#definitely didn't tell her I was aroace

[theredhoodedcryptid]

Flash back to that time I was talking with my therapist and she made the mistake of asking about my Batman hyper fixation. So I told her about fav, Jason, who was the second Robin. And she…she told me she didn’t even know there was a Robin….

So obviously I took this as in invite to info dump the last 20 mins of our session, making a very brief intro to the batkids. (Because we don’t got the time to unpack all of that)

She learned to never ask that again.

(JK, she did. She was good and let me info dump about nerdy stuff)

[marewithfangs]

(General and QPR) Alastor x reader headcanons!

warnings: this is written with an aroace reader in mind, reader is gender neutral, physical touch but like. on a very low level.

REBLOGS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

honestly, even if you are the closest person to him in hell; within the first year of your qpr relationship, i dont think he would change in mannerisms that much around you, even when out of wandering eyes. he will have that smile on all the time; and wont favor showing emotions, with few exceptions. dont take it to heart, that is just the way he is most comfortable!

he will change however, in the way that he goes out of his way to help you without asking for anything in exchange. opening doors for you, pulling back your seat so you dont have to; all that jazz. very big on acts of service.

also, it is very clear where his attention diverts to when you enter the room.

back from running some errands for charlie, you approach the hotel doors with hands full with bags, a slump in your step.

maroon eyes catch yours, and with a subtle change in the everlasting smile of the radio demon, he is by your side instantly. welcoming you and taking the bags off your hands while you are distracted with his talking. what kind of gentleman would he be if he didn't help his tired partner?

even if he would never mention it, he is grateful that you dont really put a label in the relationship and just vibe honsetly. i dont think he would ever be comfortable with a fully romantic relationship. you were made for each other in that sense!

he loves pranking you for the reactions, so expect a few scares even though he would never harm you intentionally if he could help it.

we all know that even if he is okay with touching people; he doesnt favor physical touch, and lets very occasionally and very specific people touch him. however, you are one of those very few people and even have special being-alastor's-partner privileges! he would very rarely object to your touch, and subconsciously initiates it more frequently with you than others.

you probably touched his ears once, maybe accidentally; maybe not. it caught him so off guard he just stopped talking and stared at you for 30 seconds straight before vanishing to somewhere else. what a guy

kisses are very rare, but sweet when they happen. his favourite place to kiss you would be your forehead, the crown of your head and the back of your hand. definitely won't object to quick cheek kisses from you!

loves!! to dance with you. put on some jazz and he could dance for hours without breaking a sweat, has a very impressive stamina. also, i believe that while suspicious at first because of the name, he would LOVE the electro swing genre!

he is a very charming gentleman, so people who dont know who he is (if they even exist...) ever try to hit on him, maybe try to distract that person if they are a good enough guy, you know? no need for unnecessary blood spilt.

rosie would LOVE you. and i mean it. she would be ecstatic that alastor found someone like him. you would get invited to a lot of hang outs with her! sometimes with alastor, sometimes with just you. if you are a little bit of fashionista she would love to go to clothing shopping with you, helping you choose what fits you better; if that specific piece is too extra... all that! or you could just have tea and sweets, and talk about your interests together.

he is very good at reading you, especially through your smile and laughs. definitely can tell when your laugh is forced or not in conversations very well. that is mostly how he reads the situation and gets you out of it (maybe in more alastors ways than not, if he doesn't like the person youre talking with) if he senses you are uncomfortable. what is a surprise to him is how you would also be able to read him and his smiles within time.

i dont know if he would tell you about the deal he made at all. he would probably avoid it as much as he could. it is a weakness of his that he would rather not be reminded of, and he would just not want you to know about it. if you ever found out about it, and decide to ask about it; while i dont think he would snap at you like he did with husk in the show, it would still create tension between you along with him avoiding to answer.

how much sincerity he shows to you would be very dependent on for how long youve been his partner. yes, you may be able to read him a little better within time, but that is no feat with how many secrets he probably holds. i still think it would take a year or so before he starts showing sincerity, although subtle and would do so seldomly. it would take maybe a decade until he would be comfortable enough to be fully transparent with you. but, oh would it be worth it.

overall, i love him very much your honour. he is the guy ever and would be a very charming and fun partner if you ignore the murder and crypticism!!!!

[meepmorp1232]

Mike Wheeler and Milkvan from an Aroace Perspective

Hi! So this is something I've been thinking about for a while now and I wanted to see if anyone else thought of this. This post will focus on Mike's queercoding and his relationship with El (and a little bit of byler). No, I do not think Mike is aroace (but he could be on the spectrums, it's hard to tell).

I'm aroace, and if you don't know what that means, it is short for aromantic (aro) and asexual (ace). Aros experience little to no romantic attraction. Aces experience little to no sexual attraction. Basically, I don't get crushes or have any desire for intimacy (but it's a little more complicated than that, so I encourage you to do your own research). I understand that asexuality and aromanticism are very diverse spectrums. This is my personal interpretation and you do not have to agree with me (but please be nice, for I am but a humble byler). I'd love to hear your opinions!

Starting with s1, there was always something off for me about milkvan. Sure, Mike and El had moments, but they didn't really seem like anything other than platonic. I felt like there wasn't that much build up to their first kiss and it seemed like they just added that at the last second (and they kinda did). It felt rushed and they were literally just talking about being siblings. Then Mike invited her to the Snow Ball. And he didn't seem to show any romantic interest in El until Lucas brought it up.

In s2, Mike kinda forgot about El until she showed up in the end. I mean, he "called" her for, like, a year (and that was more survivor's guilt than anything), but he never went after her, even when he literally saw her. And as soon as Will was in trouble, he stopped calling. Then she comes back, and they have this whole reunion thing and Mike and El almost kiss. After that, we see Mike pining for Will at the Snow Ball. The milkvan kiss looked really genuine, though, definitely fooled me.

In s3, Mike focused all his energy on his relationship by making out with El constantly and ditching his friends. Then El dumps him and he had no idea what he did wrong. He doesn't seem very sad about it, though. Skipping the entire middle of the season, that last milkvan kiss. What the actual fuck was that?

"Oh shit, I'm gay." Like, there is a literal lightbulb above his head. I cannot make this shit up (this is honestly one of my favorite scenes just because of how fucking gay it is).

In s4, Mike's in a long-distance relationship with El, and he can't say "I love you" for some reason, can't even write it. When he gets to Cali, he's kinda off (and gay panicking about Will looking like a grown-ass man). He and El fight and basically break up. Then they reunite after El explodes a helicopter, and it's all very platonic. Then there's Mike's monologue. I'm not even gonna start with that, El deserves so much better than that bullshit.

Now onto the analysis. I've always related to Mike, and I had no idea why (maybe because of his various mental health issues and general obliviousness towards peoples' emotions). Then I found out that byler exists and was like, "oh! That explains so much!" I started looking at him and milkvan from a new perspective and it all made sense: most of the things Mike has done are things that I would have done before I found out that I was aroace (and if I didn't have anxiety), and that's one of the reasons i relate to him.

In s1, Mike didn't show any romantic interest in El because he didn't have any. When Lucas brought it up, Mike saw this as an opportunity to prove that he's straight, that he's normal. The kiss and Snow Ball invitation seemed rushed because they were rushed. But if I was in Mike's position, I would have pursued El romantically. If I was alone with her, I would have kissed her and invited her to the Snow Ball.

In s2, Mike treated her like a friend, because that's what he saw her as. I would have treated her like a friend because I would have seen her as a friend. He called her because he missed her as a friend (and also survivor's guilt), which is what I would do too. But he never made an effort to find her and assumed she was dead, which is what I would do. Then El comes back and Mike forces himself into a relationship with her by dancing with and kissing her at the Snow Ball, which is, again, what I would do.

In s3, Mike tries and fails to appear straight. He pours all his energy into his relationship. He makes out with El non-stop and ditches his friends for her, 'cause that's what straight people do, right? Then El dumps him, and he's like, "what the fuck? I was just being straight!" He doesn't seem very sad about losing El, just moping and blaming Max for sabotaging his heterosexuality. These are all things that I would do since I have no idea how alloromantic/allosexual (opposite of aromantic/asexual) relationships work. I would probably treat them like friendships, but with kissing. Skipping to the end, that kiss. Mike's internal monologue: "oh shit, I'm gay." I did that (minus the awkward kiss) when I figured out that I was aroace.

In s4, Mike's back to his s2 vibe, but now he know that he's gay. He's in a long-distance relationship, so it's easier to just pretend it doesn't exist. He can't say or write "I love you," because friends don't lie (further proving that he sees El as a friend). I would do these things too. When he gets to Cali, he's kinda off because he knows now that he can't make himself be straight (also gay panic, because the difference between s3 ad s4 Will is crazy). This is how I would act in his situation (minus the gay panic). They fight and basically break up, and reunite fairly platonically. Again, exactly what I would do. I do not want to talk about Mike's bullshit monologue, but I would say those things too.

In conclusion, on the miniscule chance that byler isn't endgame, I am almost 100% sure that Mike is queer and milkvan will break up. This relationship is not good for either of them. Just the facts!

This is the first analysis I've ever done, so tell me your thoughts on my interpretation and please be nice. Thanks for reading!

[calamarikitty]

Hazbin Hotel Redesigns - Part Two!

the hotel staff are done and ready to give you mediocre room-service and amenities! individual pngs and design notes under cut!

