#defending on his behalf/making excuses for him | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wolvietxt · 1 month ago

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𝓑UTTERFLIES.

pairing : bucky barnes x fem!reader warnings : light angst, shouting, reader stands up for bucky, kinda open-ended summary : bucky feels weird things in his stomach whenever he thinks about you, he’s convinced he’s getting sick wc : 1.7k a/n : part two here

the avengers tower was a hive of activity. agents scurried in and out, stark’s gadgets beeped incessantly, and the hum of conversations filled the hallways. amidst the chaos, you’d carved out your own little routine - something steady to hold onto in a world that rarely stopped moving. and then there was bucky barnes. he was the quiet one, always on the edges of the action, as though he wasn’t sure where he fit in. you’d noticed him almost immediately when you moved in, not because he tried to stand out, but because he did the opposite.

every morning, he’d shuffle into the kitchen, head down, hair slightly messy from sleep. you’d offer him a soft “good morning,” trying not to sound too eager, and he’d nod or mumble something before retreating to the solitude of the gym or his room. his shyness only made you want to know him more. there was a depth to him, layers you were dying to peel back, but he seemed content - or maybe resigned - to keeping everyone at arm’s length.

still, you didn’t give up. you tried in small ways: leaving him a cup of coffee when you knew he’d be up early, asking if he’d want to join for movie nights, even offering him a quiet corner during team meetings when things got too loud. his answers were always polite but distant. it wasn’t rejection, not really, but it still left you wondering if you’d ever get through to him.

then came the day you overheard something that made your blood boil.

it happened in the common room. you’d been looking for a misplaced file when you caught snippets of a conversation between two junior agents. at first, you thought nothing of it - just the usual chatter that filled the tower. but then you heard bucky’s name, and your attention snapped to them like a rubber band.

“he’s just so… weird,” one of them said, his tone dripping with disdain. “i mean, come on, we’re supposed to trust him? after everything he’s done?”

“seriously,” the other agreed. “it’s like walking on eggshells around him. guy barely talks, and when he does, it’s just… creepy. i don’t know why they keep him around.”

rage bubbled up in your chest, hot and immediate. before you could stop yourself, you stepped into the room, your voice cutting through their laughter like a knife. “who do you think you are?”

the agents froze, their faces draining of color as they realized you’d been listening. one of them tried to stammer an excuse, but you weren’t having it.

“no, i want to know,” you said, your voice steady but sharp. “what gives you the right to talk about him like that? do you have any idea what he’s been through? what he’s overcome? or do you just like tearing people down because it makes you feel better about yourselves?”

they exchanged nervous glances, clearly searching for an exit, but you weren’t finished.

“bucky barnes has more strength in his pinky finger than you’ll ever have in your entire life. and if i hear either of you - either of you - say one more word about him, you’ll be reassigned so fast you won’t have time to pack your desks. understood?”

they mumbled something that sounded like agreement before bolting from the room, leaving you standing there, heart pounding from the adrenaline.

unbeknownst to you, bucky had been standing just around the corner.

he hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. he’d been on his way to the common room to grab a bottle of water when he heard your voice. at first, he’d thought you were just talking to someone, but as the words sank in, he realized you were defending him. you were angry - no, furious - on his behalf, and it left him rooted to the spot, unable to move.

no one had ever done that for him before.

days later, the memory still lingered. he couldn’t shake the image of you standing there, fire in your eyes, your voice unwavering. it was as though you’d burned yourself into his mind, and every time he thought about it, his chest tightened. it wasn’t just what you’d said; it was the way you’d said it, with so much conviction it made him feel… something he couldn’t quite name.

that night, he lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. his heart raced, his palms were clammy, and his stomach churned in a way that felt almost… pleasant? but also deeply unsettling. was he getting sick? that seemed impossible - the serum made sure of that. yet the symptoms were undeniable. every time he closed his eyes, he saw your face, heard your voice, and felt that strange, fluttering sensation in his chest.

by the next morning, he was convinced something was seriously wrong.

bucky had never been one to dwell on his feelings. survival, duty, and regret had occupied most of his thoughts for as long as he could remember. but now, as he sat on the edge of his bed staring at the floor, he couldn’t ignore the storm swirling inside him. he felt… strange. his chest was tight, his thoughts were scattered, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop replaying the moment he overheard you in the common room.

he should’ve stepped in, said something to those agents himself, but instead, he’d stood there like a coward while you defended him. the memory of your voice, sharp with anger, made his palms sweat. no one had ever spoken up for him like that. people either feared him or avoided him altogether. but you - you’d stood there, unwavering, because you believed he was worth it. the thought made his heart race in a way that felt entirely too unfamiliar.

it had to be some kind of illness, right? he couldn’t be sick - the serum wouldn’t allow it - but what else could explain the way his stomach flipped whenever you were around? or the way his hands fidgeted nervously whenever you said his name? bucky groaned, dragging a hand down his face. this was ridiculous. he needed answers.

and so, he turned to the only person he trusted to give him the truth.

“steve, something’s wrong with me,” bucky blurted out later that day. they were in the gym, steve halfway through a set of push-ups when bucky’s words made him pause mid-rep.

“wrong?” steve asked, pushing himself to his feet. “what do you mean?”

bucky hesitated, crossing his arms over his chest. “it’s… i don’t know. i’ve been feeling weird lately. my heart’s racing, i can’t think straight, and every time i see - ” he cut himself off, clearing his throat. “never mind. forget it.”

steve’s lips twitched into a knowing smile. “does this have anything to do with a certain someone?”

bucky’s jaw tightened. “what? no. that’s not… that’s not it.”

“sure, buck,” steve said, his tone teasing. “you’re probably just coming down with something.”

bucky narrowed his eyes. “serum, remember? i don’t get sick.”

steve’s smile widened. “exactly.”

bucky scowled, realizing too late that steve wasn’t going to be any help. he mumbled a quick excuse and left, his frustration mounting. if steve wasn’t going to take him seriously, he’d just have to figure this out himself.

next on his list was sam. surely sam would have a straight answer for him.

“ you’re not dying, man,” sam said after bucky cornered him in the kitchen. “although, judging by the way you’re acting, you’d think the world was ending.”

bucky frowned. “i’m not acting any way.”

sam raised an eyebrow. “uh-huh. look, maybe you just need to… i don’t know, talk to someone about it. someone who isn’t me.”

bucky groaned. “you’re no help.”

“at least i’m honest,” sam shot back, smirking as he left bucky alone with his thoughts.

it wasn’t until later that night, during a rare moment of quiet, that bucky found himself seeking out natasha. if anyone could give him a straight answer, it was her. she was sitting in the lounge, flipping through a book, when he approached.

“can i ask you something?” he said, his voice quieter than usual.

natasha glanced up, her expression unreadable. “always.”

bucky shifted awkwardly, his fingers drumming against his thigh. “if… hypothetically… someone couldn’t stop thinking about another person, and it made them feel all… weird inside, what would you call that?”

natasha’s lips twitched, and for a moment, bucky thought she might laugh. but instead, she closed her book and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “weird how?”

bucky struggled to find the words. “just… weird. like, heart-racing, can’t-think-straight, stomach-doing-flips kind of weird.”

natasha studied him for a long moment, her gaze sharp and assessing. “sounds like you’ve got it bad.”

bucky blinked. “got what?”

she smirked. “you’ll figure it out.”

and just like that, she returned to her book, leaving bucky more confused than ever.

over the next few days, bucky’s “symptoms” only seemed to worsen. he found himself drawn to you in ways he couldn’t explain. the way you smiled, the sound of your laugh, even the little things you did - like leaving a cup of coffee on the counter for him - made his chest ache in the best possible way. it was maddening.

finally, in a last-ditch effort to make sense of what was happening, he sought out wanda. if anyone could give him clarity, it was her.

wanda listened patiently as bucky explained his predicament, her expression calm and composed. when he finished, she tilted her head, a small, knowing smile tugging at her lips.

“bucky,” she said gently, “you’re not sick.”

he frowned. “but - ”

“you’ve got a crush,” she said simply.

bucky’s heart stopped. “a crush?”

wanda nodded. “yes. and from the sound of it, it’s about time you did something about it.”

bucky stared at her, his mind racing. the idea felt foreign, almost impossible. but as he thought about you - the way you’d stood up for him, the way you’d always looked and spoken to him with so much warmth and understanding - he realized wanda was right.

ᰔ bucky barnes : @notacleangirl, @v3lv3tf0x, @dugiioh, @whxtewolf, @lemoanaid

@yvespecially, @hhiggs, @darlingsoulbeautifulthoughts, @seasonofthenerd, @superlegend216

@withasideofmeg, @pvndomi, @flamin-hot-cheetos, @bbittenapples, @hazydespair

@aoi_targaryen, @person-005, @corvuscattus

taglist form linked in pinned post :3

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magniloquent-raven · 3 months ago

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"Oh, good, you are alive." Eddie says as soon as Tommy opens his front door. He pushes his way into the house without waiting for a response, and leaves Tommy blinking at empty space.

"...Sure, come on in," he mutters.

"Would it kill you to answer your phone some time?" Eddie's standing in the living room, hands on his hips, looking at Tommy like he's expecting something.

And Tommy's still lingering in his own doorway, suddenly very aware of how ripe his PJs have gotten. "It's my day off." It's a lame excuse and he knows it. He turns away to shut the door so he won't have to look Eddie in the eye.

"It's been, like, three weeks, man."

Tommy sighs quietly. "Yeah, look, it's just..."

"Is this the part where you tell me you both love me equally and it isn't my fault mommy and daddy are getting divorced." He's being flippant, but there's anger there. Tension in his voice. Tommy's not sure if it's on his own behalf or Evan's. Either would be fair, probably.

No. No, it isn't. It's not fair. He doesn't get to storm in here and judge Tommy's life choices. It's not like he's happy with himself about this, he didn't want to break things off. It just. Didn't work out.

"We don't, Eddie."

"What?"

Tommy folds his arms across his chest. "Love you equally. He needs you more than I do."

"What happened to me being allowed to have more than one friend?"

You know what happened, Tommy wants to snap, wants to be the kind of person who gets so angry he breaks, bleeds the tension out. He wants to untangle the knot that's been tightening in his chest for weeks.

Instead he hunches his shoulders. "Nothing, you have plenty of friends. A whole station of them." Tommy bites the inside of his lip so hard he tastes iron, and his eyes fall shut for a moment while he collects himself. "I was trying to make things easier for you."

Eddie narrows his eyes. "Yeah, nothing easier than getting ghosted. In fact, I love it when people I care about suddenly stop talking to me."

"You know what I meant. You have to take his side."

"Oh, I am. Breaking up with him like that was stupid, and he's really hurt."

Tommy barely contains his wince.

"But you were my friend before you were his boyfriend." Eddie's expression shifts, not quite softening. "I'm not here to defend Buck's honour, I'm here because my friend isn't making good choices and I'm worried about him."

He cried that night three weeks ago. Held off until he'd made it home and then bawled like a child, curled up in the dark and not bothering to wipe the snot from his nose. He hasn't cried since. Not when he found one of Evan's sweaters shoved between the cushions on his couch. Not when a date night reminder he forgot to delete from his phone dinged three days ago. Every time he wakes up to nothing but empty lock-screen he feels a little more hollow thinking about all the texts he used to get in the middle of the night.

But he hasn't been crying about it. Until now.

He's not sure what it is exactly. Something about Eddie refusing to let Tommy stonewall him. Something about all the things he's gone through alone never mattering to anyone. Not enough to warrant more than courtesy comfort.

"Woah, hey, was it something I said?"

Tommy shakes his head, and wipes his cheek with the heel of his hand. "It's been a weird few weeks."

It has, is the thing. He used to be good at being alone. But six months of borrowed time was enough for him to be in a lot deeper than he thought. He doesn't just miss Evan he misses being invited to his family dinners, and hearing about life with the 118.

"How 'bout I drink your beer while you tell me about it."

"...Okay."

#tommy kinard #bucktommy #911 abc #911 spoilers #911 8x06 #i went to bed early and very tired but then i couldnt sleep until i got this written #i wanna write actual getting back together fic #but a prelude to that with some bro time will have to do for now #if theres any typos no there arent im going to bed for real now #a raven's writing desk

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ikkyfics · 2 months ago

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Little Charms

James Potter x f!reader

Summary: Things James does for love

Warnings: just fluffy

Masterlist

He gifted you a Golden Snitch engraved with both your initials, enchanted to always return to your hand when you throw it.

He loves messing up your hair the same way he does his, just to tease you and because he thinks it makes you two look “perfectly matched.”

Every time he sees you enter the common room, he makes a point of loudly announcing, “Ah, my muse has arrived!” just to make you blush.

When you complain about the cold, he immediately wraps his Gryffindor scarf around you, even if he starts shivering moments later.

He keeps a journal of every little detail about you—how you hold your wand or the way your eyes light up when you laugh—and uses it to surprise you with gifts or inside jokes.

James practices even harder at Quidditch just so he can dedicate his victories to you, pointing at the stands where you’re seated and winking.

He uses the Marauder’s Map to ensure no one interrupts your secret dates in the Astronomy Tower.

Whenever Sirius teases him about being “domesticated,” James replies that you’re “the best thing that’s ever happened to him.”

