wanted, and jack was truly hopeful to be present and good to his son.

if we now throw in the mix of this shortlived romance, wherein canon bruce is already swamped with guilt about janet's death and feels as though he OWES it to tim to save jack as well, it becomes all the more heartbreaking. i would actually change nothing about how it happened in canon. jack still leaves that phone call for tim, tim and bruce still race to get to him, tim still finds his father's dead body and bruce still holds tim away from the corpse.

because the best part about this potential relationship is that it is born from the shared want to look after tim. it's what connects them and what causes any sort of interaction between them. so even at this point, bruce's first priority is tim, because it will always be tim first, but also because that is what jack would have wanted from him.

just another love for bruce to hide in his heart, let it consume and damage him, let it make him colder and harder to approach, another layer on this already unbreakable foundation. it probably causes problems between tim and bruce, for the sake of mourning but not reacting and simply because loss can make people very unkind. bruce's guilt is now more than just what he already feels for somehow failing tim, but also for not being able to save someone he loves, again.

OR jack lives au and bruce is even MORE obsessed and insufferable about it and tim literally has to help his own dad break out of the manor because batman is holding jack hostage (bedrest for almost dying).

or we have our obligatory bruce wayne "I almost lost you, so now im going to push you away for both our sake" arc to which Jack drake probably threatens to shoot bruce again and then they do it silly HAPPY ENDING EVERYONE GO HOME

[subparcarrion]

Greetings again TMA fandom, would any of you read a fanfic that featured a lonely-pocalypse versus the eye-pocalypse? (Recently finished season five, I am screaming, crying, and throwing up. How are you lot?)

Im talking about full on lonely avatar Martin as well. Not sure exactly how it happens, but Peter probably pulled some shit. (Smth smth he betrays Elias/Jonah to enact his own ritual and we can have some toxic old man yaoi content.)

It also brings up the question of what in the everlasting fuck happens to Jon if the world is centered around the lonely. A can of worms we sorta explored in cannon, minus the lonely-pocalypse part. But something we haven't really seen brought to full fruition. (Idk, it's really interesting to me.)

Also purely on an asthetics level, the lonely-pocalypse would be so fun to write about.

Like imagine, we sort of have this thing kind-of like the panopticon, but it's a light house instead. (The light is also never pointing at you somehow, no matter where you go, or how it spins. It just will never shine on you.)

It also always seems just out of reach, even if you're close. Not in the way that you wouldn't reach it eventually, but it would always seem dishearteningly far away. Probably enough to convince someone lost, and well, alone to give up trying.

As far as anyone can see it's just all foggy. Just enough that you can see general shapes, but if you're not right next to someone or something you can't make out details. You know it's there, but it's not for you. It's also just ridiculously hard to navigate, you always feel lost.

It would probably also be raining nearly constantly, even if just a light drizzle. As you can imagine it does start to collect and add up, and most low to the ground areas are at least somewhat flooded.

I imagine that most bodies of water increase in size, and a lot of land ends up turning into these islands, with shallow waters separating them. (Most islands end up each housing a domain.)

You could probably wade or swim through most of the water, but it wouldn't be fun.

I thought it would be an interesting idea, even without going to deep into potential character things/ideas. Obviously I don't even have a draft for something like this yet, it's still purely in the concept/brainstorming phase.

But lmk if I should write up a draft or smth like that, if yall are actually interested I could cook up some concept sketches. Character designs aside, the landscape would be crazy fucking fun to draw. :3

[guess-that-ship]

S12 Round 2*

Dad's little successor

A single father and his daughter. It's no doubt that family is the main thing keeping the man afloat. He's straightforward and serious, but whenever he's around his kid, you can finally catch him smiling. On top of everything, they bond over the same… hobby? Kid has a huge interest in her dad's job, dreaming about being like him when she grows up. And it's very likely, since she puts a lot of effort into following her goal. One problem is that the job may be pretty dangerous at times, and her dad is one of those parents that worries about every single detail in their kid's life, especially when it comes to their safety. Still, he wouldn't be able to bear hurting her feelings, so her talent and enthusiasm thrive as dad lets her take a look at real work he has to deal with, with the exception that he always stays near to be in control of any potential danger. One big problem is that the father hates his job. It sucks life out of him, and it's the actual reason for his strict personality. Outside of work, he's a loving parent always thinking about spending quality time with his child, sometimes doing embarrassing things for her enjoyment. However, at work he often deals with people's worst side. Aside from that, it leaves little to no space in his schedule for rest. All of this means that watching over his daughter participating in his job is a rare chance to spend time together. Not allowing his personal experience break daughter's dreams, he still can't help but stay focused at work. Sometimes it may seem like he's too cold about her achievements, but in the end he will always and let her know how impressive her work is and that he's proud of her.