Niffty - She/her, cis woman, straight

wanted to make her significantly more buggy! she's not really based on any bug in particular but i did kind of opt for some ladybug theming!

with her more buggy aspects comes extra legs and arms. she skitters around the floor like a little cockroach with her teeny broom!

i honestly think niffty's original design is very cute, so i didn't change too much. her color palette is the only thing i really had qualms with, so i made her more of an orangey pink since i think it fit her better. also, bug features on her are just really cute and were totally a missed opportunity in her og design. she looks so cute!

she's scarily perceptive and has great hearing

Husk - He/him, cis man, idk but bro isn't straight

i removed his bird features and made him just a cat. sorry to everyone that liked his wings and tail but i just don't really get his bird theming???

he has so much and so little going on at the same time so i simplified him a lot while still adding that grumpy cat bartender charm.

he's short and stout, only a couple feet taller than niffty!

he has all of the suits in his design, because i think it's really fun! wanted to make him look like some kind of retired magician

he couldn't be bothered to wear his suit jacket or tie his tie, it's a miracle they got him to wear his nametag

i overall just wanted him to look a lot older and more grizzled. husk's og design is really busy but in my opinion tells us nothing about his character. i hope this communicates more about him

Alastor - He/him, agender, aroace, gay

monochrome with pops of gold and red! he's a classy guy.

doesn't talk through his mouth, and can only speak through his microphone. he has it on him at all times, and this makes adam breaking his microphone a lot more consequential. he's constantly 'on air'

more obvious deer features! he has a tail and hooves because it's fun, sue me

i also gave him much larger antlers because his antlers are barely noticeable when he's not in his full demon form in his og design, and it doesn't make any sense to me why they're not. surprisingly, his antlers do get much larger when he's in his full demon form, even though they're already very impressive

he has two eyes i just left one out for stylistic reasons

the x on his forehead is always there, not just in his full demon form. however, it does glow when he transforms, and his other stitches become much more noticable.

he cannot stop smiling, and also cannot open his mouth. a terrible punishment for a gluttonous cannibal

he's extremely polite (he never, ever curses) and a neat freak despite his murderous tendencies. he's very touch-averse but has no issue getting in everyone else's space. he's still a manipulative asshole, but is extremely good at hiding his emotions

he's definitely one of the more interesting characters to me and i feel like has a lot of potential, which is why i thought so much abt his design haha

[bogkeep]

when i was a teen, i was in love with my best friend. to this day i cannot tell you with any certainty whether or not i was in love romantically or platonically. i don't know and i don't care. it's very possible there is a difference, but i never found it. i've asked many people about it and everyone has their own definition of where that line goes, none that ever applied to my own experiences. there is no satisfying, universal and objective line. i think that's good, actually. the idea that there is some shining abstract concept that's specialer than all the other concepts that can only be achieved like nirvana by some people and not others is not a comfortable idea. this is not to say that everyone has the same feelings and experiences, absolutely not - but we categorize our experiences within the contexts we exist in. or maybe that's just word salad.

i know that - at the time, i knew i was deeply connected to this other person and kept thinking about her all the time and we talked about wanting to be close friends for our whole lives and wrote poetry together about our soulmateness and we made mutual friends feel like a third wheel. i knew i had no desire to kiss her or take her on dates, and she crushed on some boy at summer camp, but the connection between us was mutual and explicit. if the concept of a queerplatonic relationship had been available to us at the time, maybe we would've recognized it as such. i just knew that what i was feeling didn't match up at all with what i've been told 'being in love' was supposed to be like - especially because, at the time, Being In Love also included sexual attraction. we had just cracked open the 2010's and asexuality was a punchline and a joke.

i know that - during the time i was made to feel ashamed of my aroace identity and the narrative was that i'm actually just repressing my TRUE queer identity, i reframed my memories - i had obviously been in love with my friend Romantically. i was a Real Gay. i was Valid. I Was Sapphic Actually. you can't kick me out of the parade if i had pined for my best friend as a teen!!!!

i know that - once i reclaimed the pride in myself, i reframed the memories again: i had obviously been in love with my friend Platonically, because otherwise i would've been a traitor to the good name of aromanticism. if i knew what it was like to have a crush i would contradict myself. who am i to write about romantic love as if i know? what was i doing at the devil's sacrament?

maybe it is a mystery. maybe i don't know shit. it's hard, actually, to know anything at all when the way my strange brain filters emotions through my body reads so different to the user manual. how can anyone stand to pine for another when it's all anxiety, all day? "butterflies"???? really????? how am i supposed to know anything for sure when my brain's favourite hobby is to pick thoughts apart and run them through the distortion machine on repeat, on repeat, on repeat? i don't know if i've ever loved anyone at all, now that i think about it. maybe i'm an empty shell of a human and everything i do is an act of puppetry and wishful thinking.

i just gotta trust that the love is there, in some form or another. even when i can't reach for it and confirm its existence - let alone deduce a detailed taxonomy. what do you even need that for.

[catreginae]

This Ring is a Shield

As far as the others knew, Warriors' ring was just something he wore to make sure other people didn't flirt with him to much. What they don't know is that Warriors technically married and that the platonic nature of his marriage actually works great for both him and his wife. It should have been easy to explain the nature of his marriage but in truth, he's just tired. He's tired of the comments, tired of the advice he didn't asked for, and tired of the pity. AKA the "Warriors and his wife are both aroace but Warriors takes his sweet time telling the chain" fic. I wrote a one-shot! A long one but it's a one shot and I finished it just in time for the aro and ace prompts for the @queering-the-chain event. You can also find this fic on AO3!

When Warriors saw the collection of buildings ahead of them signifying civilization, he pulled his ring out of one of his many pouches and slipped it onto his ring finger. The ring was slightly too big when he didn’t have his gloves on but seeing as he only really wore it in uniform, he didn’t have any reason to complain about it. Getting it sized down a notch wouldn’t be difficult but the thought only ever crossed his mind when he happened to be somewhere he couldn’t get it done.

“Why do you only put the ring on when we’re around other people?” Wind asked as he sped up to keep up with Warriors.

“Because he wants people to think he’s married,” Legend answered with a shrug. “It lets people know that they don’t have a chance with him. It helps when you’re in an era that isn’t your own and you don’t want to complicate whatever this is even further. The timeline is fragile enough without becoming your own great-grandfather or something stupid like that.”

Warriors hummed, wondering if it was wise to correct Legend. The veteran was definitely correct about one thing – he didn’t want people to be interested in him. However, he was technically married. He didn’t blame the others for thinking he was single, seeing as he called Time’s wedding ring a shackle and he didn’t treat his own ring as a symbol of love and devotion. Warriors didn’t think that the others would give him a hard time if he told him that he was married and why but in his experience, trying to explain his feelings on romance and intimacy was an exercise in frustration.

“You’re on the right track,” he said after a moment of hesitation. He didn’t have to explain it all now. Warriors could just give them something to think about and leave it at that.

“Right track?” Legend huffed. “Where am I wrong?”

Warriors chuckled and ruffled Legend’s hair, dislodging his hat from where he usually kept it on his head. Legend responded with a growl as he swatted the captain’s hands away and readjusted his hat.

Thankfully, they went the rest of the day without anybody asking about the ring on his finger.

-

“Thanks for coming, Link,” Zelda greeted as Link dropped the salute and she motioned for him to sit in the chair across from hers. “I have a big favour to ask of you and you’re going to hate it.”

Link didn’t say anything, electing to let Zelda continue speaking.

“I’ve been negotiating with the Arlet family for more support in the court,” she started. Link nodded along. From what he knew of the court, a lot of the nobles were giving her some trouble regarding how she was getting and allocating funds for the ongoing reconstruction effort, which was further behind than Zelda wanted. Getting the support of any of the noble families for this issue, and any future concerns, would be a massive relief for her. The less people she had to argue with, the better. “They are willing to support me and fund some of the reconstruction themselves... in exchange for your hand in marriage with one of their daughters.”

He gulped. Oh, she was definitely right when she said he was going to hate it. Zelda knew he wasn’t interested in marriage but he supposed that when he pledged allegiance to Zelda and Hyrule, that was out of his hands. She said it would be a favour but Link knew there wasn’t actually a choice in the matter. After all, she didn’t actually ask him.

“Do I at least get to meet her?”

“That can be arranged. Link... look, I know you don’t want to be married but...”

“It’s politics. I know.”

-

“Gah! Where is it?” No matter how many times Warriors looked through all of his bags and pouches, he couldn’t find his ring. It wouldn’t be missed or hard to replace thanks to the fact that he married into nobility but he didn’t want to have to admit to his in-laws that ever lost it in the first place. His wife wouldn’t care because she wasn’t all attached to the rings whatsoever and she only wore hers when she had to leave the villa. He couldn’t afford to be an embarrassment to Athena though.

Maybe it was on the ground? He swore he had it before they set up camp, so it couldn’t have gone too far away.

“What are you looking for?” Four asked. Warriors was so engrossed in his search that he jumped slightly when he heard Four.

“My ring. I can’t find it in any of my bags.”

Without question, Four got down on his hands and knees and started patting the ground for it. As far as the rest of them knew, it was a cheap ring he used to prevent people from flirting with him too much, but it was kind of Four to help him find it regardless of what he might have thought it was.

“Oh, here it is!” Four announced as he held up the ring. “Huh, this is good quality gold and I think I see engraving... Are you sure that this is just-”

“Thanks for finding it!” Warriors said as he plucked the ring out of Four’s fingers and put it back in his satchel where it usually stayed when he wasn’t wearing it on his finger. He really ought to find a better place for it. Maybe he should use it for its intended purpose more often and just wear it on his finger, even if he didn’t care for the symbolism behind it.

“Maybe you should have a small pocket for it in your satchel. Maybe with some sort of button. It would suck if you lost it in another era.”

“That’s not a bad idea...” It wouldn’t be hard to make a pocket inside of this satchel. He just needed some more material for it. Why didn’t he think of that before?

-

Link sat in one of Zelda’s meeting rooms with his heart drumming in the pit of stomach. He was sitting at a small, rounded table with a pot of tea and some biscuits in the middle. He already poured himself a cup and ate one of the biscuits in an effort to calm his nerves a bit. It didn’t help. He found himself wishing he was outside fighting something big – at least he was confident in his swordsmanship.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Link shifted so that his back was straight. A guard in full uniform opened the door and walked in, followed by a tall yet slim woman with chestnut coloured hair pinned into a bun. Her dress was plain, yet well-made from what Link could see, and the green and brown colour scheme matched her green eyes. When she approached the table, Link realized she would be taller than he was if he stood up. She took the seat opposite of his.