He loves pulling you into impromptu dances in the middle of the common room, even without music, just to make you laugh.

He insists on writing little notes that magically appear in the air during class, always signing them “From your favorite Marauder.”

He started decorating your spot in the Great Hall with tiny, glowing charms to make sure you know where to sit—and to let everyone else know you’re together.

James loves challenging you to silly competitions, like “who can cast the fastest spell,” just to have an excuse to watch you laugh.

When you’re upset, he enlists Sirius to help plan something utterly ridiculous and fun to cheer you up.

He started wearing cologne because he overheard you mention liking the scent of a flower field, but he overdid it at first and smelled like an entire garden.

Anytime someone asks what he sees in you, James answers without hesitation: “Everything. She’s perfect.”

He made an effort to learn a hobby of yours, even if it was something he never imagined doing, just to spend more time with you.

He loves taking you on broom rides, holding you close, and always making daring turns just to hear you scream in excitement.

He defends you against any rude comments, and his wand is always ready for a duel on your behalf.

He whispers little confessions during class when the professor isn’t looking, just to distract you and make you smile.

He keeps a photo of the two of you in a frame by his bedside that never leaves its spot.

James loves writing messages on the edges of your parchment during class, which appear magically when you run your finger over them.

He volunteered to be your date to the Slug Club’s party, even though he hates the events, just to make sure you had the best night possible.

He never lets you carry anything heavy, always using spells to help you, even if you insist you can manage on your own.

He loves inventing completely useless spells with adorable names inspired by you.

When you complain about being tired, he offers you his Invisibility Cloak and suggests you both sneak away from classes to spend time together.

He started keeping every note and letter you’ve written him, saying they’ll someday tell “the greatest love story Hogwarts has ever seen.”

Whenever it’s snowing, he challenges you to a snowball fight and always lets you win, just so he has an excuse to hug you.

James loves enchanting simple objects to surprise you, like flowers that dance or leaves that whisper poems when they fall into your hand.

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gay-dorito-dust · 9 months ago

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hello ! i would like to make a small(? request

aventurine, jing yuan, dan heng and blade with a gn! reader that always stand up by themselves (against bulliying or smth like that) but are too tired to keep doing it, maybe how they would react? (of its too complicated to understand a tired reader is okay ) ty so much! and take care –☆

Aventurine spoils you nonstop with whatever your heart desires in an expression of thanks for everything you did for others, expecting nothing in exchange.

In his eyes you deserved to be pampered and treated with the highest of honour for selflessly standing up for not just yourself, but for others who couldn’t do so themselves.

So naturally fatigue was going to catch up with you after a while of doing the same thing day in and day out and Aventurine could tell that you wanted nothing more then a slow, lazy day within the confines of your shared bed, being lulled off to sleep by the sounds of your cake critters that you both had somewhat adopted.

‘Relax and let me spend as much as I want on you.’ He told you once when you asked him to not waste such large quantities of money on you, and in such a short amount of time too that it was concerning. ‘For no amount of money that I spend on you could ever repay for the kindness and resilience you’ve shown for yourself and countless others.’ He adds as he presses soft, sweet kisses to your cheeks, lips and forehead.

‘You spoil me too often.’ You say as you cuddled a cake critter to your chest.

aventurine shrugs. ‘Am I not meant to? Because to me that sounds like a challenge to spoil you even more.’

You then decided that it would be best to not tempt aventurine even further as you knew firsthand that he would pull out all the stops if you asked him, and so instead you just told him that you wanted to spend the lazy day with him, before opening your arms for him to cuddle himself into you as you both soon fell asleep together in peace.

Jing yuan would advise that you rest and would even encourage you to rest yourself against him if that helped you ease into sleep easier.

‘You are brave,’ he began softly as you rested yourself fully against his side, ‘your kindness will not be forgotten by the people you’ve helped for kindness is a virtue that not many possess.’ He adds, pressing a kiss to your forehead, holding you close as he watches as your eyelids begins to flutter shut. ‘This merely means that you are a unique, rare soul amongst a river of other souls imbued with selfishness and greed.’

Jing yuan would praise you for being strong for as long as you have and probably hum a small tune lowly in your ear as he aided you into a peaceful slumber.

He wants you to rest as much as possible and he may or may not join you as an excuse to have a small nap, if anyone were to come looking for him and accuse him of sleeping on the job, he’d merely smile and say he was resting meditation while cuddling you against a wall.

Nobody believes this excuse because when does anyone meditate while cuddling someone at the same time? No one. Absolutely no one.

However Jing Yuan didn’t care as your health and well being was his main priority and would ask that if anyone had things to ask of you to forward them to him instead and have them dealt with in due time, just as long as they respected that you were on a break. He will no have you burn yourself out over simple matters when he was more then happy to deal with them on your behalf.

Blade would wordlessly take over in standing up for you against anyone and anything the moment he saw that you had grown the slightest bit tired.

He admired your strength of staying strong for so long but would much rather if you left the protecting to him. After all he was made for this, he was made to be your weapon against all those who’d raise issue with you, so why don’t you just lay back as he defended you tooth and nail if he must.

‘I can defend myself.’ You barked at him once and he looks at you unblinkingly.

‘Haven’t you already done that enough?’ He asks and when you couldn’t find something to say in retaliation he continued. ‘Thought so, just leave everything to me while you rest.’

You maybe stubborn but Blade took the word stubborn and gave it a whole new meaning with how determined he was that you take time to focus on yourself and let him handle those who sought to drag your name through the mud.

For to him you’ve done enough standing up for yourself as it is, it was time for him to step up when you couldn’t find the strength to continue the fight a day more. He’d even do small acts for you without you ever having to ask him.

You’re feeling thirsty? There’s a glass of water nearby that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Don’t feel like making your favourite comfort food? Blade’s got you, it may not be the best but it was the thought that counted.

You can’t find it within yourself to get changed in the morning because your limbs felt like lead? Don’t worry because blade was more then willing to dress you in the most comfortable set of clothes in your possession.

There was no task too big or small for Blade as for all he cared was that you were well taken care of, he was your guard dog that always looked out for you no matter what because if he had it his way you’d never have to lift a finger.

Dan heng would commend you for your selfless acts but the moment he sees the toll it’s taken on you, he’s insisting on doing almost everything for you in hopes of making things a lot easier for you.

‘You’ve done enough for today, you should rest and let me take care of everything in your stead.’ He’d say as he’s reading one of his books to you in bed.

Much like blade, Dan Heng would do small acts of service for you without you ever having to ask him because he wants your period of rest to be the most enjoyable it could possibly be.

If you want cuddles, he’ll do it but don’t be surprised when he starts purring and his tail appears to latch onto your waist, keeping you close as he nuzzled your neck.

He’d make sure you’re kept hydrated and feed throughout the day, and will remind you that it wasn’t much of a bother to him looking after you because he loved looking after you and that you shouldn’t feel like a burden during this time, before press a kiss to your forehead as his thumbs carefully stroked just under your eyes.

He’d gladly make you breakfast in bed if you wanted, all you had to do was ask and he’d happily do his best to provide for you.

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bi-turtle-enthusiast · 1 year ago

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jiang yanli defended wei wuxian to anyone who dared to talk shit about him.

wei wuxian would rather say he died of natural causes than let wen ning think jiang cheng killed him.

jiang cheng was ready to make every excuse to the cultivation world for remaining associated with wei wuxian but wei wuxian wasn't going to let him be disgraced on his behalf.

jiang yanli traveled to the burial mounds herself just to give wei wuxian soup and show him her wedding dress.

jiang cheng kept chenqing in perfect condition.

jiang cheng hunted down every cultivator that could possibly be wei wuxian reincarnated but when wei wuxian got reincarnated he just let him go.

jiang yanli loved and protected both jiang cheng and wei wuxian in their broken family, making sure they stood up for each other instead of standing against each other.

jiang cheng would rather sacrifice his dogs and his golden than have to live without wei wuxian.

wei wuxian feels like he owes jiang cheng and jiang yanli his life, but they never wanted his life, they just wanted him.

#they love each other SO MUCH im sobbing #yunmeng siblings #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #jiang yanli #mdzs #the untamed

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en-gelic · 9 months ago

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bubblegum ✸ 엔하이픈

syn. to be loved by them. gn. idolxnon-idol, fluff ⋆ wc 873 ! warnings. skinship, kisses ୨୧ so sweet like bubblegum ʚɞ BOOKSHELF! ⋆

🗯 taglist : @cholexc @07sleepykatz @seunghancore (ask or comment to be added !)

To be loved by lee heeseung meant he would continuously remind you of how much he loved you by kissing you in his favourite places— your neck, your fingers and your jawline. Tying your hair when you were working or busy, and staring holes through your back when you were applying lip gloss, eagerly waiting to wipe it off. Late night calls you would have when he couldn't sleep resulted in you reciting your notes to him, which usually had him asleep in minutes. If it were you struggling to fall asleep, he would sing to you causing you to unconsciously end up staying up just to listen to his voice. You made him cover any song possible and got exclusive covers just for the two of you. He would show off in front of the members whenever you would watch him game.

To be loved by park jongseong meant him sending you options for your hair dye at unholy hours of the morning and coming over extra early to help you with it. Constantly asking whether you had eaten and whether your work was going well. He would be over at your house, scolding you on eating too much fast food and making meal preps for whenever you were too busy. Consulted you before buying anything, which was a terribly bad option as you were the type to encourage anything but kitchen appliances that aren't coffee makers. He would also send you any flavour of coffee he was able to find and constantly expressed his love through sending you gifts wherever he was.

To be loved by sim jaeyun meant him letting you tie his hair into little ponytails even if you tugged too hard. Giving you piggy-backs and using your height difference as an advantage when he wanted to tease you. He would ruffle your hair a lot, which was a habit of his you hated the most. Kissing your head before he went anywhere and teaching you how to fish was his favourite things to do. Whenever he saw an opportunity, he took random photos of you that you never saw until he posted it and defended himself by the fact that they were quite good.

To be loved by park sunghoon meant picking his jewelry— especially glasses and taking any accessory you could find from his collection. Calling you every hour when he was abroad just to ask you whether you were fine and giving you any shirt with his name on it and making you wear it when you were going out with friends to show his 'dominance' he had said to defend himself. He would pout if you didn't say 'I love you' before ending the call and demanded a kiss as an apology. Would send you photos of scenery when he was away and had the habit of eating food that you like on your behalf.

To be loved by kim sunoo meant spending evenings binge watching popular shows while hating most of their plots. Getting you to watch horror movies with him because you were the clingiest when you were scared. Applying your lipgloss for you to give the reason that since he put it on, he can take it off and washing your hair whenever you didn't feel like doing it. Peppering your face with kisses in the excuse that his lips were like free skincare. Would organise your wardrobe every other week, complaining about how disorganised you were. He would be very serious when it comes to not eating until the movie began and would slap your hands away if you tried to eat before it played.

To be loved by yang jungwon meant him picking up souvenirs from anywhere he want and matching clothes with you on purpose but acting as if he didn't mean to. Would send a message before going live to make sure you were able to attend every live if you could. Buys you everything that you like in the convenience store and dumps it all in your house whenever you weren't around, leaving a note he scribbled before leaving. He would create random nicknames for you and send an English 'word of the week' to help with the two of you learning English.

To be loved by nishimura riki meant inside jokes which only the two of you could understand. Fiddling with his rings when he held your hand and raiding his closet whenever you got the chance. He would purposely buy things for 'himself' that he knew you would like, and pretending to be irritated when you take them. Putting things in high places you can't climb up to get just so you could ask him for help. Constantly getting him to draw for you, no matter how many times he says that he's not that good. Adoring your cats whenever he came over and making sure that they weren't bothering you when you were busy with work. Trying to lose every game for you because you were too competitive. Back hugs and cuddles with his body either towering or covering yours which was the best form of body heat in winter. He habitually pretends to not see you since you were much shorter than him.

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bloop-bl00p · 4 months ago

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So who’s in the wrong?

Trigger warning: talks of sexual coercion, abuse, it’s long as fuck and the mention of St**as may trigger some unwanted rage.

• Don't argue about how I’m wrong without reading this first, look I’m a person it’s natural to be incorrect and I’m all for debate. Thank you. Obliviously I won’t always directly agree with you and will defend my arguments, respect is mutual be respectful and I/any other people ready for debate will be respectful to you.

• I tend to post these at night (at least in the country where I live) don’t expect me to respond to you immediately because most of the time, I’ll be sleeping.

• This post is mostly for me, I was really trying to recontextualize their relationship and came up with my own conclusion. There’s lots and lots of repetition, especially at the end so it can get annoying.

Actual start of the rant

I’ll be honest here, I’m biased and I don’t like any of these two, especially Stolas, my girls Millie and Octavia are underappreciated but I’m gonna stick with them no matter what.

While I have a clear animosity toward these two, I decided to be completely objective, I’m gonna point out what both of them did wrong since the beginning of the relationship and the writing issues.

Childhood friends, really?

The first time Stolas met him they were kids, and considering how he blushed when he saw Blitzø performing at the circus we can guess he got his gay awakening here….