Old(ish) men one-sided yaoi

cw: spoilers

They are childhood best friends who swore they would always work together and never let the competitiveness for the job they both wanted get in the way of that… until character B gets a girlfriend and gets her pregnant and decides he will give up on that dream for his new dream: marry his gf and be a family man. Character A gets really hurt by this and cuts all contact immediately, swearing he will never forgive him.

Years later character A gets the job they both wanted and goes on to live his life wishing him and character B could meet again, but still being incredibly stuck in the past and hating him all the same. A then meets B's grandson due to work-related reasons and they end up working together but A is so petty that at the first disagreement they have he tries to beat the shit out of him. He later realizes he's just a nice, honest kid who is honestly kind of insane and it reminds him of B, so he let's him leave and decides to visit B.

B is really really exited to see A, who in his head is like "I hate you but I love you and I missed you but fuck you", and then they have a nice hug where A thinks about how gentle and kind B is and feels dumb for how he acted… until A tries to beat the shit out of him. They semi-reconcile and end up meeting up more tho, and B makes it abundantly clear again that he is very happy to reunite with A.

They later team up because they're worried about B's grandson and have a very meaningful talk where B reassures A that overall he has made a good impact on society and is doing a good job. A also realizes that he can't keep dwelling on the past and that B was not evil for deciding to change his plans for the future and go after the love of his now dead wife.

*Ship does not have to be romantic.

[prince-liest]

oh my god…. prince……. you can’t do this to me. you’re saying next fic has vox getting fucked, focuses on vox’s transness (AH), AND ALSO HES ON THE OFF SEE SAW OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH VAL?????? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL MEE?!!?!!????? I THINK I MIGHT ACTUALLY COMBUST. and bc another anon asked abt how alastor views the violence in voxval’s relationship, i have Another thought on the matter. as much as alastor looks down on vox, they can be Very similar sometimes. they are both egomaniacs and very prideful. i don’t think vox, without outside interference, would ever ADMIT that the violence he faces is 1) something he truly hates AND 2) out of his control. he can’t admit he hates it, because then why isn’t he stopping it? that would be admitting to not being powerful enough or strong enough. and hello, 50’s toxic masculinity coming through, he CANT be a victim of domestic violence. he’s a powerful, rich, and important man. it all comes down to perceived weakness. so, the solution is to pretend he’s mostly fine with it. sure, he can act disgruntled and upset in the moment, but i don’t think he’d ever let himself take it seriously. because then he has to start drawing lines in the sand, and what happens then? will val look down on him? will he lose val? yeah, he is not risking that over a problem he mostly refuses to acknowledge exists. and as you said, this is all happening in the setting of hell, where ultra violence IS the norm, and vox himself is excessively violent. it’s the most delicious 50 layer cake of fucked up-ness.

RANT ASIDE THO. i have a question. 2. do you ever plan on having vox interact with the hotel crew outside of angel? ANDDDD what would charlie’s reaction be to their friendship/situationship/ kinda love affair. i think she could add SOOOOO much hilarity and Intense Emotions to this series. not that the boys haven’t been doing their part in that so far. charlie just intensifies everything she does, god bless her. -🌓

The "getting fucked" bit and the trans conversation bit are directly related to and relevant to each other, and frankly I'm just very happy to be out here writing the specific flavors of deeply queer shenanigans that I'm writing, and to have people actively enjoy that. It genuinely means a lot to me that I've strayed so goddamn far out of the bounds of good old top/bottom yaoi archetypes that introduced me to fandom and yet have a wildly enthusiastic audience nonetheless. So, that was my long way of saying that you bring me a lot of fucking joy, anon, hahaha.

As for everything you're saying about Vox, power, and masculinity: YOU! points dramatically at you YOU GET IT! YOU GET IT!!!!!! Everyone just read this, this is it, this is the thing. I have no notes to add. There is a reason that the main point he raises the moment he actually says something vulnerable about it (before he immediately cuts himself off) is a complaint that he's an overlord, so why—?

