#but this was so much fun. i haven’t made a big gifset like this in awhile

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

Sophie Shepard & Dominik Shepard (ME2)

Ft. Cmdr. Kaidan Alenko & Zaeed Massani MIRA'S MORE CANON ME2 "We both did the best we could do underneath the same moon- in different galaxies..." AKA: The aftermath of Lair of the Shadow Broker. Recruiting the Not-Dossier: Apollo. Mass Effect 2: Legendary Edition (2021) + Bonus :)

[freewayshark]

I'm hesitant to ask this question because a lot of people are really weird but you were patient even with the person being really ridiculous and I have been really confused lately.

Why are so many people who were big buddie shippers shifting to be mainly or even only bucktommy now?

I get multishipping, but in the past when people had other ships they liked they didn't shift so drastically. Most people are now changing their users and everything to be bucktommy/tommy and most of the fanfic writers write only bucktommy now.

Is it just because it is new? Or because Buck being bi is such a big thing? I am on the spectrum and don't do change so maybe it's a me thing but it is just surprising and a little confusing why there is so much of a shift. I remember lots of people shipped Buck/Josh and even Buck/Taylor and Buck/Lucy but there wasn't ever so much of a full focus change.

A lot of people also seemed to suddenly start hating on or just not caring about Eddie too which has made me sad, like he only matters in the context of Buddie shipping. That seems to be mostly on Twitter and tiktok though and those groups of fans have always been a little weird.

Anyway this is very long and I understand if you don't want to answer, especially with all the discourse lately.

Hi! Honestly I’m always happy to answer questions like yours where you are genuinely asking a question and not just coming in with accusations and nonsense to start drama

I can really only speak for myself, but I think other people would probably agree with my reasoning, so:

I think a good chunk of it probably is because it’s new, yeah. I love buddie so much and nothing could ever change that, but it is fun to have this new dynamic to work with. For me especially, I’m enjoying writing bucktommy a ton right now, because I haven’t written outside of buddie in, well, years actually because even before I dove in headfirst in 2021 I hadn’t really been writing much of anything. So it’s fun to have new toys to play with.

And honestly, at least as far as my dash and my friends go, I don’t think any of us are only bucktommy shippers now, it’s just getting the major focus right now because it’s new and it’s playing out on our screens. I’m still seeing plenty of new buddie fics, metas, and gifsets coming out amongst the bucktommy

Like, my last fic was bucktommy, and my next one will be too, but I still have lots of buddie fic brewing, and I know I’ll still be coming up with tons of new ideas for them too. But it probably seems like I’ve done a hard shift, because it is only what I’m working on right now. But that’s just temporary, and I’m sure it is with others as well.

As for hating on or not caring about Eddie, that is definitely something I have not seen. I can’t say it isn’t happening, of course, because I only follow around 100 people and rarely venture off my dash, but if you’re seeing it here I would encourage you to curate your dash better, and stay away from twitter and TikTok because those places are cesspools for fandom.

To circle back to why bucktommy is getting this treatment over the other ships you mentioned, again, I can only speak for myself, but it’s because Tommy is such a compelling character. I’m fascinated by the character set up through the begins episodes to now, and I like thinking about him. I’m not saying other characters haven’t been compelling, but they just haven’t grabbed my attention in a way that makes me want to write about them the way he has.

I hope I was able to address all your questions

[ambivartence]

Hi! Secret Santa again! I can only imagine how hard ur speed paints are to make gifs with how much you have to shrink them for tumblrs terrible limits and even remembering to record the timelapse, I always say I’m going to record myself making things so people can see the process, but I never think about it until I’m at least halfway done lol.  

Oml the all in Lino in the cop/detective look is SO amazing,  he really seems to be able to pull off any concept and not make them seem over the top or silly. When he’s in all pastels and wearing a beret it doesn’t feel like someone forced him into a “cute” outfit, and when he’s doing the almost costume outfits like cops, or vampires they also just seem to suit him completely. He’s really one of those people that because he is so confident in himself nothing feels silly or out of place. 

Thunderous has definitely been my favorite era for Minho specifically. I think the  modernized more traditional outfits really work well with him, and having changbin shout his name before his part every stage felt really special. Over all I think thunderous, backdoor, and maniac have been my favorite eras. I feel like ever since gods menu that the boys have become a lot more confident and their stage presence and just how they act on skz talkers and things has felt more comfortable. Those concepts also just have felt like they really suited all of the members to me, plus im just a big fan of their more “noise” title tracks they seem to have more fun when performing really signature sounding skz songs. But I also don’t think there’s an era I haven’t really enjoyed, like some part of every comeback has at least been something I’ve really enjoyed. Especially when like with thunderous they promote a b-side that is so different from the title track, I feel like it really shows their colors well.

I also see that you’re into a few other groups other than nct like tbz and ateez! I love both of them so much, it made watching kingdom extra fun, getting to see how they both interacted with skz, and seeing that they were all friends! I know I got into tbz right after they debuted but it took me a few months to really come around to liking ateez (though now I don’t know whyyyy lmao) how did u get into them and nct?

-🎄

Yes!!!! their noise music is really chefs kiss for me too hahaha also i do love how they promoted thunderous and the view together that was a really fun contrast <3

I've been super multi these days! every time i get into a new group that was in kingdom or road to kingdom i go back and rewatch their clips and interactions hehe. I got into nct first thru superm (which I got into bc of baekhyun), and i think i kinda realized that it's really fun to stan a LOT of people, so i began getting into other groups like skz. i found atz bc of mutuals on my dash during kingdom but got into them more only recently after seeing them at kcon in august and then on tour in november!! so kinda like u, it took a bit to really get into them properly^^; and for tbz i was convinced by @chanstopher and @lonelystreetlight aka two partners in crime to check them out earlier this year, so i started from their predebut show boyz flower snack and then rewatched all their rtk and kingdom stages and then the rest was history LOL

sometimes i feel bad that since i follow so many groups that i don't follow skz's content as closely anymore as i used to. but on the flipside, i like how content creators on here make it easier for me to see all the best parts of their stuff, whether it's gifsets of stages or funny moments in skz code or just good looks in skz talker <3 also being multi means it's extra fun when the kidz have fun interactions with their besties in other groups like the darlingz friend group skz changbin + atz wooyoung + txt yeonjun + tbz haknyeon + crvt serim + gncd tag etc etc (the fact that i stan all these groups 💀) or also chan is just friends with everyone in the industry haha (i love his interactions w ab6ix during isac this year 🥺)

[sineala]

How would you say fandom culture has changed over the years? What are some differences you notice between older and younger fandom folks?

I’ve been thinking for a while about how to answer this, and I’m not sure I have a really good answer, but I’m going to try.

I’ve been in fandom since approximately 1995. Maybe 1994. At that point, the world wide web was a relatively new part of the internet, and the fandoms I was in had most of their activity on privately-hosted mailing lists (predating eGroups/OneList/Yahoo Groups) and on Usenet newsgroups, with fiction beginning to be available on websites as part of either fandom-specific or pairing-specific archives as well as authors’ individual pages. Fanfiction.net did not yet exist. LiveJournal did not exist. AO3 definitely did not exist. If you wanted real-time chat, there was IRC. I was coming in basically at the tail end of zine fandom; zines were no longer the only way of distributing fanfiction, as fandom started to move online. So I have a selection of zines from 90s-era Western media fandoms but even by then zines weren’t where I was doing most of my reading.

I think in terms of generally “what it was like to be in fandom,” the big-picture stuff hasn’t changed. Fandom still produces creative fanwork and likes to, y’know, get together and talk about fandom. Also, almost every fight or complaint that fandom has about something is a thing that has been going on for actual years. People complain that, say, the kudos button is ruining comment culture because back in the LJ days the only way you could comment on a story was, well, by leaving an actual comment, or sending an email on a mailing list, and this might mean that people who would have otherwise commented have left a kudos instead. But back in the LJ and mailing list days, people were complaining that commenting was going downhill since the days of zines, when in order to comment on a story you had to write a real paper letter and mail it and because you had to do that, the quality of feedback was so much better than you got nowadays because people could just dash off a quick email or comment. You get the idea. Top/bottom wars are not new either. Pairing wars are not new. If you’ve been in fandom a while, you will pretty much have seen all the fights already. I think one thing that is new, though, is the fandom awareness of things like privilege and intersectionality and various -isms, as well as things like “providing warnings might be nice” (do you know how much unwarned deathfic I have read? a lot!) and I sure won’t say we’re perfect at any of this now, but I think fandom is trying way way more about all that stuff than it used to.

There are some fights we actually don’t have anymore, as far as I can tell. I feel like it’s been years since I’ve seen the “real person fiction is wrong” battle, but also I don’t hang out in a whole lot of RPF fandoms, so it’s possible that’s still going and I just don’t see it.

There also used to be a recurring debate about whether gay relationships that were canonical were slash or not. When slash started, obviously this wasn’t a question because there weren’t canonical gay relationships in fandoms, period. But as gay characters began to appear in media, people started to wonder “does slash mean all same-sex relationships, or does slash mean only non-canonical same-sex relationships?” Now, you may be reading this and think that sounds like an incredibly weird thing to get hung up on, but that’s because what appears to have happened is that the term “ship” (originally from X-Files Mulder/Scully fandom) has, as far as I can tell, come up and eaten most of the rest of the terminology. Now people will just say, “oh, I ship that.” For any pairing, gay or not, canonical or not. Fandom seems to have decided that for the most part it no longer actually needs a term specific to same-sex relationships as a genre.

Similarly, there are a few genres of fic that we used to have also pretty much don’t exist anymore. There are also plenty of genres that are well-entrenched now that are also extremely recent -- A/B/O comes to mind. But there are some kinds of fic we don’t write a lot of now. Like, I haven’t seen smarm in years! I also haven’t seen We’re Not Gay We Just Love Each Other in a while. There was also a particular style of slash writing where you’d basically have to explain, in detail, what made you think that these particular characters could be anything other than straight. You’d have to motivate this decision. You’d have to look at their canonical heterosexual relationships and come up with a way to explain why all those had happened in order to reconcile how this one guy could have romantic feelings for another guy. When had he figured out he wasn’t straight? Who might he have been with before? How does he interact with people in ways that make you think he’s not straight? That kind of thing. You had to, essentially, show your work. And these days a lot of fanfic is just like, “Okay, Captain America is bisexual, let’s go!” It’s... different.