“I take it you’re Captain Link?”

“Yes. Just Link is fine.”

“You can call me Vivienne,” she said as she held her hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

Link took it. “Likewise...” he said as the guard walked out. Once the door was closed, Link let her hand go. “Before we start talking, I just wanted to say that I’m not actually... interested in couple things. I don’t really like romance and I never had the desire for intimacy and no offense, but I don’t think that will change any time soon. If I had a choice, I would probably never get married or hook up with anybody.”

He was the man who stared death in the face several times in his life so far but telling a stranger who was going to be his wife how he actually felt about being married was one of the most nerve-wracking things he had ever done. He was less nervous when the fate of Hyrule was resting on his shoulders.

“I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up...” he added slowly when she didn’t respond at first.

“Link, it’s... it’s fine. In fact... I was trying to figure out how I would say the same thing to you. I’m glad you said it first,” she said with an awkward chuckle but she also had an easy smile that actually made Link relax a little.

“So... we want the same thing. Am I hearing that right?”

“Yes. It seems as though we make a good match, though not for the typical reasons noble families arrange marriages for their children. We can make this work, I’m sure. After all, I doubt either one of us would get this opportunity to marry like minded people again.” She relaxed her shoulders as reached for one of the biscuits. That was when it finally sunk in for Link – he had nothing to fear. Zelda wouldn’t know it but her favour was actually a blessing.

“No kidding. Just to think I was so scared,” he said with a deep sigh, putting a hand on his chest. “If nothing else, I know how to put on a show.”

-

Spending time at the ranch was sometimes a bit of an odd affair for Warriors. It wasn’t that he hated doing hard work that often involved him getting dirty somehow, as much as the others like to make assumptions about his current life that happened to be close to the city. He didn’t mind any of the work Time gave them just to keep them busy and tire them out because collectively, they needed to burn some energy. None of them were really good at just sitting still.

He just felt awkward around Malon and Time sometimes. It wasn’t anything they did together or even separately – he loved them both. He was happy for both of them because they truly seemed to fit well together. Time deserved to be happy after everything he went through.

The problem was that he couldn’t get his brain to shut up. Sometimes, it was hard to watch Time and Malon enjoy their marriage without all the ‘life advice’ and the persistent questioning about his nonexistent dating life racing through his head and weighing him down. He could imagine all of those people pointing at Time and Malon, setting them up as the prime example of everything he was supposedly missing out on.

Aren’t you lonely without a partner? You just have to find the right person, then you’ll fall in love. You’ll settle down later in life, you’re just busy right now. Won’t you regret it if you don’t have any kids?

Those weren’t even the worst. The worst was the pity, the way they looked like they were sorry for him.

Like he was broken.

“Warriors?”

“Hm?” It took him a second to realize that somebody was trying to talk to him. It also took him a second to realize that his wrist was sore from holding his head up as he lounged against the horse fence. How long did he zone out for? His brain, his current worst enemy, helpfully reminded him that getting distracted like that in the battlefield would have gotten him or somebody else killed. Thanks, brain, he really needed that.

“Wow, you really are distracted,” Legend mumbled. “What’s going on? You look upset.”

Legend was good at teasing and poking fun but he was also good at knowing when it wasn’t welcomed. He must have zoned out for longer than he thought if Legend was frowning at him like that.

“It’s nothing.”

“Nothing? You’re all tense. I know the ranch will never be completely safe but you can relax a little bit.”

“I... yeah.” Legend was right, though not for the reason he might have thought. He shouldn’t let a bunch of people he could barely remember ruin his time at the ranch. How often do people get to travel through time and visit their now giant little brother’s home? Time and Malon did absolutely nothing but be welcoming and kind to him. It wasn’t them who tried to give him advice he never asked for. “I think I’ll just head inside.”

He heard Legend huff as pushed himself off the fence and walked inside the house.

-

Link woke up with the sun as he always did but it still took him a moment to remember just where he was waking up. He wasn’t used to the soft bed sheets, he wasn’t used to sleeping with more pillows than anybody actually needed to sleep, and he wasn’t used to being vaguely aware of another body in the same bed he was in. Luckily, his bed and sheets were so large that he had yet to really feel Vivienne moving around, but that didn’t stop him from being aware that she was there.

This morning though, she wasn’t there and if his head didn’t pound so much, he would have gotten up to go look for her. He always woke up before she did.

No, he should get up anyway. He had to go to the training grounds. The army had a lot of new recruits and he was one of the captains responsible for training the recruits who started to show some promise with a sword or at least seemed interested in learning how to use one. He sat up and a wave of dizziness struck him, forcing him to settle his head into his hands with his elbows digging into his thighs. His head was still pounding. His stomach felt like it was going to betray him.

Suddenly, the door opened. Link didn’t lift his head up to see who it was but only Vivienne would be around at the moment. The only other person who spent a lot of time in the villa, a women they hired named Clarissa who helped them maintain the villa, didn’t come in until much later in the morning. Usually, Link only saw her when he returned home and she was just getting ready to leave.

“Go back to sleep, Link,” Vivienne said as she guided him back down to the mattress. “I’ve already pulled a couple of strings to make sure that anybody who was expecting you knows you’re not available for the foreseeable future. You have quite the fever there.”

Oh, yeah, that would explain things.

However, it was also putting it mildly.

He was barely able to keep anything down except for some plain toast and water and even then, sometimes the toast was too much. His head never stopped aching or spinning so he had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Vivienne was concerned enough to call for a doctor, who was constantly trying new medicine or new dosages. Sometimes he could keep the medicine down, sometimes he couldn’t. The doctor came daily to check for any signs for change for better or for worse. He supposed that was a perk to being married into a noble family – they had the extra rupees to pay for a doctor’s full attention.

No matter how bad it got though, Vivienne and Proxi, who dropped into their home at some point and declared that she was staying until he felt better, were always around for him. Proxi helped with encouraging words or translating his mumbled speech to Vivienne or the doctor. Vivienne was always there to help him feel more comfortable, like washing his face and back, changing the sheets, or holding his hair back when something upset his stomach too much. Sometimes, she even rubbed small circles into his back until he drifted off to sleep for as long as his body would allow.

All in all, it took nearly three weeks before Link was well enough to return to the barracks. They weren’t married for that long and once he was well, Link found himself a little embarrassed that one of her first impressions of him was him being violently ill.

Vivienne simply smiled when he said as much. “Link, we might be stuck together but I consider you to be a friend nonetheless and when one of my friends is suffering, I try my best to make it better. I’m glad you’re alright now and I’m glad I didn’t catch whatever that was.”

“You should be. It was awful.”

-

“I didn’t know you liked cats,” Twilight said with a grin as squatted down to scratch one of them behind the ears while Warriors was busy petting one down the length of its back. It was a creamy-white colour with long, fluffy fur that seemed pretty well taken care of if it was truly a stray. All the cats he saw had soft and shiny coats, seemed to be of a healthy weight, and he didn’t see any signs of illness. Maybe somebody did take care of them all. There were a few people in his own Castletown who took it upon themselves to make sure the strays were doing well.

He felt like he ought to be doing more, since they were in a large city and not every era had a big city to explore. Twilight’s Castletown felt much like his own, busy and bursting with life, including the very many cats he found in one of the residential side streets. However, he was busy petting cats and he didn’t think the cats weren’t going to let him go anytime soon even if he did want to leave. The cats were the perfect distraction for his very busy mind and they seemed to sense that he needed a distraction because they surrounded him in an instant. He was petting one or two at a time but the rest were doing their own thing, simply content to bless him with their presence. How could he possibly leave them to go do errands?

“Oh, I love them! I have one of my own, actually.”

Warriors always did enjoy cats but his parents never allowed one in their home, since it was attached to their store and well, his parents didn’t want fur all over the clothes they were trying to sell. He didn’t like it but his parents had a point. It wasn’t until he moved in with Vivienne that a pet was feasible – they had the room and she spent most of her time indoors, so Penelope was never alone for too long.

“Really? You have a pet? Aren’t you busy being a big shot in the army?” Twilight asked with the grin that always accompanied his playful jabs to Warriors’ career choice.

“Well, I don’t live alone. I have a roommate who takes care of her when I’m not around. That’s why we picked her out together from a neighbour’s litter. She looks kind of like this one,” Warriors said, gesturing to the cat he was petting, “but she’s all white and her name is Penelope.”

“Penelope!” Twilight was practically squealing. “Fucking adorable.”

Thankfully, Twilight didn’t ask about his roommate. He didn’t feel like explaining that his roommate was actually his wife and Penelope was regarded as their child and she was even introduced to his in-laws as such. Link inquired about putting Penelope in their will to inherit their estate should they both die suddenly and tragically young but her parents only begrudgingly called Penelope ‘the furry grandchild’, so they wouldn’t find it as funny as they did. Unless they adopted a Hylian child or brought more cats into the house, Penelope was the only ‘grandchild’ her parents were getting from them. Maybe they won’t care – Vivienne wasn’t their only child to get grandchildren from and she wasn’t inheriting the main estate anyway.

“I hope you know that if we’re ever in your neck of the woods, we’re going to see her. You’re not allowed to hide a cat from me.”

Warriors found himself laughing. “Twilight, I know better than to get between you and an animal.”

-

Link was grateful that his in-laws didn’t try to parade them around or throw extravagant parties on their behalf that often. Their wedding was mostly just friends and family from both sides and it took place in the Arlet estate garden, so it was out of the view of the public. Vivienne said something about how they were glad she got married at all, so maybe they were afraid to rock the boat too much. Maybe that’s why they didn’t argue when Penelope was introduced as their child.

