#but the ROMANCE of them

[francesderwent]

Okay I could be wrong on both of these but I HAVE to throw my hat in the ring, I have to: Anne and Captain Wentworth from Persuasion (possibly #3?)

And it's possible I am thinking of another mutual right now but I feel like Spike/Buffy miiiiight be on there, or Angel/Cordy for TV show second chance love?

ANNE AND WENTWORTH

I mean the letter!!! is SO much!! but that little scene where she says she's not a card player and he answers "you never were, were you?" or something to that effect (if I'm remembering a movie invention I will die of shame) is so special to me, because what's hurt her most of all is his coldness, the fact that he's treating her like a stranger! so this brief exchange where he lets all of their history come into the room for a moment! where he basically says "I was there I remember it all too well"! he still knows her!! AAAAAAHH

Wentworth is trying to be fucked up but he's not enjoying it and it goes against the grain. really they're wholesome.

"Back to December", Taylor Swift, of course! "your guard is up, and I know why / because the last time you saw me is still burned in the back of your mind / you gave me roses, and I left them there to die"

the MAGIC of them is that they are both a “I have loved none but you” ALL ALONG romance like Anne and Gilbert and Bathsheba and Gabriel but that they’re also kind of a Cinderella story! he did see her value from the beginning, and it’s not in one magical moment in the perfect dress on the stairs, but the story IS a gradual revelation of her beauty and her goodness for everyone to see!

I wouldn’t alter a single thing about their dynamic if you paid me to. however, I would make Wentworth a spaceship captain instead of a navy captain and relocate the Elliot family to a small planet with a new colony when they run out of money

they ARE on the list, coming in at number 5!!!

SPIKE AND BUFFY

I’m going to cheat a ton and name two: when Buffy is trying to figure out how much Glory knows about Dawn and so she goes to weasel it out of Spike and does so by dressing up as the robot he made of her and when she asks him he says, basically, “I could never let something happen that would hurt Buffy that much. I would have let Glory kill me first. I nearly bloody did.” and Buffy, hearing this, leans in and kisses him--and he accepts it for a moment and then he rears back, because he knows it’s her!!! and she knows he knows, and she looks at him steadily and doesn’t take it back. and when he asks about the robot (because he’s still Spike and still very soulless at this point) she says the robot was obscene, but “what you did for Dawn...that was real.” and then the second one is when she reinvites him into her home!! fully knowing who he is and all of his mixed up motivations and pathetic love for her. and he stands in the threshold and smiles and says “I know that I’m a monster. but you treat me like a man.”

the reason spuffy is so good is because it’s kind of a longform essay about how fucked up (affectionate) tends to collapse into fucked up (derogatory) but it is possible to regain your humanity and become wholesome (affectionate)!! they REALLY do it all!  except they’re never ever boring :)

I put this song on pretty much all my character playlists, but it’s them most of all: “Breathe Me” by Sia. “ouch, I have lost myself again / lost myself and I am nowhere to be found / yeah I think that I might break / lost myself again and I feel unsafe / be my friend, hold me / wrap me up, unfold me / I am small and needy / warm me up and breathe me”

drawing vampire parallels is my one great love so I’m gonna say Buffy and Spike are most like Klaus and Caroline. perky blonde who loves to win and fun-loving artistic type whose murdering tendencies come from a very fragile heart

I think it’d be fun to I Will Remember You Spike instead of Angel, i.e. see how a Spike without vampire powers would handle Buffy. I think he’d enjoy being babied and coddled tbh

they did not make the list!

ANGEL AND CORDELIA

there are more romantic moments of them, definitely, but the defining one for me was always after they’ve had a scare with the possibility of Angelus coming out again and they’re having a heart-to-heart about it and Angel starts to very cautiously broach the possibility that if things had worked out differently then would she..., and Cordelia interrupts him with perfect confidence “oh, I’d kill you dead.” and it’s not this massively heavy dramatic angst thing. Buffy killed him because she had to, and Cordelia is saying she’d do the same thing, but she can be light about it with him, she can be there for him and keep smiling, and that’s actually what he needs!

wholesome! there are very VERY few completely wholesome Whedon ships but I’m saying that as long as they’re themselves, they’re one!!