Fandom also used to skew older, is my sense. A lot older. I don’t know, actually, if it really was older, but I get the sense now that there are some younger people who are surprised that adults are still in fandom. I have seen people saying these days that they think they’re too old for fanfiction because they are not in middle school anymore. And I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that the barriers to access fandom are a lot lower than they used to be. You used to basically have to be an adult with disposable income (or know an adult with disposable income who was willing to help you out; but even then if you were reading explicit fiction you also had to swear you were 18+, usually by sending in an age statement to whoever you were buying the zine from or to the mods of the list you wanted to join, so a lot of fandom was very much age-gated). Internet access was not widely available. Even if you had internet access, you maybe didn’t have your own email address, so you couldn’t sign up for mailing lists; free email providers didn’t exist. If you wanted to buy zines, you had to have money to buy them. If you wanted to go to cons, you had to be able to afford the cost of the con, travel to the con, et cetera. If you wanted to have a website you had to know HTML. Social media did not exist. You want to draw art? Guess what, you’re probably drawing it on paper! You might be able to upload a picture to your website if you have a digital camera or a scanner, but both of those things are expensive, and also a lot of people don’t have the capability or the money to download pictures from the internet (some people have data caps with overage charges, and some people have text-only connections!), so they won’t get to see it. Maybe you can sell your piece at a con! You want to make a fanvid? We called them songvids, but, anyway, you know how you’re doing that? You’re going to hook two VCRs together and smash the play and record buttons very fast! If you want anyone else to watch them, you are either making them a tape personally and mailing it to them or bringing your vids to a convention. Maybe you can digitize them and upload them, but it’s going to take people hours to download them!

(Every three hours my ISP would kick me off the internet and I’d have to dial in again. If it was a busy time of day, it might take me 20 or 30 minutes to get a connection again. And that was assuming no one else in the house needed to use the phone line. Imagine if your modem went out every three hours now.)

And now, for the cost of my internet connection, I can read pretty much whatever fanfiction I want, whenever I want it. I can see all the fanart I want! I can watch vids! Podfic exists now! Fanmixes exist! Gifsets and moodboards exist! If I want to write fic I can write it with programs that are completely free, and as soon as I post it everyone in the entire world can read it. If I want to draw or make vids that may require some additional investment, but I may also be able to do it with things I already have. Do you have any idea how good we all have it?

There are a couple of kinds of fan activity that don’t seem to exist anymore, though, and I miss them. I know that roleplaying still goes on, but I feel like these days most people who do real-time text roleplay have switched to things like Discord. I know that in the LJ days, RP communities were popular. But I really miss MU*s (MUDs, MUSHes, MOOs, MUXes..), which were servers for real-time text-based RP with a bunch of... hmm... features to aid RP. There were virtual rooms with text descriptions, and objects in virtual rooms with descriptions, and your character had a description, and they could interact with the objects as well as with other characters, and you could program things to change descriptions or emit various kinds of text or take you to different rooms, and so on. Just to, y’know, enhance the atmosphere. It was fun and it was where I learned to RP and I’m sad they’re pretty much gone now.

I also don’t think I see a lot of fanfiction awards in fandoms. Wonder where they went.

Going back to the previous point, the barriers to actually consuming the canon you are fannish about are way, way, way lower now. You can pretty much take it for granted that if right now someone tells you about a shiny new fandom, there will be a way to read that book or watch that show or movie right now. Possibly for free! Of course you can watch it! Why wouldn’t you be able to?

This was absolutely, absolutely not the case before. I’m currently in Marvel Comics fandom. If there is a comic I want to read, I can read it right now on the internet. I have subscribed to Marvel Unlimited and I can read pretty much every comic that is older than three months old; the newer ones cost extra money. But I can do it all from the comfort of my own home right now. I was also, actually, in Marvel Comics fandom in the nineties. If I wanted to read a comic, I had to go to a comic book store and hope they had it in stock; if they didn’t, I had to try another store. Not a lot of comics were available in trade paperback and they definitely weren’t readable on the internet. I used to read a lot of Gambit h/c fic set after Uncanny X-Men #350. I never found a copy of UXM #350. I still haven’t! But I did eventually read it on Unlimited.

Being in TV show fandoms also had similar challenges. Was the show you were watching still on the air? No? Then you’d better hope you could find it in reruns, or know someone who had tapes of it that they could copy for you, otherwise you weren’t watching that show. It was, I think, pretty common for people to be in fandoms for shows they hadn’t seen, because they had no way to see the show, but they loved all the fanfic. The Sentinel had a whole lot of fans like that, both because I think it took a while for it to end up in reruns and because overseas distribution was probably poor. So you’d get people who read the fic and wrote fic based on the other fic they’d read, which meant that you got massive, massive amounts of fanon appearing that people just assumed was in the show because it was a weirdly specific detail that appeared in someone’s fic once. Like “Jim and Blair’s apartment has a small water heater” (not actually canonical) or “Blair is a vegetarian” (there’s an episode where his mother visits and IIRC cooks him one of his favorite meals, which is beef tongue).

Like, I was in The Professionals fandom for years. I read all the fic. I hadn’t seen the show. As far as I know, it never aired in the US, and it certainly never had any kind of US VHS or DVD release. I’d seen a couple songvids. I eventually saw a couple episodes in maybe 2003, and that was because my dad special-ordered a commercial VHS tape from the UK and paid someone to convert it from PAL to NTSC. I didn’t get to see the whole show until several years later when I got a region-free DVD player someone in fandom sent me burned copies of the UK DVD releases and then I special-ordered the commercial release of the DVDs from the UK myself. But if I were a new fan and wanted to watch Pros right now? It is on YouTube! For free!

I think also one of the things about fandom that’s not immediately evident to new fans is the way in which it is permanent and/or impermanent. There are probably people whose first fannish experience is on Tumblr or who only read fanfic on FFN and who have no idea what they would do if either site, say, just shut down. But if you’ve been in fandom a while, you’ve been through, say, Discord, Tumblr, Twitter, Pillowfort, Imzy, DW, JournalFen, LJ, GeoCities, IRC, mailing lists. And sure, if Tumblr closed, it would be inconvenient. But fandom would pack up and move somewhere else. You would find it again. It would, eventually, be okay. Similarly, if you’ve been in a lot of fandoms, if you’ve made a lot of friends, drifting through fandoms is like that. You’ll make a friend in 1998 because you were in the same fandom, and then you might go your own ways, and ten years later you might be in another fandom with them again! It happens.

But the flip side of that is that I think a lot of older fans have learned not to trust in the permanence of any particular site. If you like a story, you save it as soon as you read it. If you like a piece of art, you save it. If you like a vid, you save it. Because you don’t know when the site it’s on will be gone for good. I have, like, twenty years of lovingly-curated fanfic. And I feel like people who have only been in fandom since AO3 existed might not understand how much AO3 is a game-changer compared to what we had before. It’s a site where you can put your fic up and you don’t have to worry that the webhost is going out of business, or that the site might delete your work because they don’t allow gay fiction or explicit fiction or fiction written in second person or fiction for fandoms where the creator doesn’t like fanfiction, or whatever. Because all of those things have absolutely happened. But, I mean, I still save pretty much everything I like, even on AO3, just in case.

So, basically, yeah, fandom is a whole lot more accessible than it used to be. I think fandom is pretty much still fandom, but it’s a lot easier to get into, and that has made it way more open to people who wouldn’t have been able to be in fandom before. There is so, so much more now than there ever was before, and I think that’s great.

[userdjarin]

omg?? omg!!! this blog isn’t even a year old yet and i’ve already reached my first big milestone!! i’m so! amazed!! thank u so much!!! most of all i am so grateful to have found a community where i feel safe and have so much fun in :’) i’ve made so many friends and learned so many new content creating things along the way so pls accept this as a celebration and an expression of my joy and appreciation!! 💞

RULES: - as this is a celebration for my followers, pls follow me to participate! - reblog this post - send me an ask with your emoji and request (options below) - anonymous requests are a-ok but only one request per person pls! - all requests and related asks will be tagged with #djarsdin1k, pls blacklist this if u don’t want the spam

GIFSET REQUEST - any fandom! send ur request anyway and i’ll let u know if it’s not my fandom or i’m not familiar enough 🎲 - this or that (make me choose between movies, shows, scenes, characters, tropes, ships, actors, anything!) ❤️ - favourite (ask me my favourite movie, show, scene, character, trope, ship, actor, anything! u can be as specific or as general as u want) 🃏 - wildcard (request a gifset of anything of your choice and i’ll do my best even if i haven’t watched it or i’m not a part of the fandom, as long as i can find it in good quality and it’s within my comfort zone!)

DRABBLE REQUEST - for reader x any of pedro’s characters, pls specify if u want sfw/nsfw! ✒️ + choose a character + sfw/nsfw + 1-3 prompt(s) from (feel free to mix+match and add a few of your own details!): things you said..., kissing prompts, dialogue prompts, protective prompts, hurt/comfort prompts, romantic prompts

pls understand i might not be able to accept ur request depending on familiarity, quality, or comfort. feel free to ask/clarify or send me your request anyway and i’ll let u know if it isn’t possible and to try again! u can also send a couple options for me to choose one from if you’re not sure! also pls be patient as it may take me a while to fulfil your request!!