For their first anniversary, her parents decided once again to forgo something fancy and just gifted the two a bunch of wine that they definitely drank too much of that night because he couldn’t really remember what they did besides drink a lot. He did remember waking up on the bedroom floor with Penelope sleeping on his back. Her parents didn’t leave Penelope out of the celebration either, giving her a bed that she went on to use a lot.

But Link knew that one day, his in-laws would drag him to some sort of function where they would show him off. He was the hero and a noble now.

He couldn’t say he was surprised when his father-in-law showed up at his door unannounced, thankfully when he was actually home, and told him and Vivienne that he was hosting a party and he expected the two of them to be there. Luckily, he already had clothes for the occasion that Vivienne said were nice enough – a gift from his tailoring family when he got married – and he went to fancy dinner parties before as a bodyguard, so at least he wasn’t going in blind.

“Vivienne and Link!” They spent maybe all of five seconds at her father’s before he found them near the entrance. Link wouldn’t have been surprised if he was waiting for them. His father-in-law gestured towards the rest of his estate with a grin on his face. “Link, let me show you around. This is your first time inside the main estate, yes?”

Link looked back at Vivienne. She simply shook her head. They were stuck following his father-in-law around his estate. Link couldn’t tell if it was because he was proud of his estate and actually liked showing it off to people or if it was some clever way to show off Link himself to the guests that were already there. He was certainly recognized as the hero even though his scarf was missing. At least he was used to getting looks from strangers all the time.

But it was made tolerable with Vivienne being close by, offering some sort of comment about what trouble she got into as a kid when her father introduced them to a new wing of the estate. Apparently, she was quite the fan of climbing when she was a child and he could see it in her father’s face that he wasn’t sure if he should have been amused or exasperated by the memories. When her father let them go to hang out and eat in the dining room, the two of them stuck together in a lonely corner of the room, watching and making quiet comments about the other guests. Vivienne knew most of them and had some juicy details to share.

If Link had to summarize the party, he would call it two friends suffering together. He had a decent time but it wasn’t because of anything that was offered at the party – it was spending time with a friend and engaging in gossip.

It made him think of all the people he could have been stuck with, all the people who would want more than he was comfortable with offering or just couldn’t offer at all. He couldn’t reciprocate romantic feelings as he didn’t feel them and the thought of being intimate made him deeply uncomfortable.

But being friends and sharing a space with Vivienne was easy. They were two friends who had to pretend to be more sometimes, but the important part was that they both knew that it was a game.

-

Warriors frequented taverns and pubs, not just to have a drink or two with those he was close to but because drunk people were a fountain of information. It was less helpful in his own era since people knew who he was and were more guarded around him, but in other eras where people had no idea who he was? They saw no reason to filter their words and they told him all sorts of things. Sometimes it was useful but sometimes he just got sucked into whatever gossip there was and he didn’t learn anything that would help them.

Today, he was at a pub with Sky and Twilight. He didn’t drink with them often, just once or twice in Time’s era when Time dragged them to Castletown. Time was his usual drinking buddy but he seemed pretty tired so he declined his invitation. It was times like those where he truly lived up to his ‘old man’ nickname.

Alcohol didn’t change Twilight that much. His accent was definitely coming out more and he was a bit louder but otherwise, Twilight was acting mostly the same. Sky was quieter after a couple of drinks, like he was contemplating matters of existence. The chosen hero wasn’t the chattiest to begin with but after a few drinks, he didn’t start conversations anymore. He needed to be roped into it.

They were only a few drinks in when a woman slid into the seat beside him with a wide grin on her face. Great, he knew exactly where this was going. Before she could say anything, Warriors held up his hand with his ring on it. “Before you say anything, just know that I’m already taken.”

“Oh, are they here right now?” she asked, her eyes scanning the crowd before her gaze settled on him again. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“I’m not a cheater,” Warriors snapped back. “I’m happy with my wife.”

“Is she happy with you? You’ve got the look of a military man. When’s the last time you’ve gone home to see her? Are you sure she’s been as loyal to you as you are to her?”

Warriors wasn’t sure what her goal was. He never had anyone who wanted to sleep with him insult him and his wife in the span of a minute. Was she mad that he rejected her?

“You don’t know anything. If you’re trying to get me into bed with you, you’re failing miserably,” he said as he stood up. Sky and Twilight caught him and he spotted Twilight fishing out his wallet as Warriors found the shortest route to the exit. He didn’t look back as he headed to the one familiar spot in town and stepped into the room he was sharing with Four and Hyrule. He must have looked a mess because the two took one look at him and stayed away from him for the rest of the night. Just as well, he didn’t feel like talking.

He knew he couldn’t avoid it though. He wasn’t surprised that Sky found him in the morning as Warriors chugged down some water, hoping that the minor ache in his head would disappear if he had more water. At least, Warriors hoped that the minor headache came from alcohol and not because that woman at the bar made him so angry that he had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep.

Though, if he was honest with himself, it wasn’t just the encounter at the bar. His mind raced constantly, dredging up experiences and memories that he wanted to bury and never look at again. Ever since he was asked about his ring, he couldn’t stop thinking about all of the unhelpful and unwarranted advice he got when he was single or all the pity he got when people thought he was stuck in a sad, loveless marriage. Warriors just couldn’t stop thinking about it even when he wanted to or needed to focus on something else.

He hoped they weren’t travelling. He was pretty sure he wasn’t fit for it.

“Why did you storm out of the bar last night? Was it the woman?”

“Of course it was the woman!”

Sky smiled awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his neck. Shit, he shouldn’t have answered his question like that. He wasn’t mad at Sky.

“What did she say that set you off? Twilight and I didn’t really hear it.”

“She wanted me to cheat on my wife and when I rejected her, she start insinuating that my wife was cheating on me and before you ask, I actually do have a wife.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant when you said Legend was on the right track,” he mumbled as he titled his head slightly. “You are actually married, huh?”

“It’s a political marriage. Athena needed extra support from a noble and she got it when I married the noble’s daughter. Through marriage with the hero, that family is now closer than ever to the royal family and in return, Athena has more weight to throw against other nobles.”

“So you didn’t marry for love?” Sky asked with a slight pout on his lips that often came with confusion. Warriors could feel his frustration bubble under his skin but he took a deep breath. It wasn’t Sky’s fault that Warriors had this conversation before with a bunch of other people who didn’t understand that not everybody wants to date or be in a marriage or be intimate.

“I’m actually happy this way. I don’t care if it’s a ‘loveless’ marriage. We both knew what we were getting into before the documents were drawn up and before we were actually married. I made it clear to her the first time we met that I wasn’t interested in sex or romance. It turns out she feels the same way. We’re just roommates who occasionally have to pretend that we are more than just roommates. We share a home, we share a bed that’s so big we barely know there’s somebody else in it, and we share custody of a cat named Penelope. I’m not interested in anything more than that.”

Sky hummed for a moment, then smiled. “Well, if that’s what you want, then that arrangement sounds perfect for both of you. As long as you’re both happy, nobody should get a say about what the two of you do or don’t do together.”

For a moment, Warriors was taken aback. In his experience, it generally took a lot more convincing before somebody backed off and switched topics. He didn’t know why it was so hard to convince people that was actually happy.

“Why didn’t you say this before, though? Everybody would have understood.”

“Because it’s tiring... before I got married, everyone and their grandma would tell me that I just had to meet the right person, then I would want to date and get married and have kids. If I met the right person, I would be ‘normal’. Now that they know this marriage is political more than anything else... they fucking pity me. They think the fact that I didn’t marry for love is something to pity. Some people even tell me I’ll learn to fall in love with my wife. They just can’t fathom that somebody just... doesn’t care about any of that. It’s so tiring. I’m tired of trying to explain it and people looking at me like I’m broken or something. No matter how many times I tell them I’m happy, they just don’t believe me.”

Sky frowned. “Has... this been on your mind for a while? We all noticed that you seemed distracted lately.”

He only nodded. The thoughts probably would have started bothering him at some point, even if nobody asked about his ring. They seem to come and go, more often when he was in town and people tried to talk to him. However, the current cyclical nature of his thoughts was because he was asked about his ring and he had to think about how to answer.

“Do you ever plan on telling the others that you’re married?”

“If we end up nearby, yes.” He did tell Twilight he could meet Penelope and even if he didn’t, the villa would be a nice break for them and their wallets. They were always maintaining guest rooms that didn’t get used so it would be nice if the villa was full of people for once. It was far too large for a family of three and their hired help. “For now, I just need to collect my thoughts.”

Though... it helped that Sky took it so well. Maybe he wouldn’t have to explain it to them more than once. They would probably believe him if he said he was actually happy with his arrangement.

“Okay. Just let me know if you need any help.”

“I will. Thanks, Sky.”

-

Warriors thought there would be more time between his conversation with Sky and the conversation he knew he needed to have with the others before they set up in the villa for a few days. It was only a couple of weeks after he talked to Sky that a portal took them to a battle and it was when he was wiping the black blood off his blade that he realized that he recognized the castle in the distance. His villa was only about a half an hour from the castle.

“To the castle?” Twilight asked.

“Actually, there’s a place we should go first. Athena can wait until tomorrow.”

“Oh, so this is your era,” Legend said with a nod. “What’s this stop you plan on taking?”

“My place. It’s big enough to fit all of us comfortably.”

Wind raised an eyebrow. “How big is your place?”

“It’s...” Was this how he was going to start explaining who Vivienne was? By explaining why he can comfortably host them all? His gaze met with Sky’s, who gave him an encouraging nod. “It’s a villa. I moved in when I got married.”

There was a moment of awkward silence before Legend glared him. “Is that what you meant when you said I was on the right track? You could have just said so! It was bugging me ever since you said it.”