Wait are we really going to take into consideration the feelings of a child? Childhood crushes are rarely relevant, and it’s not like they were long-time childhood BFFs, no he just saw him and blushed. We also have to consider the fact that he saw him the day he learned that his entire life was premeditated to his displeasure, Stolas was a kid, and he never wanted to get married so he naturally sought to find a form of escapism to his situation. Which is a pattern that followed him to his adulthood.

His father saw that he took a liking to the imp and bought him for the day and they played buddy. But Blitzø wasn’t having it at all.

He never wanted to be here and honestly, Stolas’s interest in literature isn't his cup of tea. he then proceeded to use Stola's naivety against him to steal items on behalf of his father.

This is the moment where I lost it completely, the first time they met was Blitzø using Stolas’ feelings in order to steal, why didn't Paimon beat the crap out of Stolas? These two literally stole everything and you’re telling me that Stolas did not get scolded? that’s hardly believable when he got smacked just for bowing to an imp. Paimon is the type of parent who only notices his kids when they are making a mistake, the fact that he didn't punish Stolas or even try to pursue Blitzø’s family is more than odd.

Don’t take this as me blaming Blitzø, if anything I blame his father for purposely using the name of his mother to influence his child. Blitzø was just doing it for his family, most importantly for survival.

Blitzø was a child living in poverty in a society that looked down on him because he was an imp, with the influence of his father and the people around him, he learned that he needed to steal in order for him to survive.

Even if there was this “cute” little montage of the two smiling and “playing” Blitzø wasn’t having it he was not here for Stolas he was here to make sure his family ate tomorrow.

But you wanna know why they couldn’t have Stolas actually punished by Paimon because they needed him to still hold onto his Blitzø fantasy.

The messiest meeting I’ve ever seen

Stolas grew up, married Stella, and purposely stayed in a marriage he could have avoided for the simple excuse of “I stay for my daughter.”

I explained why this is a stupid reason →HERE← going back to him. The security eventually brings him Blitzø who was trying to break into his room to which he brings the imp in it and starts casually flirting.

This is the moment when each of y’all are going to burn me. Stolas isn’t that much in the wrong here, yes, it’s a bit weird to flirt with a guy you haven’t seen in years but first, he drank a lot prior to their conversation. While he wasn’t drunk, it’s safe to assume he wasn’t in full control of his speech. Second and last, Stolas said it better than me.

It’s teasing, I don’t think he was actually aroused and more amused by the possible implication of why Blitzø would try to sneak up during the night specifically in his room. This is a man who canonically read smut, what he said was relatively vanilla. Plus Blitzø didn't express any form of disgust except a subtle “ew” before directly getting into his game and playfully flirting back.

In his head, it was just a friend coming back after a long time to see him, he was genuinely trying to catch up.

Is it stupid from a writing perspective that he somehow never realized that he was fooled as a child? Yes. Do I believe that the second he saw Blitzø he should have been more wary because he should have known that the last time he saw him he literally stole from his parent’s castle? ABSOLUTELY!! But the writing gymnastics perpetuated by the writers allowed Stolas’ cluelessness to be believable, in the story at least.

How ‘bout Blitzø?

He wants to start his killing business and goes on a mission to steal the grimoire from Stolas, in order to do so, he flirts back with the Prince and lets things escalate quickly.

He’s more in the wrong, with this context at least, he’s trying to manipulate Stolas in order to steal. The first reaction Stolas had when Blitzø actually went on with the more sexy talk was to back off, ‘til now Stolas just made a few innuendos Blitzø actually elevated the situation. Birdie eventually gets bitten and all of that pent-up frustration from his marriage drops and he starts to say very very questionable comments.

I’m not gonna blame him here because again, Blitzø was manipulating him, to him, that was what Blitzø wanted. They eventually fucked, because Blitzø pitied Stolas. Does this remove accountability for everything he has done to the Prince until now? No.

Verdicts

➤ Stolas not getting grounded as a child for letting an imp steal stuff is nonsensical it was probably a deliberate decision so he could act all friendly with Blitzø for their meeting. He drank not to the point of drunkennes, but still a lot. Alcohol will always affect the brain even when you have not reached a drunken state, so it’s safe to assume that Stolas wasn’t fully in control of what he was saying or doing.

➤ Blitzø is not in the wrong as a child, but he definitely used Stolas to get what he wanted as an adult, he takes the L.

The “Passionate fortification”

Coercion definition

It’s persuading someone to do something by using force or profiting from a possible disadvantage.

There’s sexual coercion where you convince someone to have sex with you by force. The instance of a boss using his power to have sex with one of his employees will be sexual coercion because he has power over them. He can threaten to fire them at any moment, even if he’s a “nice guy” and “will never do such things” That doesn’t remove the control he has.

Even without being threatened, the employee may accept because they do not want to risk their job or negatively affect their career. There’s a difference between genuine concent and the one you gave when disadvantaged. Power imbalance makes it hard to actually evaluate if the concent given is sincere or not.

Going back to Stolas and Blitzø

Stolas, unfortunately for Blitzø, realized that he got robbed and oh well, what does he do?

A. Get rightfully angry for being stolen but since he’s reasonable simply get the book back pacifically?

B. Get more than angry and completely destroy Blitzø’s building in order to teach the Imp a lesson about messing with Royal?

C. Prostitution 2.0 without concent.

If you choose C, congratulations you’re correct.

Now many people seemingly don’t think the deal was sexual coercion because Blitzø accepted it and because Stolas would never even think of actually threatening Blitzø, with the definition I gave I explained why they were weak arguments. The power dynamism is unhealthy, let’s look at how this deal even came up in the first place.

Blitzø was in danger actively running for his life telling Stolas “Hey dude, it’s literally not the time!” he’s getting shot at! You cannot tell me Stolas couldn't hear him getting chased, worse, he was seeing it before his eyes.

It was mentioned that they had a discussion about the grimoire before and that Stolas allowed him to use it. Why couldn’t he make the deal at this moment? Considering that he can actually see Blitzø, there’s this disturbing impression that he waited for him to be in danger, thus in a situation where he couldn’t process information properly so he could make the deal. It’s just an icky impression I had when rewatching the scene.

Even without the whole thing of Blitzø being in danger, the deal would have been unhealthy. Blitzø needs the book for the sake of his business and, y’know, get money to make sure he has a shelter above his and his daughter's heads and he doesn’t know Stolas personally. How could he possibly know that this practical stanger would have been “nice” and accepting if he refused, Stolas is a Prince, he can ruin Blitzø company with the snap of his fingers, it’s this whole power imbalance all over again.

But I kid you not when I heard someone have this take:

It’s still Blitzø's fault because why the hell would he specifically choose to own a business where he needs Stolas’ book? He brought this unto himself.

My brother is Christ are you dense? Blitzø did not choose this, the writer chose to make IMP a human-killing business. What the Hell?

But since I like to dismantle every argument on the internet I’m gonna open parentheses to explain, why, in the story, Blitzø chose to have this business…

( First of all, owning something as complicated as a business for an imp is weird, most of the people Blitzø has talked to have pointed out how surprising it is for him to thrive. Millie’s parent literally thought she was poor.

The fact that he still decided to go for it stems from insecurities I’m going to explain.

We have to evaluate the fact that he always wanted to own his own company, first completely based around circus. Then later killing people. It’s a childhood dream that persisted.

We are shown that he did try to work in a circus as an adult, but he was overshadowed by Robot Fizz. Blitzø is someone with a lot of self-image issues, when he explained to young Stolas what he wanted to do, he explicitly said that he wanted to become the most famous imp with a lot of money. We know that his performance was considered mediocre compared to the better Fizzarolly. As an adult Fizz literally did what Blitzø couldn’t and even without being physically there he put him to shame.

Which led me to believe that he sought something that only he could do correctly. At default of being a clown, he would be something else.

We don’t know how he got into killing business exactly but my guess is when he was Verosika’s bodyguard. She did say “Unlike you, he (being Vortex) actually does his job well.” While it’s more of a theory, I believe he quit the industry Fizzarolly was dominating and went on to protect the succubus.

The sentence was mostly for teasing and picking fun at but there’s also the possible implication that maybe Blitzø was actually bad, why? Because it was his first time, maybe he got better and realized “Hey I actually like killing people.” Then the whole “stealing credit card and ditching her” happened and he eventually started his business in Hell.

But here’s the thing, he’s not the only one killing other demons, he probably doesn't have enough money to buy angelic weapons and alleviate his business to kill royalty like Striker does, and hell, considering where he lives Striker seems to sacrifice a lot to afford those things. Blitzø and his team will just be hitmen over many, so what do you do to push your business agenda, you kill humans directly on Earth.

Blitzø started the company to prove himself that he was good at something else, which is killing. In an effort to seem original from any other killers in Hell, he decided to go for killing humans which he needs Stolas’ books for.

You could ask why he simply didn't get an Asmodeus Crystal because he needs to be registered to use them. How do you get registered? Is it like a passport? Do you need to pay, maybe he just didn’t have enough money to do so and simply resulted in stealing as a last resort. I said it at the beginning when discussing Stolas and Blitzø’s dynamics as kids, he learned in his childhood that in order to survive he needed to steal. A behavior that still stuck with him. )

BOOM parentheses closed.

Verdicts

➤ Stolas flipped the situation and is in the wrong for coercing Blitzø, I’m not saying that Blitzø is a saint here. But his relationship with other people does not matter right now, he’s clearly a victim, just not a perfect one.

➤ I can’t believe that I had to actually explain why Blitzø chose to have this business, he always brags about how good he is with guns and deserves recognition. That’s something he uses to inflate his ego. Not saying that he shouldn’t be proud of his company of course.

Lust and Codependency but not Love

Stolas

Stolas never had a really tangible idea of what healthy relationships look like outside of fiction, we’ve seen him throughout the series reading two books, “Imp in the Sheet” and “Passion & Brimstone.”

Considering that Stolas almost always tends to specify the nature of Blitzø which is an imp (basically a race in this world) it leads me to believe that Stolas is fetishing Blitzø.

Think about it, throughout all of season 1 he was always pointing out how small he was compared to him, mentioning most of the time in his flirting that he was an imp, sexualizing his body, and speaking of how big he was. Not just to him, while he wasn’t flirting with others he always found a way to remind everyone “Hey, y’all are small imps.”

Honorable mention to “Impish little plaything.”

This is not love, it's lust, he likes getting dicked by people hierarchically inferior to him. It’s the white girl having sex with the POC wild man all over again but make it gay with demons.

But why Blitzø out of all people? Because Stolas sees him as a way of escapism.

Every time Stolas is in danger he calls unto Blitzø. In the face of danger, he thinks of Blitzø. In his little fantasy, Blitzø is the one who is going to “save” him from this boring marriage he absolutely has no control over. Except that no, he was indeed forced to have Octavia which is tragic but that ends here. He easily called unto divorce the second a stranger came into the picture as if he was confident that his happiness was guaranteed now that Blitzø was here.

Notice how I used the word “easily” to describe the divorce, he did not face the consequences that should have happened, Stella made parties about how they were still legally together as if it were an accomplishment. Stolas could have left without any problems.

“I’m staying for my daughter” is a weak argument, I’m sending you back to the purple link. If he really wanted to stay for Octavia, why did he throw all of his effort for Blitzø? When the divorce was officialized, he directly went in to get a crystal with the hope of Blitzø staying otherwise he would have sunk into misery, he does not want to be responsible for his own happiness.

You’ll tell me he uses anti-depressants but most of the time, he takes a good amount of them once and that's all. I’m pretty sure that you shouldn't take a shit tone of them in one gulp immortal prince or not it does not help. On top of that, he doesn’t make any effort to fix his drinking issue that has been showcased in the show. Stella is mean? Quick the alcohol! There’s literally a scene where he wakes up from a blackout caused by drunkenness,

He’s miserable, acknowledges it, and has all of the tools to ameliorate his life but he doesn’t. He preferred fantasy, a fantasy he is projecting onto Blitzø. I don’t care if he wants to be better, we all do but he needs to put in the work.

OCTAVIA IS RIGHT THERE BEGGING YOU TO PAY ATTENTION TO HER!

Yes, it’s not romantic but it's still something! Before seeking deeper bounds you need to work on yourself and learn to be content with what you have first, he’s acting as if nobody ever loved him completely disregarding his daughter’s.

When I said put in the work I mean multiple things regarding Stolas’ situation, the fact that he, whether consciously or unconsciously, believes that Blitzø is the solution to all of his problems and not HIS action reeks of a shitty self-esteem. He could have got rid of Stella who clearly has a negative effect on him, which he did but way too late and it affected his daughter out of all people.

He could have surrounded himself with people who actually cared for him, Better, Stolas is isolated, and the introduction of Vassago in the trailers, and the confirmation that he isn’t evil, means that there are probably other positive figures in the Goetia. He could have tried to socialize and go to parties or special events about his favorite subject.

Most importantly, he should seek professional help, there's rehabs and anti-depressants in Hell, and you’re telling me there’s no therapist?

I’m not a therapist myself but I did have a period of my life where my self-esteem was relatively low, those are the solutions I applied during my healing journey and while I definitely still have work to do, I can say that I’m fine now.

Because I worked on myself.

Blitzø

Tell me how could he love the one guy who constantly belittled him throughout most of their interaction.

Often the counter-arguments to that will be that Stolas did not realize that he was making Blitzø uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean that he did not hurt him. If I shot you in the shoulder, you wouldn’t care if it was accidental or not, I still shot you and now I have to make up for it. The same goes for Stolas.

