#but it also just says a lot about their friendship. like. not together as a pair just together. they do everything together.

[loversray]

“Byler is in Stranger Things to show unrequited love” Yet, it isn’t.

Stranger Things has shown unrequited ‘love’ before, with Dustin’s crush on Max (who liked Lucas) which i feel like it’s a storyline that most people forget. Which it’s okay, since it’s not that relevant to the story, i just wanted to show how differently Dustin and Max’s story is to Mike and Will’s.

🧢👩🏻‍🦰 How exactly were Dustin & Max written?

For starters, the show doesn’t tell us why Max and Dustin would be good together as a couple. They go well as friends, yes, but they do not show a meaningful conversation between them that really shows the romantic chemistry and how much they understand eachother, like the Lumax bus scene.

Dustin only thinks Max is “awesome” because she skateboards, and has the top score in Dig Dug, because he doesn’t know her.

They highlight that Dustin is not in love with Max, hence the Steve scene, where Steve goes “You’re not falling in love with this girl are you?” which to Dustin honestly says no, because he’s not in love, it’s a just crush. Also an important note when writing something unrequited with 15 year olds.

Then, Dustin speaks to Lucas and says “he could feel the electricity” between him and Max, which is him ultimately accepting that Max does not like him back, and instead likes Lucas.

Is he upset about it? Yes, he is, however, it’s not mentioned again in the show after season 2 because he’s over it. In just a few months, he’s got a new girlfriend, and he doesn’t like Max anymore. He got over it quick, because it was just a crush, and he didn’t know her that well.

In seasons 3&4, Dustin is able to act completely act normal around Max, because he doesn’t like her anymore.

Now, while Lucas also liked Max at first, not as much as Dustin, and as he talks with her more and knows her better (hence, them having more scenes) you see Lumax developing.

💙💛 Where does this put Byler?

Byler is written very differently. First, by season 4, Mike and Will have known eachother and been bestfriends for 10 years. (Since kindergarten), so right off the bat, they KNOW eachother. Dustin didn’t know Max.

Stranger Things has so many scenes of Mike and Will to show us just how special this thing between them is. They have a lot of scenes filled with chemistry, showing how much they understand eachother and how they’d do anything for eachother. (Said by Mike, he’d do anything for Will.)

So, they show us why Mike and Will would be a good couple. Something they didn’t with Max and Dustin.

Noah Schnapp then went on to say “You could never really tell if [Byler] was something romantic or just a really special friendship.”

Next, they show us just how much Will’s in love with Mike. (Also confirmed by Noah Schnapp) So, not a crush like Dustin. He’s in love with Mike. The painting and the van scene proves it. It shows us Will’s feelings for Mike, and how actually deep they are.

Will doesn’t say “Mike’s cool because he skateboards” like Dustin says about Max, he says “You’re the heart, and without you we’d (I) all fall apart.” and “You make her (me) feel like she’s (i’m) not a mistake at all. Like she’s (i’m) better for being different.” Basically, that he’s better for loving Mike. Mike makes Will feel like he’s not a mistake.

So, it’s very obviously NOT a shallow crush, and not something Will can move on from in a few months like Dustin. Will’s happy ending is not moving on from Mike, it’s getting together with Mike. If he moves on in like, a year with someone else completely whom he shares no understanding with, it’s completely bad writing, and i stand on it.

[le0n-ardo]

Your turtle boyfriend reacts to you getting along with April

Disclaimer: all my writings contemplate the turtles aged up at about their late 20s, with the reader at the same age range. Your media consumption is your own responsibility ✨ dividers by @/cafekitsune

×fem!reader

More Ninja Turtle headcanons in my masterlist!

Leonardo

Leonardo loves you with his whole soul and absolutely considers you part of his family, and April knows this. Not because Leon told her explicitly - he's the silent type, after all - but because she could see the shift in Leonardo's overall stance after he got together with you.

Leon was more strategic, more deliberate, and more prudent after he began dating you. He became an even better leader, as if being with you had helped him be more in tune with his feelings and those of his team.

April also knew that any woman who was with Leonardo had to be a real force of nature and overall just the most amazing woman. April was lowkey intimidated of you at first.

You were also a bit intimidated by her - you knew she'd named and saved these boys when they were actual turtles and that she'd aided them in their hardest missions. Overall, you and April were evenly matched, and when you met, you were mutually a little quiet around each other.

But the realization that you were both on the same boat was what made you two be more confident around each other. You got to talking and, as the days passed, you and April were hanging out more often, even without Leonardo there.

It warmed Leonardo's heart to see you and April becoming friends rather than acquaintances who knew each other because of him.

