#fencing is very gay

[altarfates]

𝑴𝑼𝑵 𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑨𝑰𝑹𝑬 , a fun little dash game .

ALIAS / NAME: ray / ven whatever you wanna call me im down for.

BIRTHDAY / AGE: feb 29th and i'm fucking 29. oh my lord i finally released why 29 felt like a good number it's matching.

ZODIAC: i'm just a little fish baby i fear.

HEIGHT: 4'10 i am very small.

HOBBIES: I write, I read I play video games sometimes I ruminate about the universe. oh and music i'm always having an autism moment about music. if you ever want a good tune or a playlist for a muse i write i got you.

FAVORITE COLOURS: orange !

FAVORITE BOOKS: my favourite series will always be the raven cycle by maggie stiefvater and i will pay my mutuals in blood to read it. if one day my writing can be what hers is i think i will have ascended.

LAST SONG: check by bbno$

LAST MOVIE: i made east watch don't fuck with cats with me does that count alksjdasd

LAST SHOW: if it's not don't fuck with cats it would have been jujutsu kaisen.

RECENT READ: i'm currently alternating between reading for real by alexis hall and book 5 of erha.

FUN FACT: i couldn't think of a fun fact but then i remembered that when i was a kid i memorised the whole dialogue to the lion king and the lion king 2 and now i have no more brain capacity left for knowledge.

tagged by: @cataschism tagging: anyone who hasn't done it !

[yingren]

do you need music/noise to write or do you prefer silence ? / are there any red roleplay flags for you that make you back off immedately ?

munday questions.

there aren’t any immediate "red flags" that make me back away entirely, but there are certain things that tend to make me a bit wary when i come across them. i want to clarify that this isn’t intended to sound rude, mean, or petty - it’s just something i’ve noticed. before diving into this, i should also mention that it’s not exactly a red flag and it’s more of a pet peeve, something that catches my attention and makes me pause rather than outright deterring me.

the topic of female muses and the hypocrisy surrounding them. to start, i completely understand what it feels like to have your muse overlooked or pushed aside simply because you write a female character. it’s frustrating to pour so much effort into developing your character - her backstory, personality, and the overall world around her - only for people to ignore all of that in favor of interacting with male muses. it’s an issue many of us are familiar with, so i don’t need to elaborate too much on how this typically plays out. 

while i wholeheartedly agree that this behavior is both irritating and occasionally problematic, there are a few related issues that i find even more aggravating. first and foremost, the hypocrisy of those who advocate for better treatment of female muses but seem to only care when it’s their own. it’s disheartening to see someone preaching about how female characters deserve attention and effort, only to notice that their blog is almost exclusively filled with mxm interactions. moreover, i find it especially baffling when a female muse is written exclusively to interact with male characters. to me, it seems contradictory to advocate for female muses deserving more attention while not engaging with other female muses yourself. that inconsistency makes me less inclined to engage or follow first. 

second, i don’t entirely agree with the claim that there’s a "severe lack" of female muses in the community. sure, there might be fewer compared to male muses, but it’s not an extreme shortage. you don’t have to scour the ends of the earth to find others writing female characters. it’s more about whether people are genuinely interested in interacting with them. 

lastly, i find it baffling when people essentially lie about their interest in writing with female muses. if you’re not interested in shipping with female characters, that’s fine - just be upfront about it. it’s entirely valid to have a muse who isn’t romantically inclined toward women. but romance isn’t the only dynamic that exists. if you’re uninterested in other types of interactions with female muses, then perhaps it’s worth reflecting on why you feel that way rather than stringing writers along.

as a bit of an add-on to this rant-like thought, i want to say that it’s perfectly fine to have gripes with a muse or a specific portrayal as long as the issue isn’t rooted in the fact that the character is a woman. there are poorly written female muses out there, just as there are poorly written male ones. that’s simply a fact of writing in any community. however, if your problem with a muse stems solely from the fact that they’re a woman, that’s something i can neither condone nor even begin to understand.

[bucephaly]

Who tf outted me to my aunt, hello?

[reaperkaneki]

us before watching seed freedom—

me: hey you ever think about athrun going for kiras twin sister. like. they do look sorta similar. kinda gay

my bf: athrun asks her to dye her hair brown so she looks more like him

us after watching seed freedom—

me: so when kiras puts on his old clothes,

my bf: his destiny outfit, yes

me: this is like, two years after, right? so those are from two years ago?

my bf: yea thats right

me: ….so why does athrun just. have those. why does athrun have kiras old clothes. 👀

my bf: he keeps them for when he and cagali roleplay

[loverslantern]

Chappell Roan at the VMAs was everything. People keep confusing her outfit with Joan of Arc but she was actually Julie D’aubigny, which is so much more impactful. Let me explain.