Also…

How bad do you need to be to be unable to read the room and realize that someone's facial expressions show discomfort, how deaf do you need to be to not hear when he blatantly says “Hey, I don’t like how you call me that all the time!”

The fact that the writers make it seem like he did not realize how uncomfortable he was is to me a writing issue again. Or Stolas is just that braindead.

I already explained why Blitzø hasn’t given his consent to the deal in the coercion/unhealthy power dynamics parentheses, so let’s skip ahead to the dependence part.

Here’s my take, Blitzø does not love Stolas.

We all know how bad this guy is at relationships, his last bad experiences make it so he constantly sabotages his connection with others because he cannot fandom the thought of being vulnerable with someone. Being vulnerable is exposing yourself to potentially being hurt, something that happened too many times to him. I believe his relationship with Verosika was just a regular hookup, she mentioned that he only left when she confessed leading me to think that it never was official. He enjoys casual sex because he still wants to feel wanted but leaves when feelings get involved, a pattern he most likely had with other people.

Does this trauma justify him being a dick to everyone else, no. But, he recently showed a desire to make up for his bullshit. While I believe the resolution was fast, he worked out his issues with Fizz and they are friends now. It’s still salty with Veronika but it’s implied that she doesn’t hold that much of a grunge anymore. He still has work to do though.

So how does Stolas fit in all of this?

The deal was made way before he started apologizing to people, meaning that he was vulnerable so here’s the situation:

He’s a guy so bad at showing his true colors that he purposely makes his relationship with people unbearable because at least it’s something that he would see coming. He got hurt but deliberately, he’s in control of the situation. At the same time, he actually craves intimacy making him seek casual sex as a form of replacement for genuine attachment. Now you have this powerful man being the one controlling the situation and weirdly being obsessed with him forcing him into a sexual relationship.

Stolas came like a little flower, offering him the thing he want in the fucked up way possible, a form of attachment, and now Blitzø is stuck in this situation where he doesn’t want the relationship but still accepts it. First, because, it's for the sake of his job, and second because it’s the only form of “attachment” that he could get. He might as well entertain Stolas with sex long enough just so he doesn't get disinterested in him, for the money and for the sense of false intimacy it provides.

Verdicts

➤ Both are codependent on each other but Stolas is the one in power, he’s the abuser who is projecting his savior fantasies onto Blitzø. Some will say that Blitzø is just as a shitty person as Stolas, what he did to Mox is disgusting but does he deserves to be coerced?

When people said that, it felt like they said “He’s a bad person therefore karma bitch!” no, Blitzø is not meant to be a perfect victim. What he did to other people was awful but it did not have any impact on his relationship with Stolas, whether you like it or not Blitzø is a bad person but he’s also a victim.

Hey! It’s the episode with the best song in the first season!!

So Moxxie and the best girl of the show after Octavia had a little rendezvous in Ozzie in order to celebrate their marriage. Moxxie again proves himself to be a lucky boy.

To which Blitzø decides to stalk them… now I mentioned he’s bad at relationships. The fact that he stalks them can be explained by the fascination he has, he is probably jealous or trying to leave something he thinks he would never have thought them. Which does not justify the stalking or sexual harassment! No, I merely explain why he does it.

Unlucky he is, he needs a partner to continue following them in the restaurant to which he calls Stolas feigning inventing him to a date in order to do so… look, calling someone just so you can use them to stalk your employees without specifying your true intention is bad. He’s in the wrong there.

So Stolas was alone in this castle hinting at his solitude, and got existed when he was asked out. While they were still the annoying flirting and infamous “Blitzy” you cannot say that he did not try a bit to get closer to him. He wanted to have a good time, I mean he thought that Blitzø actually wanted to see him, not just because they had a deal. So you’ll notice that he toned down the flirting a bit.

He was not only aggravated that Blitzø wasn’t paying attention to him, which makes sense in this context because anyone would be pissed if the date that invited them didn't give a shit. But despite this, he is actually trying to have a conversation, with how surprised/confused Blitzø looks, I can only assume that it’s the first time Stolas is addressing him over anything else than bad attempts at sexy talk.

He still fumbled despite his best effort.

They weren’t uncomfortable until Asmodeus, a figure of great authority, pointed them out. To Blitzø this means one thing, he is something that Stolas will love to brag around among the lesser, he will toy with him and use him as he pleases but the second their relationship threatens his reputation, the second he will be in the company of the higher folks he will drop him. He’s a kink, a toy to be ashamed of.

You can tell me all you want that this is not what Stolas wanted to convey but the comparison feels so much clearer when Millie and Mox are in the picture. They are unapologetically sweet to one another not caring about anything or the judgments of people, Millie literally knocked out Fizz to protect her husband! Then you have Stolas who’ll brag about how hot Blitzø is, but not too much to make sure it does not reach higher ears. Blitzø realized this and that's why he refused to stay with Stolas at the end of the episode.

“Hey, now that we’re alone we can act all lovely-dovely, sorry for not defending you earlier but my reputation is more important.”

Because of this gesture, all of Stolas’ attempts at getting close felt like some sort of roleplay the bird was planning, but got cut short the moment he got humiliated. It's why rather than saying “I don't want to spend time with you tonight” he says “I don’t want to fuck you tonight.” Blitzø believes his feelings are getting played again.

Stolas said it, it’s just a transaction, a favor for-favor thing. Blitzø does not want the illusion of being a couple to settle in, and despite all of this he still apologizes for not sleeping with the bird.

He got his confirmation that Stolas could never truly love him, one of the reasons being societal. He’s dead set on keeping this relationship as it is.

Verdicts

➤ Blitzø once again used Stolas to entertain his immoral behavior, while the stealing of the grimoire wasn’t immoral because it was for the sake of his companies. Dude literally just wanted to stalk his employees, what the hell dude? He takes the L.

➤ Stolas isn’t the reason for this rendez-vous and actually came with genuine interest, intending to actually have a genuine conversation with Blitzø to flesh out their relationship. But he just dug his own grave and he proved to Blitzø that he was just a toy, a toy to be ashamed of and only used in private to whiting the minority he belongs to.

Honorable mentions

➤ At the beginning of Harvest Moon, during Stolas and Blitzø's conversation, it is implied that it’s not the first time that Stolas advanced the dates of their meeting to align with his princely duties. Now I want you to think of one thing, how many times do you think Blitzø had to completely drop everything he was doing just so he could reluctantly go fuck one bird without even respecting the schedule. And I’m insisting on the “reluctant,” Blitzø cannot say just “no” to the sexy part, he can’t just drop the books no he has to have sex with Stolas.

➤ People take the scene in Truth Seekers where Stolas got all big and angry as proof that he cares about Blitzø, potentially meaning that he was watching over him and decided to intervene to save him.

Not only does he call him “Impish Little Plaything” reducing him once again to the role of toy and dehumanizing him completely, but what does he do after traumatizing the agents? He asked for a little “thanks” When you do something genuinely nice you do it from the kindest of your heart. Blitzø obviously did not see any other possible so he slept with him to satisfy him.

➤ When rewatching the show I noticed something all the way through the first episode of Truth Seekers. When Stolas starts aggressively flirting with Blitzø, his natural reaction is to call out of his bullshit which unfortunately falls on deaf ears. In Western Energy he even allows himself to push Stolas away when he’s too touchy. (at 0:33)

However, in Truth Seeker, we can see he’s still uncomfortable/annoyed but doesn’t do as much as he did in the first episode. He got used to Stola's behavior and stopped trying to assert boundaries, he knows the Prince won’t listen anyway.

➤ People in Western Energy were angry at Blitzø for not jumping on his horse to fulfill Stolas’ fantasies of being saved by him.

First of all, he mentioned that he had a shot to give to Loona, an appointment that took him five fucking years to get. So yeah, sorry I ain’t available to save your ass.

Second, Stolas has a legion of demons he rules over (S2/Ep.1 = 1:32) why the hell would he call that one random imp who has a life outside of him? He even has the nerve to say “I think you should come save me.” (S2/Ep.4 = 2:00) bitch call one or two members of your legion maybe?!

Third, not only did Blitzø apologize for being rightly busy with his own life but, just because he was worried, and also for the sake of his business, he sent Millie and Moxxie to get him. He still assured that help was in the way without asking for anything else unlike someone.

The “passionate fortification” gone wrong

Stolas realized that coercion is bad and decided to ask Blitzø to meet him so he could have a proper conversation about the unhealthy nature of their deal and… oh. Wait…

Stolas: I’m sorry if anything I said or did may have offended you tonight. Blitzo: ITZ WUTEVS Stolas: Next time you come over. Maybe we can talk about what happened at Ozzie’s? Blitzø: Y? Stolas: I’m sorry nevermind. It’s not a big deal. I was just worried about you. You seemed very upset and you took off so fast. But maybe I read too much into that. I’m glad that it’s not the case. I wasn’t upset either I just wanted to make sure you weren’t and obliviously you can handle any stupid joke a clown can make. Asmodeus can be very invasive with his humor. But I thought it was pretty funny. What he said about me at least. I enjoy being the subject of the jest. Maybe you can say mean thing s to me too the next time you come over. If you want? Blitzo: SHUR

→ HERE ← is a link to other much-needed phone calls between these two.

Stolas does show some levels of care in those banters and seems to be driven by wanting to respect Blitzø boundaries. Those happen in parallel with him realizing that the deal he made was fucked up so he wanted to give Blitzø is the choice. The fact that Blitzø did not acknowledge these attempts as genuine affection was explained earlier, in Ozzie he basically got the confirmation that every Stolas is acting like that it’s just to fuck with him.

Right now after what seemed to be months where Stolas gave him the choice he deliberately chose to stay away from him before coming back to the full moon, Stolas failed to do one thing to convey the seriousness of what they were gonna adress.

That little piece of lyrics from Blitzø let me once again think that this was Stolas who asked for the meeting using the full moon as an excuse. Considering Blitzø was more than happy to get back to square one and how he prepared himself to do the nasty to Stolas, he clearly did not get announced that this wasn’t going to be their casual sex. Which is a big mistake.

Just to remind everyone, Blitzø uses this relationship to get the feeling of closeness he thinks he’ll never have and doesn’t deserve.

Quoting myself:

“Stolas came like a little flower, offering him the thing he want in the fucked up way possible, a form of attachment, and now Blitzø is stuck in this situation where he doesn’t want the relationship but still accepts it. First, because, it's for the sake of his job, and second because it’s the only form of “attachment” that he could get. He might as well entertain Stolas with sex long enough just so he doesn't get disinterested in him, for the money and for the sense of false intimacy it provides. .”

We the audience know this but Stolas doesn’t. But even without this knowledge, why would you not mention that you do not want sex but serious talk? Be for real! Miscommunication is when you fail to convey information, he did not try to tell him beforehand that this was gonna be serious!

So Loona essentially planted the seeds in Blitzø’s head that Stolas was getting bored of him, and well… it fucked with his mind, so how does he respond when the unintended suddenly serious talk happens? With denial then anger.

Can he seriously expect sincerity from Stolas? To Blitzø, there are two solutions, Stolas is roleplaying with him or he’s throwing him away after his fun. It’s the worst-case scenario, he had the power, he put Blitzø to shame stripped him away of his pride, constantly belittled and tossed him to the role of toy, a toy he cannot show off to royalty because of his statue. And then what? Does he leave him after everything?! Seriously?!

And Stolas?

He understood coercion was bad and we can give him the thumbs up for that. He fucked up on everything else, first because it’s the only thing he seems to acknowledge, he only reflects on the unfairness of the contract and not how his past behavior hurted Blitzø.

When Blitzø started going to roleplay, rather than stopping him and further showcasing the seriousness and sincerity of his action he just left like he got a full fleshed-down answer.

You dropped a bomb so suddenly, out of nowhere, using the pretext that you two were going to fuck and you expect him to proceed with this information in a matter of seconds?! Not only did you not leave Blitzø at least a few days to prepare himself psychologically by saying that the night wouldn’t be about sucking your ass for once, but you go and abandon the ship when you don’t get a desired answer?! What the hell is wrong with you?!

The bitches are fighting now

Why did Blitzø come back to Stolas if he hated him so much?

Trauma Bounding

Trauma bonding is when you feel a deep attachment to your abuser. In my opinion, this is what happens here.

This is the relationship Blitzø thinks he deserves, he feels entitled to Stolas because Stolas is what he has coming. He ruined the lives of all of his past lovers/hookups, and his family hates him, yes his friendship with an old crush was fixed but it’s a very minor improvement when you compare it to the years of self-deprecation Blitzø suffered from. Stolas is a prince, Blitzø cannot ruin his life, he cannot blow him up like he did with Fizz, he cannot run away from him, he cannot do anything but please him.

From having sex with him, he gets the semi-form of love he’ll never have with the guarantee that he won't be able to leave. He gained a fully long-lasting “relationship”, a toxic one but it’s better than nothing.

But now that he has the choice, the Asmodeus crystal, with his mind so ingrained in the idea that Stolas is the only thing he deserves, he tries to reinstall the only thing he seeks in this. Intimacy. Stolas doesn't reciprocate, which is surprising.