And with regards to your questions: I'm not gonna lie, my actual planning for 666 is usually, like, extremely by the seat of my pants. I plan nothing except, "Oh, shit, had an idea for the next one. Lesgoooo—" and that's been the case for literally every single installment. It's all just been evolving naturally and building on top of itself. So! I can't say that I plan to have Vox interact with the hotel crew or Charlie, but I also will never say that I'm actively opposed to it.

That said, I do think a lot of this fic is kinda structured around hitting specific topics that come up in intimate settings between Vox and Alastor specifically, with occasional tag-ins from Angel Dust, so I don't really know if there's anything in particular I'd like to write that I think would work better in this series if more characters got involved. But, hey! Never say never!

[lunarlegend]

anyway, it's a nice time to have an Ignis pillow

Ignis would never hurt anyone, i've said this before but he's the perfect example of how a man can be kind, gentle, and compassionate while still being strong and masculine

i think i ranted about it in one of my essays after i read all that homophobic yaoi doujinshi that didn't know how to characterize Ignis in a relationship with Gladio unless they were pretending he was a woman (one author even admitted to it, which is why i was so pissed)

anyway

that's one of the reasons i can't stand when people misgender Ignis or refer to him as Gladio's 'wife', etc., even as a joke

because you can be a man and still be kind and understanding?? you can be a man and still cook and clean and sew, i promise it's not going to revoke your masculinity

aside from the glaring homophobia when it comes to ships, that's why it bothers me so much to see that

basically saying Ignis can't also be masculine if he does things a woman 'should' do, or even -gasp- expresses concern for other people

which is obviously bullshit

like we have a character who is canonically male and who also canonically does all of these things. and people can't believe it, it has to become a meme or something

instead of just acknowledging him as he is, which ironically the other characters already do

Ignis is a role model for men, and i'm not kidding. i mean Gladio is too, all four of them are in their own ways, but Ignis specifically is tall and intimidating and wears a nice suit and could absolutely kick your ass, but then you realize he's actually very soft-spoken and empathetic and would be happy to take care of you. not only that, but he is extremely well-respected by everyone around him, and relied upon by his friends for pretty much everything.

you know that old joke post making fun of so-called 'alpha' males and it's like 'loud aggressive guys think they're the alphas, but alphas take care of their pack. the alpha is the one who remembered to bring a first aid kit and snacks.'

yeah.

[rinbylin]

who wishes to control the water. who dies in it. and who was birthed from it

also: there's only one room one bed

我真的谢谢您了......

[asteralis-01]

Dawg why is the hazbin/helluva fandom so toxic with their ships? Like I went to ask someone on ponytone what was so wrong with Radioapple- wanting to have maybe a bit of a heated debated, but nothing judgemental because truly it doesn't matter- THEY SAID I HAD TO BE A 13 YEAR OLD YAOI OBSESSED FUJOSHI WHOS OBSESSED WITH SEX (i mean I am obsessed with sex but for me radioapple is qpr soOO)- They also were so adamant that Al was aroace (which yes ofc its canon) but that 'qpr didn't matter and its just an excuse to have them fuck' I LITERALLY NEVER SAID THEY WERE FUCKInG!! WHEN DID QPR INFER SEXUAL RELATIONS THATS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT IT IMPLIES!! They were telling me to kill myself and saying they would kill themselves left and right and like idec at this point you've belittled the meaning of the insult/threat bc ik both of us are still gonna be kicking tomorrow. And they were like 'just shut up so I could win' "let me win you'll never win' WHAT ARE WE WINNING? WHAT COMPETiTION! I didn't know queer men was a fucking race to be beaten. And like alongside that I saw someone complaining about there being wlw rep, and in the same breath complaining about there only being mlm rep. Dude, and god forbid I had the audacity to suggest that Al x Rosie could possibly be qpr (its cute + would logically be the most canon ship considering Rosie is the only person Alastor seems to actually like) and they LOST THEIR MINDS dude they were claiming I ship any man and woman who stands together- which even if I DO how is it effecting you?- and that its the same as me shipping fucking Stella and Blitz because they shared a frame- not to mention the entire time they 'begging me and the vivzieverse to have media literacy and critical thinking' like dawg maybe you should stop yelling in the pony game about things and getting mad over things that 1. Will never actually happen in the show and 2. WILL NEVER EFFECT YOU Anyways rant aside, I am going to binge hazbin/helluva again and I'd love to have some discussions ab it and talk ab ships and such and the future and all that! All ships are valid!