In simple terms she was very good at fencing and she even did opera singing. But what really connects her to what Chappell did is her love story. Julie was a queer woman, she often dressed in men’s clothing but did not attempt to come off as a man.

At some point she had a relationship with a woman, yes a romantic one. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the girl was shipped off to a convent to prevent the two from being in contact. And to frame it simply Julie followed after her, snuck in pretending to be apart of the whole thing, created this whole elaborate plan to sneak her lover out which included getting a dead nuns body and placing it in the girls bed followed by burning the building down, therefore faking the girls death.

They ran away together. But, a couple months later the girl went back to her family. Julie’s plan was found out and she was charged as a man on a variety of crimes, she was sentenced to death by burning.

Now let’s put this all together.

1. Chappell was consistently using swords

2. In the performance she looked back and shot a flaming arrow at a building burning it down which goes back to the burning of the convent.

3. The song performed was Good Luck, Babe! And Julie’s lover going back to her family is so Good Luck, Babe! coded. Like literally ur lover followed you to a conversion thing, setting up this whole thing so that you can run away together and love freely and then you go back home to ur family and she dies at the stake. Although not surprising for the time period it’s still so crazy and soooo poetic.

4. Julie d'Aubigny has this whole tragic queer story and Chappells music centers around that sort of thing, and what’s more impactful than a literal gay performer dressing as a gay performer who was killed for being gay?

Do you guys see what I mean??? So, while I love the edits I’m seeing please keep in mind that it is not Joan of Arc. In fact, I think it’s super important that this is corrected considering how real and tragic Julie’s story was.

[bylightofdawn]

I STG every time I see trailers for the new Flash movie, I'm immediately put off by Ezra Miller and their many scandals. And then they fucking trot out Supergirl in all of their incredibly sexy androgynous glory and my poor gray ace libido perks up and starts screaming: Gimme NAO -grabby hands-

It's like they crafted my perfect androgyne fantasy and pasted them across my screen like the world's biggest thirst trap and, gods damn it am I really considering giving WB and that shit heel actor my residuals money?

I mean, it's not the fault of the rest of the crew and staff they picked an unstable asshat as their lead before their asshattery began to come to light. And maybe they couldn't recast midway through the filming of the movie. But a part of me seriously hopes they find a way of recasting so it's a bit less problematic and I don't feel bad about paying to go see this movie.

But anyway, holy fuck not to be gay here but uh....I'll sign up for a Supergirl movie right now. Don't even need to watch the Flash. Just gimme that gamine beauty and I will give you my cash hand over fist.

[computerpeople]

i was kind of always transgender because of my mom hoemschooling me though like. i kind of just assumed like everyone knew there was something. i would always larp as a boy and was the "tomboy" and only hung out with boys and was best friends with my dad and had all the same interests in him and always filled a big brother role. i always kind of felt exempt. because i was exempt from everything else like school and bed times and a lot of rules because i was more well behaved then other kids my age, and that i kind of "Bypassed" beign a kid i just kind of figured gender was the same. it didnt help that everyone in my family assumed i was gay before i even considered it so that was never even like.... an issue. so when i got my first period i was like oh, this is actually kind of shitty, i thought it'd just kind of not happen. and then i just continued to live as a boy and get mistook as a boy or tomboy and eventually i was just like well i guess ill just pretend im a boy. and around the time is when i started living with my very ccatholic step mom, but also im fucking stupid as shit and i didn't realize that she was THAT kind of catholic i just kind of thought she was one of the "Good" wones and immediately came out to her and told her everything. worst mistake of my life. i still don't really get it. anyways for some reason my parents are MORE conservative now, but i also think that's just because they thought id grow out of it, or realize that i was a lesbian. i don't know why that one was so prevelent. they just really wanted a lesbian daughter.

[somekindafairy]

so i have apparently reached the stage in life where my mom heavily implies she wants grandkids as if I'm not gay, single and depressed.

like where does she think these kids are going to come from??