Whenever Leonardo was feeling particularly lose in terms of how to be a good boyfriend (it wasn't that he was ever a bad boyfriend to you, but his confidence would struggle at times since he just wanted to give you the best), he would turn to April for guidance in that matter.

Similarly, if there were ever any missions that were more on the dangerous side, he'd ask April to keep an eye on you.

Raphael

Raphael was really nonchalant about you meeting April and how he got along with her, but you knew it was a facade.

From the stories you'd heard of the turtles from their teenage days, you could tell Raph cared deeply about April and felt responsible over keeping her safe too, as he did with his whole family, even if he wouldn't say it. Because of this, you were committed to being as nice and respectful to April.

When the day came, Raphael personally introduced you to April as "my favorite girl and partner"

Hearing Raph call you something so meaningful in front of April O'Neil herself made you all fluffy inside, and you swelled with adoration for Raph and pride in being his partner.

April lived up to the expectations you'd built of her, proving as smart and resourceful as the stories painted her to be, but she was overall just so easy to get along with. You didn't have to feel like you were making an effort to make the friendship work, rather it just flowed between you two and judging by how well you got on, anyone could have sworn you'd known each other longer.

You and April exchanged numbers at the end of the day, and then she went home. You spent that night with Raph quietly in his room, and you noticed he wasn't as talkative and he held you a lot closer than usual, pressed entirely to his body.

You could tell it meant a lot to him that the day had gone well, and being so soft and close with you was Raph's way of thanking you.

Donatello

You didn't really know this before meeting April, but Donnie had chatted April's ear off about you from day one. He'd told her about you before he even told his brothers.

When you met April, she gave you a warm hug and referred to you as "the girl Donnie's talked so much about," and while the conversation evolved, it became clear to you that April had aided Donnie in the way he'd asked you out and even with your first date.

You didn't say it out loud, but you were grateful to April for that.

Now that you knew each other, you and April at times had one mind. Whatever witty remark you said, April followed it with one of her own, and when the boys were acting like... well, them, you and April exchanged looks and gave playful eye rolls.

Donnie showed a deep care for you both. He would always acknowledge you as his girlfriend and have an arm around you, or if you and April were with Donnie while he was working on a gadget, you'd be the first one he'd turn to for testing or checking it. April quickly picked up on this, and she made a point of teasing you and Donnie with things like "Okay, I'll leave you two turtle doves alone now"

By the way, nicknaming you two turtle-doves is S Tier, and the term quickly sticks to you and Donnie.

You, April, and Donnie are an amazing team. When Donnie loses his fear of letting you get involved in missions (he still makes sure you're never exposed to any danger), the three of you are in charge of making calls that ultimately keep everyone safe and move missions forward.

The three of you also have a chat channel where you're constantly talking and making jokes. The name of this chat is the Turtleous Three.

Donatello is just so happy to see you and April not just getting along, but truly being friends and part of the squad.

Michaelangelo

Mikey wasn't sure if he should tell you that when he first met April (at least, as a mutant) he'd flirted with her. But when it was becoming more obvious you'd be meeting her soon, the pressure ate him up and he wound up blurting it out and he proceeded to hide from you.

Of course, Michaelangelo's way of hiding wasn't entirely stealthy and you found him immediately. You were really calm about what he'd just revealed to you, and whatever the past was, you trusted Mikey and wanted him to know that without a doubt.

He also wanted you to know that he was head over heels for you and only you, and he spent the next few days being extra chivalrous and vocal about how much he adores you.

When the day finally came for you and April to meet, you quickly realized you had nothing to worry about. April was like a big sister to Mikey and she carried that treatment to you too, and besides, you could feel the support of another woman in the middle of those four giant turtles.

They were great and very kind to you, but sometimes you just needed some girl time, and April seemed to offer that.

Soon after meeting her, you and April grew close and you trusted each other with things you didn't even tell the turtles.

You and April quickly developed inside jokes, many of which were at Michaelangelo's expense.

Mikey's not even mad that you pick on him alongside April, he's just happy the two most important girls in his life are getting along.

You can see my masterlist for more if you want!

Reblogs are appreciated! 💙

[earthmixsclowderofcats]

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

This. This. This entire conversation with Morrigan actually makes me want to sob. She and my Tabris always becomes close friends over the course of DAO; that, paired with the fact that my Tabris always romances Alistair, makes everything about this hurt so much more when you take DAO's ending into account.

Her confusion over why my Tabris didn't send her away. Why she didn't abandon her after they learned of Flemeth's plans. Why Tabris went out of her way to slay Flemeth and bring her the true grimoire. She asks Tabris why, and is baffled when the answer is, "I did it because I'm your friend," as if it's that simple.