[shamblessm]

⚠️ CW: SHIP PREFERENCES/OPINIONS. ⚠️

OPINIONATED COMMENT UNDER THE CUT. DNI IF YOU'RE GOING TO HARRASS ME OVER THIS.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I had a thought and I was like "muting posts is so cool but what if we get notifs for keywords in posts or at least put them in the timeline"

like thatd be so fucking cool bc gallagher rarepair enjoyers are so starved

and so I took a look and hey, wouldnt you know, GallaWelt is rare even though people like old man yaoi

but then i looked up ga11ah!ll and i was like ?!?!?!?!?!?!? THAT'S NOT A FUCKING RAREPAIR??!? At least gallawelt is old man yaoi so that's clearly one of the reasons why people ship them, but Ga11ah!ll? Sure,... but what's their dynamic?? I'm so lost??? I thought it was just like a couple people in the sea of Galladay shippers???

especially doesnt help that i, a person currently facing religious trauma, do NOT like Ga11ad@y. AT ALL. Like if you like the ship? Fine, whatever, Jesus/Judas or Angel/Devil dynamic, cool, but to me? That's cult leader x cult critic. Even if you argue that hey, Sunday was raised by Gopher Wood to be basically a zealot, it still rubs me the wrong way, so I mute and move

That said, i dont mind people shipping galla with welt/boothill/sunday and thats all fine, i just wish more people heard me out on gallawool, you know

LIKE.

IT'S RIGHT THERE!

Listen. Gallagher poses as a Security Officer of the Bloodhound Family right?? Even Sunday pointed it out, he even pointed out the fact that the scars are from Woolsey. Sure you could also say that he took Benny and Sir Whittaker's features and sure pop off girl but rn his "major" facade is a security officer (aside from the bartending) so please please PLEASE JUST FUCKING HEAR ME OUT. HE EVEN HAS INVERTED COLORS OF WOOLSEY'S VEST. YOU KNOW WHO ELSE HAS A HOUND BADGE AT THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE VEST'S LAPEL? WOOLSEY.

And like. Okay. You see where I'm going?

FAKE COP X REAL COP.

PLEASE.

It doesn't fucking help that pretty much a good amount of GallaWool artworks (which are rare enough already) are NSFW. Yes I know they're hot but even so it's usually that Woolsey's untagged, partially drawn, and/or out of frame completely. UGHFDF. Like yes I know!! Gallagher's practically a bottom and he deserves to be punished for being a fake Bloodhound but there can be ways to draw them fairly and also SFW ways to think about the ship too!!!! It's not always horny time yknow? Like there's so many fucking SFW ways to think of them!! There's minors who like these characters too!!

Woolsey promoting Gallagher, Gallagher leaving Penacony angst and gives his glowing scar+claw powers to Woolsey, the two having sweet SFW lovey dovey fluff moments, YOU NAME IT!!

The takeaway is that I'M TIRED OF STARVINGGGGGGG PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE JUST HEAR ME OUT

BEING THE CEO OF A RAREPAIR LET ALONE A #1 FAN OF AN NPC SUCKS SOF CUKIGN FJDSFHSDHGW5GU23UB34 WHY DO I LIKE MUSCULAR BEARDED MEN AND NOT PASTY PAPER #FFFFFF WHITE TWINKS😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[disventure-rewrite-takes]

yk what. i’ll bite.

trevek is the most forced ship in the entire series. i despise the fact that they’re making them canon.

season 1 was so bad for them and season 3 even worse. they had almost no scenes where they seemed good friends. acquaintances in forced proximity, at most. i remember trying to ship them soooo bad because everyone was like “OmG oLd MeN yAoI!!!1!1!!1” but they’re SOOO BAAAD. there was this one scene in S1 when trevor was dancing and he (very nicely!) invited derek to ‘groove’ and derek was like ‘man leave me tf alone’. like wow yea derek sure seems to love trevor. he’s making heart eyes at him always! /sarc

I DON’T GET IT. IT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. i can see it as a one-sided crush on trevor’s part, and then when he got mad at derek after the kiss (for some... reason......???????) i thought he would finally get over him. but then derek offers him that half-assed apology and all is fine in the world and THEY KISS.