[jesse-pinko]

It’s literally not my fault that the themes of Breaking Bad become that much stronger if you read Walter as a closeted gay man… like where to even start okay it’s 2008 and this guy is so, so insecure in his masculinity and so, so resentful of his picket fence family life. He’s done what he was “supposed” to do by societal standards and he still doesn’t feel like enough of a man compared to his brodude brother-in-law specifically. He can’t escape the feeling that something is missing, that it’s all a charade, and he finds it hard to believe the rest of the people in his life really are content with this lifestyle. Nobody seems to understand, and he hates them all for not seeing how unhappy he is. He gets his cancer diagnosis and is suddenly acutely aware that he feels burdened and unfulfilled by the life he’s built for himself, and that time is running out to change things.

It’s when he sees Jesse Pinkman fall half naked out of a window that everything changes. He’s pretty, and young, and floundering without guidance or a support system. He desperately craves human connection and lacks the self-esteem to take his life in any particular direction without someone instructing him. He’s grieving his aunt, the only person he had looking out for him, who died of cancer. He already views Walter as an authority figure. He’s alone.

And with Jesse around, Walter doesn’t have to come to terms with anything about himself that might challenge his masculinity, because it isn’t an equal relationship. Because he’s still ��the man” in this dynamic, the one with the power, the one calling the shots, the dominant one, the firm hand. Moreso than in his relationship with Skyler, who refuses to be bullied into the role he would assign her, that of the submissive, subservient little wife who looks to him for guidance and permission. As a criminal, Walt can express care for another man in the only way that traditional masculinity would deem acceptable; through violence. His love language is violence. Violence toward Jesse and violence on Jesse’s behalf. He runs over two men with a car for Jesse. He kills Jane and Mike, a romantic and paternal threat respectively, because they were going to take Jesse away from him. He tries on occasion to verbalize their relationship into something more traditionally familial, as if saying it might make it true, but it never quite fits the mold exactly. He reasserts, over and over again in what he later admits is a lie, that he is doing this for his family, that everything he does is an extension of his masculine role rather than deviant from it. He would kill and die for Jesse, he does kill and die for Jesse. In fact, in a story of self-actualization that still has Walt cling to his delusions of grandeur up until the very end (almost as though becoming Heisenberg wasn’t actually self-actualization so much as an escapist fantasy) his arc concludes with him actually self-actualizing by committing one last act of violence on Jesse’s behalf. In Ozymandias, he tells Jesse about Jane as a way of playing into Jesse’s worst fear that Walter never cared about him, that everything they did to and for each other meant nothing. Walter’s last act on Earth is a refutation of that; it’s an admission of care. His last act of self-actualization was a confession of love for another man.

[stimmingandstruggling]

my dream for a modern live action death note:

- it takes itself completely seriously. i want ZERO irony/making fun of itself. i need some actor man to take a potato chip and eat it with total seriousness.

- light and L have an insane amount of tension, i’m talking destiel levels of eye sex and queerbaiting, but they are never allowed to kiss. maybe when L dies they get one ambiguously queer line. but it’s gotta stay at least a little bit ambiguous

- misa isn’t explicitly homophobic anymore but she is like That #ally (just more subtly homophobic) (obviously shes gay but she doesn’t know that yet). instead of “are you on THAT side of the fence ryuzaki” she’s like “it’s FINE if you’re gay but light is MY boyfriends and i just don’t think it’s APPROPRIATE” and L just ignores her completely. she claims L as her Gay Best Friend despite him never confirming if he’s queer and her not really liking him. for Diversity

- she’s like i can’t be homophobic i do a pride month photoshoot and L is like okay. i don’t care

- focus on how the 24 hour news cycle, overwhelming access to information, and constant fearmongering and doomscrolling drives light fucking crazy (sorry i have to be weird about light here)

- instead of a magazine light very blandly watches porn on his laptop. looking actively bored. L doesn’t say explicitly “your son is gay” but he looks over at soichiro and says something like “hm. he’s popular with girls, you said? okay.”

- some awful misa and light sex scene but it cuts between that and light at L’s grave, their months handcuffed together, etc. hannibal style or something idk i’ve never seen it i just got a play by play from a friend

- naomi gets a bigger part because she’s awesome

- light and L are stuck in ambiguously queer purgatory but rem is very explicitly in love with misa. they kiss once before she dies and from then on misa seems a little more subdued with light. like she’s not so sure she really wants him

- when the detectives are talking about L someone mentions how he’s “on the spectrum” and everyone nods seriously. later it’s mentioned again and L overhears and he’s like you can just say autistic. everyone apologizes profusely but he does not give a shit