“You usually like it when I talk all dirty, and fucky, and shit.” (S2 Ep.9/0:52)

Blitzø doesn’t want to lose his VIP pass to a semblance of what love could look like, he can still stalk his employees but it would be drastically different from actually acting on his frustration.

But less talking about Blitzø, why is Stolas so upset with Blitzø? Because despite everything that happened he still can see that he is genuine. He’s frustrated that Blitzø cannot see it outside of sex.

Honey, you put yourself into this situation.

Must I remind you of the “favors for favors” thingy, you were the one who initiated sex as the center of the relationship? In addition, you ruined the image he has of you. You refused to listen to his complaints when you were aggressively flirting and touching him, and you built this image of superiority and dominance over him with your actions, which nullified all of your attempts to try and be soft because it’s simply not possible to think that you could be genuine with him.

Now you have the chance to apologize and listen to him, but you choose to be sassy and hold the most hypocritical speech I have ever seen.

Watch me lose hours of my life dismantling some of his bullshit:

“As shocking as this might seem, Blitzo- I don't think I'm in the mood to "do sex" with you. In fact, I don't think I'm even in the mood to do words with you! So, how about you respect that?”

And I’m sure Blitzø wishes he could have said the same thing to you multiple times, while Blitzø is clearly disrespecting Stolas’ boundaries here, you cannot tell me how hypocritical that sounds from him.

“I don't look down on you! How many times do I ha- When have I ever?! You speak just like that vile Striker friend of yours. The one who tried to kill me and you couldn't be bothered to come help me. Remember him?”

Imagine changing the subject when the conversation had absolutely nothing to do with Striker. Isn’t Stola's award of the racism toward imp in the society? I mean, he can not be aware of his own bigotry, but why does he sound so surprised when someone points out how royals and even himself talk down to Imps? Granted, Striker was torturing him while doing it, but with Blitzø? That should have been the moment when he realized that maybe he was racist without realizing it. You know a self-reflection you make by actually thinking about what the other is telling you rather than dismissing them.

“I suppose you are right, silly me. It's not an imp's place to protect a Goetia, is it?”

You own a legion of powerful demons, why do expect an imp to constantly save you?

“That's all you were waiting for, wasn't it? For me to play into this idea you have of me that I'm this prince who thinks he's so much better than you. Well, I don't! Why would I allow everyone to see how much I like you? How I've tried so fucking hard to spend time with you, to support you? You don't owe me those things, but you can't just ignore all that!”

I explained most of these things already, but my question is why bother? Why are you wasting your time and energy on someone not reciprocating your feelings when you could redirect them to your daughter?

– Oh, you think I can't apologize?! For what?! You want me to be like- Oh, sorry, this entire time I assumed the worst because I was convinced a prince could never love someone like me and I've let my self-hatred stop me from apologizing to anyone I could ever care about! – Well, yes. That.

I… yeah I’m absolutely going to make you apologize when I’m partially the cause of why you see me that way. What? Apologize myself? Ah! No.

“Do you feel any kind of remorse for what you do?”

Also Blitzø: “Stolas, don't act like what we have is anything but you wanting me to fuck you, okay? You make that really clear all the time. *voice breaking* But, I just, I-I can't do it tonight, okay? I'm sorry.”

“Stolas, wait! I'm s-”

The last verdicts

My final thought will start with a question, where is the love?

This fandom and the series are constantly beating us with the allegation that this is just a miscommunication issue that is going to be fixed at the end!

They are soulmates, everyone!

You know what I see? I see a man unable to face his issue himself and projecting his savior fantasy onto a stranger leading him to eventually trap this other person in a shitty deal just so he could fulfill his dream. On top of that, the person he trapped clearly doesn’t give two shit about him, and seeking the comfort they provide made him neglect the important parts of his life. AKA his child. He’s waiting energy on someone who doesn’t care and torturing this person at the same time.

I see another man trapped in a shitty deal, unable to leave because his life depends on it and because he deeply believes that it’s the only form of love he could get, so he simply content himself with it. Despite not being 100% in control, he still finds little cracks where he can manipulate the one who has the power in order to do immoral shit.

How romantic, but seriously…

Where the hell do you get the conclusion that yay they bone and love each other?! They are two miserable people searching for consolation in a very destructive situation! Not only is the narrative using the most badly affected in the relationship as a punching bag but it is also trying to fly over the radar and showcase this mess as an endgame. A match made in Hell, everyone!

What could have been a powerful story exploring how childhood trauma can let two people fall into a toxic relationship just so they could cramp onto each other to feel the warmth of the flesh turned into… whatever soap opera subgenre it is.

What should have happened is that Blitzø should have realized that he deserves a better form of love, he has a daughter and a friend who cares about him, if anything he should seek to rebuild healthy dynamics with his family and with himself.

Stolas should have realized that one of the many factors of his misery is himself and should have focused on the things that matter, his daughter and mental health. By the end of season 2, they should have separated realizing how they both fucked, mostly Stolas. Season 3 would have been based on their healing journey and how they are focusing on it before seeking relation.

But no… apparently, what they have is love, they are miskomunicatatatin… and they should fall in love to fix all of their issues. Yay! Season 2 is about the end and it's way too late to hold Stolas accountable for everything I’ve mentioned up there, with how the narrative focused on beating the dead horse that is Blitzø, I’m getting the vibe that when they address Stolas it will never feel truly satisfying.

Anyhow, I’m gonna sleep now, rewatching Helluva Boss again and again gave me a migraine.

And → HERE ← you can find a good video, it helped me with the making of the script and the channel is too underrate, go support them.

#anti vivziepop #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critique #vivziepop critical #helluva boss rewrite #helluva boss critique #helluva boss critical #helluva boss criticism #anti stolitz #anti stolas #anti spindlehorse #long post

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monathedefiant · 4 months ago

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my initial thoughts on joker 2:

joker: folie à deux is a wild ride of a non-dc dc musical. it's a love letter to classic movie musicals; it's a commentary on the shitty mental health + prison system of gotham; and it's a middle finger to toxic joker stans represented by lady gaga's harley quinn.

arthur is more a tragic villain than a triumphant one. a trial forces him to confront the traumas in his life as his defendant tries to make a compelling case on his behalf. which forces the audience to consider the things that brought him to the point of joker without excusing his behavior. as much as arthur tries to swagger through the scene at times there's always something or someone there to remind him of his place at the bottom of the totem pole of life. then there's that ending. christ what an ending.

all in all it's not as bad as people are making it out to be. i could've done w/o the (non-explicit) sa scene but i really enjoyed it -- even the singing!!

#joker 2 #joker folie a deux #mona reviews #arthur fleck #harley quinzel #harley quinn #gotham #mental health

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serejae · 7 months ago

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AND THATS HOW I MET YOUR DAD | SUNGHO

pairing : idol!sungho x reader

genre : fluff

WHAT ! - where a summer vacation turns to meeting the love of your life for this lovely anon ^3^ (warnings: petnames, kisses)

wc : 2391 | @onedoornet, for the odn summer with you :-)

"is your room clean riwoo?" sungho asked in a panicked tone as the younger boy rolled his eyes while nodding, "its not like they'll come to my room...

right?"

sungho shook his head and sighed "i just want everything to be perfect for them, it's their first time back in seoul and i just want them to be able to relax without any disruptions or worries"

he then groaned hearing leehan complain about being on bathroom duty for the 84th time that day, just then the bell rang shooting sungho to his feet. he ran to the bathroom and closed the door so you couldn't see, or hear leehan complain while cleaning the bathroom. riwoo opened the door for you only to be shoved away

"MY BABY" he cooed out to you before wrapping his arms around you making you laugh as you returned the hug "hi sungie" you mumbled against the hug. in the corner of your eye you saw riwoo rolling his eyes at sungho and leehan peeping out from the corner, you wave and say your hello's and they said there's and quickly welcomed you to their dorm. sungho brought you over to the couch to rest as riwoo put away your bags and leehan got you a glass of water (after he washed his hands...)

as leehan comes back with your water, riwoo comes back just in time for you 4 to sit on the couch altogether. as you all start talking they listen to you talk about your home country and a bit about yourself since sungho already told them everything. and you listened to them complain about how bossy sungho was today

"im so glad youre here yn, i don't know how many more orders i could take, he was treating me like some dog" leehan complained only to get his head pushed slightly by sungho "you guys are being dramatic" he defended himself "i don't know, i believe them," you said getting a slightly sulky sungho in return.

"yn if you dont mind me asking, how did you and sungho meet?" riwoo spoke up to which leehan added his 2 cents to the question "yeah, how did you two meet? sungho never told us" all 3 of you guys look up at sungho who was beet red. he looked over to you and his face read "please don't tell them"

so what did you do?

you told them

"it was summer last year, around june, so a month after you guys debuted, i was walking through the streets trying to find a good coffee place and a beauty store,.."

you remembered it like the back of your hand, it was freshly summer and you had landed in Korea a day ago. the next morning you had woken up to severe jet lag as well as a realization that you had completely forgotten to pack your skincare. so the disappointment, as well as the tiredness combined, create a very cranky but desperate person trying to find a coffee shop that doesn't just sell americanos and a beauty store that isn't too expensive. unluckily for you, when you got on the subway looking for a person to help they all declined. maybe you looked how you felt (crusty) or maybe it was just that they were busy, you like to believe the second option. anyways, everyone seemed to have failed you until you noticed a man sitting in the back with his headphones in looking at you. you held onto the rail staring at him

you like to believe it was love at first sight on his behalf, and spoiler it was.

you decided you had nothing else to lose and walked up to him trying not to fall as the subway moved.

"excuse me?" you asked

he looked up and shocked as if he wasn't just staring at you

he was making it very awkward right now...

"uhm, do you know a coffee spot and a store that sells skincare? I'm traveling and really need the stuff" you briefly explain your situation as he stares at you

that was the first thing he noticed about you, how completely gorgeous you were. even if you didn't tell him about your situation moments later, he wouldn't even have noticed

oh gosh, was there something on your face?

you knew better than to not double-check before leaving, you probably have dry skin flakes all over your face.

"youre very pretty" he blurted out

"huh?"

"huh"

you both said at the same exact time, you had a reason to be confused but he had said it

"uhm i meant yes i do!" he smiled widely with his teeth trying to downplay the awkward interaction, it clearly didn't work as you slowly backed away from him

"no!" he quietly shouted as he saw you walk away. he cleared his through once he looked around and saw everyone staring at him

"i'm not busy today, i can go with you to the places, and i can show you around

if you want..."

you stare at him for a second as all the red flags started to go off

"i'm not weird i promise, just...very awkward"

well he seemed convincing enough

you sat down next to him and it was silence again before he spoke up

"so, why are you visiting?" the man asked as he turned over to look at you. "just traveling, my friends recommended that i come here, so i thought 'why not?' i mean i only once right? but korea wasn't my first choice, i wanted to try and go to singapore or thailand, maybe vietnam, vietnam would've been nice huh? but my friends were more familiar with Korea, which is ironic to how i was just begging people for help right? i mean its like midnight over where they are, so i guess fair enough."

that was the second thing he noticed about you, how talkative you were, to which he was not complaining. the second he heard your voice he wanted to replay it each second he could. he listened to each word you said with detail and understanding as if he was the one traveling.

"oh sorry im yn"

"sungho" he smiled at you

"oh, how long are you staying?"

"about 4 days, well 3 after today"

he nodded and continued to ask you questions to hear your long lengthy replies.

as you two stepped off the subway he lead the way. you decided you wanted to get drinks first which he was totally okay with. even if he just met you today, anywhere you go, he goes.

you two made it to the cafe and surprisingly you weren't greeted the smell of only coffee like your friends had said. you could hear blenders of fruit smoothies to bottles shaking of mixing juices. as you took a look at the menu he stood by you admiring your side profile

"have you been here before?" you asked turning over to him to which he quickly moved his head back to look away

"yeah, this is one of my most favorite spots"

he lied :/, he never been to the place, he just wanted to go on the longest subway ride with you and panicked when he realized he had no idea what was in this area, he just kept walking as you followed until he found a spot. you both ordered and he paid despite your protest.

he sat there as you talked listening while looking at the receipt and at your order "you don't like coffee?" sungho asked as he turned to look at you shaking your head "this is what i normally get at my local cafe either way" he nodded at the information making sure to keep it memorized.