OTHER 💌 - send me any kind of asks! share any of ur watch/listen/read recommendations, headcanons, un/popular opinions, or ask me for mine, tell me about ur day, tell me a story, shout out a favourite blog/creator, ask me questions, anon or not! my askbox is always open to this (as long as we remain respectful and kind) but this is just a reminder!!

tagging some mutuals below:

i’d like to especially thank everyone below for making the last year so beautiful for me by providing content that has amazed and inspired me, and by warming my heart with your kindness, support, and friendship! everyone here makes me so happy and i wouldn’t unfollow any of u even at knifepoint ❤️‍🔥

@theredviper @silksaddle @skyshipper @buckybarnesj @phantomviola @michaelcorleones @kenoobiwan @300mirrors @leonardbetts @mattbellamy @zzizzigom @din-djarn @sith-maul @thernandalorian @sirtadcooper @trashcora @mandalores @ivypoiison @pankratzjulian @bobasbook @pascal-djarin @darksber @pascalsky @lordsmaxwell @dindiarin @pedrorascal @steveroger @javierian @wexlers @hoeberynmartell @javierpcna @javier-pena @di-n @bestintheparsec @emcgregor @joel-millerr @keanurevees

[volturialice]

the twilight fandom 2019 ace exclusion drama: G Reminisces

gather round my foolish infants who showed up here sometime after february 2019 and never had to walk two miles uphill in the aphobic snow both ways to Tumblr University. in honor of aroace visibility week I’m gonna try and recount the events that transpired that month ��💕 SO tw for discussion of aphobia and brief mentions of biphobia and transphobia under the cut

also I should probably mention, for context, that I am a bi ace in case you’ve forgotten 

let me set the scene: early 2019 was the roaring first crescendo of the Twilight Renaissance. twilight had been rereleased in theaters for the 10th anniversary mere months before, and follower counts were skyrocketing as more and more people flocked to tumblr to rediscover their tweenhood fave and make gay shitposts about it. midnight sun was a hilarious punchline that would never be published, carlisle cullen was an unproblematic cinnamon roll king, and you could be canceled for thinking too hard about the volturi. people who had the idea to ship bella with edythe or jacob with benjamin were given the nobel prize for these groundbreaking gay discoveries. in short, everything was Effervescent.

my own fledgling blog was just starting to gain a little traction. my first “that blew up” post was mere weeks old, and I was mutuals with all the Big blogs in the fandom, but had nowhere near the, uh. for lack of a better word, “clout” I would later obtain.

when out of the fucking blue, one of the aforementioned Big Blog Mutuals made a crack to the effect of “haha isn’t it funny that these hets are rebranding as ‘ace’ and think they’re lgbtq+”

and everyone else collectively went

and asked them to please elaborate their Stance on ace inclusion. so they doubled down on exclusion (in a real nasty way, iirc!) and when asked where they stood, their friends also responded with casual, jokey aphobia. the nicest ones came out with weakass takes like “oh I think being aro/aspec are valid identities they’re just not lgbtq c: !!” and then reblogged sillyfun posts from their friends comparing aroaces to the poor persecuted ogres from shrek, or laughing at the “forever virgins.”

again, at the time these were like 60% of the biggest, friendliest blogs in the fandom (granted most of us had only known each other for 3-6 months, but that’s EONS in internet time.) blogs known for their fun shitposts and aesthetic gifsets and cutesy oneshots. and suddenly they were out here unironically spouting classic takes like “it’s not a REAL identity it’s just a phase before you realize you’re actually straight or gay,” “you’re not ace you’re just a traumatized survivor,” “aroaces haven’t been systematically persecuted so they can’t possibly be lgbtq+,” “being aroace isn’t visible so it’s not lgbtq+,” “aroaces are just hets invading lgbtq+ spaces...” y’all can imagine. the same bullshit arguments that have been use by t*rfs and biphobes for decades, repackaged and redeployed against aspecs. (intersectionality ftw!!)

that was a fucking crazy rough time for me personally because, since coming to terms with my own ace-ness a few years prior, I had been quietly coasting along, never imagining people out there, some of whom were my mutuals and “friends,” not only held so much fucking bonkers irrational contempt for me and my identity but were gleefully self-congratulatory about it to the point of capital-C Cringe.

suddenly I was having to question every single new person I interacted with to see whether they would turn and sneeringly accuse/gatekeep/scoff at me for what I had thought was a pretty non-dramatic facet of my identity. I remember DMing @flowerslut​ like “hey...so....are you an aphobe? please don’t be an aphobe” and shannon being like “lol no I’m a bi ace” (hard to believe there was an era before we had gotten drunk together and thrown axes and shaved each other’s heads on separate occasions. always shave your friend’s head sober)

but it was also a crazy...not good, but significant and transformative time for me, because I was learning so much. how to slam the block button, for one. but I was also learning a lot about myself, and how much stronger and kinder and more mature I was than I had ever imagined, and that was an incredible self-discovery. I was forced to reckon with my own ace-ness head on in a way that I hadn’t been before, and found myself with the confidence to come out to family and friends as a result. I had never thought too hard about whether or not I (and other aspecs) “counted” as lgbtq+, and now I found not only my own convictions that yes, OBVIOUSLY we do, but also a community of people who went to BAT to support us and try to educate the fandom at large. I made so many new friends and discovered some truly amazing blogs I am still mutuals with to this day! (y’all know who you are. this is me reminding you I love you 🎃)

and I also gained, like, a fuckton of followers just for making my own asexuality more visible and doing the bare minimum to be vocally supportive of aroace inclusion. and that’s what you call ironic

I don’t have any of the aphobic posts from the period preserved (for obvious reasons,) but for anyone who’s curious, here are a few posts I reblogged from that time. &

I also wanna extend an open invitation for anyone who has questions (about ace-ness, or bits of recent fandom history like this, or their own sexuality, or anything) or just wants to talk to DM me! I’m not as active on here as I used to be, but I do check messages.

finally,

to the haters:

first of all, thank you for helping me rise to power it feels great and i’m gonna use it to spread my nasty little agenda 

second, oh yeah you guys sure are cool leftist queens for [checks notes] recycling transphobic/biphobic talking points in order to harass and gatekeep a bunch of stangers on 2019 twilight tumblr for [checks notes again] minding their own business not feeling sexual/romantic attraction and daring to identify as queer. you’re a regular marsha p. johnson they should throw you a parade

anyway I sincerely hope y’all have learned and grown and educated yourselves since then and that you’re having a blast in the fuckin. law and order pixar fandom or wherever lmfaooo 😘

I love being a forever virgin shrek ogre uwu 🤠✨💜🖤💚

HAPPY ARO/ACE VISIBILITY WEEK

[risoris]

Do you think we can bring back ROTBTD in 2021?

(Oh wow I mulled over this ask for quite some time. I hope this is somewhat helpful!)

If by "bringing back" you mean restoring the crossover to something close to its former popularity, then no, I honestly don't think we can. I think more than just a fandom, part of what made RotBTD so well-known back then is because it got picked up as a tumblr trend, and trends move on. Not to mention with the lack of new source material, the possibility of coming up with inspirations for fanworks (something that creators need, and i feel like this is particularly harder for crossovers) as well as topics to talk about are pretty limited, so it's understandable that most people who participate decided to leave for good after having their share of fun. This is just the way things are.

On a brighter note, it's not like the fandom is actually dead, far from it. The fans are very much still around; there are those who never left (salute to you guys, seriously), those who return (like me!), and those who get into this old fandom late. Discussions are still happening. New fanworks are still being made; lots of it! And though the traffic might be slower, I think a lot of people would agree with me that there's been something like a fandom revival recently.

And this is just my personal opinion, but I do think that what we have right now is even better than what we had back then. The community is much more chill. There’s a deeper appreciation and understanding of the four franchises as well as the characters that the earlier fandom frankly lacked. People are respectful about shipping. I can go on.

However, I understand that it could still feel less lively than the RotBTD fandom that you remember and wish to bring back. And I’m afraid I only have one advice to assuage that: try to reach out and engage more with the current community. 

Look for people who like the same characters/ships/AUs that you like and follow them. Reblog fanarts that you like and maybe even tell the artist what you like about their work. Comment on fics you enjoyed and maybe share it with others that might appreciate it too. Send asks to folks whose headcanons you’d like to see more of. Maybe join one of the discord servers and hang out there. Or if you haven’t found a particular thing you’d like to see, make a new post and just talk about it! 

Like I said before, many of us are still around and kicking, and I think it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that everyone here is open to having another person to talk to about our interests. So if what you're looking for is a livelier experience, simply chat and interact with other fans! After all, having like-minded friends/acquaintances/mutuals of some kind helps a lot in making fannish experience more fulfilling.

oh and please don’t read this as an imperative to be sociable, but rather as an assurance that it's okay to be more present in the fandom space!! If the idea makes you uncomfortable, there’s always the option to use the anon feature or only pop into the fandom tag once in a while. Just do what feels right for you, and remember that just because it's a smaller fandom now doesn't mean you can't have fun.

(Also a little off-topic but i feel like we often forget just how big BIG rotbtd was. It was like a giant stone soup collaboration across all types of media: fanfic, fanart, fancomic, gifsets, edits, RP blogs, fan videos, fan songs, animation, cosplays, fanzines, etc. It felt like everyone was doing it and pitched in with something new or at least knew about it and passed it around. Of course it would feel a lot emptier when we're being compared to that.)

I’m aware I pretty much just assumed the intent behind your question and ended up babbling here lmao so feel free to message me again and correct me if I misinterpret your ask in any way! 

[illfoandillfie]

Impersonal

As promised, here’s the smutty followup to yesterday’s blurb! This is the fifth post of seven in my Platonically themed event. Again, it’s not really been edited because it’s late and I’m very tired but alas, thats how it goes. 

Words: 2,278

Warning: some vague dom/sub dynamic stuff with a more dom Ben, spanking, it’s P in V sex but theres a lot of talk about butts. Also they’re still dorks. 

It had been a nice day. You and Ben had gone out with a few friends, just a little picnic in the park to catch up with everyone. If you’d been at all worried about publicly being together on a no romo day, then it was for nothing. As much as everyone there considered you and Ben to be an item, it mostly went ignored, aside from a couple of questions about how you’d gone living together so far. But having such a big lunch, everyone having brought something to share, neither of you were especially hungry at dinner time. Ben whipped up a pot of butted noodles for you to pick at as you watched TV but it was soon set aside as you shifted to lean against the arm rest with your legs stretched out to lay over Ben’s thighs. Each of you were engrossed in your phones more than the quiz show he’d flicked on, occasionally sharing something you saw or read.  

You had opened tumblr and were scrolling through your dash, pausing to read longer bits here and there but mostly just liking images and reblogging memes. Until you hit a patch of not safe for work content. One of the porn blogs you’d long since forgotten you’d followed had hit a rare patch of activity, every second post one of theirs. Those posts you paid a little more attention to, especially when videos and explicit images were involved since you knew they were likely to be taken down soon and you didn’t want to miss out on seeing something hot. Unfortunately your headphones were in another room so you weren’t game to turn the sound on for any of the videos but the visuals and erotic comments below were enough to make you feel as if the room as heated up. You could feel yourself getting wetter at each new post but couldn’t seem to stop looking at them.  