[buddierecs]

friends to finaces

all of these are general audience, teen and up or not rated (no smut) make sure to kudos/comment on these amazing works :)

baby, say you'll always keep me by: hattalove "the one in which joking about being married to your best friend is all fun and games, right up until you realize that you're not laughing." word count: 8.2k important tags: didn't know they were doing, getting together, mutual pining, first kiss but, baby, watching you blush by: calvingseason "buck and eddie go to hershey for buck's high school reunion. the only problem? everyone thinks that they're married." word count: 10k important tags: fake dating, mutual pining, misunderstandings, sharing a bed, gay!eddie diaz if you should i do i would too by: giselleslash "eddie starts telling people buck’s his husband to get out of annoying flirting situations on calls. buck starts to like it a little too much." word count: 5.8k important tags: love confessions, idiots in love, fake marriage, soft!buddie baby, you were my picket fence by: spaceprincessem "maddie wants to propose to chimney. she gets buck involved. buck can't tell anyone. he somehow proposes to eddie instead" word count: 6.1k important tags: accidental proposals, getting together, first kiss, fluff, idiots in love everything is wrong, but it's alright by: earthtolovers "buck & eddie get stuck. they have a lot of feelings about it." word count: 9.6k important tags: near death experiences, eddie diaz pov, angst with a happy ending and, daring, this is more than i've felt before by: grussell63 "kameron keeps calling eddie buck's husband and it may be time that eddie puts a ring on it." word count: 3k important tags: jealous!evan buckley, getting together, fluff cinnamon kisses by: tawaifeddiediaz "buck wakes up from a nap, cuddles eddie, proposes, and devours cinnamon rolls, in that very order." word count: 3.5k important tags: cuddles, getting together, soft!buddie feels like flying 'til the bone crush by: thelonggoodbye "eddie doesn't wake up intending to get crushed by debris during an earthquake. he also doesn't intend to propose to his best friend. but sometimes these things just happen." word count: 6.5k important tags: whump, idiots in love, getting together, injury when you know, you know by: asteriasera "after eight months of dating, natalia begins dropping hints for their future together and buck begins to question if this is what he really wants. one day later, a proposal is made in a kitchen over tiramisu." word count: 11k important tags: buck/natalia break up, pining!eddie diaz, idiots in love, season 6 the one i was meant to find by: winterbucky "friends to married speedrun with lots of feelings, sassy but supportive chris, dad buck, and a lot of sudden serious decisions" word count: 5.3k important tags: feelings realisation, love confessions, fluff, idiots in love, gaydisaster!eddie diaz, eddie diaz pov i'm going to marry him anyways by: weewooforever "4 times eddie’s elderly neighbor tells him he’s so lucky to have such a wonderful husband + the 1 time she tells buck. the only problem? they’re not actually married." word count: 10k important tags: idiots in love, getting together, flirting, love confessions

[seadeepspaceontheside]

How do you talk about "proship" stuff without immediately getting bombarded with hate and dismissed as a terrible person?

I'm on your side, but it seems most people are not, and not willing to listen at all.

I wanna make some small things clear lol I am not the spokesperson for this topic. There are far more people who are more articulate and have done more research and I would rather just be drawing lol

I usually state that if you're not a great speaker or can't articulate yourself very well, link to the experts that understand how this stuff works. Like I've said before, a lot of the therapists and articles I have linked have done a better job than I on the topic. Because you might be actually hurting your case when you're trying to explain to someone these things and you are either hung up on the trees over the forest or can't explain something because they catch you on a minute detail.

That being said, the main advice I would give is to not to use these loaded terms themselves, just the dynamic itself. In all honesty, if you use that kind of terminology (proship/anti), it usually turns people's brains off and makes them think you're weird automatically.

I would just point out that there's a wide range of different types of stories (from tv shows to myths of yore) that have spanned centuries--even some of which featuring taboos. And the ills of society do not have these stories to blame.

I am tired, because when I think we've moved on from these rehashed arguments and stupid discourse about media , I come to find arguments that were settled ten years ago are rearing their heads again. And this time they're coming with threats!

They did this with D&D and rock music. (You would be lured into satanic rituals and be deviants) They did this was violent movies and video games (You would want to commit murders or want murderers to go free) They did with this with rap and music videos (You would be hypnotized into violence by the artist and you would want to be a harlot) They did this with anime (Foreign media that is super weird and turn people into super freaks) They did this was queer media (Gonna turn you gay) They did this with superheroes (Children will think they can fly, they think punching will solve their problems)

Now this type of persecution comes for people that are doing taboo fanworks. I am tired of seeing this shit. Hindsight is free--those who were young for these old campaigns can see this stuff clearly for what it is: veiled right-wing rhetoric that is easily adopted by useful idiots who believe they are "helping". This time, the main push has been from young people in fandom spaces.