"do you like coffee?" you asked sungho this time

"no, no coffee is for losers" he laughed trying to impress you, and he clearly failed

staring at him as your head tilted he sighed

"yeah, i like coffee"

laughing at him, he turns to you and laughs too. he couldn't help it, your life was too infective. anything about you was infective actually

he realized in that short one and half hours that he knew you he was already picking up on your habits

"sungho?" the barista called out, you and sungho quickly got up to collect your drinks. when you both sipped your drinks at the same time he focused on your reaction. noticing his gaze you pretend to like it even though the drink was horrible. so he did the same, his drink was just as, maybe even worse. but he did a faked satisfied "mmh" as he sipped

hating the taste in your mouth you furrow your brows "wow, you have...different taste"

"can i tell you something?" he said swallowing his drink

looking up at him you nodded

"i dont know where this place is...nor have i ever drunk from here

i just wanted to spend time with you" sungho admitted stirring the poorly made overpriced drink

he expected you to be mad or something when he heard no response. he looked up at you to see you processing the information being told to you

"well i guess today will be an adventure for both of us?"

sungho smiled liking your energy.

today he either found a very very good friend or the love of his life

you both tried to follow the google maps leading to the beauty store but with the bad data, you two realized after 30 minutes that the map was leading you guys in circles. deciding to get back onto the subway to seoul, the city where he was familiar with so he can actually take you to a beauty store.

the subway was empty besides sungho and you sitting by each other in a random seat chatting away. sungho knew he was probably oversharing with a person that he met just today but it was something about you that drew him into to place that he had never felt familiar with

comfort, and sure maybe he used to preach about love at first sight being dumb and a stupid concept but, he understood it now. and the proof was sitting right in front of him

as you two got to the beauty store you started to get the products you needed since your day started but hours later. sungho memorized each product you had gotten in case you ever told him you needed or lost the product. you fought him off at the checkout managing to pay this time, but he swore to himself that hopefully if you guys keep in touch, you'll never have to pay for anything again unless he's there.

the day started to get dim and sungho agreed (begged) to drop you off. the sunset watched you and sungho as you both were walking. time seemed to move too quickly, that or either you and him were very fast walkers. he dropped you off at the front of your hotel, before you got too far he grabbed your wrist causing you to turn around "do you think i can call you tonight?"

"thats such a corny way to ask for someone's number" you joke looking at him before handing your phone to him. when you finally exchange numbers that's when he watches you leave and stay until he sees you go into the elevator, sungho continued to walk to the dorms with a big smile on his face as he replayed his day, your voice, your jokes, your face, just you. something about you amused him, whether it was your personality, jokes, or anything about you seemed to have him wrapped around your finger

as soon as he gets back to the dorms his face is painted with a big frown, his cheeks hurt too much from smiling and laughing today that he thought he couldn't anymore.

"did your face get ranover?" riwoo asked as he looked up from his dinner to see sungho frowning

sungho slightly laughed before jumping onto his bed and changing your contact name to put a bunch of hearts.

out of impulse sungho texted you

"can i call you tonight?" and threw his phone like a middle schooler who had just fallen in love

you replied with a 'sure :)' and he had never freshened up quicker. before pressing the 'call' button he fixed his hair and sighed

after a long 4 rings, you answer

and thats how it started

it had become a routine, no matter how tired you both were and despite the time difference you managed to call each night. whether it ended in sleep or laughter, trust, you both were hearing it.

even though his schedule was busy he had made time for you. if it was 4 am in Korea and the middle of the day wherever you were he still answered, whether it was to comfort you, hear you rant, or watch you open up his groups album to which he manifested with you that you would get his photo cards

and it wasnt too long until sungho had asked you out over the phone

when you picked up the facetime call he had his lights on disco mode making the colors change, a pair of orange sunglasses on, and a poster that said "let me be your boyfriend?"

of course you said yes making you see riwoo and leehan jump into frame cheering for their friend with party poppers and kazoos.

"and thats how i met your dad" you smiled

leehan gagged "he's NOT our dad"

"i wish i was older than you" riwoo sighed

"sungho youre such a loser"

"yn i wouldve left him the second he took me to a city he knew nothing about"

laughing at their reaction you hear sungho groan before he shows you his room in person. he laid on his bed and patted the spot next to him for you to lay down too, as you rested he turned over to you

he kissed your cheek and smiled

"i dont have to call you tonight"

he sat up when he saw something attached to your bag

"is that my photocard?"

"HI YN" sungho and you jump at the door bursting open to reveal jaheyun, taesan, and woonhak

this was gonna be a long trip

#serejae #onedoornet #odn — summer with you #bnd x reader #boynextdoor x reader #bnd #bnd fluff #bnd imagines #boynextdoor #boynextdoor imagines #sungho #bnd sungho #sungho x reader #sungho fluff #park sungho x reader #park sungho fluff #park sungho imagines #bonedo #Spotify

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tartppola · 10 months ago

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Stranded in another world, with no hope of going back or any magic to defend themselves with, this is the anecdote of the Ramshackle Prefect Yuulis Crowley's first week in another world called Twisted Wonderland.

warning : mentions of blood & dissection, didn't beta this so :P a/n : happy april fools :D

It was a chilly morning on the Night Raven College campus, and Sam’s first day coming back to the mystery shop. Oh, how he missed the purple overlay of the wallpaper; the diamond skulls and taxonomy and other knick-knacks that seamlessly blend together to form something quite avant-garde. Speaking of knick-knacks, he remembered that his new stock of goods his ‘friends’ salvaged from who knows where should be arriving today, how exciting!

His feet skipped up and about, the keys he spun around his finger chiming as he hummed a happy tune from the Port of Jubilee. Sam wonders what kind of faces the new first years would make the first time they step into the shop, or when they meet his ‘friends’ for the first time.

Just as he was about to make a turn from Main Street, he stopped dead in his tracks. There was a pile of huge boxes at the doorstep, that must be his new goods, but there was something else, or rather, someone else. That someone–young enough to be a first year, but not wearing the school uniform–was waiting by the boxes. No student has ever been to the shop this early, and the school hasn’t allowed any of the local townsfolk to visit, so why?

“Excuse me!” Sam called out, making his way towards them, “I’m flattered that a line is already forming, but opening hours aren’t until lunch time!”

They stared blankly at him the moment he stood right in front of them. They held out a clipboard with a delivery receipt that listed the names of various magical supplies

“I’m here to on behalf of the Headmaster,” Sam barely understood them through their thick accent, “Please double check the receipt and make sure to tell of any errors.”

Since when did the Headmaster hire any couriers.....and one so young at that. Oh well, as long as Crowley’s not breaking any child labor laws, it should be alright, shouldn’t it? The shopkeep noticed that his back grew colder and colder as he went through the new inventory. He stole a small glance at the youth, turning back immediately when he saw how intently their gaze bore through his soul.

“Phew! It’s getting pretty darn cold out here!” The hand that held his keys trembled a bit, “How about we go inside to warm ourselves up a bit?”

He took back his thoughts. This was far from alright.

“--and where do these charms go, Mr.Sam?”

“By the aisle near the grimoires, next to the paper talismans,”

It’s been nearly half an hour of restocking, yet they haven’t left the store. Sam tried his best to breathe through the awkward atmosphere, but the tension was so thick he could harvest it, bottle it up and sell each for 500 madol. If only such a thing was possible, if only.

“Mr.Sam,”

He felt his shadow jump to the ceiling at the sound of their voice.

“What kind of store is this, exactly?”

“Well, since you’ve seen my wares firsthand, should you be able to tell right away?” He put on an air of faux confidence, hoping they wouldn’t notice.

“At first, I thought this was a magic supplies store, but none of them back at home sell dangerous herbs like oleander and wolf’s bane. How did you get a hold of this amount of them anyway?”

“Well, what can I say? There’s only so much exotic ingredients you can grow in the botanical gardens,”

“But, there are also basic necessities like toothpaste and clothes,” They pondered, “Come to think of it, one of the new deliveries was a box of snacks, wasn’t it?”

“That’s what happens when you’re the only tuck shop in one of the most prestigious schools in the world!” He winked, “It wasn’t easy getting ahold of most of the inventory, but you gotta do what you gotta do, don’t you agree?”

A small chuckle escaped their lips, “That’s not a bad mindset for a businessman.”

In the end, no matter how eccentric they initially seemed, a child is still a child. He felt foolish for being so afraid, what could they do when he had his friends by his side?

“By the way,” it was hard to notice how much time passed by, “Shouldn’t you go back to your dorm and change into your uniform? It’s almost time for morning classes.”

“Ah, was Mr.Sam not present during the entrance ceremony? No wonder you didn’t recognize me,”

There was some word on the street about a fiasco happening during this year’s entrance ceremony, something about the halls being lit on fire by a beast? He couldn’t believe it when one of the friends that stayed to guard the shop told him about it.

“I was deemed unworthy to be sorted into a dorm, because I possess no magical capabilities whatsoever. It seems that there was an error during the student selection process,”

“Is that even possible?” his suave expression morphed into worry, “Then, why didn’t the Headmaster send you back home?”

“He tried, but the Mirror of Darkness said something along the lines of ‘The place from whence they came from can’t be found in this world’.

“And so here I am, doing odd jobs and tasks on behalf of the Headmaster, the students and the staff of NRC,” Sam could hear a small sense of pride at their introduction, “I'm more capable than I look, please don’t hesitate to call upon me if you need any assistance.”

Of all the strange things to make their way into his shop, never in a million years would Sam expect an estranged secretary to be one of them, and one that possibly came from another world to boot. He had a feeling that this year was going to be much, much more eventful than any of the years to have come, and he couldn’t wait to see it all unfold.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, little demon,” The shopkeep tipped his hat in a fine, gentlemanly manner, “Make sure to drop by again, ‘till next time!”

The gap of knowledge between the first and second year was indeed a big leap to overcome, Crewel knew how unprepared his puppies were going to be.

But by the Great Seven, oh how much he overestimated them.

The likes of Riddle Rosehearts and Azul Ashengrotto couldn’t possibly make up for the utter incompetence these mutts have, even the students with subpar scores like Savanaclaw’s Ruggie Bucchi and Diasomnia’s Silver looked like geniuses. At best, there are students like Kalim al-Asim, who actually tries, yet their efforts seem to seep out through their ears the moment they leave class, then there’s the unpredictable ones like Floyd Leech.

He remembers how the eel turned in blank test papers, or how he mixes whatever ingredients he finds interesting together, bleeding the chemical supply. 2 days ago, he used up an entire month’s worth of imp spinal fluid during potions class. It’s not as if they were hard to get, but their effects are most potent when freshly harvested. The thought of harvesting it himself made him shudder; sure, he’s seen some grotesque imagery as an alchemy professor, but who knows how long it will take to restock if he made a report to Crowley?

Sigh. Looks like he’ll have to put practical sessions on hold for a while and haggle with Sam.

“Excuse me, is Professor Crewel here?”

The door to the alchemy lab opened, bringing the professor back to reality. Someone he has never seen before let themself in, a plastic bag in hand.

“Stay! I don’t recall allowing anyone without a lab coat to enter….!” Realization kicked in once he got a clearer look, “Huh--so it’s you, the magicless stray that caused a riot in the entrance ceremony.”

The sound of a whip resonated through the room, followed by faint chattering and murmurs from nearby students scrambling away from the alchemy lab.

“Only authorized students and staff are allowed in the lab during school hours, didn’t the Headmaster tell you?”

Most of his students would cower just by hearing his tone grow stern, yet they remained unfazed. Playing bold now are we? Looks like he’ll have to teach them a lesson.

“The Headmaster,” they brought the plastic bag to his chest, “said that the lab’s storage room needed restocking.”

Ah, was that it? Making a child do his job; how much of a slave driver was Crowley? Knowing Crowley’s tardiness, it was probably something he had already spent his paycheck on, although the bottom of the bag was unusually cold.

Curiosity getting the better of the professor, he untied the knot and opened the bag. His face recoiled, from the shock of seeing the contents. Aurora moth’s scales--he had only requested these a few days ago! Not to mention all of that translucent mucus coating the scales, how long ago were these harvested?

“Is there something wrong, Professor?”

Crewel almost forgot about the intruder standing in front of him, “No, it’s just--this is the first time I've seen them so...fresh. The ones Crowley buys usually come preserved in bottles.”

“That may be because I just harvested them this afternoon,” they said nonchalantly.

“You--You what?!” the professor didn’t even try to mask his disgust, “You did this yourself?”

Their head tilted sideways, akin to a confused child.

“The Headmaster said that the locals needed help with pest control, so I’d thought I’d lend a hand, and they let me do whatever I wanted with the moths as payment, ” Despite having experience with that sort, Crewel’s stomach began to swirl, “The Headmaster gave me permission too,”

A scowl grew on his face. Typically a moth would've been killed humanely before their wings were plucked to relax their ligaments, but seeing the mess clinging to the wing's ends, it's clear that they didn't consider such option. He couldn't decide if they had a strong stomach to withstand seeing large bugs squirm underneath them, or an uneducated fool.

“Professor, are you alright? You look exhausted,”

He snapped back to reality that instant, rubbing circles around his temple. Pull yourself together, Crewel, he edged himself, you’ve lost your composure twice already. Maybe he just needed a good serving of raisin butter with wine on the side, or a joyride on his prized car. He glanced back at the dismembered wings, at least he got what he wanted. Still, this has never happened before, perhaps if he could take advantage of this situation….

“Tell me, pup. Since you have...the appropriate experience to harvest wings, how good are you at dissecting imps?”

They pondered for a while. It’s the most animated he’s seen of them, “I suppose I do how to extract fluids, their lymph is a versatile ingredient in many types of salves after all. Although it has been a while since I’ve ever needed to.”

Bingo

“Then, how about spinal fluid?”

It was their turn to be surprised, “I-I’ve never done that on an imp before. Just think of the amount of imps needed to fill a single bottle.”

“Tell you what, pup. Are you interested in a side-job?”

Without giving them a chance to respond, Crewel tossed a few madol and a map of the campus in their direction, “There are some common imps causing trouble in the college lately coming from who knows where. If you can deal with them, I’ll give you the other half of the payment, and of course--.”