A particularly good video of a sloppy blowjob made you clench your thighs together, your foot rubbing against Ben’s thigh as a result. His palm came to rest on the top of your foot, rubbing it soothingly, though his attention was still elsewhere. In fact, his gaze didn’t shift until a little later when you were looking at a very hot gifset of a woman on all fours, crying as she was pounded from behind. He cleared his throat. You jolted a little at the sound and tried not to look too guilty as you met his eye.   “You okay?” “Mmhmm,” His eyes travelled over you from the lip between your teeth to your tightly pressed thighs and your fingers wrapped firmly around the phone.   “I don’t mean to interrupt,” he said, clearly meaning to do exactly that, “but ummmm, are you watching porn right now?” “No,” you answered too quickly. “Hey, you don’t have to hide it if you are, go nuts. I’m just a little curious about what’s turned you on so much you’re practically panting. And can I help?” “I’m not watching anything. It’s just some gifs I saw.” “Well I think QPR law states you have to show me or you’d be a big meanie.” You chuckled and handed the phone to Ben, a little curious about how he’d react.   Ben watched the gifs through a couple of times before nodding, “Yeah, that’s uhhh, that’s pretty hot,” he rubbed your foot again as he kept watching the looped footage. “Are you turned on?” “Yeah, a bit,” “Hmmm, same.” “Should we-” “Do you wanna-” You spoke at the same time and then both laughed a little as you simultaneously agreed, “Yeah.” Immediately you swung your legs around intending to walk towards the bedroom and Ben followed for about two steps before he stopped suddenly, “Wait. This is a no romo day, right? Do you still feel anti-romance?” “Yes and yeah I think so. Why?” Ben shrugged, “I don’t think we’ve ever had sex on a no romo day so...how does it work?” “Oh, good point. Well.” you wanted to keep it brief, already worked up and wanting to move to the fun part, “I think it’s probably best if we keep it on kind of the rougher side, a little impersonal even. Could you maybe hit it from behind? I’m not really sure eye contact and all that stuff would be as fun for me right now.” “No need to ask twice. My hot partner wants me to look at her gorgeous arse while I fuck her? Yeah definitely into that.” “Jesus I’d forgotten you’re an arse man.” It was true too. As much as Ben might prefer ass to tits he also enjoyed the visual stimulation of watching you – seeing the pleasure on your face, watching your body react to his. So, while doggy style was a regular position for you, variations of missionary and cowgirl were probably a little more frequent. Which was wonderful, except not what you needed right then. Ben responded by poking his tongue out you but he seemed quite as eager to move things along, “So rough doggy then? Can I spank you?” “You’d be into that?” He shrugged, “I know we haven’t really done anything kinky yet but yeah, I enjoy spanking. I mean...watching an arse jiggle after it’s hit is incredibly hot.” You giggled, “spanking is very okay then. You could be a little mean too if you wanted, maybe calling me a degrading name to get at that impersonal thing. Slut maybe.” He hummed uncertainly, “I can try it if you really want but I gotta admit I’m not as into degrading stuff as I am spanking.” “It’s fine if you don’t, whatever works. Honestly, I’m already super horny so just do whatever you’re comfortable with and don’t get too gentle or loving with it, and I’ll be happy.” “I can definitely do rough for you. For instance,” You gasped as Ben grasped your hips and turned you around, positioning you in front of the arm of the couch before he pushed you to bend over it. It was a surprise considering Ben’s typical nature. He had his controlling or domineering moments but generally seemed happiest when he was showering you in affection or letting you take charge. Adding to the surprise was the way he tugged your pants down to your knees and began to touch you through your underwear. It made you squirm, trying to find a little more friction, but he only gave you a quick spank. Not overly hard but it didn’t have to be to make you feel tingly. Just knowing Ben was capable of an action like that was hot enough. All the same he pulled your knickers down too and ran his fingers through your folds.   “Wow, okay. You meant it when you said you were horny. Pretty wet already.” “No shit Sherlock. You know I don’t need lines like that that get you interested in fucking me.” He gave you another slap for your insolence.   “Better get you stretched out then, hadn’t we?” You felt two of Ben’s fingers rest against your entrance and expected to feel them sink into you too. But it didn’t happen.   “What’s the hold up, Tiger? Ow,” the spank had been a little harder than the last.   “If you want them so bad, do it yourself.” Your breath caught as you realised what he meant and you shifted your hips back, levering yourself against the arm of the couch, until you felt his fingers penetrate you.   “That’s it Kitten. You’re too horny to wait, aren’t you? God you’ve got such a pretty arse. Giving me the best view right now. Your needy cunt soaking my fingers while your arse,” he hit you again, “jiggles. It’s making me so hard.” You whined, unable to find a better response, and rocked back against his fingers, slowly fucking yourself on them.   He let you go on like that for a little while, happy to listen to your hitched breaths and needy sighs as you got a little of what you needed. But then he pulled his fingers from you. You let out a disappointed whimper, “Ben, c’mon,” “I’m so hard from watching you be so desperate. Just gotta get my pants off. But you can play with yourself for me, can’t you?” You nodded and shifted so you could drop your fingers to your pussy. Ben gave your arse another slap, “Not what I meant Kitten. Play with your arse.” Startled by the low growl in his voice you quickly complied, leaning on the couch as your brought both hands up to grab your arse cheeks, squeezing them and pulling them apart to better show off your holes.” “That’s very good, Kitten. Spank yourself.” It wasn’t the same as when Ben spanked you since you knew what was coming and the position didn’t allow you to get as much force into your hits as he could. But it was definitely arousing and it definitely seemed to work for Ben. You’d barely registered the sound of his pants dropping before he was sliding into your wet and waiting cunt.   “I can take it from here,” Ben’s hands replaced yours, groping your arse as you dropped your arms back to the couch, though you felt it was useless to try and prop yourself up on them. It would only be a matter of time before you collapsed entirely.  

At first he kept the pace slower, letting you adjust to him, though each thrust was forceful, just as you’d asked it to be. But gradually Ben sped up, hands still playing with your cheeks, sometimes grabbing and sometimes spanking them. He tried to say more about how hot it was to take you like that but his own breath was escaping him as the words seemed to be. So he let his body talk for him as he pounded your cunt and dug his fingers into your flesh.   And then he pulled out.   You were on the verge of asking him who the fuck he thought he was when he said, “one second. Just want to try something.” and then, remembering he was meant to be acting mean, added, “And you just want me to keep fucking you, so you’re not going to complain.” In a disgruntled daze you let Ben help you up onto the back of the couch so that one leg was bent to lean against the arm he’d just had you bent over and the other dangled towards the floor. It took a little more adjustment before Ben was happy. First pulling you back towards him and the corner of the couch, and then pressing you to lean forward so your hips were raised and he could better access your pussy. You had to grab onto the back of the couch for support, digging your fingertips into the leather as Ben resumed fucking you.   The angle had changed a little and the position was slightly more awkward to maintain but it was worth it for the way your clit rubbed against the smooth leather, leaving a trail of wetness behind. Each thrust rocked your hips in such a way that you quickly found yourself getting close to release.

That, however, seemed to be Ben’s plan as he began telling you how good you were going to make him feel when he made you cum. “I know you’re close Kitten. So just cum. I want to feel your cunt on me when you do.” He lay another few spanks to your arse cheeks and that tipped you over into your orgasm.   But Ben didn’t stop.   “I th-think you can do bett-er than that,” he grit out as you clenched around him and he seemed to thrust twice as hard as he had before, “You were so,”   You grunted as he plowed into you. “So desperate before. So you can cum better than that. Right kitten?” You nodded and gasped out a, “Yes” as your arms shook with how hard Ben was fucking you.   But he didn’t relent. He kept going until he felt you tighten again and heard you moan, nearly sobbing as relief flooded your system.   That seemed to be enough for Ben and he let himself go too, holding your hip tightly as he pressed deep into you.  

Ben leaned his forehead against your back as he tried to regain his regular breathing rate and gave you a quick kiss there before he righted himself and helped you to dismount the couch. The evidence of your orgasms was still smeared across the leather but neither of you paid it any attention.   “Sorry I never called you a slut or anything,” Ben said with a slightly self-conscious chuckle, avoiding your eye as he hitched his pants back into place. “I just like Kitten better.” “Don’t be,” you said mirroring his actions to looking at him, “Kitten worked perfectly. Also, that was really good. Maybe you could be rough and mean more often?” “The double orgasm was a pretty good indication that it worked for you,” “Of shut up, I was being serious. It was really hot.” “Yes but I like teasing you, remember,” “Prick.” “That hurts,” he said with a fake gasp and a hand against his chest, “Keep talking like that and I’ll have to spank you again,” “Ha ha, very funny. Tease me all you want but we both you enjoyed it as much as I did.” “Maybe I did.” he conceded, “but I wasn’t going to hate it when I was watching your arse.” “Alright, you perv. Was there any leftover noodles? Bit peckish now.” “Yeah, in the fridge. Grab me some too would you?”

[justalittlebluetiefling]

i CANNOT believe we haven’t talked about the moment yet what is happening please tell me the things you need to get off your chest like how ‘i’ll see you in the morning’ haunts you

HOW have we not talked about this yet?!?! Oh my gosh there’s so much. I have so many feelings about this conversation.

Uh oh, this needs a cut. Didn’t mean to turn this into an entire analysis of that conversation, but apparently I had a lot I needed to get off my chest.

How are YOU holding up with all this?!?!

I was really worried about you... when you fell. ... This suddenly feels far more serious than I thought it might be.

UMMMMM. His voice?! This whole time. His voice is like... unsteady and rough and he’s quiet the entire time. Fjord tends to be pretty subtle anyway, so quiet isn’t exactly rare for him, but this actually shook him to his core AND YOU COULD HEAR IT. It messed him up so bad that he threw all of his plans to wait out of the window?!

It felt like hell. It felt like torment.

And we have to stop it, right?

I’m emotional about THIS because JESTER?! She lost FIVE YEARS. Not only did she have to see this again, feel it, but she lost five years. And it’s clearly hurting her, but she’s not letting herself worry about it, because there are bigger things to worry about. It’s just the way both of them push their own emotions to the side to be dealt with later in favor of the larger problems at hand. It’s so admirable.