when i tell you i was so. fucking. mad. i cannot wait for this show to be over so i will not have to think about these two ever AGAIN. i bet they’re gonna pull a “i’ve always loved you!!1!1!1!” with them like GETTT OUUUTTT. if they do that i will make it my mission to find every clip in which derek pushes trevor aside physically or metaphorically. derek is like those boys that taunt you in elementary because they ‘like you’. fuck you derek

i don’t even like. ship krysderek or tremily. but i want them to be canon over TREVEK. because truly unless you rewrite them from the GROUND there is NOTHING to be shipped and i mean NOTHING.

the potential is SO THERE. grumpy x sunshine. co-hosts. friends to lovers. i hate everyone but you. old men yaoi or whatever. IT IS SO THERE. BUT THEY JUST. CANNOT DO IT. ONC ARE IMMUNE TO MAKING THEIR CHARACTERS HAVE CHEMISTRY BECAUSE WHAT ISSS THISSSSS!!!!!!!

now in order to not have this ask just be an angry rant i’ll also submit a mini rewrite about them inspired by corn’s ask (linking said ask in the post): their S3 drama is entirely scripted. all of it.

so, krystal does get them out of jail. gets them to work for her. and trevor did like derek, but never states it on-screen. derek, on the other hand, is the most aromantic (and so so arrogant) man ever and does not like him back. he is still a dick to him, but eventually realizes his mistakes during the season and apologizes. trevor admits he used to like him, they laugh about it, they remain friends.

but god forbid there isn’t drama. so the network ends up scripting a plotline for them. apparently the tomjakeden love triangle wasn’t enough, there will be one between krystrevek too. great.

so to keep their jobs the three fabricate this love triangle. krystal and trevor laugh about how it’s DEREK of all people they’re fighting for and how it ‘should’ve been emily instead’, earning nods from the entire crew. trevor and derek have to redo their kiss scene a thousand times because “this dialogue is so fucking stupid” and “why does he just. kiss me. like that. what is going on” and other such things. they end the season being together on-screen and then publicly announce like a month later that they have broken up so they don’t have to force it for too long.

there. fixed it.

also if any of the 3 tremily shippers alive are seeing this. this can also include tremily. for fun. i love them a lot actually

🤔 i may... write this... when poolverine give me a sec to breathe and i cannot come up with more for them... maybe......... 🤔🤔🤔

disclaimer: i’m not trying to invalidate derek’s canon bisexuality by also making him aromantic, he can be both!

this is so real of me

corn’s post

[verdemoun]

I just realized that I haven’t asked for any content of one of my favorite women in camp and no one else has so I’m curious how Miss Grimshaw’s timewarp was? Going from bleeding out as Dutch started pointing a gun at the son that was just as much hers as he was Dutch or Hosea’s and then waking up to whoever found her in present time :>

SUSAN GRIMSHAW MY BELOVED

The gang did not have a fully mapped out version of events that occured between Hosea's death to Arthur's death so when they got Arthur (they were very confident about his death because it was written about in papers) they had to almost speed through the reunion to be like what happened did anyone else die do we need to be going for anyone else which is how they learned about Susan and Molly's deaths.

Internet sleuth Lenny quickly found the location because the discovery of a female body circa 1900 was reported on when the site of her grave was disturbed during the construction of a holiday home overlooking Elysian Pool.

Grimshaw understood she was dead, and had died. She woke up rather peacefully, very much gently waking up instead of jolting awake like most shooting deaths, on the balcony of a thankfully vacant holiday house overlooking Roanoke Ridge. It was idyllic enough for her to think she was in heaven, so she broke into the house, made herself a coffee and was comfortably sitting on a lounge chair when the gang showed up. Took timewarping like the boss she is. Does think cleaning appliances are the best invention of modern era she heard the term dishwasher and did not blink until she learned to use it.

Because the Matthews group were not prepared to pick up Susan as well they had no plans for where she could stay. Annabelle, delighted another og van der linde from the early days was back, offered up her own apartment which Susan was very grateful for.

Dutch should also be very grateful that he didn't die until 12 years later because Susan Grimshaw was absolutely ready to take him out on sight after the shit that happened just before her death.

Arthur is her boy 110% I adore their relationship and she absolutely gets promoted to Nana Grimshaw in Isaac's eyes because my boy recognizes found family faster than the actual gang do. As one of the few who knew about Isaac she is very soft on the boy but also her usual stern bad cop threatening to beat him self when he is causing trouble.