He shoved them a basket full of empty test tubes, slinging it over their shoulder, “Fill every single test tube here to the brim before tomorrow's Science Club activity, I won't take no for an answer.”

And with that, they were pushed out of the alchemy lab. Spending their first sleepless night in another world catching imps wasn’t on their bucket list. Sighing heavily, they picked up their feet and staggered.

‘I wanted to creep him out a little,’ they thought, ‘but I ended up being the one getting creeped out.’

For such an important place, why did Crowley’s office have to be in a place so out of reach? For all his years in Night Raven College, Crewel always dreaded sending weekly reports to the Headmaster’s office, he could feel his leg muscles ache as he knocked against the two large gates. He peeked inside the office to look for the Headmaster.

“There you are, professor! What took you so long?”

There he was, sitting cross-legged on his desk as the portraits of the Great Seven floated up and about. Trein was there as well, as cold as usual and showing no sign of fatigue, peering at him as if he could see through everything. Maybe it was because he had a 20 year head start, either way, it was irritating how he was the only disheveled one.

“I don’t know, maybe it was the countless stairs I have to climb every week to submit a report when you can simply hire a secretary to fetch them for you?”

The crow simply smiled, already figuring out a solution to Crewel’s ire, “How has the first week of teaching been for you, professors?”

“I don’t know which is greener, the topiary maze in the Heartslabyul dorm, or the new puppies I’m in charge of,” Crewel shook his head.

“For once, I agree,” the history professor nodded indefinitely, Lucius yawning in his arms, “But that could be said for every first year in the history of NRC.”

Dire nodded, “Seems like everything’s going smoothly then! I shall leave the future of our students in your capable hands!”

Both professors nodded in response, “As you wish, Headmaster.”

“Although, I’d like to inquire about something,” Crewel spoke up before raising his index finger to the large window. From above, the view of the setting sun looming over the campus could be seen, but his finger specifically pointed to Main Street, or rather;the magicless stray walking to the direction of the alchemy lab, with the basket in hand and the direbeast from before by their side.

“What are we going to do about that?”

Without needing to look, Trein simply closed his eyes, “If what the mirror spoke was true, then that child quite literally has no place to go back to. It comes to question how they even ended up here in the first place."

Crowley rubbed his chin. The ultimate decision lies with him, and honestly, there was nothing stopping him from just shirking them off his feathers and leaving them to fend for themselves, along with the cat-beast that terrorized the entrance ceremony.

"It would undoubtedly stain the reputation of our esteemed college if we just kicked them out," the Headmaster groaned, "Oh, why must I be plagued with such problems!"

"Best of luck to you then, Headmaster Crowley," The two professors turned their heels and left Crowley's office with not a care in the world, leaving him with his worries.

The Headmaster leaned against his chair and sighed against the beak of is mask. Dealing with the child was the last thing he wanted to do at this moment, with their odd mannerisms and such, however...

Being unable to return home wasn't an unfamiliar conundrum to the Headmaster.

Perhaps it's his boundless generosity speaking to him, but there was a pang of heavy emotion in his chest that told him he couldn't simply leave that child, Yuulis, alone. Was it guilt? or maybe atonement? Whatever it was, it overrode the rational side of his brain

Dire Crowley was the type of person to judge a book by it's cover, which is why he was surprised how his new errand runner, or rather, the new Ramshackle Prefect was able to hold up better than he expected. The reports he received from the staff members he had tasked them with helping have been amicable, and his workflow was much smoother now that he had divided the more menial tasks to someone else. He had thought he had envoked the wrath of the Great Seven with the mess that was thrown his way, but surely they were more pliant than they initially seemed, and now Crowley had a reliable aide at his beck and call.

That would've been the end of the story if Crowley's worries ended there.

Perhaps it's his intuition as a mage, one that's been sharpened by many years of experience, but there was something off about the Prefect. It was subtle enough for none of the other professors to pick up on it, perhaps not even the prefect the▅self were aware of it, but Crowley co▅ld fe▅▅ it.

The lingering mi▅▅ma ▅▅ p▅rmea▅▅ from ▅▅em, it ▅▅ ▅▅▅▅▅ ▅ ▅▅▅ M▅▅▅l▅ ▅▅ ▅no▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅ ▅▅ , ▅n▅▅d f▅rom the loo▅▅ ▅, if Crowley doesn't get it under control, it might spell disaster for the mages in his beloved college.

They'd succeeded his expectations as a prefect, so why not bestow upon them another act of kindness?

A knock resounded from the door to the Headmaster's office, before creaking open. Under the candles that lit the office dimly, the prefect looked like one of the many ghosts that toiled in the campus.

"Apologies for the delay," they nodded, curtly greeting the Headmaster, "It took a while to convince Professor Trein to let me into the library archives, but I got what you asked for."

"It can't be helped, I suppose. The lecture he gave me that time still rings in my ears," Crowley picked the bundle of files off of Yuulis' hands.

"Rightfully so," the monotone in their voice wavered, "With all due respect, I don't see why what you did was necessary, nor will it benefit you or your reputation, Headmaster."

His fingers intertwined and rested over his mouth, obscuring what's left of his face. A part of him thought that Yuulis wouldn't question his actions, but it seems they had not let their guard down completely. Not that he blamed them--in a world of villains, it's wiser to play your cards right.

"I've made it quite clear that it was a mutual agreement, yes?" he says, "One day, you'll understand, once you've proven that you're worthy of carrying my secrets."

He sauntered towards them, slow and heavy footsteps circling around the prefect, "Besides, don't you want my help? You won't have to isolate yourself anymore, drifting around from place to place, worrying about hurting other people. You'll be able to live a normal life. It'd be easier for me to help you with your more personal matters like this, wouldn't you agree, my dearest nephew?"

It was probably underhanded of him to take advantage of their ignorance, but it's too late for them. The pact has been made, Crowley isn't sure whether Yuulis could feel the invisible link that binds them together as well, but the matching blue vest he gave them, their new surname, was enough to send them the message.

"It's getting late, come now, I'll walk you back to that rickety old--err, Ramshackle dorm," says the headmaster, waiting for Yuulis to trail behind him, like they usually do.

With bated breath, they come to accept their new circumstances. They step closer to the Headmaster.

"As you wish, uncle,"

#happy april fools!!!#yeeeaaaaahhhhhhhhhh #i think i wrote this for twst's first anniversary...time rlly flies lmao #i also changed some stuff from the original.. mostly cus new game info.. & such. and getting a better grasp/having different views on--#the characters #waaaaa #dont think too much on the writing pls...gdghghghg #twst #twisted wonderland #twst oc #disney twst #twst yuu #dire crowley #divus crewel #twst sam #mozus trein #yuulis crowley

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piratecaptainscaptainpirates · 4 months ago

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You know, if I have to read another take or fic that treats Ed ordering that racist French captain skinned with the snail fork as proof of Ed's anger issues, or, somehow bizarrely commonly, has Stede talk down to him about it, I'm gonna lose it. Both Ed and Stede indirectly cause some pretty major violence in s1e5, but only Ed's seems to be proof of a violent nature. Strange.

And I'm honestly a bit tired of talking around this, because when you look at what some portions of this fandom can excuse and what they can't, it becomes very obvious how this is really just a racism problem. I mean, in this episode:

Ed responds to racist abuse by ordering the French captain killed. It's in the context of him having already given the captain a chance to back the fuck off ("what's that supposed to mean," said very calmly considering we all know what "your kind" means), has to visibly hype himself up to start yelling, and is responding to being called a donkey. It's vile and Ed deserves to be upset, not to mention he knows he can't just let that slide when senior crew members like Fang are right there watching. Ed is visibly upset and shaken by this whole situation and what he thinks it says about him as a person.

Stede, upon learning that the party guests were cruel to Ed (in a passive-aggressive but undoubtedly racist way), is angry on his behalf, and also wants to retaliate, just as Ed did earlier. It's sweet that he's defending Ed, but this is surely also personal for Stede, who felt mocked and belittled earlier and has had to deal with a lifetime of that. We see the results of Stede's playing the crowd here, with the boat burning in the background and the screams of people jumping out into the open sea, and Stede is also visibly pretty stoked about the whole thing.

There's no way around it, I think: we have been conditioned to think it's morally superior for someone to "turn the other cheek" and "be the bigger person" in the face of racist abuse, and Ed doesn't do that, so that's why this is still such a big issue for some people. When Ed gets upset again at the party, unlike earlier when Stede was put off by Ed ordering the captain skinned, Stede validates his feelings and is the one to respond, and that's the difference in reactions, I think. In the second case, Stede has validated Ed's anger and pain - Ed's feelings have gotten White Permission to exist.

OFMD does something really very unusual in the current media landscape, and that's how it treats racism in itself as violence. It doesn't expect characters to look away, turn the other cheek, or try to make amends with racists when they're cruel to them. And the only problem here wrt Ed is that some viewers of the show, bringing in the biases of the society we live in, will get uncomfortable when Ed acts in accordance with the show's philosophy - it doesn't matter that Stede is much more gleeful about being the one to respond in a similar situation, it matters that Ed is brown, and we therefore expect him to have to put up racist abuse. The show doesn't ask us to pass judgment on Ed in this episode, and I think that if you're automatically more inclined to believe Stede's actions more "reasonable" and "justified" than Ed's, you just might need to unpack that.

#ofmd #our flag means death #fandom racism

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silentsneezes · 13 days ago

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I’m adoring all of your Ar/cane content! It’s really feeding my current arcane brain rot , thank you for sharing your work!

Manifesting a sick Jay/ce fic 🤞

thank you anon!! I'm so glad other people can enjoy my writing, especially as the a/rcane brain rot persists

flattery will get you everywhere, so here's a 1.8k word sick j/ayce fic in which he tries to attend a council meeting! (and suffers the consequences of his own actions)

I wrote half of this on a plane and half of it while procrastinating my schoolwork, so if it's not my best work forgive me lol, it's mostly self indulgent pathetically sick j/ayce (cw for mess, but not in great detail)

Jayce’s throat is aching and coated with a thick layer of bothersome, phlegmy congestion. He can feel it rise in his throat after every swallow, only worsening his discomfort. Admittedly, it’s partially his fault; he should’ve realized this morning that attending a council meeting with a cold was a poor choice.

His alternative had been to tell Mel he was sick, and request that she pass on the word and make apologies on his behalf. In hindsight, he'd obviously made the wrong decision in going; Mel’s soft spoken assurances would've been an improvement over Jayce’s evident illness and lack of composure.

As if showing up sick wasn’t bad enough in and of itself, Jayce showed up sick and twenty minutes late, bursting into the room with an uncharacteristic display of clumsiness. Upon first glance, Mel could tell he had one hell of a fever, and yet she excused the muttered frustrations of her colleagues with a polite, “Counselor Talis, so glad you could join us today.”

Jayce offered everyone an apologetic nod as he took his seat, his head swimming dizzily with every step he took. His hair was plastered to his skin in a few places, sweaty and damp due to fever. And god was it hot in there. He looked around, scanning the other counselors for any signs of discomfort at the sweltering temperature of the room, but they all appeared to be just fine. In his observation of the room, he accidentally caught Mel’s eye, attempting to give her a look of reassurance at her obvious concern.

Jayce forced himself to focus on the discussions taking place, having heard they’d be assessing the value of HexTec theories and their continued funding. He needed to defend his and Viktor’s work; he needed to have some hope, however irrational, that HexTec might help his partner.

His hearing swam in and out of focus as the meeting dragged on, the bickering of the privileged numbing Jayce’s mind. He only snapped back to reality as he felt a burning itch settle in the back of his sinuses. He sniffed experimentally, temporarily dissuading the sensation and letting out a breath of relief.

Of course it wasn’t that easy, the itch returning with a vengeance just a second later and forcing his breath to catch loudly, “hHH-“. Luckily, the “civil discussion” of the council members had turned into a full on argument— as it often does— and the sound was only noticed by Mel. Jayce squashed the upturned tip of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, holding his breath as best he could to avoid more vocal hitches. Soon enough, his head snapped forwards with a painfully stifled “hhHNGSXXT’ch!”

The single stifle did nothing to alleviate the problem, but rather encouraged the itch to travel further up Jayce’s nose. His nostrils attempted to flare beneath his fingers, the absolute need to sneeze taking hold of his entire focus.

Somehow, Jayce managed to contain his typically vocal build ups, once again squashing a sneeze into submission, “hhHGGSXCHh’huh!” He could feel the pressure of snot building up behind his pinched fingers, searching through his pockets for a handkerchief with his other hand. He felt Mel’s eyes trained on him, his stomach twisting at her attentiveness.

His stomach dropped as he suddenly recalled setting the handkerchief down in his bedroom in his brainless haste to not be entirely late. Fuck fuck fuck. His sneezes are typically forceful, accompanied by some spray and occasionally requiring a nose blow in the aftermath. But when he’s sick, it’s an entirely different story, and without a handkerchief he's fucked.

Jayce dropped his hand to his lap, quick to wipe his other wrist against the underside of his nose. He cringed at the thick liquid trail it left behind, barely giving him enough relief to keep the mess from dripping down his upper lip.

At the sound of the word “HexTec” being spoken by Salo, Jayce forced his attention back to the discussion at hand. His body ached, exhausted and riddled with discomfort, but he listened to every word. After a few minutes, Mel gave him a pointed look: ‘now’s your time’.