AND HE’S NOT EVEN... okay wait.

I... I may have a... a... a problem.

THE WAY HE CAN’T EVEN SAY IT. He’s so NERVOUS. Because he KNOWS why he’s THERE.

And JESTER. What is it? So fast! She’s so worried! She probably thinks it’s Uk’otoa or Kotho contacted Fjord about Sabian again or something.

I saw you standing on that pillar. It was the first time where I kept myself from... trying to... stop something that was happening TO you and... I didn’t do anything and it’s bothered me.

He has a problem. His problem is that he can’t focus past the fact that something might happen to Jester. THE THING HERE. IS THE EMPHASIS ON THE WORD ‘TO’. “Stop something that was happening TO you”. Like, all of the times throughout this campaign that we weren’t overanalyzing. We’ve made the list a thousand times and I don’t need to repeat them. here

ALSO. Think about how many things in Fjord’s life have happened TO him. He doesn’t WANT that to happen to anyone else. Especially not Jester.

But wait. Like. He didn’t say it, but he really CAN’T focus past the idea that Jester specifically might not make it out of this. The guilt he’s been carrying after the Iron Shepherds. He took all the responsibility of that onto his shoulders and I don’t think anyone realizes that he’s still hanging onto that.

It seems to have exacted a pretty serious toll.

It’s just... his voice! And the way Jester’s face falls!! I’ve been pretty worried about how Jester still seems to be putting up the ‘happy’ facade for everyone and you can truly see in this moment how much it bothers her that she’s lost time.

I want to come out of this and be able to go back to the sea and go back to Nicodranas and go back to where it’s warm and not fucking freezing and...

Me too.

They miss HOME. The poor Coast Kids miss their home. They’re both so sad. But okay. The hilarious thing here? Is that Fjord? Is talking about how he wants to go back. To THEIR home. With HER. And it hasn’t HIT HER yet, because she’s distracted! She has no idea what’s about to happen.

I just don’t know if that’s... I don’t feel as optimistic now.

Me neither. But... I’ll try to be safe. And you should, too. But if it comes down to it, if it means stopping that thing? I want to stop that thing.

AND HERE. What was it he said to her at Travelercon? And you care about people you know, about people you don't know. You cause chaos, but in the end, you don't want to hurt people. You care. This is something that he LOVES about her, but right now, it’s just... okay I’m trying to put this into the right words.

*sharp inhale* I told your mother I would look after you.

Yeah. I’ll be fine, Fjord. We always are.

Continued from the previous thought. HERE’S THE DEAL. Fjord knows he can’t protect Jester from this, no matter how much he wants to. His voice is breaking over that. And Jester’s is, too. They’re saying all these words here, but they’re also NOT. I don’t know. I’m watching the video again while I’m typing this, so this moment is breaking my heart in slow motion.

It’s not even just on Fjord’s side. Jester’s doing that thing right now where she deflects, because that’s what she does and trying to reassure Fjord because he’s never been so worried about her and she doesn’t know what else do to while Fjord is sitting here like we’re running out of time we’re running out of time we’re running out of time. Like, that’s the whole thing. He can see that they’re running out of time on Jester’s face. Literally. It was one thing for him to wait to tell her until after he sorted out his life when they felt invincible. But... out of all the danger they’ve been in before, he’s always been able to follow her. She’s never had to be alone in it, because he was one step behind her. And this time? There was literally nothing to do. He was powerless. He is powerless.

This part of the exchange is so loaded. You can FEEL Fjord about to break. It is tangible on the screen because his voice keeps shaking and he takes that huge breath.

IT’S JUST. He’s trying SO HARD. I always talk about this, but this one specific  time Travis was on Talks lives in my head rent free. The time when he talks about how much Jester’s unconditional and unrelenting support has meant to Fjord and how much Fjord wants to be able to return that. ALL he wants to do is be there for her and she’s still not opening up to him and he has NO IDEA if what he’s about to do is going to work. He has no idea if she’s going to be okay with what he’s about to tell her.

I care very much for you.

Really?

JESTER’S VOICE IS SO SOFT. SO SOFT. AND HE’S LOOKING AT HER. AND SHE’S LOOKING AT HIM.

I’m melting over this moment.

*huge sigh*

Is it because I have chiseled cheekbones now?

It’s the longer horns.

Yeah, it really does it, doesn’t it?

Yeah. It gives you an intimidating look.

YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS?! Jester saw that Fjord was nervous and she immediately tries to defuse the tension with a joke. And he jokes back. Because that’s what they do together. They’re goofy and silly and they comfort each other and Fjord LIKES that she’s strong.

Listen I’ve got clips saved up from my last rewatch because I want to make a gifset of the times Fjord has been openly appreciative of strong Jester and one day I’m gonna do it.

I mean they’re joking around, but Fjord is like, super attracted to Jester and I really love that for her. But it’s MORE than that, because he’s attracted to her, but the thing that won him over was who she is so every time he talks about how attractive he finds her, it’s just icing on the cake. He doesn’t just want to see her, he wants to know her and I don’t know how I got to this point from this section but here I am, I’m not going back.

C A N I K I S S Y O U

OKAY.

I’m gonna hyperventilate again for a sec.

It caught Jester SO OFF GUARD. AND THEN SHE’S NODDING AND THEY’RE SMILING AT EACH OTHER LIKE THEY’RE SO IN LOVE AND IT’S JUST BEAUTIFUL HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LIVE LIKE THIS

HOW.

Kissing is a lot more fun when you’re not dying.

Jester!!! She brought up the kiss! THEY SMILE AT EACH OTHER AFTER THIS. LIKE. They both acknowledge the “kiss that wasn’t a kiss” AS A KISS. I never thought we’d hear about this again! But Jester’s been thinking about it THIS WHOLE TIME!!!

I love this though. The first time, he kisses her to save her life so she can get them out of that temple. This time, he kisses her, because he can’t stand the idea of losing her.

BUT ALSO. KISSING IS FUN. Jester!!! Liked!! Being kissed! By Fjord!!!

I want them to have downtime so bad. I want them to be able to spend time walking around Nicodranas and kissing and going on little dates and eating ice cream at the Lavish Chateau and hanging out at the beach with Luc. I WANT THEM TO HAVE QUIET MOMENTS.

I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.

This was so cute! This last part might be my favorite part of the conversation. Because Jester got all flustered and FOR ONCE Fjord didn’t get awkward! He was just so RELIEVED to have told her! And she was so HAPPY?! The CUTEST grin on her face! EVER.

I’VE WANTED TO DO IT FOR A WHILE.

JESTER’S GIGGLE HERE!!!!!!!!!!! I love this for her so much. I just do. She’s been SO into him for SO long and she didn’t think he liked her back and here he is TELLING HER HE’S WANTED TO KISS HER FOR A WHILE. Her giddiness is contagious!

And FJORD! How LONG have you wanted to kiss her?! For some reason, this isn’t something I’ve considered when trying to figure out the timeline of Fjord’s feelings. When is the first time he wanted to kiss her? I think I need to go watch all their big conversations again to see if I think it’s any of them. For some reason, I feel like it’s going to be in one of those silly little moments they have together and I’m going to miss it. Do I rewatch the entire campaign for a third time???? Is that what I have to do?

I’m kind of a big coward.

No, Fjord, you’re very brave.

I am very brave, aren’t I?

You are.

Jester FULLY believes this. She’s just smiling over at him this whole time. But he looks down. Because he still doesn’t think he’s brave. Or he’s brave enough for most things, but there’s ONE THING he knows he can’t do and that’s let her go and I’M. 

Is this all just speculation and guessing and me making stuff up? Yes. Do I care? No. That’s what his face says to me in that moment.

ALL WHILE JESTER IS JUST SO HAPPY. She DOES think he’s brave and she thinks he’s amazing and he just kissed her and it’s not how she thought it would happen, but IT DID and it was so meaningful.

We could get cats and just flee.

I need to get the whole dialogue for this, but I’m tired tbh and I need to sleep, so I’m gonna focus on this last part. How they’re talking over each other to joke around, but it’s really smooth and flows really well between them. But right before this you can still see how heavily the upcoming trials are weighing on them. They feel a little better about EACH OTHER, but there’s a very real possibility that they’re about to lose each other, but they can take this ONE moment of hope?!

And I just love it when they joke around with each other to try to make each other feel better. They’re so good to each other. 

I’ll see you in the morning.

God, the way his voice is just ROUGH and small and quiet and he DOESN’T WANT TO LEAVE and they just SMILE AT EACH OTHER and they’re scared of what’s coming but THEY KNOW THEY LIKE EACH OTHER and they’re SO HAPPY FOR THIS MOMENT. 

And the soft way they say goodnight to each other!!!

THEY!!!!!!!!! make me want to walk into the ocean. In a good way. I SWEAR I CAN’T WITH THIS.

And then the way Jester sighed and giggled after Fjord left! And I can see her leaning back against her door and sighing and looking up at the ceiling and just..... SO. HAPPY.

She doesn’t even ask for a cat cuddle pile!!!! She just stares at her unicorn until she falls asleep. SHE DOESN’T ASK FOR A CAT CUDDLE PILE! 

And then there’s Fjord! Who doesn’t sleep much!

That part makes me a little more angsty. There’s lots of reasons he might be awake most of the night. There are some really cute ones. Like he’s thinking holy shit I just kissed Jester and she kissed me back and she said it was fun that’s good right? And then there are the angsty ones where he could have been laying there thinking about how he doesn’t have any control over the situation and how scared he is. But he did something and he made her smile and that’s all he ever really wants to do. Is make Jester happy. And maybe he made Jester happy in this moment where she was trying to hide that she’s sad. AND THE THING IS THAT HE DID! 

And I’ll leave you with a very short list of random things I expect them to say to one another at one point with no context:

I can’t stand the thought of losing you.

Are you sure you don’t miss the longer horns?

You don’t always have to be fine.

OH. ALSO. 

Get ready for casual intimacy. I’m ready for hand holding. Shoulder touching. brushing someone’s hair out of their face. GET READY BECAUSE IT’S GONNA HAPPEN.

[aliciavikander]

Gif Maker Appreciation Tag

rules: answer the first half of the questions with gifsets of your own, then answer the second half by tagging gif makers you love! (psst check out dia’s celebration here)

tagged by @julielukes thank you so much!!