Much to her relief, many of the gang members learn to be independent in a way that they weren't in 1899 and Bessie has also taken on a lot of that maternal having to literally remind them to wash up and not be slobs role so she can be her own person. Which Susan Grimshaw is excited about! She adores the gang but it's like a parent being on their own for the first time after their last child goes to college, she is getting to rediscover herself outside of that role.

Also having a big old queer awakening after enjoying kissing Annabelle a little too much after several bottles of wine. Talk about rarepair where's my Annabelle x Grimshaw base. Every single woman who ever dated Dutch van der Linde had a queer awakening afterwards and never dated men again.

Being used to having a job and not knowing how to relax she is one of the first to get a modern era job. She shouldered her way into working at an old fashioned bar and working her way up to manager in record time because let's be honest taking care of the gang was 90% cleaning and shepherding drunks she's overqualified to be the hot scary aged barkeeper.

She actually loves the work and has never been intimidated by a patron because oh boohoo you've killed a man? me too bitch. you threaten to wait outside for me to leave after closing? see what fucking happens. one of the few who went through getting a weapons license and is always strapped.

step aside old man yaoi it is old woman yuri time and grimshaw owns it

[bluegekk0]

For that little ask thingamajig about the assumptions I wanted to put down that I always did noticed and a assume that you put a little bit of self-projection in some of your characters ever since I discovered the blog from the start a while back.

It’s no bad thing at all mind you, it adds a deeper connection with ones characters but that’s something I kinda picked up on.

Yea this is something I did mention at certain points in the past. Vyrm especially is a character I project a lot onto. I think it started back when the AU was still just an idea, I loved the Pale King as a character but I thought a lot of fandom mischaracterized him, so even back then I knew I wanted to make my own AU interpretation to hopefully separate it from the fanon. And as I thought of his arc, especially his backstory, I found myself giving him a lot of my own traits. It made him more relatable to me, and as a result I was able to come up with his story and personality without much trouble, as it came natural. As it turned out, many of those traits were those associated with the autism spectrum, so that also made me do a lot of self-reflection and ultimately suspect I might be autistic as well. Over time the distance between my AU version and his canon counterpart increased to the point I view them as two very different characters, and that is largely because of all the self-projection. Do I regret it? Not at all. I'm convinced that if I attempted to make him very different from myself, the AU wouldn't last even a few months. It does have a slight side effect (which applies to Grimm as well) in that I'm particularly sensitive about seeing interpretations I heavily disagree with, so I tend to stay in my own sandbox instead.

Grimm, funnily enough, wasn't actually part of the AU in its first iteration. I did already imagine him and my version of PK being in love back then (albeit it was very different to what I ended up with), but I thought it would be a bit too self-indulgent to include their relationship as, arguably, the main force of the AU. I'm very glad I changed my mind in the end and included that aspect, as writing them as a "slow-burn friends to lovers" couple allowed me to give both him and Vyrm a lot more depth than they would have otherwise. Romance isn't a genre I'm particularly crazy about (and being aromantic, I can't say I have any experience with romance either), but it was a lot of fun to develop them from this angle, while still making them interesting characters by themselves, and I have no regrets about that.

When it comes to self-projection, I think Grimm's love for Vyrm is part of that, I absolutely love Vyrm so naturally I had to write his husband as completely infatuated by him as well. But it doesn't end there, for instance, Grimm's fear of losing his loved ones and the general view of mortality is something I resonate with deeply. And while this does apply to Vyrm as well, the aspect of Grimm hiding behind a mask and pretending to be someone he might not be definitely has some elements of my own struggles, especially in regards to gender identity and dysphoria, though this is in concept only and not an actual element of his character (he's very comfortable with his male identity, which I suppose could be connected to me being a masculine leaning enby)

There are some small aspects of self-projection in other characters. Hornet's explosive personality does mirror some of my own traits I'm not proud of, and I think it allowed me to do a lot of self-reflection in return. And Holly's interest in art is definitely a result of me loving the process and wanting to have a character who does as well, though aside from that we are very different.

The ramble ended up longer than I anticipated, so apologies for the wall of text. But yeah, you were absolutely right in your assumption, this AU was built with self-projection (and old man yaoi) as its foundation. I'm very happy that it did, and I hope it also makes those characters more relatable to others.