I’m awarding them “Lover” by Taylor Swift!! because theirs is a love that is very rooted in sharing a common home, building a life together, becoming a family. “can I go where you go? can we always be this close? / forever and ever, take me out, and take me home / you’re my my my my lover”

they’re a difficult one to find a parallel for because they have mega “mom and dad” vibes, but they...legitimately never even define the relationship?? I’m stuck and I would like to phone a friend

my perpetual AU is one where Whedon wasn’t a despicable excuse for a human being and didn’t get his revenge on one of his actors for the horrifying crime of getting pregnant by destroying her character out of sheer spite. so like. that woulda been nice.

they did not make the list!

[swan2swan]

Whoever conceived and animated this moment, I hope they're doing well and thriving. This is S-rank romance stuff here.

[ellierenae]

write unpublishable things. it's good for you.

[redysetdare]

Sometimes...characters being in a romantic relationship is worse.

[harritudur]

scars 👒🍊⚔️

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The squad of all time has arrived on scene.

[directyourfate]

these tweets are holding hands

[cordspaghetti]

mcr tonight

[sclappin]

Man whose definition of "monster" is extremely flexible.

[party-lemon]

no but hear me out

[vampiregerard]

the crowd singing disenchanted via talkingvegas

[nellpose]

please prioritize sleep yall:')

[swordmaid]

back to the shadows 🌑

inspired by the storm by pierre auguste cot, shri’iia and astarion running away from the sun bc he’s a vampire and she has sunlight sensitivity.

please zoom in to see the details! 🥹🫶

[malewifesband]

it is insane, crazy, nuts how good for kabru being friends with laios is on multiple levels

he has to be honest and direct with laios to communicate. laios is so so earnest and thoughtful to him, and genuinely shows him affection thru food (and kabru cant cook or care for himself) with the harpy omelette (despite the um. misunderstanding between them), promising to take him to a restaurant as a sign of how sincere he is about being kabrus friend now, and kabru returns that favor by not just helping the faligon, but eating it, and staying to eat it until its almost done even though laios assured him he didnt have to. he can get angry with him and not feel like hes fucked it all up by showing his real emotions. something about laios puts kabru more in touch with his deeper desires--he acts in ways he doesnt understand around laios, betrays himself to his conscious mind, because he wants to badly to put his faith in laios and laios did not let him down, not where it mattered. he gets to take on a job laios cannot do for himself as prime minister in training where his skillset is valuable and he can indulge in work that really interests him and it will always be appreciated deeply by not only laios but the whole nation theyre building. for as long as laios is around, he never has to worry about monsters hurting him or his home--and laios is actively working on building a world where monsters can be made tamer through knowledge about them, and has already defeated kabrus biggest fear, the dungeon. laios gives him a safe context to conquer his fear of monsters at his own pace rather than forcing himself into traumatic situations where he dies all the time

[sanguinesmi1e]

Everyone knows Jason likes Jane Austen and reads romance. Everyone assumes the romance he reads is historical. And some of it is, they're not wrong, but most of what he reads is reverse harem monster fucker smut.

When Red Hood gets sacrificed by a cult during a summoning ritual and the ghost king shows up in all his eldritch glory, Jason has never before been more grateful for his full face mask. He has never blushed so hard in his life. He's the same color as his mask right now, actually. He is way too into the tentacles. Like, way more than he ever thought he'd be. It’s honestly impressive that any blood is managing to leave his body with the way it’s all rushing to his cheeks. He's also about to swoon like one of the heroines in his favorite old bodice rippers. 

That last part probably is the blood loss, though. 

[noviqe]

monster fucker this monster fucker that... what about being a monster lover. What if I just want to cuddle with them and tell them I still love them even if they look and act differently from me