Warriors rolled his eyes. “I didn’t feel like explaining it back then. Even now, it’s a little difficult...” He took a deep breath. “I got married because Athena asked me to. I didn’t pick my wife but it’s pretty convenient for both of us because we are both just happy being friends. If I had to get married to somebody else, I wouldn’t be able to return any romantic feelings and being intimate would be out of the question. We have to put on a show sometimes but that’s a small price to pay to able to say I’m married and not have to do anything I’m uncomfortable with.”

He had no doubt that there were questions but the others simply nodded, except for Sky who offered two thumbs up instead. Maybe they were just saving questions for later but he wasn’t going to complain about the break. They probably cared more about having a roof over their heads than about his odd but convenient marriage.

Wind hummed for a moment before putting a hand on his chin. “So your wife won’t mind if we stay at your place then?”

“I doubt she would care. In fact, she might even be happy that we’re using the guest rooms as guest rooms for once.”

“What are they being used for now?” Time asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Decoration.”

“Wait, this means we get to meet Penelope!”

“Who?”

“His cat!” Twilight answered with a wide grin. “C’mon, butts in gear! We have a cat to meet!”

There were some grumbles but the group started moving, following Warriors as he led them to the villa. It was nearly sunset by the time they got there so he wasted no time in opening the front gate and letting everybody in. He stopped them as soon as they got into the front doors and he couldn’t immediately see her nearby. He didn’t think she would get upset about the villa being used as an inn for a few days, he wanted to give her a little bit of warning.

He found Penelope first in one of their many hallways so he scooped her up and kept looking for Vivienne until he found her in her plant room, which was the room in the villa with the most windows. She was bent over one of the pots trimming the plant inside of it. He cleared his throat to let Vivienne know he was coming in so she didn’t startle and drop the trimmers.

“Oh, you’re home.” She straightened her back and turned around to face him.

“For a bit. If there’s another lead, I’ll have to go again. I have company though!”

“Oh, those heroes you mentioned in the single letter I got?” she asked with a smirk. Warriors winced internally – they were still friends and he should really let her know more often that he was still alive and her father didn’t have to find a new husband for her. “I’m not upset, by the way. I can only imagine that time travel complicates things, to say the least.”

“Yeah. I got busy. I didn’t realize I only sent one letter,” he mumbled as he ran a hand through Penelope’s fur. “But they’re in the lobby if you want to meet them. I told them they could stay here for a few days since we have the room.”

“It would be a shame not to use it. It might be the only time we’ll fill all four guest rooms at the same time. Let’s go show them their rooms, then. My parents didn’t raise me to be a bad host.”

Warriors’ heart pounded in his chest was they walked back to the lobby. He couldn’t understand why he was so nervous. The others would be nice to Vivienne and they knew she was his wife, so there wasn’t anything to hide. Vivienne was generally pretty nice and she got along with the people he was close with before. It should go well but his nerves were still getting the best of him.

Finally, he saw the other heroes, who were all studying Vivienne.

“Wow, she’s tall!” Wind gasped. Vivienne was a bit taller than Time, as it turned out and she wasn’t even wearing shoes. Her entire family was tall – taller than he was – so he wasn’t exactly surprised that she beat them all.

“We’re just kind of short,” Time chimed in, shaking his head.

“This is Vivienne,” Warriors started, gesturing with his free arm, “and this our daughter, Penelope. Vivenne, you already know their names but they’ll introduce themselves with their nicknames sooner or later.”

“Can I hold Penelope?” Twilight asked, arms outstretched.

“Just keep her belly down, she hates being on her back,” he warned as she gently passed her over.

It was a good thing that Penelope enjoyed a lot of attention. Once she was settled in Twilight’s arms, it wasn’t just Twilight who was petting her – half the group was reaching around and crowding Twilight to get a chance to pet her. Warriors could hear her purring over the excited cooing coming from the boys.

“I hope she doesn’t expect that much attention from now on,” Vivienne mumbled before she turned to the others. “I know Penelope is amazing but I should show you to your rooms. Penelope doesn’t leave the house, she’ll be around for more petting later. She may even pick one your rooms to spend the night in later.”

“We’ll be back,” Twilight said quietly as he pet her on the head one more time and set her down on the floor. Warriors watched as everybody followed her, looking around the villa as they did so. Penelope purred and rubbed her head on his leg so he picked her up once again.

“That went well,” he mumbled as he looked down at her giant green eyes. “Especially for you.”

She meowed.

“Yeah, you are spoiled. You deserve it, though.”

Instead of following everybody to the guest rooms, he headed towards the master bedroom to change into something more comfortable. He set Penelope down on their bed – neither he nor Vivienne cared if Penelope got her fur all over it – and slowly stripped off all of his equipment and gear, dropping everything on the floor by his side of the bed to deal with later.

One loose shirt and clean pair of trousers later, he left the master bedroom to find that everybody was gathered at the kitchen table that he and Vivienne usually used for their own dinners. The only person not at the table was Wild, who was poking around in the oven to warm it up. There was a more official dining room in the villa but they only used that one when Vivienne had family over and it had one of those long dining tables that made Warriors wonder if anybody actually wanted to eat together. The table in the kitchen was a little small for the size of the group but they were all used to butting into each other’s space all the time.

Warriors decided to stay on the periphery of the conversations, joining only when their conversations were directed at him. He wanted his brothers and his wife to get along, so he wasn’t going to intrude when it seemed like they were actually bonding. Vivienne was relaxed, talking to the group in the same way she spoke to him or the few times he saw she had a couple of the neighbours over for some tea. It was also the same way she spoke to Clarissa, as the two of them became friends pretty quickly. She spoke more formally with some of her family members than she did with the other heroes.

As for the heroes, they were behaving as he expected – they were asking Vivienne for embarrassing stories about him. Oh, well. If that was the price of peace, he would let it slide. It wasn’t like she had a lot on him in particular.

Once they all had dinner and tea, the group of heroes all headed to their rooms, except for Sky. He helped himself to the last of the tea in pot and started to headed to his assigned room but he made sure that he passed Warriors.

“You did a good job today,” he said quietly, adding a small but sincere smile before leaving.

Once he was gone, Vivienne tapped him on the shoulder. “He’s right, you did a good job. I know it’s not easy to tell people we’re married,” she started before gesturing toward their own bedroom, “but we should go to get some rest too if we’re hosting this many people.”

“They can be a handful,” Warriors mumbled. “I’m sure Penelope is waiting for us anyway. Let’s go.”

[genderqueerdykes]

In terms of cishet allies, I live in rural Philippines where there is a lot queerphobes and my parents were definitely once queerphobic, but since my brother came out to my mom as having a boyfriend and I came out as aroace, she's been extremely supportive and tries her best to learn more about the queer community!

She went from trying to say that queer stuff was just a "difference in the generations" to actively pointing out ace characters in shows to me and how she gets excited to do so and helping my brother vent out his frustrations about relationships. She also excitedly tells me about stuff that she learns from her work seminars about the queer community and new possible laws regarding queer rights (since she works in the justice system) and gets defensive when she hears other colleagues talk badly about gay people.

Granted, she did that even before she fully got rid of the queerphobia actually (there was a prosecutor who was being shitty about a gay victim and she was quick to defend him). She was even very open to me possibly being a lesbian and was ready to support me and was more worried that other people would hurt me if I was before I even came out to her as aroace.

My dad was a little harder to turn around and I don't think he's fully there yet but he's been supportive lately and has even started saying more positive things about the local queer community when just less than five years before he didn't wanted to listen to a news report about a new BL series here. He's also been more positive about queer creatives too and generally enjoys himself with consuming media with queer characters and creators. He also said that he was happy to hang up my pride flag when he has time so I do think he's come a long way.

And that's just my parents when there were other supportive cishet people in my life that helped me a lot even before coming out to my parents like my high school counselor being supportive of me when I came out to her and my therapist being open to learn more about aromanticism and asexuality when I came out to her too!

Sorry for the long message, but yeah, there are cishet allies out there even when there's a lot of queerphobes and yeah, it's going to be really tough, but there are people out there who are open to take care of you, defend you, and even change for you even if they aren't from the same community as you.

hey that's so cool to hear from someone in the Philippines! thank you so much for sending this!

i think that's absolutely beautiful. that's the thing- change takes time. when it's approached with care and grace, it can happen for the better. if we give people the time to adapt and grow, they can flourish. that is absolutely amazing, i'm glad your mom is so supportive, and that your dad is coming along, too! absolutely beautiful to hear you and your brother have that support, i'm so happy for you both!

[justallihere]

MAAM. MAAM. MAAM

Someone give Bodhi a hug. He would've been the BEST big brother. also thank you for making him queer (and IF i got this right, Ace bc let me tell you, we are so underrepresented and highkey gaslit into thinking we just need to "wait and find the right one" -- enough of me trauma dumping 💀) Bodhi's character is so tragic but v on brand for Riorson men lol

i am in awe of how you developed a backstory for Bodhi's parents, i wish i could shower you in kudos

if Bodhi dies in CANON, which he likely will, I will be INCONSOLABLE

Xaden and Vi are just so soft and tender and I love it, after all the shit theyve gone through, they deserve it

this entire chapter just felt so heavy/full of angst and it was perfect <3

the attention to detail you and so many other fanfic writers have is literally so inspiring and amazing (and i wish i was half as good as you guys. I want to be you and @skyfallscotland when i grow up lol)

The book on tyrrish notes??? like it didn't NEED it, but did it ADDD so much more depth to the story and show us again how down bad Xaden is for Vi, 1000%

X and V are each other's rock and I just love them so fucking much

Yes, Bodhi is aroace here! Living his best life!

I’m not sure how well it came across but he was expecting that sort of reaction from Violet there as well, you can kind of see him bracing himself for the “Are you sure you just haven’t found the right one yet? Just look at me and Xaden! ” response and then his shock when she was just like “well okay!”