LINK A GIFSET...

Link a gifset you’re really proud of:

not saying this is my best work, but i remember being really proud of how this came out when i posted it :)

Link a gifset where you tried something new:

well maybe this mando set. it was experimental in the way the gifs were arranged and it was absolute AGONY as well to collect all the scenes lmao

Link a gifset that features your favorite character or celebrity:

here’s a gifset of my long time crush lara croft <3 i don’t really make gifs of video games so this was something new as well!

Link a gifset that you want more people to see:

ooof, this is a hard one. i can’t really chose one tbh so here’s milo the fluffy goat if you need something to cheer you up!

Link a gifset that you had fun making:

this jaskier gifset. idk jaskier in general is just fun to gif <3

Link a gifset that you created as part of a meme, challenge, or series:

this sam wilson set where i went a bit overboard with yellow/golden color lmao

Link a gifset of yours that makes you smile:

this is not really a gifset, more like a meme lmao including my gif but i still think this is funny af

Link a gifset that you made for someone else:

i haven’t really made gifs for others other than requests tbh here’s one that was made for a show called blood & treasure 

TAG SOMEONE WHO...

Tag someone who inspired you to start making gifs:

can’t remember the first person but i do remember seeing @imdefs’ gifs and going “omg i want to make gifs like her!!” back in the days. this was at the time when i started really getting into gif making

Tag someone who makes great vibrant gifs:

@wildwrlds just look at her pinned, besties <3

Tag someone who makes great pale/pastel gifs:

not super into pale edits anymore (i used to, though!) but i know @wherepoetsdie has some nice ones!!

Tag someone who gifs for a fandom you love:

@daniellbruhl even for fandoms that are not that big, gotta admire that <3

Tag someone who uses text/typography really well in their gifsets:

@fredy-carter that font effect on that kaz edit?? HELLO???

Tag someone who motivates you to step up your game:

@anyataylorjoy girl spare some talent ma’am?

Tag someone who you have taken inspiration from:

so many of you!!! but @userjen is an absolute fave!!

Tag gif makers who you admire and appreciate! (Put as many people here as you want!):

obviously, everyone who was mentioned above!!

@villainelle @captain-james @tennant @billy-crudup @anakinskywalkers @luke-patterson @buckysbarnes @buckybarncs @tylerposey @chloexdecker @ferrisbuellers @abigailshobbs @brad-pitt @samaraweaving @buckybarne @bongjoonsho @henricavyll @stars-bean @jenniferwalterz @bladesrunner @gwen-stacy @dylobriens @userlina @makkarisersi @fulcrms @laurens-german @beccs @carricfisher  (pls i’m so sorry i probably forgot a lot of you, but i could literally go on and list all the people i follow lmao anyway i love y’all <3)

[maghrib-genova]

I just finished watching murder on the orient express and a snippet of martin eden and I just realised that marwan smiles so big like a thousand watt smile, while luca's smile is more subdued like he's shy almost (or maybe that's just martin's character???) And I'm just falling in love with them all over again ❤❤ do you have a favorite of both their movies? I'd love to watch those smiles more often 😍 (also never realised how broad luca's shoulder is wow tog really downplayed his features a lot)

Ah yes. It's all because of their characters they portrayed, that's why you see such a contrast in their smiles. Both of these movies, the characters have entirely different motives to show through their expressions, so it's understandable why there is a stark different in the way they smile.

Since we all know that both of them are such brilliant actors, everything they did in their movies I believe is the deliberate choice in their part to highlight the character personality.

Pierre smiles so widely in the movie because first I think he overall does it because of his job requires him to be all smiling and friendly and he also has something to hide, this is a mask too, this smile.

there is a moment where there is trouble behind his character when he sit on the chair in front of the rooms, waiting, subtle fidgeting on Marwan's part. I mean Pierre didn't have much screentime but all the small moment given to him, Marwan have used it to the best of his ability to showcase all of Pierre's motive as a character.

But yes his megawatt smile was truly enticing in this movie.

Now we move on to Martin. Martin smiles too a couple of time in this movie but there is some irony behind each smiles, some hidden sadness and even in his happiest time, we can still see that lingering gloom in his eyes, like he is not sure if he should smile or not, like this moment will vanish before his eyes and everything is just some sort of illusion.

Compare with this Smile when he played other characters. One is mischievous smile, sexy even though it was simple smile but we can feel his confident and his playfullness when played as Primo and another one was a genuine happy smile for his brother, with twinkle in his eyes when he played as Loris, a loving and caring brother.

Everything is deliberate choice for Luca. Even when he played Nicky.

Ugh..especially when he played nicky. Him not doing much is actually Luca doing most to show that Nicky is reserved and calculating and listening and just observing his surrounding and understanding. Then he laugh freely once when he was only with Joe to show us how much he loves his husband, how happy Joe made him even in the most hopeless place, strapped in torture table. 😘👌

(Also I think this is the most beautiful smile/laugh from Luca in any of his movies I have ever watched he's in. Or I could be bias. Because I love Nicky lol but seriously, this smile is so precious. We have to treasure it.)

Also Yes. Luca has such a broad freaking shoulder. Like it's there so jarringly when you watched his other movies. I think even when he's playing Nicky, his shoulder clearly shows that it's broad as hell.😂 they didn't down play it, it's just limited screentime for Nicky if we didn't pay too much attention we might miss it. That's why have to watch it at least 5 times guy to appreciate tog to the fullest. And to appreciate Luca as Nicky. It's chef's kiss 😘👌

What interesting though. Even though his shoulder was so broad, in that recent video Gina gave to us, when Marwan engulfed him in his embrace, that broad shoulder kind of disappeared. So I don't know who has broader shoulder at this point haha.

I mean, in Marwan's Workout Video or when he played as Majid. It was clear that he also has broad shoulder.

Anyway, it's become quite long and I haven't even answer everything. I got lost in making all the gifset to answer this haha. I have more smiling Luca gifset now. It's a bonus so thank you for this ask.

My personal favorite from all of their movies I have watched :

For Luca Marinelli I think his best role was playing as Primo in Trust FX (2018). He owned that role to the point I don't think anyone can do the character Justice the way he did in that series. He is like a wild untamed animal, like we couldn't predict what he would do next and he is playing the criminal in such a charming way. Everything about Primo screams sexy. It's hard to hate him as a villain of the story because he was so compelling and so interesting you just want to see more of him.

Martin Eden (2019) also such a good role, but it's bleak and it's poetic. Beautiful but decaying and it's hollowing. Something about Martin that makes you feel helpless and hopeless about the world and I love that movie because of it.

Luca as Fabio in They Call Me Jeeg (2015) also such a good role that Luca portrayed, playing a villain too but I still think Primo is the OG. But watching Luca as Fabio was really fun too. He wasn't a conventional villain, he sing, he is clean freak. He is beautiful and deadly too.

Ohhhh It's a long List of all The luca roles I like. I love him playing Roberta (The last man on earth/L'ultimo terrestre 2011) too! He completely become another person like it's hard to find Luca in Roberta, like Roberta is Roberta and Luca is Luca and that's how you know he clearly nail the role when he emerged as another person entirely.

Paolo (Il padre d'Italia 2017) is worth mentioning too because there is something about Paolo that makes you feel too much for him too. The last one is Loris (Up to the world 2013) because after being tortured by Luca's filmography because most of it are sad and bleak and to see something sweet with Luca character didn't have too much baggage to carry, I feel liberated and want to cling on Loris to make me happy 😂

.

For Marwan Kenzari I personally really love him in Wolf (2013) as Majid. It was such an interesting role to play, so many side of majid, so Marwan has a role to showcase all his acting abilities with this role, so much room to show all his emotions and his physicality and the story also I think hits home for Marwan so it feels personal to watch and such a beautiful movie too. Majid will always be my favorite.

Another one from Marwan that I think everyone should watch was when he played real life figure Ashraf Marwan in The Angel (2018) , there is a strong charisma and charm he carry as this character and tenderness and also fierceness, secret in plain sight that makes us keep questioning the motives of the characters even though we already know the story. It's such a fun movie to watch and also one of Marwan best performance.

Marwan as Idris (Instinct 2019) also need to be mentioned because how good he played this unsettling character, it's an interesting watch for sure. Another one is Adrian (what Happened to Monday 2017) though he wasn't the prominent role but he made an impression that stays with you after watching the movie. And the movie also was truly truly good too, He was so handsome here too.

It's been fun answering this question for 2 hours, I hope it's informative enough😂

[fatoujallovv]

a smooch on the forehead from me and lulu before we get started 😚

I'm so so happy that I finally decided to become active here over the summer because I have made amazing friends and being here has brought so so much positivity and joy to my life 🥺💛 without all the mutuals and followers I’ve gained this year, without learning to gif and experimenting with making all types of creations, I definitely wouldn’t have made it to the point now where I can confidently say that I am working towards being the happiest I’ve ever been. thank you all so so much, I love every last one of you endlessly 💛💛💛💛

my first thank you to @luxandobscurus and @lucasotteli for becoming my very best friends this year. I can’t imagine life without our insane late night chats and your endless support, im lov u both with my entire heart you deserve only amazing things always.