Jayce cleared his throat, both to gain the attention of his colleagues and out of necessity, “I know you fear HexTec. Believe me, I understand your hesitance at exploring such an unknown possibilit-hhy.” Fuck, not now, “But I’ve seen what it can do with my own eyes, the lives it could hh s-hhH-save.”

Jayce continued speaking with a steadfast determination. He needed to get his point across, for the sake of his research… for the sake of his partner.

“I believe HexTec could be the next great innovation of Piltover. Why wait when we could be helping people now?”

As Jayce spoke, he could feel the moisture pooling at the base of his nose begin to slip onto his upper lip. He was quick to wipe it away, wishing the councilmembers didn’t all have their eyes trained on him. As soon as his fabric-clad wrist brushed against the base of his nose, the itch returned with urgent demand.

“Exc-hhH-cuse hhehme- hHHNNGGZXXCHh!” Even stifled to his best ability and muffled into his elbow, Jayce’s sneeze rang through the room. He could feel the mess clinging between his nose and elbow, grateful as he heard Mel’s voice intervene.

“I believe what Counselor Talis is saying is that HexTec offers great promise for Piltover. It would put us on the map, increasing our trade repertoire and minimizing the risk of losing goods to thieves.” Mel spoke clearly, attempting to persuade with financial and economic tactics rather than the pathos of saving lives. As Mel recovered the point Jayce was about to lose, he managed to clean himself up using his sleeve— at least enough so that the snot clinging to his nose was no longer visible.

“Counselor Talis,” Salo drawled, almost mocking in his use of the title, “how are we supposed to trust your research? It’s unsanctioned, and with a Zaunite nonetheless.”

Jayce felt a flush of anger at the insult towards Viktor, tempted to tell Salo off in his fever ridden state. He took a moment, reminding himself that Viktor is fully capable of defending himself should the time ever come. Besides, Viktor would likely dismiss the criticism with ease, summing it up to the privileged ignorance of the undercity.

“We’ve done extensive worgk. All of our experimendts habve been recorded and we plan on submidding themb to academy researchers for approval,” Jayce answered, his unwavering commitment clear despite the congestion clouding certain letters of his speech.

To his utmost relief, there was no further rebuttal of his or Mel’s points. Jayce felt his posture relax ever so slightly, rubbing his left temple as the room continued to spin. How he had managed to compose not just one, but a few coherent sentences is beyond him.

The rest of the meeting is short, only dawdling on for another 20 minutes before the counselors are excused. Mel made a beeline towards Jayce as they all started getting up, giving him an expression somewhere between admonishment and concern, “you shouldn’t have come today.”

“They would’ve- sNRK- denied mby research if I didn’t show ub,” Jayce mumbled, putting both hands on the desk in front of him in order to shove himself upright. His vision blurred momentarily, his broad frame swaying with the head rush.

“I had someone retrieve Viktor for you,” Mel offered as a hand came out to brace Jayce’s side, “he was quite upset to hear that you attended this meeting.”

Jayce sighed, his shoulders drooping further in exhaustion. He had told Viktor he’d rest, but he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing when he had the opportunity to advocate for their work. Even though he chastises Viktor for his poor self-preservation, Jayce acts similarly to him: pushing himself past his body’s limits out of sheer stubbornness.

Jayce allowed Mel to guide him towards the exit, too deep in his exhausted haze to entirely register what’s happening. He paused as they neared the door, his breath catching in a quick “hhH-“ and then faltering for a second. The itch tickled back through his sinuses, and a throat-burning build up began, “hhIHh- hHHH’uhH- hhhHRRSZZDCHHhew!”

Jayce practically bent in two with the expulsion, misting the air and leaving a string of mess hanging from his nose. He blinked away a few tears clinging to his lashes, swallowing against his painful, aching throat.

“Gesundheit,” Viktor’s voice sounded from a few steps away from Jayce, his cane clicking against the floor as he drew nearer. Without hesitation, Viktor pressed his handkerchief into Jayce’s hand, his eyes lingering on his partner's sodden sleeve.

“Thank you Mel, for alerting me of Jayce’s decision to attend this meeting,” Viktor said politely, expressing his gratitude with a thinly veiled criticism at Jayce’s stupidity.

“Of course, Viktor. Make sure he gets some rest, hm?” Mel replied with a flicker of amusement before taking her leave, allowing Viktor to manage the mess that is Jayce.

Once Mel took her leave, Jayce looked at Viktor with a guilty expression.

“You snuck out of our place. Like an idiot with no self preservation,” Viktor admonished, his words frustrated, but his actions affectionate; he placed a hand on Jayce’s back, leading him out to the hall slowly.

“I kdow-“ Jayce rasped, only to be interrupted.

“Don’t speak. You sound terrible,” Viktor reprimanded in concern, “Foolish. You were foolish for leaving.”

“hhHhuh… hhh…”

Viktor kept a hand on Jayce’s back, feeling every hitch and gasp that wracked Jayce’s body.

“hhHhHeh-“

The build up lasted for a painfully long time, intermixed with whimpers from the pain in Jayce’s throat. Finally, he pitched forwards with a spraying sneeze, nearly tripping over himself, “hhHHGGSZZCHhhew!”

“Bless you,” Viktor tutted as he laced a hand around Jayce’s waist, helping him straighten up again and glancing at the spray cast upon the floor’s tiled surface. “Are you okay to continue?”

“I’mb’uh- ogkay- snnNRFF-“ Jayce snuffled, steepling the handkerchief over his nose as he remembered Viktor had given it to him. Viktor felt a flutter of sympathy at Jayce’s pathetic attempt to clear his nose; the blow sounded more like a blocked up honk than anything else, making the sick man flush in embarrassment.

“Let us get you home,” Viktor murmured, turning in the direction of Jayce’s apartment in the academy. It took a while for the two of them to arrive back at his place, having to stop with every sneeze and cough so Jayce didn’t stumble over himself. By the time they got to Jayce’s place, he was dizzyingly feverish, sweating through his shirt and evidently on the verge of collapsing. In short, he was much in need of some medicine and caretaking.

i will likely be making a second part to this... and i might make edits to this part if i feel motivated. anyways, i hope it was worth the wait anon!! thank you for the kind words

#sneeze kink #sneezefucker #sneeze blog #snzblr #sneezefic #snz kink #snzcane #snzfics #silent writes sneeze

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henrysglock · 3 months ago

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Adoptive Sibling Relationships: The Newby family and the Byers family

Taking a break from my usual analysis style to do a little comparison between two families with adopted daughters and how the brothers in those families handle their relationships with their sisters.

As I've discussed in previous posts, Will isn't exactly the poster child for adoptive siblings. While El's struggling to stay afloat in the wake of Hopper's death, paired with being tossed into 9th grade as her very first year in school, Will lets her flounder.

Will doesn't help her with her school assignment (and as I've said before, following around behind El isn't Will's "job", but offering a little advice would be the compassionate and kind thing to do, especially seeing that El has only been exposed to greater society for the past year. Singular. One year. She's been in school for six months. Total. She hasn't even been out of the lab for 5 years. Will knows this. He knows she's undersupported, and he's the one in the best position to offer like 2 sentences of advice at home where the bullies can't get him. Would it have stopped the bullying in total for El? No. But at least the bullies wouldn't have been right. Capiche?), he doesn't step in when El's being physically harassed, he makes pointed jabs at her in front of Mike, and per the VR game, he harbors a decent amount of resentment towards her.

None of that makes Will a bad person, necessarily. He still does a multitude of good things. A lot of the negative things, especially re: bullies, are a result of his freeze response from being bullied himself. His resentment towards isn't exactly unjustified, either.

None of this means Will is bad. It just means his relationship with El isn't strong.

He's also not unique in this pattern of behavior!

There's another set of adoptive siblings that displays many of the same behaviors.

Bob and Patty Newby mimic Will and El's relationship—complete with many of the same struggles. Their relationship isn't strong.

Bob and Patty have a tenuous relationship, put nicely. It's clear that they care for each other, but there are a lot of external factors that make their relationship difficult.

Patty was adopted by Mr. Newby as a baby in hopes of saving his marriage to his wife. It didn't work, and the family broke up. That already puts Patty in a tough position with Bob in much the same way that Max was in a tough position with Billy re: broken families. No doubt there's at least a little unresolved resentment in that relationship, just like there was unresolved resentment from Billy towards Max, and there's unresolved resentment from Will towards El for her role in "breaking up" his relationship with Mike. Variations on a theme, and all that jazz.

Anyway, Mr. Newby takes his own his resentment re: Mrs. Newby out on Patty, and Bob does nothing to stop it. She's the family scapegoat, and he lets it happen. He doesn't stand up to his father on her behalf.

He doesn't stand up to Patty's bullies at school, either. When Patty's facing the brunt of her bullying from Walter during Dark of the Moon auditions, Bob is present! He doesn't do anything, though. Much like Will with El and Angela, Bob sits there and watches. He freezes. It's Sue and Charles who step in on Patty's behalf when the bullying turns blatantly racist.

While Bob does encourage Patty, particularly re: her participation in Dark of the Moon, he does not support her. He doesn't have Patty's back. Will is much the same re: the presentation. He encourages her, but he doesn't support her.

In fact, in-show Bob himself acknowledges his similarities to Will, particularly in regards to this specific shortcoming:

He and Will are not ones who punch back. They don't stand up and fight, and we can see it harming their relationships in real-time. It is an explanation, but it is not an excuse. In situations where they hold power, whether it be as a white boy in the 50s defending his black sister or as a normally-socialized boy in the 80s defending his struggling lab-raised sister, both of them flounder and fail. Both sisters are harmed because their brothers failed to use their positions of power to help them. These are things that both Bob and Will need to work on.

This is, however, where one key difference between Bob and Will comes into play:

Bob apologizes. Genuinely. Sincerely.

He acknowledges his shortcomings, he clearly and openly expresses to Patty in person, face to face, how much he loves and values her, and he refuses to allow Patty to put the blame for the situation on herself (similarly to how Mike refuses to allow Will to put all the blame on himself regarding the deterioration of their relationship).

Will gets his Bob-and-Patty-like apology from Jonathan in the pizza shop, but he does not pay it forward. Will never apologizes for not standing up on El's behalf when he was in a position to do so. We never get a tender one-on-one between El and Will wherein they talk about and resolve that tension.

This is something that, in parallel, eats Max alive regarding Billy. They never got to fix their relationship either, before Billy dies (regardless of the fact that the onus was on Billy to do so)—and it would have eaten Bob alive too, if he hadn't managed to fix his relationship with Patty before the accident and her departure for Nevada (and vice versa were Bob the one to be hurt).

(See: Patty's grief over Mr. Newby being hurt/her thinking she had a hand in his injuries because she was hanging around Henry despite how poorly Mr. Newby treated her. See also: Mr. Newby apologizing to Patty for his behavior after a near-death experience, since the onus was on him to fix the relationship he damaged).

Will and El's relationship is weaker than Bob and Patty's, and that's not El's fault—just like how the weakness in Bob and Patty's relationship wasn't Patty's fault, just like how the weakness in Will's relationship with Jonathan wasn't Will's fault. With El, the onus is on Will to strengthen their relationship, if that's something he wants to do. It's up to Will to strengthen his relationship with El. If he really cares for her, it would eat him alive if she died or was gravely injured before he got the chance to be that loving and supportive brother for her. It's up to him to acknowledge his flaws—even if they're "justified" flaws, because they're doing harm all the same. Impact >>> Intent.

El needed a friend, needed a brother, and Will wasn't there for her when the stakes were low.

We see that need crop back up in NINA, which initially (and for the majority of the arc) posits Henry as a protector/older brother for her to latch onto; the parallel/foilism between Will and Henry in NINA serve as a reflection of what El's lacking in her real life relationships...but now with far higher stakes. Can't wait to see how that set of parallels finishes out, especially with "Henry" turning on El at the last minute/when she needs him most. I won't say more than that, though, because that starts to get outside the bounds of this post.

Lastly, and I don't mean this as a "tallying up flashy heroic acts to see who's a better person" thing (because there's a lot of negativity tied up in El's belief that she always has to be the superhero/it blocks a lot of other people from growing into their possible hero roles/it's a trauma-borne flaw in El the same way freezing is a trauma-borne response in Will), but how many times has El stood up for Will? How many times has she put herself in mortal danger to protect him? El is not the one who needs to extend an olive branch to Will re: their weakened relationship going into ST5. The onus is not on her to mend a relationship she consistently puts her blood, sweat, and tears into physically preserving. If Will can't defend El physically in return, that's fine. He's not part of the X-Men. He's not Superman. But he can at least offer her a little emotional support and a little guidance, then. That's how relationships work, I fear. There's a balance to respect.

It's hard to call them loving siblings when one half doesn't act like it. Instead, it just feels like Will and his guard dog against the supernatural.

Or...maybe just Will and Mommy Byers 2.0.

🤨🤔

#Patty deserved better and Bob acknowledged that. El also deserves better. Alas.#Will has some personal growth coming to him in ST5 and I hope the two of them will come out the other side of it bonded stronger.#Patty really did deserve better all the way around tho. Girlie cannot catch a break. People should have been more niceys to her /gen #will byers #el hopper #willel #st: tfs #bob newby #patty newby

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