The way Morrigan looks at the warden, the way her voice cracks when she says, "I want you to know that while I may not always prove... worthy... of your friendship, I will always value it."

She knows how this will end; Flemeth sent her with the wardens with the end goal of stopping the blight and obtaining the old god soul through the dark ritual. Morrigan knows that Alistair and Tabris are the only Grey Wardens here, and assuming they don't find more, one of them will have to die defeating the archdemon unless they agree to do the dark ritual.

With that context, her asking Alistair, "And what if a Grey Warden has forced to choose between the Warden he loved and ending the Blight? What should his choice be?" suddenly has so much subtext weaved through the words that I'm gonna start foaming at the mouth. She's practically telling Alistair that a warden has to die. She's scrutinizing his reaction to find any hint that suggests he would agree to the dark ritual in order to save himself and the woman he loves. And when he doesn't choose, she has her answer.

Morrigan made comments to Tabris about him, almost hopeful that their relationship was just a physical thing between them and not actually riddled with feelings... and then gives disapproval when Tabris says she loves him.

She doesn't want the warden to die; hell, she doesn't want Alistair to die, either; whether because she does actually care about him or because she knows it'll break her friend's heart if she loses him, or both!

Things would be so much easier if the only two Grey Wardens left to defeat the blight didn't fall in love, wouldn't they, Morrigan?

She knows that in the end, no matter the outcome, she will lose the woman she called sister and it's devastating.

Morrigan, who has never known true friendship. Who grew up isolated in the woods with an abusive mother and terrible implications for her future. Who discovered said mother planned to take over her body just as she did with her other daughters. Who doesn't understand kindness as it was rarely given to her without a catch. Who isolates herself from the others in camp. Who finally has a companion she cares about... and in the end, if her plan works and the dark ritual is completed, she'll end up pregnant and alone and wearing Tabris' resentment like a tender wound on her heart.

Or Tabris will reject the ritual, and will die to the archdemon.

Or her lover will.

I just- the dynamic between the warden, romanced Alistair, and Morrigan is so good and painful and rich that I'm gnawing on furniture as we speak.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

In The Care of Magic

cozy erotica novella

the only witch in a small town of humans who regularly use her services but are ungrateful goes to her cottage in the woods to get away for a bit

she comes across an interesting book in her library and decides to summon a sex demon to relax, and after a few days they also start to become friends

bi MC, aro agender LI

Blessed By The Cupid Distribution System

romance/erotica novella

follows a woman feeling lonely and left out on valentine’s day who wishes to experience a relationship

and a cupid on her first free assignment - who hears her wish and offers to find her a potential date, or they could spend the day together

and then they spend the day together. etc.

trans demisexual MC

[bumblingbabooshka]

One of the best Voyager scenes to indicate Tuvok & Neelix's dynamic and how I think Tuvok is just as if not more 'annoying'(positive) than Neelix is when Neelix pours Tuvok a fresh squeezed glass of a fruit juice blend and Tuvok's like (paraphrased) "I don't want to drink this." and Neelix is like "Can you please try it?" and Tuvok's like "I don't want to, you're really bad at this sort of thing. It's going to taste bad." and Neelix says that Ensign XYZ said she LOVED it, she even had a second glass! And Tuvok says Ensign XYZ could drink poison without a second thought and Neelix is like "Tuvok could you please just TRY it? Just try a little SIP of it PLEASE??" and Tuvok sighs and rolls his eyes and sniffs it before taking a sip and it turns out he loves it. Turns out it tasted good actually. And then after all that Neelix tries to talk to him over eggs (which he's again cooking fresh for him) and Tuvok tells him he doesn't wanna hear "the life history of his breakfast." Absolutely insufferable this man I would have burned his eggs on PURPOSE!!!!

[athenasdragon]

GOD I am not emotionally intelligent enough for the situation I currently find myself in

[alagaisia]

Hey if you’re still enjoying and engaging with Harry Potter in any capacity you can unfollow me 😊 please and thank you

Like. I get it. I was super into it as a kid too. I did not have the social context to pick up on the antisemitism or transphobia or sexism or fatphobia or bioessentialism or racism or anything else. I also picked up on surface-level language of Fighting Back Against Evil and ascribed my own values onto what that meant and thought we were all on the same page. I remember when the original kids who grew up with the books started becoming adult fans and picking up on the (blatant!) antisemitism and everybody was still mostly willing to give JKR the benefit of the doubt on it. (“She was writing kids books!” They said. “She didn’t know she was penning a global phenomenon! She picked a common literary trend in European fairy tales (antisemitic caricature) and didn’t examine it closely. It’s a mistake anyone could make,” we said. “She would probably do things differently now. After all, she word-of-god confirmed the vaguest hints she dropped that Dumbledore might be gay,” we said.) There was actually a span of several years where biases inherent in the actual real content of the Harry Potter series were coming to light and even the people pointing them out still seemed mostly to think it was an unfortunate accident.