next thank you to all the lovely people I met through caro’s lil discord server, the ael server, and brocsquad for being amazing lovely groups of people who have been so so fun to talk to 🥺💛💛💛 I know I'm not the best at being active in big groups but I love you all even if I don’t interact much 🥺💗 

lets be friends server @dreamaur (I love you more than life itself ann never stop being your incredible self) @alwayskissmeatnight (you’re the most supportive and protective momma bear and I love being mutuals with you so so much) @kieunora (the most talented big brained queen here) @kritiquer @alterlovex @rosesunrise @demauryss @blanxkey @thegirlnooneknows5 @grey-mist-exist @saltyflowr @tawmlinsun 

ael server @kieumyvus​ (thank you for helping this novice giffer learn the ropes and being so welcoming and willing to offer advice and help to everyone 💛💛)  @womenstan​ (thank you for my birthday gifset I still can't believe you made it for me you’re the sweetest of all time!!) @veerledejaegers​ @noramachwtz​ @norangensft @lallemcnt @lolasluquette @lesbianfatous @soluxogobsc @bi-isa-keijser @lucakuloo 

brocsquad @lieverobbe (my very first tumblr friend ily em I hope the uni life is treating you well 💛💛💛) @jensrolt (the sweetest angel fairy lady in the world thank you for blessing us with your amazing bright spirit) @kingarthurpendragons (my soulmate I love and miss you so much 🥺💗) @to-enter-polaris (most talented gif maker and sweetest soul. sarah I love you forever thank you once again for my film posters in case you haven’t heard I love them) @sonderthroughthestreets (I'll always remember how lovely you were in my first few weeks on tumblr and how excited you were that ‘something like a sunflower ellie!!!’ joined brocsquad 🥺 ily) @gucciboner @sanabakkoushd @ayarambles @thenerd10  @franboos @theflowerisblue @earthling-isa @engelkeijsers @dagcutie @welcometo-saturn​

shoutout to @ffriluftslivv​​ (my angel I adore you to the ends of the earth) @isakyaqi​​ (I loved getting to know you better when we did our rewatch 🥺💛) @eliotts-eyes​​ (my fellow greekling name twin! ily so much!) @misunderstoododdity @katzen-kinder @evilhersxlf @nachtumringt @lololil @mailinrichter @alcxmcrcer @lifeisevak @sunflouwermoon @germericangirl @briallenko @awake-dreamer18 for being the sweetest kindest ever I love interacting with all of you and I consider you all good friends 🥺💛💗

more spectacular funny/super cool/kind/incredibly talented people I love to see on my dash!! @alexauriant @avaceleste @lepetitepeach @lallemanting @nyttvera @zoesrobbe @tsjernobyl @sander-klaas @cash-queens @howlingsaturn @vanillalipstick66 @lux-fleur @racoons-hedgehogs-and-pixiedust @ijzermanora @jebentnietalleen @polarisrodulv @bethisneckdeep @fatoujallow @perfectsilence22​

if I forgot you I'm so so sorry 🥺 I’m really dumb so if I went thru my following/followers list and saw your main but forgot that's you because I only know ur side blog or something I still love u and appreciate you so much 🥺💛 thank you all whether you made content that I loved, sent me an ask that made me smile, made me creations for my birthday, reblogged my gifsets, had a chaotic conversation with me late at night, or even if we’ve never interacted at all. I'm so so grateful to be here with you guys!!!! happy new year 💗💗💗💗💗

[ixalit]

(1/2) I'll you my personal reasons for not watching tfatws- the directors, writers and everybody involved has said that the show picks up right where endgame ends and honestly speaking, that movie brought me a lot of pain, heartbreak and of course to continue the plot line tfatws will have to acknowledge and to some extent even justify Steve's ending & the decision to go back in time. So yeah, even if it's probably addressed only in the first episode and few minutes, that's what the show's

(2/2) premise is built upon(the assassination of Steve's character arc which breaks my heart every time i'm reminded of it) So I've decided to isolate myself from the current mcu track and filtering all the tags and their new shows (including wv) I'm not discouraging or boycotting anyone who is excited for the new content but for the sake of my own mental health+happiness I'll be curating my own fandom experience which I believe is totally within my right,not something i should feel guilty about

Yes, you’re free and welcome to engage with whatever you want in whatever you ways you want. I’m truly not trying to start an argument here or tell you how to be in fandom, but you made some points that I want to respond to so I’m going to reply to this in pieces.

the show picks up right where endgame ends and honestly speaking, that movie brought me a lot of pain, heartbreak and of course to continue the plot line tfatws will have to acknowledge and to some extent even justify Steve's ending & the decision to go back in time. So yeah, even if it's probably addressed only in the first episode and few minutes, that's what the show's premise is built upon(the assassination of Steve's character arc which breaks my heart every time i'm reminded of it)

Yes, I would assume so, seeing as it’s set in the same universe as MCU canon and takes place after Endg*me. But since when is official canon the end-all be-all? Haven’t we, as Stucky shippers, always taken liberties? Haven’t we always picked and chose specific details so that it fits our narrative better? Haven’t we written countless fics of multi-verses and fix-its and completely ignored everything except the basic premise of canon?

So yes, FATWS will probably mention Steve. And it most likely reference the events of Endg*me. But where does it say you need to like or accept or even believe the events of Endg*me to watch a show that is, quite frankly, not about Steve at all?

I've decided to isolate myself from the current mcu track and filtering all the tags and their new shows (including wv) I'm not discouraging or boycotting anyone who is excited for the new content but for the sake of my own mental health+happiness I'll be curating my own fandom experience which I believe is totally within my right,not something i should feel guilty about

By definition, what you’re doing is boycotting (definition: withdrawing from commercial or social relations with something as a punishment or protest). Maybe not people, but definitely the show. Maybe you’re protesting Endg*me and not a black lead, but that’s still resulting in the show getting less views, being less popular, and resulting in less recognition for said black lead.

I’m sorry that thinking about Endg*me and the assassination of Steve’s character arc brings you so much pain. That sounds really hard. It’s not my intention to make you feel guilty for taking care of your mental health so much as it is to bring attention to the passive racism I’ve seen heavily on tumblr the past few weeks. Obviously please take care of yourself and your mental health first.

I know in previous fandoms I’ve been in, the moment it started invading my mental space and affecting my emotions so much, I’ve benefitted from taking a step back and looking at the big picture - this is a fictional story, with fictional characters, who we absolutely love, but at the end of the day live in our heads.

I bet we all have versions of them in our minds that vary based on what we admire about them, the fics and art we consume, and the canon and fanon we accept. Because of this, we can actually think about them any way we want. Because they are not real people, we have the power to accept or not accept things without letting it affect the rest of the story or characters.

In my view, canon is the skeleton of a house. It provides the basic shape, the structure, it gives everything a stable foundation. But as you build the house and fill in the insulation and drywall, you can change things. You can make additions or remove parts. You can fill it in however you want. And when it’s finally together, you get to choose the details - the lighting and cabinets and flooring - that you want because it’s your home and no one else’s. Hell, you could even sell the house and start over on a different plot.

I’m in fandom to have fun with fictional characters and escape from real life stress. And if I need to bend the rules of canon to what I like so that it continues to be a fun place for me, I damn well will do that.

Anyways. All that to say. I understand what you’re saying about hating Endg*me and not wanting to see that continue. All I’m saying is you can still promote Mackie in his first lead in Marvel. You can still give it clicks, even if you don’t watch the episodes. Or you can have a friend tell you where to skip to avoid any mention of Steve and Endg*me. You can reblog the press tours and gifsets without accepting the narrative it builds off of. You can still support a black lead in an Avengers production.

[bob-events]

Band of Brothers Friendship Bonanza 2021: Sign-ups are open!

Hello everyone! The day is here, and the sign-ups for this year’s Friendship Bonanza fest is open!

If you wanna skip straight to the signup form, the link is here! Under the Keep Reading we’re just gonna list some good-to-know info about the event and how it will work, so if you have any questions, check that out first! :)

EVENT TIMELINE:

May 11 - Signups open

May 25 - Signups close

Jun 1 - Assignments go out

June 29-July 1st - Check-in via email

Jul 16 - Default Deadline/AO3 collection opens

Jul 23 - Deadline to turn in works

July 30 - All works go live

August 6 - Author reveals

Under-the-Keep-Reading tl;dr: 1. This is a gift exchange 2. The theme is friendship! 3. All types of fandom creations are welcome in this event 4. Canon characters, OCs and xReader works are all welcome 5. Defaulting and pinch hits A note on the Anonymous Week

The minimum requirements for works are: Fanfics: 1000 words Fanart, gifs, videos, etc: A clearly finished piece

If you have any questions, message us! We’re available here, on discord and on our email, bandofboyfriends@gmail.com. There are three of us, and we’re in different timezones, so keep that in mind! :)

LINK TO THE SIGN-UP FORM

And as always,

Come hang out on our BoB Discord! (16+)

Currahee! <3

1. This is a gift exchange It’s why there’s a signup form. After the signup period ends, we will pair everyone up, and send out the prompts given by every person to their match, who will then create a work based off of those prompts. For example, it could look like: A writes for B, B writes for D, D writes for C, C writes for A. Everyone makes a gift, everyone receives a gift!

2. The theme is friendship! There is no ban on (background) romantic relationships, but please do keep in mind that the main focus of your prompts should be friendships or/and other types of platonic relationships! (If you personally do not want any kind of romantic element to your gift, just write it in the Do Not Want section!)

3. All types of fandom creations are welcome in this event Because this is a gift exchange and we need to ensure that every person will be able to be matched up to someone, every participant is required to be willing to make either a fanfic or a piece of fanart. However, we gladly welcome other types of media in this event too! Gifsets, videos, photo sets, fanmixes, anything that you might be a creator of is welcome in this event!

4. Canon characters, OCs and xReader works are all welcome The only existing caveat is that your work must be understandable for a person who has consumed nothing except the original show. This, of course, goes for any work, but we are aware that a big part of OC creation is their often amazingly wonderful backstories and past events who shaped who they are. These stories are incredibly welcome, but keep in mind that the person you are matched with might not have read or seen your earlier work, so make sure your creation is understandable to someone who has only seen the base show!

5. Defaulting and pinch hits “To default” is basically the term for dropping out of the event and not creating your work within the deadline. There are a lot of reasons why someone might default, and we will never question or judge someone for doing so, but if you think you might have to default, please let us know as soon as possible! After a default, we will put out the prompts given to the person who defaulted as a “pinch hit”. This means they will be put up with a request for a fill, to make sure every participant gets a gift. It’s called a pinch hit because they often have a much tighter timeframe than is originally allotted to the fest.

A note on the Anonymous Week All works have to be published to AO3 by the deadline to not be considered abandoned. This goes for fics, art, gifsets, any kind of creation for the event, and it’s in order for the mods to be able to keep track of how everyone is doing, who has finished and submitted their work, etc. For the first week of the works going public, they will be marked as “anonymous,” meaning you won’t be able to see the author. Here’s a screenshot from the Discord server with some info on why:

Image Description:

maria: sobel stan 4ever “so basically, just to explain the mechanics first for anyone who might not know: AO3 has a function where works within a collection can be labeled as anonymous for a period of time. We’ve just taken inspo from Heavy Artillery, who by tradition have all their works anon for the first week. 

