#everybody's queer here

[alleykatart]

After a long day enjoying the sun and tanning some bums, it's time to cool off in a nice refreshing dip in the ocean. Everett, Dahlia, Andrea and Aster are in a race that Aster's winning, and Tomas waits for Theros and Wren with good humor.

Every year I try to capture the joy of sunny days on the beach with various casts of characters, and this year it was this group of sweet misfits again. Maybe there will be more to come! ☀⛱🕶🧴

From left to right: Everett the half-Dryad, Dahlia the witch, Andrea the Brownie, Aster the half-swanmay, Theros the fae-blooded Knight of Summer, and his boyfriend Wren, the former unicorn, and Tomas the half-Troll.

[weird-an]

"Are you sure this is the place?"

Steve squints his eyes. It just looks like some seedy bar that's only frequented by truckers on the way to better places and occasionally undercover detectives chasing serial killers.

"It's the address Heather gave me." Robin doesn't sound so sure. Maybe it's too good to be true. A queer bar, somewhere between Indianapolis and Hawkins.

Steve swallows. His hands are sweaty which is stupid, because if it's not the shred of hope they were chasing after, it's just a bar. They'll pretend to be on a date, drink a beer and that's it. Nothing special, except for devastating disappointment.

Robin squeezes his hand. Steve squeezes back.

They walk through the door. At the first glance Steve thinks it seems like a usual bar. People chatting, laughing, drinking.

But there's something different about it. Women holding hands, obviously flirting, guys winking at each other, touching each other, people that seem to be neither women nor men and everybody just seems so... happy. Free. And most importantly, it feels safe.

Steve sees Robin's shoulders relaxing and his own relief in her smile.

"You came!" Heather waves at them. The blond guy standing next to her turns around, probably to see who she's talking to and freezes.

Billy Hargrove stares at him with wide eyes. The bottle of beer slides out of his hands. Steve is glad he hasn't gotten a drink yet, because he would have choked on it.

Billy Hargrove is here. In the gayest place near Hawkins. Wearing eyeliner and black nail polish- what's even more distracting is the red crop top leaving very little to the imagination (not that Steve needs to imagine it, he has seen everything under the showers).

"Careful, sweetie." A tall woman grabs a broom and collects the shards from the ground, shushing Billy when he wants to help her. "If the guy is that jaw dropping, you have to buy him a drink."

Even in the dim light Steve can see Billy's face turning bright red.

"You've heard the lady." Steve grins at Billy. He doesn't think Billy will take a swing at him here. All the secrets are out it seems.

Billy rolls his eyes. "Bet you're an expensive date, Harrington."

It would probably be a smooth line. If Heather wasn't cackling next to him and if his hands weren't shaking. Billy frowns in annoyance. His nose scrunches. Steve always thought he was hot, but now he also looks cute.

"Only one way to find out."

This is going to be the best night ever.

[theposhperyton]

All evidence suggests yes

[dustykneed]

pietà (*major spoilers for st:id! death cw!*) full image below additional spacer.

i like to think that aos bones has an interesting relationship with parenthood...

especially pertaining to his relationship with jim. not that he sees jim as his son, necessarily (i don't think they're deliberately portrayed that way in canon, nor do i headcanon them like that, but honestly fandom is fun because we all have fun in our sandbox, so if anyone happens to see them that way, neat!)

but when you're a parent, and at the same time a parent friend, it's easy to take the path of least resistance when it comes to defining the undefinable relationship you have with this guy you can't seem to live without.

is he your captain? your best friend? your patient? a command prodigy and a tactical genius? a sight for sore eyes? your personal nuisance? the one and only person you can't seem to get rid of, who drags you places you hate and points out everything beautiful to you and beams like he won the lottery when you can't help but grin just a little, who brings the light back into places you forgot could be lit up like the dawn, who saw you at your worst while actively at his own worst, and plopped his fool ass down and decided you were worth fighting for?

and that's a lot of things. especially many when you're fighting tooth and nail to keep his scrap-happy ass intact and also keep an eye on a whole starshipful of people. it's a lot easier to stick to what you know-- whatever is the least risky, the safest option, one that could never possibly backfire and bite you in the ass. sometimes you forget he could see you as anything other than a parent (give or take the friend.) but parenthood goes hand in hand with grief. parenthood has its own set of burdens. but it's easy to put yourself in that box and pretend to forget about all the other boxes, collecting dust in the closet, and sometimes he prods at the closet door with something pleading in his eyes. you pretend not to see that, either.