I lowkey have headcanons/backstories in my head for several of the marked ones and their families—including names. But that might be for a different fic lol

I had a lot more fun with this chapter than I thought I would! Definitely heavy in parts but I live for hurt/comfort. The little moments of Xaden and Violet still learning stuff about each other and bickering like always through the hard stuff are a lot of fun to put together.

The book of knots was a last minute add in, but I’m so glad you noticed it. It’s an overall representation of them: seeing that one of the first things he gave her grew into her own library the same way their love has grown so much. They are my children for real 🫶🏻

[starzgaze]

imagine aroace!darling is so sick of Hae-In's and Jinwoo's bullshit that they straight up just say "is Beru and option?" when the the two ask which one they prefer.

also, unrelated; i'm pretty sure i just dreamt of a Beru x Reader fanfic and i started looking for it right when i woke up, only for it to not be real. the brainrot is getting to me..

omfg i had this idea too like a few days ago and it's funny to think about cz just imagine you're just some low profile worker within the association that is trying your very best to live a peaceful life. just a normal person you know?? like no big ambitions nor had any notable achievements except the random ones you would get back then in your school days but yet!

you still caught two of the s-ranks 's hearts in the country, really baffling actually.

whenever you're in the room with the two you can't even ignore the obvious deadly tension the two had even if you tried to, you can't imagine how people in the news assume they're in love with eachother when hae-in looked like she's about to pull jinwoo's head off his body and jinwoo is about to gut the blonde on the spot.

like is it really about you at this point? just get a room oh my god and what's worse you... you don't even see them as anything more than friends it's insane.

even if hae-in would bashfully gift you things and listen to your rants or tries to hint that she has feelings for you, every one of these things you would dodge like it was the plague

and it was the same with jinwoo! everytime the man saves you from some magical beast that was suspiciously near your place even if there was no gate that broke in your area, jinwoo would be there to save you like some shining knight in armor and it would play like some romantic scene except you would be there to painfully remind him that it's nothing more than a moment with a truthful "ahaha thanks a lot jinwoo, you're such a great friend!" which was definitely on purpose.

but the only problem was even if you dropped sooo many instances that you were not interested with the two, the damn duo was so persistent that it's genuinely tiring you out like what was it with you that was intriguing?? you're literally a low profile office worker within the association that showed the two a semblance of human decency are they that deprived of love?

like at some point you were (forcibly) hanging out with the two and they were bantering once again over you before they both turned their heads to your direction which honestly creeped you out then finally asking who did you prefer.

"[y.name]! please tell me you prefer a girl like me and not this awfully depressing dressed up loser!" hae-in glared at jinwoo while barking out her words that was definitely an attack to jinwoo's way of fashion

"wha— the hell? my fashion isn't that bad you asshole- oh whatever ignore her [y.name] I'm obviously more desirable" jinwoo deadpanned as he ignored hae-in's glare.

you looked at the two with tired eyes, dreadfully done with their bullshit before declaring your answer

"oh I'd choose neither... actually is beru is an option? i think that ant is more acceptable at this point"

the reaction they had was priceless, especially jinwoo's. you prefer the damned ant?? the ant that bodied hae-in the moment it popped out of nowhere or the same ant that jinwoo obliterated with a punch...? are you serious..

if you squint closely you can notice a wisp of black shadow on jinwoo's person that had a tint of pink blush that awfully looked like an ant. you didn't know if you were seeing things but you swore that it was beru blushing over your decision.

anyway wow i went on a tangent LMFAOOL I CANT BELIEVE I WROTE ALL THAT??? HELLO ANYWAY THIS IS INSANE I LOVE THIS also u dont know j mean... maybe it did exist and the author just got beamed off the internet

[jayietheriverwarrior]

Well. Here's a piece that I meant to have done during Pride Month, that I finished at the end of July, and then didn't actually post online until August. Oops. XD Ah well. Anyway, here's some of my pride headcanons for Warriors, with each cat holding/wearing something with the colors of their relevant Pride flag.

Up first are the aroace queens, Drizzle of RiverClan and Mousefur! Drizzle's from Riverstar's Home if you don't remember her, she got super cranky/uncomfortable about Riverstar's relationship with Finch Song. A lot of it was probably just her being young and not wanting to see her old leader and his wife kissing in front of her, and her overall annoyance at how Riverstar's love for Finch Song kept them from going home on time, but to me she just gave off so much "ew allo romance is gross, I'm too aroace to deal with this" vibes, I love it. :D We need more ace queens in this world. Mousefur I won't get into as much, as I think viewing her as aroace is pretty standard. As a RiverClan warrior, Drizzle's of course carrying a fish she caught, while Mousefur caught a bird.

Up next we've got gay Tallstar and bi Jake. :D Tallstar gets a pretty gay butterfly (I drew the butterfly in this piece before the butterfly wings in the Hake drawing if you can't tell, this one looks a lot more awkward XD) on his head, and Jake as a kittypet gets a non-wild accessory, a bi bandana - a bidana, if you will. XD I don't think Jake was actually in love with either of his mates after Tallstar, I think that was more just friends who wanted kits together (though Quince was definitely more in love with Jake than she let on), but he's attracted to both toms and she-cats.

Then we've got best gay farm boys, Ravenpaw and Barley. :D For Barley I cheated a bit and let him have a non-wild accessory since he's a farm cat even though we never see him interact that closely with the twolegs, I figured a little kerchief thing worked well enough for a farm cat. I was pretty stumped what to do for Ravenpaw's accesory until I remembered, oh yeah, he's Ravenpaw - give him an adder! XD Reffed their pose from a really cute photo of two cats cuddling.

Up next is pan Sasha! Pan always seemed to fit her really well, there's so many cats of various genders she's shipped with. For once she actually looks happy. :D Just taking a moment to enjoy a bit of Pride in a pan-colored collar.

And now for all the various demisexual headcanons. :D Up first are two she-cats Sasha is shipped with a lot, demibisexual Leopardstar and demilesbian Russetfur. Leopardstar gets a damselfly as her accessory, they hang out near water and have shimmery wings that flash different colors in the light so I figure that works, and Russetfur has berries behind her ear as a nod to her one biggest moment that makes me dislike her character despite loving her portrayal in the Tigerstar and Sasha books - the scene where she watches Berrykit struggle in a fox trap and does nothing to save him. Still not sure how to reconcile that scene with her portrayal in the other books. Anyway, Leopard liked both Frog and I like to think Sasha as well, but only those two and doesn't tend to find anyone attractive until she forms that strong bond, and Russetfur only ever liked Sasha as far as I'm concerned and was too focused on her role as deputy to care much about romance besides that one time.

The last two are our demibi boys, Riverstar and Jayfeather! For Riverstar, he does feel attraction a bit more easily than the rest of our demi cats, he likes looking at a pretty face, but he doesn't really feel a deep attraction until those deeper feelings form, like with Flutter and Finch Song - but there was definitely something there for Gray Wing, even if it never fully developed into love. For Jayfeather, he hardly ever feels attraction, though he could for toms or she-cats equally - the only time anything developed far enough for that was Half Moon. Riverstar is wearing a flower crown 'cause he strikes me as a flower crown kind of guy, and Jayfeather is carrying herbs.

[all-seeing-ifer]

Aromanticism in Academia

Since it's currently Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week and I'm currently in the middle of a master's research project about aromanticism and asexuality, I figured I'd contribute by putting together a list of some books and other academic sources I've read so far that deal with aromanticism! There's very little written about aromanticism in academia, so I think it's important to spotlight what we do have.

DISCLAIMER BEFORE THE LIST: Due to the lack of discussion of aromanticism specifically in academia, most of what I've found are texts that are primarily about asexuality but also discuss aromanticism. It's unfortunate, but it is also where we're kind of at right now in terms of academia, so bear that in mind.

Books:

Ace Voices: What it means to be asexual, aromantic, demi, or grey-ace by Eris Young - Definitely has the most focus on aromanticism of everything that I've read so far, this book draws from a combination of the author's personal experiences and interviews with other members of the a-spec community, including aroace and alloaro people. A good source of discussion of aro issues and how they interact with things like gender stereotypes. Also notable for its discussion of QPRs, a topic which I find has generally been ignored in academia about a-spec identities.

Ace: What Asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex by Angela Chen - Primarily deals with asexuality, as the title suggests, but also contains some relevant discussions of aromanticism, including the experiences of aroallo people. If you're going to check out the book, I would especially recommending looking at chapter 7: Romance, Reconsidered, which features most of the discussion of aromanticism and non-normative relationships

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J Brown - Again, asexuality is the main focus here, but I would still recommend checking out this book as it does still contain some useful discussion of aromanticism, particularly an extended critique of "singlism" (i.e. discrimination of single people) and how it is weaponised against aros. I also find Brown's criticism of the dehumanisation of aromanticism in media to be very compelling!

Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law - I would be remiss not to mention Brake's work here. While Minimizing Marriage is not specificallly about aromanticism and deals with marriage reform and the concept of amatonormativity more broadly, I think it's fair to say that many of Brake's ideas (particularly her coining of amatonormativity as a term) have become vital to the aro community and aro activism in recent years. Definitely a must-read for anyone interested in deconstructing amatonormativity and in contemporary critiques of marriage as an institution, though it's worth noting that this is a work of moral/political philosophy first and foremost, and as such it gets very into the weeds of things. Available on the Internet Archive here

Academic Articles/Essays (all can be found in the collection Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives):

"Why didn't you tell me that I love you?": Asexuality, Polymorphous Perversity, and the Liberation of the Cinematic Clown by Andrew Grossman - A really interesting and engaging analysis of the archetype of the silent film clown, and how it can be read as an a-spec figure. While Grossman uses the language of asexuality, his analysis makes it clear that he is looking at the clown as both an asexual AND aromantic character.