This is how it works.

All art communicates worldviews to some extent, but that doesn't make everything propaganda. Artists aren't working to eliminate other worldviews or stifle the existence of other artists--that is actually what propaganda is. It often comes from a perspective that embraces the imperialist or patriarchal status quo.

To someone on the fence who might be reading this: art is subjective. Your need to moralize what you consume is fraught. Consuming "good" media made with "good morals" and not "taboo" doesn't make you live a good life or become a good person. You're going to hit a wall one of these days where something you enjoy will be seen as something gross/repulsive/troubling and when you have been cut off from all those who would have defended you, you will have no one around you. If you feel like you are constantly put under a magnifying glass by said friends over what you ship, what art you enjoy.... Its not healthy! When you can't unfollow or say how you truly feel in a group of people and feel "unsafe" if you were to leave…. THAT'S A CULT. I find that it's always the same people who start shit that will be repeating this behaviour wherever they go. They literally act like HOAs but instead of your halloween ornaments staying up for too long, they are saying you can't enjoy your Greek God incest fics.

One last thing to remember: if you're having this conversation, and a person takes the worst possible light from what you say…they are not trying to have a conversation with you, they are acting against you.

[bongosinferno]

A devastating and confusing thing about the Fallout setting, when you explore the pre-war aspects, is what the creators think about pre-war America. In the first games we only get hints of the pre-war world, but they seem to be some sort of wild fascist nation invading Canada. In Fallout 1, the first thing we're introduced to of the pre-war society is seeing a soldier shoot civilians and laughing.

Now, for the first 2 games and New Vegas we don't really know much. What we know is that there's a fascist military group known as the enclave who were a sort of US deep state even before the war, and that the government teamed up with corporate interests to preform vaguely MKULTRA-ish experiments with the Vaults. Basically, the government was an extreme version of the 50s American jingoism and McCarthyism.

This is well and dandy, I guess issues come up more when we get to the later games, especially 4, where it seems like none of this extreme plotting and societal civil unrest which would exist is seen. The society as presented in 4 also seems quite progressive, gay people are featured in the opening, and none of the baggage of say, civil rights not existing are included. Now on a baseline, I don't want settings to be more conservative, homophobic and sexist etc., but it becomes a very confusing setting when it's displayed both as this jingoist extreme thing with fascist tendencies aswell as a progressive place where everyone is seemingly equal. If you're focusing on the 50s as your setting, and American nationalism in the 50s, then you can't have McCarthyism spoofs and anti-communism as a societal paranoia norm while also general equality is the norm without misunderstanding why McCarthyism and nationalist jingoism is bad. A massive harm done in anti-communist paranoia is how it degrades and vilifies any progressive movements (women's rights, civil rights, homosexuality) as being morally un-American and therefore connected to communism. To ignore this just makes any critique of MacCarthyism and jingoism weird!

Basically, pre-war America in Fallout 4 becomes this both sides thing where America is both pure and equal and white fences in every instance that we see as the player (the intro), while also supposedly being this dystopic MacCarthyist hellscape that's broadcasting gladly about their war crimes in Canada, and wants to root out communism. I guess the only fix for this issue without getting into the fine print like they had to do is just not to focus too much on the pre-war world.

[fratttymatty]

Southern Shift

(All characters are 18+)

Maddox had never been much of a believer in magic. Sure, he’d seen the viral videos, heard the wild stories, but he figured they were all some sort of elaborate hoaxes or clever editing tricks. His life had always been a straightforward one: an 18-year-old guy from a fairly progressive city on the coast. He was used to being who he was—a proud gay man, confident and comfortable in his own skin. He didn’t fit in with every crowd, but that was fine by him. He had his friends, his passions, and a future in design and art lined up after graduation.

But when a strange e-mail showed up one Wednesday evening, everything Maddox knew about his life was thrown into chaos.

It came from a source called TrueVision Enterprises, a company he’d never heard of, with a subject line that read: "Your Destiny Awaits — Experience a New Life." Curiosity got the best of him. What could possibly go wrong?

It was a poorly-written message, vague but cryptic. “Ever wonder what it’s like to be someone else? To experience a life you’ve only imagined? Click here to find out.”