...you don't take it well, when he dies.

[purpletrashcans]

every story should have at least three queer characters

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Round 2 polls are all posted!

Vote in all polls here (there's more than just the books above!)

Not quite as many matching cover color palettes this week, but I love consistency so now I've got to keep making these 😅

[ripplefields]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CYBER FIELDS BEST MUSICAL TRIO AND THE LAST RESISTANCE AGAINST THE BIG BAD QUEEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[soullessjack]

conservative X-men fans will see a franchise about an oppressed group of people who fight for their civil rights and freedom in a world that sees them as freaks and monsters and imagine themselves being on the mutants’ side but then can’t even handle masculine cis women in sports or a man with painted nails or cisgender teens on puberty blockers for health issues.

conservative X-men fans will see that oppressed group of freaks and monsters constantly facing the threat of an apocalyptic future specifically caused by hate mongers in powerful positions who very blatantly will and do destroy the same humanity they claim to be protecting if it means destroying Those Freaks and think “wow cool robot.”

conservative X-men fans will agree with the villain who was based on Malcom X and specifically came to hold his beliefs through surviving the Holocaust and claim that he can’t even be considered a villain anymore because his ideology makes sense and is consistently proven right by the humans’ unwavering intolerance, but go into hysterics the minute a real life minority holds any sort of hatred or resentment toward their oppressor.

conservatives in general will always pretend that the media they consume doesn’t have any deeper meaning or purpose other than being entertainment slop because they almost always retreat into media for some type of “comfort” or escape from having to acknowledge reality and their own bigotry. they want the freedom to be bigots without any pushback or consequences so they surround themselves in an echo chamber of fictional characters and universes who can’t argue with them or tell them they’re wrong and bad.

conservatives have to constantly and deliberately turn their brains off to consume a specific piece of media because they know that they would be the villain in it if they gave it an ounce of deeper thought and that’s exactly why they push back so hard against anything that drags them out of their comfy echo chamber, anything that threatens their blissful ignorance.

they thrive on the idea that their media isn’t “that deep” or based in/affected by reality; that there’s no such thing as representation or allegories or coding in media (and alternatively, that representation doesn’t matter or is just propahanda). they thrive on willful ignorance and they want to convince everyone else to be just as ignorant and the death of media literacy is exactly how they’ll achieve it

[fleabagsbitch]

my bsf said i am his house in nebraska in my birthday card so don’t mind me while i curl up in a ball and cry

[mirokata]

omagod ARE THE AROMANTIC AND ASEXUAL TAGS TRENDING??

GOOD BECAUSE MORE PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN ABOUT THE ASPEC

Anyone I’ve talked to irl about aromantism and asexuality either have never heard of it in their life or heard it from the Jaiden animations video

[zlobonessa]

hm. i feel like I'm not unhinged enough for the past few days. here's my old-but-reworked omegaverse headcanon tier list.

[genspiel]

Ray Walker: is a bisexual Lakota man

me: oh, some bi and Indigenous rep! that's cool

also Ray Walker: has "never been a romantic" and "never expect[s] anything long-term" from relationships, feels like "romantic" is an inaccurate description of his relationship with his ex, and asks another character if they can be friends who have sex sometimes

me: oh wait holy shit, is he aroallo???

[burningcomputerpersona]

ahhhhhhhh guess who made the mistake of getting a haircut

[lith-myathar]

.

[ookaookaooka]

a bear in a pink pup mask and barbie crop top called me gorgeous yesterday at pride and ive never been more flattered in my life 🥺🥺🥺 i love how many types of beauty are celebrated at pride

[capitateoftheherald]

everyone has way too strong of opinions on chappell roan. why do we all feel the need to declare how we hate or don't care for her? like i feel like i'm losing my mind a little. did saying chappell roan is mid give you the social cred you needed to get through your day? does this not feel familiar? do you not feel the echoes of 2010s twilight/1D/bieber/tswift misogyny-flecked hatred bouncing through these halls? are you not like other girls, other queers? zoomers and millenials are rapidly becoming new age boomers i fear, and after all of that time spent claiming we wouldn't follow in their footsteps. if chappell roan isn't for you, you can actually just completely ignore her. like i have heard 2 of her songs ever, a total of less than 10 times. you don't need to post about her. i have seen more complaining about her than i have seen Her. what are we all doing here. can we all take a moment to join hands and take a deep breath