On the Racialization of Asexuality by Ianna Hawkins Owen - A personal favourite of mine. I think many parts of this essay will be very relevant to aromantic people, particularly Owen's investigation of how romantic love came to be pedastalised and her critique of attempts to normalise asexuality by distancing it from aromanticism.

Mismeasures of Asexual Desires by Jacinthe Flore - A critique of the pathologisation of asexuality that also discusses how aromanticism challenges common discourses around intimate relationships

Finally, I would like to mention the work of Bella DePaulo, who has written extensively about singlism and compulsory coupling, and who Brown uses extensively as a source in their writing on aromanticism. I didn't want to make this part of the main list because I haven't yet had a chance to get stuck into DePaulo's work, but based on Brown's mentions of her work I believe she has some very interesting ideas that are very relevant to aro people.

As you can probably tell, the list of academic sources dealing with aromanticism and aro issues is very limited. However, while aromanticism is vastly underdiscussed in an academic context, I'd like to point out that this is also only what I've been able to find so far. If anyone has any other recommendations please do add them to this post - I for one would love to hear about them!

[mossy123302]

I am not exactly entirely good with character or relationship analysis (A reason why my dumb fox head is aroace because I am not good w/ navigating romantic relationships)

So this is just my best effort writing the dynamic Q! Philza and Q! Missa have.

I do like to headcanon, like others, that Philza is indeed aroace, but not in a way, that like he doesn't understand what platonic or romantic means. Sure, it's funny to tease Philza about it, but it's also true that close friends could very much do so. I think Philza is quite aware of what is romantic and platonic, he knows the boundaries of it. I mean Philza is literally married to the Goddess of Death (implied) Kristin. It's more or less that Philza doesn't simply care for such labels. (I very much hc that Philza could probably be genderfluid, like me- Peeposmile)

It's something Philza even mentioned in the live stream when talking about the deities in hardcore world. It's something they don't care about and just vibe with whatever they're vibing with. They don't care and I think Philza is the same in that mindset. He just doesn't care, and will be blunt about it, if he needs to actually talk about it.

Philza seems to deeply cherish those that are ... similar to himself from what I can tell. I don't fully watch Fit or other POV to get a clear understanding of Phil's relationship w/ others so I'm sorry if I don't include them, same with Technoblade. I've recently started watching mcyt again and I don't want to talk about something I don't have a full understanding of.

Anyways, Phil deeply connects with those that share similar traits to him in some regard. Techno whose the Blood God, who clearly has an understanding of death, war and loyalty and this clearly shows via Missa too. Missa, while not a fighter, does understand death and how important it is... He literally is a gentle grim reaper. He understands death much clearly, because his mother is also a Goddess tied to Death as well. Missa is also fiercely loyal to Phil and his children, because honestly, he was so busy! He didn't have to return to Quesadilla Island but he did because he cares about Phil and his children, quickly adopted Tallulah and he hadn't even seen her yet.

Whoever Phil trusted and guards with his life, Missa will guard that person with his life as well. Of course, unless, we talk about BadboyHalo then that's another discussion LOL. Such a mess between the demon (?) and grim reaper.

Anyways, we know how much Phil values such loyalty that, I cannot remember what Tubbo said, but he immediately locked Tubbo out of his own home because of what he said about someone and while despite implied flings with others. Philza never spoke about others the way he speaks about Missa.

Their relationship definitely...crosses the line of platonic and romantic. I can see why it would be considered queer platonic relationship, but also at the same time, it's like there is some line being breached which makes everyone raise an eyebrow cause sir, what do you mean platonic-

Philza is clearly...possessive over Missa, because the way he got so defensive when Bagi mentions Antoine (right?) and Missa should date. Philza didn't have to get so defensive, because Missa already immediately denied. Philza could have kissed anyone else, like Fit, but chose Missa instead. He even demanded Tall Missa to the admins, got jealous over any shipping fanart and acts like he's fine and doesn't miss Missa at all. *Coughs in* "I'm going to f*cking off myself. Did Missa log on again?!" (Side eye Philza)

Like he's done lots of things that makes everyone just raise an eyebrow- Philza is fooling no one but himself (& Missa)

I also enjoy the lore Missa has going on with accepting that he is indeed a part of the family and isn't alone. Missa had just lost Spreen, and suddenly, he had no one but the Angel of Death as his assigned partner. Missa must have felt so unmatched compared to Philza because what could he even offer to the family? He had nothing but his music and kind words, which is everyone that Death Family wanted. Missa brought a different change to the family that makes them be vulnerable, to not be so serious all the time and to actually just relax and be like a family that's just on vacation.

I mean, and just talking about loyalty and kindness. Missa never gave up... He fought his way back, despite getting taken away by wolves and suddenly Badboyhalo being so cruel. He always made sure his family was safe and always brought something for them.

Didn't Missa say he got lost because he tried to find a gift for Philza?! Like...the commitment to find a perfect gift for Philza, and still returning (sure, without the gift). While it's hilarious, Missa doesn't run away because of his wet cat behavior. He runs away because he doesn't want to put his family in danger, he cannot fight as well as others can. He relies on others to fight for him and then he jumps in to help, but because the time zone doesn't allow such things. Missa is forced to run.

And Missa is good at it. He will run as far as he can, if it means his family will be safe. He isn't running away from his family, but the danger because at the end of it all, he will return back to his family, no matter how long it takes.

And Missa casually admitted to Chayanne that he needs Philza more than he realized, the same way Philza realizes he needed Missa but didn't dare admit, whether it is out of fear or something else that he couldn't voice it. But Philza clearly showed it through his actions, that he brought/dragged Missa to Rose's Sanctuary before they went to sleep forever. He didn't have to do so, but he did... indicating their bond is much deeper because Rose's Sanctuary is literally a pocket dimension that no one cannot access.

Missa has access. Now he sleeps eternally with his family...

Also their whole dynamic just being Sun/Moon. Fated to never see each other at times, until an eclipse and yet...they still leave signs to let the other know that they're still remembered. This also brought to my attention how Missa is afraid of the sky, while Philza yearns for the sky/to fly.

You think The Sun (Philza) misses the Moon (Missa) so much, because of how far they are, instead of just not seeing each other. The Moon clings to Earth, because they're afraid to go beyond...to something unknown while the Sun cannot stay still, and yearns to burn and be free.

Deathduo/Pissa has me on chokehold.

I do hope this was an interesting analysis, I'm not very good at this..honestly it's probably just me rambling if anything.

[matthews-69]

Uh...hi. I'm not really sure what I'm doing on this app.

I'm Paul 69.

Yes. 69. Go ahead and laugh.

I'm one of the many clones of Paul Matthews made by CCRP, and after realizing that there were other clones here on Tumblr, I thought that maybe I should give this place a shot.

...wait, I'm supposed to do some facts about myself, right?

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: Aroace

I probably have autism, but I've never been officially diagnosed.

I definitely have anxiety. (Also have never been officially diagnosed)

I work at Starbucks. If you've ever seen the guy who looks like Paul with the name "Mathew Paulton" taking your order...that's me.

I have a pet rat! Her name is Rattimus and I love her very much!

Also if you work for CCRP, please don't tell the higher-ups I'm here. I don't want to go back to the basement-

[OOC UNDER THE CUT :3]

Yo, what's up! It's ya boy Joey (or Disaster) from @multi-fandomdisaster back at it again with another OC rp blog!

Let's jump straight into the ground rules:

NO NSFW!!! Paul 69 may be a legal adult, but I sure as heck am not, so please refrain from explicit content! Anything explicit sent in will be ignored and deleted. That being said, dirty jokes are allowed!!! (this is a character with "69" in his name. I'd almost be disappointed if someone didn't end up making a joke about it /silly) If you're unsure if something would be taken as explicit or not, don't be afraid to message me privately and ask!

Hatchetfield-general triggering topics may be brought up. I will try to tag anything potentially triggering with "tw: [insert trigger]" as best as I can, but I might forget at times. PLEASE let me know if you'd like me to add a trigger tag! I want y'all to stay safe out there!!!

Any of 69's dialogue will look like this, while rp direction will look [like this]. All ooc stuff will be written in red and found under the tag #Disaster says stuff

And speaking of tags, here's what the tagging system will look like:

General in-character posts: #6-9 posts

Rp replies: #6-9 responds

OOC posts: #Disaster says stuff

(I would have made it "#69 posts" & "#69 responds", but it turns out that if you put the number "69" in the tags of a post, Tumblr immediately assumes your post is explicit and throws it into the void, never to be seen again, so that's fun lmao)

If you have any ooc questions about the character, don't be afraid to send an ask here or at my main account! I'm always happy to talk about my silly little guy lol

And with all of that, I hope you have fun and have a great day!!! :D

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 5 Part 2

Continuing from chapter 33!

This seems out of continuity. Why is Falin an adult, but ambrosia is still incomplete? Regardless, a blessed image.

Did you know Marcille is 50 years old? Somehow, this information makes me more confused as to her relative age.

I don't know how to feel about the fact that they can express emotions like that. Also, why so sexy? Mimicry isn't exactly their MO.

I mean, if fish-men were a gray area despite being fish, than surely a plant is fine. That's not even close.

I love how the male dryads are feminine and the female dryads are masculine, purely so Kui could put silly man faces on the fruit.

See? Laios has standards. He (almost) draws the line at eating babies.

Depending on the spear, it can be a makeshift chopper. Or just grab a halberd and split the difference.

Gotta love how the moment Marcille acquiesces to semi-cannibalism, she discovers her new favorite dungeon food.

Technically it works. Those two are young adults, and you two... are not.

An important image.

Daw, it's the same spell Marcille showed her back in the day.

I know I've said I head-canon Laios as aroace, but I would find it really funny if he was aroace, but really had a thing for ears for some reason. He even mentioned elf ears when backpedaling with Zon.

She's beauty, she's grace, she will punch you in the face.

Look Marcille, if you had met Asivia, you'd probably agree.