A grin spread across his face. Who wouldn’t be intrigued? Maybe it was a prank. Maybe it was a scam. But it was better than staring at the same four walls all night. So, against better judgment, he clicked the link.

The screen went black for a moment, then flashed with a blinding light.

When Maddox opened his eyes, everything had changed.

It wasn’t just the environment—though the suburban neighborhood around him looked radically different from his usual cityscape. No, it was something far deeper, more visceral. He felt it in his bones, in his muscles, in the very way he was standing.

Looking down, he saw the first signs. His body had undergone a remarkable transformation. Gone was his lean but soft physique, the figure of a 5'11" city guy with a slight build. In its place was something else entirely: a lean, toned build with defined muscles in his arms, chest, and legs. His body felt stronger, like he could throw a punch without thinking about it, or lift heavy things without breaking a sweat. But what really caught his attention was his height.

He blinked, staring down at himself. He was taller. Not just a little taller, but by a significant amount. Maddox used to be 5'11", but now, standing at 6'3", he had a commanding presence. His legs stretched out longer than he remembered, and the new height gave him an imposing posture. He’d never been the tallest in his group, and now he towered over everyone, even the people around him who seemed much bigger and broader than he remembered.

His new height felt natural, like it had always been this way. But it also made him feel powerful, larger-than-life in a way that was completely unfamiliar.

He glanced at the house around him. It was large, a two-story place with wide windows, a white picket fence, and an immaculately-kept lawn. The interior was similarly pristine, and the smell of fresh wood and leather filled the air. This wasn't his apartment. This wasn’t anywhere he recognized. But something about the space felt... familiar, as though it was his home now.

He staggered, momentarily disoriented, and made his way to a nearby mirror.

What he saw almost made him fall over.

A stranger stared back at him. His face was familiar, but only in the way you recognize a reflection in a window before you really focus on it. His hair—blonde, curly, and wild—was cut into a mullet that reached just past the top of his neck, the ends flaring out like a halo of unruly curls. He didn’t remember ever styling his hair that way, yet the new version of himself seemed to suit it effortlessly. The loose curls framed his jawline, drawing attention to the newly defined muscles there.

His eyes, once a sharp hazel, had turned a lighter shade of blue. His expression was different too—stoic, even smug, like someone who knew exactly who he was and had no time for nonsense.

Then he looked down at himself, taking in his outfit. A plaid, button-up shirt—tight across his chest but still comfortable—clung to his muscular frame. He wore a worn leather belt with a large, shining buckle, a pair of jeans that fit just right and boots that seemed made for walking through dirt. And of course, a tan, weathered cowboy hat sat perched on top of his head.

Everything about his appearance screamed “redneck,” yet it was as if he'd always been this way. As if this transformation was simply an outward reflection of who he was now.

He stared at his reflection, utterly speechless, before hearing a voice from behind him.

"Adam, honey, come on down here! Dinner’s ready!"

He froze. Adam? That wasn’t his name. His name was Maddox.

But when he tried to say it—when he opened his mouth to speak—it wasn’t "Maddox" that came out.

"Yessir, mom," the new voice said, gruff and confident, with a drawl he didn't recognize. It was his voice, but it felt... wrong.

Before he could think further, his feet carried him toward the stairs. Every movement felt more natural, more instinctual. He didn’t have to think about walking anymore; his body just moved.

The moment he stepped into the kitchen, he was greeted by two older figures: a tall man with a thick beard and a sun-worn face, and a woman with perfectly-coiffed blonde hair and a warm, motherly smile.

"Adam, you hungry, baby?" The woman—his new "mother"—asked in a thick Southern accent, as she placed a plate of fried chicken and mashed potatoes on the table.

"Yeah, looks good, mom." His voice was smooth, authoritative, and familiar. It was like he had always talked this way.

The man, his new father, patted him on the back. "Atta boy. Gotta keep up your strength if you’re gonna help me with the truck this weekend."

Adam nodded, suddenly feeling an unfamiliar rush of excitement at the thought of working on a truck. "Sounds good, pops."

His father gave him a knowing look. "Glad to hear it. Gotta be ready to defend this house. Keep it in shape." There was a pause, and then a sly smirk crossed his face. "Though, I gotta say, I’m more worried about that little gay friend of yours. What’s his name again? Cody, right?"

Adam’s heart skipped. Cody was his best friend. But the way his father said it—the sneer in his voice—felt wrong. His thoughts tried to resist, but the tug of new instincts, of new feelings, pushed him to respond in a way he would have never before.