This is for two main reasons as far as i know; first, to kind of level the playing field in a sense, basically giving the work the right to stand on their own legs and to make sure people don’t just read (for example) the works from people they already know and like and ignore the others. Since we have creators here who are incredibly good but maybe haven’t had the time to build up that exposure, we figured it could be a nice option. Second is that it gives the option for trying to guess who made what, and that can be kinda fun! Trying to suss out who wrote what fic etc.”

However, we are aware that for non-writers, AO3 might not be the best place to share a work, so non-writers are exempt from the anonymity rule!

This means that from July 30th, if you’re (for example) an artist, you are free to post your artwork on tumblr, instagram or whatever platform you’re most comfortable with!

[sparklycardigan]

Have you seen the deleted scene from "There's the Rub" where Paris and Rory talk about Jess? (It's on YouTube if you haven't!) The gifset you shared about Dan and his denial made me think of it, haha! Because Rory definitely has a similar "methinks the lady doth protest too much" energy...

This is such a fun parallel to me because Gilmore Girls exist in the Gossip Girl universe in canon. Blair mentions watching the show on one occasion. She doesn’t seem to be too thrilled with Rory’s character though, but she does say that before her relationship with Dan who is similar to Rory in a LOT of ways so one can hope she, at least secretly (which is more likely), changed her mind. I usually headcanon Blair introducing the show to Dan and Rory becoming his comfort character but that’s just my mind trying to connect every single thing I’m into to one another. Back to the point, I did see the deleted scene and I completely agree with the observation, it is indeed very "methinks the lady doth protest too much" (ah, don’t I love a good reference… thank you for making that expression a part of your ask, made me smile real big). There are many more ways in which Dan and Rory are similar, but I won’t bother you with that since you haven’t seen the other GG, but this is great, like a confirmation that I wasn’t crazy to connect these two characters.

[terrainofheartfelt]

"It's you, it couldn't be awful"

A Playlist For Dair Appreciation Week, Day 7 - Fave Quotes & Lyrics

I haven’t the faintest idea how to make gifs (seriously I think all of you are witches) so I made this playlist, because there is nothing I love more than scrolling through my spotify library and just projecting all over it.

Track listings and links with opinions & lyrics under the cut, because this thing is long, because I have no restraint.

(Note: I intentionally left off all tswift bc if I didn’t, we’d be here all day)

Section 1: The Bops

Little of Your Love - HAIM

A bop that embodies the energy of the 4b arc, and an energy of “Oh for crying out loud, Humphrey”

You’re just another recovering heart / I wasn’t even gonna try / you wouldn’t even give the time

Stop runnin’ your mouth like that / ‘cause you know I’m gonna give it right back

Hate That You Know Me - Bleachers

It’s “You owe me ten / You owe me twenty!” & “I was hoping it would go away / I was humiliated” & basically all of While You Weren’t Sleeping, tbh

Some days I, I wish that I wasn't myself / No luck! / And I hate that you know me so well

I Like Me Better - Lauv

Heavily featured in all y’all’s gifsets—and rightfully so!!! It’s also like the perfect counter to the previous song.

To not know who I am but still know that I'm good long as you're here with me

Sweet Talk - Saint Motel

It’s about Blair roasting Dan for filth and him being completely charmed by it.

when you laugh / I forget that it's about me / But it's alright / Yeah, cause being your punchline / Still is something

No Reason to Run - Cold War Kids

In the perfect version of the show that lives in my head, this is the end credits song that plays as the two of them frolic in Rome.

I have evolved like a fish growing legs / Woke like a lightbulb clicked in my brain

You Make Lovin' Fun - Fleetwood Mac

The song for the couple that fucked in an elevator. Bless the work.

Sweet wonderful you / You make me happy with the things you do

No Matter What You Do - covered by Jakob Dylan and Regina Spektor

The energy is “I have a lot of affection for you but you are so annoying.” And this is the obligatory post-breakup s6 song.

No matter what in the world you do / Hey, I'll always be in love with you

Don't Take the Money - Bleachers

I see so much love for tswift on this website (valid) but I feel like the world as a whole sleeps on her collaborator Jack Antonoff bc he is brilliant and his act Bleachers has some of my favorite songs ever. Like this one. Antonoff has said before that the title phrase is more metaphorical than literal, like an idiom that means don’t take the easy way and give this up, because it’s genuine. Real “I want to have a sleepover with you” vibes.

Somebody broke me once / Love was a currency / A shimmering balance act / I think that I laughed at that

In the Morning - Nina Simone

It’s about the domesticity! And the “Our relationship is our world”! And the “we’re young and still have so much life to live so everything’s gonna be okay.” did i title a smut fic with lyrics from this song maybeso.gif

Please be patient with your life / It's only morning and you're still to live your day

This Must Be the Place - Talking Heads

This is a canon dair song bc @mysteriesofloves titled a fic after this song, them’s the rules. But for real, this is such a good one. The lyrics are intentionally scattered, a little bewildered, like “how did we get here? how did this happen? who found whom?” and finally “who cares? we found a home in each other.”

The less we say about it, the better / We'll make it up as we go along

Cleopatra in Brooklyn - Frank Turner

Chosen for the title obviously, but the lyrics capture the royal/5b arc pretty well, I think. The narrator carries this tongue-and-cheek comparison of the woman he’s singing to to Cleopatra through the whole song, comparing himself to Marc Antony, and ending with this really earnest kind of declaration. I’m obsessed with this songwriter he’s a genius please give him a listen.

These people are adjectives to your proper noun

I'll come find you when your fortunes fail you / I'll die with you when the gods desert you

Morphing into Section 2: Pure Vibes

Walking on a Dream - covered by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

The original is by Empire of the Sun (and omigod I just realized the coincidence), but I first heard it covered by McMahon, and he’s one of my favorite musicians of ever so I just love his rendition. And this song is sort of like...about finally deciding that the reality of love with someone is so much better than the idea of it.

Thought I’d never see / The love you found in me / Now it’s changing all the time

Wake Me - Bleachers

Jack coming for my life yet again. This song is so romantic but also so melancholy? Which is such a Daniel Humphrey Vibe.

And I'd rather be sad with you / Than anywhere away from you

All I Want - Joni Mitchell

I’m a white girl with a mother who grew up in the 60s, so I love Joni. And this song is so bubbly and joyful, but it’s also about a relationship between two imperfect people and wanting it to work anyway. Big “Despicable B” vibes!

All I really want our love to do / Is to bring out the best in me / And in you, too.

Dust to Dust - The Civil Wars

A friend in undergrad got me into the Civil Wars by showing me their live videos, and they have such incredible musical chemistry - like, the synchronicity of their ensemble is so good that it even comes through on their studio recordings and it makes these simple lyrics hit SO HARD.

You're just lonely / You've been lonely too long

NFWMB - Hozier

Ok, this had to be like the first ask I ever sent @bisexualdanhumphrey bc they wrote this fantastic meta post about Hozier and Derena but I said: “consider: NFWMB is a Dair song.” And they said, “You right.” I stand by it, and that’s why this song is on this list.

If I was born as a blackthorn tree / I'd wanna be felled by you / Held by you / Fuel the pyre of your enemies

Friday I'm in Love - covered by Phoebe Bridgers

This song - especially this cover - gives such Secret Friendship Arc vibes a la the end of 4x16...the inherent romance of eating pizza and falling asleep on the couch together

Always take a big bite / It’s such a gorgeous sight / To see you eat in the middle of the night

A Case of You - Joni Mitchell

Queen Joni again. Like! I am a lonely painter / I live in a box of paints. & The “You’re the star of Dan’s book” of it all in these lyrics!

I remember that time you told me / You said “Love is touching souls” / Surely you touched mine / ‘cause part of you pours out of me / In these lines from time to time.

Longing to Belong - Eddie Vedder

This is my thinly veiled attempt to tell more people about this: a song written and performed by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on ukulele, that is actually the softest love song in the history of western music.

All my time is spent here / Longing to belong to you

Bones - Josh Record

Okay, so, that Moment on the Couch at the end of 5x02? That’s this song.

And darling, when your feet are cold / Wait up, I'm coming home / And all of you I will hold / My love will clothe your bones

Cinnamon Girl - Lana Del Rey

The song for when you reach the end of plausible deniability - One all consuming paralyzing thought & You need to go back to Brooklyn - and it scares the heck out of you.

There's things I wanna say to you, but I'll just let you live / Like if you hold me without hurting me / You'll be the first who ever did

You and Me - You + Me

You can be flawed enough but perfect for a person

Section 3: Songs for Dancing in the Kitchen with Your Lover at 1 am

Cigarettes and Coffee - Otis Redding

The “Dan and I have a real connection song.” It’s about the romance of commonplace things when they’re with the right person.

But it seemed so natural, darling / That you and I are here

I'd Be Waiting - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

It’s “I just want to spend the day with you” but in like, slow-dance, sexy harmonies format.

If you ever get lonely if you never did

Never My Love - covered by Jakob Dylan and Norah Jones

The “Words of Affirmation” love song they deserve, and an underrated love song from Laurel Canyon, imho

What makes you think love will end? / When you know that my whole life depends / On you

Dancing in the Dark - covered by Morgan James

Okay so these lyrics are such Dan lyrics to me, it’s charmingly self-aware and self-deprecating. And this cover by Morgan James turns this staple rock song into something ~sexy~

I'm dying for some action / I'm sick of sittin' round here trying to write this book / I need a love reaction / Come on, gimme just one look

Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You) - Aretha Franklin

They’re literally always making each other laugh! It’s about feeling safe enough to be uninhibited and unselfconscious in your joy.

To make you laugh / I would be a fool for you

I Fall in Love Too Easily - as done by Chet Baker

No one, but no one sounds as sweet or as smooth as Chet. I know it, you know it, Hozier knows it. And this song and it’s titular thesis is so Them, it’s such a central part of their respective characters, and one of the things that makes them compatible.

My heart should be well schooled / 'Cause I've been fooled in the past

For Me Formidable - Charles Aznavour

Due entirely to this fic (Part II of a god tier s4 au) This is the end credits song for their full feature length Nora Ephron romcom.

NSFW Honorable Mention: Dinner & Diatribes - Hozier

it’s the definitive “men get pegged” representation, iykyk