That time has passed. Years ago! We are long past the first months of “maybe she doesn’t realize this seemingly-feminist tweet she liked was made by a noted TERF” and then “how could she not realize that these many veiled TERF-y things she’s retweeted have implications for the many queer fans of her work” and finally “oh wow okay JKR just dropped an entire transphobic manifesto on twitter. I guess the transphobia was the point.”

Yeah, there were a few months after that where people were still processing and still working through how they felt about Harry Potter and all of its flaws with the context of the now open transphobia of the creator. I was there for that. Remember how I was one of the kids who built it up into something noble and worthwhile based on my own beliefs about what messages it was probably trying to convey? Turns out it wasn’t trying to say any of those things, and when you take the time to examine all of the terrible shit that made its way into the text whether JKR intended it to be there or not, the whole series falls apart. It’s weird to discover that there’s a room in your house that’s rotten to the core, but eventually you figure out you can’t live like that, still going in there and holding your nose and pretending it’s still the same room you thought it was when the termites were only inside of the walls and hadn’t yet started chewing their way through the furniture. Because what’s going to happen is that they are going to infest the rest of your house. If you decide you can ignore transphobia and antisemitism and everything else just because you liked the color of the wallpaper, the rest of your principles are going to crumble too. You get rid of that fucking room. You put those books on a high shelf in the back of your closet behind other outgrown clothes and interests and you move the fuck on.

JKR uses the money made from her transphobic antisemitic children’s books to actively funding hate groups and to lobby for legislation that will and has actually affected the actual lives of trans people in an entire country. We are past the point of grieving something you were wrong about in childhood. Kids are wrong about a lot of stuff. You grow up and you learn new information and you change your behaviors based on it. You have to choose. It is transphobic to pretend there is not transphobia where there is. It is transphobic to support the work of someone who is using those funds to take rights from trans people with every fucking dollar. It is hateful to continue to engage positively with a story that at its very core is rooted in hate and bigotry and prejudice. You can choose to do all of those things but you cannot claim ignorance of them and you cannot choose those things and still pretend that choosing them upholds the values we convinced ourselves that Harry Potter stood for over a decade ago as uninformed children. You cannot choose to do those things and pretend to still support your trans and queer and Jewish neighbors. I do not want you in my neighborhood. Leave.

[hanzajesthanza]

i agree 110% that dandelion is the storyteller, memory-recorder, history-writer, balladeer, etc. that he is the keeper of geralt’s legend, the representative of the immortalizing quality of a narrative. of course. this is especially true in lady of the lake and in nimue’s time when half a century of poetry has become an academic text.

but to be honest. i care more about dandelion in the fact that. that he’s kind of just geralt’s best friend and they like hanging out

[girlivealwaysbean]

so sad but trying to be so brave about it

[raeofgayshine]

I wish I could go back and tell younger me that I would in fact find that place one day full of people that I adore deeply and who I know love me in return. Who make me feel wanted and cared for and appreciated in a way I never thought would be possible. And none of it required hiding, or forcing myself to be a person I’m not. And I still have that space even though I’m aroace.

For the first time ever, I see a future where I’m not alone. And I wish I could go back and tell my younger self it would happen. It’s possible to not be constantly lonely.

[dancing-with-stars]

guys. guys !!!!

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads

What Stalks Among Us

YA thriller

two best friends skip a field trip to explore some old forgotten backroads - and get trapped in a looping corn maze full of weird shit, including their own dead bodies

they have to figure out how to get out, what’s killing them, what’s causing the maze, and face their traumas

fat girl MC with anxiety, both are bi and have ADHD, no romance

[pankomako]

sometimes i think about interactions boat and i have had and things he's said to/about me over the years and it makes me feel as though i must occupy some little space in his heart. like i live in his mind rent-free the way he does for me, although not nearly to the same extent lmao.

speak of the goddamn devil i just got a steam notification he's playing tf2

anyway i never thought i'd have that kind of effect on a person, much less my favorite content creator. but it sure appears to be that way, and idk. it makes me feel special. warms my heart n all that :)

[sovamurka]

Not me suddenly creating an AU in my head about Altan and Lera being broken puppets in a magical shop owned by a wizard named... Sergey, of course. They try to repair each other in secret and find surprising comfort in one another. 

[immortalsins]

to go to the club or not to go to the club