"Yeah, Cody’s a nice guy," Adam said, his voice dripping with casual disdain, "but man, he’s just… different, y’know? He’s always talking about stuff I don’t care about, like his art or whatever. He’s not really my kind of guy. Dude’s all wrapped up in his feelings and thinks he’s some kind of big thinker. He’s just not built for the real world."

Adam laughed and shrugged, the words flowing out like they were second nature. It felt good, somehow, to say it out loud. The Maddox part of him—the part that would’ve fiercely defended Cody, that would’ve fought anyone who insulted him—seemed like a distant memory.

His father chuckled, clearly approving. "Well, I’m glad to hear you’re making better choices, son. You don't need someone like that holding you back."

"Exactly," Adam said with a grin. "I’ve got enough on my plate, worrying about football, work, and, you know, my future. Guys like Cody? They just complicate things."

The following day, Adam found himself at a school that seemed to be from another world. The high school was old, with large wooden bleachers in the gym and the faint smell of tobacco in the air. Kids in cowboy boots and trucker hats roamed the halls, and there was an air of casual arrogance in the way they all carried themselves.

When he walked into the classroom, heads turned. He wasn’t used to this kind of attention, but now, standing at his new, imposing height of 6'3", Adam felt like he belonged. He loomed over the students around him, towering above them with a sense of superiority that felt right, even though it was still so new. His height made him feel like the guy everyone respected—or, if they didn’t, they at least stayed out of his way.

"Hey, Adam," a guy called from the back of the room. He had a thick jaw and a cocky grin. "How’s it going, man?"

"Good, bro," Adam replied, easily slipping into the role of the guy everyone wanted to hang out with. The guy who didn’t care about anything except his truck, his friends, and his future. A life of simple pleasures, uncomplicated by anything like "progressive politics" or "diversity."

But the most striking change came when he spotted her in the hallway. Emily.

She was the cheerleading captain. Blonde, athletic, and with a smile that lit up the entire school. Adam hadn’t expected to feel such a strong pull toward her, but as he watched her walking toward him, he felt his chest puff out with pride, the feeling of possession he didn’t quite understand.

"Hey, Adam," Emily called, giving him a wink. She wore her cheer uniform—tight, short, and red—and looked every bit the picture of what his new life was supposed to be. "You ready for the game on Friday? I’ve got your back, big guy."

"Always," Adam said, his voice dropping an octave. He felt confident, even cocky, as he walked toward her, putting an arm around her waist as they headed to class together. She was his girlfriend, after all, and that was just the way things were now. The idea of a different reality, a different version of himself, felt so distant.

By the time school ended, Adam was fully in his new life. Football practice had been intense, but Adam had breezed through it. As a starting wide receiver, he was the star of the team. He felt invincible on the field, his new body moving with strength and agility. The other players had all been high-fiving him, slapping his back, calling him "the beast."

And as for Emily? She was always by his side, chatting him up with that sweet, familiar smile. They talked about the weekend plans—probably a party at Brad's, a bonfire down by the lake—and Adam felt perfectly at home.

When the final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, Adam had only one thought: This is my life now. He was Adam, the 6'3", football-playing redneck with a cheerleader girlfriend and a world of opportunities at his feet.

The old Maddox, the artist from the city, was gone.

And Adam? Adam was everything he’d ever needed to be.

[hexhomos]

Hey man, I follow you on bluesky, but I’m too shy to interact openly 😔 Could you maybe share more about the state of the fandom before season 2? I was watching Arcane as it was coming out in 2021, but I never interacted with the fandom back then so a lot of things that you say come as a surprise… Even I knew that a lot of people disliked Jayce tho which was crazy to me because he was my favorite after Jinx and Silco and I always found him to very compellingly written. But I never thought that he was hated to such an extent! Was Jayvik really a crackship with a small fanbase as some people say? I knew it was much smaller than Caitvi which I thought was totally fair and understandable, but I’m pretty sure that I saw a decent amount of fan art on my Twitter TL back then…

Its very inaccurate to call jayvik a crackship during season 1 LOLLLL s1act1 had such a JV boom it was partially marketed by word of mouth as possible canon yaoi. And I say "marketed" with intent, netflix official pages and riot official pages made posts/memes with these two, including some sexual innuendo. Keep in mind, vikjayce was an old ship: from 2012 onwards there's already faint niches in the community and even fanfics.

I have some of those social media posts here.