Don't worry, it's cool. You can just draw as much power as you want, and nothing lives there to yell at you. Probably.

You know you're in some shit when the boss comes with a dark souls style title card.

Don't worry, he'll always be with you in spirit.

An important panel.

As seen in that one Izutsumi extra, Senshi's greatest fear is getting crushed by a pickling weight.

What are they doing? Their best.

Clearly, if you use a different weight, it won't work.

Which of these idiots came up with "Big Ears". Also, you can tell Laios respects him the most since he settles for just a lil' poke.

Hm... I noticed one in the grave yard but didn't think much of it. But here is another winged lion statue with horns. Eh, I'm sure it's nothing.

You know how it is. You get called cute once, and suddenly it's your favorite outfit.

Wait, it took them a whole week to catch up with the Touden party?

I was going to complain more, but this is actually pretty interesting.

One day, you too could generate the gametes to make an idiot like Laios.

Look on the bright side! With all your practical experience, you could write the new definitive guide!

Just imagine how many frog suits you could buy with that sort of money.

And another volume is complete! See you guys next time for volume 6!

(Also, I apologize for making an inaccurate joke in my chapter 0 post. Izutsumi arrives in chapter 40, not 42. I hope you can forgive this error.)

[dinah-lance]

ok so, to vaguely recap stuff from 'the flight of icarus' that you can reference in your hellcheer fanfics if you want to--- part 1 of 2 because turns out this is long as hell:

eddie's mom, elizabeth franklin, got sick and died when he was 6. she was the reason he loves music and had she a collection of vinyls, the main mentioned being muddy waters. also liked rock and country. she was 19 and from memphis when she met alan.

elizabeth and al got married in march 12, 1966. al kept a bottle of wine from their wedding that he and eddie drink to celebrate ("your mom would want us to drink it together"). also as much as al sucks, it really looks like he loved her, so that's sad i guess.

al taught eddie how to play the guitar, he also disappeared a lot on him even when he was little, so wayne has a bedroom set up for eddie in his trailer so he can come live with him whenever he needs to so a literal child doesn't have to live alone in a house. it's bad.

once he's older and okay with living alone at his place, wayne still drops by sometimes without a warning with a bunch of grocery bags to stock his fridge. it's very sweet, it's very cute.

eventually mess happens and eddie's house gets burned down, so he loses all of his mother's vinyls and a bunch of other shit, maybe everything? i don't know, but wayne saves his guitar and i assume other stuff.

eddie has a childhood best friend, veronica (ronnie) ecker, who lives in the trailer park with her grandmother. her dad is dead and her mom "had gotten sick and started talking to the walls". granny ecker is lovely, she sends wayne homemade food randomly, kind of like he does with eddie, and like calls him skinny or something i dont remember exactly but it's very cute.

ronnie is described as looking a lot like eddie and people mistaking them for siblings, has brown eyes, brown hair, same haircut, etc, except she's taller than him.

she's a straight-a student and gets a nyu scholarship to law school. unlike eddie she has her shit together and kind of takes care of him and everyone in hellfire/corroded coffin. she's the original drummer (she later recommends gareth takes her place when she leaves), she's the first one eddie roped into making a band, and she's also in hellfire. and she's kind of eddie's weak spot. he literally cares about her more than he does about anyone else in this book.

she's probably aroace but like labels like that in the 80s are... you know. but eddie basically tries to kiss her when they're 13, because they would spend a lot of time together as best friends and his dumb ass assumed they would end up dating, she freaks out and runs off and they don't talk for a few days, and once they talk again she tells him she "doesn't think she'll ever like anyone like that" (paraphrasing) and he's like oh okay cool and they remain best friends. so, aroace imo but definitely somewhere a-spec.

also not that you have to agree, but i fancasted diana silvers. she's the same height as joe and has the same big ass brown eyes, so.

eddie mentions having kissed other girls also: nicole summers in 10th grade and cass finnigan earlier in '84. says that those girls were daring themselves and didn't want to know him, just wanted to tell their friends what it was like with the freak. "not exactly heartbreaking. i hadn't been looking to be anybody's boyfriend." denial if you ask me but alas.

gareth doesn't know a lot about dnd when he joins hellfire and eddie is super frustrated by that, it's funny it's cute, he also kills off his first character and gareth thinks hes getting kicked out of hellfire? lmao? but anyway eddie tries to help him make a new character and he has no idea what he's doing because his previous character is one jeff made for him. if anyone reading this watches critical role-- liam & sam energy.

he gets bullied by tommy/jason/a jock that eddie doesnt know the name of lmao also i think he has braces as a freshman iirc.

anyway random unknown jock-- eddie straight up keeps calling him every name he can think of that starts with a c lmao i kind of assume it's chance if i were to guess? but who knows truly.

jeff is described as the only member of hellfire that knows about dnd as much as eddie does, he's been playing with his older brothers for years and eddie seems impressed by that.

he's also the bassist in corroded coffin and the youngest one in the band.

dougie is the name of other cc member, they rehearse in his garage even though his mom hates it (she shuts off their power a lot? lmao). he lives in a pretty nice area of hawkins.

he's in hellfire too but at first didn't want to "join nerd club" except then he got fomo and joined anyway.

he's a senior like eddie and ronnie, so he's not freak, but also i like to pretend that he is idc.

eddie works at the hideout bar actually and that's why they get to play there, the owner lets them play.

the owner of the hideout's name is bev. she has dyed maroon hair, a permanent squint, yells like there's always music blasting. pretty sure she m*rdered her husband?? 😭 according to eddie dude "died under mysterious circumstances 10 years ago" i love her btw also she calls eddie junior (because munson jr).

middle school talent show flashback time--- eddie is surprised when chrissy talks to him because "this was not the type of girl who should be talking to me"

he says she's polished and looks "like she'd skipped off from the cover of some nancy drew novel"

wayne makes it to the talent show, al doesnt.

eddie expects chrissy to pity him when she asks if his dad didn't make it, but says instead that she looked jealous, then gets defensive and says he's running late and chrissy is like god i wish that were me lmao so then he says i'm sorry and she says me too, it's sweet.

he doesn't tell chrissy the name of his band (so she remembers it later because she saw him play and paid attention to him) and doesn't tell her his last name, only says eddie.

describes laura cunningham as "immaculate, poised woman" and philip cunningham as "a blank-faced, suited man"

chrissy gets dragged by jason to the hallway where they're bullying gareth, she clearly doesn't want to be there, the whole time she's begging jason to go and leave it alone, asks him to let them go when eddie shows up to defend gareth.

when tommy starts going on a rant about the munsons being fuckups and says al might "turn up dead on the side of the highway" she lets go of jason and grabs tommy and pulls, tells him to stop then to let gareth go, tommy seems surprised that any jock would stand up to him.

"she's just a sophomore but everyone with a working brain cell knows she's the rising queen of hawkins high" + "perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect everything" but he doesn't think about her you guys lmao eddie's delusional ass is so cute.

once chrissy stands up to tommy, jason seems to remember she exists and tries to back her up saying steve wont like them hanging around, its too late idc.

a fight starts, higgins shows up, tommy tries to blame eddie says he was hassling chrissy, she says it's not true right away. so does ronnie. they kind of defend him at the same time.

eventually jason drags chrissy away from eddie like laura had dragged chrissy away from eddie at the talent show when she saw her smiling at him.

at another fight later in the book tommy literally breaks gareth's wrist btw idk he's insane, so chrissy standing up to him is kind of huge honestly.

[aromanticannibal]

I will populate the aro mha tags by myself if I must. hcs. (Izuku, Katsuki, Ochako, Shouto, Mina, Shinsou)

Izuku is partnering aromantic. he likes making people happy and he doesn't really get what's so different between a strong friendship and dating so he'd prolly date any of his close friends if they wanted. he definitely wants a house and a dog with someone but in his head the idea situation is all of his friends living with him on different days. one week he's living with Kacchan then Uraraka then Todoroki then Iida etc. He isn't really ace but he doesn't care much for sex even if he does experience sexual attraction.

Katsuki is demiro and demiace and I'm correct. he's also gay but if drunk enough or challenged he will absolutely kiss a girl. he doesn't care about all that romance and sex shit until this One Person (for me it's Izuku in my head he's dekusexual dekuromantic but feel free to imagine your own preferred Bakugou ship) pulls up and makes him catch these rare feelings.

OCHAKO. One day I will write a long post about arochako but until then. Ochako has no fucking idea what romantic love is. She has no fucking idea what being aro is either so she just assumes she's like everyone else. She's so jealous of Toga because she has something she doesn't have, she's so focused on her supposed crush on Deku because her feelings for him have to be romantic, she can't be broken, she can't she can't she can't she can't. Anyway. Aromantic Ochako, she's bisexual but she has no felt romantic love ever in her life and she will never. She would have spent her forever with Toga anyway.

Cupioromantic Mina which I feel is a common hc. I don't consider it canon cuz it's clearly not intended but it's a very good interpretation and I find it sweet. She doesn't fall in love but she wants to, dreams of romance and she will eventually find someone who doesn't mind and will give her all the love she wants <3 (my favorite Mina ship is kirimina but again, feel free to put your own Mina ship in here)

Shouto is aroace he does not careeeeee he is so friendship pilled. friendshippilled friendmaxxer. He loves his friends a lot. he was scared for a long time to be broken, that what he saw of romantic love in his family disgusted him forever, but he isn't particularly repulsed by romantic love (he IS sex-repulsed tho. except when he's drunk then he suddenly becomes sex jokes georg. no one knows why)

Hitoshi is alloaro (no I'm not projecting) he'd probably date someone if they wanted as long as they weren't too overbearing with their love and didn't expect too much from him. he's a kisser he's a hugger he's a hand holder but he WILL panic if he's told "I love you".

I've ran out of juice but PLEASE send me characters. I'll tell you want kind of aro they r.