The marketing yaoi memes became a problem after act2 came out and a lot of the audience felt rightfully betrayed/led on by corporate; i think on the netflix side they got confused on who the canon gay pair was but old time players were well acquainted with riot's HORRID handling of mlm couples - the disappointment wrt jayvik in season 1 was palpable and impossible to ignore, partially because their stories WERE well liked ingame as their lore selves, and in act1 as a potential couple.

for a little while back there "riot HATES gay men" became a whole memetic chorus repeated ad nauseam, and this did affect the decisionmaking process. In the following months they got lil nas X to collab on their yearly esports theme and collab on the new gay champion release (a man permanently separated from his ex partner because he was terrible in the relationship. no comment) and we also got the pride month reconfirmation that tfgraves are gay for eachother, though once again not in a relationship and not allowed to even confess, they were just posing in general proximity under the rainbow flag; an obvious step down from the pitch where they had Old Romantic History. Not even a kiss. You can sense the pattern on how riot approaches gay men here, and /why/ a lot of people on the fence have rallied behind jayvik after season 2. It would finally subvert the trend.

I would say post season 1 it was obviously caitvi city, with some other niches, biggest ones being timebomb and jayvik. Caitvi were Mega viral, successfully tricked general audiences into calling the game "league of lesbians" for a while back there, ascribing progressivity to the company where it was pinkmoneying at best. People's general hatred of jayce made it so he was underutilized, misread and mischaracterized at large, INCLUDING in caitvi or general fanworks. He was a republican trumpian dumbjock stocks guy, insert your least liked man here. It was not uncommon to click on a jayvik fic/fanart and see some sort of sentiment related to "oh jayce sucks but someone needs to kiss viktor", and this was mild ribbings when compared to people who DIDN'T ship it. On these other waters it was common to see "Viktor deserves much better!!!!!!" plastered on all the walls. hence the massive y/n stats on viktors page.

still, people who stuck by jayvik were generally doubly invested on it, and they even got a couple of zines made! Secret santa projects were also up and running for some years. There was fanmerch though not as much as we are seeing now, and also a recapture of league vikjayce content in much, much smaller numbers. Even back then and in the years before season 2 some rioters would already share and interact with these fanworks; people insisting that jayvik is "new" or was uncommon before are extremely wrong. In AO3 stats alone they were in the top 3 league ships of all time after season 1, and they are firmly #2 as of now, rapidly growing. The fanbase is cosmically larger now but the seed was always there.

[luna-rainbow]

The reason people were saying don’t forget fandom history isn’t because anyone thinks Stucky is the oldest MLM ship, or the biggest MLM ship, or the only MLM ship of its time. It’s because it was 2014 and gay marriage was still illegal. It’s because it was 2015 and MAGA was flying everywhere. It’s because it was 2016, people took to Twitter and trended #givecapaboyfriend. Mere weeks later, comics Steve Rogers was written into a Nazi.

It’s because it came at a turning point not just in superhero history but American history. MCU Steve Rogers was a return to a more sincere worldview after two decades of grim dark cynicism. The MCU, previously the domain of (mainly cis white) dudebros — you only have to look at the way Nat and Peggy were written in the early movies to know that women and other minorities, whether as characters or audience, were a distant afterthought — has gained traction with the mainstream audience. The advent of social media and internet accessibility meant a blossoming abundance of fan content that previous generations didn’t have.

This coincided with a time of intense ideological clash between progressive and conservative voices. Unlike what dudebros say, very few people believed the MCU would actually give Cap a boyfriend, but it did squarely place Captain America on the side of the LGBT community. Up until this point, MCU Steve in both canon and fanon has often been portrayed with hazy nostalgia for “the greatest generation” and the white picket fence dream. The hashtag trend was a reclamation of a character who was written by a minority, whose origin was a marginalised group for his time, and whose moral code was always supportive of people sidelined by history.

There will always be older ships, bigger ships, “more canon” ships, but you’ll never get another ship that rode the nexus of social media growth, genre popularity, LGBT recognition and political tug-o-war to breach containment the way Steve-Bucky did.

Don’t forget the history of #GiveCapABoyfriend, the BBC Steve-Bucky fan video, the “of course it’s a love story”, the “we went a little Brokeback” and the “Bucky is his home”. All of these were acknowledgement of the sheer size and international reach of the fandom. With a character many people thought of as the face of conservative America, it brought gay romance into the mainstream consciousness…and yes, without Steve-Bucky and several other concurrent massive MLM ships laying down the ground work, many of the newer canon gay romances would not have been green lit by profit-hungry studios.